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
be the rule of the Political Government of the People wherein many sins such as Adultery and Murder were to be punished with Death and the sinner cut off there was in such cases no Sacrifices appointed nor admitted but in the Sacrifice of Christ there is no exception made unto any sin in those that repent believe and forsake their sins not unto those in particular which were excepted in the Lâ—w of Moses Acts 13.39 So that as the Sin-offering was provided for all sin that disannulled not the Covenant made at Horeb which allowed no life or interest unto Murderers Adulterers Blasphemers and the like in the Typical Land so the Sacrifice of Christ is extended unto all sinners who transgress not the terms and tenor of the New Covenant for whom no place is allowed either in the Church here or Heaven hereafter § 38 Of the Matter of this Offering see Levit. 4.2 which because it differed very little from the Matter of the Burnt-offering I shall not particularly insist upon it As to the Persons that were to offer it there is a general distribution of them in the Text comprehensive of all sorts of Persons whatever For it is applyed to 1. The Priest 2. The whole Congregation jointly 3. The Ruler 4. Any of the People of the Land so that none were excluded from the Priviledge and Benefit of this Sacrifice The first Person mentioned is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Anointed Priest Chap. 4.3 that is say the Jews generally and our Expositors also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the High Priest Aaron and his Sons that ministred in his room in their succession For those only say they were anointed But this seems not to be so For if the High Priest alone be intended there is no provision made for any other Priest to have an interest in this Sin-offering For the Priests are not comprized in any other member of the distribution before mentioned particularly not in that wherein with any colour they might be looked after namely the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 27. The people of the Land that is the common people from whom the Priests were alwayes distinguished Any Priest therefore is intended and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anointed is no more but dedicated separated unto the Office of the Priesthood or it respects that Original anointing which they had all in their fore-fathers the Sons of Aaron when they were first set apart to God Exod. 24. § 39 The case of the Priest wherein this Sacrifice was allowed him is expressed in the same place with words somewhat ambiguous if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if he sin according to the sin of the people so we Castalio renders the passage si Sacerdos inunctus deliquerit in noxiam populi if the Anointed Priest so sin as to bring guilt upon or dammage unto the people As Achan did and David also Vulg. Lat. delinquere faciens populum causing the people to sin which is another sense of the words And this sense the Jews generally embrace For they apply this sinning of the Annointed Priest unto his teaching the people amiss causing them to err thereby so Aben Ezra and others on the place who are followed by many of ours But if this be so the Priest was not allowed the benefit of this Sacrifice of the Sin-offering for any sin of his own but only when he caused the people to sin also which would render his condition worse than theirs and is contrary unto that of our Apostle that the Priest was to offer for his own sins and then for the sins of the people I would there in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and render it with our Translators according to when he sinned as another man of the people their Place and Office not freeing them from the common sins of other men And so our Apostle seems to expound this place Heb. 5.2 3. The Priests of the Law were compassed with infirmities and by reason thereof had need to offer Sin-offerings for their own sin as well as for the sins of the people seeing he also sinned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the sin of the people But it is otherwise now saith he with the people of God Chap. 7. v. 26 27. Our High Priest being holy harmless undefiled and separate from sinners that is not sinning according to the sins of the people as the Priests did of old § 40 Secondly The whole Congregation jointly had an interest in this Sacrifice when any such sin was committed as might reflect guilt upon it v. 13. For the observation of the Law being committed in an especial manner unto the whole Congregation there were many Transgressions in the guilt whereof the whole Body of it might be involved Thirdly The Ruler or Rulers had this priviledge also v. 22. with respect as appears by this peculiar institution unto his miscarriages in his Office God graciously providing a relief against the sins of men in their several conditions that they might not through a consciousness of their infirmities be deterred from engaging in any necessary employment among the people when called thereunto Fourthly Any one of the common people had the same liberty and were obliged unto the same duty v. 27. And this Distribution of the people as to their interest in this Sin-offering comprizing them all even all that belonged unto the Congregation of Israel of all sorts and ranks had its accomplishment in the Sacrifice of Christ from which none is excluded that come to God by him for he will in no wise cast them out For the Time and Season of this Sacrifice it may briefly observed that there were § 41 solemn and set Occasions some Monethly some Annual wherein it was to be offered for the whole Congregation by especial Command and Institution As 1. On every New Moon 2. On the fifteenth day of the first Moneth and seven dayes together dureing the Feast of unleavened bread 3. At the Feast of First Fruits 4. At the Feast of Trumpets 5. On the Day of Expiation 6. On the fifteenth day of the seventh Moneth and for eight dayes together during the Feast of Tabernacles And the frequent Repetition of this Sacrifice was to intimate that nothing was accepted with God but on the account of what was prefigured thereby namely that Perfect Sacrifice which took away the sin of the world There were also especial Occasions of it with reference unto the persons before enumerated which have been collected by others The Principal Ceremony in the Manner of its Oblation was the disposal of the § 42 Blood For the Blood of this Sacrifice had a triple disposall The main of the Blood was poured out at the bottom of the Altar of Burnt-offerings in the Court before the door of the Tabernacle v. 7. A part of it was taken and carried by the High Priest into the Sanctuary and put upon the horns of the Altar of Incense that was
not the Original Authoritative giving of the Law but the Ministerial ordering of things in its promulgation is that which is ascribed to Angels They raised the fire and smoke they shook and rent the rock they framed the sound of the Trumpet they effected the Articulate Voyces which conveyed the words of the Law to the ears of the people and therein proclaimed and published the Law whereby it became the Word spoken by Angels Grotius on this place contends that it was a created Angel who represented the Person of God on Mount Sinai and in the confirmation of his conjecture after he hath made use of the imagination before rejected he adds that if the Law had been given out by God in his own person as he speaks then upon that account it would have been preferred above the Gospel But as the Apostle grants in the first words of his Epistle that the Law no less than the Gospel was primitively and originally from God so we say not that God gave the Law immediately without the Ministry of Angels And the Comparison which the Apostle is pursuing respects not the first Author of Law or Gospel but the principal Ministerial Publishers of them which of the one was Angels of the other the Son himself And in these words lyes the spring of the Apostles Argument as is manifest in those Interrogatory Particles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for if for if the Law that was published unto our Fathers by Angels was so vindicated against the disobedient how much more shall the neglect of the Gospel be revenged Secondly He affirms concerning this word thus published that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 firm or stedfast That is it became an assured Covenant between God and the people That Peace which is firm and well grounded is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a firm unalterable Peace And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Publick Security The Law 's becoming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then firm sure stedfast consists in its being ratified to be the Covenant between God and that people as to their Typical Inheritance Deut. 5.2 The Lord our God made a Covenant with us in Horeb. And therefore in the greater transgressions of the Law the people were said to forsake to break to prophane to transgress the Covenant of God Levit. 26.15 Deut. 3.20 Chap. 17.2 Hos. 6.7 Josh. 7.11 2 Kings 18.12 1 Kings 19.14 Jerem. 22.9 Mal. 2.10 And the Law thus published by Angels became a stedfast Covenant between God and the people by their mutual stipulation thereon Exod. 20.19 Josh. 24.22 24. Being thus firm and ratified Obedience unto it became necessary and reasonable for hence Thirdly The Event of Disobedience unto this word is expressed every Transgression and every stubborn disobedience received a meet retribution Sundry things must be a little enquired into for the right Understanding of these words As 1. The difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the first is properly any Transgression which the Hebrews call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the latter includes a refusal so to attend as to obey Contumacy stubborness rebellion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so the latter word may be exegetical of the former such Transgressions the Apostle speaks of as were accompanied with Contumacy and stubborness or they may both intend the same things under divers respects 2. How may this be extended to every sin and Transgression seeing it is certain that some sins under the Law were not punished but expiated by Attonements Answ. 1. Every sin was contrary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Doctrine of the Law its commands and precepts 2. Punishment was assigned unto every sin though not executed on every sinner And so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denotes not the actual Infliction of Punishment but the Constitution of it in the sanction of the Law 3. Sacrifices for Attonement manifested punishments to have been due though the sinner was relieved against them But 4. The sins especially intended by the Apostle were such as were directly against the Law as it was a Covenant between God and the people for which there was no Provision made of any Attonement or Compensation but the Covenant being broken by them the sinners were to dye without mercy and to be exterminated by the hand of God or man And therefore the sins against the Gospel which are opposed unto those are not any Trangressions that Professors may be guilty of but final Apostacy or Vnbelief which render the Doctrine of it altogether unprofitable unto men Thirdly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Recompence just and equal proportionable unto the crime according to the Judgement of God That which answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Judgement of God which is that they which commit sin are worthy of death Rom. 1.32 And there were two things in the sentence of the Law against Trangressors 1. The Temporal punishment of cutting off from the Land of the living which respected that dispensation of the Law which the Israelites were subjected unto And the several sorts of punishment that were among the Jews under the Law have been declared in our Prolegomena to discover the nature whereof let the Reader consult the twenty first Exercitation And 2. Eternal Punishment which was figured thereby due unto all Transgressors of the Law as it is a Rule of Obedience unto God from all mankind Jews and Gentiles Now it is the first of these which the Apostle directly and primarily intendeth because he is comparing the Law in the Dispensation of it on Horeb unto the Jews with all its Sanctions unto the present Dispensation of the Gospel and from the Penalties wherewith the breach of it as such among that people was then attended argues unto the sorer punishment that must needs ensue upon the neglect of the dispensation of the Gospel as he expounds himself Chap. 10.28 29. For otherwise the penaltie assigned unto the Transgression of the Moral Law as a Rule is the very same in the nature and kind of it with that which belongs unto despisers of the Gospel even death eternal 4. Chrysostom observes some impropriety in the use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it rather denotes a Reward for a good work than a punishment for an evil one But the word is indifferent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and notes only a Recompence suitable unto that whereunto it is applyed So is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by our Apostle Rom. 1.27 excellently expressed by Solomon Prov. 1.31 Sinners shall eat of the fruit of their own wayes and be filled with their own devises Such Rewards we have recorded Numb 15.30 1 Sam. 6.6 1 Kings 13.4 and Chap. 20.36 2 Kings 2.23 24. 2 Chron. 30.20 This the Apostle layes down as a thing well known unto the Hebrews namely that the Law which was delivered unto them by Angels received such a Sanction from God after it was established as
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
A person offended to be pacified attoned reconciled 3. A person offending to be pardoned accepted 4. A Sacâ—iâ—ice or other means of making the attonement sometimes one is expressed sometimes another but the use of the word hath respect unto them all And in vain doth Crellius pretend ad Grot. ad cap. 7. p. 360. that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the same and denote the same thing the former always denoting the person offended the latter the person offending or the offence it self the one is to attone or appease another the other to make attonement for another which surely are sufficiently different 3. The Jews to whom Paul wrote knew that the principal work of the High Priest was to make attonement with God for sin whereof their Expiations and freedom from it was a consequent and therefore they understood this act and duty accordingly it bâ—ing the usual expression of it that the Apostle applies unto it They knew that the great work of their High Priest was to make attonement for them for their sins and transgressions that they might not die that the punishment threatned in the Law might not come upon them as Levit. 16.10 and 21. is fully declared And the Apostle now instructs them in the substance of what they had before attended unto in types and shadows Nor is there any mention in the Scripture of the expiation of sins but by attonement nor doth this word ever in any place signifie the real cleansing of sin inherent from the sinner so that the latter sense proposed hath no consistency with it The difficulty pretended from the construction is not of any moment The sense and constant use of the word being what we have evinced there must be an Ellipsis supposed and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same in sense with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make reconciliation with God for sins as the same phrase is in other places explained Sixthly There is a farther double enforcement of the necessity of what was before affirmed concerning his being made like unto his brethren in all things with reference unto his Priesthood and the first is taken from what he did or suffered in that condition the other from the benefits and advantages which ensued thereon The first in those words For that he himself hath suffered being tempted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for in that that is say some in the same nature he suffered in the flesh that he took being tempted But the words seem rather only an illation of what the Apostle concludes or infers from that which he had before laid down 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereas in as much seeing that so both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are often used Rom. 6.12 Now it is here affirmed of Christ that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he suffered being tempted not it hapned unto him to be tempted which we before rejected The Vulgar Latin and Expositors following that Translation He suffered and was tempted But the and inserted we have shewed to be superfluous and it is acknowledged to be so by Erasmus Estius A Lapide though Tena with some others contend for the retaining of it It is not the suffering of Christ in general that is here intended nor is the end mentioned of it that of his suffering in general which was to make reconciliation but the succouring and relieving of them that are tempted which regards the sufferings that befell him in his temptations It is not his sufferings absolutely considered nor his being tempted that is peculiarly designed but his suffering in his temptation as was before observed To know then what were these sufferings we must enquire what were his temptations and how he was affected with them To tempt and temptations are things in themselves of an indifferent nature and have no moral evil in them absolutely considered What ever attends them of that kind proceeds either from the intention of the tempter or the condition of them that are tempted Hence God is said to tempt men but not to induce them unto sin Gen. 22.1 James 1.13 What of evil ensues on temptation is from the tempted themselves Moreover though temptation seems to be of an active importance yet in it self it is meerly for the most part neutral Hence it compriseth any thing state or condition whereby a man may be tried exercised or tempted And this will give us light into the various temptations under which the Lord Christ suffered For although they were all external and by impressions from without yet they were not confined unto the assaults of Sathan which are principally regarded under that name Some of the heads of them we may briefly recount 1. His state and condition in the world He was poor despised persecuted reproached especially from the beginning unto the end of his publick ministery Herein lay one continued temptation that is a trial of his obedience by all manner of hardships Hence he calls this whole time the time of his temptations You have abode with me in my temptations or in the work that he carried on in a constant course of temptation arising from his outward state and condition See James 1.2 1 Pet. 5.9 In this temptation he suffered Hunger Poverty Weariness Sorrow Reproach Shame Contempt wherewith his holy Soul was deeply affected And he underwent it cheerfully because it was to be the condition of them whose preservation and salvation as their High Priest he had undertaken as we shall see And his experience hereof is the spring of their comfort and safety 2. Whilst he was in this state and condition innumerable particular temptations befell him under all which he suffered 1. Temptations from his Relations in the flesh being disregarded and disbelieved by them which deeply affected his compassionate heart with sorrow 2. From his Followers being forsaken by them upon his preaching the Mysteries of the Gospel 3. From his chosen Disciples all of whom left him one denyed him and one betrayed him 4. From the anguish of his Mother when a sword pierced through her soul in his sufferings 5. From his enemies of all sorts All which are at large related in the Gospel from all which his sufferings were inexpressible 3. Satan had a principal hand in the temptations wherein he suffered He set upon him in the entrance of his Ministery immediately in his own Person and followed him in the whole course of it by the instruments that he set on work He had also a season an hour of darkness allowed unto him when he was to try his utmost strength and policy against him under which assault from him he suffered as was fore-told from the foundation of the world the bruising of his heel or the temporal ruine of all his concernments 4. Gods desertion of him was another temptation under which he suffered As this was most mysterious so his sufferings under it were his greatest perplexity Psal. 22.1 2. Heb. 5.7 These
seven Treatises containing seventy one Chapters The fourth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nezikim about loss and dammage and is divided into eight Massicktot whereof the first is divided into three parts called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first middle and last port or entrance containing in them thirty Chapters whereunto forty four are added in the following parts The fifth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kodoshim of Sanctifications and is divided into eleven Books containing ninety Chapters The sixth with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Teharoth of Purifications in twelve Books and one hundred twenty six Chapters Unto this Mishnae of R. Juda they annex the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Tosiphot or additions of § 10 Rabbi Chaiah his Scholar expounding many passages in his Masters works to them a more full explanation of the same doctrine of the Mishnae which they call Baracetot is subjoyned being the Collection of some Antitalmudicall Masters About three hundred years after the Destruction of the Temple R. Johanan composed the Hierusalem Talmud consisting in Expositions Comments and Disputes upon the whole Mishnae excepting the last part about Purifications An hundred years or thereabouts after that Rabbi Ase composed the Babylonian Talmud or Gemara thirty two years they say he spent in this work yet leaving it unfinished seventy one years after it was compleated by his Disciples And the whole work of both these Talmuds may be referred unto five heads For first they expound the Text of the Mishnae 2. Decide Questions of right and fact 3. Report the Disputations Traditions and Constitutions of the Doctors that lived between them and the Writing of the Mishnae 4. Give Allegorical monstrous Expositions of the Scripture which they call Midrashoth and 5. Report Stories of the like nature § 11 This at length is their Orall Law grown into and in the learning and practising of these things consists the whole Religion and Worship of the Jews there being not the most absurd saying of any of their Doctors in those huge heaps of folly and vanity that they do not equall unto nay that they are not ready to preferr before the Written Word that perfect and only Guide of their Church whilest God was pleased with it In the dust of this confusion here they dwell loving this darkness more than light because their deeds are evil Having for many generations entertained a prejudicate imagination that these traditional Figments amongst which their crafty Masters have inserted many filthy and blasphemous Fables against our Lord Christ and his Gospel are of Divine Authority and having utterly lost the spiritual sense of the written Word they are by it sealed up in blindness and obdurateness and shall be so untill the vail be taken away when the appointed time of their deliverance shall come A brief discovery of the falseness of this fancy of their Orall Law which is the foundation of all that huge building of Lyes and Vanities that their Talmuds are composed of shall put an end to this Discourse § 12 1. The very Story of the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai sufficiently discovers the folly of this imagination This Orall Law the Jews are ready on all occasions to prefer before that which is written and do openly profess that without it the other is of no use unto them I desire then to know whence it is that all the circumstances of the giving and teaching of the less necessary are so exactly recorded but not one word is spoken of this Orall Law either of Gods revealing of it to Moses or of Moses teaching of it to Joshua or any others Strange that so much should be recorded of every circumstance of the less principal lifeless Law and not one word of either substance or circumstance of that which is if these men may be believed the very life and soul of the other Maimonides in Jad Chazaka tells us there is mention made of it in Exod. 24.12 I will give ye saith the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Law and Commandment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he is the Written Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Orall when the next words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I have written that thou mayest teach them the Written Law being on several accounts expressed by both those terms and no other How know they that any such Law was given to Moses as they pretend What Testimony Witness or Record of it was had or made at the time of its giving or in many generations for two thousand years afterwards § 13 2. Did their Fore-fathers at any time before the Captivity transgress this Orall Law or did they not If they say they did not but kept it and observed it diligently we may easily see of what importance it is that the most strict Obsâ—evation of it would not preserve them from all manner of wickedness and what an hedge it is to the Written Law when notwithstanding the obedience yielded unto it that was utterly despised and neglected if they shall say that Law also was broken by them I desire to know whence it comes to pass that whereas God by his Prophets doth reprove them for all their other sins and in particular for contempt of his Written Law the Statutes Ordinances and Institutions of it he no where once mentioneth this their greater guilt of despising the Orall Law but there is as universall a silence concerning its transgression as there is of its giving and institution Can we have any greater evidence of its being fictitious than this that whereas it is pretended that it is the main Rule of their Obedience to God God did never reprove them for the transgression of it though whilest he owned them as his Church and People he suffered none of their sins to pass by unreproved especially not any of that importance which this is by them pretended to be of 3. Moses was commanded to write the whole Law that he received from God and did so accordingly Exod. 24.3 4. Chap. 34.28 Deut. 31.9 24. Where was this Orall Law which they say was not to be written when Moses was commanded to write the whole Law that he had received of God and did accordingly This New Law was not then coyned being indeed nothing but the product of their Apostacy from the Law which was written 4. The sole ground and foundation of this Orall Law lyes in the imperfection of the Written Law This is that which they plead for the necessity of it The written Law extends not to all necessary cases that occurr in Religion many things are redundant many wanting in it and hereof they gather great heaps of Instances so that they will grant that if the Written Law had been perfect there had been no need of this Traditional one But whom in this matter shall we believe a few ignorant Jews or God himself bearing witness that his
themselves without Certainty or Consistency we are clearly acquainted withall by Divine Revelation The summ of it is briefly proposed by the Apostle Rom. 5. v. 12. By one man sin entered into the World and Death by Sin Sin and Death are comprehensive of all that is Evil in any kind in the world All that is morally so is sin all that is poenally so is Death The entrance of both into the World was by the sin of one man that is Adam the common Father of us all This the Philosophers knew not and therefore knew nothing clearly of the Condition of Mankind in relation unto God But two things doth the Scripture teach us concerning this entrance of Evil into the world First The Punishment that was threatned unto and inflicted on the disobedience of Adam Whatever there is of Disorder Darkness or Confusion in the nature of things here below whatever is uncertain irregular horrid unequal destructive in the Vniverse what ever is poenal unto man or may be so in this Life or unto Eternity what ever the Wrath of the Holy Righteous God revealing its self from Heaven hath brought or shall ever bring on the Works of his hands are to be referred unto this head Other Original of them can no man assign Secondly The moral corruption of the Nature of man the Spring of all sin the other head of Evil proceeded Hence also For by this means that which before was good and upright is become an inexhaustible Treasure of Sin And this was the state of things in the World immediately upon the Fall and Sin of Adam Now the work which we assign unto the Messiah is the Deliverance of Mankind from this State and condition Upon the Supposition and Revelation of this Entranâ—e of Sin and the Evil that ensued thereon is the whole Doctrine of his Office founded as shall afterwards more largely be declared And because we contend against the Jews that he waâ— promised and exhibited for a Relief in the Wisdom Grace and Righteousness of God against this sin and misery of mankind as our Apostle also expresly proveth Chap. 2. of his Epistle unto them this being denyed by them as that which would overthrow all their fond imaginations about his Person and Office we must consider what is their Sense and Apprehension about these things with what may be thence educed for their own Conviction and then confirm the Truth of our Assertion from those Testimonies of Scripture which themselves own and receive The first effect and consequent of the sin of Adam was the punishment wherewith it § 6 was attended What is written hereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Scripture the Jews neither can nor do deny Death was in the commination given to deter him from his Transgression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 2.17 Dying thou shalt dye Neither can it be reasonably pretended to be singly Death unto his own Person which is intended in that expression The Event sufficiently evinceth the contrary What ever is or might be Evil unto himself and his whole Posterity with the residue of the Creation so far as he or they might be any way concerned therein hath grown out of this commination And this is sufficiently manifested in the first Execution of it Gen. 3.16 17 18 19. The Malediction was but the Execution of the Commination It was not consistent with the Justice of God to increase the Penalty after the sin was committed The threatning therefore was the Rule and measure of the Curse But this is here extended by God himself not only to all the miseries of Man Adam and his whole Posterity in this Life in labour disappointment sweat and sorrow with Death under and by vertue of the Curse but to the whole Earth also and consequently unto those superiour Regions and Orbs of Heaven by whose influence the Earth is as it were governed and disposed unto the Use of Man Hos. 2. v. 21 22. It may be yet farther enquired what was to be the duration and continuance of the Punishment to be inflicted in the pursuit of this Commination and Malediction Now there is not any thing in the least to intimate that it should have a term prefixed unto it wherein it should expire or that it should not be commensurate unto the existence or being of the sinner God layes the Curse on man and there he leaves him and that for ever A miserable life he was to spend and then to dye under the Curse of God without hopes of emerging into a better condition About his subsistence after this Life we have no controversie with the Jews They all acknowledge the immortality of the Soul for the Sect of the Sadducees is long since extinct neither are they followed by the Karaeans in their Atheistical Opinions as hath been declared Some of them indeed encline unto the Pythagorean Metempsuchosis but all acknowledge the Souls Perpetuity Supposing then Adam to dye poenally under the Curse of God as without extraordinary Relief he must have done the Righteousness and Truth of God being engaged for the Execution of the Threatning against him I desire to know what should have been the State and condition of his Soul Doth either Revelation or Reason intimate that he should not have continued for ever under the same Penalty and Curse in a state of Death or Separation from God And if he should have done so then was Death eternal in the Commination This is that which with respect unto the present effects in this life and the punishment due to sin is termed by our Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thess. 1. v. 10. the Wrath to come from whence the Messiah is the Deliverer Nor will the Jews themselves contend that the guilt of any sin respects only temporal punishment The Event of Sin unto themselves they take to be that only imagining their Observation of the Law of Moses such as it is to be a sufficient Expiation of Punishment eternal But unto all strangers from the Law all that have not a Relief provided they make every sin mortal and Adam as I suppose had not the Priviledge of the Present Jews to observe Moses Law Wherefore they all agree that by his Repentance he delivered himself from Death eternal which if it were not due unto his Sin he could not do for no man can by any means escape that whereof he is in no danger And this Repentance of his they affirm to have been attended with severe Discipline and self maceration intimating the greatness of his sin and the difficulty of his escape from the punishment due thereunto So Rabbi Eliezer in Pirke Aboth cap. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 On the first day of the Week Adam entred into the Waters of the upper Gihon until the Waters came unto his neck and he afflicted himself seven Weeks untill his Body became like a Sieve And Adam said before the Holy Blessed God Lord of the whole World let my sins I pray thee be
