Jesus of Nazareth was Christ And Christ though he was conceived by the holy Ghost without the act of any man yet is said to spring from Abraham from Judah and from David because he was borne of Mary the wife of Joseph who was of the posterity of David of Judah and of Abraham For any son that is borne of a mans wife which is accounted her husbands body though it be not begotten by the husband so it be not begotten by any other man is his son who is husband to the woman For God hath free liberty to give a man a son any way whether naturally by the husband or supernaturally without the husband For by the Law of God it was ordained of old that when the husband died without issue his brother if he have any should marry the widow and as soone as he had any childe by her it should be called the seed of her husband that was deceased With how much more reason may Christ justly be called the son of Joseph and therefore of David Judah or Abraham because though he were not begotten by Joseph himselfe yet he was begotten in his life time not by the act of any other man supplying the part of Joseph but by the worke and power of the holy Ghost and by him begotten upon Mary the espoused wife of Joseph The points by some disputed on this place whether Christ by his mothers side were not of the Tribe of Levi are doubtfull in themselves and impertinent to the matter For among the Jews no man was referred to any Tribe but by his father Hence in all the genealogies or pedigrees mentioned in Scripture men onely are named but the genealogies of women are never described or no otherwise but by the men as the genealogie of Iudith chap. 8. But if in any genealogie a woman be mentioned her parents are not inserted as Matth. 1. Boos begat Obed of Ruth Judas begat Pharez of Thamar David begate Solomon of her that had been the wife of Vrias The reason is because it mattered not for the tribe or pedigree of what woman the childe were borne whether of one or other For the father alwayes gave the tribe and family to the childe Wherefore the genealogie of Christ whether by Matthew or Luke is not framed from the ancestors of Mary but of Joseph 15. And it is yet more evident for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another Priest By another argument taken from the nature of the Priesthood he shews that by the rising of another Priest after the order of Melchisedec the Law is abrogated q. d. If it be evident as it is that upon the translation of the Priesthood to another tribe or family contrary to the precept of the Law the Law it selfe is thereby abrogated much more is the abrogation of it evident upon the rising of another Priest after the order of Melchisedec If the Priesthood had been onely translated to another tribe or family and remained in the former qualitie of it without any other alteration certainly lesse violence had been done to the Law but seeing the Priesthood is translated into another family and tribe upon which the Law no way setled it and also altered into a new kinde of Priesthood much more is it evident that by this translation and alteration of the Priesthood the Law it selfe is changed and abrogated After the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another Priest Another Priest notlike Aaron to be either of his family or of his continuance but like Melchisedec to continue a Priest for ever 16. Who is made not after the Law of a carnall commandment but after the power of an endlesse life The Priest after the similitude or likenesse of Melchisedec is not like the Priests after Aarons order who are made after the Law of a carnall commandment neither is hee a temporary Priest to live for a time onely as they did but an eternall Priest for ever After the Law of a carnall commandment By Law of commandment he meanes those particular precepts in the Law for the election and ordination of the Priest which are called carnall because they had respect onely to the flesh and considered onely the linage birth and death of the Priest binding the Priesthood to a certain tribe namely of Levi and to a certain family in that tribe namely of Aaron and providing for the mortalitie of the Priest by determining the rights of succession all which considerations are carnall respecting onely the flesh For the Law commanded that upon the death of one Priest another should succeed him to the end that though the Priests dyed yet the Priesthood might not die According to this carnall commandment or Lawes respecting the flesh that Priest was not to bee ordained who was to be made after the order of Melchisedec For hee had neither predecessour nor successour neither came hee from the family of Aaron The particle after doth here note the manner of the Priesthood for the constitution of it as applyed to some certaine rule or Law for though the word sometime signifie otherwise yet this is the most usuall sence of it So that here is proposed unto us the qualitie of that Priest who is after the likenesse of Melchisedec and a qualitie contrary to the qualitie of the Priests after Aarons order because as we have often noted every Aaronicall Priest was but temporary onely for a time but the Priest after Melchisedecs order is perpetuall and eternall for ever The words following do enforce this sence especially if wee regard the proofe contained in the verse following But after the power of an endlesse life The Priest after Melchisedees order is such a one as hath the power of perpetuitie such as an endlesse life requires to be Hee is not a carnall mortall and frail Priest that after a little time should need a successour but a most potent Priest that hath an absolute power an eternall Priest that hath an endlesse life For to this sence that which followes doth excellently agree 17. For hee testifieth Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec q.d. Therefore I say that the Priest after the order of Melchisedec is an eternall Priest because God openly testifies it when hee saith Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec 18. For there is verily a disanulling of the commandement going before He had said before that if the Priesthood were changed then the Law also must be changed and hitherto he hath proved that consequence Now he shewes the reason why the Law must be antiquated changed or abrogated For hee seemes to looke backward to the principall purpose and the scope of the former words partly expressed verse 12. and in a manner repeated verse 15. and so againe verse 16. where hee saith that Christ is not made a Priest according to the Law of a carnall commandment In which words he shewed that the commandment of the Law for ordaining of the
because the Law made men high Priests which have infirmity i. such as can never depose their infirmity which alwayes held them in this condition that after expiation for their sinnes and errors they againe fell into the like sinnes and errors which required againe another expiation But the word of the oath which was since the Law The word containing the oath whereof he spake before vers 20. That oath whereby Christ was ordained Priest was since the Law and therefore the Priesthood of Christ is no way depending or established by the Law For here the word of the oath made since the Law is opposed to the Law Maketh the sonne who is consecrated for evermore Maketh the sonne Priest The sonne is here put eminently for the Sonne of God and opposed to common men who have infirmities as those men had whom the Law made Priests so in many places of Scripture Christ is opposed to the rest of men See Gal. 1.1 and Ephes 2.7 Consecrated for evermore Christ is expiated for evermore not in respect of the time past as of old under the Law under which the Priests by reason of their infirmities were forced to renue their expiation every year But Christ by his one single expiation upon the crosse was freed from all further sufferings and paines for evermore so that hee hath no further need to expiate or offer for them any more for ever And hence againe it appears that Christ was not fully perfectly our high Priest before he was consecrated expiated and perfected for evermore That is before he became immortall The Contents of this seventh Chapter are 1. Melchisedec was a Priest v. 1. Reason 1. Because he blessed men sacerdotally for so he blessed Abraham v. 1. 2. Because he received tithes for Abraham gave him a tenth v. 2. 2. Melchisedec was a singular Priest v. 3. Reason 1. Because there were no more Priests of his order for he was without father or mother without predecessour or successour v. 2. 2. Because he was a perpetuall Priest for he had neither beginning of dayes nor end of life but remained a Priest continually v. eod 3. Melchisedec was greater then Abraham v. 1. Reason 1. Because he blessed Abraham sacerdotally v. eod 2. Because he received tithes from Abraham v. 2. 3. Because he was in a manner an eternall person that had no parentage neither beginning of dayes nor end of life 4. Melchisedec was greater then the Leviticall Priests v. 5. Reason 1. Because he blessed them in Abraham who had the promises of them that they should be his seed v. 6. 2. Because he tithed them in tithing Abraham for they were then in the loynes of Abraham v. 5. 9. 10. 3. Because he was a singular and an eternall Priest but they were many and mortall for they dyed and succeeded one another v. 8. 5. Christ is not a Priest after the order of Aaron v. 11. Reason 1. Because Christ sprang not from the tribe of Levi as Aaron did but from Juda another tribe v. 13. 14. 2. Because Christ was not ordained by vertue of any carnall law that respected his birth and parentage as Aaron and his successours were v. 16. 3. Because Christ was made with an oath to make his Priesthood immutable and irrevocable but they without an oath v. 20. 21. 4. Because Christ was a singular and eternall Priest whose Priesthood is unchangeable but they were many and mortall and their Priesthood transitory changing upon death from one person to another v. 23 24. 5. Because Christ is in a divine and blessed state for he is inviolable unharmable undefileable seperate from sinners and seated in heaven They had not the substance of this state but only some shadow of it v. 26. 6. Because Christ needed but one offering for himselfe whereby to expiate and put off his infirmities for ever they needed yearly a new expiation for their infirmities v. 27 28. 6. Christ is a Priest after the order of Melchisedec chap. 6. v. ult Reason 1. Because Christ is a Royall Priest both a King and a Priest as Melchisedec was v. 1. 2. Because Christ is a singular Priest having no other Priest after his order but himselfe for he was without predecessour and successour as Melchisedec was v. 3. 3. Because Christ is an eternall Priest who liveth for ever as Melchisedec is said to have done 7. The Leviticall Priesthood is expired v. 11. Reason 1. Because Christ another Priest is raised up who is not after Aarons order v. eod 2. Because the Priesthood is translated from the tribe of Levi upon whom the Law had setled it v. 13 14. 3. Because that Priesthood was ruled by a carnall law with respect to the birth life and death of the Priest v. 16. 4. Because it made no perfect expiation for sinnes for thereto it was weake and unprofitable v. 18 19. 8. The Leviticall Law is expired v. 12. Reason 1. Because that Priesthood is abrogate and changed v. eod 2. Because the commandements and precepts of it were carnall touching the line the birth and death of Priests touching washings of the flesh of men and sacrificing the flesh of beasts v. 16. 3. Because it made no perfect expiation for sin but to that effect was weake and unprofitable CHAPTER VIII 1. Now of the things which we have spoken this is the summe Wee have such an high Priest Hee had before spoken many things concerning Christ our high Priest both for his quality what manner of person hee is and for his dignity how farre hee exceedeth the legall Priests Now being partly to adde something further and partly to repeat something formerly spoken he calles this repetition the summe of what hee had spoken Now the summe may signifie either the breviat of what hee had spoken or else the maine head and principall point which last sense is most agreeable to this place q.d. Of all those things which have been or may bee spoken concerning Christ our high Priest the main head or principall point is this That we have such an high Priest who is set on the right hand c. Who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens Of these words we treated chap. 1.3 And by them is signified unto us so great a dignity and Majesty in Christ our high Priest that there was scarce extant any shadow of it in the ancient legall Priests seeing none of them did ever sit at the right hand of that throne which was placed in the oracle of the Sanctuary namely of the Mercy-seat or covering of the Arke which was all over shadowed by the wings of the Cherubines and called the Throne of God whereupon God was said to sit between the Cherubines But all those legall high Priests when they entred into the oracle or most holy place of the Sanctuary were forced to stand before the Arke and so before the Mercy-seat upon it But Christ is so great an high Priest that he sits on
