reason then why the Body of Christ is not or ought not to be often offered is not because all our sinnes were actually remitted by the once offering of it or remitted before they were committed but because the substance or matter of the sacrifice is of the same force at this day to remit sinnes that it was of whilest it was offered For his humane nature was consecrated by death and by his bloody Passion to be a sacrifice of everlasting Vertue to be the continual propitiation for our sinnes 7 If either the actual sinnes of all men Christs Resurrection our baptism needless if sinnes be remitted before they be committed or the sinnes of the Elect in speciall had been so remitted by Christs death as some conceive they were that is absolutely pardoned before they were committed there had been no end or use of Christs Resurrection in respect of us no need of Baptism yet was Baptism from the hour of his resurrection necessarie unto all that did beleive in his death and resurrection The urgent and indispensable necessitie of Baptism especially in respect of actual beleivers is not any where more Emphatically intimated than in St. Peters Answer to the Jewes Whose hearts were pierc't with sorrow that they had been the causes of Christs death They in this stound or sting of Conscience demand Men and brethren what shall we do and Peter answered them Repent and be Baptized Every one of you In the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sinnes And they that gladly received the word were Baptized the same day Acts 2. 37 38 41. These men had been deeply tainted with sin not original onely but with sinnes actual of the worst kind guiltie they were in a high degree of the death of the Son of God yet had they as well their actual as their original sinnes remitted by Baptism It is then an unsound and imperfect Doctrin that sin original onely is taken away or remitted by Baptism for whatsoever sinnes are remitted or taken away by Christs death the same sins are in the same manner remitted and taken away by Baptism into his death actual sinnes are remitted in such as are guiltie of actual sinnes when they are baptized though onely sin Original be actually remitted in those which are not guiltie of actual sinnes as in Infants No mans sinnes are actually remitted before he be actually guilty of them 8. The Question is how either sin original is remitted or how any work of Satan is dissolved by Baptism And this Question in the General is righly resolved by saying They are remitted by faith But this general Resolytion sufficeth not unless we know the Object of our Faith in this particular Now the particular Object of our Faith of that faith by which sinnes whether by Baptism or otherwise are remitted is not our general Belief in Christ even our belief of Christ dying for us in particular will not suffice unlesse it include our Belief of the Everlasting Vertue of his bloudie Sacrifice and of his everlasting Priest-hood for purifying and cleansing our soules No sinnes be truly remitted unless they be remitted by the Office or exercise of his Priest-hood and whilest so remitted they are not remitted by any other Sacrifice then by the sole vertue of his body and bloud which he once offered for all for the sinnes of all It is not the Vertue or Efficacie of the consecrated water in which we were washed but the vertue of his Bloud which was once shed for us and which by Baptism is sprinkled upon us or communicated unto us which immediately cleanseth us from all our sinnes From this everlasting Vertue of this his bloudy Sacrifice Faith by the ministerie of baptism is immediatly gotten in such as had it not before And in such as have Faith before they be baptized the guilt of Actual sinns is remitted by the exercise or Act of Faith as it apprehends the everlasting Efficacy of this sacrifice and by the prayer of faith and supplication unto our High Priest Faith then is as the mouth or appetite by which were receive this food of Life and is a good sign of health but it is the food itself received which must continue health and strengthen spiritual life in us and the food of life is no other then Christs Body and Bloud and it is our High Priest himself which must give us this food Baptism saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 3. 