to help assist or relieve can in any sense be applied unto the Angels that must be intended if any For the word must denote either any help assistance or relief in general or that especial help and assistance which is given by Christ in the work of Reconciliation and Redemption If the first be intended I much question the truth of the assertion seeing the Angels owe their establishment in grace unto Christ and their advancement in glory Ephes. 1.10 If it be to be taken in the latter sense as is pretended then the nature of the discrete Axiom here used by the Apostle requires that there be the same need of the help intimated in both the disparates which is denied as unto the one and affirmed as unto the other But now the Angels that is the good Angels had no need of the help of Redemption and Reconciliation unto God or of being freed from death or the fear of it which they were never obnoxious unto And what remains for the clearing of the mind of the Apostle will appear yet farther in the ensuing Observations from the words I. The Lord Jesus Christ is truly God and Man in one Person and this is fully manifested in these words For first there is supposed in them his prae-existence in another Nature than that which he is said here to assume He was before he subsisted before or he could not have taken on him what he had not This was his Divine Nature as the like is intimated where he is said to be made flesh Joh. 1.14 to be made of a woman Gal. 4.4 to be manifested in the flesh 1 Tim. 3.16 to take on him the form of a servant Phil. 2.8 9. as here he took the seed of Abraham he was before he did so that is the Son the Word of God the Son of God as in the places mentioned eternally prae-existing unto this his Incarnation For the subject of this Proposition he took on him c. denotes a person prae-existing unto the act of taking here ascribed unto him which was no other than the Son of God 2. He assumed he took to himself another nature of the seed of Abraham according unto the promise so continuing what he was he became what he was not For 3. He took this to be his own nature he so took it as himself to become truly the seed of Abraham to whom and concerning whom the promise was given Gal. 3.16 and was himself made of the seed of David according to the flesh Rom. 1.3 and as concerning the flesh came of the fathers Rom. 9.5 and so was the Son of David the Son of Abraham Matth. 1.1 And this could no otherwise be done but 4. by taking that Nature into Personal Subsistence with himself in the Hypostasis of the Son of God the nature he assumed could no otherwise become his For if he had by any ways or means taken the person of a man to be united unto him in the strictest union that two persons are capable of a Divine and an Humane the nature had still been the nature of that other person and not his own But he took it to be his own nature which it could no ways be but by personal union causing it to subsist in his own person And he is therefore a true and perfect Man for no more is required to make a complete and perfect man but the entire nature of man subsisting And this is in Christ as a man the Humane nature having a subsistence communicated unto it by the Son of God And therefore 6. This is done without a multiplication of persons in him For the Humane Nature can have no personality of its own because it was taken to be the nature of another person who was prae-existent unto it and by assuming of it prevented its proper personality Neither 7. did hence any mixture or confusion of natures ensue or of the essential properties of them for he took the seed of Abraham to be his Humane Nature which if mixed with the Divine it could not be And this he hath done 8. inseparably and for ever Which things are handled at large else-where II. The Redemption of Mankind by the taking of our nature was a work of meer Sovereign grace He took the seed of Abraham he took not the nature of Angels And for what cause or reason Can any be assigned but the Sovereign Grace Pleasure and Love of God nor doth the Scripture any where assign any other And this will the better appear if we consider First That for a sinning nature to be saved it was indispensibly necessary that it should be assumed The nature of Angels being not taken those that sinned in that nature must perish for ever and they that fancy a possibility of saving sinners any other way but by satisfaction made in the nature that had sinned seem not to have considered aright the nature of sin and the Justice of God Had any other way been possible why doth the perishing of Angels so inevitably follow the non-assumption of their nature This way alone then could it be wrought Secondly That we were carrying away all humane nature into endless destruction for so it is intimated whence Christs assumption of it is expressed by his putting forth his hand and taking hold of it to stop it in its course of apostasie and ruine Of Angels only some individual persons fell from God but our whole nature in every one to whom it was communicated from and by Adam was running head-long to destruction In it self there could be no relief nor any thing to commend it unto God Here Sovereign Grace interposeth The love of God to mankind Tit. 3.4 As to the Angels he spared them not 2 Pet. 2.4 He spared not them and spared not his Son for us Rom. 8.32 And if we consider rightly what the Scripture informs us of the number and dignity of the Angels that sinned of their nature and ability to accomplish the will of God and compare therewith our own vileness and low condition we may have matter of eternal admiration suggested unto us And there was infinite Wisdom as well as Sovereign Grace in this dispensation sundry branches whereof the Apostle afterwards holds out unto us Verse XVII XVIII HAving declared the general Reasons why the Son or Messiah was for a little while to be made lower than the Angels in his Incarnation and sufferings and shewed the ends thereof the Apostle proceeds to declare other especial ends of this divine Dispensation and therein makes way unto what he had to instruct the Hebrews in about the Priestly Office of Christ which was the principal ground and foundation of what he intended more fully afterwards to discourse with them about and to inform them in Verse 17 18. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã V. unde debuit whence he ought So Beza Syr. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for which cause or wherefore it was just meet or equal Others
the world so that it is his suffering alone which is before hand described in this Psalm § 45 But the Jews except against our Application of this Psalm unto the Lord Jesus as they imagine from our own principles and greatly triumph in their supposed Advantage indeed in their own blindness and ignorance Jesus they tell us in the opinion of Christians was God and how can these things be spoken of God how could God cry out my God my God why hast thou forsaken me how could men pierce the hands and feet of God And sundry of the like Queries are made by Kimchi on the several passages of this Psalm But we know of how slender importance these things are He who suffered was God but he suffered not as God nor in that wherein he was God for he was man also and as man and in that wherein he was man did he suffer But their ignorance of the union of the Divine and Humane nature in the Person of Christ each nature preserving its distinct properties and operations is a thing which they would by no means be perswaded to part withall because it stands them as they suppose in great stead as furnishing them with those weak and pittiful Objections that they use to make against the Gospel § 46 We have yet another signal Testimony unto the same purpose Isa. 53. as the outward manner of the sufferings of the Messiah with their actings who were instrumental therein is principally considered in Psalm 22. so the inward nature end and effect of them are declared in this Prophecy There are also sundry passages relating unto the Covenant between the Lord Christ and his Father for the carrying on of the work of Redemption by this way of suffering which the antient Jews not understanding his Personal subsistence before his Incarnation referred unto his soul which they imagine to have been created at the beginning of the world Now is there any Prophecy that fills the present Rabbins with more perplexities or drives them to more absurdities and contradictions It is not our present business to explicate the particular passages of the Prophecy or to make Application of them unto the Messiah It hath been done already by sundry learned men and we also have cast our mite into this Sanctuary on another occasion That which we insist on is obvious to all namely that dreadfull sufferings in Soul and Body and that from the Will and good pleasure of God for ends expressed in it are here foretold and declared Our enquiry is alone after the Person spoken of for whoever he be the Jews will not deny but that he was to suffer all sorts of calamities That it is the Messiah and none other we have not only the Evidence of the Text and Context and nature of the subject matter treated of with the utter impossibility of applying the thing spoken of unto any person without the overthrow of the whole faith of the Antient Church but also all the advantage from the confession of the Jews that can be expected or need to be desired from Adversaries For § 47 First The most Antient and best records of their Judgement expresly affirm the Person spoken of to be the Messiah This is the Targum on the place which themselves esteem of unquestionable if not of Divine Authority The spring and rise of the whole Prophecy as the Series of the Discourse manifests is in v. 13. of Chap. 52. and there the words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Behold my servant shall prosper or deal wisely are rendered by Jonathan ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Behold my servant the Messiah shall prosper And among others the fifth verse of Chap. 53. is so Paraphrased by him as that none of the Jews will pretend any other to be intended ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And he shall build the House of our Sanctuary which is prophaned for our sins and delivered for our iniquities and in his Doctrine shall peace be multiplyed unto us and when we obey his word our sin shall be forgiven us Wherein though he much pervert the Text yet to give us that sense which by their own confession is applicable only to the Messiah whereby as by other parts of his interpretation he stopt the way unto the present Rabbinical evasions The Translation of the LXX they have formerly avouched as their own And this also plainly refers the words to the Messiah and his sufferings though somewhat more obscurely then it is done in the Original In the Talmud its self lib. Saned Tractat. Chelek among other names they assign unto the Messiah ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is one because it is said in this place ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã truly he bore our infirmity We have their antient Rabbins making the same acknowledgement To this purpose they speak in Bereshith Rabba on Gen. 24.67 This is Messiah the King who shall be in the Generation of the wicked and shall reject them and chuse the blessed God and his holy name to serve him with his whole heart ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And he shall set his heart to seek mercy for Israel to fast and to humble himself for them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as it is said Isa. 53. he was wounded for our Trangressions ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And when Israel sinneth he seeketh mercy for them as it is said again and by his stripes are we healed So Tanchuma on v. 13. Chap. 52. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã this is King Messiah And not to repeat more particular Testimonies we have their full confession in Alshech on the place with which I shall close the consent ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Behold our Masters of blessed memory with one consent determine according as they received by Tradition that it is concerning Messiah the King that these words are spoken And therefore Abarbinel himself who of all his companions hath taken most pains to corrupt and pervert this Prophecy confesseth that all their antient Wise men consented with Ben Vzziel in his Targum So that we have as full as suffrage unto this Character of the Messiah from the Jews themselves as can be desired or expected We have strength also added unto this Testimony by the weakness of the opposition § 48 which at present they make unto our Application of this place unto the Messiah It is rather rage then reason that here they trust unto and seem to cry pereant amici dummodo inimici pereant Let Targum Talmud Cabal Tradition former Masters be esteemed Lyars and deceived so that Christians may be disappointed New Expositions and Applications of this Prophecy they coin wherein they openly contradict one another yea the same man as Abarbinel sometimes himself and when they have done suggest such things as are utterly inconsistent with the faith of the antient Church concerning the Messiah with follies innumerable no way deserving our serious consideration The chief things which they most confide in we shall speedily remove out of our way First
Forma Figura Expressa Forma Figura expressa ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Syr. the Character Image Form Figure express Form express Figure so variously is the word rendered by Translators with little difference It is no where used in the New Testament but only in this place In other Authors it hath many significations Sometimes they use it Properly and Naturally sometimes Metaphoricalây and Artificially as when it denotes several forms of Speech or Orations Properly from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to engrave with a Tool or Style is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which is firstly and properly the note or mark cut by a Tool or Instrument into Wood or any other subject capable of such impression or the stamp and sign that is left in the coyning of money The Mark or scarr also left by a Wound is by the LXX termed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Lev. 13.25 It is in general an express Representation of another thing communicated unto it by an impression of its likeness upon it opposed unto that which is umbratile and imaginary ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Substantiae Subsistentiae Personae Syr. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã substantiae ejus Hypostasis Substance Subsistence Person The word is four times used in the New Testament Thrice in this Epistle In this place and Chap. 3.14 and Chap. 11.1 as also 2 Cor. 9.4 every where in a different sense so that the meer Use of it in one place will afford no Light unto the meaning of it in another but it must be taken from the Context and subject treated of The Composition of the word would denote substantia but so as to differ from and to add something unto ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Substance or Being which in the Divine Nature can be nothing but a special manner of subsistence But the Controversie that hath been about the precise signification of these words we shall not here enter into the Discussion of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Agens Regens Moderans acting disposing ruling governing also Portans Bajulans Sustinens bearing supporting carrying upholding which of these senses is peculiarly intended we shall afterwards enquire into ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the Word of his Power by his powerful word Syr. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the Power of his Word changing the order of the words but not the meaning of them by the Power of his Word or the Word of his Power that is his powerful Word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã some would read it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and refer it unto the Father by the powerful Word of him that is of the Father by whose Power they say the Son disposeth of all things But all Copies with Accents have ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã constantly none ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã nor will the disposition of the Words bear that reference ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by himself in his own Person ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Purgationem faciens Purgatione factâ Having purged cleansed expiated or purified us from our sins Having made a Purgation or Purification of our sins ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is used both neutrally and actively answering to ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã both in Kal and Hiphil signifying to sit down and to cause to sit down Chrysostom seems to have understood the Word in the latter sense referring it to God the Father causing the Son to sit down But it is hard to find any Antecedent Word whereby it should be regulated but only ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Who in the beginning of the verse that is he himself And as Erasmus observes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the following Words will not Grammatically admit of this Construction for if ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã be to be understood actively and transitively it must have been ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And the Apostle clears the neutral sense of the word Chap. 8.1 It is well then rendered by our Translators he sate or sate down ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Psal. 110.1 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã LXX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Plural Number so is the same thing expressed Acts 7.55 and by Mark ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Chap. 16.5 Our Apostle constantly keepeth the singular number with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Chap. 1.13 Chap. 8.1 Chap. 12.2 The same thing in both Expressions is intended only that of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the plural number is more eminently destructive of the folly of the Anthropomorphites for they cannot hence pretend that God hath a right hand unless they will grant that he hath many which were not only to turn the Glory of the invisible God into the likeness of a man but of a Monster And Austin well observes that in the Psalm where that expression is first used sit on my Right Hand it is added ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Lord on thy right hand at the Right hand of him who sate on his right hand which removes all Carnal Apprehensions from the meaning of the words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This word is seldom used in other Authors twice in this Epistle here and Chap. 8.1 once by Jude v. 25. and no where else in the New Testament by the LXX not at all The Apostle evidently expresseth by it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not as they are used appellatively for Glory Power or Majesty but as they are names and denote the essential glory of God the glorious God So that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is God himself not absolutely considered but with reference unto the Revelation of his Glory and Majesty in Heaven God on his Throne as our Apostle declareth Chap. 8.1 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Highest ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Highest God himself See Luke 1.35 Verse 3. Who being the Brightness of Glory and the express image of his Person and upholding or disposing of all things by the word of his power having by himself purged our sins sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on high THe Apostle proceeds in his Description of the Person in whom God spake in the Revelation of the Gospel ascending unto such a manifestation of him as that they might understand his Eminency above all formerly used in the like Ministrations as also how he was pointed out and shaddowed by sundry Types and Figures under the Old Testament Of this Description there are three Parts The first declaring What he is the second What he doth or did and the third the Consequent of them both in what he enjoyeth Of the first Part of this Description of the Messiah there aâe two Branches or it is two wayes expressed For he affirms of him First That he is the Brightnâss Beam or Splendor of the Glory and Secondly the express image or character of his Fathers Person In the second also there
are two things assigned unto him The former relating unto his Power as he is the Brightness of Glory he sustaineth or ruleth and disposeth of all things by the Word of his Power Tâe latter unto his Love and Work of Mediation by himself or in his own Person he hath purged our sins His present and perpetual Enjoyment as a consequent of what he was and did or doth is expressed in the last words he sate down at the right hand of the Majesty on high Some of these Expressions may well be granted to contain some of those ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Things hard to be understood which Peter affirms to be in this Eâistle of Paul 2 Epist. 3.16 which unstable and unlearned men have in all Ages wrested unto their own destruction The Things intended are unquestionably sublime and Mysterious The Terms wherein they are expressed are rare and no where else used in the Scripture to the same purpose some of them not at all which deprives us of one great help in the Interpretation of them The Metaphors used in the Words or Types alluded unto by them are abstruse and dark so that the difficulty of discovering the true precise and genuine meaning of the Holy Ghost in them is such as that this verse at least some part of it may well be reckoned among those places which the Lord hath left in his Word to exercise our Faith and Diligence and Dependance on his Spirit for a right Understanding of them It may be indeed that from what was known and acknowledged in the Judaical Church the whole intention of the Apostle was more plain unto them and more plainly and clearly delivered than now it seemeth unto us to be who are deprived of their Advantages However both to them and us the things were and are deep and Mysterious And we shall desire to handle as it becometh us both Things and Words with Reverence and Godly fear looking up unto him for Assistance who alone can lead us into all Truth We begin with the double Description given us of the Lord Christ at the entrance of the Verse as to What he is in himself and here a double Difficulty presents it self unto us First In general unto what Nature in Christ or unto what of Christ this Description doth belong Secondly what is the particular meaning and importance of the Words or Expressions themselves For the First Some assert that these words intend only the Divine Nature of Christ wherein he is Consubstantial with his Father Herein as he is said to be God of God and Light of Light an expression doubtless taken from hence receiving as the Son his Nature and subsistence from the Father so fully and absolutely as that he is every way the same with him in respect of his Essence and every way like him in respect of his Person so he is said to be the brightness of his Glory and the Character of his Person on that account This way went the Antients generally and of Modern Expositors very many as Calvin Brentius Marlorat Rollocus Gomarus Paraeus Estius Tena A Lapide Rihera and sundry others Some think that the Apostle speaks of him as Incarnate as he is declared in the Gospel or as preached to be the Image of the invisible God 2 Cor. 4.4 And these take three wayes in the Explication of the words and their Application of them unto him First Some affirm that their meaning is that whereas God is in himself infinite and incomprehensible so that we are not able to contemplate on his Excellencies but that we are overpowred in our minds with their Glory and Majesty he hath in Christ the Son as incarnate contemperated his infinite Love Power Goodness Grace Greatness and Holiness unto our Faith Love and Contemplation they all shining forth in him and being eminently expressed in him so Beza Secondly Some think that the Apostle pursues the Description that he was entered upon of the Kingly Office of Jesus Christ as Heir of all and that his being exalted in Glory unto Power Rule and Dominion expressing and representing therein the Person of his Father is intended in these words so Camero Thirdly Some refer these words to the Prophetical Office of Christ and say that he was the Brightness of Gods Glory c. by his revealing and declaring of the Will of God unto us which before was done darkly only and in shadows So the Socinians generally though Schlictingius refer the Words unto all that similitude which they fancy to have been between God and the man Christ Jesus whilest he was in the earth and therefore renders the Participle ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not by the present but praeterimperfect tense who was that is whilest he was on the Earth though as he sayes not exclusively unto what he is now in Heaven I shall not examine in particular the Reasons that are alledged for these several Interpretations but only propose and confirm that sense of the place which on full and due consideration appears as agreeable unto the Analogie of Faith so expresly to answer the Design and intendment of the Apostle wherein also the unsoundness of the two last branches or wayes of applying the second Interpretation with the real coincidence of the first and first branch of the latter Exposition will be discovered To this End the following Positions are to be observed First It is not the direct and immediate design of the Apostle to treat absolutely of either Nature of Christ his Divine or Humane but only of his Person Hence though the things which he mentioneth and expresseth may some of them belong unto or be the Properties of his Divine Nature some of his Humane yet none of them are spoken of as such but are all considered as belonging unto his Person And this solves that difficulty which Chrysostom observes in the Words and strives to remove by a similitude namely that the Apostle doth not observe any Order or Method in speaking of the Divine and Humane Natures of Christ distinctly one after another but first speaks of the one then of the other and then returns again to the former and that frequently But the Truth is he intends not to speak directly and absolutely of either nature of Christ but treating ex professo of his Person some things that he mentions concerning him have a special Foundation in and respect unto his Divine Nature some in and unto his Humane as must every thing that is spoken of him And therefore the Method and Order of the Apostle is not to be enquired after in what relates in his expressions to this or that Nature of Christ but in the Progress that he makes in the description of his Person and Offices which alone he had undertaken Secondly That which the Apostle principally intends in and about the Person of Christ is to set forth his Dignity Preeminence and Exaltation above all and that not only consequentially to his discharge of the Office of Mediator
he doth it immediately by the Son 1. In the Creation of all things 2. In their Providential rule and disposal 3. In the revelation of his Will and institution of Ordinances 4. In the communication of his Spirit and Grace In none of which is the Person of the Father any otherwise immediately represented unto us than in and by the Person of the Son 1. In the Creation of all things God both gave them their Being and imparted unto them of his Goodness and manifested his Nature unto those that were capable of an holy Apprehension of it Now all this God did immediately by the Son not as a subordinate Instrument but as the principal Efficient being his own Power and Wisdom This we have manifested in our Explication of the last words of the Verse fore-going In express testimony hereunto see Joh. 1.3 Col. 1.16 1 Cor. 8.6 The Son as the Power and Wisdom of the Father made all things so that in that work the glory of the Father shines forth in him and no otherwise By him was there a communication of Being Goodness and Existence unto the Creation 2. In the providential Rule and disposal of all things created God farther manifests himsâlf if unto his creatures and farther communicates of his goodness unto them That this also is done in and by the Son we shall farther evidence in the explication of the next words of this verse 3. The matter is yet more plain as to the Revelation of his Will and the institution of Ordinances from first to last It is granted that after the entrance of sin God doth not graciously reveal nor communicate himself unto any of his creatures but by his Son This might fully be manifested by a consideration of the first promise the foundation of future Revelations and Institutions with an induction of all ensuing instances But whereas all Revelations and Institutions springing from the first promise are compleated and finished in the Gospel it may suffice to shew that what we assert is true with peculiar reference thereunto The testimonies given unto it are innumerable This is the substance and end of the Gospel to reveal the Father by and in the Son unto us to declare that through him alone we can be made partakers of his grace and goodness and that no other way we can have either acquaintance or communion with him see Joh. 1.18 The whole end of the Gospel is to give us the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 that is the glory of the invisible God whom none hath seen at any time 1 Tim. 6.16 1 Joh. 4.12 that is to be communicated unto us But how is this to be done absolutely and immediately as it is the glory of the Father no but as it shines forth in the face of Jesus Christ or as it is in his Person manifested and represented unto us for he is as the same Apostle in the same place v. 4. the image of God And herein also as to the communication of Grace and the Spirit the Scripture is express and believers are daily instructed in it See Col. 1.17 Joh. 1.16 especially 1 Joh. 5.11 14. Now the grounds of this Order of the things lies 1. In the Essential Inbeing of the Father and the Son This our Saviour expresseth Joh. 10.38 The Father is in me and I in him the same Essential Properties and Nature being in each of the persons by vertue thereof their Persons also are said to be in each other The Person of the Son is in the Person of the Father not as such not in or by its own personality but by union of its Nature and Essential Properties which are not alike as the Persons are but the same in the one and the other And this Inbeing of the Father in the Son and of the Son in him our Saviour affirms to be manifested by the works that he wrought being wrought by the power of the Father yet as in him and not as in the Father immediately See to the same purpose chap. 14.10 11. and chap. 17.21 2. The Father being thus in the Son and the Son in the Father whereby all the glorious Properties of the one do shine forth in the other the order and Oeconomy of the blessed Trinity in Subsistence and Operation requires that the manifestation and communication of the Father unto us be through and by the Son For as the Father is the Original and Fountain of the whole Trinity as to subsistence so as to Operation he works not but by the Son who having the Divine Nature communicated unto him by Eternal Generation is to communicate the Effects of the Divine Power Wisdom and Goodness by temporary Operation And thus he becomes the brightness of his Father's glory and the express image of his person namely by the receiving his glorious Nature from him the whole and all of it and expressing him in his works of nature and grace unto his creatures 3. Because in the dispensation and councel of Grace God hath determined that all communication of himself unto us shall be by the Son as incarnate This the whole Gospel is given to testifie So that this truth hath its foundation in the very subsistence of the Persons of the Deity is confirmed by the Order and Operation and Voluntary Disposition in the Covenant of Grace And this discovers unto us first The Necessity of coming unto God by Christ. God in himself is said to be in thick darkness as also to dwell in Light whereunto no creature can approach which expressions though seeming contrary yet teach us the same thing namely the infinite distance of the Divine Nature from our apprehensions and conceptions no man having seen God at any time But this God invisible eternal incomprehensibly glorious hath implanted sundry characters of his Excellencies and left footsteps of his blessâd Properties on the things that he hath made that by the Consideration and Contemplation of them we might come to some such Acquaintance with him as might encourage us to fear and serve him and to make him our utmost End But these Expressions of God in all other things besides his Son Christ Jesus are all of them partial revealing only something of him not All that is necessary to be known that we may live unto him here and enjoy him hereafter and obscure not leading us unto any perfect stable knowledge of him And hence it is that those who have attempted to come unto God by the light of that manifestation which he hath made of himself any other way than in and by Christ Jesus have all failed and come short of his glory But now the Lord Christ being the Brightness of his glory in whom his glory shines out of the immense Darkness that his Nature is enwrapped in unto us and beams out of that inaccessible light which he inhabits and the express image of his Person representing all the perfections of his Person fully and clearly
ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Essential Word of God who is the Person spoken of nor ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Word spoken by him in the revelation of himself his mind and will but a Word that is effectual and operative namely the putting forth of his Divine Power with easiness and Authority accomplishing his Will and Purpose in and by all things This in the Vision of Ezekiel is the communication of a spirit of life to the Cherubs and Wheels to act and move them as seems good to him by whom they are guided For as it is very probable that the Apostle in these words setting forth the Divine Power of the Son in ruling and governing the whole Creation did intend to mind the Hebrews that the Lord Christ the Son is he who was represented in the form of a man unto Ezekiel ruling and disposing of all things and the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Almighty whose voice was heard amongst the Wheels so it is most certain that the same thing is intended in both places And this expression of upholding or disposing of all things by the word of his power doth fully declare the glorious providence emblematically expressed in that Vision The Son being over all things made by himself as on a Throne over the Cherubims and Wheels influenceth the whole Creation with his Power communicating unto it respectively subsistence life and motion acting ruling and disposing of all according to the counsel of his own will This then is that which the Apostle assigns unto the Son thereby to set out the dignity of his Person that the Hebrews might well consider all things before they deserted his Doctrine He is one that is partaker essentially of the Nature of God being the brightness of glory and the express image of his Father's Person who exerciseth and manifesteth his divine Power both in the creation of all things as also in the supportment rule and disposal of all after they are made by him And hence will follow as his Power and Authority to change the Mosaical Institutions so his Truth and Faithfulness in the Revelation of the Will of God by him made which it was their duty to embrace and adhere unto The several passages of this Verse are all of them conjoyned by the Apostle and used unto the same general end and purpose but themselves are of such distinct senses and importance considered absolutely and apart that we shall in our passage take out the Observations which they singly afford unto us And from these last words we may learn 1. Our Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God hath the weight of the whole Creation upon his hand and disposeth of it by his Power and Wisdom 2. Such is the nature and condition of the Vniverse that it could not subsist a moment nor could any thing in it act regularly unto its appointed end without the continual supportment guidance influence and disposal of the Son of God We may briefly consider the sum of both these joyntly to manifest the Power and Care of Christ over us as also the weak dependent condition of the whole Creation in and by it self The things of this Creation can no more support act and dispose themselves then they could at first make themselves out of nothing The greatest cannot conserve it self by its Power or Greatness or Order nor the least by its distance from Opposition Were there not a mighty hand under them all and every one they would all sink into confusion and nothing did not an effectual Power influence them they would become a slothful heap It is true God hath in the creation of all things implanted in every particle of the Creation a special natural inclination and disposition according unto which it is ready to act move or work regularly but he hath not placed this Nature and Power absolutely in them and independently of his own Power and Operation The Sun is endued with a nature to produce all the glorious effects of Light and Heat that we behold or conceive the Fire to burn the Wind to blow and all creatures also in the like manner but yet neither could Sun or Fire or Wind preserve themselves in their being or retain the principles of their Operations did not the Son of God by a constant continual emanation of his eternal Power uphold and preserve them nor could they produce any one effect by all their actings did not he work in them and by them And so is it with the sons of men with all Agents what ever whether natural and unnecessary or free and proceeding in their operations by election and choice Hence Paul tells us that in God we live and move and have our being Acts 17.28 He had before asserted that he had of one bloud made all nations v. 26. That is all men of one whom he first created to which he addes that we may may know that he hath not so left us to stand by our selves on that first foundation or that we have any Power or Ability being made to do or act any thing without him that in him that is in his Power Care Providence and by vertue of his effectual influence our lives are supported and continued that we are acted moved and enabled thereby to do all we do be it never so small wherein there is any effect of life or motion So Daniel tells Belshazzar that his breath and all his ways were in the hand of God Dan. 5.23 His breath in the supportment and continuance of his Being and his ways in his effectual guidance and disposal of them Peter speaks to the same purpose in general concerning the fabrick of the Heavens Sea and Earth 2 Pet. 3.5 Now what is thus spoken of God in general is by Paul particularly applied unto the Son Col. 1.16 17. All things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist He did not only make all things as we have declared and that for himself and his own glory but also he continues in the head of them so that by him and by his Power they consist are preserved in their present state and condition kept from dissolution in their singular existence and in a consistency among themselves And the reason hereof is taken first from the limited finite dependent condition of the Creation and the absolute necessity that it should be so It is utterly impossible and repugnant to the very nature and being of God that he should make create or produce any thing without himself that should have either a self-self-subsistence or a self-sufficiency or be independent on himself All these are natural and Essential Properties of the Divine Nature where they are there is God so that no creature can be made partaker of them Where we name a creature we name that which hath a derived and dependant Being And that which cannot subsist in and by it self cannot act so neither Secondly The Energetical Efficacy of
ãâã is both to differ and excel but the differentius of the Vulgar yields no good sense in this place ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã haereditavit sortitus est jure hereditario obtinuit of the importance of which word before Being in so much preferred exalted made eminent above Angels as he obtained inherited a more excellent name than they There are five things considerable in and for the Exposition of these words First What it is that the Apostle asserts in them as his general Proposition namely that the Son as the great Priest and Prophet of the Church was preferred above and made more glorious and powerful than the Angels and how this was done and wherein it doth consist Secondly When he was so preferred above them which belongs unto the Explication and right understanding of the former Thirdly The Degree of this preference of him above the Angels intimated in the comparison being by so much made more excellent as he hath c. Fourthly The Proof of the Assertion both absolutely and as to the Degree intimated and this is taken from his Name Fifthly The way whereby he came to have this Name he obtained it as his lot and portion or he inherited it First He is made more excellent than the Angels preferred above them that is say some declared so to be Tum res dicitur fieri cum incipit patesieri Frequently in tho Scripture a thing is then said to be made or to be when it is manifested so to be And in this sense the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is sometimes used Rom. 3.4 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let God be true and every man a liar that is manifested and acknowledged so to be So James 1.12 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he that is approved in trial and thereby manifested to be sincere and sound In this sense the Apostle tells us Rom. 1.3 that the Lord Christ was declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead The resurrection from the dead did not make him to be the Son of God but evidently manifested and declared him so to be According to this interpretation of the words that which the holy Ghost intimateth is That whereas the Lord Christ ministred in an outwardly low condition in this world whilst he purged our sins yet by his sitting down at the right hand of God he was revealed manifested declared to be more excellent than all the Angels in heaven But I see no reason why we should desert the proper and most usual signification of the word nothing in the Context perswading us so to do Besides this suits not the Apostles design who doth not prove from the Scripture that the Lord Christ was manifested to be more excellent than the Angels but that really he was preferred and exalted above them So then ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is as much as preferred exalted actually placed in more Power Glory Dignity than the Angels This John Baptist affirms of him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He was preferred before me because he was before me Preferred above him called to another manner of Office than that which John ministred in made before or above him in Dignity because he was before him in Nature and Existence And this is the proper sense of the words The Lord Jesus Christ the Revealer of the Will of God in the Gospel is exalted above preferred before made more excellent and glorious than the Angels themselves all or any of them who ministred unto the Lord in the giving of the Law on mount Sinai Some object unto this Interpretation That he who is said to be made or set above the Angels is supposed to have been lower than they before To which I answer And so he was not in respect of Essence Subsistence and real Dignity but in respect of the infirmities and sufferings that he was exposed unto in the discharge of his word here on the earth as the Apostle expresly declares chap. 2.9 2. And this gives us light into our second enquiry on these words namely When it was that Christ was thus exalted above the Angels 1. Some say that it was in the time of his Incarnation for then the Humane Nature being taken into Personal subsistence with the Son of God it became more excellent than that of the Angels This sense is fixed on by some of the Antients who are followed by sundry Modern Expositors But we have proved before that it is not of either Nature of Christ absolutely or abstractedly that the Apostle here speaketh nor of his Person but as vested with his Office and discharging of it And moreover the Incarnation of Christ was part of his Humiliation and Exinanition and is not therefore especially intended where his Exaltation and Glory is expresly spoken of 2. Some say that it was at the time of his Baptism when he was anointed with the Spirit for the discharge of his Prophetical Office Isa. 60.1 2. But yet neither can this Designation of the time be allowed And that because the main things wherein he was made lower than the Angels as his temptations and sufferings and death it self did follow his Baptism and Unction 3. It must therefore be the time of his Resurrection Ascension and Exaltation at the Right hand of God which ensued thereon that is designed as the season wherein he was made more excellent than the Angels as evidently appears from the Text and Context For 1. That was the Time as we have shewed before when he was gloriously vested with that All Power in heaven and earth which was of old designed unto him and prepared for him 2. The Order also of the Apostles discourse leads us to fix on this season After he had by himself purged our sins he sat down c. Being made so much more excellent that is therein and then he was so made 3. The Testimony in the first place produced by the Apostle in the confirmation of his Assertion is elsewhere as we shall see applied by himself unto his Resurrection and the Glory that ensued and consequently they are also in this place intended 4. This Preference of the Lord Christ above the Angels is plainly included in that Grant of All Power made unto him Matth. 28.18 expounded Ephes. 1.21 22. 5. The Testimony used by the Apostle in the first place is the word that God spake unto his King when he set him upon his holy Hill of Sion Psal. 2.6 7 8. which typically expresseth his glorious Enstalment in his heavenly Kingdom The Lord Christ then who in respect of his Divine Nature was always infinitely and incomparably himself more excellent than all the Angels after his Humiliation in the Assumption of the Humane Nature with the sufferings and temptations that he underwent upon his Resurrection was exalted into a condition of Glory Power Authority and Excellency and entrusted with Power over them as our Apostle here informs us 3. In this Preference and Exaltation of the Lord Christ there is
able there is a chain of God in it not to be broken men may gall themselves with it but cannot remove it and if God take it from them without granting them a lawful release and delivery it is to their farther misery And this is in some measure or other the portion of every one that is convinced of sin before they are freed by the Gospel And some have disputed what degrees of it are necessary before believing But what is necessary for any one to attain unto is his duty But this bondage can be the duty of no man because it is involuntary It will follow conviction of sin but it is no mans duty rather it is such an effect of the Law as every one is to free himself from so soon as he may in a right way and manner This estate then befalls men whether they will or no. And this is so if we take bondage passively as it affects the soul of the sinner which the Apostle seems to intend by placing it as an effect of the fear of death take it actively and it is no more than the sentence of the Law which works and causeth it in the soul and so all sinners are inevitably obnoxious unto it And this estate as we observed fills men with desires after and puts them upon various attempts for deliverance Some desire only present ease and they commonly with-draw themselves from it by giving up themselves wholly unto their hearts lusts and therein to Atheism which God oftentimes in his righteous judgment gives them up unto knowing that the day is coming wherein their present woful temporal relief will be recompenced with eternal misery Some look forwards unto what is to come and accordingly to their light and assistance variously apply themselves to seek relief Some do it by a righteousness of their own and in the pursuit thereof also there are ways innumerable not now to be insisted on and some do it by Christ which how it is by him effected the Apostle in the next place declares Two things as was shewed are affirmed of the Lord Christ in consequence unto the premised supposition of the childrens being partakers of flesh and bloud and of their obnoxiousness unto death and to bondage 1. That of their natural condition he himself partook 2. That from their moral condition he delivered them which that he might do it was necessary that he should partake of the other 1. He himself did likewise partake of the same The word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã likewise in like manner doth denote such a similitude as is consistent with a specifical identity And therefore Chrysostom from hence urgeth the Marcionites and Valentinians who denyed the reality of the Humane Nature of Christ seeing that he partook of it in like manner with us that is truly and really even as we do But yet the word by force of its composition doth intimate some disparity and difference He took part of humane nature really as we do and almost in like manner with us For there were two differences between his being partaker of humane nature and ours First In that we subsist singly in that nature but he took his portion in this nature into subsistence with himself in the Person of the Son of God Secondly This nature in us is attended with many infirmities that follow the individual persons that are partakers of it in him it was free from them all And this the Apostle also intimates in the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã changing his expression from that whereby he declared the common interest of the children in the same nature which is every way equal and alike The whole is That he took his own Portion in his own Manner unto himself And this Observation removes what is hence objected against the Deity of Christ. Cum Christus saith Schlictingius hominum mortalium fragilium dux fautor sit propterea is non Angelus aliquis multo verò minus ipse Deus summus qui solus immortalitatem habet sed homo suo tempore malis variis calamitatibus obnoxius esse debuit It is true it appears from hence that Christ ought to be a man subject to sufferings and death and not an Angel as the Apostle farther declares in the next verse but that he ought not to be God it doth not appear As God indeed he could not die but if he who was God had not taken part of flesh and bloud God could not have redeemed his Church with his own blood But this is the perpetual Paralogism of these men Because Christ is asserted to have been truly a man therefore he is not God which is to deny the Gospel and the whole mystery of it He proceeds with his exceptions against the application of these words unto the incarnation of the Lord Christ the sum whereof is that the words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã denote an universal conformity or specifick identity between Christ and the children not only as to the Essence but also as to all other concernments of humane nature or else no benefit could redound unto them from what he did or suffered But 1. The words do not assert any such thing as hath been declared 2. It is not true The children were partakers of humane nature either by Creation out of the dust of the earth as Adam or by natural generation The Lord Christ was conceived of a Virgin by the power of the Holy Ghost and yet the benefit redounds unto the children It is evident then that the similitude urged by the Apostle is confined to the substance of flesh and bloud or the Essence of Humane Nature and is not to be extended unto the personal concernments of the one or the other nor the way whereby they became partakers of the same nature Nor is the argument for the Incarnation of Christ taken meerly from the expressions in this verse but whereas he had before proved him to be above and before the Angels even God over all and here intimating his existence antecedent to his participation of flesh and blood his Incarnation doth necessarily ensue The necessity of this Incarnation of Christ with respect unto the End of it hath before been declared evinced and confirmed We shall now stay only a little to admire the Love Grace and Mysterie of it And we see here IV. That the Lord Christ out of his inexpressible Love willingly submitted himself unto every condition of the Children to be saved by him and to every thing in every condition of them sin only excepted They being of flesh and blood which must be attended with many infirmities and exposed unto all sorts of Temptations and miseries he himself would also partake of the same His delight was of Old in the Sons of men Prov. 8.30 and his heart was full of thoughts of Love towards them and that alone put him on this Resolution Gal. 2.20 Rev. 1.5 When God refused Sacrifices and Burnt-Offerings as insufficient to make the
also wherein he was made like unto them still the Regulation from the End is to be carried along with us That therein which was needful thereunto this Assimulation or conformity extends unto that which was otherwise it supposeth not And as the first part of this double limitation is made evident in the instance of sin so the truth and necessity of the latter will appear in the consideration of the things wherein this Conformity doth consist As First He was made like unto them in the Essence of humane nature a Rational Spiritual Soul and a mortal body quickned by its Union therewithal This it was necessary he should be like the Brethren in and not have a phantastical Body or a body animated by the Deity as some fancied of old But that he should take this nature upon him by natural Generation after the manner of the Brethren this was not necessary yea so to have done would not have farthered the End of his Priesthood but have enervated the Efficacy of it and have rendered him incapable of being such a Priest as he was to be For whereas the Original contagion of sin is derived by natural procreation had he been by that means made partaker of humane nature how could he have been holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners as it became our High Priest to be Chap. 7.26 Again it was not necessary that this Humane Nature should have its individuation from its self and a particular subsistence in and by its self yea this also would have overthrown his Priesthood For whereas the efficacy thereof depends on the excellency of the Divine Nature this could not have given its influence thereunto had not the Humane Nature been taken into the same personal subsistence with its self Only as we said that he should have an Humane Nature truly and really as the Brethren and therein be like unto them this was necessary that he might be an offering Priest and have of his own to offer unto God Secondly It was also necessary that in and with his Humane Nature he should take upon him all the Properties and Affections of it that so he might be made like unto the Brethren He was not to have an ubiquatarian body a body commensurate to the Deity that is immense and consequently no true body at all Nor was his soul to be freed from the Affections which are connatural to an humane rational soul as Love Joy Fear Sorrow Shame and the like nor was his Body to be free from being obnoxious unto Hunger Thirst Cold Pain Death it self But now whereas these things in the Brethren are attended with irregular perturbations for the most part and whereas all the individuals of them have their proper infirmities in their own Persons partly by inordinate inclinations from their Tempers and Complexions partly in Weaknesses and Sicknesses proceeding either from their Original Constitutions or other following inordinacies it was no way needful that in any of these he should be made like unto the Brethren yea a Conformity unto them therein would have absolutely impeded the work he had to do Thirdly He was also like unto us in Temptations for the Reason which the Apostle gives in the last Verse but herein also some difference may be observed between him and us For the most of our Temptations arise from within us from our own Unbelief and Lusts. Again in those that are from without there is somewhat in us to take part with them which alwayes makes us fail in our duty of resistance and oft-times leads to farther miscarriages But from these things he was absolutely free For as he had no inward disposition or inclination unto the least evil being perfect in all Graces and all their Operations at all times So when the Prince of this world came unto him he had no part in him nothing to close with his suggestions or to entertain his terrors Fourthly His Sufferings were of the same kind with them that the Brethren underwent or ought so to have done yet they had far different Effects on him from what they would have had on them For whereas he was perfectly innocent and perfectly righteous no way deserving them in his own Person he was free from all impressions of those sinful consequents which attend the utmost sufferings under the Curse of the Law by sinners themselves Thus the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the likeness in all here asserted is capable of a double limitation the first concerning some things themselves as sin the other the mode or manner of the things wherein the conformity doth really consist Now thus to be made like unto them it became him it was meet just and necessary that God should make him so because of the Office Duty and Employment that he had assigned him unto which as the End hereof is nextly to be enquired after Fourthly The general End of his Conformity unto the Brethren is that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest Two things are comprized herein First The Office that he was designed unto He was to be an High Priest Secondly His Qualifications for that Office He was to be merciful and faithful His conformity unto the Brethren as we have seen consisted in two things First His Participation of their nature Secondly His Copartnership with them in their condition of suffering and temptation The first of these was necessary unto his Office the latter unto his Qualifications He was made man that he might be an High Priest he suffered being tempted that he might be merciful and faithful There was no more required that he might be an High Priest but that he should partake of our nature but that he might be merciful and faithful with that kind of mercy and faithfulness which the Brethren stood in need of it was moreover required that he should suffer and be tempted which things must be distinctly considered First That he might be an High Priest it was necessary that he should be partaker of the Nature of them for whom he was to administer in the things of God So the Apostle informs us Chap. 5.1 Every High Priest for men must be taken from among men This is not work for an Angel nor for God himself as such And therefore although the benefits of the Priesthood of Christ were communicated unto all Believers from the foundation of the world by vertue of the compact and agreement between the Father and him for the undertaking and execution of that Office at the time appointed yet he was not actually nor could be an High Priest untill he was cloathed with flesh and made partaker of the nature of the children The duty which as an High Priest he had perform namely to offer Gifts and Sacrifices unto God Chap. 8.3 with the especial nature of that great Sacrifice that he was to offer which was himself his Body and Soul prepared and given him for that purpose Chap. 10.10 require and make necessary this Conformity For this cause
