Lyranus Cajetan Estlus Ribera A Lapide all desert their own Text and expound the words according to the Original The Antients also as Chrysostom Theophilact and Oecumenius lay the chief weight of their whole Exposition of this place on the words omitted in that Translation The doctrine of purging our sins by Christ is deep and large extending its self unto many weighty heads of the Gospel but we shall follow our Apostle and in this place pass it over briefly and in general because the consideration of it will directly occur unto us in our progress Two things the Apostle here expresseth concerning the Messiah and one which is the foundation of both the other he implyeth or supposeth First He expresseth What he did he purged our sins Secondly How he did it he did it by himself That which he supposeth as the foundation of both these is that he was the Great High Priest of the Church they with whom he dealt knowing full well that this matter of purging sins belonged only unto the Priest Here then the Apostle tacitely enters upon a Comparison of Christ with Aaron the High Priest as he had done before with all the Prophetical Revealers of the Will of God and as he named none of them in particular no more doth he here name Aaron but afterwards when he comes more largely to insist on the same matter again he expresly makes mention of his name as also of that of Moses And in both the things here ascribed unto him as the great High Priest of his Church doth he prefer him above Aaron First In that he purged our sins that is really and effectually before God and in the Conscience of the sinner and that for ever Whereas the Purgation of sins about which Aaron was employed was in its self but typical external and representative of that which was true and real both of which the Apostle proves at large afterwards Secondly In that he did it by himself or the offering of himself whereas what ever Aaron did of this kind he did it by the offering of the blood of Bulls and Goats as shall be declared And hence appears also the vanity of the Gloss of a learned man on these words postquam saith he morte sua causam dedisset ejus fidei per quam à peccatis purgamur quod nec Moses fecerat nec Prophetae For as we shall see that Christs purging of our sins doth not consist in giving a ground and cause for faith whereby we purge our selves so the Apostle is not comparing the Lord Christ in these words with Moses and the Prophets who had nothing to do in the work of purging sin but with Aaron who by Office was designed thereunto Let us then see what it is that is here ascribed unto the Lord Christ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth most frequently denote real actual Purification either of outward defilements by healing and cleansing as Mark 1.40 Chap. 7.19 Luke 5.12 or spiritual defilements of sin by sanctifying Grace as Acts 15.9 2 Cor. 7.1 Ephes. 5.26 But it is also frequently used in the same sense with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to purge by Expiation or Attonement as Heb. 9.22 23. And in the like variety is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also used But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make a Purgation or Purification of our sins cannot here be taken in the first sense for real and inherent sanctifying First Because it is spoken of as a thing already past and perfected having purged our sins when Purification by Sanctification is begun only in some not all at any time perfected in none at all in this world Secondly Because he did it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by himself alone without the use or Application of any other medium unto them that are purged When real inherent Sanctification is with washing of Water by the word Ephes. 5.26 or by Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Titus 3 5. And the gloss above mentioned that Christ should purge us from our sins in his death by occasioning that Faith whereby we are cleansed is excluded as was in part shewed before by the Context That is assigned unto the death of Christ as done really and effectually thereby which was done tipically of old in the Legal Sacrifices by the Priests as is evident from the Antithâ—sis couched in that Expression by himself But this was not the way whereby sins were of old purged by Sacrifices namely by the begetting a perswasion in the minds of men that should be useful for that purpose and therefore no such things is here intended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then is such a purging as is made by Expiation Lustration and Attonement That is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propitiatio Attonement Propitiation So is that Word rendered by the LXX Exod. 29.36 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the day of Attonement or Expiation They do indeed mostly render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to propitiate to appease to attone but they do it also by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to purge as Exod. 29.37 and Chap. 30 10. So also in other Authors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is expiatio expiamentum piaculum Expiation Attonement diversion of guilt So Lucian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We cast him down headlong for an expiation of the Army or as one that by his death should expiate bear take away the guilt of the Army And such Lustrations were common among the Heathen when Persons devoted themselves to destruction or were devoted by others to purge lustrate bear the guilt of any that they might go free such were Codius Menaeceus and the Decii whose stories are known This purging then of our sins which the Apostle declareth to have been effected before the Ascension of Christ and his sitting down at the Right Hand of God consisteth not in the actual Sanctification and Purification of believers by the Spirit in the Application of the blood of Christ unto them but in the Attonement made by him in the Sacrifice of himself that our sins should not be imputed unto us And therefore is he said to purge our sins and not to purge us from our sins And where ever sins not sinners are made the Object of any Mediatory acts of Christ that act immediately respecteth God and not the sinner and intends the removal of sin so as that it should not be imputed So Chap. 2.17 of this Epistle he is a merciful High Priest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to reconcile the sins of the people that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make Attonement or Reconciliation with God for the sins of the people And again He underwent death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the redemption of Transgressions under the first Covenant that is to pay a price for them that transgressors might be set free from the sentence
where it treats of these things in the least giving countenance thereunto or let him shew how this procedure is suitable unto the Justice of God either unto the general notion that we have of it or as unto any other instance recorded of it in the Scripture But if these men may fain what they please there is no doubt but they will justifie themselves and maintain their own cause Secondly Why did none of the latter Prophets whom God granted unto the people after their return from Captivity as Haggai Zechariah and Malachi let the people know that this was the condition of their return into their Land but only require of them to walk answerable unto the mercies they had then received Thirdly As the very nature of the dispensation did declare that God having purged out the Rebels of the people and destroyed them with his sore judgements had forgiven their sins and was returned unto them in a way of mercy and grace never to call over their forepast iniquities any more so the Prophets that treated concerning that dispensation of God do in places innumerable assert the same and plainly contradict this imagination Fourthly God punisheth not the sins of the Fathers upon their children unless the Children continue in the sins of their Fathers This he declareth at large Ezek. 18. Now what were the sins of this people under the first Temple before their captivity our Author reckons Adultery Murder and Idolatry It is no doubt but many of them were Adulterers and that sin among others was charged on them by the Prophets but it is evident that their principal ruining sins were their Idolatry and persecution or killing of the Prophets And God by Ezekiel declares that in and by their Captivity he would punish and take away all their Idolatry and Adulteries evâ—n from the Land of Aegypt or their beginning to be his people Chap. 23.11 27. Now were the Jews that is the body of the people guilty of these sins under the second House it is known that from all Idolatry they preserved themselves which was that sin that in an especial manner was their ruine before and for killing the Pophets they acknowledge that after Malachi they had none so that none could be persecuted by them but those whom they will not own to be Prophets But Fifthly Suppose that all those under the second House continued in the sins of their fore-fathers which yet is false and denyed by themselves as occasion requires yet what have the Jews done for sixteen hundred years since the destruction of that House they plead themselves to be holy and in application of the Prophecy Isa. 53. unto themselves proclaim themselves innocent and righteous at least they would not have us to think that the generality of them are Adulterers Murderers and Idolaters whence is it then that the punishment of their Fathers sins lyes so long on them What Rule of Justice is observed herein What instance of the like dispensation can they produce for our parts we affirm that they continue unto this day in the same sin for which their fore-fathers under the second House were rejected and destroyed and so know the righteousness of God in their present captivities and miseries Besides Sixthly They say they abhor the sins of their fore-fathers repent of them and do obtain Remission of sins through their observation of the Law of Moses Wherein then is the faithfulness of God in his promâ—ses unto them Why are they not delivered out of captivity Why not restored to their Land according to express Testimonies of the Covenant made with them unto that purpose There is no colour of truth nor reason therefore in this evasion which they invented to countenance themselves in their obstinate blindness and unbelief But our Author yet adds an Instance whereby he hopes to reinforce and confirm § 13 his former answer saith he Deus per manus Salamanassani decem tribus in captivitatem passus est abduci in regiones nobis incognitas sexcentis fere annis ante destructionem Templi secundi hoc â—â—t ante presentem hanc nostram captivitatem nâ—cdum in hodiernam hanc diem in terram siâ—am reversae aut dominio suo restitutae sunt quae omnia speciali Dei Providentia nobis ita evâ—nerunt ne quis causam hujus nostrae captivitatis speciali alicui peccato sub secunda domo commisso imputaret Cum decem tribus qui tum absuerunt captivitatem pati debent sexcentâ—s annis longiorem God suffered the ten Tribes to be carried captive by Salamanasser into Countreys unknown to us six hundred years before the destruction of the second Temple and our present captivity neither are they yet returned to their own Land or restored to their former rule all which things have happened unto us by the especial Providence of God That nâ—ne might impute the cause of the captivity unto any sin committed under the second Temple seeing the ten Tribes that were then absent must endure a captivity six hundred years longer Neither will this instance yield them the least relief For 1. It was before granted that the sins under the second Temple were even greater then those under the first whence the punishment of them was revived which is here denyed manifâ—sting that this is an evasion invented to serve the present turn 2. What ever is pretended no impartial man that owns the special relation of that people unto God and his Covenant with them can but grant that their present rejection is for some outragious sins breaking the Covenant under the second Temple and continued in by themselves unto this day 3. The case of the tâ—n Tribes after they had publickly rejectâ—d all that Worship of God and all that Government of the people which was appointed to Type out and to continue unto the bringing of the â—â—ssiah is different from that of the othâ—r Tribes to whom the Promises wâ—re appropriated in Judah and in the house of David so that their rejection implies no disannulling of the Covenant 4. As all of the two Tribes came not up to Jerusalem at the return from the captivity of Babylon so very great numbers of the ten Tribes appear so to have done which bâ—ing added to those multitudes of them which before that had fallen away to Judah partly upon the account of the Worship of God partly upon the account of outward peace when their own Land was wasted makes the condition of the body of the people to be one and the same and these men committed and their posterity continue in the sins on which we charge their present dispersion and captivity 5. The remant of that people dispersed amongst strange Nations seems voluntarily to have embraced their manners and customs and utterly to have forgotten their own Land whereas those with whom we have to do daily expect desire and endeavour a return thereunto so that neither doth this evasion yield our present Jews any relief and we may return to
