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
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
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
We begin with the first verse This Melchisedeck saith the Apostle was King of Salem and Priest of the most high God Here is his Office It is much disputed amongst many who this Melchisedeck was Some have thought him to be an Angel because 't is said he was without Father and without Mother and without descent But that is clearly answered and confuted by the Apostle in the 5th chapter and the 1st and 2d verses For every High Priest was to be taken from among men not from among Angels but from among men And therefore Melchisedeck was a man and not an Angel And whereas it is said that he was without Father without Mother without descent which leads to that Opinion that he was no man That is spoken of him as to his Genealogy For it was the Custom of the Jews to keep Genealogies and Records of their Parentage in the Church that they might read them in their Church-Book But Melchisedeck had not this Record But he was a man and the most received Opinion is that this Melchisedeck was Shem the Son of Noah For you know that Noah had three Sons Shem Ham and Japheth These three Sons replenished the whole Earth after the Flood as you may read in Gen. 9. 18 19. And that this Melchisedeck was Shem and had his Name given him afterward Melchisedeck from his Kingdom and Goodness and the reasons for it are these First of all Shem lived Six hundred years he lived a Hundred years before the Flood and Five hundred years after the Flood as you may see in the 11 of Gen. the 10 and 11. verses He was One hundred years before the Flood and Five hundred years after it when the World was planted again and this is given as a reason why his Genealogy could not be found for the Flood destroyed all Persons but a few and their Records and Genealogies might be lost The Second reason given for Shems being this Melchisedeck is That he was the Person that in the 9th of Gen. God stiled him self the Lord God of Shem the 26. verse Thirdly Shem the Son of Noah had the Promise made to him as you may read in that 9th of Gen. he had the Promise of Propagating the Church of God and therefore it is said God shall perswade Japheth to dwell in the Tents of Shem and Shem was great Grand-sire to Abraham for Abrahams stock did spring out of this root of Shem. Fourthly Another reason is this that of this Son of Noah of his stock came Christ according to the Flesh that you have in the Third of Luke speaking of the Genealogy of Christ according to the Flesh the 36th verse Which was the Son of Shem which was the Son Noah so that Christs Genealogy according to the Flesh is reckoned from Shem and for these Reasons it is most generally believed that this Melchisedeck was Shem the Son of Noah but whether that be so or no he was a Man for he could not be an Angel because he was a great and honourable Person in the World in whom the Propagation of the Church consisted Now we must not only consider his Person but his Place KING OF SALEM What is that Country Salem It was a Country that bordered upon the Land of Canaan where Abraham Sojourned and this Country of Salem bordered upon Canaan and in this place was the Temple built afterward and the City of Jerusalem For you must know Jerusalem is a word compounded of two words Jeru and Salem Salem is the latter part of the word Jerusalem Jeru signifies God will provide It is the same word which Abraham said to his Son when he was Offering him up for a Sacrifice he said God will provide and Salem signifies Peace as you may see in the 76 Psal in the 1 and 2. ver In Judah God is known in Salem is his Tabernacle i. e. in Jerusalem Now of this Place Melchisedeck was King He was King of that Country that bordered upon Canaan and he was Priest of the most High God Here he Governed as King and here he Governed as a Magistrate and here he kept up the Word of God as a Minister Hence you may observe That God would never in any Age of the World let his true Worship fall in the World but there should be some to keep it up Here you have a Melchisedeck that was King of Salem that kept up the true Worship in the Land of Canaan he kept up the Name of the most high and great God So that we may comfort our selves with this that God will never let his Worship fall to the ground This Melchisedeck was King of Salem and Priest of the most High God King of Salem There is a Mystery in that it is said he was Priest of the most high God and for this reason good Abraham shewed him that respect he did as to give him the Tenths of all the Spoils If Mechisedeck had been a Priest of Baal or of an Idol God Abraham would have turned his back upon him for it is the property of Godly men to bear their Testimonies against Idol-priests and from hence we may briefly take notice of this from Abrahams practice to shew our respects to the Ministers of God who faithfully labour in the Word and Doctrin But that which I would chiefly take notice of in this branch of the Text is this He is stiled Priest of the most high God that is one of the glorious Titles of our Lord Jesus Christ The Scripture speaks much of God as the most high in the 113. Psal 2 3 4. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore from the rising of the Sun unto the going down of the same the Lords Name is to be praised The Lord is high above all Nations c. The most high God This should teach us to use the Name of God always with a holy awfull Reverence not to speak of God as you do of Man You know Men look for their Titles when they come into place of greatness and honour they will be called your Highness and your Majesty and the like Shall we speak so to Man And shall we not speak to the most high God with an awful Reverence and Fear Our Lord Jesus Christ though he was the Son of God and equal with God yet taking upon him our nature when he comes to speak to God the Father he speaks with a holy Reverence Holy Father Our Lord Jesus Christ remembred the greatness of God the Father I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth Matt. 11. 25. So when he spoke to his Disciples about Prayer saith he Pray to your Father in Heaven all this is to shew how we must use the holy Name of God with Reverence There is a passage in Malachi where the Lord rebuked his People that carried it irreverently under his service For I am a great King saith the Lord of Hosts and my Name is dreadful among
