and priviledges of it But in the degrees hereof some may and do very much excell others And we may observe 1. There are and ever were different degrees of persons in the Church as unto the saving knowledge of God Hence is that distribution of them into Fathers Young men and Children 1 John 2. 13 14. All have not one measure all arrive not to the same stature but yet as to the ends of the Covenant and the duties required of them in their walk before God they that have most have nothing over nothing to spare and they that have least shall have no lack Every ones duty it is to be content with what he receives and to improve it unto the uttermost 2. Where there is not some degree of saving knowledge there no interest in the New Covenant can be pretended Secondly The thing promised is the knowledge of God They shall all know me No duty is more frequently commanded than this is nor any grace more frequently promised See Deut. 30. 6. Jer. 24. 7. Ezek. 11. 19. Chap. 36. 26 27. For it is the foundation of all other duties of obedience and of all communion with God in them All graces as unto their exercise as Faith Love and Hope are founded therein And the woful want of it which is visible in the world is an evidence how little there is of true Evangelical Obedience among the generality of them that are called Christians And two things may be considered in this Promise 1 The object or what is to be known 2 The knowledge itself of what kind and nature it is The first is God himself They shall know me saith the Lord. And it is so not absolutely but as unto some especial Revelation of himself For there is a knowledge of God as God by the light of nature This is not here intended nor is it the subject of any gracious promise but is common unto all men There was moreover a knowledge of God by Revelation under the Old Covenant but attended with grear obscurity in sundry things of the highest importance Wherefore there is something farther intended as is evident from the Antithesis between the two states herein declared In brief it is the knowledge of him as revealed in Jesus Christ under the New Testament To shew what is contained herein doctrinally were to go over the principal Articles of our Faith as declared in the Gospel The sum is to know the Lord is to know God as he is in Christ personally as he will be unto us in Christ graciously what he requires of us and accepts in us through the Beloved In all these things notwithstanding all their teachings and diligence therein the Church was greatly in the dark under the Old Testament But they are all of them more clearly revealed in the Gospel 2. The knowledge of these things is that which is promised For notwithstanding the clear revelation of them we abide in our selves unable to discern them and receive them For such a spiritual knowledge is intended as whereby the mind is renewed being accompanied with Faith and Love in the heart This is that knowledge which is promised in the New Covenant and which shall be wrought in all them who are interested therein And we may observe 1. The full and clear declaration of God as he is to be known of us in this life is a priviledge reserved for and belonging unto the days of the New Testament Before it was not made and more than is now made is not to be expected in this world And the reason hereof is because it was made by Christ. See the Exposition on Chap. 1. v. 1 2. 2. To know God as he is revealed in Christ is the highest priviledge whereof in this life we can be made partakers For this is life eternal that we may know the Father the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent John 17. 3. 3. Persons destitute of this saving knowledge are utter strangers unto the Covenant of Grace For this is a principal promise and effect of it wherever it doth take place VER XII For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more THis is the great fundamental Promise and Grace of the New Covenant For though it be last expressed yet in order of nature it precedeth the other mercies and priviledges mentioned and is the foundation of the collation or communication of them unto us This the causal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby the Apostle rendereth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Prophet doth demonstrate What I have spoken faith the Lord shall be accomplished For I will be merciful c. without which there could be no participation of the other things mentioned Wherefore not only an addition of new grace and mercy is expressed in these words but a reason also is rendered why or on what grounds he would bestow on them those other mercies The House of Israel and Judah with whom this Covenant was made in the first place and who are spoken of as Representatives of all others who are taken into it and who thereon become the Israel of God were such as had broken and disannulled Gods former Covenant by their disobedience which my Covenant they brake Nor is there any mention of any other qualification whereby they should be prepared for or disposed unto an entrance into this New Covenant Wherefore the first thing in order of nature that is to be done unto this end is the free pardon of sin Without a supposition hereof no other mercy can they be made partakers of For whilest they continue under the guilt of sin they are also under the curse Wherefore a reason is here rendred and that the onely reason why God will give unto them the other blessings mentioned For I will be merciful Free and sovereign undeserved grace in the pardon of sin is the original spring and foundation of all Covenant mercies and blessings Hereby and hereby alone is the glory of God and the safety of the Church provided for And those who like not Gods Covenant on those terms as none do by nature will eternally fall short of the grace of it Hereby all glorying and all boasting in our selves is excluded which was that which God aimed at in the contrivance and establishment of this Covenant Rom. 3. 27. 1 Cor. 1. 29 30 31. For this could not be if the fundamental grace of it did depend on any condition or qualification in our selves If we let go the free pardon of sin without respect unto any thing in those that receive it we renounce the Gospel Pardon of sin is not merited by antecedent duties but is the strongest obligation unto future duties He that will not receive pardon unless he can one way or other deserve it or make himself meet for it or pretends to have received it and finds not himself obliged unto universal obedience by it neither is nor shall
be partaker of it In the Promise itself we may consider 1 Who it is made unto 2 What it is that is promised The first is expressed in the Pronoun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their three times repeated All those absolutely and only those with whom God makes this Covenant are intended Those whose sins are not pardoned do in no sense partake of this Covenant it is not made with them For this is the Covenant that God makes with them that he will be merciful unto their sins that is unto them in the pardon of them Some speak of an universal conditional Covenant made with all Mankind If there be any such thing it is not that here intended For they are all actually pardoned with whom this Covenant is made And the indefinite declaration of the nature and terms of the Covenant is not the making of a Covenant with any And what should be the condition of this grace here promised of the pardon of sin It is say they that men repent and believe and turn to God and yield obedience unto the Gospel If so then men must do all these things before they receive the remission of sins yes Then must they do them whilest they are under the Law and the curse of it for so are all men whose sins are not pardoned This is to make obedience unto the Law and that to be performed by men whilest under the curse of it to be the condition of Gospel-mercy which is to overthrow both the Law and Gospel But then on the other hand it will follow they say that men are pardoned before they do believe which is expresly contrary unto the Scripture And 1 The communication and donation of faith unto us is an effect of the same grace whereby our sins are pardoned and they are both bestowed on us by virtue of the same Covenant 2 The application of pardoning mercy unto our souls is in order of nature consequent unto believing but in time they go together 3 Faith is not required unto the procuring of the pardon of our sins but unto the receiving of it That they may receive the remission of sins But that which we shall observe from hence is That The New Covenant is made with them alone who effectually and eventually are made partakers of the grace of it This is my Covenant that I will make with them I will be merciful unto their unrighteousness c. Those with whom the Old Covenant was made were all of them actual Partakers of the benefits of it and if they are not so with whom the New is made it comes short of the Old in efficacy and may be utterly frustrate Neither doth the indefinite Proposal of the terms of the Covenant prove that the Covenant is made with them or any who enjoy not the benefits of it Indeed this is the excellency of this Covenant and so it is here declared that it doth effectually communicate all the grace and mercy contained in it unto all and every one with whom it is made whoever it is made withall his sins are pardoned Secondly The subject matter of this Promise is the pardon of sin And that which we have to consider for the exposition of the words is 1 What is meant by sins 2 What by the pardon of them 3 What is the reason of the peculiar expression in this place Sin is spoken of with respect unto its guilt especially so is it the object of mercy and grace Guilt is the desert of punishment or the obligation of the sinner unto punishment by and according unto the sentence of the Law Pardon is the dissolution of that obligation Sin is here expressed by three terms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unrighteousness sin and transgression as we render the words In the Prophet there is only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is wanting But they are elsewhere all three used where mention is made of the pardon of sin or the causes of it As 1 in the declaration of the Name of God with respect thereunto Exod. 34. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pardoning iniquity transgression and sin 2 In the confession of sin for the removal of it by the expiatory Sacrifice Lev. 16. 21. Aaron shall confess over him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all their iniquities all their transgressions in all their sins 3 In the expression of the forgiveness of sin in justification Psal. 32. 1 2. Wherefore the Apostle might justly make up the expression and general enumeration of sins here defective in the Prophet seeing it is elsewhere so constantly used to the same purpose and on the like occasion Nor are those terms needlesly multiplied but sundry things we are taught thereby As 1 That those whom God graciously takes into Covenant are many of them antecedently obnoxious unto all sorts of sins 2 That in the grace of the Covenant there is mercy provided for the pardon of them all even of them from which they could not be justified by the Law of Moses Acts 13. 42. And that 3 Therefore none should be discouraged from resting on the faithfulness of God in this Covenant who are invited unto a compliance therewith But there is yet more intended in the use of these words For they do distinctly express all those respects of sin in general by which the Conscience of a sinner is affected burdened and terrified as also whereon the equity of the curse and punishment for sin doth depend The first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unrighteousness This is usually taken for sins against the second Table or the transgression of that rule of righteousness amongst men which is given by the Moral Law But here as in many other places it expresseth a general affection of sin with respect unto God A thing unequal and unrighteous it is that man should sin against God his Sovereign Ruler and Benefactor As God is the Supreme Lord and Governor of all as he is our onely Benefactor and Rewarder as all his laws and ways towards us are just and equal the first notion of Righteousness in us is the rendering unto God what is due unto him that is universal Obedience unto all his Commands Righteousness towards man is but a branch springing from this root and where this is not there is no Righteousness amongst men whatever is pretended If we give not unto God the things that are Gods it will not avail us to give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars nor unto other men what is their own And this is the first consideration of sin that renders the sinner obnoxious unto punishment and manifests the equity of the sanction of the Law It is an unrighteous thing Herewith the Conscience of the sinner is affected if he be convinced of sin in a due manner The original perfection of his nature consisted in this Righteousness towards God by rendering his due unto him in a way of obedience This is overthrown by sin which is therefore both shameful and ruinous which distresseth
the Conscience when awaken'd by Conviction The second is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is properly a missing of an erring from that end and scope which it is our duty to aim at There is a certain end for which we were made and a certain rule proper unto us whereby we may attain it And this end being our onely blessedness it is our interest as it was in the principles of our natures to be always in a tendency towards it This is the glory of God and our eternal salvation in the enjoyment of him Thereunto the Law of God is a perfect Guide To sin therefore is to forsake that Rule and to forgo therein our aim at that end It is to place self and the world as our end in the place of God and his glory and to take the imaginations of our hearts for our Rule Wherefore the perverse folly that is in sin in wandering away from the chiefest good as our end and the best guide as our rule embracing the greatest evils in their stead is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendering punishment righteous and filling the sinner with shame and fear 3. There is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We have no one word in our language properly to express the sense hereof nor is there so in the Latine We render it Transgression of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a lawless person whom the Hebrews call a Son of Belial one who owns no yoke nor rule And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a voluntary unconformity unto the Law Herein the formal nature of sin consists as the Apostle tells us 1 Joh. 3. 4. And this is that which in the first place passeth on the Conscience of a sinner Wherefore as all sorts of particular sins are included in these multiplied names of sin so the general nature of sin in all its causes and respects terrifying the sinner and manifesting the righteousness of the Curse of the Law are declared and represented by them And we may learn 1. That the aggravations of Sin are great and many which the Consciences of convinced Sinners ought to have regard unto 2. There is grace and mercy in the New Covenant provided for all sorts of sins and all aggravations of them if they be received in a due manner 3. Aggravations of Sin do glorifie grace in pardon Therefore doth God here so express them that he may declare the glory of his grace in their remission 4. We cannot understand aright the glory and excellency of pardoning mercy unless we are convinced of the greatness and vileness of our sins in all their aggravations Secondly That which is promised with respect unto these sins is two ways expressed 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will be merciful 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will remember no more It is pardon of sin that is intended in both these expressions the one respecting the cause of it the other its perfection and assurance And two things are considerable in the pardon of sin 1 A respect unto the Mediator of the Covenant and the propitiation for sin made by him Without this there can be no remission nor is any promised 2 The dissolution of the obligation of the Law binding over the guilty sinner unto punishment These are the essential parts of Evangelical Pardon and respect is had in these words unto them both 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate merciful is propitious gracious through a propitiation But the Lord Christ is the onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or propitiation under the New Testament Rom. 3. 25. 1 John 2. 2. And he died 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to propitiate God for sin to render him propitious unto sinners Heb. 2. 17. in him alone God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 merciful unto our sins 2. The Law with the sanction of it was the means appointed of God to bring sin unto a judicial remembrance and tryal Wherefore the dissolution of the obligation of the Law unto punishment which is an Act of God the Supreme Rector and Judge of all belongeth unto the pardon of sin This is variously expressed in the Scripture here by remembring sin no more The Assertion whereof is fortified by a double Negative Sin shall never be called legally to remembrance But the whole Doctrine of the Pardon of Sin I have so largely handled in the Exposition of Psalm 130. that I must not here again reassume the same Argument VER XIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 HAving in the foregoing Verses proved in general the insufficiency of the Old Covenant the necessity of the New the difference between the one and the other with the preference of the later above the former in all confirming the excellency of the Priesthood of Christ above that of Aaron In this last Verse of the Chapter he maketh an especial inference from one word in the Prophetical Testimony wherein the main truth which he endeavoured to confirm with respect unto these Hebrews was asserted It was their persuasion that of what sort soever this promised Covenant should be yet the former was still to continue in force obliging the Church unto all the Institutions of Worship thereunto appertaining Hereon depended the main Controversie that the Apostle had with them For he knew that this persuasion was destructive to the Faith of the Gospel and would if pertinaciously adhered unto prove ruinous unto their own Souls Wherefore the contrary hereunto or the total cessation of the first Covenant he presseth on them with all sorts of Arguments as from the nature use and end of it from its insufficiency to consecrate or make perfect the state of the Church from the various Prefigurations and certain Predictions of the introduction of another Covenant Priesthood and Ordinances of Worship which were better than those that belonged unto it and inconsistent with them with many other cogent evidences to the same purpose Here he fixeth on a new argument in particular to prove the necessity and certainty of its abolition and hereby according unto his wonted manner he makes a transition unto his following discourses wherein he proves the same truth from the distinct consideration of the use and end of the Institutions Ordinances and Sacrifices belonging unto that Covenant This he pursues unto the 24 ver of the Tenth Chapter and so returns unto the paraenetical part of the Epistle making due applications of what he had now fully evinced In that he saith a new Covenant he hath made the first old Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away A double Argument the Apostle here maketh use of 1 From a special word or testimony 2 From a general Maxim of truth in all kinds In the former we may consider 1 The Testimony he makes use of 2 The Inference unto his own purpose which he makes from it 1. The first consisteth in the Adjunct of this other promised Covenant It is by God himself called New 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in
Christ reconciling the world unto himself And to this end the things ensuing may be observed 1. The Spring the Life and Soul of all this service was the Decalogue the ten words written in Tables of stone called the Tables of the Covenant This is the eternal unalterable rule of our Relation unto God as rational creatures capable of moral obedience and eternal rewards Hereunto all this service related as prefiguring the way whereby the Church might be freed from the guilt of its transgressions and obtain the accomplishment of it in them and for them For 1. It was given and prescribed unto the People and by them accepted as the Terms of Gods Covenant before any of these things were revealed or appointed Deut. 5. 27. Wherefore all these following institutions did only manifest how that Covenant should be complyed withal and fulfilled 2. It was written in Tables of stone and those renewed after they were broken before any of these things were prepared or erected Exod. 34. 1. God by the occasional breaking of the first Tables on the sin of the People declared that there was no keeping no fullfiling of that Covenant before the Provision made in these Ordinances was granted unto the People 3. The Ark was made and appointed for no other end but to preserve and keep these Tables of the Covenant or Testimony of God Exod. 25. 16. And it was hereon the great token and Pledge of the presence of God among the People wherein his glory dwelt among them So the wife of Phinehas the Priest made the dying confession of her faith she said the Glory is departed from Israel for the Ark of God is taken 1 Sam. 4. 22. Wherefore 4. All other things the whole Tabernacle with all the furniture Utensils and services of it were made and appointed to minister unto the Ark and when the Ark was removed from them they were of no use nor signification Wherefore when it was absent from the Tabernacle all the House of Israel lamented after the Lord 1 Sam. 7. 2. For the remaining Tabernacle was no longer unto them a Pledge of his presence And therefore when Solomon afterwards had finished all the Glorious work of the Temple with all that belonged unto it he assembled all the Elders of Israel and all the Heads of the Tribes the chief of the Fathers of the Children of Israel to bring the Ark of the Covenant into its place in the Temple 1. Kings 8. 1 2 3 4. Before this was done all that glorious and costly structure was of no sacred use This order of things doth sufficiently evidence that the Spring of all these services lay in the Tables of the Covenant 2. This Law as unto the substance of it was the only Law of creation the rule of the first Covenant of works For it contained the summe and substance of that obedience which is due unto God from all rational creatures made in his Image and nothing else It was the whole of what God designed in our creation unto his own Glory and our everlasting Blessedness What was in the Tables of stone was nothing but a transcript of what was written in the heart of man originally and which is returned thither again by the Grace of the new Covenant Ier. 32. 35. 2 Cor. 3. 3. 3. Although this Law as a Covenant was broken and disanulled by the entrance of sin and became insufficient as unto its first ends of the Justification and Salvation of the Church thereby Rom. 8. 3. Yet as a Law and Rule of obedience it was never disanulled nor would God suffer it to be Yea one principal design of God in Christ was that it might be fulfilled and established Matt. 5. 17 18. Rom. 3. 31. For to reject this Law or to abrogate it had been for God to have laid aside that Glory of his Holiness and Righteousness which in his infinite wisdom he designed therein Hence after it was again broken by the People as a Covenant he wrote it a second time himself in Tables of stone and caused it to be safely kept in the Ark as his perpetual Testimony That therefore which he taught the Church by in all this in the first place was that this Law was to be fulfilled and accomplished or they could have no advantage of or benefit by the Covenant 4. This Law was given unto the People with great dread and terrour Hereby were they taught and did learn that they were no way able of themselves to answer or stand before the holiness of God therein Hereon they desired that on the account thereof they might not appear immediately in the presence of God but that they might have a Mediator to transact all things between God and them Deut. 5. 22 23 24 25. 5. God himself by all ways declared that if he should deal with the People according unto the Tenor and Rigor of this Law they could not stand before Him Wherefore on all occasions he calls them to place their confidence not in their own Obedience thereunto but in his Mercy and Grace And that this was their Faith themselves professed on all occasions See Psal. 130. 3 4. Psal. 142. 3. 6. All this God instructed them in by those mystical Vessels of the most Holy Place For after the Tables were put into the Ark as under his Eye and in his presence he ordained that it should be covered with the Mercy-seat For hereby he did declare both that the Law was to be kept and fulfilled and yet that mercy should be extended unto them 7. This great mystery he instructed them in three ways 1. In that the Covering of the Ark was a Propitiatory a Mercy-Seat and that its use was to cover the Law in the Presence of God This was a great Instruction For if God should mark Iniquities according unto the Law who should stand 2. In that the Blood of Atonement for sin was brought into the Holy Place and sprinkled on the Mercy-seat Levit. 16. 14. And this was done seven times to denote the Perfection of the Reconciliation that was made And herein were they also taught that the covering of the Law by the Mercy-seat so as that Mercy and Pardon might be granted notwithstanding the sentence and curse of the Law was from the Atonement made for sin by the expiatory Sacrifice 3. By the cloud of Incense that covered both Ark and Mercy-seat testifying that God received from thence a savour of Rest Levit. 16. 13. 8. The Cherubims or Angels under that denomination were the Ministers of God in executing the curse and Punishment on man when after his sin he was driven out of the Garden of God Gen. 3. 24. Hence ensued a fear and dread of Angels on all mankind which they abused unto manifold superstitions But now to testifie that all things in Heaven and Earth should be reconciled and brought under one Head Ephes. 1. 10. There was a representation of their Ministry in this great mystery of the Law and
