frees us from all punishment and lastly makes us capable of eternall life Whence it so much the more appeares how the purging of our consciences doth certainely follow upon the bloud and death of Christ and upon his subsequent offering in heaven Purge your conscience from deâ—d workes How much more shall the bloud of Christ purge Shall is so the future tense here that it carries the force of the time present For in such arguments drawne from comparison wee love to use the future tense in the consequent member of it If this be so much more shall that For herein we respect not any futurity of time but a futurity of consequence and of truth for many times wee conclude in that manner of things past The conscience here is opposed to the flesh for as the bloud of beasts offered did purge the flesh so the bloud of Christ offered through the Spirit doth penetrate unto the conscience and purge it And sinnes are called dead workes not formally as if they had no life or activity in them but effectively because they are deadly works that brings death to the sinner and of their owne nature keepe the sinner dead for ever These deadly works are the spots and blots that defile our conscience and from these our conscience is purged by the bloud of Christ not onely in that we are freed from the guilt of them in the sight of God and consequently from all punishment of them but also in that wee are delivered from the sence of that guilt and from the feare of punishment and so our conscience is cased of a grievous burden And it was not for nothing that the Author would rather say purge our conscience then our minde the inward part of us opposite to the flesh Because thereby he would shew that the bloud of Christ doth also cleanse away that misery and torment of the conscience whereby men conscious of their wickednesse doe tremble and quake for feare of Gods Judgements This is most certaine that true and solid peace of conscience in them that have sinned doth ground it selfe upon this that God hath declared his will they should be free from all the guilt of their sinnes And yet it may be that men freed in the sight of God from the guilt of their sinnes may not enjoy a peaceable and quiet conscience because they are destitute of the knowledge or faith of it Therefore the bloud of Christ offered to God through the eternall Spirit doth not onely abolish all the guilt of our sinnes but also doth certifie and make faith thereof unto us as we heard before Whence it commeth to passe that there ariseth a great calme and quiet of conscience in their minds who have tasted the efficacy and vertue of Christ his bloud and sacrifice and we may well say that though formerly their conscience were oppressed with many crimes yet then their conscience is wholly disburdened and they finde no guiltinesse in it And this is the scope which God proposed unto himselfe in the death of Christ and the things following thereon For he would not therefore binde himselfe by the bloud of Christ and establish a new Covenant because there might be danger that he would not stand to his promises who is most true and faithfull of his word but because we should want no assurance of his grace and mercy towards us And hence also it is that when Christ was raised from the dead and invested with immortality God exalted him into heaven and committed unto him the whole care and arbitrement of our salvation For the efficacy and force of Christs death and the consequents upon it must be distinguished from their scope whereat God aymed although that efficacy were subservient to this scope and effectuall to the compassing of it The efficacy of Christs death and the consequents upon it was very great both to obliege God to performe his promises and to produce the reall effect of them upon us but the scope is as we have said to make assured and undoubted faith unto us of so great grace of God of so great salvation and remission of sins to the end that wee being fully certified thereof might againe on our part performe our duty and wholly devote our selves to God Whence the Author adding afterward this end or effect of purging our conscience to be performed by us on our part doth thereby teach us that in this purging of our conscience he included not only an Immunity from punishmenâ— arising from the abolishing of our guilt before God but also a security from them proceeding from our certaine knowledge that our guilt is abolished Now for the matter of our Impunity or freedome from punishment our punishment is not only temporall but also eternall opposite to life eternall From the punishment of eternall death those sacrifices 〈◊〉 the Law were so farre from freeing any man that they could exempt no man from temporall death or capitall punishment for they only tooke away some other light penalties or inconveniences of this life Neither did God write all his Lawes in bloud ordaining death for every offence but moderated the rigor of his Law with singular justice and equity Upon some offences hee laid the penalty of death which no sacrifice could release upon others he laid a fine and a sacrifice The mulct or fine was to bee paid to the party grieved but the sacrifice to himselfe for thereupon he remitted the penalty due to himselfe but would have restitution made of the injury done to man So for example for theft the penalty was a restituon of the double triple or quadruple to be paid to the party thereby damaged but besides this restitution the theft was expiated by sacrifice which was instead of a penalty to the most mercifull God Lastly there some things totally void of all true offence as for example if any man had touched a dead body though it were of duty to bury him which was rather a matter of piety then of offence yet because this and other such like cases were condemned by the Law of uncleannes therefore they were to be expiated either by some sacrifice or by the holy water of separation Therefore all the use of those sacrifices was to expiate some lighter faults or uncleannesses of the flesh but great offences were punished with death Hence David acknowledging his sinne exiable by no sacrifices of beasts saith to God Thou desirest not sacrifices else would I give them but thou delightest not in burn offerings Psal 51.16 He means in the expiation of such crimes as his was and therefore he flyes to the sole mercy and clemency of God and resolves to pacifie God with the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart The force of which sacrifice if it be made seasonably and abound afterward in the fruits of good workes is established and ratified by the Law of the Gospel Now the bloud and sacrifice of Christ takes away all guilt and penalties of all sins
common use For this sanctifying as the word following shewes consisteth onely in purifying of the flesh All the sanctifying that proceeded from the offerings of the bloud of calves and goates or from the sprinkling of the ashes of an heifer was but a carnall purifying to cleanse the flesh The Ceremoniall uncleannesses wherewith men by chance were defiled were expiated by these offerings and sprinklings and the partie predefiled became purified so that now it was lawfull for him to converse with other men to come to the Temple to be present at divine servivices and to partake of the Sacrifice from all which his former uncleannesse debarred him So that this Puritie or cleannesse of the flesh was both the end and effect of the offering of bloud and sprinkling of ashes 14. How much more shall the blood of Christ Some man may think that the Author should not have drawne his argument à mirori but rather à pari seeing there seemes an equalitie of reason on both sides that as well the legall sacrifice as that of Christ had a like force to produce their effects the blood of beasts to purifie the flesh and the blood of Christ to purifie the conscience But we must note that the blood of beasts and the offering of it is not altogether of like nature to purifie the flesh as the blood of Christ offered to God by the spirit is to the cleansing of the conscience For if we looke upon the nature of the thing what force hath the blood of beasts offered in the Sanctuary that thereby it should cleanse the flesh or be reputed to cleanse it Was not this effect of purifying the flesh tyed to the shedding and offering of that blood onely by the decree of God and that it might bee accounted to have this effect must they not have a knowledge of Gods decree by some other meanes But for the blood of Christ after the shedding of it there followed the offering of Christ himselfe in the heavenly Tabernacle or the shedding of Christs blood joyned with the offering of Christ himselfe as the Author considers the blood of Christ here seeing Christ therefore shed it that hee might offer himselfe in the Sanctuary of heaven both as a Priest and as a Sacrifice The blood of Christ I say if we respect the nature of the thing hath a potent force to purge our consciences or is the true and effectuall cause of their being purged For in the offering of Christ as wee have already said somwhat and more shall afterward is contained his singular and onely care of our salvation in heaven from whence the purifying of our consciences and the plenary remission of our sinnes doth flow and proceed as from the proper cause of it Furthermore that the blood of Christ may be knowne to have so great force looking on the nature of Christs death and the circumstances of it every man may easily be admonished of it For Christ by his blood did strongly maintain the truth of his doctrine having shed his blood he entred into heaven the habitacle of immortall life that what he had promised by his words hee might testifie to all men by his example having shed his blood and entered into his heavenly Sanctuary hee offered himselfe an immaculate sacrifice to God for us having shed his blood he obtained all power both in heaven and earth all judgement and arbitrement of our salvation Neither to obtaine this was the bloodshed of Christ a bare condition that of it owne nature and proper efficacy conferred nothing to it but seeing it conteineth so hard a worke of vertue and obedience a worke so acceptable to God and so advancing to his glory even of it own nature it had force and power to procure this power unto Christ and to produce in us the cleansing of our conscience Hee that ponders all this in his minde can he doubt but that by the blood of Christ he is expiated from all staine of sinne if he embrace the faith of Christ with all his heart and afterward as farre as the hope of eternall life can encourage him keep himselfe undefiled and pure from all staine of sinne Thus the nature and force of Christs death being considered the Authour with very good reason doth draw and conclude this his argument not from a parity of reason but from a disparity or from the lesse to the greater The blood of Christ There seemes an Emphasis in these words of the Author to make it yet more fully appeare how great force his blood hath in cleansing our consciences As if he had said The blood not of an ordinary man which yet is better then that of beasts but of Christ who is the unigenit son of God feated in heaven at the right hand of God and reigning over all creatures Shall not this blood have much more force to purge the conscience then the blood of beasts had to purifie the flesh Now that we may a little prevent the words of the Author the cleansing of our conscience is attributed to the blood of Christ both as it is the blood of the Covenant whereby the new Covenant is established and as it is the blood of the sacrifice which is offered for us in that heavenly Sanctuary both which the Authour hath conjoyned saving that he explicates the first last and the last first because it belongs to his Priesthood as the former is referred to his Mediatorship which two functions of Christ were fitly conjoyned in the mention of his blood for they are both coupled in the death of Christ for his Mediatorship ended in his death and his Priesthood began there But how the blood of Christ purgeth our consciences as it is the bloud of the Covenant wee shall see hereafter Yet now we shall adde thus much that the new Covenant was established by the bloud of Christ not onely as appointed so by God in manner as the bloud of calves and goates was of old appointed for the establishing of the old covenant but even the very nature and condition of his bloud was of great efficacy thereto For who can doubt of the truth of that covenant for confirmation whereof the bloud of Christ was shed who made this covenant in the name of God and afterward became our heavenly King Who through the eternall Spirit offered himselfe without spot to God Here the Author clearly expresseth by what meanes the bloud of Christ as it was the bloud of the sacrifice had so much power force as to purge our consciences namely because Christ having shed his bloud did through the eternall Spirit offer himself without spot to God in the heavenly Sanctuary Hence it is manifest that the bloud of Christ had so far power to expiate our sins as the shedding of it was seconded by Christ his offering of himselfe in heaven which could not follow unlesse Christ had first shed his bloud For the bloud of Christ not onely as it is the bloud of
