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
〈◊〉 As the LXXII render it That is let Pharaoh make and appoint Officers and not as we have rendred it Let Pharaoh do this and let him appoint Again It is the Lord that advanced Moses and Aaron or made as it is in the margent of 1 Sam. 12.6 And we usually speak after this manner when men are advanced to dignity and office they are said to be made what they are afterwards called To make a Consul a Captain or General signifies no more than to appoint them and raise them to those dignities and offices So that the meaning of these words is as if the Apostle had said let all the Israelites therefore be assured of this great and very evident truth that that Jesus whom the Jews have Crucified is by God the Father who hath raised him from the dead and taken him up to his right hand constituted and appointed head of the Church and instated in the Kingly office of the Messiah That Jesus is the Christ or Messiah that was foretold is that which the Apostle would have the Jews be assured of And this was the Doctrine which the first preachers of Christian Religion did mainly insist upon It being not onely an article of the Christian faith but such an one as is the foundation of the rest Who is a Liar says St. John but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ 1 Joh. 2.22 We read that Saul confounded the Jews which were at Damascus proving that this is very Christ Act. 9.22 He preacheth the same Doctrine at Thessalonica Acts 17.3 And at Corinth Acts 18.5 And of Apollos we read that he mightily convinced the Jews and that publickly shewing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ v. 28. A DEMONSTRATION OF THE MESSIAS CHAP. I. The CONTENTS Of the name Jesus That this name by which our Saviour was called and distinguished from other men is no objection against the Prediction Isa 7.14 The importance of the name Jesus In what sense our Lord is said to be a Saviour His Salvation compared with the deliverances mentioned in the Old Testament Of the word Christ Of anointing things and persons and the design of it Of the anointing of Jesus Some account of the Jewish constitutions about anointing with their holy Oil. BEfore I proceed to shew that Jesus is the Christ I shall shew what is meant by Jesus what by Christ Jesus was the name by which our Lord was commonly known among men the name which Joseph his reputed Father gave him Matt 1. v. 25. And it was given him at his Circumcision Luk. 2.21 And that too not without the particular command of the Angel of God This was the name by which he was called commonly by those that spake of him Thus he that was restored to Sight said A man that is called Jesus made clay c. Joh. 9.11 This was a name in use among the Jewish people and a name which others had as well as our Jesus and we have mention of several men to whom that name was given Col. 4.11 Heb. 4.8 And the Jewish Writers mention him by the name Jesus indeed they call him by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They cut off the last letter Eli. Levit. This bit p. 151. as Elias Levita tells us because they do not acknowledge him to be a Saviour But yet they do not deny that he was known and commonly called by the name Jesus which he received at his Circumcision It is true indeed it was foretold that a Virgin should bring forth a Son and 't is said they shall call his name Emmanuel Matt. 1.23 That these words are meant of our Saviour is also undeniable And though the Jew object against us from this place that either the words were never meant of our Saviour as the Evangelist will have them or that they were never verifyed in him because he was called by the name Jesus and not Emmanuel though I say they may thus object yet they do but trifle in it For if they look into their Prophets they will find that being called Orig. contra Cels l. 1. or called by such a name does not infer that the thing or person so to be called shall be commonly known by that name as a man is by the name by which he is known and distinguished from other men 'T is enough that they shall be that which they are called and that what is foretold shall truly belong to them as will appear from the following places Isa 1.26.60.14.62.4 Jer. 3.17 Ezek. 48.35 Zech. 8.3 There are many things said of our Saviour which serve to describe his office and acquaint us with his perfections and relation and were never intended for his name by which he was to be known among men His name shall be called wonderfull Counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of Peace Isa 9.6 That is the Messiah shall be all this Theophylact in Matt. 1. v. 23. though not commonly known and called by these names For the word Jesus if we consider its Hebrew Original it signifies a Saviour And for that reason this name was given to our Lord because he was to save his people from their sins Mat. 1.21 