perpetuall residence there in procuring our salvation and the expiation of our sinnes is said to make intercession for us But as hee hath all power given him by his Father as he himselfe saves us and expiates our sinnes as he bestowes all happinesse upon us so he cannot be said to make intercession for us although these actions differ rationally rather then really seeing in them hee conveyes that to us which hee receives of his Father for us and therefore cannot properly be said to intercede or sue for that which hee hath full power to give of himselfe for God hath freely given him that full power 26. For such an high Priest became us Hee brings a reason why Christ was made a Priest to live for ever to make intercession for us because such a Priest did become us or was convenient for us Whence it appears that the following attributes given unto Christ do not notifie the innocent life of Christ which was indeed spotlesse and blamelesse but his happy and blessed state whereby it comes to passe that he ever lives and ever hath a care of us For although those attributes are most true of Christ if wee understand them of his life and innocencie yet being so understood in this place they make nothing to the present purpose of the Authour Who is holy In respect of his immortall nature which doth make him a Saint by sanctifying and hallowing him Harmelesse Not actively to do no harme but passively to have no harme by freeing him from all evill and miserie Vndefiled His state is purely happy and blessed not stained or blotted with any adversity or evil Seperate from sinners both in place and condition not conversing any more with them as once he did upon earth And made higher then the heavens He is now exalted above the two lower regions of heaven and seated in the highest region at the right hand of God All these are said of Christ in some manner by way of resemblance to the legall Priest Although in these againe there be a great disparity betweene Christ and him as we shall shew presently Yet if we respect the dignity of Priesthood the legall Priest was a venerable and holy person hee was harmelesse and inviolable and as his providence and care could lead him he was undefiled and hee was separate from sinners not conversing with them but residing in the Sanctuary which resembled heaven But all these could not be perfect in the legall Priest by reason of his infirmities or if they had been most perfect yet they had been but a shadow of those most divine qualities which were shewed before in Christ Now that such a Priest became us the thing it self declares for unlesse he were such a one hee could not be perpetually vigilant intent over our salvation to save all that should come to God by him For the contraries to these qualities would either trouble the functions of his office or wholly hinder them for even the legall Priest if at any time he were defiled might not performe the holy services to offer for others or sacrifice for their sin till first he had made some entrance in sacrificing for his owne 27. Who needed not daily as those high Priests to offer up sacrifice first for his owne sinnes and then for the peoples He shews another difference between Christ and the legall Priests depending on the former diffrences and consequent from them For the legall Priests must offer sacrifices yearly first for their owne sinnes and then for the peoples but Christ did this only once Daily i. upon the determine and set day for the yearly sacrifice which was the day of expiation For that the Author means that yearly sacrifice it appears from his saying that those Priests must offer first for their owne sinnes and then for the peoples But we read not that either hee did or was to doe this at any other time then at that yearly sacrifice of expiation For at other times he must either offer for himselfe alone if he stood guilty of some sin or if he were partaker of sinne with the people he must expiate it with one only sacrifice for himselfe and them together and not sacrifice first for himselfe and after for them See afterward chap. 10. v. 11. where daily is likewise taken for the appointed and set day For this hee did once He speaks of Christ our Priest What did Christ once certainly nothing else but what the old high Priest did yearly upon the set day But it is manifest from the former passages and from the context of the reasons that he speaks not here principally of the offering for the peoples sinnes on that day but especially for the offering for the sinnes of the Priest himselfe Sinnes are properly transgressions of Gods Lawes which seeing they had no place in Christ for hee knew no sinne therefore there must needs be an impropriety in the word sinnes here for by them must be meant the infirmities and sufferings of Christ whereof we spake before chap. 5.2,3 For we have already seen that the contraries to these infirmities and sufferings were in the next verse before described by the names of holinesse and harmlessenesse for these two verses do mutually illustrate each other When he offered up himselfe He shewes when Christ offered for himself namely prayers and supplications as we heard before chap. 5.7 And then he offered for himselfe when he offered himselfe for God when hee prepared himselfe for the offering of himselfe i. when he was slaine as a sacrifice For the offering of Christ in this place must be so farre extended as to comprise his death as a necessary antecedent or a kind of beginning and entrance to it Therefore Christ because hee now lives happy and blessed for ever and nothing can interrupt or hinder his happinesse therefore I say he is now secure of himselfe and need no more offer for himselfe but is only carefull for us and our salvation Yet because the time was once when he was forced to offer for him selfe therefore being well acquainted with sufferings he will so much the more readily succour the distressed But seeing this verse depends upon the former and is inferred from thence it appears therefore that the former verse speaks not of the manners of Christ our Priest but of his blessed state and condition For Christ needs not therefore not offer any more for himselfe because he was holy and harmlesse in respect of his manners and actions here upon earth seeing he was alwaies so but because by his Resurrection to Immortality he was freed from all harmes and evills for ever As therefore the sinnes of our Priest signified his sufferings and paines so the contraries to these his holinesse and harmlessenesse in the former verse declare him exempt and free from all such evills 28. For the Law made men high Priests which have infirmity Hee addes the cause of this difference between Christ and the legal Priests
they differ in beauty and glory as in the Courts of great Kings wee may distinguish the place where the Kings throne or chaire of State is seated by the foot-pace Canopy and furniture of it from the rest of the roome though it be not severed by any partition In the old Tabernacle the inmost and most holy place was at first continuous with the rest of the Tabernacle and not severed but by availe for without some such crosse materiall the one could not be severed from the other But in heaven the difference of brightnesse and glory serves for a vaile Christ therefore being to enter into the inmost and most holy place of heaven to sit at the right hand of Gods throne must needs passe through the large and common mansion of heaven as the Legall high Priest entered the second Tabernacle by passing through the first There are three things that seeme to favour this opinion 1. Because the Author did mention and describe a double Tabernacle before therefore the resemblance of the comparison doth require that to a double Tabernacle on earth there should be answerable a double place in heaven one a holy place and the other the most holy 2. Because these words doe indeed seeme to depend upon the verbe entered in the next verse as appeares by the particle neither at the beginning of that verse for that particle doth use to couple those things that are contained under one verbe which is here the verbe entered 3. Because the high Majesty of the Deity seemes to require that in his heavenly Mansion which no question is most ample and spacious there should be some most holy place sparkling and glittering with the brightnesse of unapproachable light where the most high God and supreme Lord of all things hath his throne and residence answerable to the most holy place in the Tabernacle wherein the throne of God was said to be seated This first Tabernacle of heaven through which Christ passed is said to be greater and more perfect i. then the terrene Tabernacle under the Law and it is greater and perfecter not only in quantity but in dignity Not made with hands that is to say not of this building Hee would give one instance at the least to declare the dignity of Christs Tabernacle to bee greater and more perfect then the legall because it is not made with hands or by art of man as the legall was Yet because the Author would shew that by these words hee comprehends something more then appeares at the first sight therefore he declares what he meanes thereby namely that Christs Tabernacle is not of this building It is not only not made by the hand or art of man but also it is not of the number of visible creatures which though they be not made by the hand and industry of men yet they are like to handy workes because they are visible and corruptible as handy-works are In which sense the Apostle opposing the house of our glorious body to this of our corruptible and fraile body saith of it that it is no handy-worke made with hands 2 Cor. 5.1 Or rather the Tabernacle of Christ is said not to be of this building or creating because it is not framed of visible materials or any other stuffe subject to the eye whereof all handy-works wrought by mans art are made Therefore these words not of the building must be extended more largely then the other not made with hands doe properly signifie For it doth not presently follow that if it be not made with hands therefore it is not of this building unlesse as we have said wee take a handy-worke made by hand to signifie metaphorically that also which is like to a handy-worke made by hand as are all things of this building or creating which have been made from the beginning of the world or else so which comes all to one as to comprehend all things which in respect of their matter are of the same kinde with handy-workes as are all things made of God from the beginning of the world for of these are all handy-workes framed Hence it appeares that there is another building or creature of God far more excellent then the building or frame of this world whose forme and matter is of another kinde far more faire pure sublime and stable then this which we see And to this building pertaines that heavenly Tabernacle of Christ our high Priest which is the Temple and residence of the most high God 12. Neither by the bloud of goats and calves Here he opposeth the sacrifice of Christ to the sacrifice of the old legall Priest The old high Priest entered the most holy place by the blood of goats and calves But Christ entered not by such base bloud but by most pretious bloud which could be no other besides his owne for as his person was most pretious so must needs his bloud be The bloud of man is more pretious then the bloud of a beast but the bloud of Christ is far more pretious then the bloud of all men besides Seeing Christ himself is far more excellent then all other men yea then all other ereatures for he is more deare and neare unto God then all as being his unigenit and only begotten Sonne But by his owne bloud Wee are to note that the Author to sute the elegancie of his comparison did in the first member of it use the particle by although the legall high Priest entered the holy place not only by the bloud of goats and calves i. having first shed the bloud of those beasts or after the shedding of their bloud but also with their bloud which he carryed into the holy place with him and offered it by sprinkling it upon and before the Mercy-seat But in the sacrifice of Christ the resemblance could not be extended so far seeing Christ shed not the bloud of an other creature but his owne bloud neither in his heavenly Tabernacle did he offer his bloud after his death but himselfe when hee was become immortall and had cast off the rags of flesh and bloud because they cannot possesse the Kingdome of God And therefore he entred the holy place of heaven not with his bloud but only after hee had shed his bloud Now because Christ entred thus therefore the Author said lesse of the legall high Priest then indeed the thing it selfe was and used the particle by to fit the comparison For in the sacrifice of Christ the matter was in part somewhat otherwise then in the old expiatory sacrifice In that old sacrifice as also in other sin-offerings the beast it selfe that was slaine was not offered unto God nor burnt as a sweet savour unto him as the Scripture termes it but the kidneyes and the fat of it only neither was the carkasse brought into the holy place but the bloud of it only But in the sacrifice of Christ not his bloud which he shed when he was slaine but he himselfe must be offered and hee must