number For temptation is a thing generall and common to all who suffer persecutions for righteousnesse sake And withall temptation doth imply the constancie of them who are tempted But if we must needs read it they were tempted then we must understand it of some particular kinde and forme of temptation wherewith persons in distresse might easily bee overcome and drawne from their constancie as for example when a man is follicited to some fained act or to some ambiguous words by promising him safety and some good rewards besides to condescend to this that though he will not truly recede from his former way yet that he seem to recede from it For after this manner we read Eleazer was temped Now for a man to overcome such a temptation by lending no care nor minde unto it but rather dye a cruell death then to staine the reputation of his confession and constancie with the least shew of dissembling is a great and a brave conquest They wandred about in sheeps skins and goats skins For they had no means to procure other garment or covering for their body and therefore he presently addes being destitute afflicted tormented This is the reason why they wandred about and why in sheeps skins and goats skins because they were destitute of all worldly provision and in all places where they came were afflicted and tormented and therefore they wandred from place to place in that despicable and poore manner All which miseries happened unto them in the times of the Maccabes under the persecution of the cruell Antiochus 38. Of whom the world was not worthy they wandred in deserts and in mountaines and in dens and caves of the earth The Author interposeth the former words of this verse to shew the indignity of the usage and foulnesse of the injury which the wicked inflicted upon the true servitors of God As if he had said these good men were constrained to wander like wilde beasts and to hide themselves like wilde beasts in desarts and mountaines in holes and caves of the earth but among men in Townes and Cities they could have no abode though for their piety and faith toward God they were of such worth and respect that the inhabitants of the whole world were unworthy of them Of this carriage Christians especially ought to take notice when they see worthy persons to be vexed banished afflicted and slaughtered of the unworthy good men of evill and the innocent of the wicked For as the Author would intimate unto us it may be that the world herein did in a manner punish her selfe in that shee persecuted and banished such holy persons and drave them away from her of whose conversation and company she was altogether unworthy 39. And these all having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise The word all seems in the intention of the Author to be chiefly referred to those persons last mentioned who for the love of Gods Law suffered such great calamities For the former persons mentioned before them obtained some promises of God as rewards of their faith but these latter that were persecuted and slain for the testimony of Gods Law had none And yet all their faith who were mentioned in the former place was not such a faith as to be of it self a saving faith or such an one which could procure them eternall life which the Author here understands by the name of the promise unlesse something else were added particularly that faith which concerns only wars or had some certaine thing proposed for the matter of it as the recovery of their health or the raising of their dead children to life and which was perpetuall in them working in them that had it true righteousnesse and piety for there is no cogent reason constraining us to affirme that it was such a faith See what the Author hath affirmed ver 33 34 35. A good report part through faith They obtained the praise and commendation of their faith in the Scriptures See ver 2. through faith Partly because their faith was the cause why they performed such worthy acts as deserved great praise and commendation Partly because such a notable faith in God was of it selfe the cause and matter of that good report and commendation Received not the promise The article the doth shew that some excellent promise is here designed out namely that which is peculiar and proper unto Christians which hath none greater and more excellent then it selfe the promise I meane of that truly blessed and eternall life which though it were not openly promised to them but only to us yet it shall be given to them as well as to us But the word promise is taken here materially for the thing promised 40. God having provided some better thing for us Hee addes here the cause why they have not yet received the promise For the Hebrews might thinke that God in this respect had not dealt so well with them that they had not yet received the reward of their faith workes and sufferings The Author therefore meets with such surmifes and shews it was done for this reason because God had provided some better thing for us A question But here it may be demanded wherein our condition is the better in that they might not receive that promise nor bee perfected without us For if they had received eternall happinesse before would the summe of our happinesse have been any thing the lesse Or is our happinesse any thing the greater because they are made to stay for it The Answer to this may be twofold and according to the twofold Answer there will arise a twofold sense of these words Answer 1. The first Answer is That God would herein provide for our dignity and make our happinesse the more illustrious For although if we regard the thing it self nothing would either be taken from our happines if they had obtained eternall life without us or before us or will now accrue unto it that they have it not without us but together with us yet respectively and comparatively we should have been far inferiour unto them if they without staying for us had been long since invested in heavenly joyes But now seeing they are constrained to stay for us and may not enjoy that promise before us hence appears that the dignity of Christians is very great and that their happinesse is made much more conspicuous seeing there are none who can seeme to obscure it by preventing it with a fuller or more early happinesse And certainly very convenient it was that God should so provide for it that they who had obeyed him only according to the ordinances of Moses should not prevent in happinesse those who compose their lives and manners according to the perfect Law and discipline of Christ and that they who never had any open promise of eternall life should enjoy that life before them who had an open and cleare Covenant for it But rather seeing by Gods goodnesse they were to
can want his care for feeding ruling and defending and lastly seeing he so feeds his sheep that he recovers them from the jaws of death and hell and settles them in possession of the Kingdome of Heaven Through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant These words must not be referred to the words brought again but must be construed with the word shepheard And a shepheard by or through bloud is such a shepheard as had shed his bloud for so we read 1 John 5.6 That Christ came by water and bloud not by water only but by water and bloud that is he was not only pure and clear from all spot or stain of sinne which purity is signified by the word water but also that he suffered a bloudy death by shedding of his bloud The Author had intimated before that this great Shepheard was dead in saying that God brought him againe from the dead but now he further shewes not onely the manner of his death that it was violent cruell and bloudy but also the cause of his death to what end he dyed which end tendeth to our infinite benefit namely to confirme and seale the everlasting covenant For the bloud of the Covenant is that bloud which is shed to dedicate establish and confirme the Covenant that it may never be revokeable But the Author understands the new Covenant which was confirmed by the bloud of Christ Whence wee may easily collect how certaine and sure we may be of the promises contained in that Covenant if we performe the conditions of it which are most just and equall When he calls this Covenant everlasting he tacitly opposeth it to the old covenant by Moses which was not to continue to the end of the world therfore was not properly everlasting And by the eternity of this Covenant that it is everlasting is withall intimated the perfection of it for if it were not perfect it could not be everlasting as the former old covenant was not everlasting because it was not perfect but weake and unprofitable and therefore it was disanulled and abolished as the Author said before chap. 7.18 For there is verily a disanulling of the commandement going before for the weakenesse and unprofitablenesse thereof And what is said of one commandement or precept may well be referred to the whole covenant Besides the eternity of this covenant is mentioned of purpose to advance our comfort and strengthen our hope for whereas it is called everlasting that shews that it shall not onely produce his full effect but also shall last to the end of the world Our Lord Iesus In these words the Author points out the person whom we must understand to be that great Shepheard namely no other then our Lord Jesus that is our Lord who is Jesus so that our Lord holds the place of the subject and the name Jesus is added to declare who is meant by our Lord. By which appellation the Author teacheth us what a great Shepheard Jesus is seeing he is our Lord constituted so by God his Father who brought him againe from the dead That onely Lord by whom are all things and we by him whom wee must worship with God the Father Yet in all this pathetick and stately description of our Lord Jesus the Author signifies nothing more unto us then what was formerly contained in his appellation of high Priest so frequently attributed unto him in this Epistle From all which what great hope and comfort wee may gather to our soules need not here bee repeated 21. Make you perfect in every good worke Now he expresseth the wish it selfe which is wholly concerning their owne duty For to attaine eternall happinesse nothing else is required on our part but to performe our duty according as it is enjoyned us To make them perfect in every good worke is so to enable them that no good worke office or Christian vertue be wanting in them and that they be wanting in no good worke to performe it perfunctorily unwillingly or disaffectedly especially in point of temptation and matter of persecution wherein because it is for the triall of their faith Patience must have her perfect worke as S. James requires it Jam. 1.4 To doe his will The particle to here doth not signifie the finall cause because to be perfect in every good worke and to doe the will of God are really the same thing and therefore these can neither be the end nor the meanes one of another But this particle is here explicative to the former words and is all one with so as for he that is perfect in every good worke or Christian vertue he truly and properly doth the will of God Working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight He expresseth the way or meanes whereby God is to make them perfect in every good worke namely by working in them that which is well-pleasing in his sight That which pleaseth God is every good worke And God worketh a good worke in us when he exciteth and moveth us to it and preventeth us with his grace while we thinke not of it when hee ministreth unto us sufficient strength and helpe thereto suggesteth occasions unto us and lastly when he cherisheth and perfecteth it in us And not that he worketh in us without our worke that is while we are unwitting unwilling or idle but while we are willing endeavouring and acting For otherwise there were neither need nor reason that the Author should exhort us with so many monitions incitements and precepts unto godlinesse whereto he with good reason also added his wish to teach us that we must joyne Gods helpe with our endeavours and our endeavours with his helpe Through Iesus Christ It is doubtfull whether these words must hee joyned with the word working or with the words well-pleasing to shew us what is well-pleasing in the sight of God namely that which is done through Iesus Christ and by him commanded to be done So Peter 1 Epist 2.5 when he had said that wee must offer spirituall sacrifices acceptable unto God added also by Jesus Christ shewing us thereby what those sacrifices are namely no other then what are commanded in the Religion of Jesus Christ For those words in Peter seeme rather to bee referred to acceptable then to offered although the latter may be admitted To whom be glory for ever and ever The pronoune to whom is placed so indifferently by the Author that it may be referred both unto God in the former verse and to Jesus Christ mentioned immediately before And the Author seemes to have ordered it so of purpose and to reserve the mention of Christ for the last place that with this one doxology he might celebrate and magnifie both persons both God and Christ For he that is a true Christian cannot be ignorant that glory for ever and ever must be ascribed no lesse unto Christ then unto God himselfe Whereof reade what is written Revel 5.12,13 Whence also Peter concludes his 2. Epistle with the like
