Aaron saying O Lord heare the prayer of thy servants according to the blessing of Aaron over thy people Ecclus. 36.17 8. And here men that die receive tithes Now followeth the third reason whereby he proves that Melchisedec is greater then the Leviticall Priests namely Because the Leviticall Priests receive tithes yet one of them dies after another and they succeed one another in the Priest-hood but Melchisedec hath a testimony of Scripture for him that he liveth Here i. here under the law and among us But there he of whom it is witnessed that he liveth There where wee read that Abraham gave him tithes he then received them whom the Scripture witnesseth that he lives But wee must note that the Author opposeth not Melchisedec to mortall men but to dying men onely neither doth he say that he is immortall but only that he liveth For life is not opposed to mortality but properly to death And there the Scripture saith That Melchisedec doth live where shee affirmes him to bee a Priest for ever And shee affirmes it in her comparison of him with Christ when she saith Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec Psal 110.4 as we explicated it before in this Chapter vers 3. Where we shewed that Melchisedec was called a Priest for ever because he exercised his Priest-hood a long time even for the full terme of his naturall life and that he lived so long a Priest as there was any knowledge of the true God among the men of his time and any place for the Priest-hood so that Melchisedec in his Priest-hood resembled for his continuance all the Leviticall Priests who succeeded one after another which eternity of his was but umbratilous and figurative as we said of Christs eternitie And therefore the life of Melchisedec was nothing but a shadow of that life which is in Christ And if we respect the scope of the Authour it makes not to the matter that Melchisedec did at last yeeld to the law of nature and die for he speaks not of Melchisedec for himselfe but for Christ who truely lives for ever It sufficeth in Melchisedec that the eternall life of Christ was in some manner shadowed and signified in the Scripture And this is the reason why the Authour opposed Melchisedec to dying men and said he liveth for ever For when wee speake of the type as of the antitype we many times so speak of it as of the anti-type it selfe although the words must be applyed figuratively to the type and properly to the antitype 9. And as I may so say Levi also who receiveth tithes payed tithes or was decimated in Abraham Here at last comes in the other of the first reason which we said was bipartite and wherewith the Author now confirmes the dignity of Melchisedec namely that when Melchisedec tooke tithes of Abraham he tithed also Levi and all the Priests sprung from his loynes who were themselves to receive tithes To shew the great dignity of Melchisedec it was not enough for the Author to say that he tithed Abraham himselfe but Levi also who tooke tithes was by him tithed in Abraham For it is as much as if hee had taken tithes of Levi when he tooke them of him in whose loynes Levi was yet latent Therefore in a figurative way of speech the Author saith that Levi was tithed through Abraham For because he could not say properly that Levi gave tithes to Melchisedec through Abraham therefore lest his words should seem harsh he mollifies them thus as I may so say whereby hee plainely declares that what hee spake here of Levi must not bee taken literally and properly but in a certaine sence and forme of speech Levi also who receiveth tithes not in his owne person but in his posteritie so that it is not strange that hee is said to have given tithes in his father who is also said to have taken them in his children But now let us see how the Author proves this 10. For hee was yet in the loynes of his father when Melchisedec met him Here he proves that Levi gave tithes to Melchisedec through Abraham thus If at that time Levi had been a person severed from Abraham and had enjoyed his estate apart to himselfe this fact of Abraham in giving tithes to Melchisedec had nothing concerned him But because Levi was then so united and joyned with Abraham that he yet lay couched in Abrahams loyns therefore he also is justly accounted to have given tithes to Melchisedec in or through Abraham Which sentence notwithstanding must not be transferred to all the actions of a father but only to those which properly consist either in the increase or decrease of his estate which useth to descend to his children by right of inheritance and the payment of tithes is such an action for it so much decreaseth the fathers estate For they are paid out of the fathers goods which thus farre are already the childrens in that the right of inheritance thereto belongs to them especially if it be certaine that the father hath or may have children to succeed him in his estate as Abraham had to whom God had for certaine promised a posterity For as the heire after his fathers death doth in a manner represent the person of his father by his succeeding to him and possessing his estate so likewise the father before his children be severed from him and have a right to dispose of his goods as their own doth in a manner also represent the person of his heire and of all the rest of his children and what he then ordereth or doth in his goods the same in a manner his heires are accounted to doe I say in a manner because properly this cannot be said neither doth the Author himselfe say properly that it was done but acknowledgeth an impropriety in his words as we noted before Hence may easily be understood that which together with the Author we affirme that such acts of the parents must be extended only to those of their successors or posterity to whom the inheritance or some notable portion of their goods shall descend either for certainty as here to Abrahams posterity or at least in all probability For otherwise that force of inheritance whereof we speake will expire and what any man orders concerning his estate cannot be attributed to his children and posterity 11. If therefore perfection After that by comparing Melchisedec with the Leviticall Priests hee had shewed that Melchisedec was a Priest and a Priest much differing from the Leviticall as a person farre greater and worthier then they Now he proceeds to the third part of the Chapter And in regard that after those Leviticall Priests there must be another Priest ordained according to the order of Melchisedec and not according to the order of Aaron therefore he thence argues and proves the imperfection of the Leviticall Priesthood and also of the Law it selfe upon which that Priesthood was ordained and upon the
