that have been occupied therein Here he brings the reason why in a manner he denied that the heart is established with meats or that such establishing is not so good a thing namely because they that have exercised therein have found no profit thereby To be occupied in meats or as the Greek hath it to walke in meats seeing here as we have shewed meats signifie the meats of the sacrifices or of the holy things is nothing else but to partake of those carnall sacrifices and to accustome the eating of things offered and consecrated and placing therein a part of Gods worship and serice By those who are said to be occupied in those meats are meant the Jewes before they were illuminated in the doctrine of Christ Which have not profited them The Jews found no true profit by eating those meats For as Christ saith of Manna John 6.49 Your fathers did eat Manna in the wildernesse and are dead So may it well be said of the meats of the sacrifices and things consecrated to God Your fathers did eat the meats of sacrifices and are dead But he that recreates and fills his soule with that grace of God which is revealed and exhibited to men in the Gospell hee shall live for ever Therefore the words not profited doe not simply exclude all profit and advantage wholly for the meats of the sacrifices did profit something in respect of that time to repaire the strength of the body for a short time but they had not a true profit belonging to the Spirit but only a carnall profit that was transitory and fugitive not durable and eternall In which sense also Christ saith of his flesh eaten in a carnall way as his Disciples understood it Joh. 6 63. It is the Spirit that quickneth the flesh profiteth nothing that is it furthereth nothing unto life to produce in men a spirituall and eternall life It is the Spirit that vivifies men which as from the spirituall eating of the flesh of Christ slaine for the life of the world and from the spirituall drinking of his bloud so from that sweet taste of that divine grace which was confirmed by the death and bloud of Christ doth distill into our soules and so revives and quickens us From these words of the Author it is manifest that to Christian Religion it is nothing pertinent or profiting to eat any true meat properly and consequently not the flesh and bloud of Christ For if the body of Christ were properly eaten and therein consisted a part of Religion would not the Author have opposed the meat of Christs flesh and bloud to the meats of those sacrifices would he have said we have an altar whereof it is not lawfull for them to eat no not for the Priests if it be lawfull for the Priests to eat the body and drinke the bloud of Christ offered every day upon the altar and unlawfull not to eat and drinke it Would he have left us only the sacrifice of praise and good workes for the sacrifices and offerings of all animals and other creatures which might be turned into meats 10. We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the Tabernacle Hitherto the Author hath shewed that there is very little or no cause why Christians should desire those sacrifices of the Law and the meats of those offerings or should place some part of Gods worship or service in them or should take it grievously that for the profession of Christian Religion they are drawne from commerce and communion with the Jewes and their state Now he shews further that it is not lawfull for Christians to eat the meats of sacrifices as was anciently done under the Law He therefore saith We have an altar Any man may easily perceive that these words are figurative and improper taken from the ordinances in the discipline of Moses which for the most part cannot be applied to the discipline of Christ but by way of abusion and impropriety whereof we had no few examples formerly especially in the comparison of Christ with the Leviticall Priests For for comparisons sake we many times use such words of a thing which without respect to the comparison wee would never use The same impropriety falls out againe here In the Christian Religion to speake properly there is no Altar no Tabernacle to serve no Sacrifices which can be eaten neither if we respect the eating of sacrifices or the abstinence from them is there any such difference betweene Christians as if some were Priests and Ministers of the Tabernacle and others were not Therefore in such sayings we must not weigh every word singly by it selfe as what is signified by the Altar what by the Tabernacle and whereto it answers but we must enquire for the sense of the whole sentence Wherefore these words import nothing else but that Christians have no other sacrifices but such whereof they have no power to eat By those which serve the Tabernacle which under the Law were only Priests and Levites are signified all Christians in generall Christians therefore are said to be in that condition as if under the Law there had been such an Altar whereof and of the sacrifices laid upon it and offered unto God it was not lawfull for any man to eat no not for the Priests themselves and other Ministers of the house of God much lesse for the rest of the people For if there had been such an Altar under the Law then it is apparent unto all men that the eating of sacrifices and things offered unto God should have had no place under the Law But thus it is under the Gospell and therefore the eating of sacrifices must be to Christians unlawfull 11. For the bodies of those beasts whose bloud is brought into the Sanctuarie by the high Priest for sinne are burnt without the campe Here the Author proves by his assertion in the former verse why in Christianitie the matter is so ordered that under the Gospel there is such an Altar whereof the Sacrifices are not permitted to be eaten of any man Yet he proposeth his argument so concisely and briefly that he seemes rather to point at it then explicate it And it manifestly appeares that the Authour takes it as graunted for a ground That Christians have no other Sacrifice but what is resembled by the entrance of the high Priest into the Sanctuary or by those beasts onely whose bloud was brought into the Sanctuary by the high Priest and their bodies were burnt without the campe For unlesse the Author took this for graunted he could not from this that in those sacrifices it was not lawful to eat the flesh of the offering simply conclude that it is not lawfull for us Christians to eat sacrifices or that we have an altar whereof we may not lawfully eat And this he might well take for granted because by that Sacrifice whereby our high Priest entred into his Sanctuary under the new Covenant all things were perfomed whether we
