tion, as the words may be read. Even as he is said to tempt Abraham, so he may be here said to tempt Aaron: But how? Why, by fuffering the people of Ifrael to gather together against him and Mofes, and to murmur against them for want of water. But how did it go with Aaron in this temptation, or trial of of his faith and patience? All the three Targums, on the place, give it in his praife, that he stood in the temptation, was perfect, and was found faithful: But this doth not seem fo well to agree to the account in Numbers, where it is faid, And the Lord spake to Mofes and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to fan&ify me in the eyes of the children of Ifrael, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. This is the water of Meribab, because the children of Ifrael ftrove with the Lord: And he was fantified in them. It seems from hence, that he did not ftand in the temptation; and therefore God strove and contended with him; that is, blamed him, and shewed manifeft tokens of his difpleafure at his carriage and behaviour: or elfe the words may be referred to the tribe of Levi, who, with the reft of the Ifraelites, tempted and ftrove with Mofes and Aaron at these places; though fome of the Jewish writers exempt the tribe of Levi, and say, that they murmured not with the other murmurers.

2dly, Thefe two characters in the text may very well be applied to the Lord Jefus Chrift: The character of an holy One well fuits with him; he is fo both as God and man; he is the man thy boly One, as the words may be rendered; he was fo in his conception and birth, and therefore called that holy thing; holy he was in his nature, and in all the actions of his life, and therefore a proper perfon for the Urim and Thummim to be with, and a fuitable high priest for us; for fuch an high priest became us, who is boly, harmless, undefiled, feparate from finners, made higher than the heavens; of him alfo it may be truly faid, that he was proved at Maffah, and ftrove with at the waters of Meribah; for the Ifraelites not only tempted and ftrove with Mofes and Aaron, but they tempted and strove with the Lord Jehovah: Thus in Exodus we read, that Mofes faid unto them, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord1? And in ver. 7. he called the name of the place Maffah and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Ifrael, and because they tempted the Lord; faying, Is the Lord among us, or not? And in Numbers, This is the water of Meribah, because the children of Ifrael ftrove with the Lord, and he was fanctified in them. Now, who was this Lord, this Jehovah, whom they tempted and strove with after this manner? He was no other than the Angel who was fent to conduct them through the wilderness, the Angel of God's prefence, the Lord Jefus

Christ, as appears from 1 Cor. x. 9. Neither let us tempt Chrift, as some of them tempted, and were deftroyed of ferpents. So that Chrift is the holy One who is more especially intended here, who was tempted and ftrove with at Majah and Meribab; therefore to him the true Urim and Thummim belong. And the words may be thus paraphrased, And of Levi, that is, of the tribe of Levi, be faid, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim (or thy lights and thy perfections, O God) be with thy holy One', Chrift Jefus, whom thou, O Levi, with the rest of the tribes of Ifrael, didft tempt at Majah, and strive with at the waters of Meribah. Thus having opened the words, and endeavoured to remove the difficulties of the text, I fhall, in the following obfervation, give you what I conceive is intended. therein, namely,

That the true Urim and Thummim are with God's holy One, Christ Jesus; or, What was meant and typified by the Urim and Thummim, is to be found fully and completely in Christ.

And in fpeaking hereunto I fhall,

I. Endeavour to fhew, how the Urim and Thummim are with Chrift, according to the fignificancy of the words.

II. How they may be applied unto him, with regard to the use of them.

I. I will endeavour to fhew, how the Urim and the Thummim may be faid to be with Chrift, according to the fignificancy of the words. The words, as I have already obferved, fignify lights and perfections; now, all light and perfection are in Chrift; it hath pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell. Fulnefs and perfection of all that is great and glorious, valuable and precious, are to be found in him; in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge ".

ft, The Urim is with Chrift; all light is in Christ, and from him. As all that light which was created on the first day, and diffeminated throughout the whole creation until the fourth day, is in that great luminary the sun; so all that light which is difperfed among the creatures, is, in its full perfection, in Christ, who is the Sun of righteousness; and as all bodies, celestial and terrestial, have their light from the fun, fo all creatures have their light from Chrift, who is the light of the world. There is a threefold light that is in, and is communicated to us from Chrift; the light of nature, grace, and glory.

(1.) The light of nature is from Chrift. The light of nature, in fallen man, muit needs fall fhort of what it was in man in a state of innocence, yet is it not wholly loft, but there are fome remains of it in him; which, though not sufficient to fave him, yet are enough to leave him without excufe; for, by this VOL. I.

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light

light of nature, he may arrive to the knowledge of a divine Being; feeing the invifible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly feen, being under food by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead, so that they are without excufe. He may hereby know, that this divine Being is poffeffed of great and glorious perfections, that he is to be worshipped and adored by him: he may hereby in fome measure know the difference between good and evil, as the apostle obferves in his epistle to the Romans; For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, thefe having not the law, are a law to themselves, which shew the work of the law written in their hearts; their confcience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accufing, or elfe excufing one another P. Alfo, he may in fome measure know, how to conduét himself as a rational creature in this world. Now all this light is from Chrift; for, as we are told by the evangelift John, he is the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world; but every man that comes into the world, is not lighted with the light of grace, or the light of glory; and therefore it is the light of nature which is there intended; for John is not speaking of Christ, as the author of the new, but as the author of the old creation; for he tells us, that all things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made, that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men'. So that as we have our natural being, and our natural life, from Chrift, as a creator, from him alfo we have our natural light, as fuch.