committing them to the care of Christ See John 6.39.40 and John 17.6,7 And by giving him power to give them eternall life Joh 17.2 For hee did predestinate them to be conformed to the image of Christ that Christ might be the first-borne among many brethren Rom. 8.29 And Christ and the faithfull are brethren in being signes and wonders For Christ was for a signe which should be spoken against Luke 2.34 And the Apostles were made a spectacle to the world unto angels and to men 1. Cor. 49. yet the faithfull are not the sonnes of God before they be given to Christ and beleeve in him for by faith they are made the sonnes of God But as soone as a man is given to Christ then hee becomes the son of God and unlesse he be so given he cannot be the son of God See John 6.44,45 14. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and bloud After the Author had taught us the neere alliance of brotherhood betweene Christ and the faithfull he now shews what is the state and condition of the faithfull that from thence he might conclude that Christ also their Captaine and high Priest must needs have the like condition with them And so returnes to what he had said at the ninth verse before That Christ was made a little lower then the Angels expressing here the impulsive cause of that lownesse By flesh and bloud Here is understood an infirme fraile and ruinous nature and condition subject to divers evils even to death and corruption Of this nature and condition the faithfull who are Gods children are all partakers He also himselfe likewise tooke part of the same Therefore Christ also the Captaine and high Priest of the faithfull to whom he was so neerely allyed as to be their brother did himselfe also in the very same manner partake of the very same nature and condition of flesh and bloud to be as infirme fraile and ruinous as they subject to as many miseries as they even to death and corruption For he suffered death actually and was by nature subject to corruption yet he suffered not corruption actually for God by his power and by his grace rescued him from it and would not suffer his holy One to see corruption Acts 2.27 The summe of the Reasoning is Seeing Christ must be the Captaine and high Priest of mortall and fraile men therefore he must not be Angel but lower then the Angels even a mortall and fraile man like his brethren subject to divers sufferings even to death it selfe But the Incarnation of Christ cannot be concluded from these last words for then by the same reason the Incarnation of the faithfull or the rest of Gods children must needs be concluded from the former seeing Christ is said to partake of flesh and bloud likewise or in like manner with them But seeing the faithfull the rest of Gods children are not incarnate no more is Christ their Captaine and high Priest otherwise betweene Christ and the rest of Gods children there must be a great difference and unlikenesse in that wherein they are here concluded to be most semblant and alike namely in their partaking of flesh and bloud And granting the Incarnation here then from the death of Christ and his Resurrection following it the faithfull cannot take an example of their resurrection or immortality after death by death to be acquired and therefore by the death of Christ cannot be delivered from the feare of death as the Author inferres it in the verse next following That through death he might destroy the Devill The finall cause to what end Christ did partake of a mortall condition and of death it selfe whereby he was lower then the Angels is here expressed to be double whereof notwithstanding one end is dependent and consequent from the other The first is That by his death he might destroy the devill Christ by his death destroyes not the devill for his person for the devill by his person is an angell and therefore by nature indestructible incorruptible and immortall But Christ by his death destroyes the devill for his power he abolisheth and abrogates the kingdome and power that Satan hath in the world particularly his power of death and therefore he describes Satan by this circumlocution him that had the power of death The power of Satan consists in this that he detaines men mancipated to his command and enslaved at his beck most obsequious to commit any sinne from the yoake of which slavery they have of themselves no meanes to pull their necke This power is by an Hebraisme called the power of death i. a mortiferous or deadly power because Satan by sin brings men to death and that death is eternall to them Christ therefore suffered death that he might overthrow the tyranny of Satan breaking all his forces that he might take from this power of holding men in deadly bondage and deliver them from it For hence it is that we are said to be delivered from the power of Satan See Acts 26.18 and Col. 1.13 And it is by the death of Christ that Satan is said to be devested and spoiled of all his dominion and power See John 12.31,33 and Col. 2.15 Now the reason why Christ destroyes the deadly power of Satan by his death is Because Christ by his death hath obtained the supreame power over all things whereby he is enabled to master all his enemies whereof Satan is the head first breaking their forces and last utterly destroying them This way of destroying Satans deadly power if we respect the nature of the action though Christ might have done it without his death yet it was so ordered by the decree and counsell of God that it should not be effected but by the meanes of his death and that for the second end of his death which is expressed in the next verse following namely to deliver them who through feare of death c. 15. And deliver them who through feare of death were all their life time subject to bondage The second or subordinate end of Christs death is to vindicate men from a fearefull bondage This servitude or bondage is the feare of death and of eternall death or as it may bee feared to last eternally for as it is the manner of slaves to feare so feare it selfe is a fearefull slavery hence S. Paul termes it the spirit of bondage Rom. 8.15 And they are subject to this slavery of feare not who stand in actuall fear but who are liable to fear or by right ought to fear Hence it plainly appeares that all they who fear death have no share in this deliverance or libertie by Christ but remaine in a grievous slavery And all they are forced to fear death and the eternitie of it who have not a sure hope of their Resurrection And how grievous this slavery or bondage of it is appeares from the duration of it in that it continues upon men all the time of their life No minute
