abolition of the Levitical priesthood, and of the whole law with which it was connected0 : and the same inference is plainly deducible from the prediction contained in our text.
This observation shews how mistaken the Jews are in think- ing their ceremonial law to be of perpetual obligation ; since their own prophets frequently, and in the plainest terms, inti- mated, that it was intended only for a season, to prepare the way for a better and more spiritual dispensation : and, in con- versing with the Jews, it will be well to shew them this from their own Scriptures, as St. Paul himself has done, in the most satisfactory manner, in his Epistle to the Hebrews.]
2. The nature of that worship which alone is ac- ceptable to God —
[Of the ceremonial observances, when unattended with a spiritual frame of mind, God himself has frequently spoken in
the most contemptuous terms d The temple itself, as
the first martyr Stephen informed the Jews, was despicable in God's eyes, if its ordinances were not administered in a be- coming manner e. It is the incense of a devout spirit, and the offering of a pure heart, that God approves : and wherever these are presented to him, there will he give manifest testi- monies of his favourable acceptance. This is plainly intimated in the prophecy before us ; and by our Lord himself it is un- equivocally declared to the Samaritan woman ; " Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship himf."
This is a point that deserves attention from us, as much as from the Jews. We, no less than they, are apt to rest in ex- ternal observances, and to think that we serve God, if we per- form some outward act which he prescribes. But we must never forget that he looketh at the heart, and estimates all our
services entirely by that " If we draw nigh to him with
our lips, whilst our heart is far from him, we worship him in vainC]
But to enter more fully into the prophecy, we must notice, II. What is expressed in it —
It announces clearly,
c Heb. vii. 11—14.
d See Isai. i. 10 — 14. Jer. vi. 20. Amos v. 21 — 23.
e Isai. lxvi. 1, 2. with Acts vii. 48—50. f John iv. 21, 23.
g Matt. xv. 8, 9.