commemoration of him how much more in that above is it solemnized for us by himself our High Priest That as the bow was set in the Cloud that God looking upon it might remember his Covenant and forbear to bring a second deluge upon the earth Gen. 9. 16. and the blood of the Paschal Lamb was stricken on the door posts that the Lord seeing it there might pass over them with his plague So when he beholds these wounds given our Savior for our sin displaid before him he may forbear to revenge sin any more upon his Brethren And if Pilate shewing that our suffering Savior with an Ecce Homo thought the beholding such a pitiful and cruel spectacle was enough to have melted the hardhearted Jews his malicious enemies into some mercy and compassion so as to prosecute his death no further How much more will such a pale and wanner sight as was seen afterward upon the Cross of an only Son voluntarily undergoing all this for our sin move a pitiful and merciful father no further to prosecute the vengeance thereof upon his brethren upon his own members A second Action there is sprinkling of his blood upon and before the Mercy-Seat not 7 nor 77 times but continually and note that all blood-shed when it comes before the Lord hath a loud cry See the blood of the Saints Rev. 6. 10. And Abels Gen. 4. 10. And the Apostle compares the sprinkling of our Saviors blood for its speaking and crying unto the sprinkling of Abel's tho His cried not the same way for it pleaded for mercy as the other for vengeance For we receive a true attonement are sanctified are purifyed as many of us as serve the Lord by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus See 1 Pet. 1. 2. Heb. 12. 24. -13. 12. Not that our Savior there really sprinkled his blood for us let none grossly imagine this for flesh and blood enter not into heaven 1 Cor. 15. but that he now by it poured out by him on the Cross in the heavenly Sanctuary procures all the effects obumbrated by the former sprinkling of the blood of the legal Sacrifices Therefore t is observed that the Apostle saith he entred by it not with it Heb. 9. 12 23. Who is therefore called for this Celestial ceremony before the propitiatory or throne of grace our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propitiation 1 Jo. 2. 2. and our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propitiatory Rom. 3. 25. Thus he sprinkled his blood to make attonement for and to sanctify us but as we read that the legal High Priest purified also the Sanctuary it self and reconciled the Holy place said to be defiled by being in the midst of the peoples uncleanness See Lev. 18. 25 28. the Apostle makes this also run parallel for our Savior Heb. 9. 23. by which as is signifyed the purifying of all the Creatures and particularly of all our imperfect holy services unto us so perhaps something more may yet be gathered from Col. 1. 16 20. -2. 10. Job 15. 15. -4. 18. -25. 5. 2 Pet. 3. 7 12. Rom. 8. 22. well considered for all Principalities and Thrones i. e. Angels were made by him at first and for him and by him they now consist and of them also he is the head and by him they are said to be reconciled thro him they are now confirm'd in grace and perhaps at the last day thro him shall be advanced in glory And perhaps the upper regions of the world may be said in some sense to be contaminated as the earth by mans or the faln Angels sin to which heavenly things also the vanity bondage groaning of the Creatures mentioned Rom. 8. may extend which also are said by Peter to be reserved and that they shall be dissolved and as it were purified by fire But abscondita Domino Deo nostro manifesta nobis 3. After this appearing there with this Sacrifice and sprinkling of his blood follows his Intercession also there for us Rom. 8. 34. Heb. 7. 25. Esai 53. 12. -59. 16. another office of the Priest for the People whose making attonement was not without praier since this also is called making attonement Exod. 32. 30. and so where we translate making attonement the vulgar renders it praying for c. See Lev. 16. 7 34 17. Quando Pontifex sanctuarium ingreditur ut roget prose pro universo coetu Israel see Job 42. 8. Gen. 20. 7. which appears also by the continual practise of the Priests and Prophets praying foâ—… the people Jer. 7. 16. -27. 18. Ezra 10. 4. Joel 1. 13 14. -2. 17. 2 Chron. 30. 27. 1. And this first in presenting continually his own praiers to the Father for us in which respect he is called also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Advocate with the Father as well as the Holy Ghost is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Advocate to the Father here on earth with or in us As the spirit is also stiled by his title of Intercessor here as he there Rom. 8. 