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IV.

LECT. which the prophets and the pfalms had fet before him, for which he endured the cross and despised the shame of it. This is the priest who faith all these things: it was therefore declared to thofe who were under the law, that there was another high priest, above him that ministered in the tabernacle or temple, by whofe invisible ministration, the offerings of men were to be presented and made acceptable to God. So plain and direct is the doctrine of this pfalm, that St. Peter, by an application of it to the perfon of Chrift, converted three thousand fouls at once.

As the words of the apoftle above-mentioned, relating to the priesthood of Christ, are spoken with reference to the figures and prophecies of the old teftament, it must have been declared therein that we should have a priest higher than the beavens for that fuch an one became us, inaf much as every other would have fallen fhort of what the fcripture had testified by prophetical figns and prophetical words; fome of which I am now to fet before you.

Melchi

IV.

Melchizedec was a fign of the priesthood LECT. of Chrift; being not noly priest of the most high God, but also a king, a person of royal majesty, and in dignity fuperior to the greatest man upon earth, because he blessed the father of the faithful; and the less is blessed of the greater. It follows therefore from this character of Melchizedec, that to the holiness of the priesthood there fhould be added in the person of Chrift the majesty of a king; even of such a king as should have a throne in heaven itfelf. For thus is this prieft fpoken of in the 110th pfalm: The Lord faid unto my Lord, fit thou at my right hand: and in the subsequent verses of the pfalm the fame person is spoken unto as a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedec: therefore the fcripture, under the old covenant, gave notice of a priest who should fit at the right hand of God; and fhould of confequence be higher than the heavens. The argument from this pfalm is every but what the fcripture hath faid on the character and priesthood of Melchizedec is fo important, and withal fo myfterious,

H 4

clear;

that

LECT. that the apostle hath a long and critical

IV.

discourse upon it in the epistle to the Hebrews; of which he himself gives us this as the fum: we have fuch an high priest, who is fet on the right hand of the throne of the Majefty in the heavens.

The interceffion of Chrift as a priest in heaven was fignified yearly in the fervice of the tabernacle, when the high priest went on the great day of atonement into the inner tabernacle or holy of holies with the blood of a facrifice. From whence the fame apostle argues, that Christ as our high priest should enter, not into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us*. The holy place of the tabernacle is applied in the fame manner to the refidence of God in the invifible heavens in the 24th pfalm: Who fhall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who fhall ftand in his holy place? he that hath clean bands, &c, this allude to the ceremony pre

may

* Heb, ix. 24. t

fcribed,

IV.

fcribed, for the high priest to wash himself LECT. with water before he entered the holy place. Then follows a description of the majestic ascension and entrance of the king of glory into the everlasting doors of the heavenly places; and this pfalm is accordingly appointed by the church as one of the proper pfalms for the feast of the afcenfion. A fign was given that the heavenly places were opened, for himself first and for all believers after him, in confequence of his overcoming the sharpness of death. The vail of the temple by which the holy place was separated from the worldly fanctuary, or first tabernacle, was rent miraculously at his crucifixion, and that figure of the heaven was laid open, into which none but the high priest might enter: which circumstance is thus applied for us in the epiftle to the Hebrews; having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holieft by the blood of Jefus, by a new and living way, which be bath confecrated for us through the vail, that is to fay, his flesh; and having an high + See Lev. xvi. 4•

IV.

LECT. prieft over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full affurance of faith, having our hearts fprinkled from an evil confcience, and our bodies washed with pure water*. These last words allude as the correfpondent ones before in the 24th pfalm, to the custom of the high priest washing his flesh with water, before he was permitted to enter into the holy place: which ceremony is applied in the pfalm to the purity of the great high priest himfelf; but in the language of the apostle with equal propriety to all Christians, who are to partake of the benefits of his ministration in heaven, and to follow a pure high priest with purity of conscience.

Another rite pertaining to the priesthood, and of great fignification in the scripture, is that of the high priest's confecration with the anointing oil: a fign of grace and authoriry from the spirit of God; and in virtue of this anointing, the high priest had power to heal the leprofy and other unclean diseases+, that the parties fo cleansed

*Heb. x. 22, &c.

† Lev. xiv. 11.

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