Skip to main content

Full text of "The works of John Owen"

See other formats 


If.llf.O:. 


Sfom  f^e  feifirarg  of 

^tC{\xt(Ki?ft^  6)?  ^im  to 
t^e  feifirarp  of 

(Princeton  S^^eofogtcaf  ^emindrg 


THE 


"WOEKS 


OF 


JOHN    OWEN,    D.D, 


EDITED 

BY    THE    KEY.   WILLIAM   H.   GOOLD,   EDINBURGH, 

AND 

REV.  CHARLES  W.  QUICK,  PHILADELPHIA. 


Y  0  L.    XII. 

AN    EXPOSITION    OF    THE    EPISTLE    TO    THE    HEBREWS. 

WITH 

PRELIMINARY    I^XERCITATIONS. 

-VOXj.    III. 


"grace        be        with        all        them        who        love        the        lord        JESUS 
CHRIST       IN       SINCERITY." EPH.       vi.       24. 


OFFICE     FOR     THE     SALE     OF 

THE    LEIGHTON     PUBLICATIONS, 

12  2  5    SANSOM    S  T  K  E  E  T, 

PHILADELPMIA. 

1869. 


"take    heed    unto    thyself,    and    unto    the 
doctrine;    continue    in    them:    for    in    doing 

THIS      thou       SHALT       BOTH      SAYE       THYSELF,       AND 

THEM     THAT      HEAR      THEE." 

1     Timothy,     i  v.     16. 


This  edition  of  the  Woeks  of  Owen  will  consist  of  seventeen 
•volumes.  The  first  seven  volumes  will  be  the  same  as  the  cor- 
responding volumes  of  the  London  and  the  Edinburii;h  oditidu 
of  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Goold,  D.D.,  1850.  The  eighth  will  he 
identical  with  the  eleventh  volume  of  that  edition.  The  ninth 
volume  will  be  compiled  from  the  ninth,  tenth,  and  sixteenth 
volumes  of  the  same  edition.  Volumes  tenth  to  the  sixteenth 
will  contain  Owen's  exposition  of  the  Epistle  of  St.  Paul  to  the 
Hebrews,  according  to  the  edition  of  Dr.  Goold.  Volume  seven- 
teen will  contain  an  index  to  the  whole  series  taken  from  Dr. 
Goold's  index  as  far  as  applicable,  and  embracing  references  to 
the  matter  contained  in  the  Exposition  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews. 

OO^TEI^rTS. 

Vol.  I.   Life  of  Dr.  Owen,  by  Kev.  Dr.  Andrew  Thomson. 

1.  On  the  Person  of  Christ. 

2.  Meditations  and  Discourses  on  the  Glory  of  Christ. 

3.  Meditations  and  Discourses  on  tlie  Glory  of  Christ  applied  to 

Sinners  and  Saints. 

4.  Two  Short  Catechisms. 

"    II.   1.  On  Communion  with  God. 

2.  Vindication  of  the  Preceding  Discourse. 

3.  Vindication  of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity. 

"  III.  Discourse  on  the  Holy  Spirit ;  His  Name,  Nature,  Personality, 
Dispensation,  Operations,  and  Effects — His  Work  in  the  Old 
and  New  Creation  explained,  and  the  Doctrines  Vindicated. 
The  Nature  and  Necessity  of  Gospel  Holiness  :  the  difference 
between  Grace  and  Morality,  or  a  Sjiiritual  Life  unto  God  in 
Evangelical  Obedience,  and  a  course  of  Moral  Virtues, 
stated  and  declared. 

"  lY.  1.  The  Reason  of  Faith. 

2.  Causes,  "Ways,  and  Means,  of  understanding  the  Mind  of 

God,  as  revealed  in  His  Word,  with  assurance  therein. 
And  a  declaration  of  the  perspicuity  of  the  Scriptures, 
with  the  external  means  of  the  interpretation  of  them. 

3.  On  the  Work  of  tne  Holy  Spirit,  in  Prayer :  with  a  brief 

inquiry 'into  the  nature  and  use  of  ^Mental  Prayer  and 
Forms. 

4.  Of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  His  Work,  as  a  Comforter  and  as  tho 

Author  of  Spiritual  Gifts. 

(3) 


4  CONTENTS. 

Vol.     V.  1.  The  doctrine  of  Justification  by  Faith. 

2.  Evidences  of  the  Faith  of  God's  Elect. 

"      VI.  1.  On  the  Mortification  of  Sin. 

2.  On  Temptation. 

3.  On  Indwelling  Sin  in  Believers. 

4.  Exposition  of  Psalm  CXXX. 

"    VII.  1.  On  the  Nature  and  Causes  of  Apostasy,  and  the  Punish- 
ment of  Apostates. 

2.  On  Spiritual  Mindedness. 

3.  On  the  dominion  of  Sin  and  Grace. 

*'  VIII.  The  Doctrine  of  the  Saints'  Perseverance  explained  and  con- 
firmed. 

"       IX.  Miscellaneous  "Works,  Treatises,  and  Sermons. 

1.  The  Divine  Original  and  Plenary  Inspiration  of  the  Scrip- 

tures. 

2.  On  the  Death  of  Christ. 

3.  Posthumous  and  Sacramental  Discourses. 

"        X.  Exercitations  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 

1.  Concerning  the  Epistle  itself. 

2.  Concerning  the  Messiah. 

3.  Concerning  the  Institutions  of  the  Jewish  Church  referred 

to  in  the  Epistle. 
"       XI.  Exercitations  continued. 

1.  Concerning  the  Sacramental  Office  of  Christ. 

2.  Concerning  a  Day  of  Sacred  Kest. 

3.  Summary  of  Observations,  drawn  from  the  Exposition  of 

the  Epistle. 
"    XII.— XVI.  An  Exposition  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 
"    XVII.  An  Index  to  the  whole  Series. 


AK  EXPOSITIOIS" 


EPISTLE   TO  THE  HEBKEWS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  general  scope  and  design  of  the  apostle  in  this  whole  epistle 
hath  been  before  declared,  and  need  not  here  be  repeated.  In  this 
first  chapter  he  fixeth  and  improveth  the  principal  consideration  that 
he  intends  to  insist  on  throughout  the  epistle, — to  prevail  with  the 
Hebrews  unto  constancy  and  perseverance  in  the  doctrine  of  the 
gospel.  And  this  is  taken  from  the  immediate  author  of  it,  the 
promised  Messiah,  the  Son  of  God.  Him,  therefore,  in  this  chapter 
he  at  large  describes;  and  that  two  ways, — 1.  Absolutely,  declaring 
what  he  is  in  his  person  and  offices,  as  also  what  he  hath  done  for 
the  church;  and,  2.  Comparatively,  with  respect  unto  other  minis- 
terial revealers  of  the  mind  and  will  of  God,  especially  insisting  on 
his  excellency  and  pre-eminence  above  the  angels,  as  we  shall  see  in 
the  explication  of  the  several  parts  and  verses  of  it. 

Verses  1,  2. 

Uoy^v/xipcig  xrz!  ToXorpoVws  tcIXui  6  &iog  XaX^car  roTg  rruTpdeiv  iv  roTc 
t^rpofriTccig,  lit  idy^druv  ruv  ijf/jipuv  Tovriav  BXaXriav  yj/jLiv  ev  T/p,  ov  £dr,Ki 
xXrjpovofiov  irdvrwVy  di'  o£  xui  roi?  aluivag  ivbiriGiv. 

Many  of  these  words  being  variously  rendered,  their  true  gram- 
matical sense  and  importance  is  to  be  considered  before  we  open  the 
meaning  of  the  whole,  and  aim  of  the  apostle  in  them;  in  which 
way  we  shall  also  proceed  throughout  the  whole  e{)istle. 

TlohviA.'.pZir.  ym  -sM  Syr.,  « in  all  parts,"  or  "  by  m;iny  parts."  « Jlulti- 
fariain,"  Vulg.  Eras.,  A  Montan.,  '•  diversely."  "  Mulns  vicibiis,"  Beza;  which 
ours  render,  ''  at  sundry  times."  'Mei'po,uxi  is  "  sortior,"  "  diviilo,"  "  to  part,"  "  to 
take  part,"  "  to  divide  :"  whence  is  piioo;,  "  the  part  of  any  thing;"  and  xohv^t- 
pvis,  "  that  which  consisteth  of  many  parts;"  and  vo>.vu,spai,  "  by  m.iny  parts;" 
which  is  also  used  as  iv  ru  fcipii,  for  "  alternis  vicibus,"  "sundry  changes."    The 


4  AN  EXP('S!TION  OF  THE  [CIIAP.  I. 

word  properly  is,  "  by  many  parts,"  "  fully,"  "  by  several  parts  at  several  times'' 
as  our  translation  inti  nates;  yet  so  th  it  a  diversity  of  parts  anil  degrees,  rather 
than  of  times  ami  seasons,  is  intended. 

Keti  TTO^yr^oViiUf.  i;'?l  ''.^=",  Syr.,  "  in  all  forms."  "  Multisque  niodis,"  Vulg. 
Er;is.,  A.  Moiiran.,  Beza,  "  many  ways;"  or  as  ours,  "  divers  manners." 

ri«A«/.  ='7PT5,  Syr.,  "  a!)  initio,"  "from  the  beginning."  "  Olim,"  the 
Latin  translation,  " of  old,"  "formerly,"  "in  times  past."  n«X«;  is  "olim," 
"  quondam,"  "  pridem,"  *'  jamdudum,"  any  time  past  tliat  is  opposed  ra  eiprt,  or 
vvv,  to  tliat  wliich  is  present,  properly  time  some  good  while  past,  as  that  was 
\\  hereof  the  apostle  treats,  having  ended  in  Malachi  four  hundred  years  before. 

To(f  varpiAciv.     T"^?.  °?,  Syr.,  "  v.'ith  our  fathers,"  "  to  the  fathers." 

'E»  ral;  Trp3(p'/ircii;.  **.".???,  Syr.,  "  in  the  prophets."  So  all  the  Latin  transla- 
tions, '■  in  prophctis." 

'E-TT  k(rx»ravruv '/ifx,spuvrovTa».  ^'irti?  ^r]'J".1  V^iV^-j  Syr.,  "  and  in  those  last 
days."  "  Ultimis  diehus  hisce,"  "  ultimis  diebus  istis,"  "  in  these  last  days." 
"  .\ovissime  diebus  istis,"  Vulg., — "  last  of  all  in  these  days."  Some  Greek  copies 
have  iTT  if!Y(i.rov  ruy  '/ly.ipuv  rouruv,  "  in  extreme  dierum  istorum,"  "  in  the  end  of 
these  days."     The  reason  of  which  variety  we  shall  se^  afterwards. 

'E)/  T/w,  as  before,  "in  the  prophets;  "  not  "by  his  Son,"  but  "in  the  Son." 
The  emphiisis  of  the  e\-pre.->sion  is  necessarily  to  be  retained,  as  the  opening  of 
the  words  will  discover. 

Toi/f  ociuvx;.  "  Mundos,"  "secula."  ''^?j'?,  Syr.,  "the  ages,"  "  times," 
"  uorlds."  In  the  remaining  words  there  is  no  difficulty,  as  to  the  grammatical 
signification;  we  shall  then  read  them,^ — 

'  Various  Readings. — On  the  authority  of  manuscripts  abdejk,  most  of 
the  versions,  and  the  m.ijority  of  th^^  fathers,  Tischendorf,  in  his  second  edition  of 
the  New  Testament,  inserts  i<jx<>i-'^(tv  in  the  text.  In  mo^^t  critical  editions  since 
the  time  of  Bengel,  the  same  reading  has  been  preferred  and  adopted.  Our  author 
h'lnself,  to  judge  from  a  remark  which  he  makes  in  the  course  of  expositiorj,  had 
a  decided  leaning  to  it. 

Exposition. — n.  x-a.)  tc.  "  Of  the  two  modes  of  interpreting  these  words,  I 
rarher  preCer  that  which  separates  them,  and  gives  a  distinct  meaning  to  each: 
'  God.  who  in  ancient  times  made  communications  to  tlie  fathers  by  the  projihets, 
in  sundry  parts  and  in  various  ways,  has  now  made  «  revelation  to  us  by  his  Son;' 
i.  e.,  he  has  completed  the  whole  revelation  which  he  intends  to  make  under  the 
new  dispensation  bv  his  Son,  his  Son  onlij,  and  not  l)y  a  long-cont'mued  series  of 
prophets,  ;is  of  old." — Stuart.  "  They  have  been  considered  merely  a  rhetorical 
amplification, " — Tkoluch.  "  Tiohvfupai  means,  not '  many  times.'  but  '  manifoldly, 
in  many  parts.'    The  antithesis  is  not  that  God  ha<  spoken  often  by  the  prophets, 

but  only  once  by  his  Son; the  opposition  is  Ixtween  the  dbtribution  of 

the  Old  Testament  revelation  among  the  prophets,  and  the  undivided  fulness  of 
the  New  Testament  iwel.ition  by  Christ." — Ebrard. 

'Et'  i(T)c- f^v  ijfi.  "Under  the  last  period,  viz,,  of  the  Messiah." — Stuart. 
"On  the  confines  of  the  former  perio  f,  and  of  the  new  everlasting  epoch;  not 
within  the  latter,  and  also  not  within  the  former." — Tholuck.  "  '1  he  end  of  this 
time,  in  refei'ence  to  the  ta-  s'"y  of  the  Jews,  the  period  of  the  world  which  pre- 
ceded the  coming  of  Christ,  whose  work  was  to  form  the  tr.insition  from  it  to 
the  period  terminating  in  the  resurrection." — Ebrard^  ''  The  period  of  the 
gospel,  the  last  dispensation  of  God." — Bloomjield. 

'iB.v  Tiu.  A  specimen  of  the  arbitrary  use  of  the  article,  for  "  Tlu  is  mo- 
nadic: it  designates  one  individual  peculiarly  distinguished,  and  the  pronoun 
etvTou  is  omitted  after  it;  on  all  which  accounts,  according  to  theory,  the  article 
should  be  added. "^ — Stuart.  "'God  spake  to  us  by  one  who  was  Son,'  who 
stood  not  in  the  relation  of  prophet,  but  in  the  relation  of  Son  to  him.  If  it 
were  su  ru  T/i,  then  Christ  would  be  placed  as  this  individual,  in  opposition  to 
the  indiviluals  of  the  prophets;  but  as  the  article  is  wanting,  it  is  the  species  that 
is  placed  in  opposition  to  the  species,  although,  of  course,  Christ  is  the  sitigle  iudi- 


YER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HECRi'WS.  5 

Ver.  1,  2. — By  sundry  parts,  and  in  divers  manners,  God 
having  formerly  [or,  of  old]  spoken  unto  the  hit  hers  in 
the  prophets,  liath  in  these  last  days  spoken  unto  us  in 
the  Son,  whom  he  hath  appointed  heir  of  all,  by  whom 
also  he  made  the  worlds. 

The  apostle  intending  a  comparison  between  the  Mosaical  law 
and  the  gospel,  referreth  it  unto  two  heads, — first,  Tlieir  revelation 
and  institution,  whence  the  obligation  to  the  observance  of  the  one 
and  the  other  did  arise;  and,  secondly,  Their  whole  nature,  use,  and 
efjicacy.  The  first  he  enters  upon  in  these  words,  and  premising 
that  wherein  they  did  agree,  distinctly  lays  down  the  severals 
wherein  the  difference  between  them  doth  consist;  both  which  were 
necessary  to  complete  the  comparison  intended. 

That  wherein  they  agree  is  the  principal  efficient  cause  of  their 
revelation,  or  the  prime  author  from  whom  they  were.  This  is  God. 
He  was  the  author  of  the  law  and  gospel.  He  spake  of"  old  "  in  tlie 
prophets,"  he  spake  in  the  last  days  "in  the  Son."  Neither  of  them 
was  from  Ynen ;  not  one  from  one  principle,  and  the  other  from  an- 
other,— both  have  the  same  divine  original.  See  2  Tim.  iii.  lb'; 
2  Pet.  i.  20,  21.     Herein  they  both  agree. 

Their  difference  in  this  respect,  namely,  in  their  revelation,  lie  re- 
fers to  four  heads,  all  distinctly  expressed,  saving  that  some  branches 
of  the  antithesis  on  the  part  of  the  gospel  are  only  included  in  the 
opposite  expressions  that  relate  unto  the  law. 

Their  difference,  first,  respects  the  manner  of  their  revelation,  and 

viiiual  of  his  species." — Ebrard.  "  Tlog  m;iv  in  this  use  he  consiJered  (I'ke 
Xp;o-TcV,  put  for  '  O  XpwT&iT  ToD  ©soD)  jis  an  appellative  converted  inlo  a  sort  of 
proper  name." — S.  e  INliddleton  on  the  Greek  article,  note  Matt.  i.  1,  arxl  iv.  .3; 
Bloornjipld.  K'hnpovo^uog  "  The  Son  inherited  the  world  neither  by  lot  nor  by 
the  demise  of  the  possessor.  Like  the  Hebrew  ^"^l ,  of  which  inherit  is  only  a 
secondan/  sense,  it  means  to  take  into  possessio7i  in  any  manner." — Stitart.  '"  The 
prophets  were  heralds  of  the  promised  future  inheritance;  Christ  is  the  heir  him- 
self  The  principal  idea  i>,  not  that  of  a  possession  which  any  one  receives 

throuofh  the  death  of  another,  but  a  pos^ession  which  he  on  his  part  can  transf  r 
as  an  inheritance  to  his  yjosterity:  consequently  a  permanent  possession,  ovtr 
which  he  has  full  authority  " — Ebrard.  *'  K«i  connects  a  new  thought  with 
Mdiat  precedes:  the  same  bein^-  who,  according  to  his  divine-human  nature,  sliall 
possess  all  things  in  the  world,  is  also,  according  to  his  divine  natnre,  the  axithar 
of  all  things." — Tholuck.  "  A/wy  must  necessarily  .signify  the  world.  Th  s  is 
dc-cisively  shown  by  the  parallel  passage,  Heb.  xi.  3,  and  likewise  by  that  in  the 
Epi-^tle  to  the  Colossians,  i.  15-17,  and  ipipuv  rcc  vccvroi.  in  verse  3." — Tholuck. 

Translations. — n.  kxI  -tt.  "  Often,  and  in  various  ways." — Stuart.  "  lu 
many  poriioiis,  and  in  many  ways." — Craik. 

Toi.c  TTccT.     "  To  our  fathers." — De  Wette. 

IlaA.     "  Sime  prmieval  \\me?..'' —Tholuck.     "  In  ancient  times."-  Stuart. 

'Ett'  e^x,-  y-  T.  X.     '•  In  the  end  of  these  days  " — Cont/beare  and  Howson. 

'y.v  T.     "  In  the  person  of  the  Son." — Conybeare  and  Iloivson. 

K>..     "  Lord  of  all  tiungs  " — Stuart. 

Aluv.  *•  The  wor\d."~Stuart.  "  The  universe."— CoHj/6ca>-e  and  How- 
son. — Ed. 


G  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP,  L 

that  in  two  particulars: — 1.  The  revelation  of  the  will  of  God  under 
the  law  was  given  out  by  "divers  parts;"  that  under  the  gospel  at 
once,  or  in  one  dispensation  of  grace  and  tmth.  2.  That  "  in  divers 
manners;"  this  one  way  only,  by  the  Spirit  dwelling  in  the  Lord 
Christ  in  his  fulness,  and  by  him  communicated  unto  his  apostles. 

Secondly,  The  times  and  seasons  of  their  revelation.  That  of 
the  law  was  made  "  of  old,"  "  formerly,"  "in  times  past;  "  this  of 
the  gospel  "in  these  last  days." 

Thirdly,  The  persons  to  whom  the  revelation  of  them,  was  made. 
That  was  to  the  "  fathers,"  this  to  "  us." 

Fourthly,  and  principally.  The  persons  by  whom  these  revelations 
were  made.  That  was  by  "the  prophets;"  this  by  "the  Son." 
God  spake  then  in  the  prophets;  now  he  hath  spoken  in  the  Son. 

The  whole  stress  of  the  apostle's  argument  lying  on  this  last  in- 
Btance,  omitting  the  prosecution  of  all  the  other  particulars,  he  enters 
upon  the  further  description  of  this  immediate  revealer  of  the  gospel 
in  whom  God  spake,  the  Son,  and  lays  down  in  general,  1.  The 
authority  committed  unto  him, — God  made  him  "heir  of  all;"  2. 
The  ground  and  equity  of  committing  that  great  power  and  trust  unto 
him,  in  these  words,  "By  whom  also  he  made  the  worlds:"  whereby 
he  opens  his  way  to  the  further  declaration  of  his  divine  and  incom- 
parable excellencies,  wherein  he  is  exalted  far  above  all  or  any  that 
were  employed  in  the  revelation  or  administration  of  the  law  of 
Moses,  and  the  holy  worship  instituted  thereby. 

All  these  particulars  must  be  opened  severally,  that  we  may  see 
the  intendment  of  the  apostle,  and  the  force  of  his  argument  in  the 
whole;  and  some  of  them  must  necessarily  be  somewhat  largely 
insisted  on,  because  of  their  influence  into  the  ensuing  discourse. 

That  wherein  the  law  and  gospel  do  both  agree  is,  that  God 
was  the  author  of  them  both.  About  this  there  was 
no  difference  as  to  the  most  of  them  with  whom  the 
apostle  treated.  This  he  takes  for  granted.  For  the  professing 
Jews  did  not  adhere  to  Mosaical  institutions  because  God  was  their 
author,  not  so  of  the  gospel ;  but  because  they  were  given  from  God 
by  Moses  in  such  a  manner  as  never  to  be  changed  or  abrogated. 
This  the  apostle  lays  down  as  an  acknowledged  principle  with  the 
most,  that  both  law  and  gospel  received  their  original  from  God 
himself;  proving  also,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  progress  of  our  discourse, 
to  the  conviction  of  others,  that  such  a  revelation  as  that  of  the 
gospel  was  foretold  and  expected,  and  that  this  was  it  in  particular 
which  was  preached  unto  them. 

Now,  God  being  here  spoken  of  in  distinction  from  the  Son  ex- 
pressly, and  from  the  Holy  Ghost  by  evident  implication,  it  being 
he  by  whom  he  spake  in  the  prophets,  that  name  is  not  taken 
oiitfiudus,  substantially,  to  denote  primarily  the  essence  or  being  of 


TER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  Y 

the  Deity,  and  each  person  as  partaking  in  the  same  nature  but 
iToaruriKiJg,  denoting  primurily  one  certain  person,  and  the  divine 
nature  only  as  subsisting  in  that  person.  This  is  the  person  of  the 
Father;  as  elsewhere  the  person  of  the  Son  is  so  signified  by  that 
name,  Acts  xx.  28;  John  i.  1;  Rom.  ix.  5;  1  Tim.  iii.  Hi; 
1  John  iii.  16,  v.  20; — as  also  the  person  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  Acts  v. 
3,  4;  1  Cor.  xii.  6,  11 ;  Col.  ii.  2.  So  that  God,  even  the  Father, 
by  the  way  of  eminency,  was  the  peculiar  author  of  both  law  and 
gospel;  of  which  afterwards.  And  this  observation  is  made  neces- 
sary from  hence,  even  because  he  immediately  assigns  divine  pro- 
perties and  excellencies  unto  another  person,  evidently  distinguished 
from  him  whom  he  intends  to  denote  by  the  name  God  in  this  place; 
which  he  could  not  do  did  that  name  primarily  express,  as  here 
used  by  him,  the  divine  nature  absolutely,  but  only  as  it  is  subsist- 
ing in  the  person  of  the  Father. 

From  tliis  head  of  their  agreement  the  apostle  proceeds  to  the 
instances  of  the  difference  that  was  between  the  law  and  the  gospel 
as  to  their-revelation  from  God ;  of  which,  a  little  inverting  the  order 
of  the  words,  we  shall  first  consider  that  which  concerns  the  times 
of  their  giving  out,  sundry  of  the  other  instances  being  regulated 
thereby. 

For  the  first,  or  the  revelation  of  the  will  of  God  under  the  old 
testament,  it  was,  "of  old."  God  spake  rrdXai,  "for- 
merly," or  "of  old."  Some  space  of  time  is  denoted 
in  this  word  which  had  then  received  both  its  beginning  and  end, 
both  which  we  may  inquire  after.  Take  the  word  absolutely,  and 
it  comprises  the  whole  space  of  time  from  the  giving  out  of  the  first 
promise  unto  that  end  which  was  put  unto  all  revelations  of  public 
use  under  the  old  testament.  Take  it  as  relating  to  the  Jews,  and 
the  rise  of  the  time  expressed  in  it  is  the  giving  of  the  law  by  i\Ioses 
in  the  wilderness.  And  this  is  that  which  the  apostle  hath  respect 
unto.  He  had  no  contest  with  the  Jews  about  the  first  promise, 
and  the  service  of  God  in  the  world  built  thereon,  nor  about  their 
privilege  as  they  were  the  sous  of  Abraham ;  but  only  about  their 
then  present  church  privilege  and  claim  by  Moses'  law.  The  proper 
date,  then,  and  bound  of  this  ^aXa/,  "of  old,"  is  from  the  giving  out 
of  Moses'  law,  and  therein  the  constitution  of  the  Judaical  church 
and  worship,  unto  the  close  of  public  prophecy  in  the  days  of 
Malachi.  From  thence  to  the  days  of  John  Baptist  God  granted 
no  extraordinary  revelation  of  his  will,  as  to  the  standing  use  of  the 
whole  church.  So  that  this  dispensation  of  God  speaking  in  the 
prophets  continued  for  the  space  of  twenty-one  jubilees,  or  near 
eleven  hundred  years.  That  it  had  been  now  ceased  for  a  long  time 
the  apostle  intimates  in  this  word,  and  that  agreeably  to  the  con- 
fessed principles  of  the  Jews;  whereby  also  he  confirmed  his  cwn  of 


8  A.N  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  by  the  reviving  of  the  gift  of  prophecy, 
as  was  foretold,  Joel  ii.  28,  29. 

And  we  may,  by  the  way,  a  little  consider  their  thoughts  in  this 
matter;  for,  as  we  have  observed  and  proved  before,  the  apostle 
engageth  with  them  upon  their  own  acknowledged  principles.  "The 
Jews,  then,  generally  grant,  unto  this  day,  that  prophecy  for  the 
public  use  of  the  church  was  not  bestowed  under  the  second  temple 
after  the  days  of  Malachi,  nor  is  to  be  expected  until  the  coming  of 
Elias.  The  delusions  that  have  been  put  upon  them  by  impostors 
they  now  labour  all  they  can  to  conceal ;  and  they  are  of  late,  by  ex- 
perience, made  incredulous  towards  such  pretenders  as  in  former  ages 
they  have  been  brought  to  much  misery  by.  Now,  as  their  manner 
is  to  fasten  all  their  conjectures,  be  they  true  or  false,  on  some  place, 
word,  or  letter  of  the  Scripture,  so  have  they  done  this  assertion 
also.  Observing  or  supposing  the  want  of  sundry  things  in  the 
second  house,  they  pretend  that  want  to  be  intimated.  Hag.  i.  7,  8, 
v/here  God,  promising  to  glorify  himself  in  that  temple,  the  word  1^^^, 
'I  will  glorify,'  is  written  defectively,  without  n,  as  the  Keri  notes. 
That  letter,  being  the  numeral  note  of  five,  signifies,  as  they  say, 
the  want  of  five  things  in  that  house.  The  first  of  these  was,  P"iX 
D"'n'n31, — 'the  ark  and  cherubim;'  the  second,  nntJ'on  JDC', — 'the 
anointing  oil;'  the  third, 'naiyon  ^vy, — 'the  wood  of  disposition,'  or 
'perpetual  fire;'  the  fourth,  D'^Dim  D''"i1K, — 'Urim  and  Thummim ;' 
the  fifth,  Ulpn  nil, — 'the  Holy  Ghost,'  or  'Spirit  of  prophecy.' 
They  are  not,  indeed,  all  agreed  in  this  enumeration.  The  Talmud 
in  KOI"",  Joma,  cap.  v.,  reckons  them  somewhat  otherwise: — 1.  The 
ark,  with  the  propitiatory  and  cherubim;  2.  The  fire  from  heaven, 
vvhich  answers  the  third,  or  wood  of  disposition,  in  the  former  order; 
S.  The  divine  Majesty,  in  the  room  of  the  anointing  oil;  4.  The 
Holy  Ghost;  5.  Urim  and  Thummim.  Another  order  there  is,  ac- 
cording to  Rabbi  Bechai,  Comment,  in  Pentateuch.,  sect.  t'J*'"!; 
who  places  the  anointing  oil  distinctly,  and  confounds  the  ^3''3E^•,  or 
'divine  Majesty,' with  ti'npn  nin,  'the  Holy  Ghost,'  contradicting  the 
Gemara.  The  commonly  approved  order  is  that  of  the  author  of 
Aruch,  in  the  root  ^32 : — 

"nns  nnai  nmss  piN, — 'the  ark,  propitiatory,  and  cherubim,  one.' 
"••JK^  nratr, — 'the  divine  Majesty,  the  second  thing.' 
""Cii^c  nxuj  ii.)n\y  ^npn  nn, — 'the  Holy  Ghost,  which  is  prophecy, 
the  third.' 

"T2"i  D"'»ini  Dnis, — 'Urim  and  Thummim,  the  fourth  thing.' 
"•'[^'non  D"'CK'n  ]d  t'X,— 'fire  from  heaven,  the  fifth  thing.' 
"But  as  this  argument  is  ridiculous, Ijoth in  general  in  wire-draw- 
ing conclusions  from  letters  deficient  or  redundant  in  writing,  and 
in   particular  in   reference  to  this  word,  which  in  other  places  is 
written  as  in  this,  as  Num.  xxiv.  11,  1  Sam.  ii.  30,  Isa  Ixvi.  5;  so 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  9 

the  oliseivaTion  itself  of  the  want  of  all  these  five  thino-s  in  the 
second  house  is  very  questionable,  and  seems  to  be  invented  to  t,dve 
CDuntenance  to  the  confessed  ceasing  of  prophecy,  by  which  their 
church  had  been  planted,  nourished,  and  maintained,  and  now,  by 
its  want,  was  signified  to  be  near  expiration.  For  although  I  will 
grant  that  they  might  offer  sacrifices  with  other  fireth;in  that  whicii 
was  traduced  from  the  flame  descending  from  heaven,  though  NaiJal) 
and  Abihu  were  destroyed  for  so  doing,  because  the  law  of  that  tire 
attended  the  giving  of  it,  whence  upon  its  providential  ceasing,  it 
was  as  lawful  to  use  other  fire  in  sacrifice  as  it  was  before  its  mvin" 
out;  yet  as  to  the  ark,  the  Urim  and  Thummim,  the  matter  is  more 
questionable,  and  as  to  the  anointing  oil  out  of  question,  because  it 
being  lawful  for  the  high  priest  to  make  it  at  any  time,  it  was  no 
doubt  restored  in  the  time  of  Ezra's  reformation.  1  know  Abarbanel, 
on  Exod.  XXX.  sec.  Sti'n,  affirms  that  there  was  no  high  priest 
anointed  with  oil  under  the  second  house;  for  which  he  gives  this 
reason,  nriK^on  pa'  TJJ3  n''n  "I23:r  ^sb,  '  Because  the  anointing  oil  was 
now  hid;'  D''K'npn  nnmn  1«C  Dy  WCr^X''  inJC^,  'for  Josiah  had  hid  it 
with  the  rest  of  the  holy  things;'  a  Talmudical  figment,  to  which  he 
adds,  "inv^i'y^  r\)Un  nth  rrri  i6\,  'and  they  had  no  power  to  make  it.' 
I  will  not  much  contend  about  matter  of  fact,  or  what  they  did: 
but  that  they  might  have  done  otherwise  is  evident  from  the  first 
institution  of  it;  for  the  prohibition  mentioned,  Exod.  xxx.  31,  o2, 
respects  only  private  persons.  And  Josephus  tells  us  that  Gud 
ceased  to  give  answer  by  Urim  and  Thummim  two  hundred  years 
before  he  wrote,  book  iii.  chap,  viii.;  which  proves  they  had  it. 

"  It  is  indeed  certain  that  at  their  first  return  from  Babylon  they 
had  not  the  Urim  and  Thummim,  Ezra  ii.  63, — there  was  no  priest 
with  Urim  and  Thummim ;  yet  it  doth  not  appear  that  afterwards 
that  jewel,  whatever  it  were,  was  not  made  upon  the  prophecies  of 
Haoo-ai  and  Zechariah,  whereby  the  restoration  of  the  temple  and 
the  worship  belonging  thereunto  was  carried  on  to  pertection,  espe- 
cially consi<lering  the  vision  of  Zechariah  about  clothing  the  high 
priest  with  the  robes  of  liis  office,  chap.  iii. ;  after  which  time  it  seems 
they  were  made  and  in  use,  as  Josephus  shows  us,  book  xi.  chap,  viii., 
treating  of  the  reverence  done  by  Alexander  the  Great  to  the  name 
of  God  engraven  in  the  plate  of  gold  on  the  high  priest's  forehead. 
And  Maimonides,  Tractat.  Sanhed.  cap.  x.  sect.  10,  says  expressly 
that  all  the  eight  robes  of  the  high  priest  were  made  under  the 
second  temple,  and  particularly  the  Urim  and  Thummim.  How- 
beit,  as  he  says,  they  inquired  not  of  God  by  them,  because  the 
Holy  Ghost  was  not  on  the  priests.  Of  the  ark  we  shall  have  occa- 
sion to  treat  afterwards,  and  of  its  fictitious  hiding  by  Jeremiah  or 
Josiah,  as  the  Jews  fancy.  This  we  may  observe  fo-r  the  present, 
that  as  it  is  certain  that  it  was  carried  away  by  the  Babyiouiaus, 


10  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

amongst  other  vessels  of  gold  belonging  to  the  temple,  either  amongst 
them  that  were  taken  away  in  the  days  of  Jehoiakim,  2  Chron. 
xxxvi.  7;  or  those  taken  away  with  Jehoiachin  his  son,  verse  10 ;  or 
when  all  that  was  left  before,  great  and  small,  was  carried  away  in 
the  days  of  Zedekiah,  verse  18:  so  it  may  be  supposed  to  be  restored 
by  Cyrus,  of  whom  it  is  said  that  he  returned  '  the  vessels  of  the 
house  of  the  Lord,  which  Nebuchadnezzar  had  brought  forth  out  of 
Jerusalem,'  Ezra  i.  7.  And  it  is  uncertain  to  what  end  was  the 
solemn  yearly  entrance  of  the  high  priest  into  the  most  holy  place, 
observed  to  the  very  destruction  of  the  second  house,  if  neither  ark 
nor  mercy-seat  were  there.  Neither  is  this  impeached  by  what 
Tacitus  affirms,  Hist.  lib.  v.,  that  when  Pompey  entered  the  temple, 
he  found  '  nullas  Deum  effigies,  vacuam  sedem,  et  inania  arcana;' 
for  as  he  wrote  of  the  Jews  with  shameful  negligence,  so  he  only 
intimates  that  they  had  no  such  images  as  were  used  among  other 
nations, — nor  the  head  of  an  ass,  which  himself,  not  many  lines  before, 
had  affirmed  to  be  consecrated  in  their  sanctuary.  For  aught,  then, 
appears  to  the  contrary,  the  ark  might  be  in  the  second  house,  and 
be  carried  thence  to  Rome  with  the  book  of  the  law,  which  Josephus 
expressly  mentions.  And  therefore  the  same  Abarbanel,  in  his 
commentary  on  Joel,  tells  us  that  Israel  by  captivity  out  of  his  own 
land  lost  DSi^K  nyn''i  DTiDoi  r\ii.)2i  on  vn^'  n):r\D  niyb^, — '  three  ex- 
cellent gifts,  prophecy,  miracles,  and  divine  knowledge,'  Ps.  Ixxiv.  9 ; 
all  which  he  grants  were  to  be  restored  by  the  Messiah,  without 
mention  of  the  other  things  before  recited.  And  they  confess  this 
openly  in  Sota  Distinc.  Egla  Hampha:  '•JH  D"'Jnnxn  D"'K''ajn  inoc*» 
bir\m:i  CJ'lipn  nn  np^noj  •'SX^DI  nn^T; — 'After  the  death  of  the  latter 
prophets,  Haggai,  Zechariah,  and  Malachi,  the  Holy  Spirit  was  taken 
away  from  Israel.'" 

It  is,  then,  confessed  "  that  God  ceased  to  speak  to  the  church  in 
prophets,  as  to  their  oral  teaching  and  writing,  after  the  days  of 
Malachi;  which  season  of  the  want  of  vision,  though  continuing  four 
hundred  years  and  upwards,  is  called  by  Haggai,  chap.  ii.  ti,  ^nx 
t^yo,  '  unum  pusillum,'  *a  little  while,'  in  reference  to  the  continu- 
ance of  it  from  the  days  of  Moses;  whereby  the  Jews  may  see  that 
they  are  long  since  past  all  grounds  of  expectation  of  its  restoration, 
all  prophecy  having  left  them  double  the  time  that  their  church  en- 
joyed it,  which  cannot  be  called  ^i'P  ^nx^  '  a  little  while,'  in  com- 
parison thereof."     To  return. 

This  was  the  vdXai,  these  the  times,  wherein  God  spake  in  the 

prophets:  which  determines  one  instance  more  of  the  comparison, 

namely,  "the  fathers,"  to  whom  he  spake  in  them ;  which 

nTfufi.   ^^^^^  ^jj  ^^^  faithful  of  the  Judaical  church,  from  the 

days  of  giving  the  law  until  the  ceasing  of  prophecy  in  the  days  of 

Malachi 


Vtli.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  H 

In  answer  to  this  first  instance,  on  the  part  of  the  gospel,  tlie 
revelation  of  it  is  affirmed  to  be  made  in  these  last  days,    ..,  ,  , 
"  Hath  spoken  in  these  last  days;"  the  true  stating  of    t^v V/>'>'> tsJ- 
which  time  also  will  discover  who  the  persons  were  to    '■"'• 
whom  it  was  made,  "  Hath  spoken  to  us." 

Most  expositors  suppose  that  this  expression,  "  The  last  days,"  is 
a  periphrasis  for  the  times  of  the  gospel.  But  it  doth  not  appear 
that  they  are  anywhere  so  called;  nor  were  they  ever  known  hy 
that  name  among  the  Jews,  upon  whose  principles  the  apostle  pro- 
ceeds. Some  seasons,  indeed,  under  the  gospel,  in  reference  to  sotne 
churches,  are  called  "  The  last  days,"  1  Tim.  iv.  1,2  Tim.  iii.  1  ;  but 
the  whole  time  of  the  go.spel  absolutely  is  nowhere  so  termed.  It 
is  the  last  days  of  the  Judaical  church  and  state,  which  were  then 
drawing  to  their  period  and  abolition,  that  are  here  and  elsewhere 
called  "  The  last  days,"  or  "  The  latter  days,"  or  "  The  last  hour," 
2  Pet.  iii.  8;  1  John  ii.  18;  Jude  18.     For,— 

1.  As  we  before  observed,  the  apostle  takes  it  for  granted  that 
the  Judaical  church-state  did  yet  continue,  and  proves  that  it  was 
drawing  to  its  period,  chap.  viii.  ult.,  having  its  present  station  in 
the  patience  and  forbearance  of  God  only,  without  any  necessity  as 
unto  its  worship  or  preservation  in  the  world.  And  hereunto  doth 
the  reading  of  the  words  in  some  copies,  before  intimated,  give  tes- 
timony, 'Et'  io^drov  ruv  ri/ji>spuv  rouruv, — "  In  the  end  (or  "  ex- 
tremity") "  of  these  days;"  which,  as  the  event  hath  proved,  can  no 
way  relate  to  the  times  of  the  gospel. 

2.  The  personal  ministry  of  the  Son,  whilst  he  was  upon  the  earth 
in  the  days  of  his  flesh,  is  here  eminently,  though  not  solely  in- 
tended :  for  as  God  of  old  spake  in  the  prophets,  so  in  these  last 
days  he  spake  in  the  Son;  that  is,  in  him  personally  present  with 
the  church,  as  the  prophets  also  were  in  their  several  generations, 
chap.  ii.  3.  Now,  as  to  his  personal  ministry,  he  was  sent  to  "  the 
lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel,"  Matt.  xv.  24  (to  whom  also  alone 
in  his  own  days  he  sent  his  apostles,  Matt.  x.  5,  6) ;  and  is  therefore 
said  to  have  been  "  a  minister  of  the  circumcision  for  the  truth  of 
God,"  Rom.  XV.  8,  being  in  the  last  place  sent  to  the  same  vineyard 
unto  which  the  prophets  were  sent  before,  Matt.  xxi.  37.  The  words 
there  used,  "  Last  of  all  he  sent  unto  them  his  Son,"  are  exegetical 
of  these,  "  He  spake  in  the  Son  in  the  last  days." 

3.  This  phrase  of  speech  is  signally  used  in  the  Old  Testament  to 
denote  the  last  days  of  the  Judaical  church.  So  hy  Jacob,  Gen. 
xlix.  1,  "  I  will  tell  you  that  which  shall  befall  you  ^Vp.  nnns?,  _ 
«  in  the  last  days:"  which  words  the  LXX.  render,  'E't  ieyar-^^  r5» 
i^tj^ifm,  the  words  here  used  by  the  apostle;  the  days  pointed  unto 
by  Jacob  being  those  wherein  the  Messiah  should  come  before 
Judah  was  utterly  deprived  of  sceptre  and  scribe.   Agam,  by  Balaam 


12  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  l^CHAP.  I. 

the  same  words  are  used  to  signify  the  snme  time,  Num.  xxiv.  14, 
where  they  are  rendered  'Et'  isy^dTov  tuv  Tifitpuv,  *'  In  the  end  of  the 
days,"  as  many  copies  read  in  this  place.  And  in  all  the  prophets 
this  is  the  peculiar  notation  of  that  season,  ^''^)>}  ^''ID^,  Mic.  iv.  1, 
Isa.  ii.  2,  "In  the  latter"  (or  "last")  "days;"  and  nyn\-|  NH,  "  the  He 
hajediah,"  prefixed,  noteth  that  course  of  days  that  was  then  ininning, 
as  Dent.  xxxi.  29,  "  Evil  will  overtake  you  D'P^n  nnnsn  "_"  in  the 
end  of  those  days."  And  the  promise  of  the  conversion  of  some  of 
the  Jews  by  David  their  king  is  annexed  to  the  same  season,  IIos. 
iil  5.  From  these  places  is  the  expression  here  used  taken,  de- 
noting the  last  times  of  the  Judaical  church,  the  times  immediately 
preceding  its  rejection  and  final  ruin.  Hence  Manasseh,  lib.  iii.  de 
Resurrect,  cap.  iii.,  tells  us  out  of  Moses  Gerundensis,  IDXJB'  DIPD  72 
n'^'C'Dr]  niO""^  sin  D^D^■I  nnnsn  12; — "In  every  place  that  mentions  the 
'latter  days,'  the  days  of  the  Messiah  are  to  be  understood ;"  which 
saying  of  his  is  confirmed  by  Manasseh  himself,  though  attended 
with  a  gloss  abominable  and  false,  that  is  purely  Judaical.  The 
days  of  the  Messiah  and  the  days  of  the  end  of  the  Judaical  church 
are  the  same.  And  these  words  are  expressly  also  used  by  R.  D. 
Kimchi,  Comment,  in  Isa.  ii.  2;  who  honestly  refers  all  the  words  of 
that  prophecy  unto  the  Messiah. 

It  is  not  for  nothing  that  the  apostle  minds  the  Hebrews  that  the 
season  then  present  was  the  "  last  days,"  whereof  so  many  things  were 
foretold  in  the  Old  Testament.  Many  of  their  concernments  lay  in 
the  knowledge  of  it:  which,  because  they  give  great  light  unto  the 
whole  cause,  as  stated  then  between  him  and  them,  must  be  opened 
and  considered.  The  sum  is,  that  the  end  of  their  church  and  state 
being  foretold  to  be  a  perpetual  desolation,  Dan.  ix.  27,  the  last 
days  being  now  come  upon  them,  they  might  understand  what  they 
were  shortly  to  expect  and  look  for.  The  end  of  the  Jews  being  a 
people,  a  church,  and  kingdom,  was  to  bring  forth  the  Messiah, 
whose  coming  and  work  must  of  necessity  put  an  end  to  their  old 
station  and  condition.  Now,  because  herein  is  enwrapped  the  most 
infallible  demonstration  that  the  Messiah  is  long  since  come,  the 
apostle  mentioning  the  last  days  to  intimate  that  upon  necessity  he 
must  be  come  in  them,  I  shallTurther  open  his  design  in  this  matter, 
but  with  briefness,  having  been  large  on  this  head  in  our  Prolego- 
mena, and  for  their  sakes  who  by  any  difficulties  may  be  deterred 
from  the  consideration  of  them. 

"  God  having  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  promised  to  bring 
forth  the  '  Seed  of  the  woman,'  to  work  out  the  redemption  of  his 
elect  in  the  conquest  of  Satan,  did,  in  the  separation  of  Abraham 
from  the  rest  of  the  world,  begin  to  make  provision  of  a  peculiar 
stock,  from  whence  the  Seed  of  the  woman  should  spring.  That  this 
was  the  cause  and  end  of  his  call  and  separation  is  evident  from 


VER.  1,  2.J  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS. 


13 


hence,  that  immediately  thereupon  God  assures  him  that  '  in  liis 
seed  all  the  kindreds  of  the  earth  should  he  hlessed/  Gen.  xii.  I-:3 
xxii.  18  ;  which  is  all  one  as  if  he  had  expressly  said  to  him,  '  For 
this  cause  have  I  chosen  and  called  thee,  that  in  thee  I  might  lav  a 
foundation  of  hringing  forth  the  promised  Seed,  hy  whom  the  cur.se 
is  to  be  taken  away,  and  the  blessing  of  everlasting  life  procured,' 
as  Gal.  iii.  13,  14.  For  this  cause  was  his  posterity  coiitiimed  in  a 
state  of  separation  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  that  He  mi<-ht  .seek  a 
godly  seed  to  himself.  Num.  xxiii.  9;  Mai.  ii.  15:  for  this  cau.se  did 
he  raise  them  into  a  civil,  regal,  and  church  state,  that  he  might  in 
them  typify  and  prefigure  the  offices  aud  benefits  of  the  promis.d 
Messiah,  who  was  to  gather  to  himself  the  nations  tliat,  were  to  be 
blessed  in  tlie  seed  of  Abraham,  Gen.  xlix.  10;  Ps.  xlv. ;  Hos.  iii.  .') ; 
Ezek.  xxxiv.  23.  And  all  their  sacrifices  did  but  shadow  out  that 
great  expiation  of  sin  which  he  was  to  make  in  his  own  person,  as 
hath  been  already  proved. 

"  Things  being  tiius  di.sposed,  God  promised  unto  them  that  their 
civil  political  state,  their  condition  as  a  peculiar  nation  and  people, 
should  be  continued  until  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  Gen.  xlix.  10; 
Ezek.  xxi.  27.  And  this  was  made  good  unto  them,  notwithstand- 
ing the  great  oppositions  of  those  mighty  empires  in  the  midst  of 
whose  devouring  jaws  they  were  placed,  with  some  such  short  inter- 
cisions  of  the  actual  administration  of  rule  among.st  them,  as,  being 
foretold,  impeached  not  the  promise.  They  lost  not  their  civil  state 
until  He  came  unto  whom  was  '  the  gathering  of  the  nations.'  After 
that,  though  many  of  the  individuals  obtained  mercy,  yet  their  being 
a  nation  or  people  was  of  no  peculiar  use,  as  to  any  special  end  of 
God.  Therefore  was  it  immediately  destroyed  and  irrecoverably 
exterminated.  From  that  day  God  in  a  wonderful  manner  blasted 
and  cuised  all  their  endeavours,  either  for  the  preservation  of  what 
they  then  had,  or  for  its  recovery  and  restoration  when  lost.  No 
means  could  ever  retrieve  them  into  a  people  or  nation  on  the  old 
account.  What  may  be  hereafter  on  a  new,  God  knows.  The  end 
of  the  days  was  come ;  and  it  was  to  no  purpose  for  men  to  endea- 
vour to  keep  up  that  which  God,  having  accomplished  the  utmost  of 
his  design  by  and  upon,  would  lay  aside.  And  this  season  was  fully 
evidenced  to  all  the  world  by  the  gathering  of  the  peo]>le  to  the 
Shiloh,  or  the  coming  in  of  the  nations  to  partake  in  the  blessing  of 
faithful  Abraham,  Mic.  iv,  1,  2. 

"  Of  their  church-state  there  were  two  principal  parts, — the  temple 
itself,  and  the  worship  performed  in  it.  The  first  of  these  (as  was 
the  tabernacle)  was  set  up  to  typify  him  in  whom  the  fulness  ot  tiie 
Godhead  should  dwell  bodily;  and  the  latter  the  same  person,  as  he 
was  himself  to  be  the  great  high  priest  and  sacrifice.  Both  the.se 
also  were  to  be  continued  until  the  coming  of  the  Messiah;  but  by 


14  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP,  L 

no  endeavours  afterwards.  Hence  was  that  promise  of  the  glory  of 
tlie  second  house,  built  after  the  captivity,  and  restored  by  Herod, 
becrause  of  his  coming  unto  it  who  was  signified  by  it.  Hag.  ii.  9; 
Mai.  iii.  1.  He  was  to  come  whilst  that  temple  was  standing;  after 
wliich  it  was  to  be  of  no  more  use.  And  therefore  Ezekiel  describes  a 
third  and  spiritual  temple  to  succeed  in  the  room  thereof.  The  con- 
dition of  their  sacrifices  was  the  same.  Therefore  Daniel,  foretell- 
ing the  coming  of  the  Messiah  four  hundred  and  ninety  years  after 
the  captivity,  adds  that  upon  his  death  the  daily  sacrifice  must  cease 
for  ever,  and  a  total  desolation  ensue  on  all  the  things  that  were 
used,  for  the  end  accomplished,  Dan.  ix.  24-27.  The  nation,  state, 
temple,  sacrifices,  being  set  apart,  set  up,  and  designed  for  no  other 
end  but  to  bring  him  forth,  he  was  to  come  whilst  they  were  stand- 
ing and  in  use ;  after  which  they  were  none  of  them  to  be  allowed  a 
being  upon  their  old  foundation.  This  is  that  which  the  apostle 
pointed  at  in  mentioning  the  last  days,  that  they  might  consider  in 
what  condition  the  church  and  people  of  the  Jews  then  were. 

To  discover  the  evidence  of  this  demonstration,  as  confirmed  in 
our  Prolegomena,  I  shall  here  also  briefly  add  some  considerations 
of  the  miserable  entanglements  of  the  Jews  in  seeking  to  avoid  the 
argument  here  intimated  unto  them  by  the  apostle.  "  It  is  a  com- 
mon tradition  among  them  that  all  things  were  made  for  the  Mes- 
siah; whereby  they  do  not  intend,  as  some  have  imagined,  the  whole 
old  creation,  but  all  things  of  their  church  state  and  worship.  So 
the  Targum,  Ps.  xl.  8,  in  the  person  of  the  Messiah,  '  I  shall  enter 
into  life  eternal  when  I  study  in  the  volume  of  the  law  ^^Tn3ni<^ 
^n^lDDX,' — '  that  was  written  for  my  sake.'  By  'the  law'  they  un- 
derstand their  all.  All  depended  on  their  Messiah,  all  was  written 
for  him.  They  see  by  experience  that  there  was  a  coincidence  of  all 
these  things  in  the  last  days,  when  Jesus  came.  No  sooner  had  he 
done  his  work  but  sceptre  and  scribe  departed  from  Judah;  they 
ceased  to  be  a  church  and  nation.  The  temple,  which  the  Lord 
whom  they  formerly  sought  came  to,  was  destroyed ;  their  sacrifices, 
wherein  they  trusted,  caused  to  cease;  and  the  nations  of  the  earth 
were  gathered  into  the  faith  of  Abraham.  From  that  time  they 
have  no  more  been  a  people,  nor  have  had  any  distinction  of  tribes 
or  families,  temple,  priesthood,  or  sacrifice,  nor  any  hope  of  a  retrieve- 
ment  into  their  pristine  condition.  Let  us  then  see  what  course 
they  do  or  have  taken  to. countenance  themselves  in  their  infidelity. 
Two  ways  to  relieve  themselves  they  have  fixed  on: — 

"  ].  Granting  that  the  Messiah  was  to  come  to  their  government 
and  worship,  they  laboured  to  keep  them  up,  and  to  restore  them 
being  cast  down,  that  so  they  might  prolong  their  expectation  of 
th.it  as  to  come  which  indeed  was  already  past.  This,  in  the  righteous 
and  holy  providence  of  God,  proved  the  means  of  their  ruin;  for 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  15 

their  endeavour  to  maintain  their  liberty,  rule,  and  government,  after 
the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  was  the  cause  of  the  utter  overthrow  of 
all  rule,  authority,  and  public  worship  amongst  them,  by  Vespasian 
and  Titus  his  son.  Their  endeavour  to  restore  themselves  into  a 
state  and  people,  under  their  false  Messiah  Bar-Cochba,  was  the  means 
of  their  utter  desolation  from  all  hopes  of  being  a  people  and  nation 
any  more,  by  Adrian  ;  as  also  of  their  extermination  for  ever  out  of 
that  country,  wherein  they  were  separated  from  all  nations  for  tliat 
end  which  God  appointed  unto  them.  After  this,  once  more, — still 
to  avoid  the  thoughts  that  the  Messiah  was  come,  and  had  put  an 
end  unto  their  former  condition, — they  endeavoured,  and  were  en- 
couraged by  Julian  the  emperor,  to  rebuild  their  temple  and  restore 
their  sacrifices.  And  this  attempt  also  God  turned  to  their  further 
confusion ;  lor  whereas  in  former  days,  in  the  building  of  the  tem[)le, 
he  encouraged  and  supported  them  against  all  ditficulties  and  oppo- 
sitions, being  now  upheld  and  strengthened  by  the  favour  and  wealth 
of  the  Roman  empire  in  the  same  work,  he  sets  himself  against 
them,  and  scatters  them  with  no  less  indignation  than  he  did  the 
builders  of  Babel  of  old.  When  he  would  have  a  temple  amongst 
them,  he  punished  them  with  famine  for  building  their  own  houses, 
and  suffering  his  to  lie  waste.  Hag.  i.  2-11.  Now  they  may  build 
houses  for  themselves  where  they  please;  but  if  they  take  in  hand 
to  build  a  temple  God  is  against  them.  In  this  state  they  have  now 
continued  for  sixteen  hundred  years;  and  were  not  blindness  come 
upon  them  to  the  utmost,  they  could  not  but  see  that  it  is  not  the 
will  of  God  that  they  should  be  a  people,  state,  or  church,  on  the 
former  account,  any  more.  What  then  is  become  of  their  Messiah, 
who  was  to  come  unto  them  whilst  they  were  a  state  and  church, 
seeing  they  were  so,  by  their  own  confession,  only  for  his  sake?  This 
puts  their  later  masters  to  their  last  miserable  shifts;  for, — 

"  2.  Contrary  to  the  evident  nature  of  all  things  relating  to  them 
from  the  appropriating  of  the  promise  to  the  family  of  Abraham, 
contrary  to  the  whole  design  of  the  Scripture,  and  to  the  express 
testimonies  of  it  before  mentioned,  with  many  other  to  the  same 
purpose,  they  deny  that  their  Messiah  was  to  come  to  them,  or  at 
least  to  abide  with  them,  for  the  work  whereunto  he  was  destined, 
whilst  their  state,  temple,  and  sacrifices  continued.  In  the  manage- 
ment of  this  shift  of  unbelief,  they  are  wofully  divided  amongst 
themselves. 

"  (1.)  For  the  continuance  of  their  state  until  the  coming  of  the 
Messiah,  Gen.  xlix.  10,  some  say  that  by  'Shiloh'  the  Messiah  is  not 
intended  ;  who  are  confuted  by  their  own  Targums,  all  rendering  the 
word  Messiah,  and  by  the  constant  tradition  of  the  elder  doctors. 
Some  say  that  by  the  *  sceptre  and  scribe'  the  rod  of  affliction  and  m- 
Rtruction  only  is  intended;  which  is  a  gloss  evidently  contrary  to 

VOL.   XII. — 2 


16  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  1. 

the  design  of  the  prophecy,  to  the  use  of  the  words  in  all  places 
where  their  sense  is  not  restrained  by  evident  circumstances,  to  the 
Targums,  and  to  all  d\d  writers;  assertuig  that  which  was  not  pecu- 
liar to  Judah,  nor  true  in  itself,  that  tribe  having  for  so  long  a  sea- 
son enjoyed  as  flourishing  a  condition  as  any  people  in  the  world, — • 
as  good  as  the  Jews  look  for  under  the  Messiah.  Their  state,  then, 
is  utterly  gone,  and  tlieir  Messiah,  as  it  seeras,  not  come. 

"  (2.)  Wliat  say  they  unto  their  temple,  that  second  house  where- 
unto  he  was  to  come,  and  so  render  the  glory  of  it  greater  than  that 
of  the  former?  Hag.  ii.;  Mai.  iii.  Of  old  they  unanimously  agreed 
that  he  was  born  whilst  the  temple  stood,  or  that  day  that  it  was 
destroyed,  as  Aben  Ezra  confesseth  on  Isa.  liii.  Many  stories  out  of 
them  might  be  told  to  this  purpose, — where  he  was  born,  how,  and 
of  whom,  to  whom  it  was  revealed  by  the  ?1p"n3,  who  saw  him, 
where  he  was  disposed  of,  where  he  is;  but  being  all  the  fancies  of  idle, 
curious  heads  and  unbelieving  hearts, — which  St  Paul  calls  jSiQriXoug 
xai  ypawdsig  fMvi)ovg,  1  Tim.  iv.  7,  '  profane  and  old  wives'  fables,'' — we 
shall  not  trouble  the  reader  with  them.  Abarbanel,  who  in  corrupt- 
ing the  prophecies  concerning  the  Messiah  hath  a  reach  beyond 
his  fellows,  affirms  that  Haggai  speaks  not  of  the  second,  but  of  a 
third  temple,  to  be  built  under  the  Messiah;  but  this  is  nothing  but 
a  bold  contradiction  of  the  prophet,  who  three  or  four  times  signally 
declares  that  he  spake  of  that  house  which  was  then  building,  which 
their  eyes  saw,  and  which  so  many  contemned  as  not  to  be  compared 
with  the  former:  chap.  i.  4,  '  This  house;'  chap.  ii.  7,  '  This  house;' 
verse  9,  '  This  house;'  so  verse  18.  Others  say  that  the  glory  of  that 
house  did  not  consist  in  the  coming  of  the  Messiah  unto  it,  but  in  its 
duration  and  continuance;  for  it  stood  ten  years  longer  than  the  for- 
mer. But  this  also  is  contrary,^ — [1.]  To  tlie  catholic  persuasion  of 
their  forefathers,  Targums,  Talmuds,  and  all  ancient  doctors.  [2.]  To 
experience;  for  what  could  the  miserable  languishing  of  ten  years 
by  that  house,  whilst  it  was  by  their  own  confession  '  a  den  of  thieves,' 
contribute  unto  it  to  enable  it  to  vie  for  glory  with  that  wonder  of 
the  world,  the  temple  of  Solomon  ;  in  comparison  whereof  their  fore- 
fathers thought  it  no  more  than  some  ot  them  of  old  thous^ht  them- 
selves  compared  to  the  sons  of  Anak?  [3.]  To  the  truth,  athrming 
that  the  glory  of  that  house  was  to  consist  in  the  coming  of  the  Lord, 
"^vhom  they  sought,  the  desire  of  all  nations,  unto  it."  All  which 
things  are  vindicated  in  our  Prolegomena. 

"  o.  Their  temple  being  utterly  destroyed,  as  well  as  their  state, 
and  their  Messiah  not  yet  come,  what  think  they  of  their  sacrifices? 
Daniel  tells  them  that  he  was  to  come,  and  to  be  cut  off,  before 
the  ceasing  of  the  daily  sacrifices;  but  they  must  confess  that  all 
sacrifices  are  long  since  utterly  ceased,  for  surely  their  offering  of  a 
cock  to  the  devil  on  the  day  of  expiation  is  no  continuance  of  them. 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  17 

Some  say  that  the  Messiah  intended  by  Daniel  was  king  Agrippa, 
whom  Vespasian  slew  at  Rome.  But  this  obstinacy  is  intolerable. 
That  a  semi-pagan,  as  Agrippa  was,  should  be  their  Messiah,  so 
honourably  foretold  of,  is  a  figment  which,  whatever  they  pretend, 
themselves  believe  not.  Nor  was  Agrippa  slain  or  cut  off,  but  lived 
in  peace  to  the  day  of  his  death.  The  most  of  them  know  not  what 
to  say,  but  only  object  that  the  computation  of  Daniel  is  dark  an<l 
obscure,  which  Christians  themselves  are  not  agreed  about;"  concern- 
ing which  I  must  refer  the  reader  to  our  Prolegomena,  as  also  for 
the  full  and  large  handling  of  the  things  here  by  the  way  only 
touched  upon. 

This  makes  it  evident  who  were  the  persons  who  were  spoken 
unto  in  these  last  days,  "  To  us;"  that  is,  the  members  of 
the  Judaical  church  who  lived  in  the  days  of  the  pergonal 
ministry  of  Christ,  and  afterwards  under  the  preaciiing  of  the  gospel 
unto  that  day,  chap.  ii.  3.  The  Jews  of  those  days  were  very  apt  to 
thirdc  that  if  they  had  lived  in  the  times  of  the  former  prophets,  and 
had  heard  them  delivering  their  message  from  God,  they  would  have 
received  it  with  a  cheerful  obedience;  their  only  unhappiness,  they 
thought,  was  that  they  were  born  out  of  due  time  as  to  prophetical 
revelations.  This  is  intimated  of  them.  Matt,  xxiii.  30.  The  apostle, 
meeting  with  this  persuasion  in  them,  minds  them  that  in  the  reve- 
lation of  the  gospel  God  had  spoken  to  themselves, — the  thing  they 
so  much  desired,  not  questioning  but  that  thereon  they  should  be- 
lieve and  obey.  If  this  word,  then,  they  attend  not  unto,  they  must 
needs  be  self-condemned.  Again,  that  care  and  love  which  God 
manifested  towards  them  in  speaking  immediately  unto  them  re- 
quired the  same  obedience,  especially  considering  the  manner  of  it, 
so  far  excellinsf  that  which  before  he  had  used  towards  the  fathers  ; 
of  which  afterwards. 

And  these  are  two  instances  of  the  comparison  instituted,  relating 
unto  times  and  persons. 

Tlie  next  difference  respects  the  manner  of  these  several  revela- 
tions of  the  will  of  God,  and  that  in  two  particulars;  for, — 1.  The 
former  was  made  -KoXviMipwg,  "  by  divers  parts,"  one  after  the  other. 
The  branch  of  the  antithesis  that  should  answer  hereunto  is  not  ex- 
pressed, but  implied  to  be  a^rat,  or  Icpdva^,  "  at  once." 

no>.i;//£f  w;,  "  bv  many  parts,"  and  so,  consequently,  at  „  , 
sundry  times.  The  gradual  discovery  ol  the  muid  and 
will  of  God,  by  the  addition  of  one  thing  after  anotiier,  at  several 
seasons,  as  the  church  could  bear  the  light  of  them,  and  as  it  was 
subserving  unto  his  main  design  of  reserving  all  pre-eminence  to  the 
Messiah,  is  that  which  is  intended  in  this  expression.  How  all  Uii.s 
is  argumentative  to  the  apostle's  purpose  will  instantly  appear.  Take 
the  expression  absolutely  to  denote  the  whole  progress  of  divnie  re- 


IS  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

velation  from  the  beginniDg  of  the  world,  and  it  compriseth  four 
piincipal  parts  or  degrees,  with  those  that  were  subservient  unto 
them. 

The  first  of  these  was  made  to  Adam  in  the  promise  of  the  seed, 
which  was  the  principle  of  faith  and  obedience  to  the  fathers  before 
the  flood;  and  unto  this  were  subservient  all  the  consequent  parti- 
cular revelations  made  to  Seth,  Enos,  Enoch,  Lamecli,  and  others, 
before  the  flood. 

The  second  to  Noah  after  the  flood,  in  the  renewal  of  the  cove- 
nant and  establishing  of  the  church  in  his  family,  Gen.  viii.  21-22, 
ix.  9,  10;  whereunto  were  subservient  the  revelations  made  to  Mel- 
chizedek,  Gen.  xiv.  ]  8,  and  others,  before  the  calling  of  Abraham. 

The  third  to  Abraham,  in  the  restriction  of  the  promise  to  his 
seed,  and  fuller  illustration  of  the  nature  of  it,  Gen.  xii.  1-3,  xv. 
1],  12,  xvii.  1,  2;  confirmed  in  the  revelations  made  to  Isaac,  Gen. 
xxvi.  24;  Jacob,  Gen.  xlix. ;  Joseph,  Heb.  xi.  22,  and  others  of  their 
posterity. 

The  fourth  to  Moses,  in  the  giving  of  the  law,  and  erection  of  the 
Judaical  church  in  the  wilderness  ;  unto  which  there  were  three  prin- 
cipal heads  of  subservient  revelations: — 

1.  To  David,  which  was  pecuharly  designed  to  perfect  the  reve- 
lation of  the  will  of  God  concerning  the  old  testament  worship  in 
those  things  that  their  wilderness  condition  was  not  capable  of, 
1  Chron.  xxiii.  25-32,  xxviii.  11-19.  To  him  we  may  join  Solo- 
mon, with  the  rest  of  the  prophets  of  their  days. 

2.  To  the  prophets  after  the  division  of  the  kingdom  unto  the  cap- 
tivity, and  during  the  captivity,  to  whom  pleading  with  the  people 
about  their  defection  by  sin  and  false  worship  was  peculiar. 

3.  To  Ezra,  with  the  prophets  that  assisted  in  the  reformation  of 
the  church  after  its  return  from  Babylon,  who  in  an  especial  manner 
incited  the  people  to  an  expectation  of  the  coming  of  the  Messiah. 

These  were  the  principal  parts  and  degrees  of  the  revelation  of 
the  will  of  God,  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  until  the  coming 
of  Christ  in  his  forerunner,  John  the  Baptist.  And  all  this  I  have 
fully  handled  and  unfolded  in  my  discourse  of  the  rise,  nature,  and 
progress  of  Scripture  divinity  or  theology.^ 

But,  as  I  showed  before,  if  we  attend  unto  the  special  intention  of 
the  apostle,  we  must  take  in  the  date  of  these  revelations,  and  begin 
-.with  that  to  Moses,  adding  to  it  those  other  subservient  ones  men- 
tioned, peculiar  to  the  Judaical  church,  which  taught  and  confirmed 
the  worship  that  was  established  amongst  them. 

This,  then,  is  that  which  in  this  word  the  apostle  minds  the 
Hebrews  of,  namely,  that  the  will  of  God  concerning  his  worship  and 

•  See  the  Theologoumena  of  our  author,  in  vol.  xvii.  of  his  works. — Ed. 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWa  19 

our  obedience  was  not  formerly  revealed  all  at  once  to  his  church, 
by  Moses  or  any  other,  but  by  several  parts  and  degrees,— by  new 
additions  of  light,  as  in  his  infinite  wisdom  and  care  he  saw  meet. 
The  close,  and  last  hand  was  not  to  be  put  unto  this  work  before  the 
coming  of  the  Messiah.  He,  they  all  acknowledged,  was  to  reveal 
the  whole  counsel  of  God,  John  iv.  25,  after  that  his  way  had  been 
prepared  by  the  coming  of  Elias,  Mai.  iv. ;  until  when  they  were  to 
attend  to  the  law  of  Moses,  with  those  expositions  of  it  which  they  h;id 
received,  verses  4,  5.  That  was  the  time  appointed,  i^''^,^!  prn  h'nrh , 
"to  seal,"  complete,  and  finish,  "vision  and  prophet;"  as  also  QOC^ 
nixtijn^  "to  seal  up  sin,"  or,  as  we  render  it,  "to  make  an  end  of 
sin,"  or  the  controversy  about  it,  which  had  held  long  agitation  by 
sacrifices,  that  could  never  put  an  end  to  that  quarrel,  Heb.  x.  1, 
2,  14. 

Now,  in  this  very  first  word  of  his  epistle  doth  the  apostle  clearly 
convince  the  Hebrews  of  their  mistake,  in  their  obstinate  adherence 
unto  Mosaical  institutions.  It  is  as  if  he  had  bidden  them  consider 
the  way  whereby  God  revealed  his  will  to  the  church  hitherto.  Hath 
it  not  been  by  parts  and  degrees?  hath  he  at  any  time  shut  up  tiie 
progress  of  revelation?  hath  he  not  always  kept  the  church  in  exjiec- 
tation  of  new  revelations  of  his  mind  and  will?  did  he  ever  declare 
that  he  would  add  no  more  unto  what  he  had  commanded,  or  make 
no  alteration  in  what  he  had  instituted?  What  he  had  revealed  was 
to  be  observed,  Deut.  xxix.  29,  and  when  he  had  revealed  it;  but 
until  he  declare  that  he  will  add  no  more,  it  is  folly  to  accoimt  what 
is  already  done  absolutely  complete  and  immutable.  Therefore 
Moses,  when  he  had  finished  all  his  work  in  the  Lord's  house,  tells 
the  church  that  God  would  raise  up  another  prophet  like  him;  that 
is,  who  should  reveal  new  laws  and  institutions  as  he  had  done, 
whom  they  were  to  hear  and  obey  on  the  penalty  of  utter  extermi- 
nation, Deut.  xviii.  18. 

"And  this  discovers  the  obstinacy  of  the  modern  Jews,  who  from 
the  days  of  Maimonides,  who  died  about  the  year  of  our  Lord  1104, 
have  made  it  one  of  the  fundamental  articles  of  their  religion,  which 
they  have  inserted  in  their  prayer-books,  that  the  law  of  Moses  is 
never  to  be  changed,  and  that  God  will  never  give  them  any  other 
law  or  rule  of  worship.  And  as  they  further  ground  that  article  in 
Ezrim  Vearba,  printed  in  the  end  of  Bomberg's  Bibles,  they  affirm 
that  nothing  can  be  added  unto  it,  nothing  taken  away  from  it,  no 
alteration  in  its  obligation  be  admitted;  which  is  directly  contrary 
both  to  the  truth  and  to  the  confession  of  all  their  predecessors,  who 
looked  for  the  Messiah,  as  we  shall  afterwards  declare." 

In  opposition  to  this  gradual  revelation  of  the  mind  of  God  under 
the  old  testament,  the  apostle  intimates  that  now  by  Jesns,  the 
Messiah,  the  Lord  hath  at  once  begun  and  finished  the  whole  rtve- 


20  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

lation  of  his  will,  according  to  their  own  hopes  and  expectation. 
So,  Jude  3,  tlie  faith  was  "once  delivered  unto  the  saints  ;"  not  in 
owe  day,  not  in  one  sei^7)ion,  or  by  one  person,  but  at  one  season,  or 
under  one  dispensation,  comprising  all  the  time  from  the  entrance 
of  the  Lord  Christ  upon  his  ministry  to  the  closing  of  the  canon 
of  Scripture  ;  whicli  period  was  now  at  hand.  This  season  being 
once  past  and  finished,  no  new  revelation  is  to  be  expected,  to  the 
end  of  the  world.  Nothing  shall  be  added  unto  nor  altered  in  the 
worship  of  God  any  more.  God  will  not  do  it;  men  that  attem]3t 
it,  do  it  on  the  price  of  their  souls. 

God  spake  in  the  prophets  ToXur^oVw^,  "after  divers 
sorts  or  manners.  JN  ow  this  respects  either  the  various 
ways  of  God's  revealing  himself  to  the  propliets,  by  dreams,  visions, 
inspirations,  voices,  angels,  every  way  with  an  equal  evidence  of 
their  being  from  God ;  or  the  ways  of  his  dealing  with  the  fathers 
by  the  prophets,  by  promises,  threats,  gradual  discoveries  of  his 
will,  special  messages  and  prophecies,  public  sermons,  and  the  like. 
The  latter,  or  the  various  ways  of  the  prophets  in  delivering  their 
messages  to  the  people  from  God,  is  principally  intended,  though 
the  former  be  not  excluded,  it  being  that  from  whence  this  latter 
variety  did  principally  arise  and  flow. 

In  opposition  hereunto,  the  apostle  intimates  that  the  revelation  of 
God  and  his  will  by  Christ  was  accomplished  ij^ovonhojg,  in  one  only 
way  and  manner, — by  His  preaching  the  gospel  who  was  anointed 
with  the  Spirit  without  measure. 

The  last  difference  or  instance  in  the  comparison  insisted   on  by 
'ek  ro7s  -xft-    the  apostle,  is,  that  of  old  God  spake  "in  the  prophets," 
<pr,Tcni.  ]3ut;  j^o^v  "in  the  Son:"  'Ev  t(,7z  Trpr/^j^ra/j, — h  for  o/a,  say 

most  expositors,  "in"  for  "by,"  ha  rSJv  Trp&p'/jrwi/:  as  Luke  i.  70,  A/a 
G-6/ji.aTog  rSJv  ayim  TpopT^rm, — "By  the  mouth  of  the  holy  prophets." 
But  h  here  answers  the  Hebrew  3,  Num.  xii.  2,  "God  spake 
•"•P*'^?,"  "in  Moses."  The  certainty  of  the  revelation  and  presence 
of  God  with  his  word  is  intimated  in  the  expression.  So  the  word 
of  the  Lord  was  "^1^,  "in  the  hand,"  of  this  or  that  prophet.  They 
were  but  instruments  to  give  out  what  from  God  they  had  received. 

Now  these  prophets,  in  whom  God  spake  of  old,  were  all  those 
who  were  divinely  inspired,  and  sent  to  reveal  his  will  and  mind  as 
to  the  duty  of  the  church,  or  any  special  concernment  of  his  provi- 
dence in  the  rule  and  government  thereof,  whether  they  declared 
the  insjjirations  they  had,  or  revelations  they  received,  by  word  of 
mouth  or  by  writing,  "The  modern  Jews  make  a  distinction  be- 
tween the  gift  of  prophecy  and  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
following  Maimonides  in  his  More  Nebuchim,  part,  ii  cap.  xxxii.  His 
opinion,  which  he  calls  the  opinion  or  sentence  of  the  law  about 
prophecy,  in  general  is  the  same  with  that  of  the  Gentile  philoso- 


VER.  t,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  21 

phers,  as  he  professeth.  In  one  thing  only  he  differs  from  them, 
namely,  that  'prophecy  doth  not  so  necessarily  follow  after  duo  pre- 
paration as  that  a  man  cannot  but  prophesy  who  is  rightly  pivpinetl.' 
But  the  gift  of  prophecy  he  asserts  wholly  to  depend  on  the  tem- 
perature of  the  brain,  natural  and  moral  exercises  for  tlie  preparin<T 
and  raising  of  the  imagination;  upon  which  divine  visions  will  suc- 
ceed, A  brain-sick  imagination,  confounding  divine  revelation  with 
fanatical  distempers!  But  in  the  eleven  degrees  of  prophecy  which 
he  assigns,  and  atteinpts  to  prove  by  instances  out  of  Scripture,  he 
placeth  that  of  inspiration  by  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  last  and  lowest 
place.  And  therefore  by  the  late  masters  is  the  book  of  Baniel  cast 
into  this  latter  sort,  though  eminently  prophetical,  because  they  are 
so  galled  with  his  predictions  and  calculations;  other  reason  of  that 
disposition  none  readily  occurs.  And  this  is  the  ground  of  their  dispo- 
sition of  the  books  of  the  Scripture  into  ^"}i'^,  'the  law,'  or  five  books 
of  Moses,  given  in  the  highest  way  and  degree  of  prophecy;  0"'^?^, 
of  two  sorts,  D''^ii^'"!  and  !^''^i"}!!!'^,  'prophets,  former'  (or  books  histori- 
cal), 'and  latter;'  and  D''2^n^^  or  t^^Hi^n  np^  'books  written  by  inspi- 
ration of  the  Holy  Ghost.'  Of  the  ground  of  which  distinction  see 
Kimchi  in  his  preface  to  the  Psalms.  Tlieir  mistake  lies  in  this, 
that  prophecy  consists  principally  in,  and  is  distinguished  into  several 
degrees,  by  the  manner  of  revelation;  as  by  dreams,  visions,  appear- 
ances of  angels  or  men,  and  the  like.  But  as  ^^?},  'a  prophet/  and 
'^'J''-?,  'proj)hecy,'  are  of  a  larger  signification  than  that  pretended, 
as,  Num.  xi.  29,  1  Sam.  x.  5,  1  Chron.  xxv.  1-3,  will  appear;  so 
that  which  made  any  revelation  to  be  prophecy,  in  that  sense  as 
to  be  an  infallible  rule  for  the  guidance  of  the  church,  was  not  the 
means  of  communicating  it  to  the  prophets,  but  that  inspiration  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  which  implanted  upon  their  minds,  and  gave  forth 
by  their  tongues  or  pens,  that  which  God  would  utter  in  them  and 
by  them,  2  Pet.  i.  20,  21." 

In  answer  unto  this  speaking  of  God  in  the  prophets,  it  is  as- 
serted tliat  in  the  revelation  of  the  gospel  God  spake  ''in  ,^^  _^,. 
his  Son."  This  is  the  main  hinge,  on  which  all  the 
arguments  of  the  apostle  in  the  Avhole  epistle  do  turn  ;  this  benrs 
the  stress  of  all  the  inferences  afterw^ards  by  him  insisted  on.  And 
therefore  having  mentioned  it,  he  proceeds  immediately  unto  tliat 
description  of  him  which  gives  evidence  to  all  that  he  draws  Ironi  this 
consideration.  Now,  because  no  one  argument  of  the  apostle  can 
be  understood  unless  this  be  rightly  stated,  we  must  of  necessity 
insist  somewhat  largely  upon  it;  and  unto  what  we  principally  in- 
tend some  previous  observations  must  be  premised: — 

1.  I  take  it  at  present  for  granted  that  the  Son  of  God  appeared 
unto  the  prophets  under  the  old  testament.  Wliether  ever  he  sjmke 
unto  them  immediately,  or  only  by  the  ministry  of  angels,  is  not  bO 


22  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

certain.  It  is  also  granted  that  there  was  in  vision  sometimes  signs 
or  representations  of  the  person  of  the  Father,  as  Dan.  vii.  But 
that  the  Son  of  God  did  mostly  appear  to  the  fathers  under  the 
old  testament  is  acknowledged  by  the  ancients,  and  is  evident  in 
Scripture.  See  Zech.  ii.  8-11.  And  he  it  was  who  is  called  "The 
angel,"  Exod.  xxiii.  20,  21.  The  reason  that  is  pleaded  by  some 
ihat  the  Son  of  God  was  not  the  angel  there  mentioned,  namely, 
because  the  apostle  says  that  to  none  of  the  angels  was  it  said  at 
any  time,  "Thou  art  my  Son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee,"  which 
could  not  be  affirmed  if  the  Son  of  God  were  that  angel,  is  not  of 
any  force.  For  notwithstanding  this  assertion,  yet  both  the  ancient 
Jews  and  Christians  generally  grant  that  it  is  the  Messiah  that  is 
called  "The  angel  of  the  covenant,"  Mai.  iii,  1 :  though  the  modern 
Jews  foolishly  apply  that  name  to  Elias,  whom  they  fancy  to  be 
present  at  circumcision,  which  they  take  to  be  the  covenant;  a 
privilege,  as  they  say,  granted  him  upon  his  complaint  that  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  had  forsaken  the  covenant,  1  Kings  xix.  14, — that 
is,  as  they  suppose,  neglected  circumcision.  The  apostle  therefore 
speaks  of  those  who  were  angels  by  nature,  and  no  more,  and  not  of 
him  who,  being  Jehovah  the  Son,  was  sent  of  the  Father,  and  is 
therefore  called  his  angel  or  messenger,  being  so  only  by  office. 
And  this  appearance  of  the  Son  of  God,  though  not  well  under- 
standing what  they  say,  is  acknowledged  by  sundry  of  the  post-Tal- 
mudical  rabbins.  To  this  purpose  very  considerable  are  the  words 
of  Moses  Gerundensis  on  Exod.  xxiii:  "Iste  angelu.s,  si  rem  ipsam 
dicamus,  est  Angelus  Redemptor,  de  quo  scriptum  est,  'Quoniam 
nomen  meuni  in  ipso  est.'  Ille,  inquam,  angelus  qui  ad  Jacob  dice- 
bat,  'Ego  Dens  Bethel;'  ille  de  quo  dictum  est,  *Et  vocabat  Mosen 
Deus  de  rubo.'  Vocatur  autem  'angelus'  quia  mundum  gubernat; 
scriptum  estenim,  'Eduxit  nos  ex  ^Egypto.'  Prseterea  scriptum  est, 
*Et  angelus  faciei  salvos  fecit  eos.'  Nimirum  ille  angelus  qui  est 
'Dei  facies;'  de  quo  dictum  est,  'Facies  niea  pr^ibit  et  efficiam  ut 
quiescas.'  Denique  ille  angelus  est  de  quo  vates,  'Subito  veniet  ad 
templum  suum  Dominus  quem  vos  quseritis,  angelus  foederis  quem 
cupitis;'" — "The  angel,  if  we  speak  exactly,  is  the  Angel  the  Re- 
deemer, of  whom  it  is  written,  'My  name  isinhitn;'  that  angel 
which  said  unto  Jacob,  'I  am  the  God  of  Bethel;'  he  of  whom  it  is 
said,  'God  called  unto  Moses  out  of  the  bush.'  And  he  is  called 
'The  angel'  because  he  governeth  the  world:  for  it  is  written,  'Je- 
hovah brought  us  out  of  Egypt;'  and  elsewhere,  'He  sent  Ids  angel, 
and  brought  us  out  of  Egypt.'  And  again  it  is  written,  'And  the 
angel  of  his  presence'  ['face']  'saved  them,' — namely,  'the  angel 
which  is  the  presence'  ['face']  'of  God;'  of  whom  it  is  said,  'My 
presence'  ['face']  'shall  go  before  thee,  and  I  will  cause  thee  to 
rest.'     Lastly,  that  angel  of  whom  the  prophet  speaks,   'The  Lord 


VER.  I,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS. 


23 


whom  ye  seek  shall  suddenly  come  to  his  temple,  the  angel  of  the 
covenant  whom  ye  desire/"  To  the  same  purpose  speaks  the  same 
author  on  Exod.  xxxiii.  14,  "My  presence  shall  go  before  thee:" 
"  Animadverte  attente  quid  ista  sibi  velint:  Moses  enim  et  IsraeUtae 
semper  optaverunt  angelum  primum;  caitertim,  quis  ille  esset  vere 
intelligere  non  potuerunt;  neque  enim  ah  aliis  percipiebant,  neque 
prophetica  notione  satis  assequebantur.  Atqui  facies  Dei  ipsum 
significat  Deum."  And  again,  '"Facies  mea  prtecedet;'  hoc  est, 
'angelus  foederis  quern  vos  cupitis;'" — "Observe  diligently  what 
is  the  meaning  of  these  words:  for  Moses  and  the  Israelites  always 
desired  the  principal  angel,  but  who  he  was  they  could  nut  ])erfectly 
understand;  for  they  could  neither  learn  it  of  others  nor  attain  it  by 
prophecy.  But  the  presence  of  God  is  God  himself:  'My  presence' 
['face']  'shall  go  before  thee;'  that  is,  'the  angel  of  the  covenant 
whom  ye  desire.'"  Thus  he;  to  which  purpose  others  also  of  them 
do  apeak,  though  how  to  reconcile  these  things  to  their  unbelief  in 
denying  the  personality  of  the  Son  of  God  they  know  not.  This 
was  the  angel  whose  li^"J  Moses  prayed  for  on  Joseph,  Deut.  xxxiii. 
23;  and  whom  Jacob  made  to  be  the  same  with  the  Gotl  that  fed 
him  all  his  days,  Gen.  xlviii.  15,  lO  ;  whereof  we  have  treated  largely 
before.  The  Son  of  God  having  from  the  foundation  of  the  world 
undertaken  the  care  and  salvation  of  the  church,  he  it  was  who 
immediately  dealt  with  it  in  things  which  concerned  its  instruction 
and  edification.  Neither  doth  tliis  hinder  but  that  God  the  Father 
may  yet  be  asserted,  or  that  he  is  in  this  place,  to  be  the  fountain  of 
all  divine  revelation. 

2.  There  is  a  difference  between  the  Son  of  God  revealing  the 
will  of  God  in  his  divine  person  to  the  prophets,  of  which  we  have 
spoken,  and  the  Son  of  God  as  incarnate  revealing  the  will  of  God 
immediately  to  the  church.  This  is  the  difference  here  insisted  on 
by  the  apostle.  Under  the  old  testament  the  Son  of  God,  in  his 
divine  person,  instructed  the  proj^hets  in  the  will  of  God,  and  gave 
them  that  Spirit  on  whose  divine  inspiration  their  infallibility  did 
depend,  1  Pet.  i.  11 ;  but  now,  in  the  revelation  of  the  gospt_-l,  taking 
his  own  humanity,  or  our  nature  hypostatically  united  unto  him,  in 
the  room  of  all  the  "internuncii,"  or  prophetical  messengers  he  had 
made  use  of,  he  taught  it  immediately  himself. 

There  lies  a  seeming  exception  unto  this  distinction,  in  the  giving 
of  the  law;  for  as  we  affirm  that  it  was  the  Son  by  whom  the  law 
was  given,  so  in  his  so  doing  he  spake  immediately  to  the  whole 
church:  Exod.  xx.  22,  the  Lord  said,  "I  have  talked  with  you  from 
heaven."  The  Jews  say  that  the  people  understood  not  one  word 
of  what  was  spoken,  but  only  heard  a  voice,  and  saw  the  terrilile 
appearances  of  the  majesty  of  God,  as  verse  ]  8 ;  for  iinmed  iately  upon 
that  sight  they  removed  and  stood  alar  off:  and  the  matter  is  kft 


24)  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

doubtful  in  the  repetition  of  the  story,  Deut.  v.  4.  It  is  said,  in- 
deed, "The  LoPtD  talked  with  you  face  to  face  in  the  mount," 
but  yet  neither  do  these  words  fully  prove  that  they  understood 
what  was  spoken,  and  as  it  was  spoken,  but  only  that  they  clearly 
discovered  the  presence  of  God  delivering  the  law;  for  so  are  those 
words  expounded  in  verse  5:  "I  stood,"  saith  Moses,  "  between  the 
Lord  and  you  at  that  time,  to  shew  you  the  word  of  the  Lokd  :  for 
ye  were  afraid  by  reason  of  the  fire,  and  went  not  up  into  the 
mount;" — that  is,  'Ye  understood  not  the  words  of  the  law,  but  as 
I  declared  them  unto  you/  And  it  being  so,  though  the  person  of 
the  Son  caused  the  words  to  be  heard,  yet  he  spake  not  immediately 
to  the  whole  church,  but  by  Moses.  But,. secondly,  we  shall  after- 
wards show  that  all  the  voices  then  heard  by  Moses  and  the  people 
were  formed  in  the  air  by  the  ministry  of  angels,  so  that  they  heard 
not  the  immediate  voice  of  God.  Now,  in  the  last  days  did  the 
Lord  take  that  work  into  his  own  hands,  wherein  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world  he  had  employed  angels  and  men. 

3.  Though  the  apostle's  argument  arise  not  immediately  from  the 
different  ways  of  God's  revealing  himself  to  the  prophets  and  to 
Christ,  but  in  the  difference  that  lies  in  his  immediate  speaking 
unto  us  in  Christ  the  Son,  and  his  speaking  unto  the  fathers  in  the 
proj)hets,  yet  that  former  difference  also  is  intimated  by  him,  in  his 
affirming  that  he  spake  to  them  variously  or  divei'sely,  as  hath  been 
declared;  and  therefore  we  must  consider  that  also.  And  herein  we 
are  to  obviate  the  great  Judaical  prejudice  against  the  gospel;  to 
which  end  observe, — 

(].)  That  though  the  apostle  mentions  the  prophets  in  general, 
yet  it  is  Moses  whom  he  principally  intends.  This  is  evident  in  the 
application  of  this  argument,  which  he  makes  in  jDarticular,  chap, 
iii.  3,  where  he  expressly  prefers  the  Lord  Jesus  before  Moses  by 
name,  in  this  matter  of  ministering  to  the  church  in  the  name  of 
God.  For  whereas,  as  was  before  intimated,  the  apostle  manages 
this  thing  with  excellent  wisdom  in  this  epistle,  considering  the  in- 
veterate prejudices  of  the  Hebrews  in  their  adhei'ing  unto  Moses,  lie 
could  not  mention  him  in  particular  until  he  had  proved  him  whom 
he  preferred  above  him  to  be  so  excellent  and  glorious,  so  far  exalted 
above  men  and  angels,  that  it  was  no  disreputation  to  Moses  to  be 
esteemed  inferior  to  him. 

(2.)  That  the  great  reason  why  the  Jews  adhered  so  pertinaciously 
unto  Mosaical  institutions  was  their  persuasion  of  the  unparalleled 
excellency  of  the  revelation  made  to  Moses.  This  they  retreated 
unto  and  boasted  oi"  when  they  were  pressed  with  the  doctrine  and 
miracles  of  Christ,  John  ix.  28,  29 ;  and  this  was  the  main  founda- 
tion in  all  their  contests  with  the  apostles.  Acts  xv.  1,  xxi.  21,  28. 
And  this  at  length  they  have  made  a  principal  root  or  fundamental 


\£R.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS,  25 

article  of  their  faith,  being  the  fourth  of  the  thirteen  articles  of  their 
creed,  namely,  that  Moses  was  the  most  excellent  and  most  sub- 
lime among  the  prophets, — so  far  above  that  excellency,  that  de- 
gree of  wisdom  and  honour,  which  men  may  attain  unto,  that  he 
was  equal  to  angels.  This  Maimonides,  the  first  disposer  of  their 
faith  into  fundamental  articles,  expounds  at  large.  More  Nebuch., 
p.  ii.  cap.  xxxix.  "  Declaravimus,"  saith  he,  "quod  prophetiaMosis 
doctoris  nostri  ab  omnium  aliorum  prophetiis  difterat.  Dicenms 
nunc  quod  propter  solam  illam  apprehensionem  ad  legem  vocati 
sumus ;  quia  nempe  vocatioui  illi  qua  Moses  nos  vocavit  similis  ueque 
antecessii  ab  Adamo  primo  ad  ipsum  usque  neque  etiam  post  ip.sum 
apud  ullum  prophetam  sequuta  est.  Sic  fuudamentum  legis  nostra3 
est  quod  in  eeternum  finem  non  sit  habitura,  vel  abolenda;  ac  prop- 
terea  etiam  ex  sententia  nostra,  alia  lex  neo  unquam  fuit,  nee  erit 
prseter  imicam  banc  legem  Mosis  doctoris  nostri;" — "We  have  de- 
clared that  the  prophecy  of  Moses,  our  master,  differed  from  the  pro- 
phecies of  all  others.  Now  we  shall  show  that  upon  the  account  of 
this  persuasion  alone"  (namely,  of  the  excellency  of  the  revelation 
made  unto  Moses)  "  we  are  called  to  the  law ;  for  from  the  first 
Adam  to  him,  there  was  never  any  such  call"  (from  God)  "as  that 
wherewith  Moses  called  us,  nor  did  ever  any  such  ensue  after  him. 
Hence  it  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  our  law,  that  it  shall  never 
have  an  end  or  be  abolished;  and  therefore  also  it  is  our  judgment 
that  tliere  was  never  any  other"  (divine)  "  law,  nor  ever  shall  be, 
but  only  this  of  our  master  Moses."  Tliis  is  their  present  persua- 
sion; it  was  so  of  old.  The  law  and  all  legal  observances  are  to  be 
continued  for  ever;  other  way  of  worshipping  God  there  can  be 
none;  and  this  upon  the  account  of  the  incomparable  excellency  of 
the  revelation  made  to  Moses. 

To  confirm  themselves  in  this  prejudicate  apprehension,  they  assign 
a  fourfold  pre-eminency  to  the  prophecy  of  Moses  above  that  of 
other  prophets;  and  those  are  insisted  on  by  the  same  Maimonides 
in  his  explication  of  cap.  x.  Tractat.  Sanhed.,  and  by  sundry  others 
of  them. 

[1.]  The  first  they  fix  on  is  this,  "  That  God  never  spnke  to  any 
prophet  immediately,  but  only  to  Moses;"  to  him  he  spake  without 
angelical  mediation.  For  so  he  affirms  that  he  spake  to  hiiu 
nB'b^  nQ   "  mouth  to  mouth,"  Num.  xii.  8. 

[2.]  "  All  other  prophets,"  they  say,  "  received  their  visions  either 
in  their  sleep,  or  presently  after  their  sleep  ;  hut  Moses  in  the  day- 
time standing  between  the  cherubim,  Exod.  xxv.  22."     And, — 

[.3.]  "That  when  other  prophets  received  their  vi.'^ions  or  revela- 
tions, although  it  was  by  the  mediation  of  angels,  yet  their  nature 
was  weakened  by  it,  and  the  state  of  their  bodies,  by  reason  of  tiie 
consternation  that  befell  them,  Dan.  x.  8  ;  but  Muses  had  no  such  i)er- 


26  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

turbation  befalling  hitn  when  the  Lord  spake  unto  him,  but  it  was 
with  him  as  when  a  man  speaks  unto  his  friend." 

[4.]  "  That  other  prophets  had  not  inspirations  and  answers  from 
God  at  their  own  pleasure,  but  sometimes  were  forced  to  wait  long 
and  pray  for  an  answer  before  they  could  receive  it ;  but  Moses 
was  wont  when  he  pleased  to  say,  '  Stay,  and  I  will  hear  what  God 
will  command  you,'  Num.  ix.  8."     So  they. 

And  to  reconcile  this  unto  what  is  elsewhere  said,  that  he  could 
not  see  the  face  of  God  and  live,  they  add  that  he  saw  God  not  im- 
mediately, but  Kn^pDDX3,  "in  speculo"  or  "speculari"  (a  word 
formed  from  the  Latin),  "in  a  glass," — an  expression  which  the 
apostle  alludes  unto,  1  Cor.  xiii.  12;  only  they  add,  nv-iispiaDX  wn  TiOD 
Csn  D^S*''33n  vn, — "  Other  prophets  saw  through  nine  perspec- 
tives ; "  nnx  &?''-i^pDD  lino  nxi  n'C^), — "  but  Moses  saw  through  one 
only,"  Vaiikra  Rabba,  sect.  1 ;  whereunto  they  add  that  his  speculum 
was  clear  and  hicid,  theirs  spotted. 

It  must  be  granted  that  Moses,  being  the  lawgiver  and  first  re- 
vealer  of  all  that  worship  in  the  observation  whereof  the  Judaical 
church-state  and  privilege  of  that  people  did  consist,  had  the  pre- 
eminency  above  the  succeeding  prophets,  whose  ministry  chiefly 
tended  to  instruct  the  people  in  the  nature  and  keep  them  to 
the  observation  of  his  institutions:  but  that  all  those  things  by 
them  insisted  on  were  peculiar  to  him,  it  doth  not  appear;  nor  if 
it  did  so,  are  the  most  of  them  of  any  great  weight  or  importance. 

The  first  is  granted,  and  a  signal  privilege  it  was.  God  spake 
unto  him  Ci''i3?"''^  C!'?,  "face  to  face,"  Exod.  xxxiii.  11;  and 
•^l'"''^  i^?,  "  mouth  to  mouth,"  Num.  xii.  8 ;  and  this  is  mentioned  as 
that  which  was  peculiar  to  him  'above  the  prophets  which  should 
succeed  liim  in  the  ministry  of  that  church.  But  that  Moses  saw 
the  essence  of  God,  which  the  Jews  contend  from  those  words,  is  ex- 
pressly denied  in  the  text  itself;  for  even  then  when  it  was  said  that 
God  spake  to  him  face  to  face,  it  is  also  affirmed  that  he  did  not 
nor  could  see  the  face  of  God,  Exod.  xxxiii.  20.  See  John  i.  17,  18. 
Both  those  expressions  intend  only  that  God  revealed  himself  unto 
him  in  a  more  clear  and  familiar  way  than  he  had  done  unto  other 
prophets,  or  would  do  whilst  that  administration  continued;  for 
although  the  things  which  he  revealed  to  and  by  other  prophets  were 
more  clear,  evident,  and  open  to  the  understanding  of  believers, 
than  they  were  in  the  revelation  made  to  Moses  (they  being  in- 
tended as  expositions  of  it),  yet  in  the  way  of  the  revelation  itself, 
God  dealt  more  clearly  and  familiarly  with  Moses  than  with  any 
other  prophet  of  that  church  whatever. 

The  second  difference  assigned  is  vain.  Of  the  times  and  seasons 
wherein  the  prophets  received  their  visions  there  can  be  no  deter- 
minate rule  assigned.     Many  of  them  were  at  ordinary  seasons, 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS. 


27 


■whilst  tbey  were  waking,  and  some  were  about  the  employment  of 
their  callings,  as  Amos,  chap.  vii.  15. 

The  third  also,  about  that  consternation  of  spirit  which  befell 
other  prophets,  is  groundless.  Sometimes  it  was  so  with  them,  as 
the  instance  of  Daniel  proves,  chap.  vii.  28,  x.  8 ;  and  so  it  befell 
Moses  himself,  Heb.  xii.  21 ;  which  if  we  attain  to  that  place,  we  shall 
prove  the  Jews  themselves  to  acknowledge.  Ordinarily  it  was  other- 
wise, as  with  him  so  with  them,  as  is  manifest  in  the  whole  story  of 
the  prophets. 

There  is  the  same  mistake  in  the  last  difference  assigned.  Moses 
did  not  so  receive  the  Spirit  of  prophecy  as  that  he  could,  at  liis  own 
pleasure,  reveal  those  things  which  were  not  discoverable  but  by  that 
Spirit,  or  speak  out  the  mind  of  God  infallibly  in  any  thing  for  the 
use  of  the  church,  without  actual  inspiration  as  to  that  particular; 
which  is  evident  from  the  mistake  that  he  was  under  as  to  the  man- 
ner of  his  government,  which  he  rectified  by  the  advice  of  Jethro, 
Exod.  xviii.  19.  And  likewise  in  other  instances  did  he  wait  for 
particular  answers  from  God,  Num.  xv.  34t.  To  have  a  comprehen- 
sion at  once  of  the  whole  will  of  God  concerning  the  obedience  and 
salvation  of  the  church,  was  a  privilege  reserved  for  Him  who  in  all 
things  was  to  have  the  pre-eminence.  And  it  seems  that  Maimo- 
nides  himself  in  his  exaltation  of  Moses  excepted  the  Messiah;  for 
whereas  in  the  Hebrew  and  Latin  copies  of  More  N«;buch.,  part.  ii. 
cap.  xlv.,  there  are  these  words,  hir\'C'^  '•yv''  nJllD  p  DJ  ^1,  which  Bux- 
torf  renders,  "  Est  gradus  hie  etiam  pra:'stantissimoium  con-iliario- 
rum  Israelis,"  "This  is  the  degree"  (in  prophecy)  "of  the  counsellors 
of  Israel;"  the  Arabic  or  original  hath,  "And  this  also  is  the  degree 
of  the  Messiah  of  Israel,  who  goeth  before"  (or  "excelleth")  "all 
others;"  that  is,  in  point  of  prophecy. 

Not  to  follow  them  in  their  imaginations,  the  just  privileges  of 
Moses  above  all  other  prophets  lay  in  these  three  things:— (1.)  That 
he  was  the  lawgiver  or  mediator  by  whom  God  gave  that  law  and 
revealed  that  worship  in  the  observation  v/hereof  the  very  being  of 
the  Judaical  church  did  consist.  (2.)  That  God  in  the  revelation 
made  unto  him  dealt  in  a  more  familiar  and  clear  manner,  as 
to  the  way  of  his  outward  dealing,  than  with  any  other  prophets. 
(3.)  In  that  the  revelation  made  unto  him  concerned  the  ordering  of 
the  whole  house  of  God,  when  the  other  prophets  were  employed 
only  about  particulars  built  on  his  foundation. 

In  these  things  consisted  the  just  and  free  pre-eminence  of  Moses; 
which  whether  it  was  such  as  would  warrant  the  Jews  in  their  ob- 
stinate adherence  to  his  institutions  upon  their  own  principles  shall 
be  inquired  i-^to.  But  before  we  manifest  that  indeed  it  was  not, 
the  revelation  of  the  mind  of  God  in  and  by  the  Son,  which 
is  compared  with  and  preferred  before  and  above  this  of  Moses, 


28  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  T. 

must  be  unfolded;  and  this  we  shall  do  in  the  ensuing  observa- 
tions:— 

1.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  virtue  of  the  union  of  his  person, 
was  from  the  womb  filled  with  a  perfection  of  gracious  light  and 
knowledge  of  God  and  his  will.  An  actual  exercise  of  that  prin- 
ciple of  holy  wisdom  wherewith  he  was  endued,  in  his  infancy,  as 
afterwards,  he  had  not,  Luke  ii.  52;  nor  had  he  in  his  human  nature 
an  absolutely  infinite  comprehension  of  all  individual  things,  past, 
present,  and  to  come,  which  he  expressly  denies  as  to  the  day  of 
judgment,  Matt.  xxiv.  36,  Mark  xiii.  32 ;  but  he  was  furnished  with 
all  that  wisdom  and  knowledge  which  the  human  nature  was  cap- 
able of,  both  as  to  'principle  and  exercise,  in  the  condition  wherein  it 
was,  without  destroying  its  finite  being  and  variety  of  conditions,  from 
the  womb.  The  Papists  have  made  a  vain  controversy  about  the 
knowledge  of  the  human  soul  of  Christ.  Those  whom  they  charge  with 
error  in  this  matter  affirm  no  more  than  what  is  expressly  asserted 
in  the  places  of  Scripture  above  mentioned ;  and  by  their  answers 
unto  those  places,  it  is  evident  how  little  they  care  what  scorn  they 
expose  the  Scripture  and  all  religion  unto,  so  they  may  secure  their 
own  mistakes.  But  this  wisdom,  whatever  it  were,  is  not  that 
whereby  God  so  revealed  his  mind  unto  him  as  thereby  to  be  said 
to  speak  to  us  in  him.  He  had  it  by  his  union,  and  therefore  im- 
mediately from  the  person  of  the  Son,  sanctifying  that  nature  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  which  he  took  into  subsistence  with  himself  But  the 
revelation  by  which  God  spake  in  him  unto  us  was  in  a  peculiar 
manner  from  the  Father,  Rev.  i.  1 ;  and,  as  we  have  showed,  it  is 
the  person  of  the  Father  that  is  here  peculiarly  spoken  of  And 
hence  the  inquiry  of  some  on  this  place,  how  the  second  person  re- 
vealed himself  to  the  human  nature,  is  not  to  the  purpose  of  it;  for 
it  is  the  person  of  the  Father  that  is  spoken  of     So  that, — 

2.  The  commission,  mission,  and  furnisliing  of  the  Son,  as  incar- 
nate and  mediator,  with  abilities  for  the  declaration  of  the  mind  and 
w^ill  of  God  unto  the  church,  were  peculiarly  from  the  Father.  For 
the  whole  work  of  his  mediation  h6  received  command  of  the  Father, 
John  X.  18,  and  what  he  should  speak,  chap.  xii.  49;  accorduig  to 
which  commandment  he  wrought  and  taught,  chap.  xiv.  31.  Whence 
that  is  the  common  periphrasis  whereby  he  expresses  the  person  of 
the  Father,  "He  that  sent  him;"  as  also,  "He  that  sealed  and 
anointed  him."  And  his  doctrine  on  that  account,  he  testified,  was 
not  his,  his  own,  that  is,  primarily  or  originally  as  mediator,  but  his 
that  sent  him,  John  vii.  16.  It  was  from  the  Father  that  he  heard 
the  word  and  learned  the  doctrine  that  he  declared  unto  the  church. 
And  this  is  asserted  wherever  there  is  mention  made  of  the  Father's 
sending,  sealing,  anointing,  commanding,  teaching  him;  of  his  doing 
the  will,  speaking  the  words,  seeking  the  glory,  obeying  the  com- 


VER.  1,  2.]  EnSTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS. 


29 


mands  of  him  that  sent  him.  See  John  viii.  26,  28,  40,  xiv.  10  xv. 
ir,,  Rev.  i.  1;  and  in  the  Old  Testament,  Zech.  ii.  8;  Isa.  xl'viii. 
15-17,  1.  4.  That  blesped  "  tongue  of  the  learned,"  whereby  God 
spake  in  and  by  him  the  refreshing  \Yord  of  the  gospel  unto  poor 
weary  sinners,  was  the  gift  of  the  Father. 

o.  As  to  the  manner  of  his  receiving  of  the  revelation  of  the  will 
of  God,  a  double  mistake  must  be  removed,  and  then  the  nature  uf 
it  must  be  declared:  — 

(1.)  The  Socinians,  to  avoid  the  force  of  those  testimonies  which 
are  urged  to  confirm  the  deity  of  Christ,  from  the  assertions  in  the 
gospel  that  he  who  spake  to  the  disciples  on  earth  was  then  also  in 
heaven,  John  iii.  13,  vi.  38,  51,  vii.  S3,  34,  viii.  29,  41,  42,  57,  58, 
have  broached  a  Mohammedan  fancy,  that  the  Lord  Christ  before 
his  entrance  on  his  public  ministry  was  locally  taken  up  into  heaven, 
and  there  instructed  in  the  mystery  of  the  gospel  and  the  mind  of 
God  which  he  was  to  reveal,  Cat.  Rac,  cap.  iii.,  de  Ofhc.  Cii.  Pro- 
phet., qurest.  4,  5;  Smalcius  de  Divinit.  Christi,  cap.  iv.;  Sucin. 
Resp.  ad  Paroen.  Vol.  pag.  38,  39. 

But, — [1.]  There  was  no  cause  of  any  such  rapture  of  the  human 
nature  of  Christ,  as  we  shall  evidence  in  manifesting  the  way  whereby 
he  was  taught  of  the  Father,  especially  after  his  baptism.  [2.]  This 
imaginary  rapture  is  grounded  solely  on  their  vpurov  -^ivbo;,  that  the 
Lord  Christ  in  his  whole  person  was  no  more  than  a  mere  man. 
[3.]  There  is  no  mention  of  any  such  thing  in  the  Scripture,  where 
the  Father's  revealing  his  mind  and  will  to  the  Son  is  treated  of; 
which  had  it  been,  ought  not  to  have  been  omitted.  [4.]  Tiie  fancy 
of  it  is  expressly  contrary  to  Scripture:  for, — \st.  The  Holy  Ghost 
affirms  that  Christ  "  entered  in  once  into  the  holy  place,"  and  that 
ajter  he  had  "obtained  eternal  redemption,"  Heb.  ix.  12;  wliich 
would  have  been  his  second  entrance  had  he  been  taken  thither  before 
in  his  human  nature.  So  that  coming  of  his  into  the  world  which 
we  look  for  at  the  last  day  is  called  his  second  coming,  his  coming 
again,  because  of  his  first  entrance  into  it  at  his  incarnation,  Heb. 
ix.  28.  2dli/.  He  was  to  suffer  before  his  entry  into  heaven  and  his 
glory  therein,  Luke  xxiv.  26.  And,  Bdly.  As  to  the  time  of  liis 
ascension  which  these  men  assign, — namely,  the  forty  days  after  his 
baptism, —  it  is  said  expressly  that  he  was  all  that  time  in  the  wil- 
derness amongst  the  wild  beasts,  Mark  i.  13.  So  that  this  figment 
may  have  no  place  in  our  inquiry  into  the  way  of  the  Father's 
speaking  in  the  Son. 

(2.)  Some  lay  the  whole  weight  of  the  revelation  of  tlie  will  of 
God  unto  Christ  upon  the  endowments  of  his  human  nature  by  vir- 
tue of  its  personal  union  with  the  eternal  Word.  But  this  is  wholly 
inconsistent  with  the  many  testimonies,  before  rehearsed,  of  the 
Father's  revealing  himself  unto  him  after  that  union.      Where- 


30  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

fore,  to  declare  the  nature  of  this  revelation,  we  must  observe 
further, — 

4.  That  Jesus  Christ  in  his  divine  nature,  as  he  was  the  eternal 
Word  and  Wisdom  of  the  Father,  not  by  a  voluntary  communication, 
but  eternal  generation,  had  an  omnisciency  of  the  whole  nature  and 
will  of  God,  as  the  Father  himself  hath,  because  the  same  with  that 
of  the  Father,  their  will  and  wisdom  being  the  same.  This  is  the 
blessed  Gv/xTipixuipricig,  or  in-being  of  each  person,  the  one  in  the  other, 
by  virtue  of  their  oneness  in  the  same  nature.  Thus,  as  God,  he  had 
an  absolute  omniscience.  Moreover,  the  mystery  of  the  gospel,  the 
eternal  counsel  and  covenant  of  it  concerning  the  redemption  of  the 
elect  in  his  blood,  and  the  worship  of  God  by  his  redeemed  ones, 
being  transacted  between  Father  and  Son  from  all  eternity,  was 
known  unto  him  as  the  Son,  by  virtue  of  his  own  personal  transac- 
tions with  the  Father  in  the  eternal  counsel  and  covenant  of  it.  See 
what  we  have  elsewhere  delivered  concerning  that  covenant. 

5.  The  Lord  Christ  discharged  his  office  and  work  of  revealing  the 
will  of  the  Father  in  and  by  his  human  nature,  that  nature  wherein 
he  "  dwelt  among  us,"  John  i.  14;  for  although  the  person  of  Christ, 
God  and  man,  was  our  mediator,  Acts  xx.  28,  John  i.  14,  IS,  yet  his 
human  nature  was  that  wherein  he  discharged  the  duties  of  his  office, 
and  the  "  principium  quod"  of  all  his  mediatory  actings,  1  Tim.  ii.  5. 

6.  This  human  nature  of  Christ,  as  he  was  in  it  "  made  of  a 
woman,  made  under  the  law,"  Gal.  iv.  4,  was,  from  the  instant  of  its 
union  with  the  person  of  the  Son  of  God,  a  "  holy  thing,"  Luke  i. 
85,  "holy,  harmless,  undefiled,  separate  from  sinners;"  and  radi- 
cally filled  with  all  that  perfection  of  habitual  grace  and  wisdom 
which  Avas  or  could  be  necessary  to  the  discharge  of  that  whole  duty 
which,  as  a  man,  he  owed  unto  God,  Luke  il  40,  49,  52;  John  viii. 
46;  1  Pet.  ii.  22.     But,— 

7.  Besides  this  furniture  with  habitual  grace,  for  the  performance 
of  all  holy  obedience  unto  God,  as  a  man  made  under  the  law,  there 
was  a  peculiar  endowment  with  the  Spirit,  without  and  beyond  the 
bounds  of  all  comprehensible  measures,  that  he  was  to  receive  as  the 
great  prophet  ot  the  church,  in  whom  the  Father  would  speak  and 
give  out  the  last  revelation  of  himself  This  communication  of  the 
Spirit  unto  him  was  the  foundation  of  his  sufficiency  for  the  dis- 
charge ot  his  prophetical  office,  Isa.  xi.  2,  3,  xlviii.  16,  Ixi.  1-3; 
Dan.  ix.  24.  As  to  the  reality  and  being  of  this  gift  of  the  Spirit, 
l.e  received  it  from  the  womb;  whence  in  his  infancy  he  was  said  to 
be  vXrjpou/j.svog  ffo(piag,  Luke  ii.  40,  "filled  with  wisdom;"  wherewith 
he  confuted  the  doctors  to  amazement,  verse  47.  And  with  his 
years  were  these  gifts  increased  in  him:  n^rtsxcrrg  ecpici  xai  jjX/x/a  xai 
X"-P'^i' — "  He  went  forward  in  wisdom  and  stature  and  favour," 
verse  52.     But  the  full  communication  of  this  Spirit,  with  special 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS. 


ni 


reference  unto  the  discharge  of  his  public  office,  witli  the  visible 
pledge  of  it  in  the  Holy  Ghost  descending  on  him  in  the  shape  of  a 
dove,  he  was  made  partaker  of  in  his  baptism,  Matt.  iii.  16;  when 
also  he  received  his  first  public  testimony  from  heaven,  verse  17- 
which,  when  again  repeated,  received  the  additional  command  of 
hearing  him,  Matt.  xvii.  5,— designing  the  prophet  that  was  to  be 
heard  on  pain  of  utter  extermination,  Deut.  xviii.  18,  19.  And 
therefore  he  was  thereupon  said  to  be  Uv'sv,(LaTo?  ayiov  tXjjVjjs,  Luke 
iv.  1,  "  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  sealed  to  this  work  by  the  sifn 
foretold  of  God,  John  i.  33. 

This  was  the  foundation  of  the  Father's  speaking  in  the  Son  as 
incarnate.  He  spake  in  him  by  his  Spirit;  so  he  did  in  the  pro- 
phets of  old,  2  Pet.  i.  21.  And  herein  in  general  the  propiiecy  of 
Christ  and  theirs  did  agree.  It  remaineth,  then,  to  show  wherein 
his  pre-eminence  above  them  did  consist,  so  that  the  "word  sj)oken" 
by  him  is  principally  and  eminently  to  be  attended  unto;  which  is 
the  argument  of  that  which  the  apostle  hath  in  hand  in  this  place. 

8.  The  pre-eminences  of  the  prophecy  of  Chriht  above  that  of 
Moses  and  all  other  prophets  were  of  two  sorts: — (1.)  Such  as  arose 
from  his  ]i&'>^son  who  was  the  prophet;  (i^.)  Such  as  accompanied 
the  nature  and  manner  of  the  revelation  made  unto  him. 

(1.)  They  arise  from  the  infinite  excellency  of  his  j)&'>^son  above 
theirs.  This  is  that  which  the  apostle  from  the  close  of  this  verse 
insists  upon  to  the  very  end  of  the  chapter,  making  his  discourse 
upon  it  the  basis  of  his  ensuing  exhortations.  I  shall  therefore 
remit  the  consideration  of  it  unto  its  proper  place. 

(2.)  There  were  sundry  excellencies  that  attended  the  very  revela- 
tion itself  made  unto  him,  or  his  prophecy  as  such;  for, — 

[1.]  Not  receiving  the  Spirit  hy  measure,  John  iii.  34,  as  they  all 
did,  he  had  given  unto  him  altogether  a  comprehension  of  the  whole 
will  and  mind  of  God,  as  to  whatever  he  would  have  revealed  of 
himself,  with  the  mystery  of  our  salvation,  and  all  that  obedience 
and  worship  which  in  this  world  he  would  require  of  his  church. 
"  It  pleased  the  Father  that  in  him  should  all  fulness  dwell,"  Col. 
i.  19^ — that  is,  of  "grace  and  truth,"  Johni.  17:  not  granting  him  a 
transient  irradiation  by  them,  but  a  permanency  and  constant  abode 
of  them  with  him  in  their  fulness,  all  "treasures  of  wisdom  and  hnow- 
ledge"  being  hid  in  him.  Cob  ii.  8,  as  their  home  and  proper  abiding 
place;  which  made  him  of  "quick  understanding  in  the  fear  of  the 
Lord,"  Isa.  xi.  3.  All  the  mysteries  of  the  counsel  between  the 
Father  and  the  eternal  Word  for  the  salvation  of  the  elect,  with 
all  the  way  whereby  it  was  to  be  accomplished,  through  his  own 
blood,  were  known  unto  him;  as  also  were  all  the  bounds,  the  whole 
extent  of  that  worship  which  his  church  was  to  render  unto  God, 
with  the  assistance  of  the  Spirit  that  was  to  be  afiforded  unto  them 

VOL.   XII.— 3 


32  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

for  that  end  and  purpose.  Hence  the  only  reason  why  he  did  not 
at  once  reveal  unto  his  disciples  the  whole  counsel  of  God  was,  not 
because  all  the  treasures  of  it  were  not  committed  unto  him,  but 
because  they  could  bear  no  other  but  that  gradual  communication 
of  it  which  he  used  towards  them,  John  xvi.  12.  But  he  himself 
dwelt  in  the  midst  of  those  treasures,  seeing  to  the  bottom  of  them. 
All  other  prophets,  even  Moses  himself,  receiving  their  revelations  by 
transient  irradiations  of  their  minds,  had  no  treasure  of  truth  dwell- 
ing in  them,  but  apprehended  only  that  particular  wherein  they 
were  enlightened,  and  that  not  clearly  neither,  in  its  fulness  and  per- 
fection, but  in  a  measure  of  light  accommodated  unto  the  age  wherein 
they  lived,  1  Pet.  i.  11,  12.  Hence  the  Spirit  is  said  to  "rest  upon 
him,"  Isa.  xi.  2,  3  ;  and  to  "abide  upon  him,"  John  i.  32 ;  wdio  did  only 
in  a  transient  act  affect  the  minds  of  other  prophets,  and  by  an  actual 
motion,  which  had  not  a  habitual  spring  in  themselves,  cause  them 
to  speak  or  write  the  will  of  God,  as  an  instrument  of  music  gives 
forth  a  sound  according  to  the  skill  of  him  that  strikes  it,  and  that 
only  when  it  is  so  stricken  or  used.     Hence, — 

[2.]  The  prophets  receiving  their  revelations  as  it  were  by  num- 
her  and  tale  from  the  Holy  Ghost,  when  they  had  spoken  or  written 
what  in  particular  at  any  season  they  had  received  from  him,  could 
not  add  one  word  or  syllable  of  the  same  infallibility  and  authority 
with  what  they  had  so  received.  But  the  Lord  Christ  having  all 
the  treasures  of  wisdom,  knowledge,  and  truth  hid  and  laid  up  in 
him,  did  at  all  times,  in  all  places,  with  equal  infallibility  and  autho- 
rity, give  forth  the  mind  and  will  of  God  even  as  he  would,  what  he 
so  spake  having  its  whole  authority  from  his  speaking  of  it,  and  not 
from  its  consonancy  unto  any  thing  otherwise  revealed. 

