<< Numbers 10: The Law of The Silver Trumpets >>

 1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of  the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps. 3And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 4And if they blow but with one trumpet, then the princes, which are heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves unto thee. 5When ye blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east parts shall go forward. 6When ye blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall take their journey: they shall blow an alarm for their journeys. 7But when the congregation is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. 8And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall be to you for an ordinance for ever throughout your generations. 9And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. 10Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the LORD your God. NUMBERS X

Revelation is to man as a trumpet-call from heaven; hence the prophets are often told to lift up their voices like a trumpet The human race is a grand army of immortals. The journey of life is a series of marches intended by the Captain of our salvation to terminate in heaven. But whether this journey will be successfully accomplished or not depends upon our faithfulness to the directions of our Divine Head, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are His soldiers, and if we obey the pro­clamations of His mercy and wisdom, as given in His word, We are certain of success. If not, we shall miss our way, and fall victims to the enemies who wait around, ready to fall upon the heedless and disobedient The law of the silver trumpets is the law of the nature, uses, and objects of Divine revelation, when it is seen and felt as the utterance of Divine love, and the authorized guide and director of our journey to heaven.

We have mentioned, that to sound a trumpet is, in the language of the Word, to deliver a revelation. When the law was given on Sinai, there was " the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that was in the camp trembled exceedingly" (Ex. xix. 16). The same correspondence of the sounding of a trumpet to the delivery of revelation very clearly appears in the prophecy of Ezekiel: " Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman; if when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning, if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own bead. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, be is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at My mouth, and warn them -from Me" (Ezek. xxxiii. 2-7). The blowing of a trumpet is here, manifestly, the type of the delivering divine warning and revelation. To the prophet Hosea it was said, "Set the trumpet to thy mouth" (Hosea viii. i). When the prophet Isaiah speaks of the Gospel dispensation, he says, " In that day the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to persh in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem" (Isa. xxrii. 13). The great trumpet Gospel. By its means, those who were ready to perish in states of perverted reasoning, like the soaring Assyrians, or of perverted science, like the magic-loving mysterious Egyptians, should be saved by following the joyful sound of life and immortality in the Gospel.

The Lord God shall blow the trumpet, it is said in Ezek. ix. 6. And in the book of Revelation, the disclosure of truth from heaven is called the sounding of one of the seven trumpets by one of the seven angels (Rev. viii. 2). The call of man from pet— "The Irumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (i Cor. xv. 52). In all these cases, the trumpet is the symbol of divine revelation, as the utterance of the love of the Almighty to lead, or warn, or call man to himself. To represent divine revelation in these respects was the purpose of the law we are now considering.

Divine revelation in its letter takes a hard and earthly form sometimes. From -it weapons of fierce spiritual war can be formed; and in this respect it is said, "The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God" (Eph. vi. 17). But the silver trumpets represent the Word in its spiritual beauty and lustre, which, as compared to the letter, is as silver compared to iron. " The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven limes" (Ps. xii. 6). When the Lord came into the world, as our Saviour, He did so to introduce as far as then possible to mankind the spirit of heavenly ail the Jews had known. This is declared in that magnificent passage in the prophecy of Isaiah : " For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron ; I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness" (Isa. Ix. 17). No thoughtful Christian will suppose that the Lord came, or ever comes, to increase our earthly gold and silver. He comes rather to wean our attachments from the splendours of earth, to fix them upon the more lasting gold of inward heavenly love ; to the silver, (ar more lasting and brilliant, of inward heavenly wisdom; for iron I will bring silver. When the Lord is refining the character in the work of regeneration, to raise us to purity of thought and feeling, it is said, " He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver, that they may oner unto the Lord an offering in righteousness " (Mal. iii. 3). And here we may remark, how appropriate silver is as a correspondence to spiritual wisdom. It is white, brilliant and precious. So is the spiritual meaning of the Word. When the letter is at first dark, and difficult to us, but is at length duly opened, and we see the spirit glittering as it were within, it is indeed to the mental eye like silver, beautiful, bright, and unspeakably precious. O may its sweet and silvery lessons be to us as dearest treasure. To teach us then, that it is the spiritual sense of Divine revelation which is intended to guide us, guard us, and call us to heaven, the trumpets were made of silver.

