of the gospel which I shall labour to clear by these following observations:

1. All faithful ministers of the gospel, inasmuch as they are ingrafted into Christ, and are true believers, may, as all other true Christians, be called priests; but this inasmuch as they are members of Christ, not ministers of the gospel: it respecteth their persons, not their function, or not them as such. Now I conceive it may give some light to this discourse, if we consider the grounds and reasons of this metaphorical appellation, in divers places of the gospel, ascribed to the worshippers of Christ; and how the analogy which the present dispensation holds with what was established under the administration of the Old Testament may take place for there we find the Lord thus bespeaking his peo ple: 'Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation;' Exod. xix. 6. so that it should seem that there was then a twofold priesthood: a ritual priesthood, conferred upon the tribe of Levi; and a royal priesthood, belonging to the whole people: the first is quite abrogated and swallowed up in the priesthood of Christ, the other is put over unto us under the gospel, being ascribed to them and us, and every one in covenant with God, not directly and properly, as denoting the function peculiarly so called, but comparatively, with reference had to them that are without; for as those who were properly called priests, had a nearer access unto God than the rest of the people, especially in his solemn worship, so all the people that are in covenant with God, have such an approximation unto him by virtue thereof, in comparison of them that are without, that in respect thereof they are said to be priests. Now the outward covenant made with them who were the children of Abraham after the flesh, was representative of the covenant of grace made with the children of promise, and that whole people typified the hidden elect people of God; so that of both there is the same reason. Thus as the priests the sons of Levi' are said to 'come near unto God,' Deut. xxi. 5. and God tells them that 'him whom he hath chosen, he will cause to come near to him;' Numb. xvi. 5. chosen by a particular calling ' ad munus' to the office of the ritual priesthood: so in regard of that other kind, comparatively so called, it is said of the whole people, 'What e Rev. i.6. v. 10. xx. 6. 1 Pet. ii. 5, &c.

nation is there so great that hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for;' Deut. iv. 7. Their approaching nigh unto God made them all a nation of priests, in comparison of those dogs and unclean Gentiles that were out of the covenant. Now this prerogative is often appropriate to the faithful in the New Testament: for 'through Christ we have an access by one spirit unto the Lord;' Eph. ii. 18. And chap. iii. 12. We have boldness and access with confidence:' so James iv. 8. 'Draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you:' which access and approximation unto God seemed, as before was spoken, to be uttered in allusion to the priests of the old law, who had this privilege above others in the public worship, in which respect only things then were typical. Since because we enjoy that prerogative in the truth of the thing itself, which they had only in type, we also are called priests: and as they were said to draw nigh in reference to the rest of the people; so we, in respect of them, who are strangers to the covenant, that now are said to be afar off,' Eph. ii. 17. and hereafter shall be without, 'for without are dogs,' &c. Rev. xxii. 15. Thus this metaphorical appellation of priests is in the first place an intimation of that transcendent privilege of grace and favour, which Jesus Christ hath purchased for every one that is sanctified with the blood of the covenant.

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(2.) We have an interest in this appellation of priests, by virtue of our union with Christ; being one with our high priest, we also are priests. There is a twofold union between Christ and us: the one, by his taking upon him our nature; the other, by bestowing on us his Spirit: for as in his incarnation he took upon him our flesh and blood by the work of the Spirit, so in our regeneration he bestoweth on us his flesh and blood, by the operation of the same Spirit: yea, so strict is this latter union which we have with Christ, that as the former is truly said to be a union of two natures into one person, so this of many persons into one nature; for by it, we are made partakers of the divine nature;' 2 Pet. i. 4. becoming 'members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones,' Eph. v. 30. we are so parts of him, of his mystical body, that we and he become thereby as it were one Christ; 'for as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many, are one body; so is

Christ;' 1 Cor. xii. 12. and the ground of this is, because the same Spirit is in him and us; in him indeed dwelleth the fulness of it, when it is bestowed upon us, only by measure. But yet it is still the same Spirit; and so makes us, according to his own prayer, one with him; as the soul of man being one, makes the whole body with it to be but one man; two men cannot be one, because they have two souls; no more could we be one with Christ, were it not the same Spirit in him and us. Now let a man be never so big or tall, that his feet rest upon the earth, and his head reach to heaven; yet having but one soul, he is still but one man: now though Christ for the present, in respect of our nature assumed, be never so far remote and distant from us in heaven; yet, by the effectual energy and inhabitation of the same Spirit, he is still the head of that one body, whereof we are members, still but one with Hence ariseth to us a twofold right to the title of priests. (1.) Because being in him, and members of him, we are accounted to have done, in him, and with him, whatsoever he hath done for us; 'We are buried with Christ,' Rom. vi. 4. 'dead with him,' ver. 8. 'quickened together with Christ,' Ephes. ii. 5. being raised up, we sit together with him in heavenly places,' ver. 6. 'risen with him;' Col. iii. 1. Now all these in Christ were in some sense sacerdotal; wherefore, we having an interest in their performance, by reason of that heavenly participation derived from them unto us, and being united unto him that in them was so properly, are therefore called priests.

