and so it was observed in every Sacrifice no Sacrifice being otherways offered For which things it is said that the Beasts were brought that their lives might be offered for theirs Antonius the Hermite Epist 2. in which also the Father of Creatures being moved in his Bowels for our wound which could not be heled but by his goodness only sent his only Begotten to us that by our Bondage he might take the form of Bondage and deliver himself up for our sins And our very sins humbled him but by his stripes we all were healed Macarius Bishop of Jerusalem Lib. 2. Act. Concil Nicen. But he came a Saviour of all men and undertook for our sake in his own flesh the punishments that were due to our sins Athanasius concerning the Incarnation of the Word of God And because it was necessary that that which was due from all should at length be restored for it was due that all men should dye as I said before for which chiefly he came For this cause after his manifesting of his Divinity by his Works it remained that he should offer a Sacrifice for all having given the Temple of his own Body unto Death for all men that he might make all men unblameable and free from the ancient Transgression and might declare himself also to be more powerful than death having shewed his own body uncorruptible as a First-fruits of the Resurrection of all And presently For there was need of Death and there was need that Death should be for all that that which was due from all might be performed whence as I said before the Word because it was impossible that he should dye for he was Immortal took upon himself a Body that could dye that he might offer it as being his own instead of all men And that he suffering for all men by entring thereinto he might destroy him that had the power of Death that is the Devil and might deliver those that through fear of Death were subject to Bondage The Saviour of all men having died for us we that believe in Christ do not now dye the death as of old according to the threatning of the Law The same in the same place And by such a manner of death Salvation came to all men and all the Creation was redeemed this is the life of all And as a Sheep he gave his Body unto Death instead of all men for their Salvation The same upon the Passion and Cross of Christ But beholding the visibleness of the wickedness and that the Mortal Generation was not able to stand against Death nor able to suffer the punishment of their sins for the excessive greatness of the evil exceeded all punishment and seeing the goodness of his Father seeing also his own fitness and power For Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God he was moved with love to Mankind and pitying our weakness he cloathed himself therewith for he himself as saith the Prophet took our Infirmities and carried our Diseases and pitying our Mortality cloathed himself therewith for Paul saith He humbled himself unto death and that the death of the Cross and seeing the impossibility of our bearing the punishment took it upon himself For Christ became a Curse for us and so being compassed about and cloathed with Humane Nature by himself brought us to the Father that he himself suffering may make mans suffering to be without damage and may exchange small things for great Hilarius Pictaviensis on cap. 14. Matth. in the Hymn on the Epiphany Jesus hath forth shin'd The gracious Redeemer of all Mankind Blest John with fear doth shiver To dip him in the River Whose Blood is able to purge out The sins of all the world throughout Optatus Milevitanus concerning the Schism of the Donatists against Parmenianus lib. 3. When ye say redeem your souls whence bought ye them that ye may sell them Who is that Angel who makes a fair of souls which the Devil possessed before his coming Christ the Saviour redeemed these with his Blood according as the Apostle said Ye are bought with a price for it is evident that all men were redeemed by the Blood of Christ Victor Antiochenus on the fifteenth Chapter of Mark. And wherefore sayest thou was the Lord and Maker of all things made Man for our sakes and suffered so much reproach and so great punishments He was made like unto us and took our Miseries and our Crosses upon himself that he might raise up our Nature that was fallen down by sin and might again restore it unto its ancient degree of Dignity Therefore the Advantages that have redounded unto us by his Torments are very many for he paid our Debts for us he bore our sins he both lamented and sighed for our sake Cyrillus of Jerusalem Catechis 13. But he set free all that were kept in Bondage under sin and redeemed the whole World of Mankind And you need not wonder that the whole World was redeemed for he was not a meer man but the only begotten Son of God who died for them And verily the sin of one man Adam was effectual to bring death upon the World But if Death reigned over the World by the sin of one man how much more shall life reign by the Righteousness of one man And if then they were thrown out of Paradise for the Tree of Food verily now by the Tree of Jesus Believers shall more easily enter into Paradise If the first man that was formed of the Earth brought Death upon the World certainly it must needs be that he that formed him of the Earth being Life himself should bring Eternal Life If Phinehas being zealous against the Evil-doer caused the Anger of God to cease doth not Jesus who slew not another but delivered up himself the Price of our Redemption take away the Anger of God that was provoked against men Basilius Homil. on Psalm 48. One thing was found that was worthy of all together which was given for the price of the Redemption of our Souls the holy and precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ Gregor Nazianz. in the two and fortieth Oration which is the second on the Paschal Lamb. That great thing and unsacrificeable that I may so speak in respect of the first Nature was mingled with Legal Sacrifices and not for a small part of the World nor for a little time but for all the World and it eternized the Purification The same in the same place A few drops of Blood renew the Creation of the whole World and they have united and gathered all men into one Body And in the same Oration It is therefore requisite to search into the Matter and Doctrine which hath been neglected by many but by me hath been very diligently searched after For unto whom was that great and much celebrated Blood of God and the High-Priest and the Sacrifice poured forth and upon what account for we were kept in Bondange by that wicked one under sin and
should serve the Lord more diligently lest being offended he should deliver us back to that death from which he redeemed us For he bought us with a very dear price that he might give his blood for us The same on the same Ep. c. 11. We take the mystical Cup of the blood for the preservation of our body and soul because the blood of the Lord redeemed our blood that is made the whole man safe For the flesh of the Saviour was for the salvation of our body and the blood was shed for our souls The same on the second Epistle to the Corinthians cap. 5. Because he was offered for sins he is not without cause said to be made sin because the Sacrifice in the Law which was offered for sins was called sin that we might be the righteousness of God in him who knew no sin as Isaiah says Who did no sin neither was guile sound in his mouth He was slain as if he had been a sinner that sinners might be justified before God in Christ Epiphanius Hoeres 55. First he offered himself that he might abolish the Sacrifice of the Old Testament having offered a more perfect living Sacrifice for all the world himself being the Temple himself the Sacrifice himself the Priest himself the Altar himself God himself Man himself a King himself an High-Priest himself a Sheep himself a Lamb becoming all in all for our sake that he might become life to us in all respects and might procure the unchangeable establishment of his Priesthood Andraeas Caesariensis on Apoc. cap. 1. Honour saith he Glory and Dominion becometh him who being inflamed with burning love by his own Death deliverec us from the bonds of Death and by the pouring forth of his Life-giving blood and water washed us from the filth of sin and chose us for a Royal Priesthood Prudentius on Roman Mart. This is the Cross the Salvation of us all saith Romanus this is man's redemption Chrysostomus in his Preface on the Comment on Isaiah How great is the Clemency of God towards us He spared not a Son that he might spare a Servant He delivered up his only Begotten that he might redeem Servants that were altogether unthankful he payed the blood of his own Son for their price Hieronymus lib. 1. against the Pelagians And saith he when he would enter in let him offer a Calf for sin and a Ram for a burnt-Burnt-Sacrifice and let him take two Goats for the People let him offer one of them for his own sin and one for the sin of the People and a Ram for a Burnt-Sacrifice One of the two Goats takes all the sins of the People upon him for a Type of the Lord our Saviour and carries them away into the Wilderness and so God is reconciled to all the Multitude The same on Isaiah He was despised and not regarded when he was hanged on the Cross and being made a Curse for us bore our sins and spake to the Father My God why hast thou forsaken me Augustine concerning the Trinity lib. 13. cap. 14. What is the righteousness where-by the Devil was overcome What other but the righteousness of Jesus Christ and how was he overcome because when he found nothing in him worthy of Death yet he killed him And verily it is just that the Debtors whom he held should be sent away free believing in him whom he slew without any Debt For so was that innocent blood shed for the remission of our sins And presently He goes on afterwards to his Passion that he might pay that which he owed not for us the Debtors And in the next Chapter Then that blood because it was the blood of him that had no sin at all was shed for the remission of our sins that because the Devil kept those deservedly in bondage whom being guilty of sin he bound over to a condition of Death he might justly set these free by him whom being guilty of no sin he punished with Death without his deserving The strong man was overcome by this righteousness and tied with this bond that his Goods might be taken away that whilst they were in his possession were together with him and his Angels Vessels of Wrath and that they might be turned into Vessels of Mercy The same on John Tract 41. We are not reconciled but by the taking away of sin which is the Medium of Separation but the Mediator is the Reconciler Therefore that the Wall of Separation may be taken away the Mediator comes and the Priest himself is made a Sacrifice Lib. 7. de Civ Dei cap. 31. God sent his Word unto us who is his only Son by whose Birth and Sufferings for us in the Flesh that he took we might know how much God prized man and might be cleansed by that one Sacrifice from all our sins and Love being spread abroad in our hearts by his Spirit having overcome all Difficulties we might come to everlasting rest In his Declaration on Psalm 95. Men were held captive under the Devil and served Devils but they were redeemed from Captivity For they could sell themselves but they could not redeem themselves The Redeemer came and gave the price shed his blood and bought the world Ask ye what he bought See what he gave and find what he bought The blood is the price What is of so great worth What but the whole world What but all Nations They are very unthankful to their own price or they are very proud who say that either it was so small a price that it purchased only Africans or that they themselves were so great that it was given for them only Therefore they should not insult nor be puft up with pride he gave for the whole as much as he gave He knows what he bought because he knows for how much he bought it and how much he gave for it On Psalm 129. Our Priest received from us what he might offer for us for he received flesh from us In the flesh he was made an Expiation he was made a whole Burnt-Offering he was made a Sacrifice Lib. 4. against the two Epistles of the Pelagians But how say the Pelagians that Death only passed unto us by Adam For if we therefore dye because he died and he died because he sinned they say the punishment passeth unto us without the Fault and that the innocent Infants are punished by an unjust Judgment in being liable to Death without the merits of Death Which the Catholick Faith acknowledgeth of one only Mediator between God and Men the man Christ Jesus who condescended to undergo Death for us that is the punishment of sin without sin For as he only was made the Son of Man that through him we might be made the Sons of God So he undertook punishment for us without evil merits that we throught him might obtain grace without good merits Because as there was not any good due to us so neither was any evil due to him Lib. 14. against Faustus
