the New Testament as we shewed in the former Chapter to containe the remission of all our sinnes even the most heinous and consequently to be of force to purge our conscience And because it is a Testament therefore it was first to be confirmed by death which here neither can nor must be any other then the death of Christ Whence it is manifest that the death or bloud of Christ as it confirmes the New Testament doth purge our conscience from dead workes The particle and shews that a new argument is alledged and the words for this cause note the finall cause for which Christ died He is the Mediatour of the New Testament Wee now use the word Testament and not Covenant because the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifies a Testament and not a Covenant though sacred Writers use it to signifie also a Covenant And the ambiguity of the word did well serve the Author to draw his argument from that which must needs be done in a Testament And to speake a little yet more accurately Testament and Covenant differ but alternly as genus and species For every Testament is a Covenant though not è contra for though the heire doe not covenant with the Testator at the making of the Testament because that may be done altogether without his knowledge which is necessarily required in him that covenanteth Yet he covenants at the validity of the Testament for when the Covenant takes effect by his acceptance of the condition specified in the Testament and by his entrance upon the Inheritance then though before he were free he covenants ex Lege to performe the will of the Testatour So that every Testament at least when it is consummate and valid is a kinde of Covenant and it is the best kinde of Covenant 1. Because it is most solemnely testified by sealing and witnessing from whence it is called a Testament 2. Because it is most preciously confirmed even by death and the death of him that makes it who establisheth his owne deed by his owne death 3. Because it containes an extraordinary benefit in conveying the Testators inheritance and whole estate to the heire And lastly because it proceeds with the greatest freedome in leaving the heire to his liberity whether he will accept of the Inheritance or not Now this New Testament is the last will of God which must stand for ever because it is already confirmed and therefore cannot be revoked But how Christ is the Mediatour of it hath beene partly shewed before chap. 8.6 and is partly to be shewed afterward yet his Mediatorship consisteth chiefly in these two acts first in declaring or publishing it and then in confirming or establishing it by his death as a Testament ought to be That by meane of death for the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the promise of eternall inheritance Here is a file of finall causes linked one to another whereof the last end is the obtaining of an eternall inheritance the intermean is the redemption for the transgressions which were under the first Testament the prime Mean to these two former subordinate ends whereby they are successively atrained is death which in a Testament must necessarily intervene Hence we may see that the redemption of transgressions doth properly depend and flow from the New Testament and the death of Christ doth give force and strength to this Testament The word Redemption is put for Expiation as was shewed ver 12. For Expiation is one kinde or sort of Redemption both because the effect of expiation is a delivery and because also the meanes or it whereby it is wrought is an expence for it commonly costeth bloud Hence some Translators in this place render it Expiation But because the word Redemption carries the sense of Expiation therefore it both followes the construction of it and is simply called the redemption of transgressions either for their expiation as wee have said In which sense the Scripture speakes elswhere For Prov 16.6 where the vulgar Latine reads it By truth iniquity is redeemed there our English translation hath it By truth iniquity is purged i. expiated Or for redemption from transgressions For Cicero himselfe in a sense not unlike saith Liberationem culpa for à culpâ And he useth the word Transgressions whereby grievous sinnes are commonly signified to shew us what sinnes chiefly are remitted in the New Testament namely heynous and grievous sinnes for which in the Old Testament there was no expiation allowed but the punishment of death imposed Wherefore he addeth Which were under the first Testament He means which remained in force or could not be expiated or for which no remission was allowed under the Law But hee seems withall to intimate that those grievous sinnes had their being and were wont to bee committed under the Old Testament whereas the New Testament together with their guilt doth wholly take away their being in them who cordially beleeve the promises of it For that this is the force and effect of the New Testament and of the bloud of Christ we have already shewed partly in the eight Chapter and partly here And he mentions not the expiation of transgressions only or grievous sins therfore as if under the New Testament also all lighter sins were not expiated but it is as much as if he had said Yea even of those transgressions under c. For somtimes the Scripture speaketh simply not to exclude other things but to teach us that those other things wherof there might be greater doubt are included which being thoght included much more is it to be thought so of the rest So Psal 25.8 David saith of God That he is good and upright therefore wil he teach sinners in the way i. Yea even sinners and not righteous men only though he will teach them also and much rather for so he presently addes in the verse following The meeke will he guide in judgement and teach his way So Paul Rom. 4.5 saith That God justifieth the ungodly not that he justifieth him onely but that hee is so gracious as to justifie him also Or else the Authour mentions only transgressions or grievous sins to shew that they chiefly are expiated under the new Testament and that this is the proper fruit of the new Testament and of the oblation of Christ But if the guilt of grievous sins be taken away under the new Testament much more must it be true of lighter sinnes Besides grievous sins do much more grieve the conscience then lighter for to lighter sinnes there was some expiation granted in the law whereby men might imagine that God of his infinite goodnes would also release the penalty of eternall death but to the other no expiation was allowed Might receive the promise To receive the promise of eternall inheritance doth in this place signifie to enter the reall possession of the eternall inheritance which was before promised and not to receive the promise
of it onely Therefore those grievous sinnes whereof men stood guiltie and for which they were subject to eternall death must first be expiated before they can enter and receive the eternall inheritance For those sinnes did hinder men from entring it which being purged away now nothing hinders but they may take possession of it But who shall do this shall all promiscuously no certainly but they which are called i. They to whom this eternal inheritance is offered by the Gospel of Christ and who accept this great grace of God by a lively faith For both of these use to be included in the word called But he simply saith they which are called might receive this eternall inheritance because all which are called may receive it if they will and be not wanting to themselves for in God and Christ there is no let 16. For where a Testament is there must also of necessitie be the death of the Testator Here he gives the cause why he said that by meanes of death this effect of remission of sinnes and receiving the eternall inheritance doth follow because saith he where a Testament is there of necessity the death of the Testator must intervene which reason hee confirmes by a Super-reason in the verse following But here some man may object that the Author doth but sophisticate with words and not draw a reall argument from the thing it selfe Seeing Christ was not the Author of any testament properly but onely the Mediatour of the Covenant although the Greeke writers use the word Testament to signifie a Covenant But the ambiguity of the word must not confound the natures and properties of the things so that what is true of one thing which the ambiguous word signifies should forthwith bee transfered to the other signified by the same word We answer That the speech is here of such a thing as is common to both the significations of the word the proper and improper or rather the generall and the speciall i. that is Covenant and Testament for we said before that every Testament is a Covenant an especiall and best kind of Covenant For Covenant is a generall name whereby those things are called that are more properly named leagues and testaments both which are Covenants And indeed almost throughout the old testament the originall word which our English translation renders Covenant doth properly signifie a League and were better so rendered for because God is a publike person and so is mankinde also therefore all Gods Covenants with man are properly Leagues Hence the Latine translations both vulgar and others constantly render them Faedera So for a testament if we consider the nature of it accuratly then any solemne act of any person testified by his death is properly a testament and he who testifies anothers act though he be no Author but onely the assertor of it is properly the testator of it For hence the Civilians have borrowed their termes of Testament and Testator which commonly concurre in the same person yet not necessarily but accidentally for whatsoever witnesse will testifie upon his death the verity and certainty of another mans last Will and Testament such a witnesse is truely a testator to that Testament And he that mediats to certifie a mans Testament and mediats so farre as to testifie it with his death hee is both the mediator and the testator of that Testament so that a mediator and a testator in respect of the same Testament are not functions incompatible but consentaneous that may easily concurre in the same person Yea hee that in this sence is the testator of a Testament is necessarily thereupon the mediator of it So that Gods two solemne Covenants or rather his Leagues the old and the new are truely and properly called Testaments because they are both testified by bloud and death to certifie confirme and establish them for the old Testament was testified by the bloud and death of calves and goates which was therefore called the bloud of the Testament as it is declared in the verses following But because the new Testament was testified certified confirmed and established by the death and bloud of Christ therefore Christ though hee