26 27. and therefore what office in prayer when any one sins or suffers this Advocate doth here on earth residing with us 1 Jo. 5. 7 8. see Rom. 8. 26. the other Advocate doth the same in heaven residing with the Father and with the same unexpressible zeal The better to conceive which imagine Aaron Numb 16. 47. when wrath was gone out from the Lord standing with his Censer in his hand between the living and the dead and staying the plague or Moses that great type of him Deut. 18. 15. like unto me his pathetical intercessions and deprecations so many times for the sinning Israelites continuing 40 daies at a time with the Lord in supplication for them and for their Priest see Exod. 32. comp with Deut. 9. 18 20. Numb 14. 13. c. and proceeding even to wishing himself accuâ—…ed in their stead as also did St. Paul but our Savior only was he that really became also a curse for others and then be sure our High Priest now makes the same nay far greater as much more concerned in our safety being Master over the house in which Moses tho a faithful yet was but a servant The exact matter and manner of whose intercessions above tho it is not manifested unto us yet what esteem of it and confidence in it may we not have therefore our Mother the Church thinks fit to finish all her prayers in it if we consider first that infinite love wherewith he now loveth us How can it be silent Eph. 3. 19. from which neither things present nor things to come neither heights nor depths c. can ever separate us Rom. 8. 38 35. comp with 34. 2. The promises which he made in that last comforting Sermon immediately before his death and departure from hence the summ of which is to assure his Disciples and consequently all believers see Jo. 17. 20. of the great care he would take for them in heaven where also he particularly
Civ Dei l. 10. And as spending of our lives for God and our Brethren so the spending of our Estates all our Alms and charities are Evangelical Gifts and Oblations and Sacrifices therefore many times anciently made by Christians at the Altar See Heb. 13. 16. Phil. 4. 18. I have received c. the things that were sent from you an odour of a sweet smell a sacrifice accâ—…ptable c. All our doings then and all our spendings our souls and our bodies Rom. 12. 1. the spending of our lives and of our estates all these make up one compleat Holocaust which we owe unto God under the Gospel of which those under the Elements of the world were types and in which they are fulfilled after that our Savior had first begun to us and sacrificed instead of Beasts himself 1 Pet. 2. 5. Col. 1. 24. Now these the peoples sacrifices under the Gospel as those under the Law must of necessity have a Priest to offer them for the reason mentioned not only because they are so nothing worth the best we can bring of them and so unprofitable when we have done all we can and God so self all-sufficient without them whose offerings to him whatever are only his gifts to us 1 Chron. 29. 14. all of us but our sins being his but because by contagion of sin in us they are also all unclean for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean Job 14. 4. and he so pure and so holy that we are in the same condition as Uzziah 2 Chron. 26. 18. or Nadab and Abihu unless there be one to bear the iniquity of our holy things and thro whose merits towards God and Gods love unto him they may be accepted To whom methink God speaks as Moses Exod. 19. Do thou come up c. but let not the people least I break forth upon them And unto us as disguised Joseph did to his brethren see not my face unless you bring your Brother with you Or as God to to the Friends of Job 42. c. 8. v. Take with you a sacrifice and go to my servant Job and my servant Job shall pray for you for him I will accept or as to Abimelech concerning Abraham Gen. 20. 7. He is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee and thou shalt live For these intercessors were set down for types of this supreme Mediator By our Savior therefore all these our Sacrifices must be offered or by us in his name which is all one Phil. 1. 11. and that not only our praiers and petitions where we need and ask something that they may be heard thro Jesus Christ our Lord but our giving of thanks and glory to God Alas what glory can we give where we present something that they may be accepted We then first come to him and he offers them for us so we are said to praise to give thanks to give glory to God by him See Heb. 13. 15. Rom. 1. 8. Col. 3. 17. 1 Pet. 2. 4 5. Therefore he stiles himself the way to the Father Jo. 14. 6. and the door Jo. 10. 9. thro which we must pass And to God be glory in the Church by Christ. Eph. 3. 21. The tongue being in the head that speaks for the body 3. But thirdly he not only presents and delivers our petitions for us c. but he hath procured for us free admission to the Father to deliver them our selves not in a body by presence indeed as yet but by the spirit Eph. 2. 