which the Apostles were falsly accused for viz. that they turned the World upside down may truly be attributed to our first Parents they have by their wilâ—ul disobedience perverted the Order of Nature and disturbed the Course of the World It is by their means become a Place of Disorder and Confusion a Stage of Affliction and Misery a Scene of Sorrows Losses Disappointments Poverty Reproach Diseases Pains Tortures and Plagues of all sorts This is Man's portion till he returns unto the Ground for out of it was he taken and unto it he shall return ver 19. Death is the last of all outward and bodily Evils this was threatned in Gen. 2. 17. In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Which place alone is sufficient to refute the Socinian Conceit that Man was mortal in his first state of Innocence and that thâ— he had not fallen yet he should have died We find here Mortality pronounc'd the Effect of Adam's Transgression In the day that thou eatest of the foâ—bidden Fruit and thereby â—innest against thy Maker thou shalt surely die i. e. thou shalt immediately become subject to Death and afterwards it shall actually be inflicted on thee So we are to understand these words according to that of Theodoret God here callâ—th the Sentence of Mortality Death And so Chrysostâ—m on the place Man is said saith he to die in that the Sentence of Death is pronounc'd against him It was God's Mercy to reprieve him that he might have time to repent But he was a dead Man at first as a condemned Malefactor is reckon'd a dead Man tho his Execution be respiâ—ed for a time So is it with the whole Race of Adam they are obnoxious to Death they have the Sentence of it upon them and they daily incur that Penalty by their Sins The Great Judg is pleas'd to spare them for a time but at last the Sentence is executed on them Their Nature being corrupted and poison'd by the Fall at length the Venom and Virulency of it break forth the contrary Qualities which have been long fighting within them destroy them in the close or in some other manner their Bodies sink into the Grave and stench and rottenness are their Portion The Inward and Spiritual Evils which are the Consequences of the Fall are yet more grievous and direful Not only the Bodies but the Souls of all Adam's Race feel the cursed Effects of his Apostacy from God Hereby the Rational and Divine Moiety of Man which was the chief and noblest part of his Constitution was corrupted its original Rectitude and primitive Righteousness were defaced and all the Powers and Faculties of his Mind miserably depraved First His intellectual Powers are impaired by Ignorance and Error the Notions of Good and Evil are much obliterated Reason is weakned and can hardly do its office Man understanding not must needs be like the Beasts for it is this Faculty which differenceth him from that rank of Beings It was said of old that Man is a wise Creature And he was so questionless in the state of his first Creation and Primitive Innocency but since his vile Defection he is sunk into folly and sottishness He confutes all his Pretences and baffles all his Boastings of Knowledg and Wisdom for when he should give experiment of them he discovers plainly that he is possessor of no such thing but that his rational part is much enfeebled and that he hath very â—alse and erroneous conceptions of things especially of those which relate to the Kingdom of God Thus Man's Head is hurt by the Fall His Heart likewise his Will and Affections are exceedingly endamag'd by it There is a strange Impotency in our elective Faculty we are not only disabled in a great measure from chusing Good but we have an aversion in us to God and Goodness and an inclination on the contrary to comply with Satan and to do whatever is displeasing to our Marker We are taken captive by Satan at his will for we have lost our Liberty and we have not so much sense as to bemoan our loss This is our condition by Nature abstracted from the blessed Remedy which we have by Christ Iesus and the powerful Influences of the Holy Spirit As for our Affections and Passions they are miserably disâ—orted and dislocated they continually sally forth to undue Objects they are unruly and extravagant and put us into great disorder and disâ—raction And indeed we cannot wonder that they are very refractory and headstrong when they have slipt off that Bridle which right Reason had put upon them Our Love and Hatred our Desires our Fears our Hopes our Joys our Anger our Sorrows are all unbridled and ungovern'd they hurry us into mischief they fill us with perturbation they make us uneasy restless and unquiet and they end in vanity and vexation of Spirit These disorders in the Understanding Will and Affections make way for more visible ones in the actions of mens Lives Hence proceed Idolatry Prophaneness Blasphemy Perjury Injustice Theft Rapine Violence Slaughter Murder Drunkenness Luxury Whoredom and all kind of Lasciviousness in short Sins of all degrees Vices of all dimensions Thus it was rightly said by the Royal Prophet that Man in his lapsed condition is become like the Beasts he is sunk below his own Species He that listned to a Brute the Serpent is become like one Man the Flower and Glory of the Creation resembleth the Beasts He is as sly and crafty as a Fox as lustful and salacious as a Goat as fierce as a Lion as savage as a Bear as ravenous as a Wolf as gluttonous as a Swine as angry and barking as a Dog and sometimes as stupid and dull as an Ass. Thus Man is become like the Beasts which this Psalmist takes notice of in other places likewise where you find him representing wicked Men as fat Bulls devouring Dragons roaring Lions ravenous Dogs And this good King acknowledgeth even concerning himself that so far as he had acted sinfully against God he was not only foolish and ignorant but even as a Beast before him So Agur i. e. as some think Solomon who had been a notorious Offender confesseth that he was more brutish than any one Prov. 30. 2. The New Testament also speaks after this manner Christ calls false Prophets ravenous Wolves and Herod a Fox And Iohn Baptist stiles the wicked Jews Vipers St. Paul calls his Adversaries whom he grappled with at Ephesus Beasts he stiles false Teachers grievous Wolves and Dogs and he thanks God that he was delivered out of the Mouth of the Lion meaning Nero. And the Apocalyptick Beast is to be understood of the vilest and wickedest Body of Men under Heaven This too was the Notion and Phrase of the best Moralist among the Platonists and Stoicks They held that wicked men are a kind of Brutes that Vice transforms them into mere sensitive Animals
with Mankind in the beginning of the World when Adam was their Representative And it is certain that he could not transgress it unless he had first agreed to it And this is abundantly clear from the Epistles of St. Paul which frequently have reference to this very thing And the Truth of this may be too manifestly gather'd from the miserable Effects and Consequences of it which we now experience This Covenant then and this Dispensation to which it belongs extend to all Mankind As being in Adam they were all indued with the Divine Image they were all possess'd of Life and Happiness and might have so continued unless they had in him fallen from their Primitive Integrity Hitherto Man was in honour Psal. 49. 12. being created in God's Image he was placed in Paradise he was possess'd of all manner of Felicity and he might have perpetuated it to himself and his Posterity This is the first State of Man viz. that of Innocence which constitutes the first Dispensation CHAP. II. The Nature of the Second General Dispensation The several particular Ingredients of the First Sin Its Aggravations from the Matter of it What kind of Creature the Serpent was whom the Devil made use of in seducing our first Parents It was not a firy flying Serpent but an ordinary one Wherein the Subtilty of this Animal consisted That Adam and Eve fell not on the same day in which they were made is proved from Scripture and Reason The dreadful Effects of the Fall which related to themselves Others which belong'd not only to them but to their whole Race Death was the Penal Consequence of the First Defection The Inward and Spiritual Evils that attended it are enumerated How Man became like the Beasts Eternal Death the Fruit of his Apostacy The Penalty inflicted on the Serpent Not only our First Parents but all Mankind were under this Second Dispensation THE second General Dispensation is the State of Sin and Infelicity viz. from Adam's Fall till he was Restored and Recover'd This State is doubly express'd by the Psalmist Man understood not but became like the Beasts The first represents his Sin and Fall the second the Effects of it So here are both his Fault and his Penalty As among Philosophers there is Physiology which is the considering of Bodies in their natural Temper and there is Pathology which is the consideration of Man's Body as fallen into a state of Disease so in Divinity we distinctly treat of these two the State of Innocence the primitive temper of Mankind and the State of Corruption which is a degeneracy from that first Temper and Constitution Des Cartes imagines this Earth of ours to have been once a glorious Sun but afterward to have sunk into another Vortex and to be overcast with Spots and Scum and so to move slowly and to be what it now is It is certain that Man the best Creature on Earth was once a bright and glorious Being and moved in a high Sphere and cast a most ravishing Light He had the Image of God and the Characters of Divine Wisdom impress'd upon him but he soon lost his Primitive Light and Lustre he forsook his Station and was absorp'd into darkness and overspread with Sin and Misery I begin first with Adam's Sin and here I must enquire into these two things 1. What this Sin was 2. Who were the Instruments of it As to the Sin it self it was no other than this Whereas God had commanded our first Parents that they should not eat of the Fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil they wilfully despised that Command and took of the forbidden Fruit and did eat of it This was the Sin of Adam and Eve and the first Sin that ever was in the World But this I must insert that there were many undue Inclinations and vitious Dispositions in their Souls which made way for this actual and external Transgression and may be said to be parts and ingredients of this Sin and which are also great Aggravations of their Crime 1. Man being in Honour understood not which may signify that ignorance and senslesness which they had contracted by non-attention They consider'd not what Honour and Dignity they had and so discerned not what was their proper Duty in that State Incogitancy was the first rise and occasion of the Fall of our first Parents saith the profound Dr. Iackson and that very rightly And before him St. Chrysostom had determin'd in the like manner for he holds that Negligence was the first Fault they grew heedless and careless not reflecting on their state and circumstances not duly thinking what they were and what they ought to do thence arose their transgression 2. Sensuality was the previous cause of the first Apostacy The sight of the Fruit excited the Woman's Appetite When she saw the Tree was good for Food and that it was pleasant to the Eyes she took of the Fruit thereof and did eat Gen. 3. 