the Most High. These are circumstances which never could have occurred fortuitously, by the blind orderings of a wayward chance. The coincidence must have been designed. The prediction, indeed, contained in the Psalms, gives us express assurance that this order of Melchisedec was intended from the first, i. e. nineteen hundred years before the Christian era, to prefigure the priesthood of the Messiah. Let the fact give fresh confidence to our faith in Christ, especially in his atoning sacrifice and ever merciful intercession.

Having considered how Melchisedec was a prophetical type of the Son of God, we have now to observe, in the second place,

II. The superiority of the order of Melchisedec to that of Aaron.

Now consider how great this man unto whom even the pa

was,

For consider how great a high-priest this Prince of Salem was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils; thereby acknowledging triarch Abraham gave Melchisedec to be, spiritually, his own superior. Even among the Israelites, where all the people were by descent equal, being alike the children of Abraham, still the divine injunction that Levi should receive tithes from his brethren, placed that tribe in a position of spiritual pre-eminence above the rest. Much more was this the case, when Abraham paid tithes to Melchisedec, whose descent was not counted from the family of which Abraham sprung; being, as we have already he receiveth them, of

the tenth of the spoils. And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham: But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises. And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better. And here men that die receive tithes; but there

whom it is witnessed

that he liveth, ver. 4-8.

observed, involved in mystery, or, rather, unrecorded. The benediction also which Melchisedec pronounced upon the patriarch was a further mark of his superiority. But if Melchisedec was thus superior to Abraham, how much more to Levi! Add to this, that whatever superiority of spiritual rank Levi might possess over his brethren, the Levitical priests were, like their brethren, mortal, and are so spoken of in Scripture: whereas Melchisedec, if not actually exempt from dying, is spoken of only as living; no allusion whatever being made to his mortality.

We might even allege, as a farther proof of the inferiority of the Levitical priesthood, that the tribe of Levi might be said to have virtually paid tithes to Melchisedec in the person of

And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him, ver. 9, 10.

their great progenitor. What Abraham did in this instance, he did as the federal head of a chosen race, for himself and for his descendants also, who were in effect implicated in his acknowledgment of the spiritual rank of the mysterious priest of Salem.

In Melchisedec then we have a type of a mysterious High-Priest to come, of a perpetual order, far superior to that of Aaron; and we shall not therefore be surprised at what we have in the third place to consider ; viz.

III. The abrogation of the Levitical priesthood by that of our Lord.

The very prediction of a Priest to arise after the

If therefore perfection were by the Levitical

order of Melchisedec, did in fact imply the abrogation of the Levi

2

priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec,

and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. ver. 11,

12.

tical priesthood, and with it also of the Levitical law (of which the priesthood formed the leading feature,) as of a dispensation merely introductory, and not calculated to give, what man so much requires, "perfect" remission of sins, or to promote his advancement towards perfection in holiness. Had "perfection been attainable by it, what need would there have been of a different sacerdotal order, accompanied of necessity by a change in the whole dispensation of religion? But such an order was prefigured, as we have seen, centuries before the Levitical priesthood was appointed; and was clearly predicted, in the book of Psalms, at the very time when the Levitical law flourished, if we may so speak, in its greatest glory.

For he of whom these things are spoken per

taineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.

Accordingly the Messiah, to whom the prediction was spoken, was not of the descendants of Aaron, but belonged to another tribe, which, by the Mosaic law, had no part in the services of the altar. For it is clear from the Gospel history, as every Christian must allow, that 66 our Lord was of Judah"-the tribe out of which the prophets also had foretold that Messiah should come. The circumstance was an obvious proof of the intended abrogation of the Levitical priesthood; but still more strongly was this evidenced by the promise of a Priest, not of a different tribe merely, but altogether of a different order, established on a totally different

ver. 13, 14.

And it is yet far more evident: for that

after the similitude of principle. The law of the Leviistical priesthood was that only of

Melchisedec there ariseth

another priest, who is

66

made, not after the law "a carnal commandment," that is of a carnal commandment,but after the power of an endless life. For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. ver. 15-17.

to say, a commandment relating only to a carnal succession of persons, who held the priesthood no longer than while they were on

earth in the flesh. But when Christ was made a Priest, it was after the power of an endless, indissoluble life, a Priest, not on earth only for a few years, but "for ever" in heaven.

For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw

For, as we have already intimated, the law being weak and unprofitable, considered as a final dispensation of pardon and sanctification, and incapable of giving either of these in perfection, it was disannulled by the Gospel, and a better hope brought in, by which we might draw near to God with peace of conscience and purity of heart. The prophetic oath, indeed, of the

nigh unto God.

And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest:

(For

those

priests were made without an oath; but this

with an oath by him Almighty, by which our Lord was

We have now contrasted the priesthood of our Lord, as typified in the order of Melchisedec, with that of Aaron; we have seen the inferiority and imperfection of the latter, together with its consequent abrogation, as soon as that which was perfect was come. We have seen how mortal priests gave place to the Eternal Son of God; and how a dispensation, in itself weak and unprofitable, ceased to be of force, when a better hope was brought in, and a better covenant secured to us by the everlasting High-Priest of our Christian profession.

IV. Of these truths let us now proceed to make a practical application. In doing this, we have first to consider the hope brought in for the Christian, and then the effect which that hope should have upon us.

Consider then the hope that has been brought in by our Everlasting High-Priest, a hope of pardon through his blood, and of complete salvation through his intercession for us in heaven. Beware how you either corrupt this precious hope with error, or, on the other hand, abandon it in unbelief.

The mistake of the Jewish Christians, to whom St. Paul wrote, was that of endeavouring to combine the temporary, imperfect priesthood of the law, with the everlasting and alone perfect priesthood of Christ. Through the difference of our circumstances, we are exempt from the like temptation; nor can we be too thankful for living in an age, so far at least, more favourable to the reception of the truth. Still though free from Jewish predilections, and not exposed, either by prejudice or fear, to the danger of a judaizing faith, we have perils of our own to encounter, which may prove, if we heed them not, equally fatal. We