A53678:1328
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.
For the Priesthood being changed, there is made of Necessity a change of the Law.
IN this Verse the Apostle Evidently Declares what he intended by the Law in that foregoing, which the People received under the Levitical Priesthood. It was the whole Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances, or the whole Law of Moses so far as it was the Rule of Worship and Obedience unto the Church. For that Law it is, that followeth the Fates of the Priesthood.
And herein lieth the stress and moment of the Controversy which the Apostle then had with the Jews, and which we have at this day with their Unbelieving Posterity. For the Question was, whether the Law of Moses was to be eternal absolutely, the Rule of the Worship of the Church whilst it was to continue in this world. And it appears that in the Preaching of the Gospel, that which most provoked the Jews, was that there was inferred thereby a cessation and taking away of Mosaical Institutions. This was that which enraged them, unto the Blood of ⟨p. 176⟩the Church, which they were guilty of, after the Murder of the Head thereof. For they fell on Stephen under pretence he had said that Jesus of Nazareth should destroy the Customs which Moses delivered, Acts 6. 14. And this also provoked their Rage against our Apostle, Acts 21. 28. Yea, the most of them who were Converted to the Faith of the Gospel, yet continued obstinate in this Persuasion, That the Law of Moses was yet to continue in force, Acts 20. 21. And with this Opinion some of them troubled the Peace, and hindered the Edification of the Churches called from among the Gentiles, as hath been at large elsewhere declared. This matter therefore which the Apostle now entereth upon, was to be managed with care and diligence.