King of Righteousness and after that also King of Salem which is King of Peace MElech and so Melchi in Hebrew signifies King Prince or Governour and such is being one person is eminent in Power above the rest Zedeck is Righteousness in that Language This name agrees with Adonizedeck of Adon or Adoni Lord and Zedeck Righteousness as before This Name did truly agree unto this Person and he did answer to his Name He was a just King and did Order and Govern his People in Righteousness by just Judgment and according to just Laws and sought their weal and common good Such all Civil Governours should be for justice is essential to good Government and God never gave any power to any person but bound him to Righteousness nay further governing Power is no Power without wisdom and justice it may be potâ—ntia but not potestas Some Princes are more righteous then other yet this man was eminently righteous because he proved a Prince of Peace For the Fruit of Righteousness is Peace and the more wise and just the Government of any State shall be the greater the Peace and Happiness of the People But Righteousness must go before and after that Peace will follow and Kings must first be Kings of Zedeck before they can be Kings of Salem If the Kings of Sodom had been such they had not been invaded subdued and spoiled by a forraign Enemy The words seem to imply that Zedeck and Salem were two places from whence he had his Name and Title first from the one then from the other or that because he was so just first he was called the King of Righteousness and after that because by his just Government the People enjoyed so great Peace He was called King of Salem § 9. The fourth and last particular is the perpetuity of his Priest-hood For thus it 's written Ver. 3. Without Father without Mother without Descent having neither beginning of Dayes nor end of Life but made like unto the Son of God abideth continually a Priest FOR the better understanding of these words we must consider 1. That if Melchisedec was a man living in Abraham's Dayes he had both Father and Mother and Descent and beginning of Dayes and end too except he as Enoch was translated not to see Death otherwise these words properly understood and strictly taken might justly give occasion to think he was an Angel in humane shape which was the opinion of some 2. Therefore for the most part the words are understood Tropically to this purpose That as he is described Gen. 14. the first and only place of the Old Testament that speaks more largely of him Moses the Historian makes no mention of his Father or Mother or Descent or Birth or Death And he was directed thus to do by the Spirit of purpose either because he being ignorant of all these the Spirit did not reveal them unto him or if he did and he knew them yet he was ordered and moved by the Spirit to conceal them that according to that Description he might appear a more lively and perfect Type of Christ. 3. The words have special reference unto his Priest-hood and gives us a real difference between him and the Levitical Priest and makes him far more like unto the Son of God our everlasting Priest For the Levitical High-Priests had their Priest-hood by Descent and Birth and upon their Death their Successors For as born of a Father of the Tribe of Levi and the House of Aaron after he was once consecrated and as born of a Mother who was a woman married to one of that House so they derived the Priest-hood from the first Investiture after the first Institution And whosoever could not manifest his Genealogy and Descent from that Family could not minister and officiate as a Priest As they had beginning of Dayes and by their Birth and Descent derived their Priest-hood from their Predecessors so they were Mortal and had end of Dayes and so transmitted their Priest-hood to their Successors Thus did not Melchisedec who though he might have Father and Mother and Descent and so beginning and end of Dayes as a man yet as a Priest he had no Predecessor from whom by Birth he might receive his Sacerdotal Power nor Successor who derived his Priest-hood from him So Christ the Son of God derived his Priest-hood from no mortal Predecessor but immediately from his heavenly Father neither will he transmit it to any Successor but when all Enemies shall be subdued and he shall deliver up his Commission by vertue of which he doth now officiate and intercede in Heaven He shall resign the same together with his Kingdom to God who gave him both And thus perhaps Melchisedec this great Priest and lively Type of Christ did And if there be any Priest-hood according to the Law of Nature which is of perpetual continunuance then he seems to be an extraordinary Priest according to the Law For there is the Law of Nature the Law of Moses the Law of Grace and every one of these may have their ordinary Priests and their extraordinary supream Pontiffs immediately instituted of God and the extraordinary supream Pontiff according to the Law of Nature must be above Aaron who was a High-Priest according to that Law which was but for a time and to be abolished and so more fit to typifie Christ the Mediatour and Priest of the New Covenant which shall stand for ever And these things I referr and in them submit my Judgment to the wise and judicious who may take occasion to seek further whether Melchisedec's Sacerdotal Title did not continue to him in Heaven till Christ's Ascension and then was delivered up to Christ and so it continued in him for ever and in this respect he abideth a Priest continually The first three verses seem to be one Proposition and all the whole description till the last words the subject or antecedent and abiding continually the predicate yet so that there are many simple Propositions in the antecedent And it 's observable that Righteousness Peace and Blessing of Melchisedec are perpetual § 10. After the explication of this Description we must consider wherein Melchisedec and Christ agree for there must be an agreement between the Type and the Antitype They agree in Offices Acts and Continuance 1. Melchisedec was a Priest and a King so was Christ Melchisedec was a King first of Righteousness and after of Peace so is Christ for he is the most righteous and just Administratour of his universal and perpetual Spiritual Kingdom and by Righteousness procures an everlasting Peace for our eternal Righteousness is from Him and the Fruit of this Righteousnesse is the perpetuall Peace of all his Loyall and Obedient Subjects 2. Melchisedec as a Priest received Tythes of Abraham and blessed him so Christ doth bless all such as believe in him and makes them eternally happy and all our spiritual Blessings and our eternal Bliss we expect to receive by him and
understands the removing of guilt and punishment and affirms that by the oblation they are removed whereas instrict sense it did not remove them but make them removeable and so he himself saith afterward That it had then only an efficacy and power 2. He distinguisheth between the Slaughter and the offering of the Sacrifice and saith That the Slaughter was on Earth and the Offering in Heaven That Christ dyed and suffered Death on Earth is clear That he willingly suffered this Death to expiate the sin of Man in obedience to his heavenly Father none can truly deny and this willing Suffering for sin in obedience may be truly said to be an offering and an act of a Priest as properly a Priest though they will not have him to be a Priest untill he entered Heaven which is very untrue Was not the High Priest a Priest before he entred with the expiatory blood into the holy Place There were many Sacrifices offered to God the Blood whereof was not presented in the holy place yet it may be granted that if type and antitype agree so far as the Scripture makes them so to do then Christ must present himself in Heaven and he did so For by his own Blood he entered in once into the holy Place Heb. 9. 12. But whether he entered as mortal or immortal in Soul only or in Soul and Body as dead or living when he presented himself before the Throne of the great eternal Judge may be doubted That his Soul that very day he dyed was in Paradise it 's certain and that entrance was properly by Blood with his Soul separated from his Body and made the expiation For when he enters the second time forty days after his Resurrection he enters as immortal in Soul and Body to make Intercession not to make Satisfaction and expiation or to merit § 10. Sâ—te down on the right hand of the Majesty on High This was a reward for his suffering and being obedient unto Death the Death of the Cross. This agrees unto him as the Word incarnate and in respect of his Man-hood And thus to sit is to be next to God above all Men and Angels and every Creature in holiness bliss honour and especially in Power and Dominion This properly agrees to him as King This is not to participate of the divine perfections and excellency as infinite and eternal but so far as the most noble Creature was capable From all this is manifest the excellency of Christ above all Prophers both as a Prophet and in other respects For as a Prophet he knew more of God and of his mind then all the Prophets joyned in one He declared his Will more fully clearly and powerfully then he did and this both by himself and by his Apostles God gave the Spirit not in measure but in fulness unto him He is more excellent not only as a Prophet but in other respects 1. As the Son of God 2. As Heir of all things 3. As he by whom the Worlds were made 4. As he is the brightness of his Fathers Glory and the expresse Image of his Person 5. As upholding all things with the word of his Power 6. As by himself purging our Sins 7. As set down at the right hand of the Majesty on high There is not the least of these though all be very great but therein he far excels the Prophets This might be added that he spake by him 1. As by his Son so did he not by any of the Prophets 2. In the last Days after which he will speak no more to mortal Men neither will there be any need § 11. The second Proposition is That Christ is more excellent then the Angels Being made so much better then the Angels This might be a conclusion of the former words but that in them Christ is compared with the Prophets Therefore we will consider it as a distinct Proposition concerning Christ as compared with the Angels And if he be more excellent then them he must needs be more excellent then the Prophets He is more excellent then the Angels in the seven sormer Respects but the Divine Apostle seems to insist principally upon the last as will appear by that which follows The occasion of this Discourse may be this because the Jews or Hebrews might say That though Christ was more excellent then the Prophets yet he was inferiour to the Angels by whom the Law was given and who spake to the Fathers and the Prophets so that they were Prophets and God spake by them and it 's not like that Jesus of Nazareth was above them or equal with them This is the more probable because it follows If the Word spoke by Angels c. Chap. 2. 2. Which implys that some part of the Old Testament especially the Law was declared by Angels For the Law was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediatour Gal. 3. 19. The Revelation was signified to John by an Angel of Christ Revel 1. 1. And this Angel calls himself a Prophet For he had the Testimony of Jesus which was the Spirit of Prophecy and was one of the Brethren the Prophets Revel 19. 10 22 9. So that some part of the New Testament was delivered by Angels Now to take away this conceit of the excellency of Angels above Christ he not only affirms that Christ is equal with but above the Angels and not only affirms it but ptoves it His first argument in form is this He that hath inherited a more excellent Name then Angels is more excellent then the Angels but Christ hath inherited a more excellent Name therefore he is more excellent § 12. Let 's first consider the terms of the Major then the connexion of those termes or the Consequence The terms are Angels Name a Name by Inheritance 1. Angels are Spirits or spiritual Substances the most noble and excellent Creatures God made and because Angels are good or bad who being made good became bad by their own folly here the Apostle understands the holy loyal and obedient Angels who never sinned against God They are called Angels by reason of their Office and imployment not of their nature The Word signifies Messengers because they are God's Messengers sent by him not only to do but declare his Will Angelus is the same that Malaach Nâ—â—tius Legaâ—us and those names agree to their Prophetical Office 2. These Angels have a Name but Christ a more excellent Name By Name in this place is not signified a bare Title but the Dignity and Power of Christ and a more excellent Name as a more excellent Dignity and Power Thus the word Name is used Phil. 2. 9. Ephes. 1. 21. For Fame Glory Dignity it 's signified by Name in the Old Testament and in many other Authours and in several Languages That the Apostle understands thus for a Title not only of Dignity but Power inherent in the person whose Titlo it is may easily appear from what follows 3. This more excellent Name
