and bruises due to them fell upon him The chastisement and stripes were his the peace and healing thereby procured belong unto us In a word though we finned and were liable to suffer upon that account yet he suffered for us If this be not plain enough let us proceed All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all v. 6. The plain and natural sense of which words is this that whereas we had sinned and had made our selves obnoxious to punishment yet God did not punish us as we deserved but the Messias in our room and stead To the same purpose we read afterward He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken v. 8. And after those words we read that his soul should be made an offering for sin v. 10. It is certain that a sin or trespass-offering under the law of Moses was expiatory and piacular and the beast was offered instead of the offender and God did accept the bloud of the sacrifice in the room of the life of the person who had sinned Let us now consider what we read in the New Testament to the same purpose Our Blessed Saviour in his solemn prayer a little before his passion hath these words For their sakes speaking of his Disciples I sanctifie my self that they also might be sanctified through the truth That is Christ did offer up himself as a victim or sacrifice for them as the Greek word is observed to signifie And that sacrifice also is to be looked upon as a piacular and expiatory one And to that purpose it is well observed that the prayer Joh. 17.1 2 c. by which Christ consecrated himself unto his death is like unto that which the Jewish High Priest used when he consecrated or offered up the victims of the day of expiation before the Altar Joh. 17.19 Agreeably to what hath been said St. Paul speaking of Christ tells us that God hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin Of which words I can give no other sense but this viz. that though Christ were innocent himself yet God thought fit to give him up to death as a piacular sacrifice for our sins And to the same purpose St. Peter tells us that Christ bare our sins in his own body on the tree 2 Cor. 5.22 1 Pet. 11.24 The divine Authour of the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us that Christ did by himself purge our sins And that he was once offered to bear the sins of many And that he offered one sacrifice for sins Heb. 1.3 c. 9.28.1.10.12 And we find that the expiation of our sins is imputed to the death of Christ in the Holy Scriptures We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the Tabernacle For the bodies of those beasts whose bloud is brought into the sanctuary by the High Priest for sin are burnt without the camp Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctifie the people with his own bloud suffered without the gate By sanctifying the people nothing less can be meant than the expiation of their sins and as this was done under the law of Moses by an expiatory sacrifice so was it done by the bloud of Jesus the anti-type of those sacrifices which he speaks of in that place who suffered without the gate St. John tells us that the bloud of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin Heb. 13.10 11 12. 1 John 1. v. 7. And this is farther confirmed to us from this that our Saviour's bloud is said to be a price paid for us by which we are bought and redeemed For this cause he is the Mediatour of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance To which I shall add those words of the Apostle to the Ephesians where speaking of Christ he saith In whom we have redemption through his bloud And to the Colossians In whom we have redemption through his bloud even the forgiveness of sins Heb. 9.15 Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 To what hath been said very much may be added to the same purpose viz. that our Lord himself hath said that he came to give his life a ransom for many Matt. 20.28 That of St. Paul to the same purpose 1 Tim. 2.6 And those words of our Lord This is my bloud of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Matt. 26.28 Again these words of the Apostle Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us Gal. 3.13 Christ is elsewhere said to be the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4.10 I shall not need to add any more Testimonies to those already named For though there are many others yet these are sufficient And indeed they do so plainly acquaint us with the end of Christ's death that he must use great art that can strain them to another sense For what the Socinians object against this doctrine viz. that it renders God's kindness less which yet is greatly magnified in the Scripture in giving his Son This objection I say can be of no force at all For though God thought fit for the honour of his justice that sin should not altogether go unpunished and gave us his Son to make our peace and redeem us from misery with his pretious bloud yet is this no diminution to the free grace and mercy of God 'T was the infinite mercy of God which moved him to find out this way in which we can claim nothing 'T was intirely the mercy of God that provided us this remedy Our pardon is free to us whatever it cost our Lord to procure it We have great cause to adore the love of God and the unparallelled charity of our Blessed Saviour Our free pardon and Christ's redemption the infinite mercy of God and the satisfaction of his justice are not things that are inconsistent The Apostles words teach us this truth with which I shall conclude this particular Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus Rom. 3. v. 24 25 26. And thus I have considered the death of Christ as a sacrifice for sin and consequently as a great instance of the love of Christ who was content to dye that we might live And therefore when we are exhorted to love one another we are pressed to it from this consideration Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for an offering
the truth with his own Bloud He was so far from disowning himself to be the Son of God that he continues in that profession to the last breath And when he hung upon the Cross he twice calls God his father when he prayed for his enemies and gave up the Ghost This did mightily confirm his Doctrine and was one great end of his sufferings Luk. 23.34.46 Hence it is that the bloud or the sufferings of Christ especially his death is reckoned among those who bear witness in earth And Jesus Christ is called the faithfull witness And we are then said to be partakers of Christ when we hold the beginning of our Confidence stedâ—ast unto the end 1. Joh. 5.8 Rev. 1.5 The bloud of Christ did not onely wash away our sins but did also clear the innocency of our Blessed Saviour And it was attended with so many rare circumstances and fulfilled so many prophecies and was born with such an admirable patience that it did convince men of the innocence of Jesus and consequently of the truth of his Doctrine The veil of the Temple was rent the earth did quake the rocks clave in sunder and graves were opened and the Sun drew in its light insomuch that the Centurion that beheld these things could not forbear to say Truly this was the Son of God Mat. 27.54 And no wonder after all this that those who renounced Christianity are said to count the bloud of the Covenant i. e. the bloud by which the new Covenant was ratified and confirmed wherewith he was sanctified that is Christ was consecrated or sanctified see Joh. 17.19 an unholy thing i. e. the bloud not of an innocent person but of a Criminal Heb. 10.29 Having considered the death of Christ as the death of a Victim or Sacrifice of a Testatour and of a Martyr or Witness 4. I shall now consider it as a Pattern and great example to us And thus the Scriptures represent it He suffered for us leâ—ving us an example that we should follow his steps Our Saviour gave us an example that we should follow his steps 1. Pet. 2.20 Our Saviour gave us a most excellent example in his whole life But then at his death he gave us also a very eminent example of the following vertues and graces 1. Of Patience and meekness under all his sufferings and reproaches And his example was without a parallel Never was there so great a mirrour of these graces He did no sin neither was there guile sound in his mouth Who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously In this Jesus was so conspicuous that when we are exhorted to Patience we are directed to look upon him the authour and finisher of our faith And it will be a very usefull meditation for us under all our sufferings and all the reproaches which we meet withall He was guilty of no sin but yet was numbred among transgressours He had but few followers and by one of them he is Letrayed denied by another and in his greatest extremity forsaken by all the rest He is pronounced innocent and yet sentenced to death by the same breath absolved and condemned by one and the same Judge He is forced to bear his own Cross reviled and buffeted derided and scoffed at by an inhumane multitude whom he came to save and whom he had obliged by the greatest benefactions He was innocent and deserved not this usage Omnipotent and able to revenge it But instead of that he does not so much as threaten those whom he could easily have destroyed He bears all with an unparallelled meekness and patience and made it appear that these vertues were as invincible as his cause was just He is silent under the greatest clamours of his Enemies His persecutours have less patience than he that suffers And when the whole creation trembles when the Sun withdraws its light and the rocks rend in pieces and the graves give up their dead and the Veil of the Temple is torn in pieces then is Jesus quiet and still This example does most powerfully reprove our peevishness and discontent our anger and our heat under the obloquy and other sufferings which we endure and generally have deserved 1 Pet. 2.22 23. Heb. 12.1 2. II. Of forgiveness of Enemies They were our Lord's enemies to whom he was the greatest friend And of all Enemies 't is the hardest to forgive them He that did eat of his bread lift up his heel against him His own Disciple betrays him and his own People thirst after his bloud and his wounds he receives from those whom he came to seek and save A robber is preferred before him and he is numbred with transgressours He had fed their hungry healed their sick dispossessed their Daemoniacks restored sight to their blind given strength to their infirm life to their dead Many good turns he had done them and yet they treat him rudely and barbarously they cry to have him Crucified and insult over him in his sufferings what doth our Lord do all this while does he call for Fire from Heaven to devour his enemies Does he menace them with an approaching destruction Does he exclaim against their proceedings No he opens not his mouth unless it be to pray for these his Enemies Father forgive them c. can we remember these things and bear a grudge against our Brother Can it now be hard for us to forgive our enemies when Christ with his last breath prayed for his Christ forgave and he died for our forgiveness and is it now a possible thing for us not to forgive even then when we commemorate the death of Christ Let all bitterness and wrath and aâ—ger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice And be ye kind one to another tender hearted forgiving one another Even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you Luk. 23.34 Eph. 4.31 32. III. Of the profoundest humility and condescension The world never beheld a pattern of this grace which could compare with this of our Blessed Saviour's He stooped from Heaven to earth when he was born From the immensity and happiness the power and infinity of a God to the limits of a womb the miseries of a man the proportions and infirmities of a Child the weaknesses of a Mortal and the humble circumstances of a poor and mean condition If we look upon Jesus in the manger we shall see a glorious example of humility But if we turn our eyes upon him as he hung upon the Cross we shall see an example great enough to extinguish out of our minds every proud thought for ever Here we may see him who was found in the fashion of a man humbling himself lower still as he was obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Philip. 2.8 Methinks after this we should never be in danger of a proud thought of our selves we cannot sure after this example think any