6. And she might easily prevail with her Husband to do so too whilst he perhaps was as much taken with her Beauty as she was with that of the Fruit. There have been several Conjectures about the rise of the first Transgression and I am now presenting the Reader with them but if I should say that Lust among other Incentives was the first spring of it I think no considerate Man can disallow what I propound For tho the new-married couple were created without any tincture of sinful Concupiscence yet God had planted in them those natural Inclinations which were proper and sutable to the Conjugal State Tho these were unpolluted and void of all Vice yet God had placed the Possessors of them in such a mutable State and had endued them with such Powers and Faculties both of Soul and Body that they might make use of them to good or evil as they pleas'd And accordingly they enclined to the latter and turn'd the concupiscible part into that which was evil and vicious and so their innocent Propensions to one another were chang'd into lustful Amours and their mutual desires and complacencies occasion'd by the force of each others Beauty became instrumental to that Sin which we are treating of With Adam more especially this had a great sway for his Wise was a very fair and lovely Creature and it is probable that he look'd on her more than on the Fruit. This was not so fair as she that handed it to him and therefore he was more in love with her than with that because he saw a brightness in that Face which was more charming than what the Tree afforded But yet he had a love to this for the sake of the other and thereupon the uxorious Man after several fits of reluctancy we may suppose resolv'd to gratify his Spouse being beguil'd by her Beauty and by that amorous propension which it had produc'd in him he could deny her nothing Or to speak in more general terms his entire love and affection to her
Sacred Trinity about the making of Man His Excellency What God's Image in Man is not What it is largely discours'd of The various Opinions concerning Paradise It is proved by sundry Arguments that it was in Babylon An account of its Four Rivers An Objection fully answered whereby the Author's Opinion concerning those Rivers is explain'd and establish'd The Employment of our First Parents in Paradise Besides the Law of Nature there were these positive Laws in the State of Primitive Integrity 1. That of Matrimony 2. That concerning Propagation 3. Observing the Sabbath or Seventh Day It is proved that Adam and Eve kept this Day 4. Abstaining from the Fruit of a certain Tree in the Garden of Eden An Account of the Tree of Lifâ— and the Tree of Knowledg of Good and Evil. The prohibiting of this latter shew'd in several Particulars to be Reasonable and Equitable 5. The Covenant of Works Not only the first Man and Woman but all their Race were under this First Dispensation Page 1 CHAP. II. The Nature of the Second General Dispensation The several particular Ingredients of the First Sin Its Aggravation from the Matter of it What kind of Creature the Serpent was whom the Devil made use of in seducing our first Parents It was not a firy flying Serpent but an ordinary one Wherein the Subtilty of this Animal consisted That Adam and Eve fell not on the same day in which they were made is proved from Scripture and Reason The dreadful Effects of the Fall which related to themselves Others which belong'd not only to them but to their whole Race Death was the Penal Consequence of the First Defection The Inward and Spiritual Evils that attended it are enumerated How Man became like the Beasts Eternal Death the Fruit of his Apostacy The Penalty insticted on the Serpent Not only our First Parents but all Mankind were under this Second Dispensation p. 49 CHAP. III. The Nature of the Third General Dispensation The first part of which is the Adamick State The early Promise concerning the Messias Gen. 3. 15. explain'd He was expected betimes The New Testament witnesses that he was to bruise the Serpent's Head Several positive Laws were under this Occonomy That of Oblations and Sacrifices is especially consider'd Eucharistical Sacrifices were part of the Law of Nature Expiatory and Bloody onec were not so Thence these latter were disapproved of by the wisest Heathens They are founded upon Divine Institution The Practice of Sacrificing among the Pagans was derived to them by Tradition from the Jews or the foregoing Patriarchs Whether sacrifices were prescribed before or after the Fall of our First Parents Concerning the Primitive Priesthood The Distinction of clean and unclean Animals was in respect of Sacrificing not Eating Gen. 4. 26. explain'd and a settled Church founded upon it Marrying with Infidels seems to be prohibited under this Dispensation The Rise of Polygamy The seven Precepts said to be given to the Sons of Adam and Noah The Improbability of this Jewish Tradition evinced from several Considerations The Mistakes of Volkelius and Episcopius concerning the Antediluvian Oeconomy p. 83 CHAP. IV. The Noachical Oeconomy The first Positive Law under it was about eating of Flesh. It is proved that this prevail'd nâ—â— till after the Flood Objections against it answer'd The Testimony of Pagans to confirm it The Reason of the Prohibition The second Positive Law was concerning not eating Flesh with the Blood The Reason of it The third Positive Law was concerning not shedding of Man's Blood With the Penalty of it And the Sanction of Magistracy Serâ—itude not introduced under this Dispensation The Longevity of the Patriarchs was common to all in those Times The Months and Years were of the same length then that they are now They were Solar not Lunar Years The Causes of the long Lives of those that lived before the Flood The Abrahamick Oeconomy With its several Steps and Advances The Nature of the Covenant made with Abraham Now the Faithful were separated and distinguish'd from the rest of the World Why they are called Hebrews The Nature and Design of Circumcision Vnder this Dispensation Altars were erected Tithes paid c. Of Polygamy and Concubines and other Vsages p. 112 CHAP. V. The Mosaick or Jewish Dispensation seems to be Preposterous The Law of Grace was veiled for a Season The Triple Law which this Oeconomy was famous for briefly display'd Four Reasons assigned why the World was so long without a Written Law The Ceremonial Law is part of this Dispensation The several things which are comprehended in it Oblations viz. of Inanimate things Sacrifices which were of Living Creatures An enumeration of those Sacrifices which were Set and Determined Others were Occasional viz. 1. Sin-Offerings 2. Trespass-Offerings 3. Peace-Offerings Some Remarks about Sacrifices The several Ends and Designs of this way of Worship How the Mosaick Sacrifices are said to Expiate It is largely proved that the guilt of all kinds of Sins whatsoever was Atoned by them The Objections to the contrary are answered The Principal End of the Judâ—ick Sacrifices was to typifie and represent the Sacrifiâ—e of Christ on the Cross. p. 145 CHAP. VI. The High-Priest's Office His peculiar Attire The Imployment and Apparel of the Pâ—iests The Levites particular Charge Whether they might sacrifice or no. Their Office in the Reigns of King David and King Solomon differ'd in some things from what it was before The ordinary and fixed Place of Worship and particularly of Sacrificing was the Tabernacle A particular Account of the three Divisions or Partitions of it viz. the Outward Court the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies with all things contain'd in them The Mystical and Spiritual meaning of the several Particulars The Travels and Removes of the Tabernacle and Ark. A distinct Account of the Parts of the Temple shewing wherein it differ'd from the Tabernacle Of the Fabrick it self and its Dimensions Houses and Chambers belonging to it The Sacraments appointed by the Ceremonial Law p. 173 CHAP. VII The Jewish Feasts Sabbaths New Moon Passover The Parallel between the Paschal Lamb and our Saâ—iour shew'd in several Particulars This Mystical Way approved of Christ celebrated not the Passover the same Evening that the Jews did but in the Evening before This represented in a Scheme The Feast of Pentecost The Feast of Tabernacles The Feast of Trumpets Of Expiation Other lesser Feasts not commanded in the Law but appointed by the Jewish Church Fasts kept tho not injoin'd by the Law The difference of Clean and Unclean Animals Why the latter were forbidden to be eaten The chief Reason of the prohibition was to prevent Idolatry Two Objections answer'd Vows proper to the Mosaick Dispensation They were either Personal or Real The Cherem p. 205 CHAP. VIII The Reasons of the Ceremonial Rites among the Jews They were to Try that People They were to Restrain them They were injoin'd in opposition to the Idolatrous Customs of the Heathens Several
