〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He fixed his Tabernacle among us John 1. 14. that is the signification of the word which we have translated to dwell because the Tabernacle of old was the way and means of Gods dwelling among the People in the pledges of his gracious presence All that old curious Structure for an Habitation for God did only represent his taking our nature upon him fixing his Tent thereby among men What was the pattern of this Tabernacle shewed unto Moses on the Mount we must enquire on ver 5. 3. He himself calleth his own Body his Temple with respect unto the Temple at Jerusalem which was of the same nature and use with the Tabernacle John 2. 19 22. And this he did because his Body was that true substantial Temple and Tabernacle whereof he was the Minister 4. That is the true Tabernacle which God truly and really inhabiteth and on the account whereof he is our God This was the nature use and end of the Tabernacle of old God dwelt therein in the signs and pledges of his presence and was on the account thereof the God of that People according to the terms of the Covenant between them Exod. 25. 8. Rev. 21. 3. That therefore wherein God dwells really and substantially and on the account whereof he is our God in the Covenant of Grace that and no other is the true Tabernacle But this is in Christ alone For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily Col. 2. 9. Thus the Humane Nature of Christ is that true substantial Tabernacle wherein God dwelleth personally 5. He is the only way and means of our approach unto God in holy Worship as the Tabernacle was of old which we have elsewhere declared That alone which seems to be of any force against this Interpretation is that the Humane Nature of Christ is that wherein he is the Minister of this Tabernacle it cannot therefore be the Tabernacle it self wherein he doth administer and therefore the place of his abode must be intended by the Tabernacle whereof he is the Minister Answ. By the same Rule it would follow That because Christ is the High Priest he is not the Sacrifice for the Priest and the Sacrifice among men cannot be the same Howbeit Christ offered himself only And the reason of these things is that he was in his own Person and what he did therein to answer all those Types of Priest Sacrifice Altar Tabernacle and what belonged thereunto He was the body and substance of them all Col. 2. 17. No one of them was able to represent the fulness of Grace that was to be in Christ. Therefore were there many of them ordained and those of various sorts And therefore his being eminently intended in one of them no way hinders his being so in another He was all in himself Priest Tabernacle Altar and Sacrifice Lastly The efficient cause of this true Tabernacle is declared both positively and negatively which God hath pitched and not man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is in the Article 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confined unto the Tabernacle and extends not unto the Sanctuary mentioned before Of the true Tabernacle which the Lord pitched And hereby this Tabernacle is distinguished from both the Sanctuaries the Typical here below and the Real above even Heaven it self For it was not of the same Building with either of them as the Apostle declares Chap. 9. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pitched fixed It is a word proper unto the erection and establishment of a Tabernacle The fixing of Stakes and Pillars with the fastening of Cords thereunto was the principal means of setting up a Tabernacle Isa. 54. 2. The preparation of the Humane Nature or Body of Christ is that which is intended A Body hast thou prepared me Chap. 10. 5. And this Body was to be taken down and folded up for a season and afterwards to be erected again without the breaking or loss of any part of it This of all Buildings was peculiar unto a Tabernacle and so was it with the Body of Christ in his Death and Resurrection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Author of this work was the Lord This is the word or Name whereby the Writers of the New Testament do express the name Jehovah And whereas in the revelation of that name God declared that self-subsisting firmitude and unchangeableness of his nature whereby he would infallibly give subsistence unto his Word and accomplishment unto his Promises the Apostle hath respect unto it in this great work wherein all the Promises of God became Yea and Amen How this Tabernacle was prepared and fixed immediately by the Holy Ghost acting the infinite power of God alone therein I have at large elsewhere declared It is added negatively and not man Some suppose a Pleonasm in the words and that this expression is redundant For to say it was pitched by God sufficiently includes that it was not done by man But the expression is emphatical and the Apostle hath an especial design in it For 1. The Old Tabernacle itself may in some sense be said to be pitched by God It was done by his command order and direction as were all other Ordinances of his appointment But it cannot be said that God pitched it and not man which excludes the whole Service and Ministry of Man For the Ministry of Men was used in the preparation framing and erection of it But the pitching of this true Tabernacle was the work of God alone without any Ministry or Service of men A Body hast thou prepared me 2. The Apostle hath an especial respect unto the Incarnation of Christ without the concurrence of man in natural Generation This is expressed in answer unto that enquiry of the blessed Virgin How shall this be seeing I know not a man Luke 1. 34 35. This was the true Tabernacle which the Lord pitched and whereof Christ is the Minister And we may observe 1. That all spiritually sacred and holy things are laid up in Christ. All the utensils of Holy Worship of old all means of Sacred Light and Purification were all placed and laid up in the Tabernacle And these were all Patterns of the heavenly things themselves which are all laid up in Christ the true Tabernacle They are all inclosed in him and it will be in vain to seek for them elsewhere For 2. He hath the Ministration of all these holy things committed unto him He is the Minister both of the Sanctuary and Tabernacle and of all things contained in them Herein he stands in no need of help or assistance nor can any take his work out of his hand 3. The Humane Nature of Christ is the onely true Tabernacle wherein God would dwell personally and substantially The dwelling of God with men was ever looked on as an infinite condescension So Solomon expressed it in his Prayer at the dedication of the Temple But will God indeed dwell on the earth Behold the heaven and
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
was a Covenant did consist 2. There was a Promise and Conveyance of an Inheritance unto them namely of the Land of Canaan with all the Priviledges of it God declared that the land was his and that he gave it unto them for an Inheritance And this Promise or Grant was made unto them without any consideration of their previous Obedience out of meer love and Grace The principal design of the Book of Deuteronomy is to inlay this Principle in the foundation of their obedience Now the free Grant and Donation of an Inheritance of the Goods of him that makes the Grant is properly a Testament A free disposition it was of the Goods of the Testator 3. There was in the confirmation of this Grant the intervention of Death The Grant of the Inheritance of the Land that God made was confirmed by death and the Blood of the Beasts offered in sacrifice whereof we must treat on v. 18 19 20. And although Covenants were confirmed by Sacrifices as this was so far as it was a Covenant namely with the Blood of them yet as in those Sacrifices death was comprised it was to confirm the Testamentary Grant of the Inheritance For death is necessary unto the Confirmation of a Testament which then could only be in Type and Representation the Testator himself was not to die for the establishment of a Typical Inheritance Wherefore the Apostle having discoursed before concerning the Covenant as it prescribed and required Obedience with Promises and Penalties annexed unto it He now treats of it as unto the Donation and Communication of Good things by it with the Confirmation of the Grant of them by death in which sense it was a Testament and not a Covenant properly so called And the arguing of the Apostle from this word is not only just and reasonable but without it we could never have rightly understood the Typical Representation that was made of the Death Blood and Sacrifice of Christ in the Confirmation of the New Testament as we shall see immediately This difficulty being removed we may proceed in the Exposition of the words That which first occurs is the Note of Connexion in the Conjunction And. But it doth not here as sometimes infer a Reason of what was spoken before but is emphatically expletive and denotes a progress in the present Argument As much as Also Moreover 2. There is the Ground of the ensuing Assertion or the manner of its Introduction For this cause Some say that it looks backward and intimates a Reason of what was spoken before or why it was necessary that our Consciences should be purged from dead works by the Blood of Christ namely because he was the Mediator of the new Covenant others say it looks forward and gives a reason why he was to be the Mediator of the new Testament namely that by the means of Death for the Transgressions c. It is evident that there is a reason rendred in these words of the necessity of the death and Sacrifice of Christ by which alone our Consciences may be purged from dead works And this reason is intended in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this cause And this necessity of the death of Christ the Apostle proves both from the nature of his office namely that he was to be the Mediator of the new Covenant which being a Testament required the death of the Testator and from what was to be effected thereby namely the Redemption of Transgressions and the purchase of an eternal Inheritance Wherefore these are the things which he hath respect unto in these words For this cause But withal the Apostle in this verse enlargeth his discourse as designing to comprehend in it the whole dispensation of the will and Grace of God unto the Church in Christ with the Ground and Reason of it This reason he layeth down in this verse giving an account of the effects of it in those that follow Hereunto respect is had in this expression For the exposition of the words themselves that is the declaration of the mind of the Holy Ghost and nature of the things contained in them we must leave the order of the words and take that of the things themselves And the things ensuing are declared in them 1 That God designed an eternal Inheritance unto some persons 2 The way and manner of conveying a Right and Title thereunto was by promise 3 That the Persons unto whom this Inheritance is designed are those that are called 4 That there was an obstacle unto the enjoyment of this Inheritance which was Transgression against the first Covenant 5 That this obstacle might be removed and the Inheritance enjoyed God made a New Covenant because none of the Rites Ordinances or Sacrifices of the first Covenant could remove that Obstacle or expiate those Sins 6 The Ground of the Efficacy of the New Covenant unt o this End was That it had a Mediator an High Priest such as had been already described 7 The way and means whereby the Mediator of the New Covenant did expiate Sins under the Old was by death nor could it otherwise be done seeing this New Covenant being a Testament also required the death of the Testator 8 This Death of the Mediator of the new Testament did take away sins by the Redemption of them For the Redemption of Transgressions All which must be opened for the due Exposition of these words 1. God designed unto some an Eternal Inheritance And both the Reason of this grant with the nature of it must be enquired into 1 As unto the Reason of it God in our first Creation gave unto man whom he made his Son and Heir as unto things here below a great Inheritance of meer Grace and Bounty This Inheritance consisted in the use of all the Creatures here below in a just Title unto them and dominion over them Neither did it consist absolutely in these things but as they were a Pledge of the present favour of God and of mans future blessedness upon his Obedience This whole Inheritance man forfeited by sin God also took the forfeiture and ejected him out of the possession of it and utterly despoiled him of his Title unto it Nevertheless he designed unto some another Inheritance even that should not be lost that should be eternal It is altogether vain and foolish to seek for any other Cause or Reason of the preparation of this Inheritance and the designation of it unto any person but only his own Grace Bounty his sovereign Will and Pleasure What merit of it what means of attaining it could be found in them who were considered under no other Qualifications but such as had wofully rejected that Inheritance which before they were instated in And therefore is it called an Inheritance to mind us that the way whereby we come unto it is gratuitous Adoption and not purchase or merit 2 As unto the Nature of it it is declared in the Adjunct mentioned it is eternal
shall be sent unto and in the Administration of it shall find Admittance in what places and at what times seems good unto himself even as he orders the Rain to fall on one place and not on another We have not Wisdom to search into the Causes Reasons and Ends of Gods providential Works in the world and individual persons seldom live to see the issue of those which are on the Wheel in their own days But we have ground enough in the Scripture to conclude that the principal works of Divine Providence in the World and among the Nations of the Earth do respect the Dispensation of the Gospel either in the granting of it or the taking of it away It were an easie matter to evince by evident Instances that the principal National Revolutions which have been in the Earth have been all of them subservient unto the counsel and purpose of God in this matter And there are Examples also manifesting how small occasions he hath turned unto great and signal use herein But what hath been spoken may suffice to evince who is the Father and Author of this Rain And how this consideration may be improved unto the exercise of Faith Prayer and Thankfulness is manifest This Rain is said to fall often upon the Earth which respects the actual Dispensation of the Word by them unto whom it is committed And we may thence observe That It is the Duty of those unto whom the Dispensation of the Word is committed of God to be diligent watchful instant in their Work that their Doctrine may as it were continually drop and distill upon their Hearers that the Rain may fall often on the Earth So hath God provided that the Ridges of it may be watered abundantly to make it soft or dissolve it with showers and so he blesseth the springing thereof Psal. 65. 10. In an hot parching and dry season one or two showers do but increase the vehemency of the Heat and Drouth giving matter of new Exhalations which are accompanied with some of the remaining moisture of the Earth Of no other use is that dead and lazie kind of Preaching wherewith some satisfie themselves and would force others to be contented The Apostles when this Work was committed unto them would not be diverted from a constant Attendance unto it by any other Duty much less any other occasion of Life Acts 6. 4. See what a Charge our Apostle gives unto Timothy to this purpose 2 Tim. 4. 1 2 3. And a great Example hereof we have in the account he gives concerning his own Ministry in Asia Acts 20. 1 He declares when he began his Work and Ministry the first day he came into Asia ver 18. that is on the first opportunity he omitted no season that he could possibly lay hold upon but engaged into his Work as his manner was in every place that he came unto And 2 in what manner did he teach He did it 1 publickly in all Assemblies of the Church and others also where he might have a quiet opportunity of speaking And 2 privately from house to house ver 20. All places were alike to him and all Assemblies small or great so he might have advantage of communicating unto them the knowledge of God in Christ. And 3 what did he so declare unto them or instruct them in It was the whole counsel of God ver 27. The Gospel of the Grace of God ver 24. all things that were profitable unto them ver 20. in sum Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ ver 21. And 4 How did he dispense the Word unto them It was by a Declaration of the Will of God ver 27. by testifying the necessity of Gospel Duties ver 21. by constant Warnings and Admonitions to stir men up unto diligence in Obedience and to caution them of their dangers ver 31. And 5 When or at what season did he thus lay out himself in the discharge of this Duty He did it night and day ver 31. that is continually upon all occasions and advantages He was one by whom God watered his Vineyard every moment And 6 in what outward condition was he and with what frame of Spirit did he attend his work He was in many Temptations which befell him by the laying in wait of the Jews ver 19. or in continual danger of his Life by the Persecutions they stirred up against him And as unto himself and the frame of his heart in this work he carried it on with all humility of Mind and with many Tears ver 19 31. He was not lifted up with conceits of the Glory Greatness and Power of his Office of the Authority over all the Churches committed unto him by Christ but with lowliness of mind and meekness was as the Servant of them all with that love tenderness compassion and fervency as he could not but testifie by many Tears Here is the great Example for Dispensers of the Gospel We have not his Grace we have not his Gifts we have not his ability or assistance and so are not able to come up unto him but yet certainly it is our Duty to follow him though haud passibus aequis and to conform our selves unto him according to our Opportunity and Ability I confess I cannot but admire to think what some men conceive concerning him or themselves Can they say that from the first day of their coming into their Diocesses or Dignities or Parishes or Places they have thus behaved themselves Have they so taught so preached so warned and that with Tears night and day all sorts of persons whom they suppose themselves to relate unto Have they made it their work to declare the Mysteries of the Gospel and the whole counsel of God and this both publickly and privately night and day according to their Opportunities It will be said indeed that these things belonged unto the Duty and Office of the Apostles but those that succeed them as ordinary Overseers of the Church may live in another manner and have other work to do If they should carry it with that humility of mind as he did and use entreaties with Tears as he did and Preach continually as he did they should have little joy of their Office and besides they should be even despised of the People These things therefore they suppose not to belong unto them Yea but our Apostle gives this whole Account concerning himself unto the ordinary Bishops of the Church of Ephesus ver 17 28. And in the close of it tells them that he hath shewed them all things how they ought to do ver 35. And what he apprehended to be the Duty of all to whom the Dispensation of the Word is committed he manifests in his last solemn charge that he left with his Son Timothy a little before his Death 2 Tim. 4. 1 2. I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his
