the height of it it is habitual There is no man but may be occasionally indisposed unto spiritual Duties The most healthy and athletick constitution is subject unto the incursion of some distempers Sometimes bodily Infirmities may indispose us sometimes present Temptations may do so Such was the Indisposition which befell the Disciples in the Mount Matth. 26. 40 41. which yet was not without their sin for which they were reproved by our Saviour But where these things are occasional when those occasions are endeavoured to be prevented or removed persons overtaken with them may not be said to be absolutely slothful There may be many actual Faults where there is not an habitual Vice 3. But there is this Sloth in a dangerous degree 1. When this is generally the frame of the mind when it hath such an unreadiness unto holy Duties as that it either neglects them or is cold and formal in the performance of them This was the temper of Laodicea Rev. 3. 15. She did enough outwardly to satisfie her self but in such a way and manner as all that she did was disapproved by Christ. Lukewarmness is the soul and form of sloth 2. When Persons are generally uncompliant with such outward means as they cannot but acknowledge do contain warning from this and Invitation unto another frame So the Spouse acknowledgeth that it was the Voice of her beloved that knocked saying Open to me my Spouse my Love my Dove my undefiled for my Head is filled with with dew and my Locks with the drops of the night Can. 5. 2. Both the Voice and the Love and the long waiting of Christ were manifest unto her and she complies not with him but makes her excuses ver 2 3. And the sloth of Persons will be reckoned in proportion unto the means of diligence which they do enjoy Some may not be sleepy worldly careless slothful at as cheap a rate of Guilt as others though it be great in all 3. When Persons are as it were glad of such occasions as may justifie and satisfie their minds in the omissions of Duties or opportunities for them This casts off the Duty prescribed unto us Heb. 12. 1. which yet is indispensably necessary unto the attaining of the end of our Faith When men will not only readily embrace occasions offered unto them to divert them from Duty but will be apt to seek out and invent shifts whereby they may as they suppose be excused from it which corrupt nature is exceedingly prone unto they are under the power of this vicious habit Especially is this so when men are apt to approve of such Reasons to this end which being examined by the Rules of Duty with the tenders of the Love of Christ are lighter than vanity So it is added of the slothful Person who hides his hand in his bosom that he is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason Prov. 26 15 16. He pleaseth himself with his foolish pretences for his sloth above all the reasons that can be given him to the contrary And such is the reason pleaded by the Spouse when overtaken with this frame for a season Cant. 5. 3. 4. When there is a great neglect of our own prayers when at any time we have been enabled to make them So the Spouse in whom we have an Instance of a surprisal into this evil prays earnestly for the coming and approach of Christ unto her chap. 4. 16. in the holy Dispensations of his Spirit But when he tenders himself unto her desire she puts off the entertainment of him So do men pray for Grace and Mercy sometimes But when the seasons of the communication of them do come they are wholly regardless in looking after them They put off things unto another season and meet oft-times with the success mentioned Cant. 5. 6. 5. When in conflicts about Duties the Scale is often turned on the side of the flesh and unbelief Sometimes it is so when Duties are considered as future and sometimes as present When Duties are considered as future Difficulties and Objections against them as for matter or manner time or season or degree one thing or other will be suggested by the Flesh. Grace in Believers will move for an absolute compliance If the contrary reasons insinuations and objections prevail the Soul consults with flesh and blood and is under the power of spiritual sloth And so are men by frivolous pretences and arguings from self and the world kept off from the most important Duties And sometimes there is a conflict in the entrance of the Duties of Gods Worship as praying hearing the word and the like Grace stirs up the Soul to diligence spirituality and vigour of spirit The Flesh in all things is contrary unto it Usually to give place unto the Flesh so as to be brought under the power of a cold formality is an evidence of a prevalent sloth 2. Although this sloth may have various causes and occasions yet the principal of them are those which I have mentioned namely Unbelief and Carnal Affections 1 Unbelief is the principal cause of it as Faith is of that Diligence and Watchfulness which are opposed unto it Yea by Faith alone are we excited unto the acting of all other Graces and the performance of all other Duties As it is in its nature to quicken us unto them so it alone takes in all other motives unto vigorous Obedience Wherefore all Indispositions unto Duty arise from Unbelief This weakens the efficacy of every thing that should excite us unto it and increaseth every difficulty that lies in the way of it As Faith will remove Mountains out of our way or help us to conquer the greatest Oppositions so Unbelief will make Mountains of Mole-hills it will make every hindrance like an unconquerable difficulty The Soul made slothful by it cries there is a Lion in the way a Lion in the Streets Prov. 26. 13. And its whole way is as an Hedge of Thorns chap. 15. 19. that is so grievous and troublesome that he cares not to take one step in it Hence is the opposition in these words that ye be not slothful but followers of them who through Faith c. If we grow slothful it is an assured Evidence of the decay of Faith 2 Carnal Affections do variously promote this evil frame of mind Love of ease wealth profit pleasure will quickly make men spiritually slothful Where these are prevalent every thing in the way of Holiness and Obedience is difficult and irksome Strange Representations will be made unto the mind of all Duties if not in general yet in all instances that offer themselves They are difficult or tedious or unseasonable or needless or the loss we make at present may be retrieved at another time Every prevalent Carnal Affection will be heard in the case and hath something to offer to deter the mind from its Duty And the secret aversation of the flesh from Communion with Christ in Duties
Church unto a more perfect state in point of Worship than it was capable of under the Levitical Priesthood Nor indeed could any Man reasonably think or wisely judge that he intended the Institutions of the Law as the compleat ultimate Worship and Service that he would require or appoint in this VVorld seeing our Natures as renewed by Grace are capable of that which is more Spiritual and Sublime For 1. They were in their Nature Carnal as our Apostle declares ver 16. and Chap. 9. 10. The Subject of them all the means of their Celebration were Carnal things beneath those pure Spiritual Acts of the Mind and Soul which are of a more Noble Nature They consisted in Meats and Drinks the Blood of Bulls and Goats the Observation of Moons and Festivals in a Temple made of Wood and Stone Gold and Silver things Carnal perishing and transitory Certainly God who is a Spirit and will be VVorshipped in Spirit and in Truth designed at one time or other a VVorship more suited unto his own Nature though the Imposition of these things on the Church for a Season was Necessary And as they were Carnal so they might be exactly performed by Men of Carnal Minds and were so for the most part in which respect God himself speaks often with a great undervaluation of them See Psal. 50. 8 9 10 11 12 13. Isa. 1. 11 12 13. Had not he designed the Renovation of our Natures into his own Image a new Creation of them by Jesus Christ this Carnal Worship might have sufficed and would have been the best we are capable of But to suppose that he should endow Men as he doth by Christ with a new Spiritual Supernatural Principle enabling them unto a more sublime and Spiritual Worship it cannot be imagined that he would always bind them up unto those Carnal Ordinances in their Religious Service And the Reason is because they were not a meet and sufficient means for the exercise of that New Principle of Faith and Love which he bestows on Believers by Jesus Christ. Yea to burden them with Carnal Observances is a most effectual way to take them off from its Exercise in his Service And so it is at this day where-ever there is a Multiplication of outward Services and Observances the Minds of Men are so taken up with the Bodily Exercise about them as that they cannot attend unto the pure internal Actings of Faith and Love 2. What by their Number and what by their Nature and the manner of exacting of them they were made a Yoke which the People were never able to bear with any Joy or Satisfaction Acts 15. 10. And this Yoke lay partly in the first place on their Consciences or the inner Man And it consisted principally in two things 1. The multitude of Ceremonies and Institutions did perplex them and gave them no rest Seeing which way soever they turned themselves one Precept or other positive or negative touch not taste not handle not was upon them 2. The Veil that was on them as to their Use Meaning and End increased the trouble of this Yoke They could not see unto the End of the things that were to be done away because of the veil nor could apprehend fully the Reason of what they did And it may be easily conceived how great a Yoke it was to be bound unto the strict Observation of such Rites and Ceremonies in Worship yea that the whole of their VVorship should consist in such things as those who made use of them did not understand the End and Meaning of them And 2. It lay on their Persons from the manner of their Imposition as they were tyed up unto Days Times and Hours so their Transgression or Disobedience made them obnoxious to all sorts of Punishments and Excision it self For they were all bound upon them with a Curse whence every Transgression and Disobedience received a just Recompence of Reward Chap. 2. 2. For he that despised Moses Law died without Mercy Chap. 10. 28. which they complained of Numb 17. 12 13. This put them on continual scrupulous Fears with endless Inventions of their own to secure themselves from the guilt of such Transgressions Hence the Religion of the Jews at present is become a Monstrous confused heap of vain Inventions and scrupulous Observances of their own to secure themselves as they suppose from transgressing any of those which God had given them Take any one Institution of the Law and consider what is the Exposition they give of it in their Mishna by their Oral Tradition and it will display the Fear and Bondage they are in though the Remedy be worse than the Disease Yea by all their Inventions they did but increase that which they endeavoured to avoid For they have brought things unto that pass among them that it is impossible that any one of them should have Satisfaction in his Conscience that he hath aright observed any of Gods Institutions although he should suppose that he required nothing of him but the outward performance of them 3. Their Instructive Efficacy which is the Principal End of the Ordinances of Divine VVorship was weak and no way answered the Power and Evidence of Gospel-Institutions Chap. 10. 1. Therefore was the way of Teaching by them intricate and the way of Learning difficult Hence is that difference which is put between the Teachings under the Old Testament and the New For now it is Promised that Men shall not teach every Man his Brother and every Man his Neighbour saying know the Lord as it was of Old The means of Instruction were so dark and cloudy and having only a shadow of the things themselves that were to be taught and not the very Image of them that it was needful that they should be continually incalcated to keep up the knowledge of the very Rudiments of Religion Besides they had many Ordinances Rites and Ceremonies imposed on them to increase their Yoke whereof they understood nothing but only that it was the Soveraign pleasure and will of God that they should Observe them though they understood not of what Use they were And they were Obliged unto no less an exact Observance of them than they were unto that of those which were the clearest and most lightsome The best Direction they had from them and by them was that indeed there was nothing in them that is in their Nature or proper Efficacy to produce or procure those good things which they looked for through them but only pointed unto what was to come VVherefore they knew that although they Exercised themselves in them with Diligence all their Days yet by virtue of them they could never attain what they aimed at only there was something signified by them and afterwards to be introduced that was Efficacious of what they looked after Now unto the strict Observation of these things were the People obliged under the most severe Penalties and that all the days of their Lives And this increased their Bondage