from an inward coveâ—ing of the Goods which she left behind her or from a foolish pitying of those whom God had design'd for Destruction she stood and look'd back Which Example of hers might have produced the like Passions in others And if it had gone unpunish'd a great contempt of God's Providence would have been the effect But the chief thing which made her looking back toâ— be sinful was this that it was a direct Affront to the Command of God who had strictly charged them to fly and not to look back Gen. 19. 15. 17. And he certainly ought to have been obey'd he that so graciously deliver'd them from the flames of Sodom he that rescued them thence out of his mere Mercy and Favour he that required observance in so easy a matter as this he surely was not to be repay'd with Disobedience therefore he acted most justly when he severely punish'd it in this stubborn Woman So in the Sin of our first Parents we have shew'd before that the intrinsick Causes of it were very bad and the adjoining Circumstances might be prov'd to be as evil and pernicious but if we consider that it was a wilful violating of the Divine Command as it most palpably was it will appear to be yet more sinful and vitious It was no less than a set and voluntary chusing of Death and Misery and reâ—using of everlasting Happiness There can't be imagin'd a greater Sin than this nothing could speak them greater Rebels against Heaven For God designing that his new-made Creatures by conforming to that Prohibition should testify their acknowledgment of him and their subjection to him their acting contrary to it was a high instance of Rebellion and a downright disowning of God's Dominion and Authority And tho indeed it was disobedience to the Divine Command in a lesser matter yet even thence the baseness of the Action is more manifested and the greater ingratitude and unâ—aithfulness of the Sinners are discovered Thus you see what the Sin of our first Parents was you are acquainted with the nature of their Offence Secondly I will in a few words speak of the Prâ—curer and Instrument of it Whilst our first Parents were in their happy state of Integrity they are envied by the Spirits of Darkness the Fallen Angels a rank of Creatures that were made by God to enjoy a blessed Immortality and to be the Attendents and Ministers of the Majesty of Heaven but they soon revolted from God and for their Pride and Arrogance were thrust down from Heaven and divested of that Dignity and Glory which were confer'd upon them These wicked and reprobate Spirits being thus degraded maliciously and revengefully resolv'd to disturb the Felicity of Mankind and to betray the innocent Inhabitants of Paradise into the same misery with themselves The Prince of these Apostate Spirits it is most probable was by general consent of the rest chosen to effect this direful Project and the method they pitch'd upon was to set upon the Woman first and that in the disguise of a Serpent Cyril and one or two others of the Antients were of Opinion that he Devil appear'd in the likeness only of a Serpent but it is more probable that the entred into a true and real Serpent according to the sentiment of most of the Fathers And they have the plain History on their side which saith he was the subtilest of all the Beasts of the Field Gen. 3. 1. And besides the Cursâ— denounc'd against this Animal shews it was a natural Serpent Gen. 3. 14. One tells us that this Creature was a Basilisk Another saith it was a Viper and a third saith it was a Dragon which is an overgrown Serpent But the Devil appearing in the shape of these Creatures would have terrified rather than allured the poor Female Others on a contrary extreme think that it was a bright glorious and winged Serpent that appeared to her They fancy that a Daemon or Devil came to Eve like some Angel or Saraph for the Seraphim or Angels appear'd in form of splendid flying Serpents sometimes as they would prove from Numâ— 21. 6. where the Serpents that God sent among the Israelites are call'd Seraphim And from this place and Isa. 14. 29. they gather that these flying Serpents that were very bright and shining like Fire were usual in the Eastern Countries I have found lately that two excellent Persons of great Name and Esteem in our own Church favour this Opinion But with due respect and deference given first to their Judgment I make bold to offer these Reasons why I dissent from them in this present matter 1. We have no certain knowledg or account of the Serpents spoken of in the forenamed Texts only we know that they were raging fierce and venomous and thence it is likely they were call'd Seraphim burning because by their venomous Sting they produced an inflammation in that part of the Body which they stung And they might be said to flie because of their swift and impetuous motion wherein they exceeded other Serpents 2. If I should grant that there were such firy flying Serpents as these worthy Persons suppose and that they are spoken of in the foregoing places yet it seems not to me probable that Satan would make use of such an affrighting Creature to deal with our Mother Eve This sort of Animals in my apprehension would sooner scare than entice her Methinks his fierce and furious motion should strike terror into her his flaming Wings should make her fly from him not hold discourse with him Or at least 3. this Spectacle was too glittering and dazeling so that she could not endure the brightness of it I am apt to conceive that such a sight was fitter to amaze than to tempt 4. When I find this Serpent reckon'd among the Beasts of the Field and that twice Gen. 3. 1 14. I must needs say I cannot easily be perswaded that it was of that kind before named it seems not to me to be a winged Animal moving aloft in the Air. I do not well apprehend I confess how such a one can be numbred among the Beasts of the Field or Earth Tho the Holy Ghost in Scripture having barely told us that it was a Serpent it is most natural and genuine to conclude it was an ordinary Serpent such as God had lately created and such as among other Creatures lived on the Soil of Paradise Now the Serpent was more subtil than any Beasts of the Field which the Lord God had made Gen. 3. 1. The subtilty of the Serpent denoteth here to us the gentle familiar and insinuating nature of this Animal For the Author of the Iewish Antiquities observes that this Creature frequently convers'd and in a familiar manner associated with Adam and his Wife And so an Antient Father of the Church agrees with this Iewish Writer telling us that the Serpent before the Fall was mild and gentle and more familiar with Man
The rectified Mind said they is the Man but the sensitive Appetite is the Beast This latter they declared to be the Principle which predominateth in all vicious Men and because they wholly â—ollow their Sense and are led merely by a corporeal Appetite they resemble Brutes Accordingly Epimenides calls the Crâ—tians evil Beasts as the Apostle takes notice and for the same reason all Persons that are given to Vice deserve that Denomination For their Portion like Nebuchadnezzar's is with the Beasts You cannot reckon them in the number of Men for tho they retain the human Shape yet they are really degenerated into the nature of Brutes Nay Man is become more irrational by far than the whole Herd of Brutes who by a natural Instinct or by some certain Laws of Motion following the Apprehensions of their Senses discern what is good or hurtful to them and not only so but imbrace the one and avoid the other Man alone once the excellentest Creature in the World but now depraved knows not his Happiness or despises it which in the sacred Stile is expressed after this manner The Ox knows his Owner and the Asâ— his Master's Crib but Israel doth not know my people do not consider Isa. 1. 3. These are the inword and spiritual Evils which are the effects of Adam's Degeneracy and they are usually called by Divines by the name of Spiritual Death for these also were part of that dreadful Threatning In the day thou â—atest thereof thou shalt surely die But there are not only temporal but eternal Evils which are the fruit of Man's Apostatizing Man by his Guilt and Pollution contracted by the Fall and since delighted in is liable to be excluded from Happiness in another Life and is obnoxious to eternal Punishment and Misery in the World to come for Sin of it self can never be expiated and therefore the Guilt of it must necessarily continue without any Period Accordingly we read that the Wages of Sin is Death Rom. 6. 23. i. e. eternal Death for it being oppos'd in that place to eternal Life it cannot signify less It appears then that the Sinner deserves to be â—ormented both in Body and Soul with endless and eternal pains which makes his Condition far worse than that of the Beasts who Perish and so are made uncapable of all future Sufferings This is that worst of Deaths which is another part of that direâ—ul Threatning denounced against Adam and which is the most grievous and terrible effect of his Disobedience and falling from God and from this as from the other Evils procured by Man's Apostacy there is no redemption on 〈◊〉 the merciful and meritorious Undertakings of the blessed Messias who was afterwards promised After all it might be observ'd that not only Adam and Eve were threatned to be punish'd for this Transgression but even the Serpent which the Devil made use of in order to it he was rendred the most cursed of all Creatures and condemn'd to grovel on his Belly and to feed on the Dust of the Earth Gen. 3. 14. Which was design'd to be a lasting as well as a visible Memorial of God's Displeasure against the first Sin in the World So we read afterwards that God spared not the brutâ— Beasts whom the Sinners of the old world had abused but destin'd them no less than the Offenders themselves to Destruction Gen. 6. 