Attonement and Reconciliation and that some such thing was signified in their Sacrifices they do each one for himself torture slay and offer a Cock on the day of Expiation to make attonement for their sins and that unto the Devil The Rites of that Diabolical Solemnity are declared at large by Buxtorfius in his Synagog Judaic cap. 20. But yet as this folly manifests that they can find no rest in their consciences without their Sacrifices so it gives them not at all what they seek after And therefore being driven from all other hopes they trust at length unto their own Death for in Life they have no hope making this one of their constant Prayers Let my Death be the Expiation of all Sins But this is the curse and so no means to avoid it Omitting therefore these horrid follies of men under despair an effect of that wrath which is come upon them unto the uttermost the thing its self may be considered That the Sacrifices of Moses's Law in and by themselves should be a means to deliver men from the guilt of sin and to reconcile them unto God is contrary to the Light of Nature their own proper use and express Testimonies of the Old Testament For First Can any man think it reasonable that the blood of Bulls and Goats should of its self make an Expiation of the sin of the souls of men reconcile them to God the Judge of all and impart unto them an Everlasting Righteousness Our Apostle declares the manifest impossibility hereof Heb. 10. v. 4. They must have very mean and low thoughts of God his Holiness Justice Truth of the Demerit of Sin of Heaven and Hell who think them all to depend on the blood of a Calf or a Goat The Sacrifices of them indeed might by Gods appointment represent that to the minds of men which is effectuall unto the whole End of appeasing Gods Justice and of obtaining his Favour but that they should themselves effect it is unsuitable unto all the Apprehensions which are imbred in the heart of man either concerning the nature of God or the Guilt of Sin Secondly Their Primitive and proper use doth manifest the same For they were to be frequently repeated and in all the Repetitions of them there was still new mention made of sin They could not therefore by themselves take it away for if they could they would not have been reiterated It is apparent therefore that their use was to represent and bring to remembrance that which did perfectly take away sin For a perfect work may be often remembred but it need not it cannot be often done For being done for such an End and that End being obtained it cannot be done again The Sacrifices therefore were never appointed never used to take away sin which they did not but to represent that which did so effectually Besides there were some sins that men may be guilty of whom God will not utterly reject for which there was no Sacrifice appointed in the Law of Moses as was the case with David Psal. 51. v. 16. which makes it undeniable that there was some other way of Attonement besides them and beyond them as our Apostle declares Acts 13. v. 38 39. Thirdly The Scripture expresly rejects all the Sacrifices of the Law when they are trusted in for any such End and Purpose which sufficiently demonstrates that they were never appointed thereunto See Psal. 40 v. 6 7 8. Psal. 50. v. 8 9 10 11 12 13. Isa. 1. v. 11 12 13. Chap. 66. v. 3. Amos. 5.21 22. Micha 6. v. 6 7 8. and other places innumerable Add unto what hath been spoken that during the Observation of the whole Law § 22 of Moses whilest it was in force by the Appointment of God himself He still directed those who sought for Acceptance with him unto a New Covenant of Grace whole Benefits by faith they were then made partakers of and whole nature was afterwards more fully to be declared See Jerem. 31. v. 31 32 33 34. with the inferences of our Apostle thereon Heb. 8.12 13. And this plainly everts the whole Foundation of the Jews Expectation of Justification before God on the account of the Law of Moses given on Mount Sinai For to what purpose should God call them from resting on the Covenant thereof to look for Mercy and Grace in and by another if that had been able to give them the help desired In brief then the Jews fixing on the Law of Moses as the only means of delivery from sin and death as they do thereby exclude all mankind besides themselves from any interest in the Love Favour or Grace of God which they greatly design and desire so they cast themselves also into a miserable restless self-condemned condition in this world by trusting to that which will not relieve them and into Endless misery hereafter by refusing that which effectually would make them Heirs of Salvation For whilest they perish in their sin another better more glorious and sure Remedy against all the Evils that are come upon mankind or are justly feared to be coming by any of them is provided in the Grace Wisdom and Love of God as shall now farther be demonstrated The first intimation that God gave of this work of his Grace in Redeeming mankind § 23 from sin and misery is contained in the Promise subjoyned unto the Curse denounced against our first Parents and their Posterity in them Gen. 3. v. 15. The seed of the Woman shall bruise the Heaa of the Serpent and the Serpent shall bruise his Heel Two things there are contained in these words A Promise of Relief from the misery brought on mankind by the Temptation of Satan and an intimation of the Means or Way whereby it should be brought about That the first is included in these words is evident For First If there be not a Promise of Deliverance expressed in these words whence is it that the execution of the sentence of Death against sin is suspended Unless we will allow an Intervention satisfactory to the Righteousness and Truth of God to be expressed in these words there would have been a truth in the suggestion of the Serpent namely that whatever God had said yet indeed they were not to dye The Jews in the Midrash Tehillim as Kimchi informs us on Psal. 92. whose Title is a Psalm for the Sabbath Day which they generally assign unto Adam say that Adam was cast out of the Garden of Eden on the Evening of the sixth day after which God came to execute the Sentence of Death upon him but the Sabbath being come on the Punishment was deferred whereon Adam made that Psalm for the Sabbath Day Without an interposition of some external Cause and Reason they acknowledge that Death ought immediately to have been inflicted and other besides what is mentioned in these words there was none Secondly The whole Evil of sin and Curse that mankind then did or was to suffer under proceeded from the
present is necessary This then it seems was the End why God instituted Sacrifices namely that these Jews might obtain pardon of sin without either Repentance or Amendment And this is that which they love as their souls namely that they may live in their sins and be acquitted of all Danger by Sacrifices and outward services 3. Attonement for sin is expresly necessary or all the Institutions of Sacrifices for that End of old were vain and ludicrous At the same time when Sacrifices were in use Repentance was also required and therefore not to be a cause or means for the same End in the same kind with them And therefore notwithstanding their Pretence of Repentance no Jew upon his own Principles can now in the total Cessation of all Sacrifices obtain either Pardon of sin here or Salvation hereafter But to proceed Their corrupt carnal Affections have moreover greatly contributed and yet do so § 27 unto their Obstinacy in their Unbelief Hence have they coyned their self-pleasing imaginations about the Messiah and the work that he hath to do That He should be a King and reign gloriously that his Dominion should be over all the world and endure throughout all Generations was promised concerning him from the Beginning They think much therefore what Advantage this Kingdom may afford unto them comparing it in their minds with those other Empires which they see in the world Wealth Ease Liberty Dominion or a share in Power and Rule are the things that please their carnal minds and evidently fill them with Envy and Wrath against them by whom they are possessed These things they look after and hope for as the only things that are desirable the only Pledges indeed of the favour of God No Persons on the Earth have their thoughts more fixed on them then they As their Oppressions increase so do their Desires after Liberty and Rule and they have learned nothing by their Poverty but to grow in a greedy fierceness after Riches And when they would at any time set out the care of God towards their Nation they declare that such a one in such a place was worth so many thousand Crowns or drove such a Trade or was in such favour as that he rode in a Coach or Charriot as may be seen in the Address of Manasseh unto the English This Covetousness and Ambition with Revengefull thoughts against their Oppressors possessing their minds makes them desire hope and believe that the Kingdom of their Messiah shall be of this world and that therein their Enjoyments shall be as large as what ever now their Fancy can reach unto And so perfectly are they under the Power of these lusts and earthly desires in this matter that take away their Hopes of satisfying of them in the good things of this world that they will on very easie terms bid adieu unto their Messiah or grant that he is already come But whilest they are obstinately fixed in the expectation of them to tell them of a Spiritual and Heavenly Kingdom wherein the poorest and most persecuted Person on the Earth may have as good an Interest and enjoy as much Benefit by it as the greatest Monarch in the world and you do but cast away your words into the wind Secondly Since the Propagation of the Gospel and its success in the world Envy § 28 another corrupt Lust against the Gentile Believers hath exceedingly perverted their minds in their Notions about the Messiah And this they are filled withall upon a twofold account First Upon that of the Spiritual Priviledges which they saw claimed by them That the Gentiles or Nations of the Earth distinct from Israel should be Fellow-Heirs in the Promise with the Posterity of Abraham according unto the flesh was declared by all the Prophets of old But yet as we have shewed this was done by them in that obscure manner in comparison of the Revelation made of it in the Gospel that the Grace and Counsel of God therein is called a Mysterie hid from the Ages that went before Wherefore when this Design of the Love and Wisdom of God was brought to Light it filled the Jews who had lost the faith of it with Envy and Wrath. See Acts 13. v. 45 46 47 50. Chap. 22. v. 21 22 23. 1 Thess. 2. v. 15 16. The Stories of all Ages from thence unto this Day testifie the same nor do they yet stick to express these corrupt Affections as occasion is offered And this Envy being greatly predominant in thâ—m hardens them in their imagination of such a Messiah as by whom the Gentiles may receive no Benefit but what may accrue unto them by becoming their Servants They cannot endure to hear unto this Day that the Gentiles should be equal sharers with themselves in the Promise of the Messiah They would have him unto themselves alone or not at all And this keeps up their Desires and Expectations of such an one as they have fancied for their own Ends and Purposes § 29 Again Their Envy against the Gentiles is greatly increased and excited by the Oppressions and Sufferings from them which they undergoe This adds hatred and desire of Revenge unto it which render it impotent and unruly I speak not now of their present and past sufferings from Christians which in many places have been unrighteous and inhumane and so undoubtedly a great occasion of hardning them in their obstinacy but of their long continued oppressions under the Power of the Gentiles in general Having been greatly harrased and wasted by them in most Ages and having a Deliverer promised unto them they are strongly enclined to fancy such a Deliverance as being peculiarly thâ—irs should enable them to avenge themselves on their Old Enemies and Oppressors And this they think must be done not by an Heavenly Spiritual King ruling in the things concerning Religion and the Worship of God but by one that having a â—â—ghty Kingdom in this world shall by force and Power subdue their Enemies under them Such an one therefore they desire and look for and how hard it is for them to depose these thoughts unless they are freed by the Grace of God from the â—â—rnâ—l Affâ—ctâ—â—ns mentioned is not hard to ghess And these are some of those especial occasions wâ—ereby the Jews through their own blindness are hardened in their unbeliâ—f and disoâ—â—dience unto the Gospel whereunto others of the like kind may be added § 30 This is the Faith and Expectation of the present Jews all the world over concerning the Messiah in whom they place thâ—ir Confidence A meer man he is to be a King over the Jews at Jerusalem who shall conquâ—r many Nations and so give Peace Prosperity and Plenty unto all the Israelites in their own Land But what great matter is in all this Have not other men done as much or more for their Citizens and People Can they fancy that their Messiah should be more victorious or successfull then Alexander they dare not hope it At a
extend not unto In brief they do not precisely assert that at the End of the Seven Weeks Messiah the Prince should be for although they are distinguished from the other for some certain Purpose not expressed as to the Determination of the time of the coming of the Mâ—ssiah they are to be joyned with the sixty two Weeks as is expresly affirmed in the following words Now not to prevent my self in what is more largely afterwards to be insisted on in the Exposition of the several passages of this Prophecy after a full consideration of what sundry learned men have offered for the solving of this Difficulty I shall here briefly propose my apprehensions concerning it which I hope the Candid and Judicious Reader will find to answer the Conduct of the Context and Design of the place First I fix it here as unquestionable that the whole space of Seventy Weeks doth § 7 precisely contain the time between the going forth of the Decree and the Vnction of the Most Holy with his Passion that ensued some few years of the last Week remaining not reckoned on to keep the Computation entire by weeks of years This is so expresly affirmed v. 24. that the Interpretation of all that ensues is to be regulated thereby And this as we shall afterwards prove so here we take it for granted as the Hypothesis on which the present difficulty is to be solved There is then a Distribution of these LXX Weeks into VII LXII and One upon the account of some remarkable events happening at the distinct expiration of those several parcels of the whole season v. 25. We have two portions of this time expressed namely VII Weeks and LXII Weeks and two Events attending them Messiah the Prince and the building of the Street and Wall From the going forth of the Decree to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven Weeks and threescore and two Weeks the Street shall be built again and the Wall in troublous times The two Events here mentioned did ensue the two distinct parcels of time limited but not in the Order which the words at first view seem to represent as is evident from the Context For as the Messiah did not come at the Expiration of the VII Weeks so the LXII Weeks were not expired before the building of the City nor is that mentioned as the Event designed by the whole space of LXIX Weeks but as that which should fall out in some interval of it for the Prophecy issues not in the Restauration but Desolation of the City The Angel therefore expresseth the distinct divisions of time and the principal distinct events of them but not the Order of their accomplishment For the natural Order of these things is that in VII Weeks the building of the City Wall and Street should be finished and in LXII Weeks after the Messiah should be cut off And this is evident from the Text for as the building of the City can no way be said to be after the LXII Weeks but in and after the seven which was the season wherein the Decree was executed so the cutting off the Messiah is expresly said in the next verse to be after those LXII Weeks which succeeded unto the VII Weeks wherein the Restauration of the City was finished And to suppose the Messiah in v. 25. not