revealed from Heaven against the ungodliness of men Rom. 1. 18. and an intimation is given of what he will farther do hereafter For as he leaves not himself without witness in respect of his goodness and patience in that he doth good and giveth rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling mens hearts with food and gladness Acts 14. 17. so he gives testimony to his Righteousness and Holiness in the Judgements that he executes Psal. 9. 16. For whereas goodness and mercy are the works wherein God is as it were delighted he gives Testimony unto them together with his patience and long-suffering in the ordinary course of his Dispensations But Judgement in severity he calls his strange work that which he proceeds not unto but on great provocations Isa. 28. 21. he satisfieth his holy Wisdom with some extraordinary necessary instances of it And thus he hath himself singled out some particular instances which he gave on purpose that they might be as pledges of the future Judgement and hath given us a rule in them how we are to judge of all his extraordinary acts of the same kind Such was the Flood whereby the world was destroyed in the days of Noah which Peter affirms expresly was a Type to shadow out the severity of God in the last final Judgement 2 Pet. 2. 5. Chap. 3. 5 6 7. Of the like nature was his turning the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into Ashes condemning them with an overthrow making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly 2 Pet. 2. 6. He made them a terrifying example that others should hear and fear and do no more so presumptuously But now whereas God hath not in the space of four thousand years brought any such Judgement on any other places or persons if this Example had respect only unto this world it must needs have lost all its force and efficacy upon the minds of Sinners Wherefore it did nearly respect the Judgement to come God giving therein an instance what obstinate and profligate Sinners are to look for at that great day Wherefore Jude says expresly they are set forth for an Example suffering the vengeance of Eternal Fire ver 7. And this is the Language of all Gods extraordinary Judgements either on persons or places in the world Let mens Sins be what they will God can endure in his long-suffering the Sins of one as well as another among the Vessels of wrath that are fitted for destruction and so he doth ordinarily or for the most part But yet he will sometimes reach out his hand from Heaven in an extraordinary instance of Vengeance on purpose that men may know that things shall not for ever be passed over in such a promiscuous manner but that he hath appointed another day wherein he will judge the world in Righteousness And for this reason such signal Judgements as are Evidences of the future Eternal Judgement of God are in the Scripture expressed in words that seem to declare that Judgement it self rather than the Types of it Isa. 34. 4. Rev. 6. 13 14. Dan. 7. 9 10. Math. 24. 29 30. But 4. God hath not absolutely intrusted the evidence and preservation of this important truth which is the Foundation of all Religion unto the remainders of innate light in the Minds and Consciences of men which may be variously obscured until it be almost utterly extinguished nor yet unto the exercise of Reason on the consideration of the present Administration of Providence in this world which is oft-times corrupted depraved and rendred useless nor yet unto the influence which extraordinary Judgements may have upon the minds of men which some fortifie themselves against by their obstinacy in Sin and Security but he hath abundantly testified unto it by express Revelation from the beginning of the world now recorded in his word by which all men must be tried whether they will or no. It may not be doubted but that Adam was acquainted with this truth immediately from God himself He was so indeed in the Commination given against Sin at first especially as it was explained in the Curse after he had actually sinned And this was that which was taught him in the threatning and which his Eyes were open to see clearly after his fall where he immediately became afraid of God as his Judge Gen. 3. 10. Nor can it be doubted but that he communicated the knowledge of it unto his posterity But whereas they quickly in that profligacy in all wickedness which they gave themselves unto had together with all other sacred Truths lost the remembrance of it or at least practically despised and scoffed at the instruction which they had received therein God knowing the necessity of it either to restrain them in their flagitious courses or to give them a warning that might leave them without excuse makes a new express Revelation of it unto Enoch and by him to mankind Jude 14 15. For Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints to execute Judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him And this is the second New Revelation that is recorded before the Flood There were two Revelations that were the foundation of the Church the one concerning future Judgement in the Threatning the other concerning the Recovery and Restauration of mankind in the Promise Both seem to have been equally neglected by that cursed generation But God solemnly revived them both the first by Enoch the latter by Noah who was the Preacher of Righteousness 1 Pet. 2. 5. in whom the Spirit of Christ preached unto them who are now in prison 1 Pet. 3. 19 20. And this Old Prophecy was revived by the Holy Ghost partly that we might know that God from the beginning of the world gave publick testimony unto and warning of his future Eternal Judgement and partly to acquaiâ—t us that in the latter days men would break out into an excess and outrage in sin and wickedness like that of those before the Flood wherein it would be necessary that day should be restrained or terrified or warned by preaching unto them this truth of the Judgement to come After this the testimonies given unto it in the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testaments do so abound and are so obvious to all that it is no way needful particularly to produce them This principle being thus cleared and confirmed it may not be amiss to shew what practical improvement it doth require And it is manifest that there is no Duty in Religion that is not or ought not to be influenced by the consideration of it I shall only name some of them whereunto it is in an especial manner applied by the Holy Ghost himself First Ministers of the Gospel ought to dwell greatly on the consideration of it as
after Eternal Rest and Glory they have a sufficient recompence in their hands for all their sufferings 3 That God might have put them with others into such Pastures here only to have been fatted against the day of slaughter Let them but consider how much Spiritual and Eternal Mercies wherein they are interested do exceed things Temporal they will find they have no cause to complain 4 Whereas it is for the Glory of God and the Benefit of the Church that some should be peculiarly in an afflicted condition they ought even to rejoyce that God hath chosen them to use them as he pleaseth unto those Ends. But for the thing it self the Reasons of it are revealed and manifest For 1 God hereby gives Testimony unto all that the good things as they are esteemed of this world are no Tokens or Pledges of his Love and that he hath better things in store for them whom he careth for He doth hereby cast contempt on the desirable things of the world and testifieth that there are better things to be received even in this life than whatever is of the number of them For had not God better things to bestow on his Saints in this world than any the world can afford he would not with-hold these from them so far at least as that they should be straightened in their want Wherefore in this Dispensation of his Providence he doth testifie unto all that internal spiritual mercies such as his Saints enjoy are incomparably to be preferred above all things of that kind wherein he keeps them short 2 Sam. 23. 5. 2 He maketh way hereby for the vigorous fruitful exercise of all the Graces of his Spirit namely in the various conditions whereinto the Members of the Church are cast And let every one look to it and know that according unto his outward condition in the world whether it be of want or abundance there is peculiar exercise of Grace unto the Glory of God required of him It is expected from all that are high or low rich or poor free or in distress not only that they live in the exercise of all Grace in general but also that they diligently endeavour an abounding fruitfulness in those Graces whose exercise their especial condition calleth for And secondly we are here taught that The great Trial of our Love consists in our regard unto the Saints that are in distress That is the Foundation of the commendation of the Love of these Hebrews they ministred unto them Either Love or at least an appearance of Love will be easily preserved where we have little or no need of one another But when the exercise of it proves costly when it puts us unto charge or trouble or into danger as it doth more or less when it is exercised towards them that are in distress then is it brought unto its trial And in such a season we have experience that the Love of many is so far from bringing forth more fruit as that the very leaves of it fall off and they give over its profession Wherefore It is the Glory and Honour of a Church the principal Evidence of its spiritual Life when it is diligent and abounds in those Duties of Faith and Love which are attended with the greatest difficulties From hence doth the Apostle commend these Hebrews and firmly perswades himself that they were endued with those better things which accompany Salvation For hereby as we might shew 1 God is singularly glorified 2 The Gospel is peculiarly promoted 3 An especial lustre is put upon the Graces of the Spirit and 4 All the Ends of Sathan and the World in their Persecutions are utterly frustrated And these things have we spoken concerning the first ground of the Apostles perswasion of the good spiritual estate at present of these Hebrews and their future Eternal safety namely that work of Faith and labour of Love which he had observed in them The other ground of his Perswasion is taken from the Righteousness of God God is not unrighteous to forget your work I intimated before that the word used by the Apostle to express the frame of his mind in this matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are perswaded ver 9. is applied sometimes to denote the infallible certainty of Faith and sometimes the moral certainty of Charity In this place it hath respect unto a double object or reason 1 What was in the professing Hebrews their Faith and Love Hereof he could have no assurance or certainty beyond a moral perswasion or the satisfaction of a charitable Judgement But on this supposition his perswasion had another object namely the Righteousness of God in the stability of his Promises whence he had infallible assurance or did conclude infallibly unto what he was perswaded of The Righteousness of God sometimes denotes the absolute Rectitude and perfect Goodness of his Nature and hereunto all other Acceptations of the Word as applied unto God are to be reduced Sometimes the Equity of the holy Dispensations of his Justice whereby he renders unto every one what is their due according unto the nature of things and his holy Appointments is so called And sometimes particularly his Vindictive Justice whereby he avengeth sin and punisheth sinners is so expressed Sometimes yea frequently the Fidelity of God in keeping and accomplishing his Promises is called his Righteousness For it belongeth unto the absolute Rectitude of his nature so to do So saith the Apostle If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 1 Joh. 1. 9. The forgiveness of sins is on all accounts an Act of mercy which is contradistinguished unto Righteousness in Judgement strictly so called Jam. 2. 13. Wherefore that Righteousness which is exercised in the pardon of sin is no other but the Faithfulness of God in the Promises of the Covenant He hath promised that he who confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy Hence it is just with God to forgive their sins who do so And this is the Righteousness that is here principally intended For the Righteousness whereby God rewardeth the works that are wrought in men by his own Grace is the same with that whereby he forgiveth their sins equally respecting the Covenant and the Promises thereof For without the consideration hereof strict or exact Righteousness could he neither pardon sin nor reward our works which being imperfect do no way answer the Rule which it doth or can proceed by In this sense is God here said not to be unrighteous to forget their work that is to be Righteous so as not to forget it He will have that respect unto it which he hath graciously promised in the Covenant because he is Righteous that is Faithful in his Promises And that no other Righteousness can be here intended is evident from hence because no work of ours doth answer the Rule of any other Righteousness in God Again We must enquire what it is not to forget their work And this
Apostatized sinners wherefore those things could have no rise spring or cause but in a free gracious Act of the Soveraign Will and Pleasure of God And thereunto in the Scripture are they constantly assigned whether absolutely that Grace is bestowed on any or comparatively on one and not another it is all from the Will of God For herein is Love not that we loved God but that he loved us first and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins 1 Joh. 4. 10. Christ himself with all the Grace and Mercy we have by him is from the free Love and Will of God So is our Election Ephes. 1. 4 5. Our Vocation 1 Cor. 1. 26 27. our Regeneration Joh. 1. 13. Jam. 1. 18. Our recovery from sin Hos. 14. 4. So is our Peace and all our Consolation whence he is called the God of all Grace 1 Pet. 5. 10. and the God of Patience and Consolation Rom. 15. 5. the Author and Soveraign disposer of them all So is it also with respect unto Grace and Mercy considered comparatively as collated on one and not another Rom. 9. 15 16. 1 Cor. 4. 7. there is no other Spring or Fountain of any Grace or Mercy It may be some may hope to educe Grace out of their own wills and endeavours and to obtain mercy by their own Duties and Obedience But the Scripture knows no such thing nor do Believers find it in their experience Let them who have received the least of Grace and Mercy know from whence they have received it and whereunto they are beholding for it A due consideration of this Soveraign Spring of all Grace and Consolation will greatly influence our minds in and unto all the principal Duties of Obedience Such as thankfulness to God Ephes. 1. 3 4 5. Humility in our selves 1 Cor. 4. 7. Compassion towards others 2 Tim. 2. 25 26. Let those who stand in need of Grace and Mercy as who doth not expect them wholly from the Soveraign Will and Pleasure of God who is gracious unto whom he will be gracious Jam. 1. 5. our own Endeavours are means in this kind for obtaining Grace in the measures and degrees of it but it is the Will of God alone that is the cause of it all 2 Tim. 1. 9. 2. What God was thus willing unto is expressed and that was more abundantly to declare the Immutability of his Counsel And we may enquire concerning it 1 What is meant by the Counsel of God 2 How that Counsel of God was and is Immutable 3 How it was declared so to be 4 How it was abundantly so declared 1 The Counsel of God is the Eternal purpose of his Will called his Counsel because of the infinite Wisdom wherewith it is always accompanied So that which is called the good pleasure which he had purposed in himself Ephes. 1. 9. is termed the Counsel of his Will ver 11. Counsel among men is a rational deliberation about causes means effects and ends according to the Nature of things advised about and the proper Interests of them who do deliberate In this sense Counsel is not to be attributed unto God For as the infinite Soveraign Wisdom of his Being admits not of his taking Counsel with any other so the infinite simplicity of his Nature and Understanding comprehending all things in one single Act of his Mind allows not of formal Counsel or Deliberation The first therefore of these the Scripture explodes Isa. 40. 13. Rom. 11. 34. and although in the latter way God be frequently introduced as one deliberating or taking Counsel with himself it is not the manner of doing but the effect or the thing done is intended So it is in like manner where God is said to hearken to hear to see whereby his infinite Knowledge and Understanding of all things are intended those being the Mediums whereby we who are to be instructed do come to know and understand what so we do Whereas therefore the End of Counsel or all rational Deliberation is to find out the true and stable Directions of Wisdom the Acts of the Will of God being accompanied with infinite Wisdom are called his Counsel For we are not to look upon the Purposes and Decrees of God as meer Acts of Will and Pleasure but as those which are effects of infinite Wisdom and therefore most reasonable although the reasons of them be sometimes unknown unto us Hence the Apostle issueth his discourse of Gods Eternal Decrees of Election and Reprobation in an admiration of the infinite Wisdom of God whence they proceeded and wherewith they were accompanied Rom. 11. 33 34 35 36. In particular the Counsel of God in this place is the holy wise Purpose of his Will to give his Son Jesus Christ to be of the Seed of Abraham for the Salvation of all the Elect or Heirs of Promise And that in such a way and accompanied with all such good things as might secure their Faith and Consolation This is the Counsel of God which contained all the Grace and Mercy of the Promise with the securing them unto Believers 2 Of this Counsel it is affirmed that it was immutable not subject unto change 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nequit that cannot be altered But the design of God here was not to make his Counsel unchangeable but to declare it so to be For all the Purposes of God all the Eternal Acts of his Will considered in themselves are Immutable See Isa. 46. 10. Psal. 33. 11. Prov. 19. 21. chap. 21. 30. and their Immutability is a necessary consequent of the Immutability of the Nature of God with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning Jam. 1. 17. The strength of Israel is not a man that he should repent 1 Sam. 15. 29. And in opposition unto all change or mutability it is said of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal. 102. 27. which the Apostle renders by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou art He always in all respect one and the same Hence among the Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is a Name of God expressing his immutable self-subsistence But it will be said that there are in the Scriptures many Declarations of Gods altering his Purpose and Counsels and repenting him of what he had before determined being grieved at what he had done Gen. 6. 6. 1 Sam. 2. 30. It is agreed by all that those expressions of repenting grieving and the like are figurative wherein no such Affections are intended as those words signifie in created Natures but only an event of things like that which proceedeth from such Affections And as to the changes themselves expressed the School-men say not amiss Vult Deus mutationem non mutat voluntatem He willeth a change he changeth not his Will But fully to remove these Difficulties the Purpose of God and the Counsels of his Will may be considered either in themselves or in the Declaration that is made concerning their Execution In themselves