And the Angel tells the Shepherds unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour Luk. 2.11 And the Apostle says no less when he says God hath raised up unto Israel a Saviour Jesus Act. 13.23 This word Saviour imports very much and is very agreeable to the great design of our Lord 's appearing Lactan. Institut l. 1. c. 11. Lactantius observes that the name Jupiter that the heathen gave their God was unbecoming a Deity For Jupiter being no more but Juvans pater an helping father it was a term of diminution For one man may help another And 't is no great matter to help but to save and deliver imports much Non intelligit beneficia Divina qui se tantummodo à Deo juvari putat He hath too mean and low an apprehension of the Divine benefits that thinks God does onely help him This is to attribute too much to our selves and too little to God He that helps me adds his strength to mine but he that saves shews his own power onely We were without all help and hope too Our Lord rescued us and saved us we contributed nothing toward our deliverance He is the Saviour of mankind Our intire deliverance is to be ascribed to him And 't will well become us to consider how justly this name of Jesus belongs to him and to meditate awhile upon the greatness of that Salvation and deliverance which our Lord hath wrought for us Now our Lord might well be called Jesus a Saviour 1. As he hath published and made known to us the Gospel which is the power of God unto Salvation Our Lord hath brought life and immortality to light and hath shewed us the way to eternal life There was no
he took care of the Levitical Priest-hood also And where he had cleansed the Leper he takes order that the Priest should not lose the profit which in such a case he was wont to receive He wronged no man and though he were poor yet he took care to give every man his due and to reserve something for the poor also His righteousness was so exemplary that the Jews who thirsted after his bloud knew not how to effect his death They had procured false witnesses indeed but their testimony was so incoherent and so lewd that the Jews themselves were forced to use another device since that frequently made use of against his followers viz. to represent him as an Enemy to Caesar And now Pilate to approve himself to the Roman power delivers up Jesus to be crucified But still he pronounced him innocent who gave him up to be crucified He washes his hands and declares himself openly in behalf of Jesus What follows does eminently belong to our Jesus as it was spoken of the Messias Having Salvation The very name Jesus by which he was commonly known and called speaks Salvation And it was given him by the direction of an Angel Mat. 1.21 because he was to save his people from their sins And as he came to save what was lost so we shall find that he fulfilled that design and answered that blessed Name by which he was called he saved some from hunger and thirst some from diseases and possessions some from sickness and others from death and all that believe on him from Hell and the wrath which is to come For what follows in the Prophet that he was to be lowly agrees exactly to our Jesus For whether by lowly be meant poor as that Hebrew word used in the Prophet signifies or meek as it is there rendred by the LXXII Interpreters whose rendring St. Matthew also follows It is certain that our Jesus was both poor and meek in a very eminent degree So poor that he had not what the Foxes did not want where to lay his head And for his meekness and lowliness of mind he was the most eminent and unparrelled example that ever was in the world I shall proceed now to the consideration of the death of Jesus and those particulars which do more immediately relate thereunto And not to insist upon every particular which makes to my present purpose I shall take notice First of the kind of his death and that was the death of the Cross A death it was that Jesus one would have thought should not have died For besides that it was the vilest and most ignominious death a death of slaves and the most profligate villains Besides this it was not like to be the portion of Jesus Sanhedr cap. 7. I. Because it was not a Jewish punishment but a Roman one The Jewish four Capital punishments were stoning burning strangling and killing with the sword II. Because if this had been one of the Jewish punishments yet it could not by the Jewish Law have been the lot of Jesus For whereas the high Priest Pronounced him guilty of Blasphemy and they who were by him judged him thereupon worthy of death Levit. 