many times comfort in it But we are not to live upon in-comings of promises but we are to go out to all the promises of God by Faith in Christ For mind what the Apostle saith in 2 Cor. 1. 20. all the promises of God are in him yea and in him Amen all the promises therefore thou mayst take up with any promise that is suitable to thy wants that is suitable to thy condition thou mayst plead it with the Lord As for example Dost thou want inward peace Thou mayst plead over the promise of peace The Lord hath promised to keep him in peace whose mind is set upon him Again Do you want outward supplies Are you streightened in Food and Rayment Be diligent in your Calling and plead that promise He will give Bread to them that fear him in the 34. Psal they that fear the Lord shall not want any good thing Plead this promise let hunger and wants drive you to the promise Again Do you want light and counsel and direction in your ways Plead that promise in Isaiah The Lord shall guide thee continually And that in the 25. Psal Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord him will the Lord direct in his ways Oh ye that have Abrahams Faith cleave to the promises hang upon the promises all the promises in Christ are yea and in him Amen They are ratified in Christ And that promise of our Lord Jesus Christ abideth Ask and ye shall have seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you Ask according to the promise seek according to the promise Plead the promises of God when you fall into any Darkness and trouble of mind I say plead promises for God he gives you all the promises to live upon and let not any poor Christian be troubled or discouraged about receiving mercy for his own weakness or the meanness of his condition for you must know that every Believer is an Heir of the promise though a poor weak frail Creature yet an Heir of the Promise This we ought to live upon in times of trouble But then there is another thing concerning Melchisedecks blessing Abraham that had received the promise The Question here may be What need was there of Melchisedecks blessing of Abraham who had Gods promise for Abraham was happy enough in the promise if he had not met Melchisedeck to have blest him For Answer hereunto there are two Reasons given for it First of all It was Melchisedecks Place and Office for he was Priest of the most high God to bless them that did belong to God for you read of Three sorts of Persons in Scripture blessing others Parents blessing their Children Kings blessing their Subjects and Ministers blessing their People as you have it in Numb 6. 23. Speak unto Aaron and to his Sons saying On this wise shall you bless the Children of Israel saying unto them the Lord bless thee the Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace Now that this was not a Ceremony of the old Law that Ministers and Priests should bless the People appears by the New Testament because the Apostles of Jesus Christ in their Epistles did use to conclude their Epistles with Benedictions But this is not all here intended and therefore 2. This blessing of Abraham it was a blessing of Ratification to confirm Abrahams in the Promise That was the principal reason of Melchisedecks blessing of Abraham that he might be ratified and confirmed in his Faith concerning the Promise From whence we may observe That the strongest Faith had need of strengthning The Faith of the Saints doth need confirmation It is said of Abraham in Rom. 4. that being not weak in Faith he staggered not at the promise verse 20. yet if you look into another Scripture you will find Abraham sometimes staggering at the promise of God through unbelief For if you look into Gen. 15. 1. The Lord said unto him Fear not Abraham I am thy shield and exceeding great reward Then said Abraham Lord God what wilt thou give me seeing I go childless and the Steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus Abraham had the promise of a seed before in chap. 12. But he sometimes staggered at the promise Abraham was at first weak in Faith but after God had confirmed his Faith by this means then Abraham believed the Lord. So Abraham was once weak in Faith but now he was strong in Faith Again Abraham also grew strong in Faith by a higher confirming means and that was the Oath of God Heb. 6. 14. Surely in blessing I will bless thee So that Abraham that was commended for the strength of his Faith he was once weak in Faith till God had confirmed his Faith this way And this was the cause of Melchisedecks blessing him And also the Lord for the strengthning of his Faith carries him abroad and bid him look now towards the Heaven and tell the Stars if thou be able to number them And he said unto him so shall thy seed be And then he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for Righteousness Now the Reasons of weakness in Faith are these 1. Here we know but in part and therefore believe but in part 2. The flesh is weak in all Believers Christ said The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak 3. Those that have most Faith are commonly most assaulted by Satan and therefore have need of the most confirming means When our Saviour saw Peter firm in his profession of Faith saith Christ Satan hath desired to winnow thee like Wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not Ahraham though he