Hoc praestat timor Dei ut alios timores contemnamus and St. Ambros speaking of the burning of the Martyr Laurentius saith e Ambr. Serm. 19. n. 41 Maâ—or slamma intrinsecus est The fear of God overcometh all humane fears and the fire of Gods Spirits within us wherewith our hearts burn is more ardent then the flames of Tyrants as cruel Antiochus was told by a Martyr f Ioseph de Macab Ignis tuus frigidus est O Magister crudelitatis i. e. That the Tyrants fire was but cold in respect of this Heavenly flame Thus doth the Scepter and Kingly power of Christ appear most in our weakness and this is the method of his Kingdom in this world But of the carnal domineering insulting ruffling and ranting Kingdom which Millinarians dream of Christ saith My Kingdom is not of this World SECT III. Of Christs Kingdom and Acts in Heaven of his Melchisedechical Priest-hood there The manner of his intercession Advocate-ship and Mediatorship for us in Heaven That it is not by sacrificing or praying for us there What Priestly act he there performeth WE are next to inquire whether Christ since his ascensioÌ„ hath any Kingdom or Dominion in HeaveÌ„ what he hath done there all this while for the English Socinian Commenter on the Hebrews tells us that this Epistle is a The Preface a. 3. the History of Christ in Heaven which is true in part although himself have depraved it but so are also other parcels of Scripture as may thus appear in his ascension he was attended and proclaimed King by Angels as Justin. Origen Jerom. Ambros and Chrysost understand these words Ps 24. 7. Lift up your Psal 24 heads O ye gates or O ye Princes and the King of glory shall come in for although as he is the Son of God or God the Word he was in Heaven before yet his humane nature was not there before his ascension as is well expressed by b Ruf. in Symb. apud Cyp. Ruffinus Ascendit ad Coelos non ubi verbum Deus ante non fuerat sed ubi verbum caro factum ante non sedebat being there he is said to have a Throne and that for ever and Heb. 1. 8. ever Ps 45. 6. a Throne is Kingly but this Throne is also on the right hand of God so it is the highest Throne thence he is said to give gifts unto men Eph. 4. 8. as The Holy Ghost at Pentecost was by him shed Act. 2. 3. So he gave Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers Eph. 4. 11. to those more gifts are added Gifts of healing helps in government diversities of tongues 1 Cor. 12. 28. besides many other sanctifying graces to holy men and women He â—hewed himself to be in Heaven and at the right hand of God to the Protomartyr Act. 7. 56. out of Heaven he spake to Saul and restrained him from persecuting Act. 9. He is called a Priest an High-Priest and a Bishop he maketh intercession for us in Heaven Rom. 8. 34. Heb. 7. 25. He is our Advocate with the Father 1 Joh. 2. 1. And our Mediator 1 Tim. 2. 5. c. What Act of Priest-hood and what kind of intercession Christ performeth for us in Heaven and what is meant by his session at the right hand of God we will inquire anon but first his Kingly authority is to be shewed After the Passion and Resurrection of Christ and before his ascension he said All power is Mat 28. 18. given unto me in Heaven and in Earth These words are weighty The giving is meant only of a gift to his humanity thus That all power in Heaven and Earth which was naturally in the Son or Word before his incarnation is now by the God-head even his own God-head communicated to his humane nature being personally united with his divine nature so that now the Emanuel or Christ or the Word made flesh hath all power in Heaven and Earth the whole power of the God-head is in him There is nothing done by God either in Heaven or Earth but what Jesus Christ doth because there is none other God but that God which he is for he is the one and only God The Father and the Spirit are with him but one God whatsoever the Father doth he doth it by the Son and whatsoever the Son doth he doth it from the Father and by the Spirit and whatsoever the Spirit doth he doth it from the Father and the Son Christ saith The Ioh. 5. 