of the Gospel Herein doth he steer a direct and equal course between the Extreams in Admonition For he neither useth so much lenity as to enervate his Reproof and Warning nor so much severity as to discourage or provoke those who are warned by him In a word he layeth weight upon things and spareth persons the contrary whereunto is the bane of all Spiritual Admonition Secondly He maketh use of this Discourse for a Transition unto the second part of his Design And this was to propose unto them who were true Believers such encouragements and grounds of Consolation as might confirm and establish them in their Faith and Obedience which are the subjects of the remaining part of this Chapter Wherefore as to make way for the severe Threatnings which he hath used it was necessary for him to describe the persons unto whom they did in an especial manner belong so it was no less requisite that he should describe those also unto whom the ensuing Promises and Consolations do pertain which he doth in these Verses VERSE 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Persuasi sumus confidimus Bez. persuasimus nobis we are perswaded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Brethren Vul. Dilectissimi Rhem. We confidently trust of you my best beloved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meliora Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ea quae sunt bona pulchra The things that are good or comely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and such as draw near to Life that is Eternal Vul. lat Et viciniora Saluti Rhem. and nearer to Salvation others generally Et cum salute conjuncta Ours and such as accompany Salvation very properly VERSE 9. But we are perswaded of you Beloved better things and such as accompany Salvation although we thus speak The especial design of the Apostle in this and the following Verses is to declare his good-will towards the Hebrews his Judgement of their state and condition the Reasons and Grounds of that Judgement with the proper use and End of the Commination before laid down that neither that might be neglected nor themselves discouraged This Verse contains 1 An Expression of his Love and good-will towards them 2 His Judgement of them 3 The Reasons of his present declaration of both these with respect unto what he had spoken before unto them namely that although he had spoke it unto them he did not speak it of them 1. His Love and good-will he testifies in his Compellation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beloved It is an Expression of most entire Affection and is never used in the Gospel but to express the Love of God the Father unto his Son Jesus Christ Matth. 3. 17. chap. 12. 18. chap. 17. 5. Mark 1. 11. chap. 9. 7. chap. 12. 16. Luke 3. 22. chap. 9. 35. chap. 20. 13. By the Apostles in their Epistles it is frequently applied unto Believers especially by Paul in all those written by him we might therefore pass it over as that word which it was usual with him to express his sincere Affections by towards all Saints But there seems to be a twofold reason of its especial Introduction in this place both of them respected in the Wisdom of our Apostle 1 Perhaps these Hebrews were ready enough to entertain Jealousies concerning him that he had not that Affection for them which he had for others For he had now spent a long time with and among the Gentiles for their Conversion and Edification Among them he had planted very many Churches and that in one Point contrary to the Judgement of most of these Hebrews namely in a Liberty from the Law and the Ceremonies of Moses In this long converse and work they might suspect that he had lost his natural Love to his Country-men as is usual in such cases and as he was much accused to have done To root this evil surmise out of their minds as he useth frequently other affectionate Compellations in this Epistle so he here calls them his Beloved than which he had used no Expression of greater Endearment towards any of his Gentile Converts And notwithstanding all the Provocations and Injuries he had received from them he gave on all occasions the highest Demonstration of the most intense Affection towards them never opposing them nor reflecting on them with any severity but only then and wherein they opposed the Gospel and the Liberty thereof This Affection was such for them as his Country-men and Kinsmen in the Flesh as that he could willingly have died that they might be saved Rom. 9. 2 3. And for this he prayed continually chap. 10. 1. And the Addition of Love that was made in him upon their Conversion cannot be expressed 2 He hath respect unto his preceding severe Expressions as is plain from the close of this Verse though we thus speak As if he had said Notwithstanding this severe Admonition which I have upon the consideration of all Circumstances been forced to use yet my Heart stands no otherwise affected towards you but as towards my Country-men Brethren and Saints of God And thus It is the Duty of the Dispensers of the Gospel to satisfie their Hearers in and of their Love in Jesus Christ to their Souls and Persons 2. The Apostle expresseth his Judgement concerning these Hebrews We are perswaded better things of you and such as accompany Salvation wherein we have 1 The Act of his mind in this matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are perswaded Chrysostome insists much on the force of this word The Apostle as he observes doth not say we think or we hope but he was fully perswaded He lets them know that he was fully satisfied in this matter And he useth not this word any where in his Epistles as he useth it often but he intends a full and prevalent perswasion Now this a man may have in spiritual things on three grounds 1 By especial Revelation so he was certain of the truth of the Gospel that was revealed unto him which he discourseth of Gal. 1. 7 8. 2 By the Evidence of Faith when any thing is believed on grounds infallible namely the Revelation of the mind of God in the Scripture or the Promises of the Gospel So he useth this word Rom. 8. 34. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life c. This he believed and had an infallible certainty thereof because God hath so promised So also 2 Tim. 1. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know whom I have believed and am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him He useth the same Expression in matter of Faith Rom. 14. 14. 3 There is a certain perswasion of mind that is founded on moral Arguments such as may bring a man to a full satisfaction in his mind but yet so as it is possible he may be deceived Of this Nature is that perswasion that Trust or Confidence
render Surely it is meet to be said unto God I have born I will not offend and that properly And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was of common use in the Greek Tongue in Assertory Oaths So Demosthenes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He sware 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he would destroy Philip. The Vulgar Latine renders it by nisi that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contrary to the sense of the Ancients Chrysostome Oecumenius and Theophylact as some of the Expositors of the Roman Church do acknowledge But yet that manner of expression denotes a sense not unusual in the Scripture For there is an Intimation in it of a reserved Condition rendring the saying ensuing a most sacred Oath Unless I bless thee let me not be trusted in as God or the like But the formality of the Oath of God is neither in Genesis nor here expressed only respect is had unto what he affirms by my self have I sworn Surely undoubtedly The Promise it self is expressed in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Blessing I will bless thee and multiplying I will multiply thee Our Apostle renders the words of Moses exactly Gen. 22. 17. Only where it is said there I will multiply thy Seed he expresseth it by I will multiply thee which is all one or to the same purpose for he could be no way multiplied but in his Seed and he proceedeth no farther with the words of the Promise as being not concerned in what followeth For although his Seed was actually multiplied yet it was Abraham himself who was blessed therein The Vulgar Latine in this place reads Benedicens benedicam blessing I will bless but in Genesis hath only benedicam and multiplicabo Hence divers of the Roman Expositors as Ribera Tena and others give sundry reasons why the Apostle changed the expression from what was used in Moses where it is only said I will bless thee into blessing I will bless thee And which I cannot but observe Schlictingius who followeth in this place the Exposition of Ribera complies with him also in that Observation aliis quidem verbis saith he promissionem hanc apud Mosem extulit But all this is but the mistake of the Vulgar Interpreter on Gen. 22. For the words in the Original have the Reduplication rendered by the Apostle which the Lxx also observe And this Reduplication is a pure Hebraisme vehemently affirming the thing promised and hath in it the nature of an Oath It also intends and extends the matter promised Blessing I will bless thee I will do so without fail I will do so greatly without measure and eternally without end And this kind of Asseveration is common in the Hebrew Gen. 2. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the day thou eatest thereof dying thou shalt dye thou shalt assuredly dye be certainly obnoxious unto Death it may be also that the double Death temporal and eternal is included therein See Gen. 37. 33. 2 Kings 2. 23. 1 Sam. 23. 22. Josh. 24. 10. Jer. 23. 17. Dan. 11. 10. We have need of every thing that any way evidenceth the stability of Gods Promises to be represented unto us for the encouragement and confirmation of our Faith As God redoubled the word at the first giving out of the Promise unto Abraham for the strengthening of his Faith so is the same here expressed by the Apostle that it might have the same effect upon us And two things especially God seems to impress upon our minds in this vehemency of expression 1 The sincerity of his Intentions without reserve 2 The stability of his Purposes without alteration and change It is to signifie both these that such emphatical vehement expressions are used even among men and both these Unbelief is apt to question in God He that believeth not maketh God a liar 1 Joh. 5. 10. He is a lyar who in his Promises intendeth not what his words signifie but hath other reserves in his mind and he who having promised changeth without cause Both these doth Unbelief impute to God which makes it a sin of so hainous a nature The first time God used this kind of Reduplication it was in his threatening of Death unto the Transgression of the Command Gen. 2. 17. In the day thou eatest thereof dying thou shalt dye And that which Sathan deluded our first Parents by was in perswading them that there was not sincerity in what God had said but that he had reserved to himself that it should be otherwise The Serpent said unto the woman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dying ye shall not dye Gen. 3. 4. But this being directly contrary unto what God had expresly affirmed how could Sathan imagine that the Woman would immediately consent unto him against the express words of God Wherefore he useth this Artifice to prevail with her that although God had spoken those words yet he had a Reserve to himself that it should not be unto them indeed as he had spoken ver 5. By these means Unbelief entered into the world and hath ever since wrought effectually in the same kind There is no Promise of God so plainly expressed but Unbelief is ready to suggest innumerable exceptions why it should have such reserves accompanying of it as that it doth not belong unto us Most of these exceptions we gather from our selves and were it not for them we suppose we could believe the Promise well enough But the truth is when we are called to believe when it is our Duty so to do when we pretend that we are willing and desirous to do so were it not for such and such things in our selves it is the sincerity of God in his Promises we all in question and we think that although he proposeth the Promise unto us and commandeth us to believe yet it is not his intention and purpose that we should do so or that we should be made partakers of the good things promised By the purpose of God I do not here intend the Eternal purpose of his Will concerning the effects and events of things about which we are called to exercise neither Faith nor Unbelief until they are manifested But the whole Rule of our Duty is in Gods Command and the Faith required of us consists in this that if we comply with what God prescribeth we shall enjoy what he promiseth if we believe we shall be saved And herein to question the Truth or Sincerity of God is an high effect of Unbelief This distrust therefore God removes by the Reduplication of the word of the Promise that we might know he was in good earnest in what he expressed The like may be spoken concerning the stability of the Promises with respect unto change which because it must be particularly afterwards spoken unto shall be here omitted And these things we have need of If we think otherwise we know little of the nature of Faith or Unbelief of our own weakness the efficacy of the Deceits of Sathan or the manifold oppositions which
these two things consists the Principal Interest of all Believers in this world nor have they any design in competition with that of increasing in them Finding therefore how by the diligent Attendance unto this Worship they thrive in both parts of their Interest it cannot but be pleasant unto them 5. The Outward Rites of it are few lightsome easie to be observed without scrupulous tormenting fears nor such as by attendance unto Bodily Services do divert the Mind from that Communion with God which they are a means of Thirdly It is Instructive and that with clearness and evidence of the things which we are to know and learn This was a great part of the Imperfection of Legal Institutions that they taught the things which they signified and represented Obscurely and the Mind of God in them was not learned but with much difficulty no small part of their Obedience consisting in a resignation of their Understandings unto God's Soveraignty as to the Use and the End of the things wherein they were exercised in his Worship But all the Ordinances and Institutions of the Gospel do give light into and exhibit the things themselves unto the Minds and Faith of Believers Hereon they discern the Reasons and Grounds of their Use and Benefit whence our whole Worship is called our Reasonable Service Rom. 12. 1. Thus in the Preaching of the Word Jesus Christ is evidently set forth Crucified among us Gal. 3. 1. not darkly represented in Types and Shadows And in the Sacrament of the Supper we do plainly shew forth his Death untill he comes 1 Cor. 11. 26. And the like may be said of all other Evangelical Institutions And the principal Reason hereof is because they do not represent or shadow things to come no nor yet things absent as did those of Old but they really present and exhibit Spiritual things Christ and the Benefits of his Mediation unto our Souls And in the observance of them we are not kept at a distance but have an Admission unto the Holy place not made with hands because Christ who is the Minister of that Holy Sanctuary is in them and by them really present unto the Souls of Believers Two other things mentioned before concerning this Worship namely its Relation unto Christ as our High Priest and our Access in it unto the Holy place the Throne of Grace must be spoken unto at large elsewhere This is a brief Declaration of that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Perfection which the Apostle denies to have been attainable by the Levitical Priesthood And the grounds of his Denial he gives us in the remaining words of the Text which we shall also consider only we may observe by the way That To look for Glory in Evangelical Worship from outward Ceremonies and Carnal Ordinances is to prefer the Levitical Priesthood before that of Christ. That which we are to look for in our worship is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a Perjection as we are capable of in this world This the Apostle denies unto the Levitical Priesthood and ascribes it unto the Priesthood of Christ. But if such a Perfection be to be found in Ceremonies and Ordinances outwardly Pompous and Glorious upon Necessity the contrary conclusion must be made and affirmed But yet so it is come to pass in the world that Men do order things in their Publick worship as if they judged that the pure immixed worship of the Gospel had no Glory in comparison of that of the Law which did excel and whereunto they do more or less conform themselves But it is time for us to proceed with our Apostle Having denyed Perfection unto the Levitical Priesthood which he lays down in a Supposition including a Negation so as to make way for the Proof of what he denyed for the further Explication of it and Application unto his present purpose he adds the respect that their Priesthood had to the Law intending thereby to bring the Law it self under the same censure of disability and insufficiency 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. The Subject spoken of is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the People that is in the Wilderness the Body of the Church to whom the Law and Priesthood were given immediately by the Ministry of Moses But after this the whole Posterity of Abraham in their successive Generations were one People with them and are so esteemed For a People is still the same and as a People never dies till all Individuals that belong unto it are cut off So by this People the whole Church of all Ages under the Old Testament is intended 2. Of this People he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were Legalized They were also Evangelized as our Apostle speaks Chap. 4. 2. They were so in the Promise made unto Abraham and in the many Types of Christ and his Offices and Sacrifice that were instituted among them Yet were they at the same time so brought under the Power of the Law as that they had not the Light Liberty and Comfort of the Gospel which we enjoy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is legem ferre legem sancire legem imponere to make constitute impose a Law And the Passive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when applyed unto Persons is legi latae subjici or legem latam accipere to be made Subject unto a Law to receive the Law made to oblige them So is it used in this place VVe have therefore not amiss rendred it received the Law The People received the Law But the sence of that Expression is regulated by the Nature of a Law They so received it as to be made Subject unto it as to be obliged by it Other things may be otherwise received but a Law is received by coming under its Obligation They were brought under the Power Authority and Obligation of the Law Or because the Law was the Foundation and Instrument of their whole state both in things Sacred and Civil the meaning of the word may be they were brought into that state and condition whereinto the Law disposed them This is said to be done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under it that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under that Priesthood But how the People may be said to receive the Law under the Levitical Priesthood must be further enquired into Some think that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place answers unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew that is concerning it And so the meaning o the word is for it was concerning the Levitical Priesthood that the People received a Command that is God by his Law and Command Instituted the Levitical Priesthood among them and no other during the times of the Old Testament According unto this Interpretation it is not the whole Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances that is intended but the Law constituting the Levitical Priesthood This sence is embraced by Schlictingius and Grotius as it was before them touched on but rejected by Junius and Piscator But although there be no
