the Kingly which later remained in Moses after he by the command of God had devolved the Priesthood which was originally in himself upon his Brother Aaron and so according to divine institution the Priesthood was to continue in the Family of Aaron separate from the Regal Power till the coming of our Saviour who reunited those Offices in himself and became a Royal Priest after the ancient Order of Melchisedeck For upon the separation of these Offices none could be a Priest of the Aaronical Order but such as were descended from the Family of Aaron and therefore Christ could not be a Priest of that Order because he descended from the Family of Iudah and being of the Royal Lineage he resumed the Priestly Office from the House of Aaron and joyned it to the Kingly Office again with which it was originally united by which he abrogated the Priesthood of the Aaronical Order and in its room restored the ancient Melchisedecan or Royal Priesthood And hence the Author to the Hebrews observes that Christ pertaineth to another Tribe of which no man gave attendance at the Altar for it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Iudah of which Tribe Moses spake nothing concerning the Priesthood Heb. 7.13 14. and therefore by being a Priest of a different Tribe from that to which the Aaronical Order was confined he disannulled that Order and erected another in the room of it viz. the ancient Order of Melchisedeck which was before the Aaronical Hence S. Ambrose in Loc. quomodo translatum est Sacerdotium Ex tribu ad tribum de Sacerdotali ad Regalem ut eadem ipsa sit Regalis Sacerdotalis intuere mysterium primum fuit Regale Sacerdotium Melchisedâ—ch secundum consequentiam hujus sermonis secundum etiam fuit Sacerdotale in Aaron tertium in Christo fuit iterum Regale i. e. How was the Priesthood translated Why from one Tribe to another viz. from the Sacerdotal to the Regal that so it might be both Regal and Sacerdotal and this is the Mystery the first Priesthood of Melchisedeck was Regal the second was Sacerdotal in Aaron the third was Regal again in Christ. For that which distinguished the Melchisedecan from the Aaronical Priesthood was not as some imagine the difference of their Sacrifice viz. that Melchisedeck sacrificed only inanimate things whereas Aaron sacrificed Animals also for that Melchisedeck sacrificed there is no doubt because he was Priest of the most high God but that he sacrificed inanimate things only such as Bread and Wine there is not the least intimation in Scripture only it is said that when he met Abraham he brought forth Bread and Wine Gen. 14.18 that is to refresh Abraham's Soldiers after their Battel with Chedorlaomer as the manner was in those Countries Vide Deut. 23.4 and Iudg. 8.15 and 6.15 And what is all this to his Sacrificing But that he sacrificed Animate as well as Inanimate things is evident not only because animal Sacrifices were generally used before the institution of the Aaronical Priesthood and it is very improbable that he who was so eminently the Priest of the most High God should never offer the accustomed Sacrifices but also because Christ's Sacrifice was an animate one who was a Priest after Melchisedeck's Order and not of the Order of Aaron Heb. 7.11 so that if the difference between these two Orders consisted in this difference of their Sacrifice Christ must be rather a Priest of the Aaronick than the Melchisedecan Order And how could the Acts of the Priesthood of Aaron be Typical of our Saviour's which is Melchisedecan as the Scripture all along makes them if they were of a different nature from those of Melchisedeck How could Aaron's bloudy Sacrifices be Typical of our Saviour's Priesthood which was after the Order of Melchisedeck if Melchisedeck's Priesthood admitted no bloudy Sacrifice As to the Acts of their Priesthood therefore for any thing that appears to the contrary these two Orders were the same but in this they apparently differed that whereas the Regal Power was united to Melchisedeck's Priesthood it was wholly separated from Aaron's who in all probability was the first High Priest in the World that was not a King as well as a Priest. The Priestly acts therefore of these two different Orders being the same we shall better understand the nature of our Saviour's Priesthood though it be of the Order of Melchisedeck by the account we have of the Aaronical than by that of the Melchisedecan Order because the former is far more distinct and particular than the later For of the Acts and Functions of Melchisedeck's Priesthood there is very little mention in Scripture whereas those of Aaron's are described at large in all their particular Rites and Circumstances The Priestly Office therefore in general consists in officiating for sinful men with God in order to the reconciling of God to them and obtaining for them his Favour and Benediction To which end there are two Offices necessary to be performed First to offer Sacrifice for them and thereby to make some fitting reparation to God for their past sins and provocations Secondly To present that Sacrifice to God and in the Vertue and Merit of it to interceed with God in their behalf in order to the Restoring them to his Grace and Favour And accordingly we read of the Iewish High Priest who of all their other Priests was the most perfect Type and Representative