may sway him so to grant something that if he grant it not wee may well say he deals unequally and hardly In this latter way God may seem to be said unrighteous if he should be so unmindfull of vertues both past and present if he should presently reject men though otherwise worthy of reprobation if God should deale with them according to his Law and no way expect their repentance but wholly exclude them from all addresse to his clemency mercy especially if it appear not that there are some prevalent causes which restraine God from shewing mercy as in case he be to shew herein some example of his judgment For God must not presently be said unrighteous if he deal somewhat severely with one or two but then when he usually doth it or doth it with whole Churches Wherefore the Author brings not here any demonstrative or convictive reason or such as that God might not lawfully do otherwise without the aspersion of unrighteousnes or iniquity properly so term'd but only a reason very probable drawn for the most part from the clemencie and mercy of God which is voluntary in him To forget your work and labor of love To speak properly forgetfulnes is not incident unto God but figuratively he is then said to forget when he hath no regard of a thing or doth that which men forgetfull doe Their work as it seems was the conflict they had in suffering afflictions from their first entrance into the faith of Christ as the Author speaks of them afterward chap. 10 32. Unto which work or conflict he subjoyns the labour of love for in the place last cited after that conflict which they endured the Author mentions their offices of charity which they exercised toward the Saints And it is not likely that in this place where especially their good works were to be mentioned the Author would passe over their noblest act which consisted in suffering for Christs cause For Paul hath joyned these two together the work of faith and labor of love 1 Th. 1 3. where by the work of faith he seems to understand their many sufferings for the truths sake For such a work grows immediatly from faith as labour and bounty toward the Saints springs only from love and is therefore called the labor of love And that patience which proceeds from hope is called the patience of hope because it argues constancie in suffering afflictions under hope of reward and is there added to the work of faith and labour of love Their labour of love was another act of theirs no lesse acceptable to God and no lesse remarkable in it selfe Labour of love is that labour which proceeds from love or that labour whereto love puts us and love makes any labour light and easie for nothing is more powerfull nothing more imperious then love And this labour is seen in helping him whom we love with all our strength power endeavor Which ye have shewed toward his name Their love toward God made them so deare to God that it would not suffer him to reject them and wholly exclude them from salvation And this love was shewed toward the name of God because they shewed it to no other end but with respect to Gods name How this was thus effected hee presently declares In that ye have ministred to the Saints and doe minister We shew love when we minister and we shew love toward the name of God when we minister to the Saints meerly therefore because they are Saints and consecrate unto God For he that ministreth to the Saints and shews love to the Saints therefore because they are Saints and beare the name of God he shews love toward the name of God as he that ministreth to a Disciple of Christ because he is his Disciple he ministreth to Christ himselfe As much as ye have done it saith Christ unto one of the least of these my brethren yee have done it unto me Mat. 25.40 This Ministery consisted herein that in the afflictions of the Saints the Hebrews were wanting to them in no good office but helped them in all things to their power as he expresseth it afterward chap. 10.33 that they became their companions in their afflictions And this is done when we esteem the affliction of an other to be in a manner our owne when we have a singular care of him and performe those offices unto him that wee would have performed to our selves if we were in his case And doe minister This vertue of ministering to the Saints was not yet quite ceased in them albeit it may be somewhat abated 11. And we desire Here he passeth to the other part of the chapter wherein he exhorts them to a diligent and constant course of godlinesse and admonisheth them never to faint in their faith and hope And he seemes here to take away a tacit objection that might settle in their mindes From his last former words they might be too much advanced in hope to believe that now all must needs goe well with them seeing God without being unrighteous could not forget the things they had done and suffered and did yet doe and suffer for Gods cause Lest they should fall to imagine this the Author shews them what he would have them yet doe and what he yet findes wanting in them if they meant to retaine and assured hope of salvation Hee proceeds very prudently with them when a little before hee seemed to have terrified them too much and to debarre them from all hope of salvation he againe erected them and shewed that he did not so conceive this but that he was perswaded better things of them And now againe lest they should be too confident of themselves and bee pussed up in minde and flatter themselves with an infallible hope of salvation he shews them their wants that being thus reduced to a temper that they might neither despair of salvation nor presume of it That every one of you do shew the same diligence He calls not only upon the whole Church in generall but upon each person singly to continue the same diligence and endeavor that they had done from their first reception of the Gospel To the full assurance of hope To be assured of a thing is to have a knowledge of it that it is thus or thus And a full assurance is a full and certain knowledge or as we vulgarly speak it is a certainty And a full assurance of hope is a certainty of those things that are the object or matter of our hope And the hope here ment is the Christian hope whose object is eternal salvation wherof our Christian hope is an expectation And this hope is advanced augmented by our constancy in faith and good works wherby it is daily more and more assured and the assurance of it daily made more full They had a hope of salvation grounded upon the promises of God and quickned by the worke they had done and yet did for Gods cause but a
