476 SUMMARY OF DOCTRINAL AND [CHAP. Iv. 14.
of Christ is a great encouragement unto the meanest and weakest believers, who are upright and sincere in their faith and obedience.
CHAPTERS IV. 14-16, V.-VIII.
SUPERIORITY OF CHRIST AS PRIEST TO THE LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD, FROM THE ANALOGY OF HIS OFFICE WITH THAT OF MELCHISE- DEC, AND OTHER CONSIDERATIONS.
Cuap. IV. Ver. 14.—1. That great opposition is, and always will be, made unto the permanency of believers in their profession. 2. It is our duty, in the midst of all oppositions, to hold our profession firm and steadfast unto the end. 38. Believers have great encourage- ment unto and assistance in the constancy of their profession, by and from the priesthood of Jesus Christ.
Ver. 15.—The church of God hath a standing, perpetual advan- tage, in the union of our nature to the person of the Son of God, as he is our high priest.
Ver. 16.—1. There is, there will be a season, many a season, in the course of our profession or walking before God, wherein we do or shall stand in need of especial aid and assistance. 2. That there is with God in Christ, God on his throne of grace, a spring of suitable and seasonable help for all times and occasions of difficulty. 3. All help, succour, or spiritual assistance in our straits and difficulties, proceeds from mere mercy and grace. 4. When we have, through Christ, obtained mercy for our persons, we need not fear but that we . shall have suitable and seasonable help for our duties. 5. The way to obtain help from God, is by a due gospel application of our souls for it to the throne of grace.. 6. Great discouragements are used to interpose themselves in our minds and against our faith, when we stand in need of especial help from God, and would make an appli- cation unto him for relief. 7. Faith’s consideration of the interpo- sition of Christ in our behalf, as our high priest, is the only way to remove discouragements, and to give us boldness in our access unto God. 8. That in all our approaches unto God, we are to consider him as on a throne.
Cuap. V. Ver. 1.—1. Christ’s participation of our nature, as neces- sary unto him for the bearing and discharge of the office of a high priest on our behalf, is a great ground of consolation unto believers, a manifest evidence that he is and will be tender and compassionate towards them. 2. It was the entrance of sin that made the office of the priesthood necessary. 3. It was of infinite grace that such an
CHAP. V. 4.] PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. 477
appointment was made. 4, The priest is described by the especial discharge of his duty or exercise of his office, which is his “ offering both gifts and sacrifices for sins.” 5. Where there is no proper pro- pitiatory sacrifice, there is no proper priest. 6. Jesus Christ alone is the high priest of his people. 7. It was a great privilege which the church enjoyed of old, in the representation which it had, by God’s appointment, of the priesthood and sacrifice of Christ in their own typical priests and sacrifices. 8. Much more glorious is our privilege under the gospel, since our Lord Jesus hath taken upon him, and actually discharged, this part of his office, in offering an absolutely perfect and complete sacrifice for sin. 9. What is to be done with God on the account of sin, that it may be expiated and pardoned, and that the people of God who have sinned may be accepted with him and blessed, is all actually done for them by Jesus Christ, their high priest, in the sacrifice for sin which he offered on their behalf.
Ver. 2.—1. Compassion and forbearance with meekness in those from whom we expect help and relief, is the great motive and en- couragement unto faith, affiance, and expectation of them. 2. We live, the life of our souls is principally maintained, upon this com- passionateness of our High Priest. 3. Though every sin hath in it the whole nature of sin, rendering sinners obnoxious unto the curse of the law, yet as there are several kinds of sins so there are several degrees of sin, some being accompanied with a greater guilt than others. 4. Our ignorance is both our calamity, our sin, and an oc- casion of many sins unto us. 5. Sin is a wandering from the way. 6. No sort of sinners is excluded from an interest in the care and love of our compassionate “High Priest, but only those who exclude themselves by their unbelief. 7. It is well for us, and enough for us, that the Lord Christ was encompassed with the sinless infirmities of our nature. 8. God can teach a sanctified use of sinful infirmities, as he did it in and unto the priests under the law.
Ver. 3.—1. The absolute holiness and spotless innocence of the Lord Christ in his offering of himself had a signal influence into the efficacy of his sacrifice, and is a great encouragement unto our faith and consolation. 2. Whosoever dealeth with God or man about the sins of others should look well, in the first place, unto his own. 38.No dignity of person or place, no duty, no merit, can deliver sinners from standing in need of a sacrifice for sin. 4. It was a part of the darkness and bondage of the church under the old testament, that their high priests had need to offer sacrifices for themselves and for their own sins.