them everlasting life Hee 's that Joshua who leads us and gives us possession of our spiritual and celestial Canaan 2. This Captain Prince and Authour was made perfect of God by Suffering or God made him perfect by Sufferings To be perfected in this place is to be consecrated and made a compleat Priest or at least to be put in an immediate capacity to act as a Priest Aaron and the Levitical Priests had their Consecration and it was not without Blood and the death of Sacrifices and the form was instituted and prescribed by God who alone could give them this Glory Power and Office That Christ was a Priest is expresse Scripture as we shall understand in this Epistle hereafter Yet such he could not be without Consecration neither could he be consecrated without Blood and suffering of Death and offering a bloody Sacrifice And the difference of the Consecration of other Priests and him was this that though both were consecrated by Blood yet they were consecrated by the blood of Beaâ—â—s sacrificed He by his own Blood when he sacrificed and offered himself without spot unto God The reason of this was Because he must be a Meditatour between God and sinful Man to reconcile them but no reconcilion without Blood and no Blood but his own Blood immaculate would be accepted For though God was merciful and willing to be reconciled yet his justice would admit of no reconciliation but upon satisfaction to be made by this Blood God did manifest his Justice and hatred of sin by punishing it in Christ before he would pardon it in Man It was God that did Consecrate him for no Man or Angel could conferr this Office upon him or make him an universal and eternal Priest to officiate and minister in Heaven only God could do this And he as supream Lord and Law-giveâ— could appoint and accept him to be Redeemer prescribe the manner of Consecration and as supream Judge accept of his Consecration once finished and invest him with this sacerdotal Power In these respects God is said to Consecrate him By him thus consecrated many Sons are brought to Glory There are many Sons brought to Glory he that brings them to Glory is God he doth this by Christ consecrated and made their Captain To bring to Glory is in the end to give possession of Glory and that everlasting and most excellent Estate prepared for the Sons of God These are many and are made his Sons by Regeneration and Adoption The one doth make them capable of the other gives them right to Glory which they shall fully enjoy when their heavenly Birth and gracious Adoption are perfected They derive their title from their Captain as consecrated by Suffering and received by Faith For as they are the Sons and Heirs of God so are they joynt-Heirs with Christ and in his right And if he never had been consecrated by Sufferings they never had been either Sons or Heirs or Glorified For he by his Sufferings merited all and laid the foundation of their eternal Happiness And for this Suffering he made him Captain and Head of all his Sons and gave him power to give eternal Life to as many as he had given him It 's God who brings these Sons to Glory by their Head and Captain He loved Man he gave his Son to Death he raised him up again made him King and Priest and gave him power to convert us and by him he adopts us and by him he gives us Glory The sum of all is this The glorification of sinful Man from first to last is from God it 's he and he alone that brings him to Glory yet though the persons glorified be many yet they are all Sons and none but Sons shall enjoy the Inheritance neither are they Sons by Nature or of themselves He makes them such by Christ and Christ was consecrated by Sufferings and made their Captain It became him for whom and by whom are all things in bringing many Sons to Glory thus to do God is here described from his efficiency where-by he is the cause of all things the universal Agent who produceth preserveth ordereth all things to their end especially his Sons unto Glory For though his works be many then some are more excellent then others and one of the chiefest is the Salvation of man Some do think that by these words for whom and by whom are meant that God is the final and efficient cause of all yet in strict sense God cannot in himself be said to be the end of any thing yet the manifestation of his glorious Perfection may be said to be intended by him in all his Works To consecrate the Captain of all his Sons by Sufferings did become him that is it seemed best to his divine Wisdom to use this means as most fit to manifest his justice and mercy in the Redemption and Salvation of man What Ways and means as conducing to this end he knew or his divine Wisdom did dictate unto him is hidden from us but this here mentioned he resolved upon as the best and most agreeable to his excellent perfection For God doth nothing but that which becomes him so glorious in himself and so excellent an Agent Men may do many things unbeseeming and no ways befitting them to do nay Angels have done many things which did not become so noble Spirits to do but God doth nothing but what God may do And this is the reason why Christ must taste of Death for every man Because it seemed good to God by that way and means to save sinful man And this is the relative consideration and connexion implyed in the causal conjunction For. They give a reason why Christ was lower then the Angels and suffered Death And why It became God so to do Ver. 11. For both he that Sanctifieth c. § 14. The Apostle in these and the following words doth manifest how it became God to cast Christ below the Angels and consecrate him by Sufferings and he doth so manifest it as that it may appear to be agreeable to Reason which is a spark or ray of divine Light To understand this the better you must remember 1. That Christ was lower then the Angels in suffering Death 2. That as God or Angel he could not suffer Death 3. If he could have suffered Death as a Spirit yet that Death was not so fit to redeem Man or expiate his sin and sanctify him 4. That seeing he must both dy and dy for man he must be Man and mortal Man to sanctify man These things premised the Apostle proves that it became God to make Christ a mortal Man and the reason is because he that sanctifyeth and they who are sanctifyed ought and must be of one and this is the coherence In the words themselves we have the unity and indentity of the Sanctifier and sanctified By the Sanctifier or the person sanctifying is meant Christ and by the sanctified sinful men by being of one that
they are some ways one The reason why Christ is said to sanctify is because he hath an active power to sanctify and free from Sin such as are polluted with Sin and men thus polluted are said to be sanctified when they are freed from Sin Christ doth sanctify them by his merit and the application of his merit by his Sacrifice and his Spirit making use of Word and Sacraments And man is first sanctifiable by the Death of Christ and actually sanctified upon his Faith in this Death That this is the sense is plain by these words of his By which Will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ once for all Chap. 10. 10. The meaning whereof is that by the Death and Sacrifice of Christ remission of Sin and freedom from the pollution was merited so that this doing of his Fathers Will in suffering Death for the sin of man was so accepted of God that it hath an eternal virtue of purging the conscience from sin and in consideration of the same God is always ready upon man's Faith actually to remit and to take away his sin These two are said to be of one Crelliâ—s is here mistaken as in the former verse For he tells us that God brings many Sons to Glory by perfecting their Captain Christ through Sufferings because by his example God doth teach us that by Suffering and by Death though grievous we may attain eternal Glory and suffering is the way unto it This he spake to delude his Reader and seduce him because he would not confess the satisfying and meriting power of Christ's Sacrifice That Christ in his Suffering Death did give us a rare example of many heavenly vertues and an encouragement by his Resurrection and Glorification is true but not intended in this place So neither may we approve of his exposition of these words as any ways genuine and agreeing with the scope of the place For he makes Christ and Believers one as Brethsen because they have God as one Father But this is wide and far from the Apostles intention That of Junius and others is the best that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of one masse and humane Nature alluding to the offering of the first Fruits at the Passover or the two Loaves waved at Pentecost by the which all the rest of their Fruits and Bread were sanctified That he means so he expresseth plainly afterwards ver 14. which informs that to be of one is to be partaker of Flesh and Blood as they are Flesh and Blood Therefore the Socinian must be either blind or impudent yet to understand his unity the better you must know 1. That as man had sinned so he was resolved to redeem and deliver him 2. That his wisdom did not think good to redeem him immediately himself nor mediately by Angels but Man must be redeemed by Man 3. That seeing man by sin deserved and was liable to Death he determined to deliver him by the Death which another must suffer for him 4. God as God could not dy therefore God must some way become Man and by his Word assume Flesh and Blood that he might in and by that humane nature suffer Death 5. He that must be Man and suffer Death and so sanctify all the rest must be one with them and not only as having Flesh and Blood as all men are but must be the Head Captain representative of all mankind and this Christ was both by divine Institution and his own voluntary susception And this is the difference between this unity of him with all mankind and the unity of all other men amongst themselves that he is so one with them as to be their Head and general representative for Redemption and Salvation And the difference between all other men considered as men and him considered as man is not only in this that he was holy and they sinful but that he was personally united to the Word they were not for they were distinct persons in themselves § 15. That they were of one is proved in the words following and that two wayes 1. In the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is so by testimony of Scripture 2. In the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the reason why it 's so and that taken from the end to manifest how it became God thus to do The first is proved out of the Old Testament and first from Psal. 22. 22. That the Psalm is understood of Christ is clear not only because the first words thereof were used and taken up by Christ even when he was Suffering upon the Crosse but also many things in that Psalm were clearly fulfilled in Christ to the very casting Lots upon his Seamless Coat In the words Christ calls his Apostles and Disciples and all such as should believe in his Word declared unto them his Brethren not Strangers or Aliens not Servants or Slaves And by this acknowledgment and owning them he doth signify that he sanctifying and they being sanctifyed were one For he was man and they were men he was the Son of God they the Sons of God he was amongst these as a Brother of the same Society but as the Head of the Society and the first begotten amongst many Brethren The argument is this Brethren are one and of one but Christ and those who are sanctifyed by Christ are Brethren therefore they are one and of one That they are Christ's Brethren is evident because Christ calls them so and is brought in by the infallible Scriptures giving them that Title And how great a condescension was this that the Son of God Lord of Angels should vouchsafe us this honour as to acknowledg us sinful Wretches raised out of the dust his Bretheren And though he cites other words besides these as that He in the midst of the great Congregation would sing praise unto God yet the principal words for which the 40 Psalm is quoted is the word Brethren a term given by Christ unto his Disciples The second proof is found in many places of Scripture but yet they must be taken out of some place which speaks of Christ so as these words may be evidently the words of Christ. Some yea many think they are taken out of 2 Saâ— 22. 3. or out of Psal. 18. 2. where in the Septuagint we find words to the same purpose But seeing the Apostle doth follow the words of the Septuagint when he alledgeth any place out of the Old Testament and these words are not found in either of the former places neither is that Psalm so properly understood of Christ therefore it 's not likely that the Apostle intended to cite any thing out of them Therefore feeing we find the words following concerning trusting in God and concerning him and the Children which God had given him in the Prophet Esay and in the same Chapter of that Prophet and close together too therefore we may conclude with à Lapide and Heinfiâ—s that the place here cited is Esay
were yet here they are called Brethren as believing in Christ and holy as sanctified by the Spirit of Christ So that this is a Fraternity in respect of Religion Christian. They became such Brethren and so holy by the heavenly Call they were partakers of the heavenly Calling For as they were not Brethren so neither were they holy by natural Generation but by supernatural and spiritual Regeneration as before To be partakers of this Call is either barely to be called or to be partakers of this Mercy together with others It 's said to be Heavenly as some understand it in respect of the efficient and the final Cause It 's from Heaven that is from God who is the principal Cause of this Work and because they are to be called to Heaven that is eternal Glory which is the end and ultimate Effect thereof In it we may consider 1. The Work of God 2. The Duty of Man 3. The Benefit following upon both The Work of God is by the Word of the Gospel and the Power of the Spirit to enlighten and sanctify man and gave him a Divine Power to believe and turn unto Him The duty of Man is to be obedient to the heavenly Call The benefit is the admission of him as obedient unto his heavenly Kingdom and receiving him as an Heir of Glory Upon this heavenly Call followeth a great change both in the disposition and condition of man called For his disposition he is made of unholy holy and therefore said to be called with an holy Calling and to be called unto Holiness For his condition he is made of miserable happy and therefore said to be called unto eternal Glory And because the distance between holiness and happiness and sinful and miserable Man is so great therefore this work of God is a work of great power and because the change is so happy therefore it 's a work of great mercy wherein God freely prevents man so that if he should not thus prevent him he would be for ever sinful and miserable Wo unto all such as are disobedient to this heavenly Call and neglect this preventing Grace for as their Sin is more hainous so their Punishment shall be more grievous The Apostle seems to put them in mind of this Calling to let them know how deeply they are engaged to God and how unworthy they should be if they should not persevere unto the end § 3. The duty exhorted unto is expressed ver 6. It 's to hold fast the confidence and rejoycing of the hope firm to the end and is repeated ver 14. It 's opposed to unbelief ver 12. Take heed Brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God The duty therefore is persevetance which presupposeth that they had received the Truth of the Gospel and professed their Faith in Christ and is a continâ—ance in this Faith once received and professed to the end This Faith was from God and was wrought in them by the heavenly Call and the continuance of it depends upon God He gave it at the first he continues it to the last yet so that man must be obedient at the first and use all means with diligent care to preserve it to the last Some refuse to obey at the first others who have professed and received the Truth fall off before the end and both these are sins and they only guilty of them § 4. The reasons follow 1. From the excellency of Christ which is set forth by Comparison The parties compared are Christ and Moses both excellent but Christ far more And here it is observable 1. That the duty is the same with that which was pressed Chap. 2. 