office too mean for us in which we may do any good office to one another Here is enough to extinguish for ever all our ambition and pride and contempt of our poor Brother Nothing that we can do can be called a great condescension after this humiliation of the Son of God IV. Of resignation to the will of God This our Lord was the most conspicous mirrour and example of He was a man sin onely excepted like one of us sensible of hunger and thirst of pain and sorrow and these things pained his flesh as they do ours His soul was sorrowfull and very heavy His sweat was like drops of bloud great was his agony and his sorrow beyond expression He saw before his eyes a most painfull and a most shamefull death He is about to drink a most bitter cup. These things were grievous to his humane nature and therefore he prays that if it were possible this cup might pass from him but after all he submits himself to the will of God Not as I will but as thou wilt And how instructive is this to us We sinners may be ashamed to murmur when our Lord resigned himself Well may we submit under our little and deserved evils when he that was without fault resigned himself up to God Mat. 26.39 V. Of the greatest Charity to Mankind Greater love than this hath no man than that he lay down his life for his friend This is the highest flight of friendship and we have but a very few examples in our books of such a Degree of Charity Some few I'll grant have done this none have gone beyond this besides our Lord Jesus For he died for his Enemies and for the Ungodly This example should constrain us to do good to all even to evil men and to our greatest Enemies Rom. 5.6 VI. Of the greatest fortitude and the truest courage He bore witness to the truth with his bloud and was stedfast in the profession of it to his last breath The most sharp and shamefull death the most barbarous usage and treatment could not prevail upon him to deny the truth or to fall into an impotent passion and revenge himself He does in cold bloud chuse rather to dye the worst kind of death than to quit the profession of the truth or to destroy his Enemies This is indeed an argument of true greatness of mind We are much mistaken in our conceit about Valour or fortitude To Forgive an Enemy and to chuse to dye rather than to do an evil thing speaks a generous and a great mind and is a certain proof of Courage and true Fortitude But he is a man of a weak mind who will do an evil thing to save his life and revenge himself upon him that affronts him or does him wrong Revenge speaks a defect of wit and courage The meanest creatures they are who are peevish and waspish and prone to bite him that toucheth him Leniter qui saeviunt sapiunt magis Anger resteth it in the bosom of fools Non est magnus animus quem incurvat injuria They are but little and feeble folk that are ruffled by every injury or calumny The more impotent and weak any creature is the more easily provoked and nothing is a more certain sign of a narrow and mean soul than is revenge Quippe minuti Semper infirmi est animi exiguique voluptas Ultio continuò sic collige quòd Vindicta Nemo magìs gaudet quà m faemina c. Well so it was our Saviour shewed great Courage and resolution and hath given us therein a great example of Christian fortitude and resolution I shall now make some application of what hath been said I. What hath been said may serve to recommend to us a suffering condition which Christ hath sanctified by his own Sufferings When we suffer we are like the Author and finisher of our faith It becomes us not to be dismayed with our sufferings who profess a faith in a crucified Redeemer For by sufferings our Religion was planted by sufferings it grew up and prevailed in the World This was the way in which Jesus went before us into his glory And if we suffer with him we shall likewise be glorified together It is no little comfort to us to think that our Lord hath led us the same way and that he did overcome the world after this manner which is indeed the noblest conquest of it II. We may hence be exhorted to a frequent mediation of the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ Form what hath been said it appears plainly that we are nearly concerned in these things For Christ did not suffer upon his own account but upon ours and we are very much concerned in the benefits of his death 1. As we expect our pardon upon the account of his merit and satisfaction He was a sacrifice which made attonement and expiation for our crimes as he died for our Sins 2. As we hope for an eternal inheritance upon the account of the death of Christ who hath made way for us by his death and by death entered himself before into an eternal inheritance 3. As we are confirmed in the truth of his holy Religion by the Testimony of his bloud with which this new covenant between God and man was ratified and confirmed 4. As we are constrained by the glorious example he gave us in his sufferings to patience and charity and self-resignation c. of which he hath given us the most powerfull example III. We may hence be exhorted to a frequent and diligent partaking of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper which is appointed as a standing memorial of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ We ought not onely to embrace but welcome all these opportunities as those which lead us to the contemplation of Christ's death upon which our hopes to depend It is an unspeakable privilege that we are admitted to this favour And had we the due sense which we ought to have upon our minds of the love of God in giving us his Son and the love of our Lord in giving up himself to death for us and the unspeakable benefits which thence accrue to us we should need no words of persuasion no law or secular interest to invite us to the doing of that which is so plainly our duty and so much our interest to doe Our spiritual hunger and thirst are the onely safe and lasting principles as well as the acceptable ones from whence we ought to be moved If our souls be once possessed with an ardent love of God and our Blessed Saviour we shall not make excuses and shall be so far from that that it will not be an easie thing to stay away and nothing less than a violent detention will keep us back And thus I have from the sufferings of Jesus made it appear that he is the Christ Before I proceed to speak to the resurrection of Jesus I shall say something of his Burial Of the Messias it was foretold
might not attend unto their pain Maimon H. Sanhedr c. 13. viz. Frankincense in a cup of Wine For this they ground themselves on the words of Solomon Give strong drink to him that is ready to perish and wine to those that be of heavy heart Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more This was the constant practice of the Jews and there is a tradition among them that the Ladies of the City of Jerusalem were at this charge of their own good will towards the poor Sufferers But for all this practice what God foretold was fulfilled Matt. 27.48 with Psalm 69.21 Joh. 19.28 29. Prov. 31.6 7. The Souldiers when they had crucified Jesus part his garments and made four parts to every Souldier a part but when they came to his coat which it seems was woven and without a seam because they could not part that they said among themselves let us not rend it but cast lots for it whose it shall be And so this seemed to be a very casual and contingent thing yet was this not without the particular providence of God in order to fulfill the prophecy of the Psalmist they part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture Psalm 18.22 with Joh. 19.23 24. The Psalmist predicted of the Messias in these words All they that see me laugh me to scorn they shoot out the lip they shake the head saying He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him Let us hear now what the Evangelist tells us as to the verifying of this prophecy He tells us that when Jesus was crucified they that passed by reviled him wagging their head and saying thou that destroyest the Temple and buildest it in three days save thy self if thou be the Son of God come down from the Cross There were others that said He saved others himself he cannot save If he be the King of Israel let him now come down from the Cross and we will believe him He trusted in God let him deliver him now if he will have him Psalm 22.7 8. with Mat. 27.39 The Psalmist reports the very words which the Christ should speak upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And we find that Jesus about the ninth hour cryed out Eli Eli Lama sabacthani i. e. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And if the Prophet Isaiah tell us when he reports that he poured out his soul unto death that he did also make intercession for the transgressors I am sure St. Luke tells us that Jesus when he was upon the Cross interceded for his greatest Enemies praying for them and saying Father forgive them for they know not what they doe Psalm 22.1 with Mat. 27.46 Isai 53.12 with Luk. 23.34 The same Prophet describes the patient sufferings of the Messias in these words He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a Sheep before her Shearers is dumb so he opened not his mouth Never was this Scripture so eminently fulfilled as it was by Jesus He endured his pain and contempt with a most unparallelled patience He was betrayed by a false Disciple and with a fraudulent kiss Another swears he does not know him the rest leave him in his extremity He is stricken by the hand of a rude Officer oppressed in the place of Judgment condemned to die without sufficient Evidence he is spit upon buffeted hooted at and reviled They carry him from Caiaphas to Pontius Pilate before whom he answers with silence and an unheard of patience From Pilate he is conveyed to Herod and is silent before him also thence he is returned to Pilate neither one nor the other could find any fault with him His enemies thirst for his bloud are loud and clamorous our Lord who suffers holds his peace Isai 53.7 Mat. 27.14 Luk. 23.9 11 14. Though the sufferings of the Messias were particularly predicted as hath been said and they were very severe yet we are assured that a bone of him should not be broken This was intimated in the Law of the Paschal Lamb a very remarkable type of the death of Christ by which it was provided that not a bone of the Lamb should be broken Abravenel in Ex. 12. This is said to have been so appointed for the honour of the holy oblation and was of perpetual obligation and not peculiar to the Passeover of Egypt Now this was actually fulfilled in the body of Jesus though it were very unlikely it should have happened so For besides that our Saviour's enemies were barbarously cruel towards him they had a custom among them to break the legs of the crucified and were at this time especially carefull about it because of their approaching Sabbath and had actually broken the bones of the two Malefactors which hung by him and were come to the body of Jesus for the same end But finding him dead they pierced his side but brake not his bones not without a very remarkable providence of God And this was done that the Scripture might be fulfilled A bone of him shall not be brokea Exod 12.46 Joh. 19.36 If what hath been said be considered duely we shall have great cause from the sufferings of Jesus to believe him to be the Christ I come now to enquire into the causes or reasons of the sufferings of Christ For it cannot be supposed that Christ who was a most innocent person should suffer a most painfull and ignominious death without some weighty cause and great ends And what those are you may learn from the following particulars 1. He suffered in our stead and to procure our pardon and acceptance and Salvation We do believe that he suffered for us men and our Salvation and maintain against the followers of Socinus that this death was a piacular Sacrifice and that his sufferings were a vicarious punishment upon the account and for the expiation of our sins Or that he died to make satisfaction for our sins For the proving of this let us consult the holy Scriptures and we shall find that they do abundantly teach us this truth It is granted on all hands that the Prophet Isaiah Chap. LIII speaks of the sufferings of the Messias And he gives us such an account of them as speaks them to be undergone not onely for our sakes but in our stead also Thus he is said to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows v. 4. And if those words do not import this sense yet those which follow do very much confirm us in this belief He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed v. 5. These words do plainly import that the fault was ours and that for that fault the Messias suffered It was our transgression and our iniquity but the wounds
as most men bring to famous plays or comedies This contemplation would enforce the one to acknowledge that the prophecies in old time came not by the will of man The other that Jesus the Son of Mary was he of whom Moses and all the Prophets spake Christ was to be born of the Tribe of Judah and of the house and family of David And to that purpose that Tribe and that family must not onely continue but continue so distinct that it might be known who belonged to the one and the other It is not a common thing that any family and kindred continues so many hundred years And indeed it was not likely that they should have continued and continued distinct and separate considering the great changes that passed upon and threatened them either with utter ruine or confusion They were in great danger of one and the other in the days of Ahaz and in the captivity of Babylon And in after times the house of David lay neglected for many years but so it was they are not quite destroyed till this Son of David is born The birth of Jesus makes good what God had promised of old time And the Divine Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews does near the time when Jesus lived and to the Jews themselves who had the opportunity of knowing the truth in this matter affirm that it was Evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah Heb. 7.14 And Jesus was known to be and commonly owned to be the Son of David Mat. 1.1 What God had promised of old he and he was onely able to doe it in due time made good The Messias was to be born before the destruction of the second Temple and while the Jews were a distinct people and Polity He was to add Glory to the latter house and to appear before the Jews were quite scattered abroad This was foretold of the Messias Gen. 49.10 Hag. 2. Mal. 3. The Jews before Jesus was born were in great measure in the hands of the Romans and Herod of an Idumoean extraction had for some time lorded it over them but then he is born while the Jews continue a distinct people live by their own laws and in their own land and goes into that Temple which according to the foregoing Prophecies he was to enter into and render glorious by his presence and conversation The great deliverer comes at his appointed time viz. at the declension of the Jewish Polity and before the expiration of the times predicted of old And though the Jewish affairs were very low and their polity near to an end yet is Jesus born before their final destruction which was at hand For the Counsel of God that shall stand It was not very likely that he who was born at Bethlehem beyond the intention of his Mother and reputed Father should thence go into Egypt and at his return go into Galilee and live there but both the one and the other were predicted of the Messias and how unlikely soever they were to come to pass they were fulfilled in our Jesus He was carried into Egypt upon occasion of the cruelty of Herod and at his return thence into Galilee upon occasion of Archelaus his reign in Judaea and the warning which Joseph received from God in a dream Hosea 11.1 with Mat. 2.15 Isa 9.1 2 3. with Mat. 2.22 Who would have expected a Prophet then in Israel where prophecy had ceased ever since the days of Zechary and Malachy and there was now no such kind of men known among the Jews Or that this great Prophet who was born in Judaea and near the great City of Jerusalem should live in the remote and obscure Countrey of Galilee That he should live in a Countrey from whence there was hardly ever known any Prophet to proceed and where he was like to continue with little notice regard or observation And that he that lived in so obscure a Countrey should do so great and stupendious works to the wonder and astonishment of those that saw them That such an illustrious person should proceed from so obscure a Countrey Joh. 7.41 If we go on to consider the death of Jesus we shall find all things agree to the predictions of old and came to pass in such a manner as speaks a miraculous providence of God That he who was born should die hath nothing of wonder in it But it is very strange that he should deliver him to death who at the same time pronounced him innocent That he should dye upon a Cross whom the people were so forward to have stoned That he should be Crucified who if he had been guilty should by the law of the Countrey have been stoned That he who had so many enemies should yet be betrayed by one of his own disciples That he who had the bag and had all therefore that Jesus had should betray him for so vile a price as thirty peices of Silver That the money for which he was sold this price of bloud should be employed in a work of mercy to buy a field to Lury Strangers in That he should drink Vinegar on the Cross instead of a Narcotick potion of Myrrh-wine contrary to the constant custome and usage of the Countrey where he suffered That the Souldiers should cast lots for his Coat contrary to their constant custome when they had parted his Garments and did so by them who were Crucified with him That he should dye among thieves and malefactors who spent his time in doing good That he who lived so usefully should be scoffed and taunted at when he hung upon the Cross and that the multitude who are wont to pity the dying Criminal should put off all humanity and in a set form of words deride him in his greatest misery That Jesus should hold his peace who suffered wrongfully when his enemies were impatient and clamorous and the whole creation groaned and was disordered That when it was the custome to break the bones of the Crucified and 't was practized at that time upon them who suffered with Jesus and they who were concerned came with an intention to break his also that yet a bone of him should not be broken That he who was Crucified which was a Roman punishment Casaubon Exercitation p. 464. edit Francf 1615. and none of the Jewish capital ones should be buried also contrary to the practice of the Romans who did not bury those who dyed upon a Cross That he who dyed among malefactors should not be buried with them also That he who dyed so ignominious a death should have an honourable burial That persons of the highest rank and Character should agree together in his honourable interment These things are so strange and so surprizing so much beyond what any History besides does afford us that if we believe but the matter of fact which we have all the reason in the world to believe we cannot but find great cause to adore the all-wise God who accomplished in Jesus whatever was
