not only be remembred but also rewarded It is unto the Righteous as we have observed not only a Resurrection from the dead but a Resurrection unto Life that is Eternal as their Reward And this is that which either doth or ought to give Life and Diligence unto our Obedience So Moses in what he did and suffered for Christ had respect unto the recompence of reward Heb. 11. 26. God hath put this declaration hereof into the foundation of all our Obedience in the Covenant I am thy exceeding great reward Gen. 15. 1. And at the close of it the Lord Jesus doth not think it enough to declare that he will come himself but also that his reward is with him Rev. 22. 12. Some have foolishly supposed that this Reward from God must needs infer Merit in our selves whereas Eternal Life is the Gift of God through Jesus Christ and not the wages of our works as Sin is of death Rom. 6. 23. It is such reward as is absolutely a free gift a gift of Grace and if it be by Grace then it is no more of works otherwise Grace is no more Grace and if it be of works then it is no more Grace otherwise work is no more work Rom. 11. 6. The same thing cannot be of Works and Grace also of our own Merit and of the free Gift of God And others it is to be feared under a mistaken pretence of Grace do keep off themselves from a due respect unto this gracious reward which the Lord Christ hath appointed as the blessed issue and end of our Obedience But hereby they deprive themselves of one great motive and encouragement thereunto especially of an endeavour that their Obedience may be such and the fruits of it so abound that the Lord Christ may be signally glorified in giving out a gracious reward unto them at the last day For whereas he hath designed in his own Grace and Bounty to give us such a glorious Reward and intendeth by the Operation of his Spirit to make us fit to receive it or meet for the Inheritance of Saints in Light Col. 1. 12. our principal respect unto this Reward is that we may receive it with an advantage of Glory and Honour unto our Lord Jesus And the consideration hereof which is conveyed unto us through the Faith of the Resurrection is a chief animating principle of our Obedience 2. It hath the same respect unto our Consolation For if in this Life only we have hope in Christ then are we of all men most miserable 1 Cor. 15. 19. that is if we regard only outward things in this world Reproaches Scornings Revilings Troubles Persecutions have been the Lot of most of them who so hoped in Christ. But is this all which we shall have from him or by him probably as to outward things it will prove so to most of us in this world if it come not to greater extremities Then are we of all men most miserable But stay awhile These things will be all called over again at the Resurrection and that is time enough and all things be put into another posture See 2 Thes. 1. 6 7 8 9 10. We have therefore no reason to despond for what may befall us in this life nor at what distress this flesh we carry about us may be put unto We are it may be sometimes ready to faint or to think much of the pains we put our selves unto in Religious Duties especially when our bodies being weak and crazie would willingly be spared or of what we may endure and undergo but the day is coming that will recompence and make up all This very flesh which we now thus employ under its weaknesses in a constant course of the most difficult duties shall be raised out of the dust purified from all its infirmities freed from all its weaknesses made incorruptible and immortal to enjoy rest and glory unto Eternity And we may comfort our selves with these words 1 Thes. 4. 18. Fourthly The fourth principle mentioned is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the immediate consequent of the Resurrection of the dead Men shall not be raised again to live another Life in this world and as it were therein to make a new adventure but it is to give an account of what is past and to receive what they have done in the body whether it be good or evil And because there are no outward visible transactions between God and the Souls of men after their departure out of this world nor any alteration to be made as to their Eternal state and condition this Judgement is spoken of as that which immediately succeeds death its self Heb. 9. 27. It is appointed to all men once to dye and after this the Judgement This Judgement is sure and there is nothing between death and it that it takes notice of But as to some there may be a very long space of time between the one and the other neither shall Judgement be administred until after the Resurrection from the dead and by means thereof And when all the race of mankind appointed thereunto have lived and died according to their allotted seasons then shall Judgement ensue on them all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is commonly used for a condemnatory Sentence Therefore some think that it is only the Judgement of wicked and ungodly men that is intended And indeed the day of Judgement is most frequently spoken of in the Scripture with respect thereunto See 2 Thes. 1. 7 8 9 10. Jude 14 15. 2 Pet. 2. 4. And this is partly because the remembrance of it is suited to put an awe upon the fierceness pride and rage of the spirits of men rushing into Sin as the Horse into the battel and partly that it might be a relief unto the godly under all either their persecutions from their cruelty or temptations from their prosperity But in reality the Judgement is general and all men both good and bad must stand in their lot therein We shall all stand before the Judgement-seat of Christ as it is written As I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow to me Rom. 14. 10 11. And this is that which is here intended As the Resurrection of the dead that precedes belongs to all so doth the Judgement that follows And this our Apostle expresseth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word of the same original and signification with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Judgement is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the eleventh fundamental Article of the Jewish present Creed Two of the Targums as a supplement of that Speech which they suppose defective 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 4. 8. And Cain said to his brother Abel add a disputation between the Brothers about Eternal Judgement with Rewards and Punishments which they suppose Cain to have denied and Abel to have asserted And as there is no doubt but that it was one principal Article of the Faith of
a Type or Figure was unto them of no use but so far as it was instructive which was obscurely and mystically And that this is the sense of the word the Apostle declares ver 8. Where he shews the substance of what the Holy Ghost signified by the building disposal and services of the Tabernacle that is what he taught the Church thereby parabolically and figuratively This kind of Instruction whatever now it seem to us was meet and fit for them unto whom it was given And by the administration of Grace in it it was a blessed means to ingenerate Faith Love and Obedience in the hearts and lives of many unto an eminent degree And we may consider from hence what is required of us unto whom the clear Revelation of the Wisdom Grace and Love of God are made known from the Bosome of the Father by the Son himself 4. The especial nature and use of this Tabernacle and its service is declared In which were offered both gifts and sacrifices 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Vulgar Latine reads juxta quam making the Relative to answer unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the Gender will not allow it in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which time during which season For immediately upon the setting up of the Tabernacle God gave unto Moses Laws and Institutions for all the Gifts and Sacrisices of the People which were to be offered therein This was the first direction which God gave after the setting up of the Tabernacle namely the way and manner of offering all sorts of Gifts and Sacrifices unto him And the Apostle here distributes all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the sacred offerings into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is unbloody and bloody Sacrifices as he did before chap. 5. 10. where the distinction hath been explained Of them all he affirms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are offered not that they were so For the Apostle erects a Scheme at the first Tabernacle and all its services at its first Institution and presents it unto the consideration of the Hebrews as if it were then first erected He doth indeed sometimes speak of the Priests and Sacrifices as then in being with respect unto that continuance of the Temple and its worship which it had in the Patience of God as we have shewed on chap. 8. ver 4. But here treating only of the Tabernacle and its worship as that which was granted in the confirmation and for the administration of the old Covenant then entred into as the Tabernacle Priesthood and Sacrifice of Christ were given in the confirmation of the new he represents that as present which was past long before The Tabernacle served aptly for the use whereunto it was designed It was meet for the offering of gifts and sacrifices And so alone is the Tabernacle of Christ for its proper end also 5. On these concessions the Apostle declares the imperfection of this whole order of things and its impotency as unto the great end that might be expected from it For these Gifts and Sacrifices could not make perfect him that did the service as pertaining unto the conscience This was the end aimed at this was represented in them and by them And if they could not really effect it they were weak and imperfect and so not always to be continued The end represented in and by them was to make Atonement for Sin that the Anger of God being pacified they might have Peace with him The Covenant was then newly established between God and the Church before any Laws were given about these Offerings and Sacrifices Exod. 24. God knew that there would be among the People and even the Priests themselves many sins and transgressions against the Rules and Laws of that Covenant This of it self it could not dispense withal For its Sanction was the Curse against every one that continued not in all things written in the Book of it wherefore if this Curse on all just and righteous occasions should rigidly havebeen put in execution the Covenant would only have proved the means and cause of the utter destruction and excision of the whole People For there is no man that liveth and sinneth not And on many occasions sin abounded in that state of the Church wherein Light and Grace were but sparingly dispensed in comparison of the times of the New Covenant Wherefore God in his Mercy and Patience provided that by sacred Gifts and Offerings atonement should be made for sin so as that the Curse of the Covenant should not be put in immediate execution against the sinner Lev. 17. 11. But there were two things to be considered in those sins which God had appointed that atonement should be made for The first was the external temporal Punishment which was due unto them according unto the Place which the Law or Covenant had in the Politie or Commonwealth of Israel The other that eternal Punishment was due unto every sin by the Law as the Rule of all Moral Obedience For the wages of sin is death In the first of these the Person of the Sinner in all his outward circumstances his Life his Goods his Liberty and the like were concerned In the latter here his Conscience or the inward man alone was so And as unto the first of them the Gifts and Sacrifices mentioned being rightly offered were able in themselves ex opere operato to free the Sinner from all temporal political inconvenience or detriment so as that his Life and Inheritance should be continued in the Land of Canaan or his state preserved entire in the Commonwealth of Israel This the Apostle here tacitely acknowledgeth namely that the Gifts and Sacrifices were able to free the Sinner from temporal Punishment and give him outward Peace in his Possessions But as unto the latter wherein Conscience was concerned he denies that they had any such efficacy They were not able 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It agrees in Gender with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only and not with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which being of the Neuter Gender usually regulates the construction in such conjunctions But as most think it equally respects both the antecedent Substantives And instances may be given where a Participle respecting more antecedent Substantives than one may agree in Gender with either of them As Leges Plebiscita coactae But I rather think that the Apostle confines the Impotency he mentions unto Sacrifices only that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 slain and bloody Sacrifices For these things which were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gifts and no more were not designed to make Atonement for Sin that was to be done by Blood and no otherwise so the words should be read offered Gifts and Sacrifices that could not persect These Sacrifices were impotent and ineffectual unto this end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
exercise not as unto it's radical in-being in the soul. For as I look on this confidence as a Grace so it is not the root but a branch of it Faith is the root and confidence is a branch springing out of it Wherefore it may at least for a season be cast away while faith abides firm Sometimes failing in Faith makes this Confidence to fail and sometimes failing in this Confidence weakens and impairs Faith When faith on any occasion is impaired and insnared this confidence will not abide And so soon as we begin to fail in our confidence it will reflect weakness on faith it self Now unto the casting away of this Confidence these things do concur 1. That it do as it were offer it self unto us for our assistance as in former times This it doth in the reasonings and arguings of faith for boldness and constancy in profession which are great and many and will arise in the minds of them that are Spiritually enlightned 2. Arguments against the use of it especially at the present season when it is called forth are required in this case and they are of two sorts 1. Such as are suggested by carnal wisdom urging men unto this or that course whereby they may spare themselves save their lives and keep their Goods by rejecting this confidence although they continued firm in the Faith 2. From carnal fears representing the greatness difficulties and dangers that lye in the way of an open profession with boldness and confidence 3. A resolution to forgoe this confidence upon the urgency of these arguings 4. An application unto other ways and means inconsistent with the exercise of this Grace in the discharge of this duty And hence it appears how great is the evil here dehorted from and what a certain entrance it will prove into the Apostacy it self so judged as before if not timely prevented And 't is that which we ought continually to watch against For he that was constant in this Grace yet did once make a forseiture of it unto his unutterable sorrow namely the Apostle Peter And it is not lost but upon the Corrupt reasonings which we have now mentioned that aggravate its guilt He that casts away his Confidence as unto his present profession and the duties thereof doth what lies in him cast away his interest in future salvation Men in such cases have a thousand pretences to relieve themselves But the present Duty is as indispensibly required as future happiness is faithfully promised Wherefore the Apostle adds the Reason why they should be careful in the preservation of this confidence which is that it hath a great recompence of reward That which the Apostle as unto the matter of it calls here a recompence of reward in the end of the next verse from the formal cause of it he calls the promise and that promise which we receive after we have done the will of God Wherefore the reward of recompence here intended is the glory of Heaven proposed as a crown a reward in way of recompence unto them that overcome in their sufferings for the Gospel And the future glory which as unto it's Original cause is the fruit of the good pleasure and soveraign grace of God whose pleasure it is to give us the Kingdom and as unto it's Procuring cause is the sole purchase of the blood of Christ who obtained for us Eternal redemption and on both accounts a free gift of God for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God through Christ is Life Eternal so as it can be no way merited nor procured by our selves by vertue of any proportion by the rules of Justice between what we do or suffer and what is promised is yet constantly promised unto suffering Believers under the name of a recompence and reward For it doth not become the Greatness and Goodness of God to call his own people unto sufferings for his Name and unto his Glory and therein the loss of their Lives many times with all Enjoyments here below and not propose unto them nor provide for them that which shall be infinitely better than all that they so undergo See Heb. 6. 11. and the Exposition of that place Rev. 2. 3. Wherefore it is added 3. That this Confidence hath this recompence of reward that is it gives a right and title unto the future reward of glory it hath it in the promise and constitution of God whoever abides in it's Exercise shall be no loser in the issue They are as sure in divine Promises as in our own possession And although they are yet future Faith gives them a present subsistence in the soul as unto their power and efficacy In the times of suffering and in the approaches of them it is the duty of Believers to look on the Glory of Heaven under the notion of a refreshing alsufficient Reward VERSE 36. For ye have need of Patience that after ye have done the Will of God ye might receive the Promise The Apostle in these words confirms the necessity of the Exhortation he had insisted on He had pressed them unto nothing but what was needful for them For whereas there were two things proposed unto them one in the way of Duty namely that they should do the will of God the other in the way of Reward or what they should receive upon their so doing things were so ordered in the soveraign pleasure and will of God that they could believe neither of them not only without the Duty which he exhorted them unto but without a continuance therein And indeed this Exhortation not to cast away their confidence that is to abide in it and to improve it against all difficulties and dangers doth include in it that patience which he affirms that they stand in need of Wherefore there are three things in the words 1. The confirmation of the preceding Exhortation by this reason that they had need of Patience 2. The time and season wherein that Patience was so needful as unto them and that was whilest they were doing the will of God 3. The end whereunto it was necessary which is the receiving of the Promise 1. The rational Enforcement is introduced by the Redditive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For. This is that which you must apply your minds unto or you cannot attain your end 2. That which he asserts in this reason is that they had need of Patience He doth not charge them with want of Patience but declares the necessity of it as unto its continual Exercise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a bearing of evils with quietness and complacency of mind without raging fretting despondency or inclination unto complyance with undue ways of deliverance In Patience possess your Souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or confidence will ingage men into troubles and difficulties in a way of duty But if patience take not up the work and carry it on confidence will flagg and fail See chap. 6. 11 12. and our Exposition