it not Lawful for a man to enrich himself by War as well as by Trade Why did not Abraham take a Reward for his great Adventure The reason is plain for it shall not be said that Abraham is made rich by the spoils of the King of Sodoms Country The King of Sodom was a Heathen and an Enemy to Abrahams Religion and Abraham would not bring a scandal upon his Religion by his gettings in the World A Godly Gracious Man is very tender in his ways and dealings that he may not raise a scandal to Religion in his Worldly gettings Indeed men of the World they care not how they get Riches because the World is their God but Men professing Godliness as Abraham did they ought to be careful that they do not bring a scandal to Religion in their Worldly gettings For thus it was with Abraham he was very tender of the name of God he would not inrich himself in these ways Here we may learn both Justice Piety and Self-denial Here was Piety towards God he gave to God his due And here was Self-denial also he took nothing for himself nor for his Servants who were born in his House and such as he was bound to provide for And this should teach us that in all our actions of a publick nature we must take heed that we do not make private Interest our aim and end And so much for these words of Abrahams giving the Tenth of the spoil to Melchisedeck Now the Apostle comes to bring in the Mystery of these things in the following words being by interpretation King of Righteousness and afterwards King of Salem the Apostle found out the Mystery of the Son of God in Melchisedecks Name and Place by way of Interpretation How Why Melchisedeck is a Hebrew name which signifies a King of Righteousness Some Writers say it was given him upon his Righteous Government King of Righteousness And then the providence of God so ordered it that he was King of a Place that was called Salem which signifies Peace and so the Apostle saith by Interpretation this Melchisedeck was King of Righteousness and afterwards King of Salem Why doth the Apostle bring it in by way of Interpretation Because Melchisedeck and Salem were Hebrew words and the Apostle Writing to the people in Greek which Language they understood better than Hebrew therefore he Interprets the Hebrew words to them And here by the way we may briefly take notice That Learning Study and Reading is a necessary quality in a Minister of the Gospel For though Learning without Grace or the Spirit of God is an empty and insignificant thing yet if men are sanctified it is of great use to the Church of God But where is the Mystery contained in Melchisedecks name and place It lies in this that our Lord Jesus the Son of God is the King of Righteousness and Peace He is our King He is our Melchisedeck He is our King of Righteousness and our Peace The Scripture doth so assert Christ to be See Isa 3. 2. 1 2. 'T is a Prophecy of Christ Behold a King shall Reign in Righteousness and Princes shall Rule in Judgment A man shall be an hiding-place from the Wind and a covert from the Tempest As Rivers of Water in a dry place as the shadow of a great Rock in a weary Land Here is a glorious Promise of Jesus Christ A King shall Reign in Righteousness he shall be a hiding-place from the Wind and a covert from the Tempest when he sets up his Kingdom You commonly say in the Prayer of our Lord Thy Kingdom come but how few do understand it The Prophet tells us that a King shall Reign in Righteousness He shall be a hiding-place from the Wind and from the Tempest When storms and winds shall come upon his Church and People he will be as a hiding-place and will be a comfort and refreshment to them He will be as the shadow of a great Rock in a weary Land If you look into Psal 45. penned to set forth the Government of Christ of whom Solomon was a type saith he v. 7. Thou lovest Righteousness and hatest wickedness therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows Why because thy Scepter is a Scepter of Righteousness for thou hatest wickedness therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows But then Melchisedeck as a further type of Christ as he was King of Righteousness so also he was King of Salem King of Peace So if you look into Isa 9 6. For to us a Child is born unto us a Son is given and the Government shall be upon his shoulders his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace To us that is to the Church a Child is born and what shall his name be called His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor For Christ is the greatest wonder of any thing in the World For the Son of God to be made flesh Now you see little of Christ he is little set up in the Nation But in time the Zeal of the Lord of Hosts will lift up his Son Jesus Christ as the King of Righteousness and as the King of Peace As soon as Christ came into the World the heavenly Host came down and sang praise to the most High Luk. 2. 14. Glory to God on the highest and on earth peace good will towards men But how is Christ called the Prince of Peace why in two respects 1. As he hath made Peace between God and Man And 2. As he makes Peace among men 1. As he makes Peace between God and Man For upon mans sin there was a dreadful enmity and hatred between the holy God and sinful man man hated God God hated sinful man till Christ this Prince of Peace came Yea the holy Angels that stand close to God they hated man and men hate one another upon that account For there is such a variance in the corrupt Nature of man that men are commonly Tigers Wolves Lions yea Devils one to another But Christ he hath satisfied Divine Justice by the death of the Cross and slain the Enmity between God and Man and so we are at peace with him For Christ hath reconciled us to God Hence you have that in Col. 3. He hath made peace between Jew and Gentile and Eph. 2. 14. saith the Apostle there For he is our peace who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us There was abundance of strife and variance between the Jew and Gentile Before Christ the Gentiles scorned the Jews for their Circumcision and the Jews scorned the Gentiles and called them Dogs But Christ hath taken away all this variance and enmity This Prince of Peace will remove all offences that stand in his way so that upon this account he is called the Prince of Peace Object But some may