being laid aside is usually solded up Hence it appeares that at last the time shall come that the heavens shall no longer circumvest or enwrap the earth and therefore must needs be destroyed and abolished And they shall be changed What change must here be understood moe have shewed before namely a destruction abolition or perishing a change not for the better but for the worse a change from being to not being as a garment waxen old and thereupon folded up becomes changed for the worse till first it fall into clouts and ragges and at last rots quite away Hitherto of the second Clause of this testimony concerning the destruction of the world referred primarily by the Psalmist to God but secondarily and subordinatly by this Author to Christ by whose power under God this destruction shall be made and thereby is proved to be better then the angels But thou remainest Now follows the third Clause of this testimony referred both to God and Christ as the second Clause was yet we shall speak of it only in reference to Christ because the main purpose of the Author in this Clause is to prove not that Christ herein is better then the angels but to shew upon the by that the Duration of Christs person and Kingdom doth not only exceed the age of the world which shall be destroyed but shall be everlasting and perpetuall remaining for ever The world shall not remaine but shall cease to be But Christ shall remaine and never cease to bee but if the world be Innovated into a better state to remaine ever under that state wherein shall stand the opposition betweene the Duration of the world and Christ certainly in nothing Thou art the same The heavens and earth shall not be the same alwayes but at last shall be changed from being to not being But Christ once seated at the right hand of God continues alwayes the same and shall be the same everlastingly And thy yeares shall not fail The world had a beginning and then her years began but because she shall be destroyed and abolished therefore her yeares shall faile and come to an end Christ also had a beginning of his age and yeares but because hee is now immortall therefore his yeares shall never have an end but shall run forth in to eternity and last everlastingly 13. But to which of the angels said he at any time The fift and last Argument to prove Christ better and greater then the angels taken from a testimony of Scripture Psal 110.1 Shewing that God never vouchsafed them that high dignity and degree of honour as to sit at his right hand Sit on my right hand The meaning of this phrase see before in this chapter verse 3. For so great a dominion and power as to correigne with God over all things in heaven and earth was never granted to any of the angels Vntill I make thine enemies thy footstool Here is declared the expiration and terme of that spirituall Kingdome which Christ now administers upon earth and such a terme as therewithall shewes one of the greatest and most excellent effect of that Kingdome In so much as it is no marvell his Kingdome should determine after the production of that effect All which tends to the highest commendation of that Kingdome For if Christ had obtained that Kingdom for some short time or should relinquish it before he had destroyed and abolished all his enemies much would bee wanting to the dignitie of his Kingdome The terme therefore unto which the Kingdom of Christ must be produced which also is a most glorious effect of his Kingdome is expressed when God saith untill I make thine enemies thy footstoole By enemies here we must understand not onely the adversaries to the person of Christ who once reproached and crucified him or since to this day blaspheme and oppose him but also all things adverse and hurtfull to the people of Christ who are the faithfull Of which enemies the chiefest is death so far forth as it doth hurt or may hurt the faithfull who are the people of Christ as the Apostle teacheth 1. Cor. 15.26 For the death which domineers and remaines upon the ungodly and unbeleevers shall not be abolished because their death is no enemy unto Christ but militant and subservient unto him in doing the worke upon which he employes it And the enemies of Christ are then made his footstoole when they are so fully conquered that all power of doing hurt is taken from them or as St. Paul expounds it 1. Cor. 15.26 when they are destroyed and abolished And God is said to put Christs enemies downe not that Christ shall be no agent in that action but because God gives Christ the power to performe it and Christ shall execute it by vertue of that power that is given him As in the Scripture 1. Kings 5.3 God is said to have put Davids enemies under his feet yet David was not idle in the wars but very active Or as some King when his enemies were conquered should say that God had subdued them unto him because God had given him power and courage to performe it For that Christ also himselfe shall subdue his enemies it plainly appeares from the words of St. Paul 1. Cor. 15.24 and Phil. 3.21 14. Are they not all ministring spirits They i. the Angels In the former verse having shewed the Sublimity and Maiesty of Christ in his seat at Gods right hand and in the victory over his enemies he now on the other part opposeth the condition of the angels that the great dignity of him above them may evidently appeare Christ doth sit and he sits at the right hand of God i. he raignes as a King and the manner of Kings is to sit But all the angels none excepted are ministring spirits i. waiting spirits and the manner of waiters is to stand and appeare and be sent forth at his command upon whom they wait Sent forth to minister The angels are Gods messengers and ministers for they are sent forth and the end of their sending forth is to minister or doe service What ministery or service that is hee will presently shew and withall will intimate how long their ministery shall last namely till the persons for whose sake they minister shall attaine salvation For them who shall be heires of salvation The angels are properly ministers unto God and Christ for properly a man ministers unto him that hath a right to command him though his ministery or service be many times performed for the use and behoofe of another So the angels are ministers not unto the Saints and heires of salvation but for the Saints i. for the benefit and commodity of the Saints they minister unto Christ for the vse of the Saints and then they minister to the Saints when they are sent for the custody and guard of their bodies and soules to provide for their safety in both respects For seeing Satan and the other devils doe not only pursue and
then his owne or at least not as his owne but as anothers For here is a relation to those words of God formerly cited That Moses was faithfull in all Gods house Whose house are we Hee now expresseth what we must understand by this house of God or Christ namely all they are this house that professe the Religion of Christ of which number these Hebrews were a part and thereby he opens a passage to his following exhortation The faithfull are the house of God whether by house wee understand a family or a building For they are the family of God and Christ who serve God and Christ and are under his care They are also his building or spirituall Temple because God and Christ doe inhabit them by their holy Spirit and they are a Tabernacle for divine worship whereof are extant many testimonies of Scripture Hence appears the great dignity of Christians who therefore are to endeavour that they never fall from it but that it continue stable and perpetuall If wee hold fast the confidence For confidence the originall word properly signifies liberty of speech whereby a man speakes undauntedly though otherwise there bee cause of feare Hence the word is figuratively drawne to signifie courage of minde and also confidence thence refulting In this place it may be taken both properly and figuratively not only for a confidence or assurance of minde but for a liberty in professing Religion so that a Christian what feare soever assault him must openly and publickly professe himselfe the follower of Christ and not be deterred from it by any meanes And in the same sense it seemes the word is taken afterward cap. 10.35 for there