First, That there was a Messiah, or Saviour of mankind from sin and punishment, promised upon, and from, the first entrance of sin into the world, in whom all acceptable worship of God was to be founded, and in whom all the religion of the sons of men was to centre. —
Secondly, That this Messiah, long before promised, was now ac- tually exhibited in the world, and had finished the work committed unto him, when the apostle wrote this Epistle.
Thirdly, That Jesus of Nazareth was this Messiah, and that what he had done and suffered was the work and duty promised of old concerning him.
There is not a line in the Epistle to the Hebrews that doth not virtually begin and end in these principles,—not an assertion, not a doctrine, not an exhortation, that is not built on this triple founda- tion, They are also the great verities rij¢ duorcyiag Xprorsavis, of the Christian profession or religion. A sincere endeavour, therefore, in their explanation and vindication,—especially in these days, wherein as on the one hand there are various thoughts of heart about the Jews, their present condition and expectation, so on the other there are many who are ready with a presumptuous boldness axinra xiveiv, and to call m question the fundamentals of all religion,—may not be unacceptable. Now, the jist of these principles is, at this day, by several vain imaginations, obscured by the Jews, to their utter loss of all benefit by it, and hath been so for many generations; al- though it was the life and soul of the religion of their forefathers, as shall be demonstrated; and the two latter are by them expressly denied, and maliciously contended against. Here, then, we shall fix and confirm these principles, in the order wherein we have laid them down, declaring on every one of them the conceptions and persua- sions of the Jews concerning the promised Messiah ; removing, in the close, their objections against the faith of Christians in this matter, in a peculiar Exercitation to that purpose. And the confirmation and vindication of the first of these principles is that which our pre- sent discourse is designed unto.
SECT. 2.] PROMISED OF OLD. 143
2. Besides the testimony of God himself in his word, we have a concurrent suffrage from the whole creation, that man in the begin- ning was formed, as in the image, so in the favour of God, and unto his glory. And as he was not lable unto any evil which is the effect of God's displeasure, nor defective in any good necessary to preserve him in the condition wherein he was made, so he was destitute of nothing that was any way requisite to carry him on unto that fur- ther enjoyment of God whereunto he was designed, Gen. i. 26, 31, Eccles. vii. 29. For God, being infinitely good, wise, righteous, and powerful, creating man to know, love, honour, and enjoy him, and thereby to glorify those holy properties of his nature which exerted themselves in his creation (which that he did, the nature of those intellectual perfections wherewith he endowed him doth undeni- ably evince), it was utterly impossible that either he should not delight in the work of his own hands, the effect of his own wisdom and power, or not furnish him with those faculties and abilities by which he might answer the ends of his creation. To suppose a failure in any of these, is contrary to the prime dictates of reason; for infinite wisdom can do nothing in vain, nothing not perfectly suited unto the end whereunto it is designed. Neither can infinite goodness allow of any defect in aught that proceedeth from it: Gen. i. 81, “ God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” Hence many philosophers saw, and granted, that the first cause in the production of all things did 66% BadiZew, proceed by such a certain reason and way as that every thing might, both in itself and with reference unto its own especial end: and also in relation unto the universe, have its proper rectitude and goodness, sufficient unto its station and condition. This 6dé¢ the Scripture calls BovAry rot Jerjwurog rod @cot, Hph. i. 11,—“ The counsel of the will of God;” expressing a contemperation of absolute sovereignty and infinite wisdom. And these wncontrollable notions of nature, or reason, cast men of old into their entanglements about the original of evil: for this they plainly saw, that it must be accidental and occa- sional; but where to fix that occasion they knew not. Those who, to extricate themselves out of this difficulty, fancied two supreme principles or causes, the one author of all good, the other of all evil, were ever exploded, as persons bidding defiance unto all principles of reason, whereby we are distinguished from the beasts that perish. This, I say, men generally discerned, that evel, wherein it now lies, could not have entered into the world without a disturbance of that harmony wherein all things at the beginning were constituted by infinite wisdom and goodness, and some interruption of that depend ence on God from whence it did proceed.
The very first apprehensions of the nature of God and the condi- tion of the universe declare that man was formed free from sin,
144 MESSIAH, THE DELIVERER FROM EVIL, [EXERO. VIII-