to be the same with the Messiah v. 26. and the Most Holy v. 24. is to confound the whole order of the Words and to leave no certain sense in them For the single remaining Weeks the use of it shall be afterwards declared This distinction therefore of the several portions of the whole time limited doth rather confirm our Application of this Prophecy then any way impeach the Truth or Evidence of it It is added Fourthly That the cutting off the Messiah here spoken of is expresly joyned § 8 with the destruction of the City in one Week to be accomplished the last seven years whereas Christ sufferred above thirty years before the destruction of the Materiall Jerusalem v. 26 27. Answer There appears no such thing in the Text. The destruction of the City and People is only mentioned as a consequent of the cutting off and rejection of the Messiah without any limitation of time wherein it should be performed and de facto it succeeded immediately in the causes of it and direct tendency thereunto § 9 In the last place he sayes Those Phrases v. 24. to finish the Transgression to make an end of sin to purge iniquity and to bring in everlasting Righteousness are manifest Characters of the time of the end as shall be shewed Answ. But why are not the other Ends expressed in the Prophecy namely to seal up Vision and Prophecy and to annoint the Most Holy here mentioned also Why is that Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated to purge iniquity whereas it rather signifies to make Attonement or Reconciliation for iniquity Is it not because it would be very difficult to make any tolerable application of these things unto the season which is called the time of the End In brief these things are so proper so peculiar unto the Lord Christ and the work of his Mediation that in their first direct and proper sense they cannot be ascribed unto any other things or Persons without some impiety And there is no reason why we should here wrest them from their native and genuine signification all which will be fully manifest in our ensuing Exposition of the words themselves § 10 I shall not here insist on those Reasons and Arguments whereby we prove the true and only Messiah to be intended in this Prophecy For as they are needless unto Christians who are universally satisfied with the truth hereof so we shall from the Context and other Evidences immediately confirm them against the Modern Jews and their Masters In the mean time wholly to remove this unexpected Objection out of our way I shall shew the invalidity of those pretences which the same Learned Author makes use of to countenance his Application of this whole Angelical Message unto the Christian Churches of these latter dayes which are these that follow § 11 First saith he Because the effects Characterizing the end of those years the consuming of transgression and the bringing in of everlasting righteousness are effects to be accomplished in the Christian Church at the fall of Antichrist Isa. 1.25 26 27 28. and 27.19 Apocal. 21.27 Answ. These are but some of the effects mentioned and one of them not rightly expressed there are others in the Prophecy as the Annointing of the most Holy and cutting off the Messiah that can with no colour of probability be applyed unto that season 2. However something analogous unto what is here spoken of as an effect and product of it may be wrought at another time in the conformity of the Church unto its Head yet properly and directly as here intended they are the immediate effects of the annointing death and
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Saadias Haggeon on Daniel the 9th Israel had no Prophet after the finishing of the second house but those who enjoyed the Bath Kol But what is now become of that Bath Kol also for a thousand six hundred years Is not all pretence of Revelations utterly departed what then is become of that Covenant wherein it was promised unto them yea we know that they have not only left the Holy Ghost as a spirit of Prophecy but also as a spirit of grace and supplications so that besides a few superstitious forms repeated by number and tale there is no such thing as prayer amongst them as some of their late Masters have acknowledged What reason now can be assigned of this state and condition of things but only § 8 that the Covenant wherein the good things mentioned were promised unto them had a time limited unto it when it was to give place unto a new one of another nature And this the Jews acknowledge is to take date from the coming of the Messiah God is faithful unchangeable able to make good his promises and his word to the utmost The present Jews are no less Jews of the carnal seed of Abraham then their forefathers were It cannot be then but that the Covenant made with them until the coming of the Messiah is long since expired And therefore also that he is long since come Two things in general the Jews reply unto these considerations the one as they § 9 have occasion and advantage the other openly and constantly The first which they only mention as they have occasion is the prosperity of some of their Nation in this or that Country with the honour and riches that some of them have attained unto Unto this purpose they tell us stories of their number and wealth in the East out of Benjamin Tudulensis and others with the riches of some of them in the Western parts of the world also But themselves know that none of these things not one of them was promised unto them in the Covenant that God made with them upon Mount Horeb. All the promises of it respected the Land of Canaan with their preservation there or return thither What they get abroad in the world elsewhere under the power and dominion of other Nations befalls them in a way of common providence as the like things do the vilest wretches of the earth and not in a way of any especial promise And therefore when Daniel and Nehemiah with others were exalted unto glory and riches among the Babylonians and Persians yet they rested not therein but pleaded the Covenant of God for their restauration unto the Land promised unto Abraham And to suppose that the wealth of a few Jews up and down the world gotten by Physick or Vsury or farming of Customs is an accomplishment of the promises before insisted on is openly to despise the promises and the Author of them § 10 But it is pleaded secondly by them That it is for their sins that the coming of the Messiah is thus retarded and prolonged But it is not about the coming of the Messiah directly and immediately that they are pressed withall in these considerations that which we enquire about is their present state and their long continuance therein with the reason of it only aiming to find out and discover the true cause thereof This they say is because of their sins and this also in general we grant But yet must further enquire what they intend thereby I ask therefore whether it be for the sins of their forefathers who lived before the last final dispersion or for their sins who have since lived in their several Generations that they are thus utterly forsaken If they shall say it is for the sins of their forefathers as Manasseh plainly doth Quest. 43. in Gen. p. 65. And sundry others of them do the same then I desire to know whether they think God to be changed from what he was of old or whether he be not still every way the same as to all the promises of the Covenant supposing they will say that he is still the same I desire to know whether he did not in former times in the daies of their Judges and Kings especially in the Babylonian Captivity punish them for their sins with that contemperation of Justice and mercy which was agreeable unto the Tenor of the Covenant This I suppose they will not deny the Scripture speaking so fully unto it and the Righteousness of God requiring it I desire then to know what were the sins of their forefathers before the destruction of the second Temple and your final dispersion which so much according to the Rules of the Covenant exceeded the sins of them who lived before the desolation of the first Temple and the captivity that ensued for we know that the sins of those former were punished only with a dispersion which some of them saw the beginning and ending of the duration of the whole of it not exceeding seventy years after which they were returned again to their own Land But the captivity and dispersion which hath befallen them upon the sins of those who lived before the destruction of the second Temple as they were in their manner and entrance much more terrible dreadful and tremendious then the former so they have now continued in them above twenty times seventy years without any promise of a recovery God being still the same that he was if the Old Covenant with the Jews be still in force The difference between this dispensation must arise from the difference of the sins of the one sort of persons and the other Now of all the sins which on the general account of the Law of God the sons of men can make themselves guilty of Idolatry doubtless is the greatest The choosing of other Gods is a compleat renunciation of the true one And therefore comprised in it all other sins what ever for casting off the yoke of God and our dependance on him as the first cause and last end of all it doth that in gross and by whole-sale which other sins do only by retail and therefore is this sin forbidden in the head of the Law as intimating that if the command of owning the true God and him alone be not adhered unto it is to no purpose to apply our selves unto them that follow Now it is known to all that this sin of Idolatry abounded amongst them under the first Temple and that also for a long continuance attended with Violence Adulteries Persecution and Oppression but that those under the second Temple had contracted the guilt of this sin the present Jews do not pretend and we know that they hated all appearance of it Nor are they able to assign any other sins what ever wherein they went higher in their provocations then their Progenitors under the first Temple What then is the cause of the different event and success between them before insisted on It cannot be
but that either they have contracted the guilt of some sin wherewith God was more displeased then with the Idolatry of their fore-fathers or that the Covenant made with them is expired or that there hath been a coincidence of both these and that indeed is the condition of things with them The Messiah came in whom the carnal Covenant was to expire and they rejected and slew him justly deserving their perpetuall rejection from it and disinheritance § 11 Sometimes they will plead that it is for their own sins and the sins of the Generations that succeeded the destruction of the second Temple that they are kept thus long in misery and captivity But we know that they use this plea only as a covering for their obstinate blindness and infidelity Take them from this dispute and they are continually boasting of their Righteousness and Holiness for they do not only assure us that they are better then all the world besides but also much better then their fore-fathers as Manasse plainly affirms in the place before cited and that on the day of Expiation that is once a year they are as holy as the Angels in Heaven There are therefore one or two things which I would desire to know of them as to this pretence of their own sins which on another account must also be afterwards insisted on First Then whereas it is a principle of their faith That all Jews excepting Apostates are so holy and righteous that they shall all be saved have all a portion in the blessed world to come whence is it that none of them are so Righteous as to be returned into the Land of Canaan Is it not strange that that Righteousness which serves the turn to bring them all to Heaven will not serve to bring any one of them to Jerusalem This latter being more openly and frequently promised unto them then the former I know not how to solve this difficulty ipsi viderint Again Repentance from their sins is a thing wholly in their own power or it is not if they shall say it is in their own power as generally they do I desire to know why they defer it The brave imaginations that they have of the levelling of Mountains the dividing of Rivers the singing of Woods and dancing of Trees of the Coaches and Chariots of Kings to carry them as also their riding upon the shoulders of their rich neighbours into Jerusalem the Conquest of the world the eating of Behemoth and drinking the Wine of Paradice the Riches Wives and long Life that they shall have in the dayes of the Messiah do make them as they pretend patiently endure all their long exile and calamitie And can this not prevail with them for a little Repentance which they may perform when they please with a wet finger and so obtain them all in a trice If they are so evidently blind foolish and mad in and about that which they look upon as their only great concernment in this world have they not great cause to be jealous lest they are also equally blind in other things and particularly in that wherein we charge them with blindness This it seems is the State of these things Unless they repent the Messiah will not come unless he come they cannot be delivered out of their calamitie nor enjoy the promises To repent is a thing in their own power which yet they had rather endure all miseries and foregoe all the promises of God then take in hand or go through with it And what shall we say to such a perverse generation of men who openly proclaim that they will live in their sins though they have never more to do with God unto eternity If they shall say that Repentance is the gift of God and that without his powring forth his Spirit upon them they cannot attain unto it then I desire to know whence it is that God doth not give them Repentance as he did to their fore-fathers if the Covenant continue established with them as in former dayes From what hath been discoursed It doth sufficiently appear that the state and condition of the Jews hath been such in the world for these sixteen hundred years as manifests the end of their special Covenant to be long since come and consequently the Messiah in whom it was to expire There is one of them a nameless person not unlearned who hath written somewhat § 12 lately in the Portugal Language which is translated into Latin by Brenius the Socinian who gives so satisfactory an Answer in his own conceit unto this Argument that he concludes that every one who is not obstinate or blinded with corrupt affections must needs acquiesce therein His confidence if not his reasons deserves our consideration especially considering that he offers somewhat new unto us which their former Masters did not insist upon That then which he returns as an Answer unto the enquiry of the Causes and Reasons of their present long captivities and miserie is the sins of their fore-fathers under the first Temple The greatness of these sins he saith is expressed by the Prophet Ezekiel Chap. 16.48 As I live saith the Lord God Sodom thy Sister hath not done she nor her daughters as though hast done thou and thy daughters To which he adds Isa. 1.9 where mention is made again of Sodom So that this Captivity is to them in the room of such a destruction as Sodom was overthrown withall But it may be said that these sins what ever they were were expiated in the Babylonish Captivity and pardoned unto them upon their return So that now they must suffer on the account of their sins committed under the second Temple to which he replyes that this exception is of no force Nam liberatio e Babilone nihil aliud suit quam exploratio qua Deus experiri voluit an cum restitutione Regni Templi possint abbreviari expiari enormia ista quae commiscerant adulterii homicidii Idolatriae peccata sed pro antecedentium debitorum solutione quam prestare debuerunt nova insuper debita accumulaverunt For the deliverance from Babylon was nothing but a tryal whereby God would make an experiment whether with the restitution of their Kingdom and Temple these enormous sins of Adultery Murder and Idolatry which they had committed might have been cut off and expiated but instead of a discharge of their former arrears which they were obliged unto they heaped up new debts by their sins Thus he At their deliverance out of Babylon the people had no discharge of their former sins by the pardon of them but were only tryed how they would afresh acquit themselves with a resolution in God that if they made not satisfaction then for those sins to charge the guilt of them again upon themselves and all their posterity for all the generations that are passed untill this day But First This is plainly a fiction of this mans own devising Let him produce any one word from the Scripture
