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Reflections on the covenant established in Christ.

SECT. sins and their iniquities, of what kind soever, I iniquities will I reX. will remember no more, so as to bring them into member no more. judgment; but will pardon the most heinous offences, which were incapable of expiation under the former covenant.

Heb.

viii.

12

13

13 In that he

the first old. Now

Now I would observe in the close of this argument, that when he saith, A new [covenant] saith, A new coveshall be made, he hath in effect made the first nant, he hath made old, he hath, as it were, spoken of it as anti- that which decayeth quated: now that which is antiquated, and fallen and waxeth old, is into old age, cannot be expected to live long. ready to vanish And so in like manner [is] that old covenant of away. Moses just ready to disappear. Divine Providence will put such a period to it ere long, as shall be remarkable in the eyes of the whole world; so that the grand apparatus which now preserves its visible form and lustre, shall be known no more.

verse

IMPROVEMENT.

ADORED be that grace which hath constituted and revealed 6 this everlasting covenant, well ordered in all things and sure; established on such promises, as are, of all that can be conceived, most valuable to sinful creatures; and especially on that, without which no other declaration could impart any comfort to such, I 12 will be merciful to their unrighteousnesses, and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more. With this is connected that other promise, so comprehensive of every thing that is truly val10 uable, I will be a God unto them, and they shall be unto me a people. Happy indeed the people that are in such a case; yea, happy the people whose God is the Lord, who are taught by him to know him under that character, taught by that energy of his Spirit, which gives his law to their mind, and inscribes it on their heart. There may we ever retain it engraven in living and durable characters, as a law of love, which may make obedience to every precept easy.

1 In this connection let us look with pleasure to that High Priest, who is sat down on the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, and presides over all for the good of his people, that minister of the 2 true tabernacle which the Lord, not man, hath pitched! ever maintaining an humble dependence on the sacrifice he hath offered: A sacrifice better than any of the Aaronical priests could present, in proportion to the degree in which the covenant, of 7 which He is the Mediator, is nobler than theirs. The first covenant, wisely allayed with such a mixture of imperfection as was 13 suitable to its being introductory to the second, is now vanished,

The first tabernacle had a worldly sanctuary:

X.

59

to make way for this second and better dispensation: to this let SECT. us therefore adhere, and so doing, cheerfully expect all the invaluable blessings it imparts.

SECT. XI.

The apostle illustrates the doctrine of the priesthood and intercession of Christ, by comparing it to what the Jewish high priest did on the great day of atonement. Heb. IX. 1-14.

HEBREWS IX. 1.
HEN

TH

verily

the first cove

nant had also ordi

sanctuary.

HOW

HEBREWS IX. 1.

SECT.

Heb.

OW reasonable it is to expect, that the former covenant of which I have been xi. nances of divine ser- speaking, should give way to another and a novice, and a worldly bler, you may easily apprehend from surveying ix.i it, and considering in comparison with it, the great things which the gospel teaches us concerning Christ, and to which I would now call your contemplations. The first tabernacle,a you will therefore recollect, had certain ceremonial ordinances of Divine service, and a worldly sanctuary: a sanctuary made of such materials as this earth of ours could furnish out, and the centre of a ritual which contained many insti2 For there was tutions comparatively low and carnal. a tabernacle made: the first part of the tabernacle was prepared of was the candlestick, boards and curtains, pillars and coverings, and the table, and which constituted a little apartment as a kind the shew bread; of antichamber to the oracle; in which there which is called the [was] the candlestick of pure gold with its seven Sanctuary.

the first wherein

For 2

lamps, and the table of shew bread as it was
called, and the setting on the twelve loaves upon
it, which were always to stand before the
Lord; and this apartment is called the Holy
place, in which also the golden altar of incense
stood. And beyond the second vail was that

The first tabernacle.] Mr. Peirce while, therefore there was a great deal of thinks this is to be considered as connect- external ceremony in it, fit for the puerile ed with chap. viii. 6, and that all which intervenes is a digression, though a very pertinent and useful one, relating to the meliority of the covenant established under that better Priest. But I can see no necessity for this, since it may well be connected with the words immediately preceding as if he had said, and because that covenant was intended but for a little

disposition of the persons to whom it was given. Our translators strangely supply the word covenant instead of tabernacle, whereas most copies read σxnvn, tabernacle, and that undoubtedly suits the connection best. The word we render ordinances is daμala, justifications, or ways of becoming righteous.

