aaron's breast-plate.
Exod. xxviii. 29, 30. And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breast-plate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord continually. And thou shall put in the breast-plate 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.
LITTLE do men in general imagine what treasures of knowledge are contained in the Old Testament. There is not any thing revealed concerning Christ in the New Testament, which was not prefigured in the Mosaic ritual. As every thing relating to his life and death may be clearly seen in the prophets, so every thing relating to his office and character may be learned from the ceremonial law. Even the ornaments of the high-priest were intended to shadow forth some of the most important offices which our blessed Lord sustains. That particular ornament which we propose to notice at present, is the breast- plate of judgment : respecting which we shall point out,
I. Its primary use —
It will be proper, before we speak of its use, to shew what the breast-plate was —
[The priest wore an ephod, (a kind of short coat without sleeves,) made of fine linen, richly embroidered. The breast- plate was a piece of fine linen, which, when doubled, was a span square. Upon that were placed twelve precious stones, each of them having the name of one of the tribes (according to their seniority) engraven upon it. This was worn upon the breast, over the ephod : and the high-priest was to wear it whenever he went into the presence of God : and it was called " the breast-plate of judgment," because God, by means of it,