Lord the Author understands the afflictions which the Hebrewes suffered for Christs sake because many times God is wont to use such afflictions not onely to make triall of men but to make men good and to amend them by a fatherly correction And wee must conceive that this had then befallen those Hebrewes Nor faint when thou art rebuked of him Another abuse of Gods chastening quite contrary to the former and that is to faint and sinke downe under it For some when they are chastned of God are of a stubborne and impatient spirit others are soft natured or have no spirit at all whence it comes to passe that being overcome with afflictions they faint and forsaking their trust and hope in God turne aside from the pathes of righteousnesse 6. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth The reason expressed in the exhortation it selfe why we should be obedient unto it is because chastening is an effect and an argument of Gods love toward us And what proceeds from Gods love must not be despised or rejected but be held in high esteem neither must it deject our minds from faith and hope in God but rather raise and encourage us to receive it But we must note that chastisement that is that correction or punishment which God inflicts upon us for our amendment is a token and effect of Gods love and not every punishment which oftentimes is laid on men for their destruction for this is the effect of Gods wrath and indignation against which David supplicates in the sixth Psalme Besides this reason must be taken with a limitation for God doth not chastise every one whom he loves if we take chastising not simply for affliction but for a punishment but then onely when they deserve chastising as for the most part they doe But it appears by the scope and intent of the Author that these words must be taken as if it had been said Whom the Lord loveth he at last chastiseth or sometime chastiseth Which sentence is more fully expressed in the Hebrew text if wee looke upon the following words as wee shall see presently For otherwise we could not hence gather that chastising is alwayes an effect and token of Gods love For saving the truth of the words in the text a man may imagine that whom God loveth hee chastiseth but not conversly that whom he chastiseth he loveth so that it may be doubted whether chastising proceed from Gods love or hatred Neither are these sayings repugnant Whom the Lord loveth he chastiseth and whom he loveth not he chastiseth seeing God may chastise both these unlesse as we said we understand the particle at last in the latter part of the former saying which in such sayings falles out very frequently And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth This is but a repetition of the same saying In the Hebrew it is even as a father the son in whom he delighteth which is nothing else but the converse of the former saying as if Solomon had said whom God loveth he chastiseth and whom he chastiseth he loveth So that chastising is a most certain and undoubted effect and token of Gods love Whom he receiveth i. whom God adopteth acknowledgeth and accounteth for his Sonne For God doth not acknowledge all for sonnes who call themselves the Sonnes of God 7. If ye endure chastning God dealeth with you as with sons From the former divine exhortation the Author frames in a manner a new argument to excite them unto patience in suffering of afflictions because then God dealeth with them as with sonnes Ye have this commodity by your patience that God offers himselfe unto you as unto children and he on his part performes the office of a Father so thereby ye have God for your Father And God delighteth in him whom he chastiseth as a father in his sonne For what sonne is he whom the father chastiseth not It is the office of the father to chastise the sonne that deserveth it and he alwayes doth it unlesse many and great injuries have overcome his patience and there be something that hee fears more then he blames 8. But if ye be without chastisement To be without chastisement in this verse is opposed to endure chastening in the former verse whence it appears that the word endure in the former verse doth not signifie the vertue of patience which is a duty belonging to the godly but only the suffering or sense of paine which concernes their state and condition Hee shews on the other part illustrating the thing from the contrary what an inconvenience it is for a man to be without chastisement and to receive no trouble nor evill from God And the inconvenience is this that such goe not for sonnes but are reputed of God as bastards and children of adultery and changelings which of all inconveniences is to man the greatest We must therefore needs chuse one of these two either to be acknowledged for the sons of God and so undergoe chastisement or if we will not be chastised we must bee accounted bastards Whereof all are partakers To be the Son of God and to be chastised at least as often as need requires are conditions so connexed and coupled between themselves that all the Sons of God must needs undergoe