an innumerable company of angels, to the general Assembly and Church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of AbelV
I would only observe, in order to prevent any misconception of my meaning, that I do not suppose the Israelites to have had a distinct view of these things, such as we have at present ; but that they spake like Caiaphas the high-priest, when he said, " It was expedient for one man to die for the people, rather than that the whole nation should perish1:" they did not understand the full import of their own words ; but God overruled their present feelings so that they spake what was proper to shadow forth the mysteries of his Gospel ; and he then interpreted their words according to the full and comprehensive sense in which he intended they should be under- stood.
We could gladly have added somewhat more in confirmation of the sentiments which have been set before you, and particularly as founded on the passage we are considering ; but your time forbids it ; and therefore we pass on to notice,
II. The dispositions which God approves.
These must be noticed with a direct reference to the sentiments already considered : for God, having said, " They have well said all that they have spoken," adds, " O that there were such an heart in them ! "
It is but too common for those desires which arise in the mind under some peculiarly alarming circum- stances, to prove only transient, and to yield in a very little time to the rooted inclination of the heart. This, it is to be feared, was the case with Israel at that time : and God himself intimated, that the seed which thus hastily sprang up, would soon perish for want of a sufficient root. But the information which we derive from hence is wholly independent of them :
k Heb. xii. 18—24. ' John xi. 49—52.