Thus to bim gave all the prophets witness, SER M. that through his name, whofoever believeth in VII.. bim fhall receive remiffion of fins, Acts x. 43. From whence it is plain that the whole fubstance of their prophecies tended to fhew, that the forgiveness of fin was to be effected by this great Perfon: Nay, the words import that they believed it themselves; that it was the conftant faith of all the prophets, that remiffion of fin was to be had in him; for this text can be meant of no other person, as is afferted, Acts iv. 12. That there is no other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be faved: And therefore it must be of this falvation that the Prophets 1 Pet. i. 10, 11. are faid to have enquired and fearched diligently. Searching what, or what manner of time the spirit of Chrift, which was in them, did fignify, when it teftified before-band. Teftified what? First, the fufferings of Chrift, and then, the glory which should be revealed in him ; the two things spoke of concerning this great perfon from the foundation of the world. They spoke by the fpirit of Chrift; and the whole fcope and defign of what they spoke was, that remiffion of fins was to be had in his name; and therefore nothing can be more abfurd than to imagine, that what they prophefied of had no refpect to themselves; that they had no faith in their own prophecies; and that what they fearched fo diligently after did not at all concern them. O 2 Whofoever

SERM.

the

Whofoever reads the eleventh of the HeVII. brews confiderately, will find that faith was W the great prevailing virtue with God in every generation from the beginning of the world. The defign there is to comfort the chriftians under their afflictions, from a profpect of the coming of Chrift to judgment, verfe 37. of the foregoing chapter, For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come; and will not tarry. It is by this faith the just fhall live: And from hence the Apostle takes occafion to speak of the faith of juft perfons from the first creation; whofe faith was of the fame nature, and who were fupported under their afflictions by the fame profpect of the coming of Chrift; for otherwise there is no parallel, and their example would not have been fo proper for influencing the minds of chriftians. And indeed there are undeniable inftances among those reckoned up to fhew that Chrift was the object of it. I have already spoke of the faith of Abel. Verse the 5th. By faith Enoch was tranflated; by what faith he tells us in the following verfe. He that comes to God must believe that he is; and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently feek him, i. e. he muft believe the reward that God had promifed, of a great and glorious deliverer and reftorer of mankind. Again, at the 26th verfe, By faith Mofes, when he was come to years, refufed to be called the fon of Pharaoh's daughter; efteeming the reproach of Chrift greater riches than the treafures

fures of Egypt. He thought it more honour-SE R M. able to be related to those people from whom VII. that prophet was to defcend, of whom he hath fo plainly foretold; than to be the greateft monarch upon earth. The application the Apoftle makes of that whole difcourfe at the 39th. verfe is this, Thefe all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promife. What promife? Not the promise of heaven and happiness when they died; for that they furely had: Not the promise of the land of Canaan, which was a type of it; for that was performed to the pofterity of Abraham: No, but the promise of that perfon through whom they hoped for a better refurrection. As it follows in the original, God forefeeing fomething better concerning us, that they without us fhould not be made perfect, i. e. God by referving the fulfilling that promise to our days, hath in his wifdom ordered it fo, that they did not obtain the completion of that promise of his coming into the world fooner than we; and that full and clear evidence, and demonftration of the truth of what they hoped for by the refurrection of Jefus Chrift, was referved to be manifefted in our days: Accordingly in the following verfes, Heb. xii. 1, 2. he exhorts us, who have received the completion of God's promise as foon as they, to run with patience the race that is fet before us; looking unto Jefus the author and finisher of our faith, which is a natural and easy account of that difficult text. And

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SER M. And from hence likewife we fee both the true VH, meaning, and the reasonablenefs of that faying

of our Saviour's, Luke xi. 50, 51. that the blood of all the prophets, which was fhed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation from the blood of Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias: Verily I fay unto you it fhall be required of this generation, i. e. by the total ruin and deftruction of them, which we know was more immediately for the crucifying of our Saviour; but by implication for the death of all that ever prophecied of him, or typified him from Abel to Zacharias: For the fame obftinate fpirit of infidelity that prompted that generation to crucify him, would have prompted them to all the cruelty of their forefathers towards all that ever typified or spoke of him; and as far as in them lay, they treated them with the like barbarity, and murdered them all over again in him,

My method would lead me to the fixth and last of those ages mentioned in my text, but the time failing I muft break off the thread of my difcourfe here, and, leave you to confider what hath been faid.

SERMON

SERMON VIII.

Why Chrift appeared at the time he did, and not fooner.

HE B. ix. 26.

For then must be often have fuffered fince the foundation of the world: But now once in the end of the world, bath he appeared to put away fin by the facrifice of himself.

Na former difcourfe upon these words, S ER M. the last time I had occafion to speak in VIII. this place, when I had shewn how they were a plain demonstrative proof that the facrifice of Chrift's death and the virtue of his blood had respect to all who lived before his coming into the world; I then obferved that what is here translated, the end of the world, is in the original, the confummation of ages: And when I had confidered the great exactness and propriety of that expreffion, as referring to the feveral periods of time, wherein there were ftill clearer revelations made of Chrift's coming from

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