(2.) The light of grace is from Chrift. The light of grace is that whereby a poor finner, who was darkness itself, being born, and brought up in darkness, and having lived and walked in darkness, is now made light in the Lord; so that he fees his depraved, miferable, and loft state by nature; as alfo, the neceffity, as well as fulness, glory, and fuitablenefs, of falvation by Chrift; and can fay, as the poor man did, One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I fee'. The work of grace, upon the heart of a finner, confifts much in his being called out of darkness into marvelous light, marvelous and furprizing light, indeed! The characters they bear, who are thus called by divine grace, are children of the light and of the day; for they are no more children of the night, or of darkness; for the darkness is paft, and the true light now fhines. Now all this light is from Chrift: If any fouls have this light, it is he that gives it to them; Chrift fhall give thee light. If any are called to this marvelous light, it is by him; if any are made light, it is in or by the Lord Chrift; for he is given by God the Father to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, as well as to be the glory of his people Ifrael. For this light of grace includes in it the light of the knowledge of the divine perfections, the light of the knowledge of Chrift, and the light of the knowledge of gospel truths; and all these are in and from Chrift.

1. The light of the knowledge of the divine perfections, is in and from Christ, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, that is, of the glorious perfections of God, is given to us in the face, or perfon, of Chrift Jefus. It is true, God has discovered his perfections in the works of creation and providence; for, the beavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament fheweth his bandy-work. There is a glorious fhine of his power, wifdom, goodness, &c. upon them, but there is a far more glorious difplay of the divine perfections in him, who is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the exprefs image of his perfon. For in the contrivance of falvation by him, the depths of wisdom and knowledge are difcovered; in the miffion of him, the exceeding riches of his love, grace and mercy, are laid open; in his accomplishment of the work, the arm of almighty power is made bare; and in the fufferings which he underwent, in our room and stead, the glories of divine faithfulness, justice and holiness, are furprisingly displayed; here mercy and truth are met together, and righteousness and peace bave kiffed each other". Here is no clashing among the divine perfections, but a fweet and an entire harmony among each other, all fhining forth with equal glory and luftre in man's falvation. Now, this is life eternal, to know thee the only true God, and Jefus Chrift whom thou haft fent; that is, to know God in Chrift. The Heathens may know him in the creatures, but they cannot know him in Christ without a divine revelation; and that revelation must be attended with a fupernatural light; which light must come from Chrift himself.

2. The light of the knowledge of Chrift is from himself, for it is in his light we fee light. As we fee the fun in its own light, and it is impoffible for us to fee it in any other light than its own; fo we fee Chrift, the Sun of righteousness, in his own light; and it is impoffible for us to fee him in any other; it is in his own light we see him as the eternal Son of God, as the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his perfon: It is in his own light we fee him as the mediator between God and man, as the Saviour of finners; that falvation is in him, and in no other; that it is in vain to expect it from bills and mountains; for truly, and alone, in our God is the Salvation of Ifrael. It is in his own light we see the glory and efficacy of his atoning facrifice, whereby he has put away fin, and perfected for ever them that are fanctified. It is in his own light we see the efficacy of his precious blood, whereby the remiffion of our fins is obtained, and our fouls are washed and cleanfed from all fin, and our confciences purged from dead works to ferve the living God. It is in his own light we fee the completeness of his justifying righteousness, which is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, and by which we are juftified from all things from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses. It is in his own light we fee those immense treasures of grace and glory which lie hid in his person; we beheld his glory, the

glory as of the only begotten; and one main branch of that glory confifts in his being full of grace and truth *.

3. The light of the knowledge of gospel-truths is from Chrift; it is he that opens cur understandings, that we may understand the fcriptures. It is he that gives us to know the mysteries of the kingdom. It is he that fends his spirit as the spirit of truth, to lead us into all truth; otherwife the Bible would be a fealed book to us, a book full of riddles: the truths and doctrines contained therein would be as parables, and dark fayings. David knew this full well, and therefore prays after this manner, Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wonderous things out of thy law.

(3.) As the light of nature and grace is from Chrift, fo likewife is the light of glory. Heaven is reprefented to us a lightfom place; it is called, the inkeritance of the faints in light; and all that light that fills it, is from Chrift. That city bath no need of the fun, nor of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God lightens it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. When you are fafely arrived there, all darkness of infidelity, doubts and fears, will then be difpeled, and your fouls will be irradiated with those beams and rays of light from Chrift, which will for ever strike you with wonder and pleasure: then shall you behold his glory, and fee him as he is then shall the fun be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness Shall the moon give light to thee, but the Lord fhall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory; thy fun fhall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord fhall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thus the Urim is with Chrift; all light of nature, grace and glory, is in him, and from him.

2dly, The Thummim is with Chrift; all perfections are in him, he includes and comprehends all.

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1. All divine perfections are in him; in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Whatever perfection is in the Deity, is to be found in Christ; whatever is a divine perfection, he is poffeffed of. Is eternity a divine perfection? It is in Chrift; he is the Alpha and the Omega, the firft and the laft, the beginning and the end; which is, and which was, and which is to come. nipotence a divine perfection? It is in Chrift; he is the Almighty. Is omnifcience a divine perfection? It is in Chrift; he needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man; and therefore Peter appealed to him, as the heart-fearching, and rein-trying God; and faid, Lord, thou knoweft all things thou knowest that I love thee. Is omniprefence a divine perfection? It is in Chrift; therefore he fays, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Is immutability a divine perfection? It is in