then offer for this end that he might be saved from death which as wee have cleared from the words of the Authour was indeed the end of his offering Besides being in heaven he offered himselfe immaculate and therefore had no need to offer for himselfe there Wherefore Christ offered one way for himselfe and another way for us for for himselfe hee offered prayers on earth for us he offered himselfe in heaven for himselfe when yet he was mortall or in the dayes of his flesh for us when he was made an immortall and eternall Spirit And was heard The effect and issue of these prayers offered was this that he was delivered and saved not from death for hee suffered it and dyed but out of death from whence he was raised For whom God heareth praying in that manner him he delivers and frees though not from his misery before he suffer it yet out of it after hee hath suffered So speakes David as a type of Christ Psal 22.21 Thou hast heard mee from the hornes of the Vnicornes i. as learned men have noted thou hast heard to save me from extreame dangers So that the word heard is taken here Metonymically to include the effect of his hearing hee was heard and saved In that he feared Hee was saved from or out of the thing hee feared namely out of death The originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some take for a passionate feare the object whereof here in Christ was death and so by a Metonymie feare is here put for death the act for the object or thing to be feared For of all terrours death is most terrible and fearfull and this feare was the cause of his prayers and supplications at least of the cryes and teares wherewith they were offered And then this example of Christ may teach us partly with what fervency of soule we must implore the help of God in the times of our distresses partly what things especially we must pray for partly wherein that opportune help chiefly consists whereof the Author spake in the end of the former chapter namely in this that Christ saveth us out of death into eternall life Others take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a reverentiall or religious feare for this sence is set in the margent of our last translation that he was heard for his pietie And then the object of his pietie reverence or fear was God to whom he prayed And so this feare of God was the proper motive to this offering of Christ and to all the circumstances of his offering His offering it selfe proceeded from his pietie or feare of God for every offering is an act of pietie His prayers and supplications proceeded from it for prayer also is an act of pietie his cryes and teares proceeded from it for they also are concurrents of pietie and fervent devotion His exaudition in being heard of God proceeded from it for Gods hearing of our prayers is the fruit of our pietie and devotion seeing God heareth not impious and sinfull persons but such as are pious to reverence and worship him and doe his will those hee heareth John 9.31 The prayers of Christ were supplications i. as before is noted petitions exhibited upon the knees with great worship and reverence given to God His prayers in the garden were such supplications performed with great worship and reverence bowing toward God for first hee fell upon his knees and afterward hee went more humbly and fell upon his face And his prayers on the crosse were supplications also as the Author termeth them and therefore performed with reverent bowing also such as was possible for Christ to use in that case being stretched and nailed upon the crosse where because he could not bow his knees therefore as the Sacred story relates it hee bowed his head when hee cryed and commended his spirit unto God Which bowing of his head was not a simple act of a dying man as some Interpreters slightly passe it over but an act of worship and reverence of a pious man that was making his offering unto God by prayers and supplications adding cryes and teares and all religious meanes for exaudition that God might heare him Wherefore it carries a very congruous sence to say that Christ was heard for his pietie i. for the feare and reverence he used toward God in his prayers and supplications for fear is the inward motion of the soule from which the outward worship and reverend bowings of the body do proceed And these outward reverences of bowing the head bowing the body and bowing the knees are acts of worship unto God which have beene used by Gods people in all ages of the world For bowing the head See Gen. 24.26.48 and Exod. 4.31 and Exod. 12.27 and Exod. 34.8 and 1. Chro. 29.20 and 2. Chro. 20.18 and 2. Chro. 29.30 and Nehem. 8.6 Hence it appeares also from this example of Christ that our prayers and supplications unto God should proceed from inward piety and fear of God and should be offered unto him with outward worship and reverence accompanyed with cryes and teares in times of extreme distresses if we mean to have exaudition that God should graciously heare us 8. Who though he were a son Christ by the evils which he suffered became such a one as to have compassion on those who labour to obey God through difficulties and sufferings Hee learned obedience He learned what it is to obey God what a difficult and harsh duty it is how bitter and unpleasing to flesh and blood For in this place hee takes obedience for that part of obedience which is seene in difficult and hard cases such as are these to be afflicted and suffer death for the justice and truth of God Yet I conceive the word obedience is here to be understood more literally and derivatively from audience for a giving of audience Christ who upon his prayers and supplications made to God with cryes and teares to save him from death had audience of God and was heard therein did therby learne to give audience and hearing to his people when in their distresses they offer up prayers and supplications with cryes and teares to him thereby to have compassion on them and deliver them from their distresses For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here fitly renderd obedience doth carry an elegant symploce of sence both of audience to heare another what he would have done and of obedience to doe the thing which he hath heard And that very act of compassion in Christ in hearing the distressed though it be his audience to them yet it is his obedience to God who ordained a high Priest for that function By the things that hee suffered In the originall it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of or from the things that he suffered so it is rendred Mat. 24.32 Learne a parable of the figtree Christ by or from his owne evills and sufferings learned what bitternesse and trouble there lyes in suffering persecutions for righteousnesse
