The idea of priesthood is universal. It has been distorted and abused;
it has been made the foundation of spiritual tyranny. The priest has not
been the teacher nor the elevator of the people. All over the world he
has been the ally of oppression and darkness, he has hindered and
cramped social and intellectual progress. And yet, in spite of all this,
there the office stands, and wherever men go, by some strange perversity
they take with them this idea, and choose from among themselves those
who, being endowed with some sort of ceremonial and symbolic purity,
shall discharge for their brethren the double office of representing
them before God, of representing God to them. That is what the world
means, with absolute and entire unanimity, by a priest--one who shall be
sacrificer, intercessor, representative; bearer of man's worship,
channel of God's blessing. How comes it, that, in spite of all the
cruelties and lies that have gathered round the office, it lives,
indestructible, among the families of men? Why, because it springs from,
and corresponds to, real and universal wants in their nature. It is the
result of the universal consciousness of sin. Men feel that there is a
gulf betwixt them and God. They know themselves to be all foul. True, as
their knowledge of God dims and darkens, their conscience hardens and
their sense of sin lessens; but, as long as there is any notion of God
at all, there will be a parallel and corresponding conviction of moral
evil. And so, feeling that, and feeling it, as I believe, not because
they are rude and barbarous, but because, though rude and barbarous,
they still preserve some trace of their true relation to God, they lay
hold upon some of their fellows, and say, 'Here! be thou for us this
thing which we cannot be for ourselves--stand thou there in front of us,
and be at once the expression of our knowledge that we dare not come
before our gods, and likewise, if it may be, the medium by which their
gifts may come on us, unworthy.'
That is a wide-spread and all but universally expressed instinct of
human nature. Argue about it as you like, explain it away how you
choose, charge the notions of priesthood and sacrifice with
exaggeration, immorality, barbarism, if you will--still the thing
remains. And I believe for my part that, so far from that want being one
which will be left behind, with other rude and savage desires, as men
advance in civilisation--it is as real and as permanent as the craving
of the understanding for truth, and of the heart for love. When men lose
it, it is because they are barbarised, not civilised, into forgetting
it. On that rock all systems of religion and eminently all theories of
Christianity, that leave out priest and sacrifice, will strike and
split. The Gospel for the world must be one which will meet all the
facts of man's condition. Chief among these facts is this necessity of
the conscience, as expressed by the forms in which for thousands of
years the worship of mankind has been embodied all but everywhere--an
altar, and a priest standing by its side.
I need not pause to remind you how this Jewish people, who have at all
events taught the world the purest Theism, and led men up to the most
spiritual religion, had this same institution of a priesthood for the
very centre of its worship. Nor need I dwell at length on the fact that
the New Testament gives--in its full adhesion to the same idea. We are
told that all these sacerdotal allusions in it are only putting pure
spiritual truth in the guise of the existing stage of religious
development--the husk, not the kernel. It seems to me much rather that
the Old Testament ceremonial--Temple, priesthood, sacrifice--was
established for this along with other purposes, to be a shadow of things
to come. Christ's office is not metaphorically illustrated by reference
to the Jewish ritual; but the Jewish ritual is the metaphor, and
Christ's office the reality. He is the Priest.
And what is the priest whom men crave?
The first requisite is oneness with those whom he represents. Men have
ever felt that one of themselves must fill this office, and have taken
from among their brethren their medium of communication with God. And we
have a Priest who, 'in all things, is made like unto His brethren,'
having taken part of their flesh and blood, and being 'in all points
tempted like as we are.' The next requisite is that these men, who
minister at earth's altars, should, by some lustration, or abstinence,
or white robe, or other external sign, be separated from the profane
crowd, and possess, at all events, a symbolic purity--expression of the
conviction that a priest must be cleaner and closer to God than his
fellows. And we have a Priest who is holy, harmless, undefiled, radiant
in perfect purity, lustrous with the light of constant union with God.
And again, as in nature and character, so in function, Christ
corresponds to the widely expressed wants of men, as shown in their
priesthoods. They sought for one who should offer gifts and sacrifices
on their behalf, and we have One who is 'a merciful and faithful High
Priest to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.' They sought
for a man who should pass into the awful presence, and plead for them
while they stood without, and we lift hopeful eyes of love to the
heavens, 'whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an
High Priest for ever.' They sought for a man who should be the medium of
divine blessings bestowed upon the worshippers, and we know who hath
gone within the veil, having ascended up on high, that He might give
gifts unto men.
The world needs a priest. Its many attempts to find such show how deep
is the sense of need, and what he must be who shall satisfy them. We
have the Priest that the world and ourselves require. I believe that
modern Englishmen, with the latest results of civilisation colouring
their minds and moulding their characters, stand upon the very same
level, so far as this matter is concerned, as the veriest savage in
African wilds, who has darkened even the fragment of truth which he
possesses, till it has become a lie and the parent of lies. You and I,
and all our brethren, alike need a brother who shall be holy and close
to God, who shall offer sacrifices for us, and bring God to us. For you
and me, and all our brethren alike, the good news is true, 'we have a
great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God.' That message quenches the fire on every other altar, and strips
the mitre from every other head. It, and it alone, meets fully and for
ever that strange craving, which, though it has been productive of so
many miseries and so many errors, though it has led to grinding tyranny
and dark superstitions, though it has never anywhere found what it longs
for, remains deep in the soul, indestructible and hungry, till it is
vindicated and enlightened and satisfied by the coming of the true
Priest,' made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the
power of an endless life.'