and the Assertion may have a double signification 1 That this Oath was constituent of his Office Therein his Call and Consecration did consist 2. That his Call Constitution or Consecration was confirmed and ratified with an Oath And the latter sense is intended For so doth the Antithesis require Those legal Priests had a Divine Constitution and Call but they had no Confirmation by the Addition of an Oath God used not an Oath in or about any thing that belonged unto them Wherefore this Man was also to have another Call unto and Constitution of his Office but he was to be confirmed therein by an Oath Wherein this call of Christ unto his Office did consist what were the Acts of the Divine Will thereabout and what was the manifestation of them I have declared at large in the Exercitations about the Priesthood of Christ. Two things are to be considered in this Oath 1. The form And 2. the matter of it 1. The Form of it is in those words the Lord sware and will not repent And the Matter of it is that he in his own Person should be a Priest for ever The Person swearing is God the Father who speaks unto the Son in the Psalm 110. 1. The Lord said unto my Lord and the Oath of God is nothing but the solemn Eternal Unchangeable Decree and Purpose of his Will under an especial way of Declaration So the same Act and Counsel of Gods Will is called his Decree Ps. 2. 7. Wherefore when God will so far unveil a Decree and Purpose as to testifie it to be absolute and unchangeable he doth it in the way of an Oath as hath been declared Chap. 6. ver 13 14. Or to the same purpose God affirms that he hath sworn in the case If then it be demanded When God thus sware unto Christ I answer we must consider the Decree it self unto this purpose and the peculiar Revelation or Declaration of it in which two this Oath doth consist And as to the first it belongs entirely unto those eternal foederal Transactions between the Father and the Son which were the original of the Priesthood of Christ which I have at large explained in our Exercitations And as for the latter it was when he gave out that Revelation of his mind in the Force and Efficacy of an Oath in the Psalm by David It is therefore not only a mistake but an Error of danger in some Expositors who suppose that this Oath was made unto Christ upon his Ascension into Heaven For this Apprehension being pursued will fall in with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Socinians in this whole Cause namely that the Kingly and Priestly Offices of Christ are not really distinct Moreover it supposeth the principal discharge of the Priesthood of Christ in his sacrifice to have been antecedent unto this Oath which utterly enervates the Apostles Argument in these words For if he were made a Priest and discharged his Office without an Oath as he must be and do on this supposition that the Oath of God was made unto him after his Ascension or that his death and Oblation therein belonged not unto his Priestly Office he had no preheminence herein unto the Aaronical Priests He might so have a subsequent Priviledge of the Confirmation of his Office but he had none in his Call thereunto Wherefore this Oath of God though not in it self solely the constituent cause of the Priesthood of Christ yet it was and it was necessarily to be antecedent unto his Actual entrance upon or discharge of any solemn Duty of his Office That additional expression and he will not repent declares the nature of the Oath of God and of the Purpose confirmed thereby When God makes an Alteration in any Law Rule Order or Constitution he is or may be said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to repent This God by this word declares shall never be no Alteration or Change no Removal or Substitution shall ever be made in this matter 2. The matter of this Oath is that Christ is and should be a Priest for ever He was not only made a Priest with an Oath which they were not but a Priest for ever This adds unto the unchangeableness of his Office that he himself in his own Person was to bear exercise and discharge it without substitute or successor And this for ever answers unto the for ever under the Law each of them being commensurate unto the Dispensation of that Covenant which they do respect For absolute Eternity belongs not unto these things The Ever of the Old Testament was the Duration of the Dispensation of the Old Covenant And this for ever respects the New Covenant which is to continue unto the consummation of all things no change therein being any way intimated or promised or consistent with the Wisdome and Faithfulness of God all which were otherwise under the Law But at the end of the world together with the Dispensation of the New Covenant an end will be put unto all the Mediatory Offices of Christ and all their Exercise And there are four things which the Apostle declareth and evinceth in this observation 1. That our High Priest was peculiarly designed unto and initiated into his Office by the Oath of God which none other ever was before him 2. That the Person of the High Priest is hereby so absolutely determined as that the Church may continually draw nigh unto God in the full Assurance of Faith 3. That this Priesthood is liable to no Alteration Succession or Substitution 4. That from hence ariseth the principal Advantage of the New Testament above the Old as is declared in the next verse and we may observe 1. That although God granted great Priviledges unto the Church under the Old Testament yet still in every instance he withheld that which was the principal and should have given perfection unto what he did grant He made them Priests but without an Oath In all things there was a reserve for Christ that he in all might have the Preeminence 2. God by his Oath declares the Determination if his Soveraign pleasure unto the Object of it What he proposeth and prescribeth unto us he declares no more of his mind and his will about but that he requireth and approveth of our Obedience unto it but still reserves the liberty unto himself of making those Alterations in it and about it that seem good unto him Nothing therefore in the whole legal Administration being confirmed by the Oath of God it was always ready for a removal at the appointed season 3. Christ his being made a Priest by the Oath of God for ever is a solid Foundation of Peace and Consolation to the Church For 4. All the Transactions between the Father and the Son concerning his Offices undertakings and the work of our Redemption have respect unto the Faith of the Church and are declared for our Consolation Such were his solemn Call to his sacerdotal Office
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4 The property of it it is a New Covenant 1. He who gives this Testimony is included in tht word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he saith For finding fault with them he saith He who complains of the People for breaking the Old Covenant promiseth to make the New So in the next Verse it is expressed Saith the Lord. The Ministry of the Prophet was made use of in the declaration of these words and things but they are properly his words from whom they are by immediate inspiration 1. He saith that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Lord is the formal object of our faith and obedience Hereinto are they to be refered herein do they acquiesce and in nothing else will they so do All other foundations of Faith as thus saith the Pope or thus saith the Church or thus said our Ancestors are all but delusions Thus saith the Lord gives rest and peace 2. There is the Note of Introduction calling unto attendance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold It is always found eminent either in itself or in some of its circumstances that is thus performed For the word calls for a more than ordinary diligence in the consideration of an attention unto what is proposed And it was needful to signalize this Promise for the People unto whom it was given were very difficultly drawn from their adherence unto the Old Covenant which was inconsistent with that now promised And there seems to be somewhat more intimated in this word besides a call unto especial attention And that is that the thing spoken of is plainly proposed unto them concerned so as that they may look upon it and behold it clearly and speedily And so is this New Covenant here proposed so evidently and plainly both in the entire nature and properties of it that unless men wilfully turn away their eyes they cannot but see it 2. Where God placeth a Note of Observation and Attention we should carefully fix our Faith and Consideration God sets not any of his marks in vain And if upon the first view of any place or thing so signalized the evidence of it doth not appear unto us we have a sufficient call unto farther diligence in our enquiry And if we are not wanting unto our Duty we shall discover some especial impression of Divine Excellency or another upon every such thing or place 3. The things and concernments of the New Covenant are all of them Objects of the best of our consideration As such are they here proposed and what is spoken of the declaration of the nature of this Covenant in the next Verse is sufficient to confirm this Observation 3. The time is prefixed for the accomplishment of this Promise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The days come Known unto God are all his works from the foundation of the world and he hath determined the times of their accomplishment As to the particular precise times or seasons of them whilest they are future he hath reserved them unto himself unless where he hath seen good to make some especial Revelation of them So he did of the times of the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt of the Babylonish Captivity and of the coming of the Messiah after the return of the People Dan. 9. But from the giving of the first Promise wherein the foundation of the Church was laid the accomplishment of it is frequently referred unto the latter days See our Exposition on Chap. 1. ver 1. Hence under the Old Testament the days of the Messiah were called the world to come as we have shewed Chap. 2. 5. And it was a Periphrasis of him that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 11. 3. He that was to come And the Faith of the Church was principally exercised in the expectation of his coming And this time is here intended And the expression in the Original is in the Present Tense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The days coming not the days that come but the days come And two things are denoted thereby 1. The near approach of the days intended The time was now hastening apace and the Church was to be awaken'd unto the expectation of it And this accompanied with their earnest desires and prayers for it which were the most acceptable part of the Worship of God under the Old Testament 2. A certainty of the thing itself was hereby fixed in their minds Long expectation they had of it and now stood in need of new security especially considering the tryal they were falling into in the Babylonish Captivity For this seemed to threaten a defeat of the Promise in the casting away of the whole Nation The manner of the expression is suited to confirm the Faith of them that were real Believers among them against such fears Yet we must observe that from the giving of this Promise unto the accomplishment of it was near 600 years And yet about 90 years after the Prophet Malachi speaking of the same season affirms That the Lord whom they sought should suddenly come unto his Temple Mal. 3. 1. Ob. There is a time limited and fixed for the accomplishment of all the Promises of God and all the Purposes of his Grace towards the Church See Hab. 2. 3 4. And the Consideration hereof is very necessary unto Believers in all Ages 1. To keep up their hearts from desponding when difficulties against their accomplishment do arise and seem to render it impossible Want hereof hath turn'd aside many from God and caused them to cast their lot and portion into the world 2 To preserve them from putting themselves on any irregular ways for their accomplishment 3 To teach them to search diligently into the wisdom of God who hath disposed times and seasons as unto his own glory so unto the tryal and real benefit of the Church 4. The Subject matter of the Promise given is a Covenant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The LXX render it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Testament And that is more proper in this place than a Covenant For if we take Covenant in a strict and proper sense it hath indeed no place between God and man For a Covenant strictly taken ought to proceed on equal terms and a proportionate consideration of things on both sides But the Covenant of God is founded on Grace and consists essentially in a free undeserved Promise And therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Covenant is never spoken of between God and man but on the part of God it consists in a free Promise or a Testament And a Testament which is the proper signification of the word here used by the Apostle is suited unto this place and nothing else For 1 Such a Covenant is intended as is ratified and confirmed by the death of him that makes it And this is properly a Testament For this Covenant was confirmed by the death of Christ and that both as it was the death
of the Testator and as it was accompanied with the blood of a Sacrifice whereof we must treat afterwards at large if God will 2 It is such a Covenant as wherein the Covenanter he that makes it bequeatheth his Goods unto others in the way of a Legacy For this is done by Christ herein as we must also declare afterwards Wherefore our Saviour calls this Covenant the New Testament in his Blood This the word used by the Apostle doth properly signifie and it is evident that he intends not a Covenant absolutely and strictly so taken With respect hereunto the first Covenant is usually called the Old Testament For we intend not thereby the Books of Scripture or Oracles of God committed unto the Church of the Jews which yet as we have observed are once called the Old Testament 2 Cor. 3. 14. but the Covenant that God made with the Church of Israel at Sinai whereof we have spoken at large And this was called a Testament for three Reasons 1. Because it was confirmed by death that is the death of the Sacrifices that were slain and offered at its solemn establishment So faith our Apostle The first Testament was not dedicated without blood Chap. 9. 15. But there is more required hereunto for even a Covenant properly and strictly so called may be confirmed with Sacrifices Wherefore 2. God did therein make over and grant unto the Church of Israel the good things of the Land of Canaan with the Priviledges of his Worship 3. The principal Reason of this denomination the Old Testament is taken from its being typically significative of the Death and Legacy of the great Testator as we have shewed We have treated somewhat before concerning the Nature of the New Testament as considered in distinction from and opposition unto the Old I shall here only briefly consider what concurreth unto the constitution of it as it was then future when this Promise was given and as it is here promised And three things do concur hereunto 1. A Recapitulation Collection and Confirmation of all the Promises of Grace that had been given unto the Church from the beginning even all that was spoken by the mouth of the holy Prophets that had been since the world began Luke 1. 70. The first Promise contained in it the whole essence and substance of the Covenant of Grace All those afterwards given unto the Church on various occasions were but explications and confirmations of it In the whole of them there was a full declaration of the wisdom and love of God in sending his Son and of his grace unto Mankind thereby And God solemnly confirmed them with his Oath namely that they should be all accomplished in their appointed season Whereas therefore the Covenant here promised included the sending of Christ for the accomplishment of those Promises they are all gathered into one head therein It is a constellation of all Promises of Grace 2. All these Promises were to be reduced into an actual Covenant or Testament two ways 1. In that as unto the accomplishment of the grace principally intended in them they received it in the sending of Christ and as to the confirmation and establishment of them for the communication of grace unto the Church they received it in the death of Christ as a Sacrifice of Agreement or Attonement 2. They are established as the Rule and Law of Reconciliation and Peace between God and man This gives them the nature of a Covenant For a Covenant is the solemn expression of the terms of Peace between various Parties with the confirmation of them 3. They are reduced into such form of Law as to become the only Rule of the Ordinances of Worship and Divine Service required of the Church Nothing unto these ends is now presented unto us or required of us but what belongeth immediately unto the administration of this Covenant and the grace thereof But the Reader must consult what hath been discoursed at large unto this purpose on the 6th verse And we may see from hence what it is that God here promiseth and foretelleth as that which he would do in the days that were coming For whereas they had the Promise before and so virtually the grace and mercy of the New Covenant it may be enquired what is yet wanting that should be promised solemnly under the name of a Covenant For the full resolution of this question I must as before refer the Reader unto what hath been discoursed at large about the two Covenants and the difference between them on ver 6. Here we may briefly name some few things sufficient unto the exposition of this place As 1. All those Promises which had before been given out unto the Church from the beginning of the world were now reduced into the form of a Covenant or rather of a Testament The name of a Covenant is indeed sometimes applied unto the Promises of Grace before or under the Old Testament But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word used in all those places denoteth only a free gratuitous Promise Gen. 9. 9. Chap. 17. 4. But they were none of them nor all of them together reduced into the form of a Testament which they could not be but by the death of the Testator And what blessed Priviledges and Benefits were included herein hath been shewed before and must yet further be insisted on in the Exposition of the 9th Chapter if God permit 2. There was another Covenant superadded unto the Promises which was to be the immediate Rule of the Obedience and Worship of the Church And according unto their observance of this superadded Covenant they were esteemed to have kept or broken Covenant with God This was the Old Covenant in Sinai as hath been declared Wherefore the Promises could not be in the form of a Covenant unto the People inasmuch as they could not be under the power of two Covenants at once and those as it afterwards appeared absolutely inconsistent For this is that which our Apostle proves in this place namely That where the Promises were brought into the form and had the use of a Covenant unto the Church the former Covenant must needs disappear or be disannulled Only they had their place and efficacy to convey the benefits of the grace of God in Christ unto them that did believe but God here foretelleth that he will give them such an order and efficacy in the administration of his grace as that all the fruits of it by Jesus Christ shall be bequeathed and made over unto the Church in the way of a Solemn Covenant 3. Notwithstanding the Promises which they had received yet the whole System of their Worship sprang from and related unto the Covenant made at Sinai But now God promiseth a new state of spiritual Worship relating only unto the Promises of grace as brought into the form of a Covenant The New Covenant as recollecting into one all the Promises of Grace given from the foundation of the World accomplished in the actual
