had unto the whole System of those Laws and Institutions of Worship which our Apostle as was also before observed calls Carnal Ordinances imposed unto the Time of Reformation Chap. 9. 10. They were all Carnal in opposition unto the Dispensation of the Spirit under the Gospel and the Institutions thereof None of these ways was the Lord Christ made a Priest He was not dedicated unto his Office by the Sacrifice of Beasts but Sanctified himself thereunto when he Offered himself through the Eternal Spirit unto God and was consummate in his own Blood He was not of the Carnal Seed of Aaron nor did nor could claim any Succession unto the Priesthood by virtue of an Extraction from his Race And no constitution of the Law in general no Ordinance of it did convey unto him either Right or Title unto the Priesthood It is therefore Evident that he was in no sense made a Priest according to the Law of a Carnal Commandment neither had he either Right Power or Authority to exercise the Sacerdotal Function in the observation of any Carnal Rites or Ordinances whatever And we may observe That what seemed to be wanting unto Christ in his entrance into any of his Offices or in the Discharge of them was on the account of a greater Glory Aaron was made a Priest with a great outward Solemnity The Sacrifices which were Offered and the Garments he put on with his visible separation from the rest of the People had a great Ceremonial Glory in them There was nothing of all this nor any thing like unto it in the Consecration of the Lord Christ unto his Office But yet indeed these things had no Glory in comparison of that excelling Glory which accompanied those invisible Acts of Divine Authority VVisdom and Grace which communicated his Office unto him And indeed in the VVorship of God who is a Spirit all outward Ceremony is a diminution and debasement of it Hence were Ceremonies for Beauty and Glory multiplyed under the Old Testament but yet as the Apostle shews were all but Carnal But as the sending of Christ himself and his Investiture with all his Offices were by Secret and Invisible Acts of God and his Spirit so all Evangelical VVorship as to the Glory of it is Spiritual and Internal only And the removal of the Old Pompous Ceremonies from our VVorship is but the taking away of the Veil which hindred from an insight and entrance into the Holy place 2. The way and manner whereby the Lord Christ was made a Priest is expressed positively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But according unto the Power of an indissoluble Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denotes an Opposition between the way rejected and this asserted as those which were not consistent He was not made a Priest that way but this How is Christ then made a Priest according to the Power of an endless Life That is saith one in his Paraphrase installed into the Priesthood after his Resurrection VVhat is meant by installed I well know not It should seem to be the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Consecrated Dedicated Initiated And if so this Exposition diverts wholly from the Truth For Christ was installed into his Office of Priesthood before his Resurrection or he did not Offer himself as a Sacrifice unto God in his Death and Blood-shedding And to suppose that the Lord Christ discharged and performed the principal Act of his Sacerdotal Office which was but once to be performed before he was installed a Priest is contradictory to Scripture and Reason it self Ideo ad vitam im mortalem perductus est ut in aeternum sacrdos noster esset He was therefore brought unto an Immortal Life that he might be our Priest for ever saith another But this is not to be made a Priest according to the Power of an endless Life If he means that he might always continue to be a Priest and to execute that Office always unto the consummation of all things what he says is true but not the sence of this place but if he means that he became Immortal after his Resurrection that he might be our Priest and abide so for ever it excludes his Oblation in his Death from being a proper Sacerdotal Act which that it was I have sufficiently proved elsewhere against Crellius and others Some think that the endless life intended is that of Believers which the Lord Christ by virtue of his Priestly Office confers upon them The Priests under the Law proceeded no further but to discharge Carnal Rites which could not confer Eternal life on them for whom they Ministred But the Lord Christ in the Discharge of his Office procureth Eternal Redemption and Everlasting life for Believers And these things are true but they comprise not the meaning of the Apostle in this place For how can Christ be made a Priest according to the Power of that Eternal Life which he confers on others For the comparison and opposition that is made between the Law of a Carnal Commandment whereby Aaron was constituted a Priest and the Power of an endless Life whereby Christ was made so do Evidence that the making of Christ a Priest not absolutely which the Apostle treats not of but such a Priest as he is was the Effect of this endless Life VVherefore the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the indissoluble Life here intended is the life of Christ himself Hereunto belonged or from hence did proceed that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Power whereby he was made a Priest And both the Office it self and the Execution or Discharge of it are here intended And as to the Office it self this Eternal or endless life of Christ is his life as the Son of God Hereon depends his own Mediatory life for ever and his conferring of Eternal life on us John 5. 26 27. And to be a Priest by virtue of or according unto this Power stands in direct opposition unto the Law of a Carnal Commandment It must therefore be enquired how the Lord Christ was made a Priest according unto this power And I say it was because thereby alone he was rendred meet to discharge that Office wherein God was to redeem his Church with his own Blood Acts 20. 28. By Power therefore here both meetness and ability are intended And both these the Lord Christ had from his Divine Nature and his endless life therein Or it may be the Life of Christ in his Humane Nature is intended in opposition unto those Priests who being made so by the Law of a Carnal Commandment did not continue in the Discharge of their Office by reason of Death as our Apostle observes afterwards But it will be said that this Natural life of Christ the life of the Humane Nature was not Endless but had an End put unto it in the Dissolution of his Soul and Body on the Cross. I say therefore this life of Christ was not absolutely the life of the Humane Nature considered separately from his
not the Design of God always to keep the Church in a state of Non-age and under School-Masiers he had appointed to set it at Liberty in the fulness of time to take his Children nearer unto him to give them greater Evidences of his Love greater Assurances of the Eternal Inheritance and the use of more Liberty and Boldness in his Presence But what this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Gospel is wherein it doth consist what is included in it what freedom of Spirit what liberty of Speech what Right of Access and Boldness of Approach unto God Built upon the removal of the Law the communication of the Spirit the way made into the Holyest by the Blood of Christ with other concernments of it Constitutive of Gospel-perfection I have already in part declared in Our Exposition on Chap. 3. ver 5. and must if God please yet more largely insist upon it on Chap. 10th so that I shall not here further speak unto it 5. A clear fore-sight into a Blessed estate of Immortality and Glory with unquestionable Evidences and Pledges giving Assurance of it belongs also to this Consummation Death was Originally threatned as the final End and Issue of sin And the Evidence hereof was received under the Levitical Priesthood in the Curse of the Law There was indeed a Remedy provided against its Eternal Prevalency in the first Promise For whereas Death comprised all the Evil that was come or was to come on Man for Sin In the day thou eatest thereof thou soal die The Promise contained the means of deliverance from it or it was no Promise tendred no Relief unto Man in the state whereinto he was fallen But the People under the Law could see but little into the manner and way of its Accomplishment nor had they received any Pledge of it in any one that was dead and lived again so as to die no more Wherefore their Apprehensions of this deliverance were dark and attended with much fear which rendred them obnoxious unto Bondage See the Exposition on Chap. 2. 14. where we have declared the dreadful Apprehensions of the Jews concerning Death received by Tradition from their Fathers They could not look through the dark shades of Death into Light Immortality and Glory See the two-fold Spirit of the Old and New Testament with respect unto the Apprehensions of Death expressed the one Job 10. 21 22. the other 2 Cor. 5. 1 2 3 4. But there is nothing more needful unto the perfect state of the Church Suppose it endowed with all possible Priviledges in this World yet if it have not a clear view and prospect with a Blessed assurance of Immortality and Glory after Death its condition will be dark and uncomfortable And as this could not be done without bringing in of another Priesthood so by that of Christs it is accomplished For 1. He himself died as our High Priest He entred into the devouring Jaws of Death and that as it was threatned in the Curse And now is the Trial to be made If he who thus ventured on Death as threatned in the Curse and that for us be swallowed up by it or detained by its Power and Pains there is a certain end of all our Hopes Whatever we may arrive unto in this World Death will convey us over into eternal Ruine But if he brake through its Power have the pains of it removed from him do swallow it up into Victory and rise Triumphantly into Immortality and Glory then is our entrance into them also even by and after Death secured And in the Resurrection of Christ the Church had the first unquestionable Evidence that Death might be Conquered that it and the Curse might be separated that there might be a free passage through it into Life and Immortality These things Originally and in the first Covenant were inconsistent nor was the Reconciliation of them evident under the Levitical Priesthood But hereby was the Veil rent from top to bottom and the most Holy place not made with hands laid open unto Believers See Isa. 25. 7 8. 2. As by his Death Resurrection and entrance into Glory He gave a Pledge Example and Evidence unto the Church of that in his own Person which he had designed for it so the Grounds of it were laid in the Expiatory Sacrifice which he Offered whereby he took away the Curse from Death There was such a close Conjunction between Death and the Curse such a Combination between Sin the Law and Death that the breaking of that Conjunction and the dissolving of that Combination was the greatest Effect of Divine Wisdom and Grace which our Apostle so Triumpheth in 1 Cor. 15. 54 55 56 57. This could no otherwise be brought about but by his being made a Curse in Death or bearing the Curse which was in Death in our stead Gal. 3. 13. 3. He hath clearly declared unto the utmost of our Capacities in this World that future state of Blessedness and Glory which he will lead all his Disciples into All the concernments hereof under the Levitical Priesthood were represented only under the obscure Types and Shadows of Earthly things But he hath abolished Death and brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 10. He destroyed and abolished him who had the Power of Death in taking away the Curse from it Chap. 2. 14. And he abolished Death it self in the removal of those dark shades which it cast on Immortality and Eternal Life and hath opened an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of God and Glory He hath unveiled the uncreated Beauties of the King of Glory and opened the Everlasting Doors to give an insight into those Mansions of Rest Peace and Blessedness which are prepared for Believers in the Everlasting Enjoyment of God And these things constitute no small part of that consummate state of the Church which God designed and which the Levitical Priesthood could no way effect 6 There is also an especial Joy belonging unto this state For this Kingdom of God is Righteousness and Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Neither was this attainable by the Levitical Priesthood Indeed many of the Saints of the Old Testament did greatly Rejoyce in the Lord and had the Joy of his Salvation abiding with them See Psal. 51. 12. Isa. 25. 9. Hab. 3. 17 18. But they had it not by virtue of the Levitical Priesthood Isaiah tells us that the ground of it was the swallowing up of Death in Victory ver 8. which was no otherwise to be done but by the Death and Resurrection of Christ. It was by an Influence of Efficacy from the Priesthood that was to be introduced that they had their Joy Whence Abraham saw the Day of Christ and Rejoyced to see it The Prospect of the Day of Christ was the sole Foundation of all their Spiritual Joy that was purely so But as unto their own present state they were allowed and called to Rejoyce in the abundance of Temporal things
efficient John 1. 5. Rom. 11. 34. Heb. 1. 2. So it doth here the eternal Spirit was not an inferior instrument whereby Christ offered himself but it was the principal efficient cause in the work The Variety that is in the reading of this place is taken notice of by all Some Copies read by the Eternal Spirit some by the Holy Spirit the latter is the reading of the Vulgar Translation and countenanced by sundry ancient Copies of the Original The Syriac retains the Eternal Spirit which also is the reading of most ancient Copies of the Greek Hence follows a double interpretation of the words some say that the Lord Christ offered himself unto God in and by the acting of the Holy Ghost in his Humane Nature For by him were wrought in him that servent zeal unto the glory of God that love and compassion unto the souls of men which both carried him through his sufferings and rendered his obedience therein acceptable unto God as a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling savor which work of the Holy Spirit in the Humane Nature of Christ I have elsewhere declared Others say that his own Eternal Deity which supported him in his sufferings and rendred the Sacrifice of himself effectual is intended But this will not absolutely follow to be the sense of the place upon the common reading by the Eternal Spirit For the Holy Spirit is no less an Eternal Spirit than is the Deity of Christ himself The truth is both these concurred in and were absolutely necessary unto the offering of Christ. The acting of his own Eternal Spirit was so unto the efficacy and effect And those of the Holy Ghost in him were so as unto the manner of it Without the first his offering of himself could not have purged our Consciences from dead works No Sacrifice of any meer creature could have produced that effect It would not have had in itself a worth and dignity whereby we might have been discharged of sin unto the glory of God Nor without the subsistence of the Humane Nature in the Divine Person of the Son of God could it have undergone and passed through unto victory what it was to suffer in this offering of it Wherefore this sense of the words is true Christ offered himself unto God through or by his own Eternal Spirit the Divine Nature acting in the person of the Son For 1 it was an Act of his entire Person wherein he discharged the office of a Priest And as his Humane Nature was the Sacrifice so his Person was the Priest that offered it which is the only distinction that was between the Priest and Sacrifice herein As in all other Acts of his Mediation the taking our nature upon him and what he did therein the Divine Person of the Son the Eternal Spirit in him acted in love and condescension so did it in this also of his offering himself 2 As we observed before hereby he gave dignity worth and efficacy unto the Sacrifice of himself For herein God was to purchase his Church with his own blood And this seems to be principally respected by the Apostle For he intends to declare herein the dignity and efficacy of the Sacrifice of Christ in opposition unto those under the Law For it was in the will of man and by material fire that they were all offered But he offered himself by the Eternal Spirit voluntarily giving up his Humane Nature to be a Sacrifice in an Act of his Divine Power 3 The Eternal Spirit is here opposed unto the Material Altar as well as unto the Fire The Altar was that whereon the Sacrifice was laid which bore it up in its Oblation and Ascension But the Eternal Spirit of Christ was the Altar whereon he offered himself This supported and bore it up under its sufferings whereon it was presented unto God as an acceptable Sacrifice Wherefore this reading of the words gives a sense that is true and proper unto the matter treated of But on the other side it is no less certain that he offered himself in his Humane Nature by the Holy Ghost All the gracious actings of his mind and will were required hereunto The Man Christ Iesus in the gracious voluntary acting of all the faculties of his Soul offered himself unto God His Humane Nature was not only the matter of the Sacrifice but therein and thereby in the gracious actings of the faculties and powers of it he offered himself unto God Now all these things were wrought in him by the Holy Spirit wherewith he was filled which he received not by measure By him was he filled with that love and compassion unto the Church which acted him in his whole Mediation and which the Scripture so frequently proposeth unto our Faith herein He loved me and gave himself for me He loved the Church and gave himself for it He loved us and washed us in his own blood By him there was wrought in him that zeal unto the glory of God the fire whereof kindled his Sacrifice in an eminent manner For he designed with ardency of love to God above his own life and present state of his Soul to declare his righteousness to repair the diminution of his glory and to make such way for the communication of his love and grace to sinners that he might be eternally glorified He gave him that holy submission unto the Will of God under a prospect of the bitterness of that Cup which he was to drink as enabled him to say in the height of his conflict Not my Will but thy Will be done He filled him with that faith and trust in God as unto his supportment deliverance and success which carried him steadily and safely unto the issue of his tryal Isa. 50. 