calls it Rom. 2.29 and Rom. 7.6 and 2. Cor. 3.6 the spirit of the Law according to the tacit intent true meaning and purpose of the Law-giver for times and things future above and beyond the common construction which the words and clauses of the Law afford This mysticall sense for the spirit of the Law was not understood at least not plainly and fully by the people of Israel to whom the Law was given neither could it be understood of any unlesse God revealed it from Heaven in a way extraordinary as privately was done in some measure unto some speciall persons but publickly it was never revealed untill it was Preached and published by Christ who was the first that did away the vaile of the Law and brought to light that true sense and minde of the Law whereof the former sense which even unto this day 2. Cor. 3.15 is a vaile upon the heart of the Jew was a figure and a shadow in foreshewing some representment of those things which should have a future existence under the new covenant which is little else but the new and true sense of the old For according to this sense of the spirit the Promises of the Law were to be Celestiall and eternall blessings in the Kingdome of Heaven whereof the principall and finall is a divine holinesse like that of the Angels pure and perfect without any spot or staine of sin and the accessories to that blessed state in Heaven are eternall life eternall rest eternall joy and eternall glory in the eternall company of eternall persons The judgements penalties or curses of the Law for the spirit of it were to be infernall and eternall death with all the losses and miseries thereto incident quite contrary to the former blessings The Precepts of the Law for the spirit of it were to be all Moralities for the legall moralities and all the ceremonies excepting onely those which were especiall figures of Christ were to be refined and exalted into the evangelicall moralities of poorenesse of spirit purenesse of heart mourning meekenesse hunger and thirst after righteousnes mercifulnes peaceablenes and gladnes under persecution for none of all these are Counsels or advises left unto mans choyse to be done or not done but all of them are Precepts or commands injoyned by Christ who thereupon assureth heavenly blessednes Mat. 5.3 And unto all these the generall or capitall morality is the new Commandement of Love refined also and exalted above and beyond the legall love yea above and beyond that love which moves and workes by the Law of nature as to love mine enemies to blesse them that curse me to benefit them that hate me to pray for them that despite me and persecute me to lay downe my life for my Brother and therefore much more for my heavenly Father whensoever a just cause shall require it Lastly the workes of the Law for the spirit of it were to be Cordiall wrought inwardly in and upon my heart by Circumcising of my heart by Sacrificing of my heart by Expiating of my heart in cutting killing and cleansing away the lusts motions and affections of sin And the workes were to be Liberall done in the free and noble way of love answerable to that love and kindnes which appeareth in God in condescending to this divine alliance of being my heavenly Father and of promising me an heavenly Inheritance and answerable to that love and duty which is due from me who am made the son of God and his heyre to eternall blessednes And finally the works were to be Perfect so exact and compleat as to performe an universall and perpetuall obedience to every precept not transgressing any one at any time so sinlesse and blamelesse that none of them should need any pardon or forgivenesse so upright and holy in the sight of God as to merit and deserve those divine and heavenly blessings as their proper and due wages The full meaning therefore of the Apostles Negative in this verse is this A man is not justified by any workes whatsoever no not by the spirituall workes of the Law i. e. his Moralities or morall workes by poorenes of spirit meekenes purenes of heart meeknes mercifulnes c. being measured by the spirituall sense of Gods Law are not cordiall liberall and perfect enough to make him a title whereby to acquire and have a true right of divine alliance with God and of the heavenly Inheritance consequent to that state This Negative the Apostle proves in this Chapter by three severall arguments which are not to be here anticipated but shall be specified in their due places in all which he mentions workes with restraint of them to the Law but his arguments hold against works in generall and in his Epistle to the Romans he handles the very same Doctrine of workes in generall without any restraint of them to the Law proving it there by the same arguments alleaged heere yet because there he produceth two arguments which here are omitted I shall therefore mention those two and but onely mention them One is Rom. 3.27 and the same is also alleaged Ephes 2.9 If mans title or cause procreant whereby he acquireth or hath a right of divine alliance and inheritance with God come by his owne workes then all boasting on mans part cannot be excluded for man doth naturally boast of his works particularly of such workes whereby he acquires some great alliance and inheritance especially of such as would make him a divine alliance to be the son and heire of God The other is Rom. 4.4 If mans title c. be by his workes then by the Law of equity heavenly blessednes becomes a debt and is due unto him as his wages which he hath earned by his worke Now these two respects that