[3.]  The  prophets  of  old  were  so  barely  instrumental  in  receiv- 
ing and  revealing  the  will  of  God,  being  only  servants  in  the  house, 
Heb.  iii.  6,  for  the  good  of  others,  1  Pet.  i.  11,  12,  that  they  saw  not  to 
the  bottom  of  the  things  by  themselves  revealed;  and  did  therefore 
both  diligently  read  and  study  the  books  of  them  that  wrote  before 
their  time,  Dan.  ix.  2  ;  and  meditated  upon  the  things  which  the 
Spirit  uttered  by  themselves,  to  obtain  an  understanding  in  tliem, 
1  Pet.  i.  10-12.  But  the  Lord  Jesus,  the  Lord  over  his  own  house, 
had  an  absolutely  perfect  comprehension  of  all  the  mysteries  revealed 
to  him  and  by  him  by  that  divine  wisdom  which  always  dwelt  in 
him. 

[4.]  The  difference  was  no  less  between  them  in  respect  of  the 
revelations  themselves  made  to  them  and  by  them;  for  although  the 
substance  of  the  will  and  mind  of  God  concerning  salvation  by  the 
Messiah  was  made  known  unto  them  all,  yet  it  was  done  so  obscurely 
to  Moses  and  the  prophets  that  ensued,  that  they  came  all  short  in  the 
light  of  that  mystery  to  John  the  Baptist,  who  did  not  rise  up  m  a 


VEK.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  H'^ 

clear  and  distinct  apprehension  of  it  unto  the  least  of  the  true  dis- 
ciples of  Christ,  Matt.  xi.  11 ;  whence  the  giving  of  the  law  by  Moses, 
to  instruct  the  church  in  that  mystery  by  its  types  and  sliadows,  is 
opposed  to  that  grace  and  trutli  whicli  were  brought  l>y  Jesus  Christ, 
Johni.  17,  18.  See  Eph.  iii.  8-11;  Col.  i.  26,  27;  Tit.  ii.  11;  2  Tim! 
i.  9,  10. 

In  these,  and  sundry  other  things  of  the  like  importance,  had  the 
Father's  speaking  in  the  Son  the  pre-eminence  above  his  speaking 
in  Moses  and  the  prophets.  For  which  cause  the  apostle  placeth 
this  consideration  in  the  head  of  his  reasonings  and  arguments,  for 
attendance  unto  and  observation  of  the  things  revealed  by  him:  for 
even  all  these  things  have  influence  into  his  present  argument,  though 
the  main  stress  of  it  be  laid  on  the  excellency  of  his  person;  of  which 
at  large  afterwards. 

9.  We  must  yet  further  observe,  that  the  Jews,  with  whom  the 
apostle  had  to  do,  had  all  of  them  an  expectation  of  a  new  signal 
and  final  revelation  of  the  will  of  God,  to  be  made  by  the  Messiah 
in  the  last  days;  that  is,  of  their  church-state,  and  not,  as  they  now 
fondly  imagine,  of  the  world.  Some  of  them,  indeed,  imagined  that 
great  prophet  promised,  Deut.  xviii.,  to  have  been  one  distinct  from 
the  Messiah,  John  i.  20,  21;  but  the  general  expectation  of  the  church 
for  the  full  revelation  of  the  will  of  God  was  upon  the  Messiah, 
John  iv.  25.  Of  the  same  mind  were  their  more  ancient  doctors, 
that  retained  any  thing  of  the  tradition  of  their  fathers,  asserting 
that  the  law  of  Moses  was  alterable  by  the  Messiah,  and  that  in  some 
things  it  should  be  so.  Maimonides  is  the  leader  in  the  opinion  of 
the  eternity  of  the  law ;  whose  arguments  are  answered  by  the  author 
of  Sepher  Ikharim,  lib.  iii.  cap.  xiii.,  and  some  of  them  by  Nach- 
manides.  Hence  it  is  laid  down  as  a  principle  in  Neve  Siialom, 
mtj'n  ''3x^o»  r\2i)  hb'do  Ne':i  nmnxo  dit-  n-'tro  "i^o ;— "  Messiah  the 
king  shall  be  exalted  above  Abraham,  be  hiqh  above  Moses,  yea,  and 
the  ministering  angels."  And  it  is  for  the  excellency  of  the  reve- 
lation to  be  made  by  him  that  he  is  so  exalted  above  Moses.  Whence 
Maimonides  himself  acknowledgeth,  Tractat.  de  Regibus,  that  at  the 
coming  of  the  Messiah,  b^  D^l^J  D^ioyni  D^J^jnsn  onmn  vn^— 
"  hidden  and  deep  things"  (that  is,  of  the  counsel  of  God)  "  siiall  be 
revealed"  (or  "laid  open")  "unto  all."  And  this  persuasion  they  built 
on  the  promise  of  a  new  covenant  to  be  made  with  them,  not  like 
the  covenant  made  with  their  fathers,  Jer.  xxxi.  31-34.  Whence 
the  author  before  mentioned  concludes  that  it  was  the  judgment  of 
the  ancient  doctors  that  they  should  receive  a  new  covenant  from 
the  mouth  of  God  himself ;  ar.d  all  their  worship  being  annexetl  and 
subservient  unto  the  covenant  that  was  made  with  them  in  Horeb, 
upon  the  removal  of  that  covenant,  there  was  of  necessity  a  upw 
kind  of  worship,  subservient  tliereuuto,  to  ensue. 


S4  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

From  all  these  observations  we  may  evidently  perceive  wherein 
the  force  of  the  apostle's  argument  doth  lie,  which  he  insists  upon 
in  this  veiy  entrance  of  his  discourse,  rather  insinuating  it  from 
tJieir  own  principles  than  openly  pressing  them  with  its  reason, 
which  he  doth  afterwards.  They  acknowledged  that  the  Messiah 
was  to  come;  that  he  was  to  be  in  a  special  manner  the  Son  of 
God  (as  we  shall  show) ;  that  in  him  God  would  ultimately  reveal 
his  mind  and  will  unto  them;  and  that  this  revelation,  on  many 
accounts,  would  be  far  more  excellent  than  that  of  old  made  to  and 
by  Moses; — which  that  it  was  all  accomplished  in  the  ministry  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  that  unto  themselves  in  the  latter  days  of  their 
church,  according  to  what  was  long  before  foretold,  he  asserts  and 
proves;  whence  it  was  easy  for  them  to  gather  what  a  necessity  of 
adhering  to  his  doctrine  and  institutions,  notwithstanding  any  con- 
trary pleas  or  arguings,  was  incumbent  on  them. 

But,  moreover,  the  apostle  in  these  words  hath  opened  the  spring 
from  whence  all  his  ensuing  arguments  do  flow,  in  fixing  on  him 
who  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light  by  the  gospel;  and  from 
thence  takes  occasion  to  enter  upon  the  dogmatical  part  of  the 
epistle,  in  the  description  of  the  person  of  Christ,  the  Son  of  God, 
and  his  excellency,  in  whom  God  spake  unto  them,  that  they  might 
consider  with  whom  they  had  to  do;  wherein  he  proceeds  to  the 
end  of  this  chapter. 

But  before  we  proceed  we  shall  stay  here  a  little,  to  consider  some 
things  that  may  be  a  refreshment  to  believers  in  their  passage,  in 
the  consideration  of  those  spiritual  truths  which,  for  the  use  of  the 
church  in  general,  are  exhibited  unto  us  in  the  words  we  have  con- 
sidered. 

And  the  first  is  this, — 

I.  The  revelation  of  the  will  of  God,  as  to  all  things  concerning 
his  worship,  our  faith  and  obedience,  is  peculiarly  and  in  a  way  of 
eminency  from  the  Father. 

This  is  that  which  the  apostle  partly  asserts,  partly  takes  for 
granted,  as  the  head  and  spring  of  his  whole  ensuing  discourse. 
And  this  shall  now  be  a  little  further  cleared  and  confirmed;  to 
which  end  we  may  observe, — 

1.  That  the  whole  mystery  of  his  will,  antecedently  to  the  reve- 
lation of  it,  is  said  to  be  hid  in  God;  that  is,  the  Father,  Eph.  iii.  9. 
'It  lay  wrapped  up  from  the  eyes  of  men  and  angels,  in  his  eternal 
wisdom  and  counsel,  Col.  i.  26,  27.  The  Son,  indeed,  who  is,  and 
from  eternity  was,  "in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,"  John  i.  18,  "as 
one  brought  up  with  him,"  his  eternal  delight  and  Wisdom,  Prov. 
viii.  29,  30,  was  partaker  with  him  in  this  counsel,  verse  31 ;  as  also 
his  eternal  Spirit,  who  searches  and  knows  all  "  the  deep  things  of 
God,"  1  Cor.  ii.  10,  11.     But  yet  the  rise  and  spring  of  this  mystery 


VER.  1,  2. J  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  .'^.'5 

was  in  the  Father;  for  the  order  of  acting  in  the  blessed  Trinity 
follows  the  order  of  subsistence.  As  the  Father,  therefore,  is  the 
fountain  of  the  Trinity  as  to  subsistence,  so  also  as  to  operation.  He 
"hath  life  in  himself;"  and  "he  giveth  to  the  Son  to  have  life  in  him- 
self," John  V.  26.  And  he  doth  it  by  communicating  unto  him  his 
subsistence  by  eternal  generation.  And  thence  saith  the  Son,  "  As 
my  Father  worketh,  so  I  work,"  verse  17.  And  what  he  seeth  the 
Father  do,  that  doeth  the  Son  likewise,  verse  19;  not  by  imitation, 
or  repetition  of  the  like  works,  but  in  the  same  works  in  order  of 
nature  the  will  and  Wisdom  of  the  Father  doth  proceed.  So  also 
is  it  in  respect  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  whose  order  of  subsistence  denotes 
that  of  his  operation. 

2.  That  the  revelation  of  the  mystery  of  the  will  of  God,  so  hidden 
in  the  counsel  of  his  will  from  eternity,  was  always  made  and  given 
out  in  the  pursuit  and  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  jmrpose  of  the 
Father,  or  that  eternal  purpose  of  the  will  of  God  which  is  by  the 
way  of  erainency  ascribed  imto  the  Father:  Eph.  i.  8,  9,  "  He  hath 
abounded  toward  us  in  all  wisdom  and  prudence  ;  having  made 
known  unto  us  the  mystery  of  his  will,  according  to  his  good  plea- 
sure which  he  hath  purposed  in  himself. '  It  is  the  Father  of  whom 
he  speaks:  Verse  8,  "Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  Now,  he  abounds  to  us-ward  in  wisdom  and  |)ru- 
dence,  or  abundantl}^  manifests  his  infinite  wisdom  in  his  dealing 
with  us,  by  the  revelation  of  the  mystery  of  his  will.  And  this  he 
doth  in  pursuit  of  "  his  good  pleasure  which  he  purposed  in  himself," 
or  that  purpose  of  his  will  which  had  its  foimdation  solely  in  his 
good  pleasure.  This  is  the  purpose  of  election,  as  is  declared,  verses 
3-5;  and  this  purpose  is  peculiarly  assigned  unto  him,  John  xvii.  6; 
2  Thess.  ii.  13.  For  the  accomplishment  of  this  purpose,  or  the 
bringing  of  those  predestinated  thereby  to  the  end  purposed  for 
them  by  the  means  ordained,  for  the  praise  of  God's  glorious  grace, 
is  the  whole  revelation  of  the  will  of  God,  first  and  last,  made.  He 
spake  in  his  Son,  and  he  spake  in  him  that  he  might  manifest  his 
name  (himself  and  will)  to  the  men  whom  he  gave  him;  for  saith 
the  Son,  "Thine  they  were"  ('set  apart  for  thee  in  thine  eternal 
purpose'),  "  and  thou  gavest  them  me,"  John  xvii.  6.  And  there- 
fore Paul  tells  us,  that  in  preaching  of  the  gospel  he  "  endured  all 
things  for  the  elect's  sakes,"  2  Tinj.  ii.  10;  knowing  that  it  was  for 
their  salvation  that  the  mystery  of  it  was  revealed  from  the  bosom 
of  the  Father,  as  God  also  had  before  taught  him.  Acts  xviii.  10. 
See  Rom.  xi.  7,  viii.  28,  etc. 

8.  This  purpose  of  God  being  communicated  with  and  unto  the 
Lord  Christ,  or  the  Son,  and  so  becoming  "  the  counsel  of  peace  be- 
tween tnem  both,"  Zech.  vi.  18,  he  rejoicing  to  do  the  ^york  that  was 
incumbent  on  him  for  the  accomplishment  of  it,  Prov.  viii.  80,  81, 


36  A.N  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  1. 

Ps.  xl.  7,  8j  it  became  peculiarly  the  care  and  work  of  the  Father 
to  see  that  the  inheritance  promised  him  upon  his  undertaking, 
Isa.  liii.  10-12,  should  be  given  unto  him.     Tliis  is  done  by  the 
revelation  of  the  will  of  God  unto  men  concerning  their  obedience 
and  salvation ;  whereby  they  are  made  the  lot,  the  seed,  the  portion 
and  inheritance  of  Christ.     To  this  end  doth  the  Lord,  that  is  the 
Father,  who  said  unto  the  Lord  the  Son,  "  Sit  thou  at  my  right 
hand,"  Ps.  ex.  1,  "  send  the  rod  of  his  strength  out  of  Zion,"  verse  2; 
and  that  by  it  to  declare  his  rule  even  over  his  enemies,  and  to  make 
his  people,  those  given  unto  him,  willing  and  obedient,  verse  3. 
The  inheritance  given  by  the  Father  unto  Christ  being  wholly  in 
the  possession  of  another,  it  became  him  to  take  it  out  of  the  usur- 
per's hand,  and  deliver  it  up  to  him  whose  right  it  was;  and  this 
he  did  and  doth  by  the  revelation  of  his  mind  in  the  preaching  of 
the  word,  Eph.  i.  12,  13.    And  from  these  considerations  it  is  that, — 
4.  The  whole  revelation  and  dispensation  of  the  will  of  God  in 
and  by  the  word  is,  as  was  said,  eminently  appropriated  unto  the 
Father.     Eternal  life  (the  covmsel,  the  purpose,  ways,  means,  and 
procurer  of  it)  was  with  the  Father,  and  was  manifested  to  us  by 
the  word  of  truth,  1  John  i.  1,  2.     And  it  is  the  Father, — that  is, 
his  will,  mind,  purpose,  grace,  love, — that  the  Son  declares,  John 
i.  18;  in  which  work  he  speaks  nothing  but  what  he  heard  from 
and  was  taught  by.  the  Father,  John  viii.  28.     And  hence  he  says, 
"  My  doctrme  is  not  mine"  (that  is,  principally  and  originally), 
"but  his  that  sent  me,"  John  vii.  16.     And  the  gospel  is  called 
*'  The  gospel  of  the  glory  of  the  blessed  God,"  1  Tim.  i.  11;  which 
is  a  periphrasis  for  the  person  of  the  Father,  who  is  "the  Father  of 
glory,"  Eph.  i.  17.     And  we  might  also  declare,  that  the  great  work 
of  making  this  gospel  effectual  on  the  minds  of  men  doth  peculiarly 
belong  unto  the  Father,  which  he  accomplisheth  by  his  Spirit,  2  Cor. 
iii.  18,  iv.  6;  but  that  is  not  our  present  business.    Thus  the  revela- 
tion of  events  that  should  befall  the  church  to  the  end  of  the  world, 
that  Christ  signified  by  his  angel  unto  John,  was  first  given  him  of 
the  Father,  Rev.  i.  1.     And  therefore,  though  all  declarations  of 
God  and  his  will,  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  were  made  by 
the  Son,  the  second  person  of  the  Trinity,  and  his  Spirit  speaking  in 
the  prophets,  1  Pet.  i.  11,  12,  yet  as  it  was  not  by  him  immediately, 
no  more  was  it  absolutely  so,  but  as  the  great  angel  and  mes- 
senger of  the  covenant,  by  the  will  and  appointment  of  the  Father. 
And   therefore  the  very  dispensers  of  the  gospel  are  said  vpis'^rjuv 
I'TTip  Xpiarov,  to  treat  as  ambassadors  about  the  business  of  Christ 
with  men,  in  the  name  of  God  the  Father,     'rig  rov  QioZ  'Trapaxa.- 
Xouvro;  di'  7][j^mv,  saith  the  apostle; — "As  if  God"  (the  Father)  "ex- 
horted in  and  by  us,"  2  Cor.  v.  20;  for  to  him  doth  this  whole  work 
principally  relate. 


VKR.  1;  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  37 

And  from  the  appropriating  of  this  work  ( riginiilly  and  princi- 
pally to  the  Father,  there  are  three  things  that  are  particularly  in- 
timated unto  IIS : — 

1.  The  authority  is  to  be  considered  in  it.  The  Father  is  the 
original  of  all  power  and  authority;  of  liim  "the  whole  family 
in  heaven  and  earth  is  named,"  Eph.  iii.  15.  He  is  the  Father  of 
the  whole  family,  from  whom  Christ  himself  receives  all  his  power 
and  authority  as  mediator,  Matt,  xxviii.  18;  which,  when  his  work 
is  accomplished,  he  shall  give  up  again  into  his  hand,  1  Cor.  xv.  28. 
He  sent  him  into  the  world,  set  him  over  his  house,  gave  him  com- 
mand unto  his  work.  The  very  name  and  title  of  Father  carries 
authority  along  with  it,  Mai.  i.  6.  And  in  the  disposal  of  the 
church,  in  respect  of  this  paternal  power,  doth  the  Son  affirm  that 
the  Father  is  greater  than  he,  John  xiv.  28;  and  he  runs  up  the  con- 
temjDt  of  tlie  word,  in  the  preaching  of  it  by  his  messengers,  inio  a 
contempt  of  this  authority  of  the  Father:  "  He  that  r^fuseth  you 
refuseth  me:  he  that  refuseth  me  refuseth  him  that  sent  me." 

The  revelation,  then,  and  dispensation  of  the  mind  and  will  of 
God  in  the  word,  are  to  be  considered  as  an  act  of  supreme,  sovereign 
authority,  requiring  all  subjection  of  soul  and  conscience  in  the 
receiving  of  it.  It  is  the  Father  of  the  family  that  speaks  in  this 
word ;  he  that  hath  all  power  and  authority  essentially  in  him  over  the 
souls  and  eternal  conditions  of  them  to  whom  he  speaks.  And  wliat 
holy  reverence,  humility,  and  universal  subjection  of  soul  to  the  word, 
this  in  a  particular  manner  requires,  is  easy  to  be  apprehended. 

2.  There  is  also  love.  In  the  economy  of  the  blessed  Trinity 
about  the  work  of  our  salvation,  that  which  is  eminently  and  in  an 
especial  manner  ascribed  unto  the  Father  is  love,  as  hath  been  at 
large  elsewhere  showed,  1  John  iv.  8,  10,  16.  "  God,"  that  is  the 
Father,  saith  John,  "  is  love."  And  how  he  exerts  that  property  of 
his  nature  in  the  work  of  our  salvation  by  Christ  he  there  shows  at 
large.  So  John  iii.  16;  Rom.  v.  7,  8.  To  be  love,  full  of  love,  to 
be  the  especial  spring  of  all  fruits  of  love,  is  peculiar  to  him  as  the 
Father.  A.nd  from  love  it  is  that  he  makes  the  revelation  of  his 
will  whereof  we  speak,  Deut.  vii.  8,  xxxiii.  3;  Ps.  cxlvii.  19,  20;  '2 
Cor.  v.  IS,  19.  It  was  out  of  infinite  love,  mercy,  and  compassion, 
that  God  would  at  all  reveal  his  mind  and  will  unto  sinners.  He 
might  for  ever  have  locked  up  the  treasures  of  his  wisdom  and  pru- 
dence, wherein  he  abounds  towards  us  in  his  word,  in  his  own  eternal 
breast.  He  might  have  left  all  the  sons  of  men  unto  that  wolul 
darkness  whereinto  Iby  sin  they  had  cast  themselves,  and  kept  them 
under  the  chains  and  power  of  it,  with  the  angeis  that  sinned  before 
them,  unto  the  judgment  of  the  great  day.  But  it  was  from  infinite 
love  that  he  made  this  condescension,  to  reveal  himself  and  his  will 
unto  us.     This  mixture  of  authority  and  love,  which  io  the  spring  of 


88  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

the  revelation  of  the  will  of  God  unto  us,  requires  all  readiness, 
willingness,  and  cheerfulness,  in  the  receipt  of  it  and  submission 
unto  it.     Besides  these  also, — 

8.  There  is  care  eminently  seen  in  it.  The  great  care  of  the 
church  is  in  and  on  the  Father.  He  is  the  husbandman  that  takes 
care  of  the  vine  and  vineyard,  John  xv.  1,  2.  And  hence  our 
Saviour,  who  had  a  delegated  care  of  his  people,  commends  them 
to  the  Father,  John  xvii.,  as  to  whom  the  care  of  them  did  princi- 
pally and  originally  belong.  Care  is  proper  to  a  father  as  such; 
to  God  as  a  father.  Care  is  inseparal)le  from  paternal  love.  And 
this  also  is  to  be  considered  in  the  revelation  of  the  will  of  God. 

What  directions  (rom  these  considerations  may  be  taken  for  the 
use  both  of  them  that  dispense  the  word,  and  of  those  whose  duty 
it  is  to  attend  unto  the  dispensation  of  it,  shall  only  be  marked  in 
our  passage. 

For  the  dispensers  of  the  word,  let  them, — 1.  Take  heed  of  pur- 
suing that  work  negligently  which  hath  its  spring  in  the  authority, 
love,  and  care  of  God.  See  1  Tim.  iv.  13-16.  2.  Know  to  wJiom 
to  look  for  supportment,  help,  ability,  and  encouragement  in  their 
work,  Eph.  vi.  19,  20.  And,  8.  Not  be  discouraged,  whatever 
opposition  tliey  meet  with  in  the  discharge  of  their  duty,  consider- 
ing whose  work  they  have  in  hand,  2  Cor.  iv.  15,  16.  4.  Know 
how  they  ouglit  to  dispense  the  toord,  so  as  to  answer  the  spring 
from  whence  it  comes, — namely,  with  authority,  and  love  to  and  care 
for  the  souls  of  men.  And,  5.  Consider  to  whom  they  are  to  give 
an  account  of  the  work  they  are  called  to  the  discharge  of,  and 
intrusted  with,  Heb.  xiii.  17. 

And  for  them  to  whom  the  word  is  preached,  let  them  consider, — 
1.  With  what  reverence  and  godly  fear  they  ought  to  attend  unto 
the  dispensation  of  it,  seeing  it  is  a  proper  effect  and  issue  of  the 
authority  of  God,  Heb.  xii.  28.  And,  2.  How  they  will  "  escape  if 
they  neglect  so  great  salvation,"  declared  unto  them  from  the  love 
and  care  of  God,  Heb.  ii.  8.  And,  3.  With  what  holiness  and  spiri- 
tual subjection  of  soul  unto  God,  they  ought  to  be  conversant  in 
and  with  all  the  ordinances  of  worship  that  are  appointed  by  him, 
Heb.  xii.  28,  29. 

Other  observations  I  shall  more  briefly  pass  over.  "  God  spake 
in  them." 

II.  The  authority  of  God  speaking  in  and  by  the  penmen  of 
the  Scriptures  is  the  sole  bottom  and  foundation  of  our  assenting 
to  them,  and  what  is  contained  in  them,  witli  faith  divine  and 
supernatural. 

He  spake  in  them;  he  then  continues  to  speak  by  them;  and 
therefore  is  their  word  to  be  received,  2  Pet.  i.  20,  21.  But  this  is 
elsewhere  handled  at  large. 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBllEWS. 


39 


III.  God's  gradual  revelation  of  himself,  his  mind  and  will,  unto 
the  church,  was  a  fruit  of  infinite  wisdom  and  care  towards  liis 
elect. 

"  These  are  parts  of  his  ways,"  say.-*  Job;  "  but  how  little  a  por- 
tion is  heard  of  him?"  Job  xxvi.  14.  Though  all  his  ways  and  dis- 
pensations are  ordered  in  infinite  wisdom,  yet  we  can  but  stand  at 
the  shore  of  the  ocean,  and  admire  its  glory  and  greatness.  Little 
it  is  that  we  can  comprehend.  Yet  what  may  be  for  our  instruction 
what  may  further  our  faith  and  obedience,  is  not  hidden  from  us. 
And  these  things  lie  evident  unto  us  in  this  gradual  discovery  of 
himself  and  his  will : — 

1.  That  he  overfilled  not  their  vessels.  He  gave  them  out  light 
as  they  were  able  to  bear.  Though  we  know  not  perfectly  what 
their  condition  was,  yet  this  we  know,  that  as  no  generation  neeiled 
more  light  than  they  had,  for  the  discharge  of  the  duty  that  God 
required  of  them,  so  more  light  would  have  unfitted  them  for 
somewhat  or  other  that  was  their  duty  in  their  respective  gene- 
rations. 

2.  He  kept  them  in  a  continual  dependence  upon  himself,  and 
waiting  for  their  rule  and  direction  from  him;  which,  as  it  tended 
to  his  glory,  so  it  was  exceedingly  suited  to  their  safety,  in  keeping 
them  in  a  humble,  waiting  frame. 

3.  He  so  gave  out  the  light  and.  knoiuledge  of  himself  as  thattho 
great  work  which  he  had  to  accomplish,  that  lay  in  the  stores  of  his 
infinitely  wise  will,  as  the  end  and  issue  of  all  revelations, —  namely, 
the  bringing  forth  of  Christ  into  the  world,  in  the  way  wherein  he 
was  to  come,  and  for  the  ends  which  he  was  to  bring  about, — 
might  not  be  obviated.  He  gave  light  enough  to  believers  to  enable 
them  to  receive  him,  and  not  so  nmch  as  to  hinder  obdurate  sin- 
ners from  crucifying  him. 

4.  He  did  this  work  so  that  the  pre-eminence  full  g  and  ultimately 
to  reveal  him  might  be  reserved  for  Him  in  whom  all  things  were 
to  be  gathered  unto  a  head.  All  privileges  were  to  be  kept  for 
and  unto  him ;  which  was  principally  done  by  this  gradual  revela- 
tion of  the  mind  of  God. 

5.  And  there  was  tender  ca?-e  conjoined  with  this  infinite  wisdom. 
None  of  his  elect  in  any  age  wore  left  without  that  light  and  in- 
struction which  were  needful  for  them  in  their  seasons  and  genera- 
tions; and  this  so  given  out  unto  them  as  that  they  might  have 
fresh  consolation  and  supportment,  as  their  occasions  did  require. 
Whilst  the  church  of  old  was  under  this  dispensation,  they  were 
still  hearkening  when  they  should  hear  new  tidings  from  heaven  for 
their  teaching  and  refreshment;  and  if  any  difticuky  did  at  any  time 
befall  them,  they  were  sure  not  to  want  relief  in  this  kind.  And 
this  was  necessary  before  the  final  hand  was  set  to  the  work.     And 


40  AN  EXPOSITION  OT  THE  [CHAP.  L 

this  discovers  the  woful  state  of  the  present  Jews.  They  grant  that 
the  revelation  of  the  will  of  God  is  not  perfected;  and  yet,  notwith- 
standing all  their  miseries,  darkness,  and  distresses,  they  dare  not 
pretend  that  they  have  heard  one  word  from  heaven  these  two 
thousand  years, — that  is,  from  the  days  of  Malachi;  and  yet  they 
labour  to  keep  the  veil  upon  their  eyes. 

IV.  We  may  see  hence  the  absolute  perfection  of  the  revelation 
of  the  will  of  God  by  Christ  and  his  apostles,  as  to  every  end  and 
purpose  whatever  for  which  God  ever  did  or  ever  will  in  this  world 
reveal  himself,  or  his  mind  and  will. 

For  as  this  was  the  last  way  and  means  that  God  ever  designed 
for  the  discovery  of  himself,  as  to  the  worship  and  obedience  which 
he  requires,  so  the  person  by  whom  he  accomplished  this  work  makes 
it  indispensably  necessaiy  that  it  be  also  absolutely  perfect,  from 
which  nothing  can  be  taken,  to  which  nothing  must  be  added,  under 
the  penalty  of  the  extermination  threatened  to  him  that  will  not 
attend  to  the  voice  of  that  Prophet. 

Return  we  now  again  unto  the  words  of  our  apostle.  Having 
declared  the  Son  to  be  the  immediate  revealer  of  the  gospel,  in  pur- 
suit of  his  design  he  proceeds  to  declare  his  glory  and  excellency, 
both  that  which  he  had  in  himself  antecedent  to  his  susception  of 
the  office  of  mediator,  and  what  he  received  upon  his  investiture 
therewith. 

Two  things  in  the  close  of  this  verse  he  assigns  unto  him: — 1. 
That  he  was  appointed  heir  of  all ;  2.  That  by  him  the  worlds  were 
made:  wherein  consist  the  first  amplification  of  his  proposition  con- 
cerning the  revealer  of  the  gospel,  in  two  parts,  both  acknowledged 
by  the  Jews,  and  both  directly  conducing  to  his  purpose  in  hand. 

"Ov  Urj-yci  xX7ipov6/xov  i:avrm.   "Edrjxs, — "Posuit,"  "  fecit," 
"^^'"''-       "  constituit."    Syr.,  D?,— "  posuit,"  «  he  placed,"  "  set," 
"  made,"  ''  appointed." 

1.  "O:*,  "  whom ;"  that  is  the  Son,  in  whom  the  Father 
spake  unto  us :  and  as  such,  as  the  revealer  of  the  gos- 
pel, QidvdpwTroc,  "  God  and  man."  The  Son,  as  God,  hath  a  natural 
dominion  over  all.  To  this  he  can  be  no  more  appointed  than  he 
can  be  to  be  God.  On  what  account  he  hath  his  divine  nature,  on 
the  same  he  hath  all  the  attributes  and  perfections  of  it,  with  all 
things  that  necessarily  on  any  supposition  attend  it,  as  supreme 
dominion  doth.  Nor  doth  this  denotation  of  him  respect  merely 
the  human  nature ;  for  although  the  Lord  Christ  performed  all  the 
acts  of  his  mediatory  office  in  and  by  the  human  nature,  yet  he  did 
them  not  as  man,  but  as  God  and  man  in  one  person,  John  i.  14, 
Acts  XX.  28,  And  therefore  unto  him,  as  such,  do  the  privileges 
belong  that  he  is  vested  with  on  the  account  of  his  being  medialoi. 
Nothing,  indeed,  can  be  added  unto  him  as  God,  but  there  may  be 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  41 

to  him  who  is  God,  in  respect  of  his  condescension  to  discharge 
an  office  in  another  nature  which  he  did  assume.  And  this  salves 
the  paralogism  of  Felbenger  on  this  place,  which  is  that  wherewith 
the  Jews  and  Socinians  perpetually  entangle  themselves:  "  Deus 
altissimus  non  potest  salva  majestate  sua  ab  aliquo  ha3res  constitutus 
esse;  Filius  Dei  a  Deo  est  hseres  omnium  constitutus:  ergo  Filius 
Dei  non  est  Deus  altissimus."  God  is  called  PV-  - »  "  the  high,"  or 
"  most  high  God,"  with  reference  to  his  sovereign  and  supreme  exal- 
tation over  all  his  creatures,  as  the  next  words  in  the  place  where 
that  title  is  given  unto  him  do  declare:  P.^l  ^^'P*^  i^.^P, — "  Possessor 
of  heaven  and  earth,"  Gen.  xiv.  19.  He  is  not  termed  "Deus  altissi- 
mus,"  "  the  most  high  God,"  as  thoiigh  there  were  another  "  Deus 
altus,"  "a  high  God,"  that  is  not  the  "  altissimus;"  which  is  the 
sense  of  the  Socinians.  This  one  "  Deus  altissimus,"  "  most  high 
God,"  absolutely,  in  respect  of  his  divine  nature,  cannot  be  appointed 
an  heir  by  any  other.  But  he  who  is  so  this  high  God  as  to  be  the 
eternal  Son  of  the  Father,  and  made  man,  may,  in  respect  of  the 
office  which  in  the  nature  of  man  he  undertook  to  discharge,  by  his 
Father  be  made  "  heir  of  all." 

2.  KXripovc/xov,  "  the  heir."  KX^pog  is  "  a  lot,"  and  a 
peculiar  portion  received  by  lot;  thence  "  an  inherit- 
ance," which  is  a  man's  lot  and  portion.  KXr,pog  kvibizog,  "  an  in- 
heritance under  controversy;"  xX'fipovo/xo;,  "an  heir  to  goods  divided, 
by  lot,"  or  he  that  distributeth  an  inheritance  to  others  by  lot. 
Absolutely,  "an  heir."  So  the  poet,  of  the  covetous  Hermocrates, 
'Ei*  dia67^Kaig  ahrhv  ruv  idluv  'iypa-^e  xXrjpovof/jOV — "  He  appointed  him- 
self his  own  heir  in  his  last  will  and  testament."  It  hath  also  a 
more  large  signification.  'O  rou  Xoyov  TtXripovo/j^og,  he  is,  in  Plato, 
whose  turn  it  was  to  speak  next.  Strictly,  it  is  the  same  with 
"  hseres,"  "  an  heir."  And  an  heir  is  he  "  qui  subintrat  jus,  locum, 
et  dominium  rerum  defuncti,  ac  si  eadera  persona  esset ;" — "who 
entereth  into  the  right,  place,  and  title  of  him  that  is  deceased, 
as  if  he  were  the  same  person."  But  yet  the  name  of  an  heir  is 
not  restrained  in  the  law  to  him  that  so  succeeds  a  deceased  per- 
son; in  which  sense  it  can  have  no  place  here.  "  Hreredis  nomen 
latiore  eignificatione  possessorem  et  fidei  commissarium  et  legata- 
rium  comprehendit;" — it  comprehends  a  possessor,  a  trustee,  and  a 
legatary.  So  Spigelius,  This  sense  of  the  word  takes  otf  the  cata- 
chresis  which  must  be  supposed  in  the  application  of  it  unto  the 
Son,  if  it  only  denoted  such  an  heir  as  Abraham  thought  Eliezer 
would  be  to  him.  Gen.  xv.  3,  4, — one  that  succeeds  into  the  right  and 
goods  of  the  deceased ;  for  the  Father  dieth  not,  nor  doth  ever  forego 
his  own  title  or  dominion.  Neither  is  the  title  and  right  given  to 
the  Son  as  mediator  the  same  with  that  of  God  absolutely  consi- 
dered.    This  is  eternal,  natural,  co-existent  with  the  being  of  all 


42  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

things;  that  new,  created  by  grant  and  donation,  by  whose  erection 
and  establishment  the  other  is  not  at  all  impeached.  For  whereas 
it  is  affirmed  that  "  the  Father  judgeth  no  man,  but  hath  committed 
all  judgment  unto  the  Son,"  John  v.  22,  27,  30,  it  respects  not  title 
and  rule,  but  actual  administration. 

In  the  latter  sense  of  the  word,  as  it  denotes  any  rightful  pos- 
sessor by  grant  from  another,  it  is  properly  ascribed  unto  the  Son. 
And  there  are  three  things  intended  in  this  word: — 

(1.)  Title,  dominion,  lordship,  "  Hseres  est  qui  herus;"  for  thence 
is  the  word,  and  not  from  "  sere,"  as  Isidore  supposeth.  The  heir 
is  the  lord  of  that  which  he  is  heir  unto.  So  the  apostle.  Gal.  iv.  1, 
KXrjpovo/j^og  is  Kvpioc,  <7:dvroov,  "  The  heir  is  lord  of  all.'"  And  in  this 
sense  is  Christ  called  li33  "  the  first-born,"  Ps.  Ixxxix.'  28,  "  I  will 
give  him  to  be  my  fii'st-born,  higher  than"  (or,  "and  high  above") 
"the  kings  of  the  earth ;"  "  princeps,  dominus,  caput  familiae," — "  the 
prince,  lord,  and  head  of  the  family,"  that  hath  right  to  the  inherit- 
ance, and  distributes  portions  to  others.  Hence  "^i^?  is  used  for 
every  thing  that  e^xcelleth,  and  hath  the  pre-eminence  in  its  own 
kind.  Job  xxviii.  11;  Isa.  xiv.  30;  Ezek.  xlvii.  12.     So  Col.  i.  15. 

(2.)  Possessio7i.  Christ  is  made  actual  possessor  of  that  which  he 
hath  title  imto.  As  he  is  "'^^f ,  so  he  is  ^'})\ — such  a  possessor  as 
comes  to  his  possession  by  the  surrender  or  grant  of  another.  God 
in  respect  of  his  dominion  is  called  "^^P,  the  absolute  possessor  of 
heaven  and  earth,  Gen.  xiv.  22.  Christ  as  mediator  is  ^''})\  a  pos- 
sessor by  grant.  And  there  was  a  suitableness  that  he  that  was  the 
Son  should  thus  be  heir.  Whence  Chrysostom  and  Theophylact 
affirm  that  the  words  denote  xai  ro  rrn  v'torrirog  yWiSiov,  xai  rh  rrn 
xvpioTr}rQs  avavod'Tras-ov," — "  the  propriety  of  his  sonsliijD,  and  the  im- 
mutability of  his  lordship."  Not  that  he  was  thus  made  heir  of  all 
as  he  was  [lovoyivng,  "the  only- begotten"  Sou  of  the  Father,  John 
i.  14;  but  it  was  agreeable  and  consonant  that  he  wiio  was  eternally 
[/.ovoytvni.  and  had  on  that  account  an  absolute  dominion  over  all 
with  his  Father,  becoming  'TrpMrdroy.oc  sv  rroXkoTg  ddi'kfoTg,  Rom.  viii. 
29,  "  the  first-born  amongst  many  brethren,"  should  have  a  dele- 
gated heiiship  of  all,  and  be  given  to  be  "  the  head  over  all  to  the 
church,"  Eph.  i.  22.  ' 

(3.)  That  he  hath  both  this  title  and  possession  hy  grant  from  the 
Father ;  of  which  afterwards.  Christ,  then,  by  virtue  of  a  grant  from 
the  Father,  is  made  Lord  by  a  new  title,  and  hath  possession  given 
him  according  to  his  title.     He  is  xXripovCixog,  "  the  heir." 

8.  ndvTuv,  "of  all."     This  is  the  object  of  the  heir- 
ship of  Christ,  his  inheritance.     The  word  may  be  taken 
in  the  masculine, gender,  and  denotes  all  persons,  all  those  of  whom 
he  had  spoken  before,  all  the  revealers  of  the  will  of  God  under  the 
old  testament.     The  Son  was  Lord  over  them  all;  which  is  true. 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS,  4.S 

But  the  word  in  the  neuter  gender  denotes  all  things  absolutely ;  and 
so  it  is  in  this  place  to  be  understood:  for, — 

(1.)  It  is  so  used  elsewhere  to  the  same  purpose:  1  Cor.  xv,  27, 
Uavra  brrira^v — "  He  hath  subjected  all  things  unto  him/'  So  Rom. 
ix.  5,  'O  £01'  £t/  -ffavTuv  Qscg' — "  Who  is  God  over  all." 

(2.)  This  sense  suits  the  apostle's  argument,  and  adds  a  double  force 
to  his  intention  and  design.  For, — [1.]  The  Author  of  the  gospel 
being  heir  and  lord  of  all  things  whatever,  the  sovereign  disposal 
of  all  those  rites  and  ordinances  of  worship  about  whicli  the  Jews 
contended  must  needs  be  in  his  hand,  to  change  and  alter  them  as 
he  saw  good.  [2.]  He  being  the  heir  and  lord  of  all  things,  it  was 
easy  for  them  to  conclude,  that  if  they  intended  to  be  made  partakers 
of  any  good  in  heaven  or  earth,  in  a  way  of  love  and  mercy,  it  must 
be  by  an  interest  in  him ;  which  without  a  constant  abode  in  obedi- 
ence unto  his  gospel  cannot  be  attained. 

(8.)  The  next  words  evince  this  sense,  "By  whom  also  he  made  the 
worlds."  Probably  they  render  a  reason  of  the  equitableness  of  this 
great  trust  made  to  the  Son.  He  made  all,  and  it  was  meet  he 
should  be  Lord  of  all.  However,  the  force  of  the  connection  of  the 
words,  8i'  o£  xa/  roue  aiSJvag,  '"  by  whom  also  he  made  the  worlds," 
equals  the  ^avrcoi/,  the  "  all"  foregoing,  to  the  aiuvag,  or  the  "  worlds" 
following. 

(4 )  The  inheritance  given  answers  the  promise  of  it  unto  Abraham, 
which  was  that  he  should  be  "  heir  of  the  world,"  Rom.  iv.  13,  namely, 
in  his  seed,  Gal.  iii.  16;  as  also  the  request  made  by  Christ  on  that 
promise,  Ps.  ii.  8:  both  whicli  extend  it  to  the  whole  world,  the 
ends  of  the  earth. 

(5.)  The  original  and  rise  of  this  inheritance  of  Christ  will  give  us 
its  true  extent,  which  must  therefore  more  especially  be  considered. 

Upon  the  creation  of  man,  God  gave  unto  him  a  dominion  over 
all  things  in  this  lower  world.  Gen.  i.  28,  29.  He  made  him  his  heir, 
vicegerent,  and  substitute  in  the  earth.  And  as  for  those  other 
creatures  to  which  his  power  and  authority  did  not  immediately  ex- 
tend, as  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  the  whole  inanimate  host  of  the 
superior  world,  they  were  ordered  by  Him  that  made  them  to  serve 
for  his  good  and  behoof,  Gen.  i.  14;  Deut.  iv.  19  ;  so  that  even  they 
also  in  a  sort  belonged  unto  his  inheritance,  being  made  to  serve 
him  in  his  subjection  unto  God. 

Further,  besides  this  lower  part  of  his  dominion,  God  had  for  his 
glory  created  angels  in  heaven  above;  of  whom  we  shall  have  occa- 
sion hereafter  to  treat.  These  made  up  another  branch  of  God's 
providential  kingciom,  the  whole  administered  in  the  upper  and 
lower  world,  being  of  each  other  independent,  and  meeting  in 
nothing  but  their  dependence  upon  and  subjection  unto  God  him- 
self.    Hence  they  did  not  so  stand  in  the  condition  of  their  creation^ 


44  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

"but  that  one  kind  or  race  of  them  might  fail  and  perish  without  any 
impeachment  of  the  other.     So  also  it  came  to  pass.     Man  might 
have  persisted  in  his  honour  and  dignity  notwithstanding  the  fall 
and  apostasy  of  some  of  the  angels.     When  he  fell  from  his  heirship 
and  dominion,  the  whole  subordination  of  all  things  unto  him,  and 
by  him  unto  God,  Avas  lost,  and  all  creatures  returned  to  an  imme- 
diate absolute  dependence  on  the  government  of  God,  without  any 
respect  to  the  authority  and  sovereignty  delegated  unto  man.     But 
as  the  fall  of  angels  did  not  in  its  own  nature  prejudice  mankind, 
no  more  did  this  fall  of  man  the  angels  that  persisted  in  tlieir 
obedience,  they  being  no  part  of  his  inheritance.     However,  by  the 
sin,  apostasy,  and  punishment,  of  that  portion  of  the  angels  which 
kept   not  their  first  station,  it  was  manifested  how  possible  it  was 
that  the  remainder  of  them  might  sin  after  the  simiUtudc  of  their 
transgression.   Things  being  brought  into  this  condition, — one  branch 
of  the  kingdom  of  God,  under  the  administration  of  man,  or  allotted 
to  his  service,  being  cast  out  of  that  order  wherein  he  had  placed  it, 
and  the  other  in  an  open  possibility  of  being  so  also, — it  seemed  good 
to  the  Lord,  in  his  infinite  wisdom,  to  erect  one  kingdom  out  of  these 
two  disordered  members  of  his  first  dominion,  and  to  appoint  one 
common  heir,  head,  ruler,  and  lord  to  them  both.     And  this   was 
the  Son,  as  the  apostle  tells  us,  Eph.  i.  10:   "He  gathered  together 
in  one  all  things  in  Christ,  botli  which  are  in  heaven,  and  which 
are  on  earth ;  even  in  him."     He  designed  ava-AnpayMiwcsaa&ai,  "  to 
bring  all  into  one  head"  and  rule  in  liim.     It  is  not  a  similitude 
t:iken  from  casting  up  accounts,  wherein  lesser  sums  are  in  the  close 
brought  into  one  head,  as  some  have  imagined ;  nor  yet  an  allusion 
to  orators,  who  in  the  close  of  their  long  orations  sum  up  the  matter 
they  have  at  large  treated  of,  that  the  apostle  makes  use  of;  both 
which  are  beneath  the  majesty  of,  and  no  way  suited  to  illustrate, 
the  matter  he  hath  in  hand.     But  as  Chrysostom  well  intimates  on 
the  place,  it  is  as  if  he  had  said,  Miav  xs<paX'/iv  d'Traatv  ivUr^xi, — "  He 
appointed  one  head  to  them  all,"  angels  and  men,  with  whatsoever 
in  the  first  constitution  of  the  divine  government  was  subordinate 
unto  them.     So  we  have  found  the  object  and  extent  of  the  heir- 
ship of  Christ  expressed  in  this  word  irdvruv,  which  I  shall  further 
exjDlain  in  that  brief  scheme  of  the  whole  kingdom  of  Christ  which 
to  the  exposition  of  these  words  shall  be  subjoined. 

4.  "E^jjjtg.  The  way  whereby  Christ  the  Son  came 
"**'  to  his  inheritance  is  in  this  word  expressed.  God  "  ap- 
pointed" or  "  placed"  him  therein.  The  word  may  denote  either  those 
special  acts  whereby  he  came  into  the  full  possession  of  his  heirship, 
or  it  may  be  extended  to  other  preparatory  acts  that  long  preceded 
them,  especially  if  we  shall  take  it  to  be  of  the  same  importance 
with  UiTo  in  the  second  aoristus.     In  the  former  sense,  the  glorious 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  45 

investiture  of  the  Lord  Christ  in  the  full  actual  possession  of  his 
kingdom  after  his  resurrection,  with  the  manifestation  of  it  in  his 
ascension,  and  token  of  its  stability  in  his  sitting  at  the  right  hand 
of  God,  is  designed.  By  all  these  God  Un^e,  "  made  him,"  placed 
him  with  solemn  investiture,  heir  of  all.  The  grant  was  made  to 
him  upon  his  resurrection,  Matt,  xxviii.  18,  and  therein  fully  de- 
clared unto  others,  Rom.  i.  4;  Acts  xiii.  33  :  as  there  was  of  Solo- 
mon's being  king,  when  he  was  proclaimed  by  Benaiah,  Zadok, 
and  Nathan,  1  Kings  i,  31-34.  The  solemnization  of  it  was  in  his 
ascension,  Ps.  Ixviii.  17,  18,  Eph.  iv.  8-10;  and  typed  by  Solo- 
mon's riding  on  David's  mule  unto  his  throne,  all  the  people  crying, 
^^^n  ^n]^  1  Kings,  i,  39,  "  Let  the  king  live."  All  was  sealed  and 
ratified  when  he  took  possession  of  his  throne  at  the  right  hand  of 
the  Father;  by  all  which  he  was  made  and  declared  to  be  Lord  and 
Christ,  Acts  ii.  36,  iv.  11,  v.  30,  31.  And  such  weight  doth  the 
Scripture  lay  upon  this  glorious  investiture  of  Christ  in  his  inherit- 
ance, that  it  speaks  of  his  whole  power  as  then  first  granted  unto 
him,  Rom.  xiv.  9;  Phil.  ii.  7-10;  and  the  reason  of  it  is,  because  he 
had  then  actually  performed  that  work  and  duty  upon  the  considera- 
tion whereof  that  power  and  authority  were  eternally  designed  and 
originally  granted  unto  him.  God's  actual  committing  all  power 
over  all  things  and  persons  in  heaven  and  earth,  to  be  exerted  and 
managed  for  the  ends  of  his  mediation,  declaring  this  act,  grant,  and 
delegation  by  his  resurrection,  ascension,  and  sitting  at  his  right 
hand,  is  that  which  this  word  denotes. 

I  will  not  deny  but  it  may  have  respect  unto  sundry  things  pre- 
ceding these,  and  preparatory  unto  them;  as, — (1.)  The  eternal  'pur- 
pose  of  God,  ordaining  him  before  the  foundation  of  the  world  unto 
his  work  and  inheritance,  1  Pet.  i.  20.  (2.)  The  covenant  that  was 
of  ola  between  the  Father  and  Son  for  the  accomplishment  of  the 
great  work  of  redemption,  this  inheritance  being  included  in  the 
contract,  Prov.  viii.  30,  31 ;  Isa.  liii.  10,  11.  (3.)  The  promises  made 
unto  him  in  his  types,  Abraham,  David,  and  Solomon,  Gen. 
XV. ;  Ps.  Ixxii.  (4.)  The  promises  left  vpon  record  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment for  his  supportment  and  assurance  of  success,  Ps.  ii. ;  Isa. 
xlix.,  etc.  (5.)  The  solemn  proclamation  of  him  to  be  the  great  heir 
and  lord  ot  all,  at  his  first  coming  into  the  world,  Luke  ii.  11, 
30-32.  But  it  is  the  consummation  of  all  these,  whatever  was  in- 
tended or  declared  in  these  prexious  acts  of  the  will  and  wisdom  of 
God,  that  is  principally  intended  in  this  expression. 

Some  suppose  it  ol  importance,  in  this  matter  of  the  heirship  of 
Christ,  to  assert  that  he  was  the  rightful  heir  of  the  crown  and 
sceptre  of  Israel.  This  opinion  is  so  promoted  by  Baronius  as  to 
contend  that  the  right  of  the  kingdom  was  devolved  on  him,  which 
was  caused  to  cease  for  a  season  in  Autigouus,  who  was  slain  by  JVL 


46  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

Antony.  But  what  was  the  right  of  the  kingdom  that  was  in 
Antigonus  is  hard  to  declare.  The  Asmonasans,  of  whom  that 
ruled  he  was  the  last,  were  of  the  tribe  of  Levi.  Their  right  to  the 
sceptre  was  no  more  but  what  they  had  won  by  the  sword.  So 
that  by  his  death  there  could  be  no  devolution  of  a  right  to  reiga 
unto  any,  it  being  that  which  he  never  had.  Nor  is  it  probable 
that  our  Saviour  was  the  next  of  kin  to  the  reigning  house  of  Judah; 
nor  was  it  any  wise  needful  he  should  be  so;  nor  is  there  any  pro- 
mise to  that  purpose.  His  lineal  descent  was  from  Nathan,  and  not 
from  Solomon, — of  that  house  was  Zerubbabel  the  aichmalotarches, 
— which  therefore  is  specially  mentioned  in  the  reformation,  Zech. 
xii.  12.  Besides,  the  heirship  promised  unto  Christ  was  neither  of 
a  temjooral  kingdom  of  Israel,  which  he  never  enjoyed,  nor  of  an}' 
other  thing  in  dependence  thereon.  Were  it  so,  the  Jews  must  first 
have  the  dominion,  before  he  could  inherit  it.  And  such,  indeed,  was 
the  mistake  of  the  disciples  (as  it  is  of  the  Jews  to  this  day),  who 
inquired,  not  whether  he  would  take  the  kingdom  to  himself,  but 
whether  he  would  restore  it  unto  Israel. 

We  have  opened  the  words:  it  remaineth  that  we  consider  the 
sense  and  persuasion  of  the  Hebrews  in  this  matter;  2.  Show  the 
influence  of  this  assertion  into  the  argument  that  the  apostle  hath 
in  hand;  and,  3.  Annex  a  brief  scheme  of  the  whole  lordship  and 
kingdom  of  Christ. 

The  testimonies  given  to  this  heirship  of  the  Messiah  in  the  Old 
Testament,  sufficiently  evidencing  the  faith  of  the  church  guided  by 
the  rule  thereof,  will  be  mentioned  afterwards.  For  the  present,  I 
shall  only  intimate  the  continuance  of  this  persuasion  among  the 
Jews,  both  then  when  the  apostle  wrote  unto  them  and  afterwards. 
To  this  purpose  is  that  of  Jonathan  in  the  Targum  on  Zech.  iv.  7: 
i^n\J?^  bn  d^'l^'^i  ]'i2ipbi2  nnti'  inosn  i^n'^i^'D  iT  ''^n; — "He  shall  reveal 
the  Messiah,  whose  name  is  from  everlasting,  who  shall  have  the  do- 
minion over  all  kingdoms."  See  Ps.  Ixxii.  11.  And  of  him  who 
was  brought  before  the  Ancient  of  days,  like  the  Son  of  man,  Dan.  vii., 
to  whom  all  power  was  given,  they  say,  rT'ti'Dn  l^D  J<"i"; — "  He  is  Mes- 
siah, the  king."  So  R.  Solomon  on  the  place.  So  R.  Beehai  on 
Exod.  xxiii.  21,  "My  name  is  in  him."  "He  is  called,"  saith  he, 
"  jliLStan,  because  in  that  name  two  significations  are  included,  }nx,  '  a 
lord,'  and  ^''i'E^^,  'an  ambassador;'"  the  reasons  of  which  etymology 
out  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  tongues  he  subjoins,  I  confess  foolishly 
enough.  But  yet  he  adds  to  our  purpose:  "It  may  have  a  third 
sionification,  of  a  'keeper;'  for  the  Targum,  instead  of  the  Hebrew 
mDD'D,  hath  mOD,  from  "iDl  Because  he,  that  is  the  Messiah,  pre- 
serves or  keeps  the  world,  he  is  called  ^itniy  "lOi:^, '  the  keeper  of  Is- 
rael.' Hence  it  appears  that  he  is  the  Lord  of  all  things,  they  being 
put  under  him,  and  that  the  whole  host  of  things  above  and  below 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  47 

are  in  his  hand.  He  is  also  the  manager  of  all  above  and  henoath, 
hocause  God  hath  made  him  to  rule  over  all,  hath  appointed  him 
tne  lord  of  his  house,  the  ruler  of  all  he  hath/'  Which  expressions 
how  consonant  they  are  to  what  is  delivered  by  the  apostle  in  this 
place  and  chap,  iii.,  is  easily  discerned. 

The  influence  of  this  assertion  or  common  principle  of  the 
Judaieal  church  into  the  argument  that  the  apostle  hath  in  hand  is 
evident  and  manifest.  He  who  is  the  heir  and  lord  of  all  things, 
spiritual,  temporal,  ecclesiastical,  must  needs  have  power  over  all 
Mosaical  institutions,  be  the  lord  of  them,  which  are  nowhere 
exempted  from  his  rule. 

The  words  being  opened,  and  the  design  of  the  apostle  in  them 
discovered,  because  they  contain  an  eminent  head  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  gospel  concerning  the  lordship  and  kingdom  of  Jesus  Ciirist, 
the  Messiah,  I  shall  stay  here  a  little,  to  give  in  a  scheme  of  his 
whole  dominion,  seeing  the  consideration  of  it  will  not  again  so 
directly  occur  unto  us.  That  which  is  the  intendment  of  the  words, 
in  the  interpretation  given  of  them,  is  this: — 

God  the  Father,  in  the  pursuit  of  the  sovereign  purpose  of  his 
will,  hath  granted  unto  the  Son  as  incarnate,  and  mediator  of  the 
new  covenant,  according  to  the  eternal  counsel  between  them  both, 
a  sovereign  power  and  authority  over  all  things  in  heaven  and  earth, 
with  the  possession  of  an  absolute  proprietor,  to  dispose  of  them  at 
his  pleasure,  for  the  furtherance  and  advancement  of  his  proper  and 
peculiar  work,  as  head  of  his  church. 

I  shall  not  insist  on  the  several  branches  of  this  thesis;  but,  as  I 
said,  in  general  confirm  this  grant  of  power  and  dominion  unto  the 
Lord  Christ,  and  then  give  in  our  scheme  of  his  kingdom,  in  the 
several  branches  of  it,  not  enlarging  our  discourse  upon  them,  but 
only  pointing  at  the  heads  and  sj)rings  of  things  as  they  lie  in  the 
Scripture. 

OF  THE  KINGDOM  OR  LORDSHIP  OF  CHRIST. 

The  grant  of  dominion  in  general  unto  the  Messiah  is  intimated  in 
the  first  promise  of  him,  Gen,  iii.  15, — his  victory  over  Satan  was  to 
be  attended  with  rule,  power,  and  dominion,  Ps.  Ixviii.  18,  Isa.  liii. 
12,  Eph.  iv.  8,  9,  Col.  ii.  15; — and  confirmed  in  the  renewal  of  that 
prorais^  to  Abraham,  Gen.  xxii.  17,  18;  for  in  him  it  was  that 
Abraham  was  to  be  "  heir  of  the  world,"  Rom.  iv.  13; — as  also  unto 
Judah,  whose  seed  was  to  enjoy  the  sceptre  and  lawgiver,  until  he 
came  who  was  ^o  be  Lord  over  all,  Gen.  xlix.  1 0 ; — and  Balaam  also 
saw  the  Star  of  Jacob,  with  a  sceptre  for  rule.  Num.  xxiv.  17,  19. 
This  kingdom  was  fully  revealed  unto  David,  and  is  expressed  by 
him,  Ps.  ii.  throughout,  Ps.  xlv.  3-8  Ixxxix.  19-24,  etc.,  Ixxii.  6-9, 

VOL.  xn.— 4: 


48  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

etc.,  Ps.  ex.  1-3  ; — as  also  in  all  the  following  prophets.  See  Isa.  xL 
1-4,  ix.  6,  7,  liii.  12,  Ixiii.  1-3;  Jer.  xxiii.  5,  6;  Dan.  vii.  13,  14,  etc. 

As  this  was  foretold  in  the  Old  Testament,  so  the  accomplishment 
of  it  is  expressly  asserted  in  the  New,  Upon  his  bii'th  he  is  pro- 
claimed to  be  "Christ  the  Lord,"  Luke  ii.  11 ;  and  the  first  inquiry 
after  him  is,  "Where  is  he  that  is  born  king?"  Matt.  ii.  2,  6.  And 
this  testimony  doth  he  give  concerning  himself,  namely,  that  all 
judgment  was  his,  and  therefore  all  honour  was  due  unto  him,  John 
V.  22,  23;  and  that  "all  things  were  delivered  unto  him,"  or  given 
into  his  hand,  Matt.  xi.  27;  yea,  "all  power  in  heaven  and  in  earth," 
Matt,  xxviii.  18, — the  thing  pleaded  for.  Him  who  was  crucified  did 
God  make  "both  Lord  and  Christ,"  Acts  ii.  35,  36 ;  exalting  him  at 
his  right  hand  to  be  "a  Prince  and  a  Saviour,"  Acts  v.  31.  He  is 
"highly  exalted,"  having  "a  name  given  him  above  every  name,"  Phil, 
ii.  9-11;  being  "set  at  the  right  hand  of  God  in  heavenly  places, 
far  above,"  etc.,  Eph.  i.  20-22 ;  where  he  reigns  for  ever,  1  Cor.  xv. 
25;  being  the  "King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords,"  Rev.  xix,  16, 
V.  12-14;  for  he  is  "  Lord  of  dead  and  living,"  Rom.  xiv.  7-9. 

And  this  in  general  is  fully  asserted  in  the  Scripture,  unto  the 
consolation  of  the  church  and  terror  of  his  adversaries.  This,  I  say, 
is  the  spring  of  the  church's  glory,  comfort,  and  assurance  It  is 
our  head,  husband,  and  elder  brother,  who  is  gloriously  vested  with 
all  this  power.  Ournearest  relation,  our  best  friand,  is  thus  exalted; 
not  to  a  place  of  honour  and  trust  under  others,  a  thing  that  contents 
the  airy  fancy  of  poor  earth-worms;  nor  yet  to  a  kingdom  on  the 
earth,  a  matter  that  swells  some,  and  even  breaks  them  with  pride; 
no,  nor  yet  to  an  empire  over  this  perishing  world:  but  to  an  abid- 
ing, an  everlasting  rule  and  dominion  over  the  whole  creation  of 
God.  And  it  is  but  a  little  while  before  he  will  cast  off  and  dispel 
all  those  clouds  and  shades  which  at  present  interpose  themselves, 
and  eclipse  his  glory  and  majesty  from  them  that  love  him.  He 
who  in  the  days  of  his  flesh  was  reviled,  reproached,  persecuted, 
crucified,  for  our  sakes,  that  same  Jesus  is  thus  exalted  and  made  "  a 
Prince  and  a  Saviour,"  having  "a  name  given  him  above  every  name," 
etc. ;  for  though  he  was  dead,  yet  he  is  alive,  and  lives  for  ever,  and 
hath  the  keys  of  hell  and  death.  These  things  are  everywhere 
proposed  for  the  consolation  of  the  church. 

The  consideration  of  it  also  is  suited  to  strike  terror  into  the 
hearts  of  ungodly  men  that  oppose  him  in  the  world.  Whom  is  it 
that  they  do  despise?  against  whom  do  they  magnify  themsflves, 
and  lift  up  their  horns  on  high?  whose  ordinances,  laws,  institutions, 
do  they  contemn?  whose  gospel  do  they  refuse  obedience  unto? 
whose  people  and  servants  do  they  revile  and  persecute?  Is  it  not 
he,  are  they  not  his,  who  hath  "  all  power  in  heaven  and  in  earth" 
committed  unto  him,  in  whose  hand  are  the  lives,  the  souls,  all  the 


VER  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  49 

concernments  of  his  enemies?  Ca3sar  thought  he  had  spoken  with 
terror,  when,  threatening  him  with  death  who  stood  in  his  way,  lie 
told  him,  "Young  man,  he  speaks  it  to  whom  it  is  as  easy  to  do  it." 
He  speaks  to  his  adversaries,  who  stand  in  the  way  of  his  interest, 
to  "  deal  no  more  so  proudly,"  wlio  can  in  a  moment  speak  them, 
into  ruin,  and  that  eternal.     See  Rev.  vi.  14-17. 

Thus  is  the  Son  made  heir  of  all  in  general.  We  shall  further 
consider  his  dominion  in  a  distribution  of  the  chief  parts  of  it ;  and 
manifest  his  power  severally  in  and  over  them  all.  He  is  lord  or 
heir  'jravruv, — that  is,  of  all  persons  and  of  all  things. 

Persons,  or  rational  subsistences,  here  intended,  are  either  awr/e?s 
or  men;  for  it  is  evident  that  "  He  is  excepted  who  hath  subjected 
all  things  unto  him,"  1  Cor.  xv.  27. 

Angels  are  of  two  sorts: — 1.  Such  as  abide  doing  the  will  of  God, 
retaining  that  name  by  way  of  eminency;  2.  Such  as  by  sin  have 
lost  their  first  habitation,  state,  and  condition, — usually  called  evil 
angels,  or  devils.  The  Lord  Jesus  hath  dominion  overall,  and  both 
sorts  of  them. 

Men  may  be  cast  under  one  common  distribution,  which  is  com- 
prehensive of  all  distinctions  whereby  they  are  differenced;  for  they 
all  are  either  elect  or  reprobates.  And  the  Lord  Jesus  hath  rule 
and  dominion  over  them  all. 

Things  that  are  subject  unto  the  Lord  Jesus  may  be  referred 
unto  four  heads;  for  they  are  either,— 1.  Spiritual;  or,  2.  Ecclesi- 
astical; or,  8.  Political;  or,  4.  Natural. 

Again,  8'piritual  are  either,  (1.)  Temporal,  as,  [1.]  Grace;  [2.] 
Gifts ;  or  (2.)  Eternal,  as  glory. 

Ecclesiastical  or  church  things  are  either,  (1.)  Judaical,  or  old 
testament  things;  or,  (2.)  Christian,  or  things  of  the  new  testament. 

Political  and  civil  things  may  be  considered  as  they  are  managed, 
(1.)  By  his  friends ;  (2.)  His  enemies. 

Of  Natural  things  we  shall  speak  in  a  production  of  some  par- 
ticular instances,  to  prove  the  general  assertion. 

Those,  in  the  first  place,  assigned  as  part  of  the  inheritance  of 
Christ  are, — L  The  angels,  and  the  good  angels  in  especial.  These 
belong  to  the  kingdom,  rule,  and  dominion  of  Christ.  I  shall  be  brief 
in  this  branch  of  his  heirship,  because  it  must  be  professedly  handled 
in  opening  sundry  other  ver.ses  of  this  chapter,  in  which  the  apostle 
insisteth  on  it. 

Of  the  nature  of  angels,  their  glory,  excellency,  dignity,  work, 
and  employment,  we  have  here  no  occasion  to  treat.  Something 
must  afterwards  be  spoken  unto  these  things.  Christ's  pre-eminence 
above  them,  rule  over  them,  their  subjection  unto  him,  with  the 
original  right  and  equity  of  the  grant  of  this  power  and  authority 
unto  him,  are  the  things  which  now  fall  under  our  consideration. 


60  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

1.  His  yre-eminence  above  them  is  asserted  by  the  apostle  in  the 
fourth  verse  of  this  chapter.  He  is  "made  better"  ("more  excellent") 
"  than  the  angels."  See  the  words  opened  afterwards.  This  was  to  the 
Jews,  who  acknowledged  that  the  Messiah  should  be  above  Moses, 
Abraham,  and  the  ministering  angels.  So  Neve  Shalom,  lib.  ix.  cap.  v. 
We  have  testimony  unto  it:  Eph.  i.  20,  21,  "  He  set  him  at  his  own 
right  hand,"  h  I'rovpavloig,  "  among  heavenly  things,  far  above  all 
principality,  and  power,  and  might,  and  dominion,  and  every  name 
that  is  named,"  whatever  title  of  honour  or  office  they  enjoy,  "  not 
only  in  this  world,  but  also  in  that  which  is  to  come,"  who  enjoy 
their  power  and  dignity  in  that  state  of  glory;  which  is  promised 
unto  them  also  who  here  believe  on  him.  Phil.  ii.  9,  "  God  also 
hath  highly  exalted  him,  and  given  him  a  name"  (power,  authority, 
and  pre-eminence)  "  which  is  above  every  name:  that  at  the  name 
of  Jesus"  (unto  him  vested  with  that  authority  and  dignity)  "  every 
knee  should  bow"  (all  creatures  should  yield  obedience  and  be  in 
sivbjection),  "  of  things  in  heaven,"  the  7diov  oiKriT^ptov,  "  praper  habi- 
tation" and  place  of  residence  of  the  blessed  angels,  Jude  6.    For, — 

2.  As  he  is  exalted  above  them,  so  by  the  authority  of  God  the 
Father  they  are  made  subject  unto  him:  1  Pet.  iii.  22,  "  He  is  gone 
into  heaven,"  ucroraj/svrwi/  airp  ayysXuv,  "angels  being  brought  into 
order  by  subjection  unto  him."  Eph.  i.  22,  Udvra  t/TST-agji',  "  He 
hath  put  all  things"  (angels,  of  which  he  treats)  "in  .subjection  to 
him;"  "  under  his  feet,"  as  Ps.  viii.  7,  ""'^r-'^Dn;  1  Cor.  xv.  27.  And 
thi.5  by  the  special  authority  of  God  the  Father,  in  a  way  of  grant 
of  privilege  and  honour  unto  him,  and  to  evidence  the  universality 
of  this  subjection. 

3.  They  adore  and  worship  him, — the  highest  act  of  obedience 
and  most  absolute  subjection.  This  they  have  in  command,  Heb. 
i.  6,  "  Let  all  the  angels  of  God  worship  him;"  Ps.  xcvii,  7,  ''"Tl^'^n, 
"  Avorship  him," — with  prostration,  self-abasement,  and  all  possible 
subjection  to  him:  of  which  place  afterwards.  Their  practice  answers 
the  command  given  them,  Rev.  v.  11-14.  All  the  angels  round 
about  his  throne  fall  down,  and  ascribe  "  blessing,  and  honour,  and 
glory,  and  power"  unto  him ;  as  we  are  taught  to  do  in  our  deepest 
acknowledgment  of  the  majesty  and  authority  of  God,  Matt.  vi.  13. 
And  as  to  outward  obedience,  they  are  ready  in  all  things  to  receive 
his  commands,  being  "  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to  minister  for 

•them  who  shall  inherit  salvation,"  Heb.  i.  14;  and  that  by  Him  who 
is  "  head  over  all  to  the  church,"  Eph.  i.  22.  As,  for  instance,  he 
sent  out  one  of  them  to  his  servant  John,  Rev.  i.  1 ;  who,  from  their 
employment  under  him  towards  them  that  believe,  are  said  to  be  their 
"fellow-servants," — that  is  untoChrist, — namel}',  of  all  them  who  have 
"the  testimony  of  Jesus,"  Rev.  xix.  10,  xxii.  9.  And  to  this  purpose, — - 

4.  They  always  attend  his  throne:  Isa.  vi.  1,  2,  "  I  saw  the  Lord 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  61 

sitting  upon  a  throne,"and  '•'about  it  stood  the  seraphim."  Thislsaiah 
"spake  of  him  when  he  saw  liis  glory,"  John  xii.  39-41.  He  was  upon 
his  throne  when  lie  spake  with  the  church  in  the  wilderness,  Acts  vii. 
S8, — that  is,  on  mount  Sinai :  where  the  angels  attending  him  as  on 
chariots,  ready  to  receive  his  commands,  were  "  twenty  thousand, 
even  thousands  of  angels,"  Ps.  Ixviii.  17,  Eph,  iv.  8;  or  "thousand 
thousands,  and  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand,"  as  another  pro- 
phet expresseth  it,  Dan.  vii.  10,  And  so  is  he  in  the  church  of  the 
new  testament,  Rev.  v.  1]  ;  and  from  his  walking  in  the  midst  of  the 
golden  candlesticks.  Rev.  i.  18,  are  the  angels  also  present  in  church 
assemblies,  as  attending  their  Lord  and  Master,  1  Cor.  xi.  10.  And 
so  attended  shall  he  come  to  judgment,  2  Thess.  i.  7;  when  he  shall  be 
"revealed  from  heaven  with  the  angels  of  his  power:"  which  was  fore- 
told concerning  him  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  Jude  14,  15. 

Thus  his  lordship  over  angels  is  universal  and  absolute,  and  their 
subjection  unto  him  answerable  thereunto.  The  manner  of  the  grant 
of  this  excellency,  power,  and  dignity  unto  him,  must  be  further 
cleared  in  the  opening  of  these  words  of  the  apostle,  verse  4,  "  Being 
made  better  than  the  angels."  The  original  right  and  equity  of 
this  grant,  with  the  ends  of  it,  are  now  only  to  be  intimated. 

1.  The  radical,  fundamental  equity  of  this  grant  lies  in  his  divine 
nature,  and  his  creation  of  angels,  over  whom  as  mediator  he  is 
made  Lord.  Unto  the  general  assertion  of  his  being  made  "  heir  of 
all,"  the  apostle  in  this  place  subjoins  that  general  reason,  manifest- 
ing the  rise  of  the  equity  of  it  in  the  will  of  God  that  it  should  be 
so:  "  By  whom  also  he  made  the  worlds."  AVhich  reason  is  parti- 
cularly applicable  to  every  part  of  his  inheritance,  and  is  especially 
pleaded  in  reference  unto  angels:  Col.  i.  15,  16,  "  Who  is  the  image 
of  the  invisible  God,  the  first-born  of  every  creature," — that  is,  the 
heir  and  lord  of  them  all;  and  the  reason  is,  "  For  by  him  were  all 
things  created,  that  are  in  heaven,  and  that  are  in  earth,  visible  and 
invisible,  whether  thrones,  or  dominions,  or  principalities,  or  powers: 
all  things  were  created  by  him,  and  for  him."  His  creation  of  those 
heavenly  powers  is  the  foundation  of  his  heirship  or  lordship  over 
them.  'Exr/ff^?3,  that  is,  saith  a  learned  man  (Grotius)  on  the  place, 
"not  created  or  made,  but  ordered,  ordained  ;  all  things  were  ordered 
by  Christ  as  to  their  state  and  dignit3\"  But  what  reason  is  there 
to  depart  from  the  proper,  usual,  yea,  only  sense  of  the  word  in  this 
place  ?  "  Because,"  saith  he,  "  mention  is  made  of  Christ,  which  is 
the  name  of  a  man;  and  so  the  creation  of  all  things  cannot  be  attri- 
buted unto  him."  But  Christ  is  the  name  of  the  Son  of  God  in- 
carnate, Gud  and  man :  "  Christ,  who  is  over  all,  God  blessed  for 
ever,"  Rum.  ix.  5.  ^ee  Luke  ii.  11.  And  he  is  here  spoken  of  as 
"the  image  of  the  invisible  God,"  Col.  i.  15, — the  essential  image  of 
the  Father,  endowed  with  all  his  eternal  attributes;  and  so  the 


52  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

creator  of  all.  The  Socinians  add  that  the  words  are  used  in  the 
ahstract,  "  principalities  and  powers,"  and  therefore  their  dignities, 
not  their  persons,  are  here  intended.  But,  (1.)  "  All  things  created, 
m  heaven  and  in  earth,  visible  and  invisible,"  are  the  substances  and 
essences  of  things  themselves,  and  not  their  qualities  and  places  only. 
(2.)  The  distribution  into  "  thrones  and  dominions,  principalities 
and  powers,"  respects  only  the  last  branch  of  things  affirmed  to  be 
created  by  him,  namely,  "things  in  heaven, — invisible;"  so  that  if  it 
should  be  granted  that  he  made  or  created  them  only  as  to  their 
dignity,  order,  and  power,  yet  they  obtain  not  their  purpose,  since 
the  creation  of  all  other  things,  as  to  their  being  and  subsistence,  is 
ascribed  unto  him.  But,  (3.)  The  vise  of  the  abstract  for  the  con- 
crete is  not  unusual  in  Scripture.  See  Eph.  vi.  12,  Tviv/Manxd  for 
rrvivfj^uTa.  Thus  -/jye/Movag  xai  (SadiXsTg,  "  rulers  and  kings,"  Matt.  x. 
18,  are  termed  apx'^'-i  "«'  i'^ouelai,  "  principalities  and  powers,"  Luke 
xii.  11.  And  in  this  particular,  those  who  are  here  "  principalities 
and  powers"  are  "angels  great  in  power,"  2  Pet.  ii,  11.  And  Eph. 
i.  20,  21,  he  is  exalted  v'Trspdvu  '^dsTjg  df^rj?  xa!  s^ouciag  xat  duvd- 
/xi'jjc  zai  -/.upioTTirog, — that  is,  above  all  vested  with  principality  and 
power,"  as  the  next  words  evince,  "  and  every  name  that  is  named." 
So  Jude  tells  us  of  some  of  whom  he  says,  Kvpiorrirog  zaratppovoZvng, 
d'j'^ag  ou  rp's/jAjvei  j3Xag(pr}/^oiJVTig'  xvpioT'/jra  dhrovffi,  ho^ag  (SXafffri/Moudr — 
"They  despise  dominion,  and  speak  evil  of  dignities;"  that  is, 
those  vested  with  them.  And  Paul,  Rom.  viii.  38,  39,  "  I  am  per- 
suaded that  neither  angels,"  ovn  dpyjx),  <yoT%  duvdfisig,  "  nor  princi- 
palities, nor  powers;"  ovts  rig  xriffig  iripa,  "  nor  any  other  creature." 
So  that  these  principalities  and  powers  are  xrlffiig,  certain  "  crea- 
tures," created  things  and  subsistences, — that  is  the  angels,  variously 
dllferenced  amongst  themselves;  in  respect  of  us,  great  in  power  and 
dignity. 

Tliis  is  the  first  foundation  of  the  equity  of  this  grant  of  all  power 
over  the  angels  unto  the  Lord  Christ:  in  his  divine  nature  he  made 
them ;  and  in  that  respect  they  were  before  his  own ;  as  on  the  same 
account,  when  he  came  into  the  world,  he  is  said  to  come  iig  rd  '/dia, 
John  i.  11,  "to  his  own,"  or  the  things  that  he  had  made. 

2.  It  is  founded  in  that  establishmeyit  in  the  condition  of  their 
creation,  which  by  his  interposition  to  recover  what  was  lost  by  sin, 
and  to  preserve  the  untainted  part  of  the  creation  from  ruin,  they 
did  receive.  In  their  own  right,  the  rule  of  their  obedience,  and  the 
example  of  those  of  their  number  and  society  who  apostatized  from 
God,  the}^  found  themselves  in  a  state  not  absolutely  infipregnable. 
Their  confirmation, — which  also  was  attended  with  that  exaltation 
which  they  received  by  their  new  relation  unto  God  in  and  through 
him, — they  received  by  his  means,  God  gathering  up  all  things  to  a 
consistency  and  permanency  in  him,  Eph.  i.  10.  And  hence  also  it 
became  equal  that  the  rule  and  power  over  them  should  be  com- 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  5.*? 

mitted  unto  him,  by  whom,  although  they  were  not,  like  us,  recovered 
from  ruin,  yet  they  were  preserved  from  all  danger  of  it.  So  tliat 
in  their  subjection  unto  Idni  consists  their  principal  honour  and  all 
their  safety. 

And  as  this  act  of  God,  in  appointing  Christ  Lord  of  angels,  hath 
these  equitable  foundations,  so  it  hath  also  sundry  glorious  ends: — 

1.  It  was  as  an  addition  unto  that  glory  that  tvas  set  before  hivi 
in  his  undertaking  to  redeem  sinners.  A  kingdom  was  of  old  pro- 
mised unto  him;  and  to  render  it  exceedingly  glorious,  the  rule  and 
sceptre  of  it  is  extended,  not  only  to  his  redeemed  ones,  but  to  the 
holy  angels  also,  and  the  sovereignty  over  them  is  granted  him  as  a 
part  of  his  reward,  Phil.  ii.  8-11 ;  Eph.  i.  20,  21. 

2.  God  hereby  gathers  up  his  ivhole  family, — at  first  distinguisheil 
by  the  law  of  their  creation  into  two  especial  kinds,  and  then  differ- 
enced and  set  at  variance  by  sin, — into  one  body  under  one'head,  re- 
ducing them  that  originally  were  twain  into  one  entire  family:  Eph. 
i.  10,  "  In  the  fulness  of  times  he  gathered  together  in  one  all  things 
in  Christ,  both  which  are  in  heaven,  and  which  are  on  earth ;  even 
in  him,"  as  was  before  declared.  Before  this  the  angels  had  no  im- 
mediate created  head:  for  themselves  are  called  ^^'"'''1^,  "  cfods,"  Fs. 
xcvii.  7;  1  Cor.  viii.  5.  Whoever  is  the  head  must  be  D'^'^-'i^v'  ''O''*'?, 
[])eut.  X.  17],  the  "  God  of  gods,"  or  "  Lord  of  lords,"— which  Christ 
alone  is;  and  in  him,  or  under  him  as  a  head,  is  the  whole  family  of 
God  united. 

3.  The  church  of  mankind  militant  on  the  earth,  whose  conduct 
unto  eternal  glory  is  committed  unto  Clirist,  stands  in  need  of  the 
ministry  of  atigels.  And  therefore  hath  God  granted  rule  and  power 
over  them  unto  him,  that  nothing  miyht  be  wantinfj  to  enable  him 
"  to  save  them  to  the  uttermost  that  come  unto  God  by  him."  So 
God  hath  given  him  to  be  "  head  over  all  tilings  to  the  church," 
Eph.  i.  22;  that  he  should,  with  an  absolute  sovereignty,  use  and 
dispose  of  all  things  to  the  benefit  and  advantage  of  the  church. 

Tliis  is  the  first  branch  of  the  lordship  and  dominion  of  Christ, 
according  to  the  distribution  of  the  severals  of  it  before  laid  down. 
He  is  Lord  of  angels,  and  they  are  all  of  them  his  servants,  the  fel- 
low-servants of  them  that  have  the  testimony  of  Jesus.  And  as 
some  men  do  wilfully  cast  themselves,  by  their  religious  adoration  of 
angels,  under  the  curse  of  Canaan,  to  be  servants  unto  servants.  Gen. 
ix.  25 ;  so  it  is  the  great  honour  and  privilege  of  true  believers,  that 
in  their  worship  of  Christ  they  are  admitted  into  the  society  of  "an 
innumerable  company  of  angels,"  Heb.  xii.  22,  Rev.  v.  11-13:  for 
they  are  not  ashamed  to  esteem  them  their  fellow-servants  whom  their 
Lord  and  King  is  not  ashamed  to  call  his  brethren.  And  herein 
consists  our  communion  with  them,  that  we  have  one  common  Head 
and  Lord ;  and  any  intercourse  with  them,  but  only  on  this  account, 
or  any  worship  performed  towards  them,  breaks  the  bond  of  that 


64  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

communion,  and  causetb  us  not  to  "  hold  the  Head,"  Col.  ii.  19.  The 
privilege,  the  safety,  and  advantage  of  the  church,  from  this  subjec- 
tion of  angels  to  its  Head  and  Saviour,  are  by  many  spoken  unto. 

Secondly,  There  is  another  sort  of  angels,  who  by  sin  left  their 
primitive  station,  and  fell  off  from  God;  of  whom,  their  sin,  fall, 
malice,  wrath,  business,  craft  in  evil,  and  final  judgment,  the  Scrip- 
ture treateth  at  large.  These  belong  not,  indeed,  to  the  possession 
of  Christ  as  he  is  the  heir,  but  they  belong  unto  his  dominion  as  he 
is  Lord.  Though  he  be  not  a  king  and  head  unto  them,  yet  he  is 
a  judge  and  ruler  over  them.  All  things  being  given  into  his  hand, 
they  also  are  subjected  unto  his  power.  Now,  as  under  the  former 
head,  I  shall  consider, — 1.  The  right  or  equity,  and,  2.  The  end  of 
this  authority  of  Christ  over  this  second  sort  of  the  first  race  of  in- 
tellectual, creatures,  the  angels  that  have  sinned. 

1.  As  before,  this  right  is  founded  in  his  divine  nature,  by  virtue 
whereof  he  is  'ikuvos,  fit  for  this  dominion.  He  made  these  angels 
also,  and  therefore,  as  God,  hath  an  absolute  dominion  over  them. 
The  creatures  cannot  cast  off  the  dominion  of  the  Creator  by  rebel- 
lion. Though  they  may  lose  their  moral  relation  unto  God,  as  obe- 
dient creatures,  yet  their  natural,  as  creatures,  cannot  be  dissolved. 
God  will  be  God  still,  be  his  creatures  never  so  wicked;  and  if  they 
obey  not  his  will,  they  shall  bear  his  justice.  And  this  dominion  of 
Christ  over  fallen  angels  as  God,  makes  the  grant  of  rule  over  them 
to  him  as  mediator  just  and  equal. 

2.  The  immediate  and  peculiar  foundation  of  his  right  unto  rule 
over  fallen  angels,  rendering  the  special  grant  of  it  equal  and  right- 
eous, is  lawful  conquest.  This  gives  a  special  right,  Gen.  xlviii.  22. 
Now,  that  Christ  should  conquer  fallen  angels  was  promised  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world,  Gen.  iii.  15.  "  The  seed  of  the  woman," 
the  Messiah,  was  to  "  break  the  serpent's  head," — despoil  him  of  his 
power,  and  bring  him  into  subjection;  which  he  performed  accord- 
ingly: Col.  ii.  15,  "  He  spoiled  principalities  and  powers," — divested 
fallen  angels  of  all  that  title  they  had  got  to  the  world,  by  the  sin  of 
man;  "  triumphing  over  them,"  as  captives  to  be  disposed  of  at  his 
pleasure.  He  "stilled,"or  made  to  cease  as  to  his  power,  this  "enemy," 
Djpjnpi^  and  "  self-avenger,"  Ps.  viii  2 ;  "leading  captivity  captive,"  Ps. 
Ixviii.  18;  "breaking  in  pieces  the  head  over  the  large  earth,"  Ps.  ex.  (i ; 
"  binding  the  strong  man  armed,  and  spoiling  his  goods."  And  the 
bcripture  of  the  New  Testament  is  full  of  instances  as  to  his  execut- 
ing his  power  and  authority  over  evil  angels;  they  take  up  a  good 
part  of  the  historical  books  of  it. 

Man  having  sinned  by  the  instigation  of  Satan,  he  was,  by  the 
just  judgment  of  God,  delivered  up  unto  his  power,  Heb.  ii.  14.  The 
Lord  Christ  undertaking  to  recover  lost  man  from  under  his  power 
by  destroying  his  works,  1  John  iii.  8,  and  to  bring  them  again  into 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  65 

favour  with  God,  Satan  with  all  his  might  sets  himself  to  oppose  him 
in  his  work;  and  failing  in  his  enterprise,  being  utterly  conquered, 
he  became  absolutely  subjected  unto  him,  trodden  under  his  feet, 
and  the  prey  he  had  taken  was  delivered  from  him. 

This  is  the  next  foundation  of  the  authority  of  Christ  over  the 
evil  angels.  He  had  a  great  contest  and  war  with  them,  and  that 
about  the  glory  of  God,  his  own  kingdom,  and  the  eternal  salvation 
of  the  elect.  Prevailing  absolutely  against  them,  he  made  a  con- 
quest over  them,  and  they  are  put  into  subjection  unto  him  for  ever. 
They  are  subjected  unto  him  as  to  their  present  actings  and  future 
condition.  He  now  rules  them,  and  will  hereafter  finally  judge 
them.  Wherein  he  suffers  them,  in  his  holiness  and  wisdom,  to  act 
in  temptations,  seductions,  persecutions,  he  bounds  and  limits  their 
rage,  malice,  actings ;  orders  and  disposes  the  events  of  them  to  his  own 
holy  and  righteous  ends;  and  keeps  them  under  chains  for  the  judg- 
ment of  the  last  day,  when,  for  the  full  manifestation  of  his  dominion 
over  them,  he  will  cause  the  meanest  of  his  servants  to  set  their  feet 
on  the  necks  of  these  conquered  kings,  and  to  join  with  himself  in 
sentencing  them  unto  eternal  ruin,  1  Cor.  vi.  3;  which  they  shall  be 
cast  into  by  him,  Rev.  xix.  20. 

3.  The  ends  of  this  lordship  of  Christ  are  various;  as, — (1.)  His 
own  glory,  Ps.  ex.  1.  (2.)  The  church's  safety,  Matt.  xvi.  1 8 ;  Rev.  xii. 
7-9.  And,  (3.)  Exercise  for  their  good, —  [1.]  By  temptation,  1  Pet. 
v.  8-10;  and,  [2.]  Persecution,  Rev,  ii.  10,  xii.  10;  both  which  he 
directs,  regulates,  and  bounds,  unto  their  eternal  advantage.  (4.) 
The  exercising  of  his  wrath  and  vengeance  upon  his  stubborn  ene- 
mies, whom  these  slaves  and  vassals  to  his  righteous  power  seduce, 
blind,  harden,  provoke,  ruin  and  destroy,  Rev.  xii.  1.5,  xvi.  13,  14; 
Ps.  cvi.  And  how  much  of  the  peace,  safety,  and  consolation  of  be- 
lievers, lies  wrapped  up  in  this  part  of  the  dominion  of  Christ  were 
easy  to  demonstrate ;  as  also,  that  faith's  improvement  of  it,  in  every 
condition,  is  the  greatest  part  of  our  wisdom  in  our  pilgrimage. 

II.  All  mankind  (the  second  sort  of  intellectual  creatures  or  ra- 
tional subsistences)  belong  to  the  lordship  and  dominion  of  Christ. 
All  mankind  was  in  the  power  of  God  as  one  (p-jpa,u,a,  "  one  mass," 
or  "  lump,"  out  of  which  all  individuals  are  made  and  framed,  Rom. 
ix.  21,  some  to  honour,  some  to  dishonour;  the  to  uvrh  (p-jpa/ia  not 
denoting  the  same  substance,  but  one  common  condition.  And  the 
making  of  the  individuals  is  not  by  temporal  creation,  but  eternal 
designation.  So  that  all  mankind,  made  out  of  nothmg  and  out  of 
the  same  condition,  destined  to  several  ends,  for  the  glory  of  God, 
are  branched  into  two  sorts; — elect,  or  vessels  from  the  common  mass 
unto  honour;  said  reprobates,  or  vessels  from  the  common  mass  unto 
dishonour  As  such  they  were  typed  by  Jacob  and  Esau,  Rom.  ix. 
11-13;  and  are  expressed  under  that  distribution,  1  Thess.  v.  9- 


66  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

Some  KT  apxTJg,  "  from  the  beginning,"  being  "chosen  to  salvation," 
2  Thess.  ii.  13;  vph  xaraCoXJJs  xos/mov,  Eph.  i.  4,  "before  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world;"  Rom.  viii.  29,  xi.  5;  Matt.  xx.  16;  2  Tim.  ii.  10; 
Rev.  xxi.  27; — others  are  appointed  to  the  day  of  evil,  Prov.  xvi.  4; 
iraXai  '7:poyiypa[i[MUot,  "of  old  ordained  to  condemnation,"  Jude  4;  ilg 
ciiMGiv  Kai  (pOopdv,  "for  to  be  destroyed,"  2  Pet.  ii.  12.  See  Rom. 
ix.  22,  xi.  7;  Rev.  xx.  15. 

Both  these  sorts,  or  all  mankind,  is  the  lordship  of  Christ  extended 
to,  and  to  each  of  them  respectively: — 

He  is  Lord  over  all  flesh,  John  xvii.  2;  both  living  and  dead, 
Rom.  xiv.  9;  Phil.  ii.  9,  10. 

First,  Particularly,  he  is  Lord  over  all  the  elect.  And  besides  the 
general  foundation  of  the  equity  of  his  authority  and  power  in  his 
divine  nature  and  creation  of  all  things,  the  grant  of  the  Father  unto 
him,  as  mediator,  to  be  their  Lord  is  founded  in  other  especial  acts 
both  of  Father  and  Son;  lor, — 

1.  They  were  given  iinto  him  from  eternity,  in  design  and  by 
compact,  that  they  should  be  his  peculiar  portion,  and  he  their  Sa- 
viour, John  xvii.  2.  Of  the  Tccffjjg  gapxo;,  "  all  flesh,"  over  whicli  he 
hath  authority,  there  is  a  tSv  o  d'sBuyis,  a  universality  of  them  whom 
the  Father  gave  him,  in  an  especial  manner;  of  whom  he  says, 
"Thine  they  were,  and  thou  gavest  them  me,"  verse  6;  Acts  xviii. 
10.  They  are  a  portion  given  him  to  save,  John  vi.  39;  of  which  he 
takes  the  care,  as  Jacob  did  of  the  sheep  of  Laban,  when  he  served 
him  for  a  wife,  Gen.  xxxi.  36-40.  See  Prov.  viii.  31.  This  was  an 
act  of  the  will  of  the  Father  in  the  eternal  covenant  of  the  media- 
tor; whereof  elsewhere. 

2.  His  grant  is  strengthened  by  redemption,  purchase,  and  ac- 
quisition. This  was  the  condition  of  the  former  grant,  Isa.  liii.  10-12, 
which  was  made  good  by  him;  so  that  his  lordship  is  frequently 
asserted  on  this  very  account,  1  Cor.  vi.  20;  1  Pet.  i.  18,  19;  1  Tim. 
ii.  6 ;  John  x.  15 ;  Eph.  v.  25-27;  Rev.  v.  9 ;  John  xi.  51,  52.  And  this 
purchase  of  Christ  is  peculiar  to  them  so  given  him  of  the  Father 
in  the  covenant  of  the  mediator;  as, — (1.)  Proceeding  from  his 
especial  and  greatest  love,  John  xv.  13;  Rom.  v.  8;  1  John  iii.  16, 
iv.  9,  10;  Acts  xx.  28;  Rom.  viii.  32:  and, — (2.)  Being  accom- 
panied with  a  purchase  for  them  which  they  slmll  certainly  enjoy, 
and  that  of  grace  and  glory.  Acts  xx.  28;  Eph.  i.  14;  Phil.  i.  28; 
Heb.  ix.  12,  15.  And,  indeed,  the  controversy  about  the  death  of 
Christ  is  not  primarily  about  its  extent,  but  its  efficacy  and  fruits  in 
respect  of  them  for  whom  he  died. 

3.  Those  thus  given  him  of  the  Father  and  redeemed  by  him 
are  of  two  sorts: — (1.)  Such  as  are  actually  called  to  faith  in  him 
and  union  with  him.  These  are  further  become  liis  upon  many 
other  especial  accounts.     They  are  his  in  all  relations  of  subjection, 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  67 

■ — his  children,  servants,  brethren,  disciples,  subjects,  his  house,  his 
sjwuse.  He  stands  towards  them  in  all  relations  of  authority :  is 
their  father,  master,  elder  brother,  teacher,  king,  lord,  ruler,  judge, 
husband;  ruling  in  them  by  his  Spirit  and  grace,  over  them  by  his 
laws  in  his  word,  preserving  them  by  his  power,  chastening  them  in 
his  care  and  love,  feeding  them  out  of  his  stores,  trying  them  and 
delivering  them  in  his  wisdom,  bearing  with  their  miscarriages  in 
his  patience,  and  taking  them  for  his  portion,  lot,  and  inheritance,  in 
his  providence;  raising  them  at  the  last  day,  taking  them  to  himself 
in  glory,  and  every  way  avouching  them  to  be  his,  and  himself  to 
be  their  Lord  and  Master.  (2.)  Some  of  them  are  always  uncalled, 
and  shall  be  so  until  the  whole  number  of  them  be  completed  and 
filled.  But  before,  they  belong  on  the  former  accounts  unto  his  lot, 
care,  and  rule,  John  x.  16.  They  are  already  his  sheep  l)y  grant  and 
purchase,  though  not  yet  really  so  by  grace  and  holiness.  They  are 
not  yet  his  by  present  obediential  subjection,  but  they  are  his  by 
eternal  designation  and  real  acquisition. 

Now,  the  power  that  the  Lord  Jesus  hath  over  this  sort  of  man- 
kind is  universal,  unlimited,  absolute,  and  exclusive  of  all  other 
power  over  them,  as  unto  the  things  peculiarly  belonging  unto  his 
kingdom.  He  is  their  king,  judge,  lawgiver;  and  in  things  of  God 
purely  spiritual  and  evangelical  other  they  have  none.  It  is  true, 
he  takes  them  not  out  of  the  world,  and  therefore  as  unto  ra  j3i(u7i-/.d, 
"  the  things  of  this  life,"  things  of  the  world,  they  are  subject  to  the 
laws  and  rulers  of  the  world;  but  as  unto  the  things  of  God  he  is 
the  only  lawgiver,  who  is  able  to  kill  and  make  alive.  But  the 
nature  and  ends  of  the  lordship  of  Christ  over  the  elect  are  too 
large  and  comprehensive  to  be  here  spoken  unto,  in  this  brief  deli- 
neation of  his  kingdom,  which  we  undertook  in  this  digression. 

Secondly,  His  lordship  and  dominion  extends  to  the  other  sort  of 
men  also,  namely,  ^'eprobates,  or  men  finally  impenitent.  They  are 
not  exempted  from  that  "all  flesh"  which  he  hath  power  over,  John 
xvii.  2;  nor  from  those  "dead  and  living"  over  whom  he  is  Lord, 
Rom.  xiv.  9;  nor  from  that  "world"  which  he  shall  judge,  Acts 
xvii.  SI.  And  there  are  two  especial  grounds,  that  are  peculiar  to 
them,  of  this  grant  of  power  and  authority  over  them : — 

1.  His  interposition,  upon  the  entrance  of  sin,  against  the  imme- 
diate execution  of  the  curse  due  unto  it;  as  befell  the  angels.  This 
fixed  the  world  under  a  disj^ensation  of, — (1.)  Forbearance  and 
patience,  Rom.  ii.  4,  5  ;  Acts  xvii.  SO;  Rom.  ix.  22;  Ps.  Ixxv.  3: 
(2.)  Goodness  and  mercy,  Acts  xiv.  16,  17. 

That  God,  who  spared  not  the  angels  when  they  sinned,  but  im- 
mediately cast  them  into  chains  of  darkness,  should  place  sinners  of 
the  race  of  Adam  under  a  dispensation  of  forbearance  and  goodness, 
— that  he  should  spare  them  with  much  long-suffering  durmg  their 


58  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

pilgrimage  on  the  earth,  and  fill  their  hearts  with  food  and  gladness, 
with  all  those  fruits  of  kindness  wliich  the  womb  of  his  providence 
is  still  bringing  forth  for  their  benefit  and  advantage, — is  thus  fal 
on  the  account  of  the  Lord  Christ,  that  though  these  things,  as 
relating  unto  reprobates,  are  no  part  of  his  esj)ecial  purchase  as 
mediator  of  the  everlasting  covenant  of  grace,  yet  they  are  a  neces- 
sary consequent  of  his  interposition  against  the  immediate  execution 
of  the  whole  curse  upon  the  first  entrance  of  sin,  and  of  his  under- 
taking for  his  elect. 

2.  He  makes  a  conquest  over  them.  It  was  promised  that  he 
should  do  so.  Gen.  iii.  15;  and  though  the  work  itself  prove  long 
and  irksome,  though  the  ways  of  accomplishing  it  be  unto  us  obscure 
and  oftentimes  invisible,  yet  he  hath  undertaken  it,  and  will  not 
give  it  over  until  they  are  every  one  brought  to  be  his  footstool, 
i  s.  ex.  1 ;  1  Cor.  xv.  25.  And  the  dominion  granted  him  on  these 
grounds  is, — 

(1.)  Sovereign  and  absolute.  His  enemies  are  his  footstool,  Ps. 
ex.  1 ;  Matt.  xxii.  44;  Mark  xii.  36;  Luke  xx.  42;  Acts  ii.  34;  1  Cor. 
XV.  25;  Heb.  i.  13.  They  are  in  his  hand,  as  the  Egyptians  were 
in  Joseph's  when  he  had  purchased  both  their  persons  and  their 
estates  to  be  at  arbitrary  disposal;  and  he  deals  with  them  as  Joseph 
did  with  those,  so  far  as  any  of  the  ends  of  his  rule  and  lordship  are 
concernecJ  in  them.     And, — 

(2.)  Judiciary,  John  v.  22,  23.  As  lie  hath  power  over  their 
persons,  so  he  hath  regard  unto  their  sins,  Kom.  xiv.  9 ;  Acts  xvii.  31 ; 
Matt.  XXV.  81.  And  this  power  he  variously  exerciseth  over  them, 
even  in  this  world,  before  he  gloriously  exerts  it  in  their  eternal 
ruin.  For, —  [1.]  He  enlightens  them  by  those  heavenly  sparks  of 
tiiitli  and  reason  which  he  leaves  unextinguished  in  their  own 
minds,  John  i.  .9.  [2.]  Strives  with  them  by  his  Spirit,  Gen.  vi.  3 ; 
secretly  exciting  their  consciences  to  rebuke,  bridle,  yoke,  afflict,  and 
cruciate  them,  Rom.  ii.  14,  15.  And,  [3.]  On  some  of  them  he 
acts  by  the  power  and  authority  of  his  word;  whereby  he  quickens 
their  consciences,  galls  their  minds  and  affections,  restrains  their 
lusts,  bounds  their  conversations,  aggravates  their  sins,  hardens  their 
hearts,  and  judges  their  souls,  Ps.  xlv. ;  Isa.  vi.  [4.]  He  exerciseth 
rule  and  dominion  over  them  in  providential  dispensations,  Ptev. 
vi.  15,  16;  Isa.  Ixiii.  1-4;  Rev.  xix.  13.  By  all  which  he  makes 
way  for  the  glory  of  his  final  judgment  of  them,  Acts  xvii.  31 ;  Matt. 
XXV.  31 ;  Rev.  xix.  20,  xx.  10-1 5.  And  all  this  will  he  do,  unto  the 
ends, — \st.  Of  his  own  glory;  2dly.  His  church's  good,  exercise,  and 
safety. 

And  this  is  the  second  instance  of  the  first  head  of  the  dominion 
of  Christ  in  this  world.  He  is  Lord  over  persons,  angels  and 
men. 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  59 

The  SECOND  part  of  the  hen-ship  and  dominion  of  Christ  con- 
sisteth  in  his  lordship  over  all  things  besides;  which  added  to  tho 
former  comprise  the  whole  creation  of  God.  I.  In  the  distribution 
of  these  premised,  the  first  that  occur  are  spiritual  things,  which 
also  are  of  two  sorts: — First,  Temporal,  or  such  as  in  this  life  we 
are  made  partakers  of;  and,  Secondly,  Eternal,  the  things  that  are 
reserved  for  them  tliat  believe  in  the  state  of  glory.  The  former 
may  be  reduced  unto  two  heads;  for  they  are  all  of  them  either 
grace  or  gifts,  and  Christ  is  Lord  of  them  all. 

First,  All  that  which  comes  under  the  name  oi  grace  in  Scripture, 
wdiich,  flowing  from  the  free  and  special  love  of  God,  tends  directly 
to  the  spiritual  and  eternal  good  of  them  on  whom  it  is  bestowed, 
may  be  referred  unto  four  heads;  for  as  the  fountain  of  all  these 
(or  the  gracious  free  purpose  of  the  will  of  God,  from  whence  they 
all  do  flow),  being  antecedent  to  the  mission  of  Christ  the  mediator, 
and  immanent  in  God,  it  can  be  no  otherwise  granted  unto  him 
but  in  respect  of  its  effects;  which  we  shall  show  that  it  is.  Now, 
these  are: — 

1.  Pardon  of  sin,  and  the  free  acceptation  of  the  persons  of  sin- 
ners in  a  way  of  mercy.  This  is  grace,  Eph.  ii.  8;  Tit.  iii.  5-7;  and 
a  saving  effect  and  fruit  of  the  covenant,  Jer.  xxxi.  31-34;  Heb. 
viii.  8-12. 

2.  The  regenerating  of  the  person  of  a  dead  sinner,  with  the 
purifying  and  sanctifying  of  his  nature,  in  a  way  of  spiritual  power. 
This  also  is  grace,  and  promised  in  the  covenant.  And  there  are 
three  parts  of  it: — (1.)  The  infusion  of  a  quickening  'principle  into 
the  soul  of  a  dead  sinner,  Rom.  viii.  2;  Tit.  iii.  5;  John  iii.  6;  Eph. 
ii.  1-6.  (2.)  The  habitual  furiiishment  of  the  spiritually-quickened 
soul  with  abiding,  radical  principles  of  light,  love,  and  power,  fitting 
it  for  spiritual  obedience.  Gal.  v.  17.  (3.)  Actual  assistance,  in  a 
communication  of  supplies  of  strength  for  every  duty  and  W'Ork, 
Phil.  iv.  13;  John  xv.  5. 

3.  Preservation  in  a  condition  of  acceptation  with  God,  and  holy 
obedience  unto  him  unto  the  end,  is  also  of  especial  grace.  It  is  the 
grace  of  perseverance,  and  eminently  included  in  the  covenant,  as 
we  have  elsewhere  showed  at  large. 

4.  Adoption,  as  a  privilege,  with  all  the  privileges  that  flow  from 
it,  is  also  grace,  Eph.  i.  5,  6. 

All  these,  with  all  those  admirable  and  inexpressible  mercies  that 
they  branch  themselves  into, — giving  deliverance  unto  sinners  from 
evil  temporal  and  eternal,  laising  them  to  communion  with  God 
here,  and  to  the  enjoyment  of  him  for  ever  hereafter, — are  called 
grace,  and  do  belong  to  the  lordship  of  Christ,  as  he  is  heir,  lord, 
and  possessor  of  them  all.  All  the  stores  of  this  grace  and  mercy 
that  are  in  heaven  for  sinners  are  given  into  his  hand,  and  resigned 


60  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

up  to  his  sovereign  disposal,  as  we  shall  intimate  in  general  and 
particular: — 

1.  In  general,  Col.  i.  19,  "  It  pleased  the  Father  that  in  him 
should  all  fulness  dwell."  There  is  a  fourfold  fulness  in  Christ : — 
(1.)  Of  the  Deity  in  his  divine  nature,  Rom.  ix.  5.  (2.)  01  union 
in  his  person,  Col.  ii.  9.  (3.)  Of  grace  in  his  human  nature,  John 
i.  14,  iii.  34;  Luke  ii.  52,  iv.  1.  (4.)  An  authoritative  fulness,  to 
communicate  of  it  unto  others.  That  is  the  fulness  here  intended  ; 
for  it  is  in  him  as  the  head  of  the  church,  verse  18,  so  as  that  from 
him,  or  that  fulness  which  it  pleased  the  Father  to  intrust  him 
withal,  believers  might  receive  "grace  for  grace,"  John  i.  16,  17. 
Thus  he  testifies  that  "all  things  are  delivered  to  him  of  his  Father," 
Matt.  xi.  27, — put  into  his  power  and  possession.  And  they  are  the 
things  he  there  intends,  on  the  account  whereof  he  invites  sinners 
weary  and  laden  to  come  unto  him,  verse  28,  namely,  all  mercy 
and  grace;  which  are  the  things  that  burdened  sinners  need  and  look 
after.  The  same  is  testified  John  iii.  35,  36;  and  fully  chap.  xvi.  15, 
"All  things  that  the  Father  hath  are  mine;"  chap.  xvii.  10.  All 
the  grace  and  mercy  that  are  in  the  heart  of  God  as  Father  to 
bestow  upon  his  children,  they  are  all  given  into  the  hand  of  Christ, 
and  are  his,  or  part  of  his  inheritance. 

2.  In  particular: — 

(1.)  All  pardoning  grace,  for  the  acceptance  of  our  persons  and 
forgiveness  of  our  sins,  is  his;  he  is  the  Lord  of  it.  Acts  v.  31,  He 
is  made  "  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour,  to  give  repentance  and  the  for- 
giveness of  sins."  Forgiveness  of  sin  is  wholly  given  unto  him  as 
to  the  amdinistration  of  it,  nor  doth  any  one  receive  it  but  out  of 
his  stores.  And  what  is  the  dominion  of  ten  thousands  of  worlds  in 
comparison  of  this  inheritance?  Sure  he  shall  be  my  God  and 
King  who  hath  all  forgiveness  at  his  disposal.  All  that  this  world 
can  do  or  give  is  a  thousand  times  lighter  than  the  dust  of  the 
balance,  if  compared  with  these  good  things  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 

(2.)  All  regenerating,  quickening,  sanctifying,  assisting  grace  is 
his.  [1.]  John  v.  21,  He  quickeneth  whom  he  pleaseth.  He 
walks  among  dead  souls,  and  says  to  whom  he  will,  '  Live.'  And, 
[2.]  He  sanctifies  by  his  Spirit  whom  he  pleaseth,  John  iv.  14.  All 
the  living  waters  of  saving  grace  are  committed  to  him,  and  he 
invites  men  unto  them  freely,  Cant.  v.  1 ;  Isa.  Iv.  1 ;  Rev.  xxii.  1 7. 
And,  [3.]  All  grace  actually  assisting  us  unto  any  duty  is  his  also, 
for  without  him  we  can  do  nothing,  John  xv.  5 ;  for  it  is  he  alone 
that  gives  out  suitable  help  in  the  time  of  need,  Heb.  iv.  16.  No 
man  was  ever  quickened,  purified,  or  strengthened,  but  by  him;  nor 
can  any  dram  of  this  grace  be  obtained  but  out  of  his  treasures. 
Those  who  pretend  to  stores  of  it  in  their  own  wills,  are  so  far 
anticiirists. 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  61 

(o.)  Tlie  grace  of  our  2^''^6servation  iu  our  acceptation  with  God 
and  ol)edicnce  unto  him  is  solely  his,  John  x.  28.     And  so  also, — 

(4.)  Are  all  the  blessed  and  gracious  privileges  whereof  we  are 
made  partakers  in  our  adoption,  John  i.  12.  Heb.  iii.  6,  he  is  so 
Lord  over  the  house  and  family  of  God  as  to  have  the  whole  inherit- 
ance in  his  power,  and  the  absolute  disposal  of  all  the  good  things 
belonging  unto  it. 

These  are  the  riches  and  treasures  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  the 
good  things  of  his  house,  the  revenues  of  his  dominion.  The  mass 
of  this  treasure  that  lies  by  him  is  infinite,  the  stores  of  it  are  inex- 
haustible; and  he  is  ready,  free,  gracious,  and  bountiful,  in  his.com- 
munications  of  them  to  all  the  subjects  of  his  dominion.  This  part 
of  his  heirship  extends  unto, — 1.  AH  the  grace  and  mercy  that  the 
Father  could  find  in  his  own  gracious  heart  to  bestow,  whexi  he  was 
full  of  counsels  of  love,  and  designed  to  exalt  himself  by  the  way  of 
grace,  Eph.  i.  6.  2.  To  all  the  grace  and  mercy  which  he  himself 
could  purchase  by  the  effusion  of  his  blood,  Heb.  ix.  14;  Eph.  ii.  13; 
and  indeed  these  are  commensurate,  if  things  in  respect  of  us  alto- 
gether boundless  may  be  said  to  be  commensurate.  3.  All  that 
grace  which  hath  saved  the  world  of  sinners  which  are  already  in 
tlie  enjoyment  of  God,  and  that  shall  effectually  save  all  that  come 
to  God  by  him.  4.  All  that  grace  which,  in  the  promises  of  it  in 
the  Old  Testament,  is  set  out  by  all  that  is  rich,  precious,  glorious, — 
all  that  is  eminent  in  the  whole  creation  of  God ;  and  in  the  New 
is  called  "  treasure,"  "  unsearchable  riches,"  and  "  exceeding  excel- 
lency:" which,  being  communicated  by  him  to  all  the  subjects  of  his 
kingdom,  makes  every  one  of  them  richer  than  all  the  potentates  of 
the  earth  who  have  no  interest  in  him. 

The  especial  foundation  of  all  this  trust  is  in  an  eminent  manner 
expressed,  Isa.  liii.  10-12.  His  suffering  for  the  sins  of  all  those  to 
whom  he  intends  to  communicate  of  this  his  fulness,  according  to 
the  will  of  God,  and  the  purchase  he  made  in  his  death,  according  to 
the  tenor  of  the  covenant  of  the  mediator,  makes  it  just  and  right- 
eous that  he  should  enjoy  this  part  of  his  inheritance,  Heb.  ii.  14, 
ix.  1 2.  The  Father  says  unto  him :  '  Seest  thou  these  poor  wretched 
creatures  that  lie  perishing  in  their  blood  and  under  the  curse  ? 
They  had  once  my  image  gloriously  en  stamped  on  them,  and  were 
every  way  meet  for  my  service;  but  behold  the  misery  that  is  come 
\i\)on  them  by  their  sin  and  rebellion.  Sentence  is  gone  forth 
against  them  upon  their  sin ;  and  they  want  nothing  to  shut  them 
up  under  everlasting  ruin  but  the  execution  of  it.  Wilt  thou  under- 
take to  be  their  saviour  and  deliverer,  to  save  them  from  their  sins, 
and  the  wrath  to  come?  Wilt  thou  make  thy  soul  an  offering  for 
their  sins,  and  lay  down  thy  life  a  ransom  for  them?  Hast  thou 
luve  enough  to  wash  them  in  thine  own  blood,  in  a  nature  to  bo 


62  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  f CHAP.  L 

taken  of  them,  being  obedient  therein  unto  death,  the  death  of  the 
cross?'  Whereunto  he  replies:  'I  am  content  to  do  thy  will,  and 
will  undertake  this  work,  and  that  with  joy  and  delight.  Lo,  I 
come  for  that  purpose ;  my  delight  is  with  these  sous  of  men,  Ps. 
xl.  8;  Prov.  viii.  31.  What  they  have  taken,  I  will  pay.  What  is 
due  from  them,  let  it  be  required  at  my  hand.  I  am  ready  to 
undergo  wrath  and  curse  for  them,  and  to  pour  out  my  soul  unto 
death.'  '  It  shall  be,'  saith  the  Father,  '  as  thou  hast  spoken,  and 
thou  shalt  see  of  the  travail  of  thy  soul  and  be  sa^tisfied.  I  will 
give  thee  for  a  covenant  and  a  leader  unto  them,  and  thou  shalt  be 
the  captain  of  their  salvation.  To  this  end  take  into  thy  power 
and  disposal  all  the  treasures  of  heaven,  all  mercy  and  grace,  to 
give  out  unto  them  for  whom  thou  hast  undertaken.  Behold,  here 
are  unsearchable  hidden  treasures,  not  of  many  generations,  but 
laid  up  from  eternity.  Take  all  these  riches  into  thy  power,  and  at 
thy  disposal  shall  they  be  for  ever."  This  is  the  noble  peculiar 
foundation  of  this  part  of  the  inheritance  of  Christ. 

From  what  hath  been  spoken,  the  rule  also  whereby  the  Lord 
Christ  proceedeth  in  disposing  these  treasures  to  the  sons  of  men  is 
made  evident.  Though  he  hath  all  grace  committed  unto  him,  yet 
he  bestows  not  grace  upon  all.  The  rule  of  his  procedure  herein  is 
God's  election;  for  the  foundation  of  this  whole  truth  is  his  under- 
taking for  them  who  were  given  him  of  his  Father.  See  Acts 
xiii.  48;  Rom.  xi.  7;  Eph.  i.  3-8.  And  the  variety  which  is  seen 
in  his  actual  communication  of  grace  and  mercy  unto  sinners 
depends  upon  the  sovereign  and  eternal  designation  of  the  persons 
of  them  who  by  him  were  to  obtain  mercy,  and  be  made  heirs  of 
salvation. 

But  although  the  persons  are  designed  and  allotted  unto  him 
from  eternity  who  were  to  receive  tljis  grace  and  mercy  at  his 
hands,  yet  as  to  the  manner  and  all  circumstances  of  his  dispensa- 
tion and  communication  of  them,  they  are  wholly  committed  unto 
his  own  sovereign  will  and  wisdom.  Hence  some  he  calls  at  one 
time,  some  at  another ;  some  in  the  morning,  that  they  may  glorify 
grace  in  working  all  the  day;  some  in  the  evening  of  their  lives, 
that  they  may  exalt  pardoning  mercy  to  eternity:  on  some  he 
bestows  nmch  grace,  that  he  may  render  them  useful  in  the  strength 
of  it;  on  others  less,  that  he  may  keep  them  humble  in  a  sense  of 
their  wants:  some  he  makes  rich  in  light,  others  in  love;  some  in 
faith,  others  in  patience;  that  they  may  all  peculiarly  praise  him, 
and  set  out  the  fulness  of  his  stores.  And  liereby, — 1.  He  glorifies 
every  grace  of  his  Spirit,  by  making  it  shine  eminently  in  one  or 
other,  as  faith  in  Abraham  and  Peter,  love  in  David  and  John, 
patience  in  Job;  and,  2.  He  renders  his  subjects  useful  one  to  another, 
in  that  they  have  opportunities  upon  the  defects  and  fulness  of  each 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  63 

other  to  exercise  all  their  graces;  and,  3.  So  he  renders  his  whole 
body  uniform  and  comely,  1  Cor.  xii.  14-27;  4.  Keeping  every 
member  in  humility  and  dependence,  whilst  it  sees  its  own  wants 
in  some  graces  that  others  excel  in,  Col.  ii.  19. 

This  is  another  most  eminent  part  of  the  inheritance  and  kincy- 
dom  of  Christ. 