perfect purging that we may enjoy a right to heaven Secondly because by the accesse of sinfull men who by the doctrine of the Gospel are called to take possession of the kingdome of heaven it seemes to be polluted which Christ himself hath expressed in other words when he said The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force Matth. 11.12 As the old Tabernacle was accounted polluted by the sins and uncleannesses of the people who lived round about it Therefore as the high Priest of old did expiate that old Tabernacle as polluted by the sinnes of the people with Sacrifices and Offerings and reconciled it as it were to its due holinesse So Christ as I may say restored heaven to it due honour when he offered himself there to God and thereby tooke order that men guiltie of sinnes having first deposed their sinnes by a lively faith and repentance might not be thought altogether unworthy of heaven With better sacrifices then these He puts the plural number for the singular to comply with his comparison which included many Sacrifices so that here also the comparison produced an abusion For by those better Sacrifices is meant that single sacrifice of Christ offered I say offered because by use of Scripture that onely is accounted a Sacrifice which is offered For Christ after he was slaine was himself offered and therein is a difference betweene the old Sacrifices especially those that were expiatory and the Sacrifice Christ for when the old Sacrifice was slaine the beast it selfe was not offered to God but only the bloud of it and those other parcels that were burnt with fire upon the Altar But Christ himselfe who was slaine and not his bloud was offered to God and hee not then while yet he lay dead but then when he was raised to life and such a life as was eternall Although as we have often said in this sacrifice of Christ offered is also included the shedding of his bloud and his bloudy death For although Christ offered to God not his bloud but himselfe yet without the shedding of his bloud he neither could nor might offer himselfe And by reason of what we have said therefore it is that the Author comparing Christ with the legall sacrifices doth perpetually shun to say that the bloud of Christ was offered and yet that he might comply with his comparison he perpetually insinuates the shedding of Christs bloud which unlesse it had preceded there could not have been so full and so fit a comparison betweene Christ and the old sacrifices From hence therefore it is manifest that into those holy places of heaven for their purification and dedication there must be brought a most pretious sacrifice and therefore not the bloud of calves and goats nay not any bloud at all but the very Sonne of God himselfe and hee also stripped of all his mortall nature then which there could not be imagined a more pretious and more sacred sacrifice 24. For Christ is not entered Here hee gives the reason why hee said that the heavenly holy places were purged with better sacrifices namely because Christ our high Priest is entered into no other holy places but those of heaven Whereupon it must follow that be must enter with a far better sacrifice and more worthy of those holy places then the old high Priest entered into his earthly holy places Not into the holy places made with hands He illustrates the matter by a difference and an opposition between those heavenly holy places and the earthly that those were not made with hands which difference we have already shewed before ver 11. Which are the figures of the true For figures the Greeke text hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Antitypes are the images or figures imprinted from the mould as the wax is figured from the seale or mony from the stampe which in this place signifies the same that paternes did in the verse before Now the holy places made with hands are called antitypes or figures not as opposed efficiently to that which doth figure them but as opposed objectively to the thing whereof they are a figure or which they are accounted to represent as the image or superscription upon a peece of coine is not properly the image of the stampe which did imprint it but of the Prince whose image it is and whom it represents for the person of the Prince is that verity or truth whereof the coine is but the image or figure So that antitypes are here put simply for types which is an usuall signification of the word among the Greeks As in this sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is put simply for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when Christ is said to be a ransome 1 Tim. 2.6 Now the true holy places whereof the earthly holy places made with hands are said to be types or figures are the heavenly holy places which are called the true as we noted before not as if the earthly were false but because the earthly were but types figures and shadowes in respect of the heavenly or because those qualities which should have been in the earthly were found most truly and perfectly in the heavenly And yet those earthly places were called holy primely and properly but the heavenly metaphorically After this manner Christ is called the true light the true bread and the true vine Now the qualities of those earthly places are these first to be most sacred or holy and wholy seperate from all prophane uses and 2ly to be an house or dwelling for God Both which qualities agreed to those earthly holy places but umbratilously imaginarily and imperfectly but to the heavenly holy places truly really and perfectly But into heaven it self Christ did never enter into the earthly holy places which were but the types figures of heaven but into heaven it self where are the right true holy places And he is entred into that heaven which is beyond and above all the visible orbes of heaven and into that place of that heaven which is the most holy even where the Throne of God is at the right hand whereof he is seated Now to appeare in the presence of God for us Hee gives the reason why Christ entered into heaven and he drawes his reason from the end of his entrance In expressing whereof he alludes to the ancient high Priest and the better to serve his allusion if we respect the property and usuall signification of his words he faith lesse of Christ then the thing is indeed and then the full end of his entrance came to For the ancient high Priest entring the most holy place is said to appeare before God because he so procured the salvation of the people that hee himselfe conferred it not but obtained it from another for he sued to God to conferre it But the appearance of Christ our high Priest before God and his offering of himselfe must bee so taken that it exclude not his sitting at the right hand of
more bitter then the paine of it and therefore the Author addes Despising the shame It was a great shame and disgrace to the Sonne of God who well knew the high dignity of his person after he had delivered so many gracious doctrines and wrought so many admirable miracles after so great hope and expectation raised of him to be seized upon by hangmen dragged to execution nailed to a crosse lifted up on high to endure the faces and eyes of all men upon him and be set as a marke for the spears and darts of bitter tongues Yet Christ despised all this despite all this shame and this disgrace that for a momentany shame be might attaine everlasting glory and for a temporall paine on earth eternall joy in heaven And is set downe at the right hand of the throne of God This is added to shew that Christ was not frustrated of his hope but that hee received a large reward of his faith and patience To teach us that if we also follow him in this race we shall have the like issue of our faith and patience But the great dignity and glory to Christ that is signified by his sitting at the right hand of Gods throne is before explicated Chap. 1. ver 3. From this place and the other Chap. 8.1 it appears that when Christ is said to sit at the right hand of God by Gods right hand is not understood his power and strength as elsewhere it is but in this phrase by a simily drawne from men is signified that the place at Gods right hand is more honourable then that at his left For otherwise it were not rightly said the right hand of the throne of God because a throne hath no hand nor is supposed to have any but only a right side of it And many times in the same sense Christ is said to sit in the plurall number at the right hands of God or his power For when the power of God is understood or a right hand is attributed unto him by way of analogie it is not called the right hands of God in the plurall number but his right hand in the singular But when the right or left place is signified it is commonly expressed plurally by right or left hands though it be uttered in respect of one person only See Mat. 20.21 and Mat. 25.33,34 41. 