were not the Author of it yet is most truely and properly the testator of it And because Christ did mediate for this Testament to certifie and publish it to the world that the old and former testament was abrogated and revoaked and that this new one was the last Will and Testament of his Father therefore also be was most truely and properly the Mediatour of it And hee was so constant and earnest a Mediator to certifie the truth of this new Testament that thereupon hee became the testator of it also to testifie and confirme it with his death and blood Nay because Christ was the Testator of it therefore hee must necessarily also be the Mediator of it for no man will testifie that truth or that cause with his bloud for which he no way mediats seeing he â—hat no way mediats for a thing will 〈◊〉 testifie it with his blood Wherefore in the words of these 16. and 17 verses though the Author for a while supposeth and takes it for graunted that not onely death but the death of the Testator which here is Christ must needs intervene to confirme the new Testament yet a little after at the 23. verse and so forward hee clearly demonstrats it For there he teacheth that the matter must not nor could not be effected by the bloud of beasts because he was both the Mediator and the high Priest of the Covenant or League who when he was to appeare before God in his heavenly Sanctuary and there to performe his offering certainly he was not to slay some beast to bring the bloud of it into that Sanctuary but must shed his own bloud to make himselfe his owne offering in heauen thereby to confirme and establish the new League or Covenant which as he might do so he must doe it for the great dignity and sublimity of the particulars therein contained So that in this respect the new Covenant comes neerer to the nature of a Testament then of a League which was the proper nature of the old Covenant For what effect could there be in the bloud of a beast to confirme and make faith unto us of heavenly promises Such a Confirmation had very ill beseemed this divine and heavenly Covenant especially seeing it might be confirmed by other bloud more sutable to it and by bloud that notwithstanding was to be shed for another cause which cause hath already been shewed at the 14. verse Whence wee may perceive that in these words in this 16. verse as they are also extended to Covenants or Leagues and to the Authors and Mediators of them somthing must be understood to make the truth of them fully to appeare which yet is not expressed because it makes nothing to the point in hand For these words of the Author here must be taken as it he had
even of the most heynous in them who having tasted the force of that sacrifice do afterward live holily I say all kind of penalties not only of temporall death but of eternall which by force of the law all incurred that had truly and morally sinned For temporall life opposed to temporal death proceeded from the observation of the Law otherwise then eternall life did opposed to eternall death For to attain or preserve temporall life it sufficed to keep the Law taken in an open and literall sease as they call it and to expiate certain offences by certain rites and sacrifices But the latter could no man attaine by force of the Law unlesse a man had kept the precepts of it taken in a mysticall sense i. most fully and perfectly as the Gospell proposeth them For seeing eternall life was not contained in the promises of the Law but in a mysticall sense it was great equity that he who would attaine it by the benefit of the Law should likewise keep the precepts of the Law in a mysticall sense Neither only so but it must be kept exactly and without any sinne so that there should need no sacrifices or expiations For no sacrifices were of such force as to take away the guilt of eternall death and so estate a man in a right to eternall life neither did the Law open any other way to arrive at a plenary justification joyned with the reward of eternall life then by the merit of workes To serve the living God Here is the effect of this Expiation wrought in us by the bloud and offering of Christ For when our conscience doth clearly acknowledge that in respect of God it is freed from all guilt of all sinne even the most grievous and nothing can hinder us but our selves from enjoying the reall effect of our being acquitted from all sinne it comes to passe here by that we must needs have strong motives to carry us on to the worship and service of God and to receive the faith of Christ to the end wee may effectually enjoy so great a blessing and having once enjoyed it never lose it but afterward abstaine from all sinne with all our possible endeavour knowing well that so great a blessing is attained and preserved with true piety Hence it appeares that this purging of our conscience gotten by the bloud of Christ must be so understood in this place that for the reall effect of it it depends upon our duty on our part i. then it begins to have it effect in us when our faith and obedience begins toward God and Christ and is continued by the continuance of our faith and obedience and by constancie and perseverance in faith and godlinesse to the end is at length consummated and doth rest in a full and immutable right to eternall life the effect whereof will most certainly follow in due time For unlesse this effect and complement of our expiation depend reciprocally upon our duty and our duty and will to serve God flowed immediatly from it what one man among a thousand would serve God upon the expiation of his finnes if he knew that without this he could be expiated effectually and released from the guilt of all his sinnes and enjoy a full right to eternall life because therefore this offering of Christ doth withdraw us from sinne and makes us afterward serve the living God hence it comes to passe that Christ doth expiate us by one only offering or that our expiation flowing from the offering and sacrifice of Christ is eternall and lasteth forever For what need the offering be iterated if men once expiated sinne no more For although sometime by error or infirmity the true worshippers of God may offend yet because the offering of Christ doth not so properly intend to expiate such light offences as sinnes that are more heynous as appears by the proper nature of the new Covenant as it stands distinguished from the old therefore the oblation of Christ must not be iterated for our light infirmities and lapses Therefore for the removing of the guilt of such light offences the perpetuall residence of Christ our high Priest in his heavenly Sanctuary and his intercession to his Father for us is abundantly sufficient so that for them he need not shed his bloud againe and after the shedding of it enter into his Sanctuary The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not alwayes signifie all kind of obedience and service done unto God but chiefly that divine service done to God publikly most properly as hath before been shewed those holy reverences which we perform in the worship of God Yet the Author useth it here by a Metonymie for all divine service that is joyned with the worship of God for worship and service are mutuall adjuncts connexed each to other For so great a benefit of God as the expiation of all our sins should easily move us to perform divine services unto God by praises and thanksgivings and wholly to devote out selves to worship to good a God for then we take courage to approach unto God to worship and serve him and to hope that the honour we do him will not be unacceptable unto him when we feel our conscience clean quiet as purged from all sin Or else the word here is taken by way of Metaphor whereby all good works pleasing unto God and done for his sake are accounted for sacrifices and offerings acceptable to God and that wholy endeavours them may fitly be said to serve God God is here called the living God according to the ordinary phrase of Scripture which notwithstanding in this place wants not an emphasis Not only because hereby the true God is distinguished from all the feigned gods of the Gentiles which because they were nothing but woodden or stony Idols and therefore woodden and stony gods were called vaine and livelesse gods and are opposed to the living God But also to shew the cause why we should worship and serve God and withall the happinesse of those that devote themselves unto him For seeing hee is the living God hee is also the true God who can reward his worshippers and servitors with great benefits and recompence them with fearfull judgments who neglect him To this end Paul writing to the Thessalonians saith Yee are turned from Idols to God to serve the living and true God 1 Thess 1.9 And the word there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifies to serve And God is eminently called the living God not only because he truly lives but also because he is the fountaine of life to all other things which do live In which sense sometimes hee alone is said to live or to have life and immortality in himself 15. And for this cause Here the Author confirmes his former assertion by a new argument in that Christ is the Mediatour of the new Testament or that Christ made the New Testament and sealed it with his bloud For this is the nature of