this Law all must needs feele their Fathers hand and be partakers of chastisement All must needs be partakers hereof yet not universally but generally because there are few sons or rather but one only who deserved not chastisement neither had any need of it And yet even he was exercised with hard conditions not that hee was partaker of chastisement properly that is of punishment for what place could punishment have in him that was most innocent but that by his stripes and wounds we might be perfectly healed Hence the chastisement of our peace or that brought us true peace and happines is said to have been upon him Esay 53.5 in which place the word chastisement must by way of synecdoche be taken for affliction Then are ye bastards and not sonnes Ye are not truly borne of God not such whom God acknowledgeth for his sonnes and children but yee are bastards and changelings For they are bastards who goe for the sonnes of such a man yet indeed were not begotten of him and such are not alwayes acknowledged of their carnall fathers but our spirituall Father cannot be deceived for he knowes all that are not borne of him and acknowledgeth them for none of his and thereupon vouchsafeth not to bestow any fatherly care and chastisement for the framing of their manners and behaviour 9. Further more we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us He shews by another argument which is yet of affinity with the former that we must endure Gods chastisements and so endure them that thereby we become corrected and amended for such as do this they only receive chastisement as they ought The fathers of our flesh are our carnall fathers that begat us according to the flesh
apply our minde to this hope because it is the onely refuge we have in all our dangers and distresses In all these words the heires of the promise are described 19. Which we have as an anchor of the soule He now explicates the simily which before he had but intimated Our hope of eternall salvation he compares to a firme and strong anchor and our soule supported by this hope he likens to a ship riding at anchor Our hope of eternall salvation is an anchor to our soule because as long as our soule is held by this anchor it is not beaten with any tempests of miseries nor broken with rocks and flats and therefore in no danger of being wrecked Both sure and stedfast These be the chiefe qualities of a good anchor first that the cable be sure and breake not and then that the anchor be stedfast and come not home For if the anchor faile in either of these respects the ship is in danger to be lost And an anchor indeed doth many times faile for either it comes home or the cable breakes but the anchor of our hope can never faile and therefore we may assure our selves upon it And which entreth into that within the vaile That an anchor may be sure and stedfast this also is required in it that being fastened to the ship it sinke downe to the bottome of the sea and that there it lye not upon the face of the ground but pierce deepe within the ground The like quality is in the anchor of our hope all the difference is that the anchor of the ship falls downeward but the anchor of our hope flies upward and reacheth unto heaven it selfe and pierceth inwardly into the very closets of it The Author would rather signifie heaven by the word vaile then call it by the pâ—oper name because he would prepare himselfe a passage or rather a returne to his intended treatise of Christs Priesthood from whence hitherto he had digressed For having made mention of the vaile that hanged in the Sanctuary and parted it from the Oracle or most holy place he presently takes occasion to speake of the high Priest whose pâ—oper office it was to enter within that vaile into the most holy place And therefore he adds 20. Whither the fore-runner is for us entred Thus hee speakes of Christ that withall he may tacitly shew the cause why our hope should flye so high and enter into heaven namely because our forerunner Jesus Christ is entred there and entred there for us He calls Christ our fore-runner because he is the guide of our journey thither and goes before leading thither the whole Army of Saints He as soone as he entered heaven drew thither our hope with him Neither did he enter heaven as a bare guide to us in our journey thither to shew us the way thither onely by his example that we might not stray or faile of the right path but he entred heaven also as a haâ—binger there to prepare a place for us that should follow him for so he testisies of himselfe in saying In my Fathers house are many mansions c. I go to prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come agâ—ine and receive you unto my selfe that where I am there may ye be also John 14.2,3 This the Author also teacheth us by saying for us Christ is entred heaven for us even for our sakes to procure unto us eternall salvation and happinesse there Even Iesus made a high Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech In that Christ is made our heavenly and eternall high Priest therefore eternall salvation is obtained for us For it cannot be but so great a high Priest doth fully expiate our sins doth turne away from us all Gods wrath and whatsoever punishments we have deserved doth procure us eternall life which is the promised effect of Gods favour especially seeing our salvation is in his hand and left to his dispose For hence it comes to passe that our hope doth raise it selfe up unto heaven and hides it selfe with Christ in the mansions of it and therefore doth so firmely support our soules that they cannot be wrecked with any stormes of evils And so the Author makes entrance to his intended treatise of Christ Priesthood which followes in the next Chapter The Contents of this sixth Chapter are 1. Doctrine Christian Religion hath her principles verse 1. Reason 1. Because she hath some doctrines that are foundations that must be laid as grouds eod 2. Because she hath doctrines that are Initiations wherein they are instructed that are initiated into Christ by Baptisme and laying on of hands verse 2. 