foresee that their conditions and manners would be such as the event hath proved them whence he must also know that it was impossible that the Messiah should come at the time limited and determined I ask to what end and purpose he doth so often and at so great a distance of time promise and foretell that he should come at such a time and season seeing he knew perfectly that he should not so do and so that not one word of his predictions should be fulfilled why I say did he fix on a time and season foretell it often limit it by signs infallible give out an exact computation of the years from the time of his predictions and call all men unto an expectation of his coming accordingly when by his foresight of the Jews want of merit and repentance no such thing could possibly fall out God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not deal thus with the sons of men This were not to promise and foretell in infinite veracity but purposely to deceive The condition then pretended cannot be put upon the promise of the coming of the Messiah without a direct denyal of some and by just consequence of all the essential properties of the nature of God § 20 Thirdly there is not in the whole Scripture the least intimation of any such condition as that which they pretend the promise insisted on to be clogged withall It is no where said no where intimated that if the Jews repented and merited well the Messiah should come at the time mentioned no where threatned that if they did not so his coming should be put off unto an uncertain day We know not nor are they able to inform us whence they had this condition unless they will acknowledge that they have forged it in their own brains to give countenance unto their infidelity Before the time allotted was elapsed and they had obstinately refused him who was sent and came according unto promise There was not the least rumour of any such thing amongst them Some of their Predecessors invented it to palliate their impiety which so they may do they are not solicitous what reflection it may cast upon the honour of God Besides as the Scripture is silent as to any thing that may give the least colour unto this pretence so it delivers that which is contrary unto it and destructive of it for it informs us that the season of the coming of the Mâ—ssiah shall be a time of great sin darkness and misery which also their own Masters in other places and on other occasions acknowledges So Isa. 52. 53. Jer. 31.32 33. Dan. 9.24 Zach. 13.1 Mal. 3.4 He was to come to turn men from ungodliness and not because they were turned so before his coming There can be no place then for this Condition § 21 Fourthly The suggestion of this condition overthrows the rise of the promise and the whole nature of the thing promised We have before manifested that the rise and spring of this promise was meer love and soveraign Grace There was not any thing in man Jew nor Gentile that should move the Lord to provide a remedy and relief for them who had destroyed themselves Now to suspend the promise of this Love and Grace on the righteousness and repentance of them unto whom it was made is perfectly to destroy it and to place the merit of it in man whereas it arose purely from the Grace of God Again it utterly takes away and destroyes the nature of the thing promised We have proved that it is a Relief a Recovery a Salvation from sin and misery that is the subject matter of this promise To suppose that this shall not be granted unless men as a condition of it deliver themselves from their sins is to assert a plain contradiction so wholly to destroy the promise He was not promised unto men because they were penitent and just but to make them so And to make the righteousness of Jews or Gentiles the condition of his coming is to take his work out of his hand and to render both him and his coming useless But this figment proceeds from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Jews namely that the Messiah is not promised to free them from their own sins but to make them possessors of other mens goods not to save their souls but their bodies and estates not to make men heirs of Heaven but Lords of the earth which folly hath been before discovered and disproved Fifthly The Jews on several accounts are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or self-condemned in § 22 the use of this plea or pretence Their great sins they say are the cause why the coming of the Messiah is retarded But First what those sins are they cannot declare We readily grant them to be wicked enough but withal we know their great wickedness to consist in that which they will not acknowledge namely not in being unfit for his coming but in refusing him when he came They instance sometimes in their hatred one of another their mutual animosities and frequent adulteries and want of observing the Sabbath according to the rules of their present superstitious scrupulosity But what is all this unto the Abominations which God passed over formerly in their Nation and also fulfilled his promises unto them though really conditionall 2. Take them from the rack of our Arguments and you hear no more of their confessions no more of their sins and wickedness but they are immediately all righteous and holy all beloved of God and better then their fore-fathers yea 3. On the day of expiation they are all as holy if we may believe them as the Angels in Heaven There is not one sin amongst them so that it is strange the Messiah should not at one time or another come to them on that day 4. They have a Tradition among themselves that the coming of the Messiah may be hastened but not retarded So they speak in their gloss on Isa. 60.22 I the Lord will hasten it in its time Tractat. Saned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rabbi Alexander said and Rabbi Joshua the Son of Levi it is written in his time and it is written I will hasten it I will hasten it if they deserve it and if they deserve it not yet in its own time and this they apply to the coming of the Messiah 5. They assert many of them that it is themselves who are spoken of in the fifty third of Isaiah and their being causelesly afflicted by the Gentiles now he whom the Prophet there speaks of is one perfectly innocent and righteous and so they must needs be in their own esteem supposing themselves there intended So that this pretence is known to themselves to be no more Sixthly This plea is directly contrary to the nature of the Covenant which God promised § 23 to make at the coming of the Messiah or that which he came to ratifie and establish and the reason which God gives for the making of
laboured to defend their obstinacy and unbelief And this we shall engage into with as much briefness as the nature of the matter treated of will admit Many are the Books which they have written among themselves mostly in the Hebrew Tongue and some in other Languages but the Hebrew Character against Christians and their Religion Unto sundry of these they give triumphant insulting Titles as though they had undoubtedly obtained a perfect Victory over their Adversaries but the Books themselves in nothing answer their specious Frontispieces Take away wilful mistakes gross Paralogisms false Stories and some few Grammatical nicities and they vanish into nothing What is spoken by them or for them that seems to have any weight shall be produced and examined Sundry things they object unto the Doctrine of the Gospel concerning the Person of the Messiah or his being God and man the rejection of the Mosaical Ceremonies and Law which they deem eternal and many exceptions they lay against particular passages and expressions in the Historical Books of the New Testament But all these things have been long since cleared and answered by others and I have also my self spoken to the most important of them partly in the preceding Discourses partly in my defence of the Deity and satisfaction of Christ against the Socinians For what concerns the Law of Moses and the abolition of it as to the Ceremonious Worship therein instituted it must be at large insisted on in that Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews which these discourses are only intended to make way unto I shall not here therefore enter upon a particular discussion of their Opinions Arguments and Objections about these things besides they belong not immediately to the subject of our present Discourse It is about the coming of the Messiah simply that we are disputing this we assert to be long since past the Jews deny him to be yet come living in the hope and expectation of him which at present is in them but as the giving up of the Ghost The means whereby this dying deceiving hope is supported in them comes now under examination and this alone is the subject of our ensuing Discourse To countenance themselves then in their denial of the coming of the Messiah they do § 2 all of them make use of one general Argument which they seek to confirm in and by several instances Now this is that the Promises made and recorded to be accomplished at the coming of the Messiah are not fulfilled and therefore the Messiah is not yet come This fills up their Books of Controversies and is constantly made use of by their Expositors so often as any occasion seems to offer its self unto them The Messiah say they was promised of old Together with him and to be wrought by him many other things were promised These things they see not at all fulfilled nay not those which contain the only work and business that he was promised for and therefore they will not â—elieve that he is come This general Argument I say they seek to confirm by instances wherein they reckon up all the promises which they suppose as yet unaccomplished and so endeavour to establish their Conclusion These we shall afterwards cast under the several heads whereunto they do belong and return that answer which the Word of Truth its self and the event do manifest to be the mind of God in them For the present unto their general Argument we say that all the Promises concerning the coming of the Messiah are actually fulfilled and those which concern his Grace and Kingdom are partly already accomplished and for the remainder shall be so in the manner time and season appointed for them and designed unto them in the purpose and Counsel of God So that from hence nothing can be concluded in favour of the Jews incredulity To evidence the truth of this Answer I shall lay down and confirm certain unquestionable principles that will guide us in the interpretation of the Promises that are under consideration § 3 The first is That the Promises concerning the Messiah do principally respect spiritual things and that eternal salvation which he was to obtain for his Church This we have proved at large before and this the very nature of the thing its self and the words of the Promises do abundantly manifest The Jews I suppose will not deny but the Promise concerning the Messiah is of the greatest Good that ever God engaged himself to bestow upon them I do not find that they any where deny it And it is at present the summ of all their desires prayers and expectations with the hopes whereof they comfort and support themselves in all their calamities If they should deny it it may easily be proved against them by innumerable Testimonies of Scripture many whereof have been already produced Now there can be no Reason of this but only because he was to work and effect for them who ever they be unto whom he was promised the greatest Good that they can or may be made partakers of And if it be only a Good of an inferior nature that he was to effect and any other means was to be used for that which was more principal and excellent that means is much to be preferred before him and above him Now what is this Chief Good of man Doth it consist in Riches Honor Power Pleasures the blindest of the Heathen were never blind enough to think so nor can any man entertain any such imagination without renouncing not only all right reason but in an especial manner the whole Scripture I think the Jews will not deny but that this Good consists in the favour of God in this world and the Eternal Enjoyment of him hereafter Now if the Messiah were promised only to procure those first outward temporary perishing things and these latter are to be obtained by another means namely by the observation of the Law of Moses it is evident that that is to be preferred infinitely before him which that it is not as we said is manifest from the whole Scripture and confirmed by the traditional hope and expectation of the Jews For if they enjoy that which is incomparably the Chiefest Good to what end do they so miserably bemoan themselves in their present condition and with so much impatience cry out for the coming of their Messiah Are they such slaves in their affections unto earthly perishing things that living in the enjoyment of all that is needful to procure them the love and favour of God with the eternal enjoyment of him they can have no rest or quiet because they enjoy not the good things of this life Doubtless this great expectation had a greater rise and cause then now they will own I know men are apt to complain under and to desire relief from outward trouble but to place the main of their Religion herein when they have Grace the pardon of sin and Heaven on other accounts this is only done
