should get that name into his possession and be skilled in it would be able to doe what he pleased That their Wise-men fearing lest any of the israelitese should get that name and destroy the world made two Dogs of brass and placed them at the door of the Sanctuary That whenever any had gone in and learnt that name these Dogs were wont at their coming out to bark so terribly that they forgat the name and the letters which they had newly learnt But say they Jesus of Nazareth went in and did not onely learn the letters of this name but wrote them in a Parchment which he hid as be came out in an incision which he had made in his flesh And though through the barking of the Dogs he had forgot the name yet he learnt it afterwards from his Parchment By virtue of this name say they Jesus restored the lame healed the leprous raised the dead walked himself upon the Sea By this account it appears that the Jews did not deny the matter of fact for that Jesus did the works is confessed on all hands and so much we may gain from this fabulous narration There is nothing else in it worthy the notice of a wise man But still there is another opinion to be found among the Jews of after-times and it was this That the Messias when he came was not to work miracles and that therefore the working miracles was not to be any mark and character of the true Messiah Nor is it strange that when the Jews were not able to deny the matter of fact that they should betake themselves to these fond opinions Maimon H. Melac Milch c. 11. Maimonides tells us that we must not think that the Messiah shall work signs and miracles that he shall innovate in the things of this world or raise the dead But that the law of Moses should endure for ever and that the Messiah shall meditate in that law and compell the Israelites to observe it and that he shall manage the Lord's battels and overcome the people that are round about him The truth of this doctrine of his shall be considered in its due place I onely produce this to shew how unwilling the Jews are to allow of this argument which we draw from the works which Jesus did and how unable they are in the mean time to deny the matter of fact Besides these fond and evil opinions there is still another advanced by a late Authour and directly levelled against the force of our Saviour's argument and 't is this Tractat. Theolog. Politic. c. 6. That nothing happens in nature that is repugnant to its universal laws nor any thing which doth not agree with them or follow from them He hath also the confidence to affirm That the name of a miracle can onely be understood with respect to mens opinions and that it signifies nothing more than a work the natural cause of which we are not able to explain exemplo alterius rei solitae or at least he is not able to explain it that writes or reports the miracle And that therefore a miracle is a mere absurdity And that those things which the Scriptures truly report to have happened fell out according to the laws of nature and if any thing else evidently repugnant to the laws of nature be reported or which cannot follow from them that it is to be believed that these things were added to the Scripture by sacrilegious men This wicked principle is sufficiently refuted by our Saviour's words who makes the works which he did an argument of the truth of what he said And sure if he did no work but what other men did or might doe and what agreed with the laws of nature his works would have been a very mean proof of his coming from God He that believes God to be cannot think him confined by the laws of nature However these laws conclude the creature they do not bind the hands of the great Creatour of the Universe No man can affirm what the above-named Authour does unless he be an Atheist or an Apostate He must be a man forsaken by his reason that discourses at this rate or given over for his wickedness to believe a lie What do such abhorred principles aim at but at the subversion of Christianity And if they were guilty of the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost who affirmed our Saviour's miracles to have been wrought by the power of the Devil what shall we think of them who dare affirm that he wrought none at all Having premised these things I shall now proceed to shew that our Saviour's miracles were a good proof of his doctrine and that he was the Messias who was to come into the world And for my better proceeding First I shall shew what I mean by Miracles Secondly I shall prove that the Messias was to doe Miracles Thirdly That they are a good argument of the truth of a Doctrine Fourthly That our Saviour's were true and unexceptionable Miracles Fifthly I shall consider what may be objected against what I shall offer upon this weighty argument I shall shew what I mean by Miracles For there are cheats and impostures and every thing is not a miracle that passeth for such We may be imposed upon by our ignorance and credulity and by the craft of others There are many things which are admired and are very strange and infrequent which are not miracles Our admiration many times speaks onely our own ignorance And many things there are which are but the effects of natural causes which we have been apt to think the effect of a supernatural one It does by no means hence follow that a miracle is a mere absurdity and that there can be no such thing We are obliged to take care that we be not imposed upon and well to consider what is required to a miracle and to convince us of it For unless we know it so to be it cannot be expected that it should ever convince us And in this case not to appear is the same thing as not to be at all To this purpose it is necessary to a miracle 1. That it be a work above the power of nature and above the reach of any creature whatsoever It must be supernatural or else it cannot be strictly a miracle This power must come from God he being able onely to alter the course of nature who is the great authour of it But then whether this effect be brought to pass by the immediate power of God without the intervening of any natural cause or by making use of some instrument 't is one and the same thing It is an omnipotent arm that brings the effect to pass Matt. 11.20 21. Luk. 4.36.5.17.9.1 Mat. 7.22 Luk. 10.13 Rom. 1.4 And a miracles is a work that none but God can doe This is of the essence of a miracle and it cannot be truly called one unless it be such a work as is above the force of
hath a mighty force and influence upon men but it is onely upon carnal worldlings that it hath this influence and the love of this world is generally so far from advancing piety that it obstructs it and is the root of all evil The Jew obeyed the law of Moses for the sake of worldly prosperity and when he had obtained it that would be a temptation and snare to him The very reward of obedience was a temptation to rebell And though plenty and prosperity be promised often in the law of Moses as a reward yet it is often mentioned as a snare too The Jews are often cautioned against Sinning against God when they are blessed with worldly prosperity Such promises might have some influence in inclining men to obey the letter of the law they did not move men powerfully to obey the inward and spiritual meaning of it 3. Another great defect in the law of Moses was that it did not furnish the Jews to whom it was given with power and ability to obey It did rigorously command obedience but did not help men to obey They had not that power assured to them from God's promise by which they might be enabled to obey the Moral precepts which they had received The plentifull effusion of the Holy Ghost was a blessing reserved for the times of the Messias or the latter days and is therefore promised as a future blessing by the Prophets themselves The law was written which Moses gave it was not kept from the Jews but the writing it upon their Hearts was promised as a part of the new covenant which God would make with them The Letter of the Law was that which the Jews regarded they did not give obedience to the inward and spiritual meaning of it The law of Moses made nothing perfect it did not reform as well as teach They who were exercised in the precepts of Moses were not renewed by them The law was weak and ineffectual and that which did not give life and power to obey Hence it is that it is called flesh in the New Testament to intimate the weakness of that law It was a shadow of good things to come and consequently was not attended with the power which accompanyed those better things when they were exhibited v. Isa 35.7 with ch 44.3 Joel 2.28 with Act. 2.17 Jer. 31.33 with Heb. 8.10 Heb. 7.11 18 19. Gal. 3.21 Rom. 7.8 ch 8.3 Gal. 4.9 Heb. 10.1 4. The law of Moses was defective compared with the Gospel in that it gave not the assurance of pardon nor laid that foundation for the easing and quieting the consciences of men which the Gospel of Christ is attended withall The law of Moses was a yoke which the Jews were never able to bear They were subjected to the curse of that law who confirmed not all the words of it to doe them It consisted of very many precepts and they were very nice and operose such as required great attention and heed cost and great labour very uneasie to be observed and yet the neglect of any of them exposed the neglecters to the curse of that law Hence it is that the law is called by the Apostle the ministration of death and of condemnation And that State in which the Jews were under the law of Moses is represented not onely as a State of minority but as a State of bondage and Slavery also Act. 15.10 Deut. 27.26 with Gal. 3.10.2 Cor. 3.7 9. Gal. 4.3 24. And indeed it must needs be such a condition that the Jews were under and it will be evident that such it was when it is considered that they were greatly straitned between the great difficulty in keeping and the great danger of breaking those laws They must be uneasie in their own minds who are perpetually in danger of offending and of being punished There was no way left for them for perfect ease and quiet to their conscience if the law were considered as a covenant of works There was not that provision made then for peace of mind which was made afterwards in the time of the Messias It is true there were Sacrifices allowed and prescribed in that law for the atonement expiation of the offender but there are many things to be considered which do speak the defectiveness of Sacrifices under the law and shewing the need of some better provision And to that purpose I desire the following particulars may be duly considered First that for some sins there was no expiatory Sacrifice allowed in the law of Moses and consequently the offender was left without hope of pardon notwithstanding the provision made under the law by Sacrifices for the obtaining of it In many cases the Sinner was to bear his own iniquity and could hope for no pardon from any Sacrifice whatsoever And there are very many sins of this sort Such were wilfull murther and blasphemy and many other sins of which we may see Levit. 20. And indeed all those sins which were committed with an high hand were of this sort And whatever hope there might be for the sinner who was surprized and sinned ignorantly yet if he did it presumptuously and were guilty of those sins which admitted no atonement he was left without hope from the law of Moses and was to dye the death And if the Supreme Magistrate did not condemn him God declared that he would set his face against him and cut him off But of this I have before discoursed p. 27.28 Ps 51.16 Levit. 24.17 and v. 13. Numb 35.31 32. Levit. 20.5 Secondly that where Sacrifices were not onely allowed but prescribed by God himself yet they were not things of their own nature pleasing unto God And God did to the Jews frequently declare this and did it after such a manner as might well beat them off from relying upon the Sacrifices which they brought to procure their pardon and atonement I might heap up Scriptures to this purpose I shall content my self with these that follow I will not reprove thee for thy Sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings to have been continually before me I will take no Bullock out of thine house nor He-goats out of thy folds Again I desired mercy and not Sacrifice And I spake not unto your Fathers nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt-offerings or Sacrifices But this thing commanded I them saying obey my voice c. Again To what purpose is the multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of the burnt-offerings of Rams and the fat of fed Beasts And I delight not in the bloud of Bullocks or of Lambs or of He-goats bring no more vain oblations c. Again He that killeth an Oxe is as if he slew a man He that sacrificeth a Lamb as if he out off a Dogs neck He that offereth an oblation as if he offered Swines bloud He that burneth incense as if he blessed an Idol Ps 50.8 9. Hos 6.6 Jer.