received the pleasure of Wickedness But if the price of Redemption belongs to no other but the Possessour I ask to whom was this offered and for what cause If you say that it was offered to that wicked one fie upon that Blasphemy whereas this thing proceeds from God only Yea if it were so a Robber would receive God for a price of Redemption and thereby a Reward over and above of his Tyranny for which it was just to spare us But if it was offered to the Father first how for we were not kept in Bondage by him But what a saying is that that the Blood of the only begotten delights the Father who did not accept of Isaac offered by his Father but he exchanged the Sacrifice delivering a Beast instead of the reasonable Sacrifice Or it is evident that the Father receiveth not having asked nor having been requested but for the dispensation and because of the necessity that man should be sanctified by the Humane Nature of God that he might deliver us having laid hold on the Tyrant by force and might bring us to himself by his Son being Mediator and dispensing this for the honour of the Father Gregory Nyssene to Olympius the Monk concerning the Form of a perfect Name But we learn that Christ is the price of Redemption having given himself a price for us This we are taught by such a saying that we should learn how he having paid a certain price for every man's soul made immortality the peculiar possession of them that were by him redeemed from Death unto Life Ambrosius lib. de Tobia cap. 10. Behold the Prince of this world cometh and findeth nothing of his own in me he owed nothing but he payed for all as he himself bears witness saying Then I restored that which I took not away The same in his Book concerning Joseph the Patriarch Joseph was sold in Egypt because Christ was to come to them to whom it was said Ye were sold for your sins And therefore he redeemed them whom their own sins had sold But Christ was sold by undertaking the Condition not the Fault And he owes no price for sin because he himself did no sin Therefore he drew on debt by our price not his own he took away the Hand-writing removed the Usurer freed the Debtor he alone paid that which was due from all Ambrose concerning Esau cap. 7. God therefore took flesh upon him that he might abolish the Curse of sinful flesh and was made a Curse for us that the Blessing might swallow up the Curse the Integrity the Sin the Indulgence the Condemnation and Life Death For he undertook Death that the Sentence might be fulfilled and that the Judgment due to sinful Flesh by the Curse might be satisfied unto the Death Therefore nothing was done against the Sentence of God because the Condition of the Divine Sentence was fulfilled for the Curse was unto Death and after Death came Grace The same Lib. 9. Epist 7. The Lord Jesus when he came forgave all men the sin which no man could avoid and blotted out our Hand-writing by the shedding of his own Blood that is as he saith Sin abounded by the Law but Grace superabounded by Jesus because after all the World was subdued the took away the sin of all the world Lib. 1. Epist. 11. See whether that is the saving Sacrifice which God the Word offered in himself and sacrificed in his own Body And a little after But that he pours out the Blood at the Altar thereby may be understood the cleansing of the World the remission of all sins For he pours out that Blood at the Altar as a Sacrifice to take away the sins of many For the Lamb is a Sacrifice but not a Lamb of an unreasonable Nature but of a Divine Power Concerning whom it was said Behold the Lamb of God behold him that taketh away the sins of the world for he hath not only with his Blood cleansed the sins of all but also endued them with a Divine Power The same upon Luke lib. 7. cap. 12. The Adversary esteemed us at a base rate as Captive-slaves but the Lord hath redeemed us by a great price as being beautiful Bond-slaves which he made after his own Image and Likeness who is a fit Judge of his own handy-work as the Apostle said For ye are bought with a price and well it may be called great which is not prized by Money but by Blood because Chrst died for us who delivered us by his precious Blood c. And well it may be called precious because it is the Blood of an unspotted Body because it is the Blood of the Son of God who hath not only redeemed us from the Curse of the Law but also from the perpetual death of Impiety The same Lib. 10. upon Luke Chap. 22. I have sinned because I have betrayed innocent Blood the price of Blood is the price of the Lord's Passion Therefore the World is bought by Christ with the price of Blood Lib. 3. concerning Virginity near the end We were put in pledge to an evil Creditor by sins we drew on the Hand-writing of the Fault we owed the price of Blood The Lord Jesus came he offered his own Blood for us And presently Therefore do thou also behave thy self worthy of such a price lest Christ come who hath cleansed thee who hath redeemed thee and if he find thee in sin he say unto thee What profit hadst thou by my blood What hath it profitted thee that I went down into Corruption Lib. 1. of the Apology of David cap. 13. The Apostle says excellently Because the Lord Jesus hath forgiven our sins blotting out the Hand-writing of the Decree which was against us and he hath taken it away saith he having fixed it to the Cross He blotted out the Ink of Eve with his own Blood he blotted out the Obligation of the hurtful Inheritance On the Epistle to the Hebrews cap. 9. But all the bodily cleansing of the Old Testament belonged to him but now there is a Spiritual cleansing of the Blood of Christ Therefore he saith This is the blood of the New Testament for the remission of sins In those there was an outside sprinkling and again the sprinkled person was rinsed for the People did not always walk besprinkled with blood But it is not so in the Soul but the Blood is mingled with its Essence making that clean Fountain and bringing forth unspeakable beauty For this cause was the killing of the Lamb and its blood was sprinkled on the Door-posts of them that were to be delivered For this cause also we read of all the Sacrifices of the Old Testament which were appointed to typifie this Sacrifice by which comes the true remission of sins and the cleansing of the Soul for ever The same or rather the Writer of the Commentary on the Epistles of Paul attributed to Ambrose on 1 Cor. cap. 6. Because we are bought with a dear price we
pay such a price of Redemption Therefore it remained that the sinless God ought to dye for them that had sinned for this only way remained of deliverance from that Evil. What then he that brought every Nature out of nothing into being who was not in distress to find out a way of Deliverance he found out for them that were Condemned a most sure Life and a very honourable way of abolishing Death and he is born a Man of the Virgin after such a manner as he himself knows for speech cannot declare the wonderfulness thereof and he died in what he became and purchased Redemption by what he was according to the saying of Paul In whom we have Redemption by his Blood the remission of sins O glorious works he purchased Immortality for others for he himself was Immortal Leo concerning the Passion Serm. 12. What hope can they have in the safeguard of this Sacrament who deny the truth of Human Substance in the Body of our Saviour Let them tell by what Sacrifice they are reconciled by what Blood they are redeemed who is he that gave himself for us an Oblation and Sacrifice for a savour of sweet smell Or what Sacrifice was ever more holy than that which the true High-Priest laid upon the Altar of the Cross For though the Death of many Saints was precious in the sight of God yet the killing of no other Innocent person was the Propitiation of the World The Just receive Crowns but did not give them and from the Courage of the Faithful have arisen Examples of Patience but not Gifts of Righteousness for there were singular Debts in each one of them neither did any of them pay another man's Debt by his Death whereas it was only our Lord Jesus Christ that was found among the Sons of Men in whom all were crucified all died all were buried and also all were raised again Claudianus Mamertus concerning the State of the Soul lib. 2. Pictavus Hilarius in many of his high Disputations being somewhat different in his Opinion asserted these two things contrary to truth one of of which was this That he said nothing was created Incorporeal the other was this That he said Christ suffered no pain in his Passion whose Passion if it had not been true our Redemption also could not have been true Anastasius Sinaita Bishop of Antiochia concerning the Right Rules of the Catholick Faith lib. 4. concerning the Passion and impassible Deity of Christ His Blood was shed which was sufficient to redeem many Perhaps it would be better to say it was sufficient to redeem all for all are also many Procopius of Gaza on the 24th of Exod. Seeing Christ was by nature joyned to the Father if we are made partakers of him by the Spirit we will also by him be united to the Father coming into the Society of the Divine Nature Neither did they go up into the Mountain before they were crucified with the Blood of Christ who gave himself a price of Redemption for us offering his own Flesh as an unblameable Sacrifice to God and the Father Gregor M. lib. 3. Moral cap. 13. Another that was created for Paradise would proudly take upon him the similitude of Divine Power Nevertheless the Mediator paid for the fault of this Pride being himself without fault Hence it is that a certain wise man said to the Father because thou art just thou desposest all things justly also thou condemnest him that ought not to be punished But it must be considered how he can be just and dispose all things justly if he condemns him that ought not to be punished For our Mediator ought not to have been punished for himself because he had no contagion of sin But if he had not undertaken an undue Death he had never delivered us from a due Death Therefore the Father because he is just in punishing the just one he disposeth all things justly For hereby he justifies all in that he condemns him that is without sin for sinners Isychius on Levicic cap. 16. The Law made the Children of Israel liable to the Curse and to Death so that they had therefore a necessity of Expiation and the Sacrifice of the only