trial above sixteen hundred years in the world challenging the wit and malice of its adversaries to discover any one thing or circumstance of any thing that is untrue false evil uncomely not useful or inconvenient in it or to find out any thing that is morally good virtuous useful praise-worthy in hâ—bit or exercise in any instances of opâ—rations in any degree of intention of mind any duty that man owes to God others or himself that is not taught injoyned incouraged and commanded by it or to discover any motives incouragements or reasons unto and for the pursuit of that which is good and the avoidance of evil that are true real solid and rational which it affordeth not unto them that embrace it This absolute perfection of the Doctrine of this Prophet joyned with those Characters of Divine Authority which are enstâ—mped on it doth sufficiently evidence that it contains the great promised full final Revelation of the Will of God which was to be given forth by the Messiah Add hereunto that since the delivery of this Doctrine the whole race of mankind hath not been able to invent or find out any thing that without the most palpable folly and madness might be added unto it much less stand in competition with it and it will it self sufficiently demonstrate its Author Secondly We have declared in the entrance of this discourse that the Messiah was § 38 the means promised for the delivery of mankind from that woful estate of sin and misery whereunto they had cast themselves This was declared unto all in general this they believed whom God graciously enabled thereunto But how this deliverance should be wrought in particular by the Messiah how the works of the Devil should be destroyed how God and Man should be reconciled how sinners might recover a title unto their lost happiness and be brought to an enjoyment of it this was unknown not only unto all the Sons of Men but also to all the Angels in Heaven themselves who then shall unfold this mysterie which was hid in the counsel of God from the foundation of the world It was utterly beyond the reason and wisdom of man to give any tolerable conjecture how these things should be effected and brought about But all this is fully declared by this Prophet himself In his Doctrine in what he taught doth this great and hidden mysterie of the Reconciliation and Salvation of mankind open it self gloriously to the minds and understandings of them that believe whose eyes the God of this world hath not blinded and them alone for although this promise of the Messiah was all that God gave out unto Adam and by him unto his posterity to keep their hopes alive in their miserable condition in the Earth yet such was its obscurity that meeting with the minds of men full of darkness and hearts set upon the pursuit of their lusts it was as to the substance of it utterly lost to the greatest part of mankind Afterwards the thing it self was again retrived unto the faith and knowledge of some by new Revelations and Promises only the manner of its accomplishment was still lost hid in the depths of the bosom of the Almighty But as we said by the preaching of Jesus both the thing its self and the manner of it are together brought to light made known and established beyond all the power of Satan to prevail against it This was the work of the promised Prophet this was done by Jesus of Nazareth who is therefore both Lord and Christ. § 39 Thirdly We have also declared how God in his Wisdom and Soveraignty restrained the Promise unto Abraham and his posterity shadowing out among them the accomplishment of it in Mosaical Rites and Institutions And these also received manifold Explications by the succeeding Prophets From the whole a Systeme of Worship and Doctrine did arise which turned wholly on this hinge of the promised Messiah relating in all things to the salvation to be wrought by him But yet the will and mind of God was in this whole dispensation so folded and wrapt up in Types so vailed and shadowed by carnal Ordinances so obscure and hid in Allegorical Expressions that the bringing of them forth unto light the removal of the clouds and shades that were cast upon them with a declaration of the Nature Reason and Use of all those Institutions was a work no less glorious then the very first Revelation of the promise it self This was that which was reserved for the great Prophet the Messiah for that God would prescribe Ordinances and Institutions unto his Church whose full Nature Use and End should be everlastingly unknown unto them is unreasonable to imagine Now this is done in the Doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ. The spiritual End Use and Nature of all these Sacrifices and Typical Institutions which unto them who were conversant only with their outside Servile performances were an insupportable yoke of bondage as the Jews find them unto this day being never able to satisfie themselves in their most scrupulous attendance unto them are all made evident and plain and all that was taught by them accomplished This was the work of the Prophet like unto Moses He fulfilled the End and unvailed the mind of God in all these Institutions And he hath done it so fully that whoever looks upon them through his declaration of them cannot but be amazed at the blindness and stupidity of the Jews who rejecting the Revelation of the Counsel of God by him adhere pertinaciously unto that whereof they understand aright no one title or syllable for there is not the meanest Christian who is instructed in the Doctrine of the Gospel but can give a better account of the Nature Use and End of Mosaical Institutions then all the profound Rabbins in the world either can or ever could do He that is least in the Kingdom of God being greater in this light and knowledge then John Baptist himself who yet was not behind any of the Prophets that went before him This I say is that which the promised Prophet was to do and moreover to add the Institutions of his own immediate Revelations even as Moses had given them the Law of Ordinances of old And in this superinstitution of new Ordinances of Worship thereby superceding those instituted by Moses was he like unto him as was foretold § 40 Lastly The Event confirms the Application of this Character unto the Lord Jesus Whoever should not receive the word of this Prophet God threatens to require it of him that is as themselves confess to exterminate them from among the number of his people or to reject them from being so Now this was done by the body of the Jewish Nation they received him not they obeyed not his voice and what was the end of this their disobedience they who for their despising persecuting killing the former Prophets were only corrected chastened afflicted and again quickly recovered out of the worst and greatest of
indeed this being a difference wherein the Will Authority and Command of God were pleaded on the mistaken side they being all of them clear and full as to the matter by them pleaded for nothing but an immediate Declaration of the mind of God himself as to his removing and taking off the obligation of his own Law could put such an end unto it as that the spirits of men might acquiesce therein Now the Will of God to this purpose before the Writing of this Epistle could only be collected from the nature and state of things in the Church upon the coming of the Messiah and conclusions from thence which the believing Jews were very slow in the admittance of Add hereunto that many Prophesies and promises of the Old Testament setting forth the Glory and beauty of Gospel worship under the names and condition of the Worship then in use as of Priests Levites Sacrifices Offerings Feast of Tabernacles and the like lay directly in the letter against that cessation of Mosaical Rites which the Jews opposed Now who was fit who was able to determine upon these different and various Institutions of God but God himself To declare positively that all Obligation from his former commands was now ceased that his institutions were no more to be observed that the Time allotted unto the Churches obedience unto him in their observance was expired this was no otherwise to be effected but by an immediate Revelation from himself And this is done in this Epistle and that in this only as to the Jews whereby it became the main instrument and means of pulling up their old Church-state and translating it anew into the appointments of our Lord Jesus Christ. Neither is this done by a bare declaration of Gods Authoritative interposition but in a way of Excellent and singular Wisdom and condescention with a manifestation of Gods Love and care unto his Church in the institutions that were now to be removed and the progress of his Wisdom in their gradual instruction as they were able to bear the whole nature design and intendment of them is evidenced to be such as that having received their full End and accomplishment they did of themselves naturally expire and disappear And hereby in that great Alteration which God then wrought in the outward worship of his Church there is discovered such an oneness and unchangeableness in his love and care such a suitableness Harmony and Consonancy in the effects of his Will such an Evidence of infinite Wisdom in disposing of them into a subserviency one to another that they should no where in any thing cross or enterfere and all of them to his own glory in the promotion and furtherance of the light faith and obedience of his Church as sufficiently manifests the Original and fountain whence it doth proceed For my part I can truly say that I know not any portion of Holy Writt that will more effectually raise up the heart of an understanding Reader to an holy Admiration of the Goodness Love and Wisdom of God than this Epistle doth Such I say is the subject matter of this Epistle so divine so excellent so singular And in the handling hereof have we not the least occasional mixture of any Matter Words Sentences Stories Arguments or Doctrines so unsuited to the whole as to argue the interposure of a fallible Spirit Thus we know it hath fallen out in all the Writings of the Christians of the first Ages after the sealing of the Canon of the Scriptures Many things in them appear to proceed from an holy and Heavenly Spirit breathing in their Authors and most of what they contain to be consonant unto the mind of God yet have they all of them evident footsteps that the Authors were subject unto Errors and mistakes even in and about the things written by them And the continuance of their failings in their Writings capable of an easie conviction is no small fruit of the Holy Wise Providence of God and his care over his Church that it might not in after Ages be imposed upon with the great and weighty pretence of Antiquity to admit them into a competition with those which himself gave out to be its infallible and therefore only Rule That nothing of this nature nothing humanitùs meerly after the manner of men befell the Writer of this Epistle in his Work we hope through the assistance of its principal Author to manifest in our Exposition of the several parts of it And this subject matter of this Epistle thus handled further secures us of its original § 25 The design aim and end of the Epistle with the purpose and intention of its Writer which belongs to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Ancients made a characterism of Writings given by divine inspiration are consonant unto the General Argument and peculiar subject matter of it That the whole Scripture hath an especial end which is peculiar unto it and wherein no other writing hath any share but only so far as it is taken from thence and composed in obedience thereunto is evident unto all that do seriously consider it This end supremely and absolutely is the glory of that God who is the Author of it This is the center where all the lines of it do meet the scope and mark towards which all things in it are directed It is the Revelation of himself that is intended of his mind and Will that he may be glorified wherein also because he is the principal fountain and last end of all consists the order and perfection of all other things Particularly the demonstration of this glory of God in and by Jesus Christ is aimed at The works of Gods Power and Providence do all of them declare his Glory the glory of his eternal Perfections and Excellencies absolutely and in themselves But the End of the Scripture is the glory of God in Christ as he hath revealed himself and gathered all things to an head in him unto the manifestation of his glory For this is life eternal that we know him the only true God and whom he hath sent Jesus Christ. The means whereby God is thus glorified in Christ is by the Salvation of them that do believe which is therefore also an intermediate End of the Scripture These things are written that we may believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that believing we may have life through his name John 20.31 1 Tim. 4.16 Moreover whereas this eternal life unto the glory of God cannot be obtained without faith and obedience according to his will the Scripture is given for this purpose also that it may instruct us in the mind of God and make us wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 16. Rom. 1.16 2 Pet. 1.3 These in their mutual subserviency and dependance compleat the characteristical End of the Scripture I confess Plato in his Timaeus makes it the End of Philosophy that we may thereby be made like unto God But that Philosophy of his having its
of every one of them is best suited to the Subject Matter whereof he treats and the End aimed at and the Persons with whom he had to do And herein Hierom hath lead the way to others and drawn many into a common mistake The Style of Isaiah he sayes is proper Vrbane high and excellent but that of Hosea and especially of Amos low plain improper favouring of the Country and his Profession who was a Shepherd But those that understand their Style and Language will not easily give consent unto him though the report be commonly admitted by the most It is true there appeareth in Isaiah an excellent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his Exhortations Expostulations and Comminations attended with Efficacious Apostrophe's Prosopopaeias Metaphors and Allusions a compacted fulness in his Prophesies and Predictions a sweet Evangelical Spiritualness in his Expression of Promises with frequent Paronomasia's and Elleipses which have a special Elegancy in that Language whence he is usually instanced in by Learned Men as an example of the Eloquence of the Divine Writings and his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 preferred unto that of Aeschines Demosthenes or Cicero But the Reader must take heed that he look not for the peculiar Excellencies of that Prophet absolutely in the words used by him but rather in the things that it pleased the Holy Ghost to use him as his Instrument in the Revelation of But the other part of Hieroms censure is utterly devoid of any good foundation The Style of Amos considering the Subject Matter that he treateth of and the persons with whom he had to do in suiting of Words and Speech wherein all true solid Eloquence consisteth is every way as proper as Elegant as that of Isaiah Neither will the knowing Reader find him wanting in any of the celebrated Styles of Writing where occasion unto them is administred Thus some affirm that St. Paul used sundry Expressions and they instance in 1 Cor. 4.3 Col. 2.18 that were proper to the Cilicians his Country-men and not so proper as to the purity of that Language wherein he wrote but as the first of the Expressions they instance in is an Hebraism and the latter purely Greek so indeed they will discover a Tarsian defect in St. Paul together with the Patavinity in Livy that Pollio noted in him § 28 Eloquence and Propriety of Speech for the proper ends of them are the gift of God Exod. 4.10 11. And therefore unless Pregnant Instances may be given to the contrary it may well be thought and expected that they should not be wanting in Books written by his own Inspiration Nor indeed are they only we are not able to give a right measure of what doth truly and absolutely belong unto them He that shall look for a flourish of painted words artificiall Meretricious Ornaments of Speech Discourse suited to entice inveigle and work upon weak and carnal affections or Sophistical captious wayes of reasoning to deceive or that Suada or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that smooth and harmonious structure of periods wherein the great Roman Orator gloried the lenocinia verborum the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and grandiloquentia of some of the Heathens in the Scripture will be mistaken in his aim Such things become not the Authority Majesty Greatness and Holiness of him who speaks therein An Earthly Monarch that should make use of them in his Edicts Laws or Proclamations would but prostitute his Authority to contempt and invite his Subjects to disobedience by so doing How much more would they unbecome the Declaration of his Mind and Will given unto poor worms who is the great Possessor of Heaven and Earth Besides these things belong not indeed unto real Eloquence and Propriety of Speech but are arbitrarily invented crutches for the relief of our lameness and infirmity Men despairing to affect the minds of others with the things themselves which they had to propose unto them and acquainted with the baits that are meet to take hold of their bruitish affections with the wayes of prepossessing their minds with prejudice or casting a mist before their understandings that they may not discern the nature worth and excellency of Truth have invented such dispositions of words as might compass the ends they aimed at And great effects by this means were produced as by him whom men admired pleni moderantem froena Theatri And therefore the Apostle tells us that the rejecting of this kind of Oratory in his Preaching and Writing was of indispensible necessity that it might appear that the effects of them were not any way influenced thereby but were the genuine productions of the things themselves which he delivered 1 Cor. 2.5 6 7. This kind of Eloquence then the Scripture maketh no use of but rather condemneth its Application unto the great and holy things whereof it treateth as unbecoming their Excellency and Majesty So Origen to this purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 4. in Johan If the Holy Scripture had used that Elegancy and choice of Speech which are admired among the Greeks one might have suspected that it was not Truth it self that conquered men but that they had been circumvented and deceived by appearing or fallacious consequences and the Splendor or Elegancy of Speech That the proper Excellency of Speech or Style consisteth in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or meet § 29 Accommodation of words unto things with consideration of the Person that useth them and the End whereunto they are applied all men that have any acquaintance with these things will confess 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Dionysius Halicarnasseus Nature requireth that words should follow or â—e made to serve sentences or things and not things be subservient to words whence the too curious Observation of Words hath been censured as an Argument of an infirm and abject mind however it may be pardoned in them who placed all their Excellency in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and disposing perswasive alluring words as Isocrates spent ten years in his Panegyricks and Plato ceased not unto the eightieth year of his Age to adorn his Discourses as Dionysius testifies of them both The Style of the Holy Scripture is every way answerable unto what may rationally be expected from it For First It becometh the Majesty Authority and Holiness of Him in whose name it speaketh And hence it is that by its Simplicity without Corruption Gravity without Affectation Plainess without alluring Ornaments it doth not so much entice move or perswade as constrain press and pierce into the mind and affections transforming them into a likeness of the things which it delivers unto us And therefore though St. Paul sayes that he dealt not with the Corinthians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in an Excellency or sublimity of Speech or Wisdom like that of the Orators before described yet he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in such an evidence of Spiritual Power as was far more effectual and prevalent The whole
EXERCITATIONS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS Also concerning the MESSIAH WHEREIN The Promises concerning him to be a Spiritual Redeemer of Mankind are Explained and Vindicated His Coming and Accomplishment of his Work according to the Promises is proved and confirmed The Person or who he is is declared The whole Oeconomy of the Mosaical Law Rites Worship and Sacrifices is explained AND IN ALL The Doctrine of the Person Office and Work of the Messiah is opened The nature and demerit of the first sin is unfolded The Opinions and Traditions of the Antient and Modern Jews are examined Their Objections against the Lord Christ and the Gospel are answered The time of the coming of the Messiah is stated And the great fundamental Truths of the Gospel vindicated With an Exposition and Discourses on the Two First Chapters of the said Epistle to the HEBREWS By J. Owen D.D. LONDON Printed by Robert White for Nathaniel Ponder at the Sign of the Peacock in Chancery Lane near Fleetstreet 1668. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE S r William Morrice K t One of His Majesties Most Honourable Privy Council and Principal Secretary of State c. SIR THE Dedication of Books unto Persons of Worth and Honour hath secured it self from the Impeachment of Censure by taking Sanctuary in the Usage of all Times and Ages Herein therefore as none is needed so I shall make use of no Apology But the consideration of some Circumstances needless to be repeated seem to render an account of the reason of my particular address unto You in this manner necessary This therefore I shall give but briefly Ne longo sermone morer tua tempora That which principally in this matter I resolved my thoughts into was a design to answer my own inclination and desire in Testifying a respectful Honor to a Person who in a place of Eminency hath given so fair an example of a singular conjunction in himself of Civil Prudence and all manner of useful Literature with their mutual Subserviency unto each other an endeavour whereof the Wisdom of all Ages hath esteemed needfull though few individuals have attained unto it For whereas a defect in Learning hath tempted some otherwise Prudent and Wise in the Management of Affairs unto a contempt of it and skill therein hath given unto others a mistaken confidence that it alone is sufficient for all the ends of Humane Life an Industrious Attempt for a furnishment of the Mind with a due mixture of them both hath been greatly Neglected to the no small disadvantage of Humane Affairs It cannot therefore seem strange nor ought any to be offended that one who dares profess a great Honour unto and Admiration of both these Endowments of the mind of Man should express them with that respect which alone he is capable to give unto Him who in a Place of Eminent Trust and Employment hath given a singular instance of their happy conjunction and readiness to Coalesce in the same mind to enable it unto a regular and steady pursuit of their common ends Whether I shall by this address attain that end or no I know not but this is that which principally I aimed at therein And to the Reason whereof I leave the Judgement of my undertakings But yet I may not omit that your favour hath also given me particular grounds for this confidence and such as have been prevalent against those impressions of discouragements which I am naturally very liable to admit of and receive Your Candid Esteem of some former Endeavours in this kind and which when carried without the Verge of those Lines of Communication within whose compass Men and their Writings are Judged by Party and scarce otherwise have received a fair acceptance in the world were no small encouragement unto me not to desert those wearisome Labours which have no other Reward or End but the furtherance of Publick Good especially having this only way left me to serve the Will of God and the Interest of the Church in my Generation It was also through the countenance of your Favour that this and some other Treatises have received Warrant to pass freely into the world which though I am uncertain of what advantage they may be unto any by reason of their own defects and the prejudices of others yet I want not the highest Security that there is nothing in them tending to the least disadvantage unto those whose concernment lyes in Peace and Truth in these Nations For the Treatises themselves which I desire herewith to represent to some of your Leisure hours I shall not offend against the Publick Service in detaining you with an account of them Their Subject Matter as to its Weight Worth and Necessity will speak for it self the main objects of our present Faith and principal Foundations of our future expectations our Pleas and Evidences for a blessed Etâ—rnity are here insisted on And whether the Temptations Opinions and bold Presumptions of many in these dayes do not call for a renewed consideration and confirmation of them is left to the Judgement of Persons indifferent and unprejudiced the manner of their handling is submitted unto yours which is highly and singularly estemed by March 20. 1667. SIR Your most humble and obliged Servant JOHN OWEN Christian Reader IF thou intendest to engage any part of thy time in the perusal of the ensuing Discourses and Exposition it may not be amiss to take along with thee the consideration of some things concerning the design and aim of their Author in the Writing and present publishing of them which are here proposed unto thee It is now sundry years since I purposed in my self if God gave life and opportunity to endeavour according to the measure of the Gift received an Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews A Subject this was I then knew and now acknowledge much laboured in by many eminent and learned men both of old and of late In particular some entire Commentaries composed with good judgment and to very good purpose have been published in our own Language Yea from him who first began a serious Exposition of this Epistle and whom none in all things have to this day exceeded there have passed few ages wherein some or other have not endeavoured the Explication of it And this also hath been done by men of all sorts and parties of all perswasions and Opinions in Christian Religion an account of whose several endeavours shall else-where be given Somewhat there was of encouragement unto me in my designed undertaking and somewhat of quite another tendency in this consideration The help which I might receive from the sedulous labours of so many learned men and those in Times Places Principles distant and distinguished from each other as also managing their common design with great variety as to particular intentions I looked on as a matter of no small advantage unto me Some I found had critically examined many of the Words Phrases and Expressions of the Writer some compared his