24.16 we know that stoning was the death appointed in that Case not onely by the after constitution of the Jews but also by the Law of Moses But it was foretold that the Messias should suffer this kind of death And God's decrees and Counsels shall come to pass The Jews had a figure of this in the Wilderness Our Jesus put them in mind of it in these words As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up Joh. 3.14 The story is very well known The people for their sin were bitten with fiery Serpents and many of them died The people beg of Moses in this distress that he would intercede for them that the fiery Serpents might be removed Moses prayed to God in their behalf and by God's direction he makes a Serpent of brass and put it on a pole and they which were bitten looked upon this brazen Serpent and were healed Numb 21. This Serpent that was lifted up in the Wilderness was a type of the death of Christ and of the kind of his death and the effects of the brazen Serpent upon them who looked on it did typifie the virtue received by true believers from the death of Christ To this purpose this of the brazen Serpent is applyed by our Saviour Dominicam crucem intentabat Tertullian adv Judaeos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Mart. pro Christian Apol. II. Moses made that Serpent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodor. in IV. Reg. Quaest 49. and by the ancient Christian Writers is frequently mentioned as a type of the Cross and passion of our blessed Saviour And that it is rightly applyed by Jesus and his followers I shall shew against the Jews Certain it is that the Jews do allow that this brazen Serpent was a figure of something else Vid. Buxtorf Hist Serpent Aenei c. 5. Just Martyr Dialog cum Tryph. and that it had a spiritual sense and meaning And when Just in Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew insisted upon this as a type of the death of Christ and appealed to the company what reason excluding that could be given of this matter one of them confessed that he was in the right and that himself had enquired for a reason from the Jewish Masters but could meet with none The Authour of the book of Wisedom calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wised 16.6 7. a symbol or sign of Salvation For he that turned himself towards it says he was not saved by the thing that he saw but by thee that art the Saviour of all It was an extraordinary and supernatural thing that the likeness of a Serpent should cure the venomous bite of a living one Abravenel R. Bechai in Num. 21. Philo Jud. de Agricultura Leg. Allegor l. 3. The Jewish Writers confess it to be miraculous and that there was in it a miracle within a Miracle Philo the Jew as I intimated before in the fourteenth page of this discourse does in several places mention the difference between the Serpent of Eve and the Serpent of Moses or this brazen Serpent of which I am now speaking He makes one directly opposite to the other and that which deceived Eve to be a symbol of voluptuousness and in token thereof doomed to goe upon his belly Gen. 3.14 But this of Moses to be a symbol of fortitude and temperance That was the destroyer of mankind this the Saviour of the Israelites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. every one that sees it the brazen Serpent shall live Very true For if the mind bitten with Eve's Serpent which is voluptuousness can spiritually discern the beauty of Temperance i. e. The Serpent of Moses and through it God himself he shall
R. Solom R. Bechai in Deut. 16.6 But R. Solomon upon those words speaks more explicitly and plainly still At even c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He tells us that in these words we have three several times placed before us 1. The time of sacrificing or killing the Paschal Lamb at even i. e. after the sixth hour of the day and onward 2. The time of eating it and that is when the Sun sets 3. The time of burning the remainder and that is the season in which they came out of Egypt And to the same sense R. Bechai interprets these words 3. That though these three several times be laid before us viz. the Even Sun-set and the Season in which they came out of Egypt yet is there no need to understand any of them as belonging to the sacrificing the Passeover but the even onely Thou shalt sacrifice the Passeover at even i. e. post declinationem solis as Lyra interprets it well For though it follow at the going down of the Sun c. it does not therefore hence follow that those words relate to the same matter For the proof of this I shall need go no farther than to the second verse of this Chapter there it is said Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passeover unto the Lord thy God of the flock and the herd Where 't is evident that the flock relates to the Passeover onely according to the law Exod. 12.3 5. And therefore the herd must belong to some other matter and therefore the Jews understand it of the Chagigah or the other offerings which were offered up during the Passeover So that by this time it will not be hard to understand what is meant by between the two evenings which was also the time of the daily evening sacrifice