cording to the twofold use of the altar of old. The altar was intended, first, to support the victim to be offered by fire unto God; secondly, to sanctify the victim, which it did not effect of itself, but by the sacred fire that descended from heaven, and was a type and figure of the Holy Spirit. In the former respect, the cross on which Christ was lifted up, may and even ought to be called the altar. In the latter, it must be referred to Christ's own Divinity, and his eternal Spirit, through which he offered himself without spot unto the Father. In this way we may reconcile the seemingly contradictory expressions of the Dutch Annotators, who assert sometimes that the cross, and sometimes that the Divinity of Christ, was the altar upon which this sacrifice was offered.* XXV. The oblation itself consists in the sufferings and death of Christ, as appears incontrovertibly from the reasoning of the Apostle, Heb. ix. 25-28. The flames with which he was burned, were zeal for the glory of God, and unbounded love towards his brethren; to which was added the baptism of the fire kindled by the wrath of God against our sins.m In this oblation of Christ, however, as in other sacrifices, three articles may be distinctly observed. Those sacrifices were first offered alive at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation;" then killed for the honour of God, and laid upon the altar, to be consumed by fire, either in whole or in part; lastly, the blood of some of them was carried into the most sacred apart Compare the Notes on Psalm cx. No. 19. with those on Heb. xiii. No. 15. j 1 Pet. ii. 24. John xii. 32, 33. 1 Ps. Ixix. 9. n Lev. i. 2, 3. * Heb. ix. 14. m Luke xii. 50. 66 ment of the tabernacle. Christ, in like manner, offered himself, 1st, While yet living and vigorous, when of his own accord he went to the spot, from which he knew he was to be led to judgment, and thence to the cross as an atoning sacrifice; and voluntarily presented himself to God, to suffer impending death. Accordingly, he says, "For their sakes I sanctify myself," I offer myself a sacrifice to God. To sanctify* has sometimes the same meaning as to offer;† nor can the word well admit any other signification in this place. Chrysostome very properly explains the expression, "I sanctify myself," in this manner, "I offer myself a sacri"fice to thec." 2dly, When suffering and dying, and shedding his blood in the manner just explained, and for that purpose led forth without the gates of Jerusalem; as the sacrifices by which he was most remarkably typified were burned without the camp, and without the city. 3dly, When he carried his blood, or his soul now separate from the body, (for the blood is taken for the life, the soul) into the holy place not made with hands, and presented it to his Father; for Christ is in heaven not merely as a High-priest, but also as a Lamb slain. I see no reason why we should deny that this entrance of Christ into the heavenly sanctuary, to present his blood as a token that the sacrifice was slain, belongs to his oblation. XXVI. The end and effect of the oblation, is the full 29. οι ἁγιάζειν. + Προσφερειν. * Προσφέρω σοὶ θυσίαν. • Luke xviii. 31. - Υπερ αυτῶν ἔγω ἁγιάζω ἐμαυτὸν. John xvii. 19. 4 Heb. xiii. 11, 12. s. Rev. v. 6. Heb. ix. 12. expiation and blotting out of our sin,' so that it can neither be imputed to believers in order to punishment, (a privilege which they possessed also in ancient times by virtue of the suretiship engagements of Christ, and the oblation which was, in due time, to be accomplished,) nor henceforth can any demand of the hand-writing be made, or any confession of guilt by reiterated sacrifices, as if it were not yet expiated; which is the consequence of the oblation's having been actually accomplished." XXVII. The INTERCESSION of Christ is not a mere presenting of petitions for us, similar to that which believers owe one another. It is, on the contrary, a glorious representation of that will of Christ, by which we are sanctified; founded on the dignity of his person, the efficacy of his oblation, the merit of that righteousness which he fulfilled in our stead, and on that sacred covenant by which he has obtained for himself the right not only of praying for favours on our behalf, but also of demanding the heathen for his inheritance,-demanding them as a due reward, and the purchase of his labour. Hence, with a certain authority, which would be indecorous in all excepting the Son of God and the Surety of so excellent a covenant, he says, "Father, I "WILL58 that they also whom thou hast given me, be "with me where I am." So great, indeed, is the dignity, authority, and efficacy of this intercession, that it can no more be transferred to another, than even the expiation of our sins, upon which it depends, and with which it is inseparably connected. It is a work of the Heb. i. 3. 1 John iii. 2. ▾ Poscendi gentes, &c. Ps. ii. S. * O. John xvii. 24. u Col. ii. 14. Heb. x. 2. W w Is. xlix. 4. y 1 John ii. 1, 2. 58 See NOTE LVIII. GOD-MAN,-a work in which there is a joint concurrence of the human will of Christ, representing the right he has obtained, and praying from sympathy for our infirmities, and of his Divine will, securing audience and an answer to his requests. XXVIII. But we must here notice the correspondence of the prayers of Christ with those which, as we have seen, the Jewish High-priest preferred on the day of atonement. As a threefold prayer is ascribed to the High-priest, so also we find that Christ, when discharging the most arduous part of his sacerdotal office, prayed chiefly thrice. First, when he was now ready to offer himself. Again, amidst his sufferings themselves, which taken together constitute his oblation, when, though his prayers were several times repeated, they are comprised in one formulary, in the twenty-second Psalm. In the last place, after his entrance into the most holy place not made with hands; where he obtains by his intercession, that, amidst the violence of persecution, the Church may be refreshed with the dew and the rain of spiritual consolations, and become "as a wa"tered garden;"a that his spiritual kingdom may be perpetual, like the sun and moon which endure throughout all generations; that the souls of the priests may be satiated with fatness, and his people satisfied with his goodness; in fine, that all the malevolent wishes and machinations of enemies may prove abortive. In that prayer too, which is recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John, we find that Christ observes the following order. He prays, first, for himself; then, for the Apostles who were in a peculiar sense his own, z John xvii. a Jer. xxxi. 12. Jer. xxxi. 14. Is. liv. 14-17. and formed, so to speak, his family; and, lastly, for all the people, for all that shall believe on him through their word.f XXIX. The sacerdotal BLESSING of Christ, is, in like manner, of an entirely different sort from that by which, either the pious wish all peace and prosperity to each other, or pastors express similar wishes for the Church. This kind of blessing consists merely in words, and the sincerity of the soul that desires good things for others; and is a beseeching of God to show kindness to men. But Christ's benediction consists in nothing short of deeds, and the real communication of spiritual benefits, which he does not solicit from another, but takes from what is his own, to impart unto us. Hence it is said in Ezekiel: "He shall give his sons inheritance, out of "his own possession."s xxx. In reference to this sort of benediction, the maxim of the Apostle is indisputably certain: "With"out all contradiction, the less is blessed of the bet"ter." This aphorism, which is not of universal application, ought to be restricted to that species of blessing, in which the person who blesses represents Christ, and either the Church or one of its members receives the benediction. Such was the typical blessing with which the priests blessed the people according to the command of God; for a blessing of that nature was neither given by the people to the priests, nor by the priests to the High-priest. XXXI. Even under the Old Testament, Christ exhibited some preludes of his priestly work. 1st, He took upon himself, as a Surety, the sins of the elect, to be ex e Verses 6-19. f Verses 20-24. Ezek. xlvi. 18. compared with John xvi. 14, 15. h Heb. vii. 7. |