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
quaked greatly These things were very terrible and so were other works which we read of afterward which spoke indeed the presence and power of God but then they spoke his anger too The Sons of Aaron were destroyed by fire Miriam is struck with leprousie the earth swallows up Korah and his company and the fiery serpents plague the people On the other hand our Lord saves but does not destroy Instead of killing or inflicting plagues and diseases upon men he feeds the hungry cures the sick cleanseth the Lepers restores the blind and lame dispossesseth the Demoniacks and raises the dead 4. Our Saviour confirmed his doctrine by raising himself from the dead Moses dyed as well as the other Prophets And though the Jews tell us upon a trifling ground that he did die by the kiss of God's mouth and not after the ordinary manner of men yet they cannot deny that he dyed and 't is not affirmed by any that he rose from the dead He dyed on this side the Land of Promise and was buried over against Beth Peor Deut. 34.8 but the Jews are so far from affirming that he rose again that they knew not where his Sepulchre or place of burial was So that there was no room left for their fraud None could take away his Body and pretend he was risen from the dead Our blessed Saviour did rise from the dead notwithstanding all the art used to prevent it aswell as the spreading of it He had many witnesses of his Resurrection some whereof sealed the truth with their Bloud I shall now consider the pretended miracles of the Church of Rome not that I think them worthy to be compared with those of our blessed Saviour But that Church hath boasted of Miracles and we have large accounts of the wonders which have been wrought within the verge of her own Communion And not to inlarge too far I shall confine my self to those three marks or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which a learned Writer discoursing of this argument hath pitched upon 1. Whereas the miracles which Jesus wrought were grave and serious works substantial and such as proclamed the power and goodness and the wisedom of the Authour of them there is nothing more ridiculous and trifling than many of those which are reported to be done in the Church of Rome Such are the many stories which are told of our Saviour and the Virgin Mary They tell us that she frequently comes from Heaven offers her self in Marriage and brings knacks along with her and bestows them upon her friends and familiars They tell us also of our Saviour that he appears in his Mother's armes as a little Child that sometimes he goes from her and that he was once almost lost in the Snow They tell that the Virgin Mary's house in Nazareth upon discontent removed from thence and travail'd from place to place for the space of about two thousand miles Durand Rational Divin Offic. till it sate down at Loretto They tell that when one of their Preachers who was blind preached though there were no auditours to do it yet the stones that were about him cryed out Amen at his concluding I am ashamed to report the ridiculous stories which they tell of men who carried their heads in their hands after they had been Beheaded for several miles together of others who spake after they were dead of Sheep and Asses running to hear St. Francis preach and of Swine falling dead under his curse Of St. Dominick who hung in the air like a bird and at his Devotions forcing the Devil to hold a light and burn his fingers at that service of Christina who contracted her self at prayer into a round form like that of an Hedgehog and who could climb the highest trees like a Squirrel and swim in rivers like a Fish Of Catharine of Sienna who desired a new heart and thereupon Christ came to her opened her Breast took out her heart goes away with it and brings another and tells her that was his own I will not entertain you with the Stories of the sweating and speaking and motion of their Images of the great feats which have been done by the relicks of Saints and holy water and such like things Such Pranks as these are reported which look more like the feats of Demons of Hob-goblins and Fairies than the finger of God The works of Jesus spake the great wisedom power and goodness of God they were works of great mercy and relief But these stories are Romances and false representations or which is worse they look like the works of an evil Spirit who is abroad ready to deceive them who obey not the truth These things can serve no good and wise purpose and that is not all for they serve a very evil one These false stories are a temtation to men to question the true Men will be too ready to suspect the miracles of Christ when they find themselves imposed upon by those who profess themselves his followers 2. The miracles which Christ did were to confirm the truth of the Christian doctrine But these pretended miracles are brought to confirm a doctrine which Christ and his Apostles never taught Christ and his Apostles taught all Christian doctrine and all the necessary matters of faith And now though an Angel from Heaven should Preach any other Gospel we ought not to receive him Gal. 1.8 9. Were the works of the Church of Rome like our Saviour's works and their doctrine the same with his these works would be of great use to convince unbelievers but not at all requisite where the doctrine was believed before For the doctrine of the Church of Rome it is the same with that of the holy Scriptures or it is not If it be the same there is no need of miracles especially among them who believe the holy Scriptures to confirm that which hath been sufficiently confirmed already But if it be not the same we are not to regard miracles in that Case Nay if