Num. 28.4 which was wont to be offered up about our three in the afternoon or their ninth hour which was also a stated time of prayer Act. 3.1 It is evident that the time between the first deelining of the Sun to its setting is that time which is between the two Evenings And then our three a clock or their ninth hour when the day consists of twelve hours is the exact middle between the two Evenings Let us now see how well the time of Christ's death agrees with this And that it seems to do very exactly for besides that he was Crucified at the Passeover so he seems to have dyed about that moment of time when they were wont to slay the Paschal Lamb which as I have shewed was about their ninth hour They begin to Crucifie him at the third hour of the day Mark 15.25 at the sixth hour there was darkness over the whole land untill the ninth hour v. 33. at the ninth hour he cries out my God my God c. v. 34. and presently upon that we read that he gave up the Ghost v. 37. And that all this happened before the latter Evening and so consequently between the two Evenings appears from v. 42 43. where we read that when even was come Joseph begs the body of Jesus So that Christ our Passeover the great Antitype of the Paschal Lamb dyes between the two Evenings And as in other particulars our Lord did fully answer what was typified of him in that Sacrifice so he does also in the time of his death which was about the ninth hour which was the precise time of slaying the Paschal Lamb. Thirdly The place of our Saviour's death This was also prefigured of old and fulfilled in the death of Jesus We know that the Sacrifices of old were not to be offered up any where but within the camp at first and afterwards at Jerusalem the place which God had chosen to place which God had chosen to place his name there Our Lord who was to suffer and to be slain a Sacrifice for our sins did suffer in that place In that City he was accused and condemned and abused and afterwards without the Gate he suffered death as some of the Sin-offerings under the Law of Moses were burnt without the Camp The City of Jerusalem answered to the Camp in the Wilderness and what was done without the Camp at first was when Jerusalem was chosen to be done without the Gates of the City Heb. 13.11 Fourthly let us consider still more particularly the manner and circumstances of the death of Jesus and we shall find what was of old predicted and prefigured was fulfilled in our Jesus As for example That he was betrayed by his own Disciple the Evangelists report And this the Psalmist had foretold long before in these words Mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted which did eat of my bread hath lift up his heel against me And what St. John reports is very remarkable to this purpose when our Saviour had told his Disciples that they were not all clean intimating that one of them should betray him he tells us what our Saviour adds I speak not of you all I know whom I have chosen but that the Scripture may be fulfilled he that eateth bread with me hath lift up his heel against me Now says our Saviour I tell you before it come that when it is come to pass ye may believe that I am he v. 18 19. His meaning is that they should be confirmed in their belief of him when they should compare the treachery of Judas which was predicted by the Psalmist and foretold by himself Joh. 18.2 with Psalm 41.9 Joh. 13.10 11. That he was betrayed for thirty pieces of Silver we read in the Gospel and the same was foretold by the Prophet Zechary and not onely that but also the use that this money was put to viz. the buying the Potters field Matt. 26.15 and 27.7 8 9. with Zechar. 11.12 13. That he was crucified between two Thieves the Evangelists report and the Prophet long before had foretold that he should be numbred with transgressors And our Saviour a little before his death tells his Disciples of it in these words Luk. 22.37 For I say unto you that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me and he was reckoned among the transgressors For the things concerning me have an end Matt. 27.38 with Isai 53.12 When he was upon the Cross there was given him Vinegar to drink and no less was foretold by the Psalmist in my thirst they gave me Vinegar to drink And our Saviour's thirst at that time was to verifie that prediction Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished and that the Scripture might be fulfilled saith I thirst Upon which they gave him Vinegar to drink This is the more remarkable still because it was contrary to the constant custome and courtesie of the Nation to give him that was condemned to die Vinegar to drink For whereas such a sharp liquor is apt to awaken to a sense of pain the Jews were wont to give such persons a stupifying or Narcotick potion to ruffle and disorder their minds that they
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