man should be able either to boast of his blessednes or to earne it are both derogatory to the love grace mercy and kindnes of God for where is Gods grace and his kindnes when either I can boast of my earnings or he is drawne to pay his debt But concerning the literall workes of the Law there may hereupon be inferred these two consequences 1. That the literall workes of the Law are no title whereby a man is justified procreantly or acquisitively to the spirituall promises thereof For if the spirituall workes which are farre more sublime and more pleasing to God make man no title to the spirituall promises as was proved before much lesse can the literall workes doe it which are farre lesse 2. That the literall workes of the Law were no title whereby the Israelites were acquisitively justified to the temporall promises thereof For when God gave them the Land of Canaan to possesse it hee utterly disclaymes their workes and their uprightnes from being any title whereby they acquired their right of possession Deut. 9.5 Not for thy righteousnesse or for the uprightnesse of thy heart doest thou goe to possesse their Land but for the wickednesse of these Nations the
such a latitude of sense as may also include the presence of the person as opposed unto his absence for the word taken in this sense is elsewhere rendred presence in our last English Translation See Act. 3.13 and Act. 5.41 and 2. Cor. 10.1 and 1. Thess 2.17 and 2. Thess 1.9 and Heb. 9.24 Unto the Churches of Judea i. e. unto the Churches in the Regions of Judea both at Jerusalem and other Countrey-Townes and Judea must not heere bee taken strictly as sometimes it is when it stands opposed unto Galilee and Samaria but largely as it contayns the whole land of Israel including Galily and Samaria and as Judea is opposed to Syria and Cilicia For the persecution at Jerusalem arising upon the dispute of Stephen with the Synagogue of the strangers there grew so fearful and bloudy for divers were put to death that the faithful were scattred all abroad not only throughout the Regions of Judea strictly taken but of Samaria also Act. 8.1 And the good providence of God by the scattering of the faithfull scattered also the Gospel for they who from Jerusalem were scattered abroad went every where preaching the Gospel Act. 8.4 Hence Philip to whom Peter and John soone after adjoyned themselves planted the Gospel in Samaria and preached it in many Villages of the Samaritans Act. 8.25 And after the baptisme of the Eunuch he preached in all the Cities of Samaria till he came to Cesarea which frontiers upon Syria Act. 8.40 As for Galily the Gospel had her beginning there and thither it redounded about this time with peace and rest from persecution which was now fully ceased throughout all the Churches of Judea Galily and Samaria Act. 9.31 Yet Paul departing from Jerusalem makes not his addresse to any of the Churches in the Regions of Judea Galilee or Samaria where hee might have rested with safety and security for it was now a time of tranquility from the tempest of the former persecution but he proceeds into the Regions of Syria and Cilicia because unto the Churches of Judea Galilee and Samaria he was altogether a stranger unknowne by his bodily and personall presence neither the teachers nor members of those Churches had ever seen his face to his knowledge And the reason heereof might be because in a maner Paul was a stranger in the Countreyes of Judea Samaria and Galilee for he was then but a yong man who was borne at Tarsus and brought up at Jerusalem where he had alwayes lived till about three yeers before during which time he had preached in Arabia and at Damascus in Syria Which were in Christ A note of distinction whereby to discerne the Churches of Christ from the Synagogues of Moses for heerby hee would specifie what Churches of Judea hee understood namely not the Jewish Synagogues but the Christian Congregations because in all the Regions of Judea Galilee and Samaria the Churches of Christ were intermingled with the Synagogues of the Jewes for heereby it came to passe that the Christians were subject to so many persecutions from the Jews who for their abode were their Countrey-men as Paul intimates to the Thessalonians where he expresseth the Churches of Judea with the like note of distinction of being in Christ 1. Thes 2.14 To be in Christ beares two senses 1. Generally and so to bee in Christ is to be a Christian and hee is a Christian who hath taken the new Covenant whereof Christ was and is the Mediator and he hath taken that Covenant who beleeves the truth of it and accepts the grace of it for in this sense to be in Christ is taken heere and so the word is opposed to a Jew and a Heathen 2. Specially and so to be in Christ is to be a reall sincere and true Christian in opposition to the hypocrite the carnall and false Christian and he is a reall Christian who puts on Christ and lives according to the life of Christ who not only beleeves the verities of the new Covenant and accepts the promises of it but also obeyes the precepts of it by being a new creature according to the new Covenant for thus to doe and be is to be in the spirit and to have the spirit of Christ which if any man have not he is not in Christ See and compare Rom. 8.9 and 2. Cor. 5.17 and Gal. 5.24 and 1. John 4.13 The reason of the words in this verse for the History was shewed before in the context but the reason for their argument is thus q. d. I was so far from learning any point of doctrine eyther from the Apostles at Jerusalem