drink it and receive it into our bodies yet if we neither eat the one when it 's set before us nor drink the other when put into our hands we may perish for hunger and thirst So it is spiritually with our Souls in respect of the Word preached and heard only our with outward ears and not received and receiued in our hearts by a true and lively Faith So that the cause why the Word of God being so great a Blessing and so excellent a means of Salvation doth us no good is from our selves or in our selves who either refuse it at the first or reject it after we have professed it and promised to live according to it And this refusal and rejection as they are hainous sins not onely against God's just Laws but his merciful tender of eternal life so they will prove in the end the cause of our eternal misery which shall be greater and more intolerable than those to whom the Word of God was never preached 4. Therefore it concerns us all to fear this Sin of Apostacy as we fear loss of heavenly Rest God's eternal displeasure Hell Death and eternal Punishments The Apostle by this word fear implies there is danger of falling away and if we consider there is danger and the same very great For if we look upon our weakness and the remainders of corruption the deceipt and hypocrisy of our own hearts the imperfection of our Understanding in heavenly things the inconstancy of our Wills our little experience in the wayes of God and the violence and power of temptation from the Devil and the World we may easily see that it 's a wonder if not a matter of amazement that we stand one day one hour yet when we look up towards Heaven remember our Saviour Christ reigning and victorious the power of the blessed Spirit the helps God hath given us the Promises of assistance there is great cause of hope yet this hope doth not exclude but require our diligent Care continual Watching and instant Prayers without which we cannot by which we may hope to stand Oh how should we carefully and constantly attend unto God's Word lay it up in our hearts make it the Rule of our whole life so as to obey his Commands rely upon his Promises and fear his threats and every day call to mind the Profession we have made and the Promises whereby we have engaged our selves unto our God And seeing so few do fear it 's no wonder so many fall and come short of this blessed Rest. Most men presume upon the Promise and neglect the Duty The Israellres had a Promise yet did not enter because they did not believe § 3. There follows another distinct Reason from the former and that is the great benefit that follows upon the performance of the Duty Ver. 3. For we who have believed do enter into Rest as he said As I have sworn in my Wrath c. THere is some difficulty to know the coherence of these words with the former as also of those that follow with these and amongst themselves Some say they come in upon the words immediately antecedent and give a reason why the Word not mixed with Faith did not profit nor bring the hearers into God's Rest For onely we that believe do enter that is There is no entrance but by Faith but by Faith there is Others think they propose a reason why we should fear Apostacy and be careful to persevere and that from the happy consequent and the glorious reward which follows upon perseverance in belief and that is entrance and admittance into God's Rest yet they may referr to those words of the former Chapter For some when they had heard did provoke howbeit not all that came out of Aegypt by Moses For Caleb and Joshua heard and believed and persevered for it 's said of Caleb and it 's the Testimony of God That he had another Spirit with him and followed the Lord fully Numb 14. 24. This he applyes to himself and the Hebrews to this purpose That though some did not enter because of Unbelief yet some did believe and did not provoke and so entred so likewise shall we believing do As the former might cause fear so this latter might cause hope and prove a strong motive why we should fear to fall and be very careful to persevere So that if we will sum up that which went before it 's this in brief To day if we will hear God's voice we must not harden our hearts 1. Because if we do harden them we shall be shut out of God's Rest as our rebellious and Apostate Fathers were 2. If we do not harden our hearts but believe we shall enter into God's Rest as Caleb and Joshua did It follows As he said I have sworn in my wrath if they shall enter into my Rest c. These words serve to inform us of three things 1. That the Word not believed could not profit because by Unbelief they provoked God to wrath and in his Wrath he sware they should not enter into his Rest so likewise we should fear to be guilty of Unbelief because if we prove such God in his Wrath by the like Oath will exclude us 2. That as God by this Oath did exclude none but Unbelievers and brought the Believers into Canaan so he will exclude none out of the Rest promised in the Gospel but Unbelievers and will without all fail bring us believing into our spirituall Canaan 3. That as the Oath so the Exhortation used by the Prophet David implied that as there was a Rest in the dayes of Joshua so there is another Rest besides