They were two in number, but formed of one piece. The whole spirit of the Word is expressive of love to the Lord, and charity to man. "Jesus said unto him, Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matt xxii. 37-40). To represent this twofold character of the spirit of the Word, then, tbere were two silver trumpets, not one only. Yet they were both formed out of one piece. For, indeed, the truth that we should love our neigh­bour comes out from the grander truth, that we should supremely love the Lord. The apostle John states this very clearly, when he writes, “And this commandment have we from Him, That he who loveth God, love his brother also." — 1 John iv. 21. And again : “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the is the Christ is born of God : and every one that loveth Him that begat love Him also that is begotten of Him”— 2 John v. 1. Both silver trumpets were made of one piece-, to represent to us, that both the grand commandments originate in the love we have for Him who is Love itself. The love and contemplation of His character, and excellencies, lead us to imitate Him; also to love His children, who are His works, and in our spheres to be centres of good, and blessing to all around us, as He is to the whole universe. The two great spiritual truths which form the essence of the Word, spring from the one, that we are to love, the fountain of all good. The two silver trumpets were made of one piece.

Another idea is intimated by this command to make them of one piece. That, namely, of the entire harmony of the spiritual sense of the Word, with itself. The letter, which is given, for the natural man, and intended to rouse him both by appeals to his curiosity, to his fears, and to his hopes, is expressed often in the language of appearance. The punishments which assuredly follow disobedience to law, and which the evil man supposes to be inflicted by God, although, in reality, they come from him-self, are, in the letter of the Bible, ascribed to God to give to the sinner the certainty of their infliction. Because, also, they do come from opposition to those laws which Infinite Love and Wisdom gave to the universe, and sustains in it. The letter of the Word is varied in its style, according to the age, and the circumstances in which its several parts were revealed. But the spiritual sense is free from these irregularities. It is harmonious throughout. It speaks ever in accordance with genuinie truth. It is bright and coherent everywhere. It is silver, all of one piece.

But let us turn now from the composition of the trumpets, to their use.

Firstly. They were to be used to call the people to the assemblies. “And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." — ver. 3.

Secondly. They were to excite to, and direct the joumey of the people. “When ye blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east parts shall go forward. When ye blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall take their joumey : they shall blow an alarm for their journeys." — verses 5, 6.

Thirdly. The trumpets were to be sounded, when an enemy appeared in their land to oppress them. '' And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets ; and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies." — ver. 9.

Fourthly. The trumpets were to be blown on the days of rejoicing. ''Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginning of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt-offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace-offerings ; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God. I am the Lord your God." — ver. 10.

Let us now consider the lessons which these uses of the silver trumpets were designed to indicate in relation to our Christian journey, and Christian duties.

The first use of the trumpets then was to call the assemblies to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, there to hear the will and decisions of the Most High. In like manner we are called by the silver trumpets of the Word to assemble together in the name and in the presence of that glorified Divine Man who said, “I am the door ; by me, if any man shall enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." — John x. 9. The whole spirit of the Word calls us to worship Him, and to learn of Him. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev. xix. 10). Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David, were all types of Him ; some in one respect, some in another. One shadows Him forth as the Father ; another, as the conquering Saviour ; another, as the King of his people. The silver note of the spiritual trumpets calls us to Him, and assures us, that where two or three are gathered together in His name, He will be in the midst of them. They will find him the door to every blessing. Light flows from Him. “He is the true Light which enlighteneth every man who cometh into the world," — John i. 9. Love comes from Him. We love Him, because He first loved us. Power to vanquish evil comes from Him. '' Without Him we can do nothing." — John xv. 5. He feeds the soul with goodness, He is the bread of life. He gives fortitude and perseverance in our souls' conflicts. He watches over our struggles, and says, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life." — Rev. ii. 10. " He is, indeed, Lord of all." — Acts x. 36. And to all who have fully enrolled themselves among the Israel of God, " Christ is all in all." — Col. iii. 11. Before every other duty, then, the silver trumpets call us to the Divine Door of the Godhead. Let us ever joyfully listen and obey. From the Lord Jesus we shall derive acceptanoe, comfort, and courage. “Come unto me," he says, “and I will give you rest.” The love of God manifest in His becoming our Redeemer, is so great, that we cannot doubt of it; we cannot despair. He who came to earth, to seek and to save that which was lost, will not reject us when we go to Him. Oh no : He on the contrary said, “Whosoever will come unto me I will in no wise cast him out." When, then, in care and in sorrow, in weakness and fear, in the darkness of doubt, or tossed on the waves of anguish, we remember our high capabilities as heirs of immortality, destined for heaven, let us hear, with hearts energetic from hope, the sound of the silver trumpets, which call us to the door of the tabernacle of the Godhead.

