Selected quad for the lemma: blood_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
blood_n	abel_n	cry_n	vengeance_n	570	4	8.8818	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51515	The mount of spirits that glorious and honorable state to which believers are called by the Gospel explained in some meditations upon the 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 verses of the 12th chapter to the Hebrews : with some previous reflections upon that whole Epistle and the people of the Jews.	Wolseley, Charles, Sir, 1630?-1714.	1691 (1691)	Wing M2970; ESTC R32126	106,065	208

inseparably appurtenant to both is the Blood of Sprinkling which he says speaks better things than the Blood of Abel this is particularly and emphatically mentioned because the death and suffering of Christ the shedding of his precious Blood was the greatest performance of his mediatory Work here upon Earth the grand Fundamental of the New Covenant and of all the effects and consequences of it all was purchased by this as the price of it and in regard the Jews had been much accustomed under the Old Covenant to the shedding of Blood without which there was no remission the Apostle instructs them that this New Covenant infinitely excels the other in that very particular and he calls it the Blood of Sprinkling because there was no Blood at any time offered under the Law but part of it was sprinkled and as the Old Covenant at Horeb was confirmed by Moses the Mediator of it by sprinkling the Blood of the Oxen then sacrificed so this New Covenant is ratified by the sprinkling of Blood but 't is such Blood as of which all that was shed before was but typical and such Blood as is of an infinite value the Blood of God himself and as the Apostle in the 9th Chap. makes the comparison if the blood of bulls and goates says he could serve for Legal Typical and Ceremonial Purifications how much more shall the blood of Christ who by the Eternal Spirit offer'd up himself without spot to God purge your Consciences from dead Works so that by this expression the Apostle calling this blood the blood of sprinkling we are to understand that this is the soul purifying soul-justifying and soul-saving blood of which all the Sacrific'd Blood since the World began since Abel's first Sacrifices were but a Type and Prefiguration 't is being sprinkled with this that gives entrance and admittance into Heaven the true sanctuary of which admittance into the Earthly sanctuary by the sprinkling of blood was but a Type and this blood as 't is of transcendent Power and Vertue so it has a general and universal efficacy so the Prophet Esau tells us Esau 52.15 Where 't is Prophesied that Christ should with his Blood sprinkle many Nations which refers to that universal advantage the gentile World should reap by it this blood is not like the blood of the legal sacrifices that was often shed and reached but to one Nation this blood is of that infinite value that the whole race of Mankind the whole World are sprinkled with it in order to Justification and Salvation and there needs no repetition of it for by this one Sacrifice offer'd up Christ has for ever perfected them that are sanctified and there remains no more Sacrifice for Sin this blood the Apostle says speaks better things then the blood of Abel which was a consideration of great moment unto the Jews Some modern interpreters for I see it in no ancient Author conceive by the blood of Abel here is not meant his own blood but the blood of the sacrifices he slew which were the first we read of that God accepted and he gave such a Testimonial to them that in the foregoing Chapter the Apostle says upon that account he is yet spoken of not as 't is vulgarly rendred yet speaketh but is yet spoken of That which induc'd them to make this meaning of the Apostles Words was I suppose the little advantage there seems to be in the comparison to compare the blood of a Saviour with the blood of a murdered Man then which nothing could speak worse for it must needs call for vengeance and punishment and therefore there seems at first view to be little commendation given to the blood of Christ by saying that it speaks better things then the blood of Abel for it could not speak worse but to say it speaks better things then the very first sacrifice we read of that God accepted and gave testimony to of the best Man then in the World carries great advantage in the comparison this interpretation upon this account seems probable and is plausable but 't is not as I conceive the sense of the Apostle and to me it seems rejected By the words upon this account that the voice and cry that Abel's blood is said to have was after his death and God tells Cain his Brothers blood cryed unto him and so it was Abel's own blood that cryed now 't is plain the Apostle in saying that Christ's blood speaks better things then the blood of Abel speaks alludes to the speaking and crying of Abel's blood from the ground unto God as 't is recorded in Genesis the Jews had not only many false and pernicious instructors ready to diswade them from receiving the Gospel at first but after any of them had received it there were many false Judaizing Apostles who endeavour'd all they could to engage them to a relapse and apostasie either in whole or in part the Apostles business as has been often suggested is to prevent this latter and to