013. Melchisedec

Melchisedec Gen 14:18. And Melchisedec, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

Psa 110:4. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec.

Heb 6:20. Jesus, made an high priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec. The eagerness and avidity with which men pry into abstruse and difficult subjects, can be exceeded only by their coldness and indifference to obvious and important truth. The religious controversies which have engaged so much attention, occupied so much time, and furnished employment for so many rare talents; which have whetted the tempers and too often the swords of men against each other, are, in general, on points of doctrine too deep and mysterious ever to be fathomed by human understanding, too lofty to be scanned without boldness and presumption, or too trifling to merit regard. Revealed religion, like every thing that is of God, must necessarily present many difficulties to a creature so limited as man. But instead of being rejected on that account, it is the more to be prized and reverenced; as having this evidence, among many others, of coming from Him, whose nature, whose works, and whose ways, none “can find out unto perfection.” Curiosity, guided by humility, and aiming at useful discovery, is a laudable and useful principle. But curiosity impelled by self-conceit, and resting in mere speculation, is generally rash and presumptuous, often trifling, impertinent, and contemptible. In every branch of knowledge, those truths are the most valuable which are the plainest, and which present themselves in the greatest abundance: just as nature produces in the greatest profusion those commodities which are most useful and necessary to man. The subject of this night’s Lecture, is one of those which have afforded ample employment to critics and commentators. Were our object amusement only, it were easy to entertain you for months to come, with the ingenious, the fanciful, the absurd, and nonsensical expositions which have been given of the person and history of Melchisedec. But as we aim at usefulness, and acknowledge no guide in sacred things but the holy Scripture, Moses shall be our only authority and guide in tracing this remarkable story; David and Paul our only interpreters, in the application and use of it.

Abram, with a little band of three hundred and eighteen persons of his own household, and a few friends, has pursued, overtaken, surprised, and discomfited four confederated kings, with their victorious army; and recovered Lot, his brother’s son, into liberty. Returning from this honorable, bold, and successful enterprise, he is met by a prince of a very different character from those whom he had conquered, and those whom he had delivered. They were sons of violence, sons of blood; his name was Melchisedec, and Melchisalem--king of righteousness, king of peace. It is extremely probable, that these epithets were titles conferred upon this great and good man, as being descriptive of his person and character; and might be designed of Providence as a memorial to all princes of what they ought to be; lovers, preservers, and promoters of justice, maintainers and conservators of peace.

It is pleasing to find ourselves mistaken in our calculations of the numbers of good men, and in our estimates of the state of religion in the world. For these calculations and estimates through ignorance and contractedness of spirit, are generally, if not always, erroneous, by being short of the truth. Who did not conclude, when Abram was called to leave his idolatrous country, that the knowledge and the worship of the true God were entirely confined to his family? When lo! a king and priest of the most high God, of whom we never heard, of whose existence we had formed no opinion before, breaks forth upon us, all at once; and teaches us this most elevating, this most encouraging truth, that the number of the redeemed is much greater, and the state of religion much more prosperous, than the partial views, and the systematic spirit of even good men, will permit them to believe. Thus, in latter times, a prophet of no less dignity than Elijah, from apparent circumstances, made a most erroneous computation of the number of the faithful in his day. “The children of Israel,” saith he, “have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”[*]1Ki 19:14 But what saith the answer of God to him! “I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.”[*]1Ki 19:18 And when the ransomed of the Lord shall at length return together to Zion, they shall be “a great multitude which no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues.” And what heart but must exult in the prospect of the grace of God being more widely diffused than we apprehended, and extended to regions unknown, and multitudes unthought of by us?