offence unto them with whom he had to do It appears then that from hence no light can be given unto our enquiry after the Language wherein this Epistle was Originally written though it be clear enough upon other Considerations Exercitatio VI. Oneness of the Church Mistake of the Jews about the Nature of the Promises Promise of the Messiah the Foundation of the Church But as including the Covenant The Church confined unto the Person and Posterity of Abraham His Call and Separation for a double End Who properly the Seed of Abraham Mistakes of the Jews about the Covenant Abraham the Father of the faithful and Heir of the world on what account The Church still the same § 1 THe Jews at the Time of writing this Epistle and their posterity in all succeeding Generations follow their Example and Tradition were not a little confirmed in their obstinacy and unbelief by a misapprehension of the true sense and nature of the Promises of the Old Testament For whereas they found many glorious Promises made unto the Church in the dayes of the Messiah especially concerning the great access of the Gentiles unto it they looked upon themselves the posterity of Abraham on the account of their being his children according to the flesh as the first proper and indeed only subject of them unto whom in their accomplishment others were to be proselyted and joyned the substance and foundation of the Church remaining still with them But the Event answered not their expectation Instead of inheriting all the Promises meerly upon their carnal interest and priviledge which they looked for and continue so to do unto this day they found that themselves must come in on a new account to be sharers in them in common with others or be rejected whilest those others were admitted unto the inheritance This filled them with wrath and envy which greatly added to the strengthening of their Unbelief They could not bear with patience an intimation of letting out the Vineyard to other Husbandmen With this Principle and Prejudice of theirs the Apostle dealt directly in his Epistle to the Romans Chap. 9 10 11. On the same grounds he proceedeth with them in this Epistle And because his Answer to their Objection from the Promises lyes at the foundation of many of his reasonings with them the nature of it must be here previously explained Not that I shall here enter into a consideration of the Jews Argument to prove the Messiah not yet to be come because the Promises in their sense of them are not yet accomplished which shall be fully removed in the Close of these Discourses but only as I said open the nature in general of that Answer which our Apostle returns unto them and builds his Reasonings with them upon § 2 We shall have occasion afterwards at large to shew how after the entrance of sin God founded his Church in the Promise of the Messiah given unto Adam Now though that Promise was the supportment and incouragement of mankind to seek the Lord a Promise absolutely considered proceeding from meer Grace and Mercy yet as it was the foundation of the Church it included in it the nature of a Covenant vertually requiring a re-stipulation unto obedience in them who by faith come to have an interest therein And this the nature of the thing its self required for the Promise was given unto this end and purpose that men might have a new bottom and Foundation of Obedience that of the first Covenant being disannulled Hence in the following Explications of the Promise this condition of Obedience is expresly added So upon its renewall unto Abraham God required that he should walk before him and be upright This Promise then as it hath the nature of a Covenant including the Grace that God would shew unto sinners in the Messiah and the Obedience that he required from them was from the the first giving of it the foundation of the Church and the whole Worship of God therein Unto this Church so founded and built on this Covenant and by the means thereof the Redeeming Mediatory Seed promised therein were all the following Promises and the Priviledges exhibited in them given and annexed Neither hath or ever had any individual Person any Spiritual right unto or interest in any of those Promises or Priviledges whatever his outward condition were but only by vertue of his Membership in the Church built on the Covenant whereunto as we said they do all appertain On this account the Church before the dayes of Abraham though scattered up and down in the world and subject unto many changes in its worship by the addition of New Revelations was still but one and the same because founded in the same Covenant and intrusted thereby in all the Benefits or Priviledges that God had given or granted or would do so at any time unto his Church In process of time God was pleased to confine this Church as unto the ordinary visible § 3 dispensation of his Grace unto the Person and Posterity of Abraham Upon this restriction of the Church Covenant and Promise the Jews of old mannaged a Plea in their own Justification against the Doctrine of the Lord Christ and his Apostles We are the children the seed of Abraham was their continual cry on the account whereof they presumed that all the Promises belonged unto them and upon the matter unto them alone And this their perswasion hath cast them as we shall see upon a woful and fatal mistake Two Priviledges did God grant unto Abraham upon his Separation to a special interest in the Old Promise and Covenant First That according to the flesh he should be the Father of the Messiah the promised seed who was the very Life of the Covenant the Fountain and Cause of all the Blessings contained in it That this Priviledge was temporary having a limited season time and end appointed unto it the very nature of the thing it self doth demonstrate For upon this actual Exhibition in the flesh it was to cease In pursuit hereof were his posterity separated from the rest of the world and preserved a peculiar people that through them the promised seed might be brought forth in the fulness of time and be of them according unto the flesh Rom. 9.5 Secondly Together with this he had also another Priviledge granted unto him namely that his faith whereby he was personally interested in the Covenant should be the Pattern of the faith of the Church in all generations and that none should ever come to be a member of it or a sharer in its Blessings but by the same faith that he had fixed on the seed that was in the Promise to be brought forth from him in the world On the account of this Priviledge he became the Father of all them that do believe For they that are of the faith the same are the children of Abraham Gal. 3.7 Rom. 4.11 as also Heirs of the World Rom. 4.13 in that all that should believe
Ghest but lastly as the Master of the House see James 1.14 15. And according to their wonted manner on Gen. 4. v. 7. where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Masculine Gender is joyned with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Foeminine they observe in Bereshith Rabba sec. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at first it is like a woman but afterwards it waxeth strong like a man § 12 More Testimonies of this nature from the Writings that are of Authority amongst them might be produced but that these are sufficient unto our Purpose That we aim at is to evidence their Conviction of that manifold misery which came upon mankind on the Entrance of Sin into the world And two things we have produced their Suffrage and Consent unto First The Change of the Primitive Condition of Man by his Defection from the Law of his Creation This made him obnoxious in his whole Person and all his Concernments to the displeasure and Curse of God to all the Evil which in this world he feels or fears in another to Death Temporal and Eternal And hence did all the disorder which is in the Vniverse arise All this we have found them freely testifying unto And this must be acknowledged by all men who will not brutishly deny what their own Consciences dictate unto them and which the condition of the whole lower world proclaims or irrationally ascribe such things unto God as are utterly inconsistent with his Wisdom Goodness Righteousness and Holiness And Secondly We have manifested their acknowledgement that a Principle of Sin or Moral Evil hath invaded the nature of man or that from the sin of our first Parents there is an Evil Concupiscence in the heart of every man continually and incessantly inclining the Soul unto Operations suitable unto it that is unto all Moral Evil whatever From both these it unavoidably follows on the first Notions of the Righteousness Holiness Veracity and Faithfulness of God that mankind in this estate and condition can justly expect nothing but a confluence of Evil in this world and at the close of their Pilgrimage to perish with a Ruine Commensurate unto their Existence For God having in Wisdom and Righteousness as the Soveraign Lord of his Creature given them a Law good just and equal and having appointed the Penalty of Death and his everlasting displeasure therein unto the Transgression thereof and withall having sufficiently promulgated both Law and Penalty all which things we have before demonstrated the Transgression prohibited actually ensuing God himself being Judge it remains that all this Constitution of a Law and threatning of a penalty was vain and ludricous as Satan in the Serpent pretended or that mankind is rendered absolutely miserable and cursed and that for ever Now which of these is to be concluded Divine Revelation in the Scripture Reason and the Event of things will readily determine § 13 That God without the least impeachment of his Righteousness or Goodness might have left all mankind remediless in this Condition is manifest both from what hath been discoursed concerning the means whereby they were brought into it and his dealing with Angels on the like occasion The condition wherein man was created was morally good and upright the state wherein he was placed outwardly happy and blessed the Law given unto him just and equall the Reward proposed unto him glorious and sure and his Defection from this condition voluntary What shall we say then is God unjust who inflicteth Vengeance God forbid The Execution of a Righteous Sentence upon the voluntary Transgression of a Law just and equal hath no unrighteousness in it And this was the summ of what God did in this matter as to the misery that came on mankind And who should judge Him if he left him for ever to eat of the fruit of his own wayes and to be filled with his own devices He had before as expressed his Power and Wisdom so satisfied his Goodness and Bounty in his Creation with his endowments and enjoyments according unto the Law thereof and what could man look for farther at his hands Hence Adam when his eyes were opened to see the nature of Evil in that actual sense which he had in his Conscience of the guilt that he had contracted had not the least Expectation of Relief or Mercy And the folly of the course which he took in hiding himself argues sufficiently both his present Amazement and that he knew of nothing better to betake himself unto Therefore doth he give that account of the Result of his thoughts as unto the Relation that was between God and him and what only he now looked for from him I heard thy voice and was afraid Neither would any Revelation that God had then made of himself either by the Works of his Power and Wisdom or by any inbred impressions on the souls of men concreated with them give encouragement unto them that had sinned against him to expect Relief Besides He had dealt thus with Angels Upon their first Sin he spared them not but at once without hope of Recovery cast them under the Chains of Darkness to be kept unto the final Judgement of the last day This our Apostle discourseth unto the Hebrews chap. 2. Now God dealt not unsuitably unto any of the Excellencies of his Nature when he left the Apostatizing Angels to perish without Remedy unto Eternity Had he dealt so also with Apostatizing Mankind who were drawn into a conspiracy against him by the Head of the Defection his wayes had been Holy and Righteous Yet doth not this great Instance of Gods dealing with Angels absolutely conclude his § 14 leaving of mankind remediless in his misery also He might justly do so but thence it doth not follow that necessarily he must so do And although the chief and indeed only Reason of his extending Grace and Mercy unto Men and not unto Angels was his own Soveraign Will and Pleasure concerning which who can say unto him What doest thou yet there was such a difference between these two sorts of Original Transgressoâ—s as may manifest a Condecency or suitableness unto his Righteousness and Goodness in his various proceeding with them For there are sundry things that put an Aggravation on the Rebellion of Angels above that of man and some that render their ruine less destructive unto the Glory of the Universe than that of mankind would have been For First The Angels were created in an estate and condition much superiour unto and more excellent than that of Man and so likewise were their present or actual enjoyments far above his though they also were admirable and blessed The place of their first Habitation which they left Jude 6. was the Highest Heavens the most glorious receptacle of created Beings in opposition whereunto they are said to be cast into the lowest Hell 2 Pet. 2.4 Whereas Man was placed in the Earth which although then beautifull and excellently suited to his condition yet was every way inferiour
unto the glory and lustre of the other which God so had Garnished by his Spirit Job 26.13 and which for its curious Excellency is called the Work of his Fingers Psalm 8.3 And in these different places of their Habitation Secondly Their several Employments also did greatly differ The work of Angels was immediately to attend the Throne of God to minister before him and to give glory unto him and to execute the Commands of his Providence in the Government of the works of his hands Psal. 68. v. 17. Dan. 7. v. 10. Ezek. 1.5 6 7. Heb. 1.14 Revel 5.11 the highest pitch of Honour that a meer creature can be exalted unto Man during his natural life was to be employed in tilling and dressing of the Ground Gen. 2.16 a labour that would have been easie usefull and suitable unto his condition but yet in honour advantage and satisfaction unspeakably beneath the Duty of the Others Thirdly Their Enjoyments also greatly differed For the Angels enjoyed the immediate glorious Presence of God without any external created resemblances of it when man was kept at a greater Distance and not admitted unto such immediate communion with God or enjoyment of his Glorious Presence Now all these and the like Considerations although on the one side they do not in the least extenuate or excuse the sin and crime of Man in his Apostasie yet they greatly aggravate the Wickedness Ingratitude and Pride of the Angels Moreover they differed in their Intellectual Perfections whereby they were enabled to discern the Excellencies and to know the mind of God For although man had all that Light Knowledge and Wisdom concreated with him and so naturall unto him which were any way needfull to enable him unto a right and due performance of the Obedience required of him in the Observance whereof he should have been brought unto the Enjoyment of God yet it came far short of that Excellency of Understanding and that piercing Wisdom which was in those Spiritual Beings which they were endowed withall to fit them for that near contemplation of the glory of God whereunto they were admitted and that ready Apprehension of his mind which they were to observe And as these were in themselves and ought to have been improved by themselves as blessed means of preserving them in their Obedience so being despised and neglected they were a great Aggravation of the Wickedness of their Apostasy There was likewise Fifthly a difference in the manner of their Defection Man was circumvented by the Craft and Policy of the Angels who were made before him and sinned before him And this although He was furnished with an Ability and Power to have rejected and overcome yet it had that influence into his Sin and Fall that the Holy Ghost affirms that our first Parents were SEDUCED or deceived 1 Tim. 2.14 2 Cor. 11.3 and therefore calls Sathan their Murderer John 8.34 But the Angels had nothing without them to excite provoke or lay snares for them but of their own Voluntary Choice and meer motion of their own mind in the Exercise of that Freedom of their Wills which was bestowed on them for their own honour and advantage in their Obedience left their stations and set up themselves in a way of Opposition unto their Creator who had exalted them above their companions newly brought out of the same Nothing with themselves into a condition of the highest created Glory imaginable Again Sixthly although the condition of mankind being to be propagated by naturall Generation from one common Stock made it necessary that our First Parents should have a greater Trust reposed in them by Reason of their Representation of their whole Posterity in that Covenant wherein they stood before God than any Angel could have seeing they stood every one only in his own name and for himself yet they were but two persons that actually sinned at first and those one after another one seduced by another whereas the Angels in multitudes inconceivable by a joint conspiracy at the same instant combined together against the Authority and Law of their Creator and as it should seem appointed one among themselves for the Head of their Apostasie Now although as was said none of those things can or do in the least extenuate the sin of man which was the product of inconceivable infidelity and ingratitude yet they contain such Aggravations of the Sin of Angels as may evidence a condecency unto Divine Wisdom and Goodness in passing them by in their sin and misery unto Eternity and yet giving Relief unto mankind Lastly We may add unto what hath been spoken the concernment of the glory of God in the Vniverse For if man had been left for ever without Relief the whole race or kind of Creatures partakers of Humane Nature had been utterly lost nothing of that kind could ever have come unto the Enjoyment of God nor could God have ever been glorified by them in a way of Thankfulness and Praise which yet was the End why he made that sort of Creatures For the whole race of them as to the Event would have been meer Objects of Wrath and Displeasure But in the Fall of Angels they were only a certain number of individuals that sinned the whole kind was not lost as to the first End of their Creation Angelical Nature was preserved in its orderly dependance on God in those millions that kept their Obedience and Primitive condition thereon which is continued unto them with a superaddition of Glory and Honour as shall be elsewhere declared God then having made himself two Families unto his Praise amongst whom he would dwell that above of Angels and this below of mankind had sinning Man which was the whole Creation participating in Humane Nature been utterly cast off one Family had been lost for ever though so great a Remnant of the other was preserved Wherefore as we shall afterwards see it seemed good unto his Infinite Wisdom as to preserve that Portion of his Superiour Family which sinned not so to recover a portion of that below and to make them up into one Family in one New Head his Son Jesus Christ in whom he hath now actually gathered into One all things that are in Heaven and Earth unto his Praise and Glory Ephes. 1.10 It appears then that no certain conclusion can hence be drawn that man is left remediless in his Sin and Misery because Angels are so seeing that although the whole Cause of the difference made is to be referred unto the Soveraign Will Wisdom and Pleasure of God yet there is that appearing unto Reason which manifests a suitableness unto his Excellencies in the distinction to be put between them § 15 There is then no Necessary Reason inducing us to believe that God hath left all mankind to perish in their sin and misery under the Curse without any provision of a Remedy yea there are on the other side Evidences many and certain that there is a Way provided for their
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 o◠his glory what would he do unto his great name if now without
those that follow He affirms they may be expounded by that of Philo de Coloniis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But whether this Platonical Declaration of the Nature and Work of the Word of God employed by him as an Instrument in the Making and Government of the World would have been accepted in the Primitive Church when this Place was vexed by the Arians and studiously vindicated by the Orthodox Fathers I much question But to return If the Law and the observance of it be the only Remedy provided of God against the sin and misery of man the only means of Reconciliation with him all that dyed before the giving of it must perish and that eternally But the contrary appears from this very consideration and is undeniably proved by our Apostle in the Instance of Abraham Gal. 3. v. 17. For he received the Promise and was taken into Covenant with God four hundred and thirty years before the giving of the Law And that Covenant conveyed unto him the Love and Favour of God with Deliverance from Sin and the Curse as themselves will not deny There was therefore a Remedy in this case provided long before the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai and therefore the Law was not given unto that purpose but for other Ends at large declared by our Apostle Either then they must grant that all the Patriarchs and he in especiall of whom they boast perished eternally or else that there was a means of Deliverance provided before the giving of the Law and consequently that the Law was not given for that End The first they will not do nor can without an absolute Renunciation of their own Sacred Writings wherein none have obtained a larger Testimony that they pleased God than they The latter therefore followeth undeniably If they shall say they had a way of Deliverance but God provided another afterwards as this would be spoken without Warrant or Authority from the Scripture so I desire to know both what that way was and why it was rejected Of Gods appointment it was and effectual it was unto them that embraced it and why it should be laid aside who can declare Again as was before observed there are two parts of the Law The Moral Precepts § 20 of it and the instituted Worship appointed in it Unto this latter part do the Sacrifices of it belong But neither of these are sufficient unto the End proposed nor jointly can they attain it Two things are evidently necessary from what hath been discoursed unto the Deliverance enquired after First That Man be reconciled unto God by the removal of the Curse and the Wrath due unto him for his Apostacy Secondly That his Nature be freed from that Principle of Sin and enmity against God the evil figment that it is tainted yea possessed withall And neither of these can be effected by the Law or either part of it For First The Moral Precepts of it are the same with those that were written in the heart of man by Nature or the Law of his Creation which he transgressed in his first Rebellion And he must be delivered from that guilt before any new Obedience can be accepted of him His old debt must be satisfied for before he can treat for a new Reward which inseparably follows all acceptable Obedience But this the Precepts of the Law take no notice of nor direct unto any way for its removal only supposing the doing of it by some other means it requires exact Obedience in them that come to God thereby Hence our Apostle concludes that it could not give life but was weak and insufficient in its self unto any such purpose Besides secondly it could not absolutely preserve men in its own Observation for it required that Obedience which never any sinner did or could in all things perform as the Scriptures of the Old Testament abundantly manifest For they tell us there is is no man that sinneth not 1 Kings 8. v. 46. 2 Chron. 6. v. 36. That if the Lord should mark iniquity no man could stand Psal. 130. v. 3. And that if he enter into Judgement according to the Law no man living can be justified in his sight Psal. 143. v. 2. To this Purpose see the excellent Discourse and invincible Reasonings of our Apostle Rom. chap. 3. 4. This the Holy Men of Old confessed this the Scripture bears testimony unto and this Experience confirmes seeing every sin and transgression of that Law was put under a Curse Deut. 27. v. 26. Where then there is no man that sinneth not and every sin is put under the curse the Law in the Preceptive part of it can be no means of delivery from the one or other but is rather a certain means of increasing and aggravating of them both Neither is there any Testimony given concerning any one under the Old Testament that he was any other way justified before God but by Faith and the Pardon of Sins which are not of the Works of the Law See Gen. 15. v. 6. Psal. 32. v. 1 2. Of Noah indeed it is said that he was upright and perfect in his Generation that is sincere in his Obedience and free from the open wickedness of the Age wherein he lived But as this was before the giving of the Law by Moses so the Ground of his Freedom and Deliverance is added to be the Gracious Love and Favour of God This the Jews themselves confess in Bereshith Rabba Sect. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Even Noah himself who was left of them was not every way as he should be but that he found Grace or Favour in the eyes of the Lord. And to the same purpose they speak concerning Abraham himself elsewhere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou findest that Abraham our Father inherited not this world and the world to come any otherwise than by Faith as it is said he believed God This part therefore of the Law is plainly convinced to be insufficient to deliver sinners from an Antecedent guilt and Curse due thereunto § 21 It remains then that the Sacrifices of the Law must yield the Relief enquired after or we are still at a loss in this matter And these the Jews would willingly place their chief confidence in they did so of old Since indeed they have been driven from their Observation they have betaken themselves unto other Helps that they might not appear to be utterly hopeless But they sufficiently manifest their great reserve against the Accusation of their Consciences to be in them by the ludicrous wayes of representing or rather counterfeiting of them that they have invented 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a man and among the Rabbins a Cock also Hence Ben Vzziel renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ezion Geber The name of a City Deut. 2.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the City of a Cock And Isa. 22. v. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendered by Hierom Gallus Gallinaceus Granting therefore that the Punishment of Geber is required unto
and Speech for that occasion is blasphemously to make God the sole-Author of that Temptation which he so much abhorred Lastly Considering the Punishment denounced against mankind of Death Temporall and Eternall that which is threatned unto the Serpent bears no proportion unto it if it concern only the Serpent its self And what Rule of Justice will admit that the Accessory should be punished with greater Sufferings than the Principal Neither doth this Punishment as to the Principal part of it the bruising of the Head befall all Serpents yea but few of them in comparison doubtless not one of a Million whereas all mankind none excepted were liable unto the Penalty denounced against them Were no more men intended herein than are bitten on the heel by Serpents the matter were otherwise but death is passed upon all in as much as all have sinned Satan then it was who was the Principal in this Seduction the Author of all Apostasie from God who using the Serpent its instrument involved that also so far in the Curse as to render it of all Creatures the most abhorred of mankind § 27 Against this Seducer it is denounced that his Head should be bruised The Head of Satan is his Craft and Power From these issued all that Evil whereinto mankind was fallen In the bruising therefore of his Head the defeat of his Counsel the destruction of his Work and the Deliverance of Mankind is contained as our Apostle most excellently declares Heb. 2. Death must be removed and Righteousness brought in and acceptance with God procured or the Head of Satan is not bruised This therefore is openly and plainly a promise of the Deliverance enquired after Moreover There is a Declaration made how this Victory shall be obtained and this Deliverance wrought and that is by the Seed of the Woman This seed is twice repeated in the words once expresly and her seed and Secondly it is included in the Pronoun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it And as by seed in the first place the Posterity of the Woman some to be born of her race partakers of humane nature may be intended as the subjects of the Enmity mentioned so in the latter some single person some one of her Posterity or seed that should obtain the Victory is expresly denoted For as all her seed in common do never go about this work the greatest part of them continuing in a willing Subjection unto Satan so if all of them should combine to attempt it they would never be able to accomplish it as we have before proved at large Some one therefore to come of Her with whom God would be present in an especiall and extraordinary manner is here expresly promised And this is the Messiah God having in infinite Wisdom and Grace provided this way of Relief and given § 28 this intimation of it That Revelation became the Foundation and Center of all the Religion that ensued in the world For as those who received it by Faith and adhered unto it continued in the Worship of the true God expressing their Faith in the Sacrifices that he had appointed typically to represent and exemplifie before their eyes the work its self which by the promised seed was to be accomplished so also all that false Worship which the generality of mankind apostatized into was laid in a general perswasion that there was a way for the Recovery of the favour of God but what that was they knew not and therefore wandered in wofull uncertainties Some suppose that our great Mother Eve in those words Genes 4. ver 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expressed an Apprehension that she had bore him who was Man-God the Man the Lord the Promised Seed And they do not only contend for this meaning of the words but also reproach them who are otherwise minded as may be seen in the Writings of Hunnius and Helvicus against Calvin Junius Paraeus and Piscator That she together with Adam believed the Promise had the consolation and served God in the Faith of it I no way doubt But that she had an Apprehension that the Promised Seed should be so soon exhibited and knew that he should be the Lord or Jehovah and yet knew not that he was to be born of a Virgin and not after the ordinary way of mankind I see no cogent Reason to evince Nor do the words mentioned necessarily prove any such apprehension in her The whole weight of that supposition lyes on the Construction of the words from the interposition of the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—enoting as they say after Verbs active alwayes an Accusative Case But instances may be given to the contrary whence our Translation reads the words I have gotten a man from the Lord without the least intimation of any other sense in the Original And Drusius is bold to affirm that it is want of solid skill in the Sacred Tongue that was the cause of that conception Besides if she had such thoughts she was manifoldly mistaken and to what end that mistake of hers should be here expressed I know not And yet notwithstanding all this I will not deny but that the expression is unusuall and extraordinary if the sense of our Translation be intended and not that by some contended for I have gotten or obtained the Man the Lord. And this it is possible caused Jonathan Ben Vzziel to give us that gloss on the words in his Targum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Adam knew his Wife Eve who desired the Angel and she conceived and bare Cain and said I have obtained the man or a man the Angel of the Lord. That is him who was promised afterwards under the name of the Angel of the Lord or the Angel of the Covenant which the Jews may do well to consider But we have farther Expositions of this first Promise and farther Confirmations of § 29 this Grace in the Scripture its self For in Process of time it was renewed unto Abraham and the Accomplishment of it confined unto his Family For his gratuitous Call from Superstition and Idolatry with the Separation of him and his Posterity from all the Families of the Earth was subservient only unto the fulfilling of the Promise before treated of The first mention of it we have Gen. 12. v. 1 2 3. Now the Lord had said unto Abraham Get thee out of thy Countrey and from thy Kindred and from thy Fathers House unto a Land that I will shew thee And I will make of thee a great Nation and I will bless thee and make thy Name great and thou shalt be a blessing And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee and in thee shall all the Families of the Earth be blessed And this is again expressed Chap. 18. v. 18. All the Nations of the Earth shall be blessed in him And Chap. 22.18 And in thy seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed And when he doubted of the accomplishment of this