Secondly,  All  gifts  that  are  bestowed  on  any  of  the  sons  of  men, 
whereby  they  are  differenced  from  others  or  made  useful  unto  others, 
belong  also  unto  the  inheritance  and  kingdom  of  Christ. 

Gifts  bestowed  on  men  are  either  natural  or  sjnritual.  1.  Natural 
gijts  are  especial  endowments  of  the  persons  or  minds  of  men,  in  re- 
lation unto  things  appertaining  unto  this  life;  as  wisdom,  learning, 
.  skill  and  cunning  in  arts  and  sciences.  I  call  them  natural  in 
respect  of  the  objects  that  they  are  exercised  about,  which  are  r« 
jSiUTiJid,  "things  of  this  life;"  as  also  in  respect  of  their  end  and  use. 
They  are  not  always  so  as  to  their  rise  and  spring,  but  may  be  im- 
mediately infused,  as  wisdom  was  into  Solomon  for  civil  government, 
1  Kings  iii.  12;  and  skill  for  all  manner  of  mechanical  operations 
into  Bezaleel,  Exod.  xxxi.  2-6.  But  how^  far  these  gifts  are  educed 
in  an  ordinary  course  of  providence  out  of  their  hidden  seeds  and 
principles  in  nature,  in  a  just  connection  of  causes  and  effects,  and 
so  fall  under  a  certain  law  of  acquisition,  or  what  there  may  be 
of  the  interposition  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  an  especial  manner,  im- 
mediately conferring  them  on  any,  falls  not  under  our  present  con- 
sideration of  them.  Nor  yet  can  we  insist  on  their  use,  which  is 
such  that  they  are  the  great  instrument  in  the  hand  of  God  for  the 
preservation  of  human  society,  and  to  keep  the  course  of  man's  lite 
and  pilgrimage  from  being  wholly  brutish.  I  design  only  to  show 
that  even  they  also  belong  (though  more  remotely)  to  the  lordship 
of  Jesus  Christ;  which  they  do  on  two  accounts: — 

(1.)  In  that  the  very  use  of  men's  reason  and  their  natural  faculties, 
as  to  any  good  end  or  purpose,  is  continued  unto  them  upon  the 
account  of  his  interposition,  bringing  the  world  thereby  under  a  dis- 
pensation of  patience  and  forbearance,  as  was  declared,  John  i.  9. 

(2.)  He  is  endued  with  power  and  authority  to  use  them,  in  whose 
hand  soever  they  lie,  whether  of  his  friends  or  enemies,  to  the  espe- 
cial ends  of  his  glory,  in  doing  good  unto  his  church.  And,  indeed, 
in  the  efficacy  of  his  Spirit  and  p9wer  upon  the  gifts  of  the  minds  of 
men,  exciting,  ordering,  disposing,  enabling  them  unto  various  act- 
ings and  operations,  by  and  with  them;  controlling,  overruling, 
entangling  each  other  and  themselves  in  whom  they  are  by  them ; 
his  wisdom  and  care  in  the  rule,  government,  chastisement,  and 
deliverance  of  his  church,  are  most  conspicuous. 

2.  Spiritual  gifts,  which  principally  come  under  that  denomina- 
tion, are  of  two  sorts, — extraordinary,  and  ordinary.  The  first 
VOL..  xu. — 5 


64  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

are  immediate  endowment  of  the  minds  of  men  with  abilities  ex- 
ceeding the  whole  system  of  nature,  in  the  exercise  whereof  they 
are  mere  instruments  of  Him  who  bestows  those  gifts  upon  them. 
Sucli  of  old  were  the  gifts  of  miracles,  tongues,  healing,  prediction, 
and  infalUble  inspiration,  given  out  by  the  Lord  Christ  unto  such  as 
he  was  pleased  to  use  in  his  gospel  service  in  an  extraordinary 
manner.  The  latter  sort  are  furnishments  of  the  minds  of  men, 
enabling  them  unto  the  comprehension  of  spiritual  things,  and  the 
management  of  them  for  spiritual  ends  and  purposes.  Such  are 
wisdom,  knowledge,  prudence,  utterance,  aptness  to  teach ;  in  general, 
abilities  to  manage  the  things  of  Christ  and  the  gospel  unto  their 
own  proper  ends.  And  these  also  are  of  two  sorts: — (1.)  Such  as 
are  peculiar  unto  office;  and,  (2.)  Such  as  are  common  unto  others, 
for  their  own  and  others'  good  and  edification,  according  as  they  are 
called  unto  the  exercise  of  them.  And  these  two  sorts  of  gifts  differ 
only  in  respect  of  degrees.  There  are  no  ordinary  gifts  that  Cluist's 
ufiicers  are  made  partakers  of,  their  office  only  excepted,  which  differ 
in  the  kind  or  nature  of  them  from  those  which  he  bestows  on  all 
his  disciples;  which  makes  their  stirring  up  and  endeavours  to 
improve  the  gifts  they  have  received  exceeding  necessary  unto  them. 
And  Christ's  collation  of  these  gifts  unto  men  is  the  foundation  of 
all  the  offices  that  under  him  they  are  called  to  discliarge.  See 
Eph.  iv.  8,  11,  1  Cor.  xii.  5,  John  xx.  21,  22.  And  as  they  are  the 
spring  and  foundation  of  office,  so  they  are  the  great  and  only  means 
of  the  church's  edification.  By  them  Christ  builds  up  his  church  to 
the  measure  appointed  unto  the  whole  and  every  member  of  it. 
And  there  is  no  member  but  hath  his  gift;  which  is  the  talent  given, 
or  rather  lent,  to  trade  withal. 

Now,  of  all  these  Christ  is  the  only  Lord ;  they  belong  unto  his  king- 
dom: Ps.  Ixviii.  19,  ^1^^  J^i^^P  ^n^^.  "  When  he  ascended  on  high, 
he  took"  (or  "received")  "  gifts  for  men;"  he  took  them  into  his  own 
power  and  disposal,  being  given  him  of  his  Father;  as  Peter  declares, 
Acts  ii.  33,  adding  that  he  received  the  Spirit,  by  whom  all  these 
gifts  are  wrought.  And  Eph.  iv.  8,  the  apostle  renders  the  words  of 
the  psalmist  tduxs  66>ara,  "he  gave  gifts;"  because  he  received  them 
into  his  power,  not  to  keep  them  unto  himself,  but  to  give  them  out 
to  the  use  of  others.  And  so  ^i^i  doth  sometimes  signify  to  "  give," 
Hos.  xiv.  3.  "Verbum  accipiendi  dare  significat  cum  accipiunt 
aliunde  ut  dent,"  say  the  Jewish  masters.  And  it  was  after  his 
resurrection  that  this  accession  was  made  unto  his  kingdom,  in  such 
an  eminent  and  visible  manner  as  to  be  a  testimony  of  his  office : 
John  vii.  39,  Ouffw  rjv  Hvsv/^a  aytov,  "  The  Holy  Ghost  was  not  yet;  be- 
cause Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified," — not  eminently  given  and  re- 
ceived, as  to  these  gifts,  Acts  xix.  2.  And  this  investiture  of  him  with 
power  over  all  gifts,  he  makes  the  bottom  of  the  mission  of  the 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  65 

apostles,  Matt,  xxviii.  18.  This  he  had  as  a  fruit  of  liis  suffering, 
as  a  part  of  his  purchase;  and  it  is  a  choice  j)ortioa  of  his  lordship 
and  kingdom. 

The  end  also  why  all  these  gifts  are  given  into  his  power  and 
disposal  is  evident: — ],  The  propagation  of  his  gospel,  and  conse- 
quently the  setting  up  of  his  kingdom  in  the  world,  depends  ufjon 
them.  These  are  the  arms  that  he  furnished  his  messengers  withal 
when  he  sent  them  forth  to  fight,  to  conquer  and  suljdue  the 
world  unto  him.  And  by  these  they  prevailed.  By  that  Spirit  of 
wisdom  and  knowledge,  prayer  and  utterance,  wherewith  they  were 
endowed, — attended,  where  and  when  needful,  with  the  extraordi- 
nary gifts  before  mentioned,  did  they  accomplish  the  work  commit- 
ted unto  their  charge.  Now,  the  Lord  Christ  having  a  right  unto 
a  kingdom  and  inheritance  given  him  which  was  actually  under 
possession  of  his  adversary,  it  was  necessary  that  all  those  arms 
wherewith  he  was  to  make  a  conquest  of  it  should  be  given  to  his 
disposal,  2  Cor.  x.  4.  These  were  the  weapons  of  the  warfare  of 
his  apostles  and  disciples,  which  through  God  were  so  mighty  to  cast 
down  the  strongholds  of  sin  and  Satan ;  these  are  the  slings  and 
stones  before  which  the  Goliaths  of  the  earth  and  hell  did  fall;  this 
was  that  power  from  above  wdiich  he  promised  his  apostles  to  furnish 
them  withal,  when  they  should  address  themselves  to  the  conquest 
of  the  world,  Acts  i.  8.  With  these  weapons,  this  furniture  for  their 
warfare,  a  few  despised  persons,  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  went  from 
Judea  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth,  subduing  all  things  before  them 
to  the  obedience  of  their  Lord  and  Master.  '  And, — 

2.  By  these  is  his  church  edified.  And  to  that  end  doth  he 
continue  to  bestow  them  on  men,  and  will  do  so  to  the  end  of  the 
world,  1  Cor.  xii.  4-14;  Eph.  iv.  8-12;  Rom.  xii.  6-8;  1  Pet.  iv. 
10,  11  ;  Col.  ii.  19.  And  for  any  to  hinder  their  growth  and  exer- 
cise is,  what  in  them  lies,  to  pull  down  the  cliurch  of  Christ,  and  to 
set  themselves  against  that  testimony  which  he  gives  in  the  world 
that  he  is  yet  alive,  and  that  he  takes  care  of  his  disciples,  being 
present  with  them  according  unto  his  promise. 

3.  And  by  these  means  and  ways  isGod  glorified  in  him  and  by  him ; 
which  is  the  great  end  of  his  lordship  over  all  the  gilts  of  the  Spirit. 

That  we  may  a  little  by  the  way  look  into  our  especial  concern- 
ment in  these  things,  the  order  of  them,  and  their  subserviency  one 
to  another,  may  be  briefly  considered:  for  as  natural  gifts  are  the 
foundation  of,  and  lie  in  an  especial  subordination  unto  spiritual,  so 
are  spiritual  gifts  enlivened,  made  effectual  and  durable,  by  grace. 
The  principal  end  of  Christ's  bestowing  gifts  is  the  erection  of  a 
ministry  in  his  church,  for  the  ends  before  mentioned.  And  where 
all  these,  in  their  order  and  mutual  subserviency  unto  one  another, 
are  received  by  any,  there,  and  there  alone,  is  acompeteat  furniture 


66  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

for  the  work  of  tlie  ministry  received.  And  where  any  of  them,  as 
to  their  whole  kind,  are  wanting,  there  is  a  defect  in  the  person,  if 
not  a  nullity  as  to  the  office.  Natural  gifts  and  endowments  of 
mind  are  so  necessary  a  foundation  for  any  that  looks  towards  the 
Avork  of  the  ministry,  that  without  some  competent  measure  of  them 
it  is  madness  and  folly  to  entertain  thoughts  of  any  progress. 
Unless  unto  these,  spiritual  gifts  are  in  Christ's  time  superadded,  the 
other  will  never  be  of  any  use  for  the  edification  of  the  church,  as 
having  in  their  own  nature  and  series  no  especial  tendency  unto  that 
end.  Nor  will  these  superadded  spiritual  gifts  enable  any  man  to 
discharge  his  duty  unto  all  well-pleasing  before  God,  unless  they  also 
are  quickened  and  seasoned  by  grace.  And  where  there  is  an  inter- 
cision  of  this  series  and  order  in  any,  the  defect  will  quickly  appear. 
Thus  some  we  see  of  excellent  natural  endowments,  in  their  first 
setting  forth  in  the  world,  and  in  their  endeavours  on  that  single 
stock,  promising  great  usefulness  and  excellency  in  their  way,  who, 
when  they  should  come  to  engage  in  the  service  of  the  gospel,  evi- 
dence themselves  to  be  altogether  unfurnished  for  the  employment 
they  undertake,  yea,  and  to  have  lost  what  before  they  seemed  to 
have  received.  Having  gone  to  the  utmost  length  and  bounds  that 
gifts  merely  natural  could  carry  them  out  unto,  and  not  receiving 
superadded  spiritual  gifts,  which  the  Sj)irit  of  Christ  bestoweth  as  he 
pleaseth,  1  Cor.  xii.  11,  they  faint  in  the  way,  wither,  and  become 
utterly  useless.  And  this,  for  the  most  part,  falleth  out  when  men 
either  have  abused  their  natural  gifts  to  the  service  of  their  lusts' 
and  in  an  opposition  to  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel;  or  when  they 
set  upon  spiritual  things  and  pretend  to  the  service  of  Christ  merely 
in  their  own  strength,  without  dependence  on  him,  as  the  heir  and 
lord  of  all,  for  abilities  and  furniture  for  his  work;  or  when  they 
have  some  fixed  corrupt  end  and  design  to  accomplish  and  bring 
about  by  a  pretence  of  the  ministry,  without  regard  to  the  glory  of 
Christ,  or  compassion  to  the  souls  of  men,- — which  the  Lord  Christ 
will  not  prostitute  the  gifts  of  his  S2:)irit  to  make  them  serviceable 
unto.     And  sundry  other  causes  of  this  failure  may  be  assigned. 

It  is  no  otherwise  as  to  the  next  degree  in  this  order,  in  reference 
unto  spiritual  gifts  and  saving  grace.  When  these  gifts,  in  the  good 
pleasure  of  the  Lord  of  them,  are  superadded  unto  the  natural  en- 
dowments before  mentioned,  they  carry  on  them  who  have  received 
^  them  cheerfully,  comfortably,  and  usefully,  in  their  way  and  pro- 
gress. The  former  are  increased,  heightened,  strengthened,  and 
perfected  by  the  latter,  towards  that  special  end  whereunto  them- 
selves are  designed, — namely,  the  glory  of  Christ  in  the  work  of 
the  gospel.  But  if  these  also  are  not  in  due  season  quickened  by 
saving  grace,  if  the  heart  be  not  moistened  and  made  fruitful  thereby, 
even  they  also  will  wither  and  decay.     Sin  and  the  world  in  urocess 


YEW.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  G7 

of  time  will  devour  them;  whereof  we  have  daily  experience  in  this 
world.  And  this  is  the  order  wherein  the  great  Lord  of  all  these 
gifts  hath  laid  them,  in  a  subserviency  one  kind  unto  another,  and 
all  of  them  unto  his  own  glory. 

And  this  that  hath  been  spoken  will  abundantly  discover  the  rea- 
son and  ground  of  the  apostolical  exhortation,  "  Covet  earnestly 
the  best  gifts,"  1  Cor.  xii.  31 :  as,  first,  the  gift  of  wisdom  and  know- 
ledge in  the  word  and  will  of  God,  1  Cor.  xii.  8,  ii.  7;  1  Tim.  iii,  15 ; 
1  Cor.  i.  5; — secondly,  the  gift  of  ability  to  manage  and  improve 
this  wisdom  and  knowledge  to  the  edification  of  others,  Heb.  iii.  1  o, 
X.  25;  Rom.  xv.  14;  1  Thess.  v.  11; — thirdly,  of  prayer.  And 
many  more  might  be  added  of  the  like  usefulness  and  importance. 

Secondly/,  To  close  our  considerations  of  this  part  of  the  lordship 
of  Christ,  there  remains  only  that  we  show  him  to  be  the  Lord  of 
all  spiritual  eternal  things,  which  in  one  word  we  call  glory.  He  is 
himself  the  "  Lord  of  glory,"  1  Cor.  ii.  8,  and  the  Judge  of  all,  John 
V.  22;  in  the  discharge  of  which  office  he  gives  out  glory  as  a  reward 
unto  his  followers,  Matt.  xxv.  32 ;  Rom,  xiv.  10.  Glory  is  the  reward 
that  is  with  him,  which  he  will  give  out  at  the  last  day  as  a  crown, 
1  Pet.  V.  4;  2  Tim.  iv.  8;  John  xvii.  2.  And  to  this  end,  that  he 
might  be  Lord  of  it,  he  hath, — 1.  Purchased  it,  Heb.  ix.  12;  Ejsh. 
i.  14;  Heb,  ii.  10;  2.  Taken  actual  possession  of  it  in  his  own  person, 
Luke  xxiv.  26;  John  xvii.  5,  22-24;  and  that,  3.  As  the  forerunner 
of  those  on  whom  he  will  bestow  it,  Heb.  vi.  20. 

And  this  is  a  short  view  of  the  lordship  of  Christ  as  to  things 
spiritual. 

II.  Ecclesiastical  things,  or  things  that  concern  church  institu- 
tions, rule,  and  power,  belong  also  unto  his  rule  and  dominion.  He 
is  the  only  head,  lord,  ruler,  and  lawgiver  of  his  church.  There 
was  a  church-state  ever  since  God  created  man  on  the  earth ;  and 
there  is  the  same  reason  of  it  in  all  its  alterations,  as  unto  its  rela- 
tion to  the  Lord  Chri.st.  Whatever  changes  it  underwent,  still  Ciirist 
was  the  Lord  of  it  and  of  all  its  concernments.  But  by  way  of  in- 
stance and  eminency,  we  may  consider  the  Mosaical  church-state 
under  the  old  te.stament,  and  the  evangelical  church-state  under  the 
new.     Christ  is  Lord  of  and  in  respect  unto  them  both. 

1,  He  was  the  Lord  of  the  old  testament  church-state,  and  he 
exercised  his  power  and  lordship  towards  it  in  four  ways: — (1.)  In 
and  by  its  institution  and  erection.  He  made,  framed,  set  up,  and 
appointed  that  church-state,  and  all  the  worship  of  God  therein 
observed.  He  it  was  who  appeared  unto  ]\Ioses  in  the  wilderness, 
Exod.  iii.  5,  6,  Acts  vii.  32,  33 ;  and  who  gave  them  the  law  on  mount 
Sinai,  Exod.  xx.,  Ps.  Ixviii.  17,  18,  Eph.  iv.  8;  and  continued  with  them 
in  the  wilderness.  Num.  xxi.  6,  1  Cor.  x.  9.  So  that  from  him,  his 
power  and  authority,  was  the  institution  and  erection  of  that  church. 


68  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

(2.)  By  prescribing  a  complete  rule  and  form  of  worship  and  obedi- 
ence unto  it,  being  erected,  as  its  lawgiver,  to  which  nothing  might 
be  added,  Deut.  iv.  1,  2,  xii.  32.  (3.)  By  way  of  reformation,  when 
it  was  collapsed  and  decayed,  Zech.  ii.  8-13;  Mai.  iii.  1-3.  (4.) 
Bv  way  of  amotion,  or  taking  down  what  he  himself  had  set  up, 
because  it  was  so  framed  and  ordered  as  to  continue  only  for  a  sea- 
son, Heb.  ix.  10;  Deut.  xviii.  15-18  ;  Hag.  ii.  6,  7;  Isa.  Ixv.  17,  18; 
2  Pet.  iii.  13.  Which  part  of  his  power  and  lordship  we  shall 
afterwards  abundantly  prove  against  the  Jews. 

2.  Of  the  neiu  testament  evangelical  church-state  also,  he  is  the 
only  lord  and  ruler;  yea,  this  is  his  proper  kingdom,  on  which  all 
other  parts  of  his  dominion  do  depend:  for  he  is  given  to  be  "  head 
over  all  things  to  the  church,"  Eph.  i.  22.  For, — (1.)  He  is  the 
foundation  of  this  church-state,  1  Cor.  iii.  11,  the  whole  design  and^ 
platform  of  it  being  laid  in  him,  and  built  upon  him.  And,  (2.)  He 
erects  this  church-state  upon  himself,  Matt.  xvi.  1 8,  "  Upon  this 
Eock  I  will  build  my  church;"  the  Spirit  and  word  whereby  it  is 
done  being  from  him  alone,  and  ordered  in  and  by  his  wisdom, 
power,  and  care.  And,  (3.)  He  gives  laivs  and  rides  of  worship 
and  obedience  unto  it,  when  so  built  by  himself  and  upon  him.  Matt 
xxviii.  19,  20 ;  Acts  i.  2 ;  Heb.  iii.  1-6.  And,  (4.)  He  is  the  everlasting, 
constant,  abiding,  head,  ruler,  king,  and  governor  of  it,  Eph.  i.  22 ; 
Col.  ii.  19;  Heb.  iii.  6;  Rev.  ii.,  iii.  All  which  things  are  ordinarily 
spoken  unto,  and  the  ends  of  this  power  of  Christ  fully  declared. 

III.  He  is  Lord  also  oi  political  things.  All  the  governments  of 
the  world,  that  are  set  up  and  exercised  therehi  for  the  good  of  man« 
kind,  and  the  preservation  of  society  according  to  the  rules  of  equity 
and  righteousness, — over  all  these,  and  those  who  in  and  by  them 
exercise  rule  and  authority  amongst  men,  is  he  lord  and  king. 

He  alone  is  the  absolute  potentate;  the  highest  on  the  earth  are 
in  a  subordination  unto  him.  That,  1.  He  was  designed  unto,  Ps. 
Ixxxix.  27.  And  accordingly  he  is,  2.  made  Lord  of  lords,  and 
King  of  kings.  Rev.  xvii.  14,  xix.  16;  1  Tim.  vi.  15.  And,  3.  He 
exerciseth  dominion  answerable  unto  his  title.  Rev.  vi.  14—17,  xvii. 
14,  xix.  16-20;  Ps.  ii.  8,  9;  Isa.  Ix.;  Mic.  v.  7-9.  And,  4.  Hath 
hence  right  to  send  his  gospel  into  all  nations  in  the  world,  attended 
with  the  worship  by  him  prescribed,  Matt,  xxviii.  19;  Ps.  ii.  9-12; 
Avhich  none  of  the  rulers  or  governors  of  the  world  have  any  right 
to  refuse  or  oppose ;  nor  can  so  do,  but  upon  their  utmost  peril.  And, 
5.  All  kingdoms  shall  at  length  be  brought  into  a  professed  subjection 
to  him  and  his  gospel,  and  have  all  their  rule  disposed  of  unto  the  inte- 
rest of  his  church  and  saints,  Dan.  vii.  27;  Isa.  Ix.  12 ;  Rev.  xix.  16-19. 

IV.  The  last  branch  of  this  dominion  of  Christ  consists  in  the 
residue  of  the  creation  of  God, — heaven  and  earth,  sea  and  land, 
wind,  trees,  and  fruits  of  the  earth,  and  the  creatures  of  sense.  Ab 
they  are  all  put  under  his  feet.  Ps.  viii.  6-8;  Eph.  i.  22j  1  Cor.  xv.  27; 


TEH.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  69 

SO  the  exercise  of  his  power  severally  over  them  is  known  from  the 
story  of  the  gospel. 

And  thus  we  have  glanced  at  this  lordship  of  Clirist  in  some  of 
the  general  parts  of  it.  And  how  small  a  portion  of  his  glorious 
power  are  we  able  to  comprehend  or  declare ! 


A/'  oZ  zai  Tovg  a/uivag  s'7roir,gsv, — "By  whom  also  he  made  the  worlds." 

The  apostle  in  these  words  gives  further  strength  to  liis  prt^sent 
argument,  from  another  consideration  of  the  person  of  the  Messiah ; 
wherein  he  also  discovers  the  foundation  of  the  pre-eminence  ascribed 
unto  him  in  the  words  last  insisted  on :  "  By  him  the  worlds  were 
made;"  so  that  they  were  "  his  own,"  John  i.  11,  and  it  was  meet 
that,  in  the  new  condition  which  he  underwent,  he  should  be  the 
Lord  of  them  all.  Moreover,  if  all  things  be  made  by  him,  all  dis- 
obedience unto  him  is  certainly  most  unreasonable,  and  will  be 
attended  with  inevitable  ruin  ;  of  the  truth  whereof  the  apostle  aims 
to  convince  the  Hebrews. 

NoNT,  whereas  the  assertion  which  presents  itself  at  first  view  in 
these  words  is  such  as,  if  we  rightly  apprehend  the  meaning  of  tlie 
Holy  Ghost  in  it,  must  needs  determine  the  controversy  that  the 
apostle  had  with  the  Jews,  and  is  of  great  use  and  importance  unto 
the  faith  of  the  saints  in  all  ages,  I  shall  first  free  the  words  from 
false  glosses  and  interpretations,  and  then  explain  the  truth  asserted 
in  them,  both  absolutely  and  with  relation  to  the  present  purpose 
of  the  apostle. 

That  which  some  men  design  in  their  wresting  of  this  place,  is  to 
deface  the  illustrious  testimony  given  in  it  unto  the  eternal  deity  of 
the  Son  of  God;  and  to  this  purpose  they  proceed  variously. 

1.  By  di'  o5,  "  by  whom,"  they  say,  6/  Sv,  "  for  whom,"  is  intended. 
And  so  the  sense  of  the  place  is,  that  "  for  Christ,  for  his  sake,  God 
made  the  world."  So  Enjedinus,  And  Grutius  embraceth  his 
notion,  adding  in  its  confirmation  that  this  was  the  opinion  of  the 
Jews,  namely,  that  all  things  were  made  for  the  Messiah;  and  there- 
lore  scoirjse  he  I'enders  by  "  condiderat,"  as  signifying  the  time  long 
since  past,  before  the  bringing  forth  of  Christ  into  the  world :  as  also 
that  di'  oS  is  put  for  di'  ov,  in  Rom.  vi,  4,  Rev.  iv.  11,  xiii.  14,  and  there- 
fore may  be  here  so  used.  According  to  this  exposition  of  the 
words,  we  have  in  them  an  expression  of  the  love  of  God  towards 
the  Messiah,  in  tliat  for  his  sake  he  made  the  world ;  but  not  any 
thing  of  the  excellency,  power,  and  glory  of  the  Messiah  himself. 

It  is  manifest  that  the  whole  strength  of  this  interpretation  lies  in 
this,  that  6/'  o5  may  be  taken  for  5/  ov, — "  by  whom,"  instead  of  "for 
whom."  But  neither  is  it  proved  that  in  any  other  place  these  ex- 
pressions are  equipollent;  nor,  if  that  could  be  supposed,  is  there  any 
reason  offered  why  the  one  of  them  should  in  this  place  be  put  fur 
the  other;  for, — 


70  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

(1.)  The  places  referred  unto  do  no  way  prove  that  hid  with  a 
genitive  doth  ever  denote  the  final  cause,  but  the  efficient  only. 
■With  an  accusative,  for  the  most  part,  it  is  as  much  as  "  propter," 
signifying  the  final  cause  of  the  thing  spoken  of;  and  rarely  in  the 
New  Testament  is  it  otherwise  used.  Rev.  iv.  II,  A/a  rh  '^iXriad  coo, 
"At  thy  will"  or  "  pleasure,"  the  efficient  and  disposing,  not  the  final 
cause,  seems  to  be  denoted ;  and  chap,  xiii.  1 4,  A/a  ra  tfjj/xE/a,  "  By 
the  signs  that  were  given  him  to  do,"  the  formal  cause  is  signified. 
But  that  joined  with  a  genitive  case  it  anywhere  signifies  the  final 
cause,  doth  not  appear.  Beza,  whom  Grotius  cites,  says  on  Rom. 
vi.  4,  that  di&  ho^m  TLarpog,  "  by  the  glory  of  the  Father,"  may  be 
taken  for  dg  do^rjv,  "  unto  the  glory."  But  the  case  is  not  the  same 
Avhere  things  as  where  persons  are  spoken  of.'  o£  here  relates  unto 
a  person,  and  yet  is  did,  joined  with  it,  asserted  to  denote  the  end  of 
the  things  spoken  of;  which  is  insolent.  Besides,  5o^a  Uarpog  in 
that  place  is  indeed  the  glorious  power  of  the  Father,  the  efficient 
of  the  resurrection  of  Christ  treated  of.  So  that  whereas  did  is  used 
six  hundred  times  with  a  genitive  case  in  the  New  Testament,  no 
one  instance  can  be  given  where  it  may  be  rendered  "  propter," 
"for;"  and  therefore  cannot  be  so  here. 

(2.)  On  supposition  that  some  such  instance  might  be  produced, 
yet,  being  contrary  to  the  constant  use  of  the  word,  some  cogent 
reason  from  the  text  wherein  it  is  used,  or  the  thing  treated  of,  must 
be  urged  to  give  that  sense  admittance;  and  nothing  of  that  nature 
is  or  can  be  here  pleaded. 

(3.)  As  5/'  o5  and  eig  ov  are  distinguished,  the  one  expressing  the 
efficient  the  other  the  final  cause,  Rom.  xi.  36;  so  also  are  8i'  ou  and 
di'  ov  in  this  very  epistle:  chap.  ii.  10,  A/  dv  ra,  cra'vra,  xa)  di'  o£  to, 
'Trdvra, — "  For  whom  are  all  things,  and  by  whom  are  all  things." 
And  is  it  likely  that  the  apostle  would  put  one  of  them  for  the 
other,  contrary  to  the  proper  use  which  he  intended  immediately  to 
assign  severally  unto  them? 

(4.)  A;'  oS,  "by  whom,"  here,  is  the  same  with  bi  aurou,  "by 
him,"  Jolin  i.  3;  which  the  same  person  interprets  properly  for  the 
efficient  cause. 

On  these' accounts,  the  foundation  of  this  gloss  being  removed, 
the  superadded  translation  of  eto/jjcs  by  "condiderat"  is  altogether 
useless;  and  what  the  Jews  grant  that  God  did  with  respect  to  the 
Messiah,  we  shall  afterwards  consider. 

2.  The  Socinians  generally  lay  no  exception  against  the  2^erson 
making,  whom  they  acknowledge  to  be  Christ  the  Son,  but  unto  the 
worlds  said  to  be  made.  These  are  not,  say  they,  the  things  of  the 
old,  but  of  the  new  creation;  not  the  fabric  of  heaven  and  earth,  but 
the  conversion  of  the  souls  of  men ;  not  the  first  institution  and  form- 
inj-  of  all  things,  but  the  restoration  of  mankind,  and  translation 


VEK.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  71 

into  a  new  condition  of  life.  Tiiis  Schlichtingius  at  large  insists  on 
in  his  comment  on  this  place ;  bringing,  in  the  justification  of  his  in- 
terpretation, the  sum  of  what  is  pleaded  by  all  of  them,  in  answer 
not  only  to  this  testimony,  but  also  to  that  of  John  i.  3,  and  that  also 
of  Col.  i.  16,  17. 

(1.)  "  The  old  creation,"  he  says,  "  is  never  said  to  be  performed 
by  any  intermediate  cause,  as  the  Father  is  here  said  to  make  these 
worlds  by  the  Son."  But,  [1.]  This  is  "petitio  principii,"  that  this 
expression  doth  denote  any  such  intermediate  cause  as  should  inter- 
pose between  the  Father  and  the  creation  of  the  world,  by  an  opera- 
tion of  its  own,  diverse  from  that  of  the  Father.  Job  xxvi.  18,  God 
is  said  to  adorn  the  heavens  in^i?,  "by  his  Spirit,"  which  they  will 
not  contend  to  denote  an  intermediate  cause;  and  did  here  is  but 
what  the  Hebrews  express  by  ^.  [2.]  In  the  creation  of  the  world, 
the  Father  wrought  in  and  by  the  Son,  the  same  creating  act  being 
the  act  of  both  persons,  John  v.  17,  their  will,  wisdom,  and  power 
being  essentially  the  same. 

(2.)  He  adds,  "  There  is  an  allusion  only  in  the  words  unto  the 
first  creation,  as  in  John  i.  1-3,  where  the  apostle  sets  out  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Gospel  in  the  terms  whereby  Moses  reports  the  crea- 
tion of  the  world  ;  and  therefore  mentions  light  in  particular,  because 
of  an  allusion  to  the  light  at  first  created  by  God,  when  of  all  other 
things,  whereto  there  is  no  such  allusion,  he  maketh  no  mention." 
A71S.  [1.]  The  new  creation  granted  by  the  men  of  this  persuasion 
being  only  a  moral  suasion  of  the  minds  of  men  by  the  outward  doc- 
trine of  the  gospel,  I  know  not  what  allusion  can  be  fancied  in  it 
unto  the  creation  of  the  world  out  of  nothing.  [2.]  It  is  granted 
that  the  apostle  speaks  here  of  the  same  creation  that  John  treats  of 
in  the  beginning  of  his  Gospel;  Imt  that  that  is  the  creation  of  the 
whole  world,  and  all  things  contained  in  it,  hath  been  elsewhere 
proved,  and  must  be  granted,  or  we  may  well  despair  of  ever  under- 
standing one  line  in  the  Scripture,  or  what  we  ordinarily  speak  one 
to  another.  [3.]  John  doth  not  mention  any  particular  of  the  old 
creation,  affirming  only  in  general  that  by  the  Word  all  things  were 
made ;  whereof  he  afterwards  affirms  that  he  was  "the  light  of  men," 
— not  assigning  unto  him  in  particular  the  creation  of  light,  as  is 
pretended. 

(3.)  He  tells  us,  "  The  article  proposed,  rovg  alc^jvag,  intimates  that 
it  is  not  the  old  creation  that  is  intended,  but  some  new  especial 
thing,  distinct  from  it  and  preferred  above  it.  Ans.  [1.]  As  the 
same  article  doth,  used  by  the  same  apostle  to  the  same  purpo.se  in 
another  place:  Acts  xiv.  15,  "Os  Jffo/Tjffg  rhv  ovpavhv  xal  t-jjk  /Sjv  xul 
rriv  '^d}.aaaav — "Who  made  the  heaven,  the  earth,  and  sea;"  wiiich 
were  certainly  those  created  of  old.  [2.]  The  same  article  is  used 
with  the  same  word  again  in  this  epistle,  chap.  xi.  3,  n/ffri-/  vooO,'j.ii 


72  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

xarriprjgSai  roOg  aioJvag' — "By  faith  we  understand  that  the  worlds 
were  made ;"  where  this  author  acknowledgeth  the  old  creation  to 
be  intended. 

(4.)  He  adds,  "  That  the  author  of  this  epistle  seems  to  allude  to 
the  Greek  translation  of  Isa.  ix.  5,  wherein  'li'"^?^,  'The  Father  of 
eternity,'  or  '  Eternal  Father/  is  rendered  'The  Father  of  the  world 
to  come/''  Ans.  [1.]  There  is  no  manner  of  relation  between  Uarrip 
(iiXXcvTog  alojvog,  "  The  Father  of  the  world  to  come,"  and  A/'  oS  roug 
aiumg  s'xoiridiv,  "  By  whom  he  made  the  worlds,"  unless  it  be  that  one 
word  is  used  in  both  places  in  very  distinct  senses;  which  if  it  be 
sufficient  to  evince  a  cognation  between  various  places,  very  strange 
and  uncouth  interpretations  would  quickly  ensue.  Nor,  [2.]  Doth 
that  which  the  aj^ostle  here  treats  of  any  way  respect  that  which  the 
prophet  in  that  place  insists  upon;  his  name  and  nature  being  only 
declared  by  the  prophet,  and  his  works  by  the  apostle.  And,  [8.] 
It  is  a  presumption  to  suppose  the  apostle  to  allude  to  a  corrupt 
translation,  as  that  of  the  LXX.  in  that  place  is,  there  being  no 
ground  for  it  in  the  original;  for  '^J^"''?^  is  not  Uarrip  fiiXXovrog  aiuvog, 
but  Uarrip  aJuivtog,  "  The  eternal  Father."  And  what  the  Jews  and 
LXX.  intentl  by  "  the  world  to  come,"  we  shall  afterwards  consider. 

(5.)  His  last  refuge  is  in  Isa.  li.  16,  "  Where  the  work  of  God,"  as 
he  observes,  "  in  the  reduction  of  the  people  of  the  Jews  from  the 
captivity  of  Babylon  is  called  his  planting  the  heavens,  and  laying 
the  foundations  of  the  earth.  And  the  Vulgar  Latin  translation," 
as  he  further  observes,  "  renders  the  word,  '  ut  coelum  plantes,  ut 
terram  fundes,'  ascribing  that  to  the  prophet  which  he  did  but  de- 
clare. And  in  this  sense  he  contends  that  God  the  Father  is  said  to 
make  the  worlds  by  his  Son."  Ans.  [L]  The  work  mentioned  is 
not  that  which  God  would  do  in  the  reduction  of  the  people  from 
Babylon,  but  that  which  he  had  done  in  their  delivery  from  Fgypt, 
recorded  to  strengthen  the  faith  of  believers  in  what  for  the  future 
he  would  yet  do  for  them.  [2.]  The  expressions,  of  planting  the 
heavens  and  laying  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  are  in  this  place  of 
the  prophet  plainly  allegorical,  and  are  in  the  very  same  place  de- 
clared so  to  be: — 1st.  In  the  circumstance  of  time  when  this  work 
is  said  to  be  wrought,  namely,  at  the  coming  of  the  Israelites  out  of 
Egypt,  when  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  properly  so  called,  could 
not  be  made,  planted,  founded,  or  created.  2dly.  By  an  adjoined 
exposition  of  the  allegory :  "  I  have  put  my  words  in  thy  mouth, 

and  say  unto  Zion,  Thou  art  my  people."     This  was  his 

planting  of  the  heavens  and  laying  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  even 
the  erection  of  a  church  and  political  state  amongst  the  Israelites. 
[3.]  It  is  not  to  the  prof)het,  but  to  the  church,  that  the  words  are 
spoken;  and  V^^?  and  "J^V  are  not  "ut  plantes"  and  "  ut  fundes," 
but  "  ad  plautandum,"  "  to  j^lant,"  and  "ad  fundandum/'  "  to  lay 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  73 

the  foundation."  And  our  author  prejudicates  his  cause  by  iiiakinf* 
use  of  a  translation  to  uphold  it  which  himself  knows  to  be  corrupt. 
[4.]  There  is  not,  then,  any  similitude  between  that  place  of  the 
prophet,  wherein  words  are  used  allegorically  (the  allegory  in  them 
being  instantly  explained),  and  this  of  the  apostle,  whose  discourse 
is  didiictical,  and  the  words  used  in  it  proper  and  suited  to  the  thin<TS 
intended  by  him  to  be  expressed.  And  this  is  the  substance  of  what 
is  pleaded  to  wrest  Irom  believers  this  illustrious  testimony  given  to 
the  eternal  deity  of  the  Son  of  God.  We  may  yet  further  consider 
the  reasons  that  offer  themselves  from  the  context  for  the  removal 
of  the  interpretation  suggested : — 

1.  It  sinks  under  its  own  weakness  and  absurdity.  The  apostle, 
intending  to  set  out  the  excellency  of  the  Son  of  God,  affirms  that 
"by  hin  '  -;  worlds  were  made;"  that  is,  say  they,  "Christ  preach- 
ing the  gospel  converted  some  to  the  faith  of  it,  and  many  more 
were  converted  by  the  apostles'  preaching  the  same  doctrine;  where- 
upon blessed  times  of  light  and  salvation  ensued."  Who  not 
overpowered  with  prejudice  could  once  imagine  any  such  sense  in 
these  words,  especially  considering  that  it  is  as  contrary  to  the  design 
of  the  apostle  as  it  is  to  the  importance  of  the  words  themselves? 
This  is  that  which  Peter  calls  men's  "wresting  the  Scripture"  to 
their  own  perdition. 

2.  The  apostle,  as  we  observed,  writes  didactically,  plainly  express- 
ing the  matter  whereof  he  treats  in  words  usual  and  proper.  To 
what  end,  then,  should  he  use  so  strained  an  allegory  in  a  point  of 
doctrine,  yea,  a  fundamental  article  of  the  religion  he  taught,  and 
that  to  express  what  he  had  immediately  in  the  words  foregoing 
properly  expressed ;  for,  "By  whom  he  made  the  worlds"  is  no  more, 
in  these  men's  apprehensions,  than,  "In  him  hath  he  spoken  in  these 
latter  days?"  Nor  is  this  expression  anywhere  used,  no,  not  in  the 
most  allegorical  prophecies  of  the  Old  Testament,  to  denote  that 
which  here  they  would  wrest  it  unto.  But  making  of  the  world 
signifies  making  of  the  world  in  the  whole  Scripture  throughout, 
and  nothing  else. 

3.  Tlie  makino^  of  the  worlds  here  intended  was  a  thing  then 
past:  'ETo/jjfTg,  "He  made  them;"  that  is,  he  did  so  of  old.  And 
the  same  word  is  used  by  the  LXX.  to  express  the  old  creation. 
But  now  that  which  the  Jews  called  "The  world  to  come,"  or  the 
blessed  state  of  the  church  under  the  Messiah,  the  apostle  speaks  of 
as  of  that  which  was  not  yet  come,  the  present  worldly  state  of  the 
Juuaical  church  yet  continuing. 

4.  The  words  aiuv  and  aiwvsg,  or  o?]}  and  ^''^^'V,  which  are  so 
rendered,  taken  absolutely,  as  they  are  here  used,  do  never  in  any 
one  place  of  the  Scripture,  in  the  Old  or  New  Testament,  signify  the 
new  creation,  or  state  of  the  church  under  the  gospel ;  but  the  whole 


74j  ■  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

world,  and  all  things  therein  contained,  they  do  in  this  very  epistle, 
chap.  xi.  3. 

5,  Wherever  the  apostle  in  this  epistle  speaks  in  the  Judaical 
idiom  of  the  church-state  under  the  lilessiah,  he  never  calls  it  by 
the  name  of  o/xou/xn'Tj  or  atw,  but  still  with  the  limitation  of,  "to 
come,"  as  chap.  ii.  5,  vi.  5.  And  where  the  word  is  used  absolutely, 
as  in  this  place  and  chap.  xi.  S,  it  is  the  whole  world  that  is  in- 
tended. 

6.  The  context  utterly  refuseth  this  gloss.  The  Son  in  the  pre- 
cedino-  words  is  said  to  be  made  heir  or  lord  of  all ;  that  is,  of  all 
things  absolutely  and  universally,  as  we  have  evinced  and  is  con- 
fessed. Unto  that  assertion  he  subjoins  a  reason  of  the  equity  of 
that  transcendent  grant  made  unto  him,  namely,  because  "by  him 
all  things  were  made;"  whereunto  he  adds  his  upholding,  ruling, 
and  disposing  of  them,  being  so  made  by  him:  "He  upholdeth  all 
things  by  the  word  of  his  power."  That  between  the  "all  things" 
whereof  he  is  Lord  and  the  "all  things"  that  he  upholds  there  should 
be  an  interposition  of  words  of  the  same  importance  with  them, 
expressing  the  reason  of  them  that  go  afore  and  the  fomidation  of 
that  which  follows,  knitting  both  parts  together,  and  yet  indeed 
having  a  signification  in  them  of  things  utterly  heterogeneous  to 
them,  is  most  unreasonable  to  imagine. 

We  have  now  obtained  liberty,  by  removing  the  entanglements 
cast  in  our  way,  to  proceed  to  the  opening  of  the  genuine  sense  and 
importance  of  these  words. 

Af  oZ,  "by  whom;"  not  as  an  instrument,  or  an  inferior,  inter- 
mediate, created  cause:  for  then  also  must  he  be  created  by  himself, 
seeing  all  things  that  were  made  were  made  by  him,  John  i.  3,  but  as 
God's  own  eternal  Word,  Wisdom,  and  Power,  Prov.  viii.  22—24,  John 
i.  1, — the  same  individual  creatine:  act  beinsr  the  work  of  Father  and 
Son,  whose  powder  and  wisdom  being  one  and  the  same  undivided,  so 
also  are  the  works  which  outwardly  proceed  from  them.  And  as 
the  joint  working  of  Father  and  Son  doth  not  infer  any  other 
subordination  but  that  of  subsistence  and  order,  so  the  preposition 
bia  doth  not  of  itself  intimate  the  subjection  of  an  instrumental 
cause,  being  used  sometimes  to  express  the  work  of  the  Father 
himself,  Gal.  i.  1. 

'ETo/'jjffg,  ^1?,  "created."  So  the  apostle  expresseth  that  word, 
Acts  xvii.  24,  26 ;  and  the  LXX.  most  commonly,  as  Gen.  i.  1,  though 
sometimes  they  use  xr/^w,  as  our  apostle  also  doth,  chap.  x.  [Ool, 
i.  16?]  He  made,  created,  produced  out  of  nothing,  by  the  things 
not  seen,  chap.  xi.  3. 

To-jg  aiojvag:  aidJv,  Q^iV.  So  that  Avord  is  constantly  rendered  by 
the  Greeks.  Cir'V  is  "to  hide,"  or  to  be  hid,  kept  secret,  close,  undis- 
covered.   W^hence  a  virgin  is  called  '^'^f'^j  oi^e  not  yet  come  into  the 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  75 

public  state  of  matrimony;  as  by  the  Greeks,  on  the  same  account, 
xaruTiXiigrog,  "one  shut  up,"  or  a  recluse;  as  the  Targumists  call  a 
harlot  sn  np23,  "a  goer  abroad,"  froni  that  description  of  her,  Prov. 

vii.  11,  12;  nhmn  ays  ^nii  Dya  n\i?:n  ^ac'^-K'S  nri\32; "Her  feet 

dwell  not  in  her  own  house:  one  while  she  is  in  the  street,  another 
while  abroad;"  as  the  mother  of  the  family  is  called  ^1'?  ^)^,  "the 
dweller  at  home,"  Ps.  Ixviii.  13.  Hence  ^^iV  signifies  the  ages  of 
the  world  in  their  succession  and  duration,  which  are  things  secret 
and  hidden.  What  is  past  is  forgotten,  wdiat  is  to  come  is  unknown, 
artd  what  is  present  is  passing  away  without  much  observation.  See 
Eccles.  i.  11. 

The  world,  then,  that  is  visible  and  a  spectacle  in  itself,  in  respect 
of  its  continuance  and  duration  is  ^3^^^, — "a  thing  hidden."  So  that 
the  word  denotes  the  fabric  of  the  world  by  a  metonymy  of  the 
adjunct.  When  the  Hebrews  would  express  the  world  in  respect  of 
the  substance  and  matter  of  the  universe,  they  do  it  commonly  by  a 
distribution  of  the  whole  into  its  most  general  and  comprehensive 
parts,  as  "  The  heavens,  earth,  and  sea,"  subjoining,  "  all  things  con- 
tained in  them."  This  the  Greeks  and  Latins,  from  its  order,  frame, 
and  ornaments,  call  xogfios  and  "mundus;"  which  principally  respect 
that  CPy'  n^air'j  that  beauty  and  ornament  of  the  heavens  which 
God  made  by  his  Spirit,  Job  xxvi.  13.  And  as  it  is  inhabited  by 
the  st)ns  of  men,  they  call  it  -'r?^,  that  is,  oixov/ji^hri;  that  is,  P^  ''?D, 
Prov.  viii.  31,  "The  world  of  the  earth," — principally,  the  habitable 
parts  of  the  earth.  As  quickly  passing  away,  they  call  it  "'.^i"!'.  And 
in  respect  of  its  successive  duration  ^f^^;  that  is,  uiuiv,  the  word  here 
used. 

Aiuvsg,  in  the  plural  number,  "the  worlds,"  so  called,  chap.  xi. 
S,  by  a  mere  euallage  of  number,  as  some  suppose,  or  with  respect  to 
the  many  ages  of  the  world's  duration.  But,  moreover,  the  apostle 
accommodates  his  expression  to  the  received  opinion  of  the  Jews, 
and  their  way  of  expressing  themselves  about  the  world,  ti^i^  de- 
notes the  world  as  to  the  subsistence  of  it  and  as  to  its  duration. 
In  both  these  respects  the  Jews  distributed  the  world  into  several 
parts,  calling  them  so  many  worlds.  K  D.  Kimchi  on  Isa.  vi. 
distributes  these  worlds  into  three ;  on  the  account  of  which  he  says, 
:^'^p,  "holy,"  Avas  three  times  repeated  by  the  seraphim.  There 
are,  saith  he,  moijiy  nc6'J^, — "three  worlds:"  D^y  i<ini  ]V^V^  Qb)V 
nral^'3^1  D''35<^Dn, — "the  upper  world,  which  is  the  world  of  angels  and 
spirits;"  n''33'i:3ni  D^^J^jn  D^iy, — "the  world  ofthe  heavens  and  stars:" 
and  ^Di^'n  D^y, — "this  world  below."  But  in  the  first  respect  they 
generally  assign  these  four: — (1.)  ^2t^•^  oijiyn, — "the  lower  world," 
the  depressed  world,  the  earth  and  air  in  the  several  regions  of  it : 
(2.)  D^DS/Cn  D^iyn, — "the  world  of  angels,"  or  ministering  spirits, 
whom  tliey  suppose  to  inhabit  in  high  places,  where  they  may  super- 


76  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

vise  the  affairs  of  the  earth:  (3.)  wbhn  D^iy,— "the  world  of 
spheres:"  and,  (4.)  JV^yn  ob'iV, — "the  highest  world;"  called  by  Paul 
"the third  heaven"  2  Cor.  xii.  2;  and  by  Solomon  n'Jpll^nyJ^  "the 
heaven  of  heavens,"  1  Kings  viii.  27;  and  n"lDt^'J^  D^jy,  "olam 
hanneshamoth," — "the  world  of  spirits,"  or  souls  departed.  In  respect 
of  duration,  they  assign  a  fivefold  world : — (1.)  "lay  D^iy;  called  by- 
Peter  "the  old  world,"  or  the  world  before  the  flood,  the  world  that 
perished:  (2.)  nm  D^y, — "the  present  world,"  or  the  state  of  things 
under  the  Judaical  church:  (3.)  n^^r^  nns"'nn  nhy, — "the  world  of  the 
coming  of  the  Messiah  ;"  or  "the  world  to  come,"  as  the  apostle  calls 
it,  chap.  ii.  5:  (4.)  DTlton  riTin  D^iy, — "the  world  of  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead:"  and,  (5.)  ^-iN  D^y, — "the  prolonged  world,"  or  life 
eternal.  Principally  with  respect  to  the  first  distribution,  as  also 
unto  the  duration  of  the  whole  world  unto  the  last  dispensation, 
mentioned  in  the  second,  doth  the  apostle  here  call  it,  roug  aloovag, 
"the  worlds." 

Thus  the  apostle  having  declared  the  honour  of  the  Son  as  medi- 
ator, in  that  he  was  made  heir  of  all,  adds  thereunto  his  excellency 
in  himself  from  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead;  Avhich  he  not  only 
asserts,  but  gives  evidence  unto  by  an  argument  from  the  works  of 
creation.  And  to  avoid  all  straitening  thoughts  of  this  work,  he 
expresseth  it  in  terms  comprehending  the  wdiole  creation  in  that 
distribution  whereinto  it  was  usually  cast  by  themselves;  as  John 
contents  not  himself  by  affirming  that  he  "made  all  things,"  but 
adds  to  that  assertion  that  "without  him  was  not  any  thing  made 
that  was  made,"  John  i.  3. 

And  this  was  of  old  the  comm.on  faith  of  the  Judaical  church. 
That  all  things  were  made  and  all  things  disposed  by  the  Word  of 
God,  they  all  confessed.  Evident  footsteps  of  this  faith  a.bide  still 
in  their  Targrmis;  for  that  by  "the  Word  of  God,"  so  often  mentioned 
in  them,  they  did  not  understand  the  word  of  his  power,  but  an 
hypostasis  in  the  divine  nature,  is  manifest  from  the  personal  pro- 
perties which  are  everywhere  assigned  unto  it :  as,  the  Word  of  God 
did  this,  said  that,  thought,  went,  and  the  like;  as,  Ps.  Ixviii.  17, 
they  affirm  that  Word  which  gave  the  law  on  mount  Sinai  to  dwell 
in  the  highest  heaven ;  yea,  and  they  say  in  Bereshith  Rabba,  of 
these  words.  Gen.  i.  2,  "  The  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  face  of 
the  waters,"  ^''t^•0^  I^Q  ^tJ*  inn  nr, — "This  is  the  spirit  of  the  king 
Messiah;"  by  which  they  cannot  deny  but  that  all  things  were 
formed.  And  the  apostle  in  this  expression  lets  the  Hebrews  know 
that  Jesus,  the  Messiah,  was  that  Word  of  God  by  whom  all  things 
were  made.  And  so  the  influence  of  these  words  into  his  present 
argument  is  manifest;  for  the  Son,  in  whom  the  Father  had  now 
spoken  to  them  and  declared  the  gospel,  being  his  eternal  Word,  by 
whom  the  world  and  all  ages  were  created,  there  could  be  no  question 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  TIEBREWS.  77 

of  his  authority  to  alter  their  ceremonious  worship,  which  he  him- 
self had  appointed  for  a  season. 

Before  we  pass  to  the  next  verses,  we  may  mark  out  those  in- 
structions which  the  words  passed  through  afford  us  in  common,  as 
to  the  abiding  interest  of  all  believers. 

V.  The  foundation  of  them  is,  That  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  is 
the  great  prophet  of  his  church  under  the  new  testament,  the  only 
revealer  of  the  will  of  the  Father,  as  the  Son  and  Wisdom  of  God, 
made  the  worlds,  and  all  things  contained  in  them.  And  therein, — 

1.  We  have  an  illustrious  testimony  given  to  the  eternal  Godhead 
and  power  of  the  Son  of  God ;  for  "He  who  made  all  things  is  God/' 
as  the  apostle  elsewhere  affirms.     And, — 

2.  Unto  the  equity  of  his  being  made  heir,  lord,  and  judge  of  all. 
No  creature  can  decline  the  authority  or  waive  the  tribunal  of  him 
that  made  them  all.     And, — ■ 

3.  A  stable  bottom  of  faith,  hope,  contentment,  and  patience,  is 
administered  unto  the  saints  in  all  dispensations.  He  who  is  their 
E-edeemer,  that  bought  them,  hath  all  tliat  interest  in  all  things 
wherein  they  are  concerned  that  the  sovereign  right  of  creation  can 
afibrd  him ;  besides  that  grant  which  is  made  unto  him  for  tliis  very 
end,  that  they  might  be  disposed  of  to  his  own  glory,  in  their  good 
and  advantage.     Isa.  liv.  4,  5.     And, — 

4.  From  this  order  of  things,  that  Christ,  as  the  eternal  Son  of 
God,  having  made  the  worlds,  hath  them  and  all  things  in  them 
put  under  his  power  as  mediator  and  head  of  the  church,  we  may 
see  what  a  subserviency  to  the  interest  of  the  saints  of  the  Most 
High  the  whole  creation  is  laid  and  disposed  in.     And, — 

5.  The  way  of  obtaining  a  sanctified  interest  in  and  use  of  the 
things  of  the  old  creation, — namely,  not  to  receive  them  merely 
on  the  general  account,  as  made  by  the  Son  of  God,  but  on  the 
more  especial  one  of  their  being  granted  unto  him  as  mediator  of 
the  church.     And, — 

6.  How  men  on  both  these  foundations  are  to  be  accountable  for 
their  use  or  abuse  of  the  things  of  the  first  creation. 

But  besides  these  particular  instances,  there  is  that  which  is  more 
general,  and  which  we  may  a  little  insist  upon  from  the  context  and 
design  of  the  apostle  in  this  whole  discourse,  whose  consideration 
will  not  again  occur  unto  us;  and  it  is,  that  God  in  infinite  wisdom 
ordered  all  things  in  the  first  creation,  so  as  that  the  whole  of  that 
work  might  be  subservient  to  the  glory  of  his  grace  in  the  new 
creation  of  all  by  Jesus  Christ. 

By  the  Son  he  made  the  worlds  in  the  beginning  of  time,  that  in 
the  lulness  of  time  he  might  be  the  just  heir  and  lord  of  all.  Tiie 
Jews  have  a  saying,  that  "the  world  was  made  for  the  Messiah;" 
which  is  thus  far  true,  that  both  it  and  all  things  in  it  were  made, 


78  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

disposed  of,  and  ordered  in  their  creation,  so  as  that  God  might  be 
everlastinirlv  rloritied  in  the  work  which  he  was  desicrned  unto,  and 
which  by  him  he  had  to  accomphsh.  I  shall  consider  it  only  in  the 
present  instance,  namely,  that  by  the  Son  he  made  the  worlds, 
that  he  might  be  the  proper  heir  and  lord  of  them;  of  which  latter 
we  shall  treat  more  particularly  on  the  ensuing  words. 

This  was  declared  of  old,  where  he  was  spoken  of  as  the  Wisdom 
of  God,  by  whom  he  wrought  in  the  creation  and  production  of  all 
things,  Prov.  viii.  22-31.  This  Son,  or  Wisdom  of  God,  declares  at 
large, — first,  his  co-existence  with  his  Father  from  eternity,  before  all 
or  any  of  the  visible  or  invisible  creation  were  by  his  power  brought 
forth,  verse  22,  23,  and  so  onward ;  and  then  sets  forth  the  infinite, 
eternal,  and  ineffable  deliglit  that  was  between  him  and  his  Father, 
both  before  and  also  in  tlie  work  of  the  creation,  verse  30.  Further, 
he  declares  his  presence  and  co-operation  with  him  in  the  whole 
work  of  making  the  world  and  the  several  parts  of  it,  verses  27-30; 
which  in  other  places  is  expressed,  as  here  by  the  apostle,  that  God 
by  him  made  the  worlds.  After  which  he  declares  the  end  of  all 
this  dispensation,  namely,  that  he  might  rejoice  in  the  habitable 
part  ot  the  earth,  and  his  dehght  be  with  the  sons  of  men;  to 
whom,  therefore,  he  calls  to  hearken  unto  him,  that  they  may  be 
blessed,  ver.se  31,  to  the  end  of  the  chapter; — that  is,  that  he  might 
be  meet  to  accomplish  the  work  of  their  redemption,  and  bring  them 
to  blessedness,  to  the  glory  of  the  grace  of  God ;  which  work  his 
heart  was  set  upon,  and  which  he  greatly  delighted  in,  Ps.  xl.  6-8. 

Hence  the  apostle  John,  in  the  beginning  of  his  Gospel,  brings 
both  the  creations  together, — the  first  by  the  eternal  Word  abso- 
lutely, the  other  by  him  as  incarnate, — ^that  the  suitableness  and 
correspondency  of  all  things  in  them  might  be  evident.  "  The  Word 
was  with  God,"  saith  he,  "  in  the  beginning,"  and  "  all  things  were 
made  by  him ;  and  without  him  was  not  any  thir«g  made  that  was 
made,"  verses  1-3.  But  what  was  this  unto  the  gospel  that  he 
undertook  to  declare?  Yes,  very  much;  for  it  ajopears  from  hence 
that  when  this  Word  was  made  flesh,  and  came  and  dwelt  among 
us,  verse  14,  he  came  into  the  world  that  was  made  by  him, 
though  it  knew  him  not,  verse  10;  he  came  but  to  his  own,  what- 
ever were  the  entertainment  that  he  received,  verse  11.  For  this 
end,  then,  God  made  all  things  by  him,  that  when  he  came  to  change 
and  renew  all  things,  he  might  have  good  right  and  title  so  to  do, 
seeing  he  undertook  to  deal  with  or  about  no  more  but  what  he 
had  originally  made. 

Tlie  holy  and  blessed  Trinity  could  have  so  ordered  the  work  of 
creation  as  that  it  should  not  immediately,  eminently,  and  signally 
have  been  the  work  of  the  Son,  of  the  eternal  Word  ;  but  there 
was  a  fui  ther  design  upon  the  world  to  be  accomplished  by  him,  and 


VEH.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  73 

therefore  the  work  was  signally  to  be  his, — that  is,  as  to  immediate 
operation,  though  as  to  authority  and  order  it  peculiarly  belonofd 
to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Spirit  as  to  disposition  and  ornament 
Gen,  i.  1,  2;  Job  xxvi.  13. 

This,  I  say,  was  done  for  the  end  mentioned  by  the  apostle,  Eph. 
i.  10.  All  things  at  first  were  made  by  him,  that  when  they  were 
lost,  ruined,  scattered,  they  might  again,  in  the  appointed  season,  be 
gathered  together  into  one  head  in  him;  of  which  place  more  at 
large  elsewhere. 

And  this  mystery  of  the  wisdom  of  God  the  apostle  at  laro-e  un- 
foldeth.  Col.  i.  15-19.  Speaking  of  the  Sou,  by  whom  we  have 
redemption,  he  informs  us  that  in  himself  and  his  own  nature,  lie 
is  "the  image  of  the  invisible  God;"  that  is,  of  God  the  Father, 
who  until  then  had  alone  been  clearly  revealed  unto  them :  and 
that  in  respect  of  other  things  he  is  "  the  first-born  of  every  crea- 
ture;" or,  as  he  terms  himself,  Rev.  iii.  14,  the  "beginning  of  the 
creation  of  God," — that  is,  he  who  is  before  all  cx'eatures,  and  gave 
beginning  to  the  creation  of  God.  For  so  expressly  the  apostle 
explains  himself  in  the  next  verses:  "  By  him  were  all  things 
created  that  are  in  heaven,  and  that  are  in  earth,  visible  and  in- 
visible, whether  they  be  thrones,  or  dominions,  or  principalities,  or 
powers:  all  things  were  created  by  him:  and  he  is  before  all  things, 
and  by  him  all  things  consist."  But  this  is  not  the  full  design  of 
the  apostle.  He  declares  not  only  that  "all  things  were  maile  by 
him,"  but  also  that  "  all  things  were  made  for  him,"  verse  1 6 ;  so 
made  for  him  that  he  might  be  "the  head  of  the  body,  the  church," 
■ — that  is,  that  he  might  be  the  fountain,  head,  spring,  and  original 
of  the  new  creation,  as  he  had  been  of  the  old.  So  the  apostle 
declares  in  the  next  words,  "  Who  is  the  beginning,  the  first-born 
from  the  dead."  As  he  was  the  "  beginning"  and  the  "first-born  of 
every  creature"  in  the  old  creation,  so  he  is  the  "beginning"  and  "first- 
born from  the  dead;"  that  is,  the  original  and  cause  of  the  whole 
new  creation.  And  hereunto  he  subjoins  the  end  and  design  of 
God  in  this  whole  mysterious  work;  which  was,  that  the  Son  might 
have  the  pre-eminence  in  all  things.  As  he  had  in  and  over  tlie 
works  of  the  old  creation,  seeing  they  were  all  made  by  him,  and 
all  consist  in  him ;  so  also  he  hath  over  the  new  on  the  same  account, 
being  the  beginning  and  first-born  of  them.  The  apostle  in  these 
words  gives  us  the  whole  of  what  we  intend,  namely,  that  the 
making  of  the  worlds,  and  of  all  things  in  them,  in  the  first  crea- 
tion by  the  Son,  was  peculiarly  subservient  to  the  glory  of  the 
grace  of  God  in  the  reparation  and  renovation  of  all  things  by  him 
as  incarnate. 

It  is  not  for  us  to  inquire  much  into  or  after  the  reason  of  this 
economy  and  dispensation;  we  "cannot  by  searching  find  out  God, 

VOL.   XIl.— 0 


80  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

we  cannot  find  out  the  Almighty  unto  perfection,"  Job  xi.  7.  It 
may  suffice  us  that  he  disposeth  of  all  things  according  to  "the 
counsel  of  his  own  will,"  Eph.  i.  11.  This  antecedently  unto  the 
consideration  of  the  effects  of  it,  we  cannot,  we  may  not  search  into, 
Deut.  xxix.  29.  What  are  the  effects  and  consequences  of  his  infi- 
nitely holy,  wise  counsel,  wherein  his  glory  shines  forth  unto  his 
creatures,  those  we  may  consider  and  contemplate  on,  and  rejoice  in 
the  light  that  they  will  afford  us  into  the  treasures  of  these  couusels 
themselves. 

Now,  herein  we  see,  first,  that  it  was  the  eternal  design  of  God 
that  the  whole  creation  should  be  put  in  subjection  unto  the  Word 
incarnate ;  whereof  the  apostle  also  treats  in  tiie  second  chapter  of 
this  epistle.  "  God  hath  highly  exalted  him,  and  given  him  a  name 
which  is  above  evei'y  name:  that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee 
should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven,  and  things  in  earth,  and  things 
under  the  earth;  and  that  every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father,"  Phil.  ii.  9-11.  God 
Lath  put  all  things  in  subjection  unto  him,  not  only  the  things  pe- 
culiarly redeemed  by  him,  but  all  things  whatever,  as  we  shall  show 
in  the  next  words  of  our  epistle.  See  1  Cor.  xv.  27;  Heb.  ii.  b; 
Rom.  xiv.  1 1.  Hence  John  saw  "  every  creature  which  is  in  hea- 
ven, and  on  the  earth,  and  under  the  earth,  and  such  as  are  in  the 
sea,  and  all  that  are  in  them,  ascribing  blessing,  and  honour,  and 
glor\',  and  power  unto  the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever,"  Rev.  v.  13 ; 
that  is,  owning  and  avowing  their  duty,  obedience,  and  subjection 
unto  him.  Tliis  being  designed  of  God  in  tlie  eternal  counsel  of  his 
will,  before  the  world  was,  1  Pet.  i.  2,  Tit.  i.  2,  he  prepared  and 
made  way  for  it  in  the  creation  of  all  things  by  him;  so  that  his 
title  and  right  to  be  the  ruler  and  lord  of  all  angels  and  men,  the 
whole  creation,  in  and  of  heaven  and  earth,  might  be  laid  on  this 
great  and  blessed  foundation,  that  he  made  them  all. 

Again,  God  designed  from  eternity  that  his  great  and  everlasting 
glory  should  arise  from  the  new  creation  and  the  work  thereof. 
Herein  hath  he  ordered  all  things  "  to  the  praise  of  the  glory  of  hiy 
grace,"  Eph.  i.  6.  And  this  praise  will  he  inhabit  for  ever.  It  is 
true,  the  works  of  the  old  creation  did  set  forth  the  glory  of  God, 
Ps.  xix.  1 ;  they  manifested  his  "  eternal  power  and  Godhead,"  Rom. 
i.  20.  But  God  had  not  resolved  ultimately  to  commit  the  manifes- 
tation of  his  glory  unto  those  works,  though  very  glorious;  and 
therefore  did  he  suffer  sin  to  enter  into  the  world,  which  stained  the 
beauty  of  it,  and  brought  it  wholly  under  the  curse.  But  he  nevei 
suffered  spot  or  stain  to  come  upon  the  work  of  the  new  creation,  E[)h. 
V.  :ifD,  27, — nothing  that  might  defeat,  eclipse,  or  impair  the  glory  that 
he  intended  to  exalt  himself  in  thereby.  Yet  God  hath  so  ultimately 
laid  up  his  glory  in  the  new  creation,  as  that  he  will  not  lose  any 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  81 

thing  of  that  which  also  is  due  unto  him  from  the  old;  but  yet  he 
will  not  receive  it  immediately  from  tlience  neither,  but  as  it  is  put 
over  into  a  subserviency  unto  the  work  of  the  new.  Now,  God 
ordered  all  things  so  as  that  this  might  be  effected  without  force, 
coaction,  or  wresting  of  the  creation,  or  putting  it  beside  its  own 
order.  And  is  there  any  thing  more  genuine,  natural,  and  proper, 
than  that  the  world  should  corne  into  subjection  unto  Him  by  whom 
it  was  made,  although  there  be  some  alteration  in  its  state  and  ccju- 
dition,  as  to  outward  dispensation,  in  his  being  made  man?  And 
this  I  take  to  be  the  meaning  of  that  discourse  of  the  apostle  about 
tlie  bondage  and  liberty  of  the  creature,  which  we  have,  Rom.  viii. 
19-22.  The  apostle  tells  us  that  the  creature  itself  had  an  expecta- 
tion and  desire  after  "  the  manifestation  of  the  sous  of  God,"  or  the 
bringing  forth  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in  glory  and  power,  verse  19 ; 
and  gives  this  reason  for  it,  because  it  is  brought  into  a  condition  of 
vanity,  corruption,  and  bondage,  wherein  it  did,  as  it  were,  unwill- 
ingly abide,  and  groaned  to  be  delivered  from  it.  That  is,  by  tlie 
entrance  of  sin  the  creation  was  brought  into  that  condition  as 
wherein  it  could  not  answer  the  end  for  which  it  was  made  and 
erected,  namely,  to  declare  the  glory  of  God,  that  he  might  be  wor- 
shipped and  honoured  as  God;  but  was  as  it  were  left,  especially  in 
the  earth,  and  the  inhabitants  of  it,  to  be  a  stage  for  men  to  act  tlieir 
enmity  against  God  upon,  and  a  means  for  the  fulfilling  and  satis- 
faction of  their  filthy  lusts.  This  state  being  unsuitable  unto  its 
primitive  constitution,  preternatural,  occasion:d,  and  forced,  it  is  said 
to  dislike  it,  to  groan  under  it,  to  hope  for  deliverance,  doing  that 
in  what  it  is  by  its  nature,  which  it  would  do  voluntarily  were  it  en- 
dowed with  a  rational  understanding.  But,  saith  the  apostle,  there 
is  a  better  condition  for  this  creation ;  which,  whilst  it  was  afar  otfj 
it  put  out  its  head  after  and  unto.  What  is  this  better  state  ?  Why, 
"  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God ;"  that  is,  the  new  state  and 
condition  that  all  things  are  restored  unto,  in  order  unto  the  glory 
of  God,  by  Jesus  Christ.  The  creation  hath,  as  it  were,  a  natural 
propensity,  yea,  a  longing,  to  come  into  a  subjection  unto  Christ,  as 
that  which  retrieves  and  frees  it  from  the  vanity,  bondage,  and  cor- 
ruption that  it  was  cast  into,  when  put  out  of  its  first  order  by  sin. 
And  this  ariseth  from  that  plot  and  design  which  God  first  laid  in 
the  creation  of  all  things,  that  they,  being  made  by  the  Sou,  should 
naturally  and  willingly,  as  it  were,  give  up  themselves  unto  obedi- 
ence unto  him,  when  he  should  take  the  rule  of  them  upon  the 
new  account  of  his  mediation. 

Thirdly,  God  would  hereby  instruct  us  both  in  the  tise  that  wc 
are  to  make  of  his  creatures,  and  the  improvement  that  \\e  are  to 
make  of  the  work  of  the  creation  unto  his  glory.  For  the  fit  st,  it  is 
his  will  that  we  should  not  use  any  thing  as  merely  made  and  ere- 


82  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

ated  by  him,  thougli  originally  for  that  purpose,  seeing  as  they  are 
so  left  they  are  under  the  curse,  and  so  impure  and  unclean  unto 
them  that  use  them,  Tit.  i.  15;  hut  he  would  have  us  to  look  upon 
them  and  receive  them  as  they  are  given  over  unto  Christ.  For  the 
apostle,  in  his  application  of  the  8th  Psalm  unto  the  Lord  Christ, 
Heb.  ii.  6-8,  manifests  that  even  the  beasts  of  the  field,  on  which 
we  live,  are  passed  over  in  a  peculiar  manner  unto  his  dominion, 
i^nd  he  lays  our  interest  in  their  use,  as  to  a  clear,  profitable,  and 
sanctified  way  of  it,  in  the  new  state  of  things  brought  in  by  Christ: 
1  Tim.  iv.  4,  5,  "  Every  creature  of  God  is  good,  and  nothing  to  be 
refused,  if  it  be  received  with  thanksgiving:  for  it  is  sanctified  by 
the  word  of  God  and  prayer."  The  word  of  promise  confirmed  in 
Christ,  called  on  by  the  Spirit,  given  by  Christ  in  prayer,  gives  a 
sanctified  use  of  the  creatures.  This  God  instructs  us  in,  namely, 
to  look  for  a  profitable,  sanctified  use  of  the  creatures  in  Christ,  in 
that  himself  ordered  them  in  the  very  first  creation  to  fall  at  length 
naturally  under  his  rule  and  dominion,  making  them  all  by  him. 
And  hereby  also  we  are  instructed  how  to  learn  the  glory  of  God 
from  them.  The  whole  mystery  of  laying  the  works  of  the  old  crea- 
tion in  a  subserviency  unto  the  new  being  hidden  from  many  ages 
and  generations,  from  the  foundation  of  the  v/orld  men  did,  b}^  the 
effects  and  works  which  they  saw,  conclude  that  thero  was  an  eter- 
nal power  and  infinite  wisdom  whereby  they  were  produced  :  but 
whereas  there  is  but  a  twofold  holy  use  of  the  works  of  the  creation, 
• — the  one  suited  unto  the  state  of  innocency,  and  the  moral- natural 
worship  of  God  therein,  which  they  had  lost ;  the  other  to  the  state 
of  grace,  and  the  worship  of  God  in  that,  which  they  had  not  at- 
tained,— the  world  and  the  inhabitants  thereof,  being  otherwise  in- 
volved in  the  curse  and  darkness  wherewith  it  was  attended,  exer- 
cised themselves  in  fruitless  speculations  about  them  ("foolish 
imaginations,"  as  the  apostle  calls  them),  and  glorified  not  God  in 
any  due  manner,  Rom.  i.  2J.  Neither  do  nor  can  men  unto  this  day 
make  any  better  improvement  of  their  contemplation  on  the  works 
of  creation,  who  are  unacquainted  with  the  recapitulation  of  all 
things  in  Christ,  and  the  beauty  of  it,  in  that  all  things  at  first  were 
made  by  him.  But  when  men  shall  by  faith  perceive  and  consider 
that  the  production  of  all  things  owes  itself  in  its  first  original  unto 
the  Son  of  God,  in  that  by  him  the  world  was  made,  and  that  unto 
this  end  and  purpose,  that  he  being  afterwards  incarnate  for  uur  re- 
demption, they  might  all  be  put  into  subjection  unto  him,  they  can- 
not but  be  ravished  with  the  admiration  of  the  power,  wisdom,  good- 
ness, and  love  of  God,  in  this  holy,  wise,  beautiful  disposition  of 
all  his  works  and  ways.  And  this  is  the  very  subject  of  the  8th 
Psalm.  The  psalmist  considers  the  excellency  and  glory  of  God  in 
the  creation  of  all  things,  instancing  in  the  most  glorious  and  enii- 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  83 

nent  parts  of  it.  But  doth  he  do  this  absolutely  as  they  are  such? 
dotli  he  rest  there?  No;  but  proceeds  to  manifest  the  -ause  of  his 
admiration,  in  that  God  did  of  old  design,  and  would  at  leno'th 
actually  put,  all  these  things  into  subjection  unto  "  the  man  Christ 
Jesus,"  as  the  apostle  expounds  his  meaning,  Heb.  ii. :  which  causeth 
him  to  renew  his  admiration  and  praise,  Ps.  viii.  9, — that  is,  to  glorify 
God  as  God,  and  to  be  thankful ;  which  yet  Paul  declared  that  they 
wei'e  not  who  considered  the  works  of  God  only  absolutely,  with  re- 
ference to  their  first  original  from  infinite  power  and  wisdom. 

But  against  what  we  have  been  discoursing  it  may  be  objected, 
that  God,  in  the  creation  of  all  things,  suited  them  perfectly  and  ab- 
solutely unto  a  state  of  innocency  and  holiness,  without  any  respect 
unto  the  entrance  of  sin  and  the  curse  that  ensued,  which  gave  occa- 
sion to  that  infinitely  wise  and  holy  work  of  the  mediation  of  Christ, 
and  the  restoration  of  all  things  by  him;  so  that  they  could  not  be 
laid  in  such  a  subserviency  and  order,  one  to  the  other,  as  is  pre- 
tended, though  the  former  might  be  afterwards  traduced  and  trans- 
lated into  the  use  of  the  other.     But, — 

1.  What  is  clearly  testified  unto  in  the  Scripture,  as  that  truth  is 
which  we  have  insisted  on,  is  not  to  be  called  into  question  because 
we  cannot  understand  the  order  and  method  of  things  in  the  hidden 
counsels  of  God.  "  Such  knowledge  is  too  wonderful  for  us." 
Neither  do  we  benefit  ourselves  much  by  inquiring  into  that  which 
we  cannot  comprehend.  It  is  enough  for  us  that  we  hold  fast  re- 
vealed things,  that  we  may  know  and  do  the  will  of  God;  but  secret 
things  belong  to  him,  and  to  him  are  they  to  be  left. 

2.  The  Scripture  testifieth  that  "known  unto  God  are  all  his 
works  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,"  Acts  xv,  18;  not  only  all 
those  which  at  first  he  wrought,  but  also  all  that  ever  he  would  so 
do.  The  idea  and  system  of  them  was  all  in  his  holy  mind  from 
eternity.  Now,  though  in  their  creation  and  production  they  are 
all  singly  suited  and  fitted  to  the  time  and  season  wherein  they  are 
brought  forth  and  made ;  yet  as  they  lie  all  together  in  the  mind, 
will,  and  purpose  of  God,  they  have  a  relation,  one  to  another,  from 
the  first  to  the  last.  There  is  a  harmony  and  correspondency  be- 
tween them  all;  they  lie  all  in  a  blessed  subserviency  in  themselves, 
and  in  their  respect  unto  one  another,  unto  the  promotion  of  the- 
glory  of  God.  And  therefore,  though  in  the  creation  of  all  things 
that  work  was  suited  unto  the  state  and  condition  wherein  they  were 
created, — that  is,  of  innocency  and  holiness, — yet  this  hinders  not 
but  that  God  might  and  did  so  order  them,  that  they  might  have  a 
respect  unto  that  future  work  of  his  in  their  restoration  by  Christ, 
which  was  then  no  less  known  unto  him  than  that  which  was  per- 
fectly wrought. 

S.  The  most  reasonable  and  best  intelligible  way  of  declaring  tiie 


84  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

order  of  God's  decrees,  is  that  which  casts  them  under  the  two  gene- 
ral heads  which  all  rational  agents  respect  in  their  purposes  and 
operations, — namely,  of  the  last  end,  and  the  means  conducing 
thereunto.  Now,  the  utmost  end  of  God,  in  all  his  waj's  towards  the 
sons  of  men,  being  the  manifestation  of  his  own  glory  by  the  way  of 
justice  and  mercy,  whatever  tendeth  thereunto  is  all  jointly  to  he 
looked  on  as  one  entire  means  tending  unto  that  end  and  purpose. 
The  works,  therefore,  of  the  old  and  new  creation  being  of  this  sort 
and  nature,  one  joint  and  general  means  for  the  compassing  of  the 
forementioned  end,  nothing  can  hinder  but  that  they  may  have  that 
respect  to  each  other  which  before  we  have  declared. 

Verse  3. 

The  apostle,  in  the  pursuit  of  his  argument,  proceeds  in  the  de- 
scription of  the  person  of  Christ;  partly  to  give  a  further  account 
of  what  he  had  before  affirmed  concerning  his  divine  power  in  mak- 
ing the  worlds ;  and  partly  to  instruct  the  Hebrews,  from  their  own 
typical  institutions,  that  it  was  the  Messiah  who  was  figured  and  re- 
presented formerly  unto  them,  in  those  signs  and  pledges  of  God's 
glorious  presence  which  they  enjoyed.  And  so  by  the  whole  he 
confirmeth  the  proposition  he  had  in  hand  concerning  the  excellency 
and  eminency  of  Him  by  whom  the  gospel  was  revealed,  that  their 
faith  in  him  and  obedience  unto  him  might  not  be  shaken  or  hin- 
dered. 

Ver.  8. — -"Os  uv  ii.'na.vya.isiia  r^c  do^rig  xal  ^apay.Trip  r^?  L/Tocraffswc 
avrov,  (p'ifuv  rt  ra  itavra  rui  p^/xari  tJj;  duvd/Jjiug  avrov,  di'  eaurov  xa6a- 
piGfLov  'nor^6d[iivog  tmv  d[iapriuv  ri^iuv,  sxdiiasv  h  hz^ia  rjjg  fi^iy akoiauvra 
iv  {j-^TiXolg, 

Ai  sxvrov  is  wanting  in  MS.  T. ;  but  the  sense  requires  the  words,  and  all 
other  ancient  copies  retain  them.  'H^uZv  is  wanting  in  some  copies;  and  one  or 
two  for  iy,ti.6i(TS  have  JcxOi'^si,  which  hath  nothing  whereunto  it  should  relate. 
Some  also  read,  h  r^  ^povu  t^j  [^iyuKuavuvig,  taken  from  chap.  xii.  2,  where  the 
word  is  used. 

*0f  uv,  "  qui  est,"  "  qui  cum  sit,"  "  qui  existens:" — "  who  is,"  "  who  when  he 
is,"  or  "was;"  "who  existing:"  as  Phil.  ii.  6,  *0f  h  y-opcpfi  Qiov  vi:  a.py;^uv, — 
"  Who  being  in  the  form  of  God." 

"  Who  being  dTravycta^ot,  T'?jg  ^o^ns," — "  splendor,"  "  radius,"  "  jubar,"  "  efful- 
gentia,"  "  refulgentia,"  "  relueentia;" — "  the  splendour,"  "  ray,"  "  beam,"  "  efful- 
gency,"  or  "  shining  forth  of  glory."  Syr.,  ^'7':^ '  "  gei'men;"  so  Boderius; — "  the 
branch."     Tremellius  and  De  Dieu,  "  splendor,"  the  Arabic  concurring. 

Avy/j  is  "  lux,"  "  light,"  particularly  the  morning  light:  Acts  xx.  ll,'0^A^(7«f 
uxpis  ctvyTic, — "  He  talked  until  the  break  of  day,"  or  the  beaming  of  the  morn- 
ing light.  Ayyoj  ifhiov,  Gloss.  Vet.,  "jubar  solis," — "the  sun-beam."  And  some- 
times it  denotes  the  day  itself.  It  is  abo  sometimes  used  for  the  light  that  is  in 
burning  iron.  '  A's-avy-j  is  of  the  same  signification  ;  properly  "  splendor  lucis," — 
"  the  brightness,  shining,  beauty,  glory,  or  lustre  of  light."  Hence  is  «!;y«^ii),  to 
"shine  fortlV  to  "shine  into,"  to  "irradiate:"  2  Cor.   iv.  4,  E<V  to  ^53  ci.vya.axt 


VER.  8.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBKEWS.  b5 

alrolg, — "  That  the  light  of  the  gospel  should  not  inwliate"  (shine)  '•  into  ihem.'' 
'  A'7Tot,vya,':^o3  is  of  the  >ame  importance;  and  from  thence  dTzxvyuGfAce,.  The  word 
is  nowliere  used  in  the  Ne  \-  Testament  save  in  this  place  onlv;  nor  doth  it  occur 
in  the  Old  of  the  LXX.  Only  we  have  it,  Wisd.  vii.  26.  Wisilom  is  said  to  he 
u.'Ko.vyaai/.oi.  (puro;  ol'ioiov, — "  a  beam  of  eternal  light;"  to  which  place  the  margin 
of  our  tran.-lation  refers.  And  it  is  so  used  hy  Nazianzen :  'Msya'Aov  i^uro;  fHKoou 
d7rot.tjyccijfi», — "  A  little  beam  of  a  great  light."  It  answers  exactly  to  the  lie- 
brew  ^i=,  or  ^?3  """^  ;  that  is,  "  The  morning  light:"  Prov.  iv.  18,  "  The  path  of 
the  righteous  ^^^  "i"S3," — «  ut  lux  splendoris,"  Jerome;  "as  the  light  of  bright- 
ness,"— tliat  is,  "of  the  morning,"  uvyTi,  Acts  xx.  11.  And  it  is  also  applied  to 
the  light  of  fire,  or  fire  in  iron,  Isa.  iv.  5,  "'^'S  -^i^ — "  The  light  of  fire  ;"  and  the 
fiery  streaming  of  lightning,  Ilab.  iii.  11. 

The  brightness,  shining,  ray,  beam,  t-^j  loBri;,  "of  glory."  Some  look  on  this 
expression  as  a  Hebraism,  dTruvyxa/acc  t'/ji:  3o'|/ij,  "  the  beam  of  glorv,"  for  hoo^ov 
ecTrKiiyxajiix,  "a  glorious  beam;"  but  this  will  not  answer  the  design  of  the 
apostle,  as  we  shall  see  afterwards. 

Oui-  translators  have  supplied  "  his,"  **  the  brightness  of  his  glory,"  by  repe  it- 
ing  uvTov  from  the  end  of  the  sentence;  peihaps,  as  we  shall  find,  not  altngetiier 
necessarily, — in  which  case  alone  such  supplements  unto  the  text  are  allowed  in 
translations. 

Keel  x^po'''''''"^?^ — "  character."  "  Imago,"  "  forma,"  "  figura,"  "  expressa 
forma,"  "figura  expressa,"  ^^?f,  Syr.; — "the  character,"  "image,"  "form," 
"  figure,"  "  express  form,"  "  express  figure  :"  so  variously  is  the  word  rendered 
by  translators,  with  little  difference.  It  is  nowhere  used  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment but  only  in  this  place.  In  other  authors  it  hath  many  significations. 
Sometimes  they  use  it  properly  and  naturally;  sometimes  metaphorirally  ai.d 
artificially,  as  when  it  denotes  several  forms  of  speech  or  orations.  Properlv, 
from  ■/(^a.pa.'jau  or  y^at.pa.tTu,  to  engrave  with  a  tool  or  style,  is  ■)(,a.pa,yi/,a,  and 
X»pcix,T'/!p;  which  is  firstly  and  properly  the  note  or  mark  cut  by  a  tool  or  instru- 
ment into  wood,  or  any  other  subjei.t  capable  of  such  impression,  or  the  stamp 
and  sign  that  is  left  in  the  coining  of  money.  The  mai'k  or  scar  also  lelt  by  a 
wound  is  by  the  LXX.  termed  )(,u.pxKr'/jp,  Lev.  xiii.  28.  It  is  in  general  an  ex- 
press representation  of  another  thing,  communicated  unto  it  by  an  imj)ression  of 
its  likeness  upon  it,  opposed  unto  that  which  is  umbratile  and  imaginary. 

T^?  vTroara-aiug  ainw, — "  substantia,"  "  subsistentias,"  "  personse."  Svr., 
ttrin"'S"^j  "substantiae  ejus ;" — "hypostasis,"  "substance,"  "  subsistence,"  "person." 
The  word  is  four  times  used  in  the  New  Testament, — thrice  in  this  epistle,  in 
this  place,  and  chap.  iii.  14,  and  chap.  xi.  1,  as  also  2  Cor.  ix.  4, — everywhere  in  a 
different  sense;  so  that  the  mere  use  of  it  in  one  place  will  afford  no  light  unto 
the  meaning  of  it  in  another,  but  it  must  be  taken  from  the  context  and  subject 
ti'eated  of.  Tiie  composition  of  the  word  would  denote  "substantia,"  but  so  as 
to  differ  from  and  to  add  something  unto  ovaix,  "substance,"  or  being;  «hich  in 
the  divine  nature  can  be  nothing  hut  a  special  manner  of  sub-^i-tence.  But  the 
controversy  that  hath  been  about  the  precise  signification  of  these  words  we  shall 
not  here  enter  into  the  discussion  of. 

<I>sp6jv,  "  agens,"  "  regens,"  "moderans;" — "acting,"  "disposing,"  "ruling," 
*'  governing."  Also  "  porttins,"  "  baiulans,"  "  sustinens ; " — "  bearing,"  "  support- 
ing," "  carrying,"  "  upholding."  Which  of  these  senses  is  peculiarly  intended  we 
shall  afterwards  inquire  into. 

Toi  p'/i/aetTt  rvig  "hvuK^iuc:  xvrov, — "by  the  Avord  of  his  power,"  "  by  his  power- 
ful word."  Syr.,  '^l??'??  ^^''Jr, — •'  by  the  power  of  his  word,"  changing  the  order 
of  the  words,  but  not  the  meaning  of  them:  "By  the  power  of  his  wi-rd,"  or, 
"the  word  of  his  power;"  that  is,  his  powerful  word.  Avtou;  some  would  read 
it  oc'jro'O,  and  refer  it  unto  the  Father, — "  By  the  pov.erlul  word  of  him;"  thai  is, 


86  AN  EXPOSITIOX  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

of  the  Father,  by  vvho=e  povvei",  they  say,  the  Son  disposer!  of  all  things.  But  all 
copies  with  accents  have  avTov  constantly,  none  cciirov,  nor  will  the  dispositioa 
of  the  «ords  Ijear  that  reference. 

A/'  idvTav, — "  by  himself,"  "  in  his  own  person." 

Kocda-piiTfioy  'TToimBc/neuog, — "  purgationein  faoiens,"  "  purgatione  facta ; " — 
"  having  purged,"  "cleansed,"  "expiated"  or  "purified"  (us  from)  "our  sins." 
"  Having  made  a  purgation  or  purification  of  our  sins." 

'Ex.»6iasu.  Kadi'^cj  is  used  both  neutrally  and  actively,  answering  to  ^'-il, 
both  in  Kal  and  Hiphil,  signif^ving  "to  sit  down,"  and  "to  cause  to  sit  down." 
Chrysostom  seems  to  have  understood  the  word  in  the  latter  sense,  referring 
it  to  God  the  Father  causing  the  Son  to  sit  down.  But  it  is  hard  to  find 
any  antecedent  word  whereby  it  should  be  regulated,  but  only  6V,  "  who,"  in 
the  beginning  of  the  verse, — that  is,  he  himself;  and,  as  Erasmus  observes,  yivo- 
/^svo;,  in  the  following  words,  will  not  grammatically  admit  of  this  consti'uction ; 
for  if  iKDcdtas  be  to  be  understood  actively  and  transitively,  it  must  have  been 
yiuofiivov.  And  tlie  apostle  clears  the  neutral  sense  of  the  word,  chap.  viii.  1.  It 
is  well,  then,  lendered  by  our  translators,  "  he  sit,"  or  "  sat  down." 

'E;/  "hi^tx.  Ps.  ex.  1,  T'?"'?  ^V.'  LXX.,  x-ciSov  ix.  os^tcou,  in  the  plural  num- 
ber. So  is  the  same  thing  expressed,  Acts  vii.  55:  and  by  Mark,  i:/  Bf|/o7j, 
chap.  xvi.  5.  Our  apostle  constantly  keepeth  the  singular  number,  with  h, 
chap.  i.  13,  viii.  1,  xii.  2.  The  same  thing  in  both  expressions  is  intended; 
only  that  of  ex,  Oi^i&iv,  or  iv  Sg|/o;f,  in  the  plural  number,  is  more  eminently 
destructive  of  the  folly  of  the  Anthropomorphites;  for  they  cannot  hence  pre- 
tend that  God  hath  a  right  hand,  unless  they  will  grant  that  he  hath  many, 
which  were  not  only  to  turn  the  glory  of  the  invisible  God  into  the  likeness  of  a 
man,  but  of  a  monster.  And  Austin  well  observes  that  in  the  psalm  where  that 
expression  is  fir.st  used,  '•'  Sit  on  my  right  hand,"  it  is  addeJ,  ~3^'p';"'?  ^P^;,  "  The 
Lord  on  thy  right  hand," — at  the  right  hand  of  him  who  sat  on  his  right  hand ; 
wliich  removes  all  carnal  apprehensions  from  the  meaning  o(  the  words. 

Ti}.c  i^^syoiT^uavvY]?.  This  word  is  seldom  used  in  other  authors :  twice  in  this 
epistle,  here,  and  chap.  viii.  1;  once  by  Jude,  verse  25;  and  nowliere  else  in  the 
New  Testament ;  by  the  LXX.  not  at  all.  The  apostle  evidently  expresseth  by  it 
n'i33  or  "^^^^;  not  as  they  are  used  appellatively  for  glory,  power,  or  majesty,  but 
as  they  are  names  and  denote  the  essential  glory  of  God.  "The  glorious  God."  So 
that  y.iya.'huavvfi  is  God  himself;  not  absolutely  considered,  but  with  reference 
unto  the  revelation  of  his  glory  and  majesty  in  heaven,  God  on  his  throne;  as  our 
apostle  declareth,  chap.  viii.  1. 

'E»  tj-^rihoig^ — "  in  the  highest."  M-iyaXuavvti  iv  v-^pnT^ots  is  v\ptaTOs ;  that  is, 
f "?.?,  "  the  Highest,"  God  himself.     See  Luke  i.  35.i 


*  Various  Readings. — .Owen,  though  perhaps  it  is  a  misprint,  reads  oiutov  after 
VTroaroidioig,  both  in  the  text  of  the  verse  and  in  the  subsequent  explanation  of  the 
words;  the  textus  receptus  has  avrov.  He  reads  ovvx/xia;  avrov  in  agreement  with 
the  textus  receptus;  Tischendorf  here  gives  ccvrov.  The  words  o;'  sxvroZ  are  omit- 
ted by  Lachmann  and  Tischendorf ;  who,  together  with  Huhn,  omit  iif/.av  also. 

Exposition. — '  ATrccvy.  r.  o,  "  Ao^oe.  plainly  means  the  same  as  the  Hebrew 
""■'=3,  namely,  splendour,  brightness.  Comp.  Luke  ii.  9,"  etc. — Stuart.  "  The  idea 
that  God  in  the  Aoyog  finds  and  reflects  himself  as  in  his  counterpart  is  expressed  by 
Paul  when,  2  Cor.  iv.  4,  Col.  i.  15,  he  calls  the  Logos  sixuu  rol  Qiou.  Ac^ct  de- 
notes the  splendour  which  surrounds  God,  Lukeii.  9." — Tholuck.  "  Nouns  end- 
ing in  ^ct  denote  not  the  act  as  continuing,  but  the  result  of  the  act  as  finished. 
^  A'TTccvy.  denotes  not  the  brightness  received  from  another  body,  and  thrown  back 
as  a  reflection  or  a  mirrored  image,  not  the  light  continually  proceeding  from  a 
shining  body,  ;is  a  light  streaming  out  and  loj,ing  it>^elf  in  space;  but  a  light  radiated 
from  another  light,  in  as  far  as  it  is  viewed  as  now  become  an  independent  light.  It  is 


VEK.  a]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  87 

Ver.  o. — Who  being  the  brightness  of  glory,  and  the  ex- 
press image  of  his  person,  and  upholding  [or,  disposing 
of]  all  things  by  the  word  of  his  power,  having  by 
himseh'  purged  our  sins,  sat  down  on  the  right  hand  of 
the  Majesty  on  high; 

The  apostle  proceeds  in  his  description  of  the  person  in  wliom  God 


more  than  a  mere  ray,  more  than  a  mere  im;ige, — a  sun  produced  from  the  oiiginal 
lit>ht."  Ac'l.,  "  the  eternal  essential  ^--lory  of  the  Father"  Accordin;!-  to  the  ex- 
planation which  refers  it  to  the  Shechinah,  "tlie  Sun  would  he  det,'-radcd  Ijeneath 
the  Olu  TestaiDent  imperfect  typical  form  of  the  liiviiie  manifestation;  seeing  that 
h:'  would  be  representt-d  as  an  ccTcii/y.  of  the  latter,  wh  ch  was  not  even  itself  an 
ciTrct'jy.,  hut  a  niei'e  reflection." — Ebrard. 

Xapux,.  r.  V.  ct.  'T-r.  plainly  retains  thi'  more  ancient  meaning  of  substance  or 
essence.  .  .  .  Christ  is  "the  development  of  that  substance  to  our  view,  the 
delineation  of  it.  .  .  .  Ancient  Greek  annotators.  and  atttr  them  most  of  the 
modern  one-:,  have  applied  these  -words  t  >  the  divine  nature  of  Christ.  In  the 
opinion  that  the  verse  now  under  ccmsideration  rehues  to  the  incarnate  M;  s-iah, 
I  find  tliai  Scott  and  Bcza  concur." — Stuart.  "'Tt.  means  being.  esFence.  I\Iany 
expositors,  offended  at  the  Son  being  called  only  the  copy  of  the  Being,  took  Ctt. 
in  tlie  sense  adopted  by  the  church,  of  Person." — Tholuck.  A6^.  .-ignifies  the 
essence  of  the  Father  with  reference  to  tlie  glory  in  which  he  represents  himself 
before  the  eyes  of  the  suppliant  creature:  vtt.,  this  essence  as  essence,  and  with- 
out regard  to  its  outward  rannifes'atinn.  Xcip.  is  here  used  "in  the  sense  of  a 
form  cut  out  or  engraven."  The  3&'|.  represents  itself  in  a  form  coniposed  of  ravs, 
a  sun ;  the  v'tt.  stanijis  itself  out  in  a  manifest  figure.  These  appositions  belong 
mure  properly  to  the  Logos  qua  eternally  pie-existent. — Ebrard. 

(i>ip.  corresponds  to  the  Hebrew  ^'^l,  Isa.  xlvi.  3,  Ixvi.  9,  euro,  conservo,  to  sus- 
tain, to  preserve,  as  a  mother  does  her  ciiild.  Ta  p-/;y..  t.  B.  «.,  by  his  own  power- 
ful wore],  the  word  of  the  Son,  not  the  \\ord  of  God,  as  xvrov  woidd  mean 

Stuart.  According  to  Bleek,  avTou  corresponds  to  h^cccvrov  of  the  first  person, 
ccvroii  to  li^ov.  If  the  former,  the  emphasis  being  on  '■  self,"  the  phrase  would  be, 
"By  the  word  of  his  own  i  ower."  "There  is  no  occasion  for  tiiis  cmpl  asis 
here.  Avroii  applies  in  a  reflexive  sense  to  the  Son,  and  not  to  the  Father." — 
Ebrard. 

Kcid.,  purification;  in  Hellenistic  Greek  expiation,  e.g..  Exod.  xxix.  36,xxx.  10: 
not  purification  i)y  moral  means,because  it  isjoined  witho;'  iccvrov,  which  isexplain- 
ed  in  ch.  ii.  14  by  oii,  tw  ^a-jocrov;  in  ch.  ix.  12  by  3<oi  rov  lotov  uificcro;;  and  in  ch. 
ix.  20  h\^i!x,TVii^v(7ia,;  ccvtov.— Stuart.  "The  puriflcation  in  the  Biblical  sense  con- 
sists in  the  atonement,  the  gracious  covering  {'f.'^.  Lev.  xvi.  30)  of  guilt." — Ebrard. 

''E.Ko.L  corresponds  to  the  Hebrew  -t-^;  which  applied  to  God  and  to  kings,  does 
not  mean  simply  to  sit.  but  to  sit  enthroned,  Ps.  ii.  4. — Stuart.  "  As  man,  and 
continning  to  be  man,  he  was  exalted  to  a  participation  in  the  divine  government 
of  the  world." — Ebrard 

Ti!AN.sLATiO.\s. — '  ATToivy.  ji.  T.  >.  the  radiance  of  his  glory  and  the  exact  image 
of  his  sulistance. — Stuart.  An  emanation  of  his  glory  and  an  express  image  of 
his  sulistance  — Conybeare  and  Ilowson.  The  radiance  of  his  glory  and  tiie  im- 
press of  his  substance. — Craik.  The  brightness  of  his  glory  and  th-  exact  im- 
pression of  his  manner  of  existence. — Pye  Smith.  The  refulgence  of  his  glory 
and  the  impression  of  his  essence. — De  Wette.  The  ray  of  hi.s  glory  and  the 
stamp  of  his  substance. — Turner. 

f^ipuv  ■/..  r.  A.  Controlling  all  things  by  his  own  powerfid  word. — Stuart. 

Kx^ctp.  TT.  After  he  had  made  expiation. — Stuart.  Having  made  expiation. 
— Bloomfield.  When  he  had  made  purification. — Conybeare  and  Ilowson. 
When  he  had  made  atcmement. — Craik.  After  he  bad  by  himself  purified  us  from 
sins  by  making  an  expiation. — Turner. — Ed. 


88  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

spake  in  the  revelation  of  the  gospel,  ascending  unto  such  a  mani- 
fi'station  of  him  as  that  they  might  understand  his  eminency  above 
all  formerly  used  in  the  like  ministrations;  as  also  how  he  was  pointed 
out  and  shadowed  by  sundry  tyj)es  and  figures  under  the  Old  Tes- 
tament. 

Of  this  description  there  are  three  parts;  the  first  declaring  wliat 
he  is;  the  secoud,  wliat  he  doth,  or  did;  and  the  third,  the  conse- 
quent of  them  both,  in  what  he  enjoyeth. 

Of  the  first  part  of  this  description  of  the  Messiah  there  are  two 
branches,  or  it  is  two  ways  expressed :  for  he  affirms  of  him,  first,  that 
he  is  the  "brightest  beam,"  or  "splendour  of  the  glory;"  and,  secondly, 
"  tlie  express  image,"  or  "  character  of  his  Father's  person." 

In  the  second  also  there  are  two  things  assigned  unto  him, — the 
former  relating  unto  his  power,  as  he  is  the  brightness  of  glory,  he 
"  sustaineth,"  or  ruleth  and  disposeth  of  "  all  things  by  the  word  of 
hi.s  power;" — the  latter  unto  his  love  and  work  of  mediation, — "by 
himself,"  or  in  his  own  person,  he  hath  "  purged  our  sins." 

His  present  and  perpetual  enjoyment,  as  a  consequent  of  what  he 
was  and  did,  or  doth,  is  expressed  in  the  last  words:  "  He  sat  down 
at  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high." 

Some  of  these  expressions  may  well  be  granted  to  contain  some 
of  those  buevorira,  "  things  hard  to  be  understood,"  which  Peter  affirms 
to  be  in  this  epistle  of  Paul,  2  Epist.  iii.  16;  which  unstable  and 
unlearned  men  have  in  all  ages  wrested  unto  their  own  destruction. 
The  things  intended  are  unquestionably  sublime  and  mysterious; 
the  terms  wherein  they  are  expressed  are  rare,  and  nowhere  else 
used  in  the  Scripture  to  the  same  purpose,  some  of  them  not  at  all, 
which  deprives  us  of  one  great  help  in  the  interpretation  of  them; 
the  metaphors  used  in  the  words,  or  types  alluded  unto  by  them, 
are  abstruse  and  dark:  so  that  the  difficulty  of  discovering  the  true, 
precise,  and  genuine  meaning  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  them  is  such  as 
that  this  verse,  at  least  some  part  of  it,  may  well  be  reckoned  among 
those  places  which  the  Lord  hath  left  in  his  word  to  exercise  our 
faith, 'and  diligence,  and  dependence  on  his  Spirit,  for  a  right  under- 
standing of  tliem.  It  may  be,  indeed,  that  from  what  was  known 
and  acknowledged  in  the  Judaical  church,  the  whole  intention  of 
the  apostle  was  more  plain  unto  them,  and  more  plainly  and  clearly 
delivered  than  now  it  seemeth  unto  us  to  be,  who  are  deprived  of 
their  advantages.  However,  both  to  them  and  us  the  things  were 
and  are  deep  and  mysterious;  and  we  shall  desire  to  handle  (as  it 
becometh  us)  both  things  and  words  with  reverence  and  godly  feaj, 
looking  up  unto  Him  for  assistance  who  alone  can  lead  us  into  all 
truth. 

We  begin  with  a  double  description  given  us  of  the  Lord  Christ 
at,  the  entrance  of  the  verse,  as  to  what  he  is  in  himself.     And  here 


VER.  S.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  89 

a  douule  difficulty  presents  itself  unto  us; — first,  In  creneral  unto 
wliat  nature  in  Christ,  or  unto  what  of  Christ,  this  description  doth 
belong;  secondly,  What  is  the  particular  meaning  and  importance 
of  the  words  or  expressions  themselves. 

For  the  first,  some  assert  that  these  words  intend  only  the  divine 
nature  of  Christ,  wherein  he  is  consubstantial  with  the  Father. 
Herein  as  he  is  said  to  be  "God  of  God,  and  Light  of  Light," — an  ex- 
pression doubtless  taken  from  hence, — receiving, as  the  Son,  his  nature 
and  subsistence  from  the  Father,  so  fully  and  absolutely  as  that  he 
is  every  way  the  same  with  him  in  respect  of  his  essence,  and  every 
way  like  him  in  respect  of  his  person ;  so  he  is  said  to  be  "  the  bright- 
ness of  his  glory,"  and  "  the  character  of  his  person"  on  that  account. 
This  way  went  the  ancients  generally;  and  of  modern  expositors  very 
many,  as  Calvin,  Brentius,  Marlorat,  Rollock,  Gomar,  Pareau,  Estius, 
Tena,  a  Lapide,  Ribera,  and  sundry  others. 

Some  think  that  the  apostle  speaks  of  him  as  incarnate,  as  he  is 
declared  in  the  gospel,  or  as  preached,  to  be  "  the  image  of  God,'' 
2  Cor.  iv.  4.  And  these  take  three  ways  in  the  explication  of  the 
vvords  and  their  application  of  them  unto  him:  — 

First,  Some  affirm  that  their  meaning  is,  that  whereas  God  is  in 
himself  infinite  and  incomprehensible,  so  that  we  are  not  able  to 
contemplate  on  his  excellencies,  but  that  we  are  overpowered  in  our 
minds  with  their  glory  and  majesty,  he  hath  in  Christ  the  Son,  as 
incarnate,  contemperated  his  infinite  love,  power,  goodness,  grace, 
greatness,  and  holiness,  unto  our  faith,  love,  and  contemplation,  they 
all  shining  forth  in  him,  and  being  eminently  expressed  in  him.  So 
Beza. 

Secondly,  Some  think  that  the  apostle  pursues  the  description 
that  he  was  entered  upon,  of  the  kingly  office  of  Jesus  Christ  as  heir 
of  all ;  and  that  his  being  exalted  in  glory  unto  power,  rule,  and  do- 
minion, expressing  and  representing  therein  the  person  of  his  Father, 
is  intended  in  these  words.     So  Cameron. 

Thirdly,  Some  refer  these  words  to  the  prophetical  office  of  Christ, 
and  say  that  he  was  the  brightness  of  God's  glory,  etc.,  by  his  reveal- 
ing and  declaring  the  will  of  God  unto  us,  which  before  was  done 
darkly  only  and  in  shadows.  So  the  Socinians  generally,  though 
Schlichtingius  refers  the  words  unto  all  that  similitude  which  they 
fancy  to  have  been  between  God  and  the  man  Christ  Jesus  whilst 
he  was  in  the  earth ;  and  therefore  renders  the  participle  wv,  not  by 
the  present,  but  preterimperfect  tense,  "who  was;"  that  is,  whilst 
he  was  on  the  earth,— though,  as  he  says,  not  exclusively  unto  what 
he  is  now  in  heaven. 

I  shall  not  examine  in  particular  the  reasons  that  are  alleged  for 
these  several  interpretations,  but  only  propose  and  confirm  that  sense 
of  the  place  which  on  full  and  due  consideration  appears,  as  agree- 


90  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

able  unto  the  analogy  of  faith,  so  expressly  to  answer  the  design  and 
intendment  of  the  apostle;  wherein  also  the  unsoundness  of  the  two 
last,  branches  or  ways  of  applying  the  second  inter[)retation,  with  the 
real  coincidence  of  tlie  first,  and  first  branch  of  the  latter  exposition, 
will  be  discovered.  To  this  end  the  following  positions  are  to  be 
observed :— 

First,  It  is  not  the  direct  and  immediate  design  of  the  apostle  to 
treat  absolutely  of  either  nature  of  Christ,  his  divine  or  human,  but 
only  of  his  person.  Hence,  though  the  things  which  he  mentioneth 
and  expresseth  may  some  of  them  belong  unto,  or  be  the  properties 
of  his  divine  nature,  some  of  his  human,  yet  none  of  them  are  spoken 
of  as  such,  but  are  all  considered  as  belonging  unto  his  person.  And 
this  solves  that  difficulty  which  Chrysostom  observes  in  the  words, 
and  strives  to  remove  by  a  similitude,  namely,  that  the  apostle  doth 
not  observe  any  order  or  method  in  speaking  of  the  divine  and 
human  natures  of  Christ  distinctly  one  after  another,  but  first  speaks 
of  the  one,  then  of  the  other,  and  then  returns  again  to  the  former, 
and  that  frequently.  But  the  truth  is,  he  intends  not  to  speak 
directly  and  absolutely  of  either  nature  of  Christ;  but  treating  ex 
professo  of  his  })erson,  some  things  that  he  mentions  concerning  him 
have  a  special  foundation  in  and  respect  unto  his  divine  nature,  some 
in  and  unto  his  human,  as  must  every  thing  that  is  spoken  of  him. 
And  therefore  the  method  ^ud  order  of  the  apostle  is  not  to  be  in- 
quired after  in  what  relates  in  his  expressions  to  this  or  that  nature 
of  Christ,  but  in  the  progress  that  he  makes  in  the  description  of 
his  person  and  offices ;  which  alone  he  had  undertaken, 

Secondl}^,  That  which  the  apostle  principally  intends  in  and  about 
the  person  of  Christ,  is  to  set  forth  his  dignity,  pre-eminence,  and 
exaltation  above  all;  and  that  not  only  consequentially  to  liis  dis- 
charge of  the  office  of  mediator,  but  also  antecedently,  in  his  worth, 
fitness,  ability,  and  suitableness  to  undertake  and  discharge  it, — which 
in  a  great  measure  depended  on  and  flowed  from  his  divine  nature. 

These  things  being  supposed,  we  observe,  thirdly,  That  as  these 
expressions  are  none  of  them  singly,  much  less  in  that  conjunction 
wherein  they  are  here  placed,  used  concerning  any  other  but  Cla-ist 
only,  so  they  do  plainly  contain  and  express  things  that  are  more 
sublime  and  glorious  than  can,  by  the  rule  of  Scripture  or  the  ana- 
logy of  faith,  be  ascribed  unto  any  mere  creature,  however  raised  or 
exalted.  There  is  in  the  words  evidently  a  comparison  with  God 
the  Father:  he  is  infinitely  glorious,  eternally  subsisting  in  his 
own  person ;  and  the  Son  is  "  the  brightness  of  his  glory,  and  the 
express  image  of  his  person."  Angels  are  called  "  the  sons  of  God," 
are  mighty  in  power,  and  excellent  in  created  glory;  but  when  they 
come  to  be  compared  with  God,  it  is  said  they  are  not  ])ure  in  his 
sight;  and  he  charged  them  with  folly.  Job  iv,  18;  and  they  cover 


VEE.  3.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  91 

their  faces  at  the  brightness  of  his  glory,  Isa.  vi.  2:  so  that  tiit-y 
cannot  be  said  so  to  be.  Man  also  was  created  in  the  image  of  God, 
and  is  again  by  grace  renewed  thereinto,  Eph.  iv.  2o,  2-i:  but  to 
say  a  man  is  the  express  image  of  the  person  of  God  the  Father,  is 
to  depress  the  glory  of  God  by  anthropomorphitism.  So  that  unto 
God  asking  that  question,  "  Whom  will  ye  compare  unto  me?  and 
whom  will  ye  liken  me  unto?"  we  cannot  answer  of  any  one  who 
is  not  God  by  nature,  that  he  is  "  the  brightness  of  his  glory,  and 
the  express  image  of  his  person." 

Fourthly,  Though  the  design  of  the  apostle  in  general  be  to  show 
how  the  Father  expressed  and  declared  himself  unto  us  in  the  Son, 
yet  this  could  not  be  done  without  manifesting  what  the  Son  is  in 
himself  and  in  reference  unto  the  Father;  which  both  the  expressions 
do  in  the  first  place  declare.  They  express  him  such  an  one  as  in 
whom  the  infinite  perfections  and  excellencies  of  God  are  revealed 
unto  us.  So  that  the  first  ajDplication  of  the  words,  namely,  to  the 
divine  nature  of  Christ,  and  the  first  branch  of  the  second,  consider- 
ing him  as  incarnate,  are  very  well  consistent;  as  a  Lapide  grants, 
after  he  bad  blamed  Beza  for  his  interpretation.  The  first  direction, 
then,  given  unto  our  faith  in  these  words,  is  by  what  the  Son  is  in 
respect  of  the  Father,  namely,  "the  brightness  of  his  glory,  and  the 
express  image  of  his  person  ;"  whence  it  follows  that  in  him,  beingf 
incarnate,  the  Father's  glory  and  his  person  are  expressed  and 
manifested  unto  us. 

Fifthly,  There  is  nothing  in  these  words  that  is  not  applicable 
unto  the  divine  nature  of  Christ.  Some,  as  we  have  showed,  sup- 
pose that  it  is  not  that  which  is  peculiarly  intended  in  the  words; 
but  yet  they  can  give  no  reason  from  them,  nor  manifest  any  thing 
denoted  by  them,  which  may  not  be  conveniently  applied  there- 
unto. I  say,  whatever  can  be  proved  to  be  signified  by  them  or 
contained  in  them,  if  we  will  keep  ourselves  within  the  bounds  of 
that  holy  reverence  which  becomes  us  in  the  contemplation  of  the 
majesty  of  God,  may  be  applied  unto  the  nature  of  God  as  existing 
in  the  person  of  the  Son.  He  is  in  his  person  distinct  from  the 
Father,  another  not  the  Father;  but  yet  the  same  in  nature,  and 
this  in  all  glorious  properties  and  excellencies.  This  oneness  in  na- 
ture, and  distinction  in  person,  may  be  well  shadowed  out  by  these 
expressions,  "He  is  the  brightness  of  his  glory,  and  the  express 
image  of  his  person."  The  boldness  and  curiosity  of  the  schoolmen, 
and  some  others,  in  expressing  the  way  and  manner  of  the  genera- 
tion of  the  SoU;,  by  similitudes  of  our  understanding  and  its  acts, 
declaring  how  he  is  the  image  of  the  Father,  in  their  terms,  are  in- 
tolerable and  full  of  oflence.  Nor  are  the  rigid  impositions  of  those 
words  and  terms  in  this  matter  which  they  or  others  have  found  out 
to  express  it  by,  of  any  better  nature.    Yet  I  confess,  that  supposing 


92  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

■with  some  that  by  the  first  expression  here  used,  "The  brightness  of 
glory/'  the  apostle  intends  to  set  forth  unto  us  the  relation  of  the 
Son  to  the  Father  by  an  allusion  unto  the  sun  and  its  beams,  or  the 
light  of  fire  in  iron,  some  relief  may  thence  be  given  unto  our  weak 
understandings  in  the  contemplation  of  this  mystery,  if  we  observe 
that  one  known  rule,  whose  use  Chrysostom  urgeth  in  this  place, 
namely,  tliat  in  the  use  of  such  allusions  every  thing  of  imperfec- 
tion is  to  be  removed,  in  their  application  unto  God.  A  few  instances 
we  may  give  unto  this  purpose,  holding  ourselves  unto  an  allusion 
to  the  sun  and  its  beams. 

1,  As  the  sun  in  comparison  of  the  beam  is  of  itself,  and  the  beam 
of  the  sun;  so  is  the  Father  of  himself,  and  the  Son  of  the  Father. 
2.  As  the  sun,  without  diminution  or  partition  of  its  substance,  with- 
out change  or  alteration  in  its  nature,  produceth  the  beam;  so  is  the 
Son  begotten  of  the  Father.  3.  As  the  sun  in  order  of  nature  is 
before  the  beam,  but  in  time  both  are  co-existent;  so  is  the  Father 
in  order  of  nature  before  the  Son,  though  in  existence  both  co-eter- 
nal. 4.  As  the  beam  is  distinct  from  tiie  sun,  so  that  the  sun  is  not 
the  beam,  and  the  beam  is  not  the  sun ;  so  is  it  between  the  Father 
and  the  Son.  5.  As  the  beam  is  never  separate  from  the  sun,  nor 
can  the  sun  be  without  the  beam,  no  more  can  the  Son  be  from 
the  Father,  nor  was  the  Father  ever  without  the  Son.  6.  As  the 
sun  cannot  be  seen  but  by  the  beam,  no  more  can  the  Father  but 
in  and  by  the  Son. 

I  acknowledge  that  these  things  are  true,  and  that  there  is  no- 
thing in  them  disagreeable  unto  the  analogy  of  faith.  But  yet  as 
sundry  other  things  may  be  affirmed  of  the  sun  and  its  beam,  whereof 
no  tolerable  application  can  be  made  to  the  matter  in  hand,  so  I  am 
not  persuaded  that  the  apostle  intended  any  such  comparison  or  al- 
lusion, or  aimed  at  our  information  or  instruction  by  them.  They 
were  common  people  of  the  Jews,  and  not  philosophers,  to  whom 
the  apostle  wrote  this  epistle;  and  therefore  either  he  expresseth 
the  things  that  he  intends  in  terms  answering  unto  what  was  in  use 
among  themselves  to  the  same  purpose,  or  else  he  asserts  them  plainly 
in  words  as  meet  to  express  them  properly  by  as  any  that  are  in 
use  amongst  men.  To  say  there  is  an  allusion  in  the  words,  and 
that  the  Son  is  not  properly,  but  by  a  metaphor,  "  the  brightness  of 
glory,"  is  to  teach  the  apostle  how  to  express  himself  in  the  things  of 
God.  For  my  part,  I  understand  as  much  of  tlie  nature,  glory,  and 
properties  of  the  Son,  in  and  by  this  expression,  "He  is  the  brightness 
of  glor}',"  as  I  do  by  any  of  the  most  accurate  expressions  which 
men  have  arbitrarily  invented  to  signify  the  same  thing.  That  he 
is  one  distinct  from  God  the  Father,  related  unto  him,  and  partaker 
of  his  glory,  is  clearly  asserted  in  these  words;  and  more  is  not 
intended  in  them. 


