Letters to the Churches

For hee testifieth thus, Thou art a Priest for euer, after the order of Melchi-sedec.

For the commandement that went afore, is disanulled, because of the weakenes thereof, and vnprofitablenes.

For the Law made nothing perfite, but the bringing in of a better hope made perfite, whereby we drawe neere vnto God.

And for as much as it is not without an othe (for these are made Priestes without an othe:

But this is made with an othe by him that said vnto him, The Lord hath sworne, and will not repent, Thou art a Priest for euer, after the order of Melchi-sedec)

By so much is Iesus made a suretie of a better Testament.

And among them many were made Priests, because they were not suffered to endure, by the reason of death.

But this man, because hee endureth euer, hath a Priesthood, which cannot passe from one to another.

Wherefore, hee is able also perfectly to saue them that come vnto God by him, seeing he euer liueth, to make intercession for them.

For such an hie Priest it became vs to haue, which is holy, harmelesse, vndefiled, separate from sinners, and made hier then the heauens:

Which needeth not daily as those hie Priests to offer vp sacrifice, first for his owne sinnes, and then for the peoples: for that did he once, when he offered vp himselfe.

For the Law maketh men hie Priestes, which haue infirmitie: but the word of the othe that was since the Lawe, maketh the Sonne, who is consecrated for euermore.

Nowe of the things which we haue spoken, this is the summe, that wee haue such an hie Priest, that sitteth at the right hand of the throne of the Maiestie in heauens,

And is a minister of the Sanctuarie, and of that true Tabernacle which the Lord pight, and not man.

For euery high Priest is ordeined to offer both giftes and sacrifices: wherefore it was of necessitie, that this man shoulde haue somewhat also to offer.

For he were not a Priest, if he were on the earth, seeing there are Priestes that according to the Lawe offer giftes,

Who serue vnto the paterne and shadowe of heauenly things, as Moses was warned by God, whe he was about to finish the Tabernacle. See, saide hee, that thou make all thinges according to the paterne, shewed to thee in the mount.

But nowe our hie Priest hath obteined a more excellent office, in as much as he is the Mediatour of a better Testament, which is established vpon better promises.

For if that first Testament had bene vnblameable, no place should haue bene sought for the second.

For in rebuking them he saith, Beholde, the dayes will come, saith the Lord, when I shall make with the house of Israel, and with the house of Iuda a newe Testament:

Not like the Testament that I made with their fathers, in the day that I tooke them by the hand, to leade them out of the land of Egypt: for they continued not in my Testament, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

For this is the Testament that I will make with the house of Israel, After those dayes, saith the Lord, I will put my Lawes in their minde, and in their heart I will write them, and I wil be their God, and they shalbe my people,

And they shall not teache euery man his neighbour and euery man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall knowe me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.

For I will bee mercifull to their vnrighteousnes, and I wil remember their sinnes and their iniquities no more.

In that he saith a new Testament, he hath abrogate the olde: nowe that which is disanulled and waxed olde, is ready to vanish away.