Though but little be told us of this extraordinary person, that little is both pleasing and instructive. In him; we find united two offices of high dignity and respectability--royalty and the priesthood; the majesty of the one united to the sanctity of the other; Melchisedec, “king of Salem,” was also “the priest of the most high God.” How truly honorable is high station, when supported by the beauty and dignity of holiness, and adorned with unaffected goodness! Is the state of a king either dishonored or diminished by attendance at the altar of God? No; it is religion that sweetens, and embellishes, and ennobles every condition: it is religion, forming an intimate and a permanent relation between a man and his God, “that raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dung-hill, and setteth him with princes;” and which exalteth earthly princes to heavenly thrones. Examples are rare in history of these two characters being united. The kingdoms and the priesthood of this world, fall to the lot of but a selected few; they hardly blend in one and the same person, seldom meet to crown the same head. But in the new creation of God, in “the kingdom prepared for the heirs of glory from the foundation of the world,” the high lot of Melchisedec is the lot of every child of God. All are “kings and priests unto God, even the Father.” And the Apostle Peter, addressing, not the princes and potentates of the earth, but “strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,” thus writes, “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of Him, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”[*]1Pe 2:9 Is this king of righteousness and peace venerable in his priestly robes, attending, in the order of his course, upon the most high God? Is he less amiable and respectable in administering to the necessities of his fellow men? A prince is never more kingly, than when he is practicing the virtues of humanity, hospitality, and compassion. And the praise of these too belongs to Melchisedec, for “he brought forth bread and wine,” to refresh the patriarch and his little army, after the labor and fatigue of their rapid march and violent conflict. The great God is infinitely above the need of our services. How then can we honor him most, and serve him best? By copying his example; by doing good; by communicating to the comfort of others what he has kindly bestowed upon us. What object does this world present, once to be compared with a human being replete with benevolence, habitually studying to glorify his Creator, by alleviating the distresses, and promoting the happiness of his creatures? This is the true luster of riches, this is the glory of greatness, this the splendor of power, this the majesty of kings.

Kindred spirits are easily and powerfully attracted to each other; and religion forms the strongest and tenderest bond of union among men. Abram and Melchisedec meet like men long acquainted. The patriarch nobly disdains to accept the spoils proffered to him by the king of Sodom; but joyfully, and with gratitude, embraces the friendship and kindness of the king of Salem. The gifts of a bad man yield a very mixed satisfaction to an honest mind, but it is pleasing to the soul to receive benefits from the wise and good. An interchange of kind offices is the life of friendship in worthy minds. In our commerce with Heaven, benefits flow continually from God to us; continually receiving, we have nothing to send back but the effusions of a thankful heart, and the humble desires of needy dependants; but friendship among men subsists only among equals, and depends on kindnesses mutually given and received. Melchisedec “brings forth bread and wine” to Abram; Abram gives him “tithes of all.” So early existed in the world that mode of supporting the ministers of religion. A great prince like Melchisedec needed not to minister in holy things for hire, but he would, by his example, teach mankind, what God, by a special constitution, established under the law, and afterwards delivered to the world in a general proposition, that “he who serves at the altar should live by the altar.” But how poor in comparison, is the gift which the patriarch brings to the priest of God, to that which he receives from him. Abram’s is an offering of acknowledgment and respect merely, by which the receiver was neither benefited nor enriched, but Melchisedec’s return to him was a real benefit; he “blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth.”[*]Gen 14:19 Abram was already blessed, in growing, worldly prosperity, blessed in recent victory over his enemies, blessed in the deliverance he had wrought for his beloved nephew, blessed in possessing the respect and esteem of princes: but blessings like these have fallen to the lot of bad men, and are in themselves unsatisfactory: Melchisedec pronounces a blessing which crowns all the rest, and gives value to them all. “The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow therewith;” Abram is “blessed of the most high God,” with the prospect, though distant, of the Messiah’s day, who should spring from himself, according to the flesh, and in whom “all the families of the earth should be blessed.” Abram beheld in the very person who pronounced the benediction upon him, “the figure of him who was to come,” that “king who should reign in righteousness;” “he saw it, and was glad.” What selfish, solitary joy is once to be named with the pure benevolent delight, which glowed in the patriarch’s breast, every time the promise was brought to his ear, and the Savior, his own Savior, the Savior of the world, was placed before his eye? “And blessed be the most high God,” continues he, “which hath delivered thine enemies into thine hand.”[*]Gen 14:20 The blessing which cometh down from heaven, ascends, together with its fruit, to heaven again; as the precious drops which fall down to water the earth, rise upward in gales of fragrance, from the fruits and flowers which they produce, and perfume the air. “Mercy is twice blessed, it blesseth him that gives and him that takes.” But behold, while Melchisedec yet blesseth Abram, he is out of our sight, and is no more to be found. He burst forth upon us like the sun from behind a thick cloud; disappeared again as quickly; and is to be discerned only in that track of glory which he has left behind him. Blessed type of him, who “led out his disciples as far as to Bethany, and he lift up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven:”[*]Luk 24:50-51 And who, “while they beheld, was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.”[*]Acts 1:9

