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A38026 Polpoikilos sophia, a compleat history or survey of all the dispensations and methods of religion, from the beginning of the world to the consummation of all things, as represented in the Old and New Testament shewing the several reasons and designs of those different administrations, and the wisdom and goodness of God in the government of His church, through all the ages of it : in which also, the opinion of Dr. Spencer concerning the Jewish rites and sacrifices is examin'd, and the certainty of the Christian religion demonstrated against the cavils of the Deists, &c. / by John Edwards ... Edwards, John, 1637-1716. 1699 (1699) Wing E210; ESTC R17845 511,766 792

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the most Solemn Offices of Christianity to be in pure Imitation of a Pagan Usage for he saith Christ in Celebrating the Holy Sacrament of his Supper refer'd to the Custom of the Barbarous Scythians and other Savage Nations who used to drink Blood at their making of Covenants and Bargains thence it is said This Cup is my Blood of the New Testament drink ye all of this This was the highest and most daring result of his ●ormer Notion But I hope the Learned Doctor before he left the World corrected his Error and entertain'd other thoughts of these things and therefore I will not press them any further especially because I discours'd of this matter somewhat freely when I made it my business to prove that many of the Pagan Rites and Customs in Religion as well as in Secular Affairs were borrow'd from the Iews and their Sacred Usages which is directly contrary to what this Author asserts viz. that the Rites and Ceremonies injoyn'd by God himself to the Iews were of Pagan Extraction I might here mention that some others have fallen into the same or the like Notion and have made use of it to ill purpose Our English Socinians approve of this Doctrine that God complied with the Idolatrous Nations in the Sacrifices and other Rites which he instituted And some of the Antienter Racovians run up higher and refer the method of Man's Redemption and Salvation to the Usages of the Pagan World Thus a noted Man among them tells us that God sent Christ into the World in compliance with a Custom that was very prevailing viz. that those who were eminent and celebrated for their Virtue and their serviceableness to Mankind were after their death Canonized as 't were and placed in Heaven as an inferiour kind of Deities and those that wanted their help used to implore it and make them their Mediators Even so God exalted Christ who had been an Excelle●t and Useful Person and made him a kind of God And as noted a person of our own seems to have imbibed the same Doctrine for he asserts that a gre●● part of the Iewish Religion which was instituted by God himself seems to have been a plain condescension to the general apprehension of Mankind i. e. the Heathen world as he explains himself afterwards concerning the way of appeasing the offended Deity by Sacrifices Nay he makes the Incarnation of Christ and his Suffering of death to be a condescension to the Pagans who he saith loved a visible Deity and had a great esteem of Sacrifices especially of human Sacrifices and used to Dei●y their Benefactors a●d Heroes That is very strange which he gives as Reason why Christ was incarnate that Men viz. the Gentiles who were much given to admire Myst●ri●s in Religion might have one that is a Mystery indeed So that all was direct compliance with the Gentiles and according to this Writer the way of Salvation of Mankind is derived from the impious Customs of the Heathens But his more Particular words which are almost too harsh to be mention'd I shall have occasion shortly to represent to the Reader in a more proper place 4. The Ceremonial Law and other Mosaick Usages were prescribed the Iewish people because these were fit and proper for them at that time because they were most suitable to their present Geniu● and Disposition Thus the Apostle in Gal. 3. 24 c. very handsomely illustrates the nature of this part of the Legal Dispensation The Law was our Schoolmaster saith he Here is Moses with a Rod in his hand We were instituted and educated saith the Apostle under the Pedag●gi● of the Law for being but in our minority we were not capable then of a higher Institution and Instruction But this fitted and prepared us by degrees for the reception of that other and this Schoolmaster of the Law serv'd as an usher to the Gospel But saith the Apostle in the next verse After that Faith i. e. the time of the Gospel is come w● are no longer under a Schoolmaster we are then no longer under the lash of the Law our state and condition do not require it And God is pleas'd to administer things wisely according to the condition and circumstances we are under And this Apostle by another fit Allusion in Gal. 4. 