VER.  3.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  93 

Sixthly,  These  things,  then,  being  premised,  we  may  discern  the 
general  importance  of  these  expressions.  The  words  themselves,  as 
was  before  observed,  being  nowhere  else  used  in  the  Scripture,  we 
may  receive  a  contribution  of  light  unto  tliem  from  those  in  other 
places  which  are  of  their  nearest  alliance.  Such  are  these  and  the 
like:  "  We  beheld  his  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only-begotten  of  the 
Father,"  Johni.  14.  "  He  is  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,"  Col. 
i.  15.  The  glory  of  God  shines  forth  in  him,  2  Cor.  iv,  6.  Now, 
in  these  and  the  like  places,  the  glory  of  the  divine  nature  is  so  inti- 
mated, as  that  we  are  directed  to  look  unto  the  glory  of  the  abso- 
lutely invisible  and  incomprehensible  God  in  him  incarnate.  And 
this  in  general  is  the  meaning  and  intendment  of  the  apostle 
in  these  expressions:  'The  Son,  in  whom  God  speaks  unto  us  in 
the  revelation  of  the  gospel,  doth  in  his  own  person  so  every 
way  answer  the  excellencies  and  perfections  of  God  the  Father, 
that  he  is  in  him  expressly  represented  unto  our  faith  and  contem- 
plation.' 

It  remaineth,  then,  in  the  second  place,  that  we  consider  the  ex- 
pressions severally,  with  the  reasons  why  the  apostle  thus  expresseth 
the  divine  glory  of  Jesus  Christ:  "O5  uiv  uTavyaff/Ma  r^g  do^Tjg' — "Who 
being  the  brightness"  ("light, lustre, majesty")  "of  glory."  Tlie  apostle, 
in  my  judgment  (which  is  humbly  submitted  unto  consideration), 
alludes  unto  and  intends  something  that  the  people  were  instructed 
by  typically  under  the  old  testament,  in  this  great  mystery  of  the 
manilestation  of  the  glory  of  God  unto  them  in  and  by  the  Son,  the 
second  person  in  the  Trinity.  The  arA;,  which  was  the  most  signal 
representation  of  the  presence  of  God  amongst  them,  was  called 
*'  his  glory."  So  the  wife  of  Phinehas,  upon  the  taking  of  the  ark, 
affirmed  that  the  glory  was  departed:  1  Sam.  iv.  22,  "The  glory 
is  departed  from  Israel,  for  the  ark  of  God  is  taken."  And  the 
psalmist,  mentioning  the  same  thing,  calls  it  "  his  glory"  absolutely: 
Ps.  Ixxviii.  61,  "He  delivered  his  glory  into  the  enemy's  hand;" 
that  is,  the  ark.  Now,  on  the  filling  of  the  tabernacle  with  the 
signs  of  God's  presence  in  cloud  and  fire,  the  Jews  affirm  that  there 
was  a  constant  dTauyac/Aa,  a  m^$3n,  or  "majestic  shining  glory," 
resting  on  the  ark;  which  was  the  drrauyaff/xa  rrig  do^rig,  "  the  splen- 
dour of  the  glory  of  God,"  in  that  typical  representation  of  his 
presence.  And  this  was  to  instruct  them  in  the  way  and  manner 
whereby  God  would  dwell  amongst  them.  The  apostle,  therefore, 
calling  them  from  the  types,  by  which  in  much  darkness  they  had 
been  instructed  in  these  mysteries,  unto  the  things  themselves  re- 
presented obscurely  by  them,  acquaints  them  with  what,  that  typical 
glory  and  splendour  of  it  signified,  namely,  the  eternal  glory  ot  God, 
with  the  essential  beaming  and  brightness  of  it  in  the  Son,  in  and 
by  whom  the  glory  of  the  Father  shineth  forth  unto  us.     So  that 


94  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CIIAP.  L 

the  words  seem  to  relate  unto  that  way  of  instruction  which  was  of 
old  granted  unto  them. 

Besides,  they  were  wont  to  express  their  faith  in  this  mystery 
with  words  unto  this  purpose:  "'^-^?,  "  glory,"  is  sometimes  put 
for  God  himself:  Ps.  Ixxxv.  9,  ^3>:-i^{<n  lui  Jbp^  _"  That  glory 
may  dwell  in  our  land;"  that  is,  the  God  of  glory,  or  glorious  G(jd. 
This  glory  the  Targum  calls  t^ip*;  and  the  majesty  of  that  glory, 
^3''^t^'.  See  Hag.  i.  8.  Hence  Ps.  xliv.  24,  they  render  these  words, 
TriDrn03-n?3^^  "Why  hidest  thou  thy  face?"  p^Jon -jip^  nra^J' no^, 
"  Why  takest  thou  away  the  majesty  of  thy  glory?"  as  both  the  Vene- 
tian and  Basle  Bibles  read  the  place:  for  the  Regia  have  only  nj'':3*j', 
omitting  "i"ip\  And  in  the  vision  of  Isaiah,  chap.  vi.  1,  they  say  it 
was  IDsn,  so  Kimchi;  r\yy\^,  so  Rashi;  ^n  NipS  so  the  Targum. 
And  they  affirm  that  it  was  the  same  which  came  down  and  ap- 
peared on  mount  Sinai,  Exod.  xix.  20 ;  where  these  words,  <^}'^]  "T^.-- 
"iro  ~in-py,  "And  the  Lord  descended  on  mount  Sinai,"  are  rendered 
by  Oukelos,  '•n  Sip''  ''!?Jn5<l,  "The  majesty  of  God  was  revealed;" 
Avhich  words,  from  Ps.  Ixviii.  18,  are  applied  by  our  apostle  unto  the 
Son,  Eph.  iv.  8.  'Acrauyaff/xa  rjjg  ho^ni,  then,  is  nothing  else  but  T\T2V 
^^1p'',  or  nunn  nyati',  "the  essential  presence  or  majesty  of  the  glorious 
God."  This,  saith  he,  is  Christ  the  Son.  And  thus  of  old  they  ex^ 
pressed  their  faith  concerning  him. 

The  words,  as  was  showed  before,  denote  the  divine  nature  of 
Christ,  yet  not  absolutely,  but  as  God  the  Father  in  him  doth  mani- 
fest himself  unto  us.  Hence  he  is  called  T\^^'2U,  or  t<n3''3t^,  or  ^^^"2^1^. 
The  word  is  from  P^,  "  he  dwelt."  EHas  in  Tishbi  gives  us  some- 
what another  account  of  the  application  of  that  name,  in  the  root: 
D^b532n  hv  p^  «"inc^  nv^  hv  m''3t>'  U'^\>r\  nrb  h"r\  l«ip, — "  The  rabbins  of 
blessed  memory  called  the  Holy  Ghost  Shechinah,  because  he  dwelt 
upon  the  prophets."  But  that  this  is  not  so  may  be  observed 
throughout  the  Targum,  wherein  the  Holy  Ghost  is  always  expressly 
called  tyipn  nn ;  and  the  Shechinah  is  spoken  of  in  such  places  as 
cannot  be  applied  unto  him.  But  as  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  is 
said  to  dwell  in  the  Lord  Christ  cuiLanzojg,  Col.  ii.  9,  and  he,  as 
the  only-begotten  Son  of  God,  to  dwell  amongst  us,  John  i.  1-t; 
so  is  he  said  in  the  same  sense  to  be  1U3n  n^^^C,  or  ccca-jyacr^tia  rrig 
^o'gTjs,  "  the  majesty,  presence,  splendour  of  the  glory,"  or  "  the  glo- 
rious God." 

This,  then,  is  that  whereof  the  apostle  minds  the  Jews:  God 
having  promised  to  dwell  amongst  them  by  his  glorious  presence, — 
from  whence  the  very  name  of  Jerusalem  was  called,  "  The  Lord  is 
there,"  Ezek.  xlviii.  85, — he  who  in  and  untler  that  name  was  with 
them,  as  sent  by  Jehovah,  Zech,  ii.  8,  was  the  Son,  in  whom  he  had 
now  spoken  unto  them  in  these  latter  days.  And  this  must  needs 
be  of  weight  with  them,  being  instructed  that  he  who  had  revealed 


VER.  3.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  95 

tlie  will  of  God  unto  them  was  none  other  but  he  who  had  dwelt 
among  them  from  the  beginning,  representing  in  all  tilings  the 
person  of  the  Father,  being  typically  revealed  unto  them  as  the 
"  brightness  of  his  glory." 

The  ajDOstle  adds,  that  he  is  -x^apazTrip  I'xogrdgiug  aurov,  "the  ex- 
press figure"  (or  "image")  "of  his  person;"  that  is,  of  the  person  of 
God  the  Father.  I  shall  not  enter  into  any  dispute  about  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  h-zosraeig,  or  the  difference  between  it  and  ohoia. 
Many  controversies  about  these  words  there  were  of  old.  And 
Jerome  was  very  cautious  about  acknowledging  three  hypostases  in 
the  Deity,  and  that  because  he  thought  the  word  in  this  place  to 
denote  "  substantia;"  and  of  that  mind  are  many  still,  it  being  so 
rendered  by  the  Vulgar  translation.  But  the  consideration  of  these 
vexed  questions  tending  not  to  the  opening  of  the  design  of  the 
apostle  and  meaning  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  this  place,  I  shall  not 
insist  upon  them. 

1.  The  hypostasis  of  the  Father  is  the  Father  himself.  Hereof,  or 
of  him,  is  the  Son  said  to  be  the  "express  image."  As  is  the  Father,  so 
is  the  Son.  And  this  agreement,  hkeness,  and  conveniency  between 
the  Father  and  Son,  is  essential;  not  accidental,  as  those  things  are 
between  relations  finite  and  corporeal.  What  the  Father  is,  doth, 
hath,  that  the  Son  is,  doth,  hath ;  or  else  the  Father,  as  the  Father, 
could  not  be  fully  satisfied  in  him,  nor  represented  by  him. 

2.  By  "character"  two  things  seem  to  be  intended: — (1.)  That  the 
Son  in  himself  is  h  /xoptpfi  Qsou,  "  in  the  likeness  of  God,"  Phil.  ii.  6. 
(2.)  That  unto  us  he  is  sizojv  Qsou,  "  the  image  of  God,"  representing 
him  unto  us.  Col.  i.  15.  For  these  three  words  are  used  of  the 
Lord  Christ  in  respect  unto  God  the  Father,  [J^opcpT],  »i%uiv,  yapanrrif. 
And  their  use  seems  thus  to  difference  them : — (1.)  It  is  said  of  him, 
'Ev  iMoptfTi  Qiw  uTap^uv,  Phil.  ii.  6, — "Being"  ("existing,  subsisting") 
"in  the  form  of  God:"  that  is,  being  so,  essentially  so;  for  there  is  no 
[lop^pn,  or  "  form,"  in  the  Deity  but  what  is  essential  unto  it.  This  he 
was  absolutely,  antecedently  unto  his  incarnation,  the  wdiole  nature 
of  God  being  in  him,  and  consequently  he  being  in  the  form  of  God. 
(2.)  In  the  manifestation  of  God  unto  us,  he  is  said  to  be  E/'xwi/  roD 
0£oD  roD  aopdrox),  Col,  i.  15, — "The  image  of  the  invisible  God;"  be- 
cause in  him,  so  partaker  of  the  nature  of  the  Fathtn-,  do  the  power, 
goodness,  holiness,  grace,  and  all  other  glorious  properties  of  God, 
shine  forth,  being  in  him  represented  unto  us,  2  Cor.  iv.  6.  And 
both  tliese  seem  to  be  comprised  in  this  word,  y^apaxTT^p;  both  that 
the  whole  nature  of  God  is  in  him,  as  also  that  by  him  God  is 
declared  and  expressed  unto  us. 

Neither  were  the  Jews  of  old  ignorant  of  this  notion  of  the  Son 
of  God.  So  Philo  expresseth  their  sense,  de  Confusione  Linguarum: 
Kav  /jbT^di-jrco  /xevroi  rvy^dvr]   rig   d^ioypsug   u)v   v'log  &£ov   vpocayopiUieSui, 
VOL.  xu. — 7 


96  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

ffTouSa^i  /.offfis/gdai  xara  rov  'rrpooroyovov  auTOv  Aoyov,  rhv  dyysXov  TpzffZv- 
rarov  ug  ap^dyyiXov  To'kvuvofj.ov  v-Trdp^ovTa,  xal  yap  u.pyr\,  Kai  ovofjba  &sou, 
xai  "Koyog,  Kai  6  xar  eiKova,  dvdpwxog,  Tcai  opoov  'lopariX  vposayopsuirar — • 
"  If  any  one  be  not  yet  worthy  to  be  called  the  son  of  God,  yet 
endeavour  thou  to  be  conformed  unto  his  first-begotten  Word,  the 
most  ancient  angel,  the  archangel  with  many  names;  for  he  is 
called  '  The  beginning,"" '  The  name  of  God,'  '  The  man  according  to 
the  image  of  God,'  'The  seer  of  Israel.'"  And  again,  Ka!  yap  si 
fiTlTct)  ixavoi  Qsov  "TraTdig  vofJj'iZ^isSai  yiyovaiJjiv,  aXXd  rot  r^g  a/diov  iixovog 
uItov,  Aoyov  to\j  'npuTaTov'  0sov  yap  six.uv  Aoyog  o  'jrpiffZvraTog' — "  Ft)r 
if  we  an-!  not  meet  to  be  called  the  sons  of  God,  let  us  be  so  of  Jiis 
eternal  image,  the  most  sacred  Word ;  for  that  most  ancient  Word 
is  the  image  of  God."  Thus  he,  expressing  some  of  their  concep- 
tions concerning  this  eternal  "character"  of  the  person  of  the  Father. 
We  have  seen  what  it  is  that  is  intended  in  this  expression,  and 
shall  only  add  thereunto  a  consideration  of  that  from  whence  the 
exjiressiou  is  taken.  The  ordinary  engraving  of  rings,  or  seals,  or 
stones,  is  generally  thought  to  be  alluded  unto.  It  may  be  also 
that  the  apostle  had  respect  unto  some  representation  of  the  glory 
of  God  by  engraving  amongst  the  institutions  of  Moses.  Now,  there 
was  scarcely  any  thing  of  old  that  more  gloriously  represented  God 
than  that  of  the  engraving  of  his  name  on  a  plate  of  gold,  to  be 
worn  on  the  front  of  the  mitre  of  the  high  priest;  at  the  sight 
whereof  the  great  conqueror  of  the  east  fell  down  before  him.  Men- 
tion of  it  we  have  Exod.  xxviii.  36,  "  Thou  shalt  make  a  plate  of 
pure  gold,  and  grave  upon  it,  like  the  engravings  of  a  signet,  ^"j? 
nin7^"_"  HolineKs  of  Jehovah,"  or  "  to  Jehovah."  Here  was  that 
name  of  God  which  denotes  his  essence  and  being  characterized 
and  engraven,  to  represent  his  holiness  and  glory  to  his  people. 
And  Aaron  was  to  wear  this  engraven  name  of  God  on  his  forehead, 
that  he  might  bear  the  iniquity  of  the  holy  things  and  gifts  of  the 
cliildren  of  Israel ;  which  could  really  be  done  only  by  him  who  was 
Jehovah  himself.  And  thus,  also,  when  God  promiseth  to  bring 
forth  the  Son  as  the  corner-stone  of  the  church,  he  promiseth  to 
engrave  upon  him  the  seven  eyes  of  the  Lord,  Zech.  iii.  9,  or  the 
perfection  of  his  wisdom  and  power,  to  be  expressed  unto  the 
church  in  him.  There  having  been,  then,  this  representation  of  the 
presence  of  God,  by  the  character  or  engraving  of  his  glorious  name 
upon  the  plate  of  gold,  which  the  high  priest  was  to  wear  that  he 
might  bear  iniquities ;  the  apostle  lets  the  Hebrews  know,  that  in 
Christ  the  Son  is  the  real  accomplishment  of  what  was  typified  there- 
by, the  Father  having  actually  communicated  unto  him  his  nature, 
denoted  by  that  name,  whereby  he  was  able  really  to  bear  our  ini- 
quities, and  most  gloriously  represent  the  person  of  his  Father 
unto  us. 


VER.  3.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  IlECUEWS.  97 

And  this,  with  submission  to  better  judgments,  do  I  conceive  to 
be  the  design  of  the  apostle  in  this  his  description  of  the  person  of 
Jesus  Christ.  It  pleased  the  Holy  Ghost  herein  to  use  these  tei-ms 
and  expressions,  to  mind  the  Hebrews  how  they  were  of  old  in- 
structed, though  obsciu-ely,  in  the  things  now  actually  exhibited 
unto  them,  and  that  nothing  was  now  preached  or  declared  but  what 
in  their  typical  institutions  they  had  before  given  their  assent  unto. 

We  have  been  somewhat  long  in  our  explication  of  this  descri[i- 
tion  of  the  person  of  the  Son  of  God;  yet,  as  we  suppose,  not  any 
longer  than  the  nature  of  the  things  treated  of  and  tlie  manner  of 
their  expression  necessarily  required  us  to  be.  We  shall  therefore 
here  stay  a  while,  before  we  proceed  to  the  ensuing  words  of  this 
verse,  and  take  some  observations,  from  what  hath  been  spoken  for 
our  direction  and  refreshment  in  our  passage. 

I.  All  the  glorious  perfections  of  the  nature  of  God  do  be- 
long unto  and  dwell  in  the  person  of  the  Son.  Were  it  not  so,  he 
could  not  gloriously  represent  unto  us  the  person  of  the  Father ; 
nor  by  the  contemplation  of  him  could  we  be  led  to  an  acquaintance 
with  the  person  of  the  Father.  This  the  apostle  here  teacheth  us, 
as  in  the  explication  of  the  words  we  have  manifested.  Now,  because 
the  confirmation  of  this  allusion  depends  on  the  proofs  and  testi- 
monies given  of  and  unto  the  divine  nature  of  Christ,  which  I  have 
elsewhere  largely  insisted  on  and  vindicated  from  exceptions,  I  shall 
not  here  resume  that  task,  especially  considering  that  the  same  truth 
will  again  occur  unto  us. 

II.  The  whole  manifestation  of  the  nature  of  God  unto  us,  and 
all  communications  of  grace,  are  immediately  by  and  through  the 
person  of  the  Son.  He  represents  him  unto  us;  and  through  him 
is  every  thing  that  is  communicated  unto  us  from  the  fulness  of  the 
Deity  conveyed. 

There  are  sundry  signal  instances  wherein  God  reveals  himself, 
and  communicates  from  his  own  infinite  fulness  unto  his  creatures, 
and  in  all  of  them  he  doth  it  immediately  by  the  Son: — 1.  In  the 
creation  of  all  things;  2.  In  their  providential  rule  and  disposal; 
3.  In  the  revelation  of  his  will  and  institution  of  ordinances ;  4.  In 
the  communication  of  his  Spirit  and  grace:  in  none  of  which  is  the 
person  of  the  Father  any  otherwise  immediately  rejaresented  unto 
us  than  in  and  by  the  person  of  the  Son. 

1.  In  the  creation  of  all  things,  God  both  gave  them  their  being 
and  imparted  unto  them  of  his  goodness,  and  manifested  his  nature 
unto  those  that  were  capable  of  a  holy  apprehension  of  it.  Now, 
all  this  God  did  immediately  by  the  Son;  not  as  a  subordinate  in- 
strument, but  as  the  principal  efficient,  being  his  own  power  and 
wisdom.  This  we  have  manifested  in  our  explication  of  the  Inst 
words  of  the  verse  foregoing.     In  express  testimony  hereunto,  see 


98  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

John  1.  3;  Col.  I  16;  1  Cor.  viii,  6.  The  Son,  as  the  power  and 
wisdom  of  the  Father,  made  all  things;  so  that  in  that  work  the 
glory  of  the  Father  shines  forth  in  him,  and  no  otherwise.  By  him 
was  there  a  communication  of  being,  goodness,  and  existence  unto 
the  creation. 

2.  In  the  providential  rule  and  disposal  of  all  things  created,  God 
further  manifests  himself  unto  his  creatures,  and  further  communi- 
cates of  his  goodness  unto  them.  That  this  also  is  done  in  and  by 
the-  Son,  we  shall  further  evidence  in  the  explication  of  the  next 
words  of  this  verse. 

0.  The  matter  is  yet  more  plain  as  to  the  revelation  of  his  will, 
and  the  institution  of  ordinances  from  first  to  last.  It  is  granted 
that  after  the  entrance  of  sin,  God  did  not  graciously  reveal  nor 
communicate  himself  unto  any  of  his  creatures  but  by  his  Son.  This 
might  fully  be  manifested  by  a  consideration  of  the  first  promise,  the 
foundation  of  all  future  revelations  and  institutions,  with  an  induction 
of  all  ensuing  instances.  But  whereas  all  revelations  and  institutions 
springing  from  the  first  promise  are  completed  and  finished  in  the 
gospel,  it  may  suffice  to  show  that  what  we  assert  is  true  with  pecu- 
liar reference  thereunto.  The  testimonies  given  unto  it  are  innu- 
merable. This  is  the  substance  and  end  of  the  gospel : — to  reveal 
the  Father  by  and  in  the  Son  unto  us;  to  declare  that  through  him 
alone  we  can  be  made  partakers  of  his  grace  and  goodness,  and  that 
no  other  way  we  can  have  either  acquaintance  or  communion  with 
him.  See  John  i.  18.  The  whole  end  of  the  gospel  is  to  give  us 
"  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ," 
2  Cor.  iv.  6 ;  that  is,  the  glory  of  the  invisible  God,  whom  none 
hath  seen  at  any  time,  1  Tim.  vi.  16;  1  John  iv.  12.  That  is  to  be 
communicated  unto  us.  But  how  is  this  to  be  done?  absolutely  and 
immediately,  as  it  is  the  glory  of  the  Father?  No,  but  as  it  "  shines 
forth  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,"  or  as  it  is  in  his  person  manifested 
and  represented  unto  us;  for  he  is,  as  the  same  apostle  says  in  the 
same  place,  2  Cor.  iv.  4,  "  the  image  of  God."  And  herein  also,  as  to 
the  communication  of  grace  and  the  Spirit,  the  Scripture  is  express, 
and  believers  are  daily  instructed  in  it.  See  Col.  i.  19;  John  i.  16; 
especially  1  John  v.  11,  14.  Now,  the  grounds  of  this  order  of 
things  lie, — 

1.  In  the  essential  inheing  of  the  Father  and  Son.     This  our 
.  Saviour  expresseth,  John  x.  38,  "  The  Father  is  in  me,  and  I  m 

him."  The  same  essential  properties  and  nature  baing  in  each  of 
the  persons,  by  virtue  thereof  their  persons  also  are  said  to  be  in 
each  other.  The  person  of  the  Son  is  in  the  person  of  the  Father, 
not  as  such,  not  in  or  by  its  own  personality,  but  by  union  of  its 
nature  and  essential  properties,  which  are  not  alike,  as  the  persons 
are,  but  the  same  in  the  one  and  the  other.     And  this  inbeing  of 


VEK  S.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  09 

the  Father  in  the  Son,  and  of  the  Son  in  him,  our  Saviour  affirnis 
to  be  manifested  by  the  works  that  he  wrought,  being  wrought  by 
the  power  of  the  Father,  yet  as  in  him,  and  not  as  in  the  Father 
immediately.  See  to  the  same  purpose  chap.  xiv.  10,  11,  and  chap, 
xvii.  21. 

2.  The  Father  being  thus  in  the  Son,  and  the  Son  in  the  Father, 
whereby  all  tlie  glorious  properties  of  the  one  do  shine  forth  in  the 
other,  the  order  and  economy  of  the  blessed  Trinity  in  subsistence 
and  operation  require  that  the  manifestation  and  communication  of 
the  Father  unto  us  be  through  and  by  the  Son;  for  as  the  Father  is 
the  original  and  fountain  of  the  whole  Trinity  as  to  subsistence,  so 
as  to  operation  he  works  not  but  by  the  Son,  who,  having  the  divine 
nature  communicated  unto  him  by  eternal  generation,  is  to  commu- 
nicate the  effects  of  the  divine  power,  wisdom,  and  goodness,  l)y  tem- 
porary operation.  And  thus  he  becomes  "the  brightness  of  his 
Father's  glory,  and  the  express  image  of  his  person,"  namely,  by  the 
receiving  his  glorious  nature  from  him,  the  whole  and  all  of  it,  and 
expressing  him  in  his  works  of  nature  and  grace  unto  his  creatures. 

3.  Because  in  the  dispensation  and  counsel  of  grace  God  hatli  de- 
termined that  all  communication  of  himself  unto  us  shall  be  by  the 
Son  as  incarnate.  This  the  whole  gospel  is  given  to  testify.  So 
that  this  truth  hath  its  foundation  in  the  very  subsistence  of  the 
persons  of  the  Deity,  is  confirmed  by  the  order,  and  operation,  and 
voluntary  disposition  in  the  covenant  of  grace. 

And  this  discovers  unto  us,  first,  the  necessity  of  coming  unto  God 
hy  Christ.  God  in  himself  is  said  to  be  "  in  thick  darkness,"  as  also  to 
dwell  "  in  light,"  whereunto  no  creature  can  approach ;  which  expres- 
sions, though  seeming  contrary,  yet  teach  us  the  same  thing, — 
namely,  the  infinite  distance  of  the  divine  nature  from  our  apprehen- 
sions and  conceptions,  "no  man  having  seen  God  at  any  time."  But 
this  God,  invisible,,  eternal,  incomprehensibly  glorious, hath  implanted 
sundry  characters  of  his  excellencies  and  left  footsteps  of  his  blessed 
properties  on  the  things  that  he  hath  made ;  that,  by  the  considera- 
tion and  contemplation  of  them,  we  might  come  to  some  such  ac- 
quaintance with  him  as  might  encourage  us  to  fear  and  serve  him 
and  to  make  him  our  utmost  end.  But  these  expressions  of  God  in 
all  other  things,  besides  his  Son  Christ  Jesus,  are  all  of  them  par- 
tial, revealing  only  something  of  him,  not  all  that  is  necessary  to  be 
known  that  we  may  live  unto  him  here  and  enjoy  him  hereafter; 
and  obscure,  not  leading  us  unto  any  perfect  stable  knowledge  of 
him.  And  hence  it  is  that  those  who  have  attempted  to  come  unto 
God  by  the  Hght  of  that  manitestation  which  he  hath  made  of  him- 
self any  other  way  than  in  and  by  Christ  Jesus,  have  all  failed  and 
come  short  of  his  glory.  But  now,  the  Lord  Christ  being  "  the 
brightness  of  his   glory,"   in   whom    his  glory   shines  out  of  the 


100  AN  EXPOSITION  OP  THE  [cHAP.  I. 

thick  darkness  that  his  nature  is  enwrapped  in  unto  us,  and 
beams  out  of  that  inaccessible  light  which  he  inhabits ;  and  "  the 
express  image  of  his  person/'  representing  all  the  perfections  of  his 
person  fully  and  clearly  unto  us, — in  him  alone  can  we  attain  a  saving 
acquaintance  with  him.  On  this  account  he  tells  Philip,  John  xiv. 
9,  "  He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father;"  the  reason  of 
which  assertion,  taken  from  the  mutual  inbeing  of  Father  and  Son, 
and  his  expression  of  his  mind  and  glory,  he  asserts  in  the  next 
verses.  He,  then,  is  the  only  way  and  means  of  coming  unto  the 
knowledge  and  enjoyment  of  God,  because  in  and  by  him  alone  is 
he  fully  and  perfectly  expressed  unto  us. 

And  therefore  this,  secondly,  is  om/'  great  guide  and  direction  in 
all  our  endeavours  after  an  acceptable  access  unto  Him.  Would 
we  come  to  that  acquaintance  with  the  nature,  properties,  and  ex- 
cellencies of  the  Father,  which  poor,  weak,  finite  creatures  are  capable 
of  attaining  in  this  world, — which  is  sufficient  that  we  may  love  him, 
fear  him,  serve  him,  and  come  unto  the  enjoyment  of  him?  would 
we  know  his  love  and  grace?  would  we  admire  his  wisdom  and  holi- 
ness?— let  us  labour  to  come  to  an  intimate  and  near  acquaintance 
with  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  in  Avhom  all  these  things  dwell  in  their 
fulness,  and  by  whom  they  are  exhibited,  revealed,  unfolded  unto 
us;  seek  the  Father  in  the  Son,  out  of  whom  not  one  property  of 
the  divine  nature  can  be  savingly  apprehended  or  rightly  under- 
stood, and  in  whom  they  are  all  exposed  to  our  faith  and  spiritual 
contemplation.  This  is  our  wisdom,  to  abide  in  Christ,  to  abide  with 
him,  to  learn  him;  and  in  him  we  shall  learn,  see,  and  know  the 
Father  also. 

(tipwv  T£  Tcc  "Trdvra  rui  pruMari  rrig  dwd/Miug  avrov.  After  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  person,  the  apostle  returns  unto  an  assertion  of  the  power 
of  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  and  therein  makes  his  transition  from  the 
kingly  and  prophetical  unto  his  sacerdotal  office;  on  all  which  he 
intends  afterwards  to  enlarge  his  discourse. 

He  showed  before  that  by  him  the  worlds  were  created;  where- 
unto,  as  a  further  evidence  of  his  glorious  power,  and  of  his  contin- 
uance to  act  suitably  unto  that  beginning  of  his  exercise  of  it,  he 
adds  that  he  also  abides  to  uphold,  or  rule  and  dispose  of  all  things 
BO  made  by  him. 

For  the  explication  of  these  words,  two  things  are  to  be  inquired 
after ; — first.  How,  or  in  what  sense,  Christ  is  said  to  "uphold"  or  rule 
"all  things;"  secondly.  How  he  doth  it  by  "the  word  of  his  power." 
^spuv  is  taken  by  expositors  in  a  double  sense,  and 
accordingly  variously  rendered  in  translations.  l.Some 
render  it  by  "  upholding,  supporting,  bearing,  carrying."  And  these 
suppose  it  to  express  that  infinite  divine  power  which  is  exerted  in 
the  conservation  of  the  creation,  keeping  it  from  sinking  into  its  ori- 


VER  3. J  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  101 

ginal  of  confusion  and  nothing.  Hereof  our  Saviour  saitli,  "  JTy 
Father  worketh  hitherto,"  ew;  apri,  (or  "  yet,")  "  and  I  work ;"  tliat 
is,  in  the  providential  sustentation  of  all  things  made  at  the  begin- 
ning. "  And  this,"  saith  Chrysostom  on  this  place,  "  is  a  greater 
work  than  that  of  the  creation."  By  the  former  all  things  were 
brought  forth  from  nothing;  by  the  latter  are  they  preserved  from 
that  return  unto  nothing  which  their  own  nature,  not  capalde  of 
existence  without  dependence  on  their  First  Cause,  and  their  perpe- 
tual conflict  by  contrariety  of  qualities,  would  precipitate  them  into. 

2.  Some  take  the  word  to  express  his  ruling,  governing,  and  dis- 
posing of  all  things  by  him  made,  and  (which  is  supposed)  sustained  ; 
and  so  it  may  denote  the  putting  forth  of  that  power  over  all  things 
which  is  given  unto  the  Son  as  mediator;  or  else  that  providential 
rule  over  all  which  he  hath  with  his  Father,  which  seems  rather  to 
be  intended,  because  of  the  way  expressed  whereby  he  exerciseth 
this  rule,  namely,  "  by  the  word  of  his  power." 

The  use  of  the  word  fipm  is  not  so  obvious  in  this  latter  sense  as  it 
is  in  the  former;  as  in  the  proverb,  E/  hlvaiiai  •n\'i  alya  <pspsiv,  (ir'ikrs 
/tio/  Toy  /3oDv.  But  I  see  no  reason  why  we  should  suppose  an  incon- 
sistency in  these  senses,  and  not  rather  conclude  that  they  are  both  of 
them  implied ;  for  as  absolutely  it  is  the  same  divine  power  and  provi- 
dence Avhich  is  exercised  in  the  upholding  and  the  ruling  or  di!^pos- 
ing  of  all  things,  so  all  rule  and  government  is  a  matter  of  weight 
and  burden.  And  he  who  rules  or  governs  others  is  said  to  bear  or 
carry  them.  So  Moses  expresseth  his  rule  of  the  people  in  the  wil- 
derness. Num.  xi.  11,  12:  "Thou  hast  put,"  saith  he,  ^t^'D^  "  tlie 
weight"  (or  "burden")  "  of  this  people  upon  me;  and  thou  hast  said, 
li^^^,  bear"  (or  "carry")  "them  in  thy  bosom."  And  hence  from  ^^^, 
"  to  bear  or  carry,"  is  ^''^J,  "  a  prince  or  ruler;"  that  is,  one  that  car- 
ries and  bears  the  burden  of  the  people,  that  upholds  and  rules  them. 
To  bear,  then,  or  uphold,  and  to  rule  and  dispose,  may  be  both  well 
intended  in  this  word;  as  they  are  both  expressed  in  that  proj^hecy 
of  Christ,  Isa.  ix.  6,  "  The  rule"  (or  "government")  "  shall  be  upon 
his  shoulder," — that  together  with  his  power  and  rule  he  may  sustain 
and  bear  the  weight  of  his  people.  Only,  whereas  this  is  done  amongst 
men  with  much  labour  and  travail,  he  doth  it  by  an  inexpressible 
facility,  by  the  word  of  his  power.  And  this  is  safe,  to  take  the  ex- 
pression in  its  most  comprehensive  sense. 

But  whereas  the  phrase  of  speech  itself  is  nowhere  else  used  in 
the  New  Testament,  nor  is  (pipu  applied  unto  any  such  purpose  else- 
where (though  once  ipipiii^ivog  be  taken  for  "  actus"  or  "  agitatus," 
2  Pet.  i.  21),  we  may  inquire  what  word  it  was  among  the  Hebrews 
that  the  apostle  intended  to  express,  whereby  they  had  formerly  been 
instructed  in  the  same  matter. 

1.  It  may  be  he  intended  ''5f?P,  a  participle  from  ''^3,  "  to  sus- 


102  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

tain,  to  bear,  to  endure,"  as  Mai.  iii.  2.  It  signifies  also  "  to  feed, 
nourish,  and  cherish,"  1  Kings  iv.  7;  Kuthiv.  15;  Zech.  xi.  16.  ^ipcuv 
Ts  -Truvrcc,  that  is,  ^^  ■'??-?')  "  sustinens,  nutiiens  omnia," — "sustaining 
and  cherishing  all  things."  But  this  word  hath  no  respect  unto  rule 
or  disposal.  And  in  this  sense,  as  the  work  of  creation  is  eminently 
ascribed  unto  the  Father,  who  is  said  to  make  all  things  by  the  Son, 
so  that  of  the  preservation  and  cherishing  of  all  things  is  here  pecu- 
liarly assigned  unto  the  Son.  And  this  is  not  unsuitable  unto  the 
analogy  of  faith :  for  it  was  the  power  of  God  that  was  eminently 
exalted  and  is  conspicuously  seen  in  the  work  of  creation,  as  the 
apostle  declares,  E.om.  i.  20,  although  that  power  was  accompanied 
also  with  infinite  wisdom;  and  it  is  the  wisdom  of  God  that  is  most 
eminently  manifested  in  the  preservation  of  all  things,  though  that 
wisdom  be  also  exercised  in  power  infinite.  At  least,  in  the  con- 
templation of  the  works  of  the  creation,  we  are  led,  by  the  wonder 
of  the  infinite  power  whereby  they  were  wrought,  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  wisdom  that  accompanied  it;  and  that  which  in  the  works 
of  providence  first  presents  itself  unto  our  minds  is  the  infinite  wis- 
dom whereby  all  things  are  disposed,  which  leads  us  also  to  the 
admiration  of  the  power  expressed  in  them.  Now,  it  is  usual  with 
the  Scripture  to  assign  the  things  wherein  power  is  most  eminent 
unto  the  Father,  as  those  wherein  wisdom  is  most  conspicuously 
exalted  unto  the  Son,  who  is  the  eternal  Wisdom  of  the  Father.  And 
this  sense  is  not  unsuitable  unto  the  text. 

2.  tib'J  is  another  word  that  may  be  intended ;  and  this  denotes  a 
bearing  like  a  prince  in  government,  as  ^''^^.  And  in  this  sense  the 
word  ought  to  be  referred  unto  Christ  as  mediator,  intrusted  with 
power  and  rule  by  the  Father.  But  neither  the  words  nor  context 
will  well  bear  this  sense:  for, — (1.)  It  is  mentioned  before,  where  it 
is  said  that  he  is  "  appointed  heir  of  all;"  and  it  is  not  likely  that  the 
apostle,  in  this  summary  description  of  the  person  and  offices  of  the 
Messiah,  would  twice  mention  the  same  thing  under  different  expres- 
sions. (2.)  The  particle  ts  added  unto  f'epuv  refers  us  to  the  begin- 
ning of  this  verse,  "Og  wv, (p'lpuv  ts, — "  Who  being  the  bright- 
ness of  glory, and  bearing  all  things."     So  that  these  things 

must  necessarily  be  spoken  of  him  in  the  same  respect:  and  the 
former,  as  we  have  showed,  relateth  unto  his  person  in  respect  of  his 
divine  nature;  so  therefore  doth  the  latter,  and  his  acting  therein. 

o.  There  is  yet  another  word,  which  I  suppose  the  apostle  had  a 
principal  aim  to  express,  and  this  is  3D"),  3D"i  is  properly  "  to  ride, 
to  be  carried,  to  be  carried  over;"  and  it  is  frequently,  though  meta- 
phorically, used  concerning  God  himself:  as  Deut.  xxxiii.  26,  3?"i 
D;»^,  "riding  on  the  heavens;"  "on  the  clouds,"  Isa.  xix.  1;  "on 
the  wings  of  the  wind,"  Ps.  xviii.  10,  and  Ps.  Ixviii.  5;  whereby  his 
majesty,  authority,  and  government  are  shadowed  out  unto  us.     And 


VER.  3.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  1 03 

hence  also  the  word  signifies  "to  administer,  dispose,  govern  or  pre- 
side in  and  over  things/' 

Thus  in  Ezekiel's  vision  of  the  glorious  providence  of  God  in 
ruling  the  whole  creation,  it  is  represented  by  a  chariot  (i^??"!^)  of 
cherubim  (D'^'ns).  The  D'3^13,  "  cherubim,"  with  their  wheels, 
made  that  chariot,  over  wliich  sat  the  God  of  Israel,  in  his  disposing 
and  ruling  of  all  things.  And  the  words  themselves  have  that 
affinity  in  signification  which  is  frequently  seen  among  the  Hebrew 
roots,  differing  only  in  the  transposition,  of  one  letter.  And  the 
description  of  Him  who  sat  above  the  chariot  of  providence,  Ezek. 
i.,  is  the  same  with  that  of  John,  Rev.  iv.  Now,  God  in  that 
vision  is  placed  ^^T^  as  governing,  ruling,  influencing  all  second 
causes,  as  to  the  orderly  production  of  their  effects,  by  the  commu- 
nication of  life,  motion,  and  guidance  unto' them.  And  though  this 
divine  administration  of  all  things  be  dreadful  to  consider,  the  rings 
of  the  wheels  being  high  and  dreadful,  chap.  i.  18,  and  the  living 
creatures  "ran  as  the  appearance  of  a  flash  of  lightning,"  verse  1-i; 
as  also  full  of  entanglements,  there  being  to  appearance  cross  wheels, 
or  wheels  within  wheels,  verse  16,  which  are  all  said  to  be  rolling, 
chap.  X.  lo  ;  yec  it  is  carried  on  in  au  unspeakable  order,  without  the 
least  confusion,  chap.  i.  1 7,  and  with  a  marvellous  facility, — by  a  mere 
intimation  of  the  mind  and  will  of  Him  who  guides  the  whole;  and 
that  because  there  was  a  living,  powerful  spirit  passing  through  all, 
both  living  creatures  and  wheels,  tliat  moved  them  speedily,  regu- 
larly, and  effectually,  as  he  pleased ;  that  is,  the  energetical  power 
of  divine  Providence,  animating,  guiding,  and  disposing  the  whole 
as  seemed  good  unto  him. 

Now,  all  this  is  excellently  expressed  by  the  apostle  in  these  words. 
For  as  that  power  which  is  in  Him  that  sits  over  the  chariot,  influ- 
encing and  giving  existence,  life,  motion,  and  guiilance  unto  all 
things,  is  clearly  expressed  by  ipspuv  ra  'Trdvra,  "  upholding  and 
disposing  of  all  things," — that  is,  ^^~^V  ^?1;  so  is  the  exercise  and 
issuing  of  it  forth  by  the  spirit  of  life  in  all  things,  to  guide  them 
certainly  and  regularly,  by  these  words,  rw  p-^/xan  rJjg  dvm,a!Mg,  "  by 
the  word  of  his  power:"  both  denoting  the  unspeakable  facility  of 
omnipotent  power  in  its  operations.  And  Kimchi  on  the  6th  of 
Isaiah  affirms  that  the  vision  which  the  prophet  had  was  of  "  the 
glory  of  God,  that  glory  which  Ezekiel  saw  in  the  likeness  of  a  man;" 
which  we  find  applied  unto  the  Lord  Christ,  John  xii.  41. 

I  shall  only  add,  that  in  Ezekiel's  vision  the  voice  of  the  quad- 
riga, of  the  living  creatures,  in  its  motion,  was  as  the  voice  ''Y-^, 
"omnipotentis,"  "prsepotentis,"  "sibisufficientis,"  of  "the  Almighty," 
"the  powerful,"  "the  all-"  or  "self-sufficient;"  which  is  also  fully 
expressed  in  this  of  the  apostle,  "  bearmg,  upholding,  disposing  of 
all  things." 


104  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

Our  next  inquiry  is  after  the  manner  whereby  the  Son  thus  up- 
holdeth  and  disposeth  of  all  things.  He  doth  it  "  by  the  word  of 
his  power/' — rw  prj/xaTi  rrig  duvd/xiug.  'P^/^a  in  the  New  Testament 
is  used  in  the  same  latitude  and  extent  with  "1?"^  in  the  Old.  Some- 
times it  denotes  any  matter  or  thing,  be  it  good  or  evil,  as  Matt.  v. 
11,  xii.  36,  xviii.  16;  Mark  ix.  32;  Luke  i.  37,  ii.  15,  xviii,  34; — a 
word  of  blessing  by  Providence,  Matt.  iv.  4 ; — any  word  spoken,  Matt. 
xxvi.  75,  xxvii.  14;  Luke  ix.  45; — of  promise,  Luke  i.  38; — and 
pyiiMara  l3xd(!<pr}/ji,a,  "  blasphemous  words,"  Acts  vi.  11; — the  word  of 
God,  the  word  of  prophecy,  Luke  iii.  2;  Eom.  x.  17;  Epb.  v.  26, 
vi.  17;  1  Pet.  i.  25; — an  authoritative  command,  Luke  v.  5.  In 
this  epistle  it  is  used  variously.  In  this  only  it  differs  from  Xd^oj, 
that  it  never  denotes  the  eternal  or  essential  Word  of  God.  Th;it 
which  in  this  place  is  denoted  by  it,  with  its  adjunct  of  rrji  dvvd,u,sug,  is 
the  Xoyog  zvhtdkrog,  or  the  divine  power,  executing  the  counsels  of  the 
will  and  wisdom  of  God,  or  the  efficacy  of  God's  providence,  whereby 
he  worketh  and  effecteth  all  things  according  to  the  counsel  of  his 
will.  See  Gen.  i.  3;  Ps.  cxlvii.  15,  18,  cxlviii,  8;  Isa.  xxx.  31.  And 
this  is  indifferently  expressed  by  /5'^/ia  and  \6yog.  Hence  the  same 
thing  which  Paul  expresseth  by  the  one  of  them,  Heb.  xi.  3,  Ule-u 
voov/jysv  7iarr,priadai  rovg  aJS)vu,g  prifiart  Qiou,  "  By  faith  we  know  that  the 
worlds  were  made  by  the  word  of  God,"  Peter  doth  by  the  other, 
2  Pet.  iii.  5,  "Zuneruaa  rSi  rou  ©sou  Xoyui. 

Now,  this  efficacy  of  divine  Providence  is  called  the  word  of  God, 
to  intimate  that  as  rulers  accomplish  their  will  by  a  word  of  com- 
mand, in  and  about  things  subject  to  their  pleasure,  Matt.  viii.  9,  so 
doth  God  accomplish  his  whole  mind  and  will  in  all  things  by  his 
power.  And  therefore  rrig  duvd/Mscjg,  "  of  his  power,"  is  here  added 
by  way  of  difference  and  distinction,  to  show  what  word  it  is  that 
the  apostle  intends.  It  is  not  Aoyog  oveiuibrig,  "  the  essential  Word" 
of  God,  who  is  the  person  spoken  of;  nor  Xoyog  vpoipopixog,  the  word 
spoken  by  him  in  the  revelation  of  himself,  his  mind  and  will;  but 
a  word  that  is  effectual  and  ope7-ative, — namely,  the  putting  forth 
of  his  divine  power,  with  easiness  and  authority  accomplishing  his 
will  and  purpose  in  and  by  all  things. 

This  in  the  vision  of  Ezekiel  is  the  communication  of  a  spirit  of 
life  to  the  cherubs  and  wheels,  to  act  and  move  them  as  seems  good 
to  Him  by  whom  they  are  guided ;  for  as  it  is  very  probable  that  tlie 
apostle  in  these  words,  setting  forth  the  divine  power  of  the  Son  in 
ruling  and  governing  the  whole  creation,  did  intend  to  mind  the 
Hebrews  that  the  Lord  Christ,  the  Son,  is  he  who  was  represented  in 
the  form  of  a  man  unto  Ezekiel,  ruling  and  disposing  of  all  things, 
and  the  ""Ti^,  "  the  Almighty,"  whose  voice  was  heard  amongst  the 
wheels,  so  it  is  most  certain  that  the  same  thing  is  intended  in  both 
places.     And  this  expression  of  "upholding"  (or  "disposing  of") 


VEK,  3.]  EPIS'J'LE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  1 05 

**all  things  by  the  word  of  his  power/'  doth  fully  declare  the  gloii- 
ous  providence  emblematically  expressed  in  that  vision.  The  Son 
being  over  all  things  made  by  himself,  as  on  a  throne  over  the  che- 
rubim and  wheels,  influenceth  the  whole  creation  with  his  power, 
communicating  unto  it  respectively  subsistence,  life,  and  motion, 
acting,  ruling,  and  disposing  of  all  according  to  the  counsel  of  his 
own  will. 

This,  then,  is  that  which  the  apostle  assigns  unto  the  Son,  thereby 
to  set  out  the  dignity  of  his  person,  that  the  Hebrews  miglit  well 
consider  all  things  before  they  deserted  his  doctrine.  He  is  one  that 
is  partaker  essentially  of  the  nature  of  God,  "being  the  brightness  of 
glory  and  the  express  image  of  his  Father's  person,"  who  exerciseth 
and  manifesteth  his  divine  power  both  in  the  creation  of  all  things, 
as  also  in  the  supportment,  rule,  and  disposal  of  all,  after  they  are 
made  by  him.  And  hence  will  follow,  as  his  power  and  authority 
to  change  the  Mosaical  institutions,  so  his  truth  and  faithfulness  in 
the  revelation  of  the  will  of  God  by  him  made;  which  it  was  their 
duty  to  embrace  and  adhere  unto. 

The  several  passages  of  this  verse  are  all  of  them  conjoined  by 
the  apostle,  and  used  unto  the  same  general  end  and  purpose ;  but 
themselves  are  of  such  distinct  senses  and  importance,  considered 
absolutely  and  apart,  that  we  shall  in  our  passage  take  out  the  ob- 
servations which  they  singly  afford  unto  us. 

And  from  these  last  words  we  may  learn: — 

I.  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  Son  of  God,  hath  the  weight  of 
the  whole  creation  upon  his  hand,  and  disposeth  of  it  by  his  power 
and  wisdom. 

II.  Such  is  the  nature  and  condition  of  the  universe,  that  it  could 
not  subsist  a  moment,  nor  could  any  thing  in  it  act  regularly  unto 
its  appointed  end,  without  the  continual  supportment,  guidance,  in- 
fluence, and  disposal  of  the  Son  of  God. 

We  may  briefly  consider  the  sum  of  both  these  jointly,  to  mani- 
fest the  power  and  care  of  Christ  over  us,  as  also  the  weak,  depend- 
ent condition  of  the  whole  creation  in  and  by  itself.  The  things  of 
this  creation  can  no  more  support,  act,  and  dispose  thetnselves,  than 
they  could  at  flrst  make  themselves  out  of  nothing.  The  greatest 
cannot  conserve  itself  by  its  power,  or  greatness,  or  order;  nor  the 
least  by  its  distance  from  opposition.  Were  there  not  a  mighty 
hand  under  them  all  and  every  one,  they  would  all  sink  into  con- 
fusion and  nothing;  did  not  an  effectual  power  influence  them,  they 
would  become  a  slothful  heap.  It  is  true,  God  hath  in  the  creation 
of  all  things  implanted  in  every  particle  of  the  creation  a  special 
natural  inclination  and  disposition,  according  unto  which  it  is  ready 
to  act,  move,  or  work  regularly;  but  he  hath  not  placed  this  nature 
and  power  absolutely  in  them,  and  independently  of  his  own  power 


lOG  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP,  I. 

and  operation.  The  sun  is  endued  with  a  nature  to  produce  all  the 
o-lorious  effects  of  light  and  heat  that  we  behold  or  conceive,  the  fire 
to  burn,  the  wind  to  blow,  and  all  creatures  also  in  the  like  manner; 
but  yet  neither  could  sun,  or  fire,  or  wind  preserve  themselves  in 
their  being,  nor  retain  the  principles  of  their  operations,  did  not  the 
Son  of  God,  by  a  constant,  continual  emanation  of  his  eternal  power, 
uphold  and  preserve  them;  nor  could  they  produce  any  one  effect  by 
all  their  actings,  did  not  he  work  in  them  and  by  them.  And  so  is 
it  with  the  sons  of  men,  with  all  agents  whatever,  whether  natural 
and  necessary,  or  free  and  proceeding  in  their  operations  by  elec- 
tion and  choice.  *Hence  Paul  tells  us  that  "  in  God  we  Hve,  and 
move,  and  have  our  being,"  Acts  xvii.  28.  He  had  before  asserted 
that  he  had  "  m.ade  of  one  blood  all  nations,"  verse  26;  that  is,  all 
men  of  one,  whom  he  first  created.  To  which  he  adds,  that  we  may 
know  that  he  hath  not  so  left  us  to  stand  by  ourselves  on  that  first 
foundation  as  that  we  have  any  power  or  ability,  being  made,  to  do 
or  act  any  thing  without  him,  that  in  him, — that  is,  in  his  power, 
care,  providence,  and  by  virtue  of  his  effectual  influence, — our  lives 
are  supported  and  continued,  that  we  are  acted,  moved,  and  enabled 
thereby  to  do  all  we  do,  be  it  never  so  small,  wherein  there  is  any 
effect  of  life  or  motion.  So  Daniel  tells  Belshazzar  that  his  "breath" 
and  "all  his  ways"  were  in  the  hand  of  God,  Dan.  v.  23; — his  breath, 
in  the  supportment  and  continuance  of  his  being;  and  his  ways,  in 
his  effectual  guidance  and  disposal  of  them.  Peter  speaks  to  the 
same  purpose  in  general  concerning  the  fabric  of  the  heavens,  earth, 
and  sea,  2  Pet.  iii.  5. 

Now,  what  is  thus  spoken  of  God  in  general  is  by  Paul  particu- 
larly applied  unto  the  Son:  Col.  i.  16,  17,  "  All  things  were  created 
by  him,  and  for  him:  and  he  is  before  all  things,  and  by  him  all 
things  consist."  He  did  not  only  make  all  things,  as  we  have  de- 
clared, and  that  for  himself  and  his  own  glor}^,  but  also  he  continues 
at  the  head  of  them ;  so  that  by  him  and  by  his  power  they  consist, — are 
preserved  in  their  present  state  and  condition,  kept  from  dissolution, 
in  their  singular  existence,  and  in  a  consistency  among  themselves. 

And  the  reason  hereof  is  taken,  first,  from  the  limited,  finite,  de- 
pendent condition  of  the  creation,  and  the  absolute  necessity  that  it 
should  be  so.  It"  is  utterly  impossible,  and  repugnant  to  the  very 
nature  and  being  of  God,  that  he  should  make,  create,  or  produce 
any  thing  without  hnnself,  that  should  have  either  a  self-subsistence 
or  a  self-sufficiency,  or  be  independent  on  himself  All  these  are 
natural  and  essential  properties  of  the  divine  nature.  Where  they 
are,  there  is  God ;  so  that  no  creature  can  be  made  partaker  of  them. 
When  we  name  a  creature,  we  name  that  which  hath  a  derived  and 
dependent  being.  And  that  which  cannot  subsist  in  and  by  itself 
cannot  act  so  neither. 


VER.  3.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  107 

Secondly,  The  energetical  efficacy  of  God's  providence,  joined  witli 
his  infinite  wisdom  in  caring  for  the  works  of  his  own  hands,  the 
products  of  his  power,  requires  that  it  should  be  so.  He  luorkcth 
yet.  He  did  not  create  the  world  to  leave  it  to  an  uncertain 
event, — to  stand  by  and  to  see  what  would  become  of  it,  to  see 
whether  it  would  return  to  its  primitive  nothing  (of  which  cask  it 
always  smells  strongly),  or  how  it  would  be  tossed  up  and  down  by 
the  adverse  and  contrary  qualities  which  were  implanted  in  the 
severals  of  it;  but  the  same  power  and  wisdom  that  produced  it 
doth  still  accompany  it,  powerfully  piercing  through  every  parcel 
and  particle  of  it.  To  fancy  a  providence  in  God,  without  a  con- 
tinual energetical  operation;  or  a  wisdom  without  a  constant  care, 
inspection,  and  oversight  of  the  works  of  his  hands;  is  not  to  have 
apprehensions  of  the  living  God,  but  to  erect  an  idol  in  our  own 
imaginations. 

Thirdly,  This  work  is  peculiarly  assigned  unto  the  Son,  not  only 
as  lie  is  the  eternal  power  and  wisdom  of  God,  but  also  becauae  by 
his  interposition,  as  undertaking  the  work  of  mediation,  he  re- 
prieved the  world  from  an  immediate  dissolution  upon  the  first 
entrance  of  sin  and  disorder,  that  it  might  continue,  as  it  were,  the 
great  stage  for  the  mighty  works  of  God's  grace,  Avisdom,  and  love, 
to  be  wrought  on.  Hence  the  care  of  the  continuance  of  the  crea- 
tion and  the  disposal  of  it  is  delegated  unto  him,  as  he  that  hath 
undertaken  to  bring  forth  and  consummate  the  glory  of  God  in  it, 
notwithstanding  the  great  breach  made  upon  it  by  the  sin  of  angels 
and  men.  This  is  the  substance  of  the  apostle's  discourse.  Col.  i. 
15-20.  Having  asserted  him  to  be  the  image  of  God,  in  the  sense 
before  opened  and  declared,  and  to  have  made  all  things,  he  affirms 
that  all  things  have  also  their  present  consistency  in  him  and  by 
his  power,  and  must  have  so,  until  the  work  of  reconciliation  of  all 
things  unto  God  being  accomplished,  the  glory  of  God  may  be  fully 
retrieved  and  established  for  ever. 

1.  We  may  see  from  hence  the  vanity  of  expecting  any  thing 
from  the  creatures,  but  only  what  the  Lord  Christ  is  pleased  to 
communicate  unto  us  by  them.  They  that  cannot  sustain,  move, 
or  act  themselves,  by  any  power,  virtue,  or  strength  of  their 
own,  are  very  unlikely  by  and  of  themselves  to  afford  any  real 
assistance,  relief,  or  help  unto  others.  They  all  abide  and  exist 
severally,  and  consist  together,  in  their  order  and  operation,  by  the 
word  of  the  power  of  Christ;  and  what  he  will  communicate  by 
them,  that  they  will  yield  and  afford,  and  nothing  else.  In  them- 
selves they  are  broken  cisterns  that  will  hold  no  water;  what 
he  drops  into  them  may  be  derived  unto  us,  and  no  more.  Tiiey 
who  rest  upon  them  or  rest  in  them,  without  the  consideration 
of  their   constant  dependence  on  Christ,   will    find  at  length  all 


J.08  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

their  hopes  disappointed,  and  all   their   enjoyments   vanish   into 
nothing. 

2.  Learn  hence  also  the  full,  absolute,  plenary  self-sufficiency  and 
sovereignty  of  the  Son,  our  Saviour.  We  showed  before  the  univer- 
sality of  his  kingdom  and  moral  rule  over  the  whole  creation;  but 
this  is  not  all.  A  king  hath  a  moral  rule  over  his  subjects  in  his 
kingdom:  but  he  doth  not  really  and  physically  give  them  their 
being  and  existence;  he  doth  not  uphold  and  act  them  at  his 
pleasure;  but  every  one  of  them  stands  therein  upon  the  same  or  an 
equal  bottom  with  himself.  He  can,  indeed,  by  the  permission  of 
God,  take  away  the  lives  of  any  of  them,  and  so  put  an  end  to  all 
their  actings  and  operations  in  this  world;  but  he  cannot  give  them 
life  or  continue  their  lives  at  his  pleasure  one  moment,  or  make  them 
so  much  as  to  move  a  finger.  But  with  the  Lord  Christ  it  is  other- 
wise. He  not  only  rules  over  all  the  whole  creation,  disposing  of  it 
according  to  the  rule  and  law  of  his  own  counsel  and  pleasure,  but 
also  they  all  have  their  beings,  natures,  inclinations,  and  lives  from 
him;  by  his  power  are  they  continued  unto  them,  and  all  their 
actions  are  influenced  thereby.  And  this,  as  it  argues  an  all-suffici- 
ency in  himself,  so  an  absolute  sovereignty  over  all  other  things. 
And  this  should  teach  us  our  constant  dependence  on  him  and  our 
universal  subjection  unto  him. 

3.  And  this  abundantly  discovers  the  vanity  and  folly  of  them 
who  make  use  of  the  creation  in  an  opposition  unto  the  Lord  Christ 
and  his  peculiar  interest  in  this  world.  His  own  power  is  the  very 
ground  that  they  stand  upon  in  their  opposition  unto  him,  and  all 
things  which  they  use  against  him  consist  in  him.  They  hold  their 
lives  absolutely  at  the  pleasure  of  him  whom  they  oppose ;  and  they 
act  against  him  without  whose  continual  supportment  and  influence 
they  could  neither  live  nor  act  one  moment:  which  is  the  greatest 
madness  and  most  contemptible  folly  imaginable. 

Proceed  we  now  with  our  apostle  in  his  description  of  the  person 
and  offices  of  the  Messiah. 

This  beginning  of  the  epistle,  as  hath  been  declared,  contains  a 
summary  proposition  of  those  things  which  theapostie  intends  seve- 
rally to  insist  upon  throughout  the  whole ;  and  these  all  relate  to 
the  person  and  offices  of  the  Messiah,  the  principal  subject  of  this 
epistle.  Having,  therefore,  first  declared  him  to  be  the  great  pro- 
phet of  the  new  testament;  and,  secondly,  the  lord,  ruler,  and 
governor  of  all  things,  as  also  manifested  the  equity  of  the  grant  of 
that  universal  sovereignty  unto  him,  from  the  excellency  of  his 
person  on  the  account  of  his  divine  nature,  and  the  operations  thereof 
in  the  works  of  creation  and  providence ;  he  proceeds  to  finish  and 
close  his  general  proposition  of  the  argument  of  the  epistle  by  a 


VER  3.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  109 

brief  intimation  of  his  priestly  office,  with  what  he  did  therein,  and 
what  ensued  thereon,  in  the  remaining  words  of  this  verse. 

And  this  order  and  method  of  the  apostle  is  required  by  the 
nature  of  the  things  themselves  whereof  he  treats;  for  the  work  of 
purging  sins,  which  as  a  priest  he  assigns  unto  him,  cannot  well  be 
declared  without  a  previous  manifestation  of  his  divine  nature.  For 
it  is  "opus  Qiavdpizfjv," — a  work  of  him  who  is  God  and  man;  for  as 
God  takes  it  to  be  his  property  to  blot  out  our  sins,  so  he  could  not 
have  done  it  "  by  himself"  had  he  not  been  man  also.  And  this  is 
asserted  in  the  next  words: — 

A/'  iaurou  xadapuSjj^hv  vor/jsd/j^svog  tuv  a/xapriuv  ri/j^uiv — "Having  by 
himself  purged  our  sins." 

The  Vulgar  Latin  renders  these  words,  "Purgationem  peccatorura 
faciens,"  not  without  sundry  mistakes.  For,  first,  these  words,  di' 
savroj,  "by  himself,"  and  tj/muv,  "our,"  are  omitted;  and  yet  the 
emphasis  and  proper  sense  of  the  whole  depend  upon  them. 
Secondly,  •xoirjsdf/.svog,  "having  made,"  is  rendered  in  the  present 
tense,  "making;"  which  seems  to  direct  the  sense  of  the  words  to 
another  thing  and  action  of  Christ  than  what  is  here  intended. 
And  theretore  the  expositors  of  the  Roman  church,  as  Thomas, 
Lyranus,  Cajetan,  Estius,  Ribera,  a  Lapide,  all  desert  their  own 
text,  and  expound  the  words  according  to  the  original.  The 
ancients,  also  as  Chrysostom,  Theophylact,  and  CEcumenius,  lay  the 
chief  weight  of  their  whole  exposition  of  this  place  on  the  words 
omitted  in  that  translation. 

The  doctrine  of  purging  our  sins  by  Christ  is  deep  and  large, 
extending  itself  unto  many  weighty  heads  of  the  gospel ;  but  we 
shall  iollow  our  apostle,  and  in  this  place  pass  it  over  briefly  and  in 
general,  because  the  consideration  of  it  will  directly  occur  unto  us 
in  our  progress. 

Two  things  the  apostle  here  expresseth  concerning  the  Messiah ; 
and  one,  which  is  the  foundation  of  both  the  other,  he  implieth  or 
supposeth : — First,  He  expresseth  what  he  did, — he  "  purged  our 
sins;"  Secondly,  Hoiv  he  did  it, — he  did  it  "by  himself"  That  which 
he  supposeth,  as  the  foundation  of  both  these,  is,  that  he  was  the  great 
high  priest  of  the  church ;  they  with  whom  he  dealt  knowing  full 
well  that  this  matter  of  purging  sins  belonged  only  unto  the  priest. 

Here,  then,  the  apostle  tacitly  enters  upon  a  comparison  of  Christ 
with  Aaron,  the  high  priest,  as  he  had  done  before  with  all  the  pro- 
phetical revealers  of  the  will  of  God ;  and  as  he  named  none  of  them 
in  particular,  no  more  doth  he  here  name  Aaron:  but  afterwards, 
when  he  comes  more  largely  to  insist  on  the  same  matter  again,  he 
expressly  makes  mention  of  his  name,  as  also  of  that  of  Moses. 

And  in  both  the  things  here  ascribed  unto  him  as  the  great  high 
priest  of  his  church  doth  he  prefer  him  above  Aaron : — First,  In  that 


110  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

he  "purged  our  sins/' — that  is,  really  and  effectually  before  God  and 
in  the  conscience  of  the  sinner,  and  that  "  for  ever ;"  whereas  the 
purgation  of  sins  about  which  Aaron  was  employed  was  in  itself  but 
typical,  external,  and  representative  of  that  which  was  true  and  real : 
both  of  which  the  apostle  proves  at  large  afterwards.  Secondly,  In 
that  he  did  it  "  by  himself,"  or  the  offering  of  himself;  whereas  what- 
ever Aaron  did  of  this  kind,  he  did  it  by  the  offering  of  the  blood 
of  bulls  and  goats,  as  shall  be  declared. 

And  hence  appears  also  the  vanity  of  the  gloss  of  a  learned  man 
on  these  words.  "Postquam,"  saith  he,  "morte  sua  causam  dedisset 
ejus  fidei  per  quam  a  peccatis  purgamur,  quod  nee  Moses  fecerat 
nee  prophetjB,"  For  as  we  shall  see  that  Ctirist's  purging  of  our 
sins  doth  not  consist  in  giving  a  ground  and  cause  for  faith,  whereby 
we  purge  ourselves,  so  the  apostle  is  not  comparing  the  Lord  Christ 
in  these  words  with  Moses  and  the  prophets,  who  had  nothing  to 
do  in  the  work  of  purging  sin,  but  with  Aaron,  who  by  office  was 
designed  thereunto. 

Let  us  then  see  what  it  is  that  is  here  ascribed  unto  the  Lord 
Christ:  Ka&apiaijjhv  iroiriGaiMfvoi.  Kadapi^u  doth  most 
"  "'"  "'  frequently  denote  7^eal  actual  purification,  either  of 
outward  defilements,  by  healing  and  cleansing,  as  Mark  i.  40,  vii.  19, 
Luke  V.  12;  or  from  spiritual  defilements  of  sin,  by  sanctifying  grace, 
as  Acts  XV.  9,  2  Cor.  vii.  1,  Eph.  v.  26.  But  it  is  also  frequently  used 
in  the  same  sense  with  xaSa/pu  and  xadulpofj^ai,  "to  purge  by  expia- 
tion or  atonement,"  as  Heb.  ix.  22,  23.  And  in  the  like  variety  is 
xu6apiaf/.6g  also  used.  But  •/.a.&apisiJ.hv  votrjcai,  "to  make  a  purgation," 
or  purification  of  our  sins,  cannot  here  be  taken  in  the  first  sense,  for 
real  and  inherent  sanctifying: — First,  Because  it  is  spoken  of  as  a 
thing  already  past  and  perfected,  "  Having  purged  our  sins,"  when 
purification  by  sanctification  is  begun  only  in  some,  not  all  at  any 
time,  and  perfected  in  none  at  all  in  this  world.  Secondly,  Because 
he  did  it  bi  havrov,  "by  himself"  alone,  without  the  use  or  application 
of  any  other  medium  unto  them  that  are  purged ;  when  real  inherent 
sanctification  is  with  "washing  of  water  by  the  word,"  Eph.  v.  26 ;  or 
by  "regeneration  and  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  Tit.  iii.  5.  And 
the  gloss  above  mentioned,  that  Christ  should  purge  us  from  our 
sins  in  his  death,  by  occasioning  that  faith  whereby  we  are  cleansed, 
is  excluded,  as  was  in  part  showed  before,  by  the  context.  That  is 
assigned  unto  the  death  of  Christ,  as  done  really  and  effectually 
thereby,  which  was  done  typically  of  old  in  the  legal  sacrifices  by 
the  priests;  as  is  evident  from  the  antitljesis  couched  in  that  expres- 
sion, "By  himself."  But  this  was  not  the  way  whereby  sins  were  of 
old  purged  by  sacrifices, — namely,  by  the  begetting  a  persuasion  in 
the  minds  of  men  that  should  be  useful  for  that  purpose, — and 
therefore  no  such  thing  is  here  intended. 


VER.  3. J  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  Ill 

KcDapifffihg,  then,  is  such  a  purging  as  is  made  by  expiation,  lus- 
tration, and  atonement;  that  is,  "i3'3  or  ^"1.23^  /Xaff/xog, 
"  propitiatio," — "atonement,"  "propitiation."  80  is  ''"'*/'"'"'"• 
that  word  rendered  by  the  LXX.,  Exod  xxix.  36:  Tfj  riiMipa  roZ  y.a- 
6af>i6ixou,  Q''")23Li"''y, — "the  day  of  atonement,"  or  "expiation."  They 
do,  indeed,  mostly  render  "i?>|  by  }Xdcy.o/j:,rxi,  and  i^iy.ds-MiM/,i, — "to 
propitiate,"  "to  appease,"  "to  atone;"  but  they  do  it  also  l)y  xa&api'Qoi, 
"  to  purge,"  as  Exod.  xxix.  37,  and  chap.  xxx.  10.  So  also  in  other 
authors,  xa^a/^/ff/Aog  is  used  lor  7tdQap,aa^  rrsptxddap/ia;  that  is,  "  expia- 
tio,"  "  ex[)iamentum,"  "  piaculum," — "expiation,"  "atonement," 
"diversion  of  guilt."  So  Lucian:  'Pi-^ofx,iv  /ih  avrhv  rou  xprifivov  xa- 
6apie/j,ov  roZ  drparou  isofiivoy — "We  cast  him  down  headlong,  for 
an  expiation  of  the  army;"  or,  as  one  that  by  his  death  should 
expiate,  bear,  take  away  the  guilt  of  the  army.  And  such  lustra- 
tions were  common  among  the  heathen,  when  persons  devoted 
themselves  to  destruction,  or  were  devoted  by  others,  to  purge,  lus- 
trate,  bear  the  guilt  of  any,  that  they  might  go  free.  Such  were 
Codrus,  Menceceus,  and  the  Decii;  whose  stories  are  known.  This 
purging,  then,  of  our  sins,  which  the  apostle  declareth  to  have 
been  effected  before  the  ascension  of  Christ  and  his  sitting  down 
at  the  right  hand  of  God,  consisteth  not  in  the  actual  sancti- 
fication  and  purification  of  believers  by  the  Spirit,  in  the  applica- 
tion of  the  blood  of  Christ  unto  them,  but  in  the  atonement  made 
by  him  in  the  sacrifice  of  himself,  that  our  sins  should  not  be  im- 
puted unto  us.  And  therefore  is  he  said  to  purge  our  sins,  and  not 
to  purge  us  from  our  sins.  And  wherever  sins,  not  sinners,  are 
made  the  object  of  any  mediatory  act  of  Christ,  that  act  immedi- 
ately respecteth  God,  and  not  the  sinner,  and  intends  the  removal 
of  sin,  so  as  that  it  should  not  be  imputed.  So  chap.  ii.  17  of 
this  epistle  :  "  He  is  a  merciful  high  priest,"  sig  rh  'iXdaniaOai  rdg 
aiiapriag  rou  XaoZ, — "to  reconcile  the  sins  of  the  people;"  that  is, 
iXdey.iG&ui  rhv  Qf.hv  inpi  rm  diMapriojv, — "  to  make  atonement"  (or  "re- 
conciliation with  God")  "for  the  sins  of  the  people."  And  again:  "He 
underwent  death,"  ug  d'jroXijTpuaiv  ruv  stI  tt;  'Trpur'/}  diaSrjxp  <:rapaZdeicnv, 
— "  for  the  redemption  of  transgressions  under  the  first  covenant;" 
that  is,  to  pay  a  price  for  them,  that  transgressors  might  be  set  free 
from  the  sentence  of  the  law.  So  that  Ka6apiff,whv  rrcirjijd./u.ivog  tjjv 
d/Mapriuiv  v/J^ciJv,  is  as  much  as,  "Having  made  atonement  for  our  sins." 

And  this  the  apostle  further  declareth  by  manifesting  the  way 
whereb}'  he  did  it;  that  is,  dt'  savroj,  "by  himself," 
— that  IS,  by  the  sacrifice  and  orienng  01  himself,  as- 
chap.  ix.  12,  14;  Eph.  v.  2.  The  high  priest  of  old  made  atonement, 
and  typically  purged  the  sins  of  the  people,  by  sacrificing  of  beasts 
according  unto  the  appointment  of  the  law.  Lev.  xvi. ;  this  high 
priest,  by  the  sacrifice  of  himself,  Isa.  liii.  10;  Heb.  ix.  12.     Of  the 

VOL.   XII.— 8 


312  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CITAP.  L 

nature  of  propitiatory  or  expiatory  sacrifices  we  must  treat  at  large 
afterwards.  We  keep  ourselves  now  unto  the  apostle's  general  pro- 
position, expressing  briefly  the  sacerdotal  office  of  Christ,  and  the 
excellency  of  it,  in  that  he  really  purged  our  sins,  and  that  by  the 
sacrifice  of  himself  And  this  was  in  and  by  his  death  on  the  cross, 
with  his  antecedent  preparatory  sufferings.  Some  distinguish  be- 
tween his  death  and  the  oblation  of  himself.  This,  they  say,  he 
performed  in  heaven,  when,  as  the  high  priest  of  his  church,  he 
entered  into  the  holiest  not  made  with  hands,  whereunto  his  death 
was  but  a  preparation.  For  the  slaying  of  the  beast,  they  say,  was 
not  the  sacrifice,  but  the  offering  of  its  blood  upon  the  altar,  and 
the  carr3Mng  of  it  into  the  holy  place.  But  this  utterly  overthrows 
the  whole  sacrifice  of  Christ;  which,  indeed,  is  the  thing  by  them 
aimed  at.  It  is  true,  the  slaying  of  the  beast  was  not  the  whole 
sacrifice,  but  only  an  essential  part  of  it ;  as  was  also  the  offering  of 
its  blood,  and  the  sprinkling  of  it  in  the  most  holy  place,  in  the 
anniversary  sacrifice  of  atonement,  but  not  in  any  other.  And  the 
reason  why  the  whole  sacrifice  could  not  consist  in  any  one  action, 
arose  merely  from  the  imperfection  of  the  things  and  persons  em- 
ployed in  that  work.  The  priest  was  one  thing,  the  beast  to  be 
sacrificed  another,  the  altar  another,  the  fire  on  the  altar  another, 
the  incense  added  another,  each  of  them  limited  and  designed  unto 
its  peculiar  end;  so  that  the  atonement  could  not  be  made  by  any 
one  of  them,  nor  the  sacrifice  consist  in  tliem.  But  now  in  this 
sacrilice  of  Christ  all  these  meet  in  .onCj.. because  of  his  perfection. 
He  himself  was  both  priest,  sacrifice,  altar,  and  incense,  as  we  shall 
see  in  our  progress;  and  he  perfected  his  whole  sacrifice  at  once,  in 
and  by  his  death  and  blood-shedding,  as  the  apostle  evidently  de- 
clares, chap.  ix.  12,  14. 

Thus  by  himself  did  Christ  purge  our  sins,  making  an  atonement 
for  them  by  the  sacrifice  of  himself  in  his  death,  that  they  should 
never  be  imputed  unto  them  that  believe. 

And  this  part  of  this  verse  will  afford  us  also  this  distinct  obser- 
vation.— So  great  was  the  work  of  freeing  us  from  sin,  that  it 
could  no  otherwise  be  effected  but  by  the  self-sacrifice  of  the  Son 
of  God. 

Our  apostle  makes  it  his  design,  in  several  places,  to  evince  that 
none  of  those  things  from  whence  mankind  usually  did,  or  might, 
with  any  hopes  or  probabilities,  expect  relief  in  this  case,  would 
yield  them  any  at  all. 

The  best  that  the  Gentiles  could  attain,  all  that  they  had  to  trust 
unto,  was  but  the  improvement  of  natural  light  and  reason,  with  an 
attendance  unto  those  seeds  and  principles  of  good  and  evil  which 
are  yet  left  in  the  depraved  nature  of  man.  Under  the  conduct 
and  in  obedience  unto  these  they  sought  for  rest,  glory,  and  immor- 


VER.  3.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  llj} 

tality.  How  miserably  they  were  disappointed  in  their  aims  and 
expectations,  and  what  a  woful  issue  all  their  endeavours  had,  the 
apostle  declares  and  proves  at  large,  Rom.  i.  18,  unto  the  end. 

The  Jews,  who  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  divine  revelations,  having 
lost,  for  the  most  part,  the  true  spiritual  import  of  them,  sought  for 
the  samft  ends  by  the  law,  and  their  own  diligent  observation  of  it. 
They  "  rested  in  the  lav/,"  Rom.  ii.  I  7,  namely,  that  by  it  they  should 
obtain  deliverance  from  sin  and  acceptance  with  God ;  and  "  followed 
after  it,"  chap.  ix.  31 ;  that  is,  to  attain  righteousness  and  salvation 
by  it.  And  this  seemed  to  be  a  sufficient  bottom  and  foundation 
for  them  to  build  upon;  for  having  lost  the  spiritual  understanding, 
the  use  and  end  of  the  law,  as  renewed  unto  them  in  the  cove- 
nant of  Horeb,  they  went  back  unto  the  primitive  use  and  end  of 
it  upon  its  first  giving  in  innocency,  and  foolishly  thought,  as  many 
more  yet  do,  that  it  would  do  the  same  things  for  sinners  that  it 
would  have  done  for  men  if  they  had  not  sinned  in  Adam ;  that  is, 
have  given  them  acceptance  with  God  here  and  eternal  lite  here- 
after. Wherefore  the  apostle  in  many  places  takes  great  pains  to 
undeceive  them,  to  rectify  their  mistake,  and  to  prove  that  God  had 
no  such  design  in  giving  them  the  law  as  that  which  they  would  im- 
pose upon  him. 

And,  first,  he  asserts  and  proves  in  general,  that  the  law  would 
deceive  their  expectations,  that  "  by  the  deeds  of  the  law  no 
flesh  should  be  justified,"  Rom.  iii.  20;  and  that  it  would  not  give 
them  life.  Gal.  iii.  21,  or  righteousness.  And  that  they  might  not 
complain  that  then  God  himself  had  deceived  them,  in  giving  a  law 
that  would  not  serve  the  turn  for  which  it  was  given,  he  declares, 
secondly,  that  they  had  mistaken  the  end  for  which  the  law  was 
renewed  unto  them;  which  was,  not  that  it  might  give  them  life, 
or  righteousness,  but  that  it  might  discover  sin,  exact  obedience,  and 
by  both  drive  and  compel  them  to  look  out  after  some  other  t!iiiig 
that  mioht  both  save  them  from  their  sin  and  afford  them  a  right- 
eousness  unto  salvatiuu.  And  furthermore,  he,  thirdly,  acquaints 
them  whence  it  was  that  the  law  was  become  insufficient  for  tliese 
ends;  and  that  was,  because  it  was  become  "weak  through  the  flesh," 
Rom.  viii.  3.  The  law  was  able  to  continue  our  acceptance  with 
God  in  that  condition  wherein  at  first  we  were  created;  but  after 
that  man  by  sin  became  flesh, — to  have  a  principle  of  enmity  against 
God  in  him,  bringing  forth  the  fruits  of  sin  continually, — the  law 
stood  aside,  as  weakened  and  insufficient  to  help  and  save  such  a 
one.  And  these  things  the  apostle  expressly  and  carefully  insists 
upon  in  his  Epistles  to  the  Romans  and  Galatians. 

But,  thirdly,  Though  the  law,  and  an  earnest  endeavour  after 
the  observation  of  it  in  general,  would  not  serve  to  save  us  from  our 
sins,  yet  there  were  especial  institutions  of  the  law  that  were  ap- 


114  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

pointed  for  that  end  and  purpose,  as,  namely,  the  sacrifices  in  par- 
ticular, which  were  designed  to  make  atonement  for  the  delivery 
of  sinners,  and  to  procure  their  reconciliation  with  God.  These  the 
Jews  principally  rested  on  and  trusted  unto.  And,  indeed,  to 
expect  righteousness  and  justification  by  the  Mosaical  sacrifices,  as 
they  did,  was  far  more  rational  than  to  expect  them  by  the  works  of 
the  moral  law,  as  some  now  do;  for  all  good  works  whatever  are 
required  in  the  law,  and  so  far  are  works  of  the  law.  For  in  the 
sacrifices  there  was  a  supposition  of  sin,  and  an  appearance  of  a 
compensation  to  be  made,  that  the  sinner  might  go  free;  but  in  the 
moral  law  there  is  nothing  but  absolute,  universal,  and  exact  right- 
eousness required  or  admitted,  without  the  least  provision  of  relief 
for  them  who  come  short  therein.  But  yet  our  apostle  declares 
and  proves  that  neither  were  these  available  for  the  end  aimed  at, 
as  we  shall  see  at  large  on  the  ninth  and  tenth  chapters  of  this 
epistle. 

Now,  within  the  compass  of  these  three, — natural  light  or  reason, 
with  ingrafted  principles  of  good  and  evil,  the  moral  law,  and  the 
sacrifices  thereof, — do  lie  and  consist  all  the  hopes  and  endeavours 
of  sinners  after  deliverance  and  acceptance  with  God.  Nothing  is 
there  that  they  can  do,  or  put  any  confidence  in,  but  may  be  referred 
unto  one  of  these  heads.  And  if  all  these  fail  them,  as  assuredly 
they  Avill  (which  we  might  prove  by  reasons  and  demonstrations  in- 
numerable, though  at  present  we  content  ourselves  with  the  testi- 
monies above  reported),  it  is  certain  that  there  is  nothing  under 
heaven  can  yield  them  in  this  case  the  least  relief 

Again,  This  is  the  only  way  for  that  end  which  is  suited  unto  the 
wisdom  of  God.  The  wisdom  of  God  is  an  infinite  abyss,  which,  as 
it  lies  in  his  own  eternal  breast,  we  cannot  at  all  look  into.  We  can 
only  adore  it  as  it  breaks  forth  and  discovers  itself  in  the  works  that 
outwardly  are  of  him,  or  the  effects  of  it.  Thus  David,  in  the  con- 
sideration of  the  works  of  God,  falls  into  an  admiration  of  the  wis- 
dom whereby  they  were  made,  Ps.  civ.  24,  cxxxvi.  5.  The  wisdom 
of  God  opens  and  manifests  itself  in  its  effects;  and  thence,  accord- 
ing unto  our  measure,  do  we  learn  Avhat  doth  become  it  and  is  suit- 
able unto  it.  But  when  the  Holy  Ghost  cometh  to  speak  of  this 
work  of  our  redemption  by  Christ,  he  doth  not  only  call  us  to  con- 
sider singly  the  wisdom  of  God,  but  his  various  and  "  manifold  wis- 
dom," Eph.  iii,  10;  and  affirms  that  "all  the  treasures  of  wisdom" 
are  hid  in  it.  Col.  ii.  3 ;  plainly  intimating  that  it  is  a  work  so  suited 
unto,  so  answering  the  infinite  wisdom  of  God  in  all  thinos  throuo-h- 
out,  that  it  could  no  otherwise  have  been  disposed  and  effected ;  and 
this  as  well  upon  the  account  of  the  wisdom  of  God  itself  absolutely 
considered,  as  also  as  it  is  that  property  whereby  God  designs  and 
effects  the  glorifying  of  all  other  excellencies  of  his  nature,  whence 


VER.  3.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  115 

it  is  called  various,  or  "manifold :"  so  that  we  may  well  conclude  that 
no  other  way  of  deliverance  of  sinners  was  suited  unto  the  wisdom 
of  God. 

Secondly,  This  way  alone  answered  the  holiness  and  righteousness 
of  God.  He  is  "an  holy  God,"  who  will  not  suffer  the  guilty  to  go 
free,  "  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  iniquity;"  and  his  judgment  is, 
that  "  they  who  commit  sin  are  worthy  of  death."  Sin  is  contrary 
to  his  nature,  and  his  justice  requireth  that  it  go  not  unpunished. 
Besides,  he  is  the  great  and  supreme  governor  of  all;  and  whereas 
sin  breaketh  and  dissolveth  the  dependence  of  the  creature  upi'n 
him,  should  he  not  avenge  that  defection  his  whole  rule  and  govern- 
ment would  be  disannulled.  But  now,  if  this  vengeance  and  pun- 
ishment should  fall  on  the  sinnei's  themselves,  they  must  perish 
under  it  eternally;  not  one  of  them  could  escape  or  ever  be  freed  or 
purged  from  their  sins.  A  commutation,  then,  there  must  be,  that 
the  punishment  due  to  sin,  which  the  holiness  and  righteousness  of 
God  exacted,  may  be  inflicted,  and  mercy  and  grace  showed  unto 
the  sinner.  That  none  was  able,  fit,  or  worthy  to  undergo  this  pen- 
alty, so  as  to  make  a  compensation  for  all  the  sins  of  all  the  elect ; 
that  none  was  able  to  bear  it,  and  break  through  it,  so  as  that  the 
end  of  the  undertaking  might  be  happy,  blessed,  and  glorious  on  all 
hands,  but  only  the  Son  of  God,  we  shall  further  manifest  in  our 
progress,  and  it  hath  been  elsewhere  declared. 

And  this, — ].  Should  teach  us  to  live  in  a,  hohj  admiration  of 
this  mighty  and  wonderful  product  of  the  wisdom,  righteousness,  and 
goodness  which  had  found  out  and  appointed  this  way  of  deHvering 
sinners,  and  have  gloriously  accomplislied  it  in  the  self-sacrifice  of 
the  Son  of  God.  The  Holy  Ghost  everywhere  proposeth  this  unto 
us  as  a  mystery,  a  great  and  hidden  mystery,  which  none  of  the 
great,  or  wise,  or  disputers  of  the  world,  ever  did  or  could  come  to 
the  least  acquaintance  withal.  And  three  things  he  asserts  concern- 
ing it: — (1.)  That  it  is  revealed  in  the  gospel,  and  is  thence  alone 
to  be  learned  and  attained ;  whence  we  are  invited  again  and  again 
to  search  and  inquire  diligently  into  it,  unto  this  very  end,  that 
we  may  become  wise  in  the  knowledge  and  acknowledgment  of 
this  deep  and  hidden  mystery.  (2.)  That  we  cannot  in  our  own 
strength,  and  by  our  own  most  diligent  endeavours,  come  to  a  holy 
acquaintance  with  it,  notwithstanding  that  revelation  that  is  made. 
of  it  in  the  letter  of  the  word,  unless  moreover  we  receive  from  God 
the  Spirit  ot  wisdom,  knowledge,  and  revelation,  opening  our  eyes, 
making  our  minds  spiritual,  and  enabling  us  to  discover  these  depths 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  a  spiritual  manner.  (3.)  That  we  cannot  hy 
these  helps  attain  in  this  life  unto  a  perfection  in  the  knowledge  of 
this  deep  and  unfathomable  mystery,  but  must  still  labour  to  grow 
iu  grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  it,  our  thriving  in  all  grace  and 


116  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

obedience  depending  thereon.  All  these  things  the  Scripture 
abounds  in  the  repetition  of.  And,  besides,  it  everywhere  sets  forth 
the  blessedness  and  happiness  of  them  who  by  grace  obtain  a  spiri- 
tual insight  into  this  mystery;  and  themselves  also  find  by  experi- 
ence the  satisfying  excellency  of  it,  with  the  apostle.  Phil.  iii.  8.  All 
which  considerations  are  powerful  motives  unto  this  duty  of  inquir- 
ing into  and  admiring  this  wonderful  mystery;  wherein  we  have  the 
angels  themselves  for  our  associates  and  companions. 

2.  Consider  we  may,  also,  the  xtnspeakahle  love  of  Christ  in  this 
work  of  his  delivering  us  from  sin.  This  the  Scripture  also  abun- 
dantly goeth  before  us  in,  setting  forth,  extolling,  commending  this 
love  of  Christ,  and  calling  us  to  a  holy  consideration  of  it.  Parti- 
cularly, it  shows  it  accompanied  with  all  things  that  may  make  love 
expressive  and  to  be  admired;  for,  (1.)  It  proposeth  the  necessity 
and  exigency  of  the  condition  wherein  the  Lord  Christ  gave  us  this 
relief.  That  was  when  we  were  "sinners,"  when  we  were  "  lost,"  when 
we  were  "children  of  wrath,"  "under  the  curse," — when  no  eye  did  pity 
us,  when  no  hand  could  relieve  us.  And  if  John  mourned  greatly  when 
he  thought  that  there  was  none  found  worthy,  in  heaven  or  earth,  to 
open  the  book  of  visions,  and  to  unloose  the  seals  thereof,  how  justly 
might  the  whole  creation  mourn  and  lament  if  there  had  been  none 
found  to  yield  relief,  when  all  were  obnoxious  to  this  fatal  ruin ! 
And  this  is  an  exceeding  commendation  of  the  love  of  Christ,  that 
he  set  his  hand  to  that  work  which  none  could  touch,  and  put  his 
shoulders  under  that  burden  which  none  else  could  bear,  when  all 
lay  in  a  desperate  condition.  (2.)  The  greatness  of  this  delivery. 
It  is  from  "  wrath,"  and  "  curse,"  and  "  vengeance"  eternal.  Not 
from  a  trouble  or  danger  of  a  few  days'  continuance,  not  from  a  mo- 
mentary suffering;  but  from  everlasting  wrath,  under  the  curse  of 
God,  and  power  of  Satan  in  the  execution  of  it,  which  necessarily 
attend  sin  and  sinners.  And,  (3.)  The  way  whereby  he  did  it; 
not  by  his  word,  whereby  he  made  the  world ;  not  by  his  power, 
whereby  he  sustains  and  rules  the  things  that  he  hath  made ;  not  by 
paying  a  price  of  corruptible  things;  not  by  revealing  a  way  unto 
us  only  whereby  we  ourselves  might  escape  that  condition  wherein 
we  were,  as  some  foolishly  imagine:  but  by  the  "  sacrifice  of  himself," 
"making  his  soul  an  offering  for  sin,"  and  "  offering  up  himself  unto 
God  through  the  eternal  Spirit," — by  "  laying  down  his  life  for  us ;" 
and  greater  love  can  no  man  manifest  than  by  so  doing.  And,  (4.) 
The  infinite  condescension  that  he  used,  to  put  himself  into  that  con- 
dition wherein  by  himself  he  might  purge  our  sins;  for  to  this  pur- 
pose, when  he  was  "  in  the  form  of  God,  he  emptied  himself  of  his 
glory,  made  himself  of  no  account,  was  made  flesh,  took  on  him  the 
form  of  a  servant,  that  he  might  be  obedient  unto  death,  the  death 
of  the  cross."    And,  (5.)  The  end  of  his  undertaking  for  us,  which 


VER.  3.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  J  \  7 

was  the  "  bringing  of  us  unto  God,"  into  his  love  and  favour  here,  and 
the  eternal  enjoyment  of  him  hereafter.  All  these  things,  I  say, 
doth  the  Scripture  insist  frequently  and  largely  upon,  to  set  forth 
the  excellency  of  the  love  of  Christ,  to  render  it  admirable  and  ami- 
able unto  us.  And  these  things  should  we  lay  up  in  our  hearts,  and 
continually  ponder  thera,  that  we  may  give  due  acceptance  and  en- 
tertainment to  this  wonderful  love  of  the  Son  of  God. 

The  apostle  having  thus  asserted  in  general  the  sacerdotal  office 
of  Christ,  and  the  sacrifice  that  he  offered,  with  the  end  of  it,  be- 
cause that  could  not  be  done  without  the  greatest  dejection,  humi- 
liation, and  abasement  of  the  Son,  that  we  may  not  conceive  that  he 
was  left  in,  or  doth  yet  abide  under,  the  same  condition,  adds  the 
blessed  event  and  consequent  of  his  great  work  and  undertaking: — 

' ExdOiSiv  h  hi^ia  rr^g  yO.syaXwffui'jjs  iv  u-^^riXoTg' — "  He  sat  down  on  the 
right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  iiigh." 

These  words  we  have  already  opened,  as  to  their  sense  and  im- 
portance. The  design  and  meaning  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  them  is 
nextly  to  be  considered.  The  things  to  be  inquired  after  to  this  end 
are, — first.  The  scope  of  the  apostle  in  these  words;  secondly,  The 
manner  of  his  expressing  his  intendment,  and  the  particulars  therein 
intended;  thirdly,  What  he  referred  unto  in  the  Musaical  economy, 
whereby  he  strengthened  the  argument  which  he  had  in  hand. 

Two  things  the  apostle  in  general  designs  in  these  words: — 

1.  That  the  Lord  Christ,  undertaking  to  purge  our  sins,  did  by 
the  one  offering  of  himself  perfectly  effect  it,  so  discharging  the 
whole  work  of  his  priesthood,  as  to  the  making  atonement  for  sin- 
ners. This  the  blessed  issue  of  his  undertaking  doth  demonstrate. 
Immediately  upon  his  work,  he  entered  into  the  glorious  condition 
here  expressed, — a  signal  pledge  and  evidence  that  his  work  was 
perfected,  and  that  God  was  fully  satisfied  and  well  pleased  with 
what  he  had  done. 

2.  The  blessed  and  glorious  condition  of  the  Lord  Jesus  after 
his  humiliation  is  expressed  in  these  words.  His  Spirit  did  of  old 
signify  both  his  "  sufferings"  and  the  "glor}'-  that  should  follow," 
1  Pet.  i.  11;  as  himself  interpreted  the  Scriptures  unto  iiis  disciples, 
Luke  xxiv.  26.  And  this,  upon  the  close  of  his  work,  he  requ(  sted, 
as  due  unto  him  upon  compact  and  promise,  John  xvii.  o.  These 
are  the  things  in  general  designed  by  the  apostle  in  these  words. 

Secondly,  The  manner  of  his  expression  of  the  glory  and  blessed 
condition  of  the  Son  of  God  after  his  purging  our  sins,  and  what  is 
particularly  intimated  therein,  is  to  be  considered.  Some  mistakes 
or  groundless  curiosities  must  first  be  removed,  and  then  the  real 
importance  of  the  words  declared. 

Some  contend  that  the  left  hand  of  old  was  most  honourable;  so 


118  AN  EXPOSITION  or  THE  [chap.  L 

that  the  placing  of  Christ  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  as  it  denotes 
his  honour  and  glory,  so  also  an  inferiority  unto  the  Father.  To 
this  purpose  they  produce  sonae  sayings  out  of  some  ancient  writers 
among  the  heathen,  giving  the  preference  of  place  or  dignity  unto 
tlie  left  hand:  and  these  sayings  are  made  use  of  by  the  E-omanists 
to  answer  an  objection  of  very  little  moment  against  Peter's  su- 
premacy, taken  from  some  ancient  episcopal  seals,  whereon  the 
lii^'ure  of  Paul  was  placed  on  the  right  hand  of  that  of  l^eter.  But 
this  conjecture  may  be  easily  disproved  by  testimonies  innumerable 
out  of  approved  authors  among  the  Gentiles;  and  in  Scripture  the 
right  hand  doth  constantly  denote  dignity  and  pre-eminence.  The 
instance  of  Jacob's  blessing  Joseph's  children  testifies  also  the  con- 
stant usage  of  those  ancient  times,  from  the  intimation  of  nature 
itself,  Gen.  xlviii.  17-19;  and  the  disposal  of  the  sheep  and  goats 
at  the  last  day  to  the  right  hand  and  left  gives  the  privilege  to  the 
former.  So  Basil:  'H  bs^ia  ;^w/^C6  briXoT  rh  rrig  cc^iag  o/Jj67i//,ov' — "The 
right  hand  place  denoteth  a  quality  of  dignity."  And  Chrysostom  : 
E/  yap  sXdrTOjgiv  rih'ki  bi^Xuaai  oux  civ  ii-Tiii  ex,  di^iMV  uXX'  s^  api- 
cnpujv' — '■  If  he  would  have  signified  any  lessening  or  diminution, 
he  would  not  have  said,  '  Sit  on  my  right  hand,'  but  on  my  left." 
So  that  it  is  honour  and  glory  which  is  signified  by  this  expression, 
and  that  only. 

Some,  granting  the  right  hand  to  denote  the  most  honourable 
place,  inquire  whether  this  be  spoken  in  reference  unto  God  the 
Father  himself,  or  unto  others  that  do  or  may  be  supposed  to  sit 
on  his  left  hand.  For  the  first  sense  contends  Maldonate  on  Matt. 
xvi.  19;  for  saith  he,  "  Though  it  be  impossible  that  the  Son  in  ab- 
solute or  essential  glory  should  be  preferred  before  or  above  the 
Father,  yet  as  to  his  immediate  rule  over  the  church  he  may  more 
show  forth  his  power  and  glory  in  the  rule  and  government  of  all 
things."  Others  contend  that  it  is  spoken  with  respect  unto  others 
sitting  at  the  left  hand,  above  which  this  is  preferred.  But  this 
whole  inquiry  is  both  curious  and  groundless:  for,  ].  Though  sitting 
at  the  right  hand  be  a  token  of  great  glory  and  dignity,  yet,  as  the 
apostle  speaks  in  this  very  case,  "  it  is  manifest  that  He  is  excepted 
who  put  all  things  under  him,"  1  Cor.  xv.  27, — he  who  thus  ex- 
alted him  over  all  at  his  right  hand  is  excepted ;  and,  2.  Here  is 
no  comparison  at  all,  or  regard  to  sitting  on  the  left  hand,  nor  is 
there  so  wherever  that  expression  is  used,  but  only  the  glory  of 
Christ  the  mediator  is  absolutely  declared. 

And  this  may  be  cleared  by  other  instances.  Solomon  placed 
his  mother  when  she  came  unto  him  on  his  right  hand, — a  token 
ot  exceeding  honour;  but  he  himself  sat  down  on  the  throne  of  the 
kino-dom,  i  Kings  ii.  19.  The  church  is  said  to  be  at  the  right 
hand  of  Christ,  Ps.  xlv.  9 ;  which,  as  it  prefers  her  above  all  others, 


VER.  3.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBUEWS.  119 

SO  it  takes  not  off  her  subjection  unto  Christ.  Nero,  in  Suetonius 
when  Tiridates,  king  of  Armenia,  came  to  Rome,  placed  him  for  his 
honour  on  his  right  hand,  himself  sitting  on  the  throne  of  rule. 
And  where  three  sit  together,  the  middle  seat  is  the  place  of  chiefest 
honour.  Hence  Cato  in  Africa,  when  Juba  would  have  placed  him- 
self in  the  midst  between  him  and  Scipio,  removed  himself  to  tlie 
left  hand  of  Scipio,  that  Juba  might  not  have  the  place  of  pre-emi- 
nence above  Roman  magistrates. 

It  is  not  unlikely  but  that  there  may  be  an  allusion  in  this  ex- 
pression unto  the  Sanhedrin,  the  highest  court  of  judicature  among 
the  Jews.  He  who  presided  in  it  was  called  pT  3t;,  or  pi  n''2  UN, 
"  The  father  of  judgment,"  or,  "  Father  of  the  house  of  judgment/' 
and  sat  at  the  right  hand  of  the  ''C'J,  or  "  prince"  of  the  Sanhedrin, 
next  unto  him  unto  whom  belonged  the  execution  of  the  sentence 
of  the  court.  Of  this  ab  din  mention  is  made  in  the  Targum,  Cant, 
vii.  4,  yyi  \^ii  ayi  rr^n  n.SI; — "The  father  of  the  house  of  judg- 
ment, who  judgeth  thy  judgments;"  agreeable  to  that,  "  The  Father 
judgeth  no  man,  but  hath  committed  all  judgment  vmto  the  Son." 

The  whole  expression,  then,  is  plainly  metaphorical,  and  taken 
from  what  is  or  was  in  use  amongst  men,  and  thence  translated  to 
signify  the  state  and  condition  of  Christ  in  heaven.  And  this  is 
that  which  the  apostle  in  general  intimates  ia  these  words,  that  as 
the  greatest  honour  that  can  be  done  unto  any  one  among  the  sons 
of  men  is  for  the  chief  ruler  to  set  him  next  himself  on  his  right 
hand,  so  is  the  Son,  as  mediator,  made  partaker  of  the  greatest  glory 
that  God  hath  to  bestow  in  heaven.  It  is  not,  then,  tlie  essential, 
eternal  glory  of  the  Son  of  God,  that  he  hath  equally  with  the  Father, 
which  in  these  words  is  expressed,  and  whereof  the  apostle  had 
spoken  before,  but  that  glory  and  honour  which  is  hestotved  on  him 
hy  the  Father,  after  and  upon  the  sacrifice  of  himself  tor  the  ex[)ia- 
tion  of  sin.  So,  then,  the  right  hand  of  God  is  not  here  taken  ab- 
solutely, as  in  other  places,  for  the  power  and  strength  of  God ;  but 
with  the  adjunct  of  sitting  at  it,  it  shadows  out  a  place  and  eminency 
of  glory,  as  he  is  considered  on  his  throne  of  majesty;  and  therefore 
it  is  here  termed  "  the  right  hand  of  majesty,"  and  not  of  onniipo- 
tency  or  power. 

In  particular,  two  things  are  intended  in  this  expression: — 

1.  The  security  of  Christ  from  all  his  adversaries  and  all  suf- 
ferings for  the  future.  The  Jews  knew  what  he  suffered  from  God 
and  man.  Hereof  he  lets  them  know  what  was  the  reason, — it  was 
for  the  purging  of  our  sins;  and  moreover  declares  that  now  he  is 
everlastingly  secured  from  all  opposition,  for  where  he  is,  thither 
his  adversaries  cannot  come,  as  John  vii.  34.  He  is  above  their 
reach,  beyond  their  power, — secure  in  the  tlirone  and  presence  of  God. 
Thus  the  fruit  of  the  church,  being  secured  from  the  rage  and  pur- 


120  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I 

secution  of  Satan,  is  said  to  be  "  caught  up  unto  God,  and  to  liis 
throne,"  Rev.  xii.  5.  Hence  though  men  do  and  will  continue  their 
malice  and  wrath  against  the  Lord  Christ  to  the  end  of  the  world, 
as  though  they  would  crucify  him  afresh,  yet  he  dies  no  more,  being 
secure  out  of  their  reach  at  the  right  hand  of  God. 

2.  His  majesty  and  glory  inexpressible; — all  that  can  be  given 
of  God  in  heaven.  God  on  his  throne  is  God  in  the  full  mani- 
festation of  his  own  majesty  and  glory ;  on  his  right  hand  sits  the 
Mediator,  yea,  so  as  that  he  also  is  "in  the  midst  of  the  throne,"  Rev. 
V.  6.  How  little  can  our  weak  understandings  apprehend  of  this 
majesty!  See  Phil.  ii.  9;  Matt.  xx.  21;  Rom.  viii.  34;  Col.  iii.  1; 
Epii.  i.  20. 

These  are  the  things  which  the  apostle  sets  forth  in  this  expres- 
sion. And  they  are  plainly  intimated  in  the  context  of  the  psalm 
from  whence  the  words  are  taken,  Ps.  ex.  So  that  it  is  not  his 
rule  and  authority,  but  his  safety,  majesty,  and  gloiy,  which  accom- 
pany them,  that  are  here  intended. 

Thirdly,  We  are  to  inquire  what  it  was  that  the  apostle  had  re- 
spect unto,  in  this  ascription  of  glory  and  majesty  unto  Christ,  in  the 
old  church-state  of  the  Jews,  and  so  what  it  is  that  he  preferreth 
him  above. 

It  is  thought  by  many  that  the  apostle  in  these  words  exaltetli 
Christ  above  David,  the  chiefe-st  king  among  the  Jews.  Of  him  it 
is  said  that  God  would  make  him  his  "  first-born,  higher  than  the 
kings  of  the  earth,"  Ps.  Ixxxix.  27.  His  throne  was  high  on  the 
earth,  and  his  glory  above  that  of  all  the  kings  about  him;  but  for 
the  Lord  Christ,  he  is  incomparably  exalted  above  him  also,  in  that 
he  is  sat  down  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high.  But,  as 
was  said,  these  words  denote  not  the  rule,  power,  or  authority  of 
Christ,  typed  by  the  kingdom  of  David,  but  his  glory  and  majesty, 
represented  by  the  magnificent  throne  of  Solomon.  Besides,  he  is 
not  treating  of  the  kingly  power  of  Christ,  but  of  his  sacerdotal 
office,  and  the  glory  that  ensued  upon  the  discharge  thereof 

That,  therefore,  which  in  these  words  the  apostle  seems  to  have 
had  respect  unto  was  the  high  priest's  entrance  into  the  holy  place, 
after  his  offering  of  the  solemn  anniversary  sacrifice  of  expiation. 
Then  alone  was  he  admitted  into  that  holy  place,  or  heaven  below, 
where  was  the  solemn  representation  of  the  presence  of  God, — his 
throne  and  his  glory.  And  what  did  he  there?  He  stood  with  all 
humility  and  lowly  reverence  ministering  before  the  Lord,  whose 
presence  was  there  represented.  He  did  not  go  and  sit  down  be- 
tween the  cherubim,  but  worshipping  at  the  footstool  of  the  Lord, 
he  departed.  It  is  not,  saith  the  apostle,  so  with  Christ;  but  as  his 
sacrifice  was  infinitely  more  excellent  and  effectual  than  Aaron's,  so 
upon  the  offering  of  it  he  entered  into  the  holy  place,  or  heaven 


VER.  4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEEREV/S.  121 

itself  above,  and  into  the  real,  glorious  presence  of  God,  not  to  mi- 
nister in  humility,  but  to  a  participation  of  the  throne  of  majesty 
and  glory.     He  is  a  king  and  priest  upon  his  throne,  Zech.  vi.  13. 

Thus  the  apostle  shuts  up  his  general  proposition  of  the  whole 
matter,  which  he  intends  further  to  dilate  and  treat  upon.  In  tliis 
description  of  the  person  and  offices  of  the  Messiah  he  coucheth 
the  springs  of  all  his  ensuing  arguments,  and  from  thence  enforceth 
the  exhortation  which  we  have  observed  him  constantly  to  j^ursue. 
And  we  also  may  hence  observe: — 

I.  That  there  is  nothing  more  vain,  foolish,  and  fruitless,  than  the 
opposition  which  Satan  and  iiis  agents  yet  make  unto  the  Lord 
Christ  and  his  kingdom.  Can  they  ascend  into  heaven?  Can  they 
pluck  the  Lord  Christ  from  the  throne  of  God?  A  little  time  will 
manifest  this  madness,  and  that  unto  eternity. 

IL  That  the  service  of  the  Lord  Christ  is  both  safe  and  honour- 
able. He  is,  as  a  good,  so  a  glorious  master,  one  that  sits  at  the 
right  hand  of  God. 

III.  Great  is  the  spiritual  and  eternal  security  of  them  that  truly 
believe  in  Christ.     Of  all  which  severally  afterwards. 

Verse  4. 

The  design  of  the  apostle,  as  we  have  now  often  showed,  is  to 
evince  the  necessity  of  abiding  in  the  doctrine  of  the  gospel,  from 
the  excellency  of  the  person  by  whom  it  pleased  God  to  reveal  it 
unto  us.  This  he  hath  done  already  in  general,  in  that  description 
which  he  hath  given  us  of  his  person,  power,  works,  offices,  and 
glory;  whereby  he  hath  made  it  evident  that  no  creature  whom 
God  was  pleased  at  any  time  to  make  use  of  in  the  revelation 
of  his  will,  or  the  institution  of  his  worship,  was  any  way  to  be 
compared  with  him.  Having  proceeded  thus  far  in  general,  he  de- 
scends now  to  the  consideration  of  particular  instances,  in  all  those 
whom  God  employed  in  the  ministration  of  the  law  and  constitu- 
tion of  Mosaical  worship;  and  takes  occasion  from  them  all  to  set 
forth  the  dignity  and  incomparable  excellencies  of  the  Lord  Christ, 
whom  in  all  things  he  exalts. 

Fiist,  then,  he  treateth  concerning  angels,  as  those  who  were  the 
most  glorious  creatures,  employed  in  the  giving  of  the  law.  The 
Hebrews  owned,  yea,  pleaded  this  in  their  own  defence,  that  besides 
the  mediation  of  Moses,  God  used  the  ministry  of  angels  in  the 
giving  of  the  law,  and  in  other  occasional  instructions  of  their  fore- 
fathers. Some  of  them  contend  that  the  last  of  the  proj^heis  was 
'personally  an  angel,  as  the  signification  of  his  name  imports.  Holy 
Stephen,  upbraiding  them  with  their  abuse  and  contempt  of  their 
greatest  privileges,  tells  them  that  they  "received  the  law  by  the 
disposition"  (" ordering,"  or  " ministry ")  "of  angels,"  Acts  vii.  53. 


122  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

And  the  Targnm  interprets  the  chariots  of  God,  with  the  thousands 
of  angels,  Ps.  Ixviii.  17,  18,  of  the  angels  Ly  whose  ministry  God 
taught  Israel  the  law.  This,  then,  might  leave  a  special  prejudice 
in  their  minds,  that  the  law  being  so  delivereil  by  angels  must  needs 
have  therein  the  advantage  above  the  gospel,  and  be  therefore  ex- 
cellent and  immutable. 

To  remove  tins  prejudice  also,  and  further  to  declare  the  excel- 
lency and  pre-eminence  in  all  things  of  Him  who  revealed  the  gospel, 
the  apostle  takes  occasion,  from  what  he  had  newly  taught  them 
concerning  the  exaltation  of  Jesus  Christ  at  the  right  hand  of  God, 
to  prove  unto  them,  out  of  the  scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament, 
that  he  is  exceedingly  advanced  and  glorious  above  the  angels 
themselves,  whose  concurrence  in  the  ministration  of  the  law  they 
boasted  in;  and  to  this  purpose  producetli  four  signal  testimonies, 
one  after  another. 

This  is  the  design  of  the  apostle,  which  he  pursues  and  makes 
out  unto  the  end  of  this  chapter;  and  that  we  may  rightly  con- 
ceive of  his  intention,  and  the  meaning  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the 
whole,  we  shall,  before  we  consider  his  proposition  laid  down  in  this 
fourth  verse,  or  the  ensuing  confirmations  of  it,  inquire  in  general 
what  it  is  in  Christ  which  he  compareth  with  and  preferreth  above 
the  angels,  and  wherein  it  is  that  he  so  exalts  him. 

The  comparison  entered  on  between  the  Lord  Christ  and  angels 
must  be  either  with  respect  unto  their  natures,  or  unto  their  dig- 
nit'j,  office,  power,  and  glory.  If  the  comparison  be  of  nature  with 
nature,  then  it  must  be  either  in  respect  of  the  divine  or  human 
nature  of  Christ.  If  it  should  be  of  the  divine  nature  of  Christ 
with  the  nature  of  angels,  then  it  is  not  a  comparison  of  proportion, 
as  between  two  natures  agreeing  in  any  general  kind  of  being, — as 
do  the  nature  of  a  man  and  a  worm, — but  a  comparison  only  mani- 
festing a  difference  and  distance  without  any  proportion.  So 
answereth  Athanasius,  Orat.  ii.  adv.  Arian.  But  the  truth  is,  the 
apostle  hath  no  design  to  prove  by  arguments  and  testimonies  the 
excellencies  of  the  divine  nature  above  the  angelical.  There  was 
no  need  so  to  do.  nor  do  his  testimonies  prove  any  such  thing. 
Besides,  speaking  of  angels,  the  other  part  of  the  comparison,  he 
treats  not  of  their  nature,  but  their  office,  work,  and  employment, 
with  their  honourable  and  glorious  condition  therein.  Whereas, 
therefore,  the  apostle  produceth  sundry  testimonies  confirming  the 
deity  of  the  Son,  he  doth  it  not  absolutely  to  prove  the  divine  nature 
to  be  more  excellent  than  the  angelical,  but  only  to  manifest  thereby 
the  glorious  condition  of  him  who  is  partaker  of  it,  and  consequently 
bis  pre-eminence  above  angels,  or  the  equity  that  it  should  be  so. 

Neither  is  the  comparison  between  the  human  nature  of  Christ 
and  the  nature  of  angels;  for  that  absolutely  considered  and  lu 


VER.  4,J  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  J  23 

itself  is  inferior  to  the  angelical;  whence,  in  regard  of  his  participa- 
tion of  it,  he  is  said  to  be  made  "  lower  than  the  angels,"  chap.  ii. 

The  apostle,  then,  treats  of  the  'person  of  Christ,  God  and  man, 
who  was  appointed  and  designed  of  God  the  Father  to  be  tlie  re- 
vealer  of  the  gosjDel  and  mediator  of  the  new  testament.  As  such, 
he  is  the  subject  of  the  ensuing  general  proposition;  as  such,  he 
was  spoken  of  in  the  words  immediately  foregoing;  and  concerning 
him  as  such  are  the  ensuing  testimonies  to  be  interpreted,  even 
tliose  which  testify  to  his  divine  nature,  being  produced  to  demon- 
strate the  excellency  of  his  person,  as  vested  with  the  offices  of  the 
king,  priest,  and  prophet  of  his  church,  the  great  revealer  of  the  will 
of  God  in  the  last  days. 

Ve7\  4. — Toao-JTW  Kpstrruv  ysvofisvog  roJv  uyysXuv^  oVw  hia^popuinpov 
wap    alroug  zixXripov6/ji,ri'/.iv  ovo/jba, 

Toaovru  xpsirrav  yi'joy.ivog.  Syr.  ^.'!'?  ^.r!p  '^^v'l.  "  Et  ip^e  tantum  prjestantior 
fuit,"  Boderian.; — "Ami  he  was  so  much  more  excellent."  "At  tanto  potior 
factus  est,"  Tremel. ; — "And  he  is  made  so  much  more  better."  "At  ipse  toto 
excellit;"  or,  asDeDieu,  "  At  hoc  totum  excellit;" — "  And  he  wholly  e.xcelleth;" 
or,  "  in  all  thing.-^  he  excelletii."  Vulg.  "  Tanto  melior  factus  angelis."  The 
translation  of  x.psirrav  by  "melior"  is  blamed  by  Erasmus,  Bezi,  Vatablus,  and 
is  generally  deserted  by  the  expositors  of  the  Roman  church;  and  it  is  hard,  if 
not  impossible,  to  find  "  melior  "  in  any  good  author  used  in  the  sense  that  Kpiir- 
ru'j  is  here  and  elsewhere  constantly  applied  unto.  Ours  render  the  \\ord 
"  better,"  "  made  better;"  to  avoid,  I  believe,  a  coincidence  with  that  which  they 
express  ^icttfopoynpou  by,  "  more  excellent."  Kpsirru!/  is  properly  "  nobilior," 
"  potentior."  "  praestantior,"  "  excellentior," — "  more  powei'fid,"  "  able,"  "  excel- 
lent," as  to  love,  honour,  or  state  and  condition ;  as  in  that  of  Homer,  II.  A.  80, — 

Kpii<rcra))i  yap  fiaa-iXih;  on  y(^ai7ira.i  a.\ihp)  x'-P^'- 

That  is,  -TroXT^ov  dpitui/,  saith  Eustathius,  "  multo  potentior," — "more  powerful," 
"able  to  prevail,"  or  "more  excellent."  Tevojusi/o;,  "factus,"  "effectus," — "made," 
"  was,"  "  became."  AiaCpopinepoy,  "  differentiu-," — "  different ;"  which  is  some- 
times put  absolutely  for  the  best  things,  or  things  far  better  t'nan  other  things 
that  differ:  "  make  to  differ,"  to  prefer,  make  better,  1  Cor.  iv.  7.  Syr.  "O-f^, 
"excellentius," — "more  excellent."  Aia.(pipu  is  both  to  differ  and  excel;  but  the 
"differentius"  of  the  Vulgar  yields  no  good  sense  in  this  place.  Ksy,7^Yipoy6,u.-^K£, 
*'  hsereditavit,"  "  sortitus  est,"  "jure  hereditario  obtinuit ;"  of  the  importance  of 
which  word  before.' 

Ver.  4. — Being  in  so  much  preferred  [exalted,  made  emi~ 
nent~\  above  angels,  as  he  [obtained']  inherited  a  more 
excellent  name  than  they. 
There  are  five  things  considerable  in  and  for  the  exposition  of 

*  Exposition. — The  comparison  of  the  Son  with  angels  divides  itself  info  two 
sections; — the  Son  is  superior  to  the  angels  aire  idy,  in  virtue  of  his  eternal  exist- 
ence as  the  Son  of  God,  chap.  i.  4-14;  in  the  Son,  man  also  has  b.  en  exalted 
above  the  angels,  chap.  ii.  5-18. — Ebrard.  Tsvopc.  points  out  th;it  this  exaltation 
is  true  not  only  of  the  Logos  in  abatracto,  but  of  the  whole  divine-human  .mhject. 
— Tholuck.    The  aorist,  "having  been  made"  or  "become,"  is  amithetic  to  the  pre- 


124  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

these  words: — 1.  What  it  is  that  the  apostle  asserts  in  them  as  his 
general  proposition,  namely,  that  the  Son,  as  the  great  priest  and 
prophet  of  the  church,  was  preferred  above,  and  made  more  gh^ri- 
ous  and  powerful  than  the  angels;  and  how  this  was  done,  and 
wherein  it  doth  consist.  2.  When  he  was  so  preferred  above  them ; 
which  belongs  unto  the  explication  and  right  understanding  of  the 
former.  3.  The  degree  of  this  preference  of  him  above  the  angels, 
intimated  in  the  comparison,  *'  Being  by  so  much  made  more  excel- 
lent, as  he  hath,"  etc.  4.  The  proof  of  the  assertion,  both  abso- 
lutely and  as  to  the  degree  intimated ;  and  this  is  taken  from  his 
name.  5.  The  way  whereby  he  came  to  have  this  name;  he  ob- 
tained it  as  his  lot  and  portion,  or  he  inherited  it. 