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
given out with the Law various Promises of intervenient and mixed mercies to be enjoyed in earthly things in this world that had their immediate respect unto the mercy of the Land of Canaan representing spiritual Grace annexed to the then present Administration of the Covenant of Grace Some of these concerned the collation of good things others the preventing of or delivery of them from Evils both expressed in great variety § 8 Of the Promises whose accomplishment depended on the Institution of God by others that is the principal and comprehensive of the rest which is expressed Exod. 20.12 Honour thy father and thy mother that thy days may be prolonâ—ed This saith our Apostle is the first commandment with promise Ephes. 6.2 Not that the fore-going Precepts have no Promises annexed to the observation of them nor meerly because this hath a Promise literally expressed but that it had the special kind of Promise wherein Parents by Gods institution have power to prolong the lives of obedient Children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They shall prolong thy days that is negatively in not cutting of their life for disobedience which was then in the power of natural Parents and possibly by praying for their prosperity blessing them in the name of God and directing them into the ways and means of universal obedience whereby their days might be multiplied and on sundry other accounts § 9 For the penalties annexed unto the transgression of the Law which our Apostle principally hath respect unto in his discourses on this subject they will require somewhat a larger consideration and they were of two sorts First such as God took upon himself to inflict and secondly such as he appointed others to see unto the execution of The first are of three sorts First That Eternal punishment which he threatned unto them that transgressed and disannull'd his Covenant as renewed and ordered in the Administration of the Law and the Ordinances thereof This we have manifested elsewhere to be the importance of the Curse which every such transgressor was obnoxious unto Secondly The punishment which the Jews express by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Excision or cutting off It is first mentioned Gen. 17.14 in the matter of Circumcision Sometimes emphatically Numb 15.31 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cutting off that soul shall be cut off from among his people and frequently afterwards Exod. 12.15 19. chap. 31.14 Levit. 7.10 chap. 20.3 5 6. It is rendred by the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 3.23 shall be destroyed from among the people that is by the hand of God as is declared 1 Cor. 10.10 Heb. 11.28 Twenty five times is this punishment threatned in the Law still unto such sins as disannul the Covenant which our Apostle expresly respects chap. 2.2 as shall be declared on that place Now this punishment the Jews generally agree to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the hand of § 10 Heaven or that which God himself would immediately inflict and it is evidently declared so to be in the interpretation given of it Levit. 17.10 chap. 20.4 5 6. But what this punishment was or wherein it did consist neither Jews nor Christians are absolutely agreed the latter on this subject doing little more then representing the opinions and judgments of the other which course also we may follow Some of them say that Vntimely Death is meant by it so Abarbinel on Numb 5.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is the cutting off the days of the sinner and his death before the natural term of it inflicted by the hand of Heaven This untimely death they reckon to be between the years of twenty and sixty whence Schindler 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exterminium cum quis praematurâ morte inter vigessimum sexagessimum annum à Deo è medio tollitur ita tamen ut relinquat liberos Cutting off is when any one is taken away by untimely death between the twintieth and sixtieth year of his age yet so as that he leave children That clause or condition so that yet he leave posterity or children behind him is as far as I can find no where added by them nor doth any thing in the Scripture give countenance thereunto Yea many of the Hebrews think that this punishment consisted in this that such a one should leave no children behind him but that either he should be wholly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without children or if he had any before his sin they should all die before him and so his name and posterity be cut off which say they is to be cut off from among his people So Aben-Ezra on Gen. 17.14 And this opinion is not without its countenance from the Scripture it self And therefore Jarchi on the same place with much probability puts both these together He shall be cut off by untimely death and leave no children behind him to continue his name or remembrance amongst the people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they speak He that hath no children is accounted as dead but he that hath is as if he lived and his name is not cut off They have a third opinion also that by this cutting off the death of the soul is intended § 11 especially when the word is ingemminated Cutting off he shall be cut off as Numb 15.31 So Maimonides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that soul shall perish it shall not live or subsist any more for ever Few embrace this opinion as being contrary to their general perswasion of Eternal punishments for the transgressions of the Covenant Wherefore it is disputed against by Abarbinel on Numb 15. who contends that the death of the soul in everlasting separation from God is intended in this threatning And both the principal parts of these various opinions namely that of immature corporal death and eternal punishment ate joyned together by Jonathan in his Targum on Numb 15.31 He shall be cut off in this world and that man shall be cut off in the world to come and bear his sin in the day of Judgment For my part as I have shewed that eternal death was contained in the curse of the Law so this especial 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or extermination from among the people seems to me to intend some especial judgment of God in taking away the life of such a person answering unto that putting to death by the Judges and Magistrates in such cases when they were known which God did appoint And herein also was an eminent Representation of the everlasting cutting off of obstinate and final transgressors of the Covenant Thirdly In Judgments to be brought providentially upon the whole Nation by Pestilence § 12 Famine Sword and Captivity which are at large declared Levit. 26. and Deut. 28. Fourthly Total Rejection of the whole body of the people in case of unbelief and disobedience upon the full and perfect Revelation that was to be made of the will and mind of God upon the coming of the Messiah Deut. 18.18
Attonement rendered this of Thankfulness acceptable unto God see Heb. 13.15 16. § 34 Secondly The peculiar Parts of the Beast in this Sacrifice that were to be burned on the Altar are enumerated namely the Suet and Fat of the inwards the Kidnies and their fat the fat on the Flanks and the Caul of the Liver or the Midriff Hence it is laid down as a general Rule that all the fat is the Lords v. 16 And it is called a perpetual Statute for all their Generations through all their dwellings that they should eat no fat v. 17. But yet this general Precept had a double limitation First That only that fat which was to be offered was excepted from eating Of the other fat diffused through the rest of the flesh they might eat Secondly It was only the fat of Beasts appointed to be offered in Sacrifice that was forbidden as it is directly exppressed Levit. 7.25 Of the fat of other clean Beasts they might eat And this offering of the Fat seems to denote our serving of God with the best that we have which yet is not acceptable but by vertue of the Blood of Christ as the fat was to be burned in the Burnt-offering or Sacrifice of Attonement § 35 Of the kind of these Shelamim were the Offerings among the Heathen which they sacrificed either upon any great undertaking which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a way of Vow or upon any success So Cyrus Minor Xenophon and Arianus in their Expeditions sacrificed Sacrificia Votiva and the latter sort were in an especial manner provided for in the Pontifical Law as it is reported by Festus Cujus auspicio classe procincta opima spolia capiuntur Jovi feretrito darier oportet bovem caedito qui caepit aeris ducenta Secunda spolia in Martis aram in Campo solitaurilia utra voluerit caedito Tertia spolia Jano Quirino agnum Marem caedito centum qui caeperit ex aere dato The next sort of Sacrifice was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chataath or Sin-offering whose Laws and § 36 Rites are described Levit. 4. This Sacrifice is not expresly called a Corban or a Gift it being wholly a Debt to be paid for Expiation and Attonement but being brought nigh unto God it partook in general of the nature of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corbanim It was of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fireings or Fire-offerings expresly v. 12. because of the burning of the Fat on the Altar and of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or slain Sacrifices And also it was of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or most holy things from its Institution and Signification The name of it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chataath that is sin He shall do to the Bullock as he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Bullock of the Sin that is of the Sin-offering Levit. 4.20 So Ezek. 45.1 The Priest shall take 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the blood of the sin that is the Sin-offering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chata in kal is to sin to offend to err from the way to contract the guilt of sin Hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chataim are men given up unto and wandring in the ways of sin Psal. 1.1 In Pihel it hath a contrary signification namely to purge to expiate to cleanse to make Attonement to undergo penalty to make satisfaction Gen. 31.39 That which was torn saith Jacob to Laban I brought it not to thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 achatennah I answered for it I paid for it I went by the loss of it See Exod. 29.36 Numb 19.19 Levit. 6.26 According to this signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used to denote an Offering for sin that whereby sin is expiated pardon of it is procured Attonement is made So prayes David Psal. 51. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou shalt purge me with Hysop as Numb 19. that is clear me free me as by an Offering for sin And this kind of expression our Apostle retains not only where he reports a Testimony of the Old Testament as Heb. 10. v. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Burnt-offerings and for sin that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sin-offering but also where he makes Application of it unto the Lord Christ and his Sacrifice which was typified thereby Rom. 8.3 God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Offering for sin a Sin-offering as the word should have been translated And 2 Cor. 5.21 Him who knew no sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he made sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sin-offering for us The general cause of this Sacrifice was sin committed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Levit. 4.2 say we § 37 through ignorance So the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Vulgar Latin per ignorantiam through ignorance Some old Copies of the Greek have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not voluntarily not wilfully For it had respect unto all sins as were not committed so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 willingly wilfully presumptuously as that there was no Sacrifice appointed for them the Covenant being disannulled by them Heb. 10.26 And there is no sort of sins no sin whatever that is between this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this sin of ignorance or error and sin committed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an high hand or presumptuously See expresly Numb 15.28 29 30. Hence this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Sin-offering was the great Sacrifice of the solemn Day of Expiation Levit. 16. whereby Attonement was made for all the uncleanness of the children of Israel and because of their transgressions in all their sins v. 16. And upon the head of the live Goat which was a part of the Sin-offering on that day there was confessed and laid all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins v. 27. That is all iniquities not disannulling the Covenant which had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a revenging Recompence allotted unto them Heb. 2.2 And accordingly are those words to be interpreted where the cause of this Sacrifice is expressed Levit. 4.2 If a soul sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Error Ignorance imprudently against any of the commandments of the Lord as it ought not to do and shall do against any of them And an instance is given in him who killed his neighbour without propense malice Deut. 9.4 Any sin is there intended whereinto men fall by Error Ignorance Imprudence Incogitancy Temptation Violence of Affections and the like For such was this Sacrifice instituted And the End which it typically represented is expressed 1 John 2.1 2. If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our sins namely in the room of and as represented by the Sin-offering of old whereby Attonement and Propitiation was typically made for sin Only there was this difference That whereas the Law of Moses was appointed to
Lyranus Cajetan Estlus Ribera A Lapide all desert their own Text and expound the words according to the Original The Antients also as Chrysostom Theophilact and Oecumenius lay the chief weight of their whole Exposition of this place on the words omitted in that Translation The doctrine of purging our sins by Christ is deep and large extending its self unto many weighty heads of the Gospel but we shall follow our Apostle and in this place pass it over briefly and in general because the consideration of it will directly occur unto us in our progress Two things the Apostle here expresseth concerning the Messiah and one which is the foundation of both the other he implyeth or supposeth First He expresseth What he did he purged our sins Secondly How he did it he did it by himself That which he supposeth as the foundation of both these is that he was the Great High Priest of the Church they with whom he dealt knowing full well that this matter of purging sins belonged only unto the Priest Here then the Apostle tacitely enters upon a Comparison of Christ with Aaron the High Priest as he had done before with all the Prophetical Revealers of the Will of God and as he named none of them in particular no more doth he here name Aaron but afterwards when he comes more largely to insist on the same matter again he expresly makes mention of his name as also of that of Moses And in both the things here ascribed unto him as the great High Priest of his Church doth he prefer him above Aaron First In that he purged our sins that is really and effectually before God and in the Conscience of the sinner and that for ever Whereas the Purgation of sins about which Aaron was employed was in its self but typical external and representative of that which was true and real both of which the Apostle proves at large afterwards Secondly In that he did it by himself or the offering of himself whereas what ever Aaron did of this kind he did it by the offering of the blood of Bulls and Goats as shall be declared And hence appears also the vanity of the Gloss of a learned man on these words postquam saith he morte sua causam dedisset ejus fidei per quam à peccatis purgamur quod nec Moses fecerat nec Prophetae For as we shall see that Christs purging of our sins doth not consist in giving a ground and cause for faith whereby we purge our selves so the Apostle is not comparing the Lord Christ in these words with Moses and the Prophets who had nothing to do in the work of purging sin but with Aaron who by Office was designed thereunto Let us then see what it is that is here ascribed unto the Lord Christ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth most frequently denote real actual Purification either of outward defilements by healing and cleansing as Mark 1.40 Chap. 7.19 Luke 5.12 or spiritual defilements of sin by sanctifying Grace as Acts 15.9 2 Cor. 7.1 Ephes. 5.26 But it is also frequently used in the same sense with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to purge by Expiation or Attonement as Heb. 9.22 23. And in the like variety is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also used But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make a Purgation or Purification of our sins cannot here be taken in the first sense for real and inherent sanctifying First Because it is spoken of as a thing already past and perfected having purged our sins when Purification by Sanctification is begun only in some not all at any time perfected in none at all in this world Secondly Because he did it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by himself alone without the use or Application of any other medium unto them that are purged When real inherent Sanctification is with washing of Water by the word Ephes. 5.26 or by Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Titus 3 5. And the gloss above mentioned that Christ should purge us from our sins in his death by occasioning that Faith whereby we are cleansed is excluded as was in part shewed before by the Context That is assigned unto the death of Christ as done really and effectually thereby which was done tipically of old in the Legal Sacrifices by the Priests as is evident from the Antithâ—sis couched in that Expression by himself But this was not the way whereby sins were of old purged by Sacrifices namely by the begetting a perswasion in the minds of men that should be useful for that purpose and therefore no such things is here intended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then is such a purging as is made by Expiation Lustration and Attonement That is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propitiatio Attonement Propitiation So is that Word rendered by the LXX Exod. 29.36 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the day of Attonement or Expiation They do indeed mostly render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to propitiate to appease to attone but they do it also by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to purge as Exod. 29.37 and Chap. 30 10. So also in other Authors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is expiatio expiamentum piaculum Expiation Attonement diversion of guilt So Lucian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We cast him down headlong for an expiation of the Army or as one that by his death should expiate bear take away the guilt of the Army And such Lustrations were common among the Heathen when Persons devoted themselves to destruction or were devoted by others to purge lustrate bear the guilt of any that they might go free such were Codius Menaeceus and the Decii whose stories are known This purging then of our sins which the Apostle declareth to have been effected before the Ascension of Christ and his sitting down at the Right Hand of God consisteth not in the actual Sanctification and Purification of believers by the Spirit in the Application of the blood of Christ unto them but in the Attonement made by him in the Sacrifice of himself that our sins should not be imputed unto us And therefore is he said to purge our sins and not to purge us from our sins And where ever sins not sinners are made the Object of any Mediatory acts of Christ that act immediately respecteth God and not the sinner and intends the removal of sin so as that it should not be imputed So Chap. 2.17 of this Epistle he is a merciful High Priest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to reconcile the sins of the people that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make Attonement or Reconciliation with God for the sins of the people And again He underwent death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the redemption of Transgressions under the first Covenant that is to pay a price for them that transgressors might be set free from the sentence
of the Law So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as much as having made attonement for our sins And this the Apostle further declareth by manifesting the Way whereby he did it that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by himself that is by the Sacrifice and Offering of himself as Chap. 9.14 Ephes. 5.2 The High Priest of old made Attonement and typically purged the sins of the People by sacrificing of Beasts according unto the Appointment of the Law Levit. 16. This High Priest by the Sacrifice of himself Isa. 53.10 Heb. 9.12 Of the nature of Propitiatory or Expiatory Sacrifices we must treat at large afterwards We keep our selves now unto the Apostles general Proposition expressing briefly the Sacerdotal Office of Christ and the Excellency of it in that he really purged our sins and that by the Sacrifice of himself And this was in and by his death on the Cross with his antecedent preparatory sufferings Some distinguish between his Death and the Oblation of himself This they say he performed in Heaven when as the High Priest of his Church he entered into the Holiest not made with hands whereunto his death was but a preparation For the slaying of the Beast they say was not the Sacrifice but the offering of its blood upon the Altar and the carrying of it into the Holy Place But this utterly overthrows the whole Sacrifice of Christ which indeed is the thing by them aimed at It is true the slaying of the Beast was not the whole Sacrifice but only an essential part of it as was also the offering of its blood and the sprinkling of it in the Holy Place in the anniversary Sacrifice of Attonement but not in any other And the Reason why the whole Sacrifice could not consist in any one Action arose meerly from the imperfection of the things and persons employed in that work The Priest was one thing the Beast to be sacrificed another the Altar another the Fire on the Altar another the Incense added another each of them limited and designed unto its peculiar end so that the attonement could not be made by any one of them nor the Sacrifice consist in them But now in this sacrifice of Christ all these meet in one because of his Perfection He himself was both Priest Sacrifice Altar and Incense as we shall see in our progress and he perfected his whole sacrifice at once in and by his death and blood-shedding as the Apostle evidently declares Chap. 9.12.14 Thus by himself did Christ purge our sins making an Attonement for them by the sacrifice of himself in his death that they should never be imputed unto them that believe And this part of this Verse will afford us also this distinct Observation So great was the work of freeing us from sin that it could no otherwise be effected but by the self-sacrifice of the Son of God Our Apostle makes it his design in several places to evince that none of those things from whence mankind usually did or might with any hopes or probabilities expect relief in this case would yield them any at all The best that the Gentiles could attain all that they had to trust unto was but the Improvement of natural Light and Reason with an attendance unto those seeds and Principles of Good and Evil which are yet left in the depraved nature of man Under the Conduct and in Obedience unto these they sought for Rest Glory and Immortality how miserably they were disappointed in their aims and expectations and what a wofull issue all their endeavours had the Apostle declares and proves at large Rom. 1.18 unto the end The Jews who enjoyed the benefit of Divine Revelation having lost for the most part the true spiritual import of them sought for the same ends by the Law and their own diligent Observation of it They rested in the Law Rom. 2.17 namely that by it they should obtain Deliverance from sin and Acceptance with God and followed after it Chap. 9.31 that is to attain Righteousness and Salvation by it And this seemed to be a sufficient bottom and foundation for them to build upon for having lost the spiritual Understanding the use and End of the Law as renewed unto them in the Covenant of Horeb they went back unto th◠primitive Use and End of it upon its first giving in Innocency and foolishly thought as many more yet do that it would do the same things for sinners that it would have done for men if they had not sinned in Adam that is have given them Acceptance with God here and Eternal Life hereafter Wherefore the Apostle in many places takes great pains to undeceive them to rectifie their mistake and to prove that God had no such design in giving them the Law as that which they would impose upon him And First He asserts and proves in general that the Law would deceive their Expectation and that by the deeds of the Law no flesh should be justified Rom. 3.20 and that it would not give them life Gal. 3.21 or Righteousness And that they might not complain that then God himself had deceived them in giving a Law that would not serve the turn for which it was given he declares Secondly That they had mistaken the End for which the Law was renewed unto them which was not that it might give them Life or Righteousness but that it might discover sin exact obedience and by both drive and compell them to look out after some other thing that might both save them from their sin and afford them a Righteousness unto Salvation And furthermore he Thirdly Acquaints them whence it was that the Law was become unsufficient for these ends and that was because it was become weak through the flesh Rom. 8.3 The Law was able to continue our Acceptance with God in that condition wherein at first we were created but after that man by sin became flesh to have a Principle of Enmity against God in him bringing forth the fruits of sin continually the Law stood aside as weakened and insufficient to help and save such an one And these things the Apostle expresly and carefully insists upon in his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians But Thirdly Though the Law and an earnest endeavour after the Observation of it in general would not serve to save us from our sins yet there were especial Institutions of the Law that were appointed for that End and Purpose as namely the Sacrifices in particular which were designed to make Attonement for the delivery of sinners and to procure their Reconciliation with God These the Jews principally rested on and trusted unto and indeed to expect Righteousness and Justification by the Mosaical Sacrifices as they did was far more rational than to expect it by the Works of the Moral Law as some now do for all Good works what ever are required in the Law and so far are works of the Law For in the Sacrifices there was a supposition of sin and an
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
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