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Heb

And after the second vail the holy of holics.

b

ernacle, which is

the ark of the covenant overlaid round

SECT. apartment of the tabernacle which was called 3 And after the xi. the Holy of Holes, or the most holy of all, second vail, the tabwhere God was pleased to keep his special called the Holiest 3 residence, and which was as his presence of all ; 4 chamber. Having the golden censer, in 4 Which had the which the high priest used to burn incense on golden censer, and the great day of atonement, and the ark of the covenant so covered over on every side with gold, about with gold, that it appeared as if it had been one mass of wherein that precious metal: in which apartment, in or golden pot that had very near the ark, [was] the golden pot, con- rod that budded, taining the manna that remained incorruptible and the tables of the through so many ages, and the rod of Aaron covenant; that blossomed, and the two tables of the cove

nant on which the ten commandments were

d

was the

manna, and Aaron's

cy seat; of which we

5 inscribed by the finger of God, And over it 5 And over it the were the cherubs of glory, shadowing with cherubims of glory their wings that golden cover of the ark which shadowing the merwas called the mercy seat, or propitiatory, as to cannot now speak it propitiations were referred, and where God particularly. was pleased to appear in a visible symbol of his propitious and gracious presence. These were all important things in the Mosaic tabernacle, concerning which there is not now [room]

6 to speak particularly. And these things being 6Now when these thus prepared and adjusted, both in the holy things were thus orand most holy place, the ordinary priests went dained, the priests, continually into the first apartment of the taber- first tabernacle, acwent always into the nacle, performing [their] daily services, by trim- complishing the serming the lamps, and burning incense upon the vice of God. holy altar, changing the loaves on the sacred table every sabbath, and sprinkling the blood cond went the high 7 of the victims before the vail. But into the priest alone once evsecond apartment only the high priest [went] ery year, not withonce a year, and that not without the blood of out blood, which he the sin offering, which he offered first for him- and for the errors of offered for himself, self, and then [for] the sins of ignorance com- the people.

b The golden censer.] It hath been queried, why the golden altar was not mentioned; and some are of opinion that it may be comprehended in the word Mangov which we render censer.

In which ev n.] I say, in or near which, as many good commentators think the words » may be taken in that latitude, to reconcile it with 1 Kings viii. 9, where it is said, that there was nothing in

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7 But into the se

Ог

the ark save the two tables of stone. perhaps, v », in which, may refer to xv, the tabernacle, rather than to x16, the ark, as probably Aaron's rod, which is here said to be in the same place, could not lie in the ark.

A Cherubs of glory.] That is, the cherubs that waited upon the Shechinah, or sensi. ble glory of the Deity.

Which was a figure for the time then present:

8 The Holy Ghost

61

mitted by the people, to which sort of offences SECT. alone, and not to those presumptuously committed, the efficacy of the atonements extended. Heb. Such was the ritual of Moses, the Holy ix.8 this signifying, that Spirit, by whom it was prescribed, signifying, the way into the ho liest of all was not by this difficulty of entrance, and the necessity yet made manifest, of the incense cloud, and the atoning blood, while as the first that the way into the holiest place, that is, into tabernacle was yet God's immediate presence, was not yet made standing :

manifest, while the first tabernacle had its continuance, and retained its station and use, or in other words, while the Jewish economy lasted; 9 Which was a Which, far from being the grand and ultimate 9 figure for the time scheme, [is] only a kind of allegorical figure and then present, in which were offered parable referring to the glorious displays of the both gifts and sacri- present time;e in which, nevertheless, there is fices, that could not hitherto a continuance of the temple service; make him that did the service perfect, so that gifts and sacrifices are still offered, which as pertaining to the yet in the nature of things, are not able to make the person who performs the service perfect with respect to the conscience; as they refer not to the real expiation of guilt, but only to averting some temporal evils, which the law denounc10 Which stood only ed on transgressors. For this the Mosaic 10 in meats and drinks, dispensation was insufficient, which in the peculiarities of it related, not to the views of another life, nor the sublimest means of preparing the soul for it; [but consisted] only & in

conscience.