reproved l. 30. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã r. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã p. 256. l. 31. large Discourses p. 260. l. 16. also r. after l. 10. à fine commission r. omission p. 275. l. 2. r. Judicial p. 276. l. 16. Sanction r. Section p. 290. l. 17. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã p. 308. l. 5. who thought l. 26. and other p. 311. l. 17. laying r. flaying p. 315. l. 4. serebrito r. seretrio There are sundry other mistakes in pointings changes and transpositions of letters in the Hebrew and English which a diligent and Candid Reader will easily observe and amend And it is not worth the while to collect them for those who are otherwise Exercitatio I. The Canonical authority of the Epistle to the Hebrews Notation of the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Kaneh a measuring reed The beam of a ballance Thence ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the same signification Metaphorically a moral rule Rectum and Canon how far the same The Scripture a rule Canonical The Antiquity of that Appellation The Canon of the Scripture What required to render a book Canonical All books of the holy Scripture equall as to their divine Original Jews distinction of the books of the old Testament as to the manner of their writing disproved All equally Canonical No book Canonical of a second sort or degree The Epistle to the Hebrews Canonical Opposed by Hereticks of old Not received into the Latin Church untill the dayes of Hierome Proved against Baronius Not rejected by any of that Church only not publiquely approved The Church of Rome not the sole proposer of books Canonical Occasion of its nân-admittance at Rome Boldness of some in rejecting and corrupting the Scripture By whom this Epistle opposed of late The objection of the uncertainty of the Pen-man Answered Citations out of the old Testament not found therein Answer Citations not to his purpose Answer Countenance to old Heresies Answer General heads of Arguments to prove its Canonical Authority Characters to discover between books of divine inspiration and others ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The General Arguments of books truly Canonical Subject Matter Design Style Of the style of the Sacred writings Mistakes of many about it The nature of Eloquence Excellency of Scripture Style Energie Efficacy Tradition concerning the Authority of this Epistle not justly lyable to any exceptions from the Author Circumstances Subject Matter Style Testimonyes Conclusion THe Canonical Authority of the Epistle unto the Hebrews having § 1 been by some called into Question we must in our entrance declare both what it is which we intend thereby as also the clear interest of this Epistle therein for this is the foundation of all those ensuing discourses from it and that exposition of it which we intend The Greek word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which gives rise unto that term Canonical § 2 seems to be derived from the Hebrew ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Kaneh and this as it sometimes denotes an Aromatical cane that contained spices in it used in the worship of God as Isai. 43. v. 24. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã thou hast bought me no sweet Cane with silver for this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã precious Cane growing not in their own Countrey was bought from a far off Jer. 6.20 so in general it signifies any reed whatever 1 Kings 14.15 Isai. 42.3 whence a multitude of fierce and wicked men compared to the devouring Crocodile whose lurking place is in the canes or reeds are termed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the beast of the reed Psal. 68.30 Particularly it signifies a reed made into an instrument wherewith they measured their buildings containing six Cubits in length Ezek. 40.7 Chap. 42.16 And hence indefinitely it is taken for a Rule or a Measure Besides it signifies the jugum or scapus or beam with the tongue of a ballance keeping the poyse of the scales equal and discovering the rectitude or declensions thereof Isai. 46.6 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they weighed silver on the Cane that is saith the Targum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the ballance the supporter and director of the scales being put for the whole The Rabbins call it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the reed of the scales that which tryes and weighs and gives every thing its just moment § 3 And this also is the first and proper signification of the Greek word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Canon So the Scholiast on that of Aristophanes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã tells us that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã properly that which is over the scales bringing them and the things weighed in them to equality The very same with the Hebrew ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from which it is derived So Varinus tells us that it is properly the tongue in the ballance and in use ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Thus Aristotle sayes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by that which is right we know its self and that which is crooked for the Canon is judge of both where he useth the word for any kind of rule or measure answering unto the other signification of Kaneh in the Hebrew Rectum and Canon that which is right and the rule are one and the same the one expression denoting the nature of any thing the other its Use and Application § 4 From this original proper importance of the word is its metaphorical use deduced which is most Common and therein it signifiâs a moral Rule or a measure for direction tryall and judgement Hence the Philosopher calls the Law ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the rule of the administration or government of the Common-wealth that whereby all the parts of it arâ disposed into their proper places whereby they are regulated and all things done in it are tryed and judged And in this sense it is applyed by St. Paul unto divine Revelation Gal. 6.16 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as many as proceed orderly that is in a direct way for so ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã denotes according to this rule or Canon And to the same purpose he useth again the samâ expression Phil. 3.16 For as the words of the Scripture are in themselves ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã words of Truth so the writing it self is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a right writing or as the LXX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that which is written in uprightness to be a rule and Judge unto all ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is Genitivus adjuncti not materiae declaring the property of the writing not the subject matter that is it is Canonical for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that which is right and a rule we have shewed to be the same And from hence it is that the Scripture or written Word of God being in it self every way absolutely right and perfect and appointed by him to be the Rule or Canon of the Churches faith and obedience requiring trying regulating judging wholly and absolutely of them is become ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã
way belong unto that in whose confirmation they are produced by the Author of this Epistle Erasmus upon his Testimony in Chap. 2. produced out of Psalm 8.4 5. which as he saith is urged to the direct contrary of the intention of the Psalmist and scope of the words Eniedinus insists on the same places and others Now two things must be supposed to give countenance unto this Objection First That those who make it do better understand the meaning and the importance of the Testimonies so produced out of the Old Testament than he did by whom they are here alledged This is the foundation of this Exception which if once admitted it may be easily imagined how able some men will quickly think themselves to question other allegations in the New Testament and thereby render the Authority of the whole dubious They must I say take upon themselves to know the true meaning of them and that in the uttermost extent of signification and intention as given out by the Holy Ghost before they can charge their misapplication on this Author How vain unjust arrogant and presumptious this supposition is needs little labour to demonstrate The understandings of men are a very sorry measure of the Truth with the whole sense and intendment of the Holy Ghost in every place of Scripture Nay it may much more rationally be supposed that though we all know enough of the mind and will of God in the whole Scripture to guide and regulate our faith and obedience yet that we are rather ignorant of his utmost intention in every place than that we know it in all There is a depth and breadth in every word of God because his which we are not able to fathom and compass to the utmost It being enough for us that we may infallibly apprehend so much of his mind and will as is indispensably necessary for us to the obedience that he requires at our hands An humble reverential Consideration of all indeed almost any of the Testimonies alledged in the New Testament out of the old is sufficient to evince the truth of this Consideration We know but in part and we prophesie in part 1 Cor. 13.9 Quantum est quod nescimus how much is it that we know not or as Job speaks ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã how small is the word that we understand of God Chap. 26.24 One sayes well est Sacra Scriptura veluti fons quidam in bono terrae loco scaturiens quem quo altius foderis eo magis exuberantem invenies ita quo diligentius Sacram Scripturam interpretaris eo abundantiores aquae vivae venas reperies Brent Hom. 36. in 1 Sam. 11. That Objection then must needs be very weak whose fundamental strength consists in so vain a presumption Again they must take it for granted that they are aforehand fully acquainted with the particular intention of the Author in the Assertions which he produceth these Testimonies in the Confirmation of and with all the wayes of arguing and pressing Principles of faith used by men writing by Divine inspiration Neither is this supposition less rash or presumptious than the former Men who bring their own Hypothesis and preconceived senses unto the Scripture with a desire to have them cofirmed are apt to make such conclusions Those that come with humility and reverence of his Majesty with whom they have to do to learn from him his mind and will therein whatever he shall thereby reveal so to be will have other thoughts and apprehensions Let men but suffer the Testimonies and Assertions whose unsuitableness is pretended to explain one another and the agreement will quickly appear And the worst that will ensue will be only the emergence of a sense from them which perhaps they understood not in either of them singly or separately considered Thus infirm on all accounts is this Objection For the instances themselves some light will be given unto them from what we shall afterwards discourse of the Authors wayes and Principles that he proceeds upon in his Citations of Testimonies out of the Old Testament And in particular in our Exposition of the places themselves we shall manifest that his Application of them is every way suitable to the very letter of the Text and manifest intention of the Holy Ghost So false and unjust as well as rash and presumptious is this Objection § 21 Neither is there any more reall weight in that which Erasmus in the next place objects namely that some things in it seem to give Countenance unto some exploded Opinions of Antient Hereticks whereof he gives us a double instance First Quod velum seperans sanctum sanctorum interpretatur coelum that he interprets the Vail separating the Most Holy Place to be Heaven which indeed he neither doth but only affirms that the Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle was a Type or Figure of Heaven it self nor if he should have so done had he given the least countenance unto the fondness of the Manichees whom I suppose he intendeth His whole Discourse perfectly exploding their abominations His other Instance is in that vexed place chap. 6.6 favouring as he pretends the Novatians denying recovery by repentance unto them who had fallen into sin after Baptism But the incompetency of this Objection rising meerly from their ignorance of the true meaning of the Holy Ghost that made it as for the end for which it was used hath been demonstrated by many of old and late And the Lord assisting in our Exposition of that place we shall shew that it is so far from giving Countenance unto any error or mistake which any man may fall into contrary to the Gospel that a more plain familiar and wholesome commination is hardly to be found in the whole Book of God And this is the summ of what I can meet withall that is objected against the Canonical Authority of this Epistle which how little it amounts unto beyond an evidence of mens willingness to lay hold on slight occasions to vent their Curiosities and Conceptions the Reader that is godly and wise will quickly perceive § 22 Having removed these Objections out of our way we shall now proceed to demonstrate the Canonical Authority of this Epistle in the strict and proper sense at large before declared Now the summ of what we shall plead in this cause amounts to this that whereas there are many ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or infallible evidences of any Writings being given by Divine inspiration and sundry Arguments whereby Books or Writings ungroundedly pretending to that Original may be disproved that of the former there is no one that is not Applicable unto this Epistle nor is it obnoxious unto any one of the latter sort Of what nature in general that evidence is which is given unto the Divine Original of the Scripture by the Characters thereof implanted in it or other Testimony given unto it or what is the assurance of mind concerning it which thereupon we are furnished withall
belongs not unto our present enquiry That which we undertake is only to manifest that the interest in them of this Epistle and its immunity from Rational exceptions is equall unto and no less conspicuous than that of any other portion of Holy Writ whatever So that it stands upon the same basis with the whole which at present we suppose firm and unmoveable Eusebius who after Melito Caius Clemens and Origen made a very accurate enquiry after the Books unquestionably Canonical gives us three notes of distinction between them that are so and others namely ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the character or manner of phrase or speech 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the sentence or subject matter treated of and 3. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the purpose and design of the Writer and they are all of great importance and to be considered by us in this matter But because others of like moment may be added unto them and are used by others of the Antients to the same end we shall insist upon them all in that order which seems most natural unto them yet so as that they may be all referred unto those general heads by him proposed § 23 Two things there are that belong to the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or sentence of this Epistle First its general Argument and Secondly the particular Subject Matter treated of in it These seem to be designed thereby Now the general Argument of this Epistle is the same with that of the whole Scriptures besides That is a Revelation of the will of God as to the faith and obedience of the Church and this holy heavenly and divine answering the Wisdom Truth and Soveraignty of him from whom it doth proceed Hence they are called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Oracles of God Rom. 3.2 or the infallible Revelation of his will and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã John 6.68 the words of eternal life for That in the name of God they treat about And St. Paul tells us that the Argument of the Gospel is Wisdom but not the wisdom of this world nor the Princes of it who are destroyed done away and made useless by it that is the chief Leaders of humane Wisdom and Science 1 Cor. 2.6 but it is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. the mysterious Wisdom of God that was hidden from them v. 7. Things of his own meer Revelation from his Soveraign will and pleasure with a stamp and impress of his Goodness and Wisdom upon them quite of another nature than any thing that the choicest Wisdom of the Princes of this world can reach or attain unto And such is the Argument of this Epistle It treats of things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor have they by any natural means ever entered into the heart of man and that in absolute Harmony with all other unquestionable Revelations of the Will of God Now if the immediate Original hereof be not from God that is by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost then it must be either the invention of some man spinning the whole Webb and frame of it out of his own imagination or from his diligence in framing and composing of it from a systeme of Principles collected out of other Writings of Divine Revelation The First will not be pretended Two things absolutely free it from suffering under any such suspicion First The nature of its Argument treating as was said of such things as eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor have they entered into the heart of man The Deity Offices Sacrifice Mediation and Grace of Jesus Christ are not things that can have any foundation in the invention and imagination of man Yea being revealed by God they lye in a direct contradiction unto all that naturally is esteemed wise or perfect 1 Cor. 1.18 19 20 21 22 23. They exceed the sphere of natural comprehension and are destructive of the principles which it frameth unto it self for the compassing of those ends whereunto they are designed Nor is it lyable to be esteemed of the other extract or the diligence and wisdom of man in collecting it from other Books of Divine Revelation which alone with any colour of reason can be pretended Humane diligence regulated by what is elsewhere revealed of God is humane still and can never free it self from those inseparable attendances which will manifest it so to be For suppose a man may compose a writing wherein every Proposition in it self shall be true and the whole in its contexture materially every way answerable unto the truth which yet must be accidental as to the principle of his wisdom understanding ability and diligence by whom it is composed they being no way able to give that effect certainly and infallibly unto it yet there will never be wanting that in it whereby it may be discerned from an immediate effect and product of Divine Wisdom and understanding Take but the Writings of any Wise man who from his own ability and invention hath declared any Science in them and allow his discovery of it to be the absolute compleat rule of that Science so that nothing beyond or besides what he hath written about it is true or certain nor any thing else but as it hath conformity to or coincidence with what he hath written and it will be very difficult if not impossible for any man so to treat of that subject from his Writings as not to leave sufficient Characters upon his own to difference them from his Original and pattern For suppose him to have in all things attained the perfect sense of his Guide which yet it may be untill all words are freed from their ambiguity will be impossible for any one to do yet still there will remain such an impression of the Genius and fancy wherein the Rule was first framed upon it as the follower cannot express And how much more will there be so in that which both for matter and words also proceeds from the Soveraign Will and Wisdom of God Can it be supposed that any man should collect by his own industry and diligence a Writing out of that which is given by Him and regulated thereby that should absolutely express those infinite Perfections of his nature which shine forth in that which is immediately from himself For that any Writing should be pretended to be undiscernable from them given by Divine inspiration It is not enough that the matter of it be universally true and that truth no other but what is contained in other parts of Scripture but it must also have those other ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and characters of a Divine Original which we shall in our progress discover in this Epistle as in other Books of the Holy Scripture for it is not behind the very choicest of them And the truth of this consideration is demonstrated in the instances of every one of those Writings which may probably be concluded to have the nearest affinity and similitude unto those of Divine inspiration from the
to oppose its Canonical Authority with their frivolous Cavils and Objections Neither is this Experience meerly satisfactory to themselves alone as is by some pretended It is a thing pleadable and that not only in their own defence to strengthen their Faith against Temptations but to others also though not to Atheistical Scoffers yet to humble enquirers which ought to be the frame of all men in the Investigation of Sacred Truths § 34 Unto what hath been spoken we may add that the Canonical Authority of this Epistle is confirmed unto us by Catholick Tradition By this Tradition I intend not the Testimony only of the present Church that is in the world nor Fancy a trust of a Power to declare what is so in any Church whatever but a generall uninterrupted Fame conveyed and confirmed by particular Instances Records and Testimonies in all Ages In any other sense how little weight there is to be laid upon Traditions we have a pregnant instance in him who first began to magnifie them This was Papias a contemporary of Policarpus in the very next Age after the Apostles Tradition of what was done or said by Christ or the Apostles what Expositions they gave he professed himself to set an high value upon equal to if not above the Scripture And two things are considerable in his search after them First That he did not think that there was any Church appointed to be the Preserver and Declarer of Apostolical Traditions but made his enquiry of all the individual ancient men that he could meet withall who had conversed with any of the Apostles Secondly That by all his pains he gathered together a Rhapsody of incredible Stories Fables Errors and useless Curiosities Such issue will the endeavours of men have who forsake the stable Word of Prophesie to follow rumors and reports under the specious name of Traditions But this Catholick Fame whereof we speak confirmed by particular Entrances and Records in all Ages testifying unto a matter of Fact is of great importance And how clearly this may be pleaded in our present case shall be manifested in our Investigation of the Penman of this Epistle And thus I hope we have made it evident that this Epistle is not destitute of any one of those ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or infallible proofs and Arguments whereby any particular Book of the Scripture evinceth its self unto the Consciences of men to be written by Inspiration from God It remaineth now to shew that it is not liable unto any of those Exceptions or Arguments whereby any Book or Writing pretending a claim to a Divine Original and Canonical Authority thereupon may be convicted and manifested to be of another Extract whereby its just priviledge will be on both sides secured § 35 The first consideration of this nature is taken from the Author or Penman of any such Writing The Books of the Old Testament were all of them written by Prophets or holy men inspired of God Hence St. Peter calls the whole of it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Prophesie 2 Pet. 1.21 Prophesie delivered by men acted or moved therein by the Holy Ghost And though there be a distribution made of the several Books of it from the Subject Matter into the Law Prophets and Psalms Luke 24.44 and often into the Law and Prophets on the same account as Acts 26.2 Rom. 3.22 yet their Penmen being all equally Prophets the whole in general is ascribed unto them and called Prophesie Rom. 1.8 Chap. 16.26 Luke 24.25 2 Pet. 1.19 So were the Books of the New Testament written by Apostles or men endowed with an Apostolical Spirit and in their work equally inspired by the Holy Ghost whence the Church is said to be built on the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone Ephes. 2.20 If then the Author of any Writing acknowledgeth himself or may otherwise be convinced to have been neither Prophet nor Apostle nor endued with the same infallible Spirit with them his work how excellent soever other wayes it may appear must needs be esteemed a meer fruit of his own Skill Diligence and Wisdom and not any way to belong unto the Canon of the Scripture This is the condition for instance of the second Book of Maccabees In the close of it the Author being doubtful what acceptance his endeavours and manner of Writing would find amongst his Readers makes his excuse and affirms that he did his utmost to please them in his Style and Composition of his words So he tells us before Chap. 2. v. 24. that he did but Epitomize the History of Jason the Cyrenean wherein he took great pains and labour The truth is he that had before commended Judas Machabaeus for offering Sacrifices for the dead which indeed he did not but for the living no where appointed in the Law and affirmed that Jeremiah hid the holy Fire Ark Tabernacle and Altar of Incense in a Cave that the same person Antiochus was killed at Nanea in Persia Chap. 1. v. 16. and dyed in the Mountains of torments in his Bowels as he was coming to Judea Chap. 9. whom the first Book affirms to have dyed of sorrow at Babylon Chap. 6. v. 16. who affirms Judas to have written Letters to Aristobulus in the one hundred eighty eighth year of the Seleucian Empire who was slain in the one hundred fifty second year of it Lib. 1. Chap. 1.3 that is thirty six years after his death with many other such mistakes and falshoods had no great need to inform us that he had no special Divine Assistance in his Writing but leaned unto his own Understanding But yet this he doth as we shewed and that openly For the Holy Ghost will not be an Epitomator of a Profane Writing as he professeth himself to have been nor make excuses for his weakness nor declare his pains and Sweat in his Work as he doth And yet to that pass are things brought in the World by Custome Prejudice love of Reputation scorn to be esteemed mistaken in any thing that many earnestly contend for this Book to be written by Divine Inspiration when the Author of it himself openly professeth it to have been of another Extract For although this Book be not only rejected out of the Canon by the Council of Laodicea Hierom and others of the Antients but by Gregory the Great Bishop of Rome himself yet the Church of Rome would now by force thrust it thereinto But were the Author himself alive again I am so well perswaded of his Ingenuity and Honesty from the Conclusion of his Story that they would never be able to make him say that he wrote by Divine Inspiration and little reason then have we to believe it Now this Epistle is free from this Exception The Penman of it doth no where intimate directly or indirectly that he wrote in his own strength or by his own ability which yet if he had done in an Argument of that
Recovery For First The Glorious Properties of the Nature of God whose Manifestation and Exaltation in all the works that outwardly are of him he designeth do require that there should be Salvation for Sinners Even this matter of the Salvation of Sinners conduceth yea is necessary unto the manifestation of some of those Divine Excellencies wherein no small part of the glory of God doth consist God had in the Creation of all things glorified his Greatness Power Wisdom and Goodness His Soveraignty Righteousness and Holiness he had in like manner revealed in that Holy Law which he had prescribed unto Angels and Men for the Rule of their Obedience and in the Assignation of their Reward Upon the Sin of Angels and Men he had made known his Severity and Vindictive Justice in the Curse and Punishment inflicted on them But there were yet remaining undiscovered in the Abysse of his Eternal Essence Grace and Pardoning Mercy which in none of his Works had as yet exerted themselves or manifested their Glory And in case no Remedy be provided for mankind under the Evils mentioned and their utter ruine as they must have perished accordingly so those glorious Properties of the nature of God all wayes of exerting their proper and peculiar Acts being secluded all objects of them removed could not have been equally glorified with his other Holy Attributes The creatures know nothing in God but as it manifested in its Effects His Essence in its self dwells in Light inaccessible Had never any stood in need of Grace or Mercy or doing so had never been made partakers of them it could not have been known that there was that kind of Goodness in his Nature which yet it is his design principally to glorifie himself in The necessity therefore of the Manifestation of these Properties of God his Goodness Grace Mercy and Readiness to Forgive which can only be exercised about sinners and that in their Relief and Salvation from Sin and Misery do require that the Deliverance enquired after be admitted and justly expected And this Expectation is so much the more just and firmly grounded in that there is nothing in himself which the Lord more requireth our Conformity unto himself in than in this Condescension Goodness Grace and Readiness to forgive which manifests how dear the glory of them is unto him Secondly To what End shall we conceive the Providence and Patience of God to be exercised towards the Race of Mankind for so long a season in the Earth We see what is the general Issue and Event of the continuance of Mankind in the world God saw it and complained of it long ago Gen. 6. v. 5 6. Shall we now think that God hath no other Design in his Patience towards mankind for so many Generations but meerly to suffer them All and Every one without exception to sin against him dishonour him provoke him that so He may at length everlastingly destroy them That this indeed is the Event with many with the most through their own perverse wickedness blindness and love of the pleasures of sin cannot be denyed But to suppose that God hath no other design at all but meerly by his Patience to forbear them awhile in their folly and then to avenge himself upon them is unsuitable unto his Wisdom and Goodness It cannot be then but that he would long since have cut off the whole Race if there were no way for them to be delivered out of this perishing condition And although this way what ever it be is not Effectual towards All yet for their sakes towards whom through the grace of God it is and shall be so is the Patience of God exercised towards the whole Race of Mankind and their Being is continued in this world Other Reason of this Dispensation of Divine Wisdom and Goodness can none be assigned Thirdly That there is a way of Diliverance for Mankind the Event hath manifested in two remarkable and undeniable Instances First In that sundry Persons who were as others by nature children of Wrath and under the Curse have obtained an undoubted and infallible interest in the love and favour of God and this Testimony that they pleased him What were the Assurances they had hereof I shall not now debate But I take it now for granted which may be farther confirmed as occasion shall require that some Persons in all Generations have enjoyed the Friendship Love and Favour of God which they could never have done unless there had been some way for their Deliverance out of the state of Sin and Misery before described For therein every man upon a just account will find himself in the state of Adam who when he heard the voice of God was afraid Secondly God hath been pleased to require from men a Revenue of Glory by a way of Worship prescribed unto them after the Entrance of sin This he hath not done unto the Angels that sinned nor could it have been done in a consistency with Righteousness unto men without a Supposition of a Possibility of Deliverance from under his Wrath. For in every Prescription of Duty God proposeth himself as a Rewarder which he is only unto them that please him and to please God without the Deliverance enquired after is impossible Besides that God is actually glorified in the world by the Way of Worship required on this supposition shall be elsewhere declared and Arguments added in full measure to confirm our Assertion Deliverance then from this condition may on just grounds be expected and how it might be effected is our next Enquiry § 16 The great Relief enquired after must be brought about by men themselves or by some other for them What they can do themselves herein we may be quickly satisfied about The nature of the Evils under which they suffer and the Event of things in the world sufficiently discover the disability of men to be their own Deliverers Besides who should contrive the way of it for them One Single Person More or All How easily the impossibility of it might be demonstrated on any of these suppositions is too manifest to be insisted on The Evils suffered under are of two sorts both Vniversal and Eternal The first is that of Punishment inflicted from the Righteousness of God There are but two wayes possible setting aside the Consideration of what shall be afterwards fixed on whereby mankind or any individual Person amongst them may obtain deliverance from this Evil And the first is that God without any further consideration should remit it and exempt the Creation from under it But although this way may seem possible unto some it is indeed utterly otherwise Did not the sentence of it proceed from his Righteousness and the Essential Rectitude of his Nature Did he not engage his Truth and faithfulness that it should be inflicted and doth not his Holiness and Justice require that so it should be What should become oâ his glory what would he do unto his great name if now without
should go free By what notions of God could we have been instructed in the Wisdom and Righteousness of such a Proceeding Add hereunto that this God hath not done and we may safely conclude that it became him not so to do But what need all this Enquiry The Jews with whom we principally have to do § 18 in this matter plead constantly that God hath appointed unto men at least unto themselves a way and means of Delivery out of this condition And this is by the observation of Moses's Law By this they say they are justified in the sight of God and have Deliverance from all wrath due unto sin This they trusted in of old Rom. 9. v. 32. this they continue to make their Refuge at this day Spiritualis liberatio solummodo dependet ab Observatione legis quam Deus in monte Sinai promulgavit Spiritual Deliverance dependeth solely on the Observation of the Law which God promulgated on Mount Sinai saith the Author of the Answers unto certain Questions proposed to the Jews Quest. 5. published by Brenius who in his reply hath betrayed unto them the most important Doctrines of the Christian Religion But this is their Perswasion The giving of this Law unto them they suppose to have freed them utterly from every thing in the condition before described so far as they will acknowledge it to concern any of the Posterity of Adam And whereas they cannot deny but that they sometimes sin against the Moral Precepts of this Law and so stand in need of Help against their Helper they fix in this case upon a double relief The first is of their own Personal Repentance and the other the Sacrifices that are appointed in the Law But whereas they now are and have been for many Generations deprived of the Priviledge as they esteem it of offering Sacrifices according to the Law they hope that their own Repentance with their death which they pray that it may be expiatory will be sufficient to obtain for them the forgiveness of sin Only they say this might better and more easie be effected if they might enjoy the Benefit of Sacrifices So saith the forementioned Jew whose Discourse is published by Brenius Quamvis jam nulla sint Sacrificia quae media erant ad tanto facilius impetrandam remissionem peccatorum eadem tamen per poenitentiam resipiscentiam impetratur And again Hodie victimas offere non possumus destituti mediis ad hoc necessariis quae quando obtinebimus tum remissio illa tanto facilior reddetur Respon ad Quaest. Septim If they cannot obtain the use of Sacrifices yet the matter may be effected by their Repentance only it were much easier to do it by Sacrifices And they seem to long for them principally on this account that by them they may free themselves from somewhat of Discipline and Penance which now their consciences enforce them unto But this as all other Articles of their Creed which are properly Judaical is feigned by them to suit their present condition and Interest For where do they find that their Sacrifices especially that which they most trust in namely that on the Feast of Expiation Lev. 16. was ever designed for this End to enable them the more easily to obtain the Remission of sins by another means which they use For it is said directly that the Sacrifice on that day did expiate their sin and make Attonement for it that they might not dye and not that it did help them in procuring pardon another way But this is now taken from them and what shall they do Why rather than they will look or come to him who was represented in that Sacrifice and on whose account alone it had all its efficacy they will find out a new way of doing that which their Sacrifices were appointed unto and this they must do or openly acknowledge that they all perish eternally I shall not insist long on the casting down of this Imagination all the Foundations of it being long ago demolished by our Apostle in his Epistles especially those to the Romans Galatians and the Hebrews themselves And this he hath not done meerly by a new Revelation of the Mind and Will of God but upon the Principles and by the Testimonies of the Old Testament its self as will afterwards more fully appear Only because it is here set up in competition with that blessed and All-sufficient Remedy against Sin and the Curse which God indeed hath provided I shall briefly remove it out of our Way and that by manifesting that it is neither in its self suited unto that End nor was ever of God designed thereunto § 19 That all mankind was cast into the condition we have described by and upon the the sin of Adam we have before sufficiently confirmed Other just Reason or Occasion of it no man can assign It hath been also evinced that God would and consequently did prepare a Remedy for them or a Way of Deliverance to be proposed unto them If this were only the Law of Moses and the Observance thereof as the Jews pretend I desire to know what became of them what was their Estate and Condition who lived and dyed before the giving of that Law Not only the Patriarchs before the Flood who some of them had this Testimony that they pleased God and one of whom was taken alive into Heaven but Abraham also himself who received the Promises must on this Supposition be excluded from a participation in the Deliverance enquired after For they observed not the Law of Moses What they dream about the making of their Law before the Foundation of the World and the study of God therein and that night and day by day in the Written Law and by night in the Oral Cabal is not to be mentioned where matters of importance unto the souls of men are under consideration But yet I may add by the way that neither this nor the like monstrous figments are invented or broached by them without some especial design In the Eighth Chapter of the Proverbs there is mention of the Wisdom of God and such a description given of it as allows not an Essential Property of his nature to be thereby intended This is there said to be with God before the foundation of the world his delight and companion Whence it appears that nothing but the Eternal Word Wisdom and Son of God can possibly be intended thereby To avoid this Testimony given unto his Eternal subsistence the Jews first invented this Fable that the Law was created before the world and that the Wisdom of it was that which God conversed with and delighted in And I have often wondered at the Censure of a learned Christian Annotator upon the place Haec saith he de ea sapientia quae in Lege apparet exponunt Hebraei sane ei si non soli at praecipue haec attributa conveniunt contrary to the Faith of the Church in all Ages It is true on v. 22. and
the Effects of Satans Temptation and that to be wrought by the Messiah or as they speak in his dayes And hence they have a common saying that in the last dayes which is the Old Testament Periphrasis of the Dayes of the Messiah all things shall be healed but the Serpent and the Gibeonites by whom they understand all Hypocrites and Unbelievers Satan therefore is to be conquered by the bruising of his Head and conquered he is not nor can be unless his work be destroyed In the destruction of his work consists the Delivery of mankind from the twofold evil mentioned And this is to be effected by the seed of the Woman to be brought forth into the world unto that end and purpose For when the Production of this Seed is restrained unto the Family and Posterity of Abraham it is said expresly that in or by it all the Kindreds of the earth should be blessed which they could not be without a removal and taking away of the Curse We may now therefore take the summ of this Discourse and of the whole matter § 26 that we have insisted on about the Entrance of sin into the world and the Remedy provided in the Grace and Wisdom of God against it It appears upon our Enquiry First That the Sin of our First Parents was the Occasion and Cause of all that Evil which is in the world of all that is felt or justly feared by mankind For as those who knew not or received not the Revelation of the Truth in these things made unto us in the Scripture could never assign any other cause of it that might be satisfactory unto an ordinary rational Enquiry so the Testimonies of the Scripture make it most evident and especially that insisted on Secondly It hath been evinced thaâ mankind could not recover or deliver themselves from under the power of their own innate corruption and disorder nor from the effects of the Curse and Wrath of God that came upon them Neither is there any ground of Expectation of Relief from any other part of Gods Creation But yet that God for the praise of the glory of his Grace Mercy and Goodness would effect it and bring it about Thirdly That this Relief and Deliverance is first intimated and declared in those words of God unto the Serpent I will put Enmity between thee and the Woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel Which appears First Because in and with the Serpent Satan who was the Head of all Apostasie from God and by whom our first Parents were beguiled is intended in these words This we have made evident from the Confession of the Jews with whom in this matter principally we have to do And to what hath been already observed unto that purpose we may add the Testimonies of some other of them to the same Purpose Rabbi Bechai he whom they call ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Bechai the Elder in his Comment on the Law unto these words Gen. 3. v. 15. speaks to this purpose We have no more enmity with the Serpent than with other creeping things Wherefore the Scripture Mystically signifies him who was hid in the Serpent For the body of the crafty Serpent was a fit instrument for that force or vertue that joyned its self therewithall That was it which made Eve to sin whence death came on all her Posterity And this is the Enmity between the Serpent and the seed of the Woman And this is the Mysterie of the Holy Tongue that the Serpent is sometimes called Saraph according to the name of an Angel who is also called Saraph And now thou knowest that the Serpent is Satan and the evil Figment and the Angel of Death And Rabbi Judah in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Many Interpreters say that the Evil Figment hath all its force from the Old Serpent or Satan To the same purpose the Author of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Caphtor Vapaerach The Devil and the Serpent are called by one name And many other Testimonies of the like importance might be collected out of them We have also asurer word for our own satisfaction in the Application of this place unto Satan in the Divine Writings of the New Testament as 2 Cor. 11.3 2 Tim. 2.14 Rom. 5.11 12 13 15. Heb. 2.14 15. 1 John 3.8 Revel 12.9 and Chap. 20. v. 2 3. but we forbear to press them on the Jews Besides it is most evident from the thing it self For 1. Who can be so sottish as to imagine that this great Alteration which ensued on the works of God that which caused him to pronounce them accursed and to inflict so sore a Punishment on Adam and all his Posterity should arise from the Actings of a Brute Creature Where is the glory of this dispensation How can we attribute it unto the Wisdom and Greatness of God What is there in it suitable unto his Righteousness and Holiness Whereas supposing this to be the work of him who was in himself the beginning of all Apostasie and who first brake the Law of his Creation all things answer the Excellency of the Divine Perfections Moreover is it imaginable that the nature of man then flourishing in the vigour of all its intellectual Abilities Reason Wisdom Knowledge in that Order and Rectitude of them which was his Grace should be surprized seduced and brought into subjection unto the Craft and Machinations of an inferiour Creature a Beast of the Field and that unto its own Ruine Temporal and Eternal The whole nature of the inferiour creatures James tells us is tamed by the nature of Man Chap. 3. v. 7. and that now in his lessened and depraved condition and shall we think that this Excellent Nature in the blossom of its strength and right unto Rule over all should be tamed corrupted subdued by the nature of a Beast or a Serpent And yet again whereas in the whole action of the Serpent there is an open design against the glory and honour of God with the welfare and happiness of mankind and that managed with Craft Subtilty and Forecast how can we imagine that such a contrivance should befall a brute Worm uncapable of Moral Evil and newly framed out of the dust by the power of its Creator Hitherto it had continued under the Law and Order of its Creation and shall we now think that suddenly on an instant it should engage thus desperately against God and man And further the actings of the Serpent were by Reason and with Speech And doth not a supposal that he was endowed with them plainly exempt him from that Order and kind of Creatures whereof he was and place him among the number of the intellectual and rationall parts of the Creation And is not this contrary to the Analogie of the Scripture and the open truth of the thing its self he being cursed among the Beasts of the Field To say as Aben Ezra seems to do that God gave him Reason
of Hosts in and with the Messiah who is the Crown of Glory and Diadem of Beauty in his Kingly Office and Rule unto the Remnant of his People that shall be saved by him Isa. 42. v. 1. Behold my servant whom I uphold my Elect. Targum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã § 42 Behold my servant the Messiah How much better than the Translation of the LXX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã applying the words to the whole People of Israel whereas they are expresly referred to the Lord Christ Mat. 12. v. 17 18. And Kimchi on this place ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã behold my servant that is Messiah the King And Abarbinel confutes both R. Saadias and Aben Ezra with sharpness who were otherwise minded How much better than he of late who interprets these words of Isaiah himself unto whom not one letter of the Prophesie can receive any tolerable accommodation It is the Messiah then by their own confession who is intended in this Prophesie who is described not on horse-back in his harness as a great Warriour such as they expect him but one filled with the Spirit of the Lord endowed with meekness suffering opposition and persecution bringing forth righteousness and truth unto the Gentiles who shall wait for his Law and receive it when it is rejected by the Jews as the event hath manifested Isa. 43. v. 10. My servant whom I have chosen Targum My servant Messiah in whom I rest Isa. 52.13 Behold my servant shall prosper Targum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Behold § 43 my servant the Messiah shall prosper In these words begins that Prophesie which takes up the remainder of this Chapter and that whole Chapter that follows in the tenth Verse whereof there is mention made again of the Messiah And this is an evidence to me that the Jews however bold and desperate in corrupting the sense of the Scripture to countenance their infidelity yet have not dared to intermeddle with the letter its self no not in the Targums which are not so sacred with them as the Text. For whereas the application of this Prophesie unto the Messiah is perfectly destructive to their whole present Perswasion and Religion with all the hopes they have in this world or for another yet they never durst attempt the corrupting of the Targum where it is done so plainly which yet for many Generations they had in their own power scarce any notice being taken of it by any Christians in the world But concerning this place we must deal with them afterwards at large § 44 Jerem. 23. v. 5. And I will raise unto David a Righteous Branch Targum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and I will raise up unto David Messiah the Righteous This is he who in the next Verse is called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Jehovah our Righteousness The Jews generally agree that it is the Messiah who is here intended and whereas a late Christian Expositor would have Zerubbabel to be designed in these words Abarbinel himself gives many reasons why it cannot be applyed unto any one under the Second Temple For saith he during that space no one reigned as King of the house of David nor did Judah and Israel dwell then in safety and security they being continually oppressed first by the Persians then by the Graecians and lastly by the Romans So He and truly and I see no Reason why one should pervert the Promises concerning the Messiah when they cannot tolerably accommodate them unto any other For the Preservation of the name of this Righteous Branch ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Jehovah our Righteousness we may bless God for the Original For the Old Translations are either mistaken or corrupt or perverted in this place The Vulgar Latin is the best of them which reads Dominus justus noster our Righteous Lord which yet corrupts the sense and gives us an expression that may be assigned unto any Righteous King The LXX far worse ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And this is the name that the Lord shall call him Josedec A corrupt word formed out of the two Hebrew words in the Original signifying nothing but perverted as it were on purpose to despoil the Messias of his glorious name the evidence of his eternal Deity Symmachus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Lord justifie us He seems as one observes to have read ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in Pihel but yet this also obscures the Text. The Chaldee according unto its usual manner when any thing occurs which its Author understood not gives us a gloss of its own sufficiently perverting the sense of the place ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã let righteousness come forth to us from before the Lord in his dayes Let them consider this instance which is but one of many that may be given who are ready to despise the Original Text to prefer Translations before it and to cherish suspicions of its being corrupted by the Jews or of their arbitrary inventions of its Points or Vowells whereby the sense of the words is fixed and limited Can there be any clearer acquitment of them in this matter than this certain Observation that every place almost which bears Testimony unto any thing concerning the Messiah which is denyed by them is far more clear in the Original than in any old Translation what ever And hereof we have an eminent instance in this place where this name denoting undeniably the Divine Nature of the Messiah is preserved entire only on the Original and that as it is pointed as some fancy by some Jewish Masarites who lived they know not where nor when And those amongst our selves who are ready to give countenance unto such Opinions or to admire the promoters of them may do well to consider what reflection they cast thereby on that Translation which is of use among us by the Command of Authority than which there is no one extant in the world that is more Religiously observant of the Hebrew Text and that as pointed in their Bibles nor hath it any regard unto any or all Translations where they differ from the Original as may be seen with especial respect unto that of the LXX the stream that feeds most of the rest in above a thousand places But this by the way One of late hath applyed this name unto the People of Israel and interprets the words Deus nobis bene fecit God hath done well unto us But we have had too much of such bold and groundless conjectures about the fundamentalls of our Faith and Worship The Jews seek to evade this Testimony by instances of the Applications of this name to other things as the Altar built by Moses the Ark and the City of Jerusalem But it is one thing to have the name of God called on a place or thing to bring the occasion of it unto remembrance another to say that this is the name of such a Person Jehovah our Righteousness And whereas the Holy Ghost sayes expresly that this is his name the Jews must give us leave
to call him so and to believe him so which is all we contend for Of the same importance with this Prophesie is that of Ezek. 37. v. 24. Jerem. 30.21 Their Nobles shall be of themselves and their Governour shall proceed from § 45 the middest of them Targum Their King shall be annointed from amongst them and their Messiah shall be revealed unto them And upon his account it is that God enters into a new Covenant with his People v. 22. Jerem. 33. v. 13 15. For those words Flocks shall pass again under the hand of him that telleth them the Targum reads ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the People shall be yet gathered by the Messiah and a Prophesie of him it is no doubt as the fifteenth Verse makes it evident where all the Jews acknowledge him to be intended by the Branch of Righteousness which shall spring up unto David who also is promised in the sixth Verse as the Abundance or Crown of Truth and Peace yet one of late hath wrested this place also to Zerubbabel Hos. 3.5 Seek the Lord their God and David their King Targum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã § 46 and shall obey the Messiah the Son of David their King The Rabbins are divided about this place some of them acknowledging the Messiah to be intended others referring the Prophesie unto the Temple or House of the Sanctuary built by the Son of David But the words themselves with the denotation of the time for the accomplishment of this Prophesie in the end of the Verse will allow of no application unto any other and plainly discovers his mistake who would wrest this Text also to Zerubbabel Hos. 14.8 Targum They shall sit under the shaddow of Messiah See Cant. 2.3 Micah 4. v. 8. And thou Tower of the flock c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã § 47 And thou Messiah of Israel who art hid because of the sins of the Congregation of Zion to thee the Kingdom shall come This gloss I confess draws upon the Lees of Talmudical Rabbinism for they fancy that their Messiah was long since born even at the appointed time but is kept hid they know not where because of the sins of Israel Micah 5. v. 2. But thou Bethlehem Ephrata though thou be little among the thousands § 48 of Judah yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me the Ruler over Israel whose goings forth have been from of old from everlasting Targ. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã out of thee shall the Messiah come forth before me to exercise Rule over Israel This Prophesie was famous among the Jews of old as designing the place where the Mâssiah was to be born which alone is done here and its signal accomplishment is recorded Matth. 2.1 5 6. Luke 2.6 7. And unto this day they generally acknowledge that it is the Messiah alone who is intended And yet this consent of all the Jews Antient and Modern with the application of it unto the true Messiah in the Gospel manifesting the Catholick consent of both Churches Judaical and Christian about the sense of this place hinder not one from interpreting this place of Zerubbabel whose goings forth as he supposeth are said to be of old from everlasting because he came of the antient Kingly House of David whereas not one word of the Prophesie ever had any tolerable appearance of accomplishment in him For neither was he born at Bethlehem nor was he the Ruler over the Israel of God much less had he the least share or interest in those eternal Goings forth which are expressed in the close of the Verse The words are an express description of the Person of the Messiah who though he was to be born in the fulness of time at Bethlehem yet the existence of his Divine Nature was from of old from Everlasting And the Jews know not how to evade this Testimony Rashi adds in the interpretation of the words only that of Psalm 72. v. 17. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which we have rendered his name shall be continued as long as the Sun not reaching the sense of the place ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is rendered by the Targum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and before the Sun was an expression of Eternity As Prov. 8. v. 23. Kimchi and Aben Ezra would have the words respect that long season that was to be between David and the Messiah Bethlehem saith Kimchi that is David who was born there and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã there is a long time between David and the Messiah But this Gloss is forced and hath nothing in the words to give countenance unto it It is the Messiah that is said to be born at Bethlehem and not David as shall afterwards be evinced And ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã denotes some Acts or actings of him that is spoken of and not his Relation unto another not spoken of at all Neither do those words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã denote a long time but directly that which is before all times See Prov. 8.22 He yet proceeds to answer them who say the Messiah is God from this place because of this description of him And first rejects the Lord Christ from being here intended as supposing an Objection to be made with reference unto him though he express it not for saith he ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã this is an answer unto them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He ruled not over Israel but they ruled over him Where it is evident that some sentence written by him is left out of the Copies Printed among Christians But poor blind blasphemous wretch this boast hath cost him and his associates in infidelity full dear It is true their Progenitors did unto him what ever the Counsel of God had determined But notwithstanding all their rage he was exalted by the right hand of God and made a Prince and a Saviour having ruled ever since over the whole Israel of God by his Word and Spirit and over them his stubborn Enemies with a Rod of Iron He adds that it is false that these words are applicable unto the Eternity of God for saith he ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã God was before the dayes of everlasting as though in the same sense God were not expresly said to be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as here see Habbak 1.11 and to be from everlasting And this place is well expounded by Prov. 8. v. 21 22 23. as some of the Rabbins acknowledge so that we have in it an eminent Testimony given unto the Person of the Messiah as well as unto the place of his Nativity Of which we shall treat afterwards § 49 Zech. 3.8 For behold I will bring forth my servant the Branch Targum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Behold I bring forth my servant the Messiah who shall be revealed This Revelation of the Messiah relates unto their apprehension of his being born long since but to lye hid because of their sins as was before intimated And in like manner is he three times more mentioned by
