drink it and receive it into our bodies yet if we neither eat the one when it 's set before us nor drink the other when put into our hands we may perish for hunger and thirst So it is spiritually with our Souls in respect of the Word preached and heard only our with outward ears and not received and receiued in our hearts by a true and lively Faith So that the cause why the Word of God being so great a Blessing and so excellent a means of Salvation doth us no good is from our selves or in our selves who either refuse it at the first or reject it after we have professed it and promised to live according to it And this refusal and rejection as they are hainous sins not onely against God's just Laws but his merciful tender of eternal life so they will prove in the end the cause of our eternal misery which shall be greater and more intolerable than those to whom the Word of God was never preached 4. Therefore it concerns us all to fear this Sin of Apostacy as we fear loss of heavenly Rest God's eternal displeasure Hell Death and eternal Punishments The Apostle by this word fear implies there is danger of falling away and if we consider there is danger and the same very great For if we look upon our weakness and the remainders of corruption the deceipt and hypocrisy of our own hearts the imperfection of our Understanding in heavenly things the inconstancy of our Wills our little experience in the wayes of God and the violence and power of temptation from the Devil and the World we may easily see that it 's a wonder if not a matter of amazement that we stand one day one hour yet when we look up towards Heaven remember our Saviour Christ reigning and victorious the power of the blessed Spirit the helps God hath given us the Promises of assistance there is great cause of hope yet this hope doth not exclude but require our diligent Care continual Watching and instant Prayers without which we cannot by which we may hope to stand Oh how should we carefully and constantly attend unto God's Word lay it up in our hearts make it the Rule of our whole life so as to obey his Commands rely upon his Promises and fear his threats and every day call to mind the Profession we have made and the Promises whereby we have engaged our selves unto our God And seeing so few do fear it 's no wonder so many fall and come short of this blessed Rest. Most men presume upon the Promise and neglect the Duty The Israellres had a Promise yet did not enter because they did not believe § 3. There follows another distinct Reason from the former and that is the great benefit that follows upon the performance of the Duty Ver. 3. For we who have believed do enter into Rest as he said As I have sworn in my Wrath c. THere is some difficulty to know the coherence of these words with the former as also of those that follow with these and amongst themselves Some say they come in upon the words immediately antecedent and give a reason why the Word not mixed with Faith did not profit nor bring the hearers into God's Rest For onely we that believe do enter that is There is no entrance but by Faith but by Faith there is Others think they propose a reason why we should fear Apostacy and be careful to persevere and that from the happy consequent and the glorious reward which follows upon perseverance in belief and that is entrance and admittance into God's Rest yet they may referr to those words of the former Chapter For some when they had heard did provoke howbeit not all that came out of Aegypt by Moses For Caleb and Joshua heard and believed and persevered for it 's said of Caleb and it 's the Testimony of God That he had another Spirit with him and followed the Lord fully Numb 14. 24. This he applyes to himself and the Hebrews to this purpose That though some did not enter because of Unbelief yet some did believe and did not provoke and so entred so likewise shall we believing do As the former might cause fear so this latter might cause hope and prove a strong motive why we should fear to fall and be very careful to persevere So that if we will sum up that which went before it 's this in brief To day if we will hear God's voice we must not harden our hearts 1. Because if we do harden them we shall be shut out of God's Rest as our rebellious and Apostate Fathers were 2. If we do not harden our hearts but believe we shall enter into God's Rest as Caleb and Joshua did It follows As he said I have sworn in my wrath if they shall enter into my Rest c. These words serve to inform us of three things 1. That the Word not believed could not profit because by Unbelief they provoked God to wrath and in his Wrath he sware they should not enter into his Rest so likewise we should fear to be guilty of Unbelief because if we prove such God in his Wrath by the like Oath will exclude us 2. That as God by this Oath did exclude none but Unbelievers and brought the Believers into Canaan so he will exclude none out of the Rest promised in the Gospel but Unbelievers and will without all fail bring us believing into our spirituall Canaan 3. That as the Oath so the Exhortation used by the Prophet David implied that as there was a Rest in the dayes of Joshua so there is another Rest besides that of the promised Land Therefore because it might be doubted what Rest either David meant or the Gospel doth promise the Apostle proceeds to prove that there is yet a Rest prepared for God's People under the Gospel and determines what Rest that is This is done by distinction for he informs us of a three-fold Rest 1. Of the Sabbath 2. Of the Land of Canaan 3. Of the eternal Rest in Heaven That it was the intention of the Apostle to manifest that there was a Rest for the People of God under the Gospel and yet that Rest was neither the first of the Sabbath nor the second of the Land of Canaan is evident by that which follows especially Ver 19 10. That it was expedient if not necessary for him to do thus is as clear because he had alledged the words of the Psalm To day if ye will hear his Voice and also said in Ver. 1. That a Promise was left us of entring into his Rest. The first is the Rest of the Sabbath in these words Although the Works were finished from the Foundation of the World And Ver. 4. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day in this wise And God did rest the seventh day from all his Works THE particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is turned here although yet it may signify and
