external order and decorum*1. Let us then not only " have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove," and, if possible, suppress them.]
d If this were a subject taken either for an Assize Sermon, or a sermon for the suppression of vice, this idea should be enlarged upon.
Lev. xxv. 9 — 11. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound, on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall halloiv the fiftieth year, and pro- claim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you.
IN order that our Lord's descent from Judah and from David should be clear and acknowledged, it was necessary" that the various tribes and families should be kept distinct. With this view many ordinances were appointed for the continuing of every man's inheritance in his own family a. This seems to have been the primary intent of that ordinance which is mentioned in the text. A variety of circumstances in a length of time might produce alienations of pro- perty; and if this had been suffered to continue, a confusion of the families and tribes would have at last ensued. To prevent this therefore, God commanded that on every fiftieth year every inheritance should revert to its original possessor. This season was called the Jubilee; which, while it answered many other important purposes, served in a very eminent manner to typify the Gospel.
We may observe a very strict agreement between the jubilee and the Gospel:
I. In the time and manner of their proclamation —
The jubilee was proclaimed with the sound of trumpets —
a A difficulty on this suhject having occurred, God himself decided it, and grounded a new law on that decision. See Numb, xxxvi.6, 7.