a disobedience is one kinde of transgression yet every transgression may become a disobedience namely if it be committed out of malice and contumacy Received a just recompence of reward Punishment is then a just recompence of reward when it is congruous and sutable to the sin according to the due desert of the sinne But these words of the Author cannot meane that every transgression of the Law without exception had a capitall punishment ordained by Law or was de facto inflicted for every penall Law was not alwayes put in execution And those transgressions which were committed out of ignorance or infirmity had their expiation appointed by Law but disobedients or contempts or as the Scripture termes them sinning presumptuously or with a high hand could not be expiated any other way then by that capitall punishment that by the Law was ordained see Numb 15.27 And seeing it is apparent that the Authour speakes of a matter openly and vulgarly knowne it is not credible that he would be understood of those private and secret judgements or punishments that God himselfe inflicted for such for the most part were concealed and not knowne Wherefore we must needs conceive that this Author takes not the particle every logically and strictly but vulgarly for the most part of transgressions and disobediences and hath speciall respect to the sacred precepts of the Law and to the examples of those persons whose transgressions against those Laws are mentioned and whom the Scripture testifies to have beene severely punished of God according to their demerits For if in some cases the rigour of the Law was mitigated as in the case of David those cases being extraordinary and rare must not take place against the generall rule Although David also had no small punishment from God upon him so that here the Author speakes of divine punishments which God himselfe inflicted for otherwise it would not follow that the Law was made stedfast with God therefore because the Magistrate punished transgressors but because God himselfe did it or tooke order it should be done either by the Magistrate or by others For when he speakes on the opposite part concerning the contemners of the Gospel the punishments are understood to be inflicted by God himself 3. How shall we escape If the transgressions of the Law were deservedly and justly punished by Gods hand much leste shall we escape it If we neglect so great salvation If we neglect the Gospel He might have called the Gospel the word spoken by Christ as before he termed the Law the word spoken by Angels for this had beene enough to inferre his conclusion and also a more eloquent opposition but he calls the Gospel Salvation for three reasons 1. To expresse the effect and fruit of the Gospel which is Salvation for as S. Paul saith of it It is the power of God to salvation to every one that beleeveth Rom. 1.16 2. To intimate the dignity and excellency of the Gospel above the Law because the Law contained no open promâ—se of salvation but onely hidden under shadowes of things and coverts of words neither did the Law specifie that condition whereby men might attaine salvation but that onely whereby they incurred condemnation and the punishment of death Hence S. Paul saith The Law worketh wrath Rom. 4.15 and he calls the Law the ministration of death and a killing letter 2 Cor. 3.6,7 So that the Law might be justly called rather the word of death and damnation then of life and salvation 3. To adde force and strength to his argument against the danger of neglecting the Gospel seeing thereby we neglect salvation it selfe to which the Gospel is the meanes And he cals not the Gospel simply salvation but great salvation Salvation may be manifold and various as of our bodies and goods in this life and such a salvation was to Gods people under the Law whereby God saved them from their enemies and thereupon is frequently in Scripture called their Saviour Hence David saith of them They forgat God their Saviour Psal 106.21 See Isai 45.15 and 49.26 and 63.8 But the salvation promised in the Gospel is a great and mighty salvation even the salvation of soules by the inheritance of eternall life Neglect This great salvation in the Gospel is neglected when either we despise the acceptance of it or beleeve not the promises of it or observe not the precepts annexed to the promises but live so as if there were no salvation at all or no promises extant of it or no precepts concerning it or as if none of these were knowne unto us So that the neglect here mentioned meanes not some one small sin of negligence by the single breach of some one precept but includes a contempt and despising of the Gospel for it is opposed to the transgressions and disobediences against the Law that were punished with death as a just recompence of reward at the former verse If therefore they escaped not punishment who transgressed the Law which promised not salvation but onely threatned condemnation how shall we escape if we neglect the Gospel wherein eternall salvation is openly promised and a totall remission of all our sinnes is offered yet onely upon condition that afterward we pollute not our selves with any wickednesse or accustome our selves to any sinne with pardon notwithstanding of our infirmity but live holily in the sight of God as farre as our faith in his promise and our hope of salvation may support us If I say we neglect or despise these things so worthy of all reverence and acceptance what greater ingratitude can we possibly shew to God whose grace the greater it is towards us the greater is our sin to despise it and to despise the greatest grace must needs make up the greatest sin Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord The Lord Christ was not the first Author of the Gospel as the Angels were not of the Law but God was the prime and first Author both of the Law and the Gospel But as the Angels were the first publishers and proclaimers of the Law upon Mount Sinai by commission received from God So Christ was the first publisher and preacher of the Gospel upon earth by a like Commission from his Father So the Gospel was preached by him who is Lord over the Angels and whom they reverence and adore as their Lord. But because this Gospel of salvation was preached by others also therefore to shew the difference in the order of time betweene him and others it is said of him that he preached it first and after him others preached it that were instructed in it by him And in this preaching first begun by Christ is included all whatsoever that he either taught or did or suffered to gaine beliefe to his preaching that he might first also confirme it by himself as afterward it was confirmed by others And lest any man might say that all men did not heare the preaching of Christ himselfe therefore
of Christs dying and his dying for mens salvation was the grace of God the free love and favour of God did bestow this transcendent benefit upon men that Christ should taste death for them For the Author had no sooner made open mention of Christs death but presently he addes the great and weighty causes of it both finall and efficient lest any man should sleight it and think it not a matter of such moment that therefore the Lord of the faithfull should be lesse then the Angels for that end 10. For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things These words are a circumlocution or a designation of God from his two great attributes of being the last end and the first cause of all things and are introduced as a ground whereby to answer this tacit objection Had it not beene farre more convenient and decent That Christ the Lord and King over Gods people though he were not an Angell but a man by nature mortall should not taste of death and other sufferings but alwaies remaine in his happinesse and glory as it became the worth of so great a King To this the Author answers That it wonderfully became God to proceed this way and not to doe otherwise then he did because this way did especially suite to his end and was a most convenient meanes to attaine the end by God intended For God himselfe is the last end of all things for whom all things are and he is also the first efficient of all things from and by whom all things are and therefore it became God who begins all things by himselfe and finisheth them for himselfe to apply such meanes as are most conducent to his end for it becomes the wisest agent to worke most wisely The particle by whom notes not God as an instrumentall or meane cause as if some higher agent did worke by him but supposeth him the principall and prime agent which is alwayes so when it is used of God as an efficient or agent of some thing For that particle referred to God carries with it this force in sence that the thing mentioned was not onely primely invented and decreed by God but by him also brought to issue by effectuall meanes proceeding from himselfe and not borrowed elsewhere This working of God as being sole Author and sole meanes is distinguished by Paul by these two phrases Of him and through him are all things Rom. 11.36 But by this Author both are comprised in this one by whom are all things And the universall particle all things must be restrained to his proper respective subject formerly mentioned namely all things concerning the salvation of the faithfull In bringing many sons unto glory Here is expressed the intention or end whereat God aymed which was to bring many sons unto glory The faithfull are the sons of God in a double spirituall respect 1. Of their spirituall birth because they are regenerate begotten and borne of God by the action of his holy Spirit upon them 2. Of their spirituall right because they are adopted or instituted to be the universall heires of all his estate by having the same right with Christ whereby they become and are called his brethren For in a rurall sence he that hath a right to anothers estate becomes his son And the estate whereto God brings them is glory whereby is meant all that future happinesse and heavenly inheritance which eminently for the honour of it is called glory and which was mystically understood Psal 8.5 and wherewith a little before Christ is said to be crowned And the sons brought to glory are many not as many is a parcell opposed to all but as it is a multitude opposed to few for God hath ordained to bring to glory not a few sons but a great many even many multitudes God is not as man who can have but a few sons and cannot bring each of them to all his estate but God hath many multitudes of sons and yet will bring each of them to glory even to all his whole estate And therefore no marvaile if for so many sons sake God would not spare their Captaine whom he might have spared partly though not wholly had their number beene but few To make the Captaine of their salvation perfect through sufferings Here is expressed the meane whereby God wrought his end in bringing a multitude of sons to glory namely by giving them a Captaine and perfecting him through sufferings For seeing God hath so many sons or rather so many multitudes therefore they being so great an army required a Captaine Now Christ is the Captaine or in moderne language the Generall over the army of the faithfull in two respects 1. By leading them in their journey going before them in all their troubles and afflictions 2. By governing them as their head and Lord to command over them for in an Army the Generall doth both lead and governe it And he is the Captaine of salvation to the faithfull because he leads and governes them in their journey to salvation that is to the eternall glory wherewith himselfe is crowned as before which to them is salvation because thereby they are safe not only from destruction but from all affliction and all other evils And because Christ is their captain by whom God brings them to salvation by whom God saves them from death therefore Christ is called and is their Saviour And Christ their captaine passed thorow sufferings whereby is meant death especially a violent death comprising also all the miseries and evils that do precede and accompany it through all which sufferings Christ passed which therefore are called and are his passion And by these sufferings Christ was made perfect His mortality was finished and ended and he being translated to immortality was crowned with eternall glory and honour as before which was his ultimate consummation and finall perfection wherein nothing was wanting to him that might accrue to his supreme happinesse Now seeing therefore that this journey to salvation leads for the most part through divers calamities and afflictions through death and a violent death did it not become the wisedome of God that the leader or captaine in this journey should passe through divers sufferings and death yea a violent death before he could penetrate and arrive at the mark of eternall salvation that by his example hee might teach us that this so rough and craggie way which seemes to precipate men into eternall destruction should lead to the highest tower of eternall salvation by finishing our mortality and perfecting us into immortalitie And did it not become the wisdome of God that he into whose hand God had put the salvation of all his sons and whom he would ordaine for their high Priest should in all things be made like unto his brethren and taste of the same cup of sufferings with them that being himselfe acquainted with sufferings he might learne to succour them in theirs 11 For both he
