imprinted there more perfectly Yet the word turned Laws signifies in the Hebrew Doctrines And these are the Doctrines of the Gospel concerning Christ's Person Nature Offices and the Work of Redemption the Doctrines of Repentance Faith Justification Resurrection and eternal Life and these either presuppose or include the Moral Law For they must be such Truths as are necessary and effectual to Man's Salvation without the Knowledge and practice whereof sinful Man cannot attain eternal Life Further they are Doctrines concerning Christ as already exhibited glorified reigning and officiating in Heaven 2. The Book or Tables wherein they must be written are the mind and heart of Man By Mind some conceive is meant the Understanding and by Heart the Will and rational Appetite But by both words are meant the immortal Soul endued with a Power to understand and will or nill that which is understood The word in the Hebrew turned by the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mind and intellective Faculty signifieth the inward parts because as the heart and reins are the inmost parts of the Body so the mind thoughts and rational Appetite are intima Anime the inmost parts if we may so speak of the Soul They are as it were the Center of that immortal Substance where all the active vigour and powers of the Soul are united There is the Spring and Original of all rational and moral Operations of all thoughts affections and inward Motions There is the directive Counsel and imperial commanding Power There is the prime Mover of all humane Actions as such This is the Subject fit to receive not only natural but supernatural Truths and Doctrines and all Laws There divine Characters may be imprinted and made legible to the Soul it self This is the most noble and excellent Book that any can write in This is an Allusion to the Tables of Stone wherein the Law was written for the Law was not written in the heart but in stone upon Phylacteries Frontlets Posts and Walls of their Houses And now the Scriptures and divine Revelations are written in Books so as that they are legible by the Eye they may be spoken and so uttered by Man as to be perceived by the Ear and from these be conveyed to the common sense and fancy and by degree be transmitted to the Soul which by them receives some imperfect representations not informations This immortal Soul is the Book or Table wherein these Laws and divine Doctrines must be written 3. The Scribe or Pen-man is God for it 's said I will give or put I will write He that said so was the Lord And it must be He because the Work is so curious and excellent that it 's far above the Sphere of created activity He alone can immediately work upon the immortal Soul to inform it move it alter it and mould it anew so as neither Man or Angel can do They may by the outward senses and the fancy come near the Soul but immediately prepare it and make lively Impressions and write clear Characters of divine Truth upon it they cannot They may move it and affect or disaffect it yet to take away the stony heart and make an heart of Flesh is far above their Power Therefore God doth alwayes ascribe this great Work unto himself 4. The Act and Work of this Pen-man is to write and write these Laws and write them in the heart How he doth it we know not That he doth it is clear enough His preparations illuminations impulsions inspirations are strange and wonderful of great and mighty force For in this Work he doth not onely represent divine Objects in a clearer light and propose high Motives to incline and turn the heart but also gives a divine perceptive and appetitive Power whereby the Soul more easily and clearly apprehends and more effectually affects heavenly things The Effect of this Writing is a divine Knowledge of God's Laws and a ready and willing heart to obey them and conform unto them a Power to know and do the Word of God This is that Work of the Spirit which is called Vocation Renovation Regeneration Conversion actively taken without which Man cannot repent believe obey and turn to God It 's said to be a quickning of Man dead in sin a putting God's fear in Man's heart a putting God's Spirit within Man to cause him to obey his Laws a calling out of Darkness into Light a writing upon the fleshy Tables of Man's heart By this writing Man is said to have a new Heart and Spirit not that God creates in Man a new Soul or new Faculties but because he gives new Power new Light new Life new Qualifications so that Man is made partaker of a divine Nature and moulded anew with so much alteration that he is another Man though not for Substance yet for Qualities and Operations All this tends to an imperfect explication of this Promise wherein this new Covenant differs from and is more excellent than the former For that had no Promise of God's writing his Laws and Doctrines in Man's heart or of giving any sanctifying or renewing Power to enable them to observe and keep his Judgments Yet lest we mistake this excellent and most comfortable part of Scripture many things are to be observed 1. Concerning the Laws 2. Concerning the heart 3. Concerning God's writing in the heart 1. The Laws the Laws of God are written in the heart not the inventions fancies of men nor natural nor mathematical nor moral Philosophy much less the Errors and Blasphemies of Seducers and false Prophets It 's true that humane Learning and Languages are excellent means to find out the sense of the Scriptures and are great Blessings ordained of God for that end and being used with Prayer and sanctified may do much Yet we must know that these Doctrines are not only those of the Moral Law but these high Mysteries concerning Christ the Redemption Repentance Faith Justification Resurrection and the eternal Punishments and Rewards in the World to come as they are revealed in the Gospel For the matter and subject of them is God's Kingdom and the Government of God-Redeemer ordering Man to his final and eternal estate as I have manifested in another Treatise 2. The heart of Man is by Nature a very untoward and indisposed Subject and not capable of these heavenly Doctrines It 's blind and perverse and there is an Antipathy between it and these Laws It hath some little parcels of the Law of Nature written in it but not any thing of these heavenly and evangelical Truths it neither knows them nor can relish them And when they are represented unto it yet it hath no intellective Power to understand them nor any Will or Desire to seek them or inclination to obey the Laws of God which direct unto everlasting life It 's not only ignorant but filthily blotted and blurred with Errours both in matters of Religion and humane Conversation And this is the condition not only of Heathens
Gospel To be Lord in this manner is to manifest himself in the Excellency of his Wisdom Power and Mercy To know him as such is not any wayes to understand those excellent things testified of him in the Gospel but effectually to believe those Truths as revealed from Heaven and to rely upon him and him alone as our onely Saviour renouncing all Righteousness in our selves and all Confidence in all other things and counting all things loss and dung in comparison of him This is that which we call Faith in Christ whereby we are justified and saved yet this Knowledge and Faith was not without teaching For how should they believe on him of whom they have not heard and how should they hear without a Preacher And again So then Faith is by Hearing and Hearing by the Word of God that is taught and preached Rom. 10. 14 17. And the Apostles had Commission to go and teach or disciple all Nations Mat. 28. 19. and they must teach Repentance Faith in Christ and Remission of sins in his Name And when Christ ascended into Heaven he gave Gifts to men and sent Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers Ephes. 4. 11. Yet this Teaching of Man was not without the Power of the Spirit teaching inwardly the same which they taught outwardly yet in a more excellent manner and with far greater efficacy The Persons who shall know God were all from the least to the greatest 1. The Jew taught but the Jew or his Proselyte the Apostles both Jew and Gentile of all Nations 2. All to whom the Gospel is preached aright know God or may know him 3. All may be restrained to all those who are taught not onely of Man but of God who writes his Laws in their hearts and gives them one heart and one way that they may fear him for ever and so puts his fear in them that they shall not depart from him Jerem. 22. 39 40. And he had promised to give his People an heart to know him that he was the Lord and they his People and he their God for they shall return unto him with their whole heart Jer. 24. 7. Where it 's observable 1. That God will so give them one heart as that they shall turn with their whole heart to the Lord. 2. So turned they shall not only know God to be the Lord but to be their God and they his People 3. That this place compared with that of the same Prophet Chap. 31. 33 34. alledged in this place doth signify that this Knowledge is such as upon which will follow Remission of Sins and this is justifying Faith § 13. Two things remain to be considered 1. How this Reason infers this Conclusion That they shall not under the Gospel every Man teach his Neighbour and every Man his Brother saying Know the Lord. 2. How these words come in upon the former whether so as to be a distinct and different Promise from the former or not For the first 1. It 's certain that in Heaven the Knowledge of the Lord shall be so perfect as that there shall be no need of any teaching of Man no nor of Prophets or Apostles therefore some of the Ancients understood the place of the perfection of Saints in the state of Glory 2. That unâ—er the Gospel there is need of Man's Teaching not onely for the first Conversion but for their further Edification till the Saints be perfect in Christ. 3. Yet there is a great difference between the teaching under the Law and that under the Gospel and that in three respects 1. Of the matter taught 2. Of the Teachers 3. Of the manner of Teaching 1. For the matter taught For the matter taught under the Law was The Lord bringing them out of Aegypt into the Land of Canaan and giving them Moral Judicial and Ceremonial Laws and blessing them in that good Land whilst in their manner and measure they observed these Laws Christ also was taught in Types and Shadows But the matter taught under the Gospel is God Redeemer by Christ exhibited glorified reigning at God's right hand and officiating in Heaven as being far more clearly and fully revealed 2. The Teachers under the Law whether Priests or Levites or Scribes or Parents or Masters or any private Persons were but Ministers of the Letter not of the Spirit But under the Gospel they were Ministers not onely of the Letter but of the Spirit and their Knowledge was far greater and clearer than that of the Teachers under the Law 3. For the manner of Teaching it was more clear more full more powerful as accompanied by the Spirit of Christ enlightning the Understanding and inclining the heart For in the Law there was no Promise of the Spirit to take away their stony heart and give them an heart of Flesh and to be put in them to cause them to walk in his Statutes As the saying of Austin is Lex jubet non juvat If the Spirit had been thus given to make the Doctrine of their Teachers effectual upon the heart of their Disciples and imprint the Knowledg of the Lord so deeply in their hearts as that they should never depart from him then the Promises of that Covenant had not been so far short of the Promises of the new Covenant But as the Law could expiate no Sin so it could not minister the Spirit It 's true that under the Law they had Faith in Christ to come and were enlightned and sanctified by the Spirit yet this they had not by vertue of the Law but the Promise by Christ to come and not by Moses And they who had it were few in number and their Knowledge of Christ was but implicit and the Power of the Spirit far less But under the Gospel they were many in number not only Jews and Proselytes but Gentiles of all Nations their Faith was far more explicit and the Power of the Spirit far greater So that the force of the Reason is That if the Teaching under the Gospel â—e so far more excellent in respect of the matter taught the Teachers and manner of Teaching which is such as that they all from the least to the greatest shall know the Lord so clearly fully and powerfully then there shall be no such Teaching as under the Law For seeing there is no distinct actual Knowledge without some kind of Disciplination and Instruction therefore where any Knowledg of the Lord is whether under the Law or the Gospel there must be some kind of Disciplination under both And here the Disciplination and Teaching of the Law and the Gospel are compared together And that of the Law was so weak and imperfect in respect of the Knowledg of the Lord which it did produce and that of the Gospel so powerful and also so perfect in respect of the Knowledge of the Lord the Effect thereof that there was great Reason that the former should cease as needless useless and imperfect For as the Apostle saith in another
