The Preface. Nor was MofaicaI Worfhip utterly to ceafe, fo as to have no acceptancewith God until the final mine of that Church, foretold by our Saviour himfelf, Mat. 24. byPeter, 2 Ep. 3. by James alfo, Chap. 5. 6, j,8, g. and by our Apofile inthis Ep f le, Chap. re. 37. Chap. t2.2 5,26, 27. war accompltfbed. Hence it is that our Apofile calls the timer of the Gofpel, theworld to come; Chap.a. 5. Chap. 6. 5. the name whereby the Jews denotedthe Stateofthe Churchunder the Metfìah, properunto it only whileft the legal admin f ra- tiens of Worfhip did continue. Thus as de facto he had fhewed refpeel unto thePerfora of the High Prieft as one yet in lawful office, Acts 23. 5. se doctrinally he takes it forgranted, that, that Office was fill continued, Chap. 8. 4, 5. with thewhole worfhip ofMofes infitution, Chap. t3. ii,1 St And this difpenfationof Gods patience being the le tryal of that church, MO continued ina proportion of time anfinerable to their abode in the Wildernef upon its fie Ereelion ; which our Apoflle minds them of, Chap, 3. c. 4. The LawofMofes then was not a rally abrogatedby Chrift, who obferv- .ed the rules of it in thedales of hisflefb g norby the Apoftles, whofellow ufed their liberty from it,. leaving the ufe of it to the Jewsfill; but having done its work, whereunto it was dfgned, and its obligation Expiring, end- ing, and being removed, or taken away in the death and refarrellian of Chrift, and promulgation of theGofpel that enfued'thereupon, whichdoctri- nally declared its ävmçeríao, or ufelefnßg God in his Providenceput an end unto it, as to its obfervation, in the utter and irrecoverable overthrow of the Temple, theplace defignedfor the folemn exercifeofits Worfhip 5 fo did it decay, wax old, and vanith away,Chap. 8.13. And this alfaGod ordered inhis infinitewifdom, that their Temple, Ci- ty, andNation, and fo confequently their whole Church -state fhould be ut- terlywafted by thePagan Romans, before thepower of theEmpire came in- to thehands of men profef3ing the name ofChr f ; whò could neither well havefuffered their Temple to f andas by them abufed, nor yet have deftroy- ed it, without hardning them in their impenitencyand unbelief. V. That which is propofed unto confirmation inthe wholeEpfle, andfront whence all the Inferences and Exhortations inffed on do arife, and are drawn, is theExcellencyof theGofpel, and the Worfhip ofGod therein re- t,ealedand appointed, upon the account of its manifold relation to the Per- fonandOffìces of Chrf the Mediator, theSon ofGod. Nowbecaufe the to whom it is directed, did, as bath been declared, fame of them adhere to Mofaical Ceremonies and Worfhip in conjunction with the Gofpel, others with a preferency of them aboveit, and fame to a relinquithment of it, efpecially when they oncefound its profe on obnoxious to Perfecution, the Apofle inf itutes and at large profetutes a cornparifn betweenMofes's Law, and the Gofpel, as to their sefefùlne(t andexcellency, in 'reference unto mens acceptation withGod, of the one and the others as alfa of the Spirituality, order, and Beauty of the Worfhip fverally required in them. And herein thonghhe derogates in no refpeet from the Law that which was juftly due unto it, yet on the accountsbeforementioned, hepreferreth the Gofpel before it 5 and not only fo, but aífo manifefs, that as Mofaical Ioftitutions were ne- 'ver of any other ufe, but to prefigure the real Mediatory work ofùhrift, With the benefits thereof, fo he'beingexhibited and his wort¿ accemplifted, their obfervation was become needlee, and themfelves,if embracedto a neglect or relinquiflsment of the Gofpel, pernicitius. This comparifon ( wherein al theproof of the pofitiveworth andExcel- lency of the Gofpel is included) omittingfor weighty retifons ( intimated by James, Acts 22. 21. by himfelf, Acts °. 25. Chap. 22. 19, 20, a I. Prejstory
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