the Author treats not only of inward faith but of outward profession of the Christian Religion Hence it appeares that to make us become the house of God it is required that we have confidence and to make us continue so wee must hold our confidence fast and firme unto the end And therefore we are the house of God being of the present tense must be understood as ampliated also to the future For that we should become the house of God for the present it is not required wee should hold fast our confidence to the end but that only for the present we should have confidence But that we might thence forward continue and remaine the house of God perpetually we must also continue and remain in our confidence perpetually by holding it fast to the end And the rejoycing of the hope Hope is put here materially for the thing hoped for which is eternal life for that is the final matter of our hope Rejoycing is either a high degree of joy exalted or an outward expression of our inward joy caused by our hope of eternal life for such great hopes must needs breed in us not only joy but rejoycing For rejoycing is a patent sign of hope latent in us and it is also an effect of that hope for if our confidence and hope of eternall life be reall and true in us it will work this effect in us to rejoyce of it by having it alwayes in our mouth and thereby professing our selves happy and blessed Whence it is no marvell the Author requires this rejoycing in Christians seeing Paul affirmes of them also That they rejoyce in hope of the glory of God Rom. 5.2 And this rejoycing of our confidence and hope doth necessarily draw with it and in a manner compriseth our rejoycing of Christian Religion whereon our hope both depends and relyes For wee must needs perceive that the Authors aime is we should hold fast the Christian Religion and not only professe it freely and boldly but also rejoyce in it because it brings us a sure hope of eternall happinesse Firme unto the end Unto the last gaspe of our life for this is the nature of a firme hope for then our confidence is firme and stable if it last and hold out to the last gaspe of our life Unlesse we shall say that a firme hope is opposed to a hope infirme that is wavering and weake which comes all to one because an infirme or weak hope is not likely to last and hold out to the end Hence it appeares that it is possible for a Christian endued to true faith to fall from that faith For otherwise why should the Author annex this condition of persevering in faith by holding it fast and firme if they who are once the house of God and have faith can no way faile and fall from it Why in the following admonition doth he exhort them to constancy Why doth hee will them to take heed of departing from the living God 7. Wherefore as the holy Ghost saith Here he begins an Exhortation against obstinacie that they should not shew themselves incredulous and hard hearted against the voice of God by Christ in the Gospel Wherefore this word intimates that his Exhortation is drawn from his former discourse And it may be drawne either from his last words wherein he shewed us to be the house of God and for our continuing so we must persevere constantly in the faith and hope of eternall salvation For from hence the admonition may well be inferred that seeing the matter is of such moment therefore wee should shew our selves tractable and obsequious to the voice of God and so persist constantly in the faith Or it may be drawne from the words before that concerning the great dignity of Christ above Moses for if all obedience were due to the voice of God delivered by Moses how much more reverence and regard must be given to the voice of God published by Christ who was much greater then Moses As the holy Ghost saith q. d. That I may use unto you the words of the holy Ghost and say unto you now as hee sayth in the Psalmes Hee attributes the words of David to the holy Ghost because David uttered them by the instinct of the holy Ghost To day if yee will heare his voice These words whereof the Author here makes use to apply them to his present purpose are extant Psal 95.7 The literall sence is Upon the solemn festivall day the people were accustomed to enter the temple of God there to celebrate Divine worship and to heare the reading of the Law which was the word or voice of God Hereupon David composed this Psalme for the festivall day wherein he excites the people that when they went into the house of God to worship him and heare his word they should also obey it and not harden their hearts against it For the particle if is put for when when or seeing yee will heare his voice The mysticall sence The voyce of Christ whereby the Gospel is revealed and delivered to men is the voyce of God And the time of the Gospel is the festivall day of Grace wherein God offers salvation and invites us to it by the preaching of the Gospel which time will not last alwayes in respect of particular persons but
frees us from all punishment and lastly makes us capable of eternall life Whence it so much the more appeares how the purging of our consciences doth certainely follow upon the bloud and death of Christ and upon his subsequent offering in heaven Purge your conscience from deâ—d workes How much more shall the bloud of Christ purge Shall is so the future tense here that it carries the force of the time present For in such arguments drawne from comparison wee love to use the future tense in the consequent member of it If this be so much more shall that For herein we respect not any futurity of time but a futurity of consequence and of truth for many times wee conclude in that manner of things past The conscience here is opposed to the flesh for as the bloud of beasts offered did purge the flesh so the bloud of Christ offered through the Spirit doth penetrate unto the conscience and purge it And sinnes are called dead workes not formally as if they had no life or activity in them but effectively because they are deadly works that brings death to the sinner and of their owne nature keepe the sinner dead for ever These deadly works are the spots and blots that defile our conscience and from these our conscience is purged by the bloud of Christ not onely in that we are freed from the guilt of them in the sight of God and consequently from all punishment of them but also in that wee are delivered from the sence of that guilt and from the feare of punishment and so our conscience is cased of a grievous burden And it was not for nothing that the Author would rather say purge our conscience then our minde the inward part of us opposite to the flesh Because thereby he would shew that the bloud of Christ doth also cleanse away that misery and torment of the conscience whereby men conscious of their wickednesse doe tremble and quake for feare of Gods Judgements This is most certaine that true and solid peace of conscience in them that have sinned doth ground it selfe upon this that God hath declared his will they should be free from all the guilt of their sinnes And yet it may be that men freed in the sight of God from the guilt of their sinnes may not enjoy a peaceable and quiet conscience because they are destitute of the knowledge or faith of it Therefore the bloud of Christ offered to God through the eternall Spirit doth not onely abolish all the guilt of our sinnes but also doth certifie and make faith thereof unto us as we heard before Whence it commeth to passe that there ariseth