1.  He  is  inade  "more  excellent" than  the  angels,  preferred  above 
them, — that  is,  say  some,  declared  so  to  be.  "  Tum  res  dicitur  fiini, 
cum  incipit  patefieri."  Frequently  in  the  Scripture  a  thing  is  tiien 
said  to  be  made,  or  to  be,  when  it  is  manifested  so  to  be.  And  in 
this  sense  the  word  jhiG^ai  is  sometimes  used :  Rom.  iii.  4,  TtviaQM 
0  0go5  akri&ni,  -^"S  ^^  af^^wTos  -^rjornc,, — "  Let  God  be  true,  and  every 
man  a  liar ;"  that  is,  manifested  and  acknowledged  so  to  be.  So, 
James  i.  1 2,  Aox//Aoe  ytvljinvog, — he  that  is  approved  in  trial,  and  thereby 
manifested  to  be  sincere  and  sound.  In  this  sense  the  apostle  tells 
us,  Rom.  i.  4,  that  the  Lord  Christ  was  "  declared  to  be  the  Son  of 
God  by  the  resurrection  from  the  dead."  The  resurrection  from  the 
dead  did  not  make  him  to  be  the  Son  of  God,  but  evidently  mani- 
fested and  declared  him  so  to  be.  According  to  this  interpretation 
of  the  words,  that  which  the  Holy  Ghost  intimateth  is,  that  whereas 
the  Lord  Christ  ministered  in  an  outwardly  low  condition  in  this 
world,  whilst  he  purged  our  sins,  yet  by  his  sitting  down  at  the  right 
hand  of  God  he  was  revealed,  manifested,  declared  to  be  more  excel- 
lent than  all  the  angels  in  heaven. 

But  I  see  no  reason  why  we  should  desert  the  proper  and  most 
usual  signification  of  the  words,  nothing  in  the  context  persuading  us 
so  to  do.  Besides,  this  suits  not  the  apostle's  design,  who  doth  not 
prove  from  the  Scripture  that  the  Lord  Christ  was  manifested  to  be 
more  excellent  than  the  angels,  but  that  really  he  was  preferred  and 
exalted  above  them. 

sent  6))/,  "beino^,"  in  verse  3. — Turner.  The  name  "sons  of  God"  is  given  to  angels. 
But  it  is  a  difltVrent  thing  to  apply  a  cominon  name  in  the  plural  to  a  class,  from 
what  it  is  to  :ipply  the  same  as  ;m  individual  name  in  the  singular  to  an  indi- 
vidual. When  Jehovah,  in  Ps.  ii.  2.  7,  declares  his  anointed  to  he  his  Sun  whom 
he  has  heyiotten,  this  is  something  different  iiom  what  is  said,  when  the  angels  as 
a  class  are  called  sons  of  the  Elohi-n  who  has  created  them. —  Ebrard.  Kpiir.  re- 
fers to  superiority  in  rank  or  dignity.  The  term  "better"  suggests  the  idea  of 
moral  excellence,  which  is  not  the  thought  here. — Craik. 

TuANSLATiONS. —  KpiiT.  Exalted  above  the  angels. — Stuart.  Greater. — Booth- 
royd,  Conijbeare.  and  Iloivson.  Superior  to  the  angels. — Craik.  Tevof^,.  Being 
made. — Diodati.     Aict(pop.  More  distinguished,  more  singular. — Ebrard.— Ed. 


VER.  4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  125 

So,  then,  xpsiTTuv  yiv6/x,ivo;  is  as  much  as  "preferred,"  Kpiirru, y.ts. 
"  exalted,"  actually  placed  in  more  power,  glory,  dig-  '^'^'"' 
nity,  than  the  angels.  This  John  Baptist  affirms  of  him,  ' E/x'^rpoadsi 
fiov  ysyoviv  on  -Trpurog  /aok  ^r — "  He  was  preferred  before  rne,  because 
he  "v^s  before  me,'* — preferred  above  him,  called  to  another  man- 
ner of  office  than  that  which  John  ministered  in,  made  before  or 
above  him  in  dignity,  because  he  was  before  him  in  nature  and 
existence.  And  this  is  the  proper  sense  of  the  words:  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  the  revealer  of  the  will  of  God  in  the  gospel,  is  exalted 
above,  preferred  before,  made  more  excellent  and. glorious  than  the 
angels  themselves,  all  or  any  of  them,  who  ministered  unto  the  Lord 
in  the  giving  of  the  law  on  mount  Sinai. 

Some  object  unto  this  interpretation,  "  That  he  who  is  said  to  be 
made  or  set  above  the  angels  is  supposed  to  have  been  lower  than 
they  before."  To  which  I  answer.  And  so  he  was,  not  in  respect  of 
essence,  subsistence,  and  real  dignity,  but  in  respect  of  the  infirmi- 
ties and  sufferings  that  he  was  exposed  unto  in  the  discharge  of  his 
work  here  on  the  earth,  as  the  apostle  expressly  declares,  chap.  ii.  9. 

2.  And  this  gives  us  light  into  our  second  inquiry  on  these  words, 
namely,  luhen  it  was  that  Christ  was  thus  exalted  above  the  angels. 

(L)  Some  say  that  it  was  in  the  time  of  his  incarnation;  for 
then  the  human  nature  being  taken  into  personal  subsistence  with 
the  Son  of  God,  it  became  more  excellent  than  that  of  the  angels. 
This  sense  is  fixed  on  by  some  of  the  ancients,  who  are  followed  by 
sundry  modern  expositors.  But  we  have  proved  before  that  it  is 
not  of  either  nature  of  Christ  absolutely  or  abstractedly  that  the 
apostle  here  speaketh  nor  of  his  person  but  as  vested  with  his  office, 
and  discharging  of  it.  And,  moreover,  the  incarnation  of  Christ  was 
part  of  his  humiliation  and  exinanition,  and  is  not,  therefore,  espe- 
cially intended  where  his  exaltation  and  glory  are  expressly  spoken  of. 

(2.)  Some  say  that  it  was  at  the  time  of  his  baptism,  when  he  was 
anointed  with  the  Spirit  for  the  discharge  of  his  prophetical  office, 
Isa.  Ixi.  1,  2.  But  yet  neither  can  this  designation  of  the  time  be 
allowed;  and  that  because  the  main  things  wherein  he  was  made 
lower  than  the  angels,  as  his  temptations,  and  sufferings,  and  death 
itself,  did  follow  his  baptism  and  unction. 

(3.)  It  must  therefore  be  the  time  of  his  resurrection,  ascen- 
sion, and  exaltation  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  which  ensued  thereon, 
that  is  designed  as  the  season  wherein  he  was  made  more  excellent 
than  the  angels,  as  evidently  appears  from  the  text  and  context: 
for, — [1.]  That  was  the  time,  as  we  have  showed  before,  when  he 
was  gloriously  vested  with  that  all  j^ower  in  heaven  and  earth  which 
was  uf  old  designed  iinto  him  and  prepared  for  him.  [2.]  The  order 
also  of  the  apostle's  discourse  leads  us  to  fix  on  this  season :  "  After 
he  had  by  himself  purged  our  sins,  he  sat  down,"  etc.;  "  being  made 


126  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

SO  much  more  excellent;"  that  is,  therein  and  then  he  was  so  made. 
[.J.]  The  testimony  in  the  first  place  produced  by  the  apostle  in  the 
confirmation  of  his  assertion  is  elsewhere,  as  we  shall  see,  applied  by 
himself  unto  his  resurrection  and  the  glory  that  ensued,  and  conse- 
quently they  are  also  in  this  place  intended.  [4.]  Tliis  preference 
of  the  Lord  Christ  above  the  angels  is  plainly  included  in  that  gr^int 
of  all  power  made  unto  him.  Matt,  xxviii.  18;  expounded  Eph.  i. 
21,  22.  [5.]  The  testimony  used  by  the  apostle  in  the  first  place  is 
tlie  word  that  God  spake  unto  his  King,  when  he  set  him  upon  his 
holy  liill  of  Zion,  Ps.  ii.  6-8 ;  which  typically  expresseth  his  glorious 
instalment  in  his  heavenly  kingdom. 

The  Lord  Christ,  then,  who  in  respect  of  his  divine  nature  was 
always  infinitely  and  incomparably  himself  more  excellent  tiian  all 
the  angels,  after  his  humiliation  in  the  assumption  of  the  human 
nature,  with  the  sufferings  and  temptations  that  he  underwent,  upon 
his  resurrection  was  exalted  into  a  condition  of  glory,  power,  autho- 
rity, excellency,  and  intrusted  with  power  over  them,  as  our  apostle 
here  informs  us. 

3.  In  this  preference  and  exaltation  of  the  Lord  Christ  there  is  a 
degree  intima.ted:  "Being  made  so  much  more,"'  etc.  Now  our 
conceptions  hereabout,  as  to  this  place,  are  wholly  to  be  regulated 
by  the  name  given  unto  him.  '  Look,'  saith  the  apostle, '  how  much 
the  name  given  unto  the  Messiah  excels  the  name  given  unto  angels, 
so  much  doth  he  himself  excel  them  in  glory,  authority,  and  power; 
for  these  names  are  severally  given  them  of  God  to  signify  tlieir  state 
and  condition.'  What  and  how  great  this  difference  is  we  shall 
afterwards  see,  in  the  consideration  of  the  instances  given  of  it  by 
the  apostle  in  the  verses  ensuing. 

4.  The  proof  of  this  assertion  which  the  apostle  first  fixeth  on  is 
taken  from  the  name  of  Christ, — his  name,  not  given  him  by  man,  not 
assumed  by  himself,  but  ascribed  unto  him  by  God  himself.  Neither 
doth  he  here  by  the  name  of  Christ  or  the  name  of  the  angels  in- 
tend any  individual  proper  names  of  the  one  or  the  other;  but  such 
descriptions  as  are  made  of  them,  and  titles  given  unto  them  by 
God,  as  whereby  their  state  and  condition  may  be  known.  '  Ob- 
serve,' saith  he,  '  how  they  are  called  of  God,  by  Avhat  names  and 
titles  he  owns  them,  and  you  may  learn  the  difference  between  them.' 
This  name  he  declares  in  the  next  verse:  God  said  unto  him,  "  Thou 
art  my  Son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee."  It  is  not  absolutely  his 
beino-  the  Son  of  God  that  is  intended,  but  that,  by  the  testimony 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  God  said  these  words  unto  him,  "  Thou  art  my 
Son  "  and  thereby  declared  his  state  and  condition  to  be  far  above 
that  of  the  angels,  to  none  of  whom  he  ever  said  any  such  thing,  but 
Mieaks  of  them  in  a  far  distinct  nianner,  as  we  shall  see.  But  hereof 
in  Liie  next  verse.  , 


VER.  4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  127 

Some  by  this  "excellent  name"  understand  his  power,  and  dignity, 
and  glory,  called  "a  name  above  every  name,"  Phil.  ii.  9.  But  then 
this  can  no  way  prove  that  which  the  apostle  producoth  it  for,  it 
being  directly  the  same  with  that  which  is  asserted,  in  whose  confir- 
mation it  is  produced. 

5.  Tiie  last  thing  considerable  is,  lioiu  the  Lord  Christ  came  hij 
this  name,  or  obtained  it.  KixXr]pov6/jLrixs, — he  obtained 
it  by  "  inheritance,"  as  his  peculiar  lot  and  portion  for  '"  "^""f^""*' 
ever.  In  what  sense  he  is  said  to  be  xXripov6//,og,  "  the  heir,"  was  before 
declared.  As  he  was  made  the  heir  of  all,  so  he  inherited  a  more 
excellent  name  than  the  angels.  Now  he  was  made  heir  of  all,  in 
that  all  things  being  made  and  formed  by  him,  the  Father  com- 
mitted unto  him,  as  mediator,  a  peculiar  power  over  all  things,  to  be 
disposed  of  by  him  unto  all  the  ends  of  his  mediation.  So  also  be- 
ing the  natural  aud  eternal  Son  of  God,  in  and  upon  the  discharge 
of  his  work,  the  Father  declared  and  pronounced  that  to  be  his 
name.  See  Luke  i.  35;  Isa.  vii.  14,  ix.  6.  His  being  the  Son  of 
God  is  the  proper  foundation  of  his  being  called  so;  and  his  discharge 
of  his  office  the  occasion  of  its  declaration.  So  he  came  unto  it  by 
right  of  inheritance,  when  he  was  "  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God 
with  power,  by  the  resurrection  from  the  dead,"  Rom.  i.  4. 

This,  then,  is  the  sum  of  the  apostle's  proposition,  and  the  confir- 
mation of  it.  A  name  given  by  God  to  that  end  and  purpose  doth 
truly  di^clare  the  nature,  state,  and  condition  of  him  or  them  to  whom 
it  is  given;  but  unto  Christ  the  mediator  there  is  a  name  given  of 
God  himself,  exceedingly  more  excellent  than  any  that  by  him  is 
given  unto  the  angels:  which  undeniably  evinceth  that  he  is  placed 
in  a  state  and  condition  of  glory  tar  above  them,  or  preferred  before 
them. 

I  shall  only  observe  one  or  two  things  concerning  the  Hebrews,  to 
whom  the  apostle  wrote,  and  so  put  an  end  to  our  exposition  of  this 
verse. 

First,  then,  This  discourse  of  the  apostle,  proving  the  pre-eminence 
of  the  Messiah  above  the  angels,  was  very  necessary  unto  the  Hebrews, 
although  it  was  very  suitable  unto  their  own  principles,  and  in 
general  acknowledged  by  them.  It  is  to  this  day  a  tradition  amongst 
them  that  the  Messiah  shall  be  exalted  above  Abraham,  and  Moses, 
and  the  ministering  angels.  Besides,  they  acknowledged  the  scrip- 
tures of  the  Old  Testament,  wherein  the  apostle  shows  them  that 
this  truth  was  taught  and  confirmed.  But  they  were  dull  and  slow 
in  making  application  of  these  principles  unto  the  confirmation  of 
their  faith  in  the  gospel,  as  the  apostle  chargeth  them,  chap.  v.  1 1,  1 2. 
And  they  had  at  that  time  great  speculations  about  the  glory,  dig- 
nity, and  exceliency  of  angels,  and  were  fallen  into  some  kind  of 
worshipping  of  them.     And  it  may  be  this  curiosity,  vanity,  and 

VOL..  xn.— 9 


128  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

superstition  in  them  was  heightened  by  the  heat  of  the  controversy 
between  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  about  them ; — the  one  denying 
their  existence  and  being;  the  other,  whom  the  body  of  the  people 
followed,  exalting  them  above  measure,  and  inclining  to  the  worship 
of  them.  This  the  apostle  declares,  Col.  ii.  18.  Treating  of  those 
Ju<laizing  teachers  who  then  troubled  the  churclies,  he  chargeth 
them  with  fruitless  and  curious  speculations  about  angels,  and  tlie 
worshipping  of  them.  And  of  their  ministry  in  the  giving  of  the 
law  they  still  boasted.  It  was  necessary,  therefore,  to  take  them  off 
from  this  confidence  of  that  privilege,  and  the  superstition  that 
ensued  thereon,  to  instruct  them  in  the  pre-eminence  of  the  Lord 
Christ  above  them  all,  that  so  their  thoughts  might  be  directed  unto 
him,  and  their  trust  placed  in  him  alone.  And  this  exaltati<m  of 
th"  Messiah  some  of  their  later  doctors  assert  on  Dan.  vii.  9,  ^"'."IH  '^'J.^ 
Vp"i  I1D-13  ^T  1?,—"  I  beheld  until  the  thrones  were  set,"  "  placed," 
'  exalted," — as  in  the  original  Chaldee,  and  as  all  old  translations, 
Greek,  Latin,  Syriac,  and  Arabic,  render  the  words,  however  ours 
read,  "until  the  thrones  were  cast  down," — affirming  that  one  of  those 
thrones  was  for  the  Messiah,  before  whom  all  the  angels  ministered 
in  obedience. 

Secondly,  It  may  not  be  amiss  to  remark,  that  the  Jews  have 
always  had  a  tradition  of  the  glorious  name  of  the  Messiah,  which 
even  since  their  utter  rejection  they  retain  some  obscure  lemem- 
brance  of.  The  name  which  they  principally  magnify  is  JIIDDD, 
"Metatron."  Ben  Uzziel,  in  his  Targum  on  Gen.  v.,  ascribes  this 
name  to  Enoch  when  he  was  translated:  "He  ascended  into  heaven 
in  the  word  of  the  Lord,  Nan  S"iDD  int^LDD  n^'DU  Nipl," — "and  his 
name  was  called  Metatron  the  great  scribe."  But  this  opinion  of 
Etioch  being  Metatron  is  rejected  and  confuted  in  the  Talmud. 
There  they  tell  us  that  Metatron  is  D^'iyn  iK',  "the  prince  of  the 
world;"  or,  as  Elias  calls  him  in  Thisbi,  D"'ODn  "IB>,  "the  prince  of 
God's  presence."  And  in  the  first  mention  of  this  name,  which  is 
Talmud.  Tract.  Sanhed.  cap.  iv.  fol.  38,  they  plainly  intimate  that  they 
intend  an  uncreated  angel  by  this  expression.  And  such,  indeed, 
must  he  be  unto  whom  may  be  assigned  what  they  ascribe  unto 
Metatron ;  for  as  Reuchlin,  from  the  Cabbalists,  informs  us,  they 
say,  piDDD  HD'KJ  ^C'  '•m, — "The  teacher  of  Moses  himself  was  Me- 
tatron." He  it  is,  saith  Elias,  that  is  the  angel  always  appearing  in 
the  presence  of  God,  of  whom  it  is  said,  "My  name  is  in  him:"  and 
the  Talmudists,  that  he  hath  power  to  blot  out  the  sins  of  Israel, 
whence  they  call  him  the  chancellor  of  heaven.  And  Bechai,  on 
Exod.  xxiii.,  affirms  that  this  name  signifies  both  a  lord,  a  messenger, 
and  a  keeper; — a  lord,  because  he  ruleth  allj  a  messenger,  because 
he  stands  always  before  God  to  do  his  will;  and  a  keejjer,  because 
he  keepeth  Israel.     I  confess  the  etymology  that  he  gives  of  this 


VER.  5.]  El'ISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  129 

name  to  that  purpose  is  weak  and  foolish;  as  is  also  that  of  Elias, 
who  tells  us  that  Metatron  is  ]V  pC'^n, — in  the  Greek  tongue,  "one 
sent."  But  yet  it  is  evident  what  is  intended  by  all  these  obscure 
intimations.  The  increated  Prince  of  glory,  and  his  exaltation  over 
all,  with  the  excellency  of  his  name,  is  aimed  at.  As  for  the  word 
itself,  it  is  either  a  mere  corruption  of  the  Latin  word,  "mediator," 
such  as  is  usual  amongst  them ;  or  a  gematrical  fiction  to  answer  '•ntj', 
"the  Almighty,"  there  being  a  coincidence  in  their  numeral  letters. 

The  doctrine  of  the  preference  and  pre-eminence  of  Christ  is 
insisted  on  by  the  apostle  unto  the  end  of  this  chapter,  and  there- 
fore I  shall  not  treat  of  it  until  we  have  gone  through  all  the  proofs 
of  it  produced ;  nor  then  but  briefly,  having  already  in  part  spoken 
of  it,  in  our  consideration  of  his  sovereignty  and  lordship  over  all. 

That  which  we  are  peculiarly  instructed  in  by  these  words  is 
that,— 

All  pre-eminence  and  exaltation  of  one  above  others  depends  on 
the  supreme  counsel  and  will  of  God. 

The  instance  he  gives  of  him  who  is  exalted  over  all  sufficiently 
confirms  our  general  rule.  He  had  his  "name,"  denoting  his  glory  and 
excellency,  by  "inheritance," — a  heritage  designed  for  him  and  given 
unto  him  in  the  counsel,  will,  and  good  pleasure  of  God.  He  gave 
him  that  "name  above  every  name,"  Phil.  ii.  9,  and  that  of  his  own 
will  and  pleasure:  "It  pleased  the  Father  that  in  him  all  fulness 
should  dwell,"  that  so  "in  all  things  he  might  have  the  pre-emi- 
nence," Col.  i.  16-19.  He  foreordained  him  unto  it  from  eternity, 
1  Pet.  i.  20;  and  actually  exalted  him  according  to  his  eternal 
counsel  in  the  fulness  of  time.  Acts  ii.  36,  v.  31. 

This  prelation,  then,  of  Christ  above  all  depends  on  the  counsel 
and  pleasure  of  God;  and  he  is  herein  a  pattern  of  all  privilege  and 
pre-eminence  in  others. 

Grace,  mercy,  and  glory,  spiritual  things  and  eternal,  are  those 
wherein  really  there  is  any  difference  among  the  sons  of  men. 
Now,  that  any  one  in  these  things  is  preferred  before  another,  it 
depends  merely  on  the  sole  good  pleasure  of  God.  No  man  in  these 
things  makes  himself  to  differ  from  another,  neither  hath  he  any 
thing  that  he  hath  not  received.  "  God  hath  mercy  on  whom  he  will 
have  merc3^"  And  this  discrimination  of  all  things  by  the  supreme 
will  of  God,  especially  spiritual  and  eternal,  is  the  spring,  fountain, 
and  rule  of  all  that  gloiy  which  he  will  manifest  and  be  exalted  ia 
unto  eternity. 

Verse  5, 
The  apostle  proceedeth  to  the  confirmation  of  his  proposition 
concerning  the  pre-eminence  of  the  Lord  Christ  above  the  angels, 
and  of  his  proof  of  it  from  the  excellency  of  the  name  given  unto 


130  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

him;  and  this  he  doth  by  sundry  testimonies  produced  out  of  the 
Old  Testament,  two  whereof  are  conjoined  in  this  verse,  as  the  verses 
are  divided  in  our  Bibles. 

Vev.  5. — Tivi  yap  iivs  Torg  tojv  ayy'iXoir  Yioc  f/,o\j  d  eu,  lyu  Grjupot 
yiyBvvrixd  ct\ 

BWe  TTore.  Vulg.,  "dixit  aliquando," — "said  he  sometime;"  for  "at  any  time." 
Syr.,  Sv';?  ^'r*?  ^"'^'^  V?.,  "from  at  any  time  said  God."  "Eloah,"  "God,"  is  sup- 
plied needlessly,  thoupjh  better  than  those  who  would  render  sItts  impersonally, 
"was  it  said  at  anytime;"  for  it  is  express  in  the  psalm  from  whence  the  words  are 
taken,  ^'r?  -:"%— "The  Lord  said."  "  The  Lord  said  unto  me,  ^'^^^_  ^^^._  -C'^  '=? 
"T".'?/' — "Thou  my  Son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee."  The  ellipsis  of  the 
verb  substantive  in  the  original,  which  is  perpetual,  is  supplied  by  the  apostle 
with  tt,  "  Thou  art  my  Son."  Further  difficulty  in  the  grammatical  sense  of 
the  words  there  is  not.  And  here  we  shall  close  this  verse,  or  at  least  consider 
this  testimony  by  itself.' 

Ver.  5. — Unto  which  of  the  angels  did  he  at  any  time 
[or,  ever~\  say,  Thou  art  my  Son,  this  day  have  I  be- 
gotten thee? 

Two  things  are  considerable  in  these  words: — 1.  The  manner  of 
the  apostle's  producing  the  testimony  which  he  intended  to  make 
use  of:  "Unto  which  of  the  angels  said  he  at  any  time?"  2.  The 
testimony  itself:  "Thou  art  my  Son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee  " 
In  the  former,  three  things  may  be  observed : — 
First,  That  the  testimony  which  in  a  matter  of  faith  he  insisted 
on  is  that  of  the  Scripture.  He  refers  the  Jews  unto  that  common 
priuciple  which  was  acknowledged  between  them.  Men  had  not 
as  yet  learned  in  such  contests  to  make  that  cavilling  return  which 
we  are  now  used  unto,  '  How  do  you  know  those  Scriptures  to  be 
the  word  of  God?'  Nor,  indeed,  is  it  suitable  unto  common  honesty 
for  men  to  question  the  credit  and  prostitute  the  authority  of  their 
own  most  sacred  principles,  for  no  other  end  but  to  prejudice  their 

'  TloTi,  x.ct.1  'TTu.'hiv.  "  IloTS  does  not  serve  to  strengthen  the  rlvi,  but  is  indepen- 
dent, signifying  '  at  any  time,'  and  thus  forms  a  marked  antithe^is  with  't^oCkiv. 
This  x.«.\  ircthiv  is  to  be  extended  in  the  following  way:  K«i  rivi  xuv  u.yyk'hosv 
nra.'hiv  htcs,  'To  which  of  the  angels  has  he  at  any  time  said,  Tiiou  art  my  Son?  and 
to  which  has  he  again  said,  I  will  be  to  him  a  Father?'  This  contains  clearly  the 
two  ideas :  God  has  used  such  expressions  to  an  angel  not  even  a  single  time, 
but  to  the  Son  not  merely  once,  but  again  and  again.  Ysyiv.  There  is  as- 
cribed to  the  Messiah  a  relation  of  sonship  to  God  such  as  is  never  applied,  even 
approximately,  to  any  of  the  angels,— a  relation  of  such  a  kind,  that  the  Mts-iah 
derives  his  real  being  not  from  David  but  from  God." — Ebrard.  "  It  may 
fairly  be  doubted  whether  there  exists  any  valid  evidence  in  favour  of  the  decla- 
rative sense  of  the  passage,  and  hence  we  have  no  alternative  but  to  explain  it 
according  to  its  literal  acceptation,  as  an  absolute  affirmation  of  the  divine  son- 
ship  of  Ciirist.     That  this  is  the  exposition  which  would  most  readily  0(  cur  to 

the  Jews  is  too  evident  to  require  any  detailed  proof To-day' Vi\\\i\\%  i^. 

.  .  So  Clement  of  Alexandria  happily  remarks,  '  To-day  is  the  image  of  an 
eternal  age.'" — Treffrey  on  the  Sonship,  po.  300-302 Ed. 


VER.  5.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  131 

adversaries'.  But  our  apostle  here  confidently  sends  tlie  Hebrews  to 
the  acknowledged  rule  of  their  faith  and  worship,  whose  authority 
he  knew  they  would  not  decline,  Isa.  viii.  20. 

Secondly,  That  the  a{)ostle  argues  negatively  from  the  authority 
and  perfection  of  the  Scripture  in  things  relating  to  faith  and  the 
worship  of  God.  '  It  is  nowhere  said  in  the  Scripture  to  angels; 
therefore  they  have  not  the  name  spoken  of,  or  not  in  that  munner 
wherein  it  is  ascribed  to  the  Messiah.'  This  argument,  saith  an 
exposicor  of  great  name  on  this  place,  seems  to  be  weak,  and  not 
unlike  unto  that  which  the  heretics  made  use  of  in  the  like  cases; 
and  therefore  answers  that  the  apostle  argues  negatively,  not  only 
from  the  Scripture,  but  from  tradition  also.  But  this  answer  is  far 
more  weak  than  the  argument  is  pretended  to  be.  The  apostle 
deals  expressly  in  all  this  chapter  from  the  testimony  of  Scripture, 
and  to  that  alone  do  his  words  relate,  and  therein  doth  he  issue  the 
whole  controversy  he  had  in  hand,  knowing  that  the  Jews  had  many 
corrupt  traditions,  expressly  contrary  to  what  he  undertook  to  prove; 
particularly,  that  the  law  of  Moses  was  eternally  obligatory,  against 
which  he  directly  contends  in  the  whole  epistle.  An  argument, 
then,  taken  negatively  from  the  authority  of  the  Scripture  in  matters 
of  faith,  or  what  relates  to  the  worship  of  God,  is  valid  and  effectual, 
and  here  consecrated  for  ever  to  the  use  of  the  church  by  the 
apostle. 

Thirdly,  That  the  apostle  either  indeed  grants,  or  else,  for  argu- 
ment's sake,  condescends  unto  the  apprehension  of  the  Hebrews, 
that  there  is  a  distinction  of  degrees  and  pre-eminence  amongst  the 
angels  themselves.  To  confirm,  therefore,  his  general  assertion  of 
the  dignity  and  pre-eminence  of  Christ  above  them  all,  he  provokes 
them  to  instance  in  any  one  of  them,  which  either  indeed  or  in 
their  appi^ehension  was  promoted  above  others,  to  whom  such  words 
as  these  were  ever  spoken:  "  To  which  of  the  angels  said  he."  His 
assertion  respects  not  only  the  community  of  them,  but  any  or  all 
of  the  chief  or  princes  among  them.  There  are  ^''^C'Xnn  D''"i;i'^  Dan. 
X.  13,  "  chief  princes"  among  the  angels.  And  of  them  Michael, 
the  prince  of  the  people  of  God,  is  said  to  be  ^^^,  "one;"  that 
is,  not  in  order,  but  the  chief  in  dignity,  their  head  and  leader. 
Now,  saith  the  apostle,  to  which  of  these,  or  of  the  rest  of  them, 
were  these  words  spoken? 

Proceed  we  now  to  the  testimony  itself  produced.  Three  things 
are  required  to  make  it  pertinent  unto  his  purpose,  and  useful  unto 
the  end  for  which  he  makes  mention  of  it: — First,  That  He  of 
whom  he  speaks  is  peculiarly  intended  therein.  Secondly,  That 
there  be  in  it  an  assignation  oj  a  name  unto  him  made  by  God 
himself,  which  thereon  he  might  claim  as  his  peculiar  inheritance. 
Thirdly,  That  this  name,  either  absolutely  or  in  its  peculiar  manner 


132  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

of  appropriation  unto  him,  is  more  excellent  than  any  that  was 
ever  given  unto  angels,  as  a  sign  of  their  dignity,  authority,  and 
excellency.  And  these  things,  for  the  clearing  of  the  apostle's  ar- 
gument, must  particularly  be  insisted  on. 

First,  The  words  produced  do  peculiarly  belong  unto  him  to 
whom  they  are  applied;  that  is,  it  is  the  Mess-iah  who  is  prophe- 
sied of  in  the  second  psalm,  from  whence  they  are  taken.  This 
with  all  Christians  is  put  beyond  dispute,  by  the  application  of  it  in 
several  places  unto  him ;  as  Acts  iv.  25-27,  xiii.  38 ;  Heb.  v.  5.  It 
is  certain,  also,  that  the  Jews  always  esteemed  this  psalm  to  relate 
unto  the  Messiah;  they  do  so  to  this  day.  Hence  the  Targum  on 
the  psalm  expressly  applies  it  unto  him,  thus  rendering  these  words : 
"  O  beloved !  as  a  son  to  his  father,  thou  art  pure  to  me  as  in  the 
day  wherein  I  created  thee."  So  are  the  words  perverted  by  the 
Targumist,  not  knowing  what  sense  to  ascribe  unto  them;  which  is 
frequent  with  him.  But  it  is  manifest  that  the  constant  opinion  of 
the  ancient  Jews  was  that  this  psalm  principally  intended  the  Mes- 
siah, nor  did  any  of  them  of  old  dissent.  Some  of  their  later 
masters  are  otherwise  minded,  but  therein  discover  their  obstinacy 
and  iniquity. 

Thus  Rabbi  Solomon  Jarchi,  in  his  comment  on  this  psalm,  in 
the  Venetian  edition  of  the  great  Masoretical  Bibles,  affirms  that 
"  whatever  is  sung  in  this  psalm  our  masters  interpreted  of  Messiah 
the  king;  but,"  saith  he,  "according  unto  the  sound  of  the  words, 
and  for  the  confutation  of  the  heretics  "  (that  is,  Christians),  "  it  is 
convenient  that  we  expound  it  of  David."  So  wickedly  corrupt 
and  partial  are  they  now  in  their  interpretations  of  the  Scripture. 
But  these  words  are  left  out  in  the  Basle  edition  of  the  same  notes 
and  comments;  by  the  fraud,  it  may  be,  of  the  Jews  employed  in 
that  work,  so  to  hide  the  dishonesty  of  one  of  their  great  masters. 
But  the  confession  of  the  judgment  of  their  fathers  or  predecessors 
in  this  matter  is  therein  also  extant.  And  Aben  Ezra,  though  he 
would  apply  it  unto  David,  yet  speaks  doubtfully  whether  it  may 
not  better  be  ascribed  unto  the  Messiah. 

But  this  was  not  enough  for  the  apostle,  that  those  with  whom 
he  dealt  acknowledged  these  words  to  be  spoken  concerning  the 
Messiah,  unless  they  were  so  really,  that  so  his  argument  might 
proceed  "  ex  veris"  as  well  as  "  ex  concessis," — from  what  was  true 
as  upon  what  was  granted.     This,  then,  we  must  next  inquire  into. 

The  whole  psalm,  say  some,  seems  principally,  if  not  only,  to 
intend  David.  He  having  taken  the  hill  and  tower  of  Zion,  and 
settled  it  for  the  seat  of  his  kingdom,  the  nations  round  about  tu- 
multuated  against  him ;  and  some  of  them,  as  the  Philistines,  pre- 
sently engaged  in  war  against  him  for  his  ruin,  2  Sam.  v.  1 7.  To 
declare  how  vain  all  their  attempts  should  be,  and  the  certainty  of 


VER.  5.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBKEWS.  133 

God's  purpose  in  raising  hira  to  the  kingdom  of  Israel,  and  for  his 
preservation  therein  against  all  his  adversaries,  with  the  indignation 
of  God  against  them,  the  Holy  Ghost  gave  out  this  psalm  for  the 
comfort  and  establishment  of  the  church  in  the  persuasion  of  so 
great  a  mercy.     And  this  is  borrowed  of  Rashi. 

But  suppose  the  psalm  to  have  a  further  respect  than  unto  David 
and  his  temporal  kingdom,  and  that  it  doth  point  at  the  ]\Iessi;ih 
under  the  type  of  David,  yet  then  also  whatever  is  spoken  in  it 
must  firstly  and  properly  be  understood  of  David.  So  that  if  the 
words  insisted  on  by  the  apostle  do  prove  that  the  Lord  Christ  was 
made  more  excellent  than  the  angels,  they  prove  the  same  concern- 
ing David  also,  concerning  whom  they  were  spoken  in  the  first 
place. 

Ans.  1.  There  is  no  cogent  reason  why  we  should  acknowledge 
David  and  his  kingdom  to  be  at  all  intended  in  this  psalm.  The 
apostles,  we  see,  apply  it  unto  the  Lord  Christ  without  any  mention 
of  David,  and  that  four  several  times, — twice  in  the  Acts,  and  twice 
in  this  epistle.  The  Jews  acknowledge  that  it  belongs  unto  the 
Messiah.  Besides,  there  are  sundry  things  spoken  in  the  psalm 
that  could  never  truly  and  properly  be  applied  unto  David.  Such 
are  the  promises,  verses  8,  9,  and  the  invitation  of  all  men  to  put 
their  trust  and  confidence  in  him,  verse  12.  And  we  have  a  rule 
given  us  by  the  Holy  Ghost, — That  where  any  thing  seems  to  be 
spoken  of  any  one  to  whom  it  doth  not  properly  belong,  there  the 
person  is  not  at  all  to  be  understood,  but  the  Lord  Christ  himself 
immediately.  This  rule  Peter  gives  us  in  his  interpretation  of  the 
Ifith  psalm,  and  his  application  of  it  unto  the  Lord  Jesus,  Acts 
ii.  29-3 L  So  that  there  is  no  necessity  to  grant  that  there  is  any 
reference  in  these  words  to  any  type  at  all.     But, — 

2.  We  grant  that  David  was  a  type  of  Christ,  and  that  as  he 
was  king  ot  the  people  of  God.  Hence  he  is  not  only  often  sig- 
nally called  "The  son  of  David,"  but  "David"  also,  Jer.  xxx.  9; 
Ezek.  xxxvii.  24,  25;  Hos.  iii.  5.  And  the  throne  and  kingdom 
promised  to  David  for  ever  and  ever,  that  it  should  be  as  the  sun, 
and  established  for  ever  as  the  moon,  Ps,  Ixxxix.  36,  37, — that  is, 
whilst  the  world  endures, — had  no  accomplishment  but  in  the  tin  one 
and  kingdom  of  his  Son,  Jesus  Christ.  Thus  also  many  other  thiugs 
are  said  of  him  and  his  kingdom,  which  in  propriety  of  speech  can 
no  way  be  applied  unto  him  but  as  he  was  a  type  of  Christ,  and 
represented  him  to  the  church.  We  may  then  grant,  as  that  about 
which  we  will  not  contend,  that  in  this  psalm  consideration  was  had 
of  David  and  his  kingdom,  but  not  absolutely,  but  only  as  a  type 
of  Christ.     And  hence  two  things  will  follow: — 

(1.)  That  some  things  may  be  spoken  in  the  psalm  which  no 
way  respect  the  type  at  all.     For  when  not  the  type,  but  the  person 


iS4>  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CIIAP.  U 

or  thing  signified,  is  principally  aimed  at,  it  is  not  necessary  that 
every  thing  spoken  thereof  should  be  applicable  pi'ojjerly  unto  tlie 
type  itself,  it  being  sufficient  that  there  was  in  the  type  somewhat 
that  bare  a  general  resemblance  unto  him  or  that  which  was  princi- 
pally intended.  So,  on  the  contrary,  where  the  type  is  principally 
intended,  and  an  application  made  to  the  thing  signified  only  by 
Avay  of  general  allusion,  there  it  is  not  required  that  all  the  particu- 
lars assigned  unto  the  type  should  belong  unto  or  be  accommodated 
unto  the  thing  typed  out,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  next  testimony  cited 
by  the  apostle.  Hence,  though  in  general  David  and  his  deliver- 
ance from  trouble,  with  the  establishment  of  his  throne,  might  be 
respected  in  this  psalm,  as  an  obscure  representation  of  the  kingdom 
of  Christ,  yet  sundi'y  particulars  in  it,  and  among  them  this  men- 
tioned by  our  apostle,  seem  to  have  no  respect  unto  him,  but  directly 
and  immediately  to  intend  the  Messiah. 

(2.)  If  it  yet  be  supposed  that  what  is  here  spoken,  "  Thou  art 
my  Son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee,"  is  also  to  be  applieil  unto 
David,  yet  it  is  not  ascribed  unto  him  personally  and  absolutely, 
but  merely  considered  as  a  type  of  Christ.  What,  then,  is  princi- 
pally and  directly  intended  in  the  words  is  to  be  sought  for  in 
Christ  alone,  it  being  sufficient  tg  preserve  the  nature  of  the  type 
that  there  was  in  David  any  resemblance  or  representation  of  it'. 

Tlius,  whether  David  be  admitted  as  a  type  of  Christ  in  this  psalm 
or  no,  the  purpose  of  the  apostle  stands  firm,  that  the  words  were 
principally  and  properly  spoken  of  the  Messiah,  and  unto  liim.  And 
this  is  the  first  thing  required  in  the  application  of  the  testimony 
insisted  on. 

Secondly,  It  is  required  that  in  the  testimony  produced  a  signal 
name  be  given  unto  the  Messiah,  and  appropriated  unto  him,  so  as 
that  he  may  inherit  it  for  ever  as  his  own,  neither  men  nor  angels 
having  the  same  interest  with  him  in  it.  It  is  not  being  called  by 
this  or  that  name  in  common  with  others  that  is  intended,  but  such 
a  peculiar  assignation  of  a  name  unto  him  as  whereby  he  might  for 
ever  be  distinguished  from  all  others.  Thus  many  may  be  beloved 
of  the  Lord,  and  be  so  termed,  but  yet  Solomon  only  was  peculiarly 
called  '^V]"'"!^,  "  Jedidiah;"  and  by  that  name  was  distinguished  from 
others.  In  this  way  it  is  that  the  Messiah  hath  his  name  assigned 
unto  him.  God  decreed  from  eternity  that  he  should  be  called  by 
that  name;  he  spake  unto  him  and  called  him  by  that  name:  "Thou 
art  my  Son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee."  He  is  not  called  the 
Son  of  God  upon  such  a  common  account  as  angels  and  men, — the 
one  by  creation,  the  other  by  adoption;  but  God  peculiarly  and  in  a 
way  of  eminency  gives  this  name  unto  him. 

Thirdly,  This  name  must  be  such  as  either  absolutely,  or  by  rea- 
son of  its  peculiar  manner  of  ajjpropriation  unto  the  Messiah,  proves 


VER.  5.]  EPISTLE  TO  TflE  HEBREWS.  135 

his  pre-eminence  above  the  angels.  Now,  the  name  designed  is  TJie 
Son  of  God:  "  Thou  art  my  Son;^'  not  absolutely,  but  with  that  ex(v 
getical  atljunct  of  his  generation,  "  This  day  have  I  begotten  thee." 
Chrysostom,  Horn,  xxii.,  on  Gen.  vi.,  positively  denies  that  the  angels 
in  Scripture  are  anywhere  called  the  sons  ot  God.  Hence  some  con- 
jecture that  the  translation  of  the  LXX.  is  changed  since  that  time, 
seeing  it  is  evident  that  they  are  so  called  in  the  Greek  Bibles  now 
extant. 

However,  in  the  original  they  are  called  "  the  sons  of  God,"  Job 
i.  6,  ii.  1,  xxxviii.  7;  Ps.  Ixxxii.  G.  Believers  are  also  called  "the  sons 
of  God,"  Horn.  viii.  16;  Gal.  iv  b;  1  John  iii.  1;  and  magistrates 
"gods,"  Ps.  Ixxxii.  1,  6;  John  x.  34.  It  doth  not  therefore  appear 
how  the  mere  assigning  of  this  name  to  the  Messiah  doth  prove  his 
pre-eminence  above  the  angels,  who  are  also  called  by  it. 

Ans.  Angels  may  be  called  the  sons  of  God  upon  a  general  ac- 
count, and  by  virtue  of  their  participation  in  some  common  privilege; 
as  they  are  l)y  reason  of  their  creation,  like  Adam,  Luke  iii.  ult.,  and. 
constant  obedience.  Job  i.  But  it  was  never  said  unto  any  angel 
personally,  upon  his  own  account,  "  Thou  art  the  son  of  God."  God 
never  said  so  unto  any  of  them,  especially  with  the  reason  of  the 
appellation  annexed,  "  This  day  have  I  begotten  thee."  It  is  not, 
then,  the  general  name  of  a  son,  or  the  sons  of  God,  that  the  apostle 
instanceth  in;  bat  the  peculiar  assignation  of  this  name  unto  the 
Lord  Je.sus  on  his  own  particular  account,  with  the  reason  of  it  an- 
nexed, "  This  day  have  I  begotten  thee,"  which  is  insisted  on.  So 
that  here  is  au  especial  appropriation  of  this  glorious  name  unto  the 
Messiah. 

Again,  The  aiipropriation  of  this  name  unto  him  in  the  man- 
ner expressed  proves  his  dignity  and  pre-eminence  above  all  the 
angels.  For  it  is  evident  that  God  intended  thereby  to  declare  his 
singular  honour  and  glory,  giving  him  a  name  to  denote  it,  that  was 
never  by  him  assigned  unto  any  mere  creature,  as  hi.s  j^oculiar  inhe- 
ritance; in  particular,  not  unto  any  of  the  angels.  Not  one  of  them 
can  lay  any  claim  unto  it  as  his  peculiar  heritage  from  the  Lord. 

And  this  is  the  whole  that  was  incumbent  on  the  apostle  to  prove 
by  the  testimony  produced  He  manifests  him  sufficiently  to  be 
more  excellent  than  the  angels,  from  the  excellency  of  the  name 
which  he  inherits,  according  to  his  proposition  before  laid  down. 
There  is,  indeed,  included  in  this  reasoning  of  the  aposlle  an  inti- 
mation of  a  peculiar  filiation  and  sonshijD  of  Christ.  Had  he  not 
been  so  the  Son  of  God  as  never  any  angel  or  other  creatiu-e  was,  he 
never  had  been  called  so  in  such  a  way  as  they  are  nevi'r  so  called. 
But  this  the  apostle  at  present  doth  not  expressly  insist  upon;  only, 
he  intimates  it  as  the  foundation  of  his  discourse. 

To  conclude,  then,  our  considerations  of  this  testimony,  we  shall 


136  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CUAP.  L 

Li  iefly  inquire  after  the  sense  of  the  words  themselves,  absolutely 
considered ;  although,  as  I  have  showed,  that  doth  not  belong  di- 
rectly unto  the  present  argument  of  the  apostle. 

Expositors  are  much  divided  about  the  precise  intendment  of 
these  words,  both  as  they  are  used  in  the  psalm,  and  variously  ap- 
plied by  the  apostles.  But  yet  generally  the  expositions  given  of 
them  are  pious,  and  consistent  with  each  other.  I  shall  not  insist 
long  upon  them,  because,  as  I  said,  their  especial  sense  belongeth 
not  unto  the  design  and  argument  of  the  apostle. 

That  Chi'ist  is  the  natural  and  eternal  Son  of  God  is  agreed  at 
this  day  by  all  Christians,  save  the  Socinians.  And  he  is  called  so 
because  he  is  so.  The  formal  reason  why  he  is  so  called  is  one  and 
the  same,  namely,  his  eternal  Sonship;  but  occasions  of  actual  as- 
cribing that  name  unto  him  there  are  many.  And  hence  ariseth 
the  difficulty  that  is  found  in  the  words.  Some  think  tiiese  words, 
"  This  day  have  I  begotten  thee,"  do  contain  the  formal  reason  of 
Christ's  being  properly  called  the  Son  of  God,  and  so  denote  his 
eternal  generation.  Others  think  they  express  only  some  outward 
act  of  God  towards  the  Lord  Christ,  on  the  occasion  whereof  he  was 
declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God,  and  so  called.  The  former  way  went 
Austin,  with  sundry  of  the  ancients.  The  Di'D,  the  "hodie,"  or 
"  this  day,"  here,  was  the  same  with  them  as  the  "  nunc  stans,"  as 
they  call  it,  of  eternity;  and  the '^^^7-  •'  "I  have  begotten  thee," 
denotes,  as  they  say,  the  proper  natural  generation  of  the  Son,  by 
an  inconceivable  communication  of  the  essence  and  substance  of  the 
Godhead  by  the  person  of  the  Father  unto  him.  And  this  doctrine 
is  true,  but  whether  here  intended  or  no  is  by  some  greatly  ques- 
tioned. 

Others,  thei'efore,  take  the  words  to  express  only  an  occasion  of 
giving  this  name  at  a  certain  season  to  the  Lord  Christ,  when  he  was 
revealed  or  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God.  And  some  assign  this 
to  the  day  of  his  incarnation,  when  he  declared  him  to  be  his  Son, 
and  that  he  should  be  so  called,  as  Luke  i.  35;  some  to  the  day  of 
his  baptism,  when  he  was  again  solemnly  from  heaven  proclaimed 
so  to  be,  Matt.  iii.  17;  some  to  the  day  of  his  resurrection,  when  he 
was  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God  with  power,  Rom.  i.  4,  and  Acts 
xiii.  33 ;  some  to  the  day  of  his  ascension,  whereunto  these  words 
are  applied.  And  all  these  interpretations  are  consistent,  and  recon- 
cilable witii  each  other,  inasmuch  as  they  are  all  means  serving 
unto  the  same  end,  that  of  his  resurrection  from  the  dead  being  the 
most  signal  amongst  them,  and  fixed  on  in  particular  by  our  apostle 
in  his  application  of  this  testimony  unto  him,  Acts  xiii.  33. 

And  in  this  sense  alone  the  words  have  any  appearance  of  respect 
unto  David,  as  a  type  of  Christ,  seeing  he  was  said,  as  it  were,  to  be 
begotten  of  God  when  he  raised  him  up,  and  established  him  in  his 


VER.  5.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  137 

rule  and  kingdom.  Neither,  indeed,  doth  the  apostle  treat  in  this 
place  of  the  eternal  generation  of  the  Son,  but  of  his  exaltation  and 
pre-eminence  above  angels. 

The  word  I3i'!],  also,  constantly  in  the  Scripture  denotes  some  sig- 
nal time,  one  day  or  more.  And  that  expression,  "  This  day  have 
I  begotten  thee,"  following  immediately  upon  that  other  typical  one, 
"  I  have  set  my  king  upon  my  holy  hill  of  Zion/'  seems  to  be  of  the 
same  importance,  and  in  like  manner  to  be  interpreted.  Thus  far, 
then,  I  choose  to  embrace  the  latter  interpretation  of  the  word:^, — 
namely,  that  the  eternal  generation  of  Christ,  on  which  his  filiaticm 
or  sonship,  both  name  and  thing,  doth  depend,  is  to  be  taken  only 
declaratively;  and  that  declaration  to  be  made  in  his  resurrection, 
and  exaltation  over  all  that  ensued  thereon.  But  every  one  is  left 
unto  the  liberty  of  his  own  judgment  herein. 

And  this  is  the  first  testimony  whereby  the  apostle  confirms  his 
assertion  of  the  pre-eminence  of  the  Lord  Christ  above  the  angels, 
from  the  name  that  he  inherits  as  his  peculiar  right  and  possession. 

For  the  further  confirmation  of  the  same  truth,  he  adds  another 
testimony  of  the  same  importance,  in  the  words  ensuing: — 

7"e7'.  5. — Ka/  vdXiv  'Eyuj  iGo/xai  ahriZ  ug  Tarspa,  zai  avrog  iGrai  fioi 
£/g  v'lov ; 

Vulg.:  "Et  rursum.ego  ero  illi  in  patrem,  ct  ipse  erit  mihi  in  filium;" — "  I  will  he 
to  him  lor  a  father,  and  he  shall  he  to  ine  for  a  son."  So  also  the  Syriac,  ''7*»? 
anil  '*"-^',  "  in  pati'cm,"  and  "  in  filium;"  not  "pro  patre,"  and  "  profiHo,"  as  some 
render  the  words.  Erasmus  worse  than  they:  "Eg-o  ero  ei  loco  patris,  et  ille 
erit  mihi  loco  filii;" — "Instead  of  a  father,"  and  "instead  of  a  son,"  or,  "in 
the  place;"  which  agrees  not  with  the  letter,  and  corrupts  the  sense.  Beza: 
"  Ego  ero  ei  pater,  et  ipse  erit  mihi  filius ;"  who  is  followed  by  ours,  "  And  agam, 
I  will  be  to  him  a  father,  and  he  shall  be  to  me  a  son." 

Kocl  Troi'hiv,  "  and  again."  That  is,  in  another  place,  or  "  again,"^  it  is  said 
to  the  Son  what  is  nowhere  spoken  unto  the  angels.  ''Ey^j  'hoficci, — ""~~1|.~^  "'??^ 
■|3-5  ^~~~^~^^  sl-'i  3S5^  The  prefi.Ked 'j  doth  not  denote  a  suh-tituiion  or  (onipari- 
son,  but  the  truth  of  the  thing  itself.  So  it  is  said  of  Rebekah,  ""f*??  "''"^"'i'], 
"  she  was  unto  him,"  not  "  for,"  or  "  instead  of,"  or  "  in  the  place  of,"  but  "  his 
wife,"  Gen.  xxiv.  67.  And  in  the  words  of  the  covenant,  Jer.  x.\xi.  33,  "I  will 
be  to  them  ^^'^''*?,  and  they  sliall  be  to  me  ^j'?:  not,  "  I  will  be  unto  them  instead 
of  God,  and  they  shall  be  unto  me  instead  of  a  people;"  but,  "  I  will  be  their 
Gi)d,  and  they  shall  be  my  people."  And  the  same  is  the  signification  of  thesa 
words,  "  I  will  be  his  father,  and  he  shall  be  my  son."' 


•  The  quotation  is  from  2  Sam.  vii.  14.  The  etc  is  Hebraistic,  equivalent  to  h. 
Efforts  have  been  made  to  explain  this  ])assage  exclusively  either  of  Sol.  mon  or  of 
Christ;  but  in  vain.  The  conuxt  will  not  alloA  such  a  limiiation.  The  "seed" 
predicted  is  a  royal  progeny, — not  merely  an  individual  son,  but  a  succ<  ssion  of 
kings;  and  as  the  Me.-siah  is  the  most  "distinguished  and  gloi-ious,  whatever  ot 
dignity  and  of  honour  is  asserted  or  implied  in  the  context  is  properly  attributable 
to  him, — 'Turner. — Ed. 


13S  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

Yer.  5. — And  again,  I  will  be  to  him  a  father,  and  he 
shall  be  to  me  a  son  ? 

This  is  the  second  testimony  produced  by  the  apostle  to  prove  the 
pre-eminence  of  the  Lord  Christ  above  the  angels,  from  the  excel- 
lency of  the  name  given  unto  him.  One  word,  one  witness,  the 
testimony  being  that  of  God,  and  not  of  man,  had  been  sufficient  to 
have  evinced  the  truth  of  his  assertion;  but  the  apostle  adds  a 
second  here,  partly  to  manifest  the  importance  of  the  matter  he 
treated  of,  and  partly  to  stir  them  up  unto  a  diligent  search  of  the 
Scripture,  where  the  same  truths,  especially  those  that  are  of  most 
concernment  unto  us,  are  scattered  up  and  down  in  sundry  places, 
as  the  Holy  Ghost  had  occasion  to  make  mention  of  them.  This  is 
that  mine  of  precious  gold  which  we  are  continually  to  dig  for  and 
search  after,  if  we  intend  to  grow  and  to  be  rich  in  the  knowledge 
of  God  in  Christ,  Prov.  ii.  3,  4.  Expositors  do  generally  perplex 
themselves  and  their  readers  about  the  application  of  these  words 
unto  the  Lord  Christ.  Cajetan,  for  this  cause,  that  this  testimony 
is  not  rightly  produced  nor  applied  as  it  ought,  rejects  the  whole 
epistle  as  not  written  by  the  apostle,  nor  of  canonical  authority. 
Such  instances  do  even  wise  and  learned  men  give  of  their  folly 
and  self-fulness  every  day.  The  conclusion  that  he  makes  must 
needs  be  built  on  these  two  suppositions: — First,  That  whatever  any 
man  might  or  could  apprehend  concer-ning  the  right  application 
of  this  testimony,  he  himself  might  and  could  so  do;  for  other- 
wise he  might  have  acknowledged  his  own  insufficiency,  and  have 
left  the  solution  of  the  difficulty  unto  them  to  whom  God  should  1)6 
pleased  to  reveal  it.  Secondly,  That  when  men  of  any  generation 
cannot  understand  the  force  and  efficacy  of  the  reasonings  of  the 
penmen  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  nor  discern  the  suitableness  of  the  tes- 
timonies thay  make  use  of  unto  the  things  they  produce  them  iu 
the  confirmation  of,  they  may  lawfully  reject  any  portion  of  Scrip- 
ture thereon.  The  folly  and  iniquity  of  which  principles  or  sujjpo- 
sitions  are  manifest. 

The  application  of  testimonies  out  of  the  Old  Testament  in  tlie 
New  depends,  as  to  their  authority,  on  the  veracity  of  him  that 
maketh  use  of  them;  and  as  to  their  cogency  in  argument,  on  the 
acknowledgment  of  them  on  whom  they  are  pressed.  Where  we 
find  these  concurring,  as  in  this  place,  there  remains  nothing  for 
us  but  to  endeavour  a  right  understanding  of  what  is  in  itself 
infallibly  true,  and  unquestionably  cogent  unto  the  ends  for  which 
it  is  used. 

Indeed,  the  main  difficulty  which  in  this  place  expositors  gene- 
rally trouble  themselves  withal  ariseth  ptuely  from  their  own  mis- 
take.    They  cannot  understand  how  these  words  should  prove  the 


VER.  5.J  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  1  39 

natural  sonsliip  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  they  suppose  tliey  are  pro- 
duced to  confirm,  seeing  it  is  from  thence  tliat  lie  is  exalted  above 
the  angels.  But  the  truth  is,  the  words  are  not  designed  by  the 
apostle  unto  any  such  end.  His  aim  is  oidy  to  prove  that  the  Lord 
Christ  hath  a  name  assigned  unto  him  more  excellent,  either  iu 
itself  or  in  the  manner  of  its  attribution,  than  any  that  is  given 
unto  the  angels,  Avhich  is  the  medium  of  this  first  argument  to  prove 
him,  not  as  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  nor  in  respect  of  his  human 
nature,  but  as  the  revealer  of  the  will  of  God  in  the  gos[jel,  to  be 
preferred  above  all  the  angels  in  heaven,  and  consequentlv,  in  par- 
ticidar,  above  those  whose  ministry  was  used  in  the  giving  of  the 
law. 

Two  things,  then,  are  necessary  to  render  this  testimony  effectual 
to  the  pm'pose  for  which  it  is  cited  by  the  apostle ; — first.  That  it  was 
originally  intended  of  him  to  whom  he  doth  apply  it;  secondly, 
That  there  is  a  name  in  it  assigned  unto  him  more  excellent  than 
any  ascribed  unto  the  angels. 

For  the  first  of  these,  we  must  not  waive  the  difficulties  that  in- 
terpreters have  either  found  out  in  it,  or  cast  upon  it.  The  words 
are  taken  from  2  Sam.  vii.  14,  and  are  part  of  the  answer  returned 
from  God  unto  David  by  Nathan,  upon  his  resolution  to  build  him 
a  house.  The  whole  oracle  is  as  followeth:  Verses  11-16,  "The 
Lord  telleth  thee  that  he  will  make  thee  an  house.  And  when  thy 
days  be  fulfilled,  and  thou  shalt  sleep  with  thy  fathers,  I  will  set  up 
thy  seed  after  thee,  which  shall  proceed  out  of  thy  bowels,  and  I 
will  establish  his  kingdom."  (Or  as  1  Chron.  xvii.  11,  "And  it 
shall  come  to  pass,  when  thy  days  be  expired,  that  thou  must  go  to 
be  with  thy  fathers,  that  I  will  raise  up  thy  seed  after  thee,  which 
shall  be  of  thy  sons;  and  I  will  establish  his  kingdom,")  "  He  shall 
build  an  house  for  my  name  ;  and  I  will  establish  the  throne  of  his 
kingdom  for  ever."  (1  Chron.  xvii.  12,  "  He  shall  build  me  an 
house,  and  I  will  stablish  his  throne  for  ever.")  "  I  will  be  his 
father,  and  he  shall  be  my  son.  If  he  commit  iniquity,  I  will  chas- 
ten him  with  the  rod  of  men,  and  with  the  stripes  of  the  children 
of  men :  but  my  mercy  shall  not  depart  away  from  him,  as  I  took 
it  from  Saul,  whom  I  put  away  before  thee."  (1  Chron.  xvii.  13, 
"  I  will  be  his  father,  and  he  shall  be  my  son :  and  I  will  not  take 
my  mercy  away  from  iiim,  as  I  took  it  from  him  that  was  before 
thee.")  "And  thine  house  and  thy  kingdom  shall  be  established 
for  ever  before  thee:  thy  throne  shall  be  established  for  ever," 
(1  Chron.  xvii.  14,  "But  I  will  settle  him  in  mine  liouse  and  in 
my  kingdom  lor  ever:  and  his  throne  shall  be  established  for  ever- 
more.") 

Tiiis  is  the  whole  divine  oracle  from  whence  the  apostle  takes  the 
testimony  under   consideration;  and  the  difficulty  wherewith  it  is 


140  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP  L 

attended  ariseth  from  hence,  that  it  is  not  easy  to  apprehend  how 
any  thing  at  all  in  these  words  should  be  appropriated  unto  the 
Lord  Christ,  seeing  Solomon  seems  in  the  whole  to  be  directly  and 
only  intended.  And  concerning  this  difficulty  there  are  three 
opinions  among  interpreters: — 

1.  Some  cutting  that  knot,  which  they  suppose  could  not  other- 
wise be  loosed,  affirm  that  Solomon  is  not  at  all  intended  in  these 
words,  but  that  they  are  a  direct  and  immediate  prophecy  of  Christ, 
who  was  to  be  the  son  of  David,  and  to  build  the  spiritual  house  or 
temple  of  God.  And  for  the  confirmation  of  this  assertion  they 
produce  sundry  reasons  frotn  the  oracle  itself;  as, — 

(1.)  It  is  said  that  God  would  raise  up  to  David  a  seed,  or  son, 
intimating  that  he  was  not  as  yet  born,  being  foretold  to  be  raised 
up ;  whereas  Solomon  was  born  at  the  time  of  this  prophecy. 

(2.)  It  is  also  affirmed  that  this  son  or  seed  shouhl  reign  and  sit 
upon  the  throne  of  David  after  his  decease,  and  being  gathered 
unto  his  fathers;  whereas  Solomon  was  made  king  and  sat  upon  tlie 
throne  whilst  David  was  yet  alive,  and  not  entered  into  rest  wiih 
his  fathers. 

(3.)  The  throne  of  this  son  is  to  be  established  for  ever,  or  as  the 
same  promise  is  ex}>ressed,  Ps.  Ixxxix.,  whilst  the  sun  and  moon 
continue; — the  throne  of  Solomon  and  his  posterity  tailed  withia 
a  few  generations. 

(4.)  The  title  there  given  unto  him  who  is  directly  prophesied  of 
shows  him,  as  our  apostle  intimates,  to  be  preferred  above  all  the 
angels;  and  none  will  say  that  Solomon  was  so,  who,  as  he  was 
inferior  to  them  in  nature  and  condition,  so  by  sin  he  greatly  pro- 
voked the  Lord  against  himself  and  his  posterity. 

But  yet  all  these  observations,  though  they  want  not  some  ap- 
pearance and  probability  of  reason,  come  short  of  proving  evidently 
what  they  are  produced  for,  as  we  may  briefly  manifest ;  for, — 

(1.)  It  doth  not  appear  that  Solomon  was  born  at  the  time  of  the 
giving  forth  of  this  oracle,  if  we  must  suppose  that  God  intimated 
in  it  unto  David  that  none  of  the  sons  which  he  then  had  should 
succeed  him  in  his  kingdom;  yea,  it  is  manifest  from  the  story  that 
he  was  not.  Besides,  "  raising  up"  doth  not  denote  the  birth  or  nati- 
vity of  the  person  intended,  but  his  designation  or  exaltation  to  his 
throne  and  office,  as  is  the  usual  meaning  of  that  expression  in  the 
Scripture;  so  that  Solomon  might  be  intended,  thougli  bow  born, 
yea,  and  grown  up,  if  not  yet  by  the  providence  of  God  marked 
and  taken  out  from  amongst  his  brethren  to  be  king,  as  afterwards 
he  was. 

(2.)  Although  a  few  days  before  the  death  of  David,  to  prevent 
sedition  and  division  about  titles  and  pretensions  to  the  kingdom, 
Solomon  by  his  appointment  was  proclaimed  king,  or  heir  to  the 


VER.  5.  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  14.] 

crown,  yet  he  was  not  actually  vested  with  the  whole  power  of  the 
kingdom  until  after  his  natural  decease.  Moreover,  also,  David 
being  then  very  weak  and  feeble,  and  rendered  unai^le  for  public 
administration,  the  short  remainder  of  his  days  after  the  inauciira^ 
tion  of  Solomon  needed  no  observation  in  the  propiiecy. 

The  other  two  remaining  reasons  must  be  afterwards  spoken  unto. 
And  for  the  present  removal  of  this  exposition,  I  shall  only  observe, 
that  to  affirm  Solomon  not  at  all  to  be  intended  in  this  oracle,  nor 
the  house  or  temple  which  afterwards  he  built,  is  to  make  the  whole 
answer  of  God  by  the  prophet  unto  David  to  be  equivocal.  For 
David  inquired  of  Nathan  about  building  a  house  or  material 
temple  unto  God.  Nathan  returns  him  answer  from  God  that  he 
shall  not  do  so,  but  that  his  son  should  perform  that  work.  This 
answer  David  understands  of  his  ivimediate  son  and  of  a  material 
house,  and  thereupon  makes  material  provision  lor  it  and  prepara- 
tion in  great  abundance,  upon  the  encouragement  he  received  in 
this  answer  of  God.  Now,  if  neither  of  these  were  at  all  intended 
in  it, — neither  his  son  nor  the  material  temple, — it  is  evident  that 
he  was  led  into  a  great  mistake,  by  the  ambiguity  and  equivocation 
of  the  word  ;  but  we  find  by  the  event  that  he  was  not,  God  ap- 
proving and  accepting  of  his  obedience  in  what  he  did.  It  remains, 
then,  that  Solomon  firstly  and  immediately  is  intended  in  these 
words. 

2.  Some,  on  the  other  hand,  aflSrm  the  whole  prophecy  so  to  be- 
long unto  and  so  to  be  fulfilled  in  Solomon,  and  in  him  alone,  that 
there  is  no  direct  respect  therein  unto  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  And 
the  reason  for  their  assertion  they  take  from  the  words  which  im- 
mediately follow  those  insisted  on  by  the  apostle,  namely,  "  If  lie 
commit  iniquity,  I  will  chastise  him  with  the  rod  of  men;"  which 
cannot  be  applied  unto  Him  who  did  no  sin,  neither  was  there  guile 
found  in  his  mouth.  They  say,  therefore,  that  the  apostle  applies 
these  words  unto  Christ  only  by  way  of  an  allegory.  Thus  he  deals 
with  the  law  of  not  muzzling  the  ox  which  treadeth  out  the  corn, 
applying  it  to  the  provision  of  carnal  things  to  be  made  for  the  dis- 
pensers of  the  gospel;  as  he  also  in  another  place  representeth  the 
two  testaments  by  the  story  of  Sarah  and  Hagar. 

That  which  principally  is  to  be  insisted  on  for  the  removal  of  this 
difficulty,  and  which  will  utterly  take  it  out  of  our  way,  will  fall  in 
with  our  confirmation  of  the  third  interpretation,  to  be  proposed. 
For  the  present,  I  shall  only  answer,  that  as  the  words  cited  by  the 
apostle  do  principally  concern  the  person  of  Christ  himself,  yet  being 
spoken  and  given  out  in  form  of  a  covenant,  they  have  respect  also 
unto  him  as  he  is  the  head  of  the  covenant  which  God  makes  wiih 
all  the  elect  in  him.  And  thus  whole  mystical  Christ,  head  aud 
members,  are  referred  unto  in  the  prophecy;  and  therefore  David, 


J  42  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

in  his  repetition  and  pleading  of  this  oracle,  Ps.  Ixxxix.  30,  changeth 
those  words,  "  If  be  commit  iniquity,"  into  "  If  his  children  forsake 
iny  law."  Notwithstanding,  then,  a  supposition  of  transgression  in 
him  concerning  whom  these  words  are  spoken,  the  Lord  Christ  may 
be  intended  in  them;  such  failings  and  transgressions  as  disannul 
not  the  covenant  often  falling  out  on  their  part  for  whom  he  under- 
taketh  therein.  But  I  offer  this  only  "in  majorem  cautelam,"  to 
secure  the  testimony  insisted  on  unto  our  apostle's  intention ;  the 
difiiculty  itself  will  be  clearly  afterwards  assoiled. 

8.  We  say,  therefore,  with  others,  that  both  Solomon  and  the 
Lord  Christ  are  intended  in  thi#  whole  oracle ;  Solomon  literally,  and 
nextly  as  the  type;  the  Lord  Q\msi  principally  and  mystically,  as 
he  who  was  typed,  figured,  and  represented  by  him.  And  our  sense 
herein  shall  be  further  explained  and  confirmed  in  the  ensuing  con- 
siderations:— • 

(L)  That  there  never  was  any  one  type  of  Christ  and  his  offices 
that  entirely  represented  him  and  all  that  he  was  to  do :  for  as  it 
was  impossible  that  any  one  thing  or  person  should  do  so,  because 
of  the  perfection  of  his  person  and  the  excellency  of  his  office,  which 
no  one  thing  that  might  be  appointed  to  prefigure  him  as  a  type, 
because  of  its  limitedness  and  imperfection,  could  fully  represent;  so 
had  any  such  been  found  out,  that  multiplication  of  types  which 
God  in  his  infinite  wisdom  was  pleased  to  make  use  of,  for  the  reve- 
lation of  him  intended  in  them,  had  been  altogether  useless  and 
needless.  Wherefore,  according  as  God  saw  good,  and  as  he  had 
made  them  meet  and  fit,  so  he  designed  one  thing  or  person  to  figure 
out  one  thing  in  him,  another  for  another  end  and  purpose. 

(2.)  That  no  type  of  Christ  was  in  all  things  that  he  was  or  did  a 
type  of  him,  but  only  in  that  particular  wherein  he  was  designed 
of  God  so  to  be,  and  wherein  he  hath  revealed  him  so  to  have  been. 
David  was  a  type  of  Christ,  but  not  in  all  things  that  he  was  and  did. 
In  his  conquests  of  the  enemies  of  the  church,  in  his  throne  and 
kingdom,  he  was  so;  but  in  his  private  actions,  whether  as  a  man, 
or  as  a  king  or  captain,  he  was  not  so.  The  like  must  be  said  of 
Isaac,  Melchizedek,  Solomon,  and  all  other  personal  types  under  the 
okl  testament,  and  much  more  of  other  things. 

(3.)  That  not  all  things  spoken  of  him  that  was  a  type,  even 
therein  wherein  he  was  a  type,  are  spoken  of  him  as  a  type,  or  have 
any  respect  unto  the  thing  signified,  Imt  some  of  them  may  belong 
unto  him  in  his  personal  -capacity  only.  And  the  reason  is,  because 
he.wlio  was  a  type  of  God's  institution  might  morally  fail  in  the  per- 
formance of  his  duty,  even  then  and  in  those  things  when  and 
wherein  he  was  a  type.  Hence  somewhat  may  be  spoken  of  him, 
as  to  his  moral  performance  of  his  duty,  that  may  no  way  concern 
tlie  antitype,  or  Christ  prefigured  by  him.     And  this  wholly  removes 


VER.  5.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREVTS,  1 43 

the  difficulty  mentioned  in  the  second  interpretation  of  the  ^vor(ls, 
excluding  the  Lord  Christ  from  being  directly  in  the  oracle,  U|h)u 
that  expression,  "If  he  commit  iniquity;"  for  these  words  relating  to 
the  moral  duty  of  Solomon  in  that  wherein  he  was  a  type  of  Christ, 
— namely,  the  rule  and  administration  of  his  kingdom, — may  not 
at  all  belong  to  Christ,  who  was  prefigured  by  God's  institution  of 
things,  and  not  in  any  moral  deportment  in  the  observance  of  them. 

(4.)  That  what  is  spoken  of  any  type,  as  it  was  a  type,  and  in 
respect  of  its  institution  to  be  such,  doth  not  really  and  properly 
belong  unto  him  or  that  which  was  the  type,  but  unto  liini  who  was 
represented  thereby.  For  the  type  itself,  it  was  enough  that  there 
was  some  resemblance  in  it  of  that  which  was  principally  intended, 
the  things  belonging  unto  the  antitype  being  affirmed  of  it  analo- 
gically, oh  the  account  of  the  relation  between  them  by  God's  insti- 
tution. Hence  that  which  follows  on  such  enunciations  doth  not  at 
all  respect  or  belong  to  the  type,  but  only  to  the  antitype.  Thus, 
at  the  sacrifice  of  expiation,  the  scape-goat  is  said  to  bear  and  carry 
away  all  the  sins  of  the  people  into  aland  not  inhabited,  not  really, 
and  in  the  substance  of  the  matter,  but  only  in  an  instituted  repre- 
sentation; for  "the  law  was  given  by  Moses,  but  grace  and  truth 
came  by  Jesus  Christ.'^  Much  less  may  the  things  that  ensue  upon 
the  Lord  Christ's  real  bearing  and  taking  away  of  our  sins  be  ascribed 
to  the  devoted  beast.  So  is  it  in  this  case.  The  words  applied  by 
the  apostle  to  prove  the  Son  to  have  a  more  excellent  name  than 
the  angels,  and  consequently  to  be  preferred  above  them,  do  not  at 
all  prove  that  Solomon,  of  whom  they  were  spoken  merely  as  he 
was  a  type,  should  be  esteemed  to  be  preferred  above  all  angels,  see- 
ing he  did  only  represent  Him  who  was  so,  and  had  these  words 
spoken  unto  him,  not  absolutely,  but  with  respect  unto  that  repre- 
sentation. And  this  removes  the  fourth  objection  made  in  the  be- 
half of  the  first  interpretation,  excluding  Solomon  from  being  at  all 
intended  in  the  prophecy;  for  what  was  spoken  of  Inm  as  a  type  re- 
quired not  a  full  accomplishment  in  his  own  person,  but  only  that 
he  should  represent  him  who  was  principally  intended. 

(5.)  That  there  is  a  twofold  perpetuity  mentioned  in  the  Scrip- 
ture, the  one  limited  and  relative,  the  other  absolute;  antl  both 
these  are  applied  unto  the  kingdom  of  David.  First,  there  was  a 
perpetuity  promised  unto  him  and  his  posterity  in  the  kingdom,  as 
of  the  priesthood  to  Aaron, — that  is,  a  limited  perpetuity, — namely, 
during  the  continuance  of  the  typical  state  and  condition  of  that 
people;  whilst  they  continued,  the  rule  by  right  belonged  unto  the 
house  of  David.  There  was  also  an  absolute  perpetuity  promised  to 
the  kingdom  of  David,  to  be  made  good  only  in  the  kingdom  and 
rule  of  the  Messiah.  And  both  these  kinds  of  perpetuity  are  ex- 
pressed in  the  same  words,  giving  their  sense  according  as  they  are 

VOL.   XII.— 10 


144  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

applied.  If  applied  to  the  successors  of  David,  as  his  kingdom 
was  a  type  of  that  of  Christ,  they  denote  the  limited  perpetuity  be- 
fore mentioned,  as  that  which  respected  an  adjunct  of  the  typical 
state  of  that  people,  that  was  to  be  regulated  by  it  and  commensu- 
rate unto  it;  but  as  they  are  referred  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ  re- 
presented in  the  otlier,  so  an  absolute  perpetuity  is  expressed  in 
them.  And  this  takes  away  the  third  reason  for  excluding  Solomon 
from  being  intended  in  these  words,  the  perpetuity  promised  being 
unto  him  limited  and  bounded. 

These  considerations  being  premised,  I  say,  the  words  insisted 
on  by  the  apostle,  "  I  will  be  to  him  a  father,  and  he  shall  be  to 
me  a  son,"  belonged  first  and  nextly  unto  Solomon,  denoting  that 
fatherly  love,  care,  and  protection  that  God  would  afford  unto  him 
in  his  kingdom,  so  far  forth  as  Christ  was  represented  by  him 
therein;  which  requires  not  that  they  must  absolutely  and  in  all  just 
consequences  from  them  belong  unto  the  person  of  Solomon.  Prin- 
cipally, therefore,  they  intend  Christ  himself,  expressing  that  etern:d, 
unchangeable  love  which  the  Father  bore  unto  him,  grounded  on 
the  relation  of  father  and  son. 

The  Jews,  I  confess,  of  all  others,  do  see  least  of  typicalness  in 
Solomon.  But  the  reason  of  it  is,  because  that  his  sin  was  the  occa- 
sion of  ruining  their  carnal,  earthly  glory  and  wealth;  which  tilings 
alo!ie  they  lust  afcer.  But  the  thing  was  doubtless  confessed  by  the 
church  of  old,  with  whom  Paul  had  to  do;  and  therefore  we  see  that 
the  writer  of  the  Books  of  the  Chronicles,  written  after  the  return  of 
the  people  from  their  captivity,  when  Solomon's  line  was  failed,  and 
Zerubbabel  of  the  house  of  Nathan  was  governor  amongst  them,  yet 
records  again  this  promise,  as  that  wdiich  looked  forward,  and  was 
yet  to  receive  its  full  accom|)lishment  in  the  Lord  Christ.  And  some 
of  the  rabbins  themselves  tell  us  that  Solomon,  because  of  his  sin, 
bad  only  the  name  of  peace,  God  stirring  up  adversaries  against  him ; 
the  thing  itself  is  to  be  looked  for  under  Messiah  Ben  David. 

The  allegation  of  these  words  by  the  apostle  being  thus  fully  and 
at  large  vindicated,  I  shall  now  briefly  inquire  into  the  sense  and 
meaning  of  the  words  themselves. 

It  was  before  observed,  that  they  are  not  produced  by  the  apostle 
to  prove  the  natural  sonship  of  Jesus  Christ,  nor  do  they  signify 
it;  nor  were  they  urged  by  him  to  confirm  directly  and  immediately 
that  he  is  more  excellent  than  the  angels,  of  whom  there  is  no- 
thing spoken  in  them,  nor  in  the  place  from  whence  they  are  taken. 
But  the  apostle  insists  on  this  testimony  merely  in  confirmation  of 
his  former  argument  for  the  pre-eminence  of  the  Soti  above  angels 
taken  from  that  more  excellent  name  which  he  obtained  by  inherit- 
ance ;  which  being  the  name  of  the  Son  of  God,  he  hereby  proves 
that  indeed  he  was  so  called  by  God  himself. 


VSR.  5.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  145 

Thus,  then,  do  these  words  confirm  the  intention  of  the  apostle; 
for  to  which  of  the  angels  said  God  at  any  time,  "  I  will  be  to  him 
a  father,  and  he  shall  be  to  me  a  son?"  The  words  contain  a 
great  and  signal  privilege;  they  are  sjjoken  unto  and  concerning 
the  Messiah ;  and  neither  they  nor  any  thing  equivalent  unto  them 
were  ever  spoken  of  any  angel;  especially  the  name  of  the  Son  of 
God,  so  emphatically,  and  in  way  of  distinction  from  all  others,  was 
never  assigned  unto  any  of  them.  And  this,  as  hath  been  ali-eady 
showed,  proves  an  eminency  and  pre-eminence  in  him  above  all 
that  the  angels  attain  unto.  All  this,  I  say,  follows  from  the  pecu- 
liar, signal  appropriation  of  the  name  of  the  Son  of  God  unto  him, 
and  his  especial  relation  unto  God  therein  expressed. 

Briefly,  we  may  adjoin  the  intention  of  the  words  as  in  them- 
selves considered,  and  so  complete  the  exposition  of  them.  Now, 
God  promisetli  in  them  to  be  unto  the  Lord  Christ,  as  exalted  into 
his  throne,  a  father,  in  love,  care,  and  power,  to  protect  and  carry  him 
on  in  his  rule  unto  the  end  of  the  world.  And  therefore  upon  his 
ascension  he  says  that  he  went  unto  his  God  and  Father,  John  xx. 
17.  And  he  rules  in  the  name  and  majesty  of  God,  Mic.  v.  4.  Tliis 
is  the  importance  of  the  words.  They  intend  not  the  eternal  and 
natural  relation  that  is  between  the  Father  and  Son,  which  neither 
is  nor  can  be  the  subject  of  any  promise,  but  the  'paternal  care  of 
God  over  Christ  in  his  kingdom,  and  the  dearness  of  Christ  himself 
unto  him. 

If  it  be  asked  on  what  account  God  would  thus  be  a  father  unto 
Jesus  Christ  in  this  peculiar  manner,  it  must  be  answered  that  the 
radical,  fundamental  cause  of  it  lay  in  the  relation  that  was  between 
them  from  his  eternal  generation;  but  he  tnanifested  himself  to  be 
his  father,  and  engaged  to  deal  with  him  in  the  love  and  care  of  a 
father,  as  he  had  accomplished  his  work  of  mediation  on  the  earth 
and  was  exalted  unto  his  throne  and  ride  in  heaven. 

And  this  is  the  first  argument  of  the  apostle,  whereby  he  proves 
that  the  Son,  as  the  revealer  of  the  mind  and  will  of  God  in  the 
gospel,  is  made  more  excellent  than  the  angels;  whose  glory  was  a 
refuge  to  the  Jews  in  their  adherence  to  legal  rites  and  administra- 
tions, even  because  they  were  given  unto  them  "  by  the  disposition 
of  angels." 

According  unto  our  proposed  method,  we  must  in  our  progress 
draw  hence  also  some  instructions  for  our  own  use  and  edification ; 
as, — 

I.  Every  thing  in  the  Scripture  is  instructive.  The  apostle's 
arguing  in  this  place  is  not  so  much  from  the  thing  spoken,  as  from 
the  manner  wherein  it  is  spoken.  Even  that  also  is  highly  myste- 
rious. So  are  all  the  concernments  of  it.  Nothing  in  it  is  need- 
less, nothing  useless.     Men  sometimes  perplex  themselves  to  find 


146  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I, 

out  the  suitableness  of  some  testimonies  produced  out  of  the  Old 
Testament  unto  the  confirmation  of  things  and  doctrines  in  tlie 
New  Ly  the  penmen  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  when  all  the  difficulty 
ariseth  from  a  fond  conceit  that  they  can  apprehend  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  wisdom  that  is  laid  up  in  any  one  text  of  Scripture, 
when  the  Holy  Ghost  may  have  a  principal  aim  at  those  things 
which  they  are  not  able  to  dive  into.  Every  letter  and  tittle  of  it 
is  teaching,  and  every  thing  that  relates  unto  it  is  instructive  in  the 
mind  of  God.     And  it  must  be  so,  because, — 

1.  It  proceeds  from  infinite  wisdom,  which  hath  put  an  impress 
of  itself  upon  it,  and  filled  all  its  capacity  with  its  blessed  effects. 
In  the  whole  frame,  structure,  and  order  of  it,  in  the  sense,  words, 
coherence,  expression,  it  is  filled  with  wisdom;  which  makes  the 
commandment  exceeding  broad  and  large,  so  that  thei'e  is  no  abso- 
lute comprehension  of  it  in  this  life.  We  cannot  pei'fectly  trace  the 
footsteps  of  infinite  wisdom,  nor  find  out  all  the  effects  and  char- 
acters of  it  that  it  hath  left  upon  the  Word.  The  whole  Scripture 
is  full  of  wisdom,  as  the  sea  is  of  water,  which  fills  and  covers  all 
the  parts  of  it.     And, — 

2.  Because  it  was  to  he  very  comprehensive.  It  was  to  contain, 
directly  or  by  consequence,  one  way  or  other,  the  whole  revelation 
of  God  unto  us,  and  all  our  duty  unto  him;  both  which  are  marvel- 
lous, great,  large,  and  various.  Now  this  could  not  have  been  done 
in  so  narrow  a  room,  but  that  every  part  of  it,  and  all  the  concern- 
ments of  it,  with  its  whole  order,  were  to  be  filled  with  mysteries 
and  expressions  or  intimations  of  the  mind  and  will  of  God.  It 
could  not  hence  be  that  any  thing  superfluous  should  be  put  into  it, 
or  any  thing  be  in  it  that  should  not  relate  to  teaching  and  instruc- 
tion. 

8.  It  is  that  which  God  hath  given  unto  his  servants  for  their 
continual  exercise  day  aoid  night  in  this  world;  and  in  their  inquiry 
into  it  he  requires  of  them  their  utmost  diligence  and  endeavours. 
This  being  assigned  for  their  duty,  it  was  convenient  unto  divine 
wisdom  and  goodness  to  find  them  blessed  and  useful  work  in  the 
whole  Scrij)ture  to  exercise  themselves  about,  that  everywhere  they 
might  meet  with  that  which  might  satisfy  their  inquiry  and  answer 
their  industry.  There  shall  never  be  any  time  or  strength  lost  or 
misspent  that  is  laid  out  according  to  the  mind  of  God  in  and  about 
his  Word.  The  matter,  the  words,  the  order,  the  contexture  of 
them,  the  scope,  design,  and  aim  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  them,  all  and 
every  one  of  them,  may  well  take  up  the  utmost  of  our  diligence, — 
all  are  divine.  Nothing  is  empty,  unfurnished,  or  unprepared  for 
our  spiritual  use,  advantage,  and  benefit.    Let  us  then  learn  hence, — 

(1.)  To  admire,  and,  as  one  said  of  old,  to  adore  the  fulness  of 
the  Scri})ture,  or  of  the  wisdom  of  God  in  it.     It  is  all  full  of  divine 


VER.  5.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  147 

wisdom,  and  calls  for  our  reverence  in  the  consideration  of  it.  Ami 
iiideed  a  constant  awe  of  the  majesty,  authority,  and  holiness  of 
God  in  his  Word,  is  the  only  teachable  frame.  Proud  and  careless 
spirits  see  nothing  of  heaven  or  Divinity  in  the  Word;  but  the  hum- 
ble ai'e  made  wise  in  it. 

(2.)  To  stir  up  and  exercise  our  faith  and  diligence  to  the  ut- 
most in  our  study  and  search  of  the  Scripture.  It  is  an  endless 
storehouse,  a  bottomless  treasure  of  divine  truth;  gold  is  in  every 
sand.  All  the  wise  men  in  the  world  may,  every  one  for  himself, 
learn  somewhat  out  of  every  word  of  it,  and  yet  leave  enough  still 
behind  them  for  the  instruction  of  all  those  that  shall  come  after  them. 
The  fountains  and  springs  of  wisdom  in  it  are  endless,  and  will 
never  be  dry.  We  may  have  much  truth  and  power  out  of  a  word, 
sometimes  enough,  but  never  all  that  is  in  it.  There  will  still  be 
enough  remaining  to  exercise  and  refresh  us  anew  for  ever.  So 
that  we  may  attain  a  true  sense,  but  we  can  never  attain  the  full 
sense  of  any  place ;  we  can  never  exhaust  the  whole  impress  of  in- 
finite wisdom  that  is  on  the  Word.  And  how  should  this  stir  us 
up  to  be  meditating  in  it  day  and  night!  And  many  the  like  in- 
ferences may  hence  be  taken.     Learn  also, — 

II.  That  it  is  lawful  to  draw  consequences  from  Scripture  asser- 
tions; and  such  consequences,  rightly  deduced,  ai'e  infallibly  true  and 
"  de  fide."  Thus  from  the  name  given  unto  Christ,  the  apostle 
deduceth  by  just  consequence  his  exaltation  and  pre-eminence  above 
angels.  Nothing  will  rightly  follow  from  truth  but  what  is  so  also, 
and  that  of  the  same  nature  with  the  truth  from  whence  it  is  de- 
rived. So  that  whatever  by  just  consequence  is  drawn  from  the 
Word  of  God,  is  itself  also  the  Word  of  God,  and  truth  infallible. 
And  to  deprive  the  church  of  this  liberty  in  the  interpretation  of 
the  Word,  is  to  deprive  it  of  the  chiefest  benefit  intended  by  it. 
This  is  that  on  which  the  whole  ordinance  of  preaching  is  founded; 
which  makes  that  which  is  derived  out  of  the  Word  to  have  the 
power,  authority,  and  eflficacy  of  the  Word  accompanying  it.  Thus, 
though  it  be  the  proper  work  and  effect  of  the  Word  of  God  to 
quicken,  regenerate,  sanctify  and  ,  purify  the  elect, — and  the  Word 
primarily  and  directly  is  only  that  which  is  written  in  the  Scrip- 
tures,— yet  we  find  all  these  effects  produced  in  and  by  the  preaching 
of  the  Word,  when  perhaps  not  one  sentence  of  the  Scripture  is 
verbatim  repeated.  And  the  reason  hereof  is,  because  whatsoever 
is  directly  deduced  and  delivered  according  to  the  mind  and  ap- 
pointment of  God  from  the  Word  is  the  Word  of  God,  and  hath 
the  power,  authority,  and  efficacy  of  the  Word  accompanying  it. 

III.  The  declaration  of  Christ  to  be  the  Son  of  God  is  the  care  and 
work  of  the  Father.  He  said  it,  he  recorded  it,  he  revealed  it. 
This,  indeed,  is  to  be  made  known  by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel ; 


148  AN  EXPOSITie:N^  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I 

but  that  it  shall  be  done,  the  Father  hath  taken  the  care  upon  liim- 
self.  It  is  the  design  of  the  Father  in  all  things  to  glorify  the  Son ; 
that  all  men  may  honour  him  even  as  they  honour  the  Father. 
This  cannot  be  done  without  the  declaration  of  that  glory  which  he 
had  with  him  before  the  world  was;  that  is,  the  glory  of  his  eternal 
sonship.  This  he  will  therefore  make  known  and  maintain  in  the 
world. 

IV.  God  the  Father  is  perpetually  present  with  the  Lord  Christ, 
in  love,  care,  and  power,  in  the  administration  of  his  office  as  he  is 
mediator,  head,  and  king  of  the  church.  He  hath  taken  upon  him- 
self to  stand  by  him,  to  own  him,  to  effect  every  thing  that  is  need- 
ful unto  the  establishment  of  his  throne,  the  enlargement  of  his 
kingdom,  and  the  ruin  and  destruction  of  his  enemies.  And  this 
he  will  assuredly  do  to  the  end  of  the  world, — 

1.  Because  he  hath  promised  so  to  do.  Innumerable  are  the 
promises  on  record  that  are  made  unto  Jesus  Christ  unto  this  pur- 
pose. God  hath  engaged  to  hold  him  in  his  hand,  and  to  hide  him 
as  a  polished  shaft  in  his  quiver,  to  give  him  a  throne,  a  glorious 
kingdom,  an  everlasting  rule  and  government,  and  the  like.  Now, 
what  he  hath  promised  in  love  and  grace,  he  will  make  good  with 
care  and  power.     See  Isa.  xlix.  5-9,  1.  7-9. 

2.  All  these  promises  have  respect  unto  the  obedience  of  the 
Lord  Christ  in  the  work  of  mediation;  which,  being  performed  by 
him  rightly  and  to  the  utmost,  gives  him  a  peculiar  right  unto 
them,  and  makes  that  just  and  righteous  in  the  performance  which 
was  mere  sovereign  grace  in  the  promise.  The  condition  being 
absolutely  performed  on  the  part  of  Christ,  the  promise  shall  be 
certainly  accomplished  on  the  part  of  the  Father.  By  this  is  the 
covenant  of  the  Redeemer  completed,  ratified,  and  established.  The 
condition  of  it  on  his  part  being  performed  unto  the  uttermost,  there 
shall  be  no  failure  in  the  promises,  Isa.  liii.  10-12. 

8.  The  Lord  Christ  makes  it  his  request  that  he  may  enjoy  the 
presence  and  power  of  his  Father  with  him  in  his  ivork  and  the 
administration  of  his  mediation;  and  the  Father  always  hears  him. 
Part  of  his  covenant  with  his  Father  was  like  that  of  Barak  (who 
was  a  type  of  him)  with  Deborah  the  prophetess,  who  spake  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord,  Judges  iv.  8:  "If  thou  wilt  go  with  me,  I  will  go," 
against  all  the  enemies  of  the  church,  Isa.  1.  8,  9.  And  accordingly, 
upon  his  engagement  to  go  with  him,  he  requests  bis  presence;  and 
in  the  assurance  of  it  professeth  that  he  is  not  alone,  but  that  his 
Father  is  with  him,  John  viii.  16.  To  this  purpose  see  his  requests, 
John  xvii. 

4.  The  nature  of  his  work  and  kingdom  requires  it.  God  hath 
appointed  him  to  reign  in  the  midst  of  his  enemies,  and  mighty 
opposition  is  made  on  ail  hands  to  his  whole  design,  and  every  par- 


VEE.  6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  149 

ticular  act  of  it.  The  whole  work  of  Satan,  sin,  and  the  world,  is 
both  to  obstruct  in  general  the  progress  of  his  kingdom,  and  to  ruiu 
and  destroy  every  particular  subject  of  it;  and  this  is  carried  on 
continually  with  unspeakable  violence  and  unsearchable  stratagems. 
This  makes  the  presence  of  the  authority  and  power  of  the  Father 
necessary  to  him  in  his  work.  This  he  asserts  as  a  great  ground  of 
consolation  to  his  disciples,  John  x.  28,  29.  There  will  be  a  great 
plucking,  a  great  contending  to  take  believers  out  of  the  hand  of 
Christ,  one  way  or  other,  to  make  them  come  short  of  eternal  life; 
and  though  his  own  power  be  such  as  is  able  to  preserve  them,  yet  he 
lets  them  know  also,  for  their  greater  assurance  and  consolation,  that 
his  Father, — who  is  overall,  is  greater,  more  powerful  than  all,  greater 
than  he  himself,  in  the  work  of  mediation,  John  xiv.  28, — is  also  en- 
gaged with  him  in  their  defence  and  preservation.  So  also  is  he  as 
to  the  destruction  of  his  adversaries,  all  opposing  power  whatever, 
Ps.  ex.  5,  6.  The  Lord  stands  by  him,  on  his  right  hand,  to  smite  and 
tread  down  his  enemies, — all  that  arise  against  his  design,  interest, 
and  kingdom.  Be  they  never  so  many,  never  so  great,  he  will  ruin 
them,  and  make  them  his  footstool  every  one.     See  Mic.  v.  4. 

Verse  6. 

The  apostle  proceeds  to  the  confirmation  of  the  same  important 
truth  by  another  testimony,  wherein  we  shall  meet  with  some  diffi- 
culty, both  in  the  manner  of  the  citation  and  the  importance  of  the 
testimony  itself. 

Ver.  6. — "Otkv  8s  TaXiv  s/saydyyi  rov  Tpoiroroxov  ilg  rriv  oixov/xsvriv, 
"hkyir  Kai  TpoaxvvriffdrMaav  aurfi  'jra.vng  ayyiXoi  0£oD. 

V.  L.,  ''Et  cum  introducit  priraogenitum  in  orbem  terrae,  dicit,  Et  adorent  eum 
omnes  antreli  Dei;"  oniittin,!?  vctKiv,  "  again." 

Syr.,  ^f^?"!  ■''7-?!!  T?.  •^'^^:  "  Rursum  auti  m  cum  inducit;" — "And  again  when 
he  bringeth  in."     E/j  tiv  oiMvi^ivnv,  '*^?^'?) — "  into  the  world." 

lict.'hiv,  "  again,"  is  omitted  in  the  Arabic,  as  in  the  Vulgar  Latin. 

Beza,  "Rursum  autem  cum  inducit  primogenitum  in  orbem' terrarum,  dicit,  Et 
ddorent"  (Eras.,  "adorabunt")  "eum  omnes  angeli  Dei;"  which  is  exactly  ex- 
pressed by  ours,  "  And  again,  when  he  bringeth  in  the  first-begotten  into  the  world, 
he  saith,  And  let  all  the  angels  of  God  worship  him." 

There  is  not  much  of  difficulty  in  the  words  themselves. 

"Orotv  0£,  "  cum  autem,"  "  quando  autem;" — "  but  when." 

lla.'hiv,  "  rursum"  "  again,"  as  in  the  former  verse.  "What  sense  it  is  here 
used  in,  and  what  word  it  is  to  be  joined  withal,  shall  be  afterwards  declared. 

E/ffistyoey?;,  "  inducit,"  or  "  inducet,"  or  "  introducit." — "  he  bringeth  in,"  or 
''  leadeth  in,"  or  "  shall  bring  in ;"  of  which  difference  also  afterward. 

ToV  ■TrpuToroK.ou,  "the  first- begotten,"  "the  firstborn,"  he  before  whom  none 
is  born,  nor  necessarily  after  whom  any  is  so.  Under  the  law  there  was  a  sac- 
rifice for  the  vpuToroKOi,  "  first-begotten:"  so  called  when  as  yet  none  were  be- 
gotten after  him,  and  very  uncertain  whether  ever  any  should  be  so  of  the  same 
womb  or  no;  and  doul'tless  it  often  fell  out  that  none  were  so. 

E/f  T'^u  oUov,u.hyi!>;  'Hv],  "the  habitable  world,"  or  "^?  ^5^,  Prov.  viii.,  the 


150  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CIIAP.  I. 

public  place  of  habitation,  where  the  creatures  of  God  do  dwell.  The  word  is 
nowhere  used  absolutely  in  Scripture  in  any  sense  but  foi-  tbis  habitable  world. 
Only,  sometimes  it  hath  a  restrained  sense,  denoting  the  Roman  empir^•,  as  Luke 
ii.  1,  ai'cording  to  the  usual  language  of  those  days,  wherein  the  people  of  Rome, 
or  their  emperors,  were  styled  "rerum,"and"orbisterrarum  domini;"  and  it  some- 
tinie-i  indefinitely  denotes  any  part  of  the  world  as  habitable,  Luke  ii.  1,  iv.  5, 
xxi.  26;  and  therefore  oftentimes  hath  cA)^  "the  whole,"  joined  with  it,  when  it 
is  extended  universally  to  the  habitable  earth. 

TLpoaKvi/mi^ruffxu.  Heb.  ^'"^^'7,  imperative  in  Hithpael,  from  ^v?'  "  ^^  '"- 
cline,  "to  bow  down."  The  LXX.  constantly  render  that  word  by  '7rpfj<jy,vviu- 
And  -Trpodx-vviu  is  probably  dei-ivel  from  x.va,  and  thence  x-vvkca,  "  osculor,"'  "  to 
l<iss;"  which  also  is  sometimes  used  for"  to  adore,"  or  "worship,"  as  Uci'jri^  yow 
•KiTTrvix-cmg  ifAol  kvusovti  'heaTrorriv.  That  is,  says  Eustathiu^s,  UpoTKvuoi/ai  fn,  ag 
"hiaTOTYiv, — "They  worship  me  as  their  lord;"  for  being  joined  with  7ri7:r-l]Korig, 
"  bowing,"  or  "  falling  down,"  it  expresseth  the  whole  use  and  signification  of 
"TrpoTKVJio,  How  kissing  was  of  old  a  sign,  token,  and  pledge  of  worship,  especially 
to  bow  down  and  kiss  the  ground,  I  have  elsewhere  declai-ed.  And  this  deriva- 
tion of  the  word  I  prefer  far  before  that  which  makes  it  primitively  signify  "more 
canum  adulari,"  as  if  taken  from  the  crouching  of  dogs. 

In  the  New  Testament  it  is  nowhere  used  but  for  that  religious  worship  which 
is  due  to  God  alone.  And  when  it  is  remembered  of  any  that  they  did  ■TrpoaKvuiiv, 
or  perform  the  duty  and  homage  denoted  by  this  word  unto  any  but  God,  it  is 
remembered  as  their  idolatry.  Rev.  xiii.  12,  15.  And  unto  this  sense  was  it 
ri'strained  of  old  by  the  Spartans,  who  denied^  that  it  was  iv  voyM,  lawful  for 
them  cLvOpuT^ov  vpoaicvussiv, — that  is,  to  fall  down  to  or  to  adore  a  man,  Herodot. 
in  Polym. 

And  in  this  .'■ense  it  is  exceedingly  restrained  from  the  use  and  importance  of 
^^'t<  J^'^f  '"^'i  from  that  of  ^'^'!^'^~  in  Hithpael,  though  that  always  signifies  a  bow- 
inir  down  with  respect  and  reverence;  for  it  is  employed  to  denote  civil  as  well 
a-i  religious  worship.  But  for  several  sorts  of  religious  worship,  diversified  by  its 
objects,  the  Scripture  knows  nothing.  The  word  properly  denotes  to  bow  rlown, 
and  when  it  is  referred  unto  God,  it  respects  the  inward  reverence  and  subjec- 
tion of  our  minds  by  a  metonymy  of  the  adjunct.  See  it  for  civil  respect,  Gen. 
xxvii.  29,  xxxiii.  6. 

" KyyiKai,  "-"v"?,  "elohim,"  is  rendered  "  angels"  by  the  LXX.,  Gen.  xxxi.  24 
[accoriling  to  some  Mss.  only];  Job  xxxviii.  7;  Ps.  viii.  5,  xcvii.  7,  cxxxviii.  1; 
of  which  interpretation  of  the  word  we  shall  treat  in  the  ensuing  exposition.' 


^  K«(  'TrpoGx,. — "  K«(  here  exhibited  does  not  appear  in  Ps.  xcvii.  7.     I  regard 

it  as  an  intensive  ])article  here One  might  render  the  phrase  thus:   'Let 

all  the  ai;g'  Is  of  God  indeed  worship  him,'  or  'even  pay  him  olieisance  or  adora- 
tion.'" It  must  be  spiritual  worship,  from  jhe  nature  of  the  beinars  commanded 
to  render  it.     Civil  homage  can  hardly  be  predicated  of  angels. — Mo.ies  Stuart. 

Bleek,  Tholuck,  and  Ebrard  hold  the  quotation  to  be  from  Deur.  xxxii.  43. 
"  With  respect  to  the  absence  of  the  words  from  the  Masoretic  text,  we  must,  Avith 
all  our  deference  to  this  text,  as  resting  on  ancient  and  strong  tradition,  never  for- 
get that  we  have  in  the  LXX.,  particularly  in  the  Pentateuch,  a.x\  equally  ancient 
recension  ot  the  Hebrew  text." — Ebrard.  The  difficulty  in  receiving  the  words 
as  a  quotation  from  Ps.  xcvii.  7,  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  word  is  Elohim,  "  God  "  or 
"uods;"  it  is  employed  also  to  denote  angels.  "It  may  be  sufficient  to  adduce 
one  striking  passijre  from  Ps.  viii.  5,  'Thou  hast  made  him  a  little  lowe/  than 
the  angels;'  liter:illy,  than  God  or  gods.  But  such  a  literal  translation  is  en- 
tirely out  of  the  question,  and  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  angels  is 
the  true  meaning."  The  Syriac  and  Vulgate  agree  with  the  LXX.  in  tlie  use  of 
aiigels^m  Ps.  xcvii.J. — Turner. — Ed. 


VER.  6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  151 

Ver.  6. — And  again,  when  he  bringeth  In  the  first-begot- 
ten into  the  world,  he  saith,  And  let  all  the  angels  of 
God  worship  him. 

This  is  the  second  argument  used  by  the  apostle  to  confirm  his 
assertion  of  the  preference  of  the  Son  above  angels,  and  is  taken 
from  the  command  of  God  given  unto  them  to  worship  him  ;  i'or 
without  controversy,  he  who  is  to  be  worshipped  is  greater  than  tiiey 
whose  duty  it  is  to  worship  him. 

In  the  words  we  must  consider, — 1.  The  apostle's  jj?-e/(/ce;  2. 
His  proof.  And  in  the  latter  we  must  weigh, — (1.)  The  sense  of 
it ;  (2.)  The  suitableness  of  it  to  his  present  purpose. 

His  preface,  or  the  manner  of  his  producing  of  this  second  testi- 
mony, is  this:  " Orav  bi  iToKiv  siGciydyr] Xsyti.    Which  words  have 

been  exposed  unto  variety  of  interpretations:  for  if -rccX/i/  be  joined 
with  iisaydyri,  which  immediately  follows,  they  are  to  be  rendered, 
"And  when  he  bringeth  in  again  into  the  world;"  if  with  7.iyu, 
which  follows  it  after  the  interposition  of  sundry  other  words,  then 
it  is  to  be  rendered  as  by  our  interpreters,  "And  again  when  he 
bringeth, he  saith." 

Moreover,  it  is  not  clear  in  what  sense  Christ  is  called  T^wr&Vozog, 
"the  first-born,"  who  is  elsewhere  termed  fiovoysviig  Tapa  Uarpbg, 
"  the  only-begotten  Son  of  the  Father." 

We  must  also  inquire  what  is  the  introduction  or  bringing  in  here 
intended,  how  and  when  performed  ;  as  also  what  is  the  world  where- 
into  he  was  brought.  The  difficulties  about  all  which  must  be  seve- 
rally considered. 

1.  ndXiv,  "again,"  may  be  joined  with  sleaydyji,  and  then  the 
sense  of  the  words  must  run  as  above  intimated, — namely,  "  When 
he  bringeth  in  again  the  first-born  into  the  world."  And  it  is 
evident  that  most  expositors,  both  ancient  and  modern,  embrace  this 
sense.  So  do  Clirysostom,  Theodoret,  Ambrose,  (Ecumeuius, 
Thomas,  Lyra,  Ca-jetan,  Ribera,  Cameron,  Gomarus,  Estius,  a  Lapide, 
our  Meae,  with  many  others.  But  about  what  this  bringing  in 
again,  or  second  bringing  in,  of  the  first-born  into  the  world  should 
be,  they  are  greatly  divided. 

The  ancients  refer  it  to  his  incarnation;  affirming,  somewhat 
harshly,  that  he  was  brought  before  into  the  world,  when  all  things 
were  made  by  him. 

2.  Others  refer  it  to  the  resurrection,  which  was  as  it  were  a 
second  bringing  of  Christ  into  the  world,  as  David  was  brought  into 
his  kingdom  again  after  he  had  been  expelled  by  the  conspiracy  and 
rebellion  of  Absalom. 

3.  Others  refer  it  unto  his  coming  forth  in  the  effectual  preaclilng 
of  the  gospel  after  his  ascension,  whereby  he  was  brouglit  fortli  in 


152  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

another  manner  and  with  another  kind  of  power  than  that  in  which 
he  appeared  in  the  days  of  his  flesh. 

4.  Some  suppose  the  personal  reign  of  Christ  on  the  earth  for  a 
thousand  years  witli  his  saints  is  intended  in  these  words,  when  God 
will  bring  him  again  with  glory  into  the  world  :  of  which  judgment 
was  Mede,  and  now  many  follow  him. 

5.  Others  again,  and  they  the  most,  assign  the  accomplishment 
of  what  is  here  asserted  to  the  general  judgment  and  the  second 
coming  of  Christ  in  the  glory  of  the  Father,  with  all  the  holy  angels 
attending  him,  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead. 

6.  Some  of  the  Socinians  refer  them  unto  the  triumphant  ascen- 
sion of  Christ  into  heaven  after  his  resurrection,  he  having,  as  thfy 
fancy,  once  before  been  taken  into  it,  there  to  be  instructed  in  the 
mind  and  will  of  God. 

Now  all  these  assertions  concerning  the  bringing  in  of  Christ  into 
the  world  have  a  truth  in  them,  absolutely  considered ;  but  whether 
any  of  them  be  here  intended  by  the  apostle,  we  must  inquire  by  an 
examination  of  the  common  foundation  that  all  their  authors  pro- 
ceed upon,  with  the  reasons  given  for  its  confirmation.  Now,  this 
is  that  which  we  observed  before,  namely,  that  in  the  construction 
of  the  words,  -rdXiv,  "  again,"  is  to  be  joined  with  ileaydyri,  "  he 
bringeth  in;"  and  so  to  be  rendered,  "  When  he  bringeth  in  again," 
(or,  "a  second  time,")  "the  first-born:"  which  must  needs  point  to 
a  second  coming  of  Christ,  of  one  kind  or  another.  And  to  this 
purpose  they  say, — 

1.  That  the  trajection  of  the  words  in  the  other  sense  is  hard  and 
difficult,  and  not  to  be  admitted  but  upon  very  cogent  reasons.  It 
is  to  suppose  that  the  apostle  by  Srav  di  rrdX/v,  "  when  again,"  in- 
tends TuXiv  6's  orav,  "again  when."  And  besides,  the  interposition 
of  the  many  words  between  it  and  Xs/w,  "  he  saith,"  will  not  admit 
that  they  should  be  conjoined  in  sense  and  construction. 

But  this  reason  is  not  cogent ;  for, — (1 .)  Most  of  the  ancient  trans- 
lations acknowledge  this  transposition  of  the  words.  So  the  Syriac, 
reading  thus, "  And  again,  when  he  biingeth  in ;"  so  the  Vulgar  Latin ; 
and  the  Arabic,  omitting  the  term  "  again,"  as  not  designing  any  new 
thing,  but  merely  denoting  a  new  testimony.  And  they  are  followed 
by  Valla,  Erasmus,  Beza,  and  the  best  of  modern  translators.  (2.)  Such 
trajections  are  not  unusual,  and  that  in  this  place  hath  a  peculiar  ele- 
gancy ;  for  the  word  tcca/v,  "  again,"  being  used  in  the  head  of  the 
testimony  foregoing,  this  transposition  adds  to  the  elegancy  of  the 
words;  and  that  there  was  cause  for  it  we  shall  see  afterwards.  (3.) 
The  apostle  having  immediately  before  used  the  word  -TrdXiv,  "  again," 
as  his  note  of  producing  a  second  testimony,  and  placing  it  here  in 
the  entrance  of  a  third,  it  must  needs  be  used  equivocally,  if  the 
trajection  proposed  be  not  allowed. 


VEK.  6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  153 

2.  They  deny  that  the  angels  worshipped  Christ  at  liis  first  com- 
ing into  the  world, — that  is,  that  they  are  recorded  so  to  liave  ilone  ; 
and  therefore  it  must  needs  be  his  second  coming  that  is  intended, 
when  he  shall  come  in  glory,  with  all  his  holy  angels  openly  wor- 
shipping him  and  performing  his  commands. 

This  reason  is  especially  suited  unto  the  fifth  opinion  before  men- 
tioned, referring  the  words  to  the  coming  of  Christ  at  the  general 
day  of  judgment,  and  is  unserviceable  unto  any  of  the  rest.  But 
yet  neither  is  this  satisfactory;  for  the  question  is,  not  whether  it  be 
anywhere  recorded  that  the  angels  worshipped  Christ  at  his  first 
entrance  into  the  world,  but  whether  the  Lord  Christ,  upon  his  in- 
carnation, was  not  put  into  that  condition  wherein  it  was  the  duty 
of  all  the  angels  of  God  to  worship  him.  Now  this  being  at  least 
interpretatively  a  command  of  God,  and  the  angels  expressly  always 
doing  his  will,  the  thing  itself  is  certain,  though  no  particular  in- 
stances of  it  be  recorded.  Besides,  the  angels'  attendance  on  his 
birth,  proclamation  of  his  nativity,  and  celebrating  the  glory  of  God 
on  that  account,  seem  to  have  been  a  performance  of  that  duty  which 
they  had  received  command  for.  And  this  is  allowed  by  those  of 
the  ancients  who  suppose  that  the  second  bringing  of  Christ  into 
the  world  was  upon  his  nativity. 

3.  They  say  that  this  bringing  in  of  the  first-begotten  into  the 
world  denotes  a  glorious  presenting  of  him  in  his  rule  and  enjoy- 
ment of  his  inheritance. 

But,  (1.)  This  proves  not  that  the  words  must  respect  the  coming 
of  Christ  unto  judgment,  to  which  end  this  reason  is  insisted  on; 
because  he  was  certainly  proclaimed  with  power  to  be  the  Son,  Lord, 
and  Heir  of  all,  upon  his  resurrection,  and  by  the  first  preaching  of 
the  gospel.  And,  (2.)  No  such  thing,  indeed,  can  be  rightly  deduced 
from  the  words.  The  expression  signifies  no  more  but  an  introduc- 
tion into  the  world,  a  real  bringing  in,  witjiout  any  intimation  of  the 
way  or  manner  of  it. 

4.  It  is  argued  in  the  behalf  of  the  same  opinion,  from  the  psalm 
from  whence  these  words  are  taken,  that  it  is  a  glorious  reign  of 
Christ  and  his  coming  unto  judgment  that  are  set  forth  therein,  and 
not  his  coming  and  abode  in  the  state  of  humiliation.  And  this  rea- 
son  Cameron  affirms,  to  prove  undeniably  that  it  is  the  coming  of 
Christ  unto  judgment  that  is  intended. 

But  the  truth  is,  the  consideration  of  the  scope  of  the  psalm  doth 
quite  reject  the  opinion  which  is  sought  to  be  maintained  by  it;  for, 
(1.)  Verse  1,  Upon  the  reign  of  the  Lord  therein  set  forth,  both 
Jews  and  Gentiles,  the  earth  and  the  multitude  of  the  isles,  are 
called  to  rejoice  therein;  that  is,  to  receive,  delight  in,  and  be  glad 
of  the  salvation  brought  by  the  Lord  Christ  unto  mankind, — which  is 
not  the  work  of  the  last  day.     (2.)  Idolaters  are  deterred  from  their 


154"  AN"  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

i  Join  try,  and  exhorted  to  worship  him,  verse  7, — a  duty  incumbent 
on  them  before  the  day  of  judgment.  (3.)  Tiie  church  is  exhorted 
upon  his  reign  to  abstain  from  sin,  and  promised  dehverance  from 
the  wicked  and  oppressors.  All  wliich  things,  as  they  are  unsuited 
unto  his  coming  at  the  day  of  judgment,  so  they  expressly  belong 
unto  the  setting  up  of  his  kingdom  in  this  world. 

And  liereby  it  appears,  that  that  opinion  which  indeed  seems  with 
any  probability  to  assert  a  second  coming  of  Christ  into  the  world 
to  be  intended  in  these  words,  is  inconsistent  with  the  scope  of  the 
place  from  whence  the  testimony  is  taken,  and  consequently  the  de- 
sign of  the  apostle  himself. 

The  other  conjectures  mentioned  will  easily  be  removed  out  of  the 
way. 

Unto  that  of  the  ancients,  assigning  this  bringing  in  of  Christ  into 
the  world  unto  his  incarnation,  we  say  it  is  true;  but  then  that  was 
his  first  bringing  in,  and  being  supposed  to  be  intended  in  this  place, 
the  words  can  be  no  otherwise  rendered  but  that  TaX/i/,  "  again," 
must  be  esteemed  only  an  intimation  of  the  citation  of  a  new  tes- 
timony. 

Neither  can  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord  Christ  be  assigned  as  the 
season  of  the  accomplishment  of  this  word,  which  was  not,  indeed,  a 
bringing  of  him  into  the  world,  but  rather  an  entrance  into  his  leav- 
ing of  it;  neither  did  he  at  his  death  leave  the  world  utterly,  for 
though  his  soul  was  separated  from  his  body,  yet  his  bod}^  was  not 
separated  from  his  person,  and  therein  he  continued  on  the  earth. 

The  coming  of  Christ  to  reign  here  on  earth  a  thousand  years 
is,  it  not  a  groundless  opinion,  yet  so  dubious  and  uncertain  as  not 
to  be  admitted  a  place  in  the  analogy  of  faith  to  regulate  our  inter- 
pretation of  Scripture  in  places  that  may  fairly  admit  of  another 
application. 

The  figment  of  the  Socinians,  that  the  Lord  Christ  during  the 
time  of  his  forty  days'  fast  was  taken  into  heaven, — which  they  lay 
as  a  foundation  unto  their  interpretation  of  this  place, — I  have  else- 
where showed  to  be  irrational,  antiscrij^tural,  Mohammedan,  and  de- 
rogatory to  the  honour  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  as  he  is  the  eternal  Son 
of  God. 

From  what  hath  been  spoken,  it  is  evident  that  the  trajectiou 
proposed  may  be  allowed,  as  it  is  by  most  of  the  ancient  and  mo- 
dern translations.  And  so  the  word  rrdXiv,  "  ag;ain,"  relatinij  unto 
Xsysi,  "  he  saith,"  denotes  only  the  introduction  of  a  new  proof,  and 
doth  not  intimate  a  second  bringing  in  of  the  Lord  Christ.  And 
imto  what  hath  already  been  spoken  I  shall  only  add,  that  such  an 
intention  in  these  words  as  hath  been  pleaded  for  would  be  so  far 
from  promoting  the  apostle's  design,  that  it  would  greatly  weaken 
and  impair  it ;  for  the  matter  he  had  in  hand  was  to  prove  the  pre- 


VER.  6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  155 

eminence  of  the  Lord  Christ  above  the  angels,  not  absolutely,  but 
as  he  was  the  revealer  of  the  gospel;  and  if  this  was  not  so,  and 
proved  to  be  so  by  this  testimony,  whilst  he  was  employed  in  that 
work  in  the  world,  it  is  nothing  at  all  to  his  purpose. 

Having  cleared  this  difficulty,  and  showed  that  no  second  coming 
of  Christ  is  intended  in  this  word,  but  only  a  new  testimony  to  the 
same  purpose  with  them  foregoing  produced,  the  intention  of  the 
apostle  in  his  prelatory  expression  may  be  further  opened,  by  con- 
sidering what  that  world  is  whereinto  the  Father  brought  the  Son, 
with  how  and  when  he  did  so,  and  the  manner  of  it. 

There  are  two  opinions  about  the  world  whereinto  Christ  is  said 
to  be  brought  by  the  Father.  1.  The  one  is  that  of  the  Socinians, 
asserted  as  b}''  others  of  them,  so  by  Schlichtingius  in  his  comment 
on  this  place,  and  by  Grotius  after  them  in  his  annotations.  "  O/xou- 
/iscTj,"  saith  Grotius,  "  est  'regio  ilia  superna  quce  ab  angelis  habitatur,' 
ut  ipse  mox  scriptor  noster  ad  hsec  sua  verba  respiciens  dicet,  cap. 
ii.  5;" — "  It  is,"  saith  he,  "  that  region  above  which  is  inhabited  by 
the  angels  that  is  intended;  and  our  author  declares  as  much  in 
that  respect  which  he  hath  to  these  words,  chap,  ii.  5."  In  like 
manner  Schlichtino-ius:  "  Per  terram  istam,  non  esse  intellisfendam 
banc  quam  mortales  incolimus,  sed  coelestem  illam  quam  aliquando 
immortales  effecti  incolemus,  et  res  ipsa,  et  D.  auctor  sequenti  capite 
ver.  5,  aperte  declarat."  That  is,  by  the  earth,  not  the  earth  but  tlie 
heaven  is  to  be  understood !     But, — 

(1.)  This  suits  not  at  all  with  the  purpose  and  design  of  the 
apostle,  which  is  plainly  to  prove  that  the  Lord  Christ,  then  wiien 
he  spake  to  us,  and  revealed  the  will  of  God,  and  in  that  work,  was 
above  the  angels ;  which  is  not  at  all  proved  by  showing  what  beleil 
him  after  his  work  was  accomjDlished. 

