Owen - BS2775 O8 1668

$ Mefmh, The Deliverer fromEvill, Butwhereas theynow are,and havebeen for many Generations, deprived of the Fri- viledgeas they diem it of offering Sacrifices according to the Law, they hope that their own Repentancewith their death, which they pray that it may beexpiatory, will be (efficient to obtain for them theforgivenefl offin. Only they fay this might better and more eafiebe effected, if they might enjoy the BenefitofSacrifices. So faith the fore- mentioned Jew, whofe Difcourfe is publifhed by Brenius. Gaamvis jam nulla lint Sacriffcia,que media erant ad tanto'facilius impetrandam remiJ(onem .peccatorum, eadem tamenper peenitentiam t' refipiféentiam impetratur : And again, Medie viBimas afferre non poffumus deffituti mediis adhoc neceffariis, que panda obtinebimus, turn rpmiflio lila tanto facilior reddetur. RJbon. ad 9uiff. Septim. If they cannot obtain the ufe ofSacrifices, yet the matter may be effeéted by their Repentance ; only it were much eafier to do it bySacrifices. Andthey feem to. Jong for them principally on this account, that by them theymay free themfelves from somewhat ofDifcipline and Penance which now their confciences enforce them unto : But this, as'all otherArticlesoftheir Creed which are properlyJudaical, is feigned by them to fuit their prefent condition and Intereft. For where do they find that their Sacrifices, efpecially that which they molt trait namely, that on theFeaffofExpiation, Lev. r6. was everdefigned for this End, to enable them the more eafily to obtain the Remiffion of fins by another means which they ufe ? For it is faid direâly,that the Sacrifice on that day did expiate their fin, and make Attonement for it, that they might not dye; and not that it did help them in procu- ringpardon another way. But this is now taken from them, and what (hall they do ? Why rather than they will look or come to him, whowas reprefentedin that Sacrifice, and on whofe account alone ithad all its efficacy, they will find out a newway of, doing that whichtheir Sacrifices were appointed unto; and this they 'mud do,or openly acknowledge that they allperilto eternally. I (hall not infift long on the caftingdown Of thisImagination, alltheFoundations of it being long ago demolifhed by Our Apoffle in his Epiffles, efpecially thofe to the Romani, Galatians, atad the Hebrews themfelves. And this he hathnot donemeetlyby a new Revelation of the Mind and Will ofGod, but upon thePrinciples, and by theTeftimonies of the Old Teftamcnt its fell ; as will afterwards more fully appear. Only becaule it is here fet up in competition with that bleffed'and AllfuffrcientRemedy againft Sin and the Curfe, which God indeed bath pro- vided: I fhall briefly remove it out of our Way, and that by manifeffing that it is neither in its fell fuited unto that End., nor was ever Of God defigned there- Onto. 4. 19. That all mankind was call into the condition we have defcribed, by and upon the the finofAdam, wehave before fufñciently confirmed. Other ¡Lift Reafan, or Qccafion of it, no than canalign. It bathbeen alto evinced that Godwould, and confequently dill prepare a Remedy for them, or a Way ofDeliverance to be propofed unto them. If this were only theLaw of Moles and theObfervance thereof, asthe Jewspretend, I de- fire to know what became of them, what was theirEftate and Condition who lived and dyedbefore the giving ofthat Law? Notonly the Patriarchs before theFlood,who fome of them had this Teftimony, that they pleafedGod, and one ofwhomwas taken alive into Heaven, but Abrahamaltohimfelf who received the Promifes, muff on this Sup- pofition be excluded from a participation in the' Deliverance enquired after. For they obfervednot the Law ofMofis. What they dream about the makingoftheir Law before theFoundation of the World, and theffudy of God therein, and that night and day , by day in the Written Law, and by night in theOral Cabal, is not to be mentioned where matters of importance unto the fouls of men are under confide- ration. But yet I may add by the way, that neither this, nor thelike monftrous figments are invented or broached`by them, without tomeefpecial defign, In the EighthChapter of the Proverbs, there is mention of theWifdom of God, and fuch adefcription given of it, asallows not an Efntial Property of his natureto be thereby intended. This is there laid to be with Godbeforethe foundation of theworld his delight and compa- nion: Whence itappears that nothingbut the Eternal Pfard,Wifdom and Son of God can poffibly be intended thereby. To avoid this Teftimony given unto his Eternal fubftlencc, the yews fitti invented this Fable, that the Lawwas created before the world, and that the Wifdom of it, was that which God converfedwith, and delighted in. And Ihave often wondered at theCenfure of a learned Chriffian Annotator upon the place; Hee, faithhe, de ea fápientia que inLege apparet expenunt Hebrei ; & faneei, fi non foli at pracipue hie attributa conv'eniunt, contrary to the Faith ofthe Church in all Ages. It

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