But if you say where are these Conquests of our Lord 's to be seen shew us the men that are thus redeemed from their crimes and follies I answer that there are and ever were such men in the World since the Gospel appeared But that their number is small is not from the Religion they profess but because it is not entertained It is because they are false Christians not because the Religion is not able to make them such If we would receive our Lord's precepts and beg his aids and use his assistances and helps we should find a mighty change in the minds of men Lactant. Institut l. 3. c. 26. One of the Ancients tells us that there were daily experiments in his time how far the Precepts of Religion did prevail upon the minds of men And I cannot but take notice of his words to this purpose Da mihi virum qui sit iracundus c. Give me a man says he that is given to wrath to evil speaking and who is unruly With a very few words of God I will render him tame as a sheep Give me one that is craving covetous tenacious I will render him liberal and bountifull Give me one that is fearfull of grief and death He shall soon despise crosses and flames and the torments of a Tyrant Give me one that is lustfull adulterous and gluttonous and you shall soon see him sober chast and continent Give me one that is cruel and bloud-thirsty and that fury shall soon be changed into an unfeigned Clemency Give me one that is unjust foolish and sinfull and he shall presently become just and prudent and inoffensive Thus did Religion doe in those times when it was considered and entertained Those deliverances under the law of Moses were more particular and restrained to the people of the Jews but our Jesus is the Saviour of Mankind He is the authour of eternal salvation to all them that obey him Heb. 5.9 And he that saves the World is preferrible to him that delivered the Israelites onely The time was when Religion and all the more eminent dignations and favours of God seemed to be inclosed and confined within the narrow compass of the land and people of the Jews There had God his Temple and dwelt among them to them he gave his responses from heaven There were his Prophets and they had his Law amongst them He had not dealt so with any nation and for his judgments they had not known them Psal 147.20 In Judah was God known His Name was great in Israel in Salem was his Tabernacle and his dwelling place in Zion There brake he the arrows and the bow the shield and the sword and the battel Psal 76.1 And What one nation in the Earth was there like that people 2 Sam. 7.23 Among them he wrought his Wonders and the Gentiles were so far from being bettered by those Wonders that they were to their loss They were strangers to the Commonwealth and to the mercies of Israel Their land was the glorious land and the Valley of Vision when others sate in darkness Nay which is more still the Messiah was promised to them and to be of their seed The Apostle in sew but very comprehensive words reckons up their Prerogatives To whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises Whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever Rom. 9.4 The deliverances that were wrought by Moses and Joshua c. were for the sake of them and they were but the Saviours of the Israelites But our Lord is the Saviour of Mankind of the Gentile as well as Jew He is that light which lighteth every man that comes into the world That Sun of righteousness whose light and influence is not confined to any one nation or kindred but displays it self upon all the nations of the Earth The partition wall is taken down and the difference between man and man is taken away And whoever comes to our Jesus shall in no-wise be cast out Now all the faithfull are the children of Abraham And God is no respecter of persons but in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him Acts 10.34 Upon the birth of Jesus the Angel tells the shepherds Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people Luke 2.10 And the heavenly Host praised God and said Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will towards men v. 14. Our Lord came not to save the Jews onely but all that believe And 't is worth our observing after what manner the love of God in sending his Son is expressed Not as confined to the Jews any longer but as reaching to the race of Mankind God so loved the world not the Jewish people onely that he gave his onely begotten Son c. John 3.16 After the same manner the Apostle speaks of this love of God After that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared Tit. 3.4 Our Saviour is a light to lighten the Gentiles as well as the glory of the people of Israel Luke 2.32 Our Lord hath delivered Mankind Moses and Joshua delivered the Israelites onely Sampson dyed and by his death destroyed the enemies of the Hebrews Our Lord by his death destroyed the enemies of Mankind The Sacrifices of the Law at the most attoned for the whole Congregation of Israel But Christ gave himself a ransome for all 1 Tim. 2.6 He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours onely but also for the sins of the whole World 1 John 2.2 Our Lord tasted of death for every man Heb. 2.9 And would have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth 1 Tim. 2.4 And what the men of Dan said to Micha's Levite that it was better for him to be a Priest to a tribe than to be a Priest to one man is accommodable to my present purpose He is the great deliverer that rescues Mankind rather than one people And such an one is our Jesus the Saviour of the World By the Religion of Christ Jesus we may be justified and acquitted from that guilt which admitted no attonement from the law of Moses Though in the law of Moses several oblations were prescribed and allowed to expiate for sins of Ignorance yet there was no expiation allowed for him that sinned presumptuously but such a sinner was to be cut off from among God's people Numb 15.30 31. There were many sins of this high nature that the law was not furnished with an attonement for as may be seen Levit. 20. Among these wilfull murther was to be reckoned as a sin that admitted no sacrifice of attonement And to this sense are the words of the Psalmist understood when he prays to be delivered from bloud-guiltiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 LXXII si voluisses Sacrificium dedissem utique V. L. For says he thou desirest not sacrifice else would I give it Psal 51.16 i. e. Thou hast allowed no sacrifice for such an high offence as mine is This agrees well with the Text the ancient Versions and the Jewish Expositors R. David Kimch in Ps 51.16 In eundem sensum R. Solom Aben Ezra in loc One of the Jewish Commentators upon this place expresses himself thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is And although God says he commanded oblations together with confession and repentance the blessed God did not command oblations unless it were for him who sinned ignorantly But he the Psalmist was a presumptuous sinner and for this sin there was no oblation but onely repentance with a broken and contrite heart But the Gospel of Jesus Christ offers a pardon for all sins upon the sinners saith and repentance No sinner is excluded from hope that does not by his impenitence exclude himself This seems to be the meaning of these words of St. Paul Be it known unto you men and brethren that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses Acts 13.38 39. I come now to explain what is meant by Christ Now so it is that the word Christ does denote our Saviour's office Christus non proprium nomen est Lactant. Institut l. 4. c. 7. sed nuncupatio potestatis regni Says Lactantius Christ is as much as Anointed it being but the Greek of Messias Andrew telleth Simon Peter we have found the Messias which is being interpreted the Christ Joh. 4.41 And the woman of Samaria said I know that Messias cometh which is called Christ Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chald. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 4.25 Thus our Lord is called Ps 2.2 Dan. 9.25 Now for the better understanding of the importance of this word Christ or Anointed we shall doe well to reflect upon the usage that obtained among the Jewish People where we shall find frequent mention of the Ceremony of Anointing That which was anointed was thereby separated to some particular and special use whether it had relation to things or persons Thus was the Pillar anointed Gen. 28.18.22 And the Tabernacle and all its Utensils They being by that means set apart to the Service of God But this Ceremony of anointing had relation to persons also Thus the most publick Persons and Ministers among the Jews were by this Ceremony set apart to their publick Offices and Dignities As for example Kings were anointed whence it is that a King is expressed in the sacred Dialect by the Lord 's anointed Thus were Saul and David anointed by Samuel according to the Divine appointment 1 Sam. 10.1.15.1.16.3.13 And Zadok anoints Solomon that there might be no dispute who should succeed David 1 King 1.39 And these Kings when they were thus anointed were then God's Vice-gerents over the Jewish People who were under a Theocracy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Hist l. 1. c. 3. And when the Prophets did by anointing them make them Kings they made them Typical Christs as one of the ancients does express it And so indeed they were They did typifie the Messias who was to be Lord and Governour of the Church as these Kings were of the Jews Priests were anointed also Aaron and his Sons that they might minister unto God in the Priest's office Exod. 40.13.15 For Prophets the like cannot be said We have not that express Law nor the Practice upon record which we have for the other 'T is true indeed that Elijah is commanded to anoint Elisha to be a Prophet in his room 1 King 19.16 And at the same time he is commanded to anoint Hazael to be King over Syria and Jehu over Israel 'T is probable that no more is meant by that expression than this that he should constitute Elisha to be Prophet in his room and because men were set apart to great offices by the Ceremony of anointing therefore that expression is used there And that Person who is constituted and appointed by God to some great office or employment is said to be the Lord 's Anointed though he were not set apart with material oil to that office because these publick Persons were wont by the holy oil to be set apart to their Dignities and Employments Thus Cyrus is said to be Lord's anointed Isa 45.1 He being appointed by God for the destruction of Babylon and the return of the Israelites And we find that all that we reade Elijah did when he came to Elisha to perform what he was commanded was that he passed by him and cast his Mantle upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. S. B. Mel. Michal Jophi in 1 Reg. 19. R. D. Kimchi in Isa 45.1 1 Kings 19. v. 19. Upon which Elisha arose and ministred to Elijah v. 21. For Kings and Priests the Precept is plain and the practice unquestionable I shall from the Jewish writers give you a more particular account of the right of anointing Kings and Priests as well as of the reasons of it Now the reasons of it are said to be these two First this was to be a sign of the Divine election and choice He that was thus set apart was to be received as chosen of God I have exalted one chosen out of the People I have found David my servant With my holy oil have I anointed him Psal 89.19 20. This holy oil was a composition of God's prescribing wherewith certain things and persons were to be set apart and separated to holy uses and 't is expresly said whosoever compoundeth any like it or whosoever putteth any of it upon a Stranger shall even be cut off from his People Exod. 30.33 Secondly that he that was thus anointed might thereby be prepared to receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Divine influx And thus we read of Saul that when Samuel had anointed him and told him that the spirit of the Lord would come upon him and that he should be turned into another man That the spirit of God came upon him and that he prophesied 1 Sam. 9. We are moreover told from the Jewish writers that those that were anointed were anointed on their heads Vid. Maimon H. Melach Abravenel in Exod. 30.23 Kings with the figure of a Crown Priests with the figure of the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sign of a Crown denoting the Regal dignity and the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being the first letter of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies a Priest denoting the Priesthood That the high Priest was anointed but not the inferiour Priests That a Son succeeding his Father in the Kingdom was not anointed Indeed Solomon was but that was because there was a competitor in the case namely his Brother Adonijah
renown to shew that as some other things which are little in bulk or quantity yet in other regards are of more esteem and value above others in sight greater so it was with Bethlehem though perhaps otherwise little in number bigness or account among the thousands of Judah or as St. Matthew among the Princes of Judah Which in sense is all one alluding to the custome of the Israelites of dividing their tribes into thousands as among us the Shires are divided into Hundreds over every one of which thousands was a Prince or Chief Thus is the difficulty of reconciling St. Matthew and Micah abundantly removed and that by a way which the Jews themselves cannot reasonably reject Thirdly I consider the stupendious manner of his birth For this was also foretold of the Messias that he should be born of a Virgin This God had promised long before to the house of David I say to the house of David for that is to be very well heeded 'T was to the house of David not to Ahaz that this promise was made Indeed God said unto Ahaz Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God c. But this Ahaz refused to doe and said I will not ask neither will I tempt the Lord. And then follows the promise not to Ahaz but to the house of David And he said Hear ye now O house of David is it a small thing for you to weary men but will ye weary my God also Therefore the Lord himself will give 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you a sign 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. contra Cels l. 1. Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his name Immanuel Isa 7.11 14. By which words it is very evident as one of the Ancients hath observed well that what is said here is said to the house of David Now the Virgin Mary though she were indeed espoused to Joseph yet before they came together she was found with Child of the Holy Ghost Matt. 1.18 And the same Evangelist tells us expresly All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the Prophet saying Behold a Virgin shall be with Child c. v. 22 23. It was under the character of the seed of the woman that the first promise of the Messias was made Gen. 3.15 And this was made good in the birth of Jesus of a Virgin who was in the strictest sense the seed of the woman for though the Virgin Mary were espoused to Joseph yet before they came together she was found with Child of the Holy Ghost Thus as sin entred by a woman so did salvation also And God made a Woman the instrument of the greatest good as the first Woman was the occasion of the greatest evil The Woman was then first in the transgression and now she is also made of God an instrument of the greatest blessing to mankind we are saved now by the fruit of a Woman's womb as we were made miserable at first by a Woman's rebellion And thus the Apostle tells us that the Woman shall be saved in Child-bearing And there being a difficulty in that expression I shall offer something upon this occasion towards its explication The Apostle requires that the woman should learn in silence with all subjection 1 Tim. 2.11 and adds But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man but to be in silence v. 12. This may seem hard on the woman's side and therefore the Apostle to shew that what he required of the woman was not arbitrarily done gives the reasons why he enjoins the woman this silence and subjection and gives two reasons The first is that the woman by God was made subject to man and was so even by the very law of her creation and would have so continued had mankind continued in innocence For Adam was first formed then Eve v. 13. The second reason for this injunction of silence and subjection is the woman's transgression This rendred her condition more mean and worse than it was by the law of her creation She is now subjected for her fault and depressed lower than she was upon the score of her transgression God said to the woman upon her fall Thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over three Gen. 3.16 Thus saith the Apostle And Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression v. 14. By all which it appears that the woman's condition since the fall is very bad and upon some accounts worse than that of the man's But yet though it be much depressed 't is not deplorable and hopeless It follows Notwithstanding she shall be saved in Child-bearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety v. 15. She shall be saved in Child-bearing not that the woman's bearing of children were either a means or condition of her being saved this would be small comfort to those who bear none But she shall be saved by this Saviour who was born of a woman and is the promised seed 'T is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by this Son born of the Virgin Mary this promised seed who is the foundation of faith and hope And then what follows If they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety does but insinuate the condition required on the woman's part The principal object of faith is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or promised seed this is the mean of our salvation and the foundation of our hope but faith and charity are required as conditions and charity are required as conditions on our part Fourthly I consider the time in which the Messias was to come according to the promises and predictions of the old Testament And here I shall consider what the time predicted was and then shew you that 't is past long since and that our Jesus did appear at that time according to the general expectation I shall begin and shew what the time was in which the Messias was to come according to the predictions of the old Testament And to that purpose commend to your consideration those places of Scripture which give us an account of that time And I shall begin with the words of Jacob The sceptre shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet untill Shiloh come Gen. 49.10 That those words are to be understood of the Messias the ancient writers of the Jews do confess and the modern Jews know this very well And several of them have also interpreted the place of the Messias Though there have been some among them who have used their wits to elude the force of that divine Testimony The meaning of those words of Jacob is as if he had said The Jews who near the time of and after their return from their captivity of Babylon received their denomination from Judah shall not cease to be a people nor be quite deprived of the use of their Laws and Religion untill
mentioned before out of Josephus Joseph de Bello Judaic l. 7. c. 12. who tells us of a Prophecy that at that time one of their own Countrey should have dominion over the world And this expectation of the Jews did excite them to War with the Romans as both Josephus and Suetonius observe Cornel. Tacit. Histor l. 5. Another Roman Historian gives us the same account of this great expectation of some extraordinary person that should about this time arise out of Judaea Pluribus persuasio inerat says he antiquis sacerdotum literis contineri eo ipso tempore fore ut valesceret oriens profectique Judaeâ rerum potirentur These testimonies do sufficiently prove what I bring them for that there was a general expectation of some more than ordinary person to arise from the Jewish people at that time And upon the whole it seems very plain that the ground of this expectation was to be fetched from the predictions in the old Testament concerning the time when the Messiah was to be born These Prophecies were so plain that they raised in the Jews a general expectation of their Messias at that time and they did withall signifie the hope they had of his appearance and hence the fame of that expectation was spread abroad in the Gentile world We see that the birth of our Jesus agrees very well with what was predicted of the Messias I shall therefore now proceed to some other particulars But before I do that I cannot but take notice how the Jews shuffle when they are urged with the Scriptures above mentioned which predicted the coming of the Messias From the words of Jacob Gen. 49.10 it is evident that the Messias was to come while the Jews were a people and before they were dispersed Their ancient Doctours expound those words of the Messias with one consent The time is elapsed and for sixteen hundred years they have been driven out of their own land and many of their laws being annexed to that land been forced to live where they could not put in practice the laws of Moses Menasseh Ben Israel Conciliator pa. 88. And now they have found out arts and tricks to elude the force of that place which their ancient writers understood of the Messias which are so vain and weak that I will not reckon them up but refer the Reader to one of their late Writers on this argument It is infinitely plain that the Messias was to come during the second Temple according to Haggai and Malachy It is certain that the glory of that latter House was to be greater than that of the former And there can be no other account given how this could be but that it should be from the presence of the Messias who was to appear in this Temple For otherwise this Temple came short of Solomon's and they who knew Solomon's wept when they saw the foundation of this Ezra 3.3 12. Nay the Jewish writers tell us and fansie that they learn it from the defect of the letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the text of Haggai R. Kimchi R. Solom in Hag. 1.8 R. Bechai in legem f. 59. Col. 4. chap. 1. ver 8. that there were five things in Solomon's Temple which were wanting in this second Temple viz. the Ark the Vrim and Thummim the Fire from Heaven the Shechinah and the Holy Ghost These things lessen the glory of this second House which yet as is foretold should be greater than that of Solomon's And what do the Jews say to all this They answer that the second Temple stood longer than the first Kimchi R. Solom in Haggai 2. Lipmanni Nizachon pag. 141. and so in respect of its duration it was more glorious than the first For whereas the first Temple stood but 410 the second continued 420 years As if the standing ten years longer were a thing in it self of so great moment and so great a comfort to those who saw its foundation Does God say that he will shake the Heaven and Earth and all Nations and fill this House with glory and send the desire of all Nations and is this all that he means that this House shall continue ten years longer than that of Solomon's Supposing the account to be true that it stood ten years longer than that of Solomon's yet does not this infer the glory which is here promised Is this all that is meant by those words I will fill this house with glory The Tabernacle of Moses according to the account of Maimon continued longer than 410 years Maimon Beth Habbechirah cap. 1. and was it therefore more glorious than Solomon's Temple At other times they tell you that the second Temple was beautified by Herod and enriched by other Kings of the earth As if God who values not silver and gold did magnifie here the magnificence of an Idumaean and the munificence of some Heathen Princes or as if this could afford the Jews any great comfort who under this second Temple met with severe afflictions from the Greeks and Romans Credat Judaeus apella I once met with a Jew who seemed to be a person of considerable rank Discoursing with him about Religion I pressed him with the words in Haggai chap. 2. v. 9. and shewed him the vanity of those evasions which their Writers had found out I found him as vain as any of them when he insisted upon this that the House spoken of in Haggai was meant of a third House yet to be built For that is meant said he by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. the latter house in the Prophet Whereas it is evident that the words are to be understood of that second house built on their return from the Captivity as appears from v. 3. and 't is called This latter House 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 9. which the Jew concealed The time of the coming of the Messias is so punctually set down in Daniel and so clearly revealed in other Scriptures that the Jews themselves are in great confusion when they are put upon this argument of computing the time when the Messias was to come into the world And as a clear proof of this Maimor H. Melechim c. 12. Maimon in that Book where he treats of the Messias lays down this rule which tends greatly to keep the Jews in their most astonishing unbelief that no man ought to compute the time of the coming of the Messias and to this purpose he cites a known saying of their wise men viz. Let them who compute times be extinguished or perish CHAP. IV. The CONTENTS That the Messias was to be a Prophet Deut. 18. v. 18. considered That our Jesus was a Prophet like unto Moses shewed in sundry particulars That the Messias was to converse much in Galilee according to the prediction Isa 9.1 2 3. That place more particularly considered That our Jesus did so Several other Characters of the Messias belonged to Jesus That the Messias as
the Lord shall he behold Num. 12.6 7 8. Our blessed Saviour was in this the great Anti-type of Moses No man hath seen God at any time the onely begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him Joh. 1.18 In his Mediatourship Thus Moses tells the Israelites I stood between the Lord and you at that time to shew you the word of the Lord Deut. 5.5 And in this he was but the type of our blessed Saviour who exceeded him greatly inasmuch as he is the Mediatour of a better Covenant which was established upon better promises Heb. 8.6 I may add that Moses was a type of our blessed Saviour in the deliverance which he wrought He delivered his people from Egypt but Jesus saves us from our sins He saved the Israelites Jesus is the Saviour of the World He wrought miracles but not so many and great works as those which Jesus did as I shall shew at large afterwards What hath been said is sufficient to convince us that those words Deut. 18. belong to the Messias and were fulfilled in our blessed Saviour I know very well that the Jewish writers expound those words to another sense and by the Prophet there they understand the whole order and succession of Prophets after Moses or else Joshuah or Jeremiah But there is no ground for such an interpretation of the Text. For the words speak plainly of one certain Prophet that God would raise up and for Joshua he was no Prophet nor is he justly reckoned among that order of men And that the words cannot be meant of Jeremiah or of any other Prophet succeeding Moses is plain from this that they contain a promise not onely of a Prophet but a Prophet like unto Moses which according to the Jews concession neither Jeremiah nor any of the other Prophets were For Moses was a Prophet of an higher form and rank than any of those that did succeed him till our Saviour's time And that this Prophet Deut. 18. is not to be found among any of the Prophets of the old Testament will appear from these words where it is said There arose not a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face Deut. 34.10 The succeeding Prophets did but repeat what Moses had taught His law was their rule till Christ came who spake what God had commanded him Secondly the place where the Messias was to converse when he came into the world is also predicted and we shall find our Saviour did converse in that place Though he were born in Bethlehem yet he lived in Galilee as was predicted by the Prophet Isaiah I shall take the liberty to translate those words as a learned man hath done and to begin where he does also Mr. Mede on Mar. 1. v. 14 15. As the first time he made vile or debased the land of Zabulon and the land of Naphthali so in the latter time he made it or shall make it glorious If you ask how it follows The way of the sea beyond Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles the people that walked in darkness namely of affliction have seen a great light they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death upon them hath the light shined If you ask how comes this it follows Vnto us a Child is born unto us a Son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder Isa 9. v. 1 2 3. For the better understanding of these words we may remember what the Scripture tells us of the early affliction and captivity of this people even in the days of Pekah by Tiglath-Pileser King of Assyria 2 King 15.29 Now as it were in recompence of these early sufferings they are promised here by the Prophet a glorious dignation from the presence and conversation and preaching and mighty works of our blessed Saviour As the second Temple which fell short of the first in glory was to be more glorious than that by the presence of the Messiah so Galilee though an obscure Countrey and remote from Jerusalem the principal City of the Nation and a Countrey that had been early and very severely afflicted should yet be dignified with the presence and works of Christ We are next to enquire whether this prediction were fulfilled in our blessed Saviour And to that purpose we read that the Angel Gabriel was sent unto a City of Galilee named Nazareth to the Virgin Mary who dwelt there to acquaint her that she should conceive and bring forth a Son and call his name Jesus Luk. 1. And though Jesus were born at Bethlehem yet he was conceived in Galilee and from thence Joseph and Mary went up to Bethlehem upon occasion of the decree of Augustus Coesar Luk. 2. And in Galilee again he lived when he was a young child for after he was brought up out of Egypt by Joseph he fearing to go into Judoea being warned of God in a dream he turned aside into the parts of Galilee and he came and dwelt in a City called Nazareth Matt. 2.22 23. From thence he came to be baptized by John Matt. 3.13 Mark 1.9 And after his temptation and John's imprisonment we find him in Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God Mark 1.14 Or as St. Matthew hath it In the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaias the Prophet saying Euseb Demonstr l. 9. c. 8. The land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthalim by the way of the sea beyond Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles the people which sate in darkness saw great light Matt. 4.14 15 16. As there he had been brought up Luk. 2.39.4.16 so there he preached Luk. 4.14 Matt. 4.23 At the Sea of Galilee he calls Simon and Andrew and a little way from thence two other Disciples James and John Mar. 1.16 19. And thereupon as he himself is called a Galilean Matt. 26.69 so are his Disciples called Galileans Act. 1.11.2.7 The first miracle he wrought was in Cana of Galilee Joh. 2.11 He went indeed to Jerusalem at the feast Joh. 2.13 but after that returns to Galilee Joh. 4.3 43. And there he cures the Noble-man's Son v. 46. And this was the second miracle that he did when he was come out of Judoea into Galilee v. 54. And he promises his Disciples that after his resurrection he will go before them into Galilee Matt. 26.32 So that though he were at Jerusalem at the feasts and died there yet he was conceived in Galilee there he lived and preached there he called his Disciples there he did his miracles there he appeared to his Disciples after his resurrection But it is not fit we should dismiss this excellent prophecy which does not onely foretell the great happiness of Galilee by reason of the presence of the Messias but seems very particularly to point out those places in Galilee that should be thus dignified and honoured The Prophet does not onely in general foretell the
