less referring to some future time in the present dispensation) shall cease, the Church will suffer persecution, and the Faith well-nigh cease. If so much importance was paid to the offering up of the daily sacrifice under the Old Dispensation, and so much stress laid upon the strict performance of what was at best only a type of that which was better, and was to come, can we imagine that less importance attaches to the daily Offering now, or that we can be more lax in rendering this our bounden and daily duty, without incurring God's righteous indignation for our wilful neglect? The Word of God, which never faileth, tells us it will be offered daily until such time as it will be caused to cease. Can we of the Anglican communion be exceptions, so as not to comply with this reasonable request, and yet be without blame? In Malachi i. 11 we are explicitly told that this Offering shall be made in every place, from east to west, even a pure offeringthat is, the Bread of Life. Can we wilfully run counter to God's Word, and yet be faithful Christians?

CHAPTER VI.

OUR LORD'S CONTINUAL OFFERING IN HEAVEN AN EXAMPLE FOR HIS DEPUTIES ON EARTH; THIS PRACTICE CONFIRMED BY CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.

"This Man hath an unchangeable priesthood," etc.-HEB. vii. 24. "A body hast Thou prepared Me."-HEB. X. 5.

"By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, giving thanks to His name."-HEB. xiii. 15.

"I saw in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle."-REV. i. 13.

We have it plainly and emphatically set forth by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews that our Lord hath an unchangeable priesthood. And having a priesthood must imply that He hath something whereof to offer. But the writer's arguments go to prove that though possessed of an unchangeable priesthood, yet that He hath a better sacrifice to offer than that of Aaron and his sons, inasmuch as He is the Mediator of a new and better Covenant, or Testament. He was no more to shed the blood of bulls and calves, for all these were merely shadows of good things to come. "In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure," said the Lord by the mouth of His holy prophet, "but a body hast Thou prepared Me."

Here, then, we have the solution of the mystery attaching to the unchangeable character of our Lord's priesthood. The burnt offerings and sacrifices of the Old Dispensation were to be done away with after the offering up of that one holy, "full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins. of the whole world." This is the offering up of that Body that was prepared, and the shedding of whose blood speaketh better things than that of Abel.

And the continual shewing forth of that one Offering on the Cross, the continual presentation of that Body, holy, harmless, and undefiled, in the presence of God for us, is the work of our great High Priest in Heaven. Being the Mediator of the new testament He thus is able to discharge fully and perfectly the duties of His mediatorial and sacerdotal ministry, by offering a better sacrifice than any that went before. He hath no need to offer Himself often, for the one sacrifice of His own Body, once for all offered on the cross, was a full and perfect expiation for all sins prospective and retrospective. But by appearing in the presence of God for us with that same Body that was prepared by God, and which was offered on the cross in the stead of all other burnt offerings and sacrifices, in which God declared He had had no pleasure-by thus making continual remembrance, in the Holiest of all, the sacrifice of that same Body, our great High Priest offers a most acceptable sacrifice before the throne of God in heaven, and in this wise fully accomplishes and fulfils the Will of God.

This continual remembrance that goes on in heaven fully satisfies the justice of God, and prevails

Christ's Continual Offering.

41

66

with Him on behalf of all sinners who truly turn to Him. Bearing this in mind, we can comprehend the phraseology of the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, where he speaks of Christ not being under any necessity to offer Himself often, daily or continually, such expressions referring solely to such acts or like sacrifices as were offered by the holy patriarchs or Aaronic priesthood. As of Christ it hath been declared by God, "Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec," and as He is a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle," "wherefore it is of necessity that this Man have somewhat also to offer." He, therefore, on whom an everlasting and unchangeable priesthood has been conferred, He who is the Minister of the sanctuary that is eternal in the heavens, must from the nature of things be offering an acceptable and well-pleasing sacrifice to God continually, for "He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." Accordingly, to be prepared thus to save all souls that come to Him, He must continually exercise the functions of His most holy office on their behalf, seeing He ever liveth for this end.

As our great High Priest executes the functions of His holy ministry in heaven, so should His deputies do on earth that which their Chief Bishop does in heaven. And it is to that end that they shew forth at our altars the death of Christ, and represent on earth that which their great High Priest does in heaven. The things done in our earthly sanctuaries are patterns of things that are done in the heavenly sanctuary. Some of the ornaments, as well as ritual,

in vogue in the courts of Heaven, have been described. to us by the holy Apostle in the Apocalyptic vision. And the declaration in the Epistle to the Hebrews (xiii. 10), "We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle," is valuable in that it teaches us that the holy Apostles and the Christians of their day regarded the Lord's Table as being also the Christian Altar, whereon something was offered, and that something more effectual than the burnt offerings and sacrifices that had gone before, even the very substance of those things which had been but the shadows, even that Body which had been prepared.

It is only in accordance with the fitness of things that, given altars and priests, the relation of one to the other should be the exact counterpart of that which exists in heaven between our great High Priest and the golden altar before God's eternal throne. There a continual service goes on, and perpetual intercession. Like master, like servant: as the great Bishop doth in the "Jerusalem which is above, which is the mother of us all," so must His suffragans and coadjutors do on earth, on behalf of their respective families and flocks. And as it is done continually, so must it follow here below. Yes, His deputies must not slacken their prayers and intercessions, but, according to the prophecy or teaching which has gone before-viz. " continuing instant in prayer," "praying always with all perseverance"-"pray without ceasing," "give themselves continually to prayer," etc. They must-shall we not say?-offer up their prayers in that form which is the most prevailing with God, inasmuch as it is

66