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
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
have power to change and alter them but chiefly because in a Will the Inheritance is so alienated and transmitted to others as that they can have no Right unto it but upon the Death of the Testators who signify in their Wills what their Heirs shall have not whilest themselves are living but only when they are dead If any alter these after they are dead the alteration is void because it signifies not the Will of him that is dead 3. They are in force only upon the death of the Testators This is that wherein the death of Christ and of a Testator do agree and for which the Author made this Comparison for Illustration of his former Doctrine To be of force is to be valid and firm so as to give an immediate Title unto the right Heirs upon whom the Testator's Right actually descends The Reason of this legal force and validity is not only because there is no possibility of Alteration but also because the Testator being by Death disseised of all Right and Possession of any temporal estate in this Life the time signified in the Testament is come wherein the Heir may challenge his Right and the Will may be put in execution 4. The necessity of this Death to make the Testament valid is evident from what hath formerly been said The Reddition of this Comparison hath been already made and from all this we learn that though a Testament and the new Covenant are like in this that as there must be the Death of the Testator for to make the Testament valid and the Death of Christ to make the new Covenant of force yet they are unlike and different in many other things For the Death of the Testator doth not purchase the Inheritance norexpiate the Offences of the Heir yet Christ's Death doth both Therefore the new Covenant is not a Testament in proper sense but is so called metaphorically A Lâ—pide and others labour to make it a Testament but all they can say is to little purpose Others again endeavour to prove a Testament to be a Covenant and from hence infer that the new Covenant is a Testament yet this is vain and needless For all that can be said in this Point if we will follow the Apostle and the Scriptures is that for matter of Confirmation the new Covenant and a Testament agree in this that both are confirmed by Death and Blood For as the Testator hath no intention to give his Inheritance and part with the Title or Possession before he dy so God did never intend to give Remission and eternal Life which he promiseth in the new Covenant but for and in the consideration of Christ's Death by which they were purchased and merited and if Christ had not dyed the Promises had been in vain and of no force Therefore the Death of Christ is the Foundation Life and Soul of the new Covenant not only unto those who were called after his Death but also unto those who believed before his Death and Exhibition Yet this Comparison may be made and so intended by the Author as to signify that Christ's Blood is of far greater force to confirm the new Covenant then the death of the Testator to confirm a Testament made by him for the former is of divine the latter but of humane constitution and the former can no wayes be violated the latter may be many wayes made void § 17. The second Illustration is a Jure Ceremoniali from the positive Ceremonial Law of Moses instituted by God and that for several Ends and amongst the rest for Confirmation of the Covenant Purification of things and persons The Apostle instanceth in both and first in the Blood of Confirmation Ver. 18 19 20. Where we must consider 1. The Conneion 2. The words themselvs The Connexion we have in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 turned unde itaque propterea in Latine and in English Whereupon The sense is this Seeing the best way of Confirmation and firmest Sanction of Laws Covenants Testaments is by Death and Blood and judged so to be by God himself therefore it seemed good to him to confirm the first Covenant by Blood and by that did even then intimate that the far better Covenant to succeed should be confirmed by far better Blood And therefore none should think it strange that the new Covenant should be confirmed by the Death and Blood of Christ seeing it was the usuall and onely way of confirming Testaments according to the Custom of the Eastern Nations and besides the first Covenant was so confirmed That it was so the Apostle 1. Affirms 2. Proves He affirms it Ver. 18. Whereupon neither was the first dedicated without Blood VVHere we have 1. The first 2. The Dedication of the first 3. The Dedication of it by Blood 2. By first we must understand the first Covenant which God made with Israel in Mount Horeb. 2. By Dedication is meant the Confirmation and the solemn Sanction of the same For it was 1. Made between God and Israel Exod. 19. 2. Then Laws given as certain Articles and Conditions to be observed by the Peeople were revealed and afterwards written 3. Both Laws and Promises were read and assented unto 4. The whole Covenant thus compleated was confirmed Exod. 24. That which is dedicated unto God by vertue of the Dedication becomes sacred and inviolable and so this Covenant upon the Confirmation was In this respect that which is Dedication in respect of persons or things is Confirmation in in respect of the Covenant 3. This Dedication was by Blood for that way of Dedication or Confirmation is the highest most solemn serious and firm for stronger cannot be For using of Blood for sanction of Leagues and Covenants seems to signify that the parties confederating engage Blood and Life for the observation of them Whereas it 's said That neither without Blood which may seem to be Negative It 's the same with this and with or by Blood which is Affirmative and the Copulative signifies that not only Testaments of Men but the first Covenant of God was thus confirmed § 18. That which he affirmed he proves Ver. 19. For when Moses had spoken every Precept to the People according to the Law he took the Blood of Bulls and Goats with Water and scarlet Wooll and Hysopâ— and sprinkled both the Book and all the People Ver. 20. Saying This is the Blood of the Covenant which God hath enjoyned you THe substance of this we find Exod. 24. And we need not trouble our selves either in the Omissions or Additions of the Apostle for the Omissions may be easily supplyed from the place of Moses and the Additions are there implyed and here expressed for explication In the words themselves we may observe 1. The action of Confirmation 2. The words 1. The Action is sprinkling of Blood The Sprinkler was of Scarlet Wooll and Hysope for the Sprinkler used in the Passover was a bunch of Hysope Exod. 12. 20. The blood
to be Overseers which have a Charge of men's Souls committed unto them for Direction unto eternal Bliss and also Rulers because of their Power and Authority whereby they may in the Name of Christ command them to obey his Laws and in this respect the People are subject unto them in that manner that if they hear and receive them they receive Christ who sent them and God who sent Christ And whosoever receiveth not but despiseth them desplseth Christ and God who sent them 2. These Guides lest they should be ignorant who they were were such as had spoken the Word of God unto them The Word of God is that part of the Word of God which we call The Gospel which is concerning Christ exhibited humbled exalted and reigning at the right hand of God contained in that part of the Scripture we call The New Testament This Doctrine is the Word of God not only because it speaks of God but also because it was revealed by God and that by his own Son in the last dayes This Word they had spoken and declared both by Word and Writing and that infallibly according as by Inspiration they had received an immediate Knowledg of it and this their infallible Doctrine was the Rule of inferiour Teachers 3. These they must remember Some of these might be living some of them dead both must be remembred To remember in this place is to call to mind which presupposeth a former Act of Understanding and is a Reiteration of the same Act upon the same Object These must be remembred not only as Men but as Guides and as such as had spoken the Word of God even unto them so as that they had heard them and learned from them the Mystery of the Gospel so as to believe in Christ Yet amongst these they must principally remember the most eminent and in particular those by whom they had believed For if men begin once to forget their Teachers they will soon forget their Doctrine The second part of their Duty to which their former Remembrance was subservient is the Consideration of the end of their Conversation Their Conversation and Course of life no doubt was agreeable to their Doctrine and the Word of God they taught their Preaching and their Practice were suitable and as their Conversation was good so the End was answerable In that Faith they lived in the same they dyed and as their Life was holy so their Death was happy In these words some observe two things 1. That these were dead and some of them at least had sealed the Truth of the Gospel with their Blood and dyed Martyrs 2. That they had been constant in the Profession and Practice of that heavenly Truth which they had preached and taught to others This Constancy and blessed Issue of their Conversation they are exhorted to consider and seriously review with the Eyes of their Souls as a rare and excellent Pattern worthy their Imitation 3. And if they were so worthy Imitation it was their Duty in the third place to follow their Faith that is their Doctrine which they preached believed professed practised unto Death and which they confirmed by their Suffering This is the true End of hearing Word of God and the true Use of all good Examples which are given us and set before our Eyes for this very End that we may do as they did and as they taught us both by their Words and Works their Doctrine and Practice We must follow the Example of all good men and above others of such Guides as these were amongst these Guides the most eminent in Truth Piety and Perseverance because their Doctrine and Life did agree and contiued suitable to the End § 8. It followeth Jesus Christ the same c. These words seem to stand absolute in themselvs without any dependance upon or Connexion with the Context antecedent or consequent and this hath given occasion to many several and different Expositions Some of the Ancients consider them in themselvs and understand them of Christ as God and from them prove his God-head by his perpetual Existence because he was is and shall be for ever and by his immutability because he alwayes is the same Some understand this of Christ as Redeemer whose Power and Efficacy in redeeming and saving all such as believe in him was from the first time that he was promised unto the World's End for he saved all those who believed in him for to come and all such who believe in him already come and exhibited Both these senses are true but whether intended here or no may be a Question But most Expositors consider the words in Coherence either with that which goes before or that which follows 1. With that which goes before and that two wayes 1. That as Christ the Word not incarnate or made Flesh spake to Joshua and promised not to leave him and forsake him so if they follow the Faith of their Guides and Teachers and persevere in the same to the End Christ will be with them and not leave them nor forsake them 2. That the Faith of their Guides was Faith in Christ according to their Doctrine of the Gospel concerning Jesus Christ an eternal unchangeable and never-failing Saviour and this their Faith in Christ they must follow and then Christ will be to them the same he was to their Guides and will certainly save them In this sense the words not only signify what kind of Faith that of their Teachers was and what was the Object and Foundation of it but also contain a Reason why they should follow it For their Faith was Faith in Christ which is the only saving Faith for ever as he Himself is the same for ever The Aethiopick Version favours this sense in part for thus they translate the words Follow me in the Faith of Christ c. So that according to this Christ is Faith in Christ. But others understand by Jesus Christ the Doctrine of Jesus Christ which is the same as Christ is and that for ever and never shall be changed Therefore they must follow it and never turn from it Christ may by a Metonymy signify Faith in Christ and the Doctrine of Christ because he was the Object of their Faith and the Subject of their Doctrine This Vatablus terms an Enallage This seems to be confirmed by the Exhortation following To apply this to our selves as it is our Duty so we must have a care often to remember the Apostles and their Successours who have taught us the Word of God and considering their happy Departure out of this World with the Joy and Comfort which they found in their Saviour let us follow their Doctrine and their Faith in Christ which if we do we shall have the same End and find the same Comfort in Christ who will be the same to us which he was to them for as He so his Doctrine is unchangeable for ever and whosoever shall follow his Doctrine and believe in him shall
did see it To be Crowned with Glory and Honour is to be invested with great Glory Honour Dignity and Power and the words signify the exaltation of Christ at the right hand of God We need not here distinguish of Crowns which were of many sorts For if the Author did allude to any of these the sacerdotal Mitte and the imperial Diadem did most of all resemble the eminency and dignity of this Celestial Pontiff and this universal King But why may i◠not be an Hebraism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Crown doth signify To compass about for God had circuminvested Christ with the highest and most eminent degree of Dignity and Power and this is the Word used by the Psalmist For the suffering of Death This passion was the meritorious cause his Glory and Honour the Reward according to another Scripture which informs us that because Christ was obedient unto Death the Death of the Cross Therefore God did highly exalt him Phil. 2. 8 9. Neither need we fear to say that Christ merited eternal Glory for Himself if we confess he merited it for Us. It 's true he could not merit the personal union and such things which necessarily followed upon the same but this is nothing to that Crown of Glory which was given him in consideration of that most excellent piece of Service which he performed in expiating the Sin of man and that by his own Blood which is plain Scripture Some referr this clause unto the former of Christ being made a little lower then the Angels yet understand it differently For some say He was made lower then the Angels by or in respect of his Death Others think that it denotes the final cause of his minoration as though the end why he was cast below the Angels was that he might suffer But neither of these are probable we see that is it was manifest both by the glorious Miracles done and excellent Gifts of the Spirit given in his Name and other ways and they did therefore see it The second Proposition He was made a little lower then the Angels It 's not material whether we understand by little a little measure of inferiority or a little time for both are true But the principal thing in these words is where in he was made lower then the Angels and that was in this that he was man and mortal Man is inferior to an Angel as man and much more as mortal because the Angels never dy Now Christ had the body of a man and a Soul separable from his body till the Resurrection and that was the little time here meant the time of his mortality Both might be joyned in one divine Axiome thus We see for the suffering of Death Crowned with Glory and Honour that Jesus who for a little time was made lower then the Angel The third Proposition That he by the Grace of God might taste of Death for 〈◊〉 man In these words we have the reason and the end why Christ was made lower then the Angels for a time For it was that through the Grace of God he might redeem us by his Death In the words we have 1. The Death of Christ. 