2. That the ground of that was the excellency of Christ above the Angels of this the excellency of Christ above Moses 3. The reason there was that if the disobedience unto the word of Angels was punished with Death how much more grievously shall they be punished which disobey the Gospel of Christ 4. The reason here is that if their fathers for their unbelief and disobedience to the Doctrine of Moses were eternally shut out of God's rest how much more shall they he shut out of Heaven and Christ's eternal rest if they do not continue in the Faith of Christ but fall off from their profession To understand this first reason we must consider 1. The excellency of Christ and the excellency of Moses absolutely and positively 2. The excellency of both comparatively that so we may understand the excellency of the one fâ—t above the the excellency of the other 1. Therefore they must consider the excellency of Christ Jesus which is this That he is the Apostle and High-Priest of their Profession Their profession was of the Christian Faith and Religion which they did professe The Authour Apostle and Legate sent from Heaven who first published this Faith and Doctrine was Christ the Son of God by whom God spake who was formerly proved to be more excellent then the Prophets then the Angels So that their Religion was from God nor by Prophets or Angels but by Christ the great Prophet For here to be an Apostle is to be a Prophet Yet Moses and so many others may be Prophets yet no High-Priest but Christ Jesus is not only the Prophet but the High-Priest who mediates between God and Man and officiates so as to make his Doctrine effectual and saving and expiate his Peoples Sin that they may be reconciled to their God This two-fold power was necessary as without which he could not have been a perfect Saviour These are his two Offices upon which the Apostle so much enlargeth and insisteth But 〈◊〉 may be an Officer and yet prove unfaithful and not discharge his trust yet Christ was faithful For it follows Ver. 2. Who was faithful to him that appointed him § 5. This is concerning Christ's fidelity expressed both absolutely in these words and comparatively in those which follow 1. Absolutely He was faithful to him who appointed him 2. Comparatively As Moses was faithful in all his House The former words 1. Imply his ordination 2. Expresse his fidelity to him that ordained him Where we have two Propositions 1. That God appointed Him 2. He was faithful to God In that He was appointed or made an Apostle and High-Priest of our Christian profession for so the words are to be understood it 's evident that He did not Usurp this two-fold Power and Office but received it and acquired it legally and none could invest Him with this Power but onely God and the reason is because it is so eminent and transcendent After he was once advanced he was faithful to that God who advanced and trusted him with so great a Power This fidelity was the true and full discharge of his Apostolical and Sacerdotal Office in perfectly doing all things necessary for the eternal Salvation of Man so far as it depended upon this two-fold Office As an Apostle or Prophet
in his prayers and most earnestly deprecare the Wrath of God as his Saviour did The sense of sin will break the stoniest heart and quicken our Prayers cause cryes and tears But we neither consider the grievousnesse of our sins nor the bitternesse of our Saviour's Passion therefore our Prayers are cold and weak and mercy stands afar off and pardon comes not near us 3. These Prayers were made and directed to God as One that was able to save him from Death All Petitions made to any Person either unable or unwilling to do that which is desired are in vain might and mercy power and goodness are necessarily required in him to whom Prayers which shall in the issue prove effectual are to be offered And because none but God is absolutely Powerfull and Good Almighty and Almerciful therefore to him alone as Supream Lord all Prayers are to be made as to the prime Authour and principal efficient of all Blessings and Mercies To addresse our selves in this manner to any other is flat Idolatry and a breach of the first and great Command None can deliver from Death but only He. Therefore Christ offered his Prayers and Supplications to Him as able to save from Death and this ability to save in greatest dangers was the ground of his confidence God was able to save from Death either by prevention and not suffering him to dy or if he suffered Death by raising him up again and restoring life once taken away and lost The latter he did the former he denied to do yet by Death in this place may be meant some other thing then loss of this mortal and temporal Life for in Scripture it signifies all kind of evils Man or Angel is subject unto and in this place something which he feared prayed against and was freed from by God his heavenly Father supporting him so that he did not sink under the heavy burden laid upon him He endured all with patience and willingness of mind and was not overcome or overwhelmed He suffered something far more terrible then all bodily pains and that Death which is only a separation of Soul and Body and this was violent temptation for he was tempted more violently then ever any was yet he never yielded the least but continued firm faithful obedient unto his heavenly Father in the midst of his greatest conflicts That which upheld him was the power of his Father and that which obtained the victory was his support obtained by his fervent Prayers For 4. His Prayers and Supplications were effectual he was heard in that he feared To be heard in the Hebrew is by a Metonymy sometimes to have our prayers granted and the thing requested done And to be heard when we pray for deliverance is to be delivered saved holpen This might be made manifest out of many places of the Old Testament translated by the Septuagint Two of them Heinsius observes as 2 Chron. 18. 31. where it 's written That Jehoshaphat cryed out and the Lord helped him so the Hebrew heard him so the Septuagint And Psal. 56. 16. As for me I will call upon God and the Lord will save me so the Hebrew hath heard me so the Greek So that for Christ to be heard was for Christ to be delivered But what was he delivered from certainly not from Death so as not to suffer it for he dyed but from something he seared For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifyeth fear Metonymically in this place signifies the thing feared which was the object and cause of his fear This word is once used by the Septuagint for so they translate the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Josh. 22. 24. But what did Christ fear Death No not bodily Death but such a Death as he suffered wherein he was so fearfully tempted For if God had deserted him wholly as he did in part and not have supported him he as man might have been overcome have sunk under the burden in distrust or dispair or impatience This he feared more then ten thousand Deaths of his Body and so to do was his holiness and though he knew his Father would support him yet he must offer vehement Prayers and be put hard unto it before he did obtain it Thus though he knew he must dy yet he defired vehemently that the Cup of his Passion if it were possible might passe and be omitted God began to hear him when he sent an Angel from Heaven to comfort him but then he heard fully when he had supported him to the end of his Passion so that he commended his Soul unspotted and victorious into his Fathers hand and made haste unto that Paradise into which no unclean thing shall ever enter When all was done and suffered the Devil found nothing in him could not charge him with the least Sin This was the efficacy of his Prayers which he offered for himself as different from all others that ever were made in his extremity whereby he learned to pity others in their temptations and necessities For an High-Priest must offer for himself as well as for others because he is compassed with infirmities So Christ though he had no Sin yet had infirmities and was tempted and had need to pray for himself as well as for his People and Ver. 8. Though he were a Son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered VVHere we may observe two things and two propositions Two things 1. His eminent Dignity he was a Son 2. His obedience Two propositions 1. He was a Son 2. Though a Son yet he learned obedience by the things â—he Suffered 1. He was a Son the Son of God and in a more excellent manner then any either Man or Angel was or could be He was as the Word the Son of God so as that he was God and as Flesh and Man he was assumed by the Word and conceived by the holy Spirit in the Virgin 's Womb yet so that there were not two Sons but one the Word made Flesh and as such a Son he was nearer God then any other Heir of all things Lord of Men and Angels and the only-begotten Son of God Yet 2. Though a Son yet learned he obedience For though as a Son he was very high yet he humbled himself very low and took upon him the form of a Servant and in that form became obedient unto Death the Death of the Cross which was the Death of a Servant as he was sold for thirty pence the ordinary price of a Servant and Slave His obedience presupposed his subjection as Flesh unto his heavenly Father as his Supream Lord and a Command not only to Do but to Suffer even the Death of the Crosse and this was the highest greatest and hardest command to dye such a Death for the Sin of Man This command above all others he learned to obey He learned this hard Lesson not only to know it but chiefly to do it not meerly by speculation but real
alwayes upon the Bench and in the end will pass final â—â—â—tence upon all Men and Angels This seems to be understood of that final Doom in which eternal Punishments and Rewards shall be determined This could be no ground of his perswasion except he knew it and he knew this Judgment in generall as he knew the Gospel that is infallibly and by divine Revelation But that they should be eternally rewarded in particular he understood so far as he was certain of their Works So that the ground of his perswasion was this that he knew God was not unrighteous to forget their vertues and good works § 11. In this part and passage of Scripture divers things are remarkable 1. Real Love to God's persecuted Saints is a great evidence of sincere Christianity Therefore saith the divine Apostle By this we know that we are passed from Death to Life because we love the Brethren 1 Joh. 3. 14. 2. Where there is sincere Christianity it will manifest it self by good Works for as a good tree manifests its Goodness by its fruits so doth Faith and inward sincere Christianity 3. To whomsoever this Christianity is thus manifested in any persons they ought to love them and be well perswaded of their happy condition and state of Salvation 4. They that are thus perswaded ought to signify their Love and good Opinion of them as occasion shall require For by this they may prevent suspicions quiet their minds encourage and comfort them 5. There are certain divine Vertues and good Works which have an inseparable connexion with Salvation and eternal Life and which God will not forget 6. This inseparable Connexion is not necessary as from the Vertues and the Works as though they did merit Salvation or necessitate God to reward them 7. It is from God's Righteousness and Promise with respect had to Christ's merit and the qualification of the parties 8. As there are some Persons hardned and delivered up unto a reprobate mind and some sins committed in this life and sometimes long before death which are irremissible so there are certain Vertues and good Works found in Christians that in this life whereupon they are put in a state of Confirmation 9. This state of Confirmation infallibly prevents though not all sins yet final and total Apostacy 10. This state of Confirmation doth depend upon God's Righteousness and faithfulness not upon the Excellency of the Vertues and good Works 11. If such as be endued with these Vertues have done these Works should fall away totally and finally then they should never be rewarded 12. If they should never be rewarded but forgotten God should be unrighteous and unfaithful which to imagine is a bominable 13. Therefore God hath made some Promise whereby he hath bound himself certainly to support such as attain to this Qualification that so they may be eternally rewarded God may be said to be righteous three wayes 1. In respect of strict Justice 2. Of bounty and free beneficence 3. Of Promise First He may be said to be strictly just when he rewardeth Man according to his perfect Obedience yet no Obedience though never so perfect can bind him to reward Man or Angel 2. He is just by way of bounty when he rewards Man capable of Reward and worthy though not in respect of his perfect Righteousness in himself yet because he is some wayes righteous in respect of others who are unrighteous Thus Righteousness is often taken in Scripture therefore it 's written that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble his persecuted Saints and to his Saints troubled Rest with the Apostles 2 Thes. 1. 6 7. And Righteousness for this reason somtimes signifies Metonymically the great Reward of eternal life as Seek ye the Kingdom of God and his Righteousnesse first of all Mat. 6. 33. So Psal. 24. 5. Isa. 51. 5. The third Righteousness is in the performance of his Promise for though his Promise be free yet if it be once made Justice doth require it and God is not free but bound to perform it and if he should not perform he should be unjust which he cannot be This is the Righteousness here meant If any reply against this Doctrine and alledge the words of God saying that when the righteous turneth away from his Righteousness his Righteousness shall not be mentioned unto him he shall dy Ezrk. 18. 24. The Answer is 1. That the place speaketh of Legal Righteousness and Legal Repentance and Legal Life and Death according to the Covenant maâ—â— with their fathers in the Wilderness 2. Yet there is a Righteousness and a certaindegree thereof and that under the Gospel from which Christians may fall finally and totally To understand both these we must observe 1. That no good Works can expiate Sins either antecedent or consequent to them for there is no expiating Power in them at all neither doth any Laws that require constant Obedience allow that latter vertuous Acts should satisfy for former Crimes nor former good Deeds though excellent take away the guilt of future Offences 2. There was a Legal Righteousness required in the Covenant made between God and Israel before Mount Sinai and it consisted in the Obedience of the Moral Judicial Ceremonial Laws of Moses which did prevent God's temporall Judgments and was a means whereby they obtained and enjoyed God's Protection Safety Peace Plenty and many a Blessing in the good Land of Canaan This is evident out of Levit. 26. and many places of Deuteronomy and in particular out of the 28th Chapter and so out of many Passages which we read in the Books of the Prophets As there is a Legal Obedience so there is a Legal Repentance upon which followed deliverance from temporal Judgments of Sword Famine Captivity and the Curses threatned in the Law So we find Levit. 26 40 41 42 c. and Deut. 30. 1,2,3 c. But that Righteousness whereby they obtained eternal Peace and that Repentance whereby they were freed from eternal Punishments did depend upon that Promise of the blessed Seed made to Abraham That there was such a Righteousness in them under the Law from which they might fall and though they did not fall yet by it they could not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven appears by that young Man who came to Christ to know what he should do to inherit eternal Life Matth. 19. 16 17 18 c. and by Paul who touching the Righteousness of the Law was blameless Phil. 3. 6. There is also a Righteousness and Repentance according to the Law and Light of Nature according to which men are blessed or delivered temporally But the Righteousness and the state thereof which is here intended is far higher It presupposeth both Moral and Legal Righteousness and Repentance for the Substance of it yet is more 3. Of this Righteousness under the Gospel is found in many such a degree as they may fall from it and that totally and finally
