yet to do in heaven. Without mentioning either temple or priest, he intimates that he will be the only priest with God, who has any work of intercession to perform; and he also intimates that all the privileges of priesthood, which are a near access to and communion with God, he will confer on his disciples, and that when their mortal course is over, they shall be for ever in the presence of God, even where he himself shall be: and this he repeats afterwards as a prayer, or rather expresses as a desire which he is certain will be accomplished, "Father, I will (w) that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory."

He takes upon himself the priestly or mediatorial office in very clear language, by asserting that he will prepare a place in the heavenly temple for his people, that he will pray for them, and that they shall pray to God through him, or in his name, and that through his intercession their petitions shall be granted. "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.". "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."- "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." And in order to make them clearly understand that he should be always in that place where he could secure an answer to their petitions, he informs them that he had left heaven for a while, but was now going to return to it again. " I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father."

This, then, is to be the privilege of believers, to draw nigh to God through the intercession of Christ, because they know by the Word of the Redeemer's promise, that he ever lives to make intercession for them. They know that heaven itself, and not the temple at Jerusalem, or any other temple, is a place where prayer is heard; that heaven, or the abode of God, is "the true Sanctuary" laid open for faith by the Gospel, and that all who are thus anointed into the priestly office by the Holy Spirit may enter into the Sanctuary, confiding in their union with the Great High Priest over the House of God. And in all that our Saviour said of his praying for his people, he, in fact, establishes himself as the High Priest of the Church, taking upon himself to do that by his immediate intercession with God which hitherto had been typically done by the burning of incense in the ritual of the temple. Incense was a representation of prayer (Ps. cxi. 2; Mal. i. 11), and therefore every morning and evening the High Priest burnt incense on the golden altar in the Holy Place. "Aaron shall burn sweet incense thereon every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generation" (Exod. xxx. 7, 8). But the Saviour virtually abolishes all the sacerdotal functions of man, and all the human apparatus of mediatorial intercession, by himself undertaking to pray for the Church to his Father in heaven. The sweet perfume of incense no longer rises from the thuribule, the mortal priest no longer stands before God to make prayer for his fellow-sinners; but the Son of God himself propitiates in heaven, who even when he was upon earth said to his heavenly Father, "I know thou hearest me always" (John xi. 42); but now in heaven is heard in glorious approximation to the Almighty God, and can procure infinite blessings by his infinite merits.

Now, though the Saviour did not, as has been already noticed, mention by name either his own priestly function, or the spiritual priesthood of believers, yet it is obvious, that according to all the ideas of God which the disciples

could ever have derived from the types and shadows and worship of the law, they must have perceived their Lord was preparing to take that place amongst his people which the High Priest occupied in Israel. And it was also obvious that he intended to place his people where the Levites then were, near to God, in his Sanctuary, in the Holy Place, and even at the Mercy Seat. But more than this, he promised that they should be one with him: “I am the vine, ye are the branches ;" and that there should be an intimate union between himself and his people; and that they should be so closely united to him, and enjoy so much of the love of the Father, as members of his body, that it might be apparent they were all one Church, one building, one vine grown together through the Holy Spirit : “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may believe that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me."

We therefore say, that though our Lord, by the sacrifice of himself, is properly and strictly speaking the only Priest who can offer any atonement, or undertake any propitiation, yet that he has conferred the spiritual privilege of priesthood upon all his people, by taking them into union with himself, and giving them a near access to God. This is, in fact, the prerogative of a priesthood, to stand nearer to God than the people; to be in the Sanctuary, where the rest of the people may not come,—“ The God of Israel hath separated you [the sons of Levi] from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them" (Num. xvi. 9). “The Priests, the Levites, shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God: they shall enter into my Sanctuary" (Ezek. xliv. 15). But this distinction between people and priest is abolished by Christ, who, though he himself is the only proper Priest, yet does he give all his people an access to God, nearer and far more valuable than the Levites enjoyed under the law. That this doctrine may be more clearly understood, we should observe also that our Lord promises to anoint his disciples into the office of priest in the new economy, by pouring down upon them the gifts of the Holy Ghost; for which purpose he says it was expedient that he should go away, to bring forth, as it were, the holy unction for the spiritual service from the treasure-house of his Father's riches of grace and love. "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him" (xiv. 16). This is the unction of the Holy Spirit, the anti-type of the ceremonial unction of the Mosaic ritual-“thou shalt anoint the sons of Aaron as thou didst anoint their Father, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office, for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout all generations" (Exod. xl. 15).