2. The parties for whom he dyed 3. The inward motive which inclined God to give him to Death and the first Original of Redemption 1. It 's said He insted of Death we need not play the Critick in the explication of the word taste For the plain meaning is that he suffered Death and by this is signified all his Sufferings which were many and bitter the principal and consummation whereof was Death wherein they all ended and without which there had been no expiation 2. He suffered Death for every man not that every man should absolutely enjoy the ultimate benefit thereof for every one doth not yet every man as a sinner hath some benefit by it Because the immediate effect of this Death was that every man's sin in respect of this Death is remissible and every man savable because Christ by it made God propitious and placable in that he had punished man's sin in him and laid on him the iniquities of us all And the reason why every man is not actually justified and saved is not for want of sufficient Propitiation but upon another account 4. That which moved God to transferr the punishment due to our sins upon Christ his only begotten Son was his Grace and free love For he so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son to be the propitiation for our Sins The end therefore why Christ was made lower then the Angel was that he being man and mortal yet holy and innocent without sin might suffer Death that our sins might be expiated divine justice satisfied and a way made for mercy to save us Ver. 10. For it became him c. § 13. These words must be considered absolutely in themselves relatively in their connexion Absolutely considered they inform us and do affirm that it became God to bring us to Salvation by the Suffering of Christ. This is the substance In the words we may observe the end means conveniency of the means 1. The end is to bring many Sons unto Salvation 2. The means is to perfect their Captain by Sufferings 3. The convenience of these means in respect of this end it was such as that is became God to use them All these may be reduced to certain Propositions which are these 1. Christ is the Captain of Salvation 2. God made this Captain perfect by Suffering 3. This was the means to bring many Sons to Glory 4. Thus to do became him for whom and by whom are all things 1. Christ is the Captain of the Salvation of the Sons of God The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 turned Captain signifies a Prince of a multitude eminent for dignity and priority or one who besides his eminent Dignity is invested with Power to command direct and order the rest inferiour and subject to his Power or one who in any work is a principal cause and hath a great and eminent influx upon the Subject to produce the Effect In all these significations Christ may be here taken For he in respect of all Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Saints Martyrs and Believers is the most eminent for dignity and invested with supream and universal Power and in both respects he is called their Lord and King and Head for as the Head is in respect of the members so is Christ in respect of his Saints and many Sons of God He is also the Authour Beginner and principal cause of their Salvation both for the merit of it and the application of the merit and the actual consummation and collation He by his Death laid the foundation and by his Word and Spirit makes them capable of Salvation and gives them a right unto it He by his Intercession procures their actual Justification and Glorification He by his Power doth raise them up and gives
8. 17 18 verses where we have in the Septuagint the very words here used and alledged of the Apostle In that part of the Chapter we have a clear prophecy of Christ fulfilled in the time of his abode on Earth and before his ascent into Heaven There is a plain prediction of Christ's Incarnation and living amongst men and of his Disciples who did believe on him as also of the unbelief of the greatest part of the Jews of their rejection of Christ and of God's rejection of them and the destruction of Jerusalem And Christ is brought in saying And I will wait upon â—â— for the Lord that hideth or turneth his Face from the House of Jacob and I will trust in him as in the Septuagint Behold I and the Children which God hath given me These words are to be understood of him as one with his Disciples and man as they were men And in that Chapter we find some passages directly agreeing with the words of Simons which he spake after that he being in the Temple had received Christ being then Incarnate and an infant into his arms So that to understand the Apostle and the Prophet too we must not so must stand upon the words in themselves severed from the rest but joyntly with the context of the Chapter speaking of Immanuel that is Christ Incarnate § 16. In ver 11 he had said That both he that sanctifieth and they that are saâ—ctified are of one and in these words he assumes but the sanctified are parâ—akers of Flesh and Blood and so concludes that he must have Flesh and Blood and therefore saith He likewise took part with them And those which he called The sanctified by him ver 11. Here he names Children according to the words of the Prophet and these were Disciples and such as believed in him And it 's to be observed 1. That to be of one is to be Flesh and Blood and so man 2. That there is a two-fold union of Christ with Mâ—nsâ— The first by his Incarnation And the second by his actual Sanctification In the first respect he is one with all mankind as they are men and the Head of the whole body of them In the second respect he is one in a special manner with his Elect. By him â—â— man and dying for man all men receive this benefit to to be savable which Angels sinning do not By him as man dying and believed upon all such as do believe are actually sanctified and in the end saved And He and the Sanctified which are the Church are one in a special manner yet because to take part with the Children and be man was not sufficient except he dyed for them that by his Death he might be beneficial unto them therefore it 's added That he took part with them that he might destroy him that had the power of Death which is the Devil Where we may observe two things 1. That the Devil hath the power of Death 2. That Christ by Death destroyed him The first is implyed The second is expressed The word Devil is to be understood collectively for the Devils but in a special manner for the Prince of Devils who is said to be a Lyar and a Murderer Joh. 8. 44. because by his lyes he deceived our first Parents inducing them to Sin whereby they were made liable to Death For by his Temptations and false Suggestions he insinuateth into man and infuseth his poyson into their Soul Man yielding unto his Temptations falls into his hands and comes under his Power so that he hath dominion over him reigns in him blinds him perverts him inclines him effectually to sin and by sin stings him to Death And because he hath so great power to draw man into sin he may be said to have the Power of Death because by this means he makes man more and more obnoxious to Death which so unavoidably by the Law follows upon Sin yet he may be said to have the power of Death as a Jaylour Hangman or Executioner may be said to have such a power and God in his just Judgment may deliver disobedient man into his hand and by him execute his punishments as some understand the place and by divine permission he may have great strength to torment and destroy man Otherwise he can have no right unto Man to judg condemn him punish as being his Lord and Judg For that belongs only unto God who if man yield unto Satan may deliver him into his hand and he may detain him as his Captive The Scripture speaks much of the power of Satan over man till God deliver him out of his hand and this power can be no power of Life but of Death and Destruction This is the first thing implyed the second is That Christ by his Death destroyed him He destroyed him he destroyed him by his Death To destroy him is not to take away his immortal Life and Being but to take away his power or strength For the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the power of an Enemy over a Captive is not a legal and regular power and authority This strength and force and also right unto man as his Captive Christ took away by his Death For by his Death he satisfied God's Justice and merited a power and right to him as having by a lutron or price payed to the supream Lord and Owner bought him So that upon this price and ransome paid and accepted man became his and the Devil had only the possession of him though Christ had the right unto him and the propriety in him Therefore Christ in his prayer doth acknowledg that his Father had given power over all Flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as he had given him Again by this Death Christ made Death removable because by it he made man's sin remissible Bacon Thorpe tells us that the Devil by putting Christ being innocent to Death lost all his power over man because he had no Commission from God to put any person innocent and free from all sin unto Death yet for this he brings no clear Scripture though this be certain that God gave all men to Christ because he dyed for them This Death aimed at a further end then the destruction of the Devil as having the power of Death Christ indeed came to destroy the works of the Devil 1 Joh. 3. 8. and though the Devil at the first as a strong man keeps peaceable possession yet Christ is that stronger man who takes away his power disarms him takes possession and all this is done to deliver man out of his hands For 1. Christ must be lower then the Angels and mortal Man that he may dy 2. He must dy that he may destroy the power of the Devil 3. He must destroy the power of the Devil that man may be delivered from the danger of Death Man cannot be delivered except the power of the Devil be destroyed this
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
consequence Therefore though they did not absolve them yet they prayed for them and referred them to the Judgment of God § 6. The Apostle not content barely to affirm this Renovation to be impossible gives us a reason hereof and that in a third Proposition which is They Crucify the Lord Jesus a new and put him to open shame This should have been the second but I follow the order of the words For this is the genuine method 1. Christians may fall away 2. Falling away they Crucify Christ and put him to open shame 3. It 's impossible for them doing so to be renewed by Repentance This third which I handled in the second place contains the medium whereby the impossibility of Repentance is inferred But 1. I will explain the words 2. Shew how they come in upon the former 1. To Crucify the Lord Jesus the Son of God afresh and to put him to an open shame are in some respect the same For the Death of the Crosse is a shameful and ignominious Death and Punishment therefore we read of shame and the Crosse joyned together For it 's said of Christ That he endured the Cross and despised the shame Hebr. 12. 2. There be many tormenting and disgracing Punishments inflicted by higher Powers upon Malefactors Amongst these Capital penalties are the greatest Of Capital Crucifying or putting to Death upon the Crosse is most cruel and ignominious This our blessed Saviour the Son of God once Suffered For such was the malice of the Jews that nothing but his Death and no other Death but the Death of the Crosse besides many other indignities would satisfy them The end of just punishments are loss pain and shame Therefore Malefactors were executed publickly and openly that others might see hear and fear to do the like Sinnes lest they should suffer the like Punishments if they should prove guilty of the like Crimes And not onely the Punishments executed by Man but such as are inflicted by God are exemplary Therefore as the Apostle saith The punishments which the Israelites suffered in the Wildernesse are our ensamples 1 Cor. 10. 6 11. Therefore the word turned put him to open shame signifies to make an example of shame and disgrace To return unto the Text Apostates are said to Crucify Christ unto themselves afresh the meaning is not that they put Christ to Death upon the Cross in proper sense For that they cannot do he dyed upon the Crosse once and rose again is immortal in Heaven and shall never dy any more For in that he dyed he dyed unto Sin or for Sin once and but once seeing he being raised from the Dead he dyed no more Death hath no more Dominion over him Rom. 6. 9 10. Therefore the words are to be understood Tropically they are a Metaphor which is a contract Similitude and signify that they are like unto the Jews and deal with Christ in somethings as they did For as the Jews judged Christ not to be the Messias and Son of God but a Seducer an Impostor and Malefactor and desired Judgment against him as such that he might be Crucified and put to open shame so these Apostates denying Christ whom they had formerly professed must needs account of him no better then the Jews did and so justify all their Accusations against him and his Crucifying as just and justly deserved by him But these Revolters especially agree with the malicious Jews who renounce him blaspheme him and persecute him in those who profess him such Julian was This is to tread under foot the Son of God and to count the blood of the Covenant that is whereby the everlasting Covenant was confirmed and they sanctified an unholy or profane thing This is the highest contempt of Christ and his Blood that possibly can be Some observe from these words Crucify him afresh 1. That though they cannot Crucify him because he is far out of their power yet for their part they are ready and have a mind to do it and would do it if it were in their power 2. That though he was Crucified once yet if he were living and in their reach they would Crucify him again § 7. This is the meaning of the Words Now secondly Let 's consider how they come in upon the former and what connexion they have with them They presuppose that Apostates do Crucify the Son of God to themselves afresh and are guilty of this Crime For Apostacy is their Sin and this necessarily follows upon it and is inseparably joyned with it And they seem to give a reason of the impossibility of their Renovation by Repentance For there can be no Renovation or Sanctification but by the Blood of the Son of God and this they deny renounce trample under foot therefore they can neither repent nor by repentance be renewed or receive any benefit For repentance presupposeth necessarily Faith in the Blood of Christ and the force thereof dependeth upon that Blood and the belief thereof without both which no repentance can ever do any good or benefit any man and this is the immutable Will and Decree of God Neither will God give Repentance to any Apostate or accept him though he should and could repent For Christ did never merit nor God promise to any such persons either of these The reason of all this is That God decreed that Christ should dy but once and that Sinners should be initiated but once and that whosoever makes void to himself this one Death and this one Initiation shall never have any benefit by a second Death or a second Initiation These are contrary to the eternal and unchangeable Rules and Laws of his Kingdom and by these Rules their Sin is irremissible and their final destruction unavoidable Therefore let us hear and fear lest by any means we fall away from that Christianity which we have received professed and engaged in By all this it 's evident that it 's in vain to lay the foundation again by Repentance Faith Baptism and the rest This reason to make it more plain is illustrated by a Similitude which as all other Comparisons hath two parts 1. A Proposition 2. A Reddition The Proposition is expressed the Reddition implyed The subject of the first part or proposition is the Earth and as there are two sorts or kinds of Earth good and bad so there be two parts of the proposition The first Concerning good Earth The second Concerning bad and barren Ground 1. Concerning the good we may consider 1. The Proposition and then the Reddition In the first observe 1. The Fruitfulness 2. God's Blessing The fruitfulness presupposeth Rain Dressing For without these two Moisture and Husbandry no Ground can be fruitful The Rain is from Heaven the Husbandry from Man The goodness of it is that it drinketh in the Rain bringeth forth Herbs meat for them by whom it 's dressed and here by Herbs may be meant all kind of Fruit that 's fit for man's food As it 's fruitful so