might be commenced against him in their courts of justice, or any exclusion from the privilege of drawing near to God, as one externally at peace with him, in the solemnities of his temple worship. And I must desire the reader to examine, and digest this explication, that I may not be under the necessity of repeating it for the illustration of what is to follow.

Referring to the present time.] We peace with the government under which he render it, for the time then present. But then was, and to furnish him with a pardon, the words us Tov naspor for evesnaola may pleadable against any prosecution which certainly bear the rendering which I have given them; and I would understand it, not merely as if he had said that this similitude of comparison may be properly used in this present time, as to the temple at Jerusalem, which has its holy of holies as the Mosaic tabernacle had; but that the constitution before described was a figurative representation of the Christian dispensation, which at the time when the apostle wrote, was displayed in all its glory.

Averting some temporal evils.] This in a few words expresses what I take to be of the greatest importance for understanding the Mosaic sacrifices; which is, that they were never intended to expiate offences to such a degree, as to deliver the sinner from the final judgment of God in another world; but merely to make his

8 [Consisted only.] The construction of the Greek is perplexed: I have given the version that seemed to me most natural; but Mr. Peirce would connect the two verses thus, He who worshipped, with meats and drinks ; and reads δικαιωματα instead of diapas, in conformity with the Alexandrian and other manuscripts; supplying away which were corporeal ordinances, imposed till the time of reforma. tion, that is, the appearance of the Messiah.

62

Heb.

But Christ entered into Heaven with his own blood :

11 But Christ be

to come, by a great

to say, not of this

SECT. the distinction between different kinds of meats, and divers washings, xi. clean or unclean; and drinks, some of which and carnal ordinanwere allowed, and others denied to priests in until the time of reces, imposed on them ix. 10 some circumstances, and to Nazarites in others; formation. and in different baptisms, or washings either of the whole body, or a part of it in water, as different occasions demanded; and in a variety of other ordinances relating to the purification of the flesh, which were to continue in force only till the time of reformation, when things should be put into a better situation by the appearance 11 of the Messiah himself in his church. But Christ having now appeared, and being become ing come an High an high priest of those good things which were Priest of good things then future, and which the church through pre- er and more perfect ceding ages expected as to come, the obligation tabernacle, not made of these things would of course soon be super- with hands, that is seded. Accordingly he performed his ministry building; in a greater and more perfect tabernacle above, not made with human hands, that is, not making 12 any part of this lower creation. Neither doth 12 Neither by the he expiate the guilt of his people by presenting blood of goats, and before God the blood of goats, and of calves, and calves, but by his of young bullocks, which were the noblest ed in once into the sacrifices the high priest presented in the day holy place, having of atonement; but it is by the efficacy of his obtained eternal reown blood, which he continually pleads before demption for us. the Father, that he hath entered once for all into the holy place above,h having obtained [ for us] by his perfect sacrifice, that eternal redemption and salvation, of which all the remissions and all the benefits procured by the ministration of the Aaronical priesthood, were but very imperfect figures.

13

own blood he enter

13 For if the blood

And certainly a little reflection may convince us of this; for if the blood of bulls and of goats, of bulls and of goats, of which I have just been speaking, when preand the ashes of an sented to God with the appointed circumstances on the day of general expiation; and in cases of personal pollution, the ashes of the red heifer, burnt with hyssop, scarlet wool, and other ingredients, being mingled with water, and

Entered once.] Hence Bishop Pearson as the Socinians pretended. Pearson on infers, that Christ ascended only once for the Creed, p. 109. all into heaven, and not again and again,

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