wrote both in respect of their Political and Ecclesiastical estate Paul who had an inexpressible zeal and overflowing Affection for his Countreymen being now in Italy considering the present condition of their Affairs how pertinaciously they adhered to Mosaical Institutions how near the approach of their utter abolition was how backward during that frame of Spirit they would be to save themselves by flying from the midst of that perishing Generation what danger they were in to forego the profession of the Gospel when it could not be retained without a relinquishment of their former Divine Service and Ceremonies writes this Epistle unto them wherein he strikes at the very root of all their dangers and distresses For whereas all the danger of their abode in Jerusalem and Judaea and so of falling in the destruction of the City and People all the Fears the Apostle had of their Apostasie into Judaism all their own disconsolations in reference unto their flight and departure arose from their adherence unto and zeal for the Law of Moses by declaring unto them the Nature Use End and Expiration of his Ordinances and Institutions he utterly removes and takes away the ground and occasion of all the Evils mentioned This was the season wherein this Epistle was written and these some of the principal occasions though it had other reasons also as we shall see afterwards of its Writing And I no way doubt though particular events of those dayes are buried in Oblivion but that through his Grace who moved and directed the Apostle unto and in the Writing of it it was made signally effectual towards the professing Hebrews both to free them from that yoke of bondage wherein they had been detained and to prepare them with cheerfulness unto the observation of Evangelical Worship leaving their Countreymen to perish in their Sin and Unbelief Exercitatio IV. Of the Language wherein this Epistle was Originally written Supposed to be the Hebrew Grounds of that Supposition Disproved Not translated by Clemens Written in Greek Arguments for the proof thereof Of Citations out of the LXX § 1 BEcause this Epistle was written to the Hebrews most of the Antients granted that it was written in Hebrew Clemens Alexandrinus was the first who asserted it after whom Origen gave it countenance from whom Eusebius received it and from him Hierom which is the most ordinary progression of old reports The main Reason which induced them to embrace this perswasion was a desire to free the Epistle from an exception against its being written by Paul taken from the dissimilitude of the Style used in it unto that of his other Epistles This being once admitted though causelesly they could think of no better answer than that this supposed difference of Style arose from the Translation of this Epistle which by the Apostle himself was first written in Hebrew Clemens Romanus is the person generally fixed on as the Author of this Translation though some do faintly intimate that Luke the Evangelist might possibly be the man that did it But this Objection from the diversity of Style which alone begat this perswasion hath been already removed out of the Way so that it cannot be allowed to be a Foundation unto any other supposition § 2 That which alone is added to give countenance unto this Opinion is that which we mentioned at the entrance of this Discourse namely that the Apostle writing unto the Hebrews he did it in their own Native Language which being also his own it is no wonder if he were more copious and Elegant in it then he was in the Greek whereunto Originally he was a stranger learning it as Hierom supposeth upon his Conversion But a man may modestly say unto all this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every thing in this pretended Reason of that which indeed never was is so far from Certainty that indeed it is beneath all probability For 1. If this Epistle was written Originally in Hebrew whence comes it pass that no Copy of it in that Language was ever read seen or heard of by the most diligent Collectors of all Fragments of Antiquity in the Primitive times Had ever any such thing been extant whence came it in particular that Origen that prodigie of Industry and Learning should be able to attain no knowledge or report of it 2. If it were incumbent on Paul writing unto the Hebrews to write in their own Language why did he not also write in Latin unto the Romans That he did so indeed Gratian affirms but without pretence of proof or witness contrary to the Testimony of all Antiquity the evidence of the thing it self and constant confession of the Roman Church And Erasmus sayes well on Rom. 1.7 Coarguendus vel ridendus magis error eorum qui putant Paulum Romanis linguâ Romanâ scripsisle The error of them is to be reproved or rather laughed at who suppose Paul to have written unto the Romans in the Latin Tongue 3. It is most unduly supposed that the Hebrew Tongue was then the Vulgar common Language of the Jews when it was known only to the Learned amongst them and a corrupt Syriack was the common Dialect of the people even at Jerusalem 4. It is as unduly averred that the Hebrew was the Mother Tongue of Paul himself or that he was ignorant of the Greek seeing he was born at Tarsus in Cilicia where that was the Language that he was brought up in and unto 5. The Epistle was written for the Use of all the Hebrews in their several dispersions especially that in the East as Peter witnesseth they being all alike concerned in the matter of it though not so immediately as those in Judaea and Jerusalem Now unto those the Greek Language from the dayes of the Macedonian Empire had been in vulgar use and continued so to be 6. The Greek Tongue was so well known and so much used in Judaea its self that as a Learned man hath proved by sundry Testimonies out of their most antient writings it was called the Vulgar amongst them I know among the Rabbins there is mention of a prohibition of learning the Greek Tongue and in the Jerusalem Talmud its self Tit. Peah cap. 1. they add a reason of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was because of Traytors least they should betray their Brethren and none understand them But as this is contrary unto what themselves teach about the Knowledge of Tongues required in those who were to be chosen into the Sanhedrim so it is sufficiently disproved by the instances of the Translators of the Bible Jesus Syrachides Philo Josephus and others among themselves And though Josephus affirm Antiq. lib. 20. cap. 9. that the Study of the Elegance of Tongues was of no great reckoning amongst them yet he grants that they were studied by all sorts of men Nor doth this pretended Decree of prohibition concern our times it being made as they say Mishn. tit Sota in the last Wars of Titus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In
I will wait for him so that their words seem to be taken from this place of the Apostle as apprehending his Testimony to be cited from the Prophet which that it is not we shall prove evidently afterwards The same Verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold I and the children which God hath given me From Isa. 8.17 CHAP. III. § 6 VEr 7 8 9 10 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the day of Provocation in the day of Temptation in the Wilderness when your Fathers tempted me proved me and saw my Works forty years wherefore I was grieved with that Generation and said they do alwayes err in heart and they have not known my wayes so I swore in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest From Psalm 95. v. 7 8 9 10 11. The Translation of the LXX agrees with the words of the Apostle both of them answering the Original Only the Apostle clearly to express the Reason of Gods Judgements on that people in the Wilderness distinguisheth the Words somewhat otherwise than they are in the Hebrew Text. For whereas that saith When your Fathers tempted me proved me and saw my Works Forty years long was I grieved with that Generation The Apostle adds that season of forty years to the mention of their sins and interposing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherefore refers his Speech unto the words foregoing as containing the cause of the ensuing Wrath and Judgement And although our present Copies of the Greek Bibles distinguish the Words according to the Hebrew Text yet Theodoret informs us that some Copies made the distinction with the Apostle and added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which also is observed by Nobilius and this could arise from no other cause but an attempt to insert the very words of the Apostle in that Text as did the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also reckoned amongst its various Sections though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 remain in the vulgar Editions CHAP. IV. § 7 VEr 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And God râ—sted on the seventh day from all his works From Gen. 2. v. 2. The Apostle adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Text to complâ—â—t his Assertion and leaves out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he had made as to his purpose The LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and otherwise also differing from the Apostle CHAP. V. VEr 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou art a Priest for ever after § 8 the Order of Melchisedech From Psalm 110. v. 4. So also the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Jod superfluous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mos. There is nothing of Variety remaining in these words from any other Translations Ver. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blessing I will bless thee and multiplying I will multiply thee From Gen. 22. v. 17. The LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will multiply thy seed CHAP. VIII VEr 9 10 11 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § 9 LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold the dayes come saith the Lord when I will make a new Covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah Not according to the Covenant that I made with their Fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the Land of Aegypt because they continued not in my Covenant and I regarded them not saith the Lord. For this is the Covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those dayes saith the Lord I will put my Laws in their minds and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people And they shall not teach every man his neighbour and every man his Brother saying know the Lord for all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them For I will be mercifull to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquity will I remember no more From Jer. 31. v. 32 33 34 35. Instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his neighbor ver 11. the LXX read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his fellow Citizen But some Copies of the LXX read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and some of this Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which makes it evident that there hath been tampering to bring them to Vniformity But the greatest difficulty of this Quotation ariseth from the Agreement of the Apostles words and the Translation of the LXX where both of them seem to depart from the Original For those words in the Hebrew Text v. 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which my Covenant they made void and I was an Husband unto them or ruled over them are rendered by them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And they continued not in my Covenant and I regarded them not The Reason of the Apostles Translation of those words we shall manifest and vindicate in our Exposition of the Context At present the coincidence of it with that of the LXX and that wherein they both seem to differ from the Original and all Translations besides the Syriack and the Arabick which are made out of it though the Syriack follow it not in the confused transpositions that are made of Jeremiah's Prophesies from Chap. 25. to Chap. 40. as the Arabick doth is only to be considered which shall be done so soon as we have recounted the remaining Testimonies whereof some are attended with the same difficulty CHAP. IX § 10 VEr 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the blood of the Covenant which God hath enjoyned unto you From Exod. 24.8 The sense of the Hebrew Text is alluded unto not the words absolutely The LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with much difference from the words of the Apostle CHAP. X. § 11 VEr 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrifice and Offering thou wouldst not have a Body thou hast prepared me From Psalm 40. v. 6. So also the LXX both with great difference from the Original For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 my ears hast thou digged or bored is rendered a Body thou hast prepared me Of the Reason of which difference and agreement we shall treat afterwards Ver. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hast not required the Apostle expresseth exactly the sense of the Holy Ghost but observes not the first exact signification of the word The LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in some copies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 soughtest not Ver. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold I come in the Head or beginning of the Book it is written of me to do thy will O God That is Gen. 3. v. 15. Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the roll of the Book Symmachus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
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
the declaration of the Orall Instructions of our Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles But herein the Jews deal with us far more ingeniously than they They tell us plainly that now their whole Orall Law is written and that they have no reserve of authentick Traditions not yet declared So that where Austin sayes of his Adversaries Nescit habere praeter Scripturas Legitimas Propheticas Judaeos quasdam traditiones suas quas non Scriptas habent sed memoriter tenent alter in alterum loquendo transfundit quam deuterosin vocant either he knew not of the Mishnae that was then written or this opinion of Secret Traditions was continued untill the finishing and promulgation of the Babilonical Talmud which was sundry years after his Death But here the Romanists fail us for although they have given us heaps upon heaps of their Traditions by the means afore mentioned yet they plead that they have still an inexhaustible Treasure of them laid up in their Church stores and Breast of their Holy Father to be drawn forth at all times as occasion shall require And thus have we taken a brief Prospect of the Consent of both the Apostatical Churches in that Principle which hath been the means of their Apostasie and is the great Engine whereby they are rendered incurable therein Exercitatio VIII The First Dissertation concerning the Messiah proving him to be promised of Old Principles presupposed in the Apostles Discourse in his Epistle to the Hebrews First A Messiah promised from the Foundation of the World Of the Evil that is in the World Of Sin and Punishment Original and Entrance of them Ignorance of Mankind about them The Sin and Fall of Adam Their Consequents Jews Opinion about the Sin of Adam Also of the Curse and corruption of Nature Their sense of both at large evinced God not unjust if all mankind had perished in this condition Instance of the Sin and Punishment of Angels Differences between the Sin of Angels and Man Angels lost Mankind relieved Evidences of that Deliverance How attainable Not by Men themselves Not by Angels Nor the Law That proved against the Jews Their Fable of the Law made before the World with the occasion of it The Patriarchs saved before the giving of the Law Observation of the Moral Precepts of the Law no means of Relief nor the Sacrifices of it The New Covenant God the Author of it How to be accomplished The first Promise of it Gen. 3.16 discussed Sense of the Jews upon it manifested Examined Promise of a Deliverer the Foundation of all Religion in the World The Promise renewed unto Abraham Gen. 12.1 2 3. Nature of it as given unto him Testified unto and confirmed Gen. 49.10 Numb 24.17 19. Job 19.25 Opened with sundry other Places End of the Separation of the Posterity of Abraham unto â— peculiar People and Church This Deliverer the MESSIAH Denotation of the Word The Person who WEE proceed now unto our Principal intendment in all these Discourses which is the Consideration and Discussion of those great Principles as of all Religion in general so of the Christian in particular which the Apâ—stle supposeth as the Foundation of his whole Treaty with the Hebrews and which § 1 are the Basis that he stands upon in the management of his whole Design For in all Discourses that are Paraenetical as this Epistle for the most part is there are alwayes some Principles taken for granted which give Life and Efficacy unto the Exhortations in them and whereinto they are resolved For as to perswade men unto particulâ—rs in Faith Opinion or Practice without a previous conviction of such general Principles of Truth as from which the Perswasions used do naturally flow and arise is a thing weak and inefficacious so to be exercised in the Demonstration of the Principles themselves when the especial End aimed is to perswade would bring confusion into all Discourse Wherefore although our Apostle do assert and confirm those dogmata and Articles of Truth which he dealt with the Hebrews in a way of Perswasion to embrace yet he supposeth and takes for granted those more general 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or first Maxims which are the Foundation both of the Doctrines and Exhortations insisted on as all skill in teaching doth require And these are those which now we aim to draw forth and consider being these that follow First That there was a Messiah or Saviour of mankind from Sin and Punishment promised upon and from the first entrance of Sin into the World in whom all acceptable Worship of God was founded and in whom all the Religion of the Sons of men was to center Secondly That this Messiah long before Promised was now actually exhibited in the world and had finished the work committed unto him when the Apostle wrote this Epistle Thirdly That Jesus of Nazareth was this Messiah and that what he had done and suffered was the work and duty promised of old concerning him There is not a Line in the Epistle to the Hebrews that doth not virtually begin and end in these Principles not an Assertion not a Doctrine not an Exhortation that is not built on this Triple Foundation They are also the great Verities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Christian Profession or Religion A sincere endeavour therefore in their Explanation and Vindication especially in these dayes wherein as on the one hand there are various thoughts of heart about the Jews their present condition and expectation so on the other there are many who are ready with a presumptuous boldness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to call in question the fundamentals of all Religion may not be unacceptable Now the first of these Principles is at this day by several vain imaginations obscured by the Jews to their utter loss of all benefit by it and hath been so for many Generations although it were the Life and Soul of the Religion of their fore-fathers as shall be demonstrated and the two latter are by them expresly denyed and maliciously contended against Here then we shall fix and confirm these Principles in the order wherein we have laid them down declaring on every one of them the Conceptions and Perswasions of the Jews concerning the promised Messiah removing in the Close their Objections against the Faith of Christians in this matter in a peculiar Exercitation to that Purpose And the Confirmation and Vindication of the first of these Principles is that which our present Discourse is designed unto Besides the Testimony of God himself in his Word we have a concurrent suffrage § 2 from the whole Creation that man in the Beginning was formed as in the Image so in the Favour of God and unto his Glory And as he was not liable unto any evil which is the effect of Gods displeasure nor defective in any Good necessary to preserve him in the condition wherein he was made so he was destitute of nothing that was any way requisite to carry him on
done away from me and accept of my Repentance that all Ages may know that there is Repentance and that thou wilt receive them that Repent and turn unto thee Hence also they tell us that upon the Pardon of his sin he sang a Song of Praise unto the Lord on the Sabbath Day which is mentioned in the Targum on the Song of Solomon chap. 1. v. 1. as one of the Songs in reference whereunto that of Solomon is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Song of Songs or the most excellent of them And although indeed that expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dying thou shalt dye according to the propriety of the Hebrew Tongue denotes only the Certainty and Vehemency of the Death threatned in which case it useth reduplications yet some of them have not been averse to apprehend a twofold death of the Body and of the Soul to be intimated in that expression as Fagius on the place well observes Body and Soul they say both sinned and therefore both were to be punished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If the flesh sâ—n without the spirit why is the soul punished Is it one thing that sins and another that is punished or rather is it not thus that both sin together and so both are justly punished together § 7 Thus is the condition of the Sin and Punishment of our first Parents themselves acknowledged by them And the same is that of their Posterity What was threatned unto what was inflicted upon those who first sinned they are all liable and obnoxious unto Are they not all as subject unto Death as was Adam himself Are the miseries of man in his labour or the sorrows of Women in Childbearing taken away Is the Earth its self freed from the Effects of the Curse Do they not dye who never sinned after the similitude of Adams Transgression The Jews themselves grant that all death is poenal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is no Death without Sin no Punishment or Correction without iniquity It is the saying of R. Ame in the Talmud Tractat Sabbat cited in Sepher Ikharim lib. 4. cap. 13. And this Principle Mâ—imonides carries so high as to deny all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Correction of Love affirming none to be of that mind but some Gaeonims deceived by the Sect of Muatzali More Nebuch p. 3. cap. 17. And they who dye poenally under the Curse abide in no other estate than that mentioned They acknowledge also the remainder of the Curse on the Earth its self on the same account 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole World sayes one of their Masters was not created but for man and therefore after man sinned it came short of its first perfection But these things being of some use for their Conviction as also to discover the perverse obstinacy of some of their later Masters we may a little more particularly take them along with us § 8 First They acknowledge that Adam was a common Head unto all mankind So saith Manasse Ben. Israel from their Principles Cum itaque esset Adam futurus caput principium humanae naturae necesse erat illi a Deo conferri omnem perfectionem scientiam De Fragilitate pag. 34. Whereas Adam was to be the Head and Principle of humane nature it was necessary that God should endow him with all perfection and knowledge And this Perfection of his knowledge Aben Ezra on Gen. 12. proves from Gods bringing all Creatures unto him to give them Names according to their Nature And the same Author again in his Discourse de Termino Vitae Aben Ezra inquit nominibus propriis in Sacra Scriptura non praefigi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He demonstrativum quod tamen in voce Adam fit Gen. 3.22 ratio est quia in Adamo notantur omnes ejus posteri universa species humana designatur Aben Ezra sayes that He Hajedia is not prefixed unto proper names in the Scripture only it is so unto the Word Adam Gen. 3. v. 22. and the Reason is because in Adam all his Posterity the whole Race of Mankind is denoted and signified Now this could not be but by vertue of some Divine Constitution For naturally Adam could have no other Relation to his Posterity than every other man hath unto his own And this was no other but that Covenant which God made with all mankind in him whose Promises and Threatnings Rewards and Punishments must therefore equally respect them with him Wherefore Secondly they grant that on this account his Sin was imputed unto all his Posterity That is some of them do so and those the most sober of them So Rabbi Menahem Rakanatensis in sec. Bereshith c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is no wonder why the Sin of Adam and Eve was engraven and sealed with the Signet of the King to be propagated unto all following Generations For in the day that Adam was created all things were finished so that he was the Perfection and Complement of the whole workmanship of this world Therefore when he sinned the whole world sinned whose Sin we hear and suffer which is not so in the Sin of his Posterity To be sealed with the Signet of the King is their Expression of Gods Constitution And these words are very consonant to those of our Apostle Rom. 5.12 As by one man Sin entered into the World and Death by Sin so Death passed upon all men for that or because in him all have sinned To the same purpose speaks the Targum on Eccles. 7. v. 29. in the Copies followed by the Jayan and London Bibles for so the words are not in those of Buxtorf nor the Biblia Regia God made the First man upright and innocent before him but the Serpent and Eve seduced him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and gave cause why the day of Death should come on him and all the Inhabitants of the Earth And we can have no more Authentick Testimony of the Apprehensions of their antient Doctors than what their Targums afford us And therefore Joseph Albo in Scher Itharim expresly concludes lib. 1. chap. 11. that all the punishments relating unto Adam and Eve for their first Sin belong unto all mankind And whereas they fancy that some Persons spent their dayes without actual sin at least any such as should deserve Death they charge their Death on the guilt of the sin of Adam So the Targum on the last Chapter of Ruth And Hobed begat Jesse who was called Nachash and there was no iniquity or corruption in him for which he should be delivered into the hâ—nd of the Angel of Death to take his soul from him and he lived manâ— dayes untill the Counsell that the Serpent gave to Eve abode before the Lord and upon that Counsâ—ll were all the inhabitants of the Earth made guilty of death and upon the aâ—â—â—unt of that sin dyed Jesse the Righteous Lud. Capellus in his Annotations on John 3. hath an observation on this passage in the Targum not
unworthy consideration The Jâ—ws call Jesus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which differs little from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so he may be here intended for he may be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both because he was prefigured by the Brazen Serpent and because the Names of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the same by Gematry or in their Numeral Letters a great occasion amongst them to change the Names of Persons and things And this they might have from some Tradition which they understood not The like Testimony we have in Siphre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rabbi Jose the Galilean said go forth and learn the Merit of Messiah the King and the reward of that Righteous One above the first Adam who had only Negative Precepts given unto him which he transgressed behold how many deaths befell him and his Generations and the Generations of his Generations unto the End of all Generations Answerable unto that of the Apostle Rom. 5.18 Therefore as by the offense of one judgement came upon all men unto condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto the justification of Life And this Punishment of the Sin of Adam and Eve they grant to have been so terrible that they say that in the day they were cast out of Paradise God lamented over them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Even as Adam and Eve when they were judged and cast out of the Garden of Eden and the Lord of the world lamented over them Targum on Lamenta chap. 1. v. 1. And to shew also that the whole creation was made subject unto Vanity upon the Sin of our first Parents Mâ—ses Hâ—ddâ—rshan in Bereschit Rabba on Gen. 3. v. 6. informs us that Eve gave of the fruit of the Tree which she took unto all the Beasts of the field and Birds of the air 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only which they interpret the Phaenix excepted The Truth indeed in these Expressions is clouded with Fables and trifles but thâ—y who are offended at them may do wâ—ll to direct us unto Judaical Writers that are free from such follies and yet on thâ—se things do innumerable poor souls venture their Eternal Condition in an opposition to the blessed Gospel of the glorious God The later Masters I acknowledge are in this whole matter lubricous and uncertain § 9 and thâ—y have been so in especial manner ever since they began to understand the plea of Christians for the necessity of satisfaction to be made by the sufferings of the Messiah from the Doctrine of the Fall and Sin of Man Hence Abarbinel in his Commentary on Isa. 53. expresly argues against those sufferings of the Messiah from the non-necessity of them with reference unto the Sin of Adam They contend also some of them that it was not so sorely revenged as we plead it to have been Ask an Heretick a Christian saith Lipman in his Nizzachon how it can enter into their hearts to think that God should use so great severity against the Sin of Adam that he should hold him bound for so small a matter namely for the eating of an Apple that he should destroy him in this world and that to come and that nâ—t him only but all his Posterity But the blind Pharisee disputes not so much against us as against God himself Who was it that denounced death in case he so transgressed Who was it that pronouncâ—d him miserable and the world accursed on the account thereof Are we to blame if the Jews are not pleased with the wayes of God Besides although to eat an Apple be in its self but a small thing yet to disobey the command of the great God is no such small matter as the Jew supposeth especially that command which set boundaries unto that excellent condition wherein Adam in the right of all his Posterity was placed But these Exceptions owe their Original unto a discovery of the Tendency of that Truth which otherwise as we have shewed they are convinced of and which we have sufficiently cleared from the Scripture § 10 The second consequent of the first sin of man is the Morall corruptiâ—n of Nature the spring of all that evil of actual sin that is in the world And herein we have â— full consent from the Jews delivered after their manner both in the Tarâ—ums Talmuds and private Writings of their principal Masters For an Evil Concupiscence iâ— the heart of man from his very conception they generally acknowledge The name they give unto it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 figmentum malum the evil figment of the Heart properly enough from Gen. 6. v. 5. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and thâ—◠〈◊〉 whole figment of the thoughts or computation of his heart was only evil eveâ—◠〈◊〉 Hence have they taken their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a more proper name than that used by Christian Divines of Originale Peccatum And it is a ludicrous ignorance in some of the late Rabbins who profess themselves to deny Original Sin as doth the Author of the Questions and Objections published by Brenius and others of them and yet in tâ—e mean time grant this Evil figment in all mankind which was not in Adâ—m in his innocency And hereunto they oppose that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Good Concupisâ—ence whiâ—h they fancy to come on every one at the Age of thirteen years when he becomes â—iâ—â—us Praecepti or liable unto the commands of God The â—argumisâ—s term it in the Chaâ—dâ—e Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the same Purpose And it is mentioned by them Psal. 13.5 That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Evil figment say not I have ruled over him instead of the Enemâ— for it is the chief enemy of men Twice also it is mentioned in the Targum of Psâ—â—m 50. v. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 restrain the Evil figment and it shall â—e accâ—unted bâ—fâ—re God as a Sacrifice Doubtless none more acceptable and to the same purpose the words are also v. 23. And in Psalm 91.12 that thy foot stumble not at the evil figment which is like a stone That is that it seduce thee not that it cause thee not to offend to stumble and fall into sin See James 1.14 And Psalm 119. v. 70. they call it absolutely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the figment or evil fomes of the heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the figment of their heart is made thick or hard as with fatness an expression not unusual in the Scripture to set out impenitency and security in sinning Isa. 6.10 And in Isa. 62. v. 10. they mention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the thought of lust or of the figment which is that conceiving of it mentioned by James Chap. 1.14 For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the inward evil thoughts of the heart or the first motion of sin Moreover they do not unfitly