begotten is slain for them principally but he is Sacrificed for all men so that Caiphas said It behoveth that one man should dye for the People and not the whole Nation perish And the Evangelist John confirming and also correcting what was said added But this he said not of himself but being High-Priest that year he prophesied that Christ was to dye for that Nation and not for that Nation only but that he should gather together into one the Sons of God that are scattered to wit the Gentiles Jesus was slain for Israel and he offered him for all Mankind to be an Expiation of our Uncleanness Antiochus in Exomologess Thy Word was discoloured with no sprinkling of sin at all whom thou sentest through the bowels of thy Mercy that he might call back his own handy-work into the way being made flesh he suffered himself for our sake to be crucified and abolished the Hand-writing that was against us being made a Propitiation for our sins Sophronius of Jerusalem Epist to Sergius Patriarch of Constantinople Christ condescended to dye for men and for their redemption shed his Divine Blood and laid down his Soul which was a Gift more Divine than all Dignity Elias Cretenses Christ was called Redemption because he set us at liberty that were sold under sin and gave himself as a price of Redemption for the Expiation of the whole World Nicephorus of Constantinople Epist to Leo 3. which is extant in Baronius Tom. 9. Annal. p. 587. Edit Mor. 2. I believe he was crucified not in that Substance wherein he shines with the Father though it is said the Lord of Glory was crucified but in our Earthly Nature in which he took upon him our Earthly Mass and was made a Curse for us that he might make us partakers of the Blessing that comes from him and he was content to suffer the Death of Malefactors according to the flesh that by suffering Death he might condemn the sting of Death in his flesh and might destroy him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil Mark the Hermite in his Book concerning them that think they are justified by Works Christ is Lord according to his Essence and Lord also according to Dispensation Because he made them that were not and hath redeemed them that died to sin by his own Blood and gave Grace to them that thus believed Theodorus Abucara Bishop of the Carians Disp 15. cap. 5. God in his just Judgment required all things of us that are written in the Law which because we were not able to pay therefore our Lord paid those things for us and freely took and received upon himself the Curse and Condemnation to which we were liable he himself suffered those things that we ought to have suffered The same in the
Christ God laid upon Christ our sins that is the punishment of sins which were so required that he upon that account was afflicted Christ did bear our sins that is again the punishment of sins Isai 53.5,6,7 1 Pet. 2.24 Christ made himself Sin and a Curse that is liable to the punishment of sins Isai 53.10 2 Cor. 5.21 Gal. 3.13 The Blood of Christ was shed for the Remission of sins so that that Remission did not come to pass without the shedding of Blood but by it Matth. 26.28 Hebr. 9.22 and elsewhere in many places Here Socinus opposeth many things Some Examples and Promises before Christ some sayings concerning those things that God said he gave by Christ The word remittere and cordonare to forgive and pardon and the very nature of Liberality from which he thinks it follows that God willeth to grant Impunity to us repenting requiring no punishment of any man upon that account As touching the Examples of Indulgence besides that no universal thing is rightly concluded from them it must be observed that these belong either to Temporal Punishment or Eternal If they belong to Temporal Punishment only the difference is manifest for as it is proverbially said That which is deferred is not taken away Now add this that in the very Fact of Achab as also in the Fact of David the contrary appears of that which Socinus would infer alledging them for himself for the Temporal Punishment was so taken away from David and Achab that it was translated unto others And in the Law it self sins are not forgiven except the Blood of the Sacrifices be poured out as shall be explained afterwards But if the remission of Eternal Punishment be the matter of Discourse Socinus proves by no Argument that it was made to any man without a respect of God to Christ The same must be said of Promises that hath been said of Examples and by the way it must be observed That when God promiseth to them that repent that he will forgive Temporal Punishments that should not be understood always of the whole punishment but of so much for God often useth to punish them also that repent but fatherly and gently So God restored his people when they repented from the Babylonish Captivity unto their Country but restored not the former Liberty and Glory of the Kingdom But as touching Eternal Punishment there is no Promise of Remission which excludes a respect to Christ Hitherto belong those sayings of Sacred Scripture which shew that Christ tasted death for all men without any difference of time that he gave himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Ransom for all Heb. 2.9 1 Tim. 2.6 and much more those that by a Comparison being added admit no restriction of time as when all are said to have sinned and to be justified by Redemption in Christ Rom. 3.23 and when Righteousness is said to have come by one Christ upon all to wit as many as are justified as by one Adam Condemnation came upon all men Rom. 3.12 5.17,18 1 Cor. 15.22 Hence it is that Christ is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World Apoc. 13.8 which place is sufficiently vindicated from the Interpretation of Socinus both by the very coherence of the words and also by a like place of Peter where Redemption is said to be made by the Blood of Christ the unblameable and unspotted Lamb that was foreknown before the foundation of the World but made manifest in the last times 1 Pet. 1.19,20 Wherefore elsewhere the Death of Christ is said to have interposed for the Redemption of those Transgressions that had been under the former Covenant Hebr. 9.15 and the Righteousness of God is said to be declared by his Blood for the pardoning of sins that went before which God is shewed to have tolerated and suffered at that time the declaring of Righteousness being deferred to the time of Christ Rom. 3.25 Hereunto belongs that famous place to the Hebrews 3.25 not that he should often offer up himself as the Chief Priest entered once a year into the Sancturry with the Blood of another or else he should have suffered often from the Foundation of the World but now he hath been made manifest once in the end of the World to take away sin by the offering up of himself and as it is appointed for all men once to die and after this the Judgment so Christ was once offered that he might carry up the sins of many c. The whole coherence of which place if it be rightly considered and especially if that place of Peter be compared 1 Pet. 1.19 where the same thing is discoursed of almost in the same words it will appear that in this the Sacrifice of Christ differs from the Levitical because the Efficacy was limited within the time of a year but the Efficacy of that extends it self through all Ages for his Passion was esteemed with God as performed before all Ages though really it was performed in a certain time and so the decree of God was very manifestly revealed unto us And unless it had been so Christ must often have underwent Sufferings not after he began to preach but from the beginning of the World Which words have no signification at all unless the Efficacy of the Death of Christ extend it self to all sins which have any time been forgiven to men from the very beginning of the World Just as the Judgment after Death extends it self to all sins that a man committed during life But the contrary Interpretation of Socinus doth not only render the words vain but weakens the Argument of the Writer for it doth not follow if it were granted that Christ should have often been offered that he ought to have suffered not only often but often from the Foundation of the World unless you put together that Christ should have been often offered from the Foundation of the World for these have a coherence with one another for the Effect of the Oblation is not stretched farther than the Dignity of the Sacrifice But that Christ should have been offered oft-times from the Foundation of the World if the parity of the Sacrifice of Christ and the Levitical were granted which the Writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews opposeth it would not follow from any other thing but because the Effect of the Oblation of Christ is extended unto those sins that were at any time committed and forgiven from the Foundation of the World For if it were equal to the Levitical that is of a vertue limited within a certain time verily its Efficacy could not reach from the time that Christ died unto the most ancient sins But it would have been altogether necessary that many Acts of that kind should have been interposed between both times Now let us come to those Testimonies that seem to Socinus properly to belong to the time of Christ and the New Covenant Jeremiah indeed says God will be propitious to sins but denies not
peculiar which cannot be communicated to the Apostles But it could if the benefit of Christ's death were distinguished only by degree from the death of the Apostles and not also in its proper end So also in the Epistle to the Hebrews 2.10 there is an example in it that Christ came to glory by Sufferings the special manner is in that that Christ suffered for every man vers 9. And as in those places patience so in other places love is commended to us by the same example of Christ but the special manner doth more openly express the deed of Christ Though if you will look more exactly into those places we shall see that not so much the act of death as the danger of death is there regarded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which only John useth 10 11 15. and 1 John 3.16 as also John 13.37 and 38. also John 15.13 is not properly there to lose life but as it were to put it in pledge that is to undergo the danger of death Therefore in those places that very thing that is prescribed to us contains not only the benefit of another but also a certain exchange to wit in that sense which Horace expressed in these Verses Paratus omne Caesaris periculum Subire Moecenas tuo Being prepared to undergo all dangers of Caesar Mecenas with thine But in the saying of Caiaphas not only as a Prophesy dropt from him at unawares but also according to his Opinion a certain true substitution was expressed For he feigned the inevitable destruction of the Jews if Christ should be permitted to live and on the contrary if Christ should be slain that certain safety should be obtained for this very thing Therefore he desired to substitute really the death of Christ to a destruction otherways hanging over And so he would have the same in kind to befall Christ with that which was otherways to happen to the people and he believed that the death of Christ was a near cause of the deliverance of the People and fit of it self Which is the same thing as if you should say he would have Christ perish in the room of the People that was otherways that is under a contrary condition to perish Here it must be marked by the by that Caiaphas did put the first effect of the death of Christ not about the Jews whose deliverance he sought but about the Roman Governours whose Anger he desired to escape So that if it be true which Socinus urgeth that such an interpretation