Hell to our best friends to the end they may hate the one and escape the other Thus God doth in the Scriptures thus Christ often doth in his heavenly Sermons and useth this as a means to prevent their Damnation and promote their Salvation So that his former discourse was consistent both with Christian Charity and his good perswasion of them I am perswaded better things of you and such as accompany Salvation These words imply 1. That there were good things in them 2. He was perswaded of this The good things which in comparison of the former barrenness or fruitfulness in bringing forth briars and thorns and cursing and burning were better were 1. Their Qualification 2. Their Condition And they were better not because the other was good for they were not but very evil but because they were very good as the other were very bad This is a special kind of Phrase and Expression yet in some Languages ordinary yet it 's improper though elegant Some would call it a Mâ—iosis which is when more is meant than is expressed and so it 's reducible to a Synâ—chdochs Their qualification was from some heavenly vertues which did manifest themselvs in their practice their Condition was that of Salvation They were in the state of Salvation for their vertues were such as that by divine Ordination and Promise there was an inseparable Connexion between Salvation and them For Salvation and divine Graces go together in one Company the Graces go before Salvation follows after yet so that the Graces take hold of Salvation as the word in the Original signifies For such Christians as these Hebrews were have a present Right by Faith evidenced by the Works of Charity unto eternal life and Hope takes hold of it But what these vertues were we shall know from the next Verse 2. That these better things were in them the Apostle was perswaded that is he did not deny them no nor doubt of them but was confident of their good Qualification and Disposition § 10. Yet if a man be confident of another man's sincere Christianity he must have some ground sufficient for his confidence otherwise it 's vain and irrational Therefore he gives us the ground Ver. 10. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of Love c. The ground of his confidence concerning 1. Their qualification was his Knowledge of their Divine and Christian virtues 2. Concerning their condition was his Knowledg of God's Righteousness In the first we may observe 1. Their virtues 2. The manifestation of them so as that he might know them The virtues were Faith and Love Faith in Christ Love of the Saints Their Love is expresly mentioned your labour of Love their Faith is implied in that it was toward his Name There were other virtues for these could not be alone as their Patience in suffering of Afflictions for Christ's sake and that with joy and their hope of Glory Chap. 10. 34. The manifestation of these was in their work and labour in continuing to minister unto the Saints whereof he had certain Knowledge Here we are informed that Love will be working and labouring and ever bringing forth fruit and that is not real and sincere Love which is not such Therefore another Apostle exhorts us not to love onely in tongue but in truth and in deed 1 John 3. 18. And what it is to love in truth and indeed is signified in the 16th and 17th Verses going before it 's to give the lives of our bodies for them and relieve them with our goods it's a dying and giving Love And happy they which find this heavenly fire burning in their Souls But in most men though professed Christians we either find no Love or if any it 's but cold it will neither take pains nor be at Charge much less hazard life for the Brethren as Christ gave his life for us This love was fixed upon the suffering Saints who were persecuted for Christ's sake they were the speciall Object of it and this did argue their Love to God and their Faith in Christ without which this love could not have been truly Christian Therefore the Apostle joyns Faith in Christ and Love to all the Saints together Col. 1. 4. By all which we may understand that there is a Connexion of divine vertues For where one is in sincerity there all the rest are they cannot be seperated This work and labour in particular was their Ministration to the Saints Where we must enquire 1. What this Ministration is 2. To whom they did minister 3. How long they did minister 1. This Ministration was a work of Faith and Love whereby they used all just and effectual means in their power to preserve maintain comfort deliver the Saints persecuted and suffering 2. These Saints were Christians which suffered banishment imprisonment loss of Goods and other earthly Comforts for the Profession of their Faith in Christ. And by this Suffering were they known to be Saints Therefore this Love was not meerly natural nor meerly Moral but truly Christian Love and so denominated from the parties that loved who are such as that we are bound to love them above others and this Love is that whereby we may know that we are passed from Death to Life 3. The continuance of this Love was that they had ministred formerly in time past and now for the time present they continued this Work of Love for Christian Love is an immortal fire it will still burn and never dy This Ministration was a great evidence of their good Qualification and a good and firm ground of the Apostle's perswasion The ground of his perswasion concerning their good condition was the Knowledge of God's Righteousness For God is not unrighteous to forget your Work and Labour of Love This Proposition is Negative and includes the Affirmative which is That God is fighteous and will remember their Christian Faith Love and good Works And it 's delivered Negatively to signify the infallible certain truth of the Affirmative for in this Case the Negative is more peremptory and emphatical The ground it self is thus expressed his Knowledge of it is implyed But let 's consider 1. What it is for God here to forget or remember 2. What it is for him to be righteous or not unrighteous 1. God can forget nothing at any time but alwayes remembers all things and the reason of this is the perfection of his Knowledge which is infinite as he himself is Therefore to forget in this place is not to take notice of their vertues and actions so as to recompense them To remember is so to regard them as to render a Reward To reward is an Act of God as a Supream Judge The Righteousness of God is his distributive Justice and faithfulness in performing his Promise in judging according to his Law And this rewarding of his loyal and obedient Subjects is a proper Act of his judicial Justice for God is the universal Judge and is
that had the Promises Where 1. Abraham had the Promises 2. Yet Melchizedec blessed him The Promises which Abraham had and whereby God had bound himself unto him were many As 1. That his Seed should be as the Sand of the Sea though in humane Reason according to the course of Nature there was little or no hope of it and this Seed should be both according to the Flesh of the Jews and far more numerous according to the Spirit of the Gentiles For he was made the Father and Head of all Believers in the Generations following both Jews and Gentiles 2. He had a Promise of the Land of Canaan where he then sojourned and where at that time Melchizedec was both King and Priest 3. He had the great Promise of all That in his Seed all Nations should be blessed And this Seed which was Christ to descend of him according to the Flesh who should be the great High-Priest and bless all Nations These words are added to shew how great Abraham was Yet secondly Though he was so great yet Melchizedec blessed him and he was blessed What kind of Benediction this was I have formerly shewed There is one universal Authour of Benediction who blesseth all things and that is God as Creator There is one universal Authour of all spiritual and special Blessings tending to the eternal happiness of sinful Man and that is God Redeemer by Christ There be many others who ministerially under God and by power from God do bless men as the Patriarchs as Moses as the Levitical Priests as Ministers of the Gospel yet one of the greatest was this Melchizedec blessing Abraham And lest any should reply that inferiours may bless superiours and equals may bless equals it follows Ver. 7. And without all Contradiction the less is blessed of the better The Argument in Form is this The less is blessed of the better But Melchizedec blessed Abraham Therefore Melchizedec was better and greater than Abraham In the words two Propositions 1. The less is blessed of the better 2. This is without all Contradiction The former Proposition is concerning the imparity of the party blessing and the party blessed the one is greater and better and the other is less and inferiour Yet this is to be understood of the party blessing as blessing and the party blessed as blessed and the blessing here meant is an authoritative powerful and effectual blessing because otherwise it cannot infer a superiority And the reason is because he that communicates any good unto another who wants it is more excellent in that respect than him that receives it and in this respect is more like unto God whom all lawful Priests and other persons blessing by commission from him do represent and in that particular Act of Benediction 2. And this is so clear and evident a Truth that reason cannot deny and contradict but presently assents unto It 's like a Principle clear in its own light and far above those remote Conclusions which are doubtful and uncertain And this doth evidently prove the Conclusion That Melchizedec in blessing Abraham who had the Promises was far greater than Abraham § 15. Thus far the Authour hath made it manifest that Melchizedec as a Priest was greater and more excellent than Abraham Now not content with this which did imply his greatness above the Levitical Priests he proceeds to prove more explicitly and expresly that he was greater than them and that in respect of Tythes two wayes 1. In respect of his immortal Priest-hood 2. In that Levi and so the Levitical Priest was in a manner tythed in Abraham his Father 1. He was greater in respect of his perpetual and immortal Priest-hood for thus it follows Ver. 8. And here men that dy receive Tythes but there he receiveth them of whom it 's witnessed that he liveth THis by many is made a third Argument to prove the greatnesse and excellency of Melchizedec and if we consider the Reasons in general it is so Yet if we consider them more distinctly the former two Reasons proved him greater than Abraham and greater than the Levitical Priests consequentially But this is the first immediate and direct Argument and Proof of his excellency above the Priests of the Tribe of Levi In Form it 's thus The Priest receiving Tythes of whom it 's witnessed that he liveth is greater than those who receiving Tythes do dy But Melchizedec receiving Tythes is witnessed to live and the Levitical Priests tything their Brethren dy Therefore he is more excellent The former Proofs were taken from Abraham as the party giving Tythes this from the party receiving Tythes that is from the Priest's tything not from the Persons tythed In the Words we have 1. A similitude or agreement 2. A dissimilitude or difference of the Priests They both agree in this that they were Priests and received Tythes They differ in that the one dies the other is witnessed to live The Propositions are two 1. That here men that die receive Tythes 2. There he receiveth them of whom it 's witnessed that he liveth By the Word or Adverb here is meant either the time or place the time was the time of the Mosaical dispensation whilst the Law was in force the place was at Jerusalem and in the Land of Canaan as in the Possession of Jacob's Posterity where the Priest's of the Tribe of Levi Tythed the Jews Yet though they were above their Brethren in receiving Tythes yet they were not better in that they died Of the Death of Aaron and other Aaronical Priests the Scripture makes express mention as likewise of their Successors and doth signify not only that they are mortal but that they died Yet Enoch was mortal and yet died not but was translated The second Proposition is That there he receiveth Tythes of whom it 's witnessed that he liveth 1. This he is Melchisedec as a Priest who as such Tythed Abraham 2. Of him it 's affirmed that he liveth 3. It 's witnessed that he liveth 4. This Proposition is annexed to the former by a discretive Particle But to signify the difference between the Levitical Priests and Melchisedec they die but he liveth 5. It 's said There that is in the time before the Law when Melchisedec met Abraham or it may referr unto the place of Scripture Gen. 14. that there it 's witnessed That he liveth and to Psal. 110. There is no difficulty in this Axiom except in this That it 's witnessed That Melchisedec liveth which some understand of the silence of the places of Scripture which mention Melchisedec especially Gen. 14. For though the holy Writings tell us that Aaron and other Levitical Priests died and that their Order of Priest-hood was only Temporary and to be altered abolished and so to die yet it 's no where said that Melchisedec died and this as was said before is conceived to be done of purpose by the Spirit that he being represented as living and not dying might be in
excellent then the Levitical Priest and now he proceeds further and hath something more to say and prove his super-excellency He had indeed touched upon those words Thou art a Priest for ever and seems here to repeat them yet if we accurately consider it 's one thing to be a Priest for ever and another to receive an eternal Priest-hood by a solemn Oath which now he undertakes to manifest So that the Subject of three verses following the 23d 24th 25th is the eternal effectual unchangeable Priest-hood of Christ made such by Oath And in them we may observe the Perpetuity of Christ's Priest-hood Efficacy The Perpetuity and Immutability is affirmed ver 23 24. The Efficacy ver 25. In ver 23. we have the discontinuance of the one in the 24th the continuance of the other And both together manifest the difference and so dissimilitude between them and the excellency of the one above the other and this is done comparatively For by comparison both the dissimilitude and the imparity are made to appear He begins with the Levitical Priest in this manner They truly were many Priests c. Where we have 1. Their Multitude 2. Their Mortality And the Mortality was the cause of their Multitude Their Multitude was evident For they were many Priests and their Mortality They died And hence he inferrs that they could not continue for the cause why they could not continue was Death The intention of the Apostle is to inform us of an imperfection and defect in the Levitical Priests that they were all and every one of them mortal and died one after another and none could possesse and keep the Priest-hood long but must transmit it to another Aaron first unto his Son then his Son to a third and that to a fourth and so to the last High-Priest So that though they might all joyntly be considered as one person morally by fiction of Law yet they were many men and many Priests physically and so the Priest-hood was continued by Succession and though the Priest died yet the Priest-hood continued till it was abolished In this respect it might be said to be immortal as Corporations and Societies are yet this is no perfect immortality nor real perpetuity This was their imperfection Christ's perfection was that he continued ever Ver. 24. But this man because he conâ—inâ—uth ever hath an unchangeable Priest-hood THe Copulative And in the former verse did signify the Connexion and that of another new argument to the former and here the Discretive But implies the difference between Christ and the Levitical Priest in that they were Priests but he a Priest they were many he but one they continued not he continues for ever In the words we have three propositions 1. That Christ continueth ever 2. He hath an unchangeable Priest-hood 3. Because he continueth ever therefore he hath an unchangeable Priest-hood The Apostle may seem to reason and argue thus He that continueth ever hath an unchangeable Priest-hood But Christ continueth ever Therefore he hath an unchangeable Priest-hood 1. This man continueth ever Where 1. By this Man is meant Christ who was truly Man though this Man this individual Man was united unto the Word so as never any was He was so united unto the Word that he might truly be said to be God Yet as God he was not he could not be a Priest and this is evident if we consider either what a Priest is or what he must do Therefore is it said This Man continueth for ever and in another place There is one God and one Mediatour between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. 