Attonement and Reconciliation and that some such thing was signified in their Sacrifices they do each one for himself torture slay and offer a Cock on the day of Expiation to make attonement for their sins and that unto the Devil The Rites of that Diabolical Solemnity are declared at large by Buxtorfius in his Synagog Judaic cap. 20. But yet as this folly manifests that they can find no rest in their consciences without their Sacrifices so it gives them not at all what they seek after And therefore being driven from all other hopes they trust at length unto their own Death for in Life they have no hope making this one of their constant Prayers Let my Death be the Expiation of all Sins But this is the curse and so no means to avoid it Omitting therefore these horrid follies of men under despair an effect of that wrath which is come upon them unto the uttermost the thing its self may be considered That the Sacrifices of Moses's Law in and by themselves should be a means to deliver men from the guilt of sin and to reconcile them unto God is contrary to the Light of Nature their own proper use and express Testimonies of the Old Testament For First Can any man think it reasonable that the blood of Bulls and Goats should of its self make an Expiation of the sin of the souls of men reconcile them to God the Judge of all and impart unto them an Everlasting Righteousness Our Apostle declares the manifest impossibility hereof Heb. 10. v. 4. They must have very mean and low thoughts of God his Holiness Justice Truth of the Demerit of Sin of Heaven and Hell who think them all to depend on the blood of a Calf or a Goat The Sacrifices of them indeed might by Gods appointment represent that to the minds of men which is effectuall unto the whole End of appeasing Gods Justice and of obtaining his Favour but that they should themselves effect it is unsuitable unto all the Apprehensions which are imbred in the heart of man either concerning the nature of God or the Guilt of Sin Secondly Their Primitive and proper use doth manifest the same For they were to be frequently repeated and in all the Repetitions of them there was still new mention made of sin They could not therefore by themselves take it away for if they could they would not have been reiterated It is apparent therefore that their use was to represent and bring to remembrance that which did perfectly take away sin For a perfect work may be often remembred but it need not it cannot be often done For being done for such an End and that End being obtained it cannot be done again The Sacrifices therefore were never appointed never used to take away sin which they did not but to represent that which did so effectually Besides there were some sins that men may be guilty of whom God will not utterly reject for which there was no Sacrifice appointed in the Law of Moses as was the case with David Psal. 51. v. 16. which makes it undeniable that there was some other way of Attonement besides them and beyond them as our Apostle declares Acts 13. v. 38 39. Thirdly The Scripture expresly rejects all the Sacrifices of the Law when they are trusted in for any such End and Purpose which sufficiently demonstrates that they were never appointed thereunto See Psal. 40 v. 6 7 8. Psal. 50. v. 8 9 10 11 12 13. Isa. 1. v. 11 12 13. Chap. 66. v. 3. Amos. 5.21 22. Micha 6. v. 6 7 8. and other places innumerable Add unto what hath been spoken that during the Observation of the whole Law § 22 of Moses whilest it was in force by the Appointment of God himself He still directed those who sought for Acceptance with him unto a New Covenant of Grace whole Benefits by faith they were then made partakers of and whole nature was afterwards more fully to be declared See Jerem. 31. v. 31 32 33 34. with the inferences of our Apostle thereon Heb. 8.12 13. And this plainly everts the whole Foundation of the Jews Expectation of Justification before God on the account of the Law of Moses given on Mount Sinai For to what purpose should God call them from resting on the Covenant thereof to look for Mercy and Grace in and by another if that had been able to give them the help desired In brief then the Jews fixing on the Law of Moses as the only means of delivery from sin and death as they do thereby exclude all mankind besides themselves from any interest in the Love Favour or Grace of God which they greatly design and desire so they cast themselves also into a miserable restless self-condemned condition in this world by trusting to that which will not relieve them and into Endless misery hereafter by refusing that which effectually would make them Heirs of Salvation For whilest they perish in their sin another better more glorious and sure Remedy against all the Evils that are come upon mankind or are justly feared to be coming by any of them is provided in the Grace Wisdom and Love of God as shall now farther be demonstrated The first intimation that God gave of this work of his Grace in Redeeming mankind § 23 from sin and misery is contained in the Promise subjoyned unto the Curse denounced against our first Parents and their Posterity in them Gen. 3. v. 15. The seed of the Woman shall bruise the Heaa of the Serpent and the Serpent shall bruise his Heel Two things there are contained in these words A Promise of Relief from the misery brought on mankind by the Temptation of Satan and an intimation of the Means or Way whereby it should be brought about That the first is included in these words is evident For First If there be not a Promise of Deliverance expressed in these words whence is it that the execution of the sentence of Death against sin is suspended Unless we will allow an Intervention satisfactory to the Righteousness and Truth of God to be expressed in these words there would have been a truth in the suggestion of the Serpent namely that whatever God had said yet indeed they were not to dye The Jews in the Midrash Tehillim as Kimchi informs us on Psal. 92. whose Title is a Psalm for the Sabbath Day which they generally assign unto Adam say that Adam was cast out of the Garden of Eden on the Evening of the sixth day after which God came to execute the Sentence of Death upon him but the Sabbath being come on the Punishment was deferred whereon Adam made that Psalm for the Sabbath Day Without an interposition of some external Cause and Reason they acknowledge that Death ought immediately to have been inflicted and other besides what is mentioned in these words there was none Secondly The whole Evil of sin and Curse that mankind then did or was to suffer under proceeded from the
not like Manasseth of late who supposeth that it might not abide above forty years and those immediately preceding the Day of Judgement § 21 It is sufficiently evident that this Opinion and Perswasion of the Jews which is Catholick unto them and hath been so ever since they rejected the true Messiah contains an absolute renunciation of the faith of the Church of old and an utter rejection of all the ends for which the Messiah was promised I shall not therefore enter here upon a particular refutation of it for it will occur in our ensuing Discourses Neither is this the Person about whom we contend with them nor have we any concernment in him When he comes let them make their bâ—st of him we have already received the Captain of our Salvation What also they plead for themselves as the ground of their obstinacy in refusing the True Messiah must afterwards be particularly discussed At present therefore I shall only reflect on those depraved habits of their minds which in concurrence with occasions and Temptations suited unto them have seduced them into these low carnal and earthly imaginations about the Promised Seed his Person Office and Work that he was to perform § 22 In things therefore of this kind Ignorance of their miserable condition by nature both as to sin and wrath justly claims the first place For although as was by instances before manifested the Evidence of Truth and Power of Traditions amongst them have prevailed with some to avow the notion of the Sin of Adam and the corruption of our nature thereby yet indeed there is not any of them that have a true sense and conviction of their Natural Condition and the misery that doth attend it The Messiah as we have proved at large was first promised to relieve mankind from that state whereinto they were cast by the Apostasie of Adam the Common Root and Parent of them all Such as are mens apprehensions of that condition such also will be their thoughts concerning the Messiah who was promised to be a Deliverer from it They who know themselves cast out of the favour of God thereby made obnoxious unto his eternal displeasure and disenabled to do any thing that shall please him as being cast into a state of universal Enmity against him must needs look on the Messiah promised in the Grace Goodness and Wisdom of God for a Saviour and Deliverer to be One that must by suitable wayes and means free them from Sin and Wrath procure for them the favour of God enable them to serve him again unto Acceptation and so bring them at length unto their chief End the everlasting enjoyment of him As these things answer one another and are on both sides fully revealed in the Scripture so the Church of old who had a due Apprehension of their own condition looked for such a Messiah as God had promised Ignorance therefore of this condition is no small cause of the present Judaical misbelief What ever may be the estate of other men about which they do not much trouble themselves for their parts they are Children of Abraham exempted from the common condition of mankind by the Priviledge of their Nativity or at least they are relieved by their circumcision by the pain whereof they make sufficient satisfaction for any ill they bring with them into this world That they are dead in Trespasses and Sins standing in need to be born again that they are by nature children of wrath obnoxious unto the curse of God that the sin of our first Parents is imputed unto them or that if it be that it was of any such demerit as Christians teach they believe not Upon the matter they know no misery but what consists in Poverty Captivity and want of Rule and Dominion And what should a spiritual Redeemer do unto these men What beauty or comeliness can he have in him for which of them he should be desired What Reason can they see why they should understand the Promises concerning him in such a way and sense as that they should not be concerned in them And this blindness had in a great measure possessed their minds at the first promulgation of the Gospel See John 8. v. 33 34. Chap. 9. v. 40 41. And therefore our Apostle in his Epistle unto the Romans wherein he deals both with Jews and Gentiles before he declares the Propitiation that was made with the Justification that was to be obtained by the blood of Christ convinceth them all of their miserable lost condition on the account of sin Original and Actual Chap. 1 2 3. Untill therefore this Pride self-fulness and Ignorance of themselves be taken from them and rooted out of their hearts all Promises of a spiritual Redeemer must needs be unsavoury unto them They stand in no need of him and why should they desire him An Earthly King that would give them Liberty Wealth Ease and Dominion they would gladly embrace and have long in vain looked for Secondly Ignorance of the Righteousness of God both as to what he requireth § 23 that a man may be justified before him and of his Judgement concerning the desert of sin hath the same effect upon them Rom. 10. v. 3 4. The great End for which the Messiah was promised as we have in part declared and shall afterwards farther evince was to make Attonement for sin and to bring in Everlasting Righteousness Dan. 9.24 A Righteousness was to be brought in that might answer the Justice of God and abide its trial Of what nature this Righteousness must be the Scripture declares and that as well in the Revelation it makes of the Holiness of God Psal. 5. v. 4 5. Joshua 24. v. 19. Hab. 1. v. 13. as of the purity and severity of his Law Deut. 33. v. 2. Chap. 27. v. 26. and the absolute Perfection of his Justice in the Execution of it Psalm 50. v. 21. An Universal spotless innocency with a constant unerring Obedience in all things and that in the highest degree of Perfection are required to find Acceptation with this Holy and Righteous God Of the Nature and necessity of this Righteousness the Jews are ignorant and regardless They and their Masters were so of old Matth. 5. v. 20. An outside partial hypocritical Observance of the Law of Moses they suppose will serve their Turns See Rom. 9. v. 31. And indeed there is not any thing that more openly discovers the miserable blindness of the present Jews then the consideration of what they insist upon as their Righteousness before God The Faith and Obedience of their Fore-fathers the Priviledge of Circumcision some outward Observances of Mosaical Precepts with anxious scrupulous abstinencies self macerations in fasts with prayers by tale and number Sabbath rests from outward labour with the like bodily exercises are the summ of what they plead for themselves Now if these things which are absolutely in their own power will compose and make up a Righteouâ—ness acceptable unto God cover all
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 〈◊〉
I do unto this people they be almost ready to stone me And the Lord said unto Moses Go on before the people and take with thee of the Elders of Israel and thy Rod wherewith thou smotest the River take in thine hand and go behold I will stand before thee there upon the Rock in Horeb and thou shalt smite the Rock and there shall come water out of it that they may drink And Moses did so in the sight of the Elders of Israel And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the chiding of the children of Israel and because they tempted the Lord saying Is the Lord amongst us or not Marching up farther into the Wilderness and coming to Rephidim their fourth station from the Red-sea meeting with no waters to their satisfaction they fell into an high murmuring against the Lord and mutiny against Moses their Leader And this iniquity the Jewish Doctors suppose aggravated because they were in no absolute necessity of water the dew which fell from the Manna running in some streams Hereon God leads Moses to the Rock of Horeb where himself appeared in the cloud which he had prepared for the place of giving the Law commanding him to take his Rod in his hand to smite the Rock whereon waters flowed out for the relief of this sinful murmuring people And the holy Ghost hath put sundry remarks upon this dispensation of God towards them First Upon the sin of the people whence he gave a double name to the place where they sinned for a memorial to all generations he called it Massah and Meribah which words our Apostle renders by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chap. 3.9 Temptation and provoking Contention And it is often mentioned again both on the part of the people either to reproach and burthen them with their sin as Deut. 9.22 And at Massah ye provoked the Lord to wrath or to warn them of the like miscarriage chap. 6.16 You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted him in Massah as also Psal. 95.8 And on the part of Moses as to the signal trial that God had there of his faith and obedience in that great difficulty which he conflicted withall as also of those of the Tribe of Levi who in a preparation unto their ensuing dedication unto God clave unto him in his straits Deut. 33.8 And of Levi he said Let thy Thummim and thy Vrim be with thy holy one whom thou didst prove at Massah and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah The mercy likewise that ensued in giving them water from the Rock is most frequently celebrated Deut. 8.15 Psal. 78.15 16. Psal. 105.41 Neh. 9.15 Now all this was done to bring them to attend and enquire diligently into the kernel the pearl of this mercy whose outward shell was so undeservedly free and so deservedly pretious For in this Rock of Horeb lay hid a spiritual Rock as our Apostle tells us 1 Cor. 10.4 even Christ the Son of God who being smitten with the Rod of Moses or the stroke and curse of the Law administred by him gave out waters of life freely unto all that thirst and come unto him Thus did God prepare this people for the receiving of the Law by a triple intimation § 28 of Him who is the Redeemer from the Law and by whom alone the Law that was to be given could be made useful and profitable unto them And all these intimations were still given them on their great and signal provocations to declare that neither did their Goodness deserve them nor could their sins hinder the progress of the counsel of God's will and the work of his grace Hereby also did God revive unto them the grace of the promise which being given as our Apostle observes four hundred and thirty years before the giving of the Law could not be disanull'd or impeach'd thereby And these I call the remote preparations of the people for the receiving of the Law consisting in three Revelations of the Grace of God in Christ happening and granted unto them in the three moneths space which they spent between the Red Sea and their coming unto the Wilderness of Sinai or to the Mountain where they received the Law § 29 The immediate preparations for giving of the Law are all of them expressed Exod. 19. and these we shall briefly pass through the most of them being insisted on or referred unto by our Apostle in the places before mentioned First The time of the Peoples coming unto the place where they were to receive the Law is related v. 1. it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 novilunio tertio in the third moneh after their coming up out of Egypt That is on the first day of the moneth the moneth Sivan on the day of the New Moon And therefore it is added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the same day on which Aben Ezra observes Moses went up first into the Mountain to receive the commands of God and returning on that day to the people he went up again on the third day that is the third day of the moneth to give in their answer unto the Lord v. 11.16 And this fell out if not on the day yet about the time of Pentecost whereon afterwards the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles enabling them to preach the Gospel and therein our deliverance from the curse of the Law given at that time § 30 For the special time of the day when God began to give out the appearances of his glory it is said v. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whilest it was yet morning And Jarchi observes that all Moses's ascents into the Mountain were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 early in the morning which he proves from Chap. 34.4 And Moses rose up early in the morning and went up unto Mount Sinai And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Boker properly signifies the first appearance of the morning the light that must be enquired and sought after before the rising of the Sun So David Psalm 130.6 compares the earnest expectation of his soul for mercy unto the diligent watching of men for the morning that is the first appearance of light And this was the season wherein our blessed Saviour rose from the grave and from under the curse of the Law bringing with him the tidings of peace with God and deliverance He rose between the first dawning of light and the rising of the Sun Matth. 28.1 Mark 16.2 unto that latitude of time doth the Scripture assign it and the first evidence of it For whereas John sayes that Mary Magdalen came to the Sepulchre very early whilest it was yet dark Chap. 20.1 Matthew when it began to dawn towards day Chap. 28.1 Mark very early in the morning at the rising of the Sun Chap. 16.2 who compriseth the utmost abode of the women at the Sepulchre Luke expresses it indefinitely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 profundo mane that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
and the performance of duties required in it yet it was greatly increased and aggravated by that multitude of commands wherein it consisted Whence our Apostle calls it the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances Ephes. 2.15 Consisting of an endless number of commands concerning which their minds could never attain any comfortable satisfaction whether they had answered their duty aright in them or no. Exercitatio XXI The Sanction of the Law in Promises and Threatnings The Law considered several ways As the Rule of the old Covenant As having a new end put to it As it was the Instrument of the Jewish Polity The sanction of it in those senses Punishments threatned to be inflicted by God himself By others Promises of three sorts To be fulfilled by God himself By others Parents how they prolong the lives of their children Punishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what Providential punishments Partial Total Persons entrusted with power of punishment The original distribution of the people Task-masters and Officers in Egypt who The authority of Moses The distribution of the people in the Wilderness Institution of the Sanhedrin Judges Kings Penalties Ecclesiastical The three degrees of it explained and examined Causes of Niddui Instance Joh. 9.20 Of Cherem And Shammatha Forms of an Excommunication The Sentence Ezra 10.7 8. explained Civil Penalties and Capital The several sorts of them BY the Sanction of the Law we intend the Promises and Penalties wherewith by § 1 God the observation of it and obedience unto it was enforced This the Apostle hath respect unto in sundry places of this Epistle the principal whereof are reported in the fore-going Dissertation To represent this distinctly we may observe that the Law falls under a three-fold consideration First As it was a Repetition and Expression of the Law of Nature and the Covenant of Works established thereon Secondly as it had a new End and design put upon the Administration of it to direct the Church unto the use and benefit of the Promise given of old to Adam and renewed unto Abraham four hundred and thirty years before Thirdly As it was the Instrument of the Rule and Government of the Church and People of Israel with respect unto the Covenant made with them in and about the Land of Canaan And in this three-fold respect it had a three-fold Sanction First As considered absolutely it was attended with promises of life and threatnings § 2 of death both Eternal The original promise of life upon obedience and the curse on its transgression were inseparably annexed unto it yea were essential parts of it as it contained the Covenant between God and Man See Gen. 2. Deut. 27.26 Rom. 6.23 Rom. 4.4 Rom. 10.5 Rom. 11.6 Lev. 18.5 Ezek. 29.11 Gal. 3.12 13. Now in the Administration of the Law the Church was thus far brought under § 3 the obligation of these Promises and Threatnings of Life and Death eternal so far interested in the one and made obnoxious unto the other as that if they used not the Law according to the new dispensation of it wherein it was put into a subserviency unto the Promise as Gal. 3.19 20 21 22 23 24. that they were left to stand and fall according to the absolute tenure of that first Covenant and its ratification which by reason of the entrance of sin proved fatally ruinous unto all that cleaved unto it Rom. 8.3 chap. 9.31 Secondly The Law had in this Administration of it a new End and design put § 4 upon it and that in three things First that it was made directive and instructive unto another End and not meerly preceptive as at the beginning The Authoritative Institutions that in it were super-added to the Moral commands of the Covenant of works did all of them direct and teach the Church to look for Righteousness and Salvation the original ends of the first Covenant in Another and by another way as the Apostle at large disputes in this Epistle and declares positively Gal. 3. throughout Secondly In that it had a dispensation added unto the commands of obedience and interpretation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by condiscension given by God himself as to the perfection of its observance and manner of its performance in reference unto this new end It required not absolutely perfect obedience but perfectness of heart integrity and uprightness in them that obeyed And unto the Law thus considered the former promises and threatnings are annexed For the neglect of this use of it left the Transgressors obnoxious to the Curse denounced in general against them that continued not in the whole Law to do it Thirdly It had merciful relief provided against sin for the supportment and consolation of sinners as we shall see in the consideration of their Sacrifices § 5 Thirdly it may be considered as it was the Instrument of the Rule and Government of the People and Church of Israel according to the tenure of the Covenant made with them about the Land of Canaan and their living unto God therein And in this respect it had four things in it First That it represented unto the people the Holiness of God the Effects whereof are implanted in the Law according to its Original constitution whereupon in it they are so often called to be holy because the Lord and Law-giver was holy Secondly A Representation of his Grace and Condiscention pardoning of sin in the Covenant of mercy in as much as he allowed a Compensation by Sacrifices for so many transgressions which in their own nature were forfeitures of their interest in that Land Thirdly That it was a righteous Rule of obedience unto that People as unto their especial Covenant condition Fourthly That it fully represented the severity of God against wilful transgressors of his Covenant as now renewed in order to the Promise seeing every such transgression was attended in their Administration of Rule with death without mercy § 6 It is of the Law under this third consideration though not absolutely as the Instrument of the Government of the People in Canaan but as it had a Representation in it of that Administration of grace and mercy which was contained in the Promises whereof we treat Concerning this or the Law in this sense we may consider first the Promises then the Threatnings of it And the Promises are of two sorts First such as God took immediately upon himself the accomplishment of Secondly such as others by his institution and appointment were to communicate the benefit of unto the obedient § 7 The first are of three sorts First of Life Temporal as it was an Instrument of their Government and eternal with God as the Promise or Covenant of grace was exemplified or represented therein Levit. 18.5 Ezek. 20.11 Rom. 10.5 Gal. 3.12 Secondly Of a Spiritual Redeemer Saviour Deliverer really to effect what the Ordinances of Institution did represent so to save them eternally to be exhibited in the fulness of time as we have at large already proved Thirdly There are
