THE HIGH PRIEST'S DRESS.

"And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord continually.

"And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the Lord: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually." EXODUS xxviii. 29, 30.

WHEN the tabernacle and its furniture had been arranged, Moses received orders concerning the priesthood. He is told who is to be set apart for the office, how they are to be dressed, what they are to do, and how to be consecrated upon first entering the holy office.

First it is said to him, "Take thou unto thee Aaron and his sons with him from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office." It was not anybody that might be taken for the office; the appointment was of God of a certain family, and out of a certain tribe, that it might be known to be of God's and not man's appointment. The family or persons thus

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singled out were henceforth to be viewed as holy, and qualified to do a work which other persons might not undertake. A A person who interfered with the priest's work was always punished severely. Even a king was smitten. with leprosy for presuming to burn incense in the temple. (See Chron. xxvi.) The priests on that occasion said, "It belongeth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense." This is intended to teach us that no man may meddle with the work of Christ, the great High Priest. He is the only Mediator between God and man. He only is able to undertake the great work of sacrifice and intercession in behalf of sinners. It is an awful thing to attempt to interfere with that great work.

The next thing Moses is told about is the dress of the priests, and especially the high priest, whose dress was very beautiful and rich. "Thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for beauty."

As Aaron in his office of priest was a type of Christ, so also his very garments had a meaning in them, and teach us something concerning Christ. They are called "holy garments," for holiness was the end of their use, and holiness the lesson they teach.

In the Gospels the Lord is pleased to use the figure of a wedding garment to instruct us as to our need of spiritual clothing in which our souls must appear before God; in the same way, the dress of the high priest is a fit figure of the beautiful garments of a spiritual nature in which Christ our Saviour is clothed.

The garments ordered were these, "a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre and a girdle." Some of these had very marked meanings, and are very instructive in the work of Christ. This is the case especially with the breastplate, as we shall see.

But first concerning the ephod, which was the outermost garment of the priest. A linen ephod was worn by the common priests, and one interwoven with gold by only the high priest. We read of Samuel being clothed in one. (1 Sam. xi. 18.) "But Samuel ministered before the Lord being a child, girded with a linen ephod." David wore one when he danced before the ark. (2 Sam. vi. 14.) But the high priest's was called "golden," for much gold was woven into it. It was a short coat without sleeves, buttoned close with a "curious girdle" of the same stuff. In allusion to this, Christ, our High Priest, appeared to John "girt about the paps with a golden girdle." (Rev. i. 13.) This was the curious girdle of the ephod.

Another important part of the dress was a golden band that was worn across the mitre. which the high priest wore on his head. "Thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD; and thou shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre, upon the forefront of it it shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord." (Exod. xxviii. 36-38.) This was to remind the worshippers that holiness became God's house, and that the end aimed at in all the appointed garments and sacrifices, and acts of worship on the part of the high priest was that the Lord might be approached in all holiness; and so as the worshippers would know that the priest could not go into the sanctuary without this engraving of holiness on his forehead, so they would be reminded that the God whom they served "could not look upon iniquity," and "without holiness no man should see the Lord." The golden plate of holiness which Christ our great High Priest wears in the sanctuary of heaven in the presence of God, is the pure attribute of holiness which

belongs to Him as the Son of God of pure and spotless character. The "iniquity of our holy things" is thus borne by Him, as He intercedes for us and presents our prayers to the Father. Through Him what is amiss in our services is pardoned.

Another particular in the dress named here, were the ornaments upon the skirts of the "robe of the ephod." These were to be "golden bells and pomegranates round about, and it shall be upon Aaron to minister; and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not." The pomegranates added to the beauty of the robe, and the sound of the bells gave notice to the people in the outer court when he went in to the holy place to burn incense, that they might then apply themselves to their devotions at the same time, and thus let their prayers ascend up before God with the incense which betokened their acceptance. May we not say, Blessed are they that know the joyful sound of the entrance of the great High Priest of the Gospel into the holy of holies, and who lodge their prayers in His holy hands, and trust to the sweet incense of His merits.

Next to these let us notice the "breastplate which was worn upon the ephod. It had on