7 8 9. Through the actings of these graces of the Holy Spirit in the Humane Nature his offering of himself was a free voluntary Oblation and Sacrifice I shall not positively determine on either of these Senses unto the exclusion of the other The latter hath much of spiritual light and comfort in it on many accounts But yet I must acknowledge that there are two Considerations that peculiarly urge the former interpretation 1. The most and most ancient Copies of the Original read by the Eternal Spirit and are followed by the Syriac with all the Greck Scholists Now although the Holy Spirit be also an Eternal Spirit in the unity of the same Divine Nature with the Father and the Son yet where he is spoken of with respect unto his own personal actings he is constantly called the Holy Spirit and not as here the Eternal Spirit 2. The design of the Apostle is to prove the efficacy of the Offering of Christ above those of the Priests under the Law Now this arose from hence partly that he offered himself whereas they offered only the blood of Bulls and Goats but principally from the dignity of his Person in his Offering in that he offered himself by his own Eternal Spirit or
double Assertion in it 1 That almost all things are by the Law purged with Blood 2 That without shedding of Blood is no Remission In the first of these there is considerable the Assertion it self and the Limitation of it 1. The Assertion it self is that by the Law all things were purged with Blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according unto the Law the Rule the Commands the Institution of it In that way of worship Faith and Obedience which the People were obliged unto by the Law According unto the Law there was a Necessity of the Blood of Sacrifices for the purging of Sin and making of Attonement This he inferres and concludes from what he had said before concerning the Dedication of the Covenant and the Purification of the Tabernacle with all the Vessels of its Ministry And from hence he designs to prove the Necessity of the Death of Christ and the Efficacy of his Blood for the purging of Sin whereof those legal things were Types and Representations Of these legal Purifications or purgings by Blood we have treated already 2. The Limitation of this Assertion is in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 almost Some few Purifications there were under the Law that were not by Blood Such as some judge was that by the Ashes of an Heifer mingled with water whereof we have treated on ver 13. But I am not certain that this may be esteemed a Purification without Blood For the Heifer whose Ashes were used in it was first slain and its blood poured out Afterwards the blood as well as the flesh was burnt and reduced unto Ashes Wherefore that way of Purification cannot be said to be without blood And it was a Type of the Purifying efficacy of the blood of Christ who offered himself an whole Burnt-offering unto God through the fire of the Eternal Spirit But there were two sorts of Purifications under the Law wherein blood was neither formally nor virtually applyed or used The one was by Fire in things that would endure it Numb 31. 23. And the Apostle speaks of things as well as Persons as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 declares The other was by water whereof there were many Instances See Exod. 19. 10. Levit. 16. 26 28. chap. 22. 6 7. All other Representations were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Offering and Sprinkling of Blood From the consideration of the Purifications mentioned the Apostle adds the Limitation of Almost For the conceit of some of the Antients that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as much as ferè and is to be joyned with purged were almost purged that is they were so only ineffectually is most improper For it is contrary to the natural construction of the words and the direct intention of the Apostle Only we may observe that the Purifications which were by fire and water were of such things as had no immediate Influence into the Worship of God or in such cases as wherein the Worship of God was not immediately concerned nor of such things wherewith Conscience was defiled They were only of external Pollutions by things in their own nature Indifferent and had nothing of Sin in them And the Sacred Institutions which were not concerning the immediate Worship of God nor things which in themselves did defile the Consciences of Men were as hedges and fences about those which really did so They served to warn Men not to come near those things which had a real defilement in themselves See Matth. 15. 16 17 18 19 20. Thus almost all things that is absolutely all which had any inward real Moral defilement were purged with Blood and directed unto the purging efficacy of the Blood of Christ. And we may observe that 1. There was a great variety of legal Purifications For as all of them together could not absolutely purge Sin but only direct unto what would do so so none of them by themselves could fully represent that one Sacrifice by blood whereby all sin was to be purged therefore were they multiplyed 2. This variety argues that in our selves we are ready to be Polluted on all occasions Sin cleaveth unto all that we do and is ready to defile us even in our best Duties 3. This variety of Institutions was a great part of the Bondage-state of the Church under the Old Testament a Yoke that they were not able to bear For it was almost an insuperable Difficulty to attain an Assurance that they had observed them all in a due manner the Penalties of their Neglect being very severe Besides the outward Observation of them was both burdensome and chargeable It is the Glory of the Gospel that we are directed to make our Address by Faith on all occasions unto that one Sacrifice by the Blood of Christ which cleanseth us from all our sins Howbeit many that are called Christians being ignorant of the Mystery thereof do again betake themselves unto other ways for the Purification of Sin which are multiplied in the Church of Rome 4. The great Mystery wherein God instructed the Church from the Foundation of the World especially by and under legal Institutions was that all purging of Sin was to be by blood This was that which by all Sacrifices from the Beginning and all Legal Institutions he declared unto Mankind Blood is the only means of Purging and Attonement This is the Language of the whole Law All was to manifest that the washing and purging of the Church from Sin was to be looked for from the blood of Christ alone The second Assertion of the Apostle is that without shedding of blood there is no Remission Some would have these words to contain an Application of what is spoken before unto the blood of Christ. But it is manifest that the Apostle yet continues in his Account of things under the Law and enters on the Application of them not before the next verse Wherefore these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Law or by vertue of its Institutions are here to be repeated By the Law without shedding of blood that is in Sacrifice there was no Remission Yet though that Season be particularly intended the Axiom is universally true and applicable unto the New Covenant Even under it without shedding of blood is no Remission The Curse of the Law was that he that sinned should die But whereas there is no man that liveth and sinneth not God had provided that there should be a Testification of the Remission of Sins and that the Curse of the Law should not be immediately executed on all that sinned This he did by allowing the People to make Attonement for their sins by blood that is the blood of Sacrifices Levit. 17. 11. For hereby God signified his Will and Pleasure in two things 1 That by this blood there should be a Political Remission granted unto sinners that they should not die under the sentence of the Law as
upon the preaching of the Gospel any were converted unto Christ and upon their profession of Faith and Repentance were baptized the Apostles present or if near unto them they came on that purpose laid their hands on them whereon they received the Holy Ghost in a supernatural Communication of Evangelical Gifts And this next to the preaching of the word was the great means which the Lord Christ made use of in the propagation of the Gospel By the Word he wrought internally on the Minds and Consciences of men and by these miraculous gifts he turned the thoughts of men to the consideration of what was preached by what in an extraordinary manner was objected to their external senses And this was not confined unto a few Ministers of the word and the like but as it appears from sundry places of Scripture was common almost unto all Believers that were baptized Gal. 3. 2. 1 Cor. 14. 3 In the Verse following mention is made of those who were made partakers of the Holy Ghost that is of his miraculous gifts and operations which were communicated by this Imposition of hands which therefore refers unto the same After these times this Rite was made use of in other occasions of the Church in imitation no doubt of this extraordinary action of the Apostles but there is no mention of it in the Scripture nor was in use in those days and therefore cannot be here intended And this is the most genuine interpretation of this place These mentioned were the principles of the Doctrine of Christ wherein among others of the same importance they were to be well instructed who were to be baptized and thereon to have hands laid on them whereby the extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost were communicated unto them But we shall allow a room also for that other Exposition of the words which is more generally received and in the exclusion whereof because it complies with the Analogie of Faith I dare not be peremptory And this is that the Doctrine of laying on of hands maketh one distinct principle of Christianity by its self But then the thing signified is principally intended namely the Communication of the Holy Ghost unto Believers in his Gifts and Graces ordinary and extraordinary whereof this Rite was the external Sign And as this was peculiar to the Gospel so it contained the principal verification of it And this it did sundry ways 1 Because the Promises of the Lord Christ for the sending of him were eminently and visibly accomplished It is known that when he was leaving the world he filled his Disciples with an expectation of his sending the Holy Ghost unto them And he did not only propose this Promise as their great supportment during his absence but also suspended on its accomplishment all the Duty which he required from them in the Office he had called them unto Therefore he commanded them to abide quietly at Hierusalem without any publick engagement into their work until they had received the Promise of the Spirit Acts 1. 4 8. And when this was done it gave a full and glorious testimony not only unto his truth in what he had told them in this world but also unto his present exaltation and acceptation with God as Peter declares Acts 2. 33. 2 His Gifts themselves were such many of them as consisted in miraculous operations whereby God himself gave immediate testimony to the truth of the Gospel Heb. 2. 3 4. God himself bearing witness to the preachers of it with signs and wonders and with miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost This made the Doctrine concerning them of unconceivable importance unto Believers of those days as that whereby their Faith and Profession was eminently justified in the face of the world 3 This Dispensation of the Holy Ghost was peculiar to the times of the Gospel and was in its self a sufficient proof of the cessation of all Legal Ordinances For it was the principal Prophecy and Promise under the Old Testament that in the days of the Messiah the Holy Ghost should be so poured out as I have at large elsewhere declared And it was to be a consequent of his Glorification Job 7. 38 39. Hence by the argument of their receiving the Spirit our Apostle proves to the Galatians their freedom from the Law Gal. 3. 2. Wherefore 4 The Doctrine concerning this Dispensation of the Spirit was peculiar to the Gospel and so might be esteemed an especial principle of its Doctrine For although the Church of the Jews believed the Holy Ghost as one Person in the Trinity after their obscure manner of apprehension yet they were Strangers unto this Dispensation of him in his Gifts though promised under the Old Testament because not to be accomplished but under the New Yea John the Baptist who in light into the Mystery of the Gospel outwent all the Prophets that were before him yet had not the Knowledge hereof communicated unto him For those who were only baptized with his Baptism and initiated thereby into the Doctrine of Repentance for the forgiveness of Sins had not so much as heard whether there were an Holy Ghost that is as unto this dispensation of him Acts 19. 2 3. Hereupon our Apostle instructing them in the Doctrine of the Gospel he made use of this Rite of the Imposition of hands whereon the Holy Ghost came on them and they spake with Tongues and prophesied ver 6. This therefore being so great and important a concern of the Gospel and this being the Rite appointed to represent it by the Doctrine concerning it namely the Promise of Christ to send the Holy Ghost with the nature use and end of the Gifts which he wrought in Believers is expressed and reckoned among the first principles of Christian Religion But the Reader is at liberty to follow whether of these interpretations he pleaseth And from the whole of what hath been discoursed we may take the ensuing observations 1. Persons to be admitted into the Church and unto a participation of all the holy Ordinances thereof had need be well instructed in the important Principles of the Gospel We have here the Rule of the Apostle and Example of the Primitive Churches for the ground of this Doctrine And it is necessary that such persons should be so instructed on their own part as also on the part of the Church it self On their own part because without it the Ordinances themselves will be of little use unto them For what benefit can any receive from that whose nature and properties he is unacquainted withall And neither the nature nor use of the Ordinances of the Church can be understood without a previous comprehension of the fundamental principles of the Gospel as might be easily demonstrated And it is so on the part of the Church For the neglect hereof was the chiefest occasion of the degeneracy of most Churches in the world By this means were the Societies of them filled with ignorant and consequently profane persons