the sins whereof they know themselves to be guilty to what end should they look for a Redeemer to bring in Everlasting Righteousnâ—ss or to make Attonement for sin Why should they look out in this case for Relief seeing they have enough at home to serve their turns Let them that are weâ—â—y and heavy laden seek after such a Deliverer they have no need of him or his Salvation According therefore as this building of Self-Righteousness went on and prospered amongst them Faith in the Messiah as to the true Ends for which He was promised decayed every day more and more untill at length it was utterly lost For as our Apostle tells them if Righteousness were by the Law the Promise of the Messiah was to no purpose and if the Law made things Perfect the bringing in of another Priesthood and Sacrifice was altogether needless § 24 So is it also with them as to their Apprehension of the Judgement of God concerning the Desert of sin The natural notion hereof the vilest Hypocrites amongst them were sometimes perplexed withall See Isa. 33. v. 14 15. Micah 6. v. 8. But the generality of them have long endeavoured by prejudicate Imaginations to cast out the true and real sense of it That God is angry at sin that in some cases an Attonement is needfull they will not deny But so low and carnal are their thoughts of his severity that they think any thing may serve the turn to appease his Wrath or to satisfie his Justice especially towards them whom alone he loves Their Afflictions and Persecutions the Death of their Children and their own Death especially if it be of a painful distemper they suppose to make a sufficient Propitiation for all their sins Such mean and unworthy thoughts have they of the Majesty Holiness and Terror of the Lord. Of late also lest there should be a failure on any account they have found out an invention to give their sins unto the Devil by the Sacrifice of a Cock the manner whereof is at large described by Buxtorfius in his Synagoga Judaica And this also hath no small influence on their minds to pervert them from the Faith of their Fore-Fathers Let the Messiah provide well for them in this world and they will look well enough unto themselves as to that which is to come § 25 And hence ariseth also their Ignorance of the whole Nature Vse and End of the Mosaical Law which also contributes much to the producing of the same Effect upon them To what End the Law was given whereunto it served what was the nature and proper use of its Institutions shall be declared as occasion is offered in the Exposition of the Epistle its self For the present it may suffice unto our purpose to consider their Apprehensions of it and what influence they have into their misbelief In general they look on the Law and their observance of it as the only means of obtaining Righteousness and making an Attonement with God So they did of old Rom. 9. v. 32 33 34. In the observation of its Precepts they place all their Righteousness before God and by its Sacrifices they look for Attonement of all their sins That the Law was not given that the Sacrifices were not appointed for these Ends that the Fathers of old never attended unto them absolutely with any such Intention shall be afterwards declared In the mean time it is evident that this Perswasion corrupts their minds as to their thoughts about the Messiah For if Righteousness may be obtained and Attonement made without him to what End serves the Promise concerning him But having thus taken from him the whole Office and Work whereunto of God he was designed that he might not be thought altogether useless they have cut out for him the work and employment before mentioned For looking on Righteousness and Attonement with the consequent of them Eternal Salvation as the proper Effects of the Law they thought meet to leave unto their Messiah the work of procuring unto them Liberty Wealth and Dominion which they found by experience that the Law was not able to do But had indeed their Eyes been opened in the knowledge of God and themselves they would have found the Law no less insufficient to procure by its self an Heavenly than an Earthly Kingdom for them And against their Prejudicate obstinacy in this matter doth the Apostle principally oppose himself in his Epistle unto them § 26 But here by the way some may possibly enquire how the Jews if they look for Attonement and the Remission of sins by the Sacrifices of the Law can now expect to have their sins pardoned without which they cannot be eternally saved seeing they are confessedly destitute of all Legal Sacrifices whatever Have they found out some other way or do they utterly give over seeking after Salvation This very Question being put unto one of them he answers that they now obtain the pardon of their Sins by Repentance and Amendment of Life according to the Promises made in the Prophets unto that Purpose as Ezek. 18. v. 20. And concludes Quamvis jam nulla sint sacrificia quae media erant ad tanto facilius impetrandam remissionem peccatorum eadem tamen per poenitentiam ac resipiscentiam declinando a viis malis impetratur Although there are now no Sacrifices which were a means the more easily to obtain the forgiveness of sins yet it may be obtained by Repentance and a departure from wayes of evil This is their Hope which like that of the Hypocrite is as the giving up of the Ghost For 1. It is true Repentance and Amendment of Life are required in them who seek after the forgiveness of their sins and many Promises are made unto them But is this all that God required that sin might be forgiven They are sufficient indeed in their own way and place but are they so absolutely also Did not God moreover appoint and require that they should make use of Sacrifices to make attonement for sins without which they should not be done away See Levit. 16. And 2. What is the meaning of that Plea that by Sacrifices indeed Remission of sins might more easily be obtained but obtained it may be without them Doth this more easily respect God or man if they say it respects God I desire to know if he can pardon sin without Sacrifice why he cannot do it as easily as with them or what is he eased of by Sacrifices If it respect themselves as indeed it doth then it may be enquired what it is that they shall be eased of in the obtaining of the Pardon of sins by the use of Sacrifices when that is again restored unto them this can be of nothing but of that which they are now forced to make use of for that end and purpose and what is that Why Repentance and Amendment of Life If then they had their Sacrifices these might be spared or at least much in them abated which at
refrained or kept my feet from every evil way Psal. 40. v. 12. Thou Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wilt not with-hold or restrain thy mercy from me So also to shut up or put a stop unto as Jerem. 52. v. 3. Haggai 1. v. 10. 1 Sam. 25. v. 33. Psalm 88. v. 9. Thence is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Carcer a Prison wherein men are put under restraint From the similitude of Letters and Sound in Pronuntiation some suppose it to have an affinity in signification with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to consummate to end to finish But there is no pregnant instance of this coincidence For although 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do sometimes signifie to restrain or shut up as Psalm 74. v. 11. yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no where signifies to consummate finish or compleat The first thing therefore promised with the Messiah which he was to do at his coming was to coerce and restrain Transgression to shut it up from overflowing the world so universally as it had done formerly Trangression from the day of its first entrance into the world had passed over the whole lower Creation like a flood God would now set bounds unto it coerce and restrain it that it should not for the future overflow mankind as it had done This was the work of the Messiah By his Doctrine by his Spirit by his Grace and the Power of his Gospel he set bounds to the rage of wickedness rooted out the old Idolatry of the world and turned millions of the Sons of Adam unto Righteousness And the Jews who deny his coming can give no instance of any other restraint laid upon the prevalency of Transgression within the time limited by the Angel and so directly deny the Truth of the Prophecy because they will not apply it unto him unto whom alone it doth belong The second thing to be done at the season determined is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to seal § 31 up sins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to seal or to seal up The expression is Metaphorical To seal is either to keep safe or to hide cover and conceal The former can have no place here though the word seem once to be used in that sense with reference unto sin Job 14. v. 14. But this sense hath a perfect inconsistency with what is spoken immediately before and what follows directly after in the Text. And the most proper sense of the word is to cover or conceal and thence to seal because thereby a thing is hidden Cant. 4. v. 12. Now to hide sin or transgression in the Old Testament is to pardon it to forgive it As then the former expression respecteth the sâ—op that was put to the power and progress of sin by the Grace of the Gospel as Titus 2. v. 11 12. so doth this the pardon and removal of the guilt of it by the mercy proclaimed and tendred in the Gospel And in this way of expression is God said to cast our sins behind his back to cover them and to cast them into the bottom of the sea That this was no way to be done but by the Messiah we have before evinced Neither can the Jews assign any other way of the accomplishment of this part of the prediction within the time limited For setting aside this only consideration of the pardon of sin procured by the Mediation of the Messiah and there was never any age wherein God did more severely bring forth sin unto Judgement as themselves had large experience § 32 Thirdly This season is designed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make Reconciliation for iniquity To reconcile iniquity so our Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 renders this expression Heb. 2. v. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to reconcile iniquities That is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make reconciliation with God for iniquity to make attonement The sense of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when applied unto sin is known and granted If it be spoken of God it is to hide to cover to pardon sin to be gracious unto sinners if of men in the use of any of his institutions it is to propitiate appease attone make attonement or reconciliation as I have elsewhere at large declared How this was to be done by the Messiah hath been already evinced This was that work for which he was promised unto our first Parents from the foundation of the world That he was to do it we are taught in the Old Testament how he did it in the Gospel To expect this work of making attonement for sin from any other or to be wrought by any other wayes or means is fully to renounce the first promise and the Faith of the Fathers from the foundation of the world § 33 That which in the fourth place is mentioned answers the former To make Reconciliation for iniquities and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bring in everlasting Righteousness There was a Legal Righteousness amongst the people before consisting partly in their blameless observation of the institutions of the Law and partly in their ritual attonements for sin made annually and occasionally Neither of these could constitute their Righteousness everlasting Not the former for by the deeds of the Law can no flesh be justified that is not absolutely what ever they might be as to the possession of the promised Land Not the latter for as our Apostle observes the annual repetition of Legal Sacrifices did sufficiently manifest that they could not make perfect them that came unto God by them In opposition unto these an Everlasting Righteousness such as is absolute perfect and enduring for ever is promised to be brought in by the Messiah the Righteousness which he wrought in his life and death doing and suffering the whole will of God being imputed unto them that believe And this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Everlasting Righteousness procureth and endeth in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 everlasting Salvation mentioned Isa. 45. v. 17. both opposed unto the ritual Righteousness and temporal deliverance of the Law To declare the nature and the way of bringing in this Righteousness is the design of the Gospel Rom. 1. v. 16 17. And I desire to know of the Jews how it was brought in within the time limited According unto their Principles the time here determined was so far from being a season of bringing in Everlasting Righteousness that by their own confession it brought in nothing but a deluge of wickedness in the sins of their Nation and oppressions of the Gentiles This therefore is the proper work of the Messiah foretold by the Prophets expected by all the Fathers and not denyed by the Jews themselves at this day though they would shamefully avoid the application of it unto him in this place But he who ever he be that brings in Everlasting Righteousness He and no other is the Promised Seed the true and only Messiah § 34 The fifth thing here foretold is in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to seal Vision and Prophet 〈◊〉
undeniably that he whom we assert was the true Messiah For to what end should this token of him be given forth to know him by when all Genealogies of the people being utterly lost it is impossible it should be of any use in the discovery of him § 11 First then For Abraham there is no question between us and the Jews but that the Lord Jesus was of his offspring and posterity Neither do they pretend any exceptions to his being of the Tribe of Judah The Apostle in this Epistle asserts it as a thing notorious and unquestionable Chap. 7.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is every way or altogether manifest that our Lord sprang of Judah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in Greek Authors not only manifest but openly and conspicuously so Thus he is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Sophocles who dyed openly and gloriously by all mens consent Thus was the birth of our Saviour among the Jews themselves as to his springing from the Tribe of Judah The Apostle declares that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without any contradiction received amongst them and acknowledged by them Nor unto this day do they lay any exception unto this assertion It remains that we prove him to have been of the Family of David by some one signal branch of it For as we said there is nothing in the promise restraining his original to the first reigning family or the direct posterity thereof Now this is purposely declared by two of the Evangelisâ—s who being Jews and living amongst them wrote the story of his life in the Age wherein he lived for the use of the Jews themselves with the residue of mankind Matthew who calls his record of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the roll of his Genealogies shews in the front of it that he wrote it on purpose to declare that he was according to the promise of the posterity of Abraham and of the family of David Of Jesus Christ the Son of David the Son of Abraham That is who was promised to Abraham and David to spring from their loins Luke also who derives his Gâ—nealogie from the first giving of the promise unto Adam brings it down through the several restrictions mentioned by Abraham Judah and David Other testimony or evidence in this matter of fact is utterly impossible for us to give and unreasonable for any other to demand It was written and published unto all the world by persons of unquestionable integrity who had as much advantage to know the truth of the matter about which they wrote as any men ever had or can have in a matter of that nature And this they did not upon rumours or Traditions of former dayes but in that very Age wherein he lived and that unto the faces of them whose great interest it was to except against what they wrote and who would undoubtedly have so done had they not been overpowred with the conviction of the truth of it had they had the least suspition on the contrary why did they not in some of their consultations and rage against him and his Doctrine once object this unto himself or his followers that he was not of the family of David and so could not be the person he pretended himself to be Besides the Persons who wrote his Genealogie sealed their Testimony not only with their lives but with their eternal condition an higher assurance of Truth can no men give § 12 Two things the present Jews except unto this Testimony First in general they deny the Authority of our Witnesses and deny the whole matter that they assert Secondly in particular they say they prove not the matter in question namely that Jesus of Nazareth was of the family of David For the first they neither have nor do yield any other reasons but their own wills and unbelief They neither do nor will believe what they have written Record Testimony Tradition or any Circumstance contradicting their witness they have none only they will not believe them Now whether it be meet that their meer obstinacy and unbelief wherein and for which they perish temporally and eternally should be of any weight with reasonable men is easie to determine Besides I desire to know of the Jews whether they think it reasonable that any man without Reason Testimony Evidence or Record to give them countenance should call into question dis-believe and deny the things witnessed unto and written by Moses It is known what they will answer unto this demand and thereby they will stop their own mouths as to the refusal of our record in this matter so that this exception which amounts to no more but this that the Jews believe not the Gospel and that because they will not needs no particular consideration it being â—â—at which we plead with them about in all these our discourses And as unto our own Faith it is secured by all these Evidences which we give of the sacred Authority of the Writings of the New Testament But moreover they except in particular that neither of the Evangelists do either assert § 13 or prove indeed that our Lord Jesus did spring from the family of David For whereas they assert and Christians believe that he was born of the Virgin Mary without conjunction of man and that Joseph was only reputed to be his Father because his Mother was legally espoused unto him both Genealogies belong unto Joseph alone as is evident from the beginning of the one and the end of the other Now the Lord Jesus being not related unto Joseph but by the legal contract of his Mother he cannot be esteemed in his right to belong unto the family of David This is pleaded by many of them as also they take notice of the difficulties which have exercised many Christians in the reconciliation of the several Genealogies recorded by the two Evangelists unto all which exceptions we shall briefly reply and take them out of our way First Suppose it granted that the Genealogie recorded by Matthew be properly the § 14 Genealogy of Joseph what madness is it to imagine that avowedly proposing to manifest Jesus Christ to have been of the family of David and premising that design in the title of his Genealogy he doth not prove and confirm what he had so designed according to the Laws of Genealogies and of the legal just asserting any one to be of such a tribe or family No more is required for the accomplishment of the promise but that the Lord Jesus should be so of the family of David as it was required by the Laws of Families and Genealogies that any person might belong unto it Now this might be by the legal marriage of his Mother unto him who was of that family for after that contract of marriage whatever Tribe or Family she was of before she was legally accounted to be of that Family whereunto by her espousals she was engrafted And of that
Maid that no Man hath known that is an unspotted Virgin And doubtless such a one and no other was intended by Abrahams Servant for a Wife unto Isaac when he prayed that She 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which came forth to the water might answer his token that he had fixed on Again it is usâ—d Exod. 2.8 where Moses Sister who called her Mother unto Pharaohs Daughter is termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and her age being then probably not above nine or ten years old with the course of her life in her Mothers house declare her sufficiently to have been a Virgin Once it is used in the Psalms in the plural number Psal. 68. v. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the midst the Virgins playing with Tymbrels where also none but Virgins properly so called can be intended for they were by themselves exercised to celebrate the praises of God in the great Assembly Twice is the word used in the same number in a metaphorical sense in the Canticles and in both places hath respect unto Virgins chap. 1.3 Therefore do the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 love thee that is the Virgins as they do a desirable person from whence the Allusion is taken And chap. 6 7. They 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are distinguished first from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Queens or the Kings married Wives and then from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Concubines those who were admitted ad usum Thori to the marriage-bed though their children did not inherit with those of the married Wives And therefore none but those who were properly Virgins could be designed by that name And by them are those denoted who keep themselves chast unto Christ and undefiled in his Worship Hence are they in the Revelations chap. 14.5 said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Virgins or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 17. persons unblameable before the Throne of God having not defiled themselves with the special fornications of the great Whore There remaineth only one place more wherein this word is used whence the Jews would wrest somewhat to countenance their exceptions this is Prov. 30.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the way of a Man with a Maid And who is intended by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there they say the ensuing words declare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So is the way of an Adulteress or a Woman an Adulteress an Harlot so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may it seems be such an one But 1. Suppose the word should in this place be used in a sense quite contrary unto that of all other places wherein mention is made of it is it equal that we should take the importance of it from this one abuse rather then from the constant use of it in other places especially considering that this place will by no means admit of that signification as we shall immediately evince Secondly It is used here peculiarly with the prefix 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence it is rendred by the LXX in the abstract 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The way of a Man in his youth which sense Hierom follows viam viri in Adolesentia and it may thus seem to be differenced from the same word in all other places But Thirdly Indeed the meaning of the wise man is evident and it is a Virgin that he intended by the word and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the way that a man taketh to corrupt a Virgin and to compass his lust upon her This is secret hidden full of snares and evils such as ought not to enter into the thoughts of a good man to conceive much less to approve of And therefore whereas he saies of the residue of the Quaternion joyned with this v. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are too wonderful for me he adds on the mention of this evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know it not or as Hierom penitus ignoro which he could not say of the way of natural generation And by this means she who is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Virgin v. 19. is made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Harlot v. 20. and become impudent in sinning A man having by subtle wicked waies prevailed against her chastity and corrupted her Virginity she afterwards becomes a common prostitute And this I take to be the genuine meaning of the place though it be not altogether improbable that the wise man in the v. 20. proceedeth unto another especial instance of things secret and hidden in an adulterous Woman 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying as much as so also which it doth in sundry other places And these are all the places besides that of the Prophet under consideration wherein § 27 the word is used in the Old Testament So that as its rise its constant use also will admit of no other signification but only that of an unspotted Virgin Besides the LXX render it in this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Virgin and the Targum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the other Targums express a Virgin by Gen. 24.24 59. Esth. 2.2 chap. 4.4 Ruth 2.23 1 Sam. 25.42 Neither is any word in the Scripture so constantly and invariably used to express an incorrupted Virgin as this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath respect only unto Age and signifies any one married or unmarried a Virgin or one deflowred so she be young 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also is used for one corrupted Deut. 22.23 24. As also for a Widdow Joel 1.8 So that by this word a Virgin is precisely signified or the Hebrews have no word denoting exactly that state and condition And lastly the prefixing of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 makes the denotation of the word the more signal It is but twice more so prefixed Gen. 24. and Exod. 2. In both which places the Jews themselves will not deny but that unspotted Virgins are intended Further There are other considerations offering themselves from the context § 28 undeniably proving that it is the conception of a Virgin which is here intended and foretold For first it is plainly some marvelous thing above and contrary unto the ordinary course and operation of nature that is here spoken of It is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a signal prodigie and is given by God himself in the room of and as something greater and more marvelous than any thing that Ahaz could have asked either in Heaven above or in the Earth beneath had he made his choice according unto the tender made unto him The Lord God himself shall give you a sign The Emphasis used in giving the promise denotes the marvelousness of the thing promised Now certainly it was no such great matter that the Wife of Ahaz which had before born him a Son who was now eight years of age or the Wife of the Prophet who was the Mother of Shearjâ—shub then present with his Father or any Virgin then present immediately to be married should bear a Son so as to have it
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold my servant shall prosper or deal wisely are rendered by Jonathan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is one because it is said in this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And he shall set his heart to seek mercy for Israel to fast and to humble himself for them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is said Isa. 53. he was wounded for our Trangressions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
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