20. doth save us what Baptism doth save us not the putting away the filth of the flesh yet this is the immediate effect of the water in baptism but the answer or stipulation of a good conscience towards God But how doth this kind of Baptism or this concomitant of Baptism save us The Apostle in the same place tells us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ The answer or stipulation of a good conscience includes an illumination of our spirits by the Spirit of God a qualification by which we are made sonnes of Light being before the sonnes of darkness But That by this qualification we become the sonnes of Light That this qualification is by baptism wrought in us That by this qualification however wrought in us we are saved from our sinnes All this is immediately from the vertue of Christs Resurrection That is as you have heard before he was consecrated by the sufferings of death to be an everlasting Priest and by his resurrection from death his body and bloud became an everlasting Propitiation for sinnes an inexhaustible Fountain of Grace by which we are purifyed from the dead works of sinne 9. It is true again that in the Sacrament of Christs Body and Bloud there is a propitiation for our sinnes because He is really present in it who is the propitiation for our sinnes But it no way hence followes that there is any propitiatorie sacrifice for sin in this Sacrament He becomes the propitiation for our sinnes he actually remits our sinnes not directly and immediately by the Elements of Bread and Wine nor by any other kind of Local Presence or Compresence with these Elements than is in Baptism The Orthodoxal Antients use the same Language for expressing his Presence in Baptism and in the Eucharist they stick not to say that Christ is present or Latent in the water as well as in the Elements of Bread and Wine Their meaning is that neither of these Elements or sensible substances can directly cleanse us from our sinnes by any vertue communicated unto them or inherent in them but only as they are pledges or assurances of Christs peculiar presence in them and of our true investiture in Christ by them We are not then to receive the Elements of bread and wine only in remembrance that Christ dyed for us but in remembrance or assurance likewise that his body which was once given for us doth by its everlasting Vertue preserve our bodies and souls unto everlasting Life and that his bloud which was but once shed for us doth
against the moral Law of God So doth his Blood or operative Vertue of his Everlasting sacrifice consecrate or qualifie the Elements of Bread and Wine to purifie and cleanse our soules from such actual sinnes as after Baptism we have committed This perennal Efficacie or Operative Vertue of Christs Body and Blood consecrated once for all by the sacrifice of himself to be a perpetual purification for such as were to be consecrated Kings and Priests unto their God which was thus pictured by the former Legal or Mosaical Rites was more expressly foretold by the Prophet Zacharie For having in the twelfth Chap. ver 10. Prophesied of the piercing of the Son of Gods most pretious Body by the Jewes for which when God should open their eyes to see the truth they should lament and mourn he explicates the Use or End to which the Divine Providence had destinated this their malitious crueltie Chap. 13. 1. In that day there shall be a Fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness By this offering of himself Once for all by this opening of his pretious Side he hath consecrated all that are Sanctified and all that are sanctified are sanctified by it Yet not actually sanctified or actually consecrated by his Blood before it be sprinkled in our hearts by Faith And to instruct us that the Legal Water of separation or sprinkling did foreshadow the Blood of Christ the Apostle termes it The blood of sprinkling Heb. 12. 24. CHAP. LVI The Efficacie of Christs Sacrifice and the Use of his Priest-hood Two distinct several Things Wherein the Exercise of his Priest-hood doth consist How it was foreshaddowed Ordinaâ—ces effectual by vertue of Christs Presence Vertual Presence is a Real presence 1. SUch as deny the Everlasting Efficacie of Christs Sacrifice may be presumed likewise to deny the Vse of his Everlasting Priesthood Howbeit all such as grant the everlasting Efficacie of his Sacrifice cannot hence be concluded to admitt the everlasting use of his Priesthood For these be Two distinct Points of our Belief If Belief in Christs death or in the Everlasting Efficacie of his sacrifice were all that we are bound to believe we were not bound to acknowledge any other Act of his Priesthood besides the offering up of himself in Sacrifice But by this one Act of his Priesthood he was consecrated to be an Everlasting Priest And if he be an Everlasting Priest he still executes the Office or Function of an High Priest And it is our Dutie the Chief Point of our Religion to supplicate unto him as to The Onely High Priest of our Soules that he would make us partakers of his Everlasting Sacrifice as we say ex Officio by exercising the Office or Function of an High Priest The Question is Wherein the Function or exercise of his Priesthood doth consist To this we answer First Negatively That it doth not consist in the often offering up of himself by his Priests or Ministers here on Earth For if he were on Earth saith the Apostle Heb. 8. 4. he should not be a Priest This argues that he exerciseth his Priest-hood in the heavenly Sanctuary not in Temples made vvith hands So saith the Apostle more expresly Heb. 9. 24. Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but into heaven it self now to appear in the presence of God for us Nor yet that he should offer himself often as the High priest entreth into the holy place every year 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with bloud of others For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself The truth then is as you have heard before that Christ by his bloudy Sacrifice upon the Crosse was consecrated to be an Everlasting Priest And that this Consecration was not accomplished untill his Resurrection from the dead For it is not conceivable that he should be an Everlasting Priest before he became an Immortal man and by his rising c opened the Gate of Everlasting life After he was thus consecrated by death and by the resurrection from the dead to be an Everlasting Priest after the Order of Melchizedeck he was not to offer any sacrifice nor do we read that Melchizedeck offered any Wherein then did Melchizedecks Priesthood consist Only in the dignitie of Authoritative blessing See Book 9. Ch 9. and 11 He was saith Moses the Priest of the most high God and he blessed Abraham and said Blessed be Abraham of the most High God possessour of Heaven and Earth St. Cyril * See the note at the end of this Chapter in his Parallel betwixt Christ and Melchisedech speakes more expressly and reads the Text more punctually for the Opinion of Reformed Churches than we our selves for the most part doe 2. This exercise of Christs spiritual Priesthood in the heavenly Sanctuary was foreshaddowed by sundry services and sacrifices of the Law By that Solemn Attonement which the High Priest made in the most holy place and as we have often said by the sacrifice of the Red Heifer also Albeit that solemnitie did prefigure him likewise in the Act of his Consecration or designation to his heavenly Sanctuary This Heifer was slain by another without the Camp in Eleazars sight and yet Eleazar the Priest was to sprinkle the bloud of this sacrifice before the Tabernacle of the Congregation that is with his face towards the Sanctuary on which unless he did constantly look whilest he did sprinkle the bloud the service was frustrated as the Jews say This testifyed that the validity of this Act or the purification intended by it was to be expected from the Sanctuary Christ likewise was slain by the hands of sinful men without the City Heb. 9. 14. And yet though slain by them he offered himself by the eternal Spirit And whether by This eternal spirit or by his spirit as man or by both certain it is that by the Spirit he sprinkleth the bloud of the new Covenant upon us and prepareth a way for us to the heavenly Sanctuary As the people under the Law might not enter into the Congregation nor the Priests into the Sanctuary untill they had been purifyed from their uncleanness by the water of sprinkling so neither could we or any of Gods people have accesse unto the most holy Place or heavenly Sanctuary untill the way were prepared for us by the bloud of the Son of God nor untill we be sprinkled and purifyed with his Bloud Having therefore brethren boldnesse to enter into the holyest by the bloud of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vaile that is to say his flesh And having an high Priest over the house of God Let us draw neer with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our
of Moral Philosophie their power 3134 Pelagius his quarel about Free will the occasion of it 3081 Perseverance no Indivisible Term. Queries about it 3147 c. Pilate transported with Ambition passion c. 3066 Popes infallibilitie an improvement of Jewish heresie 3067 obliges succeeding popes to continue in errour if their Predecessors did confirm any 3068 Pharaoh one Religious in his kind 3190 Second Pharaoh his Projects Infant-killing 3191 A third Pharaoh the Subject of hardening c. ibid. This Pharaoh and his people bound to make restitution to the Israelites for their predecessors wrongs ibid. A fame of an Hebrew Child to be born c. made Pharaoh kill the Infants 3192 Pharaoh's hardening wrought by Gods gentle Checks 3193 3196 3197 Degrees of Pharaoh's hardening 3198 3200 Pharaoh's repentance like the Divels vow 3199 Process of Pharaoh's hardening 3201 Pharaoh infatuated ibid. and 3204 retaliated ibid. Pharaoh's itch to see more miracles 3202 Pharaoh hardened by Gods irresistible will 3225 Pharaoh no absolute Reprobate from the womb nor born to be hardened 3226 3232 to 3242 Gods hardening Pharaoh justifiable by Rules of equitie 3230 Pharaoh in his Infancie was not excluded from possibilitie of repentance by Gods irresistible will 3240 c. Once Possible alwaies possible to God 3241 The Fallacie upon it Ergo possible to save Pharaoh having filled up his measure of sin 3242 Logical possibilitie presupposed to the working of Gods Power 3176 c. Possibilities both waies supposed in monitions 3246 Polemo mutatus 3138 Potter and vessel a dialogue 3228 Two Postulata 3249 Phâ—lo Judaeus probably the Author of the Book of Wisdom 3205 Physitians Rules applyed to Spiritual matters 3120 Plinie his sense of mans disorder 3020 Plinie Junior his saying of Affliction 3121 Plerophorie See Faith Predestination See