that Death was the Wages of Sin For although there was allowed in them a Commutation that the Sinner himself should not dye but the Beast that was Sacrificed in his stead which belonged unto their Second end of leading unto Christ yet they all testified unto that Sacred Truth that it is the Judgment of God that they who commit Sin are worthy of Death And this was as the whole Law an Ordinance of God to deterr Men from Sin and so put bounds unto Transgressions For when God passed by Sin with a kind of Connivance winking at the Ignorance of Men in their iniquities not giving them continual warnings of their Guilt and the consequents thereof in Death the World was filled and covered with a Deluge of Impieties Men saw not Judgment speedily executed nor any Tokens or Indications that so it would be therefore was their Heart wholly set in them to do Evil. But God dealt not thus with the Church He let no Sin pass without a Representation of his displeasure against it though mixed with Mercy in a direction unto the Relief against it in the Blood of the Sacrifice And therefore he did not only appoint these Sacrifices on all the especial occasions of such Sins and Uncleanness as the Consciences of particular Sinners were pressed with a sense of but also once a year there was gathered up a Remembrance of all the Sins Iniquities and Transgressions of the whole Congregation Levit. 16. 2. They were added as the Teaching of a School-master to lead unto Christ. By them was the Church taught and directed to look continually unto and after that Sacrifice which alone could really purge and take away all Iniquity For God appointed no Sacrifices until after the Promise of sending the Seed of the Woman to break the Head of the Serpent In his so doing was his own Heel to be bruised in the suffering of his Humane Nature which he offered in Sacrifice unto God which these Sacrifices did represent Wherefore the Church knowing that these Sacrifices did call Sin to remembrance representing the displeasure of God against Sin which was their First end and that although there was an Intimation of Grace and Mercy in them by the commutation and substitution which they allowed yet that they could not of themselves take away Sin it made them the more earnestly and with longing desires look after him and his Sacrifice who should perfectly take away Sin and make peace with God wherein the principal exercise of Grace under the Old Testament did consist 3. As unto their especial nature they were added as the great instruction in the way and manner whereby Sin was to be taken away For although this arose originally from Gods meer Grace and Mercy yet was it not to be executed and accomplished by Soveraign Grace and Power alone Such a taking away of Sin would have been inconsistent with his Truth Holiness and Righteous Government of Mankind as I have elsewhere at large demonstrated It must be done by the Interposition of a Ransome and Attonement by the substitution of one who was no Sinner in the room of Sinners to make satisfaction unto the Law and Justice of God for Sin Hereby they became the principal direction of the Faith of the Saints under the Old Testament and the means whereby they acted it on the original promise of their Recovery from Apostasie These things do evidently express the Wisdom of God in their Institution although of themselves they could not take away Sin And those by whom these ends of them are denyed as they are by the Jews and Socinians can give no account of any end of them which should answer the Wisdom Grace and Holiness of God This Objection being removed I shall proceed unto the Exposition of the words in particular And there are Four things in them as a Negative Proposition 1. The Illative Conjunction declaring its respects unto what went before 2. The subject matter spoken of The Blood of Bulls and Goats 3. What is denyed concerning it it could not take away Sin 4. The Modification of this Negative Proposition it was impossible they should do so 1. The Illative Conjunction For declares what is spoken to be introduced in the Proof and Confirmation of what was before affirmed And it is the closing Argument against the Imperfection and Impotency of the Old Covenant the Law Priesthood and Sacrifices of it which the Apostle maketh use of And indeed it is comprehensive of all that he had before insisted on yea it is the Foundation of all his other Reasonings unto this purpose For if in the Nature of the thing it self it was impossible that the Sacrifices consisting of the Blood of Rulls and Goats should take away Sin then however whensoever and by whomsoever they were offered this effect could not be produced by them Wherefore in these words the Apostle puts a Close unto his Argument and reassumes it no more in this Epistle but only Once or Twice makes mention of it in the way of an Illustration to set forth the excellency of the Sacrifice of Christ as v. 11. of this Chapter and Chap. 13. 10 11 12. 2. The subject spoken of is the Blood of Bulls and Goats The reason why the Apostle expresseth them by Bulls and Goats which were Calves and Kids of the Goats hath been declared on Chap. 9. ver 11 12. And some things must be observed conceruing this Description of the Old Sacrifices 1. That he makes mention of the Blood of the Sacrifices only whereas in many of them the whole Bodies were offered and the Fat of them all was burned on the Altar And thus he doth for the ensuing Reasons 1. Because it was the Blood alone whereby Attonement was made for Sin and Sinners The Fat was burned with Incense only to shew that it was accepted as a sweet savour with God 2. Because he had respect principally unto the Anniversary Sacrifice unto the Consummation whereof and Attonement thereby the carrying the Blood into the Holy Place did belong 3. Because Life Natural is in an especial manner in the Blood which signified that Attonement was to be made by Death and that by the effusion of Blood as it was in the Sacrifice of Christ. See Levit. 17. 11 12. And in the shedding of it there was an Indication of the Desert of Sin in the Offerer 2. He recalls them by this Expression of their Sacrifices the Blood of Bulls and Goats unto a due consideration of what effect might be produced by them They were Accompanied with great Solemnity and Pomp of Ceremony in their Celebration Hence arose a great Esteem and Veneration of them in the Minds of the People But when all was done that which was Offered was but the Blood of Bulls and Goats And there is a Tacit Opposition unto the matter of that Sacrifice whereby Sin was really to be Expiated which was the precious Blood of Christ as Chap. 9. 13 14. 3. That which
hand and a Reparation by the Blood of Bulls and Goats on the other No Man living can apprehend wherein any such proportion should lye or consist Nor was it possible that the Conscience of any Man could be freed from a Sense of the Guilt of Sin who had nothing to trust unto but this Blood to make Compensation or Attonement for it 2. The apprehension of it namely a suitableness unto Divine Justice in the Expiation of Sins by the Blood of Bulls and Goats must needs be a great Incentive unto prophane persons unto the Commission of Sin For if there be no more in Sin and the Guilt of it but what may be Expiated and taken away at so low a price but what may have Attonement made for it by the Blood of Beasts why should they not give satisfaction unto their Lusts by living in Sin 3. It would have had no consistency with the Sentence and Sanction of the Law of Nature In the day thou eatest thou shalt dye For although God reserved unto himself the Liberty and Right of substituting a Surety in the room of a Sinner to dye for him namely such an one as should by his Suffering and Dying bring more Glory unto the Righteousness Holiness and Law of God than either was derogated from them by the Sin of Man or could be restored unto them by his Eternal Ruin yet was it not consistent with the veracity of God in that Sanction of the Law that this substitution should be of a Nature no way Cognate but ineffably inferiour unto the Nature of him that was to be delivered For these and other Reasons of the same kind which I have handled at large elsewhere it was impossible as the Apostle assures us that the Blood of Bulls and Goats should take away Sin And we may observe 1. It is possible that things may usefully represent what it is impossible that in and by themselves they should effect This is the Fundamental Rule of all Institutions of the Old Testament Wherefore 2. There may be great and eminent uses of Divine Ordinances and Institutions although it be impossible that by themselves in their most exact and diligent use they should work out our Acceptance with God And it belongs unto the Wisdom of Faith to use them unto their proper end not to trust unto them as unto what they cannot of themselves effect 3. It was utterly impossible that Sin should be taken away before God and from the Conscience of the Sinner but by the Blood of Christ. Other ways Men are apt to betake themselves unto for this end but in vain It is the Blood of Jesus Christ alone that cleanseth us from all our Sins for he alone was the Propitiation for them 4. The Declaration of the Insufficiency of all other ways for the Expiation of Sin is an evidence of the Holiness Righteousnes and Severity of God against Sin with the unavoidable Ruin of all Unbelievers 5. Herein also consists the great Demonstration of the Love Grace and Mercy of God with an encouragement unto Faith in that when the Old Sacrifices neither would nor could perfectly Expiate Sin he would not suffer the work it self to fail but provided a way that should be infallibly effective of it as is declared in the following Verses VERSE V VI VII VIII IX X. THe Provision that God made to supply the Defect and Insufficiency of Legal Sacrifices as unto the Expiation of Sin peace of Conscience with himself and the Sanctification of the Souls of the Worshippers is declared in this Context For the words contain the blessed undertaking of our Lord Jesus Christ to do fulfil perform and suffer all things required in the Will and by the Wisdom Holiness Righteousness and Authority of God unto the compleat Salvation of the Church with the Reasons of the Efficacy of what he so did and suffered unto that end And we must consider both the words themselves so far especially as they consist in a Quotation out of the Old Testament with the Validity of his Inferences from the Testimony which he chuseth to insist on unto this purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some few differences may be observed in the Antient and best Translations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vulg. Lat. ideo quapropter Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for this for this cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hostiam oblationem Sacrificium victimam The Syriack renders the words in the Plural Number Sacrifices and Offerings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aptâsti adaptâsti mihi praeparâsti perfecisti A Body hast thou prepà red i. e. fitted for me wherein I may do thy Will Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But thou hast Cloathed me with a Body very significantly as unto the thing intended which is the Incarnation of the Son of God The Aethiop renders this Verse somewhat strangely And when he entred into the World he saith Sacrifices and Offerings I would not thy Body he hath purified unto me Making them as I suppose the words of the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vulg. non tibi placuerant reading the preceding words in the Nominative Case altering the Person and Number of the Verb. Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou didst not require non approbâsti that is they were not well pleasing nor accepted with God as unto the end of the Expiation of Sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ecce adsum venio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Syriack omitteth the last word which yet is Emphatical in the discourse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vul. tunc dixi then I said that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he said for the Apostle doth not speak these words but repeats the words of the Psalmist The reading of the words out of the Hebrew by the Apostle shall be considered in our passage VERSE 5 6 7 8 9 10. 5. Wherefore when he cometh into the World he saith Sacrifice and Offering thou wouldst not but a Body hast thou prepared fitted for me 6. In Burnt Offerings and Sacrifices for Sin thou hast had no pleasure 7. Then said I Lo I come in the Volume of the Book it is written of me to do thy Will O God that I should do thy Will 8. Above when he said Sacrifice and Offering and Burnt Offerings and Offerings for Sin thou wouldst not neither hadst pleasure therein which are Offered by the Law 9. Then said he Lo I come to do thy Will O God He taketh away the First that he may establish the Second 10. By the which Will we are Sanctified through the Offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all A Blessed and Divine Context this is Summarily representing unto us the Love Grace and Wisdom of the Father the Love Obedience and Suffering of the Son the Federal Agreement between the Father and the Son as unto the work of the Redemption and Salvation of the Church with the Blessed Harmony between the Old and New Testament in the Declaration of these things The Divine Authority
which he had all along compared and expressed Wherefore to convince the Hebrews not only of the certainty and severity of the Judgment declared but also of the Equity and Righteousness of it he proposeth unto them the consideration of Gods constitution of punishment under the Old Testament with respect unto the Law of Moses which they could not deny to be Just and Equal Ver. 28. he lays down the matter of fact as it was Stated under the Law Wherein there are three things 1. The sin whereunto that of Apostasie from the Gospel is compared He that despised Moses Law 2. The Punishment of that sin according to the Law he that was guilty of it dyed without Mercy 3. The way whereby according unto the Law his sin was to be charged on him it was under two or three Witnesses Unto the first two things did concur 1. It was such a sin as by the Law was capital as Murder Adultery Incest Idolatry Blasphemy and some others Concerning them it was provided in the Law that those who were guilty of them should be put to Death God alone by vertue of his Soveraignty could dispense with the Execution of this sentence of the Law as he did in the case of Lavid 2 Sam. 12. 13. but as unto the people they were prohibited on any account to dispense with it or forbear the Execution of it Numb 35. 31. 2. It was required that he did it presumptuously or with an high hand Ex. 21. 14. Numb 15. 30 31. Deut. 17. 12. He that was thus guilty of sin in sinning is said to despise Moses Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to abolish it to render it useless that is in himself by contempt of the Authority of it or the Authority of God in it And it is called a contempt and abolishing of the Law as the word signifies 1. Because of Gods indulgence unto them therein For although the general sentence of the Law was a Curse wherein death was contained against every Transgression thereof Deut. 29. yet God had ordained and appointed that for all their sins of Ignorance Infirmity or surprisals by Temptations an Attonement should be made by Sacrifice whereon the guilty were freed as unto the terms of the Covenant and restored to a right unto all the Promises of it Wherein they would not abide in those Terms and Conditions of the Covenant but transgress the bounds annext to them it was a contempt of the whole Law with the wisdom goodness and authority of God therein 2. They rejected all the Promises of it which were given exclusively unto such sins nor was there any way appointed of God for their recovery unto an interest in them Hereby they made themselves Lawless Persons contemning the Threatnings and despising the Promises of the Law which God would not bear in any of them Deut. 29. 18 19 20 21. It is the contempt of God and his Authority in his Law that is the Gall and Poyson of sin This may be said in some measure of all voluntary sins and the more there is of it in any sin the greater is their guilt and the higher is their aggravation who have contracted it But there is a degree hereof which God will not bear with namely when this presumptuous contempt hath such an influence into any sin as that no ignorance no infirmity no special temptation can be pleaded unto the extenuation of it I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief And sundry things are required hereunto 1. That it be known unto the sinner both in point of right and fact to be such a sin as whereunto the penalty of death without dispensation was annexed 2. That therefore the sence of God in the Law be suggested unto the soul in and by the ordinary means of it 3. That the Resolution of continuing in it and the perpetration of it doth prevail against all convictions and fear of punishment 4. That Motives unto the contrary with reluctancies of Conscience be stifled or overcome These things rendered a sinner presumptuous or caused him to sin with an high hand under the Law Whereunto the Apostle adds in the next verse the peculiar aggravations of sin against the Gospel This it is to despise the Law of Moses as it is explained Numb 15. 30 31. 2. The Punishment of this sin or of him that was guilty of it was that he died without mercy He died that is he was put to death not alvaies it may be de facto but such was the constitution of the Law he was to be put to death without mercy There were several waies of inflicting Capital punishments appointed by the Law as hanging on a Tree burning and stoning Of all which and the application of them unto particular Cases I have given a description in the Exercitations unto the first Volume of these Commentaries And it is said that he dyed without mercy not only because there was no allowance for any such mercy as should save and deliver him but God had expresly forbidden that either mercy or compassion should be shewed in such cases Deut. 13. 6 7 8 9. Deut. 19. This is expresly added unto the highest instance of despising the Law namely the decalogue in the foundation of it whereon all other precepts of the Law were built and that which comprised a total Apostacy from the whole Law Wherefore I doubt not but the Apostle had an especial respect unto that sin in its punishment which had a compleat parallel with that whose hainousness he would represent However When the God of mercies will have men shew no mercy as in the Temporal punishment he can and will upon repentance shew mercy as to Eternal punishment For we dare not condemn all unto Hell which the Law condemned as unto temporal punishment 3. The way of Execution of this Judgment it was not to be done under two or three witnesses that is that were so of the fact and crime The Law is express in this case Deut. 17. 6. Chap. 19. 13. Numb 35. 30. Although God was very severe in the prescription of these Judgments yet he would give no advantage thereby unto wicked and malicious persons to take away the lives of innocent men He rather chose that those who were guilty should through our weakness go free for want of evidence against them than that innocence should be exposed unto the malice of one single testimony or witness And such abhorrency God had of false witnesses in criminal Causes as that which is most contrary unto his Righteousness in the Government of the world as that he established a Lex talionis in this case alone that a false witness should suffer the utmost of what he thought and contrived to bring on another The Equity of which Law is still continued in force as suitable to the Law of Nature and ought to be more observed than it is Deut. 19. 16 17 18 19 20 21. On this Proposition of
designing to express the fearful state and judgement of these Persons describes them by such things as may fully evidence them to be as unavoidable so righteous and equal Those things must be some evident Priviledges and Advantages whereof they were made partakers by the Gospel These being despised in their Apostasie do proclaim their destruction from God to be rightly deserved 2 That all these Priviledges do consist in certain especial operations of the Holy Ghost which were peculiar unto the Dispensation of the Gospel such as they neither were nor could be made partakers of in their Judaisme For the Spirit in this sense was not received by the works of the Law but by the hearing of Faith Gal. 3. 2. And this was a Testimony unto them that they were delivered from the bondage of the Law namely by a participation of that Spirit which was the great Priviledge of the Gospel 3 Here is no express mention of any Covenant Grace or Mercy in them or towards them nor of any Duty of Faith or Obedience which they had performed Nothing of Justification Sanctification or Adoption is expresly assigned unto them Afterwards when he comes to declare his hopes and perswasion concerning these Hebrews that they were not such as those whom he had before described nor such as would so fall away unto perdition He doth it upon three grounds whereon they were differenced from them As 1 That they had such things as did accompany Salvation that is such as Salvation is inseparable from None of these things therefore had he ascribed unto those whom he describeth in this place for if he had so done they would not have been unto him an Argument and Evidence of a contrary end that these should not fall away and perish as well as those Wherefore he ascribes nothing to these here in the Text that doth peculiarly accompany Salvation ver 9. 2 He describes them by their Duties of Obedience and fruits of Faith This was their work and labour of Love towards the name of God ver 10. And hereby also doth he difference them from those in the Text concerning whom he supposeth that they may perish eternally which these fruits of saving Faith and sincere Love cannot do 3 He adds that in the Preservation of those there mentioned the Faithfulness of God was concerned God is not unrighteous to forget For they were such he intended as were interested in the Covenant of Grace with respect whereunto alone there is any engagement on the Faithfulness or Righteousness of God to preserve men from Apostasie and Ruine and there is so with an equal respect unto all who are so taken into the Covenant But of these in the Text he supposeth no such thing and thereupon doth not intimate that either the Righteousness or Faithfulness of God were any way engaged for their preservation but rather the contrary The whole description therefore refers unto some especial Gospel Priviledges which Professors in those days were promiscuously made partakers of and what they were in particular we must in the next place enquire The first thing in the Description is that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 once enlightened saith the Syriack Translation as we observed once baptized It is very certain that early in the Church Baptism was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Illumination and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to enlighten was used for to Baptize And the set times wherein they solemnly administred that Ordinance were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the days of Light Hereunto the Syriack Interpreter seems to have had respect And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 once may give countenance hereunto Baptism was once only to be celebrated according to the constant Faith of the Churches in all Ages And they called Baptism Illumination because it being one Ordinance of the Initiation of Persons into a participation of all the mysteries of the Church they were thereby translated out of the Kingdom of Darkness into that of Grace and Light And it seems to give further countenance hereunto in that Baptism really was the beginning and foundation of a participation of all the other spiritual Priviledges that are mentioned afterwards For it was usual in those times that upon the baptizing of Persons the Holy Ghost came upon them and endowed with extraordinary Gifts peculiar to the days of the Gospel as we have shewed in our consideration of the order between Baptism and Imposition of hands And this Opinion hath so much of probability in it having nothing therewithall unsuited to the Analogie of Faith or design of the place that I should embrace it if the word it self as here used did not require another Interpretation For it was a good while after the writing of this Epistle and all other parts of the New Testament at least an Age or two if not more before this word was used mystically to express Baptism In the whole Scripture it hath another sense denoting an inward operation of the Spirit and not the outward Administration of an Ordinance And it is too much boldness to take a word in a peculiar sense in one single place diverse from its proper signification and constant use if there be no circumstances in the Text forcing us thereunto as here are not And for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 once it is not to be restrained unto this particular but refers equally unto all the Instances that follow signifying no more but that those mentioned were really and truly partakers of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to give Light or Knowledge by teaching the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which therefore is so translated oft-times by the Greeks As by Aquila Exod. 4. 12. Psal. 119. 33. Prov. 4. 4. Isa. 27. 11. as Drustus observes And it is so by the LXX Judg. 13. 8. 2 Kings 12. 2. chap. 17. 27. Our Apostle useth it for to make manifest that is bring to light 1 Cor. 4. 5. 2 Tim. 1. 10. And the meaning of it Joh. 1. 9. where we render it lighteth is to teach And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Knowledge upon Instruction 2 Cor. 4. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Light of the Gospel should not shine into them that is the Knowledge of it so ver 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Light of the Knowledge Wherefore to be enlightened in this place is to be instructed in the Doctrine of the Gospel so as to have a spiritual apprehension thereof And this is so termed on a double account 1. Of the Object or the things known and apprehended For Life and Immortality are brought to light by the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 10. Hence it is called Light The Inheritance of the Saints in Light And the state which men are thereby brought into is so called in opposition to the Darkness that is in the world without it 1 Pet. 2. 9. The world without the Gospel is the Kingdom of Sathan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 5. 19.