the Arke and was a figure of Gods mercy whereby he was propitious to forgive or cover the sins against the Law For sins are no other way propitiated or expiated then as it were by covering or hiding that they may no more appeare against us in the sight of God Hence Gods people are said to be reconciled unto God that is to be sanctified and purged from their sins for when the Tabernacle was sanctified and purged from the sins of the people it was called reconciling Levit. 16.20 And hence God is said to be propitiated or pacified or appeased not as if hereby he were alwayes turned from anger which was in him before but many times that he should not desist from being propitious but continue pacified or appeased towards us and that he should passe by just causes of anger which otherwise he might have For thus God was anciently pacified by the Sacrifices ordained by his Law for it is no way likely that God was really angry with his people for those sins for which he granted an expiation under the Law then when the people procured the timely expiation of their sinnes according to the prescript of Gods Law then certainely God was not actually angry for then God must be angry at set times of the yeare yearely at every solemnity of the Expiation By those sacrifices therefore God was not pacified by being drawne from anger but thereby order was taken that God might still continue pacified and not turne away his grace and favour from his people by reason of their sinnes Hence it appeares that from these words of Reconciling and Pacifying we must not conclude that Gods wrath against us was appeased by Christ but when we heare these words referred unto sinnes we must thereby understand nothing else but their expiation or purgation made by Christ as this Author termed it before chap. 1. v. 3. But how Christ now residing in heaven and exercising the office of his Priesthood doth purge away our sins shall be declared hereafter namely no other way then by the power God hath granted him to forgive them that we should not be punished and perish eternally for them The faithfull are the people of God who are reconciled and whose sins are expiated And this as was noted before was proper to the office of the high Priest who used not to make reconciliation for single persons but for the people on the day of Expiation 18. For in that he himselfe hath suffered being tempted He saith not simply that Christ hath suffered but he addes being tempted The sufferings of Christ were not punishments but temptations or trials of his excellent fidelity and piety For there was no sinne in Christ for which he should be punished seeing punishments are onely for sinne And therefore chap. 4. v. 15. speaking of Christs being tempted or tried he expresly addeth that he was without sinne i. his triall was not a punishment as no way merited by sin He is able to succour them that are tempted Afflictions to the faithfull are temptations of their faith and righteousnesse whether they will persevere in their obedience to God or be beaten off by worldly calamities as the offering of Isaac was a temptation to Abraham and our whole spirituall warfare against Satan the world and the flesh is a daily temptation or triall of us In these their trials Christ doth succour them by his assistance of them from perishing under the miseries that presse them And this he doth when he affords them strength and courage to sustaine the afflictions lest by force thereof they fall from the faith and forsake it Or when he so moderates the afflictions that they be not too great for paine or too long for time by lightning of them if they be too or shortening them if they be too long or lastly when he receives their spirits at their death to restore them againe in due time with supreame glory And when Christ succours the faithfull in this manner he doth even thereby expiate their sinnes For thereby he endeavours and provides with all care lest that sinking under their afflictions or being destitute at their death they should by this meanes suffer punishment for their sinnes And therefore the word able to help must be ampliated and extended to be both able willing and carefull for otherwise he should not be a mercifull and faithfull high Priest if having power to succour he had neither will nor care to performe it Hence appeare three verities 1. That Christ our high Priest expiateth our sinnes by succouring us in our temptations 2. That the principall function of his Priestly office is performed now in heaven and was not performed at this death wherein there was only a preparation toward it 3. That neither the Priestly function of Christ nor his Expiation of sins thereby procured consist in this that Christ should suffer punishment for our sins seeing that can have no place in heaven The sum or Contents of this second Chapter are 5. 1. Wee Christians have more cause to persevere in the Gospel then the Iews had to persist in the law verse 1. Reason 1. Because if wee neglect it our punishment will be more certaine then theirs 2. Because it was first taught by Christ and confirmed by his Apostles by miracles and gifts of the holy Ghost 2. Christ was made lower then the Angels verse 7. Reason 1. Because he was to suffer death not thereby to succour them but men 3. Christ and the faithfull are brethren verse 11. Reason 1. Because they come of one Father who is God Testimonies 3. out of Scripture 4. Christ suffed death verse 14. Reason 1. Because he was to destroy the devill that had the power of death 2. Because he was to deliver the faithfull from the feare and bondage of death for he was to succour not Angels but them 5. Christ was afflicted and tempted like the faithful in all things ver 17. Reason 1. Because he was to be their high Priest to expiate their sinnes 2. Because he was to succour them when they are afflicted and tempted CHAPTER III. 1. WHerefore It referres to all that hath been spoken hitherto concerning the dignity of Christ who seeing hee is so excellent a person as yee have heard therefore ye have great reason to consider him well Holy brethren Separated from the prophane vulgar and worldly by your knowledge in divine mysteries and allied to me not by a vulgar and carnall fraternitie but by a spirituall affinitie in Christ Partakers of the heavenly calling Who together with me and all other Christians have one common spirituall calling whereto we are called And this calling is called heavenly not only because it was notified from heaven and comes from thence but also because it is directive to heaven to teach us the way thither and conductive to heaven to carry us safely thither So that heaven is the double terme of our spirituall calling for heaven is the start of it from
and carrieth his name as we shall declare a little afterward Neither must we thinke that Christ now inhabiting heaven doth to speake properly intercede or pray for us for that were repugnant to his supreme dominion and power over all things Wherefore his Priestly office lyes in this that having power given him of God he takes away the punishment of our sinnes and by all means procures our salvation And therefore this Priestly office of Christ is really the same with his regall office as we said before Hence Christ as a Priest is said to save us perfectly or rather for ever cap. 7.25 he is also said as a Priest to succour us being tempted cap. 2. ult and in this chapter v. 16. Both which actions are regall Hence it is that other holy Writers make no expresse mention of Christs Priest-hood but this Author chap. 3. v. 1. included the regall office of Christ in his Priestly and chap. 5. v. 5. he interprets that testimony of Scripture to be meant of his Priestly office which treats of his regall Christ therefore is called a high Priest not that this office is really diverse from his regall but because of diverse resemblances which Christ hath with the legall high Priest and of diverse properties and circumstances in his regall office upon which that resemblance is grounded and which that Metaphoricall appellation of high Priest doth better insinuate into our mindes then the proper appellation The resemblance lies chiefly in this That Christ having first shed his blood entered into heaven to expiate our sins or to take away the punishments which by our sinnes we had deserved and appeared before God as the legall high Priest having shed the blood of the sacrifice was wont to enter the Tabernacle and there appeare before God to expiate sinnes by taking away the guilt and penalty of them But because the high Priest performed this by bringing the blood of the slain sacrifice into the sight of God and offering it unto him with certaine rites and so interceding for finners with God from whom the forgivenesse of sinnes proceeded Therefore also it is said of Christ who was himselfe slaine like a sacrifice and had shed his owne blood that entring into the heavenly Tabernacle he offered himselfe to God and appearing in his sight intercedeth for us Not that hee doth properly intercede but that as wee said he is like to the high Priest offering and interceding especially because he forgives sinnes not of his own authority but by power received from God whereby he is not unfitly compared with him who obtained forgivenesse of sinnes from God by his intercession From hence in some measure may be gathered those properties and circumstances of Christs regall office which his appellation of high Priest doth better represent unto our mindes then his name of King though this name bee proper to him and the other Metaphoricall His Kingly name shewes not that he saves sinners but his Priestly doth That shewes not that he is a man for God both is and is called our King but this doth for in the beginning of the fifth Chapter the Author shewes That every high Priest is taken from among men and is ordained for men That shewes not that he received his authority and power from another but this doth chap. 5. 4. That shewes not that he is touched with a sense of our miseries this doth That shewes not that he shed his bloud to expiate our sinnes but this doth for a Priest must offer sacrifices for sinnes which cannot be offered without shedding of bloud but Christ shed no bloud besides his owne That shewes not that he shall come forth from heaven but this doth Hence therefore it is that the Holy Ghost gives Christ the name of High Priest A great high Priest Christ is called a great high Priest not only to distinguish him from the ordinary and inferiour Priests but also from the chiefe high Priest under the Law who compared to Christ is very little yea but a small and slender shadow of Christ For he must needs bee a great high Priest indeed who is immortall who expiates all sinnes even the most heynous who hath power in himselfe to take away all punishments of sinne among which eternall death is one who hath right and power to give eternall life to succour men in all their afflictions and to comprise all with the Author in a few words who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens chap. 8. 1. which thing hee intimates also here when he addes in the first place That is passed into the heavens Therefore among other respects he is great because he hath passed through all the heavens By heavens are understood all those regions of heaven which are interposed between God and us namely 1. The whole region of the aire which in the Scripture is called the heaven 2. The heavens wherein are the Sunne the Moon and the rest of the Startes or lights of heaven above all which Christ is now exalted Eph. 3.10 and Heb. 7.26 3. After all these is that heaven which is the habitacle of immortality wherein God resides and whereinto Christ our high Priest hath entered Iesus Here he names this great high Priest and shewes who he is although in this be tacitly contained that which afterward he utters expresly namely that he is touched with a feeling of our infirmities For when he called him Jesus he called him also that man whose sufferings and death were evident But because he intended to set first clearly before our eyes his transcendent excellency therefore that it might better appear how great an high Priest he is he adds in the second place The Son of God He calls him not a Son of God but prefixeth the specifique article calling him the Sonne to shew that he is no ordinary Sonne of God in a vulgar sense but that singular and eminent Sonne of God even he of whom he spake in the first chap. whom God appointed heire of all things who is become far more excellent then the Angels For so it ought to be that the singular and only Sonne of God should obtaine Gods greatest love should be in highest dignity and have right and dominion over all his fathers goods Even him we have for our high Priest Whence it appears that Christ can effect all things with his Father by reason of the great love and authority which he possesseth Wherefore as the Author addeth Let us hold fast our confession Here he infers his admonition that seeing we have so great an high Priest of our Confession therefore let us hold our confession fast i. let us not only imbrace the Christian Religion in our hearts but constantly professe it with our mouths 15. For we have not an high Priest He clears an objection Some man will say What can this great high Priest helpe me when I suffer misery for the confession of my faith who the greater he is