When we have been to the Lord Jesus Christ in worship, and to learn His will, we shall find the second use of the silver trumpets will be unfolded to us. We must march on. Regeneration is a journey, in which we advance from state to state, as from stage to stage in outward travel. We begin in Egypt, we must reach Canaan. The silvery music will call us forward. The import of its sound is this. Arise, for this is not your rest, for the whole land is polluted. “Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord has arisen upon thee.'' — Is. lx. 1. Arise, child of heaven, from the selfishness, and darkness in which thou hast been enshrouded. Arise from the slavery and pollution of sin, to the glorious liberty of the children of light. Move on.

But, let us notice the order prescribed for the march. '' When ye blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east parts shall go forward." The spiritual Sun is the Lord. " Unto you that fear my name, saith the Lord, shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.'' — Mal. iv. 2. The east, where the sun rises, is expressive in spiritual language of that reverence and love for the Lord in which He rises, and shines over the soul. Love turns the soul to its Saviour, and He is ever ready to shed a new rosy morning of beauty and blessing over the humbled heart and contrite spirit.

“O blest be His name who in sorrow's stem hour,
Hears the prayer of affliction, and sends forth His power.
Like the moon o'er the valley, night-shadowed and dim.
O'er the heart breathes the spirit of mercy from Him.
Bless, bless His name.”

The garden of Eden was said to be planted in the east The glory of the God of Israel came to the temple Ezekiel saw in vision, from the east. The wise men came from the east to worship the Lord. In all these cases and in every other where the east is spoken of in the Word, it corresponds to a state of love to God, in the heart, except when a condition of things opposite to the heavenly one is described, when man idolizes himself as a sun, and then the east to each a son describes the love of self, which leads to the most despicable idolatry.

The camps on the east side were to move at the first sound of the silver trumpets, to teach us that in our heavenly journey we should always move from love. My son, give me thy heart, says Divine Wisdom. Without the heart turning to God, and striving for heaven, there is no real progress. Let the camps on the east side move forward, when the spirit of the Holy Word is heard, calling us sweetly to advance ; and “Blessed is the people, that know the joyful sound ; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance." — Ps. lxxxix. 15.


Next, however, it is said, '' When ye blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall take their journey." The south is the quarter where the sun is at noon, when he throws his greatest splendour over the earth, and it represents a state of the soul in great heavenly light. When we look to the east, the south is the right hand side. Hence both these terms are used, in the spiritual language of the Word, to express states of illumination. Thus in Psalm cxxvi 4, ''Turn again our captivity, Lord, as the streams n the south." The streams in the south, are the free flowing waters of heavenly intelligence. The holy waters which the prophet Ezekiel beheld came from the south side of the altar (xlvii. 1). When the Psalmist describes a state of deep suffering in temptation, he writes, '' And I said, This is my infirmity, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High." — Ps. lxxvii. 10. To remember the years of the right hand, is to remember the states of previous light, and joy, to be comforted when all is blank and dreary with the treasured remembrances of days gone by ; in which a holy light shed its cheer over the mind, and we basked in the favour of heaven. To teach us, then, that while the heart moves on, the intellect must follow, it is said at the second alarm, '' Let the south side go on their journey."


The lesson indicated by this portion of our subject has, alas, been often strangely neglected. In some cases as strangely denied, as if religion were not a thing of light, as well as a thing of love. The Divine Being, however, shows us by this law, his desire that our understandings should be enlightened, as well as the heart warmed. In fact, this He has ever done. In the Old Testament, His servants were taught to say, '' The Lord is my light, and my salvation, whom shall I fear?" Again: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord : though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow: though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." — Is. i. 18. That the reason of man should be enlightened equally with his heart, being purified, has ever been the doctrine of revelation. Indeed, the truth we do not understand has not yet a fixed home and influence in the mind.