Eli blessed Hannah 1 Sam. 1.17 Thirdly His work also was to Judge the people 1. In things concerning the House and Worship of God Zech. 3.7 2. In hard and difficult cases he joyned with the Judge or Ruler in judging between men according to the Law Deut. 17.12 3. He was always a member of the Sanhedrim This I know is denied by some of the Jews but it seems to be warranted from Deut. 17. v. 8 9 10 11 12 13. § 9 Being thus appointed in his Office a Succession also therein was designed namely by the First-born Male of the eldest Family or Branch of the Posterity or House of Aaron But the tracing of this succession in particular is greatly perplexed for it is no where directly given us in the Scripture for that space of time wherein the story of the Church is recorded therein Different names are also in several places given unto the same persons as seems most probable Besides Josephus who is the only approved Writer of the Jews in things of this nature is either corrupted in some passages on this subject or doth palpably contradict himself The Postalmudical Masters are so far from yielding any relief in this matter that by their jarrings and wranglings they render it more perplexed Neither have those amongst our Writers who of old or of late have laboured to trace this Succession been able to agree in their computations Four or five differing Catalogues I could give in that are contended for with some earnestness I shall not therefore hope in this brief account of things which I am confined unto to give light unto a matter of such intricacy and perplexity I shall therefore content my self to give the most passant account among the Jews of this Succession in general with some few observations upon it and so close this discourse § 10 It is generally agreed after Josephus that the whole number of High priests from Aaron inclusively to the destruction of the second Temple was eighty and three For though in the Babylonian Talmud some of them reckon up above eighty High priests under the second Temple alone yet the more learned of the later Jews as the Author of Tzemach David ad Millen 4. An. 829. expresly prefer the authority of Josephus above them all Of these eighty three thirteen administred before the Lord under the Tabernacle or whilst the Tabernacle built by Moses in the Wilderness was the sacred seat of divine Worship and Ordinances Of these the first was Aaron the last Abiathar who was put by the Priesthood by Solomon a little before the building of the Temple And in this Succession there was but one interruption namely when Eli of the House of Ithamar the younger son of Aaron was preferred to the Priesthood It is probable that he had been second Priest in the days of his Predecessor and was doubtless admitted unto the Office upon the reputation of his Holiness and Wisdom And it may be that he whose right it was to succeed of the House of Phineas was either uncapable or judged unworthy § 11 In the first or Solomon's Temple there administred eighteen High Priests whose names are recounted by Josephus lib. 11. cap. 4. lib. 20. cap. 9. Of these the first was Zadock the last Jehozadeck who was carried into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar 1 Chron. 6.14 though I question whether ever he administred as High Priest only he was left at the destruction of the City and Temple after the death of his father Seraiah Nor was there any known interruption in this Series of Succession being carried down in a right line from the House of Phineas by Zadock § 12 The remainder of the number before mentioned served under the second Temple being multiplied by the tumults and disorders which the people then fell into The first of them was Joshua the son of Josedech the last one Phineas or Phananias made High Priest by the seditious Villains a little before the last Siege and destruction of the City And this succession or that during this season had interruptions many and great The first mentioned by Josephus was after the death of Onias the fourteenth High Priest from the building of the Temple when Antiochus first put in Joshua who was called Jason the brother of Onias and afterwards displacing him thrust in Menelaus into his room After a while he puts out this Menelaus and placeth one Alcimus of another Family in his steed After this Alcimus the Family of the Machabees or Hasmoneans took on them the office of the High priesthood Their race being extirpated by Herod Ananus a private Priest was by force and power put into the place And from this time forward to the destruction of the Temple there was no order observed in the Succession of the High Priest but persons were put in and out at the pleasure of the Rulers either the Romans or the Herodians For Hyrcanus being taken prisoner by the Parthians and Antigonus the son of Aristohulus his brother being taken by Herod and Sofia and crucified at Antioch by Marc. Antony in whom the race of the Hasmonaeans ended vile persons were put in and out at pleasure some for a year some for a month one for a day some for a longer season until the whole Nation Church and State rushing into its final and fatal ruine in their Rebellion at Hierusalem they thrust out Matthias put in by Agrippa and chose one by lot to succeed him when God to manifest his disapprobation of them caused the lot to fall upon one Phananias a meer Ideot who knew nothing of the place or office which they called him unto with whom ended the Church and Priesthood of the Jews Exercitatio XXIV Sacrifices the principal Worship of God Three sorts of them 1. Of the Brazen Altar 2. Of the Sanctuary 3. Of the most Holy place Respected by the Apostle All sacrifices of the Altar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every Corban either Isha or Terumah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of six sorts 1. Hola 2. Mincha 3. Chataath 4. Asham 5. Milluim 6. Shelamim A second distinction of fire Offerings Either Zebach or Mincha These distinctions and differences explained at large The matter of all sacrifices 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first particular sacrifice The rise use and direction of it Vse of it among the Heathen What of antient tradition what of their own invention The manner of their sacrifice The end of it To make Expiation or Attonement what Seasons and occasions of this sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A meat-offering The use of that name general particular The matter of this offering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the drink offering The matter of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peace offerings Reason of the name Things peculiar to this kind of sacrifice The use of it among the Heathen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sin-offering The name and causes of it Sins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what The persons to offer this sacrifice The annointed
Attonement rendered this of Thankfulness acceptable unto God see Heb. 13.15 16. § 34 Secondly The peculiar Parts of the Beast in this Sacrifice that were to be burned on the Altar are enumerated namely the Suet and Fat of the inwards the Kidnies and their fat the fat on the Flanks and the Caul of the Liver or the Midriff Hence it is laid down as a general Rule that all the fat is the Lords v. 16 And it is called a perpetual Statute for all their Generations through all their dwellings that they should eat no fat v. 17. But yet this general Precept had a double limitation First That only that fat which was to be offered was excepted from eating Of the other fat diffused through the rest of the flesh they might eat Secondly It was only the fat of Beasts appointed to be offered in Sacrifice that was forbidden as it is directly exppressed Levit. 7.25 Of the fat of other clean Beasts they might eat And this offering of the Fat seems to denote our serving of God with the best that we have which yet is not acceptable but by vertue of the Blood of Christ as the fat was to be burned in the Burnt-offering or Sacrifice of Attonement § 35 Of the kind of these Shelamim were the Offerings among the Heathen which they sacrificed either upon any great undertaking which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a way of Vow or upon any success So Cyrus Minor Xenophon and Arianus in their Expeditions sacrificed Sacrificia Votiva and the latter sort were in an especial manner provided for in the Pontifical Law as it is reported by Festus Cujus auspicio classe procincta opima spolia capiuntur Jovi feretrito darier oportet bovem caedito qui caepit aeris ducenta Secunda spolia in Martis aram in Campo solitaurilia utra voluerit caedito Tertia spolia Jano Quirino agnum Marem caedito centum qui caeperit ex aere dato The next sort of Sacrifice was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chataath or Sin-offering whose Laws and § 36 Rites are described Levit. 4. This Sacrifice is not expresly called a Corban or a Gift it being wholly a Debt to be paid for Expiation and Attonement but being brought nigh unto God it partook in general of the nature of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corbanim It was of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fireings or Fire-offerings expresly v. 12. because of the burning of the Fat on the Altar and of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or slain Sacrifices And also it was of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or most holy things from its Institution and Signification The name of it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chataath that is sin He shall do to the Bullock as he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Bullock of the Sin that is of the Sin-offering Levit. 4.20 So Ezek. 45.1 The Priest shall take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the blood of the sin that is the Sin-offering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chata in kal is to sin to offend to err from the way to contract the guilt of sin Hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chataim are men given up unto and wandring in the ways of sin Psal. 1.1 In Pihel it hath a contrary signification namely to purge to expiate to cleanse to make Attonement to undergo penalty to make satisfaction Gen. 31.39 That which was torn saith Jacob to Laban I brought it not to thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 achatennah I answered for it I paid for it I went by the loss of it See Exod. 29.36 Numb 19.19 Levit. 6.26 According to this signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used to denote an Offering for sin that whereby sin is expiated pardon of it is procured Attonement is made So prayes David Psal. 51. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou shalt purge me with Hysop as Numb 19. that is clear me free me as by an Offering for sin And this kind of expression our Apostle retains not only where he reports a Testimony of the Old Testament as Heb. 10. v. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Burnt-offerings and for sin that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sin-offering but also where he makes Application of it unto the Lord Christ and his Sacrifice which was typified thereby Rom. 8.3 God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Offering for sin a Sin-offering as the word should have been translated And 2 Cor. 5.21 Him who knew no sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he made sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sin-offering for us The general cause of this Sacrifice was sin committed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Levit. 4.2 say we § 37 through ignorance So the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Vulgar Latin per ignorantiam through ignorance Some old Copies of the Greek have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not voluntarily not wilfully For it had respect unto all sins as were not committed so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 willingly wilfully presumptuously as that there was no Sacrifice appointed for them the Covenant being disannulled by them Heb. 10.26 And there is no sort of sins no sin whatever that is between this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this sin of ignorance or error and sin committed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an high hand or presumptuously See expresly Numb 15.28 29 30. Hence this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Sin-offering was the great Sacrifice of the solemn Day of Expiation Levit. 16. whereby Attonement was made for all the uncleanness of the children of Israel and because of their transgressions in all their sins v. 16. And upon the head of the live Goat which was a part of the Sin-offering on that day there was confessed and laid all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins v. 27. That is all iniquities not disannulling the Covenant which had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a revenging Recompence allotted unto them Heb. 2.2 And accordingly are those words to be interpreted where the cause of this Sacrifice is expressed Levit. 4.2 If a soul sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Error Ignorance imprudently against any of the commandments of the Lord as it ought not to do and shall do against any of them And an instance is given in him who killed his neighbour without propense malice Deut. 9.4 Any sin is there intended whereinto men fall by Error Ignorance Imprudence Incogitancy Temptation Violence of Affections and the like For such was this Sacrifice instituted And the End which it typically represented is expressed 1 John 2.1 2. If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our sins namely in the room of and as represented by the Sin-offering of old whereby Attonement and Propitiation was typically made for sin Only there was this difference That whereas the Law of Moses was appointed to