18. and sent us unto the Father to ask any thing in his name see Jo. 16. 23 24 26 27. according to which the Church directs her praiers not to him as he saith vers 23. but to the Father telling us that the Father himself for his sake loveth us vers 27. Eph. 1. 6. Rom. 8. 39. love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In this far outdoing the mediation under the law where Moses indeed went up but the people were rail'd out and trembling and quaking stood afar off which preeminence of us the Apostle often intimates in the Epistles Heb. 12. 17. By him therefore now we also are said to draw nigh unto God to have access to the Father access with boldness to come boldly unto the throne of grace into the Holiest Heb. 10. 19 22. all our words and works to be accepted if done in his name c. See Heb. 4. 16. Eph. 5. 20. Heb. 7. 19 25. Eph. 2. 18. -3. 12. Col. 3. 17. And for these causes above-said it is that the Church so often in all Divine service repeats that holy dear name and St. Paul 't is noted in his Epistles above 500 times because to by thro and in Him and his name are all things said and done and to be done that are well and acceptably done Which name be it blessed for ever 4. After these acts of this High Priests intercession let us now proceed to the fruits and benefits thereof And first As the legal High Priest first after he had offered the sacrifice and again after he had carried in the blood into the Holyest blessed and put Gods name upon the people Lev. 9. 22. c. Numb 6. 27. So our Savior answerable to the first before he went into the Sanctuary Luk. 24. 50 and at other times blessed his people and answerable to the second also doth it since his going in blessing us from it because by his everlasting Priesthood needing to make no more offerings he is not to come out of it till the consummation of all things when he will yet in a more transcendent manner give us his blessing See Act. 3. 26. and what the blessing that he sent us was see Act. 2. 33. Upon whose blessing us from above that fire Act. 2. 2. descended upon the Apostles and consequently upon his Church ever since of which that material one which came out from before the Lord upon Aarons first blessing was a type Lev. 9. 24. Imagine him then first now speaking from Heaven putting his Fathers name upon us and pronouncing that form Numb 6. 24. and then after it all those spiritual and temporal blessings and deliverances of his Church here showred down by him but above all that fire of the Holy Spirit for ever burning upon the Altar of our hearts and hallowing all our sacrifices and elevating them unto God the manifold gifts and graces of which are mentioned elsewhere Only here take notice 1. Of the time of their collation and that was after his being ascended and entred into the Sanctuary and having interceded there See Jo. 7. 39. -16. 7. Act. 2. 33. Eph. 4. 7 8. Jo. 14. 28 29. So that we have and do receive far greâ—…ter advantages by his absence and service there then we could by his corporal presence here Blessed be God by whose wisdom all things serve for our good as also appears in his Disciples far more expert in knowledg
remission of former sins committed against this law by faith Psal. 32. 1 2. Rom. 4. 7 8. So he was enabled for the future to walk in those same laws see Luk. 1. 6. Rom. 8. 4. The law standing still in force as subordinate unto grace 1 Cor. 9. 21. for our works following faith and repentance tho not for those preceding them to which law we are alwaies to perform both sincere and universal obedience These two ministrations therefore of the law and of the spirit are opposed for their effect one taken single by itself without the other serving only for conviction and condemnation c. and for the persons by whom they came one by Moses the other by Christ but not for the time or for the time also but not as if in time I mean since Adams fall the one preceded the other for their absolute being but only in respect of the clearer manifestation first of the one then of the other at several times In the former times the law being more largely propounded the promises seen a far off and darkly as it were thro a cloud or veil 2 Cor. 3. 13. The Messias expected to appear in the flesh the gift of the spirit narrower for compass less in intention But the latter times from it now visibly sent down from Heaven enjoying clearer manifestations of truth larger effusions of grace 1 Cor 9. 10. To conclude As we find before the law from the beginning a double generation one sons of God and the other of men one righteous and the other wicked and in Abrahams time one born of the bond-woman another of the free-woman now those born of the free-woman are only such as are made free by Christ see Gal. 4. 