3. For consider him that endured such contradictions of sinners against himselfe lest ye be wearied and faint in your mindes Hee expresseth the end and use of the example of Christ why wee should diligently consider it because we are to make this use of it that our mindes may not bee tired with adversities and afflictions and so wee become wearied and faint in the course of our faith and patience which here by profession of Christ we have begun to runne 4. For ye have not resisted unto blood striving against sinne He exhorts them with a new argument to an invincible courage in bearing the afflictions which they suffered For it seemes he would make them somwhat ashamed that seeing the miseries wherewith they were pressed were not so grievous as that hitherto they had drawne bloud from them yet they begun to fail in courage and strength contrary to Gods expresse monition Here also he alludes to strifes yet such as were by fencing or fighting and not by running For sinne would beat us from our constancy of faith and pietie toward God but among the afflictions which come to be suffered of us for the love of Christ is the abnegation or deniall of sinne against which we must fight In this fight therefore while the combat is but upon our goods our credit and reputation the matter is not yet come to bloud but when cruelty torture and death chargeth upon our bodies then the businesse is in good earnest and the fight is in the heat These Hebrewes as it seems were not yet in danger of their lives for Christ but their sufferings were only mockings reproaches and spoiling of their goods as appeareth chap. 10. ver 33.34 The Authour therefore shewes what a shamefull thing it is to turne the backe and flie at the first skirmish as it were and entrance of the fight But when he brings in sinne for their enemy with whom they are to deale he doth therein by a most effectuall argument encourage them to an holy valour lest they should fail in their combat with an enemy so base and dangerous 5. And ye have forgotten the exhortation And for and yet by way of a particle adversative As if he had said Though ye have not yet spent your life and bloud for the love of Christ yet the divine admonition or exhortation is slipt out of your minde wherein yee are commanded to receive the chastning of the Lord with a ready minde and to beare it patiently And consequently yee have forgotten your dutie contained in that exhortation For the Authour doth not reprehend them meerly for their memory that they had forgotten the words of that exhortation but for their negligence in not performing the duty therein commanded We have said elswhere that hee is said to remember a person or a matter who hath a care of it and therefore hee that hath not such care though otherwise hee remember him in mind doth forget him This hath place chiefly in commands councells and exhortations which are not given therefore only to remaine in our memories but they must so remain in our memories as that they be put in execution and actually performed And when the authoritie of the commander or admonisher is so great that it is not likely but that hee who doth but onely remember the command or monition would obey it with great reason they may be said to forget it who though they retaine it in a lively memory yet obey it not Which speaketh unto you as unto children The Author commends this exhortation from the qualitie of it that it is very gentle and fatherly in regard it termes them children to whom it is directed For who but a froward and obstinate person would not give way to such an exhortation The exhortation is said to speak by way of Metonymie because he that exhorteth speaketh by it or rather because it is the very speech of him that exhorteth Now the person who exhorteth is openly Solomon but secretly God by whose instinct Solomon uttered this Pro. 3.11 Therefore in this exhortation God himselfe calleth us his children from whence it follows that we should receive it readily and observe it diligently My sonne despise not thou the chastning of the Lord. When we make God himselfe to speak and not Solomon then the name or Nowne of the Lord must bee supposed to be put for the Pronowne my after the Hebrew phrase To despise or as it is in the Hebrew to reject the chastning of the Lord is nothing else but an unwillingnesse to bear it patiently but to kick against it as against a prick By the chastning of the
God This reason St. Paul gives applying to the Resurrection of Christ the words of the Psalme Thou art my son this day have I begotten thee Act. 13.33 Whom he hath appointed heire God hath appointed Christ to inherit the sovereigne dominion and Kingdome of God first by granting him a right or title to it and afterward by giving him the reall possession of it Yet he possesseth it not successively after his father as the manner is among men but accessorily and joyntly together with his father Of all things His universall heire he alludes to an only son who is the sole heire of all his fathers estate For Christ is the unigenit or only son of God not that God hath not other sons but that he hath none such as he Seeing then God is the universall proprietary and Lord of all things therefore Christ being his only son and heire becomes universall Lord also of all things over all Angells and men whether alive or dead By whom also he made the world God by the mediation or meane of Christ did reforme and restore mankinde who is the chiefest part of the world by giving him a new state and condition by a new Covenant For the Hebrews who have no or few compound verbs say a thing is made when in regard of some qualities it is altered or renewed or made otherwise then it was before by assuming a new forme or fashion for a better condition So we are said to be created in Christ to good workes and we are called a new creature not in regard of any new creation or new nature but because of new relations unto God or new qualities in our selves 3. Who being the brightnesse of his glory Christ was the lustre raye or beam of Gods Majesty For seeing God is invisible and cannot be seen of men by reason of his immense and infinite light therefore God sent forth Christ as a raye or beam of his light that in Christ men might have a kinde of sight of Gods Majesty And the expresse image of his person These words doe but interpret the former Adam and in him every man made is made in the image of God to resemble God in some of Gods attributes but Christ is the character or image of Gods person for God did as it were imprint his person upon Christ that Christ might be his substitute upon earth to personate represent and resemble the person of God to be in wisdome as God by publishing the mysteries and secrets of God and by knowing the thoughts of men to be in holinesse as God without all staine of sin to be in power as God having dominion over all creatures over windes seas and devills For such divine wisdome holinesse and power are brightnesses images or markes of Gods Supremacie or Soveraigne Majestie Vpholding all things by the word of his power Christ carried all things by his powerfull Command for according to the Hebrew sence Word is put for Command as Psal 33.7 and Psal 143.15 And the Word of his power is an Hebraisme also for his powerfull word q. d. Christ did personate God not onely for the acts of his power but also for the manner of his acts because he wrought all his miracles by his sole Word or Command For at his Word or Command the windes ceased the sea calmed diseases were healed the divels were ejected and the dead raised And to this the Centurion applied his faith when he said Lord Speak the word only and my servant shall be healed Mat. 8.8 When he had by himself purged our sinnes Christ offered up himself in his own person and did not as the Leviticall Priest who used to offer sacrifices that were not himself but Christ was both the Priest who offered and the sacrifice which was offered And by this oblation of himselfe he expiated or purged away our sinnes by removing our guiltines and the punishment due to our sins Christ was a sacrifice to expiate our sinnes and the slaughter of this sacrifice was made on earth upon the crosse but the offering of this sacrifice was then performed when he entred into heaven and made his Appearance in the presence of God as the Leviticall Priest after the sacrifice was slain entered into the Sanctuary to offer the blood of it And this Oblation of Christ had then onely an efficacy or power to expiate our sins but the effect of it followes not upon us till we on our part performe our office by beleeving in Christ and obeying him Sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high The Leviticall high Priest when he went into the Oracle where God was said to dwell and sit betweene the Cherubins did not sit downe with God betweene the Cherubins but stood as a minister or waiter with great reverence of the Divine Majestie offering and sprinkling that blood wherewith he entered But Christ ascending on high and entering into heaven did not stand before the Throne of God as a minister or supplicant but sat downe at the right hand of Gods Majestie Yet he sat not by way of an Assistant unto God as Nobles and Councellers doe to earthly Princes but by way of Cor-regnant to reigne with him having absolute power over the people or Church of God and for the Churches sake over all other things For according to Saint Paul 1. Cor. 15.25 To sit at the right hand of God is to reigne and governe as God And Christ doth now reigne and governe absolutely and arbitrarily in all things not defined by Gods law but where Gods law orders things there he governs accordingly 4. Being made so much better then the Angels The Apostle formerly having tacitely preferred Christ before all the Prophets and before the high Priests proceeds now to compare and preferre Christ before the Angels to wit which must be marked from the time of his session at Gods right hand corregnant with him Whereupon he layes down this position or doctrine That Christ sitting at Gods right hand reigning with him in absolute power is become more excellent then the Angels This doctrine he presently proves by severall arguments following As he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name then they This is the first argument whereby he proves his former doctrine because Christ hath obtained a more excellent name then the Angels By name here we are not to understand that dominion or dignity of Christ whereby he reignes with his Father in absolute power for this were to argue tautologously seeing he mentioned that before But by name he meanes the Appellation or title given to Christ noting his state and condition For from Appellations and titles especially given by God we may easily gather the dignitie and excellency of any person And this excellent name Christ hath obtained by Inheritance Which shewes that he had it not by nature nor from eternitie but in time by grace from the favour of God 5. For unto which of the Angels said he at any time
