Page:The rock of wisdom.djvu/106

 execution of this commission, he promises to be with them not for three or four hundred years only, but always even to the consummation of the world. How then could the church of Christ, ever go astray, having always with her, pastors, as is here promised? Christ is the way, the truth and the life. The great figure of the sacrament by Melchizideck, to be the greatest type of Christ. After Abraham had gained the victory and overcame his enemies, this exalted character, Melchizideck, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, and he was the Priest of the Most High God, and he blessed him, and said, blessed be Abraham of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth. This was in an early age of the world, almost two thousand years before Christ, according to my judgment. And now this bread and wine, as it was given after Abraham gained the victory and overcame his enemies: his enemies were temporal, and in our day ours are spiritual.—Through the gospel, sinners are awakened and brought to the light and knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ, then his body and blood is a balm for every wound, and his blood a cordial for every fear. While we thus follow the commandment of eating his flesh and drinking his blood in remembrance of him, it shall preserve our souls and bodies unto everlasting life. Another beautiful figure of the sacrament the Lord hath commanded, saying, "speak unto the children of Israel that they bring a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came a yoke." As this heifer was red they all saw it and offered it for a sacrifice for sin, and consumed it with fire without the camp.—Num. 19: 2. This was a figure of the passion of Christ, by whose precious blood, applied to our souls in the holy sacrament we are cleansed from our sins by believing that he is, and a rewarder of all those that diligently seek him, for theirs is a fountain opened in the house of king David for sin and uncleanness, for these ordinances are only to the true Israelites' soul and his only, for his end is peace: Jesus can make his dying bed as soft as a downy pillow. Melchizideck, king of Salem brought forth bread and wine, and he was the Priest of the most high God, and he blessed him and said, "blessed be Abraham of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth." Num,