| 489 of the son of God, is an everlasting, and an unceangeable [unchangeable] one without beginning or end.
Some ignorant translator, or heedless transcriber has made Paul say, Heb. vii. 3, that Melchizedek was without beginning or end; without father, mother, or descent; but again in the 6th verse he makes it appear that he had a descent.-By reading the chapter it will be seen that Paul spake not of the person of Melchizedek as being without father, or mother; but of his priesthood in contradistinction to the priesthood of Aaron, which was entailed upon his posterity, and descended from father to son. But the decree of Jehovah concerning those who receive and magnify the office of the holy priesthood, is that they shall hold it, not only in time, but in eternity. Therefore, with them the priesthood has no end. (See Rev. v. 10; xx. 6; xxii. 5.)
I am aware that it is believed by many theologians that no priesthood acknowledged of God, existed among men previous to the covenant of priesthood established with Aaron. As objections to this theory, I shall urge the following: first, Paul says, Heb. viii. 3, "For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices:" Again, xi. 4, he says, Abel offered an acceptable offering unto God, but Cain's sacrifice was not acceptable because he did not offer it in faith; also, Enoch the seventh from Adam walked with God three hundred years, and then by faith was translated to heaven. (See Gen. v. 22; Heb. xi. 5.) Noah also, it is said, offered sacrifices unto God immediately after coming out of the ark. (See Gen. viii. 20.) Also Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and many others, after the flood offered acceptable sacrifices to God. All these, it is said, offered their sacrifices in faith, and how I ask did they offer them by faith? Answer; even Abel's lamb, and all their offerings were but types of the Lamb of God, who should be offered in due time without spot to God as the great sacrifice for the sins of the world, and they as they offered their sacrifices looked forward by faith to him, expecting to receive redemption and remission of sins through his blood: for Christ said, "Abraham truly saw my day and when he saw it he was glad." Moreover it is said, Gal. iii. 8, that the Gospel was preached unto Abraham.
Now, if we had a full history of Adam and his sons, we should learn that God made known the plan of salvation to him, and confered [conferred] on him the priesthood, and he upon his sons Abel, Cain and Seth; and that it was continued with the seed of Seth till Enoch, and from Enoch to Noah and his son Shem, and among the seed of Shem to Abraham, and down to Jethro, priest in the land of Midian.
Midian was the son of Abraham, by his second wife Keturah. He and his posterity peopled the land, which was called after his name, and Jethro being the fifth in regular descent from Midian, loved in the days of Moses, and was priest of the Most High God, when Moses was a young man, forty years before God called him to lead Israel from Egypt.-(See Exodus iii. 1.) Moses married Jethro's daughter, and lived with him about forty years, and then God sent him to lead Israel out of Egypt: and we are told in the eighteenth chapter of Exodus that after Moses had brought Israel into the wilderness Jethro came to them, and praised God among them, and offered sacrifices and set in order all the officers in Israel, and gave Moses commandments how to proceed: and all this was long before Aaron and his sons were consecrated to the priest's office. A priest of On is also spoken of.
Second, I shall urge from the foregoing, if Jethro, Melchizedek, and others, had the priesthood before Aaron, and if, as Paul says, high-priests were ordained to offer sacrifices, the argument is conclusive that those holy men, from Adam down to Jethro, had the priesthood. It should not be forgotten also, that the text at the head of this article, in which God proposed to make Israel a kingdom of priests, was spoken by Moses long previous to the covenant of priesthood established with Aaron, from which it will appear that the office of the priesthood was well understood by them.
Third, I shall urge what every one who is acquainted with heathen mythology knows, that from a short time after the food the heathens had their priests, and sacred orders to officiate in their worship. If it is asked how such customs were established among them? I answer: when about 150 years after the flood, the wicked part of the posterity of Noah built the tower of Babel the Lord confounded their language and scattered them in companies throughout all parts of the
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