Case When that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away 1 Cor. 13 10. Both Law and Gospel have their Teachers Teaching and the matter taught which is the Knowledg of the Lord and both agree thus far Yet they differ in the Quality Power and Manner in which respects the former shall cease and the latter continue There shall be no such Teaching under the Gospel as under the Law because there shall be a far better The second Enquiry is Whether these words are added to the former only for Explication or for to inform us of another distinct Promise Upon due consideration they may be found so to explicate the former as to add another Promise For they signify 1. That the end and issue of God's putting his Laws in their mind and writing them in their hearts is to know God the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent 2. To know God and Jesus Christ far more perfectly than ever they could do under the Law 3. To know him so as never to depart from him as their Fathers did 4. To know him so as that God should be their God for ever and bind himself in an everlasting Covenant unto them And this effect it should have not in a few but in very many of all sorts of all Nations And all and every one in whom he would thus write his Doctrines should thus know him fear him love him and obey him constantly and cheerfully so as they should not need either so much teaching admonishing threatning correcting punishing as they did under the Law nor be in such danger of departing and revolting from their God as their Fathers were For our God doth so deeply imprint his heavenly saving Truth in our hearts as that we shall be enamoured with Christ and so firmly adhere unto him as never to be separated from him This Effect it is not onely able to produce but hath actually produced it in thousands and millions This may be a new Promise whereby God doth engage himself not onely to be our God and take us for his People for a time but for ever For after once he becomes our God as here is meant he not onely rewards us but amongst other things doth continually minister unto us the sanctifying Power of his Spirit to enable us more and more to keep his Covenant that so in the end we may obtain the final and eternal Reward for he first writes his Laws in our hearts that upon our first Faith and Conversion he may first become our God and after he once is our God he writes them more and more that he may continue to be our God for evermore He will not only begin but finish the great Work of Salvation § 14. There is another Promise of unspeakable comfort expressed Ver. 12. For I will be merciful to their Unrighteousness and their Sins and their Iniquities will I remember no more THis is a Mercy of that concernment and necessity to sinful Man that all the rest without it are nothing The thing promised is eternal Remission of all sins Where we have 1. Sins 2. Remission of Sins 3. Remission for ever 4. The Person remitting 5. The Persons to whom they are remitted 1. For Sin we have three words 1. Unrighteousness 2. Sins 3. Iniquities Two of these are only named in the Prophet and the Apostle adds the third according to that of Exod. 34. 7. where we find three Hebrew words as we do Psal. 32. 12. And the Septuagint translate the three Original words by these three Greek words which are here used by the Apostle And here it 's implied That the People with whom God makes this Covenant have their Unrighteousness Sins and Iniquities and some of them not onely many but very hainous What Sin is I need not here define because I have done it more at large in my Theopolitica where I explain the meaning of the Apostle's definition 1 Joh. 3. 4. Sin presupposeth a Law-giver one Subject and under his Power a Law and the Obligation of the party subject And it 's a disobedience to the Law Here God's the Law-giver Man 's the Subject Commandments the Laws and when Man acts moves or is inclined contrary unto these Laws then he sins The Commands of God are his Rule and he ought to follow it and his heart ought to be conformable unto it and that freely and upon Knowledg For Man is bound to know the Law and to observe it And when Man sâ—vervs from this Rule he forsakes the Wisdom and Righteousness of God and follows his own Imagination and the Suggestion of the Devil and is carried away from his God by his base and ill-disposed Will and Lusts. And though all Sin is base yet some sins are more hainous than others Amongst other Consequents of Sin Guilt and Punishment are most remarkable and there can be no Sin which makes not Man guilty and liable to Punishment though the Punishment may be removed or the Suffering of it prevented And because God in his Law promiseth not only temporal but eternal Rewards and threatneth not only temporal but eternal Punishments therefore the condition of the guilty is very miserable and the more guilty the more miserable And if once we see our condition and be sensible of it our Souls are troubled and fearfully tormented and the thoughts and remembrance of Judgment are very terrible not onely because we are in danger to lose the eternal Rewards but to suffer eternal Punishments 2. Though there be Sins and the Guilt after the Sin is past remains yet there is Remission This Remission is a kind of loosing and dissolving an Obligation This Obligation here to be loosed is Guilt which is not Obligation to Obedience which is the Act of a Law but unto Punishment which follows upon the transgression of the Law by vertue of the Law and the Commination Pardon therefore and Remission is a freedom from the Guilt and so from the Punishment by necessary Consequence This Remission in this place is expressed by two words the first is I will be merciful the second I will not remember their Sins and Iniquities The first implies that Remission is an Act of Mercy pure and free Mercy for he that is guilty is in the hands of the Judge to punish or spare him and if he spare it 's a favour and an undeserved kindness Yet the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mercifull doth sometime imply such a Mercy as presupposeth some satisfaction and propitiation made without which Mercy and Pardon will not be granted and so it 's taken in this place For though God be merciful and inclined to pardon yet he will be just and Justice requires some expiation to be made by Blood or some other way and this to manifest his purest holiness and hatred of Sin and that he will not suffer his just Laws to be violated and yet let the party violating go free without any
Doctrine so it is also a ground of the future Exhortations For if there had been no way made or if there had been a way and we could have had no liberty of accesse unto the Throne of Grace by the Blood of Christ or if there had been a way and liberty to enter and yet no High-Priest set over the House of God it would be in vain to continue in the profession of Christian Faith or to perform any of those Duties exhorted unto in the following part of the Epistle But seeing we have all these and none of them nor any other thing necessary to Salvation is wanting but eternal life is possible and certainly upon these Reason to be obtained therefore we have a great motive and encouragement to go on and continue in the performance of the Duties exhorted unto For the ground of our hope is the possibility and certainty of attaining eternal Salvation and the ground of our practise and perseverance is our Hope which is the stronger because a way is made a liberty to enter obtained and a Priest set over God's House who will secure us of eternal bliss if we continue to believe and obey him to the end This is so much the more an effectuall reason because none of these could be had by the Law § 19. But what are these Duties exhorted unto They are several yet such as have great affinity one with another and all tend to one end The first this is Ver. 22. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of â—aith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience and our Bodies washed with pure Water THE Apostle in these words and those which follow exhorts to severall Duties 1 To draw near to God ver 22. 2. To persevere in their Christian Profession ver 23. 3. To stir up one another to Love and good Works ver 24. 4. To Continue in Christian Communion ver 25. In the first Exhortation we may observe 1. The Duty exhorted unto and to be performed 2. The manner of performance 3. The preparation of the persons who must perform it For the Duty is to no purpose no wayes profitable if it be not 1. Performed 2. Performed in due manner 3. Performed by persons prepared and duly qualified 1. To draw near to God for so the words are to be understood is to Worship God in general in particular to pray and seek Remission and eternal Life from him This is to make use of the way Consecrated through Christ's Flesh and of our liberty to enter into the Holiest procured by the Blood of Christ. It 's the same with coming boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy and find Grace for seasonable Help Chap. 4. 16. It 's the same with coming to God by Christ to sue for Mercy Chap. 7. 25. The party therefore to whom we come is God yet considered as sitting in the Throne of Grace and propitiated by the Blood of Christ. The drawing nigh or coming to God thus considered is a motion not of the Body but the Soul whereby it turns away both the mind and heart from all other objects and turneth and addresseth it self unto God to converse with him for his Favour Mercy Blessings that it may obtain them from him And it fixeth upon him and abides with him till the business with him be finished This Coming is called Worshipping as Worshippers are called Commers ver 1. 2. This being the Duty it must be performed with a pure heart and in full assurance of Faith this is the manner and the due qualification of the act of drawing nigh to God without which it can neither please God nor profit Man This qualification is two-fold 1. The purity of Heart 2. The full assurance of Faith 1. It must be performed with the Heart For all serious actions issue from the Heart and whatsoever is not done with Knowledg and Will is not the action of a Man as a Man and a rational Creature The Worship of God whereby we seek eternal happiness requires both and in the highest degree of our activity because in it we have to do with God concerning the most weighty business of all others yet we may Worship with the Heart and not with a true Heart that is without sincerity The Heart is then sincere when according to God's Will it 's firmly fixed upon and aims chiefly at the chief End God's Glory and eternal Happiness desiring and intending both far above all other things and this out of clear Understanding And here it 's to be observed That sincerity is required not only in the person Worshipping but in the action of Worship He that is habitually sincere may so fâ—â— forget himself as to worship without sincerity and the principal part essence power reality and truth of that Worship which God requires For this truth and sincerity is the very Life and Soul of acceptable Worship If we incline or have secret and remote thoughts of Vain-glory of falling off from our profession or returning to Sin then our Heart is not perfect sincere upright and our worship must needs be like our hearts which ought in the first place wholly and folely be given and offered to God By this we easily understand and both how few do Worship God sincerely and how defective the Worship of the best may often prove 2. Besides sincerity is required a full assurance of Faith Faith is both a belief and a confidence and assurance full assurance is an higher degree of both As a belief it 's grounded on God's Word in general revealing the Truths and Propositions to be believed as a confidence it 's grounded on the promise a special part of God's Word The belief goes before confidence follows after as depending upon the belief for the promise is first a Truth and so to be considered before it can be conceived under the formal notion of a Promise He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him That God is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek him is a truth or true proposition and is to be believed and it is a Promise because therein God signifies that as he is able so he is willing to reward such any he hath in the Gospel signified his unchangeable Will and Decree so to do and hath bound himself both by his Decree and his Word which is the signification of the Decree The full assurance of this Faith is grounded upon the infallible Truth of his Word and the fidelity and immutability of his Promise And where as this full ssurance is thought generally an high degree of Faith yet Faith is no divine Faith without it For no man receives the Word and Promise of God as the Word and Promise of God that wants this full assurance For the firmness of Faith should answer the firmness of God's Word If this full assurance were an assurance of our particular estate