the Targumist in this Prophesie Chap. 4. v. 7. Chap. 6. v. 12. Chap. 10. v. 4. In all which places he is certainly designed by the Holy Ghost There are also many of them who acknowledge him to be intended Chap. 9. v. 9. Chap. 11. v. 12 13. Chap. 12. v. 10. where he is not mentioned in the Targum I have not insisted on these Places as though they were all the Testimonies that to the same purpose might be taken out of the Prophets seeing they are a very small portion of the Praedictions concerning the Person Grace and Kingdom of the Messiah and not all those which are most eminent in that kind but because they are such as wherein we have either the consent of all the Jews with us in their application from whence some advantage may be taken for their conviction or we have the suffrage of the more antient and authentick Masters to reprove the Perversness of the Modern Rabbins withall § 50 And this is He whom we enquire after One who was promised from the Foundation of the world to relieve mankind from under that state of Sin and Misery whereinto they were cast by their Apostasy from God This is he who from the first Promise of him or intimation of Relief by him was the Hope Desire Comfort and Expectation of all that aimed at Reconciliation and Peace with God Upon whom all their Religion Faith and Worship was founded and in whom it centered He for whose sake or for the bringing of whom into the world Abraham and the Hebrews his Posterity were separated to be a peculiar people distinct from all the Nations of the Earth In the faith of whom the whole Church in and from the Dayes of Adam that of the Jews in especial celebrated its Mystical Worship endured Persecution and Martyrdom waiting and praying continually for his Appearance He whom all the Prophets taught Preached Promised and raised up the Hearts of Believers unto a desire and expectation of describing before hand his sufferings with the Glory that was to ensue He of whose coming a Catholick Tradition was spread over the world which the old Serpent with all his subtility was never able to obliterate Exercitatio X. Ends of the Promises and Prophesies concerning the Messiah Other wayes of his Revelation Of his Oblation by Sacrifices Of his Divine Person by Visions What meant in the Targums by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Word of God The Expression first used Gen. 3.8 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã what or who ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Apprehensions of the Antient Jews about the Word of God Of the Philosophers Application of the Expression ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to the Son by John Expressions of Philo. Among the Mahumetans Christ called the Word of God Intention of the Targumists vindicated How the Voice walked Aben Ezra refuted and R. Jona The appearance of the second Person unto our first Parents Gen. 18.1 2 3. Gods appearance ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Suddenness of it Who appeared The occasion of it Reflection of Aben Ezra on some Christian Expositors retorted A Trinity of Persons not proved from this place Distinct Persons proved No created Angel representing the Person of God called Jehovah Chap. 19.24 from the Lord. Exceptions of Aben Ezra and Jarchi removed Appearance of the second Person Gen. 32.24 26 27 28 29 30. Occasion of this Vision The Person in appearance a man in Office an Angel in nature God Gen. 48.16 Hos. 12.3 4 5. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã what Who it was that appeared Exod. 3.2 3 4 5 6 14. God that appeared Exod. 19.20 21 22. Who gave the Law Not a created Angel The Ministery of Angels how used therein Exod. 23.20 21 22 23. Chap. 33.2 3 4 13 14. Different Angels promised The Angel of Gods presence who Josh. 5.13 14 15. Captain of the Lords hâst described Sense of the Antient Church concerning thâse Appearances Of the Jews Opinion of Nachmanides Tanchuma Talmud Fiction of the Angell rejected by Moses accepted by Joshua Sense of it Metatron Whâ Derivation of the Name WEE have seen how plentifully God instructed the Church of old by his § 1 Prophets in the knowledge of the Person Office and work of the Messiah And this He did partly that nothing might be wanting unto the Faith and Consolation of Believers in a suitableness and proportion unto that condition of Light and Grace wherein it was his good pleasure to keep them before his actual coming and partly that his Righteous Judgements in the rejection and ruine of those who obstinately refused him might from the means of their conviction be justified and rendered glorious Neither were these Promises and Predictions alone the means whereby God would manifest and reveal him unto their faith There are two things concerning the Messiah which are the Pillars and Foundation of the Church The One is his Divine Nature and the other his Work of Mediation in the Attânement for sin which he was to make by his suffering or the Sacrifice of himself For the Declaration of these unto them who according unto the Promise looked for his coming there were two especial wayes or means graciously designed of God The latter of these wayes was that Worship which he instituted and the various Sacrifices which he appointed to be observed in the Church as Types and Representations of that one Perfect Oblation which he was to offer in the Fulness of time The unfolding and particular application of this way of Instruction is the principal design and scope of the Apostle in his Epistle unto the Hebrews Whereas therefore that must be at large insisted on in our Exposition of that Epistle I shall not anticipate what is to be spoken concerning it in these previous Discourses which are all intended in a subserviency thereunto The other way which concerns his Divine Person was by those Visions and Appearances of the Son of God as the Head of the Church which were granted unto the Fathers under the Old Testament And these as they are directly suited unto our Purpose in our enquiry after the Proânostiââs of the Advent of the Messiah so are they eminently usefull for the conviction of the Jews For in them we shall manifest that a Revelation was made of a diâtinct Pârson in the Deity who in a peculiar manner did mannage all the concernments of the Church after the entrance of sin And herein also according unto our proposed Method we shall enquire what Light concerning this Truth hath been received by any of the Jewish Masters as also manifest what confusions they are driven unto when they seek to evade the Evidence that is in the Testimonies to this Purpose § 2 There is frequent mention in the Targumists of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Word of the Lord. And it first occurs in them on the first appearance of a Divine Person after the Sin and Fall of Adam Gen. 3. v. 8. The words of the Original Text are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã
Christians have taken these three Persons to have been the three Persons of the Trinity it were an easie thing to out-ballance their mistake with instances of his own and companions pernicious Curiosities and Errors It is true a Trinity of Persons in the Deity cannot be proved from this place seeing one of them is expresly called Jehovah and the other two in distinction from him are said to be Angels so and no more Chap. 19.1 But yet a distinction of Persons in the Deity although not the precise number of them is hence demonstrable For it is evident that he of the three that spake unto Abraham and to whom he made his supplication for the sparing of Sodom was Jehovah the Judge of all the world v. 22 25. And yet all the three were sent upon the work that one being the Prince and Head of the Embassie as he who is Jehovah is said to be sent by Jehovah Zech. 2. v. 8 9. Neither is there any ground for the late Exposition of this and the like places namely that a created Angel representing the Person of God doth both speak and act in his name and is called Jehovah an invention to evade the Appearances of the Son of God under the Old Testament contrary to the sense of all Antiquity nor is any reason or instance produced to make it good The Jews indeed say that they were three Angels because of the threefold work they were employed in for they say no more than one Angel is at any time sent about the same work So one of these was to renew the Promise unto Abraham another to deliver Lot and the third to destroy Sodom But besides that this is a rule of their own making and evidently false as may be seen Gen. 32. v. 1 2. 2 Kings 6. v. 17. so in the story its self it is manifest that they were all employed in the same work one as Lord and Prince the other two as his ministring servants And this is further cleared in that expression of Moses Chap. 19. v. 24. The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord in Heaven Targum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from before the Lord or the face of the Lord. Aben Ezra answers ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that this is the Elegancy of the Tongue and the sense of it is from himself and this gloss some of our late Criticks embrace And there are instances collected by Solomon Jarchi to confirm this sense Namely the words of Lâmech Gen. 4. v. 23. Hear my voice ye Wives of Lamech not my Wives And of David 1 Kings 1. v. 33. Take with you the servants of your Lord not my servants And of Ahasuerus unto Mordecai Esther 4. v. 8. Write you for the Jews in the Kings name not in my name But the difference of these from the words under consideration is wide and evident In all these places the Persons are introduced speaking of themselves and describe themselves either by their Names or Offices suitably unto the occasion and subject spoken of But in this place it is Moses that speaketh of the Lord and had no occasion to repeat ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã were it not to intimate the distinct Persons unto whom that name denoting the nature and self-existence of God was proper one whereof then appeared on the Earth the other manifesting his glorious presence in Heaven Wherefore Rashi observing somewhat more in this expression contents not himself with his supposed Parallel Places but adds that the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is to be understood and gives this as a Rule ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã every place where it is said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the Lord He and his House of Judgement are intended as if God had a Sanhedrim in Heaven a fancy which they have invented to avoid the expressions which testifie unto a Plurality of Persons in the Deity There is therefore in this place an Appearance of God in an humane shape and that of one distinct Person in the Godhead who now represented himself unto Abraham in the form and shape wherein he would dwell amongst men when of his seed he would be made flesh This was one signall means whereby Abraham saw his day and rejoyced which himself layes upon his Prae-existence unto his Incarnation and not upon the Promise of his coming John 8. v. 56 58. A Solemn Praeludium it was unto his taking of flesh a Revelation of his Divine Nature and Person and a pledge of his coming in humane nature to converse with men Gen. 32. v. 24. And Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him untill § 8 the ascending of the morning v. 26. And he said let me go for the day ascendeth and he said I will not let thee go except thou bless me v. 27. And he said unto him what is thy name and he said Jacob. v. 28. And he said thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel for as a Prince hast thou Power with God and men and hast prevailed v. 29. And Jacob asked him and said Tell me I pray thee thy name and he said wherefore dost thou ask after my name and he blessed him there v. 30. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved This Story is twice reflected upon in the Scripture afterwards Once by Jacob himself Gen. 48. v. 15 16. And he blessed Joseph and said God before whom my Fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk the God which fed me all my life long unto this day the Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the Lads And once by the Prophet Hosea Chap. 12. v. 3 4. By his strength he had power with God yea he had power over the Angel and prevailed he wept and made supplication unto him he found him in Bethel and there he spake with us v. 5. Even the Lord God of Hosts the Lord is his memorial In the first place he is called a man there appeared a man v. 24. In the second Jacob calls him an Angel the Angel that redeemed me v. 16. And in the third he is expresly said to be God the Lord of Hosts v. 3 5. Jacob was now passing with his whole Family into the Land of Canaan to take § 9 seizure of it by vertue of the Promise on the behalf of his Posterity At the very entrance of it he is met by his greatest Adversary with whom he had a severe contest about the Promise and the Inheritance its self This was his Brother Esau who coming against him with a Power which he was no way able to withstand he feared that he would utterly destroy both his Person and his Posterity v. 11. In the Promise about which their contest was the blessed seed with the whole Church-state and Worship of the Old Testament was included so that it was the greatest Controversie and had the greatest weight depending on it of any that
whos 's Mercifull Good Pleasure towards them Moses prayed for Deut. 33.16 that is the Father of Lights from whom descendeth every good and perfect Gift James 1. v. 17. These things evidently express God and none other and yet he is said to be an Angel sent of God in his Name and unto his Work So that he can be no other but a certain Person of the Deity who accepted of this Delegation and was therein revealed unto the Church as he who was to take upon him the seed of Abraham and to be their eternal Redeemer § 18 Josh. 5. v. 13 14 15. And it came to pass whilest Joshua was by Jericho that he lift up his eyes and looked and behold there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand and Joshuah went unto him and said unto him art thou for us or for our adversaries and he said Nay but as Prince of the Host of the Lord am I now come And Joshuah fell on his face to the earth and did worship and said unto him what saith my Lord unto his servant And the Prince of the Lords Host said unto Joshuah loose thy shooe from of thy foot for the place whereon thou standest is holy The appearance here is of a Man v. 13. A man of War as God is called Exod. 15. v. 3. armed with his sword drawn in his hand as a token of the business he came about At first sight Joshuah apprehends him to be a Man only which occasioned his enquiry art thou for us or for our adversaries which discovers his courage and undaunted magnanimity for doubtless the appearance was august and glorious But he answers unto his whole question ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I am not that is a man either of your party or of the enemies but quite another Person ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Prince of the Host of the Lord. And this was another illustrious manifestation of the Son of God unto the Church of old accompanyed with many instructive circumstances As 1. From the shape wherein he appeared namely of a man as a pledge of his future incarnation 2. The Title that he assumes to himself the Captain of the Lords Host he unto whom the guidance and conduct of them unto rest not only temporal but eternal was committed whence the Apostle in Allusion unto this Place and Title calls him the Captain of our Salvation Heb. 2. v. 10. and 3. The Person unto whom he spake when he gave himself this Title was the Captain of the People at that time teaching both him and them that there was another supream Captain of their eternal deliverance 4. From the time and place of his appearance which was upon the first entrance of the people into Canaan and the first opposition which therein they met withall so engaging his Presence with his Church in all things which oppose them in their way unto eternal Rest. 5. From the Adoration and Worship which Joshuah gave unto him which he accepted of contrary to the duty and practice of created Angels Rev. 19. v. 10. Chap. 22. v. 8 9. 6. From the Prescription of the Ceremonies expressing Religious Reverence put off thy shoo 's with the reason annexed for the place whereon thou standest ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it is holiness made so by the Presence of God the like Precept whereunto was given to Moses by the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. Exod. 3. v. 5. By all these things was the Church instructed in the Person Nature and Office of the Son of God even in the Mysterie of his eternal distinct subsistence in the Deity his future Incarnation and condescention unto the Office of being the Head and Saviour of his Church These Manifestations of the Son of God unto the Church of old as the Angel or § 19 Messenger of the Father subsisting in his own Divine Person are all of them Revelations of the Promisâd Seed the great and only Saviour and Deliverer of the Church in his eternal Pre-existence unto his Incarnation and pledges of his future taking flesh for the accomplishment of the whole work committed unto him And many other instances of the like nature may be added out of the former and later Prophets which because in most important Circumstances they are coincident with these need not here particularly be insisted on Some of late would apply all these Appearances unto a created delegate Angel § 20 which conceit as it is irreconcileable unto the sacred Text as we have manifested so is it contrary unto the sense of the antient Writers of the Christian Church A large Collection of Testimonies from them is not suited unto our present Design and Purpose I shall therefore only mention two of the most antient of them one of the Latin the other of the Greek Church The first is Tertullian who tells us Christus semper egit in Dei Patris nominâ ipse ab initio conversatus est congressus cum Patriarchis Prophetis adv Mârâ lib. 2. Christ alwayes dealt with men in the name of God the Father and so himself from the beginning conversed with the Patriarchs and Prophets And again Christus ad colloquia humana semper descendit ah Adam usque ad Patriarchas Prophetas in visione in somno in speculo in aenigmate ordinem suum praestruâns semper aâ initio Deus in terris cum hominibus conversatus est non alius quam sermo qui caro erat futurus Adv. Praxeam It was Christ who descended into communion with men from Adam unto the Patriarchs and Prophets in Visions Dreams and Appearances or Representations of himself instructing them in his future condition from the beginning And God who conversed with men on earth was no other but the Word who was to be made flesh The other is Justin Martyr whose word needs not be produced seeing it is known how he contends for this very thing in his Dialogue with Trypho That which is more direct unto our purpose is to enquire into the Apprehensions § 21 of the Jewish Masters concerning the Divine Appearances insisted on granted unto the Patriarchs and Church of old with what may thence be collected for their conviction concerning the Person of the Messiah The most part of their Expositors do I confess pass over the difficulties of the places mentioned I mean those which are such unto their present Infidelity without taking the least notice of them Some would have the Angel mentioned to be Michael whom they assign a Prerogative unto above the other Angels who preside over other Countreys But who that Michael is and wherein that Prerogative doth consist they know not Some say that Michael is the High Priest of Heaven who offers up the prayers of the Righteous so R. Mânahem The Priest above that offereth or presenteth the souls of the Righteous saith another more agreeably unto the Truth then they are aware of One signal instance only of the evidence of the Truth
great is the Mysterie of § 9 Godliness God was manifest in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels Preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World received up into Glory All things which concern the Messiah his Person Office and Work are exceedingly Mysterious as containing the principal effect of the Eternal Wisdom and Goodness of God and the sacred depths of the counsel of his Will Hence the things spoken of him in the Old Testament are unto carnal Reason full of seeming inconsistencies As for instance it is promised of him that he should be the seed of the Woman Gen. 3. v. 15. of the seed of Abraham Gen. 22. v. 18. and of the Posterity of David And yet that his name should be the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace Isa. 9. v. 6. and of him it is said Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever Psal. 45. v. 6. that he is the Lord our Righteousness Jer. 23. v. 6. that he is the Lord of Hosts Zech. 2. v. 8. Moreover it is declared that he shall sit upon his Throne for ever and reign whilest his enemies are made his footstool Isa. 9. v. 7. Psalm 2.7 8. Psalm 45.6 7. and yet that he shall be cut off Dan. 9. v. 26. that he shall be pierced in his hands and feet Psalm 22. v. 16. slain by the sword of God Zech. 13. v. 7. and that in his death he shall have his grave made among the wicked and with the rich Isa. 53. v. 9. Alâo That he shall come with great Glory and the clouds of Heaven Dan. 7. v. 13 14. and that he shall come lowly riding on an Ass and a Colt the Foal of an Ass Zech. 9. v. 9. That the soul of the Lord was well pleased with him and alwayes delighted in him Isa. 42. v. 1. and yet that it pleased him to bruise him and put him to grief Isa. 53. v. 10. to forsake him Psalm 22. v. 1. That he was to be a King and a Priest upon his Throne Zech. 6. v. 13. and yet these things were inconsistent the Kingdom being annexed unto the family of David and the Priesthood to the Posterity of Aaron by Divine Constitution That he should be honoured and worshipped of all Nations Psal. 45. v. 11 12. Psal. 72. v. 10 11 15. and yet that he should be rejected and despised as one altogether undesirable Isa. 53. v. 3. That he should stand and feed or Rule in the Name and Majesty of God Micah 5. v. 4. and yet complains I am a worm and no man a reproach of Men and despised of the People Psal. 22. v. 6. All which with sundry others of the like nature concerning his Office and Work are clearly reconciled in the New Testament and their concurrence in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ openly and fully declared § 10 At the time of his coming the Jews were generally as ignorant of these things as Nicâdemus was of Regeneration they knew not how they might be And therefore when ever our Saviour intimated unto them his Divine Nature they were filled with rage and madness John 8. v. 58 59. They woâld stone him because being a man he declared himself to be God John 10. v. 30 31 33. and yet when he proved it to them that the Messiah was to be so inasmuch as that being Davids Son yet David in Spirit calâed him Lord they were confounded not being able to answâr him a word Matth. 22. v. 42 43 44 45 46. when he told them that the Son of Man the Messiah must be lifted up that is in his death on the Cross they objâcted unto him out of the Law that Christ abideth for ever John 12. v. 34. and they knew not how to reconcile these things Hence some of his own Disciples thought he could not be the Mâssiah when they saw that he dyed Luke 24. v. 20 21. and the bâst of them seemed to have expected an outward temporal Kingdom But of all these difficulties as was said and seeming inconsistencies there is a blessed Reconciliation revealed in the Gâspel and an Application made of them to the Person of the Lord Jâsus the Office he bare and the Work that he accomplished This the Jews refusing by unbelief they have invented many fond and lewd imaginations to free themselves from these difficulties and entanglements Some things they deny to be spoken concerning the Mâssiah some things they wrest and pervert to their own apprehensions and somewhat they allow and look for that is truly promised § 11 First For his Person and the things spoken concerning it they apply thereunto the Principal Engine which they have invented for their relief For whereas the Scripture hath declared unto us such a Messiah as should have the natures of Gâd and man in one Person which Person should in the nature of man suffer and dye and reign for spiritual ends and purposes thây have rejected the Divine Nature of this Person and split that which remaineth into two Persons to the one wherâof they assign one part of his work as to sorrow suffer and dye to the other another part namely to Conquer Rule and Reign according unto their carnal Apprâhensions of these things They have I say feigned two Messiah's between whom they have distributed the whole work of him that is promised according unto their understanding of it And one of these is to come as they say before the other to prepare his way for him This first they call Messiah Ben Joseph because he is to be of the Tribe of Ephraim the other Messiah Ben David of whom afterwards Both of them are mentioned together in the Targum on Cant. 4.5 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Thy two Deliverers which shall deliver thee Messiah the Son of David and Messiah the Son of Ephraim are like to Moses and Aaron The same words are repeated again Chap. 7. v. 3. And in those places alone in the whole series of Targums is there any mention of this fictitious Messiah the Author of that Paraphrase on the Canticles being Josephus Caecus who lived after the finishing of the Talmuds whereof he maketh mention In other parts of the Targum he appeareth not But in the Talmud he is frâquently brought on the Stage So Tractat. de Fââto Tâbernaâul Distinct. Hachalil Chamesha It is a Tradition of our Masters that the Holy Blessed God shall say unto Messiah the Son of David who shall redeem us let him do it suddainly in our dayes ask somewhat of me and I will give it thee as Psal. 2. And when he shall hear that Messiah the Son of Joseph is ssain he shall say before the Lord Lord of the world I only ask life of thee for it seems that he shall be much terrified with the death of Ben Joseph Unto this Messiah they assign all things that are dolorous and include suffering in them which they call ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that are in the Scripture assigned to
like him ought to be interpreted not as though none should ever be like him but that none should be like him as to some particular quâlity or accident or that in all the space of time wherein the Prophets followed him until Prophecy ceased none should be like unto Moses but hereafter there shall be one like him or rather greater then he This is that which we affirmed before in the whole Series of Prophets that succeeded in that Church building on Moses foundation there was none like unto him but the Prophet here promised was to be so and in other regards as appears from other Testimonies far greater then he This was of old their common faith from this prediction of Moses And wherein this likeness was to consist our Apostle declares at large in his third chapter Moses was the great Law-giver by whom God revealed his mind and will as to his whole Worship whilst the Church State instituted by him was to continue Such a Prophet was the Messiah to be a Law-giver so as to abolish the old and to institute new Rites of Worship as we shall afterwards more fully prove and confirm 4. This raising up of a Prophet like unto Moses declares that the whole will of God as to his Worship and the Churches obedience was not yet revealed Had it so been there would have been no need of a Prophet like unto Moses to lay new foundations as he had done Those who succeeded building on what he had fixed and therefore said not to be like unto him would have sufficed But there are new counsels of the Will of God as yet hid to be finally and fully revealed by this Prophet And after his work is done there is no intimation of any further Revelation to ensue 5. The presence of God with this Prophet in his work is set down He would put his word into his mouth or speak in him as our Apostle expresseth the same matter chap. 1. v. 1. And lastly his Ministry is further described from the Event with respect unto them who would not submit unto his Authority nor receive the Law of God at his mouth God would require it at their hands that is as those words are interpreted by Peter they should be cut off from among his people or from being so And this signal Commination in the accomplishment of it gives light unto the whole praediction Some of the Jews from these words have fancied unto themselves another great Prophet whom they expect as they did of old before the coming of the Messiah So in their dealing with John the Baptist they asked him whetheââe was Elias which he denied because though he were promised under that name yet he was not that individual person whom they looked for that is the soul of Elias the Tishbite as Kimchi tells us with a body new created like unto the former Wherein they further demand whether he were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Prophet promised by Moses which he also denies because that Prophet was no other then the Messiah Joh. 1.21 To this purpose also is it that the Spirit of the Lord is promised to rest upon the Messiah Isa. 11.3 to make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord that he might not judge after the sight of his eyes c. v. 3 4 5. So also cap. 61.1 2. And from this great Prophet were the Isles of the Gentiles to receive the Law chap. 42.1 2. The summ of all is the Messiah was to be a Prophet a Prophet like unto Moses that is a Law-giver one that should finally and perfectly reveal the whole will and counsel of God all with that Authority that whosoever refused to obey him should be exterminated and cast out from the priviledge of being reckoned among the people of God § 36 We are then in the next place to consider the Accomplishment of this promise in the person of Jesus of Nazareth Now this the story of him and the event do abundantly testifie that he was a Prophet and so esteemed by the Jews themselves until through the envy of the Scribes and Pharisees and their own unwillingness to admit of the purity and holiness of his Doctrine they were stirred up to oppose and persecute him as they had done all other Prophets who in their several Generations foretold his coming is evident from the records of the Evangelical story see Joh. 1.46 chap. 6.17 Act. 3.22 23. Their present obstinate denial hereof is a meer contrivance to justifie themselves in their rejection and murder of him But this is not all he was not only a Prophet in general but he was that Prophet who was foretold by Moses and all the Prophets who built on his foundation who was to put the last hand unto divine Revelations in a full declaration of the wâole counsel of God the peculiar work of the Messiah and this we shall evince in the ensuing considerations of his Doctrine and Prophesie with the success and event of them First The Nature of the Doctrine taught by this Prophet gives Testimony unto our § 37 assertion Whatever Characters of that Truth which is holy and heavânly can rationally be conceived or apprehended thây are all eminently and incomparably imprinted on the Doctrine of Jesus Christ. Whatever tends to the glory of God as the first Cause and last End of all things as the only Soveraign Ruler Judge and disposer of all as the only infinitely holy wise righteous good gracious merciful powerful faithful independent Being is clearly evidently and in a heaveâly manner revealed therein Whaâever is usâful or suitable to excite and improve all that is of good in man in the nâtiâns of his mind or inclinations of his will to discover his wants and defects that he may not âxalt himself in his own imagânation abovâ hâs state and condition whatever is needful to reveal unto him his End or his Way hâs Happiness or the Means conducing thereunto whatever may bring him into a dâe subjection unto God and subordination unto his Glory whatever mây teâch him to be usâful in all those Relations wherein he may be cast within the bounds and compass of the moral principles of his nature as a creature made for society wâatever is useful the deterr him from and sâppress in him every thing that is evil even in those hidden seeds and Embrios of it which lye beneath the first instances that Reason can reach unto to discovery of and that in an absolute universality without thâ lâast indulgence on any pretence whatever and to stâr him up provoke him unto and direct him in the practice of whatever thing is true honest just pure lovely of good report that is virtuous or praise-worthy that may begin bound guide limit finish and perfâct the whole Systeme of moral actions in him in relation unto God himself and others it is all revealed confirmed and ratified in the Doctrine of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It hath-stood upon its
doth strongly confirm the truth of our faith that he only was so indeed § 56 Unto these Characters given of the Messiah we may also subjoyn sundry invincible Arguments proving our Lord Jesus Christ to be he that was promised I shall add only some few of them and that very briefly because they have been by others in an especial manner at large insisted on First Then he testified of himself that he was the Messiah and that those who believed not that he was so should perish in their sins Now because according unto a general Rule he granted that although the Testimony which he gave concerning himself being the Testimony of the Son of God was true yet that it might be justly liable to exception amongst them for the confirmation of his Assertion he appeals to the works that he wrought issuing the difference and question about his Testimony in this that if his works were not such as never any other man wrought or ever could work but the Messiah only that they should be at liberty as to their believing in him The works saith he that my Father hath given me to finish the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me Joh. 5.36 that is to be the Messiah His own Record he asserts to be true appeals also to the Testimony of John but shews it withall inferiour to those other witnesses which he had namely the Scripture and his own works And so also chap. 10.37 If I do not the works of my Father believe me not § 57 Many things might be insisted on for the confirmation of this Argument I shall only point at the Heads of them nor is there more necessary unto our present purpose First All true real Miracles are effects of divine Power Many things prodigious marvelous or monstrous besides the common and ordinary productions of nature may be asserted and brought forth by an extraordinary concurrence of Causes not usually falling in such a juncture and coincidence many may be wrought by the great hidden and to us unknown power of wicked spirits many things may have an appearance of prodigie and wonder by the force of some deceit pretence or delusion that attend the manner of their declaration But real Miracles are effects so above besides or contrary to the nature and efficacy of any or all natural Causes that by no application or disposition of them though never so uncouth or unusual they can be produced and therefore must of necessity be the effects of an Almighty Creating Power causing somewhat to exist in matter or manner out of nothing or out of that which is more adverse unto the being or manner of existence given unto it then nothing its self Such are the works of raising the dead opening the eyes of men born blind c. And this Position the Jews will not deny seeing they make it the foundation of their adherence unto the Law of Moses § 58 Secondly When God puts forth his Miracle-working Power in the confirmation of any word or Doctrine he avows it to be of and from himself to be absolutely and infallibly true setting the fullest and openest seal unto it which men who cannot discern his Essence or Being are capable of receiving or discerning And therefore when any Doctrine which in its self is such as becometh the Holiness and Righteousness of God is confirmed by the emanation of his divine Power in the working of Miracles there can no greater Assurance even by God himself be given of the Truth of it Thirdly The Lord Jesus in the daies of his flesh wrought many great real Miracles in the confirmation of the Testimony that he gave concerning himself that § 59 he was the Christ the Son of God So Joh. 5.20 chap. 7.31 chap. 10.25 chap. 12.37 Greater confirmation it could not have Now that the Lord Jesus wrought the Miracles recorded by the Evangelists with others innumerable that are not recorded Joh. 20.30 chap. 21.25 We have in general all the Testimony Evidence and certainty that any man can possibly have of things which he saw not done with his own eyes and to suppose that a man can have no assurance of any thing but what he sees or feels himself as it overthrows all the foundations of knowledge in the world and of all humane society yea of every thing that as men we either do or know so being once granted it will necessarily follow that we know not the things that we see any longer then whilst we see them no nor perhaps then neither seeing the evidence we have of knowing any thing by our senses proceeds from principles and presumptions which we never saw nor can ever so do And as for the Jews we have all the advantage for the confirmation of what we affirm that either we are capable of or need to desire First We plead our own Records that are written by the Evangelists And herein we have but one request to make unto the Jews namely that they would lay no Exceptions § 60 against them which they know to be of equal force against the writings of Moses and all the Prophets If they declare themselves to be such Bedlams as to set their own houses on fire for no other end but to endanger their neighbours if they will destroy the principles of their own Faith and Religion to cast the broken pieces of them at the heads of Christians if they cry pereant amici dummodo pereant inimici they are not fit to be any longer contended withall I desire then to know what one Exception the Jews can lay against this Record which mutatis mutandis may not be laid against the Mosaical Writings And if they have alwaies concluded all such Exceptions to be invalid as to an opposition unto those grounds and evidences on which they believe those Writings why will they not give us leave to affirm the same of them in reference unto those which we receive and believe on no less certain Testimonies and Evidencies Unless then they can except any thing to the credit of our Writers or disprove that which is written by them from Records of equal weight with them which they can never do nor do attempt it they have nothing reasonable to plead in this Cause To tell us that they do not believe what is written by them neither did their forefathers is as to themselves no more then we know and as to their forefathers nothing but what those very Writers testifie concerning them and to look for their consent unto that in any Record which that Record witnesseth that they dissented from is to overthrow the Record it self and all that is contained in it The Jews then have nothing to oppose unto this Testimony but only their own unbelief which for all the Reasons that have been insisted on cannot be admitted as any just Exception story or circumstance they have none to oppose unto it Secondly We plead the Notoriety of the Miracles
see c. Considering therefore what is elsewhere written of all the Regions about bringing in their sick weak and impotent and of the cures of Persons by the touching of his garment it is evident that his Personal Miracles amounted unto thousands which might well give occasion to the Hyperbole used by John in recounting of them Hence some among the Jews were convinced that he was the Messiah not only by the greatness but also by the number of his works John 7.31 Many of the People believed on him and said when Christ cometh will he do more Miracles then these which this man doeth And what are the seventy six Miracles of Moses unto those as to number which in the first place the Jews glory in And if we may add those which were wrought by his power by them that preached the Gospel on his Commission as they are all of the same efficacy unto the end proposed or confirmation of his being the Messiah they amount not unto thousands only but probably unto millions For of this sort were all the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost that were granted unto the Church all the world over So that as to the number of Miracles he was sufficiently by them attested unto to be the Messiah the great Law-giver of the people of the New Covenant Again The Jews much insist on this that all other Prophets wrought Miracles by § 64 the Intervention of Prayer Moses alone without it at his own pleasure The Rod they say was committed unto him as a Kingly Scepter to denote that Authority whereunto the whole nature of things gave place It is true indeed it is not recorded that Moses prayed in words before every Miracle that was wrought by him or in reference unto his Ministry but yet this is plain in story that he wrought no mighty work but either upon his prayer or some express command and direction from God in particular which everts the Judaical pretence of an abiding power remaining with him enabling him to work Miracles when and how he would But this which they falsly ascribe unto Moses was eminently true in the Lord Jesus Those thousands of miraculous works which he wrought were the arbitrary effects of a word of command without any especial direction for every new work arguing the constant presence of an infinite power with him exerted according to his will Come forth of him come out of the grave I will be thou clean be ye opened and the like expressions he used as signs and pledges thereof Thus was it not with Moses as the story manifests yea he himself greatly doubted of the greatest effect of the Divine power put forth by him when he smote the Rock to bring forth water The nature of the Miracles also wrought by the one and the other may be compared § 65 and we shall see from thence on which side the pre-eminence will be found For those wrought by Moses or by God himself whilest he employed him in the service of giving the Law and the delivery of the people they were for the most part portentous Prodigies suited to fill men with wonder astonishment and fear Such were all the signs of the presence of God on Mount Sinai The effects also of most of them were evil and destructive proceeding from wrath and indignation against sin and sinners such were all the mighty works wrought in Aegypt such those of the swallowing up of Dathan and Abiram in the Wilderness Those that tended unto the good and relief of mankind as the bringing of water from the rock were typical and occasional And those kinds of works were suited unto that Ministry of Death and Condemnation which was committed unto him But on the other side the mighty works of the Lord Jesus were evidently effects of Goodness as well as of Power and consisted in things useful and helpful unto mankind Healing the sick opening the eyes of the blind and ears of the deaf giving strength to the lame casting out of Devils feeding hungry multitudes raising the dead are things amiable and useful And though terrible Prodigies may more affect and astonish carnal minds such as the Jews were filled with yet these works of Grace and Goodness do more allure those who attend unto the dictates of right Reason Evidences they were of a gracious Ministry tending unto salvation and peace in every kind such as that of the Messiah was promised and foretold to be As Miracles then were the tokens of their several Ministries and bespake the nature of them those of the Lord Christ were exceedingly more excellent then those of Moses § 66 Furthermore as Moses had not a power of working miracles constantly resident with him which he might exert according unto his own will so he was very far from being able to communicate any such power unto others God indeed took of the Spirit that was on him and gave it unto the Elders that were to be joyned with him in the Government of the people Numb 11.25 but yet neither was there a power of working miracles going along with that Spirit but only ability for Rule and Government nor yet was that communication of it any act of Moses at all But now our Lord Jesus as he had the Divine Power mentioned alwayes with him so he could give Authority and Power unto whom he pleased to effect all such miraculous works as were any way necessary for the confirmation of their Doctrine Of this nature was the Commission which he gave the Twelve when he sent them forth Matth. 10.8 Heal the sick cleanse the Lepers raise the dead cast out Devils As also that unto the LXX Luke 10.17 19. yea he promised them which also came to pass that by his power and presence with them they should do greater things then those which they had seen him to do John 14.12 Mark 16.17 And this difference is so eminent that nothing can be objected against it This more evidently confirmed him to be the Master then all the mighty works which he wrought in his own Person on the earth § 67 Again all the miracles of Moses ended with his life The Jews indeed some of them tell us a company of foolish stories about his death which as their manner is they would fix on those words Deut. 34.5 and Moses dyed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the mouth or word of the Lord as namely how he contended with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Angel of Death and drove him away with his rod so that he could not dye until God laid his mouth unto his and so took out his soul from him But these figments are shamefull and such as become none but themselves However these things extended only unto his death therewith ended his Ministry and Miracles But now the greatest Miracle of our Lord Jesus was wrought by him after the violent and cruel death which he underwent for our sakes For he took his life again and raised himself from the dead John
in his Annotations on Bertram it was doubtless only made use of in the last and greatest exclusion which is supposed to be the Shammatha The form of the Curse is as ensues § 23 By the Sentânce of the Lord of Lords let such a one the Son of such a one ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã be in anathema or be accursed in each house of Judgement that above and that below that is by God and his Church in the curse of the holy Ones on high In the curse of the Seraphims and Ophannim the Wheels or Cherubims in Ezekiel's Vision In the curse of the whole Church from the greatest to the least Let there be upon him strokes greaâ and abiding Diseases great and horrible Let his house be an habitation of Dragons ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Serpents Let his Star or Planet be dark in the Clouds Let him be exposed to Indignation anger and wrath And let his dead Body be cast to Wild Beasts and Serpents Let his Enemies and Adversaries rejoyce over him And let his Silver and Gold be given to others And let all his Children be cast at the doors of his Adversaries And let Posterity be astonished at his day Let him be accursed out of the mouth of Addiriron and Athariel from the mouth of Sandalphon and Hadraniel from the mouth of Ansisiel and Pathiel from the mouth of Seraphiel and Sagansael from the mouth of Michael and Gabriel from the mouth of Raphiel and Mesharethiel Let him be accursed from the mouth of Zazabib and from the mouth of Havabib who is the great God and from the mouth of the seventy names of the great King and from the mouth of Tzorlak the great Chancelor these names partly significant and partly insignificant coined to strike a terror into the minds of weak and distempered Persons they invent and apply at their pleasure to Angels good and bad not unlike the monstrous names which the Gnosticks gave to the Aeons who borrowed many things from the Tradition of the Jews and returned them again unto them with an improvement but they proceed Let him be swallowed up as Corah and his Company and let his soul depart with fear and terror Let the rebuke of the Lord slay him and let him be strangled like Achitophel Let his leprosie be as the leprosie of Gehazi neither let there be any restoration of his ruine Let not his burial be in the burials of Israel Let his Wife be given to strangers and let others humble her in his death Vnder this curse let such a one the Son of such a one be with his whole Inheritance But unto me and all Israel let God extend his peace and blessing Amen Now Because it is certain that this is a form of the greatest and last Anathema of a § 24 final and total Excommunication and yet he who is devoted is every where said to be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Muchram and under the Cherem it is almost evident that these three degrees are not distinguished as is commonly supposed namely that the Shammatha should exceed the Cherem and that only the Niddui the highest and extremest sentence in this solemn form being so often called the Cherem Shammatha therefore is only a general Name for the Expulsion of a Person sometimes with the Niddui and sometimes with the Cherem which yet I do not suppose was alwayes thus horrid and fierce To add unto the terror of this Sentence they used to accompany the pronouncing § 25 of it with the sound of Trumpets and Horns as the Targum sayes Barak did in his cursing of Mezoz Judges 5.23 He shammatized him with four hundred Trumpets And herein have they been imitated by the Church of Rome in their shaking of Candles and ringing of Bells on the like occasion I have not reported these things as though for matter and manner they wholly belonged unto the penalties of the Law that were of Divine Institution Many things in the manner of their performance as they are now expressed by the Rabbins were certainly of their own arbitrary invention When their use amongst them first began is unknown though it be not improbable that sundry things of this nature were practised by them before the destruction of the Second Temple when they had mixed many of their own Superstitions with the Worship of God as is evident from the Gospel But this also is certain that God in sundry cases had appointed that some Transgressors § 26 should be separated from the Congregation devoted to destruction and be cut off An instance of the Execution of which Institution we have Ezra 10.7 8. They made a Proclamation throughouâ Judah and Jerusalem unto all the Children of the Captivity that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem and thât whosoever would not come within three dayes according to the counsel of the Princes and the Elders all his substance should be divided and himself separated from the Congregation of those that had been carried away A double penalty is here threatned upon disobedient Persons the one concerned the Person of such a one ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He shall be separated from the Congregation of the Captivity that is of Israel then returned out of Captivity and this was the Niddui or expulsion from Sacred communion which we before described He should be esteemed as an Heathen Secondly As to his substance ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã All his substance his goods and possessions should be anathematized devoted put under Cherem taken away for Sacred Uses Hence some have made this distinction between the three degrees of excommunication First The Niddui concerned only the Person and his separation from Sacred Offices Cherem had also Confiscation of Goods attending of it the substance of the Transgressor being devoted and Shammatha was accompanied with the death of the devoted Person Which carnal penalties under the Gospel being removed that great and sore revenge which disobedient sinners are to expect from the hand of God at the last day is substituted by our Apostle in the room of them all Heb. 10.28 29. Civil Punishments next succeed and they were of three sorts First Corporeal § 27 Secondly Such as respect the Outward Estate and Condition of the Offendor Thirdly Capital First Corporeal punishment was that only of Stripes not exceeding the number of forty Deut. 25.23 An account of the Jews Opinions and the manner of their execution of this punishment is given us by many in particular exactly by Buxtorf in his Preface unto his Bibliotheca Rabbinica whither I refer the Reader They call it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or beating by strokes and sometimes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the beating of forty or with forty And he that was liable unto it was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã filius plagarum Many Crimes doubtless rendered Persons obnoxious to this penalty but they are not directly expressed in the Law The Jews now reckon up seven instances of unlawful copulation with Women free and unmarried for
of old spoken unto the Fathers in the Prophets hath in these last dayes spoken unto us in the Son whom he hath appointed heir of all by whom also he made the worlds THe Apostle intending a comparison between the Mosaical Law and the Gospel referreth it unto two Heads First Their Revelation and Institution whence the Obligation to the Observance of the one and the other did arise and Secondly Their whole Nature Vse and Efficacy The First he enters upon in these words and premising that wherein they did agree distinctly layes down the severals wherein the difference between them doth consist both which were necessary to compleat the comparison intended That wherein they agree is the Principal Efficient Cause of their Revelation or the Prime Author from whom they were This is God He was the Author of the Law and Gospel He spake of old in the Prophets he spake in the last dayes in the Son Neither of them were from Men not one from one Principle and the other from an other both have the same Divine Original See 2 Tim. 3.16 2 Pet. 1.16 17 18 19 20 21. Herein they both agree Their difference in this respect namely of their Revelation he refers to four Heads all distinctly expressed saving that some branches of the Antithesis on the part of the Gospel are only included in the opposite expressions that relate unto the Law Their difference First Respects the manner of their Revelation and that in two particulars 1. The Revelation of the Will of God under the Law was given out by divers parts that under the Gospel at once or in one dispensation of Grace and Truth 2. That in diverse manners this one way only by the Spirit dwelling in the Lord Christ in his fulness and by him communicated unto his Apostles Secondly The Times and Seasons of their Revelation that of the Law was made of Old formerly in Times past This of the Gospel in these last dayes Thirdly The Persons to whom the Revelation of them was made That was to the Fathers this to us Fourthly And principally the Persons by whom these Revelations were made That was by the Prophets this by the Son God spake then in the Prophets now he hath spoken in the Son The whole stress of the Apostles Argument lying on this last instance omitting the prosecution of all the other particulars he enters upon the further description of this immediate Revealer of the Gospel in whom God spake the Son and layes down in general 1. The Authority committed unto him God made him Heir of all 2. The Ground and Equity of committing that great Power and trust unto him in those words by whom also he made the worlds whereby he opens his way to the farther declaration of his Divine and incomparable Excellencies wherein he is exalted far above all or any that were employed in the Revelation or Administration of the Law of Moses and the holy Worship instituted thereby All these particulars must be opened severally that we may see the intendment of the Apostle and the force of his Argument in the whole and some of them must necessarily be somewhat largely insisted on because of their influence into the ensuing Discourse I. That wherein the Law and Gospel do both agree is that God was the Author of them both About this there was no difference as to the most of them with whom the Apostle treated This he takes for granted For the Professing Jews did not adhere to Mosaical Institutions because God was their Author not so of the Gospel but because they were given from God by Moses in such a manner as never to be changed or abrogated This the Apostle layes down as an acknowledged Principle with the most that both Law and Gospel received their Original from God himself proving also as we shall see in the progress of our Discourse to the conviction of others that such a Revelation as that of the Gospel was foretold and expected and that this was it in particular which was preached unto them Now God being here spoken of ân distinction from the Son expresly and from the Holy Ghost by evident implication it being He by whom he spake in the Prophets that name is not taken ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã substantially to denote primarily the Essence or being of the Deity and each person as partaking in the same nature but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã denoting primarily one certain Person and the divine nature only as subsisting in that Person This is the Person of the Father as elsewhere the Person of the Son is so signified by that name Acts 20.28 John 1.1 2. Rom. 9.5 1 Tim. 3.16 1 John 3.16 Chap. 5.20 As also the Person of the Holy Spirit Acts 5.3 4. 1 Cor. 12.7 11. Col. 2.2 So that God even the Father by the way of eminency was the peculiar Author of both Law and Gospel of which afterwards And this observation is made necessary from hence even because he immediately assigns Divine Properties and Excellencies unto another Person evidently distinguished from him whom he intends to denote by the name God in this place which he could not do did that name primarily express as here used by him the divine nature absolutely but only as it is subsisting in the Person of the Father From this head of their Agreement the Apostle proceeds to the instances of the difference that was between the Law and the Gospel as to their Revelation from God of which a little inverting the order of the words we shall First consider that which concerns the Times of their giving out sundry of the other instances being regulated thereby For the First or the Revelation of the Will of God under the Old Testament it was of old God spake ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã formerly or of old Some space of time is denoted in this word which had then received both its beginning and end both which we may enquire after Take the word absolutely and it comprizes the whole space of time from the giving out of the first Promise unto that End which was put unto all Revelations of publick use under the Old Testament Take it as relating to the Jews and the rise of the time expressed in it is the giving of the Law by Moses in the Wilderness And this is that which the Apostle hath respect unto He had no contest with the Jews about the first Promise and the service of God in the world built thereon nor about their Priviledge as they were the Sons of Abraham but only about their then present Church Priviledge and claim by Moses Law The proper date then and bound of this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of old is from the giving out of Moses Law and therein the constitution of the Judaical Church and Worship unto the close of publick Prophecie in the dayes of Malachi From thence to the dayes of John Baptist God granted no extraordinary Revelation of his Will as to the standing
granted that there was in Vision sometimes signs or representations of the Person of the Father as Dan. 7. But that the Son of God did mostly appear to the Fathers under the Old Testament is acknowledged by the Antients and is evident in Scripture See Zech. 2.8 9 10 11. And he it was who is called the Angel Exod. 23.20 21. The reason that is pleaded by some that the Son of God was not the Angel there mentioned namely because the Apostle sayes that to none of the Angels was it said at any time thou art my Son this day I have begotten thee which could not be affirmed if the Son of God were that Angel is not of any force For notwithstanding this assertion yet both the Antient Jews and Christians generally grant that it is the Messiah that is called the Angel of the Covenant Mal. 3.1 though the Modern Jews foolishly apply that name to Elias whom they fancy to be present at Circumcision which they take to be the Covenant a priviledge as they say granted him upon his complaint that the Children of Israel had forsaken the Covenant 1 Kings 29.14 that is as they suppose neglected Circumcision The Apostle therefore speaks of those who were Angels by nature and no more and not of him who being Jehovah the Son was sent of the Father and is therefore called his Angel or Messenger being so only by Office And this appearance of the Son of God though not well understanding what they say is acknowledged by sundry of the Postalmudical Rabbins To this purpose very considerable are the words of Moses Gerundensis on Exod. 23. Iste Angelus si rem ipsam dicamus est Angelus Redemptor de quo scriptum est quoniam nomen meum in ipso est Ille inquam Angelus qui ad Jacob dicebat Ego Deus Bethel Ille de quo dictum est vocabat Mosen Deus de rubo Vocatur autem Angelus quia mundum gubernat Scriptum est enim eduxit nos ex Aegypto Praeterea scriptum est Angelus faciei salvos fecit eos Nimirum ille Angelus qui est Dei facies de quo dictum est facies mea praeibit efficiam ut quiescas denique ille Angelus est de quo Vates subito veniet ad Templum suum Dominus quem vos quaeritis Angelus faederis quem cupitis The Angel if we speak exactly is the Angel the Redeemer of whom it is written my name is in him that Angel which said unto Jacob I am the God of Bethel He of whom it is said God called unto Moses out of the Bush. And he is called the Angel because he governeth the world For it is written Jehovah brought us out of Egypt and elsewhere he sent his Angel and brought us out of Egypt And again it is written and the Angel of his presence face saved them namely the Angel which is the Presence face of God of whom it is said my presence face shall go before thee and I will cause thee to rest Lastly that Angel of whom the Prophet speaks the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his Temple the Angel of the Covenant whom you desire To the same purpose speaks the same Author on Exod. 33.14 My presence shall go before thee Animadverte attentè quid ista sibi velint Moses enim Israelitae semper optavêrunt Angelâm primum caeâârùm quis ille esset verè intelligere non pyâuerâât Neque ânim ab alâis percipiebunt nâque prophetica notione satis assequebantur Atqui facies Dei ipsum significat Deum And again Facies mea praecedet hoc est Angelus foederis quem vós cupitis Observe diligently what is the meaning of these words for Moses and the Israelites alwayes desired the principal Angel but who he was they could not perfectly understand for they could neither learn it of others nor attain it by Prophecy but the presence of God is God himself My presence face shall go before thee that is the Angel of the Covenant whom ye desire Thus he to which purpose others also of them do speak though how to reconcile these things to their unbelief in denying the Personality of the Son of God they know not This was the Angel whose ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Moses prayed for on Joseph Deut. 33.13 and whom Jacob made to be the same with the Goâ that fed him all his dayes Gen. 48.15 16. whereof we have treated largely before The Son of God having from the foundation of the world undertaken the Care and Salvation of the Church he it was who immediately dealt with it in things which concerned its instruction and edification Neither doth this hinder but that God the Father may yet be asserted or that he is in this place to be the fountain of all Divine Revelation 2. There is a difference between the Son of God revealing the will of God in his Divine Person to the Prophets of which we have spoken and the Son of God as incarnate revealing the will of God immediately to the Church This is the difference here insisted on by the Apostle Under the Old Testament the Son of God in his Divine Person instructed the Prophets in the will of God and gave them that Spirit on whose Divine Inspiration their infallibility did depend 1 Pet. 1.11 but now in the Revelation of the Gospel taking his own humanity or our Nature hypostatically united unto him in the room of all the internuncii or prophetical Messengers he had made use of he taught it immediately himself There lyes a seeming exception unto this distinction in the giving of the Law for as we affirm that it was the Son by whom the Law was given so in his so doing he spake immediately to the whole Church Exod. 20.22 The Lord said I have talked with you from Heaven The Jews say that the people understood not one word of what was spoken but only heard a voice and saw the terrible appearances of the Majesty of God as v. 18. for immediately upon that sight they removed and stood afar off And the matter is left doubtful in the repetition of the story Deut. 5.4 It is said indeed the Lord talked with you face to face in the Mount but yet neither do these words fully prove that they understood what was spoken and as it was spoken but only that they clearly discovered the presence of God delivering the Law for so are those words expounded in v. 5. I stood saith Moses between the Lord and you at that time to shew you the word of the Lord for you were afraid by reason of the fire and went not up unto the Mount that is you understood not the words of the Law but as I declared them unto you and it being so though the Person of the Son caused the words to be heard yet he spake not immediately to the whole Church but by Moses But Secondly We shall afterwards shew that all the voices then heard by Moses or