a great calme and quiet of conscience in their minds who have tasted the efficacy and vertue of Christ his bloud and sacrifice and we may well say that though formerly their conscience were oppressed with many crimes yet then their conscience is wholly disburdened and they finde no guiltinesse in it And this is the scope which God proposed unto himselfe in the death of Christ and the things following thereon For he would not therefore binde himselfe by the bloud of Christ and establish a new Covenant because there might be danger that he would not stand to his promises who is most true and faithfull of his word but because we should want no assurance of his grace and mercy towards us And hence also it is that when Christ was raised from the dead and invested with immortality God exalted him into heaven and committed unto him the whole care and arbitrement of our salvation For the efficacy and force of Christs death and the consequents upon it must be distinguished from their scope whereat God aymed although that efficacy were subservient to this scope and effectuall to the compassing of it The efficacy of Christs death and the consequents upon it was very great both to obliege God to performe his promises and to produce the reall effect of them upon us but the scope is as we have said to make assured and undoubted faith unto us of so great grace of God of so great salvation and remission of sins to the end that wee being fully certified thereof might againe on our part performe our duty and wholly devote our selves to God Whence the Author adding afterward this end or effect of purging our conscience to be performed by us on our part doth thereby teach us that in this purging of our conscience he included not only an Immunity from punishmenâ— arising from the abolishing of our guilt before God but also a security from them proceeding from our certaine knowledge that our guilt is abolished Now for the matter of our Impunity or freedome from punishment our punishment is not only temporall but also eternall opposite to life eternall From the punishment of eternall death those sacrifices 〈◊〉 the Law were so farre from freeing any man that they could exempt no man from temporall death or capitall punishment for they only tooke away some other light penalties or inconveniences of this life Neither did God write all his Lawes in bloud ordaining death for every offence but moderated the rigor of his Law with singular justice and equity Upon some offences hee laid the penalty of death which no sacrifice could release upon others he laid a fine and a sacrifice The mulct or fine was to bee paid to the party grieved but the sacrifice to himselfe for thereupon he remitted the penalty due to himselfe but would have restitution made of the injury done to man So for example for theft the penalty was a restituon of the double triple or quadruple to be paid to the party thereby damaged but besides this restitution the theft was expiated by sacrifice which was instead of a penalty to the most mercifull God Lastly there some things totally void of all true offence as for example if any man had touched a dead body though it were of duty to bury him which was rather a matter of piety then of offence yet because this and other such like cases were condemned by the Law of uncleannes therefore they were to be expiated either by some sacrifice or by the holy water of separation Therefore all the use of those sacrifices was to expiate some lighter faults or uncleannesses of the flesh but great offences were punished with death Hence David acknowledging his sinne exiable by no sacrifices of beasts saith to God Thou desirest not sacrifices else would I give them but thou delightest not in burn offerings Psal 51.16 He means in the expiation of such crimes as his was and therefore he flyes to the sole mercy and clemency of God and resolves to pacifie God with the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart The force of which sacrifice if it be made seasonably and abound afterward in the fruits of good workes is established and ratified by the Law of the Gospel Now the bloud and sacrifice of Christ takes away all guilt and penalties of all sins
accounted as his and be adopted into the number of the twelve Patriarchs to give name and be heads to two of the Tribes And worshipped Here is mentioned another argument or proofe of Jacobs faith in that he worshipped God after that he had bound Joseph to carry his body after his death into the land of Canaan as we reade it Gen 47. For by this worshipping he declared that he wholly confided in God who had promised that land to his posterity and would in due time give them the possession of it Vpon the top of his staffe The vulgar Latin renders this perversly that he worshipped the top of his staffe As if Jacob had worshipped the Scepter of his son Joseph that is Joseph himselfe by reason of the high office and power that Joseph had in Egypt Which interpretation neither agrees to the words of the text in leaving out the particle upon nor to the scope of the Author For what makes this to the declaration of Jacobs faith nay the thing it selfe scemes no way probable The end is the extreme part of a thing but if one end of a thing be the highest and the other the lowest the highest end is the top Which sence must be here understood as partly appeares by the thing it selfe and partly by the Hebrew word Gen. 47. In the Hebrew for top we reade head which by a metaphor signifies the top because the head is the end and highest part of man and consequently of any thing else And for staffe we now reade in the Hebrew bed which fell out because the word Mittah there extant pricked with other vowels signifies a staffe for in the Hebrew Matteh is a staffe and Mittch a bed The Septuagint whom our Author followes reade it Matteh and so translated it staffe otherwise then we now reade it in the Hebrew text Both these readings have a commodious sence For if wee give way to the authority of the Septuagint the sence will be that Jacob when by reason of his age and weakenesse he could not lift up him self by his owne strength stayed and raised himselfe by the top of his staffe the common ayde of old men that he might worship God by bowing his body before him But if we follow the Hebrew text as it is now extant the sence will be That Jacob because he could not raise his body out of his bed therefore he bowed his head forward upon his beds head and so worshipped God For among the people of God it hath beene alwayes the manner of worshipping God by bowing the body or at least the head unto him 22. By faith Ioseph when he dyed made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and gave commandement concerning his bones Now he mentions the particular faith of Joseph who when he was dying mentioned the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt and to testifie his beliefe and assurance thereof gave commandement concerning his bones that when they departed out of Egypt toward the promised land they should carry his bones with them He gives commandement concerning his bones and not concerning his body because he knew for certaine either by the spirit of Prophesie or else by the Oracle of God as Abraham his great grandfather did that the Israelites should not very soone after his death depart out of Egypt to take possession of the land of Canaan which God had promised but betweene his death and their departure there would passe