صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

ly type hereof was Aaron's bearing before the Lord, the names of the children of Ifrael, the twelve tribes, upon his two fhoulders, in the fhoulder-pieces of the ephod; thefe names being engraven on two onyxftones fet therein by divine appointment, Exod. xxviii. 9, 10, 12.: as alfo his bearing them in the breastplate being engraven on twelve ftones fet therein, verfe 15,-29. Thus Aaron the high-prieft was all Ifrael reprefentatively: an illuftrious type of Chrift the Prieft of the covenant, the fpiritual Ifrael reprefentative, Ifa. xlix. 3.

The neceffity of Chrift the second Adam his becoming a priest, appears in thefe following things jointly confidered.

1. Those whom he reprefented, were finners: and there could not be a new covenant without provision made for removing of their fin; and that required a priest. The firft covenant was made without a priest, because then there was no fin to take away; the parties therein reprefented, as well as the reprefentative, were confidered as innocent perfons. But the fecond covenant was a covenant of peace and reconciliation between an offended God and finners, not to be made but by the mediation of a prieft; who fhould be able to remove fin, and repair the injured honour of God: Zech. vi. 13. He fhall be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. And there was none fit to bear that character but Chrift himself. No man was fit to bear it; becaufe all men were finners themselves, and fuch an high-prieft became us, as was undefiled, feparated from finners, Heb. vii. 26. It is true, the elect angels were indeed undefiled; but yet none of them could be prieft of the covenant; because,

2. Sin could not be removed without a facri fice of fufficient value, which they were not able to afford. The new covenant behoved to be a cove

nant

nant by facrifice, a covenant written in blood; and without shedding of blood there was no remiffion, Heb. ix. 22. Therefore the typical covenant with Abraham was not made without the folemnity of facrifice, Gen. xv. 9.: that he might know the covenant to be a covenant of reconciliation, in which a juft God did not fhew his mercy, but in a way confiftent with the honour of his juftice. Now, the facrifices of beafts, yea, and whatsoever the creatures could afford for facrifice in this cafe, were infinitely below the value. But Jefus Chrift becoming a prieft, gave himself a facrifice to God, for eftablifhing the covenant; and that facrifice was for a fweetfmelling favour, Eph. v. 2. or, as the Old Teftament phrafe is, a favour of reft, Gen. viii. 21. marg. The reprefented being finners, were corrupt and abominable before God; and he as it were fmelled a favour of difquiet from them, they being a fmoke in his nofe, Ifa. lxv. 5. their fin fet his revenging juftice and wrath aftir. But the facrifice of Chrift himself, was fit to fend forth fuch a fweet fmelling favour unto God, as fhould quite overcome the abominable fa vour rifing from them, and lay his revenging juftice and wrath to the most calm and profoundest reft.

The neceffity of a facrifice in the fecond covenant, arofe from the juftice of God requiring the execution of the curfe of the broken firft covenant; whereby the finner fhould fall a facrifice for his fin, according to that, Pfalm xciv. 23. He shall bring upon them their iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness. It was an ancient cuftom in making of covenants, to cut a beaft in twain, and to pafs between the parts of it: and that paffing between the parts, refpected the falling of the curfe of the Covenant upon the breaker; Jer. xxxiv. 18. And I will give the men that have tranfgreffed the covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the

calf

calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof: or rather, more agreeable to the original, I will make the men that have tranfgreffed my covenantthe calf which they cut in twain, and paffed between the parts thereof: that is, I will make them as that calf which they cut in twain: I will execute the curfes on them, cutting them afunder as covenantbreakers, Matth. xxiv. 51. Now, the covenant of works being broken, justice required this execution of the curfe of it, in order to the establishing of a new covenant, the covenant of grace and peace. But had it been execute on the finners themselves, the fire of wrath would have burnt continually on them; but never would fuch a facrifice have fent forth a favour fmelling fo fweet, as to be a favour of rest to revenging juftice; forafinuch as they were not only mere creatures, whofe moft exquifite fufferings could not be a fufficient compenfation for the injur ed honour of an infinite God; but they were finful creatures too, who fhould ftill have remained finful under their fuffering. Wherefore Jefus Chrift, being both feperate from finners, and equal with God, confented in the covenant to be the facrifice, on which the curfe of the first covenant might be execute, in their room and stead.

