Exod. xxx. 7 — 10. And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet in- cense every morning : tohen he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall bum incense upon it ; a perpetual incense before the Lord, throughout your generations. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt-sacrifice, nor meat- offering ; neither shall ye pour drink-offering thereon. And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin-offering of atonements : once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations. It is most holy unto the Lord.
THE little acquaintance which Christians in gene- ral have with the Mosaic Law, unfits them for the reception of that instruction which the Law is well calculated to convey. Doubtless, to find the precise import of all its ordinances is beyond the power of man. But there is much of it explained in the New Testament ; and much may not improperly be ex- plained from analogy ; and the light which it reflects on the truths of Christianity would richly repay any efforts that were made for the discovery of it.
In the altar of incense, in its materials, for instance, or its structure, we are not aware that any mystery of practical importance is contained, except indeed that it was preeminently holy, and therefore required peculiar sanctity in those who should approach it. Its situation too, as immediately before the mercy- seat, and separated from it only by the vail which divided the sanctuary from the holy of holies, marked in a peculiar way, that those who burnt incense upon it were to consider themselves as more than ordinarily nigh to God, and to have in exercise every disposition that became them in so high and holy an employment. The use to which it was or- dained, is the point to which I would more particu- larly call your attention. And we may consider it, I. As a typical institution —
And here are two things particularly to be noticed in relation to it ; namely,