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
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
he dyes he may not dispose of it unto those which by Nature Affinity or other obligations he hath most respect unto Wherefore the foundation of the Apostles arguing from this usage amongst men is firm and stable Of the like nature is his observation that a Testament is of no force whil'st the Testator liveth the nature of the thing it self expounded by constant practice will admit no doubt of it For by what way soever a man disposeth of his Goods so as that it shall take effect whil'st he is alive as by Sale or Gift it is not a Testament nor hath any thing of the nature of a Testament in it For that is only the Will of a man concerning his Goods when he is dead These things being unquestionable we are only to consider whence the Apostle takes his Argument to prove the necessity of the death of Christ as he was the Mediator of the New Testament Now this is not meerly from the signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which yet is of consideration also as hath been declared but whereas he treats principally of the two Covenants it is the Affinity that is between a Solemn Covenant and a Testament that he hath respect unto For he speaks not of the death of Christ meerly as it was death which is all that is required unto a Testament properly so called without any consideration of what nature it is but he speaks of it also as it was a Sacrifice by the effusion of his blood which belongs unto a Covenant and is no way required unto a Testament Whereas therefore the word may signifie either a Covenant or a Testament precisely so called the Apostle hath respect unto both the significations of it And having in these Verses mentioned his death as the death of a Testator which is proper unto a Testament in the 14th Verse and those that follow he insists on his blood as a Sacrifice which is proper unto a Covenant But these things must be more fully explained whereby the difficulty which appears in the whole Context will be removed Unto the confirmation or ratification of a Testament that it may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sure stable and of force there must be death the death of the Testator But there is no need that this should be by blood the blood of the Testator or any other Unto the consideration of a Covenant blood was required the blood of the Sacrifice and death only consequentially as that which would ensue thereon but there was no need that it should be the blood or death of him that made the Covenant Wherefore the Apostle declaring the necessity of the death of Christ both as to the nature of it that it was really death and as to the manner of it that it was by the effusion of his blood and that from the consideration of the two Covenants the Old and the New Testament and what was required unto them he evinceth it by that which was essential unto them both in a Covenant as such and in a Testament precisely so called That which is most eminent and essential unto a Testament is that it is confirmed and made irrevocable by the death of the Testator And that which is the excellency of a Solemn Covenant whereby it is made firm and stable is that it was confirmed with the blood of Sacrifices as he proves in the instance of the Covenant made at Sinai v. 18 19 20 21 22. Wherefore whatever is excellent in either of these was to be found in the Mediator of the New Testament Take it as a Testament which upon the Bequeathment made therein of the Goods of the Testator unto the Heirs of Promise of Grace and Glory it hath the nature of and he dyed as the Testator whereby the Grant of the Inheritance was made irrevocable unto them Hereunto no more is required but his death without the consideration of the nature of it in the way of a Sacrifice Take it as a Covenant as upon the consideration of the Promises contained in it and the Prescription of Obedience it hath the nature of a Covenant though not of a Covenant strictly so called and so it was to be confirmed with the blood of the Sacrifice of himself which is the Eminency of the Solemn Confirmation of this Covenant And as his death had an Eminency above the death required unto a Testament in that it was by blood and in the Sacrifice of himself which it is no way necessary that the death of a Testator should be yet it fully answered the death of a Testator in that he truly dyed so had it an Eminency above all the ways of the confirmation of the Old Covenant or any other Solemn Covenant whatever in that whereas such a Covenant was to be confirmed with the blood of Sacrifices yet was it not required that it should be the blood of him that made the Covenant as here it was The consideration hereof solves all the appearing difficulties in the nature and manner of the Apostles Argument The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereunto respect is here had is as we have shewed of a large signification and various use And frequently it is taken for a free grant and disposition of things by promise which hath the nature of a Testament And in the Old Covenant there was a free grant and donation of the Inheritance of the Land of Canaan unto the people which belongs unto the nature of a Testament also Moreover both of them a Covenant and a Testament do agree in the general nature of their confirmation the one by blood the other by death Hereon the Apostle in the use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth diversly argue both unto the nature necessity and use of the death of the Mediator of the New Testament He was to dye in the confirmation of it as it was a Testament he being the Testator of it and he was to offer himself as a Sacrifice in his blood for the establishment of it as it had the nature of a Covenant Wherefore the Apostle doth not argue as some imagine meerly from the signification of the word whereby as they say that in the original is not exactly rendred And those who have from hence troubled themselves and others about the Authority of this Epistle have nothing to thank for it but their own ignorance of the design of the Apostle and the nature of his Argument And it were well if we all were more sensible of our own ignorance and more apt to acknowledge it when we meet with difficulties in the Scripture than for the most part we are Alas how short are our Lines when we come to fathom the depths of it How inextricable difficulties do appear sometimes in passages of it which when God is pleased to teach us are all pleasant and easie These things being premised to clear the scope and nature of the Apostles Argument we proceed unto a brief Exposition of
the words VER XVI For where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the Testator THere are two things in the words 1 A Supposition of a Testament 2 What is required thereunto In the first there is 1 The Note of Inference 2 The Supposition it self The first is the Particle For. This doth not infer a Reason to ensue of what he had before affirmed which is the common use of that Illative but only the Introduction of an Illustration of it from what is the usage of Mankind in such cases on supposition that this Covenant is also a Testament For then there must be the death of the Testator as it is in all Testaments amongst men The Supposition it self is in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Verb Substantive is wanting where a Testament is so it is by us supplied it may be not necessarily For the Expression of where a Testament is may suppose that the death of the Testator is required unto the making of a Testament which as the Apostle sheweth in the next Verse it is not but only unto its Execution In the case of a Testament namely that it may be executed is the meaning of the words where that is wherever Amongst all sorts of men living according unto the light of Nature and the conduct of Reason the making of Testaments is in use For without it neither can private Industry be encouraged nor publick Peace maintained Wherefore as was before observed the Apostle argueth from the common usage of mankind resolved into the Principles of Reason and Equity 2. What is required unto the Validity of a Testament and that is the death of the Testator And the way of the Introduction of this death unto the validity of a Testament is by being brought in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it enter namely after the ratifying of the Testament to make it of force or to give it operation The Testament is made by a living man but whil'st he lives it is dead or of no use That it may operate and be effectual death must be brought into the account This death must be the death of the Testator 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is he who disposeth of things who hath right so to do and actually doth it This in a Testament is the Testator And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have in the Greek the same respect unto one another as Testamentum and Testator in the Latine Wherefore if the New Covenant hath the nature of a Testament it must have a Testator and that Testator must dye before it can be of force and efficacy which is what was to be proved This is further confirmed VER XVII For a Testament is of force after men are dead otherwise it is of no strength at all whilest the Testator liveth IT is not of the making and constitution of a Testament but of the force and execution of it that he speaks And in these words he gives a Reason of the necessity of the death of the Testator thereunto And this is because the validity and efficacy of the Testament depends solely thereon And this reason he introduceth by the Conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For. A Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of force say we that is firm stable not to be disannull'd For if it be but a mans Testament yet if it be confirmed no man disannulleth or addeth thereunto Gal. 3. 15. It is ratified made unalterable so as that it must be executed according unto the mind of the Testator And it is so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among them that are dead after men are dead that is those who make the Testament For it is opposed unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whil'st the Testator liveth For Testaments are the Wills of dead men Living men have no Heirs And this sense is declared in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quandoquidem quoniam seeing that otherwise say we without this accession unto the making of a Testament As yet it prevaileth not it is not of force for the actual distribution of the Inheritance or the Goods of the Testator Two things must yet farther be declared 1 What are the Grounds or general Reasons of this Assertion 2 Where lies the force of the Argument from it 1. The force of a Testament depends on the death of the Testator or the death of the Testator is required to make it effectual for these two Reasons 1 Because a Testament is no Act or Deed of a man whereby he presently and in the making of it conveys gives or grants any part of his possession unto another or others so as that it should immediately thereon cease to be his own and become the propriety of those others all such Instruments of Contract Bargain Sale or Deeds of Gift are of another nature they are not Testaments A Testament is only the signification of the Will of a man as unto what he will have done with his Goods after his death Wherefore unto the force and execution of it his death is necessary 2 A Testament that is only so is alterable at the pleasure of him that makes it whil'st he is alive Wherefore it can be of no force whil'st he is so for that he may change it or disannul it when he pleaseth The foundation therefore of the Apostles Argument from this usage amongst men is firm and stable 2. Whereas the Apostle argueth from the Proportion and Similitude that is between this New Testament or Covenant and the Testaments of men we may consider what are the things wherein that Similitude doth consist and shew also wherein there is a dissimilitude whereunto his Reasonings are not to be extended For so it is in all comparisons the Comparates are not alike in all things especially where things spiritual and temporal are compared together So was it also in all the Types of old Every person or every thing that was a Type of Christ were not so in all things in all that they were And therefore it requires both wisdom and diligence to distinguish in what they were so and in what they were not that no false Inferences or Conclusions be made from them So is it in all Comparisons and therefore in the present instance we must consider wherein the things compared do agree and wherein they differ 1. They agree principally in the death of the Testator This alone makes a Testament among men effectual and irrevocable So is it in this New Testament It was confirmed and ratified by the death of the Testator Jesus Christ and otherwise could not have been of force This is the fundamental agreement between them which therefore alone the Apostle expresly insisteth on although there are other things which necessarily accompany it as essential unto every Testament as 2. In every Testament amongst men there are Goods disposed and bequeathed unto Heirs or Legatees which were the Property of the
sprinkled the Blood on the Altar ver 6. After which when the Book had been sprinkled with Blood as it lay on the Altar it is said he took the Book that is off from the Altar and read in the audience of the People ver 7. The Book being now sprinkled with blood as the Instrument and Record of the Covenant between God and the People the very same words which were before spoken unto the People are now recited or read out of the Book And this could be done for no other Reason but that the Book it self being now sprinkled with the blood of the Covenant it was dedicated to be the Sacred Record thereof 4. In the Text of Moses it is said that he sprinkled the People in Explanation whereof the Apostle affirms that he sprinkled all the People And it was necessary that so it should be and that none of them should be excluded from this Sprinkling For they were all taken into Covenant with God Men Women and Children But it must be granted that for the blood to be actually Sprinkled on all individuals in such a Numberless Multitude is next unto what is naturally impossible wherefore it was done in their Representatives and what is done towards Representatives as such is done equally towards all whom they do Represent And the whole People had two Representatives that day 1 The twelve Pillars of Stone that were set up to represent their twelve Tribes and it may be to signifie their hard and stony heart under that Covenant ver 4. Whereas those Pillars were placed close by the Altar some suppose that they were Sprinkled as representing the twelve tribes 2 There was the Heads of their Tribes the Chief of the house of their Fathers and the Elders who drew nigh unto Moses and were Sprinkled with blood in the Name and Place of all the People who were that day taken into Covenant 5. The words which Moses spake unto the People upon the Sprinkling of the Blood are not absolutely the same in the story and in the Repetition of it by the Apostle But this is usual with him in all his Quotations out of the old Testament in this Epistle He expresseth the true sense of them but doth not curiously and precisely render the sense of every word and syllable in them 6. The last Difficulty in this context and that which hath an appearance of the greatest is in what the Apostle affirmes concerning the Tabernacle and all the Vessels of it namely that Moses sprinkled them all with Blood And the Time which he seems to speak of is that of the Dedication of the first Covenant Hence a twofold Difficulty doth arise First as unto the Time and Secondly as unto the Thing it self For at the Time of the Dedication of the first Covenant the Tabernacle was not yet made or erected and so could not then be sprinkled with Blood And afterwards when the Tabernacle was erected and all the Vessels brought into it there is no mention that either it or any of them were sprinkled with Blood but only anointed with the Holy Oyl Exod. 40. 