such a distance of time that nothing of his body would remaine besides his bones Which thing doth greatly commend the faith of Joseph because though he saw the performance of Gods promises deferred for a long time yet to come yet he neither despised them nor doubted any thing of their verity 23. By faith Moses when he was borne was hid three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper childe The Author being about to bring an example of the faith of Moses doth begin it with the mention of his parents faith which appeared in their hiding of Moses when he was new borne For hence it is manifest that they confided in God that by his helpe the childe should be preserved And their motive to this faith was because they saw the childe was comely or proper that is such a one in whose countenance there appeared an extraordinary and excellent towardnesse and whose very aspect seemed to presage and promise some great matter In the seventh chapter of the Acts ver 20. it is said that he was exceeding faire to God which some Translations render by God that is his beauty came from God or God in a singular manner had made him very faire and beautifull When therefore his parents saw him so they imagined that God would not have it be in vaine that an Infant should be borne of so beautifull and comely countenance And therefore they doubted not but he should be preserved by the singular providence of God so as they also provided as much as lay in their power And the event was answerable to their faith And they were not afraid of the Kings commandement King Pharoah by an Edict had commanded the Egyptians to kill the male children borne of the Israelites after that the Midwives who feared God had refused to execute the like command This command of the King the parents of Moses feared not because they feared not but trusted upon God and his providence that the child which they had hidden should not be discovered and produced to be slaine by the Kings command 24. By faith Moses when he was come to yeares Here he begins to treat of Moses his owne faith and to mention the effects of it whereof the first is that when he was come to yeares he refused to be called the son of Pharoahs daughter Which fact of Moses he further illustrates and amplifies in the following verses In the Greek for come to yeares it is when Moses was become great Which greatnesse may be understood of that dignity which Moses attained in Egypt where he was bred up in the quality of the sonne of Pharoahs daughter For he was learned in all the wisdome of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds as we reade it Acts 7.22 But this greatnesse seemes rather to be referred to the stature of Moses and consequently to his age of mans estate partly because Moses come to yeares is here opposed to Moses when he was borne and pâ—…ly because the Scripture relating the same fact of Moses saith that when he was growne up he went out unto his brethren Exod. 2.11 Or as Stephen 〈…〉 When he was full forty yeares old it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel Acts 7.23 This fact of Moses in refusing to be called the son of the Kings daughter was a hardy attempt not onely to despise and reject so great a dignity such riches and pleasures but also thereby freely to cast himselfe into that
and produced us into this carnall life for they are opposed unto the Father of spirits as it presently follows in this verse And we gave them reverence By the chastisements of our carnall fathers we were often made ashamed both by the punishment and by the fault and were ashamed of both For chastisement brings with it not only paine but shame But if we referre this to our fathers the sense will be that by their chastisement we were so affected as to reverence them and for shame and fear of them durst not offend against them But if our carnall fathers who were the authors of our carnall life only could by their chastisement effect this in us how much more convenient is it that the chastisement of our spirituall Father should produce in us the like effect Shall wee not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits To be in subjection is in this place to receive and endure that chastisement which proceeds from God with a ready and patient minde and thereupon to shew our selves tractable and obedient unto him in all those things for the amendment whereof he chastised us The Father of spirits That is God who is opposed to the fathers of our flesh to shew us how much more it becomes us to bee in subjection unto him then unto these because the spirit is far more noble and excellent then the flesh For God is not therefore called the father of spirits and opposed to the fathers of our flesh as if we had received our spirit onely whereby we live and understand from God and our flesh onely from our parents seeing God is no lesse the Author and Creator of the one then of the other But by spirit is meant all that which pertaines to our spirit and makes us to be spirituall for this we owe to no other person but to our heavenly father But he is called the father of spirits because he hath begotten us according to the spirit and he alone hath begotten all of us And live Hee shews the fruit and end of our subjection the more to incite us thereto And this fruit is eternall life which to attaine is truly to live Whence oftentimes it is eminently called by the sole name of life 10. And they verily for a few dayes chastened us after their owne pleasure Because he had said we should live if we would be in subjection to the Father of spirits tacitly intimating that this effect would not follow upon our subjection to our carnall fathers therefore now he shews what great difference there is betweene the end and scope whereat our carnall fathers ayme as they are opposed to our spirituall father and in this respect are not subservient unto him and that end which God proposeth in the chastisement of his children Whereupon it also followes that we should farre more willingly submit our selves to endure the chastisements of God then of them in regard they are intended for a farre greater good unto us then the chastisements of our carnall fathers For a few dayes the good or benefit of their chastisement is of use unto us but for a few dayes that we may passe over this life which is concluded within the compasse of a short time the more conveniently and honestly For the Author by these words intends not to say that the chastisement of our fathers lasteth not long but passeth away together with our childhood and youth for what doth this make to the purpose Must we therefore be rather the more in subjection unto God because his chastisement lasteth a long time or through all our life Besides the minde of the Author is to inculcate into us rather the shortnesse of Gods chastisement then the length of it as we might perceive before chap. 10. ver 37. after their owne pleasure They in their chastisements of us did not alwayes seeke our benefit but were many times indulgent to their owne humours and passions or if in some measure they sought our benefit yet they did not alwayes use a right judgement therein They did therein as it seemed good unto them sometime after our desert and sometime after their owne pleasure and oftentimes erred through mis-affection or indiscretion But he for our profit But God is such a father that when he chasteneth his children he alwayes directs his eye to our benefit and profit neither doth