17. Father worketh and I work this because the works of one are the works of both He saith again I can of my self do nothing 30. this he said because the Father and the Son are one therefore the works of the Son are the works of the Father also This is to be understood of the Essential or Absolute works of the God head but not of the Personal or proper works of each several person he saith again The Son can do nothing of himself but what he 19. seeth the Father do This is not so to be understood as if the Father did first perform a work to be as a Sampler or pattern for the Son to work by and then the Son after him should perform such another work but that the very same individual work of the Father is also the work of the Son for example The Father made the world so did the Son make the same world If this work be not the one and self same work of the Father and the Son then as Austin argueth a Aug. in Ioan. tract 20. Da mihi alterum mundum quem fecit Filius you can not shew me two worlds one of the Fathers making and another of the Sons making Indeed before the incarnation of the Son all the power in Heaven and earth was in the pure God-head residing in the Father Word and Spirit But since the Word or Son was incarnate all that power is communicated by the same God-head to the Son incarnate who is thereupon called Christ and Emanuel There is now none other King of glory but that God which is in Christ St. Iude calls him both The only Lord God and our Lord Iesus Christ Iude 4. Ioh. 5. 22. 27. therefore himself saith That the Father hath committed all judgment to the Son that is to Christ and this Son shall therefore in the end in his assumed and visible nature judg the world If it be said that his humane nature is a creature and therefore must always be subject to his God-head we answer that it is true but nevertheless the Emanuel i. e. The Divine and Humane Nature joyntly govern all things for so the body of a King is subject to the soul or will of the King yet the King consisting of a Body and Soul with both ruleth If it be said that the Father and the Holy Spirit do also reign and govern all things as well as the Son though neither the Father
hand of the God-head and so at the right hand both of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost that is The Son of Man is advanced to sit at the right hand of the Son of God or thus Mans nature in Christ is advanced above all Angels and Arch-angels and above all Creatures in Heaven and Earth and under the Earth and above all infernal powers and that it is in honour and power immediatly next to the supream God-head The mis-understanding of those words in the Creeds which mention Christ's sitting on the right hand of the Father hath occasioned a great abuse in mens apprehension for hereupon they haâ—e Phansied Three Seats in Heaven one for the Father and another for the Son on the right side of the Father and under both a third Seat for the Holy Ghost whereby they have advanced Christ above the Holy Ghost but we are well assured that it is both against our Christian Faith and also impossible that any one Person in the Trinity should be above the other because all are Coêqual and it is as impossible that any Creature should be above God the Creator for the humane nature of Christ is that which only is so advanced and that nature is a Creature This abuse was foreseen by St. Paul as may be thought and therefore by him care was taken to prevent it by those words He hath put all 1 Cor. 15. 27. things under his feet that is All creatures are by the God-head made subject to the man Christ it follows But when he saith all things are put under him it is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things under him that is Although all creatures are now under the Man Christ yet neither the God head nor any Person therein are under Christ his Manhood is next in glory to God but in no wise above him or any Person in the Trinity The Fathers also took notice of this abuse and wrote against it Origen upon these words Sit thou at my right hand adviseth a Orig. in Mat. Tract 23. Ne describas sensibiles sessiones aut Cathedras Sedentes humano Schemate Patrem Filium est de Regno Christi and after him Austin tells us upon the same occasion b Aug. de fide Symb. Tale Simulachrum Deo in Templo Christiano collocare vel etiam in corde nefas est i. e. That we should not describe the Father and the Son sitting on seats as men do for the sitting of Christ signifieth only his Dominion such a Portraiture in a Christian Church or but in our very thoughts is unlawful Thus they Fourthly What is meant by the right hand of God This phrase is not proper but figurative and mystical because no person in the God-head hath-hands except the Son who only is incarnate and he it is that is said to sit Therefore the right hand of God must signify 1. Power 2. Happiness 3. Glory Christ saith Mat. 26. 64. you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power The Psalmist saith At his right Ps 16. 11. hand are pleasures for ever more The Apostle Râ— â— 5. Eph. 1. 21. Philip. 2. 