would by far exceed the limits of my design. I shall endeavor to give you a general statement of the priesthood; show that the Messiah was to be a priest; and that Jesus of Nazareth fully supported the character and office of a priest.

§ 2. Let us notice, first, the origin of the priesthood. Before the promulgation of the law of Moses, the fathers, or first-born in every family, the princes and the kings were priests. Thus Cain, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Melchizedeck, Isaac, Jacob, and Job offered their own sacrifices. After the delivery of our nation from Egypt, the priesthood was confined to the tribe of Levi, and consisted of three orders, the high priest, priests, and Levites. The qualifications required in every priest, the time of service, the mode of consecration, the sacrifices offered on the occasion, and their different employments, are all mentioned in the books of Moses, and some will be mentioned hereafter. The high priest was the most eminent person of the sacerdotal family. Besides his suit of apparel common to him with his brethren which he wore on the day of expiation, he had other robes, called the golden garments, which he wore whilst attending his ordinary employ. Besides his liberty to interfere with the work of the other priests, he was the supreme judge of all controversies in the congregation of Israel, and directed all his brethren in their work. He alone entered the holy of holies, and performed the whole work of expiation for Israel on the annual day of atonement.

§ 3. That the Messiah was to be a priest, was typified in Melchizedeck and Aaron, and predicted in the following of sacred writ: passages The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedeck." Ps. 110: 4. Again, "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, behold the man whose name is the Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and the counsel of peace

That this

shall be between them both." Zech. 6: 12, 13. last prediction relates to the Messiah, and was so understood by our ancient Rabbins, hath already been shown; but that the former, viz. Ps. 110, belongs to him, our modern Rabbins will by no means allow, and that for no other reason than their determined opposition to Jesus of Nazareth, blessed be his holy name. They are well aware, that if this Psalm be a literal description of the Messiah, it establishes the truth of the most important and the most controverted doctrines of our holy religion.

4. I shall therefore endeavor to show the principal matter contained in this Psalm, point out the penman of it, and prove that it relates to the Messiah. The contents may be divided into three parts; the first four verses contain a prophetical description of Jehovah's declaration concerning the person called by the Psalmist, "his Lord." In the next two verses the Psalmist makes an address to his Lord, and in the last verse he merely hints at his state of humiliation and reward. The present subject requires the consideration of the first part only.

§ 5. The Psalm commences thus: "A Psalm of David. The Lord, or Jehovah, said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." Here we have three distinct persons: first, Jehovah; secondly, the person whom Jehovah addresses “to sit at his right hand;' and thirdly, the Psalmist, who declares the decree of Jehovah concerning him whom he calls "his Lord." I need not to inform my dear Benjamin that the expression, "sit thou at my right hand," must be taken metaphorically. "God is a Spirit," and hath no corporeal parts; but he speaks after the manner of men, and in allusion to what is common among princes, to place those at their right hand whom they highly esteem and respect, and this is a high honor and dignity bestowed upon such persons. Thus. when Bathsheba entered the presence of king Solomon, he ascended the throne and caused her to be seated at his right

hand. 1 Kings, 2: 19. Whoever, therefore, the person be, it denotes dignity and pre-eminence above the highest rank of cherubim or seraphim; "for to which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool?" The second part of the verse contains a promise, that whilst he is sitting at the right hand of Jehovah his enemies shall be subjugated.

The manner in which this is to be accomplished is ex pressed in the next two verses: " The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth." As soon as the Psalmist's Lord shall be seated at the right hand of Jehovah, his mighty rod, or his word, which is compared to a two edged sword, shall change the heart of his enemies and make them a willing people, and they shall exceed in number, as well as brightness and beauty, the spangles of early dew which the morning discloseth to the delighted eye of the beholder. But this person is to be a priest as well as a king upon his throne, as appears from the fourth verse: "The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent; thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek."