Saviour as well as a Comforter with relation to his Disciples Joh. 16.8 The spirit did plead the cause of our Lord and by the mighty works of this divine spirit men were convinced that Jesus was no Impostour but that he was what he professed himself to be the Christ the Son of God A Miracle hath always been a good proof of a Doctrine and ever acknowledged to be very convincing When Elijah had restored to life the Widow's Son she concludes him a true Prophet 1 King 17.24 By this I know says she that thou art a man of God and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth A true miracle is an attestation from Heaven We cannot think that God will set his seal to a lye or to a truth of little moment and concern And as miracles are a good proof of the truth of a Doctrine so our Saviour had great reason to reser the Disciples of John Baptist to his miraculous works especially when it is considered that the law of Moses was confirmed by miracles and it is very reasonable to believe that the ordinances of Moses should be removed after the same manner that they were established and confirmed And therefore that Jesus should doe greater miracles that Moses ever did Besides our Saviour designed the destruction of the Devil's Kingdom in the world For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the Devil 1 Joh. 3.8 And upon that account it was needfull that he should doe miracles The Devil had gotten a great and ancient possession over mankind he had got into the hearts and bodies of men and dwelt in the Temples of the Heathen world And whoever considers the largeness of his dominion the power and malice of his instruments will easily grant that there was need of a mighty power to dispossess him Now our Saviour and his followers made use of no carnal weapons they armed no legions raised no fighting men by sea or land And yet it is not to be believed that the Devil could be driven out of his ancient possession and strong holds without a greater power than what he was possessed of and that must be a divine power The power of the Devil was great at our Saviour's appearance He dwelt in the Heathen Temples answered in their Oracles an idolatrous worship obtained in the world many were there who were possessed by him Our Saviour stopped his mouth in the Oracles overthrew his Kingdom destroyed the idolatry and superstition which had overspread the world and threw the Devil out of the bodies and which was a greater work out of the hearts of men The Gospel set forward with great disadvantages The preachers of it had not riches or power or great birth or strong alliances or wordly wisedom to recommend them On the other hand they were poor men and despised But yet they were endued with power from above of working miracles and dispossessing the Devil where ever they came Chrysost Tom. 3. p. 276. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Had all this been done without the working of miracles this would have been the greatest miracle of all It was necessary that this power should be employed against the Devil's Kingdom The Jews indeed seem to be blamed by our Saviour for seeking after signs Mat. 16.4 But certain it is that they were not blameable nor blamed by our Saviour for demanding signs and wonders This demand was not unreasonable in it self nor blameable in them In this they were to be blamed that they did not require them with a mind prepared to receive the truth and were not content with such Miracles as our Saviour wrought H. Melach c. 1. Maimonides tells us that there were three precepts which did oblige the Israelites when they came into the Land of Promise viz. to set over them a King to destroy the Amalekites and to build a Sanctuary or Temple And yet when the Israelites demanded a King we find God displeased with them But then it was not because they desired to set a King over them but because they desired it amiss and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in order to obey the law but because they were weary of Samuel a good Governour And so in the case before us The Jews require a sign and it is not to be supposed that our Saviour was upon that account displeased with them For their law being confirmed by Signs and Miracles it was very reasonable for them to require signs before they consented to relinquish it But that was not their fault that they required a sign But they came to our Saviour tempting rather than as sincere learners Matt. 16.1 Mark 8.11 and nothing will serve their Turn but a sign from Heaven The Jews ask our Saviour what they should doe that they might work the works of God Our Saviour answered and said unto them Joh. 6.28 29 30 31. This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent 'T was their great Duty to believe that Jesus was the Christ the Son of God The Jews do not stop here but proceed and demand of him a sign What sign shewest thou then said they that we may see and believe thee what dost thou work This was not unreasonable all this while their fault was that they would chuse what kind of Miracles our Saviour should work and they must be signs from Heaven and no less seems to be intimated in the following words Our fathers did eat Manna in the desart As it is written He gave them bread from Heaven to eat They must have Miracles of this sort they are for just such signs as Moses wrought There was thunder and lightning and a thick cloud at the giving the Law upon Mount Sinai They had Manna from Heaven in the wilderness They must have such signs as they pitch upon themselves and thus they tempt God by indulging their Curiosity Our Saviour wrought many signs and wonders and did mightily outdoe Moses as shall be shewed afterward and all their Prophets And therefore our Saviour did enough to confirm his doctrine and left the Jews without excuse Miracles are then a good testimony provided we are sure that they are miracles strictly so called For it hath often happened that the World hath been cheated with lying wonders Magicians and Impostours have imposed upon men And it is a matter of some difficulty to discern the difference between a true miracle and a false one between that which is indeed the finger of God and that which is the fraud and artifice of the Devil If Moses turn a rod into a Serpent so do the Sorcerers also and it might perhaps have puzled the wisest stander-by to discern the difference between them It will be very hard many times ex parte rei to Judge what miracles are true and what are falsly so called But though there be a difficulty in judging ex parte rei
live Onely let him see and consider This Serpent then of Moses was a symbol or sign of something better than it self And in its first institution it was intended for a sign or symbol of some future good This is very probable from the very words of the Text Moses is Commanded to make a fiery Serpent and set it upon a pole so we render it or set it for a sign as the words may be rendred from the Hebrew Text. The vulgar Latine hath it pro signo i. e. for a sign And to the same sense it is rendred by the Syriac the Chaldee and the Greek Interpreters And this rendring is followed by Philo the Jew and by Justin the Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho And this sense is no way inconsistent with the sense which our Interpreters give This was a very fit type of Christ and of his death upon the Cross by him we are redeemed from the sting of death or sin 1. Cor. 15.56 and the power of the Devil that old Serpent Heb. 2.14 him God sent in the likeness of sinfull flesh and he did by this way condemn sin in the flesh Rom. 8.3 The Jewish Masters tell us upon this occasion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. It was not the Serpent that killed but it was the sin Christ by taking away our sin saves us But they in the wilderness were saved us But they in the wilderness were saved by an unlikely way From the sting of a Serpent by the figure of one There was nothing in the matter or figure of the Serpent which healed them It was the fitter type of Christ we are healed by his stripes and have the hope of life by his death But the Crucifixion of the Messias was likewise foretold by Zechary Zech. 12.10 Joh. 19.37 Ps 22.16 Joh. 20.25 They shall look upon me whom they have pierced St. John who was an eye-witness of the crucifixion of Jesus does not onely assure us that he was really Crucified but also puts us in mind that this prophecy was verified The Psalmist had foretold no less They pierced my hands and my feet This was fulfilled in our Jesus who disdained not after his Resurrection to confirm a doubting Disciple who would not believe unless he saw the print of the nails Secondly the time of his death and that agrees with the type of it I mean the Paschal Lamb For Christ is our Passeover who is sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5.7 and to this purpose It will be well worth our while to enquire after the precise time of slaying the Paschal Lamb that great and eminent type of our Saviour's death and to consider how well it agrees with the time of of our Saviour's death Now 't is expresly commanded that the Paschal Lamb should be killed in the evening Exod. 12.6 And we are to enquire what that expression does import Our Marginal reading will be of use in this enquiry which instead of in the evening renders it between the two evenings and that not without the warranty of the Hebrew Text There is great variety in the several versions of these words among the Ancient and Modern Translators I do not intend to represent that variety in this place Some of them are very reconcileable to the sense of the original others agree very exactly with it and indeed I have not met with any more wide among the Moderns than that of Castalio who very ill renders it sub crepusculum i. e. about the twylight as if the Paschal Lamb were not to be slain till it began to be dark which is so fond a conceit that I shall not need do any more than name it Jun. and Tremell keep strictly to the original Text render it inter duas Vesperas between the two evenings It is my business to inquire what is meant by this expression between the two evenings And by the way I cannot but take notice of the interpretation of Aben Ezra upon this place who gives us this account of the two evenings The first he would have to be the time when the Sun sets the second when the remaining light after Sun-set leaves the earth between these two he supposes the space of an hour and three quarters or thereabouts This interpretation agrees well with Castalio's sub crepusculum but 't is an interpretation that is extravagant for besides that it does not allow of a clear light for the remaining service after the killing of the Paschal Lamb nor yet give time enough for the whole service of the solemnity besides this I say the Authour of this interpretation seems to quit it and betake himself to another in his following words For he being pressed by an objection against this interpretation which he attempts not to answer confesses that there was a tradition among them which obliges them to kill the Paschal Lamb after the Sun did evidently decline from its meridian We are therefore still to seek what is meant by this expression between the two evenings in which time the Israelites were obliged to kill the Paschal Lamb and then to see whether this precise circumstance of time were also fulfilled in the death of our Saviour Now for the better understanding of this expression we must know that as the Jews day consisted of twelve hours so all their sorenoon was accounted morning Joh. 11.9 and from thence all the afternoon was accounted evening And then their evening was divided into two viz. the former and the latter evening The former evening was vespera declinationis and was to be reckoned from their sixth hour or our twelve at noon to Sun-set for from that time the Sun declined from its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or height Their latter evening was vespera occasus their Sun-setting so that the intermedial time between the Sun's declension and setting is that time which is between the two evenings Let us then consider what warrant we have for this And First the holy Scripture seems to give us ground to believe that the latter part of the Jewish day was divided into these two evenings To this purpose we read that the unclean person was to be removed out of the camp and it is added But it shall be when evening cometh on that is in the former evening as the following words assure us he shall wash himself with water And when the Sun is down there is the latter evening he shall come into the camp Deut. 23. v. 11. Of the former evening are those words spoken where 't is said of the Levite and his Wife that they tarried untill after noon or till the day declined as 't is in the Hebrew and they did eat both of them And then 't is added by the Levite's father-in-Father-in-law Behold now the day draweth towards evening and the day groweth to an end Judg. 19.8 9. Of the same evening the following words seem to be understood And it came to pass in an evening-tide that David arose from off his
