the priesthood of him, who continueth in his office for ever. It stands alone, prominent in the long vista of receding ages, unequalled, unrivalled, in sublime and solitary grandeur. Abraham, though Levi the progenitor of Aaron was in his loins; though he was a priest himself, and to this title added conqueror, and was returning from battle with the spoils of the kings; though his name gave honour and privilege to his descendants the Jews; though he was the father of the faithful and the friend of God; yet, Abraham himself acknowledged superiority in the character and office of Melchisedec, presented to him the tenth of his spoils, and reverently received the blessing from his lips. Here then we have the divinely appointed type of the priesthood of the Christian church; it prefigures but one person for all the ages of that church, and that person standing alone, unassociated with others in his office. That person is Christ. He is made an High Priest for ever, not after the order of Aaron, in which subordinates were associated for the discharge of its inferior and ordinary services; but after the order of Melchisedec, who, in the honours and functions of his office, remains unchanging, exclusive, and supreme.

If, however, the prediction that another priest should arise after the order of Melchi

G

sedec, and who should not be called after the order of Aaron, implied the imperfection and ultimate removal of the Levitical priesthood; it was necessary, that the superior claims of him who came to fulfil the prediction, and to disannul the authority of a priesthood, which for fifteen centuries had been officiating by Divine appointment, should be clearly and powerfully authenticated. Thus were authenticated the claims of him, who was once known as Jesus of Nazareth, but who now sustains the combined offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, in the Christian church. His inauguration took place in the presence of the multitude, which thronged to the baptism that John administered on the banks of the Jordan. Instead of an earthly hand, to which authority had been delegated, pouring the precious unction, diffusive in its fragrance, upon his head; the Holy Spirit himself descended in a visible form, to overshadow and rest upon him like a dove; while the voice of the Father bore witness to him, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."* The testimony was repeated when, on the mount of transfiguration, Moses, by whom the law had been given, and the Levitical priesthood consecrated for the performance of its rites,—and Elijah,

* Matt. iii. 17.

who above all others had laboured to bring his apostate countrymen back to its observance, were seen with him, and heard conversing about the vicarious and expiatory death which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem. And again was the testimony repeated, when, the Saviour's hour being come, he spake to the Greeks who had desired an interview with him, of his own sufferings, and the glory that should follow. That, in the character in which John directed public attention to him, his innocent blood was shed, the Apostles testified with their living voice to the world, and the Evangelists in their Gospels bear continued and undying record. The acceptance of the sacrifice was demonstrated, in the resurrection of the body which had been the victim from the tomb; and the complacence of the Father in the work, which, as the High Priest of our profession, he entered into the celestial temple to discharge, was made known, in the abundant effusion of spiritual blessings, which followed his ascension in our nature into heaven.

But, it is by the Apostle Paul, that the priesthood of Christ is most clearly and fully unfolded to our view. His Epistle to the Hebrews is the true Levitical book of the New Testament. it we are to look for the functions of the priesthood of the Christian church, as in his Epistles

In

to Timothy and Titus, where he speaks nothing concerning priesthood, we are to look for the functions of the Christian ministry. Let the distinction be made between THE PRIEST who officiates for the church, and the ministry which is appointed to proclaim his excellencies, to direct the guilty to him, and to instruct the church, that its members may grow in the knowledge of him, and then will the subject open easily before us, and present a merciful and complete provision for every part of our case, as sinners before God.

In accordance with the facts of the Saviour's history to which we have referred, is the account which the Apostle gives in the New Testament Leviticus of his appointment to the priestly office. We have seen, that no delegated authority was employed in the investiture;-that by the Holy Ghost he was anointed, and by the voice of the living God, in the official character which he now publicly assumed, declared to be his Son, in whose person and work he was well pleased. So the Apostle Paul refers to the appointment which preceded the public investiture, as a solemn transaction between the Father and the Son, on his assuming the human nature in which the office was to be discharged; and becoming subject to those infirmities, the recital of which enables us more

clearly to apprehend him as a merciful and faithful High Priest for us in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for our sins, and succour us in our temptations. "For every

high priest taken from among men, is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. And no man taketh this honour upon himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron: so also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, day have I begotten thee. another place, Thou art a the order of Melchisedec. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec."*

Thou art my Son, to As he saith also in priest for ever after

*Heb. v. 1-10.