Thus all the men of ages past have made their escape from us, and we behold them no more: and thus we ourselves are one by one disappearing from among men. Adam, and the great majority, died. Enoch, and one more were translated without tasting death. The latter end of Melchisedec is concealed from us. But, from his extraordinary character, we are led to imagine it could not be in the ordinary course of humanity. In so many various ways can God remove and dispose of his creatures; and thus, through various passages, we enter into the world of spirits: and “mortality is swallowed up of life.”--What other of the kings of the earth is to be compared with Melchisedec? Is he not rather raised up of Providence, to reproach and to condemn the potentates of this world; the rule of whose government, too often, is not righteousness and law, but humor and caprice; and the end of it, not to bless mankind, but to gratify some passion of their own; who, instead of preserving the nations in peace, themselves the sons of peace, have incessantly, from the beginning to this unhappy day, involved the wretched human race in scenes of war, and violence, and blood? To which of the earthly thrones shall we look for the union of the sanctity of the priesthood with the majesty of the sovereign? Alas! kings are “set in slippery places.”--Their education, their station, their employments, their connections; all, all unhappily encroach upon the offices of religion; tend to weaken its impressions, and to shut out its consolations--But there is a Prince, betwixt whom and this king of Salem, the resemblance is so striking, that he who runs may trace it. Not a few have given in to the opinion, that the wonderful personage represented in this history, under the united character of priest and king, was none other than the Son of God himself, assuming a temporary human form, to exhibit in that dark age of the world, an anticipated view of the person, which he was, in the fullness of time, to assume, of the character of which he was to sustain, and of the offices which he was to execute. The expressions which describe Melchisedec, it is alleged, are not applicable to any creature: and as, from several other passages in the books of Moses, it is probable, if not certain, that the Redeemer of the world manifested himself in the patriarchal ages, at sundry times, and on divers occasions, under the character of the angel of the Lord; it is apprehended, that this appearance to Abram might be of the same nature; in order to furnish the father of believers with a clearer and more distinct idea of the person of the Redeemer, according to the words of Christ himself, “your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.”[*]John 8:56

I see no danger that can result, either to faith or morality, from admitting this supposition. And it must be admitted, that there are circumstances, both in the history and in the apostolical application of it, which sufficiently warrant such an interpretation. If there is not an actual identity of persons in Melchisedec and the Messiah, the analogy at least is so obvious, that we have but to bring Moses and Paul together, in order to discover its exactness, and to feel its force. The likeness is presented to us in Scripture, not as some others, in scanty and obscure hints, or in some leading features and lineaments only; but the portraits are drawn as it were, at full length, by the masterly hands of a prophet and an apostle, and placed side by side for our inspection. In this part of our undertaking, therefore, nothing more is necessary than to transcribe from the page of inspiration.

