it is said Be propitious to our sinnes Be not propitious to their sinnes without signâ—fying how or upon what consideration he becomes propitious The Apostle saies againe Ebr. IX 11. That Christ entered into the Holy of Holies not with the blood of goates and bullocks but with his own blood having found that is obtained everlasting ransome To wit by the sacrifice of the Crosse They say the indefinite tense signifies not alwaies the time past And I grant it is enough that the time which it signifies be past to him that speaks as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which you have so often in the Gospels he answered and said arguing no priority between answering and speaking But necessarily that our Saviour answered and said before the Evangelist related it for sometimes it concerns not which is first as whether our Lord first answered or first said So Heb. II. 10. When therefore the Apostle saies that Christ entered into the Holy of Holies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he saith not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he might as easily have said Nor meant that he should or would finde ransome by delivering his brethren from sinne But that hee had found ransome by paying the price of theire sinne For deliverance from sinne is future in respect of the Apostle and the time when he writ Which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot signify Besides if there be question what but the nature of the thing signified can determine the order that is between them Now in our case ransome is ascribed alwaies to the sacrifice as I have shewed never to the sprinkling of the bloud before the Propitiatory So Heb. I. 3. when it is said Christ having made purgation of sinnes sate down at the right hand of God For if it be said that he made purgation of sin by that assurance of pardon which the appearance of his bloud before God gives Christians Manifest it is that what is attributed to the sprinkling of the bloud before the Propitiatory must be understood to be effected by virtue of the blood shed at the Altar The case is plaine Heb. XII 24 You are come to the bloud of sprinkling that speakes better things then that of Abel Abels bloud shed called for vengeance Therefore Christs bloud shed for remission of sinnes Herewith agreeth S. Paul Rom. III. 25. whom God hath proposed a Propitiatory through Faiâ—h in his bloud Late Writers so translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the notion of a place as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same â—orme For my part I rather follow Hesychiâ—â— or rather those that he followed who most certainly had regard to this text when they expound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a purging sacrifice or an Altar as the meanes to make God propitious Which is clear for our purpose But whether the place or the meanes why did God appear propitiou upon the Ark but because made propitious by that which it signified Christ incarnate and by the bloud of the sacrifice signifying the bloud of his Crosse Therefore they prayed towards the ark under the Law as under the Gospel towards the East and found God propitious because of the consideration in which they directed their prayers directed by out Lord John XVII 23-26 To which purpose we may observe the purging of the Altar Tabernacle and all within the vaile by the bloud of the sacrifices Levit. XVI 16 20 33. Ezek. XLIII 20 22 26. XLV 20. For what purging needed they but as they became polluted by the sinnes of the people As the Land which was holy being polluted by bloud shed must be cleansed by the bloud of him that shed it Num. XXXV 33 Therefore the Congregation became guilty when he that did a murther was not taken because the Land was promised to the Congregation and therefore an expiation is appointed Deut. XXâ— 1 10. In correspondence whereunto it must be granted that the world and the heavens being polluted with mans sinne which is that bondage of vanity and corruption under which S. Paul saith that the whole creature groaneth desiring to be delivered into that freedome which the resurrection shall restore Rom. VIII 19 22. were to be expiated by the sacrifice of Christs body brought in and his bloud sprinkled there Heb. IX 23. that in consideration of his obedience and sufferings God might be found propitious there So the everlasting intercession of Christ is grounded upon the everlasting ransome Ebr. VII 24. This Priest remaining for ever hath an everlasting Priesthood Wherefore he is able perfectly to save those that come to God by him all wayes living to interceds for them To wit by pleading his owne blood the ransome of all sinne This is the ground of all our prayers and the confidence which we may make them with in particular for the cleansing of sinne after reconcilement Of which S. Paul Rom. VIII 34. Christ it is that died or rather that is risen again who also is at the right hand of God making intercession for us And this is the necessity of Christs sufferings which the Apostle pleades Ebr. II. 14 18. that he might be sensible of ours For if the guilt be taken away by his intercession succeeding his sufferings then did he suffer that it might succeede And thus are our sinnes forgiven for his name or by his Name John II. 12. Which Sociâ—us will have to be Gods name as in the Old Testament Es XLIII 25. Psal XXV 11. LXXIX 9. CVI. 8. CXLIII 12 But if the name of God be in Christ under the â—ew Testament as in the Angel that represented God in the Old as I have showed then when we pray in christs name we pray in Gods name though in consideration of Christs merits Upon the premises depends the true meaning of all those Scriptures where Christ is said to have died for us and for our righteousnesse Not as if the preposition for could determine whether we are to understand the finall cause in respect of man to move him to accept of Christ or the impulsive cause in respect of God moving him to grant the Gospell For when S. John sayes that we ought to lay downe our lives for the breâ—hâ—en as Christ for us John III. 16. it is manifest that our life is no ransom for the brethren as Christs for us And when S. Peter saith He will lay down his life for Christ John XIII 37. 