2. Doctrine The notions of a true Christian are severall verse 4. Reason 1. To be enlightned with saving knowledge 2. To be sensible of peace of minde 3. To partake of the holy Ghost 4. To be affected with Gods promise of salvation 5. To be delighted with the endowments which eternall life brings with it verse 5. 4. Doctrine Apostates that fall away cannot be restored by repentance v. 6. Reason 1. Because they crucifie Christ againe v. 6. 2. Because such are reprobated and rejected by God as barren ground is by the husbandman v. 8. 5. Comfort The Hebrewes were in the state of salvation v. 9. Reason 1. Because they shewed workes and labours of love in ministring to the Saints 6. Exhort We must be diligent to assure our salvation v. 11. Reason 1. Because we must be followers of those that did assure themselves by faith and patience as Abraham v. 12 13. 2. Because God hath assured it by promise to the faithfull who are the spirituall seed of Abraham v. 13 14. 3. Because God hath assured it by his oath wherewith he confirmed his promise and consequently it is assured us by two things immutable 7. Doctrine When God sweares he sweares by himselfe v. 13. Reason 1. Because he hath none greater then himselfe by whom to sweare eod 8. Doctrine Hope is an anchor to the soule v. 19. Reason 1. Because hope keeps the soule sure and stedfast in all the troubles and stormes of this life ibid. 2. Because it entereth into heaven where Christ is fore-entred for us CHAPTER VII 1. FOr this Melchisedec The particle for shews that the Author would give a reason of his last words in the former Chapter why Christ is said to be made a Priest after the order of Melchisedec namely because between Melchisedec and Christ there is a great convenience and likenesse For Melchisedec had a name and a kingdome most agreeable to that of Christ he was a person of so great dignity that he exceeded the Patriarch Abraham himselfe and lastly in the order of his Priesthood he was like unto Christ King of Salem It is manifest that Salem was a City so called wherein Melchisedec reigned For we cannot assent to them who say that he was not truly king of Salem but onely called so because his
name of hope seems to comprehend all the heads of our Christian profession 1. Pet. 3.15 Without wavering We must hold this hope so fast that wee neither decline from it our selves nor suffer our selves to be beaten from it by any engins of temptation or affliction For he is faithfull that promised Hee inserts the cause why we should hold fast the profession of our hope without wavering namely because this hope is grounded both upon a promise and a promise of him that is faithfull to performe it namely of God himselfe God is therefore termed faithfull because he keeps his faith i. He alwayes performes whatsoever hee hath undertaken for his part and never disappoints his people of his help and favour Therefore we are never to doubt of Gods faith so we keepe our owne and performe our parts with all care and diligence 24. And let us consider one another This may be understood that we should looke unto both one anothers state and condition of life and also one anothers behaviour and action And for what end wee should doe this hee presently shewes in adding To provoke unto love To provoke is to intend or increase the force of a thing and love is then provoked when it is quickened and increased And it gathers increase from our mutuall consideration and inspection either in our selves or others In our selves it is increased when wee are either stirred up by the notable examples of other men or moved by their state and condition to embrace them with more ardent affection and good will if their estate be prosperous that wee doe not onely envie them but use our endeavour to defend and advance their happinesse to our power but if they are in distresse that we succour and benefit them in what we are able In others love is increased when we look into their lives and manners for this end that where they grow negligent in their duties or suffer their love to decay there by our admonitions and exhortations we excite to good workes and to repaire the decayes of their love Therefore this provoking to love may be taken either passively when the increase of love is made upon our selves or actively when we increase it upon others And to good workes Then we are provoked to good workes when we follow them with an ardent affection or as Paul would have us when wee are zealous of good workes Hee adjoynes good workes to love to teach us that our love should not be barren but fruitfull of workes although workes may be taken more largely and extended to all workes of holinesse as well concerning God as our selves 25. Not forsaking the assembling of our selves together Namely for this especiall end to retaine and preserve the communion of Saints and the unity of the Spirit Which is then done when Christians meet together to performe the worship of God to heare his word to powre forth unanimous prayers unto him to exercise that censure of manners which Christ and his Apostles have prescribed to celebrate the memory of Christs death by sacred breaking of bread according to his own institution to make a common supply for the poore and distressed as occasion requires and with all their forces and advices to promote the affaires of the Church As the manner of some is It is apparent that in those times there were some who though they had not forsaken the Christian religion yet had forsaken the assemblies of the faithfull that they might the better lie hid