9. tells us Christ is over all far above all principalities and powers That to him every knee must bâ—w This implieth a Kingly Majesty by the ceremony of bowing the knee The full meaning is that Christ is placed above all creatures next to the God-head and hath fulness of Power Happiness and Glory There can not be invented a better expression of Christs glory then by this phrase of the Right hand of God for it implyeth both a Soveraignty above all others and yet a subordination to the God-head as Psal 45. 9. Vpon thy right hand did stand the Queen this because the Queen is above all the Kings people but yet not above the King So Solomon placed his mother on his right hand 1 King 2. 19. When we say Christ is subordinate to the God-head we must be understood to speak onlâ— of his humane nature for when we speak of the whole person of the Emanuel then with the Apostle we say it is no robbery to affirm him to be Philip. 2. 6. equal with God If he had been said to sit on the Left hand men possibly might imagine some Creature higher then Christ for whom the right hand was reserved but this is the right hand and highest seat it can not be said to him friend go up Lu. 14. 10. higher Or if it had been said as it is Act. 7. 56. That Christ was standing at the right hand of God without any other mention of his sitting it might have been suspected that he stood as a minister or officer only but this sitting implieth Authority and Supremacy over all Creatures for To which of his Angels said he at any Heb. 1. 1â— time Sit thou on my right hand By all which promises I trust it appeareth that Christ is the Supream Lord and King over all the World and all Creatures in Heaven and Earth and therefore surely he hath a Kingdom on earth If it be yet further demanded why this Throne of Christ is not placed on earth seeing the right hand of God that is his omnipotent power is every where as well on Earth as in Heaven and why Christ did not continue his visible residence and bodily presence here on earth as he now doth in Heaven To this we Answer First There is now no need of his bodily presence on earth seeing he hath not withdrawn the Presence of his God-head of which he said Mat. 28. 20. I am with you alwayes even unto the end of the World which Austin thus expresseth a Aug. in Ioh. Tract 50. Corpus coelo intulit Majestatem mundo non abstulit nam secundum Majestatem semper nobiscum est i. e though his body be absent yet his God-head or Majesty is with us which is the most noble part of Christ for therefore Divines call his God-head his Majesty because this word signifieth the supremacy Majesty is the Title of the Supream Magistrate we say The Kings Majesty and so when the supremacy was in the Consuls at Rome and when it was in the People then was this title given to each respectively we read both of b Tul. Orat. Majestas Consulis and Majestas Populi The God head of Christ is his Supream Majesty for The head of Christ is God 1 Cor. 11. 3. And yet his body which is in Heaven is not divided or separated from his God-head which is with us for his Divine and humane natures are eternally and inseparably united and joyntly govern all as the body of the Sun is in the Firmament of this material Heaven yet by his influence and beames moderateth the seasons on earth and so doth Christ though bodily in Heaven by the influence and beams of his Majesty govern all things here below Secondly Christ
Father and the Son under the name of Wisdom Prov. 8. 22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old I was set up from everlasting I was brought forth just so doth the Psalmist express the Eternal generation of the Son Psalm 1103. Ex utero ante Luciferum genui te so was the old reading of those words in Jerome and Austin Brought forth and from the womb these words signifie that by Wisdom the Son is meant and the mention of the Womb of the Father doth signifie that this Son is of the same substance with the Father as children of the womb are of the same substance with their Parents and Before the morning Star signifieth that the Son was before time or any other Creature And that it may appear that by Wisdom the Son of God is meant the words of the Apostle will declare 1 Cor. 1. 24. where he calleth Christ The wisdom of God And as the Psalmist tells us that God made all things in wisdom So the Gospel tells us who this wisdome is viz. The Son The Word The Father created all things but he created them by the Son which St. John expresseth in these words Joh. 1. 3. All things were made by him that is by the Son or Word and this St. Paul doth clearly apply to Christ Col. 1. 