ever misse of his intent That we might be partakers of his holinesse Here he specifies in particular the profit we gaine from Gods chastisement that thereby we are sanctified in so great a measure as to partake of his holinesse for the holinesse thereby wrought in us is in a manner divine resembling the holinesse of God Wherein is also contained by way of Metonymy the fruit of this holinesse which is everlasting happinesse 11. Now no chastening for the present He seemes here to take away an objection Some man might say that all chastisement of it owne nature is unpleasing and bitter and therefore it is an hard matter to endure it with patience The Author confesseth this to be true in respect of some time that chastisement for the time present all the while the affliction of it lasteth seemes not so good as indeed it is Seemeth to be joyous It doth not appeare or seeme unto us to tend unto joy or the present sowrenesse and bitternesse of chastisement while the smart of it is upon us doth not seeme to us of that quality that it should determine and end in great joy and pleasure But grievous It seemes to bring nothing else unto us but smart and griefe for all chastisement brings griefe or paine else it should not be chastisement for therefore we are chastised that the paine of the punishment might repell the lust of sinne Neverthelesse afterward it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse The fruit of righteousnesse signifies the fruit that is righteousnesse by a genetive of the difference And the word righteousnesse doth in this place signifie both the habit of doing righteously and by way of Metonymy the effect or reward following it which is Justification or the having of a right to life eternall as in the former verse holinesse signified both holinesse of manners and the happinesse following upon it And this fruit is called peaceable not only in respect of righteousnesse properly taken which brings us peace that is happinesse but in respect of our justification to life eternall because that consisteth in true peace which is our finall happinesse and brings it with it In a sence not unlike Paul said that blessed hope Tit. 2.13 for hope is there taken materially for the thing hoped which is eternall life which is called blessed because it is blessednesse it selfe and makes them blessed who attain it Vnto them which are exercised thereby He specifies here the persons to whom this peaceable fruit accrews and they are such as are exercised by chastisement for chastisement is an exercise to godlinesse and righteousnesse And
which could not be made up only of the Apostles and Prophets of the New Testament Wherefore this generall assembly must be further extended which if it be then nothing is more probable but that by first-borne is understood in this place as we have said the first-fruits of the faithfull in every place For they were worthily of greatest esteem among the Christians they had the double portions as it were of the Holy Ghost or to speake in the words of the Apostle they had the first fruits of the Spirit and were endued with divine gifts above other men But some may demand whether the Author alludes in the word first-borne if he allude at all which if he doe it seems it is either unto the first-borne under the Law into whose place the Levites were chosen to minister in the Sanctuary or to the universall assembly of the Israelites when they stood at the foote of Mount Sinai to heare the Law For the former opinion it makes first from the word first-borne for first-borne are most fitly opposed to the first-borne Secondly in that these Hebrews to whom the Author writes being seasoned by the Apostles with the doctrine of Christ seeme answerable to that first assembly of the Israelites at Mount Sinai to heare the Law Which if it be so then the first borne can scarce signifie the universall multitude of the first Christians or the first common Church seeing there must be some who had accesse and other some to whom the accesse was had unlesse we say that these Hebrewes are considered as some part of the primitive assembly of Christians answering to that part of the Israelites assembly which first received the Law delivered from God himselfe For if by the heavenly Jerusalem the Church be signified these Hebrewes can be said to come unto it no otherwise then as the part to the whole Thirdly because by these first-borne some excellent and eminent men in the Church seeme to be understood as put in a meane betweene God and Angels for these very fitly answer the first-borne and to the Levites and Priests chosen into their roome as are the Apostles Prophets Evangelists and other excellent and eminent men who went before all that followed them not onely in time but in gifts And it is probable that the Author would make particular mention of them and then they were not expressed in other words then these The other opinion is favoured by the word generall assembly which signifies an universall meeting and likewise the word Church For that generall assembly of the Israelites who met at Mount Sinai to heare the Law was called the Church Acts 7.38 Hence it appeares of what great dignity they are who have received the Religion of Christ because they are incorporated as it were into one body and into one Church with that Church of the first-borne and who as S. Peter saith have obtained like precious faith with them 2 Pet. 1.1 and enjoy the same right with them of happinesse and salvation He calls them the generall assembly and Church of the first-borne because though all these first borne did never yet assemble in any one place upon earth for this shall be done hereafter onely in heaven yet because of the spirituall conjunction and likenesse of dignity and condition that is betweene them they are considered as one assembly and in a manner as one company Which are written in heaven He seemes to allude to the number-rolle or list of the names of the first-borne or of all the Israelites for God commanded Moses to taken the number of both these but both these were written on earth but the lift of Christians is written in heaven and written by God So that by these words their dignity and happinesse is notified But the Greek word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies not simply written but recorded for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a list upon record for their names use to be lifted upon record who are the citizens or members of a common-wealth By these words therefore is signified that Christians are citizens of heaven and have the right of a heavenly common-wealth that their God is alwayes mindfull of them seeing he keeps their names as it were written in a booke and therefore it cannot be but in due time he will put them in possession of his heavenly kingdome Whence also they that come unto them or are aggregated to their number are reckoned with them for citizens of heaven and members of that heavenly common-wealth And to God the judge of all But some may here say that the Israelites came long since unto God and therefore here is nothing said that concernes Christians in particular I answer 1. That they when they came to Mount Sinai did not really and truly come to God himself but onely to an angel who sustained the person and Name of God 2. That they came not in that manner that Christians doe unto God who as S. John saith come into a communion and fellowship with God 1 John 1.3 and into such a