committing them to the care of Christ See John 6.39.40 and John 17.6,7 And by giving him power to give them eternall life Joh 17.2 For hee did predestinate them to be conformed to the image of Christ that Christ might be the first-borne among many brethren Rom. 8.29 And Christ and the faithfull are brethren in being signes and wonders For Christ was for a signe which should be spoken against Luke 2.34 And the Apostles were made a spectacle to the world unto angels and to men 1. Cor. 49. yet the faithfull are not the sonnes of God before they be given to Christ and beleeve in him for by faith they are made the sonnes of God But as soone as a man is given to Christ then hee becomes the son of God and unlesse he be so given he cannot be the son of God See John 6.44,45 14. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and bloud After the Author had taught us the neere alliance of brotherhood betweene Christ and the faithfull he now shews what is the state and condition of the faithfull that from thence he might conclude that Christ also their Captaine and high Priest must needs have the like condition with them And so returnes to what he had said at the ninth verse before That Christ was made a little lower then the Angels expressing here the impulsive cause of that lownesse By flesh and bloud Here is understood an infirme fraile and ruinous nature and condition subject to divers evils even to death and corruption Of this nature and condition the faithfull who are Gods children are all partakers He also himselfe likewise tooke part of the same Therefore Christ also the Captaine and high Priest of the faithfull to whom he was so neerely allyed as to be their brother did himselfe also in the very same manner partake of the very same nature and condition of flesh and bloud to be as infirme fraile and ruinous as they subject to as many miseries as they even to death and corruption For he suffered death actually and was by nature subject to corruption yet he suffered not corruption actually for God by his power and by his grace rescued him from it and would not suffer his holy One to see corruption Acts 2.27 The summe of the Reasoning is Seeing Christ must be the Captaine and high Priest of mortall and fraile men therefore he must not be Angel but lower then the Angels even a mortall and fraile man like his brethren subject to divers sufferings even to death it selfe But the Incarnation of Christ cannot be concluded from these last words for then by the same reason the Incarnation of the faithfull or the rest of Gods children must needs be concluded from the former seeing Christ is said to partake of flesh and bloud likewise or in like manner with them But seeing the faithfull the rest of Gods children are not incarnate no more is Christ their Captaine and high Priest otherwise betweene Christ and the rest of Gods children there must be a great difference and unlikenesse in that wherein they are here concluded to be most semblant and alike namely in their partaking of flesh and bloud And granting the Incarnation here then from the death of Christ and his Resurrection following it the faithfull cannot take an example of their resurrection or immortality after death by death to be acquired and therefore by the death of Christ cannot be delivered from the feare of death as the Author inferres it in the verse next following That through death he might destroy the Devill The finall cause to what end Christ did partake of a mortall condition and of death it selfe whereby he was lower then the Angels is here expressed to be double whereof notwithstanding one end is dependent and consequent from the other The first is That by his death he might destroy the devill Christ by his death destroyes not the devill for his person for the devill by his person is an angell and therefore by nature indestructible incorruptible and immortall But Christ by his death destroyes the devill for his power he abolisheth and abrogates the kingdome and power that Satan hath in the world particularly his power of death and therefore he describes Satan by this circumlocution him that had the power of death The power of Satan consists in this that he detaines men mancipated to his command and enslaved at his beck most obsequious to commit any sinne from the yoake of which slavery they have of themselves no meanes to pull their necke This power is by an Hebraisme called the power of death i. a mortiferous or deadly power because Satan by sin brings men to death and that death is eternall to them Christ therefore suffered death that he might overthrow the tyranny of Satan breaking all his forces that he might take from this power of holding men in deadly bondage and deliver them from it For hence it is that we are said to be delivered from the power of Satan See Acts 26.18 and Col. 1.13 And it is by the death of Christ that Satan is said to be devested and spoiled of all his dominion and power See John 12.31,33 and Col. 2.15 Now the reason why Christ destroyes the deadly power of Satan by his death is Because Christ by his death hath obtained the supreame power over all things whereby he is enabled to master all his enemies whereof Satan is the head first breaking their forces and last utterly destroying them This way of destroying Satans deadly power if we respect the nature of the action though Christ might have done it without his death yet it was so ordered by the decree and counsell of God that it should not be effected but by the meanes of his death and that for the second end of his death which is expressed in the next verse following namely to deliver them who through feare of death c. 15. And deliver them who through feare of death were all their life time subject to bondage The second or subordinate end of Christs death is to vindicate men from a fearefull bondage This servitude or bondage is the feare of death and of eternall death or as it may bee feared to last eternally for as it is the manner of slaves to feare so feare it selfe is a fearefull slavery hence S. Paul termes it the spirit of bondage Rom. 8.15 And they are subject to this slavery of feare not who stand in actuall fear but who are liable to fear or by right ought to fear Hence it plainly appeares that all they who fear death have no share in this deliverance or libertie by Christ but remaine in a grievous slavery And all they are forced to fear death and the eternitie of it who have not a sure hope of their Resurrection And how grievous this slavery or bondage of it is appeares from the duration of it in that it continues upon men all the time of their life No minute
the Arke and was a figure of Gods mercy whereby he was propitious to forgive or cover the sins against the Law For sins are no other way propitiated or expiated then as it were by covering or hiding that they may no more appeare against us in the sight of God Hence Gods people are said to be reconciled unto God that is to be sanctified and purged from their sins for when the Tabernacle was sanctified and purged from the sins of the people it was called reconciling Levit. 16.20 And hence God is said to be propitiated or pacified or appeased not as if hereby he were alwayes turned from anger which was in him before but many times that he should not desist from being propitious but continue pacified or appeased towards us and that he should passe by just causes of anger which otherwise he might have For thus God was anciently pacified by the Sacrifices ordained by his Law for it is no way likely that God was really angry with his people for those sins for which he granted an expiation under the Law then when the people procured the timely expiation of their sinnes according to the prescript of Gods Law then certainely God was not actually angry for then God must be angry at set times of the yeare yearely at every solemnity of the Expiation By those sacrifices therefore God was not pacified by being drawne from anger but thereby order was taken that God might still continue pacified and not turne away his grace and favour from his people by reason of their sinnes Hence it appeares that from these words of Reconciling and Pacifying we must not conclude that Gods wrath against us was appeased by Christ but when we heare these words referred unto sinnes we must thereby understand nothing else but their expiation or purgation made by Christ as this Author termed it before chap. 1. v. 3. But how Christ now residing in heaven and exercising the office of his Priesthood doth purge away our sins shall be declared hereafter namely no other way then by the power God hath granted him to forgive them that we should not be punished and perish eternally for them The faithfull are the people of God who are reconciled and whose sins are expiated And this as was noted before was proper to the office of the high Priest who used not to make reconciliation for single persons but for the people on the day of Expiation 18. For in that he himselfe hath suffered being tempted He saith not simply that Christ hath suffered but he addes being tempted The sufferings of Christ were not punishments but temptations or trials of his excellent fidelity and piety For there was no sinne in Christ for which he should be punished seeing punishments are onely for sinne And therefore chap. 4. v. 15. speaking of Christs being tempted or tried he expresly addeth that he was without sinne i. his triall was not a punishment as no way merited by sin He is able to succour them that are tempted Afflictions to the faithfull are temptations of their faith and righteousnesse whether they will persevere in their obedience to God or be beaten off by worldly calamities as the offering of Isaac was a temptation to Abraham and our whole spirituall warfare against Satan the world and the flesh is a daily temptation or triall of us In these their trials Christ doth succour them by his assistance of them from perishing under the miseries that presse them And this he doth when he affords them strength and courage to sustaine the afflictions lest by force thereof they fall from the faith and forsake it Or when he so moderates the afflictions that they be not too great for paine or too long for time by lightning of them if they be too or shortening them if they be too long or lastly when he receives their spirits at their death to restore them againe in due time with supreame glory And when Christ succours the faithfull in this manner he doth even thereby expiate their sinnes For thereby he endeavours and provides with all care lest that sinking under their afflictions or being destitute at their death they should by this meanes suffer punishment for their sinnes And therefore the word able to help must be ampliated and extended to be both able willing and carefull for otherwise he should not be a mercifull and faithfull high Priest if having power to succour he had neither will nor care to performe it Hence appeare three verities 1. That Christ our high Priest expiateth our sinnes by succouring us in our temptations 2. That the principall function of his Priestly office is performed now in heaven and was not performed at this death wherein there was only a preparation toward it 3. That neither the Priestly function of Christ nor his Expiation of sins thereby procured consist in this that Christ should suffer punishment for our sins seeing that can have no place in heaven The sum or Contents of this second Chapter are 5. 