Othâ—â— imagine it was the whole World which with the parts thereof both the Tabernacle and Temple did represent wherein the Heaven of Heavens is the Sanctum Sanctorâ—n the Holiest of all and the Sanctuary through which the High-Priest passed into the Holiest place the Aethercal part of the World where the Sun and Moon and Stars represented by the Lights in the Golden Candlestick do ever shine Others determine it to 〈◊〉 the Heaven of Heavens whereof they make some different parts as one to be the place of Angels and Saints and another far more glorious which was the place of God's most blessed and special presence That Christ entred the Heaven of Heavens and that 〈◊〉 he ever ministers and makes Intercession there is express Scripture what difference and degrees of places be there we do not certainly know But let the Tabernacle â—e his Body or the Church Militant or the World or the Heaven of Heavens the second doubt is Whither these words concerning this Tabernacle are to be referred If to the former words which say that Christ being rome an High-Priest of good things to come then it 's nothing but this That Christ is the Minister and High-Priest of a far more glorious Sanctuary But some refer them to the word entred and make the sense to be that as the High-Priest under the Law passeth through the first Sanctuary to enter into the second which is the Holiest of all so Christ passed through the Militant into the Church Triumphant And it 's very true that Christ hath his Sanctuary and Temple here on Earth and that 's his Church wherein God dwels in a special manner and he passed through and from this into the Church Triumphant of Saints and Angels where God is more gloriously present and powerful nay he entred through the Aetherdal part of the World into the highest Heavens and through the Heaven of Angels and Saints unto the highest and most glorious place and Throne of God But the former sense that Christ is come an High-Priest and Minister of a far more glorious and excellent Sanctuary seems to be more genuine and confirmed by Chap. 8. 2. § 11. The third Proposition is concerning Christ's Service and Sacrifice offered in this Temple For Christ not by the Blood of Goats and Calves but by his own Blood iâ—â—red in once into the holy place Where 1. We have the Holy place 2. Christ's Entrance into it 3. His Entrance once 4. His Entrance once by Blood not of Goats and Calvs but by his own Blood 1. The Holy place is the Heaven of Heavens signified by the Holiest of all in the Tabernacle and in the Temple for that was the place into which the High-Priest with Blood entred in once every Year so that there is no difficulty in this particular And that Christ entred into Heaven is clear enough For Christ is not entred into the holy places made with hands which are the Figures of the true but into Heaven it self there to appear before God for us Ver. 24. of this Chapter 2. Christ entred into this Holy place But there is a Question made of the time when he entred That he entred forty dayes after the Resurrection it 's clear and express For he was taken up into Heaven Acts 1. 11. He was carried up into Heaven Luke 24. 71. And He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all Heavens to fulfil all things Ephes. 4. 10. But there seems to be another entrance before this and that was immediately upon his Death For when he had given up the Ghost immediately the Vail of the Temple was rent in the midst from the top to the bottom and his Soul separated from his Body and commended into his Fathers hands entred into Paradise That he entred at that time into Heaven with his Soul separated from his Body the Text doth seem to affirm And what should the renting of the Catapetasm and the Inner-Vail immediately upon his Death signify but that the great High-Priest was ready to enter Heaven Again it may be said more properly that he entred Heaven with or by his Blood when his Soul was separated from his Body than when his Body was risen and made immortal and both Soul and Body joyntly ascended For it was the custom of the High-Priest according to God's Institution upon the slaying of the Sacrifice and taking of the Blood to enter the holy Place and the Type and Anti-type should agree especially in this particular Further the expiatory Offering was not compleate till the Blood was presented before the Throne of God in the inner Sacrary and it was suitable to the Type that the great High-Priest should after he was slain on Earth present himself as slain in Heaven before the Supream Judge as having suffered Death and satisfied Justice for the sin of man But all this I leave to the judgment of Learned men who shall seriously search the Book of God and impartially examine whether God doth not speak this in Scripture And howsoever it 's certain that whether he entred thus then yet he so entred at one time or other that he obtained eternal Redemption 3. He entred once This informs us that though the High-Priest entred once every year and so might enter above a thousand times yet Christ entred thus but once For as we shall read both in the latter end of this and also in the beginning of the next Chapter once to enter or one entrance in this manner was sufficient because one Death one Offering was able to do that which all the Offerings of all the High-Priests under the Law could not do neither was any more Offering needful seeing this had done all that was requisite for satisfaction and merit 4. This entrance was by or with Blood and this is set down negatively and affirmatively Negatively this was not blood of Goats and Calves and that with which the Legal High-Priests did enter within the Vail For as we may read Levit. 16. upon the day of expiation a Bullock and a Goat must be slain and with the Blood of these he must enter the holy Place The reason of this is because the blood of Beasts could not satisfy divine justice expiate the sin of man and purge his conscience and immortal Soul and so make the eternal penalty removable Therefore it must be a far more excellent blood the blood of the Son of God his own blood which was pare unspotted and most precious The reason 1. Why it must be by blood is because as without blood under the Law there was no Legal Remission or Expiation so it was the Will of God that without blood there should be no eternal Remission For though God was merciful and sate in the Throne of Grace and Mercy yet his Justice did require that satisfaction should be made and seeing sin was committed and punishment was deserved and due by his Law violated therefore sin must be punished before it could be pardonable
power to purge the Conscience To proceed unto particulars the parts of the Comparison are two 1. The Proposition 2. The Reddition The first Ver. 13 the second Ver. 14. In the first we have the Cause the Blood of Bulls and Goats and the Ashes of an Heifer then the Effect sanctifying to the purifying of the Flesh. Of the Blood of Bulls and Goats which is the same with the Blood of Goats and Calvs Ver. 12. you have heard before for that was the Expiatory Blood wherewith the Priest entring the most Holy place did sprinkle the Mercy-Seat and the Effect of this was the Expiation of the Sins of the Priest and the People whereby they were freed from such penalties as the Law imposed upon persons for some Legal and Ceremonial Offences The second purifying was by the Ashes of a red Heifer mixed with running Water and sprinkled upon Persons or things polluted by touching or being near the dead Of this you may read at large Numb 19. The Effect of both was sanctifying by cleansing from some Legal pollution and Guilt but neither of these could free any person from the Obligation to eternal penalties nor spiritually purify and make holy the Spirit and Soul of Man Some think that the Blood did signify the Death and bloody Sacrifice of Christ the Water the sanctifying Spirit Yet both are here compared with the Blood of Christ as Shadows of it This is the Proposition § 13. The Reddition followeth Ver. 14. Where we have two absolute Propositions and part of the Comparison 1. That Christ offered himself through the eternal Spirit without Spot unto God 2. That the Blood of Christ who thus offered himself doth purge the Conscience from dead Works to serve the Living God 3. The Comparative part is that it hath much more Power or doth much more purge the Conscience The first Proposition is Christ through the eternal Spirit offered himself without Spot unto God Where we may consider 1. The Priest 2. The thing offered 3. The manner how 4. The thing by which 5. The Person to whom the Offering was made 1. The Priest was Christ the Word made Flesh and the Son of God designed a Priest by God 2. The thing offered by this Priest was Himself that is his own Life his own Body and some add his own Soul This was spoken in opposition to such things as the Levitical High-Priests offered as Buls and Goats for none of them offered either other men or themselvs 3. The manner how this was offered is this that it was offered without Spot The thing offered and the Offering and the manner of offering were all pure 4. That by or through which he made this Offering was the eternal Spirit By Spirit some understand the Soul which is said to be eternal because it 's immortal And certainly in respect of his Body he may rather be said to be the thing offered and in respect of his Soul the Priest offering For this offering is said to be the doing of God's Will and an Act of Obedience unto death the death of the Cross and this is a proper Act of his immortal Soul and Spirit Yet this Soul and Body too were united to the Word which as God was an eternal Spirit in which respect some understand by eternal Spirit the Word and Divine Nature of Christ And both Soul and Body were in the highest degree sanctified and supported especially in suffering death by the Holy Ghost which some think is here meant It 's certain he did offer himself by his immortal Spirit sanctified and supported by the Holy Spirit and united to the Word which with the Father and the Holy Ghost are one God and eternal spiritual Substance 5. The party to whom he offered himself was God as supream Lord of Life and Death Law-giver and Judg of Man-kind For he alone had power to appoint him to be Priest to be Offering and to offer and also to accept this Offering in behalf of sinful Man and thereupon to justify him believing and reward him with eternal Life All these are expressed and joyned together to set forth the Excellency and the immanent and internal Vertue of Christ's Blood For How excellent and of what rare vertue and causality must that Blood Death Sacrifice be which was the Blood of Christ who was by God's own immediate Commission and Designment made the highest and the greatest Priest and offered Himself the best Sacrifice that ever was and that through the eternal Spirit purely spiritual and most holy and impolluted and that unto God the supream Lord and Judg and in that manner that the very Act of offering from first to last was most exactly conformable to his Will It had all the perfections of a Sacrifice and in the highest degree The Levitical High-Priest was a Priest but far inferiour to Christ he offered Goats and Calvs but not himself and if he had offered himself yet the thing offered had been nothing to this he offered indeed to God yet he had not that near Relation unto Agreement with and Interest in God as this Priest had He offered by or through his own Spirit which was very imperfect and the imperfections of his very Act of Offering were very many and great Therefore it was no wonder that it should not have the like rare efficiency with this The second Proposition in this Verse is That Christ's Blood doth purge the Conscience c. This is the outward Efficacy and Working of this Blood upon a certain Subject rightly disposed In the words we may observe 1. The Conscience which is the Subject 2. The pollution of the Conscience 3. The purging and cleansing of it 4. The â—ind and Consequent of this cleansing 1. The Conscience is the Spirit and immortal Soul of Man which is Intimum Hominis the in most and most excellent part yet this is not here considered meerly as a spiritual immortal intellective and free Substance created and preserved by God but as subject unto his Power bound by his Laws conscious to it 's own Disobedience and sensible of it For the Blood of Christ doth actually purge no other Soul nor any Soul but thus qualified neither without this Qualification is the Soul immediately capable of this Purgation 2. The Pollution of the Soul is from dead Works where by dead Works it 's generally granted are meant Sins and that not only of Commission but Omission All the Works of Man should be living Works and issue from a Soul endued with a spiritual and supernatural Life have a spiritual and supernatural Form which is Conformity to Divine Law and should tend unto a supernatural and spiritual end When they either issue from a Soul destitute of this heavenly Life or want this Conformity they are dead Works base and such as becomes not so excellent a Creature The ordinary Reasons given by Authors why Sins are called dead Works are because they are the Works of men dead in sin want the Life and