communion that they are reckoned the sons of God and in time to come shall be his heires in witnesse whereof they have received the earnest of his holy Spirit Ephes 1.14 3. The Israelites came not unto God as unto him whom they knew to be the Judge of all or rather who then caried himselfe as the universall Judge of all men of all countries and nations both quick and dead Now the name of Judge may be here taken either largely for any Lord and governour or strictly for him who according to mens merits decrees and payes rewards and punishments Anciently God tooke the peculiar charge and governement over the people of Israel onely but now he hath a fatherly care equally over all men of what Nation soever so they be Christians yea he provides that they become Christians Also he ordaines rewards and punishments for all men not onely in this life but also after it which to those first Israelites was not knowne especially in regard of those transcendent rewards to be collated after this life upon the godly without any difference of Nation And to the spirits of just men made perfect He seemes now to mention these that he tacitly may shew what a great happinesse it is to come to the Judge of all men both the living and the dead By the Iust he understands those men deceased notable for their righteousnesse whereof he reckoned up no small number in the former Chapter treating of faith in God And he saith that Christians are come to the spirits of the just because there is now nothing left of them but their spirits which God hath received into his faith and custody as the Judge of all And the just or righteous deceased are said to be made perfect not that they now enjoy finall happinesse and really possesse the finall promise of God for otherwise Christians had not come to their spirits onely but rather to them
have spent their life for his sake For by witnesses in this place wee must chiefly understand them who testifie Gods faithfulnesse and goodnesse with their bloud and hence are eminently called Martyrs i. witnesses A cloud of witnesses That is a great multitude of witnesses which carry the shew and bulke of a cloud Hence God himselfe comparing the multitude of our sins to a cloud saith I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sinnes Isaiah 44.22 Let us lay aside every weight Hee recedes not from his simily proposed For they that will contend in the running of a race must free themselves from all weights and lighten themselves as much as they can By weight in this spirituall race of faith wee must understand the love of this life and the care of things pertaining to it wherewith our soules are burdened and pressed downeward to the earth as it were with a great weight And the sinne which doth so easily beset us He seemes to allude to long and loose garment which unlesse they be laid aside are a great hinderance to runners about whose legs such garments doe easily wave and wrap themselves By sinne he seemes to meane all outward vicious acts as before by weight he signified the inward vices of the soule For vicious acts doe easily insinuate themselves upon us in our race of faith and greatly retard us in our course begun unlesse we cast off all our love to sin for as often as we commit an actuall sinne so often we fall as it were in our course of godlinesse And let us runne with patience the race that is set before us This race is the course it selfe wherein we strive by running for in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby is signified all kinde of strife in this manner whether it be by running wrestling hurling or any other way but here he speakes of running Therefore to runne the race is nothing else but to strive by running and by this strife in running he meanes especially the strife of our faith which consists in this that we never be cast in our hope of Gods promises made by Christ especially when wee are to doe or suffer some hard matter for Christs sake To this strife particularly Paul exhorts his Timothy when he calls upon him to fight the good fight of faith 1 Tim. 6.12 And the very same is signified by this Author when in the next verse willing to excite us to this strife and to strengthen us for it he requires us to looke unto Jesus the Author and finisher of our faith For this we must therefore doe least we should waver in our faith fainting and failing under it for this is opposed to the strife of faith ver 3. This race is said to be set before us namely by God and Christ because the price or reward of eternall life is appointed us upon no other condition but of our running this race And wee are commanded to runne with patience either because without patience it is impossible to keepe our faith with God or rather because this race or strife of faith appeares and shewes it selfe in nothing more then in a constant suffering of adversities in so much that he who with an invincible courage doth suffer all evils for Gods sake and Christ is thereby truly said to runne the race of faith things doth strive with afflictions and will not be conquered or foiled by them 2. Looking unto Iesus the author and finisher of the faith Here hee shews from whence especially we must procure courage and strength for our race of faith and patience and what should incite us to runne stoutly and beare all things patiently for righteousnesse sake Namely the example of the Captaine of our faith upon whom we must cast and fasten the eyes of our minde considering seriously both what he did and what he suffered what a race he ran and what a prize hee obtained having finished his course But he calls him not the Captain of faith simply but of the faith adding the article the to specifie unto us some particular and singular faith which is denominated from him and called the Christian faith because Christ was the Author and Captain of it not only because he was the first that taught it but also the first that performed it or the first that did run the race of it And he is also called the finisher of our faith because as he was the first Author that began it so he is the finisher thereof to bring it to an issue and put an end unto it for a thing is then finished when it hath attained the proper end In like manner our faith shall be finished when it is come to the issue of it whereby we attaine the salvation of our soules which as Peter saith is the end of our faith 1 Pet. 1.9 And this end is attained through Christ For the like reason it was that this Author before Chap. 3. ver 1. called Christ Jesus the Apostle and high Priest of our profession For the appellation of Apostle though it rather note that Christ was the first teacher of our faith then the first sufferer for it and contrarily the appellation of the Captaine of our faith which here the Author useth notes rather the latter then the former yet both these appellations doe tacitly include both But Christ is our high Priest especially therefore because it is his office to procure the expiation of our sinnes and the eternall salvation of our soules in which point as we said consisteth the finishing and ending of our faith For to this present purpose this appellation of Christ is very sutable and of great force to strengthen our minds and confirme them against all afflictions For with what face should we forsake that faith which hath so great a Captaine to it and hath him for the finisher of it who is the Author of it Who for the joy that was set before him Christ to obtain the joy that was set before him endured the crosse and counterpoised the paine of death against the joy of eternall life Hence it appears that the joy of heaven cannot be gotten at any lesse price then the crosse if need require And he saith this joy was set before Christ in allusion to the prize that is proposed to them that run in a race or strive at some other game By Joy he understands that supreme and heavenly happinesse which Christ attained and he calls it joy from the adjunct of it because it is accompanied with unspeakable and perpetuall joy and withall is opposed to the paine of the Crosse which he suffered Of such high advantage it is for thee to endure trouble and torment for a small time that thereby thou maiest attaine heavenly joyes and pleasures for ever Endured the crosse The crosse hath in it two things extremely bitter extreme paine and extreme shame yet the shame of it is to a noble spirit far