not the Design of God always to keep the Church in a state of Non-age and under School-Masiers he had appointed to set it at Liberty in the fulness of time to take his Children nearer unto him to give them greater Evidences of his Love greater Assurances of the Eternal Inheritance and the use of more Liberty and Boldness in his Presence But what this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Gospel is wherein it doth consist what is included in it what freedom of Spirit what liberty of Speech what Right of Access and Boldness of Approach unto God Built upon the removal of the Law the communication of the Spirit the way made into the Holyest by the Blood of Christ with other concernments of it Constitutive of Gospel-perfection I have already in part declared in Our Exposition on Chap. 3. ver 5. and must if God please yet more largely insist upon it on Chap. 10th so that I shall not here further speak unto it 5. A clear fore-sight into a Blessed estate of Immortality and Glory with unquestionable Evidences and Pledges giving Assurance of it belongs also to this Consummation Death was Originally threatned as the final End and Issue of sin And the Evidence hereof was received under the Levitical Priesthood in the Curse of the Law There was indeed a Remedy provided against its Eternal Prevalency in the first Promise For whereas Death comprised all the Evil that was come or was to come on Man for Sin In the day thou eatest thereof thou soal die The Promise contained the means of deliverance from it or it was no Promise tendred no Relief unto Man in the state whereinto he was fallen But the People under the Law could see but little into the manner and way of its Accomplishment nor had they received any Pledge of it in any one that was dead and lived again so as to die no more Wherefore their Apprehensions of this deliverance were dark and attended with much fear which rendred them obnoxious unto Bondage See the Exposition on Chap. 2. 14. where we have declared the dreadful Apprehensions of the Jews concerning Death received by Tradition from their Fathers They could not look through the dark shades of Death into Light Immortality and Glory See the two-fold Spirit of the Old and New Testament with respect unto the Apprehensions of Death expressed the one Job 10. 21 22. the other 2 Cor. 5. 1 2 3 4. But there is nothing more needful unto the perfect state of the Church Suppose it endowed with all possible Priviledges in this World yet if it have not a clear view and prospect with a Blessed assurance of Immortality and Glory after Death its condition will be dark and uncomfortable And as this could not be done without bringing in of another Priesthood so by that of Christs it is accomplished For 1. He himself died as our High Priest He entred into the devouring Jaws of Death and that as it was threatned in the Curse And now is the Trial to be made If he who thus ventured on Death as threatned in the Curse and that for us be swallowed up by it or detained by its Power and Pains there is a certain end of all our Hopes Whatever we may arrive unto in this World Death will convey us over into eternal Ruine But if he brake through its Power have the pains of it removed from him do swallow it up into Victory and rise Triumphantly into Immortality and Glory then is our entrance into them also even by and after Death secured And in the Resurrection of Christ the Church had the first unquestionable Evidence that Death might be Conquered that it and the Curse might be separated that there might be a free passage through it into Life and Immortality These things Originally and in the first Covenant were inconsistent nor was the Reconciliation of them evident under the Levitical Priesthood But hereby was the Veil rent from top to bottom and the most Holy place not made with hands laid open unto Believers See Isa. 25. 7 8. 2. As by his Death Resurrection and entrance into Glory He gave a Pledge Example and Evidence unto the Church of that in his own Person which he had designed for it so the Grounds of it were laid in the Expiatory Sacrifice which he Offered whereby he took away the Curse from Death There was such a close Conjunction between Death and the Curse such a Combination between Sin the Law and Death that the breaking of that Conjunction and the dissolving of that Combination was the greatest Effect of Divine Wisdom and Grace which our Apostle so Triumpheth in 1 Cor. 15. 54 55 56 57. This could no otherwise be brought about but by his being made a Curse in Death or bearing the Curse which was in Death in our stead Gal. 3. 13. 3. He hath clearly declared unto the utmost of our Capacities in this World that future state of Blessedness and Glory which he will lead all his Disciples into All the concernments hereof under the Levitical Priesthood were represented only under the obscure Types and Shadows of Earthly things But he hath abolished Death and brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 10. He destroyed and abolished him who had the Power of Death in taking away the Curse from it Chap. 2. 14. And he abolished Death it self in the removal of those dark shades which it cast on Immortality and Eternal Life and hath opened an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of God and Glory He hath unveiled the uncreated Beauties of the King of Glory and opened the Everlasting Doors to give an insight into those Mansions of Rest Peace and Blessedness which are prepared for Believers in the Everlasting Enjoyment of God And these things constitute no small part of that consummate state of the Church which God designed and which the Levitical Priesthood could no way effect 6 There is also an especial Joy belonging unto this state For this Kingdom of God is Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Neither was this attainable by the Levitical Priesthood Indeed many of the Saints of the Old Testament did greatly Rejoyce in the Lord and had the Joy of his Salvation abiding with them See Psal. 51. 12. Isa. 25. 9. Hab. 3. 17 18. But they had it not by virtue of the Levitical Priesthood Isaiah tells us that the ground of it was the swallowing up of Death in Victory ver 8. which was no otherwise to be done but by the Death and Resurrection of Christ. It was by an Influence of Efficacy from the Priesthood that was to be introduced that they had their Joy Whence Abraham saw the Day of Christ and Rejoyced to see it The Prospect of the Day of Christ was the sole Foundation of all their Spiritual Joy that was purely so But as unto their own present state they were allowed and called to Rejoyce in the abundance of Temporal things
made Gal. 3. 19. It had a manifold necessary respect unto Transgression As 1 to discover the nature of Sin that the Consciences of men might be made sensible thereof 2 To Coerce and Restrain it by its Prohibition and Threatnings that it might not run out into such an excess as to deluge the whole Church 3 To represent the way and means though obscurely whereby Sin might be expiated And these things were of so great use that the very being of the Church depended on them Secondly There was another Reason for it which he declares in the same place ver 23 24 It was to shut up men under a sense of the Guilt of Sin and so with some severity drive them out of themselves and from all expectation of a Righteousness by their own works that so they might be brought unto Christ first in the Promise and then as he was actually exhibited This brief Account of the weakness and unprofitableness of the Law whereon it was disanulled and taken away may at present suffice The Consideration of some other things in particular will afterwards occur unto us Only in our passage we may a little examine or reflect on the senses that some others have given unto these words Schlictingius in his Comment on the next verse gives this Account of the state of the Law Lex expiationem concedebat leviorum delictorum idque ratione poenae alicujus arbitrariae tantum gravioribus autem peccatis quibus mortis poenam fixerat nullam reliquer at veniam maledictionis fulmen vibrans in omnes qui graviùs peccássent But these things are neither accommodate unto the Purpose of the Apostle nor true in themselves For 1 The Law denounced the Curse equally unto every Transgression be it small or great Cursed is he who continueth not in all things 2 It expiated absolutely no Sin small nor great by its own power and efficacy neither did it properly take away any punishment temporal or eternal That some sins were punished with Death and some were not belonged unto the Politie of the Government erected among that People But 3 As unto the Expiation of Sin the Law had an equal respect unto all the Sins of Believers great and small it Typically represented the Expiation of them all in the Sacrifice of Christ and so confirmed their Faith as to the Forgiveness of Sin but farther it could not proceed And Grotius on the place Non perduxit homines ad justitiam illam veram internam sed intra ritus facta externa constitit Promissa terrestria non operantur mortis contemptum sed eum operatur melior spes vitae aeternae caelestis Which is thus enlarged by another The Mosaical Law got no man freedom from Sin was able to give no man strength to fulfill the Will of God and could not purchase Pardon for any that had broken it This therefore was to be done now afterwards by the Gospel which gives more sublime and plain Promises of pardon of Sin which the Law could not Promise of an Eternal and Heavenly Life to all true penitent Believers which gracious tenders now made by Christ give us a freedom of access unto God and Confidence to come and expect such mercy from him Ans. 1 What is here spoken if it intend the Law in it self and its carnal Ordinances without any respect unto the Lord Christ and his Mediation may in some sense be true For in it self it could neither Justifie nor Sanctifie the Worshippers nor spiritually or eternally expiate Sin But 2 Under the Law and by it there was a Dispensation of the Covenant of Grace which was accompanied with Promises of eternal life For it did not only repeat and re-inforce the Promise inseparably annexed unto the Law of Creation do this and live but it had also other Promises of Spiritual and eternal things annexed unto it as it contained a legal Dispensation of the first Promise or the Covenant of Grace But 3 The Opposition here made by the Apostle is not between the precepts of the Law and the precepts of the Gospel the Promises of the Law and the Promises of the Gospel outward Righteousness and inward Obedience but between the efficacy of the Law unto Righteousness and Salvation by the Priesthood and Sacrifices ordained therein on the one hand and the Priesthood of Christ with his Sacrifice which was promised before and now manifested in the Gospel on the other And herein he doth not only shew the Preference and Dignity of the latter above the former but also that the former of it self could do nothing unto these Ends but whereas they had represented the Accomplishment of them for a Season and so directed the Faith of the Church unto what was future that now being come and exhibited it was of no more use nor Advantage nor meet to be retained Thus then was the Law disanulled and it was so actually by the means before mentioned But that the Church might not be surprized there were many warnings given of it before it came to pass As 1 A Mark was put upon it from the very Beginning that it had not a Perpetuity in its Nature nor inseparably annexed unto it For it had no small presignification in it that immediately upon the giving of it as a Covenant with that People they brake the Covenant in making the Golden Calf in Horeb and thereon Moses brake the Tables of Stone wherein the Law was written Had God intended that this Law should have been perpetual he would not have suffered its first constitution to have been accompanied with an express Embleme of its disanulling 2 Moses expresly foretells that after the giving of the Law God would provoke them to jealously by a foolish People Deut. 32. 21. Rom. 10. 19. that is by the calling of the Gentiles whereon the Wall of Partition that was between them even the Law of Commandements contained in Ordinances was of necessity to be taken out of the way 3 The Prophets frequently declared that it was of it self utterly insufficient for the expiation of Sin or the Sanctification of Sinners and thereon preferred moral Obedience above all its Institutions whence it necessarily follows that seeing God did intend a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or state of Perfection for his Church that this Law was at last to be disanulled 4 All the Promises concerning the coming of Christ as the end of the Law did declare its station in the Church not to be perpetual especially that insisted on by our Apostle of his being a Priest after the Order of Melchisedec 5 The Promises and Predictions are express that a New Covcnant should be established with the Church unto the removal of the Old whereof we must treat in the next Chapter By all these ways was the Church of the Hebrews fòrewarned that the Time would come when the whole Mosaical Law as to its Legal or Covenant Efficacy should be disannulled unto the unspeakable Advantage of the Church
first Covenant was Moses It was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator Gal. 3. 19. And this was no other but Moses who was a Servant in the House of God Hebr. 3. 6. And he was a Mediator as designed of God so chosen of the people in that dread and consternation which befell them upon the terrible promulgation of the Law For they saw that they could no way bear the immediate presence of God nor treat with him in their own persons Wherefore they desired that there might be an Internuntius a Mediator between God and them and that Moses might be the person Deut. 5. 25 26 27. But the Mediator of the New Covenant is the Son of God himself For there is one God and one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all 1 Tim. 2. 4 5. He who is the Son and the Lord over his own House graciously undertook in his own Person to be the Mediator of this Covenant and herein it is unspeakably preferred before the Old Covenant 5. They differ in their subject matter both as unto Precepts and Promises the advantage being still on the part of the New Covenant For 1 The Old Covenant in the preceptive part of it renewed the Command of the Covenant of Works and that on their original terms Sin it forbad that is all and every sin in matter and manner on the pain of death and gave the promise of life unto perfect sinless obedience only Whence the Decalogue itself which is a Transcript of the Law of Works is called the Covenant Exod. 34. 28. And besides this as we observed before it had other Precepts innumerable accommodated unto the present condition of the People and imposed on them with rigor But in the New Covenant the very first thing that is proposed is the accomplishment and establishment of the Covenant of Works both as unto its Commands and Sanction in the obedience and suffering of the Mediator Hereon the Commands of it as unto the obedience of the Covenanters are not grievous the yoke of Christ being easie and his burden light 2. The Old Testament absolutely considered had 1 No promise of grace to communicate spiritual strength or to assist us in obedience nor 2 Any of eternal life no otherwise but as it was contained in the promise of the Covenant of Works The man that doth these things shall live in them and 3 Had promises of temporal things in the Land of Canaan inseparable from it In the New Covenant all things are otherwise as will be declared in the Exposition of the ensuing Verses 6. They differ and that principally in the manner of their Dedication and Sanction This is that which gives any thing the formal nature of a Covenant or Testament There may be a Promise there may be an Agreement in general which hath not the formal nature of a Covenant or Testament and such was the Covenant of Grace before the death of Christ. But it is the solemnity and manner of the Confirmation Dedication and Sanction of any Promise or Agreement that gives it the formal nature of a Covenant or Testament And this is by a Sacrifice wherein there is both Bloodshedding and Death ensuing thereon Now this in the confirmation of the Old Covenant was only the Sacrifice of Beasts whose blood was sprinkled on all the People Exod. 24. 5 6 7 8 9. But the New Testament was solemnly confirmed by the Sacrifice and Blood of Christ himself Zech. 9. 11. Hebr. 10. 29. Chap. 13. 20. And the Lord Christ dying as the Mediator and Surety of the Covenant he purchased all good things for the Church and as a Testator bequeathed them unto it Hence he says of the Sacramental Cup that it is the New Testament in his Blood or the Pledge of his bequeathing unto the Church all the Promises and Mercies of the Covenant which is the New Testament or the disposition of his Goods unto his Children But because the Apostle expresly handleth this difference between these two Covenants Chap. 9. v. 18 19. we must thither refer the full consideration of it 7. They differ in the Priests that were to officiate before God in the behalf of the People In the Old Covenant Aaron and his Posterity alone were to discharge that Office in the New the Son of God himself is the only Priest of the Church This difference with the advantage of the Gospel state thereon we have handled at large in the Exposition of the Chapter foregoing 8. They differ in the Sacrifices whereon the Peace and Reconciliation with God which is tendred in them doth depend And this also must be spoken unto in the ensuing Chapter if God permit 9. They differ in the way and manner of their solemn writing or enrollment All Covenants were of old solemnly written in Tables of Brass or Stone where they might be faithfully preserved for the use of the Parties concerned So the Old Covenant as to the principal fundamental part of it was engraven in Tables of Stone which were kept in the Ark Exod. 31. 18. Deut. 9. 10. 2 Cor. 3. 7. And God did so order it in his Providence that the first draught of them should be broken to intimate that the Covenant contained in them was not everlasting nor unalterable But the New Covenant is written in the fleshly Tables of the hearts of them that do believe 2 Cor. 3. 3. Jer. 31. 33. 10. They differ in their ends The principal end of the first Covenant was to discover sin to condemn it and to set Bounds unto it So saith the Apostle It was added because of transgressions And this it did several ways 1 By Conviction for the knowledge of sin is by the Law it convinced sinners and caused every mouth to be stopped before God 2 By condemning the Sinner in an application of the Sanction of the Law unto his Conscience 3 By the judgments and punishments wherewith on all occasions it was accompanied In all it manifested and represented the justice and severity of God The end of the New Covenant is to declare the love grace and mercy of God and therewith to give Repentance Remission of Sin and Life Eternal 11. They differed in their effects For the first Covenant being the ministration of death and condemnation it brought the minds and spirits of them that were under it into servitude and bondage whereas spiritual liberty is the immediate effect of the New Testament And there is no one thing wherein the Spirit of God doth more frequently give us an account of the difference between these two Covenants than this of the liberty of the one and the bondage of the other see Rom. 8. 15. 2 Cor. 3. 17. Gal. 4. 1 2 3 4 24 25 30 31. Heb. 2. 14 15. This therefore we must a little explain Wherefore the bondage which was the effect of the Old Covenant arose from several causes concurring unto the effecting of it 1.