2. He is said to continue ever that is liveth ever but this is to be understood of him as risen again from the Dead For before in the state of his Humiliation he was mortal and not only so but dyed Yet after the Resurrection he became immortal and shall never dye but continue for ever For Christ being raised from the Dead diâ—th no more Death hath no more dominion over him Rom. 6. 9. 2. This Man hath an unchangeable Priest-hood The word translated Unchangeable may be understood 1. So as though the Apostle did inferr from the words of the Psalam Will not repent or change that Christ's Priest-hood should never be abolished and changed to another Order Or 2. Because it may signify not passing from one another to conclude from this that Christ continueth ever that his Priest-hood doth not pass from him to any other his Successor as the Priest-hood of Aaron did And this latter seems to be the genuine sense because he opposeth the Priest-hood of Christ unto that of Levi which did pass from one to another so that his Priest-hood did continue in this one individual Man who lives for ever 3. Because he continueth ever therefore his Priest-hood is unchangeable and doth not pass from him to another This follows clearly For if he individually be made a Priest and a Priest for ever and this by Oath and he that was thus made was immortal then his Priest-hood is personal and to be continued in him one single person for ever Now we enter upon the Comparison and make it in this form He that liveth and continueth ever so that his Priest-hood is not transmitted to another is more excellent then they who not continuing by reason of Death transmit their Priest-hood to their Successors who are many But Christ doth thus continue and the Levitical Priests do not Therefore He is a more excellent Priest § 26. This excellency is yet more because of the efficacy of the Priest-hood and the ability of the Priest when perpetuity and efficacy meet in one the Priest-hood must needs be excellent indeed But let 's hear the Apostle proving this Efficacy Ver. 25. Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost or for ever that come to God by him seeing be ever liveth to make Intercession for them THE judgment of this Text is Dianoetical as is evident from the Illative Wherefore and in form he argueth thus He that ever liveth to make Intercession for them that come to God by him is able to save them for ever But Christ ever liveth to make Intercession for them that come to God by him Therefore he is able to save them for ever Where from his perpetual and effectual Intercession he inferrs his ability to save for ever and from both his super-excellency which is principally intended In the words we have 1. His ability to save them for ever that come to God by him 2. The reason of it because he ever liveth to make Intercession for them In the first we have 1. His active power 2. The subject upon which it works effectually 1. His active power that he is able to save to the uttermost 1. He is able that is he hath an active power to produce some excellent effect and reach some glorious end 2. This power is not physical but moral nay super-natural
Supream Judge by him prove most effectual In that place it 's observable that he offers only the prayers of Saints and in another place he makes Intercession only for the Apostles and such as by their word should believe in him Joh. 17. 9 20. Saints and Believers are they who come to God by him And this is our Duty 1. To come to God and him alone for remission and eternal Salvation for they are found in him and in him alone and no where else 2. We must come to him by Christ as our only Propitiatour and Intercessour who alone can and will effectually plead our cause and make it good And as this is our Duty so upon the performance of it this will be the comfort of all penitent Sinners who groan under the heavy burden of their Sins and sigh and long and pray for Salvation 1. That Christ will certainly plead for them and by his Intercession obtain their everlasting Salvation And why should poor believing Sinners quake and tremble at the Bar of God seeing Christ doth plead their Cause which is more then if all Saints and Angels and the blessed Virgin the Mother of our Saviour should pray for him And why should be fear the Tryal or upon the Tryal Damnation or eternal Death For who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect It is God that justifirth Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh Intercession for us Rom. 8. 33 34. It was expedient as he said to his Disciples That Christ should go away and that to his Father's House that as a Priest and Advocate he might be ever ready in that Court of Heaven to plead our Cause His presence and his perpetual Intercession there is far more beneficial to us then his bodily presence here on Earth it 's not only beneficial but necessary For when we have sinned what should we do if we had not him our righteous Advocate and Propitiatour with his Father we were redeemed indeed by his Death but we are saved and justified by his Life because he ever liveth to make Intercession for us and will fully and for ever save us For because he is a perpetual and effectual Intercessour therefore he is so able fully and for ever to save even all that come to God by him and this is a clear proof of his excellency above the Levitical Priest § 27. Now the Apostle seems to have finished his Discourse upon that excellent Text I have sworn and will not repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedec Psal. 110. 4. and to conclude in these words following Ver. 26 27. For such an High-Priest became us who is holy harmless undefiled seperate from Sinners and made higher then the Heavens Who needeth not c. VVHich words may be handled 1. Absolutely in themselves 2. Considered in their connexion and reference to the former But I will begin with the coherence and connexion which is difficult to be known as appeareth by the different â—pinion of Expositors upon the place For some think it 's a Conclusion and as it is the last part and close of the Chapter it may be so called for in this sense the word is sometimes taken yet this is no proposition inferred from former premises Others conceive that the Apostle proceeds by other Arguments to prove the superexcellency of Christ and this is true for so he doth Others imagine that these words give a reason why there must be such a Priest as lives for ever to make Intercession for us for such a Priest became us and none other would serve our turn Others judge a reason to be given here why the Intercession of Christ was so powerful and that is from his excellent qualification and his pure unspotted Sacrifice And it 's very certain that his Intercession had not been so effectual without this qualification of the person and the excellency of his Sacrifice Though all these things may be true yet something is to be observed and upon serious condesiration we shall find that the Apostle hath not done with his Text in the Psalmist but hath something more to say upon it and that he doth in these words It was well observed by the Rhemists that the Apostle scanneth every word of Psalm 110. 4. And there was one word more to be further examined For we have heard 1. Of Melchizedec 2. Of another Priest after his Order to arise after the Levitical Priest 3. That he is a Priest for ever 4. That he is made by Oath a Priest immortal and living for ever Yet in all this here is no mention of the person who he is that is thus made not what his qualification was nor of the time when he was thus made and why he was so confirmed But in these words he satisfices us in all these particulars as is implyed and presupposed in that very Psalm 1. The party was David's Lord For the Lord said unto my Lord ver 1. Who was above David not only because of his union with the Word but because he was advanced to far higher dignity and invested with far greater power and was the Son of God who lives for ever 2. His qualification was excellent For he was holy harmless undesiled and separate from Sinners 3. The time when he was thus made High-Priest for ever and that by Oath was after that he had offered one Sacrifice not many for the People not for himself once not often of everlasting virtue not effectual for some petty expiation for a time and after he was risen ascended and set at the right hand of God 4. The reason why he was thus made such a Priest was not only his excellent qualification and his immortality upon his Resurrection but because he had offered up himself without spot unto God That this is the intention of the Apostle will appear by the last words of the Chapter But to enter upon the words Ver. 26. For such an High-Priest became us who is holy harmless undesiled separate from Sinners and made higher then the Heavens IT may be truly said with Junius That in these words with those in the verse following Christ is circumscribed or described 1. From his Person 2. From his Ministry For his Person he had all the perfections of a Priest for his Service he was entred the holy place of Heaven to plead his excellent Sacrifice for all his Saints For his Perfections He was holy harmless undefiled separate from Sinners These are perfections which were required in the Levitical High-Priest so far as humane frailty was capable But they agreed to Christ exactly and in a far higher degree then they did agree unto any even the best of them And though the words may signify several qualities different at lest in respect yet they make but one perfect qualification of this Priest who was holy as Man
respect of the prohibition and commination of the Law is guilt and rendring of the Sinner obnoxiâ—us unto vindicative Justice of the Law-giver and Judge This guilt can no waye he taken away but either by suffering or pardon or both as here it 's put away by Christ's suffering and God's pardon for Christ suffers for Sin God pardons it so Christ's sake and in consideration of his suffering and offering The effect of Sin is to render the party sinning obnoxious and liable to punishment and God's vindicative Justice and by this virtue of the commination of the Law God to make way for pardon by a transâ—endent extraordinary power makes Christ man's Surety and Christ voluntarily submits himself out of love to his Brethren to God's will so far as to suffer Death for man's Sin and offers himself as being â—lain to the Supream Judge Upon his submission he becomes one person with sinful man as a Surety with the principal and so is liable to that punishment which sinful man should have suffered as a Surety becomes liable to pay the debt of the principal From all this it 's evident that Sin is an efficient moral cause of Christ's suffering and Christ's suffering is a punishment in proper sense though both these be denied without any reason by the Socinian By this Legal substitution of Christ and the offering of himself Sin is made remissible and the way is made open to pardon and upon the penitency and faith of the Sinner actual pardon follows That Sin is pardonable and pardoned is the end and effect of Christ's Suffering To put away Sin is first to make Sin pardonable and the consequents of Sin removable For this is the work and immediate effect of Christ's Sacrifice of himself and the same not often but once offered in the end of the World In all this we may observe the difference between Christ and the Levitical High-Priest Christ suffers and offers himself and enters Heaven with his own Blood but the Levitical High-Priest offers often and enters with the blood of Bulls and Goats The virtue of the High-Priest's offering was but for a little time but the virtue of Christ's extends to all time In these respects Christ's Sacrifice is far more excellent and more purifying § 25. This discourse of Christ's once offering and once suffering is continued and enlarged for the Apostle informs us that the reason why Christ suffered but once in the end of the World was the Decree of God which had determined of Christ as he had done of other men and this decree was regulated by Divine Wisdom which alwayes dictates that which shall be best and fittest This Decree is two-fold 1. Concerning other men 2. Concerning Christ. And because there is some agreement between the lot of Christ and other Men in respect of Death and that which followeth Death therefore the singularity of Christ's Death is set forth comparatively And of the comparison we have 1. The Proposition Verse 27. And as it was appointed unto Men once to dye but after that the Judgment IN which words we have 1. Something 's ordained 2. The ordination The things ordained are two 1. That men once dy 2. Come to Judgment The words absolutely considered may be reduced to two Propositions 1. That it 's appointed unto men once to dye 2. But after Death follows Judgment The first tells us 1. That men dye and this we certainly know 2. That they dye but once 3. That this is appointed yet though men must dye and it 's so certain and so evident and easily known yet men little consider it but their hearts are strangely taken up with the things of this life and they admire the vanities of this World and promise unto themselves long life and certain enjoyment of these earthly things They do not remember that they are mortal and that there is no assurance that they shall live one hour before Death arrest them and seise upon their estates and all earthly comforts in that day their thoughts perish and their pride and glory are laid in the dust Oh inconsiderate Wretches are ye able to conquer Death turn Mortality into Eternity and Earth into Heaven Be wise and never forget that you must dye 2. Men dye but once there is no return into this World again neither any recovery of what man once dead hath lost As no man can keep alive his Soul so no man can raise his Body and re-unite the Soul unto it This is a work proper to God who made us and far above the power of any Creature When it 's said That men must dye it 's to be understood of the generality of mankind that all must dye because all are obnoxious to Death and Mortal even Enoch and Elias and all those who shall be found alive when Christ shall come to Judge the World And though the two Prophets did not and they who remain till Christ's coming shall not dye as others do yet the former suffered and the latter shall suffer a change equivalent to Death though in both there seems to be some exception from the general rule So to dye but once is the general rule and the ordinary fate yet Lazarus and others may dye twice because God reserved an arbitrary power to himself to raise some unto a mortal life so that they became obnoxious to a double Death and he did exercise this power to manifest his Glory in some particular persons Yet this was an extraordinary case and this reservation did not take away the general and ordinary rule according to which the Apostle is to be understood 3. This is appointed for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is understood and translated and it 's capable of that signification by a Trope The party who appointed decreed and ordained both that all men shall dye and dye once and but once is not expressed but it 's easily understood For the Supream Lord of Life and Death who hath an Universal Power over all Men is God and none else and therefore this must be a Decree of God as Supream Lord and a Sentence of him as Judge and the same irrevocable yet dispensable in some particular and extraordinary Cases as should seem good unto him Death is a punishment and therefore men being obnoxious unto it must be guilty of some Crime and condemned thereunto for some Offence against some Law threatening Death And that was the positive Law which God gave to Adam saying But of the Tree of Knowledg of Good and Evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye Gen. 2. 17. This Law was transgressed and the Sentence followed in these words Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Gen. 3. 19. Whereas the Socinian saith That Death is natural and not from any Decree of God his Opinion is not reconcileable with that of the Apostle As by one man Sin entred into the World and by Sin Death