designing to express the fearful state and judgement of these Persons describes them by such things as may fully evidence them to be as unavoidable so righteous and equal Those things must be some evident Priviledges and Advantages whereof they were made partakers by the Gospel These being despised in their Apostasie do proclaim their destruction from God to be rightly deserved 2 That all these Priviledges do consist in certain especial operations of the Holy Ghost which were peculiar unto the Dispensation of the Gospel such as they neither were nor could be made partakers of in their Judaisme For the Spirit in this sense was not received by the works of the Law but by the hearing of Faith Gal. 3. 2. And this was a Testimony unto them that they were delivered from the bondage of the Law namely by a participation of that Spirit which was the great Priviledge of the Gospel 3 Here is no express mention of any Covenant Grace or Mercy in them or towards them nor of any Duty of Faith or Obedience which they had performed Nothing of Justification Sanctification or Adoption is expresly assigned unto them Afterwards when he comes to declare his hopes and perswasion concerning these Hebrews that they were not such as those whom he had before described nor such as would so fall away unto perdition He doth it upon three grounds whereon they were differenced from them As 1 That they had such things as did accompany Salvation that is such as Salvation is inseparable from None of these things therefore had he ascribed unto those whom he describeth in this place for if he had so done they would not have been unto him an Argument and Evidence of a contrary end that these should not fall away and perish as well as those Wherefore he ascribes nothing to these here in the Text that doth peculiarly accompany Salvation ver 9. 2 He describes them by their Duties of Obedience and fruits of Faith This was their work and labour of Love towards the name of God ver 10. And hereby also doth he difference them from those in the Text concerning whom he supposeth that they may perish eternally which these fruits of saving Faith and sincere Love cannot do 3 He adds that in the Preservation of those there mentioned the Faithfulness of God was concerned God is not unrighteous to forget For they were such he intended as were interested in the Covenant of Grace with respect whereunto alone there is any engagement on the Faithfulness or Righteousness of God to preserve men from Apostasie and Ruine and there is so with an equal respect unto all who are so taken into the Covenant But of these in the Text he supposeth no such thing and thereupon doth not intimate that either the Righteousness or Faithfulness of God were any way engaged for their preservation but rather the contrary The whole description therefore refers unto some especial Gospel Priviledges which Professors in those days were promiscuously made partakers of and what they were in particular we must in the next place enquire The first thing in the Description is that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 once enlightened saith the Syriack Translation as we observed once baptized It is very certain that early in the Church Baptism was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Illumination and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to enlighten was used for to Baptize And the set times wherein they solemnly administred that Ordinance were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the days of Light Hereunto the Syriack Interpreter seems to have had respect And the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 once may give countenance hereunto Baptism was once only to be celebrated according to the constant Faith of the Churches in all Ages And they called Baptism Illumination because it being one Ordinance of the Initiation of Persons into a participation of all the mysteries of the Church they were thereby translated out of the Kingdom of Darkness into that of Grace and Light And it seems to give further countenance hereunto in that Baptism really was the beginning and foundation of a participation of all the other spiritual Priviledges that are mentioned afterwards For it was usual in those times that upon the baptizing of Persons the Holy Ghost came upon them and endowed with extraordinary Gifts peculiar to the days of the Gospel as we have shewed in our consideration of the order between Baptism and Imposition of hands And this Opinion hath so much of probability in it having nothing therewithall unsuited to the Analogie of Faith or design of the place that I should embrace it if the word it self as here used did not require another Interpretation For it was a good while after the writing of this Epistle and all other parts of the New Testament at least an Age or two if not more before this word was used mystically to express Baptism In the whole Scripture it hath another sense denoting an inward operation of the Spirit and not the outward Administration of an Ordinance And it is too much boldness to take a word in a peculiar sense in one single place diverse from its proper signification and constant use if there be no circumstances in the Text forcing us thereunto as here are not And for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 once it is not to be restrained unto this particular but refers equally unto all the Instances that follow signifying no more but that those mentioned were really and truly partakers of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to give Light or Knowledge by teaching the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which therefore is so translated oft-times by the Greeks As by Aquila Exod. 4. 12. Psal. 119. 33. Prov. 4. 4. Isa. 27. 11. as Drustus observes And it is so by the LXX Judg. 13. 8. 2 Kings 12. 2. chap. 17. 27. Our Apostle useth it for to make manifest that is bring to light 1 Cor. 4. 5. 2 Tim. 1. 10. And the meaning of it Joh. 1. 9. where we render it lighteth is to teach And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Knowledge upon Instruction 2 Cor. 4. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Light of the Gospel should not shine into them that is the Knowledge of it so ver 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Light of the Knowledge Wherefore to be enlightened in this place is to be instructed in the Doctrine of the Gospel so as to have a spiritual apprehension thereof And this is so termed on a double account 1. Of the Object or the things known and apprehended For Life and Immortality are brought to light by the Gospel 2 Tim. 1. 10. Hence it is called Light The Inheritance of the Saints in Light And the state which men are thereby brought into is so called in opposition to the Darkness that is in the world without it 1 Pet. 2. 9. The world without the Gospel is the Kingdom of Sathan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 5. 19.
Priests in that he was a King And we may Observe that Acts of Munificence Bounty are memorable Praise-worthy though they no way belong unto things Sacred by Virtue of Divine Institution So was this Bringing forth of Bread Wine by Melchisedec to Refresh Abraham and his People though there was nothing of Sacrifice therein In former Ages either Men were more inclined to such Acts than now they are or there were more efficacious means of engaging them thereunto than are judged meet now to be made Use of because perhaps discovered to have something of deceit in them But this went along with all their Bounty that they would make the Acts of it Sacred and Religious all should be peculiarly devoted and dedicated unto God wherein although their Pious Intentions are to be commended yet it may justly be feared that they missed of their aim in making Things and Services Sacred which God had not made so But such Acts as those we speak of towards Men need no more of Religion in them but that they be done in Obedience to the Will of God who requires of us to do good to all and to exercise loving kindness in the Earth They are so good and Praise-worthy provided 1. They are of real Use and not in things that serve only for Ostentation and show 2. That they enterfere with no other especial Duty nor cause an Omission of what is Necessary c. Again It is acceptable with God that those who have Laboured in any Work or Service of his should receive Refreshments and Encouragements from men For as such an acceptable Service is the Relief given to Abraham and his People by Melchisedec Celebrated God is himself a sufficient Reward unto his People in and for all their Services He needs not call in the help of Men to give them a Recompence However it is well-pleasing unto him that he or his Work which they do in any thing be owned by Men. IV. The Apostle proceeds with his Description of the Subject of his Proposition with Respect unto that Office which he principally regards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Priest of the most High God Two things are here asserted 1. That in general he was a Priest 2. The Limitation of that Office with Respect unto the Author and Object of it is expressed He was a Priest of the most High God First he was a Priest and he was the first that was so by especial Institution How the Rite of Sacrificing was common to all Worshippers of Old and what was the peculiar Interest of the First-born therein I have at large before declared I have also proved that Melchisedec was the first who was Authoritatively separated unto this Office by Gods Approbation And as it was a new so it was a great and Remarkable thing in the World For although we know not how far it was received or understood by the Men of that Age who I believe were not stupidly Ignorant and Carnal as some would have them to be yet certain it is that the Institution of this Office and the Representation of it in the Person of Melchisedec gave great Light and Instruction into the Nature of the first Promise and the work of the Blessing Seed which was to be exhibited For the Faith of the Church in all Ages was so directed as to believe that God had respect unto Christ and his Work in all his Institutions of Worship Wherefore the Erection of the Office of a Priesthood to offer Sacrifice and that in the Person of so great a Man as Melchisedec must needs lead them into an Acquaintance with the Nature of his work in some measure both he and it being so conspicuously represented unto them In this general Assertion that he was a Priest two things are included 1. That he was truly and really a man and not an Angel or an Appearance of the Son of God praelusory unto his Incarnation For every Priest is taken from among men Chap. 5. 1. of the same common Nature with other Men and in the same state untill he be separated unto his Office And so was Melchisedec a Man called out from amongst Men or he was not a Priest 2. That he had an Extraordinary Call into his Office For he falleth likewise under that other Rule of our Apostle No man taketh this Honour unto himself unless he be Called of God Heb. 5. 4. But of what Nature this Call was and how he received it cannot positively be determined in particular Two things are certain concerning him negatively 1. That he came not to this Office in the Church by Succession unto any that went before him as did all the Levitical Priests after Aaron There was none went before him in this Office as none Succeeded unto him as we shall see immediately And when the Lord Christ is said to be a Priest after the Order of Melchisedec it doth not suppose that he was of any certain Order wherein were a Series of Priests succeeding one another but only that it was with Christ as it was with him in point of Call and Office Wherefore his Call was Personal in some Act of God towards him wherein himself and no other was concerned 2. He was not called or set apart unto his Office by any outward Unction Solemn Consecration or Ceremonious Investiture For the Lord Christ Jesus had none of these who was made a Priest after the manner that he was only there was an outward sign of his Call unto all his Offices in the descending of the Holy Ghost on him in the form of a Dove Mat. 3. John 1. These things belonged purely unto the Law and Aaronical Priesthood wherein Spiritual things were to have a Carnal Representation And those by whom they are received in the separation of any unto an Evangelical Office do prefer the Ministration of the Law before that of the Gospel as more Glorious because they discern not the Glory of Spiritual things Besides there was none in the World greater than he nor nearer unto God to confer this Office upon him as Aaron was Consecrated by Moses For in the Authoritative Collation of an Office there is a Blessing and without Controversie he who Blesseth is greater than he who is Blessed by him as we shall see immediately And therefore would not God make Use of any outward means in the Call or the Separation of the Lord Christ unto his Offices or any of them because there was none in Heaven or Earth Greater than he or nearer unto God to be employed therein Angels and Men might bear Witness as they did unto what was done by the Lord God and his Spirit Isa. 61. 1. but they could confer nothing upon him And therefore in the Collation of the Ministerial Office under the Gospel the Authority of it resides only in Jesus Christ. Men can do no more but design the Person according to his Rules and Laws which may be done among Equals Wherefore the Call of
which both he himself observed as a Man made under the Law and enjoyned others so to do They all continued in full force unto the Time of Reformation which gave them their Bounds and Limits Heb. 9. 10. and ended with his Resurrection His other saying of giving unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods respects our whole Moral Obedience unto God and not this or that particular Institution The meaning of it is that we are to pay or perform unto God all whatever he requireth of us in a way of Obedience but what that is in particular is not here determined And other mention of Tithes in the Gospel there is none 4. VVhereas by the Light of Nature all Rules of Reason and positive Institutions a Portion of what God is pleased to give unto every Man is to be returned unto him in the way of his Worship and Service wherein it may be used according unto his Appointment And whereas before the giving of the Law sundry Holy Men fixed on the Tenth part as that which was meetest to be so Dedicated unto God and that as is probable not without some especial Conduct of the Holy Spirit if not upon express Revelations and whereas this was afterwards expressely confirmed under the Law by positive Institution the Equity whereof is urged in the Gospel it is the best direction that can be given unto any what proportion of their Estate should be set apart unto this Purpose Herein I confess so many Circumstances are in particular cases to be considered as that it is impossible any one certain Rule should be prescribed unto all Persons But whereas withal there is no need in the least to furnish Men with Pleas and Excuses for the non-performance of their Duty at least as unto the necessary degrees of it that I shall not suggest any thing unto them which may be used to that purpose I shall therefore leave this Rule in its full Latitude as the best Direction of Practice in this Matter 5. On these Suppositions it is that the Apostle treating of this Matter makes no Use of the Right or Law of Tithing though directly unto his purpose if it had not been abrogated For intending to prove that the Ministers of the Gospel ought to be Liberally supported in their works with the Earthly things of them unto whom they do Administer the things of God he Argueth from the Light of Nature the general Equity of other Cases the Analogy of Legal Institutions the Rules of Justice with the especial Institution of Christ in the Gospel but makes no mention of the Natural or Legal Right of Tithing 1 Cor. 9. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15. And farther I shall not at present divert on this Subject And we may Observe That Whatsoever we receive signally from God in a way of Mercy we ought to return a Portion of it unto him in a way of Duty That this was the Practice of the Saints of old might easily be proved by an Induction of Instances from this Act of Abraham yea from the Sacrifice of Abel down to the Vow of Jacob the Dedications of David Solomon and others in their respective places and Generations The light of Nature also counted it as a Duty among all the Civilized Heathens The Offerings and Sacred Dedications of Nations and Private Families are Famous on this Account And it was laid as a lasting blemish on good Hezekiah that he returned not unto the Lord according to the Mercy which he had received And we may do well to consider 1. That no Man hath any great or signal Success in any Affair or Occasion more than others or more than at other time but there will be in his Mind an ascription of it unto one cause or another This the Nature of things makes Necessary nor can it be avoided Hab. 1. 11. 2. That whatever a Man doth secretly ascribe such Successes unto That he makes in some sence his God They Sacrifice unto their Net and burn Incense unto their Drag because by them their Portion is fat and their Meat plenteous Hab. 1. 16. They ascribed their Successes unto their own strength endeavours and means that they used Hereby they Deified themselves as far as in them lay and therefore these thoughts are called Sacrificing and Burning Incense which were Expressions of Religious Worship And it is no better with us when in our Successes in our Trades and Affairs we secretly applaud our own Endeavours and the Means we have used as the only causes of them 3. It is a great sign that a Man hath not engaged God in the getting of any thing when he will not entitle him unto any Portion of what is gotten There are two Evils common in the World in this case Some will make no Acknowledgment unto God in the especial Consecration of any part of their Substance unto him where it is Lawfully gotten And some will make great Dedications of what hath been gotten by Robbery Spoils Oppression and Violence Many Publick Works of Munificence and Charity as they are called have had no other Original This is but an Endeavour to entitle God unto injustice and draw him to a Copartnership with them by giving him a share in the Advantage God hateth Robbery for Burnt-Offerings Isa. 61. 8. and he smites his hand at Mens dishonest Gain Ezek. 22. 13. He will have nothing to do with such things nor accept of any Portion of them or from them however he may over-power things in his Providence unto his Glory Both these ways are full of Evil though the latter be the worst 4. No Man hath any Ground to Reckon that he can settle what he hath unto himself or his where this Chief Rent unto God is left unpaid He will at one time or other make a Re-entry upon the whole take the Forfeiture of it and turn the ungrateful Tenant out of Possession And among other things this makes so many Estates Industriously gotten so speedily moulder away as we see they do in the VVorld 5. God hath always his Receivers ready to accept of what is tendred namely his Poor and those that Attend the Ministry of his House VI. The Apostle pursues his Design and Argument from the Name and Title of the Person spoken of with their Interpretation First being by Interpretation King of Rightcousness and after that also King of Salem that is King of Peace And we shall consider herein 1. The Names themselves with their Interpretation 2. The Grounds or Reasons of the Apostle's Arguing from this Interpretation of Names 3. What is intended in them or what he would have us Learn from them 4. Their Order which he particularly Observes First 1. He respecteth his Proper Name that is Melchisedec For the Fancy of some that Sedec was a place or City where first he Reigned as he did afterwards at Salem is very fond For then he must be utterly without a Name belonging
the New Testament Ephes. 3. 5. 3. In the Effectual Illumination of the Minds of them that do Believe enabling them Spiritually to discern the Mysteries so revealed every one according to the measure of his gift and grace See concerning it 1 Pet. 2. 9. Ephes. 3. 17 18 19. Chap. 5. 8. Fourthly There belongs unto this Perfection that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Liberty and Boldness which Believers have in their Approaches unto God This is frequently mentioned as an especial Priviledge and Advantage of the Gospel-state Ephes. 3. 12. Heb. 3. 6. Chap. 4. 16. Chap. 10. 19 35. 1 John 3. 21. Chap. 4 17. Chap. 5. 14. And on the contrary the state under the Levitical Priesthood is described as a state of Fear and Bondage that is comparatively Rom. 8. 15. 2 Tim. 1. 7. Heb. 2. 15. And this Bondage or Fear arose from sundry Causes inseparable from that Priesthood and the Administrations of it As 1. From the Dreadful manner of giving the Law This filled the whole People with Terror and Amazement Upon the Administration of the Spirit by the Gospel Believers do immediately cry Abba Father Rom. 8. 16. Gal 4 6. They have the Liberty and Boldness to draw nigh unto God and to call him Father But there was such an Administration of a Spirit of Dread and Terror in the giving of the Law as that the People were not able to bear the Approaches of God unto them nor the thought of an Access unto him And therefore they desired that all things for the future might be Transacted by an Internuncius one that might go between God and them whilst they kept at their distance Deut. 5. 23 24 25 26 27. VVhen any first hear the Law they are afraid of God and desire nothing more than not to come near him They would be saved by a distance from him VVhen any first hear the Gospel that is so as to believe it their Hearts are opened with Love to God and all their desire is to be near unto him to draw nigh unto his Throne Hence it is called the Joyful sound Nothing can be more opposite than these two frames And this Spirit of Fear and Dread thus first given out in the giving of the Law was communicated unto them in all their Generations whilst the Levitical Priesthood continued For as there was nothing to remove it so it self was one of the Ordinances provided for its continuance This are we now wholly delivered from See Chap. 12. 18 19 20 21. 2. It arose from the Revelation of the Sanction of the Law in the Curse Hereby principally the Law gendered unto Bondage Gal. 4. 25. For all the People were in some sence put under the Curse namely so far as they would seek for Righteousness by the Works of the Law So saith our Apostle As many as are of the Works of the Law are under the Curse Gal. 3. 10. This Curse was plainly and openly denounced as due to the breach of the Law as our Apostle adds It is written Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them And all their Capital Punishments were Representations thereof This could not but take a deep impression on their minds and render them obnoxious unto Bondage Hence although on the account of the Promise they were Heirs yet by the Law they were made as Servants and kept in Fear Gal. 4. 1. Neither had they such a Prospect into the Nature Signification of their Types as to set them at perfect Liberty from this cause of dread For as there was a veil on the Face of Moses that is all the Revelations of the Mind and Will of God by him were veiled with Types and Shadows so there was a veil on their Hearts also in the weakness of their Spiritual light that they could not look stedfastly unto the End of that which is abolished 2 Cor. 3. 13. that is unto him who is the end of the Law for Righteousness unto them that do Believe Rom. 10. 4. It was therefore impossible but that their Minds must Ordinarily be filled with Anxiety and Fear But there is now no more Curse in the Gospel-state Rev. 22. 2. The Curse abideth only on the Serpent and his Seed Isa. 65. 25. The Blessing of the Promise doth wholly possess the place of it Gal. 3. 13 14. Only they who will choose still to be under the Law by living in the sins that it condemneth or seeking for Righteousness by the works which it commands are under the Curse 3. Under the Levitical Priesthood even their Holy Worship was so appointed and Ordered as to keep them partly in Fear and partly at a Distance from the Presence of God The continual Multiplication of their Sacrifices one day after another one week after another one moneth after another one year after another taught them that by them all there was not an end made of sin nor Everlasting Righteousness brought in by any of them This Argument our Apostle makes use of to this purpose Chap. 10. 1. The Law saith he could never by those Sacrifices which they Offered Year by Year continually 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bring the Worshippers unto this Perfection And he gives this Reason for it namely because they had still a Conscience of Sin that is a Conscience condemning them for sin and therefore there was a Remembrance made of sin again every Year ver 2 3. Hereby they were kept in Dread and Fear And in their Worship they were minded of nothing so much as their Distance from God and that they had not as yet a Right to an immediate Access unto him For they were not so much as once to come into the Holyest where were the Pledges and Tokens of Gods Presence And the Prohibitions of their Approaches unto God were attended with such severe Penalties that the People cryed out they were not able to bear them Numb 17. 12 13. which Peter reflects upon Acts 15. 10. The Holy Ghost thereby signifying that the way into the Holyest of all was not made manifest whilst the first Tabernacle was standing Chap 9. 8. No Man had yet Right to enter into it with boldness which Believers now have Chap. 10. 19 20. 4. God had designed the whole Dispensation of the Law under that Priesthood unto this very End that it should give the People neither Rest nor Liberty but press and urge them to be looking after their full Relief in the Promised Seed Gal. 4. 1 2. Chap. 3. 24. It pressed them with a sense of sin with a Yoke of Ceremonious Observances presenting them with the Hand-writing of Ordinances which was against them Col. 2. 14. It urged their Consciences not to seek after Rest in or by that state Here could be no Perfection because there could be no Liberty The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Boldness we speak of is opposed unto all these causes of Bondage and Fear It was
God indeed by his Grace did influence the Minds of true Believers among them unto Satisfaction in their Obedience helping them to adore that Soveraignty and Wisdom which they believed in all his Institutions And he gave unto them really the Benefits of the good things that were for to come and that were prefigured by their Services But the state wherein they were by reason of these things was a state of Bondage Nor could any Relief be given in this state unto the Minds or Consciences of Men by the Levitical Priesthood For it was it self the principal cause of all these Burdens and Grievances in that the Administration of all Sacred things was committed thereunto The Apostle takes it here for granted that God designed a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or state of Perfection unto the Church and that as unto its Worship as well as unto its Faith and Obedience We find by the Event that it answered not the Divine VVisdom and Goodness to bind up the Church during its whole Sojourning in this VVorld unto a VVorship so Carnal Burdensome so imperfect so unsuited to express his Grace and Kindness towards it or its sense thereof And who can but pity the woeful condition of the present Jews who can conceive of no greater Blessedness than the Restauration of this burdensome Service So true is it what the Apostle says the Vail is upon them unto this present day yea Blindness is on their minds that they can see no Beauty but only in things Carnal and like their fore-fathers who preferred the Bondage of Egypt because of their Flesh-pots before all the Liberty and Blessings of Canaan so do they their old Bondage-state because of some Temporal Advantages it was attended withal before the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God In Opposition hereunto there is a worship under the Gospel which hath such Properties as are constitutive also of this Perfection By Gospel-worship I understand the whole Way and Order of that Solemn VVorship of God which the Lord Christ hath Commanded to be observed in his Churches with all the Ordinances and Institutions of it and all the private Worship of Believers in their whole Access unto God The Internal Glory and Dignity of this Worship must be referred unto its proper place which is Chap. 10. 19 20 21 22. Here I shall only mention some few things wherein its Excellency consists in opposition unto the defects of that under the Law on the account whereof it is Constitutive of that Evangelical Perfection whereof we treat 1. It is Spiritual which is the Subject of the Apostle's Discourse 2 Cor. 3. 6 7 8 9 c. And it is so on a two-fold Account 1. In that it is suited unto the Nature of God so as that thereby he is glorified as God For God is a Spirit and will be Worshipped in Spirit which our Saviour asserts to belong unto the Gospel-state in opposition unto all the most glorious Carnal Ordinances and Institutions of the Law John 4. 21 22 23. So is it opposed unto the old Worship as it was Carnal It was that which in and by it self answered not the Nature of God though Commanded for a Season See Psal. 50. ver 8 9 10 11 12 13 14. 2. Because it is performed meerly by the Aids Supplies and Assistances of the Spirit as it hath been at large proved elsewhere 2. It is easie and gentle in opposition unto the Burden and insupportable Yoke of the Old Institutions and Ordinances That so are all the Commands of Christ unto Believers the whole System of his Precepts whether for Moral Obedience or Worship himself declares Take my Yoke upon you saith he and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in Heart and ye shall find Rest unto your Souls for my Yoke is easie and my Burden is light Mat. 11. 29 30. So the Apostle tells us that his Commandments are not grievous 1 John 5. 3. But yet concerning this Ease of Gospel-worship some things must be observed 1. As to the Persons unto whom it is so easie and pleasant and it is so only unto them who being weary and heavy laden do come unto Christ that they may have Rest and do learn of him that is unto convinced humbled converted Sinners that do Believe in him Unto all other who on meer Convictions or by other means do take it upon them it proves an insupportable Burden and that which they cannot endure to be obliged unto Hence the Generality of Men although Professing the Christian Religion are quickly weary of Evangelical worship and do find out endless Inventions of their own wherewith they are better satisfied in their Divine Services Therefore have they multiplyed Ceremonies fond Superstitions and down-right Idolatries which they prefer before the Purity and Simplicity of the VVorship of the Gospel as it is in the Church of Rome And the Reason hereof is that Enmity which is in their Minds against the Spiritual things represented and exhibited in that VVorship For there being so near an Alliance between those things and this VVorship they that hate the one cannot but despise the other Men of unspiritual Minds cannot delight in Spiritual VVorship It is therefore 2. Easie unto Believers on the Account of that Principle wherewith they are acted in all Divine things This is the New Nature or New Creature in them wherein their Spiritual life doth consist By this they delight in all Spiritual things in the inner Man because they are cognate and suitable thereunto Weariness may be upon the Flesh but the Spirit will be willing For as the Principle of Corrupted Nature goeth out with delight and vehemency unto Objects that are unto its Satisfaction and unto all the means of its Conjunction unto them and Union with them so the Principle of Grace in the Heart of Believers is carried with Delight and Fervency unto those Spiritual things which are its proper object and therewithal unto the ways and means of Conjunction with them and Union unto them And this is the proper Life and Effect of Evangelical VVorship It is the means whereby Grace in the Soul is conjoyned and united unto Grace in the VVord and Promises which renders it easie and pleasant unto Believers so that they delight to be Exercised therein 3. The constant Aid they have in and for its performance if they be not wanting unto themselves doth entitle it unto this Property The Institution of Gospel-worship is accompanied with the Administration of the Spirit Isa. 59. 21. and he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 helpeth and assisteth in all the worship of it as was intimated before 4. The Benefit which they receive by it renders it easie and pleasant unto them For all the Ordinances of Evangelical-worship are of that Nature and appointed of God unto that End so as to excite increase and strengthen Grace in the worshippers as also to convey and exhibit a sense of the Love and Favour of God unto their Souls And in