Lordship of Christ we are to take up three practical Duties which I shall but name and so go on 1. If our Jesus Christ be our great Lord our King Then it is our Duty to study Obedience to his Laws and Commands not to take him only for a Saviour but our Lord For mind it Earthly Lords require Honour and Obedience and shall we call Christ our Lord and Master and not do the thing that he Commands or have no regard to his Word or to his Commands See I pray John 14. 21. He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me You pretend love to Christ shew it then in keeping his Commands and in the 23. ver If any man love me he will keep my word so the 15. ver If ye love me keep my Commandments and you shall abide in my love Christ puts all upon love Though he be a great Lord and might exact all service in a way of fear and dread yet he will have all in Love When you are tempted to any sin say My Lord forbids me and I must obey his Commands He hath told us if we love him we shall keep his Words 2. If Jesus Christ be our great Lord then we ought with confidence to rest upon him for protection for preservation for he is a great Lord For pray mind it Though Jesus Christ makes but little noise in the World and other Lords seem to carry a great name yet Jesus Christ is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings and as he is the Fathers Vicegerent he over-rules all the Kings and Kingdoms in the World and therefore you may rest in him as the great Lord and as the Apostle writes to Timothy the 1. and the 6. and 15. which in time he shall shew who is the blessed and only Potentate King of Kings and Lord of Lords then let us rest upon him for Protection 3. If Jesus Christ be our Lord then are we not only to walk according to his Commands but after his Example in Meekness and Humility see John 13. 13. saith Christ to his Disciples Ye call me Lord and Master and ye say well for so I am If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet you ought also to wash one anothers Be not proud then but say hath my Lord and Master condescended so to his Disciples And shall I slight them and cast them off I have given you an example saith Christ labour then to honour Jesus Christ Now in the next place Here you find that the Apostle useth one word in the Text mind that it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah and in the 15. ver it is far more evident Why doth the Apostle so insist upon it I Answer It is to teach us Ministers that Preach the Gospel to make things evident to the Peoples understandings Plain and evident to their understanding It is a great part of their Ministerial work to inform their Judgments and therefore pray that you may have a plain Gospel-Minister 1 Cor. 2. 5. that in every thing you are inriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge men may make a great noise in Preaching but little to Edification But then here is the Question What is it that the Apostle will make evident That is the main Point in the Text. Why he makes evident that Jesus Christ our great High-priest was not a Priest after the Law of a carnal Commandment but by the power of an endless Life And these are the words I shall briefly open and apply That Jesus Christ our great High-priest was not made a Priest after the Law of a carnal Commandment but after the power of an endless Life Here are two things to be observed First The Apostles removing the Priest-hood of Christ from the Levitical Priest-hood that it was not made after the Law of a carnal Commandment Secondly He gives a description of the true Nature of the Priest-hood of Christ That it is a Priest-hood of power and of an endless Life First of all saith the Apostle He was not made a Priest after the Law of a carnal Commandment What is that Why it is a carnal Commandment that made all subject to the Ceremonial Law You will say Was the Ceremonial Law Carnal Did not God Command it how was it then Carnal Why it was a Command that respected Carnal things Carnal in Scripture is taken two ways First Carnal is taken for that which is sinful and in this sence the Law of Moses was not made by a Carnal Commandment Sometimes Carnal is set in opposition to Spiritual things and so it is put for things concerning the Body and not for the Soul If we have sown unto you Spiritual things Is it a great thing if we shall reap your Carnal things And in this sence the Ceremonies of the Law were called Carnal things because they did only reach to the Body they were but shadows of Heavenly things and therefore the Apostle in his Epistle to the Colossians called them Worldly rudiments Col. 2. 20. Why so Because all those Ceremonial Laws were not of an heavenly nature as the things of the Spirit are but they only concerned outward things Mind this The Jews they doted much upon their Ceremonial Rites before Christ came and after Christ came they did stick much to their carnal and worldly Ceremonies And therefore the Apostle Paul in a holy anger speaks to the Galatians O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the Truth to turn aside from Christ the substance to carnal things to worldly things which are but shadows And this is to be observed and oh that we could observe it more that in the corrupt nature of man there is a carnal disposition that leads him out to worship God in a carnal way And that is the scope of the Apostle here Look upon the Worship and Religion of the Papists and you will see 't is but a carnal Religion They have their curious Images and Pictures What doth this avail a Soul to have a rich pompous Altar a rich Garment for the Priest to have pompous Processions and curious Musick What are these to the Soul And as for us that have the Reformed Religion how many amongst us delight to worship God after the Law of a carnal Commandment Are there not too many amongst us which are more for old Abrogated Ceremonies than they are for a Gospel Worship Bewail and lament the Apostacy of this Generation These Ceremonies of the Old Testament tho' they were carnal and low things in themselves yet they had a spiritual signification put upon them by God and so had a great excellency in them whilst God was pleased to continue them But now that God hath abolished them Paul calls them carnal things And so we may call all Mediums of Worship that are not of Gods appointment Now for the second which is the description of the Priesthood of
