( 402 ) BIBLICAL CRITICISM. IN On the Priesthood of Christ. June 22, 1816. N this paper I shall place, at one view, before my readers, those texts of Scripture which speak of Jesus Christ as a priest: I shall then coinpare them together, and with some other passages; and, finally, I shall state, in a few distinct remarks, the result of my investigation. I. (1.) Heb. ii. 17.—“ in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest, in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." (2.) — iii. 1.—“ consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus." (3.) — iv. 14. "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.” (4.)—iv. 15.—“we have not an high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities: but was in all points tempted as we are, yet with out sin." (5.) v. 5.- -"Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest." (6.)-V. 10. "Called of God, an high priest, after the order of Melchisedec." (7.) — vi. 20. “Whither the forerunner is for us entered; even Jesus made an high priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec." Thus, too, vii. 15, 16, &c. (8.) — vii. 3.—" made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually." So verses 15, 16, 17, 21. (9.) 24. this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable pricsthood.” (io.) -26.-"such 26.-" such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.". (11.) 27, 28. Who need eth not daily, as those high priests [under the Law], to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins, and then for the people's for this he did once when he offered up himself. For the Law maketh men high priests who have infirmity but the word of the oath, : which was since the Law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.' So-x. 11-13. (12.)-viii. 1. "Now of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum: we have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens." (13.)- -4.—“ if he were on curth, he should not be a priest." (14.)—ix. 11.—“ Christ — an high priest of good things to come." (15.)- 12.-" by his own blood entered in once INTO THE HOLY PLACE, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” (16.)-x. 21, 22.-" having an high priest over the house of God, Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith." II. The texts thus cited, may be distributed into four classes: (1) those which simply represent Jesus Christ as a priest or high priest, (2) those which describe his qualifications in that character, (3) those which speak of his appointment to the office, and (4) finally, those which direct our regard to the characteristic excellence of his priesthood. To the first class we refer Nos. 2, 14, 16; to the second, Nos. 1, 4, 10, to the third, Nos. 5, 6, 11; and to the fourth, Nos. 3, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15. The allusion, in all the passages, being to priests under former dispensations of religion, it will be requisite to add a few texts from the Old Testament; Gen. xiv. 18, 19." Melchisedec, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the Most High God. And he blessed him [Abram], &c." Psalm cx. 4. Lev. xvi. 2.-"the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times, into the holy place within the vail;" See, likewise, ver. 15, &c. Deut. x. 8.-" the Lord separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord, to minister unto him, and a to bless in his name." These passages will explain, in par On the Priesthood of Christ. -xx. 6.- they shall be priests of God and of Christ." III. We are now, I trust, prepared, for discerning the Scriptural doctrine of the priesthood of Jesus Christ. And, in the first place, this tenet is altogether unrelated to the popular tenet concerning his intercession. Not one of the passages transcribed, speaks of his interposing in behalf of mankind: not one of them implies that he so interposes. His priesthood is not of his own appointment, but of God's. Secondly; The great point of resemblance between Jesus and the Jewish high priest, is our Lord's having presented himself before God in the spiritual holy of holies. Of the chief of the priests under the law it was the special duty, the characteristic privilege, to enter, once a year, the most holy place: he did not go into it more frequently; he did not remain there long. Christians have a high priest to whom far greater honour is appropriated. And the benefits derived by them from our Saviour's priesthood are precisely those which they derive from his death, resurrection and ascension. In the third place; Jesus makes reconciliation for the sins of the people. How? Not by dying in their stead (for this was not required from the high priest, and formed no part of his office); but by duly appearing in the presence of God on their behalf. The high priest among the Israelites offered «Regni ejus sunt administri, uti olim Sacerdotes Isiäelitarum," Eichhorn. Comment: in Apoc: 289. 403 their prayers to God. Particularly, on one solemn day in the year, after assisting in the sacrifices of the people, he entered the holy of holies, and finished, by the act of his appearance in that spot, the great work of making reconciliation [axez]: it was the reconciliation of the people, together with the altar, &c. to God, not of God to the people, and instead of implying the existence of wrath in the mind of the Supreme Being, it denoted his mercy and forbearance. Fourthly; Nothing can be more evident than that our Lord is a priest allusively and figuratively. In John x. 11. he styles himself a shepherd, language which also is metaphorical. According to the Scriptural representation, his priesthood is not a distinct office, but a connected view of his ministry, his death, and his resurrection to at IMMORTAL life. Hence the Hebrew Christians are exhorted to perseverance: they are members of an undecaying dispensation. Lastly; Christ never speaks of himself as a priest. Nor is he ever so, spoken of by his apostles, in their discourses or epistles; unless indead the letter to the Hebrews be the production of Paul, which, at least, is very doubtful. Admitting however that it was dictated by this great teacher of Christianity, still it must be interpreted with reference to its occasion, design and readers. The author's object is to preserve the Jewish converts from apostacy: one method therefore which he employs for this purpose, is to shew that the Gospel has in all respects a vast superiority to the Law; and this argument he in part illustrates by a comparison of the Levitical high priest with the high priest of the new and better covenant." It will now be easily understood why and how Jesus Christ is "the apostle and high priest of our profession." And the foregoing observations are 'respectfully submitted to those sons who, like the writer, make the sacred volume its own expositor. N. per "Munus sacerdotale eo maxime, a prophetico atque etiam apostolico differret, -quod prophetarum et apostolorum esset res Dei apud homines agere, Sacerdotam autem res hominum apud Deum." Outram de Sacrif: (1677) pr 220. REVIEW. "Still pleased to praise, yet not afraid to blame."