The expositors of the Roman church are greatly perplexed in reconciling this passage with the present priesthood of their church; and well they may, seeing they are undoubtedly irreconcilable.

$4. (II.) From the number and succession of the Levitical priests observe,

1. God will not fail to provide instruments for the work he hath to accomplish. If many priests be needful, many the church shall have.

2. There is such a necessity of the continual administration of the sacerdotal office in behalf of the church, that the interruption of it by the death of the priests was an argument of the weakness of that priesthood.

The high priest is the sponsor and mediator of the covenant; wherefore all covenant transactions between God and the church must be through him: he is to offer up all sacrifices, and therein represent all our prayers. And it is evident from thence, what a ruin it would be to the church to be without an high priest

one moment.

$5. On the perpetuity and unchangeableness of Christ's priesthood observe,

1. The perpetuity of the priesthood of Christ depends on his own perpetual life.

Hereon depends the And his "abiding of the same care

2. The perpetuity of Christ's priesthood as unchangeably exercised in his own person, is a principal part of the glory of that office. church preservation and stability. for ever," manifests the continuance and love for us that he ever had. The same love wherewith, as our high priest, he laid down his life for us, still continues in him; and every one may with the same confidence, go to him now as poor diseased persons went to him when he was upon earth-be

sides, hereon depends the union and communion of the church with itself in all successive generations. The prayers of the church from first to last are lodged in the hand of the same high priest, who abides for ever. He returns the prayers of one generation to another; we enjoy the fruits of the prayers, obedience, and blood of those that went before us; and if we are faithful in our generation, serving the will of God, those who come after shall enjoy the fruits of ours. Our joint interest in this our abiding priest gives, as it were, a line of communication to all believers in all generations: moreover, the consolation of the church depends on Christ's unchangeable priesthood. Do we meet with troubles, trials, difficulties, temptations, and distresses; hath not the church done so in former ages? What do we think of those days wherein prisons, tortures, swords, and flames were the portion of the church all the world over? But did any of them miscarry? Was any true believers lost for ever? And did not the whole church prove victorious in the end? Did not Satan rage, and the world gnash their teeth, to see themselves conquered, and their power broken, by the faith, patience, and sufferings of them whom they hated and despised? And was it from their own wisdom and courage that they were so preserved? Did they overcome merely by their own blood, or were they delivered by their own power? No, but all their preservation and success, their deliverance and eternal salvation, depended merely on the care and power of their merciful High Priest. It was through his blood, the "blood of the Lamb," or the efficacy of his sacrifice, that they overcame their adversaries, Rev. xii, 11. By the same blood were their "robes washed and made white," chap. vii, 14. Is he not the same that he ever was, vested with the same office? and hath he

not the same qualifications of love, compassion, care, and power for the discharge of it, as he always had? Whence then can any just cause of despondency in any trials or temptations arise? We have the same high priest to take care of us, to assist and help us, as they had, who were all finally victorious.

3. The addition of sacrificing priests, as vicars of Christ in the discharge of his office, destroys his priesthood as to the principal eminency of it above the Le» vitical.

VERSE 25,

Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

$1. The apostle's design, and the subject stated, $2. (1.) The note of inference. $s. (II) Christ's ability. $4. (III.) As the effect of that power, he is able to save, $5. to the uttermost, $6. those who come to God, $7, by him. §8. (IV.) The special reason of this efficacious power. 9. First, he lives for ever. $10. Secondly, he acts with God for us; he intercedes. $11, Thirdly, the connexion between the mediatory life of Christ, and his intercession. §12—16. (V.) Observations,

§1. In this verse the apostle brings his whole preceding mysterious discourse to an issue, in the application of it to the faith and comfort of the church. It was not his design merely to open. mysterious truths in the notion of them, but to demonstrate the spiritual and eternal advantages of all true believers by these things.

There are in the words,-A note of inference, for he is, &c. An ascription of power to this High Priest, "he is able."-The end or effect of that power, "to save to the uttermost those that come to God by him." And-The reason of the whole, "because he ever liveth to make intercession for them;" his perpetual life and his perpetual work.

§2. (I.) The note of inference (ev) wherefore, may respect the whole foregoing discourse, as asserting that which necessarily follows thereon; or it may have respect only to the ensuing clause in this verse, as if the apostle had only pretended in particular, that the Lord Christ is able to save to the uttermost, "because he ever abideth:" but he rather seems to make an inference from the whole foregoing discourse, and the close of the verse is only an addition of the way and manner how the Lord Christ accomplisheth what is ascribed to him by virtue of his office. Being such an High Priest as we have evidenced him to be, "made by an oath," and, "abiding for ever," he is able to save.

§3. (II.) That which is inferred to be in this priest, is, power and ability; (Suvala) he is able; he can. It is not an ability of nature, but of office, that is intended. Hence doth our apostle press his ability—not absolutely, but as the High Priest of the church; as if a man who is mighty in wealth, riches, and power be also made a judge; it is one thing what he can do by his might and power, another what he can do as a judge; and he who hath to do with him as a judge, is to consider only what he is able for in the discharge of that office. This is the ability here intended; not an absolute divine power inherent in the person of Christ, but a moral power, a (jus) right, and what can be effected in the just discharge of this office.

§4. (III.) As the effect of that power it is added, "He is able to save," (na owe) even to save, to save also; not for this or that particular end, but absolutely, "even to save." Not any temporal deliverance, but that which is supernatural, spiritual, and eternal, is intended.

1. The word includeth in it a supposition of some evil or danger we are delivered from. Wherefore it is

said of Christ, that he "saves his people from their sins,” Matt. i, 21; from the curse, Gal. iii, 13; and from the wrath to come, 1 Thes. i, 10.

2. The bringing of us into an estate of present grace, and right to future blessedness, with the enjoyment of it in its appointed season, is intended in it. For although this be not included in the first notion of the word, yet it belongs to the nature of the thing intended. This salvation, called therefore "great" and "eternal," doth not merely respect the evil we are delivered from, but the contrary good also in the present favor and future enjoyment of God. There is therefore no small ability required to this work. It was no easy thing to take away sin, to subdue Satan, to fulfil the law, to make peace with God, to procure pardon, grace, and glory.

§5. He is able to save also (EIS TO Tavleλes) “to the uttermost." The word may have a double sense; for it may respect the perfection of the work, or its duration; and so it is variously rendered.

Take it in the former sense, and the meaning is, that he will not do one thing or another that belongs to it, and leave what remains to ourselves or others; but he is our rock, and his work is perfect. In the latter sense, (as the Syriac version has it) two things may be intended:

1. That after an entrance is made into this work, and men begin to be made partakers of deliverance thereby, there may be great opposition made against it in temptations, trials, sins, and death, before it be brought to perfection: but our Lord Christ, as our faithful High Priest, fainteth not in his work, but is able to carry us through all these difficulties, and will do so until it be finished for ever in heaven.