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    ticular , the first , third and fourth classes of the texts quoted above : on the second of them li ^ ht will be thrown by the commands respecting the priests in the hooks of Leviticus and Numbers j and all receive illusiraiion from 1 Pet . ir . 5 . " Ye [ Christians ] are an hvli / priesthood , to oner up spiritua 1 sacrifice , acceptable to God by Jesus Christ . " —y . " Vc are a royal

    priesthood . ' lU-v . i . 6 . — " hath made us [ i . e . Christ hath made its ] kings and priests unto God and his Father ' — x % . 6 . —** they shall be priests * oj God and of Chr is /

    III . "We are now , I trust , prepared , for discerning the Scriptural doctrine of the priesthood of Jesus Christ . And , in the first place , this tenet is altogether unrelated to the popular

    tenet concerning his intercession . Not one of the passages transcribed , speaks of Ins interposing in behalf of mankind : not one of them implies that he so interposes . His priesthood is not of his own appointment , but of ood s .

    Secondly ; Ihe great point of rescrttblance between Jesus and the Jewish high priest , is our fiord ' s having presented himself before God in the spiritual holy of holies . Of the chief of the priests- under the law it was the

    special duty , the characteristic privilege , to enter , once a year , the most holy place : he did not go into it more frequentl y ; lie did . not remain there long . Christians have a high priest to whom fur greater honour is appropriated . And the benefits derived by them from our Saviour ' s priesthood are precisel y those which they derive fr 6 m his death , resurrection and

    ascension . In the third place ; Jesus makes reconciliation for the sins of' the people How ? Not by dying in their stead ( for this was not required from the lii fj h priest , and formed no part of his office ) ; but by duty , appearing in the Pr esence of God on tjieir beUalf . TJic high priest among the Israelites olTercd

    * " Kegni ejua stint a ' flministri , uti olini ^ Mote ^ Isifefitafum /* Kfcfhftbm . Cora-U |? ttt : iijApoc : < 28 * J . ' ' - >

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    their prayers to God .-f Particularly , on one solemn day in the year , afit r assisting in the sacrifices of the people * he entered the holy of holies , and finished , by the act of his appearance in that spot , the threat work of making reconciliation \ }\ olvy . &xi \ : it was the reconciliation of the people , together with the- altar , ike . to God , not of God to the people , and instead of implying the existence of wrath in the mind oi the Supreme Being , it" denoted his mercv itnd forbearance .

    Fourthly ; Nothing can be more evident than that our Lord is a prit-st allusively and figuratively . In John x . 11 . he styles himself a shepherd , language which also is metaphorical . According to the Scriptural representation , his priesthood is not a distinct

    of hoc , but a connected vieiv of' his ministry , his death , and his resurrection to iu \ immortal , life . Hence the Hebrew Christians are exhorted to per se verance : they are members of an undecaving dispensation . *

    Lastly j Christ never speaks of himself as a priest . Nor is he ever so spoken of by his apostles , in . their discourses or epistles ; unless indeed tlie letter to the Hebrews be the production of Paul , which , at least , is very doubtful .

    Admitting however that it was dictated by this great teacher of Christianity , still it must be interpreted with reference to its occasion , design and readers . The author ' s object is to preserve the Jewish converts from apostacv : one method therefore which he employs for this purpose , is to shew that the Gospel has in all respects a vast superiority to the law ; and this argument he in part illustrates bv a comparison of the Levitical h ' igh priest with the high priest of the

    * ' new and better covenant . " It will now be easily understood irhy and how Jesus Christ is " the apostle and high | iriest of our profession . " And the for ^ 'goii ^ obse rvations are respectfull y submitted to those persons who , Jijce the wrifer , make t { je sactreil volume jt $ tivvn expositor . N .

    / -f ** Mimus sacerdotale co muxiine a proplietjicQ atquc etiain apbstolico 'difftrret ^ q 4 i 6 d prophetafUiil et ap < M ? i < 5 lofum essct res t > ei mwl hoia * 0 ^ ajjq ^ u Sa ^ c ^ tlptarai autern res hominum anud Deurn . " Outraiu lieSutrif : ( l # 7 f *) &jJi ^» O

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    On the Priesthood of Christ . 4 <) 3

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1816, page 403, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2454/page/31/