that of the promised Land Therefore because it might be doubted what Rest either David meant or the Gospel doth promise the Apostle proceeds to prove that there is yet a Rest prepared for God's People under the Gospel and determines what Rest that is This is done by distinction for he informs us of a three-fold Rest 1. Of the Sabbath 2. Of the Land of Canaan 3. Of the eternal Rest in Heaven That it was the intention of the Apostle to manifest that there was a Rest for the People of God under the Gospel and yet that Rest was neither the first of the Sabbath nor the second of the Land of Canaan is evident by that which follows especially Ver 19 10. That it was expedient if not necessary for him to do thus is as clear because he had alledged the words of the Psalm To day if ye will hear his Voice and also said in Ver. 1. That a Promise was left us of entring into his Rest. The first is the Rest of the Sabbath in these words Although the Works were finished from the Foundation of the World And Ver. 4. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day in this wise And God did rest the seventh day from all his Works THE particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is turned here although yet it may signify and
be translated otherwise as it is by the Syriack Vatablus and the Vulgar This passage hath reference to that word especially my Rest for there is a Rest of God promised in the Gospel yet truly this is not God's Rest from his work of Creation upon the seventh day That was a Rest 1. Of God 2. That Rest wherewith he rested himself 3. It was his Rest from the works of Creation 4. It was that Rest which he rested the first seventh day of the World after he had finished the Works of Heaven and Earth For this purpose the Apostle alledgeth the words of Moses Gen. 2. 1 2 3. This Rest indeed might signify the perpetual Rest of Men and Angels when they have finished their work of Obedience and God might institute the Sabbath for this end Yet though this was a Rest of God yet it was not the Rest implyed in the Psalm not that which is promised in the Gospel That it was not he makes plain Ver. 5. And in this place again If ye shall enter into my Rest. THat is there is a second Rest long after promised to Israel and it is that which he gave them in the Land of Canaan this the Psalmist intends in these words As I sware in my wrath if they shall enter into my Rest yet this is not that which is promised in the Gospel This he makes evident by the words following Ver. 6. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein and they to whom it was first preached entred not in because of Unbelief Ver. 7. Again he limiteth a certain day saying in David To day after so long a time as it is said To day if ye will hear his Voice harden not your hearts Ver. 8. For if Jesus had given them Rest then would he not afterward have spoken of another Rest. THis part of the Chapter is more easily understood if we reduce it to Propositions which are these 1. That though there was a Rest of the Land of Canaan whereinto some must enter and did enter yet a certain day is limited and appointed by David of entring into another Rest. 2. This day was appointed long after the entrance of Israel into the Land of Canaan 3. The words whereby another day of another Rest is appointed and promised are these To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts 4. If Jesus or Joshua had brought Israel into that Rest which David speaks of there had been no need of speaking of and promising another Rest so long after The Apostle infers from all this that there is a Rest yet remaining for the People of God though it be neither the Rest of God from the Works of Creation nor the Rest in the Land of Canaan For the Scriptures mention but three Rests or Sabbatisms the first of Creation the second of Canaan the third of Heaven and this last is that which is meant by the Psalmist and promised in the Gospel And he further adds that this Rest had some affinity with that of Canaan and with that of God's Sabbath For Ver. 10. He that is entred into his Rest hath ceased from his own Works as God did from his VVHich words may be understood two wayes 1. Of the Title and Right to enter into this Rest or 2. Of the actual enjoyment and full possession In the former respect it 's certain that no Man can have so much as a Title or any hope of this eternal Rest till he cease from and forsake his own Works of Sin by true Repentance In the latter respect which is more probably intended no Man can actually enjoy the Rest of Heaven untill by perseverance he hath finished all his Work of Evangelical Obedience as God did not keep his Sabbath till he had fully finished all his works of Creation This is a Doctrine full of sweet and heavenly Comfort That Christ hath purchased an eternal glorious Sabbath God hath promised it in the Gospel and we who by the Sanctification of the Spirit persevere in our Christian Profession and Practice shall certainly enjoy it fully and for ever All men desire Rest yet it 's not to be found on Earth but in Heaven not in the Creature but in God Happy they which know the Excellency and Glory of this Rest and with all diligence and constancy