and thereby more easily avoide dangers and persecutions And it is apparent also hence that they sinne grievously who withdraw themselves from the company of the faithfull and from the assemblies of the Saints But exhorting one another To the neglect of assembling hee opposeth this mutuall exhorting or admonishing Whence it is manifest that Christian assemblies were ordained among other ends for this also to exhort and admonish one another which may be done most opportunely when men are assembled into some one place And so much the more as yee see the day approaching The words so much the more must also be communicated to the day of approaching as well as referred to the exhorting By how much the more ye see the day approaching by so much the more let us exhort one another By the day as the article the doth intimate must be understood some certaine day and that well knowne i. the day of judgement and punishment for the disobedient Which judgement seeing it is twofold we must needs understand a twofold day or time of it For we may take it both for the time of Gods taking vengeance upon the Jewes in the finall destruction of Jerusalem and also for the last day of the whole world at the finall destruction of the world The approach of that former day they might easily perceive both from the signes foretold by Christ and also from the predictions of those Prophets who lived in those times in the Church of God The approach of this latter day every man sees though not in respect of the whole world and of the present age yet every man sees it in respect of himselfe For as death is alwayes approaching unto every one of us and the terme of every mans life draws nearer so also thereby every mans last day doth approach and draw nearer not only because after death there shall bee no change in respect of our salvation and damnation but also because that whole time intercurrent between the last moment of our life and the last judgement is none in respect of the dead For when we are dead and thereby void of all sense of time the last moment of our life departing and the first moment of our life returning for returne it shall at the last judgement will seem one and the same to us at our rising againe to life They who lye in a deep sleep are not sensible of the time that passeth though the time be very long and death is a deeper sleep then any sleep of those that sleep alive And this is the cause why the holy Scriptures doe sometime speake so as if we should wholy live till the comming of Christ or were presently after our death translated to the Lord and so to the joyes of heaven For they have no regard of the time intercurrent between the last end of our life and the comming of Christ and the future happinesse of the godly see 2 Cor. 5.8 and Ephes 4.30 and Phil. 1.6,26 and 1 Tim. 6 14. and Jam. 5.7,8 and some others 26. For if we sinne wilfully Hee brings a cause or a motive why they should diligently exhort one another because otherwise it might easily fall out that after knowledge of the truth received they might sin wilfully in which case how miserable and unhappy their condition would be he presently declares To sin in this place may be taken in two senses either largely or strictly Largely as it is extended to divers sins which are committed against the
in that being it had amongst them it must never cease to be nor faile to be lesse for hee tacitly attributes this vertue unto them and supposing it amongst them already requires the continuance of it For he had spoken before of their worke and labour of love that they had ministred unto the Saints and did minister And therefore he seems not simply to exhort them to the duty of love as if it were not yet amongst them but to the continuance of it as supposing it amongst them already 2. Be not forgetfull to entertaine strangers The second good office is that of hospitality Hospitality is but love and charity carryed upon another object when our love is not restrained to our acquaintance only whom wee know but enlarged towards strangers in generall whom we know not whether they be our brethren or not And it consisteth in receiving strangers into our houses and entertaining them will all good offices of humanity and courtesie especially according to our abilities and their necessities And as hospitality must be exercised toward all strangers so especially and in the first place toward Christians who are our brethren and chiefly to those of them that are exiles and become strangers for the cause of Christ and his Religion And to this hospitality may be referred our humanity toward the poor by inviting them to our houses and cheering them in a kinde and comfortable manner And of hospitality we must not be forgetfull i. We must not neglect it For those things that we forget we also neglect or as we have said before wee take no care for them the contrary whereof we shall see in the verse following For thereby some have entertained Angels unawares He commends hospitality and moves us to the exercise of it in regard that thereby some have entertained Angels unawares He hath reference to the history of Abraham and Lot whereof both were wondrous hospitable and carefull to receive and entertaine strangers into their houses and both unawares happened upon Angels sent from God carrying themselves in the shape of men which they received into their houses So that by the hospitality of some namely of Abraham and Lot it came to passe that they received and entertained Angels not knowing them to bee Angels then when they received them For if they had evidently knowne them to bee Angels it had been no marvell that they invited them into their houses or tents for this they might well have done though otherwise they had not been hospitable For who is so inhospitable but if he thinke he may procure Angels to