more bitter then the paine of it and therefore the Author addes Despising the shame It was a great shame and disgrace to the Sonne of God who well knew the high dignity of his person after he had delivered so many gracious doctrines and wrought so many admirable miracles after so great hope and expectation raised of him to be seized upon by hangmen dragged to execution nailed to a crosse lifted up on high to endure the faces and eyes of all men upon him and be set as a marke for the spears and darts of bitter tongues Yet Christ despised all this despite all this shame and this disgrace that for a momentany shame be might attaine everlasting glory and for a temporall paine on earth eternall joy in heaven And is set downe at the right hand of the throne of God This is added to shew that Christ was not frustrated of his hope but that hee received a large reward of his faith and patience To teach us that if we also follow him in this race we shall have the like issue of our faith and patience But the great dignity and glory to Christ that is signified by his sitting at the right hand of Gods throne is before explicated Chap. 1. ver 3. From this place and the other Chap. 8.1 it appears that when Christ is said to sit at the right hand of God by Gods right hand is not understood his power and strength as elsewhere it is but in this phrase by a simily drawne from men is signified that the place at Gods right hand is more honourable then that at his left For otherwise it were not rightly said the right hand of the throne of God because a throne hath no hand nor is supposed to have any but only a right side of it And many times in the same sense Christ is said to sit in the plurall number at the right hands of God or his power For when the power of God is understood or a right hand is attributed unto him by way of analogie it is not called the right hands of God in the plurall number but his right hand in the singular But when the right or left place is signified it is commonly expressed plurally by right or left hands though it be uttered in respect of one person only See Mat. 20.21 and Mat. 25.33,34 41. 3. For consider him that endured such contradictions of sinners against himselfe lest ye be wearied and faint in your mindes Hee expresseth the end and use of the example of Christ why wee should diligently consider it because we are to make this use of it that our mindes may not bee tired with adversities and afflictions and so wee become wearied and faint in the course of our faith and patience which here by profession of Christ we have begun to runne 4. For ye have not resisted unto blood striving against sinne He exhorts them with a new argument to an invincible courage in bearing the afflictions which they suffered For it seemes he would make them somwhat ashamed that seeing the miseries wherewith they were pressed were not so grievous as that hitherto they had drawne bloud from them yet they begun to fail in courage and strength contrary to Gods expresse monition Here also he alludes to strifes yet such as were by fencing or fighting and not by running For sinne would beat us from our constancy of faith and pietie toward God but among the afflictions which come to be suffered of us for the love of Christ is the abnegation or deniall of sinne against which we must fight In this fight therefore while the combat is but upon our goods our credit and reputation the matter is not yet come to bloud but when cruelty torture and death chargeth upon our bodies then the businesse is in good earnest and the fight is in the heat These Hebrewes as it seems were not yet in danger of their lives for Christ but their sufferings were only mockings reproaches and spoiling of their goods as appeareth chap. 10. ver 33.34 The Authour therefore shewes what a shamefull thing it is to turne the backe and flie at the first skirmish as it were and entrance of the fight But when he brings in sinne for their enemy with whom they are to deale he doth therein by a most effectuall argument encourage them to an holy valour lest they should fail in their combat with an enemy so base and dangerous 5. And ye have forgotten the exhortation And for and yet by way of a particle adversative As if he had said Though ye have not yet spent your life and bloud for the love of Christ yet the divine admonition or exhortation is slipt out of your minde wherein yee are commanded to receive the chastning of the Lord with a ready minde and to beare it patiently And consequently yee have forgotten your dutie contained in that exhortation For the Authour doth not reprehend them meerly for their memory that they had forgotten the words of that exhortation but for their negligence in not performing the duty therein commanded We have said elswhere that hee is said to remember a person or a matter who hath a care of it and therefore hee that hath not such care though otherwise hee remember him in mind doth forget him This hath place chiefly in commands councells and exhortations which are not given therefore only to remaine in our memories but they must so remain in our memories as that they be put in execution and actually performed And when the authoritie of the commander or admonisher is so great that it is not likely but that hee who doth but onely remember the command or monition would obey it with great reason they may be said to forget it who though they retaine it in a lively memory yet obey it not Which speaketh unto you as unto children The Author commends this exhortation from the qualitie of it that it is very gentle and fatherly in regard it termes them children to whom it is directed For who but a froward and obstinate person would not give way to such an exhortation The exhortation is said to speak by way of Metonymie because he that exhorteth speaketh by it or rather because it is the very speech of him that exhorteth Now the person who exhorteth is openly Solomon but secretly God by whose instinct Solomon uttered this Pro. 3.11 Therefore in this exhortation God himselfe calleth us his children from whence it follows that we should receive it readily and observe it diligently My sonne despise not thou the chastning of the Lord. When we make God himselfe to speak and not Solomon then the name or Nowne of the Lord must bee supposed to be put for the Pronowne my after the Hebrew phrase To despise or as it is in the Hebrew to reject the chastning of the Lord is nothing else but an unwillingnesse to bear it patiently but to kick against it as against a prick By the chastning of the