The Lord Jesus said, “When any one heareth the Word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.” — Matt. xiii. 19. The Word understood and loved, is the Word that saves. Hence, while the heart is ever the most important in the divine estimation, the eyes are also ever directed to be opened and used. As the heart becomes purer, the eyes will be more fully brought into the light. '' Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.'' These, then, are the truths which are indicated by the movement of the eastern side of the host forward on their journey, and then the advance of the south.


Next we are carried forward to the contemplation of the third use of the trumpets ; to sound an alarm when the enemies within the land seek to oppress.

When the Israelites commenced their journey after their passage of the Red Sea, it was under circumstances of great splendour and joy. The Egyptians, their former cruel oppressors, had sunk in the Red Sea, and would be seen no more. They beheld the guiding pillars of a cloud by day and fire by night leading them on, and they expected a speedy and triumphant entrance into the land which was to be their final and glorious inheritance. When, however, they commenced their march, the realities they found were very different from their glowing anticipations. Dangers and distresses lay before them. Enemies hovered around them. Many a toil had to be endured. Many a struggle for life and progress entered upon. Forty years of chequered pain and pleasure, must be passed. Sometimes glorious scenes, and sometimes terrible enemies were discovered by them, ere they came to Jordan. And when they entered the promised land, they found it was inhabited by polluted and idolatrous tribes, which could only be driven out by little and little. It was only in the time of Solomon that they could be said to have obtained full, final, and peaceful possession.

All this is the exact type of the Christian's hopes and the Christian's journey. We begin our regeneration by forsaking the grosser sins to which we have been accustomed, and we think we have left all that is offensive in the sight of heaven. We are full of joy at having broken our bonds. We spring forward with alacrity. Divine mercy gives us an abundance of high delight, and happy feelings. Angels rejoice with us. The veil of the future hides from us the trials which yet lie before us, and we anticipate in our new career only a succession of peaceful and happy states. We have felt the blessedness of the man whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is covered (Ps. xxxii. 1). We suppose our evils are all obliterated, and henceforth there is no struggle before us, but only peaceful triumph. We think we are wholly given up to God and goodness, and so we shall continue. Alas I we have in this but little conception of the wonderful nature with which we are endowed, or of the extent of the ramifications of evil. Each mind is a world in ruins. The soul is organized more astonishingly even than the body, and each organ or principle is more or less perverted. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. From the crown of the head, to the sole of the foot, we are full of wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores. Could we see ourselves as we really are, we should shudder at the view. No sudden transformation of the whole man is possible. If his entire evil nature were at once taken away, there would be very little of him left. Besides, the heavenly nature is to be acquired in freedom. The building which is to last for ever, can only be slowly erected. By little and little must the evils of the soul be discovered to man, and rejected by him, in the trials and temptations which Divine Mercy will suffer him to endure only as he becomes capable of conquering in them. Adored be the tender care of our Heavenly Father and Saviour who finds us leprous in sin, but leads us to the heavenly waters to wash again and again, until we come out with our fiesh as a little child. “He finds us in a desert land, in a waste, howling wilderness ; he leads us about, he instructs us, he keeps us as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fiuttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings : so the Lord alone does lead us, and no strange god is with us." — Deut. xxxii. 10 — 12. If we wish to have a vivid idea of the slow change which takes place in the affections of man, let us only reflect what effort and perseverance it requires to conquer a single bad habit. How difficult it is to bring ourselves even to the determination to strive against it. How painful to resist the inclination to fall back upon it again, after it has, to all appearance, been mastered.


And if this be the case with insignificant habits, how much more must it be with the change of the very principles and foundations of the character? Yet this is what regeneration has to effect. The lover of impure pleasure must become pure in heart. The worldly man must be brought to love the treasures which make the soul rich before God, rather than the fleeting things of earth: the selfish man must deny himself, and substitute for self-will the pure government of justice, truth, and love : the vain man must abase himself, and exalt the love of right : the slothful man must renounce his interior disinclination to disturb himself for the good of others, and receive from heaven an ardent and untiring love of usefulness. To all men the Lord Jesus says, " Ye must be born again." Who is sufficient for these things struggles innumerable must take place before the battle of life is over.







"Nor will I dream the heart and life
Are in a moment clean :
For long and painful is the strife
Which most be felt within."