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
state in this World And the exercise and use of it doth consist in our drawing nigh unto God in Holy Services and Worship through Christ as the Apostle declares ver 22 23. There is then a two-fold opposition in these words unto the state of the people under the Law 1. As unto the Spirit and frame of mind in the Worshippers Or 2. As unto the place of the Worship from whence they were excluded and whereunto we are admitted 1. The First is in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 boldness There were two things with respect unto those Worshippers in this matter 1. A Legal Prohibition from entring into the holy place whereon they had no liberty or freedom so to do because they were forbidden on several penalties 2. Dread and fear which deprived them of all boldness or holy confidence in their approaches unto God therefore the Apostle expresseth the contrary frame of believers under the New Testament by a word that signifieth both Liberty or Freedom from any Prohibition and boldness with confidence in the exercise of that liberty I have spoken before of the various use and signification of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Apostle both in this and other Epistles useth frequently to express both their right and liberty and confidence unto and in their access unto God of believers under the New Testament in opposition to the state of them under the Old We have a right unto it we have liberty without restraint by any Prohibition we have confidence and assurance without dread or fear 2. This liberty we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aditus introitus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the true Sanctuary the holy place not made with hands See Chap. 9. 11 12. The immediate gracious presence of God himself in Christ Jesus Whatever was Typically represented in the most holy place of Old we have access unto that is unto God himself we have an access in one spirit by Christ. 1. This is the great fundamental priviledge of the Gospel that believers in all their holy Worship have liberty boldness and confidence to enter with it and by it into the gracious presence of God They are not hindred by any prohibition God set bounds unto Mount Sinai that none should pass or break through into his presence in the giving of the Law He hath set none to Mount Sion but all believers have Right Title and Liberty to approach unto him even unto this Throne There is no such Order now that he who draws nigh shall be cut off but on the contrary that he that doth not so do shall be destroyed 2. Hence there is no dread fear or terror in their Minds Hearts or Consciences when they make those approaches unto God This was a consequent of the same Interdict of the Law which is now taken away They have not received the Spirit of Bondage unto fear but the Spirit of the Son whereby with holy boldness they cry Abba Father for where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty they have freedom unto and confidence in their duties and therein consists the greatest evidence of our interest in the Gospel and Priviledges thereof 3. The nature of Gospel Worship consists in this that it is an entrance with boldness into the presence of God However Men may multiply duties of what sort or nature soever they be if they design not in and by them to enter into the presence of God if they have not some experience that so they do if they are taken up with other thoughts and rest in the outward performance of them they belong not unto Evangelical Worship The only exercise of Faith in them is in an entrance into the presence of God 4. Our approach unto God in Gospel Worship is unto him as evidencing himself in a way of Grace and Mercy Hence it is said to be an entrance into the holiest for in the holy place were all the pledges and tokens of Gods grace and favour as we have manifested upon the foregoing Chapter And as the taking off of the old prohibition gives us liberty and the institution of the Worship of the Gospel gives us Title unto this priviledge so the consideration of the nature of that presence of God whereunto we approach gives us boldness thereunto 5. The procuring cause of this priviledge is in the next place exprest we have it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Blood of Jesus say we It is the procuring cause of this priviledge that is intended which is often so proposed The Blood of Jesus Christ is the same with his Sacrifice the Offering of himself or the Offering of his Body once only For he Offered himself in and by the effusion of his Blood whereby he made attonement for Sin which could not be otherwise effected And it is here opposed as also in the whole preceding discourse unto the Blood of the Legal Sacrifices They could not procure they did not effect any such liberty of access unto God in the holy place This was done by the Blood of Jesus only whereby he accomplished what the Sacrifices of the Law could not do And it is a cause of this priviledge on a twofold account 1. In its respect unto God in its Oblation 2. In respect unto the Consciences of Believers in its Application 1. By its Oblation it removed and took away all causes of distance between God and Believers It made attonement for them answered the Law removed the Curse broke down the partition-wall or the Law of Commandments contained in Ordinances wherein were all the prohibitions of approaching unto God with boldness Hereby also he rent the Veil which interposed and hid the gracious presence of God from us And these things being removed out of the way by the Blood of the Oblation or Offering of Christ peace being thereby made with God he procured him to be reconciled unto us inviting us to accept and make use of that reconciliation by receiving the attonement Hence believers have boldness to appear before him and approach unto his presence See Rom. 5. 11. 2 Cor. 5. 18 19 20 21. Eph. 2. 13 14 15 16 17 18. Hereon was it the procuring the purchasing cause of this priviledge 2. It is the cause of it with respect unto the Consciences of Believers in the Application of it unto their Souls There are not only all the hindrances mentioned on the part of God lying in the way of our access unto him but also the Consciences of Men from a sense of the guilt of Sin were filled with fear and dread of God and durst not so much as desire an immediate access unto him The efficacy of the Blood of Christ being through believing communicated unto them takes away all this dread and fear And this is done principally by his bestowing on them the holy Spirit which is a Spirit of Liberty as our Apostle shews at large 2 Cor. 3. Wherefore we have boldness
the Church before the Flood so it is probable that it was much opposed and derided by that corrupt violent and wicked generation which afterwards perished in their Sins Hence Enochs Prophecy and Preaching among them was to confirm the Faith of the Church therein Jude 14 15. And probably the hard speeches which are specified as those which God would severely revenge were their contemptuous mockings and despisings of Gods coming to Judgement as Peter plainly intimates 2 Pet. 3. 3 4 5. This seems to be the great controversie which the Church before the Flood had with that ungodly generation namely whether there were a future Judgement or no in the contempt whereof the world fell into all profligacy of abominable wickednesses And as God gave testimony to the truth in the Prophecy of Enoch so he visibly determined the whole matter on the side of the Church in the Flood which was an open pledge of Eternal Judgement And hence those words the Lord cometh became the Appeal of the Church in all Ages 1 Cor. 16. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 respects not the duration of this Judgement but it s â—â—d and effect For it shall not be of a perpetual duration and continuance which to fancy is both absurd in nature and inconsistent with the proper end of it which is to deliver men over into their everlasting Lot and Portion And it is both curious needless and unwarrantable to enquire of what continuance it shall be seeing God hath given no Revelation thereof Neither is the mind of man capable of making any tolerable conjecture concerning the process of the infinite wisdom of Christ in this matter Neither do we know as to time or continuance what will be necessary therein to the conviction and confusion of impenitent sinners or as to the demonstration of his own Righteousness and Glory It may be esteemed an easie but will be found our safest wisdom to silence even our thoughts and enquiries in all things of this nature where we cannot trace the express foot-steps of Divine Revelation And this Judgement is called Eternal 1 In opposition to the temporal Judgements which are or have been passed on men in this world which will be all then called over again and revised Especially it is so with respect unto a threefold Judgement First That which passed upon the Lord Christ himself when he was condemned as a Malefactor and Blasphemer He never suffered that sentence to take place quietly in the world but from the first he sent his Spirit to argue reason and plead his cause in the world Joh. 16. 9 10 11. This he ever did and ever will maintain by his Church Yet is there no absolute determination of the case But when this day shall come then shall he condemn every tongue that was against him in Judgement and all his Adversaries shall be confounded 2ly All those condemnatory sentences whether unto death or other punishments which almost in all Ages have been given against his Disciples or true Believers With the thoughts and prospect hereof did they always relieve themselves under false Judgements and cruel Executions For they have had Trials of cruel mockings and scourgings yea moreover of bond and imprisonment they have been stoued and sawn in sunder tempted and slain with the Sword have wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitate afflicted tormented not accepting deliverance upon the worlds terms that they might obtain a better Resurrection as Heb. 11. 35 36 37. In all these things they possessed their Souls in patience following the example of their Master committing themselves unto him that judgeth righteously 1 Pet. 2. 23. 3ly The false sentences which under their provocations professors have passed on one another see 1 Cor. 4. 3 4 5. 2 Because it is Judicium inevitabile an unavoidable sentence which all men must stand or fall by For it is appointed unto all men once to dye and after that is the Judgement This Judgement is no more avoidable unto any than death it self from which the experience of some thousands of years leaves unto men no hope of escape 3 Because in it and by it an unchangeable determination of all mens estate and condition is made for Eternity The Judgement which disposeth of men unalterably into their Eternal estate whether of Blessedness or of Misery Two things must be yet farther spoken unto to clear this great principle of our Faith First the general nature of this Eternal Judgement and then the Evidences we have of its truth and certainty 1. The general concerns of this Eternal Judgement are all of them plainly expressed in the Scripture which declare the nature of it 1 As to its time there is a determined and unalterable day fixed for it God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in Righteousness Acts 17. 31. And this time is commonly called the day of Judgement Matth. 10. 15. Chap. 11. 22 24. Chap. 12. 32. Mark 6. 11. 2 Pet. 2. 