1 c. sets forth the nature of this Oeconomy which he had spoken of before The Heir as long as he is a child differeth nothing from a servant though he be Lord of all bu● is under Tut●rs and Governors until the time appointed of the Father Even so we when we were children were in bondage under the elements of the world but when the fulness of the time was come God sent forth his Son c. In which words St. Paul compareth the Iudaical Law to a Tutor or Guardian under whom the Heir doth not enjoy that freedom of a Son which afterwards he is to come to This saith he was the case of the Iewish people they were but Minors and Pupils and so stood in need of a Tutor i. e. one that is appointed to take care and have the charge of those who by reason of their insufficient age and understanding cannot look to themselves The Ceremonial Law was the Iews Guardian whilst they were under age this sowr Governour and Overseer kept them in and curb'd them and on that account was very useful to them at that time But the Apostle seems here to recur to his former comparison of the Law to a Schoolmaster when he adds that the Iews as long as they were Children were in bondage under the Elements of the world The Iews were then got no further than their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their First Elements they were but conning their Alphabet Their Sacrifices and Circumcision were as it were so many plain Letters in Blood and there were other Fair and Legible Characters but there were few of the common Iews so good Proficients as to Spell out of them any thing of a future and higher Concernment These and their other Rudiments were sutable to the mean Capacity and Non-age of the Iewish Church when they were in this State such a low and mean Dispensation as this was good enough for them Diversity of Ages calls ●or diversity of Actions and Behaviour and consequently for diversity of Laws Parents rule Children after another manner than when they arrive to any ripeness of Years and are capable of Discourse So God ordereth his Church that is fit for it at one time which is not at another Israel was a Child Hos. 11. 1. that was the state of the Iews when they were call'd out of Egypt And the Apostle uses the same Expression as you have heard Now when the Iewish Church was in this lower Form the First Rudiments were most agreeable to that condition these Beginners were to be used to their Letters God dealt with that People according to their Weakness and Shallowness Wherefore we may
Salvation by their own perfect Obedience but by virtue of the perfect Righteousness of the Messias who was to come in the fulness of time It only seem'd good to the All-wise God to obscure and disguise this Covenant in part that they might be fitted for the insuing Dispensation of the Gospel and that this Dispensation might appear more bright and glorious Now it was that the Covenant of Grace most signally display'd it self By Christ's coming and by the preaching of the Gospel it was fully and amply manifested tho it had been in being ever since the Restauration of Adam Now at last the actual fulfilling of the Grand Promise of this Covenant viz. the Incarnation of Christ was accomplished He came on purpose to perfect that Covenant which had been made and renew'd before between God and Man Never till this time was there any compleat discovery of this blessed Agreement and Contract between God and us In the Writings of the New Testament alone we find this set forth Here is plainly discover'd the Mediator of this Covenant Iesus Christ the Righteous the Eternal and only begotten Son of God who vouchsafed to assume our Humane Nature to clothe himself with Flesh to converse in the World above thirty Years to instruct Mankind by his Heavenly Doctrine to confirm and establish us in it by his Divine Miracles to direct us to the practice of it by his Holy Life and Spotless Example and at length to die for us to satisfy for our Sins As the publick and most solemn Covenants which we read of in the Old Testament were made with killing and sacrificing and effusion of Blood by Divine Appointment without doubt So here the Blessed Messias who was to compleat the Covenant of Grace shed on the Cross his most precious Blood which therefore is call'd the Blood of the Covenant Again in the Scriptures of the New Testament are plainly and expresly set forth the Terms of the Covenant of Grace i. e. what God hath promised to do and what Obligations are upon us Here Christ and his Apostles and Evangelists proclaim Remission of Sins the peculiar Benefit and Privilege of the Covenant of Grace and Immortality and Eternal Life are brought to light by this Gospel and the performance of all the precious Promises which concern this Life and another is ascertain●d to us here And as it assureth us that God will fulfil his Promises so it urgeth upon us the performing of our Ingagements Christianity is an Obligatory Covenant and this Obligation is mutual God will discharge his part we must see that we perform the Conditions which are required on our side The Gospel acquainteth us that if our Peace and Reconciliation be not made it is our own fault wholly we will not leave our Sins and thereby we ●rustrate the Agreement and Contract of the Gospel This therefore calls upon us to undertake the Counter-part of the Covenant i. e. to be holy in all manner of Conversation to deny all Ungodliness and wordly Lusts and to live Soberly Righteously and Godlily in this present World to adorn the Gospel by a strict and circumspect walking and to bring forth much Fruit to the Glory of our Heavenly Father In the Evangelical Writings the Terms on our part which are Faith Repentance and Ob●di●nc● are more distinctly set down than ever especially the Nature of Faith and the peculiar Virtue of it are explain'd in that manner which they were never before for that by Works and Faith we are saved but that by Faith alone we are justified is the Doctrine which St. Paul hath abundantly