accept of his entertainment will delay to invite them when he findes them at his doore though indeed this were no hospitality at all for he that invites Angels must needs know that Angels can be in no necessity to stand in need of entertainment which hospitality alway supposeth in the stranger that she receiveth The three men seen of Abraham From these words of the Author it is manifest how vainly they are mistaken who thinke that the three men who were seen and invited of Abraham Gen. 18.2 were the persons of the holy Trinity and because hee saw three and worshipped but one calling him My Lord therefore they gather that Abraham believed that those three persons were one God These men perceive not upon what a fallacious conjecture they relye in matters of so high moment For this divine Author doth openly declare and testifie that they were Angels and not three persons of the Deity which if they had been he might surely have commended hospitality with a far higher encomium of praise and have said that by reason of that vertue not Angels but the persons of the Deity received entertainment And we desire leave to demand of these men what they thinke whether Abraham when hee saw those three persons and worshipped one of them inviting him into his tent did then certainly know that he entertained the persons of the sacred Trinity or not know it If they affirme the first that hee did know it then we further demand of them why Abraham used them as men why he dressed meat and caused it to be set before them and exhibited other offices of courtesie to them which are usually done unto men was he so ignorant of things that he knew not that God wanted no such entertainment And why doth this Author say that he entertained men unawares For what can this signifie else but that he believed them to be men Did hee who did not so much as imagine them to be Angels believe them to be persons of the Deity But if for the second point these men confesse as the truth is and as this Author clearly teacheth that Abraham supposed that he saw and invited no other persons but men with what reason doe they gather that because he saw three and worshipped one therefore he believed that they were one God distinct in three persons Did he therefore believe it because he did not so much as imagine it But you will say why then did he worship one seeing he saw three without all doubt he therefore did it because one of them carried himselfe so as seeming greater worthier then the rest and was eminent amongst them And surely one of them only is called Jehovah and is cleerly distinguished from both the other In the 18. Chapter of Genesis compare the 17. verse and so forth and the last verse with the first verse of the Chapter following where the two other Angels went to Lot in Sodome For this may be a sufficient argument that from this one point of worshipping one the unity of a common essence among them cannot bee collected seeing Lot worshipped also the other two bowing himselfe with his face toward the ground and called them joyntly My Lords Gen. 19.1,2 But if that one at Abrahams tent carried himselfe for a divine person why is he alone both worshipped of Abraham and called Jehovah in the Scripture Were not the other persons worthy of the same honour and of the same name But if that one went for the divine and commune essence where shall be the third Person of the Deity Did therefore Abraham worship the divine Essence and neglect the divine Persons or did one carry himselfe for the Essence and for a Person also And why not the rest also if the divine Essence were equally commune to them all Eusebius in his first booke contends that this one Person was the Sonne of God because that after Abraham knew him he is called Lord and God For hee will not have him to be the most high God because to him it is not incident to undergoe such a change as to assume a strange shape and converse with men under it Neither may we think to insert this by the way that those fathers who lived before and about the times of the Nicene Councel and the whole Church in generall held this opinion of God to believe that the Sonne is that
we finde them this coupled and joyned in several passages of the holy Scriptures as the two grand vices of the world that are most pernicious and yet most common See Ephes 5.3,5 and Colos 3.5 and 1. Thes 4.5,6 and divers other places of the Prophets Wherefore of all other vices these two unto Christians ought to be most odious as being so joyntly and fully cryed out against in the Scriptures The word for Conversation in the Greeke is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which either signifies a custome and manner although it bee not usually put in the singular number for a manner but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the plurall for manners yet more frequently the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the manners or customary actions of a man Or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the meanes and way of getting our livelihood Both these senses come to one and both agree to the point proposed For both our manners and our meanes of getting our livelihood must bee free from all covetousnesse and love of money Now covetousnesse is an inordinate desire and endeavour of worldly goods or as Saint Paul describes it 1. Tim. 6.9,10 It is a desire to be rich for what at the ninth verse hee tearmed a desire to be rich hee afterward at the tenth verse cals the love of money or covetousnesse and withall he sets this brand upon it that it is the nursery or root of all evil And be content with such things as you have To covetousnesse hee opposeth contentednesse as the contrary dutie and remedy against it So doth also S. Paul 1. Tim. 6.8 Where he limits our contentednesse only to food and raiment saying Having