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
But our Lord Jesus Christ as he is the Priest of God as he is the Surety of a better Covenant as he offered himself a Sacrifice for sin he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him And so we come to this Where we have a Limitation in respect of the blessings of Christs Death It is for all that come unto God by him Not but that Christ is able to save all Mankind The dignity of his person God-Man The Merit of his Suffering sufficient to save all Mankind But this Limitation shews That none had benefit by Christ but those that come unto God by him It is one thing to be able to save and another thing for people to have the benefit of that Salvation Suppose a man be able to save all the poor in the Town yet none have the benefit of it but those that come to him for their relief There is a great deal of difference between Ability and Benefit So our Lord Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost but it is them that come unto God by him that are saved Not that there is any Merit in our coming to God For what Merit is there in Beggars coming for an Alms We come to God by Christ as Beggars for an Alms. But still we must come and we must come by Jesus Christ if we will have any benefit by his Salvation There are multitudes of people in the World whose case is very deplorable Jews Turks and Heathens they all have their Devotions grounded upon something The Jews come to God according to the Jewish way The Turks have their coming to God for the great Article of their Faith We believe there is is one only true God And the Heathens have their way of coming to God But because none of these have their coming to God by Jesus Christ therefore they have no benefit by Jesus Christ The Papists who prove the Christian Faith do run a great hazard of their Salvation by coming to God by other Mediators than by Jesus Christ For the blessed Saints and the Virgin Mary are not able to save and be a Mediator for them 1 Tim. 2. 5. For there is but one God and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus So that here you have the Limitation of that Salvation which is by Christ He is able to save all to the uttermost that come unto God by him But then you will say What are we to understand by the phrase of coming to God by Jesus Christ What is meant by coming I answer Coming is a metaphorical word translated from the Body to the Soul As thus the Body hath its motion you know it goes and comes this or that way So the Soul of Man hath its motion it goes or comes it goes to God or comes from God Now coming in Scripture when it is applied to God and Christ it always imports a believing a trusting in a resting upon God in Jesus Christ For Faith is the foot of a Soul by which the Soul is coming unto God It brings the Soul to Christ to take up with him It is the same with coming unto the Throne of Grace Heb. 4. 16. Let us come boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need i. e. Let our Souls go out to Gods Grace in Christ and there Rest As Unbelief is called a departing from the Living God Heb. 3. and the latter end Now you know what it is to depart from God It is when you cast off all hope and trusting in him When your hearts run out to sin and grow dead towards God when you have no delight in keeping up Communion with him this is a departing from him So coming to him is an act of the Soul whereby the Soul goes out to him in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Sacrifice for sin The Soul goes out to him by Faith and rests upon him by such a Faith as doth purifie the heart and reform the life Many that are called Christians they have a notion by which they greatly deceive themselves And that is this They think and say that God is merciful that Jesus Christ died for sinners and therefore tho' they be strangers to the life of Faith and have lived in much Ignorance yet they say they doubt not of their Salvation for God is merciful and Christ died for sinners As it is true that God is merciful beyond all our apprehensions And it is also true that Jesus Christ died for sinners Yet the Scripture must be believed It is only for such sinners as have a Coming-faith to him such a Faith as may unite their Souls to him For mind it You read in Luke 14. where our Saviour compares the Grace of God in the Salvation of poor sinners to a man that made a great Supper for his Guests and invited them but when they all refused to come read v. 24. I say unto you None of them that were bidden shall taste of my Supper Why shall they not taste of it Why because they refused to come upon his Invitation and therefore none of them which were bidden shall taste of my Supper This is to shadow out Gods way with poor slighty sinners That Soul that is taken up with his Farm and Oxen the Lord saith he shall not taste of his Supper You must not therefore rest in general notions For as it is one of the greatest miseries in the World to want a coming-heart to Christ so on the other hand it is one of the greatest mercies that we can enjoy in this life to have a coming-heart to Jesus Christ to have a heart going out to Jesus Christ It is very observable what our Lord Jesus Christ spake in Matth. 7. He tells us In the last days there will be many come to seek admittance into his Kingdom for what they had done In v. 22. Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out Devils in thy Name have done many wonderful works Then will I profess to them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity Christ will say I never knew them How is this to be understood Pray consider Christ knew all men He did know the persons of these men that did come and plead thus with him But when he said he never knew them his meaning is he never had any Communion with him and they did never come to him and act Faith in him Our Lord will say at the great day You talk of Gifts and Parts and Service but I never had your hearts And therefore it is a great mercy to have a heart to come to Jesus Christ to live that life we live in the flesh in the Faith of the Son of God Come we now to some Application and that is of Direction to poor sinners that are strangers to
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