The whole of the world and all that belongs unto it in distinction and opposition unto the new Creation is under the Power of the wicked one the Prince of the Power of Darkness and so is full of Darkness it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 1. a dark place wherein ignorance folly error and superstition do dwell and reign By the Power and Efficacy of this Darkness are men kept at a distance from God and know not whither they go This is called walking in Darkness 1 Joh. 1. 6. whereunto walking in the Light that is the Knowledge of God in Christ by the Gospel is opposed ver 7. On this account is our Instruction in the Knowledge of the Gospel called Illumination because it self is Light 2. On the account of the Subject or the Mind it self whereby the Gospel is apprehended For the Knowledge which is received thereby expels that Darkness Ignorance and Confusion which the mind before was filled and possessed withal The Knowledge I say of the Doctrine of the Gospel concerning the Person of Christ of Gods being in him reconciling the world unto himself of his Offices Work and Mediation and the like heads of Divine Revelation doth set up a spiritual Light in the minds of men enabling them to discern what before was utterly hid from them whilst alienated from the Life of God through their Ignorance Of this Light and Knowledge there are several degrees according to the means of Instruction which they do enjoy the capacity they have to receive it and the diligence they use to that purpose But a competent measure of the Knowledge of the fundamental and most material Principles or Doctrines of the Gospel is required unto all that may thence be said to be illuminated that is freed from the Darkness and Ignorance they once lived in 2 Pet. 1. 18 19 20. This is the first Property whereby the Persons intended are described they are such as were illuminated by the Instruction they had received in the Doctrine of the Gospel and the impression made thereby on their minds by the Holy Ghost for this is a common work of his and is here so reckoned And the Apostle would have us know that 1. It is great Mercy a great Priviledge to be enlightened with the Doctrine of the Gospel ' by the effectual working of the Holy Ghost But 2. It is such a Priviledge as may be lost and end in the aggravation of the sin and condemnation of those who were made partakers of it And 3. Where there is a total neglect of the due improvement of this Priviledge and Mercy the condition of such Persons is hazardous as inclining towards Apostasie Thus much lies open and manifest in the Text. But that we may more particularly discover the nature of this first part of the character of Apostates for their sakes who may look after their own concernment therein we may yet a little more distinctly express the nature of that Illumination and Knowledge which is ascribed unto them and how it is lost in Apostasie will afterwards appear And 1. There is a Knowledge of spiritual things that is purely Natural and Disciplinary attainable and attained without any especial Aid or Assistance of the Holy Ghost As this is evident in common experience so especially among such as casting themselves on the study of spiritual things are yet utter strangers unto all spiritual Gifts Some Knowledge of the Scripture and the things contained in it is attainable at the same rate of pains and study with that of any other Art or Science 2. The Illumination intended being a Gift of the Holy Ghost differs from and is exalted above this Knowledge that is purely natural For it makes nearer approaches unto the Light of spiritual things in their own nature than the other doth Notwithstanding the utmost improvement of scientifical notions that are purely natural the things of the Gospel in their own nature are not only unsuited to the Wills and Affections of Persons endued with them but are really foolishness unto their minds And as unto that goodness and excellency which give desireableness unto spiritual things this knowledge discovers so little of them that most men hate the things which they profess to believe But this spiritual Illumination gives the mind some satisfaction with Delight and Joy in the things that are known By that Beam whereby it shines into Darkness although it be not fully comprehended yet it represents the way of the Gospel as a way of Righteousness 2 Pet. 2. 21. which reflects a peculiar regard of it on the mind Moreover the Knowledge that is meerly natural hath little or no power upon the Soul either to keep it from sin or to constrain it unto Obedience There is not a more secure and profligate Generation of sinners in the world than those who are under the sole conduct of it But the Illumination here intended is attended with efficacy doth effectually press in the Conscience and whole Soul unto an abstinence from sin and the performance of all known Duties Hence Persons under the Power of it and its Convictions do oft-times walk blamelesly and uprightly in the world so as not with the other to contribute unto the contempt of Christianity Besides there is such an Alliance between spiritual Gifts that where any one of them doth reside it hath assuredly other accompanying of it or one way or other belonging unto its train as is manifest in this place Even a single Talent is made up of many pounds But the Light and Knowledge which is of a meer natural acquirement is solitary destitute of the society and countenance of any spiritual Gift whatever And these things are exemplified unto common observation every day 3. There is a saving sanctifying Light and Knowledge which this spiritual Illumination riseth not up unto For though it transiently affect the mind with some glances of the Beauty Glory and Excellency of spiritual things yet it doth not give that direct steady intuitive insight into them which is obtained by Grace See 2 Cor. 3. 18. chap. 4. 4 6. Neither doth it renew change or transform the Soul into a conformity unto the things known by planting of them in the Will and Affections as a gracious saving Light doth 2 Cor. 3. 18. Rom. 6. 17. Rom. 12. 1. These things I judged necessary to be added to clear the nature of the first character of Apostates The second thing asserted in the description of them is that they have tasted of the Heavenly Gift 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The doubling of the Article gives Emphasis to the expression And we must enquire 1 what is meant by the Heavenly Gift And 2 what by tasting of it First The Gift of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 donatio or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 donum Sometimes it is taken for the Grant or giving it self and sometimes for the thing given In the first sense it is used
works in all of them Wherefore if we see a man slothful negligent careless in the Duties of Religion we may be sure that one carnal Affection or other is powerful in him 3. As to the general effects of this spiritual Sloth they may be reduced unto these three Heads 1 A neglect of known Duties in matter or manner Known Duties of Professors are either publick or private And I call them known because they are both acknowledged by all so to be and themselves are under the Conviction of their so being But where this sloth is predominant clear Duties will be debated What more clear Duty than that we should open our hearts unto Christ when he knocketh or diligently receive those Intimations of his Love and his Mind which he tendereth in his Ordinances Yet this will a Soul dispute about and debate on when it is under the power of sloth Cant. 5. 2 3. And it doth so actually when it doth not take diligent heed unto the Dispensation of the word Wherefore omission of Duties in their seasons and opportunities whether publick or private whether of Piety or Charity of Faith or Love or the performance of them without life and delight meerly to comply with custom or satisfie Convictions is an evidence of a Soul growing up under a sinful sloth unto a ruining security 2 Regardlesness of Temptations and Dangers by them is another general effect hereof These beset us on every hand especially they do so with reference unto all Duties of Obedience In watchfulness against them a conflict with them and prevalency over them doth our warfare principally consist And without a due regard unto them we can neither preserve the Life nor bring forth the fruits of Faith Herein spiritual sloth will make us careless When men begin to walk as if they had no Enemies as if in their course of life their converse their callings and occasions there were no Snares nor Temptations Spiritual sloth hath possessed their minds 3 Weariness and heartless despondencies in a time of Troubles and Difficulties is another effect hereof And unto these Heads may all its particular pernicious effects and consequences be reduced And this brief Description of Spiritual sloth in its Nature Causes and Effects is a sufficient Eviction of our Assertion so that I need no farther confirmation Secondly In the positive Directions given and the Encouragement adjoyned there is an Example proposed and a Duty enjoyned with respect thereunto The Persons whose Example is prescribed are mentioned here only indefinitely be followers of them which in the ensuing Verse he brings down to the Instance of Abraham For dealing with them who greatly gloried in having Abraham for their Father no example more pertinent and cogent could be proposed unto them to let them know that Abraham himself obtained not the Promises any other way than what he now proposeth unto them And as our Saviour had told them that if they would be the Children of Abraham they must do the works of Abraham otherwise their boast of his being their Father would stand them in no stead so our Apostle shews them the like necessity of his Faith and Patience in particular Besides he was in the next Chapter of necessity to prefer Melchisedec as a Type of Christ before him and above him Andtherefore as he had in an alike case before dealt with Moses he would take the advantage hereof giving him his due commendation that he might not seem to derogate any thing from him And this he doth in that Instance wherein he becameto have his greatest honour or to become the Father of the faithful The Persons therefore included in the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the Patriarchs of the Old Testament It is true it is so expressed as that those who were at present real sincere sound Believers might be intended or those who had fallen asleep in the Faith of the Gospel But as he deals on all occasions with these Hebrews with Instances and Examples out of the Old Testament as we have seen and considered it at large in the third Chapter so his immediate expressing of Abraham as the principal of those which he intended confines his Design unto those under that Dispensation Plainly he designs them whom unto the same purpose he enumerates afterwards in particular with the Instances of their Faith chap. 11. Nor is there any difficulty in the variety of his expressions concerning them Of those in the Eleventh Chapter he says that all died in Faith and obtained a good report on the account thereof but received not the Promises ver 13 39. Of those in this place that through Faith and Patience they inherited the Promises But it is one thing to receive the Promises and another to inherit the Promises By receiving the Promises chap. 11. the Apostle respects the actual Accomplishment of the great Promise concerning the exhibition of Christ in the Flesh. This they neither did nor could receive who died before his Incarnation But the inheriting of the Promises here intended is a real participation of the Grace and Mercy proposed in them with Eternal Glory This they all received being saved by Faith even as we Acts 15. 10 11. Heb. 4. 2. Concerning these Persons he proposeth to them the way that they took and the end that they attained The way they took was by Faith and Patience or long-suffering Some think that here is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that a constant enduring Faith is only intended But their Faith and the constant exercise of it against oppositions is rather proposed unto them under the name of Faith For that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a distinct Grace or Duty is intended is manifest from ver 15. where Abrahams carriage upon his believing and receiving the Blessing is expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after he had patiently endured What was that Faith or of what kind which is here ascribed unto the Patriarchs is evident from the Context For it was that Faith which had the especial Promise of God in Christ for its Object Not a general not a common Faith but that which respected the Promise given from the foundation of the world and expresly renewed unto Abraham Some amongst us wholly deny this kind of Faith and beyond the belief of the truth or veracity of God in general will not allow an especial Faith with respect unto the Covenant and the Promise of Grace in Christ Jesus whereas indeed there is no other Faith true useful saving and properly so called in the world It is true this especial Faith in the Promise supposeth Faith in general with respect unto the truth and veracity of God nor can be without it But this may be and is in many where the other is not yea where it is despised This therefore was the Faith which was here recommended and proposed unto us The especial Object of it was the Messiah or Christ himself as a Saviour from sin with
Sacred Administrations the same proportionably is their Interest Power and Duty to act towards them in the Name of God in the Blessing of them And therefore Ministers may Authoritatively bless their Congregations It is true they can do it onely Declaratively but withall they do it Authoritatively because they do it by Virtue of the Authority committed unto them for that purpose Wherefore the Ministerial Blessing is somewhat more than Euctical or a meer Prayer Neither is it meerly Doctrinal and Declaratory but that which is built on a particular especial warranty proceeding from the Nature of the Ministerial Office But whereas it hath respect in all things unto other Ministerial Administrations it is not to be used but with reference unto them and that by them by whom at that season they are Administred Secondly There was an especial Institution of a Sacerdotal Benediction under the Old Testament Recorded Numb 6. 22 23 24 25 26 27. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying speak unto Aaron and his Sons saying On this wise shall ye Bless the Children of Israel saying The Lord Bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his Face to shine upon thee and be Gracious unto thee the Lord lift up the light of his Countenance upon thee and give thee Peace and they shall put my Name on the Children of Israel and I will Bless them Their putting the Name of God upon the People was their praying for and pronouncing Blessings on them in his Name by virtue of this Institution For it is an Institution whereby the Name of God is put on any thing or Person Hereon God would effectually bless them This especial Institution I acknowledge was after the Days of Melchisedec and the cessation of his Office as to actual Administration But it is apparent and may be proved that many if not the most of those Sacred Institutions which were given in one Systeme unto Moses were singly and gradually given out by Inspiration and Prophecy unto the Church before the giving of the Law onely at Sinai their Number was increased and the Severity of their Sanction heightned Thus this Sacerdotal Benediction was but a Transcript from and expressive of that Power and Form of Blessing which Melchisedec as a Priest enjoyed and used before And from what hath been spoken we may gather the Nature of this Blessing of Melchisedec wherewith he Blessed Abraham For 1. It had the Nature of a Blessing in general whereby any one Man may bless another in that it was Euctical and Eucharistical It included both Prayer for him and Thanksgiving on his Account unto God And 2. It was Authoritative and Sacerdotal He was the Priest of the High God and he blessed Abraham that is by virtue of his Office For so the Nature of the Office requireth and so God had in particular appointed that the Priests should bless in his Name 3. It was Prophetical proceeding from an immediate Inspiration whereby he declares the confirmation of the great Blessing Promised unto Abraham Blessed be Abraham And we may see 1. That he who hath received the greatest Mercies and Priviledges in this World may yet need their Ministerial confirmation Abraham had before received the Blessing from the Mouth of God himself And yet it was no doubt a great confirmation of his Faith to be now blessed again in the Name of God by Melchisedec And indeed such is the estate of all the Faithful the Children of Abraham in this World that what through the weakness of their Faith what through the greatness of their Temptations and Trials they stand in need of all Ministerial Renovations of the Pledges of Gods good will towards them We are apt to think that if God should speak once unto us as he did to Abraham and assure us of the Blessing we should never need farther confirmation whilst we live But the Truth is he doth so speak unto all that believe in the Word and yet we find how much we want the Ministerial Renovation of it unto us Bless God for the Ministry for the Word and Sacraments Ordinarily our Faith would not be kept up without them 2. In the Blessing of Abraham by Melchisedec all Believers are Virtually Blessed by Jesus Christ. Melchisedec was a Type of Christ and represented him in what he was and did as our Apostle declares And Abraham in all these things bare the Person of or Represented all his Posterity according to the Faith Therefore doth our Apostle in the foregoing Chapter Entitle all Believers unto the Promises made unto him and the Inheritance of them There is therefore more than a bare story in this matter A blessing is in it conveyed unto all Believers in the way of an Ordinance for ever 3. It is Gods Institution that makes all our Administrations Effectual So did Sacerdotal Benedictions become Authoritative and Efficacious Innumerable ways and means of blessing things and persons have been found out in the Papacy They will bless Bells Steeples and Churches Church-yards Utensils Fonts Candles Salt and Children by Confirmation There is in Truth in them all a want of that wisdom Gravity and Reverence which ought to accompany Men in all Religious Services but that which renders them all Useless and casts them out of the Verge of Religion is that they want a Divine Institution The Second Sacerdotal Act or Exercise of Priestly Power ascribed unto Melchisedec is that he received Tithes of all To whom Abraham also gave the Tenth of all As Abraham gave them in a way of Duty so he received them in a way of Office So the Apostle expresseth it ver 6. He received Tithes of Abraham or Tithed him And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all is limited unto the Spoyls which he took of the Enemies ver 4. To whom Abraham gave the Tenth of the Spoyls This in the Original History is so expressed as to leave it doubtful both to whom the Tenths were given and of what they were Gen. 14. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he gave him the Tenth of all The words immediately preceding are the words of Melchisedec and the Story concerneth him so that if the Relative included in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he gave do answer unto the next Antecedent Melchisedec gave the Tenth of all unto Abraham Nor doth it appear what the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or all was that is intended whether his own whole Estate or all the Tithable things which he had then with him But all this Ambiguity is removed by our Apostle according to the mind of the Holy Ghost and withal declared how great a Mystery depended on the right understanding of those words It was Abraham that gave the Tenth of all to Melchisedec whereby he acknowledged him to be the Priest of the High God and the Type of the Son of God as Incarnate every way Superiour unto him who but newly received the Promises And that the Tenth which he gave was only of the Spoyls that
Melchisedec And we see in like manner when Men are possessed with an inveterate conceit of their being the Church and having all the Priviledges of it enclosed unto them although they have long since forfeited openly all Right thereunto how difficult a thing it is to dispossess their minds of that pleasing presumption 2. That every Particle of Divine Truth is Instructive and Argumentative when it is rightly used and improved Hence the Apostle presseth all the Circumstances of this Story from every one of them giving light and evidence unto the great Truth which he sought to Confirm 2. That it might yet farther appear how great Melchisedec was who received Tithes of Abraham he declares who Abraham was in an instance of his great and especial Priviledge It was he who received the Promises This he singles out as the greatest Priviledge and Honour of Abraham as it was indeed the Foundation of all the other Mercies which he enjoyed or Advantages that he was entrusted withal The Nature of this Promise with the Solemn manner of its giving unto Abraham and the Benefits included in it he had at large declared Chap. 6. ver 13 14 15 16. Hereby Abraham became the Father of the Faithful the Heir of the World and the Friend of God so that it exceedingly Illustrates the Greatness of Melchisedec in that this Abraham paid Tithes unto him The Medium of the Argument in this instance is lyable only unto one Exception namely That Abraham was not the first that received the Promises so that although he were not yet there might be others greater than Melchisedec who never made any acknowledgment of his Preeminence For the Promise was given unto Adam himself immediately after the Fall as also unto Noah in the Covenant made with him and to others also who before Abraham died in the Faith Answ. It is true they had the Promise and the Benefit of it but yet so as in sundry things Abraham was preferred above them all For 1. He had the Promise more plainly and clearly given unto him than any of his Predecessors in the Faith Hence he was the first of whom it is said that He saw the Day of Christ and Rejoiced as having a clearer view of his Coming and of Salvation by him than any that went before him 2. The Promise was confirmed unto him by an Oath which it had not been unto any before 3. The Promised Seed was in it peculiarly confined unto his Family or Posterity See Heb. 2. 17. 4. His receiving of the Promise was that which was the Foundation of the Church in his Posterity which he had peculiarly to deal withal He had therefore the Preeminence above all others in this matter of receiving the Promises But it may yet be said that Abraham had not received the Promises then when he was Blessed of Melchisedec so that it was no Argument of his Preeminence at that time But 1. He had before received the same Promise for the Substance of it which was afterwards more Solemnly confirmed unto him on the trial of his Faith in Offering his only Son Gen. 12. 2 3. Chap. 13. 15 16. 2. He was then actually instated in a Right unto all that farther Confirmation of the Promises which he received on various Occasions and what followed added not unto the Dignity of his Person but served only unto the Confirmation of his Faith So Melchisedec Blessed him who had the Promises And we may Observe 1. We can be made partakers of no such Grace Mercy or Priviledge in this World but that God can when he pleaseth make an addition thereunto He who had received the Promises was afterwards Blessed VVe depend upon an infinite Fountain of Grace and Mercy from whence it is made out unto us by various degrees according to the good pleasure of God Neither will he give unto us nor are we capable to receive in this world the whole of what he hath provided for us in the enjoyment whereof our final Blessedness doth consist VVherefore as it is required of us to be thankful for what we have or to walk worthy of the Grace we have received Yet we may live in constant expectation of more from him and it is the great Comfort and Relief of our Souls that we may so do 2. It is the Blessing of Christ Typed in and by Melchisedec that makes Promises and Mercies effectual unto us He is himself the great Subject of the Promises and the whole Blessing of them cometh forth from him alone All besides him all without him is of or under the Curse In him from him and by him only are all Blessings to be obtained 3. Free and Soveraign Grace is the only Foundation of all Priviledges All that is spoken of the Dignity of Abraham is resolved into this That he received the Promises VER 7. But what if Abraham was thus Blessed by Melchisedec doth this prove that he was less than he by whom he was Blessed It doth so saith the Apostle and that by virtue of an unquestionable general Rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 less and greater are in the Neuter Gender and so rendred in most Translations illud quod minus est à majore only the Syriack reduceth them to the Masculine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He who is the less is Blessed of him who is greater or more Excellent than him which is the sence of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Erasm. Porro nemo negat absque ulla omni contradictione and without all Contradiction And without all Contradiction the Less is Blessed of the Greater The words prevent an Objection which is supposed not expressed And therefore are they continued with those fore-going by the Conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as carrying on what was before asserted by a farther Illustration and Confirmation of it And there is in them 1. The Manner of the Assertion and 2. The Proposition it self 1. The Manner of it is in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without beyond above all reasonable Contradiction A Truth this is that cannot that will not be gain-said which none will deny or oppose as that which is evident in the Light of Nature and which the Order of the things spoken of doth require All Truths especially Divine Truths are such as ought not to be Contradicted and which no Contradiction can evert or change their Natures that they should not so be But against some of them not for want of Truth but either from want of Evidence in themselves or for want of light in them unto whom they are proposed Contradictions may arise and they may be called into Dispute or Question Thus it hath fallen out with all Truths which we receive by meer Supernatural Revelation The Darkness of the minds of Men unable clearly to discern them and perfectly to comprehend them will raise Disputes about them and Objections against them But some