cause God saw it necessary and it pleased him to put a grievous and heavy yoke upon them to subdue the pride of their spirits and to cause them to breathe after deliverance This the Apostle Peter calls a yoke that neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear Acts 15. 20. that is with peace ease and rest which therefore the Lord Christ invited them to seek for in himself alone Matth. 11. 29 30. And this yoke that God put on them consisted in these three things 1. In a multitude of Precepts hard to be understood and difficult to be observed The present Jews reckon up 613 of them about the sense of most of which they dispute endlesly among themselves But the truth is since the days of the Pharisees they have increased their own yoke and made obedience unto their Law in any tolerable manner altogether unpracticable It were easie to manifest for instance that no man under Heaven ever did or ever can keep the Sabbath according to the Rules they give about it in their Talmuds And they generally scarce observe one of them themselves But in the Law as given by God himself it is certain that there were a multitude of arbitrary Precepts and those in themselves not accompanied with any spiritual Advantages as our Apostle shews Chap. 9. 5. only they were obliged to perform them by a meer soveraign Act of Power and Authority 2. In the severity wherewith the observance of all those Precepts were enjoined them And this was the threatning of death For he that despised Moses 's Law died without mercy and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward Hence was their complaint of old Behold we die we perish we all perish whosoever cometh near unto the Tabernacle of the Lord shall dye shall we be consumed with dying Numb 17. 12 13. And the Curse solemnly denounced against every one that confirmed not all things written in the Law was continually before them 3. In a Spirit of Bondage unto Fear This was administred in the giving and dispensation of the Law even as a Spirit of Liberty and Power is administred in and by the Gospel And as this respected their present Obedience and manner of its performance so in particular it regarded Death not yet conquered by Christ. Hence our Apostle affirms that through fear of Death they were all their life-time subject unto Bondage This state God brought them into partly to subdue the pride of their hearts trusting in their own righteousness and partly to cause them to look out earnestly after the promised Deliverer 4. Into this estate and condition God brought them by a Solemn Covenant confirmed by mutual consent between him and them The Tenure Force and Solemn Ratification of this Covenant is expressed Exod. 24. 3 4 5 6 7 8. Unto the terms and conditions of this Covenant was the whole Church obliged indispensibly on pain of Extermination until all was accomplished Mal. 4. 4 5 6. Unto this Covenant belonged the Decalogue with all Precepts of Moral Obedience thence educed So also did the Laws of Political Rule established among them and the whole Systeme of Religious Worship given unto them All these Laws were brought within the verge of this Covenant and were the matter of it And it had especial Promises and Threatnings annexed unto it as such whereof none did exceed the Bounds of the Land of Canaan For even many of the Laws of it were such as obliged no where else Such was the Law of the Sabbatical year and all their Sacrifices There was Sin and Obedience in them or about them in the Land of Canaan none elsewhere Hence 5. This Covenant thus made with these Ends and Promises did never save nor condemn any man eternally All that lived under the Administration of it did attain eternal life or perished for ever but not by vertue of this Covenant as formally such It did indeed revive the commanding Power and Sanction of the first Covenant of Works and therein as the Apostle speaks was the Ministry of condemnation 2 Cor. 3. 9. For by the deeds of the Law can no flesh be justified And on the other hand it directed also unto the Promise which was the instrument of life and salvation unto all that did believe But as unto what it had of its own it was confined unto things temporal Believers were saved under it but not by vertue of it Sinners perished eternally under it but by the Curse of the original Law of Works And 6. Hereon occasionally fell out the ruine of that People their Table became a snare unto them and that which should have been for their welfare became a trap according to the Prediction of our Saviour Psal. 69. 22. It was this Covenant that raised and ruined them it raised them to Glory and Honour when given of God it ruined them when abused by themselves contrary to express declarations of his mind and will For although the generality of them were wicked and rebellious always breaking the Terms of the Covenant which God made with them so far as it was possible they should whil'st God determined to reign over them unto the appointed season and repined under the burden of it yet they would have this Covenant to be the only Rule and Means of righteousness life and salvation as the Apostle declares Rom. 9. 31 32 33. Chap. 10. 3. For as we have often said there were two things in it both which they abused unto other ends than what God designed them 1 There was the Renovation of the Rule of the Covenant of Works for righteousness and life And this they would have to be given unto them for those ends and so sought for righteousness by the works of the Law 2 There was ordained in it a Typical Representation of the way and means whereby the Promise was to be made effectual namely in the Mediation and Sacrifice of Jesus Christ which was the end of all their Ordinances of Worship And the outward Law thereof with the observance of its Institution they looked on as their only relief when they came short of exact and perfect righteousness Against both these pernicious Errors the Apostle disputes expresly in his Epistle unto the Romans and the Galatians to save them if it were possible from that ruine they were casting themselves into Hereon the Elect obtained but the rest were hard ned For hereby they made an absolute renunciation of the Promise wherein alone God had enwrapped the way of life and salvation This is the nature and substance of that Covenant which God made with that People a particular temporary Covenant it was and not a meer dispensation of the Covenant of Grace That which remains for the declaration of the mind of the Holy Ghost in this whole matter is to declare the differences that are between those two Covenants whence the one is said to be better than the other and to be built upon better Promises Those of
his Spirit in the renovation and saving illumination of our minds whereby they are habitually made conformable unto the whole Law of God that is the Rule and the Law of our obedience in the New Covenant and enabled unto all Acts and Duties that are required of us And this is the first grace promised and communicated unto us by vertue of this Covenant as it was necessary that so it should be For 1 The mind is the principal seat of all spiritual obedience 2 The proper and peculiar actings of the mind in discerning knowing judging must go before the actings of the will and affections much more all outward practices 3 The depravation of the mind is such by blindness darkness vanity and enmity that nothing can inflame our Souls or make an entrance towards the reparation of our natures but an internal spiritual saving operation of Grace upon the mind 4 Faith itself is principally ingenerated by an infusion of saving light into the mind 2 Cor. 4. 4 6. So All the beginnings and entrances into the saving knowledge of God and thereon of obedience unto him are effects of the Grace of the Covenant Secondly The second Part of this first Promise of the Covenant is expressed in these words And will write them upon their hearts which is that which renders the former part actually effectual Expositors generally observe that respect is had herein unto the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai that is in the first Covenant For then the Law that is the ten words was written in Tables of Stone And although the original Tables were broken by Moses when the People had broken the Covenant yet would not God alter that dispensation nor write his Laws any other way but commanded new Tables of Stone to be made and wrote them therein And this was done not so much to secure the outward letter of them as to represent the hardness of the hearts of the people unto whom they were given God did not God would not by vertue of that Covenant otherwise dispose of his Law And the event that ensued hereon was that they brake these Laws and abode not in obedience This event God promiseth to obviate and prevent under the New Covenant and that by writing these Laws now in our hearts which he wrote before only in Tables of stone that is he will effectually work that obedience in us which the Law doth require for he worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure The heart as distinguished from the mind compriseth the will and the affections and they are compared unto the Tables wherein the letter of the Law was engraven For as by that writing and engraving the Tables received the impression of the letters and words wherein the Law was contained which they did firmly retain and represent so as that although they were stones still in their nature yet were they nothing but the Law in their use so by the grace of the New Covenant there is a durable impression of the Law of God on the wills and affections of men whereby they answer it represent it comply with it and have a living principle of it abiding in them Wherefore as this work must necessarily consist of two parts namely the removal out of the heart of whatever is contrary unto the Law of God and the implanting of principles of obedience thereunto so it comes under a double description or denomination in the Scripture For sometimes it is called a taking away of the heart of stone or circumcising of the heart and sometimes the giving of an heart of flesh the writing of the Law in our hearts which is the renovation of our natures into the image of God in righteousness and the holiness of truth Wherefore in this promise the whole of our sanctification in its beginning and progress in its work upon our whole Souls and all their faculties is comprized And we may observe 1. The work of Grace in the New Covenant passeth on the whole Soul in all its faculties powers and affections unto their change and renovation The whole was corrupted and the whole must be renewed The image of God was originally in and upon the whole and on the loss of it the whole was depraved see 1 Thess. 5. 23. 2. To take away the necessity and efficacy of renewing changing sanctifying Grace consisting in an internal efficacious operation of the principles habits and acts of internal grace and obedience is plainly to overthrow and reject the New Covenant 3. We bring nothing to the New Covenant but our hearts as Tables to be writters in with the sense of the insufficiency of the Precepts and Promises of the Law with respect unto our own ability to comply with them The last thing in the words is the Relation that ensues hereon between God and his people I will be unto them a God and they shall be my people This is indeed a distinct Promise by itself summarily comprizing all the Blessings and Priviledges of the Covenant And it is placed in the center of the account given of the whole as that from whence all the grace of it doth spring wherein all the blessings of it do consist and whereby they are secured Howbeit in this place it is peculiarly mentioned as that which hath its foundation in the foregoing Promise For this Relation which implies mutual Acquiescency in each other could not be nor ever had been if the minds and hearts of them who are to be taken into it were not changed and renewed For neither could God approve of and rest in his love towards them whilest they were enemies unto him in the depravation of their natures nor could they find rest or satisfaction in God whom they neither knew nor liked nor loved This is the general expression of any Covenant-relation between God and men He will be unto them a God and they shall be a people unto him And it is frequently made use of with respect unto the first Covenant which yet was disannulled God owned the People therein for his peculiar Portion and they avouched him to be their God alone Nor can this be spoken of God and any People but on the ground of an especial Covenant It is true God is the God of all the world and all People are his yea he is a God unto them all For as he made them so he sustains rules and governeth them in all things by his Power and Providence But with respect hereunto God doth not freely promise that he will be a God unto any nor can so do For his power over all and his rule of all things is essential and natural unto him so as it cannot otherwise be Wherefore as thus declared it is a peculiar expression of an especial Covenant Relation And the nature of it is to be expounded by the nature and properties of that Covenant which it doth respect Two things we must therefore consider to discover the nature of
Ceremonial Law such as tything of mint and cummin with the great Duties of Love and Righteousness These things saith he speaking of the latter you ought to have done that is principally and in the first place have attended unto as those which the Law chiefly designed But what then shall become of the former why saith he them also you ought not to leave undone in their proper place Obedience was to be yielded unto God in them also So is it in this present case there was an outward teaching of every man his neighbor and every man his brother enjoined under the Old Testament This the People trusted unto and rested in without any regard unto Gods teaching by the inward circumcision of the heart But in the New Covenant there being an express Promise of an internal effectual teaching by the Spirit of God by writing his Law in our hearts without which all outward Teaching is useless and ineffectual it is here denied to be of any use That is it is not so absolutely but in comparison of and in competition with this other effectual way of teaching and instruction Even at this day we have not a few who set these teachings in opposition unto one another whereas in Gods institution they are subordinate And hereon rejecting the internal efficacious Teaching of the Spirit of God they betake themselves only unto their own endeavors in the outward means of Teaching wherein for the most part there are none more negligent than themselves But so it is that the ways of Gods grace are not suited but always lie contrary unto the corrupt reasonings of men Hence some reject all the outward means of Teaching by the Ordinances of the Gospel under a pretence that the inward Teaching of the Spirit of God is all that is needful or useful in this kind Others on the other hand adhere only unto the outward means of instruction despising what is affirmed concerning the inward teaching of the Spirit of God as a meer imagination And both sorts run into these pernicious mistakes by opposing those things which God hath made subordinate 2. The Teaching intended whose continuance is here denied is that which was then in use in the Church or rather was to be so when the New Covenant state was solemnly to be introduced And this was twofold 1 That which was instituted by God himself And 2 that which the People had superadded in the way of Practice The first of these is as in other places so particularly expressed Deut. 6. 6 7 8 9. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down and when thou risest up And thou shalt bind them for a sign on thine hand and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes And thou shalt write them on the posts of thy house and on thy gate Add hereunto the institution of Fringes for a memorial of the Commandments which was one way of saying Know the Lord Numb 15. 