of the words of Caiphas should be taken which may answer both the mind of the Holy Spirit and his mind this dying for the people must needs signifie that safety was to be obtained from another but that other according to the mind of the Holy Ghost can be none but God whence it follows it is exercised about God before it is exercised about men which Socinus stubbornly denies But those things that have been hitherto said by us concerning the signification of exchange in the Particle pro for are much illustrated by the the nature of the Expiatory Sacrifice For in those the Scripture and common Opinion of Nations do witness that blood is given for life which shall now be made manifest CHAP. X. Concerning the Expiation made by the Death of Christ THere remains the last rank of Testimonies which signifie that Christ's Death is an Expiatory Sacrifice which because by the Artifice of Socinus they are involved in many Mists we reserved them for the last place that they might receive some light from these things that have been said before We and Socinus are agreed concerning the word that Christ's Death was an Expiatory Sacrifice or a Sacrifice for Sin the Divine Epistle to the Hebrews testifying the same especially cap. 9. But of the proper force of that word Socinus thinks one way and the Church of Christ another way The disagreement shall be briefly and perspicuously so explained if we say that according to Socinus the effect of expiation first and properly is exercised about sins to come because the Death of Christ by ingenerating Faith draws us from sins but in respect of by-past sins only secondarily and in that respect also all this action is exercised about us not about God that is that God is not moved to pardon but we are prepared to receive remission to wit by the Amendment of Life but according to the Opinion of the Church which agrees to Scripture the effect of expiation is properly exercised about by past sins and the first action is about God who is moved to forgive That the first action is exercised about God not about Men it is proved from the nature of Priesthood For a Priest is appointed for Men in the things of God Hebr. 5.1 but not for God in the things of Men which is the Office of a Prophet And because Sacrifice especially Expiatory Sacrifice is an act of the Priest as such for a High-Priest is appointed for this purpose that he may offer Sacrifices for sins Hebr. 5.1 8.3 it follows that Sacrifice belongs to those things which are performed for Man with God But the whole matter will be made more manifest by comparing the Sacrifices of the Old Law with this Sacrifice of which comparison the Writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews is an Author unto us and elsewhere the Prophets and Apostles The ancient Law is considered two manner of ways either carnally or spiritually Carnally as it was an Instrument of the Commonwealth of the Jews Spiritually as it had a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shadow of things to come Hebr. 10.1 As touching the former consideration the Expiatory Sacrifices of the Law sanctified unto the purifying of the flesh Hebr. 9.13 which of what sort it is we shall explain The Law of God had this sanction he is accursed that abides not in all the words of the Law Deut. 27.26 Gal. 3.10 therefore he shall be guilty of punishment whosoever in the least shall deviate from the Law as James shews James 2.10 This Punishment according to a carnal sense was violent death which is evident from the contrary because life is promised to him that fulfils the Law Lev. 18.5 Gal. 3.12 But as in every Commonwealth rightly governed the King requires punishment by his Judges and if they fail by himself So in the Hebrew Commonwealth which Josephus rightly called Theocratia because God was its King Judg. 8.23 1 Sam. 8.7 God ordinarily required the punishments of the Law by Judges yet so that he himself required the same punishment if the Judges failed in their duty Let the people saith he stone him or I setting my angry face against that man will cut him off Lev. 20.3 Neither did he only threaten this but also often performed it as it appears by many Examples of the Old Testament But because a Lawyer may somewhat relax his own Law especially Penal God the King of the Hebrews in some Crimes admitted Expiatory Sacrifices in the room
of the sinner himself and by these and no other ways would he free the sinner from the punishment of death He that swore rashly deserved death by the Law Exod 20.7 but it might be expiated by a Sacrifice Lev. 5.5 The Priest shall make Atonement for him saith the Law and it shall be forgiven him So he that had been unfaithful in a thing entrusted to him or in Society or had deceived another or had stollen any thing he was guilty saith the Law Levit. 5.23 to wit by the Edict which is extant Exod. 20.15,16 and 17 but the same guilty person besides the restitution of the damage to which he was obliged unto the person wronged he was expiated by giving a Sacrifice and that which he did was forgiven Lev. 5.26 and in many places these are joyned together Expiation and Remission Numb 15.28 Lev. 4.20 5.13,18,26 Therefore in some Crimes as touching carnal punishments there was admitted an Atonement a Redemption a Satisfaction also a Compensation made by the death of a Beast for the death of a man otherways due But the Law did not generally admit such a relaxation of carnal punishment in all Crimes unto which Paul having respect said that remission of sins was declared by Jesus to wit a spiritual remission and he that believes is justified in him from all things from which the Jews in the Law of Moses could not be justified no not carnally Acts 13.38 which an ancient Writer of Answers to the Orthodox explains which use to be ascribed to Justin But other Crimes having been committed to the hurt of the Commonwealth to wit great and less tolerable or of the life of men it gives not to wit the Law an Atonement of such Offences neither by washing nor the sacrificing of Beasts but gives a just and worthy recompence to them that offended by an equal punishment Life saith it for life eye for eye tooth for tooth but where the equality of the reward is unseemly there it renders to the Offenders death by fire or stone or sword for it destroys the daughter of the Priest committing whoredom by fire but the daughter of a Lay-man by stoning but the married by sword And the Law had no power through mercifulness to mankind to save any of such by Washings and Sacrifices And the Masters of the Hebrews observed not amiss Psalm 51.18 that David for Murder or Adultery promised no Sacrifice because the Law had set forth no Expiation for those Crimes But that which we said before that in Expiation the Death of a Beast was substituted for the death of a Man that same thing is manifest also by that which Deut. 2. is appointed that when the Man-slayer is not fouud the People should be expiated by the killing of a Beast where also the word to expipiate is explained Expiate thy people O God and impute not innocent blood unto them Otherways the Land could not be expiated from blood that was shed but by the blood of him that shed it as saith the Law Numb 35.34 Unto this place may be added the other Levit. 17.11 The life of all flesh is in the blood and I have appointed it for you on the Altar to make Atonement for your lives for it is blood that makes Atonement for the life Also a third Lev. 10.17 where the Sacrifice is said to bear their iniquities the force of which phrase we have elsewhere explained Socinus is not willing to acknowledge this subrogation or to confess that God was moved any way by Sacrifices that he might not punish sin And that he may prove that he brings these two things That the Errours of men could not be punished in Beasts because there is not a common Species between Men and Beasts and That nothing can be given to God who is Lord of all Of which the former is false for as an individual difference as they speak hinders not but another may suffer for another mans sin provided the inflicting of the evil is not of it self unjust as hath been shewed before so neither will the diversity of Species hinder a Beast which otherways also might be justly killed to be bestowed for an Example that in the death thereof it may appear what man hath deserved Neither are Man and Beast joyned only in the genus of a living Creature but also in that relation that is between a possessour and a thing possessed For a Beast is in the general under humane possession and he that was to be expiated was particularly commanded to give a Sacrifice of his own Lev. 5.6,7 But the other is nothing to the purpose For neither doth it follow that if nothing comes to God by Sacrifice therefore God is not moved by Sacrifice For by this very thing God is well-pleased that a man defrauds himself of a thing granted unto him for the honour of the Name of God and it was elsewhere shewed that Satisfaction useth to be made as by punishment so by some acceptable and pleasing action But that in Sacrifice not only the thing is rewarded but the mind of the Offerer both Scripture declares and the Heathen themselves believed Neither in Sacrifices saith Seneca though they be fat and overshine Gold is the honour of the Gods but in the pious and right will of the worshipper Whence also the Scripture treating of the Death of Christ makes mention sometimes of Love sometimes of Obedience By these things which we have said it is now evident how Sacrifices for sin in the Old Covenant did expiate sins to wit by moving God to forgive a Carnal punishment and that by a certain Satisfaction But what the Types performed carnally this Christ the Antitype performs spiritually and what the Types did in some sins that Christ did in all to wit by moving God to forgive a Spiritual punishment and that by a most perfect Satisfaction For there is always more and not less in the thing signified by the Type than in the Type as reason shews That is common to the Expiatory Sacrifice of the Law and the Sacrifice of Christ that there is no remission without shedding of blood Hebr. 9.22 The Divine Writer in the same place calls this obtaining of remission by blood sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sanctification vers 13. sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Purification vers 14. and 22 and 23. But in the Old Law the Sacrifices were Beasts vers 12. in this of ours Christ himself is not only Priest but Sacrifice vers 14. and 24. That Legal Expiation was a Representation and Antitype of this Celestial and Spiritual How because that brought cleanness to the flesh that is the taking away of guilt but not to the Spirit or Conscience but this brings it to the Conscience it self because that which was in the Old Law a Temporal Death this in the New Covenant is Eternal Death Hebr. 10.29 and therefore there was there a Temporal Deliverance but here an Eternal Redemption Hebr. 9.12 Wherefore as in the