afterwards 7 This Imagination is destructive of the principal design and Argument of the Apostle For he proves the Imperfection of the Sacrifices of the Law and their insufficiency to consummate the Church from their annual Repetition affirming that if they could have perfected the Worshippers they would have ceased to have been offered Yet was that Sacrifice which he respects repeated only once a year But on this Supposition the Sacrifice of Christ must be offered always and never cease to be actually offered which reflects a greater Imperfection on it then was on those which were repeated only once a year But the Apostle expresly affirms that the Sacrifice which could effect its End must cease to be offered Chap. 10. 2. Whereas therefore by One offering he hath for ever perfected them that are Sanctified he doth not continue to offer himself though he doth so to appear in the Presence of God to make Application of the Vertue of that One offering unto the Church The Expositors of the Roman Church do raise an Objection on this place for no other End but that they may return an Answer unto it perniciously opposite unto and destructive of the Truth here taught by the Apostle though some of them do acknowledge that it is capable of another answer But this is that which they principally insist upon as needful unto their present Cause They say therefore that if Christ cease to offer himself then it seems that his Sacerdotal Office ceaseth also For it belongs unto that office to offer Sacrifices continually But there is no force in this Objection For it belongs to no Priest to offer any other or any more Sacrifices but what were sufficient and effectual unto the End of them and their office And such was the One Sacrifice of Christ. Besides though it be not actually repeated yet it is vertually applyed always and this belongs unto the present discharge of his Sacerdotal Office So doth also his Appearance in Heaven for us with his Intercession where he still continues in the actual exercise of his Priesthood so far as is needful or possible But they have an Answer of their own unto their own Objection They say therefore that Christ continueth to offer himself every day in the Sacrifice of the Mass by the hands of the Priests of their Church And this Sacrifice of him though it be unbloody yet is a true real Sacrifice of Christ the same with that which he offered on the Cross. It is better never to raise Objections then thus to answer them For this is not to expound the words but to dispute against the Doctrine of the Apostle As I shall briefly evince 1. That the Lord Christ hath by the One offering of himself for ever perfected them that are Sanctified is a Fundamental Article of Faith Where this is denied or overthrown either directly or by just Consequence the Church is overthrown also But this is expresly denied in the Doctrine of the frequent Repetition of his Sacrifice or of the offering of himself And there is no Instance wherein the Romanists do more expresly oppose the Fundamental Articles of Religion 2. The Repetition of Sacrifices arose solely from their Imperfection as the Apostle declares Chap. 10. 2. And if it undeniably proved an Imperfection in the Sacrifices of the Law that they were repeated once every year in one place only how great must the Imperfection of the Sacrifice of Christ be esteemed if it be not effectual to take away Sin and perfect them that are Sanctified unless it be repeated every day and that it may be in a thousand Places 3. To say that Christ offereth himself often is expresly and in Terms contradictory to the Assertion of the Apostle Whatever therefore they may apprehend of the offering of him by their Priests yet most certain it is that he doth not every day offer himself But as the Faith of the Church is concerned in no offering of Christ but that which he offered himself of himself by the eternal Spirit once for all so the pretence to offer him often by the Priests is highly Sacrilegious 4. The infinite actings of the Divine Nature in Supporting and Influencing of the Humane the inexpressible Operation of the Holy Ghost in him unto such a peculiar acting of all Grace especially of Zeal unto the Glory of God and compassion for the Souls of men as are inimitable unto the whole Creation were required unto the offering of himself a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling Savour unto God And how can a poor sinful Mortal man such as are the best of their Priests pretend to offer the same Sacrifice unto God 5. An unbloody Sacrifice is 1 A Contradiction in it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the only Sacrifice which the Apostle treats of is victimae mactatio as well as victimae mactatae oblatio It is a Sacrifice by death and that by blood-shedding other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there never was any 2 If it might be supposed yet is it a thing altogether useless For without shedding of Blood there is no Remission The Rule I acknowledge is firstly expressed with respect unto legal Sacrifices and Oblations Yet is it used by the Apostle by an Argument drawn from the Nature and End of those Institutions to prove the necessity of blood-shedding in the Sacrifice of Christ himself for the Remission of Sin An unbloody Sacrifice for the Remission of Sin overthrows both the Law and the Gospel 3 It is directly contrary unto the Argument of the Apostle in the next verse wherein he proves that Christ could not offer himself often For he doth it by affirming that if he did so then must he often suffer that is by the Effusion of his Blood which was absolutely necessary in and unto his Sacrifice Wherefore an unbloody Sacrifice which is without Suffering whatever it be is not the Sacrifice of Christ. For if he be often offered he must often suffer as the Apostle affirms Nor is it unto any Purpose to say that this unbloody Sacrifice of the Mass receiveth its Vertue and Efficacy from the One Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross as it is pleaded by the defenders of it For the Question is not what value it hath nor whence it hath it but whether it be the Sacrifice of Christ himself or no. To sum up the substance of this whole Controversie The Sacrifice or Offering of Christ was 1 By Himself alone through the eternal Spirit 2 Was of his whole Humane Nature as to the matter of it He made his Soul an offering for Sin 3 Was by Death and Bloodshedding whereon its entire Efficacy as unto Attonement Reconciliation and the Sanctification of the Church do depend 4 Was once only offered and could be so no more from the Glory of his Person and the Nature of the Sacrifice it self 5 Was offered with such glorious internal actings of Grace as no Mortal creature can comprehend 6 Was accompanied with his bearing the
had its Consummation Wherefore both the Entrance and the End of this season are called by the same name the Beginning of it here and the End of it Mat. 28. 20. For the whole is but one entire Season And the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this construction with a Dative Case signifies the Entrance of any thing as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is at the approach of Death Wherefore whatever hath been or may be in the Duration of the world afterwards the Appearance of Christ to offer himself was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the end of the world that is at the entrance of the last season of Gods dispensation of Grace unto the Church Thus it was saith the Apostle in matter of Fact then did Christ offer himself and then only With respect unto this season so stated three things are affirmed of Christ in the following words 1. What he did He appeared 2. Unto what end to take away sin 3. By what means by the Sacrifice of himself But there is some Difficulty in the Distinction of these words and so variety in their Interpretation which must be removed For those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Sacrifice of himself may be referred either unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the putting away of sin that goes before or unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was manifest that follows after In the first way the sense is He was manifest to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself In the latter he appeared by the Sacrifice of himself to put away sin which confines his Appearance unto his Sacrifice which sense is expressed by the Vulgar Translation per hostiam suam apparuit he appeared by his own Host say the Rhemists But the former Reading of the words is evidently unto the mind of the Apostle For his Appearance was what he did in general with respect unto the end mentioned and the way whereby he did it 1. There is what he did He appeared He was manifested some say that this Appearance of Christ is the same with his Appearance in the Presence of God for us mentioned in the foregoing verse But it is as another word that is used so another thing that is intended That Appearance was after his Sacrifice this is in order unto it That is in Heaven this was on Earth That is still continued this is that which was already accomplished at the Time limited by the Apostle Wherefore this Appearance this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or manifestation of Christ in the end of the world is the same with his being manifested in the flesh 1 Tim. 3. 16 or his coming into the world or taking on him the seed of Abraham to this End that he might suffer and offer himself unto God For what is affirmed is opposed unto what is spoken immediately before namely of his suffering often since the Foundation of the world This he did not do but appeared was manifest that is in the flesh in the Ends of the world to suffer and to expiate sin Nor is the Word ever used to express the Appearance of Christ before God in Heaven His 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is his coming into the world by his Incarnation unto the Discharge of his Office His Appearance before God in Heaven is his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And his Illustrious Appearance at the last day is his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though that word be used also to express his Glorious manifestation by the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 10 See 1 Tim. 3. 16. 1 Joh. 3. 8. Tit. 2. 14. This therefore is the meaning of the word Christ did not come into the world he was not manifested in the flesh often since the Foundation of the world that he might often suffer and offer but he did so he so appeared was so manifest in the End of the world 2. The End of this Appearance of Christ was to put away sin And we must enquire both what is meant by sin and what by the putting of it away Wherefore by sin the Apostle intends the whole of its Nature and Effects in its Root and Fruits in its Guilt Power and Punishment Sin Absolutely and Universally Sin as it was an Apostacy from God as it was the Cause of all Distance between God and us as it was the work of the Devil Sin in all that it was and all that it could effect or all the Consequents of it Sin in its whole Empire and Dominion as it entred by the fall of Adam invaded our Nature in its Power oppressed our Persons with its Guilt filled the whole world with its fruits gave existence and Right unto Death and hell with power to Satan to rule in and over mankind so as it rendred us obnoxious unto the Curse of God and Eternal punishment In the whole Extent of sin he appeared to put it away that is with respect unto the Church that is sanctified by his Blood and dedicated unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render putting away is Abrogatio Dissolutio Destructio An Abrogation Disanulling Destroying Disarming It is the Name of taking away the Force Power and Obligation of a Law The Power of Sin as unto all its Effects and Consequents whether sinfull or Penal is called its Law the Law of Sin Rom. 8. 2. And of this Law as of others there are two Parts or Powers 1. It s Obligation unto punishment after the nature of all Penal Laws Hence it is called the Law of Death that whereon sinners are bound over unto Eternal Death This force it borrows from its Relation unto the Law of God and the curse thereof 2. It s impelling Ruling Power subjectively in the mindes of men leading them Captive into all enmity and disobedience unto God Rom. 7. 23. Christ appeared to abrogate this Law of sin to deprive it of its whole power 1. That it should not condemn us any more nor bind us over to punishment This he did by making Attonement for it by the Expiation of it undergoing in his own suffering the penalty due unto it which of necessity he was to suffer as often as he offered himself Herein consisted the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or abrogation of its Law principally 2. By the destruction of its subjective Power purging our Consciences from dead works in the way that hath been declared This was the principal end of the Appearance of Christ in the world 1 Joh. 3. 8. 3. The way whereby he did this was by the Sacrifice of himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Sacrifice wherein he both suffered and offered himself unto God For that both are included the opposition made unto his often suffering doth evince This therefore is the design and meaning of these words to evidence that Christ did not offer himself unto God often more then once as the High-Priest offered every year before his entrance into the Holy place the Apostle declares the End and Effect of his
offering or Sacrifice which render the Repetition of it needless It was one once offered in the end of the world nor need be offered any more because of the Total abolition and destruction of sin at once made thereby What else concerns the things themselves spoken of will be comprized under the ensuing observations 1. It is the Prerogative of God and the effect of his wisdom to determine the times and seasons of the dispensation of Himself and his Grace unto the Church Hereon it depends alone that Christ appeared in the end of the world not sooner nor later as to the parts of that season Many things do evidence a condecency unto Divine wisdom in the determination of that season As 1. He testified his displeasure against Sin in suffering the generality of mankind to lye so long under the fatal effects of their Apostacy without relief or Remedy Act. 14. 16. Chap. 17. 30. Rom. 1. 21 24 26. 2. He did it To exercise the faith of the Church called by vertue of the promise in the expectation of its accomplishment And by the various wayes whereby God cherished their faith and hope was he glorified in all Ages Luk 1. 70. Mat. 13. 16. Luk. 10. 24. 1 Pet. 1. 10 11. Hag. 2. 7. 3. To prepare the Church for the Reception of him partly by the glorious representation made of him in the Tabernacle and Temple with their worship partly by the Burden of Legal Institutions laid on them until his coming Gal. 3. 24. 4. To give the world a full and sufficient trial of what might be attained towards happiness and Blessedness by the excellency of all things here below Men had time to try what was in Wisdom Learning Moral Vertue Power Rule Dominion Riches Arts and whatever else is valuable unto Rational Natures They were all exalted unto their height in their possession and exercise before the Appearance of Christ and all manifested their own insufficiency to give the least real Relief unto Mankind from under the fruits of their Apostacy from God See 1 Cor. 1. 5. To give time unto Satan to fix and establish his Kingdom in the world that the destruction of him and it might be the more conspicuous and glorious These and sundry other things of a like nature do evince that there was a condecency unto Divine wisdom in the Determination of the season of the Appearance of Christ in the flesh Howbeit it is ultimately to be resolved into his Soveraign will and pleasure 2. God had a Design of Infinite Wisdom and Grace in his sending of Christ and his appearance in the world thereon which could not be frustrate He appeared to put away sin The footsteps of Divine wisdome and Grace herein I have enquired into in a peculiar Treatise and shall not here insist on the same Argument 3. Sin had erected a Dominion a Tyranny over all men as by a Law Unless this Law be abrogated and abolished we can have neither Deliverance nor Liberty Men generally think that they serve themselves of sin in the accomplishment of their lusts and gratification of the flesh But they are indeed servants of it and slaves unto it It hath gotten a power to command their obedience unto it and a power to bind them over to eternal death for the disobedience unto God therein As unto what belongs unto this Law and power See my Discourse of Indwelling Sin 4. No power of man of any meer Creature was able to evacuate disannul or abolish this Law of sin For 5. The Destruction and dissolution of this Law and power of sin was the great end of the coming of Christ for the discharge of his Priestly Office in the Sacrifice of himself No other way could it be effected And 6. It is the Glory of Christ it is the safety of the Church that by his one offering by the Sacrifice of himself once for all he hath abolished sin as unto the Law and condemning power of it VER XXVII XXVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sicut quem admodum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Statutum constitutum est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Sons of men of Adam all his Posterity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that at one time a certain appointed time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vul. post hoc autem Postea verò and afterward Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and after their death the death of them So also Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one time at one time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vul. ad exhaurienda peccata Rhem. to exhaust the sins of many without any sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signifie to lift or bear up not at all to draw out of any deep place though there may be something in that allusion Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in himself he slew or sacrificed the sins of many in himself that is by the Sacrifice of himself he took them away Bez. ut in seipso attolleret multorum peccata that he might lift or bear up the sins of many in himself he took them upon himself as a Burden which he bare upon the Cross as opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 afterwards not burdened with sin Others ad attollendum peccata multorum in semet ipsum to take up unto himself that is upon himself the sins of many The Syriack reads the last â—ause He shall appear the second time unto the Salvation of them that expect or look for him All others he shall appear unto or be seen by them that look for him unto Salvation unto which difference we shall speak afterwards VER XXVII XXVIII And in like manner as it is appointed unto men once to die but after this afterwards the judgment So also Christ was once offered to bear in himself the sin of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without Sin unto Salvation These verses put a close unto the Heavenly Discourse of the Apostle concerning the Causes Nature Ends and Efficacy of the Sacrifice of Christ wherewith the new Covenant was dedicated and confirmed And in the words there is a treble Confirmation of that Singularity and Efficacy of the Sacrifice of Christ which he had pleaded before 1. In an Elegant instructive Similitude And as it is appointed ver 27. 2. In a declaration of the use and end of the Offering of Christ he was once offered to bear the Sins of many 3. In the consequent of it his second Appearance unto the Salvation of Believers ver 28. In the comparison we must first consider the force of it in general and explain the words That as we have observed which the Apostle designeth to confirm and illustrate is what he had pleaded in the foregoing verses concerning the Singularity and efficacy of the offering of Christ whereon also he takes occasion to declare the blessed