But if you say where are these Conquests of our Lord 's to be seen shew us the men that are thus redeemed from their crimes and follies I answer that there are and ever were such men in the World since the Gospel appeared But that their number is small is not from the Religion they profess but because it is not entertained It is because they are false Christians not because the Religion is not able to make them such If we would receive our Lord's precepts and beg his aids and use his assistances and helps we should find a mighty change in the minds of men Lactant. Institut l. 3. c. 26. One of the Ancients tells us that there were daily experiments in his time how far the Precepts of Religion did prevail upon the minds of men And I cannot but take notice of his words to this purpose Da mihi virum qui sit iracundus c. Give me a man says he that is given to wrath to evil speaking and who is unruly With a very few words of God I will render him tame as a sheep Give me one that is craving covetous tenacious I will render him liberal and bountifull Give me one that is fearfull of grief and death He shall soon despise crosses and flames and the torments of a Tyrant Give me one that is lustfull adulterous and gluttonous and you shall soon see him sober chast and continent Give me one that is cruel and bloud-thirsty and that fury shall soon be changed into an unfeigned Clemency Give me one that is unjust foolish and sinfull and he shall presently become just and prudent and inoffensive Thus did Religion doe in those times when it was considered and entertained Those deliverances under the law of Moses were more particular and restrained to the people of the Jews but our Jesus is the Saviour of Mankind He is the authour of eternal salvation to all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 And he that saves the World is preferrible to him that delivered the Israelites onely The time was when Religion and all the more eminent dignations and favours of God seemed to be inclosed and confined within the narrow compass of the land and people of the Jews There had God his Temple and dwelt among them to them he gave his responses from heaven There were his Prophets and they had his Law amongst them He had not dealt so with any nation and for his judgments they had not known them Psal 147.20 In Judah was God known His Name was great in Israel in Salem was his Tabernacle and his dwelling place in Zion There brake he the arrows and the bow the shield and the sword and the battel Psal 76.1 And What one nation in the Earth was there like that people 2 Sam. 7.23 Among them he wrought his Wonders and the Gentiles were so far from being bettered by those Wonders that they were to their loss They were strangers to the Commonwealth and to the mercies of Israel Their land was the glorious land and the Valley of Vision when others sate in darkness Nay which is more still the Messiah was promised to them and to be of their seed The Apostle in sew but very comprehensive words reckons up their Prerogatives To whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises Whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever Rom. 9.4 The deliverances that were wrought by Moses and Joshua c. were for the sake of them and they were but the Saviours of the Israelites But our Lord is the Saviour of Mankind of the Gentile as well as Jew He is that light which lighteth every man that comes into the world That Sun of righteousness whose light and influence is not confined to any one nation or kindred but displays it self upon all the nations of the Earth The partition wall is taken down and the difference between man and man is taken away And whoever comes to our Jesus shall in no-wise be cast out Now all the faithfull are the children of Abraham And God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him Acts 10.34 Upon the birth of Jesus the Angel tells the shepherds Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people Luke 2.10 And the heavenly Host praised God and said Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will towards men v. 14. Our Lord came not to save the Jews onely but all that believe And 't is worth our observing after what manner the love of God in sending his Son is expressed Not as confined to the Jews any longer but as reaching to the race of Mankind God so loved the world not the Jewish people onely that he gave his onely begotten Son c. John 3.16 After the same manner the Apostle speaks of this love of God After that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared Tit. 3.4 Our Saviour is a light to lighten the Gentiles as well as the glory of the people of Israel Luke 2.32 Our Lord hath delivered Mankind Moses and Joshua delivered the Israelites onely Sampson dyed and by his death destroyed the enemies of the Hebrews Our Lord by his death destroyed the enemies of Mankind The Sacrifices of the Law at the most attoned for the whole Congregation of Israel But Christ gave himself a ransome for all 1 Tim. 2.6 He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours onely but also for the sins of the whole World 1 John 2.2 Our Lord tasted of death for every man Heb. 2.9 And would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth 1 Tim. 2.4 And what the men of Dan said to Micha's Levite that it was better for him to be a Priest to a tribe than to be a Priest to one man is accommodable to my present purpose He is the great deliverer that rescues Mankind rather than one people And such an one is our Jesus the Saviour of the World By the Religion of Christ Jesus we may be justified and acquitted from that guilt which admitted no attonement from the law of Moses Though in the law of Moses several oblations were prescribed and allowed to expiate for sins of Ignorance yet there was no expiation allowed for him that sinned presumptuously but such a sinner was to be cut off from among God's people Numb 15.30 31. There were many sins of this high nature that the law was not furnished with an attonement for as may be seen Levit. 20. Among these wilfull murther was to be reckoned as a sin that admitted no sacrifice of attonement And to this sense are the words of the Psalmist understood when he prays to be delivered from bloud-guiltiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
live Onely let him see and consider This Serpent then of Moses was a symbol or sign of something better than it self And in its first institution it was intended for a sign or symbol of some future good This is very probable from the very words of the Text Moses is Commanded to make a fiery Serpent and set it upon a pole so we render it or set it for a sign as the words may be rendred from the Hebrew Text. The vulgar Latine hath it pro signo i. e. for a sign And to the same sense it is rendred by the Syriac the Chaldee and the Greek Interpreters And this rendring is followed by Philo the Jew and by Justin the Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho And this sense is no way inconsistent with the sense which our Interpreters give This was a very fit type of Christ and of his death upon the Cross by him we are redeemed from the sting of death or sin 1. Cor. 15.56 and the power of the Devil that old Serpent Heb. 2.14 him God sent in the likeness of sinfull flesh and he did by this way condemn sin in the flesh Rom. 8.3 The Jewish Masters tell us upon this occasion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. It was not the Serpent that killed but it was the sin Christ by taking away our sin saves us But they in the wilderness were saved us But they in the wilderness were saved by an unlikely way From the sting of a Serpent by the figure of one There was nothing in the matter or figure of the Serpent which healed them It was the fitter type of Christ we are healed by his stripes and have the hope of life by his death But the Crucifixion of the Messias was likewise foretold by Zechary Zech. 12.10 Joh. 19.37 Ps 22.16 Joh. 20.25 They shall look upon me whom they have pierced St. John who was an eye-witness of the crucifixion of Jesus does not onely assure us that he was really Crucified but also puts us in mind that this prophecy was verified The Psalmist had foretold no less They pierced my hands and my feet This was fulfilled in our Jesus who disdained not after his Resurrection to confirm a doubting Disciple who would not believe unless he saw the print of the nails Secondly the time of his death and that agrees with the type of it I mean the Paschal Lamb For Christ is our Passeover who is sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5.7 and to this purpose It will be well worth our while to enquire after the precise time of slaying the Paschal Lamb that great and eminent type of our Saviour's death and to consider how well it agrees with the time of of our Saviour's death Now 't is expresly commanded that the Paschal Lamb should be killed in the evening Exod. 12.6 And we are to enquire what that expression does import Our Marginal reading will be of use in this enquiry which instead of in the evening renders it between the two evenings and that not without the warranty of the Hebrew Text There is great variety in the several versions of these words among the Ancient and Modern Translators I do not intend to represent that variety in this place Some of them are very reconcileable to the sense of the original others agree very exactly with it and indeed I have not met with any more wide among the Moderns than that of Castalio who very ill renders it sub crepusculum i. e. about the twylight as if the Paschal Lamb were not to be slain till it began to be dark which is so fond a conceit that I shall not need do any more than name it Jun. and Tremell keep strictly to the original Text render it inter duas Vesperas between the two evenings It is my business to inquire what is meant by this expression between the two evenings And by the way I cannot but take notice of the interpretation of Aben Ezra upon this place who gives us this account of the two evenings The first he would have to be the time when the Sun sets the second when the remaining light after Sun-set leaves the earth between these two he supposes the space of an hour and three quarters or thereabouts This interpretation agrees well with Castalio's sub crepusculum but 't is an interpretation that is extravagant for besides that it does not allow of a clear light for the remaining service after the killing of the Paschal Lamb nor yet give time enough for the whole service of the solemnity besides this I say the Authour of this interpretation seems to quit it and betake himself to another in his following words For he being pressed by an objection against this interpretation which he attempts not to answer confesses that there was a tradition among them which obliges them to kill the Paschal Lamb after the Sun did evidently decline from its meridian We are therefore still to seek what is meant by this expression between the two evenings in which time the Israelites were obliged to kill the Paschal Lamb and then to see whether this precise circumstance of time were also fulfilled in the death of our Saviour Now for the better understanding of this expression we must know that as the Jews day consisted of twelve hours so all their sorenoon was accounted morning Joh. 11.9 and from thence all the afternoon was accounted evening And then their evening was divided into two viz. the former and the latter evening The former evening was vespera declinationis and was to be reckoned from their sixth hour or our twelve at noon to Sun-set for from that time the Sun declined from its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or height Their latter evening was vespera occasus their Sun-setting so that the intermedial time between the Sun's declension and setting is that time which is between the two evenings Let us then consider what warrant we have for this And First the holy Scripture seems to give us ground to believe that the latter part of the Jewish day was divided into these two evenings To this purpose we read that the unclean person was to be removed out of the camp and it is added But it shall be when evening cometh on that is in the former evening as the following words assure us he shall wash himself with water And when the Sun is down there is the latter evening he shall come into the camp Deut. 23. v. 11. Of the former evening are those words spoken where 't is said of the Levite and his Wife that they tarried untill after noon or till the day declined as 't is in the Hebrew and they did eat both of them And then 't is added by the Levite's Father-in-law Behold now the day draweth towards evening and the day groweth to an end Judg. 19.8 9. Of the same evening the following words seem to be understood And it came to pass in an evening-tide that David arose from off his