9 10 11. Wherefore as unto the first I say the Apostle doth plainly distinguish what he affirms of the Tabernacle from the Time of the Dedication of the first Covenant The manner of his Introduction of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and moreover the Tabernacle doth plainly intimate a Progress unto another Time and occasion Wherefore the words of ver 21. concerning the sprinkling of the Tabernacle and its Vessels do relate unto what follows ver 22. and almost all things are by the Law purged with Blood and not unto those that precede about the Dedication of the first Covenant For the Argument he hath in hand is not confined unto the use of Blood only in that Dedication but respects the whole use of the Blood of Sacrifices under the Law which in these words he proceeds unto and closeth in the next verse And this wholly removes the first Difficulty And as unto the second Expositors generally answer that Aspersion or Sprinkling with Blood did commonly precede Unction with the Holy Oyl And as unto the Garments of the Priests which were the Vessels or Utensils of the Tabernacle it was appointed that they should be sprinkled with Blood Exod. 29. 21. and so it may be supposed that the Residue of them were also But to me this is not satisfactory And be it spoken without offence Expositors have generally mistaken the nature of the Argument of the Apostle in these words For he argues not from the first Dedication of the Tabernacle and its Vessels which for ought appears was by Unction only But making as wee observed before a Progress unto the farther use of the Blood of Sacrifices in purging according to the Law he giveth an Instance in what was done with respect unto the Tabernacle and all its Vessels and that constantly and Solemnly every year and this he doth to prove his general Assertion in the next verse that under the Law almost all things were purged with Blood And Moses is here said to do what he appointed should be done By his Institution that is the Institution of the Law the Tabernacle and all the Vessels of it were sprinkled with Blood And this was done Solemnly once every year an account whereof is given Levit. 16. 14 15 16 18 19 20. On the Solemn Day of Attonement the High Priest was to sprinkle the Mercy-seat the Altar and the whole Tabernacle with Blood to make an Attonement for them because of the Uncleannesses of the Children of Israel the Tabernacle remaining among them in the midst of their Uncleannesses ver 16. This he takes notice of not to prove the Dedication of the first Covenant with what belonged thereunto with Blood but the use of Blood in general to make Attonement and the impossibility of Expiation and Pardon without it This is the Design and Sense of the Apostle and no other Wherefore we may conclude that the Account here given concerning the Dedication of the first Covenant and the use of Blood for Purification under the Law is so far from containing any thing opposite unto or discrepant from the Records of Moses concerning the same things that it gives us a full and clear Exposition of them The second thing to be considered is the nature of the Argument in this context and there are three things in it neither of which must be omitted in the Exposition of the words He designeth 1. to prove yet farther the necessuy of the Death of Christ as he was the Mediator of the New Testament both as it had the nature of a Testament and that also of a Solemn Covenant 2. To declare the necessity of the Kind of his Death in the way of a Sacrifice by the effusion of Blood because the Testament as it had the nature of a Solemn Covenant was confirmed and ratifyed thereby 3. To manifest the Necessity of shedding of Blood in the
Language which the People understood and commonly spake And a Rule was herein prescribed unto the Church in all Ages if so be the Example of the Wisdom and Care of God towards his Church may be a Rule unto us 3. God never required the Observance of any Rites or Duties of Worship without a previous warranty from his Word The People took not on them they were not obliged unto Obedience with respect unto any positive Institutions until Moses had read unto them every precept out of the Book 4. The writing of this Book was an eminent Priviledge now first granted unto the Church leading unto a more perfect and stable condition then formerly it had enjoyed Hitherto it had lived on Oral Instructions from Traditions and by new immediate Revelations the evident Defects whereof were now removed and a standard of Divine Truth and Instruction set up and fixed among them 3dly There is the Rule whereby Moses proceeded herein or the Warranty he had for what he did According to the Law He read every Precept according to the Law It cannot be the Law in general that the Apostle intends for the greatest part of that Doctrine which is so called was not yet given or written nor doth it in any place contain any Precept unto this purpose Wherefore it is a particular Law Rule or Command that is intended According unto the Ordinance or Appointment of God Such was the Command that God gave unto Moses for the framing of the Tabernacle See thou make all things according to the Pattern shewed thee in the Mount Particularly it seems to be the Agreement between God and the People that Moses should be the Internuntius the Interpreter between them According unto this Rule Order or divine Constitution Moses read all the words from God out of the Book unto the People Or it may be the Law may here be taken for the whole Design of God in giving of the Law so as that according unto the Law is no more but according unto the Soveraign Wisdom and Pleasure of God in giving of the Law with all things that belong unto its Order and Use. And it is Good for us to look for Gods especial warranty for what we undertake to do in his service The second thing in the words is what Moses did immediately and Directly towards the Dedication or Consecration of this Covenant And there are three things to this purpose mentioned 1 What he made use of 2 How he used it 3 With respect unto what and whom 1. The first is expressed in these words He took the Blood of Calves and Goats with water and Scarlet-wool and Hyssop He took the Blood of the Beasts that were offered for Burnt-offerings and Peace-offerings ver 5 6. Unto this End in their slaying he took all their Blood in Basons and made an equal Division of it The one half he sprinkled on the Altar and the other half he sprinkled on the People That which was sprinkled on the Altar was Gods Part and the other was put on the People Both the Mutual stipulation of God and the Congregation in this Covenant and the Equality of it or the Equity of its Terms were denoted hereby And herein lies the principal force of the Apostles Argument in these words Blood was used in the Dedication of the first Covenant This was the Blood of the Beasts offered in Sacrifice unto God Wherefore both Death and Death by blood-sheding was required unto the Confirmation of a Covenant So also therefore must the new Covenant be confirmed but with Blood and a Sacrifice far more precious than they were This Distribution of Blood that half of it was on the Altar and half of it on the People the one to make Attonement the other to purifie or Sanctifie was to teach the two-fold Efficacy of the Blood of Christ in making Attonement for Sin unto our Justification and the purifying of our Natures in Sanctification 2. With this Blood he took the things mentioned with respect unto its Use which was Sprinkling The manner of it was in part declared before The Blood being put into Basons and having water mixed with it to keep it fluid and aspersible He took a bunch or bundle of Hyssop bound up with Scarlet wool and dipping it into the Basons sprinkled the Blood until it was all spent in that Service This Rite or way of Sprinkling was chosen of God as an expressive token or sign of the effectual Communication of the Benefits of the Covenant unto them that were sprinkled Hence the Communication of the Benefits of the Death of Christ unto Sanctification is called the Sprinkling of his Blood 1 Pet. 1. 2. And our Apostle comprizeth all the effects of it unto that end under the name of the blood of Sprinkling chap. 12. 24. And I fear that those who have used the expression with some contempt when applyed by themselves unto the sign of the Communication of the Benefits of the Death of Christ in Baptisme have not observed that Reverence of Holy things that is required of us For this Symbol of Sprinkling was that which God himself chose and appointed as a meet and apt token of the Communication of Covenant-Mercy that is of his Grace in Christ Jesus unto our Souls And The Blood of the Covenant will not benefit or advantage us without an especial and particular Application of it unto our own Souls and Consciences If it be not as well Sprinkled upon us as it was offered unto God it will not avail us The Blood of Christ was not divided as was that of these Sacrifices the one half being on the Altar the other on the People but the Efficacy of the whole produced both these effects yet so as that the one will not profit us without the other We shall have no Benefit of the Attonement made at the Altar unless we have its efficacy on our own Souls unto their Purification And this we cannot have unless it be sprinkled on us unless particular Application be made of it unto us by the Holy Ghost in and by an especial Act of Faith in our selves 3. The Object of this Act of Sprinkling was the Book it self and all the People The same Blood was on the Book wherein the Covenant was recorded and the People that entred into it But whereas this Sprinkling was for purifying and purging it may be enquired Unto what end the Book it self was sprinkled which was holy and undefiled I Answer There were two things necessary unto the Dedication of the Covenant with all that belonged unto it 1 Attonement 2 Purification and in both these respects it was necessary that the Book it self should be sprinkled 1 As we observed before it was sprinkled as it lay upon the Altar where Attonement was made And this was plainly to signifie that Attonement was to be made by blood for sins committed against that book or the Law contained in it Without this that book would have
been unto the People like that given to Ezekiel that was written within and without and there was written therein Lamentations and Mourning and Woe Chap. 2. 10. Nothing but Curse and Death could they expect from it But the Sprinkling of it with blood as it lay upon the Altar was a Testimony and Assurance that Attonement should be made by blood for the sins against it which was the Life of the things 2 The Book in it self was Pure and Holy and so are all Gods Institutions but unto us every thing is unclean that is not sprinkled with the blood of Christ. So afterwards the Tabernacle and all the Vessels of it were purified every year with blood because of the Uncleannesses of the People in their Transgressions Levit. 16. Wherefore on both these accounts it was necessary that the Book it self should be sprinkled The blood thus sprinkled was mingled with water The natural Reason of it was as we observed to keep it fluid and aspersible But there was a Mystery in it also That the blood of Christ was typified by this blood of the Sacrifices used in the Dedication of the Old Covenant it is the Apostle's Design to declare And it is probable that this mixture of it with water might represent that Blood and Water which came out of his side when it was pierced For the Mystery thereof was very great Hence that Apostle which saw it and bare Record of it in particular Joh. 19. 34 35. affirms likewise that he came by water and blood and not by blood only 1 Epist. chap. 5. ver 6. He came not only to make Attonement for us with his blood that we might be justifyed but to sprinkle us with the efficacy of his blood in the communication of the Spirit of Sanctification compared unto water For the Sprinkler it self composed of Scarlet wool and Hyssop I doubt not but that the Humane Nature of Christ whereby and through which all Grace is communicated unto us for of his fulness we receive and Grace for Grace was signified by it But the Analogie and Similitude between them are not so evident as they are with respect unto some other Types The Hyssop was an humble Plant the meanest of them yet of a sweet savour 1. Kings 4. 33. So was the Lord Christ amongst men in the days of his flesh in comparison of the tall Cedars of the Earth Hence was his complaint that he was as a worm and no man a reproach of men and despised of the People Psal. 22. 6. And the Scarlet wool might represent him as red in the blood of his Sacrifice But I will not press these things of whose Interpretation we have not a certain Rule Secondly The principal Truth asserted is confirmed by what Moses said as well as what he did VER XX. Saying This is the Blood of the Testament which God hath enjoyned unto you The Difference between the words of Moses and the Repetition of them by the Apostle is not material as unto the sense of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold in Moses is rendred by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This both demonstrative Notes of the same thing For in pronouncing of the words Moses shewed the Blood unto the People And so Behold the Blood is all one as if he had said this is the Blood The making of the Covenant in the words of Moses is expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath cut divided solemnly made This the Apostle renders by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath enjoyned or commanded you And this he doth partly to signify the Foundation of the People's Acceptance of that Covenant which was the Authority of God enjoyning them or requiring them so to do partly to intimate the nature of the Covenant it self which consisted in Precepts and Injunctions principally and not absolutely in Promises as the New Covenant doth The last words of Moses Concerning all these words the Apostle omits For he includes the sense of them in that word which the Lord commanded you For he hath respect therein both unto the words themselves written in the Book which were Precepts and Injunctions as also the command of God for the Acceptance of the Covenant That which Moses said is This is the blood of the Testament Hence the Apostle proves that Death and the shedding of blood therein was necessary unto the consecration and establishment of the first Testament For so Moses expresly affirms in the Dedication of it This is the blood of the Covenant without which it could not have been a firm Covenant between God and the People Not I confess from the nature of a Covenant in general for a Covenant may be solemnly established without Death or Blood but from the especial end of that Covenant which in the confirmation of it was to prefigure the confirmation of that new Covenant which could not be established but with the blood of a Sacrifice And this adds both force and evidence unto the Apostles Argument For he proves the Necessity of the Death and Blood-shedding or Sacrifice of Christ in the confirmation of the New Covenant from hence that the Old Covenant which in the Dedication of it was prefigurative hereof was not confirmed without Blood Wherefore whereas God had solemnly promised to make a new Covenant with the Church and that different from or not according unto the Old which he had proved in the foregoing Chapter it follows unavoidably that it was to be confirmed with the Blood of the Mediator for by the blood of Beasts it could not be which is that Truth wherein he did instruct them And nothing was more cogent to take off the scandal of the Cross and of the sufferings of Christ. For the Enuntiation it self This is the blood of the Covenant it is figurative and Sacramental The Covenant had no blood of its own but the blood of the Sacrifices is called the blood of the Covenant because the Covenant was dedicated and established by it Neither was the Covenant really established by it For it was the Truth of God on the one hand and the stability of the People in their professed Obedience on the other that the establishment of the Covenant depended on But this blood was a confirmatory sign of it a Token between God and the People of their mutual engagements in that Covenant So the Paschal Lamb was called Gods Pass-over because it was a sign and token of Gods passing over the houses of the Israelites when he destroyed the Aegyptians Exod. 12. 11 21. With reference it was unto those Sacramental Expressions which the Church under the Old Testament was accustomed unto that our Lord Jesus Christ in the Institution of the Sacrament of the Supper called the Bread and the Wine whose use he appointed therein by the names of his Body and Blood and any other Interpretation of the words wholly overthrows the Nature of that holy Ordinance Wherefore this Blood was a confirmatory Sign of the Covenant And it was
otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He would have been a Debter it would have been due from him Oportebat oportuisset He ought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vul. frequenter pati Others saepe saepius passum fuisse to have suffered often more often frequently that is once every year Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many times and not once only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vul. ab origine mundi Others à condito mundo from the Foundation of the world that is after the entrance of Sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the end of the World Vul. in consummatione seculorum sub consummationem seculorum towards the Consummation of all things In the fulness of Time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad peccatum abolendum ad abolitionem peccati Vul. ad destitutionem peccati Rhemist the Destruction of Sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apparuit patefactus est He was made manifest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Vulgar renders the words per hostiam suam apparuit which the Rhemists translate he hath appeared by his own Host most absurdly both as unto words and sense Syr. At one time he offered his Soul by the Sacrifice or immolation of himself What 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth relate unto we must enquire in the Exposition of the Words VER XXVI For then if otherwise must he he ought often to have suffered since from the Foundation of the World But now once in the End of the World in the Consummation of times hath he appeared been made manifest to put away to abolish or for the Destruction of Sin by the Sacrifice of himself There are sundry Difficulties in these words both as to the Signification and Construction of them as also unto their sense and importance with the Nature of the Argument contained in them and the things treated of I shall not repeat the various Conjectures of Expositors most of which are alien from the mind of the Apostle and easie to be refuted if that belonged any way unto the edification of the Reader But I shall only give that Account of the whole and the several Parts of it which according unto the best of my understanding doth represent the mind of the Holy Ghost with perspicuity and clearness There are two Parts of the Words 1. A Reason confirming the foregoing Assertion that Christ was not often to offer himself as the High Priest did offer Sacrifice every year when he entred into the Holy Place For then must he c. 2. A Confirmation of that Reason from the Nature and End of the Sacrifice of Christ as stated in matter of Fact according unto the Appointment of God But now once in the End c. In the first we may consider 1 The note of Connexion and of the Introduction of the Reason insisted on 2 The signification or sense of the Words 3 The Ground and Nature of the Argument contained in them 1. The Note of Connexion is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render for then If it were so namely that Christ should often offer himself Had it been otherwise that Christ had so offered himself so we observed that most translate the Word by alioquin Either way the intention of the Apostle is expressed which is to confirm what he had before affirmed by the Introduction of a new Reason of it 2. From a Supposition of the contrary unto what he had affirmed the Apostle proves not only the Truth but the necessity of his Assertion For then 1 He must He ought he would have been a Debtor as the Syriack speaks it would have been due from him and indispensibly required of him It would have been so necessitate medii which is the greatest in Divine Institutions and Duties There could have been no such thing unless that which he now infers from it be allowed which was utterly impossible 2. That which he ought so to have done is to suffer in the offering of himself All the sufferings of Christ in the whole Course of his Humiliation and Obedience are sometimes expressed by this Word as Chap. 5. 8. But the suffering here intended is that of his Death and the shedding of his Blood therein alone That which accompanied and was inseparable from his actual Sacrifice or the immactation of himself to have died to have shed his blood to have underwent the Penalty and Curse of the Law 3 Often frequently as the High Priest offered Sacrifice of Old once every year 4. Since or rather from the Foundation of the World This expression is somtimes used absolutely for the Original of the World in its Creation For the absolute Beginning of Time and all things measured by it Eph. 1. 4. Mat. 25. 34. Joh. 17. 24. 1 Pet. 1. 20. Sometimes from what immediately succeeded on that beginning Mat. 13. 35. Luk. 11. 5. Heb. 4. 3. Rev. 13. 8. And it is in the latter sense that it is here used From the Foundation of the World that is from the first entrance of Sin into the World and the giving of the first Promise which was immediately after the Creation of it or its Foundation and Constitution in its Original frame This is the first thing on record in the Scripture So God spake by the Mouth of his Holy Prophets since the World began Luk. 1. 71. that is the first Revelation of God unto the Church concerning the Messia with all that succeeded So Christ is said to be a Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World Rev. 13. 8. because of the Efficacy of his Sacrifice extending it self unto the first Entrance of Sin and the Promise thereon immediately on the Foundation of the World Wherefore The Foundation of the World absolutely is in its Creation Before the Foundation of the World is an expression of Eternity and the Counsels of God therein Eph. 1. 4. 1 Pet. 1. 20. From the Foundation of the World is mostly the first Entrance of Sin and Gods Dispensation of Grace in Christ thereon 3. The third thing considerable in the Words is the Nature and Force of the Argument contained in them and it is taken from the most cogent Topicks For it is founded on these evident suppositions 1st That the Suffering and Offering of Christ are inseparable For although abstracted from the present Subject Matter Suffering is one thing and offering another yet the Lord Christ offered himself unto God in and by his Suffering of Death And the Reason hereof is because he himself was both the Priest and the Sacrifice The High Priest of old offered often yet now once sufficed therein For he was not the Sacrifice it self It was the Lamb that was slain that suffered Christ being both he could not offer without suffering no more then the High Priest could offer without the suffering of the Beast that was slain And herein doth the force of the Argument principally consist For he proves that Christ did not nor could
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
cannot refer it unto the same Divine Constitution with the future judgment which is natural in no sense at all Death was so far natural from the beginning as that the frame and constitution of our nature were in themselves liable and subject thereunto But that it should actually have invaded our nature unto its dissolution without the intervention of its meritorious Cause in Sin is contrary unto the Original state of our Relation unto God the nature of the Covenant whereby we were obliged unto Obedience the Reward promised therein with the threatning of Death in case of disobedience Wherefore the Law Statute or Constitution here related unto is no other but that of Gen. 2. 17. In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye with that addition dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return Chap. 3. 19. God enacted it as an everlasting Law concerning Adam and all his Posterity that they should dye and that once as they were once taken out of the Dust. But in the words of God before mentioned there are two things 1. A penal Law enacted Gen. 3. 17. 2. A judicial sentence denounced Chap. 2. 19. not onely Death but future judgment also was appointed thereby Thus it is appointed to men that is to all men or men indefinitely without exception it is their lot and portion It is appointed unto men not meerly as men but as sinners as sinful men For it is of sin and the effects of it with their removal by Christ that the Apostle discourseth It is appointed unto them to dye that is penally for sin as Death was threatned in that Penal statute mentioned in the curse of the Law And death under that consideration alone is taken away by the death of Christ. The sentence of dying naturally is continued towards all but the moral nature of dying with the consequents of it are removed from some by Christ The Law is not absolutely reversed but what was formally penal in it is taken away Observe 1. Death in the first constitution of it was penal And the entrance of it as a penalty keeps the fear of it in all living Yea it was by the Law Eternally Penal Nothing was to come after death but Hell And 2. It is still penal Eternally penal unto all unbelievers But there are false notions of it amongst men as there are of all other things Some are afraid of it when the penalty is separated from it Some on the other hand look on it as a Relief and so either seek it or desire it unto whom it will prove only an entrance unto judgment It is the interest of all living to enquire diligently what death will be unto them 3. The death of all is equally determined and certain in Gods constitution It hath various wayes of approach unto all individuals Hence is it generally looked on as an accident befalling this or that man But the Law concerning it is general and equal The Second part of the Assertion is that after this is the judgment This by the same Divine unalterable constitution is appointed unto all God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in Righteousness Death makes an not end of men as some think others hope and many would desire it should Ipsa mors nihil post mortem nihil But there is something yet remaining which death is subservient unto Hence it is said to be after this As surely as men dye it is sure that somewhat else follows after death This is the force of the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but but after it Now this after doth not denote the immediate succession of one thing unto another if one go before and the other certainly follow after what ever length of time be interposed between them the Assertion is true and proper Many have been long dead probably the most that shall dye and yet judgment is not come after But it shall come in its appointed season and so as that nothing shall interpose between death and judgment to make any alteration in the state or condition of the persons concerned in them The souls of them that are dead are yet alive but are utterly incapable of any change in their condition between death and judgment As death leaves men so shall judgment find them The second part of this penal constitution is judgment after death judgment It is not a particular judgment on every individual person immediately on his death although such a judgment there be For in and by death there is a declaration made concerning the eternal condition of the deceased But judgment here is opposed unto the second appearance of Christ unto the Salvation of believers which is the great or general judgment of all at the last day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used with respect unto this day or taken absolutely do signifie a condemnatory sentence only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the resurrection of or unto judgment is opposed unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the resurrection of or unto life Joh. 5. 29. See ver 22 23 24. So is it here used Judgment that is condemnation for sin follows after death in the righteous constitution of God by the sentence of the Law And as Christ by his death doth not take away death absolutely but only as it was penal so on his Second appearance he doth not take away judgment absolutely but only as it is a condemnatory sentence with respect unto Believers For as we must all dye so we must all appear before his judgment seat Rom. 14. 10. But as he hath promised that those that believe in him shall not see death for they are passed from death unto life they shall not undergo it as it is penal so also he hath that they shall not come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word here used into judgment Joh. 5. 24. They shall be freed from the condemnatory sentence of the Law For the nature and manner of this judgment see the Exposition on Chap. 6. 5. This then is the sense of the words Whereas therefore or in as much as this is the constitution of God that man sinful man shall once dye and afterwards be judged or condemned for sin Which would have been the event with all had not a Relief been provided which in opposition hereunto is declared in the next verse And no man that dyes in sin shall ever escape judgment VER XXVIII This verse gives us the Relief provided in the wisdom and Grace of God for and from this condition And there is in the words 1. The Redditive note of comparison and opposition So 2. The subject spoken of the offering of Christ. 3. The End of it to bear the sin of many 4 The consequent of it which must be spoken to distinctly 1. The Redditive note is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So in like manner in answer unto that state of things and for the Remedy against it in a blessed condecency unto Divine
and Wisdom that Evidence themselves herein are ineffable and do cast contempt on all those by whom this Epistle hath been called in question as sundry other passages in it do in a peculiar manner And it is our Duty to enquire with diligence into the Mind of the Holy Spirit herein As unto the general Nature of the arguing of the Apostle it consists in Two Parts 1. The Introduction of a pregnant Testimony out of the Old Testament unto his purpose v. 5 6 7 8 and part of the 9th 2. Inferences from that Testimony Asserting and Confirming all that he had pleaded for In the Testimony he produceth we may consider 1. The manner of its Introduction respecting the reason of what is asserted Wherefore 2. Who it was by whom the words insisted on were spoken He saith 3. When he spake them When he came into the World 4. The things spoken by him in general which consist in a double Antithesis 1. Between the Legal Sacrifices and the Obedience of Christ in his Body ver 5. 2. Between Gods acceptance of the one and the other with their Efficacy unto the end treated of which must be particularly spoken unto 1. The Introduction of this Testimony is by the word wherefore for which cause for which end It doth not give an account why the words following were spoken but why the things themselves were so ordered and disposed And we are directed in this word unto the due consideration of what is designed to be proved And this is that there was such an Insufficiency in all Legal Sacrifices as unto the Expiation of Sin that God would remove them and take them out of the way to Introduce that which was better to do that which the Law could not do Wherefore saith the Apostle because it was so with the Law things are thus disposed of in the Wisdom and Counsel of God as is declared in this Testimony 2. Who spake the words contained in the Testimony He saith The words may have a Threefold respect 1. As they were given out by Inspiration and are Recorded in the Scripture So they were the words of the Holy Ghost as the Apostle expresly affirms of the like words ver 15 16. of this Chapter 2. As they were used by the Penman of the Psalm who speaks by Inspiration So they were the words of David by whom the Psalm was Composed But although David spoke or wrote these words yet is not he himself the person spoken of nor can any passage in the whole Context be applyed unto him as we shall see in particular afterwards Or if they may be said to be spoken of him it was only as he bare the person of another or was a Type of Christ. For although God himself doth frequently prefer Moral Obedience before the Sacrifices of the Law when they were Hypocritically performed and trusted unto as a Righteousness unto the neglect of Diligence in Moral Duties yet David did not would not ought not in his own Name and Person reject the Worship of God and present himself with his Obedience in the room thereof especially as unto the end of Sacrifices in the Expiation of Sin Wherefore 3. The words are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ when he cometh into the World he saith And it is a vain Enquiry when in particular he spake these words unto whom or where any mention is made of them in the story of him It is no way needful that they should be Literally or Verbally pronounced by him But the Holy Ghost useth these words in his Name as his because they declare express and represent his mind design and resolution in his coming into the World which is the sole end and use of Words On the consideration of the Insufficiency of Legal Sacrifices the only appearing means unto that purpose for the Expiation of Sin and the making of Reconciliation with God that all Mankind might not Eternally perish under the Guilt of Sin the Lord Christ represents his readiness and willingness to undertake that work with the Frame of his Heart and Mind therein The Ascription of these words unto the Lord Christ on the reason mentioned gives us a prospect into 1. The Love of his undertaking for us when all other ways of our Recovery failed and were disallowed as Insufficient 2. Into the Foundation of his undertaking for us which was the Declaration of the Will of God concerning the Insufficiency of these Sacrifices 3. Into his readiness to undertake the work of Redemption notwithstanding the difficulties that lay in the way of it and what he was to undergo in the stead of the Legal Sacrifices We have the Solemn word of Christ in the Declaration he made of his readiness and willingness to undertake the work of the Expiation of Sin proposed unto our Faith and Engaged as a sure Anchor of our Souls 3. The Season of his speaking these words in the manner declared was on his coming into the World wherefore coming or when he cometh into the World he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 veniens or venturus when he was to enter into the World when the design of his future coming into the World was declared So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is he that is to come Mat. 11. 3. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 4. 45. That therefore may be the sense of the words upon the First prediction of the future coming of the Son of God into the World the Design Mind and Will wherewith he came was declared Refer the words unto some actual coming of the person spoken of into the World and various interpretations are given of them When he came in Sacrifices Typically say some But this seems not to be a word accompanying the First Institution of Sacrifices namely Sacrifices thou wouldst not have His coming into the World was his appearance and publick shewing of himself unto the World in the beginning of his Ministery as David came out of the Wilderness and Caves to shew himself unto the people as King of Israel saith Grotius But the respect unto David herein is frivolous nor are those words used with respect unto the Kingly Office of Christ but meerly as unto the Offering himself in Sacrifice to God The Socinians contend earnestly that this his coming into the World is his entrance into Heaven after his Resurrection And they embrace this uncouth Interpretation of the words to give countenance unto their pernicious Errour that Christ offered not himself in Sacrifice to God in his Death or whilest he was in this World For his Sacrifice they suppose to be Metaphorically only so called consisting in the representation of himself unto God in Heaven after his Obedience and Suffering Wherefore they say that by the World which he came into the World to come mentioned Chap. 2. 5. is intended But there is nothing sound nothing probable or specious in this wresting of the words and sense of the Scripture For 1. the words