Oath The Lord sware and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck These words are taken out of Psal 110. 4. Now for an Oath we must consider there are two sorts of Oaths vain and prophane Oaths and sacred Oaths As for vain and prophane Oaths which men use in their common talk are especially forbidden in the third Commandment Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain To swear lightly and vainly by the name of God or by their Faith and Troth these are great provocations to the Lord. As you may see in Jer. 23. 10. For the Land is full of Adulterers for because of swearing the Land mourneth the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up Prophane swearing and false swearing which is a common thing among your bad people causeth the Land to mourn But then as there is a prophane and vain and common swearing which brings a Curse along with it so there is a sacred swearing and that is when men are lawfully called thereto to confirm a testimony An Oath for confirmation is the end of all strife saith the Apostle Now this holy and sacred swearing is here attributed to God the Father concerning the Priesthood of his Son Jesus Christ And you may observe in Scripture that God is said to swear two ways 1. Sometimes he swears in his wrath to confirm his threatnings and often in his mercy to confirm his promise 1. Sometimes God is said to swear in his wrath to confirm his threatnings As you may see Heb. 3. 11. In v. 10. saith he I was grieved with that generation they do always err in their hearts So I sware in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest Mind it The people were now in the wilderness and they were going into the Land of Canaan the Land of Rest the Land of Promise but they grew so bad and so provoking to God whilst they lived upon his mercy in the wilderness that at last God sware they should not enter into his Rest the Land of Canaan God confirmed by an Oath why by an Oath to drive them to the more terrour to take them off from their presumption God threatned they should not enter into his Rest and he confirms it by an Oath that they may have no hopes of entring into his Rest But 2. Often in Scripture God is said to swear in mercy for the confirming of his promise that his people might have stronger consolation Not but that Gods promise of it self is sure But he condescends to our weakness that we might have stronger consolation See Heb. 6. 17 18. Wherein God more abundantly to shew unto the Heirs of Promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an Oath That by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have strong consolation You see here the Apostle declares the end of Gods adding an Oath to his Promise That Believers might have more comfort that their hearts might be strengthned and their patience might be strengthned till the promise was accomplished He sware by himself because he could swear by no greater he sware by himself Mind that When men swear to confirm a thing they swear by the Great God who knows their ways and thoughts And so they are said to swear by a greater But because God could not swear by a greater saith the Apostle he sware by himself For this was one of the titles of God the Great God When the poor Heathens that had not the Scriptures they by the light of Nature sware by God who made Heaven and Earth Under the title of Optimus Maximus that was the term they gave the great God the best of the great Gods Now because God could not swear by a greater he sware by himself that he would bless Abraham and all the faithful And here in the Text when he is setting up his Son the Lord Jesus Christ as our great High-priest that we might have greater consolation it 's said The Lord sware and will not repent We know God cannot repent both words are true for the Lord is not as man that he should repent Why doth David and the Apostle after him take up these words The Lord hath sworn and will not repent I answer there is a special Emphasis in it First of all God speaks thus of himself after the manner of men that we might be put out of all doubt of his truth and faithfulness For though he is most unchangeable in his words in his promises and in his purposes as the Apostle James hath it James 1. 17. Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning God is immutable But he speaks thus after the manner of men that we might be put out of all doubt that he will not repent Secondly There is still a higher intendment of the Holy Ghost in these words The Lord hath sworn and he will not repent i. e. He will never abrogate or disannul the Priestly Office of Christ as he did that of Aaron For so you read in the words before which were spoken to the last day God did abrogate and did make void the Covenant concerning the Levitical Priesthood But now he will never revoke this or disannul this He hath sworn and will never repent Though God be unchangeable yet we find in Scripture that he sometimes revokes his threatnings and calls them back again As for example God threatned by Jonah that Nineveh should be destroyed in forty days But God revoked it because there was a tacit condition in the threatning therefore he revoked it So when God sent Hezekiah the Message concerning his death he sent his Prophet to him to bid him set his house in order For saith he in the name of the Lord thou shalt die and not live Yet upon Hezekiahs humbling himself by prayer the Lord called back that word again and added to Hezekiahs life fifteen years In this sense the Prophet Joel is to be understood You find in chap. 2. in the last part of it that the Lord threatens dreadful Judgments to the people Now in verse 12 13. saith the Prophet Wherefore also now thus saith the Lord Turn ye even to me with all your hearts with fasting and with weeping and with mourning rent your hearts and not your garments and turn unto the Lord your God for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil Who knows if he will repent and return and leave a blessing behind As if he should say The threatning is gone forth for your destruction but if ye will return unto God who knows but that he will repent and leave a blessing behind That is he may call in his Threatnings and alter his Dispensation So that