Were we left to ourselves, we might well turn back in despair, and die. But happily, what is impossible to man, is possible with God. He can give us a new nature : He can give us the victory again and again : He can and will protect us. He intended each one of us for heaven, and He will be with us in all our conflicts with our sins and failings, until we have acquired that inward heaven, without which we never could be happy anywhere (Luke xvii. 21). " Fear not," His divine promise runs, " for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by my name ; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee ; and through the rivers they shall not over flow thee : when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." — Isa. xliii 1, 2.


When, then, our internal enemies, the plagues of our own hearts, appear to us, and dispositions which we supposed were for ever done with, are met again and again, let us not quail nor bolt; disspirited. With divine help, we shall overcome them; and triumph until the last enemy is overthrown. But the Lord saves us by His Word. This is the lesson intended by the use of the silver

trumpets which we are now considering : “If ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets ; and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies." " We wrestle not," saith the apostle, “against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." — Eph. vi. 12, 13. When, then, my beloved hearers, selfishness riseth up in your land to oppress you, when like a serpent it crosses your path, and would overcome your devotion to heavenly principles ; when you have laboured against it, wrestled with it, and feel the struggle to be a hard one, go to the Divine Word, and hear its holy sound. Let its voice of love and mercy be heard in your spirit like the silvery tones of heavenly trumpets, and by its truth and power you will

be saved. O how like the tones of a heavenly trumpet are those precious words of the psalmist, "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder ; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under foot. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him. I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble ; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life I will satisfy him, and grant him my salvation." — Ps. xci. 13—16.

So, whatever bo the evil by which we are assailed, and their name is legion for they are many, we must go to the Word ; let its voice be heard ; like heavenly music, it will impart courage, light, perseverance, patience, and indomitable determination to conquer every opposing lust, inclination, temper, principle, habit, fancy and pursuit, which we perceive to be contrary to the spirit of religion and of heaven. that we may ever remember this blessed truth! Go to the Word for encouragement and strength. Blow the silver trumpet, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. The Word, read and pondered in the spirit of prayer, is the divine safeguard for the struggling Christian. “They cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. He sent his word, and healed them and delivered them from their destructions." — Ps. cvii. 19, 20.

The Word assures us of the presence of the Lord, and of His angels. It is as the sound of a host of friends approaching like the heralds of heaven, announcing the Saviour. And if in prayerful devotion we listen to its teachings, the tempters of the soul must fly from its sphere and presence.

" Prayer makes the darkened cloud withdraw, .
Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw.
Infernals tremble when they see
The contrite heart, and bended knee."

Such, then, is the encouraging divine instruction conveyed in the spiritual import of this use of the silver trumpets. Let us never forget it. We shall have our conflicts and trials. We have to labour, and bear the burden and heat of the day. In our own strength, we can neither grow in goodness, nor conquer our evils. But how delightful it is to think there is a refuge which will strengthen us, and be perfected in our weakness. We have a charm which is sufficient infallibly to give us the victory,— the Word of our God, which abideth for ever. The silver trumpets are there; let us blow them, and we shall assuredly be saved from our enemies.

The last use of the trumpets was, that they should be blown on the days of solemn rejoicing. "Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings ; that they may be to you a memorial before your God : I am the Lord your God.''

It is sometimes a serious omission in the life of a Christian, when he forgets to sanctify, by the voice of religion, his joys as well as his sorrows. Our Lord said, " I come not to take away your joy from you, but that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be Me.'' All innocent joys have their origin in heaven ; but especially such as spring up within us, when we have conquered an evil, been faithful in a duty, and tasted the “luxury of doing good." On our days of gladness we should see that all our feelings are such as are under the influence of the Holy Word. Were it not for sin, all our days, like those of heaven, would be days of gladness. The purification of our joys, then, is one of the great works of our regeneration. Let us blow with the silver trumpets on our days of gladness, and on our solemn days. There are states, which recur from time to time, of peculiar solemnity, when conscience is more than usually earnest with us; states of self-examination, states of solemn thought, states of recollection of mercies and blessings formerly received, states of self-dedication to high and holy objects ; these are our solemn days. The Israelites had three most solemn feasts : the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of first fruits, and the feast of ingathering. And these are the correspondences of three solemn periods in our regenerate life. The period when we resolved to quit a life of evil, and entered upon our passover,