9. 1 Joh. 4. 17. And this day being fixed in the foreknowledge and determinate counsel of God can no more be either hastened or deferred than God himself can be changed Until this appointed time comes whatever falls out he will satisfie his Wisdom and Glory in his ordinary government of the world enterwoven with some occasional extraordinary Judgements and therein he calls all his own people to be satisfied For this precise time the knowledge of it is among the principal secrets of his Soveraignty which he hath for reasons suited to his infinite Wisdom laid up in his own Eternal bosom Hence is that of our Saviour Of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the Angels that are in Heaven neither the Son that is in and by the humane nature but the Father Mark 13. 32. which is the highest expression of an unrevealable divine secret God hath not only not revealed it but he hath decreed not to reveal it All enquiries about it are not only sinfully curious but foolish and impious Then it is certain when all things foretold in the Scripture are accomplished when the Obedience of all the Elect is compleated and the measure allotted unto the wickedness of the world in the patience of God is filled up then and not before the End shall be In the mean time when we see a man old weak diseased nature being decayed and infirmities abounding we may judge that his death is not far off though we know not when he will die so seeing the world come to that state and condition so weakened and decayed as unto its principal end that it is scarce any longer able to bear the weight of its own wickedness nor supply the sinful Lusts of its inhabitants seeing all sorts of Sins new and old heard and unheard of perpetrated every where in the light of the Sun and countenanced with Atheistical security as also considering that the Gospel seems to have finished its work where it is preached with all sorts of
not present as to gracious Inhabitation Or many are made Partakers of him in his spiritual Gifts who are never made Partakers of him in his saving Graces Matth. 7. 22 23. Fourthly It is added in the Description that they had tasted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Good Word of God And we must enquire 1 What is meant by the Word of God 2 How it is said to be Good and 3 In what sense they taste of it 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is properly verbum dictum a word spoken and although it be sometimes used in another sense by our Apostle and by him alone chap. 1. 3. chap. 11. 3. where it denotes the effectual active power of God yet both the signification of the word and its principal use elsewhere denotes words spoken and when applied unto God his word as preached and declared See Rom. 10. 17. Joh. 6. 68. The Word of God that is the Word of the Gospel as preached is that which they thus tasted of But it may be said that they enjoyed the Word of God in their state of Judaisme They did so as to the written word for unto them were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3. 2. But it is the word of God as preached in the Dispensation of the Gospel that is eminently thus called and concerning which such excellent things are spoken Rom. 1. 16. Acts 20. 32. Jam. 1. 21. 2. The word is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good desireable amiable as the word here used signifieth Wherein it is so we shall see immediately But whereas the Word of God preached under the Dispensation of the Gospel may be considered two ways 1 In general as to the whole systeme of Truths contained therein and 2 In especial for the Declaration made of the Accomplishment of the Promise in sending Jesus Christ for the Redemption of the Church it is here especially intended in this latter sense This is emphatically called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 1. 25. So the Promise of God in particular is called his Good word Jer. 29. 10. After seventy years I will visit you and perform my good word towards you as he calls it the Good thing that he had promised chap. 33. 14. The Gospel is the good tiding of Peace and Salvation by Jesus Christ Isa. 52. 7. 3. Hereof they are said to taste as they were before of the Heavenly Gift The Apostle as it were studiously keeps himself to this expression on purpose to manifest that he intendeth not those who by Faith do readily receive food and live on Jesus Christ as tendered in the word of the Gospel Joh. 6. 35 49 50 51 54 55. It is as if he had said I speak not of those who have received and digested the spiritual Food of their Souls and turned it into spiritual nourishment but of such as have so far tasted of it as that they ought to have desired it as sincere milk to have grown thereby But they had received such an experiment of its Divine Truth and Power as that it had various effects upon them And for the further Explication of these words and therein of the Description of the state of these supposed Apostates we may consider the ensuing Observations which declare the sense of the words or what is contained in them 1. There is a Goodness and Excellency in the Word of God able to attract and affect the minds of men who yet never arrive at sincere Obedience unto it 2. There is an especial Goodness in the Word of the Promise concerning Jesus Christ and the Declaration of its Accomplishment Lastly It is added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Powers of the world to come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mighty great miraculous Operations and Works of the Holy Ghost What they were and how they were wrought among these Hebrews hath been declared in our Exposition on chap. 2. 4. whither I shall refer the Reader and they are known from the Acts of the Apostles where sundry Instances of them are recorded I have also proved on that Chapter that by the world to come our Apostle in this Epistle intends the days of the Messiah that being the usual name of it in the Church at that time as the new world which God had promised to create Wherefore these Powers of the world to come were the Gifts whereby those signs wonders and mighty works were then wrought by the Holy Ghost according as it was foretold by the Prophets that they should be so See Joel 2. compared with Acts 2. These the Persons spoken of are supposed to have tasted for the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 refers to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foregoing Either they had been wrought in and by themselves or by others in their sight whereby they had an experience of the glorious and powerful working of the Holy Ghost in the confirmation of the Gospel Yea I do judge that themselves in their own persons were Partakers of these Powers in the Gifts of Tongues and other miraculous Operations which was the highest Aggravation possible of their Apostasie and that which peculiarly rendered their recovery impossible For there is not in the Scripture an impossibility put upon the recovery of any but such as peculiarly sin against the Holy Ghost and although that Guilt may be otherwise contracted yet in none so signally as this of rejecting that Truth which was confirmed by his mighty Operations in them that rejected it which could not be done without an Ascription of his Divine Power unto the Devil Yet would I not fix on those extraordinary Gifts exclusively unto those that are ordinary They also are of the Powers of the world to come So is every thing that belongs to the Erection or Preservation of the New world or the Kingdom of Christ. To the first setting up of a Kingdom great and mighty Power is required but being set up the ordinary Dispensation of Power will preserve it so is it in this matter The extraordinary miraculous Gifts of the Spirit were used in the Erection of Christs Kingdom but it is continued by ordinary Gifts which therefore also belong unto the Powers of the world to come From the consideration of this Description in all the parts of it we may understand what sort of Persons it is that is intended here by the Apostle And it appears yea is evident 1. That the Persons here intended are not true and sincere Believers in the strict and proper sense of that name at least they are not described here as such so that from hence nothing can be concluded concerning them that are so as to the possibility of their total and final Apostasie For 1 There is in their full and large Description no mention of Faith or Believing either expresly or in terms equivalent And in no other place in the Scripture are such intended but they are mentioned by what belongs essentially to their state
outward Dispensation be continued unto them Isa. 6. 9 10 11. Wherefore the present season and present enjoyment of the Gospel are our Duty to consider and improve for what is the work that therein God hath in hand towards us Is it not to give us our Trial in the use of means as to what shall be our future condition He hath therein undertaken us as his Vineyard as his Husbandry and causeth the Rain to fall upon us and hath done so often and long And who almost doth consider aright how great his concernment is herein would men be so careless negligent formal slothful as they are for the most part under the hearing of the Word if they duely remember'd that it is their Trial for Eternity and they know not how soon it may be over If we lose this season we are gone for ever It is therefore our Wisdom to know whether our fruitfulness in Faith Repentance and Obedience do answer the Rain and Dressing we have had by the Dispensation of the Word The Axe is laid at the Root of the Tree if we bring not forth good Fruit we shall e're long be hewed down and cast into the Fire It is true there is none of us do answer as we ought the Love and Care of God towards us herein nor can we so do When we have done our utmost we are but unprofitable Servants But there is a wide difference between a defect in degrees of Obedience and the neglect of the whole Where the first is we ought to walk humbly in the sense of it and labour after more Perfection And if this defect be great and notable such as is occasioned by our Lusts indulged unto or by sloth and negligence as we can have no evidence of our being approved of God so it is high time to recover our selves by new diligence and holy endeavours or we may be cast in our Trial. But where the latter is where men bring no Fruit meet for Repentance what can they expect but to be finally and totally rejected of God Whereas therefore we have been long most of us under this Trial it is assuredly high time that we call our selves unto a strict account with respect unto it And if upon enquiry we find our selves at a loss which sort of Ground we do belong unto because of our barrenness and leanness unless we are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin we will give our selves no rest until we have better Evidences of our Fruit-bearing We may do well to remember that though the Earth on which the Rain falls is here distributed by the Apostle into two sorts like Jeremiah's Figgs very good and the very bad to one of which every one at last must be joyned yet as to present Effects and Appearances the Ground whereunto the Seed of the Gospel is cast is distributed by our Saviour into four sorts whereof one only brings forth Fruit meet for him by whom it is dressed Matth. 13. There are several ways whereby we may miscarry under our Trial one only whereby we may be accepted namely Fruitfulness of Heart and Life Barrenness under the Dispensation of the Gospel is always accompanied with an increase of sin The Ground which brings not forth Herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed thrusts forth Thorns and Briars Let it be observed that spiritual barrenness never goes alone Abounding in sin will accompany it and doth so It may be it doth not so openly and visibly for a season but all things will tend thereunto and at last it will discover it self Yea there are no sinners like them nor sin like theirs by whom the means of Grace are rejected or not improved The first Generation of great provoking sinners were those of the old World before the Flood Unto these Noah had been a Preacher of Righteousness 2 Pet. 2. 5. In his Ministry did the Spirit of Christ strive with them until God affirmed it should do so no more Gen. 6. 3. but they were disobedient and barren 1 Pet. 3. 