Blood

Gen. ix. 4, 5, 6. Levit. xvii. 11. Deut. xii. 23.BLOOD. God from the beginning of the World forbad the eating either of blood alone, or of blood mixed with flesh, that is to say, creatures suffocated and killed without drawing their blood from them; because the soul of the creature is in its blood; that is to say, the animal life does so depend upon the blood, that no creature can live without it¹. From hence proceed the several acceptations of the word Blood.

1. It is taken for life. God will require the blood of a man, that is to say, he will punish murder, in what manner soever it shall happen. His blood be upon us, let them impute his death to us. The voice of Abel’s Blood crieth unto the Lord. The Murder committed in his person crieth Numb. xxxv. 24. 27.for Vengeance. Propinquus sanguinis ultor sanguinis; he who is to revenge Murder committed in the Person of his Relation.

2. Blood, means Relation. No one shall come near to any Woman who is near of kin to him. Ad proximam sanguinis sui. Lev. xviii. 6.Haman was a Stranger from the Persian Esth. xvi. 10.Blood; he was of a foreign Race.

3. Blood is taken for that which commonly happens to Women. Qui coierit Lev. xx. 18.cum Muliere in fluxu menstruo, ----ipsaque aperuerit fontem sanguinis sui, interficientur ambo. And, Si coierit cum ea vir tempore Lev. xv. 24.sanguinis menstrualis, immundus erit septem diebus----. Si pepererit masculum, Lev. xii. 4.triginta tribus diebus manebit in sanguine purificationis suæ. 4. Flesh and Blood are often set in opposition to Wit and Reason. Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in Heaven. Flesh and blood Mat. xvi. 17.cannot inherit the kingdom of God. We 1 Cor. xv. 50.wrestle not against flesh and blood, against visible Enemies composed of Flesh and Blood, but against principalities and the powers of this world, against Devils, &c.

4. Wine is also called the pure Blood of the Grape. Sanguinem uvæ bibent meracissimum.Deut. xxxii. 14. Gen. xlix. 11. And Judah shall wash his Garments in the Blood of the Grapes.

5. The Priests are established by God to judge between Leper and Leper, between Blood and Blood; that is to say, to judge in criminal matters, and where the Life of a Man is at stake; whether the Murder be casual, or voluntary; whether it deserves Death or Pardon.

6. David said, he would not drink the 1 Chr. xi. 19.Blood of his Heroes, who had exposed their Lives to bring him Water from the Well of Bethlehem; that is to say, he would not drink of that Water, which had been so near costing them their Lives.

7. God reserved to himself the Blood of all Sacrifices, as absolute Master of Life and Death. The Blood of Animals was poured upon his Altar, or at the foot of his Altar, according to the nature of the Sacrifices; and if the Temple was too remote, it was poured upon the ground, and covered with dust. This Blood of the Sacrifices in the Old Testament, was only a figure of that Blood which Jesus Christ has poured forth for us, and which merits for us the forgiveness of our Sins.

Blood. A Man of Blood: An Husband of Blood; that is to say, a cruel and sanguinary Man, a Husband purchased with much Blood, or who is the occasion and innocent cause of the effusion of his Son’s Blood; thus Zipporah called her Husband Moses, when she had circumcised her Sons, in order to preserve them from Death, with which they were threatned. To build one’s Hab. ii. 12.house with Blood; that is to say, with Oppression, and the Blood of the unhappy. To wash one’s Feet in Blood, to obtain a signal Psal. lvii. 11.and bloody Victory. The Vulgate reads to wash his hands; but the Hebrew imports, he shall wash his feet. The revenger of Numb. xxxv. 27.Blood is he who, according to custom, had the charge, as nearest Relation, to pursue the Murderer of his Kinsman, and seek Blood; that is to say, to take vengeance on him.

Ps. l. 16. Hos. i. 4. Hos. iv. 2. Joel ii. 31.Libera me de sanguinibus, deliver me from Blood, forgive me the Murther of Uriah, whom I slew. I will visit the Blood of Jezreel, I will revenge the Blood which Jezabel hath shed there. Sanguis sanguinem tetigit; they committed Murder upon Murder: The Blood was no sooner wiped away, but more was shed. The Moon shall be changed into Blood, it shall appear red like Blood. I said unto thee Ezek. xvi. 6. Zech. ix. 11.even when thou wast in thy Blood, live. I saw thee all over polluted with the Blood of thy Birth, and I said to thee, notwithstanding this Impurity which is upon thee, I will give thee Life. As for thee also, by the Blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit, where there is no water. He speaks of Jesus Christ. Thou hast delivered thy Captives the holy Fathers, who were in Hell; thou hast redeemed them with the Blood of thy Covenant, which thou hast shed for them. Some explain it of the Deliverance of the Hebrews out of Egypt; God relieved them out of this Prison by the Blood of his Covenant, of his Paschal Lamb. It is said, that his Blood crieth from the Ground, Gen. iv. 10, 11. Is. xxxiv. 7.that their land is drunken with Blood. That Blood is in any one’s hands, upon any one’s head, &c. All which Expressions are better understood by the particular Energy that goes along with them, than by all the Comments that can be made to explain them.

The Blood of Jesus Christ is the Price of our Salvation; it is by his Blood that he has Acts xx. 28.purchased his Church. Quam acquisivit sanguine suo. It is by the Merit of his Blood that we acquire Justification, and the remission Rom. v. 9.of our Sins. We are justified in his Blood. And again, We have redemption through his Blood. By his Blood he hath Eph. i. 7. and Colos. i. 14. Colos. i. 20.pacified all things in Heaven and Earth; Pacificans per sanguinem crucis ejus sive quæ in terris, sive quæ in cœlis sunt. By his Blood he hath entred into Heaven and procured admission for us: By his own Blood he Hebr. ix. 12.entred in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. His Blood is the Blood of the new and everlasting Covenant, Heb. xiii. 20. Luke viii. 43.shed for the Sins of Mankind, which is drunk by us, and is an earnest to us of Immortality.

The woman having an issue of Blood; she is mentioned in the Gospel, and said to have had this Indispolition twelve years, and to have spent her whole Fortune on Physicians, without any Succels. She came behind our Saviour and touched the border of his Garment, and immediately her Issue of Blood stanched. Hereupon Jesus said, who is it that hath touched me? S. Peter answered, Master, the Multitude throngs and presses thee, and thou sayest, who touched me? But Jesus said, Some body hath touched me; for I perceive that vertue hath gone out of me. Then the Woman came trembling all over, and declared before all the People what had induced her to touch him, and how she had been healed; and Jesus said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort, thy Faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.

Saint Ambrose is of opinion, that this Woman was Martha². John Malala and Codinus call her Veronica. But Eusebius assures us, that she was a Gentlewoman of the City of Paneas, near the source of Jordan, who, in acknowledgement of this Miracle, erected a Statue to our Saviour, which Eusebius affirms, that he had seen with his own Eyes. Sozomen³ and Philostorgius⁴ relate, that it was in being Psal. lxxx. 13.till the Emperor Julian’s time.

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