in use among men and to be of force before it was ratified by the bloudshed of beasts For this bloud gave beginning to that testament in respect of the force of it The Author useth the very same word afterward Chap. 10.20 where our English Translation renders it consecrated By a new and living way which he hath consecrated unto us whereof in it due place 19. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people That the first Testament was not dedicated without bloud hee now proves by a narration of the carriage of the action shewing the dedication or confirmation of that Testament both for the manner and matter wherby it was confirmed and his narration hereof is for the most part taken out of Scripture Exod. 24. Moses did both speake and read all the precepts to the people For first he spake them by word of mouth as the Lord had delivered them to him and upon his rehearsing or speaking of them the people gave their unanimous approbation and consented to doe them Exod. 24.3 Then he wrote them in a book and read them in the audience of the people and the people againe the second time gave their approbation ibid. ver 7. The word spoken includes both these actions of reciting and reading for all reading is speaking also because he that reads speaks out of a booke The precepts by Moses confirmed were all those Lawes of the Old Testament that did binde universally both persons and times which all persons were bound to observe perpetually for such were properly the precepts of Gods league with the people although happily they were not all assigned to the preceding Chapters in Exod. but are related in other places and in the following books of Moses For those preceps which after the confirmation of the league or testament are described in the following Chapters of Exodus are not properly Lawes but certaine Ordinances of God for the present concerning the framing and ordering of the Tabernacle the furniture of it and other things whereby the worship of God was then to bee performed And yet there besome who think that the passages recited Exod. 24. concerning the confirmation of the Covenant are spoken only by way of historicall anticipation And this opinion is not without some shew of probability According to the Law This is a limitation of the universall word every precept to shew that he spake not of all precepts in generall but of every precept in the Law delivered to Moses and written by Moses in the booke and read by Moses to the people Hee tooke the bloud of calves and of goats It is not expressed in the story of Moses that he tooke or shed the bloud of goats for that action Yet it is very credible that there were goats among the burnt-offerings and peace-offerings then slaine unto God For that Moses nameth only calves it might therefore be because they are the more worthy creatures Unlesse wee should rather say that first the whole people was sprinkled and expiated by Moses which the Author chiefly respected and might know it some other way for the bloud of goats was usually shed to expiate the sinnes of the whole people With water and scarlet wooll and hysop Neither doe wee read this in the fore-cited place of Moses but the Author who undoubtedly was very skilfull in the Jewish customes doth perhaps therefore mention water because hee knew that water was mingled with the bloud which was sprinkled as was usuall in other purifyings for bloud unlesse it bee mingled with water doth quickly congeale and being congealed is unfit for sprinkling But of hysop and scarlet wooll tyed to a cedar sticke was made a sprinkler whereof as of water mixt with bloud see Exod. 12.22 and Levit. 4.4,5,6 And sprinkled both the booke and all the people Of the booke being sprinkled we likewise read not in Moses Yet this divine Author knew the certainty of this no lesse then of the rest But all the people is said to be sprinkled because they among the people who stood nearest were sprinkled and in that respect represented the person of the whole people so that thereby all the people were accounted sprinkled 20. Saying this is the bloud of the Testament In the Hebrew for this is Behold but the sense is the same Now the bloud of calves and goats is called the bloud of the Testament because by means of it the Old Testament was confirmed and established Which God hath enjoyned unto you In the Hebrew it is which God hath made with you God had not yet made it preteritively but did then make it presentively and therefore the preter tense is there figuratively put for the present But because God himselfe in his owne person did not confirme that Covenant with the people but Moses did it at the command and in the name of God therefore the Author expressing the verity of the thing for the word made puts the word enjoyned as if Moses had said This is the bloud of the Testament which God hath enjoyned me to make with you Yet this injunction or command did not rest upon the person of Moses only but was extended unto the people also for as the confirmation of the testament was enjoyned to Moses that he should speed it is Gods name So the observation of it was enjoyned unto the people that they should keep it because the Testament for the matter contained Laws and Precepts which God enjoyned to the people as if Moses had further said This is the bloud of the Testament which God enjoyned unto me to confirme and hath enjoyned unto you to observe 21. Moreover he sprinkled with the bloud both the Tabernacle and all the vessels of the Ministery Hee shews that not only the Old Testament it selfe was confirmed with bloud but also that under the Old Testament divers consecrations and expiation were made by bloud especially of sinnes as hee mentions it ver 22. This hee doth that from hence he might gather that under the New Testament also the shedding of bloud must fitly intervene to consecrate and expiate the conscience and a bloud so much more pretious as he is more pretious by whom the conscience is expiated And the Author doth so joyne the consecration of the Tabernacle and the vessels of it made with bloud with the confirmation of the Testament it selfe that he specifies no difference of time between them And if the Tabernacle and ministeriall vessels were consecrated at the time wherin the Testament was confirmed then without all doubt the history of confirming the Testament Exod. 24. is delivered by way of anticipation seeing that after that Confirmation mentioned there precepts are delivered in the following chapters for the making of the Tabernacle and ministeriall vessels and for ordering of the publike worship and service of God as also the making and consecration of them is particularly described But from the words of the Author it cannot bee gathered that both these were done
themselves in the former chapter he denied that they had already received the promise of God and were made perfect but that their state and condition is such that perfection and eternall happinesse is now remaining to them in a way immutable so that the certainty of attaining it is such as if they did already really enjoy it In this very sense Saint Paul useth the same word of himselfe when hee saith Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect Phil. 3.12 that is not that I am now in that state as if I could no way faile of that blessed resurrection for of this it was that he spake in the former verse for otherwise that he had not yet really attained eternall life no man could be ignorant and it were a fond thing to affirme it The Author therefore shews that those just ones though they had not attained eternall salvation in perfection in regard now nothing of them was extant but their spirits yet without all doubt should certainely enjoy it by the immutable decree of God Hence it appeares what it is for God to be Judge of all and what happinesse is therein contained if a man come both to the Judge and to the spirits of the just and be admitted into their society For thereby he is certain though his life here-faile him yet he shall not faile of the reward of eternall life 24. And to Iesus the Mediatour of the new Testament The Israelites heretofore came to Moses the Mediatour of the old Testament but Christians come to Jesus the Mediatour of the New But how much Jesus is better then Moses and the new Covenant better then the old we have shewed before chap. 3.8 and chap. 8.6 The word Mediatour is in a manner proper to the holy Scripture and peradventure no where used among profane Authors as others have noted Yet it is found out of the Sciptures in Philo who being a Jew used a forme of language that had some affinity with the sacred writers And what this word signifies being used of Christ we are easily taught by the example of Moses to whom that name was first attributed For although of it owne nature it may signifie any one who intervenes as a meane betweene two parties yet the example of Moses and the name of Covenant added that thereby is signified no other but an herald or hee who intervenes as a mean between God and men to make a Covenant for the joyning of them in a mutuall and firme peace and friendship For the effecting whereof it is not forthwith necessary to appease and mitigate the minde either of one or both parties when it may be either both parties as it was in the making of the old Covenant or one of them as it was under the new namely God doth freely incline to peace and friendship yea doth alone seeke offer and procure it And to the blood of sprinkling An Hebraisme for the blood which is sprinkled or wherewith aspersion is made Hee alludes to that blood of the old Covenant wherewith Moses after hee had rehearsed all the precepts of the Law sprinkled both the booke of the Law and the whole people whereof he said This is the bloud of the Testament which God hath enjoyned unto you as we had it before chap. 9. vers 19 20. We Christians are in like manner sprinkled with bloud and that with the most precious blood of Christ himselfe And wee are sprinkled with the bloud of Christ when in our hearts wee conceave and embrace the force of that bloudy death which he suffered to confirme the new Covenant in such manner that thereby wee have an infallible assurance made us of the promises comprehended in the Covenant whence it comes to passe that wee are made parties to the Covenant and obtaine a right of attaining to all the blessings promised therein That speaketh better things then that of Abel He commends this bloud wherewith Christians are sprinkled by mentioning the force and effect of it that they may joy the more for their aspersion with it and may moreover more carefully endeavour that they wash not the droppes of that bloud from their soules that is that they never fall away from the new Covenant nor cease to feel the force of the bloud of Christ and so deprive themselves of that great blessing which they gained by the shedding of it namely a right to eternall happinesse To the blood of Christ hee ascribes speech in a figurative sense as likewise to the bloud of Abel Both their blouds speake or as the Scripture saith of the bloud of Abel both cry unto God but Abels bloud cryes for vengeance upon his fratricide but Christs bloud cryes for remission and pardon even upon paricides for they may justly be called paricides who murdered Christ And unto these no lesse then unto all other sinners the bloud of Christ begs pardon from God of all their sinnes if they will repent and be converted from them And he begs it as hee engageth God to grant forgivenesse of sinnes to all penitent persons whatsoever their sinnes have been And he engageth God as hee was employed of God to confirme and establish the new Covenant which is so remarkable for that promise 25. See that yee refuse not him that speaketh To his former passages hee now subjoynes an Exhortation and fortifies it with new reasons And herein he seemes to allude to that fact of the Israelites whereof we spake before when they were stricken with such terrour of Gods Majesty that they entreated that God would speak no more unto them which fact of theirs was a kinde of presage or token that afterward they would not carry an ear and mind obedient to the voice of God He therefore admonisheth Christians that now after they have given their ear and mind to the voyce of God in the Gospel they would not againe turne their ear and mind from it which is done both by Apostacy and by disobedience See i. take diligent heed for they who take diligent heed cast about their eyes every way that they may escape the danger imminent For if they escaped not By an argument of comparison hee shewes that if they doe otherwise they shall not escape a grievous punishment for they the Israelites escaped not namely the punishment and avenging hand of God whereof wee treated chapters the 3. and 4. where wee saw that the Israelites for their unbeliefe and disobedience were debarred from entrance into that land of Promise wherein they should have rested after their grievous servitude in Egypt and perished in the wildernesse by divers destructions Who refused him that spake on earth much more shall not we escape if we turne away from him that speaketh from heaven He opposeth him who spake on earth to him who spake from heaven Now there can be no doubt but by him who spake from heaven hee understands God himselfe for presently after he addes verse 26. Whose voice then shooke the