and bruises due to them fell upon him The chastisement and stripes were his the peace and healing thereby procured belong unto us In a word though we finned and were liable to suffer upon that account yet he suffered for us If this be not plain enough let us proceed All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all v. 6. The plain and natural sense of which words is this that whereas we had sinned and had made our selves obnoxious to punishment yet God did not punish us as we deserved but the Messias in our room and stead To the same purpose we read afterward He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken v. 8. And after those words we read that his soul should be made an offering for sin v. 10. It is certain that a sin or trespass-offering under the law of Moses was expiatory and piacular and the beast was offered instead of the offender and God did accept the bloud of the sacrifice in the room of the life of the person who had sinned Let us now consider what we read in the New Testament to the same purpose Our Blessed Saviour in his solemn prayer a little before his passion hath these words For their sakes speaking of his Disciples I sanctifie my self that they also might be sanctified through the truth That is Christ did offer up himself as a victim or sacrifice for them as the Greek word is observed to signifie And that sacrifice also is to be looked upon as a piacular and expiatory one And to that purpose it is well observed that the prayer Joh. 17.1 2 c. by which Christ consecrated himself unto his death is like unto that which the Jewish High Priest used when he consecrated or offered up the victims of the day of expiation before the Altar Joh. 17.19 Agreeably to what hath been said St. Paul speaking of Christ tells us that God hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin Of which words I can give no other sense but this viz. that though Christ were innocent himself yet God thought fit to give him up to death as a piacular sacrifice for our sins And to the same purpose St. Peter tells us that Christ bare our sins in his own body on the tree 2 Cor. 5.22 1 Pet. 11.24 The divine Authour of the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us that Christ did by himself purge our sins And that he was once offered to bear the sins of many And that he offered one sacrifice for sins Heb. 1.3 c. 9.28.1.10.12 And we find that the expiation of our sins is imputed to the death of Christ in the Holy Scriptures We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the Tabernacle For the bodies of those beasts whose bloud is brought into the sanctuary by the High Priest for sin are burnt without the camp Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctifie the people with his own bloud suffered without the gate By sanctifying the people nothing less can be meant than the expiation of their sins and as this was done under the law of Moses by an expiatory sacrifice so was it done by the bloud of Jesus the anti-type of those sacrifices which he speaks of in that place who suffered without the gate St. John tells us that the bloud of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin Heb. 13.10 11 12. 1 John 1. v. 7. And this is farther confirmed to us from this that our Saviour's bloud is said to be a price paid for us by which we are bought and redeemed For this cause he is the Mediatour of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance To which I shall add those words of the Apostle to the Ephesians where speaking of Christ he saith In whom we have redemption through his bloud And to the Colossians In whom we have redemption through his bloud even the forgiveness of sins Heb. 9.15 Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 To what hath been said very much may be added to the same purpose viz. that our Lord himself hath said that he came to give his life a ransom for many Matt. 20.28 That of St. Paul to the same purpose 1 Tim. 2.6 And those words of our Lord This is my bloud of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sins Matt. 26.28 Again these words of the Apostle Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us Gal. 3.13 Christ is elsewhere said to be the propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4.10 I shall not need to add any more Testimonies to those already named For though there are many others yet these are sufficient And indeed they do so plainly acquaint us with the end of Christ's death that he must use great art that can strain them to another sense For what the Socinians object against this doctrine viz. that it renders God's kindness less which yet is greatly magnified in the Scripture in giving his Son This objection I say can be of no force at all For though God thought fit for the honour of his justice that sin should not altogether go unpunished and gave us his Son to make our peace and redeem us from misery with his pretious bloud yet is this no diminution to the free grace and mercy of God 'T was the infinite mercy of God which moved him to find out this way in which we can claim nothing 'T was intirely the mercy of God that provided us this remedy Our pardon is free to us whatever it cost our Lord to procure it We have great cause to adore the love of God and the unparallelled charity of our Blessed Saviour Our free pardon and Christ's redemption the infinite mercy of God and the satisfaction of his justice are not things that are inconsistent The Apostles words teach us this truth with which I shall conclude this particular Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus Rom. 3. v. 24 25 26. And thus I have considered the death of Christ as a sacrifice for sin and consequently as a great instance of the love of Christ who was content to dye that we might live And therefore when we are exhorted to love one another we are pressed to it from this consideration Walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and hath given himself for an offering
office too mean for us in which we may do any good office to one another Here is enough to extinguish for ever all our ambition and pride and contempt of our poor Brother Nothing that we can do can be called a great condescension after this humiliation of the Son of God IV. Of resignation to the will of God This our Lord was the most conspicous mirrour and example of He was a man sin onely excepted like one of us sensible of hunger and thirst of pain and sorrow and these things pained his flesh as they do ours His soul was sorrowfull and very heavy His sweat was like drops of bloud great was his agony and his sorrow beyond expression He saw before his eyes a most painfull and a most shamefull death He is about to drink a most bitter cup. These things were grievous to his humane nature and therefore he prays that if it were possible this cup might pass from him but after all he submits himself to the will of God Not as I will but as thou wilt And how instructive is this to us We sinners may be ashamed to murmur when our Lord resigned himself Well may we submit under our little and deserved evils when he that was without fault resigned himself up to God Mat. 26.39 V. Of the greatest Charity to Mankind Greater love than this hath no man than that he lay down his life for his friend This is the highest flight of friendship and we have but a very few examples in our books of such a Degree of Charity Some few I'll grant have done this none have gone beyond this besides our Lord Jesus For he died for his Enemies and for the Ungodly This example should constrain us to do good to all even to evil men and to our greatest Enemies Rom. 5.6 VI. Of the greatest fortitude and the truest courage He bore witness to the truth with his bloud and was stedfast in the profession of it to his last breath The most sharp and shamefull death the most barbarous usage and treatment could not prevail upon him to deny the truth or to fall into an impotent passion and revenge himself He does in cold bloud chuse rather to dye the worst kind of death than to quit the profession of the truth or to destroy his Enemies This is indeed an argument of true greatness of mind We are much mistaken in our conceit about Valour or fortitude To Forgive an Enemy and to chuse to dye rather than to do an evil thing speaks a generous and a great mind and is a certain proof of Courage and true Fortitude But he is a man of a weak mind who will do an evil thing to save his life and revenge himself upon him that affronts him or does him wrong Revenge speaks a defect of wit and courage The meanest creatures they are who are peevish and waspish and prone to bite him that toucheth him Leniter qui saeviunt sapiunt magis Anger resteth it in the bosom of fools Non est magnus animus quem incurvat injuria They are but little and feeble folk that are ruffled by every injury or calumny The more impotent and weak any creature is the more easily provoked and nothing is a more certain sign of a narrow and mean soul than is revenge Quippe minuti Semper infirmi est animi exiguique voluptas Ultio continuò sic collige quòd Vindicta Nemo magìs gaudet quà m faemina c. Well so it was our Saviour shewed great Courage and resolution and hath given us therein a great example of Christian fortitude and resolution I shall now make some application of what hath been said I. What hath been said may serve to recommend to us a suffering condition which Christ hath sanctified by his own Sufferings When we suffer we are like the Author and finisher of our faith It becomes us not to be dismayed with our sufferings who profess a faith in a crucified Redeemer For by sufferings our Religion was planted by sufferings it grew up and prevailed in the World This was the way in which Jesus went before us into his glory And if we suffer with him we shall likewise be glorified together It is no little comfort to us to think that our Lord hath led us the same way and that he did overcome the world after this manner which is indeed the noblest conquest of it II. We may hence be exhorted to a frequent mediation of the death and sufferings of Jesus Christ Form what hath been said it appears plainly that we are nearly concerned in these things For Christ did not suffer upon his own account but upon ours and we are very much concerned in the benefits of his death 1. As we expect our pardon upon the account of his merit and satisfaction He was a sacrifice which made attonement and expiation for our crimes as he died for our Sins 2. As we hope for an eternal inheritance upon the account of the death of Christ who hath made way for us by his death and by death entered himself before into an eternal inheritance 3. As we are confirmed in the truth of his holy Religion by the Testimony of his bloud with which this new covenant between God and man was ratified and confirmed 4. As we are constrained by the glorious example he gave us in his sufferings to patience and charity and self-resignation c. of which he hath given us the most powerfull example III. We may hence be exhorted to a frequent and diligent partaking of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper which is appointed as a standing memorial of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ We ought not onely to embrace but welcome all these opportunities as those which lead us to the contemplation of Christ's death upon which our hopes to depend It is an unspeakable privilege that we are admitted to this favour And had we the due sense which we ought to have upon our minds of the love of God in giving us his Son and the love of our Lord in giving up himself to death for us and the unspeakable benefits which thence accrue to us we should need no words of persuasion no law or secular interest to invite us to the doing of that which is so plainly our duty and so much our interest to doe Our spiritual hunger and thirst are the onely safe and lasting principles as well as the acceptable ones from whence we ought to be moved If our souls be once possessed with an ardent love of God and our Blessed Saviour we shall not make excuses and shall be so far from that that it will not be an easie thing to stay away and nothing less than a violent detention will keep us back And thus I have from the sufferings of Jesus made it appear that he is the Christ Before I proceed to speak to the resurrection of Jesus I shall say something of his Burial Of the Messias it was foretold
the same time believe him to be the Christ and consequently that his precepts are divine that his promises are certain and his power and authority uncontrollable This is indeed the faith peculiar to Christians The Jews and the Heathens believed some other points relating to Religion That Jesus rose that he is the Christ the Son of God this is the great Article of the Christian faith Hence it is that so much is imputed to this faith and to the confession of this truth in the New Testament Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God And afterward whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God Whoever believed this believed all the Christian Religion and he that when those words were written did believe and profess this truth when 't was greatly dangerous so to doe as he gave proof of a sincere faith so he might be truly said to dwell in God and to be born of God Ro. 10.9 1 Joh. 4.15 2 Joh. 5.1 Had not Christ been a man he could not have died and had he not been Christ the Son of God he could not have risen from the dead Had Jesus been a deceiver he must have lain in the grave till the general Resurrection Nothing less than a divine power could raise him to life again it was the Godhead which raised the humane nature and then Christ raised himself as he foretold he would and gave a great proof of his Divinity Joh. 2.19 21. It is an easie thing to destroy life but to restore it again speaks an almighty power It is nothing short of Omnipotence which can bring so great a thing to pass The Key of the grave is one of those which God keeps in his own hand The Apostle in very Emphatical words expresseth the power by which Jesus was raised from the dead for speaking of the exceeding greatness of God's power to us-ward who believe he adds according to the working of this Mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead The words are very great as a learned man hath well observed on the one hand there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and on the other there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two words to express power and that the power of God and as if these were too little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is added to the one and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the other and still as if this were too short there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to this is added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all this mighty power is actuated and exerted also And who can now believe that God would have shewn such a power in raising up Jesus from the dead if he had not been the Christ But I proceed to consider the time when Jesus rose from the dead viz. the third day The death and Resurrection of Jesus were necessary toward our redemption and the belief of both these is necessary to our Salvation It is therefore fit we should be well assured of the truth of them both and to that purpose that there should be some distance between the one and the other For as he could not have revived if he had not first died so it was fit that we should be well assured of the first before we could be obliged to believe the second If Christ had revived as soon as he had been taken down from the Cross it might have been questioned whether or no he were really dead But for the better speaking to this matter I shall First enquire into the reasons why there was this distance of time between the death and resurrection of Jesus Secondly that Jesus did rise the third day after his death Thirdly I shall consider the third day as it was the first day of the Week I shall enquire into the reasons of this distance of time between the death and Resurrection of Jesus And we may take them in the following particulars 1. It was very fit that there should be some competent distance between the death and resurrection of Jesus that men might be assured that he dyed without which they could not be obliged to believe him risen from the dead 2. It was not fit that the body of Jesus should lie so long as to be corrupted It was enough that he was so long a time dead as might give assurance that when he did appear he was really risen from the dead Had he lain any longer in the grave he had continued so long there as would have brought corruption and putrefaction upon his body Martha tells Jesus concerning Lazarus By this time he stinketh and for a proof of it she adds for he hath been dead four days This long stay in the grave would have made too great a change in the body of Jesus Besides there was a Prophecy of the Messias to this purpose that though he should dye and be buried yet his body should not lie so long in the grave as to putrefie Thus St. Peter applies that prediction Thou shalt not leave my Soul in hell nor wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption to the resurrection of Christ Joh. 11.39 Act. 2.27 31. 3. That this precise time of the resurrection of Jesus is according to the Scriptures or writings of the Old Testament 1. Cor. 15.4 Among those persons who in the Old Testament were types of the Messiah Isaac was an eminent one He was born against the laws of nature the Son of the Promise called the onely Son and the beloved Son and the Heir He was given up by his Father to death and he bore the Wood which was to bear him and in these things he was a remarkable type of Christ And the Bereshith Rabboth expresseth his carrying the wood by his carrying his Cross upon his Shoulder Bereshith Rabb in Gen. 22. The same Authour upon those words on the third day c. reckons up a great many places of Scripture which mention the third day and many particulars for which the third day was remarked viz. the giving of the law c. and then tells us it was remarkable for the Resurrection of the dead and cites to that purpose the very words of the Prophet which we Christians alledge to the matter in hand After two days he will revive us in the third day will he raise us up and we shall live in his sight The same Authour in the same place mentions the third as remarkable upon the score of Jonas who was three days and three nights in the belly of the Whale Than which nothing could have been said more appositely to our present purpose that being an express type of the Messias as hath been noted before And 't is enough in this matter that we can shew the express prophecy of Hosea and the eminent type of the Prophet Jonas