an Apostle or Angel from Heaven should Preach another Gospel let him be accursed We shall find that the pretended miracles in the Church of Rome are alledged for the confirmation of the Novel doctrines of that Church not of the Christian doctrine taught by Christ and his Apostles We are told that Christ spake intelligibly several times out of the Wafer to a Spanish Franciscan Again that upon the Altar he turned himself from the form of a Consecrated Wafer into that of a little Child and then from that of a Child to that of a Wafer Again that a Woman's Bees not thriving she stole a Consecrated Wafer and put it into one of her Hives The devout Bees in honour to that fall to work and with their honey-combs make a little Church with windows with roof and door with belfry and Altar upon which they laid the Host and did fly about it continually praising the Lord All this is for the confirmation of the doctrine of Transubstantiation
The works which he did spake who he was for such they were as did plainly proclaim a divine power But besides the works which our Saviour did and to which he refers the Disciples of John were those very works which the Messias was to doe according to the prediction of the Prophet And these works here mentioned are those very works When our Saviour tells them that the blind receive their sight the lame walk it is no more but what the Prophet had foretold should come to pass in the days of the Messias Isa 35.5 6. It may indeed be asked why our Saviour should use these words and the poor have the gospel preached unto them For why should this be reckoned as a miracle or where was this foretold of the Messias But the answer is very easie to this And First this was foretold of the Messias that he should preach the gospel to the poor For preaching good tidings to the meek Isa 61.1 is the same thing with preâ—ching the gospel to the poor And the same words are used by the Septuagint in the Prophet which are used by the Evangelist here Secondly that though preaching the gospel to the poor be not a miracle nor is it reckoned so here yet it is a particular that is very remarkable and very pertinent to our Saviour's purpose We must know that poverty was very much contemned by the Jews Poor men were esteemed evil also And they have a saying among them that the spirit of God does not rest upon a poor man Hence the poor and common people were slighted and reckoned as children of the Earth Their Prophets of old were generally sent to Kings their Scribes and Doctours taught the rich They expected a Princely Messias that would Lord it over poor men But our Saviour puts them in mind here that it was foretold that the Messias should preach to the meek or poor And that when he did so as we know he did to poor Fishermen and Publicans they ought to consider that he did that which was predicted of the Christ For that those words Isa 61.1 belong to the Messias our Saviour elsewhere gives the Jews to understand Luk. 4.18 21. Nor do we find that they had any contest with him about that matter No they were so far from it that we are told they all bare him witness and wondred at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth V. 22. Nor could any thing have been said more seasonably to the Disciples of John Baptist than this after our Lord had referred them to the works which he did that he preached the Gospel to the poor because this would set them right as to the Messias whom they were to receive For they may not now look for a temporal Prince to conquer and captivate their powerfull enemies but a meek and lowly and mercifull person that would converse with and instruct the poor and the needy So that those words and the poor have the Gospel preached c. tend to instruct them aright concerning the Messiah whom they were to expect and the nature of his Kingdom For had he been such a temporal Prince as the Jews were ready to expect he would rather have employed his arms against the powerfull enemies of his people than to take upon himself the care of preaching the Gospel and that not to the wealthy and honourable but to the poor also But not to insist any longer upon this matter I shall onely consider that our Saviour refers the Disciples of John Baptist to the works which he did as a proof that he was the Christ that was to come into the world So then the works which Jesus did are a good proof that he was the Christ and do very much confirm the Doctrine which he taught This was the great end for which they were done and for which they are recorded also These are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing ye might have life through his name Joh. 20.31 By the works of Jesus must be meant the miracles which he wrought and to which he appeals upon all occasions as well as in these words of St. Matthew These miracles are a good argument of the truth of what Jesus professed and of what he taught And I shall make this appear to those who are unprejudiced and the sincere enquirers after truth This is a truth of great moment and that which tends very much to beget faith in us and to dispose us to the receiving the truth These miracles that were wrought do not onely speak the truth of our Saviour's doctrine but the great moment of it also And so they do tend toward not onely the begetting in us a belief but a great veneration also of these divine truths And he that goes about to deny or to disparage our Saviour's miracles does at the same time endeavour to overthrow a main ground of Christian Religion and one great motive of its credibility I shall the rather enlarge upon this argument both because of its great weight and usefulness and also because there have not been wanting in all ages those who have denied or disparaged the miracles which