an Acknowledgment of the Power and the receiving of the Command and it is a willing and free Observation of the Command The Superiour here is God who is the supream Lord Abraham is the Subject to come out of his Country is the Law and Command Abraham's coming out of his Country and that willingly as bound by God's Command is his Obedience And here it 's to be observed that except Man first submit unfeignedly unto God as his Supream Lord renouncing his own Will he can never sincerely obey For this voluntary total Submission is the ground of all Obedience and may be said to be the Observation of the fundamental Law of Allegiance which is required in the first Commandment upon which all the rest do depend Obedience in general is no particular Duty to be restrained to any particular Command exclusively for it extends to all 2. He went out not knowing whither he went In that he knew not whither he went it doth inform us of the total absolute Resignation of his Will and heart to God This high degree of Resignation and Submission is due only unto God as absolutely wise and just and infinitely merciful There be two parts of this Obedience 1. He went out 2. He knew not whither he went 1. He went out This was a difficult part of Obedience To forsake his Countrey Kindred Friends Inheritance which his heart did so much affect and dearly love and to renounce that Religion which he had learned and observed seems to be above natural Power To part the heart and that which it most loveth is a Work that cannot be performed without some mighty conflict and torment of the Soul to overcome our strongest Affections and so forsake our darling-sins is an Heroick and Divine Victory Yet this was done by him and must be done by us all if we will be saved To deny our selvs take up the Cross forsake Father Mother Wife Children Brother Sister and Life it self was first of all required by Christ as without which no Man could be his Disciple The Promise of eternal Life and Treasure in Heaven could not part the young man and his great estate and therefore he continued uncapable of eternal Bliss 2. As he came out so he went he knew not whither for the Command was that he should go unto a Land which God should shew him a Land he never knew for he neither knew it not the way unto it This made the business more difficult for he must depend wholly upon God for his Protection Assistance and Direction And when we leave our Sin we must come unto our God and when we forsake the World we must come unto our Saviour and though the way may be very rough and troublesom we must pass through it We must not take up our Rest untill we come unto our Canaan whither out God will bring us 3. This he did by Faith which without Faith was impossible to be be done For except he had certainly known that it was God who called him and believed God's Command and Promises he could not have obeyed so as to come out and go towards Canaan So that this Belief was the very principle of his Obedience without this Faith this Obedience had been not only irrational but impossible But God who was his absolute supream Lord did command him and as almighty and most faithful did promise him a great and glorious Reward which would abundantly recompense his Damages which he should suffer in obeying him and these did effectually move him and powerfully incline his heart to Obedience For God doth know what will work most strongly upon Man's heart and therefore by a divine Light and Inspiration penetrateth the heart and lets him assuredly know that he calls him to eternal Glory so that by this divine Vocation Faith is produced in the Heart of Man and by it he most willingly and joyfully comes unto his God and continues to obey him From all this it 's evident that Man's Conversion is a supernatural Work of God's great Mercy and Power for that which is impossible with Man is possible with God The natural freedom of the Will is a poor impotent thing let us therefore pray earnestly to our God to give us with his Word his blessed Spirit § 12. This was the first and fundamental Effect of Faith in Abraham the second is that whereby he was content to be a Pilgrim and Stranger on Earth that he might attain an abiding City in Heaven which God had promised and prepared for him For so it followeth Ver. 9. By Faith he sojourned in the Land of Promise as in a strange Country dwelling in Tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob the Heirs with him of the same Promise Ver. 10. For he looked for a City which hath Foundations whose Buâ—lder and Maker is God THese words inform us that after that Abraham was once by Faith converted and became obedient to the heavenly Call he presently changed his Condition and was a Stranger in this World and a Citizen or Denison of Heaven Such are all the Saints of God upon their Regeneration In them we may observe two things 1. The sojourning of Abraham with Isaac and Jacob in the Land of Canaan Ver. 9. 2. His Expectation of a better Country Ver. 10. In the first we have three Propositions 1. That Abraham Isaac and Jacob were Heirs of the same Promise 2. That they sojourned as Strangers in a strange Land dwelling in Tabernacles 3. They thus sojourned by Faith In the first observe 1. A Promise 2. Heirs of this Promise 3. The parties who were Heirs 1. By Promise understand the thing promised which was the Land of Canaan This was the Inheritance yet they had it not by natural Descent nor by Purchase nor by Exchange but by free Promise For it was promised and that by God who is the Proprietary of all Land and Counâ—reys and could not only convey it but give Possession This Inheritance was but a Type of a far better and this Promise was added to another far greater and more excellent 2. There were Heirs of this Promise or Land promised and to be an Heir in this place is to have a Right unto that Land and the Title and Ground of this Right was God's Promise which was the best and surest Instrument of conveyance in the World Before this Promise they could challenge no Right unto it after the Promise their Right was firm good clear without any flaw at all This is the great Mercy of God that when upon his Command we part with any thing he will give us something better that will more than countervail our damage 3. Abraham Isaac and Jacob were the Heirs For the Indenture and first Promise was made to Abraham sealed and confirmed Gen. 15. and in him it was made to them in which respect they were Joynt-Heifs but the same Promise was made severally to Isaac and then after that to Jacob. The parties who then possessed this Land
God with a profane and wicked heart some serve him ignorantly or negligently without servency and due affection The Pharisee could give Alms Fast Pray pay Tythe of Mint Anniseed Cumin and neglect the weighty things of the Law as Justice Judgment Mercy they could and did draw near to God with their Lips and yet be far from God with their hearts they served God but according to the Traditions of men The Jews were zealous and devout in Ceremonials yet their hearts were polluted and their hands full of Blood Therefore we must know that no profane man or hypocrite or indisposed person can serve God acceptably To do this doth presuppose man in the state of Grace and an heart prepared and rightly disposed the person must first be accepted before the work can please God And as the Person so the Service must be rightly qualified and so it is when it proceeds from Faith in Christ is conformable to the Word of God and tends unto his Glory And if We and our Service be thus qualified though our infirmities be many yet so great is God's mercy that for Christ's sake he will accept both us and it we must not presume upon his mercy but yet we must rely upon him when we have a special care to shun that which offends him and do that which is just and holy and when we have done our best humbly in the Name of Christ pray for pardon of defects and acceptance of our sincere endeavours Yet we cannot serve God thus acceptably without reverence and godly feat Reverence in God's Service looks at his excellency and glorious Majesty and at our own unworthiness and the infinite distance between Him and Us and therefore we must adore God's excellent Majesty with deep humility abasing our selves very low being afraid and ashamed out of a sense of our own vileness to come near him except in his great mercy and free grace he vouchsafe access Signs of this reverence is cut kneeling bowing covering our faces prostration and such like gestures And if we were either apprehensive and sensible of our own vileness or God's excellency how could we possibly be so profane and unreverent in his Worship Godly fear may be the same with Reverence or distinct from it The word in the Greek signifies sometimes caution sometimes devotion sometimes fear and that in the Service of God which is a religious fear and care not to offend but to please him Both reverence and fear in this place may farther be a more then ordinary care and diligence in the Service of God that we may please him and be accepted of him For as the greatest honour with the greatest humility is due to God that Supreme Lord whose Majesty is infinite and eternal so the greatest caution must be used in his Worship for he will be sanctified in all them that draw near unto him 3. This is the manner how he will be served by all such as are admitted Subjects of this unmoveable and unchangeable Kingdom The reason is He is a consuming Fire These words are improper and metaphorical and a Metaphor is a contract Similitude which here we find In such Comparisons we may observe 1. The things compared as like and agreeing 2. The thing wherein they do agree The things here compared are God and Fire God is like to Fire The thing wherein they agree is this that they are consuming So that the meaning is That God is like unto Fire and he is like to it in this that as That so He hath a consuming force Many are the qualities and effects of Fire but this one is singled to represent the terrour of God For though that flery Law which God gave out of the midst of fire burning up to Heaven be removed yet in the Gospel of sweetest mercy and freest grace there are threatnings of unquenchable Fire and eternal Flames Therefore this expression signifies his punishing and vindictive Justice the Subjects whereof are profane impenitent and unbelieving persons who are disobedient to the Law of Grace and refuse the tender of saving mercy The effect of this Justice upon these Offenders are severe and everlasting punishments which cannot be expressed or conceived but are represented by the raging flames and â—â—erce burning of the most violent Fire which cannot be quenched And as the torment of violent hottest flames is the most grievous so these punishments are and if the Sufferers be immortal and immortally sensible the Torment will be not only grievous but perpetual The sum is that the punishment of delinquent and disloyal Subjects which the Judge shall execute and they suffer is extreme and everlasting The force of the Reason is great for as men tremble to think of everlasting tormenting and consuming Flames so let them have a special care to serve God unto the end in due manner This implies that there is a glorious Reward of eternal Light and delight to all such as shall like loyal Subjects continue constant unto the end in the profession of the Truth and the acceptable Service of this glorious and eternal Soveraign CHAP. XIII § 1. PRofession without Practise Faith without good works cannot attain the fruition of that eternal Life which Christ hath merited and God hath promised therefore the Apostle in this Chapter exhorts to Love good Works constancy in the Truth and other Duties He begins with Love Ver. 1. Let brotherly Love continue THe Analysis of this Chapter is easy for we have 1. The hortatory part thereof 2. The conclusion of the whole The Duties exhorted unto with several Motives are reduced to a kind of order by divers Expositors Yet as this is not exactly done so it 's needless to do it We may indeed enumerate the Duties and reduce them to their proper places and heads in the Body of Divine Wisdom and that is very easie to be done Yet the Wisdom of the Apostle was this that he doth not mention all Duties but such as were most requisite at that time to be performed by those persons and doth not strictly follow the method of the moral Law but takes liberty to place them in that order which he thought most convenient For he knew the performance of them to be the principal thing and it was sufficient for him to press them and then to know them The first Exhortation is to brotherly Love The Duty is 1. Brotherly love 2. Continuance in it Brotherly love is love of the Brethren For there are Brethren and these must be loved To love our Neighbour as our selves is the substance of the second Table of the moral Law And as there are several degrees of Neighbours so there is of Love Neighbours in full extent include Strangers Enemies and all such as are capable of our Love Of these some are more nearly linckt unto us as Brethren Yet these are either natural political or spiritual here spiritual Brethren are meant who have God to be their Father Jerusalem above to be their
