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| Of the Sacrifices Offered to God by the Saints, Which are to Be Pleasing to Him, as in the Primitive Days and Former Years.
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Chapter 26.—Of the Sacrifices
Offered to God by the Saints, Which are to Be Pleasing to Him, as
in the Primitive Days and Former Years.
And it was with the design of
showing that His city shall not then follow this custom, that God
said that the sons of Levi should offer sacrifices in
righteousness,—not therefore in sin, and consequently not for
sin. And hence we see how vainly the Jews promise themselves a
return of the old times of sacrificing according to the law of the
old testament, grounding on the words which follow, “And the
sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to the Lord, as
in the primitive days, and as in former years.” For in the
times of the law they offered sacrifices not in righteousness but
in sins, offering especially and primarily for sins, so much so
that even the priest himself, whom we must suppose to have been
their most righteous man, was accustomed to offer, according to
God’s commandments, first for his own sins, and then for the sins
of the people. And therefore we must explain how we are to
understand the words, “as in the primitive days, and as in former
years;” for perhaps he alludes to the time in which our first
parents were in paradise. Then, indeed, intact and pure from all
stain and blemish of sin, they offered themselves to God as the
purest sacrifices. But since they were banished thence on account
of their transgression, and human nature was condemned in them,
with the exception of the one Mediator and those who have been
baptized, and are as yet infants, “there is none clean from
stain, not even the babe whose life has been but for a day upon the
earth.”1461
But if
it be replied that those who offer in faith may be said to offer in
righteousness, because the righteous lives by faith,1462
—he
deceives himself, however, if he says that he has no sin, and
therefore he does not say so, because he lives by faith,—will any
man say this time of faith can be placed on an equal footing with
that consummation when they who offer sacrifices in righteousness
shall be purified by the fire of the last judgment? And
consequently, since it must be believed that after such a cleansing
the righteous shall retain no sin, assuredly that time, so far as
regards its freedom from sin, can be compared to no other period,
unless to that during which our first parents lived in paradise in
the most innocent happiness before their transgression. It is
this period, then, which is properly understood when it is said,
“as in the primitive days, and as in former years.” For in
Isaiah, too, after the new heavens and the new earth have been
promised, among other elements in the blessedness of the saints
which are there depicted by allegories and figures, from giving an
adequate explanation of which I am prevented by a desire to avoid
prolixity, it is said, “According to the days of the tree
of
life shall be the days of my people.”1463
And who
that has looked at Scripture does not know where God planted the
tree of life, from whose fruit He excluded our first parents when
their own iniquity ejected them from paradise, and round which a
terrible and fiery fence was set?
But if any one contends that those
days of the tree of life mentioned by the prophet Isaiah are the
present times of the Church of Christ, and that Christ Himself is
prophetically called the Tree of Life, because He is Wisdom, and of
wisdom Solomon says, “It is a tree of life to all who embrace
it;”1464
and if
they maintain that our first parents did not pass years in
paradise, but were driven from it so soon that none of their
children were begotten there, and that therefore that time cannot
be alluded to in words which run, “as in the primitive days, and
as in former years,” I forbear entering on this question, lest by
discussing everything I become prolix, and leave the whole subject
in uncertainty. For I see another meaning, which should keep us
from believing that a restoration of the primitive days and former
years of the legal sacrifices could have been promised to us by the
prophet as a great boon. For the animals selected as victims
under the old law were required to be immaculate, and free from all
blemish whatever, and symbolized holy men free from all sin, the
only instance of which character was found in Christ. As,
therefore, after the judgment those who are worthy of such
purification shall be purified even by fire, and shall be rendered
thoroughly sinless, and shall offer themselves to God in
righteousness, and be indeed victims immaculate and free from all
blemish whatever, they shall then certainly be, “as in the
primitive days, and as in former years,” when the purest victims
were offered, the shadow of this future reality. For there shall
then be in the body and soul of the saints the purity which was
symbolized in the bodies of these victims.
Then, with reference to those who
are worthy not of cleansing but of damnation, He says, “And I
will draw near to you to judgment, and I will be a swift witness
against evildoers and against adulterers;” and after enumerating
other damnable crimes, He adds, “For I am the Lord your God, and
I am not changed.” It is as if He said, Though your fault has
changed you for the worse, and my grace has changed you for the
better, I am not changed. And he says that He Himself will be a
witness, because in His judgment He needs no witnesses; and that He
will be “swift,” either because He is to come suddenly, and the
judgment which seemed to lag shall be very swift by His unexpected
arrival, or because He will convince the consciences of men
directly and without any prolix harangue. “For,” as it is
written, “in the thoughts of the wicked His examination shall be
conducted.”1465
And the
apostle says, “The thoughts accusing or else excusing, in the day
in which God shall judge the hidden things of men, according to my
gospel in Jesus Christ.”1466
Thus, then, shall the Lord be a
swift witness, when He shall suddenly bring back into the memory
that which shall convince and punish the conscience.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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