Truths there are which have such an Evidence in themselves and such a Suitableness unto the Principles of Reason and Light Natural that no colour of Opposition can be made unto them And if any out of brutish Affections or Prejudices do force an Opposition unto them they are to be neglected and not Contended withal Wherefore that which is here intimated is That there are some Principles of Truth that are so Secured in their own Evidence and Light as that being unquestionable in themselves they may be used and improved as concessions whereon other less evident Truths may be Confirmed and Established The due consideration hereof is of great Use in the Method of Teaching or in the Vindication of any unquestioned Truths from Opposition In all Teaching especially in Matters that are Controverted it is of great Advantage to fix some unquestionable Principles whence those which are less evident or are more opposed may be deduced or be otherwise influenced and confirmed Neglect hereof makes popular Discourses weak in their Application and those wherein Men contend for the Truth infirm in their Conclusions This Course therefore the Apostle here useth and resolveth his present Argument into such an unquestionable Principle as Reason and common Sence must admit of 2. The Proposition thus Modified is That the Less is Blessed of the Greater that is wherein one is orderly Blessed by another he that is Blessed is therein less than or beneath in Dignity unto him by whom he is Blessed as it is expressed in the Syriack Translation Expositors generally on this place distinguish the several sorts of Benedictions that are in Use and warrantable among Men that so they may fix on that concerning which the Rule here mentioned by the Apostle will hold unquestionably But as unto the especial design of the Apostle this Labour may be spared For he treats only of Sacerdotal Benedictions and with Respect to them the Rule is not only certainly true but openly evident But to Illustrate the whole and to shew how far the Rule mentioned may be extended we may reduce all sorts of Blessings unto four Heads 1. There is Benedictio Potestativa that is such a Blessing as consists in an actual Efficacious Collation on or Communication of the matter of the Blessing unto the Person Blessed Thus God alone can Bless absolutely He is the only Fountain of all Goodness Spiritual Temporal Eternal and so of the whole entire matter of Blessing containing it all eminently and virtually in himself And he alone can efficiently communicate it unto or collate it on any others which he doth as seemeth Good unto him according to the Counsel of his own will All will grant that with Respect hereunto the Apostle's Maxime is unquestionable God is greater than Man Yea this kind of Blessing ariseth from or dependeth solely on that Infinite Distance that is between the Being or Nature of God and the Being of all Creatures This is Gods Blessing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Addition of Good as the Jews call it a real communication of Grace Mercy Priviledges or whatever the matter of the Blessing be 2. There is Benedictio Authoritativa This is when Men in the Name that is by the Appointment and Warranty of God do declare any to be Blessed pronouncing the Blessings unto them whereof they shall be made Partakers And this kind of Blessings was of Old of two sorts First Extraordinary by virtue of especial immediate Inspiration or a Spirit of Prophecy Secondly Ordinary by virtue of Office and Institution In the first way Jacob Blessed his Sons which he calls a Declaration of what should befall them in the last days Gen. 49. 1. And such were all the Solemn Patriarchal Benedictions as that of Isaac when he had Infallible direction as to the Blessing but not in his own mind as to the Person to be Blessed Gen. 27. 27 28 29. So Moses Blessed the Children of Israel in their respective Tribes Deut. 33. 1. In the latter the Priests by virtue of Gods Ordinance were to Bless the People with this Authoritative Blessing And the Lord spake unto Moses saying speak unto Aaron and his Sons saying On this wise shall ye Bless the Children of Israel saying unto them The Lord Bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his Face shine upon thee and be Gracious unto thee the Lord lift up the light of his Countenance upon thee and give thee Peace and they shall put my Name on the Children of Israel and I will Bless them Numb 6. The whole Nature of this kind of Blessing is here exemplified It is founded in Gods Express Institution and Command And the Nature of it consists in putting the Name of God upon the People that is declaring Blessings unto them in the Name of God praying Blessings for them on his Command Wherefore the word Bless is used in a two-fold sence in this Institution ver 23. Ye shall Bless the Children of Israel is spoken of the Priests ver 27. I will Bless them is spoken of God The Blessing is the same declared by the Priests effected by God They blessed declaratively He efficiently And the blessing of Melchisedec in this place seems to have a mixture in it of both these For as it is plain that he blessed Abraham by virtue of his Sacerdotal Office which our Apostle principally considereth so I make no Question but he was peculiarly acted by immediate inspiration from God in what he did And in this sort of Blessing the Apostolical Maxime maintains its Evidence in the Light of Nature 3. There is Benedictio Charitativa This is when one is said to bless another by praying for a Blessing on him or using the means whereby he may obtain a Blessing This may be done by Superiours Equals Inferiours any or all Persons mutually towards one another See 1 Kings 8. 14 55 56. 2 Chron 6. 3. Prov. 30. 11. This kind of Blessing it being only improperly so wherein the Act or Duty is demonstrated by its Object doth not belong unto this Rule of the Apostle 4. There is Benedictio Reverentialis Hereof God is the Object So Men are said often to Bless God and to Bless his Holy Name which is mentioned in the Scripture as a signal Duty of all that Fear and Love the Lord. Now this Blessing of God is a Declaration of his praises with an Holy Reverential Thankful admiration of his Excellencies But this belongs not at all unto the design of the Apostle nor is regulated by this general Maxime but is a particular Instance of the direct contrary wherein without Controversie the Greater is Blessed of the Less It is the second sort of Blessings that is alone here intended and that is mentioned as an Evident Demonstration of the Dignity of Melchisedec and his Preeminence above Abraham It is a great Mercy and Priviledge when God will make Use of any in the Blessing of others with Spiritual Mercies It is God alone who Originally and
off is the expression of this state of nature Ephes. 2. 13. You were sometimes afar off And whatever accompanieth that state in wrath and curse upon men in fear bondage the power of sin and enmity against God within them in obnoxiousness unto misery in this world and eternal Destruction hereafter is comprized in that expression It is to be far from the Love and Favour of God from the knowledge of him and obedience unto him Wherefore our drawing nigh unto God denotes our delivery and recovery from this estate So it is expressed in the place named But now in Christ Jesus ye who were sometimes afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. To represent this all the Acts of solemn worship which respected the Sacrifice of Christ were called Approximations And hereunto unto this drawing nigh to God or that we may so do two things are required 1. A Removal of whatever kept us at a Distance from God And the things of this nature were of two sorts 1. What was upon us from God for our sin and Apostacy This was his wrath and curse And these were declared in the publishing of the Law on mount Sinai with the terrible appearances and dreadful voices that accompanied This made the People stand afar off Exod. 20. 21 as an Emblem of their condition with respect unto the Law 2 Guilt within with its consequences of fear shame and Alienation from the life of God Unless these things of the one sort and the other those upon us and those within us be taken away and removed we can never draw nigh unto God And to secure our Distance they were enrolled in an hand-writing as a Record against us that we should never on our own account so much as endeavour any Access unto him Ephes. 2. 14. Col. 2. 14. How they were removed by the bringing in of the better Hope that is by the Priesthood of Christ the Apostle declares in this Epistle as we shall see God willing in our Progress This neither was nor could be done by the Law or its Ordinances neither the Moral preceptive part of it nor the Ceremonial in all its Rites and Sacrifices could of themselves expiate sins make Attonement for our Apostacy turn away the wrath of God nor take away Guilt fear bondage and Alienation out of the minds of men 2. There is moreover required hereunto that upon the Justification and Acceptation of our Persons we have Faith Liberty Boldness Confidence and Assurance given unto us in our coming unto God And this cannot be without the Renovation of our natures into his Image the quickning of our souls with a new Principle of Spiritual life and Ability unto all Duties of acceptable Obedience All these things are required unto our drawing nigh unto God or unto a state of Reconciliation Peace and Communion with him And we may observe 1. Out of Christ or without him all Mankind are at an unconceivable Distance from God And a Distance it is of the worst kind even that which is an effect of mutual Enmity The cause of it was on our part voluntary and the effect of it the height of misery And however any may flatter and deceive themselves it is the present condition of all who have not an Interest in Christ by Faith They are far off from God as he is the Fountain of all Goodness and Blessedness inhabiting as the Prophet speaks the parched places of the wilderness and shall not see when Good cometh Jerem. 17. 6. far from the dews and showers of grace or mercy far from divine love and favour cast out of the bounds of them as Adam our of Paradise without any hope or power in themselves to return The flaming sword of the Law turns every way to keep them from the Tree of Life Yet are they not so far from God but they are under his wrath and curse and whatever of misery is contained in them Let them fly whither they please wish for Mountains and Rocks to fall on them as they will do hereafter hide themselves in the Darkness and Shades of their own Ignorance like Adam among the Trees of the Garden or immerge themselves in the pleasures of sin for a season all is one the wrath of God abideth on them And they are far from God in their own minds also being alienated from him Enemies against him and in all things made up with Sathan the Head of the Apostacy Thus is it and unconceivably worse with all that embrace not this better Hope to bring them nigh unto God 2. It is an effect of infinite condescension and Grace that God would appoint a way of Recovery for those who had willfully cast themselves into this wofull Distance from him Why should God look after such Fugitives any more He had no need of us or our services in our best condition much less in that useless depraved state whereinto we had brought our selves And although we had transgressed the Rule of our moral dependance on him in the way of obedience and thereby done what we could to stain and eclipse his Glory yet he knew how to repair it unto Advantage by reducing us under the order of Punishment By our sins we our selves come short of the Glory of God but he could lose none by us whilst it was absolutely secured by the Penalty annexed unto the Law When upon the entrance of sin he came and found Adam in the bushes wherein he thought foolishly to hide himself who could expect Adam did not but that his only design was to apprehend the poor rebellious Fugitive and give him up to condign Punishment But quite otherwise above all thoughts that could ever have entred into the Hearts of Angels or men after he had declared the nature of the Apostacy and his own indignation against it he proposeth and promiseth a way of Deliverance and Recovery This is that which the Scripture so magnifies under the names of Grace and Love of God which are beyond expression or conception Joh. 3. 16. And it hath also that lustre frequently put upon it that he dealt not so with the Angels that sinned which manifests what condition he might have left us in also and how infinitely free and Soveraign that Grace was from whence it was otherwise Thence it was that he had a desire again unto the works of his hands to bring poor mankind near unto him And whereas he might have recalled us unto himself yet so as to leave some marks of his displeasure upon us to keep us at a greater Distance from him than that we stood at before as David brought back his wicked Absalom to Jerusalem but would not suffer him to come into his Presence He chose to act like himself in infinite wisdom and grace to bring us yet nearer unto him than ever we could have approached by the Law of our Creation And as the Foundation means and Pledge hereof he contrived and brought forth that most glorious and
