that either it is impossible for man to know when his choice is free or if it may be known the constant experience of all evil men in the world will testifie that it is so now Is it possible for the most intemperate person to believe when the most pleasing temptations to lust or gluttony are presented to him that no consideration whatever could restrain his appetite or keep him from the satisfaction of his bruitish inclinations Will not the sudden though groundless apprehension of poyson in the Cup make the Drunkards heart to ake and hand to tremble and to let fall the supposed fatal mixture in the midst of all his jollity and excess How often have persons who have designed the greatest mischief to the lives and fortunes of others when all opportunities have fallen out beyond their expectation for accomplishing their ends through some sudden thoughts which have surprized them almost in the very act been diverted from their intended purposes Did ever any yet imagine that the charms of beauty and allurements of lust were so irresistible that if men knew before hand they should surely dye in the embraces of an adulterous bed they could not yet withstand the temptations to it If then some considerations which are quite of another nature from all the objects which are presented to him may quite hinder the force and efficacy of them upon the mind of man as we see in Josephs resisting the importunate Caresses of his Mistris what reason can there be to imagine that man is a meer machine moved only as outward objects determine him And if the considerations of present fear and danger may divert men from the practice of evil actions shall not the far more weighty considerations of eternity have at least an equal if not a far greater power and efficacy upon mens minds to keep them from everlasting misery Is an immortal soul and the eternal happiness of it so mean a thing in our esteem and value that we will not deny our selves those sensual pleasures for the sake of that which we would renounce for some present danger Are the flames of another world such painted fires that they deserve only to be laughed at and not seriously considered by us Fond man art thou only free to ruine and destroy thy self a strange fatality indeed when nothing but what is mean and trivial shall determine thy choice when matters of the highest moment are therefore less regarded because they are such Hast thou no other plea for thy self but that thy sins were fatal thou hast no reason then to believe but that thy misery shall be so too But if thou ownest a God and Providence assure thy self that justice and righteousness are not meer Titles of his Honour but the real properties of his nature And he who hath appointed the rewards and punishments of the great day will then call the sinner to account not only for all his other sins but for offering to lay the imputation of them upon himself For if the greatest abhorrency of mens evil wayes the rigour of his Laws the severity of his judgements the exactness of his justice the greatest care used to reclaim men from their sins and the highest assurance that he is not the cause of their ruine may be any vindication of the holiness of God now and his justice in the life to come we have the greatest reason to lay the blame of all our evil actions upon our selves as to attribute the glory of all our good unto himself alone 2. The frailty of humane Nature those who finde themselves to be free enough to do their souls mischief and yet continue still in the doing of it find nothing more ready to plead for themselves than the unhappiness of mans composition and the degenerate state of the world If God had designed they are ready to say that man should lead a life free from sin why did he confine the soul of man to a body so apt to taint and pollute it But who art thou O man that thus findest fault with thy Maker Was not his kindness the greater in not only giving thee a soul capable of enjoying himself but such an habitation for it here which by the curiosity of its contrivance the number and usefulness of its parts might be a perpetual and domestick testimony of the wisdom of its Maker Was not such a conjunction of soul and body necessary for the exercise of that dominion which God designed man for over the creatures endued only with sense and motion And if we suppose this life to be a state of tryall in order to a better as in all reason we ought to do what can be imagined more proper to such a state than to have the soul constantly employed in the government of those sensual inclinations which arise from the body In the doing of which the proper exercise of that vertue consists which is made thâ— condition of future happiness Had it noâ— been for such a composition the difference could never have been seen between gooâ— and bad men i. e. between those who maintain the Empire of reason assisted by the motives of Religion over all the inferiour faculties and such who dethrone their souls and make them slaves to every lust that will command them And if men willingly subject themselves to that which they were born to rule they have none to blame but themselves for it Neither is it any excuse at all that this through the degeneracy of mankinde is grown the common custom of the world unless that be in it self so great a Tyrant that there is no resisting the power of it If God had commanded us to comply with all the customs of the world and at the same time to be sober righteous and good we must have lived in another age than we live in to have excused these two commands from a palpable contradiction But instead of this he hath forewarned us of the danger of being led aside by the soft and easie compliances of the world and if we are â—ensible of our own infirmities as we have â—ll reason to be he hath offered us the â—ssistance of his Grace and of that Spirit of â—is which is greater than the Spirit that is â—n the World He hath promised us those weapons whereby we may withstand the â—orrent of wickedness in the world with far greater success than the old Gauls were wont to do the inundations of their Countrey whose custom was to be drowned with their arms in their hands But it will be the greater folly in us to be so because we have not only sufficient means of resistance but we understand the danger before hand If we once forsake the strict rules of Religion and goodness and are ready to yield our selves to whatever hath got retainers enough to set up for a custom we may know where we begin but we cannot where we shall make an end For every fresh assault makes the breach wider