granted and for a ground that Christ is the supreme God because all this testimony out of that Psalm is manifâ—stly spoken of the suprem God but that Christ should be that God is not intimated by any word in all that Psalm And therefore if the Author had taken this for graunted that Christ is the supreme God certainly the Author had discoursed very impertinently and ambiguously to furnish himselfe with such store of arguments and so many Testimonies of Scriptures and those much more obscure then the point to be proved thereby to evince that Christ was better then the angels the Creatour better then the creature This had been to bring proofs no way necessary for a point no way doubtfull seeing all might have been dispatched in one word We must therefore further observe that this Testimony out of Psalme 102. containes three clauses The first concerning the Creation of the world 2. Concerning the destruction of the world 3. Concerning the Duration of God for these three things are the subjects of three verities contained in that Testimonie and all three are spoken supremely and primarily of God the Father But the first can no way be referred to Christ because as is before noted it could not make for the Authors purpose The last referres both to God and Christ for the Duration of Christ is perpetuall and everlasting yet this clause makes nothing for the Authors purpose to prove Christ better then the Angels because for Duration the angels are equall to him seeing they also are immortall and incorruptible perpetuall and everlasting The second clause referres to God supremely and primarily and to Christ subordinately or secondarily for God by Christ will destroy the world God hath given to Christ a transcendent power to destroy and abolish heaven and earth And this makes fully to the Authors purpose and proves Christ clerely better then the angels who have not this power granted to them Now to the words of this Testimony in particular Thou Lord in the beginning God when first he began the world even in the first beginning of â—is visible workes Hast laid the foundation of the earth He alludes to buildings which are raised upon a foundation for the earth is as it were the foundation and ground-work of the world And hee mentions the earth in the first place because in the raising of all buildings men begin from the foundation Now the earth is termed the foundation because it seemes immoveable and fixed as all foundations ought to be And the heavens are the works of thine hands The heavens are all those vast bodies which doe circumvest the earth and one another And they are called heavens plurally because they are built and raised to the height of three regions or stories each above the other The first and lowest heaven is vulgarly called the aire wherein flie the fowles of heaven and therein are the supernall waters that are said to be above in the heavens as clouds raine haile and snow The second or middle heaven is vulgarly called the firmament wherein are all the fires that give light and heat to all the world as the Sunne Moone and Starres The third and highest heaven is called by St. Paul Paradise wherein God and Christ and the angels doe manifest themselves All these are the workes of Gods word and were wrought at his command For God said Let them be and they were so Gen. 1.6 God commanded and they were created Psal 148.5 Yet the Psalmist terms them the works of Gods hands alluding to the speech of the vulgar whose hands and not their words are the instruments of their works which therefore are called the works of their hands Hitherto of the first clause of this Testimony concerning the Creation of the world referred to God onely who only was the Author of it 11. They shall perish Now followes the second Clause of this Testimony concerning the destruction of the world referred to God supremely and primarily but to Christ subordinately and secondarily because the power to destroy the world is given to Christ and therefore principally serves to the Authors purpose to prove him better then the angels They shall perish The heavens and the earth shall perish or be utterly destroyed and abolished as this Author phraseth it afterward in this Epistle chap. 12.27 they shall be removed as things that are concussible and corruptible And as St. Peter saith more expresly 2. Epistle 3.10 The heavens shall passe away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also shall be burnt up Now things that passe away and are no where must needs have no being and a thing burnt up must needs perish Here we have a clear testimony that this present world shall be destroyed and abolished For if as some have imagined it shall only be endued with perfecter qualities and be changed into a better state so to remaine under that state how is it said to perish Certainly things changed into a better state to be permanent under that state cannot be said to perish Shall the Saints be said to perish when they are changed from mortall and corruptible creatures to become immortall and incorruptible and be made partakers of a nature and state far more pure and perfect then they had before certainly no. Or if the world shall have a perpetuall permansion or abiding for ever how is it opposed to Gods and Christs permansion or abiding for ever which is the scope of this reasoning as appeares in the words immediatly following But thou remainest and thy yeers shall not fail And they shall wax old as doth a garment The heavens are compared to a garment because as hath been said before they doe circumvest envelop and enwrap the whole earth round about as a garment envolves the body and therefore the attribute of a garment which is to veterate and wax old is by a Metaphor fitly applyed to the heavens Not that the heavens doe insensibly wax old and wear out with length of time as garments usually doe but because at last they shall wholly be abolished therefore they are said to wax old as a garment because a garment waxen old and worn out is at last wholly abolished and cast away For veteration or waxing old is a motion or passage toward destruction and abolition Seeing that which decayeth and waxeth old drawes neere to vanishing away as this Author expresseth it afterward in this Epistle cap. 8. v. 13. But how shall the heavens wax old if they shall be renewed into a better state Is a garment said then to wax old when it is new drest by making it somwhat better and neater 12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up When a garment is waxen so old that we have no minde to weare it any longer then wee usually fold it up and lay it aside for properly a garment is a loose vest which we use to weare outwardly over the rest of our clothing and therefore
being laid aside is usually solded up Hence it appeares that at last the time shall come that the heavens shall no longer circumvest or enwrap the earth and therefore must needs be destroyed and abolished And they shall be changed What change must here be understood moe have shewed before namely a destruction abolition or perishing a change not for the better but for the worse a change from being to not being as a garment waxen old and thereupon folded up becomes changed for the worse till first it fall into clouts and ragges and at last rots quite away Hitherto of the second Clause of this testimony concerning the destruction of the world referred primarily by the Psalmist to God but secondarily and subordinatly by this Author to Christ by whose power under God this destruction shall be made and thereby is proved to be better then the angels But thou remainest Now follows the third Clause of this testimony referred both to God and Christ as the second Clause was yet we shall speak of it only in reference to Christ because the main purpose of the Author in this Clause is to prove not that Christ herein is better then the angels but to shew upon the by that the Duration of Christs person and Kingdom doth not only exceed the age of the world which shall be destroyed but shall be everlasting and perpetuall remaining for ever The world shall not remaine but shall cease to be But Christ shall remaine and never cease to bee but if the world be Innovated into a better state to remaine ever under that state wherein shall stand the opposition betweene the Duration of the world and Christ certainly in nothing Thou art the same The heavens and earth shall not be the same alwayes but at last shall be changed from being to not being But Christ once seated at the right hand of God continues alwayes the same and shall be the same everlastingly And thy yeares shall not fail The world had a beginning and then her years began but because she shall be destroyed and abolished therefore her yeares shall faile and come to an end Christ also had a beginning of his age and yeares but because hee is now immortall therefore his yeares shall never have an end but shall run forth in to eternity and last everlastingly 13. But to which of the angels said he at any time The fift and last Argument to prove Christ better and greater then the angels taken from a testimony of Scripture Psal 110.1 Shewing that God never vouchsafed them that high dignity and degree of honour as to sit at his right hand Sit on my right hand The meaning of this phrase see before in this chapter verse 3. For so great a dominion and power as to correigne with God over all things in heaven and earth was never granted to any of the angels Vntill I make thine enemies thy footstool Here is declared the expiration and terme of that spirituall Kingdome which Christ now administers upon earth and such a terme as therewithall shewes one of the greatest and most excellent effect of that Kingdome In so much as it is no marvell his Kingdome should determine after the production of that effect All which tends to the highest commendation of that Kingdome For if Christ had obtained that Kingdom for some short time or should relinquish it before he had destroyed and abolished all his enemies much would bee wanting to the dignitie of his Kingdome The terme therefore unto which the Kingdom of Christ must be produced which also is a most glorious effect of his Kingdome is expressed when God saith untill I make thine enemies thy footstoole By enemies here we must understand not onely the adversaries to the person of Christ who once reproached and crucified him or since to this day blaspheme and oppose him but also all things adverse and hurtfull to the people of Christ who are the faithfull Of which enemies the chiefest is death so far forth as it doth hurt or may hurt the faithfull who are the people of Christ as the Apostle teacheth 1. Cor. 15.26 For the death which domineers and remaines upon the ungodly and unbeleevers shall not be abolished because their death is no enemy unto Christ but militant and subservient unto him in doing the worke upon which he employes it And the enemies of Christ are then made his footstoole when they are so fully conquered that all power of doing hurt is taken from them or as St. Paul expounds it 1. Cor. 15.26 when they are destroyed and abolished And God is said to put Christs enemies downe not that Christ shall be no agent in that action but because God gives Christ the power to performe it and Christ shall execute it by vertue of that power that is given him As in the Scripture 1. Kings 5.3 God is said to have put Davids enemies under his feet yet David was not idle in the wars but very active Or as some King when his enemies were conquered should say that God had subdued them unto him because God had given him power and courage to performe it For that Christ also himselfe shall subdue his enemies it plainly appeares from the words of St. Paul 1. Cor. 15.24 and Phil. 3.21 14. Are they not all ministring spirits They i. the Angels In the former verse having shewed the Sublimity and Maiesty of Christ in his seat at Gods right hand and in the victory over his enemies he now on the other part opposeth the condition of the angels that the great dignity of him above them may evidently appeare Christ doth sit and he sits at the right hand of God i. he raignes as a King and the manner of Kings is to sit But all the angels none excepted are ministring spirits i. waiting spirits and the manner of waiters is to stand and appeare and be sent forth at his command upon whom they wait Sent forth to minister The angels are Gods messengers and ministers for they are sent forth and the end of their sending forth is to minister or doe service What ministery or service that is hee will presently shew and withall will intimate how long their ministery shall last namely till the persons for whose sake they minister shall attaine salvation For them who shall be heires of salvation The angels are properly ministers unto God and Christ for properly a man ministers unto him that hath a right to command him though his ministery or service be many times performed for the use and behoofe of another So the angels are ministers not unto the Saints and heires of salvation but for the Saints i. for the benefit and commodity of the Saints they minister unto Christ for the vse of the Saints and then they minister to the Saints when they are sent for the custody and guard of their bodies and soules to provide for their safety in both respects For seeing Satan and the other devils doe not only pursue and