and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour Eph. 5.2 2. The death of Christ is to be considered as the death of a Testator for so is Christ to be considered also He himself calls his bloud the bloud of the New Testament or the New Testament in his bloud I very well know that the Greek word which we render Testament does signifie Covenant but yet it does not always do so in the New Testament For sometimes it signifies the last Will or Testament of a Testator And when it does so it does not exclude the notion of a Covenant neither but rather imply it For the right we have to the inheritance is one part of the Covenant but then the declaration of that right is peculiarly and properly the part of a Testament which signifies the last will of a man by which he disposeth of his goods Matt. 26.28 Mark 14.24 Luk. 22.20 Our Blessed Saviour is said to be the heir of all things And we are elsewhere told that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand And we are farther informed upon what account it is that the Father loveth the Son and consequently hath given all things into his hands in these words of our Saviour Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life From whence it is Evident that upon the account of the voluntary death of Christ this full power and authority is given to Christ as the great Mediator between God and man Christ was in the form of God and thought it not robbery to be equal with God But made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Heb. 1.2 Joh. 3.35 10 17. Phil. 2.6 Thus low did the Son of God stoop for our Salvation from being equal with God to the likeness of men and from the form of God to that of a servant from life to death from glory to shame and contempt If you would know the effects of all this the next words will inform us Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father Our Blessed Saviour a little before his death bequeaths a Kingdom to his followers as a Testator in these words and I appoint unto you a Kingdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as my Father hath appointed unto me Luk. 22.29 But then by his death he procured our right to this glorious inheritance For where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the Testator For a Testament is of force after men are dead otherwise it is of no strength at all whilst the Testator liveth 'T is the death of the Testator that makes way to the Heir He hath no claim till the Testator dye But upon his death his title is unquestionable and it is not in any man's power to alter what is thus setled and confirmed Though it be but a man's Testament yet if it be confirmed no man disanulleth or addeth thereto Heb. 9.16 17. Gal. 3.15 Our Lord suffered the most shamefull and painfull death He did this voluntarily and not by Constraint He dyed not intestate nor yet like other Testators who when they have made their Testaments do avoid death with all their care and skill and are not willing to part with their lives for the benefit of their Heirs or Successours 'T was otherwise with our Saviour I lay down my life says he no man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and have power to take it again Joh. 10.17 18. Now after Christ had suffered death and risen from the dead he tells his Followers of the plenitude of his power and authority All power is given unto me says he in heaven and in earth And a while after his own ascension into heaven he sends the Holy Ghost which is the earnest of our inheritance Mat. 28.18 Eph. 1.14 3. The death of Christ is to be considered as the death of a Martyr or a Witness Our Blessed Saviour had professed himself to be the light of the World the Messias whom the Scriptures had foretold and that he came from heaven and that he was the Christ the Son of the Blessed It is of great moment that these truths should be sufficiently confirmed to us Upon these things depends the whole Religion that he taught If these things be sufficiently proved we can make no doubt of the truth of any part of the Doctrine which Jesus taught Joh. 8.12 c. 5.39 6 40. Mark 14.61 62. Now it will appear that the death of Christ does mightily confirm these truths and that Jesus gave up himself to death for the same end and purpose When Pilate asked Jesus whether he were a King or not Jesus answered thou sayest that I am a King that is Jesus answered in the affirmative To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the World that I should bear witness unto the truth With respect to the undaunted courage of Jesus before Pilate St. Paul saith that before Pontius Pilate he witnessed a good confession Joh. 18.37 1 Tim. 6.13 'T was upon this account that Jesus was put to death He was accused indeed of something else that was charged upon him But the Testimony was weak and incoherent that with which he was born down was that he professed himself to be Christ a King Or as it is in St. John because he made himself the Son of God Our Saviour was silent when the false witnesses accused him But when the High Priest asked him if he were the Christ the Son of the Blessed and he answered I am c. We find thereupon the High Priest renting his Cloaths and saying what need we any farther witnesses ye have heard the blasphemy what think ye and they all condemned him to be worthy of death Luk. 23.2 Joh. 19.7 Mark 14.61 Our Saviour dyed for his adhering to this great truth and that he did so must be acknowledged a great confirmation of it and of the Religion which he planted Life is too sweet a thing to be trifled away for nothing Much less will a man in his wits dye in confirmation of a lye Had Jesus been disposed he might have kept out of the way of his enemies or have saved himself by denying the truth He had now a great temptation before him either to renounce what he had professed or by some trick or mean art or other to escape the danger But he is far from taking any such course to deliver himself but instead thereof confirms
the same time believe him to be the Christ and consequently that his precepts are divine that his promises are certain and his power and authority uncontrollable This is indeed the faith peculiar to Christians The Jews and the Heathens believed some other points relating to Religion That Jesus rose that he is the Christ the Son of God this is the great Article of the Christian faith Hence it is that so much is imputed to this faith and to the confession of this truth in the New Testament Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God And afterward whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God Whoever believed this believed all the Christian Religion and he that when those words were written did believe and profess this truth when 't was greatly dangerous so to doe as he gave proof of a sincere faith so he might be truly said to dwell in God and to be born of God Ro. 10.9 1 Joh. 4.15 2 Joh. 5.1 Had not Christ been a man he could not have died and had he not been Christ the Son of God he could not have risen from the dead Had Jesus been a deceiver he must have lain in the grave till the general Resurrection Nothing less than a divine power could raise him to life again it was the Godhead which raised the humane nature and then Christ raised himself as he foretold he would and gave a great proof of his Divinity Joh. 2.19 21. It is an easie thing to destroy life but to restore it again speaks an almighty power It is nothing short of Omnipotence which can bring so great a thing to pass The Key of the grave is one of those which God keeps in his own hand The Apostle in very Emphatical words expresseth the power by which Jesus was raised from the dead for speaking of the exceeding greatness of God's power to us-ward who believe he adds according to the working of this Mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead The words are very great as a learned man hath well observed on the one hand there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and on the other there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two words to express power and that the power of God and as if these were too little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is added to the one and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the other and still as if this were too short there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to this is added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all this mighty power is actuated and exerted also And who can now believe that God would have shewn such a power in raising up Jesus from the dead if he had not been the Christ But I proceed to consider the time when Jesus rose from the dead viz. the third day The death and Resurrection of Jesus were necessary toward our redemption and the belief of both these is necessary to our Salvation It is therefore fit we should be well assured of the truth of them both and to that purpose that there should be some distance between the one and the other For as he could not have revived if he had not first died so it was fit that we should be well assured of the first before we could be obliged to believe the second If Christ had revived as soon as he had been taken down from the Cross it might have been questioned whether or no he were really dead But for the better speaking to this matter I shall First enquire into the reasons why there was this distance of time between the death and resurrection of Jesus Secondly that Jesus did rise the third day after his death Thirdly I shall consider the third day as it was the first day of the Week I shall enquire into the reasons of this distance of time between the death and Resurrection of Jesus And we may take them in the following particulars 1. It was very fit that there should be some competent distance between the death and resurrection of Jesus that men might be assured that he dyed without which they could not be obliged to believe him risen from the dead 2. It was not fit that the body of Jesus should lie so long as to be corrupted It was enough that he was so long a time dead as might give assurance that when he did appear he was really risen from the dead Had he lain any longer in the grave he had continued so long there as would have brought corruption and putrefaction upon his body Martha tells Jesus concerning Lazarus By this time he stinketh and for a proof of it she adds for he hath been dead four days This long stay in the grave would have made too great a change in the body of Jesus Besides there was a Prophecy of the Messias to this purpose that though he should dye and be buried yet his body should not lie so long in the grave as to putrefie Thus St. Peter applies that prediction Thou shalt not leave my Soul in hell nor wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption to the resurrection of Christ Joh. 11.39 Act. 2.27 31. 3. That this precise time of the resurrection of Jesus is according to the Scriptures or writings of the Old Testament 1. Cor. 15.4 Among those persons who in the Old Testament were types of the Messiah Isaac was an eminent one He was born against the laws of nature the Son of the Promise called the onely Son and the beloved Son and the Heir He was given up by his Father to death and he bore the Wood which was to bear him and in these things he was a remarkable type of Christ And the Bereshith Rabboth expresseth his carrying the wood by his carrying his Cross upon his Shoulder Bereshith Rabb in Gen. 22. The same Authour upon those words on the third day c. reckons up a great many places of Scripture which mention the third day and many particulars for which the third day was remarked viz. the giving of the law c. and then tells us it was remarkable for the Resurrection of the dead and cites to that purpose the very words of the Prophet which we Christians alledge to the matter in hand After two days he will revive us in the third day will he raise us up and we shall live in his sight The same Authour in the same place mentions the third as remarkable upon the score of Jonas who was three days and three nights in the belly of the Whale Than which nothing could have been said more appositely to our present purpose that being an express type of the Messias as hath been noted before And 't is enough in this matter that we can shew the express prophecy of Hosea and the eminent type of the Prophet Jonas