great rule assigned by the Apostle was That without shedding of blood there was no remission If we yield Crellius what he so often urgeth viz. That these words are to be understood of what was done under the Law They will not be the less serviceable to our purpose for thereby it will appear that the means of Expiation lay in the shedding of blood Which shews that the very mactation of the beast to be sacrificed was designed in order to the expiation of sin To an inquisitive person the reason of the slaying such multitudes of beasts in the Sacrifices appointed by God himself among the Jews would have appeared far less evident than now it doth since the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews hath given us so full an account of them For it had been very unreasonable to have thought that they had been meerly instituted out of compliance with the customs of other Nations since the whole design of their Religion was to separate them from them and on such a supposition the great design of the Epistle to the Hebrews signifies very little which doth far more explain to us the nature and tendency of all the Sacrifices in use among them that had any respect to the expiation of sins than all the customs of the Egyptians or the Commentaries of the latter Jews But I intend not now to discourse at large upon this subject of Sacrifices either as to the nature and institution of them in general or with a particular respect to the Sacrifice of Christ since a learned person of our Church hath already undertaken Crellius upon this Argument and we hope ere long will oblige the world with the benefit of his pains I shall therefore onely insist on those things which are necessary for our purpose in order to the clearing the Substitution of Christ in our stead for the expiation of our sins by his death and this we say was represented in the Expiatory Sacrifices which were instituted among the Jews If we yield Crellius what he after Socinus contends for viz. That the Sacrifice of Christ was onely represented in the â—ublick and solemn Expiatory Sacrifices for the â—eople and especially those on the day of Atoneâ—ent We may have enough from them to indicate all that we assert concerning â—he Expiatory Sacrifice of the blood of Christ. For that those were designed by way of â—…bstitution in the place of the offenders will â—…pear from the circumstances and reason â—…f their Institution But before we come 〈◊〉 that it will be necessary to shew what â—…at Expiation was which the Sacrifices â—…der the Law were designed for the â—…ot understanding of which gives a greater â—…rce to our Adversaries Arguments than â—therwise they would have For while â—…en assert that the expiation was wholly â—…pical and of the same nature with that â—…piation which is really obtained by the â—…eath of Christ they easily prove That all â—…e expiation then was onely declarative and â—…d no more depend on the sacrifices offered â—…an on a condition required by God the negâ—…t of which would be an act of disobedience in â—…em and by this means it could represent â—…y they no more than such an expiation to by Christ viz. Gods declaring that sins â—…e expiated by him on the performance of such condition required in order thereto as laying down his life was But we assert anothâ—… kind of expiation of sin by virtue of tâ—… Sacrifice being slain and offered whâ—… was real and depended upon the Sacrifiâ—… And this was twofold a Civil and a Riâ—… expiation according to the double 〈◊〉 pacity in which the people of the Iâ—… may be considered either as members oâ—… Society subsisting by a body of Lâ—… which according to the strictest Sanction 〈…〉 it makes death the penalty of disobedâ—… ence Deut. 27. 26. but by the will of 〈◊〉 Legislator did admit of a relaxation 〈◊〉 many cases allowed by himself in whiâ—… he declares That the death of the beâ—… designed for a sacrifice should be 〈…〉 cepted instead of the death of the offeâ—… der and so the offence should be fuâ—… expiated as to the execution of the peâ—… Law upon him And thus far I freely 〈◊〉 mit what Grotius asserts upon this subjeâ—… and do yield that no other offence coâ—… be expiated in this manner but such whiâ—… God himself did particularly declare shoâ—… be so And therefore no sin which 〈◊〉 to be punished by cutting off was to 〈◊〉 expiated by Sacrifice as wilful Idolaâ—… Murther c. Which it is impossible fâ—… those to give an account of who makeâ—… expiation wholly typical for why thâ—… should not the greatest sins much rather â—…ave had sacrifices of expiation appointed â—…or them because the Consciences of â—…en would be more solicitous for the â—…ardon of greater than lesser sins and the â—…lood of Christ represented by them was designed for the expiation of all From whence it is evident that it was not a meer typical expiation but it did relate â—o the civil constitution among them But â—esides this we are to consider the people with a respect to that mode of Divine Worship which was among them by reason of which the people were to be purified from the legal impurities which they contracted which hindred them from joyning with others in the publick Worship of God and many Sacrifices were appointed purposely for the expiating this legal guilt as particularly the ashes of the red heifer Numb 19. 9. which is there call'd a purification for sin And the Apostle puts the blood of Bulls and of Goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean together and the effect of both of them he saith was to sanctifie to the purifying of the flesh which implyes that there was some proper and immediate effect of these sacrifices upon the people at that time though infinitely short of the effect of the blood of Christ upon the Conscienâ—… of men By which it is plain the Apostâ—… doth not speak of the same kind of expiâ—…tion in those sacrifices which was in the Sâ—crifice of Christ and that the one wâ—… barely typical of the other but of a diâ—ferent kind of expiation as far as purifying the flesh is from purging the Conscienâ—… But we do not deny that the whole dispensation was typical and that the Law 〈◊〉 a shadow of good things to come and not 〈◊〉 very image of the things i. e. a dark aâ—â— obscure representation and not the perfect resemblance of them There are twâ— things which the Apostle asserts conceâ—â—ing the Sacrifices of the Law First thâ—… they had an effect upon the Bodies of mâ—… which he calls purifying the flesh the othâ—… is that they had no power to expiate foâ— the sins of the Soul considered with a respect to the punishment of another lifâ— which he calls purging the Conscience frâ—â— dead works and therefore he saith that 〈◊〉 the gifts and sacrifices under the Law coâ—… not make
and God forbid we should think all guilty of hypocrisie who have professed the Christian Religion from the beginning of it to this day Nay more than so they have not only done them but professed to have that joy and satisfaction of minde in the doing of them which they would not exchange for all the pleasures and delights of the world These were the men who not only were patient but rejoyced in sufferings who accounted it their honour and glory to endure any thing for the sake of so excellent a Religion who were so assured of a future happiness by it that they valued Martyrdoms above Crowns and Scepters But God be thanked we may hope to come to Heaven on easier terms than these or else many others might never come thither besides those who think to make this a pretence for their sin that now when with encouragement and honour we may practise our Religion the commands of it are thought impossible by them Thus we have made good the general Charge here implyed against wicked men in that they are called Fools by examining the most plausible pretences they bring for themselves I now come to the particular impeachment of their folly because they make a mock at sin And that I shall prove especially by two things 1. Because this argues the highest degree of wickedness 2. Because it betrayes the greatest weakness of judgement and want of consideration 1. Because it argues the highest degree of wickedness If to sin be tolly to make a mock at it is little short of madness It is such