A review of The Priesthood of Christ in the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland Magazine of December 2020.
The Priesthood of Christ, by Peter MacBride, published by the Scottish Highlands Reformed Book Trust, paperback, 107 pages, £7.95.
MacBride was born in Argyllshire in 1797. For part of his teenage years, he lived with his uncle Neil MacBride in Arran, who was a minister there. During that time, in 1812-13, “a great awakening occurred under the ministry” of his uncle, and it was probably about this time that “he received his first serious religious impressions”.1 As a student in Glasgow, Peter MacBride attended the ministry of the noted John Love and no doubt benefited greatly from what he heard. In 1825 MacBride became a minister in Rothesay, in the Isle of Bute, and continued there till he died, in 1846.
His death brought the following tribute from “Rabbi” John Duncan: “How can I forget that it was ever my privilege to hold familiar converse with one whose mind, naturally of the noblest mould, carefully stored with the best and solidest learning, divine and human – deeply subdued in days long past to the obedience of the gospel, and richly filled with the Word of God dwelling in it in all wisdom and spiritual understanding?” He “was ever”, Duncan continued, “pouring forth without straining, and as it were without effort, streams of wholesome doctrine, hallowed affection, and growing aspirations after the glory of God and the salvation and universal good of his fellow men”.
This book contains a series of sermons on Hebrews 4:14-16: “Seeing then that we have a great high priest . . . ”. It treats such subjects as: the Person of Christ, His appointment to be a priest, His work in making atonement, His suffering, the fruit of His sacrifice, His intercession and ascension, and His character as High Priest.
In speaking of Christ’s priestly intercession, MacBride speaks of Him as “perfect in His office, for He engages and undertakes to do for sinners all that they need to be done for them that they may be saved. Are they guilty? He engages to reconcile them to God, and instate them in His favour and Fatherly love. Are they ignorant? He engages to instruct and enlighten them in all that concerns their eternal peace and well-being. And are they disobedient and helpless? He engages to bring them to submit, and to protect them in His service and ways. In short, are they lost? He engages to save them.”
A little later, the preacher shows his warm desire that sinners would come to Christ and receive at once from Him a full salvation: “He is perfect in His salvation. All things are now ready. ‘Come ye’, it is said, ‘to the supper.’. . . O sinner, come to Christ this day; you will find, on so coming, all that yourself could wish Him to be.”
When speaking of the gifts that Christ procured for sinners, MacBride refers to (1) redemption, so that these gifts may be imparted through the means of grace; (2) the Spirit, “for rendering the means effectual”; (3) “access unto the favour of God through faith”; (4) deliverance from sin, so that God’s people may be sanctified; (5) “grace for every duty and trial”; (6) fellowship with God and “His indwelling by His Spirit in them”. MacBride sums up: “He has secured every blessing of salvation here and eternal glory hereafter; all is enjoyed through the merits and intercession of the glorious Redeemer. See here the rich fruit of His mediation and ministry above.”
MacBride’s Remains were first published in 1848. The book under review is the second, and smaller, section of the Remains. The editor was Alexander MacBride, a relation of his, who also was a minister in Bute. Probably because of a lack of time, the editor had the volume printed directly from Peter MacBride’s manuscripts, apart from omitting repetitious material at the beginning of each sermon. Consequently the present publishers have felt it necessary to do some editing “to improve grammar”, for instance, and “to clarify ambiguous wording”. The Priesthood of Christ is recommended as an example of the profitable preaching from Scottish pulpits in an age which knew more of the blessing of the Holy Spirit than, sadly, we know today.
MacBride concludes this series of sermons by emphasising several aspects of the greatness of this High Priest. No doubt there was sincere worship in his heart when he asked his hearers: “Can you see any to commit your case to [who is] more worthy of it than this Saviour?” May readers come to an end of this book with something of that worshipful spirit in their own hearts!
Disruption Worthies of the Highlands, Edinburgh, 1877, pp 159-60.