And the LORD said unto Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.
Ver. 1. Shall bear the iniquity,] i.e., The punishment of whatsoever iniquity is done in the sanctuary. Sin and punishment come under one name, as being tied together with chains of adamant: where the one dines, the other will sup; where the one is in the saddle, the other will be upon the crupper. Nemo crimen gerit in pectore qui non idem Nemesin in tergo. Sin doth as naturally draw and suck judgments to it, as the loadstone doth iron, or turpentine fire.
The iniquity of your priesthood.] Priests then are not angels, free from sin, as that Popish expositures dreamed, and drew from Exodus 30:31,32. Cajetan confesseth of the Popish prelates, that whereas by their places they should have been the salt of the earth, they had lost their savour, and were good for little else but looking after the rites and revenues of the Church. a John Huss complains of the priests of his age, that Multa quae illi ordinem dicunt, omnium rerum in Christianismo confusionem pariunt, b Many things that they call order, bring all into confusion. Non arbitror inter sacerdotes multos esse qui salvi fiant, I believe few of our priests will be saved, saith Chrysostom, c of those of his time. And "from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land"; saith Jeremiah. Jer 23:15
a Comment. in Matt.
b Bellum Hussiticum, p. 9.
c Hom., 3. in Act.