are put upon his work of Salvation and therefore we should live to his Glory Our dear Lord may say to us I live for ever I know all things Why then do you slight my Work and slight my Ordinances and slight my People Why do you not live more to my Glory And then Lastly This should be a strong motive for Men to come to Christ Ye trust in dying Friends dying comforts dying Relations and fix your hope upon things that crumble away to dust When Peter made his confession of Christ Joh. 6. 68. To whom should we go thou hast the words of Eternal Life Go from Christ and you go to death and Damnation Go to him and you come to Life and to Everlasting Salvation For he ever liveth an High-priest to make Intercession for us Now the Inference follows in the next words SERMON IX Hebrews 7. 25. Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them THese words of the Apostle contain the Inference which he makes of all that he had said before of the Priesthood of Jesus Christ He comes to this conclusion Wherefore Christ is able to save to the uttermost all those that come unto God by him This Illative or word wherefore hath a reference to what was spoken before And also to what follows after For the Apostle having said before that Jesus Christ the Son of God is made a Priest after the order of Melchisedeck that he was not made a Priest by the Law of a Carnal Command but by the power of an endless Life That Christ was made a Priest by a solemn Oath The Lord hath Sworn and will not Repent thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck That Jesus Christ is made a surety of a better Testament That he endures and hath an unchangeable Priesthood Wherefore saith he he is able to save to the uttermost The Argument may be thus framed He that is the Eternal Son of God He that is a Priest for ever and made a Priest by the Oath of God He that hath an unchangeable Priesthood He that is the surety of a better Covenant He is able to save to the uttermost But all this is Jesus Christ Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto him But then The words have also a reference to what follows in the last clause of this Verse Seeing he ever liveth to maketh Intercession for them Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them And the Argument may also be framed He that ever liveth to make Intercession for them He is able to save all that come unto God by him So that both these conclusions are proved That Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him We begin with the first branch of this Text He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him These are the words I shall open and apply this Morning if God permit To save a Soul is a great work a great and glorious work All the powers of Heaven and Earth short of God cannot save a Soul The Devil can destroy Souls by the Righteous and Just Judgment of God And therefore hath that name given him which is opposite to Christ He is called Abaddon and Apollyon which signifies to destroy in Rev. 9. 11. The Devil I say can destroy Souls but he cannot save any he cannot save himself 'T is a great and glorious work to save a poor Soul This is only Christ's work And therefore he is called the Author of Eternal Salvation Heb. 5. 9. And being made perfect he became the Author of Eternal Salvation to all them that obey him the Author of Eternal Salvation There have been Temporal Saviours Men that God hath raised up in several Ages and Generations to deliver his People from the power of their Enemies when his People were in distress God did raise them up Saviours And it was accounted a very great Mercy to have a Temporal Saviour To have a Man of Faith and Courage as Sampson and Gideon and Barack and others that would appear for the Church in times of streights There is a Prophecy in Mic. 5. 5. speaking of Christ And this Man shall be the Peace when the Assyrian shall come into the Land and when he shall tread in our Palaces then shall we raise against him seven Shepherds and eight Principal Men that are worthy Instruments that shall rise up to oppose the Assyrians power The Assyrians power is made a Type of the Antichristian power God hath his principal Men and his principal Instruments to save his People These are under Christ But he only is the Author of Eternal Salvation And this Salvation this Eternal Salvation that Jesus Christ brings is an unspeakable mercy The very thoughts of it gives abundance of comfort If we do but consider what he saves us from and what he saves us to First What he saves us from He saves a poor sinner from his sin and from all the misery that comes along with it His name shall be called Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins saith the Angel in Matth. 1. 24. He shall save his people from their sins i. e. from all those miseries that their sins bring upon them or would bring upon them For sin is the cause of all misery And to be saved from sin is to be saved from all misery What would the Devils in Hell give to be saved from their misery that their sin hath brought upon them What would the Rich Glutton in the Gospel give to be saved from his misery We are not aware what he saves us from Then if we consider what he saves us to or brings us to by this Salvation Christ brings us into his favour and grace brings us into that blessed state in Heaven where there is all safety and security and blessing where the Devil nor his Instruments can never break in upon us to intercept our peace Rev. 21. 9. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain To be brought into Communion with God with the holy Angels and with the glorified Saints and with Jesus Christ the Head of the Church An Everlasting Communion Oh the Salvation that our Lord Jesus Christ brings us to There is no solitude in Heaven Here we complain of a solitude and a solitary life We want company we want converse in the World But there will be an everlasting converse with the great God so far as our Natures are capable of coming near to him An everlasting converse with our Redeemer with the holy Angels and with the glorified Saints Who is able to express the Salvation our Lord Jesus Christ