16. For by him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in Earth visible and invisible whether they be Thrones or Dominions or Principalities or Powers so that even the most glorious Arch-Angels and Angels are but the Creatures of this Son of God and this Wisdom of God Finally These men that tell us That God hath not always a Son may as well tell us that God had not always Wisdom But as they dare not deny the Wisdom of God to have been from Eternity so neither can they without very great impudence deny the Word or Son of the Father to have been from everlasting I will conclude this Chapter with the words of St. Basil who thus argued against the Anti-Trinitarians out of the words of St. John k Basil Hom. 16. To him that shall say There was a time when the Son or Word was not you may answer If this speech be true which the Gospel delivereth In the beginning was the Word I pray when was that time when he was not CHAP. IIII. Of the Holy Ghost That he is one of the Three Divine Persons and that he is to be prayed unto which is shewed both both by Warrant of Scripture and by the practice of the Primitive Christians and of the Church of England wherein he is confessed in Creeds and invoked in Baptisms and Doxologies THe Macedonian Hereticks confessed the Divine Personality of the Father and the Son but they denied the Person of the Holy Ghost and there are some among us who although they will not openly deny the Divinity and Person of the Holy Ghost yet they are doubtful and suspensive therein And this because they cannot or will not finde that any Prayers in Scripture are used or directed to the Holy Spirit as they are both to the Father and the Son They finde the Son of God praying to the Father Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit And Forgive them Father they know not what they do They Luk. 23. 46. 34. find also St. Stephen praying to the Son Lord Act. 7. 59. Jesus receive my Spirit For the satisfaction of such as these who are neither maliciously nor obstinately wedded to this error I will endeavour to shew both the Personality of the most Holy Spirit and also that he is to be prayed unto and both these by the evidences and precedents of holy writ and by the practice of our of our owne Church and also of the Primitive Christians First That the Holy Ghost is a Divine and distinct Person in the Trinity as well and as truly as either the Father or the Son We find that the Scriptures record and report many diverse actions and operations of the Holy Ghost which must needs be the performances of a Person for He appeared as a Dove And as fiery Tongues He teacheth He leadeth into all truth He brought into the Apostles memories whatsoever Christ had said He decreed in a Council Acts 15. He forgiveth sins by the Apostles by whom he was received and entertained for that purpose Joh. 20. 22. He is an Advocate or Comforter He distributeth gifts He spake by the Prophets and in the Apostles He calleth and maketh Ministers Act. 13. 2. And Bishops Act. 20. 28. where the very Original word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I know not why our Translators rendred Overseers when in other places they Translated the very same word Bishops which is the very Text word without any alteration but only as it is formed to out English Idiom In a word this Holy Spirit is produced by St. John as a witness that Jesus is the Christ 1 John 5. 6. Secondly for Prayer We say that the Scripture doth evidently set down a Warrant and a Precedent of Prayer to the Holy Ghost which you will finde if you observe the words of St. Paul 2 Cor. 13. 13. The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you This is a Prayer and here is not only a mention of the Holy Ghost but indeed all these words Grace Love and Communion do relate principally if not only to the Holy Ghost for the Spirit is the Grace and the Love of the Father and the Son and the grace of Jesus and the Love of the Father are conveyed unto us only by the Communion and Inspiration of the Holy Spirit The Spirit is the Conduit of them and the Cement or Ligament by which our conjunction fellowship Union or Communion is wrought and by which we are joyned and united in one Mystical body or corporation with the whole Trinity and this is the meaning of that saying of St. John Baptist concerning the Baptism of Christ He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost for those that are Mat 3. 11. baptized into Christ are by this Spirit united to him in one mystical body and so become One with him and by this Union with Christ they are united with the whole Trinity and therefore there is mention of the Holy Ghost in the formal words of Baptism because our Union is wrought only by this holy Cement of the Spirit for this reason it is that the Apostle prayeth for the Communion of the Holy Ghost Communion signifieth a mutual union of the Spirit with us and of us with the Spirit Communio is as much as Counio or uni◠cum The Scriptures are so plentiful in precedents of Prayers to the Holy Ghost that you may find them at least in thirteen of St. Pauls Epistles and at the beginning of every one of them for thus we read Rom 1. 7. Grace
