Heaven upon earth in the serene tranquillity and calm composure, in the sweet peace…

But 2ly. Beside the excellency of the Sacrifice, we have the excellency of the Priest that offered it; O! what pertinent and powerful reasoning doth the Apostle use, Heb. 7. To prove the excellency and pre-[…] of Jesus Christ our great high Priest, above and beyond all the Levitical Priests; These Priests were temporal, he is eternal; They were but servants, he is the Son▪ They were consecrated without an oath, he with an oath, according to the order of Melchizedek; They offered many Sacrifices and often, He offered but one Sacrifice▪ and bu• once, as it is, v. 27. of that 7th Chapter, and chap. 9. v. 28. and chap. 10. v. 12. and 14. Whereby he hath for ever per•yted them that are sanctified; And (sayeth he) such a high-Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled separate from sinners, and made higher then the heavens. 3ly. There ⟨p. 350⟩is the excellency of the Altar on which the Sacrifice was offered up; and the Altar is, (as the Lord says) that which sanctifies the sacrifice; This was the God-head of our blessed Lord Jesus, He through the eternal spirit offered up himself: Though, as man he had a beginning, yet as God he had no beginning; and through the God-head, he offered up his humane nature, which had its worth and efficacy from the divine nature, to which it was united in his blessed person; in these three, the worth, value, and transcendent excellency of this Sacrifice is held out; The Sacrifice it self, is Christ as man offered up both in his body and Soul; The Altar on which it is offered, which makes the Sacrifice savour so very sweetly to God, to be of such value and worth, and to be so highly acceptable, is the eternal spirit, the God head of the second person of the glorious, dreadful and adorable Trinity; Therefore, Acts 20. 28. God is said to purchase or redeem the Church with his own blood; not with silver or gold, or any corruptible thing, as Peter says; and the Priest is, Christ God and man in one person; He is the Sacrifice, in respect of his humane nature; The Altar, •n respect of his divine nature, giving value and virtue to the humane nature; For though his humane nature was in it self unspotted, yet being as such a finite creature, the divine nature to which it was united in his person, did add thereto such a value, as made it in this respect to be of infinite worth and value;