same place an Argument is produced from the effect of the Legal Sacrifice to the effect of this That was offered by the Spirit How much more c. vers 14. So it is allowed to us to argue after this manner most certainly the Legal Sacrifice took away carnal guiltiness by moving God to remission therefore much more the Sacrifice offered by the Spirit takes away spiritual guilt by moving God also to remission Unto the same purpose belong those places in which Christ is called a Lamb. Neither would it be much to the purpose though Lambs had not been used to be sacrificed in the Law for sin For so also it would have been lawful for holy men to name one Beast for another that both the comparison might consist in the general signification of a Beast and a Lamb rather than a Ram or a Goat being named the innocency of the Sacrifice might be expressed For therefore also Peter added without blame or spot 1 Pet. 1.19 and at the same time by a certain compend of words there might have been an eye upon the Prophesy of Isai 53.7 in the intepretation whereof was the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 8.32 But it is also certain that a Lamb was used in the expiating of Pollutions Lev. 14.12 Numb 6.12 which Pollutions in the Old Law so nearly resembled sin that they also received the name of sin Whence also that Lamb in both places is said to be offered for guilt or sin And in the other place it is expresly added because he sinned about the dead body The effect also is the same in some respect For persons defiled were not admitted to the Society of the Jewish Commonwealth but by such an Expiation Moreover the Sacrifice of the Passover which it is certain was for the most part a Lamb Exod. 12.5 in its first institution had something Expiatory For God saith that he looking on the blood thereof would turn away from the Hebrews that destruction which otherways they were to have had common with the Egyptians by the imitation of whom they had defiled themselves Exod. 12.13 Hebr. 11.28 But also the Law shews that a Lamb was used to be offered for sin to wit the sin of a rash Oath Lev. 5.4,6 But when Christ is called a Lamb not only Peter shews that a Sacrifice is understood saying that we were redeemed by the blood of a Lamb I Pet. 1.18 but also John in the Revelation in many places and amongst others where he says he was slain Rev. 5.6 9.11 and 13.8 But no other Sacrifice but a Sacrifice for sin can be understood because as Peter witnesseth it was Redemptory Such is only Sacrifice for sin Whence it is more than manifest that when the Baptist said Christ was the Lamb which took away the sins of the World John 1.29 Sins past are there treated of not future and the taking away of sins by the obtaining of remission with God not by the ingenerating of Faith Neither is it true that Socinus says That only the High-Priest did bear the figure of Christ and only the anniversary Expiation the figure of his Sacrifice for though there was a more excellent figure in the High-Priest and that solemn Sacrifice which therefore the Holy Spirit pursues with a singular care in the Epistle to the Hebrews yet it cannot be denied that other Priests and other Expiatory Sacrifices looked the same way more obscurely That same Epistle shews this cap. 9. vers 13. where every carnal purification by Sacrifice is compared with the spiritual purification by Christ And much more verse 21. and the following verses where after it had been said in the general that almost all things in the Law are purged by Sacrifice and that there is no remission of sins without shedding of blood there is afterwards subjoyned therefore there was a necessity that the resemblances of Celestial things should be purged by these things So also chap. 10. vers 11. daily Sacrifices are compared with the Sacrifice of Christ the sense of which place Socinus overthrows expounding daily for yearly without example For that he brings a place Hebr. 7.27 to confirm this Interpretation it is vain because he falsly pretends that the Priest ought to have offered for himself in the Anniversary Sacrifice only For on the contrary he ought to have offered for himself as oft as he was conscious to himself of sin Lev. 4.3 Also he shews that the Sacrifice of the Passover was a figure of the Sacrifice that was performed by Christ John 19.36 and Paul 1. Cor. 5.7 But though these things could suffice yet I think good to explain somewhat more plentifully the natue of an Expiatory Sacrifice according to the common understanding of the Heathen or rather according to the most ancient Tradition spread abroad through all the Earth It cannot be doubted that there were Sacrifices before the Law of Moses under the state of the Natural Law as it is called the Rites whereof having been commanded by God those that survived the Flood being dispersed through all the Earth transmitted unto Posterity and Religion remained for some time uncorrupted not only among the Posterity of Shem but also Japhet perhaps also Ham until the worship of many and therefore false Gods succeeded in its room but then also having changed their God the Rites and Ceremonies remained being translated from a pious to a wicked use a great testimony against themselves of the Truth being received but detained in unrighteousness as saith the Apostle Rom. 1.18 Therefore those Nations esteemed it for a certain thing that the Gods were offended and angry at the sins of Men and that from this Anger great Calamities partly private and partly publick used to follow See that excellent Book of Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concerning those that were heavily punished by God in which if instead of Gods you write God you will find many things worthy to be said by a Christian That Anger was gathered from Causes or Effects From Causes if any wicked Deeds came to be known From Effects Foretokens Prodigies and Celestial Signs See Cicero concerning the Answers of Soothsayers Lucan 1. of Pharsalia the Greek and Roman Historians in many places Yet they hoped this Anger could be turned away by certain Sacrifices By these the Deity was said to be reconciled the guilty whether it was one person or a whole people to be purged or according to the ancient word to be februated and the sin it self to be expiated or cleansed Wherefore the same Sacrifices were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propitiatory Cleansing and Purifying and in Latine placamina februa piamina Propitiations Cleansings Expiations The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to propitiate is applied by Homer and others very often to Sacrifices There is in Plutarch concerning Romulus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cleanse the City with purgings this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is also called
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Herodotuus lib. 1. the Phrygian Adrastus being polluted with Manslaughter needed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Expiatory Sacrifice Croesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expiated him And he saith there is the same way of Expiating amongst the Lydians and Greeks In Hermogenes there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither purged from iniquities Plat. 2. de Rep. said that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abolishments and Cleansings of Vnrighteousness are put for the same Plutarch concerning the Romans interprets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is averrunca things that turned away the Divine Anger There is nothing more frequent in Virgil and others than the word placandi of appeasing in holy things the force whereof Horace so expresseth Mactata veniet mitior hostia She will come meeker Sacrifice being slain Livius hath often Pacem Deos exposcere to beg peace of the Gods Plinius saith Beasts are acceptable in the Atonement of the Gods Ovid primo Fastorum saith the Gods are reconciled to man by Sacrifices which word we shewed before to signifie the same with the word placandi of making Atonement to purge and purifie being translated from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken thence because guiltiness seems to be a certain uncleanness The word purifying is in Suetonius and Plinius Lucan said Purgare moenia lustro but lustrare is more received concerning the Original whereof we spake before So lustrare exercitum is in Livius Ovid expoundeth it by expurgare 13 Met. Ego lustror ab illis Expurgante nefas novies mihi carmine dicto I 'm purifi'd by them Nine times a sin-purging Verse having been to me Servius in Virgil Lustramurque Jovi and we are purified to Jupiter 3 Aen. he expounds it we are purged we are expiated Seneca in Troas himself explains lustrale sacrum quo piantur rates a purifying Sacrifice wherewith Ships are expiated And Papinius called Menoeceus Caput lustrale a purifying head which he so expounds Terrigenam cuncto patriae pro sanguine poscunt They require the earth born man for all the Counreys blood Also Date gaudia Thebis Quoe pepigi toto quae sanguine prodigus emi Give joy to Thebes Which I covenanted and which I bought with all the blood Therefore lustrale sacrum a purifying Sacrifice is that which buys blood that is which redeems by blood which belongs to the proving of those things which were formerly disputed by us concerning Redemption And it must be observed in the first place that when Expiatory Sacrifices are discoursed of there is mention made of Blood because according to the most ancient Law of God given to Noah Gen. 9.4 and thence propagated to all people Blood is instead of the Life and therefore is called by the name of Life Hence that of Virgil Sanguine quaerendi reditus animáque litandum With Blood Returns must be sought and Expiation made by Life Which words Macrobius explaining out of Trebatius saith Those Sacrifices are called Animal or belonging unto life Sins themselves are properly said to be expiated that is to be satisfied for whether by paying the due punishment or another thing that succeeds into the place of due punishment As behold in Virgil Et culpam miserorum morte piabunt They will expiate the fault by the death of those miserable wretches that is they shall cause them to be punished Plinius Wars use to expiate the luxury of the people Cicero The Immortal Gods expiated thy crimes upon our Souldiers And in the same there is often scelera supplicio expiare to expiate crimes with punishment and in Sallust to expiate slaughter with slaughter and blood with blood yea also the word supplicium was first in holy things whence it was translated to punishment But in Sacrifices piare is to expiate by the succession of another thing into the place of due punishment Hence Plautus Men ' piaculum oportet fieri propter stultitiam tuam Vt meum tergum stultitiae tuae suba'as succedaneum Should I be made a Sacrifice for thy folly That thou may'st put my back in the room of thine for thy folly Hence Cato Cùm sis ipse nocens moritur cur victimo pro te When thou art faulty thy self why dies a Sacrifice for thee Where for thee signifies in thy place And in the same place he saith Those that offer Sacrifices hope for their own safety by the death of another Hence the Sacrifices themselves are properly piacula Ea prima piacula sunto Virg. Aen. 6. Make these the first Sacrifices Téque piacula nulla resolvent And no Sacrifices will expiate thee Horatius Which also Ovid called piamina Februa Romani dixêre piaminá Patres The Roman Fathers called Expiations Februa The force of which word he himself presently expressed quo crimina nostra piantur whereby our Crimes are expiated and Plinius called those things piamenta Improperly piacula are crimina propter quae piacula debentur Crimes for which Sacrifices are due As Servius well observed on that Verse of Virgil Distulit in seram commissa piacula mortem He deferred his Crimes he committed unto a late death But though as we said piare properly is here to suffer punishment and therefore is properly said of the guilt it self and debt yet it began to be taken for words of a near signification placare lustrare to make Atonement to purifie by Sacrifice So Cicero said Cereris numen expiandum So Livius that the manifest murther might be expiated by some Sacrifice his Father was commanded ut filium expiaret that is lustraret to purge his Son by Sacrifice So Seneca in Troas said piare rates that is lustrare to make Atonement for the Ships Also in another Author prodigia piare to expiate the Prodigies for the wickednesses for which the Anger that was raised was declared by Prodigies There is a place where the Jews are discoursed of by the same Author There happened Prodigies which the Nation that is subject to Superstition and an Enemy to Religion judged unlawful to expiate by Vows or Sacrifices Where by the by that may be observed we said before That the Expiations in the Law of the Jews were not set forth to expiate every kind of anger of God By these things it manifestly appears that purging Sacrifices and Expiations belonged to the appeasing of the Deity and so to the obtaining impunity of the sins that had been committed which Plinius so expresseth An ancient Opinion obtained in former times that all things are Februa whereby the guiltinesses of evil deeds might be purged and sins taken away Neither must that remarkable place of Porphyrius concerning Expiatory Sacrifices be omitted for all Divines have agreed in this That in Expiatory Sacrifices they should not have touched the things sacrificed and that they should use purgings None went into the City or into his own House unless first he washed his Garment or Body