1. Wee Christians have more cause to persevere in the Gospel then the Iews had to persist in the law verse 1. Reason 1. Because if wee neglect it our punishment will be more certaine then theirs 2. Because it was first taught by Christ and confirmed by his Apostles by miracles and gifts of the holy Ghost 2. Christ was made lower then the Angels verse 7. Reason 1. Because he was to suffer death not thereby to succour them but men 3. Christ and the faithfull are brethren verse 11. Reason 1. Because they come of one Father who is God Testimonies 3. out of Scripture 4. Christ suffed death verse 14. Reason 1. Because he was to destroy the devill that had the power of death 2. Because he was to deliver the faithfull from the feare and bondage of death for he was to succour not Angels but them 5. Christ was afflicted and tempted like the faithful in all things ver 17. Reason 1. Because he was to be their high Priest to expiate their sinnes 2. Because he was to succour them when they are afflicted and tempted CHAPTER III. 1. WHerefore It referres to all that hath been spoken hitherto concerning the dignity of Christ who seeing hee is so excellent a person as yee have heard therefore ye have great reason to consider him well Holy brethren Separated from the prophane vulgar and worldly by your knowledge in divine mysteries and allied to me not by a vulgar and carnall fraternitie but by a spirituall affinitie in Christ Partakers of the heavenly calling Who together with me and all other Christians have one common spirituall calling whereto we are called And this calling is called heavenly not only because it was notified from heaven and comes from thence but also because it is directive to heaven to teach us the way thither and conductive to heaven to carry us safely thither So that heaven is the double terme of our spirituall calling for heaven is the start of it from
and carrieth his name as we shall declare a little afterward Neither must we thinke that Christ now inhabiting heaven doth to speake properly intercede or pray for us for that were repugnant to his supreme dominion and power over all things Wherefore his Priestly office lyes in this that having power given him of God he takes away the punishment of our sinnes and by all means procures our salvation And therefore this Priestly office of Christ is really the same with his regall office as we said before Hence Christ as a Priest is said to save us perfectly or rather for ever cap. 7.25 he is also said as a Priest to succour us being tempted cap. 2. ult and in this chapter v. 16. Both which actions are regall Hence it is that other holy Writers make no expresse mention of Christs Priest-hood but this Author chap. 3. v. 1. included the regall office of Christ in his Priestly and chap. 5. v. 5. he interprets that testimony of Scripture to be meant of his Priestly office which treats of his regall Christ therefore is called a high Priest not that this office is really diverse from his regall but because of diverse resemblances which Christ hath with the legall high Priest and of diverse properties and circumstances in his regall office upon which that resemblance is grounded and which that Metaphoricall appellation of high Priest doth better insinuate into our mindes then the proper appellation The resemblance lies chiefly in this That Christ having first shed his blood entered into heaven to expiate our sins or to take away the punishments which by our sinnes we had deserved and appeared before God as the legall high Priest having shed the blood of the sacrifice was wont to enter the Tabernacle and there appeare before God to expiate sinnes by taking away the guilt and penalty of them But because the high Priest performed this by bringing the blood of the slain sacrifice into the sight of God and offering it unto him with certaine rites and so interceding for finners with God from whom the forgivenesse of sinnes proceeded Therefore also it is said of Christ who was himselfe slaine like a sacrifice and had shed his owne blood that entring into the heavenly Tabernacle he offered himselfe to God and appearing in his sight intercedeth for us Not that hee doth properly intercede but that as wee said he is like to the high Priest offering and interceding especially because he forgives sinnes not of his own authority but by power received from God whereby he is not unfitly compared with him who obtained forgivenesse of sinnes from God by his intercession From hence in some measure may be gathered those properties and circumstances of Christs regall office which his appellation of high Priest doth better represent unto our mindes then his name of King though this name bee proper to him and the other Metaphoricall His Kingly name shewes not that he saves sinners but his Priestly doth That shewes not that he is a man for God both is and is called our King but this doth for in the beginning of the fifth Chapter the Author shewes That every high Priest is taken from among men and is ordained for men That shewes not that he received his authority and power from another but this doth chap. 5. 4. That shewes not that he is touched with a sense of our miseries this doth That shewes not that he shed his bloud to expiate our sinnes but this doth for a Priest must offer sacrifices for sinnes which cannot be offered without shedding of bloud but Christ shed no bloud besides his owne That shewes not that he shall come forth from heaven but this doth Hence therefore it is that the Holy Ghost gives Christ the name of High Priest A great high Priest Christ is called a great high Priest not only to distinguish him from the ordinary and inferiour Priests but also from the chiefe high Priest under the Law who compared to Christ is very little yea but a small and slender shadow of Christ For he must needs bee a great high Priest indeed who is immortall who expiates all sinnes even the most heynous who hath power in himselfe to take away all punishments of sinne among which eternall death is one who hath right and power to give eternall life to succour men in all their afflictions and to comprise all with the Author in a few words who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens chap. 8. 1. which thing hee intimates also here when he addes in the first place That is passed into the heavens Therefore among other respects he is great because he hath passed through all the heavens By heavens are understood all those regions of heaven which are interposed between God and us namely 1. The whole region of the aire which in the Scripture is called the heaven 2. The heavens wherein are the Sunne the Moon and the rest of the Startes or lights of heaven above all which Christ is now exalted Eph. 3.10 and Heb. 7.26 3. After all these is that heaven which is the habitacle of immortality wherein God resides and whereinto Christ our high Priest hath entered Iesus Here he names this great high Priest and shewes who he is although in this be tacitly contained that which afterward he utters expresly namely that he is touched with a feeling of our infirmities For when he called him Jesus he called him also that man whose sufferings and death were evident But because he intended to set first clearly before our eyes his transcendent excellency therefore that it might better appear how great an high Priest he is he adds in the second place The Son of God He calls him not a Son of God but prefixeth the specifique article calling him the Sonne to shew that he is no ordinary Sonne of God in a vulgar sense but that singular and eminent Sonne of God even he of whom he spake in the first chap. whom God appointed heire of all things who is become far more excellent then the Angels For so it ought to be that the singular and only Sonne of God should obtaine Gods greatest love should be in highest dignity and have right and dominion over all his fathers goods Even him we have for our high Priest Whence it appears that Christ can effect all things with his Father by reason of the great love and authority which he possesseth Wherefore as the Author addeth Let us hold fast our confession Here he infers his admonition that seeing we have so great an high Priest of our Confession therefore let us hold our confession fast i. let us not only imbrace the Christian Religion in our hearts but constantly professe it with our mouths 15. For we have not an high Priest He clears an objection Some man will say What can this great high Priest helpe me when I suffer misery for the confession of my faith who the greater he is