a height of impiety that few but those who are of very profligate conscienences can attain to without a long custom in sinning For Conscience is at first modest and starts and boggles at the appearance of a great wickedness till it be used to it and grown familiar with it It is no such easie matter for a man to get the mastery of his conscience a great deal of force and violence must be used to ones self before he does it The natural impressions of good and evil the fears of a Deity and the apprehensions of a future state are such curbs and checks in a sinners way that he must first sin himself beyond all feeling of these before he can attain to the seat of the scorners And we may justly wonder how any should ever come thither when they must break through all that is ingenuous and modest all that is vertuous and good all that is tender and apprehensive in humane nature before they can arrive at it They must first deny a God and despise an immortal soul they must conquer their own reason and cancell the Law written in their hearts they must hate all that is serious and yet soberly believe themselves to be no better than the beasts that perish before men can come to make a scoff at religion and a mock at sin And who now could ever imagine that in a Nation professing Christianity among a people whose genius enclines them to civility and religion yea among those who have the greatest advantages of behaviour and education and who are to give the Laws of civility to the rest of the Nation there should any be found who should deride religion make sport with their own profaneness and make so light of nothing as being damned I come not here to accuse any and least of all those who shew so much regard of religion as to be present in the places devoted to sacred purposes but if there be any such here whose consciences accuse themselves for any degrees of so great impiety I beseech them by all that is dear and precious to them by all that is sacred and serious by the vows of their Baptism and their Participation of the Holy Eucharist by all the kindness of Heaven which they either enjoy or hope for by the death and sufferings of the Son of God that they would now consider how great folly and wickedness they betray in it and what the dreadful consequence of it will be if they do not timely repent of it If it were a doubt as I hope it is not among any here whether the matters of Religion be true or no they are surely things which ought to be seriously thought and spoken of It is certainly no jesting matter to affront a God of infinite Majesty and Power and he judges every wilfull sinner to do so nor can any one in his wits think it a thing not to be regarded whether he be eternally happy or miserable Methinks then among persons of civility and honour above all others Religion might at least be treated with the respect and reverence due to the concernments of it that it be not made the sport of Entertainments nor the common subject of Playes and Comedies For is there nothing to trifle with but God and his service Is wit grown so schismatical and sacrilegious that it can please it self with nothing but holy ground Are prophaneness and wit grown such inseparable companions that none shall be allowed to pretend to the one but such as dare be highly guilty of the other Far be it from those who have but the name of Christians either to do these things themselves or to be pleased with them that do them especially in such times as ours of late have been when God hath used so many wayes to make us serious if any thing would ever do it If men had only slighted God and Religion and made a mock at sin when they had grown wanton through the abundance of peace and plenty and saw no severities of Gods justice used upon such who did it yet the fault had been so great as might have done enough to have interrupted their peace and destroyed that plenty which made them out of the greatness of their pride and wantonness to kick against Heaven but to do it in despight of all Gods judgements to laugh in his face when his rod is upon our backs when neither Pestilence nor Fire can make us more afraid of him exceedingly aggravates the impiety and makes it more unpardonable When like the old Germans we dance among naked swords when men shall desie and reproach Heaven in the midst of a Cities ruines and over the graves of those whom the arrows of the Almighty have heaped together what can be thought of such but that nothing will make them serious but eternaâ— misery And are they so sure there is nâ—… such thing to be feared that they neveâ— think of it but when by their execrablâ— oaths they call upon God to damn them foâ— fear he should not do it time enough for them Thus while men abuse his patience and provoke his justice while they trample upon his kindness and slight his severities while they despise his Laws and mock at the breaches of them what can be added more to their impiety or what can be expected by such who are guilty of it but that God should quickly discover their mighty
and doubts concerning another state and hath declared his own readiness to be reconciled to us upon our repentance to pardon what hath been done amiss and to give that divine assistance whereby our wills may be governed and our passions subdued and upon a submission of our selves to his wise Providence and a sincere obedience to his Laws he hath promised eternal salvation in the life to come 3. God hath given us the greatest assurance that these offers came from himself which the Apostle gives an account of here saying that this salvation began at first to be spoken by our Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness by signs and wonders c. Wherein we have all the satisfaction which the mindes of reasonable men could desire as to these things It might be justly expected that the messenger of so great news to the World should be no mean and ordinary person neither was he for the honour was as great in the person who brought it as the importance was in the thing it self No less than the Eternal Son of God came down from the Bosom of his Father to rectifie the mistakes of Mankinde and not only to shew them the way to be happy but by the most powerfull arguments to perswade them to be so Nay we find all the three persons of the Trinity here engaged in the great work of mans salvation it was first spoken by our Lord God also bearing them witness and that with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost So that not only the first revelation was from God but the testimony to confirm that it was so was from him too there being never so clear an attestation of any divine truths as was of the Doctrine of the Gospel From whence it follows that the foundation whereon our Faith stands is nothing short of a divine testimony which God gave to the truth of that revelation of his will so vain are the cavils of those who say we have nothing but meer probabilities for our Faith and do interpret that manner of proof which matters of fact are capable of in a sense derogatory to the firmness of our Christian Faith As though we made the Spirit of God a Paraclete or Advocate in the worst sense which might as well plead a bad as a good cause No we acknowledge that God himself did bear witness to that doctrine deliver'd by our Lord and that in a most signal and effectual manner for the conviction of the world by those demonstrations of