own Intention and Resolution to comply with his Will in Order unto another way of Attonement for Sin Lo I come to do thy Will O God which words have been opened before In the last place he declares what was intimated and signified in this Order of those things being thus spoken unto Sacrifices on the one hand which was the First and the coming of Christ which was the Second in this Order and Opposition It is evident 1. That these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he taketh away the First do intend Sacrifices and Offerings But he did not so do it immediately at the speaking of these words for they continued for the space of some Hundreds of years afterwards but he did so declaratively as unto the Indication of the time namely when the Second should be introduced 2. The end of this removal of the First was the establishment of the Second This Second say some is the Will of God but the Opposition made before is not between the Will of God and the Legal Sacrifices but between those Sacrifices and the coming of Christ to do the Will of God Wherefore it is the way of the Expiation of Sin and of the compleat Sanctification of the Church by the Coming and Mediation and Sacrifice of Christ that is this Second the thing spoken of in the Second place this God would establish approve confirm and render unchangeable As all things from the beginning made way for the coming of Christ in the minds of them that did believe so every thing was to be removed out of the way that would hinder his coming and the discharge of the work he had undertaken Law Temple Sacrifices must all be removed to give way unto his coming So is it testified by his fore-runner Luke 3. 4. As it is written in the Book of the words of Isaiah the Prophet saying the Voice of one crying in the Wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord make his Paths straight and the rough Ways shall be made smooth and all flesh shall see the Salvation of God So it must be in our own Hearts all things must give way unto him or he will not come and take his Habitation in them VERSE 10. By the which Will we are Sanctified through the Offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all From the whole Context the Apostle makes an Inference which is comprehensive of the Substance of the Gospel and the description of the Grace of God which is established thereby Having affirmed in Christs own words that he came to do the Will of God he shews what was that Will of God which he came to do what was the design of God in it and the effect of it and by what means it was accomplished which things are to be enquired into As 1. What is the Will of God which he intends By which Will. 2. What was the design of it what God aimed at in this act of his Will and what is accomplished thereby We are sanctified 3. The way and means whereby this effect proceedeth from the Will of God namely through the Offering of the Body of Jesus Christ in opposition to Legal Sacrifices 4. The manner of it in opposition unto their Repetition it was once for all But the sense of the whole will be more clear if we consider the end aimed at in the first place namely the Sanctification of the Church And sundry things must be observed concerning it 1. That the Apostle changeth his Phrase of Speech into the first person we are Sanctified that is all those Believers whereof the Gospel Church-State was constituted in opposition unto the Church-State of the Hebrews and those that did adhere unto it so he speaks before as also Chap. 4. 3. We who have believed do enter into Rest. For it might be asked of him you that thus overthrow the Efficacy of Legal Sacrifices what have you your selves attained in your relinquishment of them We have saith he that Sanctification that Dedication unto God that Peace with him and that Expiation of Sin that all those Sacrifices could not effect And observe 1. Truth is never so effectually declared as when it is confirmed by the experience of its Power in them that believe it and make profession of it This was that which gives them the confidence which the Apostle exhorts them to hold fast and firm unto the end 2. It is an Holy Glorying in God and no unlawful boasting for Men openly to profess what they are made partakers of by the Grace of God and Blood of Christ. Yea it is a necessary duty for Men so to do when any thing is set up in competition with them or opposition unto them 3. It is the best security in differences in and about Religion such as these wherein the Apostle is ingaged the greatest and highest that ever were when Men have an Internal Experience of the Truth which they do profess 2. The words he useth are in the Preterperfect tense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and relate not only unto the things but the time of the Offering of the Body of Christ. For although all that is intended herein did not immediately follow on the Death of Christ yet were they all in it as the Effects in their proper cause to be produced by virtue of it in their times and seasons and the principal effect intended was the immediate consequent thereof 3. This end of God through the Offering of the Body of Christ was the Sanctification of the Church we are Sanctified The principal Notion of Sanctification in the New Testament is the effecting of real Internal Holiness in the persons of them that do believe by the change of their Hearts and Lives But the word is not here so to be restrained nor is it used in that sence by our Apostle in this Epistle or very rarely It is here plainly comprehensive of all that he hath denied unto the Law Priest-hood and Sacrifices of the Old Testament with the whole Church-State of the Hebrews under it and the effects of their Ordinances and Services As 1. A compleat Dedication unto God in Opposition unto the Typical one which the people were partakers of by the sprinkling of the Blood of Calves and Goats upon them Exod. 24. 2. A compleat Church-state for the Celebration of the Spiritual Worship of God by the Administration of the Spirit wherein the Law could make nothing perfect 3. Peace with God upon a full and perfect Expiation of Sin which he denies unto the Sacrifices of the Law ver 1 2 3 4. 4. Real Internal purification or sanctification of our Natures and Persons from all inward Filth and Defilement of them which he proves at large that the Carnal Ordinances of the Law could not effect of themselves reaching no farther than the Purification of the Flesh. 5. Hereunto also belong the priviledges of the Gospel in Liberty Boldness immediate Access unto God the means of that Access by Christ our High-Priest
all of them because that they should not defeat any one end of his Mediation And he maketh continual instances as he pleases of his Power over them in the visible Destruction of some of his most principal and implacable Enemies And Secondly it will be compleat at the last day when all these Enemies shall be utterly destroyed 4. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 until here hath respect unto both these the Gradual and Final destruction of all the Enemies of Christ. 5. This Christ is said to expect henceforth expecting Expectation and Waiting are improperly ascribed to Christ as they are in the Scripture unto God himself so far as they include hope or incertainty of the event or a desire of any thing either as to matter manner or time otherwise than as they are foreknown and determined But it is the rest and complacency of Christ in the faithfulness of Gods promises and his infinite Wisdom as unto the season of their accomplishment that is intended He doth not so expect these things as though there were any thing wanting to his own blessed Glory Power or Authority until it be actually and compleatly finished but saith the Apostle as to what remains to the Lord Christ in the discharge of his Office he henceforth is no more to Offer to Suffer no more to Dye no more to do any thing for the Expiation of Sin or by way of Sacrifice all this being absolutely and compleatly perfected he is for ever in the enjoyment of the Glory that was set before him satisfied in the Promises the Power and Wisdom of God for the compleat effecting of his Mediatory Office in the Eternal Salvation of the Church and by the conquest and destruction of all his and their Enemies in their proper times and seasons for it And from this Interpretation of the words we may take these Observations 1. It was the entrance of Sin which raised up all our Enemies against us From thence took they their Rise and Beginning as Death the Grave and Hell some that were friendly before became our Enemies thereon as the Law and some that had a Radical Enmity got power thereby to Execute it as the Devil The state in which we were created was a state of Universal peace all the strife and contention rose from Sin 2. The Lord Christ in his ineffable Love and Grace put himself between us and all our Enemies and took into his breast all their Swords wherewith they were armed against us so they are his Enemies 3. The Lord Christ by the Offering of himself making peace with God ruined all the Enmity against the Church and all the Enemies of it For all their power arose from the just displeasure of God and the Curse of his Law 4. It is the Foundation of all consolation to the Church that the Lord Christ even now in Heaven takes all our Enemies to be his in whose destruction he is infinitely more concerned than we are 5. Let us never esteem any thing or any person to be our Enemy but only so far and in what they are the Enemies of Christ. 6. It is our Duty to conform our selves to the Lord Christ in a quiet expectancy of the ruin of all our spiritual Adversaries 7. Envy not the Condition of the most Proud and Cruel Adversaries of the Church for they are absolutely in his power and shall be cast under his Footstool at the appointed season VERSE 14. For by one Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified The Apostle 1. Gives the great Reason of this State of things with reference unto the Lord Christ in the discharge of his Office namely that he did not repeat his Offering as the Priests under the Law did theirs every year and every day that he is sate down at the Right Hand of God expecting his Enemies to be made his Footstool wherein they had no share after their Oblations And this is because by one Offering he hath for ever perfected them that are Sanctified This being done there is no need of any daily Sacrifice nothing that should detain the Lord Jesus out of the possession of his Glory So the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for inferrs a Reason in these words of all that was assigned before unto him in opposition unto what was done by the Priests of the Law it was by one Offering 2. What he did so effect which rendered all future Offerings and Sacrifices impossible He hath perfected for ever them that are Sanctified For the First what he did of the Nature of the thing spoken of was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by one Offering as what the Priests of old did was also by Offerings and Sacrifices The Eminency of this Offering the Apostle had before declared which here he referrs unto it was not of Bulls or Goats but of himself he Offered himself to God of his Body that is his whole Humane Nature And this Offering as he had observed before was only once Offered in the mention whereof the Apostle includes all the opposition he had made before between the Offering of Christ and those of the Priests as to its Worth and Dignity 3. That which is effected hereby is that he perfected for ever them that are Sanctified those on whom his work is effected are thereby Sanctified They that are Dedicated unto God those who are Sanctified or Purged by virtue of this Sacrifice unto them all the other effects are confined First to Sanctifie them then to perfect them was the design of Christ in Offering of himself which he purposed not for all Men Universally So in the Foundation of the Church of Israel they were first Sanctified and Dedicated unto God in and by the Sacrifices wherewith the Covenant was Confirmed Exod. 24. and afterwards were perfected so far as their condition was capable thereof in the prescription of Laws and Ordinances for their Church-State and Worship The word here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was used before He hath brought them into the most perfect and consummate Church-state and Relation unto God as unto all his Worship that the Church is capable of in this World It is not an absolute subjective virtual internal perfection of Grace that is intended the word signifies not such a perfection made perfect nor is ever used to that purpose nor is it the perfection of Glory for he treats of the present Church-state of the Gospel in this World But it is a state and condition of that Grace and those priviledges which the Law Priests and Sacrifices could never bring them unto He hath by his one Offering wrought and procured for them the compleat pardon of Sin and peace before God thereon that they should have no more need of the Repetition of Sacrifices he hath freed them from the Yoke of Carnal Ordinances and the Bondage which they were kept in by them prescribing unto them an Holy Worship to be performed with boldness in the presence of
which he had all along compared and expressed Wherefore to convince the Hebrews not only of the certainty and severity of the Judgment declared but also of the Equity and Righteousness of it he proposeth unto them the consideration of Gods constitution of punishment under the Old Testament with respect unto the Law of Moses which they could not deny to be Just and Equal Ver. 28. he lays down the matter of fact as it was Stated under the Law Wherein there are three things 1. The sin whereunto that of Apostasie from the Gospel is compared He that despised Moses Law 2. The Punishment of that sin according to the Law he that was guilty of it dyed without Mercy 3. The way whereby according unto the Law his sin was to be charged on him it was under two or three Witnesses Unto the first two things did concur 1. It was such a sin as by the Law was capital as Murder Adultery Incest Idolatry Blasphemy and some others Concerning them it was provided in the Law that those who were guilty of them should be put to Death God alone by vertue of his Soveraignty could dispense with the Execution of this sentence of the Law as he did in the case of Lavid 2 Sam. 12. 13. but as unto the people they were prohibited on any account to dispense with it or forbear the Execution of it Numb 35. 31. 2. It was required that he did it presumptuously or with an high hand Ex. 21. 14. Numb 15. 30 31. Deut. 17. 12. He that was thus guilty of sin in sinning is said to despise Moses Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to abolish it to render it useless that is in himself by contempt of the Authority of it or the Authority of God in it And it is called a contempt and abolishing of the Law as the word signifies 1. Because of Gods indulgence unto them therein For although the general sentence of the Law was a Curse wherein death was contained against every Transgression thereof Deut. 29. yet God had ordained and appointed that for all their sins of Ignorance Infirmity or surprisals by Temptations an Attonement should be made by Sacrifice whereon the guilty were freed as unto the terms of the Covenant and restored to a right unto all the Promises of it Wherein they would not abide in those Terms and Conditions of the Covenant but transgress the bounds annext to them it was a contempt of the whole Law with the wisdom goodness and authority of God therein 2. They rejected all the Promises of it which were given exclusively unto such sins nor was there any way appointed of God for their recovery unto an interest in them Hereby they made themselves Lawless Persons contemning the Threatnings and despising the Promises of the Law which God would not bear in any of them Deut. 29. 18 19 20 21. It is the contempt of God and his Authority in his Law that is the Gall and Poyson of sin This may be said in some measure of all voluntary sins and the more there is of it in any sin the greater is their guilt and the higher is their aggravation who have contracted it But there is a degree hereof which God will not bear with namely when this presumptuous contempt hath such an influence into any sin as that no ignorance no infirmity no special temptation can be pleaded unto the extenuation of it I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief And sundry things are required hereunto 1. That it be known unto the sinner both in point of right and fact to be such a sin as whereunto the penalty of death without dispensation was annexed 2. That therefore the sence of God in the Law be suggested unto the soul in and by the ordinary means of it 3. That the Resolution of continuing in it and the perpetration of it doth prevail against all convictions and fear of punishment 4. That Motives unto the contrary with reluctancies of Conscience be stifled or overcome These things rendered a sinner presumptuous or caused him to sin with an high hand under the Law Whereunto the Apostle adds in the next verse the peculiar aggravations of sin against the Gospel This it is to despise the Law of Moses as it is explained Numb 15. 30 31. 2. The Punishment of this sin or of him that was guilty of it was that he died without mercy He died that is he was put to death not alvaies it may be de facto but such was the constitution of the Law he was to be put to death without mercy There were several waies of inflicting Capital punishments appointed by the Law as hanging on a Tree burning and stoning Of all which and the application of them unto particular Cases I have given a description in the Exercitations unto the first Volume of these Commentaries And it is said that he dyed without mercy not only because there was no allowance for any such mercy as should save and deliver him but God had expresly forbidden that either mercy or compassion should be shewed in such cases Deut. 13. 6 7 8 9. Deut. 19. This is expresly added unto the highest instance of despising the Law namely the decalogue in the foundation of it whereon all other precepts of the Law were built and that which comprised a total Apostacy from the whole Law Wherefore I doubt not but the Apostle had an especial respect unto that sin in its punishment which had a compleat parallel with that whose hainousness he would represent However When the God of mercies will have men shew no mercy as in the Temporal punishment he can and will upon repentance shew mercy as to Eternal punishment For we dare not condemn all unto Hell which the Law condemned as unto temporal punishment 3. The way of Execution of this Judgment it was not to be done under two or three witnesses that is that were so of the fact and crime The Law is express in this case Deut. 17. 6. Chap. 19. 13. Numb 35. 30. Although God was very severe in the prescription of these Judgments yet he would give no advantage thereby unto wicked and malicious persons to take away the lives of innocent men He rather chose that those who were guilty should through our weakness go free for want of evidence against them than that innocence should be exposed unto the malice of one single testimony or witness And such abhorrency God had of false witnesses in criminal Causes as that which is most contrary unto his Righteousness in the Government of the world as that he established a Lex talionis in this case alone that a false witness should suffer the utmost of what he thought and contrived to bring on another The Equity of which Law is still continued in force as suitable to the Law of Nature and ought to be more observed than it is Deut. 19. 16 17 18 19 20 21. On this Proposition of