asserted proved and confirmed and it is establish'd by the other Apostles which shews the great discrimination between the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace The Gospel tells us how we are to find real Advantage by this Covenant and Law of Grace it ascertains us that we can reap the Benefit of it only by C●nv●rsi●n and R●g●neration It is therefore urged and inculcated that we must be born again that we must be N●● Creatures that there must be a Ren●vation of our Hearts and Lives Lastly Christianity informs us what are the Seals of this Covenant of Grace and accordingly let us know that by Baptism we are entred into Covenant with God and into the Church of Christ and that at the Lord's Supper we repeat and renew that Convenant Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant instituted this Federal Ordinance and this is that Holy Supper at which he gives us his Body to eat and his Blood to drink which he assures us is the Blood of the New Covenant which is shed for the Remission of Sins Mat. 26. 28. The sum then of what hath been said is That God pitied the Mi●ery of Mankind and was pleased to make a Second Covenant with him and his Posterity after they had broke the First This Second Covenant tho it was made with Adam presently after his Fall yet it arrived not to its height and perfection till the coming of Christ and the preaching of the Gosp●l Christianity is the Covenant or Law of Grace in the best Edition The Answer then to that Problem How the Old and the New Covenant differ is easily resolved from the Premises for if you understand as some do but how fitly you will judg from what I shall suggest by and by by the Old Covenant the Covenant of Works and by the New one the Covenant of Grace I have plainly and distinctly set down the Particulars wherein they differ Or if you mean by the Old Covenant the Mosaical and Legal Dispensation and by the New Covenant the Dispensation of the Gospel which both are but One Covenant I have given ample Satisfaction to the Question by shewing wherein these two differ and by letting you see that the Covenant of Grace began with Mankind soon after the Fall and afterward was continued in the Mosaick Dispensation and at last was compleated by Christ's coming And here further to illustrate the Point I will clear the Acception of these Terms the Old and the New Covenant which so frequently occur in Holy Writ and I will make it evident to you that in the whole Book of the Scrip●ures the Old Covenant is never applied to the Covenant of Works but is a part or degree of the Covenant of Grace This then we are to know that the Covenant of Grace is twofold Obscure or Manifest The first was from Adam's Restauration to our Saviour's coming the second is ever since The former is called the Old Covenant the latter the New Covenant and yet they are but one Covenant This you will find to be the stile of Sacred Scripture if you consult those two famous places the one in the Old Testament and the other in the New which treat of the Old and New Covenant The former is Iew. 31. 31. Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and with
assured from the Inspired Writings of the New Testament that it was so for the Tabernacle is said to have been a Figure for the time then present Heb. 9. 9. i. e. all the time of that way of Service and Worship some great Mystery was represented by it And the Mosaick Priests are said to serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things Heb. 8. 5. Let us briefly see what these Celestial and Spiritual things were or at least let us guess and modestly conceive what they were First in the Court of the Tabernacle the Altar of Burnt-Offering fitly signified the great Expiatory Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross Heb. 13. 10. And the Laver was a very congruous Symbol of Spiritual Washing and Purifying Eph. 5. 26. Tit. 3. 5. Then in the Sanctuary the Altar of Incense and the Golden Censer plainly denoted the Intercession of the Messias thereby was signified that he should pray for us and offer our Prayers and make them acceptable to God through his Merits for the Incense figures the continual sweet Savour and Acceptableness of the Offering The Table of Shew bread did not only represent God's Providing a Table and Maintenance for the Israelites whilst they were in the Wilderness but it teacheth us that God's Church hath his constant Eye and Care and that he Provideth for it daily he gives them their Daily Bread or it signified Christ who calls himself the Bread of Life with which the Faithful are nourish'd to eternal life Or as things of this nature frequently have divers significations the Brazen Laver before and the Shew-Bread here represented the Two Sacraments Baptism and the Lord's Supper The Candlestick and Lamps very appositely signify Christ and his Apostles He is the True Light and in a secondary sense his Ministers may be call'd so too The Sacred Oyl belonging to them may set forth the Anointing of the Spirit the Vnction from the Holy One whereby the faithful are enlightened and know all things 1 Joh. 2. 20. Or the Golden Candlestick with Seven Branches may denote the manifold Gifts and Graces of the Holy Ghost with that Abundant Light which is the Blessing of the Gospel Rev. 1. 4. 4. 