38. he meanes not to move God thereby to spare his Masters life And yet notwithstanding when Esau sold his birthright for a messe of potage Ebr. XII 16. he gave away his birth right in consideration of it And should God have taken S. Paules life upon condition of saving the Jews they must have been saved in consideration of his becoming anathema for them Rom. IX 3. And Caiaphas thought that Christ must be destroyed least the Romanes should think that they would rebell under him as theire true Prince and so it was necessary that Christ should dy for the people Johâ—
manisest that by the leter of the Law Deut. XIV 23. XVIII 4. Num. XVIII 12. of all fruits of the earth onelyCome and Oile and Wine are Tithable Of living creatures the Tith goes not to the Levites who payed the Priesthood the Tenth of their Tithes but to the Altar that is they are to be sacrificed to God So that by this means the Priests and Levites themselves paid this Tith as well as other Israelites and that no more to the interest and advantage of the Priesthood than the Paschal Lambs which they also sacrificed for Tithe cattel went to the owners as the Paschal Lambs did the Law having provided onely that they should be holy to the Lord Levis XXVII 32. that is sacrificed to God their bloud sprinkled upon the Altar and their flesh eaten in Jerusalem Which Law providing also that this Tith he onely of the Herd or of the flock that is of Bullock Sheep or Goat that passeth under the rod they that will derive the Churches claime of Tithes from the Levitical Law must by consequence tye themselves to these Terms Which would be not to abridge the claime but to destroy it For though many kindes besides these were Tithable among the Jewes by virtue of the Constitutions of the Synagogue yet that would not advantage the Church which forsaking the Synagogue for refusing Christianity cannot avail it self of the authority of it And truly hee that would insist that the Law is in force for the payment of Tithes to the Church will never be able to give a reason why it should not be in force for observing the Sabbath that is the Saturday for being circumcised and keeping all the Festivals and Sacrifices and Purifications of the Ceremonial Law and much more the Civil Law of that people as much contrary to the Civil Law of Christian people as to Christianity seeing that whatsoever is contained in that Law which is made void by Christianity must be understood to be void till it appear to be contained and imported in that Act which introduceth and establisheth Christianity in stead of the Law Indeed I must not say that the Levitical Law is the onely evidence that is alleged for the right of Tithes in the Church For every man knowes that Abrahams paying Tithes to Metchiseck the Priest of the most high God Gen. XIV 20. and Jacobs paying Tithes or vowing to pay them Gen. XXVIII 22. are alleged as indeed they ought to be alleged to show that paying of Tithes was in force under the Law of Nature that is in the time of the Patriarchs before the Ceremonial Law In which regard God faith that Tithes are his Levis XXVII 30 to wit by a Law introduced afore And the consequence hereof seems to be more effectual to the Church than that which is drawn from the Levitical Law in that consideration which the Fathers of the Church do presse with advantage enough against the Jewes that the Patriarchs were the fore-runners of Christians and that Christianity is more ancient than Judaisme in regard that the same service of God in spirit and truth by the inward obedience of the heart was in being in the lives of the Patriarchs as the Gospel requires before the scrupulous and precise and supperssitious observation of bloudy sacrifices and smoke of fat and incense and troublesom purifications of the outward man and the rest of Moses positive Law was required For if the Law of Nature and the conversation of the Patriarchs under it is indeed the pattern of Christianity and of the life of Christians under the Gospel expressed by deed before wee finde it indented for by Covenant Then certainly that which ought to be out-done by the Church is not abrogated by Christianity But this argument being made and allowed to be of force hee that therefore should say that the Church claimeth this right by virtue of that Law whereby it was in force under the Patriarchs would be presently lyable to peremptory instances of the difference of clean and unclean creatures Gen. Vll. 2. Of raising up feed to a brother deceased Gen. XXXVIII II. Of the Polygamy of the Patriarchs and others which though then in force under the Gospel hold not Wherefore it is not to be said that the Law of that time is the act whereby the Church claimes but a ground whereupon the act whereby the Church claimes was done In like maner hee that should affirm this right due to the Church by virtue of the Levitical Law would meet with these exceptions peremptory as I suppose that have been advanced But when it hath been said and made good that the Levitical Law supposing the Gospel ordained by God to succeed it yields a sufficient ground to argue that a provision answerable thereunto was to be established in the Church as the correspondence between the Law and the Gospel between the Synagogue and the Church requireth I say this being premised there remaines nothing in question but how the establishing of it may be derived from the act of them that had the settling of the Church in their hands Considering then that