SECT. ever be found to be the best comment II. upon Scripture; and if the Epiftle to the Hebrews, not to mention various other paffages, be consulted, the whole mystery will be clearly unfolded. We are informed by St. Paul, that "there are priests that "offer gifts according to the Law, who "ferve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things. And almost all things "are by the Law purged with blood; and "without fhedding of blood there is no "remiffion. It was therefore neceffary "that the patterns of things in the hea"vens fhould be purified with these; but "the heavenly things themselves with better "facrifices than thefe ". Hence it is plain that the ceremonial Law is typical of the pure and fpiritual dif penfation promulged by the Meffiah; and accordingly upon this plan of interpretation the whole of the Epistle to the Hebrews proceeds. f I know not whether we may venture to call the Jewish church an abfolute type of the Chriftian church; but their refpective hiftories have certainly a very fingular resemblance to each other. The 1. The numerous and bloody facrifices CHAP. of the Law firft draw our attention. All The Jewish church was planted among the heathens by a miraculous interference of divine power. For a fhort space of time it remained pure and uncontaminated. But it gradually corrupted itself, and fell into the idolatrous practices of the nations, which it had fubdued. The fins of the Jewish church were vifited by the calamities of war, and fubjugation to the neighbouring princes. Before the Babylonian captivity, and the reformation effected by Ezra, the Jews were remarkably prone to idolatry; but afterwards they never were guilty of a repetition of that crime. In the courfe of a few generations, the now exploded fin of idolatry was fucceeded by thofe of infidelity and felf-righteoufnefs. While the II. II. SECT. the animals appointed for this purpose are of that clafs, which the inftitutes of Mofes pronounce to be clean. The patient sheep, the innocent lamb, the mild and laborious ox, are the victims deftined to blaze upon the altars of Jehovah. But the ferocious tyger, the rapacious lion, and the gluttonous hog, are never permitted to contaminate the facred inclosure of the temple. Whatever fins the Ifraelites had com Sadducee denied the immor- At length, as we are in- Thus have we feen a formidable power, which in its polity affects to imitate the ancient Romans, raifed up for the punishment of apoftate Christendom. God grant, that our latter end may not be like that of the Jews! The church of Chrift indeed can never be entirely overthrown: but most awful is the queftion of our Lord, "When the Son of man "cometh, fhall he find faith mitted, either collectively or individually, CHAP. were constantly to be expiated by facrifice; 11. and (to use the language of the Apostle) "without fhedding of blood there is no "remiffion "." Thefe facrifices however "for it is not pos had no intrinfic merit; 66 worshippers once purged fhould have "had no more confcience of fins." But thefe facrifices were repeated every year; and if they had been repeated to all eternity, they could never of themselves have fatisfied the juftice of God. The purity of the victims render them indeed fit emblems of a nobler facrifice; but mere finite and rélative purity can never make atonement before an infinite God. He, who is infinite, must be infinite in all his attributes; and confequently in his hatred of fin. A finite offering therefore can never appease the wrath of an infinite Being; an infinite facrifice is alone adequate to the task of fatisfying infinite juftice. บ Heb. ix. 22. h Heb. x. 4. i Heb. x. 2. From SECT. II. From this statement, it will appear that the bloody rites of the Law were shadows of that full, perfect, and fufficient fatisfaction made through the offering of the body of Jefus Chrift once for all. "And every prieft ftandeth daily miniftering, and offering oftentimes the fame facrifices, "which can never take away fins: but "this man, after he had offered one fa"crifice for fins, for ever fat down on "the right hand of God-For by one of fering he hath perfected for ever them "that are fanctified." Thus was the Lamb of God flain from the very foundation of the world; virtually, in the councils of the Most High; and typically, in the facrifices of the Patriarchal and Levitical religions. It is by no means improbable, that the animals, with the fkins of which God clothed our first parents, had been previoufly facrificed. The Lord was pleased to accept the victims, and afterwards to remove the shame of the first pair by decent raiment. Thus does he accept the facrifice of the Redeemer, and array us in the coftly robes of his righteousness. All human k Heb. x. 10. con |