and Sin reigned from Adam to Moses Rom. 5. 12 14. And the wages of Sin is Death Rom. 6. 23. Besides it 's said That in Adam all dye that is in Adam sinning for he was that one man by whom Sin entred into the World 1 Cor. 15. 22. So that God appointed Man to dye and to dye but once The second Proposition is That after Death followeth Judgment This is the second thing For Death is first Judgment the second and the word after signifies the order of time For Death goes before and Judgment follows after The party Judged is Man the Judge is God whose Judgment is particular or general particular of every particular individual person general or universal of all For there is the Judgment of the great Day when all shall appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ and this Judgment is appointed of God and appointed to follow after Death after which follows the final and eternal estate of man which shall be unalterable and by Judgment may be meant not only the Sentence of the Judge but the estate of the parties judged which followeth thereupon whether it be an estate of misery or of felicity We live here that we may prepare for this Judgment and we ought so to live as that we may be happy for ever hereafter and prevent the suffering of eternal punishments Yet men do not believe that God will Judge us and that Judgment will follow and that unavoidably after Death or if they do not believe this yet they do not seriously consider it This is the reason why they live secure in their Sins and extream danger and this is the cause of their eternal ruine It 's not material to enquire whether the act of the Judge or the estate of the parties judged or whether particular or universal Judgment be here meant or no. It 's certain that this is a Judgment which followeth after Death and the final and universal Doom seems to be here intended when both Soul and Body the whole man and all men that dye shall be judged This is the proposition § 26. The Reddition followeth in these words Ver. 28. So Christ was once offered to bear the Sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto Salvation THis Text informs us of the appearance of Christ for that 's the subject of it This appearance is two-fold the first and the second and both these differ much not only for the manner but the end The first was in Humility and the end was to suffer and by suffering to expiate Sin The second shall be in Glory and the end of it to give eternal Salvation to such as look for him The first was to suffer and save the second to judge and reward his faithful and obedient Servants The propositions therefore are two 1. Christ was once offered to bear the Sins of many 2. Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without Sin unto Salvation The first is the same with that in ver 26. But now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself The words differ the matter is the same For as there so here two things are observable 1. The Sacrifice the single Sacrifice of Christ. 2. The end of it The single Sacrifice for Christ was once offered the end for he was once offered to bear the Sins of many First he offered himself this was an act of him as a Priest and as he was the best Priest that ever lived so he himself was the best Sacrifice that ever was offered The end was also excellent for he bare the sins of many that is the punishment due for the sins of many and he bare this punishment to satisfy divine Justice and procure God's favour to sinful man We deserved the punishment and he suffers it he is punished that we may be spared It was tender compassion in him to offer himself for us and it was exceeding love in God to send and give him for to suffer and so be the propitiation for our Sins He bare the sins of all to make them pardonable and the sins of many even of all sincere Believers that they may be actually pardoned for ever possibility of pardon is the benefit of all actual pardon of many yet not of all For Christ had no absolute intention to procure the Salvation of all but of such as believe in him yet the reason why all are not pardoned is not from Christ's Death which made the Sins of all pardonable but from some other cause And this is the condemnation of all those to whom the Gospel is preached That Light comes unto them and they love Darkness rather then Light God hath given his only begotten Son and his Son hath offered himself and made the way to Heaven passible and remission of Sins and eternal Life are offered unto u upon fair and reasonable terms and conditions and though to corrupt Flesh and Blood they be difficult yet they are made easy by the power of the Spirit yet we love our Sins more then our Saviour and continue in them to our eternal condemnation § 27. The second Proposition is concerning his second appearance For he shall appear the second time where as before we have the manner and the end The manner is Glorious for he shall appear without Sin yet he never had any Sin and in his first appearance he was without Sin For Sin of his own he had not yet he bare Sins the Sins of others the Sins of many Yet these Sins were not his by Commission but by Imputation so far as to be liable to Death For God laid on him the Iniquities of us all So that without Sin is without suffering for the Sins of others He shall not come the second time to dye for our Sins as he did the first this is the genuine sense When he came to Sacrifice for Sin he came in great Humility and took upon him the form of a Servant and was obedient unto Death the Death of the Cross this low condition was suitable to the work he then undertook But now he comes as King and Lord to judge the World and therefore he comes in Glory The end of his coming is to reward and the reward is Salvation and the parties to be rewarded are such as look for him By Salvation is meant eternal Life and full Happiness which he purchased by his precious Blood and it 's so called because man in danger of eternal Death shall then be fully saved and delivered from all Sin and all the sad and woful Consequents of Sin and that for ever for then Death man's last Enemy shall be destroyed Yet this immunity from all evil cannot consist without the enjoyment of those glorious and eternal Blessings which God hath promised this is the great reward which Believers do expect and because they know they shall not
fully enjoy it till his second appearance therefore they look and wait for his coming from Heaven that then their joy may be full Some think the Apostle doth here allude to the manner and order of the Levitical Service which was this The High-Priest enters the Sanctuary to pray and expiate Sin and the People stay without and wait for his coming out to bless them So Christ enters Heaven that glorious and eternal Sanctuary there appears before God and stayes a while and all his Saints do wait and look for his return and coming out from thence that they may by him be eternally Blessed These Lookers for him are they who shall be rewarded For though Christ came the first time to dye for all so far as to make their Sins remissible yet he comes the second time to conferr the ultimate benefit of his Redemption only upon them that look for him To look for Christ from Heaven doth presuppose the parties regenerate and renewed from Heaven justified and in the estate of justification and as having a title unto eternal Glory with a certain belief that Christ will come from Heaven and appear in Glory and that then they shall be glorified with him And this looking for Christ is their hope with a longing desire expressed sometimes by groans and yet a patient waiting God's leisure out of an assurance that he that shall come will come and will not tarry All this is signified by that of the Apostle And not only they but our selves also who have the first Fruits of the Spirit even we our selves groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption to wit the Redemption of our Bodie Rom. 8. 13. Where we have 1. The persons waiting or the expectants 2. The thing waited for 3. The act and manner of waiting 1. The persons waiting are such as have the first Fruits of the Spirit which is a certain measure of Sanctification and consolation for these are the beginnings of Heaven where our holiness and comfort shall be perfect and full and these being but a little which bear the like proportion with eternal Glory as the first Fruits do with the Harvest do assure us as an Earnest of the full possession 2. Adoption is said to be the Redemption of our Bodies that is the Resurrection when our Adoption shall be compleat for then our minority being past and the time appointed by our heavenly Father come we shall be put into full possession of the Inheritance and glorious eternal estate which God hath prepared for those that love him and this is that which is called Salvation in this place 3. The act of waiting is an act of hope which resting upon the promise is assured and fully perswaded of the fruition of Glory in God's time and looks often towards it as our own The manner of this waiting is with vehement desires and longings and gâ—oans and yet with patience For because this blessed estate is so full of happiness and yet to come and only present in the first Fruits therefore we earnestly desire and long for Christ's comming saying Come Lord Jesu come quickly And because for the present we are pressed with the remainders of sin and corruption within us and with temptations and persecutions without and the distance between Heaven and Us is great therefore we groan and sigh and say Oh when will that time come when I shall be rid and fully freed from Sin and sorrow for ever I see the place of mine eternal Rest afar off when shall I come near and enter and enjoy my God for ever Yet because we have God's Word to assure us of possession we therefore are patient and content our selves in God's Will For if it be his will and pleasure that we must stay a while longer and suffer more we desire his will may be done and we submit unto it and there is great reason we should so do For we are unworthy of the least mercy and he might require a thousand years tryal and suffering and to give us so great and glorious reward and that within so short a time after our first regeneration is an act of greatest love and bounty § 28. Thus far the words have been absolutely handled now it 's time to consider them comparatively The notes of Similitude for it 's a comparison in quality are As and So For as man dies so Christ dies As man dies once So Christ dies once and no more And as man is appointed by God to dye but once so Christ was appointed by God to dye but once And as man after Death comes to Judgment so Christ after he died once will not dye again but come to Judgment Yet as in all things that are like there is some dissimilitude and difference so there is in Man and Christ. Man dies for his own Sin Christ for the Sins of others Man's Death doth not satisfy for Sin Christ's Death satisfies divine Justicé and his Sacrifice doth expiate the Sins of many for ever Upon man's Death follows Judgment and he himself is judged but after once suffering and offering Christ appears and comes to Judge and not to be judged to reward such as believe in him but not to be rewarded And here it 's to be noted 1. That as Christ died to make man savable so he appears before God actually to save and comes to Judgment to make man fully happy As by his Death he merited Remission and Glorification inestimable Benefits so he appears before God for us now and in the end will come to Judgment that he may communicate these Benefits and make men actually partakers of them 2. That remission of Sins and the enjoyment of Salvation and full happiness do depend upon Christ's Sacrifice once offered as the effect depends upon the cause To sum up the Chapter we must observe 1. That the Subject of it is the Sacrifice of Christ. 2. That in it the scope of the Authour is to prove the excellency of the same above all Levitical Services 3. That his method is this 1. He describes the Tabernacle and the parts thereof and the Services performed therein and singles out the greatest Service performed by the greatest Priest in the most holy place which was the yearly Sacrifice of Expiation 2. He proves the Sacrifice of Christ to be far more excellent then this in many respects but chiefly in respect of the effects thereof The first effect is eternal Expiation ver 12. The second purification of the Conscience from dead Works to serve the living God in which respect it did excell all Legal purifications ver 14. The third is the confirmation of the New Covenant by virtue of this Expiation and Purification ver 15. The fourth lest they should think it strange that the Death and Blood-shed of their Messias should be any wayes conducing or necessary to these effects of Confirmation Expiation and Purification he lets them know First That for confirmation of the New Covenant it was very
For unnecessary private Conventicles with the neglect of the publick Assemblies are usually the Seminaries of Errours and Schisms and very prejudicial to the publick good of the Church So that the Duty exhorted unto is to frequent constantly these Assemblies and make right use of them to edify confirm and encourage one another to perseverance in the Christian Faith and to Love and good Works I might here take occasion to enlarge and reckon up all the particular Duties to be performed in these religious Meetings and shew how subservient they are every one severally and all joyntly to that end whereat the Apostle chiefly aims but I proceed to the Reason § 24. For it might be said What Reason Suasive Motive may be given why we should be so careful to perform this Duty Yes there is a great and powerful Reason and that is Because the day approacheth Where 1. We must understand the words of the Reason considered in it self 2. The force of the Reason in respect of the performance of the Duty In the words of the Reason we have 1. A Day 2. The Approach of that Day 3. The nearer Approach 1. A Day is a part and the principal part of time as opposed to the Night and in this place it signifies some special and more than ordinary time as the day of death of the destruction of Jerusalem of the End of the World The day of death every Man must look for Nothing more certain than death though nothing more uncertain than the Hour of death Every man must dy and then be brought unto his last Account and as that shall be made so shall be the condition of every Man for ever for where the Tree falleth there it lyeth and as Death leavs us Judgment finds us There was a day of Jerusalem's destruction and of the ruine of that Nation appointed and made known by Christ and his Apostles and these Hebrews could not be altogether ignorant of it There is another greater day of the final and universal Judgment and this was part of their Creed All these and every one of these are special and great dayes And one or two or all these three may here be meant Some think the day of Jerusalem's râ—ine was most of all intended by the Apostle though that cannot be evidently evinced to be pointed at so as to exclude the other two 2. This day did approach and was near for first the day of every Man's death could not be far off the day of Jerusalem's destruction was near and so near as many then living might survive not only the Peace and Happiness of that Nation but the very Being and Existence of that City and of the Temple they might see the ruine and destruction of both and for ought they knew the end of the World 3. This day drew nearer and nearer For 1. We no sooner begin to live but we begin to dy for we are born mortal and ready we are to return to that dust from whence we were taken and raised at the first and the more of our Life is past the less is yet to come and every Day Hour Minute of our Life we approach nearer unto death and death unto us 2. As for Jerusalem's destruction there were many Signs of that approaching fore-told and then known to be past It was fatal and unavoidable even then when Christ wept over it lamenting her Sin and Punishment which he certainly did fore-know and when this Letter was written to these Hebrews that day of her Calamity was far nearer 3. For the day of Judgment the particular Year Month Day was hid yet the times of the Gospel were the last times and upon us the ends of the World are come And that which is alwayes unknown may alwayes be looked for seeing it will certainly come