254 * FAITH OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH OF THE JEWS [EXERC. XI.
seek after such a Deliverer; they have no need of him or his salva- tion. According, therefore, as this building of self-righteousness went on and prospered amongst them, faith in the Messiah, as to the true ends for which he was promised, decayed every day more and more, until at length it was utterly lost: for, as our apostle tells them, if righteousness were by the law, the promise of the Messiah was to no purpose; and if the law made things perfect, the bringing in of another priesthood and sacrifice was altogether needless.
24. So is it also with them as to their apprehension of the judg- ment of God concerning the desert of sin. The natural notion hereof the vilest hypocrites amongst them were sometimes perplexed withal. See Isa. xxxiii, 14; Mic. vi. 6, 7. But the generality of them have long endeavoured, by prejudicate imaginations, to cast out the true and real sense of it. That God is angry at sin, that in some cases an atonement is needful, they will not deny; but so low and carnal are their thoughts of his severity, that they think any thing may serve the turn to appease his wrath or to satisfy his justice, especially towards them whom alone he loves. Their afflictions and persecutions, the death of their children, and their own death, espe- cially if it be by a painful distemper, they suppose to make a suffi- cient propitiation for all their sins; such mean and unworthy thoughts have they of the majesty, holiness, and terror of the Lord. Of late, also, lest there should be a failure on any account, they have found out an invention to give their sins unto the devil, by the sacrifice of a cock; the manner whereof is at large described by Bux- torf, in his Synagoga Judaica. And this also hath no small influ- ence on their minds to pervert them from the faith of their fore- fathers. Let the Messiah provide well for them in this world, and they will look well enough unto themselves as to that which is to come,
25. And hence ariseth also their ignorance of the whole nature, use, and end of the Mosaical law, which also contributes much to the producing of the same effect upon them. To what end the law was given, whereunto it served, what was the nature and proper use of its institutions, shall be declared as occasion is offered in the ex- position of the Epistle itself. For the present, it may suffice unto our purpose to consider their apprehensions of it, and what influence they have into their misbelief. In general, they look on the law and their observance of it as the only means of obtaining righteous- ness and making an atonement with God. So they did of old, Rom. ix. 32. In the observation of its precepts they place all their righteousness before God; and by its sacrifices they look for atonement of all their sins. That the law was not given, that the sacrifices were not appointed, for these ends, that the fathers of old never attended unto them absolutely with any such intention, shall
SECT. 24-26. ] CONCERNING THE MESSIAH. 255
be afterwards declared. In the meantime, it is evident that this persuasion corrupts their minds as to their thoughts about the Mes- siah; for if righteousness may be obtained and atonement made without him, to what end serves the promise concerning him? But having thus taken from him the whole office and work whereunto of God he was designed, that he might not be thought altogether use- less, they have cut out for him the work and employment before mentioned ; for looking on righteousness and atonement, with the consequent of them, eternal salvation, as the proper effects of the law, they thought meet to leave unto their Messiah the work of pro- curing unto them liberty, wealth, and dominion, which they found by experience that the law was not able to do. But had their eyes indeed been opened in the knowledge of God and themselves, they would have found the law no less insufficient to procure by itself a heavenly than an earthly kingdom for them; and against their prejudicate obstinacy in this matter doth the apostle principally op- pose himself in his Epistle unto them.
26. But here, by the way, some may possibly inquire how the Jews, if they look for atonement and the remission of sins by the sacrifices of the law, can now expect to have their sins pardoned, without which they cannot be eternally saved, seeing they are con- fessedly destitute of all legal sacrifices whatever? Have they found out some other way, or do they utterly give over seeking after sal- vation? This very question being put unto one of them, he answers that they now obtain the pardon of their sins by repentance and amendment of life, according to the promises made in the prophets unto that purpose, as Ezek. xviii. 21; and concludes, “ Quamvis jam nulla sint sacrificia, quee media erant ad tanto facilius impe- trandam remissionem peccatorum, eadem tamen per pceniten- tiam ac resipiscentiam declinando a viis malis impetratur ;”—* Al- though there are now no sacrifices, which were a means the more easily to obtain the forgiveness of sins, yet it may be obtained by repentance and a departure from ways of evil.” This is their hope, which, like that of the hypocrite, “is as the giving up of the ghost;” for,—(1.) It is true, repentance and amendment of life are required in them who seek after the forgiveness of their sins, and many promises are made unto them; but is this all that God required that sin might be forgiven? They are sufficient, indeed, in their own way and place, but are they so absolutely also? Did not God moreover appoint and require that they should make use of sacri- fices to make atonement for sins, without which they should not be done away? See Lev. xvi. And, (2.) What is the meaning of that plea, “ That by sacrifices, indeed, remission of sins might more easily be obtained, but obtained it may be without them”? Doth this “more easily” respect God, or man? If they say it respects God, I