Truths there are which have such an Evidence in themselves and such a Suitableness unto the Principles of Reason and Light Natural that no colour of Opposition can be made unto them And if any out of brutish Affections or Prejudices do force an Opposition unto them they are to be neglected and not Contended withal Wherefore that which is here intimated is That there are some Principles of Truth that are so Secured in their own Evidence and Light as that being unquestionable in themselves they may be used and improved as concessions whereon other less evident Truths may be Confirmed and Established The due consideration hereof is of great Use in the Method of Teaching or in the Vindication of any unquestioned Truths from Opposition In all Teaching especially in Matters that are Controverted it is of great Advantage to fix some unquestionable Principles whence those which are less evident or are more opposed may be deduced or be otherwise influenced and confirmed Neglect hereof makes popular Discourses weak in their Application and those wherein Men contend for the Truth infirm in their Conclusions This Course therefore the Apostle here useth and resolveth his present Argument into such an unquestionable Principle as Reason and common Sence must admit of 2. The Proposition thus Modified is That the Less is Blessed of the Greater that is wherein one is orderly Blessed by another he that is Blessed is therein less than or beneath in Dignity unto him by whom he is Blessed as it is expressed in the Syriack Translation Expositors generally on this place distinguish the several sorts of Benedictions that are in Use and warrantable among Men that so they may fix on that concerning which the Rule here mentioned by the Apostle will hold unquestionably But as unto the especial design of the Apostle this Labour may be spared For he treats only of Sacerdotal Benedictions and with Respect to them the Rule is not only certainly true but openly evident But to Illustrate the whole and to shew how far the Rule mentioned may be extended we may reduce all sorts of Blessings unto four Heads 1. There is Benedictio Potestativa that is such a Blessing as consists in an actual Efficacious Collation on or Communication of the matter of the Blessing unto the Person Blessed Thus God alone can Bless absolutely He is the only Fountain of all Goodness Spiritual Temporal Eternal and so of the whole entire matter of Blessing containing it all eminently and virtually in himself And he alone can efficiently communicate it unto or collate it on any others which he doth as seemeth Good unto him according to the Counsel of his own will All will grant that with Respect hereunto the Apostle's Maxime is unquestionable God is greater than Man Yea this kind of Blessing ariseth from or dependeth solely on that Infinite Distance that is between the Being or Nature of God and the Being of all Creatures This is Gods Blessing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Addition of Good as the Jews call it a real communication of Grace Mercy Priviledges or whatever the matter of the Blessing be 2. There is Benedictio Authoritativa This is when Men in the Name that is by the Appointment and Warranty of God do declare any to be Blessed pronouncing the Blessings unto them whereof they shall be made Partakers And this kind of Blessings was of Old of two sorts First Extraordinary by virtue of especial immediate Inspiration or a Spirit of Prophecy Secondly Ordinary by virtue of Office and Institution In the first way Jacob Blessed his Sons which he calls a Declaration of what should befall them in the last days Gen. 49. 1. And such were all the Solemn Patriarchal Benedictions as that of Isaac when he had Infallible direction as to the Blessing but not in his own mind as to the Person to be Blessed Gen. 27. 27 28 29. So Moses Blessed the Children of Israel in their respective Tribes Deut. 33. 1. In the latter the Priests by virtue of Gods Ordinance were to Bless the People with this Authoritative Blessing And the Lord spake unto Moses saying speak unto Aaron and his Sons saying On this wise shall ye Bless the Children of Israel saying unto them The Lord Bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his Face shine upon thee and be Gracious unto thee the Lord lift up the light of his Countenance upon thee and give thee Peace and they shall put my Name on the Children of Israel and I will Bless them Numb 6. The whole Nature of this kind of Blessing is here exemplified It is founded in Gods Express Institution and Command And the Nature of it consists in putting the Name of God upon the People that is declaring Blessings unto them in the Name of God praying Blessings for them on his Command Wherefore the word Bless is used in a two-fold sence in this Institution ver 23. Ye shall Bless the Children of Israel is spoken of the Priests ver 27. I will Bless them is spoken of God The Blessing is the same declared by the Priests effected by God They blessed declaratively He efficiently And the blessing of Melchisedec in this place seems to have a mixture in it of both these For as it is plain that he blessed Abraham by virtue of his Sacerdotal Office which our Apostle principally considereth so I make no Question but he was peculiarly acted by immediate inspiration from God in what he did And in this sort of Blessing the Apostolical Maxime maintains its Evidence in the Light of Nature 3. There is Benedictio Charitativa This is when one is said to bless another by praying for a Blessing on him or using the means whereby he may obtain a Blessing This may be done by Superiours Equals Inferiours any or all Persons mutually towards one another See 1 Kings 8. 14 55 56. 2 Chron 6. 3. Prov. 30. 11. This kind of Blessing it being only improperly so wherein the Act or Duty is demonstrated by its Object doth not belong unto this Rule of the Apostle 4. There is Benedictio Reverentialis Hereof God is the Object So Men are said often to Bless God and to Bless his Holy Name which is mentioned in the Scripture as a signal Duty of all that Fear and Love the Lord. Now this Blessing of God is a Declaration of his praises with an Holy Reverential Thankful admiration of his Excellencies But this belongs not at all unto the design of the Apostle nor is regulated by this general Maxime but is a particular Instance of the direct contrary wherein without Controversie the Greater is Blessed of the Less It is the second sort of Blessings that is alone here intended and that is mentioned as an Evident Demonstration of the Dignity of Melchisedec and his Preeminence above Abraham It is a great Mercy and Priviledge when God will make Use of any in the Blessing of others with Spiritual Mercies It is God alone who Originally and
Church unto a more perfect state in point of Worship than it was capable of under the Levitical Priesthood Nor indeed could any Man reasonably think or wisely judge that he intended the Institutions of the Law as the compleat ultimate Worship and Service that he would require or appoint in this VVorld seeing our Natures as renewed by Grace are capable of that which is more Spiritual and Sublime For 1. They were in their Nature Carnal as our Apostle declares ver 16. and Chap. 9. 10. The Subject of them all the means of their Celebration were Carnal things beneath those pure Spiritual Acts of the Mind and Soul which are of a more Noble Nature They consisted in Meats and Drinks the Blood of Bulls and Goats the Observation of Moons and Festivals in a Temple made of Wood and Stone Gold and Silver things Carnal perishing and transitory Certainly God who is a Spirit and will be VVorshipped in Spirit and in Truth designed at one time or other a VVorship more suited unto his own Nature though the Imposition of these things on the Church for a Season was Necessary And as they were Carnal so they might be exactly performed by Men of Carnal Minds and were so for the most part in which respect God himself speaks often with a great undervaluation of them See Psal. 50. 8 9 10 11 12 13. Isa. 1. 11 12 13. Had not he designed the Renovation of our Natures into his own Image a new Creation of them by Jesus Christ this Carnal Worship might have sufficed and would have been the best we are capable of But to suppose that he should endow Men as he doth by Christ with a new Spiritual Supernatural Principle enabling them unto a more sublime and Spiritual Worship it cannot be imagined that he would always bind them up unto those Carnal Ordinances in their Religious Service And the Reason is because they were not a meet and sufficient means for the exercise of that New Principle of Faith and Love which he bestows on Believers by Jesus Christ. Yea to burden them with Carnal Observances is a most effectual way to take them off from its Exercise in his Service And so it is at this day where-ever there is a Multiplication of outward Services and Observances the Minds of Men are so taken up with the Bodily Exercise about them as that they cannot attend unto the pure internal Actings of Faith and Love 2. What by their Number and what by their Nature and the manner of exacting of them they were made a Yoke which the People were never able to bear with any Joy or Satisfaction Acts 15. 10. And this Yoke lay partly in the first place on their Consciences or the inner Man And it consisted principally in two things 1. The multitude of Ceremonies and Institutions did perplex them and gave them no rest Seeing which way soever they turned themselves one Precept or other positive or negative touch not taste not handle not was upon them 2. The Veil that was on them as to their Use Meaning and End increased the trouble of this Yoke They could not see unto the End of the things that were to be done away because of the veil nor could apprehend fully the Reason of what they did And it may be easily conceived how great a Yoke it was to be bound unto the strict Observation of such Rites and Ceremonies in Worship yea that the whole of their VVorship should consist in such things as those who made use of them did not understand the End and Meaning of them And 2. It lay on their Persons from the manner of their Imposition as they were tyed up unto Days Times and Hours so their Transgression or Disobedience made them obnoxious to all sorts of Punishments and Excision it self For they were all bound upon them with a Curse whence every Transgression and Disobedience received a just Recompence of Reward Chap. 2. 2. For he that despised Moses Law died without Mercy Chap. 10. 28. which they complained of Numb 17. 12 13. This put them on continual scrupulous Fears with endless Inventions of their own to secure themselves from the guilt of such Transgressions Hence the Religion of the Jews at present is become a Monstrous confused heap of vain Inventions and scrupulous Observances of their own to secure themselves as they suppose from transgressing any of those which God had given them Take any one Institution of the Law and consider what is the Exposition they give of it in their Mishna by their Oral Tradition and it will display the Fear and Bondage they are in though the Remedy be worse than the Disease Yea by all their Inventions they did but increase that which they endeavoured to avoid For they have brought things unto that pass among them that it is impossible that any one of them should have Satisfaction in his Conscience that he hath aright observed any of Gods Institutions although he should suppose that he required nothing of him but the outward performance of them 3. Their Instructive Efficacy which is the Principal End of the Ordinances of Divine VVorship was weak and no way answered the Power and Evidence of Gospel-Institutions Chap. 10. 1. Therefore was the way of Teaching by them intricate and the way of Learning difficult Hence is that difference which is put between the Teachings under the Old Testament and the New For now it is Promised that Men shall not teach every Man his Brother and every Man his Neighbour saying know the Lord as it was of Old The means of Instruction were so dark and cloudy and having only a shadow of the things themselves that were to be taught and not the very Image of them that it was needful that they should be continually incalcated to keep up the knowledge of the very Rudiments of Religion Besides they had many Ordinances Rites and Ceremonies imposed on them to increase their Yoke whereof they understood nothing but only that it was the Soveraign pleasure and will of God that they should Observe them though they understood not of what Use they were And they were Obliged unto no less an exact Observance of them than they were unto that of those which were the clearest and most lightsome The best Direction they had from them and by them was that indeed there was nothing in them that is in their Nature or proper Efficacy to produce or procure those good things which they looked for through them but only pointed unto what was to come VVherefore they knew that although they Exercised themselves in them with Diligence all their Days yet by virtue of them they could never attain what they aimed at only there was something signified by them and afterwards to be introduced that was Efficacious of what they looked after Now unto the strict Observation of these things were the People obliged under the most severe Penalties and that all the days of their Lives And this increased their Bondage
know not how to look for a Messiah from the Tribe of Judah seeing all Sacred Genealogy is at an end no more can they look for a Priest of the House of Aaron Now this End of it was the bringing in of a better Hope or the Promised Seed who according to the Promise was to come to the Second Temple and therefore whilst that Priesthood continued 2. God took it not away till he brought in that which was more Excellent Glorious and Advantagious unto the Church namely the Priesthood of Christ. And if this be not received through their Unbelief they alone are the cause of their being losers by this Alteration 3. In abundant Patience and Condescention with respect unto that Interest which it had in the Consciences of Men from his Institution God did not utterly lay it aside in a day after which it should be absolutely unlawful to comply with it But God took it away by Degrees as shall afterwards be declared 2. That the Efficacy of all Ordinances or Institutions of Worship depends on the will of God alone Whilst it was his will that the Priesthood should abide in the Family of Levi it was Useful and Effectual unto all the Ends whereunto it was designed But when he would make an Alteration therein it was in vain for any to look for either Benefit or Advantage by it And although we are not now to expect any change in the Institutions of Divine Worship yet all our Expectations from them are to be resolved into the will of God 3. Divine Institutions cease not without an express Divine Abrogation Where they are once granted and erected by the Authority of God they can never cease without an express Act of the same Authority taking of them away So was it with the Institutions of the Aaronical Priesthood as the Apostle declares And this one consideration is enough to confirm the grant of the initial Seal of the Covenant unto the present Seed of Believers which was once given by God himself in the way of an Institution and never by him revoked 4. God will never abrogate or take away any Institution or Ordinance of Worship unto the loss or disadvantage of the Church He would not remove or abolish the Priesthood of Levi until that which was incomparably more Excellent was introduced and established 5. God in his Wisdom so Ordered all things that the taking away of the Priesthood of the Law gave it its greatest Glory For it ceased not before it had fully and absolutely accomplished the End whereunto it was designed which is the Glory and Perfection of any Ordinance even the Mediation of Christ himself shall cease when all the Ends of it are fulfilled And this End of the Priesthood was most Glorious namely the bringing in that of Christ and therein of the Eternal Salvation of the Church And what more Honourable Issue could it come unto The Jews by their pretended Adherence unto it are they which cast the highest dishonour upon it for they own that it is laid aside at least that it hath been so for 1600 Years and yet neither the End of it effected nor any thing brought in by it unto the greater advantage of the Church The next thing considerable in these words is the Inference which the Apostle makes from his Assertion and the Proof of it There is made of Necessity a change also of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of Necessity It is not a note of the necessity of the Inference from the Proposition in the way of Argument but the necessary dependance of the things mentioned the one on the other For whereas the whole Administration of the Law so far as it concerned the Expiation of sin by Sacrifices and the Solemn Worship of God in the Tabernacle or Temple depended absolutely on and was confined unto the Aaronical Priesthood so as that without it no one Sacrifice could be offered unto God nor any Ordinance of Divine Worship be observed that Priesthood being abolished and taken out of the way the Law it self of Necessity and unavoidably ceaseth and becometh useless It doth so I say as unto all the proper Ends of it as a Law Obligatory unto the Duties required in it Wherefore there is also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a change of the Law that is an Abolition of it For it is a change of the same Nature with the change of the Priesthood which as we have shewed was its Abolition and taking away And how this came to pass the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 declares there is made a change It did indeed necessarily follow on the change of the Priesthood yet not so but that there was an Act of the Will and Authority of God on the Law it self God made this change and he alone could do it that he would do so and did so the Apostle proves in this and the Verses following So is the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances taken out of the way being nailed unto the Cross of Christ where he left it compleatly accomplished But moreover the Law in its Institutions was an Instructive Revelation and taught many things concerning the Nature of Sin its expiation and cleansing representing though darkly good things to come So it is yet continued as a part of the Revealed will of God And the light of the Gospel being brought unto it we may learn things far more clearly out of it than ever the Jews of Old could do And the force of the Argument here insisted on by the Apostle against the absolute perpetuity of the Law which was of Old and yet continueth to be the Head of the Controversie between the Jews and the Church of Christ is so unavoidable that some of them have been compelled to acknowledge that in the Days of the Messiah Legal Sacrifices and the rest of their Ceremonies shall cease though the most of them understand that their Cause is given away thereby And they have no other way to free themselves from this Argument of the Apostle but by denying that Melchisedec was a Priest or that it is the Messiah who is Prophesied of Psal. 110. which evidences of a desperate Cause and more desperate Defenders of it have been elsewhere convinced of Folly Wherefore this important Argument is confirmed by our Apostle in the ensuing Verses And we may see 1. How it is a fruit of the manifold Wisdom of God that it was a great Mercy to give the Law and a greater to take it away And 2. If under the Law the whole worship of God did so depend on the Priesthood that that failing or being taken away the whole worship of it self was to cease as being no more acceptable before God how much more is all worship under the New Testament rejected by him if there be not a due regard therein unto the Lord Christ as the only High Priest of the Church and the Efficacy of his Discharge of that Office 3. It is the highest