because the Law made men high Priests which have infirmity i. such as can never depose their infirmity which alwayes held them in this condition that after expiation for their sinnes and errors they againe fell into the like sinnes and errors which required againe another expiation But the word of the oath which was since the Law The word containing the oath whereof he spake before vers 20. That oath whereby Christ was ordained Priest was since the Law and therefore the Priesthood of Christ is no way depending or established by the Law For here the word of the oath made since the Law is opposed to the Law Maketh the sonne who is consecrated for evermore Maketh the sonne Priest The sonne is here put eminently for the Sonne of God and opposed to common men who have infirmities as those men had whom the Law made Priests so in many places of Scripture Christ is opposed to the rest of men See Gal. 1.1 and Ephes 2.7 Consecrated for evermore Christ is expiated for evermore not in respect of the time past as of old under the Law under which the Priests by reason of their infirmities were forced to renue their expiation every year But Christ by his one single expiation upon the crosse was freed from all further sufferings and paines for evermore so that hee hath no further need to expiate or offer for them any more for ever And hence againe it appears that Christ was not fully perfectly our high Priest before he was consecrated expiated and perfected for evermore That is before he became immortall The Contents of this seventh Chapter are 1. Melchisedec was a Priest v. 1. Reason 1. Because he blessed men sacerdotally for so he blessed Abraham v. 1. 2. Because he received tithes for Abraham gave him a tenth v. 2. 2. Melchisedec was a singular Priest v. 3. Reason 1. Because there were no more Priests of his order for he was without father or mother without predecessour or successour v. 2. 2. Because he was a perpetuall Priest for he had neither beginning of dayes nor end of life but remained a Priest continually v. eod 3. Melchisedec was greater then Abraham v. 1. Reason 1. Because he blessed Abraham sacerdotally v. eod 2. Because he received tithes from Abraham v. 2. 3. Because he was in a manner an eternall person that had no parentage neither beginning of dayes nor end of life 4. Melchisedec was greater then the Leviticall Priests v. 5. Reason 1. Because he blessed them in Abraham who had the promises of them that they should be his seed v. 6. 2. Because he tithed them in tithing Abraham for they were then in the loynes of Abraham v. 5. 9. 10. 3. Because he was a singular and an eternall Priest but they were many and mortall for they dyed and succeeded one another v. 8. 5. Christ is not a Priest after the order of Aaron v. 11. Reason 1. Because Christ sprang not from the tribe of Levi as Aaron did but from Juda another tribe v. 13. 14. 2. Because Christ was not ordained by vertue of any carnall law that respected his birth and parentage as Aaron and his successours were v. 16. 3. Because Christ was made with an oath to make his Priesthood immutable and irrevocable but they without an oath v. 20. 21. 4. Because Christ was a singular and eternall Priest whose Priesthood is unchangeable but they were many and mortall and their Priesthood transitory changing upon death from one person to another v. 23 24. 5. Because Christ is in a divine and blessed state for he is inviolable unharmable undefileable seperate from sinners and seated in heaven They had not the substance of this state but only some shadow of it v. 26. 6. Because Christ needed but one offering for himselfe whereby to expiate and put off his infirmities for ever they needed yearly a new expiation for their infirmities v. 27 28. 6. Christ is a Priest after the order of Melchisedec chap. 6. v. ult Reason 1. Because Christ is a Royall Priest both a King and a Priest as Melchisedec was v. 1. 2. Because Christ is a singular Priest having no other Priest after his order but himselfe for he was without predecessour and successour as Melchisedec was v. 3. 3. Because Christ is an eternall Priest who liveth for ever as Melchisedec is said to have done 7. The Leviticall Priesthood is expired v. 11. Reason 1. Because Christ another Priest is raised up who is not after Aarons order v. eod 2. Because the Priesthood is translated from the tribe of Levi upon whom the Law had setled it v. 13 14. 3. Because that Priesthood was ruled by a carnall law with respect to the birth life and death of the Priest v. 16. 4. Because it made no perfect expiation for sinnes for thereto it was weake and unprofitable v. 18 19. 8. The Leviticall Law is expired v. 12. Reason 1. Because that Priesthood is abrogate and changed v. eod 2. Because the commandements and precepts of it were carnall touching the line the birth and death of Priests touching washings of the flesh of men and sacrificing the flesh of beasts v. 16. 3. Because it made no perfect expiation for sin but to that effect was weake and unprofitable CHAPTER VIII 1. Now of the things which we have spoken this is the summe Wee have such an high Priest Hee had before spoken many things concerning Christ our high Priest both for his quality what manner of person hee is and for his dignity how farre hee exceedeth the legall Priests Now being partly to adde something further and partly to repeat something formerly spoken he calles this repetition the summe of what hee had spoken Now the summe may signifie either the breviat of what hee had spoken or else the maine head and principall point which last sense is most agreeable to this place q.d. Of all those things which have been or may bee spoken concerning Christ our high Priest the main head or principall point is this That we have such an high Priest who is set on the right hand c. Who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens Of these words we treated chap. 1.3 And by them is signified unto us so great a dignity and Majesty in Christ our high Priest that there was scarce extant any shadow of it in the ancient legall Priests seeing none of them did ever sit at the right hand of that throne which was placed in the oracle of the Sanctuary namely of the Mercy-seat or covering of the Arke which was all over shadowed by the wings of the Cherubines and called the Throne of God whereupon God was said to sit between the Cherubines But all those legall high Priests when they entred into the oracle or most holy place of the Sanctuary were forced to stand before the Arke and so before the Mercy-seat upon it But Christ is so great an high Priest that he sits on
what doth this concerne us and the expiation of our sins that instead of the Legall sacrifices Christ saith he will do or hath done the will of God Therefore the Author shews that this will of God and the execution of it doth consist in the sacrifice and offering of Christ made for us whence also this will of God is tacitly compared with the Legall sacrifices and withall is preferred before them as farre more excellent and acceptable to God Therefore he saith that we are sanctified by it even we who as he presently addeth are sanctified by the offering of the body of Christ In which words he withall teacheth what that will of God is namely that it is the offering of the body of Christ once for all or at least that it is altogether concurrent with this offering For how else should we be said to be sanctified or expiated by this will of God seeing we are sanctified by the offering of the body of Christ For this will of God seems to be opposed thus far to the legall sacrifices that by it we are truly sanctified For while our sanctification is attributed to the will of God as it stands opposed to the legall sacrifices it is tacitely taken from them As if the Author had said By which wil of God we are sanctified not by the old legal sacrifices The will of God is here put not for the action of his will but for the object or matter of his wil for the thing he would have done which he approves and wherein he hath pleasure for it is opposed to the legall sacrifices which he would not have done which he approves not and wherein he hath no pleasure And therefore it signifies the sacrifice and offering of Christ as the object or matter which is now his will as the words following teach us Sanctified is explated purged and cleansed from our sins for which see chap. 9.13 Through the offering of the body of Iesus Christ once for all The offering not of legall sacrifices often made and yearely iterated and therefore ineffectuall and imperfect but of the body of Christ once made is that offering which greatly pleaseth God and is wholly conformable to his will and truely sanctifieth us 11. And every Priest standeth daily ministring and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices Hitherto hee hath compared the offering of Christ with the legall sacrifices chiefly in respect of the iteration that the legall sacrifices were offered often that is yeare by yeare for the whole people but that of Christ but once only Now he begins to cōpare the high Priests together namely the old with the new the legall Priests with Christ that they offered and ministred yeare by yeare but Christ once onely For where there are many sacrifices successively iterated yeare by yeare there the high Priest also must necessarily minister and offer yeare by yeare but where there is but one sacrifice or offering to be made there the high Priest ministers and offers but once onely For hitherto the author hath intended onely this to shew that Christ entring into his heavenly Sanctuary not to offer often according to the manner of the legall high Priests but to make one only offering as appeares in the former chapter verse 25. For to this point as to his main scope all his arguments are directed The high Priest being en tered into the holy place did not sit there but was wont to stand there before the Mercy-seat as before the Throne of God And hee stood there daily which must not be so understood that he did so every day in the yeare but upon a set and certaine day of the yeare which had it circuit and came about yeare by yeare namely at the solemne anniversary fast for the universall expiation of the whole people for he daily offered upon that day whensoever it had recourse For in this sense he used the same word before chap. 7.27 where he openly spake of that solemne annuall sacrifice upon the day of Expiation whereto he hath reference in this place also as particularly appeares from the third verse of this chapter where he mentions the Commemoration of sins every yeare which were constantly confessed by the whole people at that sacrifice Which can never take away sins The cause is here shewed why the legall high Priest must offer those sacrifices often namely because they could never take away sinnes i. They could never so effectually free men from their sinnes that they who were once expiated thereby should have no further conscience of sinnes And what this is hath been already explicated in this chapter verse 2. 12. But this man after he had offered one Sacrifice for sins for ever sat downe at the right hand of God Here he opposeth Christ to the legall high Priest in three particulars First in that Christ offered for sins but once onely for he so offered that he never iterated his offering more Secondly in that after his offering hee sat downe at the right hand of God Thirdly that he continued his seat there for ever even unto the end of the world And these two latter particulars are a reason of the former for because Christ sitteth at the right hand of God and sits there for ever to the worlds end therefore he shall never offer sacrifice more For how can it beseeme or rather how can it befall so great a Majestie to offer againe another Sacrifice that is to die againe and then againe to enter into heaven For seeing Christ sitteth at Gods right hand for ever therefore the Majestie of Christ must continue for ever also and then how can Christ ever offer again For then a thing lasteth for ever when it hath a continuall duration through all times and ages without any intermission 13. From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstoole Here he shewes the issue or effect that will follow upon Christs sitting at the right hand of God For thereupon it will follow that at the last all his enemies shall be put under his feet and made his footstoole So farre shall Christ be from offering againe to bee violated and put to death againe by his enemies that he expects their subjection to him to be made his footstoole And when all the enemies of Christ among whom death is the last and chiefest shall be made his footstool i. shall be wholy mastered yea abolished what cause can there be why hee should iterate his offering That this subjection will follow the Author gathers it from this saying of God unto Christ Sit thou at my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy footstoole Psalme 110.1 Therefore Christ sitting at the right hand of God doth expect this And he saith that Christ expecteth this fitting his words to the words of the Psalme wherein God himselfe doth vindicate this subjection of Christs enemies unto him by putting them under his feet But because wee know that Christ himselfe neither heretofore hath beene