of Christ in his Priestly Office and this more especially in Celebrating the Mysteries of the great day of Expiation that on this day he was appointed to bring the Beast to the door of the Tabernacle which was set apart to die for the Sins of the People and to kill it there with his own hands by which action he did as the Peoples Representative offer a life to God as a reparation for those manifold sins by which they had justly forfeited their own lives to him after which he was to take the Bloud of it and present it before the Lord in the Holy of Holies sprinkling it seven times with his finger upon and before the Mercy-Seat by which action he interceded with God to accept that Bloud in lieu of the forfeited lives of the People and accordingly the whole performance is called making an Atonement for the Children of Israel for all their sins once a year Lev. 16 34. But for the fuller explication of the Priestly Office it is necessary we should briefly explain these two essential Acts of it viz. of sacrificing and presenting the Sacrifice to God by way of Intercession for the People As for the first of these the Apostle tells us that every High Priest is ordained to offer gifts and Sacrifices Heb. 8.3 And that he is ordained for men in things pertaining unto God that he may offer both Gifts and Sacrifices for sins Heb. 5.1 It is true indeed to sacrifice in a strict sence i. e. to kill the Sacrifice seems not to have been
Christianity which are not so clearly revealed but that the most honest minds may be mistaken about them but then these are such as are far remote from the necessary and fundamental Articles upon which our Salvation depends all which are so clearly and distinctly revealed that there is nothing but a perverse Will that is either prejudiced against them by some sinful affection or through a profane disregard of God and Religion utterly unconcerned about them can hinder men from apprehending them and if when the divine Light shines so clearly round about them men will be so obstinate as to shut their eyes against it it is at their own eternal peril and they are as justly accountable for their ignorance as if they had sinned against the clearest knowledge For this saith our Saviour is the condemnation of the World that light is come into the World and men love darkness more than light If therefore through any wicked prejudice against the truth or through a profane neglect to enquire after it we continue ignorant of it this will be no excuse at all for our sinning against it but we shall be as certainly condemned for our affecting Ignorance and loving darkness more than light as if we had sinned against the clearest light and conviction For what a monstrous instance is it of stupidity and impiety together to shut our eyes against that light which is of such infinite moment to us and which the Son of God thought worth his while to come down from Heaven to reveal to us what is this but to tell him to his face that if he had pleased he might have spared his pains and not have come so far on such an impertinent Errand as is not worth a man's while to listen to O prodigious supineness and stupidity that men who are so inquisitive about the little affairs of this life as that when they receive but a Letter in which they imagine any of their worldly interests are concerned they cannot forbear one moment breaking it open and perusing the Contents of it should yet receive a Message from the God of Heaven by his own Son in which their everlasting happiness or misery is concerned and take no notice of it but let it lie by them day after day without ever enquiring into the Contents of it or taking the least care and pains to inform themselves about it Good God! what reverence have these wretched Creatures for thee or what regard for themselves that can thus receive thy Messages and with them their own Eternal Fate with the same unconcern and indifferency as they would the most impertinent Tales of Bedlam Wherefore as we regard either God or our own Souls let us from henceforth be perswaded seriously to attend to this great and momentous Revelation of our Saviour and throughly to inform our minds with its Doctrines and Precepts for which end let us avoid as much as in us lies busying and entertaining our thoughts with nice and curious Speculations or remote and disputable Opinions and betake our selves to the study of things upon which our Eternal life and happiness depends viz. of the Duties which the Gospel exacts and requires of us and of the Motives by which it presses and inforces them which when once we have digested into a clear and distinct Scheme of practical knowledge that will be a standing light to our Wills and Affections by which we shall always see our way before us and be secured from wandering into dangerous errors and at length safely conducted to eternal light and happiness SECT III. Of Christ's Priestly Office. IN treating of which great and momentous Argument I shall endeavour first to shew what the ancient Priesthood was and in what Acts it consisted Secondly To prove that the ancient Priesthood in its proper Acts was a Type and Figure of the Priesthood of our Saviour Thirdly To explain the Priesthood and Priestly Acts of our Saviour corresponding to that ancient Priesthood in which they were prefigured First What the ancient