hereon promiseth to make a New Covenant with them seeing they had forfeited and lost the advantage of the former yet if it should be of the same kind therewith it might also in like manner prove ineffectual So must God give and the Church receive one Covenant after another and yet the ends of them never be obtained To obviate this Objection and the Fear that thence might arise God who provideth not only for the safety of his Church but also for their comfort and assurance declares before-hand unto them that it shall not be of the same kind with the former nor liable to be so frustrated as to the ends of it as that was And there are some things remarkable herein 1 That the Preface unto the Promise of this New Covenant is a blame charged on the People finding fault with them blaming them charging them with sin against the Covenant that he had made with them 2 That yet this was not the whole ground and reason of making this New Covenant It was not so I say that the People were not stedfast in it and unto the terms of it For had it been so there would have no more been needful to re-instate them in good condition but only that God should pardon their former sins and renew the same Covenant unto them again and give them another venture or trial thereon But inasmuch as he would do so no more but will make another Covenant of another nature with them it is evident that there was some defect in the Covenant itself it was not able to communicate those good things which God designed to bless the Church withall 3 These two things being the only reason that God gives why he will make this New Covenant namely the sins of the People and the insufficiency of the first Covenant to bring the Church into that blessed estate which he designed them it is manifest that all his dealings with them for their spiritual and eternal good are of meer soveraign grace and such as he hath no motive unto but in and from himself alone There are sundry things contained in these words 1. An Intimation that God had made a former Covenant with his People 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is in these Verses a repetition three times of making Covenant And in every place in the Hebrew the same words are used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the Apostle changeth the Verb in every place First he expresseth it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 8. and in the last place by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is most proper v. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are usual in other Authors here he useth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in reference unto that Covenant which the People brake and God disannulled And it may be he did so to distinguish their alterable Covenant from that which was to be unalterable and was confirmed with greater Solemnity God made this Covenant as others of his outward works which he resolved to alter change or abolish at the appointed season It was a work whose effects might be shaken and it self afterwards be removed so he speaks Chap. 12. 27. The change of the things that are shaken is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as of things that are made made for a season so made as to abide and endure for an appointed time only such were all the things of this Covenant and such was the Covenant itself It had no Criteria Aeternitatis upon it no evidences of an eternal duration Nothing hath so but what is founded in the blood of Christ. He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the everlasting Father or the immediate Author and Cause of every thing that is or shall be everlasting in the Church Let men labour and contend about other things whilest they please They are all shaken and must be removed Obs. 1. The Grace and Glory of the New Covenant are much set off and manifested by the comparing of it with the Old This is done here by God on purpose for the illustration of it And it is greatly made use of in this Epistle partly to prevail with us to accept of the terms thereof and to abide faithful therein and partly to declare how great is their sin and how sore will be the destruction of them by whom it is neglected or despised As these things are insisted on in other places so are they the Subject of the Apostles discourse Chap. 12. from ver 15. unto the end 2. All Gods Works are equally good and holy in themselves but as unto the use and advantage of the Church he is pleased to make some of them means of communicating more grace than others Even this Covenant which the New was not to be like unto was in itself good and holy which these with whom it was made had no reason to complain of Howbeit God had ordained that by another Covenant he would communicate the fulness of his grace and love unto the Church And if every thing that God doth be improved in its season and for its proper ends we shall have benefit and advantage by it though he hath yet other ways of doing us more good whose seasons he hath reserved unto himself But this is an Act of meer soveraign goodness and grace that whereas any have neglected or abused mercies and kindnesses that they have received instead of casting them off on that accounts God takes this other course of giving them such mercies as shall not be so abused This he did by the introduction of the New Covenant in the room of the Old and this he doth every day So Isa. 57. 16 17 18. We live in days wherein men variously endeavour to obscure the grace of God and to render it unglorious in the eyes of men but he will for ever be admired in them that do believe 3. Though God makes an alteration in any of his Works Ordinances of Worship or Institutions yet he never changeth his intention or the purpose of his Will In all outward Changes there is with him no variableness nor shadow of turning Known unto him are all his works from the foundation of the world and whatever change there seems to be in them it is all effected in pursuance of the unchangeable purpose of his Will concerning them all It argued not the least change or shadow of turning in God that he appointed the Old Covenant for a season and for some certain ends and then took it away by making of another that should excel it both in grace and efficacy 2. It is declared with whom this former Covenant was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with their Fathers Some Latine Copies read cum Patribus vestris with your Fathers But having spoken before of the House of Judah and of the House of Israel in the third person he continueth to speak still in the same So likewise is it in the Prophet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Fathers Their Fathers their Progenitors were those that this People
this Relation 1 The foundation of it 2 The mutual actings in it by vertue of this Relation Unto the manifestation of the foundation of it some things must be premised 1. Upon the entrance of Sin there continued no such Covenant Relation between God and man as that by virtue thereof he should be their God and they should be his people God continued still in the full enjoyment of his Soveraignty over men which no Sin nor Rebellion nor Apostasie of man could in the least impeach And man continued under an obligation unto dependance on God and subjection unto his will in all things For these cannot be separated from his nature and being until final judgment be executed after which God rules over them only by power without any respect unto their wills or obedience But that especial Relation of mutual interest by virtue of the first Covenant ceased between them 2. God would not enter into any other Covenant with sinful fallen man to be a God unto them and to take them to be a peculiar people unto him immediately in their own persons nor was it consistent with his wisdom and goodness so to do For if man was not stedfast in Gods Covenant but brake and disannulled it when he was sinless and upright only created with a possibility of defection what expectations could there be that now he was fallen and his nature wholly depraved any new Covenant should be of use unto the glory of God or advantage of man To enter into a new Covenant that must necessarily be broken unto the aggravation of the misery of man became not the wisdom and goodness of God If it be said God might have so made a New Covenant immediately with man so as to secure their future obedience and so to have made it firm and stable I answer it would not have become the Divine wisdom and goodness to have dealt better with men after their Rebellion and Apostasie than before namely on their own account He did in our first Creation communicate unto our nature all that grace and all those priviledges which in his wisdom he thought meet to endow it withall and all that was necessary to make them who were partakers of it everlastingly blessed To suppose that on its own account alone he would immediately collate more grace upon it is to suppose him singularly well pleased with our Sin and Rebellion This then God would not do Wherefore 3. God provided in the first place that there should be a Mediator a Sponsor an Undertaker with whom alone he would treat about a New Covenant and so establish it For there were in the contrivance of his grace and wisdom concerning it many things necessary unto it that could no otherwise be enacted and accomplished Nay there was not any one thing in all the good which he designed unto Mankind in this Covenant in a way of love grace and mercy that could be communicated unto them so as that his honor and glory might be advanced thereby without the consideration of this Mediator and what he undertook to do Nor could Mankind have yielded any of that obedience unto God which he would require of them without the interposition of this Mediator on their behalf It was therefore with him that God firstly made this Covenant How it was needful that this Mediator should be God and man in one person how he became so to undertake for us and in our stead what was the especial Covenant between God and him as unto the work which he undertook personally to perform have according unto our poor weak measure and dark apprehension of these heavenly things been declared at large in our Exercitations on this Epistle and yet more fully in our Discourse of the Mystery and Glory of the Person of Christ. Wherefore as unto this New Covenant it was firstly made with Jesus Christ the Surety of it and Undertaker in it For 1. God neither would nor Salvâ justitiâ sapientiâ honore could treat immediately with sinful rebellious men on terms of grace for the future until satisfaction was undertaken to be made for sins past or such as should afterwards fall out This was done by Christ alone who was therefore the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of this Covenant and all the grace of it See 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. Gal. 3. 13 14. Rom. 3. 25. 2. No Restipulation of obedience unto God could be made by man that might be a ground of entering into a Covenant intended to be firm and stable For whereas we had broken our first Covenant engagement with God in our best condition we were not likely of our selves to make good a new engagement of an higher nature than the former Who will take the word or the security of a Bankrupt for Thousands who is known not to be worth one farthing especially if he have wasted a former estate in Luxury and Riot continuing an open Slave to the same lusts wherefore it was absolutely necessary that in this Covenant there should be a Surety to undertake for our answering and firm standing unto the terms of it Without this the event of this New Covenant which God would make as a singular effect of his wisdom and grace would neither have been glory to him nor advantage unto us 3. That Grace which was to be the Spring of all the blessings of this Covenant unto the glory of God and salvation of the Church was to be deposited in some safe hand for the accomplishment of these ends In the first Covenant God at once committed unto man that whole stock of grace which was necessary to enable him unto the obedience of it And the grace of reward which he was to receive upon the performance of it God reserved absolutely in his own hand yea so as that perhaps man did not fully understand what it was But all was lost at once that was committed unto our keeping so as that nothing at all was left to give us the least relief as unto any new endeavors Wherefore God will now secure all the good things of this Covenant both as to grace and glory in a third hand in the hand of a Mediator Hereon the Promises are made unto him and the fulness of grace is laid up in him John 1. 14. Col. 1. 17. Chap. 2. 2. Eph. 3. 8. 2 Cor. 1. 21. 4. As he was the Mediator of this Covenant God became his God and he became the Servant of God in a peculiar manner For he stood before God in this Covenant as a publick Representative of all the Elect. See our Comment on Chap. 1. 5 8. Chap. 2. 13. God is a God unto him in all the Promises he received on the behalf of his mystical Body and he was his Servant in the accomplishment of them as the pleasure of the Lord was to prosper in his hand 5. God being in this Covenant a God and Father unto Christ he became by vertue thereof to be our God and Father
And they are all witnessed unto in his perpetual Appearance in the presence of God for us 7. This also comprizeth his being an Advocate He is hereby in a continual readiness to plead our Cause against all Accusations which is the especial Nature of his work as an Advocate which is distinct from his Intercession whereby he procures supplies of Grace and Mercy for us 8. This Account of the Appearance of Christ before God on the Throne of Grace gives direction into a right Apprehension of the way of the Dispensation of all saving Grace and Mercy unto the Church The Spring and Fountain of it is God himself not absolutely considered but as a on Throne of Grace Goodness Grace Love and Mercy are natural unto him but so also are Righteousness and Judgment That he should be on a Throne of Grace is an Act of his Soveraign Will and Pleasure which is the original Spring of the Dispensation of all Grace unto the Church The procuring Cause of all Grace and Mercy for the Church as issuing from this Throne of Grace is the Sacrifice of Christ whereby Attonement was made for Sin and all Heavenly things purifyed unto their proper End Hence he is continually represented before this Throne of God as a Lamb that had been slain The Actual Application of all Grace and Mercy unto the Church and every member of it depends on this his Appearance before God and the Intercession wherewith it is accompanied Schlictingius grants on the place that Christ doth indeed Solicitously take care of the Salvation of the Church but yet God saith he doth grant it of meer Mercy without any regard unto Satisfaction or Merit which saith he we exclude And the only Reason he gives for their so doing is this that where there is Satisfaction or Merit there is no need of Oblation Appearance or Intercession But this Fancy opposed unto the Wisdom of God in the Dispensation of himself and his Grace ariseth from their Corrupt Notion of these things If the Oblation of Christ with his Appearance in Heaven and Intercession were nothing but what they imagine them to be that is his Appearance in Heaven with all Power committed unto him and the Administration of it for our Good his Satisfaction and Merit could not directly be thence proved Yet also on the other hand are they no way disproved thereby for they might be antecedently necessary unto the exercise of this Power But the Argument is firm on the other hand There is in the Dispensation of Grace and Mercy respect had unto Satisfaction and Merit because it is by the Blood and Sacrifice of Christ as it is the design of the Apostle to declare For whereas He was therein an offering for Sin was made Sin for us and bare all our Iniquities undergoing the Penalty or Curse of the Law due unto them which we call his Satisfaction or Suffering in our stead And whereas all that he did antecedently unto the Oblation of himself for the Salvation of the Church he did it in a way of Obedience unto God by Vertue of the Compact or Covenant between the Father and Him for our Salvation unto his Glory which we call his Merit Unto these there is respect in the dispensation of Grace or the Lord Christ lived and died in Vain But to declare their Apprehension of these things the same Author adds Porro in Pontifice legali apparitio distincta erat ab oblatione licet utraque erat conjuncta simul fieret nempe quia alius erat Pontifex alia victima apparebat quidem Pontifex offerebatur autem victima seu sanguis victimae At nostri Pontificis oblatio apparitio quemadmodum interpellatio reipsa idem sunt quia nimirum idem est Pontifex Victima Dum enim apparet Christus seipsum offert dum seipsum offert apparet dum autem offert apparet interpellat 1. It is not true that the Oblation or Offering of the Sacrifice by the High Priest and his Appearance in the Holy Place was at the same time For he offered his Sacrifice at the Altar without and afterwards entred with the blood into the Holy Place 2. He grants that the Blood of the Sacrifice was offered but will not allow that the Blood of Christ was offered at all nor that Christ offered himself before he had laid aside both flesh and blood having no such thing belonging unto him 3. That the Sacrifice of Christ his Oblation Appearance and Intercession are all one and the same and that nothing but his Power and Care in Heaven for the Salvation of the Church is intended by them is an Imagination expresly contradictory unto the whole Design and all the Reasonings of the Apostle in the Context For he carefully distinguisheth those things one from the other sheweth the different and distinct time of them under the Old Testament declareth their distinct Natures Acts and Effects with the different places of their performance Violence also is offered unto the signification of the Words and the common Notion of things intended by them to make way for this Conceit In common use and force 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are one thing and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are others It is true the Lord Christ is in himself both the Priest and the Sacrifice but it doth not thence follow that his offering of himself and his Appearance in the Presence of God for us are the same but only that they are the Acts of the same Person This Continual Appearance of the Lord Christ for us as our High Priest in the Presence of God in the way explained is the Foundation of the Safety of the Church in all Ages and that whereon all our Consolation doth depend whence Relief is derived by Faith on all occasions The Consideration hereof being rightly improved will carry us through all difficulties Temptations and Trials with safety unto the End VER XXV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not also neque neither nor yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Soul He made his Soul an offering for Sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in or with Blood that was not his own properly Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with other blood or the blood of another Nor yet that he should offer himself often as the High Priest entreth into the Holy-Place every year with the blood of others In the foregoing verse there is an Opposition in the Comparison between the Lord Christ and the High Priest of the Law yet is it such as hath its Foundation in a Similitude that is between them and therefore respects not so much the things themselves opposed as the manner of them For as the Lord Christ entred not into the Holy