be translated otherwise as it is by the Syriack Vatablus and the Vulgar This passage hath reference to that word especially my Rest for there is a Rest of God promised in the Gospel yet truly this is not God's Rest from his work of Creation upon the seventh day That was a Rest 1. Of God 2. That Rest wherewith he rested himself 3. It was his Rest from the works of Creation 4. It was that Rest which he rested the first seventh day of the World after he had finished the Works of Heaven and Earth For this purpose the Apostle alledgeth the words of Moses Gen. 2. 1 2 3. This Rest indeed might signify the perpetual Rest of Men and Angels when they have finished their work of Obedience and God might institute the Sabbath for this end Yet though this was a Rest of God yet it was not the Rest implyed in the Psalm not that which is promised in the Gospel That it was not he makes plain Ver. 5. And in this place again If ye shall enter into my Rest. THat is there is a second Rest long after promised to Israel and it is that which he gave them in the Land of Canaan this the Psalmist intends in these words As I sware in my wrath if they shall enter into my Rest yet this is not that which is promised in the Gospel This he makes evident by the words following Ver. 6. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein and they to whom it was first preached entred not in because of Unbelief Ver. 7. Again he limiteth a certain day saying in David To day after so long a time as it is said To day if ye will hear his Voice harden not your hearts Ver. 8. For if Jesus had given them Rest then would he not afterward have spoken of another Rest. THis part of the Chapter is more easily understood if we reduce it to Propositions which are these 1. That though there was a Rest of the Land of Canaan whereinto some must enter and did enter yet a certain day is limited and appointed by David of entring into another Rest. 2. This day was appointed long after the entrance of Israel into the Land of Canaan 3. The words whereby another day of another Rest is appointed and promised are these To day if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts 4. If Jesus or Joshua had brought Israel into that Rest which David speaks of there had been no need of speaking of and promising another Rest so long after The Apostle infers from all this that there is a Rest yet remaining for the People of God though it be neither the Rest of God from the Works of Creation nor the Rest in the Land of Canaan For the Scriptures mention but three Rests or Sabbatisms the first of Creation the second of Canaan the third of Heaven and this last is that which is meant by the Psalmist and promised in the Gospel And he further adds that this Rest had some affinity with that of Canaan and with that of God's Sabbath For Ver. 10. He that is entred into his Rest hath ceased from his own Works as God did from his VVHich words may be understood two wayes 1. Of the Title and Right to enter into this Rest or 2. Of the actual enjoyment and full possession In the former respect it 's certain that no Man can have so much as a Title or any hope of this eternal Rest till he cease from and forsake his own Works of Sin by true Repentance In the latter respect which is more probably intended no Man can actually enjoy the Rest of Heaven untill by perseverance he hath finished all his Work of Evangelical Obedience as God did not keep his Sabbath till he had fully finished all his works of Creation This is a Doctrine full of sweet and heavenly Comfort That Christ hath purchased an eternal glorious Sabbath God hath promised it in the Gospel and we who by the Sanctification of the Spirit persevere in our Christian Profession and Practice shall certainly enjoy it fully and for ever All men desire Rest yet it 's not to be found on Earth but in Heaven not in the Creature but in God Happy they which know the Excellency and Glory of this Rest and with all diligence and constancy use the means to attain it by following the Doctrine of the great Prophet Jesus Christ unto the end § 4. Here comes in the Exhortation to the great Duty in Ver. 11. Let us labour therefore to enter into that Rest lest any man fall after the same Example of Unbelief THese words may be considered 1. In their Coherence 2. In themselves 1. The Coherence is implyed in the Particle and Illative Conjunction therefore which informeth us that this Exhortation is a Conclusion inferred upon some antecedent Premisses and that Proposition of the Apostle We which have believed do enter into Rest Ver. 3. Which 1. Implies that there is a Rest for us under the Gospel 2. Affirms that they who believe do enter The former he manifests at large that there is a Rest besides that of Creation and that of the Land of Canaan remaining for the People of God The latter is plain out of the Psalm and he takes it for granted that such as hear and believe shall enter and onely such have admission Hence he inferrs That if there be an eternal glorious Rest prepared and promised to be enjoyed by Believers then it 's our Duty to labour to enter This is the Connexion The Exhortation considered in it self with the rest of the Chapter to the end doth 1. Propose the Duty 2. Urge the performance upon effectual Reasons The Duty is to labour to enter into that Rest where we have A Rest. Entring into it Labouring to enter What the Rest is you have heard before The entrance is to acquire and attain the actual possession and full enjoyment and that it may be considered 1. As a Duty of man and then it is the use of all means ordained of God for the attainment 2. As a gift and gracious Work of God admitting and receiving us unto the enjoyment yet because man should not mistake by thinking it an easie matter to enter at his will and pleasure he here implies that it 's a work of labour of difficulty of striving it 's an entring in at the strait Gate and we must labour use all our power and put our strength to the utmost For this is the greatest business which we have to do in this Life and our will must be most firmly resolved and bent upon it our understanding intended and as it were set upon the rack in all the operations thereof and our executive power exercised to the utmost degree For out wit will and power and all the faculties of the Soul and Body must be taken up continually in this work as the most necessary and excellent of all others The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