7. which gives us some account of the implacable Opposition of the Divine Nature to all Sin and even to all that are but instrumental and serviceable to it He that is of purer eyes than to behold Iniquity will not suffer it to go unpunish'd wherever he observes it And this might be added here that the foresaid Cursâ— on the Serpent hath reference also to the malicious Dâ—mon who actuated that Animal The doom of this impure Spirit is here included his being not able to raise up himself against the Servants of the most High so as to hurt them and his being 〈◊〉 to Hell and his being made for ever a cursâ—d Creature lâ—ath'd and abhor'd of God and Man are comprehended in this Execration Thus I have finish'd the second State of Man This I call a State as it respects Us but I call it a Dispensation as it hath respect unto God because it was his Will and Pleasure to suffer this to be Out of infinite Wisdom he permitted Man's Fall designing to make it subservient at last to the Good of Mankind and to his own Glory by inhansing his Mercy and Goodness in the 〈◊〉 and unexpected rescuing of Mankind from the Miseries which they had incur'd by this general Lapse I say general for as I asserted before concerning the first State that of Innocâ—ncy that it included all Men in it as well as our first Progenitors so I must declare the same concerning this second State and Dispensation It takes in not only Adam and Evâ— who indeed were the most conspâ—cuous Persons but all the succeeding Generations of Men and Women For by reason of our first Parents wilful sinning and transgressing the Divine Law all Persons are under the Displeasure of God the Penalty of his Law and the Power of Satan for they are all conceived in Sin and brought forth in Iniquity they are naturally averse to all Good and prone to all Evil and therefore a Condemnation is justly pass'd on them all Here I might copâ—ously treat of Original Sin and the fatal Influence of it but I intend not at present to enlarge on any main Article or Point of Divinity this Treatise being design'd only as an 〈◊〉 to so great a Performance This only in brief is to be remembred that Adam as a common Person sinn'd for himself and his whole Posterity In him all Mankind were created and in him they all â—ell and were corrupted Adam being the Father and Root of all Successions by his sinning involv'd himself and his Progâ—ny into a State of Guilt and Enmity against God This great Banker broke and with him all his Race were beggar'd and ruin'd His particular Fault became the Catholick Crime of all Persons descended from him even before they knew what was Good and Evil i. e. before they were born They were all accurs'd in him and rendred obnoxious to the Divine Wrath and no Creature was able to deliver them from it But God the merciful Creator and indulgent Father of Mankind was pleased to contrive their Deliverance Accordingly he made an early Discovery of his Grace and Love to our first Parents and to their Posterity which leads me to the next Dispensation CHAP. III. The Nature of the Third General Dispensation The first part of which is the Adamick State The early Promise concerning the Messias Gen. 3. 15. explain'd He was expected betimes The New Testament witnesses that he was to bruise the Serpent's Head Several positive Laws were under this Oeconomy That of Oblations and Sacrifices is especially consider'd Eucharistical Sacrifices were part of the Law of Nature Expiatory
assuming our Nature and thereby redressing the Evils which came by the Fall and by his meritorious Death making Atonement for the Sins of Men and reconciling them to the incens'd Majesty of Heaven And it is here included that even before he was incarnate the Merit of his future Suffeâ—ings and Death should in all Ages be imputed to those who believe in him and look for his Coming For he is the Lamb slain from the beginning of the World he was appointed from Eternity to redeem and save lost Mankind by the effusion of his precious Blood This is the purport of this gracious Promisâ— made to Adam in Paradise this was the fiâ—st dawning of the Gospel-Light here were the first Tidings of a Mâ—ssiaâ— Some of the Church of Româ— understand this Promise concerning the Virgin Mary the Vulgar Latin have render'd it ipsâ— she shall bruisâ— thy Head and hence it is inferr'd by Tiriâ—us and others on the place that that Pronoun refers to a Woman and that Woman is the Virgin Mary who bringing forth Christ bruised the Serpent's Head But these Men must be reminded that the Hâ—brâ—w word which we translate It is not hi but 〈◊〉 not she but 〈◊〉 However being of the Masculine Gender it must needs reâ—er to the word before which is of the same Genderâ— and that is Zâ—rang the Sâ—â—d viz. the Seed of the Woman which is Christ. The Lawâ— of Grammar forbid us to render it she and the Laws of the Christian Religion forbid us to apply it to the Virgin Mary seeing it is the proper Work of the Mâ—ssiaâ— to bruise and break the Serpent's Head i. e. to destroy Satan This Interpretation then we quit not only as it is ungrammatical but as it is profane and blasphemously derogates from the Office and Undertakings of Christ. Of him alone we ought to understand these words to him only we can with good reason apply them Thus without doubt they were understood by our First Parents and administred unspeakable Solace and Comfort to them Hence the Messiaâ— was daily expected by them and when Eve was deliver'd of her first-born Son she thought verily she had brought forth the Mâ—ssiaâ— who should bruise the Serpent's Head I have gotten â—aith she a Man from the Lord or according to the Hebrew the Man the Lord. Not only the Iewish especially the Cabalistick Doctors but some worthy Persons of the Christian Perswasion read the words thus and interpret them concerning the Blessed Seed Helvicus hath shew'd that Eth is an Article of the Accusative Casâ— and he doth it in so many Instances in Scripture that it seems to be the Hebrâ—w Idiom And besides it is a demonstrative or â—mphatick Particle and points at some Thing or Person in a signal manner So here it emphatically refers to the Mâ—ssiaâ— who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both Man and God Our Grandmother Evâ— was in hopes that she had born this God-man that Person who was to bruise Saâ—an's Head according to the Promise made to them It is not wholly improbable that 〈◊〉 also perswaded himself that his Son Noah should be the Messias and take away the Curse of the Fall and bring a Blessing with him and comfort the distressed World and give it Rest and Ease and therefore he named him Noah which signifies both Rest and Consolation There was without question a continual expectation of the Coming of this Person and of the fulâ—illing of that Promise concerning his destroying of Satan The seventy Interpreters understood that Text of the Messias which occasion'd their making the masculine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to answer to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Neuâ—er Gender as the Apostle also doth Gal. 3. 16. And all the antiâ—nt Iews understood this Promise of the blessed Seed Christ tho the Moderns do not You will find it thus applied by both the Targums And the New Testament approves of this by bearing witness that Christ is the Person who â—ruisâ—s the Serpent's Head He took Flesh and Blood that through Death he might destroy him that had the Power of Death that is the Dâ—vil Heb. 2. 14. To this purpose the Son of God was manifestâ—d that he might destroy the Works of the Devil 1 John 3. 8. and Luke 10. 18. Iohn 12. 31. and 14. 30. with many other places declare that this was he who was to bruise Satan under our feet This is the Scope of the whole Gospel and this is that Gospel which was preached by God in Paradisâ— When Adam and in him all Mankind apostaâ—ized from God and could expect nothing but the Reward of their Rebellion and therefore might have abandon'd themselves to utter Despair God reviv'd them with this Promise of the Mâ—ssias The Seed of the Woman shall bruisâ— the Sâ—rpâ—nt's Head God the Father so loved the World that he resolved to give to his Only Son to be their Redeemer who being the Eternal Wisdom and Word of God and so truly God and one in Essence with the Father was in due time to assume our Nature and become Man thereby to transact the Redemption of lost Mankind and accomplish the Designs of Grace and Mercy to undone Sinners Which tho it be not expresly on this occasion set down in the Mâ—saick History yet other passages of Sacred Scripture assure us that it was so and that the Second Persâ—n in the Sâ—cred Triniâ—y undertook to pacify the Wrath of the Deiâ—y and to reconcile Man unto God and to accomplish the New Covenant made with Adam and his Posterity even a Covenant of Grace and Mercy through his Blood Having thus shew'd the main thing in this Dispensation I must in the next place acquaint you what other considerable things made up this particular Oeconomy and Administration of the Almighty Aâ—ter this grand Revelation and Discovery made to Adam and Eve concerning the Messias to come there were several positive Precepts and Laws given to them and their Children Some reckon that as one that the Woman should be subject to the Man He shall rule over thee Gen. 3. 16. For these words they say may contain not only a Threatning but a Command Here is not only signified the Punishment consequent on the Fall that the Husband should imperiously rule over the Woman which we mention'd before but here is enjoyn'd the subjection of the latter to the former this being now become requisite in the state that Men and Women are in And tho it was a Curse to be tyrannically ruled tho a servile subjection was the Consequent of the Fall yet now it is a Duty to be freely submissive and with it goes a Blessing That also may be look'd upon as another positivâ— Law that Men should labour For tho those words In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat Bread Gen. 3. 19. carry the nature of a Commination and Curse so far as Man's Labour is with uneasiness trouble and pain yet they may likewise be understood in the way of a