19 20. And this issued in those provoking sins which God could not bear withall but brought the Flood upon the world of ungodly The next was these Hebrews unto whom the Gospel had been preached And they proved a Generation no less wicked than that before the Flood insomuch as their own Historian affirms that he verily believed that if the Romans had not come and destroyed them God would have poured Fire and Brimstone on them from Heaven as he did upon Sodom And the third Generation of the same kind are the Apostate Christian Churches whose condition and state is described in the Revelation This is the issue of Barrenness under Gods Culture and Watering and it will be so For 1 When men have rejected the last means of their spiritual healing and restraint of sin what can be expected from them but an outrage in sinning There are three ways whereby God puts a restraint upon sin The first is by the light of a natural Conscience This is born with men in the principle of it and grows into exercise in the improvement of Reason And where the natural workings of it are not prevented and suffocated by the horrible example of Parents and Relations living in Cursing Lying and all manner of Prophaneness it is very useful in Youth to restrain persons from sundry sins It is so I say until Corruptions getting strength and Temptations abounding Custom in sinning takes away the Edge of it and weakens it in its Operation Wherefore 2 when this Restraint is broken through God sets up the Hedge of the Law before the minds of men to deter them from sin And this also hath a great Efficacy with many unto this End at least for a season But neither will meer Conviction from the Law always give Bounds unto the Lusts of men Wherefore 3 the Gospel comes with a different design from them both The utmost of their Aim and Work is but to restrain sin but the Gospel comes to Convert the sinner Their work is to set a damm before the Streams of sin that of the Gospel is to dry up the Spring But if this also as it is in this case be rejected and despised what remains to set any Bounds unto the Lusts of men They will find themselves at liberty to act their own inclinations to the utmost as having cast off all regard to God in all the ways whereby he hath revealed himself Hence you may find more honesty and uprightness a more conscientious abstinence from sin wrongs and injuries more effects of Moral Virtue among Heathens and Mahumetans than among professed Christians or persons who being unprofitable under the Gospel do thereby tacitely reject it No Fields in the world are fuller of Thorns and Briars than those of People Nations Churches who profess themselves to be Christians and are not Suppose two Fields equally barren let one of them be tilled and dressed and the other be let alone left unto its
in the exercise of Love Hereby are they all brought into the nearest Relation to one another which is the most effectual motive and powerful attractive unto Love For as the Lord Christ saith of every one that doth the will of God the same is my Brother and Sister and Mother Matth. 12. 18. he is dearly beloved by him as standing in the nearest Relation unto him so are all Believers by virtue of their common Interest in Christ their Head as Brothers Sisters and Mothers to each other as Members of the same Body which is yet nearer whence the most intense Affection must arise And they have thereby the same new spiritual nature in them all In Love natural he that doth most love and prize himself commonly doth least love and prize others And the reason is because he loves not himself for any thing which is common unto him with others but his self-love is the ordering and centring of all things unto his own satisfaction But with this Spiritual Love he that Loves himself most that is doth most prize and value the Image of God in himself doth most Love others in whom it is And we may know whether we cherish and improve Grace in our own Hearts by that Love which we have unto them in whom it doth manifest it self 1 Joh. 5. 1. 5. This Love in the first place acts it self by valuation esteem and delight So the Psalmist affirms that all his delight was in the Saints and in the excellent in the Earth Psal. 16. 3. The Apostle carries this unto the height in that Instance wherein we ought to lay down our lives for the Brethren 1 Joh. 3. 16. For whereas Life is comprehensive of all that is dear or useful unto us in this world what we ought if called thereunto to part with our lives for we value and esteem above them all It is true the cases wherein this is actually required in us do not frequently occur And they are such alone wherein the Glory and Interest of Christ are in an especial manner concerned But such a Love as will always dispose and when we are called enable us unto this Duty is required to be in us if we are Disciples of Christ. So are we to prize and value them as at least to be ready to share with them in all their conditions For 6. This Love acts it self by all means in all ways and Duties whereby the Eternal Spiritual and Temporal good of others may be promoted And it would require a long discourse to go over but the principal Heads of those Ways and Duties which are required unto this End Something will be spoken afterwards to that purpose At present I have aimed only at such a Description of this Love as may distinguish it from that cold formal pretence of it in some outward Duties which the most satisfie themselves withall This is that Love which the Gospel so earnestly commendeth unto and so indispensibly requireth in all the Disciples of Christ. This with its exercise and effects its Labour and Fruits is the Glory Life and Honour of our Profession without which no other Duties are accepted with God And the reason is manifest from what hath been spoken why the Apostle giveth this as a ground of his good Perswasion concerning these Hebrews as that they had an especial Interest in those Better things from which Salvation is inseparable For if this Love in general be so a Grace of the Gospel if it so spring and arise from the Love of God in Christ as that there neither ever was nor can be the least of it in the world which is not an Emanation from that Love and if in its especial nature it so particularly relates unto the Spirit of Christ and our Union with him it must needs be among the principal Evidences of a good spiritual condition And the same will yet farther appear if we consider the grounds whereon it is inforced in the Gospel which are principally these that follow 1. As the Head of all other considerations the Lord Christ expresseth it as that which was to be the great Evidence unto the world of the Truth and Power of the Gospel as also of his own being sent of God Joh. 17. 21. That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that thou hast sent me It is true there is another especial principle of the Union of Believers as they are one in God and Christ. This is that one Spirit whereby they are all united unto him as their mystical Head But this alone is not here intended as being that which the world can no way discern nor consequently be convinced by He intends therefore their Unity among themselves the Life and Spirit and Bond whereof is this Love as hath been declared There is no other kind of Unity which may be among Christians that carrieth the least conviction with it of the Divine Mission Truth and Power of Christ. For they may be all carnal from carnal Principles and for carnal Ends wherein the world can see nothing extraordinary as having many such Unities of its own Herein therefore doth the Testimony consist which we give to the world that Jesus Christ was sent of God And if we fail herein we do what we can to harden the world in its impenitency and unbelief To see Believers live in Love according to the nature and acting the Duties of it before mentioned was in ancient times a great means of the Conviction of the world concerning the Truth and Power of the Gospel and will be so again when God shall afresh pour down abundantly that Spirit of Light and Love which we pray for And in some measure it doth so at present For whosoever shall consider the true Church of Christ aright will find the Evidences of a Divine Power in this matter For it doth and ever did consist of all sorts of persons in all Nations and Languages whatever High and low rich and poor Jews Greeks Barbarians Scythians men of all Interests Humours Oppositions dividing Circumstances at distances as far as the East from the West do constitute this Body this Society Yet is there among all these known to each other or unknown an ineffable Love ready to work and exercise it self on all occasions in all the ways before insisted on And this can be from no other Principle but the Spirit and Divine Power of God giving Testimony thereby unto the Lord Christ whose Disciples they are 2. Our Right unto our Priviledge in and Evidence of our being the Disciples of Christ depends on our mutual Love Joh. 14. 34 35. A new Commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another By this shall all men know that you are my Disciples if you have love one to another This especial Commandment of Christ concerning mutual love
had so a care of the whole Flock as to be solicitous for the good of every individual person among them As our Lord Jesus Christ gives an account unto his Father that of all those who were committed unto his personal Ministry in this world he had not lost any one only the Son of Perdition he who was designed to Destruction so our Apostle laboured that if it were possible not one of those whom he watched over should miscarry And it is of great advantage when we can so mannage our Ministry that no one of those that are committed unto us may have any just cause to think themselves disregarded And moreover he shews hereby that the Argument here insisted on concerned them all For he doth not suppose that any one of them were in such a condition of security and perfection as not to stand in need of the utmost diligence for their preservation and progress nor any to have so fallen under decays but that in the use of diligence they might be recovered So should the Love and Care of Ministers be extended unto all the Individuals of their Flocks with an especial regard unto their respective Conditions that none on the one hand grow secure nor any on the other hand despond or be discouraged 4. The Duty exhorted unto wherewith we must take 5. The manner of its performance is that they would shew the same diligence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ostentare V. L. that is to make shew of ostendere to shew forth to manifest Praestare Eras. to act to perform so the word is sometimes used Joh. 10. 32. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many good things have I shewed you that is wrought and performed among you 2 Tim. 4. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alexander the Copper-smith shewed me many evils did me much evil It is so to do any thing as that the doing of it may be evident and manifest And the Apostle respects not only the Duty it self but the Evidence of its Performance whereon his Judgement and Perswasion of them was grounded Continue in the performance of these Duties to give the same evidence of your state and condition as formerly And the Duty it self he expresseth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 idem studium the same diligent endeavour Chrysostome much insists on the Apostles Wisdom in this expression the same diligence for by it he both insinuates his approbation of what they had done already and manifests that he required nothing of them to secure their future condition but what they had already experience of You have used diligence in this matter continue so to do which yet is not so to be interpreted as though the Apostle limited them unto their former measures But warning them to remit in nothing which before they had ingaged into he encourageth them to proceed and grow therein That indeed which the Apostle approves in them and exhorts them unto a continuance in is the work of Faith and labour of Love in ministring unto the Saints But here he expresseth the manner wherein they had attended unto those Duties and which they must continue in unless they intended to desert the Duties themselues namely with diligence and alacrity of mind For such were the Oppositions and Difficulties that they would assuredly meet withall as we have before declared that unless they used all diligence and watchfulness they would more or less faint in their Duty And we may observe that Our Profession will not be preserved nor the work of Faith and Love carried on unto the Glory of God and our own Salvation without a constant studious diligence in the preservation of the one and the exercise of the other The Reasons hereof are manifest from what hath been discoursed before concerning the greatness and difficulty of this work and the opposition that is made unto it Our Apostle knew nothing of that lazie kind of Profession which satisfies the generality of Christians at this day They can shew all diligence in their Trades in their Callings in their Studies it may be in their Pleasures and sometimes in the pursuit of their Lusts But for a watchful diligence an earnest studious endeavour in and about the Duties of Religion the work of Faith and Love they are strangers unto it yea cannot be perswaded that any such thing is required of them or expected from them For the Duties of Divine Worship they will attend unto them out of Custom or Conviction For some Acts of Charity they may perhaps be sometimes drawn unto or for their Reputation they may do like others of their Quality in the world But to project and design in their minds how they may Glorifie God in the Duties of Faith and Love as the liberal man deviseth liberal things to keep up an earnest bent and warmth of Spirit in them to lay hold on and rejoice in all Opportunities for them all which are required unto this diligence they utterly reject all such thoughts But what do we imagine Is there another way for us to go to Heaven than what was prescribed unto the Primitive Believers Will God deal with us on more easie terms or such as have a farther compliance with carnal ease and the flesh than those that were given to them of Old We shall but foolishly deceive our selves with such Imaginations But let no man mistake These two Principles are as certain and as sacred as any thing in the Gospel 1 Unless there be in us a work of Faith in personal Holiness and a labour of Love towards others there is nothing in us that accompanies Salvation or will ever bring us thereunto Let prophane persons deride it whilst they please and worldlings neglect it and careless Professors fancy to themselves an easier way unto a blessed Eternity this will be found to be the Rule whereby they must all stand or fall for ever 2 That this work of Faith and labour of Love will not be persisted in nor carried on without studious diligence and earnest endeavours Now unto this diligence is required 1 The exercise of our minds with respect unto the Duties of Faith and Love 2 In studying the Rule of them which is the word of God wherein alone the matter of them all and the manner of their performance are declared 2 In studying and observing the occasions and opportunities for their exercise 2 Watchfulness against Oppositions Difficulties and Temptations is also a part of this Duty for the reasons whereof our Observations on the preceding Verse may be considered 3 Readiness to conflict with and to go through the dangers and troubles which we may meet withall in the discharge of these Duties And as it is evident all these argue a frame of mind continually intent upon a design to Glorifie God and to come unto the end of our course in Rest with him That nominal Christianity which despiseth these things will perish with the real Author of it which is the Devil Again The Apostle exhorts
are encouraged to expect it by the Examples of those who went before them in Faith and Patience Wherefore he requires Lastly That they should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imitatores eorum Imitatores is not used in our Language and when it is it rather signifies mimicks or contains some reflection of blame or weakness than what it is here applied unto Wherefore we render it followers that is in doing what they did treading and walking in their steps as our Apostle expresseth it Rom. 4. 12. as we are to follow the steps of Christ 1 Pet. 2. 21. It is to think we hear them saying unto us what Abimelech did to his Soldiers Judges 9. 48. What you have seen us do make haste and do as we have done All Believers all the Children of God have a right unto an Inheritance How they came by this right was before declared It is by that Adoption whereby they are made Children of God and all Gods Children are Heirs as the Apostle affirms And this Inheritance is the best and the greatest on the account of security and value 1 Let an Inheritance be never so excellent and valuable yet if it be not secure if a mans Title unto it be not firm and unquestionable if he may be defeated of it by fraud or force which things all Earthly Right and Titles are obnoxious unto it takes off the worth of it But this Inheritance is conveyed settled and secured by the Promise Covenant and Oath of God 2 Sam. 23. 5. Rom. 4. 16. These secure this Inheritance from all possibility of our being defeated of it 2 The value of it is inexpressible It is a Kingdom Matth. 25. 34. Jam. 2. 5. Salvation Ileh 1. 14. The Grace of Life 1 Pet. 3. 7. Eternal Life Tit. 3. 7. God himself who hath promised to be our Reward Rom. 8. 17. The providing of Examples for us in the Scripture which we ought to imitate and follow is an effectual way of teaching and a great fruit of the care and kindness of God towards us The use of Examples to be avoided in sin and punishment the Apostle declared and insisted on in the third Chapter which we have also improved as we are able Here he proposeth those which we are to comply with and conform our selves unto which afterwards chap. 11. he farther presseth in very many particular Instances And as there is a great efficacy in Examples in general which hath been spoken uoto on chap. 3. so there are many advantages in those which are proposed unto our Imitation in the Wisdom of the holy Spirit For 1 the things and Duties which we are exhorted unto are represented unto us as possible and that on terms not uneasie or grievous Considering all the Difficulties and Oppositions from within and without that we have to conflict withall we may be ready to think it impossible that we should successfully go through with them and come off safely at the last To obviate this despondency is the design of the Apostle in that long series of Examples which he gives us chap. 11. For he undeniably demonstrates by Instances of all sorts that Faith will infallibly carry men through the greatest difficulties they can possibly meet with in the Profession and Obedience of it There is no more required of us than such and such persons by the Testimony of God himself have successfully passed through And if we follow them not it is nothing but Spiritual Sloth or the Love of the world and sin that retards us 2 Great Examples do naturally stir up and animate the minds of men who have any thing of the same Spirit with them by whom they were performed to do like them yea to out-do them if it be possible So Themistocles said that Miltiades's Victory against the Persians would not let him sleep Being a person of the same kind of courage with him it stirred him up in a noble emulation to equal him in an hazardous and successful defence of his Country But then it is required that there be the same Spirit in us as was in them whose Examples are proposed unto us Let the examples of persons Valiant and Heroical in their great and noble Actions be set before men of a weak and pusillanimous nature or temper and you will amaze or affright but not at all encourage them Now the Spirit and Principle wherewith the Worthies of God whose Example is set before us were acted withall was that of Faith In vain should we encourage any unto a following or imitation of them who hath not the same Spirit and Principle This the Apostle requireth hereunto 2 Cor. 4. 13. We having the same Spirit of Faith according as it is written I believed and therefore have I spoken we also believe and therefore speak Had we not the same Spirit of Faith with them we could not do as they did And we may take a Trial hereby whether our Faith be genuine or no. For if their Examples move us not excite us not unto the like Duties of Obedience with them it is an evidence that we have not the same Spirit of Faith with them As the Courage of a Valiant man is enflamed by a noble Example when a Coward shrinks back and trembles at it On this supposition there is great force in that direction Jam. 5. 10. Take my Brethren the Prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an Example of Suffering Affliction and Patience Let a Minister of the Gospel who is made partaker in his measure of the same Spirit conside how Elijah Jeremiah Peter Paul and the rest of those Holy Souls who spake in the name of the Lord carried themselves under their Afflictions and Trials and it will inflame his Heart to ingage chearfully in the like Conflicts 3 These Examples are so represented unto us as plainly to discover and point out where our Dangers lye on the one hand and where our Assistance and Relief lye on the other These two rightly considered and understood in all our Duties will give us the best directions we can possibly receive When we know our Dangers and our Reliefs aright we are half way through our Difficulties When these are out of mind when we know them not on every occasion we fall under surprisals and troubles Now in the Examples proposed unto us there is withall through the wisdom and care of the Spirit of God represented unto us the Temptations which befell those who are so our patterns the Occasions of them their Advantages Power or Prevalency wherein they missed it or failed exposing themselves unto the power of their Spiritual Enemies and on the other hand what course they took for Relief what Application they made unto God in their Difficulties and Distresses and wherein alone they reposed their confidence of success These things might be confirmed by manifold Instances 4 There is in them also made known what Interveniences and Disturbances in our course of
so deported himself as that he might not be unmeet to receive the succeeding mercies whereof he was to be made partaker And this is the method of Gods communicating his Grace unto sinners His first Call and Conversion of them is absolutely gratuitous He hath no consideration of any thing in them that should induce him thereunto Neither is there any thing required unto a condecency herein God takes men as he pleaseth some in one condition and posture of mind some in another some in an open course of sin and some in the execution of a particular sin as Paul And he indeed at the instant of his call was under the active power of two of the greatest hinderances unto Conversion that the heart of man is obnoxious unto For first he was zealous above measure of the Righteousness of the Law seeking earnestly for Life and Salvation by it and then he was actually ingaged in the persecution of the Saints of God These two qualifications constant resting in Legal Righteousness with rage and madness in persecution than which there are not out of Hell more adverse principles unto it were all the preparations of that Apostle unto converting Grace But after that this Grace which is absolutely free and Soveraign is received there is an order in Gods Covenant which for the most part he observeth in the communication of ensuing Graces and Priviledges namely that Faith and Obedience shall precede the increase and enlargement of them Thus was it with Abraham who received his last great signal Promise and Priviledge Gen. 22. upon that signal Act of his Faith and Obedience in offering up his Son upon Gods Command As it was with Abraham so is it with all those who in any Age are made partakers of Grace or spiritual Priviledges Secondly The Promise here intended as to the spiritual part of it may be considered with respect unto all Believers of whom Abraham was the Representative And two things are contained therein 1. The giving and sending of the Son of God to take on him the Seed of Abraham This was the life and soul of the Promise the ancient and first expressed regard of Divine Grace unto sinners In thy Seed shall all the Nations of the Earth be blessed that is the Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head The Incarnation of the Son of God promised from the Foundation of the world shall be fulfilled in thy Seed he shall take on him the Seed of Abraham So our Apostle argues Gal. 3. 16. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the Promises made he saith not unto Seeds as of many but as of one and thy Seed which is Christ. For the Promise which is made concerning Christ in one sense is made unto him in another As to the benefit and effects of the coming of Christ it was made concerning him unto Abraham and all his Seed but as unto the first grant intention and stability of the Promise it is made unto Christ himself with respect unto that Everlasting Covenant which was between the Father and him in his undertaking the work of Mediation Or the Lord Christ may be considered either as the undertaker of the Covenant with God and so the Promise was made unto him or as the Accomplishment of the terms of it for us so the Promise was concerning him 2. The nature of the benefit which is to be received by Christ thus promised and that in general is a Blessing in thy Seed shall they be blessed And two things are comprised in this Blessing as the Springs of other mercies innumerable The Promise of Christ himself was the fountain and all other Promises were particular streams from it especial Explications and Applications of that Promise 1 The removal of the Curse of the Law which was come on all men by reason of sin The Curse could not be removed but by a Blessing and that which doth it is the greatest of Blessings as that was the greatest of Curses and Miseries 2 The bringing in of a blessed Righteousness on the account whereof we might be accepted with God See Gal. 3. 13 14 15. Before we proceed we may observe two things in general concerning this Promise 1 That this was the Life of the Church of the Old Testament the Spring of its continuance unto its appointed season which could never be dried up How many times were that whole people the posterity of Abraham at the very brink of Destruction For sometimes they fell generally into such terrible provoking sins as that their utter casting off might have been justly expected by Angels and men sometimes they were in the just Judgement of God given up unto such wasting Desolations in their Captivities as that they were wholly like dry bones on the face of the Earth without hopes of a Resurrection Yet mercy patience and power wrought through all and preserved them in a Church state until this Promise was accomplished This it was alone or the Faithfulness of God therein whence all their healing and recoveries did proceed And when this Promise was once fulfilled it was beyond the power of all the world to keep them unto their former condition All depended on the issue of this Promise in whose fulfilling all things were to be cast into a new mold and order 2 This was that which preserved the Spirits of true Believers among them from ruining Despondencies in the times of the greatest Apostasies Calamities and Desolations of the People They had this Promise still to plead and rested therein notwithstanding all the Interveniencies which oft-times seemed to render the case of that people very desperate See their Faith expressed Micah 7. 18 19 20. Isa. 7. 13 14 15. chap. 5. 3. Luke 1. 70 71 72 73. And I would hope there is mercy lies treasured in the Bowels of this Promise not yet brought forth toward the remainders of the Posterity of Abraham according to the Flesh. Who knows but that by virtue of the ingaged Love and Faithfulness of God declared in this Promise these withered Branches may revive and these dead bones rise again Our Apostle placeth the Hopes of it on this ground alone that as touching the Election they were beloved they were beloved for the Fathers sake Rom. 11. 28. As to Profession they were then vsibly falling off but as to Election as to Gods purpose concerning them the Love which he bare to their Fathers ingaged unto Abraham in this Promise will one day find them out and bring them in unto a plentiful share in this Blessing Wherefore on all accounts the Instance chosen by the Apostle was of singular use unto the Hebrews and singularly suited unto their present condition For as they received many Advantages from his personal Priviledges who was their Father according to the Flesh so they succeeded unto him in the spiritual part of the Promise and therefore as the like Duties of Faith and Obedience and Perseverance were required of them as of him so they in
whereunto this effect is ascribed Whatever it be it is called better with respect unto the Law with all things that the Law contained or could effect somewhat of more Power and Efficacy to perfect the Church-state This neither was nor could be any thing but Christ himself and his Priesthood For in him we are compleat Col. 2. 10. and by one Offering he hath for ever perfected them that are Sanctified the Heavenly things themselves being purified thereby Hope therefore is used here Metonymically to design the thing hoped for From the giving of the first Promise and throughout under the Dispensation of the Law Christ and his coming into the VVorld were the Hope of all Believers the great thing which they desired longed and hoped for Hence was he called the Desire of all Nations Hag. 2. that which the Secret desires of the whole Race of Mankind worked towards And in the Church which enjoyed the Promises they rejoyced in the fore-sight of it as did Abraham and desired to see its Day as did the Prophets diligently enquiring into the time and season of the Accomplishment of those Revelations which they had received concerning him 1 Pet. 1. 11 12. It is not therefore the Doctrine of the Gospel with its Precepts and Promises as some suppose which is here intended any other ways but as it is a Declaration of the coming of Christ and the Discharge of his Office For without a respect hereunto without Virtue and Efficacy thence alone dirived the outward Precepts and Promises of the Gospel would no more perfect the Church-state than the Law could do Obs. 1. When God hath designed any Gracious End towards the Church it shall not fail nor his work cease for want of effectual means to accomplish it All means indeed have their Efficacy from his Designation of them unto their End His Wisdom makes them meet and his Power makes them Effectual VVhatever therefore seems to be a means in the hand of God unto any End and doth not effect it was never designed thereunto For he fails in none of his Ends nor do his means come short of what he aims at by them VVherefore although God designed a Perfect state of the Church and after that gave the Law yet he never designed the Law to accomplish that End It had other Ends as we have already declared But Men were very apt to take up with the Law and to say of it Surely the Lords Annointed is before us VVherefore God by many ways and means discovered the weakness of the Law as unto this End Then were Men ready to conclude that the Promise it self concerning this perfect Church-state would be of none effect The mistake lay only herein that indeed God had not as yet used that onely means for it which his infinite Wisdom had suited for and his infinite Power would make Effectual unto its attainment And this he did in such a way as that those who would not make use of his means but would as it were impose that upon him which he never intended to make use of in that kind perished in their Unbelief Thus was it with the Generality of the Jews who would have Perfection by the Law or none at all VVherefore the Promise of God concerning the Church and to it must be the Rule and Measure of our Faith Three things do deeply Exercise the Church as unto their Accomplishment 1. Difficulties rendring it wholly improbable 2. Long unexpected Procrastination 3. Disappointment of appearing means of it But in this Instance of the Introduction of a perfect Church-state in and by the Person of Jesus Christ God hath provided a Security for our Faith against all Objections which these considerations might suggest For 1. VVhat greater Difficulties can possibly lye in the way of the Accomplishment of any of the Promises of God which yet are upon the Sacred Record unaccomplished as suppose the Calling of the Jews the Distruction of Antichrist the Peace of the Church and Prosperity of it in the plentiful Effusion of the Spirit but that as great and greater lay in the way of the fulfilling of this Promise All the National Provocations Sins and Idolatries that fell out in the Posterity of Abraham all the Calamities and Desolating Judgments that over-took them the cutting down of the House of David untill there was only a Root of it left in the Earth the Unbelief of the whole Body of the People the Enmity of the world Acted by all the Crafts and Powers of Satan were as Mountains in the way of the Accomplishment of this Promise But yet they all of them became at length a Plain before the Spirit of God And if we should compare the Difficulties and Oppositions that at this Day lye against the fulfilling of some Divine Promises with those that rose up against this one of perfecting the Church-state in Christ it would it may be abate our forwardness in condemning the Jews of Incredulity unless we found our selves more established in the Faith of what is to come than for the most part we are 2. Long and unexpected Procrastinations are Trials of Faith also Now this Promise was given at the Beginning of the world nor was there any time allotted for its Accomplishment Hence it is generally supposed from the words there used in the imposition of the Name of Cain on her First-Born that Eve apprehended that the Promise was actually fulfilled The like Expectations had the Saints of all Ages and were continually looking out after the rising of this bright morning Star Many a time did God renew the Promise and sometimes confirmed it with his Oath as unto Abraham and David and yet still were their expectations frustrate so far as confined unto their own Generations And though God accepted them in their cryes and prayers and hopes and longing desires yet near four thousand years were expired before the Promise received its Accomplishment And if we do believe that the Faith and Grace of the New Testament do exceed what was administred under the Old and that we do enjoy that Pledge of Gods Veracity in the Accomplishment of his Promises which they attained not unto shall we think it much if they are exercised some part of that season as yet but a small time in looking after the Accomplishment of other Promises 3 Disappointment of appearing means is of the same nature Long after the Promise given and renewed the Law is in a solemn and glorious manner delivered unto the Church as the Rule of their worship and the means of their Acceptance with God Hence the Generality of the People did alwayes suppose that this was it which would make all things perfect Something indeed they thought might be added unto its Glory in the personal coming of the Messiah but the Law was still to be that which was to make all things perfect And we may easily apprehend what a surprizal it was unto them when it was made manifest that the Law