5. Lastly The inmost part of the Tabernacle into which the High Priest enter'd and none else is yet a more lively Representation of the Great Mysteries of the Gospel The Atonement which the High Priest made by Blood and his offering it in this most Holy Place and that but once a Year are all expresly applied to Christ our Great High Priest by the Apostle Heb. 9. 7. 12. 24. 9. 22 24. But more particularly it is worth our observing on this occasion that tho the High Priest enter'd this place but once a Year and that on a set day in the Year yet he enter'd thrice in that one day For first he went in with the Censer of Coals and the Cup of Incense and put the Incense upon the Fire before the Lord Levit. 16. 13. Then he came out and took the Blood of the Bullock slain at the Altar of Burnt-offering and went with it into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled it upon the Mercy-Seat Levit. 16. 14. Then he came ●orth and carried the Blood of a Goat which was also slain at the foresaid Altar and sprinkled it upon or towards the Mercy-Seat ver 15. This was the third time of going into the Holy of Holies And who sees not that the High Priest's offering of Incense appositely represents the solemn Prayers which our High Priest Jesus offer'd before he became a Sacrifice which is particularly mention'd Iohn 17. 1 2 c And is it not as plain that the sprinkling of the Blood of the slain Bullock and Goat signified the Blood of Christ crucified apply'd to Believers to atone for their Sins For those words of the Apostle Heb. 13. 10 11 12 c. refer to the Blood of the Beasts brought into the Holy Place to make Atonement Levit. 16. 27. In this place was the Ark the special Symbol of God's Presence for that carnal People could not believe God was present with them unless they had some apparent and visible Token of it Wherefore God was pleas'd so far to indulge their weakness as to give them this corporeal and sensible Sign of his Presence with them tho he thought good to remove it sometimes from their sight to wean them by degrees from that grosser Dispensation But it is certain that the Ark was a Symbol of mighty import and represented not only the Divine Presence but was a Type of Christ Iesus the incarnate and visible God in whom the Fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily The Oracle from whence God gave answer was the Figure of the Incarnate Word who reveal'd the Will of God to us By the Pot of Manna was signified the hidden Manna vouchsafed to all Believers Aarons Rod that blossomed figured that efficacious Blessing which is given to the Labours of Christ's Ministers The Testimony in the Ark the Witness or Evidence of God's Presence there represents to us the Word of God the Holy Scriptures The Mercy-Seat or the Covering of the Ark was a more particular and signal Representation of Christ by whom alone the Divine Mercy is conferr'd on Mankind by whose Merits the Church is cover'd and de●ended from God's Wrath. Whom God hath set for●h to be a Propitiation Rom. 3. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very word which the same Apostle uses for the Mercy-Seat Heb. 9. 5. As the Law in the Ark was cover'd and hid by this so the Messias covers hides shields us from the condemnation which is by the Law and consequently from the Divine Displeasure Or which is the same thing Sin is covered as the Psalmist speaks Psal. 32. 1. by Christ our Propitiatory And 't is observable that the Apostle saith God hath set him forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which refers to the Prefigurations of the Law he was before set forth as the word signifies he was of old propounded in the Legal Types and more signally in this of the Propitiatory The Cherubims hovering over the Ark denote the Angels protecting the Church and withal it speaks their future prying into the Mysteries of the Gospel which they desire to look into as St. Peter saith 1 Epist. Chap. 1. v. 12. which very words re●er to the Cherubims stooping and looking down with bowed Heads toward the Mercy-Seat And this by the way lets us know that those Cherubims over the Ark were Angels The Veil in the Tabernacle and so that of the Templ● afterwards sets forth the Humane Nature of Christ if we will give credit to the Apostle Heb. 10. 10. The V●il that is to say his Flesh. This was rent at Christ's Passion to signify that he by his Death open'd the way into the Kingdom of Heaven for we learn from St. Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews that Heaven was meant by the Holy of Holies Heb. 9. 24. Whence
Incongruities he runs himself into to maintain his Assertion Whenas the very Character here given of the Man of Sin viz. that he sits in the Temple of God and exalts himself above all that is called God c. plainly shews to whom it belongs And that the Brightness of Christ's coming whereby this Son of Perdition shall be consumed is not meant of Christ's last Coming to Judgment but of his Coming to Reign upon Earth will appear from what I shall presently add St. Iohn who was honoured with abundant Discoveries from Heaven concerning the Things which were to come to pass afterwards in the Christian Church in a most graphical and lively Manner represents to us in Two whole Chapters the Eighteenth and Nineteenth of the Book of the Revelation the Fall of this Spiritual Baby lon and the Saints Rejoicing and Triumphing because of the Vengeance of God upon her And then immediately in the next Chapter he proceeds to speak of the Binding of Satan and the Reign of the Saints a Thousand Years In which Chapters though it is true the exact Order of the Time is not observed as in the Book of the Revelation is ●●sual and therefore we must not always insist upon Prius Post●●ius here yet this is plainly signified to us that there is a Connexion between these Two the Reign of Christ and the Fall of Babylon and that the one most certainly goes along with the other But exactly speaking the Overthrow of Babylon is part of Christ's Reigning or you may call it an Effect of it For when he Reigneth he will subdue and destroy this Greatest Enemy of his Kingdom If we enquire How he shall be destroy'd both St. Paul and St. Iohn will satisfy us The former tells us That he shall be consumed by the Spirit of God's Mouth 2 Thes. 2. 