thereby and confirmed the New Covenant he concludes from thence and proves the necessity of it because the Legal Sacrifices could not effect those ends which they seemed to be appointed for Wherefore they must be taken away to give place unto that whereby they were perfectly accomplished This therefore he now proceeds to prove God having designed the compleat consummation or sanctification of the Church that which only made a representation of it and of the way whereby it was to be done but could not effect it was to be removed For there was an appointed time wherein he would perfectly fulfil the counsel of his infinite Wisdom and Grace towards the Church herein And at this time which was now come a full clear understanding of the insufficiency of all Legal Sacrifices for that end was to be given unto it For he requires not faith and obedience in any beyond the means of light and understanding which he affords unto them Therefore the full Revelation and demonstration hereof was reserved for this season wherein he required express faith in the way whereby these things were effected 2. The Subject spoken of is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which he immediately intends is the Sacrifices of the Law especially those which were offered yearly by a perpetual Statute as the words immediately following do declare But he refers what he speaks unto the Law it self as that whereby these Sacrifices were instituted and whereon all their vertue and efficacy did depend They had no more of the one or other but what they had by and from the Law And the Law here is the Covenant which God made with the people at Sinai with all the institutions of worship thereunto belonging It is not the Moral Law which Originally and as absolutely considered had no Expiatory Sacrifices belonging unto it nor is it the Ceremonial Law alone whereby all the Sacrifices of old were either appointed or regulated but it is the first Testament the first Covenant as it had all the ordinances of Worship annexed unto it as it was the Spring and cause of all the priviledges and advantages of the Church of Israel And whereunto the Moral Law as given on Mount Sinai and both the Ceremonial Law and the Judicial also did belong This he calls the Law chap. 7. 19 and the Covenant or Testament compleatly chap. 9. Concerning this Law or Covenant the Apostle declares two things 1. Positively and by way of concession It had a shadow of good things to come 2. Negatively that it had not the very Image of the things themselves which we must consider together because they contribute light unto one another These expressions are Metaphorical and have therefore given occasion unto various conjectures about the nature of the Allusions in them and their application unto the present subject matter I shall not trouble the Reader with a Repetition of them they may be found in most Commentators I shall therefore onely fix on that sense of the words which I conceive to be the mind of the Holy Ghost giving the Reasons why I conceive it so to be Both the Expressions used and the things intended in them a shadow and the very Image have respect unto the good things to come The Relation of the Law unto them is that which is declared Wherefore the true notion of what these good things to come are will determine what it is to have a shadow of them and not the very Image of the things themselves The good things intended may be said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either with respect unto the Law or with respect unto the Gospel and were so either when the Law was given or when this Epistle was written If they were yet to come with respect unto the Gospel and were so when he wrote this Epistle they can be nothing but the good things of Heaven and Eternal Glory These things were then are still and will alwayes be unto the Church Militant on the earth good things to come and are the Subject of Divine Promises concerning future things In hope of Eternal Life which God that cannot lye promised before the world began Tit. 1. 2. But this cannot be the sense of the words For 1. The Gospel it self hath not the very Image of these things and so should not herein differ from the Law For that the very Image of these things are the things themselves shall be immediately declared 2. The Apostle in this whole discourse designes to prove that the Law with all the Rites of worship annexed unto it were a Type of the good things that were really and actually exhibited in and by the Gospel or by the Lord Christ himself in the discharge of his Office Wherefore they are called good things to come with respect unto the time of the administration of the Law They were so whilest the Law or first Covenant was in force and whilest the institutions of it were continued They had indeed their Original in the Church or were good things to come from the first promise They were more declared so to be and the certainty of their coming more confirmed by the Promise made unto Abraham After these promises and their various confirmations the Law was given unto the people Howbeit the Law did not bring in exhibit or make present the good things so promised that they should no more yet be to come They were still good things to come whilst the Law was in force Nor was this absolutely denyed by the Jews nor is yet so to this day For though they place more in the Law and Covenant of Sinai than God ever placed in them yet they acknowledge that there are good things to come promised and fore-signified in the Law which as they suppose are not yet enjoyed Such is the coming of the Messiah in which sense they must grant that the Law had a shadow of good things to come Hence it is evident what are those good things to come namely Christ himself with all the Grace and mercy and previledges which the Church receiveth by his actual exhibition and coming in the flesh upon the discharge of his Office For he himself firstly principally and evidently was the Subject of all promises and what ever else is contained in them is but that whereof in his Person Office and Grace he is the Author and cause Hence he was signally termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He who was to come he that should come Art thou he who is to come And after his actual exhibition the denying of him to be so come is to overthrow the Gospel 1 Joh. 4. 3. And these things are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these good things 1. Because they are absolutely so without any allay or mixture All other things in this world however in some respect and as unto some peculiar end they may be said to be good yet are they not so absolutely Wherefore 2. These
openly professed their Repentance and Relinquishment of was ever esteemed dangerous and by some absolutely pernicious whereon great Contests in the Church did ensue For the Controversie was not whether men falling into any sin yea any open or known sin after Baptism might repent which none was ever so foolishly proud as to deny But the Question was about mens open falling again into those sins suppose Idolatry which they had made a publick Profession of their Repentance from before their Baptism And it came at last to this not whether such men might savingly Repent obtain Pardon of their sins and be saved but whether the Church had Power to admit them a second time to a publick Profession of their Repentance of these sins and so take them again into full Communion For some pleaded that the Profession of Repentance for these sins and the Renunciation of them being indispensably necessary antecedently unto Baptism in them that were adult the obligation not to live in them at all being on them who were Baptised in their Infancy Baptism alone was the only Pledge the Church could give of the Remission of such sins and therefore where men fell again into those sins seeing Baptism was not to be repeated they were to be left unto the mercy of God the Church could receive them no more But whereas the numbers were very great of those who in time of Persecution fell back into Idolatry who yet afterwards returned and professed their Repentance the major part who always are for the many agreed that they were to be received and reflected with no small severity on those that were otherwise minded But whereas both parties in this difference run into Extreams the Event was pernicious on both sides the one in the Issue losing the Truth and Peace the other the Purity of the Church The sins of unregenerate persons whereof Repentance was to be expressed before Baptism are called dead works in respect of their Nature and their End For as to their Nature they proceed from a principle under the Power of Spiritual death they are the works of Persons dead in Trespasses and Sins All the moral actings of such Persons with respect unto a supernatural End are dead works being not enlivened by a vital Principle of spiritual Life And it is necessary that a Person be spiritually living before his works will be so Our walking in Holy Obedience is called the Life of God Ephes. 4. 18. That is the Life which God requires which by his especial Grace he worketh in us whose Acts have him for their Object and their End Where this Life is not persons are dead and so are their works even all that they do with respect unto the Living God And they are called so 2dly with respect unto their End they are mortua because mortifera dead because deadly they procure death and end in death Sin when it is finished bringeth forth Death Jam. 1. 15. They proceed from death Spiritual and end in death Eternal On the same account are they called unfruitful works of Darkness Ephes. 5. 11. They proceed from a principle of Spiritual Darkness and end in Darkness Everlasting We may therefore know what was taught them concerning these dead works namely their Nature and their Merit And this includes the whole Doctrine of the Law with Conviction of sin thereby They were taught that they were sinners by Nature dead in sins and thence Children of wrath Ephes. 2. 1 2 3. That in that Estate the Law of God condemned both them and their works denouncing Death and Eternal destruction against them And in this sense with respect unto the Law of God these dead works do comprise their whole course in this world as they did their best as well as their worst But yet there is no doubt an especial respect unto those great outward Enormities which they lived in during their Judaisme even after the manner of the Gentiles For such the Apostle Peter writing unto these Hebrews describes their Conversation to have been 1 Pet. 3. 3. as we shewed before And from thence he describes what a blessed Deliverance they had by the Gospel 1 Pet 1. 18 20 21. And when he declares the Apostacy of some to their former courses he shews it to be like the returning of a Dog to his Vomit after they had escaped them that live in Error and the Pollutions that are in the world through Lust. 2 Pet. 2. 18 19 20 21 22. These were the works which Converts were taught to abandon and a Profession of Repentance for them was required of all before their Initiation into Christian Religion or they were received into the Church For it was not then as now that any one might be admitted into the Society of the Faithful and yet continue to live in open sins unrepented of Secondly That which is required and which they were taught with respect unto these Dead works is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Repentance Repentance from dead works is the first thing required of them who take upon them the Profession of the Gospel and consequently the first Principle of the Doctrine of Christ as it is here placed by the Apostle Without this whatever is attempted or attained therein is only a Dishonour to Christ and a Disappointment unto men This is the method of Preaching confirmed by the Example and Command of Christ himself Repent and believe the Gospel Math. 4. 17. Mark 1. 15. And almost all the Sermons that we find not only of John the Baptist in a way of preparation for the declaration of the Gospel as Math. 3. 2. but of the Apostles also in pressing the actual Reception of it on the Jews and Gentiles laid this as their first Principle namely the Necessity of Repentance Acts 2. 38. Chap. 3. 19. Acts 14. 15. Thence in the Preaching of the Gospel it is said that God Commandeth all men to repent Acts 17. 30. And when the Gentiles had received the Gospel the Church at Hierusalem glorified God saying Then hath Grd also to the Gentiles granted Repentance unto Life Acts 11. 18. Again this is expressed as the first issue of Grace and Mercy from God towards men by Jesus Christ which is therefore first to be proposed unto them God exalted him and made him a Prince and a Saviour to give Repentance unto Israel Acts 5. 31. And because it is the first it is put Synecdochically for the whole work of Gods Grace by Christ. God having raised up his Son Jesus hath sent him to bless you in turning every one of you from his Iniquities Acts 3. 26. It is therefore evident that this was the first Doctrinal principle as to their own Duty which was pressed on and fixed in the minds of men on their first Instruction in the Gospel And in the Testimonies produced both the Causes of it and its general Nature are expressed For 1 Its supream original Cause is the good Will Grace and Bounty of God He grants and
The whole of the world and all that belongs unto it in distinction and opposition unto the new Creation is under the Power of the wicked one the Prince of the Power of Darkness and so is full of Darkness it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 1. a dark place wherein ignorance folly error and superstition do dwell and reign By the Power and Efficacy of this Darkness are men kept at a distance from God and know not whither they go This is called walking in Darkness 1 Joh. 1. 6. whereunto walking in the Light that is the Knowledge of God in Christ by the Gospel is opposed ver 7. On this account is our Instruction in the Knowledge of the Gospel called Illumination because it self is Light 2. On the account of the Subject or the Mind it self whereby the Gospel is apprehended For the Knowledge which is received thereby expels that Darkness Ignorance and Confusion which the mind before was filled and possessed withal The Knowledge I say of the Doctrine of the Gospel concerning the Person of Christ of Gods being in him reconciling the world unto himself of his Offices Work and Mediation and the like heads of Divine Revelation doth set up a spiritual Light in the minds of men enabling them to discern what before was utterly hid from them whilst alienated from the Life of God through their Ignorance Of this Light and Knowledge there are several degrees according to the means of Instruction which they do enjoy the capacity they have to receive it and the diligence they use to that purpose But a competent measure of the Knowledge of the fundamental and most material Principles or Doctrines of the Gospel is required unto all that may thence be said to be illuminated that is freed from the Darkness and Ignorance they once lived in 2 Pet. 1. 18 19 20. This is the first Property whereby the Persons intended are described they are such as were illuminated by the Instruction they had received in the Doctrine of the Gospel and the impression made thereby on their minds by the Holy Ghost for this is a common work of his and is here so reckoned And the Apostle would have us know that 1. It is great Mercy a great Priviledge to be enlightened with the Doctrine of the Gospel ' by the effectual working of the Holy Ghost But 2. It is such a Priviledge as may be lost and end in the aggravation of the sin and condemnation of those who were made partakers of it And 3. Where there is a total neglect of the due improvement of this Priviledge and Mercy the condition of such Persons is hazardous as inclining towards Apostasie Thus much lies open and manifest in the Text. But that we may more particularly discover the nature of this first part of the character of Apostates for their sakes who may look after their own concernment therein we may yet a little more distinctly express the nature of that Illumination and Knowledge which is ascribed unto them and how it is lost in Apostasie will afterwards appear And 1. There is a Knowledge of spiritual things that is purely Natural and Disciplinary attainable and attained without any especial Aid or Assistance of the Holy Ghost As this is evident in common experience so especially among such as casting themselves on the study of spiritual things are yet utter strangers unto all spiritual Gifts Some Knowledge of the Scripture and the things contained in it is attainable at the same rate of pains and study with that of any other Art or Science 2. The Illumination intended being a Gift of the Holy Ghost differs from and is exalted above this Knowledge that is purely natural For it makes nearer approaches unto the Light of spiritual things in their own nature than the other doth Notwithstanding the utmost improvement of scientifical notions that are purely natural the things of the Gospel in their own nature are not only unsuited to the Wills and Affections of Persons endued with them but are really foolishness unto their minds And as unto that goodness and excellency which give desireableness unto spiritual things this knowledge discovers so little of them that most men hate the things which they profess to believe But this spiritual Illumination gives the mind some satisfaction with Delight and Joy in the things that are known By that Beam whereby it shines into Darkness although it be not fully comprehended yet it represents the way of the Gospel as a way of Righteousness 2 Pet. 2. 21. which reflects a peculiar regard of it on the mind Moreover the Knowledge that is meerly natural hath little or no power upon the Soul either to keep it from sin or to constrain it unto Obedience There is not a more secure and profligate Generation of sinners in the world than those who are under the sole conduct of it But the Illumination here intended is attended with efficacy doth effectually press in the Conscience and whole Soul unto an abstinence from sin and the performance of all known Duties Hence Persons under the Power of it and its Convictions do oft-times walk blamelesly and uprightly in the world so as not with the other to contribute unto the contempt of Christianity Besides there is such an Alliance between spiritual Gifts that where any one of them doth reside it hath assuredly other accompanying of it or one way or other belonging unto its train as is manifest in this place Even a single Talent is made up of many pounds But the Light and Knowledge which is of a meer natural acquirement is solitary destitute of the society and countenance of any spiritual Gift whatever And these things are exemplified unto common observation every day 3. There is a saving sanctifying Light and Knowledge which this spiritual Illumination riseth not up unto For though it transiently affect the mind with some glances of the Beauty Glory and Excellency of spiritual things yet it doth not give that direct steady intuitive insight into them which is obtained by Grace See 2 Cor. 3. 18. chap. 4. 4 6. Neither doth it renew change or transform the Soul into a conformity unto the things known by planting of them in the Will and Affections as a gracious saving Light doth 2 Cor. 3. 18. Rom. 6. 17. Rom. 12. 1. These things I judged necessary to be added to clear the nature of the first character of Apostates The second thing asserted in the description of them is that they have tasted of the Heavenly Gift 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The doubling of the Article gives Emphasis to the expression And we must enquire 1 what is meant by the Heavenly Gift And 2 what by tasting of it First The Gift of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 donatio or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 donum Sometimes it is taken for the Grant or giving it self and sometimes for the thing given In the first sense it is used