mentions their severall salutations to the Colossians chap. 4 The answere is It was not reason he should write any salutations from Timothy no more then from himselfe because hee had joyned Timothie with him as a Co-Authour of the whole Epistle which was more then a salutation This imprisonment then of Timothie is very probable though from this place it be not fully certaine For the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is here translated set at libertie doth properly signifie more generally for dismissed or dispatched or sent away and in this sence is frequently used in the new Testament And then it may signifie here that Timothy was now dismissed or dispatched there where formerly hee was detained about some businesse of the Ministry for certaine it is that Timothy by his especiall function was an Evangelist and therefore frequently employed by the Apostles who sent them upon messages about the Ministry unto remote Churches See this for Timothie Acts 17.14,15 and Acts 18.5 and Acts 19.22 and 1. Cor. 4.17 and Phil. 2.19 and 1. Thess 3.2 With whom if he come shortly I will see you He intimates unto them that hee expects the comming of Timothie to him very shortly yet withall that if hee come not in a short time then hee himself will come to them without him So that hereby he signifies his affection and love toward them with an earnest desire speedily to see them as impatient of his delay in expecting Timothie though he were very shortly to come 24. Salute all them that have the rule over you and all the Saints The name of Saints is here attributed to all Christians in generall As if he had said I desire you to salute from me not onely your Rulers as your Elders and Bishops but all the rest of the brethren even the whole Church All Christians must remember that they are Saints that is persons consecrated and hallowed unto God and therefore as the Apostle admonisheth must carry themselves as obedient children not fashioning themselves according to their former lusts in their ignorance but as he which hath called them is holy so must they be holy in all manner of conversation because it is written Be yee holy for I am holy 1 Pet. 1.14,15,16 They of Italy salute you A Grecisme for the Italians or Christians of Italy for so the Greeks use to speake Whence it appeares that part of the clause which tradition hath added at the end of this Epistle is true That this Epistle was written to the Hebrewes from Italy For if the Author had written from any other place why should he insert a salutation from the Italians onely But the rest of that clause at the end of this Epistle is false That is was sent by Timothy For what could be more vaine then to write of him by whom he sent his Epistle Know ye that he is set at liberty And that in the very end of his Epistle as here he writeth of Timothy in the verse immediately preceding And besides in the very same verse he advertiseth them of Timothies comming to him and of his owne to them upon Timothies comming to him namely from that place where he was detained in prison and of his comming or returning from them as some say who would seeme to defend this postscript But there must needs be extant an argument to prove how different from the written word of God yea many times repugnant unto it are the written traditions of men and therefore much more mens traditions not written And the falsity of this subscription may justly make a man doubt of the verity of the inscription which carries the name of Paul traditionally also prefixed before it 25. Grace be with you all Amen Here the Author finisheth and closeth this Epistle with a devotion or holy wish Grace is the onely ground and meanes to that peace whereof he stiled God the Author before ver 20. And therefore also the onely ground of all happinesse for all happinesse comes meerly by grace Yet he expresseth not whose grace and favour he wisheth unto them as a thing sufficiently knowne among all Christians namely the grace of God our Father and of Jesus Christ our Lord. Now the same grace of God our Father and of Jesus Christ our Lord be with all them that love verity and piety Amen The Contents of this 13. Chapter are 1. Duty We must be hospitable to entertains strangers ver 2. Motive Because some thereby have entertained Angels unawares eod 2. Duty We must be mercifull toward persons in adversity ver 3. Motive Because we our selves are also in the body and thereby also subject adversity eod 3. Duty Mariage must be maintained in the due honour of it ver 4. Motive Because God will judge whoremongers and adulterers and all that are defilers and disgracers of the mariage bed eod 4. Duty We must not be covetous v. 5. Motive 1. Because God hath promised he will never leave nor forsake us 2. Because we may boldly say The Lord is our helper and we will not feare what man shall do unto us 5. Duty Wee must not be inconstant to be carried about with diverse and strange doctrines v. 6. Motive 1. Because we must keepe our selves to our leaders who have taught us Gods word and must follow their faith and life v. 7. 2. Because the doctrine is alwayes the same as yesterday so to day and so for ever v. 8. 3. Because it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace ver 9. 6. Duty We must not eate of the sacrifices which our selves offer to God Motive 1. Because meates profit nothing to holinesse v. 9. 2. Because the sacrifices of the Christian altar are not edible v. 10. 3. Because the sin-offerings under the Law were not eaten but burnt without the camp v. 11. 4. Because Christ is our sin-offering who suffered without the gate to sanctifie us with his owne bloud 5. Because Christian sacrifices are onely spirituall for either they are the fruit of our lips as praise and thanksgiving ver 15. or the fruit of our hands to do good and communicate v. 16. 7. Duty We must be patient to suffer any misery in this life v. 13. Motive 1. Because Christ our high Priest who sanctified us with his own bloud suffered reproach banishment and death for he suffered without the gate v. 12. 2. Because here we have no continuing city v. 14. 8. Duty We must offer all our Christian sacrifices by Christ v. 15. Motive Because Christ is our high Priest who sanctified us ver 12. 9. Duty We must be beneficiall to do good and to communicate ver 16. Motive Because beneficence is a sacrifice wherewith God is well pleased 10. Duty We must obey our spirituall rulers and submit to them v. 17. Motive Because they watch for our soules and must give account of their watching eod 2. Because our unrulinesse will be grievous to them and pernicious to us eod FINIS
or posterity of Abraham whether they be carnall by birth onely or spirituall by faith onely or both by birth and faith And he rather said the seed of Abraham in two respects 1. Because we often reade in Scripture that Christ is promised to no other men properly but to the posterity of Abraham or at least to his seed chiefly and in the first place 2. Because this word would be most pleasing to the Hebrews to whom he writes who were themselves the seed or posterity of Abraham But by this ambiguous appellation which might signifie the seed of Abraham whether carnall or spirituall he so ingratiates the Hebrews that withall he might tacitely invite them to continue Christians because Christians onely of what Nation soever they be are the spirituall seed of Abraham Gal. 3.29 For Christ was destinate to take hold of to help succour and save onely that spirituall seed as being their onely mercifull and faithfull high Priest And by the words here we must understand rather the spirituall seed of Abraham then the carnall but they that are his seed both wayes both carnally and spiritually as these Hebrewes were may challenge Christ in a manner by a double right to be their ayder and helper The summe of all is As in the former clause of this verse the Author proved the negative That Christ was not made an Angel because he was not to take hold of them to help and succour them So in this clause he proves the affirmative why he was made lower then the Angels why he tooke part of flesh and bloud Because by his death he was to take hold of the seed of Abraham to help and succour the faithfull in delivering them from the feare and bondage of death So the words shew not what Christ was by his birth but what he did by his death Hence now it plainly appeares how incongruously these words are wrested to Christs taking on him humane nature For this sence is contrary to the context and altogether crosse to right reasoning for by it the same truth is made a reason whereby to conclude it selfe At the fourteenth verse before this is laid downe for a truth That Christ tooke part of our flesh and bloud i. he did partake of humane nature of which truth how can a reason be given by this that hee tooke on him our humane nature seeing these two truths are identicall though not in words yet altogether in sence But if we understand these words of helping and succouring the faithfull then there runs a veine of evident reasoning Christ was made lower then the Angels and tooke part of flesh and bloud to what end that he might suffer death Why so To destroy the Devils power of death Why that Because he was to deliver men from the feare and bondage of death Why did he that Because he was to take hold of men to helpe and succour them who are the seed of Abraham 17. Wherefore in all things Hitherto he hath shewed that Christ must be a mortall man to suffer death now from the last cause of his helping or succouring men he teacheth that he must not onely be mortall but subject to divers afflictions and not onely subject but actually to suffer them and that not some few but even all wherewith the rest of the faithfull are afflicted It behooved him to be made like unto his brethren How and why the faithfull are the brethren of Christ hath before