thou art my son He confirms his former reason by a testimony from Scripture Psal 2.7 Why Christ hath a more excellent Name then Angels Because God gave Christ the Name or title of Sonne which is a title of honour above that of Angels whose name or title signifies them to be the Messengers or Legats of God The Angels in generall are some time in Scripture called the Sons of God as Iob 1.6 But God on his part never calls them so in generall much lesse doth he single out any one peculiar Angel apart from the rest to entitle him by the name or Son But God entitles Christ by that Name Thou art my Sonne thou and no other person properly For the Pronoune thou is here put exclusively to sequester all other persons beside from the participation of that name as a proper and personall title Indeed as the Angels in generall so all Christians are in common called the Sonnes of God but Christ onely is so called peculiarly personally and singularly This day have I begotten thee He confirms why Christ is singularly entituled and named the Sonne of God because God after a singular manner hath begotten him i. Raised him from the dead for in Davids Psalmes from whence this testimonie is taken extream dangers resemble death and made him most resemblant and like to God himselfe by giving him Immortality and universall Royalty to bee King over his people For this generating or begetting of Christ hath respect to his Resurrection and Ascension for so Saint Paul expresly refers it Acts 13.33 Not that Christ was not begotten or not called the Sonne of God before his Resurrection but because by his Resurrection he was most assimilated and made semblant unto God by being made an immortall and universall King whereby he had the highest degree under God therefore God is said to have then begotten him and then to call him his Sonne For God is called God by reason of his supream power and dominion whereof they also are called Gods and the sons of God that have power and dominion and the greater their power is or the nearer it resembles Gods power so much the rather and more neerly are they his sonnes And he is most of all his Sonne whose power and dominion is made either the same with Gods or equall to it Christ was the Sonne of God before his Resurrection for during his prophetick function he was a great Potentate and wrought powerfull miracles but after his Resurrection upon his Regall office he became most neerly and highly the Sonne of God because then God made him an immortall and universall Potentate for then all Power was given him in heaven and earth Mat. 28.18 This day It is an Hebraisme frequently added to speeches wherein some remarkable matter is either done or given or promised or commanded as in this place to the end that day might be kept in memory or as it were remaine for a day of Commemoration that the action of that day might be kept in perpetual remembrance See Gen. 4.14 Jer. 1.10 and many places in Deuteronomie And againe I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me a Sonne Hee confirmes that Christ is the Son of God from another testimony of Scripture 2. Sam. 7.14 which was literally spoken of by Solomon as the former testimony of David but both mystically of Christ Intimating the deare love and affection of God toward him whereupon it must needs follow that Christ must be exalted to a most excellent state and condition above all other persons And as these words were spoken of Solomon futurely before hee was borne and indeed the Sonne of God so also of Christ 6. And again when he bringeth in Another testimonie of Scripture to prove Christ better then the Angels because all the Angels are commanded to worship him which must needs follow upon the state and condition of his filiation For all servants must worship or reverence their masters sonne and heire especially then when his father had made over his inheritance or estate unto him This testimonie is taken out of 97. Psalme whereof the inscription in the Septuagint is A Psalme of David when the land was restored unto him namely when his kingdome was restored after his expulsion from it by Absolon but mystically meant of Christ And therefore againe may well be referred to his bringing in For after Christ was expelled the world by his death and buriall God brought him into the world againe by his Resurrection in raising him from the grave The first begotten Christ is the first begotten Sonne of God because God begot him before all his other sonnes who are called the brethren of Christ for God first begot Christ in that manner wherein God is said to beget sons for those he begets whom he assimilates and makes like unto himselfe and so Christ was the first that was assimilated or made like unto God in holinesse in such holinesse as he requires in the new Covenant Secondly Christ is the first begotten of God by his Resurrection because by the power of God hee was raised and brought in againe from death to an immortall life for which cause hee is called the first begotten from the dead and the first fruits of them that slept 1. Cor. 15.20 Lastly he is the first begotten in all things whatsoever whereby the faithfull of Christ become the sons of God for Christ hath preceded them all that as St. Paul speakes he in alâ— things might have the preeminence Col. 1.18 Into the world First to be upon the earth a while after his Resurrection from the grave but chiefly when he brought him into heaven which is the superiour and future world and seated him at his right hand for then Christ became the Lord and head over men and angels and till then the angels worshipped him not For in this sence the Apostle here takes the world as himselfe shewes in the next cap. ver 5. where he saith thaâ— the world to come is the world whereof he spake And let all the angels of God worship him The words are Imperative laying a Command upon all the angels of God none excepted to worship Christ and therefore it followes that Christ is made much better then the angels In the Hebrew of the Psalme it is Worship him all ye Gods where the word Gods is opposed to Idols which were the Heathen Gods whose woâ—shippers are there commanded to be ashamed and againe to those Idols Christ is opposed who not onely is not an Idol but so true a God that all other Gods who are not idols must worship him But because by Gods there we can understand none but the Angels therefore the Septuagint translâ—tes it the Angels of God whom this divine Author followes Worship him Vse divine reverence before him and unto him by standing up bowing downe and falling downe before him in â—he very same manner that is done or due to God himself Because Christ sustaines the
common use For this sanctifying as the word following shewes consisteth onely in purifying of the flesh All the sanctifying that proceeded from the offerings of the bloud of calves and goates or from the sprinkling of the ashes of an heifer was but a carnall purifying to cleanse the flesh The Ceremoniall uncleannesses wherewith men by chance were defiled were expiated by these offerings and sprinklings and the partie predefiled became purified so that now it was lawfull for him to converse with other men to come to the Temple to be present at divine servivices and to partake of the Sacrifice from all which his former uncleannesse debarred him So that this Puritie or cleannesse of the flesh was both the end and effect of the offering of bloud and sprinkling of ashes 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ Some man may think that the Author should not have drawne his argument à mirori but rather à pari seeing there seemes an equalitie of reason on both sides that as well the legall sacrifice as that of Christ had a like force to produce their effects the blood of beasts to purifie the flesh and the blood of Christ to purifie the conscience But we must note that the blood of beasts and the offering of it is not altogether of like nature to purifie the flesh as the blood of Christ offered to God by the spirit is to the cleansing of the conscience For if we looke upon the nature of the thing what force hath the blood of beasts offered in the Sanctuary that thereby it should cleanse the flesh or be reputed to cleanse it Was not this effect of purifying the flesh tyed to the shedding and offering of that blood onely by the decree of God and that it might bee accounted to have this effect must they not have a knowledge of Gods decree by some other meanes But for the blood of Christ after the shedding of it there followed the offering of Christ himselfe in the heavenly Tabernacle or the shedding of Christs blood joyned with the offering of Christ himselfe as the Author considers the blood of Christ here seeing Christ therefore shed it that hee might offer himselfe in the Sanctuary of heaven both as a Priest and as a Sacrifice The blood of Christ I say if we respect the nature of the thing hath a potent force to purge our consciences or is the true and effectuall cause of their being purged For in the offering of Christ as wee have already said somwhat and more shall afterward is contained his singular and onely care of our salvation in heaven from whence the purifying of our consciences and the plenary remission of our sinnes doth flow and proceed as from the proper cause of it Furthermore that the blood of Christ may be knowne to have so great force looking on the nature of Christs death and the circumstances of it every man may easily be admonished of it For Christ by his blood did strongly maintain the truth of his doctrine having shed his blood he entred into heaven the habitacle of immortall life that what he had promised by his words hee might testifie to all men by his example having shed his blood and entered into his heavenly Sanctuary hee offered himselfe an immaculate sacrifice to God for us having shed his blood he obtained all power both in heaven and earth all judgement and arbitrement of our salvation Neither to obtaine this was the bloodshed of Christ a bare condition that of it owne nature and proper