Priesthood was and in what Acts it consisted In the first Ages of the World it is evident that in matters which concerned himself alone every man was his own Priest. For thus in sacrificing to God upon their own particular accounts both Cain and Abel officiated for themselves but in Family-Sacrifices the Father of the Family was the Priest as is evident by Noah and Iob Gen. 8.22 Iob. 1.5 And when Families were multiplied into Tribes and greater Societies the Prince of each Society was also the Supreme Priest of it and hence before Aaron was consecrated Moses who was the Prince of Israel officiated also as the Priest in that solemn Sacrifice by which the Covenant with Israel was confirmed Exod. 24.6 And long before Moses Melchisedeck King of Salem was also Priest of the most High God Gen. 14.18 And it is evident that originally Kings were the High-Priests of their Countries For so Aristotle observes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Rule and Sacrifice were Offices conjoyned in the same Person Polit. l. 3. So also Virgil Aen. 3. Rex Anius Rex idem hominum Phoebique Sacerdos i. e. Anius in the same Person was King of Men and Priest of Phoebus upon which Servius hath this Note Sane majorum haec erat consuetudo ut Rex esset etiam Sacerdos vel Pontifex it was a Custom among the Ancients that the King should be also Priest or High-Priest Which Custom was continued for a long while in Aegypt and from thence was derived to the Greeks and from them to the Romans for so Plut. Quaest. Rom. p. 279. tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Of old Kings performed the most and greatest parts of the Sacred Rites and together with the Priests sacrificed the Victims but upon their exceeding their due bounds and taking upon them to domineer proudly and unjustly many of the Greeks took from them all their Civil Power and only left them their Authority to sacrifice to the Gods but the Romans as he goes on utterly rejecting their Kings appointed anothâ—r to succeed them in the High Priesthood whom they wholly debarred from intermedling with secular Affairs Dionysius Halicarn speaking of the power of Kings expresly tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. That they had the Government of all Sacrifices and Sacred Rites and whatsoever was to be done to the holy Gods was done by them And therefore the reason why Melchisedeck here is more particularly taken notice of under the Character of a King and Priest was not because there were no other Kings so but he but perhaps because all other Kings that were Cotemporary with him were revolted to Idolatry so that he only remained a Priest of the most High God. And in being a King and Priest together he was a Type of our Saviour who was a Priest not after the Order of Aaron but after the Order of Melchisedeck Heb. 5.10 For in Aaron the Priestly Office was separated from
he officiate effectually between them unless he performs all those good Offices on both sides which considering their states as they stand related to one another are necessary to create a mutual accord and agreement between them Now the state of God as he stands related to us is that of a supreme and absolute Sovereign over blind and rebellious Subjects who were so far depraved and degenerated as that we neither understood his Will nor were at all disposed to obey it Wherefore that he might officiate effectually for God with us his ignorant and rebellious Subjects it was necessary First that he should perform the Office of a Prophet in revealing God's Will and pleasure to us of which the whole Race of Mankind was so deplorably ignorant Secondly That he should perform the Office of a King in exacting our obedience to God and subduing our stubborn Wills to his heavenly pleasure so that in officiating for God with us it was necessary that he should both teach us as God's Prophet rule us as God's King. And then the state of man as it respects God is that of a most guilty and criminal Subject who by a continued course of Rebellion had justly and highly incensed and provoked his Sovereign Lord against him in which state of things it was highly necessary that in officiating for us with God our Mediator should in the first place render him some great and honourable reparation in our behalf such as he in his infinite wisdom should think meet to exact for those high and manifold affronts and Indignities which we had offered to his Sacred Person and Authority For without some such reparation he could not well have admitted of any reconciliation with us without prostituting his own Authority and rendring it cheap and vile in the eyes of bold and insolent Offenders Now the greatest reparation he could make for us was to take our punishment on himself by offering up his own life to God as a Sacrifice for the sins of the World. And then secondly it was necessary that having made this reparation for us he should thereupon become our Advocate and plead his Sacrifice to God in our behalf that for the sake thereof he would be so far propitious to us as to admit us upon our unfeigned repentance to his grace and favour Both which are comprehended in the Priestly Office which consists as I shall shew hereafter in atoning God with Sacrifice So that the particular Offices which the respective states of God and Man require of him that Mediates