or feast of unleavened bread ; when we commenced the reception of the bread of heaven, though as yet to us tasteless, like unleavened bread ; then comes the period when faith enables us, under its influence, to bring forth the first-fruits of a harvest of virtues and graces to be repeated for ever ; and lastly, the feast of spiritual ingathering comes on, that matured state of the soul when charity rules in the heart, and perfect love casteth out fear. It has been first the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear, as our Lord described. And when we can feel gratefully assured that such states have been secured in us, these are occasions for solemn rejoicings. These, too, should ever be in harmony with the sweet spirit of the Word of the Lord. Blow with the silver trumpets over the solemn days. There are minor solemnities connected with the varied events of life which induce in thoughtful minds solemn states: the births, the marriages, and the deaths of those we love, the serious circumstances of our families and our country ; all these make solemn days ; let the spirit which rules over them be the spirit of love to the Lord, and charity to man. Blow the silver trumpets over the solemn days.

There is mention made also of the beginning of the months, and as there is a perfect correspondence between outward nature, and man's spiritual and interior existence, there is a correspondence in this respect also. The months are the times which depend upon the moon ; and the moon is the symbol of faith in the soul. As faith has its variations in the soul, sometimes being

bright and luminous, at others dim and obscure, its changes are represented by those of the moon. The beginning of a month is therefore the commencement of a now state of faith in the soul, when after being in obscurity, we enter into dear and holy light, on things divine. The tree of life is said to bear twelve manner of fruits,- -one for every month ; implying that in every state of

mind, and in every change of circumstances in our Christian life, we may receive from the Lord within, the power of bringing forth the appropriate works of piety and justice.

At the beginning of our mental changes, in the attainment of new views on subjects of faith, we should observe that they are in harmony with the essential principles of the spirit of the Word; of love to the Lord, and charity to man. Blow the silver trumpets in the beginning of the months.

And, lastly, over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings.

Our offerings at this day are all spiritual. Yet are we as truly called upon to make them as were the Jews. To us, as to them it is said, " The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar : it shall never go oat" — Lev. vi. 13. We should be prepared to worship the Lord at all times, in acts of praise, and in acts of usefulness. We worship the Lord in praise and prayer, in public and private devotion. And this, when it is done from love and interior devotion, is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour onto the Lord. But we can worship the Lord indeed, in everything we do. This latter worship is the very end, for which the former was instituted — to obey is better than to sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. It is beautiful to assemble together to pray for the supply of our necessities, especially our spiritual ones, to praise for blessings already enjoyed, to hear the divine counsel unfolded, and to devote our selves afresh to carry out the sacred laws of heavenly order. When love glows in the heart on such occasions, a burnt-offering is made of a purer kind than that which arose from the altars of Aaron. But still more beautiful is the sacrifice of the whole life, from love, so that every purpose is pursued, and every duty performed with regard to justice and judgment, which are the Divine will. When we seek for affection, for light, and strength, to do this in all things, we follow the Lord's admonition, “to pray always and never faint." Each sacrifice involved three things — the devotion to the Lord of what is good in us, the rejection of what is impure, and the blending together of goodness and truth in our intentions and thoughts, represented by the sprinkling or pouring the blood upon the altar. O may we be sanctified by the truth to realize these sacrificial objects! Our divine head and example, the Lord Jesus Christ, sanctified Himself, and became a whole burnt-offering ; perfected, by complete dedication to the Father within. He is the Passover who was sacrificed for us. Let us follow Him in self-dedication. Worship in prayer, and worship in work : these are both essential in the Christian character. Let ours be a series of such sacrifices, both burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. The burnt-offerings were fixed sacrifices for certain defined objects : the peace-offerings were voluntary sacrifices. Life consists of fixed duties, and free-will efforts. Let both be performed in the spirit of devoted self-dedication, under the divine spirit of the Holy Word. The silver trumpet must sound over our burnt-offerings and our sacrifices of peace-offerings, that they may be to us a memorial before the Lord our God. Our worship and our works are, indeed, for a memorial to eternity, when they build us up for heaven. It is a consideration we sometimes overlook, that all our deeds have an inner, as well as an outer side. The motives and principles in which they originate, have as decided an effect upon the inner man as the acts themselves have upon the outer world ; and even it may be a greater effect. Works are effected in the outer world, and these will endure for a time, perhaps for a long time, but at length they they will perish; works are accomplished within which will last forever. The love which aims at the happiness of those around us builds up within us holy hopes and holy feelings The faith which reposes upon the Lord, and His Word, builds up bright views, noble expectations, plans, and purposes, and convictions, bringing the whole mind into the order and harmony of heaven. The resolute resistances we make to evil within and without us ; the objects of charity and justice we labour to effect, all form the soul, to be a memorial before the Lord our God. No soul can be happy in the eternal world, but one which has become in this world accustomed to the glorious principles of the other. A spirit accustomed to respire with delight in the atmosphere of impure thoughts which surrounds the impious and polluted, could not