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(2.) By virtue of this union, there is such an analogy between that which Christ hath done for us as a priest, and what he worketh in us by his Holy Spirit, that those acts of ours come to be called by the same name with his, and we for them to be termed priests. Thus because Christ's death and shedding of his blood, so offering up himself by the eternal Spirit was a true, proper sacrifice for sin, even our spiritual death unto sin is described to be such, both in the nature of it, to be an offering or sacrifice; for 'I beseech you, brethren,' saith St. Paul, that you offer up your bodies. a living sacrifice, holy,' &c. Rom. xii, 1. and for the manner of it, our 'old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed;' Rom. vi. 6.

(3.) We are priests as we are Christians, or partakers

of a holy unction, whereby we are anointed to the participation of all Christ's glorious offices. We are not called Christians for nothing: if truly we are so, then have we an 'unction from the Holy One, whereby we know all things;' 1 John. ii. 20. and thus also were all God's people under the old covenant, when God gave that caution concerning them, 'Touch not my Christians, and do my prophets no harm;' Psal. cv. 15. The unction then of the Holy Spirit implies a participation of all those endowments which were typified by the anointing with oil in the Old Testament, and invests us with the privileges, in a spiritual acceptation, of all the sorts of men which then were so anointed; to wit, of kings, priests, and prophets: so that by being made Christians (every one is not so that bears that name), we are ingrafted into Christ, and do attain to a kind of holy and intimate communion with him in all his glorious offices; and in that regard are called priests.

(4.) The sacrifices we are enjoined to offer, give ground to this appellation. Now they are of divers sorts, though all in general eucharistical; as first, of prayers and thanksgivings: Psal. cxvi. 17. I will offer unto thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord;' and again, 'Let my prayer be set before thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands be as the evening sacrifice;' Psal. cxli. 2. so Heb. xiii. 15. 'Therefore let us offer unto God the sacrifice of praise;' that is, the fruit of our lips. Secondly, Of good works: Heb. xiii. 16. To do good and to communicate, forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.' Thirdly, Auro@voías or self-slaughter, crucifying the old man, killing sin, and offering up our souls and bodies an acceptable sacrifice unto God; Rom. xii. 1. Fourthly, The sweet incense of martyrdom; yea, and if I be offered up on the sacrifice and service of your faith;' Phil. ii. 17. Now these and sundry other services acceptable to God, receiving this appellation in the Scripture, denominate the performers of them priests. Now here it must be observed, that these aforenamed holy duties, are called sacrifices, not properly, but metaphorically only, not in regard of the external acts, as were those under the law, but in regard of the internal purity of heart from whence they proceed. And because pure sacrifices, by his own appointment, were heretofore the

most acceptable service of Almighty God; therefore now, when he would declare himself to be very much delighted with the spiritual acts of our duty, he calls them oblations, incense, sacrifices, offerings, &c. to intimate also a participation with him in his offices, who properly and directly is the only Priest of his church, and by the communication of the virtue of whose sacrifice we are made priests, not having authority in our own names to go unto God for others, but having liberty through him, and in his name, to go unto God for ourselves.

Not to lose myself and reader in this digression, the sum is, the unspeakable blessings which the priesthood of Christ hath obtained for us, are a strong obligation for the duty of praise and thanksgiving, of which that in some measure we may discharge ourselves, he hath furnished us with sacrifices of that kind, to be offered unto God: for our own parts we are poor, and blind, and lame, and naked; neither in the field, nor in the fold, in our hearts, nor among our actions, can we find any thing worth the presenting unto him; wherefore he himself provides them for us, especially for that purpose, sanctifying and consecrating our souls and bodies with the sprinkling of his blood, and the unction of the Holy Spirit. Farther, he hath erected an altar (to sanctify our gifts) in heaven, before the throne of grace, which being spread over with his blood, is consecrated unto God, that the sacrifices of his servants may for ever appear thereon. Add to this, what he also hath added, the eternal and never-expiring fire of the favour of God, which kindleth and consumes the sacrifices laid on that altar: and to the end that all this may be rightly accomplished, he hath consecrated us with his blood, to be kings and priests to God for evermore. So that the close of this discourse will be, that all true believers, by virtue of their interest in Jesus Christ, are in the holy Scripture, by reason of divers allusions, called priests; which name, in the sense before related, belonging unto them as such, cannot on this ground, be asscribed to any part of them distinguished any ways from the rest, by virtue of such distinction.

2. The second thing I observe concerning the business in hand, is, that the offering up unto God of some metaphorical sacrifices, in a peculiar manner, is appropriate