or from any other Teachers amongst the Christian Churches of Judea that they never saw my face but my person was wholly unknowne unto them for to my remembrance I never was in presence with any of them VERSE 23. Text. But they had heard only That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed Sense But they viz. The Churches of Judea Heard only Supply Some men say That he c. The faith i. e. The doctrine of Faith or the Gospel Which once Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. In times past He destroyed Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. He wasted Reason An Illustration of his former saying or a Limitation of the generality therein by specifying in what sense and how farre hee might be or sayd to be known unto the Churches of Judea Comment The believing Jewes heard of Paul That from a Persecutor hee was become a Preacher BUT they had heard onely The Greeke placeth the enclusive particle onely in the first place reading it thus But onely they had heard viz. men say for the words must bee supplyed with some impersonall or indefinite tearme to perfect up the sense thus But onely they had heard say or men say That hee who persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith for so it is supplyed in the French Translation They had heard The Greeke is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. they were hearing which is both an Hebraisme and a Grecisme used heere by way of elegancy to encounter his former words of himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. I was unknowne to them but they were hearing of mee Some knowledge therefore the Churches of Judea had of Paul yet none by sight or view of his person for they had not seene his face but their knowledge of him was onely by report and hear-say for they had heard of his actions two wayes whereof the one was extreamely contrary to the other for first they had heard that hee had persecuted and wasted the faith and secondly they had heard the quite contrary that now hee preached that faith which formerly hee had persecuted and wasted Yet these two contrary reports of him were both true for hee had done both not at one and the same time but successively one after the other in times different Of his former action they had heard long
of that right which it first created if fayth it selfe bee conserved but fayth cannot conserve it selfe without workes because by workes fayth lives and breaths but without workes is frustrate and dead as the body is without breath Workes therefore being efficient to conserve our faith must consequently needes bee efficient to conserve that right which by the efficiency of our fayth was created unto us for though fayth alone bee efficient to create our right yet faith alone is not sufficient to conserve or declare it without the co-efficiency of workes Wherefore workes are not only a signe of our right to declare it but also a cause to conserve it because they are a cause to conserve our faith which without them would be dead And this jurall sense of the Verb Justified may be further illustrated and confirmed from divers other words which carry a jurall construction and are referred to Justifying which words for better order may be distributed into fowre sorts 1. Words of Circumstance whereof some doe create or constitue a Right or Interest as Grace Gift Goodwill Will and Testament Covenant and Promise all which are jurall words signifying the principall motives and causes of our Justification some doe confirme or assure a Right as Seale and Earnest for the holy Spirit is sayd to be the Seal and Earnest of that Inheritance whereto wee are justified and some other words doe specifie a Right constituted and assured as Liberty Freedome Communion Fellowship Inheritance and Peculiar all which and many more are the results and effects of our Justification 2. Words of Contrariety which are opposite to Justifying as Injurying and Condemning for the two Greeke words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifie Injurying and Condemning are both contrary and opposite to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is Justifying As therefore he who is Injuried is against Law made to lose some right which he had before and which by Law was due unto him and as he who is Condemned is according to Law made to lose some right which he had before and which by Law hee was to lose for all Condemnation effecteth on the condemned eyther the abolition or the abatement of some right which the party had before eyther in deed or in pretence so contrarily he who is justified is beyond or above Law made to have some right which before hee had not and which by Law was not due unto him And as Condemnation is the Imputation of a present sin to a future punishment so Justification is the Imputation of a present right to a future blessing for although Justifyng and Condemning be opposite and contrary one to another yet they agree in this that both are under one and the same genus which is Imputation Seeing then Injurying and Condemning are jurall words therefore so is Justifying because it is opposite and contrary to them both 3. Words of Affinity or nearenesse which are subordinate to justifying and comprehended under it as Naturalizing Legitimating Manumising Redeeming Pardoning Adopting and such like all which are severall kindes or sorts of justifying which is the genus to them all For Naturalizing is the Justifying of an Alien by imputing or giving the right of a Native to him that was borne in a forraigne Countrey