Jesus did and by so doing have hindred what in them lay the propagation of the Christian Faith In our Saviour's time we find those that endeavoured to overthrow the credit of our Saviour's miracles When Jesus had restored one that was possessed with a Devil and who was blind and dumb insomuch that all the people were amazed and said Is not this the Son of David There wanted not then among the Pharisees who durst affirm that he cast out Devils by Beelzebub the Prince of Devils Mat. 12.22 Our Saviour does indeed sufficiently refute this suggestion and shews the inconsistency thereof and does lay before us the greatness of the sin of these men who imputed a work of the Holy Ghost to the Prince of Devils And assures us that whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost v. 32. it shall not be forgiven him neither in this world neither in the world to come These evil men were not able to deny the matter of fact it was confessed that the blind saw and the dumb spake But then they were guilty of speaking against the Holy Ghost when they imputed this work of his to the power of the Devil The Jews in after-times could not deny that Jesus had done great works among their Forefathers but then these wretched men run into fables and make lies their refuge and give such an account of the whole matter as carries its confutation along with it the account which they give is this That in the time of Helena the Queen Pug. Fidei par 2. cap. 8. sect 6. Jesus of Nazareth came to Jerusalem and that in the Temple he found a stone on which the Ark of God was wont to rest whereon was written the Tetragrammaton or more peculiar name of God That whosoever
by Our Lord used no Arts to deceive the people He does his works in an open and clear light And when it so happened that he did them more privately he forbids the divulging what he had done that there might be no shadow of any artifice or secret contrivance For our Lord did all things with a great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and though he desired not the praise of his works yet he did them at least so openly that there could be no suspicion of fraud and imposture This was an argument of our Lord's sincerity He wrought miracles that men might believe and therefore he did that which did most of all tend to beget this belief in them For Miracles are for the sake of unbelievers and therefore had need be wrought and that openly also among them Thus Moses wrought his miracles among the unbelieving Egyptians The Prophet goes to Bethel and shews his sign in the sight of Jeroboam Elijah works a miracle in the sight of the Priests of Baal and our Lord does his before the multitude The Church of Rome talks much of miracles wrought within the verge of her own Communion She maintains doctrines that need confirmation And if she work miracles she should send some of her Children hither to work them among us that we might be convinced or left without a plea. They of her own Communion who believe her doctrines do not need her miracles If there be any need of them at all it is among us who cannot believe her Tenents till we see them better confirmed than yet they are It is to be suspected that they want that power which they are not able to make appear For it is but reasonable they should be done where there is need of them 5. Our Lord's works were perfect and complete It appeared by the effects that the work was completely done Matt. 8. chap. 9. When the Paralytick was restored it did appear to be a perfect cure by his taking his bed and walking It is said that the dumb spake who was restored by our Lord. Mar. 5.42 When he restored the Damosel to life Luk. 7.15 she arose and walked And of the Widow's Son of Naim it is said Joh. 11.44 chap. 9.7 Joh. 2. Luk. 8.35 Joh. 5. Mat. 14.20 that he that was dead sate up and began to speak And of Lazarus it is said that he came forth with his grave cloaths about him When he cured the man that was born blind he came seeing from the pool of Siloam And when he turned the water into wine the effect was discerned by the company Of the Demoniack that was dispossest it is said that he was found sitting at the feet of Jesus cloathed and in his right mind And the poor man that lay helpless at the pool of Bethesda takes up his bed and walks When Jesus fed the multitude he did not delude them with shadows and phantastick food and with the bare accidents of bread and fish but they did all eat and were filled The effect was very discernible they were not imposed upon by Spectrums and Collusions and pious frauds CHAP. VI. The CONTENTS The Miracles which Jesus did compared with those which were really wrought by the hands of Moses with the pretended ones of the Church of Rome and with those storied of Apollonius Tyanaeus and some other Heathens Of the sufficient assurance which we have that Jesus did those works which are reported of him BEfore I proceed to consider what may be objected against what hath been said before I shall for the farther confirmation thereof shew that the works which Jesus did were greater works than ever were done by any other person whatsoever And to that purpose I shall compare our Saviour's Miracles with those true and divine Miracles which Moses wrought with the pretended Miracles of the Church of Rome and those which are storied in the writings of the Heathens and more especially such as are told of Apollonius Tyanaeus I shall consider the Miracles which were wrought by the hands of Moses There arose not a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face Deut. 34.10 11 12. In all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to doe in the Land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his Servants and to all his land and in