was said that God spake to him face to face it is also affirmed that he did not nor could see the face of God Exod. 33.20 See John 1.17 18. Both those expressions intend only that God revealed himself unto him in a more clear and familiar way than he had done unto other Prophets or would do whilest that administration continued For although the things which he revealed to and by other Prophets were more clear evident and open to the understanding of believers than they were in the Revelation made to Moses they being intended as Expositions of it yet in the way of the Revelation its self God dealt more clearly and familiarly with Moses than with any other Prophet of that Church whatever The Second difference assigned is vain Of the times and seasons wherein the Prophets received their Visions there can be no determinate rule assigned Many of them were at ordinary seasons whilest they were waking and some about the employment of their Callings as Amos Chap. 7. v. 15. The Third also about the consternation of Spirit which befell other Prophets is groundless Sometimes it was so with them as the instance of Daniel proves Chap. 7.28 Chap. 10. v. 8. and so it befell Moses himself Heb. 12.21 which if we attain to that place we shall prove the Jews themselves to acknowledge Ordinarily it was otherwise as with him so with them as is manifest in the whole story of the Prophets There is the same mistake in the last difference assigned Moses did not so receive the Spirit of Prophecy as that he could at his own pleasure reveal those things which were not discoverable but by that Spirit or speak out the mind of God infallibly in any thing for the use of the Church without actual inspiration as to that particular which is evident from the mistake that he was under as to the manner of his Government which he rectified by the advise of Jethro Exod. 18.19 And likewise in other Instances did he wait for particular Answers from God Numb 15.34 To have a comprehension at once of the whole Will of God concerning the obedience and salvation of the Church was a Priviledge reserved for him who in all things was to have the preheminence And it seems that Maimonides himself in his exaltation of Moses excepted the Messiah For whereas in the Hebrew and Latin Copies of More Nebuch part 2. cap. 45. there are these words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which Buxtorf renders est gradus hic etiam praestantissimorum consiliariorum Israelis this is the degree in Prophecy of the Counsellors of Israel the Arabick or Original hath And this also is the degree of the Messiah of Israel who goeth before or excelleth all others that is in point of Prophecy Not to follow them in their imaginations the just priviledges of Moses above all other Prophets lay in these three things 1. That he was the Law-giver or Mediator by whom God gave that Law and revealed that Worship in the observation whereof the very being of the Judaical Church did consist 2. That God in the Revelation made unto him dealt in a more familiar and clear manner as to the way of his outward dealing than with any other Prophets 3. In that the Revelation made unto him concerned the ordering of the whole house of God when the other Prophets were employed only about particulars built on his foundation In these things consisted the just and free preheminence of Moses which whether it were such as would warrant the Jews in their obstinate adherence to his Institutions upon their own Principles shall be enquired into But before we manifest that indeed it was not the Revelation of the mind of God in and by the Son which is compared with and preferred before and above this of Moses must be unfolded and this we shall do in the ensuing Observations 1. The Lord Jesus Christ by vertue of the Vnion of his Person was from the womb filled with a perfection of Gracious Light and Knowledge of God and his Will An actual exercise of that Principle of holy Wisdom wherewith he was endued in his infancy as afterwards he had not Luke 2.52 Nor had he in his humane nature an absolutely infinite comprehension of all individual things past present and to come which he expresly denyes as to the day of Judgement Mat. 24.36 Mark 13.32 but he was furnishâd with all that Wisdom and Knowledge which the humane nature was capable of both as to principle and exercise in the condition wherein it was without destroying its finite being and variety of conditions from the Womb. The Papists have made a vain Controversie about the knowledge of the humane soul of Christ. Those whom they charge with error in this matter affirm no more than what is expresly asserted in the places of Scripture above mentioned and by their answers unto those places it is evident how little they care what scorn they expose the Scripture and all Religion unto so they may secure their own mistakes But this Wisdom whatever it were is not that whereby God so revealed his mind unto him as thereby to be said to speak to us in him He had it by his Vnion and therefore immediately from the Person of the Son sanctifying that nature by the Holy Ghost which he took into subsistence with himself But the Revelation by which God spake in him unto us was in a peculiar manner from the Father Revel 1.1 and as we have shewed it is the Person of the Father that is here peculiarly spoken of And hence the enquiry of some on this place how the Second Person revealed himself to the humane nature is not to the purpose of it For it is the Person of the Father that is spoken of So that 2. The Commission Mâssion and furnishing of the Son as incarnate and Mediator with abilities for the declaration of the mind and will of God unto the Church were peculiarly from the Father For the whole work of his Mediation he received command of the Father John 10.18 and what he should speak John 12.4 according to which commandment he wrought and taught John 14.31 Whence that is the common Periphrasis whereby he expressed the Person of the Father he that sent him as also he that sealed and anointed him And his Doctrine on that account he testified was not his his own that is primarily or originarily as Mediator but his that sent him John 7.16 It was from the Father that he heard the word and learned the Doctrine that he declared unto the Church And this is asserted where ever there is mention made of the Fathers sending sealing anointing commanding teaching him of his doing the wiâl speaking the words seeking the Glory obeying the commands of him that sent him See John 8.26 28 40. Chap. 14.10 c. 15.15 Revel 1.1 And in the Old Testament Zech. 2.8 Isa. 48.15 16 17. Chap. 50.4 That blessed Tongue of the Learned whereby God spake in and by
him the refreshing word of the Gospel unto poor weary sinners was the gift of the Father 3. As to the manner of his receiving of the Revelation of the Will of God a double mistake must be removed and then the nature of it must be declared 1. The Socinians to avoid the force of those Testimonies which are urged to confirm the Deity of Christ from the assertions in the Gospel that he who spake to the Disciples on earth was then also in Heaven John 3.13 Chap. 6.35 51. Chap. 7.32 33 41 42 57 58. Chap. 8.29 have broached a Mahumetan fancy that the Lord Christ before his entrance on his publick Ministry was locally taken up into Heaven and there instructed in the mysterie of the Gospel and the mind of God which he was to reveal Catech. Raccov cap. 3. de Offic. Ch. Prophet Quest. 4 5. Smalcius de Divinitat Christi cap. 4. Socin Respons ad Paraen Vol. pag. 38 39. But 1. There was no cause of any such Rapture of the humane Nature of Christ as we shall evidence in manifesting the way whereby he was taught of the Father especially after his Baptism 2. This imaginary Rapture is grounded solely on their ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that the Lord Christ in his whole Person was no more than a meer man 3. There is no mention of any such thing in the Scripture where the Fathers revealing his mind and will to the Son is treated of which had it been ought not to have been omitted 4. The fancy of it is expresly contrary to Scripture for 1. The Holy Ghost affirms that Christ entered once into the Holy Place and that after he had obtained eternal Redemption Heb. 9.12 which should have been his second entrance had he been taken thither before in his humane nature so that coming of his into the world which we look for at the last day is called his second coming his coming again because of his first entrance into it at his incarnation Heb. 9.28 2. He was to suffer before his entry into Heaven and his glory therein Luke 24.26 And 3. As to the time of his Ascension which these men assign namely the forty dayes after his baptism it is said expresly that he was all that time in the wilderness amongst the wild Beasts Mark 1.13 So that this figment may have no place in our enquiry into the way of the Fathers speaking in the Son 2. Some lay the whole weight of the Revelation of the will of God unto Christ upon the endowments of the Humane Nature by vertue of its Personal Vnion with the Eternal Word but this is wholly inconsistent with the many Testimonies before rehearsed of the Fathers revealing himself unto him after that Vnion Wherefore to declare the Nature of this Revelation we must observe further 4. That Jesus Christ in his divine Nature as he was the Eternal Word and Wisdom of the Fathers not by a voluntary communication but eternal generation had an omnisciency of the whole nature and will of God as the Father himself hath because the same with that of the Father their will and wisdom being the same This is the blessed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or in-being of each Person the one in the other by vertue of their oneness in the same nature Thus as God he had absolute omniscience Moreover the mysterie of the Gospel the especial Counsel and Covenant of it concerning the Redemption of the Elect in his blood and the Worship of God by his Redeemed ones being transacted between Father and Son from all eternity was known unto him as the Son by vertue of his own personal transactions with the Father in the eternal Counsel and Covenant of it See what we have elsewhere delivered concerning that Covenant 5. The Lord Christ discharged his Office and work of Revealing the Will of the Father in and by his humane nature that nature wherein he dwelt among us Joh. 1.14 For although the Person of Christ God and man was our Mediator Acts 20.28 Joh. 1.14 18. yet his humane nature was that wherein he discharged the duties of his Office and the principium quod of all his mediatory actings 1 Tim. 2.5 6. This Humane Nature of Christ as he was in it made of a woman made under the Law Gal. 4.4 was from the instant of its Vnion with the Person of the Son of God an holy thing Luke 1.35 Holy harmless undefiled separated from sinners and radically filled with all that perfection of habitual Grace and Wisdom which was or could be necessary to the discharge of that whole duty which as a man he owed unto God Luke 2.40 49 52. Joh. 8.46 1 Pet. 2.22 But 7. Besides this furniture with habitual Grace for the performance of all holy obedience unto God as a man made under the Law there was a peculiar endowment with the Spirit without and beyond the bounds of all comprehensible measures that he was to receive as the great Prophet of the Church in whom the Father would speak and give out the last Revelation of himself This communication of the Spirit unto him was the foundation of his sufficiency for the discharge of his Prophetical Office Isa. 11.2 3. Chap. 48.16 Chap. 61.1 2 3. Dan. 9.24 As to the reality and being of this Gift of the Spirit he received it from the womb whence in his infancy he was said to be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Luke 2.40 filled with wisdom wherewith he confuted the Doctors to amazement v. 47. And with his years were these Gifts encreased in him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he went forwards in wisdom and stature and favour v. 52. But the full communication of this Spirit with special reference unto the discharge of his publick Office with the visible pledge of it in the Holy Ghost descending on him in the shape of a Dove he was made partaker of in his baptism Matth. 3.16 when also he received his first publick Testimony from Heaven v. 17. which when again repeated received the additional command of hearing him Matth. 17.5 designing the Prophet that was to be heard on pain of utter extermination Deut. 18.18 19. And therefore he was thereupon said to be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Luke 4.1 full of the Holy Ghost and sealed to this work by the sign foretold of God Joh. 1.33 This was the foundation of the Fathers speaking in the Son as incarnate He spake in him by his Spirit so he did in the Prophets of old 2 Pet. 1.21 And herein in general the Prophecy of Christ and theirs did agree It remaineth then to shew wherein his Preheminence above them did consist so that the word spoken by him is principally and eminently to be attended unto which is the Argument of that which the Apostle hath in hand in this place 8. The Preheminencies of the Prophecy of Christ above that of Moses and all other Prophets were of two sorts 1. Such as arose from his Person who was the Prophet 2. Such
the counsel of God shall be revealed or laid open unto all And this perswasion they built on the Promise of a new Covenant to be made with them not like the Covenant made with their fathers Jerem. 31.32 33. Whence the Author before mentioned concludes that it was the judgment of the antient Doctors that they should receive a new Covenant from the mouth of God himself and all their Worship being annexed and subservient unto the Covenant that was made with them in Horeb upon the removal of that Covenant there was of necessity a new kind of Worship subservient thereunto to ensue From all these observations we may evidently perceive wherein the force of the Apostles Argument doth lie which he insists upon in this very entrance of his Discourse rather insinuating it from their own Principles than openly pressing them with its reason which he doth afterwards They acknowledged that the Messiah was to come that he was to be in a special manner the Son of God as we shall shew that in him God would ultimately reveal his mind and will unto them and that this Revelation on many accounts would be far more excellent than that of old made to and by Moses which that it was all accomplished in the ministery of Jesus Christ and that unto themselves in the latter days of their Church according to what was long before fore-told he asserts and proves whence it was easie for them to gather what a necessity of adhereing to his Doctrine and Institutions notwithstanding any contrary pleas or arguings was incumbent on them But moreover the Apostle in these words hath opened the spring from whence all his ensuing Arguments do flow in fixing on him who brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel And from thence takes occasion to enter upon the Dogmatical part of the Epistle in the description of the Person of Christ the Son of God and his Excellency in whom God spake unto them that they might consider with whom they had to do wherein he proceeds to the end of this Chapter But before we proceed we shall stay here a little to consider some things that may be a refreshment to Believers in their passage in the consideration of those spiritual Truths which for the use of the Church in general are exhibited unto us in the words we have considered And the first is this I. The Revelation of the of Will God as to all things concerning his Worship our Faith and Obedience is peculiarly and in a way of eminency from the Father This is that which the Apostle partly asserts partly takes for granted as the head and spring of his whole ensuing discourse And this shall now be a little further cleared and confirmed to which end we may observe 1. That the whole Mystery of his Will antecedently to the Revelation of it is said to be hid in God that is the Father Ephes. 3.9 it lay wrapt up from the eyes of men and Angels in his Eternal Wisdom and Counsel Col. 1.26 27. The Son indeed who is and from eternity was in the bosome of the Father Joh. 1.18 as one brought up with him his eternal delight and wisdom Prov. 8.29 30. was partaker with him in this Counsel v. 31. as also his eternal Spirit who searches and knows all the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 11. but yet the rise and spring of this Mystery was in the Father For the order of acting in the blessed Trinity follows the order of subsistence As the Father therefore is the Fountain of the Trinity as to subsistence so also to operation He hath life in himself and he gives to the Son to have life in himself Joh. 5.26 And he doth it by communicating unto him his subsistence by eternal Generation And thence saith the Son As my Father worketh so I work v. 17. And what he seeth the Father do that doth the Son likewise v. 19. not by imitation or repetition of the like works but in the same works in order of nature the will and wisdom of the Father doth proceed so also is it in respect of the holy Ghost whose order of subsistence denotes that of his of operation 2. That the Revelation of the Mystery of the will of God so hidden in the counsel of his will from Eternity was always made and given out in the pursuit and for the accomplishment of the purpose of the Father or that eternal purpose of the will of God which is by the way of eminency ascribed unto the Father Ephes. 1.8 9. He hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence having made known unto us the mâstery of his will according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself It is the Father of whom he speaks v. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now he abounds to us-wards in wisdom and prudence or abundantly manifests his infinite wisdom in his dealing with us by the Revelation of the mystery of his will and this he doth in pursuit of his good pleasure which he purposed in himself or that purpose of his will which had its foundation solely in his good pleasure This is the purpose of Election as is declared v. 3 4 5. And this purpose is peculiarly assigned unto him Joh. 17.6 2 Thess. 2.13 For the accomplishment of this purpose or the bringing of those predestinated thereby to the end purposed for them by the means ordained for the praise of Gods glorious grace is the whole Revelation of the will of God first and last made He spake in his Son and he spake in him that he might manifest his Name himself and will to the men whom he gave him for saith the Son thine they were set apart for thee in thy eternal purpose and thou gavest them unto me Joh. 17.6 And therefore Paul tells us that in preaching of the Gospel he endured all things for the elects sake 2 Tim. 2.10 knowing that it was for their salvation that the mystery of it was revealed from the bosome of the Father as God also had before taught him Acts 18.11 See Rom. 11.7 chap 8.28 c. 3. This Purpose of God being communicated with and unto the Lord Christ or the Son and so becoming the Counsel of peace between them both Zech. 6.13 He rejoycing to do the work that was incumbent on him for the accomplishment of it Prov. 8.30 31 32. Psal. 40.7 8. it became peculiarly the care and work of the Father to see that the inheritance promised him upon his undertaking Isa. 53.10 11 12. should be given unto him This is done by the Revelation of the will of God unto men concerning their obedience and salvation whereby they are made the lât the seed the portion and inheritance of Christ. To this end doth the Lord that is the Father who said unto the Lord the Son Sit thou on my right hand Psal. 110.2 send the Rod of his power out of Sion v. 2.
Word so as to answer the spring from whence it comes namely wiâh Authority Love to and Care for the souls of men And 5. Consider to whom they are to give an account of the work they are called to the discharge of and entrusted with Heb. 13.7 And for them to whom the Word is preached Let them consider 1. With what Reverence and godly fear they ought to attend unto the dispensation of it seeing it is a proper effect and issue of the Authority of God Heb. 12.25 And 2. How they will escape if they neglect so great Salvation declared unto them from the Love and Care of God Heb. 2.3 And 3. With what holiness and spiritual subjection of Soul unto God they ought to be conversant in and with all the Ordinances of Worship that are appointed by him Heb. 12.28 29. Other Observations I shall more briefly pass over God spake in them II. The Authority of God speaking in and by the Pen-men of the Scriptures is the sole bottom and foundation of our assenting to them and what is contained in them with Faith Divine and Supernatural He spake in them he then continues to speak by them and therefore is their word received 2 Pet. 3.20 21. But this is elsewhere handled at large III. Gods gradual Revelation of himself his Mind and Will unto the Church was a fruit of infinite Wisdom and Care towards his Elect. These are parts of his wayes sayes Job but how little a portion is heard of him Job 26.14 Though all his wayes and dispensations are ordered in infinite Wisdom yet we can but stand at the shoar of the Ocean and admire its glory and greatness Little it is that we can comprehend Yet what may be our instruction that may further our Faith and Obedience is not hidden from us And these things lye evident unto us in this gradual discovery of himself and his Will 1. That he over-filled not their Vessels He gave them out light as they were able to bear though we know not perfectly what their condition was yet this we know that as no generation needed more light than they had for the discharge of the duty that God required of them so more light would have unfitted them for somewhat or other that was their duty in their respective generations 2. He kept them in a Continual dependance upon himself and waiting for their Rule and Direction from him which as it tended to his glory so it was exceedingly suited to their safety in keeping them in an humble waiting frame 3. He so gave out the Light and Knowledge of himself as that the great work which he had to accomplish that lay in the stores of his infinitely Wise Will as the end and issue of all Revelations namely the bringing forth of Christ into the world in the way wherein he was to come and for the Ends which he was to bring about might not be obviated He gave light enough to believers to enable them to receive him and not so much as to hinder obdurate sinners from crucifying him 4. He did this work so that the Preheminence fully to reveal him and ultimately might be reserved for him in whom all things were to be gathered unto an head All Priviledges were to be kept for and unto him which was principally done by this gradual Revelation of the mind of God 5. And there was tender Care conjoyned with this infinite Wisdom None of his elect in any age were left without that Light and instruction which were needful for them in their seasons and generations And this so given out unto them as that they might have fresh consolation and supportment as their occasions did require Whilest the Church of old was under this dispensation they were still hearkning when they should hear new tydings from Heaven for their teaching and refreshment And if any difficulty did at any time befall them they were sure not to want relief in this kind And this was necessary before the final hand was set to the work And this discovers the woful state of the present Jews They grant that the Revelation of the Will of God is not perfected and yet notwithstanding all their miseries darkness and distresses they dare not pretend that they have heard one word from heaven these 2000 years that is from the days of Malachi and yet they labour to keep the vail upon their eyes IV. We may see hence the absolute Perfection of the Revelation of the will of God by Christ and his Apostles as to every end and purpose what ever for which God ever did or ever will in this world reveal himself or his mind and will For as this was the last way and means that God ever designed for the discovery of himself as to the worship and obedience which he requires so the Person by whom he accomplished this work makes it indispensably necessary that it be also absolutely perfect from which nothing can be taken to which nothing must be added under the penalty of the extermination threatned to him that will not attend to the voice of that Prophet Return we now again unto the words of our Apostle Having declared the Son to be the immediate Revealer of the Gospel in pursuit of his design he proceeds to declare his Glory and Excellency both that which he had in himself antecedent to his susception of the Office of Mediator and what he received upon his in-vestiture therewith Two things in the close of this verse he assigns unto him 1. That he was appointed heir of all 2. That by him the worlds were made Wherein consists the first Amplification of his Proposition concerning the Revealer of the Gospel in two parts both acknowledged by the Jews both directly conducing to his purpose in hand ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã posuit fecit constituit Syr. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã posuit he placed set made appointed I. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã whom that is the Son in whom the Father spake unto us and as such as the Revealer of the Gospel ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã God and Man The Son as God hath a natural dominion over all To this he can be no more appointed than he can be to be God On what account he hath his Divine Nature on the same he hath all the Attributes and Perfections of it with all things that necessarily on any supposition attend it as supreme Dominion doth Nor doth this denotation of him respect meerly the Humane Nature for although the Lord Christ performed all the Acts of his Mediatory Office in and by the Humane Nature yet he did them not as Man but as God and Man in one Person Joh. 1.14 Acts 20.20 And therefore unto him as such do the Priviledges belong that he is vested with on the account of his being Mediator Nothing indeed can be added unto him as God but there may be to him who is God in respect of his condescension to discharge an Office in an other Nature
which he did assume And this salves the Paralogism of Felbinger on this place which is that wherewith the Jews and Socinians perpetually intangle themselves Deus altissimus non potest salvâ majestate suâ ab aliquo haeres constitutus esse Filius Dei à Deo est haeres omnium constitutus ergo Filius Dei non est Deus altissimus God is called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the High or most High God with reference to his Sovereign and Supreme exaltation over all his creatures as the next words in the place where that Title is given unto him do declare ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Possessor of heaven and earth Gen. 14.19 He is not termed Deus altissimus the most high God as though there were another Deus altus an high God that is not the Altissimus which is the sense of the Socinians This one Dâus altissimus most high God absolutely in respect of his Divine Nature cannot be appointed an Heir by any other But he who is so this High God as to be the eternal Son of the Father and made Man may in respect of the Office which in the nature of Man he undertook to discharge by his Father be made Heir of all II. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Heir ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is a lot and a peculiar portion received by lot thence an inheritance which is a mans lot and portion ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an inheritance under controversie ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an heir to goods divided by lot or he that distributeth an inheritance to others by lot Absolutely an Heir So the Poet of the covetous Hermocrates ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã He appointed himself his own heir in his last Will and Testament It hath also a more large signification ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he is in Plato whose turn it was to speak next Strictly it is the same with Haeres an Heir And an Heir is he Qui subentrat jus lâcum dominium rerum defuncti ac si eadem persona esseâ Who entreth into the right place and title of him that is deceased as if he were the same person But yet the name of an Heir is not restrained in the Law to him that so succeeds a deceased person in which sense it can have no place here Haeredis nomen latiore significatione possessorem fidei Commissarium Legatarium comprehendit it comprehends a Possessor a Trustee and a Legatary so Spigelius This sense of the word takes off the Catachresis which must be supposed in the application of it unto the Son if it only denoted such an Heir as Abraham thought Eliezer would be to him Gen. 15.3 4. One that succeâds into the right and goods of the deceased For the Father dieth not nor doth ever forego his own Title or Dominion Neither is the Title and right given to the Son as Mediator the same with that of God absolutely considered This is eternal natural coexistent with the being of all things that new created by grant and donation by whose erection and establishment the other is not at all impeached For whereas it is affirmed that the Father judgeth no man but hath comâitted all judgment to the Sân Joh. 5.22 27 30. it respects not Title and Rule but actual Administration In the latter sense of the word as it denotes any rightful Possessor by Grant from another it is properly ascribed unto the Son and there are three things intended in this woâd 1. Title Dominion Lordship Haeres est qui herus for thence is the word and not from aere as Isidore supposeth The Heir is the Lord of that which he is heir unto So the Apostle Gal. 4.1 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Heir is Lord of all And in this sense is Christ called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the first born Psal. 89.27 I will give him to be my first-born higher than or and high above the Kings of the earth Princeps Dominus Caput familiae the Pâince Lord and Head of the family that hath right to the inheritance and distributes portions to others Hence ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is used for every thing that excelleth and hath the preheminence in its own kind Job 18.10 Isa. 14.30 Ezek. 47.12 So Col. 1.15 2. Possâssion Christ is made actual Possessor of that which he hath Title unto As he is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so he is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã such a Possessor as comes to his possession by the surrender or grant of another God in respect of his Dominion is called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the absolute Possâssor of heaven and earth Gen. 14.22 Christ as a Mediator is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Possessor by grant And there was a suitableness that he that was the Son should thus be Heir Whence Chrysostome and Theophylact affirm that the words denote ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The propriety of his Sonship and the immutability of his Lordship Not that he was thus made Heir of all as he was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the only begotten Son of the Father Joh. 1.14 But it was agreeable and consonant that he who was eternally ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and had on that account an absolute dominion over all with his Father becoming ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Rom. 8.29 the first-born amongst many brethren should have a delegated Heirship of all and be given to be the head over all unto the Churcâ Ephes. 1.22 3. That he hath both this Title and Possession by Grant from the Father of which afterwards Christ then by vertue of a Grant from the Father is made Lord by a new Title and hath Possession given him according to his Title he is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Heir III. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of all This is the object of the Hâirship of Christ his Inheritance The word may be taken in the Mâsculine gender and denote all persâns all those of whom he had spoken before all the Revealers of the Will of God under the Old Testament the Son was the Lord over them all which is true but the word in the Neuter gender denotes all things absolutely and so it is in this place to be understood For 1. It is so used elsewhere to the same purpose 1 Cor. 15.27 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he hath subjected all things unto him So Rom. 9.5 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Who is God over all 2. This sense suits the Apostles Argument and addes a double force to his intention and design For 1. The Author of the Gospel being Heir and Lord of all things what ever the sovereign disposal of all those Rites and Ordinances of Worship about which the Jews contended must needs be in his hand to change and alter them as he saw good 2. He being the Heir and Lord of all things it was easie for them to conclude that if they intended to be made partakers of any good in heaven or earth in a way of love
Act of Obedience and most absolute subjection This they have in command Heb. 1.6 Let all the Angels of God worship him Psal. 97.7 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã worship him with prostration self-abasement and all possible subjection to him of which place afterwards Their practice answers the command given them Rev. 5.11 12 13 14. All the Angels round about his Throne fall down and ascribe blessing and honour and glory and power unto him as we are taught to do in our deepest acknowledgment of the Majesty and Authority of God Matth. 6.13 And as to outward obedience they are ready in all things to receive his commands being ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall inherit salvation Heb. 1.13 and that by him who is Head over all things unto the Church Ephes. 1.22 As for instance he sent out one of them to his servant John Rev. 1.1 who from their employment under him towards them that believe are said to be their fellow-servants that is unto Christ namely of all them have the Testimony of Jesus Rev. 19.10 chap. 22.9 And to this purpose 4. They always attend his Throne Isa. 6.1 2. I saw the Lord upon his throne and about it stood the Seraphims This Isaiah spake of him when he saw his glory Joh. 12.39 40. He was upon his Throne when he spake with the Church in the wilderness Act. 7.38 that is in Mount Sinai where the Angels attending him as on Chariots ready to receive his commands were twenty thousands even thousands of Angels Psal. 68.19 Ephes. 4.8 or thousand thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand as another Prophet expresseth it Dan. 7.10 And so he is in the Church of the New Testament Rev. 5.11 and from his walking in the midst of his golden Candlesticks Rev. 1.13 are the Angels also present in Church Assemblies as attending their Lord and Master 1 Cor. 11.10 And so attended shall he come to Judgment 2 Thess. 1.7 when he shall be revealed from heaven with the Angels of his power which was fore-told concerning him from the beginning of the world Jude 7 8. Thus his Lordship over Angels is Vniversal and absolute and their subjection unto him answerable thereunto The manner of the Grant of this excellency power and dignity unto him must be further cleared in the opening of these words of the Apostle ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Being made better than the Angels the original right and equity of this Grant with the ends of it are now only to be intimated 1. The Radical fundamental Equity of this Grant lies in his Divine Nature and his creation of Angels over whom as Mediator he is made Lord. Unto the general Assertion of his being made Heir of all the Apostle in this place subjoyns that general Reason manifesting the rise of the Equity of it in the Will of God that it should be so By whom also he made the worlds Which reason is particularly applicable to every part of his inheritance and is especially pleaded in reference unto Angels Col. 1.15 16. Who is the image of the invisible God the first-born of every creature that is the Heir and Lord of them all and the reason is Because by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him His creation of those heavenly powers is the foundation of his Heirship or Lordship over them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is saith a learned man Grotius on the place not created or made but ordered ordained all things were ordered by Christ as to their state and dignity But what reason is there to depart from the proper usual yea only sense of the word in this place Because saith he mention is made of Christ which is the name of a man and so the Creation of all things cannot be attributed unto him But Christ is the name of the Son of God incarnate God and Man Christ who is over all God blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 See Luke 2.11 And he is here spoken of as the Image of the invisible God v. 15. the essential Image of the Father endowed with all his eternal Attributes and so the Creator of all The Socinians adde that the words are used in the abstract Principalities and Powers and therefore their Dignities not their Persons are intended But 1. All things created in heaven and earth visible and invisible are the Substances and Essences of things themselves and not their Qualities and Places only 2. The Distribution into Thrones and Dominions Principalities and Powers respects only the last branch of things affirmed to be created by him namely things in heaven invisible so that if it should be granted that he made or created them only as to their Dignity Order and Power yet they obtain not their purpose since the Creation of all other things as to their being and subsistence is ascribed unto him But 3. The use of the Abstract for the Concrete is not unusual in Scripture See Ephes. 6.12 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Rulers and Kings Matth. 10.18 are termed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Principalities and Powers Luke 12.11 And in this particular those who are here Principalities and Powers are Angels great in power 2 Pet. 2.10 11. And Ephes. 1.20 21. he is exalted ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is above all vested with principality and power as the next words evince and every name that is named So Jude tells us of some of whom he says ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã They despise dominion and speak evil of dignities that is those vested with them And Paul Rom. 8.38 39. I am perswaded that neither Angels ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã nor principalities nor powers ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã nor any other creature So that these Principalities and Powers are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã certain creatures created things and subsistences that is the Angels variously differenced amongst themselves in respect of us great in power and dignity This is the first foundation of the Equity of this Grant of all power over the Angels unto the Lord Christ in his Divine Nature he made them and in that respect they were before his own as on the same account when he came into the world he is said to come ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Joh. 1.11 to his own or the things that he had made 2. It is founded in that Establishment in the condition of their Creation which by his interposition to recover what was lost by sin and to preserve the untainted part of the Creation from ruine they did receive In their own Right the Rule of their Obedience and the Example of those of their number and society who apostatized from God they found themselves in a state not absolutely impregnable Their Confirmation which also was attended with that Exaltation which they received by their new
Relation unto God in and through him they received by his means God gathering up all things to a consistency and permanency in him Ephes. 1.10 And hence also it became equal that the Rule and power over them should be committed unto him by whom although they were not like us recovered from ruine yet they were preserved from all danger of it So that in their subjection unto him consists their principal Honour and all their safety And as this act of God in appointing Christ Lord of Angels hath these equitable foundations so it hath also sundry glorious Ends. 1. It was as an addition unto that Glory that was set before him in his undertaking to redeem sinners A Kingdom was of old promised unto him and to render it exceedingly glorious the Rule and Scepter of it is extended not only to his Redeemed ones but to the holy Angels also and the sovereignty over them is granted him as a part of his Reward Phil. 2.8 9 10 11. Ephes. 1.20 21. 2. God hereby gathers up his whole family at first distinguished by the Law of their Creation into two especial kinds and then differenced and set at variance by Sin into one Body under one Head reducing them that originally were twain into one entire family Ephes. 1.10 In the fulness of time he gathered together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are in earth in him as was before declared Before this the Angels had no immediate created Head for themselves are called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Gods Psal. 97.7 1 Cor. 8.5 Who ever is the Head must be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the God of Gods or Lord of Lords which Christ alone is and in him or under him as One Head is the whole Family of God united 3. The Church of Mankind militant on the earth whose conduct unto Eternal Glory is committed unto Christ stands in need of the ministery of Angels And therefore hath God granted Rule and Power over them unto him that nothing might be wanting to enable him to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by him So God hath given him to be head over all things to the Church Ephes. 1.22 that he should with an absolute sovereignty use and dispose of all things to the benefit and advantage of the Church This is the first branch of the Lordship and Dominion of Christ according to the distribution of the severals of it before laid down He is Lord of Angels and they are all of them his servants the fellow-servants of them that have the testimony of Jesus And as some men do wilfully cast themselves by their Religious adoration of Angels under the curse of Canaan to be servants unto servants Gen. 8.25 so it is the great honour and priviledge of true believers that in their worship of Christ they are admitted into the society of an innumerable company of Angels Heb. 12.22 Rev. 15.11 13. for they are not ashamed to esteem them their fellow-servants whom their Lord and King is not ashamed to call his Brethren And herein consists our communion with them that we have one common Head and Lord and any intercourse with them but only on this account or any worship performed towards them breaks the bond of that communion and causeth us not to hold the Head Col. 2.19 The priviledge the safety and advantage of the Church from this subjection of Angels to its Head and Saviour are by many spoken unto II. There is another sort of Angels who by sin left their primitive station and fell off from God of whom their Sin Fall Malice Wrath Business Craft in evil and Final judgment the Scripture treateth at large These belong not indeed to the possession of Christ as he is the Heir but they belong unto his Dominion as he is a Lord. Though he be not a King and Head unto them yet he is a Judge and Ruler over them All things being given into his hand they also are subjected unto his power Now as under the former head I shall consider 1. The Right or Equity and 2. The End of this Authority of Christ over this second sort of the first Race of Intellectual Creatures the Angels that have sinned 1. As before this Right is founded in his Divine Nature by vertue whereof he is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã fit for this Dominion He made these Angels also and therefore as God hath an absolute Dominion over them The Creatures cannot cast off the Dominion of the Creator by rebellion though they may lose their moral Relation unto God as obedient creatures yet their natural as creatures cannot be dissolved God will be God still be his creatures never so wicked and if they obey not his Will they shall bear his Justice And this Dominion of Christ over faln Angels as God makes the grant of Rule over them to him as Mediator just and equal 2. The immediate and peculiar Foundation of his Right unto Rule over faln Angels rendring the special grant of it equal and righteous is Lawful Conquest This gives a special Right Gen. 48.22 Now that Christ should conquer faln Angels was promised from the foundation of the world Gen. 3.15 The seed of the woman the Messias was to break the Serpents head despoil him of his power and bring him into subjection which he performed accordingly Col. 2.15 He spoiled principalities and powers divested faln Angels of all that Title they had got to the world by the sin of man triumphing over them as Captives to be disposed of at his pleasure He stilled or made to cease as to his power this Enemy ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and self-avenger Psal. 8.2 leading captivity captive Psal. 6.18 breaking in pieces the Head over the large earth Psal. 110.6 binding the strong man armed and spoiling his goods And the Scripture of the New Testament is full of instances as to his executing his Power and Authority over Evil Angels They take up a good part of the Historical Books of it Man having sinned by the instigation of Satan he was by the just Judgement of God delivered up unto his power Heb. 2.14 The Lord Christ undertaking to recover lost man from under his power by destroying his works 1 Joh. 3.8 and to bring them again into favour with God Satan with all his might sets himself to oppose him in his Work and failing in his enterprise being utterly conquered he became absolutely subjected unto him trodden under his feet and the prey he had taken delivered from him This is the next Foundation of the Authority of Christ over the Evil Angels He had a great Contest and War with them and that about the Glory of God his own Kingdom and the Eternal Salvation of the Elect prevailing absolutely against them he made a Conquest over them and they are put in subjection unto him for ever They are subjected unto him as to their present actings and future condition He now rules them and will
hereafter finally judge them Wherein he suffers them in his Holiness and Wisdom to act in Temptations Seductions Persecutions he bounds and limits their Rage malice actings orders and disposes the Events of them to his own holy and righteous ends and keeps them under chains for the Judgement of the last day when for the full manifestation of his Dominion over them he will cause the meanest of his servants to set their feet on the necks of these conquered Kings and to joyn with himself in sentencing them unto eternal ruine 1 Cor. 6.3 which they shall be cast into by him Rev. 19. 2. The Ends of this Lordship of Christ are various as 1. His own Glory Psal. 110.1 2. Churches safety Mat. 16.18 Revel 12.7 8 9. And 3. Exercise for their Good 1. By Temptation 1 Pet. 5.8 9 10. And 2. Persecution Rev. 2.10 Chap. 12.10 both which he directs regulates and bounds unto their eternal Advantage 4. The exercising of his Wrath and vengeance upon his stubborn enemies whom these slaveâ and vassals to his righteous power seduce blind harden provoke ruine and destroy Revel 12.15 Ch. 16.13 14. Psalm 106. And how much of the peace safety and consolation of Believers lyes wrapt up in this part of the Dominion of Christ were easie to demonstrate as also that Faiths improvement of it in every condition is the greatest part of our Wisdom in our pilgrimage III. All Mankind the second sort of Intellectual Creatures or Rational subsistencies belong to the Lordship and Dominion of Christ. All Mankind was in the power of God as one ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã one mass or Lump out of which all Individuals are made and framed Rom. 9.21 Some to honour some to dishonour the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not denoting the same substance but one common condition and the making of the Individuals is not by Temporal Creation but Eternal Designation So that all mankind made out of nothing and out of the same condition destined to several Ends for the glory of God are branched into two sorts Elect or vessels from the common mass unto Honour and Reprobates or vessels from the common mass unto dishonour As such they were typed by Jacob and Esau Rom. 9.11 12. and are expressed under that distribution 1 Thess. 5.9 Some ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from the beginning being chosen to salvation 2 Thess. 2.13 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ephes. 1.4 before the foundation of the world Rom. 8.29 Chap. 11.5 Matth. 20.16 2 Tim. 2.10 Revel 21.27 Others are appointed to the day of evil Prov. 16.4 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of old fore-ordained to condemnation Jude 4. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for to be destroyed 2 Pet. 2.12 See Rom. 9.22 Chap. 11.7 Revel 20.15 Both these sorts or all Mankind is the Lordship of Christ extended to and to each of them respectively 1. He is Lord over all flesh Joh. 17.2 both living and dead Rom. 14.9 Phil. 2.9 10. 2. Particularly he is Lord over all the Elect And besides the general foundation of the Equity of his Authority and power in his Divine Nature and Creation of all things the Grant of the Father unto him as Mediator to be their Lord is founded in other especial Acts both of Father and Son For 1. They were given unto him from Eternity in design and by compact that they should be his peculiar portion and he their Saviour Joh. 17.2 Of the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã all flesh over which he hath Authority there is a ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an universality of them whom the Father gave him in a special manner Of whom he sayes thine they were and thou gavest them unto me v. 6. Acts 18.10 They are a portion given him to save Joh. 9.39 of âhich he takes the Care as Jacob did of the Sheep of Laban when he served him for a ââse Gen. 31.30 40. See Prov. 8.30 This was an Act of the Will of the Father in the Eternal Covenant of the Mediator whereof elsewhere 2. His Grant is strengthened by Redemption Purchase and Acquisition This was the condition of the former Grant Isa. 53.10 11 12. which was made good by him so that his Lordship is frequently asserted on this very account 1 Cor. 6.10 1 Pet. 1.18 19. 1 Tim. 3.6 Joh. 10.15 Eph. 5.25 26 27. Rev. 5.9 Joh. 11.52 And this purchase of Christ is peculiar to them so given him of the Father in the Covenant of the Mediator as 1. Proceeding from his especial and greatest Love Joh. 15.17 Rom. 5.8 1 Joh. 3.16 Chap. 4.9 10. Acts 20.28 Rom. 8.32 And 2. Being accompanied with a purchase for them which they shall certainly enjoy and that of Grace and Glory Acts 20.28 Eph. 1.14 Acts 2.36 Phil. 1.29 Heb. 9.12 15. And indeed the Controversie about the deâth of Christ is not primarily about its Extent but its Efficacy and Fruits in respect of them for whom he dyed 3. These thus given him of the Father and redeemed by him are of two sorts 1. Such as are actually called to faith in him and Union with him These are further become his upon many other especial accounts They are his in all Relations of Subjection his Children Servants Brethren Disciples Subjects his House his Spouse He stands towards them in all Relations of Authority is their Father Master Elder Brother Teacher King Lord Ruler Judge Husband Ruling in them by his Spirit and Grace over them by his Laws in his Word preserving them by his power chastening them in his Care and Love feeding them out of his stores trying them and delivering them in his Wisdom Bearing with their miscarriages in his Patience and taking them for his portion lot and inheritance in his Providence raising them at the last day taking them to himself in Glory every way avouching them to be his and himself to be their Lord and Master 2. Some of them are alwayes uncalled and shall be so untill the whole number of them be compleated and filled But before they belong on the former accounts unto his Lot Care and Rule John 10.6 They are already his sheep by grant and purchase though not yet really so by Grace and Holiness They are not yet his by present Obediential Subjection but they are his by Eternal Designation and reall Acquisition Now the power that the Lord Jesus hath over this sort of Mankind is Vniversal unlimited absolute and exclusive of all other power over them as unto the things peculiarly belonging unto his Kingdom He is their King Judge Law-giver and in things of God purely Spiritual and Evangelical other they have none It is true he takes them not out of the world and therefore as unto ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the things of this life things of the world they are subject to the Laws and Rulers of the world but as unto the things of God he is the only Law-giver who is able to kill and make alive But the nature and ends of the Lordship of Christ over the Elect
are too large and comprehensive to be here spoken unto in this brief delineation of his Kingdom which we undertook in this digression 2. His Lordship and Dominion extends to the other sort of men also namely Reprobates and men finally impenitent They are not exempted from that all flesh which he hath power over Joh. 17.2 nor from those quick and dead over whom he is Lord Rom. 14.9 nor from that World which he shall judge Acts 17.31 And there are two especial grounds that are peculiar to them of this Grant and Power and Authority over them 1. His interposition upon the entrance of Sin against the immediate Execution of the Curse due unto it as befell the Angels This fixed the World under a Dispensation of 1. Forbearance and Patience Rom. 2.4 5. Acts 17.30 Rom. 9.22 Psal. 75.3 2. Goodness and Mercy Acts 14.16 17. That God who spared not the Angels when they sinned but immediately cast them into chains of darkness should place sinners of the Race of Adam under a dispensation of Forbearance and Goodness that he should spare them with much Long-suffering dureing their Pilgrimage on the earth and fill their hearts with food and gladness with all those fruits of kindness which the womb of his Providence is still bringing forth for their benefit and advantage is thus far on the account of the Lord Christ that though these things as relating unto Reprobates are no part of his especial purchase as Mediator of the Everlasting Covenant of Grace yet they are a necessary consequent of his Interposition against the immediate Execution of the whole Curse upâââhe first entrance of sin and of his undertaking for his Elect. 2. He makes a Conquest over them It was promised that he should do so Gen. 3.15 and though the work it self prove long and irksome though the wayes of accomplishing it be unto us obscure and oftentimes invisible yet he hath undertaken it and will not give it over untill they are every one brought to be his Footstool Psalm 110.1 1 Cor. 15.25 And the Dominion granted him on these Grounds is 1. Soveraign and Absolute His enemies are his Footstool Psal. 110.2 Mat. 22.44 Mark 12.36 Luke 20.24 Acts 2.34 1 Cor. 15.25 Heb. 1.13 They are in his hand as the Aegyptians were in Joseph's when he had purchased both their persons and their Estates to be at arbitrary disposal And he deals with them as Joseph did with those so far as any of the Ends of his Rule and Lordship are concerned in them And 2. Judiciary Joh. 5.22 23. As he hath power over their Persons so he hath regard unto their sins Rom. 14.9 Acts 17.32 Matth. 25.31 And this power he variously exerciseth over them even in this World before he gloriously exerts it in their Eternal Ruine For 1. He enlightens them by those heavenly sparks of Truth and Reason which he leaves unextinguished in their own minds John 1.9 2. Strives with them by his Spirit Gen. 6.3 secretly exciting their consciences to rebuke bridle yoke afflict and cruciate them Rom. 2.14 15. And 3. On some of them he acts by the Power and Authority of his Word whereby he quickens their Consciences galls their Minds and Affections restrains their Lusts bounds their Conversations aggravates their sins hardâns their Hearts and judges their souls Psal. 45. Isa. 6. 4. He exerciseth Rule and Dominion over them in Providential Dispensations Rev. 6.15 16. Isa. 63.1 2 3 4. Rev. 19.13 By all which he makes way for the Glory of his final Judgement of them Acts. 1.17 32. Matth. 25.31 Revel 19.20 Chap. 20.10 11 12 13 14 15. And all this will he do unto the Ends 1. Of his own Glory 2. His Churches good exercise and safety And this is the second instance of the first Head of the Dominion of Christ in this World he is Lord over Persons Angels and Men. II. The Second part of the Heirship and Dominion of Christ consisteth in his Lordship over all Things besides which added to the former comprize the whole Creation of God In the distribution of these premised the first that occur are Spiritual things which also are of two sorts 1. Temporal or such as in this life we are made partakers of and 2. Eternal the things that are reserved for them that believe in the State of Glory The former may be reduced unto two heads for they are all of them either Grace or Gifts and Christ is Lord of them all 1. All that which comes under the name of Grace in Scripture which flowing from the free and special Love of God tends directly to the Spiritual and Eternal Good of them on whom it is bestowed may be referred unto four heads For as the fountain of all these or the gracious free purposes of the Will of God from whence they all do flow being Antecedent to the Mission of Christ the Mediator and Immanent in God it can be no otherwise granted unto him but in respect of its Effects which we shall shew that it is Now these are 1. Pardon of sin and the free Acceptation of the Persons of sinners in a way of mercy This is Grace Ephes. 2.8 Tit. 3.5 7. And a saving Effect and fruit of the Covenant Jer. 31.31 32 33 34. Heb. 8.12 2. The Regenerating of the Person of a dead sinner with the purifying and sanctifying of his Nature in a way of Spiritual power This also is Grace and promised in the Covenant and there are three parts of it 1. The Infusion of a quickning Principle into the soul of a dead sinner Rom. 8.2 Tit. 3.5 Joh. 3.6 Ephes. 2.16 2. The Habitual furnishment of a spiritually quickned soul with abiding radical principles of Light Love and Power fitting it for Spiritual Obedience Gal. 5.17 3. Actual Assistance in a Communication of supplies of strength for every Duty and Work Phil. 1.13 John 15.3 3. Preservation in a Condition of Acceptation with God and holy Obedience unto him unto the End is also of Especial Grace It is the Grace of Perseverance and eminently included in the Covenant as we have elsewhere shewed at large 4. Adoption as a Priviledge with all the Priviledges that flow from it is also Grace Ephes. 1.5 6. All these with all those admirable and inexpressible mercies that they branch themselves into giving deliverance unto sinners from evil temporal and eternal raising them to Communion with God here and to the Enjoyment of him for ever hereafter are called Grace and do belong to the Lordship of Christ as he is Heir Lord and Possessor of them all All the stores of this Grace and Mercy that are in Heaven for sinners are given into his hand and resigned up to his Soveraign disposal as we shall intimate in general and particular 1. In General Col. 1.19 It pleased the Father that in him all fulness should dwell There is a fourfold fulness in Christ 1. Of the Deity in his Divine Nature Rom. 9.5 2. Of Vnion in his Person Col.
