XVIII.
This Priesthood was not legal, or temporary, but according to the order(1) of Melchisecdec(2) not by a carnal commandment, but by the power of endless life;(3) not by an order that is weak and lame, but stable and perfect, not for a(4) time, but for ever, admitting no successor, but perpetual and proper to Christ, and of Him that ever lives. Christ Himself was the Priest, Sacrifice and Alter: He was(5) Priest, according to both natures, He was a sacrifice most properly according to His human nature:(6) where in Scripture it is wont to be attributed to His body, to His blood; yet the chief force whereby this sacrifice was made effectual, did depend upon His(7) divine nature, namely, that the Son of God did offer Himself for us: He was the alter properly according to His divine nature, it belonging to the(8) Alter to sacrifice that which is offered upon it, and so it ought to be of greater dignity then the Sacrifice itself.
1) Heb. 7:17
2) Heb. 7:16
3) Heb. 7:18-21
4) Heb. 7:24-25
5) Heb. 5:6
6) Heb. 10:10; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Col. 1:20-21; Isa. 53: 10; Mat. 20:28
7) Acts 20:28; Rom. 8:3
8) Heb. 9:14; 13:10, 12, 15; Mat. 23:17; John 17:19
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