first words of the Text for some read them negatively as our Translation doth For then should they not have ceased Some read them Interrogatively For then should they not have ceased Thus Vatablus and some others Some omit the negative particle and read them thus For then they should have ceased Thus the Vulgar Beza Tramelius Vetesius Stephaâ—â—s in his fifth Copy and the Complâ—teâ—sis and this seems to be the true Reading though the Interrogative hath the same sense The Apostle seems to argue thus If the Sacrifices of the Law had perfected the Commers or â—urged the Worshippers then they should have ceased to be offered This Consequence is proved because if they had been once purged they should have had no more Conscience of Sin and so the Offerings had been needless and useless It was said before that they were offered year by year continually and here from that continuance of them he infers their Imperfection For as the Sytiack paraphraseth if they had perfected and sanctified the Worshippers they should have ceased This presupposeth That when an Agent hath produced his Effect finished his Work and attained his end he ceaseth to work for that end any more and takes his Rest Thus God when he had finished the World and made all things then he rested from the Work of Creation Now the End of Sacrifices was to purge and expiate the Sins of those who offer them and if once they can do that fully and perfectly Reason it self would dictate they may cease But to proceed unto the Reason why they should have ceased if they had pâ—â—ged the Worshippers which is this For then the Worshippers being purged should have no more Conscience of Sin Where we have three things observable 1. The vertue of purging proper to a Sacrifice 2. The Subject purged by them which is the Worshippers 3. The Effect of this sanctifying Power in this Subject which is to take away the Conscience of Sins To begin with the last By Sins are meant 1. Sins past 2. Guilt which necessarily and unavoidably follows upon Sin once committed By Conscience of this Sin is understood 1. The Knowledg of this Guilt as we use to say of a Delinquent that he is conscious to himself that he hath offended 2. Some Effects consequent which either are apt to follow or do follow thereupon as Sorrow Fear Accusation therefore Tremelius turns it Sin wounding the Conscience though it is the Knowledg of Sin as our Sin as rendring us guilty and liable to Punishment that doth torment and wound For by Conscience is meant the Soul conscious and privy to it 's own Sin and the Acts of this the Soul thus conscious and knowing are to accuse threaten and condemn it self and from hence it is that the guilty Soul is such a Tormentor of it self By having no Conscience of Sin is meant 1. To be freed from the Guilt of Sin 2. A Knowledg thereof grounded upon certain Rules The Subject of this benefit are Worshippers for these are not only guilty but know it and are sensible of it and therefore come to God and use some means to propitiate him that being propitiated he may pardon them For it 's pardon that actually frees from Guilt and the Conscience of Sin Those who are guilty and yet sensless and so no Worshippers continue guilty still Yet these Worshippers as purged only are free from Guilt and this purging is two-fold 1. By Sacrifice as propitiating and making Sin pardonable 2. By God's Sentence upon Repentance and Faith pleading the Sacrifice as offered and accepted And without both Guilt is not actually taken away Thus far these words have been explained as considered absolutely in themselvs yet we must further examine them as referring to the Antecedent part of the Text and containing a Reason why the Legal Sacrifices should have ceased if they had perfected the Worshippers And for the clearing of this I must resume the former distinction of purging as it is an immediate Effect of a Sacrifice or an Effect of the Sacrifice upon God's Sentence of Absolution The former purging is here principally meant yet so as not to exclude the latter Yet this purging by Sacrifice offered may be an Expiation of some-Sins for a time as making liable to some certain Punishment or as an Expiation of all sins expiable and making the Sinner liable to all Punishments not only temporal but spiritual and eternal Now if there had been any such expiatory Sacrifice under the Law that could have made God propitious for ever and all sin remissible for ever and so have made not only temporal but spiritual and eternal penalties eternally removable then if that had been once offered and accepted there had been no need of offering that Sacrifice again or any other For this would have purged the Worshipper so as to free him from the Guilt and Conscience of Sin without any other or without any Re-iteration of it at all But there was no such Sacrifice therefore the Worshippers upon new sins had recourse to a new and to another Sacrifice and these Sacrifices did not cease but continue and hence the Author proves their Imperfection Under the Gospel we commit new Sins contract new Guilt and have Conscience of Sin and so do often re-iterate the Offering of a broken Spirit renew our Repentance and our Faith yet we plead no new Sacrifice Expiatory but rely only upon one Sacrifice once offered till such time as by vertue of it we be so purged as never to be guilty again or have Conscience of Sin any more and when upon our finall Repentance and Faith in this Sacrifice we receive a full and final Absolution then by vertue of this Sacrifice we have no Conscience of Sin for ever § 4. The Apostle goes on and further informs thus Ver. 3. But in those Sacrifices there is a Remembrance again made of Sins every Year THESE words seem to produce a third Argument to prove the insufficiency of the Legal Sacrifices as to perfecting and purging the Worshippers In Form he argues thus If in those Sacrifices there was a Remembrance of Sins every Year then they did not purge and perfect the Worshippers But in them there was a Remembrance again of Sins every Year Therefore they did not perfect and purge the Worshippers In the Text we have 1. A yearly offering of Sacrifices 2. In these Sacrifices a Remembrance of Sin every Year 1. There was a yearly Offering and this seems to be that great and solemn Sacrifice of Explation offered the tenth day of the seventh Month every Year It 's true that there were many other propitiatory and Ilastical Sacrifices besides this offered every Year yet this was the general and publick Sacrifice offered for the Universality and whole Body of the People and therefore vas the principal This doth prove that they ceased not because they took not away the Gâ—ilt and Conscience of sin Therefore some think these words to be an