8. Which may signify some immediate way of God's blasting him God Himself shall fight against him with the Sword of his Mouth The Pope shall be destroyed saith Luther without Hands As he began so he shall end He set up at first not by Power and in the like manner he shall be cast down That Prophecy in 8. Dan. 25. concerning Antiochus He shall be broken without Hand shall be fulfilled of the Pope And again he saith When God speaketh but a Word and saith Rome be destroy'd Sir Pope come down from your Throne it shall be accomplished immediately The Phrase here used may denote the Easiness and Suddenness of the Fall of the Papal Antichrist It shall be as it were with a Word of God's Mouth Or the Spirit of God's Mouth may signify the Preaching of the Gospel This shall be made the great Instrument of Rome's Fall As the Prophet of old was said to s●ay the Wicked with the Words of his Mouth Hos. 6. 5. So shall the Evangelical Prophets the Ministers of Christ when they shall be effectually stir'd up for that purpose slay that wicked One and all his Adherents in the same manner they shall be so powerfully enabled to enlighten and instruct the World that it shall soon be convinced of the Damnable Errours and Impieties of the Roman Church it shall plainly see and discern the execrable Impostures of that Society of Men it shall be made evident from the Word of God That they are no other than the Synagogue of Satan Thus the Man of Sin shall be destroy'd by the Brightness of Christ●s coming as the Apostle expresseth it in the same place by the Plain and Convictive Preaching of the Word which shall accompany that blessed State of the Church which is to come But Rome shall not Fall by God's Word only The ensuing Texts of Scripture will bring you to this Perswasion that her Downfal shall likewise be by humane Force and Power He that killeth with the Sword must be killed with the Sword Rev. 13. 10. Give her Blood to drink Ch. 16. v. 6. They shall make the Whore desolate and naked and they shall Eat her Flesh and burn her with Fire Ch. 17. v. 16. All which signify the use of Violent Means And more fully yet in Ch. 18. v. 6 7 8. Reward her even ●s she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her Works in the Cup which she hath filled which was a Cup of Blood fill to her Double How much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her for she saith in her Heart I sit a Queen and am no Widow and shall see no sorrow Therefore shall her Plagues come in one Day Death and Mourning and Famine and she shall be utterly burnt with Fire Perhaps this last Expression may intimate that the Papists shall fall out among themselves that they shall dissent from one another that they shall contribute towards their Ruin by their own intestine Quarrels and Combustions for these are signified by Fire not only in Luke 12. 49. but in several other Places But there must be some Fighting on both Sides Rome and its Opponents as I conceive This seems to me very plain out of Rev. 19. 19 20 21. where there are Two Armies and a formal pitch'd Battle and a Victory ensuing upon it To take it wholly in a Spiritual Sense is very harsh and disagreeable to what we meet with in this and other Chapters of this Book where there are several Passages which seem to inform us That this Bloody Antichrist shall Fall by the Hand and Force of Man as well as by the immediate Curse of God and the Preaching of the Gospel of which I spoke before We are told that Hannibal brake through the Alpes with Fire and Vinegar when he was on his march towards Rome It is probable that those Warriors and Champions whom God will stir up to make their way thither will use a resembling Method that they will ingage in very Hot and Sharp Service and with the utmost Force and Violence incounter all Impediments which stand in their way And as the Old Romans in great Streights of the Commonwealth created a Dictator an extempore Monarch and Governour so it may be the Person to do this great Thing shall be of that sort he shall be extraordinarily chosen out and set up by Providence on purpose for this emergent Business And who knows but that he may be a Dictator as it were from the Plough i. e. a Person taken from more Private and Low Employments to move and act in this High and Publick Sphere But I need not be Inquisitive and Solicitous about the Manner of Rome's Downfal since we have so good Assurance of the Thing itself and may acquiesc● in that II. The Conversion or Fulness of the Gentiles is another Attendant of the Reign of Christ upon Earth This was intimated in that Promise of God to Abraham That he should be a Father of the Multitude of Nations 17. Gen. 4. for so it is in the Original Those Nations which proceeded from Abraham by Hagar and