in a River or Fountain That which he says the Divines agreed in that they should wash their Garments who touch Expiatory Sacrifices it agrees with the Law delivered by Moses to the Jews as appears Lev. 16.26 and 28. But because these Nations were not ignorant by the guidance of Nature that the greater the thing was that was given to God so much the more easily pardon might be obtained especially if there were some equality of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with that which was redeemed Therefore they proceeded from the sacrificing of Cattel in making Expiations to the sacrificing of Men. Caesar treating of the Frenchmen explains the Cause They think that the Deity of the Immortal Gods cannot be reconciled unless the life of men be rendered for the life of man The Canaanites are found the first of all that practised this that is the Phoenicians For concerning them we read in holy Scripture that they were used to reconcile Moloch by killing their own Children That Moloch was Saturn as the Masters of the Hebrews rightly explain Porphyrius tells That the History of the Phoenicians written by Sanchuniatho abounded with such Narrations A part of these are Tyrians amongst whom it was usual of old that a Boy of noble Birth was sacrificed to Saturn Curtius tells lib. 3. the same rightly observes that the Carthaginians that were Inhabitants with the Tyrians received that Sacrifice from the Builders concerning whom is that of Ennius Ille suos Divis mos sacrificare puellos That was their manner to sacrifice their children to their Idol Gods The same tells Diodorus of the Carthaginians and Justin in these words They slew men as Sacrifices and brought their young Children to the Altars requesting the Gods for Reconciliation with their Blood Lib. 18. Silius Italicus says They were used to ask the Gods pardon with slaughter Lactantius out of Pessennius Festus tells That the Carthaginians thinking the Gods angry at them that they might expiate their Crime sacrificed two hundred Sons of the Noble Men. Also Minutius Felix mentioneth it and Tertullian in his Apologetick who saith That Saturnus was therefore called a Tomb of Sons and Plutarch in his Book of Superstition Manethos did write that men and those of exquisite beauty were of old sacrificed in Egypt and added that the custom was kept unto the times of Amosis who instead of men substituted images of wax And it is reported concerning Heliopolis that it was diligently searched after there whether they were clean that were appointed to be slain In Cyprus also a man was sacrificed to the time of King Diphilis who substituted the sacrificing of an Ox in the room thereof The same was performed of old in Rhodes Chios Tenedos Salamin also in Laodicaea and among the Dumathians of Arabia The Persians buried men alive in the Earth Concerning the Albans this was reported peculiarly That the man whom they thought to be most eminent for holiness used to be sacrificed by them The Jonians as witnesseth Pausanias sacrificed a Virgin and a Boy that they might reconcile Diana when she was angry We have read the like things of the Blemyans Massagets Taurians Neurians and in the general of the Scythians which may be sufficient for Asia and Africa To which may be added that the same Rite was found both in the ancient India concerning which a long time since Mela reported the same and in the American World by them that made those parts known to the World And that also it is no long time since that practice was in the Ganary Islands That we may come to Europe Ister and Apollodorus have reported That of old in Creta Boys were sacrificed to Saturn and a Man to Mars in Lacedemon Moreover Phylarchus reported that the same manner was among the Grecians generally to which Plinius assents And there are extant Examples also in the times of the Persian war In Rome also a Grecian man and a Grecian woman a French man and a French woman were sacrificed Also Jupiter of Latium was worshipped with a Humane Sacrifice and also Diana Aricina And Plinius tells that such kind of Sacrifices was of old very usual in Italy and Sicily Neither were they abrogated at Rome before the six hundred fifty and seventh year of the City Neither have the Devotions of the Decians any other Original by which the Ancients as Cicero saith in the third Book de Natura Deorum thought the Gods were reconciled Livius calls the Decians the Expiations of all the anger of the Gods and also Expiations to make Reconciliation for publick Dangers Neither must that remarkable place of Juvenal be omitted Plebeiae Deciorum animae plebeia fuerunt Nomina Pro totis legionibus hi tamen Pro Omnihus auxilliis at que omni Plebe Latinâ Sufficiunt Dis infernis Terraeque parenti Pluris enim Decii quà m qui servantur abillis The souls of the Decians were of the common people Their names were of the common people Yet they for the whole Legions and for All helps and all the people inhabiting Italy Do satisfy th' infernal Gods and Mother-earth For the Decians are more worthy than they that are saved by them In which place first that use of the Particle pro is evident which we before signified to be very frequent and as it were proper to this Argument so that it is the same that loco alterius in the room of another Moreover it appears that it was believed by the Romans that the estimation of the Sacrifice was augmented by the dignity of him that was sacrificed Furthermore by comparing Authors it is manifest that these things are of like force That God is Reconciled by a Sacrifice that the anger of the Gods is expiated or that the Soul of a Man sufficeth the Gods for the Souls of others The manner of the French men is well known by Caesar's relation concerning which we spake before which Plinius saith did remain unto the Dominion of Tiberius Cicero concerning the same The French reâ—oncile the Gods with Humane Sacrifices Cicero said placare Deos to reconcile the Gods as also Caesar Luctatius Lustrare Civitatem to purge the City by Sacrifice The same Caesar interprets it to render life for life So the Thracians worshipped Zamolxis so the Germans Mercurius and other Gods Concerning whom Lucan said so Et quibus immitis placatur sanguine diro Teutates And they to whom unmerciful Teutates is reconciled with accursed blood Also Plinius reported that in Britain Sacrifices of this kind were celebrated Procopius writes that the same was practised in the Island Thule unto his time that is unto the time of Justiniau And Porphyrius hath recorded that that Custom was not left off before the Empire of Adrian Concerning the Massilians it is particularly recorded That as oft as the Pestilence was among them there was a poor man that used to be maintained on publick Charges whobeing adorned with Ribbonds and cloathed with holy Garments was led through the
Town with Cursings that all the Evils of the City might fall upon him and so he was sacrificed to the Immortal Gods All which being gathered together into one we shall see that Plinius not without cause cried out concerning these Sacrifices So those things agreed with all the World though it was at variance and unknown to it self Thus we have discoursed by the by concerning Humane Sacrifices in which the Heathen sinned not only that they sacrificed unto false Gods but also because they had no command to worship God after that manner such as Abraham had But that Custom of the Gentiles in Expiating the sins of Men or Sacrificing of Beasts brings no little light to the understanding of the nature of an Expiatory Sacrifice and the proper names of that Argument And so much the less can this labour be deâ—…iâ—…d because Socinus says That the Baptist when he called Christ the Lamb of God had respect unto Sacrifices in the general by which not only amongst the Hebrews but also among the Heathen sins were believed to be expiated And it is an undoubted thing that seeing the Divine Writer to the Hebrews in this very Argument of Expiatory Sacrifice often useth the Greek words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he used it in that sense which the Greek Tongue had received Whence it is easie to understand what that signifies that Christ is called a Sacrifice for sin or expiation For whereas Socinus brings three Interpretations the first That the Death of Christ by begetting Faith in us draws us from sins in time to come The second That Death it self is a certain thing antecedent to the obtaining remission of sins The third That it bears testimony as it were to the remission it self or the Decree made concerning it Of these three only the second belongs hereto Not that Christ did not also those other things and that much more effectually than Socinus thinks but because those things belong not to Sacrifices for sins for Socinus confesseth That the similitude of legal Sacrifices for sin and of the Sacrifice performed by Christ consists in Expiation To which may be joyned the like Sacrifices of the Gentiles considered not according to the thing but according to the opinion of the Gentiles But these Sacrifices did not withdraw from sin especially by procuring the belief of any thing neither did they bear testimony to remission performed or certainly decreed but as Socinus acknowledgeth they were a certain antecedent thing requisite unto remission which those words of the Law shew He shall make atonement and it shall be forgiven Therefore in this the Comparison consists and it is necessary that Expiation should signifie the same when it is applied to legal Sacrifices and when it is applied to Christ because the Writer to the Hebrews brings both from the same Decree to wit that without shedding of Blood there should be no remission but expiation must be made in blood Hebr. 9.21 It hinders not that it is said Hebr. 10.4 that it was not possible that the blood of Bulls and Goats should take away sins for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to conscience must be repeated from what was said before as appears manifestly if you compare the like places with this chap. 9. vers 9 and 14. The blood of beasts took away sins that is Temporal Guiltiness but not Spiritual Guiltiness as we shewe before Neither can you without a remarkable wresting interpret that in the Apocalyps who washed us from our sins as if it signified who declared that we are washed Or 1 John 1.7 where it is said The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin as if it signified it declares us to be clean for both the property of the Words and the perpetual use of Scripture in this Argument