Priest was neglected in Christ and therefore abrogated Therefore now lest any man should marvell at this hee shewes the reason why the Law was justly abrogated For the weaknesse and unprofitablenesse thereof This is the cause why the Law was abrogate because it was weake and unprofitable For all Lawes use to be abrogated and disanulled when by experience they are found to be ineffectuall weake and unprofitable for wise men have found out no other causes why Lawes should bee disanulled and repealed Now the infirmitie of a Law appears in this that it cannot performe the matter for which it was ordained which infirmitie or wickednesse of the Law he either explicates or amplifies by the word unprofitable for the weakenes of a Law makes it uselesse 19. For the Law made nothing perfect Here hee proves that the Law is weake and unprofitable whereof he gives this reason because it made nothing perfect i. it contained no perfect expiation for sinne as wee heard before verse 11. and shall heare it againe Chapter 10. verse 1.14 Now perfect expiation consisteth in a totall taking away all guilt of all sinnes and of all punishments not onely temporall but eternall Such an expiation the Law conferred upon no man For if as wee saw at the 11. verse the Priesthood could not do this how could the Law doe it seeing the Law could doe nothing this way but by vertue of the Priesthood The Law did condemne men but not justifie them it granted expiation to some small sinnes and that only in regard of temporall punishment but for heynous offences upon which it ordained the punishment of death it left no pardon but laid a curse upon all that offended highly In this perfect expiation is contained antecedently as I may say an obduction from sinne For perfect expiation comes to us upon that condition as we shall see by the opposition following Made nothing perfect Nothing here is put for no man the neuter gender for the masculine and so likewise at the seventh verse If therefore the Law could bring perfect expiation and justification to no man it is justly said to be weake and unprofitable namely in regard it could not produce the true and perfect good of men But the bringing in of a better hope did q.d. The Law perfected no man but the superinduction of a better hope doth perfect men for here is an illustration from the contrary By a better hope hee understands the hope of eternall life joyned with a plenary remission of all sinnes granted from God to all penitent persons without which remission the promise of eternall life made to mankinde had beene ineffectuall and unprofitable seeing we have all sinned and thereby made our selves unworthy of eternall life Therefore the Author describing afterward the new Covenant in the words of the Prophet and shewing that it is established upon better promises mentions only the remission of sinnes granted in the new Covenant And by the new Covenant or Gospel and the Priesthood of Christ adjoyned to it this better hope is superinduced upon the Law For the new Covenant brings a better hope because it is established upon better promises but not without the Priesthood of Christ which doth not only confirme and establish the promises of the Covenant but doth also perfect and performe them For the perfect remission of our sinnes depends upon Christs Priesthood and therefore the Priesthood of Christ spoken of in this place must here be joyned with the new Covenant as also the old Priesthood and sacrifices must be joyned with the Law Therefore the superinduction or bringing in of a better hope that is the new Covenant containing the Priesthood of Christ which gives us an assured hope of eternall life and of perfect forgivenesse of all our sins doth most perfectly expiate men and purge them from all guilt of all sinne By the which we draw nigh unto God Here he gives a reason why this hope is better and doth perfect us because it makes us to approah and come neare unto God by suing for his favour by serving him with all our heart and obeying him in all things commanded us For he that hath this hope in God purifieth himselfe even as he is pure 1 John 3.3 And because we approach unto God therefore reciprocally God also approacheth and draweth nigh unto us i. doth embrace us with a strict bond of love that so being purged from all sinne hee may deliver us from eternall death and invest us ' with eternall life Hence saith St. James Draw nigh unto God and he will draw nigh unto you Jam. 4.8 The Law therefore because it wanted this hope could not make us draw nigh unto God and because it could not doe that therefore it could not make us partake of a perfect expiation For our approach unto God is the way to perfect expiation seeing while we approach unto God we cast off sinne and live godly and while God approacheth unto us we are thereby perfectly expiated and justified As therefore this bringing in of a better hope makes us approach unto God so far it justifies us Which the Law could not doe but for the rigor of it whereby it excludes penitents from a full remission of sins and also for default of any open promise of eternall life which ministers unto men great power and courage for obedience unto God 20. And in as much as not without an oath he was made Priest After the Author had shewed that by the Priesthood of Christ the Law was abrogated and added the cause of that abrogation and taught that in the room thereof there succeeded a far more excellent Covenant that maketh us approach unto God Now by a new argument hee shews how much Christ our Priest is greater then the legall Priests and how far the new Covenant excels the old And he draws his argument from hence that Christ was made a Priest with an oath but the old legall Priests without an oath from whence it plainly appeares that Christ is better then they For an oath declares the truth and the strength of a thing Now the things that God will have to be firme strong and unchangeable must needs bee better then those things which have not that firmity and strength such as are the things whereto no oath is added but God will have them to depend upon his will and pleasure that he may either remove or retaine them as it shall seem good unto him And besides looke how much better the Priest is so much is the Covenant better For the Priesthood takes all the dignity and excellency of it from the Covenant of God and by the Priesthood the effect of the Covenant is performed And therefore from hence that Christ was made a Priest by oath by so much hee was made a surety of a better testament as the Author rightly collects it ver 22. that is by how much Christ who was ordained with Gods oath is better then the Priest who was ordained