all that mighty hand and in all that great terrour which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel Upon the account of the Miracles which Moses did he was mightily famed among the Heathens as among his own Countrey men the Jews The Jews magnifie Moses above the rest of their Prophets Menasseh B. Israel Conciliat And one of their late Writers summs up the Miracles of Moses and those of the other Prophets from the beginning to the destruction of their first Temple and does affirm that the Miracles wrought by Moses or upon his account exceed the number of those which were wrought by all the Prophets together For whereas as all the Prophets for the space of above three thousand years wrought but 74 Miracles the Miracles of Moses alone were 76. I shall not examine his account let it be as it will but I shall shew that his works are not to be compared with those which our Jesus did I shall especially consider the Miracles which were wrought in Egypt these miracles which were then done in order to the bringing out the Israelites from the bondage in which they were And I must needs confess they were mighty works and such as did plainly speak a supernatural and Divine power And I ought not by any means to disparage those mighty works I shall before I proceed any farther shew you that those miracles were such as did indeed give sufficient credit to the mission of Moses and abundantly confirm the truth of his words And that will appear if we consider seriously these three things First the plagues themselves which were miraculously inflicted These were such works as were above the power of any Creature The works themselves declare a divine power It is true they were not all alike and the Magicians did the same works which Moses did for a while Exod. 7.12 22. ch 8. v. 7. They turned their rods into Serpents and water into bloud and brought frogs upon the land of Egypt as well as Moses These Magicians went as far as they could And it amounts to no more than this that they were able to inflict some evils upon their Countrey but not able to remove them For though it be said that the Magicians brought the Frogs upon the land of Egypt yet it is also said that when Pharaoh would have them taken away he applied himself to Moses and Aaron Exod. 8.7 8. which he would never have done if the Magicians could have done it for him nay more than this these Magicians were out-done by Moses after this They attempted to follow him but could not doe it they were
harmony and agreement among them and all the marks and tokens of sincerity that we can desire It cannot be denied indeed that in the writings of these men there is some variety and they seem not to speak consistently with one another in some of their relations But then they all agree in the main story and generally speaking it is not hard to account for the seeming opposition in their relations And it is to be supposed that our ignorance of the history and the phraseology and usages of those times and Countries is the true reason why they seem to thwart with one another when really they do not Besides it is an argument that these men did not combine and lay their heads together to put a trick upon the world For if they had which they could have no cause to doe it would have been no hard matter to have avoided not onely contradiction which they have done but the very appearance of such a thing These Writers give great proofs of their sincerity They give none at all of their ostentation and vain-glory Eusebius hath well observed that S. Matthew discovers the baseness of his employment before he followed Christ Euseb demonstrat l. 3. â— 5. He alone tells us that he was a Publican And St. Mark who wrote his Gospel by the direction and with the knowledge of St. Peter speaks sparingly of those things which tended to St. Peter's praise however he enlarge in relating of his faults 4. That the Gospel hath been so generally received is an argument of the truth of it A lye hath no feet and cannot stand long without being discovered Facilè res in suam naturam recidunt ubi veritas non subest There were a great many eyes upon Christian Religion when it advanced in the world and it did not want subtile and inquisitive enemies The fraud would have been detected if there had been any It was entertained by men of wit and learning and such as made diligent enquiry after truth 5. It did not spread by force and bloud as the Turkish Religion hath done not by craft and worldly policy by humane arts and Religious cheats but by suffering and by tears by hardships and by severities Men were willing to shed their bloud in testimony of it and part with all that was dear to flesh and bloud All our ancient books tell us that this was the duty and practice of Christians men do not use to be forward to lose their lives and all the comforts of life to confirm a lie And we must think those men void of all sense that would dye to confirm a forgery and lie when their death would serve to confirm a Religion which severely forbids all Lying and dissimulation And though some men may have died in a false belief or a belief of some principles which are not really though to them they seem to be true yet it is not credible that a great number of men should be content to die in confirmation of a matter of fact which they knew to be false or did not know to be true When Arrius Antoninus persecuted the Christians in Asia they came about his Tribunal and offered themselves to death which made him cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. O wretched men Tertullian ad Scapul can ye not find precipices or halters to take away your lives 'T is a great argument of the truth of these things that men were forward to confirm them with their bloud