fbould minifter unto God, and execute the Office of the Priesthood, and bless the People in his Name, as the Son of Sirach defcribes it (Eclus 45.) And as this divine Institution, fo plainly fet forth, was a fufficient Warrant, (and nothing elfe could be fo) for all the Mi nifterial Acts which every One in their several Orders perform'd; fo the fevere Punishments which God inflicted upon any that prefum'd to invade the Office, to which they were not call'd, or with Sacrilegious Hands to touch thofe Holy things, that appertain'd only to the High Prieft, abun dantly witness, how jealous God was of this his Own Holy Sanction. Out of the many Inftances of this Nature in the Old Tefta ment, I shall mention but Two, the mot remarkable for the Quality of their Perfons, their Crime and Punishment. Nothing can be more terrible than the Vengeance, which was executed upon Dathan and Abiram; and what was their Crime, but that being only Levites, they afpired to the Prieftly Office. Let us hear Mofes expoftulating with them, and aggravating their Offence from the Dignity that they were already invested with, Seemeth it but a small thing to you, that the God of Ifrael has separated you from the Congregation of Ifrael, to bring you near to HimSelf, to do the Service of the Tabernacle of the Lord, and to ftand before the Congregation, to

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minifter unto them? And he hath brought thee near to Him, and all thy Brethren the Sons of Levi with thee: and feek ye the Priesthood alfo? (Numb. 16.9, 10.) This was fo prodigious, fo unheard of a Provocation, that God alfo, as the Text speaks (v. 30, &c. ) made a New thing to punish it. And the Earth open'd her Mouth, and (wallow'd them up, with all that appertain❜d to them and they went down quick into the Pit, and the Earth clos'd upon them. And there came out a Fire from the Lord, and confum'd the two hundred and fifty Men that offer'dIncenfe with them. And in after-times, when Uzziah, otherwife a good and religious and fo long, a profperous and victorious King, forgetful of this terrible Work of the Lord, waxed proud and took upon Him the Priestly Office, and went into the Temple of the Lord to burn Incenfe upon the Altar of Incenfe, His Heart, as it is there faid was lifted up to His Deftruction; for in that very act of Prefumption, while he had the Cenfor in his hand to burn Incenfe, and was wroth with the Priefts, who would have prevented his Sacrilege, he was fmitten with a Leprofy, and was a Leper to his Death, and was cut off from the house of the Lord. These remarkable Judgments, what do they elfe but proclaim aloud from Heaven, how great an Impiety it is for any Perfon, of what degree or qualification foever, with

out

out being lawfully call'd and appointed by God himself,to affume fo facred an Employ. ment, as to Minifter at his Altar, without being ordained for Men in things pertaining to God, to take upon him to tranfact between God and his People!

But fome are willing to except against thefe Inftances, as being fuch, as were under a different Oeconomy of Religion, in which God was more tender of the outfide and Ceremonious part of his Worfhip, and confequently not directly perti nent to Ours; and it has been argu'd to elude the force of what they are produc'd for, that the Priests of the Old Teftament, being Types of Chrift our High-Priest, were for that only reason to be fo folemnly call'd and confecrated, by their Confecration to fignify and prefigure the Inauguration of Chrift to his Eternal Priesthood, and that therefore, under the Gospel, there is no farther Ufe or Neceffity of fuch a Visible Ordination to the Ministry. But both these are weak Evasions; For firft, all Prophanation in general of Things facred, absolutely and without any other Circumstances confider'd, is a Sin against the Eternal Law of Nature, befides which there may also be in the fame act a particular Offence against a Pofitive Temporary Inftitution; and as to the Levitical Confecration, tho' That, as

to

to the peculiar Rites of it, was Ceremonial, and as to One fpecial End of it was Typical, yet as to the Subftance of it, it was Moral, and founded upon the Immutable Law of Nature and Reason, inasmuch as it was a Dedication to fo Auguft and Holy an Office, as that to which they were by it confecrated

and fet apart. And the Evangelical Miniftry being no way Inferior to That, but in Dignity infinitely furpaffing it (as much as Chrift is greater than Mofes, or Heaven better than the Land of Canaan) it is every whit as reasonable, that They, who were to be employ'd in That, should have as folemn a Call, as diftinguishing a Separation and Sanctification to it, as the Other had to the Levitical Ministration of old ; tho' not by the fame Ceremonies, none of which were material, but as they were commanded, and fome of 'em being Typical, were to ceafe of course and vanish, yet according to the Inftitutions which Chrift himself in his Gospel deliver❜d, and to which the Chriftian Church is as indifpenfably oblig'd in all things to conform, as the Jewish was to the Patern in the Mount.

To come therefore to that which is our fole Aim and main Concern, namely, the Ministry of the Gospel, we fhall foon difcover, That no Man taketh this Honour neiT

ther

ther to himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron, as we are taught by the Au thor of the Hebrews, who has illuftrated the Old Teftament by the New and confirm'd the New by the Old. And the first and moft unanswerable Proof of this is, that our High Priest himself, from whom all our Claim is deriv'd did not. For Chrift alfo glorify'd not Himself, to be made an High Prieft: but he that faid unto him, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee, Thou art a Prieft for ever after the order of Melabifedech. if therefore This was too great an Honour for Chrift Himself to take upon Him without an Exprefs Commiffion from God, if it was neceflary to qualify Him for this Glorious Office, that he was to answer both his Prophetical Names, and be the Shiloh as well as the Meffias, the Sent as well as Anointed of God; Can it be less than Blafphemy to imagin, that any other Perfon whatever, tho' never fo well furnish'd with Gifts or Graces, without a like Commiffion from Him, can take upon him to represent his Perfon, or exercife with effect any Spi ritual Office in His Name? No furely; and Glory be to Him for it, our Gracious High Prieft has taken greater Care of his Church. He who was the first and chief Apostle and Bishop of our Souls, Sent by the Father, and Anointed by the Holy Ghoft, by that

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