Again if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous Again he appears in the presence of God for us Heb. 7.25 Rom. 8.35 1 Joh. 2. 1. Heb. 9.24 After this manner is that care and concern expressed which Jesus hath for his followers Shall he after all this be called a Metaphorical Priest onely Heb. 8.2 Shall he that is the Minister of the true Tabernacle be himself but improperly a Priest shall Aaron the type be truly a Priest and shall the Anti-type be one improperly so called Can any thing be said by the followers of Socinus upon weaker grounds than this There need to have been no change of the Law if the change of the Priesthood had onely been into that which is figurative Heb. 7.11 12.8.4.8.3 Christ might have been a Metaphorical Priest upon earth and very consistently with the order of Aaron What need had this High Priest as well as those of the order of Aaron to have something to offer if he had been onely Tanquam Pontifex Crellii Paraphras in Heb. 9.14 as it were an high Priest for such an one never can want an offering Spiritual Sacrifices are always at hand to every good man Shall the High Priest of this order of Melchisedeck not deserve this name which was justly due to the Sons of Aaron And the Anti-type be less real than the Type is It is evident that Jesus is a Priest of the highest order and nothing is wanting to speak him so in the most perfect sense For he wants not power with God nor compassion for his people and then he ever lives and is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck And the High Priest in the Holy of Holies on the day of expiation was but a Type of our high Priest and his concern in Heaven for us And this leads me in the next place To shew that the divine Authour of the Epistle to the Hebrews does chap. 9.24 and elsewhere infer this truth from the avowed principles of the Jâ—wish writers For we find he spends much time in discoursing of the Priesthood of Christ and of his concern for his people now he is in Heaven and infers this from what the High Priest among the Jews did in the Holy of Holies and it will appear that this discourse of his is so far from being inconsequent and impertinent that it is founded upon principles allowed by those Jews to whom he directs that Epistle and especially upon these two First that the High Priest under the law of Moses was a type of the Messias Secondly That the Holy of Holies was a type of the highest Heavens into which Christ entered he being said to have entred into that within the veil Heb. 6.19 First that the High Priest under the law of Moses was a type of the Messias And that he was so and a most eminent one no Christian can deny and it would be no hard task to prove it at large and shew a great many correspondences between the type and the anti-type But to doe that is no part of my present business All that I am to doe at present is to shew that the Jews have no reason to quarrel with the way of arguing which the divine Authour of the Epistle to the Hebrews makes use of because the high Priest was among them esteemed a type of the Messias To this purpose I shall not trouble my self in searching after the opinions of the latter Jews touching this matter I shall content my self with the Testimony of one of their ancient writers who for his antiquity for his singular wit and learning for his being unsuspected of any bad design and interest in the question we are now speaking of is more valuable than some scores of their later Authours and that is Philo the Jew And I find in that Authour three considerable Testimonies to my present purpose Phil. Jud. de Profugis This Authour discoursing of the Cities of refuge under the law of Moses inquires the reason why the man-slayer was not to be released till the death of the High Priest and thereupon he does expresly affirm That the High Priest was not a man but the divine word free from all sin both voluntary and involuntary The meaning of which can be no more nor less than this that he was in this the type of the divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ph. Jud. de Victimis by whom alone we obtain our redemption which he hath wrought for us by his death The same Authour elsewhere speaking of those words Lev. 4.3 if the Priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people tells us that the latter part of those words do insinuate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. That he who is truly the High Priest and not falsely so called is free from sins And he adds that if he do chance to slip that it happens to him upon the peoples account and not upon his own And in another place speaking of the vestments of the High Priest he adds That it was necessary that he who was a Priest to the Father of the World and bore the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on his breast Ph. Jud. de Vita Mosis l. 3. of which he speaks just before should make use of his most perfect Son as an advocate to procure pardon of sins and a plentifull supply of good things Secondly that the Holy of Holies was a type of the highest Heavens into which Christ entred he being said to have entred into that within the veil I shall consider what the Authour of the Epistle to the Hebrews says of this matter and afterwards shew how agreeably he discourses of it to the Hebrews and their sense of this matter Christ is not entred saith he into the holy places made with hands Heb. 9.24 which are the figures of the true but into Heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us By the holy places made with hands rendred by the Vulgar in that place Manufacta Sancta is meant the Holy of Holies or the Holiest of all as it is v. 3. And if we compare v. 8. and v. 12. with what we read Levit. 16.2 16 20. We shall find the Holy of Holies is sometimes expressed by one word viz. the Holy or Holies which we render here by the holy places and might perhaps as well have been rendred by holies onely This holy place is said to be made with hands and indeed the whole Sanctuary was made by the hands of men and the name of the workmen are upon record and it is called by Philo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ph. Jud. de Vita Mosis l. 3. the Sanctuary made with hands And is by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews called a worldly Sanctuary Heb. 9.2 ch 8.2 and that in respect to the true Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man These holy places
was weak and had not this promise of the Spirit annexed unto it Rom. 7.5 Gal 4.9 Phil. 3.3 with Rom. 8.3 Gal. 3.3 Heb. 7.16 And upon the account of its weakness it is very frequently called flesh in the new Testament as the Gospel is called the ministration of the Spirit upon the account of that power enabling us to obey with which it is attended And the legal ordiances are called weak and beggarly elements or rudiments And indeed the law of Moses might be justly called weak as compared with the Doctrine of the Gospel for the law was not able to effect what the Gospel hath done it gave not life Gal. 3.21 Rom. 7.5 8. Act. 15.10 it did not furnish men with power to yield an inward and spiritual obedience Sin was forbid indeed by the law but not kept under and restrained It directed mens obedience but did not powerfully assist them It was a yoke but not an easie one as that which Jesus puts upon us but such as the Jews knew neither how to bear or to break Gal. 4.3.24 And hence it is that they who were under the law are represented as in a State of Slavery and Servility Whereas the law of Moses was weak and they to whom it was given did transgress it and were obnoxious to a curse God does promise to the Jews to enter into a new and better convenant with them Jer. 31.33 after those days saith the Lord I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people I shall in the next place take into consideration The assurance of pardon of sin which the Gospel gives and consequently the foundation it layes for the quieting our consciences far beyond what was done by the law of Moses I have before shewed the defectiveness of that provision by Sacrifices which was made in the law of Moses I shall shew that this is supplied in the covenant of grace made by Christ And this was foretold very particularly as a special and peculiar grace belonging to this new covenant as it is distinguished from that between God and Israel by the mediation of Moses which God had promised to make God promises not onely to write the law upon their hearts and consequently to work in them the saving knowledge of himself but more especially assures them of their pardon and remission Jer. 31.34 For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more There is nothing bears so hard upon a man as his guilt does And in many things we offend all We are all guilty more or less and consequently obnoxious to the horrors of our conscience and the wrath of God This is the great torment of life and there is no trouble like it A guilty mind bears harder upon us than any outward trouble And then he that hath sinned is anxious and suspicious he is not easily assured of his pardon he that broke the Law of Moses was liable to the Curse of it And though Sacrifices were allowed I have shewed the defects of that provision But the Gospel gives us the utmost assurance of our pardon upon terms that are gentle and reasonable and by no means to be refused What-ever our sins have been yet upon our repentance and sincere obedience for the future we are sure of God's favour and of his being reconciled to us He beseecheth us now to be reconciled to him upon these gentle and easie terms This is the Tenor of this new covenant or covenant of grace of which Jesus is the Mediator He hath procured this for us he hath purchased this by his merits sealed it by his own precious bloud assured it to us by his Resurrection and powerfull intercession he confirmed it by stupendious Miracles proclaimed it to all the world by his messengers and given us the signs and evidences of it by his holy Sacraments and solemn institutions There is nothing wanting to ensure this our pardon unto us Here 's no shadow left for our doubt or anxious fears we have all the possible assurance which we can desire Rom. 5.8 9 10. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us much more then being now justified by his bloud we shall be saved from wrath through him For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life These last words contain an argument invincible and altogether unanswerable and such as affords the strongest consolation If God looked after us when we were his avowed enemies if even then he gave up his most dear Son to death and at so great an expence restored us to favour surely he will now not abandon us to destruction He that was so kind to his enemies will not now forsake his friends So great and dear a love will not be extinguished It was a great price and an instance of the greatest love by which we were reconciled when we were enemies 't was by the death of the Son of God We had little reason to expect this favour and this expence But now we may be saved without his giving up his Son again to death and need not therefore doubt that we shall be saved by his life The Jew under the law of Moses had great cause to fear for when he transgressed and that he did when-ever he continued not obedient to all the words of that law he put himself under the rigour and curse of the law But God hath now made a better covenant with us and given us the greatest hopes of pardon upon our repentance and sincere though it be not sin-less obedience to the laws of Christ Here is pardon to be had for all manner of sin There were many sins under the law of Moses as hath been observed for which no remission was to be had from any Sacrifice allowed by that law He that was guilty was liable either to death or to excision Mat. 12.31 We are better provided for by this covenant of grace All manner of sin and blasphemy says Christ shall be forgiven unto men Blasphemy as hath been observed before was one of those sins for which there was no expiation allowed under the law of Moses But even for this sin there is pardon in this covenant of grace For our Soviours words do not speak of the event of things but of the provision which is now made Blasphemy shall be forgiven 1 Tim. 1.13 16. i. e. there is pardon to be had for it And he who was himself a Blasphemer tells us that he obtained mercy nor does he onely tell us that but also that he therefore obtained mercy for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe Our Saviour goes on whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man it shall be forgiven him Matt. 12.32 There were those who spake against Christ The Person
of Jesus was contemned and reproached for the meanness of his birth the poverty of his condition or freedom of his conversation and afterwards for the ignominy of his death But this sin did not exclude the possibility of repentance and the hope of pardon Here 's pardon for every sin the Gospell invites and receives the vilest sinners but shelters them not if they continue to wallow in their mire We may learn what sins have been forgiven from the words of the Apostle Such were some of you but ye are washed 1 Cor. 6.9 11. c. They had been Fornicatours Idolaters Adulterers Effeminate Abusers of themselves with Mankind Thieves Covetous Drunkards Revilers Extortioners Such the Christian Doctrine found them but it did not leave them such They were cleansed of these impurities They were washed sanctified and justifyed in the name of the Lord Jesus Tit. 3.3 5. and by the Spirit of our God It was a wretched plight in which the Gospel found men when it first advanced in the world They were foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hatefull and hating one another Good God what a wretched condition was this How was thy Creature made in thine own Image deformed What a darkness and disorder hath spread it self upon the intellectual world Men retained the same shape and figure that they had from the beginning They were of an erect or upright stature They were not overgrown indeed with horns and hoofs and claws but otherwise they were at best but brutes in humane shape Their manners were crooked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. their minds were bowed down to the ground they were salvage and ravenous as wolves and bears But were these Creatures out of the reach of this mercy tendered in the Covenant of Grace By no means These men were saved by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Our Lord came to call sinners to repentance And the greatest sinners were pardoned Those who had worshipped Idols who had been possessed by Devils and who had persecuted the Church of Christ In a word by our Jesus Act. 13.39 all that believe are justified from all things from which we could not be justified by the Law of Moses It is true indeed that our Saviour hath said Matt. 12.32 that whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him And it is the onely sin which is excepted Those words of our Saviour if rightly understood are no objection of weight against what hath been said before viz. that the Gospel affords a pardon for all manner of sin For this supposes that men assent to the truth of the Christian Doctrine and embrace it Now that sin against the Holy Ghost of which our Saviour speaks is of such a nature as supposeth the person guilty of it to be one who not onely does not assent to the truth of the Christian Doctrine but resists the Evidence and Confirmation of it which was effected by the Holy Ghost and does calumniate and blaspheme the Divine Authour of that Evidence Those Pharisees who imputed what our Saviour did to the Prince of the Devils did not believe the Doctrine of Christ Nor can any man who assents to the truth of the Christian Doctrine be guilty of that sin against the Holy Ghost of which our Saviour speaks The Holy Ghost in that place is not considered as the Third person of the Trinity and the authour of holiness in us in which respect every act of profaneness might in some sense be called a sin against the Holy Ghost but is considered there as a Witness to the truth of the Christian Doctrine And upon that account that blasphemy is said to be unpardonable He that was guilty of that sin was one who rejected the Christian Doctrine It is no disparagement to the most effectual Medicine in the World that it does not cure that diseased person who refuseth to apply it The Gospel affords a pardon for every sin but there is no hope for him who rejects it It was a charge of old against Christian Religion that it invited and gave hope of pardon to the most profligate sinners Origen contra Celsum l. 3. Celsus long agoe objected it against our most Holy Religion He says that in other mysteries the profane were dismissed and none was called in but he who had pure hands who was wise in speech free from vice c. But says he among the Christians are called in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Whoever is a sinner a fool or childish or miserable such says he does the Kingdom of God receive But as Origen answers well these vile men are not presently admitted to the participation of the mysteries of this Religion but to the Cure which it works upon them It gives them pardon upon their amendment The Jews from their Sacrifices had hopes of pardon but they were but faint hopes if compared with what we have under the Gospel of Christ God hath given us the utmost assurance For 1. He hath given up his beloved Son to death 2 Cor. 5.7 Joh. 1.29 1 Pet. 1.19 Eph. 5.2 Rev. 1.5 Heb. 12.24 Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us He was that Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World Here 's a Sacrifice without spot of an infinite price and value a Sacrifice of a sweet-smelling Savour A Sacrifice which God provided and accepts Our Saviour hath washed us from our sins in his own bloud We are by the Gospel brought to Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant and to the bloud of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel The bloud which Jesus shed does not onely speak better things than the bloud of the Legal Sacrifices ordained by the hands of Moses but also better than the Sacrifice which Abel offered up Heb. 11.4 with Gen. 4.4 For though Abel were a righteous person though he offered a more excellent Sacrifice than his brother and God did declare his acceptance of his sacrifice by a visible token from Heaven Though Abel offered his Sacrifice by faith and be justly celebrated among the worthies and the faithfull Though God bore witness to his righteousness and though he being so long since dead yet he speaketh yet for all this the bloud which he offered is not to be compared with the bloud of Jesus And could any thing have been said more to the advancing the value of the bloud of Christ And its efficacy to procure our pardon than that it speaks better things than that of Abel Heb. 9.12.25 Heb. 10.2 ch 9.13 14. 2 Cor. 5.15 Heb. 2.9 Joh. 3.17 This Sacrifice need not be repeated as the Legal Sacrifices were This Sacrifice ' purges the Conscience the legal ones did but sanctify to the purifying of the flesh This Sacrifice is of value sufficient to procure pardon for the whole race of mankind and is not confined in its virtue