that Death was the Wages of Sin For although there was allowed in them a Commutation that the Sinner himself should not dye but the Beast that was Sacrificed in his stead which belonged unto their Second end of leading unto Christ yet they all testified unto that Sacred Truth that it is the Judgment of God that they who commit Sin are worthy of Death And this was as the whole Law an Ordinance of God to deterr Men from Sin and so put bounds unto Transgressions For when God passed by Sin with a kind of Connivance winking at the Ignorance of Men in their iniquities not giving them continual warnings of their Guilt and the consequents thereof in Death the World was filled and covered with a Deluge of Impieties Men saw not Judgment speedily executed nor any Tokens or Indications that so it would be therefore was their Heart wholly set in them to do Evil. But God dealt not thus with the Church He let no Sin pass without a Representation of his displeasure against it though mixed with Mercy in a direction unto the Relief against it in the Blood of the Sacrifice And therefore he did not only appoint these Sacrifices on all the especial occasions of such Sins and Uncleanness as the Consciences of particular Sinners were pressed with a sense of but also once a year there was gathered up a Remembrance of all the Sins Iniquities and Transgressions of the whole Congregation Levit. 16. 2. They were added as the Teaching of a School-master to lead unto Christ. By them was the Church taught and directed to look continually unto and after that Sacrifice which alone could really purge and take away all Iniquity For God appointed no Sacrifices until after the Promise of sending the Seed of the Woman to break the Head of the Serpent In his so doing was his own Heel to be bruised in the suffering of his Humane Nature which he offered in Sacrifice unto God which these Sacrifices did represent Wherefore the Church knowing that these Sacrifices did call Sin to remembrance representing the displeasure of God against Sin which was their First end and that although there was an Intimation of Grace and Mercy in them by the commutation and substitution which they allowed yet that they could not of themselves take away Sin it made them the more earnestly and with longing desires look after him and his Sacrifice who should perfectly take away Sin and make peace with God wherein the principal exercise of Grace under the Old Testament did consist 3. As unto their especial nature they were added as the great instruction in the way and manner whereby Sin was to be taken away For although this arose originally from Gods meer Grace and Mercy yet was it not to be executed and accomplished by Soveraign Grace and Power alone Such a taking away of Sin would have been inconsistent with his Truth Holiness and Righteous Government of Mankind as I have elsewhere at large demonstrated It must be done by the Interposition of a Ransome and Attonement by the substitution of one who was no Sinner in the room of Sinners to make satisfaction unto the Law and Justice of God for Sin Hereby they became the principal direction of the Faith of the Saints under the Old Testament and the means whereby they acted it on the original promise of their Recovery from Apostasie These things do evidently express the Wisdom of God in their Institution although of themselves they could not take away Sin And those by whom these ends of them are denyed as they are by the Jews and Socinians can give no account of any end of them which should answer the Wisdom Grace and Holiness of God This Objection being removed I shall proceed unto the Exposition of the words in particular And there are Four things in them as a Negative Proposition 1. The Illative Conjunction declaring its respects unto what went before 2. The subject matter spoken of The Blood of Bulls and Goats 3. What is denyed concerning it it could not take away Sin 4. The Modification of this Negative Proposition it was impossible they should do so 1. The Illative Conjunction For declares what is spoken to be introduced in the Proof and Confirmation of what was before affirmed And it is the closing Argument against the Imperfection and Impotency of the Old Covenant the Law Priesthood and Sacrifices of it which the Apostle maketh use of And indeed it is comprehensive of all that he had before insisted on yea it is the Foundation of all his other Reasonings unto this purpose For if in the Nature of the thing it self it was impossible that the Sacrifices consisting of the Blood of Rulls and Goats should take away Sin then however whensoever and by whomsoever they were offered this effect could not be produced by them Wherefore in these words the Apostle puts a Close unto his Argument and reassumes it no more in this Epistle but only Once or Twice makes mention of it in the way of an Illustration to set forth the excellency of the Sacrifice of Christ as v. 11. of this Chapter and Chap. 13. 10 11 12. 2. The subject spoken of is the Blood of Bulls and Goats The reason why the Apostle expresseth them by Bulls and Goats which were Calves and Kids of the Goats hath been declared on Chap. 9. ver 11 12. And some things must be observed conceruing this Description of the Old Sacrifices 1. That he makes mention of the Blood of the Sacrifices only whereas in many of them the whole Bodies were offered and the Fat of them all was burned on the Altar And thus he doth for the ensuing Reasons 1. Because it was the Blood alone whereby Attonement was made for Sin and Sinners The Fat was burned with Incense only to shew that it was accepted as a sweet savour with God 2. Because he had respect principally unto the Anniversary Sacrifice unto the Consummation whereof and Attonement thereby the carrying the Blood into the Holy Place did belong 3. Because Life Natural is in an especial manner in the Blood which signified that Attonement was to be made by Death and that by the effusion of Blood as it was in the Sacrifice of Christ. See Levit. 17. 11 12. And in the shedding of it there was an Indication of the Desert of Sin in the Offerer 2. He recalls them by this Expression of their Sacrifices the Blood of Bulls and Goats unto a due consideration of what effect might be produced by them They were Accompanied with great Solemnity and Pomp of Ceremony in their Celebration Hence arose a great Esteem and Veneration of them in the Minds of the People But when all was done that which was Offered was but the Blood of Bulls and Goats And there is a Tacit Opposition unto the matter of that Sacrifice whereby Sin was really to be Expiated which was the precious Blood of Christ as Chap. 9. 13 14. 3. That which
is denyed of these Sacrifices is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the taking away of sins The thing intended is variously expressed by the Apostle as by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 2. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 1. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 9. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chap. 9. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 28. To make Reconciliation to purge sin to purge the Conscience to abolish sin to bear it And that which he intendeth in all these expressions which he denies of the Law and its Sacrifices and ascribes unto that of Christ is the whole entire effect thereof so far as it immediately respected God and the Law For all these Expressions respect the Guilt of Sin and its removal or the pardon of it with righteousness before God acceptance and peace with him To take away sin is to make Attonement for it to Expiate it before God by a satisfaction given or price paid with the procurement of the Pardon of it according unto the Terms of the New Covenant The Interpretation of these words by the Socinians is contrary unto the signification of the words themselves and the whole design of the Context Impossibile est saith Schlictingius ut sanguis taurorum hircorum peccata tollat hoc est efficiat ut homines in postcrum à peccatis abstinerent sic nullam amplius habeant peccatorum conscientiam sive ullas corum poenas metuant quam cnim quaeso vim ad haec praestandum sanguis animalium habere potest Itaque hoc dicit taurorum hircorum sanguinem eam vim nequaquam habere ut habeat impossibile esse ut homines à peccatis avocet ne in posterum peccent efficiat And Grotius after him speaks to the same purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod suprà 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est extinguere peccata quod sanguis Christi facit cum quia fidem in nobis parit tum quia Christo jus dat nobis auxilia necessaria impetrandi pecudum sanguis nihil efficit tale 1. Nothing can be more Alien from the Design of the Apostle and Scope of the Context They are both of them to prove that the Sacrifices of the Law could not Expiate Sins could not make Attonement for them could not make Reconciliation with God could not produce the effect which the Sacrifice of Christ alone was appointed and ordained unto They were only Signs and Figures of it They could not effect that which the Hebrews looked for from them and by them And that which they expected by them was that by them they should make Attonement with God for their sins Wherefore the Apostle denies that it was possible they should effect what they looked for from them and nothing else It was not that they should be Arguments to turn them from Sin unto newness of life so as that they should sin no more By what way and on what consideration they were means to deter Men from Sin I have newly declared But they can produce no one place in the whole Law to give countenance unto such an Apprehension that this was their end so that the Apostle had no need to declare their Insufficiency with respect thereunto Especially the great Anniversary Sacrifice on the day of Expiation was appointed so expresly to make Attonement for Sin to procure its Pardon to take away its Guilt in the sight of God and from the Conscience of the Sinner that he should not be punished according unto the Sentence of the Law as that it cannot be denyed This is that which the Apostle declares that of themselves they could not effect or perform but only Typically and by way of Representation 2. He declares directly and positively what he intends by this taking away of Sin and the ceasing of Legal Sacrifices thereon ver 17 18. Their Sins and their Iniquities will I remember no more now where Remission of these is there is no more Offering for Sin The cessation of Offerings for Sin follows directly on the Remission of Sin which is the effect of Expiation and Attonement and not upon the turning away of Men from Sin for the future It is therefore our Justification and not our Sanctification that the Apostle discourseth of 3. The words themselves will not bear this sense For the Object of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which it is exercised about is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is an Act upon Sin it self and not immediately upon the Sinner Nor can it signifie any thing but to take away the Guilt of Sin that it should not bind over the Sinner unto punishment whereon Conscience for sin is taken away But to return 4. The manner of the Negation is that it was impossible that it should be otherwise And it was so 1. From Divine Institution Whatever the Jews apprehended they were never designed of God unto that end and therefore had no Virtue or Efficacy for it Communicated unto them And all the Virtue of Ordinances of Worship depends on their Designation unto their end The Blood of Bulls and Goats as offered in Sacrifice and carried into the most Holy Place was designed of God to represent the way of taking away sin but not by it self to effect it and it was therefore impossible that so it should do 2. It was impossible from the Nature of the things themselves in as much as there was not a Condecency unto the Holy perfections of the Divine Nature that Sin should be Expiated and the Church perfected by the Blood of Bulls and Goats For 1. There would not have been so unto his Infinite Wisdom For God having declared his severity against Sin with the necessity of its punishment unto the Glory of his Righteousness and Soveraign Rule over his Creatures what Condecency could there have been herein unto infinite Wisdom What Consistency between the severity of that Declaration and the taking away of Sin by such an Inferiour Beggarly means as that of the Blood of Bulls and Goats A great appearance was made of infinite displeasure against sin in the giving of the Fiery Law in the Curse of it in the threatnings of Eternal Death should all have ended in an outward shew there would have been no manner of proportion to be discerned between the Demerit of Sin and the means of its Expiation So that 2. It had no Condecency unto Divine Justice For 1. As I have elsewhere proved at large Sin could not be taken away without a Price a Ransome a Compensation and satisfaction made unto Justice for the Injuries it received by Sin In satisfaction unto Justice by way of Compensation for Injuries or Crimes there must be a proportion between the Injury and the Reparation of it that Justice may be as much Exalted and Glorified in the one as it was depressed and debased in the other But there could be no such thing between the Demerit of Sin and the Affront put on the Righteousness of God on the one
do judge that these are the Enemies of Christ and the making of them his Footstool which are peculiarly here intended namely the destruction of the hardned unbelieving Jews who had obstinately rejected his Ministry and opposed it unto the end Then were those his Enemies who so refused him slain and destroyed thereon For 1. This Description of his Enemies as his Enemies peculiarly directs us unto this sense the Enemies of his Person Doctrine and Glory with whom he had so many contests whose Blasphemies and Contradictions he underwent They were his Enemies in a peculiar manner 2. This the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expecting better answers unto than unto the other sense For the glorious visible propagation of the Gospel and Kingdom of Christ thereon began and was carried on gloriously upon and after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Church of the Jews his Enemies With reference hereunto Expectation may be no less distinctly ascribed unto him than if we extend the word unto the whole time unto the end of the World 3. The Act of Vengeance on these his Enemies is not said to be his own but peculiarly assigned unto God the Father and those imployed by him In the Original promise the words of God the Father to him are I will make thine Enemies thy Footstool I take it upon me Vengeance is mine to revenge the injuries done unto thee and the obstinacy of those Unbelievers Here in this place respect is had unto the means that God used in the work of their destruction which was the Roman Army by whom they were as the Footstool of Christ absolutely trodden under his feet with respect unto this special Act of God the Father who in the Execution of it proclaims that Vengeance is his For in the following words the Lord Christ is said only to expect it as that wherein his own cause was vindicated and revenged as it were by another Hand while he pleaded it himself in the World by that mild and gentle means of sending his spirit to convince them of Sin Righteousness and Judgment 4. This is that which the Apostle constantly threatens the obstinate Hebrews and Apostate Professors of the Gospel withal throughout this Epistle the time of their destruction being now at hand So he doth Chap. 6. 4 5 6 7 8. In this Chapter ver 26 27 28 29 30 31. Where it must be spoken to 5. This was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or what remained as unto the personal Ministry of Christ in this World The horrible Destruction of the stubborn Obstinate Enemies of the Person and Office of Christ which befell the Nation of the Jews is a standing security of the endless destruction of all who remain his Obstinate adversaries 6. I leave this Interpretation of the Words unto the thoughts of them that are Judicious and shall open the Mind of the Holy Ghost in them according unto the generally received Opinion of their sense And to this end 1. The Subject spoken of is the Enemies of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Enemies He hath had many Enemies ever since his Exaltation and so shall have unto the Consummation of all things when they shall all of them be Triumphed over For his Enemies are of two sorts 1. Such as are so immediately and directly unto his Person 2. Such as are so to his Office and Work with the benefits of the Salvation of the Church Those of the first sort are either Devils or Men. All the Devils are in a Combination as sworn Enemies unto the Person of Christ and his Kingdom And for Men the whole World of Unbelieving Jews Mahumetans and Pagans are all his Enemies and do put forth all their Power in Opposition unto him The Enemies unto his Office Grace and Work and the benefits of it are either persons or things 1. The Head of this Opposition and Enmity unto his Person is Antichrist with all his Adherents and in a special manner all Worldly Power Authority and Rule acting themselves in subserviency unto the Antichristian Interest 2. All Pernicious Heresies against his Person and Grace 3. All others which make Profession of the Gospel and live not as becomes the Gospel they are all Enemies of Christ and his Office The things which rise up in Enmity and Opposition to him and the work of his Grace are Sin Death the Grave and Hell All these endeavour to obstruct and frustrate all the ends of Christs Mediation and are therein his Enemies 2. There is the Disposal of this Subject of these Enemies of Christ. They shall be made his Footstool 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 until they be put and placed in this condition it is a State which they would not be in but they shall be made put and placed in it whether they will or no as the word signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Footstool is used in a Threefold sence in the Scripture 1. For the visible pledge of Gods Presence and his Worship Gods Throne as we have shewed was represented by the Ark Mercy-Seat and Cherubims in the most Holy Place whereon the Sanctuary it self was his Footstool 1 Chron. 28. 2. Psal. 99. 5. Psal. 132. 7. So it is applyed unto God and his presence in the Church as the Ark was his Throne so the Sanctuary was his Footstool 2. It is applyed unto God and his presence in the World so Heaven above is called his Throne and this lower part of the Creation is his Footstool Isa. 66. 1. In neither of these senses are the Enemies of Christ to be his Footstool Therefore it is taken 3. For a Despised Conquered Condition a State of a mean subjected people deprived of all power and benefit and brought into absolute subjection In no other sense can it be applyed unto the Enemies of Christ as here it is Yet doth it not signifie the same condition absolutely as unto all persons and things that are his Enemies For they are not of one Nature and their subjection to him is such as their Natures are capable of But these things are intended in it 1. The Deprivation of all Power Authority and Glory They fate on Thrones but now are under the Seat of him who is the only Potentate 2. An utter defeat of their Design in opposing either his Person or the work of his Grace in the Eternal Salvation of his Church They shall not hurt or destroy no more in the Mountain of the Lord. 3. Their Eternal Disposal by the Will of Christ according as his Glory shall be manifested therein Sin Death the Grave and Hell as unto their Opposition to the Church shall be utterly destroyed 1 Cor. 15. 55 56 57. and there shall be no more Death Sathan and Antichrist shall be destroyed two ways 1. Initially and Gradually 2. Absolutely and Compleatly The First they are in all Ages of the Church from the time of Christs Glorious Ascension into Heaven They were then immediately put in subjection to him
