A53678:1868
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.
3. It is contrary to the order of the Apostles words; For he placeth all these Properties as qualifications of this Person antecedently unto his Exaltation. He was first Holy, Harmless, Undefiled, and then made Higher than the Heavens. But according unto this Exposition his being made higher than the Heavens, is the antecedent cause of his being made Holy, &c.
4. It is highly false that the blessed state pretended to be here set forth, was antecedently unto his being a Priest, and the sacrifice which he offered; yea, such an estate was inconsistent with the Oblation of himself. For he offered himself unto God in his Blood. Heb. 9. 14. and that with strong cries and tears, Chap. 5. 7. which were inconsistent with such a state; for it is so described on purpose to be exclusive of every thing required thereunto.
4. It is highly false that the blessed state pretended to be here set forth, was antecedently unto his being a Priest, and the sacrifice which he offered; yea, such an estate was inconsistent with the Oblation of himself. For he offered himself unto God in his Blood. Heb. 9. 14. and that with strong cryes and tears, Chap. 5. 7. which were inconsistent with such a state; for it is so described on purpose to be exclusive of every thing required thereunto.
5. Schlictingius pleads that although all these things were true with respect unto the life and manners of Christ, yet it was no way unto the purpose of the Apostle to mention them unto the end designed. But, (1) If that be the sense of the words which he contends for, not one of them is true with respect unto the life and manners of Christ in this world, for they all belong unto his blessed estate in the other. (2) We shall see on the next verse, how far he will allow them to be true of the life and manners of Christ in any sense, seeing in some sense he affirms him to have offered sacrifice for his own sins. And this he doth with an express contradiction unto his own main Hypothesis. For by sins he understands weakness and infirmities; and whereas he will not allow Christ to have offered himself before his entrance into the Holy place, and makes it necessary that he should be antecedently freed from all weaknesses and Infirmities, it is the highest contradiction to affirm that he offered for them: seeing he could not offer himself until he was delivered from them. (2.) We have only his bare word for it, that the Ascription of those things unto our High Priest as inherent Qualifications, was not unto the purpose of the Apostle. And his Assertion is built on a false supposition, namely, that the Lord Christ was not an High Priest on the Earth, nor did offer himself unto God in his Death, which overthrows the Foundation of the Gospel.