II. Our text tells us, secondly, that 'the priest of the world is the
king of men.' 'He shall be a Priest upon His throne.'
In Israel these two offices were jealously kept apart, and when one
monarch, in a fit of overweening self-importance, tried to unite in his
own person the kingly and the priestly functions, 'the leprosy rose up
in his forehead,' even as he stood with the censer in his hand, and
'Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death.' And the history
of the world is full of instances, in which the struggles of the
temporal and spiritual power have caused calamities only less
intolerable than those which flowed from that alliance of priests and
kings which has so often made monarchy a grinding tyranny, and religion
a mere instrument of statecraft. History being witness, it would seem to
be a very doubtful blessing for the world that one man should wield both
forms of control without check or limitation, and be at once king and
priest. If the words before us refer to any one but to Christ, the
prophet had an altogether mistaken notion about what would be good for
men, politically and ecclesiastically, and we may be thankful that his
dream has never come true. But if they point to the Son of David who has
died for us, and declare that because He is Priest, He is therefore
King--oh! then they are full of blessed truth concerning the basis and
the nature and the purpose of His dominion, which may well make us lift
up our heads and rejoice that in the midst of tyranny and anarchy, of
sovereignties whose ultimate resort is force, there is another
kingdom--the most absolute of despotisms and yet the most perfect
democracy, whose law is love, whose subjects are every one the children
of a King, the kingdom of that Priest-ruler on whose head is Aaron's
mitre, and more than David's crown.
He does rule. 'The kingdom of Christ' is no unreal fanciful phrase. Take
the lowest ground. Who is it that, by the words He spoke, by the deeds
He did, by the life He lived, has shaped the whole form of moral and
religious thought and life in the civilised world? Is there One among
the great of old, the dead yet sceptred sovereigns, who still rule our
spirits from their urns, whose living power over thought and heart and
deed among the dominant races of the earth is to be compared with His?
And beyond that, we believe that, as the result of His mighty work on
earth, the dominion of the whole creation is His, and He is King of
kings, and Lord of lords, that His will is sovereign and His voice is
absolute law, to which all the powers of nature, all the confusions of
earth's politics, all the unruly wills of men, all the pale kingdoms of
the dead, and all the glorious companies of the heavens, do bow in real
though it be sometimes unconscious and sometimes reluctant obedience.
The foundation of His rule is His sacrifice; or in other words--no truer
though a little more modern in their sound--men will do anything for Him
who does _that_ for them. Men will yield their whole souls to the warmth
and light that stream from the Cross, as the sunflower turns itself to
the sun. He that can give an anodyne which is not an opiate, to my
conscience--He that can appeal to my heart and will, and say, 'I have
given Myself for thee,' will never speak in vain to those who accept His
gift, when He says, 'Now give thyself to Me.'
Brethren! it is not the thinker who is the true king of men, as we
sometimes hear it proudly said. We need One who will not only show but
be the Truth; who will not only point, but open and be, the Way; who
will not only communicate thought, but give, because He is, the Life.
Not the rabbi's pulpit, nor the teacher's desk, still less the gilded
chairs of earthly monarchs, least of all the tents of conquerors, are
the throne of the true King. He rules from the Cross. The one dominion
worth naming, that over men's inmost spirits, springs from the one
sacrifice which alone calms and quickens men's inmost spirits. 'Thou art
the King of Glory, O Christ,' for Thou art 'the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world.'
His rule is wielded In gentleness. Priestly dominion has ever been
fierce, suspicious, tyrannous. 'His words were softer than oil, yet were
they drawn swords.' But the sway of this merciful and faithful High
Priest is full of tenderness. His sceptre is not the warrior's mace, nor
the jewelled rod of gold, but the reed--emblem of the lowliness of His
heart, and of authority guided by love. And all His rule is for the
blessing of His subjects, and the end of it is that they may be made
free by obedience, emancipated in and for service, crowned as kings by
submission to the King of kings, consecrated as priests by their
reliance on the only Priest over the house of God, whose loving will
rests not until it has made all His people like Himself.
Then, dear brethren! amid all the anarchic chaos of this day, when old
institutions are crumbling or crashing into decay, when the whole
civilised world seems slowly and painfully parting from its old
moorings, and like some unwieldy raft, is creaking and straining at its
chains as it feels the impulse of the swift current that is bearing it
to an unknown sea, when venerable names cease to have power, when old
truths are flouted as antiquated, and the new ones seem so long in
making their appearance, when a perfect Babel of voices stuns us, and on
every side are pretenders to the throne which they fancy vacant, let us
joyfully welcome all change, and hopefully anticipate the future.