efficacy conferred nothing to it but seeing it conteineth so hard a worke of vertue and obedience a worke so acceptable to God and so advancing to his glory even of it own nature it had force and power to procure this power unto Christ and to produce in us the cleansing of our conscience Hee that ponders all this in his minde can he doubt but that by the blood of Christ he is expiated from all staine of sinne if he embrace the faith of Christ with all his heart and afterward as farre as the hope of eternall life can encourage him keep himselfe undefiled and pure from all staine of sinne Thus the nature and force of Christs death being considered the Authour with very good reason doth draw and conclude this his argument not from a parity of reason but from a disparity or from the lesse to the greater The blood of Christ There seemes an Emphasis in these words of the Author to make it yet more fully appeare how great force his blood hath in cleansing our consciences As if he had said The blood not of an ordinary man which yet is better then that of beasts but of Christ who is the unigenit son of God feated in heaven at the right hand of God and reigning over all creatures Shall not this blood have much more force to purge the conscience then the blood of beasts had to purifie the flesh Now that we may a little prevent the words of the Author the cleansing of our conscience is attributed to the blood of Christ both as it is the blood of the Covenant whereby the new Covenant is established and as it is the blood of the sacrifice which is offered for us in that heavenly Sanctuary both which the Authour hath conjoyned saving that he explicates the first last and the last first because it belongs to his Priesthood as the former is referred to his Mediatorship which two functions of Christ were fitly conjoyned in the mention of his blood for they are both coupled in the death of Christ for his Mediatorship ended in his death and his Priesthood began there But how the blood of Christ purgeth our consciences as it is the bloud of the Covenant wee shall see hereafter Yet now we shall adde thus much that the new Covenant was established by the bloud of Christ not onely as appointed so by God in manner as the bloud of calves and goates was of old appointed for the establishing of the old covenant but even the very nature and condition of his bloud was of great efficacy thereto For who can doubt of the truth of that covenant for confirmation whereof the bloud of Christ was shed who made this covenant in the name of God and afterward became our heavenly King Who through the eternall Spirit offered himselfe without spot to God Here the Author clearly expresseth by what meanes the bloud of Christ as it was the bloud of the sacrifice had so much power force as to purge our consciences namely because Christ having shed his bloud did through the eternall Spirit offer himself without spot to God in the heavenly Sanctuary Hence it is manifest that the bloud of Christ had so far power to expiate our sins as the shedding of it was seconded by Christ his offering of himselfe in heaven which could not follow unlesse Christ had first shed his bloud For the bloud of Christ not onely as it is the bloud of
faith of it unto us And the Scriptures make faith unto us of the Creation not only for the act of it that such a worke was done but for the manner how it was done as Moses describes it even by the word and sole command of God and for the matter whereof it was made in that the things seene were made of things not seene That the worlds were framed Worlds for world the number plurall for the singular by a Grecisme where originally it is ages putting the adjuncts of the world for the subject By the word of God by the only fiat or command of God God used no other instrument for the framing of the world besides his bare word For God only said the word Let there be light and there was light Gen. 1.3 And by the word of the Lord even by the breath of his mouth were the heavens made and all the host of them Psal 33.6 And as the heavens so also the earth was framed and setled by his word For he spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast Psal 33.9 So that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear The particle not seems to be transposed for it should affect the word appeare because the minde and sense of this clause is not negative but affirmative thus So that things which are seen were made of things which doe not appeare though for the matter it come all to one because a terme finite denyed of any subject is all one with the same terme infinited and affirmed yet this latter expression leaves in our mindes a cleare apprehension of the matter The Author seems as his manner is to follow and reflect upon the Greek Translation of the Old Testament wherein at the beginning of Genesis it is said that the Earth was invisible for that which we from the Hebrew translate that the Earth was without forme and void And the Author made choice rather to say things not appearing then things invisible when he would shew us the prime materialls whereof the world was made For that is properly invisible which naturally cannot be perceived by the sight and that is rightly tearmed not appearing which though it be naturally visible yet really it appears not especially then when it lyes hidden and covered with thicke darknesse Although in this place the word not-appearing seems to have yet a more ample sense and to comprise that want of forme and force noted by the Hebrew words for which the Greek Translation reads invisible Wherefore by things not appearing is meant that chaos or elements of the world which at the beginning were confused because partly that chaos wanted forme shape and outward beauty in regard the severall parts of it were not yet digested and disposed into that elegant order figure and proportion which afterward was given it by the Creation and therefore the Scripture saith it was without forme and partly because it wanted vertue and force to produce those creatures and adorne it selfe that afterward God by the Creation gave it power to produce but to any such purpose it was wholly feeble and barren and therefore the Scripture saith it was void and partly againe because it wanted light to manifest and make it visible to the sight that it might be seene for though in it selfe it were visible and appearable yet actually it appeared not and therefore the Scripture saith that darkenesse was upon the face of it Wherefore when God entered upon the worke of the world the first perfect creature that he made was the light and that being finished he framed all the other parts of the world in a most beautifull order And this chaos is in the Scripture called the Deepe because it was vast both for quantity and quality for it wanted the three beautifull qualities of forme force and light which afterward were induced into it Yet sometimes the Scriptures expresse it by names Synecdochicall which signifie onely a part of it calling it sometime the heaven sometime the earth and sometime the waters because it was a Deepe or chaos composed and confused of all these together or at least of those materials whereof all these were afterward produced and created as in the same tub of milke there lye confused together those three materials from which are afterward produced the distinct white meates of butter cheese and whey Hereby the Author plainely declares and it sufficiently also appeares from the history of the Creation described by Moses that God when he began the Creation or frame of the world as it is delivered in the beginning of Genesis did not produce it meerely from nothing but from that Chaos or Deepe which positively was confused of the three materials whereof afterward was made the three elements of heaven earth and water and privitively wanted the three qualities of forme force and light And this opinion was anciently received among the people of God as it appeares by the Author of the booke of Wisdome chap. 11.17 where speaking to God he saith For thy almighty hand that made the world of matter without forme for so it is in the Greek and the vulgar Latin hath it of matter unseene But of the creation of this matter there is no mention made in the Scriptures for to the holy Ghost it seemed good to conceale it By things which are seene are here meant all those creatures which we see in this world as this beautifull order and posture of all things whereby those things which before were confused and blended together are now digested into their severall ranks and places for the use and benefit of man and beast and all the rest of the Creatures both animate and inanimate both in heaven earth and waters were produced by the word or command of God For in these words of the Author is signified not onely that change whereby things not appearing became appearing by vertue of that light which God made and made to shine upon them which change God made first of all by his creation of light but also that change whereby the things which now appeare were made of things not-appearing as from the informed matter of the Chaos or Deepe which wanting forme force and light was so rude so weake and so darke that from it selfe of it selfe nothing would ever have beene produced but by the accesse of Gods almighty power 4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice then Cain Now he begins to reckon up speciall and particular examples of persons endued with faith and withall he declares both what they performed by vertue of their faith and also what blessings they obtained from God by it that by so many illustrious examples he might winne the Hebrewes to an imitation of those persons First of all he mentions Abel as a person neerely approaching to the beginning of the world He mentions not our first Parents either because concerning them there is nothing read memorable in the Canonicall books of