The Mosaic unction, or any other form of consecration similar to it, the world could well receive, because it tended either to support the hereditary principle, which ever commands respect, or to consign the task of atonement, and the labours of religion, to a body of men, who by their dedication to these important functions would ease their fellow-sinners of no small share of responsibility; but the spiritual unction, which by the grace of God descends on whom he pleases, which is not confined to any known family or body corporate, which is given most commonly to unregistered and unrecorded individuals, and far more frequently to the plebeian than to the patrician class, which is not discernible by outward privileges, liturgical precedence, or sacerdotal homage, but by love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,

and temperance (Gal. v. 22, 23); this the world cannot receive as authentic proof of a Christian priest, because it neither seeth nor knoweth the fruits of the Spirit, which indicate the consecration of an evangelical Levite. This, however, is the chrism whereby believers are made Christians; and this is their unction into the service and worship of the Sanctuary, as was promised in the Old Testament, and is asserted in the New: "He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts," says Paul to his brothers and sisters in the priesthood, the whole church of Corinth and John the Evangelist says to all believers, young men and old alike, "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things;" and "the anointing which ye have received in him abideth in you." The Head of the church was thus himself anointed with the Holy Ghost, "which was not given by measure unto him ;" and hence as the great High Priest, he is THE ANOINTED-that is, the Christ; and all believers having received of the same Spirit, are ANOINTED also; that is, they are Christians; and their unction constitutes them all priests in perfect equality, and they enter into the holiest of all by the "blood of Jesus," a place where, under the law, none but the high priest himself could place his foot.

Nearness or access to God, and close communion with him, being every. where the acknowledged privilege of the priest, it deserves particular attention that the Saviour promised this privilege in language which assigns it to the whole body of believers, and not as some might suggest, to the apostles, as representative prelates or as a clerical corporation. "If any one (riç) love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John xiv. 23). Here everything is assured that could be desired as proof of perfect reconciliation and close approach to God; and lest there should be any mistake on this subject, the sentiment is repeated, "neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;....and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. These words require no commentary, they relate to the whole church of God; to all that believe they declare their perfect union with God in Christ, and cannot be understood, nor convey any meaning on the supposition of a Christian clergy separated in religious privileges from the Christian people.

This then is the glorious end of the Law; this has the work of Christ achieved upon earth; this is the temple, the worship, the priesthood, the service of God, which he has established. The religious necessities of the human race are here supplied, and he who created man a conscientious being, that he might be sensible of sin and desire its removal, has, by the promulgation of the priesthood of the Son of God, rendered nugatory all the laborious efforts of guiltiness in attempting the work of atonement, and has introduced an everlasting, a divine righteousness, which answers all the demands of God's justice in man's conscience. And this righteousness is "unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference" (Rom. iii. 22)—no difference national, social, or religious. The Jew and the Gentile; the Levite or the heathen idolator; the prince* or the ploughman; the priest or the pariah; the clergy

"We see, in the natural body, though the head have a hat on of so many shillings price, and the foot a shoe of not half so much value, yet the head doth not therefore despise the foot, but is tender of it; and doth derive influence as well unto that as to any nobler part; and surely so should it be among men, though God hath given thee an eminent station in that body, clothed thee with purple and scarlet, and hath set thy poor neighbour

:

and the laity, are all melted down into one body; all equalized and made one by faith in Christ, and all reputed equally righteous, by one and the same adoption, unction, regeneration, and sanctification, to participate as the newborn sons of God, without distinction, in the freely-imparted benefits of the new creation. And thus did the Son of God, by fulfilling, throw down the structure of the Mosaic law; and thus did he ruin Herod's costly temple, disperse and disband the whole tribe of Levi and the house of Aaron, and entirely abolish the legal ordinances and expiations. In lieu of the tabernacle, which, as long as it stood, was, with all its furniture, a hieroglyphic to predict in uninterpreted language the advent and works of the eternal High Priest, he has, built up another edifice, as far above that which preceded it as heaven is above the earth, as the Son of God is above stones from the quarry, or cedartrees from Libanus. 66 Destroy this temple," said he, "and in three days I will raise it up." That destruction they attempted; but on the third day it rose from the earth in incorruptible glory, and in spite of the chains of death and the weight of imputed sin and he himself is now that temple to which all the children of the Most High resort. All the worship and service of God is in him and through him he is the priest, the altar, the sacrifice, the atonement, the righteousness; and all believers, who by regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit are added to his mystical body, and become his members, he brings very near to God, to the mercy-seat, to the throne of grace, to the holiest of all, "having boldness and access, with confidence by faith of him." They are declared to be living stones of the temple, of which he is the chief corner-stone: they sit together with him in heavenly places; and, having no more to do with legal righteousness, but the righteousness which is of God by faith, they do not stop in the outer court with timid offerings of imperfect atonements; but they advance up to the very presence of the Almighty, to plead with him at all times as a reconciled Father and God, fulfilling that oft repeated prophecy of the evangelical day, "They shall be my people, and I will be their God." Wherever the Holy Spirit has been sent to anoint a sinner into the faith of the saints, in whatever place and in whatever age, there immediately is a new priest consecrated into the "holy nation," to "offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God."