CHAP. VII The CONTENTS That the Messias according to the predictions of him was to suffer This proved against the Jews Of the vanity of their twofold Messias the Son of Joseph and the Son of David The reason why the Jews make use of this pretence That Jesus did suffer That he suffered those things which the Messias was to suffer Luk. 24.26 46. and Act. 3.18 considered Zech. 9.9 to be understood of the Messias this proved against the Jews at large Of the kind of Christ's death Crucifixion was none of the Jewish capital punishments Of the Brazen Serpeat Numb 21. St. John ch 3.14 considered The Jewish Writers acknowledge that the brazen Serpent was symbolical and spiritually to be understood Of the time when Jesus suffered that it did exactly agree with the type of the sufferings of the Messias A large digression concerning this matter Exod 12.6 considered Castalio justly censured for his ill rendring that place Of the two Evenings among the Jews The ground we have for it in the Scriptures The testimony of R. Solomon Of the practice of the Jewish Nation as to the time of offering their evening Sacrifice and the Passeover This shewed from their best Authours An objection from Deut. 16. v. 6. answered Jesus died at that time when the Paschal Lamb was to be slain Of the place aâ—d many other particulars relating to the sufferings of Jesus Of the great causes and reasons of the sufferings of the Jesus Of the Burial of Jesus I Shall now proceed to the consideration of the Sufferings of Jesus and from thence prove that our Jesus is the Christ That Jesus did suffer the Jews do confess and they make to scruple to grant it And he is upon that score reproached by them and upon the same account his Disciples and Followers have been scorned by the world who professed a Faith in a Crucified Saviour and expected to be saved by him who did not so much as save himself from the most painfull and ignominious death When I speak to the suffering of Jesus I mean his sufferings in the largest sense and not onely his Death However I shall principally consider his death here and from that especially shall prove him to be the Christ And for the better speaking to this whole matter I shall proceed in this method First I shall shew that the Messias who was promised was to suffer Secondly that Jesus did suffer Thirdly that from the sufferings of our Jesus it does appear that he is the Christ Fourthly I shall enquire after the causes or reasons of the sufferings of Christ Lastly I shall direct you to some practical application I shall shew that the Messias promised of old was to suffer And this especially against the Jews who do not deny that Jesus suffered but do deny him to be the Messias the Son of David because he suffered This is the scandal of the Cross at which the Jews stumble and fall Here they are offended and at a stand Now that the Messias was to suffer and Jesus not to be rejected upon that account will appear if we consider the following particulars First I must premise that it is a very unreasonable thing that Jesus should be reproached or rejected upon the score of his sufferings The Jews have no cause for this reason to scorn him as they commonly do For his sufferings do not speaking him an evil person or one unfit to deliver and save his followers from the greatest evils viz. from
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
est restituere quod fuerit quà m facerequod non fuit Hieron ad Pammachium It is not incredible that he should raise a dead man to life who made all things out of nothing Nor does it impeach any of the divine perfections to affirm that God raised Jesus to life No man can reasonably upon this account think meanly of the divine Being Upon the whole there is nothing in the thing reported repugnant to right reason nothing unbecoming the divine purity and perfections nothing incredible to them that are wise and good For the persons who report this if there lye any exception against them it must be upon the score of their weakness or wilfullness It may perhaps be pretended that they were weak men and imposed upon That they took up this beleif that Jesus rose from the dead upon light and insufficient grounds and though they did not contrive to deceive others yet they themselves were easily deceived But this cannot be pretended with any reason at all For they did not report that Jesus was raised to life upon hear-say or common fame they did not receive it as a tradition received from others But they were eye-witnesses of it They were men that knew Jesus before he died that conversed with him forty days after he rose from the dead that had sometimes doubted of the truth of his Resurrection themselves and had received the utmost satisfaction that it was that Jesus who died that was risen from the dead and when they were assured of it they taught this doctrine boldly and they taught no more than what they knew to be true what they had seen and handled that they taught Nor did this depend upon the Testimony of Women or Children or any incompetent witnesses or upon a bare and single Testimony But a number of men the most competent witnesses imaginable did upon all occasions affirm that Jesus was risen from the dead There were no less than twelve principal witnesses of his Resurrection besides the many others who saw Jesus after he was risen Act. 1.21 22. Nor can we think that these witnesses did wilfully go about to lye and put a cheat upon other men We cannot think them such vile persons or that they could have prevailed this way For besides that they taught other men to speak the truth and that they are not accused otherwise as flagitious persons to what purpose should they affirm that Jesus was risen from the dead if it were false Could they