allay of tormenting fear and Delight its inseparable attendant was pure without the least mixture of Sorrow 3. There was in Mans dominion and power over the Creatures a shining part of God's Image He was appointed God's Lieutenant in the world and adorn'd with a Flower of his Crown God gave him the solemn Investiture of this dignity when he brought the Creatures to receive their names from him which was a mark of their homage and a Token of his supreme Empire to command them by their names As this Dominion was establisht by the order of God so 't was exercised by the mediation of the Body In his Face and Words there was something so powerful as commanded all the hosts of the lower world And as their subjection was most easie without constraint or resistance so 't was most equal without violence and oppression Thus holy and blessed was Adam in his Primitive state And that he might continue so he was obliged for ever to obey the Will of God who bestowed upon him Life and Happiness By the first neglect of his Duty he would most justly and inevitably incur the loss of both This will appear by considering the design of God in the Creation God did not make the World and Man for the meer exercise of his Power and so left them but as the production of all things was from his Goodness so their resolution and tendency is for his Glory He is as universally the final as the efficient cause of all creatures For that which receives its being from another can't be an end to it self for the prevision of the end in the mind of the Creator sets him a work and is antecedent to the being of the creature Therefore the Wiseman tells us that God made all things for himself And the Apostle that Of him and to him and through him are all things to whom be glory for ever The lower rank of Creatures objectively glorifie God as there is a visible demonstration of his excellent Attributes in them Man is only qualified to know and love the Creator And as the benefit of all redounds to him 't is his duty to pay the tribute for all By his mouth the world makes its acknowledgment to God He is the Interpreter of the silent and uninterrupted Praises which the full Quire of Heaven and Earth renders to him O Lord all thy works praise thee from the most noble to the least worthy thy Saints bless thee Thankfulness is the homage due from understanding Creatures And from hence it follows that Man was only in a state of moral dependance and capable of a Law For a Law being the declaration of the Superiours Will requiring Obedience and threatning Punishment on the failure thereof there must be a principle of Reason and choice in that nature that is govern'd by it 1. To discover the Authority that enjoins it 2. To discern the matter of the Law 3. To determine it self out of judgment and election to Obedience as most excellent in it self and advantageous to the performer Now all inferiour Creatures are moved by the secret force of natural inclinations they are insensible of moral engagements and are not wrought on in an illuminative way by the foresight of rewards and punishments But Man who is a reasonable creature owes a reasonable service And it is impossible that Man should be exempt from a Law For as the notion of a God that is of the first and supreme Being excludes all possibility of obligation to another Who hath first given to the Lord and it shall be recompensed to him again And of subjection to a Law for supremacy and subjection are incompatible so the quality of a Creature includes the relation of dependance and natural subjection to the Will of God This is most evident from that common Principle which governs the intelligent Creation 'T is a moral Maxime to which the reasonable nature necessarily assents That the dispensing of benefits acquires to the Giver a Right to command and lays on the Receiver an Obligation to obey and these rights and duties are measured by the nature of the benefits as their just Rule This is visible in that Dominion which is amongst men If we ascend to the first Springs of Humane Laws we shall find the original Right of Power to arise either from Generation in Nature or Preservation â—n War or some publick Good accruing to the Society by the prudent care of the Governor Now the being and blessedness of the creature are the greatest and most valuable benefits that can be received and in the bestowing of them is laid the most real foundation of Power and Authority Upon this account Man who derives his life and felicity from God is under a natural and strong obligation to comply with his will From this right of Creation God asserts his universal Dominion I have made the Earth and created Man upon it even my hands have stretcht out the Heavens and all their hosts have I commanded And the Psalmist tells us Know ye that the Lord he is God it is He that made us and not we our selves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture His Jurisdiction is grounded on his propriety in Man and that arises from his giving being to him Remember O Israel for thou art my servant I have formed thee From hence he hath a supreme Right to impose any Law for the performance of which Man had an original Power Universal Obedience is the just consequent of our obligations to the Divine Goodness Suppose that Man were not the work of God's hands yet the infinite excellency of his nature gives him a better title to command us than Man hath upon the account of his reason to govern those Creatures that are inferiour to him Or suppose that God had not created the matter of