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
is manifest what we are to thinke of that repentance and sorrow of minde as they call it which appears in persons dying who while they lived and were healthy followed their sinnes or as the Author said before sinned willingly after they had received the knowledge of the truth For upon their death-bed the time of a true fruitfull repentance is past and they are called as it were to the tribunall of Gods judgement For although it is better even then to sue also for Gods mercy with tears and cryes then by casting away of all hope to doe nothing at all for the compassing of mercy yet by force of the new Covenant it death follow and no time granted them for the putting off the old man with his workes and putting on the new they cannot be saved Therefore such have need of some extraordinary grace and favour from God which we have reason to think befals but a few and to none of those who lived prophanely as Esau did 18. For ye are not come Here begins another part of the Chapter wherein the Author useth a new argument to perswade them from falling from the Grace of God and Religion of Christ and from being so prophane as to be more indulgent to fornications uncleannesses and other sinnes then to enjoy that happinesse whereto they have gotten a right by their faith in Christ For he shewes of what great priviledges they are made partakers by receiving the Religion of Christ and this he doth by framing of a comparison of them with those things which long since befell to their ancestours in the publishing of the Law at Mount Sinai And withall he doth tacitly disparage that glorious and terrible manner wherein the Law was proclaimed which happily was no small motive to the Hebrewes to think that they were not to forsake the Law whose proclamation was performed with such Majesty Having shewed the great benefits accruing by the Gospell he thence infers that they ought with all their endeavour to obey the voice of the Gospell otherwise they shall fall upon terrible and infallible judgements not amoveable by any tears and cryes First therefore he mentions the things that of old happened to the Israelites at the publication of the Law and afterward to them he opposeth the things happening to Christians at the publication of the Gospell For saith he ye are not come to the Mount that might be touched Ye came not namely then when ye were initiated unto Christ and were made members or subjects unto him as our ancestors came long since when they became bound to the rules of the Law And the things whereto the Israelites then came he shews to be partly contemptible partly terrible Mount Sinai was a thing contemptible which hee therefore termes the tractable Mount or the Mount that might be touched not only because it might be so but because it often had been so for many times it had been both touched and trampled on both by men and beasts whereto it was no lesse exposed then any other Mountaine The Israelites came to this Mount because by Gods command they were assembled at the foot of it that there they might hear God delivering the Law from the Mount And that burned with fire But the rest of the things that hereupon he mentions are very terrible for the Mount burned with fire which was so great and so high that it burned up unto heaven as the sacred History relates it Nor unto blacknesse and darknesse and tempest By blacknesse we may understand that thicke cloud wherein God is said to have descended and the darknesse was the great shadow which was caused by the overspreading of that cloud which being extremely thick must needs induce an extraordinary darknesse And the Tempest was not by any violence of windes and raine as by lightnings and thunders which rush with as much violence as windes in a tempest and many times are accompained with a tempest All things were composed and suted to inject feare and terror for from the thicke cloud and the darkenesse that it caused there issued forth a horrible burning of fire the lightnings shined out and the thunders clapped and besides the thunders was a noise more fearefull for the noise of a trumpet that sounded long and loud and by degrees rose lowder and lowder filled the whole ayre and that nothing might want for rerrour the whole Mount from the top to the bottome trembled and quaked to the extreme amazement of the people 19. And the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words The words were the commandements of the Law and the voice was the voice of God wherewith the words of the Law were uttered from the top of the Mount out of the midst of the fire For after that the whole multitude summoned by the sound of the trumpet stood at the foote of the Mount ready to heare the Law then God with a voice undoubtedly no lesse terrible then the sound of the trumpet published his will in the Law For how terrible Gods voice was hereby it appeares in that the Israclites supplicated that God would speake no more unto them For so it followeth in the rest of the verse Which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more The voice of God was so terrible to the people that thereby they were afraid of their lives and therefore entreated Moses that if there were any more to be spoken he would speake it and not God lest say they we dye See Exod. 20.18,19 and Deut. 5.25,26 20. For they could not endure that which was commanded If these words cohere with the words immediately following in the verse and if so much as a beast touch the Mountaine it shall be stoned c. So that these words be taken for that which was commanded and which the people could not endure wee may well doubt how this agrees with the Sacred history from whence no such things seemes to appeare that the people therefore deprecated Gods further speech unto them because they feared that command of not touching the Mount and could not endure it as a thing too grievous and dangerous to them but rather therefore because they were terribly afraid of that fire out of which God spake and because they imagined that God could not long speake with man but that man unable to beare the voice and majesty of God must needs dye as appeares by their words to Moses See Deut. 5.24,25,26 Yet because by their words there it is manifest that they feared to be consumed by the fire out of which God spake it seemes that it could proceed from no other reason but because they were afraid they might easily offend God and provoke him whereupon that fire would take hold of them For why otherwise should they be so afraid of that fearefull but harmelesse fire which hurt Moses nothing at all And wherein could they sooner and more easily offend God then if any of them