(2.)  It  receives  no  countenance  from  that  other  place  of  chap  ii.  5, 
whither  we  are  sent  by  these  interpreters;  for  that  the  apostle  is 
there  treating  of  a  matter  quite  of  another  nature,  without  any  re- 
spect unto  these  words,  shall  be  there  declared.  Neither  dotli  he 
absolutely  there  mention  o/xou,a£r/)i/,  "  the  world,"  but  with  the  addi- 
tion of  iMsXkoueav,  "to  come;"  which  what  it  is  we  shall  inquire 
upon  the  place. 

(3.)  Oix,oufji,hyi  signifies  properly  the  "habitable  earth,"  and  is  never 
used  absolutely  in  the  Scripture  but  for  the  habitable  world,  or  men 
dwelling  in  it;  and  causelessly  to  wrest  it  unto  another  siguificatiou 
is  not  to  interpret  but  to  offer  violence  unto  the  text. 

2.  By  OtKov//,hri,  then,  "the  world,"  or  "habitable  earth,"  with  them 
that  dwell  therein,  and  nothing  else  is  intended ;  for  as  the  word 
hath  no  other  signification,  so  the  psalmist  in  the  place  from  ndience 
the  ensuing  testimony  is  taken  expounds  it  by  "  the  multitude  of 
isles,"  or  the  nations  lying  abroad  in  the  wide  earth.     This  is  the 


156  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

world  designed,  even  that  earth  wherein  the  rational  creatures  of 
God  converse  here  below.  Into  this  was  the  'Lord  Christ  brought 
by  the  Father. 

We  are  therefore  nextly  to  inquire  wherein  the  Father's  bringing 
of  the  Son  into  this  world  did  consist.  We  have  seen  formerly  that 
some  have  assigned  it  unto  one  thing  in  particular,  some  to  another; 
some  to  his  incarnation  and  nativity,  some  to  his  resurrection,  some 
to  his  mission  of  the  Spirit  and  propagation  of  his  kingdom  that 
ensued.  The  opinion  about  his  coming  to  reign  in  the  world  a 
thousand  years,  as  also  that  of  his  coming  at  the  general  judgment, 
we  have  already  excluded.  Of  the  others  I  am  apt  to  think  that  it 
is  not  any  one  in  particular,  exclusive  of  the  others,  that  the  apostle 
intendeth  or  designeth.  That  which  was  intended  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament in  the  promises  of  his  coming  into  the  tuorld,  is  that  which 
is  here  expressed  by  the  phrase  of  bringing  him  in.     See  Mai.  iii.  1 ,  2, 

"  The  Lord,  whom  ye  seek,  shall  suddenly  come But  who  may 

abide  the  day  of  his  coming?"  Now,  it  was  not  any  one  special 
act,  nor  any  one  particular  day  that  was  designed  in  that  and  the 
like  promises ;  but  it  was  the  whole  work  of  God  in  bringing  forth 
the  Messiah,  by  his  conception,  nativity,  unction  with  the  Spirit, 
resurrection,  sending  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  preaching  of  the  gos- 
pel, which  is  the  subject  of  those  promises.  And  their  accomplish- 
ment it  is  which  these  words  express,  •'  When  he  bringeth  the  first- 
begotten  into  the  world ;"  that  is,  after  he  had  kept  his  church,  under 
the  administration  of  the  law  given  by  angels  in  the  hand  of  Moses 
the  mediator,  in  the  expectation  of  the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  when 
he  bringeth  him  forth  unto  and  carries  him  on  in  his  work  unto  the 
accompUshment  of  it,  he  says,  "  Let  all  the  angels  of  God  worship 
him."     And  herein  most  of  the  former  senses  are  comprised. 

And  this  interpretation  of  the  words  completely  answers  the  in- 
tention of  the  apostle  in  the  citation  of  the  ensuing  testimony, 
namely,  to  prove  that,  in  the  discharge  of  his  work  of  revealing  the 
will  of  God,  he  was  such  a  one  as,  by  reason  of  the  dignity  of  his 
person,  had  all  religious  worship  and  honour  due  unto  him  from 
the  angels  themselves. 

This  sense,  also,  we  are  led  unto  by  the  psalm  whence  the  ensuing* 
testimony  is  taken,  Ps.  xcvii.  The  exultation  which  the  first  verse 
of  the  psalm  requires  and  calls  for  is  not  unlike  that  which  was,  in 
the  name  of  the  whole  creation,  expressed  at  his  nativity,  Luke  ii. 
]  4.  And  the  four  following  verses  are  an  allegorical  description  of  the 
work  that  the  Lord  Christ  sliould  perform  in  and  by  the  preaching 
of  the  gospel.  See  Mai.  iii.  1-4,  iv.  1;  Matt.  iii.  12;  Luke  ii.  17. 
And  hereon  ensues  that  shame  and  ruin  which  was  brought  upon 
idols  and  idolaters  thereby,  verse  7;  and  the  joy  of  the  whole  church 
in  the  presence  of  Christ,  verse  8;  attended  with  his  glorious  reign 


VER.  6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  ]  57 

in  heaven,  as  a  consequent  of  the  accomplishment  of  his  work, 
verse  9  ;  which  is  proposed  as  a  motive  unto  obedience,  and  a  matter 
of  confidence  and  )-ejoicing  unto  the  church.  And  this  is  the  Father's 
bringing  of  the  Son  into  the  world,  described  by  tlie  pisalmibt  and 
intended  by  the  apostle. 

It  remains  that  we  inquire  why  and  in  what  sense  Christ  is  here 
called  TpuToroxog,  " primogenitus/'  or  "the  first-born."  The  common 
answer  is,  "  Non  quod  post  ilium  alii,  sed  quod  ante  ilium  nullus;" 
— "  Not  that  any  was  born  after  him"  (in  the  same  way),  "  but  that . 
none  was  born  before  him;"  which,  as  we  have  showed  before,  will 
agree  well  enough  with  the  use  of  the  word.  And  this  is  applied 
both  to  the  eternal  generation  of  his  divine  person,  and  to  the  con- 
ception and  nativity  of  his  human  nature. 

But  if  we  suppose  that  his  person  and  eternal  generation  may  be 
intended  in  this  expression,  we  must  make  TpwroVoxr-g,  or  the  "  first- 
born," to  be  the  same  with  /j.ovcysv/jg,  or  "  only-begotten  ;"  which  may 
not  be  allowed:  for  Christ  is  absolutely  called  the  "  only-begotten  of 
the  Father"  in  his  eternal  generation, — his  essence  being  infinite, 
took  up  the  whole  nature  of  divine  filiation,  so  that  it  is  impossible 
that  with  respect  thereunto  there  should  be  any  more  sons  of  God, — 
but  TpuTOToxog,  or  "first-born,"  is  used  in  relation  unto  others;  and 
yet,  as  I  showed  before,  it  doth  not  require  that  he  who  is  so  should 
have  any  other  brethren  in  the  same  kind  of  sonship.  But  because 
this  is  by  some  asserted,  namely,  that  Christ  has  many  brethren  in 
the  same  kind  of  sonship  whereby  he  is  himself  the  Son  of  God, 
and  is  on  that  account  called  t\\Q  first-born  (which  is  an  assertion 
greatly  derogatory  to  his  glory  and  honour),  I  shall  in  our  passage 
remove  it,  as  a  stumbling-block,  out  of  the  way. 

Thus  Schlichtingius  on  the  place  :  "  Primogenitum  eum  nomine 
Dei  Filium  appellat,  innuens  hoc  pacto  plures  Dei  esse  filios  etiam 
ad  Christum  respectu  habito;  scilicet  ut  ostenderet  non  ita  Christum 
esse  Dei  Filium,  quin  alii  etiam  eodem  filiationis  genere  contine- 
antur,  quanquam  filiationis  perfectione  et  gradu  Christo  muUo 
inferiores."  And  again :  "  Primogenitus  dicitur  Christus  quod  eura 
Deus  ante  omnes  filios,  eos  nimirum  qui  Christi  fratres  appellantur 
genuerit ;  eo  scilicet  modo  quo  Deus  filios  gignere  solet;  eos  autera 
gignit  quos  sibi  similes  efficit;  primus  est  Christus  qui  Deo  ea  sanc- 
titate  si  mills  fuit,  qualem  in  novo  foedere  prsecipit." 

But  these  things  agree  neither  with  the  truth,  nor  Avith  the  de- 
sign ot  the  apostle  in  this  place,  nor  with  the  principles  of  them  by 
whom  they  are  asserted.  It  is  acknowledged  that  God  hath  other 
sons  besides  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  with  respect  unto  him ;  for  m 
him  we  are  adopted, — the  only  way  whereby  any  one  may  attain  unto 
the  privilege  of  sonship  :  but  that  we  are  sons  of  God  with  or  m 
the  same  kind  of  sonship  with  Jesus  Christ,  is, —        „ 


158  AN  EXPOSITION- OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

1.  False.  Because, — (1.)  Christ  in  his  sonship  is  fiovoyivi^g,  the 
"only -begotten"  Son  of  God:  and  therefore  it  is  impossible  tliat  God 
should  have  any  more  sons  in  the  same  kind  with  him ;  for  if  he  had, 
certainly  the  Lord  Christ  could  not  be  /LLoyoysvrig,  his  ''  only-begotten" 
Son.  (2.)  The  only  way  of  filiation,  the  only  kind  of  sonship,  that 
believers  share  in  is  that  of  adoption;  in  any  other  kind  of  sonship 
they  are  not  partakers.  Now,  if  Christ  be  the  Son  of  God  in  this 
kind,  he  must  of  necessity  antecedently  unto  his  adoption  be  a 
member  of  another  family, — that  is,  of  the  family  of  Satan  and  the 
world,  as  we  are  by  nature, — and  from  thence  be  transplanted  by 
adoption  into  the  family  of  God;  which  is  blasphemy  to  imagine. 
So  that  neither  can  believers  be  the  sons  of  God  with  that  kind  of 
sonship  which  is  proper  to  Christ,  he  being  the  only- begotten  of  the 
Father ;  nor  can  the  Lord  Christ  be  the  Son  of  God  with  the  same 
kind  of  sonship  as  believers  are,  which  is  only  by  adoption,  and 
their  translation  out  of  one  family  into  another.  So  that  either  to 
exalt  believers  into  the  same  kind  of  sonship  with  Christ,  or  to 
depress  him  into  the  same  rank  with  them,  is  wholly  inconsistent 
with  the  analogy  of  faith  and  principles  of  the  gospel.  (3.)  If  this 
were  so,  that  the  Lord  Christ  and  believers  are  the  sons  of  God 
by  the  same  kind  of  sonship,  only  differing  in  degrees  (which  also 
are  imaginary,  for  the  formal  reason  of  the  same  kind  of  sonship  is 
not  capable  of  variation  by  degrees),  what  great  matter  is  in  the 
condescension  mentioned  by  the  apostle,  chap.  ii.  11,  that  "he 
is  not  ashamed  to  call  them  brethren;"  which  yet  he  compares 
with  the  condescension  of  God  in  being  called  their  God,  chap, 
xi.  ]6'? 

2.  This  conceit,  as  it  is  untrue  so  it  is  contrary  to  the  design  of  the 
apostle;  for,  to  assert  the  Messiah  to  be  the  Son  of  God  in  the  same 
way  with  men,  doth  not  tend  at  all  to  prove  him  more  excellent 
than  the  angels,  but  rather  leaves  us  just  ground  for  suspecting  their 
preference  above  him. 

3.  It  is  contrary  unto  other  declared  principles  of  the  authors  of 
this  assertion.  They  elsewhere  afhrm  that  the  Lord  Christ  was  the 
Son  of  Goil  on  many  accounts;  as  first  and  principally,  because  he 
was  conceived  and  born  of  a  virgin  by  the  power  of  God;  now, 
surely,  all  believers  are  not  partakers  with  him  in  this  hind  of  son- 
ship.  Again,  they  say  he  is  the  Son  of  God  because  God  raised  him 
from  the  dead,  to  confirm  the  doctrine  that  he  had  taught;  which  is 
not  so  with  believers.  Also  they  say  he  is  the  Son  of  God,  and  so 
called,  upon  the  account  of  his  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  God ; 
wliich  is  no  less  his  peculiar  privilege  than  the  former.  So  that 
this  is  but  an  unhappy  attempt  to  lay  hold  of  a  word  for  an  ad- 
vantage, vvhich  yields  nothine  in  the  issue  but  trouble  and  per- 
pleiity.  ^ 


VER.  G.J  '  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  15.0 

Nor  can  the  Lord  Christ  (which  is  affirmed  in  the  last  plac(-) 
be  called  the  Son  of  God  and  the  First-born,  ])ecanse  in  him  was 
that  holiness  tvhich  is  required  in  the  new  covenant ;  for  both  all 
believers  under  the  old  testament  had  that  holiness  and  liki,ness 
unto  God  in  their  degrees,  and  that  holiness  consists  principally  in 
regeneration,  or  being  born  again  by  the  Word  and  Spirit  out  of  a 
corrupted  estate  of  death  and  sin,  which  the  Lord  Christ  was  not 
capable  of.  Yea,  the  truth  is,  the  holiness  and  image  of  God  in 
Christ  was,  in  the  kind  of  it,  that  which  was  required  under  the 
first  covenant, — a  holiness  of  perfect  innocency  and  perfect  righte- 
ousness in  obedience.  So  that  this  last  invention  hath  no  better 
success  than  the  former. 

It  appeareth,  then,  that  the  Lord  Christ  is  not  called  "  the  first- 
begotten,"  or  the  "first-born,"  with  any  such  respect  unto  others  as 
should  include  him  and  them  in  the  same  kind  of  filiation. 

To  give,  therefore,  a  direct  account  of  this  appellation  of  Christ, 
we  may  observe,  that  indeed  the  Loi'd  Christ  is  never  absolutely 
called  the  "first-begotten"  or  "first-born"  with  respect  either  to 
liis  eternal  generation  or  to  the  conception  and  nativity  of  his 
human  nature.  In  respect  of  the  former  he  is  called  "  the  Son," 
and  "  the  only-begotten  Son  of  God,"  but  nowhere  "  the  firstborn," 
or  "  first-begotten;"  and  in  respect  of  the  latter,  indeed,  he  is  called 
the  "first-born  son"  of  the  virgin,  because  she  had  none  before  him, 
but  not  absolutely  "  the  first-born"  or  "  first-begotten,"  which  title 
is  here  and  elsewhere  ascribed  unto  him  in  the  Scripture.  It  is  not, 
therefore,  the  thing  itself  of  being  the  first-born,  but  the  dignity 
and  privilege  that  attended  it,  which  are  designed  in  this  appella- 
tion. So  Col.  i.  15,  he  is  said  to  be  'rpuroroxog  rrdarig  zrictu;,  "the 
first-born  of  the  creation;"  which  is  no  more  but  that  he  hath 
power  and  authority  over  all  the  creatures  of  God. 

The  word  which  the  apostle  intends  to  express  is  "^i^^,  which  oft- 
times  is  used  in  the  sense  now  pleaded  for,  namely,  to  denote  not 
the  birth  in  the  first  place,  but  the  privilege  that  belonged  there- 
unto. So  Ps.  Ixxxix.  27,  God  is  said  to  make  David  his  ">i33^  his 
"  first-born ;"  which  is  expounded  in  the  next  words,  "  Higher  than 
the  kings  of  the  earth."  So  that  the  Lord  Christ  being  the  first- 
born is  but  the  same  which  we  have  insisted  on,  of  his  being  heir  of 
all,  whicli  was  the  privilege  of  the  first-born;  and  this  privilege  was 
sometimes  transmitted  unto  othei-s  that  were  not  the  first-born, 
although  the  natural  course  of  their  nativity  could  not  be  changed, 
Gen  xxi.  10,  xlix.  3,  4,  8.  The  Lord  Christ,  then,  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  Father,  being  intrusted  with  the  whole  inheritance  of 
heaven  and  earth,  and  authority  to  dispose  of  it,  that  he  might  give 
out  portions  to  all  the  rest  of  God's  family,  is  and  is  called  "  the  first- 
born" thereof. 

VOL.   XII. — li 


160  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  *      [CIIAP.  J. 

There  remains  now  but  one  word  more  to  be  considered  for  the 
opening  of  this  introduction  of  the  ensuing  testimony,  and  that  is 
Xs/s/,  "  he  saith  ;"  that  is,  *  God  himself  saith.'  They  are  his  words 
winch  shall  be  produced.  Whatever  is  spoken  in  the  Scripture  in 
his  name,  it  is  his  speaking;  and  he  continueth  to  speak  it  unto  this 
day.  He  speaks  in  the  Scripture  unto  the  end  of  the  world.  This 
is  the  foundation  of  our  faith,  that  which  it  riseth  troni,  and  that 
which  it  is  resolved  into,  'God  speaketh;'  and  I  suppose  we  need 
no  interposition  of  church  or  tradition  to  give  authority  or  credit 
unto  what  he  says  or  speaks. 

This,  then,  is  the  sum  of  these  words  of  the  apostle:  '  Again,  in 
another  place,  where  the  Holy  Ghost  foretells  the  bringing  forth  into 
the  world  and  amongst  men  him  that  is  the  Lord  and  Heir  of  ail, 
to  undertake  his  work,  and  to  enter  into  his  kingdom  and  glory, 
tlie  Lord  speaks  to  this  purpose,  Let  all  the  angels  of  God  worshi]) 
him.' 

To  manifest  this  testimony  to  be  apposite  unto  the  confirmation 
of  the  apostle's  assertion,  three  things  are  required : — 1.  That  it  is 
tlie  Son  who  is  intended  and  spoken  of  in  the  place  from  whence 
the  words  are  taken,  and  so  designed  as  the  person  to  be  worshipped. 
2.  That  they  are  angels  that  are  spoken  unto,  and  commanded  to 
worship  him.  8.  That  on  these  suppositions  the  words  prove  the 
pre  eminence  of  Christ  above  the  angels. 

For  the  two  former,  with  them  that  acknowledge  the  divine  autho- 
rity of  this  epistle,  it  is  sufficient  in  general,  to  give  them  satisfaction, 
to  observe  that  the  place  is  applied  unto  Christ,  and  this  passage 
unto  the  ministering  angels,  by  the  same  Spirit  who  first  wrote  that 
Scripture.  But  yet  there  is  room  left  for  our  inquiry  how  these 
things  may  be  evidenced,  whereby  the  strength  of  the  apostle's 
reasonings,  with  them  who  were  not  yet  convinced  of  the  infallibi- 
lity of  his  assertions,  any  further  than  they  were  confirmed  by  tes- 
timonies out  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  faith  of  the  ancient 
church  of  the  Hebrews  in  this  matter,  may  be  made  to  appear ;  as 
also  a  check  given  to  their  boldness  who,  upon  pretence  of  the  im- 
propriety of  these  allegations,  have  questioned  the  authority  of  the 
whole  epistle. 

1 .  Our  first  inquiry  must  be  whence  this  testimony  is  taken.  Many 
of  the  ancients,  as  Epiphanius,  Theodoret,  Euthymius,  Procopius,  and 
Anselm,  conceived  the  words  to  be  cited  from  Deut.  xxxii.  4.3,  where 
they  expressly  occur  in  the  translation  of  the  LXX.,  Eu(ppc/.v()t]rs 
oxj/yavoi  d/J^a  aiiroiJ  %u.i  'rpog/CvvriffaTuaav  aurtZ  rravng  ayytKoi  ©sot; — • 
"  Rejoice  ye  heavens  with  him,  and  let  all  the  angels  of  God  wor- 
ship him."  But  there  are  two  considerations  that  put  it  beyond 
all  pretensions  that  the  words  are  not  taken  from  this  place  of  the 
LXX.:— 


VER.  6.J  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  ICl 

(1.)  Because  indeed  there  are  uo  such  words  in  the  original  text, 
nor  any  thing  spoken  that  might  give  occasion  to  the  sense  expressed 
in  them;  hut  the  whole  verse  is  inserted  in  the  Greek  version 
quite  beside  the  scope  of  the  place.  Now,  though  it  may  per- 
haps be  safely  granted  that  the  apostles,  in  citing  the  Scrij)ture 
of  the  Old  Testament,  did  sometimes  use  the  words  of  the  Greek 
translation  then  in  use,  yea,  though  not  exact  according  to  the 
original,  whilst  the  sense  and  meaning  of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  re- 
tained in  them;  yet  to  cite  that  trom  the  Scripture  as  the  word  and 
testimony  of  God  which  indeed  is  not  therein,  nor  was  ever  spoken 
by  God,  but  by  human  failure  and  corruption  crept  into  the  Greek 
veision,  is  not  to  be  imputed  unto  them.  And  indeed  I  no  way 
question  but  that  this  addition  unto  the  Greek  text  in  that  place 
was  made  after  the  apostle  had  used  this  testimony.  For  it  is  not 
unlikely  but  that  some  considering  of  it,  and  not  considering  from 
whence  it  was  taken,  because  the  words  occur  not  absolutely  and 
exactly  in  the  Greek  anywhere,  inserted  it  into  that  place  of  Moses, 
amidst  other  words  of  an  alike  sound,  and  somewhat  an  alike 
importance,  such  as  immediately  precede  and  follow  the  clause 
inserted. 

(2.)  The  Holy  Ghost  is  not  treating  in  that  place  about  the  intro- 
duction of  the  first-born  into  the  world,  but  quite  of  another  matter, 
as  is  evident  upon  the  first  view  of  the  text :  so  that  this  testimony 
is  evidently  not  taken  from  this  place;  nor  would  nor  could  the 
apostle  make  use  of  a  testimony  liable  unto  such  just  exceptions. 

Later  expositors  generally  agree  that  the  words  are  taken  out  of 
Ps.  xcvii.  7,  where  the  original  is  rendered  by  the  LXX.,  Upocnw^- 
cars  aiirui  vavrig  ayyikoi  ahroZ:  which,  with  a  very  small  variation  in 
the  words,  and  none  at  all  in  the  sense,  is  here  expressed  by  the 
apostle,  "  And  let  all  the  angels  of  God  worship  him.'' 

The  psalm  hath  no  title  at  all  in  the  original;  which  the  Greek 
version  noteth,  afiirming  that  it  is  avsviypa^oc  'zap  'ECpaiots:  but  it 
adds  one  ot  its  own,  namely,  Ta'/Aog  tui  Au^id  on  ij  yr^  abrou  zuOiararo, 
— "  A  Psalm  of  David  when  his  land  was  restored."  Hence  it  is 
referred  by  some  to  the  time  of  his  return  unto  Jerusalem,  after  he 
had  been  expelled  the  kingdom  by  Absalom ;  by  others,  with  more 
probability,  to  the  time  of  his  bringing  the  ark  into  the  tabernacle 
from  the  house  ot  Obed-edom,  when  the  land  was  quieted  before 
him.  And  unquestionably  in  it  the  kingdom  of  God  was  shadowed 
out  under  the  type  of  the  kingdom  of  David;  which  kingdom  of  God 
was  none  other  but  that  of  the  Messiah. 

It  is  evident  that  this  psalm  is  of  the  same  nature  with  that  which 
goes  before,  yea,  a  part  of  it,  or  an  appendix  unto  it.  The  first 
words  of  thia  take  up  and  carry  on  what  is  affirmed  in  the  10th 
verse,  to  close  of  that;  so  that  both  of  them  are  but  one  continued 


162  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I 

psalm  of  praise.  Now  the  title  of  that  psalm,  and  consequently  of 
this,  is  ^in  T'J!',  "  A  new  song,"  verse  1 ;  which  psalms,  as  Rashi 
confesseth,  are  to  be  referred  unto  the  world  to  come, — that  is,  the 
time  and  kingdom  of  the  Messiah.  So  Kimchi  affirms  that  this 
psalm  and  that  following  respect  the  time  when  the  people  shall  be 
delivered  from  the  captivity  out  of  all  nations;  that  is,  the  time  of 
the  Messiah.  And  Rakenati  affirms  that  the  last  verse  of  it,  "  He 
Cometh  to  judge  the  earth,"  can  respect  nothing  but  the  coming  and 
reign  of  the  Messiah.     Thus  they,  out  of  their  traditions. 

Some  of  the  ancients,  I  confess,  charge  them  with  corrupting  this 
psalm  in  the  version  of  the  10th  verse,  affirming  that  the  words 
at  one  time  were,  'O  Kvp/og  sZaaiXtuasv  a^h  tou  ^iXou, — "The  Lord 
reigned  from  the  tree,"  denoting ;  as  they  say,  the  cross.  So  Justin 
Martyr,  in  his  Dialogue  with  Trypho.  And  after  him  the  same 
words  are  remembered  by  Tertullian,  ad.  Juda3.  cap.  x.,  ad.Marci.  lib. 
iii. ;  and  Augustin,  Enarr.  in  Ps.  xcv.  And  though  the  fraud  and 
corruption  pretended  be  improbable,  indeed  impossible,  nor  are  the 
words  mentioned  by  Justin  acknowledged  by  the  Targum,  or  any 
Greek  translator,  or  Jerome,  yet  it  is  evident  that  all  parties  granted 
the  Messiah  and  his  kingdom  to  be  intended  in  the  psalm,  or  there 
had  been  no  need  or  colour  for  the  one  to  suspect  the  other  of  cor- 
ruption about  it.  It  is  evident,  then,  that  the  ancient  church  of  the 
Jews,  whose  tradition  is  herein  followed  by  the  modern,  acknow- 
ledged this  psalm  to  contain  a  description  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
in  the*]\'Iessiah ;  and  on  their  consent  doth  the  apostle  proceed.  And 
the  next  psalm,  which  is  of  the  same  importance  with  this,  is  en- 
titled by  the  Targumist,  nK"i23  nnnCTl,  "A  prophetical  psalm," 
namely,  of  the  kingdom  and  reign  of  the  Messiah. 

But  the  matter  of  the  psalm  itself  makes  it  manifest  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  treateth  in  it  about  God's  bringing  in  the  first-born  into 
the  world,  and  the  setting  up  of  his  kingdom  in  him.  A  kingdom 
is  described  wherein  God  would  reign,  which  should  destroy  idolatry 
and  false  worship ;  a  kingdom  wherein  the  isles  of  the  Gentiles  should 
rejoice,  being  called  to  an  interest  therein;  a  kingdom  that  was  to 
be  preached,  proclaimed,  declared,  unto  the  increase  of  light  and 
holiness  in  the  world,  with  the  manitestation  of  the  glory  of  God 
unto,  the  ends  of  the  earth :  every  part  whereof  declareth  the  king- 
dom' of  Christ  to  be  intended  in  the  psalm,  and  consequently  that  it 
,  is  a  prophecy  of  the  bringing  in  of  the  first-begotten  into  the 
world. 

2.  Our  second  inquiry  is,  whether  the  angels  be  intended  in  these 
words.  They  are,  as  was  before  observed,  '^'''"'■'f:?'''?,  "omnes  dii;" 
and  are  so  rendered  by  Jerome,  "  Adorate  eum  omnes  dii;"  and  by 
ours,  "  Worship  him,  all  ye  gods."  The  preceding  words  are,  "  Con- 
founded be  all  they  that  serve  graven  images,"   C177S3  D77nnri)n^ 


VER.  6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  163 

"  that  boast  themselves  in"  (or  "of")  "  idols, " — "  vanities,  nothings," 
as  tlie  Avord  signifies;  whereon  ensues  this  apostrophe,  "Worship 
him,  D'n^!;<'?3/'  "  all  ye  gods."  And  who  they  are  is  our  present 
inquiry. 

Some,  as  all  the  modern  Jews,  say  that  it  is  the  gods  of  the  Gentiles, 
those  whom  they  worship,  that  are  intended;  so  making  Q'''"'''.^  and 
^77^^,  "  gods,"  and  "  vain  idols,"  to  be  the  same  in  this  place.  But, — 

(1.)  It  cannot  be  that  the  psalmist  should  exhort  the  idols  of  the 
heathen,  some  whereof  were  devils,  some  dead  men,  some  inanimate 
'parts  of  the  creation,  unto  a  reverential  worshipping  of  God  reign- 
ing over  all.  Hence  the  Targumist,  seeing  the  vanity  of  that  inter- 
pretation, perverts  the  words,  and  renders  them,  "  Worship  before 
him,  all  ye  nations  which  serve  idols." 

(2.)  ^'C-'.?;?,  "  Elohim,"  is  so  far  in  this  place  from  being  exegetical 
of  ^  V  r^,  "  gods,"  or  "  vain  idols,"  that  it  is  put  in  direct  opposition 
to  it,  as  IS  evident  from  the  words  themselves. 

(8.)  The  woixl  Elohim,  which  most  frequently  denoteth  the  true 
God,  doth  never  alone,  and  absolutely  taken,  signify  false  gods  or 
idols,  but  only  when  it  is  joined  with  some  other  word  discovering 
its  application,  as  his  god,  or  their  gods,  or  the  gods  of  this  or  thdt 
people:  in  which  case  it  is  rendered  by  the  LXX.  sometimes  i/d^Xov, 
an  "  idol ;"  sometimes  ^upoTroij^rov,  an  "  idol  made  with  hands;"  some- 
times (3dsXvy/j,a,  an  "  abomination."  But  here  it  hath  no  such  limita- 
tion or  restriction. 

Whereas,  therefore,  there  are  some  creatures  who,  by  reason  of 
some  peculiar  excellency  and  likeness  unto  God,  or  subordination 
unto  him  in  their  work,  are  called  gods,  it  must  be  those  or  some  of 
them  that  are  intended  in  the  expression.  Now  these  are  either 
magistrates  or  angels. 

(1.)  Magistrates  are  somewhere  called  elohim,  because  of  the 
representation  they  make  of  God  in  his  power,  and  their  peculiar 
subordination  unto  him  in  their  working.  The  Jews,  indeed,  con- 
tend that  no  other  magistrates  but  only  those  of  the  great  Sanhedrin 
are  anywhere  called  gods;  but  that  concerns  not  our  present  in- 
quiry. Some  magistrates  are  so  called,  but  none  of  them  are  here 
intended  by  the  psalmist,  there  being  no  occasion  administered  unto 
him  of  any  such  apostrophe  unto  them. 

(2.)  Augels  also  are  called  elohim:  Asyo/zivoi  ^;ot,  1  Cor.  viii.  5. 
They  have  the  namg  of  god  attributed  unto  them,  as  we  liave 
showed  before  in  some  instances.  And  these  alone  are  they  whom 
the  psalmist  speaks  unto.  Having  called  on  the  whole  crea- 
tion to  rejoice  in  the  bringing  forth  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
pressed  his  exhortation  upon  things  on  the  earth,  he  turns  unto  the 
ministering  angels,  and  calls  on  them  to  the  discharge  of  their  duty 
unto  the  Kino-  of  that  kingdom.     Hence  the  Targumist,  in  the  be- 


164  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

ginning  of  Psalm  xcvi,,  which  is  indeed  the  beginning  of  this,  ex- 
pressly mentioneth  t^OIlD  ''7J3N,  "  his  high  angels,"  joining  in  his 
praise  and  worship,  using  the  Greek  word  ayyikog,  for  distinction's 
sake,  as  on  the  same  account  it  often  occurs  in  the  Targuni. 

We  have  thus  evinced  that  the  psalm  treats  about  the  bringing 
in  of  the  first  born  into  the  world;  as  also  that  they  are  the  mmis- 
tering  angels  who  are  here  commanded  to  worship  him. 

For  the  command  itself,  and  the  nature  of  it,  it  consisted  in  these 
two  things: — (1.)  A  declaration  of  the  state  and  condition  of  the 
Messiah;  wliich  is  such  as  that  he  is  a  meet  object  of  religious  adora- 
tion unto  the  angels,  and  attended  with  peculiar  motives  unto  the 
discharge  of  their  duty.  The  former  he  hath  from  his  divine  nature, 
the  latter  from  his  luork,  with  his  state  and  dignity  that  ensued 
thereon.  (2.)  An  intimation  of  the  pleasure  of  God  unto  the  angels. 
Not  that  divine  worship  was  absolutely  due  unto  the  Son  of  God, 
which  they  knew  from  the  first  instant  of  their  creation,  but  that  all 
honour  and  glory  were  due  unto  him  on  the  account  of  his  wojrk  and 
office  as  mediator  and  king  of  his  church. 

3.  It  remaineth  only  that  we  show  that  this  testimony  thus  ex- 
plained was  suitable  unto  the  apostle's  design  and  purpose,  and  did 
prove  the  assertion  in  the  confirmation  whereof  it  was  produced. 
Now,  this  is  a  matter  of  so  full  and  clear  an  evidence  that  it  will 
not  at  all  detain  us;  for  it  is  impossible  that  there  should  be  any 
more  clear  or  full  demonstration  of  this  truth,  that  the  Lord  Christ 
liath  an  unspeakable  pre-eminence  above  the  angels,  than  this,  that 
they  are  all  appointed  and  commanded  by  God  himself  to  adore  him 
with  divine  and  religious  worship.  We  may  now,  therefore,  con- 
sider what  observations  the  words  will  afford  us  for  our  own  instruc- 
tion.    It  appears,  then,  from  hence, — 

I,  That  the  authority  of  God  speaking  in  the  Scripture  is  that 
alone  which  divine  faith  rests  upon  and  is  to  be  resolved  into :  "  He 
saith." 

It  was  the  begetting  of  faith  in  some  of  the  Hebrews,  and  the 
increase  or  establishment  of  it  in  others,  that  the  apostle  aimed  at. 
That  which  he  proposed  to  them  as  the  object  of  their  faith,  that 
which  they  were  to  believe,  was  that  excellency  of  the  person  and 
kingly  authority  of  the  Messiah  wherein  they  had  not  as  yet  been 
instructed.  And  hereof  he  endeavours  not  to  beget  an  opinion  in 
them,  but  that  faith  which  cannot  deceive  or  be  deceived.  To  this 
end  he  proposeth  that  unto  them  which  they  ought  to  submit  unto, 
and  which  they  may  safely  rest  in.  For  as  faith  is  an  act  of  religious 
obedience,  it  respects  the  authority  of  God  requiring  it ;  and  as  it  is 
a  religious  infallible  assent  of  the  mind,  it  regards  the  truth  and 
veracity  of  God  as  its  object.  On  this  alone  it  rests,  "  God  saith." 
And  in  whatever  God  speaks  in  the  Scripture,  his  truth  and  autho- 


VER.  6.  J  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  •]  Hii 

rity  manifest  themselves  to  the  satisfaction  of  faith;  and  nowheje 
else  doth  it  find  rest. 

II.  That  for  the  begetting,  increasing,  and  strengthening  of  faith, 
it  is  useful  to  have  important  fundamental  truths  confirmed  by- 
many  testimonies  of  Scripture:  "  Again  he  saith." 

Any  one  word  of  God  is  sufficient  to  establish  the  most  important 
truth  to  eternity,  so  as  to  hang  the  salvation  of  all  mankind  thereon, 
neither  can  any  thing  impeach  or  weaken  what  is  so  confirmed.  No 
more  is  required  in  any  case,  to  make  faith  necessary  on  our  part  as 
a  duty  of  obedience,  and  infallible  as  to  the  event,  but  that  God 
hath  by  any  means,  by  any  one  word,  revealed  that  which  he  re- 
quires our  assent  unto.  But  God  dealeth  not  upon  strict  terms. 
Infinite  condescension  lies  at  the  bottom  of  all  wherein  he  hath  to 
deal  with  us.  He  respects  not  what  the  nature  of  the  thing  strictly 
requires,  but  what  is  needful  unto  our  infirmity  and  weakness. 
Hence  he  multiplies  his  commands  and  promises,  and  confirms  all 
by  his  oath,  swearing  to  his  truth  by  himself,  to  take  away  all  pre- 
tence of  distrust  and  unbelief.  For  this  cause  he  multiplies  testi- 
monies to  the  truths  wherein  the  concernments  of  his  glory  and  our 
obedience  do  lie,  as  might  be  manifested  by  the  consideration  of 
instances  innumerable.  Thus  in  his  name  deals  the  apostle  in  this 
place.     And  this  is  useful  to  faith :  for, — 

\.  What,  it  may  be,  is  obscure  in  one  is  cleared  in  another;  and  so 
what  doubts  and  fears  remain  on  the  consideration  of  one  testimony 
are  removed  by  another,  whereby  the  souls  of  believers  are  carried 
on  unto  a  "  full  assurance."  And  therefore,  because  such  is  our 
weakness  that  there  is  need  hereof  in  ourselves,  such  is  the  good- 
ness of  God  that  there  is  no  want  of  it  in  the  word. 

2.  Faith  discerns  hereby  the  weight  that  God  lays  upon  its  em- 
bracing of  the  truth  so  testified  unto.  He  knows  our  concernment 
in  it,  and  thereon  urgeth  us  with  its  acceptance.  This  awakens  and 
excites  faith  unto  attention  and  consideration, — the  eminent  means 
ot  its  growth  and  increase.  It  knows  that  it  is  not  for  nothing  that 
the  Holy  Ghost  thus  presseth  his  truth  upon  it,  and  attends  the 
more  diligently  upon  his  urgency. 

8.  Every  testimony  hath  something  single  in  it,  and  pecidiar 
unto  it.  Though  many  bear  witness  to  the  same  truth,  yet  such  is 
the  fulness  of  the  Scripture,  and  such  the  wisdom  of  God  laid  up 
therein,  that  every  one  of  them  hath  also  somewhat  of  its  own,  some- 
what singular,  tending  to  the  enlightening  and  establishment  of  our 
minds.  This  faith  makes  a  discovery  of,  and  so  receives  peculiar 
profit  and  advantage  thereby. 

And  this  should  teach  us  to  abound  in  the  study  and  search  of 
the  Scriptures,  that  we  may  thereby  come  to  establishment  in  the 
truth.     God  hath  thus  left  us  many  testimonies  to  each  important 


166  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  1. 

truth;  and  lie  liatli  not  done  it  in  vain, — he  knows  our  need  of  it;  and 
his  condescension  in  so  doing,  when  he  might  have  bound  us  up  to 
the  strictest  terms  ot  closing  with  the  least  intimation  of  his  will,  is 
for  ever  to  be  admired.  For  us  to  neglect  this  great  effect  and  pro- 
duct of  the  wisdom,  grace,  and  love  of  God,  is  unspeakable  folly.  If 
Ave  think  we  need  it  not,  we  make  ourselves  wiser  than  God;  if  we 
think  we  do,  and  neglect  our  duty  herein,  we  are  really  as  unwise 
as  the  beasts  that  perish.  Want  of  this  fortifying  of  faith,  by  a  dili- 
gent search  after  the  testimonies  given  unto  the  truth  proposed  unto 
it  to  be  believed,  is  the  cause  that  so  many  every  day  turn  away  from 
it,  and  therewithal  make  shipwreck  of  faith  and  a  good  conscience. 
Let  us,  then,  never  think  ourselves  safe  in  the  knowledge  and  pro- 
fession of  any  truth,  but  whilst  we  continue  sincerely  in  the  investi- 
gation of  all  the  confirmation  that  God  hath  given  it  in  his  word. 
The  opposition  made  to  every  truth  is  so  various,  and  from  so  many 
hands,  that  not  the  least  contribution  of  evidence  unto  it  can  be 
neglected  with  safety. 

III.  The  whole  creation  of  God  hath  a  great  concernment  in 
God's  bringing  forth  Christ  into  the  world,  and  his  exaltation  in  his 
kingdom. 

Hence  in  the  psalm  from  whence  these  words  are  taken,  all  tlie 
principal  parts  of  it  are  called  on  to  triumph  and  rejoice  therein. 
The  earth,  and  the  multitude  of  the  isles,  the  heaven,  and  all  peo{)le, 
are  invited  unto  this  congratulation;  neither  is  any  thing  excluded 
but  idols  and  idolaters,  whose  ruin  God  intends  in  the  erection  of 
the  kingdom  of  Christ.     And  this  they  have  ground  for, — 

1.  Because  in  that  work  consisted  the  principal  manifestation  of 
the  wisdom,  power,  and  goodness  of  God.  The  whole  creation  is 
concerned  in  the  glory  of  the  Creator.  In  his  exaltation  doth  their 
honour,  interest,  and  blessedness  consist.  For  this  end  were  they 
made,  that  God  might  be  glorified.  The  more  that  is  done  by  any 
means,  the  more  is  their  end  attained. 

Hence  the  very  inanimate  parts  of  it  are  introduced,  by  a  '^pacu- 
'^rcTroitcc,  rejoicing,  exulting,  shouting,  and  clapping  their  hands,  when 
the  glory  of  God  is  manifested, — in  all  which  their  suitableness  and 
propensity  to  their  proper  end  is  declared;  as  also,  by  their  being 
burdened  and  sfroanino-  under  such  an  estate  and  condition  of  things 
as  doth  any  way  eclipse  the  glory  of  their  Maker.  Now,  in  this 
work  of  bringing  forth  the  first-born  is  the  glory  of  God  principally 
and  eminently  exalted ;  for  the  Lord  Christ  is  the  "  brightness  of 
Ids  glory,"  and  in  him  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom,  grace,  and  good- 
ness are  laid  up  and  hid.  Whatever  God  had  any  otherwise  be- 
fore parcelled  out,  of  and  concerning  his  glory,  l)y  the  works  of  his 
hands,  is  all,  and  altogether,  and  with  an  unspeakable  addition  of 
beauty  and  excellency,  repeated  in  Christ. 


VER.  6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  1G7 

2.  The  whole  creation  receiveth  a  real  advancement  and  honour 
in  the  Son's  being  made  "  the  first-born  of  every  creature;"  that  is, 
the  especial  heir  and  lord  of  them  all.  Their  being  brought  into  a 
new  dependence  on  the  Lord  Christ  is  their  honour,  and  they  are 
exalted  by  becoming  his  possession.  For  after  that  they  had  lost 
their  first  original  dependence  on  God,  and  their  respect  unto  hin\ 
grounded  on  his  pronouncing  of  them  exceeding  good, — that  is,  such 
as  became  his  wisdom  and  power  to  have  made, — they  fell  under  the 
power  of  the  devil,  who  became  prince  of  this  world  by  sin.  Herein 
consisted  the  vanity  and  debasement  of  the  creature;  which  it  was 
never  willingly  or  of  its  own  accord  subject  unto.  But  God  setting 
up  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  making  him  the  first-born,  the  whole 
creation  hath  a  right  unto  a  new,  glorious  lord  and  master.  And 
however  any  part  of  it  be  violently  for  a  season  detained  under  its 
old  bondage,  yet  it  hath  grounds  of  an  "earnest  expectation"  of  a  full 
and  total  deliverance  into  liberty,  by  virtue  of  this  primogeniture  of 
Christ  Jesus. 

o.  Angels  and  men,  the  inhabitants  of  heaven  and  earth,  the 
principal  parts  of  the  creation,  on  whom  God  hath  in  an  especial 
manner  stamped  his  own  likeness  and  image,  are  hereby  made  par- 
takers of  such  inestimable  benefits  as  indispensably  call  for  rejoicing 
in  a  way  of  thankfulness  and  gratitude.  This  the  whole  gospel  de- 
clares, and  therelbre  it  needs  not  our  particular  improvement  in  this 
place. 

And  if  this  be  the  duty  of  the  whole  creation,  it  is  easy  to  discern 
in  what  a  special  manner  it  is  incumbent  on  them  that  believe,  whose 
benefit,  advantage,  and  glory,  were  principally  intended  in  this  whole 
work  of  God.  Should  they  be  foiind  wanting  in  this  duty,  God 
misfht.  as  ot  old,  call  heaven  and  earth  to  witness  afjainst  them. 
Yea,  thankfulness  to  God  for  the  bringing  forth  of  the  first-born 
into  the  world  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  all  that  obedience  which 
God  requires  at  the  hands  ot  believers. 

IV.  The  command  of  God  is  the  ground  and  reason  of  all  reli- 
gious worship.  The  angels  are  to  worship  the  Lord  Christ,  the 
mediator ;  and  the  ground  of  their  so  doing  is  God's  command.  He 
saith,  "  Worship  him,  all  ye  angels." 

Now  the  command  of  God  is  twofold: — L  Formal  and  vocal, 
when  God  gives  out  a  law  or  precept  unto  any  creature  super- 
added to  the  law  of  its  creation.  Such  was  the  command  given  out 
unto  our  first  parents  in  the  garden  concerning  the  "  tree  of  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil;"  and  such  were  all  the  laws,  precepts, 
and  institutions  which  he  afterwards  gave  unto  his  church,  with  those 
which  to  this  day  continue  as  the  rule  and  reason  of  their  obedience. 
2.  Real  and,  interpretative,  consisting  in  an  impression  of  the  mind 
and  will  of  God  upon  the  nature  of  his  creatures,  with  respect  uuto 


168  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

that  obedience  which  their  state,  condition,  and  dependence  on  him 
requireth.  The  very  nature  of  an  intellectual  creature,  made  for  the 
glory  of  God,  and  placed  in  a  moral  dependence  upon  him  and  sub- 
jection unto  him,  hath  in  it  the  force  of  a  command,  as  to  the  v.'or- 
ship  and  service  that  God  requireth  at  their  bands.  But  this  law  in 
man  being  blotted,  weakened,  impaired,  through  sin,  God  hath  in 
mercy  unto  us  collected,  drawn  forth,  and  disposed  all  the  directions 
and  commands  of  it  in  vocal  formal  precepts  recorded  in  his  word; 
whereunto  he  hath  superadded  sundry  new  commands  in  the  insti- 
tutions of  his  worship.  With  angels  it  is  otherwise.  The  ingrafted 
law  of  their  creation,  requiring  of  them  the  worship  of  God  and 
obedience  to  his  whole  will,  is  kept  and  preserved  entire;  so  that  they 
have  no  need  to  have  it  repeated  and  expressed  in  vocal  formal  com- 
mands. And  by  virtue  of  this  law  were  they  obliged  to  constant  and 
everlasting  worship  of  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  as  being  created  and 
upheld  in  a  universal  dependence  upon  him.  But  now  when  God 
brings  forth  his  Son  into  the  world,  and  placeth  him  in  a  new  con- 
dition, of  being  incarnate,  and  becoming  so  the  head  of  his  church, 
there  is  a  new  modification  of  the  worship  that  is  due  to  him  brought 
in,  and  a  new  respect  unto  things,  not  considered  in  the  first  crea- 
tion. With  reference  hereunto  God  gives  a  new  command  unto  the 
angels,  for  that  peculiar  kind  of  worship  and  honour  which  is  due 
tinto  him  in  that  state  and  condition  which  he  had  taken  upon  him- 
self 

This  the  law  of  their  creation  in  general  directed  them  unto,  but 
in  particular  required  not  of  them.  It  enjoined  the  worship  of  the 
Son  of  God  in  every  conditicm,  but  that  condition  was  not  expressed. 
This  God  supplies  by  a  neiv  command;  that  is,  such  an  intimation 
of  his  mind  and  will  unto  them  as  answers  unto  a  vocal  command 
given  unto  men,  who  by  that  means  only  may  come  to  know  the 
will  of  God.  Thus,  in  one  way  or  other,  command  is  the  ground 
and  cause  of  all  worship:  for, — 

1.  All  worship  is  obedience.  Obedience  respects  authority;  and 
authority  exerts  itself  in  commands.  And  if  this  authority  be  not 
the  authority  of  God,  the  worship  performed  in  obedience  unto  it  is 
not  the  worship  of  God,  but  of  him  or  them  whose  commands  and 
authority  are  the  reason  and  cause  of  it.  It  is  the  authority  of  Goil 
alone  that  can  make  any  worship  to  be  religious,  or  the  performance 
of  it  to  be  an  act  of  obedience  unto  him. 

2.  God  would  never  allow  that  the  will  and  wisdom  of  any  of  his 
creatures  should  be  the  rise,  ride,  or  measure  of  his  worship,  or  any 
part  of  it,  or  any  thing  that  belongs  unto  it.  This  honour  he  hath 
reserved  unto  himself,  neither  will  he  part  with  it  unto  any  other. 
He  alone  knows  what  becomes  his  own  greatness  and  holiness,  and 
what  tends  to  the  advancement  of  his  glory.     Hence  the  Scripture 


VER.  7.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  169 

abounds  with  severe  interdictions  and  comminations  against  them 
who  shall  presume  to  do  or  appoint  any  thing  in  his  worship  beside 
or  beyond  his  own  institution. 

3.  All  prescriptions  of  worship  are  vain,  when  men  have  not 
strength  to  perform  it  in  a  due  manner,  nor  assurance  of  acceptance 
when  it  is  performed.  Now,  both  these  are  and  must  be  from  God 
alone,  nor  doth  he  give  strength  and  ability  for  any  thing  in  his 
worship  but  what  himself  commands,  nor  doth  he  promise  to  accejt 
any  thing  but  what  is  of  his  own  appointment;  so  that  it  is  the 
greatest  folly  imaginable  to  undertake  any  thing  in  his  worship  and 
service  but  what  his  appointment  gives  warrant  for. 

And  this  should  teacii  us,  in  all  that  we  have  to  do  in  the  worship 
of  God,  carefully  to  look  after  his  word  of  command  and  institution. 
Without  this  all  that  we  do  is  lost,  as  being  no  obedience  unto  God  ; 
yea,  it  is  an  open  setting  up  of  our  own  wills  and  wisdom  against 
him,  and  that  in  things  of  his  own  especial  concernment;  which  is 
intolerable  boldness  and  presumption.  Let  us  deal  thus  with  our 
rulers  amongst  men,  and  obey  them  not  according  to  their  laws,  but 
our  own  fancies,  and  see  whether  they  will  accept  our  persons? 
And  is  the  great  and  holy  God  less  to  be  regarded  ?  Besides,  when 
we  have  our  inventions,  or  the  commands  of  other  men,  as  the 
ground  and  reason  of  our  doing  it,  we  have  nothing  but  our  own  or 
their  warr^anty  for  its  acceptance  with  God;  and  how  far  this  will 
secure  us  it  is  easy  to  judge. 

We  might  hence  also  further  observe, — 

V.  That  the  Mediator  of  the  new  covenant  is  in  his  own  person 
God  blessed  for  ever,  to  whom  divine  or  religious  worship  is  due 
from  the  angels  themselves.     As  also  that, — 

VI.  The  Father,  upon  the  account  of  the  work  of  Christ  in  the 
world,  and  his  kingdom  that  ensued  it,  gives  a  new  commandment 
unto  the  angels  to  worship  him,  his  glory  being  greatly  concerned 
therein.     And  that, — 

VII.  Great  is  the  church's  security  and  honour,  when  the  head 
of  it  is  worshipped  by  all  the  angeJs  in  heaven.     As  also  that, — 

VIIL  It  can  be  no  duty  of  the  saints  of  the  new  testament  to 
worship  angels,  who  are  their  fellow-servants  in  the  worship  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

Verse  7. 

Having  in  one  testimony  from  the  Scripture,  expressing  the  sub- 
jection of  angels  unto  the  Lord  Christ,  signally  proved  his  main 
design,  the  apostle  proceedeth  to  the  further  confirmation  of  it  in 
the  same  way,  and  that  by  balancing  single  testimonies  concerning 
the  nature  and  offices  of  the  angels  with  some  others  concerning 
the  same  things  in  the  Lord  Christ,  of  whom  he  treats.  And  the 
first  of  these,  relating  unto  angels,  he  lavs  down  in  the  next  verse  :^ 


170  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

Ver.  7. — Kai  Tpog  /xh  rdii?  ayysXovg  "klysr  'O  voiuv  roi/g  ayyiXove 
alrou  cri/fu/Aara,  zai  rovg  Xsirovpyovg  aiirou  '^uplg  oXoycc. 

There  is  not  rnufh  of  difficulty  in  the  words.  TLpo;  dyyi'Aovg,"  unto  the  angels." 
Syr.,  ^H^J'?  '?,  "  of"  (or  "concerning")  "  the  angels  "  Vs  is  often  used  for  hy, 
and  on  the  contrary,  and  -^po;  for  ttso/;  so  that  Trpog  rove  dyyiT^ov;,  "  to  the 
anjiels,"  is  as  much  as  Trip!  roiv  a,yyihuv,  "of"  (or  '•concerning")  "  the  angel-:" 
"  But  as  concerning  the  angels,"  (or,  "  and  of  the  angel.*,")  "  he  saith:"  for  these 
words  are  not  spoken  unto  the  angels,  as  the  following  woi'ds  are  directly  .spoken 
unto  the  Son.  He  is  the  person  as  well  spoken  to  as  spoken  of;  but  so  are  not 
the  angels  in  the  place  from  whence  this  testimony  is  taken,  wherein  the  Holy 
Ghost  only  declareth  the  providence  of  God  concerning  them. 

Aiyet,  '•  he  saith ;"  that  is,  God  the  Father  saith,  or  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the 
Scripture  saith,  as  was  before  observed. 

Tov;  yvsircvpyovg.  Aenovpyog  is  "  mini.ster  puhlicus,""a  public  minister,"  or 
agent ;  from  Tujiroj,  which  is  the  same  v\ith  Z-/iy.6aio;,  as  Hesychius  renders  it, 
"  public."  He  that  is  employed  in  any  great  and  public  work  is  "Karovpyo^. 
Hence,  of  old,  magistrates  were  termed  hurovpyot  Qiuv,  as  they  are  by  Paul,  o/ci- 
X.OUOI  Qiov,  Rom.  xiii.  4,  "  the  ministers  of  God."  And,  chap.  viii.  2  of  this 
epistle,  he  calls  the  Lord  Jesus,  in  respect  of  his  priestly  office,  ruu  ocytoiu  'ah- 
Tovpyov,  "the  public  minister  of  holy  things:"  and  himself,  in  respect  of  his  apostle- 
ship,  'Kitrovpyou'lnaov  Xpi(jrov,  Rom.  xv.  16,  "  a  minister  of  Jesus  Christ."  So 
the  name  is  on  this  account  (qui|iollcnt  unto  that  of  angels;  for  as  that  denoteth 
the  mission  of  those  spirits  unto  their  work,  sodoth  this  their  employment  therein. 

This  testimony  is  taken  from  Ps.  civ.  4,  where  the  words  are  to  the  same  pur- 
pose: '^tp  '^f:  ■'^'^T'v'?  ^'""''^  "7??-  ~"'?^-  The  translation  now  in  the  Greek  is  the 
same  with  that  of  the  apostle,  only  for  -Trvpog  (p'Koyx,  "  a  flame  of  fire,"  some 
copies  have  it  'Trvp  (p^iyou,  "  a  flaming  fire," — more  e.xpiess  to  the  original ;  and  the 
change  probably  was  made  in  the  copies  from  this  place  of  the  apostle.  Sym- 
maehus,  vvp  T^ct'Zpoi),  "a  devouring  fire."i 

Ver.  7. — But  unto  [o/]  tlie  angels  he  saith,  Who  maketh 
his  angels  sjDlrits,  and  his  ministers  a  flame  of  fire, 
[or,  flaming  jire^ 

The  apostle  here  entereth  upon  his  third  argument  to  prove  the 
pre-eminence  of  the  Lord  Christ  above  angels,  and  that  by  com- 
paring them  together,  either  as  to  their  natures  or  as  to  their  em- 
ployments, according  as  the  one  or  the  other  is  set  forth,  declared, 

'  Exposition. — ITo/wj/,  x.  t.  7^.  "Who  maketh  his  angels  that  serve  him  the 
ministers  of  his  will,  as  the  ^vinds  and  the  lightning  are."  The  angels  are  em- 
ployed simply  in  a  ministerial  capacity,  while  the  Son  is  lord  of  all. — Stuart. 


f?'" 

'■■■ -  — a "•   ""-"■-. — ^.-,<.^,vv.      ,^,^..0  angels 

ai-e  employed  by  him  in  the  same  way  as  the  more  ordinary  agents  of  nature,— 
winds  and  lightnings. — Turner. 

Calvin,  Beza.  Bucer,  Grotius,  Limborch,  Lowth.  Campbell,  Michaelis,  Knapp, 
and  others,  translate  the  Greek  words  as  equivalent  to  the  Hebrew.  Luther, 
Calov,  Storr,  Tholuck,  and  others,  interpret  the  Hebrew  according  to  the  Gre-k. 
The  Hebrew,  it  is  alleged,  must  from  the  contci^t  be  rendered,  ''  He  makes  the 


■VER.  7.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  1 7l 

and  testified  unto  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament,  And  this 
first  place  whicli  he  refers  unto  angels  we  shall  now  explain  and 
vindicate;  and  in  so  doing  inquire  both  ivho  they  are  of  whom  tlie 
psalmist  speaks,  and  what  it  is  that  he  afifirraeth  of  them. 

There  is  a  threefold  sense  given  of  the  words  of  the  psalmist,  as 
they  lie  in  the  Hebrew  text: — 

1.  The  first  is  that  of  the  modern  Jews,  who  deny  that  there  i.«? 
any  mention  made  of  angels,  affirming  the  subject  that  the  psalmist 
treats  of  to  be  the  winds,  with  thunder  and  lightning,  which  God 
employs  as  his  messengers  and  ministers  to  accomplish  his  will  and 
pleasure.  So  he  made  the  winds  his  messengers  when  he  sent  them 
to  raise  a  storm  on  Jonah  when  he  fled  from  his  presence;  and  a 
flam.ing  fire  his  minister,  when  by  it  he  consumed  Sodom  and  Go- 
morrah. And  this  opinion  makes  ninil,  which  it  interprets  "  winds," 
and  ^<y  t''^?,  "  a  flaming  fire/'  to  be  the  subjects  of  the  proposition, 
of  which  it  is  affirmed  that  God  employs  them  as  his  messengers 
and  ministers. 

That  this  opinion,  which  is  directly  contradictory  to  the  authority 
of  the  apostle,  is  so  also  to  the  design  of  the  psalmist,  sense  of  the 
words,  consent  of  the  ancient  Jews,  and  so  no  way  to  be  admitted, 
shall  afterwards  be  made  to  appear. 

2.  Some  aver  that  the  winds  and  meteors  are  principally  intended, 
but  yet  so  as  that  God,  affirming  that  he  makes  the  winds  his  mes- 
sengers, doth  also  intimate  that  it  is  the  work  and  employment  of 
his  angels  above  to  be  his  messengers  also;  and  that  because  he 
niaketh  use  of  their  ministry  to  cause  those  winds  and  fires  whereby 
he  accomplisheth  his  will.  And  this  they  illustrate  by  the  fire  and 
winds  caused  by  them  on  mount  Sinai  at  the  giving  of  the  law. 

But  this  interpretation,  whatever  is  pretended  to  the  contrary, 
doth  not  really  differ  from  the  former,  denying  angels  to  be  inten- 
tionally spoken  of,  only  hooking  in  a  respect  unto  them,  not  to 
seem  to  contradict  the  apostle,  and  therefore  will  be  disproved  toge- 
ther with  that  which  went  before. 

winds  his  messengers,"  etc.  To  the  former  view  it  i>  justly  ohjected,  that  the 
Greeii  rendering  would  have  been, '  O  Trotuv  a-yyihov^  ccvruv  to,  ntvivi^a.-ra,.  To  the 
latter,  that  the  analogy  of  the  context  requires  us  in  the  lluhrew  psalm  to  under- 
stand winds  as  the  messengers  of  God,  even  as  light  is  his  garmeni,  the  heav^-n 
hi-i  tent,  and  the  clouds  his  chariot.  Tholuck,  Stuart,  and  Turner  hold  that  the 
Hebrew  psalm  leads  to  the  opposite  conclusion,  fiom  the  natural  order  of  the 
words,  from  the  connection  of  angels  with  natural  causes,  and  from  the  real  scope 
of  the  context, — "  Who  maketh  the  clouds  his  chariot."  The  form  r,  says  Storr, 
like  angels  and  ministers,  must  be  understood  literally,  and  the  latter  (ch:iri<it), 
like  winds  and  lightninffs,  figuratively  for  agents  of  his  will.  The  translation 
adopted  by  the  New  Testament  from  the  Septuagint  has  the  sanction  also  of  trie 
Chaldee  and  Syriae  versions. 

Tra.nslatio'ns. — 'O  TToiav,  K.  T.  7i.  Who  niaketh  his  angels  wmh.— -Stuart, 
Craik,  Ebr.ird.  Who  maketh  winds  his  messengers,  and  flaniing  fire  his  minis- 
ters.— Campbell  on  GospcU.  Dissert,  viii.  part  iii.  sect.  10. — Ed. 


172  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

0.  Others  grant  that  it  is  the  angels  of  whom  the  apostle  treats; 
hut  as  to  the  interpretation  of  the  words  they  are  of  two  opinions. 

Some  make  "spirits"  to  be  the  subject  of  what  is  affirmed,  and 
"angels"  to  be  the  predicate.  In  this  sense  God  is  said  to  make  those 
spiritual  substances,  inhabitants  of  heaven,  his  messengers,  employing 
them  in  his  service ;  and  them  whose  nature  is  "  a  flaming  fire,"  that 
is  the  seraphim,  to  be  his  ministers,  and  to  accomplish  his  pleasure. 
And  this  way,  after  Austin,  go  many  expositors,  making  the  term 
"  angels"  here  merely  to  denote  an  employment,  and  not  the  persons 
employed.  But  as  this  interpretation  also  takes  off  from  the  efficacy 
and  evidence  of  tlie  apostle's  argument,  so  we  shall  see  that  there  is 
nothing  in  the  words  themselves  leading  to  the  embracement  of  it. 

It  remains,  therefore,  that  it  is  the  angels  that  are  here  spoken  of; 
as  also  that  they  are  intended  and  designed  by  that  name,  which 
denotes  their  persons,  and  not  tiieir  employment. 

That  angels  are  primarily  intended  by  the  psalmist,  contrary  to 
the  first  opinion,  of  the  modern  Jews,  and  the  second  mentioned, 
leaning  thereunto,  appears, — 

1.  From  the  scope  and  design  of  the  psalmist.  For  designing  to 
set  out  tlie  glory  of  God  in  his  works  of  creation  and  providence, 
after  he  had  declared  the  framing  of  all  things  by  his  power  which 
come  under  the  name  of  "  heavens,"  verses  2,  3,  before  he  proceeds  to 
the  creation  of  the  earth, — passing  over,  with  Moses,  the  creation  of 
angels,  or  couching  it  with  him  under  the  production  of  light  or  of 
the  heavens,  as  they  are  called  in  Job, — he  declareth  his  providence 
and  sovereignty  in  employing  his  angels  between  heaven  and  earth, 
as  his  servants  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  pleasure.  Neither  tioth 
it  at  all  suit  his  method  or  design,  in  his  enumeration  of  the  works 
of  God,  to  make  mention  of  the  winds  and  tempests,  and  their  use 
in  the  earth,  before  he  had  mentioned  the  creation  of  the  earth  it- 
self, which  follows  in  the  next  verse  unto  this.  So  that  these  senses 
are  excluded  by  the  context  of  the  psalm. 

2.  The  consent  of  the  ancient  Jews  lies  against  the  sentiment  of 
the  modern.  Both  the  old  translations  either  made  or  embraced  by 
them  expressly  refer  the  words  unto  angels.  So  doth  that  of  the 
LXX.,  as  is  evident  from  the  words;  and  so  doth  the  Targum,  thus 
rendering  the  place,  ^?:^'x  Tr\  p3"'pn  ''^t^'ac' xnn  nv"i  pnin-iD  •'injTN  n^yi 
fc^nn^VD; — "Who  maketh  his  messengers"  (or  "angels")  "swift  as 
spirits,  and  his  ministers  strong"  (or  "  powerful")  "  as  a  flaming  fire." 
The  supply  of  the  note  of  similitude  niakes  it  evident  that  they  un- 
derstood the  text  of  angels,  and  not  winds,  and  of  making  angels  as 
spirits,  and  not  of  making  winds  to  be  angels  or  messengers,  which 
is  inconsistent  with  their  words. 

3.  The  word  Q''?^^P  doth  usually  denote  the  angels  themselves, 
and  no  reason  can  be  given  why  it  should  not  do  so  in  this  placa 


VER.  7.  J  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS,  173 

Moreover,  it  appears  that  that  term  is  the  subject  of  the  proposi- 
tion: for, — 

1.  The  apostle  and  the  LXX,  fixing  the  articles  before  ayyiXous 
aiul  Xsirovpyovg,  "angels"  and  "ministers,"  do  plainly  determine  the 
subject  spoken  of:  for  although,  it  may  be,  some  variety  may  be  ob- 
served in  the  use  of  articles  in  other  places,  so  that  they  do  not 
always  determine  the  subject  of  the  proposition,  as  sometimes  con- 
fessedly they  do,  as  John  i.  1,  iv.  24;  yet  in  this  place,  where 
in  the  original  all  the  words  are  left  indefinitely,  without  any  prefix 
to  direct  the  emphasis  unto  any  one  of  them,  the  fixing  of  them  in 
the  translation  of  the  apostle  and  LXX.  must  necessarily  design  the 
subject  of  them,  or  else  by  the  addition  of  the  article  they  leave  the 
sense  much  more  ambiguous  than  before,  and  give  occasion  to  a 
great  mistake  in  the  interpretation  of  the  words. 

2.  The  apostle  speaks  of  angels:  "  Unto  the  angels  he  saith."  And 
in  all  other  testimonies  produced  by  him,  that  whereof  he  treats  hath 
the  place  of  the  subject  spoken  of,  and  not  of  that  which  is  attri- 
buted unto  any  thing  else.  Neither  can  the  words  be  freed  from 
equivocation,  if  "angels"  in  the  first  place  denote  the  persons  of  the 
augels,  and  in  the  latter  their  employment  only. 

0.  The  design  and  scope  of  the  apostle  requires  this  construction 
of  the  words;  for  his  intention  is,  to  prove  by  this  testimony  that  the 
angels  are  employed  in  such  works  and  services,  and  in  such  a  man- 
ner, as  that  they  are  no  way  to  be  compared  to  the  Son  of  God,  in 
respect  of  that  office  which  as  mediator  he  hath  undertaken:  which 
the  sense  and  construction  contended  for  alone  doth  prove. 

4.  The  original  text  requires  this  sense;  for,  according  to  the  com- 
mon use  of  that  language,  among  words  indefinitely  used,  the  first 
denotes  the  subject  spoken  of,  which  is  angels  here :  ninn  1''9';?fP  ^¥^, 
— "  making  his  angels  spirits."  And  in  such  propositions  ofttimes 
some  note  of  similitude  is  to  be  understood,  without  which  the  sense 
is  not  complete,  and  which,  as  I  have  showed,  the  Targum  supplieth 
in  this  place. 

From  what  hath  been  said,  I  suppose  it  is  made  evident  both  that 
the  psalmist  expressly  treats  of  angels,  and  that  the  subject  spoken 
of  by  the  apostle  is  expressed  in  that  word,  and  that  following,  of 
ministers. 

Our  next  inquiry  is  after  what  is  affirmed  concerning  these  angels 
and  ministers  spoken  of;  and  that  is,  that  God  makes  them  "  spirits," 
and  "  a  flame  of  fire."  And  concerning;  the  meaning  of  these  words 
there  are  two  opinions : — 

1.  That  the  creation  of  angels  is  intended  in  the  words;  and 
tlie  nature  whereof  they  were  made  is  expressed  in  them.  He  made 
them  spirits, — that  is,  of  a  spiritual  substance;  and  his  heavenly 
ministers,  quick,  powerful,  agile,  as  a  flaming  fire.     Some  carry  this 


1  74  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CIIAP.  I. 

sense  farther,  and  affirm  that  two  sorts  of  angels  are  intimated,  one 
of  an  aerial  substance  like  the  wind,  and  the  other  igneal  or  fiery, 
denying  all  pure  intelligences,  without  mixture  of  matter,  as  the 
product  of  the  school  of  Aristotle. 

But  this  seems  not  to  be  the  intention  of  the  words;  nor  is  the 
creation  of  the  angels  or  the  substance  whereof  they  consist  here 
expressed:  for, — (1.)  The  analysis  of  the  psalm,  formerly  touched  on, 
requires  the  referring  of  these  words  to  the  providence  of  God  in  em- 
ploying the  angels,  and  not  to  his  power  in  making  them.  {'Z.)  The 
apostle  in  this  place  hath  nothing  to  do  with  the  essence  and  nature  of 
the  angels,  but  with  their  dignity,  honour,  and  employment;  on  wiiicli 
accounts  he  preferreth  the  Lord  Christ  before  them.      Wherefore, — 

2.  The  providence  of  God  in  disposing  and  employing  of  angels 
in  his  service  is  intended  in  these  words;  and  so  they  may  have 
a  double  sense: — (1.)  That  God  employeth  his  angels  and  hea- 
venly ministers  in  the  production  of  those  winds,  Dirin,  and  fire, 
^'(P  "^"??,  thunder  and  lightning,  whereby  he  executeth  many  judg- 
ments in  the  world.  (2.)  A  note  of  similitude  may  be  understood, 
to  complete  the  sense,  which  is  expressed  in  the  Targum  on  tiie 
psalm:  "He  maketh"  (or  "sendeth")  "his  angels  like  the  winds, 
or  like  a  flaming  fire," — maketh  them  speedy,  spiritual,  agile, 
powerful,  quickly  and  effectually  accomplishing  the  work  that  is 
appointed  unto  them. 

Either  way  this  is  the  plain  intendment  of  the  psalm, — that  God 
usetli  and  employeth  his  angels  in  effecting  the  works  of  his  provi- 
dence here  below,  and  that  they  were  made  to  serve  the  providence  of 
God  in  that  way  and  manner.  '  This,'  saith  the  apostle,  '  is  the  testi- 
mony which  the  Holy  Ghost  gives  concerning  them,  their  nature, 
duty,  and  work,  wherein  they  serve  the  providence  of  God.  But 
now,'  saith  he,  '  consider  v/hat  the  Scripture  saith  concerning  the  Son, 
how  it  calls  him  God,  how  it  ascribes  a  throne  and  a  kingaom  unto 
him'  (testimonies  whereof  he  produceth  in  the  next  verses), '  and  you 
will  easily  discern  his  pre-eminence  above  them.' 

But  before  we  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  the  ensuing  testi, 
monies,  we  may  make  some  observations  on  that  which  we  have 
already  passed  through;  as, — 

I.  Our  conceptions  of  the  angels,  their  nature,  office,  and  work, 
is  to  be  regulated  by  the  Scripture. 

The  Jews  of  old  had  many  curious  speculations  about  angels, 
wherein  they  greatly  pleased  and  greatly  deceived  themselves. 
Wherefore  the  apostle,  in  his  dealing  with  them,  calls  them  off  from 
all  their  foolish  imaginations,  to  attend  unto  those  things  which 
God  hath  revealed  in  his  word  concerning  them.  This  the  Holy 
Giiost  saith  of  them,  and  therefore  this  we  are  to  receive  and  be- 
lieve, and.  this  alone ;  for, — 


VER  7.J  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  175 

1.  This  will  keep  us  unto  that  becoming  sobriety  in  things  above 
us  which  both  the  Scripture  greatly  commends  and  is  exceed- 
ingly suited  unto  right  reason.  The  Scripture  minds  us  fir,  brfpfpo- 
vuv  iraf  0  hi7  tppovsiv  dXXa  (ppovsTv  it;  to  cc/jfpon7v,  Rom.  xii.  3,  "  to  kt-ep 
ourselves  within  the  bounds  of  modesty,  and  to  be  wise  to  sobiiety." 
And  the  ride  of  that  sobriety  is  given  us  for  ever,  Deut.  xxix.  28, 
^rjnijni^^ri^ani  ^rn^s-  nin>^  nhn 93 n;_"  Secret  things  belong  unto  the 
Lord  our  God :  but  revealed  things  unto  us  and  to  our  cliiidren" 
Divine  revelation  is  the  rule  and  measure  of  our  kuowledcre  in  these 
things,  and  that  bounds  and  determines  our  sobriety.  And  hence 
the  apostle,  condemning  the  curiosity  of  men  on  this  very  subject 
about  angels,  makes  the  nature  of  their  sin  to  consist  in  exceeding 
these  bounds  by  an  inquiry  into  things  unrevealed;  and  the  rise  of 
that  evil  to  lie  in  pride,  vanity,  and  fleshliness ;  and  the  tendency  of 
it  to  be  unto  false  worship,  superstition,  and  idolatry.  Col.  ii.  18. 
Neither  is  there  any  thing  more  averse  from  right  reason,  nor  more 
condemned  by  wise  men  of  former  times,  than  a  curious  humour  of 
prying  into  those  things  wherein  we  are  not  concerned,  and  for 
whose  investigation  we  have  no  certain,  honest,  lawful  rule  or  me- 
dium. And  this  evil  is  increased  where  God  himself  hath  given 
bounds  to  our  inquiries,  as  in  this  case  he  hath. 

2.  This  alone  will  bring  us  unto  any  certainty  andtruth.  Whilst 
men  indulge  to  their  own  imaginations  and  fancies,  as  too  many  in 
this  matter  have  been  apt  to  do,  it  is  sad  to  consider  how  they  have 
wandered  up  and  down,  and  with  what  fond  conceits  they  have 
deceived  themselves  and  others.  The  world  hath  been  filled 
with  monstrous  opinions  and  doctrines  about  angels,  their  nature, 
offices,  and  employments.  Some  have  worshipped  them,  others  pre- 
tended I  know  not  what  communion  and  intercourse  with  them ; 
in  all  which  conceits  there  hath  been  little  of  truth,  and  nothing 
at  all  of  certainty.  Whereas  if  men,  according  to  the  exan'wple 
of  the  apostle,  would  keep  themselves  to  the  word  of  God,  as  they 
would  know  enough  in  this  matter  for  the  discharcincj  of  their  own 
duty,  so  they  would  have  assurance  and  evidence  of  truth  in  their 
conceptions;  without  which  pretended  high  and  raised  notions  are 
but  a  shadow  of  a  dream, — worse  than  professed  ignorance. 

II.  We  may  hence  observe,  that  the  glory,  honour,  and  exalta- 
tion of  angels  lies  in  their  subserviency  to  the  providence  of  God. 
It  lies  not  so  much  in  their  nature  as  in  their  work  and  service. 

The  intention  of  the  apostle  is  to  show  the  glory  of  angela 
and  their  exaltation ;  which  he  doth  by  the  induction  of  this  testi- 
mony, reporting  their  serviceableness  in  the  works  wherein  of  God 
they  are  employed.  God  hath  endowed  the  angels  with  a  very 
excellent  nature, — furnished  them  with  many  eminent  properties, 
of  wisdom,   power,    agility,   perpetuity:  but  yet    what   is   glorious 

VOL.  xu.— 12 


1 7b"  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

and  honourable  herein  consists  not  merely  in  their  nature  itself  and 
its  essential  properties,  all  which  abide  in  the  horridest  and  most- 
to-be-detested  part  of  the  whole  creation,  namely,  the  devils;  but  in 
their  conformity  and  answerableness  unto  the  mind  and  will  of  God, 
— that  is,  in  tlieir  moral,  not  merely  natural  endowments.  These 
make  them  amiable,  glorious,  excellent.  Unto  this  their  readiness 
for  and  compliance  with  the  will  of  God, — that  God  having  made 
them  for  his  service,  and  employing  them  in  his  work, — their  dis- 
charge of  their  duty  therein  with  cheerfulness,  alacrity,  readiness, 
and  ability,  is  that  which  renders  them  truly  honourable  and  glo- 
rious. Their  readiness  and  abihty  to  serve  the  providence  of  God 
is  their  glory ;  for, — 

1.  The  greatest  glory  that  any  creature  can  be  made  partaker  of, 
is  to  serve  the  will  and  set  forth  the  praise  of  its  Creator.  That  is 
its  order  and  tendency  towards  its  principal  end;  in  which  two  all 
true  honour  consists.  It  is  glorious  even  in  the  angels  to  serve  tlie 
God  of  glory.  What  is  there  above  this  for  a  creature  to  as-pire 
unto?  what  that  its  nature  is  capable  of?  Those  among  the  angels 
who,  as  it  seems,  attempted  somewhat  further,  somewhat  higher, 
attained  nothing  but  an  endless  ruin  in  shame  and  misery.  Men 
are  ready  to  fancy  strange  things  about  the  glory  of  angels,  and  do 
little  consider  that  all  the  difference  in  glory  that  is  in  any  parts  of 
God's  creation  lies  merely  in  willingness,  ability,  and  readiness  to 
serve  God  their  Creator. 

2.  The  works  wherein  God  employs  them,  in  a  subservience  unto 
his  providence,  are  in  an  especial  manner  glorious  works.  As  lor 
the  service  of  augels,  as  it  is  intimated  unto  us  in  the  Scripture,  it 
may  be  reduced  unto  two  heads;  for  they  are  employed  either  in 
the  communication  of  protection  and  blessings  to  the  church,  or  in 
the  execution  of  the  vengeance  and  judgments  of  God  against  his 
enemies.  Instances  to  both  these  purposes  may  be  multiplied,  but 
they  are  commonly  known.  Now  these  are  glorious  works.  God 
in  them  eminently  exalts  his  mercy  and  justice, — the  two  properties 
of  his  nature  in  the  execution  whereof  he  is  most  eminently  ex- 
alted :  and  from  these  works  ariseth  all  that  revenue  of  glory  and 
praise  which  God  is  pleased  to  reserve  to  himself  from  the  world  : 
so  that  it  must  needs  be  very  honourable  to  be  employed  in  these 
works. 

o.  They  perform  their  duty  in  their  service  in  a  very  glorious  man- 
ner, with  great  power,  wisdom,  and  uncontrollable  efficacy.  Thus,  one 
of  them  slew  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  thousand  of  the  enemies  of 
God  in  a  night;  another  set  fire  on  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  from 
heaven.  Of  the  like  power  and  expedition  are  they  in  all  their  ser- 
vices, in  all  things  to  the  utmost  capacity  of  creatures  answering  the 
will  of  God.     God  himself,  it  is  true,  sees  that  in  them  and  their 


VER.  8,  9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  177 

works  which  keeps  them  short  of  absolute  purity  and  perfection, 
which  are  his  own  properties;  but  as  to  the  capacity  of  mere  crea- 
tures, and  for  their  state  and  condition,  tliere  is  a  perfection  in  their 
obedience,  and  that  is  their  glory. 

Now,  if  this  be  the  great  glory  of  angels,  and  we  poor  worms  of 
the  earth  are  invited,  as  we  are,  unto  a  participation  with  them 
therein,  what  unspeakable  folly  will  it  be  in  us  if  we  be  found 
negligent  in  labouring  to  attain  thereunto  !  Our  future  glory  con- 
sists in  this,  that  we  shall  be  made  like  xinto  angels;  and  our  way 
towards  it  is,  to  do  the  will  of  our  Father  on  earth  as  it  is  done  by 
them  in  heaven.  Oh,  in  how  many  vanities  doth  vain  man  place 
his  glory !  Nothing  so  shameful  that  one  or  other  hath  not  gloried 
in ;  whilst  the  true  and  only  glory,  of  doing  the  will  of  God,  is  ne- 
glected by  almost  all !  But  we  must  treat  again  of  these  things 
upon  the  last  verse  of  this  chapter. 

Verses  8,  9. 

Having  given  an  account  of  what  the  Scripture  teacheth  and 
testifieth  concerning  angels,  in  the  following  verses  he  showeth  how 
much  other  things,  and  far  more  glorious,  are  spoken  to  and  of  the 
Son,  by  whom  God  revealed  his  will  in  the  gospel. 

Ver.  8,  9. — Tlphg  hi  rhv  T/6V  *  O  ''^pcvog  eov,  6  Qihg,  iig  tIv  aiuva  rov  aiuvog* 
pdZhog  sbdurrjTog  t]  pdCho;  rrig  ^aeiXsiag  aov.  'HyccTJjffac  bixaioirvvrjv,  x.al 
e/iisriffag  dvo/j^iav  did  rovro  'i'X^pic'i  as  ,Qihg,  6  &i6g  cov,  'sXcx,iov  dyaAAidaajg 
itafd  Toug  /j^STo^oug  ■co\j. 

MS.  T.,  'H  potOtog  ivdvrYiTo;:  and  for  di/ofii'xv,  cc^ikixv. 

Upos  li  rov  rioy,  "But  unto  the  Son."  Syr.,  ^K?  H  *'';^  ^?,  "but  of  the 
Son  he  saith;"  which  is  necessarily  suppHed  as  to  the  apostle's  design.  In  the 
psiilin  the  words  are  spoken  by  way  of  apostrophe  to  the  Son,  and  they  are  re- 
cited by  the  apostle  as  spoken  of  him;  that  is,  so  spoken  to  him  as  to  contain  a 
description  of  him  and  his  state  or  kingdom. 

'  O  Spo'j/oj  (Tou,  6  Qiog,  iig  rov  uluvot  rov  otlayo^.  Ps.  xlv.  7  is  the  place  from 
whence  the  words  are  taken,  '''^l  °^^^  °T'?.  ~'^?^-  The  LXX.  render  these  words 
as  the  apostle.  Aquila, '  O  £)p6vog  aov  Qsi  s'tg  aiuvce.  x«i  'irf  Qee,  for  o  ©so'j" — "  Tiiy 
throne,  O  God,  for  ever  and  j'et."  Symmachus,  'O  iipovog  aov  6  Qeog  uiui/io;  xsel 
iTi' — "Thy  throne,  O  God,  is  everlasting  and  yet;"  and  that  because  it  is  not 
said,  0^""?.  but  S/"-',  absolutely;  'O  &i6g,  Qii,  as  in  the  translation  of  Aquila. 

''S?  is  "a  kingly  throne,"  nor  is  it  ever  used  in  Scripture  fur  -'i^'^,  "  a  common 
seat."  Metonymically  it  is  used  for  power  and  government,  and  that  frequemly. 
The  LXX.  almost  constantly  render  it  by  ^povog,  and  ^povog  is  'ihivSipiog  Ku^i'ipec 
avu  vTrovooiu,  Aihenae,  lib.  v., — "  a  free  open  seat  with  a  footstool."  And  such  a 
throne  is  here  properly  assigned  unto  the  Lord  Christ,  mention  of  his  footstool 
being  immediately  subjoined.  So  God  says  of  himself,  "  Heaven  is  my  throne, 
and  the  earth  is  my  footstool;"  as  the  heathen  termed  heaven,  Atog  Bpit/ov,  "The 
throne  of  God." 

'•  Thy  throne,  0  God,  i^1  aVis^"—"  in  seculura  et  usque;"  "in  sempiternum  et 
perpetuo;"  "  in  seculum  seculorutn."  The  duration  denoted  by  the  conjunction 
of  botli  these  words  is  mostly  an  absolute  perpetuity,  and  a  certain,  uninterrupted 


178  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

continuance,  where  the  subject  spoken  of  admits  a  limitation.  Many  of  the  Greek 
interpreters  render  ''.?  by  en,  attending  to  the  sound  rather  than  the  use  and 
signification  of  the  word;  so  is  "  yet  "  in  our  language.  This  we  express  by,  "for 
ever  and  ever." 

'PaSSoj  ivdvrnrog  ^  pi.Z'hog  (ioe.ai'Kilag  aav.  The  variation  of  ^  /saSSoj  in  the 
first  place,  before  mentioned,  takes  off  from  the  elegancy  of  the  expression,  and 
darkens  the  sense;  for  the  article  prefixed  to  the  last  ^«€3oj  declares  that  to  be 
the  subject  of  the  proposition. 

The  w  ords  of  the  psalmist  are,  "W=^!?  ^=^  ^^■'»  '^'^^.>  "  Shebet,"  is  «  virga," 
and  "  sceptrum,"  and  in  this  place  is  rendered  by  Aquiia  ax-viirrpav,  "  a  rod,''  "  a 
staff,"  "  a  sceptre;"  always  a  sceptre  when  referred  to  rule,  as  in  this  place  it  is 
called  the  sceptre  of  the  kingdom. 

A  "  sceptre,"  "'"■s'"'?,  from  "'"i?;,  "  rect.us  fuit,"  to  be  "  right,"  "  straight,"  "  up- 
right," principally  in  a  moral  sense.  EvdvrnTog,  "  of  uprightness."  Evdvrns 
is  properly  such  a  rectitude  as  we  call  straight,  opposed  to  crooked;  ami  me- 
taphorically only  is  it  used  for  moral  uprightness,  that  is,  equity  and  rigiite- 
ousness.  Syr.,  ^<■^■'■f^  ^'^^p.  Boderianus,  "sceptrum  erectum,"  "a  sceptre  lifted 
up,"  or  "  held  upright."  The  Paris  edition,  "  sceptrum  protensum,"  "  a  sceptre 
stretched  out;"  and  the  stretching  out  of  the  sceptre  was  a  sign  and  token  of 
mercy,  Esth.  v.  2.  Tremellius,  "  virga  recta;"  which  answers  "  mischor"  in  both 
its  acceptations.  Erpenius  to  the  same  purpose,  "  sceptrum  rectum,"  "  a  right 
scepti'e." 

"  Thou  hast  loved  righteousness  and  hated  ''■J'Tl,"  dvo/aiuv,  dltaixu,  "iniquity," 
"  unrighteousness,"  "  wickedness."  Aiei  tovto,  1?"^?,  "  propterea,"  "propter  quod," 
"quare,"  "ideo,"  "  idcirco," — "  wherefore,"  "for  which  cause."  Some  copies  of 
the  LXX.  and  Aquiia  read  sTfl  rovru,  so  that  lix  roino  seems  to  have  been  taken 
into  the  LXX.  from  this  rendering  of  the  v\ords  by  the  apostle. 

"ExpKTt  as  0  @i6g,  6  Q>s6;  aov,  'i'Kee.iov  dyu.'Khtciasug' — T^'^  T!?r?  '"t?'.*^  ^T'?*  "r'^i'? ; 
— "  God,  thy  God,  hath  anointed  thee."  The  words  in  Greek  and  Hebrew  aie 
those  from  whence  the  names  of  Christ  and  Messiah  are  taken,  which  are  of  the 
same  importance  and  signification, — "  The  anointed  one."  And  the  same  by  the 
Targumist;  Aquiia,  ^'?i£/;^£. 

"  Hath  anointed  thee  'i'Kot.tov  oLyu'h'hici.uiug," — the  instrument  in  doing  of  the 
thing  intended,  expressed  by  the  accusative  ease,  whereof  there  are  other  instances 
in  that  language.  Of  old  the  LXX.  read  IXa/a  dy'hxhi^ov,  "with  the  oil  of 
delight,"  or  "ornament;"  so  that  s'ha.iov  dyot.'K'htccaiug  came  also  into  the  Greek 
version  from  this  place  of  the  apostle,  and  is  more  proper  than  the  old  reading, 
"the  oil  of  rejoicing,"  "joy"  or  "gladness." 

Uocpd  Toi/g  ft-SToy^ovg  aov'  "'^l^^'I;^, — "  before,"  or  "  above,"  "  those  that  partake 
with  thee,"  "  thy  fellows,"  or  "  companions."  So  Symmachus,  roi>s  krxt'povs 
coy.' 

Ver.  8,  9. — But  unto  the  Son  [he  saitli],  Thy  throne,  O 
God,  is  for  ever ;  the  sceptre  of  thy  kingdom  is  a  sceptre 
of  righteousness.  Thou  hast  loved  righteousness,  and 
hated  iniquity;  wherefore  God,  thy  God,  hath  anointed 
thee  with  the  oil  of  gladness  above  thy  fellows. 

This  testimony  is  produced  by  the  apostle  in  answer  unto  that 

'  Various  Readings. — Lachmann,  on  the  authority  of  respectable  manuscripts, 
gives  the  reading,  K«<  '/;  pdQog  riig  sv6vTY,Tog  puQlog,  k.  r.  A. 

Exposition, — ^'O  ©soV  is  the  usual  voc,  and  nearly  the  only  form  of  it, 


VER.  8,  9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  1 79 

fcregoing  concerning  angels.  'Those  words/  saitli  he,  'were  spoken 
by  the  Holy  Ghost  of  the  angels,  wherein  their  office  and  employ- 
ment under  the  providence  of  God  is  described.  These  are  spoken 
by  the  same  Spirit  of  the  Son,  or  spoken  to  him,  denoting  his  pre- 
exiftence  unto  the  prophecies  themselves.' 

There  is  little  or  no  difficulty  to  prove  that  this  testimony  belongs 
properly  unto  him  to  whom  it  is  applied  by  the  apostle.  The 
ancient  Jews  granted  it,  and  the  present  doctors  cannot  deny  it. 
One  of  them  says,  indeed,  D'^UDn  bv  IX  in  by  -iDS3  "iinTDn  nn; — "  This 
psalm  is  spoken  of  David,  or  the  Messiah."  These  are  the  words 
and  this  is  the  opinion  of  Aben  Ezra;  who  accordingly  endeavours 
to  give  a  double  sense  of  the  chief  passages  in  this  psalm, — one  as 
applied  unto  David,  another  as  applied  unto  the  Messiah,  which  he 
inclines  unto.  Jarchi  turns  it  into  an  allegory,  without  any  tole- 
rable sense  throughout  his  discourse.  But  though  it  might  respect 
them  both,  yet  there  is  no  pretence  to  make  David  the  subject  of 
it,  the  title  and  whole  contexture  of  it  excluding  such  an  applica- 
tion. 

The  Targura  wholly  applies  the  psalm  to  the  Messiah ;  which  is 
a  somewhat  better  evidence  of  the  conception  of  the  ancient  Jews 
than  the  private  opinion  of  any  later  writer  can  give  us.  And  the 
title  of  the  psalm  in  that  paraphrase  would  make  it  a  prophecy  given 
out  in  the  days  of  Moses  for  the  use  of  the  Sanhedrin ;  which  mani- 
fests what  account  it  had  of  old  in  their  creed  concerning  the  Mes- 
siah. 

Some  Christian  interpreters  have  so  far  assented  unto  the  latei 
rabbins  as  to  grant  that  Solomon  was  primarily  intended  in  this 
psalm,  as  a  type  of  Christ,  and  that  the  whole  was  an  epithalamium 
or  marriage-song,  composed  upon  his  nuptials  with  the  daughter  of 
Pharaoh,  But  there  want  not  important  reasons  against  this  opi- 
nion: for, — 

1.  It  is  not  probable  that  the  Holy  Ghost  should  so  celebrate  that 
marriage,  which  as  it  was  antecedently  forbidden  by  God,  so  it  was 
never  consequently  blessed  by  him,  she  being  aniong  the  number  of 
those  "  strange  women"  which  turned  his  heart  from  God,  and  was 

throughout  the  Septuagint;  e.  g.,  Ps.  iii.  7,  iv.  1,  v.  10,  vii.  1,  et  passim 

Where  is  Gnd  ever  saM  to  be  the  throne  of  his  creatures?  and  what  could  be  the 
sen^e  of  such  an  expression  ? — Stuart.  All  the  ancient  versions  of  the  original 
passage  in  the  Psahns  agree  in  supporting  the  cummon  construction,  so  far  as 
their  respective  idioms  permit  a  positive  conclusion. — P/yc  Smith.  Thi-  at- 
tempt of  Gesenius  to  sustain  another  translation  of  th^  Hebrew,  "  The  throne 
of  God,"  that  is,  "thy  divine  throne,"  is  truly  surprising:  as  he  must  have 
known,  that  in  such  a  case,  the  second  of  the  two  nouns,  and  not,  as  here, 
the  first,  would  have  had  the  suffix  by  common  usage  of  the  language.  —  Inr- 
ner. 

Translations. — Tlpog  3e  rov  TUv,  But  respecting  the  Son. — Stuart,  De  \\  ette. 
Concerning. — Boothroyd. — Ed. 


180  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

cursed  with  barrenness;  the  first  foreign  breach  that  came  upon  lii3 
family  and  all  his  magnificence  being  also  from  Egypt,  where  his 
transgression  beo^an. 

2.  There  is  scarce  any  thing  in  the  psalm  that  can  with  propriety 
of  speech  be  applied  unto  Solomon.  Two  things  are  especially  in- 
sisted on  in  the  former  part  of  the  psalm, — first,  the  righteousness  of 
the  person  spoken  of  in  all  his  ways  and  administrations,  and  then 
tlie  perpetuity  of  his  kingdom.  How  the  first  of  these  can  be  attri- 
buted unto  him  whose  transgressions  and  sins  were  so  public  and 
notorious,  or  the  latter  to  him  who  reigned  but  forty  years,  and  then 
left  his  kingdom  broken  and  divided  to  a  wicked,  foolish  son,  is  hard 
to  conceive. 

As  all,  then,  grant  that  the  Messiah  is  principally,  so  there  is  no 
cogent  reason  to  prove  that  he  is  not  solely,  intended  in  tliis  psalm. 
I  will  not  contend  but  that  sundry  things  treated  of  in  it  might  be 
obscurely  typified  in  the  kingdom  and  magnificence  of  Solomon; 
yet  it  is  certain  that  most  of  the  things  mentioned,  and  expressions 
of  them,  do  so  immediately  and  directly  belong  unto  the  Lord  Christ 
as  that  they  can  in  no  sense  be  applied  unto  the  person  of  Solomon; 
and  such  are  the  words  insisted  on  in  this  place  by  our  apostle,  as 
will  be  made  evident  in  the  ensuing  explication  of  them. 

We  must,  then,  in  the  next  place,  consider  what  it  is  that  the 
apostle  intends  to  prove  and  confirm  by  this  testimony,  whereby  we 
shall  discover  its  suitableness  unto  his  design.  Now,  this  is  not,  as 
some  have  supposed,  the  deity  of  Christ;  nor  doth  he  make  use  of 
that  directly  in  this  place,  though  he  doth  in  the  next  verse,  as  a 
medium  to  prove  his  pre-eminence  above  the  angels,  although  the 
testimonies  which  he  produceth  do  eminently  mention  his  divine 
nature.  But  that  which  he  designs  to  evince  is  this  only,  that  he 
whom  they  saw  for  a  time  made  "  lower  than  the  angels,"  chap.  ii. 
9,  was  yet  in  his  whole  person,  and  as  he  discharged  the  ofiice  com- 
mitted unto  him,  so  far  above  them  as  that  he  had  power  to  alter 
and  change  those  institutions  which  were  given  out  by  the  ministry 
of  angels.  And  this  he  doth  undeniably  by  the  testimonies  alleged, 
as  they  are  compared  together:  for  whereas  the  Scripture  testifies 
concerning  angels  that  they  are  all  servants,  and  that  their  chiefest 
glory  consists  in  the  discharge  of  their  duty  as  servants,  unto  him  a 
throne,  rule,  and  everlasting  dominion,  administered  with  glory, 
power,  righteousness,  and  equity,  are  ascribed ;  whence  it  is  evident 
that  he  is  exceedingly  exalted  above  them,  as  is  a  king  on  his  throne 
above  the  servants  that  attend  him  and  do  his  pleasure. 

And  this  is  sufficient  to  manifest  the  design  of  the  apostle,  as  also 
the  evidence  of  his  argument  from  this  testimony.  The  exposition 
of  the  words  belongs  ])roperly  to  the  place  from  whence  they  are 
taken.     But  yet,  that  we  may  not  leave  the  reader  unsatisfied  as  to 


VER.  8,  9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  181 

any  particular  difficulty  that  may  seem  to  occur  ia  them,  this  expo- 
sition shall  be  here  also  attended  to. 

The  first  thing  to  be  attended  to  in  them  is  the  compcllation  of 
the  person  spoken  unto,  "  O  God :"  "  Thy  throne,  0  God." 

Some  would  have  Elohim  (6  ©so'g)  to  be  a  name  common  to  God 
with  others,  namely,  angels  and  judges;  and  in  that  large  accepta- 
tion to  be  here  ascribed  to  the  Lord  Christ;  so  that  though  he  be 
expressly  called  Elohim,  and  o  ©go'j,  yet  that  proves  him  not  to  be 
God  by  nature,  but  only  to  be  so  termed  in  respect  of  his  oj)ice, 
dignity,  and  authority.  And  this  is  contended  for  by  the  Socinians. 
But  this  gloss  is  contrary  to  the  perpetual  use  of  the  Scripture ;  for 
no  one  place  can  be  instanced  in,  where  the  name  Elohim  is  used 
absolutely,  and  restrained  unto  any  one  person,  wherein  it  doth  not 
undeniably  denote  the  true  and  only  God.  Magistrates  are,  indeed, 
said  to  be  elohim  in  respect  of  their  office,  but  no  one  magistrate 
was  ever  so  called ;  nor  can  a  man  say  without  blasphemy  to  any  of 
them,  "Thou  art  Elohim,"  or  "God."  Moses  also  is  said  to  be  elo- 
him, "  a  god,"  but  not  absolutely,  but  "  a  god  to  Pharaoh,"  and  to 
"Aaron;"  that  is,  in  God's  stead,  doing  and  performing  in  the  name 
of  God  what  he  had  commanded  him.  Which  places  Jarchi  pro- 
duceth  in  his  comment  to  countenance  this  sense,  but  in  vain. 

It  is,  then,  the  true  God  that  is  spoken  unto  in  this  apostrophe, 
"Elohim,"  "O  God."  This  being  granted,  Erasmus  starts  a  new 
interpretation  of  tlie  whole  words,  though  he  seemeth  not  to  approve 
of  his  own  invention.  "'O  '^povo;  cou  6  ©sJ?.  It  is  uncertain,"  saith 
he,  "whether  the  meaning  be,  'Thy  throne,  0  God,'  or  'God  is  thy 
throne  for  ever.'"  In  the  first  way  the  word  is  an  apostrophe  to 
the  Son,  in  the  latter  it  expresseth  the  person  of  the  Father.  And 
this  interpretation  is  embraced  and  improved  by  Grotius,  who, 
granting  that  the  word  Elohim,  used  absolutely,  siguifieth  as  much 
as,  "Elohe  elohim,"  "the  God  of  gods,"  would  not  allow  that  it 
should  be  spoken  of  Christ,  and  therefore  renders  the  words,  "Gid 
shall  be  thy  seat  for  ever," — that  is,  "shall  establish  thee  in  thy 
throne."  And  this  evasion  is  also  fixed  on  by  Abeu  Ezra,  from 
Haggaon,  DM^X  \'y  ^^?D^; — "God  shall  establish  thy  throne."  May- 
men  be  allowed  thus  to  thrust  in  what  words  they  please  into  the 
text,  leading  to  another  sense  than  what  itself  expresseth,  there  will 
not  much  be  left  certain  in  the  whole  book  of  God.  However,  in 
this  present  instance,  we  have  light  enough  to  rebuke  the  boldness 
of  this  attempt ;  for, — 1.  The  interpretation  insisted  on  is  contrary 
to  all  old  translations,  whose  language  would  bear  a  difference  ia 
the  word,  expressing  it  in  the  vocative  case,  "O  God."  2.  Contrary 
to  the  received  sense  of  Jews  and  Christians  of  old,  and  in  esijecial 
of  the  Targum  on  the  psalm,  rendering  the  words,  "Thy  throne,  O 
God,   is  in  heaven,  for  ever."     o.  Contrary  to  the  contexture  and 


182  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  fCHAP.  I, 

design  of  the  apostle's  discourses,  as  may  appear  from  the  considera- 
tiuu  of  the  preceding  enarration  of  them.  4.  Leaves  no  tolerable 
sense  unto  the  words;  neither  can  they  who  embrace  it  declare  in 
what  sense  God  is  the  throne  of  Christ.  5.  Is  contrary  to  the  uni- 
versally constant  use  of  the  expression  in  Scripture;  for  wherever 
there  is  mention  of  the  throne  of  Christ,  somewhat  else,  and  not 
God,  is  intended  thereby.  6.  The  word  supplied  by  Grotius  from 
Saadias  and  Aben  Ezra,  to  induce  a  sense  unto  his  exposition 
"  shall  establish,"  makes  a  new  text,  or  leads  the  old  utterly  from 
the  intention  of  the  words;  for  whereas  it  cannot  be  said  that  God 
is  the  throne  of  Christ,  nor  was  there  any  need  to  say  that  God  was 
for  ever  and  ever, — wdiich  two  things  must  take  up  the  whole  in- 
tendment of  the  words  if  God  the  Father  be  spoken  of, — the  adding 
of,  "shall  establish,"  or  confirm,  into  the  text,  gives  it  an  arbitrary 
sense,  and  such  as,  by  the  like  suggestion  of  any  other  word,  as 
"sliall  destroy,"  may  be  rendered  quite  of  another  importance. 

It  is  Christ,  then,  the  Son,  that  is  spoken  to  and  denoted  by  that 
name,  "Eiohim,"  "0  God,"  as  being  the  true  God  by  nature;  though 
what  is  here  affirmed  of  him  be  not  as  God,  but  as  the  king  of  his 
church  and  people;  as  in  another  place  God  is  said  to  redeem  Lis 
church  with  his  own  blood. 

Secondly,  We  may  consider  what  is  assigned  unto  him,  which  is 
his  kingdom  ;  and  that  is  described, — 1.  By  the  "insignia  regalia," 
the  royal  ensigns  of  it, — namely,  his  throne  and  sceptre.  2.  By  its 
duration, — it  is  for  ever.  3.  His  manner  of  administration, — it  is 
with  righteousness;  his  sceptre  is  a  sceptre  of  righteousness.  4.  His 
furniture  or  preparation  for  this  administration, — he  loved  righte- 
ousness and  hated  iniquity.  5.  By  an  adjunct  privilege, — unction 
with  the  oil  of  gladnesg;  Which,  6.  Is  exemplified  by  a  comparison 
with  others, — it  is  so  with  him  above  his  fellows. 

1.  The  first  "insigne  regium"  mentioned  is  his  "throne,"  whereunto 
the  attribute  of  perpetuity  is  annexed, — it  is  for  ever.  And  this 
throne  denotes  the  kingdom  itself.  A  throne  is  the  seat  of  a  king 
in  his  kingdom,  and  is  frequently  used  metonymically  for  tiie  king- 
dom itself,  and  that  applied  unto  God  and  man.  See  Dan.  vii.  9; 
1  King  viii.  20.  Angels,  indeed,  are  called  "  thrones,"  Col.  i.  16;  but 
that  is  either  metaphorically  only  or  else  in  respect  of  some  especial 
service  allotted  unto  them;  as  they  are  also  called  "princes,"  Dan. 
X.  13,  yet  being  indeed  "  servants,"  Rev.  xxii.  9,  Heb.  i.  14.  These 
are  nowhere  said  to  have  thrones;  the  kingdom  is  not  theirs,  but  the 
Son's.  And  whereas  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  promiseth  his  apostles 
tiiat  they  shall  at  the  last  day  sit  on  thrones  judging  the  tribes  of 
Israel,  as  it  proves  their  participation  with  Christ  in  his  kingly 
power,  being  made  kings  unto  God,  Rev.  i.  5,  6,  and  their  interest  in 
the  kingdom  which  it  is  his  pleasure  to  give  them,  so  it  proves  not 


VER.  8,  9.j  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  183 

absolutely  that  the  kingdom  is  theirs,  but  bis  on  whose  throne  theirs 
do  attend. 

Neither  doth  the  throne  simply  denote  tlie  kingdom  of  Christ,  or 
his  supreme  rule  and  dominion,  but  the  glory  also  of  his  kingdom. 
Being  on  bis  tlirone,he  is  in  the  height  of  bis  glory.  And  thus,  because 
God  manifests  bis  glory  in  heaven,  be  calls  that  his  throne,  as  the 
earth  is  bis  footstool,  Isa.  Ixvi.  1.  So  that  the  throne  of  Christ  is  bis 
glorious  kingdom,  elsewhere  expressed  by  bis  "sitting  down  at  the 
right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high." 

2.  To  this  throne  eternity  is  attributed.  It  is  '^V]  ^^'^^, — "  for 
ever  and  ever."  So  is  the  throne  of  Christ  said  to  be  in  oppo- 
sition unto  the  frail,  mutable  kingdoms  of  the  earth:  "  Of  the 
increase  of  his  government  and  peace  there  shall  be  no  end,  upon 
the  throne  of  David,  and  upon  bis  kingdom,  to  order  it,  and  to 
establish  it  with  judgment  and  with  justice  from  henceforth  and  for 
ever,"  Isa.  ix.  7.  "His  dominion  is  an  everlasting  dominion,  which 
shall  not  pass  away,  and  bis  kingdom  that  which  shall  not  be 
destroyed,"  Dan.  vii.  14;  Micah  iv.  7;  Ps.  Ixxii.  7,  17,  cxlv.  13. 
It  shall  neither  decay  of  itself,  nor  fall  through  the  opposition  of  its 
enemies:  for  he  must  reign  until  all  bis  enemies  are  made  his  foot- 
stool, 1  Cor.  XV.  24-27.  Nor  is  it  any  impeachment  of  the  perpetuity 
of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  that  at  the  last  day  he  shall  deliver  it  up 
to  God  the  Father,  1  Cor.  xv.  24,  seeing  that  then  shall  be  an  end 
of  all  rule.  It  is  enough  that  it  continue  until  all  the  ends  of  rule 
be  perfectly  accomplished, — that  is,  until  all  the  enemies  of  it  be 
subdued,  and  all  the  church  be  saved,  and  the  righteousness,  grace, 
and  patience  of  God  be  fully  glorified ;  whereof  afterwards. 

3.  The  second  "  insigne  regium"  is  his  "  sceptre."  And  this, 
though  it  sometimes  also  denotes  the  kingdom  itself,  Gen.  xlix.  10, 
Num.  xxiv.  17,  Isa.  xiv.  5,  Zech.  x.  11;  yet  here  it  denotes  the 
actual  administration  of  rule,  as  is  evident  from  the  adjunct  of 
"uprightness"  annexed  unto  it.  And  thus  the  sceptre  denotes  both 
the  laws  of  the  kingdom  and  the  efficacy  of  the  government  itself. 
So  that  which  we  call  a  righteous  government  is  here  called  a  "sceptre 
of  uprightness." 

Now,  the  means  whereby  Christ  carrieth  on  his  kingdom  are  his 
Word  and  Spirit,  with  a  subserviency  of  potver  in  the  worlds  of  his 
providence,  to  make  way  for  the  progress  of  his  Avord  to  avenge  its 
contempt.  So  the  gospel  is  called,  "The  rod  of  his  strength,"  Ps. 
ex.  2.  See  2  Cor.  x.  4-6.  "He  shall  smite  the  earth  with  the  rod 
of  his  mouth,  and  with  the  breath  of  bis  lips  shall  be  slay  the 
wicked,"  Isa.  xi.  4.  And  these  are  attended  with  the  "  sword"  of  his 
power  and  providence,  Ps.  xlv.  3,  Rev.  xix.  15,  or  bis  "rod,"  Ps.  ii.  J), 
or  "  sickle,"  Rev.  xiv.  18.  lu  these  things  consists  the  sceptre  of 
Christ's  kingdom. 


184  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  CHAP.  L 

4.  Concerning  this  sceptre  it  is  affirmed  that  it  is  a  "  sceptre 
of  uprightness."  Evdvn^c,  or  "li^^P,  denotes  either  the  nature  of  the 
sceptre,  that  it  is  straight  and  right,  or  the  use  of  it,  that  it  is  lifted 
up  or  stretched  out,  as  was  showed  in  the  opening  of  the  words.  In 
tlie  first  sense  it  denoteth  righteousness,  in  the  latter  mercy.  Ac- 
cording to  the  first  sense,  the  following  words,  "Thou  hast  loved 
righteousness,"  discover  the  habitual  root  of  his  actual  righteous 
administration  ;  according  to  the  latter,  there  is  a  progress  made  in 
them  to  a  further  qualification  of  the  rule  of  Christ,  or  of  Christ  in 
his  rule.  But  the  former  sense  is  rather  to  be  embraced ;  the  latter 
metaphor  being  more  strained,  and  founded  only  in  one  instance 
that  I  remember  in  the  Scripture,  and  that  not  taken  from 
among  the  people  of  God,  but  strangers  and  oppressors,  Esther 
V.  2. 

The  sceptre,  then,  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is  a  sceptre  of  "righte- 
ousness," because  all  the  laws  of  his  gospel  are  righteous,  holy,  just, 
full  of  benignity  and  truth,  Tit.  ii.  11,  12.  And  all  his  administra- 
tions of  grace,  mercy,  justice,  rewards,  and  punishments,  arcordingto 
the  rules,  promises,  and  threats  of  it,  in  the  conversion,  pardon, 
sanctification,  trials,  afflictions,  chastisements,  and  preservation  of 
his  elect;  in  his  convincing,  hardening,  and  destruction  of  his  ene- 
mies; are  all  righteous,  holy,  unblamable,  and  good,  Isa.  xi.  4,  5, 
xxxii.  1,  Ps.  cxlv.  17,  Rev.  xv.  3,  4,  xvi.  5;  and  as  such  will  they  be 
gloriously  manifested  at  the  last  day,  2  Thess.  i.  10,  though  in  this 
present  world  they  are  reproached  and  despised. 

5.  The  habitual  frame  of  the  heart  of  Christ  in  his  regal  ad- 
ministrations: "He  loveth  righteousness  and  hateth  iniquity."  This 
shows  the  absolute  completeness  of  the  righteousness  of  God's  king- 
dom, and  of  his  righteousness  in  his  kingdom.  The  laws  of  his 
rule  are  righteous,  and  his  administrations  are  righteous;  and  they 
all  proceed  from  a  habitual  love  to  righteousness  and  hatred  of 
iniquity  in  his  own  person.  Among  the  governments  of  this  world, 
ofttimes  the  very  .laws  are  tyrannical,  unjust,  and  oppressive;  and  if 
the  laws  are  good  and  equal,  yet  ofttimes  their  administration  is 
iinjust,  partial,  and  wicked ;  or  when  men  do  abstain  from  such  ex- 
orbitancies,  yet  frequently  they  do  so  upon  the  account  of  some  self- 
interest  and  advantage,  like  Jehu,  and  not  out  of  a  constant,  equal, 
unchangeable  love  of  righteousness  and  hatred  of  iniquity.  But  all 
these  are  absolutely  complete  in  the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ:  for 
whereas  the  expression,  both  in  the  Hebrew  and  the  Greek,  seems 
to  regard  the  time  past,  "  Thou  hast  loved  righteousness  and  hated 
iniquity,"  yet  the  constant  present  frame  of  the  heart  of  Christ  in 
his  rule  is  denoted  thereby;  for  the  Greek  translation  exactly  fol- 
io weth  and  expresseth  the  Hebrew.  Now,  there  being  no  form  of 
verbs  in  that  language  expressing  the  present  time,  there  is  nothing 


VER.  8,  9]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  185 

more  frequent  in  it  than  to  denote  that  which  is  present  and  abidinc/ 
by  the  preterperfect  tense,  as  it  doth  in  this  place. 

6.  The  consequence  of  this  lighteous  rule  in  Christ  is  his  "  anoint- 
ing with  the  oil  of  gladness;"  wherein  we  may  consider, — (1.)  The 
author  of  the  privilege  conferred  on  him, — that  is,  God,  his  God. 
(:^.)  The  jjrivilege  itself, — unction  with  the  oil  of  gladness.  (3.)  The 
connection  of  the  collation  of  this  privilege  with  what  went  before, 
■ — "  wherefore,"  or  "  for  which  cause." 

(1.)  For  the  author  of  it,  it  is  said  to  be  God:  6  Qsog,  6  Qioc  gov, — ■ 
"  God,  thy  God."  Many,  both  ancient  and  modern  expositors,  do 
suppose  that  6  ©so^  in  the  first  place,  or  "  God,"  is  used  in  the  same 
sense  as  6  &iog  in  the  verse  foregoing,  and  that  it  ought  to  be  ren- 
dered "  0  God,"  and  the  words  to  be  read,  "  Therefore,  0  God,  thy 
God  hath  anointed  thee;"  but  ns  no  old  translation  gives  countenance 
to  this  conception,  so  that  reduplication  of  the  name  of  God,  by  an 
application  of  it  in  the  second  place,  as  "  God,  my  God,"  "  God,  thy 
God,"  ''God,  the  God  of  Israel,"  being  frequent  in  the  Scripture,  there 
is  no  cogent  reason  why  we  should  depart  in  this  place  from  that 
sense  of  the  expression.  The  name  God  in  the  first  place  denotes 
him  absolutely  who  conferred  this  privilege  on  the  Lord  Christ,  that 
is  God;  and  in  the  second  place  a  reason  is  intimated  of  the  colla- 
tion itself,  by  an  appropriation  of  God  to  be  his  God  in  a  peculiar 
manner. 

God  is  said  to  be  the  God  of  the  Son  upon  a  threefold  account: 
[1.]  In  respect  of  his  divine  nature.  As  he  is  his  Father,  so  his 
God ;  whence  he  is  said  to  be  "  God  of  God,"  as  having  his  nature  com- 
municated unto  him  by  virtue  of  his  eternal  generation,  John  i.  14. 
[2.]  In  respect  of  his  human  nature,  as  he  was  "  made  of  a  woman, 
made  under  the  law."  So  God  also  was  his  God,  as  he  is  the  God  of  all 
creatures,  Ps.  xvi.  2,  xxii.  1.  [3.]  In  respect  of  his  whole  person, 
God  and  man,  as  he  was  designed  by  his  Father  to  the  work  of  me- 
diation; in  which  sense  he  calls  him  his  God  and  his  Father,  John 
XX.  1 7.  And  in  this  last  sense  is  it  that  God  is  here  said  to  be  his 
God,  that  is  his  God  in  especial  covenant,  as  he  was  designed  and 
appointed  to  be  the  head  and  king  of  his  church ;  for  therein  did 
God  the  Father  undertake  to  be  with  him,  to  stand  by  him,  to  carry 
him  through  with  his  work,  and  in  the  end  to  crown  him  with  glory. 
See  Isa.  xlix.  1-12,  1.  4-9. 

(2.)  For  the  privilege  itself,  it  is  "unction  with  the  oil  of  gladness.*' 
There  may  be  a  double  allusion  in  these  words: — [1.]  To  the  co7n- 
mon  use  of  oil  and  anointing,  which  was  to  exhilarate  and  make  the 
countenance  appear  cheerful  at  feasts  and  public  solemnities,  Ps.  civ. 
15;  Luke  vii.  37.  [2.]  To  the  especial  use  of  it  in  the  unction  uf 
kings,  priests,  and  prophets,  Exod.  xxx.  That  the  ceremony  wa.s 
typical  is  evident  from  Isa.  Ixi.  1-3  •  and  it  denoted  the  collation  of  the 


186  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  whereby  the  person  anointed  was  enabled 
for  the  discharge  of  the  ofHce  he  was  called  unto.  And  in  this  sense 
there  is  commonly  assigned  a  threefold  unction  of  Christ: — 1st.  At 
his  conception,  when  his  human  nature  was  sanctified  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  Luke  i.  35,  and  radically  endowed  with  wisdom  and  grace, 
which  he  grew  up  in,  Luke  ii.  40,  52.  ^dly.  At  his  baptism  and  en- 
trance into  his  public  ministry,  when  he  was  in  an  especial  manner 
furnished  with  those  gifts  of  the  Spirit  which  were  needful  for  the 
discharge  of  his  prophetical  office.  Matt.  iii.  16;  John  i.  82.  Zdly.  At 
his  ascension,  when  he  received  of  the  Father  the  promise  of  tlie 
Spirit,  to  pour  him  forth  upon  his  disciples,  Acts  ii.  33.  Now, 
though  I  acknowledge  the  Lord  Christ  to  have  been  thus  anointed, 
and  that  the  communication  of  the  gifts  and  graces  of  the  Spirit 
unto  him  in  fulness  is  called  his  unction,  yet  I  cannot  grant  that 
any  of  them  are  here  directly  intended.  But  that  which  the  apostle 
seems  here  to  express  with  the  psalmist  is  the  glorious  exaltation  of 
Jesus  Christ,  when  he  was  solemnly  instated  in  his  kingdom.  This 
is  that  which  is  called  the  making  of  him  "  both  Lord  and  Christ," 
Acts  ii.  36 ;  when  "  God  raised  him  from  the  dead,  and  gave  him 
glory,"  ]  Pet.  i.  2L  He  is  called  Christ  from  the  unction  of  the 
Spirit;  and  yet  here,  in  his  exaltation,  he  is  said  in  an  especial  man- 
ner to  be  made  Christ, — that  is,  taken  gloriously  into  the  possession 
of  all  the  offices,  and  their  full  administration,  whereunto  he  was 
anointed  and  fitted  by  the  communication  of  the  gifts  and  graces  of 
the  Spirit  unto  him.  It  is,  I  say,  the  joyful,  glorious  unction  of  his 
exaltation,  when  he  was  signally  made  Lord  and  Christ,  and  declared 
to  be  the  anointed  one  of  God,  that  is  here  intended.  See  Pliil.  ii. 
9-11.     Which  also  appears, — 

From  the  adjunct  of  this  unction, — he  is  "  anointed  with  the  oil 
of  gladness;"  which  denotes  triumph  and  exaltation,  freedom  from 
trouble  and  distress:  whereas,  after  those  antecedent  communications 
of  the  Spirit  unto  the  Lord  Christ,  he  was  a  man  of  sorrows,  ac- 
quainted with  grief,  and  exposed  to  innumerable  evils  and  troubles. 