and that suddenly And though that day in those times was far off yet it 's nearer now and though now it may be many years before the Son of God shall come from Heaven and the time to Man may seem long yet a thousand years with God is but as one day Besides that day of final Judgment if we consider that the unchangeable condition of every Man begins immediately upon his death then the great day of Judgment may in some sense be said to be as near as death to every particular Person This is the meaning of the words considered in themselvs and now the force of them as containing a Reason remains to be considered For this end we must take notice of the thing here urged and it 's 1. The performance of a Duty 2. The performance of it the rather and the more for the more the day approacheth the more we should prepare for it Not to forsake the assembling of our selvs together and to exhort one another and to be careful very careful diligent and frequent in this Work of Association and Exhortation is a Duty commanded by God and pressed upon us by the Apostle to neglect this Duty is our Sin and Disobedience to do it constantly is our performance And this is that which is intended by this Reason The force thereof is great For seeing 1. The day of our great Account God's final Sentence to be passed upon us and the Execution thereof is so near it concerns us much not only to know our Duty but to bestir our selves and to perform it constantly with all our Power Our progress towards Heaven should be like a natural Motion which is slow or not so swift at the beginning and is swifter and swifter towards the end Upon this performance depends our final and eternal estate For if we neglect fail and fall away then we are undone for ever if we perform and be prepared we are eternally happy Seeing therefore that day is a day of eternal Rewards or Punishments and approacheth so near What should not we do to provide for our everlasting safety Yet men think little of these things If we under stand the Text of the day of Jerusalem's Calamities and desolation which was near at hand and was a day of death to many thousands yea to hundreds of thousands and a lively resemblance of the final Judgment this also might effectually work upon them and move them to performance and perseverance For then they should see and clearly behold the woful End of that unbelieving Nation and most of all of all Apostates from Christianity Then their seducing Brethren and their persecuting Enemies should be destroyed the Temple burnt and demolished all their Judaism and Legal Service wherein they trusted for ever abolished and those which out of fear complyed with them or of Christians turned Jews should suffer in the highest degree Therefore there was no Reason in the World they should forsake or deny Christ and turn from him to Moses from the Gospel to the Law for the day was approaching when they should see God's Judgment executed upon the unbelieving seducing persecuting Jew and the eternal Confusion of
Scripture The major That he that pleaseth God must have Faith is thus made clear and confirmed If it be impossible for any to please God who doth not believe that God is and a Rewarder of them who diligently seek him then he that pleaseth God must believe But without believing thus no man can please God Therefore he that pleaseth God must thus believe Where it 's to be noted That he infers Enoch's Faith from his pleasing God and the inseparable and necessary connexion of Faith and pleasing God For where there is an Effect there must necessarily be a Cause and no Effect can be without its proper Cause For Method's sake I will begin 1. With his Translation 2. Proceed to the demonstration of his Faith 1. This Translation was a Reward and therefore signifies the change was to the better 1. He was translated not to see Death so the Apostle understood the Text of Moses not to see Death is not to dye or suffer Death There was no separation of Soul and Body they remained united the Soul was not unclothed or divested of the Body yet it was changed and made immortal Of all the other Patriarchs before the Flood it 's said They even Methuselah dyed To this their Death this Translation is opposed for it 's not said that Enoch the great and most eminently pious Prophet dyed This was a dispensation with that general Law and Judgment past in Adam upon all mankind Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return and it was an act of that power which God reserved to himself as above his Law In the Chaldee it 's said That God did not slay him that is he did not take away his Life this was a singular exception from the general rule of his Judgments 2. In the Hebrew it 's said He was not In the Chaldee He appeared not In the Greek He was not found These two latter expresse the meaning of the Hebrew Phrase For this followed upon his Translation that he did not appear nor was found upon Earth amongst mortal men for he ceased to be in that place with living mortal men he changed the place and company 3. Lest we should be ignorant either of the Place to which he removed or of the Person who removed him it 's said God took him so the Hebrew God took him to himself so the Arabick Because God had translated him so the Text. The place to which he was removed Physically considered is not expressed yet he after his Translation must be in some place this place was not this Earth for there he was not found It was some better place and seeing there is no place fit for man's Habitation better then the Earth but only Heaven the Habitation of Angels a glorious place of eternal peace holiness and security therefore most do positively affirm that as Elijah so he was taken into Heaven The Person translating him was God for none but he could make him immortal and invest him with Glory This signifies that he was brought nearer unto God and had more full and perfect Communion with him then he enjoyed on Earth So that this Translation was a change of place of company of condition for he was removed from Earth to Heaven from Men to God from the estate of Mortality and Misery to an estate of Immortality and Bliss This was an anticipation of the great Reward and it was like the change of all God's Saints who shall be found living when Christ shall come to Judge the World This God did to signify his great respect unto eminent Piety and to let men know his high and special reserved Power and that there is a Reward of Glory after this Life and such a Reward as shall make men fully happy in Soul and Body too and that for ever This doth further inform us that God can make the Body Immortal without any separation of it from the Soul and also that he can raise and re-unite the Body turned unto Dust and make it Immortal and eternally inseparable The second Proposition was that he obtained this Translation and glorious Reward by Faith For by Faith Enoch was translated But because it was not expressed in the Text of Moses that he was translated by Faith for there is no mention of his Faith he proves his Faith the Cause from the Effect He pleased God and his pleasing of God from the testimony of God For before he was translated he had this testimony that he pleased God And here we may observe 3. Propositions 1. That he pleased God 2. That he had this testimony 3. He had this testimony before he was translated 1. He pleased God He walked with God so the Hebrew He walked in the fear of God so the Chaldee He walked in the Obedience of God so the Arabick He pleased God so the Septuagint whom the Apostle followeth The meaning therefore is that he served God observed his Commands and was obedient unto them The word walked used by the Hebrew Chaldee Arabick Translatours signifies that this was the constant tenour of life it was a life of Righteousness and Holiness and the repetition of this walking in the Text of Moses may imply an eminent degree of Holiness in him more then in other men for his Conversation was so ordered that it was very pleasing and acceptable to God who delights in sincere and constant Obedience whereby men do resemble him as holy and righteous We must not think that he could have walked thus with God by the power of Nature the sanctifying Spirit of Grace was the principle of this Obedience 2. It was testified of him or he had this testimony That he pleased God This was a good Report and so much the more certain because God gave it by his Spirit in the Prophet Moses who hath recorded it to all Generations And this is reported of him not only once but twice Therefore there can be no doubt of it 3. This was testified of him before he was translated the sense is not that Moses testified this of him before he was translated but the thing testified was this that he had pleased God before he was translated For the Text doth testify that he was translated yet it testifies that he pleased God before this Translation This is brought to prove that by Faith he was translated § 9. It might be said that though Enoch pleased God yet it doth not appear how this pleasing of God will prove and infer his Faith neither is the Connexion of Faith and walking with God so evident Therefore to prevent all doubts in this Point he adds Ver. 6. But without Faith it is impossible to be please God for he that cometh unto God must believe that God is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him IN these words he proves the impossibility of separation and the absolute necessity of the Connexion of Faith and pleasing God and they must be considered 1. In themselvs 2. As
enlarge but also polish his Discourse and excellently set forth their Faith and the forenamed Effects thereof The whole is an excellent Testimony of the three eminent Patriarchs and therein we have 1. The Duty they performed 2. God's owning them and expressing his dear Affection towards them The first of these is continued from the beginning of Ver. 13. to the latter end of the 16th in the last words whereof we have the second thing here observed Their Duty and the Performance thereof may be reduced to certain Propositions 1. These all not receiving the Promises dyed in the Faith Of which two parts 1. Their not receiving the Promises 2. Their dying in the Faith though they received them not 1. They received not the Promises Where by Promises understand the things promised For otherwise it cannot be true because it 's certain that Promises were made unto them they knew them and received them by Faith But the things promised were neither given nor received till long after and these are reduced to four heads which be these 1. A numerous Posterity 2. The Land of Canaan 3. The Incarnation and Exhibition of Christ. 4. The Resurrection to eternal Glory The parties here meant are Abraham Isaac and Jacob not any named before nor any mentioned after these Three for they were the Persons who came from beyond the River Euphrates who sojourned in the Land of Canaan who dwelt in Tabernacles Of these it 's said that they received not the things promised For neither was their Posterity made as yet so numerous nor had they any hereditary Possession of the Land of Canaan nor did they see Christ in the Flesh or hear the Gospel for that followed about 2000 years after the Promises were first made nor did they attain the Resurrection and Immortality 2. Yet they dyed even all of them in the Faith Which words signify 1. They did believe 2. Continued firm in the Faith unto the end though they received not the Promises The meaning is they not only lived but dyed Believers delay and non-enjoyment did not break their hearts neither could Death it self when they might perhaps be put to the greatest Conflict separate their Souls and their Faith though it separated their Souls and their Bodies For this divine vertue was deeply rooted and fastned in them and was immortal as their better part was and followed the Soul into another World Death might bereave them of their Friends and their temporal Estates and all their earthly Comforts but of Faith it could not And it 's to be noted that not only one but all of them dyed in the Faith These were rare Patterns of Perseverance in this rare and incomparable vertue of Faith The second Proposition is That seeing them afar off they were perswaded of them and embraced them This should not have been a distinct Proposition for it's part of the former and added to those words not receiving the Promises And it 's somewhat observable that the word perswaded is wanting in several Manuscripts They received them not but 1. Saw them afar off For they were distant and to come and not to be accomplished or enjoyed in their dayes and some of them were more distant from their times than others some were nearer The principal which were the Exhibition of Christ and the universal Resurrection stood at the most remote distance of time from them Yet these they saw for divine Revelation as a celestial Light did represent them unto them the Promise did signify they had a Right unto them and part in them And as by this divine Light they were manifested unto them so by the Eye of Faith which is the spiritual visive Faculty of the Soul they saw them as they were represented that is at a distance For Faith can see beyond and above the World and hath some glimmering or imperfect sight of Eternity 2. They were perswaded of them and assured that in God's good time which was the sittest they should be fulfilled The Revelation and Promise was a sure Ground of this Perswasion and the Substance of things hoped for and the Evidence of things not seen 3. They embraced them the word signifies to salute to draw near to rejoyce to embrace for in saluting dearest friends we draw near unto them embrace them rejoyce to seethem Some think the word here is Metaphorical and the Expression taken from such as after a long and tedious Voyage at Sea come within ken of Land and discover their own dearest Country where they expect to abide and rest For so soon as they discover and have sight of their own dear native Soil they wonderfully rejoice and begin with joyful Acclamations to say Land Land Land Haven Haven Haven now Rest and Safety are near So it 's certain that these Saints and heavenly Worthies drawing near their end beheld these excellent Blessings and especially their Saviour and their heavenly Country and being sure of the futurition and enjoyment of them rejoyced with exceeding great Joy Our Saviour saith thus Abraham rejoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad Joh. 8. 56. When Abraham lived the day of Christ's Incarnation and the blessed Redemption of sinful Man was to come and afar off Yet Abraham by Faith saw that day and seeing it though not near or so clearly he was glad and rejoyced wonderfully And now our Faith and Hope of eternal Glory though afar off is a Cause of unspeakable Joy The third Proposition They confessing themselvs Strangers and Pilgrims on Earth declared plainly that they sought a Country Here we may consider 1. What they did express 2. What they did imply 1. The thing expressed is That they were Pilgrims and Strangers on Earth For 1. They were Pilgrims and Strangers on Earth 2. They did openly confess this 1. They were Pilgrims and Strangers on Earth That they did so journ in the Land of promise as in a strange Country you heard before yet they sojourned not only there but in other places as in Gerar and Aegypt and for the whole time of their mortal Life they were Pilgrims and Strangers on Earth and could not be said to be Free-men Denizons or Members of any Community or Commonwealth in the World But they might be such either Politically or Spiritually and they were in both respects such for Man being immortal should provide for some place of perpetual Abode and many thinking only of their Settlement on Earth and of perpetuating themselves and their Names in their Posterity by successive Generations look no higher than this World If these travel out of their native Country they must needs be Strangers in all Forreign States if not naturalized in some of them As for these Patriarchs they had forsaken their own Country out of which God had called them and lost all their native and birth-right Priviledges yet they did not seek to settle themselvs in any other part of the Earth neither did they incorporate with any other People in the