They were all in themselves considered indifferent things and a fit matter and subject of some positive Law 3. The offering and also the shedding of the blood of Christ were in respect of Christ acting and officiating in both purely moral and divine in the highest degree of Service For his suffering of Death for the sin of man at the Command of his heavenly Father was the highest degree of obedience that ever was performed to God There was in it so much love to God so much love of Man so much self denial so much humility and patience and such a resignation of himself to God as never could be parallel'd It was so excellently qualified that it was in a moral sense most powerfull to move God to mercy who is so mightily inclined to mercy of his own accord It was most pleasing unto God and most highly accepted of God considered in it self But seeing it was the suffering of a party different from man guilty who was bound himself to make satisfaction or to suffer according to the Law transgressed that it should be so far accepted of God as to make the Sinner pardonable and that certain pardon should follow upon Repentance and Faith depended upon the free will of God who in strict justice might have refused any satisfaction offered him in behalf of man who deserved to dye and might justly have been condemned to eternal Death It was one thing to accept the service and obedience in it self and another thing to accept it so for sinful man as to determine such inestimable benefits should follow thereupon and accrue to the sinful guilty Wretch The Socinian upon the Text is very muddy and obscure And 1. Though he deny Christ's satisfaction and merit yet he confesseth that the shedding of the blood of Christ even of its own nature had force and power to procure unto Christ all power in Heaven and Earth and all judgment and arbitrament of our Salvation and to produce in us the cleansing of Conscience This is not only obscure but if well examined false For what is it of its own nature to procure For if he mean by the word procure merit upon satisfaction it 's true that by his blood he satisfied and merited but both these he denies If he understand that of it own nature it did so procure this power and this effect so as it did solely or principally depend upon the will of Christ as Man for he denies him to be God and not principally and solely upon the will of God it 's false Here I must demand What difference he makes between procuring and meriting and also take occasion to shew the nature of meriting which is a moral act upon which some good or reward doth follow not necessarily and exnaturá rei but voluntarily according to the will of him in whose power the reward is but of this else-where 2. He puts a difference between Christ's Priest-hood and his Mediatourship and makes his Mediatourship to end with his Death and his Priest-hood there to begin But the Apostle makes no such difference but in this Epistle he takes Mediatour and Priest for the same That his Mediatourship should end and his Priest-hood should begin with and upon his Death I will believe when he can prove it which he can never do for there is not the least ground for it in the Word of God and it must needs be false upon this account that both are the same 3. He affirms that the blood of Christ takes efficacy and force to purge fin from the subsequent oblation of Christ in offering himself in Heaven and this he not only here but else-where doth often assert But 1. It 's very clear and certain that the total resignation of himself unto the will of his heavenly Father and his willing suffering of Death the voluntary laying down of his life the making himself a whole Burnt-offering was properly the oblation of himself This was on Earth this was the great act of Obedience the great Service that was so acceptable to God wherein Christ shewed himself a mirrour of so many heavenly virtues The representing of himself slaln in Heaven was not this offering nor the appearing before his Fathers Throne upon his Ascension The Scripture no where affirms it he cannot instance in one place for this And though God did require it yet it was not the meritorious act therefore never let him or any of that party delude us with his false and groundless notion of offering himself in Heaven By his Death Christ did satisfy and merit by his Resurrection and Ascension he makes his Death effectual unto us both by revealing the Gospel and sending the Spirit to work Faith in us and make us capable of remission and eternal life and by his Intercession and pleading his blood he obtains actual pardon and in the end full fruition of eternal life This is the meaning of those words Who was delivered for our Offences and rose again for our Justification Rom. 4. 25. 4. He tells us that Christ was filled with the eternal Spirit that is with the power of God which clarified him from all mortality and made him eternal subject to no destruction This is a strange fancy of his own and invented because he is so great an Adversary to Satisfaction And 1. He saith that eternal Spirit is the power of God which he so understands as that he denies him to be God 2. The power is either God himself or some active power whether natural or supernatural created by God in some of his Creatures or an act of God extrinsecally supporting and preserving something creued Now that which made Christ's Sacrifice and Suffering so acceptable to God and so efficacions was the sanctifying power of the Spirit enduing him with such heavenly virtues and supporting him in this great Service of sacrificing himself For if he had not received a divine and supernatural active power of holiness and righteousness inherent in his Soul which so strongly inclined and moved him to obedience in greatest temptations and had been extrinsecally supported by him this Offering had never been so acceptable to God nor efficacious to purge the Conscience And this was a far more glorious effect of the Spirit then to make him immortal and bring him into Heaven For this immortality and entrance into Heaven were Rewards not Virtues and only made way for the exercise of his Regal and Sacerdotal Power in the Palace and Temple of Heaven 5. He saith that by the Offering of Christ is signified his singular and only care for the Expiation of our Sins and for our Salvation Where it is to be observed 1. That he understands this of Christ as entred by his Ascension into Heaven 2. That by Expiation he means Remission and Sanctification without any respect unto Propitiation and Satisfaction by blood antecedent 3. Christ's offering of himself is a religious Service performed unto God as Supream Lord and Judge offended with sinful
People as a third part 1. In making the Covenant in signifying God's Will unto the People and returning the People's Answer unto God Exod. 19. 2. 2. In confirming it by Blood as an indifferent distinct person Exod. 24. To which place the Apostle doth allude as we shall understand hereafter in the illustration This is the meaning of the first Proposition The second may be divided for explication and made two 1. Christ by means of Death expiated Transgressions under the former Covenant 2. By means of this Death the Called receive the promise of eternal Inheritance The first implies 1. That there were Transgressions under the former Covenant 2. That there was a Redemption of these Transgressions 3. This Redemption was by the Death of Christ. The first is clear enough for Moses Aaron David and the Saints of God from the times of Moses till the exhibition of Christ had their sins much more others not sanctified The second cannot be doubted of for if there was no Redemption of those Sins and Transgressions then they could not be saved they must suffer eternal punishments as they did temporal By Redemption here is meant Expiation and Propitiation whereby their sins were made remissible and upon certain terms and conditions performed actually to be remitted The third will be granted in general that the Expiation was by Death and Blood but that they were expiated by the Blood of Christ many of the Jews denied Yet if they had understood the Books of Moses they might have known that the Blood of Bulls and Goats could not expiate the Sin of Man a rational and immortal Creature not free from the eternal Punishment Some Legal frailties and infirmities they might expiate and avert some temporal penalties Therefore there must of necessity be some other Death and Blood that must do it And this was the Blood of Christ which all their Ilastical Sacrifices and Lustrations did typify Yet this is not so to be understood as though their Sins were not remissible and remitted till Christ dyed and offered his Sacrifice for by vertue of this Death fore-seen and fore-accepted they were in their Life-time upon their Repentance Faith in Christ to come and their fervent Prayers pardoned They did not rely upon their Legal Sacrifices nor expected Remission from them but relyed upon this Death of Christ to come according to the Promise That in him all Nations should be blessed This Proposition is not to be understood exclusively as though Christ's Death did expiate no Sin but that which was committed under the first Covenant but emphatically to singnify 1. That there was no Expiation for Transgressions under the Law 2. That if Christ's Death expiate former Transgressions under the Law much more will it expiate such as are committed under the Gospel 3. That there was no reason as some observe why they should be offended with the Death of Christ seeing without his Death and Blood neither they nor their Fathers could be saved but must suffer eternal penalties The second part of this second Proposition informs us that 1. There is an eternal Inheritance 2. There is a Promise of it 3. The called receive this Promise 4. By means of Christ's Death they receive this Promise For in the words we have an Inheritance the Heirs the Conveyance the Purchase or rather the price whereby it 's purchased The Inheritance is eternal Happiness the Heirs are the called the Conveyance is by Promise and Covenant the price of the purchase is Christ's Death and Blood 1. The Inheritance is that blessed and glorious Estate which is to be enjoyed upon the Resurrection for the full possession and enjoyment is reserved for Heaven where it 's said to be laid up and reserved It 's said to be eternal in opposition to the Land of Canaan which was the temporal Inheritance of them and their Fathers and to be enjoyed with the Blessings thereof so long as they kept the Covenant of their God and this was the Inheritance promised in the former Covenant and to this which formerly was called God's Rest the Apostle seems to allude as a Type of this which was far more excellent and glorious of eternal continuance in respect of the Inheritance it self the parties enjoying it and the enjoyment thereof 2. This eternal Inheritance was promised there was a Promise of it It was God's and the disposal of it was at his Will Man for his sin was cast out of Paradise and forfeited Heaven with the eternal Bliss thereof yet it was in his mind to give it sinful Man who deserved it not so great was his mercy and bounty and Man must know this For this end he promised it and by his Promise bound himself to give it and in it did signify his Will The Effect of this Promise was Obligation on God's part and a Right unto it on Man's part an Hope to obtain it and a Comfort upon this Hope And here it 's to be observed that our Title to eternal life depends immediately upon the Promise and is derived from it for as the Israelites had the Land of Canaan and held it by Covenant and Promise so do all the Children of God expect the heavenly Canaan and hope to have it by Promise of the new Covenant Some do ' understand by the Promise of eternal Inheritance this Inheritance promised yet there must be a Promise received before we receive the thing promised 3. After the Inheritance and the Promise and Conveyance follows the Heirs which are here said to be the called Some are not called at all these have no Promise of the Inheritance Such were the Gentiles before the Gospel was preached unto them they were Strangers from the Covenants of Promise having no Hope and without God in the World Ephes. 2. 12. Some are called and have the means of Conversion but reject the terms of the Covenant and refuse to enter into it and engage themselvs such were the unbelieving Jews and many others Some are called enter the Covenant and solemnly bind themselvs to the observation of it yet do not observe it In respect of these two last it is that Christ saith Many are called but few are chosen Matth. 22. 14. None of these are Heirs Some are called and are obedient to the heavenly Call and keep the Covenant these receive the eternal Inheritance promised and first acquire the Title and after that the Possession Some were called before the Exhibition of Christ some after the former are here principally meant though the latter with them receive the Inheritance 4. These called Ones of former times with us receive this Promise by vertue of Christ's Death expiating their sins and of his Blood purging their Conscience To understand this you must consider that none but such whose Sins are expiated and their Consciences purged can be Heirs for they must be regenerated and acted by the Spirit and adopted Sons before they can be Heirs For as the Apostle argues If Sons then Heirs