coming to God by Christ It may be you come to hear the Word of God and you do well Sometimes you come to pray to pray for mercy in affliction you do well But there is another coming to Christ which is by Faith and therefore never rest in any thing of hearing and praying until you have brought up your hearts to come to Christ by Faith rest upon him And saith Christ No man cometh to me except my Father draw him I know that a Natural Conscience will put a man upon coming to God in Prayer But no Natural Conscience will put a man to come unto God by Christ A second Use is to those that act Faith and come to God by Christ Remember that he is able to save to the uttermost Rest upon the power of our Lord Jesus Christ I remember when God did set up Saul to be King over Israel it is said in 1 Sam. 10. There you may read that many of the people despised him and said How can this man save us They looked upon him as a weakling But the Lord Jesus Christ he is able to save to the uttermost by his Almighty Power You may believe he is our great High-Priest You find there in the first Book of Sam. chap. 17. that the Philistines trusted in their Champion Goliath who was but a man But our Lord Jesus Christ he is the great Goliath he encountred with Devils with Hell and with the World and overcame all of them He hath satisfied the Law and Justice and ever liveth to make Intercession to God for all those that come unto God by him But of that afterward SERMON X. Hebrews 7. 25. Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them THE last day I handled the first Branch of this Text It tells us that Christ is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him To save a Soul from Death and Misery is a work that none can accomplish but he that is Mighty to Save The work of Salvation is so great as we cannot possibly comprehend it in this Life But as our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God who was made Flesh hath undertaken this great work so he is able to carry it on Able to save all that come unto God by him These words have been opened and applyed and I shall not look back but come to a second Branch of this Text where a reason is given Why our Lord Christ is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them Now these words carry a great deal of comfort for them that believe the Word But they require some care and diligence in the opening of them and giving the right sense of them lest we should be led away with gross and dull apprehensions of this Spiritual Mystery First therefore for the right understanding of this phrase here in the Text Whereas it is said that Christ ever liveth to make Intercession for us this is not to be understood as if the Intercession of Christ should never have an end For the Intercession of Christ is a work that belongs to his Mediatory-Kingdom and that shall have an end When all Gods Elect shall be gathered to him and the whole mystery of our Redemption finished then shall all be given up to God for he shall be All in All In 1 Cor. 15. 24. speaking of Christ then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God even the Father When he shall have put down all Rule and all Authority and Power For he must Reign till he hath put all Enemies under his Feet The last Enemy that shall be destroyed is Death For he hath put all things under his Feet And when all things shall be subdued unto him then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him that God may be all in all Here the Apostle is treating of Christs Mediatory-Kingdom And when all the Elect shall be gathered together When the World shall come to an end Then the last Enemy that is to be destroyed is Death And there shall be no more die in the Church All shall be swallowed up in the Eternal God-head And God shall be all in all Then there will be no need of his Intercession or of a Mediator But still remember the blessed effects of Christs Death and Resurrection and Intercession are to Eternity Therefore when the Apostle here in the Text saith Christ ever liveth to make Intercession for us This is to be considered two ways First In opposition to the Levitical Priesthood who are dead and gone and the Church of God hath no present help from them but all their help is from Jesus Christ They were not suffered to continue by reason of Death but Christ ever liveth our great High-Priest when all others are dead and gone But Secondly and specially When it is said that he ever liveth to make Intercession for us this Ever is to be taken for every Age and Generation to the end of the World for at the end of the World there shall be an end of those things as you have heard he ever liveth to all Ages and Generations For this must be observed that the Church of Christ which is his Mystical Body are not all born in one Age of the World But one Generation passeth away and another cometh But Christ he ever liveth in all Ages a Priest of God for all those that come to God by him he ever liveth we have not a new Priest to rise up with a new Generation but we have the same Jesus who was yesterday to day and for ever the same He liveth in all Ages and Generations to the end of the World I say a new Age doth not bring forth a new Saviour nor a new Priest but he is the same He ever liveth and we of this Age and Generation have the same benefit by Jesus Christ's Priesthood and Intercession that the old and primitive Saints had thousands of years ago For he abideth for ever till the whole work of Mans Redemption is fulfilled And this is the true and proper meaning of this Phrase He ever liveth to make Intercession that is he ever liveth in all Ages and Generations He is the same yesterday to day and for ever He is to be our High Priest to the end of the World In the Second place we are to consider what is meant by Christ's making Intercession for us in Heaven Now for that you must first consider the Speech as Metaphorical and borrowed from Advocates that plead in Kings Courts Or from Counsellors that stand up for a Client to procure the Sentence on their side Hence the Apostle John hath that expression in 1 Joh. 2. 1. If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous
you will object and say Did not God appoint Job to pray for his Friends and interceed for his Friends And did not Abraham pray for Sodom And they were sinners and yet they were injoined to pray for them For that we must distinguish between the Prayer of the Saints and the Intercession of a Mediator By the Intercession of Jesus Christ the Prayers of the Saints are accepted of God why Because they come to him as a reconciled God by Jesus Christ And their Prayers are made at the Throne of Grace But the Intercession of Jesus Christ is not to a reconciled God without Christ but to reconcile God by Christ by his Death and Suffering Christ he appears in the presence of God for us to present his Blood as the means of our reconciliation Jobs Prayer was not to make reconciliation between God and his Friends by his Merits But it was to draw out that Mercy he was willing to bestow upon them It became Jesus Christ to be Righteous to be our Advocate saith the Apostle If any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous who is a Propitiation for our sins It was suteable to our condition that he that should appear in the presence of God for us should be perfectly Righteous But then here we have the purity