beene shewed and proved Yet in this place againe the word brethren carries a powerfull force of reasoning It behooveth a brother to helpe and succour his brother and Christ therefore takes hold of the faithfull to help and succour them because they are his brethren especially the seed of Abraham who are his brethren both by God and man And it behooveth also a brother to be like a brother and the more alike they are the more lovely they are to all and the more loving one to another And therefore it behooved Christ to be made like unto his brethren not onely in some one thing as in their nature to be made a little lower then the Angels as his brethren were or to take part of flesh and bloud as they did but also to be like them in all things even in their whole condition to be subject to afflictions and temptations as they are and actually to suffer all sorts of them as they doe yet he was not like them in sin for that is excepted Heb. 4.15 and a universall saying must alwayes abate when a particular exception is expresly made against it That he might be a mercifull and faithfull high Priest Christ must be made like unto his brethren in nature that he might be their high Priest for the Priest and the people must be of one Nation he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified must be all of one and he was made like them in condition for suffering afflictions and therefore he must bee unto them a mercifull and faithfull high Priest 1. He must be mercifull to be touched with a sence of his brethrens miseries and sorrowes and to thinke them so his owne or so neere him that he may be moved readily to succour or help them as himselfe For mercy is a sorrow for anothers misery moving us to succour him 2. He must be faithfull to administer and performe all things with all care and diligence in their behalfe that concernes their sanctifying or succouring to expiate their sins and help them from misery And this faithfulnesse takes some roote and growth from mercifulnesse for mercy doth beget and nourish faithfulnesse Now that Christ might be truly mercifull and faithfull to his brethren in all things therefore he must bee made like them in all things even in all their afflictions and sorrowes In things pertaining to God The office of the high Priest in generall was this to administer in things pertaining to God as to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin as the Author explicates it afterward chap. 5.1 And it was peculiar and proper to the high Priest to expiate or make atonement for the sins of the whole people together and not of single persons by themselves for that was common to other Priests This popular Expiation was performed by Christ our high Priest when after the shedding of his bloud on earth he entred into heaven as into the Sanctuary or holiest of all there to appeare in the presence of God to make Intercession for us that is that resting in heaven with God he might administer and performe all things that concernes our deliverance from the punishments of our sins To make reconciliation for the sins of the people The end of the office of the high Priest was to make reconciliation for the sins of the people i. To propitiate or expiate their sinnes The word in the originall signifies to cover hence the cover of the Arke was called the propitiatory because it covered the Tables of the Law that lay in
marrow In this sence is signified that this sword doth not onely cut the outward parts that lye open to the eye but also the inward parts that are hidden from it i. The force of Gods decree and sentence reacheth not onely to those crimes which are notorious and publique as the decrees and Judgements of Magistrates do who therefore have the power of the sword and therewith do execution upon malefactors but his decree also takes vengeence on those sins which are most secret and hidden bordering as it were upon the confines of the soule and spirit and lye closed up as it were betweene the joynts or within the marrow then which places nothing can be devised more secret Now the soule is the inferiour faculty in us containing the affections or passions as lust and wrath respecting onely those things which please and content the body Hence they which follow this faculty and suffer themselves to be governed by it are called in Scripture animall men But the spirit is the superiour faculty which discerns between things lawfull and unlawfull drawing us to things lawfull and honest and driving us from the contrary whereby we understand know God and his will and our finall happinesse Although the spirit may also be taken for that part of us which doth first vivifie the body and remaines after death And the soule may be taken for life it selfe or for that faculty which flowes from the spirit over the whole body And is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart This hee addeth that what hee said concerning the word of God might bee further pressed and the better understood God doth both take knowledge of the thoughts and intents of mens hearts and also decrees them to be punished if they deserve it This hee therefore saith lest any man should thinke that he may lye hid from Gods decree and escape the force and sharpnesse of his sentence if he only nourish his unbelief in his heart and reserve it in his secret thoughts So that no thought of ours though never so secret no wavering in our faith can be concealed from God 13. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight Now he speaks that more generally whereof before he spake but in particular God doth not only discerne and know the thoughts of our hearts but there is nothing at all in the world that can escape the sight of his eye for by creatures he understands all things in generall But all things are naked and opened unto the eyes He illustrates what he said before by the contrary to it There is nothing so covered or hidden but the sight of his eyes can discover it And eyes are attributed to him because he clearly seeth all things be they never so remote and so leaveth nothing unpunished Opened 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This word is diversly expounded some thus the whole face from head to shoulders is discovered and exposed to the eyes of all Others thus The skinne is drawne over the shoulders from head to taile Others the creature is flayed and hanged up by the heeles having the belly and bowells opened to the chine of the backe that all lyes open both without and within But all these come to one sense namely that there is nothing so covered and hidden which lyes not open to Gods word or decree for the sight of his eyes doth not only fall upon the outward covering of things but pierceth inwardly all over their substance Of him with whom we have to do In the originall of that whereof we speake i. of that word whereof we speake Hereby he shewes that he understands not any word of God in generall but some certaine word namely that quicke and powerfull word whereof we have hitherto spoken and which is to be understood in all this matter of piercing dividing and discovering 14. Seeing then that we have a great high Priest This is the second part of this Chapter wherein he returnes to treat of the dignity of Christs Priesthood from whence he had digressed to fall upon the exhortation hitherto explicated Now therefore hee resumes his former argument and from thence drawes another admonition for constancie in the Christian Religion The Priestly office of Christ that here we may speake of it a little more fully consisteth in this That Christ expiateth all our sinnes before God and administreth all matters concerning Religion as the chiefe President over holy things Therefore we say Christ hath expiated all our sinnes because it was the office of the high Priest to expiate the sinnes not of one single person only but of the whole people But for the manner how Christ expiates our sinnes there is a great difference betweene him and the legall high Priest so that in this respect Christ is like God yea in a manner supplyes the part of God and not of the Priest For Christ remaining in heaven doth so expiate our sinnes that by power granted him hee removes all punishment from us and abolishes all things that may involve us in any punishment Whence it appeares that Priestly office differs not really from his regall office but rationally only For Christ doth not now really execute any thing about God or performe any condition upon the deed whereof there followes by the decree of God a purgation of our sinnes as anciently the legall Priest was wont to doe For he entered into the tabernacle of God with bloud and there appearing before God did sprinkle the bloud after a forme prescribed him and offered it unto God which being done there followed the expiation of sinne upon it For although Christ shed his bloud upon earth and by afflictions prepared himselfe for the execution of his office to the end that by a sense of our infirmities hee might bee the more readily affected toward us all which conditions were pre-required of God and were first to be performed by Christ yet being now in heaven and fullier administring his Priestly office in procuring the expiation of our sinnes he really performes no further conditions For in that after his bloudshed upon the crosse he entred into the heavenly tabernacle and by this means offered himselfe to God this was not any true condition upon which God decreed the remission of our sinnes seeing that entrance and oblation of himselfe was a great benefit of God bestowed upon him but it was only a meanes whereby Christ obtained supreme power both in heaven and earth from whence followed the expiation of our sinnes and which being granted unto Christ God did openly testifie that he would not punish any of their sinnes who did belong to Christ This indeed is true that this entrance of Christ into heaven and his appearance before God have a resemblance or likenesse with the entrance of the legall Priest into the Sanctuary and his appearance before God as God anciently required it Which resemblance or liknesse is the cause why Christ is compared with the legall Priest