which the Body is compos'd but only inspir'd it with a living Soul yet his right over us had been unquestionable The Civil Law determines that when an Artificer works on rich materials and the engraving be not of extraordinary value that the whole belongs to him who is the owner of the materials But if the matter be mean and the workmanship excellent in which the price wholly lies as if a Painter should draw an admirable Picture on a piece of Canvas the Picture of right belongs to him that drew it So if according to the errour of some Philosophers the matter of which the World was made had been Eternal yet God having infused a reasonable Soul into a piece of clay which is the principle of its life and gives it a transcendent value above all other beings which were made of the same element it is most just he should have a property in him and dominion over him The Law of Nature to which Man was subject upon his Creation contains those moral Principles concerning good and evil which have an essential equity in them
perplexities how we may be justified is to deny the value of his Righteousness and the truth of his Ascension And say not who shall descend into the deep to bear the Torments of Hell and expiate Sin this is to deny the vertue of his Death whereby he appeased God and redeemed us from the wrath to come In the Law the condemning Righteousness of God is made visible in the Gospel his justifying Righteousness is revealed from Faith to Faith And this is an infallible proof of its divine descent For whereas all other Religions either stupifie Conscience and harden it in carnal Security or terrifie it by continual Alarms of Vengeance the Gospel alone hath discovered how God may shew Mercy to repenting Sinners without injury to his Justice The Heathens robb'd one Attribute to enrich another either they conceived God to be indulgent to their Sins and easie to pardon to the prejudice of his Justice or cruel and revengful to the dishonour of his Goodness But Christians are instructed how these are wonderfully reconciled and magnified in our Redemption From hence there is a divine calm in the Conscience and that Peace which passeth Understanding The Soul is not only freed from the Fear of Gods anger but hath a lively Hope of his Favour and Love This is exprest by the Apostle when he reckons among the Priviledges of Believers That they are come to God the Judg of all and to Jesus the Mediator of the New-Covenant and to the Blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than the blood of Abel The apprehension of God as the Judg of the world strikes the guilty with fear and terrour but as He is sweetned by the Mediator we may approach to Him with confidence For what Sins are there which so entire a Satisfaction doth not expiate What Torments can they deserve which his wounds and stripes have not removed God is Just as well as Merciful in justifying those who believe in Jesus 'T is not the quality of Sins but of Sinners that excepts them from Pardon Christ is the golden Altar in Heaven for penitent Believers to flie to from whence God will never pluck any one to destroy him 5. From hence we may learn how absolute a necessity there is for our coming to Christ for Justification There are but two waies of appearing before the Righteous and Supreme Judg. 1. In Innocence and sinless Obedience or by the Righteousness of Christ The one is by the Law the other by Grace And these two can never be compounded for he that pleads Innocence in that disclaims Favour and he that sues for Favour acknowledges Guilt Now the first cannot be performed by us For entire Obedience to the Law supposes the integrity of our natures there being a Moral impossibility that the Faculties once corrupted should act regularly But Man is stain'd with Original Sin from his Conception And the form of the Law runs universally Cursed is every one that obeys not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them In these Scales one evil work preponderates a thousand good If a Man were guilty but of one single Error his entire Obedience afterwards could not save him for that being alwaies due to the Law the payment of it cannot discount for the former Debt So that we cannot in any degree be justified by the Law for there is no middle between transgressing and not transgressing it He that breaks one Article in a Covenant cuts off his claim to any benefit by it Briefly the Law Justifies only the Perfect and condemns without distinction all that are Guilty So that to pretend Justification by the works of it is as unreasonable as for a man to produce in Court the Bond which obliges him to his Creditor in testimony that he ows him nothing Whoever presumes to appear before God's Judgment-Seat in his own righteousness shall be covered with confusion 2. By the Righteousness of Christ. This alone absolves from the Guilt of sin saves from Hell and can endure the trial of God's Tribunal This the Apostle prized as his unvaluable treasure in comparison of which all other things are but dross and dung that I may be found in him not having mine own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith That which he ordained and rewarded in the Person of our Redeemer he cannot but accept Now this Righteousness is meritoriously imputed only to Believers For depending solely upon the Will of God as to its being and effects it cannot possibly be reckoned to any for their benefit and advantage but in that way which he hath appointed The Lord Christ who made Satisfaction tells us that the benefit of it