laboured to defend their obstinacy and unbelief And this we shall engage into with as much briefness as the nature of the matter treated of will admit Many are the Books which they have written among themselves mostly in the Hebrew Tongue and some in other Languages but the Hebrew Character against Christians and their Religion Unto sundry of these they give triumphant insulting Titles as though they had undoubtedly obtained a perfect Victory over their Adversaries but the Books themselves in nothing answer their specious Frontispieces Take away wilful mistakes gross Paralogisms false Stories and some few Grammatical nicities and they vanish into nothing What is spoken by them or for them that seems to have any weight shall be produced and examined Sundry things they object unto the Doctrine of the Gospel concerning the Person of the Messiah or his being God and man the rejection of the Mosaical Ceremonies and Law which they deem eternal and many exceptions they lay against particular passages and expressions in the Historical Books of the New Testament But all these things have been long since cleared and answered by others and I have also my self spoken to the most important of them partly in the preceding Discourses partly in my defence of the Deity and satisfaction of Christ against the Socinians For what concerns the Law of Moses and the abolition of it as to the Ceremonious Worship therein instituted it must be at large insisted on in that Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews which these discourses are only intended to make way unto I shall not here therefore enter upon a particular discussion of their Opinions Arguments and Objections about these things besides they belong not immediately to the subject of our present Discourse It is about the coming of the Messiah simply that we are disputing this we assert to be long since past the Jews deny him to be yet come living in the hope and expectation of him which at present is in them but as the giving up of the Ghost The means whereby this dying deceiving hope is supported in them comes now under examination and this alone is the subject of our ensuing Discourse To countenance themselves then in their denial of the coming of the Messiah they do § 2 all of them make use of one general Argument which they seek to confirm in and by several instances Now this is that the Promises made and recorded to be accomplished at the coming of the Messiah are not fulfilled and therefore the Messiah is not yet come This fills up their Books of Controversies and is constantly made use of by their Expositors so often as any occasion seems to offer its self unto them The Messiah say they was promised of old Together with him and to be wrought by him many other things were promised These things they see not at all fulfilled nay not those which contain the only work and business that he was promised for and therefore they will not â—elieve that he is come This general Argument I say they seek to confirm by instances wherein they reckon up all the promises which they suppose as yet unaccomplished and so endeavour to establish their Conclusion These we shall afterwards cast under the several heads whereunto they do belong and return that answer which the Word of Truth its self and the event do manifest to be the mind of God in them For the present unto their general Argument we say that all the Promises concerning the coming of the Messiah are actually fulfilled and those which concern his Grace and Kingdom are partly already accomplished and for the remainder shall be so in the manner time and season appointed for them and designed unto them in the purpose and Counsel of God So that from hence nothing can be concluded in favour of the Jews incredulity To evidence the truth of this Answer I shall lay down and confirm certain unquestionable principles that will guide us in the interpretation of the Promises that are under consideration § 3 The first is That the Promises concerning the Messiah do principally respect spiritual things and that eternal salvation which he was to obtain for his Church This we have proved at large before and this the very nature of the thing its self and the words of the Promises do abundantly manifest The Jews I suppose will not deny but the Promise concerning the Messiah is of the greatest Good that ever God engaged himself to bestow upon them I do not find that they any where deny it And it is at present the summ of all their desires prayers and expectations with the hopes whereof they comfort and support themselves in all their calamities If they should deny it it may easily be proved against them by innumerable Testimonies of Scripture many whereof have been already produced Now there can be no Reason of this but only because he was to work and effect for them who ever they be unto whom he was promised the greatest Good that they can or may be made partakers of And if it be only a Good of an inferior nature that he was to effect and any other means was to be used for that which was more principal and excellent that means is much to be preferred before him and above him Now what is this Chief Good of man Doth it consist in Riches Honor Power Pleasures the blindest of the Heathen were never blind enough to think so nor can any man entertain any such imagination without renouncing not only all right reason but in an especial manner the whole Scripture I think the Jews will not deny but that this Good consists in the favour of God in this world and the Eternal Enjoyment of him hereafter Now if the Messiah were promised only to procure those first outward temporary perishing things and these latter are to be obtained by another means namely by the observation of the Law of Moses it is evident that that is to be preferred infinitely before him which that it is not as we said is manifest from the whole Scripture and confirmed by the traditional hope and expectation of the Jews For if they enjoy that which is incomparably the Chiefest Good to what end do they so miserably bemoan themselves in their present condition and with so much impatience cry out for the coming of their Messiah Are they such slaves in their affections unto earthly perishing things that living in the enjoyment of all that is needful to procure them the love and favour of God with the eternal enjoyment of him they can have no rest or quiet because they enjoy not the good things of this life Doubtless this great expectation had a greater rise and cause then now they will own I know men are apt to complain under and to desire relief from outward trouble but to place the main of their Religion herein when they have Grace the pardon of sin and Heaven on other accounts this is only done
those only of the carnal seed of Abraham who embrace the promise are received in this matter to be his seed so all that follow the faith of Abraham and believe unto Righteousness as he did are his sons and the seed of the promise although carnally they were not his off-spring The same also is to be said concerning those names of Sion and Hierusalem of both which such glorious things are spoken I suppose none can imagine that it is the little Hill so called or the streets and buildings of the Town that God did so regard But one of them having been for a season in the days of David the special place of his worship and the other the principal habitation of Church and people God expresseth his Love and Good-will to his Church and Worship under those names and it is a fond thing to suppose that the respects mentioned should be unto those places themselves which now for a thousand years have lain waste and desolate Those promises then which we find recorded concerning Sion Hierusalem the seed of Abraham Jacob Israel do respect the Elect of God called unto the faith of Abraham and worshipping God according unto his appointment be they of what People or Nation soever under heaven And this we have proved before in our dissertation about the Oneness of the Church of the Old and New Testament Fifthly By all people all Nations the Gentiles all the Gentiles not all absolutely especially § 7 at any one time or season are to be understood but either the most eminent and most famous of them or those in whom the Church by reason of their vicinity is more especially concerned God oftentimes charged the Jews of old that they had worshipped the gods of all the Nations whereby yet not all Nations absolutely but only those that were about them with whom they had commerce and communication were intended Those Expressions then of all Nations and all Kingdoms who are said to come into the Church and submit themselves unto the Kingdom of the Messiah at his coming do not denote all absolutely in the world especially at any one time or season but only such as are either most eminent among them or such as God would cause his light and truth to approach unto And those which in an especial manner seem to be designed in those prophetical expressions are that collection of Nations whereof the Roman Empire was constituted which obtained the common appellation of the whole World being for the main of them the posterity of Japhet who were to be perswaded to dwell in the Tents of Shem. The Jews would have all Nations absolutely to be intended and Kimchi with Aben Ezra tells us on Isa. 2.4 in those words of the Prophet He shall judge among the Nations that all Nations of the Earth shall live at peace for what ever controversies they have among themselves they shall come and refer the determination of them to the Messiah living at Jerusalem But how this should be done by all the Nations of the Earth absolutely they are not pleased to declare unto us Certainly the heat of some of their differences will be much abated before they have made a full end of their journey § 8 Sixthly It must be observed that what ever is to be done and effected by the Spirit Grace or Power of the Messiah during the continuance of his Kingdom in this world it is mentioned in the Promises as that which was to be accomplished at or by his coming But here as we before observed lyeth the mistake of the Jews what ever is spoken about his Work and Kingdom they expect to have fulfilled as it were in a day which neither the nature of the things themselves will bear nor is it any way suited unto the Glory of God or the duration of this Kingdom in the world The Kingdom of the Messiah is prophesied of to be set up in the room of the other great Kingdoms and Monarchies that are in the world And if we take an instance in the last Monarchy of Daniel namely the Roman it is spoken of as that which came forth as it were all at once into the world and did all its work immediately when we know that from its first rise to the end of the things there spoken of there passed above the space of a thousand years But yet all the things ascribed unto it are mentioned as attending its rise and coming and that because they were in process of time affected by its power And in like manner all the things that are foretold about the Kingdom of the Messiah are referred unto his Coming because before that they were not wrought and they are produced by his Spirit and Grace the foundation of them all being perfectly and unchangeably wrought in what he did and effected upon his first coming and appearance It is no wonder then that many particular promises seem as yet to be unfulfilled for they were never designed to be accomplished in a day an year an age one place or season but in a long tract of time during the continuance of his Kingdom that is from his coming unto the end of the world And as the care of the accomplishment of those promises is upon so the ordering of the time and season of their being effected belongs unto the Counsel and Will of the Father who as unto his Children and Servants hath engaged unto him that he should see of the travail of his soul in all Generations and as unto his Adversaries hath said Sit thou on my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy footstool § 9 Again There are two wayes whereby Promises may be said to be accomplished by him who gives them The one is when all is done in respect of outward means helps and advantages that is needful for that end and which if men do not embrace and make use of they are left unexcusable and have none to blame for their coming short of enjoying the full benefit of the Promises but themselves alone And in this sense all the Promises contended about are long since accomplished towards all the world There is plentiful provision made in the doings and Doctrine of the Messiah as to outward means for the peace of all the Nations in the world for the Ruine of all false Worship for the uniting of Jews and Gentiles in one body in Peace and Unity and that these things are not actually effected the whole defect lyes in the blindness unbelief and obstinacy of the sons of men who had rather perish in their sins then be saved through obedience to this Captain of Salvation 2. God doth sometimes accomplish his Promises by putting forth the efficacious power of his Spirit and Grace effectually and actually to fulfill them by working the things promised in and upon them unto whom they are promised And thus are all the Promises of God that concern the Messiah his Work his Mediation with the effects of them his Grace and
that shall ensue thereupon Set aside their opinion concerning the perpetuity of the Ceremonial Law and their return in the observation of it unto their carnal Ordinances built on a supposition that God is pleased with the blood of Bulls and Goats for its own sake and not for a signification of that which was infinitely more excellent and glorious an apprehension which the whole world hath as it were by joint consent long ago renounced and cast away the vain and foolish imaginations about their sensual pleasures Behemoth the Wine of Paradice and literal accomplishment of professed Allegories which the wisest among themselves begin to be ashamed of and there is nothing in their own expectations but we acknowledge that they shall be made partakers of it Return they shall to their own Land enjoy it for a quiet and everlasting possession their Adversaries being destroyed filled they shall be also with the Light and Knowledge of the Will and Worship of God so as to be a guide and blessing unto the residue of the Gentiles who seek after the Lord and it may be be entrusted with great Empire and Rule in the world The most of these things are foretold concerning them not only in their own Prophetical Writings but also by the Divine Writers of sundry Books of the New Testament But all this we say must come to pass when the veil shall be taken from before their eyes and they shall look on him whom they have pierced and joyfully receive him whom they have sinfully rejected for so many Generations Untill this be done they may wrestleâ—s they can with their own perplexities and comfort themselves as well as they are able in their miseries get money in their dispersions by all unlawfull Arts and ways imaginable and expose themselves to the delusions of Impostors false Prophets and pretenders to be their Deliverers which to their unspeakable misery and reproach they have now done ten times deliverance peace tranquility acceptance with God and man they shall not obtain Here lyes the Crisis of their condition When they shall receive acknowledge and believe in that Messiah who came so long time since unto them whom their Fathers wickedly slew and hanged on a Tree and whom themselves have since no less wickedly rejected and when by his Spirit and Grace they shall be turned from ungodliness and have their eyes opened to see the Mysterie of the Grace Wisdom and Love of God in the blood of his Son then shall they obtain mercy from the God of their fore-fathers and returning again into their own Land Jerusalem shall be inhabited again even in Jerusalem Exercitatio XIX Ordinances and Institutions of the Judaical Church respected and unfolded in the Epistle to the Hebrews Principal Heads of them mentioned therein The call of Abraham Heb. 11.8 9 c. The foundation of the Church in his Posterity The name of Abram signification of it Changed into Abraham its signification The time of his Birth and Death Whence called Ur of the Chaldees where And Haran Extent of Mesopotamia Moses and Stephen reconciled Abraham before his call infected with Idolatry Time of his call Institution of Circumcision End and use of it Time of the Israelites sojourning in Egypt Gen. 11.13 Exod. 12.40 41. Act. 7.6 Gal. 3 17. reconciled The beginning and ending of the 430 years The Fatal period of Changes in that Church Institution of the Passover The time of its celebration The month Time of the day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 between the Evenings when The occasion and nature of this Ordinance The matter of it The manner of its observance Sundry things suited to its first celebration not afterward observed The number required at the eating of the Lamb. By whom it was killed Where How dressed Jews traditions rejected The Feast of unleavened Bread Its Rites Excision to the neglect of what Ordinances annexed Jews acknowledge the figurative nature of this Ordinance Of Frontlets and Philacteries Exod. 23.9 Signes and memorials The sections of the Law written in the Frontlets The Jews manner of making their Phylacteries deceits therein Their trust in them so proved by our Saviour Of their Fringes their appointment making and use Dedication of the first-born males to God Price of the Redemption of Children Close of God's first dispensation towards that Church The solemn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Preparations for it Remote Occasional temporary institutions between the Red-sea and Sinai Of the waters of Marah The giving of Manna Derivation and signification of the name Water brought out of the Rock That Rock Christ. Immediate preparations for the receiving of the Law The time that the people came to Sinai The Day The time of the day that the appearance of God's Glory began The same time that Christ rose from the dead The place Sinai the name of the mountain Horeb of the Wilderness Of the Monastery there Moses first Ascent The ground of it The people prepared by the remembrance of Mercies and Promises Of their washing their cloaths Not a Baptism of standing use Bounds set unto the Mount In what sense it might be touched Heb. 12.21 How the Offendor was to be punished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opened The station and order of the people in receiving of the Law The ministry of Angels in the preparations for God's glorious presence How the People met God and God them When Moses used those words I exceedingly fear and quake THere are in the Epistle unto the Hebrews either direct discourses concerning § 1 or occasional mention is made of all or at least the most important things in the whole Mosaical Oeconomy and state of the Church and Worship of God therein under the Old Testament Yea there is nothing material from the call of Abraham unto the utmost issue of God's dispensations towards his posterity that is omitted by him And if we have not a previous acquaintance with these things which he supposed in them to whom he wrote much darkness and many mistakes must needs attend us in the consideration of what he treateth on and the ends which he proposeth unto himself Now because it will no way be expedient every time the mention of them doth occur or allusion is made unto them to insist upon them as first instituted I thought meet in the close of these Prolegomena to present the Reader with a brief Scheme and delineation of the whole Mosaical Oeconomy as also of those other previous concernments of the Church in the posterity of Abraham which by the Apostle in this Epistle we are called and directed unto And they are these that follow 1. The call and obedience of Abraham chap. 11. v. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17. 2. The institution and observation of the Passover chap. 11. v. 28. 3. The giving of the Law chap. 1. v. 1. chap. 2. v. 1. chap. 12. v. 18 19 20 21 25 26. 4. The sanction of the Law in Promises and Penalties chap. 2. v. 2 21.
wherewith it was begun and ended for on the first day and last day of the seven there was to be a solemn and holy Convocation unto the Lord to be observed in a cessation from all labour and in holy duties and here also it were lost labour to reckon up the Cautions Rules and Instructions which the Jewish Doctors give about the nature kinds and sorts of Leaven of the search that was to be made for it and the like most of them being vain imaginations of superstitious minds ignorant of the Truth of God § 18 This Sacrifice of the Passeover with its attendant Feast of Vnleavened Bread to be annually observed on the fourteenth day of the moneth Abib unto the end of the twenty second was the second solemn Ordinance of that people as the People and Church of God And the Jews observe that no other positive Ordinances but only Circumcision and the Passeover had that sanction of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Excision or Extermination annexed unto them Concerning Circumcision the words are plain Gen. 17.14 The uncircumcised Man-Child whose flesh of his foreskin shall not be circumcised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that soul shall be cut off from his People he hath broken my Covenant And with reference to the Passeover Exod. 12.15 Whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day untill the seventh day that soul shall be cut off from Israel Whereas they observe as Aben Ezra upon this place that it is annexed to above twenty negative Precepts intimating that there is a greater provocation and sin in doing any thing in the Worship of God against his Commandment then in omitting what he had commanded though both of them be evil The Observation I acknowledge in general is true but the Application of it to the Passeover is not so For although we should suppose that the words of Exod. 12.15 do relate unto the Passeover also although they seem to respect only the seven dayes of the feast of Unleavened Bread yet they do not require the observation of the Passeover it self under that penalty but upon a supposition of the observation of the Passeover they were to eat the Lamb with unleavened Bread which was a negative Precept namely that they should have no leaven in their bread and so was justly attended in its transgression with this cutting off And this cutting off the Jews generally interpret when it is spoken indefinitely without a prescription of the manner how it should be done or by whom to respect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hand of Heaven or the vindictive Justice of God which in due time will find out the Transgressor But we know that God long bare with them in the omission of this Ordinance of the Passeover its self § 19 What are the observations of the late Jews in the imitation of their fore-Fathers observance of this Ordinance of God the Reader may see in Buxtorfs Synagoga Judaica and in part in the Annotations of Aâ—sworth and they need not here be repeated This only I shall obâ—erve that all of them in their Expositions of this Institution do make the Application of its several parts unto other acts of God in dealing with them Such as indeed the Text of Moses plainly leads them to And this perfectly overthrows their pretensions as to their other Ceremonies and Sacrifices namely that they were instituted for their own sakes and not as signs of things to come the figurative nature of this their greatest Ordinance being manifest and acknowledged by themselves § 20 On occasion of this great solemn Ordinance there was given unto the People two additional Institutions the first concerning the Writing of the Law on their foreheads and Hands the other of the Dedication unto God of all that opened the Matrix The first of these is prescribed Chap. 13.9 And it shall be for a sign upon thine hand and as a memorial between thine eyes that the Lords Law may be in thy mouth ver 16. and it shall be for a token upon thine hand and as frontlets between thine eyes Whereunto may be added Dâ—ut 6.6 7 8 9. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy Children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou lyest down and when thou risest up and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thine house and on thy gates In the observation of sundry things supposed to relate unto these precepts consisteth the principal part of the Superstition of the present Jews For they have mixed the observation of this duty whatever be intended by it with many foolish and noisome imaginations It doth not indeed appear to me that any more is intended by these Expressions a sign upon thy hand and a memorial or frontlet between thine eyes but a continual Remembrance and careful practice of the Institution it self and their calling to mind thereby the mercy and goodness of God in their deliverance which they were to celebrate when they came unto a settlement in their own Land by writing some passages of the Law upon the doors and posts of their houses But they are otherwise minded That which is prescribed unto them is called v. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sign as it was to be on their hand and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a memorial as between their eyes both which are very capable of our interpretation but v. 16. they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also Deut. 6.8 From which word which they know not what it signifies they draw out all the mysteries of their present observances The Chaldee renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thephilin which word seems to be taken from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prayer or prayers and to be so called from the prayers that they used in the Consecration and Wearing of those frontlets But because they are rendered in the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philacteria some would derive it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to conjoyn keep and bind which hath some allusion at least to the sense of the Greek Word And this Origination and denotation of the word the Learned Fuller contends for Miscelan l. 5. c. 7. The manner of their present observation hereof to this purpose is they write four Sections of the Law on parchment And why four that they gather from the signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Totaphoth Tot. saith Rabbi Solomon in Pontus by the Caspian Sea somewhere signifies two and Poth signifies two in Aegypt both which make four undoubtedly Or as they say in the Talmud Tat in Casphe signifies two and Pat in Africa So that four Sections must be written Scaliger supposeth the word to be Aegyptian which is not unlikely but that it should signifie an
not our Neighbour in our heart v. 17. 31. That none put an Israelite to reproach v. 17. 32. That none exercise revenge on his Neighbour 33. That none bear ill will in their mind v. 18. 34. That the Mother and its young be not taken together Deut. 22.6 35. That a Scall be not shaven Lev. 13.33 36. That the signs of Leprosie be not removed Deut. 27.8 37. That the place where the Heifer is beheaded be not tilled Deut. 21.4 38. That a Sorcerer be not suffered to live Exod. 22.18 39. That a new Married Man be not bound to go forth to War Deut. 24.5 40. That none be rebellious against the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem and their Doctrine Deut. 17.11 41. That nothing be added to the precepts of the Law 42. That nothing be taken from them Deut. 4.2 43. That we speak not evil of the Judge nor of the Prince of the People Exod. 22.28 44. That none speak evil of any in Israel Lev. 19.14 45. That none curse Father or Mother 46. That none strike Father or Mother Exod. 21.17 § 29 The Ninth Family of Negative Precepts concerns Feasts and contains Ten Prohibitions 1. That no work be done on the Sabbath Exod. 20.10 2. That none go out or beyond the bounds of the City on the Sabbath Exod. 16.29 3. That no punishment be inflicted on the Sabbath Exod. 35.3 4. That no work be done on the first day of the Passeover 5. That no work be done on the seventh day of the Passeover Lev. 23.7 8. 6. That no work be done in the Feast of Weeks v. 21. 7. That no work be done on the first day of the seventh moneth v. 24 25. 8. That no Work be done on the day of Expiation v. 30. 9. That no work be done on the first day of Tabernacles 10. That no work be done on the eighth day of release v. 34 35 37. The Tenth Family of Negative Precepts is concerning Chastity and affinity and § 30 purity in twenty four Precepts 1. That none uncover the nakedness of his Mother 2. Of his Fathers Wife 3. Of his Sister 4. Of the Daughter of his Fathers Wife Lev. 18.7 8 9 11. 5. Of the Daughter of his Son 6. Of the Daughter of his Daughter 7. Of his own Daughter v. 10. 8. Of a Woman and her Daughter 9. Of a Woman and the Daughter of her Son 10. Of a Woman and the Daughter of her Daughter v. 17. 11. Of a Fathers Sister 12. A Mothers Sister v. 12.13 13. Of an Vnkles Wife v. 19. 14. Of a Daughter in Law v. 15. 15. Of a Brothers Wife v. 16. 16. Of a Wifes Sister she being living ver 14. 17. Of a married Woman Exod. 20.13 18. Of a separated Woman Lev. 18.19 19. That none commit the sin of Sodomy v. 22. 20. That none uncover the nakedness of her Father 21. Nor of the Brother of her Father v. 7.14 22. That filthiness be not committed with any Beast by a Man 23. Nor by a Woman Lev. 18.23 24. That none draw nigh to a prohibited Woman Lev. 18.6 The Eleventh Family concerns Marriages in eight Prohibitions 1. That a Bastard § 31 take not an Israelitess to Wife Deut. 23.2 2. That no Eunuch take a Daughter of Israel v. 1. 3. That no male be made an Eunuch Lev. 22.24 4. That there be no Whore in Israel Deut. 23.17 5. That he who hath divorced his Wife may not take her again after she hath been married to another Deut. 24 4. 6. The Brothers Daughter marry not with a stranger Deut. 25.5 7. That he divorce not his Wife who hath defamed her in her youth Deut. 22.19 8. He that hath forced a Maid shall not divorce her Deut. 22.29 The Twelfth Family concerns the Kingdom and is made up of four Precepts § 32 1. That no King be chosen or a strange Nation Deut. 17.15 2. That the King get not himself many Horses v. 16. 3. That he multiply not Wives 4. That he heap not up to himself Treasures of Silver and Gold v. 17. This is the Account that the Jews give of the precepts of the Law and both the § 33 number of them as also their distribution and distinction which they have cast them into are part as they pretend of their Oral Law which may easily be improved unto a conviction of the vanity of it For whereas it is evident that many of these precepts are coincident many pretended so to be are no precepts at all and sundry of them are not founded on the places from whence they profess to gather them yea that in many of them the mind of the Holy Ghost is plainly perverted and a contrary sense annexed unto his words so it is most unquestionable that there are sundry Commands and Institutions especially in about and concerning Sacrifices that are no way taken notice of by them in this collection as I could easily make good by instances sufficient it is evident that that Rule cannot be of God whereof this collection is pretended to be a part But as I have said before because there is a Representation in them of no small multitude of commands especially in things concerning their carnal Worship it was necessary that they should be here represented though they have been before transcribed from them by others My principal design herein is to give light into some passages of our Apostle as also to other expressions concerning this Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances in other places of the Scripture The Censure our Apostle gives of this whole System of Divine Worship Chap. 9. § 34 v. 1 10. The first Covenant had also Ordinances of Divine Service and a worldly Sanctuary which stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal Ordinances imposed on them untill the time of reformation is very remarkable Let any one cast an Eye upon this multitude of commands about meats and drinks washings and outward carnal observances which are here collected and he will quickly see how directly and pertinently the description given by our Apostle is suited to their services And that not only as to the manner and multitude of them but also as to their natures They are carnal things and could by no means effect the great spiritual glorious and eternal ends which God had designed proposed and promised in that Covenant unto whose administration they were annexed until the time of Reformation should come Hence elsewhere as Coloss. 10.20 He calls them the rudiments of the world Ordinances about touching tasting and handling about meats and drinks things outwardly clean or unclean all which perish with their using § 35 A little view also of the multiplicity of these precepts and the scrupulous observances required about them and their circumstances will give light into that of another Apostle Acts 15.20 Calling the Law a yoke which neither their Fathers nor themselves were ever able to bear For although the weight of this yoke did principally consist in the matter of it