a divine power which accompanyed the first Preachers of salvation by the Gospel of Christ. So that here the Apostle briefly and clearly resolves our Faith if you ask Why we believe that great salvation which the Gospel offers the answer is Because it was declared by our Lord who neither could nor would deceive us If it be asked How we know that this was delivered by our Lord he answers because this was the constant Doctrine of all his Disciples of those who constantly heard him and conversed with him But if you ask again how can we know that their testimony was infallible since they were but men he then resolves all into that that God bare witness to them by signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost And those persons whom these arguments will not convince none other will Who are we that should not think that sufficient which God himself thought so who are we that dare question the certainty of that which hath had the Broad Seal of Heaven to attest it Can any thing make it surer than God himself hath done and can there be any other way more effectual for that end than those demonstrations of a divine power and presence which the Apostles were acted by Those that cavil at this way of proof would have done so at any other if God had made choice of it and those who will cavil at any thing are resolved to be convinced by nothing and such are not fit to be discoursed with 4. Here are the most prevailing motives to perswade them to accept of these offers of salvation There are two passions which are the great hinges of Government viz. mens Hopes and Fears and therefore all Laws have had their sanctions suitable to these two in Rewards and Punishments now there was never any reward which gave greater encouragement to hope never any punishment which made fear more reasonable than those are which the Gospel proposes Will ever that man be good whom the hopes of Heaven will not make so or will ever that man leave his sins whom the fears of Hell will not make to do it What other arguments can we imagine should ever have that power and influence on mankinde which these may be reasonably supposed to have Would you have God alter the methods of his Providence and give his rewards and punishments in this life but if so what exercise would there be of the patience forbearance and goodness of God towards wicked men must he do it as soon as ever men sin then he would never try whether they would repent and grow better or must he stay till they have come to such a height of sin then no persons would have cause to fear him but such who are arrived at that pitch of wickedness but how then should he punish them must it be by continuing their lives and making them miserable but let them live and they will sin yet further must it be by utterly destroying them that to persons who might have time to sin the mean while supposing annihilation were all to be fear'd would never have power enough to deterr men from the height of their wickedness So that nothing but the misery of a life to come can be of force enough to make men fear God and regard themselves and this is that which the Gospel threatens to those that neglect their salvation which it sometimes calls everlasting fire sometimes the Worm that never dies sometimes the wrath to come sometimes everlasting destruction all enough to fill the minds of men with horror at the apprehension and what then will the undergoing it doe Thence our Saviour reasonably bids men not fear them that can only kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell Thus the Gospel suggests the most proper object of fear to keep men from sin and as it doth that so it presents likewise the most desireable object of hope to encourage men to be good which is no less than a happiness that is easier to hope to enjoy than to comprehend a happiness infinitely above the most ambitious hopes and glories of this world wherein greatness is added to glory weight to greatness and eternity to them all therefore call'd a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Wherein the Joyes shall be full and constant
then be that lose their Souls for that which hath no value at all if compared with the World 3. Consider what follows upon this neglect not only the loss of great salvation but the incurring as great damnation for it The Scripture describes the miseries of the life to come not meerly by negatives but by the most sensible and painfull things If destruction be dreadfull that is everlasting destruction if the anguish of the soul and the pains of the body be so troublesom what will the destruction be both of Body and Soul in Hell If a Serpent gnawing in our bowels be a representation of an insupportable misery here what will that be of the Worm that never dies if a raging and devouring fire which can last but till it hath consumed a fading substance be in its appearance so amazing and in its pain so violent what then will the enduring be of that wrath of God which shall burn like fire and yet be everlasting Consider then of these things while God gives you time to consider of them and think it an inestimable mercy that you have yet time to repent of your sins to beg mercy at the hands of God to redeem your time to depart from iniquity to be frequent in Prayer carefull of your Actions and in all things obedient to the will of God and so God will pardon your former neglects and grant you this great salvation FINIS Hebr. 12. 3. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be weary and faint in your minds IT hath never yet been so well with the World and we have no great reason to hope it ever will be so that the best of things or of men should meet with entertainment in it suitable to their own worth and excellency If it were once to be hoped that all Mankinde would be wise and sober that their judgements would be according to the truth of things and their actions suitable to their judgements we might then reasonably expect that nothing would be valued so much as true goodness nothing so much in contempt and disgrace as impiety and profaneness But if we finde it much otherwise in the Age we live in we have so much the less cause to wonder at it because it hath been thus in those times we might have thought would have been far better than our own I mean those times and ages wherein there were not only great things first spoken and delivered to Mankinde but examples as great as the things themselves but these did so little prevail on the stupid and unthankfull world that they among whom the Son of God did first manifest himself seem'd only solicitous to make good one Prophesie concerning him viz. That he should be despised and rejected of men And they who suffer'd their malice to live as long as he did were not contented to let it dye with him but their fury increases as the Gospel does and wherever it had spread it self they pursue it with all the rude clamors and violent persecutions which themselves or their factors could raise against it This we have a large testimony of in those Jewish Christians to whom this Epistle was written who had no sooner embraced the Christian Religion but they were set upon by a whole army of persecutions Heb. 10. 