Scripture is singularly expressive, both in what it speaks of Melchisedec, and in what it conceals; and in both these respects we may in some measure understand the meaning of what David, in spirit, says of the Messiah, “thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec.” And first, To whom can the names of king of righteousness, king of peace, be applied with such strict propriety, as to him whom God hath “anointed over his holy hill of Sion.” who reigns in justice and in love: who, righteous himself, has wrought out for all his happy subjects a justifying righteousness by the merit of his blood, and continues to work out in all, a sanctifying righteousness by the grace and power of his Spirit? But peace and righteousness are not mere external designations of Messiah, our prince; names without a meaning, titles without merit, like many of those which are worn by the potentates of this world, Catholic, Most Christian, Faithful, Imperial, Defender of the Faith! Appellations calculated to excite pity or derision. No: his titles are of the essence of his nature; the display of them, is the object of his mission, and the consummation of his plan. “His name shall be called the Prince of peace.” “Of the increase of his government, and peace, there shall be no end.”[*]Isa 9:6-7 “In Christ Jesus, we, who sometime were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us:” “He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to them that were nigh.”[*]Eph 2:13-14;Eph 2:17 “The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.”[*]Isa 53:5 His gospel is prophesied of, as God’s “covenant of peace,” and “the counsel of peace.” At his birth, the melodious anthem of “peace on earth, and good will toward men,”[*]Luk 2:14 ascended from the tongues of ten thousand angels, up to the eternal throne: and when he left the world, this bequest, more precious than the mantle of Elijah, fell from him, and remained behind him to bless mankind, “peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:”[*]John 14:27 peace with God, peace of conscience, peace with all men; for “being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”[*]Rom 5:1 And “the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”[*]Rom 14:17 Acquaintance with God, through him, produces inward tranquility. “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee.”[*]Job 22:21 And “if God be for us, who can be against us?” “The peace of God passeth all understanding.” The world can neither give it nor take it away. And when his gospel shall have produced its full effect, and his kingdom is finally established; “the work of righteousness shall be peace;” “and the effect of righteousness, quietness, and assurance for ever.”[*]Isa 32:17 But it were endless to enumerate the passages of Scripture, which represent Jesus Christ the Savior, as the author, the purchaser, the giver, the operator of peace, and “the Lord our righteousness.”They are his nature, his name; the burthen of his preaching, of his prayers: they are the fruit of his sufferings and death, the object of his intercession, the operation of his Spirit: they are the seeds of glory in his redeemed upon earth; and the perfection of glory in him and in them, when the triumph of his grace shall be completed in heaven. As the names and titles ascribed to Melchisedec, apply in full force, and in their utmost extent to our blessed Savior, so the several actions in which we find him engaged, have their exact counterpart in what Jesus did, in the exercise of his public ministry. They are these three--“he brought forth bread and wine,” to refresh Abram and his weary host; he “blessed Abram;” and he received of him “tithes of all” the spoils. In the first of these we are led to contemplate the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ when he exerted, more than once, his almighty power, in miraculously multiplying bread to refresh and sustain the fainting multitudes, who resorted to hear him: and when he instituted, by taking, blessing, and distributing bread and wine, that memorial of his death, which has been in every age, and shall continue to the end of the world, the food of the hungry soul, and a cordial to the faint; the token of a salvation already wrought out and purchased; and the foretaste of a salvation “ready to be revealed;” the communion of imperfect saints, in the church militant, and the eternal bond of union among the spirits of just men made perfect, in the church triumphant.