provision is made by the Law onely for the maintenance of Gods Ceremonial service confined to Jerusalem for a powerfull evidence that the intent of that Covenant expressed no more than the Land of Promise that the promise of bringing the Gentiles to Christianity and the real destruction of the Law with the Place of this service inferrs the service of God in all places in spirit and truth to succeed it under the Gospel and by it that no order for all Nations that should be converted to resort to this service can be maintained without a Society or Corporation of the Church visibly telling them whither to resort for that purpose Upon these premiâ—es it will be of necessary consequence that the like provision for the maintenance of that service of God which the Church professeth be made to that which had been made for the service of God at Jerusalem during the time of the Synagogue Now the maintenance of Gods service in the Church with the maintenance of the Church subsisting for no other end than that service consists in the maintenance of those persons that are to attend on Gods service Of which persons there are two sorts The first is of those that attend either upon the Government of the Church or else upon the minisâ—ring of those Offices which God is served with by his Church unto the Assemblies of his people The second sort is of those that to preserve this temporal life being obliged to attend upon the imployment of it cannot spare themselves and their time to attend on Gods service It was therefore necessary that Christian people should contribute the first-fruits of their goods in Tithes and oblations to the Church by which those that attended upon the publick government of it as well as upon ministring the Offices of Christianity should both maintain themselves and be trusted to maintain the
originall practice of the Church whither in prescribing what is to be believed what is to be professed or what is to be done So manifest must it remain that nothing can be resolved by plurality of votes of Ecclesiasticall Writers as to the point of truth For then were the priviledge of infallibility in the votes of those Writers which themselves disclaim from the substance of what they write And it is to say that what had no such priviledge when it was written if it have more Authors survive that hold it shall be and must be held infallible Which consequences being ridiculous it followeth that for the tryal of truth within the bounds aforesaid recourse must be had to the means premised And the effect of those means every dayes experience witnesseth For the obligation which all men think they have firmly to hold that which by these means they have all concluded from the Scriptures is the consequence of these principles in expounding the same Which obligation though sometimes imaginary in regard that between contradictory reasons the consequence may be equally firm on both sides yet that it cannot be otherwise he that believes the truth of Christianity must needs imagine For true principles truly used necessarily produce nothing but true consequences Which if it be so why should any question be made that the Church may and sometimes ought to proceed in determining the truth of things questionable upon occasion of the Scriptures concerning the rule of Christian faith or which is all one that the exercise of this power by the Church produceth in those that are of the Church an obligation of submitting to the same Indeed here be two obligations which sometimes may contradict one another and therefore whatsoever the matter of them be the effects of them cannot be contraries The use of the means to determine the meaning of the Scriptures produceth an obligation of holding that which followeth from it which obligation no man can have or ought to imagine he hath before the due use of such meanes whither his estate in the Church oblige him to use them or not But the visible determination of the Church obliges all that are of the Church not to scandalize the unity thereof by professing contrary to the same And to both these obligations the same man may be subject as the matter may be to wit as one that hath resolved the question upon true principles not to believe the contrary and as one of the Church that believes the Church faileth in that for which he is bound not to break the unity thereof not to professe against what the Church determineth For I am bold to say again that there is no society no communion in the world whether Civill Ecclesiasticall Military or whatsoever it be that can subsist unlesse we grant that the Act of superiour Power obligeth sometimes when it is ill used In the mean time I say not that this holds alwaies and in matters of whatsoever concernment nor do take upon me generally to resolve this no more then what is the mater of the rule of Faith which he that believes may be saved he that positively believes it not all cannot It shall be enough for me if I may give an opinion whether that which we complain of be of value to disoblige us to our superiours or not As concerning what is questioned amongst us whither it be of the rule of Faith or not But this I shall say that to justifie the use of this power towards God requireth not onely a perswasion of the truth competent to the weight of the point in question in those that determine for the Church but also a probable judgement that the determination which they shall make will be the meanes to reduce contrary opinions to that sense which they see so great Authority profess and injoyn For without doubt there can be no such means to dissolve the unity of the Church as a precipitate and immature determination of something that is become questionable For effectually to proceed to exercise Ecclesiasticall Communion upon terms contrary to that which hath been received afore is actually to dissolve the unity of the