ministreth unto you the spirit and worketh Miracles amongst you doth he it by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith Chap. 3. 5. Where he doth imply 1. That he did not so many and great Miracles amongst them to confirm the Doctrine of the Law but to confirm the Faith that is the Gospel 2. He did not minister the Spirit and gifts of the Holy Ghost by the preaching nor they receive the Spirit by the hearing of the Law but of the Gospel 3. That God to testify the excellency of the Gospel above the Law did concurr to work Miracles and give the Spirit in confirmation of the one not of the other Therefore if the Gospel in so many respects be more excellent then the Law then to let it slip to recede from it to neglect it is a far greater sin and therefore makes us obnoxious to far more grievous punishment So we are come to the principal Conclusion which is to take heed of departing from or neglecting of this Doctrine of so great Salvation § 8. The application of this is to be made unto all and every one who having the use of reason hath heard the Gospel Let every one of them seriously consider that God speaks in it he speaks not by Angels but his own Son it 's the most clear full and powerful Doctrine that ever was revealed from Heaven a Doctrine of eternal Salvation it 's confirmed by most glorious works and the excellent Gifts of the blessed Spirit It 's a discovery of profoundest wisdom a manifestation of greatest love and the last warning God will give No other knowledg so useful so excellent so absolutely necessary as this Therefore receive it readily lay it up in your hearts never forget ever remember it prize it never neglect it never depart from it If the love of God cannot perswade you let the fear of his eternal displeasure and the love of your own Salvation prevail with you What will you despise his sweetest mercy reject the tender of Salvation bring upon your selves eternal and unavoidable misery It will be the greatest Sin that you can commit and make you obnoxious to the greatest punishment if you shall refuse to hearken to this great Propher Shall the word of Angels transgressed be so severely punished and shall no Offender escape And shall the word of the eternal Son of God be disobeyed and any Offender guilty in this particular escape everlasting penalties Let not any slatter themselves and think to escape For how shall we escape if we neglect c Ver. 5. For unto the Angels hath he not put in subjection the World to come whereof we speak § 9. The words are difficult to be understood and must be explained before the scope of the Apostle in them can be discovered The subject matter of them is the World to come and God's subjection of it The greatest difficulty is to know what 's meant by the World to come which many think referrs to the state of glory and the World which follows the Resurrection Thus à Lapide and some of the Antients Riverae understands the Church-Christian as opposed to the Church of former times especially under the Law This is the more probable sense For the Apostle speaks of these last times wherein God spake unto men by his Son and it 's opposed to the times wherein he spake by his Prophets and Angels Yet we must not understand it of the Church exclusively as though God had not subjected other things even Angels for the good of the Church That World and those times whereof the Apostle speaks are here meant but he speaks of the times of the Gospel The proposition is negative God subjected not the World to come to Angels In former times God had used very much the ministery of Angels in ordering the Church and put much power in their hands to that end Yet now in this last time he made Christ his Son who by reason of his suffering was a little lower then the Angels to be the administratour-General of his Kingdom the Universal Lord and subjected the very Angels unto him The expression seems to be taken from Esay 9. 6. for whereas there amongst others Titles given to Christ one is â—verlasting Father the Sepâ—uagint turn it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Father or Governour of the World to come which seems to be the genuine sense of the Hebrew words The sum is that God did not subject the Church in the times of the Gospel nor the World of those times to Angels but to Christ. The words thus understood may inform us 1. That Christ is more excellent then the Angels 2. If the Law and Word spoken by Angels when neglected and disobeyed was so severely punished much more severely shall they who neglect the Gospel spoken by Christ be punished 3. That if it was the duty of the Fathers and those who lived in former times to hearken to the Word spoken by Angels which are but Servants Then it 's much more the duty of us who live in these last times to hearken unto the Word of so great Salvation spoken by Christ made Lord of All. From hence we may understand the scope of the words to be the same with that of the former and that may be considered either aâ—part of the former reason why we should hearken to Christ and not neglect the Gospel or they may with the latter words following contain another distinct reason and in this manner that seeing God hath not to the Angels subjected the World to come but to Christ who by his Suffering and Death was for a little time made lower then the Angels and for that suffering afterward made Lord of all even of Angels then we ought to give the more earnest heed to his Doctrine Crellius understands by the World to come Heaven but without any reason but rather contrary to reason and to the purpose of the Apostle § 10. The former Text being negative doth not express but imply that the World to come was put in subjection to Christ. But in these words he doth not only express it but prove it And to this purpose he alledgeth the words of Psal. 8 4 5 6. In this testimony we may observe the allegation or the words alledged application of them The manner of the allegation we need not examine the Authour neither names the Book of Psalms as a distinct part of the Scriptures of the Old Testament nor the particular Psalm which is for number the 8th nor the Authour of the Psalm David But saith 1. That one or a certain man testifieth 2. He testifieth in a certain place This he did not through ignorance or defect of memory but out of some other reason He knew that the testimony or thing testified was the principal thing and that these Hebrews were well acquainted with the Scriptures and especially with the Book of Psalms To return to the words alledged out of the holy
whose House it is is expresse Scripture that Christ doth build it is so too For thus Christ saith to Peter Upon this Rock will I build my Church Matth. 16. 18. Some restrain the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things to the Church but that 's not probable For the better understanding of these words you must observe 1. That one of the most noble Effects and Works of God is the Church a most rare and curious piece 2. That to Frame Build and Constitute this must be a special act of that excellent and universal Builder 3. That as by the Word God created all things and built the World at the first so by this Word Incarnate dying and rising again sending down the Holy Ghost revealing the Gospel he built and founded the Church-Christian which shall stand for ever 4. That because he built this Church not meerly as God by the word not-Incarnate but Incarnate and made Flesh therefore it must necessarily follow that Christ is not part of the House nor the House it self but the Builder of the House For though he doth many things by the word not-Incarnate yet he never built the Church but by it The substance of the words is That presupposing this for a certain truth That every House hath a Builder therefore this House must have so too yet because it cannot be built by Men or Angels it must be built by God and because the materials of it are Men first sinful and guilty God must build it by Christ who is the Word made Flesh. This discourse implyes that Moses was not a Builder but a Member of this House yet an eminent Member and one advanced far above the ordinary ranck of other Members not only because a Prophet but an excellent and eminent Prophet too § 7. Thus far the excellency of Christ above Moses set forth by a Similitude taken from building The second Comparison is between Him and Moses as between Lord and Servant For it follows Ver. 5. And verily Moses was faithful in all his House as a Servant for a Testimony c. These words are part of the Minor Proposition and with the words immediately following inform us of two things The one concerning Moses the other concerning Christ 1. Concerning Moses That for his place he was a Servant 2. Concerning Christ That He was Lord of God's House They both agree in this that they had some certain place in the House of God but differ in this That the one was in a lower the other in a higher place Moses though faithful yet was but a Servant He was God's Servant in an honourable Place and in an Office of great Trust For the word Servant signifies an Officer yet because all Officers are Servants therefore by a Synechdoche they are often called Servants under their Soveraign He was a kind of Steward trusted with a general superintendency and inspection over God's House the Church of Israil In a word he was a Prophet and a Prince Yet here he is considered as a Prophet for he was to testify and declare unto the People the Laws and other things God should reveal unto him And it was an Honour to be such a Servant and a greater Honour to be faithful as he was to declare and testify all things which God revealed unto him and to do this without diminishing the least or adding any thing unto God's Word This is one proper Duty of Christ's Ministers to be witnesses of Christ and declare the whole counsel of God faithfully and how happy might the Church be if her Prophets were such As 1. Who did know what the Will and Word of God is 2. Did teach it faithfully and wisely according to their Commission Though Moses in this respect was counted worthy of Honour and deserved to be heard and obeyed by that People yet Christ was worthy in this respect of far greater Honour For it followeth Ver. 6. But Christ as a Son over his own House Here Son is opposed to Servant and his own House to the House of another which is the Master Christ is the Son Moses but the Servant Christ is in the House as his own built by him Moses was in the Church of the Jews as a Servant in the House of his Master giving directions for all things to be done therein according to the Will of God his Lord and Master Christ is not here called Lord but Son but by Son is meant the Heir which is Lord of all For as you heard before God had made Christ his Son Heir that is Lord of all Chap. 1. 