and mercy it must be by an interest in him which without a constant aboad in Obedience unto his Gospel cannot be attained 3. The next words evince this sense By whom also he made the worlds Probably they render a reason of the Equitableness of this great trust made to the Son He made all and it was meet he should be Lord of all However the force of the Connection of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by whom also he made the worlds equalls the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the All forgoeing to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the worlds following 4. The Inheritance given answers the promise of it unto Abraham which was that he should be Heir of the world Rom. 4.13 namely in his seed Gal. 3.16 as also the request made by Christ on that promise Psal. 2.8 both which extend it to the whole world the Ends of the Earth 5. The Original and Rise of this Inheritance of Christ will give us its true extent which must therefore more especially be considered Upon the Creation of man God gave unto him a Dominion over all things in this lower world Gen. 1.28 29. He made him his Heir Vice-gerent and Substitute in the earth And as for those other Creatures to which his Power and Authority did not immediately extend as the Sun Moon and Stars the whole inanimate Host of the Superiour World they were ordered by him that made them to serve for his good and behoof Gen. 1.14 Deut. 4.19 So that even they also in a sort belonged unto his inheritance being made to serve him in his subjection unto God Further besides this lower part of his Dominion God had for his Glory created Angels in Heaven above of whom we shall have occasion hereafter to treat These made up another branch of Gods Providential Kingdom the whole administred in the upper and lower world being of each other independent and meeting in nothing but their dependance upon and subjection unto God himself Hence they did not so stand in the condition of their Creation but that one kind or race of them might fail and perish without any impeachment of the other So also it came to pass Man might have persisted in his honour and dignity notwithstanding the fall and Apostacy of some of the Angels When he fell from his heirship and dominion the whole subordination of all things unto him and by him unto God was lost And all creatures returned to an immediate absolute dependance on the Government of God without any respect to the Authority and Soveraignty delegated unto man But as the fall of Angels did not in its own nature prejudice mankind no more did this fall of man the Angels that persisted in their obedience they being no part of his inheritance However by the Sin Apostacy and punishment of that portion of the Angels which kept not their first station it was manifested how possible it was that the remainder of them might sin after the similitude of their transgression Things being brought into this condition one branch of the Kingdom of God under the administration of man or allotted to his service being cast out of that order wherein he had placed it and the other in an open possibility of being so also it seemed good to the Lord in his infinite Wisdom to erect one Kingdom out of these two disordered members of his first Doâ—inion and to appoint one common Heir Head Ruler and Lord to them both And this was the Son as the Apostle tells us Ephes. 1.10 He gathered together in one all things in Christ both which are in the Heavens and which are in Earth even in him He designed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bring all into one head and rule in him It is not a similitude taken from casting up accounts wherein lesser summs are in the close brought into one head as some have imagined nor yet an Allusion to Orators who in the close of their long Orations summ up the matter they have at large treated of that the Apostle makes use of both which are beneath the Majesty of and no way suited to illustrate the matter he hath in hand But as Chrysostome well intimates on the place it is as if he had said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he appointed one head to them all Angels and Men with whatsoever in the first constitution of the Divine Government was subordinate unto them So we have found the object and extent of the Heirship of Christ expressed in this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I shall further explain in that brief Scheme of the whole Kingdom of Christ which to the Exposition of these words shall be subjoyned IV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The way whereby Christ the Son came to his Inheritance is in this word expressed God appointed or placed him therein The Word may denote either those special Acts whereby he came into the full possession of his Heirship or it may be extended to other preparatory Acts that long preceeded them especially if we shall take it to be of the same importance with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the second aoristus In the former sense the glorious investiture of the Lord Christ in the full actual possession of his Kingdom after his Resurrection with the manifestation of it in his Ascension and token of its stability in his sitting at the Right hand of God is designed By all these God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made him placed him with solemn investiture Heir of all The grant was made to him upon his Resurrection Matth. 28.18 and therein fully declared unto others Rom. 1.3 Acts 13.33 As there was of Solomons being King when he was proclaimed by Benaiah Zadock and Nathan 1 Kings 1.31 32 33 34. The Solemnization of it was in his Ascension Psal. 68.17 18. Ephes. 4.8 9 10. Typed by Solomons riding on Davids Mule unto his Throne all the people crying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 29. Let the King live All was sealed and ratified when he took possession of his Throne at the Right hand of the Father by all which he was made and declared to be Lord and Christ Acts 2.36 c. 4.11 c. 5.30 31. And such weight doth the Scripture lay upon this glorious Investiture of Christ in his Inheritance that it speaks of his whole power as then first granted unto him Rom. 14.9 Phil. 2.7 8 9 10. And the Reason of it is because he had then actually performed that work and duty upon the Consideration whereof that Power and Authority were eternally designed and originally granted unto him Gods actual committing all power over all things and persons in Heaven and Earth to be exerted and managed for the ends of his Mediation declaring this Act Grant and Delegation by his Resurrection Ascension and sitting at his right hand is that which this word denotes I will not deny but it may have respect unto sundry things preceeding these and preparatory unto them As 1. The Eternal purpose of
the use of others And so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth sometimes signifie to give Hos. 14.2 Verbum accipiendi dare significat cuâ—n accipiunt aliunde ut dent say the Jewish Masters And it was after his Resurrection that this accession was made unto his Kingdom in such an eminent and visible manner as to be a testimony of his Office Joh. 7.39 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy Ghost was not yet because Jesus was not yet glorified not eminently given and received as to these gifts Acts 19.2 And this investiture of him with power over all gifts he makes the bottom of the mission of the Apostles Matth. 28.18 This he had as a fruit of his suffering as a part of his purchase and it is a choice portion of his Lordship and Kingdom The End also why all these gifts are given into his power and disposal is evident 1. The propagation of his Gospel and consequently the setting up of his Kingdom in the world dâ—pends upon them These are the Arms that he furnished his Messengers withall when he sent them forth to fight with to conquer and subdue the world unto him And by these they prevailed By that Spirit of wisdom and knowledge prayer utterance wherewith they were endowed attended where and when needful with the extraordinary gifts before mention'd did they accomplish the work committed unto their charge Now the Lord Christ having a right unto a Kingdom and Inheritance given him which was actually under possession of his Adversary it was necessary that all those arms wherewith he was to make a conquest of it should be given to his disposal 2 Cor. 10.4 These were the weapons of the warfare of his Apostles and Disciples which through God were so mighty to cast down the strong holds of sin and Sathan These are the slings and stones before which the Goliahs of the Earth and Hell did fall This was that power from above which he promised his Apostles to furnish them withall when they should address themselves to the conquest of the world Acts 1.8 With these weapons this furniture for their warfare a few despised persons in the eyes of the world went from Judea unto the ends of the earth subduing all things before them to the obedience of their Lord and Master And 2. By these is his Church edified and to that end doth he continue to bestow them on men and will do so to the end of the world 1 Cor. 12.7 13 14. Ephes. 4.8 9 10 11 12 13. Rom. 12.6 7 8. 1 Pet. 3.10 11. Col. 2.19 And for any to hinder their growth and exercise is what in them lies to pull down the Church of Christ and to set themselves against that testimony which he gives in the world that he is yet alive and that he takes care of his Disciples being present with them according unto his promise 3. And by these means and ways is God glorified in him and by him which is the great end of his Lordship over all the gifts of the Spirit That we may a little by the way look into our especial concernment in these things the order of them and their subserviency one to another may be briefly considered For as Natural gifts are the foundation of and lie in an especial subordination unto Spiritual so are Spiritual gifts enlivened made effectual and durable by Grace The principal end of Christ's bestowing gifts is the erection of a Ministery in his Church for the ends before mentioned And where all these in their order and mutual subserviency unto one another are received by any there and there alone is a competent furniture for the work of the Ministery received And where any of them as to their whole kind are wanting there is a defect in the Person if not a nullity as to the Office Natural gifts and endowments of mind are so necessary a foundation for any that looks towards the work of the Ministery that without some competent measure of them it is madness and folly to entertain thoughts of any progress Unless unto these Spiritual gifts are in Christ's time super-added the other will be never of any use for the edification of the Church as having in their own nature and series no especial tendency unto that end Nor will these super-added spiritual gifts enable any man to discharge his duty unto all well-pleasing before God unless they also are quickned and seasoned by Grace And where there is an intercision of this series and order in any the defect will quickly appear Thus some we see of excellent natural endowments in their first setting forth in the world and in their endeavours on that single stock promising great usefulness and excellency in their way who when they should come to engage in the service of the Gospel evidence themselves to be altogether unfurnished for the employment they undertake yea and to have lost what before they seemed to have received Having gone to the utmost length and bounds that Gifts meerly Natural could carry them out unto and not receiving super-added Spiritual gâ—fts which the Spirit of Christ bestoweth as he pleaseth 1 Cor. 12.11 they faint in the way wither and become utterly useless And this for the most part falleth out when men either have abused their natural gifts to the service of their lusts and in an opposition to the simplicity of the Gospel or when they set upon Spiritual things and pretend to the service of Christ meerly in their own strength without dependance on him as the Heir and Lord of all for abilities and furniture for his work or when they have some fixed corrupt end and design to accomplish and bring about by a pretence of the Ministery without regard to the glory of Christ or compassion to the souls of men which the Lord Christ will not prostitute the gifts of his Spirit to make them serviceable unto And sundry other causes of this failure may be assigned It is no otherwise as to the next degree in this order in reference unto spiritual gifts and saving grace When these gifts in the good pleasure of the Lord of them are super-added unto the natural endowments before mentioned they carry on them who have received them cheerfully comfortably and usefully in their way and progress The former are increased heightned strengthned and perfected by the latter towards that special end whereunto themselves are designed namely the glory of Christ in the work of the Gospel But if these also are not in due season quickned by saving grace if the heart be not moistned and made fruitful thereby even they also will wither and decay Sin and the world in process of time will devour them whereof we have daily experience in this world And this is the Order wherein the Great Lord of all these Gifts hath laid them in a subserviency one kind unto another and all of them unto his own glory And this that hath been spoken will abundantly discover the reason and ground of the
God's Providence joyned with his infinite Wisdom in caring for the works of his own hands the product of his Power requires that it should be so He worketh yet He did not create the world to leave it to an uncertain event to stand by and to see what would become of it to see whether it would return to its primitive nothing of which cask it always smells strongly or how it would be tossed up and down by the adverse and contrary Qualities which were implanted in the severals of it But the same Power and Wisdom that produced it doth still accompany it powerfully piercing through every parcel and particle of it To fancy a Providence in God without a continual Energetical Operation or a Wisdom without a constant care inspection and over-sight of the works of his hands is not to have apprehensions of the Living God but to erect an Idol in our own imaginations Thirdly This work is peculiarly assigned unto the Son not only as he is the Eternal Power and Wisdom of God but also because by his interposition as undertaking the work of Mediation he reprieved the world from an immediate dissolution upon the first entrance of sin and disorder that it might continue as it were the great Stage for the mighty works of God's Grace Wisdom and Love to be wrought in Hence the care of the continuance of the Creation and the disposal of it is delegated unto him as he that hath undertaken to bring forth and consummate the glory of God in it notwithstanding the great breach made upon it by the sin of Angels and men This is the substance of the Apostles discourse Col. 1.15 16 17 18 19 20. Having asserted him to be the Image of God in the sense before opened and declared and to have made all things he affirms that all things have also their present consistency in him and by his Power and must have so until the work of Reconciliation of all things unto God being accomplished the glory of God may be fully retrieved and established for ever 1. We may see from hence the Vanity of expecting any thing from the Creatures but only what the Lord Christ is pleased to communicate unto us by them They that cannot sustain move or act themselves by any power vertue or strength of their own are very unlikely by and of themselves to afford any real assistance relief or help unto others They all abide and exist severally and consist together in their Order and Operation by the Word of the Power of Christ and what he will communicate by them that they will yield and afford and nothing else In themselves they are broken Cisterns that will hold no water what he drops into them may be derived unto us and no more They who rest upon them or rest in them without the consideration of their constant dependance on Christ will find at length all their hopes disappointed and all their Enjoyments vanish into nothing 2. Learn hence also the full absolute plenary self-sufficiency and Soveraignty of the Son our Saviour We shewed before the Vniversality of his Kingdom and Moral Rule over the whole Creation but this is not all A King hath a Moral Rule over his Subjects in his Kingdom but he doth not really and physically give them their Being and Existence he doth not uphold and act them at his pleasure but every one of them stand therein upon the same or an equal bottom with himself He can indeed by the permission of God take away the Lives of any of them and so put an end to all their actings and operations in this World but he cannot give them life or continue their lives at his pleasure one moment or make them so much as to move a finger But with the Lord Christ it is otherwise he not only rules over all the whole Creation disposing of it according to the Rule and Law of his own Counsel and pleasure but also they all have their Beings Natures Inclinations and Lives from him by his Power are they continued unto them and all their Actions are influenced thereby And this as it argues an All-sufficiency in himself so an absolute Soveraignty over all other things And this should teach us our constant dependance on him and our universal subjection unto him 3. And this abundantly discovers the Vanity and folly of them who make use of the Creation in an Opposition unto the Lord Christ and his peculiar interest in this World His own Power is the very ground that they stand upon in their Opposition unto him and all things which they use against him consist in him They hold their Lives absolutely at the pleasure of him whom they oppose and they act against him without whose continual supportment and influence they could neither live nor act one moment which is the greatest madness and most contemptible folly imaginable PRoceed we now with our Apostle in his description of the Person and Offices of the Messiah This beginning of the Epistle as hath been declared contains a summary Proposition of those things which the Apostle intends severally to insist upon throughout the whole And these all relate to the Person and Offices of the Messiah the principal subject of this Epistle Having therefore first declared him to be the great Prophet of the New Testament and Secondly the Lord Ruler and Governour of all things as also manifested the Equity of the Grant of that universal Soveraignty unto him from the Excellency of his Person on the account of his Divine Nature and the Operations thereof in the works of Creation and Providence he proceeds to finish and close his general proposition of the Argument of the Epistle by a brief intimation of his Priestly-Office with what he did therein and what ensued thereon in the remaining words of this Verse And this Order and Method of the Apostle is required by the nature of the things themselves whereof he treats For the work of purging sins which as a Priest he assigns unto him cannot well be declared without a previous manifestation of his Divine Nature For it is opu◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a work of him who is God and man For as God takes it to be his property to blot out our sins so he could not have done it by himself had he not been man also And this is asserted in the next words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Having by himself purged our sins The Vulgar Latin renders these words purgationem peccatorum faciens not without sundry mistakes For First Those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by himself and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our are omitted and yet the Emphasis and proper sense of the whole depends upon them Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having made is rendered in the present Tense making which seems to direct the sense of the words to another thing and Action of Christ than â—hat is here intended And therefore the Expositors of the Roman Church as Thomas
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
his shoulders under that Burden which none else could bear when all lay in a desperate condition Secondly The greatness of this delivery it is from Wrath and Curse and Vengeance Eternal Not from a Trouble or Danger of a few dayes continuance not from a momentary suffering but from Everlasting Wrath under the curse of God and power of Satan in the execution of it which necessarily attend sin and sinners And Thirdly The Way whereby he did it not by his word whereby he made the world not by his Power whereby he sustains and rules the things that he hath made not by paying a price of corruptible things not by revealing a way unto us only whereby we our selves might escape that condition wherein we were as some foolishly imagine but by the sacrifice of himself making his soul an Offering for sin and offering up himself unto God through the Eternal Spirit by laying down his Life for us and greater love can no man manifest than by so doing And Fourthly The Infinite Condescension that he used to put himself into that condition wherein by himself he might purge our sins For to this purpose when he was in the form of God he emptied himself of his Glory made himself of no account was made flesh took on him the form of a servant that he might be obedient unto death the death of the Cross. And Fifthly The End of his undertaking for us which was the bringing of us unto God into his Love and Favour here and the Eternal Enjoyment of him hereafter All these things I say doth the Scripture insist frequently and largely upon to set forth the Excellency of the Love of Christ to render it admirable and amiable unto us And these things should we lay up in our Hearts and continually ponder them that we may give due Acceptance and entertainment to this wonderful Love of the Son of God THe Apostle having thus asserted in general the Sacerdotal Office of Christ and the Sacrifice that he offered with the End of it because that could not be done without the greatest Dejection Humiliation and Abasement of the Son that we may not conceive that he was left in or doth yet abide under the same Condition adds the blessed Event and Consequent of his great work and undertaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He sate down on the right hand of the Majesty on High These words we have already opened as to their sense and importance The design and meaning of the Holy Ghost in them is nextly to be considered The things to be enquired after to this End are First The scope of the Apostle in these words Secondly The manner of his expressing his intendment and the particulars therein intended Thirdly What he related unto in the Mosaical Oeconomy whereby he strengthened the Argument which he had in hand Two things the Apostle in general designs in these words First That the Lord Christ undertaking to purge our sins did by the one offering of himself perfectly effect it so discharging the whole work of his Priesthood as to the making Attonement for sinners This the blessed issue of his undertaking doth demonstrate Immediately upon his work he entered into the Glorious Condition here expressed a signal pledge and Evidence that his Work was perfected and that God was fully satisfied and well pleased with what he had done Secondly The blessed and Glorious Condition of the Lord Jesus after his Humiliation is expressed in these words His Spirit did of old signifie both his sufferings and the Glory that should follow 1 Pet. 1.11 as himself interpreted the Scriptures unto his Disciples Luke 24.26 And this upon the close of his work he requested as due unto him upon Compact and Promise John 17.5 These are the things in general designed by the Apostle in these words Secondly The Manner of his Expression of the Glory and blessed Condition of the Son of God after his purging our sins and what is particularly intimated therein is to be considered Some mistakes or groundless curiosities must first be removed and then the real importance of the words declared Some contend that the Left Hand of old was most honourable so that the placing of Christ at the Right Hand of God as it denotes his Honour and Glory so also an inferiority unto the Father To this purpose they produce some sayings out of some antient Writers among the Heathen giving the preference of place or dignity unto the Left Hand As these sayings are made use of by the Romanists to answer an Objection of very little moment against Peters Supremacy taken from some antient Episcopal Seals wherein the figure of Paul was placed on the Right Hand of that of Peter But this conjecture may be easily disproved by Testimonies innumerable out of approved Authors among the Gentiles And in Scripture the Right Hand doth constantly denote Dignity and Preheminence The instance of Jacobs blessing Josephs Children testifies also the constant usage of those antient times from the intimation of nature it self Gen. 48.17 18 19. And the disposal of the Sheep and Goats at the last day to the Right hand and Left gives the Priviledge to the former So Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the right hand place denoteth a quality of dignity And Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if he would have signified any lessening or diminution he would not have said sit on my Right Hand but on my Left So that it is Honour and Glory which is signified by this Expression and that only Some granting the Right Hand to denote the most honourable place enquire whither this be spoken in reference unto God the Father himself or unto others that do or may be supposed to sit on his left hand For the first sense contends Maldonate on Matth. 16.19 For saith he though it be impossible that the Son in absolute or Essential Glory should be preferred before or above the Father yet as to his immediate Rule over the Church he may more shew forth his Power and Glory in the Rule and Government of all things Others contend that it is spoken with respect unto sitting at the left hand above which this is preferred But this whole enquiry is both curious and groundless For First Though sitting at the Right Hand be a token of great Glory and Dignity yet as the Apostle speaks in this very case it is manifest that he is excepted who put all things under him 1 Cor. 15.27 He who thus exalted him over all at his right hand is excepted and Secondly Here is no comparison at all or regard to sitting on the left hand nor is there so where ever that expression is used but only the Glory of Christ the Mediator is absolutely declared And this may be cleared by other instances Solomon placed his Mother when she came unto him on his Right Hand a token of exceeding Honour but he himself sate down on the Throne of the Kingdom 1 Kings 2.19 The Church is said
to be at the Right Hand of Christ Psalm 45.9 which as it prefers her above all others so it takes not off her subjection unto Christ. Nero in Suetonius when Tiridâ—tes King of Armenia came to Rome placed him for his Honour on his right hand himself sitting on the Throne of Rule And where three sit together the middle seat is the place of chiefest honour Hence Cato in Africk when Juba would have placed himself in the midst between him and Scipio removed himself to the left hand of Scipio that Juba might not have the place of preheminence above Roman Magistrates It is not unlikely but that there may be an Allusion in this expression unto the Sanhedrin the highest Court of Judicature among the Jews He who presided in it was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Father of Judgement or Father of the House of Judgement and sate at the right hand of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Prince of the Sanhedrin next unto him unto whom belonged the execution of the Sentence of the Court. Of this Ab din mention is made in the Targum Cantic 7.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Father of the House of Judgement who judgeth thy judgements agreeable to that the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgement unto the Son The whole Expression then is plainly Metaphorical and taken from what is or was in use amongst men and thence translated to signifie the State and Condition of Christ in Heaven And this is that which the Apostle in general intimates in these words that as the greatest Honour that can be done unto any one among the sons of men is for the Chief Ruler to set him next himself on his Right Hand so is the Son as Mediator made partaker of the greatest glory that God hath to bestow in Heaven It is not then the Essential Eternal Glory of the Son of God that he hath equal with the Father which in these words is expressed and whereof the Apostle had spoken before but that Glory and Honour which is bestowed on him by the Father after and upon the Sacrifice of himself for the Expiation of sin So then the Right hand of God is not here taken absolutely as in other places for the Power and Strength of God but with the adjunct of sitting at it it shadows out a place and eminency of Glory as he is considered on his Throne of Majesty and therefore it is here termed the Right hand of Majesty and not of Omnipotency or Power In particular two things are intended in this Expression First The Security of Christ from all his Adversaries and all sufferings for the future The Jews knew what he suffered from God and Man Hereof he lets them know what was the reason it was for the purging of our sins And moreover declares that now he is everlastingly secured from all Opposition for where he is thither his Adversaries cannot come as Joh. 7.34 He is above their reach beyond their power secure in the Throne and Presence of God Thus the fruit of the Church being secured from the rage and persecution of Sathan is said to be caught up unto God and to his throne Rev. 12.5 Hence though men do and will continue their malice and wrath against the Lord Christ to the end of the world as though they would crucifie him afresh yet he dies no more being secure out of their reach at the Right hand of God Secondly His Majesty and Glory inexpressible All that can be given of God in heaven God on his Throne is God in the full manifestation of his own Majesty and Glory on his Right hand sits the Mediator yea so as that he also is in the midst of the Thrones Revel 5.6 How little can our weak understandings apprehend of this Majesty See Phil. 2.8 Matth. 20.21 Rom. 8.34 Col. 3.5 Ephes. 1.20 These are the things which the Apostle sets forth in this Expression And they are plainly intimated in the Context of the Psalm from whence the words are taken Psal. 110.1 So that it is not his Rule and Authority but his Safety Majesty and Glory which accompany them that are here intended Thirdly We are to enquire what it was that the Apostle had respect unto in this Ascription of Glory and Majesty unto Christ in the old Church state of the Jews and so what it is that he preferreth him above It is thought by many that the Apostle in these words exalteth Christ above David the chiefest King among the Jews Of him it is said that God would make him his first-born higher than the Kings of the earth Psal. 89.27 His Throne was high on the earth and his Glory above that of all the Kings about him but for the Lord Christ he is incomparably exalted above him also in that he is sate down at the Right hand of the Majâ—sty on High But as was said these words denote not the Rule Power or Authority of Christ typed by the Kingdom of David but his Glory and Majesty represented by the magnificent Throne of Solomon Besides he is not treating of the Kingly Power of Christ but of his Sacerdotal Office and the Glory that ensued upon the discharge thereof That therefore which in these words the Apostle seems to have had respect unto was the high Priests entrance into the Holy Place after his offering of the solemn anniversary Sacrifice of Expiation Then alone was he admitted into that Holy Place or Heaven below where was the solemn Representation of the Presence of God his Throne and his Glory And what did he there He stood with all Humility and lowly Reverence ministring before the Lord whose presence was there represented He did not go and sit down between the Cherubims but worshipping at the foot-stool of the Lord he departed It is not saith the Apostle so with Christ but as his Sacrifice was infinitely more excellent and effectual than theirs so upon the offering of it he entered into the Holy Place or Heaven it self above and into the real glorious presence of God not to minister in humility but to a participation of the Throne of Majesty and Glory He is a King and Priest upon his Throne Zech. 6.13 Thus the Apostle shuts up his general Proposition of the whole matter which he intends farther to dilate and treat upon In this description of the Person and Offices of the Messiah he coucheth the springs of all his ensuing Arguments and from thence enforceth the Exhortation which we have observed him constantly to pursue And we also may hence observe 1. That there is nothing more vain foolish and fruitless than the Opposition which Sathan and his Agents yet make unto the Lord Christ and his Kingdom Can they ascend into heaven Can they pluck the Lord Christ from the Throne of God A little time will manifest this madness and that unto Eternity 2. That the service of the Lord Christ is both safe and honourable