Church The ingagement to make good that which men shall have once done being the most powerful Witcheraft and Ligature in the world to blind them from seeing that which all men see besides themselves or at least from confessing to see that which they cannot but see But if we speak of things which concern the communion of the Church in those offices which God is to be served with by Christians or that tend to maintain the same besides the meaning and truth of the Scriptures there remains a further question what is or ought to be law to the Church and oblige them that are of the Church seeing that whatsoever is in the Scripture obligeth not the Church for Law though obliged to beleeve it for truth the resolution whereof will require evidence of the reason for which every thing was done by the Apostles for as it holds or not so the constitution grounded upon it is to hold either alwaies or onely as it holds And this reason must be evidenced by the Authority of the Church admitting that reason into force whither by express act or by silent practice When the Israelites are commanded to eat the Passeover in haste with their loins girt and their staves in their hands there is appearance enough that the intent of it was onely concerning that Passeover which first they celebrated in Egypt not for an order alwaies to continue because then the case required haste and because then the Angell passed over their houses upon the door-posts whereof the blood was commandded to be sprinkled that by that marke he might passe over them to smite the Egyptians For though Philo would have the Passeover to be celebrated at home and not at Jerusalem though perhaps onely by those of the dispersions those that dwelt in the Land of promise being all tied to resort to Jerusalem yet all that acknowledge the Talmud think it not lawfull to celebrate it but at Jerusalem contenting themselves with the Supper and abatng the Lambe as one of those sacrifices which the Law forbiddeth every where but before the Ark. But had not the practice of the Nation and the Authority of the Elders trusted by the Law to determine such matters appeared in the businesse our Lord who according to his own doctrine was subject to their constitutions had not had a rule for his proceeding So in the infancy of Christianity it is no marvail if the Christians at Jerusalem entertained daily communion even at board also among themselves and that they gave their estates to the maintenance of it not by any law of communion of goods but as the common necessity required For what could make more towards the advancement of Christianity And when at Corinth and in other Churches the communion was in use though not so frequent nor giving up their
thus proceedeth Heb. IX 13 14. For if the blood of Bulls and Goats and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkled sanctify the polluted to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the everlasting spirit offered himself to God blamelesse cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God For though the Soul of Christ raised from the dead have immortality which is life indissoluable yet it hath not the virtue of it which is to be ascribed to the Spirit which raised him from the dead as vvell as us according to S. Paul Rom. VIII 10. 11. If Christ be in you though the body be dead because of sin yet the Spirit is life because of righteousness But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised Iesus from the dead shall quicken your mortall bodies also through his Spirit that dwelleth in you And whether the cleansing of sin can be ascribed to any gift bestowed upon the humane Soule of Christ as here they vvould have it ascribed to the immortality thereof let all the World judge I deny not indeed that Christ offers the Sacrifice of himself to the Father in the Heaven of Heavens as the Priest offered him the blood of those Sacrifices which were burnt without the Camp in that Holy of Holies But if I should deny that he offered himself to God vvhen he vvas crucified I might as vvell deny that the Priests offered therein Sacrifices to God when they killed them at the Altar and burnt them upon it So manifest so certain it is that the eternall Spirit by virtue whereof the blood of Christ being offered cleanseth sin was in Christ before his rising again And this is that which S. Paul saith 1 Tim. III. 16. And without crontroversie Great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifested in the Flesh justified in the Spirit preached to the Gentiles seen of Angels believed of the World taken up into Glory It is sayd indeed that the Syriack the Vulgar Latine the Arabick and the Commentaries under S. Ambrose his name all want 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here and understand S. Paul to speak of the Gospel all the while And that the Gospel being sayd to be preached before it is sayd to be taken up into Glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be no more then that it is exalted and glorified As if the order of the words did inforce that which is first sayd to have been first done or as if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did not signifie the taking of him up to God but the making of the Gospel famous Such violence will a prejudicate supposition offer even to Gods words rather then to quit an argument For to what sense can the Gospel be sayd to be manifested in the flesh because preached by the man Christ And suppose it may be sayd to be justified by the Spirit as Wisdome is justified by the Children of Wisdome Mat. XI 9. Luke VII 35. how much more proper is it to understand that God who appeared in the flesh should be sayd to be justified so to be in or by the Spirit the Works whereof shewed him so to be as afore Neither shall we need to make any greater doubt of the reading of those vvords of S. Paul Acts XX. 