Aaron saying O Lord heare the prayer of thy servants according to the blessing of Aaron over thy people Ecclus. 36.17 8. And here men that die receive tithes Now followeth the third reason whereby he proves that Melchisedec is greater then the Leviticall Priests namely Because the Leviticall Priests receive tithes yet one of them dies after another and they succeed one another in the Priest-hood but Melchisedec hath a testimony of Scripture for him that he liveth Here i. here under the law and among us But there he of whom it is witnessed that he liveth There where wee read that Abraham gave him tithes he then received them whom the Scripture witnesseth that he lives But wee must note that the Author opposeth not Melchisedec to mortall men but to dying men onely neither doth he say that he is immortall but only that he liveth For life is not opposed to mortality but properly to death And there the Scripture saith That Melchisedec doth live where shee affirmes him to bee a Priest for ever And shee affirmes it in her comparison of him with Christ when she saith Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec Psal 110.4 as we explicated it before in this Chapter vers 3. Where we shewed that Melchisedec was called a Priest for ever because he exercised his Priest-hood a long time even for the full terme of his naturall life and that he lived so long a Priest as there was any knowledge of the true God among the men of his time and any place for the Priest-hood so that Melchisedec in his Priest-hood resembled for his continuance all the Leviticall Priests who succeeded one after another which eternity of his was but umbratilous and figurative as we said of Christs eternitie And therefore the life of Melchisedec was nothing but a shadow of that life which is in Christ And if we respect the scope of the Authour it makes not to the matter that Melchisedec did at last yeeld to the law of nature and die for he speaks not of Melchisedec for himselfe but for Christ who truely lives for ever It sufficeth in Melchisedec that the eternall life of Christ was in some manner shadowed and signified in the Scripture And this is the reason why the Authour opposed Melchisedec to dying men and said he liveth for ever For when wee speake of the type as of the antitype we many times so speak of it as of the anti-type it selfe although the words must be applyed figuratively to the type and properly to the antitype 9. And as I may so say Levi also who receiveth tithes payed tithes or was decimated in Abraham Here at last comes in the other of the first reason which we said was bipartite and wherewith the Author now confirmes the dignity of Melchisedec namely that when Melchisedec tooke tithes of Abraham he tithed also Levi and all the Priests sprung from his loynes who were themselves to receive tithes To shew the great dignity of Melchisedec it was not enough for the Author to say that he tithed Abraham himselfe but Levi also who tooke tithes was by him tithed in Abraham For it is as much as if hee had taken tithes of Levi when he tooke them of him in whose loynes Levi was yet latent Therefore in a figurative way of speech the Author saith that Levi was tithed through Abraham For because he could not say properly that Levi gave tithes to Melchisedec through Abraham therefore lest his words should seem harsh he mollifies them thus as I may so say whereby hee plainely declares that what hee spake here of Levi must not bee taken literally and properly but in a certaine sence and forme of speech Levi also who receiveth tithes not in his owne person but in his posteritie so that it is not strange that hee is said to have given tithes in his father who is also said to have taken them in his children But now let us see how the Author proves this 10. For hee was yet in the loynes of his father when Melchisedec met him Here he proves that Levi gave tithes to Melchisedec through Abraham thus If at that time Levi had been a person severed from Abraham and had enjoyed his estate apart to himselfe this fact of Abraham in giving tithes to Melchisedec had nothing concerned him But because Levi was then so united and joyned with Abraham that he yet lay couched in Abrahams loyns therefore he also is justly accounted to have given tithes to Melchisedec in or through Abraham Which sentence notwithstanding must not be transferred to all the actions of a father but only to those which properly consist either in the increase or decrease of his estate which useth to descend to his children by right of inheritance and the payment of tithes is such an action for it so much decreaseth the fathers estate For they are paid out of the fathers goods which thus farre are already the childrens in that the right of inheritance thereto belongs to them especially if it be certaine that the father hath or may have children to succeed him in his estate as Abraham had to whom God had for certaine promised a posterity For as the heire after his fathers death doth in a manner represent the person of his father by his succeeding to him and possessing his estate so likewise the father before his children be severed from him and have a right to dispose of his goods as their own doth in a manner also represent the person of his heire and of all the rest of his children and what he then ordereth or doth in his goods the same in a manner his heires are accounted to doe I say in a manner because properly this cannot be said neither doth the Author himselfe say properly that it was done but acknowledgeth an impropriety in his words as we noted before Hence may easily be understood that which together with the Author we affirme that such acts of the parents must be extended only to those of their successors or posterity to whom the inheritance or some notable portion of their goods shall descend either for certainty as here to Abrahams posterity or at least in all probability For otherwise that force of inheritance whereof we speake will expire and what any man orders concerning his estate cannot be attributed to his children and posterity 11. If therefore perfection After that by comparing Melchisedec with the Leviticall Priests hee had shewed that Melchisedec was a Priest and a Priest much differing from the Leviticall as a person farre greater and worthier then they Now he proceeds to the third part of the Chapter And in regard that after those Leviticall Priests there must be another Priest ordained according to the order of Melchisedec and not according to the order of Aaron therefore he thence argues and proves the imperfection of the Leviticall Priesthood and also of the Law it selfe upon which that Priesthood was ordained and upon the
me of sin or if ye cannot do that but that my innocency acquits me from all crime why do yee reject me as an Impostor and a counterfeit and do not rather acknowledge my doctrine for truth Lastly the Bloud of Christ i. his cruell and infamous death which he suffered with such constancy that hee might assert his doctrine and especially that hee might testifie himselfe to bee Christ and the Sonne of God what possible suspicion can this leave of the least fraud or falshood For if Christ had beene conscious to himselfe of any fraud or falshood would hee have cast himselfe upon so infamous and fearfull a death and endure it with such patiency and constancy of minde If he had an intent to get himselfe a name by lyes and deceits would he have cast himselfe so freely uponextreame reproach and disgrace and get fame by no other meanes but by an infamous death for being condemned to the Crosse what could he else hope for if hee were an Impostor But if Christ were no way conscious to himselfe of any fraud or falshood but suffered death to assert his doctrine who sees not but he must needs be void of all offence For if his doctrine were false it must needs be fained of himselfe For he publiquely professed that he had seene the Father had received commands from him and was sent from him into the world that he was the Son of God and the King of Gods people which God had promised long before Now if these things were false how could Christ be ignorant of their falshood but if he knew them to be false whence could he have such a contempt of death for the asserting of them whence could he have such an invincible constancy and courage of minde Seeing therefore we have Jesus a surety of the new Covenant attested with so many documents of the truth shall we doubt to joyne our faith unto him to rest upon the hope of those heavenly blessings which he hath promised in this Covenant to cast off the yoke of sin and to give our name up to God and his righteousnesse Some man may marvaile why the Author treating of Christs Priesthood both before and after should suddenly call him the surety of the new Covenant and not the Priest of it Why did hee not say by so much was Iesus made a Priest of a better Testament For the whole context of the Chapter seemes to require this It is very credible that in the word surety the Priesthood of Christ is also understood For it is the part of a surety not onely to promise something in the name of another and to interpose his faith for another but also if the cause require to performe the thing he promised in anothers name and among men there is cause if the principall performe it not for whom the surety interposed but here it proceeds upon a contrary cause for the former cannot here take place namely because he for whom Christ interposed as a surety doth performe his promises to us by Christ himselfe in which action the Priesthood of Christ doth chiefly consist For Christ as he is a Priest doth now in heaven nothing more intentively then to performe Gods promises unto us i. he takes away all punishment of our sins he endowes us with Gods gifts and graces and at last translates us into heaven 23. And they truly were many Priests because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death Here he brings a new difference betweene Christ a Priest after the order of Melchisedec and the Priests after Aarons order and withall proves him far more excellent then they And this difference is that they were many but Christ was but one himself onely The reason of both is taken from the 16. and 17. verses because they were mortall and one being dead another must succeed but Christ is immortall and lives for ever 24. But this man because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood The Priesthood of Christ is said unchangeable because it is not transitory to change the person and passe from one to another for seeing he lives for ever and hath no successor therefore the Priesthood doth alwayes remaine in his person For because his person is unchangeable and continueth for ever therefore also his Priesthood is unchangeable and continueth for ever in his person 25. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost From the former verse he drawes this as a consectary wherein appeares a great difference betweene Christ and the legall priests and his great preheminence above them Namely that Christ is able to save for ever and at all times which none of them could doe To the uttermost in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the uttermost of time at all times and for ever for uttermost must be referred to the perfection or fulnesse of time and not of his saving For although the salvation it selfe which Christ our Priest brings unto us be in all points perfect and complete yet this in this place is not deduced from the former verse but the other onely So that to the uttermost is all one with continually and perpetually as appeares by the latter words of this verse wherein the Author shews the reason of this as we shall shew there Able to save This salvation in reference to Christ is in it self as we said most perfect and absolute For Christ saveth us as he takes away all the guilt and punishment of all our sinnes as he succours us in our infirmities from sinking under them and consequently from falling into punishment for our sinnes thereupon as he receives our soules into his hands which he restores us in due time invested with eternall glory and happinesse Whereof wee treated chap. 2. and 4. and 5. That come unto God by him Christ doth not save all men actually but them that come unto God by him To come unto God is to worship God and serve him with all our heart by offering sacrifices unto him as the Author speakes afterward chap. 13.15 Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God And to come to God by Christ is to worship God in confidence of Christ trusting upon him and in obedience of Christ following his Commandements and to worship him in worshipping of Christ by adoring praising and praying to Christ For he that doth this doth not so much worship and serve Christ as God himselfe by Christ Seeing hee ever liveth to make intercession for them In these words hee expresly addes the reason of the Consectary at the beginning of the verse Christ is able to save to the uttermost continually and perpetually because hee liveth to the uttermost continually and perpetually for he liveth ever Christ is said to make intercession by way of resemblance to the legall Priest who by entring and offering in the most holy place did make intercession So also Christ by his entrance into the heavenly tabernacle by his owne blood and by his