breathe in the air of heaven. A heart hot with revenge, or with lust, would cringe and writhe beneath the glow of heavenly love, like a tormented serpent. An intellect accustomed to the darkness and deceit of folly and falsehood, would fly like a terrified owl from the light of heaven. The whole organized mass of selfishness and sin, which composes the spirit of a hardened bad man, is in bitterest contrariety with the order of the inner world. Every law of heaven smites him. Were he forced into heaven, he would be unutterably agonized at every pore. Hence the indispensable necessity for regeneration announced by our Divine Saviour, " Ye must be born again.'' The kingdom of God is within you. There is no peace, there can be none for the wicked. But when the soul by worship, by self-sacrifice, by self-dedication to all that is pure, peaceable, elevating, wise, noble and virtuous, builds up in itself angelic states, these are works which will be taken with it beyond the grave. These are a memorial imperishable before the Lord. This memorial is written upon the heart, written upon the mind, written upon all its powers, and written upon the life. Its characters are everlasting, as the soul itself. It is a memorial before Him to whom all hearts are known ; before the Lord our God.

In conclusion, the adorable Giver of the ordinances before us reminds us that He is Divine Love itself, and Divine Wisdom itself, in the impressive sentence, " I am the Lord your God." The LORD, or Jehovah, is expressive of the very BEING, of the Eternal, and God is Love. The term God, which in the Hebrew is expressive of power, imports the divine Truth without which love, even Infinite Love, cannot effect its objects. By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made. Men are sanctified by the truth. Truth is the spiritual power by which love acts, illuminates, guards, and saves. When then we can have directions for our guidance endorsed with the declaration, " I am the Lord your God,” let us gratefully accept the counsels which have issued from the sources of all goodness and intelligence, the Divine Love and Wisdom of the Eternal Himself.

In conclusion, let us he grateful for the provision, by our adorable Lord, of the interior truths of His Word, the silver trumpets of heaven. Let us seek to find them by reading, by thought and meditation, until we have individually realized the promise of our Heavenly Father and Saviour, "For iron I will bring silver." When we have acquired the clear perception that all truth hangs upon the two grand laws of love to God, and love to man, then let their silvery voice be heard over all the circumstances of our lives. Let them be heard calling as from sabbath to sabbath to the public worship of the Lord Jesus Christ, — the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Let them be heard directing our attention to Him in our morning and evening devotions. When we have attained light and strength in prayer, they ever call us to march on, to progress. Let us go forward with a glowing, firm, and fervent will, and then strengthen and confirm our progress by the light of a full and active intellect. Let the east go first, and the south afterwards. When enemies appear in our land, the foes which have been lurking in heart and mind, the silver trumpets make their sound heard, calling us to faithful, but to loving and patient resistance. Let us be fearless, but gentle ; firm, but kind. No spirit of fretfulness, impatience, or despair should be heard within us, but the spirit of the Divine Truth, — the sound of the silver trumpets. And when our days of struggle have been followed by days of gladness, let our joys be as sacredly in harmony with heavenly wisdom, as our struggles have been. In all our solemn days, let the trumpets sound. Let us, in fact, place our whole lives under the government of the hallowed directions of the two universal truths of heaven, so that at home and abroad, in the closet, and in public ; in heart, and in act, in thought and word, in devotion and in practice, the silvery notes of heavenly wisdom may sound ; and at length when the last trumpet which calls us from earth may be heard, its hallowed import will be no words of terror or dread, but those divine expressions heard by the beloved John, and we can say like him, I heard a voice as of a trumpet talking unto me, saying, '' Come up hither."

" No ills in death my soul shall fear.
For still my Shepherd will he near;
His peaceful comforts will be given,
Whilst angels bear me up to heaven.”

Author: JONATHAN BAYLEY --From The Divine Word Opened (1887)