â—â—â—e and immortality were brought to light by the Gospel so death and hell the punâ—â—â—ment of sin under the wrath of God are more fully declared therein The Nature of the judgment to come the duration of the penalties to be inflicted on unbelievers with such intimations of the nature and kind of them as our understandings are able to receive are fully and frequently insisted on in the New Testament whereas they are very obscurely only gathered out of the Writings of the Old 2. The punishment threatned in the Gospel is as unto degrees greater and more sore than that which was annexed to the meer transgression of the first Covenant Hence the Apostle calls it death unto death 2 Cor. 2.16 by reason of the sore aggravations which the first sentence of death will receive from the wrath due unto the contempt of the Gospel Separation from God under eternal punishment was unquestionably due to the sin of Adam and so consequently unto every transgression against the first Covenant Gen. 2.17 Rom. 5.12 13 14. But yet this hinders not but that the same penalty for the nature and kind of it may receive many and great aggravations upon mens sinning against that great Remedy provided against the first guilt and prevarication which it also doth as shall farther afterwards be declared And this ought they to be well acquainted withall who are called unto the Dispensation of the Gospel A fond conceit hath befallen some that all denunciations of future wrath even unto unbelievers is Legal which therefore it doth not become the Preachers of the Gospel to insist upon so would men make themselves wiser than Jesus Christ and all his Apostles yea they would disarm the Lord Christ and expose him to the contempt of his vilest enemies There is also we see a great use in these Evangelical threatnings unto believers themselves And they have been observed to have had an effectual ministery both unto Conversion and Edification who have been made wise and dextrous in managing Gospel Comminations towards the consciences of their hearers And those also that hear the Word may hence learn their duty when such threatnings are handled and opened unto them II. All punishments annexed unto the transgression either of the Law or Gospel are effects of God's vindictive Justice and consequently just and equal A meet recompence of reward What it is the Apostle doth not declare but he doth that it is just and equal which depends on the Justice of God appointing and designing of it Foolish men have always had tumultuating thoughts about the judgments of God Some have disputed with him about the equity and equality of his ways in judgments temporal Ezek. 18. and some about those that shall be eternal Hence was the vain imagination of them of old who dreamed that an end should be put after some season unto the punishment of Devils and wicked men so turning hell into a kind of Purgatory Others have disputed in our days that there shall be no hell at all but a meer annihilation of ungodly men at the last day These things being so expresly contrary to the Scripture can have no other rise but the corrupt minds and affections of men not conceiving the reasons of God's judgments nor acquiescing in his Sovereignty That which they seem principally to have stumbled at is the assignation of a punishment infinite as to its duration as well as in its nature extended unto the utmost capacity of the subject unto a fault temporary finite and transient Now that we may justifie God herein and the more clearly discern that the punishment inflicted finally on sin is but a meet recompence of reward we must consider First That God's Justice constituting and in the end inflicting the reward of sin is essential unto him Is God unjust saith the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anger or wrath is not that from whence punishment proceedeth but punishment it self God inflicteth wrath anger or vengeance And therefore when we read of the anger or wrath of God against sin or sinners as Rom. 1.18 the expression is metonymical the cause being designed by the effect The true fountain and cause of the punishment of sin is the Justice of God which is an Essential property of his Nature natural unto him and inseparable from any of his works And this absolutely is the same with his Holiness or the infinite Purity of his Nature So that God doth not assign the punishment of sin arbitrarily that he might do so or otherwise without any impeachment of his Glory but his Justice and his Holiness indispensibly require that it should be punished even as it is indispensibly necessary that God in all things should be just and holy The holy God will do no iniquity the Judge of all the earth will do right and will by no means acquit the guilty This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the judgement of God that which his Justice requireth that they which commit sin are worthy of death Rom. 1.32 And God cannot but do that which it is just that he should do See 2 Thess. 1.6 We have no more Reason then to quarrel with the Punishment of sin than we have to repine that God is Holy and Just that is that he is God for the one naturally and necessarily followeth upon the other Now there is no Principle of a more uncontrolable and Soveraign Truth written in the hearts of all men than this that what the Nature of God or any of his Essential Properties require to be is holy meet equal just and good Secondly That this Righteousness or Justice of God is in the Exercise of it inseparably accompanied with infinite Wisdom These things are not diverse in God but are distinguished with respect unto the various manners of his actings and the variety of the Objects which he acteth towards and so denote a different Habitude of the Divine Nature not diverse things in God They are therefore inseparable in all the works of God Now from this Infinite Wisdom of God which his Righteousness in the constitution of the punishment of sin is eternally accompanied withal two things ensue 1. That He alone knoweth what is the true desert and demerit of sin and but from his Declaration of creatures not any And how shall we judge of what we know nothing but from him but only by what he doth We see amongst men that the guilt of crimes is aggravated according to the Dignity of the Persons against whom they are committed Now no creature knowing him perfectly against whom all sin is committed none can truly and perfectly know what is the desert and demerit of sin but by his Revelation who is perfectly known unto himself And what a madness is it to judge otherwise of that we do no otherwise understand Shall we make our selves Judges of what sin against God doth deserve Let us first by searching find out the Almighty unto Perfection and then
dangers that attended him in the course of his obedience are inexpressible And surely this renders salvation by him very great But yet there is that remains which gives it another Exaltation For 3. This Son of God after the course of his obedience to the whole will of God must die shed his bloud and make his soul an offering for sin And herein the glory of this salvation breaks forth like the Sun in its strength Obedient he must be unto death the death of the cross Phil. 2.8 If he will be a Captain of salvation to bring many sons to glory he must himself be made perfect by sufferings Heb. 2.10 There were Law and Curse and Wrath standing in the way of our salvation all of them to be removed all of them to be undergone and that by the Son of God For we were not redeemed with silver and gold or corruptible things but with the precious bloud of Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 And therein God redeemed his Church with his own bloud Acts 20.28 And herein assuredly was the love of God manifest that he laid down his life for us 1 Joh. 3.16 This belongs unto the means whereby our salvation is procured Nor yet is this all for if Christ had only died for us our faith in him had been in vain and we had been still in our sins Wherefore 4. To carry on the same work he rose from the dead and now lives for ever to make intercession for us and so save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by him By these means was the salvation preached in the Gospel obtained which surely manifest it to be great salvation Would God have sent his Son his only Son and that in such a manner were it not for the accomplishment of a work as well great and glorious init self as indispensibly necessary with reference untoits end Would the Son himself have so emptied himself of his glory condescended to so low a condition wrestled withsuch difficulties and undergone at length such a cursed and shameful death had not the work been great wherein he was employed O the blindness hardness and stupidityof the sons of men they profess they believe these things to be true at least they dare not deny them so to be but forthe effect of them for the salvation wrought by them they value it the least of all things that they have any acquaintance withall If this salvation thus procured do seize on them in their sleep and fall upon them whether they will or no they will not much resist it provided that it cross them in none of their lusts purposes or pleasures But to see the Excellency of it to put a valuation upon it according to the price whereby it is purchased that they are utterly regardless of Hear ye despisers wonder and perish Shall the Son of God shed his blood in vain Shall he obey and suffer and bleed and pray and die for a thing of nought Is it nothing unto you that heshould undergo all these things Was there want of Wisdom in God or love unto his Son so toemploy him so to use him in a business which you esteem of sovery small concernment as that you will scarce turn aside tomake enquiry after it Assure your selves these things are not so as you will one day find unto your eternal ruine Thirdly This salvation will appear to be great if we shall consider what by it we are delivered from and what we are interested in or made partakers of by vertue thereof These also may denominate salvation to be great and they may therefore be considered apart First What are we delivered from by this salvation In a word Every thing that is evil in this world or that which is to come And all evil may be referred unto two heads 1. That which corrupteth and depraveth the principles of our nature in their being and operation And 2. That which is destructive of our nature as to its well-being and happiness The first of these is sin the latter is punishment and both of them take up the whole nature of evil The particulars comprised in them may not here be distinctly and severally insisted on The former containeth our Apostasie from God with all the consequences of it in darkness folly filth shame bondage restlesness service of lust the world and Sathan and therein constant rebellion against God and diligence in working out our own everlasting ruine all attended with a senseless stupidity in not discerning these things to be evil hurtful noisome corruptive of our natures and beings and for the most part with bruitish sensuality in the approbation and liking of them But he who understands no evil in being fallen off from God the first Cause chiefest Good and last End of all in being under the power of a constant Enmity against him in the disorder of his whole soul and all the faculties of it in the constant service of sin the fruit of bondage and captivity in the most vile condition will be awakened unto another apprehension of these things when a time of deliverance from them shall be no more The latter of these consists in the wrath or curse of God and comprizeth what ever is or may be poenal and afflictive unto our Nature unto Eternity Now from both these with all their effects and consequences are Believers delivered by this salvation namely from sin and wrath The Lord Christ was called Jesus because he saves his people from their sins Matth. 1.21 And he isalso the Saviour who delivers them from the wrath to come 1 Thess. 1.10 And this is great salvation If a man be but the means of delivering another from poverty imprisonment or a dangerous disease especially if such a one could be no otherwise delivered but by him how great is the kindness of it esteemed tobe and that deservedly Providential deliverances from imminent dangers of death temporal are looked on as great salvations and that by good men and so they ought to be 2 Cor. 1.10 But what are all these unto this salvation What is the sickness of the body unto the disease yea the death of the soul What is imprisonment of the out-ward man under the wrath of poor worms like our selves and that for a fewdays unto the chains of everlasting darkness What is alittle outward want and poverty to the want of the favour love and presence of God unto Eternity What is death temporal past in a moment an end of troubles anentrance into Rest unto death eternal an eternaldying under the curse wrath and righteous vengeance of the holyGod These things have no proportion one to another So unexpressibly great is this salvation that there is nothing left us to illustrate it withall And this excellency of Gospel salvation will at length be known to them by whom at present it is despised when they shall fall and perish under the want of it and that to Eternity Lastly This salvation is Great upon the
havâ— more Assurance of success more Assistance in the conflict more Joy in the tryal than any other Conquerors have Or we do not only conquer but triumph also For Satan he tells Believers that they have overcome the wicked one 1 John 12.13 14. And shews how it came to pass that they should be able to do so Chap. 4. v. 7. It is because greater is he that is in them than he that is in the world The Good Spirit which he hath given unto them to help and assist them is infinitely greater and more powerful than that evil Spirit which rules in the Children of disobedience And by this means is Satan bruised even under their feet A conflict indeed we must have with them we must wrestle with principalities and powers in heavenly places but the success is secured through the Assistance we receive from this Captain of our salvation The World also is subdued in them and by them 1 John 5.4 Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith Faith will do this work it never failed in it nor ever will He that believeth shall overcome the whole strength of Christ is engaged unto his Assistance Sin is the worst and most obstinate of all their Enemies This puts them hard to it in the Battle and makes them cry out for aid and help Rom. 7.24 But this also they receive strength against so as to carry away the day I thank God saith the Apostle through Jesus Christ our Lord v. 15. namely for deliverance and victory Sin hath a double design in its Enmity against us 1. To reign in us 2. To condemn us If it be disappointed in these designs it is absolutely conquered and that it is by the Grace of Christ. As to its Reign and Dominion it is perfectly defeated for the present Rom. 6.14 The means of its Rule is the Authority of the Law over us that being removed and our souls put under the Conduct of Grace the Reign of sin comes to an end Nor shall it condemn us Rom. 8.1 And what can it then do Where is the voice of this Oppressor It abides but a season and that but to endure and dye Death also contends against us by its own sting and our fear but the first by the Grace of Christ is taken from it and the latter we are delivered from and so have the Victory over it And all this is the work of this Captain of our salvation for us and in us 5. He doth not only conquer all their Enemies but he avenges their sufferings upon them and punisheth them for their Enmity These enemies though they prevail not absolutely nor finally against the Sons of God yet by their Temptations Persecutions Oppressions they put them oft times to unspeakable hardships sorrow and trouble This the Captain of their salvation