Thus the great temple of faith is built; and, being of a heavenly structure, and erected by a divine hand, it is not possible that it should be impaired or altered by those accidents which sooner or later ruin the noblest edifices of human labour. The shock of earthquakes, the brunt of war, the assault of storms, the lapse of time, the voracity of the atmosphere, cannot at all injure it "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." And it is as great and splendid as it is solid and indestructible; its doors are open day and night; the sun never goes down upon this mighty sanctuary. Whilst we sleep in one climate, our brothers in Christ are awake in another, and are performing that worship which is acceptable to God "in spirit and in truth." And though we be of many nations, yet is there one thought, one voice, one opinion, common

in the hall, made him conversant in the dirt, and content to cover himself in base attire. Yet you are still members of the same common body, animated with the same spirit of Christ, moulded out of the same clay, appointed for the same inheritance, born out of the same womb of natural blindness, partakers of the same great and precious promises. There was not one price for the soul of the poor man, and another for the rich; there is not one table for Christ's meanest guests, and another for his greater; but the faith is a common faith, the salvation a common salvation, the rule a common rule, the hope a common hope; one Lord, and one Spirit, and one baptism; and one God and Father of all; and one foundation, and one house; and therefore we ought to have the same care and compassion one of another."-Bishop Reynolds' Sinfulness of Sin.

to us all," for we all, through Christ, by one Spirit draw nigh unto the Father;" we all testify that Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life;" that the unction of our spiritual priesthood has taught us one and the same truth, in which we all equally rejoice, and to which we have nothing to add, because "we are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power:" and to his power and government and immortal life and mediatorial throne we all look with confidence, for the fulfilling of all promises in which we can take any interest, either as individuals or as members of his church; and to his authority we submit, and to his only, knowing that "he is exalted and extolled and raised very high," and that he sits as a priest on the throne of the Father, "for such a High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens."

Our Lord, having thus finished all his instructions upon earth, as the Prophet of the Church, meekly resigned himself into the hands of his enemies and persecutors, the priests of the law, to be put to death, the appointed sacrifice for sin. We have little further to remark on the sacrifice, as we have already anticipated the subject: it is, however, to be noticed, that Church and State were eminently concerned in crucifying the Lord of glory. The chief priests, the Scribes, the Pharisees, the elders of the people, "and all the council," plotted and effected the death of Christ. Annas and Caiaphas are names that will never be forgotten in this tragedy. The palace of Caiaphas was selected for our Lord's midnight examination and condemnation. They all pronounced him guilty of death there (Matt. xxvi. 66), because he confessed that he was indeed the Christ; and in the morning "all the chief priests and elders took counsel against Jesus to put him to death, and led him away bound to Pontius Pilate the governor. Before Pontius Pilate, Jesus confessed that he was the King of the Jews, though he added those memorable words, " My kingdom is not of this world," which were left as his dying testimony to his disciples for all their generations. He was then sent to Herod Antipas, the king or tetrarch of Galilee, who was then in Jerusalem. Herod was glad to see Jesus; for he had often heard reports of his miracles, and now hoped that he himself should witness some manifestation of his power. But Jesus said and did nothing before the king. The chief priests and Scribes were with their prisoner in the presence of Herod, and there they vehemently and loudly accused him. Again they led him to Pontius Pilate, and on that day the Jewish King and the Roman Governor, who before had been at enmity, were made friends. Opposing governments can be brought to an agreement on one point at least, enmity to the truth as it is in Jesus. The priests and elders, and their mob, overpowered Pontius Pilate by their clamour, and he at last unwillingly consented to pass sentence on the prisoner, though he had more than once declared that he could find no fault in him. Jesus therefore, after many scourgings, buffetings, and cruel indignities, was led forth out of the gates of the city, and there crucified on the hill Calvary, between two thieves. After his death, his disciples, by permission of the Roman Governor, took down his body from the cross, and buried it in a garden, in a stone sepulchre, near to the place of the crucifixion. On the third day, early in the morning of the first day in the week, he rose again from the dead, according to his prediction to his disciples. On the resurrection of Jesus all the faith of Christians depends, for besides the earnest that it gave of the divine power of the crucified Redeemer, and the fulfilment of prophecy, it also is taken as the public acquittal and evidence of the righte ousness of him in whom all the church of God is justified. "He was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification." His entire holiness was too strong for death, righteousness like his could not be subject to