for those words Ps 9. 20. which the English renders Put them in fear O Lord Both Jerom Austin read Constitue Domine Legislatorem super eos that is saith he Set Antichrist over them for he will be c Hier. in Psal 9. Lator legis malae Doctrinae i. e. a setter up of false Doctrine by a Law SECT V. The signification of the Jewish Feast of Atonement and of the High Priests entring the Sanctum Sanctorum and of the Mercy-seat Sprinkling of Blood Scape-goate and Jewish Sacrifices why God disliked them The signification of the Altar Of the Jewish and Christian Liturgies THere is yet another passage in this History of Christ in Heaven to be examined and that is concerning the correspondency of Christs entring into Heaven with the Jewish High Priests entring and demeanour in the Sanctum Sanctorum that is the most Holy place of the Tabernacle or Temple This we are compelled unto because both the English and Latine Commenters on the Hebrews according to the Doctrine of the Socinians often tell us a Ionas Sâ—hlichtâ—ngius in Heb. 9. 2. Manifestum est Pontificis nostri oblationem Sacrificium non in cruce sed in Coelo peractum esse which our English Translating commenter thus renders It is manifest that the offering and Sacrifice of Christ was not made upon the Cross but was performed in Heaven By these words they would have us beleeve that because the Jewish High Priest carried and presented the blood of Beasts in the Sanctuary Therefore Christ must carry his own blood into Heaven and there continually offer and Sacrifice It seems they do not beleeve that the Passion and Death of Christ finished upon the Cross was a sacrifice sufficient to redeem them What the intent meaning and signification of the Jews High Priests so entring into the earthly Sanctuary was we shall better apprehend by a diligent consideration of the ceremonies performed by the said Priest in that great and solemn Festival of the Jews which is called The Feast of Atonement described Levit 16. and applied to Christ Heb. 9. 12. for in that Feast was the great mystery of mans Redemption described by a type figure shadow and Holy Scene as will appear anon which Feast was therefore called a Sabbath and rest Levit. 16. 31. vers 31. and was kept on the 10. day of the seventh month our September Levit. 23. 27. Philo and Josephus both Jews call this Feast only the Fast but the Scriptures and Christians have other names for it whereby the meaning thereof may be discovered It is called The Expiation The Reconciliation The Propitiation and The Atonement I. Expiation This word signifies purging purifying hallowing cleansing appeasing delivering from the guilt of sin and restoring him to a State of Piety who by transgression hath faln into a state of impiety This Festival was therefore called the Feast of Expiation because therein was Typically shewed the means whereby sinful man was to be restored to innocency and to be quitted and purged from the guilt of sin II. Reconciliation This Feast was so called because therein was figuratively shewed how sinful man is to be Reconciled to his offended God III. Propitiation it was so called because it typically shewed who it is by whose mediation and intercession the God-head is made propitious and favourable and by whom we are ingraciated with God or who is the Proportiation for our sins of whom we read 1 John 2. 2. IV. Atonement This is our English word by which that Feast is called which doth singularly express the intent and meaning thereof It signifies our uniting or re-uniting with God God and man are by sin set at odds and made two or at variance as Coelius a Cholerick Orator in Seneca said to another a Sen. de Ira. l. 3. c. 8. Dic aliquid contra ut Duo simus But this Type shews how the disagreeing parties may be agreed made one or set at one and reunited for this word Atonement signifies that which the Latine word Vnitas doth viz. the At onement or making one of those who before were differing and at odds In this great mysterious Festival many circumstances are very considerable for the businesse now in hand First The High Priest was to enter into the Levit. 