between them is to teach and rule for God and to expiate and Advocate for men But for the better understanding of these particular Offices it is necessary we should briefly consider the Method and Oeconomy of them and explain in what Order and Manner the Mediator hath proceeded and advanced in the exercise and administration of them Which in short was thus by Commission from God the Father he came down into this World where the first Mediatorial Office he undertook was that of Prophet in the discharge whereof he made a full revelation of God's Mind and Will to the World. And having performed this at least so far as was needful in his own Person he next enters upon the first part of his Priestly Office which was to make an expiation for the sins of the World by the Sacrifice of himself and this being finished he a little after proceeded to the other part which was to make an Oblation of his Sacrifice to God in Heaven and in vertue thereof to Advocate for us and solicite our Pardon and admission into the divine favour upon the performance of all which and as a glorious reward of it he was admitted to sit down at the right hand of God in the Throne of Regal Authority next and immediately to the Father For so Phil. 2.8 9 10. the Apostle tells us He humbled himself and became obedient to the death even the death of the Cross wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name above every name that at the name of Iesus every Knee should bow And in Heb. 12.2 his sitting down at the right hand of the Throne of God is the consequence of his enduring the Cross and despising the shame of it So that in short the Order and Method in which he proceeded in his Mediatorial Offices was this First he Prophesied then he made expiation for our sins on the Cross then presented his Expiation in Heaven and therein began to Advocate or intercede for us and then he received that Regal Authority by which he is to reign till the Consummation of all things And therefore for the more clear and distinct explication of these particular Offices it will be most proper to treat of them in the same order wherein they are placed in the divine Oeconomy beginning first with the Prophetick thence proceeding to the Priestly and thence to the Kingly Office. SECT III. Of the Prophetick Office of Iesus Christ. COnsidering the manifold Errors and the deep Ignorance in which Mankind was almost universally lost and bewilder'd it was absolutely necessary that he who Mediated for God with men in order to the reconciling them to him should in the first place take care to inform them of the Nature and instruct them in the Will of God without which it was impossible for them so much as to know what it is to be reconciled to him And accordingly this was the first Mediatorial Office that our Saviour undertook viz. to Prophesie to the World i. e. to reveal and publish the Gospel to Mankind wherein the Nature and the Will of God and the Method of our Salvation are plainly stated and described so far forth at least as it is necessary to our reconciliation to him Upon which account he is called the Light of the World the Sun of Righteousness the Way and the Truth and the bright Morning Star all which refer to his Prophetick Office which is the fountain of all that spiritual light that shines through the World. For long before our Saviour was born it was foretold of him that he should execute the Office of a Prophet so Deut. 18.15 The Lord thy God shall raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me unto him ye shall hearken which prophecy S. Peter applies to our Saviour Acts 3.22 And upon this and other Prophecies of the Old Testament it is evident it was a general anticipation among the Iews in our Saviour's time that the Messias should be a Prophet For thus upon Christ's feeding five thousand men with five Loaves and two Fishes they cried out This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world John 6.14 so upon his restoring the Centurion's Servant they were amazed and glorified God saying that a great Prophet was risen up among them Luke 7.16 And so also his own Disciples stile him A Prophet mighty in deed and
God himself can give us of his mercy and our happiness hath any force in it to oblige us to repent and amend this our Saviour's Intercession you see fairly proposes to us so that if this proposal doth not effectually influence our hope and thereby excite and animate our endeavours it is impossible that any encouragement should ever move or affect us And thus you see in all these several particulars how effectually this way of God's communicating his Favours to us through the Intercession of our Saviour tends to our reformation and amendment what a fruitful Topick of motives it is to induce us to repentance and how pathetically it addresses to every affection in us that is capable of persuasion what awful and reverential thoughts of Almighty God it suggests to our minds to dispose our stubborn Wills to an humble submission to him what a horrible representation it makes of our sins and of God's wrath and indignation against them and what a dreadful alarm it gives to our fear to rouse and awake us out of our sinful security And in a word how powerfully it encourages us to draw near unto God and to make our addresses to him with an humble and generous freedom and