on all He is called a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation He is merciful and faithful Pray observe that the High Priests under the Law tho they were good men and godly men yet they fell short much in point of faithfulness to God and his People as for Example Aaron was a good Man yet he was not faithful in his Office for you know he turned aside with the People and made a Golden Calf here Aaron shewed his wickedness and unfaithfulness So old Eli he was a Godly man yet he failed of his faithfulness he suffered his Children to make themselves vile and restrained them not and so brought Judgment upon his House and therefore saith the Apostle the Law made Priests of men that had infirmities Aaron was a man that had infirmities and his Sons had infirmities that they were destroyed by Fire before the Lord. Eli had his infirmity but our Lord Jesus Christ he is without infirmity he is holy and harmless and therefore he had his Priesthood put upon him The Lord hath sworn and will never repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck But to proceed to the next verse Christ being thus solemnly Instituted in his office never to be changed saith the Apostle in the next words By so much was Jesus made a Surety of a better Covenant By so much that he was made a Priest by the Oath of God by so much he was made a Priest of a better Covenant of a better Testament Now for that we must consider what the Office of a Surety is and then why Christ is said to be Surety of a better Covenant as he is the Priest of God and confirmed by his Oath First For the Surety you know he is a person that engageth himself for another Prov. 6. 1. My Son if thou be Surety for a Friend if thou hast stricken hands with a stranger c. How is that It may be a stranger he comes and challenges a debt of your Friend and your Friend he carries it very friendly with you to have you engage with the stranger for his debt and strike hands with him and to become Surety for your Friend In this sense Christ is called our Surety because it is the Office of the Priest to stand between God and Man and to offer up satisfaction by way of Sacrifice either typical or real Thus our Lord Jesus Christ in this respect is called our Surety Why because he undertakes for us to God and for God to us again He undertakes to satisfie the will of God And what is the will of God Why the will of God is to fulfil all Righteousness that is the will of God Jesus Christ as our Surety hath fulfilled all Righteousness Rom. 5. 19. For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous So 2 Cor. 5. 21. For he hath made himself to be sin for us that knew no sin that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him And thus as our Surety he hath fulfilled all Righteousness for us And then as the Surety of the Covenant so he doth confirm all the Promises of God in the Covenant to us He engages for the Promises Hence you have that in 2 Cor. 1. 20. For all the Promises of God in him are yea and in him Amen So that we look to our Surety to fulfil all things for us And we look to our Surety that we have the Covenant and Promises made good to us For all the Promises are in him Yea and in him Amen But saith the Apostle he is made a Surety of a better Covenant or a better Testament For the word is rendred both ways Sometimes a Covenant sometimes a Testament But how is Christ Surety of a better Covenant I answer not better in respect of the matter of it or the substance of it For God in that Covenant did make himself over to his people to be their God And all Believers were saved by Faith as we are It was not better in respect of the matter of it But better in a threefold respect 1. Better in respect of a clearer and fuller manifestation to God in the Covenant The Covenant before us was under a Veil therefore saith the Apostle Eph. 3. 4 5. Whereby when ye read ye may understand the knowledge of the Mystery of Christ which in other Ages was not made known unto the Sons of men as it is now revealed 2. Better in respect of the confirmation of it Heb. 9. 15 16. For this cause speaking of Christ he is the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of death for the Redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of Eternal Inheritance So that now the Covenant is confirmed by the death of Christ which is a better confirmation than that of the old Law with the Sacrifices of Beasts 3. A better Covenant in respect of the fulness of the Spirit that goes along with the Gospel and so is made a Surety of a better Covenant than the Levitical Priesthood To come to some Application If this be so that our Lord Jesus Christ is made Surety of a better Testament then stand here and see the great and endless love of our Lord Jesus Christ 1. The greatness of his Love For you know that it is a good evidence of a mans love and kindness when he will be a Surety for one that he thinks can pay the debt But if a man will be Surety for one that is in debt and knows that he must pay the debt if he be Surety this is still greater love But yet farther