Again, Melchisedec blessed Abram. In this action of the king of Salem, we behold Jesus, “who went about doing good,” and scattered blessings wheresoever he went. “He took little children into his arms and blessed them.” He pronounced a blessing, which still rests on “the poor in spirit,” “the meek,” “the merciful,” “the pure in heart,” “the peace-makers,” and those “who hunger and thirst after righteousness.”[*]Mat 5:3;Mat 5:10 He blessed the bread before he brake it, and gave it to his disciples: when he ascended up on high, blessings upon blessings flowed from his lips; and in virtue of his intercession at the right hand of the Father, “every good gift, and every perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights.”[*]Jas 1:17 If the world has any comfort; if the soul has any hope; if there be any communication between heaven and earth; if there be “good will towards men;” “if there be any consolation in Christ; if any comfort of love; if any fellowship of spirit; if any bowels and mercies;”[*]Php 2:1 if there be any joy purer, and more perfect than another, “the blessing of the Lord it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow therewith;” it is of him, whom “God having raised up,” even “his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities”[*]Acts 3:26 But the grand accomplishment of the type is reserved for that day, when, together with faithful Abraham, all “the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion, with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads;”[*]Isa 35:10 when “the Son of man, coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory,” shall thus welcome his redeemed to the regions of eternal day, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”[*]Mat 25:34 The last of Melchisedec actions that stands upon record, is his receiving the tithe of the spoils from Abram. On which subject I think it best to give you the Apostle’s commentary in his own words. “Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law; that is, of their brethren, though they came out of the loins of Abraham; but he whose descent is not counted from them, received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises. And without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. And as I may so say, Levi also, who received tithes, paid tithes in Abraham; for he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.”[*]Heb 7:4-10 From which he justly infers, that “perfection” could not be “by the Levitical priesthood,” that “there was need” of “another priest, after the order of Melchisedec, and not after the order of Aaron;” who should be “made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life;” and that “seeing the law made nothing perfect,” but “the bringing in of a better hope did,” “by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament:” and “this man because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable priesthood.” Through him, therefore, let us offer “the calves of our lips,” and “present” our “bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service:” for “we are not our own, we are bought with a price; therefore, let us glorify God in our body, and in our spirit, which are God’s.” As the names and employments, so the united offices and dignity of Melchisedec, met in all their luster in the person of the Son of God; “King of Salem,” and “Priest of the most high God.” In “derision” of the vain attempts of the heathen, and of the impious confederacy of the kings and rulers of the earth, “against the LORD, and against his Anointed,” God declares, “I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion.”[*]Psa 2:6 He came not indeed in worldly pomp, but in lowliness and meekness, yet the powers and potentates of the earth were made subject and subservient to him. “Wise men from the east” were conducted by a star to Jerusalem, and thence to Bethlehem of Judah, to do homage to him at his birth; and poured “their treasures, gold, frankincense, and myrrh,” at his feet. Augustus issued “a decree that all the world should be taxed.” What was his motive, what his end? We cannot tell; but we know the end which God had in view by it namely, to bring into more public notoriety, the several circumstances of Christ’s nativity, and to transmit them to the latest posterity, in all their splendor and importance. Thus the haughty master of imperial Rome was constrained of Providence, to render unknown, unintended, involuntary homage to yonder babe in the stable of Bethlehem.” “For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.”[*]Acts 4:27-28 Is he not then “the blessed and only Potentate; the King of kings, and Lord of lords? Now especially, exalted as he is, to the right hand of the Majesty on high. For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him.” “And he is before all things; and by him all things consist.”[*]Col 1:16-17 And, into the kingdom of his glory, when finished, “the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor.” Then shall angels and men join in this grand celestial chorus, “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”[*]Rev 6:15 But while his exalted rank as a sovereign removes us to an awful distance, his milder character as “the Apostle and High Priest of our profession,” allures us back to his presence, and dissipates our terrors. He is “a merciful and a faithful High Priest,”an “High Priest, touched with the feeling of our infirmities:” “a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens,” through whom we have encouragement to “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”[*]Heb 4:16 He has by “one offering perfected forever them that are sanctified,” and who, having “washed us from our sins in his own blood,” shall at length make us “kings and priests unto God and his Father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever.”[*]Rev 1:6 The circumstances relating to Melchisedec, which are concealed, no less than those which are revealed to us, lead directly to similar circumstances in the person and character of our Lord. “Without father, without mother, without descent; having neither beginning of days nor end of life;” no predecessor; no successor; no limited time of service; no derived title; a dignity not passing from hand to hand, but permanent, inherent, immutable.” Such was the type. What is its antitype? “Who shall declare his generation?” “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”[*]John 1:1 “Verily, verily I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.”[*]John 8:58 “And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth.”[*]John 1:14 “Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.”[*]1Ti 3:16 “I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last; I am he that liveth and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, amen.”[*]Rev 1:14;Rev 1:18 “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world! “Slain from the foundation of the world!” The altar which consecrateth “the gift,” the priest that presents the sacrifice; the “second temple” which eclipses the glory of the “first.” All, and in all. Every thing pointed to him; all ended in him, and all are infinitely exceeded by him.

Rejoice, Christians, in this “more sure word of prophesy;” and “take heed unto it, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts.”[*]2Pe 1:19 Revere the unfathomable depths of the eternal mind. “Secret things belong to God; but things which are revealed, belong to us, and to our children.” Turn all your inquiries to some good account; remembering that the “end of the commandment is charity,” is to inspire veneration and love to God, and good will to men. Seek not to be “wise above what is written:” and “be not wise in your own conceit.” In reverence adore an incomprehensible Jehovah, who, by no search is to be “found out unto perfection.” Rejoice in hope of that day, when all mysteries shall be unveiled, and the wisdom, the love, and the goodness of God shall shine conspicuously in every creature and every event; when the honors of a Melchisedec shall be communicated to all and to every one of the myriads of Christ’s redeemed. When, such as is the head, shall all the members be, “kings and priests unto God.” And let us, “by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory, and honor, and immortality.” Amen.