is communicated only through our Believing God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes on him should not perish As all sins are mortal in respect of their guilt but death is not actually inflicted for them upon the account of the Grace of the New Covenant so all sins are venial in respect of the Satisfaction made by Christ but they are not actually pardoned till the performing of the condition to which pardon is annext Faith transfers the guilt from the Sinner to the Sacrifice And this is not an act restrained to the understanding but principally respects the will by which we accept or refuse Salvation The nature of it is best exprest by the Scripture-phrase the receiving Christ which respects the terms upon which God offers him in the Gospel to be our Prince and Saviour The state of favour begins upon our consent to the New Covenant And how reasonable is the condition it requires how impossible is it to be otherwise God is reconcileable by the Death of Christ so that he may exercise Mercy without injury to his Justice and Holiness He is willing and desirous to be upon terms of amity with Men but cannot be actually reconciled till they accept of them for reconcilement is between two Though God upon the account of Christ is made placable to the humane nature which he is not to the Angelical in its lapsed state and hath condescended so far as to offer conditions of peace to Men yet they are reconciled at once That Christ becomes an effectual Mediator there must be the consent of both parties As God hath declared his by laying the punishment of our sins on Christ so Man gives his by submitting to the Law of Faith And the great end of Preaching the Gospel is to overcome the obstinacy of Men and reconcile them to God and their happiness We are Ambassadours for Christ and pray you in Christs stead to be reconciled to God With this difference Christ furnisht the means they only bring the message of reconciliation Now Men are with difficulty wrought on to comply with the conditions of Pardon by Christ. 1. Upon
the account of a legal Temper that universally inclines them to seek for Justification by their own Works This is most suitable to the Law light of nature for the tenour of the first Covenant was Do and live So that the way of Gospel-Justification as 't is supernatural in its discovery so in its contrariety to Mans Principles Besides as Pride at first aspir'd to make Man as God so it tempts him to usurp the honour of Christ to be his own Saviour He is unwilling to stoop that he may drink of the Waters of Life Till the Heart by the weight of its guilt is broken in pieces and looses its former fashion and figure it will not humbly comply with the offer of Salvation for the Merits of another And 't is very remarkable that upon the first opening of the Gospel no Evangelical Doctrine was more disrelisht by the Jews than Justification by imputed Righteousness The Apostle gives this account of their opposition that being ignorant of God's Righteousness and going about to establish their own Righteousness they submitted not to the Righteousness of God They were prepossest with this Principle that Life was to be obtained by their works because the express condition of the Law was so And mistaking the end of its Institution by Moses they set the Law against the Promises For since the Fall the Law was given not absolutely to be a Covenant of Life but with a design to prepare Men for the Gospel that upon the sight of their Guilt and the Curse they might have recourse to the Redeemer and by Faith embrace that Satisfaction he hath made for them Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth From the example of the Jews we may see how Men are naturally affected And 't is worthy of observation that the reformation of Religion took its rise by the same controversie with the Papists by which the Gospel was first introduced into the World For besides innumerable abuses crept into the Church the People were perswaded that by purchasing Indulgences they should be saved from the Wrath of God And when this darkness covered the face of the Earth the zeal of the first Reformers broke forth who to undeceive the world clearly demonstrated from Scriptures that Justification is alone obtained by a lively and purifying Faith in the Blood of Christ. A strong proof that the same Gospel which was first revealed by the Apostles was revived by those excellent Men and the same Church which was first built by the Apostles was raised out of its ruines by them Now the Gospel to eradicate this disposition which is so natural and strong in faln Man is in nothing more clear and express than in declaring that by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in Gods sight The Apostle asserts without distinction that by the Works of the Law Justification cannot be obtained whether they proceed from the power of Nature or the Grace of the Spirit For he argues against the merit of Works to Justification not against the principle from whence they proceed And where he most affectionately declares his esteem of Christ and his Righteousness as the sole meritorious cause of his Justification he expresly rejects his own Righteousness which is of the Law By his own Righteousness he comprehends all the works of the renewed as well as natural state for they are performed by Man and are acts of Obedience to the Law which commands perfect Love to God These are withering leaves that cannot conceal our shame when we appear before God in Judgment Not but that good works are most