〈◊〉 is both to differ and excel but the differentius of the Vulgar yields no good sense in this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haereditavit sortitus est jure hereditario obtinuit of the importance of which word before Being in so much preferred exalted made eminent above Angels as he obtained inherited a more excellent name than they There are five things considerable in and for the Exposition of these words First What it is that the Apostle asserts in them as his general Proposition namely that the Son as the great Priest and Prophet of the Church was preferred above and made more glorious and powerful than the Angels and how this was done and wherein it doth consist Secondly When he was so preferred above them which belongs unto the Explication and right understanding of the former Thirdly The Degree of this preference of him above the Angels intimated in the comparison being by so much made more excellent as he hath c. Fourthly The Proof of the Assertion both absolutely and as to the Degree intimated and this is taken from his Name Fifthly The way whereby he came to have this Name he obtained it as his lot and portion or he inherited it First He is made more excellent than the Angels preferred above them that is say some declared so to be Tum res dicitur fieri cum incipit patesieri Frequently in tho Scripture a thing is then said to be made or to be when it is manifested so to be And in this sense the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometimes used Rom. 3.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let God be true and every man a liar that is manifested and acknowledged so to be So James 1.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that is approved in trial and thereby manifested to be sincere and sound In this sense the Apostle tells us Rom. 1.3 that the Lord Christ was declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead The resurrection from the dead did not make him to be the Son of God but evidently manifested and declared him so to be According to this interpretation of the words that which the holy Ghost intimateth is That whereas the Lord Christ ministred in an outwardly low condition in this world whilst he purged our sins yet by his sitting down at the right hand of God he was revealed manifested declared to be more excellent than all the Angels in heaven But I see no reason why we should desert the proper and most usual signification of the word nothing in the Context perswading us so to do Besides this suits not the Apostles design who doth not prove from the Scripture that the Lord Christ was manifested to be more excellent than the Angels but that really he was preferred and exalted above them So then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as much as preferred exalted actually placed in more Power Glory Dignity than the Angels This John Baptist affirms of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was preferred before me because he was before me Preferred above him called to another manner of Office than that which John ministred in made before or above him in Dignity because he was before him in Nature and Existence And this is the proper sense of the words The Lord Jesus Christ the Revealer of the Will of God in the Gospel is exalted above preferred before made more excellent and glorious than the Angels themselves all or any of them who ministred unto the Lord in the giving of the Law on mount Sinai Some object unto this Interpretation That he who is said to be made or set above the Angels is supposed to have been lower than they before To which I answer And so he was not in respect of Essence Subsistence and real Dignity but in respect of the infirmities and sufferings that he was exposed unto in the discharge of his word here on the earth as the Apostle expresly declares chap. 2.9 2. And this gives us light into our second enquiry on these words namely When it was that Christ was thus exalted above the Angels 1. Some say that it was in the time of his Incarnation for then the Humane Nature being taken into Personal subsistence with the Son of God it became more excellent than that of the Angels This sense is fixed on by some of the Antients who are followed by sundry Modern Expositors But we have proved before that it is not of either Nature of Christ absolutely or abstractedly that the Apostle here speaketh nor of his Person but as vested with his Office and discharging of it And moreover the Incarnation of Christ was part of his Humiliation and Exinanition and is not therefore especially intended where his Exaltation and Glory is expresly spoken of 2. Some say that it was at the time of his Baptism when he was anointed with the Spirit for the discharge of his Prophetical Office Isa. 60.1 2. But yet neither can this Designation of the time be allowed And that because the main things wherein he was made lower than the Angels as his temptations and sufferings and death it self did follow his Baptism and Unction 3. It must therefore be the time of his Resurrection Ascension and Exaltation at the Right hand of God which ensued thereon that is designed as the season wherein he was made more excellent than the Angels as evidently appears from the Text and Context For 1. That was the Time as we have shewed before when he was gloriously vested with that All Power in heaven and earth which was of old designed unto him and prepared for him 2. The Order also of the Apostles discourse leads us to fix on this season After he had by himself purged our sins he sat down c. Being made so much more excellent that is therein and then he was so made 3. The Testimony in the first place produced by the Apostle in the confirmation of his Assertion is elsewhere as we shall see applied by himself unto his Resurrection and the Glory that ensued and consequently they are also in this place intended 4. This Preference of the Lord Christ above the Angels is plainly included in that Grant of All Power made unto him Matth. 28.18 expounded Ephes. 1.21 22. 5. The Testimony used by the Apostle in the first place is the word that God spake unto his King when he set him upon his holy Hill of Sion Psal. 2.6 7 8. which typically expresseth his glorious Enstalment in his heavenly Kingdom The Lord Christ then who in respect of his Divine Nature was always infinitely and incomparably himself more excellent than all the Angels after his Humiliation in the Assumption of the Humane Nature with the sufferings and temptations that he underwent upon his Resurrection was exalted into a condition of Glory Power Authority and Excellency and entrusted with Power over them as our Apostle here informs us 3. In this Preference and Exaltation of the Lord Christ there is
as to their authority on the veracity of him that maketh use of them and as to their cogency in Argument on the acknowledgment of them on whom they are pressed Where we find these concurring as in this place there remains nothing for us but to endeavour a Right understanding of what is in it self infallibly true and unquestionably cogent unto the ends for which it is used Indeed the main Difficulty which in this place Expositors generally trouble themselves withall ariseth purely from their own mistake They cannot understand how these words should pâ—ove the Natural Sonship of Jesus Christ which they supposed they are produced to confirm seeing it is from thence that he is exalted above the Angels But the truth is the words are not designed by the Apostle unto any such end his aim is only to prove that the Lord Christ hath a Name assigned unto him more excellent either in it self or in the manner of its Attribution than any that is given unto the Angels which is the medium of this first Argument to prove him not as the Eternal Son of God nor in respect of his Humane Nature but as the Revealer of the Will of God in the Gospel to be preferred above all the Angels in heaven and consequently in particular above those whose ministery was used in the giving of the Law Two things then are necessary to render this Testimony effectual to the purpose for which it is cited by the Apostle first that it was originally intended of him to whom he doth apply it secondly that there is a Name in it assigned unto him more excellent than any ascribed unto the Angels For the first of these we must not wave the Difficulties that Interpreters have either found out in it or cast upon it The words are taken from 2 Sam. 7.14 and are part of the Answer returned from God unto David by Nathan upon his resolution to build him an house The whole Oracle is as followeth v. 11. The Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house v. 12. And when thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowels and I will establish his Kingdom Or as 1 Chron. 17.11 And it shall come to pass when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers that I will raise up thy seed after thee which shall be of thy sons and I will establish his kingdom v. 13. He shall build an house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever chap. 13. v. 12. he shall build me an house and I will establish his throne for ever v. 14. I will be his Father and he shall be my son if he commit iniquity I will chastise him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men v. 15. But my mercy shall not depart away from him as I took it from Saul whom I put away before thee 1 Chron. 13. I will be his Father and he shall be my son and I will not take my mercy away from him as I took it from him that was before thee v. 16. And thy house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before me thy throne shall be established for ever 1 Chron. But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever and his throne shall be established for evermore This is the whole Divine Oracle from whence the Apostle takes the testimony under consideration and the difficulty wherewith it is attended ariseth from hence that it is not easie to apprehend how any thing at all in these words should be appropriated unto the Lord Christ seeing Solomon seems in the whole to be directly and only intended And concerning this difficulty there are three Opinions among Interpreters 1. Some cutting that knot which they suppose could not otherwise be loosed affirm that Solomon is not at all intended in these words but that they are a direct and immediate Prophesie of Christ who was to be the Son of David and to build the Spiritual House or Temple of God And for the confirmation of this Assertion they produce sundry Reasons from the Oracle it self As 1. It is said That God would raise up to David a seed or son intimating that he was not as yet born being foretold to be raised up whereas Solomon was born at the time of this Prophesie 2. It is also affirmed that this Son or seed should reign and sit upon the throne of David after his decease and being gathered unto his fathers whereas Solomon was made King and sate upon the Throne whilst David was yet alive and not entred into rest with his fathers 3. The Throne of this Son is to be established for ever or as the same promise is expressed Psal. 89. whilst the Sun and Moon continue The Throne of Solomon and his posterity failing within a few Genâ—rations 4. The Title there given unto him who is directly prophesied of shews him as our Apostle intimates to be preferred above all the Angels and none will say that Solâ—mon was so who as he was inferiour to them in Nature and Condition so by sin he greatly provoked the Lord against himself and his posterity But yet all these Observations though they want not some appearance and probability of reason come short of proving evidently what they are produced for as we may briefly manifest for 1. It doth not appear that Solomon was born at the time of the giving forth of this Oracle if we must suppose that God intimated in it unto David that none of the sons which he then had should succeed him in his Kingdom yea it is manifest from the story that he was not Besides raising up doth not denote the Birth or Nativity of the person intended but his Designation or Exaltation to his Throne and Office as is the usual meaning of that expression in the Scripture so that Solomon might be intended though now born yea and grown up if not yet by the providence of God marked and taken out from amongst his brethren to be King as afterwards he was 2. Although a few days before the death of David to prevent Sedition and Division about Titles and Pretensions to the Kingdom Solomon by his appointment was proclaimed King or Heir to the Crown yet he was not actually vested with the whole Power of the Kingdom until after his natural decease Moreover also David being then very weak and feeble and rendred unable for Publick Administration the short remainder of his days after the Inauguration of Solomon needed no Observation in the Prophesie The other two remaining Reasons must be afterwards spoken unto And for the present removal of this Exposition I shall only observe That to affirm Solomon not at all to be intended in this Oracle nor the House or Temple which afterwards he built is to make the whole Answer of God by the
Prophet unto David to be Equivocal For David enquired of Nathan about building an House or material Temple unto God Nathan returns him answer from God that he shall not do so but that his son should perform that work This Answer David understands of his immediate son and of a material House and thereupon makes material provision for it and preparation in great abundance upon the encouragement he received in this Answer of God Now if neither of these were at all intended in it neither his son nor the material Temple it is evident that he was led into a great mistake by the Ambiguity and Equivocation of the word which we find by the Event that he was not God approving and accepting of his Obedience in what he did It remains then that Solomon firstly and immediately is intended in these words 2. Some on the other hand affirm the whole Prophesie so to belong unto and so to be fulfilled in Solomon and in him alone that there is no direct respect therein unto our Lord Jesus Christ. And the reason for their assertion they take from those words which immediately follow those insisted on by the Apostle namely If he commit iniquity I will chastise him with the rod of men which cannot be applied unto him who did no sin neither was there guile found in his mouth They say therefore that the Apostle applies these words unto Christ only by way of an Allegory thus he deals with the Law of not muzling the Ox which treadeth out the corn applying it to the provision of carnal things to be made for the Dispensers of the Gospel As he also in another place representeth the two Testaments in the story of Sarah and Hagar That which principally is to be insisted on for the removal of this difficulty and which will utterly take it out of our way will fall in with our Confirmation of the third Interpretation to be proposed For the present I shall only answer that as the words cited by the Apostle do principally concern the Person of Christ himself yet being spoken and given out in form of a Covenant they have respect also unto him as he is the Head of the Covenant which God makes with all the Elect in him And thus whole mystical Christ Head and Members are referred unto in the Prophecy and therefore David in his repetition and pleading of this Oracle Psal. 89.30 changeth those words if he commit iniquity into if his children forsake my law Notwithstanding then a supposition of transgression in him concerning whom these words are spoken the Lord Christ may be intended in them such failings and transgressions as disannul not the Covenant often falling out on their part for whom he undertaketh therein But I offer this only in majorem cautelam to secure the testimony insisted on unto our Apostles intention the difficulty it self will be clearly afterwards assoiled 3. We say therefore with others that both Solomon and the Lord Christ are intended in this whole Oracle Solomon literally and nextly as the Type the Lord Christ principally and mystically as he who was typed figured and represented by him And our sense herein shall be farther explained and confirmed in the ensuing Considerâ—tions 1. That there never was any one Type of Christ and his Offices that entirely represented him and all that he was to do For as it was impossible that any one thing or person should do so because of the perfection of his Person and the Excellency of his Office which no one thing that might be appointed to prefigure him as a Type because of its limitedness and imperfection could fully represent so had any such been found out that multiplication of Types which God in his infinite Wisdom was pleased to make use of for the revelation of him intended in them had been altogether useless and needless Wherefore according as God saw good and as he had made them meet and fit so He designed one thing or person to figure out one thing in him another for another end and purpose 2. That no Type of Christ was in all things that he was or did a Type of him but only in that particular wherein he was designed of God so to be and wherein he hath revealed him so to have been David was a Type of Christ but not in all things that he was and did In his Conquests of the Enemies of the Church in his Throne and Kingdom he was so but in his private actions whether as a Man or as a King or Captain he was not so The like must be said of Isaac Melchisedeck Solomon and all other personal Types under the Old Testament and much more of other things 3. That not all things spoken of him that was a Type even therein wherein he was a Type are spoken of him as a Type or have any respect unto the thing signified but some of them may belong unto him in his personal capacity only And the reason is because he who was a Type by God's institution might morally fail in the performance of his duty even then and in those things when and wherein he was a Type Hence somewhat may be spoken of him as to his moral performance of his Duty that may no way concern the Anti-type or Christ prefigured by him And this wholly removes the difficulty mentioned in the second Interpretation of the words excluding the Lord Christ from being directly in the Oracle upon that expression if he sin against me for those words relating to the moral duty of Solomon in that wherein he was a Type of Christ namely the Rule and Administration of his Kingdom may not at all belong to Christ who was prefigured by God's institution of things and not in any moral deportment in the observance of them 4. That what is spoken of any Type as it was a Type and in respect of its institution to be such doth not really and properly belong unto him or that which was the Type but unto him who was represented thereby For the Type it self it was enough that there was some resemblance in it of that which was principally intended the things belonging unto the Anti-type being affirmed of it Analogically on the account of the relation between them by God's institution Hence that which follows on such Enuntiations doth not at all respect or belong to the Type but only to the Anti-type Thus at the Sacrifice of Expiation the scape Goat is said to bear and carry away all the sins of the people into a land not inhabited not really and in the substance of the matter but only in an instituted Representation for the Law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Much less may the things that ensue upon the Lord Christ's real bearing and taking away of our sins be ascribed to the devoted beast So is it in this case The words applied by the Apostle to prove the Son to have a more excellent Name than the Angels
and to be wise to sobriety And the Rule of that Sobriety is given us for ever Deut. 29.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secret things belong to the Lord our God but revealed things to us and our Children Divine Revelation is the Rule and measure of our knowledge in these things and that bounds and determines our sobriety And hence the Apostle condemning the Curiosity of men in this very subject about Angels makes the nature of their sin to consist in exceeding these bounds by an enquiry into things unrevealed and the rise of that evil to lye in Pride Vanity and Fleshliness and the tendency of it to be unto false Worship Superstition and Idolatry Col. 2.18 Neither is there any thing more averse from Right Reason nor more condemned by wise men of former times than a curious humour of prying into those things wherein we are not concerned and for whose investigation we have no certain honest lawful Rule or medium And this evil is encreased where God himself hath given bounds to our enquiries as in this case he hath 2. This alone will bring us unto any Certainty and Truth Whilest men indulge to their own imaginations and fancies as too many in this matter have been apt to do it is sad to consider how they have wandered up and down and with what fond Conceits they have deceived themselves and others The world hath been filled with monstrous Opinions and Doctrines about Angels their Nature Offices and Employments some have Worshipped them others pretended I know not what Communion and entercourse with them in all which conceits there hath been little of Truth and nothing at all of Certainty Whereas if men according to the Example of the Apostle would keep themselves to the word of God as they would know enough in this matter for the discharging of their own Duty so they would have Assurance and Evidence of Truth in their conceptions without which pretended high and raised notions are but a shadow of a dream worse then professed ignorance II. We may hence observe That the Glory Honour and Exaltation of Angels lyes in their subserviency to the Povidence of God It lyes not so much in their Nature as in their work and service The intention of the Apostle is to shew the Glory of Angels and their Exaltation which he doth by the induction of this Testimony reporting their serviceableness in the works wherein of God they are employed God hath endowed the Angels with a very Excellent Nature furnished them with many eminent properties of Wisdom Power Agility Perpetuity but yet what is hereby glorious and honourable herein consists not meerly in their nature it self and its Essential Properties all which abide in the horridest and most to be detested Part of the whole Creation namely the Devils but in their conformity and answerableness unto the Mind and Will of God that is in their moral not meerly natural Endowments These make them amiable glorious excellent Unto this their Readiness for and compliance with the will of God that God having made them for his service and employing them in his work their discharge of their Duty therein with Cheerfulness Alacrity Readiness and Ability is that which renders them truly honourable and glorious Their Readiness and Ability to serve the Providence of God is their Glory For 1. The greatest Glory that any Creature can be made partaker of is to serve the Will and set forth the Praise of its Creator That is its Order and Tendency towards its Principal End in which two all true Honour consists It is glorious even in the Angels to serve the God of Glory what is there above this for a creature to aspire unto what that its nature is capable of Those among the Angels who as it seems attempted somewhat farther somewhat higher attained nothing but an endless Ruine in shame and misery Men are ready to fancy strange things about the Glory of Angels and do little consider that all the difference in Glory that is in any parts of Gods Creation lyes meerly in Willingness Ability and Readiness to serve God their Creator 2. The works wherein God employes them in a subservience unto his Providence are in an especial manner glorious works For the service of Angels as it is intimated unto us in the Scripture it may be reduced unto two Heads For they are employed either in the communication of Protection and Blessings to the Church or in the Execution of the Vengeance and Judgements of God against his Enemies Instances to both these purposes may be multiplyed but they are commonly known Now these are glorious works God in them eminently exalts his Mercy and Justice the two properties of his Nature in the Execution whereof he is most eminently exalted and from these works ariseth all that Revenue of Glory and Praise which God is pleased to reserve to himself from the world so that it must needs be very honourable to be employed in these works 3. They perform their Duty in their service in a very glorious manner with great Power Wisdom and uncontroulable Efficacy Thus one of them flew 145000. of the Enemies of God in a night Another set fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from Heaven of the like Power and Expedition are they in all their services in all things to the utmost capacity of creatures answering the Will of God God himself it is true sees that in them and their Works which keeps them short of absolute Purity and Perfection which are his own Properties but as to the capacity of meer Creatures and for their state and condition there is a perfection in their Obedience and that is their Glory Now if this be the great Glory of Angels and we poor worms of the earth are invited as we are into a Participation with them therein what unspeakable folly will it be in us if we be found negligent in labouring to attain thereunto Our future Glory consists in this that we shall be made like unto Angels and our Way towards it is to do the Will of our Father on Earth as it is done by them in Heaven Oh in how many Vanities doth vain man place his Glory nothing so shamefull that one or other hath not gloried in whilest the true and only glory of doing the will of God is neglected by almost all But we must treat again of these things upon the last Verse of this Chapter Verse VIII IX HAving given an Account of what the Scripture teacheth and testifieth concerning Angels in the following Verses He sheweth how much other things and far more glorious are spoken to and of the Son by whom God revealed his will in the Gospel Ver. 8 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But unto the Son Syr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but of the Son he saith which is necessarily supplyed as to the Apostles design In the Psalm the words are spoken by way of Apostrophe to the Son and they are recited by
for concerning him alone came that Voice from the excellent glory This is my beloved Son hear him So also in the other sense the Apostle is not comparing the manner of their attending unto the Doctrine of the Law which certainly they ought to have done with all diligence and their attendance unto the Gospel but shews the reasons which they had to attend unto the one and the other as the following verses clearly manifest This then may be that which the Apostle intimates in this word namely that they had more abundant cause and a more excellent reason for their attending unto the Doctrine of the Gospel than they had unto that of the Law on this account that he by whom the Gospel was immediately preached unto us was the Son of God himself But the other application of the word is more commonly received wherein it intends the duty enjoyned In reference unto the Duty exhorted unto there is expressed the Object of it The things heard Thus the Apostle chuseth to express the Doctrine of the Gospel with respect unto the way and manner whereby it was communicated unto them namely by preaching for faith cometh by hearing and hearing is of the word preached Rom. 10.14 15. And herein doth he magnifie the great Ordinance of preaching as every where else he maketh it the great means of begetting faith in men The Lord Christ himself first preached the Gospel Acts 1.1 and verse 4. of this chapter Concerning him it was said from heaven Hear him Matth. 17.5 as he who revealed the Father from his own bosome Joh. 1.18 From him the Gospel became to be the Word heard When he had finished the course of his Personal Ministery he committed the same work unto others sending them as the Father sent him They also preached the Gospel and called it the Word that is that which they preached See 1 Cor. 1. So in the Old Testament it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa. 53.1 Auditus an hearing or that which was heard being preached So that the Apostle insists on and commends unto them not only the things themselves wherein they had been instructed but also the way whereby they were communicated unto them namely by the great Ordinance of preaching as he farther declares verse 4. This as the means of their believing as the ground of their profession they were diligently to remember consider and attend unto The Duty it self directed unto and the manner of its performance are expressed in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to attend or give heed What kind of attendance is denoted by this word was in part before declared An attendance it is with Reverence Assent and Readiness to obey So Acts 16.14 God opened the heart of Lydia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to attend unto the things that were spoken not to give them the hearing only there was no need of the opening of her heart for the meer attention of her ear but she attended with readiness humility and resolution to obey the Word The effect of which attention is expressed by the Apostle Rom. 6.17 To attend then unto the Word preached is to consider the Author of it the Matter of it the Weight and concernment of it the Ends of it with Faith Subjection of spirit and Constancy as we shall with our Apostle more at large afterwards explain The Duty exhorted unto being laid down a Motive or Enforcement unto it is subjoyned taken from the danger that would ensue the neglect thereof And this is either from the Sin or Punishment that would attend it according unto the various interpretations of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flow out or fall before mentioned It it signifies to fall or perish then the punishment of the neglect of this Duty is intimated We shall perish as water that is poured on the earth Thereunto is the frail life of man compared 2 Sam. 14.14 This sense of the word is embraced by few Expositors yet hath it great countenance given unto it by the ensuing discourse verse 2 and 3. and for that reason is not unworthy our consideration For the design of the Apostle in those verses is to prove that they shall deservedly and assuredly perish who should neglect the Gospel And the following particles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and if in verse 2. may seem to relate unto what was before spoken and so to yield a reason why the Unbelievers should so perish as he had intimated which unless it be expressed in this word the Apostle had not before at all spoken unto And in this sense the Caution here given is That we should attend unto the word of the Gospel left by our neglect thereof we bring upon our selves inevitable ruine and perish as water that is spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up again But the truth is that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prefixed will not be well reconciled unto this sense and interpretation unless we should suppose it to be redundant and insignificative and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lest at any time we should flow out should be the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absolutely that we fall not But there is no just reason to render that word so useless Allow it therefore significative and it may have a double sense 1. To denote an uncertain time quando aliquando at any time 2. A conditional event fortè ne fortè lest it should happen In neither of these senses will it allow the words to be expounded of the Punishment that shall befall Unbelievers which is most certain both as to the Time and the Event Neither doth the Apostle in the next Verses threaten them that neglect the Gospel that at some time or other they may perish but le ts them know that their destruction is certain and that from the Lord. It is then our sinful losing of the Word and the benefits thereof which the Apostle intendeth And in the next verses he doth not proceed to prove what he had asserted in this verse but goes on to other Arguments to the same purpose taken from the unquestionable event of our neglect of the Word and losing the benefits thereof The especial reason therefore why the Apostle thus expresseth our losing of the doctrine of the Gospel by want of diligent attendance unto it is to be enquired after Generally the expression is looked on as an allusion unto leaking vessels which suffer the water that is poured into them one way to run out many As he speaks in the Comedian who denied that he could keep secret some things if they were communicated unto him Plenus rimarum sum huc atque illuc effluo I am full of chinks and flow out on every side And the word relates unto the persons not to the things because it contains a crime It is our duty to retain the word which we have heard and therefore it is not said that the Word flows out but that we as it
