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Church was never, till within these Laft Two Hundred Years, exercis'd with the like Flagitious Wickednefs: And therefore, our Expofitor's own Condition, of God's acceptance of fuch Uninftituted Miniftrations, will not here take place, -for his Provifo is this; That the People could have no other, and That the Neceffity was real and unavoidable among the Jews; but it is not SO among Christians: It never was, nor ever will be fo, for the Reasons I have mention'd. And his fuppofing "Chriftians to be brought by God's Provi"dence under a visible Neceffity of Breaking "through Rules and Methods, in order to the "being United in Worship and Government, is not fufficient to make Valid the Uninftituted Ministrations of any Number of Men, from this fuppos'd Inftance of the Jewish Church; till the imagined Neceffity of thofe Men can be prov'd to be as Real and Unavoidable, and as Univerfal too, as that of the Jewish Church is here reprefented to have been.

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after all, the Cafe was otherwise in that Church; for notwithstanding the wickedness of Herod and the Roman Governors, and of the Jews too, in difpofing of the High Priesthood, the Effential Inftitution of that High Priesthood was not Vacated. For,

2dly, Tho' our Expofitor fays, that "God "had by AN EXPRESS LAW fixed the High Priesthood in THE ELDEST of "Aaron's Family"; I must crave leave to say,

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that this Exprefs Law is not to be discover'd
in the Canon of Holy Scripture. There we
find the Inftitution of the Jewish High Prieft-
hood to have been exprefly in Aaron and his
Sons. For thus fays God to Mofes, "Take
"thou unto thee Aaron thy Brother, and his
"Sons with him, from among the Children of
"Ifrael, that he may Minifter unto me in the
"Prief's Office. And thou shalt make
"Holy Garments for Aaron thy Brother, for
"Glory, and for Beauty, Exod. xxviii. 1, 2.
The Description of thofe Glorious Garments
is in the following part of that Chapter; and
they were appointed to be wore by him when
he went into the Holy Place, i. e. within the
Vail: Then at the 40th verse the Coats,
Girdles, and Bonnets, for Aaron's Sons, are
appointed; and verfe 41. God fays to Mofes
concerning Aaron's Garment, and his Sons
Coats, &c. "Thou (balt put them upon Aaron
"thy Brother and his Sons with him, and fhalt
"Anoint them, and Confecrate them, and Sancti
65 fy them, that they may Minifter unto me in
"the Priest's Office. And (verfe 42. and 43.)
"thou shalt make them Linen Breeches, to cover
"their Nakedness, &c. And they shall be upon
"Aaron and upon his Sons, when they come in

66

unto the Tabernacle of the Congregation, or "when THEY come near unto the Altar to "Minifter in THE HOLY PLACE; —— "It shall be a Statute for ever unto him, and his SEED after him. Again, Exod. xl.

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13, 142

13, 14, 15. God commands Mofes to put upOn Aaron the Holy Garments and Anoint him,&c. "And to bring his Sons and Cloath them,

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and Anoint them, that they may Minifter "in the Priests Office: for their Anointing fhall furely be an everlasting Priesthood, throughout "their Generations. In the xvi. ch. of Levi"ticus we have an exact Defcription of the Atonement, and of the High Prieft's Ministration thereof in the Holy Place once a Year, and not one Word of Aaron's ELDEST SON, but indefinitely in verfe 32. 'tis faid, "And "the Prieft whom he shall Anoint, and whom he "fball Confecrate to Minifter in the Priest's "Office in his FATHERS STEAD shall make "the ATONEMENT. - and verfe 34 "This fhall be an Everlafting Statute unto you to "make an Atonement, &c. Further, Lev. xxi. 10. God fpeaks of the High Priest without any particular defignation of the Eldeft to that Office; "He that is the High Priest among "his Brethren, &c. So Numbers iii 10. Thou "fhall appoint Aaron AND HIS SONS, and "they fhall wait on their Priests Office, and the "Stranger that cometh nigh fhall be put to Death, "Likewife, Numb. xviii. 1. The Lord Spake "unto Aaron, thou and thy Sons with thee ball

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bear the Iniquity of your Priesthood. And "ver. 7. Thou and thy Sons with thee shall keep your Priests Office for every thing of the Altar, "AND WITHIN THE VAIL, and Y E ball ferve. I have given your Priefts Office

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"unto you, as a Service of Gift, and the "STRANGER that cometh nigh shall be put 66 to Death. Thus we fee, that the High Priesthood was (by Express Law) in Aaron and his Sons; and no Mention made, that it fhould be and remain in the Line of the Eldest Son only.

I know 'twill be anfwer'd, That God himfelf commanded Mofes to Confecrate Eleazar, the Eldeft Son of Aaron, to be High Priest in the Stead of his Father, Numb. xx. 25, 26, 27. and that therefore the Law confin'd the High Priesthood to the Eldeft Son's Line.

In Return to this; No one will deny fo plain a Matter of Fact, as that of Eleazar's Succeffion to the High Priesthood, and that it was by the Exprefs Command of God; but the Confequence which the Objector draws from this particular Inftance, is not to be allow'd: Because, the Standing Law about the High Priesthood, is, That it fhall be in Aaron and his Sons. And there is another Law concerning the fame Office, that excludes the Eldeft, as well as any other of Aaron's Sons, from that Great Dignity, if he should chance to have any Impediment mention'd in that Law: For, fays God unto Mofes, Lev. xxi, 17, to the 23d." Speak unto Aaron, faying;

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WHOSOEVER he be of thy Seed in their "Generations that hath any Blemish, let him not "approach to offer the Bread of his God: For "WHATSOEVER MAN he be that hath a N 4

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"Blemish, he shall not approach; a Blind Man, or a Lame, or he that hath a flat Nofe, or any thing fuperfluous, or a Man that is broken"footed, or broken-handed, or crook-back'd, or Dwarf, or that hath a Blemish in his Eye, or be Scurvy or Scabbed, &c. NO MAN that "hath a Blenish of the Seed of Aaron the Priest, fball come nigh to offer the Offerings of the "Lord made by fire: He hath a Blemish, &c. " he shall not go in unto the VAIL, nor come nigh

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unto the Altar, because he hath a Blemish. This is pofitive and exprefs: And it cannot be fairly affirm'd, That God would fecure all the Eldeft Sons from every one of these Blemishes, that they might Minifter before him within the Vail. This is not to be fuppos'd, that God would always interpofe in Behalf of Them only, and give them no Promise of fuch his more than Ordinary (no less than Miraculous) Providence over their particular Perfons. So far is he from giving 'em this Security, that he fays, Whosoever, whatsoever Man "he be of thy Seed in their Generations, that "hath a Blemish, he shall not go in unto the "Vail. As much as if he had faid; Even the otherwife most Efteem'd Perfon of the Seed of Aaron, whether for being the Firstborn, or the Chief for Wifdom, Knowledge,

c. if he hath a Blemish, he fhall not be High Prieft, nor make an Atonement before me. One of thefe Blemishes might have happen'd to the Eldeft, as well as to another;

and

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