Election Premisses must be recanted before conclusions 3185 Professors zealous to mens eyes may be servants to sin 3078 Prodigalitie 3065 A Prayer Lord deliver me from my self 3039 A Church Prayer decides the case about Grace and Free-will 3131 Two Church prayers more commended to use 3269 More Church prayers explicated c. 3271 Gods promises without oath revocable under oath not so 3148 Gods promise to Abraham ratified by Degrees 3152 In Promises seek your salvation not in Parcarum Tabulis 3267 Proposition universal Negative simply turned The Foul Fallacie made out of it 3162 3185 3275 Libertie of Prophesying had sad effects 3274 Protopatbie 3119 Pulpit-pride 3024 Man purges himself how 3111 Pythagâ—ras his Cure his precepts his Scholars honestie 3135 3137 Of Christs everlasting Priesthood Read the seventh and eighth Sections beginning Fol. 3252 The high preeminencie of Christs Priesthood above the Legal 3261 c. Wherein the Exercise of Christs Priest-hood doth consist 3301 c. and how fore-shadowed ibid. He cures our soules by the exercise thereof 3303 Our Ministerie vain without That ibid c. the use of Christs Priest-hood and the Efficacie of his Sacrifice two different things 3301 His vertual presence is a Real presence 3298 3303 c. Local presence implies not alwaies Real and vertual presence 3304 Christ is a perennal perpetual purification for sin 3300 3295 Q. A Question named 3013 Another Question stated c. 3283 Mr. Burtons quarel with the Author 3175 Novatianus his quarel with Cornelius Bishop of Rome 3281 Novatus his quarel with or feare from St. Cyprian 3291 R. REcta ratio 3022 Ratio recta a competent witness for though no Rule or Judge in Divine Mysteries 3073 Right Reason and Rules of Art needful for such as are called to studie Controversies in Divinitie 3010 c. Rules of Art tell what Scripture-Propositions be universal particular c. Affirmative Negative c. ibid. Rules of Art good perspective Glasses and shew the Legal descent of Consequences 3011 Guides of reason Artistotle Plato c. provided by God and thankfully to be acknowledged 3011 Want of these rules of Art in pretended Favourites of the Spirit the occasion of many Controversies ibid. Of this want in others the effects 3012 A rule of St. Ambrose his Finis dicendorum ratio dictorum 3160 c. A rule of the Authors Search the places of the Old Testament to which places in the New Testament relate 3227 Chemnitius his rule State questions upon Texts 3017 A rule of Hemingius his Seek salvation in promises not in Parcarum Tabulis 3267 Ad quid teneatur homo cum primùm ad usum rationis pervenerit 3100 3130 3146 As reason ripens sin quickens 3159 St. Basilâ—s Testimonie of that assertion 3163 Reflexive power the root of freedom 3086 To reflect upon and revise what has befaln us a dutie of Concernment 3085 3108 c. 3038 Reconciliation two-fold 3267 again two-fold 3278 Reconciliation how wrought the ground of hope ibid. Red Heifer see Heifer See Parallels Regenerate and unregenerate how corrupted with sin 3036 c. Rom. 7. meant of a man inter Regenerandum 3026 Regeneration The same measure of it wil not serve men as will save Infants 3101 3159 Even Regenerate ones need daily cleansing by the Bloud of Christ our High-Priest 3269 3287 c. Reiteration of Sacrifices a sure Argument of their imperfection 3263 3290 Rhemists distinction vain 3291 Relations have no Cause but that which caused their Foundation 3012 Reprobated from Eternitie how men are said to be 3167 Though men be Reprobated from eternitie yet if any born Reprobates none Reprobates at point of Baptism ibid. Absolute reprobation the Effects and Consequences of that Tenet 3186 c. Absolute reprobation no print of it in Pharaoh or in the eleven first Chapters of Exodus 3205 Causes of reprobation to assign them without warrant of Scripture dangerous 3204 Reprobation See Election Judas Decree Rigid Tenets See Decree Righteousnesse Original See Adam Reviviscentia meritorum 3285 Revolters to Heathenism denyed by the Primitive Church admission to Penance Absolution 3282 God rewards according to works not Entities or Natures 3167 3284 Roman Ritual cited 3114 Romish slaverie 3066 c. S. SAcrament None to be admitted to the Lords Table before they Ratifie their Baptismal vow 3272 Sacrament See Baptism Body and Bloud The one Sacrifice of Christ of the Alsufficiencie Eminencie Efficacie infinite vertue and value of it read the seventh and eighth Sections beginning at Fol. 3252 more particularly Fol. 3262 3266 c. 3293 c 3288 c. The infinite value and everlasting Efficacie of Christs one Sacrifice be two distinct things 3267 3294 c. so be the Efficacie of his Sacrifice and use of his Priesthood 3301 Christs one Sacrifice much wronged by the Doctrine of the Masse 3262 More Errors against his Sacrifice and Priesthood 3263 c. 3266 c. 3279 3280 3289 c. 3298 Sacrifices that did need reiteration were imperfect 3263 3290 c. Sacrifices were favorabilis commutatio poenae what they taught 3293 of Christs Sacrifice the perennal and perpetual Efficacie foretold by Zacharie 3300 By his Sacrifice on the Cross
