The high priest was arrayed with these splendid garments, here represented, on solemn occasions, when he ministered in the tabernacle and temple; but at other times he wore the common dress of the priests.

The above statement includes the chief particulars relative to the office of the priesthood under the Mosaic law. The Scriptures tell us that Aaron and his successors were figures of the great High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; and several writers have shown, that the circumstances relative to the office, even to the articles of their apparel, had a spiritual meaning. These conveyed instruction, being emblematical of the beauties of the mind which are ornamental to the soul, implying that the priests should be clothed with righteousness, Psa. cxxxii. 9. This desire to spiritualize sometimes may have carried writers too far; but while we consider, as cannot be doubted, that the high priests were types of Christ, we must readily admit that these injunctions are not unworthy of God, nor useless to man, and the subject deserves most serious attention. And especially let us contemplate the high priest as intercessor for the people, the only person permitted to enter into the most holy place, and present the supplications of Israel. When we are assured that Christ brings all the wants, dis- | tresses, and trials of his people before the Father, making them his own, and pleading his sufferings for them, surely we may be induced safely to venture our all upon the work of his priesthood. Christ is a High Priest, who is a reconciler indeed; who presents his people without spot to God, clothed in the robe of his righteousness. All the Mosaic priesthood has, it is true, now ceased in Christ, the end of the law see Heb. vii. viii., but there is a metaphorical priesthood, which the New Testament ascribes to all Christians without exception; thus the apostle addresses the whole body of believers as a royal priesthood, 1 Pet. ii. 9; and, in many respects, the resemblance between this priesthood under the law, and that of the faithful under the gospel, is easily to be traced.

THE BIBLE CLASS.

ESAU'S IMPIETY AND FOLLY.

Gen. xxv. 19-34; Gen. xxvii.; Gen. xxxvi. 1—8; Jer. xlix. 7-10; Heb. xi. 20-xii. 16-17.

IT will be remembered that in former lessons we have confined ourselves to examples from Scripture illustrative of the obedience of faith; in the present we propose to notice a

character the reverse of this: one who, though favoured with early religious training, and surrounded from his youth with religious influences, had little or no fear of God before his eyes.

Esau was the child of Isaac and Rebecca. Esau and Jacob were twin brothers, but in natural disposition and habits of life they were totally dissimilar. Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field, and therefore better fitted for deeds of daring than his brother Jacob; the latter preferred the pastoral life-the calling of his father—as more congenial with his feelings and habits. Judging from appearances, therefore, and considering the daring, adventurous spirit which Esau manifested, he was the one most likely to have obtained the pre-eminence; but, as the Bible teaches, "the race is not to the swift, neither the battle to the strong." Though Esau was endowed with certain qualifications which, to the eye of sense, would point him out as superior, yet grace prevailed, and, according to the prophecy in Gen. XXV. 28, the elder ultimately served the younger.

Very frequently there are favourites in families; while a sincere affection may be felt for all, still peculiar circumstances may seem to render the one more endearing than another. It was thus with Isaac and Rebecca. "Isaac loved

Esau," Gen. xxv. 28, "because he did eat of his venison: but Rebecca loved Jacob." Esau, it was evident, knew how to gain upon the affections of the good old man; he sought to please him, and very often when he returned from the fields he prepared him venison to eat. Rebecca, on the other hand, was mindful of the oracle of God, which had given the preference to Jacob, and therefore, in her love, she preferred him. And if it be lawful for parents to make a difference, to prefer a choice amongst their children on any account, doubtless Rebecca was right in giving that preference to Jacob, whom God had chosen.

Esau is called a "fornicator." Some have regarded the charge as having a reference to idolatry, because the word is often so used in the Old Testament; but it is more natural to understand the word literally, as referring to the circumstance recorded in Gen. xxvi. 34. Here his conduct shows his utter recklessness and folly. He is also said to be a "profane" person. The apostle proves this by his selling his birthright for a single meal. You have the facts of the case recorded in Gen. xxv. Among the Hebrews, as among some other nations, the first-born enjoyed peculiar privileges. In the first place, the first-born had a right to the priesthood in the absence of the father, and after his death; and, in the

second place, to the receiving of a double portion of the father's property above his brethren. Some difference of opinion, however, has prevailed respecting the temporal privileges of the first-born. Some believe that half the whole inheritance was given to the elder brother, and the other half shared in equal parts among the rest. But the Rabbins, on the contrary, inform us that the first-born took for his share twice as much as any of his brethren. Had Esau's birthright involved only temporal privileges-a precedeney above his brother, and a double portion of his father's temporal good-the bartering of it for a mess of pottage was foolish and improvident; still the transaction would scarcely have been called profaneness, which the apostle applies to it. But the birthright was something more important. The promise respecting the inheritance of Canaan, and the promise of a seed in whom all the families of the earth should be blessed, were comprehended in his birthright, and hence an undervaluing of it by Esau amounted to contempt of all these spiritual advantages.