gloriously in the Death and Resurrection of Christ so as to be the matter of triumphant Praises unto God Such is the Triumph thereon described Col. 2. 15 1 Tim. 3. 16. And it may be observed that as on the laying of the Foundation of the Earth all the Holy Angels triumphed in the expression and demonstration of the infinite Wisdom Power and Goodness of God which they beheld so in the Foundation of the New Creation the Apostate Angels who repined at it and opposed it unto their Power were lead Captives carried in Triumph and made the Footstool of the glory of Christ. But all this Joy and Triumph is built on the security of the unchangeable Love Care and Power of Jesus Christ gloriously to accomplish the work which he had undertaken For had he left it when he left the Earth it had never been finished For great was that part of the work which yet remained to be perfected Neither could the Remainder of this work be committed unto any other hand He employeth others under him in his work to act Ministerially in his name and Authority So he useth the Ministery of Angels and Men. But did not he himself continue to act in them by them with them and without them the whole work would fail and be disappointed In one instance of the Revelation of the will of God concerning the state of the Church by the opening of the Book wherein it was recorded there was none found worthy in Heaven or Earth to do it but the Lamb that was slain the Lion of the Tribe of Judah Revel 5. 5. Chap. 6. 1. How much less is any Creature able to accomplish all that remains for the saving of the Church unto the utmost Who can expresse the opposition that continues to be made unto this work of compleating the Salvation of Believers what Power is able to conflict and conquer the remaining strength of Sin the opposition of Sathan and the World How innumerable are the Temptations which every individual Believer is exposed unto each of them in its own nature ruinous and pernitious God alone knoweth all things perfectly in infinite wisdom and as they are He alone knows how great a work it is to save Believers unto the utmost what Wisdom what Power what Grace and Mercy is requisite thereunto He alone knows what is meet unto the way and manner of it so as it may be perfected unto his own Glory His infinite wisdom alone hath found out and determined the glorious and mysterious ways of the Emanation of Divine Power and Grace unto this End Upon all these Grounds unto all these Purposes hath he appointed the continual intercession of the Lord Christ in the most Holy place This he saw needful and expedient unto the Salvation of the Church and his own glory So will he exert his own Almighty Power unto those ends The good Lord help me to believe and adore the Mystery of it 2. The most glorious Prospect that we can take into the things that are within the vail into the remaining Transactions of the work of our Salvation in the most Holy place is in the Representation that is made unto us of the intercession of Christ. Of old when Moses went into the Tabernacle all the People looked after him until he entred in and then the Pillar of the Cloud stood at the door of it that none might see into the Holy place Exod. 33. 8 9. And when the Lord Christ was taken into Heaven the Disciples looked after him until a cloud interposed at the Tabernacle door and took him out of their sight Act. 1. 9. And when the High Priest was to enter into the Tabernacle to carry the Blood of the sacrifice of Expiation into the most Holy place no man be he Priest or not was suffered to enter into or abide in the Tabernacle Levit. 16. 17. Our High Priest is now likewise entred into the most Holy place within the second vail where no eye can pierce unto him Yet is he there as an High Priest which makes Heaven it self to be a glorious Temple and a place as yet for the exercise of an instituted Ordinance such as the Priesthood of Christ is But who can look into who can comprehend the Glories of those Heavenly Administrations Some have pretended a view into the orders and service of the whole Chore of Angels but have given us only a Report of their own imaginations What is the Glory of the Throne of God what the Order and Ministry of his Saints and Holy ones what is the manner of the worship that is given unto him that sits on the Throne and to the Lamb the Scripture doth sparingly deliver as knowing our disability whilst we are cloathed with flesh and inhabit Tabernacles of clay to comprehend aright such transcendent Glories The best and most steady view we can have of these things is in the Account which is given us of the intercession of Christ. For herein we see him by Faith yet vested with the Office of the Priesthood and continuing in the Discharge of it This makes Heaven a Temple as was said and the feat of instituted worship Rev 7. 15. Hence in his Appearance unto John he was cloathed with a Garment down to the Foot and girt about the paps with a golden Girdle both which were sacerdotal vestments Rev. 1. 13. Herein is God continually glorifyed hereby is the Salvation of the Church continually carried on and consummated This is the work of Heaven which we may safely contemplate by Faith 3. The intercession of Christ is the great evidence of the continuance of his Love and Care his Pity and Compassion towards his Church Had he only continued to Rule the Church as its King and Lord he had manifested his glorious Power his Righteousness and Faithfulness The Scepter of his Kingdom is a Scepter of Righteousness But Mercy and Compassion Love and Tenderness are constantly ascribed unto him as our High Priest See Chap. 4. 15. Chap. 5. 1 2. So the great exercise of his sacerdotal Office in laying down his Life for us and expiating our sins by his Blood is still peculiarly ascribed unto his Love Gal. 2. 20 Ephes. 5. 2. Revel 1. 5. Wherefore these properties of Love and Compassion belong peculiarly unto the Lord Christ as our High Priest All Men who have any spiritual experience and understanding will acknowledge how great the concernment of Believers is in these things and how all their Consolation in this World depends upon them He whose soul hath not been refreshed with a due Apprehension of the unspeakable Love Tenderness and Compassion of Jesus Christ is a stranger unto the Life of Faith and unto all true spiritual Consolation But how shall we know that the Lord Christs is thus tender Loving and Compassionate that he continueth so to be or what evidence or Testimony have we of it It is true he was eminently so when he was upon the Earth in the days
of Duty and Obedience we are told in the Scripture and find it by experience that of our selves we can do nothing Wherefore unless the Precept of the Covenant be founded in a Promise of giving grace and spiritual strength unto us whereby we may be enabled to perform those duties the Covenant can be of no benefit or advantage unto us And the want of this one consideration that every Covenant is founded in Promises and that the Promises give life unto the Precepts of it hath perverted the minds of many to suppose an ability in our selves of yielding Obedience unto those Precepts without Grace antecedently received to enable us thereunto which overthrows the nature of the New Covenant 2 As was observed we are all actually guilty of sin before this Covenant was made with us Wherefore unless there be a Promise given of the pardon of sin it is to no purpose to propose any new Covenant terms unto us For the wages of sin is death and we having sinned must die whatever we do afterwards unless our sins be pardoned This therefore must be proposed unto us as the foundation of the Covenant or it will be of none effect And herein lies the great difference between the Promises of the Covenant of Works and those of the Covenant of Grace The first were only concerning things future eternal Life and Blessedness upon the accomplishment of perfect Obedience Promises of present Mercy and Pardon it stood in need of none it was not capable of Nor had it any Promises of giving more Grace or supplies of it but man was wholly left unto what he had at first received Hence the Covenant was broken But in the Covenant of Grace all things are founded in Promises of present Mercy and continual supplies of Grace as well as of future Blessedness Hence it becomes to be ordered in all things and sure And this is the first thing that was to be declared namely that every Divine Covenant is established on Promises 2. These Promises are said to be better Promises The other Covenant had its Promises peculiar unto it with respect whereunto this is said to be established on better Promises It was indeed principally represented under a System of Precepts and those almost innumerable But it had its Promises also into the nature whereof we shall immediately enquire With respect therefore unto them is the New Covenant whereof the Lord Christ was the Mediator said to be established on better Promises That it should be founded in Promises was necessary from its general nature as a Covenant and more necessary from its especial nature as a Covenant of Grace That these Promises are said to be better Promises respects those of the Old Covenant But this is so said as to include all other degrees of comparison They are not only better than they but they are positively good in themselves and absolutely the best that God ever gave or will give unto the Church And what they are we must consider in our Progress And sundry things may be observed from these words 1. There is infinite Grace in every Divine Covenant inasmuch as it is established on Promises Infinite condescension it is in God that he will enter into Covenant with dust and ashes with poor Worms of the earth And herein lies the Spring of all Grace from whence all the streams of it do flow And the first expression of it is in laying the foundation of it in some undeserved Promises And this was that which became the Goodness and Greatness of his Nature the means whereby we are wrought to adhere unto him in Faith Hope Trust and Obedience until we come unto the enjoyment of him For that is the use of Promises to keep us in adherence unto God as the first Original and Spring of all Goodness and the ultimate satisfactory reward of our Souls 2 Cor. 7. 1. 2. The Promises of the Covenant of Grace are better than those of any other Covenant as for many other Reasons so especially because the grace of them prevents any condition or qualification on our part I do not say the Covenant of Grace is absolute without conditions if by conditions we intend the duties of Obedience which God requireth of us in and by vertue of that Covenant But this I say the principal Promises thereof are not in the first place remunerative of our Obedience in the Covenant but efficaciously assumptive of us into Covenant and establishing or confirming in the Covenant The Covenant of Works had its Promises but they were all remunerative respecting an antecedent Obedience in us so were all those which were peculiar unto the Covenant of Sinai They were indeed also of Grace in that the Reward did infinitely exceed the merit of our Obedience But yet they all supposed it and the Subject of them was formally Reward only In the Covenant of Grace it is not so For sundry of the Promises thereof are the means of our being taken into Covenant of our entring into Covenant with God The first Covenant absolutely was established on Promises in that when men were actually taken into it they were encouraged unto Obedience by the Promises of a future Reward But these Promises namely of the pardon of sin and writing of the Law in our hearts which the Apostle expresly insisteth upon as the peculiar Promises of this Covenant do take place and are effectual antecedently unto our Covenant Obedience For although Faith be required in order of nature antecedently unto our actual receiving of the pardon of sin yet is that Faith itself wrought in us by the Grace of the Promise and so its precedency unto pardon respects only the Order that God hath appointed in the communication of the benefits of the Covenant and intends not that the pardon of sin is the reward of our Faith This entrance hath the Apostle made into his Discourse of the two Covenants which he continues unto the end of the Chapter But the whole is not without its difficulties Many things in particular will occur unto us in our progress which may be considered in their proper places In the mean time there are some things in general which may be here discoursed by whose determination much light will be communicated unto what doth ensue First therefore the Apostle doth evidently in this place dispute concerning two Covenants or two Testaments comparing the one with the other and declaring the disannulling of the one by the introduction and establishment of the other What are these two Covenants in general we have declared namely that made with the Church of Israel at Mount Sinai and that made with us in the Gospel not as absolutely the Covenant of Grace but as actually established in the death of Christ with all the worship that belongs unto it Here then ariseth a difference of no small importance namely whether these are indeed two distinct Covenants as to the essence and substance of them or only different ways of the
cause God saw it necessary and it pleased him to put a grievous and heavy yoke upon them to subdue the pride of their spirits and to cause them to breathe after deliverance This the Apostle Peter calls a yoke that neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear Acts 15. 20. that is with peace ease and rest which therefore the Lord Christ invited them to seek for in himself alone Matth. 11. 29 30. And this yoke that God put on them consisted in these three things 1. In a multitude of Precepts hard to be understood and difficult to be observed The present Jews reckon up 613 of them about the sense of most of which they dispute endlesly among themselves But the truth is since the days of the Pharisees they have increased their own yoke and made obedience unto their Law in any tolerable manner altogether unpracticable It were easie to manifest for instance that no man under Heaven ever did or ever can keep the Sabbath according to the Rules they give about it in their Talmuds And they generally scarce observe one of them themselves But in the Law as given by God himself it is certain that there were a multitude of arbitrary Precepts and those in themselves not accompanied with any spiritual Advantages as our Apostle shews Chap. 9. 5. only they were obliged to perform them by a meer soveraign Act of Power and Authority 2. In the severity wherewith the observance of all those Precepts were enjoined them And this was the threatning of death For he that despised Moses 's Law died without mercy and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward Hence was their complaint of old Behold we die we perish we all perish whosoever cometh near unto the Tabernacle of the Lord shall dye shall we be consumed with dying Numb 17. 12 13. And the Curse solemnly denounced against every one that confirmed not all things written in the Law was continually before them 3. In a Spirit of Bondage unto Fear This was administred in the giving and dispensation of the Law even as a Spirit of Liberty and Power is administred in and by the Gospel And as this respected their present Obedience and manner of its performance so in particular it regarded Death not yet conquered by Christ. Hence our Apostle affirms that through fear of Death they were all their life-time subject unto Bondage This state God brought them into partly to subdue the pride of their hearts trusting in their own righteousness and partly to cause them to look out earnestly after the promised Deliverer 4. Into this estate and condition God brought them by a Solemn Covenant confirmed by mutual consent between him and them The Tenure Force and Solemn Ratification of this Covenant is expressed Exod. 24. 3 4 5 6 7 8. Unto the terms and conditions of this Covenant was the whole Church obliged indispensibly on pain of Extermination until all was accomplished Mal. 4. 4 5 6. Unto this Covenant belonged the Decalogue with all Precepts of Moral Obedience thence educed So also did the Laws of Political Rule established among them and the whole Systeme of Religious Worship given unto them All these Laws were brought within the verge of this Covenant and were the matter of it And it had especial Promises and Threatnings annexed unto it as such whereof none did exceed the Bounds of the Land of Canaan For even many of the Laws of it were such as obliged no where else Such was the Law of the Sabbatical year and all their Sacrifices There was Sin and Obedience in them or about them in the Land of Canaan none elsewhere Hence 5. This Covenant thus made with these Ends and Promises did never save nor condemn any man eternally All that lived under the Administration of it did attain eternal life or perished for ever but not by vertue of this Covenant as formally such It did indeed revive the commanding Power and Sanction of the first Covenant of Works and therein as the Apostle speaks was the Ministry of condemnation 2 Cor. 3. 9. For by the deeds of the Law can no flesh be justified And on the other hand it directed also unto the Promise which was the instrument of life and salvation unto all that did believe But as unto what it had of its own it was confined unto things temporal Believers were saved under it but not by vertue of it Sinners perished eternally under it but by the Curse of the original Law of Works And 6. Hereon occasionally fell out the ruine of that People their Table became a snare unto them and that which should have been for their welfare became a trap according to the Prediction of our Saviour Psal. 69. 22. It was this Covenant that raised and ruined them it raised them to Glory and Honour when given of God it ruined them when abused by themselves contrary to express declarations of his mind and will For although the generality of them were wicked and rebellious always breaking the Terms of the Covenant which God made with them so far as it was possible they should whil'st God determined to reign over them unto the appointed season and repined under the burden of it yet they would have this Covenant to be the only Rule and Means of righteousness life and salvation as the Apostle declares Rom. 9. 31 32 33. Chap. 10. 3. For as we have often said there were two things in it both which they abused unto other ends than what God designed them 1 There was the Renovation of the Rule of the Covenant of Works for righteousness and life And this they would have to be given unto them for those ends and so sought for righteousness by the works of the Law 2 There was ordained in it a Typical Representation of the way and means whereby the Promise was to be made effectual namely in the Mediation and Sacrifice of Jesus Christ which was the end of all their Ordinances of Worship And the outward Law thereof with the observance of its Institution they looked on as their only relief when they came short of exact and perfect righteousness Against both these pernicious Errors the Apostle disputes expresly in his Epistle unto the Romans and the Galatians to save them if it were possible from that ruine they were casting themselves into Hereon the Elect obtained but the rest were hard ned For hereby they made an absolute renunciation of the Promise wherein alone God had enwrapped the way of life and salvation This is the nature and substance of that Covenant which God made with that People a particular temporary Covenant it was and not a meer dispensation of the Covenant of Grace That which remains for the declaration of the mind of the Holy Ghost in this whole matter is to declare the differences that are between those two Covenants whence the one is said to be better than the other and to be built upon better Promises Those of
regarded them not But there is not in this Testimony nor in the whole Context or Prophesie whence it is taken nor in any other place of Scripture any word of complaint against the Covenant itself though its imperfection as unto the general end of perfecting the Church State be here intimated 3 There is an especial Remedy expressed in the Testimony against the evil which God complains of or finds fault with in the People This was that they continued not in his Covenant This is expresly provided against in the Promise of this New Covenant ver 10. Wherefore 4 God gives this Promise of a New Covenant together with a complaint against the People that it might be known to be an effect of free and soveraign grace There was nothing in the People to procure it or to qualifie them for it unless it were that they had wickedly broken the former And we may hence observe 1. God hath oft-times just cause to complain of his People when yet he will not utterly cast them off It is meer mercy and grace that the Church at all seasons lives upon but in some seasons when it falls under great provocations they are signalized 2. It is the Duty of the Church to take deep notice of Gods complaints of them This indeed is not in the Text but ought not to be passed by on this occasion of the mention of Gods complaining or finding fault with them And God doth not thus find fault only when he speaks immediately by new Revelations as our Lord Jesus Christ found fault with and rebuked his Churches in the Revelation made unto the Apostle John but he doth it continually by the Rule of the Word And it is the especial Duty of all Churches and of all Believers to search diligently into what God finds fault withall in his Word and to be deeply affected therewith so far as they find themselves guilty Want hereof is that which hath laid most Churches in the world under a fatal security Hence they say or think or carry themselves as though they were rich and increased in Goods and had need of nothing when indeed they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked To consider what God blames and to affect our Souls with a sense of guilt is that trembling at his word which he so approves of And every Church that intends to walk with God unto his glory ought to be diligent in this duty And to guide them herein they ought carefully to consider 1 The times and seasons that are passing over them God brings his Church under variety of seasons and in them all requires especial duties from them as those wherein he will be glorified in each of them If they miss it herein it is that which God greatly blames and complains of Faithfulness with God in their generation that is in the especial duties of the times and seasons wherein they live is that which Noah and David and other holy men are commended for Thus there are seasons of the great abounding of wickedness in the world seasons of great Apostasie from Truth and Holiness seasons of Judgment and of Mercy of Persecution and Tranquility In all those and the like God requireth especial duties of the Church whereon his glory in them doth much depend If they fail here if they are not faithful as unto their especial duty God in his Word finds fault with them and lays them under blame And as much wisdom is required hereunto so I do not judge that any Church can discharge its duty in any competent measure without a due consideration of it For in a due observation of the times and seasons and an application of our selves unto the duties of them consists that Testimony which we are to give unto God and the Gospel in our Generation That Church which considers not its especial duty in the days wherein we live is fast asleep and it may be doubted whether when it is awaked it will find oil in its vessel or no. 2 The Temptations which are prevalent and which unavoidably we are exposed unto Every age and time hath its especial temptations And it is the Will of God that the Church should be exercised with them and by them and it were easie to manifest that the darkness and ignorance of men in not discerning the especial temptations of the Age wherein they have lived or neglecting of them have been always the great causes and means of the Apostasie of the Church Hereby hath Superstition prevailed in one Age and Profaneness in another as false and noxious opinions in a third Now there is nothing that God requires more strictly of us than that we should be wakeful against present prevalent temptations and chargeth us with guilt where we are not so And those which are not awake with respect unto these Temptations which are at this day prevalent in the world are far enough from walking before God unto all well-pleasing And sundry other things of the like nature might be mentioned unto the same purpose Ob. 3. God often surprizeth the Church with Promises of Grace and Mercy In this place where God complaineth of the People findeth fault with them charging them for not continuing in his Covenant and declares that as unto any thing in themselves he regarded them not it might be easily expected that he would proceed unto their utter casting off and rejection But instead hereof God surpriseth them as it were with the most eminent Promise of Grace and Mercy that ever was made or could be made unto them So he doth in like manner Isa. 7. 13 14. Chap. 54. 17 18 19. And this he will do 1 That he may glorifie the riches and freedom of his Grace This is his principal end in all his dispensations towards his Church And how can they be made more conspicuous than in the exercise of them then when a People are so far from all appearance of any desert of them as that God declares his judgment that they deserve his utmost displeasure 2 That none who have the least remainder of sincerity and desires to fear the Name of God may utterly faint and despond at any time under the greatest confluence of discouragements God can come in and will oft-times in a way of soveraign grace for the relief of the most dejected sinners But we must proceed with our Exposition 2. The second thing contained in this Verse is the Testimony itself insisted on And there is in the Testimony 1. The Author of the Promise declared in it He saith as afterwards Saith the Lord. 2. The Note of its Introduction signalizing the thing intended Behold 3. The time of the accomplishment of what is here foretold and here promised The days come wherein 4. The thing promised is a Covenant concerning which is expressed 1 He that makes it I I will make 2 Those with whom it is made The House of Israel and the House of Judah 3 The manner of its making
