SERM. ftand as a Witnefs and teftify against them.

VIII.

And.

If he had not come and spoken unto them; Ch.
xv. 22. then indeed (as he himself owns).
they had not had Sin; i. e. they might have
pleaded their Ignorance in Excufe: But now
(faith he) they have no Cloak for their Sin;
i. e. they are intirely without Excufe.
the fame Judgment which he threatens against
those who rejected the Gospel, when preached
by himself, he threatens also against all that
reject it, when preached by his Apofles, or
those that should fucceed them.
For be faid
unto them, Go ye into all the World, and
preach the Gospel unto every Creature: He
that believeth and is baptized, fhall be fav'd;
but he that believeth not, shall be damn'd,
Mark xvi. 15, 16. You know who fpake
thefe Words, and upon what Occafion,
They were spoken by HIM who revealed the
Gofpel; who therefore certainly knew how
far it was necessary for his Difciples to believe
it: They were fpoken by him who is or-
dained of God to be the Judge of Quick and
Dead; Acts x. 42. who therefore again knows
whom he will fave and whom he will con-
demn, and for what their Salvation or Dam-
nation fhall be awarded. This is he who
spake these Words, and spake them at a Time,

when

VIII.

when he was taking his folemn Leave of SER M. his Apoftles, giving them his last and final Charge, and in which the Fate of all the World is pre-determined. The Author therefore, and the Occafion, and the Subject Matter of these Words, all speaking them to be of the highest Importance, and the most general Concern, I chufe to close with them and leave them upon your Minds.

SER

SERMON IX.

The Aaronick Priesthood a Type of
CHRIST.

SERM.
IX.

HEB. IX. 7, 11, 12.

Into the fecond [Tabernacle] went the High Prieft alone once every Year, not with Blood, which he offered for himself, and for the Errors of the People.

But Chrift being come an High Priest of good Things to come, by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle, not made with Hands, that is to fay, not of this Building.

Neither by the Blood of Goats and Calves, but by his own Blood he entered in once into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal Redemption for us.

Τ'

HE Unction of Jefus as the Meffiah or Chrift, and the Offices he was invested with by Virtue of that Unction, are the Subjects to which I have already bespoke your Attention. His Prophetick Office, which

was

IX.

was the first he was to perform; I have al- SER M. ready explained; and have fhewed that he was not only a Prophet, in the general Acceptation of the Word, but alfo that he was that one, peculiar Prophet which Mofes foretold, the Lord should in Time raise up to the Jews, from among their Brethren, like unto bimfelf.

The next Office that comes in order to be fpoke to, is his Sacerdotal or Priefly one; For this alfo he muft neceffarily perform, or he could not be the Chrift. The Predictions that are contained in the Old Testament concerning himself, foretelling no lefs clearly that he should be a Prieft, than that he fhould be a Prophet. For thus fpeaketh the Lord of Hofts (by his Prophet Zech.) faying, Behold the Man whofe Name is the BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his Place, and he Shall build the Temple of the Lord: even he shall build the Temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the Glory, and shall fit and rule upon his Throne; and he shall be a Prieft upon his Throne, and the Counsel of Peace fhall be between them both, Zech. vi. 12, 13. i. e. The Meffias, (who, according to the Promife of God, was to be a peculiar Branch or Offspring from David's Lineage or Stock) fhould build up

IX.

SERM. a fpiritual Temple, the Church, in which he should reign as a King, and at the fame Time officiate as a Prieft: For the Kingdom and the Priesthood being in him both joined in one Person, there shall be no clashing of Jurifdiction between the two Offices. Of the fame Perfon it is that David fays, prophetically, The Lord hath fworn and will not repent, Thou art a Prieft for ever, after the Order of Melchifedeck, Pf. cx. 4. And at

the fame Office both Isaiah and Daniel evidently point, when the former mentions his bearing the Sins of many, and his making Interceffion for the Tranfgreffors, Ifai. liii. 12. and the other, his making Reconciliation for Iniquity, Dan. ix. 24. From the Nature of which Performances, his Sacerdotal Office must neceffarily be inferred. Since therefore it is evident that the Chrift was to be a Prieft, I must now, in order to fhew that Jefus is the Chrift, go on to fhew that Jefus is a Priest.

And in doing this, I have the Sacred Author of my Text to fupport me. For in the Paffage which I have read to you (which is one and the fame Sentence, though separated by three Verses which I shall have no Occafion to speak to) he first recites the principal Office of the High Priest amongst the Jews;

and