Kingdom Preach the Word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and Doctrine so ver 5. He did no more himself than what he requires in Timothy according to the proportion of his Abilities And the Discharge of this work is not to be measured by particular Instances of the frequency of Preaching but by that purpose design and frame of Heart which ought to be in Ministers of laying out themselves to the utmost in the work of the Ministry on all occasions resolving to spend and to be spent therein I could easily shew on how many accounts frequency and urgency in preaching of the Word is indispensably required of those unto whom the Work is committed that therein the Rain may fall oft upon the Earth But I must not too far digress The Command of God the Love and Care of Christ towards his Church the Ends of Gods patience and long-suffering the future manifestation of his Glory in the Salvation of Belicvers and the Condemnation of those that are disobedient the Necessities of the Souls of men the nature and kind of the way whereby God gives spiritual supplies by the Ministry of the Word the weakness of our natural faculties of the mind in receiving Heb. 4. 11. Isa. 28. 9 10. and of the memory in retaining spiritual things Heb. 2. 1. chap. 12. 5. the weakness of Grace Rev. 7. 2. requiring continual refreshments Isa. 27. 3. The frequency and variety of Temptations interrupting our peace with God not otherwise to be repelled 2 Cor. 5. 18 19. the design of Christ to bring us gradually unto Perfection might all be pleaded in this case But the Law of this Duty is in some measure written in the hearts of all faithful Ministers and those who are otherwise shall bear their own Burdens Again It is common to the whole Earth often to drink in the Rain that falls upon it though but some parts only of it prove fruitful as it will appear in the following distribution of them Whence we may observe that Attendance unto the Word preached hearing of it with some diligence and giving of it some kind of Reception make no great difference among men for this is common unto them who never become fruitful This is so plainly exemplified by our Saviour in the Parable of the several sorts of Ground that receive the Seed of the Word yet on various occasions lose the power of it and never come to fruit-bearing that it needs no farther consideration And I intend not those only who meerly hear the Word and no more Such persons are like Stones which when the Rain falleth on them it makes no impression into them they drink it not in at all It is no otherwise I say with many Hearers who seem not to have the least sense of what customarily they attend unto But those are intended in the Text and Proposition who in some measure receive it and drink it in They give it an Entrance into their Understandings where they become Doctrinally acquainted with the Truth of the Gospel And they give it some entrance into their Affections whence they are said to receive the Word with joy And moreover they allow it some influence on their Conversations as even Herod did who heard the preachings of John Baptist gladly and did many things thereon All these things men may do and yet at length prove to be that part of the Earth which drinks in the Rain and yet absolutely is barren and brings forth Thorns and Briars There is yet wanting the receiving of it in a good and honest Heart which what it includes will afterwards appear And again we may observe that God is pleased to exercise much patience towards those whom he once grants the Mercy and the Priviledge of his Word unto He doth not presently proceed against them for and on their Barrenness but stays until the Rain hath often fallen upon the Ground But there is an appointed season and period of time beyond which he will not wait for them any more as we shall see The Distribution of this Earth into several parts with the different Lots and Events of them is nextly to be considered The first sort the Apostle describes two ways 1 By its fruitfulness 2 By its acceptation with God And this fruitfulness he farther manifests 1 From the fruit it self which it bears it is Herb or Herbs 2 From the Nature and Use of that Fruit it is meet for them by whom it is dressed 3 The manner of it it brings it forth These things we must a little open in their Order as they be in the Text. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it bringeth forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This word properly signifies the bringing forth of a Woman that hath conceived with Child 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 1. 31. And so it is constantly used in the New Testament and not otherwise but only in this place and James 1. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in an elegant similitude he compareth the work of Lust in Temptation unto an Adulterous conception in the Womb of the Adulteress when at length actual sin is brought forth The Seeds of it are cast into the Mind and Will by Temptation where after they are warmed fomented and cherished Sin that ugly Monster comes forth in the World So is this Earth said to bring forth as a Womb that is naturally and kindly impregnated in its appointed season And therefore when the Apostle speaks of the other sort he changeth his Expression for such a word as may suit a deformed and monstrous Production But the Native power of the Earth being cherished by the Rain that falls on it brings forth as from a teeming Womb the Fruits of those Seeds it is possessed withall 2. It brings forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Generans herbam The Rhemists render it Grass causelesly and amiss The word signifies such green herbs as are usually produced by careful Culture Tilling or Dressing such as are for the proper and immediate use of men and not of their Cattel The same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 1. 11. All sorts of useful green Herbs whether Medicinal or for Food or Beauty and Ornament 3. The nature of this Herbal fruit is that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some render it by opportuna and some by accommoda meet answers both Those that use the former word seem to respect the season wherein it brings forth the Fruit. And this is the commendation of it that it makes no delays but brings forth in its proper time and season when its Owners and Tillers have just ground and reason to expect and look for it And it 's an especial commendation of any thing that beareth Fruit and what is out of season is despised Psal 14. The latter word intends the usefulness and profitableness of the Fruit brought forth in what season soever it be We may comprise both senses and justly suppose both
men are apt to deceive their Souls in supposing they believe the free Promises of God concerning Grace and Mercy whilst they believe not those which are annexed unto Duty For he who believeth not any Promises of the Gospel believeth none Faith doth as equally respect all Gods Promises as Obedience doth all his Commands And it was a good design in a Reverend Person who wrote a Discourse to prove from the Scripture and Experience That largeness in Charity is the best and safest way of thriving in this world 4. Where the Objects of this exercise of Love are multiplied Weariness is apt to befall us and insensibly to take us off from the whole The Wisdom and Providence of God do multiply Objects of Love and Charity to excite us to more acts of Duty and the corruption of our Hearts with self-love useth the consideration of them to make us weary of all Men would be glad to see an end of the trouble and charge of their Love when that only is true which is endless Hence our Apostle in the next Verse expresseth his desire that these Hebrews should not faint in their work but shew the same diligence unto the full assurance of hope unto the end See Gal. 6. 9. And if we faint in spiritual Duties because of the increase of their occasions it is a sign that what we have done already did not spring from the proper Root of Faith and Love What is done in the strength of Nature and Conviction howsoever vigorous it may be for a season in process of time will decay and give out And this is the reason why so many fail in the course of their Profession All Springs of Obedience that lye in Convictions and the improvement of natural Abilities under them will at one time or other fade and dry up And where we find our selves to faint or decay in any Duties our first enquiry should be after the nature of their spring and principle Only the Spirit of God is living water that never fails So the Prophet tells us that even the Youths shall faint and be weary and the Young men shall utterly fail Isa. 40. 30. They who seem to be the strongest and most vigorous in the performance of any Duties yet if they have nothing but their own strength the Ability of nature under Convictions to trust unto they will and shall faint and utterly fail For that such are intended is manifest from the opposition in the next words But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint ver 31. If our Strength and Duties be derived by Faith from God the more we engage in them the more it will be increased The way of the Lord is strength to the upright Prov. 10. 29. Where we are upright in the way of God the very way it self will supply us with new strength continually And we shall go from strength unto strength Psal. 84. 7. from one strengthening Duty unto another and not be weary But hereunto diligence and labour also is required From these and the like considerations it is that the Apostle here mentioneth the industrious labour of Love that was in the Hebrews as an evidence of their saving Faith and Sincerity The next thing expressed in these words is the Evidence they gave of this labour of Love and the means whereby the Apostle came to know it They shewed it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye have shewed or manifested it The same word that James useth in the same case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chap. 2. 18. shew me thy Faith by thy works declare it make it manifest And a man may shew a thing two ways 1 By the doing of it 2 By declaring what he hath done He that works visibly in his calling shews his work by what he doth And he who works in secret may declare it as he hath occasion It is in the first sense that the Hebrews shewed their labour of Love and that James requires us to shew our Faith and Works The things themselves are intended which cannot but be manifest in their due performance To shew the labour of Love is to labour in the Duties of it as that it shall be evident Yet this self-evidencing power of the works of Love is a peculiar property of those that are some way eminent When we abound in them and when the Duties of them are above the ordinary sort and rate then are we said to shew them that is they become conspicuous and eminent To that purpose is the command of our Saviour Matth. 5. 16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Not only let it shine but let it so shine which respects the measure and degree of our Obedience and herein are we required so to abound that our works may be evident unto all If they will take no notice of them for their good if they will revile us and reproach us for our good works as though they were evil works which is the way of the world towards most Duties of Gospel Obedience they themselves must answer for their Blindness our Duty it is so to abound in them as that they may be discerned and seen of all who do not either shut their Eyes out of prejudice against what we are or turn their faces from them out of dislike of what we do Nothing is to be done by us that it may be seen but what may be seen is to be done that God may be glorified Wherefore these Hebrews shewed the work of Faith and the labour of Love by a diligent attendance unto and an abundant performance of the one and the other 3. The End or Reason or Cause of their performance of these Duties which gives them spirit and life rendring them truly Christian and acceptable unto God is added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 towards his name Some would have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his name which also may bear the sense here intended But towards his name is more emphatical And we may observe 1 That in this place it respects not the whole work of these Hebrews the work of Faith before mentioned but it is peculiarly annexed unto the labour of Love The labour of Love towards his name 2 That it was the Saints that were the immediate object of that Love as is declared in the words ensuing in that you have ministred to the Saints and do minister Wherefore it is a Love unto the Saints on the account of the name of God that is intended And this Love unto the Saints is towards the name of God on three accounts 1 Objectively Because the name of God is upon them They are the Family that is called after his name Of him the whole Family of them in Heaven and