if a man will be Surety for a man that is condemned to die and engage his life for him this is love beyond all love This is the case of our Lord Jesus Christ to take Mans Nature suffer himself to be under the Curse and suffer himself to be put to death Oh the great Mercy and unspeakable Love and Grace of Christ Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friend But then secondly Here you may see his endless love because he undertakes to be our Surety for ever You have many a man in a sit of love or kindness will be drawn in to be a Surety but will repent of it and will get out of it as soon as he can and will never come into it again But our Lord Jesus Christ he engages to be an Everlasting Surety for us what then remains but that every one that understands these things should look to Jesus Christ Here is a special prop for our Faith As you have it in the verse before Christ brings in a better hope than was before He is a Surety of a better Covenant Therefore when fears arise in you about your sin remember that you have a
Lordship of Christ we are to take up three practical Duties which I shall but name and so go on 1. If our Jesus Christ be our great Lord our King Then it is our Duty to study Obedience to his Laws and Commands not to take him only for a Saviour but our Lord For mind it Earthly Lords require Honour and Obedience and shall we call Christ our Lord and Master and not do the thing that he Commands or have no regard to his Word or to his Commands See I pray John 14. 21. He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me You pretend love to Christ shew it then in keeping his Commands and in the 23. ver If any man love me he will keep my word so the 15. ver If ye love me keep my Commandments and you shall abide in my love Christ puts all upon love Though he be a great Lord and might exact all service in a way of fear and dread yet he will have all in Love When you are tempted to any sin say My Lord forbids me and I must obey his Commands He hath told us if we love him we shall keep his Words 2. If Jesus Christ be our great Lord then we ought with confidence to rest upon him for protection for preservation for he is a great Lord For pray mind it Though Jesus Christ makes but little noise in the World and other Lords seem to carry a great name yet Jesus Christ is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings and as he is the Fathers Vicegerent he over-rules all the Kings and Kingdoms in the World and therefore you may rest in him as the great Lord and as the Apostle writes to Timothy the 1. and the 6. and 15. which in time he shall shew who is the blessed and only Potentate King of Kings and Lord of Lords then let us rest upon him for Protection 3. If Jesus Christ be our Lord then are we not only to walk according to his Commands but after his Example in Meekness and Humility see John 13. 13. saith Christ to his Disciples Ye call me Lord and Master and ye say well for so I am If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet you ought also to wash one anothers Be not proud then but say hath my Lord and Master condescended so to his Disciples And shall I slight them and cast them off I have given you an example saith Christ labour then to honour Jesus Christ Now in the next place Here you find that the Apostle useth one word in the Text mind that it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah and in the 15. ver it is far more evident Why doth the Apostle so insist upon it I Answer It is to teach us Ministers that Preach the Gospel to make things evident to the Peoples understandings Plain and evident to their understanding It is a great part of their Ministerial work to inform their Judgments and therefore pray that you may have a plain Gospel-Minister 1 Cor. 2. 5. that in every thing you are inriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge men may make a great noise in Preaching but little to Edification But then here is the Question What is it that the Apostle will make evident That is the main Point in the Text. Why he makes evident that Jesus Christ our great High-priest was not a Priest after the Law of a carnal Commandment but by the power of an endless Life And these are the words I shall briefly open and apply That Jesus Christ our great High-priest was not made a Priest after the Law of a carnal Commandment but after the power of an endless Life Here are two things to be observed First The Apostles removing the Priest-hood of Christ from the Levitical Priest-hood that it was not made after the Law of a carnal Commandment Secondly He gives a description of the true Nature of the Priest-hood of Christ That it is a Priest-hood of power and of an endless Life First of all saith the Apostle He was not made a Priest after the Law of a carnal Commandment What is that Why it is a carnal Commandment that made all subject to the Ceremonial Law You will say Was the Ceremonial Law Carnal Did not God Command it how was it then Carnal Why it was a Command that respected Carnal things Carnal in Scripture is taken two ways First Carnal is taken for that which is sinful and in this sence the Law of Moses was not made by a Carnal Commandment Sometimes Carnal is set in opposition to Spiritual things and so it is put for things concerning the Body and not for the Soul If we have sown unto you Spiritual things Is it a great thing if we shall reap your Carnal things And in this sence the Ceremonies of the Law were called Carnal things because they did only reach to the Body they were but shadows of Heavenly things and therefore the Apostle in his Epistle to the Colossians called them Worldly rudiments Col. 2. 