32. But call to remembrance the former dayes in which after ye were illuminated ye endured a great fight of afflictions As though the great enemy of souls and therefore of Christians had watched the first opportunity to make the strongest impression upon them while they were yet young and unexperienced and therefore less able to resist so sharp an encounter He had found how unsuccessfull the offer of the good things of this World had been with their Lord and Master and therefore was resolved to try what a severer course would do with all his followers But the same spirit by which he despised all the Glories of the World which the Tempter would have made him believe he was the disposer of enabled them with a mighty courage and strange transports of joy not only to bear their own share of reproaches and afflictions but a part of theirs who suffer'd with them v. 33 34. But least through continual duty occasion'd by the hatred of their persecutors and the multitude of their afflictions their courage should abate and their spirits saint the Apostle finds it necessary not only to put them in mind of their former magnanimity but to make use of all arguments that might be powerfull with them to keep up the same vigour and constancy of mind in bearing their sufferings which they had at first For he well knew how much it would tend to the dishonour of the Gospel as well as to their own discomfort if after such an early proof of a great and undaunted spirit it should be said of them as was once of a great Roman Captain Ultima Primis cedebant that they should decline in their reputation as they did in their years and at last sink under that weight of duty which they had born with so much honour before Therefore as a General in the Field after a sharp and fierce encounter at first with a mighty resolution by his Souldiers when he finds by the number and fresh recruits of the enemy that his smaller forces are like to be born down before them and through meer weariness of fighting are ready to turn their backs or yield themselves up to the enemies mercy he conjures them by the honour they have gain'd and the courage they had already expressed by their own interest and the example of their Leaders by the hopes of glory and the fears of punishment that they would bear the last shock of their enemies force and rather be the Trophies of their Courage than of their Triumphs so does our Apostle when he finds some among them begin to debate whether they had best to stand it out or no he conjures them 1. By the remembrance of their own former courage whereby they did bear as sharp tryals as these could be with the greatest chearfulness and constancy and what could they gain by yielding at last but great dishonour to themselves that they had suffer'd so long to no purpose unless it were to discover their own weakness and inconstancy 2. By the hopes of a reward which would surely follow their faithfulness v. 35 36. Cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great recompence of reward For ye have need of patience that after ye have done the will of God ye might receive the promise and the time will not be long ere ye come to enjoy it v. 37. but if ye draw back you lose all your former labours for he who alone is able to recompence you hath said that if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him v. 38. and then from the example of himself and all the genuine followers of Christ but
he had usurped such an Office to himself If no liberty were allowed under pain of death for any to say that they were sent from God how was it possible for the Messias ever to appear and not be condemned for the expectation of him was that he should be a great person immediately sent from God for the delivery of his people And should he be sent from God and not say that he was so for how then could men know that he was So that their way of proceeding with him discovers it self to be manifestly unjust and contrary to their own avowed expectations Neither were they more successefull in the accusation of him before Pilate why did not the witnesses appear to make good the charge of sedition and treason against him where were the proofs of any thing tending that way Nay that which abundantly testified the innocency of our Saviour as to all the matters he was accused of was that the Roman Governour after a full examination of the cause declares him innocent and that not only once but several times and was fully satisfied in the Vindication he made of himself so that nothing but the fear of what the Jewes threatned viz. accusing him to Caesar a thing he had cause enough otherwise to be afraid of which made him at last yield to their importunity But there was one circumstance more which did highly discover the innocency of Christ and the injustice of his sufferings which was Judas's confession and end the man who had betray'd his Lord and had receiv'd the wages of his iniquity but was so unquiet with it that in the time when his other Disciples durst not own him he with a great impetus returns to them with his Money throws it among them with that sad farewell to them all I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood What could have been said more for his Vindication at this time than this was by such a person as Judas one who had known our Saviour long and had been the fittest instrument if any guilt could have been fasten'd upon him to have managed the accusation against him but the anxiety of his minde was too great for what he had done already to live to do them any longer service for either his grief suffocated him or his guilt made him hang himself for the words will signifie either Neither can it be said by any modern Jews that all the testimony we have of these things is from his own Disciples but that certainly they had some greater matter to accuse him of which we now have lost For how is it possible to conceive that a matter so important as that was should be lost by those of their own Nation who were so highly concerned to vindicate themselves in all places as soon as the Gospel was spread abroad in the World For the guilt of this blood was every where by the Chriâ—â—ans charged upon them and their proâ—… sufferings afterwards were imputed wholly by them to the shedding of that blood of Christ which by a most solemn imprecation they had said should be upon them and their Children Besides how comes Celsus who personates a Jew opposing Christianity to mention no other accusations against him but those recorded in the Gospel and Origen challenges him or any other person to charge him with any action which might deserve punishment And which is very observable Porphyrie one of the most inveterate enemies of Christianity and that took as much pains to write against it as any and had more learning to do it with yet in his Book of the Philosophy of Oracles as S. Augustin tells us quotes an Oracle wherein were these words concerning Christ And what became of him after his death it saith that his Soul was immortal Viri pietate praestantissimi est illa anima and that it was the soul of a most excellent person for piety and being then asked Why he was condemned the answer only is that the body of the best is exposed to weakning torments but the Soul rests in heavenly habitations So that on no account can this contradiction appear to be otherwise than an act of great injustice and cruelty and therefore must needs be the contradiction of sinners 2. This contradiction of theirs to Christ was an act of high Ingratitude It was a sharp but very just rebuke which the Jews received from our Saviour when they were