was accepted And this passes for a general Opinion with us and not without a great shew of Reason for it seems to be founded on the Mosaick Law it self there we see that Idolatry Murder Blasphemy c. were always punish'd with Death unless the special Favour of God interposed There was no Sacrifice permitted to expiate the proâ—anation of the Sabbath for it is expresly said Everyone that defileth the Sabbath shall surely be put to death Exod. 31. 14. Nor could he that eat the Sacrifice whilst he was in his Vncleanness be pardon'd for this is his Doom That Soul shall be cut off from his People Levit. 7. 20 21. There was no Sacrifice admitted for Adultery or for disobeying of Parents In short Sins of Ignorance only were expiated by the Mosaick Sacrifices but all Sins of Presumption remain'd unatoned which they prove from Numb 15. 28 30. The Priest shall make an atonement for the Soul that sinneth ignorantly But the Soul that doth ought presumptuously shall be cut off from among his People So that Sins of Obstinacy and Malice had no Sacrifice allow'd the Offenders were either put to death by the Magistrate or cut off by God But notwithstanding all this that is alledged it seems to me very evident that the guilt of all Sins whatsoever if they were heartily repented of was atoned by the Mosaick Sacrifices For when those of the other Opinion say there was no Expiation for greater Sins it must be meant either of Internal or External Sins Now it is generally confess'd that God appointed Sacrifices and Expiations for the greatest Sins of the Heart and Mind as Unbelief blasphemous Thoughts idolatrous Imaginations desires of Murder uncleanness of the Heart c. for even some of the best Men it is likely were not free from these mental Pollutions Who can imagine that there was no atonement for these under the Law Can we think that all perish'd who were at any time guilty of these No certainly they were pardon'd through God's Mercy upon Repentance and the appointed means of sacrificing And as for visible and outward gross Enormities tho there may seem to be no provision made in the Mosaick Law for their Expiation because the Offenders were presently punish'd with Death yet it doth not follow thence that there was no Expiation for those notorious Crimes for they might be expiated tho it was fitting and necessary that they should be animadverted upon by a severe Penalty leâ—t Impunity should encourage Men in Sin and Vice When we find then in Moses's Law that such as were guilty of Adultery Murder Incest c. were not exempted from Capital Punishment we cannot thence infer that Sacrifices purg'd none from the guilt of these Enormities and that the Legal Offerings were design'd only to expiate for smaller Aberrations for the reason why those great Offenders were punish'd was not because there were no Sacrifices and Oblations to clear them of their Guilt but because it was requisite Death should be the Recompence of those Crimes lest the Common-wealth should be endamaged and ruined by suffering such to go unpunish'd But even the guilt of these heinous Sins if those that committed them sincerely repented of them was expiated by those daily Offerings which were made for the Sins of the People and by the frequent Trespass-Offerings notwithstanding the infliction of the corporal Punishment The Propitiatory Sacrifices were available even to those who suffer'd for their Sins They were able through God's Appointment to remove the Guilt the not the Punishment Is it not acknowledg'd and that because it is manifest from several Instances that the Crimes of Persons have been forgiven and pardon'd tho they themselves were not exempted from the Penalty Moses's Death was the Recompence of his Unbelief tho none doubts of his expiring in the Divine Favour David was punish'd with the Death of his Child tho we read that his Sin was pardon'd Iosiah was justly snatch'd away in Battel because he ingag'd in it against the Divine Will and Command but yet he died in peace i. e. in the Favour of God and was transmitted to the place of Everlasting Peace and Happiness Wherefore I gather hence that tho Death was made by Moses's Law the penal Consequence of Adultery Disobedience to Parents Violation of the Sabbath Day c. yet whoever among such Criminals as these turn'd unto God by an unfeign'd detestation of the Sins they committed had without doubt the benefit of the Legal Sacrifices which expiated the Offences of all true Penitents tho they were never so great And the reason is this because this Institution or Ordinance of Sacrificing was the standing means of Salvation in the Jewish Dispensation and therefore it was requisite that the influence of it should extend to all Sinners that were heartily sorry for their Offences and abhorr'd their past Crimes yea and themselves for being guilty of them This we must grant unless we will say that no heinous Sinners under the Law were ever pardon'd and receiv'd to Mercy which is an assertion that is easily baffled by a great many Instances which the Old Testament records It was in the was of Sacrifices that these Persons had their Guilt remitted and expiated for there was no other Expedient or Remedy at that time as we are assured not only from the End and Design of instituting the Sacrifices which was to take away Sin but from those express words of the Apostle which refer to this manner of Expiation without shedding of Blood there is no Remission Heb. 9. 22. This then being the only way of Remission and Pardon of Sin it was certainly efficacious and even those who were cut off from their People tho this Doom doth not always signify immature Death and therefore can't be absolutely made use of here or were cut off from the Land of the Living and their Sins atoned by the Law of Sacrifices supposing as hath been said before that they repented from their Hearts of their vile and flagitious Miscarriages And this may be further made good from that plain distinction of Chattah and Asham the Sin Offering and the Trespass Offering the one being design'd to remove the Guilt of petty Declensions the other to make satisfaction for gross and enormous Crimes And moreover this is plain from Levit. 5. 4 15. where Sacrifices are commanded to be offer'd for great Crimes as unlawful swearing and sacrilege And the Aâ—niversary Oblation in Levit. 16. 16 c. was not only for their Vncleannesses but for for their Transgressions in all their Sins But as for the sin of Presumption or sinning with a high hand as 't is in the Hebrew Numb 15. 30. it includes in this place Impenitence and final Obstinacy and therefore it is no wonder that there was no Atonement for it for even the Alsufficient Merit of Christ Jesus doth not expiate for this Sin but all other Sins were atoned by Sacrifices I see no reason to the contrary and therefore I
beg leave to dissent from those who assert that these Sacrifices expiated only for lesser Sins and Failings and not for the greater ones of external idolatry Murder Blasphemy and the like It is not to be doubted that all kinds and degrees of Sin were expiated by the legal Sacrifices not only corporal Punishment in the sense which I have explain'd and legal Uncleanness but all moral Impurity and Guilt were taken away by them But this the Mosaick Sacrifices did not do of themselves but by virtue only of the Expiatory Sacrifice of the MESSIAS to come of which they were but Shadows To speak properly and strictly they did not really and formally but typically expiate i. e. as they were Significations and Figures of that great Sacrifice to be offer'd Lastly then the grand and principal End of the Judaical Sacrifices was to typify and represent the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. Socinus denies not that the Anniversary Sacrifice on the Day of Expiation was a Type of Christ ' s Death But as for the other common and usual Sacrifices he holds that Christ was not prefigured by them but that the Spiritual Sacrifices of Christians were only typified thereby This is a gross Error for the Burnt-Offerings and Sin-Offerings and Peace-Offerings which were common and frequent were Expiatory Sacrifices as I shew'd before and they were as much Expiatory as that which was but once a Year Now being Expiatory they as such were Types of the great Propitiatory Sacrifice of the Lamb of God they prefigured Christ's Death and the Expiation and Satisfaction which he was to make for Sin It is a strange thing therefore to me that Socinus who denies Christ to be a Propitiatory Sacrifice should grant that the Sacrifice which the High Priest offer'd once a Year entring into the Holy of Holies prefigured the Death of Christ for the same reason he ought to grant that all the Expiatory Sacrifices of the Law were Types of our Saviour And he could not but see that the Holy Ghost in Scripture doth not only speak of that Annual Sacrifice as a prefiguration of Christ's Passion and apply it expresly to him in Heb. 9. 12. By his own Blood â—e entred in once into the Holy Place but the same Infallible Spirit in that Epistle applieth what is said of the other Sacrifices unto Christ Therefore the Apostle saith Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 15. 7. Therefore Iohn the Baptist call'd our Saviour the Lamb of God who takes away the Sins of the World John 1. 29. having respect without doubt to the Expiatory Sacrifices of the Old Testament which prefigured Christ the true Immaculate Lamb the Lamb that was slain as the same inspired Writer speaks from the Foundation of the World Rev. 13. 