the testimonies are alleadged for the same thing Some men that they may elude the true sense of the former testimony which the Holy Ghost shewes to be in the words Thou art my Sonne To day have I begotten thee say that those words are not alleadged as a testimony of Gods collating the Priesthood upon Christ but as a description of him who conferred this office upon him There men doe a manifest injury to the truth and to the words of the Author For how should these following words agree with the former as he saith also in another place doth hee not by these latter words manifestly declare that now another place or Psalm is cited by him wherein the same point is proved for which the former testimony was produced For ever The Priestood of Christ shall last for ever in the person of Christ without ever having any successour in his office for his office shall last as long as there needs any expiation for sinnes even to the end of the world and so long he shall continue in that office After the order of Melchisedeck The duration or terme of Christs Priesthood shall runne out like the duration of Melchisedecks Priesthood or as the Author expresseth himselfe afterward chap. 7.15 after the similitude of Melchisedeck But of these words we shall speake further chap. 7. where the Author explicates this likenesse more fully But here he tacitly meets with a doubt which some man might imagine touching the Priesthood of Christ in that Christ descended not from the family of Aaron or tribe of Levi to which tribe the Priesthood was limited by the Law of God For the type of Melchisedeck doth not only require an eternall Priesthood but also requires that no respect of tribe or family should be had therein as we shall shew hereafter 7. Who in the dayes of his flesh From the third property required in a high Priest and concluded to agree with Christ he ascends now to the second property and saith that Christ also was compassed with infirmity and by reason thereof offered for himselfe This he shews in this 7. verse and then at the 8. verse he inferres that from this infirmity Christ learned to be mercifull toward the distressed and afflicted In the dayes of his flesh By flesh hee understands the infirmity of Christ for flesh is the subject of infirmity and in a manner the cause of it And the dayes of his flesh are the dayes wherein he suffered for in that time chiefly his infirmity most appeared For then it most appeared that Christ was flesh When he had offered prayers and supplications Now he shews that Christ offered also for himselfe Of which his oblation his infirmity and afflictions were the cause the sence whereof how deepely it struck into his soule and how greatly it exercised him appeares from the things which he offered For he shews distinctly both what he offered and to whom as also the adjunct of his offering and the issue of it The matter of his offering was Prayers This is a generall word to signifie all petitions or rather all kinde of speech unto God And supplications which are the prayers or petitions of supplicants whose manner is to fall upon their knees casting themselves at the feet or touching the knees of them to whom they make their prayer The originall word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which as some Interpreters note doth properly signifie an olive-branch wrapped about with wooll which supplicants held in their hands Hence we may easily imagine in what anguish of soule Christ was and what pangs of paine he felt when he was driven to such earnest prayers and devout supplications But what prayers and supplications the Author means will appeare from the words following wherein the person to whom he prayed is described in such manner that thence wee may easily understand what he prayed although the adjunct of his prayer doth partly also declare it Vnto him that was able to save him from death In these words he shews not only the person to whom Christ offered but also the cause why he offered him prayers and what the thing was for which he so earnestly prayed And this is the cause why he would describe God after this manner rather then simply name him for therefore he so devoutly supplicated to God because God onely is hee that can save from death which Christ by his prayers chiefly requested He indeed requested some other things besides for in the garden hee petitioned that the cup might passe from him i. he there was an humble supplicant prostrate upon his knees and afterward on his face praying againe and againe with great ardour of minde that hee might be delivered from the great anguish and heavinesse which hee felt in his soule And hanging upon the crosse he poured forth this lamentation unto God My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Wherein hee prayed that God would put an ease and an end to his extreme paines But the summe and breviate or at least the head of all those prayers was this for his delivery from death For hee that is delivered from death in that sence that Christ here desired hee hath found an end of all paines both of soule and body and hath obtained supreme happinesse This delivery Christ prayed for in commending his Spirit to God when he was ready to expire For to commend the spirit to God or to pray that God would receive it into his hands what is it else but to pray that he would preserve it and afterward restore it and consequently to recal him from death to life whose spirit it is That the Author had respect to these prayers of Christ it may appeare by their adjunct which he also mentions in saying That his prayers were offered up With strong crying and teares The holy History of the Evangelists doe testifie that Christ hanging upon the Crosse complained in the words of the Psalme with a great cry that God had forsaken him and afterward being ready to expire he commended his Spirit to God But the Sacred History mentions not any teares of Christ shed at that time yet notwithstanding it appeares that it was so and was knowne to the Authour to bee so Now this cry and teares doe further shew how deepely the sence of paine was impressed into him when it forced him to expresse such cryes and teares Hence it appeares further that Christ thus exercised with so great a sence of paines himselfe cannot but be moved at the miseries and paines of his people cannot but willingly hear the dolefull cryes and complaines and affoord his opportune succour and help in their afflictions and distresses From these words of the Authour it appeares how Christ offered for himselfe namely that hee offered not himselfe but his prayers for himselfe and then he offered them not when he became immortall in his heavenly Tabernacle but in the dayes of his flesh or infirmity For when he became immortall he could not
the New Testament as we shewed in the former Chapter to containe the remission of all our sinnes even the most heinous and consequently to be of force to purge our conscience And because it is a Testament therefore it was first to be confirmed by death which here neither can nor must be any other then the death of Christ Whence it is manifest that the death or bloud of Christ as it confirmes the New Testament doth purge our conscience from dead workes The particle and shews that a new argument is alledged and the words for this cause note the finall cause for which Christ died He is the Mediatour of the New Testament Wee now use the word Testament and not Covenant because the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies a Testament and not a Covenant though sacred Writers use it to signifie also a Covenant And the ambiguity of the word did well serve the Author to draw his argument from that which must needs be done in a Testament And to speake a little yet more accurately Testament and Covenant differ but alternly as genus and species For every Testament is a Covenant though not è contra for though the heire doe not covenant with the Testator at the making of the Testament because that may be done altogether without his knowledge which is necessarily required in him that covenanteth Yet he covenants at the validity of the Testament for when the Covenant takes effect by his acceptance of the condition specified in the Testament and by his entrance upon the Inheritance then though before he were free he covenants ex Lege to performe the will of the Testatour So that every Testament at least when it is consummate and valid is a kinde of Covenant and it is the best kinde of Covenant 1. Because it is most solemnely testified by sealing and witnessing from whence it is called a Testament 2. Because it is most preciously confirmed even by death and the death of him that makes it who establisheth his owne deed by his owne death 3. Because it containes an extraordinary benefit in conveying the Testators inheritance and whole estate to the heire And lastly because it proceeds with the greatest freedome in leaving the heire to his liberity whether he will accept of the Inheritance or not Now this New Testament is the last will of God which must stand for ever because it is already confirmed and therefore cannot be revoked But how Christ is the Mediatour of it hath beene partly shewed before chap. 8.6 and is partly to be shewed afterward yet his Mediatorship consisteth chiefly in these two acts first in declaring or publishing it and then in confirming or establishing it by his death as a Testament ought to be That by meane of death for the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternall inheritance Here is a file of finall causes linked one to another whereof the last end is the obtaining of an eternall inheritance the intermean is the redemption for the transgressions which were under the first Testament the prime Mean to these two former subordinate ends whereby they are successively atrained is death which in a Testament must necessarily intervene Hence we may see that the redemption of transgressions doth properly depend and flow from the New Testament and the death of Christ doth give force and strength to this Testament The word Redemption is put for Expiation as was shewed ver 12. For Expiation is one kinde or sort of Redemption both because the effect of expiation is a delivery and because also the meanes or it whereby it is wrought is an expence for it commonly costeth bloud Hence some Translators in this place render it Expiation But because the word Redemption carries the sense of Expiation therefore it both followes the construction of it and is simply called the redemption of transgressions either for their expiation as wee have said In which sense the Scripture speakes elswhere For Prov 16.6 where the vulgar Latine reads it By truth iniquity is redeemed there our English translation hath it By truth iniquity is purged i. expiated Or for redemption from transgressions For Cicero himselfe in a sense not unlike saith Liberationem culpa for à culpâ And he useth the word Transgressions whereby grievous sinnes are commonly signified to shew us what sinnes chiefly are remitted in the New Testament namely heynous and grievous sinnes for which in the Old Testament there was no expiation allowed but the punishment of death imposed Wherefore he addeth Which were under the first Testament He means which remained in force or could not be expiated or for which no remission was allowed under the Law But hee seems withall to intimate that those grievous sinnes had their being and were wont to bee committed under the Old Testament whereas the New Testament together with their guilt doth wholly take away their being in them who cordially beleeve the promises of it For that this is the force and effect of the New Testament and of the bloud of Christ we have already shewed partly in the eight Chapter and partly here And he mentions not the expiation of transgressions only or grievous sins therfore as if under the New Testament also all lighter sins were not expiated but it is as much as if he had said Yea even of those transgressions under c. For somtimes the Scripture speaketh simply not to exclude other things but to teach us that those other things wherof there might be greater doubt are included which being thoght included much more is it to be thought so of the rest So Psal 25.8 David saith of God That he is good and upright therefore wil he teach sinners in the way i. Yea even sinners and not righteous men only though he will teach them also and much rather for so he presently addes in the verse following The meeke will he guide in judgement and teach his way So Paul Rom. 4.5 saith That God justifieth the ungodly not that he justifieth him onely but that hee is so gracious as to justifie him also Or else the Authour mentions only transgressions or grievous sins to shew that they chiefly are expiated under the new Testament and that this is the proper fruit of the new Testament and of the oblation of Christ But if the guilt of grievous sins be taken away under the new Testament much more must it be true of lighter sinnes Besides grievous sins do much more grieve the conscience then lighter for to lighter sinnes there was some expiation granted in the law whereby men might imagine that God of his infinite goodnes would also release the penalty of eternall death but to the other no expiation was allowed Might receive the promise To receive the promise of eternall inheritance doth in this place signifie to enter the reall possession of the eternall inheritance which was before promised and not to receive the promise