will not take at their hands but will avenge upon them all their ungodly endeavours from the lowest unto the greatest and highest of them Some he will deal withal in this world but he hath appointed a day wherein not one of them shall escape See Rev. 20.10 14. Devil and Beast and false Prophet and Death and Hell shall altogether into the lake of fire 6. He provides a Reward a Crown for them and in the bestowing thereof accomplisheth this his blessed Office of the Captain of our salvation He is gone before the Sons into Heaven to make ready their Glory to prepare a place for them and he will come and receive them unto himself that where he is there they may be also John 14.2 3. When he hath given them the Victory he will take them unto himself even unto his Throne Rev. 3.22 And as a Righteous Judge give unto them a crown of Righteousnâ—ss and Glory 2 Tim. 4.8 And thus is the whole work of conducting the Sons of God unto Glory from first to last committed unto this great Captain of their salvation and thus doth he discharge his Office and trust therein and blessed are all they who are under his leading and guidance And all this should teach us First To betake our selves unto him and to relye upon him in the whole course of our Obedience and all the passages thereof To this purpose is he designed by the Father this hath he undertaken and this doth he go through withal No address that is made unto him in this matter will he ever refuse to attend unto no Case or Condition that is proposed unto him is too hard for him or beyond his Power to relieve He is careful watchful tender faithful powerful and all these Properties and blessed Endowments will he exercise in the discharge of this Office What should hinder us from betaking our selves unto him continually Is our Trouble so small are our Duties so ordinary that we can wrestle with them or perform them in our own strength Alas we can do nothing not think a good thought not endure a reproachful word And what ever we seem to do or endure of our selves it is all lost for in us there dwelleth no good thing Or are our Distresses so great our Temptations so many our corruptions so strong that we begin to say there is no hope Is any thing too hard for the Captain of our salvation Hath he not already conquered all our enemies Is he not able to subdue all things by his Power Shall we faint whilest Jesus Christ lives and reigns But it may be we have looked for Help and Assistance and it hath not answered our Expectation so that now we begin to faint and despond Sin is not subdued the World is still triumphant and Satan rageth as much as ever his Temptations are ready to pass over our souls But have we sought for his Help and Assistance in a due manner with faith and perseverance unto right Ends of his Glory and Advantage of the Gospel Have we taken a right measure of what we have received Or do we not complain without a cause Let us not judge according to outward appearance but judge righteous judgement What is it to us if the World triumph if Satan rage if Sin tempt and vex we are not promised that it shall be otherwise But are we forsaken Are we not kept from being prevailed against If we ask amiss or for improper Ends or know not what we do receive or think because the strength of Enemies appears to be great we must fail and be ruined Let us not complain of our Captain for all these things arise from our own Unbelief Let our Application unto him be according unto his Command our Expectations from him according to the Promise our Experiences of what we receive be measured by the Rule of the Word and we shall find that we have all grounds of Assurance that we can desire Let us then in every condition look unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith who hath undertaken the leading of us in the
two branches for it is either Remunerative or Vindictive And this Righteousness of God as the Supreme Ruler and Judge of all is that upon the account whereof it was meet for him or became him to bring the sons to glory by the sufferings of the Captain of their salvation It was hence just equal and therefore indispensibly necessary that so he should do Supposing that man was created in the Image of God capable of yielding Obedience unto him according to the Law concreated with him and written in his heart which Obedience was his moral being for God as he was from or of him supposing that he by sin had broken this Law and so was no longer for God according to the primitive Order and Law of his Creation supposing also notwithstanding all this that God in his infinite Grace and Love intended to bring some men unto the enjoyment of himself by a new way Law and appointment by which they should be brought to be for him again Supposing I say these things which are all here supposed by our Apostle and were granted by the Jews it became the Justice of God that is it was so just right meet and equal that the Judge of all the world who doth right could no otherwise do than cause him who was to be the Way Cause Means and Author of this Recovery of men into a new condition of being for God to suffer in their steed For whereas the Vindictive Justice of God which is the respect of the Universal Rectitude of his Holy Nature unto the deviation of his rational creatures from the Law of their Creation required that that deviation should be revenged and themselves brought into a new way of being for God or of glorifying him by their sufferings when they had refused to do so by Obedience it was necessary on the account thereof that if they were to be delivered from that condition that the Author of their deliverance should suffer for them And this excellently suits the design of the Apostle which is to prove the necessity of the suffering of the Messiah which the Jews so stumbled at For if the Justice of God required that so it should be how could it be dispensed withall Would they have God unjust Shall he fore-go the glory of his Righteousnâ—ss and Holiness to please them in their presumption and prejudices It is true indeed if God had intended no salvation of his sons but one that was temporal like that granted unto the people of old under the conduct of Joshua there had been no need at all of the sufferings of the Captain of their salvation But they being such as in themselves had sinned and come short of the glory of God and the salvation intended them being spiritual consisting in a new ordering of them for God and the bringing of them unto the eternal enjoyment of him in Glory there was no way to maintain the Honour of the Justice of God but by his sufferings And as here lay the great mistake of the Jews so the denial of this condecency of Gods Justice as to the sufferings of the Messiah is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Socinians Schlictingius on this place would have no more intended but that the way of bringing Christ to suffer was answerable unto that design which God had laid to glorifie himself in the salvation of man But the Apostle says not that it became or was suitable unto an arbitrary free decree of God but it became himself as the Supreme Ruler and Judge of all he speaks not of what was meet unto the execution of a free Decree but what was meet on the account of Gods Holiness and Righteousness to the constitution of it as the description of him annexed doth plainly shew And herein have we with our Apostle discovered the great indispensible and fundamental cause of the sufferings of Christ. And we may hence observe that V. Such is the desert of sin and such is the immutability of the Justice of God that there was no way possible to bring sinners unto glory but by the death and sufferings of the Son of God who undertook to be the Captain of their salvation It would have been unbecoming God the Supreme Governour of all the world to have passed by the desert of sin without this satisfaction And this being a truth of great importance and the foundation of most of the Apostles ensuing discourses must be a while insisted on In these Verses that fore-going this and some of those following the Apostle directly treats of the Causes of the sufferings and death of Christ. A matter as of great importance in it self comprizing no small part of the mystery of the Gospel so indispensibly necessary to be explained and confirmed unto the Hebrews who had entertained many prejudices against it In the fore-going Verse he declared the cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the inducing leading moving cause which was the Grace of God by the grace of God he was to taste death for men This grace he farther explains in this Verse shewing that it consisted in the Design of God to bring many sons to glory All had sinned and come short of his glory He had according to the exigence of his Justice denounced and declared Death and Judgment to be brought upon all that sinned without exception Yet such was his infinite Love and Grace that he determined or purposed in himself to deliver some of them to make them sons and to bring them unto glory Unto this end he resolved to send or give his Son to be a Captain of salvation unto them And this Love or Grace of God is every where set forth in the Gospel How the sufferings of this Captain of salvation became useful unto the sons upon the account of the manifold union that was between them he declares in the following Verses farther explaining the Reasons and Causes why the benefit of his sufferings should redound unto them In this Verse he expresseth the cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the procuring cause of the death and sufferings of Christ which is the Justice of God upon supposition of sin and his purpose to save sinners And this upon examination we shall find to be the great cause of the death of Christ. That the Son of God who did no sin in whom his soul was always well pleased on the account of his obedience should suffer and die and that a death under the sentence and curse of the Law is a great and astonishable mystery all the Saints of God admire at it the Angels desire to look into it What should be the cause and reason hereof why God should thus bruise him and put him to grief This is worth our enquiry and various are the conceptions of men about it The Socinians deny that his sufferings were poenal or that he died to make satisfaction for sin but only that he did so to confirm the Doctrine that he had taught and to set us an
example to suffer for the truth But his Doctrine carried its own evidence with it that it was from God and was besides uncontrollably confirmed by the Miracles that he wrought So that his sufferings on that account might have been dispensed withall And surely this great and stupendous matter of the dying of the Son of God is not to be resolved into a Reason and Cause that might so easily be dispensed with God would never have given up his Son to die but only for such causes and ends as could no otherwise have been satisfied or accomplished The like also may be said of the other cause assigned by them namely to set us an example It is true in his death he did so and of great and singular use unto us it is that so he did But yet neither was this from any precedent Law or Constitution nor from the nature of the thing it self nor from any property of God indispensibly necessary God could by his grace have carried us through sufferings although he had not set before us the example of his Son so he doth through other things no less difficult wherein the Lord Christ could not in his own Person go before us as in our conversion unto God and mortification of indwelling sin neither of which the Lord Christ was capable of We shall leave them then as those who acknowledging the death of Christ do not yet acknowledge or own any sufficient cause or reason why he should die Christians generally allow that the sufferings of Christ were poenal and his death satisfactory for the sins of men but as to the cause and reason of his so suffering they differ Some following Austine refer the death of Christ solely unto the Wisdom and Sovereignty of God God would have it so and therein are we to acquiesce Other ways of saving the Elect were possible but this God chose because so it seemed good unto him Hence arose that saying That one drop of the blood of Christ was sufficient to redeem the whole world only it pleased God that he should suffer unto the utmost And herein are we to rest that He hath suffered for us and that God hath revealed But this seems not to me any way to answer that which is here affirmed by the Apostle namely that it became God as the Supreme Governour of all the world so to cause Christ to suffer nor do I see what demonstration of the glory of Justice can arise from the punishing of an innocent Person who might have been spared and yet all the ends of his being so punished to have been otherwise brought about And to say that one drop of Christs bloud was sufficient to redeem the world is derogatory unto the Goodness Wisdom and Righteousness of God in causing not only the whole to be shed but also his Soul to be made an offering for sin which was altogether needless if that were true But how far this whole Opinion is from truth which leaves no necessary cause of the death of Christ will afterwards appear Others say that on supposition that God had appointed the Curse of the Law and death to be the penalty of sin his faithfulness and Veracity were engaged so far that no sinner should go free or be made partaker of glory but by the intervention of satisfaction And therefore on the supposition that God would make some men his sons and bring them to glory it was necessary with respect unto the engagement of the truth of God that he should suffer die and make satisfaction for them But all this they refer originally unto a free constitution which might have been otherwise God might have ordered things so without any derogation unto the glory of his Justice or Holiness in the Government of all things as that sinners might have been saved without the death of Christ. For if he had not engaged his Word and declared that death should be the penalty of sin he might have freely remitted it without the intervention of any satisfaction And thus all this whole work of death being the punishment of sin and of the sufferings of Christ for sinners is resolved into a free purpose and Decree of Gods Will and not into the exigence of any essential property of his Nature so that it might have been otherwise in all the parts of it and yet the glory of God preserved every way entire Whether this be so or no we shall immediately enquire Others grant many free Acts of the Mind and Will of God in this matter as 1. The Creation of man in such a condition as that he should have a moral dependance on God in reference unto his utmost end was an effect of the Sovereign Pleasure Will and Wisdom of God But on supposition of this Decree and Constitution they say the Nature Authority and Holiness of God required indispensibly that man should yield unto him that obedience which he was directed unto and guideâ— in by the Law of his Creation so that God could not suffer him to do otherwise and remain in his first state and come unto the end first designed unto him without the loss of his Authority and wrong of his Justice Again they say that God did freely by an Act of his Sovereign Will and Pleasure decree to permit man to sin and fall which might have been otherwise But on supposition that so he should do and would do and thereby infringe the Order of his dependance on God in reference unto his utmost end that the Justice of God as the Supreme Governour of all things did indispensibly require that he should receive a meet recompence of reward or be punished answerably unto hiâ— crimes so that God could not have dealt otherwise with him without an high derogation from his own Righteousness Again they say that God by a meer free Act of his Love and Grace designed the Lord Jesus Christ to be the way and means for the saving of sinners which might have been otherwise He might without the least impeachment of the glory of any of his Essential Properties have suffered all mankind to have perished under that penalty which they had justly incurred but of his own meer Love free Grace and good pleasure he gave and sent him to redeem them But on the supposition thereof they say the Justice of God required that he should lay on him the punishment due unto the sons whom he redeemed it became him on the account of his Natural Essential Justice to bring him unto sufferings And in this Opinion is contained the truth laid down in our Proposition which we shall now farther confirm namely that it became the Nature of God or the Essential Properties of his Nature required indispensibly that sin should be punished with death in the sinner or in his surety And therefore if he would bring any sons to glory the Captain of their salvation must undergo death and sufferings to make satisfaction for them For First Consider that description
