Hagg. ii. 1 1 — 14. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts ; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy ? And the priests answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean ? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord ; and so is every work of their hands : and that which they offer there is unclean.
THE one great rule of life which was given to Moses, and which is of universal and unchangeable obligation, is the moral law — the law of the ten com- mandments. But the ceremonial law also, which, in its primary use, was to shadow forth the Gospel of Christ, was of a moral tendency, and very instructive in that view. Take the most insignificant of its rites, such as the not wearing a garment of mixed materials, or sowing a field with different kinds of corn, or seeth- ing a kid in its mother's milk ; they were all intended to teach us some practical lessons of great importance. The same we may say of the law mentioned in my text. Jehovah intended to reprove the supineness of his people in neglecting to rebuild the temple. For this end, he directed the Prophet Haggai to consult the priests as to the demands of the law ; and from their answers, to deduce the truth, which he was in- structed to enforce. They acknowledged, that the meat which belonged to the priests, as their share of the sin-offerings, could not, though holy in itself, make any thing else holy which it might come in contact with ; though aperson, who by the touch of a dead body was unclean, would, according to the law, render any thing else unclean which he might chance to touch3.
a Whatever touched the altar was thereby rendered holy, as was also any thing which touched the flesh of the sacrifice (Lev. xxix.37. and Lev. vi. 27.) ; but the cloth, in which such flesh was contained, conveyed no sanctity : but the clothes of one unclean communicated a ceremonial uncleanness. Numb. xix. 22.
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From thence he took occasion to shew them, that the sacrifices which they offered, so far from cancelling their sins, were themselves vitiated, and rendered worthless by their supineness.
Now here was a valuable lesson for them • and it is no less valuable to us ; since it is of use,
I. For the forming of our judgment as to the theory of religion —
To enter into this, consider the precise state of things at that time. The foundations of the temple had been laid several years before. The people having been obstructed in the work, became indiffe- rent to it ; and thought, that, by offering their sacri- fices with regularity, they should supersede the necessity of incurring the expense and trouble of rebuilding the temple. ' Now,' says the prophet, ' your sacrifices themselves, instead of being accepted of God, are detestable in his sight, on account of the hypocrisy which yet reigns in your hearts.' In other words, we may consider him as determining two most important points :
1. That practice is of no avail without principle —
[The Jews supposed that their offering of sacrifices would be accepted, though they were wholly inattentive to the prin- ciples by which they were actuated. And a most common error this is. Men abound in duties, public, social, personal ; and add to these the offices of kindness and liberality to their fellow-creatures ; and then ask with confidence, " What lack I yet ?" Such were the Pharisees of old ; who even went beyond the law in their observances, whilst they " neglected many of the weightier matters of the law — justice, mercy, and truth." But I must declare, that these people labour under a most fatal error : for if St. Paul himself, who was, " touching the righteousness which was of the law, blameless," and who was therefore " alive, in his own estimation, without the law," but, when he saw the defectiveness of his obedience, saw and acknowledged himself to be a dead condemned sinner; if St. Paul himself, I say, so failed in establishing any righteousness of his own, much more must we lay aside such an erroneous conceit, and confess, that without a principle of faith and love we can never find acceptance with our God. We may attend the house of God every Sabbath ; we may go to the table of the Lord ; we may offer some stated prayers also in secret ;