the mercies obtained by Faith the second to the sufferings which are to be reduced to the Catalogue of Sufferings which follow In the first we may observe 1. What the mercy received was 2. Who received it 3. By what they received it 1. The mercy received was great and such as could not have been given but by God and also by his extraordinary power For it presupposeth the parties raised to be dead which is the last and greatest of all evils in this Life and puts an end to all our earthly Hopes and Comforts which it wholly taketh away And though men may strengthen the Weak heal the Sick relieve the oppressed and deliver out of many Troubles and Dangers yet Death they cannot prevent when the fatal hour approacheth nor restore life after it 's once lost Death is an invincible Enemy and neither can Man or Angel rescue any out of Death's power yet the parties dead which were Children were raised life restored to them and Soul and Body separated were re-united yet to be separated again for the life restored was not immortal 2. The parties who received this extraordinary Mercy were both Women and Mothers as the parties dead were their Children The one was the Widow of Zarepta 1 King 17. 19. and he that raised her son was Elijah The other was the Shunamite whose son being dead was restored to life by Elisha 2 King 4. 21. There was a third person raised from the dead when he was cast into the Grave of the Prophet We do not read of any other dead persons restored to life in the Old Testament by these or any other Prophets 3. By Faith they are said to have received their dead It 's not written that they raised them but that they received them being raised The Prophets did raise them restore them and deliver them to their Mothers Yet neither could these Prophets by their own power do any such thing for it was an effect of the almighty power of God who made them his Instruments and by them upon their instant prayers did this great Work yet their prayers without Faith could not have been so effectual The Women also did much desire this mercy and did believe that God by the Prophets could restore their Children which were raised by the Faith of Prophets and received alive by the Faith of the Mothers The second Effect here mentioned is Patience in such as suffered cruel Torments in their Bodies Here begins the Catalogue of the suffering of the Saints which did evidence their Faith without which we can neither do good nor suffer evil so as God requireth This example is not found in Canonical Scripture therefore the Apostle knew it either by Tradition or some historical Writing yet so that he some wayes knew infallibly the truth of the matter Some think the Apostle understood Eliazar mentioned 2 Mach. 6. 18 19 20 c. and the Woman and her seven Sons so cruelly tortured as we read in 2 Maccab. 7. Chapter following who are related to have suffered constantly in hope of the Resurrection In the words we may observe 1. Their Suffering 2. Their non-Acceptance of Deliverance 3. Their Faith 1. Their Suffering they were Tortured The Sufferings of God's People may be truly said to be either Trials or Chastifements or Punishments or some or all of these and if we consider the Evils which both good and bad are subject unto in this Life we must distinguish between the matter and the manner For the matter of Sufferings passively considered may be the same in all but the manner as also the Causes are very different For the Sufferings of God's Saints are so qualified by Faith that in them many divine vertues are manifested and they tend though not to the meriting yet to the attaining of eternal Glory For if we suffer with Christ we shall be glorified with him Rom. 8. 17. And our leight Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. These Persons here intended are said to be Tympanized which is to be tormented several wayes as by beating and fustigation by racking and extension by tearing and excoriation for the word it self doth not determine the manner of Torment Therefore it 's well turned by this general word Tortured that is they were put to bodily pain The Torturers were Anâ—â—ochus and his cursed Agents the Sufferers and Subjects of these Tortures were the Jews which refused to obey the Commands of that cruel Tyrant contrary to the Laws of God 2. The Non-Acceptance of Deliverance doth imply that they might upon certain Conditions have been freed from these cruel Pains and so have prevented Death and that they rather chose to suffer more and dy than accept of the Conditions If we consult the History we shall understand 1. That they were commanded to do some things contrary to the Laws of God 2. That though they were in the Power of a cursed cruel Prince and perswaded both by Promise and threatning to obey yet they refused 3. That upon the Refusal they were tortured 4. In some Intermission of the torture they were advised again to yield for their Persecutors thought the bitterness of the pain might prevail much with them 5. Yet it did not for they remained constant and were ready to suffer the worst and to dy rather than disobey their God This was the Cause of their Suffering and made it glorious For they suffered not as Malefactors for their Crimes but for Righteousness sake and did manifest that they loved God and Righteousness more than their lives 3. They did thus suffer thus refuse Deliverance to obtain a better Resurrection this was the End of both and did manifest both their Faith and Hope 1. Their Faith in that they did believe there was a Resurrection unto eternal Life and that God not only could but also would raise them up again restore an immortal glorious blessed Life for a miserable short and mortal Breath and abundantly recompence their cruel Pains suffered in Obedience to him with eternal Pleasures They were assured that God was a Rewarder of those who diligently seek him by doing Good and suffering Evil for his sake 2. Their Hope grounded upon this Faith was their constant expectation of this Resurrection according to God's Promise For he had promised it to all such as really love him and their Suffering was a great Evidence of their Title and did assure them of Possession in due time Here two things are to be noted 1. That Resurrection to Immortality is general and common to all both good and bad for all must rise again to Judgment Yet some shall rise to Condemnation and the Suffering of eternal Shame and Punishment and others unto everlasting Life and Glory This latter Resurrection is here meant which is said to be better because by it they should receive a better Life than could be enjoyed on Earth 2. That it 's better for
any Man to suffer the most cruel Punishments and the worst of Tortures Man can inflict than lye under extream and everlasting Pains and the loss of Heaven in the Life to come and this was a Principle and Ground of their Patience Constancy and Fidelity to their God Thus they became true Martyrs proved Victorious and were crowned in Heaven § 35. Besides the former there were others who suffered other kinds of Evils for it follows Ver. 36. And others had Trial of cruel Mockings and Scourgings yea moreover of Bonds and Imprisonment HEre are three different Evils suffered by the Saints 1. Mockings 2. Scourgings 3. Bonds and Imprisonments So that the parts of the Text are three 1. The Enumeration of these Evils 2. Their Suffering of them 3. Their Faith 1. The Evils were 1. Mockings The Parties mocked were God's Saints and Prophets the Parties mocking were their Enemies and Persecutors which proved to be sometimes their own Brethren of the same Nation Language Kindred Religion and amongst these sometimes the basest of the People sometimes the Priests Princes and Rulers who should have honoured and protected them These Mockings issue out of Contempt and tend unto the Disgrace and Dishonour of the Party mocked and makes it a Sport to abuse them so as to rejoyce in their misery These Mockings are sometimes in words sometimes in signs sometimes in both And because to a grave serious Person of eminent Worth some of these Mockings are very bitter cutting cruel not only in respect of the matter but also of the Circumstances this made the Sufferings more glorious But why our Translators should add the word Cruel I know not the Septuagint and other Authors do not use either the Verb or Noun in that sense Yet to proud men that stand upon their Honour Mocking is far more grievous than to the lowly humble 2. Scourgings This is a Punishment also of great disgrace somtimes of cruel pain when by Whips either of Cords or Wires not only the Skin is broken but the very Flesh torn And this was the more grievous because it was an usual Punishment of Slaves of vilest Persons and of such as were of worst behaviour and by it they were not only put to pain but to open shame 3. The third Punishment was of Bonds and Imprisonnsent Bonds were Shackles Feâ—â—ers Chains Manacles wherewith their feet or hands or some other parts were bound Prisons were usually strong places and many times nasfy and uncomfortable and the worst kind of them were deep dark and dirty Dungeons Both these were restraints of Liberty which is so precious and desirable The End of them was the Reservation of Malefactors or suspected Persons till the time of Trial and Judgment and close Imprisonment was so much the more grievous when they were deprived of all comfortable Society and no friends suffered to relieve them 2. These they suffered some endured one of them some more some all For they had Trial or Experience of these things so some understand it as though the sense were that they did not fear them threatned but feel them inflicted Others think that these were called Trials from God to manifest the sincerity of their Faith and their heavenly Vertues that they might certainly know the happiness of their Condition or from their Petsecutors to shake their Faith and cause them to renounce their Fidelity to God But the former sense is more plain and genuine as appears by the Septuagint using it so and also from the 29th Verse of this Chapter and it signifies that they were not onely in danger of but under the present pressure of these evils Though their Enemies did afflict and vex them unjustly and wickedly yet they suffered them patiently and resolved that though God should kill them yet they would trust in him 3. They thus suffered these things by Faith For they knew the way to Heaven was rough and troublesom and that these Sufferings could not separate them from the Love of God nor deprive them of the great Reward but prepare them for eternal Glory For they vetily believed that there was eternal Life that God had promised it and that Constancy in the Covenant and Perseverance in the way of Righteousness was the only means to attain Possession and they knew that though their Sufferings were grievous yet the Reward would infinitely recompence all § 36. The Catalogue of the Saints Sufferings is continued and enlarged For Ver. 37. They were stoned sawen asunder tempted slain with the Sword they wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins destitute afflicted tormented IN this Text we find several sorts of Sufferers for some were put to Death some banished or fled and wandred in great want and misery seeking to save their Lives and keep a good Conscience So that they are of two sorts 1. Such as were put to Death 2. Such as wandred and continued a miserable Life 1. Those that dyed were 1. Either stoned or 2. Sawen asunder or 3. Tempted or 4. Slain with the Sword These were the several wayes whereby they were put to Death And those capital Punishments which God and just Law-givers determined for capital Offendors were inflicted upon the most innocent and best Persons of the World The Power of punishing Offenders is good and from God but the abuse of it is most intolerable for Persecutors condemn those whom God doth justify 1. Some were stoned This was a Punishment determined by God in the Judicial Laws of Moses to be executed upon several Delinquents and Transgressors Yet no Judg had Warrant from God to condemn any innocent Person to this kind of Death yet Zacharias for charging the Jews with their Sins and denbuncing God's Judgments against them was stoned to Death 2. Some were sawen asunder Thus some say Isaiah was slain by Manasses this was a cruel kind of Execution 3. Some were tempted so many printed Books read yet few can make sense of it Others think it should be not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were buâ—â—t and this is more agreeable to the Place and Scope Others omit it as the Syriack the Aethiopick the first Greek Manu-script in New-Colledge Oxford Neither do Chrysostom or Theophylact read it as Grotius informs us yet a Lapide finds it in Chrysostom which seems to imply that either one of them was mistaken or that they followed several Editions If it should be read and in this place as it 's hardly probable then it signifies that several were tempted by some cruel kind of Death to forsake their God yet they did not 4. Some were slain by the Sword which is used as well by the Magistrate against offending Subjects as by the Souldier against Enemies Martyrs might be thus slain either judicially or extrajudicially without any formal Process of Judgment for many times they laid hainous Crimes to their Charge suborned Witnesses and so sentenced them to Death Sometimes they made Justice Injustice Obedience to God Disobedience to
us to Imitation And whom should we follow if not him to whom we have so near Relation and upon whom that Religion and Faith whereby we hope to be saved doth so much depend for the institution efficacy and perpetual continuance The second Proposition This Jesus Christ for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the Shame Wherein we have 1. The Rice or Vertue 2. Prize or Reward The way was tough the Prize was excellent yet he ran the Race and won the Prize That which made the way so troublesom was the Cross and the Shame of the Cross yet he endured the Cross and made nothing of the Shame but run through Pain and Shame and so attained the eternal Crown of Glory By Cross is meant all the cruel pains of his Body and bitter sorrows of his Soul which islued from and were caused by all these Wrongs and Evils inslicted upon him unjustly and maliciously from Men and Devils yet justly from God for our Sins which he had undertaken to expiate These were such as never any man did suffer which never any Angel could have born as He did thus dear it cost our Saviour to propitiate for our Transgressions though many make a mock of Sin By shame we understand all the Abuses Reproaches and Indignities cast upon him He was apprehended accused condemned as a Malefactor buffetted hood-winkt spit upon scourged reviled derided and put to death upon a Cross which was the most ignominious death of all others And the more excellent and innocent he was the more intolerable the shame All this must be laid upon him that God might manifest his hatred of Sin the sacred power of his Laws his severest justice against Sin his Love to Man in transferring from him unto Christ his own Son that Punishment which was deserved by our Sin and to let men know that he would not pardon Sin except his Justice were satisfied Therefore let no man presume to Sin but to be afraid to offend his God and Supreme Lord Yet he endured the Cross which implies that he was sore pressed with our sins and was very sensible of the pressure but notwithstanding his strength was such as he bare this heaviest burden and that with greatest patience He did not yield faint murmur or despair he overcame all He despised the shame Some high Spirits dare look Death in the face and be no whit daunted or appaled yet even these cannot brook shame and disgrace they will rather dye then suffer in their Honour and Reputation which are dear unto them Yet Christ endured the shame and with that patience and constancy as that he made nothing of it He despised it as though it were nothing though it was much and so much as never any suffered That which in all this did strengthen and encourage him was the glorious prize and the joy set before him This joy by a Metonymy signifies that happy and glorious estate which followed upon his Suffering for immediately upon his Resurrection he attained an estate of perfection and layd aside his mortality and the infirmities of his humiliation was fully and for ever freed from all Sorrows and Sufferings did enjoy a most sweet calm and blessed peace of eternal continuance after that ascends above all Heavens entred the place of Glory and had fulness of joy in his Fathers presence and pleasures at his right hand for evermore and so bathes himself perpetually in the streams of eternal delights This joy was set before him both by a clear representation and a firm promise and he had a lively apprehension of it as it was represented and a certain expectation of it as it was promised This joy and blessed estate so apprehended so expected did strengthen revive and refresh him in the midst of his Suffering so that his burden was made the lighter and his sorrows much abated and this was the reason why he was so patient and chearful in his Sufferings and so much despised the shame This patience and chearfulness might be attributed to his Faith for he did both believe and trust in his heavenly Father Yet this Faith was of another kind then ours far more perfect and far above our Sphear And if we had a firmer belief more lively apprehensions and a more full assurance of Heaven's Joy and Glory we might rejoyce in Tribulation and be exceeding glad in the midst of siery Flames Christ knew the time of the Cross and shame was but short the distance between him and eternal Joy not long and his assurance of Glory very great and this was the reason why he made so little account of the greatest evils that any ever yet did suffer Proposit. 