which the Scripture giveth us of the Nature of God in reference unto sin and this it doth either metaphorically or properly in the first way it compares God unto fire unto a consuming fire and his actings toward sin as the acting of fire on that which is combustible whose nature it is to consume them Deut. 4.24 Thy God is a consuming fire which words the Apostle repeats Heb. 12.23 Devouring fire and everlasting burnings Isa. 33.14 Hence when he came to give the Law which expresseth his wrath and indignation against sin his presence was manifested by great and terrible fires and burnings until the people cried out Let me not see this great fire any more lest I die Deut. 18.16 They saw death and destruction in that fire because it expressed the indignation of God against sin and therefore the Law it self is also called a fiery Law Deut. 33.2 because it contains the sense and judgment of God against sin as in the execution of the sentence of it the breath of the Lord is said to kindle the fire of it like a stream of brimstone Isa. 30.33 so chap. 66.15 16. And by this metaphor doth the Scripture lively represent the Nature of God in reference unto sin For as it is the nature of fire to consume and devoure all things that are put into it without sparing any or making difference so is the Nature of God in reference unto sin where ever it is he punisheth and revengeth it according to its demerit The metaphor indeed expresseth not the manner of the operation of the one and the other but the Certainty and Event of the working of both from the Principles of the Nature of the one and the other The fire so burneth by a necessity of nature as that it acts to the utmost of its quality and faculty by a pure natural necessity God punisheth sin as suitably unto the principle of his Nature that otherwise he cannot do yet so as that for the manner time measure and season they depend on the constitution of his Wisdom and Righteousness assigning a meet and equal recompence of reward unto every transgression And this the Scripture teacheth us by this metaphor or otherwise we are led by it from a right conception of that which it doth propose for God cannot at all be unto sin and sinners as a devouring fire unless it be in the principles of his Nature indispensibly to take vengeance on them Again The Scripture expresseth this Nature of God with reference unto sin properly as to what we can conceive thereof in this world and that is by his Holiness which it sets forth to be such as that on the account thereof he can bear with no sin nor suffer any sinner to approach unto him that is let no sin go unpunished nor admit of any sinner into his presence whose sin is not expiated and satisfied for And what is necessary upon the account of the Holiness of God is absolutely and indispensibly so his Holiness being his Nature Thou art saith Habakkuk of purer eyâ—s than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity chap. 1.13 Thou canst not by any means havâ— any thing to do with sin that is it may be because he will not nay saith he it is upon the account of his Purity or Holiness That is such as he cannot pass by sin or let it go unpunished The Psalmist also expresseth the nature of God to the same purpose Psal. 5.4 5 6. Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee the foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all the workers of iniquity thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man What is the formal Reason and Cause of all these things that he hates abhors and will destroy sin and sinners It is because he is such a God Thou art not a God to do otherwise a God of such Purity such Holiness and should he pass by sin without the Punishment of it he would not be such a God as he is Without ceasing to be such a God so infinitely holy and pure this cannot be The foolish and all Workers of Iniquity must be destroyed because he is such a God And in that proclamation of his name wherein he declared many blessed Eternal Properties of his Nature he adds this among the rest that he will by no means clear the guilty Exod. 34.7 This his Nature this his Eternal Holiness requireth that the guilty be by no means cleared So Joshua instructs the people in the Nature of this Holiness of God Chap. 24.19 Ye cannot serve the Lord for he is an holy God he is a jealous God he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins That is if you continue in your sins if there be not a way to free you from them it is in vain for you to have any thing to do with this God for he is Holy and Jealous and will therefore certainly destroy you for your iniquities Now if such be the nature of God that with respect thereunto He cannot but punish sin in whomsoever it be found then the suffering of every sinner in his own person or by his surâ—ty doth not depend on a meer free Voluntary Constitution nor is resolved meerly into the Veracity of God in his commination or threâ—tning but is antecedently unto them indispensibly necessary unless we would have the Nature of God changed that sinners may be freed Whereas therefore the Lord Christ is assigned the Captain of our Salvation and hath undertaken the work of bringing sinners unto Glory it was meet with respect unto the Holiness of God that he should undergo the punishment due unto their sin And thus the necessity of the sufferings and satisfaction of Christ is resolved into the Holiness and Nature of God He being such a God as he is it could not otherwise be Secondly The same is manifest from that principle whereunto the punishment of sin is assigned which is not any free Act of the Will of God but an Essential property of his nature namely his Justice or Righteousness What God doth because he is righteous is necessary to be done And if it be just with God in respect of his Essential Justice to punish sin it would be unjust not to do it for to condemn the innocent and to acquit the guilty is equally unjust Justice is an eternal and unalterable Rule and what is done according unto it is necessary it may not otherwise be and Justice not be impeached That which is to be done with respect to Justice must be done or he that is to do it is unjust Thus it is said to be a righteous thing with God to render tribulation unto sinners 2 Thess. 1.6 Because he is Righteous and from his Righteousness or Justice So that the contrary would be unjust not answer his Righteousness And it is the judgement of God that they who commit
he could not dye which it was necessary that he should do I desire to know why if the death which he was to undergo was not that death which they were obnoxious unto for whom he dyed how could it be any way more beneficial unto them than any thing else which he might have done for them although he had not dyed There is no ground then to pretend such an Amphibologie in the words as that which some contend for Now as we observed before the Death of Christ is here placed in the midst as the End of one thing and the Means or cause of another the End of his own Incarnation and the means of the Childrens Deliverance from the first we may see VII That the first and principal End of the Lord Christs assuming Humane Nature was not to reign in it but to suffer and dye in it He was indeed from of old designed unto a Kingdom but he was to suffer and so to enter into his glory Luke 24.26 And he so speaks of his coming into the world to suffer to dye to bear witness unto the truth as if that had been the only work that he was incarnate for Glory was to follow a Kingdom to ensue but suffering and dying was the principal work he came about Glory he had with his Father before the world was John 17.5 and therein a joynt Rule with him over all the works of his hands He need not have been made partaker of flesh and blood to have been a King for he was the King immortal invisible the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the only Potentate from everlasting But he could not have dyed if he had not been made partaker of our Nature And therefore when the People would have taken him by force and have made him a King he hid himself from them John 6.15 But he hid not himself when they came to take him by force and put him to death but affirmed that for that hour or business he came into the world John 18.4 5 11. And this farther sets forth his Love and Condescension He saw the work that was proposed unto him how he was to be exposed unto Miseries Afflictions and Persecutions and at length to make his soul an offering for sin yet because it was all for the Salvation of the children he was contented with it and delighted in it And how then ought we to be contented with the Difficulties Sorrows Afflictions and Persecutions which for his sake we are or may be exposed unto When he on purpose took our nature that for our sakes he might be exposed and subject unto much more than we are called unto There yet remains in these Verses the Effects of the Death of Christ that he might destroy sin and deliver wherein we must consider 1. Who it is that had the Power of Death 2. Wherein that Power of his did consist 3. How he was destroyed 4. How by the Death of Christ 5. What was the Delivery that was obtained for the children thereby 1. He that had the Power of Death is described by his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Devil the great Enemy of our salvation the great Calumniator make-bate and false Accuser the firebrand of the creation The Head and Captain of the Apostasie from God and of all desertion of the Law of the creation The old Serpent Prince of the Apostate Angels with all his Associates who first falsly accused God unto man and continues to accuse men falsly unto God of whom before 2. His Power in and over Death is variously apprehended What the Jews conceive hereof we have before declared and much of the Truth is mixed with their fables And the Apostle deals with them upon their Acknowledgement in general that he had the Power of death Properly in what sense or in what respect he is said so to have it Learned Expositors are not agreed All consent 1. That the Devil hath no absolute or Soveraign supream power over death Nor 2. Any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Authority about it de jure in his own Right or on Grant so as to act lawfully and rightly about it according unto his own Will Nor 3. Any judging or determining power as to the Guilt of death committed unto him which is peculiar to God the supream Rector and Judge of all Gen. 2.17 Deut. 32.39 Rev. 1.18 But wherein this Power of Satan doth positively consist they are not agreed Some place it in his Temptations unto Sin which bind unto death some in his Execution of the Sentence of death he hath the Power of an Executioner There cannot well be any doubt but that the whole Interest of Satan in reference unto Death is intended in this Expression This Death is that which was threatned in the beginning Gen. 2.17 Death poenally to be inflicted in the way of a Curse Deut. 27.26 Gal. 3.20 that is death consisting in the Dissolution of soul and body with every thing tending poenally thereunto with the everlasting Destruction of body and soul. And there are sundry things wherein the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Power of Satan in reference unto this death doth consist As 1. He was the means of bringing it into the world So is the Opinion of the Jews in this matter expressed in the Book of Wisdom written as is most probable by one of them not long before this Epistle They tell us Chap. 1.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God made not death it belonged not unto the Original Constitution of all things but Chap. 2.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Envy of the Devil-death entred into the world And that expression of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is retained by the Apostle Rom. 5.12 Only he layes the End of it on the morally deserving cause the sin of man as here it is laid on the efficiently procuring cause the Envy of the Devil And herein consisted no small part of the Power of Satan with respect unto death Being able to introduce sin he had power to bring in death also which in the righteous judgement of God and by the Sentence of the Law was inseparably annexed thereunto And by a parity of Reason so far as he yet continueth to have Power over sin deserving death he hath Power over death it self 2. Sin and Death being thus entered into the world and all mankind being guilty of the one and obnoxious unto the other Satan became thereby to be their Princess as being the Prince or Author of that state and condition whereinto they are brought Hence he is called the Prince of this world John 12.32 and the God of it 2 Cor. 4.4 Inasmuch as all the world is under the Guilt of that sin and death which he brought them into 3. God having passed the sentence of death against sin it was in the Power of Satan to terrifie and affright the consciences of men with the Expectation and dread of it so bringing them into Bondage And many God gives up