Tenderness Love and Zeal towards those unto whom he doth Administer especially considering how greatly their Eternal welfare depends on his Ability Diligence and Faithfulness in the Discharge of his Duty And this proves on sundry accounts greatly to the Advantage of the poor Tempted Disciples of Christ. For it makes a Representation unto them of his own Compassion and Love as the great Shepherd of the Sheep Isa. 40. 11. and causeth a needful Supply of Spiritual Provisions to be always in readiness for them and that to be Administred unto them with Experience of its Efficacy and Success 3. That the Power of Gospel-Grace and Truth may be exemplified unto the Eyes of them unto whom they are dispensed in the Persons of them by whom it is Administred according unto Gods Appointment It is known unto all who know ought in this matter what Temptations and Objections will arise in the minds of poor Sinners against their obtaining any Interest in the Grace and Mercy that is dispensed in the Gospel Some they judge may be made Partakers of them but for them and such as they are there seems to be no Relief provided But is it no Encouragement unto them to see that by Gods appointment the Tenders of his Grace and Mercy are made unto their Souls by Men Subject unto alike Passions with themselves and who if they had not freely obtained Grace would have been as vile and unworthy as themselves For as the Lord called the Apostle Paul to the Ministry who had been a Blasphemer a Persecutor and Injurious that he might in him shew forth all Long-suffering for a Pattern unto them who should hereafter believe on him to Everlasting Life that is for the Encouragement even of such high Criminal Offenders to Believe 1 Tim. 1. 13 14 15 16. So in more Ordinary Cases the Mercy and Grace which the Ministers of the Gospel did equally stand in need of with those unto whom they dispense it and have received it is for a Pattern Example and Encouragement of them to Believe after their Example 4. In particular God maketh Use of Persons that dye in this matter that their Testimony unto the Truth of Gospel-Grace and Mercy may be Compleat and unquestionable Death is the great Touch-stone and Trial of all things of this Nature as to their Efficacy and Sincerity Many things will yield Relief in Life and various Refreshments which upon the approach of Death vanish into nothing So it is with all the Comforts of this VVorld and with all things that have not an Eternal Truth and Substance in them Had not those therefore who dispense Sacred things been designed themselves to come unto this Touch-stone of their own Faith Profession and Preaching those who must dye and know always that they must do so would have been unsatisfied what might have been the Condition with them had they been brought unto it and so have ground to fear in themselves what will become of that Faith wherein they have been Instructed in the warfare of Death when it shall approach To obviate this Fear and Objection God hath Ordained that all those who Administer the Gospel shall all of them bring their own Faith unto that Last Trial that so giving a Testimony unto the Sincerity and Efficacy of the things which they have Preached in that they Commit the Eternal Salvation of their Souls unto them and higher Testimony none can give they may be Encouragements unto others to follow their Examples to imitate their Faith and pursue their Course unto the End And for this cause also doth God oft-times call them forth unto peculiar Trials Exercises Afflictions and Death it self in Martyrdom that they may be an Example and Encouragement unto the whole Church I cannot but Observe for a Close of this Discourse that as the unavoidable Infirmities of the Ministers of the Gospel managed and passed through in a course of Faith Holiness and Sincere Obedience are on many Accounts of singular Use and Advantage unto the Edification and Consolation of the Church so the Evil Examples of any of them in Life and Death with the want of those Graces which should be excited unto Exercise by their Infirmities is pernicious thereunto 〈…〉 2 The Life of the Church depends on the Everlasting Life of Jesus Christ. It is said of Melchisedec as he was a Type of him It is witnessed that he Liveth Christ doth so and that for ever and hereon under the Failings Infirmities and Death of all other Administrators depends the Preservation Life Continuance and Salvation of the Church But this must be spoken peculiarly on ver 27. whither it is remitted VER 9 10. It may be Objected unto the whole precedent Argument of the Apostle That although Abraham himself paid Tithes unto Melchisedec yet it followeth not that Melchisedec was Superiour unto the Levitical Priests concerning whom alone the Question was between him and the Jews For although Abraham might be a Priest in some sence also by virtue of common Right as were all the Patriarchs yet was he not so by virtue of any especial Office Instituted of God to abide in the Church But when God afterwards by peculiar Law and Ordinance Erected an Order and Office of Priesthood in the Family of Levi it might be Superiour unto or Exalted above that of Melchisedec although Abraham paid Tithes unto him This Objection therefore the Apostle obviates in these verses and therewithal giving his former Argument a farther Improvement he makes a Transition according unto his usual Custom as it hath been often Observed that it is his Method to do unto his especial Design in proving the Excellency of the Priesthood of Christ above that of the Law which is the main scope of this whole Discourse VER 9 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ut verbum dicere as to speak a word Vul. Lat. Ut ita dictum sit be it so said Syr. As any one may say Arab. And it is said that this Discourse or Reason may be some way ended Ut ita loquar as I may so speak In the rest of the words there is neither Difficulty nor Difference among Translators There are three things Observable in these words 1. The manner of the Introduction of the Apostle's new Assertion 2. The Assertion it self which hath the force of a new Argument unto his Purpose ver 9. And 3. The Proof of his Assertion in ver 10. The manner of the Introduction of his Assertion is in these words as I may so say This Qualification of the Assertion makes an abatement of it one way or other Now this is not as to the Truth of the Proposition but as to the Propriety of the Expression The words are as if that which is expressed was actually so namely that Levi himself paid Tithes whereas it was so only virtually The thing it self intended was with respect unto the Apostles purpose as if it had been so indeed though Levi not being
three things must be considered in these words 1 The state and Condition of Christ as an High Priest He liveth alwayes or for ever 2. What he doth as an High Priest in that state and Condition He maketh Intercession for us 3. The Connexion of these things their mutual regard or the Relation of the work of Christ unto his state and condition the one is the end of the other He lives for ever to make intercession for us 1. As to his state and condition He lives for ever He is alwayes living The Lord Christ in his Divine Person hath a threesold life in Heaven The one he lives in himself the other for himself and the last for us 1. The Eternal life of God in his Divine Nature This he liveth in himself As the Father hath life in himself so hath he given unto the son to have life in himself Joh. 5 26. He hath given it him by eternal Generation in a communication unto him of all the divine Properties And he that hath life in himself a life independent on any other he is the living one the living God No creature can have life in himself For in God we live move and have our being He is hereby Alpha and Omega the first and the last the Begining and end of all Revel 1. 11. because he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the living one ver 18. And this Life of Christ is the foundation of the efficacy of all his Mediatory Actings namely that he was in his own divine Person the Living God Act. 20. 28. 1 Cor. 2. 8. 1 Joh. 3. 16. But this is not the immediate cause of his Mediatory Effects nor is it here intended 2. There is a Life which he liveth for himself namely a Life of unconceivable Glory in his Humane Nature He lead a mortal life in this world a life obnoxious unto misery and death and died accordingly This life is now changed into that of immortal eternal Glory Hence forth he dyeth no more death hath no more Power over him And not only so but this Life of his is unto him the cause of and is attended with all that ineffable Glory which he now enjoyes in Heaven This Life he lives for himself it is his reward the Glory and Honour that he is crowned withal All the endowments all the enjoyments and the whole eternal exaltation of the Humane Nature in the Person of Christ belong unto this Life of Glory And the glorious exaltation of that individual humane nature which the son of God assumed far above all Principalities and Powers and every name that is named in this world or the world to come is the principal part of the Design of Infinite wisdom in the work of the new Creation But neither is this the Life here intended 3. The Lord Christ lives a Mediatory Life in Heaven a Life for us So saith our Apostle he was made a Priest after the Power of an endless Life whereof we have treated before He lives as King Prophet and Priest of the Church So he describes himself Revel 1. 18. I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore and have the keys of Hell and Death As he died for us so he liveth for us and is entrusted with all Power over the Churches adversaries for its good As he died for us so he liveth for us in Heaven and therefore tells us that because he liveth we shall live also Joh. 14. 19. Now this life differeth not essentially from that life of Glory in the Humane Nature which he liveth for himself in Heaven Only it denoteth one especial end of it and that only for a season The Lord Christ will have the life in himself the divine life unto all Eternity and so also will be the Life of Glory in the Humane Nature But he shall cease to live this Mediatory Life for us when the work of his Mediation is accomplished 1 Cor. 15. 28. But he shall lead this life alwaies for us until the whole work committed unto him be accomplished and shall lead it as a Life of Glory in himself unto Eternity Obs. It is a matter of strong consolation unto the Church that Christ lives in Heaven for us It is a spring of unspeakable Joy unto all true Believers that he lives a Life of Immortality and Glory in and for himself in Heaven Who can call to mind all the miseries which he underwent in this world all the reproach and scorn that was cast upon him by his enemies of all sorts all the wrath that the whole world is yet filled withal against him but is refreshed rejoyced transported with a spiritual view by Faith of all that Majesty and Glory which he is now in the Eternal Possession of so was it with Stephen Act. 7. 56. And therefore in all the Appearances and Representations which he hath made of himself since his Ascension into Heaven he hath manifested his present Glory Act. 26. 13. Revel 1. 14 15 16 17 18. And the due consideration hereof cannot but be a matter of unspeakable Refreshment unto all that love him in sincerity But herein lyeth the Life of the Churches Consolation that he continues to live a Mediatory Life in Heaven for us also It is not I fear so considered nor so improved as it ought to be That Christ dyed for us all who own the Gospel profess in words though some so explain their Faith or rather their Infidelity as to deny its proper use and to evacuate its proper ends That so he lived for us here in this world so as that his Life was some way or other unto our Advantage at least thus far that he could not have died if he had not lived before all men will grant even those by whom the principal end of this Life namely to fulfil the Law for us is peremptorily denyed But that Christ now lives a life of Glory in Heaven that most men think is for himself alone But the Text speaks to the contrary He lives for ever to make Intercession for us Neither is this the only end of his present Mediatory Life in Heaven though this only be here expressed Should I undertake to shew the ends of the present Mediatory Life of Christ for the Church it would be too great and long a decursion from the Text. However the whole of the work of this Life of his may be reduced into these three heads 1. His immediate Actings towards the Church it self which respects his Prophetical Office 2. His Actings for the Church in the world by Vertue and Power of his Kingly Office 3. His Actings with God the Father in their behalf in the dischage of his sacerdotal Office 1. The first consisteth in his sending and giving the Holy Ghost unto the Church He lives for ever to send the Holy Spirit unto his Disciples Without this constant effect of the present Mediatory Life of Christ the Being of the Church would fail it
Redemption and for ever perfected them that are sanctified Wherefore nothing remains for his Intercession but the Application of the fruits of his Oblation unto all them for whom he offered himself in sacrifice according as their conditions and occasions do require Wherefore 8. The safest Conception and Apprehension that we can have of the Intercession of Christ as to the manner of it is his continual Appearance for us in the Presence of God by vertue of his Office as the High Priest over the house of God representing the efficacy of his Oblation accompanied with tender Care Love and Desires for the welfare supply deliverance and Salvation of the Church Three things therefore concurre hereunto 1. The Presentation of his Person before the Throne of God on our behalf chap. 9. 24. This renders it sacerdotal His Appearance in Person for us is required thereunto 2. The Representation of his Death Oblation and Sacrifice for us which gives Power Life and Efficacy unto his Intercession Thence he appears in the midst of the Throne as a Lamb that had been slain Revel 5. 8. Both these are required to make his Intercession Sacerdotal But 3. both these do not render it Prayer or Intercession For Intercession is Prayer 1 Tim. 2. 1. Rom. 8. 26. Wherefore there is in it moreover a putting up a requesting and Offering unto God of his desires and will for the Church attended with Care Love and Compassion Zech. 1. 12. Thus far then may we proceed 1. It is a part of his Sacerdotal Office He intercedes for us as the High Priest over the House of God 2. It is the first and principal way whereby he Acts and exerciseth his Love compassion and care towards the Church 3. That he hath respect therein unto every Individual Believer and all their especial occasions if any man sin we have an Advocate 4. That there is in his intercession an effectual signification of his will and desire unto his Father For it hath the nature of Prayer in it and by it he expresseth his Dependance upon God 5. That it respects the Application of all the Fruits Effects and Benefits of his whole Mediation unto the Church For this is the formal nature of it that it is the way and means appointed of God in the holy dispensation of himself and his Grace unto mankind whereby the continual Application of all the Benefits of the Death of Christ and all effects of the Promises of the Covenant shall be communicated unto us unto his Praise and Glory 6 The efficacy of this intercession as it is Sacerdotal depends wholly on the antecedent Oblation and sacrifice of himself which is therefore as it were represented unto God therein This is evident from the nature and order of the Typical institutions whereby it was prefigured and whereunto by our Apostle it is accommodated But what belongs unto the manner of the Transactions of these things in Heaven I know not The third thing observed was the connexion of the two things mentioned or their Relation one unto another namely the perpetual life of Christ and his intercession He lives for ever to make intercession His intercession is the end of his Mediatory Life not absolutely nor only but principally He lives to Rule his Church he lives to subdue his Enemies for he must raign until they are all made his footstool He lives to give the Holy Spirit in all his blessed effects unto Believers But because all these things proceed originally by an emanation of Power and Grace from God and are given out into the hand of Christ upon his intercession that may well be esteemed the principal end of his Mediatory Life So he speaks expresly concerning that great fruit and effect of this Life of him in sending of the Spirit I will pray the Father I will intercede with him for it and he shall send you another Comforter John 14. 16. And the Power which he exerts in the subduing and destruction of the Enemies of his Kingdom is expresly promised unto him upon his Intercession for it Psal 2. 8 9 For this intercession of Christ is the great Ordinance of God for the exercise of his Power towards and the Communication of his grace unto the Church unto his Praise and Glory So doth our High Priest live to make intercession for us Many things we may from hence observe 1. So great and glorious is the work of saving Believers unto the utmost that it is necessary that the Lord Christ should lead a Mediatory Life in Heaven for the perfecting and accomplishment of it He lives for ever to make intercession for us It is generally acknowledged that sinners could not be saved without the Death of Christ but that Believers could not be saved without the life of Christ following it is not so much considered See Rom. 5. 10. Chap. 8. 34 35 c. It is it may be thought by some that when he had declared the name of God and revealed the whole counsel of his Will when he had given us the great example of Love and Holiness in this life when he had fulfilled all Righteousness redeemed us by his blood and made Attonement for our sins by the Oblation of himself confirming his Truth and Acceptation with God in all these things by his Resurrection from the dead wherein he was declared to be the Son of God with Power that he might have now left us to deal for our selves and to build our eternal safety on the Foundation that he had laid But alas when all this was done if he had only ascended into his own glory to enjoy his Majesty Honour and Dominion without continuing his Life and Office in our behalf we had been left poor and helpless so that both we and all our Right unto an Heavenly Inheritance should have been made a prey unto every subtle and powerful Adversary He could therefore no otherwise comfort his Disciples when he was leaving this world but by promising that he would not leave them Orphans John 14. 18. that is that he would still continue to Act for them to be their Patron and to exercise the Office of a Mediator and Advocate with the Father for them Without this he knew they must be Orphans that is such as are not able to defend themselves from injuries nor secure their own Right unto their Inheritance The sure Foundations of our eternal Salvation were laid in his Death and Resurrection So it is said that when God laid the Foundation of the Earth and placed the corner-stone thereof that the morning stars sang together and all the Sons of God shouted for Joy Job 38. 7. Although the Foundations were only laid yet that being done by infinite Power and Wisdom which would infallibly accomplish and perfect the whole it was a blessed cause of Praise and ascribing glory to God Yet were the continued Actings of the same Power required unto the Perfection of it The Foundation of the new Creation was laid
Divine Nature But I shall leave the Reader to chuse whether sense he judgeth suitable unto the scope of the place either of them being so unto the Analogy of Faith The Socinians understanding that both these Interpretations are equally destructive to their Opinions the one concerning the Person of Christ the other about the Nature of the Holy Ghost have invented a sense of these words never before heard of among Christians For they say that by the Eternal Spirit a certain Divine Power is intended whereby the Lord Christ was freed from Mortality and made Eternal that is no more obnoxious unto death By virtue of this Power they say he offered himself unto God when he entred into Heaven than which nothing can be spoken more fond or impious or contrary unto the design of the Apostle For 1 Such a Power as they pretend is no where called the Spirit much less the Eternal Spirit and to feign significations of words without any countenance from their use elsewhere is to wrest them at our pleasure 2 The Apostle is so far from requiring a Divine Power rendering him immortal antecedently unto the offering of himself as that he declares that he offered himself by the Eternal Spirit in his death when he shed his blood whereby our consciences are purged from dead works 3 This Divine Power rendering Christ immortal is not peculiar unto him but shall be communicated unto all that are raised unto glory at the last day And there is no colour of an opposition herein unto what was done by the High Priests of old 4 It proceeds on their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this matter which is that the Lord Christ offered not himself unto God before he was made immortal which is utterly to exclude his death and blood from any concernment therein which is as contrary unto the truth and scope of the place as darkness is to light 5 Wherever there is mention made elsewhere in the Scripture of the Holy Spirit or the Eternal Spirit or the Spirit absolutely with reference unto any actings of the Person of Christ or on it either the Holy Spirit or his own Divine Nature is intended See Isa. 61. 1 2. Rom. 1. 3. 1 Pet. 3. 