the people were formed in the air by the Ministry of Angels so that they heard not the immediate voyce of God Now in the last dayes did the Lord take that work into his own hands wherein from the foundation of the world he had employed Angels and Men. 3. Though the Apostles argument arise not immediately from the differing wayes of Gods revealing himself to the Prophets and to Christ but in the difference that lyes in his immediate speaking unto us in Christ the Son and his speaking unto the Fathers in the Prophets yet that former difference also is intimated by him in his affirming that he spake to them variously or diversly as hath been declared and therefore we must consider that also And herein we are to obviate the great Judaical prejudice against the Gospel to which end observe 1. That though the Apostle mentions the Prophets in general yet it is Moses whom he principally intends This is evident in the Application of this Argument which he makes in particular Chap. 3.3 where he expresly prefers the Lord Jesus before Moses by name in this matter of Ministring to the Church in the name of God For whereas as was before intimated the Apostle mannages this thing with excellent Wisdom in this Epistle considering the inveterate prejudices of the Hebrews in their adhering unto Moses he could not mention him in particular until he had proved him whom he preferred above him to be so excellent and glorious so far exalted above Men and Angels that it was no disreputation to Moses to be esteemed inferiour to him 2. That the great Reason why the Jews adhered so pertinaciously unto Mosaical Institutions was their perswasion of the unparallel'd excellency of the Revelation made to Moses This they retreated unto and boasted of when they were pressed with the Doctrine and Miracles of Christ John 9.28 29. And this was the main foundation in all their contests with the Apostles Acts 15.1 Chap. 21.21 28. And this at length they have made a principal root or fundamental Article of their Faith being the fourth of the thirteen Articles of their Creed namely that Moses was the most excellent and most sublime among the Prophets so far above that excellency that degree of wisdom and honour which men may attain unto that he was equal to Angels This Maimonides the first disposer of their Faith into fundamental Articles expounds at large More Nebuch p. 2. cap. 39. Declaravimus saith he quod Prophetia Mosis doctoris nostri ab omnium uliorum Prophetiis differat dicemus nunc quod propter solam illam apprehensionem ad legem vocati sumus quia nempe vocationi illi qua Moses nos vocavit simiis neque antecessit ab Adamo primo ad ipsum usque neque etiam post ipsum apud ullum Prophetam sequuta est sic fundamentum Legis nostrae est quod in aeternum finem non sit habitura vel abolenda ac propterea etiam ex sententia nostra alia lex nec unquam fuit nec erit praeter unicam hanc Legem Mosis Doctoris nostri We have declared that the Prophecy of Moses our Master differed from the Prophecies of all others Now we shall shew that upon the account of this perswasion alone namely of the excellency of the Revelation made unto Moses we are called to the Law For from the first Adam to him there was never any such call from God as that wherewith Moses called us nor did ever any such ensue after him Hence is it a fundamental Principle of our Law that it shall never have an end or be abolished and therefore also it is our Judgement that there was never any other divine Law nor ever shall be but only this of our Master Moses This is their present perswasion it was so of old The Law and all Legal Observances are to be continued for ever other way of worshipping God there can be none and this upon the account of the incomparable Excellency of the Revelation made to Moses To confirm themselves in this prejudicate apprehension they assign a fourfold preheminency to the Prophecy of Moses above that of other Prophets and these are insisted on by the same Maimonides in his explication of Cap. 10. Tractat. Sanedr and by sundry others of them 1. The first they fix on is this that God never spake to any Prophet immediately but only to Moses to him he spake without Angelical Mediation For so he affirms that he spake to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mouth to mouth Numb 12.13 2. All other Prophets they say received their visions either in their sleep or presently after their sleep but Moses in the day time standing between the Cherubims Exod. 29.52 And 3. That when other Prophets received their Visions or Revelations although it was by the mediation of Angels yet their nature was weakened by it and the state of their bodies by reason of the consternation that befell them Dan. 10.8 but Moses had no such perturbation befalling him when the Lord spake unto him but it was with him as when a man speaks unto his friend 4. That other Prophets had not inspirations and Answers from God at their own pleasures but sometimes were forced to wait long and pray for an answer before they could receive it But Moses was wont when he pleased to say stay and I will hear what God will command you Numb 9.9 So they And to reconcile this unto what is elsewhere said that he could not see the face of God and live they add that he saw God not immediately but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in speculo or speculari a word formed from the Latin in a glass an expression which the Apostle alludes unto 1 Cor. 13.12 only they add 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 other Prophets saw through nine perspectives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but Moses saw through one only Vaiikra Rabba sec. 1. whereunto they add that his Speculum was clear and lucid theirs spotted It must be granted that Moses being the Law-giver and first Revealer of all that Worship in the observation whereof the Judaical Church State â—nd Priviledge of that people did consist had the preheminency above the succeeding Prophets whose Ministry chiefly tended to instruct the people in the nature and keep them to the observation of his Institutions But that all these things by them insisted on were peculiar to him it doth not appear nor if it did so are the most of them of any great weight or importance The first is granted and a signal Priviledge it was God spake unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 face to face Exod. 33.11 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mouth to mouth Numb 12.13 and this is mentioned as that which was peculiar to him above the Prophets which should succeed him in the Ministry of that Church But that Moses saw the essence of God which the Jews contend from those words is expresly denyed in the Text it self For even then when it
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 Tâ—e 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Things hard to be understood which Peter affirms to be in this Eâ—istle 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
appearance of a compensation to be made that the sinner might go free but in the Moral Law there is nothing but absolute universal and exact Righteousness required or admitted without the least provision of relief for them who come short therein But yet our Apostle declarâ—s and proves that neither were these available for the End aimed at as we shall see at large on the ninth and tenth Chapters of this Epistle Now within the compass of these three Natural Light or Reason with ingrafted principles of Good and Evil the Moral Law and the Sacrifices thereof do lye and consist all the hopes and endeavours of sinners after Deliverance and Acceptance with God Nothing is there that they can do or put any confidence in but may be referred unto one of these heads And if all this fail them as assuredly they will which we might prove by Reasons and Demonstrations in numerable though at present we content our selves with the Testimonies above reported it is certain that there is nothing under Heaven can yield them in this case the least relief Again This is the only way for that End which is suited unto the Wisdom of God The Wisdom of God is an infinite abysse which as it lyes in his own Eternal breast we cannot at all look into We can only adore it as it breaks forth and discovers it self in the Works that outwardly are of him or the Effects of it Thus David in the consideration of the Works of God falls into an admiration of the Wisdom whereby they were made Psal. 104.24 and Psal. 136.5 The Wisdom of God opens and manifests its self in its Effects and thence according unto our measure do we learn what doth become it and is suitable unto it But when the Holy Ghost cometh to speak of this Work of our Redemption by Christ he doth not only call us to consider singly the Wisdom of God but his Various and manifold Wisdom Ephes. 3.10 and affirms that all the Treasures of Wisdom are hid in it Col. 2.3 plainly intimating that it is a work so suited unto so answering the Infinite Wisdom of God in all things throughout that it could no otherwise have been disposed and effected And this as well upon the account of the Wisdom of God its self absolutely considered as also as it is that Property whereby God designs and effects the glorifying of all other Excellencies of his Nature whence it is called various or manifold so that we may well conclude that no other way of Deliverance of sinners was suited unto the Wisdom of God Secondly This was alone answered the Holiness and Righteousness of God He is an holy God who will not suffer the guilty to go free of purer eyes than to behold iniquity and his Judgement is that they who commit sin are worthy of death Sin is contrary to his Nature and his Justice requireth that it go not unpunished Besides he is the great and supream Governour of all and whereas sin breaketh and dissolveth the dependance of the creature upon him should he not avenge that defection his whole Rule and Government would be disannulled But now if this Vengeance and Punishment should fall on the sinners themselves they must perish under it eternally not one of them could escape or ever be freed or purged from their sins A commutation then there must be that the Punishment due to sin which the Holiness and Righteousness of God exacteth may be inflicted and Mercy and Grace shewed unto the sinner That none was able fit or worthy to undergo this penalty so as to make a compensation for all the sins of all the Elect that none was able to bear it and break through it so as that the End of the undertaking might be happy blessed and glorious on all hands but only the Son of God we shall farther manifest in our progress and it hath been elsewhere declared And this First should teach us to live in an Holy Admiration of this mighty and wonderful product of the Wisdom Righteousness Grace and Goodness of God which had found out and appointed this Way of delivering sinners and have gloriously accomplished it in the self-sacrifice of the Son of God The Holy Ghost every where proposeth this unto us as a Mysterie a great and hidden Mysterie which none of the Great or Wise or Disputers of the World ever did or could come to the least acquaintance withall And three things he asserts concerning it First That it is revealed in the Gospel and is thence alone to be learned and attained whence we are invited again and again to search and enquire diligently into it unto this very End that we may become wise in the Knowledge and Acknowledgement of this deep and hidden Mysterie Secondly That we cannot in our own strength and by our own most diligent Endeavours come to an holy Acquaintance with it notwithstanding that Revelation that is made of it in the letter of the Word unless moreover we receive from God the Spirit of Wisdom Knowledge and Revelation opening our eyes makeing our minds spiritual and enabling us to discover these depths of the Holy Ghost in a spiritual manner Thirdly That we cannot by these helps attain in this life unto a perfection in the knowledge of this deep and unfathomable Mysterie but must still labour to grow in Grace and in the Knowledge of it Our thriving in all Grace and Obedience depending thereon All these things the Scripture abounds in the Repetition of And besides it every where sets forth the blessedness and Happiness of them who by Grace obtain a spiritual insight into this Mysterie and themselves also find by experience the satisfying Excellency of it with the Apostle Phil. 3.8 all which Considerations are powerful motives unto this Duty of enquiring into and admiring this wonderful Mysterie wherein we have the Angels themselves for our Associates and Companions 2. Consider we may also the unspeakable Love of Christ in this work of his delivering us from sin This the Scripture also abundantly goeth before us in setting forth extolling commending this Love of Christ and calling us to an holy consideration of it Particularly it shews it accompanied with all things that may make Love expressive and to be admired For First It proposeth the Necessity and Exigency of the Condition wherein the Lord Christ gave us this relief that was when we were sinners when we were lost when we were Children of Wrath under the Curse when no eye did pitty us when no hand could relieve us And if John mourned greatly when he thought that there was none found worthy in Heaven or Earth to open his Book of Visions and to unloose the seals thereof how justly might the whole Creation mourn and lament if there had been none found to yield Relief when all were obnoxious to this fatal ruine And this is an exceeding commendation of the love of Christ that he set his hand to that work which none could touch and put
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 Angelica◠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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by more excellent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is properly nobilior potentior praestantior excellentior more Powerful Able Excellent as to Love Honour or State and Condition as in that of Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Eustathius multo potentior more powerful able to prevail or more excellent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 factus effectus made was became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 excellentius more excellent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
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
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
v. 33. Herein are we to rest and to put a stop unto all our enquiries So it pleased him Matth. 11. v. 25. And he giveth no account of his matters Job 33. v. 12 13. This we are to acquiesce in as the great Reason of all God's dispensations and ways even his own infinite Wisdom and sovereign Pleasure He alone knows what becomes his own Goodness and Greatness and of creatures not one but as he is pleased to reveal it For can we find out the Almighty unto perfection can we by searching find out God Job 11. v. 7. How shall poor limited finite creatures come to know what beseems the Infinite Holy One to do any otherwise but as himself declareth that he hath done it And then we know the work is holy and wise and such as becometh Infinite Perfection because he hath done it Herein then we principally rest as to the meetness and condecency of the ministery of Angels God hath appointed it Whereunto we may adde those other Reasons which the Scripture suggests unto us as 1. God doth it for the preserving and manifestation of the Glorious Order of his Kingdom God is pleased to rule his Creation as a Supreme Lord and King Hence there is so often mention made in the Scripture that he is the King the only Potentate the Lord of Lords and King of Kings as also of his Throne his Kingdom Dominion Reign and Government And God doth this that he might thereby give an Understanding of his Sovereignty unto his creatures and make way thereby for the manifestation of his Glory Now unto a Kingdom there are three things essential Rule Obedience and Order In this Kingdom the Sovereign Ruâ—e is in the hand of God alone the Kingdom or Monarchy is his Obedience is the work and duty of the whole Creation every thing according to its nature capacity and condition The Glory of both these lies in Order Hereof there are two parts first that which respects the Being of the Creatures in their dependance on God secondly that which respects their Operation in Obedience unto him God hath in infinite Wisdom endowed the works of his hands with such various natures whereon their uses do depend as that they are placed thereby in several ranks series and Orders in an useful subserviency unto one another so far as they are advantaged thereby in their common and absolute subjection to himself This is the Order of their Being the Order of their Operation is such as they are fitted for by their natures and whereby they set out the Glory of this Kingdom of God Thus he takes the Angels being fitted thereunto in that place which they hold in the Order of Nature and Being unto the next and immediate attendance upon the Throne of his Kingdom There they wait upon him to receive and execute his commands in all the affairs of his Kingdom So are they every where described in the Scripture Psal. 68. and 103. Dan. 7. Revel 5. Isa. 6. and else-where And by this Ministery of Angels doth God insinuate unto us the Glory and Order of his Kingdom His glorious and fiery Throne being attended with millions of these mighty Angels ready to accomplish his will And whereas God hath erected imperium in imperio a Kingdom in a Kingdom like the wheels within the wheels in Ezekiel's Vision namely the Oeconomical Dispensatory Kingdom of Christ in his Oecumenical Kingdom over the whole Creation and hath annexed thereunto the principal manifestation of his Glory Rule and Dominion those blessed Ministers do principally attend the Affairs thereof And thus though God can govern and dispose of all things solo nutu by the Almighty immediate Emanations of his own Power yet for the manifestation of the glory of his Kingdom especially of that Rule which is committed unto the Lord Christ he useth the ministery of his creatures in that Order which his infinite Wisdom had disposed them unto at the first Creation 2. God is pleased to do this to exercise the Obedience of the Angels themselves and that upon a three-fold account First to keep preserve and rule them fitly to their state and condition Being Creatures they have a natural and necessary dependance on God their Creator and being Intellectual creatures they have a moral dependance on him according to a Law and Rule with reference unto the utmost End whereunto they were created This requires their constant Obedience unto the Will of God without which they leave and forsake the Law of their Creation and Condition and also deviate from the End for which they were made Wherefore to exercise them unto and in this their Obedience God makes use of their ministery and service in his Government of the Church And this they shall continue to do unto the end of the world when the course of their Obedience being accomplished they shall be everlastingly satiated with the contemplation of God's infinite Excellencies and enjoyment of him as their Reward Secondly That in them he might give an Example of ready Obedience unto the Church These Angels of God being in their nature excellent and great in power always ready watchful and free from all Diversions or Avocations eminent in Light and Holiness as always beholding the face of God and filled with his Grace are proposed unto us in their Obedience and readiness to do the Will of God as an Example and pattern which we are to imitate unto our utmost though we are never able perfectly to express And thence are we directed by our Saviour to pray that we may do the will of God on earth as it is done by them in heaven Thirdly That they themselves may be made partakers of this singular Honour and Glory to serve the most High God in his most glorious work the preservation and salvation of his Church for that this is their Honour was before declared 3. God emploieth them in an especial manner in this ministery for the good of them that are Heirs of salvation to manifest unto them the Greatness and Glory of the work of the gathering preserving and redemption of his Church with the value that he puts upon all the fruits of the Death and Concernments of the Mediation of his Son Jesus Christ. For as of themselves they desire to look particularly into these things which in general appear so glorious unto them 1 Pet. 1. v. 12. that their delight in the Wisdom and Love of God may be more and more encreased so by God's dealings with his Church in whose behalf they are employed they learn therein the manifold Wisdom of God and riches of his grace Ephes. 3. v. 10. And thus in all their employment about the Saints wherein they are sent out to minister for their good they learn much of the Wisdom and Love of God and are thereby excited to honour applaud glorifie him and praise him Somewhat of this they shall see in the least and meanest work toward any Believer that is committed unto them
you do it not we are your fellow servants What shall we then do Why say they Worship God Glorifie and praise him who is the God of all Angels who sends them who employes them unto whom they Minister in all that they do for us Let us bless God I say for the Ministry of Angels Moreover these words afford us other Instructions which I shall only name and put a close unto our Discourses on this Chapter as III. The Socratical fancy of one single Guardian Angel attending every one as it is if admitted a real impeachment of the Consolation of Believers so a great inducement unto Superstition and Idolatry The further evidencing of this truth I remit unto what hath been already delivered about the Ministry of Angels in general IV. Believers obtain Heaven by inheritance and free gift of their Father and not by any merit of their own Heirs among men claim their inheritance jure nascendi because they are born unto it not because they deserve it better than others Believers look for theirs jure adoptionis by right of Adoption whereby they become Sons Heirs of God and Co-heirs with Jesus Christ. End of the first Chapter CHAP. II. IN this Second Chapter the Apostle declares his Design and what his especial Aim was with respect unto them to whom he wrote It was not meerly their Instruction or the Information of their Minds and Judgements that he intended though that also was in his eye and necessary unto his principal Purpose They had by their Instability and fainting in Trials administred Occasion unto him of other Discourse Besides he foresaw that they had great Difficulties and Temptations to contend withal and was jealous lest they should miscarry under them as he also was over other Professors 1 Cor. 11.34 His principal End therefore in this whole Epistle as hath been declared was to prevail with the Hebrews unto Stedfastness in the faith of the Gospel and Diligence in attendance unto all those Wayes and Means whereby they might be established The Foundation of his Exhortations unto this Purpose he layes in the incomparable Excellency of the Author of the Gospel Hence just and cogent Inferences unto constancy in the Profession of his Doctrine and Obedience unto him both absolutely and in respect of the Competition set up against it by Mosaical Institutions do naturally flow And these Considerations doth the Apostle divide into several parts interposing in great Wisdom between the handling of them those Exhortations which pressed towards his especial End before mentioned And this course he proceeds in for several Reasons For First He minds them and us in general that in handling of the Doctrines of the Gospel concerning the Person and Offices of Jesus Christ we should not satisfie our selves in a bare Notional Speculation of them but endeavour to get our Hearts excited by them unto Faith Love Obedience and Stedfastness in our Profession This doth he immediately apply them unto Instances unto this purpose doth he give us in this Chapter upon his foregoing Declaration of the Excellencies of Christ and the Glory of his Kingdom that so his Hearers might not be barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of him Secondly As to the Hebrews in particular he had as it were so overwhelmed them with that flood of Divine Testimonies which he had powred out in the Beginning of his Epistle and that heavenly glorious Declaration which he had made of the Person of the Messiah that he thought it needful to give them time to consider what was the Tendency of that sublime Discourse and what was their especial concernment therein Thirdly The Apostle interposeth his Exhortation in this place as to be an Application of what was before delivered so to lead them on thereby unto the Consideration of Arguments of another nature though of the same use and tendency taken from the Sacerdotal or Priestly Office of Christ and the Works or effects thereof And herein doth a great part of the Apostolical Wisdom in the various Intertexture of Doctrines and Exhortations in this Epistle consist that as every Exhortation flows naturally from the Doctrine that doth precede it so alwayes the principal matter of it leads directly unto some other Doctrinal Argument which he intends nextly to insist upon And this we shall see evidenced in the Transition that he makes from the Exhortation laid down in the beginning of this Chapter unto the Sacerdotal Office of Christ v. 6 7 8. The first Verses then of this Chapter are purely Paraenetical or Hortatory with a mixture of some Considerations serving to make the Exhortation weighty and cogent Verse I. THe first Verse contains the Exhortation it self intended by the Apostle those following the especial Enforcements of it Ver. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abundantius V.L. Arias More abundantly eò amplius Beza so much the more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. Magis the rather ut magis ut abundantius as the rather as more abundantly Summâ attentione Arab. with all attention The word denotes somewhat more than ordinary in the Act it relates unto or the Persons to whom it is applyed And Diligence being especially required in Attention unto any thing or in those that attend which extends it self unto the whole deportment of the mind in that work if that be respected herein which we shall consider it may be not unmeetly rendered more diligently directly more abundantly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Observare V.L. to observe improperly Adhibere Ar. M. a Word of an imperfect sense unless supplyed with our Minds or Vnderstandings or diligence Adhibere animum adhibere diligentiam but immediately affecting the Object as adhibere auditis it gives no perfect sense attendere Beza to attend unto to give heed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 simus cauti attenti Syr. That we be wary or heedfull 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is usually in other Authors when it refers to Persons ausculto or obtempero to hearken attend and give heed to any one with an observant or obedient mind And sometimes it signifies to hope or place Trust or Confidence in him that is attended unto It is also used for to Assent to Agree or subscribe unto what is spoken by another In the New Testament it is principally used in two senses 1. To beware or look to our selves as to things or Persons that might hurt us and then it is attended with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Matth. 7.25 Chap. 10.17 Chap. 16.6 11 12. Luke 12.1 Or so to beware or to look diligently unto our own Concernments absolutely Luke 17.3 Chap. 21.34 Matth. 6.1 Acts 20.28 2. To Attend with diligence and submission of mind unto the words of another or unto any business that we are employed in Acts 8.6 Chap. 16.14 1 Tim. 1.4 Chap. 4.1 13. Titus 1.14 So it is said of the Samaritans that they much heeded Simon Magus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 8.10 And it