8. Christ's Offering was the Idea and Pattern of all the Levitical and Mosaical Sacrifices To this very end God instituted these that they might shadow out that to us A greater and better Sacrifice and Oblation of a higher nature was to succeed those viz. the Sacrifice of Christ Jesus by which God is appeased and all our Sins are expiated and therefore the Phrase of a sweet-smelling Savour applied to Expiatory Sacrifices under the Law is used and that properly by the Apostle concerning Christ his giving up himself for us and pacifying God's Wrath on our behalf That the Legal Sacrifices were Types and Symbols of spiritual things is acknowledg'd by Philo but we who have an infallible information from the New Testament are taught further viz. that they were Types of Christ the great Sacrifice And we have the greatest reason imaginable to assent to this because the Blood of Bulls and Goats was a poor Expiation of it self That Butchery that bloody Employment could have no real and intrinsick worth in it and therefore it must needs have been in order to something else it was to prefigure the expiatory Death and Sacrifice of the Massias And all the time that these Mosaick Sacrifices lasted they did not pacify God's Anger and satisfy his Justice and take away Sin and justify Persons by their own Force and Virtue or by their own worthiness but they did all this typically and mystically as they represented Christ and his Merit who was the Great Sacrifice they did it by Divine Order and Institution CHAP. VI. The High-Priest's Office His peculiar Attire The Imployment and Apparel of the Priests The Levites Particular Charge Whether they might sacrifice or no. Their Office in the Reigns of King David and King Solomon differ'd in some things from what it was before The ordinary and fixed Place of Worship and particularly of Sacrificing was the Tabernacle A particular Account of the three Divisions or Partitions of it viz. the Outward Court the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies with all things contain'd in them The Mystical and Spiritual meaning of the several Particulars The Travels and Removes of the Tabernacle and Ark. A distinct Account of the Parts of the Temple shewing wherein it differ'd from the Tabernacle Of the Fabrick it self and its Dimensions Houses and Chambers belonging to it The Sacraments appointed by the Ceremonial Law HAving spoken of Sacrifices we will now in the second place speak of the Sacrificers the Persons that officiated in the Ceremonial Worship under the Law There were three Orders of these the first whereof was the High-Priest For tho there were Priests before the Law who were Fathers and Heads and the First-born of Families yet we read of 〈◊〉 High-Priest This Office is now added and Aaron had it first of all to whose House it was tied by Divine Institution But it continued not long there only Eleazer succeeded his Father Aaron and upon Eleazer's Death three Priests of his Family successively were High-Priests Then the Office went out of the House of Aaron and came to Eli of the Family of Ithamar But generally afterwards the High Priesthood was by succession of Blood and lineally descended from the Father to the Son or if there were no Son to the next of the Kindred This High Priest was the great and supreme Ecclesiastical Minister among the Iews And even according to Philo and some other Iews was a Type of the Messias His Office was in common with that of the Priests of whom afterwards to pray for instruct and bless the People but his peculiar Province was to preside over the Priests and other inferior Officers of the Church to take care that they discharg'd their Function aright Whereas these administred daily he was obliged to officiate only on the solemn Day of Expiation He differ'd from them in the manner of his Consecration and was peculiar in some other things He had the singular honour to be the Metropolitan of the Jewish Church and the President of the Great Council or Sanhedrim To make him more pompous and venerable the Law took care of his very Attire I will only shew you this Sacred Wardrobe and
the same Or suppose this Phrase from the foundation of the World doth not denote Eternity yet it is enough for our purpose that Christ the Lamb of God was slain from the beginning of the World for from thence we may gather that it was designed and appointed to reach to all following Generations 2. The way and method of Salvation was the same under all the Dispensations of Grace for Christ instructed his Church in all Ages the Gospel was preached to them aâ— well as to us Heb. 4. 2. All the Patriarchs and Prophets and Holy Men of past ages arrived at Heaven and Happiness by the Conduct of this great Guide Iesus Christ the same yesterday 〈…〉 day and for ever are words appliable to Christ nor only as he is King and Priest but also as he is Prophet and Teacher of his Church Which Sacred Office he hath faithfully performed in all Ages and there hath been no Time since the Church was founded but he hath been the Instructer of it The Covenant of Grace was made first of all with Adam in Paradise and God hath from Age to Age renewed that Covenant to his Church and the Grace of God in Christ was common to the Antient Patriarchs and Iews with us So that from the Fall of our first Parents to the end of the World the way of Expâ—ation and of obtaining Salvation hath been is and shall be the same viz. by Christ and by his Merits The Virtue of his Death altho he actually died long after commenced with the first Promise made to Adam The Socinians oppose this and generally hold that the Godly who lived before the time of the Messias were not saved by Him they assert that they knew nothing of it and that there were other means of being saved under the Old Testament than there are under the New But this is a Doctrine deservedly exploded by all Persons who are of the Orthodox Faith and who own the True Christian Religion They all agree that the same way of Salvation hath always prevailed that all who were saved under the Old Testament were saved by Virtue of Christ's Death and Satisfaction There was Justification under the Law tho not by it or by virtue of it Those that believed with their whole hearts on God and faithfully serv'd him were justified and obtain'd Remission of their Sins and Eternal Life by that Grace which was couched in the Law i. e. promis'd in the Messias and figured and represented by the obscure Types of the Law By virtue of the Grace to be exhibited by Christ even those who were before his arrival were saved This is the Doctrine which St. Peter preach'd Acts 15. 11. We believe that through the grace of the Lord Iesus Christ we shall be saved even as They i. e. the Fathers before Christ as is clear from the foregoing verse The Holy Men then were acquainted with the Substance of this Covenant viz. the Promise of Restoration by Christ and consequently the Old Testament Saints were saved by him Thus we are told by another inspired Author that by means of Christ's Death there was Redemption for the Transgressors that were under the first Testament Heb. 9. 15. For tho the Redemption of Mankind was not actually wrought by him till he died on the Cross yet the Virtue and Benefit of it were in all Ages as the Sun spreads its light and illuminates our Region before its glorious Body appeareth above the Horizon 3. As to the Conditions and Qualifications on our part all the Dispensations of Grace were the same All substantial Duties towards God and Man are the same now that they were then Even Faith in the Messias is as antient as that Promise on which it was first founded that the Blessâ—d Seed should break the Serpents head Gen. 3. 15. They who lived before Christ's Incarnation conâ—ided in this Promised Deliverer by whose Merit they hoped to be reconciled to God Faith in Christ was a Duty under the Old Testament because there were Promises concerning the Messias then as is evident from Luke 1. 72. and what were these Promisessor but to be credited and relied upon Therefore it is recorded that Abraham Believed Rom. 4. 3. Gal. 3. 6. And our Saviour witnesseth that Abraham rejoiced to see his day and he saw it and was glad Joh. 8. 56. The Reason was because as the Apostle saith God preached the Gospel to Abraham Gal. 3. 8. and discovered the Messias to him The just lived by Faith in Habakkuk's time Hab. 2. 4. which by the Apostle is applied to the Evangelical Faith in Rom. 1. 17. Gal. 3. 11. Therefore when Socinus tells us that Faith in Christ was not comprehended in the Mosaick Covenant and when one of his Scholars confidently avers that it is a gross Error to think that the Fathers under the Old Testament believed in Christ to come and were justified by that Faith we know whence to confute these bold Men. That the Evangelical Righteousness and Justification were in the Old Testament is clear because the Apostle brings Examples of this free Justification out of the Old Testament Rom. 4. 3 6 c. That Salvation by Faith in Christ was no New thing is evident from other places as Acts 10. 43. To him give all the Prophets witness that through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins And Rom. 3. 21 22. The righteousness of God withâ—ut the Law is manifested being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Iesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe Aâ—d St. Peter 1 Episâ— Chap. 2. ver 6. proves that Chrisâ— is the foundation whereupon all the Saints are built from Isa. 28. 16. Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner-stone elect precious and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded From all which it may be undeniably infeâ—'d that under the Law they believed in Christ for Justiâ—â—cation and that the Fathers before Christ were saved by Faith in him and in a word that all from the beginning of the World have been Justified and Saved the same way viz. for Christ's Merits and upon the Gospel-terms of Sincere Faith and Obedience and of persevering in the same unto the end Thus in respect of the Designation the Way and the Efficacy of Salvation the Evangelical Dispensation differs not from the preceding ones This the Antient Fathers speak of particularly they defend the Antiquity of Christianity and prove it to be as old as Moses yea as Adam Iustin Marâ—yr reckons Abraham and Elias but he goes too far when he reckons Heraclitus and Socrates among Christians in answer to that Objection that those were Christians only that lived within a hundred and fifty Years This Pious Father in another place argueth from the Antiquity of the Christian Religion and the Authors of it That Religion which hath the best Authors and is oldest is