20. Why so Because all those Ceremonial Laws were not of an heavenly nature as the things of the Spirit are but they only concerned outward things Mind this The Jews they doted much upon their Ceremonial Rites before Christ came and after Christ came they did stick much to their carnal and worldly Ceremonies And therefore the Apostle Paul in a holy anger speaks to the Galatians O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the Truth to turn aside from Christ the substance to carnal things to worldly things which are but shadows And this is to be observed and oh that we could observe it more that in the corrupt nature of man there is a carnal disposition that leads him out to worship God in a carnal way And that is the scope of the Apostle here Look upon the Worship and Religion of the Papists and you will see 't is but a carnal Religion They have their curious Images and Pictures What doth this avail a Soul to have a rich pompous Altar a rich Garment for the Priest to have pompous Processions and curious Musick What are these to the Soul And as for us that have the Reformed Religion how many amongst us delight to worship God after the Law of a carnal Commandment Are there not too many amongst us which are more for old Abrogated Ceremonies than they are for a Gospel Worship Bewail and lament the Apostacy of this Generation These Ceremonies of the Old Testament tho' they were carnal and low things in themselves yet they had a spiritual signification put upon them by God and so had a great excellency in them whilst God was pleased to continue them But now that God hath abolished them Paul calls them carnal things And so we may call all Mediums of Worship that are not of Gods appointment Now for the second which is the description of the Priesthood of
the Psalmist cry out Lord what is man that thou art so mindful of him But what is this work of Creation to the work of Redemption by our Lord Jesus Christ when he took the Son of his love that is higher than the Heavens and had Glory with him before the World began when there was no Heaven no Earth to take his Son and to call him to this work to appear in the presence of God that we might be accepted by him Oh what infinite goodness is this Oh how should we get our Hearts affected with this He did not so with the Angels let us therefore labour to admire the riches and goodness of God the Father who hath called his Son to this Office and hath given him an Oath that he should be a Priest for ever Secondly As this Doctrin shews the great Love and Mercy of God so also The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ For if he that had a Glory with the Father before the World began would not have become Man would not have taken this Office we had all perished but that he who is higher than the Heavens should condescend so low as to take up the cause of poor sinners wretched sinners Do we know what we are Have we any sense of what we are by Nature Do we not find our selves Proud sinners Carnal sinners Unbelieving sinners vain and empty Creatures And for him that is above the Heavens to undertake for these poor Creatures Oh what infinite free Grace is this You know how it is among Men if you have a bad Man and he hath a bad Cause you will say there is not a man will undertake his Cause Our Lord Jesus Christ he hath to deal with bad Men and bad Women he undertakes for them to justifie them before God Oh the riches of the Grace of Christ in undertaking for such poor wretched sinners You may apply that in Rom. 5. 7 8. Scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Thirdly This Doctrin is A special ground of comfort for finding acceptance with God to every believing Soul to every one that comes to God by Christ by a true and unfeigned Faith You may come to God having such an High-priest If you mind the Scripture you will find the Scripture doth not only commend Faith in the Children of God but confidence which is the highest degree of Faith in Heb. 3. the Apostle speaking of Christ being set as a Son over his own House in v. 6. But Christ as a Son over his own House whose House we are if we hold fast the confidence and rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end If we hold fast confidence What is this confidence Why confidence is when we go about a business without fear doubtings distrust jealousies when we go freely and boldly about so saith the Apostle Let us go bodly to the Throne of Grace Why For we have such an High-priest that