by interposing after his usual manner in this Epistle subservient Motives Arguments and Considerations tending directly to his principal end and connatural unto the subject treated on Thus the main Argument wherewith he presseth his preceding Exhortation unto attendance and Obedience unto the Word is taken ab incommodo or ab eventu pernitioso from the pernitious end and event of their disobedience thereunto The chief proof of this is taken from another Argument à minori and that is the confessed Event of disobedience unto the Law v. 2. To confirm and strengthen which reasoning he gives us a summary comparison of the Law and the Gospel whence it might appear that if a disregard unto the Law was attended with a sure and sore revenge that much more must and would the Neglect of the Gospel be so And this comparison on the part of the Gospel is expressed 1. In the Nature of it it is Great Salvation 2. The Author of it it was spoken by the Lord 3. The manner of its Tradition being confirmed unto us by them that heard them and the Testimony given to it and them by signs and wonders and distributions of the Holy Ghost from all which he infers his purpose of the pernitious Event of disobedience unto it or disregarding of it This is the summ of the Apostles Reasoning which we shall further open as the words present it unto us in the Text. The first thing we meet with in the word is his subservient Argument à minori v. 2. wherein three things occur 1. The Description that he gives us of the Law which he compares the Gospel withal it was the word spoken by Angels 2. An Adjunct of it which ensued upon its being spoken by them it was firm and stedfast 3. The Event of disobedience unto it every transgression of it and stubborn disobedience had a just recompence of reward How from hence he confirms his Assertion of the pernitious Consequence of neglecting the Gospel we shall see afterwards The first thing in the words is the Description of the Law by that Periphrasis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word spoken or pronounced by Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a word very variously used in the New Testament The special senses of it we shall not need in this place to insist upon It is here taken for a system of Doctrine and by the addition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as published preached or declared Thus the Gospel from the principal subject matter of it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 1.18 the Word the Doctrine the Preaching concerning the Cross or Christ crucified So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here the word is the Doctrine of the Law that is the Law it self spoken declared published promulgated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Angels that is by the Ministry of Angels It is not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he from whom the Law was given that the Apostle intends but the Ministerial Publishers of it by whom it was given The Law was given from God but it was given by Angels in the way and manner to be considered Two things we may observe in this Periphrasis of the Law 1. That the Apostle principally intends that part of the Mosaical Dispensation which was given on Mount Sinai and which as such was the Covenant between God and that people as unto the priviledge of the promised Land 2. That he fixed on this Description of it rather than any other or meerly to have expressed it by the Law 1. Because the Ministry of Angels in the giving of the Law by Moses was that by which all the prodigious Effects wherewith it was attended which kept the people in such a durable Reverence unto it were wrought This therefore he mentions that he might appear not to undervalue it but to speak of it with Reverence unto that Excellency of its Administration which the Hebrews even boasted in 2. Because having newly insisted on a comparison between Christ and the Angels his Argument is much strengthened when it shall be considered that the Law was the Word spoken by the Angels the Gospel was delivered by the Son so far exalted above them But the manner how this was done must be a little farther enquired into That the Law was given by the Ministry of Angels the Jews alwayes confessed yea and boasted So saith Josephus one much antiente◠than any of their Rabbins extant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We learned the most excellent and most holy constitutions of the Law from God by Angels The same was generally acknowledged by them of old This Stephen treating with them takes for granted Acts 7.53 You received the Law by the disposition of Angels And our Apostle affirms the same Gal. 3.19 It was ordained by Angels in the hand of a Mediator a word of the same Original and sense is used in both places though by ours variously rendered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This then is certain but the manner of it is yet to be considered First then nothing is more unquestionable than that the Law was given from God himself He was the Author of it This the whole Scripture declares and proclaims And it was the impious Abomination of the Valentinians and Marcionites of old to ascribe the Original of it unto any other Author Secondly He who spake in the name of God on Mount Sinai was no other than God himself the second Person in the Trinity Psal. 68.17 18 19. Him Stephen calls the Angel Acts 7.30 38. Even the Angel of the Covenant the Lord whom the people sought Mal. 3.1 2. Some would have it to be a Created Angel delegated unto that work who thereon took on him the Presence and Name of God as if he himself had spoken But this is wholly contrary to the nature of all Ministerial work Never did Embassador speak in his own name as if he were the King himself whose person he doth represent The Apostle tells us that the Preachers of the Gospel were Gods Embassadors and that God by them doth perswade men to be reconciled in Christ 2 Cor. 5.20 But yet if any on that account should take on him to personate God and to speak of himself as God he would be highly blasphemous Nor can this be imagined in this place where not only he that speaks speaks in the Name of God I am the Lord thy God but also elsewhere it is frequently affirmed that Jehovah himself did give that Law which is made unto the people an Argument unto Obedience And the things done on Sinai are alwayes ascribed unto God himself Thirdly It remains then to consider how notwithstanding this the Law is said to be the Word spoken by Angels It is no where affirmed that the Law was given by Angels but that the people received it by the disposition of Angels and that it was ordained by Angels and here spoken by them From hence it is evident that
the Covenant between him and the people that the Transgression of it so as to disannul the terms and conditions of it had by Divine Constitution the punishment of death temporal or Excision appointed unto it And this in the next words he proceeds to improve unto his purpose by the way of an Argument à minori ad majus How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation c. There is an Antithesis expressed in one branch as we observed before between the Law and the Gospel namely that the Law was the Word spoken by Angels the Gospel being revealed by the Lord himself But there are also other differences intimated between them though expressed only on the part of the Gospel as that it is in its nature or Effects Great Salvation that is not absolutely only but comparatively unto the benefit exhibited to their fore Fathers by the Law as given on Mount Horeb. The confirmation also of the Gospel by the Testimony of God is tacitely opposed unto the confirmation of the Law by the like Witness and from all these considerations doth the Apostle enforce his Argument proving the Punishment that shall befall Gospel neglecters In the words as was in part before observed there occurrs 1. The Subject matter spoken of so great salvation 2 A further Description of it 1. From its principal Author it began to be spoken by the Lord. 2. From the manner of its propagation it was confirmed unto us by them that heard it 3. From its Confirmation by the Testimony of God Which 4. Is exemplified by a distribution into 1. Signs 2. Wonders 3. Mighty Works and 4. Various Gifts of the Holy Ghost whereof there is 3. A neglect supposed if we neglect and 4. Punishment there intimated wherein 1. The Punishment its self and 2. The manner of its expression how shall we escape are to be considered all which are to be severally explained 1. The subject matter treated of is expressed in those words so great Salvation And it is the Gospel which is intended in that Expression as is evident from the preceding Verse For that which is there called the word which we have heard is here called great salvation As also from the following words where it is said to be declared by the Lord and farther propagated by them that heard him And the Gospel is called Salvation by a Metonymy of the Effect for the Cause For it is the Grace of God bringing salvation Titus 2.11 The Word that is able to save us The Doctrine the Discovery the instrumentally efficient Cause of Salvation Rom. 1.16 1 Cor. 1.20 21. And this Salvation the Apostle calls Great upon many accounts which we shall afterwards unfold And calling it so great salvation he refers them unto the Doctrine of it wherein they had been instructed 〈◊〉 whereby the Excellency of the Salvation which it brings is declared Now though the Apostle might 〈…〉 pressed the Gospel by the word which was declared unto us by the Lord as 〈…〉 the Law by the word spoken by Angels yet to strengthen his Argument 〈◊〉 Moâ—â—â— unto Obedience which he insists upon he chose to give a brief Description of iâ— from its principal Effect it is great Salvation The Law by reason of sin proved the Ministry of Death and Condemnation 2 Cor. 3.9 yet being fully published only by Angels Obedience was indispensibly required unto it And shall not the Gospel the Ministry of life and great salvation be attended unto 2. He farther describes the Gospel from its principal Author or Revealer it began to be spoken by the Lord. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The words may have a twofold sense for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may denote either principium temporis the beginning of time or principium operis the beginning of the work In the first way it asserts that the Lord himself was the first Preacher of the Gospel before he sent or employed his Apostles and Disciples in the same work In the latter that he only began the work leaving the perfecting and finishing of it unto those who were chosen and enabled by him unto that end And this latter sense is also true for he finished not the whole Declaration of the Gospel in his own person teaching vivâ voce but committed the work unto his Apostles Matth. 10.27 But their teaching from him being expressed in the next words I take the words in the first sense referring unto what he had delivered Chap. 1.1 Of Gods speaking in these last dayes in the Person of the Son Now the Gospel hath had a threefold beginning of its Declaration First In Prediction by Promises and Types and so it began to be declared from the foundation of the world Luke 1.70 71. Secondly In an immediate Preparation and so it began to be declared in and by the Ministry of John the Baptist Mark 1.1 2. Thirdly In its open clear actual full Revelation so this work was begun by the Lord himself and carried on to perfection by those who were appointed and enabled by him thereunto Joh. 1.17 18. Thus was it by him declared in his own person as the Law was by Angels And herein lyes the stress of the Apostles Reasonings with reference unto what he had before discoursed concerning the Son and Angels and his Preheminence above them The great Reason why the Hebrews so pertinaciously adhered unto the Doctrine of the Law was the glorious Publication of it It was the word spoken by Angels they received it by the disposition of Angels If saith the Apostle that were a sufficient cause why the Law should be attended unto and that the neglect of it should be so sorely revenged as it was though in it self but the Ministry of death and condemnation Then consider what is your Duty in reference unto the Gospel which as it was in its self a Word of life and great salvation so it was spoken declared and delivered by the Lord himself whom we have manifested to be so exceedingly exalted above all Angels whatever 3. He farther describes the Gospel from the way and means of its conveyance unto us It was confirmed unto us by them that heard him And herein also he prevents an Objection that might arise in the minds of the Hebrews inasmuch as they at least the greatest part of them were not acquainted with the Personal Ministry of the Lord they heard not the word spoken by him For hereunto the Apostle replyes that though they themselves heard him not yet the same word which he preached was not only declared but confirmed unto them by those that heard him And herein he doth not intend all of them who at any time heard him teaching but those whom in an especial manner he made choice of to employ them in that work namely the Apostles So that this expression those that heard him is a Periphrasis of the Apostles from that great priviledge of hearing immediately all things that our Lord taught in his own
â—â—â—e and immortality were brought to light by the Gospel so death and hell the punâ—â—â—ment 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 3.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
we may know of our selves what it is to sin against him Besides we know not what is the Opposition that is made by sin unto the Holiness the Nature and very Being of God As we cannot know him perfectly against whom we sin so we know not perfectly what we do when we sin It is the least part of the malignity and poyson that is in sin which we are able to discern We see not the depth of that malicious respect which it hath unto God and are we capable to judge aright of what is its Demerit But all these things are open and naked before that Infinite Wisdom of God which accompanieth his Righteousness in all his Works He knows himself against whom sin is he knows the Condition of the sinner He knows what contrariety and Opposition there is in sin unto himself in a word what it is for a finite limited dependent creature to subduct it self from under the Government and oppose it self unto the Authority and Being of the Holy Creator Ruler and Governour of all things all absolutely and perfectly and so alone knows what sin deserves 2. From this Infinite Wisdom is the proportioning of the several degrees in the punishment that shall be inflicted on sin For although his Righteousness require that the final punishment of all sin should be an Eternal separation of the sinner from the enjoyment of him and that in a state of Wrath and misery yet by his Wisdom he hath constituted Degrees of that wrath according unto the Variety of Provocations that are found among sinners And by nothing else could this be done What else is able to look through the Unconceivable variety of Aggravating Circumstances which is required hereunto For the most part we know not what is so and when we know any thing of its being we know nothing almost of the true nature of its demerit And this is another thing from whence we may learn that Divine Punishment of sin is alwayes a meet Recompence of Reward Thirdly In the final punishment of sin there is no mixture of mercy nothing to alleviate or to take off from the uttermost of its desert This world is the time and place for mercy Here God causeth his Sun to shine and his rain to fall on the worst of men filling their hearts with food and gladness Here he endures them with much patience and forbearance doing them Good in unspeakable variety and to many of them making a daily tender of that mercy which might make them blessed to Eternity But the season of these things is past in the Day of Recompence Sinners shall then hear nothing but go ye cursed They shall not have the least effect of Mercy shewed unto them unto all Eternity They shall then have judgement without mercy who shewed no mercy The Grace Goodness Love and Mercy of God shall be glorified unto the utmost in his Elect without the least mixture of allay from his displeasure and so shall his Wrath Severity and Vindictive Justice in them that perish without any temperature of pity or compassion He shall rain upon them snares and fire and brimstone this shall be their portion for ever Wonder then not at the Greatness or Duration of that Punishment which shall exhaust the whole wrath of God without the least mitigation And this will discover unto us the nature of sin especially of Vnbelief and neglect of the Gospel Men are apt now to have slight thoughts of these things but when they shall find them revenged with the whole Wrath of God they will change their minds What a folly what a madness is it to make light of Christ unto which an Eternity of punishment is but a meet Recompence of Reward It is good then to learn the nature of sin from the Threatnings of God rather than from the common Presumptions that pass among secure perishing sinners Consider what the Righteousness what the Holiness what the Wisdom of God hath determined to be due unto sin and then make a Judgement of the nature of it that you be not overtaken with a woful surprizal when all means of relief are gone and past As also know that 2. This World alone is the time and place wherein you are to look and seek for mercy Cryes will do nothing at the last day not obtain the least drop of water to cool the tongue in its torment Some men doubtless have secret reserves that things will not go at the last day as by others they they are made to believe They hope to meet with better Quarter than is talked of that God will not be inexorable as is pretended Were not these their inward thoughts it were not possible they should so neglect the season of Grace as they do But alas how will they be deceived God indeed is gracious merciful and full of Compassion but this world is the time wherein he will exercise them They will be for ever shut up towards unbelievers at the last day This is the acceptable day this is the day of salvation if this be despised if this be neglected expect no more to hear of mercy unto Eternity III. Every concernment of the Law and Gospel both as to their nature and promulgation is to be weighed and considered by Believers to beget in their hearts a right and due valuation of them To this end are they here so distinctly proposed as of the Law that it was spoken by Angels and of the Gospel that it is great salvation the word spoken by the Lord confirmed with signs and miracles all which the Apostle would have us to weigh and distinctly consider Our Interest lyes in them and our Good is intended by them And to stir up our attention unto them we may observe First That God doth nothing in vain nor speaks any thing in vain especially in the things of his Law and Gospel wherein the great concernments of his own Glory and the souls of men are enwrapped And therefore our Saviour lets us know that there is a worth in the least apex and iota of the word and that it must have its Accomplishment An End it hath and that End shall be fulfilled The Jews have a foolish curiosity in reckoning all the letters of the Scripture and casting up how often every one doth occurr But yet this curiosity of theirs vain and needless as it is will condemn our negligence if we omit a diligent enquiry into all the Things and Circumstances of it that are of real importance God hath an holy and wise End in all that he doth As nothing can be added unto his Word or Work so nothing can be taken from it it is every way perfect And this in general is enough to quicken us unto a diligent search into all the Circumstances and Adjuncts both of Law and Gospel and of the way and manner whereby he was pleased to communicate them unto us Secondly There is in all those Concernments of the Law and Gospel a mixture of
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
account of the End of it or that which it brings Believers unto The deliverance of the People of Israel of old out of Egypt was great salvation so doth God every where set it forth and so did the people esteem it and that justly They who murmured under it they who despised the pleasant land fell all of them under the sore displeasure of God But yet as this deliverance was but from temporal outward bondage so that which it brought them unto was but outward rest for a few days in a plentiful country it gave them an inheritance of Houses and Lands and Vineyards in the Land of Canaan but yet there also they quickly died and many of them perished in their sins But as we have seen what we are delivered from by this salvation so the Excellency of the Inheritance which we obtain thereby is such as no heart can conceive no tongue can express It brings us into the favour and love of God unto the Adoption of children into durable rest and peace in a word unto the enjoyment of God in glory eternal Oh the Blessedness of this Rest the Glory of this Inheritance the Excellency of this Crown the Eternity and unchangeableness of this Condition the Greatness of this Salvation how mean how weak how low how unworthy are our apprehensions of it yet surely through the blessed Revelation of the Spirit of Grace by the word of the Gospel we see we feel we experience so much of it as is sufficient to keep us up unto an holy Admiration and longing after it all the days of our pilgrimage here on earth It remaineth now that we declare the unavoidableness of their destruction who neglect this so great salvation There are three things that make the punishment or destruction of any person to be unavoidable 1. That it be just and equal 2. That there be no relief nor remedy provided for him And 3. That he to whom it belongs to inflict punishment be able and resolved so to do and they all concur to the height in this case For 1. It is just and equal that such persons should be destroyed whence the sentence concerning them is so decretory and absolute He that believeth not shall be damned Matth. 16.16 And the Holy Ghost supposeth this case so clear evident and undeniable that he refers the proceedings of God therein unto the judgmentof sinners themselves Heb. 10.29 And they who are judged on this account at the last day will be speechless have nothing to reply nothing to complainof And the sentence denounced against them will appearunto all to be righteous 1. Because they despise an overture of a treaty about Peace and Reconciliation between God and their souls There is by nature an enmity between God and them a state and condition whereby themselves alone would be losers and that for ever God who hath no need of them nor their obedience or friendship tenders them a Treaty upon terms of peace What greater condescension love or grace could be conceived or desired This is tendred in the Gospel 2 Cor. 5.19 Now what greater indignity can be offered unto him than to reject his tenders without so much as an enquiry after what his terms are as the most do to whom the Gospel is preached Is not this plainly to tell him that they despise his love scorn his offers of Reconciliation and fear not in the least what he can do unto them And is it not just that such persons should be filled with the fruit of their own ways Let men deal thus with their Rulers whom they have provoked that have power over them and see how it will fare with them Neither will God be mocked nor shall his grace always be despised When men shall see and learn by woful experience what pitiful poor worms they are and have some beams of the Greatness Majesty and Glory of God shining upon them how will they be filled with shame and forced to subscribe to the righteousness of their own Condemnation for refusing his treaty and terms of Peace 2. These terms contain salvation Men in the neglect of them neglect and refuse their own salvation and can any man perish more justly than they who refuse to be saved If God's Terms had been great hard and difficult yet considering by whom they were proposed and to whom there was all the reason in the world why they should be accepted and their destruction would be just thatshould not endeavour to preserve them unto the utmost But now itis life and salvation that he tenders on whose neglect he complains that men will not come unto him that they might have life Certainly there can be no want of righteousness in the ruine of such persons But 3. That which the Apostle principally builds the Righteousness and inevitableness of the destruction of Gospel neglecters upon is the greatness of the salvation tendered unto them How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation How it is so and wherein the greatness and excellency of it doth consist hath been be fore declared Such and so great it is that there is nothing which as inner can fear or suffer but it will deliver him from it nothing that a creature can desire but it will bring him to the possession of it And if this be despised is it not righteous that men should perish If we know not yet God knows how to set a value upon this great Effect of his Love Wisdom and Grace and how to proportion punishment unto its contempt The truth is God alone is able sufficiently to revenge the greatness of this sin and indignity done unto him We have before shewed how meet it was that the transgression of the Law should be punished with punishment eternal and yet the Law had provided no relief for any in distress or misery only taking men as it found them in the first place it required obedience of them and then promised a reward And a good holy and righteous Law it was both in its Commands and in its Promises and Threatnings It found men in a good estate and promised them a better on their obedience wherein if they failed it threatned them with the loss of their present condition and also with the superaddition of eternal ruine And in all this it was a clear effect of the righteousness holiness and faithfulness of God But the Gospel finds men in quite another state and condition in a condition of misery and ruine helpless and hopeless and is provided on purpose both for their present relief and future everlasting happiness And shall they escape by whom it is despised Is it not just and equal that it should prove a savour of death unto death unto them Is it meet that God should be mocked his Grace be despised his Justice violated his Glory lost all that sinners may go unpunished Let them think so whilst they please God thinketh otherwise all the Angels in Heaven think otherwise all the Saints
Goodness of Order This gives them their Beauty which is the first principle properly of Goodness and convertible with it Every thing that is good is beautiful and every thing that is beautiful is good Now the pulchritude or beauty of the whole Creation and of every part of it consists in the Order that is given unto it by the Wisdom of God whereof we spake before This is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all things which of old by the light of nature was so much admired Beautiful goodness or goodly beauty whereby every thing becomes comely and desirable both in it self and its own parts and in that respect which it hath unto all other things 3. A Goodness of usefulness nothing is made in vain Every thing hath its work service and operation allotted unto it If the whole Creation had been uniform if it had been only one thing it would have wanted this goodness and been but a dead lump or mass of being But in this great variety and diversity of things which we behold every one hath its proper place and service and nothing is useless As the Apostle says that it is in the several parts and members of the lesser world Man that though some of them seem more worthy and comely than other yet all have their proper use so that they cannot say unto one another I have no need of thee So is it in the Vniverse though some parts of it seem to be very glorious and others mean and to be trampled on yet they cannot say one to another I have no need of thee each having its proper use The Eye is a most noble part of the body but saith the Apostle If the whole body were an eye the beauty of the whole were lost and the very use of the eye How glorious is the Sun in the firmament in comparison of a poor worm in the earth yet if the whole Creation were one Sun it would have neither beauty nor use nor indeed be a Sun as having nothing to communicate light or heat unto But God hath brought forth his works in unspeakable variety that they might all have this goodness of usefulness accompanying of them 4. A goodness of an orderly tendency unto the utmost and last end which is the glory of him by whom they were made This also is implanted upon the whole Creation of God and hence the Psalmist calls upon all the inanimate creatures to give praise and glory unto God that is he calls upon himself and others to consider how they do so This is the point the centre where all these lines do meet without which there could be neither beauty nor order nor use in them for that which errs from its end is crooked perverse and not good On all these considerations it is said that God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good Gen. 1.31 Now what an infinite eternal Ocean of Goodness must that be which by the word of his mouth communicated all this goodness at once unto the whole Creation How deep how unfathomable is this fountain how unsearchable are these springs This the holy men in the Scripture often express by way of admiration How great is his goodness how great is his beauty The first goodness the fountain of all goodness must needs be absolutely and infinitely so in which sense there is none good but one that is God In these things consist somewhat of the Glory Excellency and Honour of God which the Psalmist falls into an admiration of upon the contemplation of the works of his hands and which made him so astonished at his condescention in the regard that he is pleased to bear unto the nature of man But besides this consideration he addes also an intimation as we have shewed of the mean condition of man unto whom this respect is shewed and that both in the manner of his expression What is man and in the words or names whereby he expresseth him Enosh and Adam which we shall also briefly adde unto our former considerations of the glory of God First What is man as to his extract a little dust made of the dust of the ground one that may say to corruption Thou art my father and to the worm Thou art my mother and my sister Job 17.14 His fabrick was not one jot of any better materials than theirs That God put this honour upon him to breath into the dust whereof he was made that he should become a living soul is part of that goodness wherein he is to be admired Otherwise we are what God said to Adam Dust thou art poor creature that wouldest be like unto God thou art dust and no more And in the sense of this extraction did holy men of old abase themselves in the presence of God as Abraham Gen. 18.27 How shall I speak unto the Lord that am but dust and ashes Poor proud man which scornest to touch that which thou art made of and thinkest thy self I know not what whilst the remainder of thee that which was left in the making of thee lies under the feet of all the creatures which thou despisest what is this handful of dust that God should regard it But yet Secondly This fabrick being erected perhaps is durable strong and abiding and so may be considerable on that account But alas his frailty is inexpressible It is true that before the Floud the life of man was prolonged unto a great continuance but as that was not in the least any advantage unto the most of them giving them only an opportunity to increase their sin and misery nor to the whole society of mankind seeing by that means the earth was filled with violence and became a woful habitation of distress so they also came to their end and nothing long since remaineth of their memory but that they lived so many years and then they died which is the common end of man But since that in which our concernment lies how do the holy men of God set forth and as it were complain of the woful frailty of our condition So doth Moses Psal. 90.5 6. Thou carriest them away with a floud which he spake in contemplation of those thousands which he saw die before his eyes in the Wilderness In the morning they are like grass which groweth up in the morning it flourisheth and groweth up in the evening it is cut down and withereth The like also pleadeth Job chap. 14.1 2. and then turning unto God he saith And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one regard such a poor frail perishing creature And David doth the like Psal. 102.24 And indeed no tongue can express the miserable frail condition of this poor creature from within from without from himself from all other creatures and principally from the rage and cruelty of those of the same nature with himself his misery is great and his life of short continuance And God abundantly shews that little weight also is
