CHAPTER IX. CHRISTIAN PRIESTS. "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." HEBREWS xiii. 15. You will recollect, that after reading the seventh chapter of the Book of Leviticus, I noticed, what so much distinguishes that chapter, the offerings of a eucharistic or thanksgiving nature, frequently and fully enjoined and elucidated throughout it; and I stated that these, under the ancient Levitical economy, were the modes appointed by God himself, by which the Jew expressed to that God his gratitude for those mercies which were showered down upon him; and that though the mode be altered under the Christian and the evangelical economy, yet the substance remains still obligatory upon us all. We, too, are to offer sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving as truly as the Jew, because we have mercies as many, as rich, as impressive, as his. These are not two antagonistic religions-the Levitical and the Evangelical; but the same religion, expressed in the one in one way, and expressed in the other in another—a simpler and more spiritual way. The Gospel is according to Levi, just as the Gospel is according to John. It is the same Gospel, expressed in types, and forms, and ceremonies, many thousand years ago, but now brought clearly to light, and of which the grand and distinguishing characteristic is, "Neither on this mountain nor on that mountain, when ye worship the Father, but they that worship God should worship him in spirit and in truth,"—for such now God seeketh to worship him. The Psalms of David have fully as often songs of praise as they have earnest supplications and petitions for mercy. One psalm is often a prayer for mercy and forgiveness, but the very next psalm is a song, a rich song of thankfulness for mercies and blessings received. The same lips that poured forth the fervent litany contained in Psalm LI. poured forth the brilliant and expressive song of thanksgiving contained in Psalm CIII. We shall find in the Psalms all the lights and shadows of Christian experiencethe expressed want that is felt to-day, the joyous thankfulness that is sung to-morrow. Gratitude, or thanksgiving, is a virtue not altogether a stranger to the human heart. Even the great poet could teach, that to call a man unthankful was to brand him with the heaviest infamy. There is something even in the wreck of human nature that shows us, that to be thankful for a blessing is one of the simplest and first duties that devolve upon us after the receipt of it. We may thank the wrong object, we may thank imperfectly, but still wherever benefits are received, generally speaking, more or less of gratitude is felt. But when this feeling of gratitude is inspired by the Spirit of God, then it shoots far above all terrestrial objects, and finds its repose, its resting-place, and its object, only in the good, the munificent, the unwearied Giver of every good and of every perfect gift. Now, according to the prescriptions of Leviticus, the Jew expressed his thankfulness by sacrifices most burdensome, most heavy, constituting a load that our fathers were unable to bear. But the same language is used by the Apostle Paul that Levi would have used, and explained by the apostle as a more spiritual and simple duty. Still we have an altar, still we have sacrifices, still we have priests, but of a very different description from those that are delineated in the Book of Leviticus, or instituted by God under the Jewish economy. I have said we still have an Altar. The apostle tells us that. In this very chapter he says, "We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle; wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate." The apostle plainly tells us, that Jesus is the Christian's altar; and to show that he is the altar, you have only to recollect that it was the altar's function to give to the sacrifice, or to the gift, all its virtue and its excellence. "It is the altar that sanctifieth the gift." And the apostle here speaks of priesthood and sacrifice, when he says, " By him "that is, by Christ-"let us"-the priests"offer the sacrifice of praise and of thanksgiving ; giving thanks to the name of God." Then, when we offer our sacrifices, whatever they may be, we are to do so, not upon the golden altar of Levi, from which fragrant incense rose under the ancient economy in ascending and acceptable clouds to God; but by Him who is the antitype of the golden altar, who is not only the golden altar, but has the golden censer; on which, with the much incense of his intercession, the prayers of "all saints "-that is, all believers-are constantly presented and offered unto God. It is translated into other words by the apostle, when he says, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, "Giving thanks always, for all things, unto God, even the Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." To present the sacrifices of thanksgiving by Him, as the golden altar, or to present them in his name-the only name given among men whereby we can be savedis all one and the same thing. His name cleaves a passage to the skies for the earnest petition, for the fervent praise. No man, however excellent, no prayer, however spiritual, no praise, however beautiful, cometh unto the Father, but by Christ, the altar, in the name of Christ the Mediator, through him in whose golden censer it is placed, and thus accepted of the Most High. You will notice, too, that Jesus is not only the golden altar, but the brazen altar. The brazen altar was for the sacrifice of propitiatory victims; the golden altar was for the ascending incense; and what was offered on the golden altar was done after the offering on the brazen altar was presented without. Now, Christ was the altar of brass, in that he made thereon a perfect propitiation for the sins of all that believe, even to the end of the world; and he is the golden altar inasmuch as all incense of praise and thanksgiving must be presented by him continually. The work of the altar of brass is finished: when he suffered without the gate he made an end of sin; he finished transgression, he brought in everlasting righteousness. No atonement now can be made; none is needed to be made. The It merits of that one atonement are inexhaustible whilst there is a sin to be forgiven, or a sinner among mankind to be saved. But there is still the work of the golden altar, or the offerings of praise and thanksgiving by him, as the apostle calls it, continually. And whenever, therefore, we present praise or thanksgiving to God, we are to do it in the name, or upon the altar, or by and through Christ Jesus; and God asks of us, not what he asked of the children of Israel-the herd of the stall, or the fruit of the vine, or the oil of the olive-but the glad thankfulness of a thankful heart; and he asks us to express it in the simple language of fervent praise. It is not enough to feel it; we must express it. is not enough to be thankful; we must say so. It is not enough to pray with the heart, but we must, when we have opportunity, pray with the lip. It is not enough to praise with the heart, but we must, when we have opportunity, praise with the lip. The apostle adds, "The fruit of your lips." Not simply the expression of the heart, which is the chief thing, but also the fruit of the lips, which will always follow wherever it is truly felt. That is, the apostle teaches us that the Christian religion is to be first a thing of the heart, but not only to be a thing of the heart,—it is to be first, a thing of the heart; it is to be secondly, as a necessary sequence, a thing of the lip and of the life. And, therefore, Christians in the congregation are to join in prayer and in praise; they ought by the bowed knee, or the open lip, to praise and pray to Him, who has promised to be present wherever he is pleased to record his holy name. Having seen the altar, having seen also the sacri |