contradicts it Socinus confesses That Guiltiness in many places is signified by the name of Vncleanness Hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to take away that guiltiness or to make remission as the Writer to the Hebrews expounds the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 9.22 Christ by himself made this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purification Hebr. 13. Christ purgeth the conscience from dead works Hebr. 9.14 that is as Socinus himself interprets He frees the conscience from guiltiness and punishment and the fear of punishment Also in the Old Testament tachar hath the same sense Psalm 51.9 But that which in these places is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cleanse The same upon a like account is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to sprinkle 10.22 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to wash in the same verse Whereto belongs the Prophesy Zach. 13.1 There is no reason to go from the sense of the Apostle John in these places for though Jesus is called a faithful witness Apoc. 1.5 yet that washing should not therefore be referred unto bearing witness for those do not cohere immediately the faithful witness and he washed but the mention of his being the first-born from the dead comes between them and the mention of a Kingdom and afterwards of Love that it may appear to a blind man that many Offices and Benefits of Christ are joyned together to illustrate his Dignity But in the Epistle of John it is utterly absurd to interpret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the declaring of purification and not of purification it self because a little while after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are joyned The Apostle reasons from things joyned together If you walk in light you have cleansing that is remission by the blood of Christ because sins are imputed unto none that walk in the light And the preaching of the Baptist naming Christ the Lamb that taketh away the sins of the world seeing it respects the Expiatory Sacrifices both of the Hebrews and the Gentiles according to the acknowledgment of Socinus suffers us not otherways to interpret to take away sins than to take away guiltiness For Expiatory Sacrifices did this but did not withdraw from sinning Neither is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the putting away of sin Hebr. 9.26 any other thing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we may be cleansed that we may have remission as appears by vers 22. But this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 putting away of sin was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the sacrificing of himself verse 26. But though Socinus endeavours to pluck away some places from the true sense yet being convinced by many others he acknowledgeth That in the Sacrifice of Christ it is expressed that an Expiation was made which goes before the remission of sins as something requisite Yet he denies that God by that Sacrifice is moved to pardon but he say That a certain Faith is begotten in us by which being brought to amendment of life at length we obtain remission of sins In which first he did little remember that which he said That the figure should agree with
the thing fignified by the figure in that in which the Comparison is made Neither did he remember that which the Scripture shews that those words All things are cleansed by blood belong the same way to Legal Sacrifices and to Christ Hebr. 9.22 But Legal Sacrifices did not at all beget such a Faith neither is that Exposition of the word tolerable that to expiate is to do something that is requisite for remission For on the contrary all these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the like which the Apostles use of their own nature and by perpetual use design not only a precedency of order but also a certain efficacy The Scripture also furnisheth us with other most certain Arguments for the overthrowing this Interpretation invented by Socinus For it saith there was need of a new Priest after the Order of Melchisedec Hebr. 7.11 But the Levitical Priests also could preach Faith in God yea and confirm this preaching by their Death Wherefore if the Priesthood of Christ doth nothing more which Socinus would have it follows there was no need of him Moreover this very thing that Christ died for our sins is believed unto salvation 1 Cor. 15.2,3 therefore the Expiation of Christ was not chiefly procured for this that it might bring a man to believe seeing it self is among things to be believed For that which serves only to gain credit to a thing it is necessary that it should be different from the thing to be believed Moreover after the implantation of Faith the Expiation of Christ hath effect in us For Christ is a High Priest appointed to expiate the sins of the people that is of Believers Hebr. 2.17 Therefore to expiate cannot be to bring to Faith But now that we may not only beat down the false Interpretation of Socinus but also prove the true one which is this That God is moved by the Death of Christ to forgive sins Observe that place to the Hebrews where Christ's blood of sprinkling is said to speak better than the blood of Abel The blood of Abel cried unto God for vengeance The blood of Christ cries for pardon Socinus denies that God is reconciled by Expiatory Sacrifices But the Writers above alledged by us testifie the contrary who use the word reconciling to express those Sacrifices Whence also that phrase came in the Epistle to the Hebrews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 placare peccata to reconcile sins that is to expiate sins by reconciling God Socinus acknowledgeth no Satisfaction in Expiatory Sacrifices Whereas the very word expiating signifies no other thing but making satisfaction by punishment and in many places the Authors cited when they would periphrastically express Expiating they call it to give blood for blood life for life soul for soul to purchase a thing with blood to obtain salvation by the death of another Neither do the Hebrew words disagree from this for Chaphar is not only to cover but also to redeem Exod 21.30 Psalm 49.7 and to appease Gen. 32.20 and thence to expiate Hata is to suffer punishment Gen. 31.39 whence this also began to be used for signifying Expiation Now Expiation is attributed first to Sacrifices as appears Hebr. 9.13 and 23. therafter to the Priest for the Sacrifices that he offers as often in Leviticus and then to God admitting that Satisfaction But as the word Redeeming began to be used improperly for any Deliverance so also it began to be called Expiation for the like effect yea where no Satisfaction intervenes Psal 51.8 But Expiation is attributed unto Christ as unto a Sacrifice and therefore the word blood is added but blood in Sacrifices as before was proved is given instead of the soul of a sinner whence of necessity this word Expiation must be taken properly here Add unto these things that if that were true which Socinus would have That Expiation was made much more by the Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven than by Death and shedding of Blood because those are fitter to perswade us to believe than Death it self at least in some place of Scripture Expiation would have been attributed unto those acts which it did no where It is false that Socinus saith That expiation or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purification is attributed unto the manifestation of the Divine Will neither do the places alledged prove this For Hebr. 1.3 Christ is said to sustain all by his Word because all things are subject to his Dominion as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is found in the same sense chap. 11. verse 3. and Luke 5.5 and chap. 10. verse 26 and 29. The knowledge of the Truth and sanctification by Blood are not put for the same but many Benefits are joyned together that the Crime of an unthankful man may appear the more odious There is added sometimes unto Blood the mention of a Covenant but much more oftner of a Sacrifice wherefore that Interpretation is to be taken that may joyn them together But this will be if we look unto that part of the Covenant in which Christ engaged that if he underwent death it should come to pass that their sins should be forgiven them that believed in him and God promised the same as appears Isai 53.10 But that Christ is said to offer his blood in Heaven that is to shew his death to his Father and as it were to put God in remembrance thereof which is also read to make intercession for us these things take not away the Expiation that was compleated upon the Cross For the Expiation performed upon the Cross moves God to forgive and acquires us a right but under a certain Condition and Manner in which is comprehended Intercession on Christ's part and on our part true Faith as hath been explained when Satisfaction was discoursed of But Socinus manifestly contradicts the Scripture when he denies that Expiation was made before Christ went into Heaven For in many places Scripture attributes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 redemption purification and sanctification and the putting away of sin to death and declares the same thing to be already performed an Oblation indeed was made in Heaven but so that Socinus should not have denied that title to the death that Christ suffered on Earth against the manifest words of Paul Eph. 5.2 where Christ is said to have delivered himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an offering for us The looking upon the coherence of the words is a sufficient refutation of his Interpretation In the same place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Offering and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrifice are joyned together And all the Books of Greek and Latin Authors declare That a Sacrifice is compleated when the thing to be sacrificed is put to death Whence it came to pass that mactare signifies both to sacrifice and also to kill any way the signification being extended from Sacrifices to other things Hence Ammonius distinguisheth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Appellations of