18. Wherefore Grotius forsakes this Notion and otherwise explains the words Spiritus Christi qui non tantum fuit vivus ut in vita terrena sed in aeternum corpus sibi adjunctum vivificans If there be any sense in these words it is the rational Soul of Christ that is intended And it is most true that the Lord Christ offered himself in and by the actings of it For there are no other in the Humane Nature as to any duties of obedience unto God But that this here should be called the Eternal Spirit is a vain conjecture For the spirits of all men are equally eternal and do not only live here below but quicken their Bodies after the Resurrection for ever This therefore cannot be the ground of the especial efficacy of the blood of Christ. This is the second thing wherein the Apostle opposeth the Offering of Christ unto the offerings of the Priests under the Law 1 They offered Bulls and Goats He offered Himself 2 They offered by a material Altar and Fire He by the Eternal Spirit That Christ should thus offer Himself unto God and that by the Eternal Spirit is the center of the mystery of the Gospel An attempt to corrupt to pervert this glorious Truth are designs against the Glory of God and Faith of the Church The depth of this mystery we cannot dive into the height we cannot comprehend We cannot search out the greatness of it of the wisdom the love the grace that is in it And those who chuse rather to reject it than to live by Faith in an humble admiration of it do it at the peril of their souls Unto the Reason of some men it may be Folly unto Faith it is full of Glory In the consideration of the Divine Actings of the Eternal Spirit of Christ in the offering of himself of the holy exercise of all grace in the humane nature that was offered of the nature dignity and efficacy of this Sacrifice Faith finds life food and refreshment Herein doth it contemplate the wisdom the righteousness the holiness and grace of God herein doth it view the wonderful condescension and love of Christ and from the whole is strengthned and encouraged Thirdly It is added that he thus offered himself without spot This Adjunct is descriptive not of the Priest but of the Sacrifice it is not a qualification of his Person but of the Offering Schlictingius would have it that this word denotes not what Christ was in himself but what he was freed from For now in Heaven where he offered himself he is freed from all infirmities and from any spot of mortality which the High Priest was not when he entered into the Holy Place such irrational fancies do false Opinions force men to take up withal But 1 There was no spot in the mortality of Christ that he should be said to be freed from it when he was made immortal A spot signifies not so much a desect as a fault And there was no fault in Christ from which he was freed 2 The Allusion and respect herein unto the legal institutions is evident and manifest The Lamb that was to be slain and offered was antecedently thereunto to be without blemish it was to be neither lame nor blind nor have any other defect With express respect hereunto the Apostle Peter affirms that we were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot 1 Pet. 1. 18. And Christ is not only called the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world John 1. 29. that is by his being slain and offered but is represented in the worship of the Church as a Lamb slain Rev. 5. 6. It is therefore to offer violence unto the Scripture and common understanding to seek for this qualification any where but in the humane nature of Christ antecedently unto his death and blood-shedding Wherefore this expression without spot respects in the first place the purity of his Nature and the holiness of his Life For although this principally belonged unto the necessary qualifications of his Person yet were they required unto him as he was to be the Sacrifice He was the Holy One of God holy barmless undefiled separate from sinners he did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth he was without spot This is the moral sense and signification of the word But there is a legal sense of it also It is that which is meet and fit to be a Sacrifice For it respects all that was signified by the legal institution concerning the integrity and perfection of the Creatures Lambs or Kids that were to be sacrificed Hence were all those Laws fulfilled and accomplished There was nothing in him nothing wanting unto him that
the infallible connexion of these things the blood of Christ and the purging of the Conscience that is in all that betake themselves thereunto It shall do it that is effectually and infallibly 2. Respect is had herein unto the generality of the Hebrews whether already professing the Gospel or now invited unto it And he proposeth this unto them as the advantage they should be made partakers of by the relinquishment of Mosaical Ceremonies and betaking themselves unto the Faith of the Gospel For whereas before by the best of legal Ordinances they attained no more but an outward sanctification as unto the flesh they should now have their Conscience infallibly purged from dead works Hence it is said your Conscience Some Copies read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our But there is no difference in the sense I shall retain the common reading as that which refers unto the Hebrews who had been always exercised unto thoughts of Purification and Sanctification by one means or another For the Explication of the words we must enquire 1 What is meant by dead works 2 What is their relation unto Conscience 3 How Conscience is purged of them by the blood of Christ. 1. By dead works sins as unto their guilt and defilement are intended as all acknowledge And several Reasons are given why they are so called As 1 Because they proceed from a principle of spiritual death or are the works of them who have no vital principle of holiness in them Eph. 2. 1 5. Col. 2. 13. 2 Because they are useless and fruitless as all dead things are 3 They deserve death and tend thereunto Hence they are like rotten bones in the Grave accompanied with worms and corruption And these things are true Howbeit I judge there is a peculiar reason why the Apostle calls them dead works in this place For there is an allusion herein unto dead bodies and legal defilement by them For he hath respect unto Purification by the Ashes of the Heifer And this respected principally uncleanness by the dead as is fully declared in the institution of that Ordinance As men were purified by the sprinkling of the Ashes of an Heifer mingled with living water from defilements contracted by the dead without which they were separated from God and the Church so unless men are really purged from their moral defilements by the blood of Christ they must perish for ever Now this defilement from the dead as we have shewed arose from hence that Death was the effect of the Curse of the Law wherefore the guilt of sin with respect unto the Curse of the Law is here intended in the first place and consequently its pollution This gives us the state of all men who are not interessed in the Sacrifice of Christ and the purging vertue thereof As they are dead in themselves dead in trespasses and sins so all their works are dead works Other works they have none They are as a Sepulchre filled with bones and corruption Every thing they do is unclean in it self and unclean unto them Unto them that are defiled nothing is pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled Tit. 1. 15. Their works come from spiritual death and tend unto eternal death and are dead in themselves Let them deck and trim their carkases whil'st they please let them â—end their faces with paintings and multiply their ornaments with all excess of bravery within they are full of dead bones of rotten defiled polluting works That world which appears with so much outward beauty lustre and glory is all polluted and defiled under the eye of the most Holy 2. These dead works are further described by their relation unto our persons as unto what is peculiarly affected with them where they have as it were their seat and residence And this is the Conscience He doth not say purge your souls or your minds or your persons but your conscience And this he doth 1 In general in opposition unto the purification by the Law It was there the dead body that did defile it was the body that was defiled it was the body that was purified those Ordinances sanctified to the purifying of the flesh But the defilements here intended are spiritual internal relating unto Conscience and therefore such is the purification also 2 He mentions the respect of these dead works unto Conscience in particular because it is Conscience which is concerned in peace with God and confidence of approach unto him Sin variously affects all the faculties of the soul and there is in it a peculiar defilement of Conscience Tit. 1. 15. But that wherein Conscience in the first place is concerned and wherein it is alone concerned is a sense of guilt This brings along with it fear and dread whence the sinner dares not approach into the presence of God It was Conscience which reduced Adam into the condition of hiding himself from God his eyes being opened by a sense of the guilt of sin So he that was unclean by the touching of a dead body was excluded from all approach unto God in his worship Hereunto the Apostle alludes in the following words That we may serve the living God For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly denotes that service which consists in the observation and performance of solemn worship As he who was unclean by a dead body might not approach unto the worship of God until he was purified So a guilty sinner whose Conscience is affected with a sense of the guilt of sin dares not to draw nigh unto or appear in the presence of God It is by the working of Conscience that sin deprives the soul of peace with God of boldness or confidence before him of all right to draw nigh unto him Until this relation of sin unto the Conscience be taken away until there be no more conscience of sin as the Apostle speaks Chap. 10. 2. that is Conscience absolutely judging and condemning the person of the sinner in the sight of God there is no right no liberty of access unto God in his service nor any acceptance to be obtained with him Wherefore the purging of Conscience from dead works doth first respect the guilt of sin and the vertue of the blood of Christ in the removal of it But 2dly there is also an inherent defilement of Conscience by sin as of all other faculties of the soul. Hereby it is rendred unmeet for the discharge of its office in any particular duties With respect hereunto Conscience is here used Synecdochically for the whole soul and all the faculties of it yea our whole spirit souls and bodies which are all to be cleansed and sanctified 1 Thes. 5. 23. To purge our Conscience is to purge us in our whole persons This being the state of our Conscience this being the respect of dead works and their defilement to it and us we may consider the relief that is necessary in this case and what that is which is here proposed 1. Unto
the best works of men antecedently unto the purging of their Consciences by the blood of Christ are but dead works However men may please themselves in them perhaps think to merit by them yet from death they come and unto death they tend 6. Justification and Sanctification are inseparably conjoined in the design of God's grace by the blood of Christ. Purge our Consciences that we may serve the living God 7. Gospel-worship is such in its spirituality and holiness as becometh the living God and our duty it is always to consider that with him we have to do in all that we perform therein VER XV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vul. Et ideo and therefore Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propter hoc For this or propterea itaque ob id And for this cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He himself was the Mediator He is the Mediator Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A man coming between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vul. ut morte intercedente by the Interposition of death The Syriac reads the passage who by his death was a redeemer unto them who had transgressed against the first Testament probably to avoid the difficulty of that Expression For the Redemption of transgressions The Aethiopic corrupts the whole Text. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Redemptionem eorum praevaricationum Vul. Ad Redemptionem eorum transgressionum properly for the Redemption of transgressions or those transgressions which were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vul. Syr. That they may receive the promise who are called to the eternal Inheritance But in the Original and in the Vulgar eternal inheritance is joyned unto and regulated by the Promise the promise of an eternal Inheritance VER XV. And for this cause he is the Mediator of the new Testament that by means of death for the Redemption of the transgressions under the first Testament they who are called might receive the promise of eternal Inheritance THe things which are to be considered in this verse are 1 The note of Connexion in the Conjunction And. 2 The Ground of the ensuing Assertion For this cause 3 The Assertion itself He is the Mediator of the new Testament 4 The especial Reason why he should be so For the Redemption of Transgressions under the first Testament 5 The way whereby that was to be effected By the means of death 6 The End of the whole That those who are called might receive the promise of eternal Inheritance But before we proceed unto the Exposition of the whole or any part of it a difficulty must be removed from the words as they lie in our Translation For an enquiry may be justly moved why we render the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a Testament in this place whereas before we have constantly rendred it by a Covenant And the plain reason of it is because from this verse unto the end of the Chapter the Apostle argues from the nature and use of a Testament among men as he directly affirms in the next verse Hereby he confirms our faith in the expectation of the Benefits of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Covenant or Testament We may answer he doth it because it is the true and proper signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is properly a Testamentary disposition of things as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Covenant For in the Composition of the word there is nothing to intimate a mutual compact or agreement which is necessary unto a Covenant and is expressed in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 However there is a great affinity in the things themselves For there are Covenants which have in them free Grants and Donations which is of the nature of a Testament And there are Testaments whose force is resolved into some Conventions Conditions and Agreements which they borrow from the nature of Covenants So there is such an affinity between them as one name may be expressive of them both But against this it will be replied that what the Apostle speaks unto is in the Hebrew called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a Covenant and no where signifies a Testament so that from thence the Apostle could not argue from the nature of a Testament what is required thereunto and what doth depend thereon Hereunto it is answered that the LXX constantly rendring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Berith by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostle made use of that Translation and that signification of the word But this will not solve the difficulty For it would resolve all the Apostles arguings in this great and important Mystery into the Authority of that Translation which is fallible throughout and at least as it is come to us filled with actual mistakes We must therefore give another answer unto this Objection Wherefore I say 1 The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 could not be more properly rendred by any one word than by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For it being mostly used to express the Covenant between God and Man it is of that nature as cannot properly be termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a Covenant or Compact upon equal terms of distributive Iustice between distinct parties But Gods Covenant with man is only the way and the declaration of the terms whereby God will dispose and communicate Good things unto us which hath more of the nature of a Testament than of a Covenant in it 2 The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often used to express a free promise with an effectual donation and communication of the thing promised as hath been declared in the foregoing chapter But this hath more of the nature of a Testament than of a Covenant 3 There is no word in the Hebrew language whereby to express a Testament but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only Nor is there so in the Syriack Their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Hebrews express the thing by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to order dispose give command concerning the house or houshold of a dying man Isa. 38. 2. 2 Sam. 17. 23. But they have no other word but Berith to signifie it and therefore where the nature of the thing spoken of requires it it is properly rendred a Testament and ought so to be Wherefore there is no force used unto the signification of the word in this place by the Apostle But that which makes the proper use of it by him evident in this place is that he had respect unto its signification in the making of the Covenant with the people at Sinai For this he compares the New Testament unto in all its causes and effects And in that Covenant there were three things 1. The Prescription of Obedience unto the People on the part of God which was received by their consent in an express compliance with the Law and Terms of it Deut. 5. 14. Herein the nature of it so far as it
The Redemption or Expiation of Sins is confined unto those under the Old Testament whence it should seem that there is none made for those under the New Ans. The Emphasis of the Expression Sins under the Old Testament respect either the Time when the sins intended were committed or the Testament against which they were committed And the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will admit of either sense Take it in the first way and the Argument follows à fortiori as unto the Sins committed under the New Testament though there be no Expiation of Sins against it which properly are only final Unbelief and Impenitency For the Expiation intended is made by the Mediator of the New Testament And if he expiated the Sins that were under the first Testament that is of those who lived and dyed whil'st that Covenant was in force much more doth he do so for them who live under the Administration of that Testament whereof he is the Mediator For Sins are taken away by vertue of that Testament whereunto they do belong And it is with peculiar respect unto them that the blood of Christ is called the blood of the New Testament for the Redemption of Sins But yet more probably the meaning may be the Sins that were and are committed against that first Covenant or the Law and Rule of it For whereas that Covenant did in its Administration comprise the Moral Law which was the substance and foundation of it all Sins whatever have their form and nature with respect thereunto So Sins under the first Covenant are all Sins whatever For there is no Sin committed under the Gospel but it is a Sin against that Law which requires us to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and all our strength Either way the Sins of them who are called under the New Testament are included 2. It is enquired whether it is the Nature of the Sins intended that is respected or the Persons guilty of them also under that Testament The Syriac Translation avoids this difficulty by rendring the words of the Abstract the Redemption of Transgressions in the Concrete a Redeemer unto them who had transgressed That it is a certain sort of Sins that is intended Socinus was the first that invented And his invention is the foundation of the Exposition not only of Schlictingius but of Grotius also on this place Such Sins they say they are as for which no Expiation was to be made by the Sacrifices of the Law Sins of a greater Nature than could be expiated by them For they only made Expiation of some smaller Sins as Sins of Ignorance or the like But there is no respect unto the Persons of them who lived under that Testament whom they will not grant to be redeemed by the blood of Christ. Wherefore according unto them the difference between the Expiation of Sin by the Sacrifices of the Law and that by the Sacrifice of Christ doth not consist in their nature that the one did it only typically and in an external representation by the purifying of the flesh the other really and effectually but in this that the one expiated lesser Sins only the other greater also But there is nothing sound or consonant unto the Truth in this Interpretation of the words For 1 It proceeds on a false Supposition that there were Sins of the people not only presumptuous Sins and which had impenitency in them for which no Atonement was made nor Expiation of them allowed which is expresly contrary unto Lev. 16. 16 21. And whereas some offences were capital amongst them for which no Atonement was allowed to free the Sinner from death yet that belonged unto the Political Rule of the people and hindred not but that typically all sorts of Sins were to be expiated 2 It is contrary unto the express design of the Apostle For he had proved before by all sorts of Arguments that the Sacrifices of the Law could not expiate any Sin could not purge the Conscience from dead works that they made nothing perfect And this he speaks not of this or that Sin but of every Sin wherein the Conscience of a Sinner is concerned Chap. 10. 2. Hence two things follow First That they did not in and of themselves really expiate any one Sin small or great It was impossible saith the Apostle that they should do so Heb. 10. 4. only they sanctified to the purifying of the flesh which overthrows the foundation of this Exposition Secondly That they did typifie and represent the Expiation of all sorts of Sins whatever and made application of it unto their Souls For if it was so that there was no Atonement for their Sins that their Consciences were not purged from dead works nor themselves consummate but only had some outward purification of the flesh it cannot be but they must all eternally perish But that this was not their condition the Apostle proves from hence because they were called of God unto an eternal Inheritance as he had proved at large concerning Abraham Chap. 6. Hence he infers the necessity of the mediation and death of Christ as without the vertue whereof all the called under the first Covenant must perish eternally there being no other way to come to the Inheritance 3. Whereas the Apostle mentions only the Sins under the first Covenant as unto the time passed before the Exhibition of Christ in the flesh or the death of the Mediator of the New Testament what is to be thought of them who lived during that season who belonged not unto the Covenant but were strangers from it such as are described Eph. 4. 12. I answer The Apostle takes no notice of them and that because taking them generally Christ dyed not for them Yea that he did not so is sufficiently proved from this place Those who live and dye strangers from God's Covenant have no interest in the Mediation of Christ. Wherein the Redemption of these Transgressions did consist shall be declared in its proper place And we may observe 1. Such is the malignant Nature of Sin of all Transgression of the Law that unless it be removed unless it be taken out of the way no Person can enjoy the Promise of the Eternal Inheritance 2. It was the Work of God alone to contrive and it was the Effect of infinite Wisdom and Grace to provide a way for the removal of Sin that it might not be an everlasting Obstacle against the Communication of an Eternal Inheritance unto them that are called Fifthly We have declared the design of God here represented unto us who are the Persons towards whom it was to be accomplished and what lay in the way as an hindrance of it That which remains in the words is the way that God took and the means that he used for the removal of that hindrance and the effectual accomplishment of his design This in general was first the making of a New Testament He had fully proved before that this could not