Legitimating is the Justifying of a Bastard by imputing or giving the right of Birth to him that was born misbegotten Manumising or Infranchising is the Justifying of a Villaine or Bondman by imputing or giveing the right of freedome to him that was borne a Slave Redeeming is the Justifying of a Captive by giving the right of Liberty to him who before was a Prisoner to his Enemy Pardoning is the Justifying of an Offender by imputing or giving the right of impunity to him who stands by Law condemned Adopting is the Justifying of a Stranger by imputing or giving the right of a Sonne and Heire to him who was borne in another Family Any one of these acts severally is justifying and all of them concurring joyntly for concur they may upon one and the same person are no more saving that then the justifying is exceeding gracious for when an Alien a Bastard a Bondslave and a Captive and so much worse beside as to bee a Malefactor is made an Heire to some Kingdome such a Justifying in regard it passeth from one extreame to another is extreamely gratious and so gratious is our Justification by Christ as to an observant Reader will afterwards appeare 4. Words of Attribute whereby the justified are in Scripture stiled and called as Sonnes and Heires of God Gal. 4.7 Wherefore thou art no more a Servant but a Sonne and if a Sonne then an Heire of God through Christ Co-heires or joynt-heires with Christ Rom. 8.16.17 The spirit it selfe beareth witnesse with our spirit that wee are the Children of God and if Children then Heires Heires of God and joynt-heires with Christ Fellow-citizens and Domesticks of God Ephes 2.19 Now therefore yee are no more Strangers and Forraigners but Fellow-citizens with the Saints and of the Houshold of God The Lords Freemen 1. Cor. 7.22 For hee that is called in the Lord being a servant is the Lords Freeman Which last Attribute of Freeman is a generall word including all the former for Citizens Sonnes and Heires are but severall sorts and rankes of Freemen and it is a word so jurall that the state of Liberty or Freedome is the Primitive Originall or Fundamentall Right whereon all other Rights and Priviledges are raised and without which none can subsist for a Bondman during his bondage hath no right at all neither can hee have any till first hee bee infranchised or made free seeing all the right hee hath before is onely a crooked right to accept or refuse freedome for a will to refuse freedome was by the Law of God allowed to a Bondman who otherwise hath no freedom of will Exod. 21.5 If the servant shall plainely say I love my Master my Wife and my Children I will not go out free then his Master shall bring him to the Judges c. And the word Freeman is so intimate genuine proper unto Justified that those 2 words are reciprocall adequate to denote the same person for Freeman is the proper name whereby a person justified is called a person justifyed is the proper essence or differēce which defines a Freeman seeing a Freeman is a person justified or made to have some right for hereby he is absolutely opposed to a bōdman who absolutely is not justified or hath no right at all heereby hee is respectively opposed to an Alien a Forraigner or Stranger who locally is not justified or hath no right in this or that place as none in such a Kingdome such a City or such a Family Hence in the Scripture the word Justified is sometime put for freed as Act. 13.39 and by Christ all that believe are justified i. e. freed from all things from which yee could not
is Gods grace which moveth him to this act of kindnesse in making or passing his promise unto man and because the matter thereof is meerely gratious consisting of those favours benefits and blessings conferred upon man which are not due to man by any Law In the Old Testament Gen. 15. God covenants with Abraham by way of promise that God on his part would bee unto Abraham a shield and an exceeding great reward that he would give him a son and heire of his owne body and Abraham therupon enters covenant with God that hee on his part did beleeve in the Lord i. e. did accept receive and embrace those promises heere was a Covenant of Grace because the ground of it was Gods grace and the matter very gratious In the New Testament Heb. 8.10 God covenants with thee by way of promise that hee on his part will put his Lawes into thy mind and write them in thy heart that he will be a God unto thee and take thee for one of his people that he will teach thee to know him in respect of his greatnes goodnes and kindnes toward thee that he will be mercifull to thy unrighteousnesse not onely to forgive but also to forget thy sins and iniquities If thou on thy part accept these promises by thy faith thou thereby entrest Gods Covenant and the Covenant thou entrest is the Covenant of Grace because the ground of it is Gods grace and the matter of it very gracious Contrarily the Covenant made with God by meanes of a Preceptory faith is the Covenant of workes because the ground thereof is mans duty as he is the worke or creature of God owing all allegiance obedience and observance unto his Lord and Maker and because the matter thereof is laborious consisting of those workes Offices and services which by Gods Law are due from man to God In the Old Testament Gen. 17.1.10 God covenants with Abraham by way of Precept that Abraham on his part should walke before the Lord and be perfect upright or sincere and that every male childe in Abrahams family should be Circumcised here was a Covenant of workes because the ground of it