to the Jews imply no less What nation is there so great that hath Statutes and Judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day The giving a law to the Jews was a special dignation and favour He sheweth his word unto Jaâ—ob his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel He hath not dealt so with any nation and as for his Judgments they have not known them This was a great treasure which the Jews had when the neighbouring Countries were not admitted to the favour of a Divine Revelation The study of this law is frequently pressed upon them And the devout Psalmist does upon all occasions express the great esteem which he had for it It was sweeter to him than honey more valuable than Gold and Silver 't was the joy of his heart the desire of his soul the delight of his eyes and great comfort of his life Jesus himself shewed all due regard to the law of Moses He professed that he did not come to destroy the law and the Prophets he puts the people upon searching the Scriptures he was circumcised according to the law he wore such a Garment as the law of Moses prescribed he observed the Feasts which that law appointed and when he had healed the Leper he sends him to the Priest to doe according to the law of Moses The Jews had no cause to quarrel with our Lord in this matter St. Paul who was the Apostle of the Gentiles yet allows that the giving of the law to the Jews was a singular privilege and advantage He reckons it their great advantage that unto them were committed the Oracles of God and that to them pertained the covenants and the giving of the law Deut. 4.8 Ps 147.19 20. Ps 19.10 Ps 40.8 Ps 119.70 72 92 97 136. Mat. 5.17 Joh. 5.39 Luk. 2.21 Mat. 10.20 Luk. 2.41 Joh. 2.13 23. and ch 7.2 Mat. 8.4 Rom. 3.1 2. Rom. 9.4 And as the law of Moses came from God so it must also be granted that it was as it is called by the Psalmist a perfect law That is it was well fitted for that people to whom and for that time in which and for those ends for which it was given It taught them their duty to God their neighbour and themselves and laid before them such precepts as concerned them as men as members of a Body Politick and of a Church It was so full and so complete that it wanted nothing for the end it was designed to It was expressly provided that they to whom it was given should neither add to it nor diminish from it Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you neither shall ye diminish ought from it that ye may keep the Commandments of the Lord your God which I commanded you It was indeed full of rites and ceremonies but it required nothing immoral and did not allow of the least shadow of Idolatry Its precepts were just they were consistent they were plainly revealed and sufficiently confirmed Indeed many rites and ceremonies were prescribed But as they were of God's own appointment so they were ordained for wise ends also viz. to keep the people from Idolatry to which they were prone and from the foppish and superstitious usages of their neighbours for a proof of their obedience to God and for the fore-shadowing of some better things to come they were many of them very instructive and were so many Sacraments or Symbols of very weighty things Ps 19.7 Deut. 4.2 Notwithstanding what hath been said it does not follow that the law of Moses was never to be altered The Jews might not add or diminish but God himself was not bound by that law It stood upon divine authority and was revealed by God but it does not thence follow that the same authority which set it up could not take it away God no where tells us that 't is his last Revelation and that he intended it should be taken as such God is not obliged to reveal his mind all at once He may make what laws he pleaseth and add to them when he will Nay God himself does expressly declare that he would make a new Covenant And it is added not according to the covenant that I made with their Fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the Land of Egypt Jer. 31.31 32. It reflects no dishonour upon God to say that he reverses some Constitutions of his own that he alters or adds to his own laws All the laws which proceed from him are not of the same importance and moment The Jews themselves will own this and the thing is very evident and plain This appears from the greater or less punishments assigned to the transgressors of these laws There were some sins so great as admitted no Sacrifice to expiate them There were others which were easily atoned for We do not call the wisedom of God in question nor disparage his law when we shew how far short it comes of the Gospel For all this while we do but compare one Divine Revelation with another God made the Heaven and the earth and all that which he made was good It is no reflexion upon his wisedom or goodness or veracity to say that God will make a new Heaven and a new earth For God who promised to make a new covenant promised to make a new Heaven and earth also Isa 66.22 These things I thought fit to premise that I might proceed in this weighty argument with the greater caution I shall now consider the law of Moses more particularly in order to the proving this that the Gospel of Christ does excell it The whole body of the law of Moses comprizeth those precepts given by him which were either Moral Ecclesiastical or civil The Moral law concerned them as men and was given at Mount Sinai in ten distinct precepts or Commandments These are called the word or words of God and the ten words and the words of the covenant word in Scripture phrase signifying at intire sentence or precept Ps 147.19 Exod. 20. 1. Deut. 4.13.10.4 Exod 34.28 Gal. 5.14 Mark 7.13 with Matth. 15.6 The other laws which Moses gave are expressed by statutes and Judgments Ps 147.19 as the Moral are by word or words in the same place For statutes the Jewish writers tell us that they are to be understood of those precepts the reason whereof is not revealed Bechai in Legem fol. 185. Abravenel fol. 177. or at least is not obvious and plain Such were the laws concerning divers kinds concerning the scape Goat and the red Heifer and the like And to these belong the ceremonial and ritual precepts which concerned the Hebrews as they were a Church Judgments are such precepts as are more agreeable to reason and such as might at least in some measure be found out by it Such are tâ—ose which relate to adultery and theft c. These have relation to a Polity or civil Society As for
example the several specialties contained under the general prohibition of theft where Abravenel reckons up no less than ten are called Judgments and so are those precepts called which we find in Exod. ch 21. c. and that whole Section of the law is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Judgments containing several Judicial laws or laws which respected the Hebrews as they were a Commonwealth or civil Society These statutes and judgments contain the Laws of their Church and State And Judaism as considered in Contradistinction to Christianity consisted in the solemn profession of and obedience to these Laws which God had given to the Jewish Nation I shall now proceed to what I mainly intended to speak to viz. to shew First the defects of that Law which was given by Moses Secondly that these defects are made up and supplied by the Gospel of Jesus Christ Thirdly the use and application of this Doctrine The defects of that Law which was given by Moses For it will appear that it is defective if compared with the Gospel The Divine Authour of the Epistle to the Hebrews argues very strongly to this purpose For if that first Covenant bad been faultless then should no place have been sought for the second For finding fault with them he saith Behold the days come saith the Lord c. This he infers from the very words in the Prophet where God declares himself in this matter and it is very evident that the words of the Prophet are by this Divine Authour truely applied to the times of the Messias whose miraculous birth is predicted in the very same Chapter in those words a Woman shall compass a Man For it is evident that those words do refer to the stupendious manner of the birth of the Messias Vid. Dr. Pocock Not. Miscel in Portam Mosis pag. 348. I shall therefore proceed to shew the defects of the Law of Moses as compared with the Gospel and that in the following particulars Heb. 8.7 8. with Jer. 31.31 and with v. 22. 1. In its Precepts and Commands as it was a rule of life These Precepts are not such as perfect humane nature and as make men better who obey them and obedience to them was necessary because it was commanded But they were not such things as tend immediately to make men better in their tempers and inclinations They were good because they were commanded they were not therefore commanded because they were antecedently good We doubt not but that God commanded them for wise ends during the Minority of his Church but as they were not to endure for ever of which I may have occasion elsewhere to speak more largely so are they far from being of equal moment and value with the Laws of Jesus These Laws of Moses were given to the Jews Cosri par 1. and not intended to oblige mankind The Jews themselves frankly confess this And several of them were of that nature that they could not be supposed to concern any of the rest of mankind Such were all those Laws which were founded upon something which had happened to that People and of which the observances required were but Memorials or Testimonies Thus the Passover being appointed in remembrance of their deliverance out of Egypt was a peculiar Law to that People who were delivered thence The other Nations were not under the same obligation nor do we find that the Jews went about to impose their Law upon the Neigh bouring Countries The world had continued considerably above two thousand Years before the Law of Moses and there were in the World very considerable examples of Piety in that time when the Law was given it was given to the Jews indeed but they admitted of Proselytes to live among them who did not undertake an obedience to the Laws of Moses The things themselves which Moses requires are not things in which all men are concerned Indeed generally speaking they are of that nature that they cannot belong to any but to them onely to whom they were revealed All men are bound to be just and to speak the truth to worship God and to be chast and the like But for wearing fringes on Garments or frontlets between the Eyes for eating or forbearing such or such meats and drinks c. no man could be obliged to these Laws but those persons who had received them from Heaven For the Jews do confess that the reason of their Laws is not always to be found out and consequently the Laws themselves cannot be supposed to oblige mankind For though the Will of God be reason enough for our obedience yet it is so onely to them to whom it is made known And therefore those Laws of Moses which were not founded in any other reason than the Will of God could never be designed to oblige all the World Cicero de Leg. l. 2. Cicero affirms it to be the opinion of the wisest men that a Law is something eternal wisely governing the whole World by its affirmative and negative Precepts and that the prime and ultimate Law Mentem esse omnia ratione aut cogentis aut vetantis Dei i. e. is the Divine mind governing all things with reason We do not question the wisedom of God who by Moses gave Laws to the Jews we onely say that they were not intended for the whole world which would have been concerned in them if they had been agreeable to the needs and the best improved reason of all mankind and had been written in the heart of all men And as these Laws were onely given to the Jews so many of these Laws did not oblige them in any place besides their onw Land to which they were annexed which they would have done if they had been Laws good antecedently and such as had been founded upon the eternal reason of things The Jews do allow that so it was and do frequently in their Writings distinguish between those Laws which obliged them within the Land and those which obliged them without the Land of Israel And a very great number of Precepts they are which were annexed to that very Land in which they lived and to which they were not obliged any longer than they kept the possession of that Land So that what was their duty while they lived together in Canaan ceased so to be when they were dispossessed of it and were scattered abroad in other Countries I shall not goe about to number up the Precepts which were annexed to that Land I should too much enlarge if I should give in the full number of those Precepts I shall however name some of them The Jews acknowledge that the sheaf that was first reaped must be of the gowth of Canaan and so must also the first-fruits be which are elsewhere mentioned in their Law and the Loaves of Shew-bread must be made of the Corn of that Countrey The Laws which concerned Tithes the Sabbatical year their year of Jubilee their Festival rites their Cities of Refuge their