Genus and Species for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to kill for the honour of God but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to kill upon any account And Plutarch said That the French-men and Scythians believed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Gods delighted in the blood of slain men and that this was the most perfect Sacrifice Neither did the Scripture speak otherways in this Argument Abraham being commanded to offer his Son Gen. 22.2 prepares to kill him verse 10. And therefore because he had performed the sacrificing of him though not with his hand yet with his mind he is said to have offered his son Hebr. 11.17 Sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies simply and out of Sacrifice to kill as John 10.10 And Christ is called by John the Lamb slain Apoc. 5.6 12. and 13.8 which Paul so expresseth our Passover Christ is sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5.7 But the Passover used not to be brought into the most holy place Hebr. 9.26 therefore the Sacrifice went before the Appearance followed So elsewhere in the same Epistle Christ is said to have entred into the Celestial Sanctuary by his own blood having obtained eternal Redemption Hebr. 9.2 and to have sat down at the right hand of the Divine Throne having made expiation for our sins In which places the words of by-past time do shew that Redemption or Expiation was made before Christ entred into the Celestial Palace Therefore though Christ is such a High-Priest that ought not to have remained on earth as the Levitical Priests Hebr. 8.14 but having entred into Heaven he ought to be higher than the Heaven Hebr. 4.14 and 7.26 as whose Priesthood ought to be eternal and intransitory 7.24 yet he was a true Priest and a true Sacrifice at that very time when he delivered himself on Earth up to Death And therefore he is said to have come into the world Hebr. 10.5 that is into the earth as the Scripture if self interprets John 18. 37. 1 Tim. 1.15 that he might do the will of God vers 7 and 9. that he might offer his own body being prepared by God that is sacrificed vers 6. to God vers 10. for sins vers 12. In which place it must be also observed that we are said to be sacrificed by an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oblation once whereas Christ intercedes as oft as there is need for us So that here not killing but intercession must be understood Therefore the Oblation of Christ as of certain Legal Sacrifices is twofold The first of killing the other of shewing the former Oblation of Christ was performed on Earth the later in Heaven but that former was not a preparation of a Sacrifice but a Sacrifice the later is not so much a Sacrifice as a Commemoration of a Sacrifice that was performed Wherefore seeing Appearance and Intercession are not properly Sacerdotal Acts but as they depend upon the virtue of the Sacrifice that was made he that takes away that Sacrifice allows not unto Christ a true Priesthood against the manifest Authority of Scripture which assigns unto Christ a Pontifical Dignity distinct from a Prophetical and Royal not figuratively so called but true for his Priesthood is opposed to the Levitical Priesthood which was a true Priesthood as a more perfect Species of the same Genus to another less perfect neither could it be rightly inferred that it was necessary that Christ should have what he might offer Hebr. 8.3 but from the truth of that Priesthood unto which he was appointed vers 3. But it is no wonder if they who have taken away from Christ his Natural Glory that is the Divinity of his true Name if they also diminish his Offices and are unwilling to acknowledge his chief Benefits To thee O Lord Jesus as the true God as the true Redeemer as the true Priest as the true Sacrifice for sins together with the Father and the Spirit one God with thee be Honour and Glory FINIS THE TESTIMONIES OF THE Ancients THE TESTIMONIES OF THE ANCIENTS IReneus lib. 5. cap. 1. For he would not really have had Flesh and Blood by which he redeemed us except he had restored the ancient Creation of Adam in himself Which place Theodoretus cites out of Ireneus in the Greek Language Dialog 2. cap. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For he had not really had Flesh and Blood by which he redeemed us Tertullianus against the Jews cap. 13. It behoved Christ to be a Sacrifice for all Nations who was led to the slaughter as a Sheep and as a Lamb is dumb before the shearer so he opened not his mouth Origen on Leviticus homil 3. almost at the beginning If any man remember well those things that have been said he may say to us that we asserted that the Sacrifice which we said the High-Priest offered for sin is a Type of Christ and it will not seem agreeable to the true Christ who knows not sin that he should be said to have offered Sacrifice for sin though the thing is acted by a Mystery and the same is put for the Priest and also for the Sacrifice See then if we may also solve this Objection after this manner That Christ indeed did no sin yet he was made sin for us whilest he that was in the form of God condescends to be in the form of a Servant whilest he that is immortal dies and he that is impassible suffers and he that is invisible is seen and because either Death or all other Frailty of the Flesh was brought upon us men by the condition of sin he himself also who was made after the likeness of men and found in fashion as a man undoubtedly he himself for sin which he undertook because he carried our sins did offer the Calf without blemish that is his immaculate Flesh a Sacrifice to God Origen homil 4. on Numbers If sin had not been it would not have been necessary that the Son of God should become a Lamb neither had it been needful that he being placed in the flesh should be slain but that which was in the beginning would have remained God the Word But because sin entred into this World and the necessity of sin requires a Propitiation and Propitiation is not made but by Sacrifice it was necessary that a Sacrifice for sin should be provided On Matthew cap. 16. Tract 11. A man cannot give any exchange for his soul but God gave an exchange for the souls of all men the precious blood of his own Son For we are not bought with corruptible silver or gold but with the precious Blood of the Lamb without blemish On the Epistle to the Romans lib. 2. cap. 2. Ye confess that it is undoubtedly true which is written in the Epistle of Peter because we are redeemed no with the corruptible price of silver and gold but with the precious blood of the only begotten If then we are bought with a price as Paul also jointly bears witness we are without
doubt bought from some person whose Servants we were who also demanded the price he would have that he might send from under his power them that he held but the Devil held us to whom we were in bondage by our sins Therefore he required our price the blood of Christ But until the Blood of Jesus was given which was so precious that it was sufficient alone for the Redemption of all men it was necessary that those who were instructed in the Law every one for himself should give his own Blood as it were in imitation of the future Redemption and therefore we for whom the price of the blood of Christ was fulfilled have no need to offer for our selves a price that is the blood of Circumcision Cyprian Epist 8 to Clem. and the People He prayed for us though he was not a sinner himself but bore our sins The same Epist 63. to Cecilius parag 9. Christ carried us all who also carried our sins The same in his Book to Demetrianus parag 22. Christ imparts this Grace he gives this gift of his mercy by subduing Death with the Triumph of the Cross by redeeming the Believer with the price of his Blood by reconciling man to God the Father by enlivening mortal man with the Celestial Regeneration The same or rather another Writer of the Book of the Cardinal Works of Christ to Cornelius the Pope Serm. 7. which is concerning the manner of Circumcision that one Oblation of our Redeemer was of so great Dignity that it was sufficient alone to take away the sins of the World who with so great Authority went into the holy place with his own Blood that afterwards no request of Suppliants needed the Blood of any other The same Serm. 16. which is concerning the Ascension of Christ Who for our sakes having been sold for thirty pieces of silver would have it to be understood how great an unequality there was in the price that was given for him and in that which he himself gave for the World Whereas he being bought and sold for a little silver redeemed us at so great a price so that it cannot be a doubtful case that the greatness of the price exceeded the bargain Neither could the damage that verily just damnation deserved be equallized to the Obedience of Christ which proceeded unto Death it self and over and above paid what it owed not Lactantius concerning the Benefits of Christ Whosoever thou art that art present and comes within the threshold of the middle Temple look on me who being guiltless suffered for thy sin c. And presently For thee and for thy life I entred the Virgins womb was made Man and suffered a dreadful Death c. Eusebius Coesariensis lib. 10. of the Demonstration of the Gospel For it behoved the Lamb of God that was taken up by the great High-Priest to be offered a Sacrifice to God for the other Lambs of the same kind and for all the Flock of Mankind For because by man came Death by man also came the Resurrection of the Dead The same lib. 10. cap. 1. And as when one Member suffers all the other Members suffer with it so also when many Members suffered and sinned he also suffered according to the ways of sympathy For forasmuch as it pleased God being the Word to take the form of a Servant and to be joyned to the common Tabernacle of us all he takes upon himself the pain of the suffering Members and makes our Diseases his own and suffers grief and pain for us all according to the Laws of Love to Mankind And the Lamb of God having not only performed these things but having been punished for us and having endured the sufferings that he himself did not deserve but we for the sake of the Multitude of them that trespassed he became to us the Author of the forgiveness of sins having undertaken Death for us and translated unto himself the stripes and reproaches and shame that was due to us and drawn upon himself the Curse that was due to us becoming a Curse for us and what other thing was this but the giving life for life Therefore the Oracle saith in our person we were healed by his stripes and the Lord delivered himself for our sins Eusebius concerning the Preparation of the Gospel lib. 1. cap. 10. And God had respect to Abel and his Gifts but unto Cain and his Sacrifice he had no respect Hence you may understand that he that offered Beasts was more acceptable than he that offered a Sacrifice of the Fruits of the Earth And Noah immediately offered upon the Altar Burnt-offerings of all clean Beasts and of all clean Fowl and the Lord smelled a smell of sweet savour But Abraham also is recorded to have sacrificed so that by testimony of sacred Scripture those that were lovers of God of old esteemed the Sacrifice of Beasts the chiefest of all But I suppose the reason of this thing was not accidental or found out by man's wit but taught by the Divine Wisdom for seeing they saw that they who in their manners were holy and conversant with God and inlightned in their souls by the Divine Spirit and that they needed to perform great service for the cleansing away of the sins of Mortals they supposed that the price of their Salvation was due to him that is Prince both of life and soul Moreover having nothing better nor more precious to sacrifice than their soul instead thereof they offered a Sacrifice of brute Beasts bringing them in the room of their own life thinking that they sinned not nor offended in this thing because they were taught that the soul of unreasonable Creatures was not equal to the reasonable and intellective faculty of Men and having been taught that their life is no other thing but their blood and the lively power in the blood which they also presented offering it as a life for a life unto God And Moses also evidently declares this same thing the life of all flesh is the blood thereof and I have given you the blood upon the Altar to make atonement for your sins for their blood shall make atonement for the life Therefore I have commanded the Children of Israel that no soul of you should eat blood therefore consider diligently of these things how it is said I gave you blood upon the Altar to make Atonement for your souls For blood shall make atonement for the soul For he doth manifestly say that the blood of slain Beasts makes atonement for the soul of man And the Law concerning Sacrifices gives him that looks into it attentively to understand this same thing Therefore he commands every man that sacrificeth to lay his hands upon the Head of the thing sacrificed and to bring the Beast that is to dye to the Priest as offering the Sacrifice instead of his own life Therefore he says of every one He shall present it before the Lord and shall put his hands upon the Head of the Offering