use the means to attain it by following the Doctrine of the great Prophet Jesus Christ unto the end § 4. Here comes in the Exhortation to the great Duty in Ver. 11. Let us labour therefore to enter into that Rest lest any man fall after the same Example of Unbelief THese words may be considered 1. In their Coherence 2. In themselves 1. The Coherence is implyed in the Particle and Illative Conjunction therefore which informeth us that this Exhortation is a Conclusion inferred upon some antecedent Premisses and that Proposition of the Apostle We which have believed do enter into Rest Ver. 3. Which 1. Implies that there is a Rest for us under the Gospel 2. Affirms that they who believe do enter The former he manifests at large that there is a Rest besides that of Creation and that of the Land of Canaan remaining for the People of God The latter is plain out of the Psalm and he takes it for granted that such as hear and believe shall enter and onely such have admission Hence he inferrs That if there be an eternal glorious Rest prepared and promised to be enjoyed by Believers then it 's our Duty to labour to enter This is the Connexion The Exhortation considered in it self with the rest of the Chapter to the end doth 1. Propose the Duty 2. Urge the performance upon effectual Reasons The Duty is to labour to enter into that Rest where we have A Rest. Entring into it Labouring to enter What the Rest is you have heard before The entrance is to acquire and attain the actual possession and full enjoyment and that it may be considered 1. As a Duty of man and then it is the use of all means ordained of God for the attainment 2. As a gift and gracious Work of God admitting and receiving us unto the enjoyment yet because man should not mistake by thinking it an easie matter to enter at his will and pleasure he here implies that it 's a work of labour of difficulty of striving it 's an entring in at the strait Gate and we must labour use all our power and put our strength to the utmost For this is the greatest business which we have to do in this Life and our will must be most firmly resolved and bent upon it our understanding intended and as it were set upon the rack in all the operations thereof and our executive power exercised to the utmost degree For out wit will and power and all the faculties of the Soul and Body must be taken up continually in this work as the most necessary and excellent of all others The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
World in this respect they were Pilgrims and Strangers politically Besides by the Light of Faith they knew this Earth to be no place of perpetual abode but only made and appointed by God as an habitation for a little time through which we must only pass and out of which after a little stay remove into a more certain continuing mansion From all this we understand that on Earth they were Pilgrims and Strangers every way For many are either natural or naturalized Subjects of some earthly Common-wealth and yet knowing by Faith that this is not their resting place and continually expecting a removal are spiritually considered as Strangers and Pilgrims and are such indeed That these Worthies were such on Earth is evident and as they were such so they openly and plainly professed it and that by their words For Jacob calls the dayes of his Life the dayes of the years of his Pilgrimage Gen. 47. 9. So David confesseth before God in this manner We are Strangers before thee and Sojourners as were all our Fathers and he gives the Reason to be this Our dayes on Earth are as a Shadow and there is none abiding 1 Chron. 29. 15. They did profess this not only by their Words but their Works and the whole Course of their lives For they were men above the World who clearly apprehending the Vanity Uncertainty and Misery thereof did judg it far below them as base and unworthy the seeking They knew the End of their Creation and Regeneration was far more noble And this should be the mind of all the Saints of God Therefore Peter exhorts the Christians to whom he wrote as Pilgrims and Strangers to abstain from fleshly Lusts 1 Pet. 2. 11. For We must not love the World nor the things that are in the World 1 Joh. 2. 15. This is the thing they did express 2. The thing which by this Confession they did plainly imply is That they sought a Country There is no man in the World but if he follow the Light of Reason much more if he be guided by the Light of Grace but will seek a place and an estate of Rest wherein he may finally quiet his mind The Land of Canaan was called God's Rest because therein he gave Rest unto Israel But this was but a temporal and earthly Rest as the place of any Man's settled Inheritance may be It was a Type of an eternal Rest as their Sabbath was the Type of an eternal Sabbath Such a Country such a Rest these Saints did seek No man seeks that which he hath and enjoyeth therefore this word sought implies that they were not possessed of this Country they were as yet only Seekers Yet Seekers they were and aimed at some better thing which they did most of all desire And they were resolved to seek till they should find and never rest till they attained their final Rest. Such Seekers