three things must be considered in these words 1 The state and Condition of Christ as an High Priest He liveth alwayes or for ever 2. What he doth as an High Priest in that state and Condition He maketh Intercession for us 3. The Connexion of these things their mutual regard or the Relation of the work of Christ unto his state and condition the one is the end of the other He lives for ever to make intercession for us 1. As to his state and condition He lives for ever He is alwayes living The Lord Christ in his Divine Person hath a threesold life in Heaven The one he lives in himself the other for himself and the last for us 1. The Eternal life of God in his Divine Nature This he liveth in himself As the Father hath life in himself so hath he given unto the son to have life in himself Joh. 5 26. He hath given it him by eternal Generation in a communication unto him of all the divine Properties And he that hath life in himself a life independent on any other he is the living one the living God No creature can have life in himself For in God we live move and have our being He is hereby Alpha and Omega the first and the last the Begining and end of all Revel 1. 11. because he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the living one ver 18. And this Life of Christ is the foundation of the efficacy of all his Mediatory Actings namely that he was in his own divine Person the Living God Act. 20. 28. 1 Cor. 2. 8. 1 Joh. 3. 16. But this is not the immediate cause of his Mediatory Effects nor is it here intended 2. There is a Life which he liveth for himself namely a Life of unconceivable Glory in his Humane Nature He lead a mortal life in this world a life obnoxious unto misery and death and died accordingly This life is now changed into that of immortal eternal Glory Hence forth he dyeth no more death hath no more Power over him And not only so but this Life of his is unto him the cause of and is attended with all that ineffable Glory which he now enjoyes in Heaven This Life he lives for himself it is his reward the Glory and Honour that he is crowned withal All the endowments all the enjoyments and the whole eternal exaltation of the Humane Nature in the Person of Christ belong unto this Life of Glory And the glorious exaltation of that individual humane nature which the son of God assumed far above all Principalities and Powers and every name that is named in this world or the world to come is the principal part of the Design of Infinite wisdom in the work of the new Creation But neither is this the Life here intended 3. The Lord Christ lives a Mediatory Life in Heaven a Life for us So saith our Apostle he was made a Priest after the Power of an endless Life whereof we have treated before He lives as King Prophet and Priest of the Church So he describes himself Revel 1. 18. I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore and have the keys of Hell and Death As he died for us so he liveth for us and is entrusted with all Power over the Churches adversaries for its good As he died for us so he liveth for us in Heaven and therefore tells us that because he liveth we shall live also Joh. 14. 19. Now this life differeth not essentially from that life of Glory in the Humane Nature which he liveth for himself in Heaven Only it denoteth one especial end of it and that only for a season The Lord Christ will have the life in himself the divine life unto all Eternity and so also will be the Life of Glory in the Humane Nature But he shall cease to live this Mediatory Life for us when the work of his Mediation is accomplished 1 Cor. 15. 28. But he shall lead this life alwaies for us until the whole work committed unto him be accomplished and shall lead it as a Life of Glory in himself unto Eternity Obs. It is a matter of strong consolation unto the Church that Christ lives in Heaven for us It is a spring of unspeakable Joy unto all true Believers that he lives a Life of Immortality and Glory in and for himself in Heaven Who can call to mind all the miseries which he underwent in this world all the reproach and scorn that was cast upon him by his enemies of all sorts all the wrath that the whole world is yet filled withal against him but is refreshed rejoyced transported with a spiritual view by Faith of all that Majesty and Glory which he is now in the Eternal Possession of so was it with Stephen Act. 7. 56. And therefore in all the Appearances and Representations which he hath made of himself since his Ascension into Heaven he hath manifested his present Glory Act. 26. 13. Revel 1. 14 15 16 17 18. And the due consideration hereof cannot but be a matter of unspeakable Refreshment unto all that love him in sincerity But herein lyeth the Life of the Churches Consolation that he continues to live a Mediatory Life in Heaven for us also It is not I fear so considered nor so improved as it ought to be That Christ dyed for us all who own the Gospel profess in words though some so explain their Faith or rather their Infidelity as to deny its proper use and to evacuate its proper ends That so he lived for us here in this world so as that his Life was some way or other unto our Advantage at least thus far that he could not have died if he had not lived before all men will grant even those by whom the principal end of this Life namely to fulfil the Law for us is peremptorily denyed But that Christ now lives a life of Glory in Heaven that most men think is for himself alone But the Text speaks to the contrary He lives for ever to make Intercession for us Neither is this the only end of his present Mediatory Life in Heaven though this only be here expressed Should I undertake to shew the ends of the present Mediatory Life of Christ for the Church it would be too great and long a decursion from the Text. However the whole of the work of this Life of his may be reduced into these three heads 1. His immediate Actings towards the Church it self which respects his Prophetical Office 2. His Actings for the Church in the world by Vertue and Power of his Kingly Office 3. His Actings with God the Father in their behalf in the dischage of his sacerdotal Office 1. The first consisteth in his sending and giving the Holy Ghost unto the Church He lives for ever to send the Holy Spirit unto his Disciples Without this constant effect of the present Mediatory Life of Christ the Being of the Church would fail it
The Renovation of the terms and sanction of the Covenant of Works contributed much thereunto For the People saw not how the Commands of that Covenant could be observed nor how its Curse could be avoided They saw it not I say by any thing in the Covenant of Sinai which therefore gendred unto bondage All the prospect they had of deliverance was from the Promise 2. It arose from the manner of the delivery of the Law and Gods entring thereon into Covenant with them This was ordered on purpose to fill them with dread and fear And it could not but do so when ever they called it to remembrance 3. From the severity of the Penalties annexed unto the Transgression of the Law And God had taken upon himself that where punishment was not exacted according to the Law he himself would cut them off This kept them always anxious and sollicitous not knowing when they were safe or secure 4. From the Nature of the whole Ministry of the Law which was the ministration of death and condemnation 2 Cor. 3. 16. which declared the desert of every sin to be death and denounced death unto every Sinner administring by its self no relief unto the minds and consciences of men So was it the letter that killed them that were under its power 5. From the Darkness of their own minds in the means ways and causes of deliverance from all these things It is true they had a promise before of Life and Salvation which was not abolished by this Covenant even the Promise made unto Abraham But this belonged not unto this Covenant And the way of its accomplishment by the Incarnation and Mediation of the Son of God was much hidden from them yea from the Prophets themselves who yet foretold them This left them under much bondage For the principal cause and means of the liberty of Believers under the Gospel ariseth from the clear light they have into the mystery of the love and grace of God in Christ. This faith and knowledge of his Incarnation Humiliation Sufferings and Sacrifice whereby he made Attonement for Sin and brought in everlasting Righteousness is that which gives them liberty and boldness in their Obedience 2 Cor. 3. 17 18. whilest they of old were in the dark as unto these things they must needs be kept under much bondage 6. It was increased by the yoke of a multitude of Laws Rites and Ceremonies imposed on them which made the whole of their Worship a burden unto them and unsupportable Acts 15. 9. In and by all these ways and means there was a Spirit of Bondage and Fear administred unto them And this God did thus he dealt with them to the end that they might not rest in that state but continually look out after deliverance On the other hand the New Covenant gives liberty and boldness the liberty and boldness of Children unto all Believers It is the Son in it that makes us free or gives us universally all that liberty which is any way needful for us or useful unto us For where the Spirit of God is there is liberty namely to serve God not in the oldness of the Letter but in the newness of the Spirit And it is declared that this was the great end of bringing in the New Covenant in the accomplishment of the Promise made unto Abraham namely that we being delivered from the hands of all our enemies might serve God without fear all the days of our lives Luke 1. 72 73 74 75. And we may briefly consider wherein this Deliverance and Liberty by the New Covenant doth consist which it doth in the things ensuing 1. In our freedom from the commanding power of the Law as to sinless perfect Obedience in order unto Righteousness and Justification before God Its commands we are still subject unto but not in order unto life and salvation For unto those ends it is fulfilled in and by the Mediator of the New Covenant who is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believeth Rom. 10. 4. 2. In our freedom from the condemning power of the Law and the Sanction of it in the Curse This being undergone and answered by him who was made a curse for us we are freed from it Rom. 7. 6. Gal. 3 13 14. And therein also are we delivered from the fear of death Heb. 2. 15. as it was paenal and an entrance into judgment or condemnation John 5. 24. 3. In our freedom from conscience for sin Heb. 10. 2. That is Conscience disquieting perplexing and condemning our persons the hearts of all that believe being sprinkled from an evil conscience by the blood of Christ. 4. In our freedom from the whole System of Mosaical Worship in all the Rites and Ceremonies and Ordinances of it which what a burden it was the Apostles do declare Acts 15. and our Apostle at large in his Epistle to the Galatians 5. From all the Laws of men in things appertaining unto the Worship of God 1 Cor. 7. 23. And by all these and the like instances of spiritual liberty doth the Gospel free Believers from that Spirit of bondage unto fear which was administred under the Old Covenant It remains only that we point at the Heads of those Ways whereby this Liberty is communicated unto us under the New Covenant And it is done 1. Principally by the grant and communication of the Spirit of the Son as a Spirit of Adoption giving the freedom boldness and liberty of children John 1. 12. Rom. 8. 15 16 17. Gal. 4. 6 7. From hence the Apostle lays it down as a certain Rule that where the Spirit of God is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3. 17. Let men pretend what they will let them boast of the freedom of their outward condition in this world and of the inward liberty or freedom of their wills there is indeed no true liberty where the Spirit of God is not The ways whereby he giveth freedom power a sound mind spiritual boldness courage and contempt of the Cross holy confidence before God a readiness for obedience and enlargedness of heart in duties with all other things wherein true liberty doth consist or which any way belongs unto it I must not here divert to declare The world judges that there is no bondage but where the Spirit of God is For that gives that conscientious fear of Sin that awe of God in all our Thoughts Actions and Ways that careful and circumspect walking that temperance in things lawful that abstinence from all appearance of evil wherein they judge the greatest bondage on the earth to consist But those who have received him do know that the whole world doth lie in evil and that all those unto whom spiritual liberty is a bondage are the Servants and Slaves of Satan 2. It is obtained by the evidence of our justification before God and the causes of it This men were greatly in the dark unto under the first Covenant although all stable peace with