§ 6. Let us now inquire who was the penman or author of this Psalm. Some of our Rabbins would persuade us that it respects Abraham, and was addressed to him by Melchizedek, while others believe it was addressed to him by Eliezer. But this cannot be true. Abraham cannot be the subject of this Psalm; for when did Jehovah say unto him, "sit thou at my right hand?" Who were Abraham's enemies that should be subdued whilst he was sitting at the right hand of Jehovah? In what sense is the rod of Abraham to go forth from Zion, and produce such glorious effects as are mentioned verses two and three? or when did God swear to Abraham to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek ? Nor could Melchizedek call Abraham his lord, seeing that

he was far superior to Abraham; for "it is evident that the lesser is blessed of the greater, and that the greater receiveth tythes from the lesser." Besides, Melchizedek was both king in Salem and a priest to the most high God, and consequently far superior to our father Abraham.

That king David was the author is evident, first, from the title, "Mizmor Ledavid," "a Psalm of David." I am aware that R. D. Kimchi hath found out that the prefix le to the word David signifies to, and not of, David, and that therefore the Psalm could not be composed by him: but this cannot be admitted, because it may not only very well signify a Psalm made by David; but if it do not, then there is no title which shows any Psalm to be his; and some of them we are sure are his. Besides, this very author makes David the author of Psalm 18th, where the title is, "Leeved Jehovah Ledavid," i. e. a Psalm of David, the servant of Jehovah, where the prefix le is used twice, and should therefore be rendered by this author, a Psalm to David, to the servant of Jehovah. Again, in the Targum also, it is ascribed to David in these words: "a Psalm by the hand of David."

In the next place, it is evident that David was considered the author of this Psalm in the days of our blessed Savior and his apostles; for when Christ asserted that David in spirit called the Messiah Lord, they did not attempt to contradict that David was the author of the Psalm. The apostle Paul, who was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, and must have known to whom they applied this Psalm, de clares David to have been the author.

§ 7. I will now show that the prediction of this Psalm respects the Messiah. We have already proved that it could not belong to Abraham; no more is it applicable to David. He being the author of the Psalm, could not be the subject of it; for he speaks of another, whom he calls his Lord. Nor hath he ascended into heaven, or sat down at the right hand of God. Nor was he a priest, being of the tribe of Judah. I well remember that a late author, one of our

brethren, calls this Psalm a mere parody on David, composed by one of the Levitic poets; and to get over the difficulty that David was no priest, he translates the word Cohen a priest, verse 4th, a "chief ruler." Mr. Bennet however produces no proof that this Psalm was written by a Levitic poet, though the title ascribes it to David. Nor can Mr. B. be ignorant that though the word is used in a civil sense to express some dignity, yet it nowhere signifies a ruler, much less a king; and that its radical and real signification is "a sacrifice," or as the Targums well translate it, by "Meshammesh," i. e. one that ministers before the Lord. And the first time the word is used in the Bible, it is used in this sense. Gen. 14: 18, And Melchizedek, the priest of the most high God. Mr. Bennet, however, should have given the credit of this new translation to the Targum, who substitutes the word "Rabba, a prince," for the word Cohen, a priest. But it was very evident that this Targum was composed more than 300 years after the death of Christ, when our Rabbins had begun to use every method in their power to give to every passage of Scripture, favorable to Christianity, a turn different from what it had before the coming of Christ.

That our ancient Rabbins applied this Psalm to the Messiah, will be evident to any one who will examine the following references: Raya Mehimna, Zohar. Gen. 18: 1. Num. 99: 2. Med. Tehillim in loco, and in Ps. 18: 35. R. Obadiah and Kimchi in loco. R. Saadiah Gaon, Dan. 7: 13. Nachmonides, disp. cum. frat. Paulo, page 36: 55. R. Yodem, Ps. 18:36. R. Moshe haddarshan, in Ber. Rab. Gen. 18: 1. The author of Arkoth Rochel saith, "Armillus shall stir up all the world to war against the Messiah, whom the holy God shall not compel to war, but shall only say unto him, sit thou at my right hand.”

It is equally evident that the Pharisees and Scribes, in our Lord's time, considered the Messiah the subject of this Psalm. For when he asked them, "what think ye of Christ? whose son is he?" they readily replied, "the son of David,'