28. Look therefore to your selves and to the whole Flock ever which the Holy Ghost hath made you Bishops to feed the Church of God which he hath gotten with his blood Though the written Copy at S. James and the Syriack read here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because that the Church over which the Holy Ghost makes Bishops it bought with the blood of Christ is the same with that of the Apostle afore that the blood of Christ offered by the eternall Spirit cleanseth sin Neither is it so easie to avoyd the words of the Apostle Heb. XI 16. as some imagine For he took not Angels but the Seed of Abraham he took Suppose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be to challenge which is done by laying hands on that which we challenge Is the ground therefore void upon which he challenges these to life as his own that through feare of death were in bondage does not the whole Epistle argue that this is done by the offering of our flesh saith he not expresly that it behoved him to become like his Brethren in all things and that he is not ashamed to call them Brethren because he that sanctifieth and those who are sanctified are all of one Heb. XI 11. 14. 17. does Christ vindicate mankind or the Seed of Abraham For though this is written to the Hebrews alone yet it was written at such time as all christians understood that it belongs no less to the Gentiles Wherfore it is manifest that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which might seem to signifie Christs challenging mankind or vindicating them into freedome from death as well here as elswhere is restrained by the Text and consequence of the Apostles discourse to signifie the assuming of mans nature by the means whereof he won mankind into freedome and maintains it in the same In fine when the Apostle sayth 1 Pet. I. 11. That the ancient Prophets did search against what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ that was in them did declare and profess the sufferings to come upon Christ and the glories following the same He sheweth plainly that the same Spirit by which they spake by fits dwelt in the flesh of Christ for ever having once assumed it Of which Spirit the Evangelist sayth Marke XI 8. That Jesus knew by the Spirit how the Pharises reasoned of him within themselves For as I sayd afore that when it is sayd in the Old Testament that the word of God came to this or that Prophet an Angel appeared unto him speaking in the person of God vvho vvas therefore vvorshiped as God because the Word of God for vvhich being incarnate our Lord Jesus is for ever to be Worshiped as God vvas in that Angel at the present for that Service So I must further note here that upon such Word of God coming to a Prophet he became inspired that is possessed and acted by the Spirit of God for the time of that Service vvhich God by such a message imployed him about Not that all Prophets did receive such Word by such message from God before they spake those things which we believe still they spake by the Spirit of God For there is a great deal of appearance in the Scripture for that which the Jewes doctors deliver unto us Abarbanel by name alleging Maimoni for his saying upon Numb XI that there are inferior degrees of Prophesie which comes not by apparitions in which a man saw one that spake to him in Gods Name but sometimes meerly by inspiration of Gods Spirit inwardly moving either to act or to speak as
goods of it depending upon the same it is manifest that whether the sacrifices which the Congregation was bound to offer of course upon ordinary or solemne dayes or those which purged legall impurities inferring onely incapacities of conversing which Gods people or those which were offered for sinnes properly so called or for acknowledgment of blessings received or whatsoever they were all were made an offered upon the generall claime to the land of promise and every mans share in it Neither is there any greater argument hereof then this That there is no sacrifice appointed by the Law for capitall offenses Num. XV. 23. 27. 28. 29. as those which the Law deprived of all interest in the land of promise all right to converse among Gods people Which what it signified to Christians you may see by the apostle Ebr. II. â— X. 28. to wit that they who stick not to the termes of their Christianity must expect so much the heavier vengeance at Gods hands And therefore when the Apostle argues Ebr. X. 4 It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goates should take away sinne The answer is given by the same Apostle Ebr. IX 13. If the blood of bulls and of goates and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the defiled sanctifieth to the purity of the â—lesh That it takes not away the guilt of sinne from the conscience which shuts heaven upon us but it takes away the incapacity of coming into the Tabernacle or conversing among Gods people or other forfeitures of legall promises And therefore I may conclude that the sacrifices which the Law was established with Ex. XX. 4 â—â— though not expiatory gave the people right to the land of promise to wit as done to solemnize their resolution of submitting to the Law For the people having beene Idolaters in Aegypt as we understand by the Prophet Ezek XX. 6. 7. and now submitting to a Covenant with God for the land of promise by obeying his Law are they not thereby accepted by God for heires of it This seemes indeede not to stand well with the opinion of the Fathers S. Chrysostome Theodoret and divers others the best expositers of the Scriptures that the ancient Church hath that the sacrifices of the Law were appointed by God not of his owne originall intent but upon occasion of their pronenesse to worship Idols as the Hethen did granting them those rites which they had knowne them serve their idols with so as they might be performed after that perticulare manner which he should injoyne as done to him alone And this they make the meaning of the Prophet when he saith that God commanded their Fathers nothing concerning Sacrifices at their coming out of Aegypt Jer. VII 22. because we see that in theire first coming out of Aegypt he treates with them about keeping his Lawes but not about sacrifices Ex. XV. 25. 