some of them had this testimony, that they pleased God, and one of whom was taken alive into heaven, but Abraham also himself, who received the promises, must, on this supposition, be excluded from a participation in the deliverance inquired after; for they observed not the law of Moses. What they dream about the making of their law before the foundation of the world, and the study of God therein, and that night and day, by day in the written law, and by night in the oral Cabala, is not to be mentioned when matters of importance unto the souls of men are under consideration. But yet I may add, by the way, that neither this nor the like monstrous figments are invented or broached by them without some especial design. In the eighth chapter of the Proverbs there is mention of the Wisdom of God, and such a description given of it as allows not an essential property of his nature to be thereby intended. This is there said to be with God before the foundation of the world, his delight and companion; whence it appears that nothing but the eternal Word, Wisdom, and Son of God, can possibly be intended thereby. To avoid this testimony given unto his eternal subsistence, the Jews first invented this fable, that the law was "created before the world," and that the wisdom of it was that which God conversed with and delighted in. And I have often wondered at the censure of a learned Christian annotator upon the place. "Hæc," saith he, "de ea sapientia quæ in lege apparet exponunt Hebræi; et sane ei, si non soli, at præcipue hæc attributa conveniunt;" contrary to the faith of the church in all ages. It is true, on verse 22, and those that follow, he affirms they may be expounded by that of Philo de Coloniis: Ο λόγος ὁ πρεσβύτερος τῶν γένεσιν εἰληφότων, οὗ καθάπερ εἴακος ἐνειλημμένος ὁ τῶν ὅλων κυβερνήτης πηδαλιουχεῖ τὰ σύμπαντα, καὶ ὅτε ἐκοσμοπλάστει χρησάμενος ὀργάνῳ τούτῳ πρὸς τὴν ἀνυπαίτιον τῶν ἀποτελουμένων σύστασιν. But whether this Platonical declaration of the nature and work of the Word of God, employed by him as an instrument in the making and government of the world, would have been accepted in the primitive church, when this place was vexed by the Arians, and studiously vindicated by the orthodox fathers, I much question. But to return: if the law, and the observance of it, be the only remedy provided of God against the sin and misery of man, the only means of reconciliation with him, all that died before the giving of it must perish, and that eternally. But the contrary appears from this very consideration, and is undeniably proved by our apostle in the instance of Abraham, Gal. iii. 17: for he received the promise and was taken into covenant with God four hundred and thirty years before the giving of the law; and that covenant conveyed unto him the love and favour of God, with deliverance from sin and the curse; as themselves will not deny. There was therefore a remedy in this case provided long before the giving of the law on Mount Sinai; and therefore the law was not given unto that purpose, but for other ends, at large declared by our apostle. Either, then, they must grant that all the patriarchs, and he in especial of whom they boast, perished eternally, or else that there was a means of deliverance provided before the giving of the law; and, consequently, that the law was not given for that end. The first they will not do, nor can, without an absolute renunciation of their own sacred writings, wherein none have obtained a larger testimony that they pleased God than they. The latter, therefore, followeth undeniably. If they shall say they had a way of deliverance, but God provided another afterwards, as this would be spoken without warrant or authority from the Scripture, so I desire to know both what that way was, and why it was rejected. Of God's appointment it was, and effectual it was unto them that embraced it, and why it should be laid aside who can declare? 20. Again, as was before observed, there are two parts of the law,— the moral precepts of it, and the instituted worship appointed in it. Unto this latter part do the sacrifices of it belong. But neither of these are sufficient unto the end proposed, nor jointly can they attain it. Two things are evidently necessary, from what hath been discoursed, unto the deliverance inquired after,-first, That man be reconciled unto God, by the removal of the curse and the wrath due unto him for his apostasy; secondly, That his nature be freed from that principle of sin and enmity against God (the evil figment) that it is tainted, yea, possessed withal. And neither of these can be effected by the law, or either part of it; for, First, The moral precepts of it are the same with those that were written in the heart of man by nature, or the law of his creation, which he transgressed in his first rebellion. And he must be delivered from that guilt before any new obedience can be accepted of him. His old debt must be satisfied for before he can treat for a new reward, which inseparably follows all acceptable obedience. But this the precepts of the law take no notice of, nor direct unto any way for its removal; only, supposing the doing of it by some other means, it requires exact obedience in them that come to God thereby. Hence our apostle concludes that it could not give life, but was weak and insufficient in itself unto any such purpose. Besides, Secondly, It could not absolutely preserve men in its own observation; for it required that obedience which never any sinner did or could in all things perform, as the scriptures of the Old Testament abundantly manifest. For they tell us, "there is no man that sinneth not," 1 Kings viii. 46, 2 Chron. vi. 36; that "if the LORD should mark iniquity, no man could stand," Ps. cxxx. 3; and that “if he enter into judgment" (according to the law), "no man living can be justified in his sight," Ps. cxliii. 2. To this purpose sce the ex cellent discourse and invincible reasonings of our apostle, Rom. iii. iv. This the holy men of old confessed; this the Scripture bears testimony unto; and this experience confirms, seeing every sin and transgression of that law was put under a curse, Deut. xxvii. 