of the dead And 5. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the prolonged world or life eternal Principally with respect to the first distribution as also unto the duration of the whole world unto the last dispensation mentioned in the second doth the Apostle here call it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the worlds Thus the Apostle having declared the Honour of the Son as Mediator in that he was made Heir of all adds thereunto his Excellency in himself from his eternal power and Godhead which he not only asserts but gives evidence unto by an Argument from the works of Creation And to avoid all streightning thoughts of this work he expresseth it in terms comprehending the whole Creation in that distribution whereunto it was usually cast by themselves As John contents not himself by affirming that he made all things but adds to that Assertion that without him nothing was made that was made Joh. 1.3 And this was of old the common faith of the Judaical Church That all things were made and all things disposed by the Word of God they all confessed Evident footsteps of this faith abide still in their Targums For that by the Word of God so often mentioned in them they did not understand the Word of his Power but an Hypostasis in the Divine Nature is manifest from the Personal Properties which are every where assigned unto it as the Word of God did this said that thought went and the like as Psal. 68.17 They affirm that Word which gave the Law on Mount Sinai to dwell in the highest heavens Yea and they say in Bereschit Rabba of those words Gen. 1.2 The Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã this is the Spirit of the King Messiah by which they cannot deny but that all things were formed And the Apostle in this expression lets the Hebrews know that Jesus the Messiah was that Word of God by whom all things were made And so the influence of these words into his present Argument is manifest For the Son in whom the Father had now spoken to them and declared the Gospel being his Eternal Word by whom the world and all Ages were created there could be no question of his Authority to alter their ceremonious Worship which he himself had appointed for a season Before we pass to the next Verses we may mark out those Instructions which the words passed through afford us in common as to the abiding interest of all Believers The foundation of them is That the Lord Jesus Christ who is the great Prophet of his Church under the New Testament the only Revealer of the Will of the Father as the Son and Wisdom of God made the Worlds and all things contained in them And therein 1. We have an illustrious testimony given to the Eternal Godhead and Power of the Son of God for he who made all things is God as the Apostle else-where affirms And 2. Unto the Equity of his being made Heir Lord and Judge of all No creature can decline the Authority or wave the Tribunal of him that made them all And 3. A stable bottom of Faith Hope Contentment and Patience is administred unto the Saints in all dispensations He who is their Redeemer that bought them hath all that interest in all things wherein they are concerned that the Sovereign right of Creation can afford unto him besides that Grant which is made unto him for this very end that they might be disposed of to his own Glory in their good and advantage Isa. 54. v. 4 5. And 4. From this Order of things that Christ as the Eternal Son of God having made the worlds hath them and all things in them put under his power as Mediator and Head of the Church we may see what a subserviency to the interest of the Saints of the most High the whole Creation is laid and disposed in And 5. The way of obtaining a sanctified Interest in and use of the things of the Old Creation namely not to receive them meerly on the general account as made by the Son of God but on the more especial of their being granted unto him as Mediator of the Church And 6. How men on both these foundations are to be accountable for their use or abuse of the things of the first Creation But besides these particular Instances there is that which is more general and which we may a little insist upon from the Context and design of the Apostle in this whole discourse whose consideration will not again occur unto us and it is That God in infinite wisdom ordered all things in the first Creation so as that the whole of that work might be subservient to the glory of his grace in the new creation of all by Jesus Christ. By the Son he made the worlds in the beginning of time that in the fulness of time he might be the just Heir and Lord of all The Jews have a saying that the world was made for the Messiah which is thus far true that both it and all things in it were made disposed of and ordered in their Creation so as that God might be everlastingly glorified in the work which he was designed unto and which by him he had to accomplish I shall consider it only in the present instance namely that by the Son he made the worlds that he might be the proper Heir and Lord of them of which latter we shall treat more particularly on the ensuing words This was declared of Old where he was spoken of as the Wisdom of God by whom he wrought in the Creation and Production of all things Prov. 8.22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30. This Son or Wisdom of God declares at large 1. His Coexistence with his Father from Eternity before all or any of the visible or invisible Creation were by his Power brought forth v. 22 23 and so onward And then sets forth the Infinite Eternal and Ineffable Delight that was between him and his Father both before and also in the work of Creation v. 30. Farther he declares his presence and co-operation with him in the whole work of making the world and the several parts of it v. 27 28 29 30. which in other places is expressed as here by the Apostle that God by him made the worlds After which he declares the End of all this Dispensation namely that he might rejoyce in the habitable parts of the earth and his delight be with the sons of men to whom therefore he calls to hearken unto him that they may be blessed v. 31. to the end of the chapter that is that he might be meet to accomplish the work of their Redemption and bring them to Blessedness to the Glory of the Grace of God which work his heart was set upon and which he greatly delighted in Psal. 40.6 7 8. Hence the Apostle John in the beginning of his Gospel brings both the Creations together the first by the Eternal Word absolutely the other
but also antecedently in his worth fitness ability and suitedness to undertake and discharge it which in a great measure depended on and flowed from his Divine Nature 3. These things being supposed we observe thirdly That as these Expressions are none of them singly much less in that conjunction wherein they are here placed used concerning any other but Christ only so they do plainly contain and express things that are more sublime and glorious than can by the Rule of Scripture or the Analogy of faith be ascribed unto any meer creature however used or exalted There is in the word evidently a comparison with God the Father he is infinitely glorious Eternally subsisting in his own Person and the Son is the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person Angels are called the sons of God are mighty in power and excellent in created glory but when they come to be compared with God it is said they are not pure in his sight and he chargeth them with folly Job 4.18 And they cover their faces at the brightness of his glory Isa. 6.2 So that they cannot be said so to be Man also was created in the image of God and is again by grace renewed thereunto Ephes. 4.23 24. But to say a man is the express image of the Person of God the Father is to depress the glory of God by Anthropomorphism So that unto God asking that question Whom will ye compare unto me and whom will you liken me unto we cannot answer of any one who is not God by nature that he is the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person Fourthly Though the design of the Apostle in general be to shew how the Father expressed and declared himself unto us in the Son yet this could not be done without manifesting what the Son is in himself and in reference unto the Father which both the expressions do in the first place declare They express him such an one as in whom the infinite Perfections and Excellencies of God are revealed unto us So that the first Application of the words namely to the Divine Nature of Christ and the first Branch of the second considering him as incarnate are very well consistent as A Lapide grants after he had blamed Beza for his interpretation The first direction then given unto our faith in these words is by what the Son is in respect of the Father namely the Brightness of his glory and the express image of his person whence it follows that in him being incarnate the Fathers glory and his person are eâââessed and manifested unto us Fifthly There is nothing in these words that is not applicable unto the Divine Nature of Christ. Some as we have shewed suppose that it is not that which is peculiarly intended in the words but yet they can give no reason from them nor manifest any thing denoted by them which may not be conveniently applied thereunto I say what ever can be proved to be signified by them or contained in them if we will keep our selves within the bounds of that holy reverence which becomes us in the contemplation of the Majesty of God may be applied unto the Nature of God as existing in the person of the Son He is in his Person distinct from the Father another not the Father but yet the same in Nature and this in all glorious Properties and Excellencies This Oneness in Nature and Distinction in Person may be well shadowed out by these Expressions He is the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person The Boldness and Curiosity of the Schoolmen and some others in expressing the way and manner of the Generation of the Son by similitudes of our understanding and its Acts declaring how he is the Image of the Father in their terms are intollerable and full of offence Nor are the rigid impositions of those Words and Terms in this matter which they or others have found out to express it by of any better nature Yet I confess that supposing with some that by the first expression here used the brightness of glory the Apostle intends to set forth unto us the Relation of the Son to the Father by an allusion unto the Sun and its Beams or the Light of Fire in Iron some relief may thence be given unto our weak understandings in the Contemplation of this Mysterie if we observe that one known Rule whose use Chrysostome urgeth in this place namely that in the use of such Allusions every thing of imperfection is to be removed in their Application unto God A few instances we may give unto this purpose holding our selves unto an Allusion to the Sun and its Beams 1. As the Sun in comparison of the Beam is of it self and the Beam of the Sun so is the Father of himself and the Son of the Father 2. As the Sun without diminution or partition of its substance without change or alteration in its nature produceth the Beam so is the Son begotten of the Father 3. As the Sun in Order of Nature is before the Beam but in time both are coexistent so is the Father in Order of Nature before the Son though in Existence both Coeternal 4. As the Beam is distinct from the Sun so that the Sun is not the Beam and the Beam is not the Sun so is it between the Father and the Son 5. As the Beam is never separated from the Sun nor can the Sun be without the Beam no more can the Son be from the Father nor was the Father ever without the Son 6. As the Sun cannot be seen but by the Beam no more can the Father but in and by the Son I acknowledge that these things are true and that there is nothing in them disagreeable unto the Analogy of faith But yet as sundry other things may be affirmed of the Sun and its Beam whereof no tollerable Application can be made to the matter in hand so I am not perswaded that the Apostle intended any such Comparison or Allusion or aimed at our Information or Instruction by them They were common people of the Jews and not Philosophers to whom the Apostle wrote this Epistle And therefore either he expresseth the things that he intends in terms answering unto what was in use among themselves to the same purpose or else he asserts them plainly in words as meet to express them properly by as any that are in use amongst men To say there is an Allusion in the words and that the Son is not properly but by a Metaphor the brightness of Glory is to teach the Apostle to express himself in the things of God For my part I understand as much of the Nature Glory and Properties of the Son in and by this expression He is the Brightness of Glory as I do by any of the most accurate expressions which men have arbitrarily invented to signifie the same thing That he is one distinct from God the Father
related unto him and partaker of his glory is clearely asserted in these words and more is not intended in them Sixthly These things then being premised we may discern the general importance of these expressions The words themselves as was before observed being no where else used in the Scripture we may receive a contribution of light unto them from those in other places which are of their nearest alliance Such are these and the like We have seen his glory the glory of the only Son of God Joh. 1.14 He is the Image of the invisible God Col. 1.15 The glory of God shines forth in him 2 Cor. 4.6 Now in these and the like places the glory of the Divine Nature is so intimated as that we are directed to look unto the Glory of the absolutely invisible and incomprehensible God in him Incarnate And this in general is the meaâââg and intendment of the Apostle in these expressions the Son in whom God speaks unto us in the Revelation of the Gospel doth in his own Person so every way answer the Excellencies and Perfections of God the Father that he is in him expresly represented unto our Faith and Contemplation It remaineth then in the second place that we consider the Expressions severally with the reasons why the Apostle thus expresseth the Divine glory of Jesus Christ. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Who being the Brightness Light Lustre Majesty of Glory The Apostle in my judgment which is humbly submitted unto consideration alludes and attends unto some thing that the people were instructed by typically under the Old Testament in this great Mystery of the manifestation of the glory of God unto them in and by the Son the Second Person in the Trinity The Ark which was the most signal Representation of the presence of God amongst them was called his Glory So the Wife of Phineas upon the taking of the Ark affirmed that the Glory was departed 1 Sam. 4.22 The glory is departed from Israel for the Ark of God is taken And the Psalmist mentioning the same thing calls it his glory absolutely Psal. 78.61 He gave his glory into the hand of his enemies that is the Ark. Now on the filling of the Tabernacle with the signs of God's presence in Cloud and Fire the Jews affirm that there was a constant ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Majestick shining glory resting on the Ark which was the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the splendor of the glory of God in that Typical Representation of his Presence And this was to instruct them in the way and manner whereby God would dwell amongst them The Apostle therefore calling them from the Types by which in much darkness they had been instructed in these Mysteries unto the things themselves represented obscurely by them acquaints them with what that Typical glory and splendour of it signified namely the Eternal glory of God with the Essential beaming and brightness of it in the Son in and by whom the glory of the Father shineth forth unto us So that the words seem to relate unto that way of Instruction which was of old granted unto them Besides they were wont to express their Faith in this Mystery with words unto this purpose ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Glory is sometimes put for God himself Psal. 85.10 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That glory may dwell in our land that is the God of glory or glorious God This glory the Targum calls ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the Majesty of that glory ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã See Hab. 1.8 Hence Psal. 44.25 they render those words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Why hidest thou thy face ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Why takest thou away the Majesty of thy glory as both the Venetian and Basil Bibles read the place For the Regia have only ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã omitting ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And in the Vision of Isaiah chap. 6.1 they say it was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so Kimchi ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so Rashi ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so the Targum And they affirm that it was the same which came down and appeared on Mount Sinai Exod. 19.20 where those words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And the Lord descended on mount Sinai are rendred by Onkelos ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Majesty of God was revealed which words from Psal. 68. are applied by our Apostle unto the Son Ephes. 4. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã then is nothing also but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Essential Presence or Majesty of the glorious God This saith he is Christ the Son and thus of old they expressed their faith concerning him The words as was shewed before denote the Divine Nature of Christ yet not absolutely but as God the Father in him doth manifest himself unto us Hence is he called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Word is from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he dwelt Elias in Tishbi gives us somewhat another account of the Application of that name in the root ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Rabbins of blessed memory called the holy Ghost Shechinah because he dwelt upon the Prophets But that this is not so may be observed throughout the Targum wherein the holy Ghost is always expresly called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the Shechinah is spoken of in such places as cannot be applied unto him But as the Fulness of the Godhead is said to dwell in the Lord Christ ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Col. 1.9 and he as the only begotten Son of God to dwell amongst us Joh. 1.14 so is he said in the same sense to be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Majesty Presence Splendor of the Glory or the glorious God This then is that whereof the Apostle minds the Jews God having promised to dwell amongst them by his glorious Presence from whence the very name of Jerusalem was called The Lord is there Ezek. 48.35 he who in and under that name was with them as sent by Jehovah Zech. 1.8 was the Son in whom he had now spoken unto them in these latter days And this must needs be of weight with them being instructed that he who had revealed the Will of God unto them was none other but he who had dwelt among them from the beginning representing in all things the Person of the Father being typically revealed unto them as the brightness of his glory The Apostle addes that he is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the express figure or image of his Person that is of the Person of God the Father I shall not enter into any dispute about the meaning of the word Hypostasis or the difference between it and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Many controversies about these words there were of old And Hierom was very cautious about acknowledging three Hypostases in the Deity and that because he thought the word in this place to denote substantia and
of that mind are many still it being so rendred by the Vulgar Translation But the consideration of these vexed Questions tending not to the opening of the design of the Apostle and meaning of the holy Ghost in this place I shall not insist upon them The 1. Hypostasis of the Father is the Father himself Hereof or of him is the Son said to be the express image As is the Father so is the Son And this agreement likeness and conveniency between the Father and the Son is Essential not Accidental as those things are between relations finite and corporeal What the Father is doth hath that the Son is doth hath or else the Father as the Father could not be fully satisfied in him nor represented by him 2. By Character two things seem to be intended 1. That the Son in himself is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the likeness of God Phil. 2.6 2. That unto us he is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the image of God representing him unto us Col. 1.16 For these three words are used of the Lord Christ in respect unto God the Father ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and their use seems thus to difference them 1. That is said of him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã being existing subsisting in the form of God that is being so essentially so for there is no ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or Form in the Deity but what is Essential unto it This he was absolutely antecedently unto his Incarnation The whole Nature of God being in him and consequently he being in the Form of God 2. In the Manifestation of God unto us he is said to be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Col. 1.16 The image of the invisible God because in him so partaker of the Nature of the Father do the Power Goodness Holiness Grace and all other glorious Properties of God shine forth being in him represented unto us 2 Cor. 4.6 And both these seem to be comprised in this word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã both that the whole Nature of God is in him as also that by him God is declared and expressed unto us Neither were the Jews of old ignorant of this notion of the Son of God So Philo expresseth their sense de confusione linguarum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã If any one be not yet worthy to be called the Son of God yet endeavour thou to be conformed unto his first begotten Word the most antient Angel the archangel with many names for he is called the Beginning the name of God the man according to the Image of God the Seer of Israel And again ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã For if we are not meet to be called the sons of God let us be so of his eternal Image the most sacred Word for that most antient Word is the Image of God Thus he expressing some of their conceptions concerning this Eternal character of the Person of the Father We have seen what it is that is intended in this Expression and shall only adde thereunto a consideration of that from whence the Expression is taken The ordinary ingraving of Rings or Seals or Stones is generally thought to be alluded unto It may be also that the Apostle had respect unto some Representation of the glory of God by Ingraving amongst the Institutions of Moses Now there was scarcely any thing of old that more gloriously represented God than that of the Ingraving of his Name on a plate of gold to be worn on the front of the Mitre of the High priest at the sight whereof the great Conqueror of the East fell down before him Mention of it we have Exod. 28.36 Thou shalt make a plate of pure gold and grave upon it like the ingraving of a signet ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Holiness of Jehovah or to Jehovah Here was that Name of God which denotes his Essence and Being characterized and ingraven to represent his Holiness and glory to the people And Aaron was to wear this ingraven Name of God on his fore-head that he might bear the iniquity of the holy things and gifts of the children of Israel which could really be done only by him who was Jehovah himself And thus also when God promiseth to bring forth the Son as the corner stone of the Church he promiseth to ingrave upon him the seven eyes of the Lord Zech. 3.9 or the perfection of his Wisdom and Power to be expressed unto the Church in him There having been then this Representation of the presence of God by the character or ingraving of his glorious Name upon the plate of gold which the High priest was to wear that he might bear iniquities the Apostle lets the Hebrews know that in Christ the Son is the real accomplishment of what was typified thereby the Father having actually communicated unto him his Nature denoted by that name whereby he was able really to bear our iniquities and most gloriously represent the Person of his Father unto us And this with submission to better judgments do I conceive to be the design of the Apostle in this his description of the Person of Jesus Christ. It pleased the holy Ghost herein to use these terms and expressions to mind the Hebrews how they were of old instructed though obscurely in the things now actually exhibited unto them and that nothing was now preached or declared but what in their Typical Institutions they had before given their assent unto We have been somewhat long in our Explication of this description of the Person of the Son of God yet as we suppose not any longer than the nature of the things treated of and the manner of their expression necessarily required us to be We shall therefore here stay a while before we proceed to the ensuing words of this verse and take some observation from what hath been spoken for our direction and refreshment in our passage Observe 1. All the glorious Perfections of the Nature of God do belong unto and dwell in the person of the Son Were it not so he could not gloriously represent unto us the Person of the Father nor by the Contemplation of him could we be led to an acquaintance with the Person of the Father This the Apostle here teacheth us as in the Explication of the words we have manifested Now because the confirmation of this allusion depends on the proofs and testimonies given of and unto the Divine Nature of Christ which I have else-where largely insisted on and vindicated from Exceptions I shall not here reassume that task especially considering that the same Truth will again occur unto us Observ. 2. The whole Manifestation of the Nature of God unto us and all communications of grace are immediately by and through the Person of the Son He represents him unto us and through him is every thing that is communicated unto us from the fulness of the Deity conveyed There are sundry signal instances wherein God reveals himself and communicates from his own infinite fulness unto his creatures and in all of them
unto us in him alone can we attain a saving Acquaintance with him On this account he tells Philip Joh. 14.9 He that hath seen me he hath seen the Father the reason of which assertion taken from the mutual inbeing of Father and Son and his expression of his mind and glory he asserts in the next verses He then is the only way and means of coming unto the knowledge and enjoyment of God because in and by him alone is he fully and perfectly expressed unto us And therefore this secondly is our great Guide and direction in all our endeavours after an acceptable access unto him Would we come to that acquintance with the Nature Properties and Excellencies of the Father which poor weak finite creatures are capable of attaining in this world which is sufficient that we may love him fear him serve him and come unto the enjoyment of him would we know his Love and Grace would we admire his Wisdom and Holiness let us labour to come to an intimate and near acquaintance with his Son Jesus Christ in whom all these things dwell in their fulness and by whom they are exhibited revealed unfolded unto us Seek the Father in the Son out of whom not one Property of the Divine Nature can be savingly apprehended or rightly understood and in whom they are all exposed to our faith and spiritual contemplation This is our Wisdom to abide in Christ to abide with him to learn him and in him we shall learn see and know the Father also ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Unto the Description of the Person the Apostle returns unto an Assertion of the Power of Christ the Son of God and therein makes his Transition from the Kingly and Prophetical unto his Sacerdotal Office on all which he intends afterwards to inlarge his Discourse He shâwed before that by him the Worlds were created whereunto as a farther evidence of his glorious Power and of his continuance to act suitably unto that beginning of his exercise of it he addes that he also abides to uphold or rule and dispose of all things so made by him For the Explication of these words two things are to be enquired after First How or in what sense Christ is said to uphold or rule all things Secondly How he doth it by the Word of his power ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is taken by Expositors in a double sense and accordingly variously rendred in Translations Some render it by upholding supporting bearing carrying And these suppose it to express that infinite Divine Power which is exerted in the conservation of the Creation keeping it from sinking into its Original of confusion and nothing Hereof our Saviour saith My Father worketh hitherto ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or yet and I work that is in the providential sustentation of all things made at the beginning And this saith Chrysostom on this place is a greater work than that of the Creation By the former all things were brought forth from nothing by the latter are they preserved from that return unto nothing which their own nature not capable of existence without dependance on their first cause and their perpetual conflict by contrariety of Qualities would precipitate them into 2. Some take the word to express his ruling governing and disposing of all things by him made and which is supposed sustained and so it may denoâe the putting forth of that power over all things which is given unto the Son as Mediator or else that providential rule over all which he hath with his Father which seems rather to be intended because of the way expressed whereby he exerciseth this Rule namely by the Word of his Power The use of the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is not so obvious in this latter sense as it is in the former As in the Proverb ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã But I see no reason why we should suppose an inconsistency in these senses and not rather conclude that they are both of them implyed For as absolutely it is the same Divine Power and Providence which is exercised in the upholding and the ruling or disposing of all things so all Rule and Government is a matter of weight and burden and he who rules or governs others is said to bear or carry them So Moses expresseth his Rule of the People in the Wilderness Numb 11.11 12. Thou hast put saith he ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the weight or burden of this people upon me and thou hast said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã bear or carry them in thy bosome And hence from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to bear or carry is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Prince or Ruler that is one that carries and bears the burden of the people that upholds and rules them To bear then or uphold and to rule and dispose may be both well intended in this word as they are both expressed in that Prophesie of Christ Isa. 9.6 The rule or government shall be on his shoulder that together with his Power and Rule he may sustain and bear the weight of his people Only whereas this is done amongst men with much labour and travel he doth it by an inexpressâble facility by the Word of his Power And this is safe to take the expression in its most comprehensive sense But whereas the phrase of speech it self is no where else used in the New Testament nor is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã applied unto any such purpose else where though once ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã be taken for actus or agitatus 1 Pet. 1. we may enquire what word it was among the Hebrews that the Apostle intended to express whereby they had formerly been instructed in the same matter 1. It may be he intended ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a participle from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to sustain to bear to endure as Mal. 3.2 it signifies also to feed nourish and cherish 1 King 4.7 Ruth 4.15 Zech. 11.16 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sustinens nutriens omnia sustaining and cherishing all things But this word hath no respect unto Rule or disposal And in this sense as the work of Creation is eminently ascribed unto the Father who is said to make all things by the Son so that of the preservation and cherishing of all things is here peculiarly assigned unto the Son And this is not unsuitable unto the analogy of faith For it was the power of God that was eminently exalted and is conspicuously seen in the work of Creation as the Apostle declares Rom. 1.20 although that power was accompanied also with infinite wisdom and it is the wisdom of God that is most eminently manifested in the preservation of all things though that wisdom be also exercised in power infinite At least in the contemplation of the works of the Creation we are lead by the wonder of the infinite Power whereby they were wrought to the consideration of the Wisdom that accompanied it and that which in the works of Providence first
presents it self unto our minds is the infinite Wisdom whereby all things are disposed which leads us also to the admiration of the Power expressed in them Now it is usual with the Scripture to assign the things wherein Power is most eminent unto the Father as those wherein Wisdom is most conspicuously exalted unto the Son who is the Eternal Wisdom of the Father And this sense is not unsuitable unto the Text 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is another word that may be intended and this denotes a bearing like a Prince in Government as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And in this sense the word ought to be referred unto Christ as Mediator entrusted with Power and Rule by the Father But neither the words nor Context will well bear this sense For 1. It is mentioned before where it is said that he is appointed heir of all and it is not likely that the Apostle in this summary description of the Person and Offices of the Messiah would twice mention the same thing under different expressions 2. The particle ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã added unto ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã refers us to the beginning of this verse ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã who being the brightness of glory and bearing all things So that these things must necessarily be spoken of him in the same respect and the former as we have shewed relateth unto his Person in respect of his Divine Nature so therefore doth the latter and his acting therein 3. There is yet another word which I suppose the Apostle had a principle aim to express and this is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is properly to ride to be carried to be carried over and it is frequently though metaphorically used concerning God himself as Deut. 33.26 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã riding on the heavens on the clouds Isa. 19.1 on the wings of the wind Psal. 18. and Psal. 68.5 whereby his Majesty Authority and Government is shadowed out unto us And hence also the word signifies to administer dispose govern or praeside in and over things Thus in Ezekiel's Vision of the glorious providence of God in ruling the whole Creation it is represented by a Chariot ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Cherubims The ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Cherubims with their wheels made that Chariot over which sate the God of Israel in his disposing and ruling of all things And the words themselves have that affinity in signification which is frequently seen among the Hebrew Roots differing only in the transposition of one letter And the description of him who sat above the Cherubims of Providence Ezek. 1.10 is the same with that of John Revel 4. Now God in that Vision is placed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as governing ruling influencing all second Causes as to the orderly Production of their Effects by the communication of life motion and guidance unto them And though this divine Administration of all things be dreadful to consider the rings of the wheels being high and dreadful chap. 1.18 and the living creature ran as the appearance of a flash of lightning v. 14. as also full of entanglements there being to appearance cross wheels or wheels within wheels v. 16. which are all said to be rolling chap. 10.13 yet it is carried on in an unspeakable Order without the least Confusion chap. 1. v. 17. and with a marvellous facility by a meer intimation of the Mind and Will of him who guides the whole and that because there was a living powerful spirit passing through all both living creatures and wheels that moved them speedily regularly and effectually as he pleased that is the Energetical Power of divine Providence animating guiding and disposing the whole as seemed good unto him Now all this is excellently expressed by the Apostle in these words For as that power which is in him that sits over the Chariot influencing and giving existence life motion and guidance unto all things is clearly expressed by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã upholding and disposing of all things that is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã so is the exercise and issuing of it forth by the spirit of life in all things to guide them certainly and regularly by those words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the word of his power both denoting the unspeakable facility of omnipotent power in its operations And Kimchi on the 6 of Isaiah affirms that the vision which the Prophet had was of the glory of God that Glory which Ezekiel saw in the likeness of a man which we find applied unto the Lord Christ. Joh. 12.42 I shall only adde that in Ezekiel's vision the voice of the Quadriga of the living creatures in its motion was as the voice ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã omnipotentis praepotentis sibi sufficientis of the Almighty the Powerful the All or Self-sufficient which is also fully expressed in this of the Apostle bearing upholding disposing of all things Our next enquiry is after the manner whereby the Son thus upholdeth and disposeth of all things He doth it by the word of his power ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the New Testament is used in the same latitude and extent with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Old Sometimes it denotes any matter or thing be it good or evil as Matth. 5.11 12 36.18.16 Mark 9.22 Luke 1.37.2.15.18.34 A word of blessing by providence Matth. 4.4 any word spoken Matth. 26.75.27.14 Luke 9.45 of promise Luke 1.38 And ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã blasphemous words Acts 6.11 The Word of God the Word of Prophesie Luke 3.2 Rom. 10.17 Ephes. 5.12.6.17 1 Pet. 1.25 An Authoritative command Luke 5.5 In this Epistle it is used variously in this only it differs from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that it never denotes the Eternal or Essential Word of God That which in this place is denoted by it with its adjunct of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or the Divine Power executing the Counsels of the Will and Wisdom of God or the Efficacy of God's providence whereby he worketh and effecteth all things according to the counsel of his will See Gen. 1.3 Psal. 47.15 18. Psal. 148.8 Isa. 30.31 And this is indifferently expressed by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Hence the same thing which Paul expresseth by the one of them Heb. 11.3 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã By faith we know that the heavens were made by the Word of God Peter doth by the other 2 Pet. 3.5 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Now this Efficacy of Divine Providence is called the Word of God to intimate that as Rulers accomplish their will by a Word of command in and about things subject to their pleasure Matth. 8.9 so doth God accomplish his whole mind and will in all things by his Power And therefore ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of his power is here added by way of difference and distinction to shew what word it is that the Apostle intends It is not ãâã
God's Providence joyned with his infinite Wisdom in caring for the works of his own hands the product of his Power requires that it should be so He worketh yet He did not create the world to leave it to an uncertain event to stand by and to see what would become of it to see whether it would return to its primitive nothing of which cask it always smells strongly or how it would be tossed up and down by the adverse and contrary Qualities which were implanted in the severals of it But the same Power and Wisdom that produced it doth still accompany it powerfully piercing through every parcel and particle of it To fancy a Providence in God without a continual Energetical Operation or a Wisdom without a constant care inspection and over-sight of the works of his hands is not to have apprehensions of the Living God but to erect an Idol in our own imaginations Thirdly This work is peculiarly assigned unto the Son not only as he is the Eternal Power and Wisdom of God but also because by his interposition as undertaking the work of Mediation he reprieved the world from an immediate dissolution upon the first entrance of sin and disorder that it might continue as it were the great Stage for the mighty works of God's Grace Wisdom and Love to be wrought in Hence the care of the continuance of the Creation and the disposal of it is delegated unto him as he that hath undertaken to bring forth and consummate the glory of God in it notwithstanding the great breach made upon it by the sin of Angels and men This is the substance of the Apostles discourse Col. 1.15 16 17 18 19 20. Having asserted him to be the Image of God in the sense before opened and declared and to have made all things he affirms that all things have also their present consistency in him and by his Power and must have so until the work of Reconciliation of all things unto God being accomplished the glory of God may be fully retrieved and established for ever 1. We may see from hence the Vanity of expecting any thing from the Creatures but only what the Lord Christ is pleased to communicate unto us by them They that cannot sustain move or act themselves by any power vertue or strength of their own are very unlikely by and of themselves to afford any real assistance relief or help unto others They all abide and exist severally and consist together in their Order and Operation by the Word of the Power of Christ and what he will communicate by them that they will yield and afford and nothing else In themselves they are broken Cisterns that will hold no water what he drops into them may be derived unto us and no more They who rest upon them or rest in them without the consideration of their constant dependance on Christ will find at length all their hopes disappointed and all their Enjoyments vanish into nothing 2. Learn hence also the full absolute plenary self-sufficiency and Soveraignty of the Son our Saviour We shewed before the Vniversality of his Kingdom and Moral Rule over the whole Creation but this is not all A King hath a Moral Rule over his Subjects in his Kingdom but he doth not really and physically give them their Being and Existence he doth not uphold and act them at his pleasure but every one of them stand therein upon the same or an equal bottom with himself He can indeed by the permission of God take away the Lives of any of them and so put an end to all their actings and operations in this World but he cannot give them life or continue their lives at his pleasure one moment or make them so much as to move a finger But with the Lord Christ it is otherwise he not only rules over all the whole Creation disposing of it according to the Rule and Law of his own Counsel and pleasure but also they all have their Beings Natures Inclinations and Lives from him by his Power are they continued unto them and all their Actions are influenced thereby And this as it argues an All-sufficiency in himself so an absolute Soveraignty over all other things And this should teach us our constant dependance on him and our universal subjection unto him 3. And this abundantly discovers the Vanity and folly of them who make use of the Creation in an Opposition unto the Lord Christ and his peculiar interest in this World His own Power is the very ground that they stand upon in their Opposition unto him and all things which they use against him consist in him They hold their Lives absolutely at the pleasure of him whom they oppose and they act against him without whose continual supportment and influence they could neither live nor act one moment which is the greatest madness and most contemptible folly imaginable PRoceed we now with our Apostle in his description of the Person and Offices of the Messiah This beginning of the Epistle as hath been declared contains a summary Proposition of those things which the Apostle intends severally to insist upon throughout the whole And these all relate to the Person and Offices of the Messiah the principal subject of this Epistle Having therefore first declared him to be the great Prophet of the New Testament and Secondly the Lord Ruler and Governour of all things as also manifested the Equity of the Grant of that universal Soveraignty unto him from the Excellency of his Person on the account of his Divine Nature and the Operations thereof in the works of Creation and Providence he proceeds to finish and close his general proposition of the Argument of the Epistle by a brief intimation of his Priestly-Office with what he did therein and what ensued thereon in the remaining words of this Verse And this Order and Method of the Apostle is required by the nature of the things themselves whereof he treats For the work of purging sins which as a Priest he assigns unto him cannot well be declared without a previous manifestation of his Divine Nature For it is opuâ ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a work of him who is God and man For as God takes it to be his property to blot out our sins so he could not have done it by himself had he not been man also And this is asserted in the next words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Having by himself purged our sins The Vulgar Latin renders these words purgationem peccatorum faciens not without sundry mistakes For First Those words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by himself and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã our are omitted and yet the Emphasis and proper sense of the whole depends upon them Secondly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã having made is rendered in the present Tense making which seems to direct the sense of the words to another thing and Action of Christ than âhat is here intended And therefore the Expositors of the Roman Church as Thomas
He is as a Good so a glorious Master one that sits at the Right Hand of God 3. Great is the spiritual and eternal security of them that truly believe in Christ. Of all which severally afterwards Verse IV. THE design of the Apostle as we have now often shewed is to evince the necessity of abiding in the Doctrine of the Gospel from the Excellency of the Person by whom it pleased God to reveal it unto us This he hath done already in general in that Description which he hath given us of his Person Power Works Offices and Glory whereby he hath made it evident that no creature whom God was pleased at any time to make use of in the Revelation of his Will or the Institution of his Worship was any way to be compared with him Having proceeded thus far in general he descends now to the consideration of particular instances in all those whom God imploied in the Ministration of the Law and constitution of Mosaical Worship and takes occasion from them all to set forth the Dignity and incomparable Excellencies of the Lord Christ whom in all things he exalts First then he treateth concerning Angels as those who were the most glorious creatures imployed in the giving of the Law The Hebrews owned yea pleaded this in their own defence That besides the Mediation of Moses God used the Ministery of Angels in the giving of the Law and in other occasional instructions of their forefathers Some of them contend that the last of the Prophets was personally an Angel as the signification of his name imports Holy Stephen upbraiding them with their abuse and contempt of their greatest priviledges tells them that they received the Law by the disposition ordering or ministery of Angels Acts 7. v. 53. And the Targum interprets the Chariots of God with the thousands of Angels Psal. 68.18 19. of the Angels by whose ministery God taught Israel the Law This then might leave a special prejudice in their minds that the Law being so delivered by Angels must needs have therein the advantage above the Gospel and be therefore excellent and immutable To remove this prejudice also and further to declare the Excellency and Preheminence in all things of him who revealed the Gospel the Apostle takes occasion from what he had newly taught them concerning the Exaltation of Jesus Christ at the Right Hand of God to prove unto them out of the Scriptures of the Old Testament that he is exceedingly advanced and glorious above the Angels themselves whose concurrence in the Ministration of the Law they boasted in and to this purpose produceth four signal testimonies one after another This is the design of the Apostle which he pursues and makes out unto the end of this Chapter and that we may rightly conceive of his intention and the meaning of the Holy Ghost in the whole we shall before we consider his Proposition laid down in this fourth verse or the ensuing confirmations of it enquire in general what it is in Christ which he compareth with and preferreth above the Angels and wherein it is that he so exalts him The comparison entred on between the Lord Christ and Angels must be either with respect unto their Natures or unto their Dignity Office Power and Glory If the comparison be of Nature with Nature then it must be either in respect of the Divine or Humane Nature of Christ. If it should be of the Divine Nature of Christ with the Nature of Angels then it is not a comparison of Proportion as between two Natures agreeing in any general kind of being as do the nature of a man and a worm but a comparison only manifesting a Difference and distance without any Proportion So answereth Athanasius Orat. 2. and Arian But the truth is the Apostle hath no design to prove by Arguments and Testimonies the Excellency of the Divine Nature above the Angelical There was no need so to do nor do his Testimonies prove any such thing Besides speaking of Angels the other part of the comparison he treats not of their Nature but their Office Work and Employment with their honourable and glorious Condition therein Whereas therefore the Apostle produceth sundry Testimonies confirming the Deity of the Son he doth it not absolutely to prove the Divine Nature to be more excellent that the Angelicaâ but only to manifest thereby the glorious condition of him who is partaker of it and consequently his Preheminence above Angels or the Equity that it should be so Neither is the comparison between the Humane Nature of Christ and the Nature of Angels For that absolutely considered and in it self is inferiour to the Angelical whence in regard of his Participation of it he is said to be made lower than the Angels chap. 2. The Apostle then treats of the Person of Christ God and Man who was appointed and designed of God the Father to be the Revealer of the Gospel and Mediator of the New Testament As such he is the subject of the ensuing general Proposition as such he was spoken of in the words immediately fore-going and concerning him as such are the ensuing testimonies to be interpreted even those which testifie his Divine Nature being produced to demonstrate the Excellency of his Person as vested with the Offices of the King Priest and Prophet of his Church the great Revealer of the will of God in the last days ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Syr. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ipse tantum praestantior suit Bodesian and he was so much more excellent at tanto potior factus est Tremel And he is made so much more better at ipse toto excellit or as De Dieu at hoc totum excellit And he wholly excelleth or in all things he excelleth Vulg. tanto melior facius angelis the translation of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by melior is blamed by Erasmus Beza Vatablus and is generally deserted by the Expositors of the Roman Church And it is hard if not impossible to find melior in any good Author used in the sense that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is here and else-where constantly applied unto Ours render the word Better made better to avoid I believe a coincidence with that which they express ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by more excellent ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is properly nobilior potentior praestantior excellentior more Powerful Able Excellent as to Love Honour or State and Condition as in that of Homer ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã saith Eustathius multo potentior more powerful able to prevail or more excellent ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã factus effectus made was became ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã differentius different which is sometimes put absolutely for the best things or things far better than other things that differ the best things Make to differ to prefer make better 1 Cor. 4.7 Syr. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã excellentius more excellent ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã
is to be understood But 1. This suits not at all with the Purpose and Design of the Apostle which is plainly to prove that the Lord Christ then when he spake to us and revealed the will of God and in that work was above the Angels which is not at all proved by shewing what befell him after his work was accomplished 2. It receives no countenance from that other place of chap. 2.5 whither we are sent by these Interpreters For that the Apostle is there treating of a matter quite of another nature without any respect unto these words shall be there declared Neither doth he absolutely there mention ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the world but with the addition of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to come which what it is we shall enquire upon the place 3. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifies properly the Habitable Earth and is never used absolutely in the Scripture but for the habitable world or men dwelling in it and causelesly to wrest it unto another signification is not to interpret but to offer violence unto the Text. 2. By ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã then the World or Habitable Earth with them that dwell therein and nothing else is intended for as the word hath no other signification so the Psalmist in the place from whence the ensuing testimony is taken expounds it by the multitude of the Isles or the Nations lying abroad in the wide earth This is the World designed even that Earth wherein the rational creatures of God converse here below Into this was the Lord Christ brought in by the Father We are therefore nextly to enquire wherein the Fathers bringing of the Son into this world did consist We have seen formerly that some have assigned it unto One thing in particular some Another some to his Incarnation and Nativity some to his Resurrection some to his Mission of the Spirit and propagation of his Kingdom that ensued The Opinion about his Coming to reign in the world a thousand years as also that of his coming at the general Judgment we have already excluded Of the others I am apt to think that it is not any one particular exclusive to the other that the Apostle intendeth or designeth That which was intended in the Old Testament in the Promises of his coming into the world is that which is here expressed by the phrase of bringing him in See Mal. 3.2 The Lord whom ye seek shall come but who may abide the day of his coming Now it was not any one special Act nor any one particular Day that was designed in that and the like Promises But it is the whole work of God in bringing forth the Messiah by his Conception Nativity Unction with the Spirit Resurrection Sending of the Holy Ghost and preaching of the Gospel which is the subject of those Promises And their accomplishment it is which those words express When he brings the first-born into the world that is after he had kept his Church under the Administration of the Law given by Angels in the hand of Moses the Mediator in the expectation of the coming of the Messiah when he bringeth him forth unto and carries him on in his work unto the accomplishment of it he says Let all the Angels of God worship him And herein most of the former senses are comprised And this Interpretation of the words compleatly answers the intention of the Apostle in the citation of the ensuing Testimony namely to prove that in the discharge of his work of revealing the Will of God he was such an One as by reason of the Dignity of his Person had all Religious Worship Honour due unto him from the Angels themselves This sense also we are led unto by the Psalm whence the ensuing testimony is taken Psal. 97. The Exultation which the first verse of the Psalm requires and calls for is not unlike that which was in the Name of the whole Creation expressed at his Nativity Luke 2.11 And the four following verses are an Allegorical description of the work that the Lord Christ should make in and by the preaching of the Gospel See Mal. 3.2 3 4. chap. 4.1 Matth. 3.10 Luke 2.24 And hereon ensues that shame and ruine which was brought upon Idols and Idolaters thereby v. 7. And the joy of the whole Church in the presence of Christ v. 8. attended with his glorious Reign in Heaven as a consequent of the Accomplishment of his work v. 9. Which is proposed as a motive unto Obedience and a matter of confidence and rejoycing unto the Church And this is the Fathers bringing of the Son into the world described by the Psalmist and intended by the Apostle It remains that we enquire why and in what sense Christ is here called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã primogenitus or the first-born The common Answer is Non quod post illum alii sed quod ante illum nullus Not that any was born after him in the same way but that none was born before him which as we have shewed before will agree well enough with the use of the Word And this is applied both to the Eternal Gâneration of his Divine Person and to the Conception and Nativity of his Humane Nature But if we suppose that his Person and Eternal Generation may be intended in this Expression we must make ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or the first-born to be the same with ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or only begotten which may not be allowed for Christ is absolutely called the only begotten of the Father in his Eternal Generation his Essence being infinite took up the whole Nature of Divine Filiation so that it is impossible that with respect thereunto there should be any more Sons of God But ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or first-born is used in relation unto others and yet as I shewed before it doth not require that he who is so should have any other brethren in the same kind of Sonship But because this is by some asserted namely that Christ has many Brethren in the same kind of sonship whereby he is himself the Son of God and is on that account called the first-born which is an assertion greatly derogatory to his Glory and Honour I shall in our passage remove it as a stumbling-block out of the way Thus Schliclingius on the place Primogenitum eum nomine Dei Filium appellat innuens hoc pacto plures Dei esse Filios etiam ad Christum respectu habito scilicet ut ostenderet non ita Christum esse Dei Filium quin alii etiam eodem filiationis genere contineantur quanquam filiationis perfectione gradu Christo multò inferiores And again Primogenitus dicitur Christus quod eum Deus ante omnes Filios eos nimirum qui Christi fratres appellantur genuerit eo scilicet modo quo Deus Filios gignere solet eos autem gignit quos sibi similes efficit primus est Christus qui Deo ea sanctitate similis fuit qualem
of the Kingdom and Reign of the Messiah But the matter of the Psalm it self makes it manifest that the Holy Ghost treateth in it about God's bringing in the first-born into the world and the setting up of his Kingdom in him A Kingdom is described wherein God would reign which should destroy Idolatry and false-worship a Kingdom wherein the Isles of the Gentiles should rejoyce being called to an interest therein a Kingdom that was to be preached proclaimed declared unto the encrease of Light and Holiness in the world with the manifestation of the glory of God unto the ends of the earth every part whereof declareth the Kingdom of Christ to be intended in the Psalm and consequently that it is a Prophesie of the bringing in of the first-begotten into the world 2. Our second enquiry is Whether the Angels be intended in these words They are as was before observed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã omnes dii and are so rendred by Hierom Adorate eum omnes dii and by ours Worship him all ye gods The preceding words are Confounded be all they that serve graven images ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that boast themselves in or of idols Vanities Nothings as the word signifies whereon ensues this Apostrophe Worship him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã all ye gods And who they are is our present enquiry Some as all the Modern Jews say that it is the gods of the Gentiles those whom they worship that are intended so making ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã gods and vain idols to be the same in this place But 1. It cannot be that the Psalmist should exhort the idols of the Heathen some whereof were Devils some dead men some inanimate parts of the Creation unto a reverential worshipping of God reigning over all Hence the Targumist seeing the vanity of that Interpretation perverts the words and renders them Worship before him all ye Nations which serve idols 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Elohim is so far in this place from being exegetical of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã gods or vain idols that it is put in direct Opposition unto it as is evident from the words themselves 3. The word Elohim which most frequently denoteth the true God doth never alone and absolutely taken signifie false gods or idols but only when it is joyned with some other word discovering its application as his god or their gods or the gods of this or that people in which case it is rendred by the LXX sometimes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an idol sometimes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an idol made with hands sometimes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an abomination but here it hath no such limitation or restriction Whereas therefore there are some Creatures who by reason of some peculiar Excellency and likeness unto God or subordination unto him in his work are called gods it must be those or some of them that are intended in the expression now these are either Magistrates or Angels First Magistrates are somewhere called Elohim because of the Representation they make of God in his Power and their peculiar subordination unto him in their working The Jews indeed contend that no other Magistrates but only those of the Great Sanedrin are any where called gods but that concerns not our present enquiry some Magistrates are so called but none of them are here intended by the Psalmist there being no Occasion administred unto him of any such Apostrophe unto them Secondly Angels also are called Elohim ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 1 Cor. 8.5 They have the Name of God attributed unto them as we have shewed before in some instances And these alone are they whom the Psalmist speaks unto Having called on the whole Creation to rejoyce in the bringing forth of the Kingdom of God and pressed his Exhortation upon things on the Earth he turns unto the ministring Angels and calls on them to the discharge of their duty unto the King of that Kingdom Hence the Targumist in the beginning of Psal. 96. which is indeed in the beginning of this expresly mentioneth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã his high Angels joyning in his praise and worship using the Greek word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for distinction sake as on the same account it often occurs in the Targum We have thus evinced that the Psalm treats about the bringing in of the first-born into the world as also that they are the ministring Angels who are here commanded to worship him For the command it self and the nature of it it consisted in these two things 1. A declaration of the state and condition of the Messiah which is such as that he is a meet Object of Religious Adoration unto the Angels and attended with peculiar motives unto the discharge of their duty The former he hath from his Divine Nature the latter from his Work with his State and Dignity that ensued thereon 2. An intimation of the pleasure of God unto the Angels not that Divine Worship was absolutely due unto the Son of God which they knew from the first instant of their Creation but that all Honour and Glory were due unto him on the account of his Work and Office as Mediator and King of his Church 3. It remaineth only that we shew that this testimony thus explained was suitable unto the Apostles design and purpose and did prove the Assertion in the Confirmation whereof it is produced Now this is a matter of so full and clear an evidence that it will not at all detain us For it is impossible that there should be any more clear or full demonstration of this truth That the Lord Christ hath an unspeakable Preheminence above the Angels than this that they are all appointed and commanded by God himself to adore him with Divine and Religious Worship We may now therefore consider what Observations the words will afford us for our own instruction It appears then from hence 1. That the Authority of God speaking in the Scripture is that alone which Divine Faith rests upon and is to be resolved into He saith It was the begetting of faith in some of the Hebrews and the increase or establishment of it in others that the Apostle aimed at That which he proposeth to them as the Object of their faith that which they were to believe was that Excellency of the Person and Kingly Authority of the Messiah wherein they had not as yet been instructed And hereof he endeavours not to beget an Opinion in them but that Faith which cannot deceive or be deceived To this end he proposeth that unto them which they ought to submit unto and which they may safely rest in For as Faith is an Act of Religious Obedience it respects the Authority of God requiring it and as it is a Religious infallible assent of the mind it regards the Truth and Veracity of God as its Object On this alone it rests God saith And in what ever God speaks in the Scripture his Truth and Authority manifest themselves to
and to be wise to sobriety And the Rule of that Sobriety is given us for ever Deut. 29.28 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Secret things belong to the Lord our God but revealed things to us and our Children Divine Revelation is the Rule and measure of our knowledge in these things and that bounds and determines our sobriety And hence the Apostle condemning the Curiosity of men in this very subject about Angels makes the nature of their sin to consist in exceeding these bounds by an enquiry into things unrevealed and the rise of that evil to lye in Pride Vanity and Fleshliness and the tendency of it to be unto false Worship Superstition and Idolatry Col. 2.18 Neither is there any thing more averse from Right Reason nor more condemned by wise men of former times than a curious humour of prying into those things wherein we are not concerned and for whose investigation we have no certain honest lawful Rule or medium And this evil is encreased where God himself hath given bounds to our enquiries as in this case he hath 2. This alone will bring us unto any Certainty and Truth Whilest men indulge to their own imaginations and fancies as too many in this matter have been apt to do it is sad to consider how they have wandered up and down and with what fond Conceits they have deceived themselves and others The world hath been filled with monstrous Opinions and Doctrines about Angels their Nature Offices and Employments some have Worshipped them others pretended I know not what Communion and entercourse with them in all which conceits there hath been little of Truth and nothing at all of Certainty Whereas if men according to the Example of the Apostle would keep themselves to the word of God as they would know enough in this matter for the discharging of their own Duty so they would have Assurance and Evidence of Truth in their conceptions without which pretended high and raised notions are but a shadow of a dream worse then professed ignorance II. We may hence observe That the Glory Honour and Exaltation of Angels lyes in their subserviency to the Povidence of God It lyes not so much in their Nature as in their work and service The intention of the Apostle is to shew the Glory of Angels and their Exaltation which he doth by the induction of this Testimony reporting their serviceableness in the works wherein of God they are employed God hath endowed the Angels with a very Excellent Nature furnished them with many eminent properties of Wisdom Power Agility Perpetuity but yet what is hereby glorious and honourable herein consists not meerly in their nature it self and its Essential Properties all which abide in the horridest and most to be detested Part of the whole Creation namely the Devils but in their conformity and answerableness unto the Mind and Will of God that is in their moral not meerly natural Endowments These make them amiable glorious excellent Unto this their Readiness for and compliance with the will of God that God having made them for his service and employing them in his work their discharge of their Duty therein with Cheerfulness Alacrity Readiness and Ability is that which renders them truly honourable and glorious Their Readiness and Ability to serve the Providence of God is their Glory For 1. The greatest Glory that any Creature can be made partaker of is to serve the Will and set forth the Praise of its Creator That is its Order and Tendency towards its Principal End in which two all true Honour consists It is glorious even in the Angels to serve the God of Glory what is there above this for a creature to aspire unto what that its nature is capable of Those among the Angels who as it seems attempted somewhat farther somewhat higher attained nothing but an endless Ruine in shame and misery Men are ready to fancy strange things about the Glory of Angels and do little consider that all the difference in Glory that is in any parts of Gods Creation lyes meerly in Willingness Ability and Readiness to serve God their Creator 2. The works wherein God employes them in a subservience unto his Providence are in an especial manner glorious works For the service of Angels as it is intimated unto us in the Scripture it may be reduced unto two Heads For they are employed either in the communication of Protection and Blessings to the Church or in the Execution of the Vengeance and Judgements of God against his Enemies Instances to both these purposes may be multiplyed but they are commonly known Now these are glorious works God in them eminently exalts his Mercy and Justice the two properties of his Nature in the Execution whereof he is most eminently exalted and from these works ariseth all that Revenue of Glory and Praise which God is pleased to reserve to himself from the world so that it must needs be very honourable to be employed in these works 3. They perform their Duty in their service in a very glorious manner with great Power Wisdom and uncontroulable Efficacy Thus one of them flew 145000. of the Enemies of God in a night Another set fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from Heaven of the like Power and Expedition are they in all their services in all things to the utmost capacity of creatures answering the Will of God God himself it is true sees that in them and their Works which keeps them short of absolute Purity and Perfection which are his own Properties but as to the capacity of meer Creatures and for their state and condition there is a perfection in their Obedience and that is their Glory Now if this be the great Glory of Angels and we poor worms of the earth are invited as we are into a Participation with them therein what unspeakable folly will it be in us if we be found negligent in labouring to attain thereunto Our future Glory consists in this that we shall be made like unto Angels and our Way towards it is to do the Will of our Father on Earth as it is done by them in Heaven Oh in how many Vanities doth vain man place his Glory nothing so shamefull that one or other hath not gloried in whilest the true and only glory of doing the will of God is neglected by almost all But we must treat again of these things upon the last Verse of this Chapter Verse VIII IX HAving given an Account of what the Scripture teacheth and testifieth concerning Angels in the following Verses He sheweth how much other things and far more glorious are spoken to and of the Son by whom God revealed his will in the Gospel Ver. 8 9. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã But unto the Son Syr. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but of the Son he saith which is necessarily supplyed as to the Apostles design In the Psalm the words are spoken by way of Apostrophe to the Son and they are recited by
his Magnificence being also from Egypt where his transgression began 2. There is scarce any thing in the Psalm that can with propriety of speech be applied unto Solomon Two things are especially insisted on in the former part of the Psalm first the Righteousness of the Person spoken of in all his ways and administrations and then the perpetuity of his Kingdom How the first of these can be attributed unto him whose transgressions and sins were so publick and notorious or the latter to him who reigned but forty years and then left his Kingdom broken and divided to a wicked foolish son is hard to conceive As all then grant that the Messiah is principally so there is no cogent reason to prove that he is not solely intended in this Psalm I will not contend but that sundry things treated of in it might be obscurely typified in the Kingdom and Magnificence of Solomon yet it is certain that most of the things mentioned and expressions of them do so immediately and directly belong unto the Lord Christ as that they can in no sense be applied unto the person of Solomon and such are the words insisted on in this place by our Apostle as will be made evident in the ensuing explication of them We must then in the next place consider what it is that the Apostle intends to prove and confirm by this testimony whereby we shall discover its suitableness unto his design Now this is not as some have supposed the Deity of Christ nor doth he make use of that directly in this place though he do in the next verse as a medium to prove his Preheminence above the Angels although the testimonies which he produceth do eminently mention his Divine Nature But that which he designs to evince is this only that He whom they saw for a time made lower than the Angels chap. 2.10 was yet in his whole Person and as he discharged the Office committed unto him so far above them as that he had Power to alter and change those Institutions which were given out by the ministery of Angels And this he doth undeniably by the testimonies alledged as they are compared together For whereas the Scripture testifies concerning Angels that they are all servants and that their chiefest Glory consists in the discharge of their Duty as servants unto Him a Throne Rule and Everlasting Dominion administred with Glory Power Righteousness and Equity are ascribed whence it is evident that he is exceedingly exalted above them as is a King on his Throne above the servants that attend him and do his pleasure And this is sufficient to manifest the design of the Apostle as also the evidence of his Argument from this testimony The Exposition of the words belongs properly to the place from whence they are taken But yet that we may not leave the Reader unsatisfied as to any particular difficulty that may seem to occur in them this Exposition shall be here also attended The first thing to be attended in them is the Compellation of the Person spoken unto O God Thy Throne O God Some would have Elohim ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to be a name common to God with others namely Angels and Judges and in that large acceptation to be here ascribed to the Lord Christ so that though he be expresly called Elohim and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã yet that proves him not to be God by Nature but only to be so termed in respect of his Office Dignity and Authority and this is contended for by the Socinians But this gloss is contrary to the perpetual use of the Scripture for no one place can be instanced in where the name Elohim is used absolutely and restrained unto any one person wherein it doth not undeniably denote the true and only God Magistrates are indeed said to be Elohim in respect of their Office but no one Magistrate was ever so called nor can a man say without blasphemy to any of them Thou art Elohim or God Moses also is said to be Elohim a God but not absolutely but a God to Pharaoh and to Aaron that is in God's stead doing and performing in the name of God what he had commanded him Which places Jarchi produceth in his Comment to countenance this sense but in vain It is then the True God that is spoken unto in this Apostrophe Elohim O God This being granted Erasmus starts a new Interpretation of the whole words though he seemeth not to approve of his own invention ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã It is uncertain saith he whether the meaning be Thy throne O God or God is thy throne for ever in the first way the word is an Apostrophe to the Son in the latter it expresseth the Person of the Father And this Interpretation is embraced and improved by Grotius who granting that the word Elohim used absolutely signifieth as much as Elohe Elohim the God of Gods would not allow that it should be spoken of Christ and therefore renders the words God shall be thy seat for ever that is shall establish thee in thy Throne And this Evasion is also fixed on by Aben-Ezra from Hagaon ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã God shall establish thy throne May men be allowed thus to thrust in what words they please into the Text leading to another sense than what it self expresseth there will not much be left certain in the whole Book of God However in this present instance we have light enough to rebuke the boldness of this attempt For 1. The Interpretation insisted on is contrary to all old Translations whose language would bear a difference in the word expressing it in the Vocative Case O God 2. Contrary to the received sense of Jews and Christians of old and in especial of the Targum on the Psalm rendring the words Thy throne O God is in heaven for ever 3. Contrary to the contexture and design of the Apostles discourses as may appear from the consideration of the preceding Enarration of them 4. Leaves no tollerable sense unto the words neither can they who embrace it declare in what sense God is the throne of Christ. 5. Is contrary to the universally constant use of the expression in Scripture for where ever there is mention of the Throne of Christ somewhat else and not God is intended thereby 6. The word supplied by Grotius from Saadias and Aben-Ezra to induce a sense unto his Exposition shall establish makes a new Text or leads the old utterly from the intention of the words For whereas it cannot be said that God is the throne of Christ nor was there any need to say that God was for ever and ever which two things must take up the whole intendment of the words if God the Father be spoken of the adding of shall establish or confirm into the Text gives it an arbitrary sense and such as by the like suggestion of any other word as shall destroy may be rendred quite of another importance It is Christ then the Son that
men do abstain from such Exorbitancies yet frequently they do so upon the account of some self-interest and advantage like Jehu and not out of a constant equal unchangeable love of Righteousness and hatred of iniquity but all these are absolutely compleat in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. For whereas the expression both in the Hebrew and the Greek seems to regard the time past thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity yet the constant present frame of the heart of Christ in his Rule is denoted thereby for the Greek Translation exactly followeth and expresseth the Hebrew Now there being no form of Verbs in that Language expressing the present time there is nothing more frequent in it than to denote that which is present and abiding by the Praeterperfect Tense as it doth in this place Sixthly The Consequence of this Righteous Rule in Christ is his Anointing with the Oyle of Gladness wherein we may consider 1. The Author of the Priviledge conferred on him that is God his God 2. The Priviledge it self Unction with the oyle of gladness 3. The Connection of the collation of this priviledge unto what went before wherefore or for which cause 1. For the Author of it it is said to be God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã God thy God Many both antient and Modern Expositors do suppose that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the first place or God is used in the same sense as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the Verse foregoing and that it ought to be rendered O God and the words to be read therefore O God thy God hath anointed thee but as no old Translation gives countenance to this Conception so that Reduplication of the Name of God by an Application of it in the second place as God my God God thy God God the God of Israel being frequent in the Scripture there is no cogent Reason why we should depart in this place from that sense of the Expression The name God in the first place denotes him absolutely who conferred this priviledge on the Lord Christ that is God and in the second place a reason is intimated of the collâtion its self by an Appropriation of God to be his God in a peculiar manner God is said to be the God of the Son upon a threefold account 1. In respect of his Divine Nature as he is his Father so his God whence he is said to be God of God as having his nature communicated unto him by vertue of his Eternal Generation John 1.14 2. In respect of his Humane Nature as he was made of a Woman made under the Law so God also was his God as he is the God of all creatures Psal. 16.3 Psal. 22.1 3. In respect of his whole person God and Man as he was designed by his Father to the work of Mediation In which sense he calls him his God and his Father John 20.17 And in this last sense is it that God is here said to be his God that is his God in especial Covenant as he was designed and appointed to be the Head and King of his Church For therein did God the Father undertake to be with him to stand by him to carry him through with his work and in the End to crown him with Glory See Isa. 49.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11. Chap. 50.4 5 6 7 8 9. 2. For the Priviledge it self it is Vnction with the Oyle of Gladness There may be a double Allusion in these words 1. To the common use of Oyle and anointing which was to exhilerate and make the countenance appear chearful at Feasts and publick Solemnities Psal. 104.15 Luke 7.37 2. To the especial use of it in the Unction of Kings Priests and Prophets Exod. 30. That the Ceremony was typical is evident from Isa. 61.1 and it denoted the collation of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost whereby the Person anointed was enabled for the discharge of the Office he was called unto And in this sense there is commonly assigned a threefold Unction of Christ. 1. At his Conception when his Humane Nature was sanctified by the Holy Spirit Luke 1.35 and radically endowed with Wisdom and Grace which he grew up in Luke 2.40 52. 2. At his Baptism and entrance into his publick Ministry when he was in an especial manner furnished with those Gifts of the Spirit which were needful for the discharge of his Prophetical Office Matth. 3.17 John 1. 3. At his Ascension when he received of the Father the Promise of the Spirit to pour him forth upon his Disciples Acts 2.33 Now though I acknowledge the Lord Christ to have been thus anointed and that the communication of the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit unto him in fulness is called his Vnction yet I cannot grant that any of them are here directly intended But that which the Apostle seems here to express with the Psalmist is the Glorious Exaltation of Jesus Christ when he was solemnly enstated in his Kingdom This is that which is called the making of him both Lord and Christ Acts 2.36 When God raised him from the dead and gave him glory 1 Pet. 1.21 He is called Christ from the Unction of the Spirit and yet here in his Exaltation he is said in especial manner to be made Christ that is taken gloriously into the Possession of all the Offices and their full Administration whereunto he was anointed and fitted by the communication of the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit unto him It is I say the joyful glorious Unction of his Exaltation when he was signally made Lord and Christ and declared to be the anointed one of God that is here intended Seâ Phil. 2.9 11. which also appears 1. From the Adjunct of this Unction he is anointed with the Oyle of gladness which denotes Triumph and Exaltation freedom from trouble and distress Whereas after those Antecâdent communications of the Spirit unto the Lord Christ he was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief and exposed to innumerable evils and troubles 2. The Relation of this Priviledge granted unto the Lord Christ unto what went before He loved righteousness and hated iniquity expressed by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the third thing considerable in this last clause of the Testimony doth plainly declare it The Lord Christs Love to Righteousness and Hatred to Iniquity proceeded from his Vnction with the Graces and Gifts of the Spirit and yet they are plainly intimated here to go before this anointing with the Oyle of gladness which is therefore mentioned as the Consequent of his discharge of his Office in this world in like manner as his Exaltation every where is Phil. 2.9 11. Rom. 14.9 And if this anointing denote the first Vnction of Christ then must he be supposed to have the Love to Righteousness mentioned from elsewhere as antecedent thereunto which is not so Wherefore these words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã do declare at least a Relation of
certain Rule Way or means to come to the knowledge of the Truth yet they ceased not with indefatigable diligence and industry to enquire after it and to trace the obscure footsteps of what was left in their own natures or implanted on the works of Creation But many the most of those unto whom God hath granted the inestimable benefit and priviledge of his Word as a sure and infallible Guide to lead them into the knowledge of all useful and saving Truth do openly neglect it not accounting it worthy their searching study and diligent Examination How wofully will this rise up in Judgement against them at the last day is not difficult to conceive And how much greater will be their misery who under various pretences for their own corrupt ends do deter yea and drive others from the study of it II. It is the duty of all Believers to rejoyce in the Glory Honour and Dominion of Jesus Christ. The Church in the Psalm takes by faith a prospect at a great distance of his Coming and Glory and breaks out thereon in a way of Exultation and Triumph into those words Thy Throne O God is for ever And if this were a matter of such joy unto them who had only an obscure Vision and Representation of the glory which many Ages after was to follow 1 Pet. 1.11.12 what ought the full Accomplishment and manifestation of it be unto them that believe now in the dayes of the the Gospel This made them of old rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of Glory even because they saw and heard the things which Kings Wise men and Prophets desired to see and saw them not God having prepared some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect Chap. 11.40 For 1. Herein God is glorified The Kingdom of Christ is the glory of God thereby is his Name and Praise exalted in the world and therefore upon the Erection and setting of it up are all his People so earnestly invited to rejoyce and triumph therein Psal. 95.1 2 3. Psal. 96.1 2 3 4. Psal. 97.1 2 c. This I say is a cause of Eternal Joy unto all his Saints that God is pleased to glorifie himself and all the infinite Excellencies of his Nature in the Kingdom and Rule of Jesus Christ. 2. Herein doth the Honour and Glory of Christ as Mediator consist which is a matter of great rejoycing unto all that love him in sincerity He tells his Disciples John 14.28 That if they loved him they would rejoyce because he said he went unto the Father They considered only their own present condition and distres being filled with sorrow because he had told them of his Departure from them but saith he Where is your Love to me Ought you not to have that in your hearts as well as care of your selves for your Condition I shall take care and provide for your security and if you love me you cannot but rejoyce because I go to my Father to receive my Kingdom That he who loved us that gave himself for us that underwent every thing that is reproachful or miserable for our sakes is now exalted glorified enthroned in an everlasting immoveable Kingdom above all his Enemies secure from all Opposition is a matter of inexpressible Joy if we have any love unto him 3. Our own concernment security safety present and future happiness lyes herein Our All depends upon the Kingdom and Throne of Christ. He is our King if we are Believers our King to Rule Govern Protect and Save us to uphold us against Opposition to supply us with strength to guide us with Counsel to subdue our Enemies to give us our Inheritance and Reward and therefore our principal interest lyes in his Throne the Glory and Stability thereof Whilest he reigneth we are safe and in our way to Glory To see by faith this King in his Beauty upon his Throne high and lifted up and his train filling the Temple to see all Power committed unto him all things given into his hands and herein disposing of all and ruling all things for the Advantage of his Church must needs cause them to rejoyce whose whole interest and concernment lyes therein 4. The whole world all the Creation of God are concerned in this Kingdom of Christ. Setting aside his cursed Enemies in Hell and the whole Creation is benefited by this Rule and Dominion for as some men are made partakers of saving Grace and salvation thereby so the residue of that race by and with them do receive unspeakable Advantages in the Patience and Forbearance of God and the very creature it self is raised as it were into an Hope and Expectation thereby of Deliverance from that state of Vanity whereunto now it is subjected Rom. 8.20 21. So that if we are moved with the Glory of God the Honour of Jesus Christ our own only and eternal interest with the Advantage of the whole Creation we have cause rejoyce in this Throne and Kingdom of the Son III. It is the Divine Nature of the Lord Christ that gives Eternity Stability and Vnchangeableness to his Throne and Kingdom Thy Throne O God is for ever Concerning this see what hath formerly been delivered about the Kingdom of Christ. IV. All the Laws and the whole Administration of the Kingdom of Christ by his Word and Spirit are all equal righteous and holy His Scepter is a Scepter of Righteousness The world indeed likes them not all things in his Rule seem unto it weak absurd and foolish 1 Cor. 1.20 21. but they are otherwise the Holy Ghost being judge and such they appear unto them that do believe yea whatever is requisite to make Laws and Administrations righteous it doth all concurr in those of the Lord Jesus Christ. As 1. Authority a just and full Authority for enacting is requisite to make Laws righteous Without this Rules and Precepts may be good materially but they cannot have the formality of Law which depends on the just Authority of the Legislator without which nothing can become a righteous Law Now the Lord Christ is vested with sufcient Authority for the enacting of Laws and Rules of Administration in his Kingdom All Authority all Power in Heaven and Earth is committed unto him as we have before proved at large And hence those that will not see the Equity of his Rule shall be forced at last to bow under the Excellency of his Authority And it were to be wished that those who undertake to make Laws and Constitutions in the Kingdom of Christ would look well to their Warrant For it seems that the Lord Christ unto whom all Power is committed hath not delegated any to the sons of men but only that whereby they may teach others to do and observe what he hath commanded Matth. 28.20 If moreover they shall command or appoint ought of their own they may do well to consider by what Authority they do so seeing that is of indispensible necessity unto the
ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the beginning And our Translation needed not to have used any difference of expression in the Psalm and this place of the Apostle as they do there of old here in the beginning Thou hast founded not laid the foundation of the earth And the heavens are the works ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the work which the Greek renders works because of their variety of thy hands They shall perish ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but thou shalt stand or dost abide The word used in our Translation of the Psalm endure doth ill answer the Original but the margin gives relief Psal. Yea all of them shall wax old like a garment here And they shall all wax old as doth a garment A little variety without difference and that needless the Greek Text exactly expressing the Hebrew And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã shalt thou change them The change of a vesture whereunto the change of the Heavens is compared being by folding up and laying aside at least from former use the Apostle instead of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã thou shalt change renders the word by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã thou shall fold or roll them up ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã tu ipse and thou art he ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and thy years shall have no end shall not fail ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã shall not consume There is no question but that these words do sufficiently prove the Preheminence of him of whom they are spoken incomparably above all Creatures what ever Two things therefore are questioned by the Enemies of the Truth contained in them 1. Whether they were originally spoken at all of Christ which the present Jews deny 2. Whether they are spoken all of Christ which is questioned by the Socinians These Enquiries being first satisfied the words shall be opened and the force of the Apostles Argument from thence declared 1. That what is spoken in this Psalm doth properly respect the Messiah is denied by the present Jews That it was owned by the antient Hebrews is sufficiently evident from hence that the Apostle dealing with them on their own Principles urgeth them with the testimony of it The Psalm also it self-gives us light enough into the same instruction It is partly Euctical partly Prophetical both parts suited unto the condition of the Church when the Temple was wasted and Sion lay in the dust during the Babylonish Captivity In the Prophetical part there are three things signal 1. The Redemption of the people with the Re-edification of the Temple as a Type of that Spiritual Temple and Worship which was afterwards to be erected As v. 13. Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come And v. 16. When the Lord shall build Sion he shall appear in his glory 2. The Calling of the Gentiles to the Church and Worship of God v. 15. The Heathen shall fear the name of the Lord and all the Kings of the earth thy glory V. 21 22. To declare the name of the Lord in Sion and his praise in Jerusalem when the people are gathered together and the kingdoms to serve the Lord. 3. Hereby the creation of a new people a new world is brought in v. 18. This shall be written for the generation to come the world to come and the people that shall be created the new creation of Jews and Gentiles shall praise the Lord. These are the heads of the Prophetical part of the Psalm and they all respect things every where peculiarly assigned unto the Son who was to be incarnate or the days of the Messiah which is all one For 1. The Redemption and deliverance of the Church out of trouble is his proper work Where ever it is mentioned it is he who is intended Psal. 98.18 so signally Zech. 2.8 9 10 11 12 13. and other places innumerable 2. The bringing in of the Gentiles is acknowledged by all the Jews to respect the time of the Messiah it being he who was to be a light unto the Gentiles and the salvation of God unto the ends of the earth 3. Also the Generation to come and people to be created the Jews themselves interpret of the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã world to come or the new state of the Church under the Messiah These two last put together the gathering of the people and the world to come created for the praise of God makes it evident that it is the Son whom the Psalmist hath respect unto Grotius in this place affirms that the Apostle accommodates unto the Messiah what was spoken of God And he thinks it a sufficient argument to prove the words were not spoken of the Messiah because they were spoken of God whereas they are produced by the Apostle to prove his Excellency from the properties and works of his Divine Nature And he addes as the sense of the words as accommodated unto Christ Thou hast laid the foundation of the earth that is the world was made for thy sake But this Interpretation or violent detortion of the words destroys it self For if they are spoken of God absolutely and not of the Messiah to whom they are accommodated how can it be said that the world was made for his sake and not by him both senses of the words cannot be true But this is indeed plainly to deny the Authority of the Apostle It appeareth then that many things in this Psalm are spoken directly and immediately of the Son though it be probable also that sundry things in it are affirmed distinctly of the Person of the Father And hence it may be are those frequent variations of speech from the Second to the Third Person that occur in this Psalm 2. As to the second Enquiry the Socinians who grant the Divine Authority of this Epistle and therefore cannot deny but that these words some way or other belong unto the Lord Christ yet plainly perceiving that if they are wholly understood of him that there is an end of all their Religion the creation not of a new but of that world which was made of old and which shall perish at the last day being here ascribed unto him fix here upon a new and peculiar Evasion Some words they say of this testimony belong unto Christ so much they will yield to the authority of the Apostle but not all of them whereby they hope to secure their own errour Now because if this pretence hold not this testimony is fatal to their perswasion I hope it will not be unacceptable if in our passage we do consider the distribution they make of the words according to their supposition and the Arguments they produce for the confirmation of their Exposition as they are managed by Crellius or Schlictingius in their Comment on this place 1. He says that this testimony doth so far belong unto Christ as it pertaineth unto the scope of the
Writer of the Epistle This Scripture saith he as appears from v. 4. is to prove that after Christ sate down at the right hand of God he was made more excellent than the Angels whereto the affirming that he made heaven and earth doth no way conduce Answ. 1. Suppose that to be the scope of the Apostle which is intimated how doth this Author know that it suits not his purpose to shew that the Lord Christ is God by whom Heaven and Earth were made seeing it is manifest that himself thought otherwise or he had not produced this testimony thereof 2. The Testimony is not unsuited unto the scope pretended For whereas in the Administration of his Office the Son was apparently for a while made lower than the Angels he may in these words discover the equity of his after Exaltation above them in that in his Divine Nature and Works he was so much more excellent than they 3. The true and proper design of the Apostle we have before evinced which is to prove the Excellency of the Person by whom the Gospel was revealed and his Preheminence above Men and Angels which nothing doth more unquestionably demonstrate than this that by him the world was created whence the Assignation of a Divine Nature unto him doth undeniably ensue 2. To promote this Observation he addes a large discourse about the use and application of testimonies out of the Old Testament in the New and says That they are made use of by the writers of it either because of some agreement and likeness between the things intended in the one and the other or because of some subordination In the former way that which is spoken of the Type is applied unto the Anti-type and sometimes for likeness sake that which was spoken of one thing is applied unto another as Matth. 15.7 8. our Saviour applies those words of Isaiah to the present Jews which were spoken of their fore-fathers Answ. That which is spoken in the first place of an instituted Type is also spoken of the Anti-type or things pre-figured by it so far as it is represented by the Type so that one thing teaches another and thereon the words have a double application first to the Type ultimately to the Anti-type But herein such testimonies as this have no concernment 2. The Scripture sometimes makes use of Allegories illustrating one thing by another as Gal. 4.21 22 23 24. Neither hath this any place here 3. That what is spoken of one should because of some similitude be affirmed to be spoken of another and nothing agree properly unto him is untrue and not to be exemplified with any seeming instance 4. The words of Isaiah chap. 29.13 which our Saviour makes use of Matth. 15.7 8 9. were a Prophesie of the Jews who then lived as both our Saviour expresly affirms and the Context in the Prophet doth plainly declare Some things he addes Are applied unto others than they are spoken of because of their subordination to him or them of whom they are spoken Thus things that are spoken of God are applied unto Christ because of his subordination to him and of this saith he we have an instance in Acts 13.47 where the words spoken of the Lord Christ Isa. 49.6 I have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles that thou shouldest be for salvation to the ends of the earth are applied unto the Apostles because of their subordination unto Christ. And in this case the words have but one sense and belong primarily unto him of whom they are first spoken and are secondarily applied unto the other Answ. According to this Rule there is nothing that ever was spoken of God but it may be spoken of and applied unto any of his Creatures All things being in subordination unto him At least it may be so in that wherein they act under him and are in a peculiar subordination to him And yet neither can such a subordination according to this mans Opinion be applied unto Christ who in the Creation of Heaven and Earth was in no other subordination to God than any other things not yet made or existing so that this Rule that what is spoken of God is applied unto them who are in subordination unto him as it is false in it self so it is no way suited to the present business Christ being in this man's judgment in no subordination to God when the world was made being absolutely in all respects in the condition of things that were not Nor doth the instance given at all prove or illustrate what is pretended The Apostle in the citing of those words to the Jews doth not in the least apply them to himself but only declares the ground of his going to preach the Gospel unto the Gentiles which was that God had promised to make Him whom he preached to be a Light and to bring salvation unto them also Wherefore he addes 3. what is direct to his pretension That all the words or things signified by them in any testimony which are firstly spoken of one and then are for some of the causes mentioned that is conveniency similitude or subordination applied unto another are not to be looked on as proper to him to whom they are so applied but so much of them is to be admitted as agrees to the scope of him by whom the testimony is used as in the testimony produced v. 7. I will be unto him a Father and he shall be to me a Son the words immediately following are If he shall offend against me I will chastise him with the rod of men which words being spoken of Solomon can no way be applied unto Christ. Answ. What is spoken of any Type and of Christ jointly is not so spoken for any natural conveniency similitude or subordination but because of Gods institution appointing the Type so to represent and shadow out the Lord Christ that what he would teach concerning him should be spoken of the Type whereby he was represented Now no person that was appointed to be a Type of that being in all things a Type it is not necessary that what ever was spoken of him was also spoken of Christ but only what was spoken of him under that formal consideration of an instituted Type This we shewed the case to have been with Solomon of whom the words mentioned were spoken as he bare the Person of Christ Other things being added in the same place that belonged unto him in his own personally moral capacity And therefore those things as that if he offend against me are not at all mentioned by the Apostle as not being spoken of him as a Type And this plainly over-throws the pretension of our Commentator For if the Apostle would not produce the very next words to the testimony by by him brought because they did not belong unto him of whom he spake it proves undeniably that all those which he doth so urge and produce were properly spoken of him And I cannot reach the strength
part of what is spoken do belong to Christ the whole of necessity must do so To suppose that in this sentence thou hast laid the Foundation of the earth and thou shalt fold them up as a garment that one person is understood in the first place another in the latter no such thing being intimated by the Psalmist or the Apostle is to suppose what we please that we may attain what we have a mind unto One person is here certainly and only spoken unto if this be the Father the words concern not Christ at all and the Apostle was deceived in his Allegation of them if the Son the whole is spoken of him as the Apostle affirms Nor 3. Can any Reason be assigned why the latter words should be attributed to Christ and not the former They say it is because God by him shall destroy the world which is the thing in the last words spoken of but where is it written that God shall destroy the world by Christ If they say in this place I say then Christ is spoken to and of in this place and if so he is spoken of in the first words and thou Lord or not at all Besides to whom do those closing words belong but thou aââ the same and thy years fail not If these words are spoken of Christ it is evident that all the foregoing must be so also for his enduring the same and the not failing of his years that is his Eternity is opposed to the Creation and temporary duration of the world If they say that they belong unto the Father primarily but are attributed unto Christ as that of changing or abolishing the world because the Father doth it by him I desire to know what is the meaning of these words thou art the same by Christ and thy years fail not by Christ Is not the Father Eternal but in the man Christ Jesus If they say that they belong not at all to Christ then this is the summ of what they say the beginning of the words and the close of them if spoken of Christ would prove his Infinite Power Eternity and Divine Nature One passage there is in the words which we suppose will not do so therefore we will grant that that passage concerneth him but not the beginning nor end of the testimony though spoken undeniably of the same person which whether it becomes men professing a Reverence of the Word of God is left to themselves to judge Besides should we grant all these suggestions to be true the Apostle by his citing of this Testimony would prove nothing at all to his purpose no not any thing toward that which they affirm him to aim at namely that he was made more excellent than the Angels For whence out of these words shall any such matter be made to appear they say in that by him God will fold up the Heavens as a Vesture but First No such thing is mentioned nor intimated He who made them is said to fold them and if they say that from other places it may be made to appear that it shall be done by Christ then as this place must be laid aside as of no use to the Apostle so indeed there is nothing ascribed to Christ but what the Angels shall have a share in and that probably the most principal namely in folding up the Creation as a garment which is a work that servants are employed in and not the King or Lord himself Indeed he that shall without prejudice consider the Apostles Discourse will find little need of Arguments to manifâst whom he applyes this Testimony unto He calls him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in the beginning using that word which perpetually in the New Testament denotes the Lord Christ as plainly expounding the Text so far as to declare of whom it speaks Nor doth this Testimony ascribe any thing to him but what in general he had before affirmed of him namely that by him the worlds were made nor was it ever heard of that any man in his right wits should cite a Testimony to confirm his purpose containing words that were never spoken of him to whom he applyes them nor is there scarce any thing in them that can tolerably be applyed unto him and the most of it would declare him to be that which he is not at all so that the words as used to his Purpose must needs be both false and ambiguous Who then can but believe on this Testimony of the Apostle that Christ the Lord made Heaven and Earth and if the Apostle intended not to assert it what is there in the Text or near it as a buoy to warn men from running on a shelf there where so fair an harbour appears unto them From all that hath been said it is evident that this whole Testimony belongs to Christ and is by the Apostle asserted so to do Proceed we now to the Interpretation of the Words The Person spoken of and spoken unto in them is the Lord ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã thou Lord. The words are not in the Psalm in this Verse but what is spoken is referred unto ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã my God I said O my God take me not away in the midst of my dayes comforting himself under the consideration of the frailty and misery of his Life with the thoughts and faith of the Eternity and Power of Christ. For be our Lives never so frail yet as to life eternal because he liveth we shall live also and he is of Power to raise us up at the last day John 14.19 1 Cor. 15. and that is the ground of all our consolation against the brevity and misery of our lives Whereby it also further appears that it is the Lord Christ whom the Psalmist addresses himself unto for from the absolute consideration of the Omnipotency and Eternity of God no consolation can be drawn And indeed the people of the Jews having openly affirmed that they could not deal immediately with God but by a Mediator which God eminently approved in them wishing that such an heart would alwayes abide in them Deut. 5.25 26 27 28 29. So as he suffered them not to approach his typical presence between the Cherubims but by a typical Mediator their High Priest so also were they instructed in their real approach unto God that it was not to be made immediately to the Father but by the Son whom in particular the Apostle declares the Psalmist in this place to intend Concerning thiâ Person or the Lord he affirms two things or attributes two things unto him 1. The Creation of Heaven and Earth 2. The Abolition or change of them from that Attribution he proceeds to a comparison between him and the most glorious of his creatures and that as to Duration or Eternity Frailty and Change in and of himself one of the creatures being that which in particular be addresseth himself to the Lord about 2. The Time or season of the Creation is first intimated ãâã ãâã