had the promise yet he wanted a Melchisedeck to bless him Now the third thing is Melchisedeck's being without beginning of days or end of life Aarons Sons and all the Priests of the Levitical Priesthood they die but Melchisedeck he liveth he liveth in his order in the order of his his Priesthood for Jesus Christ is a Priest for ever after Melchisedeck's order But here men receive their Priesthood that die saith the Apostle so leave their work But Christ Jesus he liveth for ever who was here prefigured by Melchisedeck But the Sons of Levi they must die for it is appointed for all men once to die and after that comes Judgment Your Prophets do they live for ever Many of the Fathers of the Old World lived a great while But Kings Priests and Prophets must die Great and holy men must die I should enlarge upon this but I shall improve it these three or four ways 1. This should teach us to walk humbly as poor mortal creatures such as death will strip of all our glory all our beauty Oh! what is it that makes men proud and haughty and lifts up their spirits It is because they think more of living than of dying You have a strange instance of this
by himself Now we may conceive Melchisedeck knew all this and he went forth to meet him and blessed him that had received the Promise for he knew by the Spirit of God that Abraham was the Father of the Faithful and that in his Seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed and therefore he went out to bless him Now this is useful to us to all the Faithful for their comfort that are of the Seed of Abraham that they are under the blessing of the Priest of the most high God who was a Type of our Lord Jesus Christ and they shall be blessed Melchisedeck he did but act the part of our Lord Jesus Christ in blessing of a Believer for they are blessed by Christ and blessed with all Spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus therefore in the 24. of Luke you read that when Christ was ready to Ascend to Heaven in the 50. ver He led them as far as Bethany and laid his hands upon them and blessed them Here you have the Lord Jesus Christ who was Typified by this Melchisedeck he is blessing his own Disciples before his Ascention and after his Ascention he sent down his blessing which you read of in the 4. of the Ephesians He gave gifts unto men and all for the perfecting and edifying of the body of Christ Now the blessing of Christ both in the Type and in the Anti-type is of great Use to all Believers against the Curse of prophane men for these whom our great Melchisedeck blesses shall never receive a curse It is the way of the World to Curse the People of God and to imprecate all evil upon them and no doubt but there will be found a sort of men at this day that Curse the people of God But our great high Priest will preserve them the blessing of our Lord Jesus is with them and goes along with them Numb 23. 23. There is no Inchantment against Jacob nor no Divination against Israel therefore Moses tells the Children of God in the 23. Duteronomy and the beginning You shall remember how Balak the King of Moab hired Balaam to Curse you nevertheless the Lord thy God would not hearken to Balaam When you hear of Idolaters and Prophane men Cursing the People of God and Cursing of them that keep close to God you may know this that those people are under the blessing of our great Melchisedeck This you may observe from Melchisedeck's blessing of Abraham Come we now to the Second verse to consider Melchisedecks Place and Office Now saith the Apostle in the 2d verse to whom also Abraham gave a Tenth of all First being by interpretation King of Righteousness and after that also King of Salem which is King of Peace 1. We have here what Abraham did for Melchisedeck And then we have the Mystery brought in i. e. in Melchisedecks Name and Title 1. What Abraham did He gave him a Tenth part of all the spoil of the Four Kings that had Plundred the Country round about and this he gave to him as he was the Priest of the most high God and as one that was in that Sacred Office And here I might take occasion to shew and observe That the Ministers of God ought to have maintainance allowed means For so Abraham did he allowed this great Minister a Tenth part Before the Law of Moses you shall find that Jacob Vowed a Vow to God that he would give the Tenths of all his increase to him Gen. 28. and the last verse How is that He would not give it to God himself no but the meaning is he would give it to those that belonged to God I know it hath been a long dispute whether Tenths or Tythes ought to be continued any longer or any more than Altars and Sacrifices in a Reformed Christian Church I shall not determine that but this we may all be assured of that if Tythes or Tenths be of the Ceremonial Law and so are abolished yet the moral equity is to abide to the end of the World That those that Minister at Gods Altar should have honourable and comfortable maintainance I confess I never delighted to insist upon such Doctrin as this is nor shall I at this time but because it lies in my way let me give you a few hints If you lay aside the Old Testament in this matter there is nothing more frequently urged in the New Testament the Epistle to the Galatians the 6 and the 6. Let him that is taught in the Word communicate to him that teacheth in all good things so did Abraham he gave Tythes of all i. e. of all sorts of things that he took from the Kings after his Conquest And the Apostle in the 1 to the Corinthians the 9. and the 13. ver saith Do you not know that they which Minister about Holy things live of the things of the Temple And they which wait at the Altar are partakers with the Altar And the Apostle gives a special charge to Timothy who was a Minister in the 1st Epistle to Timothy 4. 