Condition required unto the salvation of the weaker sex as our Apostle hath it 1 Tim. 2. 15. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in Child-bearing if she continue in faith and charity and holinesse with sobriety And so is abstinence from some peculiar sins or from Occasions of temptations to such sins as their Progenitors have been most prone unto more peremptorily required in their Children then in Other Men whose Ancestors or Progenitors have not been tainted with the like sins nor obnoxious to like temptations 4. Whether all branches of sin Original do necessarily spring from our first Parents Sin But here if any man be otherwise minded or disposed to contradict what I have said or shall briefly say Concerning this point I professe I shall not be willing to debate the Probleme any further with him Only I must for mine own part protest that there never yet arose any doubt or question between me and my most retired thoughts Whether there may not be and are sundry particular Branches of sin or natural inclinations unto Evil propagated from intermediate Parents unto their Children or Families for many Generations which do not by any Natural Necessity grow out of that Original Stem or Root of Corruption whereof all of us are partakers by the Fall of our First Parents Yet I would intreat the Reader to take this Consideration along with him That such Hereditary ill dispositions or inclinations to some peculiar vices as we mean may abate remit or revive and be improved through several successions or collateral Lines of the same Stem unto which they are for some generations Hereditary or finally expire after the same manner that similitude of bodily Lineaments feature or visages do vary alter or expire in many Ancient families Some Children being more true pictures of their Great Grand-fathers or Grand-fathers or great Uncles then of their immediate Parents Others again more like their immediate parents then to any of their Ancestors whether by father or mother Concerning the Cause or manner How similitudes of feature of bodily Lineaments or visages do or may abate or remit in the first or second Descent and revive in third or fourth Vid. inter alios Franciscum Valleriolam in comm in Hippocr this the Reader must learn from Philosophers or Physitians as Aristotle or Galen which of purpose have searched into this secret of Nature For illustration of the maner how hereditary indispotions of the heart or affections may abate revive or expire in the several Descents of families the determination of that moral Probleme An nobilitas generis desinat in uno vitioso will be pertinent Now that Nobility of Bloud or those inclinations unto Heroical vertues for which some Ancient Families have been famous do not necessarily cease or expire through the vitiousnesse of one Succession was a point determined in the Schools when I first knew them And Experience may teach a Long-Liv'd Observant man that Two vitious or lewde Successors do not oftentimes so abate or utterly dead those seeds of vertue which were propagated to them from their Ancestors but that they may revive or be improved in the Fourth Generation or Descent The abating reviving or expiring of them depends most upon their Education And so doth the abatement or improvement of Original Sin or inclinations unto Evil. Even that Corruption of Nature which we necessarily draw from the losse of Paradise is not equal in all the sons of Adam though it be most true That every one of us is as truly tained with it as any Other Again though it be universally true That all men are by Nature Sinners all destitute of the Grace of God Yet is it no part of this Vniversal truth to deny That some Race or Brood of Men are from their birth or Conception much more by Education more gracelesse then Others are And yet for such as have the least measure of sin whether Original Habitual or Actual Or for men as we terme them of Sweet Dispositions or Good nature it is as impossible to be freed from Natural Servitude unto sin without the Special Grace of God in Christ as it is for the greatest Sinners or most Gracelesse Brood of men The best of us even after the participation of Grace in some degree have a greater measure of one or other kind of sin then we take notice of or then we can Learn from most Professors of Divinity which have purposely undertaken to Decypher the nature and haynousnesse of it CHAP. XII Containing the true and solid Definition of sin whether Original or Acquired by vitious Acts or dispositions 1. THe best attempt that I have read or heard to this purpose was made long ago by One who hath been so buffeted on both sides which he sought to teach or instruct as would make an ordinary Souldier in our Christian warfare afraid either to be his Second or to come unto his Rescue Illyricus his Definition of Sin Original how far blamable how farr Commendable Flaccius Illyricus I mean a man most happy in Political undertakings and atchivements which were