(3.)  The  relation  of  this  privilege  granted  unto  the  Lord  Christ 
unto  what  went  before,  "  He  loved  righteousness,  and  hated  iniquity," 
expressed  by  W^V  and  bia  rouro  (the  tiiird  thing  considerable  in  this 
last  clause  of  the  testimony),  doth  plainly  declare  it.  The  Lord 
Christ's  love  to  righteousness  and  hatred  to  iniquity  proceeded  from 
his  unction  with  the  graces  and  gifts  of  the  Spirit ;  and  yet  they  are 
plainly  intimated  here  to  go  before  this  anointing  with  the  oil  of 
p;ladness;  which  is  therefore  mentioned  as  the  consequent  of  his  dis- 
charge of  his  office  in  this  world,  in  like  manner  as  his  exaltation 
everywhere  is,  Phil.  ii.  9-11  ;  Rom.  xiv.  9.  And  if  this  anointing 
denote  the  first  unction  of  Christ,  then  must  he  be  supposed  to  have 
the  love  to  righteousness  mentioned  from  elsewhere,  as  antecedent 


VER.  8,  9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBKEWS.  187 

thereunto;  which  is  not  so.  Wherefore  th(!se  words,  ]^~^V  nnd  dia 
TovTo,  do  declare  at  least  a  relation  of  congi'uency  and  conveniency 
unto  an  antecedent  discharge  of  office  in  the  Lord  Christ,  and  are  of 
the  same  importance  with  di6,  Phil.  ii.  9;  and  so  can  respect  nothing 
but  his  glorious  exaltation,  which  is  thus  expressed. 

The  last  thing  considerable  in  the  words  is  the  prerogative  of  the 
Lord  Christ  in  this  privilege, — he  is  "  anointed  above  his  fellows." 
Now,  these  "  fellows,'"  "  companions,"  or  "  associates,"  of  the  Lord 
Christ,  may  be  considered  either  generally  for  all  those  that  partake 
v\^ith  him  in  this  unction,  which  are  all  believers,  who  are  co-heirs 
with  him,  and  thereby  "heirs  of  God,"  Rom.  viii.  17;  or  more  espe- 
cially for  those  who  were  employed  by  God  in  the  service,  building, 
and  rule  of  his  church,  in  their  subordination  unto  hirn, — such  as 
were  the  prophets  of  old,  and  afterwards  the  apostles,  Eph.  ii.  20.  In 
respect  unto  both  sorts,  the  Lord  Christ  is  anonited  with  the  oil  of 
gladness  above  them;  but  the  former  sort  are  especially  intended, 
concerning  whom  the  apostle  gives  an  especial  instance  iu  Moses, 
chap,  iii.,  affirming  the  Lord  Christ  in  his  work  about  the  cliurch  to 
be  made  partaker  of  more  glory  than  he.  In  a  word,  he  is  incom- 
parably exalted  above  angels  and  men. 

And  this  is  the  first  testimony  whereby  the  apostle  confirms  his 
assertion  of  the  pre-eminence  of  the  Lord  Christ  above  angels,  in 
that  comparison  which  he  makes  between  them;  which  also  v/ill 
afford  the  ensuing  observations: — 

I.  The  conferring  and  comparing  of  scriptures  is  an  excellent 
means  of  coming  to  an  acquaintance  with  the  mind  and  will  of  God 
in  them. 

Thus  dealeth  the  apostle  in  this  place.  He  compareth  what  is 
spoken  of  angels  in  one  place,  and  what  of  the  Son  in  another,  and 
from  thence  manifesteth  what  is  the  mind  of  God  concerning  them. 
This  duty  lies  in  the  command  we  have  to  "  search  the  Scriptures," 
John  v.  39,  sps-jvars  rag  'ypa<pdg:  make  a  diligent  investigation  of  the 
mind  of  God  in  them,  "  comparing  spiritual  things  with  spiritual," 
• — what  the  Spirit  hath  declared  of  the  mind  of  God  in  one  place, 
with  what  in  like  manner  he  hath  manifested  in  another.  God,  to 
try  our  obedience,  and  to  exercise  our  diligence  unto  a  study  in  his 
word  day  and  night,  Ps.  i.  2,  and  our  continual  meditation  thereon, 
1  Tim.  iv.l5,  {TaZra  fis'/.sra,  h  ToCroig  'kSi, — "Meditate  on  these  things, 
be  wholly  in  them,")^hath  planted  his  truths  with  great  variety  up 
and  down  his  word;  yea,  here  one  part,  and  there  another  of  the 
same  truth;  which  cannot  be  throughly  learned  unless  we  gather 
them  together  into  one  view.  For  instance,  in  one  place  God  com- 
mands us  to  circumcise  our  hearts,  and  to  make  unto  ourselves  U'-w 
hearts,  that  we  may  fear  him;  which  at  first  consideration  seems  so 
to  represent  it,  not  only  as  our  duty,  but  iil^^  v.'thiu  our  power,  as 


188  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

though  we  had  no  need  of  any  help  from  grace  for  its  accomplish- 
ment. In  another  lie  promiseth  absolutely  to  circumcise  our  hearts, 
and  to  give  us  new  hearts  to  fear  him;  as  though  it  were  so  his 
work  as  not  to  be  our  concernment  to  attempt  it.  But  now 
these  several  places  being  spiritually  compared  together,  make  it 
evident  that  as  it  is  our  duty  to  have  new  and  circumcised  hearts,  so 
it  is  the  effectual  grace  of  God  that  must  work  and  create  them  in 
us.  And  the  like  may  be  observed  in  all  the  important  truths  that 
are  of  divine  revelation.     And  this,— 

1.  Discovers  the  root  of  almost  all  the  errors  and  heresies  that 
are  in  the  world.  Men  whose  hearts  are  not  subdued  by  faith  and 
humility  unto  the  obedience  of  the  truth,  lighting  on  some  expres- 
sions in  the  Scripture,  that,  singly  considered,  seem  to  give  coun- 
tenance to  some  such  opinion  as  they  are  willing  to  embrace,  without 
further  search  they  fix  it  on  their  minds  and  imaginations,  until  it 
is  too  late  to  oppose  any  thing  unto  it;  for  when  they  are  once  fixed 
in  their  persuasions,  those  other  places  of  Scripture  which  they  should 
with  humility  have  compared  with  that  whose  seeming  sense  they 
cleave  unto,  and  from  thence  have  learned  the  mind  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  them  all,  are  considered  by  them  to  no  other  end  but  only 
how  they  may  pervert  them,  and  free  themselves  from  the  authority 
of  them.  This,  I  say,  seems  to  be  the  way  of  the  most  of  them  who 
pertinaciously  cleave  unto  false  and  foolish  opinions.  They  rashly 
take  up  a  seeming  sense  of  some  particular  places,  and  then  obsti- 
nately make  that  sense  the  rule  of  interpreting  all  other  scriptures 
whatever.  Thus  in  our  own  days  we  have  many  who,  from  the 
outward  soiind  of  these  words,  John  i.  9,  "  He  is  the  true  light, 
which  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world,"  having 
taken  up  a  rash,  foolish,  and  false  imagination  that  Christ  is  that 
light  which  is  remaining  in  all  men,  and  therein  their  guide  and 
rule,  do  from  thence  either  wrest  the  whole  Scripture  to  make  it 
suit  and  answer  that  supposal,  or  else  utterly  slight  and  despise  it; 
when,  if  they  had  compared  it  with  other  scriptures,  which  clearly 
explain  and  declare  the  mind  of  God  in  the  things  which  concern 
the  person  and  mediation  of  the  Lord  Christ,  with  the  nature  and 
works  of  natural  and  saving  spiritual  light,  and  submitted  to  the 
authority  and  wisdom  of  God  in  them,  they  might  have  been  pre- 
served from  their  delusion.     It  shows  also, — 

2.  The  danger  that  there  is  imto  men  unskilled  and  unexercised 
in  the  word  of  truth,  when,  without  the  advice,  assistance,  or  direc- 
tion of  others  who  are  able  to  guide  them  and  instruct  their  inquiry 
after  the  mind  of  God,  they  hastily  embrace  opinions  which  it  may 
be  some  one  text  or  other  of  Scripture  doth  seemingly  give  coun- 
tenimce  unto.  By  this  means  do  men  run  themselves  into  the  fore- 
mentioned  danger  every  day,  especially  where  any  seducing  spirit 


VER.  8,  a]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  189 

applies  himself  unto  theni  with  swelling  words  of  vanity,  boasting 
of  some  misunderstood  word  or  other.  Thus  have  we  seen  multi- 
tudes led,  by  some  general  expression,  in  two  or  three  particular 
places  of  Scripture,  into  an  opinion  about  a  general  redemption  of 
all  mankind  and  every  individual  thereof;  when,  if  they  had  been 
wise,  and  able  to  have  searched  those  other  scriptures  innumerable 
setting  forth  the  eternal  love  of  God  to  his  elect,  kis  purpose  to  save 
them  by  Jesus  Christ,  the  nature  and  end  of  his  oblation  and  ran- 
som, and  compared  them  with  others,  they  would  have  understood 
the  vanity  of  their  hasty  conceptions. 

S.  From  these  things  it  appears  what  diligence,  patience,  wait- 
ing, wisdom,  are  required  of  all  men  in  searching  of  the  Scriptures, 
who  intend  to  come  unto  the  acknowledgment  of  the  truth  thereby. 
And  unto  this  end,  and  because  of  the  greatness  of  our  concernment 
therein,  doth  the  Scripture  itself  abound  with  precepts,  rules,  direc- 
tions, to  enable  us  unto  a  rif/ht  and  profitable  discharging  of  our 
duty.  They  are  too  many  here  to  be  inserted.  I  shall  only  add, 
that  the  diligence  of  heathens  will  rise  up  in  judgment  and  condemn 
the  sloth  of  many  that  are  called  Christians  in  this  matter:  for 
whereas  they  had  no  certain  rule,  way,  or  means  to  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth,  yet  they  ceased  not  with  indefatigable  dili- 
gence and  industry  to  inquire  after  it,  and  to  trace  the  obscure  foot- 
steps of  what  was  left  in  their  own  natures  or  implanted  on  the 
works  of  creation  ;  but  many,  the  most  of  those  unto  whom  God 
hath  granted  the  inestimable  benefit  and  privilege  of  his  word,  as  a 
sure  and  infallible  guide  to  lead  them  into  the  knowledge  of  all  use- 
ful and  saving  truth,  do  openly  neglect  it,  not  accountmg  it  worthy 
their  searching,  study,  and  diligent  examination.  How  wofully  will 
this  rise  up  in  judgment  against  them  at  the  last  day  is  not  diflicult 
to  conceive.  And  how  much  greater  will  be  their  misery  who,  un- 
der various  pretences,  for  their  own  corrupt  ends,  do  deter,  yea,  and 
drive  others  from  the  study  of  it! 

II.  It  is  the  duty  of  all  believers  to  rejoice  in  the  glory,  honour, 
and  dominion  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  church  in  the  psalm  takes  by  faith  a  prospect,  at  a  great  dis- 
tance, of  his  coming  and  glory,  and  breaks  out  thereon  in  a  way  of 
exultation  and  triumph  into  these  words,  "  Thy  throne,  0  God,  is 
for  ever."  And  if  this  were  a  matter  of  such  joy  unto  them,  v/ho 
had  only  an  obscure  vision  and  representation  of  the  glory  which 
many  ages  after  was  to  follow,  1  Pet.  i.  11,  12,  what  ought  the  full 
accomplishment  and  manifestation  of  it  to  be  unto  them  that  believe 
now  in  tie  days  of  the  gospel !  This  made  them  of  old  "  rejoice  with 
joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory;"  even  because  they  saw  and  heard 
the  things  which  kings,  wise  men,  and  prophets,  desired  to  see,  and 
saw  them  not,  "  God  having  provided  some  better  things  for  us, 


190  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

that  they  without  us  should  not  be   made  perfect,"  Heb.  xi.  40. 
For  — 

1.  Herein  God  is  glorified.  The  kingdom  of  Christ  is  the  glory 
of  God;  thereby  is  his  name  and  praise  exalted  in  the  world:  and 
therefore  upon  the  erection  and  setting  of  it  up  are  all  his  peoi)le  so 
earnestly  invited  to  rejoice  and  triumph  therein,  Ps.  xcv.  1-3,  xc^'i. 
1-4,  xcvii.  1,  2,  etc.  This,  I  say,  is  a  cause  of  eternal  joy  unto  all 
his  saints,  that  God  is  pleased  to  glorify  himself  and  all  the  in- 
finite excellencies  of  his  nature  in  the  kingdom  and  rule  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

2.  Herein  doth  the  honour  and  glory  of  Christ  as  mediator  con- 
sist; which  is  a  matter  of  great  rejoicing  unto  all  that  love  him  in 
sincerity.  He  tells  his  disciples,  John  xiv.  28,  that  if  they  loved 
him,  they  would  rejoice  because  he  said  he  went  unto  the  Father. 
Tiiey  considered  only  their  own  present  condition  and  distress,  be- 
ing filled  with  sorrow  because  he  had  told  them  of  his  departure 
from  them.  'But/  saith  he,  'where is  your  love  to  me?  ought  you 
not  to  have  that  in  your  hearts  as  well  as  care  of  yourselves?  For 
your  condition  I  shall  take  care,  and  provide  for  your  securitjj;  and 
if  you  love  me,  you  cannot  but  rejoice  because  I  go  to  my  Father  to 
receive  my  kingdom.'  Tbat  he  who  loved  us,  that  gave  himself  for 
us,  tliat  underwent  every  thing  that  is  reproachful  or  miserable  for 
our  sakes,  is  now  exalted,  glorified,  enthroned  in  an  everlasting,  im- 
movable kingdom,  above  all  his  enemies,  secure  fi'om  all  opposition, 
is  a  matter  of  inexpressible  joy,  if  we  have  any  love  unto  him. 

8.  Our  own  concernment,  security,  safety,  present  and  future 
happiness,  lies  herein.  Our  all  depends  upon  the  kingdom  and 
throne  of  Christ.  He  is  our  king  if  we  are  believers;  our  king,  to 
rule,  govern,  protect,  and  save  us, — to  uphold  us  against  opposition, 
to  supply  us  with  strength,-  to  guide  us  with  counsel,  to  subdue  our 
enemies,  to  give  us  our  inheritance  and  reward :  and  therefore  our 
principal  interest  lies  in  his  throne,  the  glory  and  stability  thereof. 
Whilst  he  reigneth  we  are  safe,  and  in  our  way  to  glory.  To  see  by 
faith  this  king  in  his  beauty,  upon  his  throne,  high  and  lifted  up, 
and  his  train  filling  the  temple;  to  see  all  power  committed  unto 
him,  all  things  given  into  his  hands,  and  him  disposing  of  all  and 
ruling  all  things  for  the  advantage  of  his  church ;  must  needs  cause 
them  to  rejoice  whose  whole  interest  and  concernment  lies  therein. 

4.  The  whole  world,  all  the  creation  of  God,  are  concerned  in 
this  kingdom  of  Christ.  Setting  aside  his  cursed  enemies  in  hell, 
the  whole  creation  is  benefited  by  his  rule  and  dominion;  tor 
as  some  men  are  made  partakers  of  saving  grace  and  salvation 
thereby,  so  the  residue  of  that  race,  by  and  with  tliem,  do  receive 
unspeakable  advantages  in  the  patience  and  forbearance  of  God,  and 
the  very  creature  itself  is  raised  as  it  were  into  a  hope  and  expec- 


VER.  8,  9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  191 

tation  thereby  of  deliverance  from  that  state  of  vanity  wherounto 
now  it  is  subjected,  Rom.  viii.  19-21.  So  that  if  we  are  movetl  with 
the  glory  of  God,  the  honour  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  own  only  and 
eternal  interest,  with  the  advantage  -of  the  whole  creation,  we  have 
cause  to  rejoice  in  this  throne  and  kingdom  of  the  Son. 

III.  It  is  the  divine  nature  of  the  Lord  Christ  that  gives  eter- 
nity, stability,  and  unchangeableness  to  his  throne  and  kingdom: 
*'  Thy  throne,  0  God,  is  for  ever.''  Concerning  this,  see  what  hath 
fornierly  been  delivered  about  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 

IV.  All  the  laws-,  and  the  whole  administration  of  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  by  his  word  and  Spirit,  are  equal,  righteous,  and  hol}^ 
His  sceptre  is  a  sceptre  of  righteousness.  The  world,  indeed,  likes 
them  not;  all  things  in  his  rule  seem  unto  it  weak,  absurd,  and 
foolish,  1  Cor.  i.  20,  21.  But  they  are  otherwise,  the  Holy  Ghost 
being  judge,  and  such  they  appear  unto  them  that  do  believe:  yea, 
whatever  is  requisite  to  make  laws  and  administrations  righteous,  it 
doth  all  concur  in  those  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  as, — 

1.  Authority.  A  just  and  full  authority  for  enacting  is  requisite 
to  make  laws  righteous.  Without  this,  rules  and  precepts  may  be 
good  'materially,  but  they  cannot  have  \he  formality  of  law,  which 
depends  on  the  just  authority  of  the  legislator,  without  which  no- 
thing can  become  a  righteous  law.  Now,  the  Lord  Christ  is  vested 
with  sufficient  authority  for  the  enacting  of  laws  and  rules  of  arlmi- 
nistration  in  his  kingdom.  All  authority,  all  power  in  heaven  and 
earth,  is  committed  unto  him,  as  we  have  before  proved  at  large. 
And  hence  those  that  will  not  see  the  equity  of  his  rule  shall  be 
forced  at  last  to  bow  under  the  excellency  of  his  authority.  And  it 
were  to  be  wished  that  those  who  undertake  to  make  laws  and  con- 
stitutions in  the  kingdom  of  Christ  would  look  well  to  their  warrant; 
for  it  seems  that  the  Lord  Christ,  unto  whom  all  power  is  committed, 
hath  not  delegated  any  to  the  sons  of  men,  but  only  that  whereby 
they  may  teach  others  to  do  and  observe  what  he  hath  command- 
ed. Matt,  xxviii.  20.  If,  moreover,  they  shall  command  or  appoint 
aught  of  their  own,  they  may  do  well  to  consider  by  what  authority 
they  do  so,  seeing  that  is  of  indispensable  necessity  unto  the  righte- 
ousness of  any  law  whatever. 

2.  Wisdom  is  required  to  the  making  of  righteous  laws.  This  is 
the  eye  of  authority,  without  which  it  can  act  nothing  rightly  or 
equally.  Effects  of  power  without  wisdom  are  commonly  unjust  and 
tyrannical,  always  useless  and  burdensome.  The  wisdom  of  Jaw- 
makers  is  that  which  hath  principally  given  them  their  renown.  So 
Moses  tells  the  Israelites  that  all  nations  would  admire  them,  when 
they  perceived  the  wisdom  of  their  laws,  Deut.  iv.  Now,  the 
Lord  Christ  is  abundantly  furnished  with  wisdom  for  this  purpose. 
He  is  the  foundation-stone  of  the  church,  that  hath  seven  eyes  upon 

VOL.   XII. — 13 


192  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  J. 

hiin,  Zech.  iii.  9, — a  perfection  of  wisdom  and  understanding  in  all 
affairs  of  it, — being  anointed  witli  the  Spirit  unto  that  purpose,  Isa. 
xi.  2-5.  Yea,  "  in  him  are  hid  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and 
knowledge,"  Col.  ii.  S;  it  having  "pleased  the  Father  that  in  him 
all  fulness  should  dwell,"  Col.  i.  19.  So  that  there  can  be  no  defect 
in  his  laws  and  administrations  on  this  account.  He  is  wise  of  heart, 
and  knows  perfectly  what  rules  and  actings  are  suited  to  the  glory  of 
God  and  the  condition  of  the  subjects  of  his  kingdom,  and  what  tend- 
eth  to  their  spiritual  and  eternal  advantage.  He  knows  how  to  order 
all  thinsfs  unto  the  great  end  which  in  his  sfovernment  he  ainieth  at. 
And  thence  do  all  his  laws  and  administrations  become  righteous. 
And  this  also  well  deserves  their  consideration  who  take  upon  them 
to  appoint  laws  and  rules  within  his  dominion,  unto  his  subjects,  for 
the  ends  of  his  rule  and  substance  of  his  worship.  Have  they  wis- 
dom sufficient  to  enable  them  so  to  do?  doth  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
Christ  rest  upon  them,  to  make  them  of  quick  understanding  in  the 
fear  of  the  Lord  ?  are  they  acquainted  with  the  state  and  condition,  the 
weakness,  temptations,  graces,  of  all  the  people  of  Ciirist?  If  they 
are  not,  how  know  they  but  that  they  may  command  and  appoint 
them  things  greatly  to  their  disadvantage,  when  they  think  to  profit 
them?  It  seems  a  great  self-assuming,  for  men  to  suppose  them- 
selves wise  enough  to  give  laws  to  the  subjects  of  Christ  in  things 
directly  appertaining  to  his  kingdom. 

'S.  They  are  righteous,  because  they  are  easT/,  gentle,  and  not 
burdensome.  The  righteousness  and  uprightness  here  mentioned 
doth  not  denote  strict,  rigid,  severe  justice,  extending  itself  unto  the 
utmost  of  what  can  be  required  of  the  subjects  to  be  ruled ;  but  equity 
mixed  with  gentleness,  tenderness,  and  condescension;  which  if  it  be 
absent  from  laws,  and  they  breathe  nothing  but  severity,  rigour,  and 
arbitrary  impositions,  though  they  may  not  be  absolutely  unjust,  yet 
they  are  grievous  and  burdensome.  Thus  Peter  calls  the  law  of  com- 
mandments contained  in  the  ordinances  of  old,  a  yoke  which  neither 
their  fathers  nor  themselves  were  able  to  bear.  Acts  xv.  10;  that  is, 
could  never  obtain  rest  or  peace  in  the  precise,  rigid  observation  re- 
quired of  them.  But  now  for  the  rule  of  Christ,  he  tells  us  that  "his 
yoke  is  eas}^,  and  his  burden  light,"  Matt.  xi.  SO ;  and  that  "  his  com- 
mandments are  not  grievous,"  1  John  v.  8.  And  this  gentleness  and 
easiness  of  the  rule  of  Christ  consisteth  in  these  three  things: — 

(1.)  That  his  commands  are  all  of  them  reasonable,  and  suited 
unto  the  principles  of  that  natural  obedience  we  owe  to  God;  and 
so  not  grievous  unto  any  thing  in  us  but  that  principle  of  sin  and 
darkness  which  is  to  be  destroyed.  He  hath  not  multiplied  precepts 
merely  arbitrary,  and  to  express  his  authority,  but  given  us  only  such 
as  are  in  themselves  good,  and  suitable  unto  the  principles  of  rea- 
auu;  as  might  be  evinced  by  the  particular  consideration  of  his  in- 


VER.  8,  9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  1  r),3 

stitutions.  Hence  our  obedience  unto  them  is  called  "  our  reason- 
able service/'  Kom.  xii.  1. 

(2.)  His  commands  are  easy,  because  all  of  them  are  suited  to 
that  principle  of  the  new  nature  or  new  creature  which  he  workotli 
in  the  hearts  of  all  his  disciples.  It  likes  them,  loves  them,  delii^hts 
in  them;  which  makes  them  easy  unto  it.  The  Lord  Christ  rules, 
as  we  said,  by  his  word  and  Spirit;  these  go  togetlier  in  the  cove- 
nant of  the  Redeemer,  Isa.  lix.  20,  21.  And  their  work  is  suited 
and  commensurate  one  to  the  other.  The  Spirit  creates  a  new  na- 
ture fitted  for  obedience  according  to  the  word,  and  the  word  gives 
out  laws  and  precepts  suited  unto  the  inclination  and  disposition  of 
that  nature;  and  in  these  two  consist  the  sceptre  and  rule  of  Christ. 
This  suitableness  of  principle  and  rule  one  to  the  other  makes  his 
government  easy,  upright,  and  righteous. 

(3.)  His  commands  are  easy,  because  he  continually  gives  out 
siqjplies  of  his  Spirit  to  make  his  subjects  to  yield  obedience  uuto 
tliem.  This  is  that  which,  above  all  other  things,  seta  a  lustre  upiu 
his  rule.  The  law  was  holy,  just,  and  good  of  old ;  but  whereas  it 
extended  not  strength  unto  men  to  enable  them  unto  obedience,  it 
became  unto  them  altogether  useless  and  unprofitable,  as  to  the  end 
they  aimed  at  in  its  observation.  It  is  otherwise  in  the  kingdom  of 
Christ.  Whatever  he  requires  to  have  done  by  his  subjects,  he  gives 
them  strength  by  his  Spirit  and  grace  to  perform  it;  which  makes 
his  rule  easy,  righteous,  equal,  and  altogether  lovely.  Neither  can 
any  of  the  sons  of  men  pretend  to  the  least  share  or  interest  in  tlds 
privilege. 

(4.)  This  rule  and  administration  of  Christ's  kingdom  is  righteous, 
because  useful  and  profitable.  Then  are  laws  good,  wholesome,  and 
equal,  when  they  lead  unto  the  benefit  and  advantage  of  them  that 
do  observe  them.  Laws  about  slight  and  trivial  things,  or  such  as 
men  have  no  benefit  or  advantage  by  their  observation,  are  justly 
esteemed  grievous  and  burdensome.  But  now,  all  the  laws  and 
whole  rule  of  the  Lord  Christ  are  every  way  usefid  and  advanta- 
geous to  his  subjects.  They  make  them  holy,  righteous,— such  as 
please  God  and  are  useful  to  mankind.  This  is  their  nature,  this 
their  tendency.  "  Whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things  are 
honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure,  what- 
soever things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of  good  report,"  they 
are  all  ingenerated  in  the  soul  by  and  in  the  observance  of  these 
laws  of  Christ's  rule.  They  free  the  soul  from  the  power  of  lust,  the 
service  of  sin,  fear  of  death,  hell,  and  the  world,  guide  it  in  the 
truth,  make  it  fruitful  amongst  mankind,  and  amiable  unto  Goil 
himself 

(5.)  Their  end  manifests  them  to  be  righteous.  The  woith  and 
equity  of  laws  are  taken  off  when  low  and  unworthy  ends  aie  pro- 


194)  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  1 

posed  unto  their  observation.  But  those  of  the  Lord  Christ  direct 
unto  the  highest  end,  propose  and  promise  the  most  glorious  rewards; 
so  that  whatsoever  may  be  done  or  suffered  in  an  adherence  unto 
them  hears  no  proportion  to  that  exceeding  rich  and  eternal  reward 
which  they  are  attended  withal ;  which  renders  them  highly  righte- 
ous i\  Ail  glorious.  And  many  other  considerations  of  the  like  nature 
may  ije  added.     And  hence  a  threefold  corollary  may  be  taken: — 

[].]  That  our  submission  to  this  sceptre  of  the  Lord  Christ,  our 
obedience  to  the  laws  of  his  kingdom,  and  the  administration  thereof, 
is  very  righteous,  equal,  and  reasonable.  What  can  be  further  de- 
sired to  render  it  so,  or  to  provoke  us  unto  it? 

[2.]  That  the  condemnation  of  those  that  refuse  the  reign  of 
Christ  over  them,  that  will  not  yield  obedience  unto  his  laws,  is  most 
just  and  righteous.  On  these  accounts  will  their  mouths  be  stopped 
for  ever,  when  he  comes  to  deal  with  them  who  know  not  God  and 
obey  not  the  gospel. 

[o.]  It  is  our  wisdom  to  content  ourselves  with  the  laws  of  Christ 
in  things  that  belong  unto  his  kingdom.  They  alone,  as  we  have 
seen,  have  those  properties  which  make  our  obedience  useful  or  pro- 
fitable; whatever  we  do  else,  in  reference  unto  the  same  end  with 
them,  is  needless  and  fruitless  drudging. 

V.  The  righteous  administrations  of  the  Lord  Christ  in  his  go- 
vernment proceed  all  from  his  own  habitual  righteousness  and  love 
thereunto.     See  this  declared  by  the  prophet,  Isa.  xi.  1-9. 

VT.  God  is  a  God  in  especial  covenant  with  the  Lord  Christ,  as  he 
is  the  mediator:  "  God,  thy  God."  Of  this  covenant  I  have  treated 
largely  elsewhere,  and  therefore  shall  not  here  insist  upon  it. 

VII.  The  collation  of  the  Spirit  on  the  Lord  Christ,  and  his  glo- 
rious exaltation,  are  the  peculiar  works  of  God  the  Father:  "  God, 
thy  God,  hath  anointed  thee." 

It  was  God  the  Father  who  designed  and  appointed  him  unto  his 
work,  who  actually  sent  him,  and  set  him  forth  in  the  fulness  of 
time;  and  therefore  on  him  was  it  incumbent  both  to  furnish  him 
unto  his  Avork,  and  to  crown  him  upon  its  performance.  And  herein 
these  several  acts,  partly  eternal,  partly  temporal,  are  considerable: 
— 1.  The  engagement  of  the  eternal  will,  wisdom,  and  counsel  ol 
the  Father  with  the  Son  about  his  work,  Pro  v.  viii.  22,  23,  SO,  3  J  ; 
Isa.  liii.  10—12.  2.  H\&  fore-ordination  of  his  coming,  by  an  eternal 
,  free  act  of  his  will,  1  Pet.  i.  20;  Acts  ii.  23.  3.  His  covenant  with 
him  to  abide  by  him  in  the  whole  course  of  his  work,  Isa.  xlix.  6-9, 
1.  7-9.  4.  His  promise  of  him  from  the  foundation  of  the  world, 
often  reiterated  and  repeated,  Gen.  iii.  15.  5.  His  actual  mission 
and  sending  of  him  in  his  incarnation,  Zech.  ii.  8-10.  6.  The  exert- 
ing of  his  almighty  power  unto  that  purpose  and  effect,  Luke  i.  35. 
7.  His  giving  of  him  command  and  commission  for  his  work,  John 


VER.  10-12.]  liTISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  195 

X.  18,  XX.  21.  8.  Furnishing  him  with  all  the  gifts  and  graces  of  his 
Spirit,  to  fit  him  and  enable  him  unto  his  work,  Isa.  xi.  2,  o,  Ixi. 
1-G;  Matt.  iii.  IG,  17;  John  i.  32,  S3;  Col.  i.  19.  9.  Ahiding  by 'him 
in  care,  love,  power,  and  providence,  during  the  whole  course  of  his 
obedience  and  ministry,  Isa.  xlix.  2,  8.  10.  Speaking  in  him,  work- 
ing by  him,  and  in  both  bearing  witness  unto  him,  Heb.  i.  1,  2  ;  John 
V.  36.  11.  Giving  him  up  unto  death,  Rom.  viii.  32;  Acts  ii.  23. 
12.  Raising  him  from  the  dead,  1  Pet.  i.  21;  Acts  ii.  24.  13.  Giv- 
ing all  power,  authority,  and  judgment  unto  him,  John  v,  22;  Matt, 
xxviii.  18.  14.  Exalting  of  him  by  his  assumption  into  heaven  and 
glorious  session  at  his  right  hand.  Acts  ii.  32,  33;  Piiil.  ii.  9,  10. 
15.  Giving  him  to  be  the  head  over  all  unto  the  church,  and  sul)- 
jecting  all  things  under  his  feet,  Eph.  i.  20-22.  16.  In  all  things 
crotuning  him  with  eternal  glory  and  honour,  John  xvii.  5;  Heb. 
ii.  9.  All  these,  and  sundry  other  particulars  of  the  like  nature,  are 
assigned  unto  the  Father  as  part  of  his  work  in  reference  unto'  the 
mediation  of  the  Son;  and  amongst  tliem  his  exaltation  and  unc- 
tion with  the  oil  of  gladness  hath  an  eminent  place.  And  this  are 
we  taught,  that  in  this  whole  work  we  might  see  the  autliority, 
counsel,  and  love  of  the  Father,  that  so  our  faith  and  hope  through 
Jesus  Christ  might  be  in  God,  who  raised  him  uj)  from  the  dead, 
and  gave  him  glory,  1  Pet.  i.  21. 

VIII.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  singular  in  this  unction. 

This  is  that  which  the  apostle  proves  in  several  instances,  and  by 
comparing  him  with  others,  who  in  the  most  eminent  manner  were 
partakers  of  it.  And  this  we  are  in  the  consideration  of,  as  the  par- 
ticulars of  it  do  occur.  Neither  shall  I  at  present  further  insist  ou 
the  ensuing  observations,  because  I  will  not  longer  detain  the  reader 
from  the  context,  namely,  that, — 

IX.  All  that  serve  God  in  the  work  of  building  the  church,  ac- 
cording to  his  appointment,  are  anointed  by  his  Spirit,  and  shall 
be  rewarded  by  his  power,  Dan.  xii.  3. 

X.  The  disciples  of  Christ,  esjoecially  those  who  serve  him  in  his 
church  faithfully,  are  his  companions  in  all  his  grace  and  glory. 

Verses  10-12. 

In  the  following  verses  the  apostle,  by  another  illustrious  testi- 
mony, taken  out  of  Ps.  cii.,  confirms  his  principal  assertion,  in  the 
words  ensuing. 

Ver.  10—12. — Kar  SC  zar'  apyag,  Kopn,  rnv  yrjv  sl}i/J!,i}Jojffa;,  xa!  sf/a 
Tuv  ysipuv  sou  iish  01  ovpavoi.  Avrot  arroXovvrai,  Go  hs  biaiihug'  xui  -av- 
TBg  ug  j/j^driov  'TraXaicuO'/jGovrat,  xai  oiciii  Tsp/Co'Xa/ov  sXii^iii  avrovg,  xa/ 
ukXayy-iSoiTai'  ffi)  di  6  ahrog  il,  xa/  ra  srrj  Sou  ouz  szAti-^ouei. 

In  the  l;ist  verse,  for  i7^l%it;  one  copy  hatli  d'hT^a.^ni,  to  answer  unto  aXh%yr^- 
covrat'  and  MS.  T.,  iT^iiiii  ccvtov;  u;  if^-ccrtou. 


196  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

The  worfls  are  the  same  in  the  Greek  Bibles  as  in  this  place  of  the  apostle, 
nor  is  there  any  footstep  of  any  other  old  tr.insUition  of  them  in  t'ne  psalm. 
The  Syriac  differs  little.  Kcct  it  renda-s  ^ini^  "and  again,"  to  show  that 
x,cii  is  no  part  of  the  testimony  cited,  but  serves  only  to  the  introduction  of 
another.  Verse  11,  for  auTol  a.Tttj'Kdxivra.i,  "they  shall  perish,"  T^^<  l^-~» 
♦'they  shall  piis-i  away;"  alludin:^'  to  that  of  2  Pet.  iii.  10,  0/  ovpoivol  poi^nooif 
"TTupsT^ivaovrcii, — "  The  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a  noise."  2i)  3s  tioc^A- 
vsis,  '•  but  thou  abidest,"  "  thou  continuest;"  Jl*'?  ^^R  'J'?'*,)  "  et  tu  stans  es," 
"  et  tu  stas,"  "  et  tu  stabihs  es," — "  and  thou  standest."  •'  thou  art  standing,' 
answering  the  Hebrew  ■"^^jf?,  in  the  psalm.  'E'hi^iig  avrovg,  "'thou  shalt  roll 
them  up,"  V'^  ^"1"'?;  which  words  interpreters  render  variouslyj  though  to  the 
same  purpose.    "  Involves,"  Boderianus, — •'  roll  them;"  "complicabis,"  Treme'lius, 

"  fold  them  ;"  "  diiplicabis,"  De  Dieu, — "  double  them  up."     And  it  is  manifest 

that  the  translator  reads  i'Ki^ei?,  and  not  d'Khoc^ng.  And  I  doubt  not  but  the 
same  word  was  inserted  into  the  translation  of  the  psalm  from  this  place  of  the 
apostle.  2y  "hi  6  ctvrog  si, — "  Thou  art  the  same,"  or,  "Thou  art,  I  am  ;"  T^  '??■*! 
^r?  'm?'?^^^  .  Bodei-ianus, "  Et  tu  sicut  existens  es ;" — "  And  thou  art  as  thou  ex- 
istest."  Tremellius,  '•  Tu  autem  sicut  es,  eris ;" — "  But  thou  shalt  be  as  thou  art." 
Properly,  "  And  thou,  as  thou  art,  art ;"  that  is,  "  art  the  same." 

The  translation  of  the  apostle  in  all  things  material  answereth  the  original  in 
the  psalm.  Verses  25-28,  li/  Kvpis,  ''  Thou,  Lord,"  is  supplied  out  of  the  vei-se 
foregoing,  "  I  said,  O  my  God."  '!^~.^\  V'v'JV  °"'-??j  " ^^  old,"  "  before  it  was ;"  that 
is,  Kocr  dp%xg,  or  ^^"•^"?'?,  "  in  the  beginning."  And  our  tran.slators  needed  not  to 
have  used  any  difi'erence  of  expression  in  the  psalm  and  this  place  of  the  apostle, 
as  they  do; — there,  "of  old;"  here,  "in  the  beginning."  "Thou  hast  founded" 
(not  "laid  the  foundation  of ")"' the  earth  ;  and  the  heavens  are  the  works;".— . 
'^????5  "  the  work,"  which  the  Greek  renders  "works,"  because  of  their  variety, — 
"  of  thy  hands." 

"They  shall  perish,  ^'^>;!:' "-1,"  "but  thou  shalt  stand,"  or  "dost  abide." 
The  word  used  in  our  translation  of  the  psalm  ("  endure")  doth  ill  answer  the 
original,  but  the  margin  gives  relief.  Psalm,  "  Yea  all  of  them  shall  wax  old 
like  a  garment;"  here,  "  And  they  all  shall  wax  old  as  doth  a  garment:"  a  little 
variety  without  difference,  and  that  needless,  the  Greek  text  exactly  expressing 
the  Hebrew.  "And  as  a  vesture  shalt  thou  fold  them  up;"  ^."pij'?'; — "shalt  ihou 
change  them."  The  change  of  a  vesture,  whereunto  the  change  of  the  heavens 
is  compared,  being  by  folding  up  and  laying  aside,  at  least  from  former  use,  the 
apostle  instead  of  oi'K'Ka.^iig,  "thou  shalt  change,"  renders  the  word  by  i'hi^ug, 
"  thou  shalt  fold"  (or  "  roll")  "  them  up."  sin  nnsi^  "  et  tu  ipse,"  x,a.\  uv  6 
ctvTog, — "and  thou  art  he."  "And  thy  years  shall  have  no  end," — "  shall  not 
fail;"  'i'^^?  S',  "shall  not  consume."' 

There  is  no  question  but  that  these  words  do  sufficiently  prove  the 
pre-eminence  of  him  of  whom  they  are  spoken,  incomparably  above 
all  creatures  whatever.    Two  things,  therefore,  are  questioned  by  the 

'  Various  Readings. — Griesbach,  Knapp,  and  Stuart,  on  the  strength  of  mss. 
D.  E.,  and  a  few  others,  read  ^lai^ivftg,  instead  of  dixfiivus,  the  futiu-e  instead  of 
the  present.  Tischendorf  retains  liufisvst;.  The  Peschito  version  has  it  "  Tnoa 
art  pei-manent." 

ExrosiTioN. — The  manifestations  of  the  Deity  were  made  in  the  person  of 
Him  who,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  became  incarnate  as  the  promised  Messiah.  In 
the  deliverance  from  Egypt,  and  the  march  through  the  wilderness,  he  was  known 
as  "  the  angel  of  the  cnveiuiiit,"  and  sometimes  appeared  in  a  visible  form.  The 
blessing  for  which  the  author  of  the  psalm  prays,  is  the  improvement  and  deliver- 


VER.  10-12.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  If) 7 

enemies  of  the  truth  contained  in  them: — 1.  Whether  they  were 
originally  sj)oken  at  all  of  Christ,  which  the  present  Jews  deny. 
2.  Whether  they  were  spoken  all  of  Christ,  which  is  questioned  Ijy 
the  Sociniaus.  These  inquiries  being  first  satisfied,  the  words  shall 
be  opened,  and  the  force  of  the  apostle's  argument  from  thence 
declared. 

1.  That  what  is  spoken  in  this  psalm  doth  properly  respect  the 
Messiah  is  denied  by  the  present  Jews.  That  it  was  owned  by  the 
ancient  Hebrews  is  sufficiently  evident  from  hence,  that  the  apostle, 
dealing  with  them  on  their  own  principles,  urgeth  them  with  the 
testimony  of  it.  The  psalm  also  itself  gives  us  light  enough  into 
the  same  instruction.  It  is  partly  euciical,  partly  prophetical ;  both 
parts  suited  unto  the  condition  of  the  church  when  the  temple  was 
wasted,  and  Zion  lay  in  the  dust  during  the  Babylonish  captivity. 
In  the  prophetical  jiart  there  are  three  things  signal : — 

(1.)  The  redemption  of  the  people,  with  the  re-edification  of  the 
temple,  as  a  type  of  that  spiritual  temple  and  worship  which  were 
afterwards  to  be  erected:  as  verse  13,  "Thou  shalt  arise,  and  have 
mercy  upon  Zion ;  for  the  time  to  favour  her,  yea,  the  set  time,  is 
come:"  and  verse  16,  "When  the  Lord  shall  build  up  Zion,  he  shall 
appear  in  his  glory." 

(2.)  The  calling  of  the  Gentiles  to  the  church  and  worship  of  God  : 
Verse  15,  "The  heathen  shall  fear  the  name  of  the  LoRD,  and  all 
the  kings  of  the  earth  thy  glory."  Verses  21,  22,  "To  declare  the 
name  of  the  Lord  in  Zion,  and  his  praise  in  Jerusalem;  when  tlie 
people  are  gathered  together,  and  the  kingdoms,  to  serve  the  Lord." 

(3.)  Hereby  the  creation  of  a  new  i^eople.  a  new  world,  is  brought 
in:  Verse  18,  "This  shall  be  written  for  the  generation  to  come" 
(the  world  to  come):  "and  the  people  that  shall  be  created"  (the 
new  creation  of  Jews  and  Gentiles)  "  shall  praise  the  Lord."  These 
are  the  heads  of  the  prophetical  part  of  the  psalm,  and  they  all  re- 
spect things  everywhere  peculiarly  assigned  unto  the  Son,  who  was 
to  be  incarnate,  or  the  days  of  the  Messiah,  which  is  all  one;  for, — 

[1.]  The  redemption  and  deliverance  of  the  church  out  of  trouble 
is  his  proper  work.  Wherever  it  is  mentioned,  it  is  he  who  is  in- 
tended, Ps.  xcviii.  So  signally,  Zech.  ii.  8-13,  and  other  places 
innumerable. 

[2.]  The  bringing  in  of  the  Gentiles  is  acknowledged  by  all  the 

ance  of  the  chosen  people,  by  that  God  who  had  directeil  providence  for  that  end. 
But  with  regard  to  the  Divine  Father,  the  Seriptures  assure  us  that  '•  no  one 
hath  .seen  him,  or  can  see  him."  Can  we,  then,  avoid  inferring  that  the  object  of 
the  afflicted  psalmist's  prayers  was  that  same  Divine  Pkrson  who  hail  allowed 
himself  to  be  seen  in  a  glorious  human  form  by  Abraham,  by  J.icob,  by  Mose.s, 
etc.  ? — Pi/e  Smith. 

TiiANSL.'VTio^s. — A/£«,M.  Thou  shalt  remain. — Boothroyd,  Stuart,  Ebrard. 
Tu  permauebis. — Valyate.     Du  besteiiest. — De  IVette. — Ed. 


198  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I, 

Jews  to  respect  the  time  of  the  Messiah;  it  being  he  who  was  to  be 
a  light  unto  the  Gentiles,  and  the  salvation  of  God  unto  the  ends  of 
the  earth. 

[3.]  Also,  "the  generation  to  come,"  and  "people  to  be  created," 
the  Jews  themselves  interpret  of  the  t53n  D^y,  "  world  to  come,"  or 
tlie  new  state  of  the  church  under  the  Messiah.  These  two  last  put 
together,  the  gathering  of  the  people,  and  the  world  to  come,  created 
for  the  praise  of  God,  make  it  evident  that  it  is  the  Son  whom  the 
psalmist  hath  respect  unto. 

Qrotius  in  this  place  affirms  that  the  apostle  accommodates  unto 
the  Messiah  what  was  spoken  of  God.  And  he  thinks  it  a  sufficient 
argument  to  prove  the  words  were  not  spoken  of  the  Messiah,  he- 
cause  they  were  spoken  of  God ;  whereas  they  are  produced  by  the 
apootle  to  prove  his  excellency  from  the  properties  and  works  of  his 
divine  nature.  And  he  adds,  as  the  sense  of  the  words,  as  accom- 
modated unto  Christ,  "'Thou  hast  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth  ;' 
that  is,  'the  world  was  made  for  thy  sake.' "  But  this  interpretation 
c- violent  detortion  of  the  words  destroys  itself;  for  if  they  were  spoken 
of  God  absolutely,  and  not  of  the  Messiah,  to  whom  they  are  accom- 
modated, how  can  it  be  said  that  the  world  was  made  for  his  sake, 
and  not  by  hiin?  Both  senses  of  the  words  cannot  be  true.  But 
this  is  indeed  plainly  to  deny  the  authority  of  the  apostle. 

It  appeareth,  then,  that  many  things  in  this  psalm  are  spoken 
directly  and  immediately  of  the  Son;  though  it  be  probable,  also,  that 
sundry  things  in  it  are  affirmed  distinctly  of  the  person  of  the  Father. 
And  hence,  it  may  be,  are  those  frequent  variations  of  speech  from 
the  second  to  the  third  person  that  occur  in  this  psalm. 

2.  As  to  the  second  inquiry,  the  Socinians,  who  grant  the  divine 
authority  of  this  epistle,  and  therefore  cannot  deny  but  that  these 
words  some  way  or  other  belong  unto  the  Lord  Cinist,  yet  plainly 
perceiving  that  if  they  are  wholly  understood  of  him,  there  is  an 
end  of  all  their  religion  (the  creation,  not  of  a  new  world,  but  of 
that  which  was  made  of  old,  and  which  shall  perish  at  the  last  day, 
being  here  ascribed  unto  him),  fix  here  upon  a  new  and  peculiar 
evasion.  "  Some  words,"  they  say,  "  of  this  testimony  belong  unto 
Christ"  (so  much  they  will  yield  to  the  authority  of  the  apostle), 
"  but  not  all  of  them;"  whereby  they  hope  to  secure  their  own  error. 
Now,  because  if  this  pretence  hold  not,  this  testimony  is  fatal  to 
their  persuasion,  I  hope  it  will  not  be  unacceptable  if  in  our  pas- 
sao-e  we  do  consider  the  distribution  they  make  of  the  words  accord- 
ing to  their  supposition,  and  the  arguments  they  produce  for  the 
confirmation  of  their  exposition,  as  they  are  managed  by  Crellius 
and  Schlichtingius  in  their  comment  on  this  place. 

(1.)  He  says  that  "this  testimony  doth  so  far  belong  unto  Christ, 
as  it  pertaineth  unto  the  scope  of  the  writer  of  the  epistle.     This 


VER.  10-12.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  199 

scripture,"  saith  he,  "  as  appears  from  verse  4,  is  to  prove  that  after 
Christ  sat  down  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  he  was  made  more  excel- 
lent than  the  angels;  whereto  the  afQrming  that  he  made  heavea 
and  earth  doth  no  way  conduce/' 

Ans.  (1.)  Suppose  that  to  be  the  scope  of  the  apostle  which  is 
intimated,  how  doth  this  author  know  that  it  suits  not  his  purpose 
to  show  that  the  Lord  Christ  is  God,  by  whom  heaven  and  earth 
were  made,  seeing  it  is  manifest  that  himself  thought  otherwise,  or 
he  had  not  produced  this  testimony  thereof?  (2.)  The  testimony 
is  not  unsuited  unto  the  scope  pretended;  for  whereas,  in  tiie  ad- 
ministration of  his  office,  the  Son  was  apparently  for  a  while  made 
lower  than  the  angels,  he  may  in  these  words  discover  the  equity  of 
his  after  exaltation  above  them,  in  that  in  his  divine  nature  and 
works  he  was  so  much  more  excellent  than  they.  (3.)  The  true 
and  proper  design  of  the  apostle  we  have  before  evinced;  which  is  to 
prove  the  excellency  of  the  pei'son  by  whom  the  gospel  was  revealed, 
and  his  pre-eminence  above  men  and  angels;  which  nothing  doth 
more  unquestionably  demonstrate  than  this,  that  by  hitn  the  world 
\yi\s  created,  whence  the  assignation  of  a  divine  nature  unto  him 
doth  undeniably  ensue. 

(2.)  To  promote  this  observation,  he  adds  a  large  discourse  about 
the  use  and  application  of  testimonies  out  of  the  Old  Testament  iu 
the  New;  and  says  that  "  they  are  made  use  of  by  the  writers  of  it, 
either  because  of  some  agreement  and  likeness  between  the  things 
intended  in  the  one  and  the  other,  or  because  of  some  subordina- 
tion. In  the  former  way,  that  wliich  is  spoken  of  the  type  is  applied 
unto  the  antitvjoe:  and  sometim«  s,  for  likeness'  sake,  that  which 
was  spoken  of  one  thing  is  applied  unto  another;  as,  Matt.  xv.  7,  8, 
our  Saviour  applies  those  words  of  Isaiah  to  the  present  Jews  which 
were  spoken  of  their  forefathers." 

Ans.  (1.)  That  which  is  spoken  in  the  first  place  of  an  instituted 
type  is  also  spoken  of  the  antitype,  or  thing  prefigured  by  it,  so  far 
as  it  is  represented  by  the  type,  so  that  one  thing  teaches  another  ; 
and  thereon  the  words  have  a  double  application,  first  to  the  type, 
ultimately  to  the  antitype.  But  herein  such  testimonies  as  this  have 
no  concernment.  (2.)  The  Scripture  sometimes  makes  use  of  alle- 
gories, illustrating  one  thing  by  another,  as  GaL  iv.  21-25.  Neither 
hath  this  any  place  here.  (3.)  That  what  is  spoken  of  one  person 
should,  because  of  some  similitude,  be  affirmed  to  be  spoken  of  an- 
other, and  in  nothing  agree  })ropeily  unto  hiiu,  is  untrue,  and  not  to 
be  exemplified  with  any  seeming  instance.  (4.)  The  words  of  Isaiah, 
chap.  xxix.  ]3,  which  our  Saviour  makes  use  of.  Matt.  xv.  7-9,  were 
a  prophecy  of  the  Jews  who  then  lived,  as  both  our  Saviour  ex- 
pressly affirms  and  the  context  in  the  prophet  doth  plainly  declare. 

"  Some  things,"  he  adds,  "are  applied  unto  others  than  they  are 


200  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

spoken  of,  because  of  their  subordination  to  him  or  them  of  whom 
they  are  spoken.  Thus  things  that  are  spoken  of  God  are  appHed 
unto  Christ,  because  of  his  subordination  to  him ;  and  of  this,"  saith 
he,  "  we  have  an  instance  in  Acts  xiii.  47,  where  the  words  spoken 
of  the  Lord  Christ,  Isa.  xlix.  6,  '  I  have  set  thee  to  be  a  Hght  of  the 
Gentiles,  that  thou  shouklest  be  for  salvation  unto  the  ends  of  the 
earth,'  are  ai^plied  unto  the  apostles  because  of  their  subordination 
unto  Christ.  And  in  this  case  the  words  have  but  one  sense,  and 
belong  primarily  unto  him  of  whom  they  are  first  spoken,  and  are 
secondarily  applied  unto  the  other." 

Atis.  According  to  this  rule  there  is  nothing  that  ever  was  spoken 
of  God  but  it  may  be  sjjoken  of  and  applied  unto  any  of  his  crea- 
tures, all  things  being  in  subordination  unto  him ;  at  least,  it  may 
be  so  in  that  wherein  they  act  under  him  and  are  in  a  peculiar  sub- 
ordination to  him.  And  yet  neither  can  such  a  subordination,  ac- 
cording to  this  man's  opinion,  be  applied  unto  Clirist,  who  in  the 
creation  of  h' aven  and  earth  was  in  no  other  subordination  to  God 
than  any  other  things  not  yet  made  or  existing.  So  that  this  rule, 
that  what  is  spoken  of  God  is  applied  unto  them  who  are  in  subor- 
dination unto  him,  as  it  is  false  in  itself,  so  it  is  no  way  suited  to  the 
present  business,  Christ  bqing,  in  this  man's  judgment,  in  no  subor- 
dination to  God  when  the  world  was  made,  being  absolutely  in  all 
respects  in  the  condition  of  things  that  were  not.  Nor  doth  tiie 
instance  given  at  all  prove  or  illustrate  what  is  pretended.  The 
apostle,  in  the  citing  of  those  words  to  the  Jews,  doth  not  in  the 
least  apply  them  to  himself,  but  only  declares  the  ground  of  his 
going  to  preach  the  gospel  unto  the  Gentiles;  which  was,  that  God 
had  promised  to  make  Him  whom  he  preached  to  be  a  light,  and  to 
bring  salvation  unto  them  also. 

Wherefore  he  adds,  (3.)  what  is  direct  to  his  pretension,  "  That  all 
the  words,  or  things  signified  by  them,  in  any  testimony,  which  are 
firstly  spoken  of  one,  and  tiien  ai-e,  for  some  of  the  causes  men- 
tioned" (that  is,  conveniency,  similitude,  or  subordination),  "ap- 
plied unto  another,  are  not  to  be  looked  on  as  proper  to  him  to 
whom  they  are  so  applied;  but  so  much  of  them  is  to  be  admitted 
as  agrees  to  the  scope  of  him  by  whom  the  testimony  is  used:  as  in 
the  testimony  produced,  verse  5,  '  I  will  be  unto  him  a  father,  and 
he  shall  be  to  me  a  son,'  the  words  immediately  following  are,  '  If 
he  shall  offend  against  me,  I  will  chastise  him  with  the  rod  of  men;' 
which  words,  being  spoken  of  Solomon,  can  no  way  be  applied  unto 
Christ." 

Arts.  What  is  spoken  of  any  type  and  of  Christ  jointly  is  not  so 
spoken  for  any  natural  conveniency,  similitude,  or  subordination, 
but  because  of  God's  institution,  appointing  the  type  so  to  represent 
and  shadow  out  the  Lord  Christ,  that  what  he  would  teach  con- 


VEE.  10-12.J  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  201 

cerning  him  should  be  spoken  of  the  type  whereby  he  was  repre- 
sented. Now,  no  person  that  was  appointed  to  be  a  type  of  him 
being  in  all  things  a  type,  it  is  not  necessary  that  whatever  was 
spoken  of  him  was  also  spoken  of  Christ,  but  only  what  was  spoken 
of  him  under  that  formal  consideration  of  an  instituted  type.  This 
we  showed  the  case  to  have  been  with  Solomon,  of  whom  the  words 
mentioned  were  spoken  as  he  bare  the  person  of  Christ.  Other 
tilings  are  added  in  the  same  place,  that  belonged  unto  him  in 
his  own  ijersonally  inoral  caj)acity;  and  therefore  those  things  (as 
that,  "  If  he  offend  against  me")  are  not  at  all  mentioned  by  the 
apostle,  as  not  being  spoken  of  him  as  a  type.  And  this  plainly 
overthrows  the  pretension  of  our  commentator;  for  if  the  apostle 
would  not  produce  the  very  next  words  to  the  testimony  by  him 
brought,  because  they  did  not  belong  unto  him  of  whom  he  spake, 
it  proves  undeniably  that  all  those  which  he  doth  so  urge  and  pro- 
duce were  properly  spoken  of  him.  And  I  cannot  reach  the  strength 
of  this  inference,  '  Because  in  a  place  where  all  that  was  spoken  was 
not  spoken  of  Christ,  the  apostle  makes  use  of  what  was  so  spoken 
of  him,  and  omits  that  wdiich  was  not ;  therefore  of  that  which  he 
doth  produce  in  the  next  place,  somewhat  does  belong  to  him,  and 
somewhat  does  not/  If  any  thing  be  offered  to  this  purpose,  it 
must  be  in  an  instance  of  a  testimony  produced,  in  the  words  where- 
of— which  are  produced,  and  not  in  what  may  follow  in  the  same 
chapter  and  psalm — there  is  that  affirmed  which  doth  now  no  moie 
bflong  unto  Christ  than  the  making  of  heaven  or  earth  belongeth 
to  this  writer;  which  is  the  case  in  hand. 

Having  premised  these  general  considerations,  he  makes  applica- 
tion of  them  in  particular  to  his  interpretation  of  this  testimony  used 
by  the  apostle. 

"  These  words,"  saith  he,  *'  being  first  expressly  spoken  of  God, 
and  here  by  this  writer  referred  unto  Christ,  we  must  consider  wdiat 
in  them  makes  to  his  scope  and  purpose,  what  is  agreeable  to  the 
nature  and  condition  of  Christ,  who  certainly  was  a  man;  and  such, 
certainly,  is  not  he  which  the  psalm  speaks  of  ahout  the  creation  of 
heaven  and  earth.  And  this  was  well  known  to  them  with  whom 
the  apostle  had  to  do." 

But  any  one  may  perceive  that  these  things  are  spoken  gratis, 
and  upon  the  supposition  that  Christ  was  a  mei'e  man,  and  not  God 
hy  nature,  when  the  words  themselves,  ascribing  a  pre-existeuce  to 
the  world  and  omnipotency  unto  him,  do  prove  the  contraiy.  What 
is  the  scope  of  the  apostle  in  the  whole  discourse  under  consideration 
hath  been  showed,  as  also  how  directly  this  whole  testimony  tends 
to  the  proof  of  what  he  had  proposed.  It  is  true  that  the  words 
are  spoken  of  him  who  is  God ;  but  no  less  trae,  the  apostle  being 
judge,  that  it  is  the  Son  of  God  who  is  that  God.     It  is  irue  that 


2054  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  1. 

he  also  was  man,  and  nothing  is  ascribed  unto  him  but  what  belongs 
unto  him  who  was  man,  but  not  as  he  was  man;  and  such  was  the 
creation  of  heaven  and  earth. 

The  opinion  of  tliese  men  is,  that  whereas  two  things  are  men- 
tioned in  the  words,  the  creation  of  the  world,  which  was  past,  and 
tiie  dissoIutioQ  or  destruction  of  it,  which  was  to  come,  tliat  the 
hitter  is  assigned  unto  Christ,  but  not  the  former ;  and  for  this  division 
of  the  words,  which  confessedly  is  not  in  the  least  intimated  by  the 
apostle,  he  gives  tliese  reasons: — 

1.  "  All  the  words  of  the  psalm  being  manifestly  spoken  of  the 
high  God,  and  no  word  in  the  psalm  declaring  Christ  to  be  that  God, 
yet  of  necessity,  if  these  words  be  applied  unto  Christ,  he  must  be 
supposed  to  be  the  high  God  there  spoken  of.  But  if  this  divine 
writer  had  taken  this  for  granted,  he  hatl  been  eminently  foolish  to 
go  about  to  prove  by  arguments  and  testimonies  that  the  Creotor 
does  excel  all  creatures.  He  should  use,  in  a  matter  no  way  doubt- 
ful, witnesses  no  way  necessary." 

This  is  the  first  reason  whereby  he  would  prove  that  the  apostle 
did  not  apply  the  words  to  Christ,  though  himself  says  plainly  that 
he  does ;  for  his  preface  to  them  is,  "  But  to  the  Son  he  saith :"  or, 
that  if  he  doth  so,  he  doth  it  wondrous  foolishly, — for  such  liberty  do 
poor  worms  take  to  tli£mselves.  That  the  psalm  so  speaketh  of  ti)e 
high  God,  that  it  directly  and  peculiarly  intends  Christ  the  Son  of 
God,  hath  been  in  part  declared,  and  shall  further  afterwards  be 
evinced.  And  the  eulogium  in  these  words  given  unto  him  proves 
him  to  be  so.  And  though  he  affirms  that  it  was  a  foolish  thing  in 
the  apostle  to  prove  from  the  works  of  him  that  is  God  that  he  is 
above  the  angels,  the  most  glorious  of  made  creatures,  yet  God  him- 
self most  frequently  from  these  his  works,  his  omniscience,  omni- 
presence, and  other  attributes  declared  in  them,  proves  his  excellency 
in  comparison  of  idols,  which  have  no  existence  but  in  the  imagina- 
tion of  men.     See  Isa.  xli.  21,  etc. 

By  this  testimony,  then,  the  Holy  Ghost  with  infinite  wisdom 
proves  that  he  who  was  made  less  for  a  little  while  than  the  angels, 
in  one  respect,  was  absolutely  and  in  his  own  jjerson  infinitely  above 
them,  as  being  the  creator  of  heaven  and  earth. 

2.  He  adds,  "  Those  Hebrews  to  whom  he  wrote  were  either 
persuaded  that  Christ  was  God,  the  creator  of  heaven  and  earth, 
or  they  were  not.  If  they  were,  what  need  of  all  these  arguments 
and  testimonies?  One  word  might  have  despatched  this  whole 
controversy,  by  affirming  that  Christ  was  the  creator,  angels  crea- 
tures, between  whom  there  could  be  no  comparison,  nor  any  reason 
to  fear  that  the  law  given  by  the  administration  of  angels  should  be 
preferred  to  the  gospel,  whereof  he  Avas  the  author.  If  we  shall  say 
the  latter,  that  they  did  not  yet  believe  it,  now  do  we  suppose  that 


TER.  10-12.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  20.1 

he  takes  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  little  purpose;  for  he  asstimos  and 
takes  for  granted  tlmt  that  was  true  Vv'hich  was  alone  in  qnostiou. 
What  need  he,  then,  to  prove  by  so  many  arguments  that  Christ- 
was  more  excellent  than  the  angels,  and  to  take  that  for  granted 
which  would  have  put  it  out  of  question,  namely,  that  he  was  God, 
v;ho  made  heaven  and  earth  T' 

Ans.  This  dilemma  hath  as  much  force  against  the  otlier  testi- 
monies produced  in  this  chapter  or  elsewhere  by  the  apostle  as  it 
hath  against  this;  so  that  the  using  of  it  doth  scarce  argue  that  re- 
verence to  the  holy  word  of  God  which  is  required  of  us.  But  the 
truth  is,  grant  whether  of  the  suppositions  you  please,  nothing  of 
inconveniency  as  unto  the  apostle's  argumentation  will  ensue.  Let 
it  be  granted  that  they  did  believe,  and  that  expressly,  Christ  to  be 
God,  have  believers  no  need  to  have  their  faith  confirmed  by  testi- 
monies out  of  the  word  that  may  not  so  readily  occur  to  themselves? 
Have  they  no  need  to  be  strengthened  in  the  faith,  especially  in 
such  points  as  were  in  those  days  greatly  opposed,  as  was  this  of  tlie 
eternal  glory  of  the  Messiah,  concerning  which  the  believing  He- 
brews had  to  do  with  learned  and  stubborn  adversaries  continually? 
And  if  the  apostle  might  have  ended  the  whole  controversy  by 
plainly  affirming  that  he  was  the  creator  of  all  things  and  the 
angels  creatures,  might  he  not  as  well  have  ended  the  dispute  about 
his  pre-eminence  above  angels  with  one  word,  without  citing  so 
many  testimonies  to  prove  it  ?  But  had  he  then  unfolded  the  mys- 
teries of  the  Old  Testament  to  the  Hebrews,  which  was  his  design  ? 
Had  he  manifested  that  he  taught  nothing  but  what  was  before 
revealed  (though  obscurely)  to  Moses  and  the  prophets;  which  he 
aimed  to  do,  thereby  to  strengthen  and  confirm  in  the  faith  those 
that  did  believe,  and  convince  gainsayers?  Again,  suppose  some  of 
them  to  whom  he  wrote  did  not  yet  expressly  believe  the  deity  of 
Christ, — as  the  apostles  themselves  did  not  for  a  while  believe  his 
resurrection, — could  any  more  convincing  way  be  fixed  on  to  per- 
suade them  thereunto,  than  by  minding  them  of  those  testimonies 
of  the  Old  Testament  wherein  the  attributes  and  works  of  God  are 
ascribed  unto  him?  Nor  was  it  now  in  question  whether  Christ 
were  God  or  no,  but  whether  he  were  more  excellent  than  the  angels 
that  gave  the  law;  and  what  more  effectual  course  could  be  taken 
to  put  an  end  to  that  inquiry  than  by  proving  that  he  made  the 
heaven  and  earth, — that  is,  producing  a  testimony  wherein  the 
creation  of  all  things  is  assigned  unto  him, — is  beyond  the  Avisdom 
of  man  to  invent. 

8.  He  adds,  "  That  Christ  might  be  spoken  of  in  this  place  either 
in  respect  of  his  human  nature  or  of  his  divine.  If  of  the  former, 
to  what  end  should  he  make  mention  of  the  creation  of  heaven  and 
earth  ?     Christ  as  man,  aud  as  made  above  the  angels,  made  not 


204  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

heaven  and  earth.     If  as  God,  how  could  he  be  said  to  be  made 
above  the  angels  ?" 

But  the  answer  is  easy.  Christ  is  said  to  be  made  above  and 
more  excellent  than  the  angels,  neither  absolutely  as  God,  nor 
absolutely  as  man,  but  as  he  was  God-man,  the  mediator  between 
God  and  man ;  in  which  respect,  as  mediator,  for  the  discharge  of 
one  part  of  his  office,  he  was  a  little  while  made  lower  than  they; 
and  so  the  creation  of  heaven  and  earth  does  demonstrate  the  dig- 
nity of  his  person,  and  the  equity  of  his  being  made  more  excellent 
than  the  angels  in  his  office.  And  this  fully  removes  his  following 
exception,  that  the  remembering  of  his  deity  could  be  no  argument 
to  prove  that  the  humanity  was  exalted  above  the  angels;  for  it  is 
not  an  argument  of  the  exaltation  of  his  humanity,  but  the  demon- 
stration of  the  excellency  of  his  person,  that  the  apostle  hath  in 
hand. 

4.  He  allegeth,  "  That  it  is  contrary  to  the  perpetual  use  of  the 
Scripture,  to  affirm  absolutely  of  Christ  that  he  created  any  thing. 
"When  any  creation  is  ascribed  unto  him,  it  is  still  applied  to  him 
as  the  immediate  cause,  and  is  said  to  be  made  by  him  or  in  him; 
he  is  nowhei'e  said  absolutely  to  create.  And  if  he  created  the 
world,  why  did  not  Moses  as  plainly  attribute  that  unto  him  as  the 
tv'riters  of  the  New  Testament  do  the  new  creation  ?" 

Ans.  Were  it  affirmed  in  this  place  only  that  Christ  made  oil 
things,  yet  the  words  being  plain  and  evident,  and  the  thing  itself 
agreeable  to  the  Scripture  in  other  jjh'ices,  and  not  repugnant  to 
any  testimony  therein  contained,  there  is  no  pretence,  for  them  who 
truly  reverence  the  wisdom  and  authority  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the 
word,  to  deny  the  words  to  be  spoken  properly  and  directly;  nor,  if 
we  may  take  that  course,  will  there  be  any  thing  left  sacred  and 
uxivnrov  in  the  Scripture.  Besides,  we  have  showed  already  the 
vanity  of  that  distinction,  of  God's  making  things  by  Christ,  as 
though  it  denoted  any  subordination  in  causality;  nor  will  the  Soci- 
nians  themselves  admit  of  any  such  thing,  but  confute  that  notion 
in  the  Arians.  But  this  is  not  the  only  place  wherein  it  is  affirmed 
that  Christ  made  all  things  that  are  in  the  heaven  and  the  earth. 
John  i.  1-3,  Col.  i.  1 6,  verse  3  of  this  chapter,  with  sundry  other 
places,  affirm  the  same.  For  what  they  exact  of  Moses,  did  we  not 
believe  that  God  knew  what  revelation  of  himself  became  that  dark 
dispensation  better  than  they,  we  might  consider  it.  But  yet  there 
are  even  in  Moses  himself,  and  his  expositors  the  prophets,  many 
more  testimonies  of  the  creation  of  the  world  by  the  Word,  that  is 
the  Son  of  God ;  which  have  elsewhere  been  opeued  and  vindicated. 

5.  He  concludes,  "  That  the  order  and  method  of  the  apostle's 
procedure  doth  evince  that  this  creation  of  heaven  and  earth  is  not 
attributed  unto  him.     For  we  see  that  he  proves  the  excellency  of 


VER.  10-12.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  205 

Christ  above  angels  from  his  name, — that  he  is  by  the  way  of  emi- 
nency  called  the  Son  of  God;  and  then  he  proceeds  to  his  adoration 
by  angels;  and  in  the  third  place  he  goes  on  to  the  kingly  honour 
and  throne  of  Christ;  after  which  he  produceth  the  testimony  we 
insist  upon ;  and  then  adds  the  end  of  that  kingdom  which  Christ 
now  administereth  in  the  earth.  To  what  end  in  this  discourse 
should  he  mention  the  creation  of  heaven  and  earth,  when,  if  that 
be  omitted,  all  the  series  of  the  discourse  agrees  and  hangs  well 
together?  For  having  declared  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  with  the 
continuance  of  his  throne  for  ever,  he  asserts  an  eminent  effect  of 
the  kingdom  in  the  abolition  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  then  the 
end  of  that  kingdom  itself." 

But  this  analysis  of  the  apostle's  discourse  agreeth  not  to  the 
mind  of  the  apostle  or  his  design  in  the  place,  nor  to  the  principles 
of  the  men  that  formed  it,  nor  is  indeed  any  thing  but  vain  words, 
to  persuade  us  that  the  apostle  did  not  say  that  which  he  did  say, 
and  which  is  written  for  our  instruction.  It  is  not,  first,  agreeable 
to  their  own  principles;  for  it  placeth  the  naming  of  Christ  the 
Son  of  God,  and  his  adoration  by  the  angels,  as  antecedent  to  his 
being  raised  to  his  kingly  throne;  both  which,  especially  the  latter, 
they  constantly  make  consequent  unto  it  and  effects  of  it.  Nor  is 
it  at  all  agreeable  to  the  apostle's  design,  which  is  not  to  prove  by 
these  testimonies  directly  that  Christ  was  exalted  above  angels,  but 
to  show  the  dignity  and  excellency  of  his  person  who  was  so  exalted, 
and  how  reasonable  it  is  that  it  should  be  so;  which  is  eminently 
proved  by  the  testimony  under  consideration.  For  the  proof  of 
this  excellency,  the  apostle  produceth  those  testimonies  that  are 
given  unto  him  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  that  as  to  his  name,  his 
honour  and  glory,  and  his  works  in  this  place.  Neither  is  there 
any  reason  of  ascribing  the  destruction  of  heaven  and  earth  unto 
the  kingly  power  of  Christ,  excluding  his  divine  power  in  their 
creation:  for  the  abolition  of  the  world  (if  such  it  is  to  be),  or  the 
change  of  it,  is  no  less  an  effect  of  infinite  power  than  the  creation 
of  it;  nor  doth  it  directly  appertain  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  but 
by  accident,  as  do  other  works  of  the  providence  of  God. 

Tliese  exceptions,  then,  being  removed,  before  we  proceed  to  the 
interpretation  of  the  words,  we  shall  see  what  evidence  may  be 
added  unto  what  we  have  already  offered,  from  the  psalm,  to  evince 
and  prove  that  this  whole  testimony  doth  belong  unto  him;  which, 
were  there  no  other  (as  there  are  very  many)  testimonies  to  this 
purpose,  were  abundantly  sufficient  to  determine  this  controversy. 

1.  We  have  the  authority  of  the  apostle  for  it,  ascribing  it  unto 
him.  The  word  "and,"  in  the  beginning  of  verse  10,  relates  con- 
fessedly unto,  "But  unto  the  Son  he  saith,"  verse  8:  as  if  he  had 
Baid,  "  But  unto  tiie  Son  he  saith,  Thy  throne,  0  God,  is  for  ever  and 


206  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

ever;  and  to  the  Son  he  said,  Thou,  0  God,  in  the  beginning  hast 
founded  the  earth/''  2.  Again,  the  whole  testimony  speaks  of  the 
same  person,  there  being  no  colour  of  tlirusting  another  person 
into  the  text  not  intended  in  the  beginning;  so  that  if  any  part  of 
what  is  spoken  do  belong  to  Christ,  the  whole  of  necessity  must  do 
so.  To  suppose  that  in  this  sentence,  "Thou  hast  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  the  earth, and  as  a  vesture  shalt  thou  fold  them  up," 

one  person  is  understood  in  the  former  place,  another  in  the  latter, 
no  such  thing  being  intimated  by  the  psalmist  or  the  apostle,  is  to 
suppose  what  we  please,  that  we  may  attain  what  we  have  a  mind 
unto.  One  person  is  here  certainly  and  only  spoken  unto.  If  this 
be  the  Father,  the  words  concern  not  Christ  at  all,  and  the  apostle 
was  deceived  in  his  allegation  of  them;  if  the  Son,  the  whole  is 
sjwken  of  him,  as  the  apostle  affirms.  3.  Nor  can  any  reason  be 
assigned  why  the  latter  words  should  be  attributed  to  Christ,  and 
not  the  former.  They  say  it  is  because  God  by  him  shall  destroy  the 
world,  which  is  the  thing  in  the  last  words  spoken  of.  But  where 
is  it  written  that  God  shall  destroy  the  world  by  Christ?  If  they 
say  in  this  place,  I  say  then  Christ  is  spoken  to  and  of  in  this  place; 
and  if  so,  he  is  spoken  of  in  the  first  words,  "  And  thou,  Lord,"  or 
not  at  all.  Besides,  to  whom  do  these  closing  words  belong,  "  But; 
thou  art  the  same,  and  thy  years  shall  not  fail?"  If  these  words 
are  spoken  of  Clirist,  it  is  evident  that  all  the  foregoing  must  be  so 
also;  for  his  enduring  the  same,  and  the  not  failing  of  his  years, 
— that  is,  his  eternity, — is  opposed  to  the  creation  and  temporary 
duration  of  the  world.  If  they  say  that  they  belong  unto  the 
'F-,\th.ei-  primarily,  but  are  attributed  unto  Christ,  as  that  of  chang- 
ing or  abolishing  the  world,  because  the  Father  doth  it  by  him,  I 
desire  to  know  what  is  the  meaning  of  these  words,  '  Thou  art  the 
same  by  Christ,  and  thy  years  fail  not  by  Christ?'  Is  not  the 
Father  eternal  but  in  the  man  Christ  Jesus  ?  If  they  say  that  they 
belong  not  at  all  to  Christ,  then  this  is  the  sum  of  what  they  say : 
'  The  beginning  of  the  words,  and  the  close  of  them,  if  spoken  of 
Christ,  would  prove  his  infinite  power,  eternity,  and  divine  nature. 
One  passage  there  is  in  the  words  which  we  suppose  will  not  do  so, 
therefore  we  will  grant  that  that  passage  concerneth  him,  but  not 
the  beginning  nor  end  of  the  testimony,  though  spoken  undeniably 
of  the  same  person;' — which  whether  it  becomes  men  professing  a  ' 
reverence  for  the  word  of  God  is  left  to  themselves  to  judge.  Be- 
sides, should  we  grant  all  these  suggestions  to  be  true,  the  apostle 
by  his  citing  of  this  testimony  would  prove  nothing  at  all  to  his 
purpose,  no,  not  any  thing  toward  that  which  they  affii'm  him  to 
aim  at,  namely,  that  he  was  made  more  excellent  than  the  angels; 
for  how  out  of  these  words  shall  any  such  matter  be  niade  to 
appear?     They  say,  in  that  by  him  God  will  fold  up  the  heavens  as 


YER.  10-12.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  207 

a  vesture.  But,  first,  no  suck  thing  is  mentioned  or  intimated. 
He  who  made  them  is  said  to  fold  them.  And  if  they  say  that  from 
other  places  it  may  be  made  to  appear  that  it  shall  be  done  by 
Christ,  then  as  this  place  must  be  laid  aside  as  of  no  use  to  the 
apostle,  so  indeed  there  is  nothing  ascribed  to  Christ  but  what  the 
angels  shall  have  a  share  in,  and  that  probably  the  most  principal, 
namely,  in  folding  up  the  creation  as  a  garment;  which  is  a  work 
that  servants  are  employed  in,  and  not  the  King  or  Lord  himself. 
Indeed,  he  that  shall  without  prejudice  consider  the  apostle's  dis- 
course will  find  little  need  of  arguments  to  manifest  wliom  he 
applies  this  testimony  unto.  He  calls  him  Kvpiog  in  the  beginning, 
using  that  word  which  perpetually  in  the  New  Testament  denotes 
the  Lord  Christ,  as  j)lainly  expounding  the  text  so  far  as  to  declare 
of  whom  it  speaks.  Nor  doth  this  testimony  ascribe  any  thing  to 
him  but  what  in  general  he  had  before  affirmed  of  him,  namely, 
that  by  him  the  worlds  were  made.  Nor  was  it  ever  heard  of,  that 
any  man  in  his  right  wits  should  cite  a  testimony  to  confirm  his 
purpose,  containing  words  that  were  never  spoken  of  him  to  whom 
he  applies  them;  nor  is  there  scarce  any  thing  in  them  that  can 
tolerably  be  applied  unto  him,  and  the  most  of  it  would  declare 
him  to  be  that  which  he  is  not  at  all :  so  that  the  words  as  used  to 
his  purpose  must  needs  be  both  false  and  ambiguous.  Who,  then, 
can  but  believe,  on  this  testimony  of  the  apostle,  that  Christ  the 
Lord  made  heaven  and  earth?  And  if  the  apostle  intended  not  to 
assert  it,  what  is  there  in  the  text  or  near  it  as  a  buoy  to  warn  men 
from  running  on  a  shelf,  there  where  so  fair  a  harbour  apjaears 
unto  them?  From  all  that  hath  been  said,  it  is  evident  that  this 
whole  testimony  belongs  to  Christ,  and  is  by  the  apostle  asserted  so 
to  do. 

Proceed  we  now  to  the  interpretation  of  the  words.     The  person 
spoken  of  and  spoken  unto  in  them  is  the  Lord:  20  Kvpis, 
"  Thou,  Lord."    The  words  are  not  in  the  psalm  in  this  "'"" 

verse,  but  what  is  spoken  is  referred  unto  V^,  " my  God :"  "I  said, 
O  my  God,  take  me  not  away  in  the  midst  of  my  days;"  comfort- 
ing himself,  under  the  consideration  of  the  frailty  and  misery  of  his 
life,  with  the  thought  and  faith  of  the  eternity  and  power  of  Christ, 
For  be  our  lives  never  so  frail,  yet  as  to  life  eternal,  because  he 
liveth  we  shall  live  also,  and  he  is  of  power  to  raise  us  up  at  the  last 
day,  John  xiv.  19;  1  Cor.  xv.  20;  and  that  is  the  ground  of  all  our 
consolation  against  the  brevity  and  misery  of  our  lives.  Whereby 
it  also  further  appears  that  it  is  the  Lord  Christ  whom  the  psalmist 
addresses  himself  unto ;  for  from  the  absolute  consideration  of  the 
omnipotency  and  eternity  of  God  no  consolation  can  be  drawn. 
And,  indeed,  the  people  of  the  Jews  having  openly  affirmed  that 
they  could  not  deal  immediately  with  God  but  by  a  mediator, — 

VOL.   Xll.— 14 


208  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

which  God  eminently  approved  in  them,  wishing  that  such  an  linait 
would  always  abide  in  them,  Deut.  v.  25-29, — so  as  he  sutfered 
them  not  to  approach  his  typical  presence  between  the  cheruLdiu 
but  by  a  typical  mediator,  their  high  priest,  so  also  were  they  in- 
structed in  their  I'eal  approach  unto  God,  that  it  was  not  to  be  made 
immediately  to  the  Father  but  by  the  Son,  whom  in  particular  the 
apostle  declares  the  psalmist  in  this  place  to  intend. 

Concerning  this  person,  or  the  "  Lord,"  he  affirms  two  things,  or 
attributes  two  things  unto  him.  1.  The  creation  of  heaven  and 
earth;  2.  The  a6o^^Y^o?^  or  change  of  them.  From  that  attribution 
he  proceeds  to  a  comparison  between  him  and  the  most  glorious 
of  his  creatures,  and  that  as  to  duration  or  eternity;  frailty  and 
cliange  in  and  of  himself,  one  of  the  creatures,  being  that  which  in 
pcirticular  he  addresseth  himself  to  the  Lord  about. 

Tlie  time  or  season  of  the  creation  is  first  intimated:  Kar  dp- 
•^dg,  for  h  dpy^fi, — that  is,  '^''P''!}^^  "  in  the  beginning,"  or 
«?x«  •  ^^^  ^i^g  word  is  here,  ^"'^??,  "  of  old,"  before  they  were 
or  existed:  '  They  had  their  being  and  beginning  from  thee:  of  old 
they  were  not;  but  in  thy  season  thou  gavest  existence  or  being 
unto  them.  "  Thou  hast  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth,  and  the 
heavens  are  the  works  of  thy  hands,"'  verse  10. 

Two  things  are  observable  in  this  expression  of  the  creation  of  all 
thinors: — 1.  The  distribution  made  of  them  into  heaven  and  earth 
being  distinctly  mentioned.  In  the  consideration  of  the  works  of 
God,  to  admire  his  greatness,  power,  and  wisdom  in  them,  or  to  set 
forth  his  praise  for  them,  it  is  usual  in  the  Scripture  to  distribute 
them  into  parts,  the  more  to  fix  the  contemplation  of  the  mind  upon 
them,  and  to  excite  it  unto  faith,  admiration,  and  praise.  So  deal- 
eth  the  psalmist  with  the  works  of  God's  providence  in  bringing  the 
children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt,  Ps.  cxxxvi.  He  takes,  as  it  were, 
tliat  whole  curious  work  into  its  several  pieces,  and  subjoins  that  in- 
ference of  praise  to  every  one  of  them,  "  For  his  mercy  endureth  for 
ever."  And  so  he  dealeth  with  the  works  of  creation,  Ps.  xix.,  and 
in  sundry  other  places.  2.  What  is  peculiar  in  the  expressions  with 
respect  unto  each  of  them.  (1.)  Of  the  earth  it  is  said  he  founded 
it,  because  of  its  stability  and  unmovableness ;  which  is  the  language 
of  the  Scripture, — he  set  it  fast,  he  established  it,  that  it  should  not 
be  moved  for  ever.  It  may  be,  also,  the  whole  fabric  of  heaven  and 
earth  is  compared  to  an  edifice  or  building,  whereof  the  earth,  as 
the  lowest  and  most  depressed  part,  is  looked  on  as  the  foundation 
of  the  whole;  but  the  stability,  unmovableness,  and  firmness  of  it, 
is  that  which  the  word  expresseth,  and  which  is  most  properly  in- 
tended. (2.)  Of  the  heavens,  that  they  are  the  works  of  his  hands  ; 
alluding  to  the  curious  frame  and  garnishing  of  them  with  all  their 
iiost  of  glorious  lights  wherewith  they  are  adorned.     The  '^'iPW,  Jub 


VER.  10-12.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  209 

xxvi.  13,  the  beautifulness,  adorning,  or  garnishing  of  the  heavens, 
in  the  curious,  glorious  forming  and  fashioning  of  them,  is  that  which, 
in  a  way  of  distinction,  the  psalmist  aims  to  express  in  these  words, 
"  The  heavens  are  the  work  of  thy  hands," — that  which  thy  liands, 
thy  power,  with  infinite  wisdom,  hath  framed,  so  as  to  set  off  and 
give  lustre  and  beauty  to  the  whole  fabric,  as  a  master  work- 
man  doth  the  upper  and  more  noble  parts  of  his  building.  This 
is  the  first  thing  assigned  to  the  Lord  in  this  testimony  of  his 
glory. 

The  second  is  in  the  change  or  abolition  of  them.  Most  suppose 
tliat  the  heavens  and  the  earth  at  the  last  day  shall  only  be  changed, 
altered,  or  renewed,  as  to  their  quality  and  beauty;  some,  that  they 
shall  be  utterly  destroyed,  consumed,  and  abolished.  The  discussing 
of  that  doubt  belongs  not  directly  to  the  interpretation  or  exposition 
of  this  place,  neither  sense  of  the  words  conducing  particularly  to 
the  apostle's  purpose  and  design  in  reciting  this  testimony.  It  is 
enough  to  his  aroument  that  the  work  which  was  of  old  in  thecre:i- 
tion  of  the  world,  and  that  which  shall  be  in  the  mutation  or  aboli- 
tion of  it, — which  is  no  less  an  effect  of  infinite  power  than  the  for- 
mer,— are  ascribed  unto  the  Lord  Christ.  Whatever  the  work  be,  he 
compares  it  to  a  garment  no  more  to  be  used,  or  at  least  not  to 
be  used  in  the  same  kind  wherein  it  was  before;  and  the  work  itself 
to  the  folding  up  or  rolling  up  of  such  a  garment, — intimating  the 
greatness  of  him  by  whom  this  work  shall  be  performed,  and  tlie 
facihty  of  the  work  unto  him.  The  whole  creation  is  as  a  garment, 
wherein  he  shows  his  power  clothed  unto  men;  whence  in  particu- 
lar he  is  said  to  clothe  himself  with  light  as  with  a  garment.  And 
in  it  is  the  hiding  of  his  power.  Hid  it  is,  as  a  man  is  hid  with  a 
garment;  not  that  he  should  not  be  seen  at  all,  but  that  he  should 
not  be  seen  perfectly  and  as  he  is.  It  shows  the  man,  and  he  is 
known  by  it;  but  also  it  hides  him,  that  he  is  not  perfectly  or  fully 
seen.  So  are  the  works  of  creation  unto  God.  He  so  far  makes 
them  his  garment  or  clothing  as  in  them  to  give  out  some  instances 
of  his  power  and  wisdom;  but  he  is  also  hid  in  them,  in  that  by 
them  no  creature  can  come  to  the  full  and  perfect  knowledge  of 
him.  Now,  when  this  work  shall  cease,  and  God  shall  unclothe  or 
unveil  all  his  glory  to  his  saints,  and  they  shall  know  him  perfectly, 
see  him  as  he  is,  so  far  as  a  created  nature  is  capable  of  that  com- 
prehension, then  will  he  lay  them  aside  and  fold  them  up,  at  least 
as  to  that  use,  as  easily  as  a  man  lays  aside  a  garment  that  he  will 
wear  or  use  no  more.     This  lies  in  the  metaphor. 

On  this  assertion  he  insinuates  a  comparison  between  this  glorious 
fabric  of  heaven  and  earth  and  him  that  made  them,  as  to  durabie- 
ness  and  stability,  which  is  the  thing  he  treats  about;  complaining 
of  his  own  misery  or  mortality.     For  the  heayeus  and  the  earth,  he 


210  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  fCflAP.  T. 

declares  that  they  are  in  themselves  of  a  flux  and  perishing  nature ; 
f^^n.  auT-o/,  "  isti," — "  they  shall  perish."  The  word  immediately  re- 
lates to  the  heavens,  but  by  the  figure  zeugma  compreheuds  and 
takes  in  the  earth  also:  "The  earth  and  the  heavens  shall  perish." 
This  fading  nature  of  the  fabric  of  heaven  and  earth,  with  all  things 
contained  in  them,  he  sets  forth,  first,  by  their  future  end, — "  They 
shall  perish;"  secondly,  their  tendency  unto  that  end, — "  They  wax 
old  as  a  garment."  By  their  perishing  the  most  understand  their 
perishing  as  to  their  present  condition  and  use,  in  that  alteration  or 
change  that  shall  be  made  on  tliem;  others,  their  utter  abolition. 
And  to  say  the  truth,  it  were  very  hard  to  suppose  that  an  altera- 
tion only,  and  that  to  the  better,  a  change  into  a  more  glorious  con- 
^^5s■'  dition,  should  be  thus  expressed,  ^''i?'^"' ;  that  word,  as  the 
dvoXov-jrai.  Greek  also,  being  always  used  in  the  worst  sense,  for  a 
perishing  by  a  total  destruction.  Their  tendency  unto  this  condi- 
tion is  their  "  waxing  old  as  a  garment."  Two  things  may  be  denoted 
in  this  expression  : — 1.  l^\\e,  gradual  decay  of  the  heavens  and  earth, 
waxing  old,  worse,  and  decaying  in  their  worth  and  use;  2.  A  near 
approximatio7i  or  drawing  nigh  to  their  end  and  period.  In  this 
sense,  the  apostle  in  this  epistle  affirms  that  the  dispensation  of  the 
covenant  which  established  the  Judaical  worship  and  ceremonies  did 
wax  old  and  decay,  chap.  viii.  13.  Not  that  it  had  lost  any  thing 
of  its  first  vigour,  power,  and  efficacy,  before  its  abolition.  The 
strict  observation  of  all  the  institutions  of  it  by  our  Saviour  himself 
manifests  its  power  and  obligation  to  have  continued  in  its  full 
force:  and  this  was  typified  by  the  continuance  of  Moses  in  his  full 
strength  and  vigour  until  the  very  day  of  his  death.  But  he  says 
it  was  old  and  decayed,  when  it  was  lyyvg  apavia/ji^ou,  "  near  to  a 
disappearance,"  to  its  end,  period,  and  to  an  utter  uselessness,  as  then 
it  was,  even  as  all  things  that  naturally  tend  to  an  end  do  it  by  age 
and  decays.  And  in  this,  not  the  former  sense,  are  the  heavens  and 
earth  said  to  wax  old,  because  of  their  tendency  to  that  period  which, 
either  in  themselves  or  as  to  their  use,  they  shall  receive ;  which  is 
sufficient  to  manifest  them  to  be  of  a  changeable,  perishing  nature. 
And  it  may  be  that  it  shall  be  with  these  heavens  and  earth  at  the 
last  day  as  it  was  with  the  heavens  and  earth  of  Judaical  institu- 
tions (for  so  are  they  frequently  called,  especially  when  their  disso- 
lution or  abolition  is  spoken  of)  in  the  day  of  God's  creating  the 
new  heavens  and  earth  in  the  gospel,  according  to  his  promise; 
for  though  the  use  of  them  and  their  power  of  obliging  to  their  ob- 
servation were  taken  away  and  abolished,  yet  are  they  kept  in  the 
world  as  abiding  monuments  of  the  goodness  and  wisdom  of  God  in 
teaching  his  church  of  old.  So  may  it  be  with  the  heavens  and 
earth  of  the  old  creation.  Though  they  shall  be  laid  aside  at  the 
last  day  from  their  use  as  a  garment  to  clothe  and  teach  the  power 


VER.  10-12.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  211 

and  wisdom  of  God  to  men,  yet  may  they  be  preserved  as  eternal 
monuments  of  them. 

In  opposition  hereunto  it  is  said  of  Christ  that  "heabideth,"  "ho  is 
the  same/'  and  "his  years  fail  not."  One  and  the  same  thing  is  in- 
tended in  all  these  expressions,  even  his  eternal  and  absolutely  im- 
mutable existence.  Eternity  is  not  amiss  called  a  "  nunc  stans,"  a 
present  existence,  wherein  or  whereunto  nothing  is  past  or  future, 
it  being  always  wholly  present  in  and  to  itself.  This  is  expressed  in 
that  "loyn  nrix^ — "  Thou  standest,  abidest,  endurest,  alterest  not, 
changest  not."  The  same  is  also  expressed  in  the  next  words,  i^^^ 
i<^n,  6  avrog  iJ, — "  thou  art  he,"  or  "  art  the  same;"  or,  as  the  Syriac 
hath  it,  "  the  same  that  thou  art."  There  is  an  allusion  in  these 
words  unto,  if  not  an  expression  of,  that  name  of  God,  "I  am;" 
that  is,  who  is  of  himself,  in  himself,  always  absolutely  and  unchange- 
ably the  same.  And  this  ^^i^  '^^^,  "  tu  ipse,"  the  Hebrews  reckon 
as  a  distinct  name  of  God.  Indeed,  ^)<^1,  ^'^^  ^^^,  6  wi/,  avrhg  iJ,  are 
all  the  same  name  of  God,  expressing  his  eternal  and  immutable 
self-subsistence. 

The  last  expression  also,  though  metaphorical,  is  of  the  same  im- 
portance :  "  Thy  years  fail  not."  He  who  is  the  same  eternally 
properly  hath  no  years,  which  are  a  measure  of  transient  time,  de- 
noting its  duration,  beo^inning,  and  ending.  This  is  the  measure  of 
the  world  and  all  things  contained  therein.  Their  continuance  is 
reckoned  by  years.  To  show  the  eternal  subsistence  of  God  in  op- 
position to  the  frailty  of  the  world,  and  all  things  created  therein, 
it  is  said,  his  years  fail  not;  that  is,  theirs  do,  and  come  to  an  end, — 
of  his  being  and  existence  there  is  none. 

How  the  apostle  proves  his  intendment  by  this  testimony  hath 
been  declared  in  the  opening  of  the  words,  and  the  force  of  it  unto 
his  purpose  lies  open  to  all.  We  may  now  divert  unto  those  doc- 
trinal observations  which  the  words  offer  unto  us;   as, — 

I  All  the  properties  of  God,  considered  in  the  person  of  the  Son, 
the  head  of  the  church,  are  suited  to  give  relief,  consolation,  and 
supportment  unto  believers  in  all  their  distresses. 

This  truth  presents  itself  unto  us  from  the  tise  of  the  words  in 
the  psalm,  and  their  connection  in  the  design  of  the  psalmist.  Un- 
der the  consideration  of  his  own  mortality  and  frailty,  he  relives 
himself  with  thoughts  of  the  omnipotency  and  eternity  of  Christ, 
and  takes  arguments  from  thence  to  plead  for  relief. 

And  this  may  a  little  further  be  unfolded  for  our  use  in  the  ensu- 
ing observations: — 

1,  The  properties  of  God  are  those  luherehy  God  makes  known 
himself  to  tis,  and  declares  both  what  he  is  and  what  we  shall  find 
him  to  be  in  all  that  we  have  to  deal  with  him:  he  is  infinitely 
holy,  just,  wise,  good,  powerful,  etc.     And  by  our  apprehension  of 


21 2  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

these  things  are  we  led  to  that  acquaintance  with  the  nature  of  God 
which  in  this  life  we  may  attain,  Exod.  xxxiv.  5-7. 

2.  God  oftentimes  declares  and  proposeth  these  properties  of  his 
nature  unto  us  for  our  supportment,  consolation,  and  relief,  in  our 
troubles,  distresses,  and  endeavours  after  peace  and  rest  to  our  souls, 
Isa.  xl.  27-31. 

3.  That  since  the  entrance  of  sin,  these  properties  of  God,  abso- 
lutely considered,  vjill  not  yield  that  relief  and  satisfaction  unto 
the  souls  of  men  which  they  would  have  done,  and  did,  whilst  man 
continued  obedient  unto  God  according  to  the  law  of  his  creation. 
Hence  Adam  upon  his  sin  knew  nothing  that  should  encourage  liim 
to  expect  any  help,  pity,  or  relief  from  him ;  and  therefore  fled  from 
his  presence,  and  hid  himself.  The  righteousness,  holiness,  puiity, 
and  power  of  God,  all  infinite,  eternal,  unchangeable,  considered 
absolutely,  are  no  way  suited  to  the  advantage  of  sinners  in  any  con- 
dition, Rom.  i.  32;  Hab.  i.  12,  18. 

4.  These  properties  of  the  divine  nature  are  in  every  person  of 
the  Trinity  entirely;  so  that  each  person  is  so  infinitely  holy,  just, 
wise,  good,  and  powerful,  because  each  person  is  equally  partaker  of 
the  whole  divine  nature  and  being. 

5.  The  person  of  the  Word,  or  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  may  be 
considered  either  absolutely  as  such,  or  as  designed  in  the  counsel, 
wisdom,  and  will  of  the  Father,  by  and  with  his  own  will  and  con- 
sent, unto  the  work  of  mediation  between  God  and  man,  Prov.  viii. 
22-31.  And  in  him  as  such  it  is  that  the  properties  of  the 
nature  of  God  are  suited  to  yield  relief  unto  believers  in  every  con- 
dition; for, — 

(1.)  It  was  the  design  of  God,  in  the  appointment  of  his  Son  to 
be  mediator,  to  retrieve  the  communion  between  himself  and  his 
creature  that  was  lost  by  sin.  Now,  man  was  so  created  at  first  as 
that  every  thing  in  God  was  suited  to  be  a  reward  unto  him,  and  in 
all  things  to  give  him  satisfaction.  This  being  wholly  lost  by  sin, 
and  the  whole  representation  of  God  to  man  becoming  full  of  dread 
and  terror,  all  gracious  intercourse,  in  a  way  of  special  love  on  the 
part  of  God,  and  spiritual,  willing  obedience  on  the  part  of  man,  was 
intercepted  and  cut  off.  God  designing  again  to  take  sinners  into 
a  communion  of  love  and  obedience  with  himself,  it  must  be  by 
representing  unto  them<  his  blessed  properties  as  suited  to  their 
encouragement,  satisfaction,  and  reward.  And  this  he  doth  in 
the  person  of  his  Son,  as  designed  to  be  our  mediator,  Heb.  i.  2,  3  *, 
for, — 

(2.)  The  Son  is  designed  to  be  our  mediator  and  the  head  of  his 
church  in  a  way  of  covenant,  wherein  there  is  an  engagement  for 
the  exerting  of  all  the  divine  properties  of  the  nature  of  God  for  the 
good  and  advantage  of  them  for  whom  he  hath  undertaken,  and 


Vm\.  ]0-12.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  21  y 

whom  he  designed  to  bring  again  into  favour  and  communion  with 
God.  Hence  believers  do  no  more  consider  the  properties  of  God 
in  the  person  of  the  Son  absolutely,  but  as  engaged  in  a  way  of 
covenant  for  their  good,  and  as  proposed  unto  them  for  an  everlast- 
ing, satisfactory  reward.  This  is  the  ground  of  his  calling  upon  them 
so  often  to  behold,  see,  and  consider  him,  and  thereby  to  be  refreshed. 
They  consider  his  power,  as  he  is  mighty  to  save;  his  eternity,  as  he 
is  an  everlasting  reward;  his  righteousness,  as  faithful  to  justify 
them;  all  his  properties,  as  engaged  in  covenant  for  their  good  and 
advantage.  Whatever  he  is  in  himself,  that  he  will  be  to  them  in 
a  way  of  mercy.  Thus  do  the  holy  properties  of  the  divine  nature 
become  a  means  of  supportment  unto  us,  as  considered  in  the  per- 
son of  the  Son  of  God,     And  this  is, — 

[1.]  A  great  encouragement  unto  believing.  The  Lord  Christ,  as 
the  Wisdom  of  God  inviting  sinners  to  come  unto  him,  anil  to  be 
made  pai takers  of  him,  lays  down  all  his  divine  excellencies  as  a 
motive  thereunto.  Pro  v.  viii,  14,  15,  etc. ;  for  on  the  account  of  them 
he  assures  us  that  we  may  find  rest,  satisfaction,  and  an  abundant 
reward  in  him.  And  the  like  invitation  doth  he  give  to  poor  sin- 
ners: Isa.  xlv.  22,  "  Look  unto  me,  and  be  ye  saved,  all  the  enc^s  of 
the  earth:  for  I  am  God,  and  there  is  none  else."  They  may  justly 
expect  salvation  in  him  who  is  God,  and  in  whom  all  divine  attri- 
butes are  proposed  to  their  benefit,  as  they  find  who  come  unto  liiiu, 
verses  2-i,  25,  The  consideration  hereof  prevents  all  the  fears  and 
answers  all  the  doubts  of  them  that  look  up  unto  him, 

[2.]  An  instruction  how  to  consider  the  properties  of  God  by  faith 
for  our  advantage  ;  that  is,  as  engaged  in  the  person  of  the  Son  of 
God  for  our  good.  Absolutely  considered  they  may  fill  us  with 
dread  and  terror,  as  they  did  them  of  old  Avho  concluded,  when  they 
*iiought  they  had  seen  God  or  heard  his  voice,  that  they  should  ilie. 
Considered  as  his  properties  who  is  our  Redeemer,  they  are  always 
relieving  and  comforting,  Isa,  liv.  4,  5. 

IL  The  whole  old  creation,  even  the  most  glorious  parts  of  it, 
hastening  unto  its  period,  at  least  of  our  present  interest  in  it  and 
use  of  it,  calls  upon  us  not  to  fix  our  hearts  on  the  small  perishing 
shares  which  we  have  therein,  especially  since  we  have  Him  who  is 
omnipotent  and  eternal  for  our  inheritance.  The  figure  or  fashion 
of  this  world,  the  apostle  tells  us,  is  passing  away, — that  lovely  ap- 
pearance which  it  hath  at  present  unto  us;  it  is  hastening  unto  its 
period;  it  is  a  fading,  dying  thing,  that  can  yield  us  no  true  satis- 
faction, 

in.  The  Lord  Christ,  the  mediator,  the  head  and  spouse  of  the 
church,  is  infinitely  exalted  above  all  creatures  whatever,  in  that  ho 
is  God  over  all,  omnipotent  and  eternal, 

IV,  The  whole  v/orld,  the  heavens  and  earth,  being  made  by  the 


214  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

Lord  Christ,  and  being  to  be  dissolved  by  him,  is  wholly  at  his  dis- 
posal, to  be  ordered  for  the  good  of  them  that  do  believe.  And 
therefore, — 

V.  There  is  no  just  cause  of  fear  unto  believers  from  any  thing  in 
heaven  or  earth,  seeing  they  are  all  of  the  making  and  at  the  dis- 
posal of  Jesus  Christ. 

VI.  Whatever  our  changes  may  be,  inward  or  outward,  yet  Christ 
chano-ing  not,  our  eternal  condition  is  secured,  and  relief  provided 
against  all  present  troubles  and  miseries.  The  immutability  and 
eternity  of  Christ  are  the  spring  of  our  consolation  and  security  in 
every  condition. 

The  sum  of  all  is,  that, — 

VII.  Such  is  the  frailty  of  the  nature  of  man,  and  such  the  perish- 
ino-  condition  of  all  created  things,  that  none  can  ever  obtain  the 
least  stable  consolation  but  what  ariseth  from  an  interest  in  the 
omnipotency,  sovereignty,  and  eternity  of  the  Lord  Christ. 

This,  I  say,  is  that  which  the  words  insisted  on,  as  they  are  used 
in  the  psalm,  do  instruct  us  in;  and  this  tlierefore  we  may  a  little 
further  improve. 

This  is  that  which  we  are  instructed  in  by  the  ministry  of  John 
Baptist:  Isa.  xl.  6-8,  the  voice  cried,  "  All  flesh  is  grass,  and  all  the 
goodliness  thereof  is  as  the  flower  of  the  field :  the  grass  withereth,  the 
flower  fadeth;  because  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  bloweth  upon  it:  suri-ly 
the  people  is  grass.  The  grass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth:  but  the 
word  of  our  God  shall  stand  for  ever."  All  is  grass,  fading  grass. 
Though  it  bloom  and  appear  goodly  for  a  little  season,  yet  there  is 
no  continuance,  no  consistency  in  it.  Every  wind  that  passeth  over 
it  causeth  it  to  wither.  This  is  the  best  of  flesh,  of  all  that  in  and 
by  ourselves  we  are,  we  do,  we  enjoy,  or  hope  for.  The  "  crown  of  the 
pride  of  man"  and  his  "glorious  beauty"  is  but  "a  fading  flower,"  Isa. 
xxviii.  1.  What  joy,  what  peace,  what  rest,  can  be  taken  in  things 
that  are  dying  away  in  our  hands,  that  perish  before  every  breath 
of  wind  that  passeth  over  them  ?  Where,  then,  shall  this  poor  crea- 
ture, so  frail  in  itself,  in  its  actings,  in  its  enjoyments,  seek  for  rest, 
consolation,  and  satisfaction?  In  tliis  alone,  that  the  Word  of  the 
Lord  abides  for  ever, — in  the  eternally  abiding  Word  of  God ;  that  is, 
the  Lord  Christ  as  preached  in  the  gospel.  So  Peter  applies  these 
words,  1  Epist,  i.  25.  By  an  interest  in  him  alone,  his  eternity  and 
unchangeubleness,  may  relief  be  obtained  against  the  consideration 
of  this  perishing,  dying  state  and  condition  of  all  things.  Thus 
the  psalmist  tells  us  that  "verily  every  man  at  his  best  state  is 
altogether  vanity,"  Ps.  xxxix.  5 ;  and  thence  takes  the  conclusion 
now  insisted  on,  verse  7,  "  And  now,  Lord," — '  seeing  it  is  thus, 
seeing  this  is  the  condition  of  mankind,  what  is  thence  to  be  looked 
after?  what  is  to  be  expected?     Nothing  at  all,  not  the  least  of  use 


VER   10-12.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  215 

or  comfort/  "What  wait  I  for?  my  hope  is  in  thee;" — '  from  thee 
alone,  as  a  God  eternal,  pardoning  and  saving,  do  I  look  for  relief.' 
Man,  indeed,  in  this  condition  seeks  oftentimes  for  satisfaction 
from  himself, — from  what  he  is,  and  doth,  and  enjoys,  and  what  he 
shall  leave  after  him;  comforting  himself  against  his  own  frailty 
with  an  eternity  that  he  fancieth  to  himself  in  his  posterity,  and 
their  enjoyment  of  his  goods  and  inheritance.  So  the  psalmist 
tells  us,  Ps.  xlix.  11,  "Their  inward  thought  is,  that  their  houses 
shall  continue  for  ever,  and  their  dwelling-places  to  all  generations: 
they  call  their  lands  after  their  own  names."  They  see,  indeed,  that 
all  men  die,  wise  men  and  fools,  verse  10,  and  cannot  but  from 
thence  observe  their  own  frailty.  Wherefore  they  are  resolved  to 
make  provision  against  it;  they  will  perpetuate  their  posterity  and 
their  inheritance.  This  they  make  use  of  to  relieve  them  in  their 
inmost  imaginations.  But  what  censure  doth  the  Holy  Ghost  pass 
upon  this  contrivance,  verse  12?  "Nevertheless,"  saith  he,  notwith- 
standing all  these  imaginations,  "man  being  in  honour  abideth  not: 
he  is  like  the  beasts  that  perish:"  which  he  further  proves,  verses 
1 7-20,  showing  fully  that  he  himself  is  no  way  concerned  in  the 
in-aginary  perpetuity  of  his  possessions ;  which,  as  they  are  all  of 
them  perishing  things,  so  himself  dies  and  fades  away  whilst  he  is 
in  the  contemplation  of  their  endurance.  And  the  truth  proposed 
may  be  further  evidenced  by  the  ensuing  considerations: — 

1.  Man  was  made  for  eternity.  He  was  not  called  out  of  nothing 
to  return  unto  it  again.  When  he  once  is,  he  is  for  ever;  not  as  to 
his  present  state,  that  is  frail  and  changeable,  but  as  to  his  existence 
in  one  condition  or  other.  God  made  him  for  his  eternal  glory, 
and  gave  him  therefore  a  subsistence  without  end.  Had  he  been 
created  to  continue  a  day,  a  month,  a  year,  a  thousand  years,  things 
commensurate  unto  that  space  of  time  might  have  afforded  him 
satisfaction;  but  he  is  made  for  ever. 

2.  He  is  sensible  of  his  condition.  Many,  indeed,  endeavour  to 
cast  off  the  thoughts  of  it.  They  would  fain  hope  that  they  shall 
be  no  longer  than  they  are  here.  In  that  case  they  could  find 
enough,  as  they  suppose,  to  satisfy  them  in  the  things  that  are  like 
themselves.  But  this  will  not  be.  They  find  a  witness  in  them- 
selves to  the  contrary;  somewhat  that  assures  them  of  an  after 
reckoning,  and  that  the  things  which  now  they  do  will  be  called 
over  in  another  world.  Besides,  the  conviction  of  the  word,  with 
them  that  enjoy  it,  puts  the  matter  out  of  question.  They  cannot 
evade  the  testimony  it  gives  unto  their  eternal  subsistence. 

3.  Hence  men  are  exposed  to  double  trouble  and  perplexity : — 
First,  That  whereas  their  eternal  subsistence,  as  to  the  enjoyment 
of  good  or  bad,  depends  upon  their  present  life,  that  is  frail,  fad- 
ing, perishing.      They  are    here  now;  but  when   a  few   days  are 


21 R  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  T. 

come  and  gone,  they  must  go  to  the  place  from  whence  they  shall 
not  return.  They  find  their  subsistence  divided  into  two  very  un- 
equal parts,  a  few  days  and  eternity,  and  the  latter  to  be  regulated 
by  the  former.  This  fills  them  with  anxiety,  and  makes  them  some- 
times weary  of  life,  sometimes  hate  it,  almost  always  solicitous  about 
it,  and  to  bewail  the  frailty  of  it.  Secondly,  That  no  perishing 
thing  will  afford  them  relief  or  supportment  in  this  condition.  How 
should  it?  They  and  these  are  parting  every  moment,  and  that  for 
eternity.  There  is  no  comfort  in  a  perpetual  taking  leave  of  things 
that  are  beloved.  Such  is  the  life  of  man  as  unto  all  earthly  en- 
joyments. It  is  but  a  parting  with  what  a  man  hath;  and  the 
longer  a  man  is  about  it,  the  more  trouble  he  hath  with  it.  The 
things  of  this  creation  will  not  continue  our  lives  here,  because  of 
our  frailty ;  they  will  not  accompany  us  unto  eternity,  because  of 
tJieir  otvn  frailty.  We  change,  and  they  change;  we  are  vanity, 
and  they  are  no  better. 

4.  An  interest  in  the  omnipotency,  sovereignty,  and  eternity  of 
the  Lonl  Christ  will  yield  a  soul  relief  and  satisfaction  in  this  con- 
dition. There  is  that  in  them  which  is  suited  to  relieve  us  under  our 
present  frailty,  and  to  give  satisfaction  unto  our  future  eternity ;  for, — 

(1.)  What  we  have  not  in  ourselves,  by  an  interest  in  Christ  we 
have  in  another.  In  him  we  have  stability  and  unchangeableness; 
for  what  he  is  in  himself,  he  is  unto  us  and  for  us.  All  our  con- 
cernments are  wrapped  up  and  secured  in  him.  He  is  ours:  and 
though  we  in  our  own  persons  change,  yet  he  changeth  not,  nor  our 
interest  in  him, — which  is  our  life,  our  all.  Though  we  die,  yet  he 
dieth  not ;  and  because  he  liveth,  we  shall  live  also.  Though  all  other 
things  perish  and  pass  away  that  we  here  make  use  of,  yet  he  abidetii 
a  blessed  and  satisfying  portion  unto  a  believing  soul :  for  as  we  are 
his,  so  all  his  is  ours;  only  laid  up  in  him  and  kept  for  us  in  him 
So  that  under  all  disconsolations  that  may  befall  us  from  our  own 
frailty  and  misery,  and  the  perishing  condition  of  outward  things, 
we  have  sweet  relief  tendered  us  in  this,  that  we  have  all  good 
things  treasured  up  for  us  in  him.  And  faith  knows  how  to  make 
use  of  all  that  is  in  Christ,  to  the  comfort  and  supportment  of  the 
soul. 

(2.)  When  our  frailty  and  changeableness  have  had  their  utmost 
effect  upon  us,  when  they  have  done  their  worst  upon  us,  they  only 
bring  us  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  what  the  Lord  Christ  is  unto  us, 
■ — that  is,  an  exceeding  great  reward,  and  a  full  satisfaction  unto 
eternity.  Then  shall  we  live  for  ever  in  that  which  we  now  live 
uj)on,  being  present  with  him,  beholding  his  glory,  and  made  par- 
takers of  it.  So  that  both  here  and  hereafter  there  is  relief,  com- 
fort, and  satisfaction  for  believers,  laid  up  in  the  excellencies  of  the 
person  of  Jesus  Christ.     And  this  should  teach  us, — 


VER.  10-12.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  217 

[1.]  The  misery  of  those  who  have  no  interest  in  him,  and  have 
tlierefore  nothing  to  relieve  themselves  against  the  evils  of  any  con- 
dition. All  their  hojDes  are  in  this  life,  and  from  the  enjoyments  of 
it.  When  these  are  once  past,  they  will  be  eternally  and  in  all 
things  miserable, — miserable  beyond  our  expression  or  their  appre- 
hension. And  what  is  this  life?  "  A  vapour,  that  a[)peareth  for  a 
little  while."  What  are  the  enjoyments  of  this  life?  Dying,  i^evi.sh- 
ing  things;  and  unto  them,  fuel  to  lust,  and  so  to  hell.  Suppose 
they  live  twenty,  thirty,  iorty,  sixty  years,  yet  every  day  they  fear, 
or  ought  to  fear,  that  it  will  be  their  last.  Some  die  oft  every  day 
from  the  first  to  the  last  of  the  utmost  extent  of  the  life  of  man :  so 
that  every  day  may  be  the  last  to  any  one;  and  whose  then  will  be  all 
their  treasures  of  earthly  things?  And  the  relief  which  men  have 
against  the  tormenting  fears  that  the  frailty  of  their  condition  doth 
expose  them  unto  is  no  whit  better  than  their  troubles.  It  is 
sinful  security,  which  gives  tlie  fulness  of  their  misery  an  advantage 
to  surprise  them,  and  themselves  an  advantage  to  aggravate  that 
misery  by  the  increase  of  their  sin.  In  the  meantime,  "  spes  sibi 
quisque,"' — "  every  one's  hope  is  in  himself  alone;"  which  makes  it 
perpetually  like  the  giving  up  of  the  ghost.  Surely  the  content- 
ment that  dying  man  can  take  in  dying  things  is  very  contemptible. 
We  must  not  stay  to  discover  the  miseries  of  the  life  of  man,  and 
the  weakness  of  the  comforts  and  joys  of  it;  but  whatever  they  be, 
what  becomes  of  them  when  they  have  serious  thoiights  of  their 
present  frailty  and  future  eternity?  This  following  eternity  is  like 
Pharaoh's  lean  kine,  which  immediately  devours  all  the  fat  plea- 
sures of  this  present  life,  and  yet  continues  as  lean  and  miserable 
as  ever.  The  eternal  misery  of  men  will  not  be  in  the  least  eased, 
yea,  it  will  be  greatened,  by  the  enjoyments  of  this  life,  when  once 
it  hath  devoured  them.  And  this  is  the  portion  of  them  that  have 
no  interest  in  the  eternity  and  immutability  of  the  Son  of  God. 
Their  present  Jrailty  makes  them  continually  fear  eternity,  and 
their  fear  of  eternity  imbitters  all  things  that  they  should  use 
for  the  relief  of  their  frailty;  and  that  security  which  they  provide 
against  both  increaseth  tiieir  misery,  by  sin  here  and  suffering 
hereafter. 

[2.]  This  also  will  teach  us  how  to  use  these  earthly  things,  how 
dying  persons  should  use  dying  creatures ;  that  is,  to  use  them  for 
our  present  service  and  necessity,  but  not  as  those  that  look  after 
rest  or  satisfaction  in  them,  which  they  will  not  afford  us.  Use  the 
world,  but  live  on  Christ. 

[3.]  Not  to  despond  under  a  sense  of  our  present  frailty.  We 
see  what  blessed  relief  is  provided  against  our  fainting  on  that 
account. 


218  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

Yerse  13. 

The  next  verse  contains  the  last  testimony  produced  by  the 
apostle  for  the  confirmation  of  the  pre-eminence  of  the  Lord  Christ 
above  angels,  in  the  words  ensuing: — 

Ver.  1 3. — Tipog  rha  hi  ruiv  ayyiXc/jv  e'jpr}X.s  tots'  KaSov  Jx  dBi^io^jv  /j^ov, 
'dug  uv  SS  Tovg  syjpovg  aou  vrro-TTodiov  ruiv  Toduv  aow 

There  is  no  difference  about  the  reading  of  these  words.  As  they 
are  here  expressed  by  the  apostle  so  are  they  in  the  translation  ol 
the  LXX.,  and  the  original  text  is  exactly  rendered  by  them. 