13. To give attendance to Reading to Exhortation to Doctrin meditate upon these things give thy self wholly to them not to Farming Buying Selling and Trading but give thy self to these things spend thy time in these things But some will say Paul wrought with his hand 'T is true but it was upon a particular occasion And saith he I have power to forbear working And he tells the people of Corinth I have taken Wages of other Churches He calls his Maintainance Wages because it was for Work done And tho' there be a sort of Men that are ready to call these men hirelings that take allowance for their Labour you may see what our Saviour saith to his Disciples in the 10th of Luke and the 7th ver saith he The Labourer is worthy of his Hire and if so they may call the Disciples of Christ Hirelings There is a sort of men that looks upon Ministers maintainance to be a matter of Liberty and Charity and if they be poor they should consider them because of their Poverty sake and not for their Work sake but this is to abase the Doctrin of the Gospel God is my Witness I speak not these things from a greedy covetous disposition to increase my own maintainance but I speak it for your profit But there is one thing to be Observed in Abrahams giving the Tenths to Melchisedeck which is of special Use to us all That is he gave the Tythes of all to Melchisedeck and took nothing for himself for if you read in the 14. of Gen. when the King of Sodom offered him to take of the spoil in the 22. ver said Abraham I will not take from a Thread even to a Shoe-latchet I will not take any thing that is thine lest thou shouldest say I have made Abraham rich Here you may observe Abrahams Piety and Justice he would give unto God his due but would take nothing for himself Why so Is
brings us to This is the Hope and Faith of the Gospel But I do but touch upon these things by the by Now saith the Apostle he is able to save to the uttermost He carries it through Now to do a thing to the uttermost is to do all that can or ought to be added to that thing For there is nothing to be added to that work which is wrought to the uttermost So our Lord Jesus Christ in this Salvation work he carries it thorow to the uttermost to the uttermost There is nothing to be added to our Salvation And therefore our Protestant Divines stand much upon this Scripture against all Popish Adorations If Jesus Christ be able to save to the uttermost then there is no need of Merit Meritorious works no need of Priests Oblations Popish Pardons and Indulgences And if our Lord Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost then away with all Merits and all Priests for Oblations and all things that the ignorant Souls of men rest in He is able saith the Apostle to save to the uttermost Able to save that is a word of great emphasis Christ is able to carry through the great work of Salvation That is the point we are to insist upon The work of Salvation is a great work 'T is a greater work than the work of Creation For mind it the works of the great God some are greater than others and this work of Salvation is the greatest of all his works The work of Creation is a great work and Gods Wisdom his Omnipotence and his Goodness is much to be adored in the works of Creation For the work in two respects 1. As it is a work that all the three persons in the Sacred Trinity in the Godhead did co-operate and work together in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost created the World For though we say God the Father is Maker God the Father hath that work Attributed to him not that he did it without his Son and without the Holy Ghost Heb. 1. 2. It is said by Jesus Christ God made the World The Son wrought with the Father And you read in Genesis That the Holy Ghost also moved upon the face of the Deep So that the work of Creation is the work of the Godhead Father Son and Holy Spirit A great work Then again 2. If you consider the work it self The work of Creation is a great and wonderful work For mind it The Great God to make all things out of nothing This is a work that none but God could do For God to make Heaven and Earth Angels and Men and all living Creatures and all out of nothing it is a work of an Infinite God For mind it The wisest and the strongest man in the World cannot make a House or a poor Cottage out of nothing He must have matter to work upon Man can make nothing out of nothing And therefore the Philosopher took up this Maxim Nothing produceth nothing You cannot make a thing out of nothing Man cannot make one drop of Water to drink out of nothing he must go somewhere for that Water But for the Great God to raise Heaven and Earth out of nothing is to be adored And therefore saith the Psalmist When I consider the Heavens the work of thy hands the Sun Moon and Stars I said What is man Lord that thou shouldst be so mindful of him The work of Creation