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 bâ—nore 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 conquisiâ—s 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
followeth from the Apostles Application of the Psalmists words unto the Person of Christ and consequently the regard of God unto us in his Mediation And this is such as that the Apostle tells us that at the last day it shall be his great Glory that he will be admired in all them that do believe 2 Thess. 1.10 When the work of his Grace shall be fully perfected in and towards them than the Glory of his Grace appeareth and is magnified for ever This is that which the Admiration of the Psalmist tends unto and rests in That God should so regard the nature of man as to take it into Union with himself in the Person of his Son and in that nature humbled and exalted to work out the Salvation of all them that believe on him There are other wayes wherein the Respect of God towards man doth appear even in the effects of his Holy Wise Providence over him He causeth his Sun to shine and his rain to fall upon him Mat. 5.45 He leaves not himself without witness towards us in that he doth good and gives us rain from Heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness Acts 14.17 And these wayes of his Providence are singularly admirable But this Way of his Grace towards us in the Person of his Son assuming our nature into union with himself is that wherein the exceeding and unspeakable riches of his Glory and Wisdom are made manifest So the Apostle expresseth it Ephes. 1.17 18 19 20 21 22 23. He hath that to declare unto them which because of its Greatness Glory and Beauty they are no way able of themselves to receive or comprehend And therefore he prayes for them that they may have the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation to give them the knowledge of Christ or that God by his Spirit would make them wise to apprehend and give them a gracious discovery of what he proposeth to them as also that hereby they may enjoy the blessed effect of an enlightned Understanding without which they will not discern the Excellency of this matter and what is it that they must thus be helped assisted prepared for to understand in any measure What is the Greatness the Glory of it that can no otherwise be discerned why saith he marvel not at the necessity of this preparation that which I propose unto you is the glory of God that wherein he will principally be glorified here and unto Eternity and it is the Riches of that Glory the treasures of it God hath in other things set forth and manifested his Glory but yet as it were by parts and parcels one thing hath declared his Power another his Goodness and Wisdom and that in part with reference unto that particular about which they have been exercised But in this he hath drawn forth displayed manifested all the Riches and Treasures of his Glory so that his Excellencies are capable of no greater Exaltation And there is also in this work the unspeakable Greatness of his power engaged that no property of his nature may seem to be uninterested in this matter Now whereunto doth all this tend why it is all to give a blessed and eternal Inheritance unto believers unto the hope and expectation whereof they are called by the Gospel And by what way or means is all this wrought and brought about even by the working of God in Jesus Christ in his Humiliation when he dyed and his Exaltation in his Resurrection putting all things under his feet crowning him with glory and honour which the Apostle shews by a citation of this place of the Psalmist for all this is out of Gods regard unto man it is for the Church which is the body of Christ and his fulness So full of glory such an object of eternal Admiration is this work of the Love and Grace of God which as Peter tells us the very Angels themselves desire to look into 1 Pet. 1.12 And this further appears First Because all Gods regard of man in this way is a fruit of meer Soveraign Grace and condescension And all Grace is admirable especially the Grace of God and that so great Grace as the Scripture expresseth it There was no consideration of any thing without God himself that moved him hereunto He had glorified himself as the Psalmist shews in other works of his hands and he could have rested in that Glory Man deserved no such thing of him being worthless and sinful It was all of Grace both in the head and members The Humane nature of Christ neither did nor could merit the Hypostatical Vnion It did not because being made partaker of it from the instant of his Conception all antecedent Operations that might procure it were prevented and a thing cannot be merited by any after it is freely granted antecedently unto any deserts Nor could it do so Hypostatical Union could be no reward of obedience being that which exceeds all the order of things and Rules of Remunerative Justice The Assumption then of our nature into Personal Union with the Son of God was an Act of meer free soveraign unconceivable Grace And this is the foundation of all the following fruits of Gods regard unto us and that being of Grace so must they be also What ever God doth for us in and by Jesus Christ as made man for us which is all that he so doth it must I say be all of Grace because his being made man was so Had there been any merit any desert on our part any Preparation for or Disposition unto the Effects of this regard had our nature that portion of it which was sanctified and separated to be united unto the Son of God any way procured or prepared it self for its Union and Assumption things had fallen under some rules of Justice and Equality whereby they might be apprehended and measured but all being of Grace they leave place unto nothing but eternal Admiration and thankfulness Secondly Had not God been thus mindful of man and visited him in the Person of his Son incarnate every one partaker of that nature must have utterly perished in their lost condition And this also renders the Grace of it an object of Admiration We are not only to look what God takes us unto by this Visitation but to consider also what he delivers us from Now this is a great part of that vile and base condition which the Psalmist wonders that God should have regard unto namely that we had sinned and come short of his Glory and thereby exposed our selves unto eternal misery In that condition we must have perished for ever had not God freed us by this Visitation It had been Great Grace to have taken an innocent a sinless man into Glory Great Grace to have freed a sinner from misery though he should never be brought to the enjoyment of the least positive Good But to free a sinner from the utmost and most inconceivable misery in eternal ruine and to bring him unto
the highest happiness in eternal Glory and all this in a way of meer Grace this is to be admired Thirdly Because it appeareth that God is more glorified in the Humiliation and Exaltation of the Lord Christ and the salvation of mankind thereby than in any of or all the Works of the first Creation How glorious those works are and how mightily they set forth the glory of God we have before declared But as the Psalmist intimates God rested not in them He had yet a farther design to manifest his Glory in a more eminent and singular manner and this he did by minding and visiting of man in Christ Jesus None almost is so stupid but on the first view of the Heavens the Sun Moon and Stars but he will confess that their Fabrick Beauty and Order is wonderful and that the Glory of their framer and builder is for ever to be admired in them But all this comes short of that Glory which ariseth unto God from this Condescension and Grace And therefore it may be the day will come and that speedily wherein these Heavens and this whole old Creation shall be utterly dissolved and brought to nothing For why should they abide as a monument of his power unto them who enjoying the blessed vision of him shall see and know it far more evidently and eminently in himself However they shall undoubtedly in a short time cease as to their Vse wherein at present they are principally subservient unto the manifestation of the glory of God But the Effects of this regard of God to man shall abide unto Eternity and the glory of God therein This is the foundation of Heaven as it is a state and condition as it denotes the Glorious Presence of God among his Saints and holy ones Without this there would be no such Heaven all that is there and all the glory of it depends thereon Take away this foundation and all that beauty and glory disappears Nothing indeed would be taken from God who ever was and ever will be eternally blessed in his own Self sufficiency But the whole Theatre which he hath erected for the manifestation of his glory unto Eternity depends on this his holy Condescension and Grace which assuredly render them meet for ever to be admired and adored This then let us exercise our selves unto Faith having infinite eternal incomprehensible things proposed unto it acts it self greatly in this Admiration We are every where taught that we now know but imperfectly in part and that we see darkly as in a glass not that the Revelation of these things in the Word is dark and obscure for they are fully and clearly proposed but that such is the nature of the things themselves that we are not in this life able to comprehend them and therefore faith doth principally exercise it self in an holy admiration of them And indeed no Love or Grace will suit our condition but that which is incomprehensible We find our selves by Experience to stand in need of more Grace Goodness Love and Mercy than we can look into search to the bottom of or fully understand But when that which is infinite and incomprehensible is proposed unto us there all fears are overwhelmed and faith finds rest with Assurance And if our admiration of these things be an Act an Effect a fruit of faith it will be of singular use to endear our hearts unto God and to excite them unto thankful obedience For who would not love and delight in the eternal fountain of this inconceivable Grace And what shall we render unto him who hath done more for us than we are any way able to think or conceive II. Observe also that such was the inconceivable Love of Jesus Christ the Son of God unto the souls of men that he was free and willing to condescend unto any condition for their good and salvation That was the end of all this dispensation And the Lord Christ was not humbled and made less than the Angels without his own Will and consent His Will and good liking concurred unto this work Hence when the Eternal Counsel of this whole matter is mentioned it is said of him as the Wisdom of the Father that he rejoyced in the habitable part of the earth and his delights were with the Sons of men Prov. 8.31 He delighted in the counsel of redeeming and saving them by his own Humiliation and suffering And the Scripture makes it evident upon these two considerations First In that it shews that what he was to do and what he was to undergo in this work was proposed unto him and that he willingly accepted of the terms and conditions of it Psalm 40.6 God sayes unto him that sacrifice and offering would not do this great work burnt-offering and sin-offering would not effect it that is no kind of Offerings or Sacrifices instituted by the Law were available to take away sin and to save sinners as our Apostle expounds that place at large Heb. 10 1 2 3 4. confirming his Exposition with sundry Arguments taken from their nature and Effects What then doth God require of him that this great design of the salvation of sinners may be accomplished even that he himself should make his own soul an offering for sin pour out his soul unto death and thereby bear the sin of many Isa. 53.10.12 That seeing the Law was weak through the flesh that is by reason of our sins in the flesh that he himself should take upon him the likeness of sinful flesh and become an offering for sin in the flesh Rom. 8.3 That he should be made of a woman made under the Law if he would redeem them that were under the Law Gal. 4.4 5. that he should make himself of no reputation but take upon him the form of a servant and be made in the likeness of man and being found in fashion as a man to humble himself and to become obedient unto death the death of the Cross Phil. 2.7 8. These things were proposed unto him which he was to undergo if he would deliver and save mankind And how did he entertain this proposal how did he like these Conditions I was not saith he rebellious I turned not away back Isa. 50.5 He declined them not he refused none of the terms that were proposed unto him but underwent them in a way of Obedience and that with Willingness Alacrity and delight Psal. 40.6 7 8. Thou saith he hast opened my ears or prepared a body for me wherein I may yield this obedience that the Apostle declares to be the sense of the expression Chap. 10. This Obedience could not be yielded without a body wherein it was performed and whereas to hear or to have the ear opened is in the Scripture to be prepared unto obedience the Psalmist in that one Expression Mine ear hast thou opened comprizeth both these even that Christ had a body prepared by a Synechdoche of a part for the whole and also in that body he was
which the Scripture giveth us of the Nature of God in reference unto sin and this it doth either metaphorically or properly in the first way it compares God unto fire unto a consuming fire and his actings toward sin as the acting of fire on that which is combustible whose nature it is to consume them Deut. 4.24 Thy God is a consuming fire which words the Apostle repeats Heb. 12.23 Devouring fire and everlasting burnings Isa. 33.14 Hence when he came to give the Law which expresseth his wrath and indignation against sin his presence was manifested by great and terrible fires and burnings until the people cried out Let me not see this great fire any more lest I die Deut. 18.16 They saw death and destruction in that fire because it expressed the indignation of God against sin and therefore the Law it self is also called a fiery Law Deut. 33.2 because it contains the sense and judgment of God against sin as in the execution of the sentence of it the breath of the Lord is said to kindle the fire of it like a stream of brimstone Isa. 30.33 so chap. 66.15 16. And by this metaphor doth the Scripture lively represent the Nature of God in reference unto sin For as it is the nature of fire to consume and devoure all things that are put into it without sparing any or making difference so is the Nature of God in reference unto sin where ever it is he punisheth and revengeth it according to its demerit The metaphor indeed expresseth not the manner of the operation of the one and the other but the Certainty and Event of the working of both from the Principles of the Nature of the one and the other The fire so burneth by a necessity of nature as that it acts to the utmost of its quality and faculty by a pure natural necessity God punisheth sin as suitably unto the principle of his Nature that otherwise he cannot do yet so as that for the manner time measure and season they depend on the constitution of his Wisdom and Righteousness assigning a meet and equal recompence of reward unto every transgression And this the Scripture teacheth us by this metaphor or otherwise we are led by it from a right conception of that which it doth propose for God cannot at all be unto sin and sinners as a devouring fire unless it be in the principles of his Nature indispensibly to take vengeance on them Again The Scripture expresseth this Nature of God with reference unto sin properly as to what we can conceive thereof in this world and that is by his Holiness which it sets forth to be such as that on the account thereof he can bear with no sin nor suffer any sinner to approach unto him that is let no sin go unpunished nor admit of any sinner into his presence whose sin is not expiated and satisfied for And what is necessary upon the account of the Holiness of God is absolutely and indispensibly so his Holiness being his Nature Thou art saith Habakkuk of purer eyâ—s than to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity chap. 1.13 Thou canst not by any means havâ— any thing to do with sin that is it may be because he will not nay saith he it is upon the account of his Purity or Holiness That is such as he cannot pass by sin or let it go unpunished The Psalmist also expresseth the nature of God to the same purpose Psal. 5.4 5 6. Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee the foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all the workers of iniquity thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man What is the formal Reason and Cause of all these things that he hates abhors and will destroy sin and sinners It is because he is such a God Thou art not a God to do otherwise a God of such Purity such Holiness and should he pass by sin without the Punishment of it he would not be such a God as he is Without ceasing to be such a God so infinitely holy and pure this cannot be The foolish and all Workers of Iniquity must be destroyed because he is such a God And in that proclamation of his name wherein he declared many blessed Eternal Properties of his Nature he adds this among the rest that he will by no means clear the guilty Exod. 34.7 This his Nature this his Eternal Holiness requireth that the guilty be by no means cleared So Joshua instructs the people in the Nature of this Holiness of God Chap. 24.19 Ye cannot serve the Lord for he is an holy God he is a jealous God he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins That is if you continue in your sins if there be not a way to free you from them it is in vain for you to have any thing to do with this God for he is Holy and Jealous and will therefore certainly destroy you for your iniquities Now if such be the nature of God that with respect thereunto He cannot but punish sin in whomsoever it be found then the suffering of every sinner in his own person or by his surâ—ty doth not depend on a meer free Voluntary Constitution nor is resolved meerly into the Veracity of God in his commination or threâ—tning but is antecedently unto them indispensibly necessary unless we would have the Nature of God changed that sinners may be freed Whereas therefore the Lord Christ is assigned the Captain of our Salvation and hath undertaken the work of bringing sinners unto Glory it was meet with respect unto the Holiness of God that he should undergo the punishment due unto their sin And thus the necessity of the sufferings and satisfaction of Christ is resolved into the Holiness and Nature of God He being such a God as he is it could not otherwise be Secondly The same is manifest from that principle whereunto the punishment of sin is assigned which is not any free Act of the Will of God but an Essential property of his nature namely his Justice or Righteousness What God doth because he is righteous is necessary to be done And if it be just with God in respect of his Essential Justice to punish sin it would be unjust not to do it for to condemn the innocent and to acquit the guilty is equally unjust Justice is an eternal and unalterable Rule and what is done according unto it is necessary it may not otherwise be and Justice not be impeached That which is to be done with respect to Justice must be done or he that is to do it is unjust Thus it is said to be a righteous thing with God to render tribulation unto sinners 2 Thess. 1.6 Because he is Righteous and from his Righteousness or Justice So that the contrary would be unjust not answer his Righteousness And it is the judgement of God that they who commit
them as that they might enjoy the blessed effects thereof in deliverance and salvation Thirdly The Apostle lays down an Inference from his preceding assertion in those words For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren In which words we have 1. The respect of that which is here affirmed unto the assertion fore-going for which cause 2. The thing it self affirmed which is That the Lord Christ calls the sons to be brought unto glory his brethren 3. The manner of his so doing he is not ashamed to call them so And herein also the Apostle according to his wonted way of proceeding which we have often observed makes a transition towards somewhat else which he had in design namely the Prophetical Office of Christ as we shall see afterwards For which cause that is because they are of one partakers of one common nature He calls them brethren This gives a rightful foundation unto that Appellation Hereon is built that relation which is between him and them It is true there is more required to perfect the relation of Brotherhood between him and them than meerly their being of one but it is so far established from hence that he was meet to suffer for them to sanctifie and save them And without this there could have been no such relation Now his calling of them Brethren doth both declare that they are so and also that he owns them and avouches them as such But whereas it may be said that although they are thus of one in respect of their common nature yet upon sundry other accounts he is so glorious and they are so vile and miserable that he might justly disavow this cognation and reject them as strangers The Apostle tells us it is otherwise and that passing by all other distances between them and setting aside the consideration of their unworthiness for which he might justly disavow them and remembring wherefore he was of one with them he is not ashamed to call them brethren There may be a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the words and the contrary asserted to that which is denied he is not ashamed that is willingly cheerfully and readily he doth it But I rather look upon it as an expression of condescension and love and herein doth the Apostle shew the use of what he taught before that they were of one namely that thereby they became Brethren he meet to suffer for them and they meet to be saved by him What in all this the Apostle confirms by the ensuing testimonies we shall see in the explication of them in the mean time we may learn for our own instruction IV. That notwithstanding the union of nature which is between the Son of God incarnate the Sanctifier and the children that are to be sanctified there is in respect of their Persons as inconceivable distance between them so that it is a marvellous condescension in him to call them brethren He is not ashamed to call them so though considering what himself is and what they are it should seem that he might justly be so The same expression for the like reasons is used concerning Gods owning his people in covenant chap. 11.16 Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God And this distance between Christ and us which makes his condescension so marvellous relates unto a four-fold head First The immunity of the nature wherein he was of one with us in his Person from all sin He was made like unto us in all things sin excepted The nature of man in every other individual person is defiled with and debased by sin We are every one gone astray and are become altogether filthy or abhominable This sets us at no small distance from him Humane nature defiled with sin is farther distanced from the same nature as pure and holy in worth and excellency than the meanest worm is from the most glorious Angel Nothing but sin casts the creature out of its own place and puts it into another distance from God than it hath by being a creature This is a debasement unto hell as the Prophet speaks Thou didst debase thy self-even unto hell Isa. 57.9 And therefore the condescension of God unto us in Christ is set out by his regarding of us when we were enemies unto him Rom. 5.10 that is whilst we were sinners as verse 8. This had cast us into hell it self at the most inconceivable distance from him Yet this hindred not him who was holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners to own us as his brethren He says not with those proud hypocrites in the Prophet Stand farther off I am holier than you but he comes unto us and takes us by the hand in his love to deliver us from this condition Secondly We are in this nature obnoxious unto all miseries in this world and that which is to come Man now is born to trouble all the trouble that sin can deserve or a provoked God inflict his misery is great upon him and that growing and endless He justly in himself free from all obnoxious to nothing that was grievous or irksome no more than the Angels in heaven or Adam in Paradise Poena noxam sequitur Punishment and trouble follow guilt only naturally He did no sin nor was there guile found in his mouth so that God was always well pleased with him What ever of hardship or difficulty he underwent it was for us and not for himself Might not he have left us to perish in our condition and freely enjoyed his own We see how unapt those who are in prosperity full and rich are to take notice of their nearest Relations in poverty misery and distress and who among them would do so if it would cast them into the state of those who are already miserable yet so it did the Lord Christ. His calling us brethren and owning of us made him instantly obnoxious unto all the miseries the guilt whereof we had contracted upon our selves The owning of his alliance unto us cost him as it were all he was worth for being rich for our sakes he became poor He came into the prison and into the furnace to own us And this also renders his condescension marvellous Thirdly He is inconceivably distanced from us in respect of that Place and Dignity which he was designed unto This as we have shewed at large was to be Lord of all with absolute sovereign authority over the whole Creation of God We are poor abjects who either have not bread to eat or have no good right to eat that which we meet withall Sin hath set the whole Creation against us And if Mephibosheth thought it a great condescension in David on his Throne to take notice of him being poor who was yet the son of Jonathan what is it in this King of Kings to own us for Brethren in our vile and low condition Thoughts of his glorious Exaltation will put a lustre on his condescension in this matter Fourthly He is infinitely distanced from us in his