We cannot justify the manner in which Jacob obtained the birthright from his brother Esau. It is highly reprehensible to take advantage either of the necessities or the impatience of others to advance our own interests. Jacob, like an affectionate brother, when Esau came from the fields, and was faint, and desired refreshment, should cheerfully have supplied his wants rather than have bargained with him for his birthright. Probably, however, there had been some previous communication betwixt the two brothers respecting this matter that Esau had often spoken slightingly of the birthright and its advantages, and that this circumstance encouraged Jacob to make the proposal to him; for when it was said, "Sell me this day thy birthright," no surprise was expressed by Esau at the proposal, as might have been anticipated. Dear children, let us learn to love heavenly things better than earthly things, and never sin against God to enjoy the greatest blessings on earth.

The time at length drew nigh when Esau's contempt of the birth-right was to be recompensed. Isaac being now old, and having lost his sight, thought it needful to settle his family concerns, not knowing how soon it might please God to call him hence. He therefore resolved, without delay, to bestow his patriarchal blessing on the first-born, according to the custom of his fathers. No sooner had Rebecca known this, than she resolved, if possible, to secure for Jacob, her younger son, the blessing which Isaac designed for Esau. She therefore clothed Jacob like Esau-prepared savoury meat such as Isaac loved, and sent him into the presence of his father; and thus

from Isaac did Jacob, by deceit and falsehood, obtain the blessing which the patriarch had intended for the first-born. You will find the history fully recorded in Gen. xxvii.

Remember, dear children, how hateful lying is in the sight of God. Rebecca acted, in reference to this matter, on that wicked maxim, "To do evil that good may come." She knew that Jacob was the most fitted for receiving the blessingthat he highly valued it, chiefly on account of the spiritual promises contained in it. Esau, on the contrary, she knew had often shown contempt for the blessing and its promises, and had sold his interest in them, and had taken to himself wives from the idolatrous nations of Canaan; thus plainly declaring, that he neither desired the blessing of Abraham, nor dreaded the wrath of God. Moreover, Rebecca__felt assured that by bestowing the blessing upon Esau, Isaac would be, however ignorantly, opposing the will and purpose of Jehovah. But God does not want any of our artful contrivances to accomplish his gracious designs; and the fact that God designed the blessing to rest upon Jacob, which the patriarch intended for Esau, did not diminish the criminal course adopted for securing it. Lying lips are abomination to the Lord; but they that deal truly are his delight.”—Prov. xii. 22.

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When Esau returned from the field, and found how he had been cheated out of his father's blessing, his soul was filled with sorrow and indignation. When he now saw the blessing put beyond his reach for ever, his grief was excessive; he cried, with a great and exceeding bitter cry, "Bless me, even me also, O my father." In Esau's sorrow, however, there was nothing of a godly character-no abhorrence of his sensuality and profaneness-no acknowledgment of his guilt—no humiliation of soul before God. He was grieved beyond measure with his brother, but he was no penitent. The historian informs us that Esau hated Jacob, because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand, then will Í slay my brother Jacob." Such wrath on the part of Esau was as cruel as it was unnatural, and clearly indicated an unhumbled mind.

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In the Epistle to the Hebrews, xii. 17, the apostle has the following remarkable language, in reference to Esau's profane conduct:"For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." The language, I apprehend, does not imply that Esau carefully sought to repent of his wickedness, and could not, but that

when the blessing had been pronounced upon Jacob, he found it impossible to reverse it, or to change his father's mind. This the historian informs us he attempted to do, but in vain: the benediction had been given, the prophetic words had been pronounced, and though their reversal was sought for by the disappointed Esau, with a great and exceeding bitter cry, the venerable patriarch only replied, "I have blessed him, yea, and he shall be blessed." The bearing of the passage, as used by the apostle, may be easily understood. It does not teach that a sinner cannot repent-that there is no place of repentance found for him-that tears and sorrow for sin will be of no avail; but that if the sinner persist in slighting the invitations and offers of the gospel- if he continue to disregard all the privileges with which he is favoured, until death overtake him, then all will be unavailing. When once the sentence has been pronounced, excluding him from the divine favour, no tears, no supplications, will be of any avail then. "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still."-Rev. xxii. 11.

After this, Esau settled in the mountains, in the southeast of the Dead Sea, and became very powerful. It is considered probable that Isaac, acting by divine inspiration, had directed him to this particular locality, for we find Jehovah himself afterwards declaring, "I have given Mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.”—Deut. ii. 5.

We know nothing certain concerning the death of Esau. It is to be feared he died as he lived-worldly and profane. The Idumæans, or Edomites, were the descendants of Esau, and their history is at once instructive and impressive, presenting a literal fulfilment of prophecy, as also a standing memorial of the awful consequences of an undervaluing of religious privileges. Various travellers have borne testimony how literally the predictions of Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Malachi, concerning Edom, have been fulfilled. "Esau is," literally, at the present day, " made bare, his secret places are uncovered, and he is not able to hide himself. His seed is spoiled, and his brethren and his neighbours, and he is not. For I have sworn by myself, saith the Lord, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach; a waste, and a curse, and all the cities thereof perpetual wastes." Jer. xlix. 10-13. So visibly does the withering curse of an offended God rest upon it.

Every individual who sins away his day of grace, and every nation that does not improve the light which is shining forth to enlighten the world, will be visited with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of

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