31. -5. 1. one born after the flesh the other after the spirit or by promise Now the spirit is the promise of the Gospel as well as the Messias and comes only by the Messias one ex operibus the other ex vocante Rom. 9. 11. which two generations from the beginning were also shewed in the opposition between the elder and the younger as in Cain whose race was gigantick in comparision of the other Gen. 6. 4. and Abel or Seth Ismael Isaac Esau Jacob Ham and Shem c. Which may be observed also in Reuben and Judah Zarah and Pharez Manasses and Ephraim David and his brethren Aaron and Moses And not only in persons but nations ancienter and greater nations against that chosen for Gods people Israel and the Egyptian Israel and the Canaanites Israel and the Philistine Israel and Babylon Jew and Antiochus Jew and Gentile then Gentile the people of God and the Jew Apostate lastly the Church and Antichrist The Elder persecuting the younger or the former born the latter but yet the latter still overcoming the former for that which is first is natural 1 Cor. 15. 46. So under the law also we find a twofold generation one of faith holding of Abraham another of works of the law holding of Moses Gal. 3. 9 10. and two Covenants on foot the one the Mount Sinai and the other the Jerusalem-Covenant Gal. 4. 25. and two explanations upon them to guide men to which covenant they should adhere the one Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the law to do them and He that doth shall live in them Rom. 10. 5. Gal. 3. 12. quoting Deut. 17. 26. Levit. 18. 5. The other The just shall live by faith or Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven See Rom. 3. 3 7 8. Gal. 3. 10 12 11. Rom. 4. 3. -9. 33. quoting Psal. 32. 1 2. Habbak 2. 4. Esai 28. 16. Gen. 15. 6. Nay see both these coming from the mouth of Moses who himself was a Son of faith The one Levit. 18. 5. the other Deut. 13. 11 12. explained by the Apostle Rom. 10. 5 6 7. c. The latter of which The word is nigh thee in thy heart c. that is saith he the word of faith and that same faith which the Gospel preacheth vers 8. And therefore as we are now referred for salvation to the preaching of Christ and his Apostles so Abraham then before these referred Dives his brethren for their salvation and escaping of hell to the preaching of Moses and the Prophets Luk. 16. 29 31. And both St. Paul and St. James treating about the point of justification take their examples out of the old Testament instancing how it was in Abraham amongst the Hebrews and Rahab amongst the Gentiles See Rom. 4. 1. c. Jam. 2. 21 25. And as the other held of Adam and the law so these latter in all ages held of Christ and the Gospel and as we now had alwaies the same Saviour their King to conduct them the same spirit to inspire and inform them the same Sacraments for substance to confirm them Baptism in the Red sea and in the Cloud thro which see Exod. 14. 19 -13. 21. Matt. 3. 11. they passed to Canaan and the Eucharist the body of our Lord in the Manna coming down from Heaven and his blood in the water streaming out of the rock 1 Cor. 10. 1. c. So Circumcision was administred and their sacrifices used by them as Baptism and the Eucharist by us of which instituted by the Lord Jesus theirs delivered to the fathers were types for remission of sin and conferring grace for appeasing Gods wrath and thanksgiving for mercies with reference to the same blood of the new Testament and the onely true sacrifice So St. Austin de nuptiis concupiscentia l. 2. c. 11. saith Circumcisionem ad purgationem originalis peccati valuisse magnis parvis quemadmodum nunc Baptismus And that threat Gen. 17. 14. That soul shall be cut off from his people is ordinarily understood that he is cut off as well for being extra pactum as being praecepti violati reus And tho Circumcision in Abraham who was before the receipt thereof justified by faith was only a seal of that former justification as also the Sacrament of Baptism was to Cornelius saith St. Austin contra Donatistas l. 4. c. 24. See Act. 10. 47. comp 44. and is to many other Yet this hinders not saith Estius 4. Sent. 1. d. 31. sec. but that in parvulissicut nunc Baptismus ita olim Circumcisio non nudum esset signaculum justitiae interioris sed efficax atque operatorium And St. Austin ibid. Cur ergo ei praeceptum est ut omnem deinceps infantem octavo die circumcideret nisi quia ipsum per seipsum sacramentum multum valebat And for this purpose also were their sacrifices used See Lev. 4. 20 26. and the Priest shall make an attonement for him as concerning his sin and it shall be forgiven him Vulgar Rogabitque pro eo Sacerdos pro peccato ejus dimittetur ei See Lev. cap. â—… cap. 17. and Numb 15. cap. and Heb. 5. 1. That he might offer sacrifices