once ready to stone him Many good works have I shewed you from my Father for which of those works do you stone me The very same might have been applyed to his Judges and accusers when they were about to crucifie him For what was his whole Life after he appeared publickly but a constant design of doing good His presence had far more vertue for the curing all bodily distempers than the Pool of Bethesda among the Jews or the Temples of AEsculapius among the Gentiles What wonders were made of very small things done by other persons as the cure of a blinde Man by Vespasian when such multitudes of far more certain and considerable cures can hardly keep up the reputation of any thing extraordinary in him But though his kindness was great to the bodies of men where they were fit objects of pity and compassion yet it was far greater to their souls that being more agreeable to the design of his coming into the World for the other tended to raise such an esteem of him as might maâ—… him the more successefull in the cure of their Souls And to shew that this was his great business wherever he comes he discourses about these things takes every opportunity that might be improved for that end refuses no company he might do good upon and converses not with them with the pride and arrogance of either the Pharisees or Philosophers but with the greatest meekness humility and patience How admirable are his more solemn discourses especially that upon the Mount and that wherein he takes leave of his Disciples How dry and insipid are the most sublime discourses of the Philosophers compared with these how clearly doth he state our Duties and what mighty encouragements does he give to practise them how forcibly does he perswade men to self-denyal and contempt of the world how excellent and holy are all his Precepts how serviceable to the best interest of men in this life and that to come how suitable and desireable to the souls of good men are the rewards he promises what exact rule of Righteousness hath he prescribed to men in doing as they would be done by with what vehemency doth he rebuke all hypocrisie and Pharisaism with what tenderness and kindness does he treat those that have any reall inclinations to true goodness with what earnestness does he invite and with what love doth he embrace all repenting sinners with what care doth he instruct with what mildness doth he reprove with what patience doth he bear with his own disciples Lastly
Solomons succession was a secret promise and oath of David and therefore she urgeth him now to declare the succession v. â—0 Otherwise she saith when David should dye I and my son Solomon shall be accounted offenders i. e. saith Crelâ—… We shall be handled as offenders we shall be destroyed But surely not without the supposition of a fault by them which should inflict that punishment upon them The plain meaning is they should be accused of Trâ—a â—n and then punished accordingly But we are to consider that still with a respect to them who were the inflicters a fault or sin is supposed as the reason of their punishment either of their own or others But of our Saviour it is not said That he should be counted as an offender by the Jews for although that doth not take away his innocency yet it supposeth an accusation of something which in it self deserves punishment But in Esai 53. 10. it is said He made his soul sin and 2 Cor. 5. 21. That God made him sin for us which must therefore imply not being dealt with by men onely as a sinner but that with a respect to him who inflicted the punishment there was a consideration of sin as the reason of it We do not deny but Gods suffering him to be dealt with as a sinner by men is implied in it for that was the method of his punishment designed but we say further that the reason of that permission in God doth suppose some antecedent cause of it For God would never have suffered his onely Son to be so dealt with by the hands of cruel men unless he had made himself an offering for sin being willing to undergo those sufferings that he might be an expiatory Sacrifice for the sins of the world And although Socinus will not yield That by being made sin for us should be understood Christs being an Expiatory Sacrifice for sin yet Crellius is contented it should be so taken in both places Which if he will grant so as by virtue of that Sacrifice the guilt of sin is expiated we shall not contend with him about the reasons why those Sacrifices were call'd sins although the most proper and genuine must needs be that which is assigned by the Law that the sins of the people were supposed to be laid upon them and therefore they were intended for the expiation of them But it is very unreasonable to say That Expiatory Sacrifices were called sins because it would have been a sin to neglect them For on the same account all the other Sacrifices must have been call'd so too for it was a sin to neglect any where God required them and so there had been no difference between Sacrifices for sin and others To that reason of Crellius from our being made righteous because dealt with as such to Christs being made sin onely because dealt with as a sinner we need no more than what this parallel will afford us For as Crellius would never say that any are dealt with as righteous persons who are not antecedently supposed to be so so by his own Argument Christs being dealt with as a sinner must suppose guilt antecedent to it and since the Apostle declares it was not his own in those words Who knew no sin it follows that it must be the consideration of ours which must make him be dealt with as a sinner by him who made him to be sin for us But to suppose that Christ should be said to be made sin without any respect to sin is as much as if the Latins should call any one Scelus and mean thereby a very honest man or a Piaculum without any supposition of his own or others guilt But we are to consider that the sufferings of Christ seeming at first so inconsistent with that relation to God as his onely Son which the Apostles assert concerning him they were obliged to vindicate his innocency as to men and yet withal to shew that with a respect to God there was sufficient reason for his permission of his undergoing these sufferings That he knew no sin was enough to clear his innocency as to men but then the question will be asked If he were so innocent why did God suffer all those things to come upon him Did not Abraham plead of old with God That he would not slay the righteous with the wicked because it was repugnant to the righteousness of his nature to do so That be far from thee to do after this manner to slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be as the wicked that be far from thee shall not the Judge of all the earth do right How then comes God to suffer the most perfect innocency to be dealt with so as the greatest sins could not have deserved worse from men Was not his righteousness the same still And Abraham did not think the distinction of calamities and punishments enough to vindicate Gods proceedings if the righteous should have been dealt withall as the wicked And if that would hold for such a measure of righteousness as might be supposed in such who were not guilty of the great abominations of those places that it should be enough not onely to deliver themselves but the wicked too how comes it that the most perfect obedience of the Son of God is