38 39. Two things may be considered in these Institutions 1 What is natural and moral included in the common mutual Duties of men one towards another For of this nature is that of seeking the good of others by instructing them in the knowledge of God wherein their chiefest happiness doth consist 2 That which is Ceremonial as to the manner of this Duty is described in sundry instances as those of Frontlets and Fringes writing on Posts and Doors The first of these is to abide for ever No Promise of the Gospel doth evacuate any Precept of the Law of Nature such as that of seeking the good of others and that their chiefest good by means and ways proper thereunto is But as unto the later which the Jews did principally attend unto and rely upon it is by this Promise or the New Covenant quite taken away 2. As unto the Practice of the Church of the Jews in these Institutions it is not to be expressed what extremities they ran into It is probable that about the time spoken of in this Promise which is that of the Babylonian Captivity they began that intricate perplexed way of Teaching which afterwards they were wholly addicted unto For all of them who pretended to be serious gave up themselves unto the teaching and learning of the Law But herewithall they mixed so many vain Curiosities and Traditions of their own that the whole of their endeavor was disapproved of God Hence in the very entrance of their Practice of this way of teaching he threatens to destroy all them that attended unto it Mal. 2. 12. The Lord will cut off the Master and the Scholar out of the Tabernacles of Jacob. It is true we have not any Monuments or Records of their teaching all that time neither what they taught nor how But we may reasonably suppose it was of the same kind with what flourished afterwards in their famous Schools derived from these first Inventers And of such reputation were those Schools among them that none was esteemed a wise man or to have any understanding of the Law who was not brought up in them The first Record we have of the manner of their teaching or what course they took therein is in the Mishna This is their interpretation of the Law or their sayings one to another Know the Lord. And he that shall seriously consider but one Section or Chapter in that whole Book will quickly discern of what kind and nature their Teaching was For such an operous laborious curious fruitless work there is not another instance to be given of in the whole world There is not any one Head Doctrine or Precept of the Law suppose it be of the Sabbath of Sacrifices or Offerings but they have filled it with so many needless foolish curious superstitious Questions and Determinations as that it is almost impossible that any man in the whole course of his life should understand them or guide his course according unto them These were the Burdens that the Pharisees bound for the shoulders of their Disciples until they were utterly weary and fainted under them And this kind of Teaching had possessed the whole Church then when the New Covenant was solemnly to be introduced no other being in use And this is absolutely intended in this Promise as that which was utterly to cease For God would take away the Law which in itself was a burden as the Apostles speak which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear And the weight of that Burden was unspeakably increased by the expositions and additions whereof this teaching consisted Wherefore the removal of it is here proposed in the way of a Promise evidencing it to be a matter of grace and kindness unto the Church But the removal of teaching in general is always mentioned as a threatning and punishment Wherefore the denial
be observed from the exposition of these words 1. The instructive Ministry of the Old Testament as it was such only and with respect unto the carnal Rites thereof was a Ministery of the Letter and not of the Spirit which did not really effect in the hearts of men the things which it taught The spiritual benefit which was obtained under it proceeded from the promise and not from the efficacy of the Law or the Covenant made at Sinai For as such as it was legal and carnal and had respect only unto outward things it is here laid aside 2. There is a Duty incumbent on every man to instruct others according to his ability and opportunity in the knowledge of God the Law whereof being natural and eternal is always obligatory on all sorts of persons This is not here either prohibited or superseded but only it is foretold that as unto a certain manner of the performance of it that it should cease That it generally ceaseth now in the world is no effect of the promise of God but a cursed fruit of the unbelief and wickedness of men The highest degree in Religion which men now aim at is but to attend unto and learn by the publick teaching of the Ministery And alas how few are there who do it conscientiously unto the glory of God and the spiritual benefit of their own Souls The whole business of teaching and learning the knowledge of God is generally turned into a formal spending if not mispence of so much time But as for the teaching of others according unto ability and opportunity to endeavor for abilities or to seek for opportunities thereof it is not only for the most part neglected but despised How few are there who take any care to instruct their own Children and Servants but to carry this Duty farther according unto opportunities of instructing others is a thing that would be looked on almost as madness in the days wherein we live We have far more that mutually teach one another Sin Folly yea Villany of all sorts than the knowledge of God and the duty we owe unto him This is not what God here promiseth in a way of grace but what he hath given up careless unbelieving Professors of the Gospel unto in a way of vengeance 3. It is the Spirit of Grace alone as promised in the New Covenant which frees the Church from a laborious but ineffectual way of teaching Such was that in use among the Jews of old and it is well if somewhat not much unlike it do not prevail among many at this day Whoever he be who in all his teaching doth not take his encouragement from the internal effectual teaching of God under the Covenant of Grace and bends not all his endeavors to be subservient thereunto hath but an Old Testament Ministery which ceaseth as unto any divine approbation 4. There was an hidden treasure of Divine wisdom of the knowledge of God laid up in the mystical Revelations and Institutions of the Old Testament which the people were not then able to look into nor to comprehend The confirmation and explanation of this truth is the principal design of the Apostle in this whole Epistle This knowledge those among them that feared God and believed the Promises stirred up themselves and one another to look after and to enquire into saying unto one another Know the Lord howbeit their attainments were but small in comparison of what is contained in the ensuing Promise 5. The whole knowledge of God in Christ is both plainly revealed and savingly communicated by virtue of the New Covenant unto them who do believe as the next words declare The positive part of the Promise remaineth unto consideration And two things must be enquired into 1 Unto whom it is made 2 What is the subject matter of it 1. Those unto whom it is made are so expressed in the Prophet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The expression of them absolutely and then by a distribution is emphatical The former the Apostle renders in the plural number as the words are in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the terms of the distribution he rendereth in the singular number which encreaseth the Emphasis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Proposition is universal as to the modification of the Subject 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all but in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of them it is restrained unto those alone with whom this Covenant is made The distribution of them is made in a Proverbial Speech from the least to the greatest used in a peculiar manner by this Prophet Chap. 6. 13. Chap. 8. 10. Chap. 31. 32. Chap. 42. 1. Chap. 44. 12. It is only once more used in the Old Testament and not elsewhere Jon. 3. 5. And it may denote either the universality or the generality of them that are spoken of so as none be particularly excluded or excepted though all absolutely be not intended Besides several sorts and degrees of persons are intended So there ever were and ever will be naturally politically and spiritually in the Church of God None of them upon the account of their difference from others on the one hand or the other be they the least or the greatest are excepted or excluded from the grace of this Promise And this may be the sense of the words if only the external administration of the grace of the New Covenant be intended None are excluded from the tender of it or from the outward means of the communication of it in the full plain revelation of the knowledge of God But whereas it is the internal effectual Grace of the Covenant and not only the means but the infallible event thereon not only that they shall be all taught to know but that they shall all actually know the Lord all individuals are intended that is that whole Church all whose Children are to be taught of God and so to learn as to come unto him by saving Faith in Christ. So doth this part of the Promise hold proportion with the other of writing the Law in the hearts of the Covenanters As unto all these it is promised absolutely that they shall know the Lord. But yet among them there are many distinctions and degrees of persons as they are variously differenced by internal and external circumstances There are some that are greatest and some that are least and various intermediate degrees between them So it hath been and so it ever must be whilest the natural acquired and spiritual abilities of men have great variety of degrees among them and whilest mens outward advantages and opportunities do also differ Whereas therefore it is promised that they shall all of them know the Lord it is not implied that they shall all do so equally or have the same degree of spiritual wisdom and understanding There is a measure of saving knowledge due unto provided for all in the Covenant of Grace such as is necessary unto the participation of all other blessings
Curse of the Law and the Punishment due unto our Sins which were taken away thereby And in all this the Humane Nature was supported sustained and acted by the Divine in the same Person which gave the whole Duty its Efficacy and Merit That pretended in the Mass is 1. Offered by Priests without Him or those which call themselves so who therefore rather represent them by whom he was Crucified then himself who offered himself alone 2. Is only of Bread and Wine which have nothing in them of the Soul of Christ allowing their Transubstantiation 3. Can have no Influence into the Remission of Sins being confessedly unbloody whereas without the shedding of Blood there is no Remission 4. Is often offered that is every day declaring a greater imperfection in it then was in the great Expiatory Sacrifice of the Law which was offered only once a year 5 Requires unto it no Grace in the Offerer but only an Intention to do his Office 6 Doth in nothing answer the Curse of the Law and therefore makes no Attonement Wherefore these things are so far from being the same Sacrifice as that they are opposite inconsistent and the admission of the One is the Destruction of the other Some Observations we may take from the Text. 1. Such is the absolute Perfection of the One offering of Christ that it stands in need of that it will admit of no Repetition in any kind Hence the Apostle affirms that if it be despised or neglected there remains no more sacrifice for Sin There is none of any other kind nor any Repetition to be made of it self as there was of the most solemn legal Sacrifices Neither of them are consistent with its perfection And this absolute Perfection of the One offering of Christ ariseth 1 From the Dignity of his Person Acts 20. 28. There needs no new offering after that wherein he who offered and who was offered was God and Man in one Person The Repetition of this offering is inconsistent with the Glory of the Wisdom Righteousness Holiness and Grace of God and would be utterly derogatory to the dignity of his Person 2 From the Nature of the Sacrifice it self 1. In the internal gracious actings of his Soul He offered himself unto God through the eternal Spirit Grace and Obedience could never be more glorified 2. In the Punishment he underwent answering and taking away the whole Curse of the Law any farther offering for Attonement is highly Blasphemous 3. From the Love of the Father unto him and delight in him As in his Person so in his one offering the Soul of God resteth and is well-pleased 4. From its Efficacy unto all Ends of a Sacrifice Nothing was ever designed therein but was at once accomplished by this One offering of Christ. Wherefore 2. This one offering of Christ is always effectual unto all the Ends of it even no less then it was in the day and hour when it was actually offered Therefore it needs no Repetition like those of old which could affect the Conscience of a sinner only for a season and until the Incursion of some new sin This is always fresh in the Vertue of it and needs nothing but renewed Application by Faith for the communication of its Effects and Fruits unto us Wherefore 3. The great Call and Direction of the Gospel is to guide Faith and keep it up unto this One offering of Christ as the spring of all Grace and Mercy This is the immediate End of all its Ordinances of Worship In the preaching of the Word the Lord Christ is set forth as evidently Crucified before our Eyes and in the Ordinance of the Supper especially is it represented unto the peculiar Exercise of Faith But we must proceed to a brief Exposition of the remainder of this Verse The One offering of Christ is not here proposed absolutely but in Opposition unto the High Priest of the Law whose entrance into the Holy Place did not put an end unto his offering of Sacrifices but his whole Service about them was to be annually repeated This Sacrifice of the High Priest we have treated of before and shall therefore now only open these words wherein it is expressed 1. The Person spoken of is the High Priest that is any One every One that is so or that was so in any Age of the Church from the Institution of that Priesthood unto the Expiration of it As the High Priest in like manner so he did 2. It is affirmed of him that he entreth in the present Tense Some think that respect is had unto the continuance of the Temple-service at that Time He entreth that is he continueth so to do And this the Apostle sometimes admits of as Chap. 8. 4. But in this Place he intends no more but the Constitution of the Law According unto the Law He entereth This is that which the Law requires And hereby as in other Instances the Apostle lays before their Consideration a Scheme of their ancient Worship as it was at first established that it might be the better compared with the Dispensation of the New Covenant and the Ministry of Christ. 3. This Entrance is limited unto the Holy Place The most Holy Place in the Tabernacle or Temple the Holy Place made with hands 4. There is the Season of their Entrance yearly Once in an annual Revolution or the day fixed by the Law the tenth day of the Month Tisri or our September 5. The Manner of his entrance was with the blood of others Blood that was not his own as the Syriack expresseth it The Blood of the Sacrifice of Christ was his own He redeemed the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 20. 28. Hereunto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is opposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 other blood the Blood of others that is the blood of Bulls and Goats offered in Sacrifice in for cum say most Expositors which is not unusual See 1 Joh. 5. 6. Gen. 32. 10. Hos. 4. 3. The meaning is by vertue of the Blood of others which he carried with him into the Holy Place That which is denied of Christ the Antitype is the Repetition of this Service and that because of the Perfection of his Sacrifice the other being repeated because of their Imperfection And we may observe that Whatever had the greatest Glory in the Old Legal Institutions carried along with it the evidence of its own Imperfection compared with the thing signified in Christ and his Office The Entrance of the High Priest into the Holy Place was the most glorious Solemnity of the Law Howbeit the annual Repetition of it was a sufficient Evidence of its Imperfection as the Apostle disputes in the beginning of the next Chapter VER XXVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is properly Causal quia quandoquidem quoniam But it is generally rendred in this Place by all Expositors alioqui by Concession if it were so that he would offer offer himself for