26. But nothing hinders those sacrifices which were brought in occasionally to have been intended to figure the sacrifice of Christ As nothing hinders those sacrifices which from the beginning had been dâ—livered the Fathers as pleges of Gods love to them through Christ to be by the malice of the devill diverted and imployed to the service of Idols Certainly the Fathers before the floud sacrificed nothing but whole burnt offeringes because at that time they were not to eate of their sacrifices feeding onely on things that grew out of the earth Gen. I 28. For afterwards when he gave the sons of Noe license to eat flesh Noe offered peace offerings whereof part being burnt upon the Altare the rest went to the use of those that had sacrificed to â—east upon Gen. VIII 19. 20. IX 4. And those which Moses solemnized the Covenant of the Law with were holocausts and peace offerings Exod. XXIV 5. those which the Law makes properly explatory being afterwards introduced by the Law Now that all sacrifices are figures of Christ we have not onely the generall reason premised but particulare instances in the New Testament The Paschall Lambe 1 Cor. V. 7. The holocausts and peace offeringes which the Law was inacted with Exod. XXIV 5. Ebr. IX 18-22 together with all those the blood whereof purgeth by the Law The daily burnt offeringes of the Congregation Ebr. X. 1. for Socinus is ridiculously willfull to understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there once a yeare as if the speech were onely of the sacrifice for the day of atonement and by consequence all anniversary oblations And whereas Socinus observes that no lambe is appointed by the Law for a Propitiatory sacrifice I suppose when the Baptist saith John 1. 36. Behold the lambe of God that takes away the sinnes of the world when S. John saith Apoc. 1 5. To him that loved us and hath washt us from our sinnes in his bloude when the Martyrs say Apoc. V. 9. Thou wast killed and hast brought us to God out of every kinred and tribe and language and nation when the Apostle Apoc. XIII 8. mentions those whose names are not written in the booke of life of the Lambe slaine from the foundation of the world These I suppose knew well enough what creatures were sacrificed and yet declare that Christ was figured by Lambes to what purpose let their words argue It is manifest indeed that the Epistle to the Ebrues argues most upon the anniversary sacrifice of the day of atonement whereof one thing I must observe to him concerning the accomplishment of that which it figureth that as he maketh it together with all other sacrifices the bloud whereof is sprinkled upon the Arke to signify Christ crucified without the walls of Jerusalem So he maketh the sacrifice of Christ crucified signified thereby a pâ—ace offering for the Church to feed upon as we doe in the sacrament of the Eucharist though by the Jewes not to be touched because they killed it without the City as abominable Ebr. XIII 8-16 But Socinus will not have this sacrifice made at least not perfected nor Christ an High Preist till he entred into the heavens to present it to God as the High Priest into the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the blood How then is he figured by those sacrifices the blood whereof is not caried within the vaile I grant the sacrifice of Christ is not done till Christ come to judgment as that was not done till the High Priest came out of the Holy of Holies declaring the accepting of it Levit XVI 18 19 20. But as he must Be an High Priest that sacrificed what God accepted so must Christ be High priest before he was killed And therefore a sacrifice as the Apostle expressely saith Ebr. X. 26 27 28. That having abolished sinne by the sacrifice of himselfe he shall appeare againe to the salvation of them that expect him As the High Priest out of the Holy of Holies The same is many wayes evident by Ebr. IX 14-20 For where Socinus will have Christ to offer himselfe unspotted to God by the â—ternall Spirit by presenting
that to be true and by the consideration of it is induced to resolve and undertake the profession of Christianity hee it is that eats and drinks the flesh and bloud of Christ till hee depart from the effect of it For no man can be thought to feed upon that which hee vomits up again Neither can there be found a more exact correspondence than that which is seen between the nourishment of the body in the strength whereof it moves and those reasons whereupon the minde frames the resolutions from which a mans conversation proceeds And because God hath promised to give the Holy Ghost to them that faithfully resolve this and that as many as have the Holy Ghost their mortal bodies shall by the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in them be raised to life everlasting Rom. VIII 11. therefore they that thus eat the body and bloud of Christ shall not dy but live unto everlasting This being the eating and drinking of Christs flesh and bloud spiritually by Faith and that when the Sacrament of the Eucharist is instituted the effect of it must needs be the same spiritual nourishment and sustenance of the soul but by a new means to wit the receiving of that Sacrament As the eating and drinking of the flesh and bloud of Christ spiritually by faith presupposes the flesh of Christ crucified and his bloud poured forth so must the eating of it in the Sacrament presuppose the being of it in the Sacrament to wit by the being and becoming of it a Sacrament Unlesse a