A53696:1360
Exercitations on the Epistle to the Hebrews
Exercitations on the Epistle to the Hebrews also concerning the Messiah wherein the promises concerning him to be a spiritual redeemer of mankind are explained and vindicated, his coming and accomplishment of his work according to the promises is proved and confirmed, the person, or who he is, is declared, the whole economy of the mosaical law, rites, worship, and sacrifice is explained : and in all the doctrine of the person, office, and work of the Messiah is opened, the nature and demerit of the first sin is unfolded, the opinions and traditions of the ancient and modern Jews are examined, their objections against the Lord Christ and the Gospel are answered, the time of the coming of the Messiah is stated, and the great fundamental truths of the Gospel vindicated : with an exposition and discourses on the two first chapters of the said epistle to the Hebrews / by J. Owen ...Exercitations on the Epistle to the Hebrews also concerning the Messiah wherein the promises concerning him to be a spiritual redeemer of mankind are explained and vindicated, his coming and accomplishment of his work according to the promises is proved and confirmed, the person, or who he is, is declared, the whole oeconomy of the mosaical law, rites, worship, and sacrifice is explained : and in all the doctrine of the person, office, and work of the Messiah is opened, the nature and demerit of the first sin is unfolded, the opinions and traditions of the antient and modern Jews are examined, their objections against the Lord Christ and the Gospel are answered, the time of the coming of the Messiah is stated, and the great fundamental truths of the Gospel vindicated : with an exposition and discourses on the two first chapters of the said epistle to the Hebrews / by J. Owen ...
London: printed by Robert White for Nathaniel Ponder, 1668
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.
V. That which is proposed unto confirmation in the whole Epistle, and from whence all the Inferences and Exhortations insisted on do arise, and are drawn, is the Excellency of the Gospel, and the Worship of God therein revealed and appointed, upon the account of its manifold relation to the Person and Offices of Christ the Mediator, the Son of God. Now because those to whom it is directed, did, as hath been declared, some of them adhere to Mosaical Ceremonies and Worship in conjunction with the Gospel, others with a preferency of them above it, and some to a relinquishment of it, especially when they once found its profession obnoxious to Persecution, the Apostle institutes and at large prosecutes a comparison between Moses's Law, and the Gospel, as to their usefulness and excellency, in reference unto mens acceptation with God, of the one and the other; as also of the Spirituality, Order, and Beauty of the Worship severally required in them. And herein though he derogates in no respect from the Law that which was justly due unto it, yet on the accounts before mentioned, he preferreth the Gospel before it; and not only so, but also manifests, that as Mosaical Institutions were never of any other use, but to prefigure the real Mediatory work of Christ, with the benefits thereof, so he being exhibited and his work accomplished, their observation was become needless, and themselves, if embraced to a neglect or relinquishment of the Gospel, pernicious.
This comparison (wherein also the proof of the positive worth and Excellency of the Gospel is included) omitting for weighty reasons (intimated by James, Acts 21.21. by himself, Acts 9.25. Chap. 22.19, 20, 21.) all ⟨image 171⟩Prefatory salutations he enters upon in the first verses of the Epistle; and being thereby occasioned to make mention of the Messiah, from whose Person and Office, the difference he was to insist upon did wholly arise; he spendeth the residue of the Chapter in proving the divine excellency of his Person, and the Eminency of his Office, as the only King, Priest, and Prophet of his Church; on all which the dignity of the Gospel, in the Profession whereof he exhorts them to persevere, doth depend.