pleasing to him but not for this end to expiate Sin We must distinguish between their substance and the quality that errour giveth them The opinion of merit changes their nature and turns Gold into Dross And if our real Righteousness how exact soever cannot absolve us from the least guilt much less can the performance of some external actions though specious in appearance yet not commanded by God and that have no moral value All the Disciplines and Severities whereby men think to make Satisfaction to the Law are like a Crown of Straw that dishonours the Head instead of adorning it But that Righteousness which was acquired by the Meritorious Sufferings of Christ and is embraced by Faith is alsufficient for our Justification This is as pure as Innocence to all the effects of Pardon and Reconciliation this alone secures us from the charge of the Law and the chalenge of Justice Being clothed with this we may enter Heaven and converse with the pure society of Angels without blushing The Saints who now reign in Glory were not Men who lived in the perfection of Holiness here below but Repenting Believing Sinners who are washed white in the Blood of the Lamb. 2. The most universal hinderance of Mens complying with the conditions of Pardon by Christ is the predominant love of some Lust. Although Men would entertain him as a Saviour to redeem them from Hell yet they reject him as their Lord. Those in the Parable who said We will not have this Man to reign over us exprest the inward sense and silent thoughts of all carnal Men. Many would depend on his Sacrifice yet will not submit to his Scepter they would have Christ to pacifie their Consciences and the world to please their Affections Thus they divide between the Offices of Christ his Priestly and his Regal They would have Christ to die for them but not to live in them They divide the acts of the same Office they lean on his Cross to support them from falling to Hell but Crucifie not one Lust on it They are desirous he should reconcile them to God by his Sacrifice but not to bless them in turning them from their Iniquities And thus in effect they absolutely refuse him and render his Death unavailable For the receiving of Christ as Mediator in all his Offices is the Condition indispensably requisite to partake of the Benefits of his Sufferings The Resigning up of our selves to him as our Prince is as necessary an act of justifying Faith as the Apprehending the Crucified Saviour So that in every real Christian Faith is the Principle of Obedience and Peace and is as inseparable from Holiness as from Salvation To conclude this Argument From hence we may see How desperate the state is of impenitent Unbelievers They are cut off from any claim to the Benefits of Christs Death The Law of Faith like that of the Medes and Persians is unalterable He that believeth not the Son shall not see life Christ died not to expiate final Infidelity This is the mortal Sin that actually damns It charges all their guilt upon Sinners It renders the Sufferings of Christ fruitless and ineffectual to them For 't is not the Preparation of a Sovereign Remedy that cures the Disease but the applying it As our Sins
was so fram'd as to make a visible discovery of the Prerogatives of his Creation And when he reflected upon his Soul that animated his dust its excellent endowments wherein 't is comparable to the Angels its capacity of enjoying God himself for ever he had an internal and most clear testimony of the glorious perfections of his Creator For Man who alone admires the works of God is the most admirable of all 2. The Image of God was resplendent in mans Conscience the seat of practical Knowledg and Treasury of moral Principles The directive faculty was sincere and incorrupt not infected with any disguising tincture 't was clear from all prejudices which might render it an incompetent Judg of good and evil It instructed Man in all the parts of his relative Obligations to God and the Creatures 'T was not fetter'd and confin'd fearfully restraining from what is Lawful nor licentious and indulgent in what is forbidden Briefly Conscience in Adam upright was a subordinate God that gave Laws and exacted obedience to that glorious Being who is its Superior 3. There was a Divine Impression on the Will Spiritual Reason kept the Throne and the inferiour Faculties observed an easy and regular subordination to its dictates The Affections were exercis'd with proportion to the quality of their Objects Reason was their inviolable Rule Love the most noble and Master-affection which gives being and goodness to all the rest even to hatred it self for so much we hate an object as it hinders our enjoyment of the good we love this precious Incense was offer'd up to the excellent and supreme Being which was the Author of his Life Adam fully obeyed the first and great Command of loving the Lord with all his heart soul and strength His love to other things was regulated by his love to God There was a perfect accord between flesh and spirit in him They both joyn'd in the service of God and were naturally mov'd to their happiness In short the image of God in Adam was a living powerful Principle and had the same relation to the Soul which the Soul hath to the Body to animate and order all its Faculties in their Offices and Operations according to the Will of his Creator 2. The Image of God consisted though in an inferiour degree in the happy state of man Herein he resembled that infinitly Blessed Being This happiness had relation to the two Natures which enter