2. The Church is his own House for he redeemed and purchased it by his own Blood he gave himself for it which Moses never did and his Father hath given all things into his hands and made Him Head of that Church and House which he himself hath Built Moses was never advanced to this Honour he never had any such Title This excellency of Christ both absolute and comparative we are exhorted to consider It 's represented unto us fully and clearly in the Gospel yet will be of little use to us if we consider it not so as we may the more clearly and distinctly know it and be effectually moved to honour Christ and prefert Him far above Moses For the end of consideration is a more clear and perfect knowledg of the things considered and in practicals the end of that knowledg is to move and incline out hearts This exhortation is but subordinate unto another as the duty of Consideration is but subordinate to an higher and far greater and that is Perseverance which is here thus expressed Ver. 6. Whose House We are if we hold fast the considence and rejoycing of hope firm to the end § 8. The Duty exhorted unto is final perseverance and is here described by the Apostle to be an holding fast of the considence and rejoycing of hope firm to the end This is opposed to Apostacy or a falling off before the end Perâ—everance is conceived to be no virtue distinct in it self but an adjunct of virtues and especially of Faith The virtues here are considence and rejoycing of hope The nature of it is 1. To hold these fast and firm 2. To hold them fast unto the end The subject immediate of this constancy and perseverance is confidence and hope 1. Confidence in this place presupposeth a firm and certain belief of the Truth of the Gospel concerning Christ as the only sufficient Saviour by whom alone God will give us everlasting Life 2. This confidence is a reliance and resting or reposing of our hearts upon God promising remission and eternal Life for Christ's sake alone For seeing God who is almighty in Power infinite in Wisdom unchangeable in his Purposes hath signified his willingness to save us and hath bound himself by his promise upon certain terms expressed in his promise we may be confident that what he hath promised he will perform and will in no wise fail or be
habitation is here meant For only they who persevere unto the end shall be his House in this manner Though it may be said That we are his House now and shall be his House for ever in a more glorious manner if we persevere unto the end This is the meaning of the words The force of the argument from them thus understood is evident and very great For if this blessed and glorious estate of being Christ's House will certainly follow upon the final perseverance in sincere Christianity how much will it move and work upon such as believe and certainly hope that upon this duty performed so incomparable a Reward will follow And how careful will they be in case of all means which conduce to this perseverance For the greater good believed to follow upon any performance the greater and more powerful the motive is This is the second Reason § 11. The third follows and that is from the penalty that will follow upon non-perseverance and Apostacy This reason is annexed to a dehortation from hardening of the heart and apostacy which is unbelief yet this dehortation presupposeth the principal exhortation to Faith and continuance therein to the end and therefore because it is a reason of the dehortation from the contrary sin it must needs be a reason of the exhortation to the duty opposed to that sin It 's taken out of Psal. 95. from ver 8. unto the end And though it seem to be directed unto the People of those wherein the Psalm was composed yet it directly points at the Gospel and the dayes of the same In that part of the Psalm we may observe 1. The dehortation 2. The reason why they should take heed of the sin dehorted from The reason is from an example of the like Sin punished in their fore-fathers The Sin in one word was Unbelief expressed and declared by the effects thereof which were tempting of God and so offending him because they erred in their hearts and did not know or take notice of his wayes The punishment was exclusion out of Canaa◠their rest intended by God Which punishment was 1. Absolutely denounced by way of a final and peremptory sentence passed with an Oath 2. Executed by overthrowing their Carkasses in the Wildernesse The sum of all this was to let them know That if they sinned as their Fathers did they should certainly suffer the like punishment The conclusion inferred hence is That they must have a special care to persevere in the Faith and take heed of Apostacy This may suffice to be observed upon the words of the Psalmist § 12. The next thing is the Application of these words of the Psalmist unto the present Hebrews to whom he writes Wherein he 1. Presseth the Duty upon them according to the words of the Psalm 2. That his counsel might be more forcible and the Duty more diligently and carefully performed he useth two reasons The first from the benefit which will follow 2. From the punishment they must suffer if they fall away 1. The duty is the same which was formerly urged and that is perseverance and constancy in their Christian Profession which is opposed to unbelief and apostacy which is a departing from the living God which in the Psalmist is the hardning of the heart For that passage of the Psalmist presupposeth a Day and Time of God's speaking to mortal man and exhorteth man in that Day to hear and obey constantly till the Day of God's Voice be ended and dehorteth from hardness of heart Disobedience and Apostacy In this place the Apostle making the same application to the Children and Posterity which David did to their Fathers living in his time declareth the Duty 1. Negatively or rather apotreptic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of dehortation 2. Affirmatively by way of exhortation to that which will be a means of continuance and perseverance The dehortation is Ver. 12. Take heed Brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of Unbelief in departing from the living God Where we must consider 1. The evil dehorted from 2. The dehortation it self The evil is an evil of Sin not of punishment where we have the root of it in the primary subject an evil heart of Unbelief the fruit and effect departing from the living God The heart is the primary and proper subject and also the cause of sin yet the heart as the heart is not the cause of actual sin but as an evil heart and here an evil heart of Unbelief Unbelief may in this place signify perfidiousnesse when the heart inclines to deny and forsake that Truth which was formerly professed and to violate that promise of Obedience made to God at the first entrance into Christianity and so actual unbelief is a breach of Covenant This unbelieving heart is an evil that is a disobedient impious perverted heart This is the basest temper and most malignant quality of the Soul whereby it 's most contrary to the most just and holy Law of God and the conditions of the Covenant of Grace That it is so is evident from the act or effect thereof which is to depart from the living God This departing from God is actual and formal apostacy which is so directly contrary to Perseverance This is signified by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Orginal which is to renounce something formerly received and acknowledged It 's like to a rebellion revolt and renouncing of a lawful Soveraign formerly acknowledged by allegiance and fidelity promised These Hebrews had received the Gospel acknowledged Christ their Saviour made a Covenant with the living God to whom they submitted themselves as their Soveraign Lord Redeemer by Christ. In their Baptism they had solemnly professed their Faith in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and promised obedience To deny this profession or this Faith professed to break this promise to forsake their Christianity turn Jews or Heathens especially after that by Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost that were so strongly convinced of the Truth must needs be an hainous sin issuing from an evil and malignant heart indeed There is an hardning of the heart against the light and motives of the Gospel when Christ is first tendered and not yet received There is an hardning of the heart against the Truth once received this latter not the former is Apostacy and the Sin here meant both hainous both forbidden by God both tending to eternal Death yet this more then the other And here it 's to be noted that positive unbelief blindness and hardness of heart are often taken for the same The Duty therefore is to take heed lest there be such an heart in any of them Where it 's implyed 1. That every one was in danger 2. That this sin began in the heart 3. Therefore all and every one must be very wary careful diligent to avoid the same and all the causes thereof For if they were not well-grounded in the principles of Christianity they
in his prayers and most earnestly deprecare the Wrath of God as his Saviour did The sense of sin will break the stoniest heart and quicken our Prayers cause cryes and tears But we neither consider the grievousnesse of our sins nor the bitternesse of our Saviour's Passion therefore our Prayers are cold and weak and mercy stands afar off and pardon comes not near us 3. These Prayers were made and directed to God as One that was able to save him from Death All Petitions made to any Person either unable or unwilling to do that which is desired are in vain might and mercy power and goodness are necessarily required in him to whom Prayers which shall in the issue prove effectual are to be offered And because none but God is absolutely Powerfull and Good Almighty and Almerciful therefore to him alone as Supream Lord all Prayers are to be made as to the prime Authour and principal efficient of all Blessings and Mercies To addresse our selves in this manner to any other is flat Idolatry and a breach of the first and great Command None can deliver from Death but only He. Therefore Christ offered his Prayers and Supplications to Him as able to save from Death and this ability to save in greatest dangers was the ground of his confidence God was able to save from Death either by prevention and not suffering him to dy or if he suffered Death by raising him up again and restoring life once taken away and lost The latter he did the former he denied to do yet by Death in this place may be meant some other thing then loss of this mortal and temporal Life for in Scripture it signifies all kind of evils Man or Angel is subject unto and in this place something which he feared prayed against and was freed from by God his heavenly Father supporting him so that he did not sink under the heavy burden laid upon him He endured all with patience and willingness of mind and was not overcome or overwhelmed He suffered something far more terrible then all bodily pains and that Death which is only a separation of Soul and Body and this was violent temptation for he was tempted more violently then ever any was yet he never yielded the least but continued firm faithful obedient unto his heavenly Father in the midst of his greatest conflicts That which upheld him was the power of his Father and that which obtained the victory was his support obtained by his fervent Prayers For 4. His Prayers and Supplications were effectual he was heard in that he feared To be heard in the Hebrew is by a Metonymy sometimes to have our prayers granted and the thing requested done And to be heard when we pray for deliverance is to be delivered saved holpen This might be made manifest out of many places of the Old Testament translated by the Septuagint Two of them Heinsius observes as 2 Chron. 18. 31. where it 's written That Jehoshaphat cryed out and the Lord helped him so the Hebrew heard him so the Septuagint And Psal. 56. 16. As for me I will call upon God and the Lord will save me so the Hebrew hath heard me so the Greek So that for Christ to be heard was for Christ to be delivered But what was he delivered from certainly not from Death so as not to suffer it for he dyed but from something he seared For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifyeth fear Metonymically in this place signifies the thing feared which was the object and cause of his fear This word is once used by the Septuagint for so they translate the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Josh. 22. 