The seconde tome or volume of the Paraphrase of Erasmus vpon the Newe Testament conteynyng the epistles of S. Paul, and other the Apostles : wherunto is added a paraphrase vpon the reuelacion of S. John.

The texte.

But Chryste beyng an hye prieste of good thynges to come, came by a greater and a more perfecte tabernacle, not made with handes: that is to say, not of thys buildyng, ne∣ther by y^• bloud of goates and calues, but by his own bloud he enteed in once into the holi¦place, & founde eternal redempcion. For if the bloud of oxen & of goates, & the asshes of a ••••ng cowe, when it was sprinkled, purifieth the vnclene, as touching the purifing of the flesh: howe much more shall the bloud of Christ (which through the eternall spirit, offred hymself wythou ••spot to god) pourge your conscience from dead workes, for to serue the lyuinge god?

For Christ beyng an hie priest, a promiser, and auctour, not of corporal puri∣ficacion, neither of the good thynges of this world whiche haue an ende, but of euerlasting and heauenly good thinges, entred, not by the vayle wrought with mennes handes, but by an other tabernacle not made wyth handes, that is to saye, not of this buyldynge, the whyche as menne doe sette it vp, so can they pull it downe agayne, but by verie heauen, entred (I say) into the places which are verely holy, and verely farre from al infeccion of mortalitie not brynginge wyth hym the bloude of goates and calues therewith to pacifie Goddes wrath, but his owne precious bloude whiche he shed for vs in the aulter of the

crosse, wherewyth he redemed not one nationalonelye, but all mankynde from all synnes, and that not one yeare, but for euer vntyl the worldes ende, so that they tournynge from their former myflyuynge, know Christ, and as muche as in them lyethe folowe hym in their lyfe and conuersation.

For what comparison is it to compare a domme beaste vnto Christe bothe God and man? If so be that the bloud of Oxen and Goates, or the brent asshes of a younge Cowe sprynkeled vpon vncleane persones clenseth them, as touchynge a certayne carnall and figuratiue puritie and holynesse: Howe muche more then shall the bloude of Christe, who not by corporall fyre, but thorowe the eternall spirite desirous of mannes saluation offered, not a brute beaste, but hym selfe a pure and vndefyled sacryfyce vnto almyghtye God the father, puryfie, not youre bodyes, but youre conscyence from these workes whiche in very dede brynge death vnto the soule? Hys death delyue∣reth vs from endlesse death, and hys mooste pure spirite purifieth our spirite whiche was before vncleane. In bothe purifications is bloude, but yet is there a greate difference. In bothe is death, but an vnequall death. In bothe is a spirite, but the one is farre vnlyke the other. For what thynge soeuer was there done by shadowes and certayne fygures, the same Christ ac∣complished in dede.