brought forth by Melchisedec were symbols of his humanity, by which he was manifested to Abram, as he could not be seen in his divinity: consequently they exhibited his body, and made him visible to the patriarch; upon which account it is, that Jesus tells us', 'Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and ' he saw it, and was glad.' With a view to this original exhibition of the second person in Jehovah by bread and wine, the same Jehovah in the days of his humanity, (which was the day Abraham saw), did again institute the same Melchisedecian elements to the same end, to exhibit his body, the tabernacle of his glory; and thus continue to be the symbols of his presence to the church, as long as it was to abide on earth; in which sense he assures his apostles', 'lo, I am with you ALWAYS, even unto • the end of the world.' Now, as all the account we have of Melchisedec's priesthood was, his bringing forth bread and wine, ⚫ and blessing Abram ;' and as our high priest is called of God a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec, it follows, that this priesthood consists in doing the same thing that Melchisedec did: that, as Melchisedec brought forth bread and wine to bless Abram, so Christ was to appoint bread and wine to to be the sacraments or symbols of blessing to mankind, by the remission of their sins; and that, as Christ is said to be a priest for ever after the order of St John viii. 56. 2 St Matth. xxviii. 20. of Melchisedec, so this order of Melchisedec is to be explained no other way, but that Christ was to make such an exhibition of himself to his church for ever, that is, as St Matthew gives our Lord's words, to the end of the world.' If the bread and wine, which Melchisedec brought forth, were for a symbolical use, to manifest Jehovah the word to Abram, in order that the patriarch might see his day, it is not to be doubted, but that the bread and wine brought forth by Him, who is a priest for ever af'ter the order of Melchisedec,' answers the same end, and serves to exhibit the same Jehovah to us. If it be asked, why this exhibition of Melchisedec ceased from that time, and was not kept up under the subsequent ages of the Jewish church? St Paul will satisfy this scruple '-'Wherefore then,' says he, 'serveth the law? It was added because of the transgressions, till the seed should come, to whom, or in whom the promise was made.' And again *, Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.' These symbols of bread and wine, brought forth by Melchisedec, were to be strengthened and corroborated by more lively and sensible exhibitions, on purpose to preserve the Israelitish church from the many idolatries of the powerful nations round about her; and God in his wisdom might see proper to the methods of exhibiting himself according to vary the change of times and circumstances, till the 'fulness 6 fulness of time should come' for manifesting himself by the Word's assuming flesh, as St Paul observes', God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by 'his Son.' Accordingly the law, under its different dispensations between Abraham and Christ; that is, from the time that God exhibited himself to Abraham to separate for himself a church in that patriarch's seed, to the time that had been agreed upon, between the persons in Jehovah, for perfecting the economy of man's redemption; all these intervening dispensations, I say, were not permanent establishments, but only temporary systems, appointed to typify and shadow forth the grand original covenant; as St Paul argues, that the covenant 'which was confirmed before of God in, or into Christ,' that is, the covenant revealed to our first parents under that gracious promise made to the woman 3, renewed to Noah under the symbol of the bow of God in the cloud, and again confirmed to Abraham under various exhibitions s ; 'this 'covenant, says St Paul, the law, which was four • hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, to 'make the promise of none effect.' Nor is this St Paul's reasoning only, but in many places of the Jewish prophets God himself tells his people, that their VOL. II. 1 Heb. i. I. 2 Gal. iii. 17. 4 Gen. ix. 13. 3 Gen. iii. 15. 5 Gen. xii. 2. xiv. 18. xv. 18. &c. their law was not to be a standing economy, but only to prepare them for, and at last to give place to, one better and more perfect. Yet this law was a divine institution, and the Jews had many great and valuable privileges: To them,' says St Paul', ' per'tained the adoption, and the doğa, the cherubic glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the true worship, and the promises,' &c. These privileges, when Christ came in the flesh, were not abolished; Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it'; and if to fulfil all the rest, then certainly to fulfil this particular privilege of the glory too. But after what manner, you will ask? By exhibiting it, I answer, in his own person, when he was upon earth, as we have observed already, and by leaving with his church, upon his ascension, certain elements, (which had been brought forth and instituted to the same sacred purpose before), to be the symbols of his Shechinah, or glorious presence, to the Christian church; as the GLORY JEHOVAH between the cherubim had been to the Jewish, until his second coming again in glory in the clouds of heaven: And these symbols are the ELEMENTS OF BREAD AND WINE, which Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, the Melach Jehovah (7) of the old patriarchs, the Melchisedec of Abram, the glory Jehovah (7) of Moses and the Jews, &c. did, by the authority of his eternal priesthood, consecrate to be the sacrament of the presence, and of the blessings of grace and pardon Rom. ix. 4. 2 St Matth. v. 17. to to all christians in all ages. Whether any of his transactions, while he was on earth, will be found to have an aspect forward to these sacred symbols, before the institution of the eucharistic sacrament, I will not venture positively to affirm; tho', upon attentively looking into some passages of the gospels, such a conclusion may, in my opinion, very justly and naturally be drawn. The daily bread, which we are taught to pray for1,has been by most of the early fathers interpreted to this sense, to signify the supersubstantial bread of the eucharist, which in this day of our pilgrimage upon earth, or, as it is expressed by St Paul, this day of christianity,' we ought above all things to seek after. To the same purpose is that long conversation, which Christ had with the Jews 3, concerning the living bread, the bread that came down from heaven, the true bread, of which if a man eat, he shall live for ever, &c. And as for the other symbol of wine, I make no doubt but that the miracle at the marriage-feast in Cana of Galilee' will be acknowledged to have a view to it. For, from several considerations, it seems evident, that our blessed Lord at that time had something further, and of more importance in design, than merely to heighten the enjoyment of a nuptial banquet. The guests had drank some before, as may be inferred from what is said, 'usen' 'vsegn‐ 0 2 • σαντο St Matth. vi. 11. 2 Heb. iv. 7, 8. |