For unnecessary private Conventicles with the neglect of the publick Assemblies are usually the Seminaries of Errours and Schisms and very prejudicial to the publick good of the Church So that the Duty exhorted unto is to frequent constantly these Assemblies and make right use of them to edify confirm and encourage one another to perseverance in the Christian Faith and to Love and good Works I might here take occasion to enlarge and reckon up all the particular Duties to be performed in these religious Meetings and shew how subservient they are every one severally and all joyntly to that end whereat the Apostle chiefly aims but I proceed to the Reason § 24. For it might be said What Reason Suasive Motive may be given why we should be so careful to perform this Duty Yes there is a great and powerful Reason and that is Because the day approacheth Where 1. We must understand the words of the Reason considered in it self 2. The force of the Reason in respect of the performance of the Duty In the words of the Reason we have 1. A Day 2. The Approach of that Day 3. The nearer Approach 1. A Day is a part and the principal part of time as opposed to the Night and in this place it signifies some special and more than ordinary time as the day of death of the destruction of Jerusalem of the End of the World The day of death every Man must look for Nothing more certain than death though nothing more uncertain than the Hour of death Every man must dy and then be brought unto his last Account and as that shall be made so shall be the condition of every Man for ever for where the Tree falleth there it lyeth and as Death leavs us Judgment finds us There was a day of Jerusalem's destruction and of the ruine of that Nation appointed and made known by Christ and his Apostles and these Hebrews could not be altogether ignorant of it There is another greater day of the final and universal Judgment and this was part of their Creed All these and every one of these are special and great dayes And one or two or all these three may here be meant Some think the day of Jerusalem's râ—ine was most of all intended by the Apostle though that cannot be evidently evinced to be pointed at so as to exclude the other two 2. This day did approach and was near for first the day of every Man's death could not be far off the day of Jerusalem's destruction was near and so near as many then living might survive not only the Peace and Happiness of that Nation but the very Being and Existence of that City and of the Temple they might see the ruine and destruction of both and for ought they knew the end of the World 3. This day drew nearer and nearer For 1. We no sooner begin to live but we begin to dy for we are born mortal and ready we are to return to that dust from whence we were taken and raised at the first and the more of our Life is past the less is yet to come and every Day Hour Minute of our Life we approach nearer unto death and death unto us 2. As for Jerusalem's destruction there were many Signs of that approaching fore-told and then known to be past It was fatal and unavoidable even then when Christ wept over it lamenting her Sin and Punishment which he certainly did fore-know and when this Letter was written to these Hebrews that day of her Calamity was far nearer 3. For the day of Judgment the particular Year Month Day was hid yet the times of the Gospel were the last times and upon us the ends of the World are come And that which is alwayes unknown may alwayes be looked for seeing it will certainly come and that suddenly And though that day in those times was far off yet it 's nearer now and though now it may be many years before the Son of God shall come from Heaven and the time to Man may seem long yet a thousand years with God is but as one day Besides that day of final Judgment if we consider that the unchangeable condition of every Man begins immediately upon his death then the great day of Judgment may in some sense be said to be as near as death to every particular Person This is the meaning of the words considered in themselvs and now the force of them as containing a Reason remains to be considered For this end we must take notice of the thing here urged and it 's 1. The performance of a Duty 2. The performance of it the rather and the more for the more the day approacheth the more we should prepare for it Not to forsake the assembling of our selvs together and to exhort one another and to be careful very careful diligent and frequent in this Work of Association and Exhortation is a Duty commanded by God and pressed upon us by the Apostle to neglect this Duty is our Sin and Disobedience to do it constantly is our performance And this is that which is intended by this Reason The force thereof is great For seeing 1. The day of our great Account God's final Sentence to be passed upon us and the Execution thereof is so near it concerns us much not only to know our Duty but to bestir our selves and to perform it constantly with all our Power Our progress towards Heaven should be like a natural Motion which is slow or not so swift at the beginning and is swifter and swifter towards the end Upon this performance depends our final and eternal estate For if we neglect fail and fall away then we are undone for ever if we perform and be prepared we are eternally happy Seeing therefore that day is a day of eternal Rewards or Punishments and approacheth so near What should not we do to provide for our everlasting safety Yet men think little of these things If we under stand the Text of the day of Jerusalem's Calamities and desolation which was near at hand and was a day of death to many thousands yea to hundreds of thousands and a lively resemblance of the final Judgment this also might effectually work upon them and move them to performance and perseverance For then they should see and clearly behold the woful End of that unbelieving Nation and most of all of all Apostates from Christianity Then their seducing Brethren and their persecuting Enemies should be destroyed the Temple burnt and demolished all their Judaism and Legal Service wherein they trusted for ever abolished and those which out of fear complyed with them or of Christians turned Jews should suffer in the highest degree Therefore there was no Reason in the World they should forsake or deny Christ and turn from him to Moses from the Gospel to the Law for the day was approaching when they should see God's Judgment executed upon the unbelieving seducing persecuting Jew and the eternal Confusion of