was Abrahams duty and the matter somwhat laborious for workes to be done Againe in the New Testament Mat. 5.3 God covenants with thee by way of Precept that thou on thy part shalt be poore in spirit shalt mourne shalt bee meeke shalt hunger and thirst after righteousnesse shalt bee mercifull shalt be pure in heart shalt be a Peace-maker shalt suffer persecution for righteousnesse sake Heere againe is a Covenant of works because the ground of it is thy duty and the matter somewhat laborious In a word every promise of God is a Covenant of grace every Precept of God a Covenant of workes every judgement of God a Covenant of Curses and every voluntary sin of man is an involuntary Covenant to suffer those curses 2. The second effect is to assure Gods promise The promise of God though in respect of his will on his part it be firme sure and fast yet in respect of any right or benefit thence accruing to thee it is neither firme sure nor fact before thy faith or acceptance of it but by vertue of thy faith or acceptance it is made stable firme and sure Because that promise which Gods will is should be stable firme and sure is by thy faith actually established affirmed and assured for as was shewed before thy faith doth advance and forme Gods promise into a Covenant and a Covenant is an agreement so stable firme and sure that the parties agreed cannot repent revoke recede or goe back And if a Consent of the parties to be married doth make the mariage sure for upon their consent we use to say they are sure together much more doth thy acceptance of Gods promise make thy alliance to him stable firme and sure And this faith doth assure not onely thy present alliance but also the future possession of all those blessings which unto this alliance are appendent and consequent as the Regeneration or sanctification of thy minde the Remission of thy sins the Resurrection of thy body and thy Life everlasting And unto this assurance this faith is quickened and strengthened by the first notion of faith which is a high esteeme of Gods goodnes and greatnes that what the goodnes of his will was pleased to promise that the greatnes of his power is able to performe For this estimatory Faith by giving unto God the glory of his goodnes and greatnes doth nourish and feed up thy promissory faith into an assurance of a strong and full perswasion of Gods performance though unto thy selfe thou seeme never so poore and dead a Creature For notwithstanding all the difficulties and casualties in the world that may seeme to disturb Gods performance notwithstanding thy ignorance in many poynts of Religion that may seeme to hinder it notwithstanding thy sinnes of errour and frailty that may seeme to crosse it notwithstanding thy death and dissolution in the grave that may seeme to bury it Yet after all these God remaines constant firm and sure both willing and able to performe his promise and will actually performe it unto thee And of this assurance thou hast a precedent in Abrahams faith which notwithstanding the deadnesse of his owne body and of Sarahs Wombe was so firme sure and strong that hee was sure of a sonne because he considered not the deadnesse of his body but the goodnesse of Gods will and the greatnesse of his power Rom. 4.19 And being not weake in faith hee considered not his owne body now dead when hee was about 100. yeare old neither yet the deadnesse of Sarahs wombe hee staggered not at the promise of God through unbeliefe but was strong in faith giving glory to God and being fully perswaded that what hee had promised hee was able also to peforme Hence Amen the Hebrew word for faith doth also signifie verity constancy firmenesse and surenesse Because it is the nature of faith to bee true constant firme and sure not onely formally for the quality of it as it is opposed to falshood doubting staggering and wavering but also effectively for the virtue of it because it makes the promises of God to bee stable constant true firme and sure which otherwise and without it will prove frustrate and voyd to bee of no force or effect to him who diffides them And this Assurance of Gods promise is an effect so peculiar to thy faith that not workes but faith is ordained for thy title to this very end and purpose that the promise might bee sure unto thee Rom. 4.16 Therefore it is of faith that it might bee by grace to the end the promise might bee sure to all the seed 3. The third effect is to oblige both parties God at the first was not obliged to make any promise but was altogether free either to make or forbeare it and having made it hee is not obliged to performe
saith of himselfe John 3.11 Verily verily I say unto thee wee speake that wee know and testifie that wee have seene viz. the New Testament or last Will of God which God had therefore revealed unto him that hee should speake and testifie it And againe hee saith John 18.37 To this end was I borne and for this cause came I into the World that I should beare witnesse unto the truth viz. unto the New Testament that it was the true and last Will of God Hence the Apostle saith of him 1. Tim. 6.13 that before Pontius Pilate hee witnessed a good confession now the confession which Christ witnessed before Pilate hee also witnessed with his death Hence hee is called the faithfull and true witnes Revel 3.14 These things saith the Amen the faithfull and true witnesse viz. because hee was the first true Martyr of the New Testament to testifie it with his blood Hence his blood is tearmed a witnesse on earth 1. John 5.8 And there are three