DISCOURSE XXIII.

PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST.

AND THEY TRULY WERE MANY PRIESTS, BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT SUFFERED ΤΟ CONTINUE BY REASON OF DEATH: BUT THIS MAN, BECAUSE HE CONTINUETH EVER, HATH AN UNCHANGEABLE PRIESTHOOD. WHEREFORE HE IS ABLE ALSO TO SAVE THEM TO THE UTTERMOST THAT COME UNTO GOD BY HIM, SEEING HE EVER LIVETH TO MAKE INTERCESSION FOR THEM. FOR SUCH AN HIGHPRIEST BECAME US, WHO IS HOLY, HARMLESS, UNDEFILED, SEPARATE FROM SINNERS, AND MADE HIGHER THAN THE HEAVENS; WHO NEEDETH NOT DAILY, AS THOSE HIGH-PRIESTS, TO OFFER UP SACRIFICE, FIRST FOR HIS OWN SINS, AND THEN FOR THE PEOPLE'S: FOR THIS HE DID ONCE, WHEN HE OFFERED UP HIMSELF.— Hebrews vii. 23-27.

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We are accustomed to hear much in Christian teaching of the priesthood of Christ, and it is represented as being one of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. It is the purpose of this Discourse to inquire on what language of the New Testament this impression is founded. Is that language literal or figurative, primary or analogical, declaratory or illustrative? Is it found in the Gospels, and is it the language of Christ himself? or is it found in

the Epistles, or a single Epistle? Is it addressed to all Christians, or only to a single class of them?

Let any person who wishes to examine this subject take up a common concordance, and he will find that Christ is spoken of as a priest only in one portion of the New Testament, and that is the Epistle to the Hebrews. In other parts of the New Testament he is called a sacrifice, but nowhere else is he called a priest and a sacrifice too, by virtue of the fact that he sacrificed himself. The question arises, Why is he called a priest, or a high-priest, in that Epistle, and nowhere else?

In order satisfactorily to answer this question, we shall inquire, in the first place, What was priesthood, and what was a high-priest, in the minds of those to whom this Epistle was addressed? In the early ages of the world, public religious services consisted mainly of sacrifices. Religious teaching made no part of them. There was, then, no Bible to teach from; the Law of Moses even was not given. There was no written revelation, and probably no writing of any kind. The only ceremonies by which men expressed and cherished their devotional sentiments were by sacrifice. An animal was slain after some religious forms, or some of the fruits of the earth were set apart. A portion of the sacrifice was burnt, and thus considered as having been offered to God. On the remainder the assembled company feasted, and those who partook were counted to have been participants in the act of worship. The office of offering the sacrifice was usually performed by the master of a family, the patriarch of a household, or the acknowledged head

of a tribe. Such was the case with Abraham and his posterity. When his offspring became a great people, and Moses was sent to organize them as a nation, he delegated the sacerdotal function to the tribe of Levi, and the high-priesthood to his brother Aaron and his eldest male descendants.

The high-priest was the ecclesiastical head of the nation, and nothing was omitted which could secure to him reverence and respect. His person was held especially sacred, and he was not permitted to sully his dignity by any badge of mourning, even under the suffering of the severest bereavement. He was clad in gorgeous vestments, and on his breast he wore the sacred Urim and Thummim, the mysterious oracle by which Jehovah was accustomed to make known his will.

One ceremony, in which he alone was permitted to officiate, conferred upon him peculiar sacredness. He alone was permitted to enter the Holy of Holies, the inmost recess of the sanctuary, where were deposited the sacred Ark, the Book of the Law, and the Tables of the Covenant. This he did every year, on the day of expiation, when the whole people afflicted their souls. He took with him a part of the blood of the sacrifice, and sprinkled it on the lid of the Ark, as being the nearest representative of God, who was one of the parties concerned in the forgiveness of sinners.

In this ceremony every Jew took the profoundest interest, and the day of Atonement was the most solemn day of the year; for who was there of all the millions of the nation that was not conscious of sin, and felt not the need of pardon? That cere

mony answered to one of the most universal wants of human nature, the assurance that God is merciful and ready to pardon the contrite sinner. How could the Jew be persuaded to let go his hold on a religion which gave him so comfortable an assurance? There was something, too, fascinating and imposing in the whole temple service, the vast assemblages which were collected three times a year, the beauty of the temple itself, the costliness of its ornaments, the constancy, the uniformity, the antiquity of the celebration of its rites, the awe of the Divine presence, which was thought to be vouchsafed to its inner sanctuary.

This service, at the time of the writing of this Epistle, was yet uninterrupted, still unabolished; nor was there any outward sign that it was soon coming to an end. This service, the converts to Christianity, to whom this Epistle was addressed, had forsaken. They had embraced a religion of far less outward show. Moses, the founder of Judaism, had been brought up in the court of Egypt, and though in his infancy he had been exposed in an ark of bulrushes, he had been the companion of kings and princes. Jesus, born in a manger, had been brought up in the humble village of Nazareth, and, till his showing to Israel, had moved in the humblest sphere. Moses, for forty years, had been the honored head of his nation, and when he died God had wisely hid his sepulchre from the superstitious reverence of his countrymen. Jesus, during his life, had been an humble, persecuted man, and had died upon a cross. The Law had been given from heaven, as the Jew believed, by the ministry of

angels. The Mosaic religion had been inaugurated on Sinai, amid thunder and smoke. Christianity had been established by the personal ministry of Christ, journeying like a pilgrim from village to village. No glory had surrounded his person, no court had sustained his dignity, and his only attendants, his disciples, were persons still humbler than himself. How could this vast disparity be counterbalanced, and the converted Jew be assured and made contented in his new faith?

The Jews, moreover, had a superstitious belief concerning the origin of their temple, which greatly increased its value in their estimation. By a fanciful interpretation of some passages in the Old Testament, they drew from it the doctrine that their temple was constructed after the model of heaven itself. This belief is dimly shadowed forth in the following passage: "Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum: We have such an high-priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. For every high-priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices; wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law; who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in 31*