into Mans Composition 1. To the Animal and Sensitive and this consisted in two things 1. In the excellent disposition of his Organs 2. In the enjoyment of convenient Objects 1. In the excellent disposition of the Organs His body was form'd immediately by God and so not liable to those defects which proceed from the weakness of second causes No blemish or disease which are the effects and footsteps of sin were to be found in him His health was not a frail inconstant disposition easily ruin'd by the jarring elements but firm and stable The humours were in a just temperament to prevent any destemper which might tend to the dissolution of that excellent frame Briefly all rhe senses were quick and lively able to perform with facility vigour and delight their operations 2. There were convenient Objects to entertain his sensitive faculties He enjoyed Nature in its original Purity crown'd with the benediction of God before 't was blasted with the curse The World was all Harmony and Beauty becoming the goodness of the Creator and not as 't is since the Fall disorder'd and deform'd in many parts the effect of his Justice The Earth was liberal to Adam of all its Treasures the Heavens of their Light and sweetest Influences He was seated in Eden a place of so great beauty and delight that it represented the Celestial Paradise which is refresht with Rivers of Pleasure And as the ultimate End of the Creatures was to raise his mind and inflame his heart with the love of his great Benefactor So their first and natural use was the satisfaction of the Senses from whence the felicity of the Animal Life did proceed 2. His supreme Happiness consisted in the exercise of his most noble Faculties on their proper Objects This will appear by considering that as the spiritual Faculties have objects which infinitely excel those of the sensitive So their capacity is more inlarged their union with objects is more intimate and their perception is with more quickness and vivacity and thereby are the greatest instruments of pleasure to the rational being Now the highest Faculties in Man are the Understanding and Will and their happiness consists in union with God by Knowledg and Love 1. In the Knowledg of God As the desire of Knowledg is the most natural to the humane Soul so the obtaining of it produces the most noble and sweetest pleasure And proportionably to the degrees of excellency that are in objects so much of rational Perfection and Satisfaction accrues to the mind by the knowledg of them The discovery of the Works of God greatly affected Man yet the excellencies scatter'd among them are but an imperfect and mutable shadow of God's infinite and unchangable Perfections How much more delightful was it to his pure understanding tracing the footsteps and impressions of God in Natural things to ascend to him who is the glorious Original of all Perfections And although his finite understanding could not comprehend the Divine excellencies yet his knowledg was answerable to the degrees of Revelation wherein God was manifested He saw the admirable Beauty of the Creator through the transparent vail of the creatures And from hence there arose in the Soul a pleasure pure solid and satisfying a pleasure divine for God takes infinit contentment in the contemplation of Himself 2. The Happiness of Man consisted in the Love of God 'T was not the naked speculation of the Deity that made him happy but such a knowledg as ravisht his Affections For happiness results from the fruitions of all the Faculties 'T is true that by the mediation of the understanding the other Faculties have access to an object the Will and Affections can't be enclin'd to any thing but by vertue of an act of the mind which propounds it as worthy of them It follows therefore that when by the discovery of the transcendent excellencies in God the Soul is excited to love and to delight in Him as its Supreme Good 't is then really and perfectly happy Now as Adam had a perfect knowledg of God so the height of his love was answerable to his knowledg and the compleatness of his enjoyment was according to his Love All the Divine Excellencies were amiable to him The Majesty Purity Justice and Power of God which are the terrour of guilty creatures secur'd his happiness whilst he continued in his Obedience His Conscience was clear and calm no unquiet fears discompos'd its Tranquillity 't was the seat of Innocence and Peace Briefly His love to God was perfect without any
Compleatness of Christ's Satisfaction proved from the Causes and Effects of it The Causes are the Quality of his Person and Degrees of his Sufferings The Effects are His Resurrection Ascension Intercession at Gods right hand and his exercising the Supreme Power in Heaven and Earth The excellent Benefits which God reconciled bestows on Men are the Effects and Evidences of his compleat Satisfaction They are Pardon of Sin Grace and Glory That Repentance and Faith are required in order to the partaking of the Benefits purchased by Christ's Death doth not lessen the Merit of his Sufferings That Afflictions and Dâ—ath are inflicted on Believers doth not derogate from their All-sufficiency THe Third thing to be considered is the Compleatness of the Satisfaction that Christ hath made by which it will appear that Gods Justice as well as Mercy is fully glorified in his Sufferings For the proof of this I will first consider the Causes from whence the compleatness of his Satisfaction arises Secondly The Effects that proceed from it which are convincing Evidences that God is