Lifting our eyes from the world, let us fix them on the likeness of a
throne above the firmament that is above the cherubs, and rejoice since
there we behold 'the likeness as the appearance of a man upon it.'
'Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh unto thee.'
III. Our text still further reminds us that the Priest-King of men
builds among men the Temple of God.
The Prophet and his companions had become familiar in their captivity
with the gigantic palaces and temples which Assyrian and Babylonian
monarchs had a passion for rearing. They had learned to regard the king
as equally magnified by his conquests and by his buildings. Zechariah
foretells that the true King shall rear a temple more lasting than
Solomon's, more magnificent than those which towered on their
marble-faced platforms over the Chaldean plain.
Christ is Himself the true Temple of God. Whatsoever that shadowed
Christ is or gives. In Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead. 'The
glory' which once dwelt between the cherubim, 'tabernacled among us' in
His flesh. As the place of sacrifice, as the place where men meet God,
as the seat of revelation of the divine will, the true tabernacle which
the Lord hath pitched is the Manhood of our Lord.
Christ builds the temple. By faith, the individual soul becomes the
abode of God, and into our desecrated spirits there comes the King of
Glory. 'Know ye not that ye are the temples of God?' By faith, the whole
body of believing men 'are builded together for an habitation of God
through the Spirit.'
Christ builds this temple because He is the Temple. By His incarnation
and work, He makes our communion with God and God's dwelling in us
possible. By His death and sacrifice He draws men to Himself, and blends
them in a living unity. By the gift of His Spirit and His life, He
hallows their wills, and makes them partakers of His own likeness; so
that 'coming to Him, we also are built up a spiritual house.'
Christ builds the temple, and uses us as His servants in the work. Our
prophecy was given to encourage faint-hearted toilers, not to supply an
excuse for indolence. Underlying all our poor labours, and blessing them
all, is the power of Christ. We may well work diligently who work in the
line of His purposes, after the pattern of His labours, in the strength
of His power, under the watchfulness of His eye. The little band may be
few and feeble; let them not be fearful, for He, the throned Priest,
even _He_, and not they with their inadequate resources, shall build the
temple.
Christ builds on through all the ages, and the prophecy of our text is
yet unfulfilled. Its fulfilment is the meaning and end of all history.
For the present, there has to be much destructive as well as
constructive work done. Many a wretched hovel, the abode of sorrow and
want, many a den of infamy, many a palace of pride, many a temple of
idols, will have to be pulled down yet, and men's eyes will be blinded
by the dust, and their hearts will ache as they look at the ruins. Be
it so. The finished structure will obliterate the remembrance of poor
buildings that cumbered its site. This Emperor of ours may indeed say,
that He found the city of brick and made it marble. Have patience if His
work is slow; mourn not if it is destructive; doubt not, though the
unfinished walls, and corridors that seem to lead nowhere, and all the
confusion of unfinished toils puzzle you, when you try to make out the
plan. See to it, my brother, that you lend a hand and help to rear the
true temple, which is rising slowly through the ages, at which
successive generations toil, and from whose unfinished glories they
dying depart, but which shall be completed, because the true Builder
'ever liveth,' and is 'a priest for ever after the order of
Melchizedek.' Above all, brethren! take heed that you are yourselves
builded in that temple. Travellers sometimes find in lonely quarries
long abandoned or once worked by a vanished race, great blocks squared
and dressed, that seem to have been meant for palace or shrine. But
there they lie, neglected and forgotten, and the building for which they
were hewn has been reared without them. Beware lest God's grand temple
should be built up without you, and you be left to desolation and decay.
Trust your souls to Christ, and He will set you in the spiritual house
which the King greater than Solomon is building still.
In one of the mosques of Damascus, which has been a Christian church,
and before that was a heathen temple, the portal bears, deep cut in
Greek characters, the inscription, 'Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an
everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth throughout all
generations.' The confident words seem contradicted by the twelve
centuries of Mohammedanism on which they have looked down. But though
their silent prophecy is unheeded and unheard by the worshippers below,
it shall be proved true one day, and the crescent shall wane before the
steady light of the Sun of Righteousness. The words are carven deep over
the portals of the temple which Christ rears; and though men may not be
able to read them, and may not believe them if they do, though for
centuries traffickers have defiled its courts, and base-born usurpers
have set up their petty thrones, yet the writing stands sure, a dumb
witness against the transient lies, a patient prophet of the eternal
truth. And when all false faiths, and their priests who have oppressed
men and traduced God, have vanished; and when kings that have
prostituted their great and godlike office to personal advancement and
dynastic ambition are forgotten; and when every shrine reared for
obscene and bloody rites, or for superficial and formal worship, has
been cast to the ground, then from out of the confusion and desolation
shall gleam the temple of God, which is the refuge of men, and on the
one throne of the universe shall sit the Eternal Priest--our Brother,
Jesus the Christ.
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