24. But what did Christ fear Death No not bodily Death but such a Death as he suffered wherein he was so fearfully tempted For if God had deserted him wholly as he did in part and not have supported him he as man might have been overcome have sunk under the burden in distrust or dispair or impatience This he feared more then ten thousand Deaths of his Body and so to do was his holiness and though he knew his Father would support him yet he must offer vehement Prayers and be put hard unto it before he did obtain it Thus though he knew he must dy yet he defired vehemently that the Cup of his Passion if it were possible might passe and be omitted God began to hear him when he sent an Angel from Heaven to comfort him but then he heard fully when he had supported him to the end of his Passion so that he commended his Soul unspotted and victorious into his Fathers hand and made haste unto that Paradise into which no unclean thing shall ever enter When all was done and suffered the Devil found nothing in him could not charge him with the least Sin This was the efficacy of his Prayers which he offered for himself as different from all others that ever were made in his extremity whereby he learned to pity others in their temptations and necessities For an High-Priest must offer for himself as well as for others because he is compassed with infirmities So Christ though he had no Sin yet had infirmities and was tempted and had need to pray for himself as well as for his People and Ver. 8. Though he were a Son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered VVHere we may observe two things and two propositions Two things 1. His eminent Dignity he was a Son 2. His obedience Two propositions 1. He was a Son 2. Though a Son yet he learned obedience by the things â—he Suffered 1. He was a Son the Son of God and in a more excellent manner then any either Man or Angel was or could be He was as the Word the Son of God so as that he was God and as Flesh and Man he was assumed by the Word and conceived by the holy Spirit in the Virgin 's Womb yet so that there were not two Sons but one the Word made Flesh and as such a Son he was nearer God then any other Heir of all things Lord of Men and Angels and the only-begotten Son of God Yet 2. Though a Son yet learned he obedience For though as a Son he was very high yet he humbled himself very low and took upon him the form of a Servant and in that form became obedient unto Death the Death of the Cross which was the Death of a Servant as he was sold for thirty pence the ordinary price of a Servant and Slave His obedience presupposed his subjection as Flesh unto his heavenly Father as his Supream Lord and a Command not only to Do but to Suffer even the Death of the Crosse and this was the highest greatest and hardest command to dye such a Death for the Sin of Man This command above all others he learned to obey He learned this hard Lesson not only to know it but chiefly to do it not meerly by speculation but real
and illiterate People but also of all natural men though of excellent parts and highly improved and exquisite humane Learning both Arts and Languages Besides Ignorance and Error corrupt Lusts inordinate Affections violent Passions indispose it very much and make it most averse from that which is just and good and strongly bent upon that which is evil As it hath no true Notions of the greatest good so it hath no mind to use the means which conduce to the attaining thereof This defacement of so noble a Substance is the Work of the Devil and Sin 3. Concerning God's writing his Laws in the heart of Man you must know 1. That they are not written there by Nature as you heard before If they were what need God write that which is already written 2. He writes nothing in this heart but his Laws and his saving Truths Therefore that which is not written without in the Scripture he doth not promise to write within the Heart and whosoever shall fancy any Doctrine received in his heart to be written by the hand of Heaven and yet cannot find it in the Gospel is deceived and deluded 3. Before these divine Doctrines can be written in the heart all Errors Lusts false Opinions must be rased and rooted out of the Soul and it must be made like blank paper This is the reason why we are commanded to prepare our selves for the hearing and reading of God's Word to be like good ground to put away all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness all Malice all Guile and Hypocrisies and Envies and evil-speaking and like new-born Babes desire the sincere Milk of the Word of God 4. God doth not write his Laws in our heats by Enthusiasm Rapture and Inspiration as he wrote his Word in the hearts of the Prophets and Apostles but he makes use of the Word and the Ministers of the Gospel and the Instructions of Man as also of the outward senses as of the Eye and Ear and also of the inward and of Reason and of all the powers he hath given Man to do any thing in this Work And whosoever will not use these means and exercise this Power by Reading Hearing Meditation Conference Prayer let him never expect or think that God will write these things in his heart The neglect of these helps is the Cause why Enthusiasts who pretend the Spirit and persons of high attainments as they boast as though they were above Ordinances have so little solid and saving Knowledg of God's Word fall into so many absurd abominable Errors 5. The Effect of this writing of God is not only Knowledge but also a Love of the Truth Light and Integrity Power and Dominion over Sin and the powerful Sanctifications and Consolations of the Spirit And whosoever doth not find these in his heart let him not think that God hath written his Laws in his heart For he writes with Power and leavs a permanent Tincture of holiness and a constant habitual inclination to that which is good just and right 6. God doth not write these Laws perfectly and fully in Man's heart whilst he is in the Flesh for he proceeds in this Work by degrees Therefore seeing God hath ordained means and commanded them to be used no Man must neglect them whilst this mortal life continues for these Truths are not written in any of our hearts further than we use these means which were given not only for the first inscription of these Laws but for the encrease and perfection of our divine Knowledge This was the way which Christ and his Apostles took for the Conversion Edification and Confirmation of their Disciples If this were not so what need was there of so many Epistles and in particular of this to be written to so many Converts and regenerate Saints 7. Though God doth both begin and encrease our Knowledg and Sanctification by these means yet this Work of his is immediate upon the Soul and far more excellent than these means can reach § 11. The end of this Promise made and the issue of it performed is to acknowledg and receive God as our God in Christ and to submit unto him with a real hearty and total Submission as to our onely Lord and Redeemer that so he may protect and bless us and we may serve and obey him And this we cannot do except God first write his Laws in our hearts therefore this must needs be the first Promise upon which the rest do depend and that whereby he in great Mercy binds himself to give us his preventing Grace and the continuance of it For such is our Case that except he prevent us by granting and vouchsasing unto us both the means of Conversion and the Power of his Spirit to make them effectual upon our immortal Souls we can never take him to be our God so as to become his People and loyal Subjects And upon this done he will be our God and take us for his People and so he promiseth here in this Ver. 10. And I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a People THis is the second Promise of this new Covenant Where we must understand what it is for God to be a God unto any People and for any Persons to be his People This latter is easily known if we know the former 1. Therefore it is not for God to be God absolutely in himself most perfect glorious infinitely and eternally blessed for so he was from everlasting Yet except he be thus God in himself he cannot be a God to any Creature Neither 2. Is it to be a God by Creation Preservation and Ordination for so he is to all Creatures and to every one of them whilst they have their Being Nor 3. Is it to be a God in an higher degree to men as immortal and rational Creatures for so he is to all men Nor 4. Is it meerly to be a God in a peculiar manner to some certain People by choosing and singling them from amongst other men so as to enter into some special Covenant with them and to take a special care of them and to bless them with some special blessings and deliverances for so he was a God to the Jews But 5. It is to be a God unto any Persons or People by a new Covenant of eternal Mercy and Salvation by Jesus Christ exhibited and glorisied And to be his People is to be his Subjects of his special Kingdom so as to receive from him as their Lord-Redeemer spiritual and eternal Protection and Blessings This is the meaning of this Expression in this place In a word it 's a Promise of admission into his Kingdom of Grace and Glory To know this more distinctly we must take notice that to be God in this manner is so to exercise his Wisdom Power and Mercy in Christ as to protect and deliver us from all evill and give us all Blessings necessarily required to make us eternally and fully happy Thus much is
satisfaction made Neither is it cruelty but Justice to require explation to be made and to accept it for a guilty Person and so upon the same to remit him is a great Mercy The second word is Not to remember To remember Sin in this place is an Act of a Judge taking notice of Sin so as to punish the Sinner Not to remember is not to charge the Sin upon the Sinner and so punish him but to free him from the Punishment and the Guilt too so that he shall neither be punished nor be liable to Punishment And it 's observable 1. That he will not only be mercifull but he will not remember 2. That though in the Hebrew there be but one Negative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet in the Septuagint and the Apostle we find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a double Negative where by the Multitude of words is signified that God's Mercy will be very great and by the Negatives that it will be very certain and the Sinner shall have no cause to doubt And both the words and the Negatives imply that God will certainly and abundantly pardon and he will in no wise punish 3. This Remission is eternal and takes away the Guilt of Sin for ever and puts the sinful guilty wretch once pardoned in a condition of eternal safety In the Law notwithstanding their Sacrifices for Sin and Burnt-Offerings and Expiations there was a yearly remembrance of Sin upon the day of Expiation and their many Sacrifices offered by many Priests often could not take away Sin But Christ by one Offering consecrated the sanctified for ever and by his Blood entring into the Holy place obtained eternal Remission and made Sin eternally pardonable And upon Repentance and Faith follows actual and eternal Remission and freedom from all Guilt and Punishment for evermore So that the pardon here promised is plenary for it 's total of all sins and perpetuall and an Act of eternal Amnesty or Oblivion will be passed in the supream Court of Heaven No sin not any shall in any wise be remembred any more 4. The party pardoning is God who makes the Covenant and in the Covenant this Promise For it 's said I will be mercifull I will not remember He is the supream Law-giver and the supream Judg and if he once justify none can condemn His Sentence cannot be revoked and null'd there lyes no Appeal from his Tribunal his Decrees once passed stand firm for ever Yet God pardons as propiâ—â—ated by the Blood of Christ and â—s there upon freely and abundantly merciful For to pardon one whom he may justly punish is Mercy to pardon many grievous sins is abundant Mercy to pardon for ever is eternal Mercy It is the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious â—â—ng-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth Keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity and Transgression and Sin Exod. 34. 6. 