yet what use and advantage was it of with respect unto them that he should dye an accursed death under the Curse of the Law and a sense of God's displeasure Hereof the Socinians and those that follow them can yield no reason at all It would become these men so highly pretending unto reason to give an account upon their own Principles of the death of the onely begotten Son of God in the highest course and most intense Acts of Obedience that may be compliant with the wisdom holiness and goodness of God considering the kind of death that he dyed But what they cannot do the Apostle doth in the next words Eighthly The death of the Mediator of the New Testament was for the Redemption of Transgressions and for this End it was necessary Sin lay in the way of the enjoyment of the Inheritance which Grace had prepared It did so in the Righteousness and Faithfulness of God Unless it were removed the Inheritance could not be received The way whereby this was to be done was by Redemption The Redemption of Transgressions is the deliverance of the Transgressors from all the Evils they were subject unto on their account by the payment of a satisfactory price The words used to express it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will admit of no other signification Here it must answer the purging of Conscience by the blood of Christ. And he calls his life a Ransom or Price of Redemption And this utterly destroys the foundation of the Socinian Redemption and Expiation for Sin For they make it only a freedom from Punishment by an Act of Power Take off the covering of the words which they use in a sense foreign to the Scripture and their proper signification and their sense is expresly contradictory unto the sense and words of the Apostle He declares Christ to have been the High-Priest and Mediator of the New Testament in the same Acts and Duties They teach that he ceased to be a Mediator when he began to be a Priest He affirms that the Blood of Christ doth expiate Sins They that he doth it by an Act of Power in Heaven where there is no use of his Blood He says that his death was necessary unto and was the means or cause of the Redemption of Transgressions that is to be a price of Redemption or just Compensation for them They contend that no such thing is required thereunto And whereas the Scriptures do plainly assign the Expiation of Sin Redemption Reconciliation and Peace with God Sanctification and Salvation unto the Death and Blood-shedding of Christ They deny them all and every one to be in any sense Effects of it only they say it was an antecedent sign of the Truth of his Doctrine in his Resurrection and an antecedent condition of his Exaltation and Power which is to reject the whole Mystery of the Gospel Besides the particular Observations which we have made on the several passages of this Verse something may yet in general be observed from it As 1. A New Testament providing an Eternal Inheritance in Sovereign Grace the Constitution of a Mediator such a Mediator for that Testament in infinite Wisdom and Love the Death of that Testator for the Redemption of Transgressions to fulfil the Law and satisfie the Iustice of God with the communication of that Inheritance by Promise to be received by Faith in all them that are called are the substance of the Mystery of the Gospel And all these are with wonderful wisdom comprised by the Apostle in these words 2. That the Efficacy of the Mediation and Death of Christ extended it self unto all the called under the Old Testament is an evident Demonstration of his Divine Nature his Pre-existence unto all these things and the Eternal Covenant between the Father and him about them 3. The first Covenant did only forbid and Condemn Transgressions Redemption from them is by the New Testament alone 4. The Glory and Efficacy of the New Covenant and the Assurance of the Communication of an Eternal Inheritance by vertue of it depend hereon that it was made a Testament by the death of the Mediator which is farther proved in the following Verses VER XVI XVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the death of him is declared shewed argued or proved Mors intercedat necesse est Necesse est mortem intercedere Ar. Necesse est mortem ferri which is not proper in the Latine Tongue however there is an emphasis in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more than is expressed by intercedo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of him that made it of the Testator 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in him that is dead in mortuis among them that are dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vulg confirmatum est and so the Syriac ratum est more proper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is no use profit or benefit in it Ar. nunquam valet quandoquidem nunquam valet nondum valet it is not yet of force For where a Testament is there must also of necessity be brought in the death of the Testator For a Testament is firm or ratified after men are dead otherwise it is of no force whil'st the Testator liveth There is not much more to be considered in these verses but only how the Observation contained in them doth promote and confirm the Argument which the Apostle insists upon Now this is to prove the necessity and use of the death of Christ from the Nature Ends and Use of the Covenant whereof he was the Mediator For it being a Testament it was to be confirmed with the death of the Testator This is proved in these Verses from the Notion of a Testament and the only use of it amongst men For the Apostle in this Epistle doth argue several times from such usages amongst men as proceeding from the Principles of Reason and Equity were generally prevalent among them So he doth in his discourse concerning the assurance given by the Oath of God Chap. 6. And here he doth the same from what was commonly agreed upon and suitable unto the reason of things about the nature and use of a Testament The things here mentioned were known to all approved by all and were the principal means of the preservation of Peace and Property in Humane Societies For although Testaments as unto their especial Regulation owe their original unto the Roman Civil Law yet as unto the substance of them they were in use amongst all Mankind from the foundation of the world For a Testament is the just determination of a Man's Will concerning what he will have done with his Goods after his decease Or it is the Will of him that is dead Take this power from men and you root up the whole foundation of all industry and diligence in the world For what man will labour to increase his substance if when
interpret the meaning of his words but directly to oppose his whole design For it is not a fancied framed Comparison that the Apostle insists on but a Declaration of the Typical Significancy of legal Institutions and his Purpose is to manifest the Accomplishment of them all in Christ alone Lastly The End of this Sacerdotal Entrance of Christ into Heaven is expressed Now to appear in the Presence of God for us A farther Degree of Opposition between our High Priest and those of the Law is expressed in these words They entred into the Holy Place to appear for the People and to present their Supplications unto God But this was only in an Earthly Tabernacle and that before a Material Ark and Mercy-Seat In what is here ascribed unto Christ there are many differences from what was so done by them 1. In the Time of what he did or doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now At this present Season and always What those others did was of no continuance But this NOW is expressive of the whole Season and Duration of time from the Entrance of Christ into Heaven unto the Consummation of all things So he declares it in the next Verse He never departs out of the Sanctuary to prepare for a new Sacrifice as they did of old There is no moment of Time wherein it may not be said He now appeareth for us 2. In the End of his Entrance into this Heavenly Sanctuary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to appear Absolutely his Entrance into Heaven had other Ends but this is the only End of his entring into Heaven as Gods Temple the Seat of the Throne of Grace as our High Priest And the whole Discharge of the remaining Duties of his Sacerdotal Office are comprized in this word as we shall immediately demonstrate 3. In that he doth thus appear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vultui Conspectui Faciei Dei That is the immediate Presence of God in opposition unto the Typical Symbols of it in the Tabernacle before which the High-Priest presented himself The High Priest appeared before the Ark the Cherubims and Mercy-seat composed into the Form of a Throne Christ enters into the real Presence of God standing in his sight before his Face and this expresseth his full Assurance of his Success in his undertaking and his full discharge from that Charge of the Guilt of Sin which he underwent Had he not made an end of it had he not absolutely been freed from it he could not have thus appeared with Confidence and Boldness in the Presence of God Lastly This is said to be done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For us This referrs only to Appear to appear for us that is as we shall see to do all things with God for us at the Throne of Grace that we may be saved The words being Opened the Nature of the thing it self namely of the present Appearance of Christ in Heaven must be farther enquired into And it may be declared in the ensuing Observations 1. It is an Act of his Sacerdotal Office Not only He who is our High Priest doth so appear but he so doth as the High Priest of the Church For such was the Duty of the High Priest under the Law whereby it was typified and represented His Entrance into the Holy Place and Presentation of himself before the Mercy-seat was in the discharge of his office and he did it by Vertue thereof And this is one principal Foundation of the Churches Comfort namely that the present Appearance of Christ in the Presence of God is a part of his Office a Duty in the Discharge of it 2. It is such an Act and Duty of our High Priest as supposeth the Offering of himself a Sacrifice for Sin antecedent thereunto For it was with the blood of the expiatory Sacrifices offered before on the Altar that the High Priest entred into the Holy Place It hath therefore regard unto his antecedent Sacrifice or his offering himself in his death and blood-shedding unto God Without a supposition hereof he could not as our High Priest have entred into the Sanctuary and have appeared in the Presence of God Wherefore 3. It supposeth the Accomplishment of the Work of the Redemption of the Church His words in this Appearance before God are expressed Joh. 17. 4. I have glorified thee on the Earth I have finished the work thou gavest me to do and now I come unto thee He was sent of God into the World on this great Errand for this great Work and he returned not unto him he appeared not in the Presence of him that sent him until he had fulfilled it and was ready in all things to give an Account of it unto the eternal Glory of God 4. In this his Appearance he presents himself unto God as a Lamb that had been slain Rev. 5. 6. He is now alive and lives for ever But there must as unto Efficacy in this Appearance be a Representation of his Sacrifice his Suffering his Death his Blood of himself as a Lamb slain and offered unto God And this was to be so in Answer unto the blood of the Expiatory Sacrifice which the High Priest carried into the Holy Place For he was himself both the Priest and the Sacrifice the Offerer and the Lamb. And as that Blood was sprinkled before the Ark and the Mercy-seat to apply the Attonement made unto all the sacred pledges of Gods Presence and Good Will so from this Representation of the Offering of Christ of himself as a Lamb that had been slain in this his Appearance before God doth all the Application of its Benefits unto the Church proceed 5. He thus appears for us He is therein therefore the great Representative of the Church or he represents the whole Church of his Redeemed unto God There is more in it then meerly for our Good It is as it were the Appearance of an Advocate a Law-Appearance in the behalf of others So is it declared 1 Joh. 2. 1 2. He will at the end of all present his whole Church unto God with the whole work of his Love and Grace accomplished towards them He first so presents it unto himself and then to God Eph. 5. 26 27. Now he presents them as the Portion given unto him of God out of fallen Mankind to be Redeemed and Saved saying behold I and the children which thou gavest me thine they were and thou gavest them to me I present them unto thy Love and Care holy Father that they may enjoy all the fruits of thine Eternal Love all the Benefits of my Death and Sacrifice 6. This is the great Testimony of the Continuation of his Love Care and Compassion towards the Church now he is in the height of his own Glory Love Care and Compassion belong unto him in an especial manner as he is an High Priest which we have declared on many occasions They are the spring of all his Sacerdotal actings
consequents of it Hereof he gives an illustration by comparing it unto what is of absolute and unavoidable necessity so as that it cannot otherwise be namely the death of all the individuals of mankind by the decretory sentence of God As they must dye every one and every one but once so Christ was to dye to suffer to offer himself and that but once The instances of those who died not after the manner of other men as Enoch and Elias or those who having died once were raised from the dead and died again as Lazarus give no difficulty herein They are instances of exemption from the common Rule by meer acts of Divine Sovereignty But the Apostle argues from the general Rule and Constitutions and thereon alone the force of his comparisons doth depend and they are not weakned by such exemptions As this is the certain unalterable law of Humane condition that every man must dye once and but once as unto this mortal life so Christ was once and but once offered But there is more in the words and design of the Apostle than a bare Similitude and illustration of what he treats of though Expositors own it not He doth not only illustrate his former Assertion by a fit comparison but gives the Reason of the one offering of Christ from what it was necessary for and designed unto For that he introduceth a Reason of his former Assertion the Causal connexion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth demonstrate Especially as it is joyned with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in quantum inasmuch as in which sense he constantly useth that expression chap. 3. 3. chap. 7. 20. chap. 8. 6. And in as much as it was so with mankind it was necessary that Christ should suffer once for the expiation of Sin and the Salvation of Sinners How was it with mankind in this matter On the account of sin they were all subject unto the Law and the curse thereof Hereof there were two parts 1 Temporal Death to be undergone penally on the sentence of God 2 Eternal judgment wherein they were to perish for evermore In these things consist the effects of sin and the curse of the Law And they were due unto all men unavoidably to be inficted on them by the judgment and sentence of God It is appointed decreed determined of God that men sinful men shall once die and after that come to judgment for their Sins This is the sense the sentence the substance of the Law Under this Sentence they must all perish eternally if not Divinely relieved But inasmuch as it was thus with them the one offering of Christ once offered is prepared for their Relief and deliverance And the relief is in the infinite Wisdom of God eminently proportionate unto the evil the remedy unto the disease For 1. As man was to dye once legally and penally for sin by the sentence of the Law and no more So Christ died suffered and offered once and no more to bear Sin to expiate it and thereby to take away death so far as it was penal 2. As after death men must appear again the second time unto judgement to undergo condemnation thereon so after his once offering to take away Sin and Death Christ shall appear the second time to free us from judgement and to bestow on us eternal Salvation In this interpretation of the words I do not exclude the use of the comparison nor the design of the Apostle to illustrate the one offering of Christ once offered by the certainty of the death of men once onely for these things do illustrate one another as so compared But withal I judge there is more in them than a meer comparison between things no way related one to another but onely have some mutual resemblance in that they fall out but once Yea there seems not to be much light nor any thing of Argument in a comparison so arbitrarily framed But consider these things in their mutual Relation and opposition one unto the other which are the same with that of the Law and the Gospel and there is much of light and argument in the comparing of them together For whereas the end of the Death Suffering and Offering of Christ was to take away and remove the punishment due unto Sin which consisted in this that men should once die and but once and afterwards come to judgment and condemnation according to the sentence of the Law And it was convenient unto Divine Wisdom that Christ for that end should Dye Suffer Offer once only and afterwards bring them for whom he died unto Salvation And this is the proper sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in quantum which Interpreters know not what to make of in this place but endeavour variously to change and alter Some pretend that some Copies read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they suppose came from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the onely Reason why the word is not liked is because the sense is not understood Take the mind of the Apostle aright and his expression is proper unto his purpose Wherefore there is in these verses an entire opposition and comparison between the Law and the Gospel the Curse due to Sin and the Redemption that is by Christ Jesus And we may observe That God hath eminently suited our Relief the means and causes of our spiritual Deliverance unto our Misery the means and causes of it as that his own Wisdom and Grace may be exalted and our faith established That which is here summarily represented by our Apostle in this Elegant Antithesis he declares at large Rom. 5. from ver 12. to the end of the Chapter But we proceed with the interpretation of the words In the first part of the Antithesis and comparison ver 27. there are three things asserted 1 The Death of men 2 The judgment that ensues and 3. The cause of them both The last is first to be explained It is Appointed Determined Enacted statutum est It is so by him who hath a Sovereign Power and Authority in and over these things and hath the force of an unalterable Law which none can transgress God himself hath thus appointed it none else can determine and dispose of these things And the word equally respects both parts of the Assertion Death and Judgment They are both equally from the constitution of God which is the cause of them both The Socinians do so divide these things that one of them namely Death they would have to be natural and the other or judgment from the constitution of God which is not to interpret but to contradict the words Yea death is that which in the first place and directly is affirmed to be the effect of this Divine Constitution being spoken of as it is Penal by the curse of the Law for sin and judgment falls under the same constitution as consequential thereunto But if death as they plead be meerly and only natural they