man can spiritually eat and drink the flesh and bloud of Christ in and by the Sacrament which is not in the Sacrament when hee eats and drinks it but by his eating and drinking of it comes to be there Hee therefore spiritually eats and drinks the flesh and bloud of Christ in the Sacrament who considering the profession Christ calls us to with that faith which supposes him to have signed his calling by finishing his course upon the Crosse resolves to undertake the same and in that resolution participates of the Eucharist But if the flesh and bloud of Christ be not there by the virtue of the consecration of the elements into the Sacrament then cannot the flesh of Christ and his bloud be said to be eaten and drunk in the Sacrament which are not in the Sacrament by being a Sacrament but in him that eats and drinks it For that which hee findes to eat and drink in the Sacrament cannot be said to be in the Sacrament because it is in him that spiritually eats and drinks it by faith Either therefore the flesh and bloud of Christ cannot be eaten and drunk in the Eucharist or it is necessarily in the Sacrament when it is eaten and drunk in it in which if it were not it could not be eaten and drunk in it This is further seen by the words of S. Paul when inferring his purpose to wit that Christians ought not to communicate in things sacrificed to Idols upon that which hee had premised The cup of blessing which wee blesse is it not the communion of the bloud of Christ The bread which wee break is it not the communion of the body of Christ hee addeth 1 Cor. X. 18 20 21. Look upon Israel according to the flesh do not they which eat the Sacrifices partake with the Altar What say I then That an Idol is any thing Or that a thing sacrificed to an Idol is any thing Rather that what the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to Devils and I would not have you partake with Devils Yee cannot drink the cup of God and the cup of Devils Yee cannot partake of the Lords Table and the table of Devils These words manifestly suppose the Eucharist to be the communion of the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Crosse For as our Lord saith This cup is the New Testament in my bloud or my bloud of the New Testament so is it manifest that God in inacting his Covenant that is his Testament proceeds according as the custome was among the most ancient Nations of the world to solemnize the establishment thereof with sacrifice I have showed you before that the Law was covenanted for with sacrificing Holocausts and Peace-offerings the bloud whereof was sprinkled on all the People But the Elders in the name of the people feasted upon the remaines Exod. XXIV 5-11 And among the Sacrifices of the Law those sin-offerings wherein the Priests shared with the Altar in behalf of them whose sins they expiated by them and the peace-offerings wherein those that offered them as well as the Priests that offered them shared with the Altar had their effect by virtue of the Law and the Covenant which introduced it And therefore they contained a new act by which the Covenant was renewed as to the particular purpose of those Sacrifices and the effect of them in them for whom they were made Correspondently the Covenant of Grace being inacted by the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Crosse as to Gods part that is to say so farr as to oblige God to grant remission of sins and life everlasting to all those that are baptized into the faithfull profession of Christianity is renewed in the Consecration and Communion of the Eucharist whereby that Sacrifice is renewed and revived unto the worlds end So that as those who eat of the Sacrifices of the Altar whether by the Priests or by themselves did feast with God whose Altar had received and consumed a part of those Sacrifices So those that communicate in the Eucharist do feast upon the Sacrifice of our Lord Christ on the Crosse which God is so well pleased with as to grant the Covenant of Grace and the publication thereof in consideration of it This being evidently that correspondence which the discourse of S. Paul requires remains manifestly proved by the same Though of a truth the words of our Lord when hee saith This is my bloud of the New Testament which is shed for you Or This cup is the New Testament in my bloud which is shed for you cannot otherwise be understood than by taking This cup or This which our Lord speaks of to stand for the action of giving and receiving the Sacrament not for that which is given and received in it and by it For otherwise how should a Cup or that which is in it be a Testament But in as much as the Communion of the Eucharist proceeds upon supposition of the Covenant of Grace and therefore imports a profession both on Gods part and on his that receives it of performing the condition to which respectively they binde themselves by the same In that regard nothing can be more properly said than that God tenders by that Sacrament all that the Gospel promises and man by receiving it the Condition which God covenants for at his hands Which whether you call the New Covenant or the New Testament it maters not an heir upon condition of performing the will of the dead being in