World in this respect they were Pilgrims and Strangers politically Besides by the Light of Faith they knew this Earth to be no place of perpetual abode but only made and appointed by God as an habitation for a little time through which we must only pass and out of which after a little stay remove into a more certain continuing mansion From all this we understand that on Earth they were Pilgrims and Strangers every way For many are either natural or naturalized Subjects of some earthly Common-wealth and yet knowing by Faith that this is not their resting place and continually expecting a removal are spiritually considered as Strangers and Pilgrims and are such indeed That these Worthies were such on Earth is evident and as they were such so they openly and plainly professed it and that by their words For Jacob calls the dayes of his Life the dayes of the years of his Pilgrimage Gen. 47. 9. So David confesseth before God in this manner We are Strangers before thee and Sojourners as were all our Fathers and he gives the Reason to be this Our dayes on Earth are as a Shadow and there is none abiding 1 Chron. 29. 15. They did profess this not only by their Words but their Works and the whole Course of their lives For they were men above the World who clearly apprehending the Vanity Uncertainty and Misery thereof did judg it far below them as base and unworthy the seeking They knew the End of their Creation and Regeneration was far more noble And this should be the mind of all the Saints of God Therefore Peter exhorts the Christians to whom he wrote as Pilgrims and Strangers to abstain from fleshly Lusts 1 Pet. 2. 11. For We must not love the World nor the things that are in the World 1 Joh. 2. 15. This is the thing they did express 2. The thing which by this Confession they did plainly imply is That they sought a Country There is no man in the World but if he follow the Light of Reason much more if he be guided by the Light of Grace but will seek a place and an estate of Rest wherein he may finally quiet his mind The Land of Canaan was called God's Rest because therein he gave Rest unto Israel But this was but a temporal and earthly Rest as the place of any Man's settled Inheritance may be It was a Type of an eternal Rest as their Sabbath was the Type of an eternal Sabbath Such a Country such a Rest these Saints did seek No man seeks that which he hath and enjoyeth therefore this word sought implies that they were not possessed of this Country they were as yet only Seekers Yet Seekers they were and aimed at some better thing which they did most of all desire And they were resolved to seek till they should find and never rest till they attained their final Rest. Such Seekers we should all be and continue to be such untill we reach our heavenly Mansion He that takes up his Rest in the World or any earthly thing and seeks no further is of a base Spirit and unworthy of an Immortal Soul § 16. If they sought a Country it must be earthly or heavenly Earthly it was not therefore heavenly it must be This we learn from Ver. 15. And truly if they had been mindful of that Country from whence they came out they might have had opportunity to have returned Ver. 16. But now they desire a better Country that is an heavenly Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for He hath prepared for them a City IN these words we find two more Propositions concerning the Duty 1. They sought not an Earthly 2. They desired a Heavenly Country The first we may easily understand to be the Substance of Ver. 15. The second is the express words of the 16. 1. That they sought not an earthly Country is implyed two wayes 1. In that they sought not that out of which they came 2. By Opposition for they sought an heavenly If they had sought any earthly Country in the World surely they would have sought their own native Soil And this is very likely For what place doth take or affect us more than that of our Birth Inheritance Kindred This Affection is naturally ingrafted in the heart of Man Yet if it be said Perhaps they had no opportunity to return He answers They had and yet never did return for they were not so mindful of it nor so affected with it This informs us that as they voluntarily left their own Country at the first so they continued their Absence and so their Pilgrimage voluntarily and they were constantly obedient to the heavenly Call From hence we learn that our Obedience must be willing or else it 's no Obedience They were and we must be content to be Pilgrims for a while in this World To return was God's Prohibition implied in God's Command to come out of it and both the leaving of it and the continuance in a strange Country out of a willing heart as it was acceptable to God so it was part of their Self-denial We must follow their Example God calls us out of the World as he did Israel out of Aegypt and Judah out of Babylon we must not only come out and that willingly but we must willingly resolve never to return again We must not with Lot's Wife look back at Sodom after that God hath delivered us out of it lest God be offended with us and severely punish us for if we return again to the World our latter end will be worse than the beginning 2. They desired an heavenly Country Here you must observe 1. That this Country is the same which in Ver. 10. was called a City and here it 's said to be heavenly which before was said to have Foundations and that which here is affirmed to be prepared by God is there affirmed to be built and made by God So that a City that hath Foundations which is made and built by God and an heavenly Country prepared by God are the same 2. Strangers Pilgrims and Sojourners are taken for the same though by Writers of Politicks they may be distinguished 3. That which before they looked for here they are said to seek and desire for they desired hoped for and sought a stable firm heavenly City and Country built made prepared by God To do thus was their Obedience and Performance of that Duty which God required at their hands This Country or City is said to be Heavenly not only to distinguish it from all earthly Countries Cities Societies Common-wealths but also to signify the Original of it as being from Heaven and also the Excellency of it for as high as Heaven is above the Earth so excellent is this Country and City above the most pleasant Countries and most glorious Cities in the World By this also we understand that it is spiritual and invisible safe and of eternal continuance Besides Heaven is the place