the Sacrifice takes efficacy and force to purge sin from the subsequent oblation of Christ in offering himselfe in heaven but also as it is the bloud of the Covenant it received great force from the subsequent resurrection and glory of Christ For the death of Christ is as it were animated and quickned by his Resurrection and glory and then are the mightie effects of it when he that suffered death to confirm the new covenant is thereupon acknowledged to be the Sonne of God and the Christ which certainly could not have been without his Resurrection and the subsequent glory of it For then wee plainely perceive the boundlesse love of God in delivering Christ to death for us and the boundlesse love of Christ in dying for us from both which wee may easily draw an undoubted hope of our salvation And then also wee see from his most shamefull death a passage open to immortall life and lastly then we esteem the Covenant most sacred that was confirmed by a death so precious But if Christ had not risen from the dead who therefore died that he might appear to be the Christ and the King over Gods people his death had thereby lost all the force of it yea it would have been of force to nullifie the faith of all his promises But he had promised us eternal life in the Name of his Father and that he himself would give it us by raising us from the dead yea hee openly said of himselfe that he would rise the third day thereby to confirm his doctine wherefore unles the event had been answerable his doctrine had been stripped of all authority But let us returne to the offering of Christ which the Author opposeth to the offering of the old high Priest for severall respects 1. In that Christ offered through the Spirit and the eternall Spirit but the high Priest under the Law did enter the Holy place and offer through his infirmitie a weake man compassed with the flesh But Christ was filled with the eternall Spirit i. with the power of God which clarified him from all mortalitie and made him eternall subject to no destruction Now this Spirit seemes to be called eternall not onely because it eternally resides in Christ but because it makes him to become eternall Of which Spirit if Christ had been destitute he could not have offered himselfe in that heavenly Sanctuary to have remained there for ever Therefore in these words about which Interpreters have diverse disputes as men must needs do when the genuine sence of any place is either not perceived or not allowed is expressed the cause how Christ being before not onely of a mortall nature and compassed with flesh but also slaine as a sacrifice could afterward enter the heavenly Sanctuary the palace of immortality and there as a Priest offer himselfe to God This he saith was effected by the benefit of the eternall Spirit who throughly consecrated Christ and devested him from all naturall and terrene infirmities That which hee had spoken before chap. 7. ver 16. that Christ was made a Priest after the power of an endlesse life now hee saith againe in other words that Christ offered through the eternall Spirit for if wee looke into the thing it selfe what is the power of an endlesse life other then this eternall Spirit In a like manner Paul treating of Christ as he is ordained and declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead i. as God after his resurrection made him the celestiall and eternall King of his people with supreme power mentions the Spirit of holinesse or sanctification Rom. 1.4 and he saith that Christ was declared the Sonne of God according to the Spirit of holinesse as he was made of the seed of David according to the flesh For seeing he opposeth this Spirit to the flesh of Christ i. to whatsoever was humane in his nature what can he else understand but the power of Gods Spirit powred upon Christ which abolishing from him all his mortall condition did throughly consecrate him unto God made him a person most divine and most like unto God in nature and power and rendered him fully capable of a celestiall and eternall kingdome Hither also must that of Peter be referred where he saith as it is in the Greek that Christ was mortified in the flesh but vivified by the Spirit 1 Pet. 3.18 where as the flesh of Christ is made the cause of his mortality and consequently of his death so is the Spirit namely of God in Christ made the spring and fountaine of his vivification or life 2. He opposeth the offering of Christ to that of the old high Priest in that Christ offered himselfe but the Legall Priest offered not himselfe but the bloud of slaine beasts but what force could that bloud have being offered and sprinkled before the Mercy-seate for the purifying of the flesh if we respect the nature of the thing But Christ himselfe being offered for us in the heavenly Tabernacle was he not a most acceptable sacrifice to God Is there any sin of those that are truly faithfull in Christ which by the offering of so holy a Sacrifice and by the authority and care of so great an high Priest with his heavenly Father could not be expiated 3. In that hee offered himselfe without spot or blemish For the old sacrifice must bee very pure and free from any spot wherefore seeing our high Priest himselfe was the sacrifice hee must needs bee void of all spot or blemish But the old high Priest when he entered the most holy place and offered was not without spot or blemish for even then he was to procure the expiation no lesse of his owne sins then of the peoples But Christ when he entered the heavenly Sanctuary and offered himselfe to God was then free from all spot not onely in respect of his most innocent life which he passed without the least spot of sinne but also which as wee said in the seventh Chapter the Author chiefly respecteth in respect of his immortall nature which he obtained free from all spot of infirmity when he was quickned with that eternall Spirit whereby he entered the heavenly Sanctuary But what is meant by this offering of Christ wee have declared before For these things are not properly spoken of Christ but onely comparatively and allusively to the ancient high Priest So that by this offering of Christ is signified his singular and onely care for the expiation of our sins and for our salvation Yet it is a care worthy and sutable to so great an high Priest who is not destitute of power in himselfe to conferre salvation upon us but is forced to obtaine it from another as the old high Priest was but is one that enjoyeth all command both in heaven and earth one that exerciseth all Judgement delivered over unto him from his Father and one that by his owne proper power doth release us from all guilt of our sins
were yet time enough for Christ to iterate his offerings and by a just proportion equall the number of the legall offerings although hee began not to suffer and offer himselfe from the foundation of the world For because hee suffered and offered himselfe in the end of the world hence it appeares that there is not time enough yet to come to serve for the multitude of his sufferings and offerings But the time wherein Christ came is therefore called the end of the world because it is the last age of the world and as it were the old age of it and because the other comming of Christ which is joyned with the consummation and end of the world is alwayes supposed to be at hand which could in no wise be if the offering of Christ were to be iterated answerably to the just number and proportion of the old Legall offerings But the holy Ghost would have us perpetually wait for the expectation of Christs comming For that his comming and together with it the end of the world is yet deferred and that so many ages have passed since his first comming into the world seating upon his heavenly throne this in a manner is accidentall by reason of the long suffering of God who is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3.9 To put away sin by the sacrifice of himselfe He shews the finall cause of the comming and appearance of Christ which is for the putting away of sin which is done when all the force and power of sin is destroyed Which destruction of sin is effected two wayes the one is when sin hath no power to condemne men the other when it hath no power to subdue men by enthralling them under the yoke of it That both these effects might be produced Christ hath appeared both that he might deliver men from the punishment of sinne and also from the dominion of it even freeing them from sin it selfe Now the meanes whereby Christ hath put away sinne in destroying the power of it is by the sacrifice of himselfe For this act may be joyned as well with the word suffered as with appeared as other Interpreters also have observed How the sacrifice of Christ purgeth away our sins For Christ by the sacrifice of himselfe hath cashired and put away sinne by taking from it all it power to condemne and to reigne which though we have declared before yet are we willing to repeat it againe because the matter is of such moment that if it may be we might drive and fasten it throughly into mens mindes For as concerning the guilt and punishments of sinnes can there bee any sinnes so that we doe our duty which a sacrifice so acceptable to God offered in the Sanctuary of heaven and by so great an high Priest cannot expiate Can there be any danger that he will deale negligently in our cause who offered up himselfe as a sacrifice for our sinnes and who having himselfe suffered all those miseries and pressures that can possibly befall us hath assumed a minde so prone to pity us Hath not yet the wished effect been answerable to so holy a sacrifice and to so carefull a provision of our high Priest Is not the power of our salvation in the power of our high Priest and in his hand to release whom he will of sinne and to bestow eternall life and whatsoever good thing besides upon whom he will Doth he not negotiate the matter with his most deare Father who himselfe burnes with a desire of our salvation who himselfe hath made a sacred Covenant for the remission of our sinnes who himselfe ordained the holy Sacrifice for our sinnes who himselfe would have it offered unto him and caused it to be offered who himselfe ordained our high Priest with an oath and committed unto him the whole care of our salvation Now concerning the dominion of sinne for the excussion of the yoke of it can it possibly be that when we perceive so great and so certaine causes and proofes of our eternall salvation and of plenary remission of our sinnes that we should not with all our souls embrace the faith of Christ and devote our selves wholly to him when by this means through the grace and mercy of our God wee are effectually purged and justified from the guilt of all our sins shall we not contend with our whole force to abandon sin for ever after wholy addict our selves to holines shall we not labour to the utmost to preserve this great grace of God entire and whole to our last gaspe that at length we may enjoy the full fruit of it in our deliverance from death and inheritance of eternall life And shall it not mightily incourage us to shake off the yoke of sin in that our heavenly high Priest will perpetually support us with his Spirit supply us with power enough to live holily if we will live so and will strive to do it This therefore is the manner after which Christ by the Sacrifice of himself hath put away sin that neither it might hurt us nor reign in us The Sacrifice of Christ is Christ himself sacrificed being first slain then raised to immortall life that he might enter his heavenly Tabernacle and therein offer himself and appear for us for ever The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here rendred a Sacrifice though it come from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to slay yet it useth not to be taken in Scripture abstractedly for the slaughter but concretly for the creature slaughtered or rather for that part of it which is offered to God But if any man keeping the same sense will joyn these words by the sacrifice of himself with the verb appeared then the particle by must be taken for with and in that sense as we have noted before that John saith Christ came by water and bloud i. with water and bloud not that at his first comming into the world hee shed his bloud but because he therefore came that he might shed his bloud though not forthwith So Christ may be said to appeare with the sacrifice of himselfe not that as soon as he appeared he was made a sacrifice but that he so appeared that in his due time he might be made a sacrifice But we best approve of that sense which joynes these words by the sacrifice of himselfe with the words immediatly preceding to put away sinne For the finall end of the appearance or comming of Christ was to put away sin and the meanes whereby he abolished it was by the sacrifice of himselfe Seeing therefore Christ came in the end of the world that he might abolish sinne by the sacrifice of himselfe therefore hence it appears that he must not often iterate his sacrifice after the manner of the legall high Priest for otherwise he must have begunne this action more early and not have deferred it to the last age of the world 27. And as it