exhibition of Christ and confirmed in his death and by the Sacrifice of his blood thereby becoming the sole Rule of new spiritual Ordinances of Worship suited thereunto was the great Object of the Faith of the Saints of the Old Testament and is the great foundation of all our present mercies All these things were contained in that New Covenant as such which God here promiseth to make For 1 There was in it a Recapitulation of all Promises of Grace God had not made any promise any intimation of his Love or Grace unto the Church in general nor unto any particular Believer but he brought it all into this Covenant so as that they should be esteemed all and every one of them to be given and spoken unto every individual person that hath an interest in this Covenant Hence all the Promises made unto Abraham Isaac and Jacob with all the other Patriarchs and the Oath of God whereby they were confirmed are all of them made unto us and do belong unto us no less than they did unto them to whom they were first given if we are made partakers of this Covenant Hereof the Apostle gives an instance in the singular promise made unto Joshua which he applies unto Believers Chap. 13. 5. There was nothing of love nor grace in any of them but was gathered up into this Covenant 2 The actual exhibition of Christ in the flesh belonged unto this Promise of making a New Covenant for without it it could not have been made This was the desire of all the Faithful from the foundation of the world this they longed after and fervently prayed for continually And the prospect of it was the sole ground of their joy and consolation Abraham saw his day and rejoiced This was the great Priviledge which God granted unto them that walked uprightly before him such an one saith he shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munition of rocks bread shall be given him his waters shall be sure thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty they shall behold the land that is very far off Isa. 33. 16 17. That prospect they had by faith of the King of Saints in his beauty and glory though yet at a great distance was their relief and their reward in their sincere Obedience And those who understand not the glory of this Priviledge of the New Covenant in the Incarnation of the Son of God or his exhibition in the flesh wherein the depths of the counsels and wisdom of God in the way of grace mercy and love opened themselves unto the Church are strangers unto the things of God 3 It was confirmed and ratified by the death and bloodshedding of Christ and therefore included in it the whole work of his Mediation This is the spring of the life of the Church and until it was opened great darkness was upon the minds of Believers themselves What peace what assurance what light what joy depend hereon and proceed from it no Tongue can express 4 All Ordinances of Worship do belong hereunto What is the benefit of them what are the advantages which Believers receive by them we must declare when we come to consider that comparison that the Apostle makes between them and the carnal Ordinances of the Law Chap. ix Whereas therefore all these things were contained in the New Covenant as here promised of God it is evident how great was the concernment of the Saints under the Old Testament to have it introduced and how great also ours is in it now it is established 5thly The Author or Maker of this Covenant is expressed in the words as also those with whom it was made The first is included in the Person of the Verb I will make I will make saith the Lord. It is God himself that makes this Covenant and he takes it upon himself so to do He is the principal Party covenanting I will make a Covenant God hath made a Covenant He hath made with me an everlasting Covenant And sundry things are we taught therein 1 The freedom of this Covenant without respect unto any merit worth or condignity in them with whom it is made What God doth he doth freely ex mera gratia voluntate There was no cause without himself for which he should make this Covenant or which should move him so to do And this we are eminently taught in this place where he expresseth no other occasion of his making this Covenant but the Sins of the People in breaking that which he formerly made with them And it is expressed on purpose to declare the free and soveraigns grace the goodness love and mercy which alone were the absolute springs of this Covenant 2 The wisdom of its contrivance The making of any Covenant to be good and useful depends solely on the wisdom and foresight of them by whom it is made Hence men do often make Covenants which they design for their good and advantage but they are so ordered for want of wisdom and foresight that they turn unto their hurt and ruine But there was infinite wisdom in the constitution of this Covenant whence it is and shall be infinitely effective of all the blessed ends of it And they are utterly unacquainted with it who are not affected with an holy admiration of Divine Wisdom in its contrivance A man might comfortably spend his life in the contemplation of it and yet be far enough from finding out the Almighty in it unto perfection Hence is it that it is so Divine a Mystery in all the parts of it which the wisdom of the flesh cannot comprehend Nor without a due consideration of the infinite wisdom of God in the contrivance of it can we have any true or real conceptions about it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 profane unsanctified minds can have no insight into this effect of Divine wisdom 3 It was God alone who could prepare and provide a Surety for this Covenant considering the necessity there was of a Surety in this Covenant seeing no Covenant between God and man could be firm and stable without one by reason of our weakness and mutability And considering of what a nature this Surety must be even God and man in one person it is evident that God himself alone must make this Covenant And the provision of this Surety doth contain in it the glorious manifestation of all the Divine Excellencies beyond any act or work of God whatever 4 There is in this Covenant a soveraign Law of Divine Worship wherein the Church is consummated or brought into the most perfect estate whereof in this world it is capable and established for ever This Law could be given by God alone 5 There is ascribed unto this Covenant such an efficacy of grace as nothing but Almighty Power can make good and accomplish The grace here mentioned in the promises of it directs us immediately unto its Author For who else but God can write the Divine Law in our hearts and pardon
Law of God written in their hearts and their sins pardoned according unto the promise of it as the People of old were brought into the Land of Canaan by vertue of the Covenant made with Abraham These are the true Israel and Judah prevailing with God and confessing unto his Name Obs. The Covenant of Grace in Christ is made only with the Israel of God the Church of the Elect. For by the making of this Covenant with any the effectual communication of the grace of it unto them is principally intended Nor can that Covenant be said to be made absolutely with any but those whose sins are pardoned by vertue thereof and in whose hearts the Law of God is written which are the express Promises of it And it was with respect unto those of this sort among that People that the Covenant was promised to be made with them See Rom. 9. 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33. Chap. 11. 7. But in respect of the outward dispensation of the Covenant it is extended beyond the effectual communication of the grace of it And in respect thereunto did the priviledge of the carnal Seed of Abraham lie 2. Those who are first and most advanced as unto outward Priviledges are oftentimes last and least advantaged by the grace and mercy of them Thus was it with these two Houses of Israel and Judah They had the Priviledge and Preeminence above all Nations of the World as unto the first tender and all the benefits of the outward dispensation of the Covenant yet though the number of them was as the sand of the Sea a remnant only was saved They came behind the Nations of the World as unto the grace of it And this by reason of their unbelief and the abuse of the Priviledges granted unto them Let not those therefore who now enjoy the greatest Priviledges be high-minded but fear 3. The manner of making this Covenant is expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perficiam consummabo I will perfect or consummate In the Hebrew it is only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pangam feriam I will make but the Apostle renders it by this word to denote that this Covenant was at once perfected and consummate to the exclusion of all additions and alterations Perfection and unalterable establishment are the Properties of this Covenant An everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure 4. As unto its distinguishing Character it is called a New Covenant so it is with respect unto the Old Covenant made at Sinai Wherefore by this Covenant as here considered is not understood the promise of grace given unto Adam absolutely nor that unto Abraham which contained the substance and matter of it the grace exhibited in it but not the compleat Form of it as a Covenant For if it were only the Promise it could not be called a New Covenant with respect unto that made at Sinai For so it was before it absolutely 2500 years and in the person of Abraham 400 years at the least But it must be considered as before described in the establishment of it and its Law of spiritual Worship And so it was in time after that in Sinai 800 years Howbeit it may be called a New Covenant in other respects also As first because of its eminency So it is said of an eminent work of God Behold I work a new thing in the earth And its duration and continuance as that which shall never wax old is denoted thereby VER IX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For the Quotation and Translation of these words out of the Prophet Jeremiah the Reader may consult the Exercitations in the first Volume Exercit. V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Apostle in this place renders by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in this place onely the reason whereof we shall see afterwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which my Covenant they brake rescinded dissipated the Apostle renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And they continued not in my Covenant For not to abide faithful in Covenant is to break it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And I was an Husband unto them or rather a Lord over them in the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And I regarded them not On what reason and grounds the seeming alteration is made we shall enquire in the Exposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non secundum Testamentum secundum illud Testamentum and so the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not according unto that Testament others faedus and illud faedus Of the different Translation of this word by a Testament and a Covenant we have spoken before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I gave quod feci which I made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Fathers for that is required to be joined to the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore the Syriack omitting the Preposition turns the Verb into gave gave to the Fathers which is proper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum Patribus eorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vulg non permanserunt others perstiterunt So the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they stood not they continued not Maneo is used to express stability in Promise and Covenants ut tu dicti Albani maneres and tu modo promissis maneas So is permaneo in officio in Armis in Amicitia to continue stedfast unto the end Wherefore it is as well so rendred as by persisto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is so used by Thycidydes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to abide firm and constant in Covenants And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is he who is firm stable constant in Promises and Engagements 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ego neglexi despexi neglectui habui Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I despised I neglected I rejected them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is curae non habeo negligo contemno a word denoting a casting out of care with contempt VER IX Not according to that 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 Egypt because they continued not in my Covenant and I regarded them not saith the Lord. THE greatest and utmost mercies that God ever intended to communicate unto the Church and to bless it withall were enclosed in the New Covenant Nor doth the efficacy of the Mediation of Christ extend itself beyond the verge and compass thereof For he is onely the Mediator and Surety of this Covenant But now God had before made a Covenant with his People a good and holy Covenant it was such as was meet for God to prescribe and for them thankfully to accept of Yet notwithstanding all the Priviledges and Advantages of it it proved not so effectual but that multitudes of them with whom God made that Covenant were so far from obtaining the blessedness of Grace and Glory thereby as that they came short and were deprived of the temporal benefits that were included therein Wherefore as God
always boasted of For the most part I confess that they rose higher in their claim from them than those here principally intended namely unto Abraham Isaac Jacob and the twelve Patriarchs But in general their Fathers it was whereof they made their boast and desired no more but only what might descend unto them in the right of these Fathers And unto these God here sends them and that for two ends 1. To let them know that he had more grace and mercy to communicate unto the Church than ever those Fathers of theirs were made partakers of So would he take them off from boasting of them or trusting in them 2. To give warning by them to take heed how they behaved themselves under the tender of this new and greater mercy For the Fathers here intended were those that God made the Covenant withall at Sinai But it is known and the Apostle hath declared at large in the third Chapter of this Epistle how they brake and rejected this Covenant of God through their unbelief and disobedience so perishing in the Wilderness These were those Fathers of the People with whom the first Covenant was made and so they perished in their unbelief A great warning this was unto those that should live when God would enter into the New Covenant with his Church lest they should perish after the same example But yet was it not effectual towards them For the greatest part of them rejected this New Covenant as their Fathers did the Old and perished in the indignation of God Ob. The disposal of Mercies and Priviledges as unto Times Persons Seasons is wholly in the hand and power of God Some he granted unto the Fathers some to their Posterity and not the same to both Our wisdom it is to improve what we enjoy not to repine at what God hath done for others or will do for them that shall come after us Our present mercies are sufficient for us if we know how to use them He that wanteth not a believing heart shall want nothing else 2. Who these Fathers with whom God made this Covenant were is farther evident from the Time Season and Circumstances of the making of it 1. For the time of it it was done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that day That a day is taken in the Scripture for an especial time and season wherein any work or duty is to be performed is obvious unto all The Reader may see what we have discoursed concerning such a day on the 3d Chapter And the time here intended is often called the day of it Ezek. 20. 6. In the day I lifted up my hand to bring them out of the Land of Egypt at that time or season A certain determinate limited time suited with means unto any work occasion or duty is so called a day And it answereth unto the description of the time of making the New Covenant given in the Verse foregoing Behold the days are coming the time or season approacheth It is also used in a way of eminency a day or a signal eminent season Mal. 3. 2. Who may abide the day of his coming the illustrious Glory and Power that shall appear and be exerted at his coming In the day is at that great eminent season so famous throughout all their Generations 2. This day or season is described from the work of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I firmly laid hold And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to take hold of with a design of helping or delivering and sundry things are intimated as the way and manner of the deliverance of that People at that time 1. The woful helpless condition that they were in then in Egypt So far were they from being able to deliver themselves out of their captivity and bondage that like children they were not able to stand or go unless God took them and led them by the hand So he speaks Hos. 11. 3. I taught them to go taking them by the arms And certainly never were weakly froward children so awkward to stand and go of themselves as that people were to comply with God in the work of their deliverance Sometimes they refused to stand or to make a trial of it Sometimes they cast themselves down after they were set on their feet and sometimes with all their strength went backwards as to what God directed them unto He that can read the Story of their deliverance with any understanding will easily discern what pains God was at with that people to teach them to go when he thus took them by the hand It is therefore no new thing that the Church of God should be in a condition of itself able neither to stand nor go But yet if God will take them by the hand for their help deliverance shall ensue 2. It expresseth the infinite condescension of God towards this people in that condition that he would bow down to take them by the hand In most other places the work which he then accomplished is ascribed unto the lifting up or stretching out of his hand Ezek. 20. 6. See the description of it Deut. 4. 34. Chap. 26. 8. It was towards their Enemies a work of mighty power of the lifting up of his hand but towards them it was a work of infinite condescension and patience A bowing down to take them by the hand And this was the greatest work of God For such was the frowardness and unbelief so multiplied were the provocations and temptations of that People that if God had not held them fast by the hand with infinite grace patience forbearance and condescension they had inevitably ruined themselves And we know in how many instances they endeavoured frowardly and obstinately to wrest themselves out of the hand of God and to have cast themselves into utter destruction Wherefore this word when I took them by the hand for the end mentioned compriseth all the grace mercy and patience which God exercised towards that People whilest he wrought out their deliverance by lifting up his hand amongst and against their Adversaries And indeed no heart can conceive no tongue can express that infinite condescension and patience which God exerciseth towards every one of us whilest he holds us by the hand to lead us unto rest with himself Our own hearts in some measure know with what waywardness and frowardness with what wandrings from him and withdrawing from his holy conduct we exercise and are ready to weary his patience continually Yet do not mercy and grace let go that hold which they have taken on us Oh that our Souls might live in a constant admiration of that divine grace and patience which they live upon that the remembrance of the times and seasons wherein if God had not strengthned his hand upon us we had utterly destroyed our selves might increase that admiration daily and enliven it with thankful Obedience 3. The power of this work intended is also included herein not directly but
by consequence For as was said when God took them by the hand by his grace and patience he lifted up the hand of his power by the mighty works which he wrought among their Adversaries What he did in Egypt at the Red Sea in the Wilderness is all included herein These things made the day mentioned eminent and glorious It was a great day wherein God so magnified his name and power in the sight of all the world 4. All these things had respect unto and issued in that actual deliverance which God then wrought for that People And this was the greatest mercy which that People ever were or ever could be made partakers of in that condition wherein they were under the Old Testament As unto the outward part of it consider what they were delivered from and what they were led into and it will greatly appear to be as great an outward mercy as humane nature is capable of But besides it was gloriously typical and representative of their own and the whole Churches spiritual deliverance from Sin and Hell from our bondage to Satan and a glorious traduction into the liberty of the Sons of God And therefore did God engrave the memorial of it on the Tables of Stone I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt out of the House of Bondage For what was typified and signified thereby is the principal motive unto Obedience throughout all Generations Nor is any moral Obedience acceptable unto God that doth not proceed from a sense of spiritual deliverance And these things are here called over in this promise of giving a new Covenant partly to mind the People of the mercies which they had sinned against and partly to mind them that no concurrence of outward mercies and priviledges can secure our Covenant-relation unto God without the special mercy which is administred in the New Covenant whereof Jesus Christ is the Mediator and Surety Thus great on all accounts was the day and the glory of it wherein God made the Old Covenant with the People of Israel yet had it no glory in comparison of that which doth excell The light of the Sun of Glory was on this day seven fold as the light of seven days Isa. 30. 26. A perfection of light and glory was to accompany that day and all the glory of Gods work and his rest therein the light of seven days was to issue in it From the things we have observed it is fully evident both what was the Covenant that God made and who were the Fathers with whom it was made The Covenant intended it is none other but that made at Sinai in the third month after the coming of the People out of Egypt Exod. 19. 1. which Covenant in the nature use and end of it we have before described And the Fathers were those of that Generation those who came out of Egypt and solemnly in their own persons they and their Children entred into the Covenant and took upon them to do all that was required therein whereon they were sprinkled with the blood of it Exod. 24. 3 4 5 6 7 8. Deut. 5. 27. It is true all the Posterity of the People unto whom the Promise was now given were bound and obliged by that Covenant no less than those who first received it But those only are intended in this place who actually in their own persons enter'd into Covenant with God Which consideration will give light unto what is affirmed that they brake this Covenant or continued not in it A comparison being intended between the two Covenants this is the first general part of the foundation of it with respect unto the Old The second part of it is in the event of making this Covenant and this is expressed both on the part of Man and God or in what the People did towards God and how he carried it towards them thereon 1. The event on the part of the People in these words Because they continued not in my Covenant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the Original is expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we render because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is sometimes a Relative sometimes a Redditive which or because If we follow our Translation because it seems to give a reason why God made a Covenant with them not like the former namely because they continued not in the former or brake it But this indeed was not the reason of it The reason I say why God made this new Covenant not according unto the former was not because they abode not in the first This could be no reason of it nor any motive unto it It is therefore mentioned only to illustrate the grace of God that he would make this New Covenant notwithstanding the sin of those who brake the former as also the excellency of the Covenant itself whereby those who are taken into it shall be preserved from breaking of it by the grace which it doth administer Wherefore I had rather render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here by which as we render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Prophet which my Covenant or for for they abode not And if we render it because it respects not Gods making a New Covenant but his rejecting them for breaking the Old That which is charged on them is that they continued not they abode not in the Covenant made with them This God calls his Covenant They continued not in my Covenant because he was the Author of it the sole contriver and proposer of its terms and promises 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They brake they rescinded removed it made it void The Hebrew word expresseth the matter of fact what they did they brake or made void the Covenant the word used by the Apostle the manner how they did it namely by not continuing faithful in it not abiding by the terms of it The use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto this purpose hath been before declared And what is intended hereby we must enquire 1. God made this Covenant with the People in Sinai in the authoritative proposition of it unto them and thereon the people solemnly accepted of it and took it upon themselves to observe do and fulfill the terms and conditions of it Exod. 19. 8. especially Chap. 24. 3 7. The people answered with one voice all the words which the Lord hath said we will do And all that the Lord hath said we will do and be obedient So Deut. 5. 27. Hereupon the Covenant was ratified and confirmed between God and them and thereon the blood of the Covenant was sprinkled on them Exod. 24. 8. This gave that Covenant its solemn Ratification 2. Having thus accepted of Gods Covenant and the terms of it Moses ascending again into the Mount the people made the Golden Calf And this fell out so suddenly after the making of the Covenant that the Apostle expresseth it by they