things only are good things Nothing is good either in it self nor unto us without them nor but by vertue of what they receive from them There is nothing so but what is made so by Christ and his Grace 3. They are eminently good things These good things which were promised unto the Church from the foundation of the world which the Prophets and wise men of old desired to see The means of our Deliverance from all the evil things which we had brought upon our selves by our Apostasie from God These being evidently the good things intended the Relation of the Law unto them namely that it had the shadow but not the very Image of them will also be apparent The Allusion in my Judgment unto the Art of painting wherein a shadow is first drawn and afterwards a picture to the life or the very Image it self hath here no place nor doth our Apostle any where make use of such curious similitudes taken from things artificial and known to very few Nor would he use this among the Hebrews who of all people were least acquainted with the Art of painting But he declares his intention in another place where speaking of the same things and using some of the same words their sense is plain and determined Col. 2. 17. They are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ. They are a shadow of things to come is the same with this The Law had a shadow of good things to come For it is the Law with its ordinances and institutions of worship concerning which the Apostle there discourseth as he doth in this place Now the shadow there intended by the Apostle from whence the Allusion is taken is the shadow of a body in the Light or Sun-shine as the Antithesis declares but the body is of Christ. Now such a shadow is 1. A Representation of the body Any one who beholds it knows that it is a thing which hath no subsistence in it self which hath no use of its own onely it represents the body follows it in all its variations and is inseparable from it 2. It is a just representation of the hody as unto its proportion and dimensions The shadow of any body represents that certain individual body and nothing else It will add nothing unto it nor take any thing from it but without an accidental hinderance is a just representation of it much less will it give an appearance of a body of another form and shape different from that whereof it is the shadow 3. It is but an obscure representation of the body so as that the principal concernments of it especially the vigor and spirit of a living body are not figured nor represented by it Thus is it with the Law or the Covenant of Sinai and all the ordinances of worship wherewith it was attended with respect unto these good things to come For it must be observed that the opposition which the Apostle makes in this place is not between the Law and the Gospel any otherwise but as the Gospel is a full declaration of the Person Offices and Grace of Christ but it is between the Sacrifices of the Law and the Sacrifice of Christ himself Want of this observation hath given us mistaken interpretations of the place This shadow the Law had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Having it It obtained it it was in it it was inlaid in it it was of the substance and nature of it it contained it in all that it prescribed or appointed some of it in one part some in another the whole in the whole It had the whole shadow and the whole of it was this shadow It was so 1. Because in the Sanction dedication and confirmation of it by the blood of Sacrifices in the Tabernacle with all its holy utensils in its High Priest and all other Sacred Administrations in its Solemn Sacrifices and Services it made a Representation of good things to come This hath been abundantly manifested and proved in the Exposition of the foregoing Chapter And according unto the first property of such a shadow without this use it had no bottom no foundation no Excellency of its own Take out the significancy and Representation of Christ his Offices and Grace out of the Legal Institutions and you take from them all impressions of Divine Wisdome and leave them useless things which of themselves will vanish and disappear And because they are no more now a shadow they are absolutely dead and useless 2. They were a just Representation of Christ only the second property of such a shadow They did not signify any thing more or less but Christ himself and what belongs unto him He was the Idea in the mind of God when Moses was charged to make all things according to the pattern shewed him in the Mount And it is a blessed view of Divine Wisdome when we do see and understand aright how every thing in the Law belonged unto that shadow which God gave in it of the substance of his counsel in and concerning Jesus Christ. 3. They were but an obscure Representation of these things which is the third property of a shadow The Glory and efficacy of these good things appeared not visible in them God by these means designed no further Revelation of them unto the Church of the Old Testament but what was in Types and Figures which gave a shadow of them and no more Secondly this being granted unto the Law there is added thereunto what is denied of it wherein the Argument of the Apostle doth consist It had not the very Image of the things The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the same with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before mentioned The negation is of the same whereof the concession was made the grant being in one sence and the denial in another It had not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very Image it self That is it had not the things themselves For that is intended by this Image of them And the Reasons why I so interpret the words are these 1. Take the Image onely for a clear expresse delineation and description of the things themselves as is generally conceived and we invalidate the Argument of the Apostle For he proves that the Law by all its Sacrifices could not take away Sin nor perfect the Church because it had not this Image But suppose the Law to have had this full and clear description and delineation of them were it never so lively and compleat yet could it not by its Sacrifices take away sin Nothing could do it but the very substance of the things themselves which the Law had not nor could have 2. Where the same Truth is declared the same things are expresly called the body and that of Christ that is the substance of the things themselves and that in opposition unto the shadow which the Law had of them as it is here also Col. 2. 17. Which are a shadow of things to come but the body
Sin as should manifest that they stood in need of a farther Expiation than could be attained by them But a difficulty doth here arise of no small Importance For what the Apostle denys unto these Offerings of the Law that he ascribes unto the One only Sacrifice of Christ. Yet notwithstanding this Sacrifice and its Efficacy it is certain that Believers ought not only once a year but every day to call sins to remembrance and to make Confession thereof Yea our Lord Jesus Christ himself hath taught us to pray every day for the pardon of our sins wherein there is a calling of them unto Remembrance It doth not therefore appear wherein the difference lyes between the Efficacy of their Sacrifices and that of Christ seeing after both of them there is equally a Remembrance of Sin again to be made An. The difference is evident between these things Their Confession of Sin was in order unto and preparatory for a new Attonement and Expiation of it This sufficiently proves the insufficiency of those that were offered before For they were to come unto the new Offerings as if there had never been any before them Our remembrance of Sin and confession of it respects only the Application of the Virtue and Efficacy of the Attonement once made without the least desire or expectation of a new propitiation In their remembrance of Sin respect was had unto the curse of the Law which was to be answered and the wrath of God which was to be appeased it belonged unto the Sacrifice it self whose Object was God Ours respects only the application of the benefits of the Sacrifice of Christ unto our own Consciences whereby we may have assured peace with God The Sentence or Curse of the Law was on them until a new Attonement was made for the Soul that did not joyn in this Sacrifice was to be cut off But the Sentence and Curse of the Law was at once taken away Eph. 2. 14 15 16. And we may observe 1. An Obligation unto such Ordinances of Worship as could not expiate sin nor testifie that it was perfectly expiated was part of the Bondage of the Church under the Old Testament 2. It belongs unto the Light and Wisdom of Faith so to remember Sin and make Confession of it as not therein or thereby to seek after a new Attonement for it which is made once for all Confession of Sin is no less necessary under the New Testament than it was under the Old but not for the same end And it is an eminent difference between the spirit of Bondage and that of Liberty by Christ. The one so confesseth Sin as to make that very Confession a part of Attonement for it the other is encouraged unto Confession because of the Attonement already made as a means of coming unto a participation of the benefits of it Wherefore the causes and reasons of the Confession of Sin under the New Testament are 1. To affect our own Minds and Consciences with a sense of the Guilt of Sin in it self so as to keep us humble and filled with self-abasement He who hath no sense of Sin but only what consists in dread of future judgment knows little of the mystery of our Walk before God and Obedience unto him according unto the Gospel 2. To engage our Souls unto watchfulness for the future against the sins we do confess for in confession we make an abrenuntiation of them 3. To give unto God the glory of his Righteousness Holiness and Aversation from Sin This is included in every Confession we make of Sin for the reason why we acknowledge the Evil of it why we detest and abhor it is its contrariety unto the Nature holy Properties and Will of God 4. To give unto him the glory of his infinite Grace and Mercy in the pardon of it 5. We use it as an instituted means to let in a sense of the pardon of Sin into our own Souls and Consciences through a fresh Application of the Sacrifice of Christ and the benefits thereof whereunto Confession of Sin is required 6. To exalt Jesus Christ in our Hearts by the application of our selves unto him as the only procurer and purchaser of Mercy and Pardon without which Confession of Sins is neither acceptable unto God nor useful unto our own Souls But we do not make Confession of Sin as a part of a Compensation for the Guilt of it nor as a means to give some present pacification unto Conscience that we may go on in Sin as the manner of some is VERSE IV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THere is no difficulty in the Words and very little difference in the Translations of them The vulgar renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Passive Impossibile est enim sanguine taurorum hircorum auferri peccata It is impossible that Sins should be taken away by the blood of Bulls and Goats The Syriack renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is to purge or cleanse unto the same purpose For it is impossible that the Blood of Bulls and Goats should take away Sin This is the last determinate resolution of the Apostle concerning the insufficiency of the Law and its Sacrifices for the Expiation of Sin and the perfecting them who come unto God as unto their Consciences And there is in the Argument used unto this end an inference from what was spoken before and a new enforcement from the Nature or subject matter of these Sacrifices Something must be observed concerning this Assertion in general and an Objection that it is liable unto For by the Blood of Bulls and Goats he intends all the Sacrifices of the Law Now if it be impossible that they should take away Sin for what end then were they appointed Especially considering that in the Institution of them God told the Church that he had given the Blood to make Attonement on the Altar Levit. 17. 11. It may therefore be said as the Apostle doth in another place with respect unto the Law it self if it could not by the works of it justifie us before God to what end then served the Law To what end serve these Sacrifices if they could not take away Sin The Answer which the Apostle gives with respect unto the Law in general may be applyed unto the Sacrifices of it with a small Addition from a respect unto their special Nature For as unto the Law he answers two things 1. That it was added because of Transgressions Gal. 3. 19. 2. That it was a Schoolmaster to guide and direct us unto Christ because of the severities wherewith it was accompanied like those of a School-master not in the Spirit of a tender Father And thus it was as unto the end of these Sacrifices 1. They were added unto the promise because of Transgressions For God in them and by them did continually represent unto Sinners the Curse and Sentence of the Law namely that the Soul that sinneth must dye or
impossible that the Blood of Bulls and Goats should take away Sin partly in giving various intimations first and then express Declaration of his Will that they were only prescribed for a season and that a time would come when their Observance should utterly cease which the Apostle proves Chap. 7. and 8. and partly by evidencing that they were all but Types and Figures of good things to come as we have at large declared By these and sundry other ways of the like kind God had in the Institution and Command of these Sacrifices themselves sufficiently manifested that he did neither design them nor require them nor approve of them as unto this end of the Expiation of Sin Wherefore there is in the words no new Revelation absolutely but only a meer express Declaration of that Will and Counsel of God which he had by various ways given intimation of before And we may observe 1. No Sacrifices of the Law not all of them together were a means for the Expiation of Sin suited unto the Glory of God or necessities of the Souls of Men. From the First appointment of Sacrifices immediately after the entrance of Sin and the giving of the promise the observation of them in one kind or another spread it self over the whole Earth The Gentiles retained them by Tradition helped on by some Conviction on a Guilty Conscience that by some way or other Attonement must be made for Sin On the Jews they were imposed by Law There are no Footsteps of Light or Testimony that those of the former sort namely the Gentiles did ever retain any sense of the true Reason and end of their Original Institution and the practice of Mankind thereon which was only the Confirmation of the First promise by a prefiguration of the means and way of its accomplishment The Church of Israel being Carnal also had very much lost the Understanding and Knowledge hereof Hence both sorts looked for the real Expiation of Sin the pardon of it and the taking away of its punishment by the Offering of those Sacrifices As for the Gentiles God suffered them to walk in their own ways and winked at the time of their Ignorance But as unto the Jews he had before variously intimated his Mind concerning them and at length by the Mouth of David in the person of Christ absolutely declares their Insufficiency with his disapprobation of them as unto the end which they in their Minds applied them unto 2. Our utmost diligence with the most Sedulous improvement of the Light and Wisdom of Faith is necessary in our search into and enquiry after the Mind and Will of God in the Kevelation he makes of them The Apostle in this Epistle proves by all sorts of Arguments taken from the Scriptures of the Old Testament from many other things that God had done and spoken and from the Nature of these Institutions themselves as here also by the express words of the Holy Ghost that these Sacrifices of the Law which were of Gods own appointment were never designed nor approved by him as the way and means of the Eternal Expiation of Sin And he doth not deal herein with these Hebrews on his Apostolical Authority and by new Evangelical Revelation as he did with the Church of the Gentiles but pleads the undeniable Truth of what he asserts from these direct Records and Testimonies which themselves owned and embraced Howbeit although the Books of Moses the Psalms and the Prophets were read unto them and among them continually as they are unto this day they neither understood nor do yet understand the things that are so plainly revealed in them And as the great Reason hereof is the Veil of blindness and darkness that is on their Minds 2 Cor. 3. 