shall thy seed be called that is the children to be borne of Isaac shall be accounted thy seed and posterity namely that thy posterity for whom I have ordained my blessing and the possession of that land and therefore Isaacs children only shall be called the posterity of Abraham In this perplexity then and contrariety between the promise and the command what issue could Abraham find for his faith To doubt of Gods promises and of their performance he thought it impiety and therefore he obeyed Gods command for the offering up of Isaac But then considering that this sacrifice would in the eye of nature overthrow all his hope therefore he builds a new and high faith upon the ground of his former faith namely 19. Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the daed This way onely the passage was open for Abraham to beleeve that God was able to raise Isaac even from the dead This point he did beleeve though he had no president or example for it For he would rather ascend up to the highest pitch of faith then relapse or retire in any degree and would rather cumulate a high faith with a higher then make the least doubt of Gods promises Accounting is in the Greeke reasoning after he had reasoned within himselfe casting up all the wayes possible how to salve up Gods command with Gods promise at last hee determined and concluded a possibility this way And which way was that that though he should slay Isaac and offer him up to God as a burnt-offering yet God was able to raise him up even from the dead This was the summe of his account and the conclusion of his reasoning that God was Almighty and able to doe not only all other things that are easily done but even to raise from the dead which is an act so difficult and so remote from humane reason that man might account it an act altogether impossible That God was able He reasoned and concluded of Gods power only because he had no reason to doubt of his will seeing he had received the promises of God wherein God had sufficiently declared his will The only doubt therefore rested upon Gods power which doubt he solves by his faith From whence also he received him in a figure Abraham did not only beleeve that God was both able and willing to raise Isaac from the dead but in a manner saw him raised from the dead and in a manner received him againe from God as raised from death In a figure In the Greeke it is in a parable or in a similitude In a figure is opposed to the proprietie and truth of the thing For truely and properly Isaac was not raised nor received from the dead because hee was not dead but in a figure and in a manner hee was both raised and received For Abraham accounted his Isaac for dead and therefore seeing now hee remained alive and beyond all hope was rescued from the stroke which his father had aimed at his throat it was in a manner all one to Abraham and all one to Isaac as if Isaac had beene dead and raised againe from the dead For hence wee use to say of those that are delivered from some extreme danger wherein they were given for dead that they are as it were revived and recovered from the grave Holy David many times makes such expressions of himselfe and Paul when God had delivered him from an extreme danger wherein hee wholly despaired of life saith We had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but God which raiseth the dead who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver 2. Cor. 1.9,10 20. By faith Isaac blessed Iacob and Esau concerning things to come Now the Author mentions the peculiar faith of Isaac with an example of it in blessing Jacob and Esau concerning things to come He prayed to God for blessings to come upon them that should have their event after many ages to come For this blessing of Isaac was no ordinary or vulgar Benediction as that of Parents commonly is who when they blesse their children expresse only the wishes and desires of their mind but whether the blessing will succeed according to their wishes and desires they are no way certaine although such blessings of theirs may proceed from some faith but Isaac so blessed his sonnes and so prevailed with God for the things for which he prayed as if in a manner he had simply foretold them nothing doubting of their event but certainely perswaded that God would doe no otherwise then as hee had wished and prayed For when he perceived his errour in the person of his sonnes yet he said I have blessed him yea and he shall be blessed Gen. 27.33 In which words he plainly signified that the blessing he had given was so confirmed that hee could not recall it But the Authour names Jacob first though Esau was the first-born because Iacob had the first and the best blessing albeit hee obtained it by a wile God so disposing the matter For before either of them were born God using his owne freedome in bestowing his blessings upon whom he will had appointed to preferre Jacob before Esau the yonger before the elder Therefore God suffered not Isaac to bestow the best blessing upon Esau that neither the decree of God nor the blessing of Isaac might faile especially seeing Esau had already voluntarily and freely sold away his birth-right which as the Scripture saith he despised We say he sold it voluntarily and freely because he was not driven to that sale by any destiny or decree of God For Esau might have kept the honour and benefit of his birth-right and yet as God had decreed his posteritie might have become yonger or subject to have served the posteritie of Jacob. 21. By faith Iacob when he was a dying blessed both the sonnes of Ioseph Now he mentions the particular faith of Jacob which appeared in this blessing of the sonnes of Joseph And he addeth the circumstance of time that Iacob did this when he was a dying that hence it might appeare how hee persisted in the faith to his last breath and how constantly hee beleeved the promises of God whereby God had setled his blessing and the possession of the land of Canaan upon his posterity The History hereof is in Genesis 48. But wee may wonder why the Author mentions onely the sonnes of Joseph seeing with the very same faith Jacob gave blessings to all his children was it because he shewed a particular faith in beleeving that Ephraim though the younger should be afterward preferred before Manasses the elder and therefore crossing his hands otherwise then Joseph expected and had placed his sons laid his right hand upon Ephraim who stood at his left hand and his left hand upon Manasses who stood at his right Or was it because he beleeved that these sons of Joseph should be
be as things now stood For it seems hee was already free from prison and set at liberly as may bee gathered from the 23. verse following 20. Now the God of peace Here begins the close of this Epistle which first containes a devotion concluded with a doxologie then certaine monitions or rather requests which againe he ends with another devotion and withall ends the whole Epistle In his devotion he first names and describes the person of whom all those things are to be performed which he prayeth and wisheth to them Then are expressed the wishes themselves He saith therefore But the God of peace The particle but containes a tacit opposition as if he had said I have hitherto proposed unto you divers monitions and precepts but the God of peace enable you to keep them But he describes the Author and donor of the blessings he wisheth unto them first in calling him the God of peace And the descriptions of God that aâ—…â—sed in wishes are commonly fitted to the wishes themselves In this place because the Author wisheth to the Hebrewes that which might render them truly happy namely that in all respects they might please God therefore by the word peace seems to be meant rather happinesse according to the ordinary phrase among the Hebrewes then concord or what else the word peace doth elsewhere signifie and in this sense this title is more frequently attributed unto God but in the other seldome And God is called the God of peace that is of happinesse not only because God alone can make men happy but because hee will and also doth make them so by supplying them abundantly with all those meanes and helpes whereby true happinesse may be attained by men And therefore in this place hee describes God in this manner thereby to teach us that from him proceeds all happinesse and from him must bee sought and may be easily obtained all things belonging to the attaining of it because he is ready and free to grant happinesse to all that seeke it by due means That brought againe from the dead our Lord Iesus that great shepheard of the sheep through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant He adjoynes another description of God from whence it appears how certainly God will make those men happy and blessed that believe and obey him And hee mentions that mighty and admirable worke of God which to all the godly brings a most assured hope of eternall happinesse and blessednesse and so he manifestly proves him to be the God of peace or happinesse And this worke was That he brought againe from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepheard of the sheep and that through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant wherein hee describes withall our Lord Jesus himselfe that hence it may appeare what an infinit blessing God bestowed upon men by this bringing againe of our Lord Jesus from the dead If God had delivered but some ordinary man from the dead and estated him in eternall life yet even for that he must needs bee accounted the author of happinesse But now that he hath raised from the dead not an ordinary person but the Shepheard of the sheep not an ordinary shepheard but that great Shepheard nor constituted by an ordinary way but through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant he is much more to be accounted the author and donor of happinesse Which that this Author might declare the more amply and fully therefore it is that he proceeds by words that are very passionate and stately That brought againe from the dead That raised from death to life The word reducing or bringing againe is very accommodate to signifie that God was the Shepheard of Christ our Shepheard whose office it is to lead forth his sheep and bring them againe and that God brought Christ againe from the hideous den of death and so together with him all his sheep For the reduction of our Shepheard from the grave is also our reduction and resurrection from it It was in our Shepheard first that God shewed an essay of his great power and goodnesse and that experiment on Christ was an engagement unto us to assure us also of our resurrection But who this God of peace is that brought againe our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead both the thing it self and the holy Scriptures clearly shew namely that it is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ In the description of our Lord Jesus almost every word of the Author is emphaticall For first hee calls him the Shepheard of the sheep which must not be understood as restrained to that time only wherein Christ lived upon earth but enlarged and much rather to the time following since he sat on the Throne of God for since that time he became most perfectly properly the Shepheard of the sheep Now Christ is the Shepheard of the sheep not only because he ministers to them the wholesome food of Gods word and Spirit but because he every way lookes unto them for he assembles and collects them he governes and defends them and finally procures their eternall salvation For it is the part of a Shepheard not only to feed the sheep but to defend and governe them and looke to them in all things as need shall require Whence Peter when he called our Saviour the Shepheard addeth to it the word Bishop which signifies a Guardian especially as the Hebrewes use to understand it 1 Pet. 2.25 For when wee have a great care of any thing we often visit inspect and see it from whence ariseth the word Bishop which properly signifies a visitor or overseer Hee that desires to know the properties of a good shepheard let him read in the tenth Chapter of John the parable of the good Shepheard which there Christ applies unto himselfe The article that prefixed here before the Shepheard teacheth us that he is no ordinary or vulgar shepheard but an eminent and excellent person whose description and promise also is extant Ezek. 24. But the addition of the word great unto this Shepheard declares his excellency more manifestly when the Author saith that great Shepheard For by this appellation he specifies what manner of shepheard he understands namely a Shepheard so exceeding great that in comparison of him all other shepheards are very little In which sense also St. Peter calls him the chiefe Shepheard or Prince of shepheards 1 Pet. 5.4 And certainly Christ must needs be a great Shepheard indeed seeing hee is equall to God in wisdome power and dominion seated in heaven at the right hand of God upon the throne of God and feeds his sheepe wholly in the same manner that God doth seeing he appoints all other shepheards of his sheep and hath them subject unto him seeing he gathers his sheep out of all Nations into one sheep-fold of his Church seeing though he hath an innumerable multitude of sheep yet he knows them all and so provides for all that no one can stray from him no one can perish no one