frees us from all punishment and lastly makes us capable of eternall life Whence it so much the more appeares how the purging of our consciences doth certainely follow upon the bloud and death of Christ and upon his subsequent offering in heaven Purge your conscience from deâ—d workes How much more shall the bloud of Christ purge Shall is so the future tense here that it carries the force of the time present For in such arguments drawne from comparison wee love to use the future tense in the consequent member of it If this be so much more shall that For herein we respect not any futurity of time but a futurity of consequence and of truth for many times wee conclude in that manner of things past The conscience here is opposed to the flesh for as the bloud of beasts offered did purge the flesh so the bloud of Christ offered through the Spirit doth penetrate unto the conscience and purge it And sinnes are called dead workes not formally as if they had no life or activity in them but effectively because they are deadly works that brings death to the sinner and of their owne nature keepe the sinner dead for ever These deadly works are the spots and blots that defile our conscience and from these our conscience is purged by the bloud of Christ not onely in that we are freed from the guilt of them in the sight of God and consequently from all punishment of them but also in that wee are delivered from the sence of that guilt and from the feare of punishment and so our conscience is cased of a grievous burden And it was not for nothing that the Author would rather say purge our conscience then our minde the inward part of us opposite to the flesh Because thereby he would shew that the bloud of Christ doth also cleanse away that misery and torment of the conscience whereby men conscious of their wickednesse doe tremble and quake for feare of Gods Judgements This is most certaine that true and solid peace of conscience in them that have sinned doth ground it selfe upon this that God hath declared his will they should be free from all the guilt of their sinnes And yet it may be that men freed in the sight of God from the guilt of their sinnes may not enjoy a peaceable and quiet conscience because they are destitute of the knowledge or faith of it Therefore the bloud of Christ offered to God through the eternall Spirit doth not onely abolish all the guilt of our sinnes but also doth certifie and make faith thereof unto us as we heard before Whence it commeth to passe that there ariseth a great calme and quiet of conscience in their minds who have tasted the efficacy and vertue of Christ his bloud and sacrifice and we may well say that though formerly their conscience were oppressed with many crimes yet then their conscience is wholly disburdened and they finde no guiltinesse in it And this is the scope which God proposed unto himselfe in the death of Christ and the things following thereon For he would not therefore binde himselfe by the bloud of Christ and establish a new Covenant because there might be danger that he would not stand to his promises who is most true and faithfull of his word but because we should want no assurance of his grace and mercy towards us And hence also it is that when Christ was raised from the dead and invested with immortality God exalted him into heaven and committed unto him the whole care and arbitrement of our salvation For the efficacy and force of Christs death and the consequents upon it must be distinguished from their scope whereat God aymed although that efficacy were subservient to this scope and effectuall to the compassing of it The efficacy of Christs death and the consequents upon it was very great both to obliege God to performe his promises and to produce the reall effect of them upon us but the scope is as we have said to make assured and undoubted faith unto us of so great grace of God of so great salvation and remission of sins to the end that wee being fully certified thereof might againe on our part performe our duty and wholly devote our selves to God Whence the Author adding afterward this end or effect of purging our conscience to be performed by us on our part doth thereby teach us that in this purging of our conscience he included not only an Immunity from punishmenâ— arising from the abolishing of our guilt before God but also a security from them proceeding from our certaine knowledge that our guilt is abolished Now for the matter of our Impunity or freedome from punishment our punishment is not only temporall but also eternall opposite to life eternall From the punishment of eternall death those sacrifices 〈◊〉 the Law were so farre from freeing any man that they could exempt no man from temporall death or capitall punishment for they only tooke away some other light penalties or inconveniences of this life Neither did God write all his Lawes in bloud ordaining death for every offence but moderated the rigor of his Law with singular justice and equity Upon some offences hee laid the penalty of death which no sacrifice could release upon others he laid a fine and a sacrifice The mulct or fine was to bee paid to the party grieved but the sacrifice to himselfe for thereupon he remitted the penalty due to himselfe but would have restitution made of the injury done to man So for example for theft the penalty was a restituon of the double triple or quadruple to be paid to the party thereby damaged but besides this restitution the theft was expiated by sacrifice which was instead of a penalty to the most mercifull God Lastly there some things totally void of all true offence as for example if any man had touched a dead body though it were of duty to bury him which was rather a matter of piety then of offence yet because this and other such like cases were condemned by the Law of uncleannes therefore they were to be expiated either by some sacrifice or by the holy water of separation Therefore all the use of those sacrifices was to expiate some lighter faults or uncleannesses of the flesh but great offences were punished with death Hence David acknowledging his sinne exiable by no sacrifices of beasts saith to God Thou desirest not sacrifices else would I give them but thou delightest not in burn offerings Psal 51.16 He means in the expiation of such crimes as his was and therefore he flyes to the sole mercy and clemency of God and resolves to pacifie God with the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart The force of which sacrifice if it be made seasonably and abound afterward in the fruits of good workes is established and ratified by the Law of the Gospel Now the bloud and sacrifice of Christ takes away all guilt and penalties of all sins
said where a Testament is there must needs bee the death of the Testator or at least as in leagues which in a manner resemble Testaments the death of some creature whereby the League is confirmed by him that makes it for till death intervene a Testament or League is of no force and strength which exception or rather which correction of his generall saying why it was not added here the cause hath been already shewed We may also answer the former objection thus That his reasoning here is comparative by way of similitude not explicitely but contractedly as is ofen used And the words are to be taken as if he had said as when a Testament is made the death of the Testator must needs accede because it must be animated by the death of the Testator for while the Testator lives the Testament lives not or is not in force So also when the new League or Testament was ordained his death must accede that made it and was in stead of the Testator that the Testament might be firme and of force For though Christ made not the new Testament as the Author or principall agent of it yet because hee was the Mediator and instrument of his Father to speed it in his Fathers name therefore he may be said to have made it for wee commonly attribute the same action both to the agent who is the prime cause of it and to the Instrument who is the means of it From hence it manifestly appears what force the bloud of Christ hath in procuring us remission of sinnes namely these two forces first that by it the New Testament was established or confirmed and secondly that thereupon he offered himselfe to God for us in heaven So that his bloud was confirmatory to settle the eternall inheritance upon us and expiatory to procure an eternall redemption of our sinnes whereof the former is handled in this verse the latter in those precedent Why Christ is called here the Testator we have before sufficiently reasoned namely because he was the maine witnesse to certifie the truth of the Testament by his death and because he was the maine party by whose death the Testament which till then lay dead became alive and valid to be of force and effect Yet here wee shall adde one reason more because it will serve wondrously to annimate our faith and love toward Christ and that is because the inheritance conveyed unto us by this New Testament is properly the inheritance of Christ for hee is the unigenit or only begotten Sonne of God and was ordained to be Lord and heire of all his Fathers estate and hath admitted us that will accept of it to be co-heires and fellow-partners with him in it and dyed as the Testator to settle the possession of it upon us Or to speake in the words of Paul He hath received us to the glory of God Rom. 15.7 And the words of Christ to his Disciples tend to this sense I appoâ—nt unto you a Kingdome as my Father hath appointed unto mee Luke 22.29 17. For a testament is of force after men are dead This is the reason why the death of the testator must accede to the testament hee hath made because all the while the testator lives his testament is dead and of no force to give any possession to the heire of the inheritance and estate thereby to be conveyed but when the testator is dead then the testament takes life and becomes of force for then the heire hath an actuall right and power to enter upon the inheritance And therefore he addes Otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth These are the same words in effect with the former and are but a consequence from them by that rule of reasoning which we call conversion by contraposition For if a testament be of force when the testator is dead then it must needs follow that while the testator is not dead the testament is of no force Which kinde of reasoning is frequent in Scripture yet among many passages we shall instance but in this one and in this the rather because the texts of it are much obscured by Interpreters who labour to reconcile them as if they seemed opposite whereas no two texts can be more according for they are wholly equipollent and each consequent to the other Christ saith He that is not with me is against me Mat. 12.30 and he saith againe He that is not against us is for us or which is all one He that is not against me is with me Luke 9.50 This latter saying in Luke is so farre from being opposite or contrary to the former in Matthew that it is a most immediate and necessary consequence from it For if this saying be true as it is because the truth hath said it He that is not with Christ is against him Then this also from thence must needs follow for a truth He that is not against Christ is with him Because this latter saying is the conversion of the former by contraposition 18. Whereupon neither the first was dedicated without bloud What he had said before in generall of testaments now he declares in particular and proves by an example in the first or Old Testament and makes way for himselfe to apply the same unto Christ and to the New Testament established by him For because under the Old Testament it selfe was confirmed by bloud and because almost all things were cleansed by bloud at least sinnes could not be cleansed without shedding of bloud Therefore from hence he gathers by way of similitude that death and shedding of bloud must needs intervene under the New Testament that thereby both the Testament it selfe might be confirmed and our sinnes purged Was dedâ—cated The Greeke word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which as Interpreters note is properly said when some solemne act is done whereby a new thing being perfected and finished begins to come in use So the Consecration of Solomons new Temple was called the Dedication of it and the Consecration of the new Altar erected by Judas Maccabeus was called the Dedication of it 1 Maccab. 