necessary unto it in its present condition so as that it might be guided in its faith and encouraged unto obedience 4. Though the standing of the first Tabernacle was a great Mercy and Priviledge yet the removal of it was a greater for it made way for the bringing in of that which was better 5. The divine wisdom in the Oeconomy and disposal of the Revelation of the way into the Holiest or of Grace and acceptance with himself is a blessed object of our contemplation The several degrees of it we have considered on chap. 1. ver 1. 6. The clear manifestation of the way of Redemption of the Expiation of sin and peace with God thereon is the great Priviledge of the Gospel 7. There is no access into the gracious Presence of God but by the sacrifice of Christ alone VER IX X. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vul. Lat. quae Parabola est Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Exemplar or Example so all render it though it answer the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Parable or Proverb Quod erat Exemplar so Beza and others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vul. Lat. Tempor is instantis of the instant time or season which Arias rectifies into in tempus praesens for the time present Beza pro tempore illo praesente for that present time pro tempore tum praesente for the time that was then present Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that time omitting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vul. Lat. juxta quam it being uncertain what he refers quam unto Arias rectifieth it juxta quod for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answereth unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quo wherein Syr. in quo wherein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vul. Lat. Munera Hostiae Dona Sacrificia Syr. Gifts that is Meat and Drink Offerings and Sacrifices by Blood Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oblations and Victims or bloody Sacrifices 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vul Lat. juxta Conscientiam perfectum facere servientem make him that did the service perfect according to Conscience others in Conscientia sanctificare cultorem others consummare of the sense of the word we have spoken before Syr. Perfect the Conscience of him that offered them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. in Meat and Drink in the singular number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the washing of kinds Kinds that is various kinds with respect not unto the various rites of washing but the various kinds of things that were washed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vul. Lat. Iustitiis Carnis so it renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Iustitia or Iustificatio constantly but very improperly Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Precepts of the flesh Ritibus carnalibus Ordinances Institutions Rites of the flesh concerning fleshly things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vul. Lat. Impositis others Imposita incumbent on lying on them VER IX X. Which was a figure for the time then present in which were offered both Gifts and Sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the Conscience Which stood onely in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal Ordinances imposed until the time of Reformation I shall not alter the Translation but shew what might be more properly expressed as unto some Instances in our Exposition Expositors have made use of various Conjectures in their Commentaries on this place What is material in the most eminent of them the Reader may see in Mr. Pool's Collections But I must needs say that in my judgment they have brought more difficulty unto the Text than they have freed it from Wherefore I shall not detain the Reader in the examination of them but I shall give that interpretation of the Text which I hope will evidence its Truth unto such who impartially seek after it and are in any measure acquainted with the things treated of The Apostle in these two Verses gives a summary Account and Reason of the Imperfection of the Tabernacle and all its Services wherein the Administration of the Old Covenant did consist This was direct and proper unto his present Argument For his design is to prove the Preeminence of the New Covenant above the Old from the excellency of the High Priest thereof with his Tabernacle and Sacrifice Unto this end a discovery of the imperfections and weakness of the first Tabernacle and Services was indispensably necessary And if notwithstanding its outward Excellency and Glory it was no other but what it is here declared to be as evidently it was not then was it not only an unreasonable thing and a plain rejection of the Wisdom and Grace of God to adhere unto it in opposition unto the Gospel which was done by the most of the Hebrews but it was altogether unmeet and useless to be retained with the Profession of the Gospel which the residue of them earnestly contended for This was that which the Apostle designed ultimately to convince them of and a work herein both great and difficult was committed unto him For there is nothing more difficult than to dispossess the minds of men of such Persuasions in Religion as they have been bred up in and received by a long Tract of Tradition from their Fathers So we find it to be in such Persuasions and Observances as are evidently false and impious unto the understandings of all that are not under the power of such Prejudices So is it at present with them of the Roman Church and others But these Hebrews had a Pretence or Plea for their obstinacy herein which none other ever had in the like case but themselves For the things which they adhered unto were confessedly of Divine Institution Wherefore the Apostle labours principally to prove that in the Will and Wisdom of God they were to continue only for a season and also that the season of their Expiration was now come And this he doth in this place by a declaration of their nature and use whil'st they did continue whence it is evident that God never designed them a perpetual station in the Church and that because they could not effect what he purposed and had promised to do for it This is the substance of his present Argument There is in the words themselves 1. The Subject spoken of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which 2. The proper Use and End of it It was a Figure 3. The limitation of that Use as unto Time For the Time then present 4. The especial Nature of it The offering of Gifts and Sacrifices 5. The Imperfection of it therein They could not consummate the Worshippers in Conscience 6. The reason of that Imperfection It stood only in Meats and Drinks c. 7. The manner of its Establishment It was imposed 8. The time alotted for its Continuance Until the Time of Reformation 1. The Subject spoken of is expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which
And it is so called in opposition unto the Inheritance which by vertue of the first Testament God granted unto the Israelites in the Land of Canaan That was an Inheritance and was conveyed by a Promise And when God threatned to deprive them of that Land he said he would disinherit them Numb 14. 12. And this Inheritance consisted not only in the Land itself but principally in the Priviledges of Holy Worship and Relation unto God which they enjoyed therein Rom 9. 5. But yet all things that belonged unto it were in themselves carnal and temporary and only Types of Good things to come In opposition hereunto God provided an eternal Inheritance And as the State of those who are to receive it is twofold namely that in this life and that in the life to come so there are two parts of their Inheritance namely Grace and Glory For although Grace be bestowed and continued only in this life yet the things we enjoy by vertue of it are Eternal The other part of their Inheritance is Glory which is the way of the full unchangeable possession and enjoyment of it This therefore is not to be excluded from this Inheritance at least as the end and necessary consequent of it But that which is principally and in the first Place intended by it is that state of things whereinto believers are admitted in this life The whole inheritance of Grace and Glory was in the first place given and committed unto Jesus Christ. He was appointed Heir of all things chap. 1. 3. By him is it communicated unto all believers who thereby become Heirs of God and joynt Heirs with Christ Rom. 8. 15 16 17. For the Lord Christ as the Great Testator did in and by his Death bequeath unto them all his Goods as an eternal Legacy All that Grace Mercy and Glory all the riches of them which are prepared in the Covenant are comprised herein And a Goodly Inheritance it is the Lines are fallen unto Believers in pleasant Places And the way whereby we become interested in this Inheritance is by gratuitous Adoption If Sons then Heirs This is that which is the end of all and regulates all that preceeds in this verse It declares the way whereby God would communicate unto some persons the Inheritance which in free Grace and Bounty he had provided And It is an Act of meer sovereign Grace in God to provide such a blessed Inheritance for any of them who had sinfully cast away what they were before entrusted withal And into this are all Gods following dealings with the Church to be resolved If there were nothing in us to move God to provide this Inheritance for us no more is there of the communication of any part of it unto us as we shall see further on the next words 2. The way whereby God did convey or would communicate this Inheritance unto any was by promise Might receive the promise of an eternal Inheritance The Syriac Translation refers the Inheritance unto the called Those that are called to an eternal Inheritance But in the Original it respects the Promise the Promise of an eternal Inheritance For by the Promise is assurance given of it and it is the means of the actual conveyance of it unto us And the Apostle hath respect unto what he had discoursed about the promise of God and the Confirmation of it by his Oath Chap. 6. 15 16 17 18. So he declares it also Gal. 3. 18. The promise made unto Abraham and confirmed by the Oath of God was concerning the eternal Inheritance by Christ. The Inheritance of Canaan was by the Law or the first Covenant But this was by Promise And we may consider three things 1 What is the Promise intended 2 How and why it was by Promise 3 How we do receive the Promise of it 1. The Promise principally intended is that which was given unto Abraham and confirmed by the Oath of God For the Inheritance that is the eternal Inheritance was of the Promise Gal. 3. 18. namely that in the seed of Abraham all Nations should be blessed It includes indeed the first promise made unto our first Parents which was the spring and foundation of it and respects all the following Promises concerning the Lord Christ and the Benefits of his Mediation with all the Grace which is administred by them which were further declarations and confirmations of it but that great solemn Promise is principally intended For the Apostle designes to convince the Hebrews that neither by the Law nor the Sacrifices nor Ordinances of it they could come unto the Inheritance promised unto Abraham and his seed This was the Promise of eternal Inheritance whereof that of the Land of Canaan was a Type only 2. We must enquire how and why this Inheritance is conveyed by Promise And God made this settlement by Promise for these ends 1 To evince the absolute freedom of the preparation and grant of it The Promise is everywhere opposed unto every thing of works or aesert in our selves It hath no respect unto what we were or did deserve The Land of Canaan was given to the Posterity of Abraham by Promise And therefore doth God so often mind them of the freedom of it that it was an act of meer Love and sovereign Grace which in themselves they were so far from deserving as that they were altogether unworthy of it Deut. 9. 4 5. chap. 7. 7 8. Much less hath the Promise of the eternal Inheritance respect unto any thing of works in our selves 2 To give security unto all the Heirs of it unto whom it was designed Hence in this Promise and the Confirmation of it there was the highest engagement of the faithfulness and veracity of God There was so unto the end that the Promise might be sure unto all the seed Rom. 4. 16. Wherefore God doth not only declare the Relation of it unto his essential Truth God who cannot lye hath given this promise of eternal life Tit. 1. 1. but confirmed it with his Oath that by two immutable things wherein it was impossible that God should lye it might be established The Reasons of the use and necessity hereof have been declared on chap. 6. 17 18. 3 It was thus conveyed and is communicated by Promise unto all the Heirs of it in their sucessive Generations that the way of obtaining this Inheritance on our part might be by faith and no otherwise For what God had only promised doth necessarily require faith unto its reception and faith only There is nothing can contribute ought unto an interest in the Promise but the mixing of it with faith chap. 4. 2. And it is of saith that it may be of Grace Rom. 4. 16. namely that it may be evidenced to be of the meer Grace of God in opposition unto all worth works and endeavours of our own And if all Grace and Glory all Benefits of the Mediation of Christ our Sanctification Justification and Glorification be an Inheritance prepared in
be done by that Covenant against which the Sins were committed neither by the Priests nor Sacrifices nor any other Duties of it Therefore had he promised the Abolition of it because of its weakness and insufficiency unto this end as also the introduction of a new to supply its defects as we have seen at large in the Exposition of the foregoing Chapter For it became the Wisdom Goodness and Grace of God upon the removal of the other for its insufficiency to establish another that should be every way effectual unto his purpose namely the Communication of an Eternal Inheritance unto them that are called But then the Enquiry will be How this Covenant or Testament shall effect this end what is in it what belongs unto it that should be so effectual and by what means it might attain this end All these are declared in the words And Sixthly In general all this arose from hence that it had a Mediator and that the Lord Christ the Son of God was this Mediator The dignity of his Person and thereon both the Excellency and Efficacy of his Priestly Office whereunto alone respect is had in his being called here a Mediator he had abundantly before demonstrated Although the word in general be of a larger signification as we have declared on Chap. 8. 6. yet here it is restrained unto his Priestly Office and his acting therein For whereas he had treated of that alone in the foregoing Chapter here declaring the Grounds and Reasons of the necessity of it he says for this cause is he the Mediator And proceeding to shew in what sense he considers him as a Mediator doth it by his being a Testator and dying which belongs to his Priestly Office alone And the sole end which in this place he assigns unto his Mediatory Office is his death That by means of death Whereas therefore there were Sins committed under the first Covenant and against it and would have been so for ever had it continued which it was no way able so to take away as that the called might receive the Inheritance the Lord Christ undertook to be the Mediator of that Covenant which was provided as a Remedy against these Evils For herein he undertook to answer for and expiate all those Sins Whereas therefore Expiation of Sin is to be made by an Act towards God with whom alone Atonement is to be made so as that they may be pardoned the Mediation of Christ here intended is that whereby suffering death in our stead in the behalf of all that are called he made Atonement for Sin But moreover God had a further design herein He would not only free them that are called from that death which they deserved by their Sins against the first Covenant but give them also a Right and Title unto an Eternal Inheritance that is of Grace and Glory Wherefore the Procurement hereof also depends on the Mediation of Christ. For by his Obedience unto God in the discharge thereof he purchased for them this Inheritance and bequeathed it unto them as the Mediator of the New Testament The Provision of this Mediator of the New Testament is the greatest Effect of the infinite Wisdom Love and Grace of God This is the Center of his Eternal Counsels In the womb of this one Mercy all others are contained Herein will he be glorified unto Eternity 1 The first Covenant of Works was broken and disannulled because it had no Mediator 2 The Covenant at Sinai had no such Mediator as could expiate Sin Hence 3 Both of them became means of Death and Condemnation 4 God saw that in the making the New Covenant it was necessary to put all things into the hand of a Mediator that it also might not be frustrated 5 This Mediator was not in the first place to preserve us in the state of the New Covenant but to deliver us from the guilt of the breach of the former and the Curse thereon To make provision for this End was the Effect of Infinite Wisdom Seventhly The especial way and means whereby this Effect was wrought by this Mediator was by death Morte obita facta interveniente intercedente by means of death say we Death was the means that whereby the Mediator procured the Effect mentioned That which in the foregoing Verse is ascribed unto the Blood of Christ which he offered as a Priest is here ascribed unto his death as a Mediator For both these really are the same only in the one the thing it self is expressed it was death in the other the manner of it it was by blood in the one what he did and suffered with respect unto the Curse of the first Covenant it was death in the other the ground of his making Expiation for Sin by his death or how it came so to do namely not meerly as it was death or penal but as it was a voluntary Sacrifice or Oblation It was therefore necessary unto the End mentioned that the Mediator of the New Testament should dye not as the High Priests of old dyed a natural death for themselves but as the Sacrifice dyed that was slain and offered for others He was to dye that death which was threatned unto Transgressions against the first Covenant that is death under the Curse of the Law There must therefore be some great Cause and End why this Mediator being the onely begotten of the Father should thus dye This was say the Socinians that he might confirm the Doctrine that he taught He dyed as a Martyr not as a Sacrifice But 1 There was no need that he should dye unto that End For his Doctrine was sufficiently confirmed by the Scriptures of the Old Testament the Evidence of the Presence of God in him and the Miracles which he wrought 2 Notwithstanding their pretence they do not assign the Confirmation of his Doctrine unto his Death but unto his Resurrection from the dead Neither indeed do they allow any gracious Effect unto his death either towards God or men but only make it something necessarily antecedent unto what he did of that kind Nor do they allow that he acted any thing at all towards God on our behalf Whereas the Scripture constantly assigns our Redemption Sanctification and Salvation to the death and blood of Christ. These Persons 1 deny that of it self it hath any influence into them wherefore 2 they say that Christ by his death confirmed the New Covenant but hereby they intend nothing but what they do also in the former or the Confirmation of his Doctrine with an addition of somewhat worse For they would have him to confirm the Promises of God as by him declared and no more as though he were God's Surety to us and not a Surety for us unto God Neither do they assign this unto his Death but unto his Resurrection from the dead But suppose all this and that the death of Christ were in some sense useful and profitable unto these Ends which is all they plead