Rom. 8. 17. so may we likewise say If no Sons then no Heirs None can be Sons that are not justified none can be justified which believe not in the Death and Blood of Christ there can be no Belief in this Blood if not shed This Death and Blood of Christ 1. Expiates sin and makes it remissible 2. Merits the eternal Inheritance promised and the Promise too 3. It merits the Spirit to enable Man to keep the Covenant so as to obtain and receive the Inheritance 4. It merits a Power in Christ 1. To reveal the Gospel and give the Spirit to work Repentance and Faith in sinful Man's heart 2. Upon Repentance and Faith and his Intercession a Power to give Remission and the eternal Inheritance Take away this Death this Blood there is no Expiation of Sin no Inheritance no Covenant and suppose a Covenant and a Promise yet it 's ineffectual invalid without this Blood this Death For all the heavenly Promises are made for and in consideration of this Blood satisfying his Justice and meriting his Favour so that without it they are all nothing to purpose neither without it can the called though obedient to the heavenly Call ever have any Right unto or Possession of eternal Life So that the whole strength and efficacy of the Covenant doth depend upon this Blood for by it our Sins are expiated and our Consciences purged so as to be capable of the Inheritance This is a most clear Text to prove that the Saints even under the Law were called and saved and that not by the Ministry and Sacrifice of the Levitical Priests but by the Blood of Christ the vertue whereof extended to former times even the times of Adam Neither did they trust in their Sacrifices and their Priests and the Blood of Bulls and Goats and their Water of separation but in the Blood of Christ yet their Faith was very implicit The third Proposition is Christ is the Mediator of the new Covenant for this Reason and for this End An excellent Covenant must have an excellent Priest and Mediator and seeing this Covenant doth promise eternal Remission and an eternal Inheritance it requires such a Priest as shall be able by his Ministry and Service to obtain this Remission and Inheritance This no Priests by their Sacrifices or any other Service could do but Christ could and therefore not they but He and He alone was made the Mediator of this new Covenant For by his Death he expiates sin and purgeth the Conscience so that the called receive the Promise of eternal Inheritance and the vertue of this Death is universal in respect of time and persons called The Sum of all this is That Christ by reason of his Death and Blood expiating Sin and purging the Conscience is the Mediator of the new Testament or Covenant to confirm and make it effectual to the Heirs of the Promise § 15. This Confirmation of the new Covenant is illustrated from a two-fold Similitude the one is taken a Jure Naturali the other a Jure Ceremoniali The first is taken from the Law of Nature for to it the Civilians refer the Rules of Testaments and Wills and is delivered Ver. 16. For where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the Testator Ver. 17. For a Testament is of force after men are dead otherwise it is of no strength at all whilest the Testator liveth THis is an imperfect and contract Similitude for the parts thereof as of all Comparisons are two 1. The Proposition 2. The Reddition And yet the Proposition is only expressed and the Reddition is only implyed and to be supplied from the antecedent Context In the Proposition we may observe two things 1. The necessity of the Death of the Testator barely asserted Ver. 16. 2. The Reason thereof rendred Ver. 17. The Argument in Form may be this That which is not of force whilest the Testator liveth that necessarily requireth the Death of the Testator to make it of force But a Testament is not of force whilest the Testator liveth Therefore it requireth to make it of force the Death of the Testator The Assumption is expressed 1. Affirmatively A Testament is of force after men who are Testators are dead 2. Negatively It 's of no strength whilest the Testator liveth The Comparison at large is this As the Death of the Testator is necessary to make the Testament of force so the Death of Christ is necessary for to make the new Covenant of force For though Christ might in some respect be a Mediator of the new Covenant yet he could not make it valid firm and effectual without his death neither we under the Gospel nor the Fathers under the Law could without this Death be saved by it And as the death of the Testator gives full force and efficacy to the Testament and this Confirmation is an Effect of his Death so the Death of Christ gives full force to the new Covenant and makes â—â— effectual and this validity and efficacy is an Effect of this Death of Christ and manifests the excellency of this Sacrifice and of Christ the Priest who offered it The things compared as like are the Death of Christ and the Death of a Testator The things wherein they agree are 1. The like Effect of both which is to confirm and make effectual some Instrument 2. The necessity of both for that end to confirm and make effectual § 16. The Propositions in the first part of the Comparison are these 1. There are Testaments of men 2. These are not of force whilest the Testators live 3. They are of force upon the Death of the Testators 4. The Death of the Testators is necessary to make them of force 1. The matter of all Testaments is a temporal estate of these earthly Goods which God hath given Man to preserve this temporal Life The Testator is one that hath a just Title unto these Goods so that he hath power to dispose of them The Testament it self is the manner of disposing these Goods so as to give the same Right which he had in them unto other Persons after his Death and therefore it must signify his Will concerning these Goods and nominate the Persons who must succeed him so as to have them And because it 's an Act of Reason so to do therefore the Testator when he makes his Will must be Compos mentis and have the Use of his Reason and also sui Juris and not under the power of another The end of it is to prevent future suits and dissensions and Injustice about his Estate The Light of Nature doth teach men thus to dispose of their temporal Goods and therefore they are of ancient and universal Use. 2. These are not in force whilest the Testators live and the Reason of this is not only because whilest they are living they have need of or do use their Goods and though they make their Will in their life-time yet they
Will and great Command of God which can never be found in the Moral Law That Christ should suffer and offer himself to expiate the Sin of Man This Law is said to be in his heart and he delighted to do it For if he had not done it willingly it never had been accepted or effectual These words are left out in the Apostles allegation not only because he would have them understood but also because the Text of the Psalmist without them was sufficient for his purpose Though it 's very true that in the New Testament several times a few words of the Text cited out of the Old are expressed and the Reader referred to the Book where they are written at large 2. He came to do his Will that is to dye for the Sin of Man and to do this Will and offer himself a Sacrifice for the Expiation of our Sins was the end of his coming For as that was the great Command of his Father so it was the great Work he had to do Not long before his Death he said Now my Soul is troubled and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour Joh. 12. 27. And in his Agony he prayes That the bitter Cup of his Passion if it were possible might passe from him yet concludes Thy will not mine be done Where it 's implyed That it was his Father's Will he should suffer and offer himself and he was resolved to do it and to deny his own Will and submit unto his heavenly Father And again The Cup which my Father hath giveâ— me shall I not drink it Joh. 18. 11. He could have prayed to his Father and have obtained twelve Legions of Angels a Power sufficient to have rescued him from all his Enemies yet would not do it For saith he How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be Matth. 26. 54. Where we must observe 1. That the Father had by the Prophets of Old signified That it was his Will that Christ should suffer 2. That he câ—me into the World to fulfil this Will and to present himself before his Father when the time came and said Lo I come 3. This was written in the Volume of God's Book This Book is the Book of the Old Testament and it 's called a Volume because it was not bound up as now Books are but rouled up into a Scroul or Volume as the Hebrew word doth signify and as some say The Jews do fold up the Book they read in their Synagogues Therefore is it said That when the Book of the Prophet Esay was delivered to Christ he unfolded it and when he had read a part of it he folded it up again as the word in the Original signifieth Luke 4. 17 20. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is turned by Aquila 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Symmachus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Hierom Pagnine Pratensis Tremelius and Junius Volumen by the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by the Vulgar Caput and so in this place Tremelius and Beza translate it Schindler thinks the Septuagint took Megittah for Gilgoleth which signifies the Scul or the Head But this is not likely We need not much trouble our selves about the Word For as Genebrard observes the meaning is That it was written of him in the whole body of the Scriptures and the sum of them for the sum of Moses and the Prophets is Christ. And it 's certain That Christ was the principal Subject of all their Writings which Christ read and perfectly knew his Fathers Will revealed in them that men might believe in him and expect Salvation from him This Will so perfectly known to Christ was in his heart which he delighted to do and was resolved upon it Thus must we deny our own natural Desires to suffer loss of life and cruel pains to do the Will of God if we will be Christ's Disciples and receive benefit by him § 8. Thus far the words of the Psalmist the Apostle's Application followeth which will be the more perspicuous if we consider the Subject of his discourse and the scope whereat he aims His Subject is the sanctification and perfection of such aâ— Worship God by Sacrifices and Offerings and his scope is this to prove that the Legal Sacrifices and Offerings could not expiate Sin and perfect the Worshippers because that effect was reserved for an higher Cause and for a more excellent Sacrifice Thus much premised the Apostle having recited the words of the Psalm observes three things in them 1. The rejection of the Legal Offerings and that in these two words Thou wouldst not and thou hadst no pleasure therein 2. The acceptation of the Sacrifice of Christ the Offering whereof was the doing God's Will 3. The reason why he rejected and took away the former was that he might establish the latter And seeing these were the words of God spoken by the Prophet David and that in time of the Law and that they plainly signify the Will of God in the matter of Sacrifices therefore the argument was strong and evincing and did clearly prove that the Legal Offerings could not take away sin but Christ's could § 9. That Christ's Offering could do this he affirms saying Ver. 10. By which Will we are sanctified by the Offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all HEre the Apostle returns again unto the Sacrifice of Christ and proves it far more excellent then those of the Law and that especially in two things 1. In that it could sanctify which they could not 2. It did sanctify being but one and once offered whereas they were many and often offered This excellency virtue and efficacy is set forth two wayes 1. Absolutely ver 10. 2. Comparatively ver 11 12 13 14. In these words where we have the virtue of this Sacrifice asserted absolutely we have two things 1. An Effect our Sanctification 2. The Cause the Will of God through the once offering of the Body of Christ. Where 1. We must not understand by Sanctification only a communication of inherent Righteousness in renuing the Image of God in us but also Justification and a freedom from all Sin and all the consequents thereof so that we shall never Sin or be guilty of Sin any more This is a rare and noble Effect and such as upon the same we shall be fully and for ever blessed 2. The Cause of this is God's Will through Christ's Body once offered And here by Will is meant the Will and Command of God signifyed to Christ that he should offer his Body once with his promise to accept it Yet this Will may be considered 1. As a Law or Command given and signified to Christ. 2. As performed by Christ in which latter sense it is here taken principally For it 's not this Will or Command but this Will done that doth sanctify If God had given this Command and Christ had never
so far as was necessary for their deliverance and became liable to the penalty which was due to Man for his Sin That which moved God to send and give his Son was his meer mercy and free love to miserable Sinners That which moved God to punish him once substituted was his vindicative Justice looking upon our Sins It is not proper to say That our Sins were a cause either intrinsecally or extrinsecally impelling God to put Christ to Death and to lay upon him the iniquities of us all Though Sin is the formal object of punitive justice and doth deserve punishment yet God as Supream Lord and Judge and above his own Law had power to pardon Sin or punish it and punish it either in the party offending or in Christman's voluntary Hostage and in what measure he pleased and to accept this punishment willingly suffered for what ends and in what degree he pleased For to inflict the penalty upon the party delinquent or upon another or in this or that degree or for this or that end which shall be agreeable to Justice and pleasing to Mercy is accidental and not essential to it And because this Death of Christ was suffered for Sin and so intended by the Supream Judge it was not only an affliction but properly a punishment That which moved Christ to offer himself was his love unto his heavenly Father a resolution to obey his Command and a desire to be beneficial to mankind and the offering was an act of Charity Obedience and properly a Sacrifice which did so please God that he in consideration of the same was willing to grant unto Man many glorious and incomparable Blessings And to substitute Christ to Command him to offer himself to make him Sin for us to accept his Sacrifice for 〈◊〉 and in consideration of the same to promise Remission of Sins and eternal life to sinful man believing was not meerly or properly a dispensation but an abrogation of the Law of Works In this offering God did manifest his Wisdom his Power his Holiness and hatred of Sin his love of Righteousness his vindicative Justice his supream Dominion and his infinite Mercy In it Christ was a patern and lively mirrour of Humility Patience Fortitude Faith Hope Charity Self-denial and Obedience unto Death the Death of the Cross. The effects of this one offering are here said to be Sanctification and Consecration yet it was not an absolute and immediate cause of these Therefore we must observe That the effects of this cause may be said to be immediate or mediate though this is no formal distinction of a cause as a Cause The immediate effects which are antecedent to application are of three sorts 1. Such as respect God to whom the Sacrifice was offered or Christ who offered it or Man for whom it was offered Such as respect God respect him either as Lord or Law-giver or Judge As Lord by this Sacrifice redeeming man he acquired a new power over Man as he was Law-giver the Law of Works was made relâ—xible or repealable as he was Judge his vindicative power in respect of the sin of man was suspended or inhibited upon a satisfaction or compensation made so that his mercy might freely issue out to save man without any breach or violation of Justice or derogation from the Authority of his Law All these may be reduced to propitiation and reconciliation In respect of Christ the person offering by this he acquired power over all Flesh and all that happiness and glory which his Father promised to conferr upon him upon the performance of this Service In respect of man for whom Christ offered he by this became savable upon a new Covenant and new terms for the performance of which Covenant and attaining of which Salvation all means and power necessary were merited These effects followed immediately in respect of the offering the mediate effects are such as followed upon this offering applyed yet are the immediate effects of it as applyed For upon the same received by Faith followed Justification Reconciliation Adoption Resurrection and eternal Salvation and all these are reduced by the Apostle to Sanctification and Consecration So that the Salvation of Man from first to last is wholly from this offering yet this offering was not the first Spring and Fountain of our Happiness for that was the love of God giving Christ to offer himself It 's a vain and loose assertion of the Socinian to sâ—y or argue That because God loved Man so as to give Christ for him therefore there was no need of any Propitiation or Reconciliation or Aversion of his Wrath by Blood For he might easily distinguish between a general indefinite and a particular love and between a love of good will and of friendship The love of God is best known by the acts and effects thereof For we find three degrees and effects of his love to sinful man The first is the giving of Christ to offer himself for him and thus he loved him when he was an Enemy and ungodly for we may love Enemies though not as Friends The second is the giving the means of Conversion that he may believe and when God loves him thus and first calls him he finds him still an Enemy The third degree and effect of his love is to justify and glorify him and when God loves him thus he finds him converted and looks upon him as a Friend From these degrees of love the Apostle argues That if when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son how much more being reconciled shall we be saved by his life Rom. 5. 