fully appeas'd The Causes of his compleat Satisfaction are two 1. The Quality of his Person derives an infinite value to his obedient Sufferings Our Surety was equally God and as truely Infinite in His Perfections as the Father who was provoked by our Sins therefore he was able to make Satisfaction for them He is the Son of God not meerly in respect of the honour of his Office or the special Favour of God for on these accounts that Title is communicated to others but his only Son by Nature The sole preheminence in Gifts and Dignity would give Him the title of the first-born but not deprive them of the quality of Brethren Now the wisdom and justice of all Nations agree that Punishments receive their estimate from the quality of the Persons that suffer The Poet observes that the Death of a vertuous Person is more precious than of Legions Of what inestimable value then is the death of Christ and how worthy a Ransom for lost mankind For although the Deity is impassible yet he that was a Divine Person he suffered A King suffers more than a private person although the strokes he endures in his body cannot immediatly reach his honour And 't is specially to be observed that the Efficacy of Christs Blood is ascribed to his Divine Nature This the Apostle declares In whom we have Redemption through his Blood even the forgiveness of Sins who is the image of the invisible God Not an artificial Image which imperfectly represents the Original As a Picture that sets forth the Colour and Figure of a Man but not his Life and Nature But the essential and exact Image of his Father that expresses all his glorious Perfections in their immensity and eternity This is testified expresly in Hebr. 1.3 The Son of God the brightness of his Glory and the express Image of his Person having purged by himself our sins is set down on the right hand of Majesty on High From hence arises the infinite difference between the Sacrifices of the Law and Christs in their value and vertue This with admirable Emphasis is set down in Hebr. 9.13 14. For if the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purification of the flesh How much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offer'd himself without spot to God purge your Consciences from dead works to serve the living God Wherein the Apostle makes a double Hypothesis 1. That the Legal Sacrifices were ineffectual to purifie from real guilt 2. That by their Typical Cleansing they signified the washing away of moral guilt by the Blood of Christ. 1. Their insufficiency to expiate Sin appears if we consider the subject Sin is to be expiated in the same nature wherein 't was committed now the Beasts are of an inferiour rank and have no communion with Man in his nature Or if we consider the object God was provoked by Sin and He is a Spirit and not to be appeased by gross material things His Wisdom requires that a rational Sacrifice should expiate the guilt of a rational Creature And Justice is not satisfied without a proportion between the Guilt and the Punishment This weakness and insufficiency of the Legal Sacrifices to expiate Sin is evident from their variety and repetition For if full Remission had been obtained The worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sin 'T is the sense of Guilt and the fear of Condemnation that required the renewing of the Sacrifice Now under the Law the Ministry of the Priests never came to a period or perfection The Millions of Sacrifices in all Ages from the erecting the Tabernacle to the coming of Christ had not vertue to expiate one Sin They were only shadows which could give no refreshment to the inflamed Conscience but as they depended on Christ the body and substance of them But the Son of God who offered himself up by the Eternal Spirit to the Father is a Sacrifice not only Intelligent and Reasonable but incomparably more precious than the most noble Creatures in Earth or in Heaven it self He was Priest and Sacrifice in respect of both His Natures His entire Person was the Offerer and Offering Therefore the Apostle from the excellency of his Sacrifice infers the unity of its Oblation and from thence concludes its Efficacy Christ did not by the Blood of Bulls and Goats but by his own Blood He entred in once to the Holy Place having obtained eternal Redemption for us and by one Offering He hath for ever perfected them who are sanctified Upon this account God promised in the New-Covenant That their Sins and Iniquities He would remember no more having received compleat satisfaction by the Sufferings of his Son 'T is now said that once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself And as it is appointed for all men once to die and after Death comes Judgment So Christ was once offered to bear the Sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin As there is no other natural death to suffer between Death and Judgment so there is no other propitiatory Sacrifice between his all-sufficient Death on the Cross and the last coming of our Redeemer There is one Consideration I shall adde to shew the great difference between Legal Sacrifices and the Death of Christ as to its saving vertue The Law absolutely forbids the eating of Blood and the peoples tasting of the Sin-offerings to signifie the imperfection of those Sacrifices For since they were consumed in their Consecration to Gods Justice and nothing was left for the nourishment of the Offerers 't was a sign they could not appease God The Offerers had communion with them when they brought them to the Altar and in a manner