establish such as had received the Christian Doctrine but were in danger of drawing back Now 't is most certain that amongst other discouragements that were suggested to the Believing Hebrews this was one of the chief and with which they were much affected that they and their rulers having shed the blood of this Mediator and taken it upon themselves and their posterity and some of the Apostles having openly to their faces reproached the Jewish Nation with it that they had been the betrayers and murderers of this Holy and Blessed Jesus the Son of God they could not reasonably hope for nor expect any benefit from that blood they had so murderously shed To obviate this objection the Apostle after he had mentioned the Mediator of this New Covenant and his blood wherewith he sprinkles the World to which he tells them by the Gospel they were come adds this which is of peculiar force and reference to the Jews and very emphatically argumentum ad hominem that this blood speaks better things then the blood of Abel Abel was murdered and his blood spake and cryed from the Ground to Heaven for yengeance upon his brother that murdered him but Christ was Betrayed and Murdered and his blood calls and cries aloud for pardon and forgivness for his very betrayers and crucifiers so that none of them need to fall into Cain's desparation and quit the Gospel upon any such sad consideration for this Blood though it was shed like Abel's yet had quite another Cry and Language attended it it called for no vengeance upon any man but for Peace Pardon and Reconciliation for all men even the very worst of his Enemies and Crucifiers and this renders the Comparison of wonderful advantage and efficacy to that end for which it was intended Nothing is more usual in St. Paul's Writings especially in his Epistle to the Romans than to answer Objections that were then well and commonly known without reciting them of which we at this day

are often ignorant and so his Writings seems to us the more difficult and obscure Thus we have taken a brief view of the Apostle's Comparison of the Law with the Gospel in this short Epitome of both and seen the wonderful preference the Gospel has to the Law and the great and eminent Advantages and Priviledges of the one above the the other and the glorious Inhabitants of this Spiritual Mount Sion and the Heavenly Jerusalem not only all the true Saints upon Earth the Church of the first-born written in Heaven but even God himself Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant all the Blessed Angels and the Spirits of just Men made perfect nothing could be more destructive and ruinous to the true Interest of the believing Hebrews than to turn their backs upon such a Communion to go back to the Old Covenant that God upon Man's account found fault with and again put on that Legal Yoke that neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear the Jews much boasted of and rested in those literal Typical Advantages they had above the rest of the World upon which they might with very good reason value themselves and therefore the Apostle's business is to manifest to them how much by embracing the Gospel they changed for the better that instead of a Legal Temporary Temple built upon Mount Sion and an Earthly Jerusalem they are come to the true signified Mount Sion to the Spiritual and Heavenly Temple which is Christ Mystical where God dwells for ever and the Heavenly Jerusalem the name of which is Jehovah Shammai that is the glorious spiritual worship of the Gospel and the state of the Catholick Church in all its parts those on Earth and those in Heaven and thereby to all that was signified by and all that was any where promised unto Jerusalem and Mount Sion instead of that Dreadful Appearance of the Angels upon Mount Sinai with which they were so terrified and from which they were kept at so great a distance they are now come to an innumerable Company of Angels that is to a sweet Fellowship Brotherhood and Communion with them all which is implyed in their being said to be come to them under the Law 't was firmly believed whoever should see an Angel so great the distance was thought between Mankind and them should certainly die we are now Men and Angels all of the same Family and Houshold and the Saints on Earth have the whole Ministry and Service of the Angels employed on their behalf they are now always ascending and descending about their Affairs and there is a most endeared and intimate Relation and Affection between all the Myriads of Angels above and the Saints below instead of the National Church of the Jews assembled at Jerusalem they are come to the General Assembly and Church of the first-born whose Names are written in Heaven To the general Assembling of the true Catholick Church who Assemble and Worship all the World over in Spirit and Truth without any confinement to any place whatever they are come to them so as to be of the same Body and Society with them to be fellow-Citizens with the Saints and of the Houshold of God and so as to partake of all their Spiritual and Heavenly Advantages and they are come to all the parts of this Catholick Communion as well those in Heaven as those on Earth even to God himself which is as far as they can come the judge of all under the Law they were not suffered so much as to approach the outward signs of his Presence but under the Gospel