get any thing by such a lye Was it a step to any honour or preferment to say that Jesus was raised to life again Was this Doctrine pleasing to the Jews Would it procure them any favour from the Gentile World Nay is it not evident that for affirming this the Jews who put Jesus to death were enraged against them For they arraigned the Justice of their Nation and incensed their Countrey men to the highest degree whatsoever The Gentiles scoffed at them and derided them and their scoffs were the least Evils they suffered upon this account for they continued in this their Testimony under torments and even unto death Can any man imagine that this was a contrivance and Plot of crafty men That they combined to put a cheat upon mankind but to what end should they do this It is not likely they could engage a considerable number in such a combination It would be hard to find a great many men so weary of their lives as to be content to throw them away in confirmation of a lye Besides the fraud would have been discover'd quickly For these men did not forbear to tell when and where this happened which they were the witnesses of Did ever any men of credit prove these witnesses incompetent Did they ever deprehend them in a lye or speaking inconsistently Did it appear at any time that they were caught in a false story or that any one of them were forced to recant and retract what he had said How came this beleif to spread so quickly in the world if it had not been true Could it have any thing else to recommend it to the belief of mankind That it quickly gained an Universal belief in the world is undeniable but how could this be God attested to this truth by enabling these witnesses to work miracles in confirmation of it That so it was no man can doubt that gives any credit to the Testimony of others Had it not been so the spreading of this beleif without a miracle would have been the greatest miracle of all It is plain that we have no reason to doubt of the Resurrection of Jesus There is no History no matter of fact which yet we beleive firmly that we have that cause to beleive as we have this that Jesus was raised from the dead and therefore if we do not beleive that Jesus rose from the dead it is not from want of evidence and sufficient motives of credibility but from a faulty principle and a culpable neglect of seeking after the truth 6. That the Evangelists who report the matter of fact concerning the Resurrection of Jesus are worthy of all credit For their names are annexed to their writings they set down the time and place where those things happened which they write of they name the persons concerned in these things they write of things which happened in their own time and which they knew to be true They all agree in the main story and their different relating of some smaller circumstances does but confirm their credit as to the main relation What can we desire in any writing which is wanting here What have we to object against these writers Can we suppose they did conspire to put a cheat upon mankind But what reason have we for this suspicion Surely none but much to the contrary For they do not write like men who had combined together to cheat the world For they own their names they relate something with some seeming difference they mention the time and place where those things happened which they write they name many persons and of several Nations and ranks that were concerned they stick not to mention their own meanness and their own faults and infirmities and the shame and death of their great Lord and Master Nor could these or the other witnesses of the Resurrection be induced by any worldly Temptation to tell a lye They did beleive the Religion which they professed or they did not If they did beleive it they durst not tell a lye that being directly forbid in that Religion which they beleived to be true If they did not beleive it themselves what could perswade them to obtrude the belief of it upon other men They were so far from gaining by this course that they exposed themselves to the malice and rage of men to the loss of all things and the severest death Can we believe that they should be so fond of what they knew to be a lie that they would lose all they
as Kings and Priests are for their people whom they govern or for whom they intercede 1 King 2.19 Matt. 26.64 Heb. 1.3.8.1 Ro. 8 34. For the Typical representations of this great truth I doubt not but I might find many However I shall take notice but of one but that a most eminent and illustrious one and that which the divine Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews takes a more particular notice of viz. The going of the High Priest into the Holy of Holies on the day of expiation to make an atonement with bloud which was shed without for the sins of the people Lev. 16.2 This was an exact type of our Saviour's entring into Heaven and his being concerned there on our behalf Heb. 9.11 12. Christ beiâ—g come an High Priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this building Neither by the bloud of Bulls and Calves but by his own bloud he entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us But of this I shall have occasion to speak at large afterward I shall shew that our Jesus did ascend into Heaven and that he is there concerned in behalf of his people In speaking to which I shall not enlarge at present because afterward I shall have occasion farther to confirm this truth from arguments in their own nature the most powerfull and unexceptionable By Heaven is meant the highest heaven and it is very reasonable to suppose so because the Holy of Holies into which the High Priest onely entred was the type and shadow of the Heaven into which the Messias was to enter And as