first expressed and must first be explained The second time The Scripture is Express unto a double appearing or coming of Christ. The first was his coming in the flesh coming into the world coming unto his own namely to discharge the work of his mediation especially to make attonement for sin in the Sacrifice of himself unto the accomplishment of all promises made concerning it and all types instituted for its representation The Second is in Glory unto the judgment of all when he shall finish and compleat the eternal Salvation of the Church Any other personal appearance or coming of Christ the Scripture knows not And in this place expresly excludes any imagination of it His first appearance is past And appear the second time he will not until that judgment comes which follows death and the Salvation of the Church shall be compleated Afterward there will be no farther appearance of Christ in the discharge of his office For God shall be all in all 2. That which he affirms of him is He shall appear unto he shall be seen of There shall be a publick vision and sight of him He was seen on the Earth in the days of his flesh He is now in Heaven where no mortal eye can see him within the vail of that Glory which we cannot look into The Heavens must receive him unto the time of the restitution of all things He can indeed appear unto whom he pleaseth by an Extraordinary dispensation So he was seen of Stephen standing at the right hand of God Act. 7. So he appeared unto Paul 1 Cor. 15. 8. But as unto the state of the Church in general and in the discharge of his mediatory Office he is not seen of any So the High-priest was not seen of the people after his entrance into the Holy place until he came forth again Even concerning the Person of Christ we live by faith and not by sight And it is the great exercise of faith to live on the invisible actings of Christ on the behalf of the Church So also the foundation of it doth consist in our infallible expectation of his Second appearance of our seeing him again Act. 1. 11. We know that our Redeemer liveth and we shall see him with our eyes Whilest he is thus invisible the world triumpheth as if he were not Where is the promise of his coming The faith of many is weak They cannot live upon his invisible actings But here is the faith and patience of the Church of all sincere believers In the midst of all Discouragements Reproaches Temptations Sufferings they can relieve and comfort their souls with this that their Redeemer liveth and that he shall appear again the second time in his appointed season Hence is their continual prayer as the fruit and expression of their faith Even so come Lord Jesus The present long continued absence of Christ in Heaven is the great tryal of the world God doth give the world a trial by faith in Christ as he gave it a trial by obedience in Adam Faith is tryed by difficulties When Christ did appear it was under such circumstances as turned all unbelievers from him His state was then a state of Infirmity Reproach and Suffering He appeared in the flesh Now he is in Glory he appeareth not As many refused him when he appeared because it was in outward weakness so many refuse him now he is in Glory because he appeareth not Faith alone can conflict with and conquer these difficulties And it hath sufficient evidences of this Return of Christ 1 In his faithful word of promise The promise of his coming recorded in the Scripture is the ground of our faith herein 2 In the continual supplies of his Spirit which Believers do receive This is the great pledge of his Mediatory life in Heaven of the continuance of his love and care towards the Church and consequently the great assurance of his Second coming 3 In the daily evidences of his glorious power put forth in eminent acts of Providence for the Protection Preservation and Deliverance of the Church which is an uninterrupted assurance of his future appearance He hath determined the day and season of it nor shall all the abuse that is made of his seeming delay in coming hasten it one moment And he hath blessed ends of his not appearing before the appointed season though the time seem long to the Church it self As 1 That the World may fill up the measure of its iniquities to make way for its eternal Destruction 2 That the whole number of the Elect may be gathered in Though days of trouble are sometimes shortned for their sakes that they may not faint after they are called Mat. 24. 22. yet are they also in general continued that there may be time for the calling of them all 3 That all the graces of his people may be exercised and tried unto the utmost 4 That God may have his full revenue of Glory from the new Creation which is the first fruits of the whole 5 That all things may be ready for the glory of the great Day 3. To whom shall he thus appear Of whom shall he be thus seen To them that look for him But the Scripture is plain and express in other places that he shall appear unto all shall be seen of all even of his enemies Rev. 1. 7. And the work that he hath to do at his appearance requires that so it should be For he comes to judge the world in general and in particular to plead with ungodly men about their ungodly deeds and speeches Jud. 15. So therefore must and shall it be His second Illustrious Appearance shall fill the whole World with the beams of it The whole rational creation of God shall see and behold him But the Apostle treats of his Appearance here with respect unto the Salvation of them unto whom he doth appear He shall appear unto Salvation And this word unto Salvation is capable of a double Explication For it may refer unto them that look for him that look for him unto Salvation that is that look to be saved by him Or it may do so unto his Appearance He shall appear unto the Salvation of them that look for him The sense is good either way This looking for the coming of Christ which is a description of Faith by a principal effect and fruit of it called also waiting expecting longing earnest expectation consists in five things 1 Stedfast Faith of his Coming and Appearance This is in the Foundation of Christian Religion And whatever the generality of Hypocritical nominal Christians profess there are uncontroulable evidences and demonstrations that they believe it not 2 Love unto it as that which is most desirable which contains in it every thing wherein the Soul takes delight and Satisfaction That love his appearing 2 Tim. 4. 5. 3 Longing for it or desires after it Even so come Lord Jesus that is come quickly Rev. 22. 20. If
that it might be fitted and suited unto the work that it was ordained unto In the former sense the Body it self is alone the Object of this preparation A Body hast thou prepared me that is designed for me This latter sense comprizeth the use of the Body also it is fitted for its work This latter sense it is that is proper unto this place Only it is spoken of by the Psalmist in a Prophetical Style wherein things certainly future are expressed as already performed For the word signifies such a preparation as whereby it is made actually fit and meet for the end it is designed unto And therefore it is variously rendred to fit to adapt to perfect to adorn to make meet with respect unto some especial end Thou hast adapted a Body unto my work fitted and suited an Humane Nature unto that I have to perform in it and by it A Body it must be yet not every body nay not any Body brought forth by Carnal Generation according to the course of Nature could effect or was fit for the work designed unto it But God prepared provided such a Body for Christ as was fitted and adapted unto all that he had to do in it And this especial manner of its preparation was an act of Infinite Wisdom and Grace Some Instances thereof may be mentioned As 1. He prepared him such a Body such an Humane Nature as might be of the same Nature with ours for whom he was to accomplish his work therein For it was necessary that it should be Cognate and Allied unto ours that he might be meet to act on our behalf and to suffer in our stead He did not form him a Body out of the Dust of the Earth as he did that of Adam whereby he could not have been of the same Race of Mankind with us nor meerly out of nothing as he created the Angels whom he was not to save See Chap. 2. ver 14 15 16. and the Exposition thereon He took our Flesh and Blood proceeding from the Loyns of Abraham 2. He so prepared it as that it should be no way subject unto that depravation and pollution that came on our whole Nature by Sin This could not have been done had his Body been prepared by Carnal Generation the way and means of conveying the taint of Original Sin which befel our Nature unto all individual persons For this would have rendered him every way unmeet for his whole work of Mediation See Luke 1. 35. Heb. 7. 26. 3. He prepared him a Body consisting of Flesh and Blood which might be Offered as a real substantial Sacrifice and wherein he might Suffer for Sin in his Offering to make Attonement for it Nor could the Sacrifices of Old which were Real Bloody and Substantial prefigure that which should be only Metaphorical and in appearance The whole evidence of the Wisdom of God in the Institution of the Sacrifices of the Law depends on this that Christ was to have a Body consisting of Flesh and Blood wherein he might answer all that was prefigured by them 4. It was such a Body as was Animated with a Living Rational Soul Had it been only a Body it Might have Suffered as did the Beasts under the Law from which no Act of Obedience was required only they were to suffer what was done unto them But in the Sacrifice of the Body of Christ that which was principally respected and whereon the whole Efficacy of it did depend was his Obedience unto God For he was not to be Offered by others but he was to Offer himself in Obedience unto the Will of God Chap. 9. 14. Ephes. 5. 2. And the principles of all Obedience lye alone in the Powers and Faculties of the Rational Soul 5. This Body and Soul were obnoxious unto all the Sorrows and Sufferings which our Nature is liable unto and we had deserved as they were poenal tending unto Death Hence was he meet to Suffer in our stead the same things which we should have done Had they been exempted by special priviledge from what our Nature is liable unto the whole work of our Redemption by his Blood had been frustrate 6. This Body or Humane Nature thus prepared for Christ was exposed unto all sorts of Temptations from outward Causes But yet it was so Sanctified by the perfection of Grace and fortified by the fulness of the Spirit dwelling therein as that it was not possible it should be touched with the least Taint or Guilt of Sin And this also was absolutely necessary unto the work whereunto it was designed 1 Pet. 2. 22. Heb. 7. 26. 7. This Body was liable unto Death which being the Sentence and Sanction of the Law with respect unto the First and all following Sins all and every one of them was to be undergone actually by him who was to be our Deliverer Heb. 2. 14 15. Had it not died Death would have borne Rule over all unto Eternity But in the death thereof it was swallowed up in Victory 1 Cor. 15. 55 56 57. 8. As it was subject unto Death and died actually so it was meet to be raised again from Death And herein consisted the great pledge and evidence that our dead Bodies may be and shall be raised again unto a Blessed Immortality So it became the Foundation of all our Faith as unto things Eternal 1 Cor. 15. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23. 9. This Body and Soul being capable of a real separation and being actually separated by Death though not for any long continuance yet no less truly and really than them who have been dead a Thousand years a Demonstration was given therein of an active Subsistence of the Soul in a State of Separation from the Body As it was with the Soul of Christ when he was dead so is it with our Souls in the same State He was alive with God and unto God when his Body was in the Grave and so shall our Souls be 10. This Body was visibly taken up into Heaven and there resides which considering the ends thereof is the great encouragement of Faith and the Life of our Hope These are but some of the many instances that may be given of the Divine Wisdom in so preparing a Body for Christ as that it might be fitted and adapted unto the work which he had to do therein And we may Observe that Not only the Love and Grace of God in sending his Son are continually to be admired and Glorified but the acting of this Infinite Wisdom in fitting and preparing his humane Nature so as to render it every way meet unto the work which it was designed for ought to be the especial Object of our Holy Contemplation But having treated hereof distinctly in a peculiar discourse unto that purpose I shall not here again insist upon it The last thing Observable in this Verse is that this preparation of the Body of Christ is ascribed unto God even the Father unto whom he speaks these words a Body
Curse of the Law and the Punishment due unto our Sins which were taken away thereby And in all this the Humane Nature was supported sustained and acted by the Divine in the same Person which gave the whole Duty its Efficacy and Merit That pretended in the Mass is 1. Offered by Priests without Him or those which call themselves so who therefore rather represent them by whom he was Crucified then himself who offered himself alone 2. Is only of Bread and Wine which have nothing in them of the Soul of Christ allowing their Transubstantiation 3. Can have no Influence into the Remission of Sins being confessedly unbloody whereas without the shedding of Blood there is no Remission 4. Is often offered that is every day declaring a greater imperfection in it then was in the great Expiatory Sacrifice of the Law which was offered only once a year 5 Requires unto it no Grace in the Offerer but only an Intention to do his Office 6 Doth in nothing answer the Curse of the Law and therefore makes no Attonement Wherefore these things are so far from being the same Sacrifice as that they are opposite inconsistent and the admission of the One is the Destruction of the other Some Observations we may take from the Text. 1. Such is the absolute Perfection of the One offering of Christ that it stands in need of that it will admit of no Repetition in any kind Hence the Apostle affirms that if it be despised or neglected there remains no more sacrifice for Sin There is none of any other kind nor any Repetition to be made of it self as there was of the most solemn legal Sacrifices Neither of them are consistent with its perfection And this absolute Perfection of the One offering of Christ ariseth 1 From the Dignity of his Person Acts 20. 28. There needs no new offering after that wherein he who offered and who was offered was God and Man in one Person The Repetition of this offering is inconsistent with the Glory of the Wisdom Righteousness Holiness and Grace of God and would be utterly derogatory to the dignity of his Person 2 From the Nature of the Sacrifice it self 1. In the internal gracious actings of his Soul He offered himself unto God through the eternal Spirit Grace and Obedience could never be more glorified 2. In the Punishment he underwent answering and taking away the whole Curse of the Law any farther offering for Attonement is highly Blasphemous 3. From the Love of the Father unto him and delight in him As in his Person so in his one offering the Soul of God resteth and is well-pleased 4. From its Efficacy unto all Ends of a Sacrifice Nothing was ever designed therein but was at once accomplished by this One offering of Christ. Wherefore 2. This one offering of Christ is always effectual unto all the Ends of it even no less then it was in the day and hour when it was actually offered Therefore it needs no Repetition like those of old which could affect the Conscience of a sinner only for a season and until the Incursion of some new sin This is always fresh in the Vertue of it and needs nothing but renewed Application by Faith for the communication of its Effects and Fruits unto us Wherefore 3. The great Call and Direction of the Gospel is to guide Faith and keep it up unto this One offering of Christ as the spring of all Grace and Mercy This is the immediate End of all its Ordinances of Worship In the preaching of the Word the Lord Christ is set forth as evidently Crucified before our Eyes and in the Ordinance of the Supper especially is it represented unto the peculiar Exercise of Faith But we must proceed to a brief Exposition of the remainder of this Verse The One offering of Christ is not here proposed absolutely but in Opposition unto the High Priest of the Law whose entrance into the Holy Place did not put an end unto his offering of Sacrifices but his whole Service about them was to be annually repeated This Sacrifice of the High Priest we have treated of before and shall therefore now only open these words wherein it is expressed 1. The Person spoken of is the High Priest that is any One every One that is so or that was so in any Age of the Church from the Institution of that Priesthood unto the Expiration of it As the High Priest in like manner so he did 2. It is affirmed of him that he entreth in the present Tense Some think that respect is had unto the continuance of the Temple-service at that Time He entreth that is he continueth so to do And this the Apostle sometimes admits of as Chap. 8. 4. But in this Place he intends no more but the Constitution of the Law According unto the Law He entereth This is that which the Law requires And hereby as in other Instances the Apostle lays before their Consideration a Scheme of their ancient Worship as it was at first established that it might be the better compared with the Dispensation of the New Covenant and the Ministry of Christ. 3. This Entrance is limited unto the Holy Place The most Holy Place in the Tabernacle or Temple the Holy Place made with hands 4. There is the Season of their Entrance yearly Once in an annual Revolution or the day fixed by the Law the tenth day of the Month Tisri or our September 5. The Manner of his entrance was with the blood of others Blood that was not his own as the Syriack expresseth it The Blood of the Sacrifice of Christ was his own He redeemed the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 20. 28. Hereunto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is opposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 other blood the Blood of others that is the blood of Bulls and Goats offered in Sacrifice in for cum say most Expositors which is not unusual See 1 Joh. 5. 6. Gen. 32. 10. Hos. 4. 3. The meaning is by vertue of the Blood of others which he carried with him into the Holy Place That which is denied of Christ the Antitype is the Repetition of this Service and that because of the Perfection of his Sacrifice the other being repeated because of their Imperfection And we may observe that Whatever had the greatest Glory in the Old Legal Institutions carried along with it the evidence of its own Imperfection compared with the thing signified in Christ and his Office The Entrance of the High Priest into the Holy Place was the most glorious Solemnity of the Law Howbeit the annual Repetition of it was a sufficient Evidence of its Imperfection as the Apostle disputes in the beginning of the next Chapter VER XXVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is properly Causal quia quandoquidem quoniam But it is generally rendred in this Place by all Expositors alioqui by Concession if it were so that he would offer offer himself for