7. Where we may observe that Mercy goes before Remission He loved and piâ—yed us when we were sinful and Enemies and gave his only begotten Son for us that by his Blood he might make way for his Mercy make our Sins paâ—â—â—onable and when the Sinner once repetus and believs and the Blood of Christ is once pleaded then he actually freely abundantly eternally pardons How are God's justified Ones bound to praise him with all their heart for evermore 5. The Persons pardoned are not all Sinners and every Transgressout For though God's Mercy â—e as he himself is infinite yet it 's by his Wisdom and Justice limited to certain Persons For though Christ hath merited pardon by his death yet no Sinner as a Sinner is capable of it his Death makes Sin and Faith makes the Sinner pardonable God must write his Laws in Man's heart and Man must know his God and Saviour and believe in him and Christ must make Intercession before Man can be actually justified Therefore this Promise follows all the rest Except Man receive God for his God and God become his God no pardon can be expected God received as our God and engaging himself to be our God in Christ doth justify And this is great Mercy of God that seeing Man is by Nature uncapable of Remission because sensless of his Sin and ignorant of his Saviour he writes his Laws in his heart to take away the stony and sensless quality thereof and makes it tender and sensible and so Man sees his Sin hates it is humbled and grieved for it willing to turn unto his God He enlightens him and lest he should despaire he manifests unto him his Saviour and his infinite Mercy in him promiseth pardon invites and calls him and lets him know there is plentiful Redemption Upon all this Man is willing to submit himself and take God to be his God in Christ and now he is in a capacity of pardon and justifiable Thus Man by God's Grace and performance of his Duty by the power of that Grace is prepared for this great Mercy of Remission and Justification And they who through neglect of hearing God's Word and Prayer continue in their Sin and harden their hearts can have no hope of this great benefit which God is so willing to give and sinful Man unwilling upon God's terms to receive These words thus explained contain this Promise That God will forgive Man his Sin and justify him and the words are brought in upon the former by the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrew and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greek turned by our Translators For. And as I have observed before it 's sometimes expletive sometimes illative for therefore sometimes causal and accordingly is rendred Sometimes the Hebrew Particle signifies When. If it be expletive it 's used onely to bring in this last Promise and joyn it with the rest But if it be not such but used here as a rational Conjunction the Connexion of these words with the former is very doubtful Some make Remission to be the ground of all the other Priviledges which God doth promise because he will forgive their Sins Thus Dr. Gouge seems to understand it Yes this seems to give a Reason why God will write his Laws in their hearts be their God and so teach them as that they shall know him and it 's this That he may make them capable of Remission and being made such he may remit them This is certain that this is a distinct Promise of the Covenant different from the rest and it 's such a Promise and of so great a Blessing that the Law had none such neither by the Observation of it could any Man obtain Pardon and Justification And it 's certain and clear enough that one end why God made this Covenant and in the same promised to write his Laws in our hearts was that by them so written we might repent and believe and by them obtain Remission For the chief Laws and Commandments of this new Covenant are those of Repentance and Belief
it seems grow upon the banks and also the Sea of Edom and because Edom signifies Red therefore it 's named the Red-Sea as the Septuaginâ—turns the proper substantive into an appellative 2. Pharoah and the Egyptians pursue them into the Sea and so were drowned This was ordered by the wisdom of God and was the execution of his just Judgment While way is made for Israel to pass the inconsistency and fluid nature of the Waters is suspended that the Egyptians following after the Israelies might enter into the heart and depth of the Channel Yet in the mean time the Angel of God continues to keep between Israel and Pharoah's Army till such time as all the People were safely landed and to retard the march of the Horse takes off their Chariot Wheels so that they drove heavily When Israel was past all danger God suffers the Waters to return to their former Course and so they overwhelm Pharoah and all his Host who sunk like lead into the bottom of the Sea and this was done in the sight of Israel that they might rejoyce and give glory unto God for their Salvation and the destruction of their Enemies This was a wonderful deliverance of God's People and the end of a proud and cruel Tyrant 3. The reason of the one was Faith of the other Unbelief For by Faith they found a way through the great deep And this was not the Faith of Israel alone but principally of Moses For it might truly be said They passed through the Sea by his Faith yet joyned with their's For God commanded Moses with his Rod to smite the Sea and Israel to pass on and promised to divide the Sea and save them not only from the Waters but from their Enemies This Moses did believe and perswades them to do so likewise and this Faith moved them to obey God's Command and upon their Obedience to expect the Mercy promised Without this Warrant and Word from Heaven and their belief of it and confidence in it it had been impossible for them to have escaped destruction The Egyptians assaying without this Faith to passe were drowned Pride cruelty desire of revenge drove them forward they had neither Revelation nor Command nor Promise and therefore they perished This example informs us 1. That there is no danger so great but God can deliver us out of it for God hath many wayes to deliver us 2. That when man's danger is the greatest God's help is the nearest For as the saying is Man's Extremity is God's Opportunity For he is a present help in time of trouble in the midst of the Waters and in the fiery Furnace 3. Many times the Salvation of God's People is the destruction of their Enemies and when he saves the one he destroyes the other and there will a day come when all God's People shall see their desire upon all their Enemies Yet we must believe and obey and trust in God and have a just Cause if we will expect deliverance and he that doth not so believe as to be ready to do what God Commands can never attain the benefit God doth promise which is so limited and consined to the performance of the Command upon Faith that without Performance and Obedience the Mercy promised cannot be expected and received This is the true reason why justifying Faith is inconsistent with the predominancy of any Lust and Sin For true Faith receives the Promise with the terms and conditions it requireth and whosoever believes or is perswaded that he may receive the Blessing promised without obedience to the Command annexed doth deceive himself For he that continuing in his sins not resolving from his heart to forsake them to renounce all righteousness in himself to rely wholly and solely upon the merit of Christ and mercy of God perswades himself of Remission promised doth mistake the Promise and shall not obtain that which he desires For his Faith is not sincere his confidence is but presumption and the issue will be shame and confusion This Doctrine also ministreth unspeakable comfort to all true Believers in the midst of their Extremities § 29. Joshua succeeded Moses and he by Faith did many glorious works one whereof the Apostle singleth out and instanceth in which was the fall of the walls Jericho For Ver. 30. By Faith the Walls of Jericho fell after they were compassed about seven times THis work was miraculous and is ascribed to Faith in God's Word The whole History here abridged by the Apostle we may read at large Joshua 6. Upon which as upon the rest of that Book Masuis doth excellently discourse In the words as in the former examples we may observe 1. The Work 2. The Faith whereby it was done In the Work as it 's briefly here expressed we may consider 1. What it was The fall of the Walls of Jericho 2. The means whereby it was done and that was by compassing them about seven times 3. The time When they had seven times compassed them But if we consider the History the principal things remarkable are 1. The Command and Instructions of God given to Joshua and the People 2. God's Promise 3. Their Obedience 4. The Issue or Event 1. God's Command was signified to Joshua and by Joshua to Israd and in general it was to compass about Jericho which was the first City of Canaan on this West side of Jordan which God gave into their hand and in such a manner as that it might encourage his Pecple and strike a terrour into the rest of their Enemies and let them know what to expect It was not very great yet strong For the manner how often in what order with what rites when to begin when to end they received Instructions and Directions and they were bound to follow them For we must not only do the thing God Commands but we must do it in that manner as he shall prescribe 2. God's Promise was in general to deliver it into their Hands and in that manner as that there should be no formal Siege or effusion of Blood This was a miraculous and extraordinary way which he did prescribe unto them and in it self very unlikely to take effect for there seemed to be no causality in the means not any power in them for to produce the effect Therefore a Promise of God was necessary that so they might have a ground of their Faith an encouragement to use the means and upon the use a certain expectation of the event Neither would the Promise of any other but of God serve the turn yet seeing they had had so much experience of his wonderful and almighty power it was sufficient and there was no cause of doubting 3. Seeing God had promised and they believed therefore they obey his Command readily and chearfully use the means and follow his Directions and compass the City in that manner and so often as God required This obedience to the Enemies who were ignorant both of God's Command and Promise might seem
and now again in these last dayes then by Moses and the Prophets now by Christ his Son 2. That when he gave the Law and made the former Covenant he spake on Earth upon Mount Sinai but when he spake by Christ he spake from Heaven for he came from Heaven returned to Heaven again and from Heaven sent down the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles and by that Spirit in them revealed the Gospel 3. That some Sins are more hainous than others and the more hainous the Sin is the more heavy the Punishment will be 4. That to refuse God speaking on Earth was a grievous Sin and deserved a grievous Punishment and so to refuse him speaking from Heaven is a great Sin and renders the Refuser liable to fearful Punishment 5. That the latter is a more grievous Sin than the former and deservs a greater Punishment These things presupposed the Reason is clear and we must in any wise take heed of rejecting or renouncing the Gospel because if they who transgressed the Law given on Earth were severely punished then they if guilty of a far greater Sin as all such are who refuse the Gospel revealed from Heaven then they must suffer a far greater Penalty and no wayes could they escape it This differs something from the Argument used Chap. 2. 