THE GARMENTS FOR AARON'S SONS.

"And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats. And thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them for glory and for beauty."-Exod. xxviii. 40.

"And they made coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron and for his sons.

"And goodly bonnets of fine linen."-Exod. xxxix. 27, 28.

THE Garments for glory and beauty with which the sons of Aaron were clothed, consisted of coats, girdles, and bonnets of fine twined linen. There was no ornament or embroidery: no gold or brilliant colours. They were arrayed in pure white garments.

Aaron, as the high priest, appeared in the presence of the Lord in a representative character, personating we may say, the whole nation Israel, and upholding it in the glory and beauty required by God; bearing the names of the tribes on his shoulders and breastplate, graven on precious stones. His sons the priests stood in no such official dignity, but had access into the holy place and ministered at the altar, on behalf of the people, not as representing them, but rather as leaders of their worship, and instructors of them in the holy things of God. They were types of one aspect of the church of God— the heavenly priesthood. In the Revelation, the four and twenty elders have a priestly standing; they form the heavenly council, being elders, and therefore also judges. They are seated on thrones, because kings. They are clothed in white raiment, as priests, and they have on their heads crowns of gold, that is, victor's crowns, or chaplets. Chap. iv. 4.

The countless multitude are also seen clothed with white robes; a priestly company serving day and night in the heavenly temple. Chap. vii. 9. The Lamb's wife is seen arrayed in fine linen clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. Chap. xix. 8.*

* In page 6 of this work there is a mistake in the reference to Jeremiah xxiii. 6, and xxxiii. 16. In these two passages the Hebrew is not in the plural. But we find the plural used in Isaiah xlv. 24, "Surely shall one say, in Jehovah have I righteousnesses and strength." In contrast with chapter Ixiv. 6," But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf."

We have white raiment also alluded to in Rev. iii. 4, 18; and in vi. II.

Thus the priestly dress of fine linen, and the garments of unsullied whiteness represent the same thing-spotless righteousness. The standing of the believer in Christ before God; not having his own righteousnesses, but the righteousness which is of God by faith.

There is an interesting passage in Isaiah Ixi. 10, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.”

It will be observed from the margin that this might be translated, "as a bridegroom decketh himself as a priest with ornaments," and the word for ornaments is the same as that used Exod. xxxix. 29, "goodly bonnets. The garments of salvation, the robe of righteousness, are like the bridegroom's priestly glory; and like the bride's adornments. May not this passage in Isaiah have been in the mind of the Spirit of God, when inditing that portion of Rev. xix. 8, referred to above.

The bridal ornaments are the priestly robes of fine linen. Christ our righteousness. The Church will shine forth in His spotless white and glistening raiment, clean and bright, clothed with Christ.

We are exhorted Rom. xiii. 14, to 'put on the Lord Jesus Christ," and in Gal. iii. 27, it is said, "as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ."

As believers in Jesus we have already put on Christ. He is our spotless robe of righteousness. But we have also to remember the exhortation to be constantly putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. Our conduct and walk should correspond with our real standing before God, and our way to aim at this is by setting the Lord alway before us, and seeking to walk in His steps; remembering ever to connect our thoughts and meditations of Him with His death upon the cross; for thereby we shall get the

strength we need, at the same time, that we have before us the perfect example.

In this respect the Lord's people often fail and are discouraged they very properly look at the Lord Jesus as the pattern of what they should be in their Christian course, but they fail to realize the power required in order to follow Him. This arises from their not eating His flesh and drinking His blood whilst they gaze on Him. We shall find many beautiful illustrations of this truth in the Epistles. Paul, when he says, "the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God," immediately adds, "who loved me, and gave himself for me," proving that all his strength was derived from this remembrance of the love of Christ, manifested in His death. Both the Epistles to the Corinthians are filled with direct or incidental allusions to the death of Christ. They are Epistles containing many rebukes, and much practical exhortation. When the apostle Peter puts before those to whom he wrote, the exceedingly difficult grace of bearing patiently sufferings wrongly inflicted, he presents Christ as an example, and adds "who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree-by whose stripes ye were healed."

GIRDLES.

"And thou shalt make for them girdles."-Exod. xxviii. 40.

We have no mention of these girdles as subsequently made in Exod. xxxix. But Moses is directed to gird Aaron and his sons with girdles. Exod. xxix. 9. And he does so as related in Lev. viii. 13. We have allusions in the New Testament to the girdle, both as a portion of the believer's armour, and as a part of his ordinary garments.

"Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God,

that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.' Eph. vi. 13—17.

This Epistle which begins with the perfect rest, and blessing of believers in Christ, ("blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:" "raised up together, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." i. 3, ii. 6.) closes with a description of the most severe struggle and conflict, to which we are continually exposed. It tells us we are seated, and afterwards bids us "stand." It assures us of an inheritance obtained in Christ, but exhorts us to wrestle against enemies usurping possession of the place of our inheritance. It extends the sphere of conflict from the world to the highest heavens; and whilst telling us of the exceeding greatness of God's power towards us, and in us, according to the working of the might of His power which he wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, at the same time encourages us to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. This is ever the order of the Epistles. Our full blessings with all their stability and irreversible security in Christ are first declared; and then follow exhortations to realize and use them, and to live in the power of them. God ever declares the victory won before He sends us into the conflict. We must by faith realize our perfect rest and peace and security, before we attempt to stand in conflict with the foe. We fight from rest and victory, instead of for them.

In this Scripture we are told to put on the whole armour of God, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil; to wrestle against the vast

principalities and powers of wicked spirits, rulers of the darkness of this world; and to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. A wonderful combination of evil spirits with deceits, dark delusions, and fiery weapons arrayed against us. Little do we comprehend the vastness of the struggle, and alas! slow are we often to perceive the snares and guileful devices laid for us. We need to take unto us, and to put on the whole armour of God, that we may "withstand" and "stand." Twice we are exhorted to "stand," for we have no ground to gain; we have only to hold our own. God has raised us up in Christ to the loftiest height of glory-we cannot attain a higher place, for there is none. All we have to do is to maintain our footing firm in the super-heavenly places. The armour for offence and defence has been provided by God, and the strength alone is His.

It is to be observed that the Girdle is mentioned first. "Girded about as to your loins with truth."

And the sword is mentioned last; "the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God." The girdle and sword must be closely connected together, and all the rest of the armour seems, as it were, to be included within these two pieces. Truth is unchangeable, eternal; it can never alter or vary with time or circumstances. It is fixed like the everlasting hills. It is the word of God. It is Christ. The whole strength of the warrior to stand and wrestle depends upon the close fitting of this firm girdle. If his loins be weak, and not knit firmly by this sinew of strength, Satan will soon cast him down from his excellency, and he would then cease to stand in his high calling, and would probably sink into some darkness of the world's delusions: ensnared either by its vanities and glittering honours, or its learned speculations of so called wisdom. Truth, that is, the word of God, all that centres in Christ and proceeds from Him, is our only support and our only weapon; our girdle and our sword.