the most holy place in the Sanctuary was of all others whatsoever whether in the Sanctuary or elsewhere the most separate and holy place so it is but reasonable to suppose that when Christ ascended into Heaven he did not take up in any of the lower parts of Heaven but was exalted to the highest of them all The Sanctuary was divided into three parts The Courts the holy place and the most holy each of these are frequently called the Sanctuary or the Temple though the third of these were the most holy place And so the Air and the place of Planets and Stars are called Heaven and yet there is a third or higher Heaven into which St. Paul was caught up and into which our Lord entred Our Saviour is said to be received up into glory i. e. into the highest Heavens the Anti-type of that holy place where God did more especially presentiate himself and where the Ark stood the symbol of his presence and which was called the Glory Jesus is elsewhere said to have passed through the Heavens and to be made higher than the Heavens and to have ascended up far above all Heavens and to be entred into that within the veil And as he humbled himself greatly so God highly exalted him and set him at his own right hand in the Heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named 1 Tim. 3.16 1 Sam. 4.22 with Rom. 9.4 Heb. 4.14.9.5.7.26 Eph. 4.10 Heb. 6.19 Philip. 2.9 Eph. 1.20 21. That Jesus did ascend into Heaven is plainly taught Luk. 24.51 Act. 1.9 10. and there were eye-witnesses of it His Disciples stood by when he went up into Heaven They did not doe so when he rose from the dead Not that his Resurrection did not need attestation as much as his Ascension into Heaven His followers had need be assured of the truth of that and indeed they had the utmost assurance and did upon all occasions bear witness to it and were particularly the witnesses of his Resurrection But in order to their being so it was not needfull that they should be the eye-witnesses thereof as they were and indeed ought to be before they could be competent witnesses of it of his Ascension into Heaven It was enough to make them competent witnesses of his Resurrection that they saw him that was risen they need not see him rise For it being certain and granted so to be even by the Jews themselves that he died it was not needfull that they should see him rise from the dead it was enough if they saw him who died alive again But then he ascended in the view of his Disciples and 't was in this case needfull that there should be eye-witnesses and so it was that nothing might be wanting to the strengthning of our faith And as we are by eye-witnesses assured of the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven so those witnesses were unexceptionable also For besides that they knew his person and had of a long time conversed with him so they had done it a competent time after his Resurrection from the dead Act. 1.3 To them he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs beiâ—g seen of them forty days c. This was a sufficient time to give them abundant proof that it was the same body which was nailed on the Cross and was buried that was risen from the dead And this distance of forty days which were between his resurrection and ascension to heaven Act. 13.31 Luk. 2.21 22. with Levit. 12.2 4. is the very same space of time which did intervene between his birth of the Virgin and his being presented according to the Law of Moses in the Temple Our Saviour was twice born and twice presented He was born of the Virgin and raised out of the grave And he was twice presented too first at the Temple at Jerusalem and afterwards at the Temple above or Heaven And forty days after each birth he was presented After the first in the Temple below after the second in Heaven or the Temple above the Anti-type of that which was made with hands Just so many days did he continue upon earth after his Resurrection as Jonas who was a type of him allowed the Ninevites to repent in So exactly did he answer the type The Jews had the sign of the Prophet Jonas forty days though they repented not as the Ninevites did Again they were allowed a year for a day likewise from Christ's Resurrection to the destruction of Jerusalem Such was the Lenity of God so great his forbearance Their Forefathers wandred forty years in the Wilderness for their Rebellion God allowed the Jews the same time for repentance But this will be thought too great a digression But as Jesus is entred within the Veil so he is for us entred also as our high Priest and Patron with God And as his Ascension was not figurative and metaphorical but real so is his Priesthood He is now concerned for us there He ever lives to make intercession for those who come unto God by him Again who is he that condemneth 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
example the several specialties contained under the general prohibition of theft where Abravenel reckons up no less than ten are called Judgments and so are those precepts called which we find in Exod. ch 21. c. and that whole Section of the law is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Judgments containing several Judicial laws or laws which respected the Hebrews as they were a Commonwealth or civil Society These statutes and judgments contain the Laws of their Church and State And Judaism as considered in Contradistinction to Christianity consisted in the solemn profession of and obedience to these Laws which God had given to the Jewish Nation I shall now proceed to what I mainly intended to speak to viz. to shew First the defects of that Law which was given by Moses Secondly that these defects are made up and supplied by the Gospel of Jesus Christ Thirdly the use and application of this