---POPE. ART. I.-The Literary and Scientific Pursuits which are encouraged and enforced in the University of Cambridge, briefly described and vindicated. By the Rev. Latham Wainewright, A.M. F.A.S. of Emanuel College in that University, and Rector of Great-Brickhill, Bucks. TOTHING shows more decisively N the influence which public opi- ་་ Lord Bacon tuosity of innovation has been diminished on the one hand, and tenacity of abuse on the other; and the whole effect has been a calm determination in the public mind towards investigation and improvement, which, notwithstanding the failure of some enthusiastic hopes, may still console the patriot and the philanthropist. Among the other indications of a change of views, in those who are interested in the preservation of existing establishments, we may reckon those indications which have appeared within the last few years, of the discipline and studies of our two Universities. Placed as these bodies appear to be, "above the fear of a rival and below the confession of a fault," they have evidently begun to feel that the public requires from them some account of the manner in which they discharge the high trust reposed in them, and how they repay to their country the endowments, immunities and privileges which she has conferred upon them. Our readers probably remember the vindication of Oxford by Mr. Coplestone,t occasioned by the animadversions of the Edinburgh Reviewers, who came just too late with their censures. After wasting the time of its students for we know not how many generations, in an absurd and useless course of studies, the University of Oxford had at length condescended to adapt its pursuits to the altered condition of the world, and to ensure attention to them by a very strict and efficient system of examinations. Cambridge, as being of less ancient establishment, and far inferior in independent revenues, had always been less bigotted to ancient forms and obsolete doctrines, and had therefore less that required alteration. Yet whoever will compare the proposals for improvements of various kinds, made by Dr. John Jebb, and then Gibbon. + Now we believe LL.D. and Provost of Oriel College, Review.-Wainewright on the Pursuits of Cambridge. most vehemently opposed, with the statements contained in the work before us, will perceive here too what a change a very few years have made in the disposition to reform. The work of Mr. Wainewright, which is dedicated to Lord Palmerston, one of the Representatives of the University, does not appear with quite so official a character as Mr. Coplestone's. He informs ús, however, that it has been written chiefly in compliance with the suggestions of others, and that it has been submitted to the inspection of two members of the University, of learning and station, upon whose judgment he could place implicit reliance." It may, therefore, be considered as demi-official. To those of our readers who know nothing of the studies which are cultivated at Cambridge, this work, diffuse, illwritten, and ill-reasoned as it is, may afford some interesting information; and we are very ready to assent to the panegyrics which he bestows on many parts of its literary pursuits. No man who is acquainted with the history of learning and science, of enlightened scriptural criticism and liberal political principles, will deny the share which Cambridge has borne in promoting them. May that day never arrive, when the prevalence of Calvinistic bigotry among one set of its members, and an affectation of orthodoxy among another, shall make the University desirous of blotting from its fast the names of these illustrious friends of the human race! We frankly give notice to our readers, however, that our design in calling their attention to Mr. W.'s work, is not so much to enter into its general merits, as to animadvert upon some very unfounded and unwarrantable reflections which he has taken occasion to throw out, upon the system of academical education among the Dissenters, and especially those whom he calls the rational and Socinian Dissenters. Coming forward as he does in the cause, and almost in the name of the University, it is not fit that he should be allowed to circulate his as sertions, without such a contradiction as this channel can convey. Under a consciousness of the inferiority in some branches of learning, which from necessary causes must always characterize Dissenters, who are debarred by religious scruples, not only from universities but even from public VOL. XI 3 G 405 schools, we have been accustomed to console ourselves with the idea that theological studies, at least, were carried on amongst us in a manner consonant to that unfettered freedom of inquiry which we profess, and with as careful a research into the original sources of theological doctrines, as it is possible to institute. Our academical institutions have always made it their primary object to educate ministers, and their failure must indeed have been complete, if they have not attained even this. It will be seen, by the following passage from Mr. W.'s book, pp. 66,67, how little cause he thinks we have for this self-congratulation: of the University are designed for the sa"As so large a proportion of the students cerdotal order, it will naturally be expected that an ample provision has been made for the acquirement of that species of learning, which