respect the plenary expiation of our sinnes or the full reconciliation of Gods favour and grace towards us that for that effect there is no further need of any Sacrifices of beasts or other things corporeall Neither is there reason why any man should say that in the Christian Religion there are other Sacrifices and oblations which Christians must offer and therefore by that sacrifice other Sacrifices and oblations are not excluded For the Author doth not oppose that Sacrifice to those that are wholly incorporeall and spirituall and whereof no meat can be made as are the Sacrifices to be offered by Christians such as a contrite and humbled heart as David speakes the Sacrifices of praise the fruits of our lippes confessing unto the name of God communicating or doing good as the Authour hath it afterwards and other workes of pietie But hee opposeth it to those Sacrifices wherein are offered things corporeall and fit for food so that he leaves no further place for all these Therefore herewith the Sacrifice of the Masse must needs fall wherein a thing corporeall that may be eaten is said to be daily offered But some man may demand how it can be true that in the Christian Religion there remaines that Sacrifice whereby the bloud of slaine beasts was by the Priests brought into the Sanctuary for sinne and their bodies burnt without the campe We answer because that under Christianity there remaines the Sacrifice of Christ our high Priest which is the antitype and solid body whereof that Sacrifice was but a type and shadow Which sacrifice of Christ by the comming of it hath abolished all other carnall sacrifices and the eating of them Whereof this is an open and manifest argument that in the type and shadow of it there was no place allowed for eating but the bodies of the beasts slaine for it were wholly burnt and that without the campe Yet it is not necessary we should say that here is a reference to that yearly Sacrifice onely whereby the high Priest entered the Oracle or the holiest of all seeing the reference may be to all those Sacrifices which were made as well for the high Priest himself as for the whole people For the bloud of those beasts that were slaine for a sin-offering was by the high Priest brought into the Sanctuary although not into the Oracle or holiest place of all yet into the first Tabernacle which is properly called the Sanctuary chap. 9. vers 2. which in other Sacrifices for private men was not done wherein the bloud of the beasts slain after the high Priest had sprinkled the hornes of the Altar that stood in the court at the doore of the Tabernacle was all poured downe at the bottome of the Altar Levit. 4.25 and the bodies of the beasts so slaine for sinne-offerings were no lesse burned without the campe then was done in that solemne anniversary Sacrifice as it appears in the same fourth chapter of Leviticus 12. Wherefore Iesus also that he might sanctifie the people with his own bloud suffered without the gate Because hee had said that in those Sacrifices that caryed a type and shadow of the Sacrifice of Christ the bodies of the beasts slaine were wholly burnt without the campe therefore he affirmes it came to passe that Jesus also whom those beasts slaine for the Expiation and Salvation of the whole people fully represented and shadowed suffered without the gate And this hee doth for this end that the conformitie and resemblance betweene the tipe and antitipe betweene the shadow and the bodie might appeare the better which at the first sight would sufficiently argue that one was referred to the other The Citie of Jerusalem wherein the people after their conquest of Canaan seated themselves is answerable to the campe wherewith they journeyed in the wildernesse and succeeded in the roome of that campe And therefore in this respect it was all one for a man to bee drawne without the gate or walles of Jerusalem when the people dwelt in that Citie as without the campe when they had a campe for their Citie Iesus also the particle also hath in this place the force of a comparison as if hee had said not onely the bodies of those beasts were burnt without the campe but Jesus also himselfe suffered without the gate Suffered namely the death of the Crosse the genus being put for the species And the death of Christ is answerable not onely to the slaughter of the beasts that were made within the campe and Citie or compasse of the Temple but also to the burning of their bodies which was performed without the campe and City for this death answered their slaughter as his bloud was shed and their burning as his body was buried And the things that in the tipe and shadow were as it were severed were in the antitipe and body united so that onely death in Christ answered both the slaughter and burning of the beasts That hee might sanctifie the people In these words Christ is tacitely compared with the legall high Priest whose proper office it was to sanctifie or expiate not this or that single person but the whole people and the bloud of Christ is compared to the bloud of those beasts which was shed for the whole people And Jesus did sanctifie and wholly expiate the people with his bloud in that by the intervention of his cruell death hee entered into the heavenly Sanctuary and appeares for us for ever in the sight of God to make intercession for us i. to free us by his care from all the guilt and penalties of our sinnes For the same saying is expressed by Saint Paul in other words Gal. 3.13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us For that which is sanctified or made holy is rightly opposed to that which is execrated or made a curse Wee have already observed heretofore that the Author thought he had occasion to speak of Christs bloud brought into the heavenly Tabernacle whereto his comparison and resemblance of Christ to the legall high Priest might invite him yet doth purposely avoide it and useth onely words from which it might appeare that our sinnes were expiated by the bloud of Christ yet not as brought into the Tabernacle of heaven and offered unto God but onely as it was shed and prepared entrance for Christ into heaven and there to help himselfe unto God The same caution is used also by the Author in this place who in the former verse having made expresse mention of the bloud of beasts brought by the high Priest into the Sanctuarie for sin-offerings yet when hee comes to the bloud of Christ saith nothing else of it but that hee Sanctified his people with it or as it is in the Greeke by it that is by shedding it By his owne bloud Not as the high Priest under the Law who sanctified the people by bloud yet not by his owne bloud but by the bloud of beasts but because
