[April 12th, 1863.]
Exaltation and honor tend to make men worse,
- When assumed as a right. 2. When sought and enjoyed for selfish ends. 3. When consisting in external prerogatives and advantages.
They have a contrary tendency
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When felt to be undeserved.
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When regarded as designed for God’s glory and the good of others.
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When what is outward is merely accessory to inward excellence. All the distinction and glory promised in the Scriptures have these conditions, and therefore tend to humble and purify. Believers are represented as a priesthood.
I. The priests were a separate class of the people. The people generally were not priests, and no man could become a priest by his own will. He must be called of God. In this respect believers are like them. They are a separate class of men; they are chosen and called of God.
II. They were an elevated and honored class. Kings and priests were the highest order of men. The one governed the body, the other the soul. The one had regard to the world and the things of this life, the other to the things of eternity. The sphere of the latter was higher, and their actual power greater. The two offices were united in Melchizedek, Christ, and in believers. In saying that believers are priests, it is meant that they are a higher order of men, exalted above their fellows in all that elevates and ennobles.
III. The priests were a sacred class.
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They were consecrated with peculiar solemnity. They were washed, anointed, and clothed with pure garments; and victims of expiation and consecration were presented in their behalf.
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They were required to be personally holy. a. Free from bodily defects. b. Free from vice. c. Free from ceremonial defilement. d. Many things lawful to others were not lawful to them.
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They were sacred in their occupations; that is, they were not to engage in worldly occupations, but minister in holy things. In like manner believers are a sacred class of the community. They are consecrated to God in baptism. They are washed, anointed and purified with atoning blood. They are to keep themselves unspotted from the world, and live not for the world, but for God.
IV. Priests were not an idle, useless or merely ornamental class of the community. They had most important functions to perform.
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They approached God for the people. There was no access to God but through them, no pardon, no acceptable worship, no enjoyment of God’s favor. This is the distinctive idea of a priesthood. It is a class of men who have access to God for the benefit of others. Believers have this access; no other men have, and therefore believers are priests.
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The priests offered sacrifices of worship, of expiation, of thanksgiving. Believers offer true worship, and they only. They present and plead before God the sacrifice of Christ, in their own behalf and in behalf of the unconverted. They offer the constant sacrifice of thanksgiving, and the incense of praise. They are the priests of the earth. What the Jewish priests did for the Jews, believers do for the world. What would the Jews have been without their priests? And what would the world be without believers? No acceptable worship would ascend from earth to heaven, and no blessings descend from heaven to earth.
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The priests were the instructors of the people. Their lips kept knowledge. It was their business to teach the law in its doctrines and precepts. When they were ignorant or apostate, the people perished. So believers are depositaries of the truth. They have the great prerogative of presenting and extending it. The church is the pillar and ground of truth.
V. The priests were a dependent class.
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They had no portion in the land. They depended on the contributions of the people.
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Their services were not for themselves. They were not the end.
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They were designed to promote the knowledge and glory of God, and the good of the people.
So believers do not live for themselves. They are saved and exalted to this dignity not to honor themselves, but to honor God, and to do good to their fellow-creatures.
Great honor, great sanctity, great responsibility are involved in belonging to the royal priesthood of believers.
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