is a great and glorious work beyond all the power of Men and Angels But still the work of Salvation is greater than that For God is pleased to magnifie that work and to be at more cost about that work than he was about the work of Creation And in two respects the work of Salvation is greater than the work of Creation First Because in the work of Creation there was nothing to resist God in that work there were no Devils then in Being to Rebel against that work of God There was no wicked reprobate Person to resist God in the work of Creation But in the work of Salvation Men and Devils oppose the Wisdom of God and the Power of God and the Grace of God But he carries it through all opposition Secondly Though the work of Creation was a great work of God Yet there was no need that the Son of God should be made manifest in the Flesh for that work The work of Creation could be carried on without the Incarnation of the Son of God God did but say Let there be Light and there was Light Gods word did all there By Faith we understand the World was made by the Word of God Heb. 11. 3. But when God comes to work Salvation for mankind there is a great train of Work The Son of God must be made Man and suffer Death for poor Man and he must rise again So that the work of Salvation is greater than the work of Creation But how is Christ said to be able to save and to carry on this work First As he is God the Almighty God so nothing can stand before him to hinder the accomplishment of that which he hath undertaken to save a Soul from Death Where Christ undertakes for that all the powers of Hell cannot hinder it If he had been but a meer Man he had been stopped in this work Men and Devils would have hindred him in this work I say Reprobate Men and Devils would have hindred him in this work But being God he Triumphs over Principalities and Powers as you have it in Col. 2. 15. He spoiled Principalities and Powers These Principalities and Powers are the Devils which Reign in their Kingdom as Princes and Potentates do here on Earth But the Devils themselves dread our Lord Jesus Christ as you may see Mat. 8. 29. they cryed out What have we to do with thee Jesus thou Son of God Art thou come to Torment us before the time They knew him to be the Son of God and they begg'd leave of him to go into the Herd of Swine Thus you see our Lord Jesus Christ as he is God hath power to overcome all the Devils in Hell Therefore he is able to save them for the Devils dreaded Christ and said Art thou come to torment us before the time They knew Christ would come to Judge them one day and they were unwilling to come to Judgment before their time Now as he is the mighty God and as all the Powers of Hell are under him so he is able to save to the uttermost none can stand before him to hinder his accomplishing the work of Salvation Secondly He is able to save as he is our great High-priest over the house of God That the Apostle would have us to keep our eye upon as he is the Priest of God All the Priests before him were not able to save them that came to God by them tho' they did good service and were useful in offering Gifts and Sacrifices for the People yet they could not save them
the Heathen How is that Why you know how dreadful it was to Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar My name is dreadful among the Heathen and shall my People serve me unworthily and irreverently And so much for Melchisedecks Name and Title King of Salem and Priest of the most high God Here are two Offices met in one Person by which he was a special Type of Christ There was never any Person in the World but this Melchisedeck that did hold these two Offices rightfully Indeed we read of two of the Kings of Judah and Israel that undertook the Priests Office and his Work but they did bear the dreadful mark of Gods Judgment for joyning the Priestly Office with that of the King in the 2 Chron. 26. 17 18 19. We read that Uzziah attempted to burn Incense upon the Altar He went into the Temple of the Lord to burn Incense upon the Altar of Incense but Azariah the Priest went in after him and with him Fourscore Priests of the Lord that were valiant men and they withstood Uzziah the King and said unto him it pertaineth not unto thee Uzziah to burn Incense to the Lord but to the Priests the Sons of Aaron that are Consecrated to burn Incense go out of the Sanctuary for thou hast transgressed neither shall it be for thine honour from the Lord God Then Uzziah was wroth and had a Censer in his hand to burn Incense and while he was wroth with the Priests the Leprosie even rose up in his Forehead before the Priests in the House of the Lord and Uzziah the King was a Leper unto the day of his death thus the Lord smote Uzziah with Leprosie for joyning the Priestly Office with his Kingly Office Another King you read of was Jeroboam 1 Kings 13. and the beginning the Lord sent a Prophet to him to Prophecy ruin to him and upon his Prophecying against the Altar in Bethel The King put forth his hand from the Altar saying Lay hold on him and his hand which he stretched forth against him dryed up so that he could not pull it in again to him God will never bear it to have these two Offices joyned together but in Melchisedeck and Jesus Christ and therein was Melchisedeck a Type of Christ who is all in all to his Church and People for he is our King our Priest and our Prophet This therefore by our Protestant Writers is looked upon to be one mark of Antichrist the Pope who makes himself a Temporal Lord and joyns the same to his Priesthood falsly applying that place to himself in Luke 22. 