this important profession peculiarly demands. Complaints, however, have been sometimes made, that this provision is in many respects defective, and that it is by no means commensurate with the wishes of those, to whom the ordination of the clergy is assigned by the church. Whatever cause for objection may formerly have existed on this point, it has for many years been almost entirely removed, and an opPortunity is now afforded to every intended character of a profound theologian, which ecclesiastic, I do not say of completing the can never be effected during any academical course of studies, but of acquiring such a competent knowledge of the various branches of divinity, as will qualify him for passing a very respectable examination, previously to his admission into holy orders. In some colleges one term of every year and in others one day in the week, is appropriated in the lecture-room to the Greek Testament; and unless counteracted by particular circumstances, the critical remarks of the lecturer, and his judicious use of the labours of former scholars and commentators, must be the means of exciting a desire for biblical information, and And here we cannot but observe, the vast of forming a taste for biblical pursuits. superiority of the mode of studying the Sacred Writings, recommended and enforced on these occasions, to the careless, In a case which lately fell under our ther's scruples on the subject of infantown knowledge, a lad, who, from his fabaptism, had never undergone this rite, was informed by the master of one of our public schools that he must either be bap tized or leave the place. 406 Review-Wainewright on the Pursuits of Cambridge. and superficial manner so common in dissenting institutions, where a notorious deciency in classical and oriental literature, and a general ignorance of the laws of just criticism, must obviously give rise to a misteken interpretation of the original text, and to the consequent formation of errbneous opinions.' " one, to whom justice will never be done but by some other hand than his own. In the first year of his course, the theological student, who is required to have reached the age of sixteen at his admission, and to be able to read Honier and Horace, begins, upon his Εάν πρότερός τις ἔιποι τα προσόνθ' first entrance, the study of the Hebrew ἑαυτῷ περὶ ἄλλου, καὶ δὴ ταῖς ὅτως language, in which it will generally be ἔχει καὶ εκέτι οἱ ἀκεῖντες σκέψονται, found, that at the end of a session of τίς ποτ' αυτός ἔσιν ὁ ταῦτα λεγών; nine months, he has made sufficient Such appears to have been the expecta- progress to have read, with tolerable tion of Mr. W. who has either asserted ease, considerable portions of the histhat of which he knew nothing, or that torical books of the Old Testament. which he knew not to be. We very In the second year he reads the Pre-. readily allow him the milder half of lections of Lowth, with the notes of the alternative, believing that he has Michaelis, grammatically resolving the only spoken here in the plenitude of passages which are quoted in the text; that dignified ignorance which Church- and in addition to this, some of the men affect, in regard to the internal devotional and prophetic books, comconcerns of the Dissenters. We are paring the Hebrew throughout with far from complaining of this ignorance the Septuagint. In the third year, he which it is their privilege to enjoy and continues to read other parts of the our fate to suffer; but let them at least Hebrew Scriptures in the same critical "neither bless us at all nor curse us at and grammatical manner as before. all," or if they will stoop to censure us, Syriac and Chaldee do not make an let them also humble themselves to invariable part of the course, but are learn what it is they are censuring taught to those, whose ability for learnThey would hardly admit it as an ex-ing languages promises that the knowcuse on our parts, for a misrepresentation ledge of them will be useful. The of an university, that it was raised too reader will observe, that through the high above us, for us to see it distinctly: three first years, theological studies are yet the distance from which we look subordinate to the cultivation of the up to Mr. W. is exactly that from languages, history, mathematics and which he looks down upon us. He philosophy, while in the two last, should both in justice, and in prudence theology forms the chief, and almost have informed himself a little better, the exclusive business. The course of before he ventured to commit the ho- the fourth year begins with the critical, nour of his University, and even the examination of the sources whence the credit of orthodoxy, to such a compa- text of the Old Testament is derived, rison as he has provoked. As a reply including the various ancient versions to the reflections contained in the pa- the history and authority of which and ragraph which we have quoted, we their relation to the Hebrew, are more all beg leave to lay before our readers or less minutely investigated, according a statement of the course of Biblical to their importance to the commentator. study pursued in an academical insti- When the way is thus prepared, the tution, which till lately was the only Scriptures of the Old Testament are one in which ministers among the separately examined, as the records of Unitarian Dissenters received their the Jewish Revelation; the laws of education. We are persuaded that we Moses are presented in a systematic shall the more readily obtain this in- view, that their wisdom and divine dulgence from them, as it will afford origin may appear more conspicuous, us an opportunity of doing justice to and all the light is thrown upon them which can be supplied by oriental manners and a comparison with other systems of ancient jurisprudence. A similar course is pursued with regard to the other historical, to the devotional, and the prophetic books. It is impossible to make use of the original text, where so large a space must be gone That we may not escape under cover of these general reflections, the charge is brought home to us in the next page:The very scanty portion of critical skill possessed by the disciples of Socinus, in common with every class of dissidents." P. 63. Note. |