we should all be and continue to be such untill we reach our heavenly Mansion He that takes up his Rest in the World or any earthly thing and seeks no further is of a base Spirit and unworthy of an Immortal Soul § 16. If they sought a Country it must be earthly or heavenly Earthly it was not therefore heavenly it must be This we learn from Ver. 15. And truly if they had been mindful of that Country from whence they came out they might have had opportunity to have returned Ver. 16. But now they desire a better Country that is an heavenly Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for He hath prepared for them a City IN these words we find two more Propositions concerning the Duty 1. They sought not an Earthly 2. They desired a Heavenly Country The first we may easily understand to be the Substance of Ver. 15. The second is the express words of the 16. 1. That they sought not an earthly Country is implyed two wayes 1. In that they sought not that out of which they came 2. By Opposition for they sought an heavenly If they had sought any earthly Country in the World surely they would have sought their own native Soil And this is very likely For what place doth take or affect us more than that of our Birth Inheritance Kindred This Affection is naturally ingrafted in the heart of Man Yet if it be said Perhaps they had no opportunity to return He answers They had and yet never did return for they were not so mindful of it nor so affected with it This informs us that as they voluntarily left their own Country at the first so they continued their Absence and so their Pilgrimage voluntarily and they were constantly obedient to the heavenly Call From hence we learn that our Obedience must be willing or else it 's no Obedience They were and we must be content to be Pilgrims for a while in this World To return was God's Prohibition implied in God's Command to come out of it and both the leaving of it and the continuance in a strange Country out of a willing heart as it was acceptable to God so it was part of their Self-denial We must follow their Example God calls us out of the World as he did Israel out of Aegypt and Judah out of Babylon we must not only come out and that willingly but we must willingly resolve never to return again We must not with Lot's Wife look back at Sodom after that God hath delivered us out of it lest God be offended with us and severely punish us for if we return again to the World our latter end will be worse than the beginning 2. They desired an heavenly Country Here you must observe 1. That this Country is the same which in Ver. 10. was called a City and here it 's said to be heavenly which before was said to have Foundations and that which here is affirmed to be prepared by God is there affirmed to be built and made by God So that a City that hath Foundations which is made and built by God and an heavenly Country prepared by God are the same 2. Strangers Pilgrims and Sojourners are taken for the same though by Writers of Politicks they may be distinguished 3. That which before they looked for here they are said to seek and desire for they desired hoped for and sought a stable firm heavenly City and Country built made prepared by God To do thus was their Obedience and Performance of that Duty which God required at their hands This Country or City is said to be Heavenly not only to distinguish it from all earthly Countries Cities Societies Common-wealths but also to signify the Original of it as being from Heaven and also the Excellency of it for as high as Heaven is above the Earth so excellent is this Country and City above the most pleasant Countries and most glorious Cities in the World By this also we understand that it is spiritual and invisible safe and of eternal continuance Besides Heaven is the place
of Man but of God who is Truth it self 3. That the thing testified was firm certain and most stable The Apostle alledgeth the Prophet who was divinely inspired and one of the sacred and Canonical Writers and acknowledged by the Jews to be such so that they could not any wayes except against his Testimony as being not only divine but as alledged by him very plain and pertinent and effectual to prove the Point intended And it was the more effectual and undeniable because this Prophet was one of the Levitical Priests and delivered this Prophecy whilst that first Covenant was in power and force Yet another thing is further to be observed That the Apostle follows the Translation of the Septuagâ—nt except in one word and though it seem to differ from the Hebrew yet it doth not For the sense both of the Hebrew Original and Greek Version is the same That wherein they seem to differ most is that passage in the latter end of the ninth Verse and I regarded them not It is strange that our English Translators should here follow the Greek and in Jeremy 31. 