from us and his returne unto us may be opposed to his offering which was performed by his bloudy death and after it by his entrance into heaven for thereby Christ was taken from the eyes of men and ceased to be seene but by his returne he will againe shew himselfe to bee seene and then the words without sinne are opposed to those to beare or take away the sinnes of many and the words the second time shall be opposed to the particle once and yet the second time may in this place be all one with afterward that it may answer the words of the former verse after this the judgement so in the Epistle of Jude ver 5. the words once and afterward are opposed Secondly the words without sinne may be so taken as thereby to shew that when Christ shall appeare the second time there shall bee no more guilt of sinne in the people of God as there was when first he appeared which therefore he must take away by his sacrifice For undoubtedly the Author here alludes to the returne of the Legall high Priest out of the holy place who went into the holy place to take away the guilt of sinnes and returned from thence without sinne for he had taken away the guilt of sinne by his offering So Christ entered into heaven that there offering himselfe to God and appearing in his presence he might purge his people from the guilt of their sinnes but having abolished the guilt of sins he shall returne out from heaven and appeare unto his people to give them the effect of that guilt taken away not in words onely as the Legall high Priest gave the people his benediction and prayed for them but in very deed for he shall vindicate them from death and estate them in eternall life Vnto them that looke for him unto salvation The words unto salvation may agree either with he shall appeare or with the words to them that looke for him And the Author seemes to have placed them so on purpose that they might be referred to both For both Christ shall appeare to give his people salvation and the people of Christ shall looke for his comming out of heaven to receive salvation from him For as Christ is here tacitly compared with the Legall high Priest entered into the boly place so his people are resembled to the people of Israel expecting without the Tabernacle For of old the people looked for the Legall Priest after their manner to salvation namely that by him they might obtaine remission of their sinnes which were then expiated and might heare his benediction to them in the Name of God So the people of Christ being without the heavenly Tabernacle upon earth do looke for Christ their high Priest unto salvation that he comming forth out of his heavenly Sanctuary they may by him obtaine eternall salvation The Author in these words doth elegantly describe a Christian for this expectation doth comprehend faith in Christ for unlesse men beleeve in Christ they will never expect his returne from heaven as their heavenly high Priest And this expectation doth either beget holinesse of life or is begotten of it for these affoord each other their helpe The expectation of salvation upon condition of obedience doth beget piety and piety brought forth doth reciprocally bring forth a daughter like to her mother that is a most certaine and ardent expectation of salvation Hither belong the words of Paul to the Thessalonians 1 Thes 1.9,10 where he describes all Christian people and their whole duty saying Ye have turned to God from Idols to serve the living and true God and to waite for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead even Iesus who delivered us from the wrath to come After a like manner he designes all beleevers in Christ by the name of them that love his appearing 2 Tim. 4.8 The Contents of this ninth Chapter are 1. Doctrine The tabernacle under the first Covenant was imperfect v. 1. Reason 1. Because it was a worldly manifacture for beth in the first and second place of it there were only bandiworks 1 2 3. 2. Because the most holy place of it was alwayes shut to all except to the high Priest and alwayes to him except once a year v. 6. 7. 3. Because under it the way to the holiest of all in heaven was not yet manifest v. 8. 4. Because it was but a figure and resemblance of the heavenly Sanctuary v. 9. 2. Doctrine The services or sacrifices under the old Testament were imperfect v. 9. Reason 1. Because they could not expiat the consciences of them that brought the sacrifices v. 9. 2. Because they were only carnal ordinances concerning fleshly things as meats drinks and washings v. 10. 3. Because they were temporary imposed for a while untill the time of Reformation v. 10. 3. Doctrine The Sanctuary wherein Christ is a Priest is more excellent then the old Legall Sanctuary v. 11. Reason 1. Because it is no worldly building wrought by the hands of men v. 11. 4. Doctrine The expiatory Sacrifice of Christ is more excellent then the old legal expiations v. 12. Reason 1. Because the bloud shed for his sacrifice was his owne bloud and not the bloud of buls and calves v. 12. 2. Because his death and bloudshed doth purge the conscience whereas the bloudshed under the old legall sacrifice did but parge the flesh v. 13. 14. 3. Because his death and bloudshed doth expiate those transgressions which were inexpiable under the law v. 15. 5. Doctrine Confirmations made by death are the surest v. 15. Reason 1. Because the New testament was confirmed by the death of Christ ver 15. 2. Because all mens testaments are confirmed by the death of the testator ver 16. 17. 3. Because the old legall testament was confirmed by the bloud and death of goats and calves v. 18 19. 20. 4. Because all Consecrations under the law were confirmed by bloud and death v. 21. 5. Because all Expiations and Remissions under the law were confirmed by bloud and death v. 22. 6. Doctrine The sacrifice made by Christ was singular one onely once offered ver 12. Reason 1. Because he entered into his holy Sanctuary by his bloud and the bloud of any living creature can be shed but once v. 16. 2. Because by his sacrifice he obtained an eternall expiation and things eternall cannot be iterated ibid. 3. Because then he must have suffered often and have begun his sufferings since the beginning of the world v. 26. 4. Because he died before his offering it and men are subject to death but once v. 27. CHAPTER X. 1. FOr the Law having a shadow He had said before that the Legall high Priest entered yearly into the holy place not with his owne bloud but with the bloud of others contrary to what Christ did who offered himselfe once onely Now here he gives the reason thereof because the Law by a continuall offering of the same sacrifices
neither now is nor hereafter shall be vacant or unoccupied in this action neither is this subjection attributed to God otherwise then as God doth it by Christ or gives power and strength unto Christ whereby he may and doth effect it therefore in the word expecting wee must acknowlegde a trope and the signification of it must be admitted onely thus far as it argues that Christ by the gift and benefit of God doth reigne subdue his enemies to him so that in this respect not Christ but God is said to subdue his enemies and Christ expecteth onely till it be done Besides in regard of the time wherein at last all the enemies of Christ shall be subdued unto him Christ may be said thus farre to depend upon his Father as it is in his Fathers owne power to order the times and seasons of things or Christ himselfe doth testifie 14 For by one offering He brings another reason why Christ offered onely but once because by one offering he perfected or finished all things As on the contrary the legall high Priests offered often because they could never perfect all things by all their oblations Hee perfected for ever them that are sanctified Perfected is throughly and wholy expiated see Chap. 7. ver 11. For ever is in respect of all future times and ages to come not as it was under the Law only for the time past and that time but for the space of one yeare They that are sanctified are they that are expiated purged or cleansed from sin in their conscience and the word must not bee restrained to the present time only but extended and dilated to all differences of time to those that ever have been sanctified or now are or ever shall be For Christ may be said to perfect or expiate men for ever in a double sense First as every man that is expiated is not expiated for some certain time but for ever and secondly as his offering is of efficacy and force to expiate all men of all times and ages to the end of the world so that it shall never need bee iterated either for the same men or for any others 15. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witnesse to us After that he had proved by severall reasons that the offering of Christ must bee made only once now he further proves the same by a testimony of the Scripture wherein the Holy Ghost witnesseth the same thing For this truth is so evident and so materiall that it hath not only the reasons formerly alleadged to confirme it but hath also a testimony of Scripture wherein the Holy Ghost doth testifie it The Holy Ghost is said to witnesse a thing when the Scripture saith it because as Peter teacheth us that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.21 After that he had said before After the Holy Ghost had said before which saying follows in the next verse 16. This is the Covenant that I will make with them after those dayes saith the Lord I will put my Lawes into their hearts and in their minds will I write thm Of these words of the Holy Ghost we have treated before Chap. 8.10 17. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more Between the former verse and this something must be understood that is silenced namely then he said as the Author himself speaks at the ninth verse before For at the fifthteenth verse upon which this dependeth the Author had written for after that he said before namely the Holy Ghost therefore here must be understood then he said namely the Holy Ghost againe said the words of this Text And their sinnes and iniquities c. 18. Now where remission of these is there is no more offering for sinne From these words of the Holy Ghost wherein the remission of sinnes and iniquities is promised to Gods people now the Author inferres that the offering of Christ must bee but one only Namely because the Holy Ghost doth testifie that God under the New Testament and so by Christ and his offering will remit unto his people all sinnes and iniquities even the most grievous for ever Now where there is such a remission of sinnes proceeding from Gods Will and Covenant and that universally in respect of time for ever and also universally in respect of persons to all men there can be given no other sacrifice for sinnes and therefore one sacrifice only for sinnes is sufficient But that no further sacrifice is allowed for sins where such a remission of them is granted by Covenant it appears from hence because otherwise remission should be granted and ordained also by Covenant to them that persist in their sinnes which were a thing very unfit and unworthy of Gods grace For if men repent and change their minde and wayes into better courses partly they abstaine from sinne with all care and partly by virtue of the new Covenant and so by the one single offering of Christ they have ready prepared for them a remission of all those sinnes which either went before their true repentance or to follow it that they neither lose it nor make it void Anciently under the Law when remission was granted only of ignorances and infirmities it was no marvell if upon the stay or returne of the same sinnes for which offering had been made the offerings were often iterated and instead of them another offering were introduced far better and perfecter which is that of Christ but now seeing the most grievous sinnes are expiated by the offering of Christ under the New Testament what place can be yet left for any other offering For either a man engaged by so great a benefit doth afterward lead an holy life or not If he live holily there needs no other offering for to expiate his sin seeing hee commits it not if he live not holily there must be none 19. Having therefore brethren boldnesse Here the Author doth in a manner summe up those things which hitherto he had spoken of the Priesthood and sacrifice of Christ and from thence infertes his following admonition By boldnesse here hee understands an assured hope and confidence flowing from the faculty and liberty granted us of entring into heaven the most holy Sanctuary So that by the word boldnesse is signified unto us both our faculty or liberty of entring into heaven and also our confidence or assurance of minde issuing from our knowledge of our faculty or liberty to enter which liberty is opposed to that restraint under the Law whereby it was lawfull for no man to enter into the holy place under paine of death except the high Priest once a yeare And for feare that any one should attempt it all were forbidden it To enter into the holiest Heaven is that Sanctuary whereinto on Gods part we have liberty that we may enter and on our owne part we have confidence that we shall enter And of all Sanctuaries the heavenly is absolutely the holiest
wherein it is opposed to the legall Tabernacle whereof one of the roomes was the most holy yet not absolutely but comparatively only in respect of the other which was called the first Tabernacle and the holy place because it was lesse holy then the second as the second was farre lesse holy then heaven which is farre the holiest of all By the bloud of Iesus For from the bloud of Jesus wee draw our boldnesse both for our liberty and confidence to enter because both the New Testament whereby is granted unto us not only leave but a right to enter into the holiest is confirmed by the bloud of Jesus but also the new sacrifice once only offered and never to be iterated for the offering whereof Christ entered into the holiest was prepared by the bloud of Jesus For by the entrance of Jesus into the holiest who is our leader and our head we have liberty that we may and we take courage that wee shall enter seeing whither soever our leader and head whom God himselfe hath appointed unto us doth enter and arrive thither also a right and liberty of entring is granted unto us for not only the same issue of the journey is promised to us that was granted to our Captain and Head but also therefore our Captaine entered heaven and obtained all power there that both from his example and from the power he hath there we might have an assured faith and hope of those heavenly blessings and in due time might really enjoy them 20. By a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us Here the Author seems to declare whence it is that we have our liberty and confidence to enter heaven and he saith we have it hence That Christ hath consecrated for us a way to it Consecrated here is initiated or dedicated for the Greek word is the same that before we rendred dedicated Chap. 9. v. 18. Now Christ is said to consecrate or initiate this way unto us not only as he was the first that entered heaven after death and a death so fearfull and shamefull but also because hee hath procured us a right to the same way that we may lawfully passe along in it and trace the steps of Christ to immortality For Christ hath consecrated this way for us by using it himselfe first and then leaving the use of it free to us for consecration is the first use of a holy thing before which it might not lawfully bee used by any other Before Christ opened heaven by his entrance thither and consecrated the way leading thither it was lawfull for no man to enter it especially after death But now this way being consecrated dedicated or initiated any man that will may enter it and by it passe safely unto heaven This way is called new not only because it was lately or newly consecrated or initiated but especially because it was lately discovered and newly opened even in the latter times and last age of the world and besides because it is an appendent and concurrent with the New Testament for during the Old Testament and the old Tabernacle the way to the holiest was not open The way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first Tabernacle was yet standing Chap. 9.8 This new way is so marked with the steps of Christ that no length of time can deface it especially seeing so many thousands of the godly have heretofore followed and hereafter will follow Christ their leader in that journey and the way by their steps is continually renewed and kept open And it is called a living way not formally but finally because life is the end of it whereto it leads for so bread is called the bread of life and living bread because effectually it doth vivifie and make us live Hee seemes herein to have a tacite reference to the entrance into the holy places under the Law which was a mortall and deadly way because it was death for any man to enter them excepting only the high Priest and he but once a yeare upon a prefixed day to performe solemne ceremonies And therefore he opposeth the way to the heavenly holy place to the way of the old legall holy place in as much as this latter is a deadly way that brings death but the former is a living way that leadeth unto life Besides this entrance and way leading to the heavenly holy place is commonly made by death and sometimes by a horrid and cruell death and so may seem rather to lead unto destruction and therefore he called it a living way very seasonably to comfort us by teaching us that it hath a far different issue from what it seems at the first sight Through the vaile that is to say his flesh Hee alludes to the vaile that was spread between the two holy places of the Tabernacle and disparted the one from the other To which vaile he saith the flesh of Christ is answerable For as the old legall high Priest could not enter into the most holy place unlesse the vaile were withdrawne So Christ could not enter into the heavenly holy place before his flesh was withdrawne and as I may say rent and broken Therefore the high Priest entered by moving the vaile aside and Christ by laying his flesh aside so Christ entered through the vail An open sign whereof was in the death of Christ whereby his flesh was dissolved and laid aside For when Christ yeelded up the ghost suddenly the vail of the Temple was rent in twain And this renting of that vaile what doth it portend else then that by Gods appointment those holy places should be no more shut but open and common and become in a manner of publicke use so that any man might lawfully either looke into or enter them And hereby what else was signified but that the flesh of Christ being rent and broken by the death of the Crosse thereupon the passage unto the heavenly holy places was unlocked and set open to Christ and to all that beleeve in him so that not onely Christ himselfe might enter but all that are Christs may enter also and before they enter actually may looke in by faith and hope While the mortall body of Christ was entire and whole both Christ himselfe was debarred from the entrance of those heavenly places and we both from the entrance and prospect of them but after that this vaile of Christs flesh was by death dissolved then both Christ himselfe did enter heaven and procured us a right and power to enter and before we do enter actually to view the happinesse of it by faith and taste the sweetenesse of it by hope For the entrance of Christ into heaven following upon his death doth make us certainely to see and hope for the inheritance of heaven which was hidden from us by Christ as by a vaile till he was withdrawne and taken from us by his death and Resurrection 21. And having a great high Priest Christ is called a great high