rather below then beyond his profession Yet in his Treatise Concerning the Nature of Original Sin or the nature of sin in general Two wayes unfortunate First in that he was not so profound a Philosopher or exquisite Artist as it were fitting Every Divine which will undertake to handle this part of Divinity or others which have connexion with it should be Secondly in that he was a better Philosopher and more exquisite Artist by much then such Divines whether in reformed Churches or others which have taken upon them to rectifie or confute his Errors These for the most part run a wider Byaz on the left hand towards the Nominals then he doth on the right hand from the Real Philosophers or Divines This man went the right way to his work and begun it like a good Artist by defining or displaying the Nature or Essence of Original Righteousness before he entred into that dispute Concerning the Nature of Original Sin or unrighteousnesse He rightly and upon demonstrative grounds denies Original Righteousness to be any quality supernatural any Accident or property adventitious to the Humane nature if we consider that in the Estate wherein it was first created Nor did he commit any error much lesse incur any censure of Heresie by avouching Original Righteousness to have been the Essential form of man if he had expressd his meaning with this addition or limited his expressions thus As the First man was the work of God or considered as he was created in His Image For as I am forced often to repeat there were not in mans Creation Two works of God really distinct either in order of nature or in respect of time nor so distinct as that The One might be imagined to be the Nature of the first man or of Gods image in Him The other a Coronation of his Nature or image of God with a Grace or righteousnesse supernatural
hearts sprinkled from an evill conscience and our bodies washed with pure water Heb. 10. 19 20 21 22. He consecrated the Way it self by his Bloudy sacrifice upon the Cross from the very moment in which the Vail did rend asunder the door was opened and the Way prepared But we must be qualifyed for walking in this way and for entring into this heavenly Sanctuary by the present exercise of his everlasting Priesthood which is a Priesthood of blessing not of sacrifice And yet he blesseth us by communicating the vertue and efficacie of his Everlasting Sacrifice unto our soules This participation and this Blessing by it the full expiation of our sinnes we are to expect from his heavenly Sanctuary 3. See Book 9. Chapt 19. God saith the Apostle Hebrews 6. 17. willing more abundantly to shew unto the heires of promise the immutabilitie of his Counsel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interposed himself by an oath or word by word he mediated by an Oath The Tenor of this Oath as you have heard before was That he would requite Abraham as we say in kind * See Book 8. Chapt. 30. and Book 9. Chap. 17 That as Abraham was then willing to offer up his Son his only Son Isaac in bloudy sacrifice unto him So he would offer or give His Only Son for Abraham and for all such as should follow his Example of Faith and obedience It was in the same promise confirmed by oath implyed That This only Son of God should be the seed of Abraham that in this one seed of Abraham all the nations of the earth should be blessed That for the derivation of this Blessing upon all the Nations upon earth this seed of Abraham should be made a Priest after the order of Melchisedek The hope in this Promise thus confirmed by oath to Abraham is by the Apostle in the same 6. Chap. ver 19. termed an Anchor of the soule Both sure and stedfast But why an Anchor sure and stedfast Because it entreth into that within the vaile to wit into the Heavenly Sanctuary which was prefigured by the Most Holy Place within the material Tabernacle or earthly Sanctuary into which none might come besides the high priest nor he saveing once a year and then not without Blood For he was to purifie or sanctifie it by the blood of the sacrifices which were offered without the Camp or Congregation upon the day of the Attonement And thus The Son of God being crucified without the City of Jerusalem did by his blood then shed enter into the heavenly Sanctuary and even purifie it by his blood Heb. 19. 23 24. But what doth our hope apprehend within the vail The Apostle tells us Heb. 6. 20. Even Jesus made an high priest after the order of Melchisedek that is an high priest to blesse us in the Name of the Most High God to make us blessed even blessed as the Sonnes of God or such as he himself as man is that is Kings and Priests unto our God That this his Priesthood is a Priesthood of Blessing and offereth the Blessing promised unto Abraham to all the Nations of the Earth aswell unto the Gentile as unto the Jew though in the first place unto the Jew St. Peter witnesseth Acts. 3. 