4.56 And the annuall celebration of that dedication is called the feast of the dedication John 10.22 yet this word applied to leagues signifies nothing else but to confirme them And leagues are then confirmed when they are so ratified as thereby they have force and strength to become obligatory and binding to all parties therein interessed For the confirmation of a league is some solemne act done by the confederates or in their name whereby they mutually so binde their faith that it shall not bee lawfull for either party to rescinde or revoke the league And although there bee many formes of confirmation for leagues yet anciently the usuall forme was by bloud and that of the Old Testament was performed by the bloud of beasts Wherefore with good reason the Author saith that it was not dedicate or confirmed without bloud i. it began not to come
the Throne of the Majesty in the heavens i. that he himselfe by virtue of a supreme power over all things given him by his Father doth save his owne people that he himselfe doth release them from the guilt of all their sins and free them from all punishments and at last settle them in the reall possession of eternall blessednesse In these words thus transferied from the old high Priest unto Christ the metaphor is so much the neater and fitter because this way Christ is so said to procure perfect our salvation that withall it may appeare what difference in that regard there is between God and Christ and because Christ is thus farre like to one appearing and interceding for others in that he is very desirous and carefull of our salvation yet hath not the power to save us from himselfe but hath received it all from God So that in this respect Christ may bee said to be and is our Intecessour and Advocate and God of his mercy to conferre salvation upon us Besides in the Legall high Priest his appearance was a thing different and distinct from his offering though both were done at once and united in time because the high Priest was one and the offering another for the high Priest appeared but the bloud of the sacrifice was offered But in Christ our high Priest the offering and appearance as also the intercession were really the same if his appearance and intercession be taken not for his bare comming to his Father but for his comming joyned with his procuration of our salvation as here they must be taken because in Christ the Priest and the offering were the same For Christ by his appearance offers himselfe and by offering himselfe he appeares and by offering and appearing he intercedes The particle now is opposed to the times past especially to those of the Old Testament wherein no such high Priest and Advocate appeared in the presence of God for the people of God O the hard condition of those times and contrarily Happy we who have an high Priest and Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours onely but also for the sins of the whole world 1 John 2.1,2 25. Not yet that he should offer himselfe often The particle nor yet shews that the Author delivers two negatives concerning Christ our high Priest One is that he is not entered into the holy places made with hands but into heaven it selfe for this he taught in the former verse The other when he entered into heaven yet he did not so enter that he should iterate the oblation of himselfe and offer himselfe often contrary to the manner of the legall high Priests under the Law who were by Law constrained often to iterate their offering of bloud in the holy place This he teacheth in this verse which he therefore seemes to do that hence also it may appeare how farre the sacrifice of Christ excelled the Legall sacrifices which must needs be often offered for no other cause but by reason of their imperfection From which respect he gathers in the next Chapter that they did not please God and must at length be abrogated and were abrogated by the sacrifice of Christ And Christ should be said to offer himselfe often if once he should breake off his first appearance before God and going out of his heavenly Sanctuary should re enter in thither to iterate his offering For his oblation once begun is not iterated and multiplyed by the duration or continuation of it for then seeing Christ doth perpetually appeare and intercede for us and therefore perpetually offer the Author could not affirme that Christ hath offered himselfe onely once and by one oblation of himselfe to perfect for ever those that are sanctified There was not required a double entrance into the earthly holy place to make a double oblation when there are two things that are offered and a double slaughter preceded if those things were living creatures But when the thing to be offered is but one the offering of it cannot be iterated unlesse the entrance and the slaughter before the entrance be also iterated For the slaughter must not be made in the holy place it selfe neither can it be in heaven but without the holy place Therefore the Author saith That Christ hath not so entered into the holy places of heaven to performe his offering that he should often iterate it As the high Priest entereth into the holy place every yeare with bloud of others It was the manner of the Legall high Priest to iterate their oblation often And in this opposition betweene Christ and the Legall high Priest that Christ should not offer often but the Legal high Priest every yeare that Christ entered heaven to offer himselfe but the Legall high Priest entered into the holy place with the bloud of others every man sees that the offering of Christ and the entrance of the Legall Priest do answer one another Whence it is manifest that the expiatory offering of Christ as well as that of the Legall Priest was performed by meanes of his entrance into the holy place Entereth He seemes not to use the present tense therefore as if he had respect to a thing yet in being and practise among the people of the Jews but rather in an accustomed manner of speech to draw the minde of the reader to a thing as it were present after which forme he spake also before ver 22. And in the Gospel of Marke we often meet with the like manner of speech That the Legall Priest entered with bloud hath the same sence with the saying before that he entered by bloud ver 12. yet in the Greek here it is in bloud which for the sence of it is truly translated with bloud So John writes that Christ came in water and bloud i. with water and bloud though there our English Translation render it by water and bloud to suite the particle by going immediately before 1 John 5.6 But the Author shuns to say That the Legall high Priest was wont to enter the holy place with bloud though this were the proper saying left the fitnesse of the comparison betweene Christ and the Legall Priest should in this respect be lost whereof see what we have said before ver 12. Of others The bloud wherewith the Legall Priest entered into the holy place was not his owne but the bloud of other creatures for he entered with the bloud of Goats and Calves as it is before ver 12. 26. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world He proves why Christ must not offer himselfe often by an argument from an absurdity that would follow upon it if he did so because then he must often have suffered seeing the oblation of a living creature cannot be made without slaughter and suffering and he must have suffered also from the foundation of the world But why from
were yet time enough for Christ to iterate his offerings and by a just proportion equall the number of the legall offerings although hee began not to suffer and offer himselfe from the foundation of the world For because hee suffered and offered himselfe in the end of the world hence it appeares that there is not time enough yet to come to serve for the multitude of his sufferings and offerings But the time wherein Christ came is therefore called the end of the world because it is the last age of the world and as it were the old age of it and because the other comming of Christ which is joyned with the consummation and end of the world is alwayes supposed to be at hand which could in no wise be if the offering of Christ were to be iterated answerably to the just number and proportion of the old Legall offerings But the holy Ghost would have us perpetually wait for the expectation of Christs comming For that his comming and together with it the end of the world is yet deferred and that so many ages have passed since his first comming into the world seating upon his heavenly throne this in a manner is accidentall by reason of the long suffering of God who is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3.9 To put away sin by the sacrifice of himselfe He shews the finall cause of the comming and appearance of Christ which is for the putting away of sin which is done when all the force and power of sin is destroyed Which destruction of sin is effected two wayes the one is when sin hath no power to condemne men the other when it hath no power to subdue men by enthralling them under the yoke of it That both these effects might be produced Christ hath appeared both that he might deliver men from the punishment of sinne and also from the dominion of it even freeing them from sin it selfe Now the meanes whereby Christ hath put away sinne in destroying the power of it is by the sacrifice of himselfe For this act may be joyned as well with the word suffered as with appeared as other Interpreters also have observed How the sacrifice of Christ purgeth away our sins For Christ by the sacrifice of himselfe hath cashired and put away sinne by taking from it all it power to condemne and to reigne which though we have declared before yet are we willing to repeat it againe because the matter is of such moment that if it may be we might drive and fasten it throughly into mens mindes For as concerning the guilt and punishments of sinnes