that beare witnesse on earth the spirit and the water and the blood and these three agree in one And hence his Gospel which is the New Testament is called his Testimony Because it was testified and witnessed by his death 1. Cor. 1.6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you i. e. the Gospel or New Testament which Christ testified And 2. Tim. 1.8 bee not thou ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. i. e. of the Gospel or New Testament which Christ testified by his death upon the Crosse for unto the Gospel that shamefull death was made the common reproach and there was no other cause why Timothy should bee ashamed thereof 2. To establish or confirme the force of the New Testament Every Testament doth necessarily require a solemne Confirmation of it that may cause it to be of strength and in force because the constitution or making of a Testament is in it selfe an imperfect and infirme act untill it be ratified and established by a further act of Confirmation whereby all power to revoke it is extinguished in the Testator and whereby the Testament comes to be of force And among men this Confirmation of a Testament is made or done by the death of the Testator because his death doth wholly and for ever extinguish in him all power to revoke it for the dead have no power to do any act at all much lesse to make or revoke a Testament made That Testament therefore which during the Testators life lay dormant and was of no force doth upon his death ipso facto come to be in force Because every Testament according to the definition and nature of it is a Decree touching things to be done after death For the Testator in the time of his life doth predestinate ordaine and devise in his Testament those things which he would have take effect after his death and which before his death are of no force Hence sayth the Apostle Heb. 9.16 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 The New Testament then was confirmed because God would have the world take notice that he had not onely no will to revoke it but also had left himselfe no power to revoke it And it was confirmed by death because God would further have all men to understand that upon the death of the Confirmer the Testament was ipso facto in force and began to take effect But God who is the Testator could not confirme his Testament by his owne death in his owne proper person because though he be a Person Testable who can make a Testament yet withall he is a person immortall who cannot dye and therefore the most High God hath this prerogative that he may confirme his Testament by the death of another For hereupon God confirmed his Old Testament by the death of Beasts whose bloud was sprinkled on the people to establish his Testament unto them Exod. 24.8 And Moses tooke the bloud of the Oxen slayne for sacrifice vers 5. and sprinkled on the People and sayd Behold the bloud of the covenant or Testament which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words But God confirmed his New Testament by the death of Christ a most Sacred person who was next himselfe and so neare unto him that he was in a maner himselfe even his onely and dearely beloved Son whom God made his substitute to dye in his stead for the confirmation of his last Will and Testament For as the New Testament is better then the Old and established upon better Promises so it had a most excellent confirmation For can I devise a greater assurance of blessednesse then to read the devise of it in Gods last Testament which cannot be revoked but is confirmed by the death of Christ to stand in force for ever and therefore actually justifieth upon the accesse of my fayth by giving me a present right to the future possession of that Inheritance which long before the confirmation of that Testament was therein predestinated pre-imputed and devised unto me Could God who could not dye devise a way to come nearer death then by the death of Christ who was next unto him Or could God devise a course more consequent and suitable to that love and grace which he shewed in framing of the New Testament then that his owne and onely Son should suffer death to confirme it Or could Christ devise a more precious meanes whereby to shew his love then to lay downe his life for a company of sinners who stood condemned to death that by Meanes of his death that Testament might come to be in force by which they might clayme not onely a pardon from eternall death but also an Inheritance to eternall life which is setled upon them at the price of his bloud For hence Christ instituted the Eucharist as a perpetuall commemoration of his death and called his bloud the bloud of the New Testament because the New Testament was thereby established and confirmed to be in force Mat. 26.28 For this is my bloud of the New Testament which is shed for many for the Remission of sinnes i. e. the Wine in this cup is a memoriall representing or betokening my bloud which is to be shed to confirme the New Testament wherein the Remission of sinnes is bequeathed unto many even unto all Believers And againe the like saying is expressed Marc. 14.24 This is my bloud of the New Testament which is shed for many i. e. the bloud wherby the New Testament was confirmed Hence Christ is frequently in Scripture sayd to give himselfe for us and to dye for us because by his death hee confirmed the new Testament to be in force for our sakes that wee thereupon might actually have our present right to all the blessings therein conveyed unto us Hence also the bloud of Christ is opposed