do judge that these are the Enemies of Christ and the making of them his Footstool which are peculiarly here intended namely the destruction of the hardned unbelieving Jews who had obstinately rejected his Ministry and opposed it unto the end Then were those his Enemies who so refused him slain and destroyed thereon For 1. This Description of his Enemies as his Enemies peculiarly directs us unto this sense the Enemies of his Person Doctrine and Glory with whom he had so many contests whose Blasphemies and Contradictions he underwent They were his Enemies in a peculiar manner 2. This the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expecting better answers unto than unto the other sense For the glorious visible propagation of the Gospel and Kingdom of Christ thereon began and was carried on gloriously upon and after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Church of the Jews his Enemies With reference hereunto Expectation may be no less distinctly ascribed unto him than if we extend the word unto the whole time unto the end of the World 3. The Act of Vengeance on these his Enemies is not said to be his own but peculiarly assigned unto God the Father and those imployed by him In the Original promise the words of God the Father to him are I will make thine Enemies thy Footstool I take it upon me Vengeance is mine to revenge the injuries done unto thee and the obstinacy of those Unbelievers Here in this place respect is had unto the means that God used in the work of their destruction which was the Roman Army by whom they were as the Footstool of Christ absolutely trodden under his feet with respect unto this special Act of God the Father who in the Execution of it proclaims that Vengeance is his For in the following words the Lord Christ is said only to expect it as that wherein his own cause was vindicated and revenged as it were by another Hand while he pleaded it himself in the World by that mild and gentle means of sending his spirit to convince them of Sin Righteousness and Judgment 4. This is that which the Apostle constantly threatens the obstinate Hebrews and Apostate Professors of the Gospel withal throughout this Epistle the time of their destruction being now at hand So he doth Chap. 6. 4 5 6 7 8. In this Chapter ver 26 27 28 29 30 31. Where it must be spoken to 5. This was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or what remained as unto the personal Ministry of Christ in this World The horrible Destruction of the stubborn Obstinate Enemies of the Person and Office of Christ which befell the Nation of the Jews is a standing security of the endless destruction of all who remain his Obstinate adversaries 6. I leave this Interpretation of the Words unto the thoughts of them that are Judicious and shall open the Mind of the Holy Ghost in them according unto the generally received Opinion of their sense And to this end 1. The Subject spoken of is the Enemies of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Enemies He hath had many Enemies ever since his Exaltation and so shall have unto the Consummation of all things when they shall all of them be Triumphed over For his Enemies are of two sorts 1. Such as are so immediately and directly unto his Person 2. Such as are so to his Office and Work with the benefits of the Salvation of the Church Those of the first sort are either Devils or Men. All the Devils are in a Combination as sworn Enemies unto the Person of Christ and his Kingdom And for Men the whole World of Unbelieving Jews Mahumetans and Pagans are all his Enemies and do put forth all their Power in Opposition unto him The Enemies unto his Office Grace and Work and the benefits of it are either persons or things 1. The Head of this Opposition and Enmity unto his Person is Antichrist with all his Adherents and in a special manner all Worldly Power Authority and Rule acting themselves in subserviency unto the Antichristian Interest 2. All Pernicious Heresies against his Person and Grace 3. All others which make Profession of the Gospel and live not as becomes the Gospel they are all Enemies of Christ and his Office The things which rise up in Enmity and Opposition to him and the work of his Grace are Sin Death the Grave and Hell All these endeavour to obstruct and frustrate all the ends of Christs Mediation and are therein his Enemies 2. There is the Disposal of this Subject of these Enemies of Christ. They shall be made his Footstool 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 until they be put and placed in this condition it is a State which they would not be in but they shall be made put and placed in it whether they will or no as the word signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Footstool is used in a Threefold sence in the Scripture 1. For the visible pledge of Gods Presence and his Worship Gods Throne as we have shewed was represented by the Ark Mercy-Seat and Cherubims in the most Holy Place whereon the Sanctuary it self was his Footstool 1 Chron. 28. 2. Psal. 99. 5. Psal. 132. 7. So it is applyed unto God and his presence in the Church as the Ark was his Throne so the Sanctuary was his Footstool 2. It is applyed unto God and his presence in the World so Heaven above is called his Throne and this lower part of the Creation is his Footstool Isa. 66. 1. In neither of these senses are the Enemies of Christ to be his Footstool Therefore it is taken 3. For a Despised Conquered Condition a State of a mean subjected people deprived of all power and benefit and brought into absolute subjection In no other sense can it be applyed unto the Enemies of Christ as here it is Yet doth it not signifie the same condition absolutely as unto all persons and things that are his Enemies For they are not of one Nature and their subjection to him is such as their Natures are capable of But these things are intended in it 1. The Deprivation of all Power Authority and Glory They fate on Thrones but now are under the Seat of him who is the only Potentate 2. An utter defeat of their Design in opposing either his Person or the work of his Grace in the Eternal Salvation of his Church They shall not hurt or destroy no more in the Mountain of the Lord. 3. Their Eternal Disposal by the Will of Christ according as his Glory shall be manifested therein Sin Death the Grave and Hell as unto their Opposition to the Church shall be utterly destroyed 1 Cor. 15. 55 56 57. and there shall be no more Death Sathan and Antichrist shall be destroyed two ways 1. Initially and Gradually 2. Absolutely and Compleatly The First they are in all Ages of the Church from the time of Christs Glorious Ascension into Heaven They were then immediately put in subjection to him
to satisfie the Hebrews that there shall be no such delay in what they looked after and expected as should be a just cause of despondencies or weariness in them As if he had said My Brethren faint not be not weary nor discouraged keep up Confidence and Patience you know what you wait for and expect which will be an abundant recompence unto you for all your Sufferings And whatever appearances there may be of its tarrying or delay whatever it may seem to you yet if you have but a prospect into Eternity be it what it will it is but a very little while and so is to be esteemed by you 2. That which is proposed unto them under this Limitation is this that he who shall come will come and will not tarry What the Prophet spake of the Vision he saw the Apostle applies unto the Person of Christ for the reasons before mentioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that shall come is a Periphrasis of Christ frequently used and applied unto him Once it is used to express his Eternity Rev. 1. 8. but generally it hath respect unto the Promise of him The Foundation of the Church was laid in the Promise that he should come and he came in his Spirit unto them from the foundation of the World 1 Pet. 1. 11. ch 3. 18 19 20. yet this was he that should come as is expressed John 1. this was his coming in the Flesh. After his Incarnation and Ministry he was now with respect unto them he that was come Yea to deny him to be come in answer unto that promise is Antichristian 1 John 4. 3. Yet after this he was to come again on a double account 1. In the Power of his Spirit and the exercise of his Royal Authority for the setting up and settling his Church in the world whereof there are two parts 1. The Assistance of his Spirit with his miraculous Operations unto the Ministers of the Gospel which were the powers of the world to come John 16. 7 8. This was an illustrious Advent of Christ not in his own person but in that of his Vicar and Substitute whom he promised to send in his stead Hereby he was acquitted from all that dishonour contempt andreproach that was cast on him in the world 2. He was to come for the punishment and destruction of his stubborn and inveterate Adversaries And these also were of three sorts 1. Those that were so directly unto his own Person and by consequence unto his Gospel 2. Such as were directly Enemies unto his Gospel and by consequence unto his Person 3. Such as were declared Enemies to them both 1. Of the First sort were the Jews who slew him who murdered him and cast him out of the Vineyard and thereon continued their hatred against the Gospel and all that made profession thereof He was to come to destroy those murderers and to burn their City which fell out not long after the writing of this Epistle and is properly intended in this place See Matth. 24. 3 27 30. 2 Pet. 3. 4. Jude 14. Rev. 1. 7. Mark 16. 28. James 5. 7 8. For hereon ensued the deliverance of the Church from the Rage and persecution of the Jews with the illustrious propagation of the Gospel throughout the world 2. The Pagan Roman Empire was the Second sort of his Adversaries who were immediate Enemies unto his Gospel and consequently to his Person These after the destruction of the former sort raged with all Blood and Cruelty against the Church for sundry Ages These therefore he promised he would come and destroy and the Faith of the Church concerning this his Coming was that he that should come would come and would not tarry The description of this coming of Christ is given us Rev. 6. 7 8 9 10. 3. After this arose a third sort of Enemies who in words owning his person and Gospel opposed all his Offices and persecuted all that would yield Obedience unto him in the Exercise of them and were thereby consequentially Enemies both to his Person and Gospel This was the Apostate Christian Church of Rome or the New Testament Babylon And in respect of these Enemies of his Christ is still he that is to come and as such is believed in and his coming prayed for by all the Saints For he is to destroy the Man of Sin the Head of that Apostasie by the Brightness of his coming For as the opposition made unto him did not arise suddenly and at once as those forementioned did especially that of the Jews whose destruction was therefore speedy and at once but in a long tract of time grew up gradually unto its height so he will destroy it in like manner And therefore although he hath set his hand unto that work and begun the Execution of his Judgments on the Antichristian State in some degree yet as to the utter destruction of it by those Plagues which shall befall it in one day he is still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that is looked for he that is to come 2. Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with respect unto his coming at the last day unto Judgment This is known and confessed and the business of his coming therein is the Prayer of the whole Church Rev. 22. 20. And it is an Article of Faith whose nature we have described on Chap. 6. 5. It may be now inquired with respect unto whether of these comings it is said here he shall come that he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is generally referr'd by Interpreters unto his last Advent at the day of Judgment I doubt not but that also is included but I dare not exclude the other Comings mentioned as things which were principally suited unto the relief of the Church under it's distress For unto every state of the Church there is a coming of Christ suited and accommodated unto their condition whereby their Faith is kept in continual exercise of desires after it This was the life of faith under the Old Testament as to his coming in the flesh until it was accomplished This faith after his Resurrection they lived on though but for a short season untill he came in the power of his Spirit and his miraculous Operations so to convince the World of Sin Righteousness and Judgment Nor do I understand how the Just can live by faith without a continual expectation of the coming of Christ in a way suited to the Sufferings and Deliverance of his Church in that season For instance the state was such now with those Hebrews that if an end were not put unto it or the dayes were not shortned no flesh among them could have been saved as our Saviour speaks Matth. 24. 22. In this state the Church looked for such a coming of Christ as should work out their Deliverance and he came accordingly as we have shewed Afterwards the Earth was filled with the Blood of Saints and Martyrs by the Power of the Roman Empire In this state those