the Hebrew Copies we have now translate the place thus And Israel bowed himself upon the Beds-head To reconcile these some tell us of the difference of Mittah and Matteh the one signifying a Bed the other a Staff and say that the word being at first unpointed might be taken to signify the one or the other or both so that he might be at the head of his Bed leaning upon a Staff It 's true that the Chaldee and Samaritan read it Mittah a Bed The Syriack turns the word Sceptrum Yet this is clear enough that the Apostle followed the Greek Translation and we may safely follow him being divinely inspired Upon this Staff he leaned and by it supported himself after that Joseph had sworn to him that he would bury him in the Land of Canaan in the burying place of his Fathers He leaned thus upon his Staff that he might bow and worship But the Question is To whom he bowed Some think he bowed to Joseph not looking upon him now as his Son but as a Prince and Administrator General of the Kingdom of Egypt and this might give occasion to the Syriack Interpreter to think this Staff was Joseph's Scepter as though by this Posture he gave not only Honour but Thanks unto his Son that he would not only promise but confirm his Promise by Oath Others conceive that he had far higher thoughts and that with all humility he adored the divine Majesty and dd praise his glorious Name that he had provided for his Burial in the Land of Promise where his Posterity should settle where his Saviour should be born and where he should rise again to eternal Glory and this outward bowing was a Sign of his most humble Submission and Adoration of the supream and eternal Lord. This doth teach us 1. That the Object of religious Adoration is God as Supream Lord of infinite and eternal Excellency 2. That Humility is essential to this Act of Adoration 3. That by outward Carriage in the Worship of God we should signify our inward Humility 4. That near our End we should think not only of Death but of the Resurrection and with the thoughts thereof support and comfort our hearts Thus Jacob blessed thus he bowed and both by Faith For they were Effects of Faith without which it was impossible to do either of them as he did them This is the principal thing intended in all the Examples to shew the necessity and excellency of Faith and by both to perswade Perseverance therein And surely Jacob had some divine Revelation concerning the future Fates of his Grand-children and upon Joseph's Oath of his Burial in the Land of Canaan and he did most certainly believe it and rely upon it and this Belief and Reliance was the inward Principle of his Benediction and Adoration otherwise they had neither been effectual nor acceptable § 21. Thus both Joseph's Sons were blessed by the Faith of his Father Jacob and Joseph also had his Faith which was effectual too For Ver. 22. By Faith Joseph when he dyed made mention of the departing of the Children of Israel and gave Commandment concerning his Bones HEre likewise we have 1. The Effects of Joseph's Faith 2. His Faith the ground of these Effects The Effects are two 1. Mention of Israel 's Departure 2. A Charge or Command concerning his Bones 1. Joseph made mention of Israel's Departure Israel was the divine Name of Jacob for it was given him from Heaven because by his earnest and fervent Prayers he prevailed with God This Name was after given to his Posterity according to the Flesh and in the New Testament to his Children according to the Spirit In this place it signifies those Children and that Posterity of his who were living when God sent Moses to Pharaoh This Departure here meant is their departure out of Aegypt and Freedom from that miserable Bondage they suffered there This Deliverance Joseph being ready to dy and knowing his End to be near remembred as a matter of very great moment and out of this remembrance puts the Israelites his Brethren and probably his own Children and Nephews in mind of it and this perhaps also he did with a special Charge they should make it known to their Childrens Children that it might not be forgotten Of this we thus read And Joseph said unto his Brethren I dy and God will surely visit you and bring you out of this Land unto the Land which he sware to Abraham to Isaac to Jacob Gen. 50. 24. These words do fully explain this part of the Text. This was the first Effect 2. The second was That he gave Commandment concerning his Bones This is explained by the words following Gen. 50. 25. And Joseph took an Oath of the Children of Israel saying God will surely visit you and ye shall carry up my Bones from hence These words imply that he had a great desire that his very Bones and that part which at the time of their Deliverance remained might be buried in Canaan and so take Possession of that Land where his Saviour should be born redeem sinful Man and rise again to Glory Out of this desire he gives a strict Charge unto his surviving Brethren and their Posterity to carry his Bones with them out of Aegypt into that Holy Land and if their Love to him could not perswade them as his Father took an Oath of him so he took an Oath of them to do this last Service and Office of Love that so not only Affection and Respect to him but the fear of the eternal God by whom they had sworn might make them and their Posterity mindful of their Promise And according to his Command their Promise and Oath the thing was done For Moses took the Bones of Joseph with him for he had straitly sworn the Children of Israel saying God will surely visit you and ye shall carry up my Bones hence with you Exod. 13. 19. And they were buried many years after in Shechem the Portion of Joseph Josh. 24. 32. All this was done by Faith which was grounded upon that Promise which was confirmed by an Oath unto Abraham Isaac and Jacob that he would give them the Land of Canaan and bring their Children out of Aegypt for to settle them in that Country which was a Type of Heaven and in which by Christ they should rise again to everlasting Life This Revelation from Heaven he did assuredly believe and rested upon the Promise This Example should teach us to remember and never to forget the Promises of God to mind others of them perswade them to rest upon them and deeply to engage them to their God and the Performance of their Duty This doth also inform us of the Excellency of the Bodies of the Saints which have been Temples of the Holy Ghost and one day shall be made immortal § 22. And now we are come to the great Prophet Moses whose Preservation was wonderful and his Works glorious The Apostle instanceth 1. In
