as the only means of expiating their offences : our Lord also declared, that he " gave his life a ransom for many ;" and that it was by the shedding of his blood alone, that any could obtain the remission of their sins1.
Moreover, both of them taught in the same maimer. Moses spake, not as one giving advice, but with authority, " Thus saith the Lord ;" yet he instructed the people with astonishing meekness and forbearance : and when they, in direct opposition to what he had taught them, revolted from God, and set up a golden calf, he was so filled with compassion towards them, as to pray, that he himself might be blotted out of the book of God, rather than that they should suffer the punishment due to their transgressions. Thus did Jesus preface his instructions with that authoritative declaration, " I say unto you :" yet so mild was he, that he made his meekness a plea with persons, to encourage them to learn of him ; " Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart :" and to such a degree did he com- passionate the obstinate refusers of his law, that he wept over them, and with his dying breath pleaded their ignorance in extenuation of their guilt g.]
While Moses thus explicitly foretold the prophetical character of our Lord, he declared to us also,
II. Our duty resulting from it —
As all the offices of Christ are replete with benefits to our souls, so each lays upon us some correspondent duties and obligations. While we rely on him as our Priest, and obey him as our King, we must regard him as our Prophet, by attending to his instructions —
This is plainly declared in the text — [" Him shall ye hear," is the command of God. But it is not in a careless manner that we are to regard his voice ; we must incline our ear to him, and hear him with fixed attention. We must so consider the dignity of his person, and the importance of his message, as to receive his word with the deepest reverence ; not gainsaying it, and sitting in judg- ment upon it, but bringing every high thought and every proud reasoning into subjection to it'1. It becomes us also to listen to it with lively joy, as to the voice of our Beloved ; knowing that there is not a word of his lips, in which there are not treasures of knowledge, and inexhaustible fountains of salvation1. Above all, we must attend to it with unreserved submission to his will ; we must obey it " in all things, what-
'" Matt. xxvi. 28. e Luke xix. 11. and xxiii. 34,
h 2 Cor. x. .">. ' Isai. xii. 3.