food and raiment let us be therewith content He is content with the things he hath for the present who doth so rest satisfied with that estate he hath though it be meane and small that hee is neither querulous to complaine for the present nor sollicitous to care and doubt for the future though he foresee not provision of food and raiment for the time to come because he trusteth wholly upon God and in cases doubtfull constantly hopes for help and aide from him To a minde thus composed it is not repugnant if thou art poore to desire and seeke more so thou desire and seeke it moderatly and whether thou get more or not art alwayes of an equall and indifferent minde and canst say with Tobias speaking to his sonne Fear not my sonne though we are made poore for thou hast much wealth if thou fear God and depart from all sinne and doe that which is pleasing in his sight Tobit 4.21 But wealthy thou wilt never be if thou distrustest God and with an anxious and restlesse carefulnesse givest thy selfe wholly to gaine wealth if thou neglect the worship of God the serious and diligent care of thy salvation beneficence to the poor and needy according to thy estate if thou trace the by pathes of thriving by unjust dealing without regard to the offices and duties of pietie and equitie And these are the bounds wherewith S. Paul defines contentednes in having food and raiment as was before noted A godly man doth neither refuse more nor overmuch desire it See Phil. 4.11,12 Therefore this vertue may well agree with labour industry and parcimony by which meanes if God give his blessing wee may raise our selves from povertie using withall a due meane and convenient measure For he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Here hee gives the reason why we should be content with what we have without complaint or anxity for the time to come and hee drawes his reason from the promise of God unto us because God hath said hee will never leave us nor forsake us A reason very effectuall and of great moment to perswade us for why should wee be anxious and carefull when wee have so great a person as God for our Patron and Protectour who the more to secure us hath engaged himselfe by his promise to provide for us for he hath said it There is a great Emphasis in the pronoune He like to that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee who is the most high God the Authour and Guardian of all things and the Patron and Saviour of man Whence it appears how firme and certaine his succour is to them that are in adversitie I will never leave thee nor forsake thee In the second member of this clause there is in the Greeke a most strong negation of Gods desertion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here is a triple negation that thereby we might so much the more secure our selves that the time shall never come wherein God will forsake us The words are the saying of God to Joshua the captaine of the Israelites Joshua 1.5 Which saying every Christian as being joyned to God in a nearer bond then ever Joshua was may well apply unto himselfe especially seeing the assistance and succour promised in these words to Joshua was onely in reference to the safety and benefit of the people of Israel to whom he was leader 6. So that we may boldly say He expresseth the effect or fruit which Gods promise of never failing to helpe and succour us doth or ought to produce in us which effect is wholly opposite to anxiety and carefulnesse for the future And it is two-fold The first is a full and certaine confidence and perswasion of Gods helpe the other consequent hereto is the confession of the mouth and as it were a glorying That God will alwayes be ready to helpe us which he presently expresseth in the words of the Psalmist Psal 118.6 The Lord is my helper and I will not feare what man shall doe unto me The words here cited by the Author doe plainely declare that God will be an helper and succour unto us not onely in time of want but also in time of danger for many times we feare dangers more then poverty or want and we gather wealth not onely to defend us against poverty but to guard us against men and dangers And therefore both out health and our wealth is in God who will so protect us that neither poverty nor dangers shall oppresse us unlesse sometime it be his good pleasure to exercise and make triall of our faith by hunger thirst nakednesse and want of all things by dangers prisons torments and a fearefull death But then in such a case no riches will advantage us but may much hinder us for they may easily so worke upon us that for love of them we will not willingly and readily follow Christ when hee would leade us through craggy and rough wayes For poverty makes Christians nimble and light but riches are a burden What man shall doe He opposeth man unto God that by this opposition it may appeare what a strong guard God is unto us against men and what little reason wee have to feare men when we have God for our protector For how great and mighty is the Lord and