Doctrine The defects of that Law which was given by Moses For it will appear that it is defective if compared with the Gospel The Divine Authour of the Epistle to the Hebrews argues very strongly to this purpose For if that first Covenant bad been faultless then should no place have been sought for the second For finding fault with them he saith Behold the days come saith the Lord c. This he infers from the very words in the Prophet where God declares himself in this matter and it is very evident that the words of the Prophet are by this Divine Authour truely applied to the times of the Messias whose miraculous birth is predicted in the very same Chapter in those words a Woman shall compass a Man For it is evident that those words do refer to the stupendious manner of the birth of the Messias Vid. Dr. Pocock Not. Miscel in Portam Mosis pag. 348. I shall therefore proceed to shew the defects of the Law of Moses as compared with the Gospel and that in the following particulars Heb. 8.7 8. with Jer. 31.31 and with v. 22. 1. In its Precepts and Commands as it was a rule of life These Precepts are not such as perfect humane nature and as make men better who obey them and obedience to them was necessary because it was commanded But they were not such things as tend immediately to make men better in their tempers and inclinations They were good because they were commanded they were not therefore commanded because they were antecedently good We doubt not but that God commanded them for wise ends during the Minority of his Church but as they were not to endure for ever of which I may have occasion elsewhere to speak more largely so are they far from being of equal moment and value with the Laws of Jesus These Laws of Moses were given to the Jews Cosri par 1. and not intended to oblige mankind The Jews themselves frankly confess this And several of them were of that nature that they could not be supposed to concern any of the rest of mankind Such were all those Laws which were founded upon something which had happened to that People and of which the observances required were but Memorials or Testimonies Thus the Passover being appointed in remembrance of their deliverance out of Egypt was a peculiar Law to that People who were delivered thence The other Nations were not under the same obligation nor do we find that the Jews went about to impose their Law upon the Neigh bouring Countries The world had continued considerably above two thousand Years before the Law of Moses and there were in the World very considerable examples of Piety in that time when the Law was given it was given to the Jews indeed but they admitted of Proselytes to live among them who did not undertake an obedience to the Laws of Moses The things themselves which Moses requires are not things in which all men are concerned Indeed generally speaking they are of that nature that they cannot belong to any but to them onely to whom they were revealed All men are bound to be just and to speak the truth to worship God and to be chast and the like But for wearing fringes on Garments or frontlets between the Eyes for eating or forbearing such or such meats and drinks c. no man could be obliged to these Laws but those persons who had received them from Heaven For the Jews do confess that the reason of their Laws is not always to be found out and consequently the Laws themselves cannot be supposed to oblige mankind For though the Will of God be reason enough for our obedience yet it is so onely to them to whom it is made known And therefore those Laws of Moses which were not founded in any other reason than the Will of God could never be designed to oblige all the World Cicero de Leg. l. 2. Cicero affirms it to be the opinion of the wisest men that a Law is something eternal wisely governing the whole World by its affirmative and negative Precepts and that the prime and ultimate Law Mentem esse omnia ratione aut cogentis aut vetantis Dei i. e. is the Divine mind governing all things with reason We do not question the wisedom of God who by Moses gave Laws to the Jews we onely say that they were not intended for the whole world which would have been concerned in them if they had been agreeable to the needs and the best improved reason of all mankind and had been written in the heart of all men And as these Laws were onely given to the Jews so many of these Laws did not oblige them in any place besides their onw Land to which they were annexed which they would have done if they had been Laws good antecedently and such as had been founded upon the eternal reason of things The Jews do allow that so it was and do frequently in their Writings distinguish between those Laws which obliged them within the Land and those which obliged them without the Land of Israel And a very great number of Precepts they are which were annexed to that very Land in which they lived and to which they were not obliged any longer than they kept the possession of that Land So that what was their duty while they lived together in Canaan ceased so to be when they were dispossessed of it and were scattered abroad in other Countries I shall not goe about to number up the Precepts which were annexed to that Land I should too much enlarge if I should give in the full number of those Precepts I shall however name some of them The Jews acknowledge that the sheaf that was first reaped must be of the gowth of Canaan and so must also the first-fruits be which are elsewhere mentioned in their Law and the Loaves of Shew-bread must be made of the Corn of that Countrey The Laws which concerned Tithes the Sabbatical year their year of Jubilee their Festival rites their Cities of Refuge their
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