of temptation and when they awake and look about them the whole power of the Word is lost and departed from them With reference unto these and the like seasons it is that the Apostle gives us this caution to take heed lest at any time the word which we have heard do slip out 2. The ways and means also whereby this wretched effect is produced are various yea innumerable some of them only I shall mention whereunto the rest may be reduced As 1. Love of this present world This made Demas a leaking vessel 2 Tim. 4.10 and choaks one fourth part of the seed in the Parable Matth. 13. Many might have been rich in grace had they not made it their end and business to be rich in this world 1. Tim. 6.9 But this is too well known as well as too little regarded 2. Love of sin A secret lust cherished in the heart will make it plenum remarum full of chinks that it will never retain the showers of the Word and it will assuredly open them as fast as convictions stop them 3. False Doctrines Errors Heresies false Worship Superstition and Idolatries will do the same I place these things together as those which work in the same kind upon the Curiosity Vanity and Darkness of the minds of men These break the vessel and at once pour out all the benefits of the Word that ever were received And many the like instances might be given And this gives us the reason of the necessity of that heeding the Word which we before insisted on Without it at one time or other by one means or other we shall lose all the design of the Word upon our souls That alone will preserve us and carrie us through the course and difficulties of our Profession The Duty mentioned then is of no less concernment unto us than our souls for without it we perish Let us not deceive our selves a slothful negligent hearing of the Word will bring no man to life The commands we have to watch pray strive labour and fight are not in vain The warnings given us of the Opposition that is made to our faith by indwelling sin Sathan and the world are not left on record for nothing no more are the sad examples which we have of many who beginning a good Profession have utterly turned aside to sin and folly All these things I say teach us the necessity of the Duty which the Apostle enjoyneth and which we have explained III. The Word heard is not lost without the great sin as well as the inevitable ruine of the souls of men Lost it is when it is not mixed with faith when we receive it not in good and honest hearts when the end of it is not accomplished in us and towards us And this befalls us not without our sin and woful neglect of duty The Word of its own nature is apt to abide to incorporate it self with us and to take root but we cast it out we pour it forth from us And they have a woful account to make on whose souls the guilt thereof shall be found at the last day IV. It is in the nature of the Word of the Gospel to water barren hearts and to make them fruitful unto God Hence as was shewed was it compared to Water Dews and Rain which is the foundation of the Metaphorical expression here used Where this word comes it makes the parched ground a pool and the thirsty land springs of water Isa. 35.7 These are the waters of the Sanctuary that heal the barren places of the earth and make them fruitful Ezek. 47. The River that makes glad the City of God Psal. 46.7 That River of living water that comes forth from the Throne of God Rev. 22.1 And the places and persons which are not healed or benefited by these waters are left to barrenness and burning for evermore Ezek. 47.11 Heb. 6 8. With the dew hereof doth God water his Church every moment Isa. 27.3 And then doth it grow as a Lilly and cast forth its roots as Lebanâ—n Hos. 14.5 6 7. Abundant fruitfulness unto God follows a gracious receiving of this dew from him Blessed are they who have this dew distilling on them every morning who are watered as the Garden of God as a land that God careth for V. The consideration of the Revelation of the Gospel by the Son of God is a powerful motive unto that diligent attendance unto it which we have before described This is the inference that the Apostle makes from the Proposition that he had made of the Excellency of the Son of God Therefore And this is that which in the greatest part of the ensuing Chapter he doth pursue This is that which God declares that he might so justly expect and look for namely that when he sent his Son to the Vineyard he should be regarded and attended unto And this is most reasonable upon many accounts 1. Because of the Authority wherewith he spake the word Others spake and delivered their message as servants he as the Lord over his own house chap. 3.6 The Father himself gave him all his Authority for the revealing of his Mind and therefore proclaimed from heaven that if any one would have any thing to do with God they were to hear him Matth. 17.10 2 Pet. 1.17 The whole Authority of God was with him for him did God the Father seal or put the stamp of all his Authority upon him and he spake accordingly Matth. 7.29 And therefore he spake both in his own Name and the Name of his Father so that this Authority sprung partly from the Dignity of his Person for being God and Man though he spake on the earth yet he who was the Son of man was in heaven still Joh. 3.13 and therefore is said to speak from heaven Heb. 12.21 and coming from heaven was still above all Joh. 3.31 having power and authority over all And partly from his Commission that he had from his Father which as we said before gave all Authority into his hand Joh. 5.26 Being then in himself the Son of God and being peculiarly designed to reveal the Mind and Will of the Father which the Prophet calls his standing and feeding in the strength of the Lord in the Majesty of the Name of the Lord his God Mic. 5.4 All the Authority of God over the souls and consciences of men is exerted in this Revelation of the Gospel by him It cannot then be neglected without the contempt of all the Authority of God And this will be a sore aggravation of the sin of Vnbelievers and Apostates at the last day If we attend not unto the word on this account we shall suffer on it He that despiseth the word despiseth him and he that despiseth him despiseth him also who sent him 2. Because of the Love that is in it There is in it the love of the Father in sending the Son for the revealing of himself and his mind unto the
the Kingdom of Light and Glory and an especial part of our salvation For God is light and in him there is no darkness at all so that whilest we are under the power of it we can have no entercourse with him For what communion hath light with Darkness Now the removal hereof is by the Gospel 2 Cor. 4.6 God who commands light to shine out of darkness shines in our hearts to give us the knowledge of his Glory in the face of his Son and he doth it by the Illumination of the glorious Gospel of Christ v. 4. For not only is the Object revealed hereby Life and Immortality being brought to light by the Gospel but also the Eyes of our understandings are enlightened by it savingly to discern the Truths by it revealed For by it it is that both the eyes of the blind are opened and light shineth unto them that sit in darkness whence we are said to be called out of darkness into marvelous light 1 Pet. 2.9 And our Calling is no otherwise but by the Word of the Gospel And as the implanting of this heavenly Light in us is by the Word so the growth and encrease of it in spiritual Wisdom is no otherwise wrought 2 Cor. 3.18 Col. 2.2 And this spiritual Acquintance with God in Christ this saving Wisdom in the Mysterie of Grace this holy Knowledge and Understanding of the Mind of God this growing Light and insight into Heavenly things which is begun encreased and carryed on by the Gospel is an especial dawning of that Glory and immortality which this salvation tendeth ultimately unto Fifthly There belongs unto it also that Joy and Consolation which believers are made partakers of by the Holy Ghost in this world Oft times their Tryals are many their troubles great and their temptations abound in the course of their obedience And these things are ready to fill them with Cares Fears Sorrows and Disconsolation Now though our Lord Jesus Christ hath foretold his Disciples of all the tribulations and sorrows that should attend them in this world and taught them to uphold and support their spirits with the thoughts and hopes of the glory that shall be revealed yet in the salvation that he hath purchased for them there is provision of comfort with joy unspeakable and full of glory even during their pilgrimage here below Such joy indeed it is as the world knoweth not nor can know The principles and causes of it its Nature and Effects are all hidden unto them Yet such it is that all the contentments and enjoyments of this world are no way to be compared with it and such do all that have tasted of it esteem it to be Now this also is wrought in us and communicated unto us by the Gospel It is the Word of Promise whereby God gives strong consolation unto the heirs of salvation Heb. 6.17 18. And upon the receiving of this Word by faith it is that Believers rejoyce with unspeakable and full of glory Not only supportment and comfort in the bearing of troubles but glorious Exultations and Extasies of joy are oft-times wrought in the hearts of Believers by the Gospel Now they can endure now they can suffer now they can die joy is upon their heads and in their hearts and sorrow and sighing flie away Here is Rest here is Peace here are Refreshments here are Pleasures here is Life to be desired The good Lord sweeten and season all our hearts with all these Consolations these joys of his Kingdom and that by the blessed Word of his Grace Lastly to instance in no more particulars the Gospel is the Word of Salvation and the instrument in the hand of God for the conferring of it upon Believers because they shall be taken into the full possession and enjoyment of it at the last day by and according unto the word and sentence of it It is the Symbol and Tessera that gives men final admission into glory The secrets of all hearts shall be judged according to the Gospel Rom. 2.6 And by the word of it shall the Elect receive their Crown And in these respects is the Gospel a word of salvation But secondly it is said in our Proposition as in the Text to be great salvation Now we have seen that the Gospel is called salvation metonymically the Cause being called by the name of the Effect But in this adjunct of Great so great the Effect it self Salvation it self preached and tendred by the Gospel is principally intended That then in the next place we are to declare namely that this Salvation preached in the Gospel is great salvation Neither is it absolutely said to be great salvation but such or so great salvation And it is usual in the Scripture where it would suggest unto our minds and thoughts an inconceivable greatness to use some such expressions as plainly intimate somewhat more than can be expressed See 1 Pet. 4.17 18. Heb. 10.29 Joh. 3.16 So great that is absolutely so and comparatively so with respect unto the benefits received by the Law and inconceivably so beyond what we can conceive or express There ought then to be no expectation that we should declare the real greatness of this salvation which the Apostle intimates to be inexpressible we shall only point at some of those considerations wherein the greatness of it doth most principally consist and appear First it is great in the Eternal contrivance of it When sin had defaced the glory of the first Creation and the Honour of God seemed to be at a stand no way remaining to carry it on unto that End which all things at first tended unto all Creatures were and for ever would have been ignorant of a way for the retrievment of things into the former or a better Order or the bringing forth a salvation for that which was lost For besides that there were such horrible confusions and such inextricable intanglements brought upon the Creation and the several parts of it which none could discern how they might be joynted and set in order again there appeared a repugnancy in the very properties of the Divine Nature unto any relief or salvation of sinners Let sinners be saved and what shall become of the Justice Holiness and Wrath of God all which are engaged to see a meet recompence of reward rendred unto every transgression And this was enough eternally to silence the whole Creation by reason of that indispensible Obligation which is on them always and in all things to prefer the Honour and Glory of their Maker before the Being or well-being of any creatures what ever Should the holy Angels have set upon a contrivance for the salvation of sinners upon the first discovery that it would interfere and clash with the Glory of God as every contrivance of Wisdom finite and limited would have done undoubtedly yea rise up against his very Blessedness and Being they would instantly have cast it from them as an abominable thing and have rested eternally in
havâ— more Assurance of success more Assistance in the conflict more Joy in the tryal than any other Conquerors have Or we do not only conquer but triumph also For Satan he tells Believers that they have overcome the wicked one 1 John 12.13 14. And shews how it came to pass that they should be able to do so Chap. 4. v. 7. It is because greater is he that is in them than he that is in the world The Good Spirit which he hath given unto them to help and assist them is infinitely greater and more powerful than that evil Spirit which rules in the Children of disobedience And by this means is Satan bruised even under their feet A conflict indeed we must have with them we must wrestle with principalities and powers in heavenly places but the success is secured through the Assistance we receive from this Captain of our salvation The World also is subdued in them and by them 1 John 5.4 Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith Faith will do this work it never failed in it nor ever will He that believeth shall overcome the whole strength of Christ is engaged unto his Assistance Sin is the worst and most obstinate of all their Enemies This puts them hard to it in the Battle and makes them cry out for aid and help Rom. 7.24 But this also they receive strength against so as to carry away the day I thank God saith the Apostle through Jesus Christ our Lord v. 15. namely for deliverance and victory Sin hath a double design in its Enmity against us 1. To reign in us 2. To condemn us If it be disappointed in these designs it is absolutely conquered and that it is by the Grace of Christ. As to its Reign and Dominion it is perfectly defeated for the present Rom. 6.14 The means of its Rule is the Authority of the Law over us that being removed and our souls put under the Conduct of Grace the Reign of sin comes to an end Nor shall it condemn us Rom. 8.1 And what can it then do Where is the voice of this Oppressor It abides but a season and that but to endure and dye Death also contends against us by its own sting and our fear but the first by the Grace of Christ is taken from it and the latter we are delivered from and so have the Victory over it And all this is the work of this Captain of our salvation for us and in us 5. He doth not only conquer all their Enemies but he avenges their sufferings upon them and punisheth them for their Enmity These enemies though they prevail not absolutely nor finally against the Sons of God yet by their Temptations Persecutions Oppressions they put them oft times to unspeakable hardships sorrow and trouble This the Captain of their salvation will not take at their hands but will avenge upon them all their ungodly endeavours from the lowest unto the greatest and highest of them Some he will deal withal in this world but he hath appointed a day wherein not one of them shall escape See Rev. 20.10 14. Devil and Beast and false Prophet and Death and Hell shall altogether into the lake of fire 6. He provides a Reward a Crown for them and in the bestowing thereof accomplisheth this his blessed Office of the Captain of our salvation He is gone before the Sons into Heaven to make ready their Glory to prepare a place for them and he will come and receive them unto himself that where he is there they may be also John 14.2 3. When he hath given them the Victory he will take them unto himself even unto his Throne Rev. 3.22 And as a Righteous Judge give unto them a crown of Righteousnâ—ss and Glory 2 Tim. 4.8 And thus is the whole work of conducting the Sons of God unto Glory from first to last committed unto this great Captain of their salvation and thus doth he discharge his Office and trust therein and blessed are all they who are under his leading and guidance And all this should teach us First To betake our selves unto him and to relye upon him in the whole course of our Obedience and all the passages thereof To this purpose is he designed by the Father this hath he undertaken and this doth he go through withal No address that is made unto him in this matter will he ever refuse to attend unto no Case or Condition that is proposed unto him is too hard for him or beyond his Power to relieve He is careful watchful tender faithful powerful and all these Properties and blessed Endowments will he exercise in the discharge of this Office What should hinder us from betaking our selves unto him continually Is our Trouble so small are our Duties so ordinary that we can wrestle with them or perform them in our own strength Alas we can do nothing not think a good thought not endure a reproachful word And what ever we seem to do or endure of our selves it is all lost for in us there dwelleth no good thing Or are our Distresses so great our Temptations so many our corruptions so strong that we begin to say there is no hope Is any thing too hard for the Captain of our salvation Hath he not already conquered all our enemies Is he not able to subdue all things by his Power Shall we faint whilest Jesus Christ lives and reigns But it may be we have looked for Help and Assistance and it hath not answered our Expectation so that now we begin to faint and despond Sin is not subdued the World is still triumphant and Satan rageth as much as ever his Temptations are ready to pass over our souls But have we sought for his Help and Assistance in a due manner with faith and perseverance unto right Ends of his Glory and Advantage of the Gospel Have we taken a right measure of what we have received Or do we not complain without a cause Let us not judge according to outward appearance but judge righteous judgement What is it to us if the World triumph if Satan rage if Sin tempt and vex we are not promised that it shall be otherwise But are we forsaken Are we not kept from being prevailed against If we ask amiss or for improper Ends or know not what we do receive or think because the strength of Enemies appears to be great we must fail and be ruined Let us not complain of our Captain for all these things arise from our own Unbelief Let our Application unto him be according unto his Command our Expectations from him according to the Promise our Experiences of what we receive be measured by the Rule of the Word and we shall find that we have all grounds of Assurance that we can desire Let us then in every condition look unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith who hath undertaken the leading of us in the
two branches for it is either Remunerative or Vindictive And this Righteousness of God as the Supreme Ruler and Judge of all is that upon the account whereof it was meet for him or became him to bring the sons to glory by the sufferings of the Captain of their salvation It was hence just equal and therefore indispensibly necessary that so he should do Supposing that man was created in the Image of God capable of yielding Obedience unto him according to the Law concreated with him and written in his heart which Obedience was his moral being for God as he was from or of him supposing that he by sin had broken this Law and so was no longer for God according to the primitive Order and Law of his Creation supposing also notwithstanding all this that God in his infinite Grace and Love intended to bring some men unto the enjoyment of himself by a new way Law and appointment by which they should be brought to be for him again Supposing I say these things which are all here supposed by our Apostle and were granted by the Jews it became the Justice of God that is it was so just right meet and equal that the Judge of all the world who doth right could no otherwise do than cause him who was to be the Way Cause Means and Author of this Recovery of men into a new condition of being for God to suffer in their steed For whereas the Vindictive Justice of God which is the respect of the Universal Rectitude of his Holy Nature unto the deviation of his rational creatures from the Law of their Creation required that that deviation should be revenged and themselves brought into a new way of being for God or of glorifying him by their sufferings when they had refused to do so by Obedience it was necessary on the account thereof that if they were to be delivered from that condition that the Author of their deliverance should suffer for them And this excellently suits the design of the Apostle which is to prove the necessity of the suffering of the Messiah which the Jews so stumbled at For if the Justice of God required that so it should be how could it be dispensed withall Would they have God unjust Shall he fore-go the glory of his Righteousnâ—ss and Holiness to please them in their presumption and prejudices It is true indeed if God had intended no salvation of his sons but one that was temporal like that granted unto the people of old under the conduct of Joshua there had been no need at all of the sufferings of the Captain of their salvation But they being such as in themselves had sinned and come short of the glory of God and the salvation intended them being spiritual consisting in a new ordering of them for God and the bringing of them unto the eternal enjoyment of him in Glory there was no way to maintain the Honour of the Justice of God but by his sufferings And as here lay the great mistake of the Jews so the denial of this condecency of Gods Justice as to the sufferings of the Messiah is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Socinians Schlictingius on this place would have no more intended but that the way of bringing Christ to suffer was answerable unto that design which God had laid to glorifie himself in the salvation of man But the Apostle says not that it became or was suitable unto an arbitrary free decree of God but it became himself as the Supreme Ruler and Judge of all he speaks not of what was meet unto the execution of a free Decree but what was meet on the account of Gods Holiness and Righteousness to the constitution of it as the description of him annexed doth plainly shew And herein have we with our Apostle discovered the great indispensible and fundamental cause of the sufferings of Christ. And we may hence observe that V. Such is the desert of sin and such is the immutability of the Justice of God that there was no way possible to bring sinners unto glory but by the death and sufferings of the Son of God who undertook to be the Captain of their salvation It would have been unbecoming God the Supreme Governour of all the world to have passed by the desert of sin without this satisfaction And this being a truth of great importance and the foundation of most of the Apostles ensuing discourses must be a while insisted on In these Verses that fore-going this and some of those following the Apostle directly treats of the Causes of the sufferings and death of Christ. A matter as of great importance in it self comprizing no small part of the mystery of the Gospel so indispensibly necessary to be explained and confirmed unto the Hebrews who had entertained many prejudices against it In the fore-going Verse he declared the cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the inducing leading moving cause which was the Grace of God by the grace of God he was to taste death for men This grace he farther explains in this Verse shewing that it consisted in the Design of God to bring many sons to glory All had sinned and come short of his glory He had according to the exigence of his Justice denounced and declared Death and Judgment to be brought upon all that sinned without exception Yet such was his infinite Love and Grace that he determined or purposed in himself to deliver some of them to make them sons and to bring them unto glory Unto this end he resolved to send or give his Son to be a Captain of salvation unto them And this Love or Grace of God is every where set forth in the Gospel How the sufferings of this Captain of salvation became useful unto the sons upon the account of the manifold union that was between them he declares in the following Verses farther explaining the Reasons and Causes why the benefit of his sufferings should redound unto them In this Verse he expresseth the cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the procuring cause of the death and sufferings of Christ which is the Justice of God upon supposition of sin and his purpose to save sinners And this upon examination we shall find to be the great cause of the death of Christ. That the Son of God who did no sin in whom his soul was always well pleased on the account of his obedience should suffer and die and that a death under the sentence and curse of the Law is a great and astonishable mystery all the Saints of God admire at it the Angels desire to look into it What should be the cause and reason hereof why God should thus bruise him and put him to grief This is worth our enquiry and various are the conceptions of men about it The Socinians deny that his sufferings were poenal or that he died to make satisfaction for sin but only that he did so to confirm the Doctrine that he had taught and to set us an