and vigour untill the very day of his death But he sayes it was old and decayed when it was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã near to a disappearance to its End Period and an utter uselesness as then it was even as all things that naturally tend to an end do it by Age and decayes And in this not the former sense are the Heavens and Earth said to wax old because of their tendency to that period which either in themselves or as to their use they shall receive which is sufficient to manifest them to be of a changeable perishing nature And it may be that it shall be with these Heavens and Earth at the last day as it was with the Heavens and Earth of Judaical Institutions for so are they frequently called especially when their dissolution or abolition is spoken of in the day of Gods creating the new Heavens and the Earth in the Gospel according to his promise For though the use of them and their power of obliging to their Observation was taken away and abolished yet are they kept in the world as abiding monuments of the Goodness and Wisdom of God in teaching his Church of old So may it be with the Heavens and Earth of the old creation though they shall be laid aside at the last day from their use as a Garment to cloath and teach the Power and Wisdom of God to men yet may they be preserved as eternal monuments of them In opposition hereunto it is said of Christ that he abideth he is the same and his years fail not One and the same thing is intended in all these Expressions even his Eternal and absolutely immutable Existence Eternity is not amiss called a nunc stans a present existence wherein or whereunto nothing is past or future it being alwayes wholly present in and to its self This is expressed in that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã thou standest abidest endurest alterest not changest not The same is also expressed in the next words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã thou art he or art the same or as the Syriack hath it the same that thou art There is an Allusion in these words unto if not an expression of that name of God I am that is who is of himself in himself alwayes absolutely and unchangeably the same And this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã tu ipse the Hebrews reckon as a distinct name of God Indeed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã are all the same name of God expressing his Eternal and immutable self-subsistence The last Expression also though Metaphorical is of the same importance Thy years fail not He who is the same Eternally properly hath no years which are a measure of transient time denoting its Duration Beginning and Ending This is the measure of the world and all things contained therein Their Continuance is reckoned by years To shew the Eternal subsistence of God in Opposition to the frailty of the world and all things created therein it is said his years fail not that is theirs do and come to an end of his Being and Existence there is none How the Apostle proves his Intendment by this Testimony hath been declared in the opening of the words and the force of it unto his purpose lyes open to all we may now divert unto those Doctrinal Observations which the words offer unto us As I. All the Properties of God considered in the Person of the Son the head of the Church are suited to give Relief Consolation and supportment unto Believers in all their distresses This Truth presents it self unto us from the use of the words in the Psalm and their Connection in the design of the Psalmist Under the consideration of his own mortality and frailty he relieves himself with thoughts of the Omnipotency and Eternity of Christ and takes Arguments from thence to plead for relief And this may a little further be unfolded for our use in the ensuing Observations 1. The Properties of God are those whereby God makes known himself to us and declares both what he is and what we shall find him to be in all that we have to deal with him He is infinitely Holy Just Wise Good Powerful c. And by our Apprehension of these things are we lead to that Acquaintance with the Nature of God which in this life we may attain Exod. 34.5 6 7. 2. God oftentimes declares and proposeth these properties of his nature unto us for our supportment Consolation and Relief in our Troubles Distresses and endeavours after Peace and Rest to our souls Isa. 40.27 28 29 30 31. 3. That since the Entrance of sin these Properties of God absolutely considered will not yield that Relief and satisfaction unto the souls of men which they would have done and did whilest man continued obedient unto God according to the Law of his Creation Hence Adam upon his sin knew nothing that should encourage him to expect any help pity or relief from him and therefore fled from his presence and hid himself The Righteousness Holiness Purity and Power of God all infinite eternal unchangeable considered absolutely are no way suited to the Advantage of sinners in any condition Rom. 1.32 Heb. 1.12 4. These Properties of the Divine Nature are in every person of the Trinity entirely so that each Person is so infinitely holy just wise good and powerful because each person is equally partaker of the whole Divine Nature and Being 5. The Person of the Word or the Eternal Son of God may be considered either absolutely as such or as designed in the Counsel Wisdom and Will of the Father by and with his own Will and Consent unto the work of Mediation between God and Man Prov. 8.22 27 28 29 30 31. And in him as such it is that the Properties of the nature of God are suited to yield relief unto Believers in every condition For 1. It was the Design of God in the Appointment of his Son to be Mediator to retrieve the communion between himself and his creature that was lost by sin Now man was so created at first as that every thing in God was suited to be a Reward unto him and in all things to give him satisfaction This being wholly lost by sin and the whole Representation of God to man becoming full of dread and terror all gracious intercourse in a way of special love on the part of God and spiritual willing Obedience on the part of man was intercepted and cut off God designing again to take sinners into a communion of Love and Obedience with himself it must be by Representing unto them his blessed Properties as suited to their encouragement satisfaction and reward And this he doth in the Person of his Son as designed to be our Mediator Heb. 1.2 3. For 2. The Son is designed to be our Mediator and the Head of his Church in a way of Covenant wherein there is an Engagement for the exerting of all the Divine Properties of the nature of God for the Good and
Advantage of them for whom he hath undertaken and whom he designed to bring again into favour and communion with God Hence Believers do no more consider the Properties of God in the Person of the Son absolutely but as engaged in a way of Covenant for their Good and as proposed unto them for an everlasting satisfactory Reward This is the ground of his calling upon them so often to behold see and consider him and thereby to be refreshed They consider his Power as he is mighty to save His Eternity as he is an everlasting Reward his Righteousness as faithful to justifie them All his Properties as engaged in Covenant for their Good and Advantage What ever he is in himself that he will be to them in a way of Mercy Thus do the holy Properties of the Divine Nature become a means of supportment unto us as considered in the Person of the Son of God And this is 1. A great encouragement unto Believing The Lord Christ as the Wisdom of God inviting sinners to come in unto him and to be made partakers of him layes down all his Divine Excellencies as a motive thereunto Prov. 8.14 15 c. For on the account of them he assures us that we may find Rest Satisfaction and an abundant Reward in him And the like invitation doth he give to poor sinners Isa. 45.22 Look unto me and be saved all the ends of the Earth for I am God and there is none else They may justly expect Salvation in him who is God and in whom all Divine Attributes are proposed to their Benefit as they find who come unto him v. 24.25 The consideration hereof prevents all the Fears and answers all the Doubts of them that look up unto him 2. An instruction how to consider the Properties of God by faith for our Advantage that is as engaged in the Person of the Son of God for our Good Absolutely considered they may fill us with dread and terror as they did them of old who concluded when they thought they had seen God or heard his voyce that they should dye Considered as his Properties who is our Redeemer they are alwayes relieying and comforting Isa. 54.4 5. II. The whole Old Creation even the most glorious parts of it hastening unto its period at least of our present interest in it and use of it calls upon us not to fix our hearts on the small perishing shares which we have therein especially since we have him who is Omnipotent and Eternal for our Inheritance The Figure or fashion of this world the Apostle tells us is passing away that lovely Appearance which it hath at present unto us it is hastening unto its period it is a fading dying thing that can yield us no true satisfaction III. The Lord Christ the Mediator the Head and Spouse of the Church is infinitely exalted above all creatures whatever in that he is God over all Omnipotent and Eternal IV. The whole World the Heavens and Earth being made by the Lord Christ and being to be dissolved by him is wholly at his disposal to be ordered for the good of them that do believe And therefore V. There is no just cause of fear unto Believers from any thing in Heaven or Earth seeing they are all of the making and at the disposal of Jesus Christ. VI. Whatever our changes may be inward or outward yet Christ changing not our eternal condition is secured and relief provided against all present troubles and miseries The Immutability and Eternity of Christ is the spring of our consolation and security in every condition The summ of all is that VII Such is the frailty of the nature of man and such the perishing condition of all created things that none can ever obtain the least stable consolation but what ariseth from an interest in the Omnipotency Soveraignty and Eternity of the Lord Christ. This I say is that which the words insisted on as they are used in the Psalm do instruct us in and this therefore we may a little farther improve This is that which we are instructed in by the Ministry of John Baptist Isa. 40.6 7 8. The voyce cryed all flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field the grass withereth and the flower fadeth because the Spirit of God bloweth upon it surely the People is grass The grass withereth the flower fadeth but the word of our God shall stand for ever All is grass fading grass though it bloom and appear goodly for a little season yet there is no continuance no consistency in it Every Wind that passeth over it causeth it to wither This is the best of flesh of all that in and by our selves we are we do we enjoy or hope for The Crown of the Pride of man and his glorious Beauty is but a fading flower Isa. 28.1 What Joy what Peace what Rest can be taken in things that are dying away in our hands that perish before every breath of Wind that passeth over them Where then shall this poor Creature so frail in its self in its Actings in its Enjoyments seek for Rest Consolation and satisfaction in this alone that the Word of the Lord abides for ever in the eternally abiding Word of God that is the Lord Jesus Christ as preached in the Gospel so Peter applyes these words 1 Ep. 1.25 By an Interest in him alone his Eternity and Unchangeableness may relief be obtained against the consideration of this perishing dying state and condition of all things Thus the Psalmist tells us that verily every man living in his best estate is altogether vanity Psal. 39.5 and thence takes the Conclusion now insisted on v. 7. And now Lord seeing it is thus Seeing this is the condition of mankind what is thence to be looked after What is to be expected nothing at all not the least of use or comfort What wait I for My hope is in thee from thee alone as a God Eternal pardoning and saving do I look for Relief Man indeed in this Condition seeks oftentimes for satisfaction from himself from what he is and doth and enjoyes and what he shall leave after him comforting himself against his own frailty with an Eternity that he fancieth to himself in his Posterity and their Enjoyment of his Goods and Inheritance So the Psalmist tells us Psal. 49.11 Their inward thought is that their Houses shall continue for ever and their dwelling places unto all generations and they call their Lands after their own names They see indeed that all men dye Wise men and Fools v. 10. and cannot but from thence observe their own frailty Wherefore they are resolved to make provision against it they will perpetuate their Posterity and their Inheritance This they make use of to relieve them in their inmost Imaginations But what censure doth the Holy Ghost pass upon this Contrivance v. 12. Nevertheless saith he notwithstanding all these imaginations Man being in honour abideth not he is like the
of it contradicted his own light out of hatred unto the Gospel there are sundry Psalms with this Title ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã le David which are expresly affirmed to be composed and sung by him unto the Lord as Psal. 18. whose Title is To the chief Musician ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã where the Prefix is repeated to David the servant of the Lord who spake unto the Lord the words of this song So directly do the modern Rabbins contradict their own light out of hatred unto the Gospel Evident then it is that David is not treated of in this Psalm in that he being the Pen-man of it calleth him his Lord concerning whom he treats Besides to omit other instances of alike cogency how or when did God swear unto David that he should be a Priest and that for ever after the order of Melchisedeck The Jews knew well enough that David had nothing to do with the Priesthood So that David had no concernment in this Psalm but only as he was the Pen-man of it He was not herein so much as a Type of the Messiah but speaks of him as his Lord. Wherefore others of them as Jarchi and Lipman and Nizzachon affirm that it is Abraham who is spoken of in this Psalm of whom the one says it was composed by Melchizedech the other by his servant Eliezer of Damascus But the fondness of these presumptuous figments is evident Melchizâdech on all accounts was greater than Abraham above him in Degree Dignity and Office as being a King and Priest of the High God and therefore blessed him and received Tithes of him and on no account could call him his Lord. Eliezer did so being his servant but how could he ascribe unto him the sitting at the Right Hand of God how the sending forth the rod of his power from Sion how being a Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedeck or indeed any one thing mentioned in the Psalm These things deserve not to be insisted on but only to manifest the woful pretences of the present Judaical infidelity It appears from the Dialogue of Justin Martyr with Trypho that some of them of old applied this Psalm to Hezekiah But not one word in it can rationally be conceived to respect him especially that Which is spoken about the Priesthood utterly excludes him seeing his Great Grand-father a man of more power than himself was smitten with Leprosie and lost the Administration of his Kingdom for one single attempt to invade that Office 2 Chron. 26. It remains then that this Psalm was written concerning the Messiah and him alone for no other subject of it can be assigned And this use in our passage we may make of the Targum that whereas those words The Lord said do not intend a word spoken but the stable purpose or decree of God as Psal. 2. v. 7. its Author hath rendred them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Lord said in or by his word that is his Wisdom his Son with whom and to whom he speaks and concerning whom his Decree and Purpose is here declared It remaineth only that we consider the Objections of the Jews against our Application of this Psalm unto the Messiah And these are summed up by Kimchi in his Exposition of the Text. The Hereticks saith he expound this Psalm of Jesus and in the first verse they say the Father and Son are designed and they read Adonai with Camets under Nun in which use the true God is signified by that Name And verse the third in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they read Chirick under Ain so making it signifie with thee And what is there said of the beauty of Holiness they ascribe unto that which is from the womb But in all Copies that are found from the rising of the Sun to the going down of it Chiric is with Nun in Adoni and Patha with Ain in Hammeka And Gerolmus Hierom erred in his Translation And for the errour if the Father and Son be the God-head how doth one stand in need of the other and how can he say unto him Thou art a Priest He is a Priest who offers sacrifice but God doth not Of the like nature are the rest of his exceptions unto the end of his Notes on that Psalm To this Lipman addes a bitter blasphemous discourse about the application of those words from the womb v. 3. unto the womb of the blessed Virgin Answ. Our cause is not at all concerned in these mistakes whether of Jews or Christians For the Jews their chief enmity lies against the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ and therefore what ever testimony is produced concerning him they presently imagine that it is for the proof of his Divine Nature This lies at the bottom of these exceptions of Kimchi Hence he conceives that our argument from this place lies in the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and the pointing it with Camets Adonai so making it to be the proper Name of God when we acknowledge that it is Adoni pointed with Chiric and signifies my Lord so it is rendred by the Evangelist Matth. 22. v. 45. so by the LXX and by Hierom Domino meo And the argument of our Saviour lies not in the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but that he being the Son of David was also then the Lord of David which he could no otherwise be but upon the account of his Divine Nature In the words reflected on by Kimchi it is confessed that there have been mistakes amongst Translators and Expositors Those words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã are rendred by the LXX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and by the Vulgar from them tecum principium with thee is the beginning which hath misled many Expositors But Kimchi knew that Hierom had translated them Populi tui duces spontanei Thy people shall be willing leaders giving both the significations of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã though one would suffice Thy people are or shall be willing But this pertains not to the cause under consideration In like manner have those other words been misrendred by the same Translation ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã say the LXX and the Vulgar Exutero ante luciferum genui te From the womb before the morning Star have I begotten thee which gave occasion to many uncouth Expositions in Justin Martyr Tertullian Epiphanius Austin and others But the words are rightly rendred The dew of thy birth is from the womb of the morning and express the rise and flourishing of the Kingdom of the Messiah These things prove indeed that it is dangerous to interpret the Scripture without heedful attending unto the Original Text but that the Messiah is not intended in this Psalm they prove not For what they farther object on our supposition of the Divine Nature of Christ That there was no need that God should promise God his assistance it is but an open effect of their ignorance or malice Assistance is not promised the Messiah as God but as made Man for our sakes
and so as a Priest did he offer that Sacrifice without an interest wherein both they and we must eternally perish To conclude this discourse we have many of their own Masters concurring with us in the assignation of this Psalm unto the Messiah and to that purpose they freely express themselves when their minds are taken off from the consideration of the difference that they have with Christians Thus the Author ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in his signs of the coming of the Messiah Armillus shall stir up all the world saith he to war against the Messiah ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã whom the holy God shall not compel to war but shall only say unto him Sit thou at my right hand referring unto this place So Saadias Gaon on Dan. 7.13 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This is Messiah our righteousness as it is written The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my right hand They affirm the same in Midrash Tehillim on Psal. 18. v. 35. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Rabbi Joden said In the world to come the holy blessed God shall cause Messiah the King to sit on his right hand as it is written The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my right hand And to the same purpose are the words of R. Moses Haddarsan in Bereshith Rabba on Gen. 18. v. 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Rabbi Berechia in the name of Rabbi Levi opened that which is spoken Thou shalt give me the shield of thy salvation and thy right hand shall sustain me Psal. 18.36 In the world to come the holy blessed God shall cause Messias the King to sit on his right hand as it is written The Lord said unto my Lord Sit thou on my right hand And Abraham shall sit at his left hand and the face of Abraham shall be pale and he shall say The Son of my Son sits on the right hand and I on the left But God shall appease him and say unto him The Son of thy Son sits at my right hand and I am at thy right hand as it is written Thy loving kindness shall encrease me And so on Psalm 17. Rabbi Joden in the name of R. Chijah ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The holy blessed God shall place Messiah the King at his right hand as it is said The Lord said unto my Lord. Thus setting aside the mixture of their follies and impieties wherein we are not concerned we have a sufficient suffrage from the Jews themselves unto our assignation of this Prophetical Psalm to the Messiah which is enough to stop the mouths of their modern gain-sayers who neither are able to assign any other Person unto whom it should belong Having then removed their Objections we may return unto the Interpretation of the words The matter intended in the first part of these words or sitting at the right hand of God hath been somewhat spoken unto already and I shall adde but little in the further Explanation of it in this place Some things controverted on these words we may well omit the consideration of as whether were the more honourable place of old the right hand or the left besides they have been sufficiently spoken unto already on verse 3. For whereas there is no mention made any where of sitting at the left hand of God as was observed there is no comparison to be feigned between the one and the other Besides the pretence of the left hand to have been the most honourable place of old is most vain insisted on by some who had a desire to vent new observations of old matters to little purpose And Bellarmine shews what good leisure he had in managing of Controversies when he spent more time and labour in answering an Objection against the Popes Supremacy from Peters being placed in old Seals on the left hand of Paul than of many Texts of Scripture plainly overthrowing his pretensions Neither shall we consider their claim unto this testimony who understanding the Human Nature of Christ to be to be only intended and spoken to affirm that its sitting at the right hand of God consists in a real communication of all Divine Properties and Attributes unto that Nature a pretence very remote from the Apostles design and importance of the words For the Introductory Preface of this Testimony Vnto which of the Angels said he at any time we have already considered it In the testimony it self we must consider 1. The Person speaking the Lord. 2. The Person spoken unto my Lord. 3. The Nature and Manner of this speaking said 4. The thing spoken Sit on my right hand 5. The end hereof as to Work and Operation make thine enemies thy foot-stool 6. The Limitation of it as unto duration until 1. The Person speaking is the Lord The Lord said In the Greek both the Person speaking and the Person spoken unto are expressed by the same name ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Lord only the person spoken unto is not absolutely called so but with relation to the Psalmist ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to my Lord David calls him his Lord Matth. 22.43 But in the Hebrew they have different denominations the Person speaking is Jehovah ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is God the Father for though the Name be often used where the Son is distinctly spoken of and sometimes in the same place each of them are mentioned by that name as Gen. 19. v. 24. Zech. 2. v. 8 9. because of their equal Participation of the same Divine Nature signified thereby yet where Jehovah speaketh unto the Son or of him as here it is the Person of the Father that is distinctly denoted thereby according as was shewed at the entrance of this Epistle 2. The Person spoken unto is the Son ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Lord David's Lord in what respect we must now enquire The Lord Christ the Son is in respect of his Divine Nature of the same Essence Power and Glory with the Father Joh. 10. v. 30. Absolutely therefore and naturally in that respect he is capable of no Subordination to the Father or Exaltation by him but what depends on and flows from his Eternal Generation Joh. 5. v. 26. By dispensation he humbled himself and emptied himself of this Glory Phil. 2. v. 7 8. not by a real parting with it but by the Assumption of Humane Nature into personal Vnion with himself being made flesh Joh. 1. v. 14. wheren his Eternal Glory was clouded for a season Joh. 17. v. 5. and his Person humbled to the discharge of those Acts of his Mediation which were to be performed in thâ Humane Nature Phil. 2. v. 9 10. This Person of Christ is here spoken unto not in respect of his Divine Nature only which is not capable of Exaltation or Glory by the way of free gift or donation nor in respect of his Humane Nature only which is not the King and Head of the Church but with respect unto his whole Person wherein the Divine Nature exerting its Power and Glory with the
they could by any means subduct themselves from under his Power or be delivered from his Wrath where would be his Glory where his Honour Here they reproach him blaspheme him despise him persecute him shall they escape and go free Shall they alwayes prosper What then would he do to his great name The Glory of Christ indispensibly requires that there be a season a day appointed for the Eternal Ruine of all his stubborn Adversaries 5. His Saints pray that it may be so and that both upon his account and their own Upon his that his Glory which is dearer to them than their lives may be vindicated and exalted their own that their Miseries may be ended that the Blood of their fellow servants may be revenged that the whole Church may be delivered and all Promises fulfilled Now he will not disappoint their Prayers nor frustrate their Expectations in any thing much less in those that are of so great importance He will avenge his Elect he will avenge them speedily 6. His Enemies deserve it unto the utmost so that as well his Justice as his Glory and Interest and People are concerned in their destruction In the most of them their Outrage against him is notorious and visible in the eyes of men and Angels in all of them there is a cruel old lasting Enmity and hatred which he will lay open and discover at the last day that all shall see the Righteousness of his Judgements against them God hath given him a Kingdom appointed him to reign they declare that he shall not do so and endeavour their utmost to keep him from his Throne and that with scorn despight and malice so that whilest God is Righteous and the Scepter of Christs Kingdom a Scepter of Righteousness themselves call aloud for their own Destruction The Vses of this Truth in the comfort of the Disciples of Christ against all fears despondencies and other effects of unbelief with the terror of wicked men are obvious and exposed unto all Verse XIV THe Apostle having proved the Preheminence of the Son as Mediator of the New Testament above all the Angels from those Attributions of Honour and Glory that are made unto him in the Scriptures the like whereunto are no where made or given unto Angels that he may not appear to argue meerly negatively from what is not said concerning them adds in this last Verse such a description of their Natures and Office or Work and Employment as shews that indeed no such thing can be rightly spoken or affirmed concerning them as he hath before manifested to be spoken and recorded concerning the Son Ver. 14. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã There is no difference in the Reading nor much about the Translation of those words Are they not all ministring Spirits sent out to Minister to unto a Ministry for them that shall inherit salvation This was the common received Doctrine of the Church concerning Angels suitable unto the Scripture and to the purpose of the Apostle as manifesting their dis-interest in the Glory before ascribed unto the Son Sundry things are here expressed concerning Angels which we must briefly pass through the Consideration of As 1. Their Nature They are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ruchoth Spirits Spiritual subsistences not Qualities or Natural Faculties as the Sadduces imagined and which by an Homonomy of the Name Maimonides More Nebuch p. 2. cap. 3. admits also to be Angels but falsly and without Authority from Scripture or Reason This is their Nature this the Hebrews acknowledge so to be they are Created Spirits not to be compared with or equalled unto him that made and created all things 2. Their Office They are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ministring Spirits So are they termed Psal. 103.21 Praise the Lord all his Hosts ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã LXX ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã his Ministers doing his will Hence in general the Jews call them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ministers and among other Titles assign this unto God that he is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Creator of Ministring Spirits or Angels And expresly in the Talmud they are called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as more frequently by the Rabbins in the Hebrew Dialect ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Angels of Ministry above whom that the Messiah was to be we have formerly shewed from themselves Now what kind of Office or Ministry it is that is ascribed unto them the Word it self doth in part declare ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is to Minister principally about holy things Nor is it above once applyed unto any other Ministry And such a Ministry it signifies as is performed with Honour and Ease and is opposed unto ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which is to Minister with Labour and Burden So the Ministry of the Levites in bearing the Burden of the Tabernacle is called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Ministry with Labour Numb 8. When the more easie and honourable Employment which was attended by them who by reason of their Age were exempted from bearing of burdens is called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã v. 16. and Deut. 18.7 Such is the Ministry of Angels It is in and about holy things and unto themselves honourable and easie And this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is rendered ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which expresseth some times such a general Ministry as compâizeth the whole Service and Worship of the Church Acts 13.2 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as they ministred unto the Lord that is attended unto the performance of all the Duties of the Church This then in general is the Office of the Angels they are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ministring Spirits that wait on God in and about his Holy Services for the good of the Church which also in the like manner ministreth unto God in its own state and condition And hence it is that the Church and they do make up one Family Ephes. 4.15 and that they are all fellow-servants in the same Family with them that keep the Testimony of Jesus Rev. 22.9 And this some of the latter Jews have retained the Tradition of Whence is that of Maimonides More Nebuch part 2. cap. 6. which he citeth out of the Talmud ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The holy blessed God dââh nothing unless he consult with his superiour family Only not knowing the rise of the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã nor what it should signifie he tells us ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that in the Greek Tongue it signifies an Host whereas it is purely the Latine familia without the least alteration And the description of this superiour part of the Family of God is given us Dan. 7.10 Thousand thousands did minister unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him In which words Pseudo-Dionysius Gregory and Aquinas with sundry of the School-men have coined a distinction of Angels into ministrantes those that minister unto God and assistentes those that stand before him Whereas the whole intendment of the expression is
person For neither did the Church of the Jews hear the Law as it was pronounced on Horeb by Angels but had it confirmed unto them by the wayes and means of Gods appointment And he doth not say meerly that the Word was taught or preached unto us by them but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã it was confirmed made firm and stedfast being delivered infallibly unto us by the Ministry of the Apostles There was a divine ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã firmness certainty and infallibility in the Apostolical Declaration of the Gospel like that which was in the Writings of the Prophets which Peter comparing with Miracles calls ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a more firm stedfast and sure Word And this Infallible certainty of their word was from their Divine Inspiration Sundry Holy and Learned men from this Expression confirmed unto us wherein they say the Writer of this Epistle placeth himself among the number of those who heard not the word from the Lord himself but only from the Apostles conclude that Paul cannot be the Penman thereof who in sundry places denyeth that he received the Gospel by Instruction from men but by immediate Revelation from God Now because this is the only Pretence which hath any Appearance of Reason for adjudging the writing of this Epistle from him I shall briefly shew the invalidity of it And 1. It is certain that this term U S comprizes and casts the whole under the condition of the generality or major part and cannot receive a particular Distribution unto all Individuals For this Epistle being written before the Destruction of the Temple as we have demonstrated it is impossible to apprehend but that some were then living at Jerusalem who attended unto the Ministry of the Lord himself in the dayes of his flesh and among them was James himself one of the Apostles as before we have made it probable so that nothing can hence be concââdeâ to every individual as though none of them might have heard the Lord ãâ¦ã The Apostle hath evidently a respect unto the foundation of the Church ãâ¦ã at Hierusalem by the preaching of the Apostles immediately after thâ ãâ¦ã of the Holy Ghost upon them Acts 2.3 4 5. which as he was not hââ ãâ¦ã âââed in so he was to mind it unto them as the beginning of their faith and ãâ¦ã 3. Paul himself did not hear the Lord Christ teaching Personally on the earth ãâã he began to reveal the great salvation 4. Nor doth he say that those of whom hââpââks were originally instructed by the Hearers of Christ but only that by them the Word was confirmed unto them and so it was unto Paul himself Gal. 2.1 2. But 5. yet it is apparent that the Apostle useth an ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã placing himself among those unto whom he wrote though not personally concerned in every particular spoken a thing so usual with him that there is scarce any of his Epistles wherein sundry instances of it are not to be found See 1 Cor. 10.8 9. 1 Thess. 4.17 The like is done by Peter 1 Epist. 3.4 Having therefore in this place to take of all suspition of jealousie in his Exhortation to the Hebrews unto Integrity and Constancy in their profession entred his discourse in this Chapter in the same way of expression Therefore ought we as there was no need so there was no place for the change of the persons so as to say you instead of us So that on many accounts there is no ground for this Objection 4. He farther yet describes the Gospel by the Divine Attestation given unto it which also addes to the force of his Argument and Exhortation ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The word is of a double composition denoting a concurring testimony of God a testimony given unto or together with the testimony and witness of the Apostles Of what nature this testimony was and wherein it consisted the next words declare by Signs and Wonders Mighty works and Distributions of the Holy Ghost All which agree in the general nature of works supernatural and in the especial end of attesting to the truth of the Gospel being wrought according to the promise of Christ Matth. 16.17 18. by the ministery of the Apostles Acts 2.3 4. and in especial by that of Paul himself Rom. 15.19 2 Cor. 12.12 But as to their especial differences they are here cast under four heads The first are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Signs that is miraculous works wrought to signifie the presence of God by his power with them that wrought them for the approbation and confirmation of the Doctrine which they taught The second are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Prodigies Wonders works beyond the power of Nature above the Energie of natural causes wrought to fill men with wonder and admiration stirring men up unto a diligent attention to the Doctrine accompanied with them for whereas they surprize men by discovering ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a present divine power they dispose the mind to an embracing of what is confirmed by them Thirdly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã mighty works wherein evidently a mighty power the power of God is exerted in their operation And fourthly ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã gifts of the Holy Ghost enumerated 1 Cor. 12. Ephes. 4.7 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã free gifts freely bestowed called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã divisions or distributions for the reason at large declared by the Apostle 1 Cor. 12.7 8 9 10 11. All which are intimated in the following words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã It is indifferent whether we read ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and refer it to the will of God or of the Holy Ghost himself his own will which the Apostle guides unto 1 Cor. 12.11 As we said before all these agree in the same general nature and kind of miraculous operations the variety of expressions whereby they are set forth relating only unto some different respects of them taken from their especial end and effects The same works were in different respects Signs Wonders Mighty works and Gifts of the Holy Ghost But being effectual unto several ends they received these various denominations In these works consisted the divine attestation of the Doctrine of the Apostles God in and by them giving testimony from heaven by the ministration of his Almighty Power unto the things which were taught and his approbation of the Persons that taught them in their work And this was of especial consideration in dealing with the Hebrews For the delivery of the Law and the ministery of Moses having been accompanied with many signs and prodigies they made great enquiry after signs for the confirmation of the Gospel 1 Cor. 1.22 which though our Lord Jesus Christ neither in his own Person nor by his Apostles would grant unto them in their time and manner to satisfie their wicked and carnal curiosity yet in his own way and season he gave them forth for their conviction or to leave them
âââe and immortality were brought to light by the Gospel so death and hell the punâââment of sin under the wrath of God are more fully declared therein The Nature of the judgment to come the duration of the penalties to be inflicted on unbelievers with such intimations of the nature and kind of them as our understandings are able to receive are fully and frequently insisted on in the New Testament whereas they are very obscurely only gathered out of the Writings of the Old 2. The punishment threatned in the Gospel is as unto degrees greater and more sore than that which was annexed to the meer transgression of the first Covenant Hence the Apostle calls it death unto death 2 Cor. 2.16 by reason of the sore aggravations which the first sentence of death will receive from the wrath due unto the contempt of the Gospel Separation from God under eternal punishment was unquestionably due to the sin of Adam and so consequently unto every transgression against the first Covenant Gen. 2.17 Rom. 5.12 13 14. But yet this hinders not but that the same penalty for the nature and kind of it may receive many and great aggravations upon mens sinning against that great Remedy provided against the first guilt and prevarication which it also doth as shall farther afterwards be declared And this ought they to be well acquainted withall who are called unto the Dispensation of the Gospel A fond conceit hath befallen some that all denunciations of future wrath even unto unbelievers is Legal which therefore it doth not become the Preachers of the Gospel to insist upon so would men make themselves wiser than Jesus Christ and all his Apostles yea they would disarm the Lord Christ and expose him to the contempt of his vilest enemies There is also we see a great use in these Evangelical threatnings unto believers themselves And they have been observed to have had an effectual ministery both unto Conversion and Edification who have been made wise and dextrous in managing Gospel Comminations towards the consciences of their hearers And those also that hear the Word may hence learn their duty when such threatnings are handled and opened unto them II. All punishments annexed unto the transgression either of the Law or Gospel are effects of God's vindictive Justice and consequently just and equal A meet recompence of reward What it is the Apostle doth not declare but he doth that it is just and equal which depends on the Justice of God appointing and designing of it Foolish men have always had tumultuating thoughts about the judgments of God Some have disputed with him about the equity and equality of his ways in judgments temporal Ezek. 18. and some about those that shall be eternal Hence was the vain imagination of them of old who dreamed that an end should be put after some season unto the punishment of Devils and wicked men so turning hell into a kind of Purgatory Others have disputed in our days that there shall be no hell at all but a meer annihilation of ungodly men at the last day These things being so expresly contrary to the Scripture can have no other rise but the corrupt minds and affections of men not conceiving the reasons of God's judgments nor acquiescing in his Sovereignty That which they seem principally to have stumbled at is the assignation of a punishment infinite as to its duration as well as in its nature extended unto the utmost capacity of the subject unto a fault temporary finite and transient Now that we may justifie God herein and the more clearly discern that the punishment inflicted finally on sin is but a meet recompence of reward we must consider First That God's Justice constituting and in the end inflicting the reward of sin is essential unto him Is God unjust saith the Apostle ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Rom. 3.5 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã anger or wrath is not that from whence punishment proceedeth but punishment it self God inflicteth wrath anger or vengeance And therefore when we read of the anger or wrath of God against sin or sinners as Rom. 1.18 the expression is metonymical the cause being designed by the effect The true fountain and cause of the punishment of sin is the Justice of God which is an Essential property of his Nature natural unto him and inseparable from any of his works And this absolutely is the same with his Holiness or the infinite Purity of his Nature So that God doth not assign the punishment of sin arbitrarily that he might do so or otherwise without any impeachment of his Glory but his Justice and his Holiness indispensibly require that it should be punished even as it is indispensibly necessary that God in all things should be just and holy The holy God will do no iniquity the Judge of all the earth will do right and will by no means acquit the guilty This is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the judgement of God that which his Justice requireth that they which commit sin are worthy of death Rom. 1.32 And God cannot but do that which it is just that he should do See 2 Thess. 1.6 We have no more Reason then to quarrel with the Punishment of sin than we have to repine that God is Holy and Just that is that he is God for the one naturally and necessarily followeth upon the other Now there is no Principle of a more uncontrolable and Soveraign Truth written in the hearts of all men than this that what the Nature of God or any of his Essential Properties require to be is holy meet equal just and good Secondly That this Righteousness or Justice of God is in the Exercise of it inseparably accompanied with infinite Wisdom These things are not diverse in God but are distinguished with respect unto the various manners of his actings and the variety of the Objects which he acteth towards and so denote a different Habitude of the Divine Nature not diverse things in God They are therefore inseparable in all the works of God Now from this Infinite Wisdom of God which his Righteousness in the constitution of the punishment of sin is eternally accompanied withal two things ensue 1. That He alone knoweth what is the true desert and demerit of sin and but from his Declaration of creatures not any And how shall we judge of what we know nothing but from him but only by what he doth We see amongst men that the guilt of crimes is aggravated according to the Dignity of the Persons against whom they are committed Now no creature knowing him perfectly against whom all sin is committed none can truly and perfectly know what is the desert and demerit of sin but by his Revelation who is perfectly known unto himself And what a madness is it to judge otherwise of that we do no otherwise understand Shall we make our selves Judges of what sin against God doth deserve Let us first by searching find out the Almighty unto Perfection and then
Gospel asketh them wither they received the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the Word of Faith Chap. 3.2 that is the Gospel That was the Way and means whereby God communicated unto them his Spirit by whom among many other Priviledges we are sealed unto the day of Redemption This is the Covenant of God that his Spirit and the Word of the Gospel shall go and shall abide together with his Elect Isa. 59.1 And he is given unto us by the Gospel on many accounts 1. Because he is the gift and grant of the Author of the Gospel as to all the especial Ends and concernments of salvation John tells us that the Spirit was not given when Jesus was not as yet glorified Chap. 7.39 that is not in that manner as God hath annexed unto this salvation and therefore Peter tells us that when the Lord Christ ascended up on high he received of the Father the Promise of the Spirit and poured him forth on them which did believe Acts 2.33 And this he did according to his own great Promise and Prediction whilest he conversed with his Disciples in the dayes of his flesh There was not any thing that he more supported and encouraged them withal nor more raised their hearts to an Expectation of than this that he would send unto them and bestow upon them the Holy Ghost for many blessed ends and purposes and that to abide with them for ever as we may see Joh. 14.15 16. And this is the great priviledge of the Gospel that the Author of it is alone the donor and bestower of the Holy Spirit which of what concernment it is in the business of our Salvation all men know who have any acquaintance with these things 2. He is promised in the Gospel and therein alone All the Promises of the Scripture whither in the Old Testament or New whose subject is the Spirit are Evangelical they all belong unto and are parts of the Gospel For the Law had no Promise of the Spirit or any Priviledge by him annexed unto it And hence he is called the holy Spirit of promise Ephes. 1.13 Who next unto the Person of Christ was the great subject of Promises from the foundation of the world 3. By these Promises are Believers actually and really made partakers of the Spirit They are vehicula Spiritus the Chariots that bring this holy Spirit into our Souls 2 Pet. 1.4 By these great and precious Promises is the Divine Nature communicated unto us so far forth as unto the indwelling of this blessed Spirit Every Evangelical Promise is unto a Believer but as it were the cloathing of the Spirit in receiving whereof he receives the Spirit himself for some of the blessed Ends of this great salvation God makes use of the Word of the Gospel and of no other means to this purpose So that herein also it is the grace of God that bringeth salvation Thirdly In our Justification And this hath so great a share in this salvation that it is often called salvation it self And they that are justified are said to be saved as Ephes. 2.8 And this is by the Gospel alone which is a point of such importance that it is the main subject of some of Pauls Epistles and is fully taught in them all And in sundry respects it is by the Gospel 1. Because therein and thereby is appointed and constituted the New Law of Justification whereby even a sinner may come to be justified before God The Law of Justification was that he that did the Works of the Law should live in them Rom. 10.5 But this became weak and unprofitable by reason of sin Rom. 8.3 Heb. 8.7 8 9. That any sinner and we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God should be justified by this Law or Rule implyes a contradiction and is utterly impossible Wherefore God by the Gospel hath constituted a new Law of Justification even the Law of faith Rom. 3.27 which is the holy Declaration of his Will and Grace that sinners shall be justified and accepted with him by faith in the blood of Christ without the Works of the Law that he that believeth shall be saved This is equally constituted and appointed in the Law of faith to be proposed unto all that shall believe And on the account hereof the Gospel is salvation 2. Because in every Justification there must be a Righteousness before God on the account whereof the Person to be justified is to be pronounced and declared righteous this is tendered proposed and exhibited unto us in and by the Gospel This is no other but the Lord Christ himself and his Righteousness Isa. 45.21 22. Rom. 8.3 4. Rom. 10.4 2 Cor. 5.21 Gal. 3.13 14. Now Christ with his whole Righteousness and all the benefits thereof are tendered unto us and given unto or bestowed on them that do believe by the Promise of the Gospel Therein is he preached and proposed as crucified before our eyes and we are invited to accept of him which the souls of Believers through the Gospel do accordingly And 3. Faith it self whereby we receive the Lord Christ for all the Ends for which he is tendered unto us and become actually interested in all the fruits and benefits of his Mediation is wrought in us by the Word of the Gospel For as we have declared it is the seed of all Grace whatever and in especial faith cometh by hearing and hearing by this word of God Rom. 10.17 Conviction of sin is by the Law but faith is by the Gospel And this is the Way and means which God hath appointed on our part for the giving us an actual interest in Justification as established in the Law of the Gospel Rom. 5.1 Again 4. The Promise of the Gospel conveyed unto the soul by the Holy Spirit and entertained by faith compleats the justification of a believer in his own conscience and gives him assured Peace with God And then the whole work of this main branch of our salvation is wrought by the Gospel Fourthly There is in this salvation an instruction and growth in spiritual Wisdom and an Acquaintance with the Mysterie of God even of the Father and the Son which also is an Effect of the Gospel Of our selves we are not only dark and ignorant of heavenly things but darkness it self that is utterly blind and incomprehensive of spiritual Divine Mysteries Ephes. 5.8 and so under the Power of darkness Col. 1.13 as that we should no less than the Devils themselves be holden under the chains of it unto the Judgement of the great Day Darkness and ignorance as to the things of God themselves in respect of the Revelation of them and Darkness in the Mind and Understanding of them in a right manner being revealed is upon the whole world And no heart is able to conceive no tongue to express the greatness and misery of this Darkness The removal hereof is a mercy unexpressible the beginning of our entrance into Heaven