16. most Holy place alone none with him Lev. 16. 17. This was to teach us that Christ alone is he that taketh away sins and worketh our expiation reconciliation and atonement or reunion with the offended God-head Secondly The High Priest went not into that Sanctuary until the Sacrifical beasts were killed one for the Atonement of the Priests and after the other for the Atonement of the people and their blood respectively taken vers 11. 15. So Christ did not actually expiate us but by his death and blood shedding his own blood Thirdly The High Priest presented two Goats before the Lord vers 7. One was killed the other was kept alive v. 7. 13. Both the Goats represented Christ That which was killed at the Tabernacle signified that the benefit of Christs death was tendered and offered to the Israelites or people of the Tabernacle The other which was reserved alive and sent away into the wilderness signified that Christ with all his efficacies and benefits should by his Gospel be sent and tendered and presented to the Gentiles or Nations who in the Scriptures are often called the Wilderness and Solitary place or desert as Isa 35. 1. For in Christ all the Nations of the earth are to be blessed Gen. 18. 18. The gathering of the people expectatio gentium shall be unto him Gen. 49. 10. he was to be a light to lighten the Gentiles Luc. 2. 23. And Christ himself professed that he hath other Sheep which were not of this Jewish fold Joh. 19. 16. Some Expositers as Theodoret. and Both the Glosses with Lyranus have thought that this Hircus Apopompeus i. e. the Emissary or Scape-goat signified the God-head of Christ which could not dye But this exposition can not possibly agree with this type nor indeed with the Analogie of Faith because the sins of the people are said to be laid on this Scape-goat Levit 16. 21. Just as it is said of Christ The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all Isa 53. 6. This is not true of the pure God-head of Christ upon which our sins could neither be laid or imputed nor could the pure God-head expiate or satisfie Divine Justice because it could not dye If the Son of God or the Word had for ever continued in his pure Divinity and had not been incarnate he could not have taken away the sins of the World For it was mans nature that was peccant therefore the Son of God took upon himself that nature to destroy sin in the flesh The work of Redemption was confined to the Seed of the Woman to the Son of Man and to the Lamb of God St. Peter teacheth us that Christ bare our sins
in his own body 1 Pet. 2. 24. And St. Paul often That therefore God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh Rom. 8. 3. That he Rom. 8. 3. hath abolished in his flesh the emnity Eph. 2. 15. That he hath reconciled us in the body of his flesh through death Col. 1. 21. 22. That we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ Heb. 10. 10. This Scape-goat was to be sent into the wilderness the Gentiles by a fit man Levit. 16. 21. That is Christ was to be delivered and made known to the Gentiles by such men as are fitly qualified and inabled with endowments to teach the Gentiles in the mysteries of Christ Our Lord himself gave Apostles Prophets Eph. 4. 11. 1 Tim. 2. 7. Evangelists Doctors St. Paul stileth himself a Doctor or Teacher of the Gentiles these were Fit men indeed Verily they are too blame that send unfit men and blind guides to carry Christ to the people Bishop Goodman lately affirmed in his book that of his own knowledg some in these times have been sent to preach Christ who though not bodily blind could never write nor read It is reported of the learned French Divine Pet du Moulin that he hartily wished that the French King would grant him a general licence to preach though it were with a condition of preaching in a Fools Coate this condition is now performed for many in these times preach in a fools coate if their coats be their own Fourthly The High Priest was to carry the blood of the sacrifice into the most Holy place and to sprinkle it on the mercy seat seven times Levit. 16. 14. This is the principal ceremony of all and teacheth us the full intent and purpose of all the Jewish Sacrifices and how only they could be useful and beneficial to the Jews and to us also and how the true and substantial Atonement or reconciliation of God with man was to be made For The Mercy Seat signified and represented the Body of Christ the Messiah it was therefore called the Mercy Seat because in Christ only the God-head doth acquiess and rest fully pleased and satisfied and in him only expresseth the grand mercy of remitting our sins It was called the Propitiatory because by Christ only the God-head is reconciled and made propitious to man t' was also called the Oracle because as God spake to Moses from this Mercy Seat Numb 7. 