was weak and had not this promise of the Spirit annexed unto it Rom. 7.5 Gal 4.9 Phil. 3.3 with Rom. 8.3 Gal. 3.3 Heb. 7.16 And upon the account of its weakness it is very frequently called flesh in the new Testament as the Gospel is called the ministration of the Spirit upon the account of that power enabling us to obey with which it is attended And the legal ordiances are called weak and beggarly elements or rudiments And indeed the law of Moses might be justly called weak as compared with the Doctrine of the Gospel for the law was not able to effect what the Gospel hath done it gave not life Gal. 3.21 Rom. 7.5 8. Act. 15.10 it did not furnish men with power to yield an inward and spiritual obedience Sin was forbid indeed by the law but not kept under and restrained It directed mens obedience but did not powerfully assist them It was a yoke but not an easie one as that which Jesus puts upon us but such as the Jews knew neither how to bear or to break Gal. 4.3.24 And hence it is that they who were under the law are represented as in a State of Slavery and Servility Whereas the law of Moses was weak and they to whom it was given did transgress it and were obnoxious to a curse God does promise to the Jews to enter into a new and better convenant with them Jer. 31.33 after those days saith the Lord I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people I shall in the next place take into consideration The assurance of pardon of sin which the Gospel gives and consequently the foundation it layes for the quieting our consciences far beyond what was done by the law of Moses I have before shewed the defectiveness of that provision by Sacrifices which was made in the law of Moses I shall shew that this is supplied in the covenant of grace made by Christ And this was foretold very particularly as a special and peculiar grace belonging to this new covenant as it is distinguished from that between God and Israel by the mediation of Moses which God had promised to make God promises not onely to write the law upon their hearts and consequently to work in them the saving knowledge of himself but more especially assures them of their pardon and remission Jer. 31.34 For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more There is nothing bears so hard upon a man as his guilt does And in many things we offend all We are all guilty more or less and consequently obnoxious to the horrors of our conscience and the wrath of God This is the great torment of life and there is no trouble like it A guilty mind bears harder upon us than any outward trouble And then he that hath sinned is anxious and suspicious he is not easily assured of his pardon he that broke the Law of Moses was liable to the Curse of it And though Sacrifices were allowed I have shewed the defects of that provision But the Gospel gives us the utmost assurance of our pardon upon terms that are gentle and reasonable and by no means to be refused What-ever our sins have been yet upon our repentance and sincere obedience for the future we are sure of God's favour and of his being reconciled to us He beseecheth us now to be reconciled to him upon these gentle and easie terms This is the Tenor of this new covenant or covenant of grace of which Jesus is the Mediator He hath procured this for us he hath purchased this by his merits sealed it by his own precious bloud assured it to us by his Resurrection and powerfull intercession he confirmed it by stupendious Miracles proclaimed it to all the world by his messengers and given us the signs and evidences of it by his holy Sacraments and solemn institutions There is nothing wanting to ensure this our pardon unto us Here 's no shadow left for our doubt or anxious fears we have all the possible assurance which we can desire Rom. 5.8 9 10. While we were yet sinners Christ died for us much more then being now justified by his bloud we shall be saved from wrath through him For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life These last words contain an argument invincible and altogether unanswerable and such as affords the strongest consolation If God looked after us when we were his avowed enemies if even then he gave up his most dear Son to death and at so great an expence restored us to favour surely he will now not abandon us to destruction He that was so kind to his enemies will not now forsake his friends So great and dear a love will not be extinguished It was a great price and an instance of the greatest love by which we were reconciled when we were enemies 't was by the death of the Son of God We had little reason to expect this favour and this expence But now we may be saved without his giving up his Son again to death and need not therefore doubt that we shall be saved by his life The Jew under the law of Moses had great cause to fear for when he transgressed and that he did when-ever he continued not obedient to all the words of that law he put himself under the rigour and curse of the law But God hath now made a better covenant with us and given us the greatest hopes of pardon upon our repentance and sincere though it be not sin-less obedience to the laws of Christ Here is pardon to be had for all manner of sin There were many sins under the law of Moses as hath been observed for which no remission was to be had from any Sacrifice allowed by that law He that was guilty was liable either to death or to excision Mat. 12.31 We are better provided for by this covenant of grace All manner of sin and blasphemy says Christ shall be forgiven unto men Blasphemy as hath been observed before was one of those sins for which there was no expiation allowed under the law of Moses But even for this sin there is pardon in this covenant of grace For our Soviours words do not speak of the event of things but of the provision which is now made Blasphemy shall be forgiven 1 Tim. 1.13 16. i. e. there is pardon to be had for it And he who was himself a Blasphemer tells us that he obtained mercy nor does he onely tell us that but also that he therefore obtained mercy for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe Our Saviour goes on whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man it shall be forgiven him Matt. 12.32 There were those who spake against Christ The Person
of Jesus was contemned and reproached for the meanness of his birth the poverty of his condition or freedom of his conversation and afterwards for the ignominy of his death But this sin did not exclude the possibility of repentance and the hope of pardon Here 's pardon for every sin the Gospell invites and receives the vilest sinners but shelters them not if they continue to wallow in their mire We may learn what sins have been forgiven from the words of the Apostle Such were some of you but ye are washed 1 Cor. 6.9 11. c. They had been Fornicatours Idolaters Adulterers Effeminate Abusers of themselves with Mankind Thieves Covetous Drunkards Revilers Extortioners Such the Christian Doctrine found them but it did not leave them such They were cleansed of these impurities They were washed sanctified and justifyed in the name of the Lord Jesus Tit. 3.3 5. and by the Spirit of our God It was a wretched plight in which the Gospel found men when it first advanced in the world They were foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hatefull and hating one another Good God what a wretched condition was this How was thy Creature made in thine own Image deformed What a darkness and disorder hath spread it self upon the intellectual world Men retained the same shape and figure that they had from the beginning They were of an erect or upright stature They were not overgrown indeed with horns and hoofs and claws but otherwise they were at best but brutes in humane shape Their manners were crooked 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. their minds were bowed down to the ground they were salvage and ravenous as wolves and bears But were these Creatures out of the reach of this mercy tendered in the Covenant of Grace By no means These men were saved by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Our Lord came to call sinners to repentance And the greatest sinners were pardoned Those who had worshipped Idols who had been possessed by Devils and who had persecuted the Church of Christ In a word by our Jesus Act. 13.39 all that believe are justified from all things from which we could not be justified by the Law of Moses It is true indeed that our Saviour hath said Matt. 12.32 that whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him And it is the onely sin which is excepted Those words of our Saviour if rightly understood are no objection of weight against what hath been said before viz. that the Gospel affords a pardon for all manner of sin For this supposes that men assent to the truth of the Christian Doctrine and embrace it Now that sin against the Holy Ghost of which our Saviour speaks is of such a nature as supposeth the person guilty of it to be one who not onely does not assent to the truth of the Christian Doctrine but resists the Evidence and Confirmation of it which was effected by the Holy Ghost and does calumniate and blaspheme the Divine Authour of that Evidence Those Pharisees who imputed what our Saviour did to the Prince of the Devils did not believe the Doctrine of Christ Nor can any man who assents to the truth of the Christian Doctrine be guilty of that sin against the Holy Ghost of which our Saviour speaks The Holy Ghost in that place is not considered as the Third person of the Trinity and the authour of holiness in us in which respect every act of profaneness might in some sense be called a sin against the Holy Ghost but is considered there as a Witness to the truth of the Christian Doctrine And upon that account that blasphemy is said to be unpardonable He that was guilty of that sin was one who rejected the Christian Doctrine It is no disparagement to the most effectual Medicine in the World that it does not cure that diseased person who refuseth to apply it The Gospel affords a pardon for every sin but there is no hope for him who rejects it It was a charge of old against Christian Religion that it invited and gave hope of pardon to the most profligate sinners Origen contra Celsum l. 3. Celsus long agoe objected it against our most Holy Religion He says that in other mysteries the profane were dismissed and none was called in but he who had pure hands who was wise in speech free from vice c. But says he among the Christians are called in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Whoever is a sinner a fool or childish or miserable such says he does the Kingdom of God receive But as Origen answers well these vile men are not presently admitted to the participation of the mysteries of this Religion but to the Cure which it works upon them It gives them pardon upon their amendment The Jews from their Sacrifices had hopes of pardon but they were but faint hopes if compared with what we have under the Gospel of Christ God hath given us the utmost assurance For 1. He hath given up his beloved Son to death 2 Cor. 5.7 Joh. 1.29 1 Pet. 1.19 Eph. 5.2 Rev. 1.5 Heb. 12.24 Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us He was that Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World Here 's a Sacrifice without spot of an infinite price and value a Sacrifice of a sweet-smelling Savour A Sacrifice which God provided and accepts Our Saviour hath washed us from our sins in his own bloud We are by the Gospel brought to Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant and to the bloud of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel The bloud which Jesus shed does not onely speak better things than the bloud of the Legal Sacrifices ordained by the hands of Moses but also better than the Sacrifice which Abel offered up Heb. 11.4 with Gen. 4.4 For though Abel were a righteous person though he offered a more excellent Sacrifice than his brother and God did declare his acceptance of his sacrifice by a visible token from Heaven Though Abel offered his Sacrifice by faith and be justly celebrated among the worthies and the faithfull Though God bore witness to his righteousness and though he being so long since dead yet he speaketh yet for all this the bloud which he offered is not to be compared with the bloud of Jesus And could any thing have been said more to the advancing the value of the bloud of Christ And its efficacy to procure our pardon than that it speaks better things than that of Abel Heb. 9.12.25 Heb. 10.2 ch 9.13 14. 2 Cor. 5.15 Heb. 2.9 Joh. 3.17 This Sacrifice need not be repeated as the Legal Sacrifices were This Sacrifice ' purges the Conscience the legal ones did but sanctify to the purifying of the flesh This Sacrifice is of value sufficient to procure pardon for the whole race of mankind and is not confined in its virtue
or effects to any certain People as the Legal Sacrifices were 2. The Resurrection of Jesus from the dead gives farther assurance of our pardon When our Lord gave himself up to death as our surety he undertook our ransome but when he arose again he assured our discharge Rom. 4.25 He was delivered for our offences that is a foundation of some hope But then he was raised again for our justification If death had detained our Lord his death would not have afforded us any hope Our hope was raised with our Saviour 3. Our Saviour's entring into Heaven and intercession there on our behalf does still give us farther assurance of our Pardon and Forgiveness If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous 1 John 2.1 2. And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours onely but also for the sins of the whole world Act. 5.31 Again him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins The Jews expected pardon of their sins on their great day of Expiation when the High Priest went into the most holy place with bloud which he offered for himself Heb. 9.7 and the errours of the People Their High Priest had sins of his own to be expiated and the bloud which he offered was the bloud of a beast upon both accounts the Peoples hope was the more languid But blessed be God we are better provided for and our hope is more firmly built We have an high Priest the most perfect and spotless Such an High Priest became us Heb. 7.26 27 28. who is holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners and made higher than the Heavens who needeth not daily as those high Priests to offer up Sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the peoples For this he did once when he offered up himself For the Law maketh men High Priests which have infirmity but the word of the Oath which was since the Law maketh the Son who is consecrated for evermore Here is nothing wanting toward the quieting our Consciences and the securing our pardon Jesus is our High Priest our Patron and Advocate with God D. Outram de sacrificiis p. 290. There are but three things required to render a Priest the most excellent and perfect in the highest degree and they are all to be found in our Jesus First that he have sufficient power with God to render him propitious to those for whom he undertakes Secondly that he have so much good will for those whose advocate he is as to incline him to use his power for their advantage Thirdly that he always live and continue in that Authority and Power and with that good will Our Jesus hath sufficient Power with God He hath all Power in Heaven and Earth Mat. 28.18 Phil. 2.9 and a name above every name and he hath great good will for those for whom he undertakes He hath been acquainted with the infirmities of humane nature an High Priest that is touched with the feeling of our infirmities having been tempted like as we are Heb. 4.15 with ch 5.2 ch 2.17 Heb. 7.24 25. He is at once a Mercifull as well as faithfull High Priest And besides this He ever lives to make intercession He continueth ever and hath a Priesthood that is unchangeable or which passeth not from one to another So that the death and the resurrection and intercession of Jesus as our high Priest lay a sure foundation for the quiet of our conscience These three are put together by St. Paul to my present purpose Rom. 8.34 