the Kingdom of Light and Glory and an especial part of our salvation For God is light and in him there is no darkness at all so that whilest we are under the power of it we can have no entercourse with him For what communion hath light with Darkness Now the removal hereof is by the Gospel 2 Cor. 4.6 God who commands light to shine out of darkness shines in our hearts to give us the knowledge of his Glory in the face of his Son and he doth it by the Illumination of the glorious Gospel of Christ v. 4. For not only is the Object revealed hereby Life and Immortality being brought to light by the Gospel but also the Eyes of our understandings are enlightened by it savingly to discern the Truths by it revealed For by it it is that both the eyes of the blind are opened and light shineth unto them that sit in darkness whence we are said to be called out of darkness into marvelous light 1 Pet. 2.9 And our Calling is no otherwise but by the Word of the Gospel And as the implanting of this heavenly Light in us is by the Word so the growth and encrease of it in spiritual Wisdom is no otherwise wrought 2 Cor. 3.18 Col. 2.2 And this spiritual Acquintance with God in Christ this saving Wisdom in the Mysterie of Grace this holy Knowledge and Understanding of the Mind of God this growing Light and insight into Heavenly things which is begun encreased and carryed on by the Gospel is an especial dawning of that Glory and immortality which this salvation tendeth ultimately unto Fifthly There belongs unto it also that Joy and Consolation which believers are made partakers of by the Holy Ghost in this world Oft times their Tryals are many their troubles great and their temptations abound in the course of their obedience And these things are ready to fill them with Cares Fears Sorrows and Disconsolation Now though our Lord Jesus Christ hath foretold his Disciples of all the tribulations and sorrows that should attend them in this world and taught them to uphold and support their spirits with the thoughts and hopes of the glory that shall be revealed yet in the salvation that he hath purchased for them there is provision of comfort with joy unspeakable and full of glory even during their pilgrimage here below Such joy indeed it is as the world knoweth not nor can know The principles and causes of it its Nature and Effects are all hidden unto them Yet such it is that all the contentments and enjoyments of this world are no way to be compared with it and such do all that have tasted of it esteem it to be Now this also is wrought in us and communicated unto us by the Gospel It is the Word of Promise whereby God gives strong consolation unto the heirs of salvation Heb. 6.17 18. And upon the receiving of this Word by faith it is that Believers rejoyce with unspeakable and full of glory Not only supportment and comfort in the bearing of troubles but glorious Exultations and Extasies of joy are oft-times wrought in the hearts of Believers by the Gospel Now they can endure now they can suffer now they can die joy is upon their heads and in their hearts and sorrow and sighing flie away Here is Rest here is Peace here are Refreshments here are Pleasures here is Life to be desired The good Lord sweeten and season all our hearts with all these Consolations these joys of his Kingdom and that by the blessed Word of his Grace Lastly to instance in no more particulars the Gospel is the Word of Salvation and the instrument in the hand of God for the conferring of it upon Believers because they shall be taken into the full possession and enjoyment of it at the last day by and according unto the word and sentence of it It is the Symbol and Tessera that gives men final admission into glory The secrets of all hearts shall be judged according to the Gospel Rom. 2.6 And by the word of it shall the Elect receive their Crown And in these respects is the Gospel a word of salvation But secondly it is said in our Proposition as in the Text to be great salvation Now we have seen that the Gospel is called salvation metonymically the Cause being called by the name of the Effect But in this adjunct of Great so great the Effect it self Salvation it self preached and tendred by the Gospel is principally intended That then in the next place we are to declare namely that this Salvation preached in the Gospel is great salvation Neither is it absolutely said to be great salvation but such or so great salvation And it is usual in the Scripture where it would suggest unto our minds and thoughts an inconceivable greatness to use some such expressions as plainly intimate somewhat more than can be expressed See 1 Pet. 4.17 18. Heb. 10.29 Joh. 3.16 So great that is absolutely so and comparatively so with respect unto the benefits received by the Law and inconceivably so beyond what we can conceive or express There ought then to be no expectation that we should declare the real greatness of this salvation which the Apostle intimates to be inexpressible we shall only point at some of those considerations wherein the greatness of it doth most principally consist and appear First it is great in the Eternal contrivance of it When sin had defaced the glory of the first Creation and the Honour of God seemed to be at a stand no way remaining to carry it on unto that End which all things at first tended unto all Creatures were and for ever would have been ignorant of a way for the retrievment of things into the former or a better Order or the bringing forth a salvation for that which was lost For besides that there were such horrible confusions and such inextricable intanglements brought upon the Creation and the several parts of it which none could discern how they might be joynted and set in order again there appeared a repugnancy in the very properties of the Divine Nature unto any relief or salvation of sinners Let sinners be saved and what shall become of the Justice Holiness and Wrath of God all which are engaged to see a meet recompence of reward rendred unto every transgression And this was enough eternally to silence the whole Creation by reason of that indispensible Obligation which is on them always and in all things to prefer the Honour and Glory of their Maker before the Being or well-being of any creatures what ever Should the holy Angels have set upon a contrivance for the salvation of sinners upon the first discovery that it would interfere and clash with the Glory of God as every contrivance of Wisdom finite and limited would have done undoubtedly yea rise up against his very Blessedness and Being they would instantly have cast it from them as an abominable thing and have rested eternally in
the Contemplation of his Excellencies for which end they were created Here therefore infinite Wisdom infinite Grace infinite Goodness and infinite Holiness discover themselves in that contrivance of salvation which solves all those difficulties and seeming contradictions keeps entire the Glory of God's Attributes repairs the Honour lost by sin and reduceth the whole Creation into a new Order and subserviency to the Glory of its Maker Hence this great Projection and design is called the Wisdom of God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as that wherein he was pleased principally to lay open the fountain and spring of his eternal Wisdom Rom. 11.33 1 Cor. 1.24 And not only so but the manifold wisdom of God Ephes. 3.10 That is infinite Wisdom exerting it self in great and unspeakable variety of means and ways for the accomplishment of the end designed Yea all the Treasures of wisdom are said to be laid out in this matter and laid up in Christ Jesus Col. 2.3 As if he had said that the whole store of infinite wisdom was laid out herein And thus though God made all things in wisdom yet that which he principally proposeth unto our consideration in the creation of all things is his Sovereign Will and Pleasure joyned with infinite Power For his will or pleasure were all things created Rev. 5.11 But in this work of contriving the salvation of sinners he minds us of the counsel of his will Ephes. 1.11 that is the infinite wisdom wherewith the Holy Acts of his Will concerning it were accompanied And the mystery of his good pleasure wherein he designed to gather up all things into one head by Jesus Christ verse 10. Certainly the product of infinite and eternal Wisdom of the Counsel of the Will of the most Holy wherein the Treasures of it were laidout with a design to display it in manifold variety must needs be Great very Great so great as cannot be conceived or expressed Might we here stay to contemplate and admire in our dim and dawning light in our weakness according to the meanness of our apprehensions of the reflections of it in the Glass of the Gospel the Eternity of this contrivance the transactions between Father and Son about it the Retrievment of the lost Glory of God by sin and ruined creation in it the security of the Holiness Righteousness Veracity and Vindictive Justice of God provided for in it with the abundant overflowings of Grace Goodness Love Mercy and Patience that are the life of it we might manifest that there is enough in this Fountain to render the streams flowing from it great and glorious And yet alass what a little what a small portion of its Glory Excellency Beauty Riches is it that we are able in this world to attain unto How weak and mean are the conceptions and thoughts of little children about the designs and counsels of the wise men of the earth and yet there is a Proportion between the Understandings of the one and the other but there is none at all between ours and the infinite depths of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God which are laid out in this matter we think as children we speak as children we see darkly as in a glass and the best acting of our faith in this business is humble Admiration and holy Thankfulness Now certainly it is not in the capacity of a creature to cast greater contempt on God than to suppose he would set all his glorious Properties on work and draw forth all the Treasures of his Wisdom to produce or effect that which should be low mean not every way admirable And yet unto that height of impiety hath unbelief arrived amongst many of them unto whom theGospel is and hath been preached as to reject and contemn the whole mystery of it as meer folly as an empty notion fit to be neglected and despised So hath the god of this world blinded the eyes of men that the light of the glorious Gospel should not shine into their minds But when God shall come to be admired in all them thatbelieve on the account of this design of his Grace and Wisdom they will with astonishment see the glory of it in others when it shall be too late for to obtain any benefit by it unto themselves Secondly The Salvation preached in the Gospel is Great upon the account of the way and means whereby it was wrought and accomplished or the great effect of the infinite Wisdom and Grace of God in the Incarnation Mediation and Suffering of his Son Thus was it wrought and no otherwise could it be effected We were not redeemed with silver and gold and corruptible things 1 Pet. 1.18 No such price would be accepted with God Salvation is more precious than to be so purchased Psal. 49.6 7. But it may be it might be effected and brought about by the Law which was God's own Institution either its Precepts or its Sacrifices might effect this work and Salvation may be attained by the works of the Law But yet neither will this suffice For the Law is weak and insufficient as to any such purpose Rom. 8.23 nor would the Sacrifices of it be accepted unto that end Heb. 10.7 8. How then shall it be wrought is there none worthy in heaven or earth to undertake this work and must it cease for ever No the Eternal Son of God himself the Word Power and Wisdom of the Father the brightness of his Glory and the express image of his Person he hath undertaken this work This renders it Great and glorious that the Son of God in his own Person should perform it it must assuredly be great salvation which he came himself to work out And how doth he do it by the mighty word of hispower as he made all things of old No this work is of another nature and in another manner must be accomplished For 1. To this purpose he must be Incarnate made flesh Joh. 1.14 made of a Woman Gal. 4.4 Though hewere in the form of God and equal to God yet he was to humble and empty himself unto and in the form of a man Phil. 2.6 7. This is that great mystery of godliness God manifested in the flesh that the Angels desire to look into That the Son of God should take the Nature of Man into subsistence with himself in the same Person which was necessary for the effecting of this salvation is a thing that the whole Creation must admire unto Eternity And yet this is but an entrance into this work For 2. In this Nature he must be made under theLaw Gal. 4.4 obnoxious to the commands of it and boundto the obedience which it required It became him to fulfillall righteousness that he might be our Saviour for though he were a Son yet he was to learn and yield obedience Without his perfect obedience unto the Law our salvation could not be perfected The Son of God must obey that we may be accepted and crowned The difficulties also temptations and
from the beginning of the world unto the end of it think otherwise and will glorifie Godto eternity for the righteousness of his judgments on them thatobey not the Gospel But Secondly Suppose the destruction of these persons be in itself righteous yet there may be some remedy and relief provided for them that they maynot actually fall under it there may yet some way of escape remain for them and so their ruine not be so unavoidable as is pretended It hath been shewed that itwas a righteous thing that the transgressors of the Law should perish and yet a way of escape is providedfor them God is merciful and things may be found atthe last day otherwise than now they are reported at least allthat Faith Diligence Obedience and Holiness which is spoken of is not required to free men from being neglecters of the Gospel so that they who come short of them may nevertheless escape I answer that we are not now discoursing of the Nature of that Faith and Obedience which is required tointerest men in Gospel salvation But certain it is that it will be found to be that which the Word requires and no other even that faith which purifieth the heart that faith which reformeth the life that faith which is fruitful in good works that faith which bringeth forth universal Holiness without which no man shall see God A faith consisting with the love and service of sin with neglect of Gospel duties with conformity to the Word with a sensual profane or wicked life will stand men in no stead in this matter But this is not the subject of our present discourse It may suffice in general that the Faith and Obedience which the Gospel requireth are indispensably necessary to free men from being Gospel despisers what they are is all our concernment to enquire and learn for where they are wanting there is no relief nor remedy what ever wind and ashes of vain hopes men may feed upon and deceive themselves withall It is true there was a remedy provided for the transgression of the Law and this remedy was 1. Reasonable in that there was no mixture of mercy or grace in that dispensation And God saw meet to glorifie those properties of his Nature as well as those which before shone forth in the Creation of all things and giving of the Law Pardoning mercy was not sinned against in the breach of the Law and therefore that might interpose for a relief which was done accordingly And yet 2. Neither would this have been either reasonable or righteous if that only and last way of satisfying the Righteousness and the Law by the sufferings and Sacrifice of the Son of God had not intervened Without this Mercy and Grace must have eternally rested in the bosome of God without the least exercise of them as we see they are in respect unto the Angels that sinned whose Nature the Son of God assumed not thereby to relieve them And 3. This relief was declared immediately upon the entrance of sin and the promises of it renewed continually until it waswrought and accomplished And hereby it became the subject of the whole Book of God and the principal matter of all entercourse between God and sinners But all these things fully discover that there neither is nor can any relief be provided for them that sin against the Gospel For 1. From what spring what fountain should it proceed Mercy and Grace are principally sinned against in it and their whole design of it therein defeated The utmost of mercy and grace is already sinned against and what remaineth now for the relief of a sinner Is there any other Propertie of the Divine Nature whose consideration will administer unto men any ground of hope Is there any thing in the Name of God in that Revelation that he hath made of himself by his Works or in his Word to give them encouragement Doubtless nothing at all But yet suppose that God had not laid out all the riches and treasures of his Wisdom Grace Love and Goodness in Gospel salvation by Jesus Christ which yet he affirmeth that he hath suppose that in Infinite Mercy there were yet a reserve for pardon by what way and means 2. Should it be brought forth and made effectual We have seen that God neither would nor could ever have exercised pardoning mercy towards sinners had not way been made for it by the Bloud of his Son what then Shall Christ die again that the despisers of the Gospel may be saved Why besides that the Scripture affirms positively that henceforth he dieth no more and that there is no more sacrifice for sin this is the most unreasonable thing that can be imagined Shall he die again for them by whom his death hath been despised Is the Bloud of Christ such a common thing as to be so cast away upon the lusts of men Besides when should he make an end of dying They who have once neglected the Gospel may do so upon a second trial nay undoubtedly would do so and thence should Christ often die often be offered and all still in vain Neither hath God any other Son to send to die for sinners he sent his only begotten Son once for all and he that believeth not on him must perish for ever In vain then will all mens expectations be from such a mercy as there is nothing to open a door unto nor to make way for its exercise Nay this mercy is a meer figment of secure sinners there is no such thing in God All the mercy and grace that God hath for his creatures is engaged in Gospel salvation and if that be despised in vain shall men look for any other Neither 3. Is there any word spoken concerning any such relief or remedy for Gospel neglecters Pardon being provided for transgressions of the Law instantly it is promised and the whole Scripture is written for the manifestation of it but as for a provision of mercy for them that despise theGospel where is any one word recorded concerning it Nay doth not the Scripture in all places fully and plainly witness against it He that believeth not shall be damned There remains no more sacrifice for sin He that believeth not the wrath of God abideth on him And will men yet feed themselves with hopes of mercy whilst they neglect the Gospel Well fare them who being not able to retrieve secure sinners against this light and evidence of the want of any relief reielved for them have carried the whole matter behind the curtain and invented a Purgatory for them to help them when they are gone from hence and cannot return to complain of them by whom they are deceived But this also as all other reliefs will prove a broken reed to them that lean on it for they who neglect the Gospel must perish and that eternally for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it Thirdly Then all hopes of escaping must arise from hence That he whose right it is
This term therefore of visiting doth not precisely design Gods acting in the Exaltation of him visited but such an ordering of things towards him as is attended with great Care Grace and Love So was the nature of man in the Heart of God to do good unto it in and by the Person of Jesus Christ and so he acted towards it or visited it This is that which was the ground of the Psalmists admiration and which will be so in all believers unto Eternity It was not the outward state and condition of mankind in the world which since the entrance of sin is sad and deplorable that excites this admiration in the Psalmist But his mind is intent upon the Mysterie of the Grace Wisdom and Love of God in the Person of the Messiah Verse VII SEcondly The especial instances wherein this Visitation of God expressed it self are contained in ver 7. and therein referred unto two Heads 1. Mans Depression and Humiliation 2. His Exaltation and Glory The first is expressed in these words Thou hast made him lower for a little while than the Angels This was a part of Gods Visitation and though not that which was immediately intended by the Apostle yet that whereof he intends to make great use in his Progress That these words intend not the Exaltation of the nature of meer man as if they should intimate that such is his Dignity that he is made but a little less than Angels and how destructive that sense is unto the Apostles Intention and Application of the words we shall afterwards declare Three things are here expressed 1. The Act of God in making of him low or lessening of him 2. The measure of that Depression than the Angels 3. His duration in that State and Condition a little while First ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Word used by the Psalmist is rendered by the Apostle ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and that properly They both signifie a Diminution of State and Condition a depression of any one from what he before enjoyed And this in the first place belongs unto Gods Visitation And the acting of the Will of Christ in this matter suitably unto the Will of the Father is expressed by words of the same importance ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he emptied himself and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã he humbled himself Phil. 2.7 8. denoting a voluntary depression from the glory of a former State and Condition In this Humiliation of Christ in our nature how much of that Care and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Inspection and Visitation of God was contained is known Secondly The measure of this Humiliation and Depression is expressed in reference unto Angels with whom he is now compared by the Apostle he was made less than the Angels This the Hebrews had seen and knew and might from his Humiliation raise an Objection against what the Apostle asserted about his Preference above them Wherefore he acknowledgeth that he was made less than they shews that it was foretold that so he should be and in his following Discourse gives the Reasons why it was so to be And he speaks not of the Humiliation of Christ absolutely which was far greater than here it is expressed by him as he afterwards declares but only with respect unto Angels with whom he compares him and it is therefore sufficient to his purpose at present to shew that he was made lower than they ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Hierom renders the word in the Psalm à Deo then God and Faher Stapulensis had a long contest with Erasmus to prove that they should be so rendered in this place which is plainly to contradict the Apostle and to accuse him of corrupting the word of God Besides the sense contended for by him and others is absurd and foolish namely that the Humane Nature of Christ was made little lâss than God and humbled that it might be so when it was infinitely less than the Divine Nature as being created The LXX and all old Greek Translations read Angels That Elohim is often used to denote them we have proved before The Targum hath ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Angels And the scope of the place necessarily requires that sense of the word God then in his Visitation of the nature of man in the Person of his Son put it and therein him that was invested in it into a condition of wants and streights and humbled him beneath the condition of Angels for the blessed Ends afterwards declared For although from his Incarnation and Birth the Angels adored his Person as their Lord yet in the outward condition of his Humane Nature he was made exceedingly beneath that state of Glory and Excellency which the Angels are in a constant Enjoyment of Thirdly There is a space of time a Duration intended for this condition He made him lower ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for a little while or a short season That ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is often used in that sense and that that is the proper notation of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã we have shewed before But that which renders that sense of the words here unquestionable is the Apostles precise restraining them thereunto in v. 9. as we shall see It was but for a little while that the Person of Christ in the Nature of man was brought into a condition more indigent than the state of Angels is exposed unto Neither was he for that season made a little but very much lower than the Angels And had this been the whole of his state it could not have been an Effect of that inexpressible Love and Care which the Psalmist so admires But being it is but for a little continuance and that for the blessed Ends which the Apostle declares nothing can more commend them unto us Secondly There is another Effect of Gods Visitation of man in his Exaltation expressed 1. In the Dignity whereunto he advanced him and 2. In the Rule and Domion that he gave unto him For the first He crowned him with Glory and Honour ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is insigne regium the badge and token of Supream and Kingly Power Hence when David complains of the straightning and Diminution of his Power or Rule he says his Crown was profaned unto the ground Psal. 89.39 That is made contemptible and trampled on To be crowned then is to be invested with Soveraign Power or with Right and Title thereunto as it was with Solomon who was crowned during the life of his Father Nor is it an ordinary Crown that is intended but one accompanied with Glory and Honour To be crowned with Glory and Honour is to have a glorious and honourable Crown or Rule and Soveraignty ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The first denotes the Weight of this Crown ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a weight of glory from ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to be heavy ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a weight of glory as the Apostle speaks in Allusion to the Primitive signification of this word 2 Cor. 4.17 The other its
that Rest and Satisfaction in them which he had not in himself before for that which is Infinite must necessarily and unavoidably give eternal satisfaction unto that which is Infinite but only by a most free Act of his Will he chose by the Creation of all things to express somewhat of his Power Wisdom and Goodness in something without himself Absolutely he was self-sufficient from all Eternity and that both as to Rest Satisfaction and Blessedness in himself as also in respect of any Operation as to outward Works which his Will and Wisdom should encline him unto being every way able and powerful in and from himself to do what ever he pleaseth And this infinite satisfaction and complacency of God in himself arising from that fulness of Divine Being which is in all the Properties of his Nature is another Object of our holy Admiration and Adoration This God was this God did before the world was created Now what is man that this every way all-sufficient God should mind regard and visit him Hath he any need of him or his services Doth his Goodness extend to him Can he profit God as a man profiteth his neighbour If he sin what doth he against him Or if his transgressions be multiplied what doth he against him That is to his disadvantage If he be righteous what giveth he unto him or what receiveth he at his hand Job 35.6 7. Nothing but Infinite Condescension and Grace is the fountain of all Gods regard unto us Thirdly His Infinite and Eternal Power is by the same means manifested This the Apostle expresly affirms Rom. 1.20 He that made all these things of nothing and therefore can also make and create in like manner what ever else besides he pleaseth must needs be infinite in power or as he is called the Lord God Omnipotent Rev. 19.6 This himself sets forth in general Isa. 40.28 And to convince Job hereof he treats with him in particular instances about some few of his fellow creatures here below in the Earth and in the Waters Chap. 38.39 And if the Power of God in making this or that creature which we see and behold be so admirable declaring his Soveraignty and the infinite distance of man from him in his best condition how glorious is it in the whole Vniverse and in the creation of all things visible and invisible and that by a secret Emanation of Omnipotency in a Word of Command The Art of man will go far in the framing fashioning and ordering of things but there are two things in the least of the creatures of God that make the creating Energie that is seen in them infinitely to differ from all limited and finite power First That they are brought out of nothing now let all Creatures combine their Strength and Wisdom together unless they have some praeexistent matter to work upon they can produce nothing effect nothing Secondly To many of his creatures of the least of them God hath given life and spontaneous motions to all of them an especial inclination and operation following inseparably the Principles of their Nature But as all created Power can give neither life nor spontaneous motion nor growth to any thing no more can it plant in any thing a new natural principle that should encline it unto a new kind of Operation which was not originally connatural unto it There is a peculiar impress of Omnipotency upon all the works of God as he declares at large in that Discourse with Job Chap. 38.39 And this Power is no less effectual nor less evident in his sustentation and preservation of all things than in his creation of them Things do no more subsist by themselves than they were made by themselves He sustaineth all things by the word of his power Heb. 1.3 And by him all things consist Col. 1.17 He hath not made the World and then turned it off his hand to stand on its own bottom and shift for it self But there is continually every moment an emanation of Power from God unto every creature the greatest the least the meanest to preserve them in their Being and Order which if it were suspended but for one moment they would all lose their station and being and by confusion be reduced into nothing In him we live and move and have our being Acts 7.28 and He giveth unto all life and breath and all things verse 25. God needs not put forth any act of his Power to destroy the Creation the very suspension of that constant emanation of Omnipotency which is necessary unto its subsistence would be sufficient for that end and purpose And who can admire as he ought this Power of God which is greater in every particular grass of the field than we are able to search into or comprehend And what is man that he should be mindful of him Fourthly His Wisdom also shines forth in these works of his hands In wisdom hath he made them all Psal. 104.24 So also 136.5 his Power was that which gave all things their Being but his Wisdom gave them their Order beauty and use How admirable this is how incomprehensible it is unto us Zophar declares in Job chap. 11. verse 6 7 8 9 10. The secrets of this Wisdom are double unto what may be known of it infinitely more than we can attain to the knowledge of Searching will not do it it is absolutely incomprehensible He that can take but a little weak faint consideration of the glorious Disposition of the Heavenly Bodies their Order Course Respect to each other their usefulness and influences their disposition and connexion of Causes and Effects here below the orderly concurrence and subserviency of every thing in its place and operation to the consistency use and beauty of the Vniverse will be forced to cry out with the Psalmist O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all the earth is full of thy riches But alas what can the best and wisest of men attain unto in the investigation of the Wisdom of God There is not the least creature but considered apart by it self hath somewhat belonging unto it that will bring them unto wonder and astonishment And what shall we say concerning the most glorious concerning the Order of them all unto one another and the whole there must all mens considerations end and among them this of ours Fifthly His Goodness is in like manner manifest in these things There is in the whole and every part of God's Creation a four-fold goodness 1. A goodness of being and subsistence That which is so far forth as it is is good So God saw all things as he made them that they were good The very being of every thing is its first goodness on which all other concernments of it do depend And this ariseth from hence because thereby and therein it participates of the first absolute Goodness which is Being whereunto a nothingness if I may so speak is negatively opposed ad infinitum 2. A
integrity who how he can be called the Son of man I know not besides how was his Honour not to be thought of or mentioned without the remembrance of his sin and shameful fall such a cause of rejoycing and Exaltation unto the Psalmist Some man in his corrupted condition which how far he is from the things here mentioned need not be declared Can we suppose the Apostle would prove the subjection of the world to come unto Christ by a Testimony principally respecting them who have no interest in it Some believers as restored in Christ which is true consequentially and in respect of Participation Rev. 2.26 27. but not antecedently unto the investiture of the Honour that they are made partakers of in the Person of Christ. Besides which is the great absurdity of this Interpretation they all affirm that the same words are used to express and confirm things directly contrary and adverse unto one another For those words in the Psalmist Thou hast made him little less than the Angels they would have to signifie the Exaltation of man in his Creation being made nigh unto and little less than Angels and in the Application of them by the Apostle unto Christ they acknowledge that they denote depression minoration humiliation or exinanition How the same words in the same place can express contrary things prove the exaltation of one and the depression of another is very hard if not impossible to be understood Besides they are compelled to interpret the same phrase in divers senses as well as the same sentence in contrary for those words in the Psalmist ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as applyed unto man they make to denote quantity or quality as unto Christ time or duration which that in the same place they cannot do both is needless to prove But as we said our Exposition is wholly free from these entanglements answering the words of the Psalmist suited to the words and Context of the Apostle throughout Schliclingius or Crellius in his Comment on these words would faign lay hold of an objection against the Deity of Christ p. 112. Hinc videmus saith he cum D. Author adeò sollicitè laboret Scripturae dictis pugnet eum qui Angelis suerit ratione naturae minor nempe Christum debuisse suprema gloria bânore coronari angelosque dignitate longè superare nec ipsi Authori nec cuipiam Christianorum ad quos scribit divinae praeter humanam in Christo naturae in mentem venisse nam si hanc in Christo agnovissent nullo negotio etiam Christum Angelis longé praestare naturamque humanam ei minime obstare vidissent quid quaeso tanto molimine tantoque argumentorum apparatu ad rem omnibus apertissimam persuadendam opus fuisset Quid argumentis aliunde conquisiâs laborat author cum uno ictu unica naturae istius divinae mentione rem totam conficere potuisset The whole ground of this fallacy lyes in a supposition that the Apostle treateth of the Person of Christ absolutely and in himself considered which is evidently false he speaks of him in respect of the Office he underwent as the Mediator of the New Covenant in which respect he was both made less than the Angels not only on the account of his nature but of the Condition wherein he discharged his Duty and also made or exalted above them by grant from his Father whereas in his Divine Nature he was absolutely and infinitely so from the instant of the creation And whereas those to whom he wrote did hear that he was in the discharge of his Office for a little while made much lower than the Angels it was not in vain for him to prove by Arguments and Testimonies that in the Execution of the same Office he was also exalted above them that part of his work being finished for which he was made lower than they for a season And most needful it was for him so to do in respect of the Hebrews who boasting in the Ministry of Angels in the giving of the Law were to be convinced of the Excellency of the Author of the Gospel as such in the discharge of his work above them And the express mention of his Divine Nature was in this place altogether needless and improper nor would it have proved the thing that he intended for how easie had it been for the Jews to have replyed that notwithstanding that they saw in how low an outward condition he ministred upon the earth and therefore that would not prove his Exaltation above Angels in the discharge of his Office seeing notwithstanding that he was evidently made lower than they in that Office It would also have been improper for him in this place to have made any mention thereof seeing the proof of the Excellency of his Person absolutely considered was nothing unto the business he had now in hand And it was likewise every way needless he having so abundantly proved and vindicated his Divine Nature in the Chapter foregoing Now to take an Argument against a thing from the Apostles silence of it in one place where the mention of it was improper useless and needless he having fully expressed the same matter elsewhere yea but newly before is an evidence of a bad or barren cause Of the like importance is that which he afterwards adds p. 15. Quemadmodum autem Jesus homo verus naturali conditione caeteris hominibus fimilis esse debuit neque enim eorum Servator est qui natura dii sunt homines sed hominum tantum For we shall demonstrate that it was needful he should have a Divine Nature who was to suffer and to save them who had only an humane And if this man had acknowledged that End and Effect of his suffering without which we know it would have been of no advantage unto them for whom he suffered he also would believe the same We say not any thing of the sense of the Jews on this place of the Psalmist They seem wholly to have lost the design of the Holy Ghost in it and therefore in their accustomed manner to embrace fables and trifles The Talmudists ascribe those words what is man unto some of the Angels expressing their envy and Indignation at his honour upon his first Creation The latter Doctors as Kimchi and Aben Ezra make Application of it unto man in general wherein they are followed by too many Christians unto whom the Apostle had been a better guide But we may here also see what is farther tendered unto us for our Instruction As I. The Respect Care Love and Grace of God unto mankind expressed in the Person and Mediation of Jesus Christ is a matter of singular and eternal Admiration We have before shewed from the words of the Psalmist that such in general is the Condescension of God to have any regard of man considering the infinite Excellency of the Property of his nature as manifested in his great and glorious Works That now proposed
Person in respect of his Divine Nature wherein he is and was God over all blessed for ever He did not so become man as to cease to be God Though he drew a vail over his infinite Glory yet he parted not with it He who calls us Brethren who suffered for us who died for us was God still in all these things The condescension of Christ in this respect the Apostle in an especial manner insists upon and improves Phil. 2.5 6 7 8 9 10 11. That he who in himself is thus over all eternally blessed holy powerful should take us poor worms of the earth into this Relation with himself and avow us for his brethren as it is not easie to be believed so it is for ever to be admired And these are some of the heads of that distance which is between Christ and us Notwithstanding his participation of the same nature with us yet such was his love unto us such his constancy in the pursuit of the design and purpose of his Father in bringing many sons unto glory that he over-looks as it were them all and is not ashamed to call us brethren And if he will do this because he is of one with us because a foundation of this relation is laid in his participation of our nature how much more will he continue so to do when he hath perfected this Relation by the communication of his Spirit And this is a ground of unspeakable consolation unto Believers with supportment in every condition No unworthiness in them no misery upon them shall ever hinder the Lord Christ from owning them and open avowing them to be his Brethren He is a Brother born for the day of trouble a Redeemer for the fâiendless and fatherless Let their miseries be what they will he will be ashamed of none but of them who are ashamed of him and his ways when persecuted and reproached A little while will clear up great mistakes all the world shall see at the last day whom Christ will own and it will be a great surprisal when men shall hear him call them brethren whom they hate and esteem as the off-scouring of all things He doth it indeed already by his Word but they will not attend thereunto But at the last day they shall both see and hear whether they will or no. And herein I say lies the great consolation of Believers The world rejects them it may be their own Relations despise them they are persecuted hated reproached but the Lord Christ is not ashamed of them He will not pass by them because they are poor and in rags it may be reckoned as he himself was for them among malefactors They may see also the Wisdom Grace and Love of God in this matter His great design in the Incarnation of his Son was to bring him into that condition wherein he might naturally care for them as their Brother that he might not be ashamed of them but be sensible of their wants their state and condition in all things and so be always ready and meet to relieve them Let the World now take its course and the men thereof do their worst let Sathan rage and the powers of hell be stirred up against them let them load them with reproaches and scorn and cover them all over with the filth and dirt of their false imputations let them bring them into rags into dungeons unto death Christ comes in the midst of all this confusion and says Surely these are my Brethren the children of my Father and he becomes their Saviour And this is a stable foundation of comfort and supportment in every condition And are we not taught our duty also herein namely not to be ashamed of him or his Gospel or any one that bears his image The Lord Christ is now himself in that condition that even the worst of men esteem it an honour to own him when indeed they are no less ashamed of him than they would have been when he was carrying his Cross upon his shoulders or hanging upon the tree For every thing that he hath in this world they are ashamed his Gospel his Ways his Worship his Spirit his Saints they are all of them the objects of their scorn and in these things it is that the Lord Christ may be truly honoured or be despised For those thoughts which men have of his present glory abstracting from these things he is not concerned in them they are all exercised about an imaginary Christ that is inconcerned in the Word and Spirit of the Lord Jesus These are the things when we are not to be ashamed of him See Rom. 1.16 2 Tim. 1.16 chap. 4.16 That which remaineth of these Verses consisteth in the testimonies which the Apostle produceth out of the Old Testament in the confirmation of what he had taught and asserted And two things are to be considered concerning them the end for which they are produced and the especial importance of the words contained in them The first he mentions is from Psal. 22.22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation will I sing praise unto thee The end why the Apostle produceth this testimony is to confirm what he had said immediately before namely that with respect unto his being one with the children Christ owns them for his brethren for this he doth expresly in this place And we are to take notice that the Apostle in the use of these testimonies doth not observe any order so that one of them should confirm one part and another part of his assertion in the order wherein he had laid them down it sufficeth him that his whole intendment in all the parts of it is confirmed in and by them all one having a more especial respect unto one part than another In this first it is clear that he proves what he had immediately before affirmed namely that the Lord Christ owns the children for his brethren because of their common interest in the same nature And there needs nothing to evince the pertinency of this testimony but only to shew that it is the Messiah which speaketh in that Psalm and whose words these are which we have done fully already in our Prolegomena For the Explication of the words themselves we may consider the two-fold Acâor Duty that the Lord Christ takes upon himself in them first that he will declare the Name of God unto his brethren and secondly that he would celebrate him with praises in the congregation In the former we must enquire what is meant by the Name of God and then how it is or was declared by Jesus Christ. This expression the Name of God is variously used Sometimes it denotes the Being of God God himself sometimes his Attributes his Excellencies or Divine Perfections some one or more of them As it is proposed unto sinners as an object for their Faith Trust and Love it denotes in an especial manner his Love Grace and Goodness that in himself he
ãâã ãâã ãâã v. 17. every way like Here it is restrained by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the same that is flesh and blood Humane Nature as to the Humane Nature he was every way as the children ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Partem habuit particeps erat he took part And in the use of this Word the Dative Case of the Person is still understood and sometimes expressed So Plato ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that he might share or partake in the same acts with them And it is here also understood That he might partake with them of flesh and blood And the Apostle purposely changeth the word from that which he had before used concerning the children ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they had Humane Nature in common they were men and that was all having no Existence but in and by that nature Concerning him he had before proved that he had a Divine Nature on the account whereof he was more excellent than the Angels And here he sayes of him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Existing in his Divine Nature he moreover took part of that nature with them which makes a difference between their Persons though as to Humane Nature they were every way alike and this removes the exception of Schlictingius or Crellius that he is no more said to be incarnate than the children That by death ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This word is peculiar to Paul He useth it almost in all his Epistles and that frequently Elsewhere it occurs but once in the New Testament Luke 13.17 and that in a sense whereunto by him it is not applyed That which he usually intends in this word is to make a thing or person to cease as to its present condition and not to be what it was So Rom. 3.3 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã shall their unbelief make the faith of God of none effect cause it to cease render the promise useless And v. 31. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã do we make the Law void by faith take away its use and End Chap. 4.14 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the promise is made ineffectual Chap. 7.2 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã If her husband is dead she is freed from the Law The Law of the Husband hath no more power over her So v. 6. 1 Cor. 13.8 10 11. Chap. 15.24 26. 2 Cor. 3.10 13. Gal. 3.17 Chap. 5.4 11. Ephes. 2.15 The Intention of the Apostle in this word is the making of any thing to cease or to be void as to its former Power and Efficacy not to remove annihilate or destroy the Essence or Being of it And the Expression here used is to the same purpose with that in Psalm 8.2 ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to quiet or make to cease the enemy and self-avenger ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is properly vis robur potentia Force Strength Power like that of Arms or Armies in battle And sometimes it is used for Rule Empire and Authority ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is to be in Place of Power and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is to be able to dispose of what it relates unto And in both senses we shall see that the Devil is said to have ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the power of death Now there is not any notion under which the Devil is more known unto or spoken of among the Jews than this of his having the power of death his common appellation among them is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Angel of death And they call him Samael also So the Targum of Jonathan ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Gen. 3.6 And the woman saw Samael the Angel of death And Maimon More Nebu. lib. 2. cap. 30. tells us from the Midrash that Samael rode upon the Serpent when he deceived Eve that is used him as his instrument in that work And most of them acknowledge Sathan to be principally intended in the temptation of Eve though Aben Ezra deny it in his Comment on the words and dispute against it And he addes that by Samael the Angel of death they understand Sathan which he proves from the words of their wise men who say in some places that Sathan would have hindred Abraham from sacrificing of Isaac and in others that Samael would have done it which proves that it is one and the same who by both names is intended And hence they usually call him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the wicked Samael the Prince of all the devils and say of him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Samael brought death upon all the world So that by this Samael or Angel of death it is evident that they intend him who is termed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as the Prince and Ruler of the rest So also they speak expresly in Baba Bathra distinc Hashatephir ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Rabbi Simeon said the same is Sathan and the Angel of death and the evil figment that is the cause and author of it And they call him the Angel of death on many accounts the consideration whereof may give us some light into the reason of the Expression here used by the Apostle The first is that before mentioned namely that by his means death entred and came upon all the world His temptation was the first occasion of death and for that reason is he termed by our Saviour ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Joh. 8.44 a murtherer from the beginning And herein he had the power of death prevailing to render all mankind obnoxious to the sentence and stroke of it Secondly Because he is employed in great and signal Judgments to inflict death on men He is the head of those ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã evil Angels who slew the Aegyptians Psal. 78 49. So in Psal. 91.5 those words Thou shalt not fear ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from the arrow that flieth by day are rendred by the Targum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from the arrow of the Angel of death which he shooteth by day And in the next verse those words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from the destruction that wasteth at noon day they render ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã from the troop of devils that walk at noon-day the Psalmist treating of great and sudden destructions which they affirm to be all wrought by Sathan and thence the Hellenists also render the latter place by ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the devil at noon-day wherein they are followed by the Vulgar Latine Arabick and Aethiopick Translations And this the Apostle seems to allude unto 1 Cor. 10.10 where he says that those who murmured in the wilderness were destroyed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the destroyer ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the destroying Angel or the Angel of death as in this Epistle he terms him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã chap. 11.28 And it may be this is he who is called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Job 18.13 the first-born of death or he that hath right unto the administration of it They term him also ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã
Attonement required and the matter was rolled on his hand alone it was a Joy unto him that he had Body prepared wherein he might discharge his work although he knew what he had to do and suffer therein Psal. 40.8 9. Heb. 10.6 7 8 9. He rejoyced to do the will of God in taking the body prepared for him because the children were partakers of flesh and blood Though he was in the form of God equal unto him yet that Mind that Love that Affection towards us was in him that to be like unto us and thereby to save us he emptyed himself and took on him the form of a servant our form and became like unto us Phil. 2.5 6 7 8. He would be like unto us that he might make us like unto himself he would take our flesh that he might give unto his Spirit He would joyn himself unto us and become one flesh with us that we might be joyned unto him and become one Spirit with him 1 Cor. 6.17 And as this was a Fruit of his Eternal antecedent Love so it is a spring of consequent Love When Eve was brought unto Adam after she was taken out of him Gen. 2.23 to manifest the ground of that Affection which was to be alwayes between them he sayes of her this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh And by this condescention of Christ saith the Apostle are we members of his body and of his flesh and of his bones Ephes. 5.30 Whence he infers that he loves and nourisheth his Church as a man doth his own flesh And how should this inexpressible Love of Christ constrain us to love him and to live unto him 2 Cor. 14 15. As also to labour to be like unto him wherein all our blessedness consisteth seeing for that end he was willing to be like unto us whence all his troubles and sufferings arose Here also we see that V. It was only in flesh and blood the substance and essence of humane nature and not in our personal infirmities that the Lord Christ was made like unto us He took to himself the nature of all men and not the Person of any man We have not only humane nature in common but we have every one particular Infirmities and weaknesses following that nature as existing in our sinful persons Such are the sicknesses and pains of our bodies from inward distempers and the disorder of the Passions of our minds Of these the Lord Christ did not partake It was not needful it was not possible that he should do so not needful because he could provide for their cure without assuming them not possible for they can have no place in a nature innocent and holy And therefore he took our nature not by an immediate new creation out of nothing or of the dust of the earth like Adam for if so though he might have been like unto us yet he would have been no kin to us and so could not have been our Goel to whom the right of Redemption did belong nor by natural Generation which would have rendered our nature in him obnoxious to the sin and punishment of Adam but by a miraculous conception of a Virgin whereby he had truly our nature yet not subject on its own account unto any one of those evils whereunto it is liable as propagated from Adam in an ordinary course And thus though he was joyned unto us in our nature yet as he was holy harmless and undefiled in that nature he was separate from sinners Heb. 7.25 So that although our nature suffered more in his Person then it was capable of in the Person of any meer man yet not being debased by any sinful imperfection it was alwayes excellent beautiful and glorious And then VI. That the Son of God should take part in humane nature with the children is the greatest and most admirable effect of Divine Love Wisdom and Grace So our Apostle proposeth it 1 Tim. 3.16 A Mysterie which the Angels with all diligence desire to look into 1 Pet. 1.11 12. See John 1.14 Isa. 9.6 Rom. 9.5 Atheists scoff at it deluded Christians deny it but the Angels adore it the Church professeth it Believers find the comfort and benefit of it The Heavens indeed declare the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy work Psal. 19.1 And the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead Rom. 1.20 In particular man himself is fearfully and wonderfully made These works of Gods Power and Providence do greatly manifest the glory of his Wisdom Omnipotency and Goodness and are like the light which was created the first day at the beginning of all things as we have shewed But in this instance of assuming humane nature into Personal suâsistence with himself that scattered light is gathered into one Sun giving out most glorious beams unto the manifestation of his Infinite Excellencies far above all other things And this surely was not done but for the greatest End that can be conceived and such is the salvation of sinners But we must proceed with our Apostle and he gives the Reason and End of this wonderful Dispensation The End is the Delivery of the children from the condition before described And first the means whereby he wrought and brought about this End is proposed unto us by death he was to do it by death That by death he might deliver them that is by his own death This as it is placed as one principal End of his being made partaker of flesh and blood so it is also the means of the farther end aimed at namely the delivery of the children out of the condition expressed Some Translations add by his own death which is evidently understood though it be not literally in the Text the death which he underwent in the nature of man whereof he was partaker His Death was the means of delivering them from death Some distinguish between Death in the first place which Christ underwent and that death in the close of the Verse which the children are said to be in fear of for this latter they say is more extensive than the former as comprizing death eternal also But there doth not any thing in the Text appear to intimate that the Captain of Salvation by death of one kind should deliver the children from that of another Neither will the Apostles discourse well bear such a supposition For if he might have freed the children by any way or means but only by undergoing that which was due unto them for sin whence could arise that indispensible necessity which he pleads for by so many considerations of his being made like unto them seeing without the participation of their nature which he urgeth he might have done any other thing for their good and benefit but only suffer what was due to them And if it be said that without this participation of their nature