3. After he had endured the Cross despising the shame he sate down at the right hand of the Throne of God God's Throne puts us in mind of his Majesty and Power for he is the Supreme and Universal Lord Lawgiver and Judge of the World The right hand of this Throne is the highest place of Honour Dignity and Power next unto that of Gods Christ was set at the right hand of this Throne when he was advanced and mounted above all Angels and all other Creatures For all Power in Heaven and Earth was given him before his Ascension and after he was solemnly invested in Heaven he began to reign and exercise this Power as Administratour-General of the World This glorious estate was the great Reward which he received and enjoyed after that he had endured the Cross and despised the shame For because he had taken upon him the form of a Servant and been Obedient unto Death the Death of the Cross God exalted him and gave him a Name above every Name Proposit. 4. In running with patience the Race that is set before us we must look on Christ thus represented He that hath a Copy or Pattern set before him for imitation must often look upon the Pattern or Copy and the more excellent the Pattern the more carefully and frequently it must be eyed and observed This Pattern is the best that ever was proposed and that in three respects 1. Of the person 2. Of the rare performance of the hard Service performed so patiently and chearfully 3. The glorious Reward which followed thereupon 1. The person was the Authour and Finisher of our Faith one far above all others 2. The Pattern wherein his heavenly Virtues were manifest was the fairest and most excellent that ever was given And though the Service was the hardest that ever was undertaken yet it was performed with the greatest perfection 3. The reward attained and enjoyed was incomparable and most glorious All these must severally and seriously and frequently be viewed that we may be the more effectually encouraged § 3. Besides what had been said of Christ example there was something in it farther considerable therefore he goes on with his Exhortation in the words following Ver. 3. For consider him that endured such contradiction of Sinners against
High-Priest ascended into Heaven 2. This Blood of Sprinkling speaketh better things thau the Blood of Abel This Blood is the Blood of Christ and the End and so the principal Effect is to cleanse away Sin yet this it cannot do except it be first shed and then sprinkled Once shed it hath a cleansing Power and Vertue yet actually cleanseth and purifieth no man till it be sprinkled upon him The Blood of sprinkling is Blood to be sprinkled and it is to be sprinkled upon the unclean to make clean and therefore the Blood of Sprinkling is by a Metonymy cleansing and purifying Blood Yet there was a sprinkling of Blood in the Sanction and Confirmation of the Old Covenant and so Blood of Sprinkling here may be the Blood of Confirmation for as you heard Chap. 9. 16 17. a Testament is of force after men are dead so upon and by the death of Christ the new Covenant was made firm valid and in full force and power for that end God intended it If Christ had not dyed God might have abrogated or altered his Covenant but upon his death he was bound to stand to it for ever and the Title to the heavenly Inhâ—râ—tance is good to all such as observe the terms and conditions yet in this Expression it is very probable the Apostle alludes to the Legal Purifications by Water Ashes Blood which being sprinkled upon such as were Legally unclean or upon the Lepers did purify them The like Effect Christ's Blood hath upon all such as are capable of it therefore do we read that the Blood of Christ doth cleanse us from all Sin 1 Joh. 1. 7. and to cleanse is to forgive to be cleansed is to be pardoned as is implyed in that Text If we confess our Sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all Unrighteousness Ver. 9. This Blood is sprinkled upon such as confess repent believe pray receive the Sacraments The means of sprinkling is the Word Sacraments and principally the Spirit or whatsoever worketh or increaseth and strengthneth Faith and then it 's sprinkled when it 's so applyed as that the Person receiveth the benefit of Christ's Passion one Effect and the principal is Remission of Sin and Sanctification whereby we are freed from Sin and the woful Consequents thereof for this Blood speaketh better things than that of Abel Abel's Blood was shed so was Christ's Abel's Blood shed speaketh so Christ's Blood shed speaketh Abel's Blood speaketh to God so Christ's speaketh to him likewise they both speak loud and cry so that God hears Abel's Blood was precious Christ's far more precious and the Cry of both is heard in Heaven Thus far they agree yet differ much for the one cryes for Mercy the other for Judgment the one cryes against Man that did shed it the other for Man though his Sins did cause it to be shed The meaning is that Cain's Murther of his Brother Abel did so much offend God that it moved him to revenge it Christ's death as caused by the cursed cruel impenitent Jews did so far provoke God that he fearfully punished them and their Children according to their own words Let his Blood be upon us and our Children yet as suffered for the Sin of Man and offered unto God it was so pleasing so precious and so highly accepted that for and in condsieration of it God was effectually moved both to reward him and pardon all penitent and believing Sinners and that for evermore This Blood spake when it was shed and speaks effectually when pleaded before the eternal Judg. 3. They were come to this Mediator to this Blood They were not come to the Mount of Fire Smoak Darkness Terrour Death where there was no Mediator to make their peace with God no blood to cry for Metcy and cleanse them from their Sin and free them from eternal Death But they were come into that Society where Christ was their Mediator and Priest where they were freed from the Law of Sin and Death and under the Covenant of Free Mercy Grace and Life where the Blood of Christ sprinkled upon their Souls did cry aloud to Heaven for Mercy and did cleanse them from all Sin for ever And now since they were received into an heavenly Society where Angels and the best of men both living and dead were their fellow-Subjects God Redeemer sitting in the Throne of Grace their Soveraign Christ the Son of God their Priest who shed his Blood to wash away their Sins and though they had many Offences yet upon their Repentance would make Reconciliation for them and though they had many failings yet he was a righteous Advocate with their Father and would plead their Cause with his own Blood procure their pardon according to the Covenant of Grace so that they should be justified and live for ever there was no Reason in the World to return to Sinai and the Law again and forsake the best and happiest Kingdom that ever was a Kingdom of eternal Righteousness and Peace If they did Heaven might be astonished and Earth amazed at their Folly In this with that which follows the Apostle seems to sum up briefly in a few words all the former Arguments taken from the excellency of the Prophetical Office of the Covenant of the Priest-hood of Christ and he doth this in that manner that he clearly takes away all colour of excuse from such as should incline to Apostacy § 23. Therefore he further argues thus Ver. 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on Earth much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven THE words are a Dehortation wherein we have 1. The Sin dehorted from 2. The Reason why we should take heed of it 1. The Sin is to refuse him that speaketh 2. The Reason is taken from the greater Punishment to be suffered if they do refuse 1. To refuse him that speaketh implyes 1. That Christ doth speak and God by him To speak is not only to reveal the Doctrine of the Gospel which is the thing spoken but also to command Repentance and Faith in Christ with a Promise of Righteousness and eternal Life and a Commination of eternal Death unavoidable To refuse him that thus speaketh is either to reject this Doctrine and not receive it or if they have once received it to renounce it so that this Refusal includes both Unbelief and also Apostacy from the Christian Profession But they who had made Profession of this Doctrine must not refuse to continue in it nor renounce it to the dishonour and Contempt of God who out of greatest Mercy had tendred Salvation upon fairest terms 2. The Reason is taken from the hainousness of the Sin and the grievousness of the Punishment both which are set forth by a Comparison in Quantity And this Comparison presupposeth many things as 1. That God did speak in former times
power cannot be destroyed except Christ dy Christ cannot dy except he be lower then the Angels and made mortal Man This connexion and subordination of these things did become God and was agreeable to his heavenly wisdom whereas the Socinian saith That for Christ to take part with Men and be Flesh and Blood as they are doth not prove that the Incarnation is true if we consider it barely in it self as a participation of humane nature and mortality Yet if we consider the subject of this participation and the person taking part with man to be the Son of God by whom he made the Worlds the brightness of his Fathers Glory and the expresse Image of his Person and look upon him as that word which was in the beginning and was with God and was God then if this Son this Word be made Flesh as here the Apostle doth affirm and else-where then the Incarnation is plain and clear enough it cannot be denyed § 17. This farther end is expressed in these words Ver. 15. And deliver them who through the fear of Death were all their life-time subject to bondage This Text represents unto us two things 1. The sad condition of such as are under the power of Satan 2. A deliverance or freedom from it The sad condition is an estate of perpetual slavery and fear of Death For to be subject to bondage is to be a slave and to be thus subject all the time of his Life is to be a perpetual slave for time of Life And this is a grievous slavery and bondage not only because it 's perpetual but because of the great danger For by fear of Death may by a Metonymy be meant the danger of Death For the proper cause of fear is danger once apprehended for it 's true that men may be in danger and yet without fear because the danger is not seen apprehended known And the bondage of perpetual fear is woful if not intolerable This Death which is so dangerous and ever threatens to terrify and torment us is not only bodily but spiritual not only temporal but eternal and the greatest Evil of all others and if we be Satan's slaves and in his power he is a most cruel Tyrant and Enemy and seeks our extream and everlasting misery and we can expect nothing better from him who delights in our destruction Oh that man did but see his condition and were sensible of it For then he could take no rest Day or Night and he would seek and cast about for deliverance We see how sad it is by the terrours and torments of Judas and Cain and by the fears griefs troubles wounds sigh◠groans of such as were once sensible of their sins and apprehensive of the wrath of God Though this be a sad condition yet there is deliverance from this continual danger this perpetual fear which is the greatest slavery of all other The beginning of comfort is to know that there is a possibility of Freedom and that the Danger is avoidable or removable The first degree of this deliverance is in Christ's Death whereby divine justice was satisfied and freedome merited 2. That the power of the Devil was destroyed for whilst it continued this fear could not be removed 3. This freedome and liberty is more compleat when upon Faith in Christ's Death Sin is pardoned and the cause of this fear is taken away For the justified have peace with God are freed from condemnation and the Law of Sin and Death and they who feared eternal Punishments rejoyce in the hope of Glory Then this slavery is changed into a blessed liberty fear into hope and the sorrow of Death into the joy of Life § 18. It follows Ver. 16. For verily he took not upon him the Nature of Angels but he took on him the Seed of Abraham In these words it 's conceived a reason is given why Man and not Angels are delivered from the slavery of death and danger of eternal punishments and the reason is this because the Word was made Flesh and Man not a Spirit or an Angel And they more clearly explain these words Seeing the Children were partakers of Flesh and Blood he took part with them By Death to deliver them For if he 1. Took part with them 2. To deliver them 3. Deliver them by Death then he took not part with Angels but with the seed of Abraham as a fit means which it became God to use The Conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not always causal to inferr a reason of some thing from the cause or some other argument For it is sometimes expletive sometimes hath another signification and so it may be here But to let that pass let 's consider the Text in it self which logically considered is a discretive axiom denying the same thing of one subject and affirming it of a another Christ took upon him something But 1. That was not the Angels or nature of Angels 2. He took upon him or to him the seed of Abraham So that in the words we have two simple axiomes or propositions The first is negative For verily he took not upon him the nature of Angels The second is affirmative He took on him the seed of Abraham The negation in the former proposition is strong for it 's not barely said He took not but he no where or not at all For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signify nusquam aut nequaquam no where or in no wise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies verily To understand the whole Text is difficult because of the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some turn apprehend it he took hold on and think the expression is taken from such as pursue and follow hard after one that flyes from them to take hold on him and bring him back So Man runs from God and God became Man to follow after Man and take hold on him to save him Thus Chrysostome and from him Bishop Andrews Heinsius à Lapide with others Crellius and the Socinians turn the word another way and understand the place thus Christ succoured not the Angels but succoured the seed of Abraham This and also the former may be true but not pettinent The reason why Crellius likes the latter sense is because he likes not the Doctrine of the Incarnation he cannot digest it The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated and that rightly by Vatablus Beza the Turgurines and Tremelius out of the Syriack assumpsit he assumed and by our English took on him doth answer to the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 turned by the Septuagint several times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word here used And not to take the Angels that is nature of Angels is not to be made an Angel or Officer the individual substance of an Angel to redeem the Angels that sinned To assume or take the Seed of Abraham is 1. To be a man as Abraham and his Seed were men and partakers of Flesh and Blood