7 In this Verſe is a Myſtical Deſcription of the Eternity of Chriſt's Perſon an1 Prieſthood, ſet out by the Spirit 1n the Silcnce and Omnil- 11on of things that concerned Melchiſedec and his Glory ; ſothat what here 15 repreſented to be typically and in ſhadow, that was Chriſt real- ly and ſubjtantrially; for he gives no account of his Father, Mother, Genealogy, Birth, or Death ; the Spirit either not revealing 1t to him, or ordering him to leave it out, that he might appear the more lively and perfe& Type of. Chriſt, being repreſented in all things. different from all the Men that ever were, or ſhall be ; ſuch 4 Prieſt therefore as he was, was Chriſt to be: Not deriving his Prieſt- -hood from any Ly Birth, nor leavin 1t to any after him. As Me!- chiſedec was without Father, that was a Prieſt before him, or 15 re- corded from whom he ſhould derive, as the Levitical Prieſthood had; ſo Chriſt as fo his Humanity, was without any Humane Father, con- ceived only by the Power of the Holy Ghoſt. þ As to any Scrip- ture-Records of it, or to any Title of the Prieſthood by her, as thoſe of Aaron's Family had ; So Chriſt, as to his Derty, was without a Mother, benz the eternal Son of the Father only, and without any Title in his Humanity to the Prieſthood from the Vir:'in, ſhe being of David's Family, and not of Aaron's. / There is no Line of him deſcribed in the Scripture, mentioning from whence he deſcended, or by what Genealogy he came to the Prieſthood, as the 4aromtes did clear their Right, Nehem. 7. 64. As to Chriſt, who ſhall declare his Generation, or produce the linea] Rule by which he claimeth the Prieſthood ? Tſa. 53. 8. compare ter. 12.15. m There 1s no Re- cord of his Birth or Death, though he had a Father or Mother, as there is of Adam's beginning and end, who had neither : So Chrift as to his Prieſthood had no Predecefior,nor ſhall have any Succcllor, v.16, 24, 28. As a Sacrihce and the Lamb of God, he had his time of entrance into the World, and of his leaving it; yet as God's Prieſt, he had neither beginning nor end of days. Pure Eternity 1s 1ts riſe, and its end ſhall not be till God be all in all. n 'arwunup I, he was in theſe things the Shadow, Pifture, and Reſemb/ance of what Chriſt ſhould be in his Royal Prieſthood. In theſe fingular Prerogativcs a viſible Type of God-Man; he was the Sign likening, and Chriſt was the Truth and Subſtance of it. o Theſe Words, the Key to all the Deſcription before. God made many other Perſons eminent Types of his Son, but Melchiſedec was the only Type of the Eternity of his Royal Prieſthood; for which the Holy Ghoſt ſingled him out, dropt him down, as it were, from above, and then took him up again, without any further account of him in the 5cripture, that he might convey this Myſtery to us. That which hath no be- ginning nor end of it Recorded, is as abiding for ever ; which this Type had not; and fo fully ſets out the Truth deſigned to be con- veyed by it.
4 Now confider how great this man was p, * unto * Gen.1.
whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of 25. the ſpoils g.
p The Spirit compares with, and prefers Melchiſedec before Abra- ham, as he was God's High-Prieſt; he introduces it with preſfing theſe Hebrews to exerciſe an a& of Judgment under the Metaphor of ſeeing, denoting it to be ſuch a ſerious and intent aft, as Calls tor the utmoſt Exerciſe of the diſcerning Faculty ; a Careletnels 10 1f, or an Overſight might make the Propoſal to be to no purpole. The Greatneſs of this High-Prieſt is what he ſets in their view, and that indefinitely, How great is this Officer ? Intimating him to be ſome- what exceſſive to other great ones; and how much grearer then muſt be Chriſt, if his Type be ſo great beyond, not only Abraham, £9, and his Poſterity, but this great Melchiſedec, as to his Sacerdotal Power and Dignity, q This Greatneſs is evinced by Abraham's(the Patriarch, chief of all the Fathers of Jael, whom the Hebrews eſteemed above all others, Fohn 8. 53. and God owns as h15 tricnd, and ſets all Believers under his Fatherhood) gtving, 4s a duc to Melchiſedec, being the greater Perſon in Office, the Tenth of all the Spoils, that which was due to God, and paid to him as G9 s High- Prieſt ; «xc9Iiov notes either the firſt or choiceſt of the P2aps of Grains, eſpecially the firſt Fruits dedicated to God ; but here {1gnt- fcth that part of the Spoils, which, according t0 the cuſtom ot! War in moſt Nations after the Victory, were offered to God 3: I!» part; whether they did contiſt cf Perſons or Things; the tentt mY
4
VII
SLRS}
Chap VII.
of theſe were civen by him to Melchiſedec, as the greateſt Prieſt of |
| Or, with- out ped!- grees
* ROM, 4. 13.
Gal. 3. 15,
God in the Worid, and ſuperior to i1mlelt. ; |
5 Ard verily tney that are of the ſons of Levi, who :c.cive the office of the prieftthood 7, have -a command :ment to tike rithes of the people according to the law s, that 1s, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham 7.
y This is a proof, by inſtance out of the Levitical Law, That he viho rcceiveth is greater than he who giveth. This Sced of Lev! tne Son of 7acb, Son of T/aac, Son of Abraham, Numb. 1. 48,50. and 3.1, to 5. and not all of them neither, but the Sons of Lewi deſcen- dins from Aaron, were' ſeparated and contecrated 1n the Prietthood by God's Precept, and vindicated from thoſe who would uſurp 1t, Numb. ch. 16, and 17. and confirmed in it by Miracles. s God him- ſelf gave them a Law from Heaven #9 Tithe by, and a Charge to ub- ſerve this Law, as to all parts of Tithes, ſuch as were due to all Le- vites, Numb. 18, 24. to the High-Pricſt only as God's Subſtitute, Numb. 18.8, to 19,and 25. to 30 to the Levites Widows and Poor together, Deut. 14. 22,t0 29. Theſe the ſame Law obliged all the 1ſraelites to pay to theſe Levites,as a Homage due from them to God, and fo dclivercd to his Subſtitutes ſuperior unto them as his Prieſts and JMinifters, and due to them by his own Conſtitution, being the Firſt-truits of his own Bleſſing. #& Yet theſe Iraelites who were © pay thole Tithes, to thele as ſuperior to them in Office, were their own Brethren by Nature, of the ſame Rank, coming out of the ſame Loins of Abraham, but ſubje&ted to theſe Prieſts, who, by God's Ordinauce, were ſet above them in their Otfice ; and their re- celving 7thes, was att inſeparable Property of that Superiority.