faith Rom. 4.19 Thirdly because in the next verse following where the effect and fruit of this faith is described no mention is made of Sarah but only of Abraham namely in these words Therefore sprang there even of one and him as good as dead so many as the stars of the skie in multitude Whereupon we may well doubt which of these two opnions should be embraced seeing the reasons brought on either side may easily bee answered For to the first reason for the first opinion we may say That the Author therefore saith Through faith Sarah her selfe to shew us that by the faith of Abraham it came to passe that not only himselfe should have power to beget a sonne though he were then old and barren but also that Sarah her selfe should conceive who was by nature alwayes barren even in her youth and besides was then spent out with yeares and age yet she should both conceive and bring forth beyond all course of nature To the second reason we may answer That is is not necessary that the words judged him faithfull should be referred to the next antecedent but rather to that which is the principall antecedent though it be more remote as we see it done in the verse following wherein the reference is manifestly made to Abraham Neither is the answer difficult to the arguments of the latter opinion To the first it may be said That the Author as a little before he joyned Isaac and Jacob with Abraham for dwelling in tents as a thing common to them all so also here he might joyne Sarah with her husband Abraham in a matter common to them both For in mentioning afterward the speciall fact of Abraham in offering Isaac therein the Author would seem to observe the order of actions and of time For first he must handle Isaacs birth and the faith of Abraham concerning it before he come to the offering of Isaac and Abrahams faith about that To the second Although from Sarahs laughing and from the cause of it which is there expressed and from the answer of the Lord wherein hee reproved Sarah for laughing it appears That the promise made her for the bringing forth of a son within the compasse of the yeare seemed at the first hearing ridiculous to her and a thing not credible especially seeing she seemed not yet to know who the prison was that promised it for if we looke into the context of the History it is plaine that Abraham himselfe did not marke that the persons who spake with him were Angels of God till their speech touching Sarah his wife yet it follows not but that afterward when she had recollected her selfe and had observed the divine Authority of the speaker and perceived that the cause of her doubtfulnesse was strongly refuted by him she continued no longer in her â—…ancie and doubting yea the contrary is more probable both in it selfe and collectively from hence that upon her hearing of the Angels reproofe she was terrified and for feare denied shee had laughed For from whence came this terror and feare upon her but because she now had observed that she had not to deale with a man but with God whose sayings and promises to laugh at or distrust was altogether unlawfull for her though to her judgement they surpassed the whole force and course of nature We see that Abraham himselfe laughed also for the same cause when first God promised him a son by Sarah as wee may read Gen. 17.17 not that he doubted any thing of the faith or power of him that promised it for in the fore-cited place to the Romans Paul openly testifies the contrary but because the matter in it selfe considered especially heard upon the suddaine and at unawares seemed to him in a manner absurd and ridiculous and scarce credible But when he had intended his thoughts upon God that promised him and perceived his promise to be serious he became certaine of the power and saith of God and doubted not at all And the Virgin Mary when first she heard it from the Angel that she should conceive and bring forth a son she replyed How shall this be seeing I know not a man Luke 1.34 From which words it appears that at her first hearing of the Angels words there arose some scruple and doubt in her minde which when the Angel had removed by his answer she rested wholly satisfied For which cause Elizabeth afterward calls her blessed And blessed is she that beleeved Luke 1.45 To the third The following verse therefore treats of Abraham because this verse treats not of Sarah alone but Abraham is joyned with her in these words Through faith also Sarah herselfe For the particle also shews that besides Sarah hee intends some other person namely Abraham whom he named before Notwithstanding all this yet to us it seems more probable that these words of the Author should be referred to Abrahams faith as well as the rest and that his faith is herein also commended in that it produced so admirable an effect not only in himselfe being now old but also in Sarah his wife who was not only old but had been hitherto barren Although it seems the Author did so temper his words on purpose as that Sarah might be admitted into the fellowship and glory of that faith with her husband Abraham Because shee judged him faithfull who had promised Hence it appears that God is not only pleased with our obedience to his commands but also with our faith given to his promises when we by our faith judge him to be faithfull i. constant and true of his word alwayes certaine to performe the thing hee hath promised 12. Therefore sprang there even of one and him as good as dead so many as the stars of the skie in multitude and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable As if he had said The faith of Abraham was so effectuall and fruitfull that by reason thereof it came to passe that not only Sarah conceived and bare a son but also by this son who was but one and came from Abraham one man and he a barren man as good as dead there was propagated a posterity innumerable The Author in this verse hath relation to Gods promise wherein Abraham was promised a seed and a posterity answerable in number to the starres of heaven and to the sands of the sea Gen. 15.5 and Gen. 22.17 The Author expresseth the effect of Gods promise which might be seene with the eye that by experience it might appeare what faith and force there is in the promises of God 13. These all dyed in faith not having received the promises He declares the constancy of their faith in that all these departed this life under faith i. holding the faith of the promises and certainely beleeving the future performance of them though themselves obtained not the effect of the promises or the things promised For the promises were to be fulfilled not onely after their death but many