either Bless or Curse for he onely hath Sovereign Power of all Good and Evil. He doth therefore so express his Blessing In Blessing I will Bless thee Gen. 22. 17. Do it assuredly and effectually as having all the Subject-matter of Blessings in my hand And therefore he says to Abraham I will Bless them that Bless thee and Curse them that Curse thee Gen. 12. 3. Because he is over them and all their Blessings and Curses Balak therefore was not a little mistaken when he tells Balaam I know that he whom thou Blessest is Blessed and he whom thou Cursest is Cursed Numb 22. 6. For however he might Divine concerning them that should be so absolutely he could neither Bless nor Curse Wherefore I say all Blessings are Instituted means of the conveyance and Communication of Good unto others according unto the Power and Interest of them that Bless in that Good This being amongst Men by Gods Concession and Institution various there are also various sorts of Blessings which may be reduced unto two Heads 1. Such as are Authoritative 2. Such as are Charitative or meerly Euctical The latter fort of Blessing is removed from our Consideration in this place For our Apostle treats only of such Blessings as evidently and unavoidably prove him that Blesseth to be Superior unto him that is Blessed ver 7. But this is not so in this latter sort of Blessings which consist only in Prayer for a Blessing on them For so Equals may Bless one another yea Inferiours may bless Superiours Children may bless Parents Servants Masters Subjects their Rulers Psal. 20. 1 2 3 4. Authoritative Benediction among Men is two-fold 1. Paternal 2. Sacerdotal or with Respect unto any other Office in the Church Paternal Benedictions were of old of two sorts 1. Such as were of Common Right 2. Such as had an especial Prophetical Warranty For the first Parents have an especial Right by virtue of Divine Institution Authoritatively to bless their Children in as much as he hath given unto them an especial Interest in the Matter of the Blessing and Power for the Communication of it And this Blessing consists in two things 1. A Solemn Declaration unto God of their Acceptance and Approbation of that Duty and Obedience which the Children perform unto them by the Law of Nature and Gods appointment This brings ordinarily the Children so Blessed under the Promise of the fifth Commandment So are the words of the Command 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they may prolong thy Days They shall have Power to communicate this good unto thee by their Blessing in their Solemn Declaration of their Acceptance and Approbation of thy Obedience And if this were more considered and more observed by Parents and Children it would be much to their Advantage And indeed the state of those Children is unhappy whose Parents cannot sincerely avow an Approbation of their Duty which intercepts the benefit of their Blessings 2. Parents bless Children by endeavouring to enstate them in their own Covenant-Interest God having promised to be a God unto Believers and their Seed in and by them they do three ways bless them with the good things thereof 1. By communicating unto them the Priviledge of the initial Seal of the Covenant as a Sign Token and Pledge of their being blessed of the Lord. 2. By pleading the Promise of the Covenant in their behalf 3. By careful Instructing of them in the Mercies and Duties of the Covenant Wherefore although this Power of blessing be founded in the Law of Nature and in all Nations something hath been observed that looks towards it yet it is by Faith alone and in an Interest in the Covenant that any Parents are able to Bless their Children in a due manner For a blessing is a communication of Good according to his Interest in it that blesseth which we have none in any that is really so but by virtue thereof And whereas these things are a Solemn appointment of God it is certainly a disadvantage that a Foppish Ceremony is in common practice substituted in the room of them Secondly There was of old a Paternal Benediction that had its Rise in an especial Warranty and was accompanied with a Spirit of Prophecy This consisted in a certain Praediction and Declaration of future Events whereby those so Blessed were Infallibly and Indispensibly stated in a Right unto them So Noah blessed Shem and Japhet Isaac blessed Jacob Jacob all his Sons Herein God gave unto some Parents the Honour of a Power to bequeath unto their Posterity those Good things which he Graciously intended to bestow on them This kind of blessing is now absolutely ceased for it wholly respected the coming of Christ in the Flesh with those other things which conduced thereunto It were well if instead of all these several ways of Blessing many Parents did not Curse their Children Some upon their provocations have desperately and Profanely imprecated Curses upon them and we have known Instances wherein God hath eminently revenged their Impiety by his Judgments inflicted on Parents and Children both Some entail a Curse upon them by Oppressions and Falshood in getting their Estates or in a Flagitious course of Life which God will Revenge to the third Generation But most do Curse them with the Cursed Example of their Conversation initiating them almost from the Cradle in a course of Sin and Wickedness It is true many of those Parents who do use conscientiously the ways appointed of God whereby they may Bless their Children do oft-times not see the effect of their Endeavours They Bless them but they are not Blessed But 1. They have Peace and Comfort in the Discharge of their Duty 2. Their Blessing may have Success and oftentimes hath when they are gone out of the World yea in their Childrens Children for many Generations 3. If all fail they shall be Witnesses for God at the last day against their own profligate Posterity But I return Sacerdotal Blessings were Authoritative also and that on a double Ground 1. Of Common Right and Equity 2. Of Especial Institution 1. There was a common Right and Equity that he who was called to be a Priest should bless the People Authoritatively For as he was appointed to Act for Men with God so it is reasonable that he should pronounce Blessings unto them in the Name of God that as he Ministerially carried their Gifts Offerings and Services unto God so in like manner he should return his Acceptance and blessing unto them Whereas therefore this Right and Duty belonged unto the Office of the Priest two things ensue thereon 1. That this Blessing was an Act of Authority for every Act of Office is so 2. That he who thus blesseth another is greater than he who is blessed by him as our Apostle disputes and we shall see afterwards And we may take Notice in our passage That whatever be the Interest Duty and Office of any to act in the Name of others towards God in any
which both he himself observed as a Man made under the Law and enjoyned others so to do They all continued in full force unto the Time of Reformation which gave them their Bounds and Limits Heb. 9. 10. and ended with his Resurrection His other saying of giving unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods respects our whole Moral Obedience unto God and not this or that particular Institution The meaning of it is that we are to pay or perform unto God all whatever he requireth of us in a way of Obedience but what that is in particular is not here determined And other mention of Tithes in the Gospel there is none 4. VVhereas by the Light of Nature all Rules of Reason and positive Institutions a Portion of what God is pleased to give unto every Man is to be returned unto him in the way of his Worship and Service wherein it may be used according unto his Appointment And whereas before the giving of the Law sundry Holy Men fixed on the Tenth part as that which was meetest to be so Dedicated unto God and that as is probable not without some especial Conduct of the Holy Spirit if not upon express Revelations and whereas this was afterwards expressely confirmed under the Law by positive Institution the Equity whereof is urged in the Gospel it is the best direction that can be given unto any what proportion of their Estate should be set apart unto this Purpose Herein I confess so many Circumstances are in particular cases to be considered as that it is impossible any one certain Rule should be prescribed unto all Persons But whereas withal there is no need in the least to furnish Men with Pleas and Excuses for the non-performance of their Duty at least as unto the necessary degrees of it that I shall not suggest any thing unto them which may be used to that purpose I shall therefore leave this Rule in its full Latitude as the best Direction of Practice in this Matter 5. On these Suppositions it is that the Apostle treating of this Matter makes no Use of the Right or Law of Tithing though directly unto his purpose if it had not been abrogated For intending to prove that the Ministers of the Gospel ought to be Liberally supported in their works with the Earthly things of them unto whom they do Administer the things of God he Argueth from the Light of Nature the general Equity of other Cases the Analogy of Legal Institutions the Rules of Justice with the especial Institution of Christ in the Gospel but makes no mention of the Natural or Legal Right of Tithing 1 Cor. 9. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15. And farther I shall not at present divert on this Subject And we may Observe That Whatsoever we receive signally from God in a way of Mercy we ought to return a Portion of it unto him in a way of Duty That this was the Practice of the Saints of old might easily be proved by an Induction of Instances from this Act of Abraham yea from the Sacrifice of Abel down to the Vow of Jacob the Dedications of David Solomon and others in their respective places and Generations The light of Nature also counted it as a Duty among all the Civilized Heathens The Offerings and Sacred Dedications of Nations and Private Families are Famous on this Account And it was laid as a lasting blemish on good Hezekiah that he returned not unto the Lord according to the Mercy which he had received And we may do well to consider 1. That no Man hath any great or signal Success in any Affair or Occasion more than others or more than at other time but there will be in his Mind an ascription of it unto one cause or another This the Nature of things makes Necessary nor can it be avoided Hab. 1. 11. 2. That whatever a Man doth secretly ascribe such Successes unto That he makes in some sence his God They Sacrifice unto their Net and burn Incense unto their Drag because by them their Portion is fat and their Meat plenteous Hab. 1. 16. They ascribed their Successes unto their own strength endeavours and means that they used Hereby they Deified themselves as far as in them lay and therefore these thoughts are called Sacrificing and Burning Incense which were Expressions of Religious Worship And it is no better with us when in our Successes in our Trades and Affairs we secretly applaud our own Endeavours and the Means we have used as the only causes of them 3. It is a great sign that a Man hath not engaged God in the getting of any thing when he will not entitle him unto any Portion of what is gotten There are two Evils common in the World in this case Some will make no Acknowledgment unto God in the especial Consecration of any part of their Substance unto him where it is Lawfully gotten And some will make great Dedications of what hath been gotten by Robbery Spoils Oppression and Violence Many Publick Works of Munificence and Charity as they are called have had no other Original This is but an Endeavour to entitle God unto injustice and draw him to a Copartnership with them by giving him a share in the Advantage God hateth Robbery for Burnt-Offerings Isa. 61. 8. and he smites his hand at Mens dishonest Gain Ezek. 22. 13. He will have nothing to do with such things nor accept of any Portion of them or from them however he may over-power things in his Providence unto his Glory Both these ways are full of Evil though the latter be the worst 4. No Man hath any Ground to Reckon that he can settle what he hath unto himself or his where this Chief Rent unto God is left unpaid He will at one time or other make a Re-entry upon the whole take the Forfeiture of it and turn the ungrateful Tenant out of Possession And among other things this makes so many Estates Industriously gotten so speedily moulder away as we see they do in the VVorld 5. God hath always his Receivers ready to accept of what is tendred namely his Poor and those that Attend the Ministry of his House VI. The Apostle pursues his Design and Argument from the Name and Title of the Person spoken of with their Interpretation First being by Interpretation King of Rightcousness and after that also King of Salem that is King of Peace And we shall consider herein 1. The Names themselves with their Interpretation 2. The Grounds or Reasons of the Apostle's Arguing from this Interpretation of Names 3. What is intended in them or what he would have us Learn from them 4. Their Order which he particularly Observes First 1. He respecteth his Proper Name that is Melchisedec For the Fancy of some that Sedec was a place or City where first he Reigned as he did afterwards at Salem is very fond For then he must be utterly without a Name belonging
first Covenant was Moses It was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator Gal. 3. 19. And this was no other but Moses who was a Servant in the House of God Hebr. 3. 6. And he was a Mediator as designed of God so chosen of the people in that dread and consternation which befell them upon the terrible promulgation of the Law For they saw that they could no way bear the immediate presence of God nor treat with him in their own persons Wherefore they desired that there might be an Internuntius a Mediator between God and them and that Moses might be the person Deut. 5. 25 26 27. But the Mediator of the New Covenant is the Son of God himself For there is one God and one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all 1 Tim. 2. 4 5. He who is the Son and the Lord over his own House graciously undertook in his own Person to be the Mediator of this Covenant and herein it is unspeakably preferred before the Old Covenant 5. They differ in their subject matter both as unto Precepts and Promises the advantage being still on the part of the New Covenant For 1 The Old Covenant in the preceptive part of it renewed the Command of the Covenant of Works and that on their original terms Sin it forbad that is all and every sin in matter and manner on the pain of death and gave the promise of life unto perfect sinless obedience only Whence the Decalogue itself which is a Transcript of the Law of Works is called the Covenant Exod. 34. 28. And besides this as we observed before it had other Precepts innumerable accommodated unto the present condition of the People and imposed on them with rigor But in the New Covenant the very first thing that is proposed is the accomplishment and establishment of the Covenant of Works both as unto its Commands and Sanction in the obedience and suffering of the Mediator Hereon the Commands of it as unto the obedience of the Covenanters are not grievous the yoke of Christ being easie and his burden light 2. The Old Testament absolutely considered had 1 No promise of grace to communicate spiritual strength or to assist us in obedience nor 2 Any of eternal life no otherwise but as it was contained in the promise of the Covenant of Works The man that doth these things shall live in them and 3 Had promises of temporal things in the Land of Canaan inseparable from it In the New Covenant all things are otherwise as will be declared in the Exposition of the ensuing Verses 6. They differ and that principally in the manner of their Dedication and Sanction This is that which gives any thing the formal nature of a Covenant or Testament There may be a Promise there may be an Agreement in general which hath not the formal nature of a Covenant or Testament and such was the Covenant of Grace before the death of Christ. But it is the solemnity and manner of the Confirmation Dedication and Sanction of any Promise or Agreement that gives it the formal nature of a Covenant or Testament And this is by a Sacrifice wherein there is both Bloodshedding and Death ensuing thereon Now this in the confirmation of the Old Covenant was only the Sacrifice of Beasts whose blood was sprinkled on all the People Exod. 24. 5 6 7 8 9. But the New Testament was solemnly confirmed by the Sacrifice and Blood of Christ himself Zech. 9. 11. Hebr. 10. 29. Chap. 13. 20. And the Lord Christ dying as the Mediator and Surety of the Covenant he purchased all good things for the Church and as a Testator bequeathed them unto it Hence he says of the Sacramental Cup that it is the New Testament in his Blood or the Pledge of his bequeathing unto the Church all the Promises and Mercies of the Covenant which is the New Testament or the disposition of his Goods unto his Children But because the Apostle expresly handleth this difference between these two Covenants Chap. 9. v. 18 19. we must thither refer the full consideration of it 7. They differ in the Priests that were to officiate before God in the behalf of the People In the Old Covenant Aaron and his Posterity alone were to discharge that Office in the New the Son of God himself is the only Priest of the Church This difference with the advantage of the Gospel state thereon we have handled at large in the Exposition of the Chapter foregoing 8. They differ in the Sacrifices whereon the Peace and Reconciliation with God which is tendred in them doth depend And this also must be spoken unto in the ensuing Chapter if God permit 9. They differ in the way and manner of their solemn writing or enrollment All Covenants were of old solemnly written in Tables of Brass or Stone where they might be faithfully preserved for the use of the Parties concerned So the Old Covenant as to the principal fundamental part of it was engraven in Tables of Stone which were kept in the Ark Exod. 31. 18. Deut. 9. 10. 2 Cor. 3. 7. And God did so order it in his Providence that the first draught of them should be broken to intimate that the Covenant contained in them was not everlasting nor unalterable But the New Covenant is written in the fleshly Tables of the hearts of them that do believe 2 Cor. 3. 3. Jer. 31. 33. 10. They differ in their ends The principal end of the first Covenant was to discover sin to condemn it and to set Bounds unto it So saith the Apostle It was added because of transgressions And this it did several ways 1 By Conviction for the knowledge of sin is by the Law it convinced sinners and caused every mouth to be stopped before God 2 By condemning the Sinner in an application of the Sanction of the Law unto his Conscience 3 By the judgments and punishments wherewith on all occasions it was accompanied In all it manifested and represented the justice and severity of God The end of the New Covenant is to declare the love grace and mercy of God and therewith to give Repentance Remission of Sin and Life Eternal 11. They differed in their effects For the first Covenant being the ministration of death and condemnation it brought the minds and spirits of them that were under it into servitude and bondage whereas spiritual liberty is the immediate effect of the New Testament And there is no one thing wherein the Spirit of God doth more frequently give us an account of the difference between these two Covenants than this of the liberty of the one and the bondage of the other see Rom. 8. 15. 2 Cor. 3. 17. Gal. 4. 1 2 3 4 24 25 30 31. Heb. 2. 14 15. This therefore we must a little explain Wherefore the bondage which was the effect of the Old Covenant arose from several causes concurring unto the effecting of it 1.
