ONE great truth of the Christian faith is this, There is "one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." (1 Tim. 2:55For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; (1 Timothy 2:5).) Alas, over a large area of Christendom it is taught—There are many mediators between God and men, and—by means of a long mediatorial chain of angels and saints—the mind is led up to a woman, the Virgin Mary, as their chief. A woman's heart is substituted for the heart of Christ, her tenderness for His, her compassion for His. "Go to her," the writer heard a preacher in a notable cathedral say-" go to her with your burdens and your cares, make her your friend, for you are working men and poor, and sadly need a friend ; she will be a friend indeed to you—she will give you rest." And the sermon being ended, the sweetest of strains to the honor of the woman filled the lofty arches of the peerless gothic pile, and, when the Ave Marias had whispered themselves away, hundreds of kneeling men responded with strong voices to her praise. Such was a most “impressive " service of what is termed the Christian religion!
THE EFFECT OF GOD'S WORD ON THE SOUL
should be considered. Where God's word is either unknown or discredited, we need not wonder at honors being paid to a woman, to saints and holy angels, which belong alone to Jehovah-Jesus. A mind ignorant of the Scriptures, and versed in the legends of the church, and in the lives of the saints, may very naturally turn to many mediators, and especially to such a pleader as a woman may be conceived to be. But a mind taught of God by the word of God, and recognizing God's holiness and perfections, can allow none other than the Man, Jesus Christ, the one Mediator between God and men.
A statement regarding the Scriptures of the most solemn kind, introduces to us Jesus Christ in His priestly activity for us in the presence of God. “The word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb. 4:1212For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12).) The divine word, unlike tradition's dead words, lays bare souls, and, unlike rationalism's morphia, rouses souls to the reality of truth; it wounds, it cuts, opens the conscience, discerns secrets and hidden purposes, and exposes man to himself before the eyes of God, with whom all must have to do.
When man's hour comes and death's boundary is over-stepped, neither the arm of the church nor the drugs of reason can avail. Without Christ we shall stumble out of this world into outer darkness, and fall into the unutterable depths of despair.
The word of God penetrates our beings, proves to us that God is what His word declares, absolute in holiness, everlasting in righteousness; it discovers to us our own personal sinfulness and deceit of heart, and it cuts away in us every hope save Christ. It tells the plain truth, which never changes, and reveals God, who is unchangeably the same. Now herein lies a riddle. The believer in God's word sees himself; in measure, as God sees him, yet seeks not to hide from himself the truth about himself, nor wishes to weaken the truth about his God, who is a consuming fire. He feels his sinfulness, he believes God's holiness, and desires in himself to be what he knows he is in God's sight—transparent; yet he can be perfectly confident and reverently bold. What shall solve this riddle? The authority of the church? The nostrums of rationalism? We smile at their impotence.
Open your Bible, Christian, and read once more the verse respecting the word of God already quoted, and then proceed—" Seeing then that
WE HAVE A GREAT HIGH PRIEST,
that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession . . . let us . . . come boldly unto the throne of grace." The person of Christ, our Sacrifice and Priest, in the presence of God for us, solves the riddle. Christ died for us, Christ lives for us, Christ has put away our sins by the sacrifice of Himself, Christ appears in the presence of God for us—let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace. The unchangeably holy God has given us an unchangeably efficacious Sacrifice, an unchangeably perfect Priest; God is glorified in His Son, and in His Son we are at rest.
OUR HIGH PRIEST MAGNIFIES GOD.
As Aaron, the high priest of Jehovah for Israel, on the great day of atonement, passed through the veils of the tabernacle and entered the holiest of all, so has Jesus, the Son of God, passed through the heavens, and has entered into God's presence in the power of His atoning blood. God is magnified by His presence there. The holy angels bow before Him there. The blessed Virgin with all saints in paradise honor Him there. And so will we by grace, by holding fast to our Christian faith.
OUR HIGH PRIEST IS SUITABLE TO US.
We have Him there. What a possession! We have not to win His ear by feeing a priest to catch the attention of a saint, in order to procure the interest of an angel, in order to move the heart of a woman, in order to induce Jesus to kindly use His offices before an angry Being, who is already frowning upon us, and who is waiting but to hurl us into perdition! Oh! no. We have, by the will of God, by the purpose of God, by His own action in making His Son a Priest forever, a High Priest who is in God's holy presence for us.
And how suited is He to us: “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we... without sin." He has been a babe, a child, a youth, a man. He has wept, He has hungered, He has been assailed by Satan, forsaken by His disciples, betrayed by His friend; He has passed through the school of affliction, He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He is sensitive to our grief, our afflictions, our weakness. The memory of His sacred life of love on earth is fresh with Him in His exaltation in heaven, and out of the stores of His tenderness, He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
And if He be so graciously suitable to us in our infirmities, how suitable is He to us in relation to the holiness of God.
“SUCH AN HIGH PRIEST BECAME US—
Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens" (ch. 7:26). We think of the holiness of God, and prize the holiness of Christ. Yes, indeed, such an High Priest became us, unholy as we are, so often harmful, so sadly at times defiled. He in His moral excellence becomes us, for how much do we need Himself on our behalf in the light and perfection of the moral glory of God.
It became God that our High Priest should be a sufferer here (ch. 2:10), such grace was morally fitting to the infinite God. It behoved Jesus to be made like unto His brethren (ver. 17); such grace was morally fitting to the eternal Son. It becomes us even as we are to have One absolutely holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, in the sacred presence of God on our account.
It is remarkable, that those professing Christians, who affirm the honor of a man-made priesthood, also declare that the office of the priest may worthily exist even if his character be base. We can well understand a priest of Bacchus being drunk, or a priestess of Venus being impure, and remaining ornaments to their profession, but God forbid that the pagan idea of a Christian being a priest, and also a drunkard or impure without being utterly unfit for Christian duty, should prevail in England. Such recognized religious immorality would lower the morals of the country to a heathen level.
No man can worthily serve God whose life is unworthy of God. God hates hypocrisy. Whether it be the Sunday-school teacher, or the most exalted servant in God's church, office confers no spiritual power, and unless a man be spiritually-minded it is death with him.
A pagan priest might be unholy, harmful, defiled, the lowest of sinners, and carry on his religion right worthily, but the professors of the name of Christ must be Christ like.