25 26. Te are the Children of the Prophets and of the Covenant which God made with our Fathers saying unto Abraham and in thy seed shall all the Kindreds of the Earth be Blessed Vnto you FIRST God having raysed up his Son Jesus sent him to blesse you in turning away every one of you from his Iniquities 4. Yet seeing he entred not into the heavenly Sanctuary without blood seeing he purified Even Heaven it self by his Blood We may not expect the Blessing promised unto Abraham otherwise than by the Vertue of his Blood nor may we expect that his Blood or Vertue of it should be communicated to us otherwise than by the Exercise or Office of his everlasting Priesthood unto which he was consecrated by his blood He now workes the like Cures in our soules by the Vertue of this Priesthood which he wrought in mens Bodies whilest he lived here on earth by the Vertue or presence of his Prophetical Function We may Baptize with water in his Name and with water sanctified by his blood yet unless he baptize with the spirit sent from his heavenly Sanctuary and say unto every one whome we Baptize as he did unto the Leper I will be thou clean our washing is but in vain our whole Action is but a Ceremonie We his Priests or ministers may upon Confession made unto us either in General or in Particular Absolve his people from their sinnes for this Authoritie he hath given us whose sinnes ye remitt they are remitted whose sinnes ye retaine they are retained Yet unless He by his spirit or sweet influence of Grace say unto the soule whom we Absolve as he some-times did unto the man sick of the Palsy Be of good chear thy sinnes be forgiven thee Our Absolution is but a Complement although without our Absolution he do not in this sort Absolve his people oftentimes from their sinnes We may Consecrate the Elements ofBread Wine and administer them so consecrated as Vndoubted Pledges of his Bodie and Blood by which the new Covenant was sealed and the General Pardon purchased Yet unless he grant some actual Influence of his spirit and suffer such Vertue to goe out from his Humane Nature now placed in his Sanctuarie as he once did unto the woman that was cured of her Issue of blood unless this Vertue do as immediately reach our Soules as it did her bodie we do not Really receive his Body and Blood with the Elements of Bread and Wine We do not so receive them as to have our sinnes remitted or dissolved by them we do not by receiving them become of his flesh and of his Bones We gain no degree of Real Vnion with him which is the Sole Use or fruit of his Real Presence Christ might be Locally Present as he was with many here on earth and yet not Really Present But with whomsoever he is Vertually Present that is to whomsoever he communicates the Influence of his Bodie and Blood by his spirit he is Really Present with them though Locally Absent from them Thus he was really present with the woman which was cured of her bloodie issue by touching the hemme of his garment But not so really present with the multitude that did throng and press upon him that were locally more present with him She did not desire so much as to touch his Bodie with her hand for she said in her self If I may but touch the Hemme of his garmennt I shall be whole And yet by our Saviours interpretation She did touch him more immediately than they which were neerer unto him which thrust or thronged him And the reason why she alone did more immediately touch him than any of the rest was because Vertue of healing did
Sacrifice and most perfect offering Of all the Legal Sacrifices which present themselves unto my former observation or present memory there is one kind only which can beare the true shaddow or serve as a Modell of the Everlasting Efficacie of his onely Sacrifice once offered for all And that was the sacrifice of the Red Heifer Numb 19. and the Legal Use which GODS People under the Law were to make of Her Ashes The correspondencie between the effects of the Ashes of this sacrifice and of the blood of Christ is gathered by our Apostle Heb. 9. ver 13 14. If the Ashes of an Heyfer sprinkling the unclean sanctifâ—eth to the purification of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself to God purge your consciences from dead workes to serve the living God But wherein did this sacrifice picture out the Everlasting Efficacie of the Blood of the Son of God in more peculiar manner than other Legal sacrifices did 14. First in that all such as were legally unclean by touching a Corps or Grave by comming into a Tent wherein a Corps lay unburied or suffering the vessels in such a Tent to be uncovered were to be purified by the Water of Sprinkling which was qualified or consecrated to this purpose by the Ashes of the Red Cow or Heyfer and as often to be purified by this water as they should incurre this Legal uncleanness And yet the sacrifice of this beast was not to be offered so often as this people did incurre these Kinds of legal uncleanness Thus much is Evident from the practice of the Jewish Church during the time of the Law For this water of purification was often every year oft-times Every month to be sprinkled upon some one or other of