of Christ set forth in four Branches 1. He is said to be Holy 2. Harmless 3. Undefiled And 4. Separate from Sinners And then we have his Exaltation follows in these words made higher than the Heavens These things we shall briefly explicate as God shall assist and then come to some Application First saith the Text He was Holy It became us to have such an High Priest who was Holy Now Holiness as it here stands in distinction from Undefilement it signifies that Holy Consecration which Christ was under in his Priestly Office For the Apostle hath reference in this word Holy unto the Holiness of the High Priest which was his dedication and consecration to God And therefore if you look into the 106. Psalm v. 16. You find there that Aaron is called the Saint of the Lord or the Holy one of God How is that Moses was as much the Saint of the Lord in respect of Spiritual Grace as Aaron was But this is not spoken in reference to their Graces but in reference to their Office Aaron was the Saint of the Lord the Holy one of God by Consecration For God took him out of Israel and set him apart for his Holy Service and as he was to approach to God he was to have Holiness written upon his Breast-plate as you may see Exod. 28. 36. Thou shalt make a Breast-plate of pure Gold and Grave upon it with the Engraveings of a Signet HOLINESS TO THE LORD This was to be Graven on the Breast-plate Holiness to the Lord because he was to go into the Holy of Holies where God manifested himself and God will be Sanctified by all those that draw near to him And therefore he must have a Breast-plate upon him with this Engraving upon it Holiness to the Lord. Why Because he was Consecrated to appear before the Holy God So when Christ is said to be Holy He is the person that is Sanctified and set apart to appear in the presence of God for us Therefore you have those words of our Saviour Joh. 17. 19. And for their sakes I Sanctifie my self that they also might be Sanctified through thy Truth What is the meaning of this Christ was Sanctified from the Womb by the Holy Spirit But saith he for their sakes I Sanctifie my self i. e. I do set my self apart for their service and do give up my self for their sakes to appear in the presence of God for them And such an High Priest became us who is Holy to appear in the presence of God for us Secondly The Text saith he is Harmless Every one of these four words have their particular signification All drives to this to set out the Lord Jesus Christ in his personal excellencies He is Harmless the word signifies one that never did any wrong and therefore in another place it is translated Innocent one that did no wrong either in thought word or deed And saith the Apostle He knew no sin 1 Cor. 5. and the latter end and saith the Apostle Peter there was no guile found in his Mouth 1 Pet. 2. 24. he was harmless He was one that could never be charged with wrong done to the Name of God or to the good of Man-kind he was Innocent and therefore when the Scribes that were his bitter Enemies and always Quarreling with him saith he in way of challenge he made against them which of you convinces me of Sin As if he should say you make great opposition against me of this and that but which of you convinces me of sin Joh. 8 46. and Joh. 14. 30. For the Prince of this World cometh and hath nothing in me If the Devil could have found any thing in Christ but Innocency he would have taken the advantage of him This is the second Branch of the purity of Christ He was Holy and Harmless Thirdly Vndefiled He was undefiled i. e. his Humane Nature was never polluted with Original Sin and Corruption never took hold on the Person of Jesus Christ so he is said to be undefiled We are unclean and we come into the World unclean But our Lord Jesus Christ tho' he took our Nature upon him yet he did not take the sinfulness of our Nature He was undefiled in respect of all Original Sin and Corruption there you read in the first of Luke when the Angel came to Mary to bring her the first Tidings of Christs conception and Birth he said to her in the 35 Verse The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall over-shadow thee Therefore the Holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God He was Holy Pure and Undefiled in his Conception David confessed in his Penitential Psalm That he was conceived in Sin and brought forth in Iniquity as all men are but our Lord Jesus Christ he was conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost And he is Holy and Undefiled He hath nothing of the Corruption of Mans Nature upon him And that is his third excellency And then Fourthly It is said he is separate from Sinners This is still to hint out to us that he came not of the sinful Race of Mankind He came of the Race of Mankind but not of the sinful Race For God separated him from the sinful Race of Mankind The Man Christ Jesus separated from sinners i. e. from all sinners that came out of Adams Loins That tho' he was a Man he was separated from Man as a sinner separated from sinners But here it may be objected How can it be said that Christ was separated from sinners when he converst so much with sinners when he was here
the Psalmist cry out Lord what is man that thou art so mindful of him But what is this work of Creation to the work of Redemption by our Lord Jesus Christ when he took the Son of his love that is higher than the Heavens and had Glory with him before the World began when there was no Heaven no Earth to take his Son and to call him to this work to appear in the presence of God that we might be accepted by him Oh what infinite goodness is this Oh how should we get our Hearts affected with this He did not so with the Angels let us therefore labour to admire the riches and goodness of God the Father who hath called his Son to this Office and hath given him an Oath that he should be a Priest for ever Secondly As this Doctrin shews the great Love and Mercy of God so also The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ For if he that had a Glory with the Father before the World began would not have become Man would not have taken this Office we had all perished but that he who is higher than the Heavens should condescend so low as to take up the cause of poor sinners wretched sinners Do we know what we are Have we any sense of what we are by Nature Do we not find our selves Proud sinners Carnal sinners Unbelieving sinners vain and empty Creatures And for him that is above the Heavens to undertake for these poor Creatures Oh what infinite free Grace is this You know how it is among Men if you have a bad Man and he hath a bad Cause you will say there is not a man will undertake his Cause Our Lord Jesus Christ he hath to deal with bad Men and bad Women he undertakes for them to justifie them before God Oh the riches of the Grace of Christ in undertaking for such poor wretched sinners You may apply that in Rom. 5. 