10. And though Christ hath offered himself for Sinners and this was an act of exceeding love yet he that believeth not on the Son offering himself hath no life in him but the Wrath of God abideth on him Joh. 3. 36. And no man can have peace with God by Jesus Christ before he be justified by Faith in Christ. For being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 5. 16. Where to have peace with God and be the determinate object of God's special love doth presuppose and necessarily prerequire both Faith and Justification § 14. The Apostle having proved formerly out of Psalm 40. the excellency of Christ's Sacrifice and the virtue of it in the next words adds another proof out of Jeremy 31. 33 34. The same Text of the Prophet was alledged Chap. 8. and there handled and therefore here I need not enlarge but contract my Explication But let us hear the words of the Allegation Ver. 15. Whereof the Holy Ghost is a witness to us For after he had said before Ver. 16. This is the Covenant that I will make with them After those dayes saith the Lord I will put mâ— Laws in their hearts and in their minds will I write them Ver. 17. And their Sins and Iniquities will I remember no more Ver. 18. Now where Remission of these
Power of God piercing the Understanding enables it to understand and know and believe such things which otherwise could not be understood known and believed Yet this Assent may be moral and probable or divine here is meant a divine Assent which without the Power of the Spirit cannot be in â—he heart of Man Thus by Faith and not by Reason we understand how the World was made that it was not eternal that the Wisdom and Power of God was wonderfully manifested in that glorious Work § 6. These things premised the Apostle enters upon his Argument from Examples which are set forth according to the order of time 1. By a particular Enumeration 2. By Accumulation He might have instanced in far more but these were the most eminent and for number sufficient for his purpose He begins with Abel who Ver. 4. By Faith offered unto God a more excellent Sacrifice than Kain by which he obtained Witness that he was righteous God testifying of his Gifts And by it he being dead yet speaketh YOU must here observe that one thing wherein all these Saints und Worthies do agree was Faith 2. That this Faith is the principal thing to be noted in them all 3. His End is by a kind of Induction to prove the excellency and necessity of Faith 4. That according to the History of the Old Testament which he makes his Rule Abel is the first most eminent Person in whom he thought good to instance For as Stephen was though not the first Sufferer yet the Proto-Martyr of the New Testament so Abel was the Proto-Martyr of the Old and was the first Man who after the Creation and the Fall suffered death and sealed the Truth of God with his Blood And though his Father Adam and his Mother Eve had Faith yet the Scriptures do not relate unto us any special and eminent Work of their Faith so that there was no Example of eminency in Faith before him For seeing by Faith we believe the Creation of the World and the Fall of the first Man who was his Father by whom Sin came into the World there could not be any before him so near the beginning of the World so fit for Example Of this Abel two things are related 1. His Vertue 2. His Reward His Vertue in general was Faith manifesting it self in his excellent Sacrifice His Reward God's Testimony of him and his perpetual Fame The words may be reduced to three Propositions 1. That Abel by Faith offered a more excellent Sacrifice than â—ain 2. By this he obtained Witness that he was righteous God testifying of his Gifts 3. By this he being dead yet speaketh or is spoken of In the first Divine Axiom we may observe 1. That he offered Sacrifice to God 2. This Sacrifice was more excellent than that of Kain 3. That he offered this so excellent a Sacrifice by Faith 1. To offer Sacrifice was a religious Worship and may be considered as Moral Positive * Ceremonial As offered unto God in acknowledgment of his Supream Dominion it 's Moral so is the Gift and Offering of some part of our Goods for pious Uses and Maintenance of his Worship As it was a part of God's outward Worship depending only upon Divine Institution it was Positive As this Sacrifice signified a far greater Sacrifice to come it was Ceremonial For after Man had sinned besides the Confession and Amendment of the Sinner Satisfaction to God's Justice by a Sacrifice was required That this was Typically an explatory Sacrifice for Sin seems to be implied by the thing sacrificed which was of the Flock which must be slain and the Blood shed as though for compensation Life was given for Life and Blood for Blood so that this was a Shadow of Christ's Death and Offering This Sacrifice was offered unto the true and living God and not unto Idols and this according to the first Commandment For no Worship or Service Religious is due to any but to God who alone is Supream Lord and to whom alone the highest degree of honour is to be given Yet all these bloody Sacrifices began to be out of date upon the Death and Resurrection of Christ and now only the spiritual Sacrifices of an humble broken Spirit of Praise of Prayer of Thanksgiving and such like continue in force 2. This Sacrifice was more excellent than that of Kain This Kain was his Elder Brother He offered and Abel offered too They both offered unto the same eternal and universal Lord. The marter of his Offering was according to his outward Profession and Imployment of the fruits of the Earth and besides the difference in the matter there was a great Inequality For Abel's compared to his was far more excellent and acceptable Here we might take occasion to consider 1. Adam's care in the Education of his Children to fit them not only for the matters of this Life but for Religion and the World to come 2. That two Persons may worship God with the same kind of Worship and yet differ very much in the manner of their Service 3. This more excellent Sacrifice was offered by Faith and this Faith did make it so excellent For it was not the matter offered but the Qualification of the Person and his manner of Offering that gave the worth unto the Sacrifice and made it more precious Kain offers without Faith sincere and lively his Offering is base Abel offers with Faith his Offering is excellent and of great value This Faith is the Soul of all Religious Worship and here the principal thing to be observed is that Faith was the Principle which did animate and honour this piece of Service § 7. The Reward follows and it is a good Report 1. In his life-time 2. After death 1. In his life-time For 1. It was testified of him that he was righteous 2. This was done by God testifying of his Gifts 1. He was righteous for so our Saviour terms him speaking of the Blood of righteous Abel Mat. 23. 35. He was righteous not without all Sin for such no Man after the Fall ever was yet he was without Wickedness He was upright and his Faith was sincere and his Worship of God and his Obedience were without Hypocrisy He was justified and sanctified and continued in the State of Justification and Sanctification and in such a manner as that he may be said to be eminently righteous This Righteousness was not by Nature but Grace not by his deserts but by the merit of Christ and the mercy of God As he was righteous so he was manifested to be so and it was testified to his comfort and honour 2. It was God who testified of his Righteousness by testifying of his Gifts His Gifts were his Sacrifices offered to God these God did accept and some wayes signified his acceptation both of the Person and his Offering In Gen. 4. 45. we read thus And the Lord had respect to Abel and to his Offering But unto Cain and his Offering he had
and Beeing but to be happy For as bitter Pills and Portions and also correcting Plaisters may effectually cure our Bodies motrally wounded or diseased so the Lord's Chastisements may heal our sick Spirits and so prevent spiritual Death and Punishments And as the Patient must be willing to receive bitter Pills and Potions for recovery so must we chearfully submit unto our heavenly Fathers Correction for our eternal safety and felicity § 11. Thus far the absolute consideration of these words Now follows the Comparison which presupposing some agreement in quality as in quanity of imparity For if we be bound to obey and reverence our earthly Fathers correcting us then we are bound to obey and be in subjection to our heavenly Father chastening us The reason is because as they so he hath power over us But this is not all for if we are bound if to them much then to him much more They are only Fathers of our Flesh and Bodies and have only a correcting power over them but he is the Father not only of our Bodies but also of our Spirits and hath an absolute Dominion over both not only to instruct counsel command but also to correct and his Correction tends not only to our temporal but our spiritual Health Safety and Happiness This the Apostle makes evident in the 10th Verse Where again we may consider some things 1. Absolute concerning our Earthly Heavenly Father 2. Comparative The words absolutely considered inform us 1. That our earthly Fathers for a few dayes chastened us after their own pleasure 2. That God our heavenly Father chasteneth us for our profit that we may be Partakers of his Holiness 1. In the former Chastisement we may observe 1. It 's short and for a few dayes 2. It 's arbitrary after their own pleasure 1. It 's short because it continues only for the time f our Child-hood and Minority when we are most apt to go astray and least able to direct out selves In these tender years Children may receive any Impression and that more easily than afterwards then the Foundation of Vertue or Vice is laid and if Children have their Liberty be neglected and left unto themselvs they are most subject to be corrupted Therefore theâ— they have most need of Correction and may be more easily kept under yet many times it falls out that Fathers devoid of Wisdom and not considering what is best and most truly good for their Children out of Passion and rashly not aiming at the choise End do correct them And the more Power they have and the less Resistance there is the more arbitrary and irregular their Chastisements prove so that as the time of their Chastening is short so it 's not regulated by the Dictates of Reason but follows Fancy and false Imaginations of the mind which many times represents as just and good that which indeed is evil and unjust The Intention of the Apostle in these words is to manifest the imperfection and deficiency of humane Castigation whereby it differs from that which is divine For 2. God chasteneth â—â— for our Profit that we may partake of his Holiness This is the Perfection of God's Correction which is not for a few dayes but continues for term of Life till he hath made us perfect and done his whole Work upon us It 's always regulated by his perfect Wisdom issues from purest Love tends unto and ends in our Happiness It 's no wayes arbitrary for he never chasteneth but when he sets cause and knows certainly that it will be good for us All this is implyed in these words for our profit where by profit we must not understand the good things of this World and the great Mammon which so many worship but some better thing some spiritual and divine benefit which in a word is a Participation of God's Holiness which Clause seems to be exegetical that we might know what he meant by Profit For whatsoever tends to make us spiritually better more like to God and more capable of Communion with him that 's true Profit God's Holiness may either be that whereby she is holy in himself oâ— that whereby weare holy He in himself is essentially infinitely and eternally holy most glorious excellent and pure in himself For the Holiness of God is sometimes taken for his Excellency and Glory sometimes for his Purity and perfect Righteousness in which respect it 's said That he is Light and in him is no Darkness so that he cannot sin be impure or unjust and therefore may be said to be Holiness it self As he is holy in himself so he is the Efficients and Fountain of Holiness to us for he makes us holy yet our Holiness is from him by participation and participated by us is more his than ours To be Partakers of his Holiness is either to be made holy as he is and so purified from Sin or being made holy to have Communion with him in some degree here or fully and for ever hereafter This Holiness is communicated to us by Chastisement accompanied with the Sanctisication of the Spirit for that 's the end whereaâ— God aims and the Effect which he produceth in his Children His Love doth set him on work his Wisdom directs and his Almghty Power effecteth that which his Love desireth This is the Absolute Consideration the Comparative followeth and that in quantity inequal for he argues from the less unto the greater For if they had with Patience endured their earthly Fathers chastizing them for a few dayes after their pleasure how much more should they with Patience and all humble Subjection endure their heavenly Father chastizing them in Wisdom for their everlasting Good This is a place which teacheth all Children their Duty towards their Parents chastening them and they must acknowledg their Power humbly submit unto it and be thankful unto them and their God for this good Work without which they might have been more wicked and more miserable And all Fathers should know that their Children are trusted in their hands by God not only to be instructed but corrected and in this part of Education they must imitate God and chasten them wisely in Love for their good The principal thing to be remembred is that seeing it is God that doth chastile them and in this manner and for their greatest good therefore they should not faint in their Sufferings for their Profession § 11. The Apostle proceeds further to discourse on the Text in Proverbs which speaks of Chastisement Of which it might be said that it 's a matter not of Joy but Grief and how then can it proceed from Love and be any wayes beneficial By way of prevention he resolvs this doubt in the words following Ver. 11. Now no Chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous Nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of Righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby BY these words we learn what the End and Effect of the Lord 's Chastening is