that Christ's words here are not oppofed to Moses's that he doth command nothing contrary to the Law but that he vindicated the Law from the false and corrupt Glosses of the Pharisees you may be convinced that Christ is here no New Legislator but an Interpreter of the Old Law that he only explaineth and cleareth it and more fully delivereth it to the World and consequently that the Precepts of the Gospel are the same in substance with the Decalogue that Christ enjoineth no New Virtue as to the kind of it that he hath made no addition of New Laws and Precepts to the Old ones unless in those respects which I have before mentioned and on the account of them it is that the Legal and Evangelical Dispensation differ so much Being now employed in shewing the Difference between the Old Dispensations before Christ and that which he introduced I cannot finish what I intend unless I particularly handle that noted Question What is the difference between the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace or between the Old and New Covenant and why they are called so I have said something already which may give light to this but now I will purposely insist upon it Indeed the Discourse of the Old and New Covâ—nant might have been inserted in the beginning when I enter'd upon the General Oâ—conomy of Grace when I spoke of the first Discovery made to Adam concerning the Messâ—as but then I must have antedated some things which I have mention'd since and I must have treated of the Evangelical Dispensation long before it came in my way It is therefore pertinent and most proper to treat of the Câ—venants in this place and to shew the true difference between them We must call to mind then what I said before that God covenanted with Man 1. When he was in the State of Innocence 2. When he was fallen The former was the Covenant of Wâ—rks the latter was the Covenant of Grâ—ce As to the first it was properly a Covenant for a Covenant is a mutual Agreement betwixt Party and Party with reciprocal Obligations of each other So that Covenant was a Contract between God and Adam and in him with all Mankind wherein God promised Everlasting Life and Happiness to Man if he continued in his Obedience to him And Man having a sufficient Ability given him by God ingaged on his part to perform perfect Obedience and to persevere in all good Works without sinning whence it was call'd the Covenant of Works Upon this Agreement God gave Adam a particular Commandment as a trial of his Obedience that he should abstain from the Fruit of a certain Tree in the Garden where God had placed him But Adam soon broke this Covenant by eating the forbidden Fruit and so brought a Curse on himself and all his Posterity Hereupon the First Convenant or Covenant of Works was succeeded by a Second viz. the Covenant of Grace This is that Covenant which God made with Adam and his Posterity just after his Fall when they were in a state of Sin and Misery Christ was promised forthwith the Seed of thâ— Woman shall break the Serpent's Head Gen. 3. 15. As soon as this Promise was given and made the Covenant of Works expired then began the Covenant of Grace and so was in succeeding Generations more and more revealed till Christ came and fully revealed it This is called the Covenant of Grace as hath been said before because it proceeded from mere Grace and Favour and because a more abundant Grace and Love are discovered in this Covenant for Man's restoring than in the other for preserving him Now a Covenant being a mutual Contract and Stipulation of both Parties as hath been suggested this Covenant as well as the other was made up of something on God's part and something on ours As God is tied to Man so Man is tied to God God promised to send his Son to take our Nature and to make known to us the Will of his Father thus he is a 〈◊〉 and also to satisfy God for our Sins and by this means to redeem us from Hell and Eternal Damnation and to obtain for us forgiveness of Sins and the favour of God and Eternal Life and Blessedness Sinners are justified pardoned and restored to what they lost by 〈◊〉 they are reinstated in the Right and Privilege they had before their Apostacy This is done by Chrrist's Death thus he is our Priest he offers himself a Sacrifice for our Sins Further he inables us to discharge our Duty by sending his Holy Spirit into our Hearts he rules and governs us and so is our King This is the Covenant on God's part On ours it is to hearken diligently to our Prophet and to be desirous and ready to learn his Will to accept of rely upon and apply unto our selves the meritorious Satisfaction of our Priest and to be ruled by him as our King to submit to him and to obey his Laws which briefly are these that we acknowledg his Soveraignty over us that we believe in him and that we repent and forsake our Sins These are the Conditions of the Covenant of Grace on Man's part Or take the whole in a briefer way thus To give Ability and Power to believe and repent and perform Acts of Holiness is the New Covenant on God's part But personally to do these by virtue of the foresaid Power is the New Covenant on Man's part which yet God alone can make effectual It is said by some that Faith and Obedience are not the Conditions of this Covenant on Man's part because they are promised in the Covenant for the Condition of the Covenant must be a distinct thing from the Covenant But this is a mere Nicety for tho in the Gospel-Covenant Faith and Repentance are prâ—misâ—d i. e. God hath ingaged to give us strength to exert these Graces yet so far as they are consider'd as our Acts and coming from 〈◊〉 for God cannot be said to believe and repent they are Conditions They are promis'd by 〈◊〉 upon 〈◊〉 as all that we are to do is promis'd but since we on our part engage and promise to do them they are rightly stiled and really are Qualifications without which we shall never partake of the Divine Favour Neither do these Conditionâ— of Faith and Obedience which are required of us hinder the freeness of the Gospel-Grace as is objected for God promised pardon of Sin and Eternal Life freely and it is the same free Grace which first appointed and afterward accepteth of these Conditions It is mere Favour and Good-will that God was pleased to give Salvation and Everlasting Happiness by Christ on condition of believing and obeying him But you will say it is the Language of the Covenant of Works Do this and live whereas the Gospel saith Believe and be saved I answer The Covenant of Grace as well as the Covenant of Works requires doing and so in effect saith Do this and live But yet
not of Human Race And further it is remarkable that this People endeavour'd in the Emperor Adrian's Reign to restore and reedifie their Temple but were forced to desist from it And afterwards when Iulian out of hatred to the Christians set them about that Work as they were laying the Foundation an Earthquake shatter'd all they had done and Fire flash'd out of the ground wherewith many thousands of the Iews were destroyed as is testified not only by several Christian Writers but by Ammianus Marcellinus who was a Heathen But by the way it may be observ'd when the Christians built a Temple in the same place they were not molested but finish'd it and made it the Patriarchal Seat and flourish'd five hundred years till the time that Ierusalem was taken by the Saracens This Iewish People now have neither Temple nor Priest Altar nor Sacrifice their Rites and Ceremonies are ceas'd their Tribes are confounded their Prophets are extinct they have no certain State or Commonwealth no Laws no Prince no Governor of their own they are scatter'd over the face of the whole Earth and are a despised and loathed People This cannot but be thought to be the just Iudgment of God upon them for their murdering of Christ. And there cannot be a more visible Evidence of the Truth of Christianity than this viz. the Destruction of the Iewish Poliâ—y and the miserable Dispersion of that People for these sixteen hundred years It was observ'd by the Enemies of the Iews heretofore how they prosper'd above all other People They are a certain sort of Men saith an Historian who tho they have been often diminished yet they have so increas'd that they have been too hard for the Power of the Roman Laws and they have almost arrived to the Confidence and Liberty of making Laws for the rest of the World But this singular Providence of God towards the Iews is long since changed and they have been through many Ages the remarkable Example of Divine Justice and Vengeance such as no Story can parallel Tully is not to be regarded when speaking of the Iews he saith That Nation doth sufficiently declare by its being conquered and made Tributary and by being reduced to the utmost Servitude how dear it was to the Gods He speaks this after his Pagan manner But Sulpitius Severus who was a better Judg of Religion and of the Issues of it speaking of the Destruction of Ierusalem by Titus and of the dispersion of the Iews thereupon gives us this Remark This last overthrow of the Temple and Captivity of the Iews whereby they are banished from their Country and are daily seen to be scatter'd over the whole Earth are a Testimony to the World that this Punishment hath befallen them for no other cause than for laying their wicked hands upon Christ for when at other times this People were deliver'd to Captivity for their Sins they never underwent that slavery beyond seventy Years But now these Persons who were the Dear Off-spring of those that were the Darlings of God Almighty the Beloved of the Lord his Chosen People his peculiar Charge and the singular Care of Heaven have been for sixteen Centuries forsaken of God and all Men and are the very Offscowring of the World This utter Extermination of the Iews is an unanswerable Argument