This is lively reprefented in the covenant made with Abraham, in which he was a type of Christ, Gen. xv. In that covenant God promised the deliverance of Abraham's feed out of the Egyptian bondage and to give them the land of Canaan; a type of the deliverance of Chrift's fpiritual feed from the bondage of fin and Satan, and of putting them in poffeffion of heaven, verfe 13, 14, 16, 18. Awful was the folemnity used at the making of this covenant. There were taken a heifer, a fhe-goat, and a ram, each of them of three years old; typifying Chrift, who was about three years in his public miniftry, verfe 9. Thefe were, each of them, divided in the midst,

hacked

[ocr errors]

hacked afunder by the middle; which typified the execution of the curfe of the broken first covenant on Christ our furety, and facrifice for us, verfe 10. Abraham's driving away the fowls that came down upon the carcafes, typified Chrift's victory over the devils all along during the ftate of his humiliation, and especially his triumphing over them on the cross, verfe 11. And finally, there was, a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that paffed between the pieces s which fignified the revenging wrath of God feizing on Chrift the facrifice, and justice therewith satisfied, verfe 17.

3. No facrifice could be accepted, but on fuch an altar as fhould fanctify the gift to its neceffary value and defigned effect, Matth. xxiii. 19. And who could furnish that but Chrift himself, whofe divine nature was the altar, from whence the facrifice of his human nature derived its value and efficacy as infinite? Heb. ix. 14. How much more shall the blood of Chrift, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered up himself without fpot to God, purge your confcience from dead works? His bleffed body fuffering and bleeding to death on the cross, and his holy foul fcorched and melted within him with the fire of divine wrath, both in the mean time united to his divine nature, were the facrifice burning on the altar, from the which God fmelled a sweet favour, to the appeafing of his wrath, and fatisfying of his juftice fully. Not that Chrift was a facrifice only while on the crofs; but that his offering of himself a facrifice, which was begun from his incarnation in the womb, the facrifice being laid on the altar in the first moment thereof; and was continued thro' his whole life; was compleated on the cross, and in the grave: Heb. x. 5. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he faith, Sacrifice nor offering thou wouldst not, but a body haft thou prepared me ver. 7. Then faid I, Lo, I come. Ifa. liii. 2. When ye shall fee him,

F

thefe

there is no beauty that we should defire him. Ver. 3. He is a man of forrows, and acquainted with grief, 2 Cor. v. 21. He hath made him to be fin for us.

4. Lastly, There behoved to be a priest to offer this facrifice, this valuable facrifice unto God upon that altar; else there could have been no facrifice to be accepted, and fo no removal of fin, and confequently no new covenant. And fince Chrift himself was the facrifice, and the altar too, he himself alone could be the priest. And forafmuch as the weight of the falvation of finners lay upon his call to that office, he was made priest of the covenant by the oath of God, Heb. vii. 20, 21. As he had full power over his own life, to make himself a facrifice for others; fo his Father's folemn investing of him with this office by an oath, gave him accefs to offer himfelf effectually; even in fuch fort as thereby to fulfil the condition of the covenant, and to purchase eternal life for them.

1

Inferences from the fecond Head.

I shall shut up this head of the making of the covenant of grace, with two inferences from the whole.

Inf. 1. What remains for finners, that they may be perfonally and favingly in covenant with God, is not as parties contractors and undertakers, to make a covenant with him, for life and falvation; but only, to take hold of God's covenant already made from eternity, between the Father and Chrift the second Adam, and revealed and offered to us in the gospel, Ifa. lvi. 4, 6. I have no defign hereby to disparage our covenants made for national reformation by our godly progenitors, and commonly called the National Covenant, and Solemn League and Covenant, on which God fet the feal of his good pleasure, in the experience of many. Thefe, and the like, are covenants of duties, confequential enough to the taking hold of God's covenant of grace. Neither

would

« السابقةمتابعة »