or effects to any certain People as the Legal Sacrifices were 2. The Resurrection of Jesus from the dead gives farther assurance of our pardon When our Lord gave himself up to death as our surety he undertook our ransome but when he arose again he assured our discharge Rom. 4.25 He was delivered for our offences that is a foundation of some hope But then he was raised again for our justification If death had detained our Lord his death would not have afforded us any hope Our hope was raised with our Saviour 3. Our Saviour's entring into Heaven and intercession there on our behalf does still give us farther assurance of our Pardon and Forgiveness If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous 1 John 2.1 2. And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours onely but also for the sins of the whole world Act. 5.31 Again him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins The Jews expected pardon of their sins on their great day of Expiation when the High Priest went into the most holy place with bloud which he offered for himself Heb. 9.7 and the errours of the People Their High Priest had sins of his own to be expiated and the bloud which he offered was the bloud of a beast upon both accounts the Peoples hope was the more languid But blessed be God we are better provided for and our hope is more firmly built We have an high Priest the most perfect and spotless Such an High Priest became us Heb. 7.26 27 28. who is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners and made higher than the Heavens who needeth not daily as those high Priests to offer up Sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the peoples For this he did once when he offered up himself For the Law maketh men High Priests which have infirmity but the word of the Oath which was since the Law maketh the Son who is consecrated for evermore Here is nothing wanting toward the quieting our Consciences and the securing our pardon Jesus is our High Priest our Patron and Advocate with God D. Outram de sacrificiis p. 290. There are but three things required to render a Priest the most excellent and perfect in the highest degree and they are all to be found in our Jesus First that he have sufficient power with God to render him propitious to those for whom he undertakes Secondly that he have so much good will for those whose advocate he is as to incline him to use his power for their advantage Thirdly that he always live and continue in that Authority and Power and with that good will Our Jesus hath sufficient Power with God He hath all Power in Heaven and Earth Mat. 28.18 Phil. 2.9 and a name above every name and he hath great good will for those for whom he undertakes He hath been acquainted with the infirmities of humane nature an High Priest that is touched with the feeling of our infirmities having been tempted like as we are Heb. 4.15 with ch 5.2 ch 2.17 Heb. 7.24 25. He is at once a Mercifull as well as faithfull High Priest And besides this He ever lives to make intercession He continueth ever and hath a Priesthood that is unchangeable or which passeth not from one to another So that the death and the resurrection and intercession of Jesus as our high Priest lay a sure foundation for the quiet of our conscience These three are put together by St. Paul to my present purpose Rom. 8.34 Who is he that condemneth says He It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us 4. The holy Spirit which Jesus did not onely promise but bestow upon his followers is still a farther pledge of our pardon and forgiveness and indeed of our future glory and happiness For so the holy Spirit is said to be the earnest of our inheritance The Greek word which we truly render earnest Eph. 1.14 2 Cor. 1.22.5.5 Eph. 4.30 signifies a part of price or wages which is given in hand to secure the receiver of the whole summ And such is the holy Spirit to us He gives us full assurance that we shall be admitted to the whole inheritance The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit Rom. 8.16 17. that we are the Children of God and if Children then heirs heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ We are elsewhere said to be by the holy Spirit of God Eph. 4.30 sealed to the day of redemption And that expression is of the same import with the former We seal and mark things that are of the greatest value and which are to be preserved and kept safe as a peculiar Rev. 7.3 Ezek. 9.4 And this was the reason why those who were designed to be preserved are said to be sealed and marked for by this they were set aside to be preserved from the common destruction We do by recieving the Spirit receive a great assurance of our pardon and future glory The Apostle's argument is very strong Rom. 8.11 If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you We are now rendred secure of our future inheritance and glory how mean soever our present condition be Our Saviour hath given us the earnest of the Spirit and taken from us the earnest of our flesh Quemadmodum nobis arrabonem spiritus reliquit ita à nobis arrabonem carnis accepit vexit in coelum pignus totius summae c. Tertullian de resurr Carnis and carried it into Heaven as a token that his followers shall be translated thither Says one of the Ancient Fathers of the Church 5. The Sacraments which Jesus hath instituted and annexed to this covenant of grace do give us farther evidence and assurance of our pardon and forgiveness By Baptism we are received into the Church of Christ where pardon is to be had and into a State of pardon and forgiveness John the Baptist is said to baptize in the Wilderness and Preach the Baptism of repentance for the remission of sins Mark 1.4 And Ananias said arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins Act. 22.16 Baptism was a pledge of Salvation and they who received it were marked out not for destruction but for deliveranâ—e and safety And thus it was understood of old to be a pledge of safety When John Baptist saw the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his Baptism he said unto them O Generation of Vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come Act. 2.38.40 Matt. 3.7 Repent and be baptized says St. Peter to the
Jews every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins And presently after that he added save your selves from this untoward Generation 1 Pet. 3.21 The same Apostle elsewhere speaking of the Ark of Noah wherein they were saved who entred into it adds the like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us c. And the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is also a pledge of God's favour and our reconciliation We are admitted to feast upon the great Sacrifice which was offered upon the Cross This was not allowed in Sacrifices under the Law that were expiatory to the People We partake of the body and bloud of Christ of that body which was offered upon the Cross and of that bloud of the New Testament which was shed for many for the remission of sins Matt. 26.26 6. Our Lord Jesus sent forth his Messengers into the World to declare pardon to the penitent He took care that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all Nations Luk. 24.46 They were entrusted with the Power of the Keys to bind and loose to let into the Kingdom of God and to exclude from it It were easie to shew that the Christian Religion does upon other accounts besides what have been named excell the Law of Moses It had a better Mediatour and was better confirmed It was more succesfull and farther spread and affords both more and more conspicuous Examples than are to be found under that Law It is attended with greater motives to obedience as well as greater motives of Credibility The Jews are pressed to obey God because he brought them out of Egypt The motive had great force but 't was peculiar to that People We are constrained by the Love of God in Christ Jesus We are moved by the love of Christ which passeth knowledge His death and passion the comforts of the Holy Ghost the unspeakable love of God and hope of pardon and of Eternal life these are our motives to obedience These are great enough to thaw and unlock the most obdurate heart to work upon the most benummed minds I proceed to consider The usefulness of the foregoing discourse And that is very great where it is duly weighed and considered It would be of great use to the Jew would he but consider it and lay it to heart And is of very great use to the Christian to awaken him to the greatest regard to his holy Religion and to a very hearty embracing of it I shall at present onely consider this one advantage which it will afford us viz. that it gives us a fair occasion of inquiring into the grâ—at Ends and Causes for which the Law of Moses was given I will not here undertake to insist upon all the Causes of the Law of Moses Much less will I goe about to inquire into the reason of the particular Precepts of that Law I make no doubt but that God gave the Jews that Law to keep them from Idolatry and to that purpose to preserve that People separate from the neighbour Nations Many of the rites appointed I doubt not were therefore prescribed because they ran Counter to those rites which did obtain among Idolaters then in being I will onely consider the ends of this Law as far as my present argument is concerned And that I shall doe in the following particulars 1. The Law was given to restrain the Jews and keep them from a loose and licentious Course of sinning The promise of the Messias was made to Abraham above four hundred years before the giving of the Law But though the Messias were then promised God did not think fit to send him presently In the mean time the Jews the Children of Abraham whom God had chosen for his Church were to be restrained from living as they list They were very prone to wickedness and needed a restraint in the mean time Therefore was the Law given and given with great solemnity and terrour It denounced many evils against transgressours and left them liable to a curse the more effectually to oblige them to obedience It was not given as God's last revelation nor to give life and to justifie them Gal. 3.19 Wherefore then serveth the Law It was added because of transgressions God did not think it fit that they should be left unrestrained 1 Tim. 1.9 with Gal. 5.22 The Law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient 2. The Law was given as that which contained types and shadows of good things to come and was therefore given that they might have among them a pledge of those spiritual good things to be bestowed in the days of the Messias The great promise which God made to Abraham was the promise of the Messias this promise was renewed afterward when Isaac was born it was repeated by Jacob to his Sons before his death The Messias was the desire and expectation of the more wise and devout Israelites They receive a Law in the mean time full of types and shadows of what they were to expect in the latter days or the days of the Messias Hence it is that the Gospel as it is distinguished from this Law is called truth not as truth is opposed to falsehood but as it is opposed to types and shadows and as it speaks the substance of what was but symbolically represented before Thus it is said that the Law was given by Moses and that grace and truth come by Jesus Christ John 1.17 And the Gospel is called the word of truth Eph. 1.13 Joh. 14.6 Joh. 4.23 Heb. 8.2 Our Saviour tells us that he is the way and the truth and tells the Woman of Samaria that the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth They that obey the Gospel are said to walk in the truth and obey the truth And Heaven is called the true Tabernacle Heb. 10.1 ch 8.5 The Law had a shadow of good things to come and not the very Image of the things The Priests under the Law are said to serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things Coloss 2.17 Heb. 3.5 That Law was a pledge of a better and the things therein commanded were but a shadow of things to come Moses was faithfull as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken viz. by Jesus and his followers For so the Syriack hath it for those things which were to be spoken by him 3. To dispose men for the reception of the Gospel of Christ It was well fitted for this end And that this was the end of it is very evident from the words of the Apostle Gal. 3.22 23 24. The Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe But before faith came we were under the Law shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed wherefore the Law was our