what vast assurances it gives to our hope of his gracious intentions towards us if we repent and amend All which considered one would think it were impossible for any man that believes and understands this wonderful method of mercy not to be moved and affected by it and certainly that man who hath obstinacy enough to withstand all its persuasions and finally to defeat and baffle those powerful attempts which it makes to reclaim him is a Creature not to be moved by Reason and Argument For in this he hath conquered the greatest motives of all sorts that can be urged to persuade men and when once he is got beyond the reach of persuasion and no motive of ingenuity or hope or fear can affect him his condition is desperate and his obstinacy incurable Wherefore as we would not finally disappoint this wonderful contrivance of God to reclaim us and thereby render our selves for ever desperate let us at length be persuaded seriously to consider the Motives and Arguments it proposes to us and never to cease urging and pressing them upon our own souls till they have conquered our obstinate Wills and prejudiced Affections and finally captivated us into a free compliance with their powerful persuasions For if through our wilful neglect and inconsideration this mighty project of mercy prove utterly unsuccessful with us it is certain we have sinned our selves past all hope of recovery and it will be in vain to make any farther experiment on us And when we have once baffled this last and most powerful remedy of the divine Goodness what remains but that it should give us up and utterly abandon us to the just desert and dire effects of our own folly and obstinacy SECT VI. Of the Kingly Office of our Saviour WHen I first entred upon this Argument of the particular Offices of our Mediator I proposed to handle them in the same order that he performed and executed them and accordingly as he began with his Prophetick Office of which his whole life was a continued Ministry so I have treated of this Office in the first place and as from his Prophetick he proceeded to his Priestly Office one part of which he executed on the Cross where he offered himself a Sacrifice for the sins of the World and the other upon his Ascension into Heaven where he presented and still continues to present his Sacrifice to the Father by way of intercession for us so I proceeded in the next place to treat of his Priesthood in both the parts of it and now in the last place in pursuit of the same order I proceed to his Regal or Kingly Office which was the last he entered upon after he had finished his Prophecy offered his Sacrifice and presented it to his Father in Heaven For so in Scripture the Regality of Christ is always spoken of as successive to both his Prophetick and Priestly Office and as the fruit and reward of his faithful discharge and execution of them So Phil. 2.8 9 10. it was because he humbled himself and became obedient to death even the death of the Cross that God highly exalted him and gave him a name which is above every name that at the name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth And Rom. 14.9 the Apostle tells us that it was for this end that Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living and accordingly the Angels in St. Iohn's Vision attribute his advancement to his Regal dignity to the merit of his Death and Sacrifice Rev. 5.12 Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing And hence his sitting at the right hand of God which is the great Scripture-Metaphor by which his Regal Authority is expressed of the sense and meaning of which Pearson's Exposition of the Creed p. 277 278 279. is mentioned as the fruit and consequence of his Death and Intercession So Heb. 1.3 When he had by himself purged our sins i. e. by dying for us on Earth and presenting his Sacrifice in Heaven he sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high and Heb. 10.12 But this man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sins for ever sate down on the right hand of God and so also 1 Pet. 3.22 we are told that it was upon his going into Heaven i. e. to present his Sacrifice to his Father there that he was advanced to the right hand of God and that Angels and Authorities and Powers were made subject to him For his going into Heaven was a Priestly Act corresponding to the Priest's going into the Holy of Holies to present his Sacrifice to God there so that Christ's first arrival into Heaven and presenting his Sacrifice there is the beginning and commencement of his Intercession in answer to which he first received of his Father that Royal Power and Authority which he exercises both in Heaven and Earth and it is by vertue of the continuance of that his Priestly Intercession that this his Royal power is continued and perpetuated to him So that as he is a Royal Priest i. e. a Priest invested with Regal power to bestow the blessings he intercedes for so he is a Sacerdotal King i. e. a King that holds his Regal power in the right and virtue of his Priestly Intercession For it is by the continuance of his Intercession that he obttains the continuance of his Royal Authority to bestow those blessings on us which he intercedes for So that as Christ intercedes in the vertue of his Sacrifice so he rules in the vertue of his Intercession And accordingly you find in