and Beeing but to be happy For as bitter Pills and Portions and also correcting Plaisters may effectually cure our Bodies motrally wounded or diseased so the Lord's Chastisements may heal our sick Spirits and so prevent spiritual Death and Punishments And as the Patient must be willing to receive bitter Pills and Potions for recovery so must we chearfully submit unto our heavenly Fathers Correction for our eternal safety and felicity § 11. Thus far the absolute consideration of these words Now follows the Comparison which presupposing some agreement in quality as in quanity of imparity For if we be bound to obey and reverence our earthly Fathers correcting us then we are bound to obey and be in subjection to our heavenly Father chastening us The reason is because as they so he hath power over us But this is not all for if we are bound if to them much then to him much more They are only Fathers of our Flesh and Bodies and have only a correcting power over them but he is the Father not only of our Bodies but also of our Spirits and hath an absolute Dominion over both not only to instruct counsel command but also to correct and his Correction tends not only to our temporal but our spiritual Health Safety and Happiness This the Apostle makes evident in the 10th Verse Where again we may consider some things 1. Absolute concerning our Earthly Heavenly Father 2. Comparative The words absolutely considered inform us 1. That our earthly Fathers for a few dayes chastened us after their own pleasure 2. That God our heavenly Father chasteneth us for our profit that we may be Partakers of his Holiness 1. In the former Chastisement we may observe 1. It 's short and for a few dayes 2. It 's arbitrary after their own pleasure 1. It 's short because it continues only for the time f our Child-hood and Minority when we are most apt to go astray and least able to direct out selves In these tender years Children may receive any Impression and that more easily than afterwards then the Foundation of Vertue or Vice is laid and if Children have their Liberty be neglected and left unto themselvs they are most subject to be corrupted Therefore theâ— they have most need of Correction and may be more easily kept under yet many times it falls out that Fathers devoid of Wisdom and not considering what is best and most truly good for their Children out of Passion and rashly not aiming at the choise End do correct them And the more Power they have and the less Resistance there is the more arbitrary and irregular their Chastisements prove so that as the time of their Chastening is short so it 's not regulated by the Dictates of Reason but follows Fancy and false Imaginations of the mind which many times represents as just and good that which indeed is evil and unjust The Intention of the Apostle in these words is to manifest the imperfection and deficiency of humane Castigation whereby it differs from that which is divine For 2. God chasteneth â—â— for our Profit that we may partake of his Holiness This is the Perfection of God's Correction which is not for a few dayes but continues for term of Life till he hath made us perfect and done his whole Work upon us It 's always regulated by his perfect Wisdom issues from purest Love tends unto and ends in our Happiness It 's no wayes arbitrary for he never chasteneth but when he sets cause and knows certainly that it will be good for us All this is implyed in these words for our profit where by profit we must not understand the good things of this World and the great Mammon which so many worship but some better thing some spiritual and divine benefit which in a word is a Participation of God's Holiness which Clause seems to be exegetical that we might know what he meant by Profit For whatsoever tends to make us spiritually better more like to God and more capable of Communion with him that 's true Profit God's Holiness may either be that whereby she is holy in himself oâ— that whereby weare holy He in himself is essentially infinitely and eternally holy most glorious excellent and pure in himself For the Holiness of God is sometimes taken for his Excellency and Glory sometimes for his Purity and perfect Righteousness in which respect it 's said That he is Light and in him is no Darkness so that he cannot sin be impure or unjust and therefore may be said to be Holiness it self As he is holy in himself so he is the Efficients and Fountain of Holiness to us for he makes us holy yet our Holiness is from him by participation and participated by us is more his than ours To be Partakers of his Holiness is either to be made holy as he is and so purified from Sin or being made holy to have Communion with him in some degree here or fully and for ever hereafter This Holiness is communicated to us by Chastisement accompanied with the Sanctisication of the Spirit for that 's the end whereaâ— God aims and the Effect which he produceth in his Children His Love doth set him on work his Wisdom directs and his Almghty Power effecteth that which his Love desireth This is the Absolute Consideration the Comparative followeth and that in quantity inequal for he argues from the less unto the greater For if they had with Patience endured their earthly Fathers chastizing them for a few dayes after their pleasure how much more should they with Patience and all humble Subjection endure their heavenly Father chastizing them in Wisdom for their everlasting Good This is a place which teacheth all Children their Duty towards their Parents chastening them and they must acknowledg their Power humbly submit unto it and be thankful unto them and their God for this good Work without which they might have been more wicked and more miserable And all Fathers should know that their Children are trusted in their hands by God not only to be instructed but corrected and in this part of Education they must imitate God and chasten them wisely in Love for their good The principal thing to be remembred is that seeing it is God that doth chastile them and in this manner and for their greatest good therefore they should not faint in their Sufferings for their Profession § 11. The Apostle proceeds further to discourse on the Text in Proverbs which speaks of Chastisement Of which it might be said that it 's a matter not of Joy but Grief and how then can it proceed from Love and be any wayes beneficial By way of prevention he resolvs this doubt in the words following Ver. 11. Now no Chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous Nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of Righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby BY these words we learn what the End and Effect of the Lord 's Chastening is