7 8. Scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Thirdly This Doctrin is A special ground of comfort for finding acceptance with God to every believing Soul to every one that comes to God by Christ by a true and unfeigned Faith You may come to God having such an High-priest If you mind the Scripture you will find the Scripture doth not only commend Faith in the Children of God but confidence which is the highest degree of Faith in Heb. 3. the Apostle speaking of Christ being set as a Son over his own House in v. 6. But Christ as a Son over his own House whose House we are if we hold fast the confidence and rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end If we hold fast confidence What is this confidence Why confidence is when we go about a business without fear doubtings distrust jealousies when we go freely and boldly about so saith the Apostle Let us go bodly to the Throne of Grace Why For we have such an High-priest that interceeds for us You know that a Man will bear and rely with confidence upon his Friend at Court and shall not we bear upon Christ when we draw nigh to God by Jesus Christ We may then draw nigh to God with a holy confidence not doubting For it is a dishonour to our Lord Jesus to want confidence in him labour therefore to strengthen your Faith by these things that ye may serve the Lord with a holy yet a humble confidence Lastly If such an High-priest became us who was holy harmless undefiled and separate from sinners Then surely such a People doth become this great High-priest which are holy harmless and such do mortifie their sin and do cast off the pollutions of the World As it becomes us to have such an High-priest so it becomes us to be holy as he is holy to be pure as he is pure I shall give you but one or two instances and so conclude in Philip. 4. 8. Finally Brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any vertue and if there be any praise think on these things The Apostle gives this as a general rule if there be any thing that is good true and holy that to the Glory of God think on these things So in the Epistle to the Ephesians 4. 1. I beseech you therefore that you walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith ye are called that is that ye walk becomingly that you walk up to it I shall name but one Scripture more which the Apostle there writes for the instruction of Christian Women 1 Tim. 2. 9 10. In like manner also that Women adorn themselves in modest Apparel with shamefastness and sobriety not with Broidered Hair or Gold or Pearls or costly Aray but which becometh Women professing Godliness There is a Dress becoming Women professing Godliness and there is the Dress of a Harlot There is not a Woman in the Congregation but would be counted a Professor of Godliness Then look to your Attire wear those things that carry Sobriety Modesty and Shamefastness and such a Dress as becomes Godliness And since we have such an High-priest as becomes us who is holy harmless and undefiled how doth it become us to live to the glory of God and the honour of our Lord Jesus Christ FINIS A Catalogue of Books Printed for and are to be Sold by Edward Giles Bookseller in Norwich near the Market-Place SEveral Discourses concerning Actual Providence A word in Season Defensive Armour against four of Satans most fiery Darts Sermons upon the whole first and second Chapter of the Canticles Thirteen Sermons upon several useful Subjects All published by John Collins D. D. of Norwich The Way of the Spirit in bringing Souls to Christ The Glory of Christ set forth with the necessity of Faith in several Sermons both by Mâ— Thomas Allen late Pastor of a Church at Norwich Enoch's Walk with God and Christ a Christian's Gain by Mr. Timothy Armitage late Minister at Norwich A Discourse of the preciousness of Christ and of the preciousness of Faith Precious Promises the Portion of Overcomers Sermons on five several useful Subjects all by Mr. John Longher Minister in Norfolk The Saints Ebenezer by Mr. Francis English late Minister in Norwich Directions to spell English right The History of the Protestant Reformation as it was begun by Luther The Dead Saint speaking being a Sermon preached upon the Death of Mr. Newcomb of Dedham in Essex The English Presbyterian The Miracles of Christ The ordinary matter of Prayer drawn into Questions and Answers Two Treatises the first Rejoycing in the Lord Jesus in all Cases and Conditions The second Of a Christian's Hope in Heaven and Freedom from Condemnation by Christ both by Mr. Robert Asty late Minister of Jesus Christ in Norwich Obedience to Magistrates recommended in a Sermon preached September the 9th 1683. being the Thansgiving Day for his Majesties Deliverance by Jonathan Clapham Rector of Wramplingham in Norfolk A Present for Youth and an Example for the Aged Two Discourses one of Spiritual Blessings the other That God hath an high account of the least Grace in the Saints by Mr. John Cromwell late Pastor of a Church of Christ in Norwich Infant Baptism of Christ's Appointment by Mr. Samuel Petto Minister of the Gospel in Sudbury in Suffolk Of the Conversion of Sinners to God in Christ the necessity nature means and signs of it with a concluding Speech to the Unconverted by Martin Finch a Servant of Christ in the Work of the Gospel in the City of Norwich Sincerity or the upright Man's Walk to Heaven delivered in several Sermons in the Parish Church of St. Michael in Long-stratten in Norfolk by James Oldfield late Minister there Alexipharmacon Spirituale Being a Defensative against the Poison and Sting of Death Or The great expedient how to make the Bed of the Grave so easie that we may lye down in Peace and take our Rest By Samuel Snowden Minister of the Gospel at Newton in Norfolk Christ set forth in several Sermons upon the seventh Chapter of the Hebrews by Mr. Robert Ottee late Pastor to a Congregation in Beckles in Suffolk Sacramental Discourses on several Select Subjects to which is added a Discourse of the Life of Faith by Christopher Amiraell Minister of the Gospel in Norfolk