32. the Hebrew as they conceived for thus they turn it there although I was an Husband â—nto them But to reconcile both the places we may note 1. That the Septuagint's Alexandrian Version is rather Paraphrastical than wording 2. That they knew the force and signification of the Hebrew words better than we do 3. That though our Lexicons give no such signification to the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to neglect or not regard yet it may signify so and they knew it and did so translate it to make the sense more perâ—picuous as they do in many other places 4. We find that Baal din signifies an Adversary in judgment and that Baal aph is One that is angry displeased and much offended 5. The words Though I had been a Husband to them may signify by a Meâ—onymy of the Cause for the Effect to neglect reject and cast off Because their breach of Covenant was aggravated very much in that God had been an Husband to them yet they forsook him and that was the Cause why he neglected them and thus some understand the place But to enter upon the words which we find Jer. 31. 31 32 33 34. Behold the dayes come c. The Adverb Behold is often used as in other Authors so in the Scriptures and for the most part is a Note of attention especially when the matter is rare strange or excellent And though every part of God's Word requires our attention yet some deserve an higher degree of consideration For being of special and great concernment and sometimes extraordinary that cannot be so effectual except we in a special and extraordinary manner attend unto them The word is Metaphorical and signifies an Act of our Eye and visive faculty but here by similitude an Act of the Understanding exercising both the apprehensive and judicial Power thereof And this new Covenant was a special Object of both The matter of the Text alledged is a Covenant described from 1. The parties confederating 2. The time 3. The quality 4. The promises 1. The parties confederating were God on one side and the House of Israel and Judah on the other God was the first and principal party who contrived the Covenant and resolved upon it and by the Prophet fore-told it and all these were Acts of his free Grace and abundant Love to sinful Man intending to save him The parties with whom he would make it was the House of Israel and Judah yet because there was Israel according to the Flesh and according to the Spirit and a Jew who was such outwardly and a Jew who was such inwardly therefore it doth not exclude the Gentile and it takes in not only the Proselyte but others too Yet the Houses of Israel and Judah have the preheminence and the Jew must first be called and the Covenant must first be tendred â—nto him And this Prophecy may be understood of them in a more special manner with reference to their Conversion in the latter times 2. The time when God would make it was then to come and when the Apostle wrote to these Hebrâ—ws it was past For God knew his own mind and purpose and signifies the same by the Prophet long before the Execution of the Decree for known to God from the beginning are all his Works yet though he know them he doth not instantly effect them But he knows the best times and fittest seasons and when they once come his almighty executive Power doth issue out and effect them Yet he may signify before hand what he will do in the times to come as here he did And there may be special Reasons moving him so to do as 1. To signify the Perfection of his Knowledge 2. To comfort his People in their great Afflictions by letting them know what good he intends them in future times Yet there might be some special reasons of this particular Prediction as 1. To teach them and their Posterity the weakness and imperfection of the former Covenant lest they should depend upon it for Justification and eternal Life 2. By this Prophecy to convince in future times the unbelieving Jews and confirm these believing Hebrews and also to prove the excellency of Christ's Priest-hood which is the use the Apostle makes of it in this place 3. The quality it was new and different from the former In that it was new it implies c. 1. That there was an Old Covenant 2. That the old was the former this the latter in Order of time 3. Because new things are better than old and sometimes far better in which respect Novum est eximium therefore heâ— here may signify a more excellent Covenant and so this was far more excellent than the former 4. New Covenant is another Covenant and different from the former and it differs not only accidentally but essentially Which difference is expressed Ver. 9. Not according to the Covenant which I made with their Fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the Land of Aegypt because they continued not in my Covenant and I regarded them not saith the Lord. § 9. VVHere many things are observable as 1. That the former Covenant was made with their Fathers 2. It was made when he brought them out of Aegypt 3. They continued not in that Covenant 4. He therefore rejected them 5. This new Covenant is not according to that 6. All this saith the Lord. 1. The first Proposition signifies the parties with whom God made this Covenant they were their Fathers and Ancestors in opposition to their Posterity and Children with whom he would make this Covenant These Fathers in particular were those who sojourned in Aegypt 430 years after the Promise was made to Abraham which informs us that it was different both from the Promise made before and the Gospel and this new Covenant revealed so long after 2.