Mother are born of the same incorruptible seed animated with the same Spirit of Christ and partakers of a divine Nature This spiritual consangunity is a principle of spiritual Love and this Divine Nature an object of a more ardent affection Though therefore we must love others truly and as our selves yet these if we be Christians we must love more then others And though we know no man's heart and reins yet such as appear and manifest themselves by their profession and practise to be Saints we must love as Brethren and though they be not such and we mistake yet our Love is acceptable to God This Love is not only a complacency in them and an esteem of their persons as having more of God in them then other men but we must effectually desire their good and happiness and when occasion serves really promote it It must be a real and a giving and a suffering love For as Christ laid down his Life for us so we must lay down our Lives for the Brethren And we must not love only in word and tongue but in deed and in truth 1 Joh. 3. 16 18. By vertue of this Love there is in us a secret Sympathy which will manifest it self by rejoycing with them that rejoyce and mourning with them that mourn Yet this spiritual Love and divine Affection is found in few and it 's not so fervent and effectual in us as it should be Self-love and love of the World do much abate it And as the Brethren love the Brethren so the World hates them and counts them their greatest Enemies This is the love we must love them but this love must remain and continue in them This doth presuppose that they formerly had loved them and that was evident enough for they had ministred unto the Saints and did minister Chap. 6. 10. and became Companions of such as were teproached Chap. 10. 34. And their Duty was that as they had begun so they should go on and love to the End Life and Love must end together whilest we live we must love the Brethren And the words are not onely Paul's Exhortation but God's Command and the same universal and binds us as well as them § 2. The second Duty is Hospitality Ver. 2. Be not forgetful to entertain Strangers for thereby some have entertained Angels unawares VVHere 1. The Duty is to entertain Strangers 2. The Motive is Because some have thereby been so happy as to entertain Angels unawares The Object of this Duty is Strangers the Duty it self is to entertain them the Cayeat is Not to forget so to do Strangers in this place may be either Christians or others both are an Object of Charity but especially the former We are Strangers when we are from home in another Place or Country where we have few Friends are not well known And being amongst Strangers where we have neither harbour nor other necessaries we must needs be in a miserable Condition and a proper Object of Hospitality Though this extends to others yet it 's principally understood of such as in these times were persecuted and scattered in strange Countries and being spoiled of their Goods were in great necessity not knowing sometimes where to have the next Lodging or Morsel of Bread These are principally meant and must be entertained To entertain them is freely to take them into our Houses and according to our ability supply their Wants for where should these receive Comfort or Relief but with Christian Brethren Some might pretend themselves to be such and that falsly and so abuse the Charity of well-meaning Christians yet there were several wayes whereby poor Christians and their sad Condition might be known And if they were once known we must not forget this Duty to forget is to neglect it not to forget is to perform it The Motive or Reason is this That by the performing of this Duty some have entertained Angels unawares The Persons who are here understood were Abraham and Lot both pious and righteous men of great Civility and Humanity and such as considered the Condition of Strangers as being Strangers themselves and dealt with them accordingly These received and entertained Angels who being sent by God did appear first to Abraham then to Lot Their business was to destroy Sodom Gomorrah and the Cities of the Plaines Yet in the Execution of this Judgment God remembred Abraham and Lot and according to his tender care of them gave these Angels a Charge and Instructions to preserve them They first came to Abraham in the appearance of men and of Strangers and as such he invites them and entertains them in the same manner they came to Sodom where they were invited and entertained under the same Notion yet they were truly and really Angels though conceived to be Men Therefore is it said they entertained them unawares that is though wittingly and willingly they received them as Men yet they knew them not at first to be Angels The force of this Reason to perswade Hospitality is 1. In respect of the Guests 2. Of the benefit they received by them 1. It was an Honour and a special Grace that the glorious blessed immortal Inhabitants of Heaven should enter their Houses and Tents accept of their Invitation and be so familiar with them 2. In respect of the benefit they received by them for first they came from Heaven to Abraham to let him know his Wife Sarah should bear him a Son and within a short time God would perform his Promise unto him This was a great Blessing much expected and desired of a long time and now determined assuredly to a certain Period within the present Year besides God acquainted him by these Angels with his Intention to destroy Sodom and yet upon his Intercession to save the Righteous in it and this Prayer may be conceived to be effectual for saving though not the City yet his Kinsman in it Lot also had the Honour and the Benefit too for by his blessed Guests he was saved not only from the cursed Sodomites but from the Flames that destroyed that City Yet it may be said What was this to these Hebrews or What is it to us It was a rare thing and not expected of these Saints and beloved Servants of God Yet it is much to us for by the receiving Strangers out of Faith in Christ and Love to God we may receive precious Saints and with them some blessed Angels which have a special Charge to keep and guard them in that condition and if a Cup of cold Water shall be rewarded how much more will so great a Work of Mercy be remembred Nay which is more by receiving them we receive Christ who will acknowledg this kindness as done to Him For in the day of final Judgment He will acknowledge before all Men all Angels and his heavenly Father that this Work of Mercy done to His was done to Him § 3. Yet there is another Work of Mercy which he exhorts them unto