interceeds for us You know that a Man will bear and rely with confidence upon his Friend at Court and shall not we bear upon Christ when we draw nigh to God by Jesus Christ We may then draw nigh to God with a holy confidence not doubting For it is a dishonour to our Lord Jesus to want confidence in him labour therefore to strengthen your Faith by these things that ye may serve the Lord with a holy yet a humble confidence Lastly If such an High-priest became us who was holy harmless undefiled and separate from sinners Then surely such a People doth become this great High-priest which are holy harmless and such do mortifie their sin and do cast off the pollutions of the World As it becomes us to have such an High-priest so it becomes us to be holy as he is holy to be pure as he is pure I shall give you but one or two instances and so conclude in Philip. 4. 8. Finally Brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise think on these things The Apostle gives this as a general rule if there be any thing that is good true and holy that to the Glory of God think on these things So in the Epistle to the Ephesians 4. 1. I beseech you therefore that you walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith ye are called that is that ye walk becomingly that you walk up to it I shall name but one Scripture more which the Apostle there writes for the instruction of Christian Women 1 Tim. 2. 9 10. In like manner also that Women adorn themselves in modest Apparel with shamefastness and sobriety not with Broidered Hair or Gold or Pearls or costly Aray but which becometh Women professing Godliness There is a Dress becoming Women professing Godliness and there is the Dress of a Harlot There is not a Woman in the Congregation but would be counted a Professor of Godliness Then look to your Attire wear those things that carry Sobriety Modesty and Shamefastness and such a Dress as becomes Godliness And since we have such an High-priest as becomes us who is holy harmless and undefiled how doth it become us to live to the glory of God and the honour of our Lord Jesus Christ FINIS A Catalogue of Books Printed for and are to be Sold by Edward Giles Bookseller in Norwich near the Market-Place SEveral Discourses concerning Actual Providence A word in Season Defensive Armour against four of Satans most fiery Darts Sermons upon the whole first and second Chapter of the Canticles Thirteen Sermons upon several useful Subjects All published by John Collins D. D. of Norwich The Way of the Spirit in bringing Souls to Christ The Glory of Christ set forth with the necessity of Faith in several Sermons both by Mâ— Thomas Allen late Pastor of a Church at Norwich Enoch's Walk with God and Christ a Christian's Gain by Mr. Timothy Armitage late Minister at Norwich A Discourse of the preciousness of Christ and of the preciousness of Faith Precious Promises the Portion of Overcomers Sermons on five several useful Subjects all by Mr. John Longher Minister in Norfolk The Saints Ebenezer by Mr. Francis English late Minister in Norwich Directions to spell English right The History of the Protestant Reformation as it was begun by Luther The Dead Saint speaking being a Sermon preached upon the Death of Mr. Newcomb of Dedham in Essex The English Presbyterian The Miracles of Christ The ordinary matter of Prayer drawn into Questions and Answers Two Treatises the first Rejoycing in the Lord Jesus in all Cases and Conditions The second Of a Christian's Hope in Heaven and Freedom from Condemnation by Christ both by Mr. Robert Asty late Minister of Jesus Christ in Norwich Obedience to Magistrates recommended in a Sermon preached September the 9th 1683. being the Thansgiving Day for his Majesties Deliverance by Jonathan Clapham Rector of Wramplingham in Norfolk A Present for Youth and an Example for the Aged Two Discourses one of Spiritual Blessings the other That God hath an high account of the least Grace in the Saints by Mr. John Cromwell late Pastor of a Church of Christ in Norwich Infant Baptism of Christ's Appointment by Mr. Samuel Petto Minister of the Gospel in Sudbury in Suffolk Of the Conversion of Sinners to God in Christ the necessity nature means and signs of it with a concluding Speech to the Unconverted by Martin Finch a Servant of Christ in the Work of the Gospel in the City of Norwich Sincerity or the upright Man's Walk to Heaven delivered in several Sermons in the Parish Church of St. Michael in Long-stratten in Norfolk by James Oldfield late Minister there Alexipharmacon Spirituale Being a Defensative against the Poison and Sting of Death Or The great expedient how to make the Bed of the Grave so easie that we may lye down in Peace and take our Rest By Samuel Snowden Minister of the Gospel at Newton in Norfolk Christ set forth in several Sermons upon the seventh Chapter of the Hebrews by Mr. Robert Ottee late Pastor to a Congregation in Beckles in Suffolk Sacramental Discourses on several Select Subjects to which is added a Discourse of the Life of Faith by Christopher Amiraell Minister of the Gospel in Norfolk