is applyed unto such a Judgment of them as tends unto their deliverance But the general truth of the words is that God is the Supream Judge he is Judge himself Psal. 50. 6. This the Apostle makes use of concluding that the righteousness of God as the Supream Judge of all obligeth him unto this severe destruction of Apostates For shall not the Judge of all the world do right Shall not he who is Judg in a peculiar manner of those that profess themselves to be his people punish them for their iniquities especially such as break off all Covenant-relation between him and them I. A due consideration of the nature of God his office that he is the Judge of all especially of his people and that enclosure he hath made of vengeance unto himself under an irrevocable purpose for it's execution gives indubitable assurance of the certain unavoyable destruction of all wilful Apostates All their security all their presumptions all their hopes will vanish before this consideration as darkness before the light of the Sun II. Although those who are the peculiar people of God do stand in many relations unto him that are full of refreshment and comfort yet is it their duty constantly to remember that he is the holy and righteous Judge even towards his own people Lastly the Ground of the application of these testimonies unto the present case is that knowledge of God which they had unto whom he spoke for we know him You have the same sence of God his holiness and truth as I have and therefore it cannot be strange unto you that he will deal thus severely with Apostates you know who he is how infinite in holiness righteousness and power you know what he hath said in cases like unto this namely that vengeance is his and he will repay it wherefore it must be evident unto you that these things will be as they are now declared The knowledge of God in some good measure both what he is in himself and what he hath taken on himself to do is necessary to render either his promises or threatnings effectual unto the minds of men VERSE 31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God The Apostle in these words winds up his whole argument against the wilful despisers of the Gospel taken from the nature and aggravations of that sin with the severity of the punishment that would certainly befall them that are guilty thereof And these words are as an inference from them that go immediately before so they are a recapitulation of all that he had spoken to this purpose Let men look to it look to themselves consider what they do for it is a fearful thing c. There are three things in the words 1. The description given of God with respect unto the present case he is the living God 2. The event of their sin with respect unto him it is a falling into his hands 3. The nature hereof in general it is a fearful thing 1. In what sence God is called the Living God and with respect unto what ends hath been declared on chap. 3. 12. chap. 9. 14. In brief this title is ascribed unto God principally on two accounts 1. By way of opposition unto all dead and dumb Idols those whom the Heathen worshipped and which are graphically described by the Psalmist Ps. 115. 4 5 6 7 8. as also by the Prophet Isa. 44. 9 10 11 c. And this is to impress upon our minds a due sence of his Glory and Eternal Power according as we are called to trust in him or to fear him Life is the foundation of Power He who hath life in himself who is the cause of all Life in all other things that are partakers of it must be the only spring of infinite Power But God is here called the Living God with respect unto his Eternal Power whereby he is able to avenge the sins of men Indeed it calls to mind all the other holy properties of his nature which are suited to impress dread or terror on the minds of presumptuous sinners whose punishment is thence demonstrated to be unavoidable He sees and knows all the Evil and Malice that is in their sin and the circumstances of it He is the God that liveth and seeth Gen. 16. 14. And as he seeth so he judgeth because he is the Living God which also is the ground of holy trust in him 1 Tim 4. 10. This Name of the Living God is full of Terror or Comfort unto the Souls of men 2. The Event of the sin spoken against as unto its demerit with respect unto God is called falling into his hands The Assertion is general but particularly applied unto this case by the Apostle To fall into the hands is a common expression with reference unto any one falling into and under the power of his Enemies None can be said to fall into the hands of God as though they were not before in his Power But to fall into the hands of God absolutely as it is here intended is to be obnoxious to the Power and Judgment of God when and where there is nothing in God himself nothing in his Word Promises Laws Institutions that should oblige him to Mercy or a mitigation of Punishment So when a man falls into the hands of his Enemies between whom and him there is no Law no Love he can expect nothing but Death Such is this falling into the hands of the Living God there is nothing in the Law nothing in the Gospel that can be pleaded for the least abatement of punishment There is no property of God that can be implored It is the Destruction of the sinner alone whereby they will all be glorified There is a falling into the hands of God that respects temporal things only and that 's spoken of comparatively When David knew that an affliction or temporal punishment was unavoidable he chose rather to fall into the hands of God as unto the immediate infliction of it than to have the Wrath of men used as the instruments thereof 2 Sam. 24. 17. But this appertains not unto our present purpose 3. Hereof the Apostle affirms in general that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fearful dreadful thing that which no heart can conceive nor tongue express Men are apt to put off thoughts of it to have slight thoughts about it but it is and will be dreadful terrible and eternally destructive of every thing that is good and inflictive of every thing that is evil or that our nature is capable of I. There is an apprehension of the terror of the Lord in the final Judgment which is of great use unto the Souls of men 2 Cor. 5. 11. It is so to them who are not yet irrecoverably ingaged into the effects of it II. When there is nothing left of Judgment nothing remains but the Expectation of it its foreapprehension will be fill'd with
Covenant with Abraham saying Unto thy Seed will I give this Land As unto the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifies a Covenant improperly properly it is a testamentary disposition And this may be without any conditions on the part of them unto whom any thing is bequeathed 2. The whole of the Covenant intended is expressed in the ensuing description of it For if it were otherwise it could not be proved from thence that this Covenant was more excellent than the former especially as to security that the Covenant Relation between God and the People should not be broken or disannulled For this is the principal thing which the Apostle designs to prove in this place and the want of an observation thereof hath led many out of the way in their exposition of it If therefore this be not an entire description of the Covenant there might yet be something reserved essentially belonging thereunto which might frustrate this end For some such conditions might yet be required in it as we are not able to observe or could have no security that we should abide in the observation of them And thereon this Covenant might be frustrated of its end as well as the former which is directly contrary unto Gods declaration of his design in it 3. It is evident that there can be no condition previously required unto our entering into or participation of the benefits of this Covenant antecedent unto the making of it with us For none think there are any such with respect unto its original constitution nor can there be so in respect of its making with us or our entering into it For 1. This would render this Covenant inferior in a way of Grace unto that which God made with the people at Horeb. For he declares that there was not any thing in them that moved him either to make that Covenant or to take them into it with himself Everywhere he asserts this to be an Act of his meer Grace and Favor Yea he frequently declares That he took them into Covenant not only without respect unto any thing of good in them but although they were evil and stubborn See Deut. 7. 7 8. Chap. 9. 4 5. 2. It is contrary unto the Nature Ends and express Properties of this Covenant For there is nothing that can be thought or supposed to be such a condition but it is comprehended in the Promise of the Covenant itself For all that God requireth in us is proposed as that which himself will effect by vertue of this Covenant 4. It is certain That in the outward dispensation of the Covenant wherein the Grace Mercy and Terms of it are proposed unto us many things are required of us in order unto a participation of the benefits of it For God hath ordained that all the Mercy and Grace that is prepared in it shall be communicated unto us ordinarily in the use of outward means wherewith a compliance is required of us in a way of Duty To this end hath he appointed all the Ordinances of the Gospel the Word and Sacraments with all those Duties publick and private which are needful to render them effectual unto us For he will take us ordinarily into this Covenant in and by the rational faculties of our natures that he may be glorified in them and by them Wherefore these things are required of us in order unto the participation of the benefits of this Covenant And if therefore any one will call our attendance unto such Duties the condition of the Covenant it is not to be contended about though properly it is not so For 1 God doth work the Grace of the Covenant and communicate the Mercy of it antecedently unto all ability for the performance of any such duty as it is with elect Infants 2 Amongst those who are equally diligent in the performance of the duties intended he makes a discrimination preferring one before another Many are called but few are chosen and what hath any one that he hath not received 3 He actually takes some into the Grace of the Covenant whilest they are engaged in an opposition unto the outward dispensation of it An example of this Grace he gave in Paul 5. It is evident That the first grace of the Covenant or Gods putting his Law in our hearts can depend on no condition on our part For whatever is antecedent thereunto being only a work or act of corrupted nature can be no condition whereon the dispensation of spiritual Grace is superadded And this is the great ground of them who absolutely deny the Covenant of Grace to be conditional namely that the first grace is absolutely promised whereon and its exercise the whole of it doth depend 6. Unto a full and compleat interest in all the Promises of the Covenant Faith on our part from which Evangelical Repentance is inseparable is required But whereas these also are wrought in us by vertue of that Promise and Grace of the Covenant which are absolute it is a meer strife about words to contend whether they may be called conditions or no. Let it be granted on the one hand that we cannot have an actual participation of the relative grace of this Covenant in Adoration and Justification without Faith or Believing and on the other that this Faith is wrought in us given unto us bestowed upon us by that Grace of the Covenant which depends on no condition in us as unto its discriminating administration And I shall not concern my self what men will call it 7. Though there are no conditions properly so called of the whole grace of the Covenant yet there are conditions in the Covenant taking that term in a large sense for that which by the order of divine constitution precedeth some other things and hath an influence into its existence For God requireth many things of them whom he actually takes into Covenant and makes Partakers of the Promises and Benefits of it Of this nature is that whole Obedience which is prescribed unto us in the Gospel in our walking before God in uprightness and there being an order in the things that belong hereunto some acts duties and parts of our gracious Obedience being appointed to be means of the farther additional supplies of the grace and mercies of the Covenant they may be called conditions required of us in the Covenant as well as duties prescribed unto us 8. The Benefits of the Covenant are of two sorts 1 The Grace and Mercy which it doth collate 2 The future Reward of glory which it doth promise Those of the former sort are all of them means appointed of God which we are to use and improve unto the obtaining of the latter and so may be called conditions required on our part They are only collated on us but conditions as used and improved by us 9. Although 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word here used may signifie and be rightly rendred a Covenant in the same manner as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth yet that
which is intended is properly a Testament or a Testamentary disposition of good things It is the Will of God in and by Jesus Christ his death and bloodshedding to give freely unto us the whole inheritance of grace and glory And under this notion the Covenant hath no condition nor are any such either expressed or intimated in this place Obs. 1. The Covenant of Grace as reduced into a form of a Testament confirmed by the blood of Christ doth not depend on any condition or qualification in our persons but in a free grant and donation of God and so are all the good things prepared in it 2. The Precepts of the Old Covenant are turned all of them into Promises under the New Their preceptive commanding power is not taken away but grace is promised for the performance of them So the Apostle having declared that the People brake the Old Covenant adds that in the New grace shall be supplied for all the Duties of Obedience that are required of us 3. All things in the New Covenant being proposed unto us by the way of promise it is Faith alone whereby we may attain a participation of them For Faith onely is the grace we ought to exercise the duty we ought to perform to render the promises of God effectual to us Heb. 3. 1. 4. Sense of the loss of an interest in and participation of the benefits of the Old Covenant is the best preparation for receiving the mercies of the New Thirdly The Author of this Covenant is God himself I will make it saith the Lord. This is the third time that this expression saith the Lord is repeated in this Testimony The work expressed in both the parts of it the disannulling of the Old Covenant and the establishment of the New is such as calls for this solemn interposition of the authority veracity and grace of God I will do it saith the Lord. And the mention hereof is thus frequently inculcated to beget a reverence in us of the work which he so emphatically assumes unto himself And it teacheth us that God himself in and by his own soveraign Wisdom Grace Goodness Allsufficiency and Power is to be considered as the onely Cause and Author of the New Covenant Or the abolishing of the Old Covenant with the introduction and establishment of the New is an act of the meer soveraign wisdom grace and authority of God It is his gracious disposal of us and of his own grace That whereof we had no contrivance nor indeed the least desire Fourthly It is declared who this New Covenant is made withall With the House of Israel ver 8. They are called distinctly the House of Israel and the House of Judah The distribution of the Posterity of Abraham into Israel and Judah ensued upon the division that fell among the people in the days of Rehoboam Before they were called Israel only And as before they were mentioned distinctly to testifie that none of the Seed of Abraham should be absolutely excluded from the grace of the Covenant however they were divided among themselves so here they are all jointly expressed by their ancient name of Israel to manifest that all distinctions on the account of precedent Priviledges should be now taken away that all Israel might be saved But we have shewed before that the whole Israel of God or the Church of the Elect are principally intended hereby Fifthly The Time of the accomplishment of this Promise or making of this Covenant is expressed After those days There are various conjectures about the sense of these words or the determination of the time limited in them Some suppose respect is had unto the time of giving the Law on Mount Sinai Then was the Old Covenant made with the Fathers But after those days another should be made But whereas that time those days were so long past before this Prophesie was given out by Jeremy namely about 800 years it was impossible but that the New Covenant which was not yet given must be after those days Wherefore it was to no purpose so to express it that it should be after those days seeing it was impossible that otherwise it should be Some think that respect is had unto the Captivity of Babylon and the return of the People from thence For God then shewed them great kindness to win them unto Obedience But neither can this time be intended for God then made no New Covenant with the People but strictly obliged them unto the terms of the Old Mal. 4. 3 4 5. But when this New Covenant was to be made the old was to be abolished and removed as the Apostle expresly affirmeth ver 13. The promise is not of new obligation or new assistance unto the observance of the Old Covenant but of making a New one quite of another nature which then was not done Some judge that these words After those days refer unto what went immediately before And I regarded them not which words include the total rejection of the Jews After those days wherein both the House of Judah and Israel shall be rejected I will make a New Covenant with the whole Israel of God But neither will this hold the Tryal For 1 Supposing that expression And I regarded them not to intend the rejection of the Jews yet it is manifest that their excision and cutting off absolutely was not in nor for their non-continuance in the Old Covenant or not being faithful therein but for the rejection of the New when proposed unto them Then they fell by unbelief as the Apostle fully manifests Chap. 3. of this Epistle and Rom. 11. Wherefore the making of the New Covenant cannot be said to be after their rejection seeing they were rejected for their-refusal and contempt of it 2 By this interpretation the whole House of Israel or all the natural Posterity of Abraham would be utterly excluded from any interest in this Promise But this cannot be allowed For it was not so de facto a Remnant being taken into Covenant which though but a remnant in comparison of the whole yet in themselves so great a multitude as that in them the Promises made unto the Fathers were confirmed Nor on this Supposition would this Prediction of a New Covenant have been any promise unto them or any of them but rather a severe denunciation of judgment But it is said expresly that God would make this Covenant with them as he did the former with their Fathers which is a promise of grace and mercy Wherefore after those days is as much as in those days an indeterminate season for a certain So in that day is frequently used in the Prophets Isa. 24. 21 22. Zech. 12. 11. A time therefore certainly future but not determined is all that is intended in this expression After those days And herewith most Expositors are satisfied Yet is there as I judge more in the words Those days seem to me to comprize the whole time alotted unto the oeconomy of