respect the plenary expiation of our sinnes or the full reconciliation of Gods favour and grace towards us that for that effect there is no further need of any Sacrifices of beasts or other things corporeall Neither is there reason why any man should say that in the Christian Religion there are other Sacrifices and oblations which Christians must offer and therefore by that sacrifice other Sacrifices and oblations are not excluded For the Author doth not oppose that Sacrifice to those that are wholly incorporeall and spirituall and whereof no meat can be made as are the Sacrifices to be offered by Christians such as a contrite and humbled heart as David speakes the Sacrifices of praise the fruits of our lippes confessing unto the name of God communicating or doing good as the Authour hath it afterwards and other workes of pietie But hee opposeth it to those Sacrifices wherein are offered things corporeall and fit for food so that he leaves no further place for all these Therefore herewith the Sacrifice of the Masse must needs fall wherein a thing corporeall that may be eaten is said to be daily offered But some man may demand how it can be true that in the Christian Religion there remaines that Sacrifice whereby the bloud of slaine beasts was by the Priests brought into the Sanctuary for sinne and their bodies burnt without the campe We answer because that under Christianity there remaines the Sacrifice of Christ our high Priest which is the antitype and solid body whereof that Sacrifice was but a type and shadow Which sacrifice of Christ by the comming of it hath abolished all other carnall sacrifices and the eating of them Whereof this is an open and manifest argument that in the type and shadow of it there was no place allowed for eating but the bodies of the beasts slaine for it were wholly burnt and that without the campe Yet it is not necessary we should say that here is a reference to that yearly Sacrifice onely whereby the high Priest entered the Oracle or the holiest of all seeing the reference may be to all those Sacrifices which were made as well for the high Priest himself as for the whole people For the bloud of those beasts that were slaine for a sin-offering was by the high Priest brought into the Sanctuary although not into the Oracle or holiest place of all yet into the first Tabernacle which is properly called the Sanctuary chap. 9. vers 2. which in other Sacrifices for private men was not done wherein the bloud of the beasts slain after the high Priest had sprinkled the hornes of the Altar that stood in the court at the doore of the Tabernacle was all poured downe at the bottome of the Altar Levit. 4.25 and the bodies of the beasts so slaine for sinne-offerings were no lesse burned without the campe then was done in that solemne anniversary Sacrifice as it appears in the same fourth chapter of Leviticus 12. Wherefore Iesus also that he might sanctifie the people with his own bloud suffered without the gate Because hee had said that in those Sacrifices that caryed a type and shadow of the Sacrifice of Christ the bodies of the beasts slaine were wholly burnt without the campe therefore he affirmes it came to passe that Jesus also whom those beasts slaine for the Expiation and Salvation of the whole people fully represented and shadowed suffered without the gate And this hee doth for this end that the conformitie and resemblance betweene the tipe and antitipe betweene the shadow and the bodie might appeare the better which at the first sight would sufficiently argue that one was referred to the other The Citie of Jerusalem wherein the people after their conquest of Canaan seated themselves is answerable to the campe wherewith they journeyed in the wildernesse and succeeded in the roome of that campe And therefore in this respect it was all one for a man to bee drawne without the gate or walles of Jerusalem when the people dwelt in that Citie as without the campe when they had a campe for their Citie Iesus also the particle also hath in this place the force of a comparison as if hee had said not onely the bodies of those beasts were burnt without the campe but Jesus also himselfe suffered without the gate Suffered namely the death of the Crosse the genus being put for the species And the death of Christ is answerable not onely to the slaughter of the beasts that were made within the campe and Citie or compasse of the Temple but also to the burning of their bodies which was performed without the campe and City for this death answered their slaughter as his bloud was shed and their burning as his body was buried And the things that in the tipe and shadow were as it were severed were in the antitipe and body united so that onely death in Christ answered both the slaughter and burning of the beasts That hee might sanctifie the people In these words Christ is tacitely compared with the legall high Priest whose proper office it was to sanctifie or expiate not this or that single person but the whole people and the bloud of Christ is compared to the bloud of those beasts which was shed for the whole people And Jesus did sanctifie and wholly expiate the people with his bloud in that by the intervention of his cruell death hee entered into the heavenly Sanctuary and appeares for us for ever in the sight of God to make intercession for us i. to free us by his care from all the guilt and penalties of our sinnes For the same saying is expressed by Saint Paul in other words Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us For that which is sanctified or made holy is rightly opposed to that which is execrated or made a curse Wee have already observed heretofore that the Author thought he had occasion to speak of Christs bloud brought into the heavenly Tabernacle whereto his comparison and resemblance of Christ to the legall high Priest might invite him yet doth purposely avoide it and useth onely words from which it might appeare that our sinnes were expiated by the bloud of Christ yet not as brought into the Tabernacle of heaven and offered unto God but onely as it was shed and prepared entrance for Christ into heaven and there to help himselfe unto God The same caution is used also by the Author in this place who in the former verse having made expresse mention of the bloud of beasts brought by the high Priest into the Sanctuarie for sin-offerings yet when hee comes to the bloud of Christ saith nothing else of it but that hee Sanctified his people with it or as it is in the Greeke by it that is by shedding it By his owne bloud Not as the high Priest under the Law who sanctified the people by bloud yet not by his owne bloud but by the bloud of beasts but because
mentions their severall salutations to the Colossians chap. 4 The answere is It was not reason he should write any salutations from Timothy no more then from himselfe because hee had joyned Timothie with him as a Co-Authour of the whole Epistle which was more then a salutation This imprisonment then of Timothie is very probable though from this place it be not fully certaine For the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here translated set at libertie doth properly signifie more generally for dismissed or dispatched or sent away and in this sence is frequently used in the new Testament And then it may signifie here that Timothy was now dismissed or dispatched there where formerly hee was detained about some businesse of the Ministry for certaine it is that Timothy by his especiall function was an Evangelist and therefore frequently employed by the Apostles who sent them upon messages about the Ministry unto remote Churches See this for Timothie Acts 17.14,15 and Acts 18.5 and Acts 19.22 and 1. Cor. 4.17 and Phil. 2.19 and 1. Thess 3.2 With whom if he come shortly I will see you He intimates unto them that hee expects the comming of Timothie to him very shortly yet withall that if hee come not in a short time then hee himself will come to them without him So that hereby he signifies his affection and love toward them with an earnest desire speedily to see them as impatient of his delay in expecting Timothie though he were very shortly to come 24. Salute all them that have the rule over you and all the Saints The name of Saints is here attributed to all Christians in generall As if he had said I desire you to salute from me not onely your Rulers as your Elders and Bishops but all the rest of the brethren even the whole Church All Christians must remember that they are Saints that is persons consecrated and hallowed unto God and therefore as the Apostle admonisheth must carry themselves as obedient children not fashioning themselves according to their former lusts in their ignorance but as he which hath called them is holy so must they be holy in all manner of conversation because it is written Be yee holy for I am holy 1 Pet. 1.14,15,16 They of Italy salute you A Grecisme for the Italians or Christians of Italy for so the Greeks use to speake Whence it appeares that part of the clause which tradition hath added at the end of this Epistle is true That this Epistle was written to the Hebrewes from Italy For if the Author had written from any other place why should he insert a salutation from the Italians onely But the rest of that clause at the end of this Epistle is false That is was sent by Timothy For what could be more vaine then to write of him by whom he sent his Epistle Know ye that he is set at liberty And that in the very end of his Epistle as here he writeth of Timothy in the verse immediately preceding And besides in the very same verse he advertiseth them of Timothies comming to him and of his owne to them upon Timothies comming to him namely from that place where he was detained in prison and of his comming or returning from them as some say who would seeme to defend this postscript But there must needs be extant an argument to prove how different from the written word of God yea many times repugnant unto it are the written traditions of men and therefore much more mens traditions not written And the falsity of this subscription may justly make a man doubt of the verity of the inscription which carries the name of Paul traditionally also prefixed before it 25. Grace be with you all Amen Here the Author finisheth and closeth this Epistle with a devotion or holy wish Grace is the onely ground and meanes to that peace whereof he stiled God the Author before ver 20. And therefore also the onely ground of all happinesse for all happinesse comes meerly by grace Yet he expresseth not whose grace and favour he wisheth unto them as a thing sufficiently knowne among all Christians namely the grace of God our Father and of Jesus Christ our Lord. Now the same grace of God our Father and of Jesus Christ our Lord be with all them that love verity and piety Amen The Contents of this 13. Chapter are 1. Duty We must be hospitable to entertains strangers ver 2. Motive Because some thereby have entertained Angels unawares eod 2. Duty We must be mercifull toward persons in adversity ver 3. Motive Because we our selves are also in the body and thereby also subject adversity eod 3. Duty Mariage must be maintained in the due honour of it ver 4. Motive Because God will judge whoremongers and adulterers and all that are defilers and disgracers of the mariage bed eod 4. Duty We must not be covetous v. 5. Motive 1. Because God hath promised he will never leave nor forsake us 2. Because we may boldly say The Lord is our helper and we will not feare what man shall do unto us 5. Duty Wee must not be inconstant to be carried about with diverse and strange doctrines v. 6. Motive 1. Because we must keepe our selves to our leaders who have taught us Gods word and must follow their faith and life v. 7. 2. Because the doctrine is alwayes the same as yesterday so to day and so for ever v. 8. 3. Because it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace ver 9. 6. Duty We must not eate of the sacrifices which our selves offer to God Motive 1. Because meates profit nothing to holinesse v. 9. 2. Because the sacrifices of the Christian altar are not edible v. 10. 3. Because the sin-offerings under the Law were not eaten but burnt without the camp v. 11. 4. Because Christ is our sin-offering who suffered without the gate to sanctifie us with his owne bloud 5. Because Christian sacrifices are onely spirituall for either they are the fruit of our lips as praise and thanksgiving ver 15. or the fruit of our hands to do good and communicate v. 16. 7. Duty We must be patient to suffer any misery in this life v. 13. Motive 1. Because Christ our high Priest who sanctified us with his own bloud suffered reproach banishment and death for he suffered without the gate v. 12. 2. Because here we have no continuing city v. 14. 8. Duty We must offer all our Christian sacrifices by Christ v. 15. Motive Because Christ is our high Priest who sanctified us ver 12. 9. Duty We must be beneficiall to do good and to communicate ver 16. Motive Because beneficence is a sacrifice wherewith God is well pleased 10. Duty We must obey our spirituall rulers and submit to them v. 17. Motive Because they watch for our soules and must give account of their watching eod 2. Because our unrulinesse will be grievous to them and pernicious to us eod FINIS