the carnal rest of the Jewes is a figure of the spiritual rest of Christians in grace here in glory in the world to come And therefore when he is afraid least he should have laboured in vain upon the Galatians IV. 10. because they observed days and moneths years when he teacheth the Colossians II. 16. not to be over-ruled in the mater of new Moons or Sabbath When he sheweth the Romanes XIV 5. that they who esteemed on one day before another were weak Christians He did not mean to remove the obligation of the seventh day upon the first but to show that Christians may as well think themselves bound in conscience to be circumcised as to be under the precept of the Sabbath And let me understand how we can be bound by the precept of the Sabbath and not be bound to that measure of rest which the precept of the Sabbath limiteth For the constitution which the Jews go by this day is so grounded in the Text that it is not possible to imagine that ever it was practised otherwise the leter of the Law manifestly distinguishing between worke and servile workâ— and permitting the dressing of meat upon the first and last dayes of the Passovâ—r Pentecost and the feast of Tabernacles but forbidding servile work that is to say such work as slâ—ves were imployed about for their Masters advantage but upon the Sabbath and day of atonement forbidding all work that is not onely servile work but the dressing of meat upon those days whereupon comes the express prohibition of kindling fire on the Sabbath not for the time that they lived in the wildernesse but as the Law expresseth in all their habitations Ex. XII 16. XXXV 30. XVI 23. Levit. XXIII 3. 7 8 21 25 28. Numb XXIX 1 7. And therefore Deut. XVI 8. where for brevities sake he saith of the Passover No worke shall be done in it The Greek adds out of Exodus and Leviticus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Besides what shall be dressed for meat And therefore when our Lord goes to dâ—ne with a Pharisee Luc. XIV 1. it is no marvail that he is invited upon a Festivall on which they hold themselves still bound to eat the best meat and drink the best wine and put on the clothes they have But he knew his entertainment must be upon meats dreâ—t the day before And therefore he not onely reproveth the hypocrisy of the Pharisees who for their own profit to draw their Oxe or their Ass out of the pit could bâ—lâ— it and in a charitable cause of healing a man stood upon it But further he showes it to be a meer positive precept of the Law when by the right of a Prophet he commandeth the lame man whom he had cured to cary away his bed upon the Sabbath Joh. V. 10. the Prophet of the old Law having forbidding to cary any burthen upon the Sabbath Jer. XVII 21. 22. And the reason my Father still worketh and so do I worke inâ—erreth that as the rest of God was not from bodily labour so neither is it the rest from bodily labour which he or his Gospel intendeth I conclude therefore that which will seem strange to unskilful people That the onely thing commanded by the leter of the fourth Commandement is to rest from bodily labour upon the seventh day of the week on which God rested from whence it is called the Sabbath But by the mysticall sense of it under the New Testament to rest from our own works of sinne here that we may attain to the rest of God in the world to come And I cannot see how a more evident argument can be expected for this then the extending of the precept to cattel and strangers not onely to children who otherwise are not under the precept For strangers in the Law that is those that worshipped the true God alone but were not circumcised who are therefore alwayes translated Conuerts in the Syriack to wit from Idols were onely tyed to seven precepts which all the Sons of Noe had received from him Whereof that of the Sabbath was none And therefore it is not they that are commanded to rest but Gods people are commanded that they shall not work as they are commanded that their Cattel shall not work I know there is a strong Argument against this in vulgar esteem which to me makes no difficulty at all that they are commanded to sanctifie or keep holy the Sabbath But he that admits the true difference between the Law and the Gospel must admit a legall as well as a spirituall holinesse And I would know what holinesse there is in offering a brute beast to God in sacrifice that is not in sitting still on the seventh day Both being stamped with Gods command and the rest of the Body signifying the rest of the soul from sinne which is very holy as the sacrifice is holy because it signifieth the holinesse of our Lord Christ or of them whom he sanctifieth The Apostle teacheth us thus to distinguish when he saith Heb. IX 11. If the blood of Bulls and Goats and the ashes of a red cow sprinkling the purified sanctifieth to the purity of the flesh For the holiness it procureth is but the capacity of free conversation amongst the people of the true God as to the leter of the Law And bodily rest upon the Sabbath is a full profession of the true God which made heaven and earth and brought his people out of Egypt I do not deny that the service of God was commanded by the Law upon the Sabbath But not by this precept You have an order for publick Assemblies on the Sabbath as well as on other Festivals Levit. XXIII you have an order for what sacrifices should be offered on each of them Num. XXVIII But had the Law gone no further then the fourth Commandment the Jews had not been tied to those precepts I acknowledge further that they were bound to serve God with other offices such as are common to them and us both upon the Sabbath as upon other Festivals when they had Synagogues or means to assemble themselves otherwise as Abenezra observes out of 2 King IV. 23. For had it not been the custome to resorâ— to the Prophets at the Festivals he would not have said Why wilt thou go to the Prophet It is neither new Moon nor Sabbath And the order for this which we see by the acts of the Apostles and the Gospels as well as by the Jews Constitutions no man will deny to have obliged them by virtue of the Law But not by the leter of it which had it been precisely followed the objection of Origen and other of the Fathers must have taken place and no man must have stirred out of the place where he should be found at the coming in of the Sabbath But in regard there was alwayes in that people a sense of that spiritual service of God which these carnal precepts tended to therefore was there provided a power