A53678:1288
A continuation of the exposition of the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the…
A continuation of the exposition of the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews viz, on the sixth, seventh, eight, ninth, and tenth chapters : wherein together with the explication of the text and context, the priesthood of Christ ... are declared, explained and confirmed : as also, the pleas of the Jews for the continuance and perpetuity of their legal worship, with the doctrine of the principal writers of the Socinians about these things, are examined and disproved / by J. Owen ...
London: printed for Nathaniel Ponder, 1680
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
1. They were in their Nature Carnal, as our Apostle declares, ver. 16. and Chap. 9. 10. The Subject of them all, the means of their Celebration were Carnal things, beneath those pure Spiritual Acts of the Mind and Soul, which are of a more Noble Nature. They consisted in Meats and Drinks, the Blood of Bulls and Goats, the Observation of Moons and Festivals, in a Temple made of Wood and Stone, Gold and Silver, things Carnal, perishing, and transitory. Certainly God, who is a Spirit, and will be Worshipped in Spirit and in Truth, designed at one time or other a Worship more suited unto his own Nature, though the Imposition of these things on the Church for a Season, was Necessary. And as they were Carnal, so they might be exactly performed by Men of Carnal Minds, and were so for the most part; in which respect God himself speaks often with a great undervaluation of them: See Psal. 50. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Isa. 1. 11, 12, 13. Had not he designed the Renovation of our Natures into his own Image, a new Creation of them by Jesus Christ, this Carnal Worship might have sufficed, and would have been the best we are capable of. But to suppose that he should endow Men, as he doth by Christ, with a new Spiritual Supernatural Principle, enabling them unto a more sublime and Spiritual Worship, it cannot be imagined that he would always bind them up unto those Carnal Ordinances in their Religious Service. And the Reason is, because they were not a meet and sufficient means for the exercise of that New Principle of Faith and Love which he bestows on Believers by Jesus Christ. Yea, ⟨p. 169⟩to burden them with Carnal Observances, is a most effectual way to take them off from its Exercise in his Service. And so it is at this day, where-ever there is a Multiplication of outward Services and Observances, the Minds of Men are so taken up with the Bodily Exercise about them, as that they cannot attend unto the pure internal Actings of Faith and Love.
1. They were in their Nature Carnal, as our Apostle declares, ver. 16. and Chap. 9. 10. The Subject of them all, the means of their Celebration were Carnal things, beneath those pure Spiritual Acts of the Mind and Soul, which are of a more Noble Nature. They consisted in Meats and Drinks, the Blood of Bulls and Goats, the Observation of Moons and Festivals, in a Temple made of Wood and Stone, Gold and Silver, things Carnal, perishing, and transitory. Certainly God, who is a Spirit, and will be VVorshipped in Spirit and in Truth, designed at one time or other a VVorship more suited unto his own Nature, though the Imposition of these things on the Church for a Season, was Necessary. And as they were Carnal, so they might be exactly performed by Men of Carnal Minds, and were so for the most part; in which respect God himself speaks often with a great undervaluation of them: See