And consequently it was necessary that he should in all points be made like 'his Brothers,' in order that he might prove a merciful as well as a faithful High Priest in man's relations with God, for the purpose of expiating the sins of his People.

Therefore, Christian Brothers, you who, all alike, have received the Call from Heaven, fix your attention on Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our Religion.

We have, then, in Jesus, the Son of God, a great High Priest who has passed into the highest Heaven; let us, therefore, hold fast to the Faith which we have professed.

Our High Priest is not one unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has in every way been tempted, exactly as we have been, but without sinning.

Every High Priest, taken from among men, is appointed as a representative of his fellow-men in their relations with God, to offer both gifts and sacrifices in expiation of sins.

and on another occasion also-- 'Thou art a priest for all time of the order of Melchizedek.'

while God himself pronounced him a High Priest of the order of Melchizedek.

where Jesus, our Forerunner, has entered on our behalf, after being made for all time a High Priest of the order of Melchizedek.

It was this Melchizedek, King of Salem and Priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and gave him his blessing;

There is no record of his father, or mother, or lineage, nor again of any beginning of his days, or end of his life. In this he resembles the Son of God, and stands before us as a priest whose priesthood is continuous.

If, then, Perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood--and it was under this priesthood that the people received the Law--why was it still necessary that a priest of a different order should appear, a priest of the order of Melchizedek and not of the order of Aaron?

All this becomes even yet plainer when we remember that a new priest has appeared, resembling Melchizedek,

for that is the meaning of the declaration-- 'Thou art for all time a priest of the order of Melchizedek.'

Then again, the appointment of this new priest was ratified by an oath, which is not so with the Levitical priests,

but his appointment was ratified by an oath, when God said to him-- 'The Lord has sworn, and will not change, "Thou art a priest for all time."'

This was the High Priest that we needed--holy, innocent, spotless, withdrawn from sinners, exalted above the highest Heaven,

The Law appoints as High Priests men who are liable to infirmity, but the words of God's oath, which was later than the Law, name the Son as, for all time, the perfect Priest.

To sum up what I have been saying:--Such is the High Priest that we have, one who 'has taken his seat at the right hand' of the throne of God's Majesty in Heaven,

Every High Priest is appointed for the purpose of offering gifts and sacrifices to God; it follows, therefore, that this High Priest must have some offering to make.

If he were, however, still upon earth, he would not even be a priest, since there are already priests who offer the gifts as the Law directs.

but into the inner only the High Priest goes, and that but once a year, and never without taking the blood of a victim, which he offers on his own behalf, and on behalf of the errors of the People.

But, when Christ came, he appeared as High Priest of that Better System which was established; and he entered through that nobler and more perfect 'Tabernacle,' not made by human hands--that is to say, not a part of this present creation.

Nor yet was it to offer himself may times, as year after year the High Priest entered the Sanctuary with an offering of blood--but not his own blood;

Every other priest stands day after day at his ministrations, and offers the same sacrifices over and over again--sacrifices that can never take sins away.

But, this priest, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, which should serve for all time, 'took his seat at the right hand of God,'

and, since we have in him 'a great priest set over the House of God,'

The bodies of those animals whose blood is brought by the High Priest into the Sanctuary, as an offering for sin, are burnt outside the camp.