THE ephod was a sacred vestment upon which was suspended the breastplate of judgment, composed of twelve jewels, upon which were engraved the names of the twelve tribes of Israel; and in difficult cases, inquiries were made of God (see Numbers 27: 21), and answers were made, by means of a preternatural illumination upon the breastplate. Such is the opinion of Josephus and other Jewish writers. Doeg, the Edomite, had slain a company of priests; one, escaping, fled to David with an ephod in his hand. Verse 9. Saul, who gave Doeg his commission to slay the priests, was in pursuit of David, who was in Keilah, which city he had just delivered from a foreign foe. Nevertheless, David mistrusted the citizens of Keilah. He calls for Abiathar the priest, by whom he will inquire of God, saying, “Bring hither the ephod.” Under the present dispensation, we have no breastplate of judgment as it was in the Mosaic age; but have we nothing in its stead? The Urim and Thummim were a type: is there no antitype? David was in a difficult position among the traitorous citizens of Keilah; the breastplate of judgment gave forth its decision, and David and his faithful followers were delivered from the hand of Saul, by the means of the ephod of Abiathar, a man of God. Was David ashamed of his deliverer? Was he ashamed of the ephod? Has the breastplate of judgment passed away, and has no antitype followed? Let us examine the pages of the New Testament, and let us decide upon this matter. Simeon and Anna, by divine discernment, fully and unequivocally indorsed the child Jesus. John the Baptist did the same; Peter decides the fate of Ananias and Sapphira, and John and Paul receive special revelations from God. All these proofs of divinity accompany the advent of Christianity into the world; indeed, miracles and miraculous proofs attest every step of the apostles as they proclaim the truth; in seasons of difficulty and danger, they receive divine aid and direction, and enemies are intimidated or won, and the disciples are encouraged. At a later day, wonderful manifestations of divine power accompany the work of God; and the biographies of Whitefield and Wesley, the experience of the reformers of the sixteenth century, and martyrs of the dark ages, and numerous and well-attested facts of every age, go to prove that God has never changed, but is still near to deliver his people. But now, in 1872, popular professors tell us that we need no such light. The fact that miracles have been done, is enough. We need no miracles now. The blind and deaf can go to the asylum. The insane also need no aid; for they can be confined in jails and cells. The sick need no Great Physician, for there are such multitudes of doctors, and oceans of patent medicines, and tons of opium and calomel. And we need no Peters; for if we had them, what would become of all the thousands of Ananiases and Sapphiras? No, the age of miracles has passed away; and the age which can invent sewing machines and steam engines, revolvers and ironclads, is too wise to need special revelations. It is true the book of Revelation was given in the new dispensation; but it is not essential to understand it; the seven thunders were not made known, nor written out; therefore we may as well smother down what is written out, and criminate those who do pretend to understand them. David had need of the ephod; but he had no such police as we have now, who secretly band with criminals, or riot with female convict debauches; who assist in black-mailing virtuous men; who, when business runs low, get up cases to practice upon. No need of the ephod; no, when honesty is banished from high places, and salesmen go from the Senate to the gambling saloon, or the brothel; when lawyers are Catalines, and judges are Jeffreys. No need of the ephod, when pulpits overflow with nasty tobacco spittoons, and vestries are redolent with the fumes of tobacco; and when the pews are only sofas, and the house of God a vast display of broadcloth and silks, and milliners' goods! No need of the ephod, when adultery and theft are the order of the day, and virtue and honesty the exception! when witchcraft is legalized, and the Sabbath outlawed! when shams and hypocrisy are so common that they are “legal-tender.” Now that the thunders of the approaching advent shake the earth, we need no ephod, nor anything like its antitype! Oh, no! no! no! Jos. CLARKE.