wherein it is opposed to the legall Tabernacle whereof one of the roomes was the most holy yet not absolutely but comparatively only in respect of the other which was called the first Tabernacle and the holy place because it was lesse holy then the second as the second was farre lesse holy then heaven which is farre the holiest of all By the bloud of Iesus For from the bloud of Jesus wee draw our boldnesse both for our liberty and confidence to enter because both the New Testament whereby is granted unto us not only leave but a right to enter into the holiest is confirmed by the bloud of Jesus but also the new sacrifice once only offered and never to be iterated for the offering whereof Christ entered into the holiest was prepared by the bloud of Jesus For by the entrance of Jesus into the holiest who is our leader and our head we have liberty that we may and we take courage that wee shall enter seeing whither soever our leader and head whom God himselfe hath appointed unto us doth enter and arrive thither also a right and liberty of entring is granted unto us for not only the same issue of the journey is promised to us that was granted to our Captain and Head but also therefore our Captaine entered heaven and obtained all power there that both from his example and from the power he hath there we might have an assured faith and hope of those heavenly blessings and in due time might really enjoy them 20. By a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us Here the Author seems to declare whence it is that we have our liberty and confidence to enter heaven and he saith we have it hence That Christ hath consecrated for us a way to it Consecrated here is initiated or dedicated for the Greek word is the same that before we rendred dedicated Chap. 9. v. 18. Now Christ is said to consecrate or initiate this way unto us not only as he was the first that entered heaven after death and a death so fearfull and shamefull but also because hee hath procured us a right to the same way that we may lawfully passe along in it and trace the steps of Christ to immortality For Christ hath consecrated this way for us by using it himselfe first and then leaving the use of it free to us for consecration is the first use of a holy thing before which it might not lawfully bee used by any other Before Christ opened heaven by his entrance thither and consecrated the way leading thither it was lawfull for no man to enter it especially after death But now this way being consecrated dedicated or initiated any man that will may enter it and by it passe safely unto heaven This way is called new not only because it was lately or newly consecrated or initiated but especially because it was lately discovered and newly opened even in the latter times and last age of the world and besides because it is an appendent and concurrent with the New Testament for during the Old Testament and the old Tabernacle the way to the holiest was not open The way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first Tabernacle was yet standing Chap. 9.8 This new way is so marked with the steps of Christ that no length of time can deface it especially seeing so many thousands of the godly have heretofore followed and hereafter will follow Christ their leader in that journey and the way by their steps is continually renewed and kept open And it is called a living way not formally but finally because life is the end of it whereto it leads for so bread is called the bread of life and living bread because effectually it doth vivifie and make us live Hee seemes herein to have a tacite reference to the entrance into the holy places under the Law which was a mortall and deadly way because it was death for any man to enter them excepting only the high Priest and he but once a yeare upon a prefixed day to performe solemne ceremonies And therefore he opposeth the way to the heavenly holy place to the way of the old legall holy place in as much as this latter is a deadly way that brings death but the former is a living way that leadeth unto life Besides this entrance and way leading to the heavenly holy place is commonly made by death and sometimes by a horrid and cruell death and so may seem rather to lead unto destruction and therefore he called it a living way very seasonably to comfort us by teaching us that it hath a far different issue from what it seems at the first sight Through the vaile that is to say his flesh Hee alludes to the vaile that was spread between the two holy places of the Tabernacle and disparted the one from the other To which vaile he saith the flesh of Christ is answerable For as the old legall high Priest could not enter into the most holy place unlesse the vaile were withdrawne So Christ could not enter into the heavenly holy place before his flesh was withdrawne and as I may say rent and broken Therefore the high Priest entered by moving the vaile aside and Christ by laying his flesh aside so Christ entered through the vail An open sign whereof was in the death of Christ whereby his flesh was dissolved and laid aside For when Christ yeelded up the ghost suddenly the vail of the Temple was rent in twain And this renting of that vaile what doth it portend else then that by Gods appointment those holy places should be no more shut but open and common and become in a manner of publicke use so that any man might lawfully either looke into or enter them And hereby what else was signified but that the flesh of Christ being rent and broken by the death of the Crosse thereupon the passage unto the heavenly holy places was unlocked and set open to Christ and to all that beleeve in him so that not onely Christ himselfe might enter but all that are Christs may enter also and before they enter actually may looke in by faith and hope While the mortall body of Christ was entire and whole both Christ himselfe was debarred from the entrance of those heavenly places and we both from the entrance and prospect of them but after that this vaile of Christs flesh was by death dissolved then both Christ himselfe did enter heaven and procured us a right and power to enter and before we do enter actually to view the happinesse of it by faith and taste the sweetenesse of it by hope For the entrance of Christ into heaven following upon his death doth make us certainely to see and hope for the inheritance of heaven which was hidden from us by Christ as by a vaile till he was withdrawne and taken from us by his death and Resurrection 21. And having a great high Priest Christ is called a great high
receive that place or countrey for an inheritance So the foresight of that countrey to come and the hope to have it for an inheritance were the causes to produce in Abraham that faith whereby he obeyed the call of God and thereupon went out of his own countrey not knowing as yet whither he went There were many reasons on the contrary to withdraw Abraham from this obedience and to remove him from so strange a journey For it was very hard especially upon no urgent necessitie for a man to forsake his countrey his house and lands and possessions to leave his kindred friends and acquaintance to wander without any certaine abode and become a stranger in a forraigne countrey It seemes a rash enterprise for a man to prepare himselfe for a journey before hee knowes whither hee should goe or to what place hee should travaile But the faith of Abraham was so firme and strong that it admitted none of these thoughts but vanquished and banished them all being fully perswaded that no man could possibly miscarry in his obedience to God whatsoever the command might be and how rash soever the enterprise might seeme But wee must note that Abraham did not leave his country to become a pilgrime and wanderer in the world upon any rash or unadvised motion of his owne but he was called to goe out i. He was appointed and commanded to goe out and the person calling him to it was God at whose word and command he thought it fit for him to leave his countrey and acquaintance Whereby he becomes to us an example that when God commands and requires any thing of us we should refuse no burden labour or trouble no losse of countrey friends or fortunes that we might fulfill his will Yet when there is no just cause wee should not by any rash or foolish humour either deprive our selves of those blessings that God hath given us or involve our selves in any calamity or misery by an unprofitable piety For it is a more certaine triall of our faith and a thing more worthy to doe and undergoe that at the command of God or as our duty requires which otherwise we would not doe Of this fact of Abraham See Gen. 12. 9. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange countrey Another effect of Abrahams faith common to him with Isaac his son and Jacob his nephew which withall shews us how constant they also were in it He sojourned by living there as an alien or a stranger for sojourner in this sence is opposed to a native who lives in the same place where he was borne enjoying it by birth or right of inheritance So we finde Paul opposing strangers and forraigners to fellow-citizens Ephes 2.19 And the land wherein he sojourned was a strange land unto him partly because he was not a native of it but onely a sojourner or forraigner there but chiefly because he had no right of inheritance for any present possession there for God gave him no inheritance in it not so much as to set his foote on Acts 7.5 But it was onely the land of promise to him for God had promised to give the inheritance and possession of it to him and his posterity after him while yet he had neither posterity nor childe See againe Acts 7.5 Dwelling in tabernacles Here is expressed the reason why and the manner how Abraham is said to sojourne in the land of promise namely because he dwelt there in tabernacles for this argues that to that land he was a sojourner or stranger and that land to him was a strange countrey For though God had promised to give it to him and his seed yet he for his owne particular never dwelt in it as his owne demaine but as a stranger dwels in a strange countrey among the natives of it For he built himselfe neither City nor house to inhabite but onely lived in Tabernacles or tents as strangers doe who have no certaine residence nor make no long abode in any place but being alwayes ready to remove are for the time of their stay covered onely with tents and when they journey from one place to another carry their houses with them for to them that have no possession of their own where they may make themselves a fixed and certaine seat tents are the most commodious dwelling because they may suddenly and easily transport them at their pleasure But hence is drawne an evidence of Abrahams faith and his constancy therein in that to shew his obedience to God he lead a travelling life all his dayes and though the land were promised unto him yet he neither founded City nor built house neither did he either purchase or possesse any but as a flitting inhabitant removed his tent from place to place and wanting the right of a native lived there onely by tenure of curtesie Yet he possessed an assured hope that after some few ages his posterity should possesse that whole land because it was the land of promise which the Lord had promised him With Isaac and Iacob the heires with him of the same promise Isaac and Jacob are not therefore joyned with Abraham as if Abraham had lived in tents all that time with both of them For Isaac being borne many yeares after Abrahams comming into that land could not all that while live in Abrahams tent and Jacob dwelt in the land after Abrahams death But they are therefore joyned with him because they also never came to the possession or inheritance of that land but lived like sojourners and strangers there as Abraham had done for as they were heires of the same promise so they lived in the same manner And hence is manifested their faith and their constancy in it because their sojourning in that manner moved them not at all to doubt any thing of the faith and truth of Gods promise though the performance of it were so long delayed 10. For he looked for a City which hath foundations Here the Author gives the reason why Abraham though he had a promise of that land from God yet was never put in possession of it but dwelt there all his dayes in tents as a sojourner and a stranger The reason hereof was because he expected or looked for a City having foundations Some man may doubt whether these words are to be understood of Abrahams intent and purpose or of the event that afterward fell out Certainely as we will not deny but that Abraham hoped to have from God some life and happinesse after his death in regard he knew the great goodnesse of God toward his servitors and the great power of God that he is able to raise even the dead and can give his servants a blessing or reward after their death and withall did easily perceive the vanity of earthly happinesse especially now in his declining yeares and might have a desire of a re-surviving life to befall him after his death a thing that seemes naturall to all men living Yet