which is not so is not bondage they will desire and labour for liberty When some in the Roman Senate asked an Ambassador of the Priernates after they were overthrown in battel if they granted them peace how they would keep it what peace they should have with them He answered Si bonam dederitis fidam perpetuam si malam haud diuturnam Whereat when some in the Senate stormed as if he had threatned them with War and Rebellion the wiser sort commended him as one that spake like a man and a free-man adding as their reason An credi posse ullum populum aut hominem denique in ea conditione cujus eam poeniteat diutius quam necesse sit mansurum Liv. lib. 8. So certain it is that bondage wearieth and stirreth up restless desires in all endeavours in some after liberty 3. Bondage perplexeth the mind It ariseth from fear the greatest perturbation of the mind and is attended with weariness and distrust all which are perplexing 4. Where bondage is compleat it lies in a tendency unto future and greater evils Such is the bondage of condemned malefactors reserved for the day of execution such is the bondage of Sathan who is kept in chains of darkness for the judgment of the great day And all these things concur in the bondage here intended which is a dejected troublesome state and condition of mind arising from the apprehension and fear of death to be inflicted and their disability in whom it is to avoid it attended with fruitless desires and vain attempts to be delivered from it and to escape the evil feared And this is the condition of sinners out of Christ whereof there are various degrees answerable unto their convictions For the Apostle treats not here of mens being servants unto sin which is voluntary but of their sense of the guilt of sin which is wrought in them even whether they will or no and by any means they would cast off the yoke of it though by none are they able so to do for Fourthly They are said to continue in this estate all their lives Not that they were always perplexed with this bondage but that they could never be utterly freed from it For the Apostle doth not say that they were thus in bondage all their days but that they were obnoxious and subject unto it They had no ways to free or deliver themselves from it but that at any time they might righteously be brought under its power and the more they cast off the thoughts of it the more they increased their danger This was the estate of the children whose deliverance was undertaken by the Lord Christ the Captain of their salvation And we may hence observe that All sinners are subject unto death as it is poenal The first sentence reacheth them all Gen. 2.17 And thence are they said by nature to be children of wrath Ephes. 2.3 obnoxious unto death to be inflicted in a way of wrath and revenge for sin This passeth upon all in as much as all have sinned Rom. 5.12 This all men see and know but all do not sufficiently consider what is contained in the sentence of death and very few how it may be avoided Most men look on death as the common lot and condition of mankind upon the account of their frail natural condition as though it belonged to the natural condition of the children and not the moral and were a consequent of their being and not the demerit of their sin They consider not that although the principles of our nature are in themselves subject unto a dissolution yet if we had kept the Law of our Creation it had been prevented by the power of God engaged to continue life during our obedience Life and obedience were to be commensurate until temporal obedience ended in life eternal Death is poenal and its being common unto all hinders not but that it is the punishment of every one How it is changed unto Believers by the death of Christ shall be afterward declared In the mean time all mankind is condemned as soon as born Life is a reprieve a suspension of execution If during that time a pardon be not effectually sued out the sentence will be executed according to the severity of justice Under this Law are men now born this yoke have they pulled on themselves by their apostasie from God Neither is it to any purpose to repine against it or to conflict with it there is but one way of delivery 2. Fear of death as it is poenal is inseparable from sin before the sinner be delivered by the death of Christ. They were in fear of death There is a fear of death that is natural and inseparable from our present condition that is but natures aversation of its own dissolution And this hath various degrees occasioned by the differences of mens natural constitution and other accidental occurrences and occasions so that some seem to fear death too much and others not at all I mean of those who are freed from it as it is in the curse and under the power of Sathan But this difference is from occasions forreign and accidental there is in all naturally the same aversation of it And this is a guiltless infirmity like our weariness and sickness inseparably annexed unto the condition of mortality But sinners in their natural state fear death as it is poenal as an issue of the curse as under the power of Sathan as a dreadful entrance into eternal ruine There are indeed a thousand ways whereby this fear is for a season stifled in the minds of men Some live in brutish ignorance never receiving any full conviction of Sin Judgment or Eternity Some put off the thoughts of their present and future estate resolving to shut their eyes and rush into it when as they can no longer avoid it Fear presents it self unto them as the fore-runner of death but they avoid the encounter and leave themselves to the power of death it self Some please themselves with vain hopes of deliverance though well they know not how nor why they should be partakers of it But let men fore-go these helpless shifts and suffer their own innate light to be excited with such means of conviction as they do enjoy and they will quickly find what a judgment there is made in their own souls concerning death to come and what effects it will produce They will conclude that it is the judgment of God that they which commit sin are worthy of death Rom. 1.32 and then that their own consciences do accuse and condemn them Rom. 2.14 15. Whence unavoidably fear dread and terrour will seize upon them And then 3. Fear of death as poenal renders the minds of men obnoxious unto bondage which what it is we have in part before declared It is a state of trouble which men dislike but cannot avoid It is a poenal disquietment arising from sense of future misery fain would men quit themselves of it but are not
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
he could not dye which it was necessary that he should do I desire to know why if the death which he was to undergo was not that death which they were obnoxious unto for whom he dyed how could it be any way more beneficial unto them than any thing else which he might have done for them although he had not dyed There is no ground then to pretend such an Amphibologie in the words as that which some contend for Now as we observed before the Death of Christ is here placed in the midst as the End of one thing and the Means or cause of another the End of his own Incarnation and the means of the Childrens Deliverance from the first we may see VII That the first and principal End of the Lord Christs assuming Humane Nature was not to reign in it but to suffer and dye in it He was indeed from of old designed unto a Kingdom but he was to suffer and so to enter into his glory Luke 24.26 And he so speaks of his coming into the world to suffer to dye to bear witness unto the truth as if that had been the only work that he was incarnate for Glory was to follow a Kingdom to ensue but suffering and dying was the principal work he came about Glory he had with his Father before the world was John 17.5 and therein a joynt Rule with him over all the works of his hands He need not have been made partaker of flesh and blood to have been a King for he was the King immortal invisible the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the only Potentate from everlasting But he could not have dyed if he had not been made partaker of our Nature And therefore when the People would have taken him by force and have made him a King he hid himself from them John 6.15 But he hid not himself when they came to take him by force and put him to death but affirmed that for that hour or business he came into the world John 18.4 5 11. And this farther sets forth his Love and Condescension He saw the work that was proposed unto him how he was to be exposed unto Miseries Afflictions and Persecutions and at length to make his soul an offering for sin yet because it was all for the Salvation of the children he was contented with it and delighted in it And how then ought we to be contented with the Difficulties Sorrows Afflictions and Persecutions which for his sake we are or may be exposed unto When he on purpose took our nature that for our sakes he might be exposed and subject unto much more than we are called unto There yet remains in these Verses the Effects of the Death of Christ that he might destroy sin and deliver wherein we must consider 1. Who it is that had the Power of Death 2. Wherein that Power of his did consist 3. How he was destroyed 4. How by the Death of Christ 5. What was the Delivery that was obtained for the children thereby 1. He that had the Power of Death is described by his name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Devil the great Enemy of our salvation the great Calumniator make-bate and false Accuser the firebrand of the creation The Head and Captain of the Apostasie from God and of all desertion of the Law of the creation The old Serpent Prince of the Apostate Angels with all his Associates who first falsly accused God unto man and continues to accuse men falsly unto God of whom before 2. His Power in and over Death is variously apprehended What the Jews conceive hereof we have before declared and much of the Truth is mixed with their fables And the Apostle deals with them upon their Acknowledgement in general that he had the Power of death Properly in what sense or in what respect he is said so to have it Learned Expositors are not agreed All consent 1. That the Devil hath no absolute or Soveraign supream power over death Nor 2. Any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Authority about it de jure in his own Right or on Grant so as to act lawfully and rightly about it according unto his own Will Nor 3. Any judging or determining power as to the Guilt of death committed unto him which is peculiar to God the supream Rector and Judge of all Gen. 2.17 Deut. 32.39 Rev. 1.18 But wherein this Power of Satan doth positively consist they are not agreed Some place it in his Temptations unto Sin which bind unto death some in his Execution of the Sentence of death he hath the Power of an Executioner There cannot well be any doubt but that the whole Interest of Satan in reference unto Death is intended in this Expression This Death is that which was threatned in the beginning Gen. 2.17 Death poenally to be inflicted in the way of a Curse Deut. 27.26 Gal. 3.20 that is death consisting in the Dissolution of soul and body with every thing tending poenally thereunto with the everlasting Destruction of body and soul. And there are sundry things wherein the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Power of Satan in reference unto this death doth consist As 1. He was the means of bringing it into the world So is the Opinion of the Jews in this matter expressed in the Book of Wisdom written as is most probable by one of them not long before this Epistle They tell us Chap. 1.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God made not death it belonged not unto the Original Constitution of all things but Chap. 2.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Envy of the Devil-death entred into the world And that expression of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is retained by the Apostle Rom. 5.12 Only he layes the End of it on the morally deserving cause the sin of man as here it is laid on the efficiently procuring cause the Envy of the Devil And herein consisted no small part of the Power of Satan with respect unto death Being able to introduce sin he had power to bring in death also which in the righteous judgement of God and by the Sentence of the Law was inseparably annexed thereunto And by a parity of Reason so far as he yet continueth to have Power over sin deserving death he hath Power over death it self 2. Sin and Death being thus entered into the world and all mankind being guilty of the one and obnoxious unto the other Satan became thereby to be their Princess as being the Prince or Author of that state and condition whereinto they are brought Hence he is called the Prince of this world John 12.32 and the God of it 2 Cor. 4.4 Inasmuch as all the world is under the Guilt of that sin and death which he brought them into 3. God having passed the sentence of death against sin it was in the Power of Satan to terrifie and affright the consciences of men with the Expectation and dread of it so bringing them into Bondage And many God gives up
then was he made like unto the Brethren in a Participation of Humane Nature Secondly That in this nature he should be perfectly Holy and exactly discharge his duty according unto the Mind and Will of God was all that was required of him as to his being an High Priest But this was not all that the estate and condition of the Brethren required Their sorrows tenderness weakness miseries disconsolations are such that if there be not a contemperation of his sublime Holiness and absolute perfection in fulfilling of all Righteousness with some Qualifications enclining him to Condescension Pity Compassion and tender sense of their condition what ever might be the issue of their safety in the life to come their Comforts in this life would be in continual hazard For this cause therefore was he made like unto them in the infirmities of their nature their Temptations and Sufferings from whence all their disconsolations and sorrows do arise Hence was the necessity of the Qualifications for his Office which by his sufferings and Temptations he was furnished withal and they are two First Mercifulness he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 merciful tenderly compassionate as the Syriack Version renders the word misericors one that layes all the miseries of his people to heart so caring for them to relieve them Mercy in God is but a naked simple Apprehension of misery made Effective by an act of his holy Will to relieve Mercy in Christ is a compassion a condolency and hath a moving of pity and sorrow joyned with it And this was in the Humane Nature of Christ a Grace of the Spirit in all perfection Now it being such a Vertue as in the operation of it deeply affects the whole soul and body also and being incomparably more excellent in Christ than in all the Sons of men it must needs produce the same effects in him wherewith in others in lesser degrees it is attended Thus we find him at all times full of this Compassion and pity towards all the Sons of men yea the worst of his enemies expressing it self by sighs and tears intimating the deep compassion of his heart And this made him as it were even forget his own miseries in his greatest distress when seeing the Daughters of Jerusalem mourn for him as he was going to his Cross he minds them of that which his compassionate heart was fixed on even their approaching misery and ruine Luke 23.28 But yet neither is this Mercifulness in general that which the Apostle intends but he considers it as excited provoked and drawn forth by his own temptations and sufferings He suffered and was tempted that he might be merciful not absolutely but a merciful High Priest The Relation of the Sufferings and Temptations of Christ unto his Mercifulness is not as unto the Grace or Habit of it but as unto its especial Exercise as our High Priest And this mercifulness of Christ is the gracious Condolency and Compassion of his whole soul with his people in all their temptations sufferings dangers fears and sorrows with a continual propensity of Will and Affections unto their Relief implanted in him by the Holy Ghost as one of those Graces which were to dwell in his nature in all fulness excited and provoked as to its continual exercise in his Office of High Priest by the sense and experience which he himself had of those Miseries which they undergo whereof more on the last Verse Secondly The other Qualification mentioned is that he should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faithful Some understand by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verus legitimus true and rightful made so in a due manner whereof the Apostle treats expresly Chap. 5.5 Others his general Faithfulness Integrity and Righteousness in the discharge of his Office being faithful unto him that appointed him as Chap. 3.2 But neither of these senses answer the especial design of the Apostle nor his referring of this Qualification unto his conformity with the Brethren in sufferings and temptations It must also answer that mercifulness which we have before described It consists therefore in his exact constant careful consideration of all the concernments of the Brethren under their temptations and sufferings This he is excited unto by his own Experience of what it is to serve God in such a condition It is described Isa. 40.11 Not his Faithfulness then in general whereby he discharged his whole Office and accomplished the work committed unto him mentioned John 17.4 but his constant Care and Condescension unto the Wants and Sorrows of his suffering and tempted Brethren is here intended Before we proceed unto the Explication of the remaining passages of these Verses what offers it self from what hath been already discoursed unto our Instruction may be observed As First The promised Messiah was to be the great High Priest of the people of God This the Apostle here presumes and proves elsewhere And this we have elsewhere confirmed The especial Office of Priesthood for one to perform it in the behalf of others came in after sin upon the first Promise In the state of Innocency every one was to be Priest for himself or perform in his own name the things which with God he had to do according unto the Law of his Creation This priviledge failing by sin which cut off all gracious entercourse between God and man a new way was provided and included in the first Promise for the transaction of things between God and sinners This was by Christ alone the promised seed But because he was not to be immediately exhibited in the flesh and it was the will of God that sundry Sacrifices should be offered unto him partly for his Honour and Glory in the world and to testifie the subjection of his people unto him partly to teach and instruct them in the Nature and Benefits of the Priesthood which he had designed for them and to exemplifie it in such Representations as they were capable of he did at several seasons institute various sorts of temporary fading typical Priests this he did both before and after the Law Not that ever there was amongst them a Priest properly and absolutely so called by whom the things of men might be completely and ultimately transacted with God Only those who were appointed to administer before the Lord in the behalf of others were called Priests as Rulers are called gods because they represented the true Priest and outwardly expressed his actings unto the people The true proper and absolute High Priest is Jesus Christ alone the Son of God for he alone had all the solemnities that were necessary for the constitution and confirmation of such a Priest As in particular the Oath of God was necessary hereunto that his Priesthood might be stable and unchangeable Now none was ever appointed a Priest by the Oath of God but Christ alone as the Apostle declares chap. 7.20 21. And how this differences his Office from that of others shall on that place be made manifest 2. He alone
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
that Office do flow was to make Reconciliation or Attonement for sin This John declares 1 Ep. 2.2 We have an Advocate with the Father and he is a propitiation for our sins What he doth for us in Heaven as our Advocate depends on what he did on earth when he was a Propitiation for our sins This work was that which was principally regarded in the first Promise Gen. 3.15 namely That which he was to do by his sufferings To shadow out and represent this unto the Church of old were all the Sacrifices of the Law and the Typical Priesthood it self instituted They all directed Believers to look for and to believe the Attonement that was to be made by him And that this should be the foundation of all his other actings as an High Priest was necessary First On the part of his Elect for whom he undertook that Office They were by nature Enemies of God and children of Wrath unless Peace and Reconciliation be made for them in the first place they could neither have encouragement to go to him with their Obedience nor to expect any mercy from him or Acceptation with him For as Enemies they could neither have any mind to serve him nor hope to please him Here lye the first thoughts of all who have any design seriously to appear before God or to have to do with him wherewith shall we come before him how shall we obtain Reconciliation with him Until this Enquiry be answered and satisfied they find it in vain to address themselves unto any thing else nor can obtain any ground of hope to receive any good thing from the hand of God This order of things the Apostle layes down Rom. 5.8 9 10. The first thing to be done for us was to reconcile us to God whilest we were sinners and enemies this was done by the death by the blood of Christ when as our High Priest he offered himself a Sacrifice for us This being performed as we have abundant Cause of and Encouragement unto Obedience so also just ground to expect what ever else belongs unto our salvation as he also argues Chap. 8. Secondly It was so on his own part also Had not this been first accomplished he could not have undertaken any other Act of his Priestly Office for us What the Lord Christ doth in Heaven on our behalf was prefigured by the entrance of the High Priest into the Holy Place Now this he could not do unless he had before offered his Sacrifice of Attonement the blood whereof he carried along with him into the presence of God All his Intercession for us his watching for our Good as the merciful High Priest over the House of God is grounded upon the Reconciliation and Attonement which he made his Intercession indeed being nothing but the blessed Representation of the Blood of the Attonement Besides this was required of him in the first place namely that he should make his soul an Offering for sin and do that in the Body prepared for him which all the Sacrifices and Burnt-Offerings of old could not effect nor accomplish And therefore hereon depended all the Promises that were made unto him about the success of his Mediation so that without the performance of it he could not claim the accomplishment of them Thirdly It was so on the part of God also For herein principally had he designed to manifest his Righteousness Grace Love and Wisdom wherein he will be glorified Rom. 3.25 He set him forth to be a propitiation to declare hâ—s Righteousness the Righteousness of God was most eminently glorified in the Reconciliation wrought by Christ when he was a Propitiation for us or made attonement for us in his blood And herein also God commendeth his Love unto us Rom. 5.8 John 3.16 1 John 4.9 And what greater demonstration of it could possibly be made than to send his Son to dye for us when we were enemies that we might be reconciled unto him All after actings of God towards us indeed are full of Love but they are all streams from this fountain or Rivers from this Ocean And the Apostle summs up all the Grace of the Gospel in this that God was in Christ reconciling us to himself and that by this way of Attonement making him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might become the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.19 21. And so also he declares that this was the mysterie of his Will wherein he abounded towards us in all Wisdom and Prudence Ephes. 1.8 9 10. So that in all things the great glory which God designed in the Mediation of Christ is founded alone in that Act of his Priesthood whereby he made Reconciliation for the sins of his people And therefore 1. They who weaken oppose or take away this Reconciliation are Enemies to the salvation of men the Honour of Christ and the Glory of God From men they take their Hopes and Happiness from Christ his Office and Honour from God his Grace and Glory I know they will allow of a Reconciliation in Words but it is of Men to God not of God unto men They would have us reconcile our selves unto God by Faith and Obedience but for the Reconciliation of God unto us by Sacrifice Satisfaction and Attonement that they deny What would they have poor sinners do in this case they are Enemies unto God go say they and be reconciled unto him lay aside your Enmity and be no more his adversaries but alas he is our Enemy also we are children of wrath obnoxious to the curse as transgressors of his Law and how shall we be delivered from the wrath to come Take no care of that there is no such Justice in God no such Indignation against sin and sinners as you imagine but our Consciences tell us otherwise the Law of God tells us otherwise the whole Scripture testifies to the contrary all the Creation is filled with tokens and evidences of this Justice and Indignation of God against sin which you deny And would you have us to give credit unto you contrary to the constant dictates of our own Consciences the Sentence of the Law the Testimony of the Word the Voyce of the whole Creation and that in a matter of such importance and everlasting concernment unto us What if all these should prove true and you should prove lyars should we not perish for ever by relying on your testimony Is it reasonable we should attend unto you in this matter Go with your Sophisms unto men who were never burdened with a sense of the Guilt of sin whose Spirits never took in a sense of Gods displeasure against it who never were brought under bondage by the sentence of the Law who never were forced to cry out in the bitterness and anguish of their souls what shall we do to be saved Wherewith shall we come before the Lord or appear before the High God and it may be they will be entangled and seduced by you but
Priest in things appertaining unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to reconcile that is make reconciliation for the sins of the people Two things are to be considered in these words 1. The Object of the Priestly action here assigned to the Lord Christ. 2. The Action it self which with respect thereunto he is said to perform The first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the people that is say some the seed of Abraham whose interest in the Mediation of Christ and their priviledge therein the Apostle here minds them of to provoke the Hebrews to constancy in their faith and profession And so also they limit the term Brethren before used not as they say that the Elect among the Gentiles are excluded but that he expresly mentions only the first fruits in the Jews But this sense is not necessarily included in the words the intention of the Apostle in the expression is only to give some light into the effect of the Priesthood of Christ from the Office of the High Priest under the Old Testament and the discharge thereof For as he had a peculiar people for whom he made attonement so also hath Christ that is all his Elect. 2. The Action ascribed unto him is expressed in those words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which want not their difficulty the construction of the Verb being inconsistent with its native and proper signification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is properly and usually in all Writers Sacred and others to appease to attone to please to propitiate to reconâ—ile But the following word seems not to admit of that sense in this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For how can any one be said to please or attone or reconcile sin Wherefore some laying the emphasis of the expression on the construction do regulate the sense of the Verb by the Noun of the Act by the Object and so will have it signifie to expiate cleanse and do away sin to cleanse the sins of the people to do away the sins of the people The Vulgar Latine renders the word repropitio ut repropitâ—aret which as Anselm tells us and he hath those that follow him is composed of re prope and cleo a barbarous Etymologie of a barbarous word Propitio is a Latinâ— word and used not only by Plautus but by Suetonius and Pliny and that to appease attone please or turn away anger Most Translations render it by expio ad expiandum peccata but the signification of that word is also doubtful It is indeed sometimes used for to cleanse make pure and to take away sin but never in any good Author but with reference unto attonement to take them away by sacrifice by publick punishments by mens devoting themselves to destruction So Livy speaking of Horatius who killed his sister Ita ut caedes manifesta aliquo tamen piaculo lueretur imperatum patri ut filium expiaret pecunia publica Expiare is the same with luere piaculo which is to take away the guilt of a crime by a commutation of punishments There may then be a double sense of these words 1. To make attonement and reconciliation for sin appeasing the anger and wrath of God against it 2. To remove and take away sin either by the cleansing and sanctifying of the sinner or by any means prevailing with him not to continue in sin Against the first sense the construction of the word with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sins is objected Against the latter the constant sense of the word it self which is not to be deserted It is the former sense therefore which we do embrace and shall confirm 1. The constant use of the word in all good Authors of the Greek Tongue will admit no other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of an active importance and denotes propitium facio placo as we observed before to appease and attone And this is that whereby the Heathen generally expressed their endeavours to turn away the wrath of their gods to appease them and then they use it transitively with an Accusative case of the Object as Homer Iliad 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To propitiate or appease God And Iliad 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To offer an Hecatomb unto Apollo for the Greeks and appease him who hath sent on them so many sorrows or attone him And when it hath the Accusative case of the person joyned with it it can bear no other sense So Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Lucian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to appease God Sometimes it is used with a Dative case as Plutarch in Public 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then it hath respect unto the Sacrifice whereby attonement is made and anger turned away and is rendred piaculare sacrum facere to offer a piacular sacrifice So that the word constantly hath regard unto the anger and wrath of some person which is deprecated turned away appeased by reconciliation made 2. The use of the word by the LXX confirms it unto this sense Commonly they render the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by it which when regarding God always signifies attonement and to attone So the Noun Psal. 48.17 No man can redeem his brother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor can he give to God his ransom or the price of his redemption 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And unto the Verb where it respecteth the offence to be attoned for they usually annex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to it Exod. 32.30 You have sinned a great sin and now I will go up unto the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I may attone for your sins And it is God who is the Object of the Act of appeasing or attoning to make attonement with God for your sin So Numb 28.22 30. Nehem. 10.33 Once in the Old Testament it is used transitively and sin placed as the Object of it Dan. 9.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to attone sin or unrighteousness that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make attonement with God for sin And so also they express the person with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for whom the attonement is made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exod. 30.15 16. Levit. 1.4 chap. 4.20 26 6.30 Numb 15.23 26. And still God is respected as he who is offended and is to be reconciled as it is expressed Levit. 10.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall make attonement for them before the Lord. And sometimes they adde that wherewith the attonement is made namely Offerings or Sacrifices of one sort or another Levit. 8.17 And they will give us the sense of the word in another place Prov. 16.15 The wrath of a King is as messengers of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a wise man shall appease him referring that to the King which the Original doth to his wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall turn away that is by appeasing him In the use of this word then there is always understood 1. An offence crime guilt or debt to be taken away 2.