38. And they said unto him Lord here are two Swords and he said unto them It is enough But Melchisedeck was a type of Christ being both King and Priest Now from hence we may have this comfortable Observation for all Believers That the Lord Jesus Christ is both our King and Priest This is of great use for the comfort of Believers He is a King he is a mighty King to defend his Church and People He is the King that reigns in Righteousness He is a King that governs us by his own Righteous Laws he protects us There is no King on Earth can ever spiritually and eternally destroy Christs Subjects or wholly root out the remembrance of Christs name in the World for he is mighty to save according to that in Psal 72. 11. Kings shall fall down before him and all Nations shall serve him for he shall deliver the needy when he cryeth the poor also and him that hath no helper This is our King our great Melchisedeck King of Salem He is our Priest he offered up himself as a Sacrifice for our sins by him we have an Atonement There may be some good Kings in the World but where is he that can be a Priest for us but our Lord Jesus Christ And therefore look into Heb. 7. 25. He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him because he ever liveth to make Intercession for us Our Lord Jesus Christ being the true King and Priest oâ— the most high God this makes him an Object of our Faith and Love that we may go to him as our King and our Priest But now we come to the second Branch of the â—ext the action of this Melchisedeck 〈◊〉 and Priest of the most high God He went out and met Abraham when Abraham returned from the slaughter of the Kings of the Countrey and blessed him Now these words relate to what we read in Gen. 14. there you will see how Melchisedeck blessed Abraham at v. 18. and so on And Melchisedeck King of Salem brought forth Bread and Wine And he was the Priest of the most high God and he blessed him and said Blessed be Abraham of the most high God Possessor of Heaven and Earth And blessed be the most high God which hath delivered thine Enemies into thy hand And he gave him tythes of all You see here that Melchisedeck met him and blessed him and carried to him a Royal Entertainment for he carried Bread and Wine to Abraham to refresh him and his Army after he had been fighting with the Kings This Abrahams Warfare was thus Abraham hearing that Lot his Brothers Son was taken captive and the people and goods of Sodom carried away you read that Abraham Armed his trained Servants born in his house three hundred and eighteen and pursued them to Dan And he and his Servants by night and smote them and pursued them to Hobah And he brought all the goods and also brought again his Brother Lot and his goods and the women also and the people Thus did Abraham by a small force overcome four Kings four great Kings This is Abraham that righteous man whom God call'd to fight his Battel And he subdued Kings and made his Enemies as stubble to his Bow It was not Abrahams force that did it He was one that went out in Faith and returns in Faith and Melchisedeck the Priest of the most high God met him and blessed him Here are three things to be observed in Abrahams Warfare 1. Abraham returns from the slaughter of the Kings Hence you may observe That Wars are good and lawful when there is a just cause for it For Abraham he had not done well in going out to fight and make war with those Kings if there had been no just cause for it nor would Melchisedeck the Priest of the most high God come out to bless him I mention this to confute that error and mistake of those who say it is not lawful to fight with carnal weapons But 2. From this action of Abrahams we may learn this special duty That when our Brethren Kindred or Relations are in distress we ought to venture our selves for their relief as far as lawfully we may For the Apostle tells us we ought to lay down our lives for the Brethren So Abraham hearing that Lot his Brothers Son his person and family were taken and carried away captive
on Earth so that the Pharisees said he was a Wine-bibber and a friend of Publicans and sinners The Answer is thus Our Lord Jesus Christ when he was here on Earth did converse with sinners for the saving of their Souls but never converst with them in their sin And so he is said to be separated from sinners Christ could have no more communion with their sins than Light with Darkness Yet he converst with sinners as he came to save and to seek them that were lost He came to save them not to mingle with them in their sins Therefore you may observe in Luke 19. when he goes to Zacheus his house some of the people murmured and said He is gone to be a Guest to a man that is a sinner in verse 7. But what saith Christ in verse 10. The Son of Man is come to seek and to save those that were lost Therefore he was to go to be a Guest to a sinner to save those that were lost It was easie with Christ to keep and converse with sinners and yet keep himself from the defilement of their sins As it is with a Physician he can go into the house of