26. Where, then, "there is no man that sinneth not," and every sin is put under the curse, the law, in the preceptive part of it, can be no means of delivery from the one or other, but is rather a certain means of increasing and aggravating of them both. Neither is there any testimony given, concerning any one under the old testament, that he was any other way justified before God but by faith and the pardon of sins, which are not of the works of the law. See Gen. xv. 6; Ps. xxxii. 1, 2. Of Noah, indeed, it is said that he was "upright" and "perfect in his generations;" that is, sincere in his obedience, and free from the open wickedness of the age wherein he lived: but as this was before the giving of the law by Moses, so the ground of his freedom and deliverance is added to be the gracious love and favour of God. This the Jews themselves confess in the Bereshith Rabba, sect. 29: ,Even Noah himself -; שנשתייר מהן לא היה כדאי אלא שמצא חן בעיני יי' who was left of them, was not every way as he should be, but that he found grace or favour in the eyes of the Lord." And to the same purpose they speak concerning Abraham himself elsewhere: אתה מוצא שלא יירש אברהם אבינו העולם חזה ועולם הבא אלא בזכות האמונה " ON 'N;-"Thou findest that Abraham our father inherited not this world and the world to come any otherwise than by faith: as it is said, 'He believed God.'" This part, therefore, of the law is plainly convinced to be insufficient to deliver sinners from an antecedent guilt, and curse due thereunto. 21. It remains, then, that the sacrifices of the law must yield the relief inquired after, or we are still at a loss in this matter. And these the Jews would willingly place their chief confidence in; they did so of old. Since, indeed, they have been driven from their observation, they have betaken themselves unto other helps, that they might not appear to be utterly hopeless. But they sufficiently manifest their great reserve against the accusation of their consciences to be in them, by the ludicrous ways of representing or rather counterfeiting of them that they have invented. 7 signifies a man;" and among the rabbins a "cock" also. Hence Ben Uzziel renders "Ezion-geber," the name of a city, Deut. ii. 8, 7, "The city of a cock;" and Isa. xxii. 17, 7 is rendered by Jerome, "Gallus gallinaceus." Granting, therefore, that the punishment of Geber is required unto atonement and reconciliation, and that some such thing was signified in their sacrifices, they do, each one for himself, torture, slay, and offer a cock on the day of expiation, to make atonement for their sins, and that unto the devil. The rites of that diabolical solemnity are declared at large by Buxtorf, in his Synagog. Judaic. cap. xxv. But yet, as this folly manifests that they can find no rest in their consciences without their sacrifices, so it gives them not at all what they seek after. And therefore, being driven from all other hopes, they trust at length unto their own death, for in life they have no hope; making this one of their constant prayers, "Let my death be the expiation of all sins." But this is the curse, and so no means to avoid it. Omitting, therefore, these horrid follies of men under despair,—an effect of that wrath which is come upon them unto the uttermost,—the thing itself may be considered. That the sacrifices of Moses' law, in and by themselves, should be a means to deliver men from the guilt of sin, and to reconcile them unto God, is contrary to the light of nature, their own proper use, and express testimonies of the Old Testament; for,-First, Can any man think it reasonable that the blood of bulls and goats should, of itself, make an expiation for the sin of the souls of men, reconcile them to God the judge of all, and impart unto them an everlasting righteousness? Our apostle declares the manifest impossibility hereof, Heb. x. 4. They must have very mean and low thoughts of God, his holiness, justice, truth, of the demerit of sin, of heaven and hell, who think them all to depend on the blood of a calf or a goat. The sacrifices of them, indeed, might, by God's appointment, represent that to the minds of men which is effectual unto the whole end of appeasing God's justice, and of obtaining his favour; but that they should themselves effect it, is unsuitable unto all the apprehensions which are inbred in the heart of man either concerning the nature of God or the guilt of sin. Secondly, Their primitive and proper use doth manifest the same; for they were to be frequently repeated, and in all the repetitions of them there was still new mention made. of sin. They could not, therefore, by themselves, take it away; for if they could, they would not have been reiterated. It is apparent, therefore, that their use was to represent and bring to remembrance that which did perfectly take away sin. For a perfect work may be often remembered, but it need not, it cannot be often done; for being done for such an end, and that end being obtained, it cannot be done again. The sacrifices, therefore, were never appointed, never used to take away sin, which they did not; but to represent that which did so effectually. Besides, there were some sins that men may be guilty of, whom God will not utterly reject, for which there was no sacrifice appointed in the law of Moses; as was the case with David, Ps. li. 16: which makes it undeniable that there was some other way of atonement besides them and beyond them, as our apostle declares, Acts xiii. 38, 39. Thirdly, The Scripture expressly rejects all the sacrifices of the law, when they are trusted in for any such end and purpose; which sufficiently demonstrates that they were never appointed thereunto. See Ps. xl. 6-8, 1. 8-13; Isa. i. 11-13, lxvi. 3; Amos v. 21, 22; Mic. vi. 6-8; and other places innu- 22. Add unto what hath been spoken, that during the observa- In brief, then, the Jews fixing on the law of Moses as the only 23. The first intimation that God gave of this work of his grace First, If there be not a promise of deliverance expressed in these |