SERMON XIII.

HEBREWS iv. 15, 16.

We have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

IN the verse immediately preceding, the Apostle declares, by name, the Person whom he thus describes. His words, to that effect, are

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Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, "that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the "Son of God, let us hold fast our profession." In my text, he proceeds to state the peculiar fitness of this exalted Person to exercise the priestly office; since, although naturally the Son of God, He had condescended, for the purpose, to be made man, and fully to experience man's condition in every respect short of sin: and thence again, (as in the previous verse,) he derives an apposite exhortation to a becoming confidence and hope towards God.

I design, now, in discoursing on this pas

sage, first, to represent the indispensable necessity which exists, that we should have a High Priest in heaven; secondly, to shew, respecting Jesus the Son of God, that He is precisely of the character to have been desired; and thirdly, to speak about the religious boldness, which the Apostle consequently recommends.

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In the beginning, therefore, let me explain our occasion for a high priest, by a statement of the duties belonging to that office. "Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacri"fices for sins: who can have compassion on "the ignorant, and on them that are out of the

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way; for that he himself also is compassed "with infirmity." (Heb. v. 1, 2.) Thus it is written, in the chapter succeeding that from which my text is taken; and in subsequent places, the Apostle briefly recounts the principal duties of the office, as they stand originally enacted in Leviticus. (Lev. xvi.) It appears, generally, that the high priest was appointed to be the minister of the most solemn transactions, between the God of Israel and His people, and the people of Israel and their God: to the people, he represented God, and to God, he represented the people, laying, as it were, before each, the other's mind. But spe

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cially he had to do this, on the day called "the 'great day of atonement." Once every year, on that solemn day, he was to enter within the vail of the temple, into the holiest place, with the blood of a slain victim, and there to offer it before God, for all the sins of the children of Israel. Also, he was the person to intercede with God for the people, whenever they had committed a trespass, or were needing His gracious favour, and to pronounce His blessing on their right conduct, or repentance. Altogether, accordingly, the calling of the Jewish high priest clearly originated in the unworthiness of the Jewish nation. The unfitness of the members of that ancient church to approach the Divine Majesty without a mediator, or to be accepted in their own persons, was the reason why God gave unto them a continual succession of high priests. And by such provision their intercourse with Him was kept up, whenever, with a faithful spirit, they would resort to it.

Now, considering this to have been the origin of the office of high priest amongst the Jews, you may at once perceive the necessity to Christians, likewise, of a High Priest. Surely, men of all nations are conceived, and born in sin; surely all, since their birth, repeatedly "have sinned, and come short of the glory of

"God;" (Romans iii. 23.) and surely, hitherto, "in many things we offend all." (James iii. 2.) Hence, then, all are in the predicament to require a high priest with God. Being by nature corrupt and frail, conscious of old sins innumerable, and ever prone to commit new ones,—how shall any man, being so unworthy, approach, and obtain grace from the Most High God, by his own self? Certainly, not only the children of Israel, but, the children, universally, of Adam, must have provided for them, and acknowledge a high priest, unless they prefer to live without God in the world, and to depart hence into outer darkness, where the light of His countenance shall never cheer them. In order to acquaint ourselves with Him, and be at peace, we must possess a mediator, a redeemer, and an intercessor, at the least equally with the Jews under the Law. Such a minister is plainly necessary to our salvation,—even one qualified to present a sacrifice for sin, to communicate between God and our souls, and continually to propitiate His good-will towards us. The proud in heart may resolve to work a way by their own comparative integrity, or reformation; nevertheless, it remaineth certain, that, except by means of some such minister as the high priest of the Jewish covenant, there is no access for fallen man to the Father of heaven.

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Wherefore, I will go on to declare, in the second place, Him whom God hath constituted for us, to occupy evermore that office. "Con"sider," my brethren, (as the author of the text in a previous place exhorts,) "consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, "Christ Jesus." (Heb. iii. 1.)

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Begin with considering the important point, that He is not-that we have not in Him-" a High Priest who cannot be touched with the

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feeling of our infirmities, but one who was "in all points tempted like as we are," after the similitude, and to the uttermost of our temptations.

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This may justly seem a wonderful case, when we recollect the ancient dignity of Jesus Christ. According to the first chapter of this Epistle to the Hebrews, He was originally the onlybegotten Son of the Father Almighty-" the brightness of His glory, and the express image "of His person," an object of worship to the angelic host,—the Lord, who in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and formed the heavens with His hands, the upholder of all things by the word of His power,—a Being immoveable, unchangeable, and eternal, amidst the decay and wreck of worlds. Thus is the High Priest of our profession described to us; and thence we might suppose Him far above