against them and shews that they lie under the Curse of God for their rejecting the Saviour of the World and for putting to Death the Messias Two of their Rabbies seriously pondering this Argument urged upon them by Luther were convinced of their gross Error and Sin and were the day after baptized at Wittenberg in the face of the whole University And truly this must be said that the total dispersion of the Iews can never in all its Circumstances be reconciled with the Providence of God his Goodness Wisdom and Promises if they continue the People of God still and are in favour with him For can it be imagined that God would leave his Beloved People so long and wholly disown them Is it worthy of God and agreeable to his Wisdom and Mercy which are interested in the Salvation of Men to let the True Religion so they count Iudaism fall to the ground and be utterly abolished and to set up another a False one so they reckon Christianity to be in its place This is plain and convincing I think It is harsh and incredible that the God of Order and Righteousness should deal thus that he should cause this Confusion in the World and throw down and even break in pieces a Religion which is the only True one according to them It cannot enter into any Reasonable Mans mind that God would let his own Religion and People be thus confounded It is evident therefore that the Iewish Religion was but for a time and that the Christian Religion was to succeed that and that this is the True Religion likewise that God sent this severe Punishment on the Iews for their refusing of Christ the True and Only Messiah and for their Opposing and Persecuting and at last Crucifying this Holy One. Thus the Christian Religion is attested and vouched by the dreadful Plagues and Iudgments on the Persons and Nations that opposed it Vengeance hath pursued the Enemies of the Gospel Lastly from the Excellency of the Christian Religion and of all the Principles Doctrines and Truths that belong to it I gather the Reality and Certainty of it This is another Divine Testimony which might be enlarg'd upon Never was Holiness so strictly urged as now never was there an Institution that was so Heavenly and Sublime as this never was there any that directed Men to such Noble Ends and afforded them such Joys and Solaces Wherefore it cannot proceed from any but God A Religion that so immediately leads to him must needs come from him Since Christianity doth fit us for Heaven we have Reason to believe that it came from thence But because I had occasion to insist largely upon this Particular when I undertook to assert the Divine Authority of the Scriptures and afterwards when I demonstrated the Excellency and Perfection of them I will say no more of this last Argument of the Truth of Christianity And thus you see the firm Basis of it These arâ— the Testimonials to prove the Truth of our Religion and that it is a Dispensation different from all the rest These are the Proofs whereon we found this Oeconomy and there is no other evidence that a Reasonable Man can desire I say no other becausâ— here are all kinds of Evidience Christianity is proved by the Witness of credible Men and by the Attestation of God himself It is proved by Natural and Supernatural Arguments by Reason and by Faith We have the Certainty both of Human and Divine Testimony which may be call'd a Demonstration for a thing is demonstrated when it appears that there is an absolute Impossibility that the thing should not be thus
questionless are to be understood of this Kingdom of the Messias which is yet to come The Close of the Prophecy plainly shews that it is meant of this for 't is said they shall no more be pulled up out of their Land which I have given them They have been pull'd up out of that Land that we are certain of and they are not yet return'd to it But when God shall bring them again to that Place they shall no more be pull'd up they shall remain there 'till the End of the World I will add that famous Prediction of the Prophet Zachariab Ch. 12. v. 10 c. I will pour upon the House of David and upon the Inhabitants of Terusalem the Spirit of Grace and of Supplications and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn c. That this Chapter is spoken of the Tews is agreed upon by all and that this Portion of it is more especially so appears from that first thing which is said of them viz. that they shall look upon him whom they have pierced for it refers to the piercing of our Saviour's side with a Spear John 19. 37. where upon this Action this Scripture is said to be fulfill'd Upon this Account their looking upon Christ and mourning for him cannot be meant of what they did presently after their return from the Captivity in Babylon of which some imagine most of the Prophets speak for Christ was not then come and therefore they could not pierce him And besides this Zechary prophesied after the Captivity and the Restauration of the Iews and consequently could not speak of these as future things as here they shall look they shall mourn Nor can this Prophecy be understood as some conceive of the Conversion of the Iews in the Apostles Times when several of them imbrac'd the Christian Faith and particularly in one day there were added to the Church about three thousand Souls Acts. 241. some of whom had been Crucifiers of our Saviour v. 36. for this is far different from a National Mourning and Repentance which are here foretold Not only Ierusalem but the Land shall mourn v. 12. the whole People of the Jews Neither is this Prophecy to be interpreted concerning the Day of Judgement as several Expositors have thought telling us that then there shall be a General Mourning and Lamenting for the Crucifying of Christ when they shall look on him whom they have pierced But this Exposition cannot be admitted because these Words speak of the true and hearty Repentance and Conversion of the Iews which no considerate Man can expect shall be at the Last Day If they have not the Spirit of Grace and Supplications poured on them before it is too late then to have it Nor can the Iewish Families mourn apart at that time as is related here Therefore I conclude seeing none of the foresaid Interpretations are well grounded that the Words are to be understood of the Days of the Millennary Reign when there shall be a National and Universal Call of the Jews The whole Land i. e. all the People shall mourn and every Family apart to shew the Sincerity of the Mourning The Spirit of Grace and Supplication shall be bestow'd on these True Penitents they shall be effectually moved by the former to hate their past Enormities and by the latter to beg Pardon for them They shall in a sincere and saving manner bewail the execrable Wickedness of their Forefathers who put the Blessed Iesus to Death and as cordially grieve that they themselves cruciâ—ied him by their Sins This is looking on him whom they pierced Thus on all Accounts this Prophetick Passage is to be interpreted concerning that Last Conversion of the Jews which is one main Ingredient of the Messias's Kingdom toward the World's End when the whole Body of that People disperesed over the several parts of the Earth shall be brought home to the Flock of Christ. Thus it is apparent that this is one of the most considerable Texts in the Old Testament to this purpose I will now pass to the New Testament which chiefly recounts the wonderful Grace of God in the Conversion of Persons to Christianity in the Times of our Saviour and his Apostles and therefore speaks but little of this future Call of the Iews but two or three Places are very Remarkable which I will Produce The first is that of Luke 2. 30 31 c. where we read that Aged Simeon took the Child Iesus up in his Arms and blessed God that his Eyes had seen his Salvation viz. the Saviour whom God had sent into the World whom he had prepared before the Face of all People i. e. whom he had from Eternity decreed and appointed to make known in due time to all the Nations and People of the World And because Gentiles and Iews are a dichotomy of all the People of the World this Great Blessing is more particularly and distinctly expressed thus that he shall be a Light to lighten the Gentiles and the Glory of his People Israel Where we are assured that the Gentiles shall first share in this Blessing of the Messias and then the Iews which manifestly shews that this latter is to be understood of the General Conversion of the Iews for in our Saviour's Time the Iews were first call'd and then the Gentiles It shall be otherwise afterwards the way of Salvation and Happiness shall first be discovered to the Gentiles and then to the Iews But observe how differently this is express'd it is said Christ shall enlighten the former but he shall be the Glory of the latter It is a very high Word and lets us know how great how renown'd how glorious the State of the Jews shall be hereafter For this must necessarily be meant of their future Condition because they have never since these Words were spoken been a Glorious People yea they have been above Sixteen hundred years an inglorious base despised People Therefore there remains a Time when these Words of Simeon shall be fulfill'd viz. when the Gentiles are converted to the Faith then Christ shall be the Glory of his People Israel And it is probable that this is meant by those Words that follow Behold this Child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel that is the Jewish People shall be rejected but they shall afterwards be recovered and restored We have seen the first part of this Prophecy accomplished and at this very day the Truth of it is manifest the Jews are fallen they are cast off and cease to be a Church or Nation The second part of the Prophecy is yet to come when this People shall rise again and be receiv'd to Mercy and Favour The next Text is that which I had occasion to mention partly before but now I will set it down in full Luke 21. 24. where our Saviour after he had been discoursing of the several Fore-runners of those Judgments which were to befal the Iews