2 3 c. for that compares the Law delivered by Angels with the Gospel spoken and confirmed by Christ and the excellency of Christ above the Angels is the ground of his Argument But here God's speaking on Earth by Angels is compared with God's speaking from Heaven by Christ and here the Excellency of Heaven from whence the Gospel was revealed above the Earth where the Law was given is made the Foundation of the Reason And God by giving the Law on Earth and the Gospel from Heaven did intimate that there was some Excellency in the Gospel which was not in the Law in the new Covenant which was not in the old otherwise God could have revealed them both on Earth or both from Heaven Let us apply this unto our selvs and consider 1. Who speaks unto us 2. What he speaks 3. From whence he speaks 1. It 's not Man but God not Moses but Christ The Law indeed was by Moses but Grace and Truth by Jesus Christ. The Majesty and Power of him who speaks is such as Angels are bound to attend and obey with all humble Submission and shall we Worms nay Dust and Ashes refuse to hear this glorious Lord 2. The Matter that he speaks and we hear is the best the most sweet the most comfortable and the most excellent never better things seen or heard or understood by the Heart of Man The Gospel is a Doctrine of profoundest Wisdom of greatest Love and Mercy and of highest Concernment and most conducing to our everlasting good And shall we reject it Shall we sin against so great a Majesty so great a Mercy Sins against the Mercies of God so freely tendred to us in Jesus Christ are the most hainous of all others Let us tremble to think of these Sins and those Punishments which they must suffer that are guilty of them 3. He speaks from Heaven for the Gospel is a Mystery hid from the beginning of the World and was brought unto us from the Bosom of the Father by his only begotten Son and by the Holy Ghost it 's the clearest manifestation of God's deepest Counsels concerring Man's eternal Estate and of his greatest Love to sinful Wretches the brightest Light that ever shined from Heaven yet we hear it and most men regard it not but reject it to their everlasting Woe § 24. The Apostle draws to a Conclusion and urgeth Perseverance by another Argument in the words following Ver. 26. Whose Voice then shook the Earth but now he hath promised saying Yet once more I shake not the Earth only but Heaven also Ver. 27. And this Word Yet once more signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain GOD shook the Earth when he gave the Law and from this shaking the Authour takes occasion from the words of Haggai to prove the Immutability of the Gospel and the Administration of Christ's Kingdom In the Text the Proposition concerning this Immutability is 1. Cleared 2. Applyed in the two last Verses of the Chapter In the first he doth 1. Affirm the shaking of the Earth in giving of the Law 2. Alledgeth God's Promise of another shaking not only of Earth but Heaven 3. From that Promise he infers the Immutability of the Evangelical Administration The Propositions of the first part of the Text are two 1. That God then shook the Earth 2. That he that then shook the Earth promised to shake once more not only the Earth but Heaven also 1. God then shook the Earth The Adverb then points at the time of giving the Law on Mount Sinai for in the former Verse it 's said that he spake on Earth in the Hearing of all Israel That then he shook the Earth is the express words of the History Mount Sinai was all on a Sâ—â—ak and the whole Mount quaked greatly Exod. 19. 18. With this agrees that of the Psalmist When thou O God wentest before thy People when thou didst march through the Wilderness The Earth shook the Heavens also dropped at the presence of God even Sinai it self was moved at the presence of God the God of Israel Psal. 68. 7 8. The principal things then signified by this shaking the Mount and the Earth were two 1. The Alteration of the former Administration of the Church and 2. The Constitution of that Order which continued untill the times of the Gospel For 1. Then God made a great Alteration in the Kingdom of Aegypt divided the Red Sea and shook the hearts of men in several Nations 2. He reduced the People of Israel into a Polity both Civil and Ecclesiastical made a Covenant with them gave them Laws Moral Ceremonial Judicial ordained a Priest-hood instituted a Form of Worship to continue till the coming of the Messias Thus then he shook the Earth 2. He promised once more to shake not only the Earth but Heaven Where the Subject is Shaking and presupposeth one Shaking past and informs us of another and the same far greater The former was only of the Earth the latter of Heaven too This Shaking is the thing promised the Promise was made first the Performance followeth several hundred years afterwards The Promise we find in Haggai the Prophet the words are these For thus saith the Lord of Hosts Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the Heavens and the Earth and the Sea and the dry Land And I will shake all Nations and the Desire of all Nations shall come and I will fill this House with Glory saith the Lord Hag. 2. 6 7. Where we may observe 1. That the Occasion of these words was this the
and Timothy together and enjoy their blessed Society 1. Timothy was set at Libetry Who this Timothy was both by Birth Education Office and Employment we we may easily understand from the Acts of the Apostles Paul's Epistles and especially from two written and directed to him in particular He was a Jew by his Mother a Christian by Paul's Conversion of him a Minister of the Gospel an Evangelist and an Assistant unto Paul in the Work of the Ministry and though he was but young yet he was eminent and famous in the Churches planted by Paul a Person of Integrity and Fidelity This Timothy was set at Liberty which implies that he was bound imprisoned or some wayes restrained of his Liberty but where and how is not expressed in Scripture Yet now he was set at Liberty God had delivered him out of the hands of his Enemies and they must know it as a matter of Joy and Comfort It was a sad thing that such a Man as Timothy so faithful so serviceable to Paul and the Church of God should be restrained and he knew that to hear and have certain Intelligence and from him that he was released must needs comfort and rejoice their hearts So also we when we hear of the Liberty and Peace of the Church and especially of pious and eminent Ministers should be glad and should render Thanks unto our God for so great a Mercy 2. Yet there was a further degree of Comfort for he gives them hope that as Timothy was ser at Liberty so he would come unto them shortly and would see them and give them a Visit in his own Person And not only Timothy but he himself would come with him and see them together with him that they might mutually comfort and rejoice one another and this Meeting and Society would be sweer To hear of their Liberty was good News but to be certified of their speedy coming together to see them was better God's Servants cannot alwayes converse together on Earth that Happiness is reserved for Heaven yet their hearts do rise and much rejoyce when they can see and enjoy one anther though but for a time § 21. The fifth part of the Close of this Letter is spent in Salutations Ver. 24. Salute all them that have the Rule even you and all the Saints They of Italy salute you THE Saulutations are 1. Of Paul 2. Of them of Italy For Paul and they of Italy were the Persons saluting and their Guides and the rest of the Saints were the Persons saluted True and hearty Salutations are an Expression of our Love and good Affection towards the Persons saluted and they are either of Persons present or absent When we salute Persons present we express our Affection by words of Peace Health Happiness and by Embracements or Kisses or both according to the Custom of the Time and Places But when Friends are absent we signify our good desires by Writing or words of Messengers and so embrace one another at a Distance There are some who are not capable of Salutation to whom we must not say God speed 2 Joh. 10. Some are capable but not of a Christian Salutation because not capable of spiritual Grace and Peace in Christ Yet these Salutations are Christian 1. From Paul a Christian to the Hebrews Christians 2. From the Saints and Christians of Italy to the Saints and believing Hebrews Paul is the first in sending Salutations the Persons by him saluted are 1. Their Guides or Ministers put in the first place because of their Office and Eminency 2. The People which by Profession of Faith in Christ their Baptism and Society with the Church were Saints The Persons saluting in the second place and that by Paul were they of Italy that is their Brethren Saints and Believers in Italy and of the Church of Churches in Italy the Persons saluted are the same saluted before To salute anciently amongst the Jews and Israelites was to wish Peace under the Gospel Grace and Peace The Syriack turns these words Desire ye the Peace of your Guides c. but he is singular These Salutations though good in themselvs are much abused and made words of Course and Custom or turned into Complements devoid of reall and hearty Love § 22. The last part of the Conclusion is a Benediction in these few words Ver. 25. Grace be with you all Amen THis is so a Salutation as that it is a Benediction pronounced with Apostolical Power and was effectual upon all such as are capable This is a Benediction proper to Paul and usually if not alwayes written with his own hand which then was well known in many Churches though the Epistle it self might be written by some other whom he used for his Scribe It is so proper unto him that we find it used by none other of the Apostles neither James nor John nor Peter nor Jude Only John doth conclude and shut up the Revelation with it but that was not written with Paul's own hand And by this in those times this Epistle might certainly be known to be his We use to salute one another at our first Meeting and also at our Parting which latter is called a Valediction So Paul in all his Epistles excepting this begins with Grace and Peace and that 's his Salutation and he ends this as all the rest with Grace and this is his Valediction and Benediction This Benediction we find sometimes briefer sometimes larger and the largest of all closeth up the second Epistle to the Corinthians and we must know that the briefest contains all the matter of the largest though not expresly The usual Blessing both of old and of latter times is The Lord be with you For if the Lord be not against us but for us and with us we must needs be so far happy yet the Lord may be with us and in Mercy many wayes but to be with us in the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is the highest and happiest degree of God's presence tending to our eternal Bliss Therefore the Apostle's Blessing is The Lord be with you all greater Blessing than this there cannot be By Lord is meant Jesus Christ our God-Redeemer whom the Father out of greatest Love sent to save us in whom and by whom we receive all spiritual Blessings which are signified by Grace which presupposeth here the Love of the Father the Redemption by Christ and the Communion of the Spirit the Effects of all which in us is Remission Reconciliation Adoption Sanctification heavenly Joy and Comfort For this Grace is sufficient to make us in time though by degrees fully and for ever happy And by Grace here is meant the continuance encrease and perfection of Grace This Grace he desired prayed for and pronounced upon them all as Believers for none but such are capable of it Amen is added to Petitions Doxologies Confessions and Benedictions as here it is to confirm his Benediction and to seal it up unto them The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ be blessed for ever FINIS * Though the principal subject be the prophetical and sacerdotal office yet there is mention made several times of his Regal excellency b I take prophecy in a large sense * 1 Pet. 4. 22. * Beza upon the place Ver. 6 7 8 9 c. Ver. â— * He signifies 1. That the Hebrews had no reason to be offended with the death and humiliatiof Christ. 2. That this humiliation was no hinderance of but a means unto his exaltation and it was so ordered by the wisdom of God for the unspeakable benefit of man who â—ould â—ot he saved but by this being lower then the Angels * There is no need to distinguish between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 between videre â—â—d cernere †It may be a word which suited with the metaphor of a Cup wherein is contained some bitter poâ—ion which torments him who tasts of it Therefore Christ compares his sufferings to such a Cup ' when he saith Let this Cup passe from me Ver. 13. Ver. 14. * Therefore the Sacraments in publick Assemblies were called Exhortations * Many think that Priesthood is of Institution * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * The Aethiopick and Arabick have not the word Imposed Some Copies read not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Voluntas est ambulatoria * For we find the word Megillah taken for a Roll. Ezra 6. 2. Ezek. 2. 9 3 1 2 3. †The Psalmist seems chiefly to intend the Books of Moses which were written before his time * Yet in this the Apostle may allude to the purifications under the Law By Ceremonial understand Typical * 1 Cor. 15. 18. * Conscience may be taken for the Heart and the intention of the Heart