this people oft-times upon one and the same man within one and the same year even as often as he should by chance or negligence incurre any of the former branches of uncleannesse Yet was not this sacrifice whose ashes were still to be mingled with the water of purification to be offered once Every year in every Age or in many Ages The Sacrifice of the Red Heyfer as the Jewes confesse was but nine times offered during the time of the Law Once by Eleazar Aarons Son in the wilderness And this sacrifice was not reiterated untill the destruction of Salomons Temple that is not during the space of a thousand yeares and more It was the Second Time offered by Ezra after this peoples Return from Captivitie and but seven times after unto the destruction of the second Temple And this Foolish Nation since that time hath not presumed to offer it but expects the offering of it the tenth time by their King Messias Thus is the faithless Synagogue by Gods providence the Keeper not of the Sacred Oracles onely written by Moses and the prophets but even of those Traditions which testifie the summe and truth of these Oracles to wit that this legal sacrifice amongst the rest was to be accomplished in their Messias He was indeed to set the Period to this legal Rite and to all the rest not by offering them after a Legal Rite or manner but by offering up himself instead of them all once for all in bloodie sacrifice in whose infinite Value and Everlasting Efficacie all other sacrifices or offerings for sin were so terminated or swallowed up as Land-rivers or currents of waters are in the sea But what circumstance have we from the written Text that this sacrifice was not to be so often offered as this people had occasion to use the water of sprinkling or the Ashes of this sacrifice to cleanse them from their former Legal pollutions Numb 19. It is said ver 9. that the Ashes should be laid up without the Camp in a cleane place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reserved or kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for the water of separation The Ashes were to be reserved not for this Generation onely present but for the use of Posteritie As Manna which was commanded in the same Character to be reserved in the Ark was the Type of Christ as he is the food of life or the bread which came down from heaven So were these Ashes as an Emblem of the Everlasting Efficacie or operative vertue of his sacrifice There is no Bodily substance under heaven which can be so true an Emblem or model of incorruption as Ashes are Being the Remainder of bodies perfectly dissolved or corrupted they are not capable of a second corruption And when it is said that the Ashes should be reserved for a water of separation the meaning is that one sacrifice might afford ashes enough to season or qualifie as many several vessels of water as this people for many generations should have occasion to use for Legal purification So it is said in the same ninth verse that the Reservation of these Ashes was a Purification for sin A purification not in Act onely or for one or two turnes but a Continual Purification or as a Treasurie or storehouse for making as many purifications or waters of sprinkling as this people had occasion to use And so Christ is said Heb. 1. 3. to have made a purification for our sinnes when he had by himself purged our sinnes saith our English he sate down on the right hand of the Majestie on high But the Translation under Correction comes somewhat short of the Original and the shorter it comes of it the more advantage it yeilds unto their opinion which think their sinnes were remitted and purged before they were actually committed The Apostles words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haveing made a Purification for sin he hath ascended into heaven The word Purification is not to be restrained to One Act or operation but includes or implies the Perpetual qualitie of himself or substance of his sacrifice being by this one Act consecrated to be a perpetual Fountain of purification As he did not onely make one propitiation for our sinnes So neither did he once actually purge us from our sinnes by offering up himself but still remaines the purification of our sinnes that is he doth still purifie and cleanse us from our sinnes as often as we seek by Faith and true repentance to be cleansed and purified by him 15. So then the Blood of the Legal Sacrifice or Heyfer did consecrate the Ashes to be as a Storehouse or treasury of legal purification and the Ashes thus consecrated by this sacrifice did hallow or consecrate the Water which was put into them to make actual purification as often as occasion required So did our High Priest by the One Sacrifice of Himself consecrate his Blood to be an inexhaustible Fountain of purification Evangelical And his Blood and Body thus consecrated once for all do consecrate or sanctifie the Water of Baptism to cleanse or wash Infants from sin Original and such as are of yeares when they are baptized from sinnes Actual