mentions their severall salutations to the Colossians chap. 4 The answere is It was not reason he should write any salutations from Timothy no more then from himselfe because hee had joyned Timothie with him as a Co-Authour of the whole Epistle which was more then a salutation This imprisonment then of Timothie is very probable though from this place it be not fully certaine For the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here translated set at libertie doth properly signifie more generally for dismissed or dispatched or sent away and in this sence is frequently used in the new Testament And then it may signifie here that Timothy was now dismissed or dispatched there where formerly hee was detained about some businesse of the Ministry for certaine it is that Timothy by his especiall function was an Evangelist and therefore frequently employed by the Apostles who sent them upon messages about the Ministry unto remote Churches See this for Timothie Acts 17.14,15 and Acts 18.5 and Acts 19.22 and 1. Cor. 4.17 and Phil. 2.19 and 1. Thess 3.2 With whom if he come shortly I will see you He intimates unto them that hee expects the comming of Timothie to him very shortly yet withall that if hee come not in a short time then hee himself will come to them without him So that hereby he signifies his affection and love toward them with an earnest desire speedily to see them as impatient of his delay in expecting Timothie though he were very shortly to come 24. Salute all them that have the rule over you and all the Saints The name of Saints is here attributed to all Christians in generall As if he had said I desire you to salute from me not onely your Rulers as your Elders and Bishops but all the rest of the brethren even the whole Church All Christians must remember that they are Saints that is persons consecrated and hallowed unto God and therefore as the Apostle admonisheth must carry themselves as obedient children not fashioning themselves according to their former lusts in their ignorance but as he which hath called them is holy so must they be holy in all manner of conversation because it is written Be yee holy for I am holy 1 Pet. 1.14,15,16 They of Italy salute you A Grecisme for the Italians or Christians of Italy for so the Greeks use to speake Whence it appeares that part of the clause which tradition hath added at the end of this Epistle is true That this Epistle was written to the Hebrewes from Italy For if the Author had written from any other place why should he insert a salutation from the Italians onely But the rest of that clause at the end of this Epistle is false That is was sent by Timothy For what could be more vaine then to write of him by whom he sent his Epistle Know ye that he is set at liberty And that in the very end of his Epistle as here he writeth of Timothy in the verse immediately preceding And besides in the very same verse he advertiseth them of Timothies comming to him and of his owne to them upon Timothies comming to him namely from that place where he was detained in prison and of his comming or returning from them as some say who would seeme to defend this postscript But there must needs be extant an argument to prove how different from the written word of God yea many times repugnant unto it are the written traditions of men and therefore much more mens traditions not written And the falsity of this subscription may justly make a man doubt of the verity of the inscription which carries the name of Paul traditionally also prefixed before it 25. Grace be with you all Amen Here the Author finisheth and closeth this Epistle with a devotion or holy wish Grace is the onely ground and meanes to that peace whereof he stiled God the Author before ver 20. And therefore also the onely ground of all happinesse for all happinesse comes meerly by grace Yet he expresseth not whose grace and favour he wisheth unto them as a thing sufficiently knowne among all Christians namely the grace of God our Father and of Jesus Christ our Lord. Now the same grace of God our Father and of Jesus Christ our Lord be with all them that love verity and piety Amen The Contents of this 13. Chapter are 1. Duty We must be hospitable to entertains strangers ver 2. Motive Because some thereby have entertained Angels unawares eod 2. Duty We must be mercifull toward persons in adversity ver 3. Motive Because we our selves are also in the body and thereby also subject adversity eod 3. Duty Mariage must be maintained in the due honour of it ver 4. Motive Because God will judge whoremongers and adulterers and all that are defilers and disgracers of the mariage bed eod 4. Duty We must not be covetous v. 5. Motive 1. Because God hath promised he will never leave nor forsake us 2. Because we may boldly say The Lord is our helper and we will not feare what man shall do unto us 5. Duty Wee must not be inconstant to be carried about with diverse and strange doctrines v. 6. Motive 1. Because we must keepe our selves to our leaders who have taught us Gods word and must follow their faith and life v. 7. 2. Because the doctrine is alwayes the same as yesterday so to day and so for ever v. 8. 3. Because it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace ver 9. 6. Duty We must not eate of the sacrifices which our selves offer to God Motive 1. Because meates profit nothing to holinesse v. 9. 2. Because the sacrifices of the Christian altar are not edible v. 10. 3. Because the sin-offerings under the Law were not eaten but burnt without the camp v. 11. 4. Because Christ is our sin-offering who suffered without the gate to sanctifie us with his owne bloud 5. Because Christian sacrifices are onely spirituall for either they are the fruit of our lips as praise and thanksgiving ver 15. or the fruit of our hands to do good and communicate v. 16. 7. Duty We must be patient to suffer any misery in this life v. 13. Motive 1. Because Christ our high Priest who sanctified us with his own bloud suffered reproach banishment and death for he suffered without the gate v. 12. 2. Because here we have no continuing city v. 14. 8. Duty We must offer all our Christian sacrifices by Christ v. 15. Motive Because Christ is our high Priest who sanctified us ver 12. 9. Duty We must be beneficiall to do good and to communicate ver 16. Motive Because beneficence is a sacrifice wherewith God is well pleased 10. Duty We must obey our spirituall rulers and submit to them v. 17. Motive Because they watch for our soules and must give account of their watching eod 2. Because our unrulinesse will be grievous to them and pernicious to us eod FINIS