Who is he that condemneth says He It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us 4. The holy Spirit which Jesus did not onely promise but bestow upon his followers is still a farther pledge of our pardon and forgiveness and indeed of our future glory and happiness For so the holy Spirit is said to be the earnest of our inheritance The Greek word which we truly render earnest Eph. 1.14 2 Cor. 1.22.5.5 Eph. 4.30 signifies a part of price or wages which is given in hand to secure the receiver of the whole summ And such is the holy Spirit to us He gives us full assurance that we shall be admitted to the whole inheritance The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit Rom. 8.16 17. that we are the Children of God and if Children then heirs heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ We are elsewhere said to be by the holy Spirit of God Eph. 4.30 sealed to the day of redemption And that expression is of the same import with the former We seal and mark things that are of the greatest value and which are to be preserved and kept safe as a peculiar Rev. 7.3 Ezek. 9.4 And this was the reason why those who were designed to be preserved are said to be sealed and marked for by this they were set aside to be preserved from the common destruction We do by recieving the Spirit receive a great assurance of our pardon and future glory The Apostle's argument is very strong Rom. 8.11 If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you We are now rendred secure of our future inheritance and glory how mean soever our present condition be Our Saviour hath given us the earnest of the Spirit and taken from us the earnest of our flesh Quemadmodum nobis arrabonem spiritus reliquit ita à nobis arrabonem carnis accepit vexit in coelum pignus totius summae c. Tertullian de resurr Carnis and carried it into Heaven as a token that his followers shall be translated thither Says one of the Ancient Fathers of the Church 5. The Sacraments which Jesus hath instituted and annexed to this covenant of grace do give us farther evidence and assurance of our pardon and forgiveness By Baptism we are received into the Church of Christ where pardon is to be had and into a State of pardon and forgiveness John the Baptist is said to baptize in the Wilderness and Preach the Baptism of repentance for the remission of sins Mark 1.4 And Ananias said arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins Act. 22.16 Baptism was a pledge of Salvation and they who received it were marked out not for destruction but for deliveranâ—e and safety And thus it was understood of old to be a pledge of safety When John Baptist saw the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his Baptism he said unto them O Generation of Vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come Act. 2.38.40 Matt. 3.7 Repent and be baptized says St. Peter to the
Jews every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins And presently after that he added save your selves from this untoward Generation 1 Pet. 3.21 The same Apostle elsewhere speaking of the Ark of Noah wherein they were saved who entred into it adds the like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us c. And the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is also a pledge of God's favour and our reconciliation We are admitted to feast upon the great Sacrifice which was offered upon the Cross This was not allowed in Sacrifices under the Law that were expiatory to the People We partake of the body and bloud of Christ of that body which was offered upon the Cross and of that bloud of the New Testament which was shed for many for the remission of sins Matt. 26.26 6. Our Lord Jesus sent forth his Messengers into the World to declare pardon to the penitent He took care that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all Nations Luk. 24.46 They were entrusted with the Power of the Keys to bind and loose to let into the Kingdom of God and to exclude from it It were easie to shew that the Christian Religion does upon other accounts besides what have been named excell the Law of Moses It had a better Mediatour and was better confirmed It was more succesfull and farther spread and affords both more and more conspicuous Examples than are to be found under that Law It is attended with greater motives to obedience as well as greater motives of Credibility The Jews are pressed to obey God because he brought them out of Egypt The motive had great force but 't was peculiar to that People We are constrained by the Love of God in Christ Jesus We are moved by the love of Christ which passeth knowledge His death and passion the comforts of the Holy Ghost the unspeakable love of God and hope of pardon and of Eternal life these are our motives to obedience These are great enough to thaw and unlock the most obdurate heart to work upon the most benummed minds I proceed to consider The usefulness of the foregoing discourse And that is very great where it is duly weighed and considered It would be of great use to the Jew would he but consider it and lay it to heart And is of very great use to the Christian to awaken him to the greatest regard to his holy Religion and to a very hearty embracing of it I shall at present onely consider this one advantage which it will afford us viz. that it gives us a fair occasion of inquiring into the grâ—at Ends and Causes for which the Law of Moses was given I will not here undertake to insist upon all the Causes of the Law of Moses Much less will I goe about to inquire into the reason of the particular Precepts of that Law I make no doubt but that God gave the Jews that Law to keep them from Idolatry and to that purpose to preserve that People separate from the neighbour Nations Many of the rites appointed I doubt not were therefore prescribed because they ran Counter to those rites which did obtain among Idolaters then in being I will onely consider the ends of this Law as far as my present argument is concerned And that I shall doe in the following particulars 1. The Law was given to restrain the Jews and keep them from a loose and licentious Course of sinning The promise of the Messias was made to Abraham above four hundred years before the giving of the Law But though the Messias were then promised God did not think fit to send him presently In the mean time the Jews the Children of Abraham whom God had chosen for his Church were to be restrained from living as they list They were very prone to wickedness and needed a restraint in the mean time Therefore was the Law given and given with great solemnity and terrour It denounced many evils against transgressours and left them liable to a curse the more effectually to oblige them to obedience It was not given as God's last revelation nor to give life and to justifie them Gal. 3.19 Wherefore then serveth the Law It was added because of transgressions God did not think it fit that they should be left unrestrained 1 Tim. 1.9 with Gal. 5.22 The Law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient 2. The Law was given as that which contained types and shadows of good things to come and was therefore given that they might have among them a pledge of those spiritual good things to be bestowed in the days of the Messias The great promise which God made to Abraham was the promise of the Messias this promise was renewed afterward when Isaac was born it was repeated by Jacob to his Sons before his death The Messias was the desire and expectation of the more wise and devout Israelites They receive a Law in the mean time full of types and shadows of what they were to expect in the latter days or the days of the Messias Hence it is that the Gospel as it is distinguished from this Law is called truth not as truth is opposed to falsehood but as it is opposed to types and shadows and as it speaks the substance of what was but symbolically represented before Thus it is said that the Law was given by Moses and that grace and truth come by Jesus Christ John 1.17 And the Gospel is called the word of truth Eph. 1.13 Joh. 14.6 Joh. 4.23 Heb. 8.2 Our Saviour tells us that he is the way and the truth and tells the Woman of Samaria that the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth They that obey the Gospel are said to walk in the truth and obey the truth And Heaven is called the true Tabernacle Heb. 10.1 ch 8.5 The Law had a shadow of good things to come and not the very Image of the things The Priests under the Law are said to serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things Coloss 2.17 Heb. 3.5 That Law was a pledge of a better and the things therein commanded were but a shadow of things to come Moses was faithfull as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken viz. by Jesus and his followers For so the Syriack hath it for those things which were to be spoken by him 3. To dispose men for the reception of the Gospel of Christ It was well fitted for this end And that this was the end of it is very evident from the words of the Apostle Gal. 3.22 23 24. The Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe But before faith came we were under the Law shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed wherefore the Law was our
with the usages of the Vulgar yet they derided those fopperies and were therefore esteemed Atheists by the common People It must be granted that among the Heathens there were a number of men who had a better sense of things and have taught many good lessons of Morality But these men discoursed uncertainly and at rovers for want of a revelation And when they said any thing of a future state they were wavering and doubtfull And the Stoicks themselves who were a most considerable Sect among the wisest of their Philosophers did trifle at a great rate and allowed of some things manifestly Evil as well as notoriously false I will not here take the pains to examine the inconsistency of their principles and to shew how differently they acted from what they taught Vid. Plutarch de repugn Stoicorum c. That is done by Plutarch I cannot but take notice that they maintained some principles that were immoral and impious and such as could not come from God Arrian Epicter l. 1. c. 24. Marc. Antonin l. 5. sect 21. Seneca Epist 69. They gave men liberty to murther themselves and to goe out of this World without the leave of him who sent them into it And this evil and impious Doctrine was the common and received and avowed Principle of the Sect exerce te ut mortem excipias si ita res suadebit accersas Interest nihil an illa ad nos veniat an ad illam nos says Seneca It is true that Seneca elsewhere explains himself Epist 58. and seems to allow this liberty onely in an useless old age or in extreme necessity But as that liberty is upon no account to be allowed so it is manifest that he speaks inconsistently with himself for elsewhere he does not onely allow a wise man to kill himself Seneca Epist 70. Si multa occurrunt molesta tranquillitatem turbantia i. e. If many troubles arise which disturb him But also when he suspects that troubles will come upon him For he goes on thus nec hoc tantum in necessitate ultima facit sed cum primum illi caeperit suspecta esse fortuna diligenter circumspicit numquid illo die desinendum est Nihil existimat sua referre faciat finem an accipiat So that upon the whole matter a man might lawfully kill himself when ever he thought it convenient This is a most wretched and detestable Principle a manifest invasion of God's peculiar and practising upon his Prerogative Besides that it is a mean thing to allow a liberty of doeing so great an Evil to rid our selves of some present trouble or some thing which we fear For by the same reason a man may be allowed to kill another man who stands in his way and obstructs his ease and quiet And indeed by the same reason he may doe evil that good may come of it and chuse to offend rather than suffer Thus vain were those men who were destitute of a Divine revelation and followed their own foolish imaginations who under the profession of a great degree of wisedom allowed of the greatest immorality From the books of Moses the unlawfulness of self-murther sufficiently appears When God commands not to kill he forbids self-murther as well as killing another man For if bearing false witness against our selves be a sin against the ninth Commandment which forbids our doeing it against our Neighbour the killing our selves must needs be a sin against the sixth Aug. de Civitate l. 1. c. 20. as St. Augustin argues well And when after the floud the shedding of man's bloud is forbidden Gen. 9.6 it is forbidden for a reason which reaches to self-murther as well as the killing of another For in the image of God made he man Nam si homicida nefarius est Lactant. de falsa Sapientia c. 18. qui hominis extinctor est Eidem sceleri obstrictus est qui se necat quia hominem necat Another principle full of impiety the Stoicks maintained and it was this that a man's happiness was from himself and that he need not seek it of God or be beholden to him for it So that upon the matter they taught men to live without dependance upon God Vnum bonum est Seneca Epist 31. Quid votis opus est Fac teipsum felicem Ibid. Quam stultum est optare cum possis à te impetrare non sunt ad coelum elevandae manas Epist 41. quod beatae vitae causa firmamentum est sibi fidere i. e. There is one good thing which is the cause and basis of an happy life and that is that a man trust to himself And afterwards he puts men not upon prayers to God but upon making themselves happy and derides those who expect their happiness from above and seek it by prayer Thus vain and haughty were these men who pretended to wisedom Whereas in truth nothing speaks truer wisedom than for a creature to live in a constant sense of his necessary dependance upon God Their condemning all passions was also a foolish and an evil principle Seneca Epist 116. and very destructive of the great ends of life They destroyed the man in order to make him wise And pretended that to be a fruit of wisedom which is the greatest folly and the way to happiness which is indeed the most certain obstruction to it For we can do as well without legs as without our passions 'T is by them we pursue what is good and flye from evil They are the wings of the soul and without them we are unactive creatures 'T is great wisedom to govern them to desire to be rid of them is folly and an impeachment of the wisedom of our Creatour They are the object of vertue and Minister to it They are good Servants and whiles they are retained as such are of great use to us they are indeed bad Masters We may not pitty the miserable Seneca tells us Seneca de Clementia l. 2. c. 5. but he allows us to help him But if we have no compassion our relief will be very slow and slender This may seem too great a digression And indeed it is not what I mainly designed to speak to I did not intend to compare our Religion with that of Heathens It is not worth our while to doe it By what I have said of the best of the Heathens we may see how vain and foolish their principles were I shall compare the Religion of Jesus with that which God himself delivered to the Jews by Moses And shall shew the defects of the one and the supplies which are made in the other It must be granted that the law which was given by Moses came from Heaven and that it was a very great blessing to the Jews to whom it was given It was one of those Crowns which the Jewish Masters mention with which they were adorned It made their condition much better than that of their neighbours The words of Moses