can there bee any sinnes so that we doe our duty which a sacrifice so acceptable to God offered in the Sanctuary of heaven and by so great an high Priest cannot expiate Can there be any danger that he will deale negligently in our cause who offered up himselfe as a sacrifice for our sinnes and who having himselfe suffered all those miseries and pressures that can possibly befall us hath assumed a minde so prone to pity us Hath not yet the wished effect been answerable to so holy a sacrifice and to so carefull a provision of our high Priest Is not the power of our salvation in the power of our high Priest and in his hand to release whom he will of sinne and to bestow eternall life and whatsoever good thing besides upon whom he will Doth he not negotiate the matter with his most deare Father who himselfe burnes with a desire of our salvation who himselfe hath made a sacred Covenant for the remission of our sinnes who himselfe ordained the holy Sacrifice for our sinnes who himselfe would have it offered unto him and caused it to be offered who himselfe ordained our high Priest with an oath and committed unto him the whole care of our salvation Now concerning the dominion of sinne for the excussion of the yoke of it can it possibly be that when we perceive so great and so certaine causes and proofes of our eternall salvation and of plenary remission of our sinnes that we should not with all our souls embrace the faith of Christ and devote our selves wholly to him when by this means through the grace and mercy of our God wee are effectually purged and justified from the guilt of all our sins shall we not contend with our whole force to abandon sin for ever after wholy addict our selves to holines shall we not labour to the utmost to preserve this great grace of God entire and whole to our last gaspe that at length we may enjoy the full fruit of it in our deliverance from death and inheritance of eternall life And shall it not mightily incourage us to shake off the yoke of sin in that our heavenly high Priest will perpetually support us with his Spirit supply us with power enough to live holily if we will live so and will strive to do it This therefore is the manner after which Christ by the Sacrifice of himself hath put away sin that neither it might hurt us nor reign in us The Sacrifice of Christ is Christ himself sacrificed being first slain then raised to immortall life that he might enter his heavenly Tabernacle and therein offer himself and appear for us for ever The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here rendred a Sacrifice though it come from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to slay yet it useth not to be taken in Scripture abstractedly for the slaughter but concretly for the creature slaughtered or rather for that part of it which is offered to God But if any man keeping the same sense will joyn these words by the sacrifice of himself with the verb appeared then the particle by must be taken for with and in that sense as we have noted before that John saith Christ came by water and bloud i. with water and bloud not that at his first comming into the world hee shed his bloud but because he therefore came that he might shed his bloud though not forthwith So Christ may be said to appeare with the sacrifice of himselfe not that as soon as he appeared he was made a sacrifice but that he so appeared that in his due time he might be made a sacrifice But we best approve of that sense which joynes these words by the sacrifice of himselfe with the words immediatly preceding to put away sinne For the finall end of the appearance or comming of Christ was to put away sin and the meanes whereby he abolished it was by the sacrifice of himselfe Seeing therefore Christ came in the end of the world that he might abolish sinne by the sacrifice of himselfe therefore hence it appears that he must not often iterate his sacrifice after the manner of the legall high Priest for otherwise he must have begunne this action more early and not have deferred it to the last age of the world 27. And as it
yearly can never make the commers thereunto perfect for therefore it is that those offerings are iterated yeare by yeare This reason he doth by the way confirm by another reason because the law hath only a shadow of future blessings and not the very image of them Therefore the causal particle for hath not reference to what was said immediatly before but must in this place be referred to his principall doctrine though more remote which was That the legall high Priest offered year by year but Christ once only A shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things Those good things to come may be understood more largely or strictly First largely to comprehend both eternall happinesse it selfe promised or bequeathed us in the new Testament also all the helps and meanes for the acquiring of it affoorded us under the same Testament and pourtrayed in the legall shadowes such as are Christ himselfe our high Priest his Bloud his Offering his Sanctuarie and such like for these were future and to come in respect of the Law Or they may be taken strictly onely for the happinesse promised us Neither of these sences are disagreeing to the text yet the latter is more probable by reason of those words in the former chapter verse 11. wherein Christ is said to be a high Priest of good things to come and so the Priest and his Priesthood are manifestly distinguished and if ye marke it well so is his Sanctuarie and his Sacrifice But seeing there is no open mention of these good things to come but only in that text and this which we have now in hand that in both the same thing is handled it is most agreeable to reason that the good things to come in this place should be taken strictly for the happinesse onely promised us in the new testament which comprehends our perpetual deliverance from all punishments of all our sins our eternal inheritance of eternall life For by the admitting of this sense wee shall the more easily interpret the words following concerning the very image of the things For this condition seemes plainely taken from the Law and attributed to the Gospel Of those things which are not so much the parts of our happinesse as the means and adjuncts of it the Gospel doth not exhibit unto us the image but the substances themselves but of those promises it proposeth to us in this life rather the image then the substance although our deliverance from the punishments of our sinnes doe in some measure begin in this life But it exhibits unto us the very image of them in as much as it describes and promiseth them most openly to us so that are may seem in a manner to see them before our eyes But the Law had only a shadow of those good things from whence we could but conjecture very darkly and imperfectly what and what manner of things they were To that shadow contained in the Law were proportionably answering both the sacrifices by meanes whereof those good things were attained and also the high Priest the Sanctuary and such like But now seeing a clear and perfect image of those celestiall goods is proposed unto us and promised us in plaine and open tearmes therefore there are required other sacrifices which have an apparent and manifest vertue and efficacie to procure those goods unto us which can beget in our soules a most assured hope of them and can draw us to a course of life sutable to them Can never by those sacrifices which they offered yeare by yeare continually The words yeare by yeare doe not seem to cohere with offered for then there is a great and hard transposition of the words but agree rather with those sacrifices for so the sense is facile and usuall as if hee had said the same sacrifices recurring yeare by yeare whereby he would intimate that under the Law the same sacrifices were offered yet not every day and moneth but every yeare and every yeare sacrifices were offered yet not diverse but the same the same kinde yeare by yeare The space of time whereby those sacrifices were distant one from another was a yeare and when the yeare came about the sacrifice was of the same kinde Which they offered The persons who did make the offering were the high Priests to whom the Law enjoyned it But here the words are put in a passive sense to signifie the sacrifices which were offered For ordinary it is that an active forme of speech doth carry a passive sense So Luke 12.20 The words are active This night shall they require thy soule But the sense is passive this night thy soule shall be required Continually In this there is more signified then in the words yeare by yeare for it intimates that the course of yeares wherein yeare by yeare the same sacrifices were iterated was not interrupted nor intermitted but constantly continued and the continuance of this custome was not short for the space of some few yeares successively but a long continuance for many ages Can never make the commers thereunto perfect Although the same sacrifices were yeare by yeare iterated without intermission for a long continuance yet the Law by means of those sacrifices could never perfect the Commers thereto The Commers were all such amongst Gods people as came to worship God and serve him by means of those sacrifices and therefore in the verse following the same persons in the same respect are called the worshippers For in the peoples accesse or comming to the Tabernacle is also included that divine worship and service which there they performed Seeing their Accesse and Comming thither was but for worship and service and seeing again that worship and service might bee done no where else but by comming there for the Law forbad the people to offer sacrifice in any other place but the Sanctuary To perfect signifies to expiate or purge from sinne and to expiate so fully and finally that the party once expiate shall want nothing else shall need no other oblation of any other sacrifice nor no iteration of the same and consequently shall feele no further conscience of his sins 2. For then would they not have ceased to be offered This sentence should not be rendred negatively then they would not have ceased for this negation is quite contrary to the sense and reasoning of the Author But affirmatively thus for then would they have ceased to be offered For because the same sacrifices were yeare by yeare offered continually therefore from thence he proves that they could not perfect the worshippers or commers to the sacrifices and this their imperfection he further confirmes ab absurdo for if the same sacrifices could have perfected the commers thereto they would have ceased from being iterated and offered againe yeare by yeare continually For what need the same sacrifices be iterated yeare by yeare if they could perfect the commers to them by expiating their sinnes fully and finally for if the