13 14. So in all their search into the Scripture they are indeed Supinely slothful and negligent For they cleave alone unto the outward Husk or Shell of the Letter utterly despising the Mysteries of Truth contained therein And so it is at present with the most of Men whose search into the Mind of God especially as unto what concerns his Worship keeps them in the Ignorance and Contempt of it all their days 3. The constant use of Sacrifices to signifie these things which they could not effect or really exhibit unto the Worshippers was a great part of the Bondage that the Church was kept in under the Old Testament And hereon as those who were Carnal bowed down their Backs unto the Burthen and their Necks unto the Yoke so those who had received the Spirit of Adoption did continually Pant and Groan after the coming of him in and by whom all was to be fulfilled So was the Law their Schoolmaster unto Christ. 4. God may in his Wisdom appoint and accept of Ordinances and Duties unto one end which he will refuse and reject when they are applyed unto another So he doth plainly in these Words those Sacrifices which in other places he most strictly enjoyns How express how multiplyed are his Commands for good works and our abounding in them Yet when they are made the matter of our Righteousness before him they are as unto that end namely of our Justification rejected and disapproved The First Part of ver 5. declares the Will of God concerning the Sacrifices of the Law The latter contains the supply that God in his Wisdom and Grace made of the defect and insufficiency of these Sacrifices And this is not any thing that should help assist or make them effectual but somewhat brought in in opposition unto them and for their Removal This he expresseth in the last clause of this Verse But a Body hast thou prepared me The Adversative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but declares that the way designed of God for this end was of another Nature than those Sacrifices were But yet this way must be such as should not render those Sacrifices utterly useless from their First Institution which would reflect on the Wisdom of God by whom they were appointed For if God did never approve of them never delight in them unto what end were they Ordained Wherefore although the real way of the Expiation of Sin be in it self of another Nature than those Sacrifices were yet was it such as those Sacrifices were meet to prefigure and represent unto the Faith of the Church The Church was taught by them that without a Sacrifice there could be no Attonement made for Sin wherefore the way of our Deliverance must be by a Sacrifice It is so saith the Lord Christ and therefore the First thing God did in the preparation of this new way was the Preparation of a Body for me which was to be Offered in Sacrifice And in the Antithesis intimated in this Adversative Conjunction respect is had unto the Will of God As Sacrifices were that which he would not unto this end so this preparation of the Body of Christ was that which he would which he delighted in and was well pleased withal So the
evidenced unto all 3. This Will of God Christ came to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to effect to establish and perfectly to fulfil it How he did so the Apostle fully declareth in this Epistle He did it in the whole work of his Mediation from the susception of our Nature in the Womb unto what he doth in his supream Agency in Heaven at the Right Hand of God He did all things to accomplish this eternal purpose of the Will of God This seems to me the First Sense of the place Howbeit I would not as I said before exclude the former mentioned also For our Lord in all that he did was the Servant of the Father and received especial commands for all that he did This Commandment saith he have I received of my Father Hence in this sense also he came to do the Will of God He fulfilled the Will of his purpose by Obedience unto the Will of his Commands Hence it is added in the Psalm that he delighted to do the Will of God and that his Law was in the midst of his Bowels His delight in the Will of God as unto the laying down of his Life at the Command of God was necessary unto this doing of his Will And we may observe 1. The Foundation of the whole glorious work of the Salvation of the Church was laid in the Soveraign Will Pleasure and Grace of God even the Father Christ came only to do his Will 2. The coming of Christ in the Flesh was in the Wisdom Righteousness and Holiness of God necessary for to fulfil his Will that we might be saved unto his Glory 3. The fundamental motive unto the Lord Christ in his undertaking the work of Mediation was the Will and Glory of God Lo I come to do thy Will 5 ly The last thing in this Context is the Ground and Rule of this undertaking of the Lord Christ and this is the Glory of the Truth of God in his promises recorded in the word In the Volume of the Book it is written of me that I should fulfil thy Will O God There is a difficulty in these words both as to the Translation of the Original Text and as unto the Application of them And therefore Critical Observations have been multiplied about them which it is not my way or work to repeat Those that are Learned know where to find them and those that are not so will not be edified by them What is the true meaning and intention of the Holy Spirit in them is what we are to enquire into The Socinian Expositors have a peculiar conceit on this place They suppose the Apostle useth this expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to denote some especial Chapter or place in the Law This they conjecture to be that of Deut. 17. v. 18 19. And it shall be that when He the King to be chosen shall sit on the Throne of his Kingdom that he shall write him a Copy of this Law in a Book out of that which is before the Priests the Levites And it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the days of his Life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of this Law and these Statutes to do them David they say spoke those words in the Psalm and it is no where said that he should come to do the Will of God but in this place of Deuteronomy as he was to be the King of that people But there can be nothing more fond than this empty conjecture For 1. David is not at all intended in these words of the Psalmist any otherwise but as he was the Penman of the Holy Ghost and a Type of Christ on which account he speaks in his name They are the words of Christ which David was inspired by the Holy Ghost to declare and utter neither would David speak these words concerning himself because he that speaks doth absolutely prefer his own Obedience as unto Worth and Efficacy before all Gods Holy Institutions He presents it unto God as that which is more useful unto the Church than all the Sacrifices which God had Ordained This David could not do justly 2. There is nothing spoken in this place of Deuteronomy concerning the Sacerdotal Office but only of the Regal And in this place of the Psalmist there is no respect unto the Kingly Office but only unto the Priesthood For Comparison is made with the Sacrifices of the Law But the Offering of these Sacrifices was expresly forbidden unto the Kings as is manifest in the instance of King Uzziah 2 Chron. 26. ver 18 19 20. Besides there is in that place of Deuteronomy no more respect had unto David than unto Saul or Jeroboam or any other that was to be King of that people There is nothing in them that belongs unto David in a peculiar manner 3. The words there recorded contain a meer prescription of Duty no prediction of the event which for the most part was contrary unto what is required But the words of the Psalmist are a Prophesie a Divine Prediction and Promise which must be actually accomplished Nor doth our Lord Christ in them declare what was prescribed unto him but what he did undertake to do and the record that was made of that undertaking of his 4. There is not one word in that place of Moses concerning the removal of Sacrifices and Burnt Offerings which as the Apostle declares is the principal thing intended in those of the Psalmist Yea the contrary as unto the season intended is expresly asserted For the King was to read in the Book of the Law continually that he might observe and do all that is written therein a great part whereof consists in the Institution and Observation of Sacrifices 5. This Interpretation of the words utterly overthrows what they dispute for immediately before This is that the entrance mentioned of Christ into the World was not indeed his coming into this World but his going out of it and entring into Heaven For it cannot be denied but that the Obedience of reading the Law continually and doing of it is to be attended unto in this World and not in Heaven and this they seem to acknowledge so as to recal their own Exposition Other absurdities which are very many in this place I shall not insist upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We with many others render in answer unto the Hebrew in the Volume or Roll. Ribera contends that this Translation of the word the Volume or Roll of the Book is absurd Because saith he the Book it self was a Volume or a Roll and so it is as if he had said in the Roll of the Roll. But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we Translate a Book doth not signifie a Book as written in a Roll but only an Enuntiation or Declaration of any thing We now call any Book of greater quantity a Volume but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is properly a Roll and the words
own Intention and Resolution to comply with his Will in Order unto another way of Attonement for Sin Lo I come to do thy Will O God which words have been opened before In the last place he declares what was intimated and signified in this Order of those things being thus spoken unto Sacrifices on the one hand which was the First and the coming of Christ which was the Second in this Order and Opposition It is evident 1. That these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he taketh away the First do intend Sacrifices and Offerings But he did not so do it immediately at the speaking of these words for they continued for the space of some Hundreds of years afterwards but he did so declaratively as unto the Indication of the time namely when the Second should be introduced 2. The end of this removal of the First was the establishment of the Second This Second say some is the Will of God but the Opposition made before is not between the Will of God and the Legal Sacrifices but between those Sacrifices and the coming of Christ to do the Will of God Wherefore it is the way of the Expiation of Sin and of the compleat Sanctification of the Church by the Coming and Mediation and Sacrifice of Christ that is this Second the thing spoken of in the Second place this God would establish approve confirm and render unchangeable As all things from the beginning made way for the coming of Christ in the minds of them that did believe so every thing was to be removed out of the way that would hinder his coming and the discharge of the work he had undertaken Law Temple Sacrifices must all be removed to give way unto his coming So is it testified by his fore-runner Luke 3. 4. As it is written in the Book of the words of Isaiah the Prophet saying the Voice of one crying in the Wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord make his Paths straight and the rough Ways shall be made smooth and all flesh shall see the Salvation of God So it must be in our own Hearts all things must give way unto him or he will not come and take his Habitation in them VERSE 10. By the which Will we are Sanctified through the Offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all From the whole Context the Apostle makes an Inference which is comprehensive of the Substance of the Gospel and the description of the Grace of God which is established thereby Having affirmed in Christs own words that he came to do the Will of God he shews what was that Will of God which he came to do what was the design of God in it and the effect of it and by what means it was accomplished which things are to be enquired into As 1. What is the Will of God which he intends By which Will. 2. What was the design of it what God aimed at in this act of his Will and what is accomplished thereby We are sanctified 3. The way and means whereby this effect proceedeth from the Will of God namely through the Offering of the Body of Jesus Christ in opposition to Legal Sacrifices 4. The manner of it in opposition unto their Repetition it was once for all But the sense of the whole will be more clear if we consider the end aimed at in the first place namely the Sanctification of the Church And sundry things must be observed concerning it 1. That the Apostle changeth his Phrase of Speech into the first person we are Sanctified that is all those Believers whereof the Gospel Church-State was constituted in opposition unto the Church-State of the Hebrews and those that did adhere unto it so he speaks before as also Chap. 4. 3. We who have believed do enter into Rest. For it might be asked of him you that thus overthrow the Efficacy of Legal Sacrifices what have you your selves attained in your relinquishment of them We have saith he that Sanctification that Dedication unto God that Peace with him and that Expiation of Sin that all those Sacrifices could not effect And observe 1. Truth is never so effectually declared as when it is confirmed by the experience of its Power in them that believe it and make profession of it This was that which gives them the confidence which the Apostle exhorts them to hold fast and firm unto the end 2. It is an Holy Glorying in God and no unlawful boasting for Men openly to profess what they are made partakers of by the Grace of God and Blood of Christ. Yea it is a necessary duty for Men so to do when any thing is set up in competition with them or opposition unto them 3. It is the best security in differences in and about Religion such as these wherein the Apostle is ingaged the greatest and highest that ever were when Men have an Internal Experience of the Truth which they do profess 2. The words he useth are in the Preterperfect tense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and relate not only unto the things but the time of the Offering of the Body of Christ. For although all that is intended herein did not immediately follow on the Death of Christ yet were they all in it as the Effects in their proper cause to be produced by virtue of it in their times and seasons and the principal effect intended was the immediate consequent thereof 3. This end of God through the Offering of the Body of Christ was the Sanctification of the Church we are Sanctified The principal Notion of Sanctification in the New Testament is the effecting of real Internal Holiness in the persons of them that do believe by the change of their Hearts and Lives But the word is not here so to be restrained nor is it used in that sence by our Apostle in this Epistle or very rarely It is here plainly comprehensive of all that he hath denied unto the Law Priest-hood and Sacrifices of the Old Testament with the whole Church-State of the Hebrews under it and the effects of their Ordinances and Services As 1. A compleat Dedication unto God in Opposition unto the Typical one which the people were partakers of by the sprinkling of the Blood of Calves and Goats upon them Exod. 24. 2. A compleat Church-state for the Celebration of the Spiritual Worship of God by the Administration of the Spirit wherein the Law could make nothing perfect 3. Peace with God upon a full and perfect Expiation of Sin which he denies unto the Sacrifices of the Law ver 1 2 3 4. 4. Real Internal purification or sanctification of our Natures and Persons from all inward Filth and Defilement of them which he proves at large that the Carnal Ordinances of the Law could not effect of themselves reaching no farther than the Purification of the Flesh. 5. Hereunto also belong the priviledges of the Gospel in Liberty Boldness immediate Access unto God the means of that Access by Christ our High-Priest