89. So he intimated thereby that in after times he would speak to us by his Son as is said Heb. 1. 2. and by the same God-head we are commanded to hear him Mat. 17. 5. Upon this Mercy Seat was the blood of those Piacular Sacrifices to be sprinkled This signified that all the Jewish Sacrifices and blood of beasts were not of any value or force at all to acquit and redeem man but only as they related to Christ as shadows and representations of the blood of Christ that the blood of beasts did not at all propitiate of themselves until they were reduced and by Faith brought home to Christ so that those Jews which offered the blood of beasts without the faith of Messiah and looked no further then upon the beasts only nor did consider and beleeve that the Messiah was to pour out his own blood for them and that those Sacrifices were ordained for none other end but to acquaint them and dayly put them in mind of their redemption by the death of their Messiah and so to nourish continually their Faith and hope in him Their Sacrifices were vain For the Jewish Altar represented the Cross and the Sacrifices thereon signified Christ the word Altar was used for the highness of it ab altitudine God did therefore appoint them to Sacrifice on a plat raised higher then the common ground because it might adumbrate Christ lifted up on the Cross So that those Jews who in their sacrificing did not by faith consider this sacrificed no better then the Heathens did and upon this very reason God condemned their sacrifices and moreover professed that they were odious unto him for so he saith I have no delight in the blood of Bullocks Isa 1 11. 13. bring no more vain oblations He that killeth an Isa 66. 3. Oxe is as if he slew a man he that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he cut of a Dogs neck or as if he offered Swines blood or as if he blessed an Idâ—l for although these Jewish sacrifices were appointed by God yet are they rejected by the same God because a Isychius in Levit. Judaei tantum literam considerabant The Jews did not sacrifice with the faith and consideration of Messiah to be the Grand Sacrifice They considered only the bare letter and outside in the precept of sacrificing without consideration of the Spirit and meaning thereof Therefore the Psalmist saith Sacrifices and Offerings thou would'st Ps 40 6. not that is God would not have them to be considered for any worth or efficacy in themselves as if they were the ultimate duty and perfect performance of that precept of sacrificing whereas indeed those sacrifices were of no worth at all except only as they related to Christ This St. Paul cleerly declareth It is impossible that the blood of Bulls and of Goats should take away sins It follows But a body hast Heb. 10. 4. 5. thou prepared for me that is The Son of God assumed his body or flesh from us that therein he might perform the grand sacrificing for sin Hence it is that the blood of the Jewish sacrifice was to be sprinkled on the Mercy seat that is on Christ for what else can be the Seat of the Mercy of the God-head but only Christ in whom only God is appeased satisfied and well pleased In a word No blood could satisfy the Justice of the God-head and reconcile God to man but only that blood which was sprinkled on this Mercy Seat viz. on the blessed body of the Son of Man The blood of the Sacrifice was to be sprinkled seven times on the Mercy Seat Lev. 16. 14. This signified that the blood of Christ made a perfect reconciliation and was sufficient to expiate for all times and ages from the beginning of the world to the end thereof because all times are included in this number of seven there are but seven dayes created All times are but those seven dayes reiterated As the Jewish Sacrifices were instituted only to be a representation of Christ's Sacrifice so our Christian Sacrifices of prayers are an aftermemorial thereof for we ask petition and pray for all things in and through Jesus Christ our Lord. The Jewish Liturgie was only Sacrifice The Christian Sacrifice is only prayers those are the calves of our lips The Jews were limited to a certainty and set form of Sacrifices they might not sacrifice any beast but only of the Neat Sheep and Goat nor any foul but only Doves None other beast though never so great or