Or, The New 'Birib. Now becaufe in ~h i s 'Parallel there are ma~y thing~ hard to be undcrftood, I Jhall give you a brief Explication of them, and !hereby brm& you to the Text. . . Now concerning this Melchifedeck there IS much enqmry who he was; fame thrnk him to he Jcfns Chrift the Son of God, the Second Perfon in the Blcll~d Trinity, who afii.uncd Humane Shape then when Abraham r eturned from purfmng of the four Kings; but this is altogether impoffible,_ becaufe the Scripture makes him to be the I<ing of Salem, a Yifible and a Temporal Kmg over 'J~ru(alem ; _for by ~lem that mu!t be implied, as IS clear from Pfal. 76. 2. O~hers co_nJefiurc t~l~ Mclchifedeck the fame with Shem the Son of Noah; but whether 1t was lum or no Jt !S not much materal, this is certain, that he was appointed and raifed up by God to be an Eminent and Jllnftrious Type of our High Prieft 1efiu Chrift. Now though the Levirical Priefthood was a clear Type of Chrifr's Priefthood, yet this Melchifedeck, who lived Four I-Jundrcd Ye:trs before the Inftitution of that Order, was a more clofc, adequate Type, and far fuperior to them, and this iS here exprclfed. . Firft, In that he was King of Salem, as well as Prieft of the moft H1gh God, ver.· + Now the L~irical Priejfs were not Kings as he was; as in thofe firft Ages ?f the World, it was an ufual Cuftom for the fame Perfon that was King to exerc1fe the Prieftly Offiet , and therefore ho was a more exprefs Refemblance ofChrift than the .Aaronical Priefts were. . • . Secondly, In that he was defcnbed to be firft Ktng of Righttoufrufs, and then ](ing 0 { Salem, ver. 2. that is the King of Peace; h~rein alfo he is a moft lively Type of Chrift, who obferved the fame Order. Chnft was King of Righteonfuefs, to fubdue our Sins, fa.netifie our Natures : And he was King of Pe::tce, to pacific our Confcienccs through the Alfurance of Pardom and Acceptance, for this Peace he doth ufually beftow upon us as the Fruits .of Righteoufnefs formerly communicated to us. Thirdly, In that he was without Father or Moth.er, wit~out JJ_efcmt, ~aving neither beginni~g of Days, .no'r end of Life_, -as ..J!elchifedetk IS de~cnb_ed Ul the th1rd Verfe. _And heretn he outvJCS the Aaromcal Pnefthood, for thetr Btrth and Death the Scnpturc Records, but of Melchifedeck it witncffeth he lives, ver. 8. Now herein he is a nearer Refemblancc to Chrift than the,y, for Chrift as God was without Mother, and as Man he was without a Father; as God he hath not beginning of Days, as God and Man . he is withont end of Life. · Fourth!), He excels them. in that Aaron, who was t~e Father of all tl:e A:tronical Priefts, did p:ty Tythe to hnn; fo ver. 4· And he rece tved them from lum, ver. 6. Which denotes tlu.t Abr.1h11m himfclf was Inferior to him, as ver. 7· and mnch more the Children of Levi, the Off-.fpring of .A.tron, who themfelves are faid to pay Tythes to Mclchifcdeck, being in the Loyns of their Father Abraham, as we have it in the 9th and 1oth Verfes. As the publick ACts of the Parent are intcrpretively the ACts of J Child, fa likewife Abraham's paying Tythes to Mclchifcdcc/.: is Recorded by God, as Levi. his paying Tythes in Abraham's Loyns, and thereupon they were profelfedly Inferior to him. Now that this comparifon may be the more clear and evident, we muft confider that Melchifedeck was a Type of Chrift under a Twofold rcfpe<'l. · · Firft, As he was i t} his own Perfonal Capacity~ . Secondly, As dcfcribcd to us in the Scriptnre; for there is a great difH::rence, as· we fuall fee anon. Firft, If we confidq hi s Perfonal Capaci~y, fo he was King and Prieft; he was rc:IIly i11 himfelf fa ; he met AbrafJam, received Tythes from him, and conferred a Blcffing upon him: Bllt there arc other things fpoken of this Melchifedei:h in the fixth Chapter, ':"hich tQ u'nderftand as really agr eeing to the Perfon of Melchifedeck , were ut... tcrly Impoffiblc, as that he wa.~ without Father· or Mother, or without Defcent, or begin· ning or md of Life, as We have it in the third and eighth Verfes; a'nd therefore fomc confidering th~t this dcfcription could not agree to any Man, have fondly fancied that this Melchiftdcck was not tn1e Man, but was either Chrift, or the Holy Ghoft, or fame Angtl. · Secondly, Therefore we note that thefe things were fpok en of Melchifedeck, not as :eaH.Y he was in himfelf, but as he is reprefented to us in the Scripture, therefore he IS fa1d to be rvi.thout Father or Mother, becaufe the Scripture mentioncth nothing of the1~, Records nothing of his Parentage or Pedigree, nothing of his Birth or Death, but IS purpofely filent in thefe things, ver. 3· That he might be made like the Son ot
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