The Punishment and Consequent of this Sin 1. The Sin in general was profaness for by the History it appears that the disposition of his heart was irreligious and profane and his practise did manifest the same His marriage and his purpose to murther his Brother were sufficient evidence Yet the particular here expressed was the selling of his Birthright for a morsel of meat This was a plain contempt of his Birthright as not worthy to be regarded To understand this the better we must consider 1. What this Brithright was 2. His sale of it 1. This primogeniture which is here meant by Birthright anciently had certain Priviledges As 1. The dominion over his Brethren upon the Death of his Father 2. A double portion 3. The Priest-hood Yet besides these in the Birthright there was something peculiar and that was his Fathers Blessing which included the Covenant and the promise of the Messias and these were sacred things and of great value So much is intimated by his seeking of it with tears 2. This Birthright he sold and that for a morsel of meat By which words we understand his Contempt of this sacred Birth-right for 1. He sold it that is he voluntarily parted with it for sale is voluntary 2. He sold it at a very vile Rate even for one Morsel of Meat one Meal to satisfy his Appetite Therefore is it said He did eat and drink and rose up and went his way thus Esau despised his Birth-right Gen. 25. 34. This was his Profaness in particular By this we easily understand that Profaness is a Contempt of that which is sacred And many may exceed in Reverence and Devotion of outward Worship and the Observation of Rites and Ceremonies and yet be guilty of this Sin whilest they make their Belly their God and prefer earthly Profits or Pleasures before those heavenly Blessings which Christ hath purchased and God hath promised These two Fornication and Profianess may be termed Apostacy in Practice as the former in Profession 2. The Punishment follows and that was an irrecoverable loss of the Blessing The words contain two Propositions 1. That Esat lost the Blessing irrecoverably 2. They knew this 1. That he lost it irrecoverably is evident for 1. He would have inherited it and was rejected 2. He sought it carefully with tears and found no place for Repentance All this we may learn from the History of Isaac the Father and Jacob and Esau his Sons for Jacob according to the Direction of his Mother Rebeccah obtains the Blessing from Isaac Esau comes after with a purpose to receive the Blessing of which he made full account But the Blessing being already passed upon his Brother his expectation was disappointed Upon this he weeps he petitions and with greatest Importunity yet all in vain and too late the Blessing was gone and what was done could not be undone That which was done unwittingly by Isaac was confirmed by God and made irrecoverable and unalterable Therefore is it said There was no place found for Repentance that is the Blessing of Jacob stood firm and could not be altered no place was found for Esau's Repentance but that was in vain no place was found for Isaaâ—'s Repentance for the Blessing could not be revoked nor transferred from Jacob to his Brother For so he said I have blessed him yÄ—a and he shall be blessed Gen. 27. 33. 2. This they knew for being Hebrews they took Moses for a Prophet and were acquainted with his Writings and in particular with this History of their Father Jacob from whom they were descended He puts them in mind of this as a thing well known unto them that by this Example they might take heed of Profaness that grievous Sin lest in the End they suffer the like Punishment For if any of them should be profane and despise the Blessing of eternal Life tendred in the Gospel and should preferr their Credit the quiet and peaceable Possession of their Estates and other temporal advantages before this glorious Reward their Punishment in the End would be grievous because they should not only lose the Blessing irrecoverably but also suffer eternally And all such as prefer the World before Christ and earthly Blessings before heavenly are profane and whatsoever their Profession may be they are in great danger of Apostacy § 18. The Author willing to omit nothing that might confirm them in their Profession and prevent their Apostecy argues further in this manner Ver. 18. For ye are not come to the Mount that might be teuched and that burned with fire nor to Blackness and Darkness and Tempest Ver. 19. And to the sound of a Trumpet and the Voice of words which Voice they that heard entreated that the Word should not be spoken to them any more Ver. 20. For they could not endure that which was commanded And if so much as a Beast touch the Mountain it shall be stoned or thrust thorow with a Dart. Ver. 21. And so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake TO find the Connexion of these with the former words is difficult because they seem to come in abruptly without any dependance upon the antecedent Discourse Some think these with those that follow unto Ver. 25. are the same with those Ye are not under the Law but under Grace Rom. 6. 14. and likewise with those You have not received the Spirit of Bâ—â—dage to fear again cap. 8. 15. For as these two Passages so this Text speaks of the different Estate of such as are under the Law and such as are under the Gospel so doth this And if compared together they do assert and implicitly prove that the State of the one is far more excellent and hapyy than the Estate of the other And if we consider the Scope of the Apostle which is to confirm these Hebrews in the Faith and perswade them to Perseverance in their Christian Profession and Practice then this is an effectual and convincing Argument to perswade and a forcible Motive to stir them up unto Perseverance Yet this is not all for if the Gospel and the Estate of such as are under the Gospel be so much more excellent than the Law and the Estate of those that are under the Law then we must have a special care to persevere in the Profession of the Gospel The Reason of the Consequence we find Ver. 25. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on Earth when he gave the Law much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven Where the Apostle presupposeth 1. That the greater the Sin is the greater the Punishment is 2. That it 's a greater Sin to reject and transgress the Gospel than to reject and transgress the Law and from these presupposed he inferrs That as they would escape a far greater and severer Punishment so they should avoid the far greater Sin of Apostacy from the Gospel So that the Order and
that he was miraculously delivered and restored unto them for their great Comfort and the benefit of the Church And it 's certain many Prayers were made for Paul's Liberty when a Prisoner at Rome For they thought it a great Prejudice to the Gospel a Dammage to the Church and an hinderance of the Conversion of many Souls that so vigilant laborious faithful zealous and eminent an Apostle should be imprisoned and consined And Paul himself knew that his Liberty and his Presence would be both a great Comfort and also a Benefit not only unto these Hebrews but to many other Christians and Disciples Therefore he requests them as they desired the Comfort and Benefit of his presence amongst them upon his speedy Release to pray for him frequently and servently § 18. The next part of the Conclusion is the Apostle's Prayer Ver. 20. Now the God of all Peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant Ver. 21. Make you perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen THESE words are a perfect Prayer of which we have two principal parts 1. A Petition 2. A Doxology Yet these may be made four 1. The Compellation of the Party invocated 2. The Petition of the Party invocating 3. The Doxology 4. The Conclusion and Confirmation of the whole Yet the first and last of these four belong both to the Petition and Doxology To begin with the Petition which presupposing Adoration begins with the Compellation and goes on with the Petition In the Compellation we have a Description of God the Party prayed to and that is from his Titles 1. Of Peace and 2. Of Power He is first acknowledged the God of Peace as in another place the God of all Grace 1 Pet. 5. 10. The God of all Peace and Grace may be the same and that is a most gracious and loving God Yet if Peace be taken according to the Hebrew for perfect Happiness and the Enjoyment of all Blessings then the God of Peace is that God which is the Fountain of all Goodness and perfect full eternal Happiness yet such he is as a gracious God and loving Father reconciled and propitiated by the Blood of Christ. As he is a God of Peace so he is of Power and this Power is set forth by that glorious Work of raising Christ from the dead for therein was manifested the exceeding greatness of his Power according to the working of the sâ—â—e when he raised Christ Ephes. 1. 19 20. The Party whom he raised was Jesus Christ whom he describes from his Relation to the Church to be the great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant Where we may observe 1. That there is the Blood of the everlasting Covenant 2. By or through this Blood Christ became the great Shepherd of the Sheep 3. God raised this great Shepherd from the dead 1. The Covenant is the Law and Covenant of Grace wherein God binds himself to sinful Man by excellent Promise upon the Conditions of Repentance and Faith to give him remission of all his Sins and everlasting Life Of this you have heard Chap. 8. This Covenant is everlasting because though the Covenant made with Israel in the Wilderness was abolished yet this is unalterable and shall continue for ever and by it and it alone the Called attain both the title and possession of the eternal Inheritance The Blood of this Covenant so called by Christ Mark 13. 22. Luke 22. 20. is the Blood of Christ which was shed as for other ends so for the confirmation of this Covenant And the Blood Death and Sacrifice of Christ confirmed the Covenant because it made it effectual and able to reach the end which was the eternal Salvation of sinful man For by this Blood being shed he satisfied divine Justice and made Sin remissible and merited the mercies promised the promises themselves the terms and conditions and power to perform them and by this Blood pleaded in Heaven upon the performance of the conditions he obtains actual Remission and in the end actual fruition of their eternal Inheritance The former Covenant with Israel was indeed confirmed with Blood of Sacrifices yet because that Blood could not expiate Sin and the Levitical High-Priest could not enter Heaven to plead any such expiatory Blood therefore that Covenant was not everlasting In respect of this Blood purging mens Consciences from dead Works Christ was made the Mediatour of the New Covenant of which you may see Chap. 9. 15. By this Blood therefore it is said That Christ is the great Shepheard of the Sheep For because Christ took upon him the form of a Servant and became obedient unto Death the Death of the Cross and shed his Blood therefore God exalted him and gave him a Name above every Name And therefore did his Father love him and made him an eternal Shepheard of the Sheep because he had laid down his life for his Sheep Joh. 10. 17. For this very cause his Father gave him Poâ—er over all Flesh that he might give eternal Life to as many as he had given him Joh. 17. 2. So that by this Blood he became the Shepheard the Great Shepheard For all the Prophets and the Apostles and Ministers of the Gospel are Shepheards yet so that they are but Servants under him the Sheep are not theirs but Christ's who bought them by his Blood And God raised him and made him Lord and the great and chief Shepheard of the Flock that he might keep them raise them up at the last Day and then give them everlasting life This Shepheard was raised by the mighty power of God who not only raised him From the Dead but made him King and Priest for ever that is the great and chief Shepheard This is more at large described Eph. 1. 19 20 21. to the end for that place doth expound this for one part For if we consider Christ in this place as the Object of God's almighty Power We may observe 1. His Humiliation 2. His Exaltation His Humiliation is signified by his Blood and Death whereby the new and everlasting Covenant is confirmed Thus humbled thus Dead he is the subject of God's almighty Power which did manifest it self 1. By raising him from the Dead 2. By making him the great Shepheard Lord and King advancing him above the Angels the Principalities Powers and Dominions of Heaven and all Names and Powers on Earth and gave him to be Head and Shepheard of the Church-Universal And the reason why the Apostle gives God these titles of Peace and Power and instanceth in the Resurrection and Exaltation of Christ as glorious Effects of this Power is because the continued sanctification and perfection of man once regenerate which is the thing desired in the Petition following depends