of all his Eternal Excellencies in bringing his Sons unto the everlasting Enjoyment of him Now nothing of all this could have been made known unless the Lord Christ had taken upon him to preach the Gospel and declare the name of God Without this what ever else he had done or suffered had been lost as unto the interest of the glory of God This then being that which he principally aymed at this design must needs be greatly in his mind He took care that so great Glory built on so great a foundation as his Incarnation and Mediation should not be lost His other work was necessary but this was a Joy of heart and soul unto him Secondly The Salvation of the Sons to be brought unto glory with all their Interest in the Benefit of his sufferings depended on this work of his How much he sought that his whole work declares For their sakes it was that he came down from Heaven and was made flesh and dwelt amongst them for their sakes did he undergo all the miseries that the world could cast upon him for their sakes did he undergo the Curse of the Law and wrestle with the Displeasure and Wrath of God against sin And all this seemed as it were little unto him for the love he barâ— them as Jacobs hard service did to him for his love unto Rachel Now after he had done all this for them unless he had declared the Name of God unto them in the Gospel they could have had no Benefit by it For if they believe not they cannot be saved And how should they believe without the word and how or whence could they hear the word unless it had been preached unto them They could not of themselves have known any thing of that name of God which is their life and salvation Some men talk of I know not what Declaration of Gods Name Nature and Glory by the works of Nature and Providence but if the Lord Christ had not indeed revealed declared and preached these things these Disputers themselves would not have been in any other Condition than all mankind is who are left unto those Teachers which is most dark and miserable The Lord Christ knew that without his performance of this work not one of the Sons the conduct of whom to glory he had undertaken could ever have been brought unto the knowledge of the name of God or unto faith in him or obedience unto him which made him earnestly and heartily engage into it Thirdly Hereon depended his own Glory also His Elect were to be gathered unto him in among and over them was his glorious Kingdom to be erected Without their Conversion unto God this could not be done In the state of nature they also are children of Wrath and belong to the Kingdom of Satan And this Declaration of the name of God is the great Way and means of their Calling Conversion and Translating from the power of Satan into his Kingdom The Gospel is the Rod of his strength whereby his people are made willing in the day of his power In brief the gathering of his Church the setting up of his Kingdom the establishment of his Throne the setting of the Crown upon his head depend wholly on his declaring the name of God in the preaching of the Gospel Seeing therefore that the glory of God which he aimed at the salvation of the Sons which he sought for and the Honour of his Kingdom which was promised unto him do all depend on this Work it is no wonder if his Heart were full of it and that he rejoyced to be engaged in it And this Frame of heart ought to be in them who under him are called unto this work The work it self we see is noble and excellent such as the Lord Christ carried in his Eye through all his sufferings as that whereby they were to be rendered useful unto the glory of God and the souls of men And by his Rejoycing to be engaged in it he hath set a Pattern unto them whom he calls to the same Employment Where men undertake it for filthy lucre for self Ends and carnal Respects this is not to follow the Example of Christ nor to serve him but their own bellies Zeal for the glory of God Compassion for the souls of men Love to the Honour and Exaltation of Christ ought to be the principles of men in this undertaking Moreover the Lord Christ by declaring that he will set forth the praise of God in the Church manifests what is the Duty of the Church it self namely to praise God for the work of his Love and Grace in our Redemption by Christ Jesus This he promiseth to go before them in and what he leads them unto is by them to be persisted in This is indeed the very End of gathering the Church and of all the Duties that are performed therein and thereby The Church is called unto the glory of the Grace of God Ephes. 1.6 that it may be set forth in them and by them This is the End of the Institution of all Ordinances of Worship in the Church Ephes. 3.8 9 10. And in them do they set forth the Praises of God unto men and Angels This is the Tendency of Prayer the Work of Faith the fruit of Obedience It is a fond imagination which some have fallen upon that God is not praised in the Church for the work of Redemption unless it be done by Words and Hymns particularly expressing it All Praying all Preaching all Administration of Ordinances all our Faith all our Obedience if ordered aright are nothing but giving glory to God for his Love and Grace in Christ Jesus in a due and acceptable manner And this is that which ought to be in our design in all our Worship of God especially in what we perform in the Church To set forth his praise to declare his name to give glory unto him by believing and the profession of our faith is the End of all we do And this is the first Testimony produced by our Apostle His next is taken from Psalm 18.2 I will put my trust in him The whole Psalm literally respects David with his Streights and Deliverances not absolutely but as he was a Type of Christ. That he was so the Jews cannot deny seeing the Messiah is promised on that account under the name of David And the close of the Psalm treating of the calling of the Gentiles as a fruit of his deliverance from sufferings manifest him principally to be intended And that which the Apostle intends to prove by this Testimony is that he was really and truly of one with the Sons to be brought unto glory and that he doth from hence inasmuch as he was made and brought into that condition wherein it was necessary for him to trust in God and act in that Dependance upon him which the nature of man whilest exposed unto Troubles doth indispensibility require Had he been only God this could have been spoken of him
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 suâ—sistence 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
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Syriack quite omits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and reads only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non enim for he did not V.L. nusquam enim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he renders usquam any where and on the consideration of the negative particle is nusquam no where Beza non enim utique as Ours for verily he took not not reaching the force or use of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arias non enim videlicet which answers not the intent of this place Erasmus fully and properly non enim sane usquam for verily not any where That is in no place of the Scripture is any such thing testified unto which way of Expression we observed our Apostle to use before Chap. 1.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex Angelis assumpsit he took not of or from among the Angels that is of their nature V.L. Arias angelos apprehendit he doth not take hold of Angels Beza Angelos assumpsit he assumed not he took not Angels to himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by an Enallage of time which ours follow He took not on him the nature of Angels But this change of the Tense is needless For the Apostle intends not to express what Christ had done but what the Scripture saith and teacheth concerning him in this matter That no where affirms that he takes hold of Angels The remaining words are generally rendered by Translators according to the Analogie of these Sed apprehendit assumit assumpsit semen Abrahae he laid hold of he takes he took the seed of Abraham only the Aethiopick reads them did he not exalt the seed of Abraham departing from the sense of the words and of the Text. The constant use of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the New Testament is to take hold of And so in particular it is elsewhere used in this Epistle Chap. 8.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the day that I took them by the hand In other Authors it is so variously used that nothing from thence can be determined as to its precise signification in this or any other place The first and proper sense of it is acknowledged to be to take hold of as it were with the hand And however the sense may be interpreted the Word cannot properly be translated any otherwise than to take For what some contend that the Effect or end of taking hold of that is to help to vindicate into liberty whence by Castalio it is rendered opitulatur yet it belongs to the design of the place not the meaning of the word which in the first place is to be respected Verse 16. For verily not any where doth he take Angels but he takes the seed of Abraham In the words there is first the Reference that the Apostle makes unto somewhat else whereby that which he declareth is confirmed For verily not any where that is that which he denyeth in the following words is no where taught in the Scripture as Chap. 7.5 For unto which of the Angels said he at any time That is there is no Testimony extant in the Scripture concerning them to that purpose So here no where is it spoken in the Scripture that Christ taketh Angels And what is so spoken he is said to do And thus also the Affirmative clause of his Proposition but he taketh the seed of Abraham is to be referred to the Scripture There it is promised there it is spoken and therein it is done by him Secondly That which he asserteth hath the nature of a discrete axiom wherein the same thing is denyed and affirmed of the disparates expressed and that univocally in the same sense he took not Angels but he took the seed of Abraham And this we being referred to the Scripture for the proof and confirmation of gives light and perfect understanding into the meaning of the words For how doth Christ in the Scripture take the seed of Abraham in such a sense as that therein nothing is spoken of him in reference unto Angels It is evident that it was in that he was of the Posterity of Abraham according to the flesh that he was promised to Abraham that he should be of his seed yea that he should be his seed as Gal. 3.6 This was the great Principle the great expectation of the Hebrews that the Messiah should be the seed of Abraham this was declared unto them in the Promise and this accordingly was accomplished And he is here said to take the seed of Abraham because in the Scripture it is so plainly so often affirmed that he should so do when not one word is any where spoken that he should be an Angel or take their nature upon him And this as I said gives us the true meaning of the words The Apostle in them confirms what he had before affirmed concerning his being made partaker of flesh and bloud together with the children This saith he the Scripture declares wherein it is promised that he should be of the seed of Abraham which he therein takes upon him and which was already accomplished in his being made partaker of flesh and bloud See Joh. 1.14 Rom. 9.5 Gal. 4.4 chap. 3.16 This then the Apostle teacheth us that the Lord Christ the Son of God according to the Promise took to himself the nature of man coming of the seed of Abraham that is into personal union with himself but took not the nature of Angels no such thing being spoken of him nor concerning him any where in the Scripture And this exposition of the words will be farther evidenced and confirmed by our examination of another which with great endeavour is advanced in opposition unto it Some then take the meaning of this Exposition to be that the Lord Christ by his participation of flesh and blood brought help and relief not unto Angels but unto men the seed of Abraham And they suppose to this purpose that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is put for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to help to succour to relieve to vindicate into liberty Of this mind are Castalio and all the Socinians among those of the Roman Church Ribera Estius also and A Lapide speak doubtfully in the case Of Protestants Camero and Grotius who affirms moreover that Chrysostom and the Greek Scholiasts so interpret the place and words which I should have marvelled at had I not long before observed him greatly to fail or mistake in many of his Quotations Chrysostom whom he names in particular expresly referreth this whole verse unto the Lord Christs Assumption of the nature of man and not of the nature of Angels The same also is insisted on by Theophylact and Oecumenius without any intimation of the sense that Grotius would impose upon them The Socinians embrace and endeavour to confirm this second Exposition of the words and it is their concernment so to do For if the words express that the Lord Christ assumed humane nature
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by an usual Pleonasme of Theta and if so not his suffering but his labouring under temptation is intended If as it is commonly thought it be from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I confess that word is sometimes used as it is here rendered by Erasmus accidit contigit usu venit it happened it befell but it is but rarely and that not without regard unto suffering But it being evident that the suffering of Christ is here intended his Temptation being mentioned only as an instance of that whereby he suffered that is not to be passed over and the sense carried on unto his Temptation only He suffered being tempted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in it self but to make a trial or Experiment But this being done from various Principles by sundry Means for different Ends and upon diverse Subjects there is a great difference in such tryals and great variety in the Nature of Temptations How the Lord Christ was tempted by whom and of what sort his Temptations were we shall consider afterwards The Aethiop reads when he tempted him and afflicted him that is God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 V. potens est eis qui tentantur auxiliari again is added but retained by Beza as not copulative but emphatical potest eis qui tentanur succurrere he can or is able to help relieve succour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to run in to the cry of any one that is to help and relieve him in his distress to come speedily and as it were in hast to the help of him that cryeth out in danger So Thucidides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These came in to the help of the Athenians in their distress And this is the direct sense of the word in this place as it respects them that are distressed under the power of Temptation crying out for help And it is plainly expressed in the Latin succurrere and our succour taken from thence So Chrysostom interprets these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he gives out his hand unto them with all readiness Verse 17 18. Wherefore hence it behoved him to it was meet he should be made like unto his the brethren in all things every manner of way that he might be a mercifull and faithfull High Priest in the things of pertaining unto God to make reconcilation for the sins of the people For in that whereas he hath suffered being when he was tempted he is able to succour come in to the help of them that are tempted In these two Verses the Apostle illustrates what he had taught before and confirms what he had asserted concerning the Sons participation of flesh and blood in like manner with the children from one especial End thereof And this End is his being an High Priest which that the Messiah was to be both the Hebrews granted and he himself intended more largely afterwards to demonstrate Moreover he was to be such an High Priest as was setled and suited for the discharge of his Office unto the benefit of them for whose good he was to minister therein This the Wisdom of God and the Nature of the thing it self doth require Now they being persons obnoxious unto Temptations and sufferings of all sorts he must in an especial manner be able to help relieve and save such Persons And all this the Apostle declares in these Verses in the opening whereof we may consider 1. The importance of the illative expression in the entrance wherefore or hence 2. The necessity intimated of what is here assigned to the Messiah it behooved him or it was meet that he should 3. What the Apostle repeats and reasserts namely that he was in all things or every manner of way to be made like unto his brethren or 4. The general End of this his necessary conformity unto the brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest 5. The especial work and end of that Office which he was so prepared for in the things of God to make Reconciliation for the sins of the people 6. A farther enforcement of the necessity of the foregoing assertion taken from a double consideration 1. Of what he did or what befell him in the condition wherein he was made like unto the Brethren he suffered being tempted or when he was tempted 2. Of the blessed Effect and consequence thereof both in his own preparation unto the farther discharge of his Office and the benefit of them whom he ministers in it for he is able to succour them that are tempted First There is the Illation intimated in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherefore Now this may respect either what had been before discoursed or what is farther insisted on in the words ensuing In the first way the Apostle would seem to infer the necessity of his being made like unto his brethren in all things from what he had before proved of his participation of humane nature but this seems not to be the meaning of the word That expression to be made like unto his brethren in all things is only a Recapitulation of what the Apostle had before taught concerning his incarnation and sufferings and here his design is to shew the Reason or End thereof namely that he might be an High Priest and discharge his office unto the benefit of the people He gives therefore an account of what he had delivered and declares the End of it wherefore or therefore ought he thus to be made like his brethren that he might be a merciful High Priest And thus did Chrysostom understand the connection of these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore was he made man that he might be a Sacrifice able to purge our sins Secondly The Necessity of the matter of the Apostles assertion is expressed in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He ought it must be so it could not be otherwise on supposition that he was to be an High Priest God having designed him unto that Office and the work thereof it was indispensibly necessary for him to be made like unto his brethren in all things Thirdly That which the Apostle thus asserts is his being made like unto his brethren in all things The Proposition is of the nature of them that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 universal but not universally to be understood For that expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is capable of sundry limitations As First It respects only all those things which are necessary unto the End assigned and Secondly In them also there may be a great difference The things it respects are Nature with the essential properties thereof attended with temptations and sufferings But whereas the Brethren are sinners he was not made like unto them in sin which Exception the Apostle elsewhere puts in unto this assertion Chap. 4.15 For this would have been so far from conducing unto the End aimed at that it would have been utterly destructive thereof In the things
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
had somewhat of his own to offer unto God other Priests had somewhat to offer but nothing of their own only they offered up the beasts that were brought unto them by the people But the Lord Christ had a Body and Soul of his own prepared for him to offer which was properly his own and at his own disposal chap. 10.5 3. He alone was set over the whole spiritual House of God the whole Family of God in heaven and earth This belongs unto the Office of a High Priest to preside in and over the House of God to look to the rule and disposal of all things therein Now the Priests of old were as unto this part of their Office confined unto the material House or Temple of God but Jesus Christ was set over the whole spiritual House of God to rule and dispose of it chap. 3.6 4. He alone abides for ever The true and real High Priest was not to minister for one Age or Generation only but for the whole people of God unto the end of the world And this Prerogative of the Priesthood of Christ the Apostle insists upon chap. 7.23 24. 5. He alone did and could do the true and proper work of a Priest namely make reconciliation for the sins of the people The Sacrifices of other Priests could only represent what was to be done the thing it self they could not effect for it was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin as the Apostle shews chap. 10.4 but this was done effectually by that one offering which this High Priest offered verse 11 12 13 14. All which things must be afterwards insisted on in their proper places if God permit This then is his Prerogative this is our priviledge and advantage II. The assumption of our nature and his conformity unto us therein was principally necessary unto the Lord Jesus on the account of his being an High Priest for us It behoved him to be made like unto us that he might be an High Priest it is true that as the great Prophet of his Church he did in part teach and instruct it whilst he was in the flesh in his own Person but this was in a manner a meer consequence of his assuming our nature to be our High Priest For he instructed his Church before and after principally by his Spirit And this he might have done to the full though he had never been incarnate So also might he have ruled it with supreme Power as its King and Head But our High Priest without the assumption of our nature he could not be because without this he had nothing to offer and of necessity saith the Apostle he must have somewhat to offer unto God A Priest without a Sacrifice is as a King without a Subject Had not God prepared him a body he could have had nothing to offer He was to have a self to offer to God or his Priesthood had been in vain For God had shewed that no other Sacrifice would be accepted or was effectual for that end which was designed unto this Office On this therefore is laid the indispensible necessity of the Incarnation of Christ. III. Such was the unspeakable love of Christ unto the Brethren than he would refuse nothing no condition that was needful to fit him for the discharge of the work which he hâ—d undertaken for them Their High Priest he must be this he could not unless he were made like unto them in all things He knew what this would cost him what trouble sorrow suffering in that conformity unto them he must undergo what miseries he must conflict withall all his life what a close was to be put unto his pilgrimage on the earth what woful temptations he was to pass through all lay open and naked before him But such was his Love shadowed out unto us by that of Jacâ—b to Rachel that he was content to submit unto any terms to undergo any condition so that he might save and enjoy his beloved Church See Ephes. 5.25 26. And surely he who was so intense in his love is no less constant therein Nor hath he left any thing undone that was needful to bring us unto God But we are yet farther to proceed with our explication of the words The Apostle having asserted the Priesthood of Christ describes in the fifth place the nature of the Office it self as it was vested in him and this he doth two ways 1. By a general description of the Object of it or that which it is exercised about 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the things appertaining unto God 2. In a particular instance taken from the end of his Priesthood and the great work that he performed thereby to make reconciliation for the sins of the people First He was to be an High Priest in the things pertaining unto God that is either in things that were to be done for God with men as the Apostle speaks We are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us 2 Cor. 5.20 Or in things that were to be done with God for men For there were two general parts of the Office of the High Priest the one to preside in the House and over the Worship of God to do the things of God with men This the Prophet assigns unto Joshua the High Priest an especial Type of Christ Zech. 3.7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts If thou wilt walk in my ways and if thou wilt keep my charge then thou shalt also judge my house and thou shalt also keep my courts And of Christ himself even he shall build the Temple of the Lord and he shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule upon his throne and he shall be a priest upon his throne chap. 6.13 that is the High Priest of our profession chap. 3.1 He was set authoritatively over the House of God to take care that the whole Worship of it were performed according unto his appointment and to declare his Statutes and Ordinances unto the people And in this sense the Lord Christ is also the High Priest of his Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 feeding and ruling them in the Name and Authority of God Mich. 5.4 Yet this is not that part of his Office which is here intended by the Apostle The other part of the High Priests Office was to perform the things toward God which on the part of the people were to be performed So Jethro adviseth Moses Exod. 18.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be thou unto the people before God which words the LXX render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the phrase here used by the Apostle Be thou unto the people in things appertaining unto God And this was the principal part of the Office and Duty of the High Priest the other being only a consequent thereof And that it was so as to the Office of Christ the Apostle manifests in the especial limitation which he adjoyns unto this general assertion he was an High
under them of relief and succour Their spring rise nature tendency effects all make this manifest Many perish by them many are wounded none escape free that fall into them Their kinds are various so are their degrees and seasons but all dangerous But this I have elsewhere particularly insisted on IV. The great duty of tempted souls is to cry out unto the Lord Christ for help and relief To succour any one is to come unto his help upon his cry and call This being promised by Christ unto those that are tempted supposeth their earnest cry unto him If we be slothful if we be negligent under our Temptations if we look other wayes for Assistance if we trust unto or rest in our own endeavours for the conquest of them no wonder if we are wounded by them or fall under them This is the great arcanum for the cure of this disease the only means for supportment deliverance and conquest namely that we earnestly and constantly apply our selves unto the Lord Christ for succour and that as our merciful High Priest who had experience of them This is our duty upon our first surprizal with them which would put a stop to their progress this our Wisdom in their success and prevalency What ever we do against them without this we strive not lawfully and shall not receive the crown Were this more our practice than it is we should have more freedom from them more success against them than usually we have Never any soul miscarried under temptation that cryed unto the Lord Christ for succour in a due manner that cryed unto him under a real apprehension of his danger with Faith and Expectation of relief And hereunto have we encouragement given us by the great qualifications of his Person in this Office he is faithful he is merciful and that which is the Effect of them both he is able he is every way sufficient to relieve and succour poor tempted souls He hath a sufficiency of Care Wisdom and Faithfulness to observe and know the seasons wherein succour is necessary unto us a sufficiency of Tenderness Mercy and Compassion to excite him thereunto a sufficiency of Power to afford succour that shall be effectual a sufficiency of Acceptation at the Throne of Grace to prevail with God for suitable supplies and succour He is every way able to succour them that are tempted to Him be Praise and Glory for evermore FINIS Aristoph in Ran. 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Pleus Mirand Epist. ad Hermol Barbar Basil. in Psalm 1. Euseb. Eccles. Hist. l. 3. c. ult Synod Laod. cap. 59. Hieron Cat. Viror illust in Joseph Gregor Mor. lib. 19. cap. 16. Hieron Prae. in Prov. Solo. Clemens Origen Eusebius Hieronym Theodoret. Chrysostom Cajetan Erasmus Camero Grotius omnes fere Commentatores Frider. Span. Fil. de Au. Epist. ad Heb. Euseb. Eccles. Hist. lib. 6. cap. 24. Eccles. Hist. lib. 6. cap. 13. â—râ—t Praefat. in annot ad Epist. ad Heb. Hieron Scrip. Eccles. in Paul Scrip. Ecclesiast in Clement Tertul. de Pudicit cap. 20. Hieron Gat. Scrip. in Pau. Barnab Philastr Hae. 41. Camero Qua. in Epist. ad Heb. Spanh de Auth. Epist. ad Heb. Grotius Praef. Annot. in Ep. ad Heb. Baron An. Eccles. A. 51. N. 55. Hieron de Nomin Heb. Epiphan Haer. lib. 1.10 Euseb. Eccles. Hist. l. 1. c. 13. Hieron Epist. ad August Com. in cap 2. Ep. ad Gal. Baron An. Eccl. A. â— 51. N. 39 40 41. Mâ—nceius de Vitul Aur. Luther in Gen. cap. 48. v. 10. Erasm. An. in cap. 13. Sixtus Sinen Biblioth lib. 7. cap. 8. Tertul. praes ad Haeres Occumen Praes in Ep. ad Heb. Clemens in Hypotyp Euseb. Eccles. Hist. l. 6. c. 24. Hieronym Catal. Scri. in Pau. Erasm. An. in cap. 13. v. 24. Theodor. A gu in Ep. ad Heb. Chrysosl Praes in Ep. ad Heb. Cathar de Auth. Epist. ad Heb. diss Bâ—llar â—e Verb. Dei l. 1. c. 17. Baron An. Eccles. A.C. 51. N. 55. A Lapid Prae. in Epist. Can. loc com lib. 2. cap. 11. Galenus Praes in Epist. ad Heb. Ten. Praelud 4. Estius Prolegom Chrysost. Proaem in Ep. ad Rom. Beza Annot. in 2 Cor. 11.6 Euseb. Hist. lib. 6. cap. 13. Proaem in Ep. ad Heb. Aust. lib. 2. Con. adver Leg. Prophet cap. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 4.1 2 Tim. 3.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