shall thy seed be called that is the children to be borne of Isaac shall be accounted thy seed and posterity namely that thy posterity for whom I have ordained my blessing and the possession of that land and therefore Isaacs children only shall be called the posterity of Abraham In this perplexity then and contrariety between the promise and the command what issue could Abraham find for his faith To doubt of Gods promises and of their performance he thought it impiety and therefore he obeyed Gods command for the offering up of Isaac But then considering that this sacrifice would in the eye of nature overthrow all his hope therefore he builds a new and high faith upon the ground of his former faith namely 19. Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the daed This way onely the passage was open for Abraham to beleeve that God was able to raise Isaac even from the dead This point he did beleeve though he had no president or example for it For he would rather ascend up to the highest pitch of faith then relapse or retire in any degree and would rather cumulate a high faith with a higher then make the least doubt of Gods promises Accounting is in the Greeke reasoning after he had reasoned within himselfe casting up all the wayes possible how to salve up Gods command with Gods promise at last hee determined and concluded a possibility this way And which way was that that though he should slay Isaac and offer him up to God as a burnt-offering yet God was able to raise him up even from the dead This was the summe of his account and the conclusion of his reasoning that God was Almighty and able to doe not only all other things that are easily done but even to raise from the dead which is an act so difficult and so remote from humane reason that man might account it an act altogether impossible That God was able He reasoned and concluded of Gods power only because he had no reason to doubt of his will seeing he had received the promises of God wherein God had sufficiently declared his will The only doubt therefore rested upon Gods power which doubt he solves by his faith From whence also he received him in a figure Abraham did not only beleeve that God was both able and willing to raise Isaac from the dead but in a manner saw him raised from the dead and in a manner received him againe from God as raised from death In a figure In the Greeke it is in a parable or in a similitude In a figure is opposed to the proprietie and truth of the thing For truely and properly Isaac was not raised nor received from the dead because hee was not dead but in a figure and in a manner hee was both raised and received For Abraham accounted his Isaac for dead and therefore seeing now hee remained alive and beyond all hope was rescued from the stroke which his father had aimed at his throat it was in a manner all one to Abraham and all one to Isaac as if Isaac had beene dead and raised againe from the dead For hence wee use to say of those that are delivered from some extreme danger wherein they were given for dead that they are as it were revived and recovered from the grave Holy David many times makes such expressions of himselfe and Paul when God had delivered him from an extreme danger wherein hee wholly despaired of life saith We had the sentence of death in our selves that we should not trust in our selves but God which raiseth the dead who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver 2. Cor. 1.9,10 20. By faith Isaac blessed Iacob and Esau concerning things to come Now the Author mentions the peculiar faith of Isaac with an example of it in blessing Jacob and Esau concerning things to come He prayed to God for blessings to come upon them that should have their event after many ages to come For this blessing of Isaac was no ordinary or vulgar Benediction as that of Parents commonly is who when they blesse their children expresse only the wishes and desires of their mind but whether the blessing will succeed according to their wishes and desires they are no way certaine although such blessings of theirs may proceed from some faith but Isaac so blessed his sonnes and so prevailed with God for the things for which he prayed as if in a manner he had simply foretold them nothing doubting of their event but certainely perswaded that God would doe no otherwise then as hee had wished and prayed For when he perceived his errour in the person of his sonnes yet he said I have blessed him yea and he shall be blessed Gen. 27.33 In which words he plainly signified that the blessing he had given was so confirmed that hee could not recall it But the Authour names Jacob first though Esau was the first-born because Iacob had the first and the best blessing albeit hee obtained it by a wile God so disposing the matter For before either of them were born God using his owne freedome in bestowing his blessings upon whom he will had appointed to preferre Jacob before Esau the yonger before the elder Therefore God suffered not Isaac to bestow the best blessing upon Esau that neither the decree of God nor the blessing of Isaac might faile especially seeing Esau had already voluntarily and freely sold away his birth-right which as the Scripture saith he despised We say he sold it voluntarily and freely because he was not driven to that sale by any destiny or decree of God For Esau might have kept the honour and benefit of his birth-right and yet as God had decreed his posteritie might have become yonger or subject to have served the posteritie of Jacob. 21. By faith Iacob when he was a dying blessed both the sonnes of Ioseph Now he mentions the particular faith of Jacob which appeared in this blessing of the sonnes of Joseph And he addeth the circumstance of time that Iacob did this when he was a dying that hence it might appeare how hee persisted in the faith to his last breath and how constantly hee beleeved the promises of God whereby God had setled his blessing and the possession of the land of Canaan upon his posterity The History hereof is in Genesis 48. But wee may wonder why the Author mentions onely the sonnes of Joseph seeing with the very same faith Jacob gave blessings to all his children was it because he shewed a particular faith in beleeving that Ephraim though the younger should be afterward preferred before Manasses the elder and therefore crossing his hands otherwise then Joseph expected and had placed his sons laid his right hand upon Ephraim who stood at his left hand and his left hand upon Manasses who stood at his right Or was it because he beleeved that these sons of Joseph should be
be as things now stood For it seems hee was already free from prison and set at liberly as may bee gathered from the 23. verse following 20. Now the God of peace Here begins the close of this Epistle which first containes a devotion concluded with a doxologie then certaine monitions or rather requests which againe he ends with another devotion and withall ends the whole Epistle In his devotion he first names and describes the person of whom all those things are to be performed which he prayeth and wisheth to them Then are expressed the wishes themselves He saith therefore But the God of peace The particle but containes a tacit opposition as if he had said I have hitherto proposed unto you divers monitions and precepts but the God of peace enable you to keep them But he describes the Author and donor of the blessings he wisheth unto them first in calling him the God of peace And the descriptions of God that aâ—…â—sed in wishes are commonly fitted to the wishes themselves In this place because the Author wisheth to the Hebrewes that which might render them truly happy namely that in all respects they might please God therefore by the word peace seems to be meant rather happinesse according to the ordinary phrase among the Hebrewes then concord or what else the word peace doth elsewhere signifie and in this sense this title is more frequently attributed unto God but in the other seldome And God is called the God of peace that is of happinesse not only because God alone can make men happy but because hee will and also doth make them so by supplying them abundantly with all those meanes and helpes whereby true happinesse may be attained by men And therefore in this place hee describes God in this manner thereby to teach us that from him proceeds all happinesse and from him must bee sought and may be easily obtained all things belonging to the attaining of it because he is ready and free to grant happinesse to all that seeke it by due means That brought againe from the dead our Lord Iesus that great shepheard of the sheep through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant He adjoynes another description of God from whence it appears how certainly God will make those men happy and blessed that believe and obey him And hee mentions that mighty and admirable worke of God which to all the godly brings a most assured hope of eternall happinesse and blessednesse and so he manifestly proves him to be the God of peace or happinesse And this worke was That he brought againe from the dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepheard of the sheep and that through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant wherein hee describes withall our Lord Jesus himselfe that hence it may appeare what an infinit blessing God bestowed upon men by this bringing againe of our Lord Jesus from the dead If God had delivered but some ordinary man from the dead and estated him in eternall life yet even for that he must needs bee accounted the author of happinesse But now that he hath raised from the dead not an ordinary person but the Shepheard of the sheep not an ordinary shepheard but that great Shepheard nor constituted by an ordinary way but through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant he is much more to be accounted the author and donor of happinesse Which that this Author might declare the more amply and fully therefore it is that he proceeds by words that are very passionate and stately That brought againe from the dead That raised from death to life The word reducing or bringing againe is very accommodate to signifie that God was the Shepheard of Christ our Shepheard whose office it is to lead forth his sheep and bring them againe and that God brought Christ againe from the hideous den of death and so together with him all his sheep For the reduction of our Shepheard from the grave is also our reduction and resurrection from it It was in our Shepheard first that God shewed an essay of his great power and goodnesse and that experiment on Christ was an engagement unto us to assure us also of our resurrection But who this God of peace is that brought againe our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead both the thing it self and the holy Scriptures clearly shew namely that it is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ In the description of our Lord Jesus almost every word of the Author is emphaticall For first hee calls him the Shepheard of the sheep which must not be understood as restrained to that time only wherein Christ lived upon earth but enlarged and much rather to the time following since he sat on the Throne of God for since that time he became most perfectly properly the Shepheard of the sheep Now Christ is the Shepheard of the sheep not only because he ministers to them the wholesome food of Gods word and Spirit but because he every way lookes unto them for he assembles and collects them he governes and defends them and finally procures their eternall salvation For it is the part of a Shepheard not only to feed the sheep but to defend and governe them and looke to them in all things as need shall require Whence Peter when he called our Saviour the Shepheard addeth to it the word Bishop which signifies a Guardian especially as the Hebrewes use to understand it 1 Pet. 2.25 For when wee have a great care of any thing we often visit inspect and see it from whence ariseth the word Bishop which properly signifies a visitor or overseer Hee that desires to know the properties of a good shepheard let him read in the tenth Chapter of John the parable of the good Shepheard which there Christ applies unto himselfe The article that prefixed here before the Shepheard teacheth us that he is no ordinary or vulgar shepheard but an eminent and excellent person whose description and promise also is extant Ezek. 24. But the addition of the word great unto this Shepheard declares his excellency more manifestly when the Author saith that great Shepheard For by this appellation he specifies what manner of shepheard he understands namely a Shepheard so exceeding great that in comparison of him all other shepheards are very little In which sense also St. Peter calls him the chiefe Shepheard or Prince of shepheards 1 Pet. 5.4 And certainly Christ must needs be a great Shepheard indeed seeing hee is equall to God in wisdome power and dominion seated in heaven at the right hand of God upon the throne of God and feeds his sheepe wholly in the same manner that God doth seeing he appoints all other shepheards of his sheep and hath them subject unto him seeing he gathers his sheep out of all Nations into one sheep-fold of his Church seeing though he hath an innumerable multitude of sheep yet he knows them all and so provides for all that no one can stray from him no one can perish no one