exhibition of Christ and confirmed in his death and by the Sacrifice of his blood thereby becoming the sole Rule of new spiritual Ordinances of Worship suited thereunto was the great Object of the Faith of the Saints of the Old Testament and is the great foundation of all our present mercies All these things were contained in that New Covenant as such which God here promiseth to make For 1 There was in it a Recapitulation of all Promises of Grace God had not made any promise any intimation of his Love or Grace unto the Church in general nor unto any particular Believer but he brought it all into this Covenant so as that they should be esteemed all and every one of them to be given and spoken unto every individual person that hath an interest in this Covenant Hence all the Promises made unto Abraham Isaac and Jacob with all the other Patriarchs and the Oath of God whereby they were confirmed are all of them made unto us and do belong unto us no less than they did unto them to whom they were first given if we are made partakers of this Covenant Hereof the Apostle gives an instance in the singular promise made unto Joshua which he applies unto Believers Chap. 13. 5. There was nothing of love nor grace in any of them but was gathered up into this Covenant 2 The actual exhibition of Christ in the flesh belonged unto this Promise of making a New Covenant for without it it could not have been made This was the desire of all the Faithful from the foundation of the world this they longed after and fervently prayed for continually And the prospect of it was the sole ground of their joy and consolation Abraham saw his day and rejoiced This was the great Priviledge which God granted unto them that walked uprightly before him such an one saith he shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munition of rocks bread shall be given him his waters shall be sure thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty they shall behold the land that is very far off Isa. 33. 16 17. That prospect they had by faith of the King of Saints in his beauty and glory though yet at a great distance was their relief and their reward in their sincere Obedience And those who understand not the glory of this Priviledge of the New Covenant in the Incarnation of the Son of God or his exhibition in the flesh wherein the depths of the counsels and wisdom of God in the way of grace mercy and love opened themselves unto the Church are strangers unto the things of God 3 It was confirmed and ratified by the death and bloodshedding of Christ and therefore included in it the whole work of his Mediation This is the spring of the life of the Church and until it was opened great darkness was upon the minds of Believers themselves What peace what assurance what light what joy depend hereon and proceed from it no Tongue can express 4 All Ordinances of Worship do belong hereunto What is the benefit of them what are the advantages which Believers receive by them we must declare when we come to consider that comparison that the Apostle makes between them and the carnal Ordinances of the Law Chap. ix Whereas therefore all these things were contained in the New Covenant as here promised of God it is evident how great was the concernment of the Saints under the Old Testament to have it introduced and how great also ours is in it now it is established 5thly The Author or Maker of this Covenant is expressed in the words as also those with whom it was made The first is included in the Person of the Verb I will make I will make saith the Lord. It is God himself that makes this Covenant and he takes it upon himself so to do He is the principal Party covenanting I will make a Covenant God hath made a Covenant He hath made with me an everlasting Covenant And sundry things are we taught therein 1 The freedom of this Covenant without respect unto any merit worth or condignity in them with whom it is made What God doth he doth freely ex mera gratia voluntate There was no cause without himself for which he should make this Covenant or which should move him so to do And this we are eminently taught in this place where he expresseth no other occasion of his making this Covenant but the Sins of the People in breaking that which he formerly made with them And it is expressed on purpose to declare the free and soveraigns grace the goodness love and mercy which alone were the absolute springs of this Covenant 2 The wisdom of its contrivance The making of any Covenant to be good and useful depends solely on the wisdom and foresight of them by whom it is made Hence men do often make Covenants which they design for their good and advantage but they are so ordered for want of wisdom and foresight that they turn unto their hurt and ruine But there was infinite wisdom in the constitution of this Covenant whence it is and shall be infinitely effective of all the blessed ends of it And they are utterly unacquainted with it who are not affected with an holy admiration of Divine Wisdom in its contrivance A man might comfortably spend his life in the contemplation of it and yet be far enough from finding out the Almighty in it unto perfection Hence is it that it is so Divine a Mystery in all the parts of it which the wisdom of the flesh cannot comprehend Nor without a due consideration of the infinite wisdom of God in the contrivance of it can we have any true or real conceptions about it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 profane unsanctified minds can have no insight into this effect of Divine wisdom 3 It was God alone who could prepare and provide a Surety for this Covenant considering the necessity there was of a Surety in this Covenant seeing no Covenant between God and man could be firm and stable without one by reason of our weakness and mutability And considering of what a nature this Surety must be even God and man in one person it is evident that God himself alone must make this Covenant And the provision of this Surety doth contain in it the glorious manifestation of all the Divine Excellencies beyond any act or work of God whatever 4 There is in this Covenant a soveraign Law of Divine Worship wherein the Church is consummated or brought into the most perfect estate whereof in this world it is capable and established for ever This Law could be given by God alone 5 There is ascribed unto this Covenant such an efficacy of grace as nothing but Almighty Power can make good and accomplish The grace here mentioned in the promises of it directs us immediately unto its Author For who else but God can write the Divine Law in our hearts and pardon
which is intended is properly a Testament or a Testamentary disposition of good things It is the Will of God in and by Jesus Christ his death and bloodshedding to give freely unto us the whole inheritance of grace and glory And under this notion the Covenant hath no condition nor are any such either expressed or intimated in this place Obs. 1. The Covenant of Grace as reduced into a form of a Testament confirmed by the blood of Christ doth not depend on any condition or qualification in our persons but in a free grant and donation of God and so are all the good things prepared in it 2. The Precepts of the Old Covenant are turned all of them into Promises under the New Their preceptive commanding power is not taken away but grace is promised for the performance of them So the Apostle having declared that the People brake the Old Covenant adds that in the New grace shall be supplied for all the Duties of Obedience that are required of us 3. All things in the New Covenant being proposed unto us by the way of promise it is Faith alone whereby we may attain a participation of them For Faith onely is the grace we ought to exercise the duty we ought to perform to render the promises of God effectual to us Heb. 3. 1. 4. Sense of the loss of an interest in and participation of the benefits of the Old Covenant is the best preparation for receiving the mercies of the New Thirdly The Author of this Covenant is God himself I will make it saith the Lord. This is the third time that this expression saith the Lord is repeated in this Testimony The work expressed in both the parts of it the disannulling of the Old Covenant and the establishment of the New is such as calls for this solemn interposition of the authority veracity and grace of God I will do it saith the Lord. And the mention hereof is thus frequently inculcated to beget a reverence in us of the work which he so emphatically assumes unto himself And it teacheth us that God himself in and by his own soveraign Wisdom Grace Goodness Allsufficiency and Power is to be considered as the onely Cause and Author of the New Covenant Or the abolishing of the Old Covenant with the introduction and establishment of the New is an act of the meer soveraign wisdom grace and authority of God It is his gracious disposal of us and of his own grace That whereof we had no contrivance nor indeed the least desire Fourthly It is declared who this New Covenant is made withall With the House of Israel ver 8. They are called distinctly the House of Israel and the House of Judah The distribution of the Posterity of Abraham into Israel and Judah ensued upon the division that fell among the people in the days of Rehoboam Before they were called Israel only And as before they were mentioned distinctly to testifie that none of the Seed of Abraham should be absolutely excluded from the grace of the Covenant however they were divided among themselves so here they are all jointly expressed by their ancient name of Israel to manifest that all distinctions on the account of precedent Priviledges should be now taken away that all Israel might be saved But we have shewed before that the whole Israel of God or the Church of the Elect are principally intended hereby Fifthly The Time of the accomplishment of this Promise or making of this Covenant is expressed After those days There are various conjectures about the sense of these words or the determination of the time limited in them Some suppose respect is had unto the time of giving the Law on Mount Sinai Then was the Old Covenant made with the Fathers But after those days another should be made But whereas that time those days were so long past before this Prophesie was given out by Jeremy namely about 800 years it was impossible but that the New Covenant which was not yet given must be after those days Wherefore it was to no purpose so to express it that it should be after those days seeing it was impossible that otherwise it should be Some think that respect is had unto the Captivity of Babylon and the return of the People from thence For God then shewed them great kindness to win them unto Obedience But neither can this time be intended for God then made no New Covenant with the People but strictly obliged them unto the terms of the Old Mal. 4. 3 4 5. But when this New Covenant was to be made the old was to be abolished and removed as the Apostle expresly affirmeth ver 13. The promise is not of new obligation or new assistance unto the observance of the Old Covenant but of making a New one quite of another nature which then was not done Some judge that these words After those days refer unto what went immediately before And I regarded them not which words include the total rejection of the Jews After those days wherein both the House of Judah and Israel shall be rejected I will make a New Covenant with the whole Israel of God But neither will this hold the Tryal For 1 Supposing that expression And I regarded them not to intend the rejection of the Jews yet it is manifest that their excision and cutting off absolutely was not in nor for their non-continuance in the Old Covenant or not being faithful therein but for the rejection of the New when proposed unto them Then they fell by unbelief as the Apostle fully manifests Chap. 3. of this Epistle and Rom. 11. Wherefore the making of the New Covenant cannot be said to be after their rejection seeing they were rejected for their-refusal and contempt of it 2 By this interpretation the whole House of Israel or all the natural Posterity of Abraham would be utterly excluded from any interest in this Promise But this cannot be allowed For it was not so de facto a Remnant being taken into Covenant which though but a remnant in comparison of the whole yet in themselves so great a multitude as that in them the Promises made unto the Fathers were confirmed Nor on this Supposition would this Prediction of a New Covenant have been any promise unto them or any of them but rather a severe denunciation of judgment But it is said expresly that God would make this Covenant with them as he did the former with their Fathers which is a promise of grace and mercy Wherefore after those days is as much as in those days an indeterminate season for a certain So in that day is frequently used in the Prophets Isa. 24. 21 22. Zech. 12. 11. A time therefore certainly future but not determined is all that is intended in this expression After those days And herewith most Expositors are satisfied Yet is there as I judge more in the words Those days seem to me to comprize the whole time alotted unto the oeconomy of
be done by that Covenant against which the Sins were committed neither by the Priests nor Sacrifices nor any other Duties of it Therefore had he promised the Abolition of it because of its weakness and insufficiency unto this end as also the introduction of a new to supply its defects as we have seen at large in the Exposition of the foregoing Chapter For it became the Wisdom Goodness and Grace of God upon the removal of the other for its insufficiency to establish another that should be every way effectual unto his purpose namely the Communication of an Eternal Inheritance unto them that are called But then the Enquiry will be How this Covenant or Testament shall effect this end what is in it what belongs unto it that should be so effectual and by what means it might attain this end All these are declared in the words And Sixthly In general all this arose from hence that it had a Mediator and that the Lord Christ the Son of God was this Mediator The dignity of his Person and thereon both the Excellency and Efficacy of his Priestly Office whereunto alone respect is had in his being called here a Mediator he had abundantly before demonstrated Although the word in general be of a larger signification as we have declared on Chap. 8. 