a sick person and yet keep himself free from the Contagion of the Disease The Adversaries of Christ could never charge him with any defilements of sin and herein the purity of our Lord Jesus Christ is set out to us And it became us to have such an High-priest But then here is the next thing which is his Exaltation Made higher than the Heavens That is an expression that carries much in it Here we have the Exaltation of our great High-priest He is made higher than the Heavens Heavens in the Plural number The Scripture mentions three Heavens First The Lowest Heaven is the Airy Heaven where the Fowls of the Air flie And of this you read in Gen. 1. about the 8th verse God called the Firmament Heaven when he had separated the Earth from the Heaven The second or middlemost Heaven is the Starry Heaven which God shewed to Abraham in Gen. 15. where the Sun Moon and Stars are contained But then There is a Third Heaven which is the place of the blessed where God doth manifest himself in his Glory and that Third Heaven the Apostle speaks of in 2 Cor. 12. 2. he tells us that he was caught up into the Third Heaven that is the place where the blessed are This is that which Solomon calls the Heaven of Heavens in that passage of his in 2 Chron. 2. 6. But who is able to build him an House seeing the Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him that is God Now saith the Apostle here in my Text Jesus Christ our High-priest is made higher than the Heavens he is made higher than the Terrestrial Heaven higher than the Starry Heaven and I pray mind what an Emphasis the Scripture puts upon this compare the words of the Text with Ephes 4. 10. the Apostle saith That he Ascended far above all Heavens that he might fill all things The Apostle in the Text saith that he is made higher than the Heavens and here he saith he is Ascended far above all Heavens Why Because in his exalted state of Glory he is taken up above to Gods right hand which is above all the Created Glory in Heaven For though the great God made a Heaven for the holy Angels and for the glorified Saints and doth there manifest his Glory so far as they are capable of receiving it yet still God is above all the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him saith Solomon How God is a Heaven in himself You know the Prophet tells us that he inhabits in Eternity and liveth in Eternity Now this Eternity was in God himself before the Heavens were made and tho he manifests himself in his Glory among the Saints and Angels yet he is above all and so the Glory of Christ is far above all the Glory of the Saints and Angels for the Glory of Christ is to sit at Gods right hand as the Apostle saith Heb. 1. 13. He gives us Glory in Heaven and his Angels have Glory in Heaven but Jesus Christ hath higher Glory than all these for he is at the Fathers right hand and he dwells in God himself and inheriteth Eternity see Ephes 1. 20 21. when the Apostle who is speaking of raising up Christ from the dead he saith He set him on his own right hand in Heavenly places far above all Principalities and Powers and Might and Dominions Mind how high the Apostle goes with this when he raised up Christ from the dead he set him on his own Right hand far above all Principalities and Powers and Dominions What Principalities and Powers are these Why the holy Angels for Heaven is a Kingdom and there is a Government and an Order in Heaven There is Principalities and Powers there is Angels and Arch angels But when God raised Jesus Christ from the dead he raised him above the Angels he set him far above the Glory of the Saints And tho he prayed that the Saints might be where he is it is not meet that we should be received in that height of Glory where he is but we are to have the Glory of Christ communicated to us so far as we are capable to receive him as he is the second Person of the Trinity The Saints cannot reach to that Glory he is in but they shall have it so far as they are capable to receive him Phil. 2. 9 10. Wherefore God hath highly Exalted him and given him a Name which is above every Name That at the Name of Jesus every Knee should bow of things in Heaven of things in Earth of things under the Earth All the holy Angels and Saints in Heaven do bow unto our Lord Jesus Christ and do homage to him in our Nature Why Because the Father hath made him higher than the Heavens above all the Glory of Heaven He is not only holy harmless separate from sinners but made higher than the Heavens And such an High-priest became us Now for Application This Doctrin is Four ways Useful to us First This shews the Riches of Gods Goodness and Mercy to poor sinful Man that he should appoint such a High-priest to interceed for us such a one as is not to be found among all the Children of Men. God had the whole Creation before him Angels and Men but there was no Person could be found that did become us that was fit to be our High-priest but he that is higher than the Heavens the Son of God Oh the great goodness of God! It will take up an Eternity to adore God for his goodness in our Salvation by Jesus Christ God hath done much for us in our Creation he hath made us rational Creatures out of nothing he hath made a World for us to inhabit and given us Dominion over the works of his hand hath made us but a little lower than the Angels which made