better if it had beene an impossibility never to have beene borne So sometime we call them happy who were not borne in troublesome and sad times whereto also in a manner we may referre the words of Christ Behold the dayes are comming in the which they shall say Blessed are the barren and the wombes that never bare and the paps which never gave suck Luke 23.29 In like manner they who by their death have prevented some calamities by dying before they suffered under them are in that respect commonly called happy because they might have lived so long as to have suffered them And in this sence a Philosopher said That it was best for a man not to be borne and it was next to best to dye presently after he was borne Contrarily wee often call them unhappy who dyed before they had brought their state to some happy condition or lived not to see those happy times that immediately succeeded their death Therefore in the number of these non-entities they may be reckoned who though they were yet unborne yet might have beene borne Hence with very good reason as we may call those unhappy who shall never be borne but are intercepted by the end of the world and therefore shall never attaine that heavenly and eternall happinesse so much more are we happy and blessed who are already borne because by the providence and goodnesse of God the perfection of the godly is deferred to our times whereby there remaines to us a passage and entrance to it And to comprise the matter in a few words and answer briefly In that decree of God whereby he is said to have provided some better thing for us who were not yet borne then it would have beene if he had long since perfected the godly wee must be considered neither as already borne nor yet as to be borne after infinite ages to come but as they who might be borne while yet the end of the world was not for many ages to be deferred and Gods decree being passed must be borne Happy therefore we are by vertue of this Decree but otherwise wee should have beene unhappy Better for us that is for us that are Christians for this must not be restrained onely to the Hebrewes to whom this Epistle was written but must be extended to all men under the same covenant namely to all Christians Whence in a manner it appeares that the former examples of those who suffered such various afflictions belong to the Jews under the old Covenant and not to the Christians under the new God having provided Gods Decree is here signified For the thing here specified depends onely from the decree and ordinance of God as if he had said God having procured for to provide is to procure That they without us should not be made perfect How variously the Author useth the word perfecting in this Epistle may appeare from our former explications and here he takes it in a sence different from all the former He said in the last verse preceding that they received not the promises and now he iterates the very same thing and saith in other words they are not made perfect And therefore in this place to receive the promise and to be made perfect that is finally to attaine eternall blessednesse is all one thing And in this sence it seemes he used this word of Christ before chap. 5.9 where he opposed Christ being made perfect to Christ subject unto sufferings Now they who do receive that promise of eternall life and happinesse are fitly said to be perfected first because before they attaine it whether they are living or dead they are many wayes imperfect and secondly because when they have attained it they have filled up the measure of their happinesse and made it so absolute that it neither hath any defect neither can it receive any accesse but is for ever finished The Contents of the 11. Chapter are Notions The principles of Faith are two 1. Every subsistence of a thing hoped for is faith 2. Every sight of a thing unseene is faith ver 1. The necessity of faith is that without it it is impossible to please God ver 6. The chiefe points or specialties of faith are two 1. To beleeve that God is 2. To believe that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him v. 6. 1. Doctrine By faith we know the world was made by God v. 3. Reason Because in the things that are seene we have a sight of things unseene ibid. 2. Doctrine By faith the Patriarchs obtained a good report ver 2. Example As Abel Enoch and Noah Abraham Isaac and Jacob Moses Josua and Rahab c. Reason 1. Because they had a sight of things unseene which God had promised them 2. Because they had a subsistence of things hoped for for they hoped for the things promised 3. Doctrine The Patriarchs have not yet received the promise Reason Because God hath so provided that they without us should not be made perfect CHAPTER XII 1. WHerefore seeing we also He enters upon an exhortation to the Hebrewes to be constant in the faith especially not to be discouraged by reason of the afflictions which they suffered And this exhortation he inferres from the examples specified in the former Chapter and confirmes it with new arguments for their better encouragement We also q.d. Let not us shew out selves inferiour to them whose examples were formerly mentioned but let us also performe the same things which they did Are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses The Author addes this because it is of great force to stir us up unto the course and conflict of our faith And in this his exhortation he useth an elegant allegory drawne from the simily of a race which was a thing then much in use He brings us in as it were upon a spacious theater whereunto a multitude of spectators are collected which having filled all the seates and roomes doth encompasse the runners round about like a thick cloud and he makes us to be runners having the eyes of such a multitude of spectators upon us And as anciently such a multitude of spectators did adde courage to the runners and was a mighty spur unto them to contend for the victory so also to us so many witnesses who have themselves formerly laboured in the same race should adde courage that we might runne the race begun to the utmost of our strength and breath He calls them witnesses not only in allusion to the spectators at a race as wee said who are a kinde of witnesses of their activity that run but also and much rather because they testifie of God of his righteousnesse and goodnesse and all of them with one voice as it were say that God is and is a rewarder of them that seeke him and that he as the supreme depositary keeps the prize for them that run well that he is most faithfull in his promises and can even after death make them happy who
have spent their life for his sake For by witnesses in this place wee must chiefly understand them who testifie Gods faithfulnesse and goodnesse with their bloud and hence are eminently called Martyrs i. witnesses A cloud of witnesses That is a great multitude of witnesses which carry the shew and bulke of a cloud Hence God himselfe comparing the multitude of our sins to a cloud saith I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sinnes Isaiah 44.22 Let us lay aside every weight Hee recedes not from his simily proposed For they that will contend in the running of a race must free themselves from all weights and lighten themselves as much as they can By weight in this spirituall race of faith wee must understand the love of this life and the care of things pertaining to it wherewith our soules are burdened and pressed downeward to the earth as it were with a great weight And the sinne which doth so easily beset us He seemes to allude to long and loose garment which unlesse they be laid aside are a great hinderance to runners about whose legs such garments doe easily wave and wrap themselves By sinne he seemes to meane all outward vicious acts as before by weight he signified the inward vices of the soule For vicious acts doe easily insinuate themselves upon us in our race of faith and greatly retard us in our course begun unlesse we cast off all our love to sin for as often as we commit an actuall sinne so often we fall as it were in our course of godlinesse And let us runne with patience the race that is set before us This race is the course it selfe wherein we strive by running for in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby is signified all kinde of strife in this manner whether it be by running wrestling hurling or any other way but here he speakes of running Therefore to runne the race is nothing else but to strive by running and by this strife in running he meanes especially the strife of our faith which consists in this that we never be cast in our hope of Gods promises made by Christ especially when wee are to doe or suffer some hard matter for Christs sake To this strife particularly Paul exhorts his Timothy when he calls upon him to fight the good fight of faith 1 Tim. 6.12 And the very same is signified by this Author when in the next verse willing to excite us to this strife and to strengthen us for it he requires us to looke unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith For this we must therefore doe least we should waver in our faith fainting and failing under it for this is opposed to the strife of faith ver 3. This race is said to be set before us namely by God and Christ because the price or reward of eternall life is appointed us upon no other condition but of our running this race And wee are commanded to runne with patience either because without patience it is impossible to keepe our faith with God or rather because this race or strife of faith appeares and shewes it selfe in nothing more then in a constant suffering of adversities in so much that he who with an invincible courage doth suffer all evils for Gods sake and Christ is thereby truly said to runne the race of faith things doth strive with afflictions and will not be conquered or foiled by them 2. Looking unto Iesus the author and finisher of the faith Here hee shews from whence especially we must procure courage and strength for our race of faith and patience and what should incite us to runne stoutly and beare all things patiently for righteousnesse sake Namely the example of the Captaine of our faith upon whom we must cast and fasten the eyes of our minde considering seriously both what he did and what he suffered what a race he ran and what a prize hee obtained having finished his course But he calls him not the Captain of faith simply but of the faith adding the article the to specifie unto us some particular and singular faith which is denominated from him and called the Christian faith because Christ was the Author and Captain of it not only because he was the first that taught it but also the first that performed it or the first that did run the race of it And he is also called the finisher of our faith because as he was the first Author that began it so he is the finisher thereof to bring it to an issue and put an end unto it for a thing is then finished when it hath attained the proper end In like manner our faith shall be finished when it is come to the issue of it whereby we attaine the salvation of our soules which as Peter saith is the end of our faith 1 Pet. 1.9 And this end is attained through Christ For the like reason it was that this Author before Chap. 3. ver 1. called Christ Jesus the Apostle and high Priest of our profession For the appellation of Apostle though it rather note that Christ was the first teacher of our faith then the first sufferer for it and contrarily the appellation of the Captaine of our faith which here the Author useth notes rather the latter then the former yet both these appellations doe tacitly include both But Christ is our high Priest especially therefore because it is his office to procure the expiation of our sinnes and the eternall salvation of our soules in which point as we said consisteth the finishing and ending of our faith For to this present purpose this appellation of Christ is very sutable and of great force to strengthen our minds and confirme them against all afflictions For with what face should we forsake that faith which hath so great a Captaine to it and hath him for the finisher of it who is the Author of it Who for the joy that was set before him Christ to obtain the joy that was set before him endured the crosse and counterpoised the paine of death against the joy of eternall life Hence it appears that the joy of heaven cannot be gotten at any lesse price then the crosse if need require And he saith this joy was set before Christ in allusion to the prize that is proposed to them that run in a race or strive at some other game By Joy he understands that supreme and heavenly happinesse which Christ attained and he calls it joy from the adjunct of it because it is accompanied with unspeakable and perpetuall joy and withall is opposed to the paine of the Crosse which he suffered Of such high advantage it is for thee to endure trouble and torment for a small time that thereby thou maiest attaine heavenly joyes and pleasures for ever Endured the crosse The crosse hath in it two things extremely bitter extreme paine and extreme shame yet the shame of it is to a noble spirit far