Curse of the Law and the Punishment due unto our Sins which were taken away thereby And in all this the Humane Nature was supported sustained and acted by the Divine in the same Person which gave the whole Duty its Efficacy and Merit That pretended in the Mass is 1. Offered by Priests without Him or those which call themselves so who therefore rather represent them by whom he was Crucified then himself who offered himself alone 2. Is only of Bread and Wine which have nothing in them of the Soul of Christ allowing their Transubstantiation 3. Can have no Influence into the Remission of Sins being confessedly unbloody whereas without the shedding of Blood there is no Remission 4. Is often offered that is every day declaring a greater imperfection in it then was in the great Expiatory Sacrifice of the Law which was offered only once a year 5 Requires unto it no Grace in the Offerer but only an Intention to do his Office 6 Doth in nothing answer the Curse of the Law and therefore makes no Attonement Wherefore these things are so far from being the same Sacrifice as that they are opposite inconsistent and the admission of the One is the Destruction of the other Some Observations we may take from the Text. 1. Such is the absolute Perfection of the One offering of Christ that it stands in need of that it will admit of no Repetition in any kind Hence the Apostle affirms that if it be despised or neglected there remains no more sacrifice for Sin There is none of any other kind nor any Repetition to be made of it self as there was of the most solemn legal Sacrifices Neither of them are consistent with its perfection And this absolute Perfection of the One offering of Christ ariseth 1 From the Dignity of his Person Acts 20. 28. There needs no new offering after that wherein he who offered and who was offered was God and Man in one Person The Repetition of this offering is inconsistent with the Glory of the Wisdom Righteousness Holiness and Grace of God and would be utterly derogatory to the dignity of his Person 2 From the Nature of the Sacrifice it self 1. In the internal gracious actings of his Soul He offered himself unto God through the eternal Spirit Grace and Obedience could never be more glorified 2. In the Punishment he underwent answering and taking away the whole Curse of the Law any farther offering for Attonement is highly Blasphemous 3. From the Love of the Father unto him and delight in him As in his Person so in his one offering the Soul of God resteth and is well-pleased 4. From its Efficacy unto all Ends of a Sacrifice Nothing was ever designed therein but was at once accomplished by this One offering of Christ. Wherefore 2. This one offering of Christ is always effectual unto all the Ends of it even no less then it was in the day and hour when it was actually offered Therefore it needs no Repetition like those of old which could affect the Conscience of a sinner only for a season and until the Incursion of some new sin This is always fresh in the Vertue of it and needs nothing but renewed Application by Faith for the communication of its Effects and Fruits unto us Wherefore 3. The great Call and Direction of the Gospel is to guide Faith and keep it up unto this One offering of Christ as the spring of all Grace and Mercy This is the immediate End of all its Ordinances of Worship In the preaching of the Word the Lord Christ is set forth as evidently Crucified before our Eyes and in the Ordinance of the Supper especially is it represented unto the peculiar Exercise of Faith But we must proceed to a brief Exposition of the remainder of this Verse The One offering of Christ is not here proposed absolutely but in Opposition unto the High Priest of the Law whose entrance into the Holy Place did not put an end unto his offering of Sacrifices but his whole Service about them was to be annually repeated This Sacrifice of the High Priest we have treated of before and shall therefore now only open these words wherein it is expressed 1. The Person spoken of is the High Priest that is any One every One that is so or that was so in any Age of the Church from the Institution of that Priesthood unto the Expiration of it As the High Priest in like manner so he did 2. It is affirmed of him that he entreth in the present Tense Some think that respect is had unto the continuance of the Temple-service at that Time He entreth that is he continueth so to do And this the Apostle sometimes admits of as Chap. 8. 4. But in this Place he intends no more but the Constitution of the Law According unto the Law He entereth This is that which the Law requires And hereby as in other Instances the Apostle lays before their Consideration a Scheme of their ancient Worship as it was at first established that it might be the better compared with the Dispensation of the New Covenant and the Ministry of Christ. 3. This Entrance is limited unto the Holy Place The most Holy Place in the Tabernacle or Temple the Holy Place made with hands 4. There is the Season of their Entrance yearly Once in an annual Revolution or the day fixed by the Law the tenth day of the Month Tisri or our September 5. The Manner of his entrance was with the blood of others Blood that was not his own as the Syriack expresseth it The Blood of the Sacrifice of Christ was his own He redeemed the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 20. 28. Hereunto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is opposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 other blood the Blood of others that is the blood of Bulls and Goats offered in Sacrifice in for cum say most Expositors which is not unusual See 1 Joh. 5. 6. Gen. 32. 10. Hos. 4. 3. The meaning is by vertue of the Blood of others which he carried with him into the Holy Place That which is denied of Christ the Antitype is the Repetition of this Service and that because of the Perfection of his Sacrifice the other being repeated because of their Imperfection And we may observe that Whatever had the greatest Glory in the Old Legal Institutions carried along with it the evidence of its own Imperfection compared with the thing signified in Christ and his Office The Entrance of the High Priest into the Holy Place was the most glorious Solemnity of the Law Howbeit the annual Repetition of it was a sufficient Evidence of its Imperfection as the Apostle disputes in the beginning of the next Chapter VER XXVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is properly Causal quia quandoquidem quoniam But it is generally rendred in this Place by all Expositors alioqui by Concession if it were so that he would offer offer himself for
Math. 24. 29 30 31. 2 Pet. 3. 10 11 12. This Indignation to be executed by fire is described in the last place by its efficacy and effects It is the fire that shall devour or eat up the adversaries The expression is taken from Isa. 26. 11. For the fire of thine Enemies is there not that which the Enemies burn with but wherewith they shall be burned Concerning the Efficacy and effect of this fire we may consider 1. The Seasons of its application unto this effect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. The Object of it the adversaries 3. The way of its operation it shall devour them 1. It shall do so it is not yet come to the effect it is future Hence many of them despised it as that which would never be 2 Pet. 3. 3 4 5 6. But there are three things intimated in this word 1. That it was in procinctu in readiness not yet come but ready to come so is the word used to express that which is future but ready to make its entrance 2. That it is certain it shall and will be whatever appearances there are of its turning aside and mens avoiding of it it will come in its proper season so speaks the Prophet in a like case Hab. 2. 3. 3. The foundation of the Certainty of the coming of this fiery Indignation is the irreversible Decree of God accompanied with righteousness and the measures which infinite Wisdom gave unto his Patience This was the unavoidable season that was approaching when the adversaries had fill'd up the measure of their sin and Gods Providence had saved the Elect from this day to come I. There is a determinate time for the accomplishment of all Divine threatnings and the inflicton of the severest Judgments which no men can abide or avoid He hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the World So at present there is a sort of men whose damnation sleepeth not concerning whom he hath sworn that Time shall be no more which is the present State of the Antichristian World II. The certain determination of Divine Vengeance on the Enemies of the Gospel is a Motive unto holiness a supportment under sufferings in them that believe Lift up your heads know your Salvation is nigh at hand what manner of persons ought we to be See 2 Thes. 1. 7 8 9 10. 2. There is a description of those on whom this fiery indignation shall have its effects and 't is the Adversaries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He doth not say those that believe not and obey not the Gospel as he doth elsewhere when he treats absolutely of the day of Judgment as in that place 2 Thes. 1. 8 9. now mentioned but it confines them unto those that are Adversaries who from a contrary principle set themselves against the Lord Christ and the Gospel This is the peculiar description of the unbelieving Jews at that time they did not only refuse the Gospel through unbelief but were acted by a principle of opposition thereunto not only as unto themselves but as unto others even the whole world so is their State described 1 Thes. 2. 15 16. Who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own Prophets and have persecuted us and they please not God and are contrary unto all men forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved to fill up their sin always for the wrath is come upon them unto the uttermost They laid the foundation of this Enmity in Killing the Lord Jesus but they rested not therein they continued in their unbelief adhering to their old Judaism and their sins therein Nor did they rest there but persecuted the Apostles drove them out from amongst them and all that preached the Gospel and this not only with respect unto themselves alone and those of their own Nation but they set themselves with fury all the World over against the Preaching of the Gospel unto the Gentiles and that of cursed malice that they might not be saved See instances of this Rage Acts 13. 45. Chap. 22. 22 23. They were properly the Adversaries whom the Apostle intends and therefore the Judgment which was peculiar unto them and their sins in that fearful temporal destruction which did then approach is intended herein as well as the Equity of the sentence is extended to the general Destruction of all Unbelievers at the last day I. The highest aggravations for the greatest sins is when men out of a contrary principle of Superstition and Error do set themselves maliciously to oppose the Doctrine and Truth of the Gospel with respect unto themselves and others II. There is a time when God will make demonstrations of his Wrath and displeasure against all such Adversaries of the Gospel as shall be pledges of his Eternal Indignation He will one day deal so with the Antichristian persecuting World 3. What is the Effect of this fiery indignation against those adversaries It shall eat them up or devour them The expression is Metaphorical taken from the nature and efficacious operation of fire it eats devours swallows up and consumes all combustible matter that it is applyed unto or is put into it That intended is destruction inevitable unavoidable and terrible in the manner of it See Mal. 4. 1. whence those expressions are taken Only the similitude is not to be extended beyond the proper intention of it For fire doth so consume and devour what is put into it as that it destroys the substance and being thereof that it shall be no more It is not so with the fiery indignation that shall consume or devour the Adversaries at the last day It shall devour them as to all happiness all blessedness all hopes comforts and relief at once but it shall not at once utterly consume their Being This is that which this fire shall Eternally prey upon and never utterly consume But if we make the application of it unto the temporal destruction that came upon them the similitude holds throughout for it utterly consumed them and devoured them and all that belonged unto them in this World they were devoured by it The dread and terror of Gods final Judgments against the Enemies of the Gospel is in it self inconceivable and only shadowed out by things of the greatest dread and terror in the World Whence it is so I shall now declare VERSE XXVIII XXIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 VERSE 28 29. He that despised Moses Law dyed without mercy under two or three Witnesses Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and counted the Blood of the Covenant wherewith he was Sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despight unto the Spirit of Grace THe Apostle confirms what he had spoken of the fore and certain destruction of Apostates from the Gospel by an Argument à comparatis and à minori ad majus that is by the consideration of the two states of the Church
the former instances so it is here there are two parts of this aggravation The first taken from the Object of their sin the Spirit of Grace The second taken from the manner of their opposition unto him they do him despight The holy Spirit of God promised and communicated under the Gospel by Jesus Christ from the Father as the Author and cause actually communicating and applying of all Grace unto the souls of them that believe is this Spirit of Grace And this carries in it innumerable aggravations of this Sin This Person the holy Spirit of God God himself his Communication of grace and mercy in the accomplishment of the most glorious Promises of the Old Testament was he whom these Apostates renounced But there is a peculiar notion or consideration of the Spirit with respect whereunto he is sinned against and that is this That he was peculiarly sent given and bestowed to bear witness unto the Person Doctrine Death and Sacrifice of Christ with the glory that ensued thereon John 16. 4. 1 Pet. 1. 12. And this he did various wayes For by him the souls of multitudes were converted unto God their eyes enlightned their minds sanctified their lives changed By him did those who believed come to understand the Scriptures which before were as a sealed book unto them were directed encouraged supported and comforted in all that they had to do and suffer for the name of Christ. By him were all those mighty works wonders signs and miracles wrought which accompanied the Apostles and other preachers of the Gospel at the beginning Now all these things and the like effects of his Grace and Power on all who made profession of the Gospel were owned believed and avowed to be the works of the holy Spirit as promised in the dayes of the Messiah and they pleaded the evidence of them unto the confusion of all their adversaries This therefore was done also by these Apostates before their Apostasie But now being fully fallen off from Christ and the Gospel they openly declared that there was no testimony in them unto the truth but all these things were either diabolical delusions or phanatical misapprehensions that indeed there was nothing of truth reality or power in them and therefore no argument to be taken from them unto the confirmation of the truth of Christ in the Gospel Now this proceeding from them who had once themselves made the same profession with others of their truth and reality gave the deepest wound that could be given unto the Gospel For all the adversaries of it who were silenced with this publick testimony of the holy Spirit and knew not what to say considering the many miracles that were wrought did now strengthen themselves by the confession of these Apostates that there was nothing in it but pretence and who should better know than those who had been of that Society There are no such cursed pernicious Enemies unto Religion as Apostates Hence are they said to do despite unto the Spirit of Grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They do injure him so far as they are able The word includes wrong with contempt And this they did upon a twofold account For 1. The works many of them which he then wrought were eminent and evident effects of divine Power and to ascribe such works unto another cause is to do despite unto him 2. They did so principally in that by all his works and in the whole dispensation of him he gave testimony unto Christ in the Gospel And what greater despite and wrong could be done unto him then to question his truth and the veracity of his testimony No greater despite can be done unto a man of any reputation than to question his truth and credit in that wherein he engageth himself as a witness And if lying unto the Holy Ghost is so great a sin what is it to make the Holy Ghost a Liar Herein did such persons do him despite For notwithstanding the publick testimony he gave in with and by the preaching of the Gospel they rejected it as a fable in despising his Person and Authority All these great and terrible Aggravations are inseparable from this sin of Apostasie from the Gospel above those of any sin against the Law of Moses whatever They were none of them in the vilest sin prohibited by the Law under capital punishment Hence therefore the Apostle 2. Proposeth it unto the Judgment of the Hebrews of how much sorer punishment They suppose a sinner guilty of this sin shall be Judged worthy above what was inflicted on the wilful transgressors of the Law And there is included herein 1. That such a sinner shall be punished Apostates may flatter themselves with impunity but in due time punishment will overtake them How shall they escape who neglect so great Salvation Much less shall they not do so by whom it is thus despised in all the causes of it 2. That this shall be a sore a great and an evil punishment which is included in the note of comparison far greater punishment such as men shall be able neither to abide nor to avoid 3. Comparatively it shall be a sorer Punishment then that which was appointed for wilfull Transgressions of the Law which was Death without Mercy 4. That the degree of its exceeding that punishment is inexpressible Of how much sorer None can declare it as the Holy Ghost expresseth himself when he would intimate unto our minds that which we cannot absolutely conceive and apprehend 1 Pet. 4. 17 18. But whereas that punishment was Death without Mercy wherein could this exceed it I answer Because that was a temporal death only For though such sinners under the Law might and did many of them perish Eternally yet they did not so by vertue of the constitution of the Law of Moses which reached only unto temporal punishments But this punishment is Eternal that 's constantly proposed in the first place unto all impenitent Unbelievers and despisers of the Gospel See 2 Thes. 1. 6 7 8. Mark 16. 16 c. Yet so as not to exclude any other temporal Judgments in Spirituals or Naturals that may precede it Such was that whereunto the temporal destruction that was ready to come on these despiâ—ers did belong 3. The way whereby they are made Obnoxious unto it is that they are counted Worthy of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they shall receive neither more nor less but their due The Judge in this case is God himself as the Apostle declares in the next verse He alone knows he alone can justly determine what such Apostates are worthy of But in general that this shall unspeakably exceed that annexed unto the transgression of the Law is left unto themselves to judge suppose ye Ye know and take it for granted that the punishments under the Law to be inflicted on its transgressors by the Constitution and Sanction of it were all of them righteous for God was the Judge of this
Lord Christ had not yet actually offered himself unto God nor made Atonement for Sin Howbeit by vertue of the Eternal Agreement that was between the Father and him concerning what he should accomplish in the fulness of time the benefit of what he was so to do was applied unto them that do believe they were saved by Faith even as we are Hence is he called a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world that is in and from the giving of the first Promise 2. Although the coming of his Person was promised and his Sacrifice variously shadowed out or represented unto the Church yet their perception and understanding thereof was weak and dark proportionate unto the means of its Revelation Hence whatever were its vertue and efficacy yet was it not in it self and its own nature made manifest 3. There were many blessed Priviledges that attended the opening of this way in the actual existence of it in the oblation of Christ which the Church of the old Testament was not acquainted with nor made partaker of And although these things belonged not unto the essence of the way yet they did so as unto our entrance into it We could not without them that is the Administration of the spirit in Gospel-Ordinances make use of this way though prepared and set open unto the Glory of God and our own spiritual advantage Wherefore the plain open manifestation of the way into the Holiest which the Apostle denies unto the Church under the old Testament consists in these three things 1. In the actual exhibition of Christ in the flesh and his Sacrifice of himself making atonement for sin For hereby alone was the way laid open unto an access with boldness into the gracious presence of God Without this the Law and its Curse were like the Cherubims and flaming Sword that turned every way to keep sinners from drawing nigh unto God Hereby were they removed a new and living way being consecrated for our access unto him 2. In the full plain declaration of the nature of his Person and of his Mediation And therefore although the Gospel be not this way in the Precepts of obedience which it gives unto us yet is it the declaration and manifestation of this way and our sole direction how to make use of it or how to enter by it into the most Holy Place This they enjoyed not under the old Testament but were limited unto typical institutions directing the Priests how to enter into the Sanctuary made with hands which were but an obscure representation of these things 3. In the Introduction or Revelation and Establishment of those Priviledges of Gospel-worship whereby believers are led comfortably into the presence of God as our Apostle declares cap. 10. 19 20. For they are full of Light and Grace and a Guide unto all the steps of faith and obedience in this way Hereunto may be added all those things which we have declared to belong unto that perfection or consummation of the Church-state which the Law could not bring it unto on chap. 7. ver 11. In these things consisted that manifestation of the way into the most Holy Place which is here denyed unto the old Testament 4. The continuance of this state is added Whilst the first Tabernacle was standing 1. By the first Tabernacle the Apostle understands not that first Part of the Tabernacle into which the Priests entred continually accomplishing the divine services which before he had so called But he intends the whole Tabernacle with respect unto the true Tabernacle of the Body of Christ which succeeded into its room Neither yet doth he understand precisely that Tent or Tabernacle which was erected in the wilderness which was not in itself of any long continuance nor designed thereunto For it was only suited unto the service of the Church whilest it was in an unsettled condition But he intends the whole worship instituted together with it and belonging unto it celebrated afterwards in the Temple according unto the Laws of that Tabernacle For there was the same worship and the same order of things in the one and the other and so the same signification made at first by the Holy Ghost in the constitution of the Tabernacle was still continued under the Temple also 2. It was continued whilst this first Tabernacle or the Tabernacle in this sense was standing Having its station that is according unto the mind of God it had its state and use in the Church This it had absolutely until the death of Christ and no longer For until then both the Lord Christ himself and all his Disciples continued the observation of all its services according to the mind of God For he was made under the Law of it whilst it was in force Declaratively it continued until the day of Pentecost For then was in the coming of the Holy Ghost the foundation of the Gospel-Church State Order and Worship solemnly laid whereon a new way of worship being established the abrogation of the old was declared And this was yet farther made known by the Determination put unto the Observation of it by the Holy Ghost among the Gentile converts in the Council of the Apostles and Elders at Ierusalem Actually it continued until the destruction of the Temple City and People some years after Its first station it had in Gods appointment the second in his connivence and the third in his patience It is the first of these that is here intended The Tabernacle that is the Laws and Service of it preserved its station and use in the Church by Gods ordinance and appointment unto the Death of Christ. Then did he pronounce concerning it and all things belonging unto it It is finished Then was the Vail rent and the way into the Holiest laid open Then was peace with God publickly confirmed by the blood of the Cross Ephes. 2. 14 15. and the nature of the way of our access unto him made known And some things we may hence observe which also tend unto the further explication of the mind of the Holy Ghost in the Text. 1. Although the Lord Christ were not actually exhibited in the flesh under the old Testament nor had actually offered himself unto God for us yet had Believers then an access into the Grace and favour of God though the way the cause and means of it was not manifestly declared unto them The Apostle doth not exclude them all from the Grace and Favour of God but only shew their disadvantage in comparison of Believers under the Gospel in that this way was not manifested unto them 2. The design of the Holy Ghost in all the Tabernacle Ordinances and Institutions of worship was to direct the faith of Believers unto what was signifyed by them 3. Typical Institutions attended diligently unto were sufficient to direct the faith of the Church unto the expectation of the real expiation of sin and acceptance with God thereon God was never wanting unto the Church in what was