not sufficient to excuse him from the greatest sufferings of Malefactors But if his sufferings had been meerly from men God been accountable onely for the bare permission but it is said that he fore-ordained and determined these things to be that Christ himself complained that God had forsaken him and here that he made him sin for us and can we imagine all this to be without any respect to the guilt of sin as the cause of it Why should such an expression be used of being made sin might not many others have served sufficiently to declare the indignities and sufferings he underwent without such a phrase as seems to reflect upon Christs innocency If there had been no more in these expressions than our Adversaries imagine the Apostles were so careful of Christs honour they would have avoided such ill-sounding expressions as these were and not have affected Hebraisms and uncouth forms of speech to the disparagement of their Religion But this is all which our Adversaries have to say where words are used by them out of their proper sense that the Prophets and Apostles affected tricks of wit playing with words using them sometimes in one sense and presently quite in another So Crellius saith of Esaiah That he affects little elegancies of words and verbal allusions which makes him use words sometimes out of their proper and natural sense thence he tells us The sufferings of Christ are called chastisement though they have nothing of the nature of chastisements in them And from this liberty of interpreting they make words without any other reason than that they serve for their purpose be taken in several senses in
him that did the service perfect 〈◊〉 pertaining to the Conscience and that it 〈◊〉 impossible that the blood of Bulls and Goâ—â— should take away sin So that the propâ—… expiation which was made by them 〈◊〉 civil and ritual relating either to corporal punishment or to legal uncleanness â—rom whence the Apostle well proves the â—ecessity of a higher Sacrifice to make â—xpiation for sins as pertaining to the Conâ—â—ience But that expiation among the Jewsâ—id â—id relate to that Polity which was estaâ—lished among them as they were a Peoâ—le under the Government of a body of â—aws distinct from the rest of the world â—nd they being consider'd as such it is â—ain to enquire whether they had only â—â—mporal or eternal promises for it was imâ—ossible they should have any other than â—emporal unless we imagine that Godâ—ould â—ould own them for a distinct people in â—â—other World as he did in this For what â—romises relate to a People as such must â—onsider them as a People and in that â—â—pacity they must the blessings of a Socieâ—… viz. peace plenty number of People â—…ngth of dayes c. But we are far from â—enying that the general Principles of â—eligion did remain among them viz. that â—…re is a God and a rewarder of them that â—…k him and all the Promises God made 〈◊〉 the Patriarchs did continue in force as another Countrey and were continually â—…proved by the Prophetical instructions â—…ong them But we are now speaking what did respect the people in general by vertue of that Law which was givâ— them by Moses and in that respect 〈◊〉 punishment of faults being either death 〈◊〉 exclusion from the publick Worship tâ—… expiation of them was taking away tâ—… obligation to either of these whiâ—â— was the guilt of them in that considerâ—tion But doth not this take away the typiâ—… nature of these sacrifices No but it muâ—… rather establisheth it For as Socinus argues If the expiation was only typiâ—… there must be something in the typâ—… correspondent to that which is typifâ—… by it As the Brazen Serpent typifiâ—… Christ and the benefit which was to coâ—… by him because as many as looked upâ—… it were healed And Noahs Ark is sâ—… to be a type of Baptism because as â—…ny as enter'd into that were saved froâ— the deluge So Corinth 10. the Apostâ—… saith that those things happen'd to thâ—… in types v. 11. because the events whiâ—… happen'd to them did represent thoâ—… which would fall upon disobedient Châ—â—stians So that to make good the the notion of a Type we must assert an expâ—…tion that was real then and agreeable 〈◊〉 that dispensation which doth represâ—… an expiation of a far higher nature whiâ—… was to be by the Sacrifice of the Blood of Christ. Which being premised I now come to â—rove that there was a substitution designed of the Beast to be slain and sacrificed 〈◊〉 stead of the offenders themselves Which will appear from Leviticus 17. 11. For the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the Altar to make an Atonement for your Souls for it is the blood that maketh an Atonement for the Soul The utmost that Crellius would have meant by this place is that there is a double reason assigned of the prohibition of eating blood viz. that the life was in the blood and that the blood was designed for expiation but he makes these wholly independent upon each other But we say that the proper reason assigned against the eating of the blood is that which is elswhere given when this Precept is mention'd viz. that the blood was the life as we may see Gen. 9. 4. Levit. 17. 14. but to confirm the reason given that the blood was the life he addes that God had given them that upon the Altar for an Atonement for their Souls So the Arabick Version renders it and therefore have I given it you upon the Altar viz. because the blood is the life And hereby a sufficient reason is given why God did make choice of the blood for atonement for that is expreâ—… in the latter clause for it is the blood 〈◊〉 maketh an atonement for the Soul wâ—… should this be mention'd here if no 〈◊〉 were intended but to give barely anothâ—… reason why they should not eat the blooâ— what force is there more in this claâ—… to that end than in the foregoing 〈◊〉 therein God had said that he had given them for an Atonement If no more hâ—… been intended but the bare prohibitâ—… of common use of the blood on the 〈◊〉 count of its being consecrated to sacâ—… use it had been enough to have said thâ—… the blood was holy unto the Lord as 〈◊〉 is in the other instances mention'd bâ—… Crellius of the holy Oyntment and Perfuâ—… for no other reason is there given why 〈◊〉 should not be profaned to common 〈◊〉 but that it should be holy for the Lord therefore the blood had been forbiddâ—… upon that account there had been no â—…cessity at all of adding that the blood 〈◊〉 it that made atonement for the Soul whiâ—… gives no peculiar reason why they shoâ—… not eat the blood beyond that of bâ—… consecration of it to a sacred use but we consider it as respecting the first clausâ— viz. For the life of the flesh is in the blooâ— then there is a particular reason why thâ—… blood should be for atonement viz. because the life was in that and therefore when the blood was offer'd the life of the Beast was supposed to be given instead of the life of the offender According to that of Ovid Hanc animam vobis pro meliore damus This will be yet made clearer by another instance produced by Crellius to explain this which is the forbidding the eating of fat which saith he is joyned with this of blood Levit. 3. 17. It shall be a perpetual Statute for your Generations throughout all your dwellings that ye eat neither fat nor blood To the same purpose Levit. 7. 23 25 26. Now no other reason is given of the prohibition of the fat but this All the fat is the Lords Which was enough to keep them from eating it but we see here in the case of blood somewhat further is assigned viz. that it was the life and therefore was the most proper for expiation the life of the beast being substituted in the place of the offenders Which was therefore call'd animalis hostia among the Romans as Grotius observes upon this place and was distinguished from those whose entrails were observed for in those Sacrifices as Servius saith sola anima Deo sacratur the main of the Sacrifice lay in shedding of the blood which was call'd the Soul and so it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place From whence it appears that such a sacrifice was properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used both relating to the blood and the