ages after The word promises is here by way of a Metonymy put materially for the matter of the promise or the things promised In like manner we must endeavour to be constant in the faith to the last gaspe of our life and not onely be in certaine hope of those things which God hath ordained for us here in this life but of those also which are to accrue to us after our death and it may be many ages after But having seene them afarre off They saw not the effect of Gods promises actually fulfilled or neere to their fulfilling but they had as it were a prospect of them a farre off They foresaw in their minde the performance of them farre remote from themselves by a great distance of time to be fulfilled in their posterity after many ages So they saw the performance by faith because they had an evidence or sight of the performance not seene As it befell unto Abraham who in a deepe sleepe saw in a vision that foure generations must expire and that his posterity must endure a heavy servitude before they should take possession of the inheritance promised And without all doubt Abraham imparted that vision to his son Isaac and Isaac unto Jacob. And were perswaded of them and embraced them Though they saw that these promises for their effect and performance were for the future very remote from them for severall ages to come yet they no way doubted of their performance but were fully perswaded they should be performed because they were fully perswaded that God who made the promises was faithfull to performe them And they were not onely perswaded of them but they embraced them for which the word in the Originall is they saluted them and so some Translations render it Now saluting is but a Metaphor for embracing because salutings are commonly performed by way of embracing The sence therefore is that those Patriarchs did in their soule embrace and kisse those promises of God and with an undoubted faith conceiving them already present did salute and embrace them as friends use to salute and embrace their friends that after a long travaile returne from a forraine countrey For by this word nothing else is signified but that they nothing doubted of the performance of Gods promises but did welcome them in their soules as if the things they looked for were already come And confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth The intent of these words is to prove that those Patriarcks while they lived did not receive those promises by possessing any inheritance in the land promised for otherwise they would not have confessed themselves strangers and pilgrims in the land But that they did confesse themselves pilgrims and strangers in that land it appeares both by the words of Abraham who requesting to have a sepulchre in the land of Canaan wherein to bury his dead spake thus to the sons of Heth. I am a stranger and a sojourner with you give me a possession of a burying-place with you that I may bury my dead out of my sight Gen. 23.4 And by the words of Jacob to Pharoah for when the King asked him how old he was Jacob answered The dayes of the yeares of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty yeares few and evill have the dayes of my life beene and have not attained unto the dayes of the yeares of the life of my fathers in the dayes of their pilgrimage Gen. 47.9 In which words he affirmes that he and his Ancestors Abraham and Isaac were pilgrims all the time of their lives On the earth This must not be restrained to the land of Canaan onely promised to them and their posterity but it is in effect as much as if he had said that they had no proper countrey at all upon earth no place which was their owne by possession and proper right 14. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seeke a Countrey If the particle for may be thought in this place to retaine it force then the Author shews the consequence why from this their confession it appeares that during their life they received not the promises And the reason is because they that say such things declare plainly that they seeke a countrey For if they sought a countrey certainely then they had no countrey But a Countrey was promised them and a land which they should possesse by a proper and hereditary right and not by courtesie onely as strangers and sojourners But it is more probable that the particle for is here set for but as if the Author had something more to speake of these Patriarcks besides what he had already said and would conclude something further from this their confession thereby to make way for what followes concerning their seeking of a heavenly countrey And they are said to seeke a Countrey because they wanted and desired a countrey as appeares at the sixteenth verse following For they who live a pilgrims life upon earth having no setled abode and are touched with a sence of their condition cannot chuse but be weary of their flitting and tossing from place to place and thereupon be desirous of a countrey i. some proper soile of their owne where they may settle themselves and live at rest Besides they undertooke these pilgrimages and sojournings at Gods command that at last they might have a residence in a countrey and a land appointed to them by God After the Author had proved that they sought and desired a countrey now he proceeds further to shew what countrey they sought and desired 15. And truly if they had beene mindfull of that countrey from whence they came out Before he specifie what countrey they sought and desired first he shews that they sought not nor desired no nor minded that countrey from which Abraham departed by Gods command For if they had had any minde or thought of that countrey or had desired it when they confessed themselves pilgrims they might have returned seeing they had time enough for a returne But they minded it not and therefore desired it not for what we desire we do not only minde but we grieve for the absence and want of it Abraham alone onely with his wife went out of the countrey which was properly his as being a native of it but Isaac his son and Jacob his grand child may in a manner be said to have gone out in him in as much as they continued in the purpose and resolution of Abraham and would not returne thither They might have had opportunity to have returned Because therefore they returned not into their countrey for they sojourned from it for some hundreds of yeares wherein they had opportunities and time enough for such an enterprise hence it plainly appeares they were no way mindfull or desirous to returne to that countrey from whence Abraham departed 16. But now they desire a better countrey Here the Author inferres that now they desire a better countrey then the former and doe