they have free access to himself and to his very Throne which is now become a Throne of Grace and nothing appears now from thence but a Scepter of Mercy held forth they are come to the Spirits of just men made perfect not only to the Fellowship and Fraternity of all the Saints living from the Fraternity of an outward Typical and only National Church but to those in the Heavenly state all those mentioned in the 11th Chap. before and all the Apostles and those Blessed Saints they had conversed with in the first times of the Gospel who were then removed and gone to their rest even to them by the Gospel-state they were come with them they are embodyed as Members of the same Society and with them in a short time they are sure to be resident And to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant a Saviour as well as a Mediator and a Mediator not of the Sinai but of the Sion Covenant a Covenant bringing grace life and peace a Mediator not like Moses a meer Man a Servant a Sinner himself trembling in his Office and weary of his Burden and whose Ministry was like his Person decaying vanishing and dying But to the Son himself in his own House able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him in that he liveth for ever to make Intercession for them and to the Blood of sprinkling infinitely exceeding all the Blood that was sprinkled under the Law for that brought sin yearly and daily into remembrance but those that are sprinkled with this are for ever perfected and to them there remains no more Sacrifice for sin and this Blood they are come to speaks a better Language quite than the Blood of Abel did although the Blood of both was most unjustly shed and they were both wickedly murdered and slain yet they speak two different Languages Abel's Blood called and cried unto God for vengeance upon Cain but this pleads and cries aloud for pardon and forgiveness even for those very Persons that were most guilty of it and deepliest concerned in it so that none are excluded from the benefit of it The Apostle winds up all with deep and solemn Admonitions and Cautions to the Believing Jews not to play fast and lose with the Gospel 't is of such Jews St. James writes in his Epistle directed to the Twelve Tribes when he tells them A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways and let not such a man think says he to obtain any thing from the Lord for he halts between two Opinions and is unresolved whether he shall be a Jew or a Christian the Apostle conjures them upon their utmost peril not to refuse him that speaks from Heaven which is no other than God himself speaking by his Son and declaring by a solemn voice from Heaven even from the excellent Glory that he was his Beloved Son in whom he was well pleased which beloved and blessed Son of God might well be said to speak from Heaven because we are expresly told he was also in Heaven when he spake here upon Earth he proceeds to mind them that the Legal state was like an old House ready to fall upon their heads for he that once by his voice shook the Earth at Mount Sinai and made the Mount to tremble will now once more shake both Heaven and Earth and dissolve the Apostle tells them their whole Religious Constitution and Fabrick and this taking away of things that are shaken is in order to this that things that cannot be shaken which are the blessings and glories and sure mercies of the Gospel may remain the Gospel is the last and only remedy that God has provided for sinful Man 't is a fearful thing to fall into his hands and not have this to plead to fall into the hands of the living God without an interest in Jesus the Mediator of this New Covenant and the Blood of sprinkling appurtenant thereunto he that has once embraced the Gospel and then out of choice refuseth it and turns his back upon it refuseth his remedy and thereby renders his Cure desperate and impossible and to such a man nothing can possibly remain but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment The Consideration of this Glorious and Honourable state to which by the Gospel we are come this Celestial Mount of Spirits should always inflame our minds with holy and thankful Contemplations and also with fervent and devout adoration of that infinite goodness that has made such provision for the happiness recovery and welfare of rebellious and apostate Man that has opened the flood-gates of Heaven and showr'd down all the blessings and glories thereof upon the World by the descent of the second person into Human Nature how happy were it if instead of mean low and perishing satisfactions Men would solace themselves with this heart-satisfying and everlasting Salvation let us follow the example of Moses who when God proclaimed his Name unto him and caused all his goodness to pass before him the Text says Moses made haste and bowed his head towards the earth and worshipped he only heard the report of what we possess and enjoy our whole business therefore should be to exalt the Praises of so Gracious a Benefactor and to Magnifie that Glorious being that has all possible Perfection to whom nothing can be added and from whom nothing can be taken away and to whom all Blessing and Honour and Praise and all Worship and Service and Adoration will be due throughout all Generations from time to time till time ceaseth and is dissolved in Eternity and thence Eternally FINIS