. Ver. 12.—Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the [most | holy place, having obtained eternal redemption.
In this verse there is a direct entrance into the great mystery of, the sacerdotal actings of Christ, especially as unto the sacrifice he offered to make atonement for sin. But the method which the apostle proceedeth in is what he was led unto by the proposal he had made of the types of it under the law; wherefore he begins with the complement or consequent of it, in answer unto that act or duty of the high priest wherein the glory of his office was most Sebtble cuous, which he had newly mentioned.
And here, because part of our design in the exposition of this whole epistle is to free and vindicate the sense of it from the cor- rupt glosses which the Socinians, and some that follow them, have cast upon it, I shall on this great head of the sacrifice of Christ par- ticularly insist on the removal of them. And indeed the substance of all that is scattered up and down their writings against the proper sacrifice of Christ, and the true nature of his sacerdotal office, is com- prised in the comment on this epistle composed by Crellius and Schlichtingius. I shall therefore first. examine their corrupt wrest- ings of the words and false interpretations of them, before I proceed unto their exposition.
They begin, “ Nunc etiam opponit sacrificium ipsius Christi, sacri- ficio pontificis antiqui.” This is the zpéroy petdoc of their interpre- tation of this and the following verses. If this be not so, all that they afterwards assert, or infer from it, falls of itself. But this is
ent false. There is not any thing directly either of the sacrifice
VER. 12.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 273
of Christ or of the high priest, but only what was consequent unto the one and the other; yea, there is that which excludes them from being intended. ‘The entrance of the high priest into the holy place was not his sacrifice. or it.supposed his sacrifice to be offered be- fore, in the virtue whereof, and with the memorial of it, he so entered ; that is, with “the blood of goats and calves.” For all sacrifices were offered at the brazen altar; and that of the high priest on the day of expiation is expressly declared so to have been, Lev. xvi. And the entrance of Christ into heaven was not his sacrifice, nor the oblation of himself. For he offered himself unto God with strong cries and supplications; but his entrance into heaven was triumphant. So he entered into heaven by virtue of his sacrifice, as we shall see; but his entrance into heaven was not the sacrifice of himself.
They add in explication hereof: “ Pontifex antiquus per san- guinem hircorum et vitulorum ingrediebatur in sancta, Christus verd non per sanguinem tam vilem, sed pretiosissimum; quod alius esse non potuit quam ipsius proprius. Nam sanguis quidem humanus sanguine brutorum, sed sanguis Christi, sanguine ceeterorum omnium hominum longe est pretiosior; cum ipse quoque ceeteris hominibus omnibus imd omnibus creaturis longe sit preestantior, Deoque charior et proprior, utpote unigenitus ejus Filius”? What they say of the “preciousness of the blood of Christ” above that of brute creatures, is true; but they give two reasons for it, which comprise not the true reason of its excellency as unto the ends of his sacrifice: 1. They say, it was “the blood of a man.” 2. That “this man was more dear to God than all other creatures, as his only-begotten Son.” Take these last words in the sense of the Scripture, and the true reason of the preciousness and efficacy of the blood of Christ in his - sacrifice is assigned; take them in their sense, and it is excluded. The Scripture by them intends his eternal generation, as the Son of the Father; they, only his nativity of the blessed Virgin, with his _ exaltation after his resurrection. But the true excellency and efti- _ eaey of the blood of Christ in his sacrifice was from his divine per- _ son, whereby “ God purchased his church with his own blood,” Acts xx. 28.
Nor do I know of what consideration the “preciousness” of the blood of Christ can be with them in this matter; for it belonged not unto his sacrifice, or the oblation of himself, as they pretend. For they would have the offering of himself to consist only in his en- trance into heaven, and appearing in the presence of God, when, as they also imagine, he had neither flesh nor blood.
They proceed unto a speculation about the use and signification of the preposition per, by, or 8: “ Notandum est auctorem, ut ele- gantize istius comparationis consuleret, usum esse in priori membro
_ VOL. XXIII. 18
274 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. IX.
voce, ‘per; licet pontifex legalis non tantum per sanguinem hir- corum et vitulorum, hoc est, fuso prius sanguine istorum animalium, seu interveniente sanguinis eorum fusione, sed etiam cum ipsorum sanguine in sancta fuerit ingressus, ver. 7, Verdm quia in Christi sacrificio similitudo edusque extendi non potuit, cum Christus non alienum sed suum sanguinem fuderit, nec sanguinem suum post mortem, sed seipsum, et quidem jam immortalem, depositis earnis et sanguinis exuviis, quippe que regnum Dei possidere nequeant, in ceelesti illo tabernaculo obtulerit; proindeque non cum sanguine, sed tantum fuso prius sanguine, seu interveniente sanguinis sui fusione in sancta fuerit ingressus; idcirco auctor minus de legali pontifice dixit quam res erat; vel potius ambiguitate particule, ‘per, que etiam idem quod ‘cum,’ in sacris literis significare solet, compara- tionis concinnitati consulere voluit.”