6. yet here it is restrained unto his Priestly Office and his acting therein For whereas he had treated of that alone in the foregoing Chapter here declaring the Grounds and Reasons of the necessity of it he says for this cause is he the Mediator And proceeding to shew in what sense he considers him as a Mediator doth it by his being a Testator and dying which belongs to his Priestly Office alone And the sole end which in this place he assigns unto his Mediatory Office is his death That by means of death Whereas therefore there were Sins committed under the first Covenant and against it and would have been so for ever had it continued which it was no way able so to take away as that the called might receive the Inheritance the Lord Christ undertook to be the Mediator of that Covenant which was provided as a Remedy against these Evils For herein he undertook to answer for and expiate all those Sins Whereas therefore Expiation of Sin is to be made by an Act towards God with whom alone Atonement is to be made so as that they may be pardoned the Mediation of Christ here intended is that whereby suffering death in our stead in the behalf of all that are called he made Atonement for Sin But moreover God had a further design herein He would not only free them that are called from that death which they deserved by their Sins against the first Covenant but give them also a Right and Title unto an Eternal Inheritance that is of Grace and Glory Wherefore the Procurement hereof also depends on the Mediation of Christ. For by his Obedience unto God in the discharge thereof he purchased for them this Inheritance and bequeathed it unto them as the Mediator of the New Testament The Provision of this Mediator of the New Testament is the greatest Effect of the infinite Wisdom Love and Grace of God This is the Center of his Eternal Counsels In the womb of this one Mercy all others are contained Herein will he be glorified unto Eternity 1 The first Covenant of Works was broken and disannulled because it had no Mediator 2 The Covenant at Sinai had no such Mediator as could expiate Sin Hence 3 Both of them became means of Death and Condemnation 4 God saw that in the making the New Covenant it was necessary to put all things into the hand of a Mediator that it also might not be frustrated 5 This Mediator was not in the first place to preserve us in the state of the New Covenant but to deliver us from the guilt of the breach of the former and the Curse thereon To make provision for this End was the Effect of Infinite Wisdom Seventhly The especial way and means whereby this Effect was wrought by this Mediator was by death Morte obita facta interveniente intercedente by means of death say we Death was the means that whereby the Mediator procured the Effect mentioned That which in the foregoing Verse is ascribed unto the Blood of Christ which he offered as a Priest is here ascribed unto his death as a Mediator For both these really are the same only in the one the thing it self is expressed it was death in the other the manner of it it was by blood in the one what he did and suffered with respect unto the Curse of the first Covenant it was death in the other the ground of his making Expiation for Sin by his death or how it came so to do namely not meerly as it was death or penal but as it was a voluntary Sacrifice or Oblation It was therefore necessary unto the End mentioned that the Mediator of the New Testament should dye not as the High Priests of old dyed a natural death for themselves but as the Sacrifice dyed that was slain and offered for others He was to dye that death which was threatned unto Transgressions against the first Covenant that is death under the Curse of the Law There must therefore be some great Cause and End why this Mediator being the onely begotten of the Father should thus dye This was say the Socinians that he might confirm the Doctrine that he taught He dyed as a Martyr not as a Sacrifice But 1 There was no need that he should dye unto that End For his Doctrine was sufficiently confirmed by the Scriptures of the Old Testament the Evidence of the Presence of God in him and the Miracles which he wrought 2 Notwithstanding their pretence they do not assign the Confirmation of his Doctrine unto his Death but unto his Resurrection from the dead Neither indeed do they allow any gracious Effect unto his death either towards God or men but only make it something necessarily antecedent unto what he did of that kind Nor do they allow that he acted any thing at all towards God on our behalf Whereas the Scripture constantly assigns our Redemption Sanctification and Salvation to the death and blood of Christ. These Persons 1 deny that of it self it hath any influence into them wherefore 2 they say that Christ by his death confirmed the New Covenant but hereby they intend nothing but what they do also in the former or the Confirmation of his Doctrine with an addition of somewhat worse For they would have him to confirm the Promises of God as by him declared and no more as though he were God's Surety to us and not a Surety for us unto God Neither do they assign this unto his Death but unto his Resurrection from the dead But suppose all this and that the death of Christ were in some sense useful and profitable unto these Ends which is all they plead
hand and a Reparation by the Blood of Bulls and Goats on the other No Man living can apprehend wherein any such proportion should lye or consist Nor was it possible that the Conscience of any Man could be freed from a Sense of the Guilt of Sin who had nothing to trust unto but this Blood to make Compensation or Attonement for it 2. The apprehension of it namely a suitableness unto Divine Justice in the Expiation of Sins by the Blood of Bulls and Goats must needs be a great Incentive unto prophane persons unto the Commission of Sin For if there be no more in Sin and the Guilt of it but what may be Expiated and taken away at so low a price but what may have Attonement made for it by the Blood of Beasts why should they not give satisfaction unto their Lusts by living in Sin 3. It would have had no consistency with the Sentence and Sanction of the Law of Nature In the day thou eatest thou shalt dye For although God reserved unto himself the Liberty and Right of substituting a Surety in the room of a Sinner to dye for him namely such an one as should by his Suffering and Dying bring more Glory unto the Righteousness Holiness and Law of God than either was derogated from them by the Sin of Man or could be restored unto them by his Eternal Ruin yet was it not consistent with the veracity of God in that Sanction of the Law that this substitution should be of a Nature no way Cognate but ineffably inferiour unto the Nature of him that was to be delivered For these and other Reasons of the same kind which I have handled at large elsewhere it was impossible as the Apostle assures us that the Blood of Bulls and Goats should take away Sin And we may observe 1. It is possible that things may usefully represent what it is impossible that in and by themselves they should effect This is the Fundamental Rule of all Institutions of the Old Testament Wherefore 2. There may be great and eminent uses of Divine Ordinances and Institutions although it be impossible that by themselves in their most exact and diligent use they should work out our Acceptance with God And it belongs unto the Wisdom of Faith to use them unto their proper end not to trust unto them as unto what they cannot of themselves effect 3. It was utterly impossible that Sin should be taken away before God and from the Conscience of the Sinner but by the Blood of Christ. Other ways Men are apt to betake themselves unto for this end but in vain It is the Blood of Jesus Christ alone that cleanseth us from all our Sins for he alone was the Propitiation for them 4. The Declaration of the Insufficiency of all other ways for the Expiation of Sin is an evidence of the Holiness Righteousnes and Severity of God against Sin with the unavoidable Ruin of all Unbelievers 5. Herein also consists the great Demonstration of the Love Grace and Mercy of God with an encouragement unto Faith in that when the Old Sacrifices neither would nor could perfectly Expiate Sin he would not suffer the work it self to fail but provided a way that should be infallibly effective of it as is declared in the following Verses VERSE V VI VII VIII IX X. THe Provision that God made to supply the Defect and Insufficiency of Legal Sacrifices as unto the Expiation of Sin peace of Conscience with himself and the Sanctification of the Souls of the Worshippers is declared in this Context For the words contain the blessed undertaking of our Lord Jesus Christ to do fulfil perform and suffer all things required in the Will and by the Wisdom Holiness Righteousness and Authority of God unto the compleat Salvation of the Church with the Reasons of the Efficacy of what he so did and suffered unto that end And we must consider both the words themselves so far especially as they consist in a Quotation out of the Old Testament with the Validity of his Inferences from the Testimony which he chuseth to insist on unto this purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some few differences may be observed in the Antient and best Translations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vulg. Lat. ideo quapropter Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this for this cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hostiam oblationem Sacrificium victimam The Syriack renders the words in the Plural Number Sacrifices and Offerings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aptâsti adaptâsti mihi praeparâsti perfecisti A Body hast thou prepà red i. e. fitted for me wherein I may do thy Will Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But thou hast Cloathed me with a Body very significantly as unto the thing intended which is the Incarnation of the Son of God The Aethiop renders this Verse somewhat strangely And when he entred into the World he saith Sacrifices and Offerings I would not thy Body he hath purified unto me Making them as I suppose the words of the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vulg. non tibi placuerant reading the preceding words in the Nominative Case altering the Person and Number of the Verb. Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou didst not require non approbâsti that is they were not well pleasing nor accepted with God as unto the end of the Expiation of Sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ecce adsum venio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Syriack omitteth the last word which yet is Emphatical in the discourse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vul. tunc dixi then I said that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he said for the Apostle doth not speak these words but repeats the words of the Psalmist The reading of the words out of the Hebrew by the Apostle shall be considered in our passage VERSE 5 6 7 8 9 10. 5. Wherefore when he cometh into the World he saith Sacrifice and Offering thou wouldst not but a Body hast thou prepared fitted for me 6. In Burnt Offerings and Sacrifices for Sin thou hast had no pleasure 7. Then said I Lo I come in the Volume of the Book it is written of me to do thy Will O God that I should do thy Will 8. Above when he said Sacrifice and Offering and Burnt Offerings and Offerings for Sin thou wouldst not neither hadst pleasure therein which are Offered by the Law 9. Then said he Lo I come to do thy Will O God He taketh away the First that he may establish the Second 10. By the which Will we are Sanctified through the Offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all A Blessed and Divine Context this is Summarily representing unto us the Love Grace and Wisdom of the Father the Love Obedience and Suffering of the Son the Federal Agreement between the Father and the Son as unto the work of the Redemption and Salvation of the Church with the Blessed Harmony between the Old and New Testament in the Declaration of these things The Divine Authority
disadvantages of an outward condition Those of high degree are usually encompassed with so many circumstances of distance that they know not how to break through them unto that familiarity of Love that ought to be among Believers But as the Gospel on all civil or secular accounts leaves unto men all their Advantages of Birth Education Offices Power manner of converse free and entire so with respect unto things purely Spiritual it lays all level among Believers In Jesus Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek Barbarian nor Scythian bond nor free but all are one in Christ and it is the new Creature alone that makes the difference Hence in all affairs of the Church we are forbid to have any respect unto the outward state and condition of men Jam. 2. 1 2 3 4 5. We all serve the same common Lord and Master who when he was rich for our sakes became poor And if we for his sake lay not aside the consideration of all our Riches with that distance of mind and conversation from the poorest Saints his Disciples I speak not now of the laying out of mens wealth for the use of the poor but of lowliness of mind in condescending unto a Brotherly Communion in Love with the meanest of them Let therefore the greatest know that there is no Duty of Spiritual Love that unbecomes them And if their state and condition keep them from that Communion of Love which is required of all Believers it is their Snare and Temptation If they converse not familiarly with the lowest of them as they have occasion if they visit them not when it is requisite if they bear them not in their Hearts and Minds as their especial Church Relation requires they sin against the Law of this holy Love 3. Watch against provocations Whilst we and others are encompassed with the Body of our Infirmities we shall meet with what we may be prone so to esteem Where men are apt to turn every Infirmity every failing every neglect and it may be every mistake into a provocation and to take offence thereat never expect any thing of Love from such Persons For as their frame is a fruit of pride and self-conceit so it is diametrically opposite unto all the principal actings of Love described by our Apostle 1 Cor. 13. 4 5 6 7. 4. Take heed of resting satisfied in the outward Duties of Love without the inward workings of it as also in an apprehension of inward Affections without outward Fruits Men may have a Conviction that all the outward Duties of Love in warning admonishing comforting relieving with outward supplies are to be attended unto and may accordingly be exercised in them and yet exercise little real Love in them all Hence our Apostle supposeth that a man may give all his Goods to feed the poor and yet have no Charity 1 Cor. 13. 2. All Fruit partakes of the nature of the Root If the good we do in these kinds proceed only from Conviction of Duty and not from fervent Love they will prove but Hay and Stubble that will burn in their Trial. Secondly With this Love as an eminent Adjunct of it the Apostle expresseth the labour of it the labour of Love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 laboriosa charitas laborious Love saith Beza Laboris ex charitate suscepti Eras. the labour undergone on the account of Love that is in the exercise of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is such a kind of labour as is attended with much difficulty and trouble a painful labour A lazie Love like that described by the Apostle Jam. 2. 15 16. and which most men satisfie themselves withall is no evidence of a saving Faith But we are here taught that Love if it be true is laborious and diligent or Great and difficult labour is required unto Love in its due exercise It is not unto Love it self absolutely but unto its exercise that this labour is required yet this exercise is such as is inseparable from the Grace it self And this is necessary upon the account of the Difficulties that lye in its way and the Oppositions that it meets withall These make a work laborious and painful Faith and Love are generally looked on as easie and common things But it is by them who have them not As they are the only Springs of all Obedience towards God and Usefulness towards men so they meet with the greatest oppositions from within and from without I shall name some few of those which are most effectual and least taken notice of As 1. Self-love This is diametrically opposed unto it Self-love is the making a mans self his own Centre the beginning and ending of all that he doth It makes men grudge every drop of good that falls besides themselves and whoever is under the power of it will not willingly and chearfully do that for another which he thinks he can do for himself This is the measure of self whatever is added unto it it doth not satisfie it would still have more and whatever goeth from it on one account or other it is too much it doth not please Unless this be in some good measure subdued mortified and cast out there can be no exercise of Love And hereunto labour is required For man being turned off from God is wholly turned into himself And without an holy violence unto all our Affections as naturally depraved we can never be freed from an inclination to centre all in self And these things are directly contradictory Self-love and Love of the Saints are like two Buckets proportionably unto the rising of the one the other goeth down Look unto what degree soever we arise in self-love whatever else we do and whatever our works may be to the same proportion do we sink in Christian Love 2. Evil surmises rise up with no small efficacy against the exercise of Love And they are apt on various accounts to insinuate themselves into the minds of men when they are called unto the discharge of this Duty One thing or other from this depraved Affection which our nature is obnoxious unto shall be suggested to weaken our hearts and hands in what we are about And it requires no small spiritual labour to cast out all such surmises and to give up our selves to the conduct of that Charity which suffereth long and is kind which beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things 1 Cor. 13. 3. Distrust of Gods Promises as to supplies for our selves Men are afraid that if they should inlarge themselves in a way of Bounty towards others which is one Duty of Love they may in time be brought even to want themselves at least as unto that proportion of supplies which they judge necessary It were endless to recount the sacred Promises which give assurance of the contrary Nor can any one Instance in the whole world be produced unto this purpose But these are looked upon as good words by the most but are not really believed Yea