of it upon the Altar as an Oblation to God which are the three ingredients of â—…n Expiatory Sacrifice for the shedding of â—…e blood noted the bearing the punishment of our iniquity and the sprinkling of 〈◊〉 on the Altar and the consuming of the part â—…f the sacrifice or the whole there that it was designed for the expiation of sin From whence it follows that the phrase of a sweet-smelling savour being applied under the Law to Expiatory Sacrifices is very properâ—y used by S. Paul concerning Christs giving up himself for us â—o that from this phrase nothing can be inferred contrary â—o the Expiatory nature of the death of Christ but rather it is fully agreeaâ—… to it But Crellius hath yet a further Argumeâ—… to prove that Christs death cannot be 〈◊〉 meant as the Expiatory Sacrifice viz. 〈◊〉 the notion of a sacrifice doth consist in the â—…lation whereby the thing is consecrated to 〈◊〉 honour and service of God to which the maâ—…tion is but a bare preparation which 〈◊〉 proves Because the slaying the sacrifice 〈◊〉 belong to others besides the Priests Ezek. 〈◊〉 10 11. but the oblation only to the Prieâ—… To this I answer 1. The mactation may 〈◊〉 considered two ways either with a respâ—… to the bare instrument of taking away tâ—… life or to the design of the Offerer of thâ—… which was to be sacrificed As the macâ—…tion hath a respect only to the instrumeâ—â— so it is no otherways to be considered thâ—… as a punishment but as it hath a respect 〈◊〉 him that designs it for a Sacrifice so tâ—… shedding of the blood hath an immediâ—… influence on the expiation of sin Aâ—… that by this clear Argument The blood 〈◊〉 said to make an Atonement for the soul 〈◊〉 the reason given is because the life of 〈◊〉 flesh is in the blood So that which was 〈◊〉 life is the great thing which makes 〈◊〉 atonement and when the blood was shâ—… the life was then given from whence follows that the great efficacy of the sacrifice for atonement lay in the shedding of â—he blood for that end Thence the Apostleâ—ttributes â—ttributes remission of sins to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the shedding of the blood and not to the bare Oblation of it on the Altar or the carrying it into the Holy of Holies both which seem to be nothing else but a more solemn representation of that blood before God which was already shed for the expiation of sins which was therefore necessary to be performed that the concurrence of the Priest might be seen with the sacrifice in order to expiation For if no more had been necessary but the bare slaying of the Beasts which was the meanest part of the service the people would never have thought the institution of the Priesthood necessary and least of all that of the High-Priest unless some solemn action of his had been performed such as the entring into the Holy of Holies on the day of expiation and carrying it and sprinkling the blood of the sin-offering in order to the expiation of the sins of the people And it is observable that although the Levitical Law be silent in the common Sacrifices who were to kill them whether the Priests or the Levites yet on that day whereon the High-Priest was to appear himself for the expiation of sin 〈◊〉 is expressely said that he should not oâ—… kill the bullock of the sin-offering which 〈◊〉 for himself but the goat of the sin-offeriâ—â— which is for the people And although thâ—… Talmudists dispute from their Traditioâ—… on both sides whether any one else mighâ—… on the day of expiation slay the sin-offerings besides the High-Priest yet it iâ—… no news for them to dispute against thâ—… Text and the Talmud it self is clear thaâ— the High-Priest did it From whence iâ—… appears there was something peculiar oâ—… that day as to the slaying of the sin-offerings and if our Adversaries opinion hold good that the Sacrifices on the day of expiation did if not alone yet chiefly represent thâ—… sacrifice of Christ no greater argument can be brought against themselves than this is for the office of the High-Priest did not begin at his carrying the blood into the holy of holies but the slaying the sacrifice did belong to him too from whence it will unavoidably follow that Christ did not enter upon his Office of High-Priest when he enter'd into Heaven but when the Sacrifice was to be slain which was designed for the expiation of sins It is then to no purpose at all if Crelliâ—… could prove that sometimes in ordinary Sacrifices which he will not say the Sacrifice of Christ was represented by the Levites might kill the beasts for sacrifice for it appears that in those sacrifices wherein themselves contend that Christs was represented the office of the High-Priest did not begin with entring into the Sanctuary but with the mactation of that Sacrifice whose blood was to be carried in thither Therefore if we speak of the bare instruments of mactation in the death of Christ those were the Jews and we make not them Priests in it for they aimed at no more than taking away his life as the Popae among the Romans and those whose bare office it was to kill the beasts for Sacrifice among the Jews did but if we consider it with a respect to him that offer'd up his life to God then we say that Christ was the High-Priest in doing it it being designed for the expiation of sin and by vertue of this blood-shed for that end he enters into Heaven as the Holy of Holies there ever living to make intercession for us But the vertue of the consequent acts depends upon the efficacy of the blood shed for expiation otherwise the High-Priest might have enter'd with the same effect into the Holy of Holies with any other blood besides that which was shed on purpose as a sin-offering for expiation of the sins of the people which it was unlawfull for him to doe And from hence it is that the Apostle to the Hebrews insists so much on the comparison between the blood of Christ and the blood of the legal sacrifices and the efficacy of the one far above the other in its power of expiation which he needed not to have done if the shedding of his blood had been only a preparation for his entrance on his Priesthood in Heaven So that the proper notion of a Sacrifice for sin as it notes the giving the life of one for the expiation of the sins of another doth properly lye in the mactation though other sacrificial acts may be consequent upon it So it was in the animales hostiae among the Romans in which saith Macrobius Sola anima Deo sacratur of which he tells us Virgil properly speaks in those words Hanc tibi Eryx meliorem animam pro morte Daretis And that we may the better understand what he means by the anima here he saith elsewhere