Yer.  13. — But  unto  which  of  the  angels  said  he  at  any 
time,  Sit  thou  on  my  right  hand,  until  I  make  \^put, 
place]  thine  enemies  thy  footstool  [the  footstool  oj  thy 

feet]!. 

The  usefulness  of  this  testimony  for  the  confirmation  of  the  dig- 
nity and  authority  of  the  Messiah  is  evidenced  by  the  frequent  quo- 
tation of  it  in  the  New  Testament:  as  by  our  Saviour  himself,  Matt, 
xxii.  44 ;  by  Peter,  Acts  ii.  34,  35 ;  and  twice  by  our  apostle,  in  this 
place  and  1  Cor.  xv.  25. 

As  the  words  are  here  used,  we  may  consider  the  introduction  of 
the  testimony,  and  the  testimony  itself. 

The  introduction  of  the  testimony  is  by  way  of  interrogation : 
"  Unto  which  of  the  angels  said  he  at  any  time?"  And  herfcia 
three  things  may  be  observed: — 

1.  That  in  the  interrogation  a  vehement  negation  is  included : 
*  He  said  not  at  any  time  to  any  angels;'  he  never  spake  these 
words  or  the  like  concerning  them;  there  is  no  testimony  unto  that 
purpose  recorded  in  the  whole  Book  of  God.  The  way  of  expres- 
sion puts  an  emphasis  upon  the  denial.  And  the  speaking  here 
relates  unto  what  is  spoken  in  the  Scripture;  which  is  the  only 
means  of  our  knowledge  and  rule  of  our  faith  in  these  things. 

2.  That  he  makes  ap{)lication  of  this  testimony  to  every  angel  in 
heaven  severally  considered;  for  whereas  he  had  before  sufficiently 
proved  the  pre-eminence  of  the  Messiah  above  the  angels  in  general, 
to  obviate  their  thoughts  about  the  especial  honour  and  dignity  of 
any  one  or  more  angels,  or  angels  in  a  singular  manner,  such  as 
indeed  they  conceived,  he  applies  the  present  testimony  to  every 
one  of  them  singly  and  individually  considered :  "  Unto  which  of 
the  angels  said  he  at  any  time?" 

3.  A  tacit  application  of  this  testimony  unto  the  Son,  or  the 
Messiah :  '  Unto  the  angels  he  said  not,  but  unto  the  Son  he  said, 
Sit  thou  on  my  right  hand/ 


VER.  13.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  21 9 

That  the  testimony  itself  doth  clearly  prove  the  intendment  of 
the  apostle,  provided  the  words  were  originally  spoken  of  him  or  to 
him  unto  whom  they  are  applied,  is  beyond  all  exce])tions  ;  for  they 
contain  an  eulogium  of  him  of  whom  they  are  spoken,  and  an  assig- 
nation of  honour  and  glory  to  him,  beyond  whatever  was  or  can  be 
ascribed  unto  any  angel  whatever.  It  remains,  therefore,  that  this 
be  first  proved,  and  then  the  importance  of  the  testimony  is  self- 
explained. 

1.  For  those  that  believe  the  gospel,  the  authority  of  the  Lord 
Clirist  and  his  apostles  applying  this  testimony  unto  him  is  sufficient 
for  their  conviction.  By  our  Saviour,  as  was  observed,  it  is  appHed 
unto  the  Messiah  in  thesi,  Matt.  xxii.  42-44.  And  had  not  this 
been  generally  acknowledged  by  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  and 
whole  church  of  the  Jews,  as  it  had  not  been  to  his  purpose  to  have 
mentioned  it,  so  they  had  not  been  reduced  unto  that  conviction 
and  shame  by  it  as  they  were.  The  apostles  apply  it  unto  the  true 
Messiah  in  hypothesi;  and  herein  doth  our  faith  rest. 

2.  But  a  considerable  part  of  the  controversy  which  we  have  with 
the  Jews  relating  much  unto  this  110th  psalm,  we  must  yet  further 
clear  the  aj^plication  of  it  unto  the  Messiah  from  their  exceptions. 

Of  the  Targum  or  Chaldee  paraphrase  there  are  two  copies, — one 
printed  in  Arias'  Bible,  the  other  in  the  Basle  edition  by  Buxtorf. 
The  title  of  the  psalm  in  both  of  them  is,  i<nn3trn  in  1*  bn, — "  A 
song  by  the  hand  of  David,"  and  the  beginning  of  it  is  thus  ren- 
dered by  the  former  of  them :  "  The  Lord  said  by  his  Word  that  he 
would  give  me  the  kingdom,  because  I  studied  the  doctrine  of  the 
law  of  his  right  hand.  Wait  thou  until  I  make  thine  enemies  thy 
footstool."  By  the  other  thus:  "The  Lord  said  by  his  Word  that 
he  would  appoint  me  the  lord  of  all  Israel.  But  he  said  unto  me 
again.  Stay,  for  Saul,  who  is  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  until  he  die, 
for  a  kingdom  will  not  admit  of  a  companion;  and  after  that  I  will 
make  thine  enemies  thy  footstool.'" 

Besides  what  appears  from  other  considerations,  it  is  hence  suffi- 
ciently evident  that  this  Targum  was  made  after  the  Jews  began  to 
be  exercised  in  the  controversy  with  Christians,  and  had  learned  to 
corrupt  by  their  glosses  all  the  testimonies  given  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment unto  the  Lord  Christ,  especially  such  as  they  found  to  be 
made  use  of  in  the  New.  Their  corrupting  of  the  sense  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  this  place  by  a  pretended  translation  is  openly 
malicious,  against  evident  light  and  conviction.  The  psalm  they 
own  from  the  title  to  be  written  by  David;  but  they  would  have 
him  also  to  be  the  subject  of  it,  to  be  spoken  of  in  it.  And  there- 
fore these  words,  "  The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,"  they  translate, 
"The  Lord  said  unto  me:"  which  assertion  is  contrary  to  the  text 
and  false  in  itself ;  for  whoever  was  the  penman  of  the  psalm,  he 


220  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

speaks  of  another  person ; — "  The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord ;"  say 
they,  "  The  Lord  said  unto  me."  And  thereunto  are  annexed 
those  imaginations  ahout  studying  the  law  and  waiting  for  tlie 
death  of  S;iul,  which  in  no  case  belong  to  the  text  or  matter  in 
hand. 

Others,  therefore,  to  avoid  this  rock,  affirm  that  the  psalm  speaks 
of  David,  but  was  not  composed  by  him,  being  the  work  of  some 
other  who  calls  him  lord.  So  David  Kimchi  on  the  place.  And 
this  he  endeavours  to  prove  from  the  inscription  of  the  psalm.  li?2fp 
^n^:  that  is,  saith  he,  "  A  psahn  spoken  to  David;"  for  it  denotes 
the  third,  and  not  the  second  case  or  variation  of  nouns. 

But  this  is  contrary  to  the  use  of  that  prefix  throughout  the  whole 
Book  of  Pt^alms;  and  if  this  observation  might  be  allowed,  all  psalms 
with  this  title,  1^. ,  "  le  David,"  which  are  the  greatest  part  of  those 
composed  by  him,  must  be  adjudged  from  him,  contrary  to  the  re- 
ceived sense  and  consent  of  Jews  and  Christians.  But  fully  to 
■manifest  the  folly  of  this  pretence,  and  that  the  author  of  it  contra- 
dicted his  own  light  out  of  hatred  unto  the  gospel,  there  are  sundry 
psalms  with  this  title,  '^)J?,  "  le  David,"  which  are  expressly  affirmed 
to  be  composed  and  sung  by  him  unto  the  Lord ;  as  Ps.  xviii.  whose 
title  is,  "  To  the  chief  musician,  ^Tl?  ^V^]  "'?^?/'  (where  the  prefix  is 
repeated) — "  to  David,  the  servant  of  the  Lord,  who  spake  unto 
the  Lord  the  words  of  this  song."  So  directly  do  the  modern 
rabbins  contiadict  their  own  light,  out  of  hatred  unto  the  gospel. 

Evident,  then,  it  is  that  David  is  not  treated  of  in  this  psalm,  in 
that  he,  being  the  penman  of  it,  calleth  him  his  Lord  concerning 
whom  he  treats.  Besides,  to  omit  other  instances  of  a  like  cogency, 
hov^r  or  when  did  God  swear  unto  David  that  he  should  be  a  priest, 
and  that  for  ever,  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek?  The  Jews  knew 
well  enough  that  David  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  priesthood.  So 
that  David  had  no  concernment  in  this  psalm,  but  only  as  he  was 
the  penman  of  it.  He  was  not  herein  so  much  as  a  tyjje  of  the 
Messiah,  but  speaks  of  him  as  his  Lord. 

Wherefore  others  of  them,  as  Jarchi,  and  Lipman,  and  I^izz.achon, 
affirm  that  it  is  Abraham  who  is  spoken  of  in  this  psalm;  of  whom 
the  one  says  it  was  composed  by  Melchizedek;  the  other,  by  his 
servant,  Eliezer  of  Damascus.  But  the  fondness  of  these  presump- 
tuous figments  is  evident.  Melchizedek,  on  all  accounts,  was  greater 
than  Abraham,  above  him  in  degree,  dignity,  and  office,  as  being  a 
king  and  priest  of  the  most  high  God ;  and  therefore  blessed  him,  and 
received  tithes  of  him,  and  on  no  account  could  call  him  his  lord. 
Eliezer  did  so,  being  his  servant;  but  how  could  he  ascribe  unto 
him  the  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  God?  how  the  sending  forth  the 
rod  of  his  power  from  Zion?  how  being  a  priest  for  ever  after  the 
order  of  Melchizedek  ?  or,  indeed,  any  one  thing  mentioned  in  the 


VER.  13.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  221 

psalm  ?  These  things  deserve  not  to  be  insisted  on,  but  only  to 
manifest  the  woful  pretences  of  the  present  Judaical  infidelity. 

li  appears  from  the  Dialogue  of  Justin  Martyr  with  Trypho,  that 
some  of  them  of  old  applied  this  psalm  to  Hezekiah.  But  not  one 
word  in  it  can  rationally  be  conceived  to  respect  him;  especially  that 
which  is  spoken  about  the  priesthood  utterly  excludes  him,  seeing 
his  great-grandfather,  a  man  of  more  power  than  himself,  was 
smitten  with  leprosy,  and  lost  the  administration  of  his  kingdom, 
for  one  single  attempt  to  invade  that  office,  2  Chron.  xxvi. 

It  remains,  then,  that  this  psalm  was  written  concerning  the  Mes- 
siah and  him  alone,  for  no  other  subject  of  it  can  be  assigned.  And 
this  use  in  our  passage  we  may  make  of  the  Targum,  that  whereas 
these  words,  "  The  Lord  said/'  do  not  intend  a  word  spoken,  but 
the  stable  purpose  or  decree  of  God,  as  Ps.  ii.  7,  its  author  hath 
rendered  them  n"i?o''KDa  ''"'''  tOX,  — "The  Lord  said  in"  (or  "by")  "his 
Word;"  that  is  his  Wisdom,  his  Son,  with  whom  and  to  whom  he 
speaks,  and  concerning  whom  his  decree  and  purpose  is  here  de- 
clared. 

It  remaineth  only  that  we  consider  the  objections  ot  the  Jews 
against  our  application  of  this  psalm  unto  the  Messiah.  And  these 
are  summed  up  by  Kimchi  in  his  exposition  of  the  text.  "The 
heretics,"  saith  he,  "expound  this  psalm  of  Jesus.  And  in  the 
first  verse  they  say  the  Father  and  Son  are  designed.  And  they  read 
'  Adonai'  with  kamets  under  Nun;  in  which  use  the  true  God  is  sig- 
nified by  that  name.  And  verse  the  third,  in  "i^J/  they  read  khirik 
under  Ain  ;  so  making  it  signify  'with  thee.'  And  what  is  there  said 
of  the  '  beauty  of  holiness/  they  ascribe  unto  that  which  is  from  the 
womb.  But  in  all  copies  that  are  found,  from  the  rising  of  the  sun 
to  the  going  down  of  it,  khirik  is  with  Nun  in  '  Adonai,'  and  pathakh 
with  Ain  in  'Hammeka.'  And  Gerolmus  [Jerome]  erred  in  his  trans- 
lation. And  for  the  error,  if  the  Father  and  Son  be  the  Godhead, 
how  doth  one  stand  in  need  of  the  other?  and  how  can  he  say  unto 
him,  'Thou  art  a  priest?'  He  is  a  priest  who  offers  sacrifice,  but 
Gud  doth  not."  Of  the  like  nature  are  the  rest  of  his  exceptions 
inito  the  end  of  his  notes  on  that  psalm.  To  this  Lipman  adds  a 
bitter,  blasphemous  discourse  about  the  application  of  these  words, 
"  from  the  womb,"  verse  3,  uiito  the  womb  of  the  blessed  Virgin. 

A71S.  Our  cause  is  not  at  all  concerned  in  these  mistakes,  whether 
of  Jews  or  Christians.  For  the  Jews,  their  chief  enmity  lies  against 
the  deity  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  and  therefore,  whatever  testi- 
mony is  produced  concerning  him,  they  presently  imagine  that  it  is 
for  the  proof  of  his  divine  nature.  This  lies  at  the  bottom  of  tiiese 
exceptions  of  Kimchi.  Hence  he  conceives  that  our  argument  from 
this  place  lies  in  the  word  ''J'"'^,  and  the  pointing  it  Avith  kamets, 
"  Adonai/'  so  making  it  to  be  the  proper  name  of  God;  when  we 


2'22  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAR  I. 

acknowledge  that  it  is  Adoni,  pointed  with  khirik,  and  signifies,  "  my 
Lord."  So  it  is  rendered  by  the  evangelist,  Matt.  xxii.  44;  so  by 
tlie  LXX. ;  and  by  Jerome,  "Domino  meo.''  And  the  argument 
of  our  Saviour  lies  not  in  the  word  V"^^ ;  but  that  he  being  the  son 
of  David  was  also  then  the  lord  of  David,  which  he  could  no  other- 
wise be  but  upon  the  account  of  his  divine  nature. 

In  the  words  reflected  on  by  Kimchi  it  is  confessed  that  there 
have  been  mistakes  amongst  translators  and  expositors.  These 
words,  n"^1?  "^^V,  are  rendered  by  the  LXX.  Mera  aoij  ri  afyj]'  and  by 
the  Vulgar  from  them,  "Tecum  principium," — "With  thee  is  the  be- 
ginning;" which  hath  misled  many  expositors.  But  Kimchi  knew 
that  Jerome  had  translated  them,  "  Populi  tui  duces  spontanei," — 
"  Tiiy  people  shall  be  willing  leaders;"  giving  both  the  significations 
of  rib'iJ^  though  one  would  suffice,  "Thy  people  are"  (or  "shall  be") 
"  willing."     But  this  pertains  not  to  the  cause  under  consideration. 

Lr  like  manner  have  these  other  words  been  misrendered  by  the 
same  translation,  '^X}'p\  ''P  "^P  "'C'r'^r'  '^Ov'?-  'E;^  yasrp'os  Tpo  'Eojcpopou 
h/ivvriGd  as,  say  the  LXX. ;  and  the  Vulgar,  "  Ex  utero  ante  luciieruui 
genui  te," — "  From  the  womb  before  the  morning  star  have  I  be- 
gotten thee:"  which  gave  occasion  to  many  uncouth  expositions  in 
Justin  Martyr,  Tertullian,  Epiphanius,  Austin,  and  others.  But 
the  words  are  rightly  rendered,  "  The  dew  of  thy  birth  is  from  the 
womb  of  the  morning,"  and  express  the  rise  and  flourishing  of  the 
kingdom  of  the  Messiah.  These  things  prove,  indeed,  that  it  is  dan- 
gerous to  interpret  the  Scripture  without  heedful  attending  unto  the 
original  text ;  but  that  the  Messiah  is  not  intended  in  this  psalm 
they  prove  not. 

For  what  they  further  object,  on  our  supposition  of  the  divine 
nature  of  Christ,  "  That  there  was  no  need  that  God  should  promise 
God  his  assistance,"  it  is  but  an  open  effect  of  their  ignorance  or 
malice.  Assistance  is  not  promised  the  Messiah  as  God,  but  as 
made  man  for  our  sakes.  And  so  as  a  priest  did  he  offer  that  sacri- 
fice without  an  interest  wherein  both  they  and  we  must  eternally 
perish. 

To  conclude  this  discourse,  we  have  many  of  their  own  masters 
concurring  with  us  in  the  assignation  of  this  psalm  unto  the  Mes- 
siah ;  and  to  that  purpose  they  freely  express  themselves  when  their 
minds  are  taken  off  from  the  consideration  of  the  difference  that 
they  have  with  Christians,  Thus  the  author  of  ^:)n  npn«  nsD,  in  his 
signs  of  the  coming  of  the  Messiah.  "  Armillus  shall  stir  up  all  the 
world,"  saith  he,  "  to  war  against  the  Messiah,  l^n^^'D  lyj^  n^pn  ?x' 
"•^''Q''!'  2^'^  "1D1X  S^X  nnn^D^;" — "whom  the  holy  God  shall  not  compel 
to  war,  but  shall  only  say  unto  him,  *  Sit  thou  at  my  right  hand ;'" 
referring  unto  this  place.  So  Saadias  Gaon  on  Dan  vii.  13:  IT'C'D  "ini 
''y^^'?  2U  '':ii6  "  "•  DN*3  mnan^  l^pn^; — "  This  is  Messiah  our  righteous- 


VKR.  13.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREAVb.  2!?  3 

ness,  as  it  is  written,  '  The  Lord  said  unto  ray  Lord,  Sit  thou  on 
my  right  hand.'"  They  affirm  the  same  in  Midrasli  Tehihim;  on 
Ps.  xviii.  ;j5:  Dwnc^  )y^'h  n^ti'Q  ibo  n'-D'io  nnpn  Nai?  iTiy!'  irox  pvi 
''J''0''55  3E^  "'Jix!'  nin^; — "  Kabbi  Joden  said,  In  the  world  to  come,  the 
holy,  blessed  God  shall  cause  Messiah  the  king  to  sit  on  his  right 
hand;  as  it  is  written,  'The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit  thou  on 
my  right  hand.' "  And  to  the  same  purpose  are  the  words  of  R. 
Moses  Haddarshan  in  Bereshith  Rabba  on  Gen.  xviii.  1  :  n^ma'i 
i?Dh  2'uv2  T]2pn  xn*?  iTiy^  ""jnyDn  i^o"''!  ']V^'<  po  •'^  jrim  nns  '-i^'-i  qco 
Dn-i3N  ^3Di  ^hufDU  ^y  2\y'  Dmnxi  ^T^'b  2^  '':ii6  nin^  QHTDiy  i^vo^i^  n-ron 
1^  -\D)ii)  iD"'3o  n2pr]  bar^'c^n  bv  21^  '-jsi  rD\-i  bv  2'^''  ':2  p  noisi  d^ddd 
Ijmn  "irruyi  ''in  iro"-  ^y  ^JSI  ''yo'  bv  V2  p; — "  Rabbi  Berechia,  in  the 
name  of  Rabbi  Levi,  opened  that  which  is  spoken,  '  Thou  shalt  give 
me  the  shield  of  thy  salvation,  and  thy  right  hand  shall  sustain  me,' 
Ps.  xviii.  3o.  In  the  world  to  come,  the  holy,  blessed  God  shall 
cause  Messiah  the  king  to  sit  on  his  right  hand;  as  it  is  written, 
'  The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord,  Sit  thou  on  my  right  hand.'  And 
Abraham  shall  sit  at  his  left  hand.  And  the  face  of  Abraham  shall 
be  pale,  and  he  shall  say,  'The  son  of  my  son  sits  on  the  right  hand, 
and  I  on  the  left.'  But  God  shall  appease  him,  and  say  unto  him, 
'  The  son  of  thy  son  sits  at  my  right  hand,  but  I  am  at  thy  right 
hand;'  as  it  is  written,  '  Thy  loving-kindness  shall  increase  me.'" 
And  so  on  Ps.  xvii.:  Rabbi  Joden  in  the  name  of  R.  Chijah,  ITiy^ 
•'ji-is!'  n^n''  D1J  -lOXJK'  iro''^  n'ci^n  i^^d^  2''Cf)D  n2pn  t<3^,  —  "  In  the 
world  to  come  the  holy  blessed  God  shall  place  Messiah  the  king  at 
his  right  hand,  as  it  is  said,  '  The  Lord  said  unto  my  Lord.'  " 

Thus,  setting  aside  the  mixture  of  their  follies  and  impieties, 
wherein  we  are  not  concerned,  we  have  a  sufficient  suffrage  from 
the  Jews  themselves  unto  our  assignation  of  this  prophetical  psalm 
to  the  Messiah;  which  is  enough  to  stop  the  mouths  of  their 
modern  gainsayers,  who  are  not  able  to  assign  any  other  person 
unto  whom  it  .'should  belong.  Having,  then,  removed  their  objec- 
tions, we  may  return  unto  the  interpretation  of  the  words. 

The  matter  intended  in  the  first  part  of  these  words,  or  sitting  at 
the  right  hand  of  God,  hath  been  somewhat  spoken  unto  already, 
and  I  shall  add  but  little  in  the  further  explanation  of  it  in  this 
place. 

Some  things  controverted  on  these  words  we  may  well  omit  the  con- 
sideration of;  as  whether  were  the  more  honoural)le  place  of  old,  the 
right  hand  or  the  left.  Besides,  they  have  been  suthciently  spoken 
unto  already  on  verse  3.  For  whereas  there  is  no  mention  made 
anywhere  of  sitting  at  the  left  hand  of  God,  as  was  observed,  there 
is  no  comparison  to  be  feigned  between  the  one  and  the  other. 
Besides,  the  pretence  of  the  left  hand  to  have  been  the  most  hon- 
ourable place  of  old  is  most  vain,  insisted  on  by  some  who  had  a 
VOL,.  XII. — 15 


224  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

desire  to  vent  new  observations  on  old  matters  to  little  purpose. 
And  Bellarraine  shows  what  good  leisure  he  had  in  managing  of 
controversies,  when  he  spent  more  time  and  labour  in  answering  an 
objection  against  the  pope's  supremacy,  from  Peter's  being  placed 
in  old  seals  on  the  left  hand  of  Paul,  than  on  many  texts  of  Scrip- 
ture plainly  overthrowing  his  pretensions. 

Neither  shall  we  consider  their  claim  unto  this  testimony,  who, 
understanding  the  human  n?t,ure  of  Christ  to  be  only  intended 
and  spoken  to,  affirm  that  its  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  God  con- 
sists in  a  real  communication  of  all  divine  properties  and  attributes 
unto  that  nature;  a  pretence  very  remote  from  the  apostle's  design 
and  importance  of  the  words. 

For  the  introductory  preface  of  this  testimony,  "  Unto  which  of 
the  angels  said  he  at  any  time?"  we  have  already  considered  it. 
In  the  testimony  itself  we  must  consider, — 1.  The  'person  speaking, 
"The  Lord."  2.  The  person  spoken  unto,  "my  Lord."  S.  The 
nature  and  manner  of  this  speaking,  "  said."  4.  The  thing  spoken, 
"  Sit  on  my  right  hand."  5.  The  end  hereof  as  to  work  and  opera- 
tion, "  make  thine  enemies  thy  footstool."  6.  The  limitation  of  it 
as  unto  duration,  "  until." 

L  The  person  speaking  is  the  Lord,  "  The  Lord  said."  In  the 
Greek,  both  the  person  speaking  and  the  person  spoken  unto  are 
expressed  by  the  same  name,  Kvpiog,  "  Lord ;"  only  the  person  spoken 
unto  is  not  absolutely  called  so,  but  with  relation  to  the  psalmist, 
xup/w  fiov,  "  to  my  lord."  David  calls  him  his  lord.  Matt.  xxii.  45. 
But  in  the  Hebrew  they  have  different  denominations.  The  person 
speaking  is  Jehovah,  "^p^  CiXJ^ — that  is,  God  the  Father;  for  though 
the  name  be  often  used  where  the  Son  is  distinctly  spoken  of,  and 
sometimes  in  the  same  place  each  of  them  is  mentioned  by  that 
name,  as  Gen.  xix.  24,  Zech.  ii.  8,  9,  because  of  their  equal  partici- 
pation of  the  same  divine  nature,  signified  thereby,  yet  where  Jeho- 
vah speaketh  unto  the  Son  or  of  him,  as  here,  it  is  the  person  of  the 
Father  that  is  distinctly  denoted  thereby,  according  as  was  showed 
at  the  entrance  of  this  epistle. 

2.  The  person  spoken  unto  is  the  Son,  l^"'^^,  "the  Lord,"  David's 
Lord ;  in  what  respect  we  must  now  inquire.  The  Lord  Christ,  the 
Son,  in  respect  of  his  divine  nature,  is  of  the  same  essence,  power, 
and  glory,  with  the  Father,  John  x.  80.  Absolutely,  therefore,  and 
naturally,  in  that  respect  he  is  capable  of  no  subordination  to  the 
Father  or  exaltation  by  him,  but  what  depends  on  and  flows  from 
his  eternal  generation,  John  v.  26.  By  dispensation  he  humbled 
himself,  and  emptied  himself  of  this  glory,  Phil.  ii.  7,  8 ;  not  by  a 
real  parting  with  it,  but  by  the  assumption  of  human  nature  into 
personal  union  with  himself,  being  made  flesh,  John  i.  14;  wherein 
his  eternal  glory  was  clouded  for  a  season,  John  xvii.  5,  and  his 


VER.  13.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  225 

pprson  humbled  to  the  discharge  of  those  acts  of  his  mediatioQ 
which  were  to  be  performed  in  the  human  nature,  Phil.  ii.  9,  10. 
This  person  of  Christ  is  here  spoken  unto,  not  in  respect  of  his 
divine  nature  only,  which  is  not  capable  of  exaltation  or  glory  by 
the  way  of  free  gift  or  donation  ;  nor  in  respect  of  his  human  nature 
only,  which  is  not  the  king  and  head  of  the  church ;  but  with  respect 
unto  his  whole  person,  wherein  the  divine  nature,  exerting  its  power 
and  glory  with  the  will  and  understanding  of  the  human  nature,  is 
the  principle  of  those  theandrical  acts  whereby  Christ  ruleth  over 
all  in  the  kingdom  given  him  of  his  Father,  Rev.  i.  17,  18.  As  he 
was  God,  he  was  David's  Lord,  but  not  his  son;  as  he  was  man, 
he  was  David's  son,  and  so  absolutely  could  not  be  his  Lord; 
in  his  person,  as  he  was  God  and  man,  he  was  his  Lord  and 
his  son, — which  is  the  intention  of  our  Saviour's  question.  Malt, 
xxii.  45. 

3.  For  the  nature  and  manner  of  this  speaking,  when  and  how 
God  said  it,  four  things  seem  to  be  intended  in  it: — (1.)  The  eteru  d 
decree  of  God  concerning  the  exaltation  of  the  Son  incarnate.  So 
David  calls  this  word  the  "decree,"  the  statute  or  eternal  appoint- 
ment of  God,  Ps.  ii.  7.  This  is  Xoyog  hdiddsTog,  the  internal  and 
eternal  word,  or  speaking  of  the  mind,  will,  and  counsel  of  God, 
referred  unto  by  Peter,  1  Epist.  i.  20.  God  said  this  in  the  eternal 
purpose  of  his  will,  to  and  concerning  his  Son.  (2.)  The  covenant 
and  compact  that  was  between  the  Father  and  Son  about  and  con- 
cerning the  work  of  mediation  is  expressed  also  in  this  saying.  That 
there  was  such  a  covenant,  and  the  nature  of  it,  I  have  elsewhere 
declared.  See  Prov.  viii.  30,  31  ;  Isa.  liii.  10-12;  Zech.  vi.  12,  13; 
John  xvii.  4-6.  In  this  covenant  God  said  unto  him,  "  Sit  thou  at 
my  right  hand ;"  which  he  also  pleaded  in  and  upon  the  discharge 
of  his  work,  Isa.  1.  8,  9 ;  John  xvii.  4,  5.  (3.)  There  is  also  in  it 
the  declaration  of  this  decree  and  covenant  in  the  prophecies  and 
promises  given  out  concerning  their  accomplishment  and  execution 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  Luke  i.  70;  1  Pet.  i.  11,  12;  Gen. 
iii.  15,  He  said  it  "  by  the  mouth  of  his  holy  prophets,  which  have 
been  since  the  Avorld  began."  And  in  this  sense  David  only  re- 
counts the  prophecies  and  promises  that  went  before,  Luke  xxiv. 
25-27.  And  all  these  are  comprised  in  this  speaking  here  men- 
tioned,— thus  "the  Lord  said  unto  him;"  and  all  these  were  past 
when  recorded  by  David.  (4.)  But  he  yet  looks  forward,  by  the  Spirit 
of  prophecy,  unto  the  actual  accomplishment  of  them  all,  when,  upon 
the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  the  fulfilling  of  his  work  of  humilia- 
tion, God  actually  invested  him  with  the  promised  glory,  (which  is 
the  fourth  thing  intended  in  the  expression,)  Acts  ii.  33,  36,  v.  31; 
1  Pet.  i.  20,  21.  All  these  four  things  centre  in  a  new  revelation 
now  made  to  David  by  the  Spirit  of  prophecy.     This  he  here  de- 


226  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

dares  as  the  stable  purpose,  covenant,  and  promise  of  God  the 
Fatlier,  revealed  unto  him:   "The  LoRD  said." 

And  this  also  gives  us  an  account  of  the  manner  of  this  expres- 
sion, as  to  its  imperative  enunciation,  "  Sit  thou."  It  hath  in  it  the 
force  of  a  promise  that  he  should  do  so,  as  it  respected  the  decree, 
covenant,  and  declaration  thereof  from  the  foundation  of  the  world. 
God,  engaging  his  faithfulness  and  power  for  the  effecting  of  it  in 
its  appointed  season,  speaks  concerning  it  as  a  thing  instantly  to  be 
done.  And  as  those  words  respect  the  glorious  accomplishment  of 
the  thing  itself,  so  they  denote  the  acquiescence  of  God  in  the  work 
of  Christ,  and  his  authority  in  his  glorious  exaltation. 

4.  The  thing  spoken  about,  is  Christ's  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of 
God.  Wherein  that  consists  hath  been  declared  on  verse  8.  In 
])rief,  it  is  the  exaltation  of  Christ  unto  the  glorious  administration 
of  the  kingdom  granted  unto  him,  with  honour,  security,  and  power; 
or  as  in  one  word  our  apostle  calls  it,  his  reigning,  1  Cor.  xv.  25; 
concerning  which  we  have  treated  already  at  large. 

And  lierein  we  shall  acquiesce,  and  not  trouble  ourselves  with 
the  needless  curiosity  and  speculation  of  some  about  these  words. 
Such  is  that  of  Maldonate  on  Matt,  xvi.,  before  remarked  on  verse  3. 
Saith  he,  "  Cum  Filius  dicitur  sedere  ad  dextram  Patris,  denotatur 
comparatio  virtutis  Filii  et  Patris,  et  potentia  Filii  major  dicitur 
ratione  functionis  officii  et  administrationis  ecclesise.  Paterque  vi- 
detur  fecisse  Filitim  quodammodo  se  superiorem,  et  donasse  illi 
uomen  etiam  supra  ipsum  Dei  nomen,  quod  omnes  Christiaui  tacite 
significant,  cum  audito  nomine  Jesu  detegunt  caput,  audito  autem 
nomine  Dei,  non  item;" — than  which  nothing  could  be  more  pre- 
sumptuously nor  foolishly  spoken;  for  there  is  not  in  the  words  the 
least  intimation  of  any  comparison  between  the  power  of  the  Father 
and  the  Son,  but  only  the  Father's  exaltation  of  the  Son  unto  power 
and  glory  expressed.  But,  as  was  said,  these  things  have  been 
already  considered. 

5.  There  is  in  the  words  the  end  aimed  at  in  this  sitting  down  at 
the  right  hand  of  God ;  and  that  is,  the  making  of  his  enemies  the 
footstool  of  his  feet.  This  is  that  which  is  promised  unto  him  in 
the  state  and  condition  whereunto  he  is  exalted.  For  the  opening 
of  these  words  we  must  inquire, — (1.)  Who  are  these  enemies  of 
Christ;  (2.)  How  they  are  to  be  made  his  footstool;  (3.)  By  whom. 

(1.)  For  the  first,  we  have  showed  that  it  is  the  glorious  exaltation 
of  Christ  in  his  kingdom  that  is  here  spoken  of;  and  therefore  tlie 
enemies  intended  must  be  the  enemies  of  his  kingdom,  or  enemies 
unto  him  in  his  kingdom, — that  is,  as  he  sits  on  his  throne  carrying 
on  the  work  designed  and  ends  of  it.  Now,  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
may  be  considered  two  ways ; — first,  In  respect  of  the  internal,  spi- 
ritual power  and  efficacy  of  it  in  the  hearts  of  his  subjects;  secondly, 


■VT.R.  13.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  227 

With  respect  unto  the  outward,  glorious  administration  of  it  in  the 
world.  And  in  both  these  respects  it  hath  enemies  in  abundance, 
all  and  every  one  whereof  must  be  made  his  footstool.  We  shall 
consider  them  apart. 

The  kingdom,  rule,  or  reigning  of  Christ  in  the  first  sense,  is  the 
authority  and  power  which  he  puts  forth  for  the  conversion,  sancti- 
fication,  and  salvation  of  his  elect.  As  he  is  their  king,  he  quickens 
them  by  his  Spirit,  sanctifies  them  by  his  grace,  preserves  tliem  l)y 
his  faithfulness,  raiseth  them  from  the  dead  at  the  last  day  by  his 
power,  and  gloriously  rewardeth  them  unto  eternity  in  his  righteous- 
ness. In  this  work  the  Lord  Christ  hath  many  enemies;  as  the 
law,  sin,  Satan,  the  world,  death,  the  grave,  and  hell.  All  these 
are  enemies  to  the  work  and  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  consequently 
to  his  person,  as  having  undertaken  that  work. 

[].]  The  law  is  an  enemy  unto  Christ  in  his  kingdom,  not  abso- 
lutely, but  by  accident,  and  by  reason  of  the  consequents  that  attend 
it  where  his  subjects  are  obnoxious  unto  it.  It  slays  them,  Rom. 
vii.  9-11,  which  is  the  work  of  an  enemy;  is  against  them  and  con- 
trary unto  them.  Col.  ii.  14;  and  contributes  strength  to  their  other 
adversaries,  1  Cor.  xv.  56;  which  discovers  the  nature  of  an  enemy, 

[2.]  Sm  is  universally  and  in  its  whole  nature  an  enemy  unto 
Christ,  Rom.  viii.  7-  Sinners  and  enemies  are  the  same,  Rom.  v. 
S,  10;  Col.  i.  21.  It  is  that  which  makes  special,  direct,  and  im- 
mediate opposition  to  the  quickening,  sanctifying,  and  saving  of  his 
people,  Rom.  vii,  21,  23;  James  i,  14,  15 ;  1  Pet,  ii.  ]  1. 

[.'}.]  Satan  is  the  sworn  enemy  of  Christ,  the  adversary  that 
openly,  constantly,  avowedly  opposeth  him  in  his  throne.  Matt,  xvi, 
]8;  Eph.  vi.  12;  1  Pet.  v.  8,  And  he  exerts  his  enmity  by  tempta- 
tions, 1  Cor,  vii.  5;  1  Thess.  iii,  5;  accusations.  Rev.  xii,  10;  perse- 
cutions, Rev,  ii,  10; — all  which  are  the  works  of  an  enemy. 

[4,]  The  world  is  also  a  professed  enemy  of  the  kingdom  of 
Christ,  John  xv,  18.  In  the  things  of  it,  the  men  of  it,  the  rule  of 
it,  it  sets  Itself  against  the  work  of  the  Lord  Christ  on  his  tlirone, 
Tlie  things  of  it,  as  under  the  curse  and  subject  to  vanity,  are  suited 
to  alienate  the  hearts  of  men  from  Christ,  and  so  act  an  enmity 
against  him,  James  iv.  4;  1  John  li.  15-17;  1  Tim.  vi,  9,  10;  Matt. 
xiii.  22.  The  men  of  the  world  act  the  same  part,  Matt.  x.  22, 
xxiv.  9.  By  examples,  by  temptations,  by  reproaches,  by  persecu- 
tions, by  allurements,  they  make  it  their  business  to  oppose  the 
kingdom  of  Christ.  But  to  that  end,  [that  all  things  may  be  under 
his  feet],  is  the  rule  of  it  for  the  most  part  directed  or  overruled, 
1  Cor.  XV,  24,  25. 

[5  ]  Death  is  also  an  enemy ;  so  it  is  expressly  called,  1  Cor. 
XV.  26.  It  designs  the  execution  of  the  first  curse  against  all  lie- 
lievers,  and  therein  contributes  aid  and  assistance  unto  all  otner 


228  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

adversaries;  giving  up  itself  to  the  service  of  Satan,  and  therefore 
said  to  be  in  his  power,  chap.  ii.  14  of  this  epistle;  and  it  borrows  a 
sting  from  sin,  1  Cor.  xv.  56,  to  make  itself  the  more  terrible  and  sharp. 
[6.]  The  grave  is  an  adversary  also.  It  fights  against  the  faith 
of  the  sulvjects  of  Christ  by  reducing  their  mortality  unto  corruption, 
and  holding  fast  the  dead  until  they  are  powerfully  rescued  from 
the  jaws  of  it. 

[7.]  Lastly,  hell  is  that  enemy  in  a  subordination  whereunto  all 
these  others  do  act.  They  all  aim  to  bring  men  into  hell;  which  is 
an  eternal  enemy  where  it  prevails.  This  attends  the  workings  and 
successes  of  those  other  adversaries,  to  consume  and  destroy,  if  it 
were  possible,  the  whole  inheritance  of  Christ,  Rev.  vi.  8.  All  these 
are  enemies  to  Christ  in  his  work  and  kingdom,  with  every  thing 
that  contributes  aid  or  assistance  unto  them,  every  thing  that  they 
make  use  of  in  the  pursuit  of  their  enmity  against  him. 

Now,  all  these  enemies,  as  far  as  they  oppose  the  spiritual,  inter- 
nal carrying  on  of  the  work  of  Christ,  must  be  made  the  footstool 
of  his  feet. 

The  expression  is  metaphorical,  and  is  to  be  interpreted  and  ap- 
plied variously,  according  to  tlie  nature  and  condition  of  the  enemies 
with  whom  he  hath  to  do.  The  allusion  in  general  is  taken  from 
what  was  done  by  Joshua,  his  type,  towards  the  enemies  of  his 
people.  Josh.  x.  24.  To  show  the  ruin  of  their  power,  and  his  abso- 
lute prevalency  against  them,  he  caused  the  people  to  set  their  feet 
u]Don  their  necks.  See  2  Sam.  xxii.  39 ;  Ps.  viii.  6.  To  have  his 
enemies,  then,  brought  under  his  feet,  is  to  have  an  absolute,  complete 
conquest  over  them  ;  and  their  being  made  his  footstool  implies  their 
perpetual  and  unchangeable  duration  in  that  condition,  under  the 
weight  of  whatever  burden  he  shall  be  pleased  to  lay  upon  them. 

(2.)  This  being  that  which  is  to  be  done,  we  may  consider  how  it  is 
accomplished.  Now,  this  whole  work  of  conquest  and  prevalency 
overall  his  enemies  is  done, — [1.]  Meritoriously;  [2.]  Exemplarily; 
[3.]  Efficiently. 

[  ] .  j  Meritoriously.  By  his  death  and  blood-shedding  he  hath  pro- 
cured the  sentence  of  condemnation  in  the  cause  depending  between 
him  and  them  to  be  pronounced  against  them;  so  that  they  siudl 
have  no  more  right  to  exert  their  enmity  against  him  or  his.  He 
hath  given  them  all  their  death's  wounds,  and  leaves  them  to  die 
at  his  pleasure.  \st.  So  hath  he  prevailed  against  the  law.  Gal. 
iii.  13;  Col.  ii.  14;  Rom.  vii.  6.  He  hath  removed  that  strength 
which  it  gave  to  sin,  1  Cor.  xv.  55,  56  ;  so  that  it  hath  no  right 
to  disquiet  or  condemn  any  of  his  subjects  for  the  future.  And, 
tdly.  Against  sin,  Rom.  viii.  2,  3,  so  that  it  should  not  reign  in  nor 
condemn  his  anymore.  And,  odly.  Satan  also,  Heb.  ii.  14,  15,  as  to 
all  pretence  of  liberty  or  right  unto  any  part  of  his  cursed  work. 


VER.  13.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  229 

And,  Stilly.  So  likewise  the  world,  John  xvi.  83  ;  Gal.  i.  4.  And 
against,  bthly.  Death,  Heb.  ii.  14,  15;  1  Cor.  xv.  bo,  5G;  witli,  Qthly. 
The  grave;  and,  Itldy.  Hell,  or  the  wrath  to  come,  I  Tliess.  i.  10. 
They  are  all  meritoriousl}'  conquered  in  his  death  and  resurrection. 
And  all  this  hath  he  done  for  his  church. 

[2.]  Exemplarily.  All  these  adversaries  peculiarly  exercised  their 
enmity  against  and  tried  their  strength  and  power  upon  his  own 
person.  The  law  brought  its  curse  upon  him.  Gal.  iii.  13;  sin  its 
guilt,  2  Cor.  V.  21;  Rom.  viii.  2,  3;  Satan  put  forth  all  his  power 
against  him.  Col.  ii.  15  ;  as  also  did  the  world,  in  all  sorts  of  things 
and  persons,  in  all  kinds  of  oppositions  and  persecutions;  death  also 
he  tasted  of,  Heb.  ii.  9;  and  lay  in  the  grave,  descending  into  the 
lower  parts  of  the  earth,  Eph.  iv.  9;  and  he  was  not  unassaidted  by 
the  pains  of  hell  when  he  bare  our  iniquities,  Isa.  liii.  4-6",  10. 
Now  all  of  them  did  he  absolutely  conquer  in  his  own  person :  for 
he  satisfied  the  law,  removed  the  curse,  and  took  it  away,  Kom. 
vih.  3;  made  an  end  of  sin,  Dan.  ix.  24;  destroyed  the  devil,  Heb. 
ii.  14,  and  triumphed  over  him.  Col.  ii.  15;  subdued  the  world, 
John  xvi.  33 ;  conquered  death.  Acts  ii.  24,  and  the  grave,  verse  27, 
and  hell  also.  And  in  his  own  person  hath  he  set  an  example  of 
what  shall  be  done  in  and  for  the  whole  church. 

[3.]  It  is  done  ejjiciently  in,  by,  and  for  his  whole  church ;  and  this 
in  three  instances  : — \st.  Initially,  m  their  union  with  himself 
When  and  as  he  unites  any  of  them  unto  himself,  he  begins  the 
conquest  of  all  enemies  in  them  and  for  them,  giving  them  a  ri^ht 
to  tlie  complete,  total,  and  final  victory  over  them  all.  2dly.  Gra- 
dually he  carries  them  on  in  their  several  seasons  towards  perfec- 
tion, treading  down  their  enemies  by  degrees  under  them.  And 
odly.  Perfectly  at  the  last  day,  when,  having  freed  them  from  the 
law  and  sin,  trodden  down  Satan,  prevailed  against  the  world,  reco- 
vered them  from  death,  rescued  them  from  the  grave,  and  delivered 
them  from  hell,  he  shall  be  himself  perfectly  victorious  in  them, 
and  they  made  completely  sharers  in  his  victory ;  wherein  the 
making  of  all  his  enemies  his  footstool  consisteth. 

Secondly,^he  kingdom  of  Christ  respects  his  administration  of 
it  visibly  in  this  world,  in  the  profession  and  obedience  of  his  sub- 
jects unto  him;  and  this  also,  with  the  opposition  made  unto  it,  is" 
respected  in  this  expression.  God  the  Father,  in  the  exaltation  of 
Jesus  Christ,  hath  given  unto  Idm  all  nations  for  his  inheritance, 
and  the  utmost  parts  of  the  earth  for  his  possession,  Ps.  ii.  8.  Upon 
this  grant  a  twofold  right  ensued: — [1.]  A  right  to  call,  gather,  and 
erect  his  church,  in  any  nation,  in  any  part  of  the  world,  and  to  give 
unto  it  his  laws  and  ordinances  of  worship,  to  be  owned  and  ob- 
served by  them  in  a  visible  and  peaceable  manner.  Matt,  xxviii. 
18-20.     [2.]  A  right,  power,  and  authority  to  dispose  of  and  order 


2:30  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

all  nations  and  persons  for  the  good,  benefit,  and  advantage  of  his 
kingdom.  In  pursuit  of  this  grant  and  right,  expecting  his  churchy 
and  therein  his  visible  kingdom,  in  the  world,  great  opposition  is 
made  unto  him  by  all  sorts  of  persons,  stirred,  excited,  and  insti- 
gated thereunto  by  Satan.  And  as  this  enmity  was  first  acted 
against  himself  in  his  own  person,  Ps.  ii.  1-8,  so  it  hath  continued 
against  him  in  his  church  in  all  ages  and  places,  and  will  do  so 
unto  the  end  of  the  world.  The  world  understands  not  his  right, 
hates  his  government,  and  would  not  have  him  to  reign.  Hence 
hath  been  all  that  rage  which  hath  been  executed  upon  the  profes- 
sors of  his  name.  Kings,  rulers,  potentates,  counsellors,  the  multi- 
tude, have  set  themselves  against  him.  They  are  arftl  have  been, 
many  of  them,  his  enemies.  Great  havoc  and  destruction  liave  they 
made  of  his  subjects  all  the  world  over,  and  continue  to  do  so  in 
most  places  unto  this  very  day.  Especially,  in  these  later  ages, 
after  other  means  failed  him,  Satan  hath  stirred  up  a  fierce,  cruel, 
subtle  adversary  unto  him,  whom  he  hath  foretold  his  disciples  of 
under  the  name  of  antichrist,  the  beast,  and  false  prophet.  After 
the  ruin  of  many  others,  this  enemy  by  various  subtleties  and  pre- 
tences hath  drawn  the  world  into  a  new  combination  against  him, 
and  is  at  this  day  become  the  greatest  and  most  pernicious  adver- 
sary that  he  hath  in  this  world.  Now,  the  aim  and  design  of  all 
these  is  to  detlirone  him,  by  the  ruin  of  his  kingdom  which  he  hath 
set  up  in  the  world.  And  this  in  every  age  they  have  hoped  to 
accomplish,  and  continue  to  do  so  unto  this  day,  but  in  vain;  for 
as  hitherto  his  kingdom  and  interest  in  the  world  have  been  main- 
tained against  all  their  enmity  and  opposition,  themselves  been 
frustrated  and  brought  to  destruction  one  after  another,  so  by  virtue 
of  this  promise  he  shall  reign  in  security  and  glory  until  all  their 
heads  be  broken,  their  strength  ruined,  their  opposition  finished, 
and  themselves  brought  under  his  feet  unto  all  eternity,  as  our 
apostle  declares,  1  Cor.  xv.  24,  25.  And  this  may  suffice  to  declare 
the  meaning  of  these  words. 

(8.)  We  are  to  coiisider  hy  whom  these  enemies  of  Christ 
shall  be  made  thus  his  footstool.  '  I  will  make  then),'  saith  God 
the  Father  unto  him.  And  this  expression  wanteth  not  its  diffi- 
culty; for  is  it  not  the  work  of  Christ  himself  to  subdue  and  con- 
quer his  enemies?  is  it  not  said  that  he  shall  do  so?  So  doing  is 
he  described  in  the  Revelation  with  glory  and  power,  chap.  xix. 
11-16,  from  Isa.  Ixiii,  1-6.  Whom  should  this  work  more  become 
or  belong  unto  than  him  who  was  persecuted  and  oppressed  by 
them?  And  dotli  it  not  directly  belong  unto  his  kingly  power? 
Whence  is  it,  then,  that  he  is  here  described  as  one  resting  in 
glory  and  security  at  his  Father's  right  hand,  whilst  he  subdues  his 
enemies  ? 


VEE.  13.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  281 

Ans.  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  work  of  subduing  the  ene- 
mies of  tlie  mediation  and  kingdom  of  Christ  is  immediately  wiought 
by  himself.  All  propliecies  of  him,  all  promises  made  unto  liim, 
the  nature  of  his  oflfice,  do  all  require  that  so  it  should  be;  and  so 
the  apostle  directly  expresseth  it,  1  Cor.  xv.  26.  But  yet  there  are 
sundry  reasons  why  that  work  which  is  immediately  wrought  by 
the  Son  may  by  the  way  of  erninency  be  ascribed  unto  the  Father, 
as  we  see  this  to  be. 

[1.]  Power  and  authority  to  subdue  and  conquer  all  his  ene- 
mies is  given  unto  the  Lord  Christ  by  the  Father  in  the  way  of 
reward;  and  it  is  therefore  said  to  be  his  work,  because  the  auth(  rity 
for  it  is  from  him.  See  Isa.  liii.  12;  John  v.  27;  Phil.  ii.  .9;  E,om. 
xiv.  9.  This  power  then,  I  say,  of  subduing  all  his  enemies  being 
granted  unto  the  Lord  Christ  in  the  love  of  the  Father,  as  a  reward 
of  the  travail  of  his  soul  which  he  underwent  in  his  work  on  the 
earth,  is  ascribed  unto  the  Father  as  his.  And  this  expression  sig- 
niiies  no  more  but  that  as  God  haih  given  him  authority  for  it,  so 
he  will  abide  by  him  in  it  until  it  be  accomplished ;  and  on  this 
account  he  takes  it  on  himself  as  his  own. 

[2.]  The  work  of  subduing  enemies  is  a  work  of  power  and 
authority.  Now,  in  the  economy  of  the  holy  Trinity,  among  the 
works  that  outwardly  are  of  God,  tliose  of  power  and  authority  are 
peculiarl}^  ascribed  unto  the  Father;  as  those  of  wisdom,  or  wisdom 
iu  the  works  of  God,  are  unto  the  Son,  who  is  the  eternal  Wisdom  of 
the  Father.  And  on  this  account  the  same  works  are  ascribed  unto 
the  Father  and  the  Sou.  Not  as  though  the  Father  did  them  first, 
or  only  used  the  Son  as  an  immediate  instrumental  cause  of  tliem, 
but  that  he  worketh  by  him  as  his  own  eternal  and  essential  Wis- 
dom, John  V.  17,  19.  But  there  is  also  more  in  it,  as  the  Son  is  con- 
sidered as  mediator,  God  and  man;  for  so  he  receives  and  holds  Ids 
especial  kingdom  by  grant  from  his  Father,  and  therefore  the  works 
of  it  may  be  said  to  be  his. 

6.  The  last  thing  remaining  for  the  exposition  of  these  words,  is 
the  consideration  of  the  appearing  limitation  of  this  administration 
of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  in  his  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  God: 
^^,  sug  C/.V,  "  until:"  "  Until  I  make  thine  enemies,"  etc. 

First,  it  is  confessed,  and  may  be  proved  by  instances,  that  those 
particles  thus  used  are  sometimes  exclusive  of  all  things  to  the  con- 
trary before  the  time  designed  in  them,  but  not  assertive  of  any 
such  thing  afterwards.  In  this  sense  no  limitation  of  the  duration 
of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is  here  intimated,  but  only  his  secure  and 
glorious  reign  unto  the  accomplishment  of  his  work  in  the  subduing 
of  his  enemies  is  asserted.  The  onl}''  time  of  danger  is  whilst  there 
is  opposition;  but  this  saith  God,  'I  will  carry  it  through  unto  tlie 
end/     And  this  .sense  is  embraced   by  many,  to  secure  thereljy  the 


5S2  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

promises  that  are  made  unto  the  Lord  Christ  of  the  perpetuity  of 
his  kingdom.  So  Isa.  ix.  7,  "  Of  the  increase  of  his  government 
and  peace  there  shall  be  no  end,  upon  the  throne  of  David,  and 
upon  his  kingdom,  to  order  it,  and  to  establish  it  with  judgment  and 
with  justice  from  henceforth  even  for  ever."  His  "  kingdom  shall 
never  be  destroyed,"  but  "shall  stand  for  ever,"  Dan.  ii.  4-i;  it  is  an 
"  everlasting  kingdom,"  cliap.  vii.  27. 

Others  suppose  that  this  perpetuity. of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is 
not  absolutely  exclusive  of  all  limitation,  but  that  these  two  tJjings 
only  are  intimated  in  those  j)rophecies  and  promises: — 

(1.)  That  his  kingdom  shall  not  be  like  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth, 
obnoxious  to  change  and  mutation,  by  intestine  divisions,  or  out- 
ward force,  or  secret  decay;  by  which  means  all  the  kingdoms  of 
the  earth  have  been  ruined  and  brought  to  nought.  In  opposition 
hereunto,  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is  asserted  to  be  perpetual,  as  that 
which  no  opposition  shall  ever  prevail  against,  no  means  ever  im- 
pair; which  yet  hinders  not  but  that  a  day  ma}^  be  jDretixed  for 
its  end. 

(2.)  The  continuance  of  it  unto  the  total,  full  accomplishment  of  all 
that  is  to  be  performed  in  it  or  by  it,  in  the  eternal  salvation  of  all 
his  subjects  and  final  destruction  of  all  his  enemies,  is  in  these  and 
the  like  places  foretold;  but  yet  when  that  work  is  done,  that  king- 
dom and  rule  of  his  may  have  an  end. 

And  in  this  sense  the  term  of  limitation  here  expressed  seems  to 
be  expounded  by  the  apostle,  1  Cor.  xv.  24,  "Then  cometh  the  end, 
when  he  shall  have  delivered  up  the  kingdom  to  God,  even  the 
Father;"  for  although  these  words  may  admit  of  another  interjDreta- 
tion, — namely,  that  he  shall  give  up  an  account  unto  the  Father  of 
the  accomplishment  of  the  whole  work  committed  unto  him  as  king 
ot  his  church,  which  he  may  do  and  not  cease  from  holding  the  same 
kingdom  still, — yet  as  they  are  further  interpreted  by  the  Son's  com- 
ing into  a  neio  subjection  unto  the  Father,  "that God  may  be  all  in  all," 
as  verse  28,  they  seem  to  imply  directly  the  ceasing  of  his  kingdom. 

Though  this  matter  be  not  indeed  without  its  difficulty,  yet  the 
different  opinions  about  it  seem  capable  of  a  fair  reconciliation,  which 
we  shall  attempt  in  the  ensuing  proposals: — 

(1.)  The  Lord  Christ,  as  the  Son  of  God,  shall  unto  all  eternity 
continue  in  the  essential  and  natural  dominion  over  all  creatures, 
and  they  in  their  dependence  upon  him  and  subjection  unto  him. 
He  can  no  more  divest  himself  of  that  dominion  and  kingdom  than 
he  can  cease  to  be  God.  Suppose  the  being  of  any  creatures,  and 
that  subjection  unto  him  which  is  the  rise  of  this  kingdom  is  natural 
and  indispensable. 

(2.)  As  to  the  economical  kingdom  of  Christ  over  the  church,  and 
all  things  in  order  unto  the  piotection  and  salvation  thereotj  the 


VER.  13.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  2:!3 

immediate  ends  of  it  will  cease.  All  his  saints  beinfjf  saved,  all  bis 
sons  brought  unto  glory,  all  his  enemies  subdued,  the  end  of  that 
rule,  which  consisted  in  the  guidance  and  preservation  of  the  one, 
and  in  the  restraint  and  ruin  of  the  other,  must  necessarily  cease. 

(3.)  The  Lord  Christ  shall  not  so  leave  his  kingdom  at  tlie  last  day 
as  that  the  Father  should  take  upon  himself  the  administration  of 
it.  Upon  the  giving  up  of  his  kingdom,  whatever  it  be,  the  apostle 
doth  not  say  the  Father  shall-  rule,  or  reign,  as  though  he  should 
exercise  the  same  dominion,  but  that  "  God  shall  be  all  in  all;"  that 
is,  God  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  without  the  use  or  inter- 
vention of  such  ways  or  means  as  were  in  use  before,  during  the  full 
continuance  of  the  dispensatory  kingdom  of  Christ,  shall  fill  and 
satisfy  all  his  saints,  support  and  dispose  of  the  remanent  creation. 

(4.)  Tliis  ceasing  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is  no  way  derogatory 
unto  his  glory  or  the  perpetuity  of  his  kingdom,  no  more  than  his 
ceasing  to  intercede  for  his  people  is  to  that  perpetuity  of  his  priest- 
hood which  he  hath  by  oath  confirmed  unto  him.  His  prophetical 
office  also  seems  to  cease,  when  he  shall  teach  his  people  no  more 
by  his  word  and  Spirit. 

(o.)  In  three  respects  the  kingdom  of  Christ  may  be  said  to  abide 
unto  eternity: — [1.]  In  that  ^11  his  saints  and  angels  shall  eter- 
nally adore  and  worship  him,  on  the  account  of  the  glory  which  he 
hath  received  as  the  king  and  head  of  the  church,  and  be  filled 
with  joy  in  beholding  of  him,  John  xvii.  22,  24.  ["i.J  In  that  all 
the  saints  shall  abide  in  their  state  of  union  unto  God  tlirough  him 
as  their  head,  God  communicating  of  his  fulness  to  them  through 
him ;  which  will  be  his  eternal  glory  when  all  his  enemies  .shall  be  his 
footstool.  [8.]  In  that,  as  the  righteous  judge  of  all,  he  shall  to  all 
eternity  continue  the  punishment  of  his  adversaries. 

And  this  is  the  last  testimony  insisted  on  by  the  apostle  to  prove 
the  pre-eminence  of  Christ  above  angels,  and  consequently  above 
all  that  were  used  or  employed  of  old  in  the  disposition  and  admi- 
nistration of  the  law;  which  was  the  thing  he  had  undertaken  to 
make  good.  And  therefore,  in  the  close  of  this  chapter,  having 
denied  that  any  of  these  things  are  spoken  concerning  angels,  he 
shuts  up  all  with  a  description  of  their  nature  and  office,  such  as  was 
then  known  and  received  among  the  Jews;  before  the  consideration 
whereof,  we  must  draw  out,  from  what  hath  been  insisted  on,  some 
observations  for  our  own  instruction,  which  are  these  that  follow: — ■ 

I.  The  authority  of  God  the  Father,  in  the  exaltation  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  head  and  mediator  of  the  church,  is  greatly  to  be  re- 
garded by  believers.  He  says  unto  him,  "  Sit  thou  at  ray  right 
hand."  Much  of  the  consolation  and  security  of  the  church  depend 
on  this  consideration. 

II.  The  exaltation  of  Christ  is  the  great  pledge  of  the  acceptar 


234  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

tiijn  of  the  work  of  mediation  performed  in  the  behalf  of  the  church, 
'Now/  saith  God,  'sit  thou  at  my  right  hand;' — 'the  work  is 
done  wherein  my  soul  is  well  pleased.' 

III.  Christ  hath  many  enemies  unto  his  kingdom;  saith  God,  'I 
will  deal  with  all  of  them.' 

IV.  The  kingdom  and  rule  of  Christ  is  perpetual  and  abiding, 
notwithstanding  all  the  opposition  that  is  made  against  it.  His  ene- 
mies rage,  indeed,  as  though  they  would  pull  him  out  of  his  throne, 
but  altogether  in  vain;  he  hath  the  faithfulness  and  power,  the  word 
and  ri^lit  hand  of  God,  for  the  security  of  his  kingdom. 

V.  The  end  whereunto  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  will  assuredly  bring 
all  his  enemies,  let  them  bluster  whilst  they  please,  shall  be  unto 
tliem  miserable  and  shameful,  to  the  saints  joyful,  to  himself  victo- 
rious and  triumphant. 

It  is  the  administration  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in  the  world  that 
this  truth  principally  respects.  Great  is  the  enmity  of  this  world 
against  it;  great  the  opposition  that  is  and  hath  always  been  made 
imto  it.  But  this  will  be  the  assured  issue  of  it, — ruin  to  the  ene- 
mies, joy  to  the  saints,  glory  to  Christ.  This  is  that  which  is  typed 
unto  us  in  the  prophecy  of  Gog.  That  prophecy  is  a  recapitulaiion 
of  all  the  enmity  that  is  acted  m  th»  world  against  the  interest  of 
Christ.  What  his  counsel  is  the  prop1\et  declares:  Ezek.  xxxviii.  11, 
''  I  will  go  up  to  the  land  of  unwalled  villages;  I  will  go  to  them 
that  are  at  rest,  that  dwell  safely,  all  of  them  dwelling  without  walls, 
and  having  neither  bars  nor  gates."  They  look  upon  the  church  of 
Christ  as  a  feeble  peoj)le,  that  hath  no  visible  power  or  defence,  and 
tlierefore  easy  to  be  destroyed ;  this  encourageth  them  to  their  work. 
Who  or  what  can  deliver  them  out  of  their  hand?  With  this  reso- 
lution they  come  up  on  the  breadth  of  the  earth,  and  compass  the 
camp  of  the  saints,  and  the  beloved  city,  Rev.  xx.  9.  They  go  about 
their  work  with  glory  and  terror,  as  if  they  would  do  it  in  a  day. 
So  they  have  done  in  all  ages;  so  they  continue  to  do  to  this  day. 
And  what  is  the  issue?  The  city,  which  they  look  on  as  an  unwalled 
town,  no  way  defensible  or  tenable,  is  not  yet  taken  by  them,  nor 
ever  shall  be;  but  there  they  fall  before  it,  one  after  another,  and 
•their  bones  lie  under  the  walls  of  the  city  they  oppose.  They  fall 
upon  the  mountains  of  Israel,  and  leave  a  stink  behind  them,  the 
shame  and  reproach  of  their  names  unto  eternity.  Sometimes,  they 
seem  to  have  prevailed,  and  to  have  done  their  work;  but  still  the 
issue  is  that  they  die,  or  are  destroyed  and  go  down  to  the  pit,  and 
come  under  the  feet  of  Christ,  leaving  the  city  untaken.  Disap- 
pointment, shame,  and  everlasting  punishment,  is  their  portion. 
And  they  find  at  last  by  experience  that  this  "  feeble  folk,"  whom 
tliey  so  despise,  are  wise,  and  have  their  habitation  in  a  rock.  This, 
pledge  we  have  already  of  the  truth  proposed,  that  all  who  have 
formerly  risen  up  in  enmity  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ  are  dead,  gone, 


VER.  13.]  ±.1x0^^^  lu  THE  HEBREWS.  2,S5 

perished  under  his  feet,  a.ud  have  left  their  work  undone,  as  farfroni 
accomplishment  as  the  first  day  they  undertook  it.  The  same  shall 
be  the  lot  of  those  that  are,  and  those  that  follow,  to  the  end  of  the 
world.  And  when  they  have  all  done  their  utmost,  then  shall  the 
end  be ;  then  shall  all  their  misery  be  completed,  the  joy  of  the  saints 
filled,  and  the  glory  of  Christ  exalted. 

For  the  enemies  themselves,  what  can  be  more  shameful  unto 
them,  than  to  be  so  stupid  as  not  to  learn  from  the  experience  of  so 
many  hundreds  of  years  to  give  over  a  work  wherein  never  any  pros- 
pered? more  miserable,  th:m  to  engage  in  that  design  wherein  they 
must  necessarily  fail  and  be  ruined?  more  woful,  than  to  work  out 
their  own  eternal  destruction  under  the  wrath  of  Ciirist,  in  a  busi- 
ness wherein  they  had  no  success?  And  what  profit  is  it  if  for  the 
present  they  grow  a  little  rich  with  the  gain  of  oppression,  if  there 
be  a  worm  in  it  that  will  devour  both  it  and  them?  what  advan- 
tage if  they  drink  a  little  precious  blood  and  find  sweetness  in  it,  if 
it  make  them  sick,  and  swell,  and  die?  The  beloved  city  still  abides, 
and  their  misery  shall  never  end. 

For  the  saints,  what  more  joyful  thing  can  there  be,  than  for  them 
to  take  a  view  of  these  things,  to  look  backward  and  see  all  the 
Nimrods  of  the  earth,  that  have  opposed  the  kingdom  of  Christ, 
lying  in  shame  and  misery,  with  their  necks  under  the  footstool  of 
his  feet?  There  they  may  see  Pharaoh  lying,  and  Nebuchadnezzar, 
Nero,  Domitian,  Diocletian,  with  all  their  multitudes,  and  all  that 
have  walked  in  their  steps,  "brought  down  to  the  sides  of  the  pit,"  in 
shameand  eternal  misery,for  their  opposition  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 
There  are  they  fallen  and  perished  "all  of  them,  who  laid  their  swords 
under  their  heads,  and  caused   terror  in  the   land  of  the  living." 

And  the  like  prospect  may  they  take  of  what  is  to  come.  They 
may  by  faith  see  Babylon  fallen,  the  whole  conspiracy  that  is  in  the 
world  against  them  and  their  Lord  disappointed,  and  all  his  enemies 
that  shall  arise,  even  to  the  consummation  of  all  things,  brought  to 
ruin.  How  may  they  triumph  in  a  glorious  prospect  of  this  certain 
and  unavoidable  issue  of  the  opposition  that  is  made  to  the  kingdom 
of  their  Redeemer !   And  this  must  be  the  issue  of  these  things ;  for, — 

1.  God  hath  promised  unto  the  Lord  Christ  from  the  foundation 
of  the  world  that  so  it  should  be.  It  was  part  of  his  eternal  cove- 
nant and  compact  with  him,  as  hath  been  declared.  And  after  the 
first  promise  of  breaking  the  serpent's  head,  and  prevailing  therein 
against  the  enmity  of  his  seed,  no  season  of  the  church  passed 
wherein  the  promises  of  the  same  success  and  issue  were  not  re- 
newed ;  and  hereunto  do  the  writings  of  Moses,  the  Psalms,  and  the 
prophets  bear  witness.  And  hereof  it  was  that  Enoch,  the  seventh 
from  Adam,  prophesied  so  expressly  unto  the  old  world  before  the 
flood,  Jude  14,  lo.  Other  prophecies  and  promises  to  the  same 
purpose  occur  everywhere  in  the  Scripture.     And  this  God  also  in 


2.'?6  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  J, 

several  ages,  for  the  greater  pledge  of  his  veracity,  typed  out:  as  in 
the  victory  of  Abraham  over  the  four  kings,  representing  the  great 
monarchies  of  the  world,  wherein  he  had  a  pledge  that  he  should 
he  heir  of  the  world  in  his  Seed;  in  the  conquest  of  Canaan,  the 
seat  and  inheritance  of  the  church,  by  Joshua;  in  the  successes  and 
victories  of  David ;  and  by  many  signal  instances  given  in  the  visi- 
ble ruin  of  the  most  potent  opposers  of  his  interest  in  the  world. 
And  it  cannot  be  that  this  word  of  God  should  be  of  none  effect. 

2.  The  Lord  Christ  expects  this  issue  and  event  of  all  things,  and 
shall  not  be  frustrated  in  his  expectation.  Having  received  the  engage- 
ment and  fixitliful  promise  of  his  Father,  he  rests  in  the  foresight 
of  its  accomplisliment.  And  hence  it  is  that  he  bears  all  the  affronts 
that  are  put  upon  him,  all  the  opposition  that  is  made  unto  him  :nid 
his  kingdom,  with  patience,  long- suffering,  and  forbearance.  When 
we  consider  the  injuries,  reproaches,  oppressions,  persecutions,  blns- 
phemies,  that  he  is  exposed  unto,  in  his  ways,  his  servants,  his  Spirit, 
and  worship,  we  are  ready  to  admire  at  his  patience  (as  we  ought  to 
do)  that  lie  breaks  not  forth  against  his  enemies  as  a  consuming  fire. 
But  he  knows  the  time  and  season  that  is  allotted  for  the  execution 
of  vengeance  upon  them,  and  nothing  of  their  pride,  rage,  boasting, 
or  triumphing  against  him,  shall  ever  provoke  him  to  anticipate  their 
ruin;  so  secure  he  is  of  their  destruction  in  the  appointed  season, 
and  so  certain  of  their  day  that  is  coming. 

3.  He  is  himself  furnished  with  authority  and  power  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  this  work,  when  and  how  he  pleaseth.  He  hath 
not  only  assurance  of  the  Father's  concurrence,  but  is  himself  also  tho- 
roughly armed  and  furnished  with  power  to  destroy  all  his  enemies, 
even  in  a  moment.  And  he  will  not  fail  to  put  forth  his  power  in 
the  appointed  season ;  he  will  *'  bruise  them  all  with  a  rod  of  iron, 
and  dash  them  in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel."  Though  all  his  enemies 
should  at  once  combine  themselves  against  him,  should  the  world 
receive  the  utmost  contribution  of  craft,  subtlety,  and  strength,  that 
hell  is  able  to  afford  unto  it,  what  is  it  all  to  stand  before  the  in- 
comprehensible power  of  Jesus  Christ?     See  Rev.  vi.  16. 

4.  His  glory  and  honour  requires  that  it  should  be  so.  This  is  a 
thing  that  he  is  very  tender  in.  God  hath  raised  him  up,  and  given 
him  glory  and  honour,  and  care  must  be  taken  that  it  be  not  lost 
or  impaired.  Now,  if  his  enemies  should  go  free,  if  they  could  by 
any  means  subduct  themselves  from  imder  his  power,  or  be  delivered 
from  his  wrath,  where  would  be  his  glory,  where  his  honour?  Here 
they  reproach  him,  blaspheme  him,  despise  him,  persecute  him. 
Shall  they  escape  and  go  free?  shall  they  always  prosper?  What 
then  would  he  do  to  his  great  name?  The  glory  of  Christ  indispen- 
Bablv  requires  that  there  be  a  season,  a  day,  appointed  for  the  eter- 
nal ruin  of  all  his  stubborn  adversaries. 

5.  His  saints  pray  that  it  may  be  so ;  and  that  both  upon  his  ac- 


veh.  h.]  epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  237 

count  and  their  own: — Upon  his,  that  his  glory,  which  is  dearer  to 
them  than  their  lives,  may  be  vindicated  and  exalted;  their  own, 
that  tlieir  miseries  may  be  ended,  that  the  blood  of  their  fellow- 
servants  may  be  avenged,  that  the  whole  church  may  be  delivered, 
and  all  promises  fulfilled.  Now,  he  will  not  disappoint  their  prayers 
nor  frustrate  their  expectations  in  any  thing,  much  less  in  those  that 
are  of  so  great  importance.  He  will  avenge  his  elect;  he  will  avenge 
them  speedily. 

6.  His  enemies  deserve  it  unto  the  utmost;  so  that  as  well  his 
justice,  as  his  glory,  and  interest,  and  people,  is  concerned  in  their 
destruction.  In  the  most  of  them  their  rage  against  him  is  no- 
torious, and  visible  to  the  eyes  of  men  and  angels;  in  all  of  them 
there  is  a  cruel,  old,  lasting  enmity  and  hatred,  which  he  will  lay 
open  and  discover  at  the  last  day,  so  that  all  shall  see  the  righteous- 
ness of  his  judgments  against  them.  God  hath  given  him  a  king- 
dom, appointed  him  to  reign;  they  declare  that  he  shall  not  do  so, 
and  endeavour  their  utmost  to  keep  him  from  his  throne,  and  that 
with  scorn,  spite,  and  malice.  So  that  whilst  God  is  righteous,  anil 
the  sceptre  of  Christ's  kingdom  a  sceptre  of  righteousness,  themselves 
call  aloud  for  their  own  destruction. 

The  uses  of  this  truth,  in  the  comfort  of  the  disciples  of  Christ 
against  all  fears,  despondencies,  and  other  effects  of  unbelief,  with 
the  terror  of  wicked  men,  are  obvious  and  exposed  unto  all. 

Verse  14. 

The  apostle  having  proved  the  pre-eminence  of  the  Son,  as  medi- 
ator of  the  new  testament,  above  all  the  angels,  from  those  attribu- 
tions of  honour  and  glory  that  are  made  unto  him  in  the  Scriptures, 
the  like  whereunto  are  nowhere  made  or  given  unto  angels,  that  he  may 
not  appear  to  argue  merely  negatively,  from  what  is  not  said  concern- 
ing them,  adds  in  this  last  verse  such  a  description  of  their  nature 
and  office,  or  work  and  employment,  as  shows  that  indeed  no  such 
thing  can  be  rightly  spoken  or  affirmed  concerning  them  as  he  hath 
before  manifested  to  be  spoken  and  recorded  concerning  the  Son. 

Ver.  14. —  Oj")^!  rrdvrsi;   siffi   XBirovpyixa  wivf/tara,  iig  hia.Koviav  aToff- 

Ti7.'/.6iJ.iva  hide  rovg  /jjsXXcvrag  TiXripovo/MsTv  cuTriplav; 

There  is  no  difference  in  the  reading,  nor  much  about  the  trans- 
lation of  these  words.^ 

Ver.  14. — Are  they  not  all  ministering  spirits,  sent  out  to 
minister  to  [u7ito  a  ministry  foi-\  them  that  shall  inherit 
salvation  ? 


*  Translation. — Are  they  not  all  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to  execute  Hia 
service,  for  the  sake  of  those  who  shall  inherit  salvation  ? — Conybeare  and  How- 
son. — Ed. 


238  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

This  was  the  common  received  doctrine  of  the  church  concerning 
angels,  suitable  unto  the  Scripture  and  to  the  purpose  of  the  apostle, 
as  manifesting  their  disinterest  in  the  glory  before  ascribed  unto  the 
Son. 

Sundry  things  are  here  expressed  concerning  angels,  which  we 
must  briefly  jDass  through  the  consideration  of;  as, — 

1.  The'ivnature.    They  are  'KvibiMara,  ninil,  "ruchoth," 
nvyMTa.     ^gpjj-^^".^ — spiritual  subsistenccs ;  not  qualities,  or  niitu- 

ral  faculties,  as  the  Sadducees  imagined,  and  which,  by  a  honio- 
nymy  of  the  name,  Maimonides,  More  Nebvich.  part.  ii.  cap  iii., 
admits  also  to  be  angels,  but  falsely,  and  without  authority  from 
Scripture  or  reason.  This  is  their  nature,  this  the  Hebrews  acknow- 
ledged so  to  be;  they  are  created  spirits,  not  to  be  compared  with  or 
equalled  unto  Him  that  made  and  created  all  things. 

2.  Their  oj^ce.    They  are 'Ti'£j,aa7'a  Xs/rou/'y/xa,  "wiir>is- 
irovp  IX.  .    ^g^,jj^g  spirits."     So  are  they  termed,  Ps.  ciii.  21,  "Praise 

the  Lord,  all  his  hosts,"  "fn^lI'D  ;  LXX.,  Xurovpyoi  uItou,  "  his 
ministers  doing  his  will."  Hence  in  general  the  Jews  call  them 
DTn^^O,  "ministers;"  and  among  other  titles  assign  this  unto  God, 
that  he  is  D^n"l:^'0  "15>T,  "the  Creator  of  ministering  spirits  or  angels." 
And  expressly  in  the  Talmud  they  are  called  sniT'ti'l  ''3X?D:  and  more 
frequently  by  the  rabbins  in  the  Hebrew  dialect,  mJ^'^  ''3N^Q,  "angels 
of  ministry;"  above  whom  that  the  Messiah  was  to  be,  we  have  for- 
merly showed  from  themselves. 

Now,  what  kind  of  office  or  ministry  it  is  that  is  ascribed  unto 
them,  the  word  itself  doth  in  part  declare.  ^~}}^  is  to  minister  prin- 
cipally about  holy  things;  nor  is  it  above  once  applied  unto  any 
other  ministry.  And  such  a  ministry  it  signifies  as  is  performed 
with  honour  and  ease;  and  is  opposed  unto  "^^V.,  which  is  to  minister 
Avith  labour  and  burden.  So  the  ministry  of  the  Levites  in  bearing 
the  burden  of  the  tabernacle  is  called  '11^^^.,  "a  ministry  with 
labour;"  while  the  more  easy  and  honourable  emploj'ment,  which 
was  attended  to  by  them  who,  by  reason  of  their  age,  were  exempted 
from  bearing  of  burdens,  is  called  ^1}!^,  Num.  viii.  11,  Deut.  xviii.  7. 
Such  is  the  ministry  of  angels.  It  is  in  and  about  holy  things,  and 
unto  themselves  honourable  and  easy.  And  this  ^l^',  is  rendered 
Aitrovpyia,  which  expresseth  sometimes  such  a  general  ministry  as 
corapriseth  the  whole  service  and  worship  of  the  church:  Acts  xiii.  2, 
Aiirovpyo'ovTMv  abVwv  rw  Kvpiu), — "As  tliey  ministered  unto  the  Lord;" 
that  is,  attended  unto  the  performance  of  all  the  duties  of  the 
chu»ch. 

This,  then,  in  general  is  the  office  of  the  angels :  they  are  ''^N^'O 
mt^'n,  or  nim.  wiv/ji^aTa  XsiTovpyixd, — "  ministering  spirits,"  that  wait 
on  God  in  and  about  his  holy  services  for  the  good  of  the  church; 
which  also  in  the  like  manner  ministereth  unto  God  in  its  own  state 


VER.  14.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  2S.0 

and  condition.  And  hence  it  is  that  the  church  and  they  do  nialca 
up  one  family,  Eph.  iii.  15;  and  they  are  all  fellow-servants  in  tlie 
same  family  with  them  that  keep  the  testimony  of  Jesus,  Rev. 
xix.  10. 

And  this  some  of  the  later  Jews  have  retained  the  tradition  of; 
whence  is  that  of  Maimonides,  More  Nebuch.  part.  ii.  cap.  vi.,  which 
he  citeth  out  of  the  Talmud :  biy  iC^i2^2  -l^DJt^'  IV  "i^l  nc'iy  n2pr\  px 
n^yD ; — "  The  holy,  blessed  God  doth  nothing  unless  he  consult  with 
his  superior  family."  Only,  not  knowing  the  rise  of  the  word  N^bDS, 
nor  what  it  should  signify,  he  tells  us,  pV  }''l^'^n  n:non  j^in  n^^D2, 
"  that  in  the  Greek  tongue  it  signifies  a  host;"  whereas  it  is  purely 
the  Latin  "  familia,"  without  the  least  alteration.  And  the  de- 
scription of  this  superior  part  of  the  family  of  God  is  given  us,  Dan. 
vii.  10,  "Thousand  thousands  ministered  unto  him,  and  ten  thou- 
sand times  ten  thousand  stood  before  him."  In  which  words  Pseudo- 
Dionysius,  Gregory,  and  Aquinas,  with  sundry  of  the  schoolmen, 
have  coined  a  distinction  of  angels,  into  "  ministrantes,"  those  that 
minister  unto  God,  and  "  assistentes,"  those  that  stand  before  him; 
whereas  the  whole  intendment  of  the  expression  is,  that  all  the 
angels  stood  ministering  before  him,  as  John  declares  the  matter, 
Kev.  v.  11.  And  therefore  the  apostle  expressly  here  affirms  that 
they  are  "  all  ministering  spirits,"  cutting  off  one  member  of  their 
distinction.  Neither  is  there  more  intended  in  the  ministry  of  that 
upper  part  of  the  family  of  God  than  is  expressed  concerning  the 
lower  part  of  it  of  old:  Deut.  xviii.  5,  God  chose  the  priests  and  the 
Levites  ^Tv  r  ^^^2," — "  to  stand  and  to  minister  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord."  The  same  persons  were  both  "  assistentes"  and  "  minis- 
trantes;" they  stood  to  minister  before  the  Lord. 

Now,  because  of  this  standing  and  ministering  of  angels, — that 
is,  their  waiting  on  God  in  a  readiness  to  do  his  will, — they  may  be 
said  in  some  sense  to  be  the  throne  of  God,  from  whence  he  exe- 
cuteth  justice  and  judgment:  for  as  he  is  called  Q"'^\7-?'^  -^'^%  Ps. 
Ixxx.  2,  "  He  that  dwelleth  between  the  cherubim,"  as  also  Ps, 
xcix.  1 ;  so  the  Jews  say  that  the  thrones  mentioned  Dan.  vii.  were 
D'':i''^yn  Dnc*,  "  the  higher  princes"  or  "  angels,"  as  Abarbanel  on 
the  place.  This,  then,  is  their  office, — they  are  "all  ministering 
spirits." 

8.  Their  execution  of  their  office  in  their  actual  employment  is 
here  also  expressed.  They  are  "ministering  spirits,  iI; 
diaxoviav  avosTiXAoaiva," — "  sent  out  unto  a  ministry."  .  ^'^  ^'««'»"«» 
"  ISent  out,  — that  is,  they  are  daily  so,  contmually  so, 
the  word  denoting  the  present  time,  which  is  always.  They  stand  be- 
fore the  presence  of  God,  and  are  continually  sent  out  by  him,  some- 
times some,  sometimes  others, — always  those  that  are  sufficient  for 
his  work. 

VOL.    XII. — 16 


240  AN"  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  '  [cHAP.  L 

Now,  as  we  observed  before  that  "KuTovpyia  denotes  the  whole 
family  service  of  God,  which  in  general  is  a&cribed  unto  these  chil- 
dren and  servants  of  his  in  the  upper  part  thereof,  they  being  vnii- 
[i,aTa  XsiToupyixd,  "ministering  spirits;"  so  here  the  execution  of  their 
work  is  expressed  by  two  words,  which  comprise  the  whole  ministry 
of  the  church,  d-xoaTo'kri  and  dmxovla, — "  apostleship"  and  "labouring 
ministry ;"  and  therein  the  harmony  is  still  preserved  that  is  between 
both  parts  of  the  family  of  God.  And  as  in  the  service  of  the 
church,  the  ministers  thereof  do  not  minister  unto  men,  but  unto 
the  Lord  for  and  in  the  behalf  of  men,  Acts  xiii.  2 ;  so  is  it  with 
these  spirits  also, — they  are  sent  out  to  minister  for  the  good  of 
men,  but  it  is  the  Lord  unto  whom  they  minister;  his  ministers 
tliey  are,  not  ours,  Ps.  ciii.  21,  though  in  their  ministry,  belonging 
unto  the  same  family  with  believers,  they  are  their  fellow-servants: 
as  all  the  servants  of  a  king,  though  otherwise  greatly  differenced, 
agree  in  this,  that  they  are  all  servants  unto  the  same  person.  And 
these  two  words  express  both  their  honour,  that  they  are  immedi- 
ately sent  out  from  the  presence  of  God,  they  are  his  apostles,  as 
also  their  obedience  and  diligence,  they  undertake  diaKoviav,  a  "minis- 
try," to  be  discharged  with  care  and  due  observance  of  liim  by  whom 
they  are  sent. 

4.  There  is  expressed  the  restriction  of  their  ministry  unto  the 
^  V     ^     ,,    especial  object  of  their  work  and  employment.     It  is 

Am  rovs  fiiX-        ■!■  <)  _  . 

XsvTKj  xxyipovi-  "  for  them  that  shall  be  heirs  of  salvation."  A/a  rovg  jjJzk- 
f^M  o-c.T,ip',«.y.  xov-ar,  xXrjpovo/jLuv  dMrnplocv, — "  for  them,"  for  their  sakes, 
for  tlieir  good,  in  their  beiialf,  "  who  shall  inherit  salvation."  Heirs 
they  are  at  present,  and  hereafter  shall  inherit,  or  actually  obtain 
salvation,  by  virtue  of  their  heirship;  that  is,  elect  believers.  Yet  the 
apostle  speaketh  not  of  them  as  elect,  nor  yet  absolutely  as  believers, 
but  as  heirs;  which  they  obtain  by  the  privilege  of  adoption.  This 
gives  them  heirship  and  an  interest  in  the  family  of  God.  And  the 
ministry  of  the  superior  part  of  the  family  in  behalf  of  the  lower 
respects  them  as  such ;  that  is,  as  adopted,  as  children,  as  heirs,  as 
co-heirs  with  Christ,  Rom.  viii.  1 6, 17.  This  privilege,  I  say,  amongst 
others  innumerable  and  inexpressible,  we  have  by  our  adoption,  that 
being  admitted  into  the  family  of  God,  those  blessed  angels  whose 
special  ministry  respects  that  family,  have  us  under  their  constant 
care. 

It  is  true,  that  the  ministry  of  angels  is  not  always  absolutely  re- 
strained unto  the  church  or  family  of  God;  they  are  employed  also 
in  the  government  of  the  world.  So  the  angel  that  was  sent  unto 
Daniel  affirms,  "that  in  the  first  year  of  Darius  he  stood  to  confirm 
and  strengthen  him,"  Dan.  xi.  1 ;  that  is,  to  assist  him  in  the  wield- 
ing of  his  new-gotten  empire:  as  also  chap.  x.  13,  20,  21,  he  declares 
how  he  acted  in  opposition  to  the  prince  of  Persia,  and  stirred  up 


VER.  14.]       *  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  241 

the  prince  of  Grecia;  that  is,  how  he  should  do  so  in  the  appointed 
time.  And  so  also,  doubtless,  are  they  employed  about  other  affi^irs 
in  the  world,  from  whence  much  good  redounds  unto  many  who  yet 
belong  not  unto  the  family  of  God.  But  yet  two  things  we  may 
here  observe: — First,  That  though  this  ministry  of  theirs  was  not 
immediately,  yet  it  was  ultimately/  for  the  church.  For  their  sake 
were  those  mighty  empires  first  raised,  and  afterwards  razed  to  the 
ground.  And  this  is  that  which  they  consider  in  their  ministry. 
See  Zech.  i.  8-12.  And  thence  it  appears  that  the  prince  of  the 
kingdom  of  Persia,  who  withstood  the  angel,  was  not  any  angel  of 
God,  but  the  king  of  Persia  himself,  who  laboured  to  obstruct  the 
work  committed  unto  him.  Secondly,  That  the  apostle  treats  in  this 
place  of  that  immediate  respect  which  the  ministry  of  the  angels 
had  unto  tlie  church,  because  in  that  regard  alone  he  carries  on  his 
comparison  between  them  and  the  Son,  that  only  being  unto  his 
purpose  in  hand. 

But  it  may  be  objected  that  this  their  ministry  will  not  clearly 
evince  their  inferiority  and  subordination  unto  Christ,  seeing  he 
himself  also  was  sent,  and  that  for  the  good  of  them  who  shall  in- 
herit salvation,  and  is  thence  called  "  The  apostle  of  our  profession." 
But  the  differences  between  him  and  them  in  their  being  sent  are 
so  great  and  manifest,  that  his  superiority  unto  them  and  pre-emi- 
nence above  them  is  not  in  the  least  thereby  impeached.  He  was 
sent  by  his  own  voluntary  previous  choice  and  condescension;  they 
are  so  in  pursuit  of  the  state  and  condition  of  their  creation.  He 
was  sent  to  minister  in  the  "  form  of  a  servant"  only  for  a  short 
season,  in  the  days  of  his  fle3h;  they  continue  to  be  so  from  the 
beoinnincr  to  the  end  of  the  world.  He  was  sent  unto  that  great 
and  mighty  work  of  mediation  which  none  was  worthy  to  under- 
take, none  able  to  go  through  withal  but  himself  alone,  the  only 
begotten  Son  of  God ;  they  are  sent  about  the  ordinary  concern- 
ments of  the  saints:  he  as  the  Son;  they  as  servants:  he  as  the 
author  of  the  whole  work  of  redemption  and  salvation  of  the 
church ;  they  as  subordinate  assistants  in  the  particular  promotion 
of  it.  The  general  agreement,  then,  of  his  and  their  being  sent  for 
the  good  of  the  church,  hath  so  many  and  so  great  differences,  in 
the  manner,  causes,  and  ends  of  it,  that  it  no  way  takes  off'  from  the 
evidence  of  their  subordination  and  subjection  unto  him.  And 
with  this  demonstration  the  apostle  closeth  the  argument  he  hath 
so  long  insisted  on. 

Of  the  nature  of  this  ministry  of  angels  for  the  good  of  them  that 
shall  inherit  salvation,  because  it  belongs  not  directly  unto  the 
present  design  of  the  apostle,  and  Avould,  in  the  full  consideration 
of  it,  cause  a  long  diversion  from  the  work  in  hand,  I  sliall  not 
treat,  although  it  be  a  matter  singularly  deserving  our  meditatioD. 


242  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  I. 

For  the  present  it  may  suffice  us  to  observe,  that  in  the  government 
and  protection  of  his  saints  here  below,  both  as  to  the  dispensation 
of  grace  and  providence,  God  is  pleased  to  make  use  of  the  ministry 
of  angels,  wherein  much  of  their  honour  and  our  safety  do  con- 
sist.    For  a  close  of  the  whole,  we  may  only  observe  the  way  and 
manner  whereby  the  apostle  proposeth  this  doctrine  of  the  ministry 
of  angels  unto  the  Hebrews.    "  Are  they  not?"  saith  he.    He  speaks 
of  it  as  a  matter  well  known   unto  them,  and  acknowledged  by 
them.    Their  nature,  their  dignity,  and  their  office,  were  declared  in 
the  Old  Testament.     Thence  were  they  instructed,  that  as  to  their 
nature  they  were  spirits;  in  digidty,  thrones,  principalities,   and 
powers;  in  office,  ministers  unto  God,  sent  out  for  the  good  of  his 
church.     And  therefore  these  things  the  apostle  in  sundry  places 
takes  for  granted,  as  those  that  were  already  known  and  received 
in  the  church  of  God,  Rom.  viii.  38;  Eph.  i,  20,  21  ;  Col.  i.  16. 
This  doctrine,  then,  I  say,  was  propagated  from  the  Jews  unto  the 
Christians.     And  from  them  also  came  forth  much  of  that  curiosity 
and  superstition  about  angels  which  afterv/ards  infected  the  minds 
of  many  in  the  Christian  church ;  for  after  they  were  forsaken  of 
God,  and  began  to  give  up  themselves  unto  vain  speculations,  there 
was  not  any  thing  wherein  the  vanity  of  their  minds  did  more  early 
manifest  itself  than  in  their  imaginations  about  angels, — wherein 
they  exercise  themselves  unto  this  day.     For,  to  omit  their  mon- 
strous figments  about  the  original  of  devils, — most  of  whom  they 
affirm  to  have  been  begotten  by  Adam  on  Lilith,  before  God  formed 
Eve,  and  many  to  have  issued  from  Adam  and  Eve  severally  whilst 
they  lived  separate  an  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  death  of 
Abel, — as  later  follies,  it  is  certain  that  some  of  them  began  to  vent 
curiosities  about  angels  in  the  apostle's  time,  Col.  ii.  18,  and  to  ex- 
press their  fancies  about  their  names,  orders,  degrees,  and  employ- 
ments.    And  this  they  continue  yet  to  do;  although  they  peremp- 
torily deny  that  they  are  to  be  invocated,  or  prayed  unto, — wherein 
they  are  outdone  by  others.     Names  they  have  invented  for  them 
innumerable,  and  those  many  of  them  uncouth  and  insignificant. 
Orders  also,  or  degrees,  they  assign  unto  them ;  some  four,  some 
five,   some  seven,  some  nine,  some  thirteen,  according  as  it  hath 
seemed  good  unto  this-  or  that  great  master  among  them.     From 
them  the  pseudo  Dionysius,  about  the  fourth  or  fifth  century  after 
Christ,  took  the  occasion  and  rise  of  his  operose  figment  about  the 
celestial  hierarchy ;  though  he  mixed  their  inventions  with  many 
Peripatetical  and  Pythagorean  notions.     Aristotle  proportioned  the 
number  of  the  intelligences  unto  the  spheres  of  the  heavens;  more 
he  granted  not.     The  Pythagoreans  and  Platonics  asserted  all  things 
here  below  to  be  influenced  by  the  planets  in  their  orbs,  the  inferior 
receiving  a  communication  of  virtue  from  the  higher,  and  imparting 


VER.  14.]  FJ>rSTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  243 

it  unto  them  beneath.  So  they  interpreted  the  exsection  of  Saturn 
by  Jupiter,  as  that  of  Coehun  by  Saturn,  to  be  the  interce[)tiou  of 
their  procreative  influence,  that  it  should  not  immediately  be  com- 
municated unto  things  below  but  by  them.  Out  of  all  these  fancies 
did  Dionysius  raise  his  hierarchy.  From  the  Jews  he  took  the 
disposition  of  his  angels  into  orders  of  superiority  and  rule;  from 
Aristotle  their  number,  placing  an  order  instead  of  a  single  intelli- 
gence, to  answer  what  is  taught  in  the  Scripture  concerning  their 
multitude;  and  from  the  Pythagorean  Platonics  the  communication 
of  light,  knowledge,  and  illumination  from  God,  by  the  highest  to 
the  lowest  series  or  order,  and  from  them  to  men  on  earth.  And 
on  this  foundation,  such  as  it  is,  are  built  the  discourses  of  many 
commentators  on  this  place,  in  their  inquiries  whether  angels  of  the 
superior  orders  are  sent  forth  to  minister  for  the  good  of  believers; 
which  is  denied  by  many,  though  by  some  later  expositors,  asEstius, 
E-ibera,  Tena,  a  Lapide,  granted  and  proved,  not  without  much  ado. 
So  hard  is  it  sometimes  for  men  to  cast  down  scarecrows  of  their  own 
setting  up. 

It  remaineth  only  that  we  close  our  whole  discourses  on  this  chap- 
ter with  some  observations  for  our  own  use  and  instruction  from 
this  last  verse;  as, — 

I.  The  highest  honour  of  the  most  glorious  spirits  in  heaven  is 
to  minister  unto  the  Lord  in  the  service  whereunto  he  appoints  them. 

This  is  the  ofBce,  this  the  work  of  angels;  and  this  is  their 
honour  and  glory.  For  what  greater  honour  can  a  creature'he 
made  partaker  of,  than  to  be  employed  in  the  service  of  his  G^'cator? 
what  greater  glory,  than  to  stand  in  the  presence  and  to  do  the  will 
of  the  King  of  heaven?  If  it  be  an  honour  on  earth  to  stand  before 
princes,  dying,  perishing  men,  and  that  unto  them  in  nature  and 
kind  equal  unto  those  before  whom  they  stand,  what  is  it  for  them 
who  by  nature  are  at  an  infinite  distance  from  the  glory  of  God, 
to  stand  before  Him  who  lives  for  ever  and  ever?  And  surely 
it  will  be  unconceivably  woful  unto  poor  souls  at  the  last  day,  to 
find  how  they  despised  in  this  world  a  share  and  interest  in  that 
service  which  is,  and  ever  was,  the  glory  and  honour  of  angels. 

II.  Such  is  the  love  and  care  of  God  towards  his  saints  labouring 
here  below,  that  he  sends  the  most  glorious  attendants  on  his  throne 
to  minister  unto  him  in  taking  care  of  them.  He  who  gave  his 
only-begotten  Son  for  them  will  not  spare  to  send  his  holy  angels 
unto  them.  Heaven  and  earth  shall  be  witnesses  of  his  care  of 
them,  and  the  value  that  he  puts  upon  them. 

Now,  this  being  a  matter  of  so  great  importance  as  it  is  unto 
the  church's  consolation,  and  the  doctrine  directly  taught  in  the 
text,  we  may  a  little  further  inquire  into  it,  in  answer  unto  these 
two  questions: — 


244<  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

First,  "Wherefore  is  God  pleased  to  use  the  ministry  of  angels  i-a 
the  dispensation  of  his  care  and  good-will  unto  the  church,  the  heirs 
of  salvation,  seeing  he  can  by  an  almighty  facility  exert  all  the 
effects  of  it  by  his  own  immediate  power? 

Secondly,  Unto  what  especial  ends  and  purposes  doth  God  make 
use  of  the  ministry  of  angels  for  the  good  of  them  that  believe? 

For  the  FIRST  of  these,  the  principal  account  of  it  is  to  be  resolved 
into  his  own  sovereign  will,  wisdom,  and  pleasure.  Thus  are  we 
always  to  live  in  a  holy  admiration  of  him,  whenever  we  consider 
any  of  his  works  or  ways,  Rom.  xi.  83.  Herein  are  we  to  rest,  and 
to  put  a  stop  unto  all  our  inquiries.  So  it  pleased  him.  Matt.  xi.  26; 
and  he  giveth  no  account  of  his  matters.  Job  xxxiii.  12,  13.  This 
we  are  to  acquiesce  in  as  the  great  reason  of  all  God's  dispensations 
and  ways,  even  his  own  infinite  wisdom  and  sovereign  pleasure. 
He  alone  knows  what  becomes  his  own  goodness  and  greatness,  and 
of  creatures  not  one,  but  as  he  is  pleased  to  reveal  it.  For  can  we 
find  out  the  Almighty  unto  perfection?  can  we  by  searching  find  out 
God?  Job  xi.  7.  How  shall  poor,  limited,  finite  creatures  come  to 
know  what  beseems  the  infinite  Holy  One  to  do,  any  otherwise  but 
as  himself  declareth  that  he  hath  done  it?  And  then  we  know  the 
work  is  holy  and  wise,  and  such  as  becometh  infinite  perfection, 
because  he  hath  done  it.  Herein,  then,  we  principally  rest,  as  to  the 
meetness  and  condecency  of  the  ministry  of  angels, — God  hath  ap- 
pointed it.  Whereunto  we  may  add  those  other  reasons  which  the 
Scripture  suggests  unto  us,  as, — 

1.  God  doth  it  for  the  preserving  and  manifestation  of  the  glorious 
order  of  his  kingdom.  God  is  pleased  to  rule  his  creation  as  a 
supreme  Lord  and  King.  Hence  there  is  so  often  mention  made  in 
the  Scripture  that  he  is  the  King,  the  only  Potentate,  the  Lord  of 
lords  and  King  of  kings;  as  also  of  his  throne,  his  kingdom,  domi- 
nion, reign,  and  government.  And  God  doth  this,  that  he  might 
thereby  give  an  understanding  of  his  sovereignty  unto  his  creatures, 
and  make  way  thereby  for  the  manifestation  of  his  glory.  Now,  unto 
a  kingdom  there  are  three  things  essential,  rule,  obedience,  and  order. 
In  this  kingdom,  the  sovereign  rule  is  in  the  hand  of  God  alone; 
the  kingdom  or  monarchy  is  his.  Obedience  is  the  work  and  duty 
of  the  whole  creation,  every  thing  according  to  its  nature,  capacity,  and 
condition.  The  glory  of  both  these  lies  in  order.  Hereof  there  are  two 
parts: — first.  That  which  respects  the  being  of  the  creatures  in  their 
dependence  on  God;  secondly,  That  which  respects  their  operation 
in  obedience  unto  him.  God  hath  in  infinite  wisdom  endowed  the 
works  of  his  hands  with  such  various  natures,  whereon  their  uses  do 
depend,  as  that  they  are  placed  thereby  in  several  ranks,  series,  and 
orders,  in  a  useful  subserviency  unto  one  another,  so  far  as  they 
are  advantaged  thereby  in  their  common  and  absolute  subjection  to 


VER.  14. j  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  245 

himself.  This  is  the  order  of  their  being.  The  order  of  their  opera- 
tion is  such  as  they  are  fitted  for  by  their  natures,  and  uhereby 
they  set  out  the  glory  of  this  kingdom  of  God.  Thus  he  takes  tlie 
angels,  being  fitted  thereunto  by  that  place  which  they  hold  in  tlie 
order  of  nature  and  being,  unto  the  next  and  immediate  attendance 
upon  the  throne  of  his  kingdom.  There  they  wait  upon  him,  to 
receive  and  execute  his  commands  in  all  the  affairs  of  his  kingdom. 
So  are  they  everywhere  described  in  the  Scripture,  Ps.  Ixviii.  and 
ciii. ;  Dan.  vii. ;  Rev.  v. ;  Isa.  vi.,  and  elsewhere.  And  by  this  mi- 
nistry of  angels  doth  God  intimate  unto  us  the  glory  and  order  of 
his  kingdom,  his  glorious  and  fiery  throne  being  attended  with 
millions  of  these  mighty  angels,  ready  to  accomplish  his  will.  And 
whereas  God  hath  erected  "  imperium  in  imperio,""  "  a  kingdom  in 
a  kingdom/'  like  the  wheels  within  the  wheels  in  Ezekiel's  vision, 
namely,  the  economical,  dispensatory  kingdom  of  Christ  in  his  oecu- 
menical kingdom  over  the  whole  creation,  and  hath  annexed  there- 
unto the  principal  manifestation  of  his  glory,  rule,  and  dominion, 
those  blessed  ministers  do  principally  attend  the  affairs  thereof. 
And  thus,  though  God  can  govern  and  dispose  of  all  things  "  solo 
nutu,"  by  the  almighty,  immediate  emanations  of  his  own  power, 
yet,  for  the  manifestation  of  the  glory  of  his  kingdom,  especially  of 
that  rule  which  is  committed  unto  the  Lord  Christ,  he  usetii  the 
ministry  of  his  creatures,  in  that  order  which  his  infinite  wisdom 
had  disposed  them  unto  at  their  first  creation. 

2.  God  is  pleased  to  do  this  to  exercise  the  obedience  of  the 
angels  theinselves;  and  that  upon  a  threefold  account: — First,  To 
keep,  preserve,  and  rule  them  fitly  to  their  state  and  condition. 
Being  creatures,  they  have  a  natural  and  necessary  dependence  on 
God  their  creator;  and  being  intellectual  creatures,  they  have  a 
moral  dependence  on  him,  according  to  a  law  and  rule,  with  refer- 
ence unto  the  utmost  end  whereunto  they  were  created.  This 
requires  their  constant  obedience  unto  the  will  of  God,  without 
which  they  leave  and  forsake  the  law  of  their  creation  and  condi- 
tion, and  also  deviate  from  the  end  for  wdiich  they  were  made. 
Wherefore,  to  exercise  them  unto  and  in  this  their  obedience,  God 
makes  use  of  their  ministry  and  service  in  his  government  of  the 
church.  And  this  they  shall  continue  to  do  unto  the  end  of  the 
world,  when,  the  course  of  their  obedience  being  accomplished,  they 
shall  be  everlastingly  satiated  with  the  contemplation  of  God's  in- 
finite excellencies,  and  enjoyment  of  him  as  their  reward.  Secondly, 
That  in  them  he  might  give  an  example  of  ready  obedience  unto 
the  church.  These  angels  of  God,  being  in  their  nature  excellent, 
and  great  in  power,  always  ready,  watchful,  and  free  from  all  diver- 
sions or  avocations,  eminent  in  light  and  holiness,  as  always  behold- 
ing the  face  of  God,  and  filkd  with  his  grace,  are  proposed  unto  us. 


246  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

in  their  obedience  and  readiness  to  do  the  will  of  God,  as  an  ex- 
ample and  pattern  which  we  are  to  imitate  unto  our  utmost,  though 
we  are  never  able  perfectly  to  express.  And  thence  are  we  directed 
by  our  Saviour  to  pray  that  we  may  do  the  will  of  God  on  earth 
as  it  is  done  by  them  in  heaven.  Thirdly,  That  they  themselves 
may  be  made  partakers  of  this  singular  honour  and  glory,  to  serve 
the  most  high  God  in  his  most  glorious  work,  the  preservation  and 
salvation  of  his  church;  for  that  this  is  their  honour  was  before 
declared. 

3.  God  employeth  them  in  an  especial  manner  in  this  ministry, 
for  the  good  of  them  that  are  heirs  of  salvation,  to  manifest  unto 
them  the  greatness  and  glory  of  the  work  of  the  gathering,  pre- 
serving, and  redemption  of  his  church,  with  the  value  that  he  puts 
upon  all  the  fruits  of  the  death  and  concernments  of  the  media- 
tion of  his  Son  Jesus  Christ:  for  as  of  themselves  they  desire  to 
look  particularly  into  these  things,  wliich  in  general  appear  so 
glorious  unto  them,  1  Pet.  i.  12,  that  their  delight  in  the  wisdom 
and  love  of  God  may  be  more  and  more  increased;  so  by  God's  deal- 
ings with  his  church,  in  whose  behalf  they  are  employed,  they  learn 
therein  "the  manifold  wisdom  of  God,"  and  riches  of  his  grace,  Epli. 
iii.  10.  And  thus  in  all  their  employment  about  the  saints,  wherein 
they  are  sent  out  to  minister  for  their  good,  they  learn  much  of  the 
wisdom  and  love  of  God ;  and  are  thereby  excited  to  honour,  ap- 
plaud, glorify,  and  praise  him.  Somewhat  of  this  they  shall  see  in 
the  least  and  meanest  work  toward  any  believer  that  is  committed 
unto  them.  And  they  eternally  rejoice  in  the  overflowings  of  the 
love  and  grace  of  God,  taking  care  of  all  the  concernments  of  the 
poorest  and  meanest  of  his  servants. 

4.  This  is  done  that  God  may  in  an  especial  manner  give  glory 
and  honour  unto  Jesus  Christ  thereby.  This  is  his  will,  "  that  all 
men  should  honour  the  Son,  as  they  honour  the  Father,"  John  v.  23. 
He  hath  therefore  raised  him  up,  and  given  him  honour  and  glory, 
and  in  particular  exalted  him  far  above  the  angels,  putting  them 
in  subjection  unto  him,  as  their  head,  prince,  ruler,  and  governor, 
Eph.  i.  20-22.  Neither  is  it  a  show  of  glory,  or  a  titular  kingdom 
and  dominion,  that  he  hath  given  to  Jesus  Christ,  but  a  real  and 
absolute  sovereignty,  wherein  all  things  subject  unto  him  are  at  his 
absolute  disposal;  and  therefore  must  the  angels  themselves  be  at 
his  service  in  the  affairs  of  his  kingdom;  and  so  they  acknowledge 
themselves  to  be,  and  the  fellow- servants  of  them  that  keep  his  tes- 
timony. Rev.  xix.  10.  Now,  the  heart  and  love  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
greatly  set  upon  that  part  of  his  church  or  people  which  are  labouring 
with  sin,  affliction,  and  persecution  here  below,  Heb.  ii.  17,  iv.  15. 
It  is,  then,  greatly  for  his  honour  and  glory  (which  in  all  things  the 
Father  aimeth  at,  Col.  i.  18,  19)  that  the  glorious  angels  should  be 


VER.  14.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  247 

employeii  for  the  good  and  in  the  behalf  of  all  his  poor  labouring 
saints.  This  honour  is  done  to  Jesus  Christ  iu  heaven,  when  all 
the  attendants  of  the  throne  of  God  do  see  the  care  that  is  taken 
about  the  meanest  that  beheve  in  him. 

5.  The  love,  and  care,  and  condescension  of  God  unto  Ms  saints 
are  hereby  manifested  unto  the  saints  themselves.  God  employetli 
the  angels  for  their  good,  that  they  may  know  how  he  careth  for 
them,  and  be  comforted  thereby,  Ps.  xci.  11.  The  saints  of  God 
have  mean  and  low  thoughts  of  themselves, — as  it  l)ecomes  them  to 
have.  They  know  and  confess  that  they  are  less  than  all  the  mercies 
of  God,  and  unworthy  that  he  should  have  any  regard  of  them. 
Such  thoughts  as  these  their  mean  terrene  condition,  and  their 
manifold  sins  and  failings,  do  fill  them  withal.  Of  the  glorious 
angels  their  thoughts  and  appreiiensions  are  high  and  honourable. 
Their  nature,  their  state  and  condition,  their  power  and  greatness, 
their  holiness,  and  enjoyment  of  the  presence  of  God,  do  all  present 
them  unto  their  minds  under  a  notion  of  much  excellency  and  glory. 
Hence  some  weak,  superstitious,  and  curious  minds,  have  been  drawn 
to  adore  them  with  religious  worship  and  adoration.  The  saints  know- 
sufficiently  the  folly  hereof  But  yet,  when  they  consider  that  God 
is  pleased  to  use,  employ,  and  send  out  these  glorious  spirits,  to  take 
care  of  them,  to  do  them  good,  to  watch  over  them  and  round  about 
them,  to  keep  them  from  evil,  this  fills  them  as  with  a  holy  admi- 
ration of  the  infinite  love  and  condescension  of  God  towards  them, 
so  also  of  the  excellency  of  the  mediation  of  the  Lord  Christ,  wlio 
hath  brought  them  into  this  condition  of  favour;  from  both  which 
much  spiritual  comfort  and  rejoicing  in  the  Lord  do  arise.  And 
for  this  end  also  doth  God  choose  to  do  that  mediately,  by  the 
ministry  of  angels,  which  otherwise,  by  an  inconceivable  facility,  he 
could  do  by  his  own  immediate  power. 

6.  A  blessed  intercourse,  society,  communion,  and  fellowship  is 
maintained  and  kept  up  hetiveen  the  several  parts  of  the  familjj  of 
God, — that  of  angels  above,  and  this  of  believers  below.  It  hath 
been  formerly  declared  how  the  angels  in  heaven  and  all  elect  be- 
lievers were  reduced  into  one  family,  when  God  reconciled  the  things 
in  heaven  and  earth  unto  himself,  and  brought  them  all  into  sub- 
jection unto  and  dependence  upon  one  common  head,  Christ  Jesus, 
Eph.  i.  10.  From  hence  are  angels  and  men  reduced  into  one 
famil}',  the  family  in  heaven  and  earth;  the  angels  by  transition, 
men  by  adoption.  Now  it  is  the  will  of  God,  that,  for  tlie  honour 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  immediate  head  of  this  hxmily,  tliere 
should  be  an  intercourse  and  a  helpful  communion  between  the 
several  parts  of  it;  for  to  this  end  are  we  brought  into  tlie  society 
of  the  "  innumerable  company  of  angels,"  Heb.  xii.  22.  Now,  l^e- 
cause  our  goodness,  our  usefulness,  our  helpfulness,  are  confined  and 


248  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

limited  unto  the  "  saints  that  are  on  the  earth,"  Ps.  xvi.  2,  3,  not 
extending  itself  unto  God,  or  any  of  his  holy  ones  above,  we  cannot 
help,  assist,  counsel,  nor  advise  the  angels;  nor  do  tliey  in  any  thing 
stand  in  need  of  our  aid  or  assistance.  And  since  the  communica- 
tion of  our  minds  unto  them,  by  way  of  religious  subjection,  adora- 
tion, faith,  trust,  affiance,  is  absolutely  forbidden  unto  us,  it  re- 
maineth  that  this  fellowship  and  society  must  be  maintained  by  the 
aid,  help,  and  assistance  which  they  are  able  to  afford  unto  us,  and 
which  we  stand  in  need  of.  And  on  this  account  doth  God  employ 
them  about  the  affairs  and  concernments  of  believers,  that  so  a  be- 
coQiing  fellowship  may  be  kept  up  in  the  family  of  Christ,  and  a 
usefulness  between  the  several  parts  thereof. 

7.  God  makes  use  of  the  ministry  of  angels  in  the  service  of  the 
church  to  reproach,  awe,  restrain,  and-  torment  the  devil.  It  is  a 
continual  reproach  cast  upon  Satan,  when  he  sees  those  unto  whom 
he  is  like  in  nature,  and  with  whom  he  was  some  time  a  companion 
in  glory,  willingly,  cheerfully,  triumphantly  obeying  the  will  of  God 
in  the  service  of  Christ;  having  by  his  wickedness  cast  out  himself 
from  the  same  honourable  employment,  and  mancipated  himself  to 
the  vilest  services  that  any  part  of  the  creation  of  God  is  cast  down 
unto.  The  whole  work  of  the  angels  is  a  continual  reproach  unto 
Satan  for  his  sin  and  folly.  It  cries  unto  him,  '  This  might  have 
been  thy  work,  this  miglit  have  been  thy  condition ;'  the  gnawing 
of  which  consideration  is  no  small  part  of  his  torment  and  present 
restless  vexation.  They  also  put  an  awe  upon  him  in  all  his  at- 
tempts. He  knows  well  their  power,  their  authority,  their  commis- 
sion, and  that  it  is  not  for  him  to  contend  with  them.  With  one 
word  they  can  at  any  time  defeat  him:  "The  Lord  rebuke  thee, 
Satan;  the  Lord  rebuke  thee."  And  he  knows  not  where  he  may 
meet  with  them  in  his  attempts.  And  this  keeps  him  in  continual 
awe  and  perpetual  uncertainty  of  success  in  all  that  he"  undertakes 
or  goes  about.  And  hereby  God  also  in  many  things  frustrates  his 
endeavours,  restrains  his  power,  and  disappoints  his  malice.  It  is 
inconceivable  what  havoc  he  would  make  of  the  lives,  and  liberties, 
and  estates  of  the  saints,  did  not  these  watchers  from  the  Holy  One 
disappoint  him.  And  all  these  things  add  to  his  torment.  Much 
of  his  present  punishment  consists  in  the  endless  workings  of  wrath, 
envy,  malice,  blood-thirstiness,  and  rage.  Now,  as  these,  wherever 
they  are  found  but  in  the  least  degree,  are  tormenting  passions,  so 
where  they  are  all  in  their  height,  rage,  and  fury,  and  are  not  by 
any  considerable  vent  abated  or  slacked,  what  can  be  worse  in  hell 
itself  but  only  the  immediate  wrath  of  God?  But  thus  it  is  with 
Satan  from  this  ministry  of  angels.  He  sees  the  church  and  every 
member  of  it,  all  whom  he  seeks  to  devour,  encamped  about,  pro- 
tectedj  and  defended  by  this  heavenly  host,  so  that  he  cannot  in  any 


VER.  14.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  24-9 

measure  have  his  will  of  them ;  nay,  that  he  cannot  touch  the  soul 
of  any  one  of  them,  nor  cause  a  hair  of  the  head  of  any  one  of  thetn 
to  perish.  This  fills  him  with  self-devouring  rage,  envy,  and  wrath. 
And  thus  doth  God  by  this  way  accomplish  his  judgment  upon  hiui. 

And  these  are  some  of  the  reasons  which  the  Scripture  intimates 
unto  us  wliy  the  Lord  is  pleased  thus  to  make  use  of  the  ministry 
of  angels;  which  may  suffice  for  an  answer  to  the  first  question  be- 
fore proposed. 

The  SECOND  is,  Unto  what  ends  and  purposes  doth  God  make 
use  of  the  ministry  of  angels  for  the  good  of  them  that  do  believe  ? 

The  thing  itself  we  suppose  in  both  these  questions.  It  is  so 
directly  asserted  in  the  words  of  the  apostle,  and  so  many  instances 
are  given  of  it  elsewhere  in  the  Scripture,  that  it  needs  not  any 
especial  confirmation.  It  will  also  be  further  declared  in  our  enume- 
ration of  the  ends  and  purposes  of  it  ensuing;  as, — 

1.  In  general,  God  doth  it  to  commimicate  by  them  the  effects  of 
his  care  and  love  nnto  the  church  by  Jesus  Christ.  This  God  repre- 
sented unto  Jacob  in  the  vision  that  he  gave  him  of  the  ladder  which 
stood  upon  the  earth,  and  whose  top  reached  unto  heaven.  Gen. 
xxviii.  12,  lo;  for  although  the  Jews  say  somewhat  to  the  purpose 
when  they  affirm  this  ladder  to  have  denoted  the  dependence  of  all 
things  here  below  on  them  above,  under  the  rule  of  the  providence 
of  God,  yet  they  say  not  all  that  was  signified  thereby.  Our  Saviour 
tells  us,  John  i.  51,  that  hereafter  his  disciples  should  see  "  heaven 
open,  and  angels  ascending  and  descending  upon  the  Son  of  man," 
— plainly  alluding  unto  this  vision  of  Jacob:  for  these  words  It/  rbv 
T/oi'  T0\j  dvOpuxou,  "  upon  the  Son  of  man,"  cannot  denote  merely  the 
object  of  angelical  ministration,  that  they  should  be  exercised  in 
their  work  about  his  person;  but  also  that  by  him,  by  means  of  his 
mediation,  the  angels  ascend  and  descend  in  the  work  of  ministering 
unto  the  saints.  It  is  true,  the  great  instance  of  their  ministry  was 
given  in  and  about  the  person  of  Christ,  as  head  of  the  church.  They 
declared  his  conception  and  nativity.  Matt.  i.  20,  21 ;  Luke  i.  35, 
ii.  10-14; — they  ministered  unto  him  after  his  temptation,  Matt.  iv. 
11; — they  strengthened  him  in  his  agony,  Luke  xxii.  43; — they 
were  witnesses  of  his  resurrection  and  ascension,  Luke  xxiv.  4,  Acts 
i.  10,  11.  But  by  him  and  on  his  account  they  perform  the  offices 
of  their  mission  towards  others  also,  even  all  the  heirs  of  salvation, 
but  this  still  upon  the  account  of  Christ.  They  ascend  and  descend 
on  his  mediation,  sent  by  his  authority,  aiming  at  his  glory,  doing 
his  work,  carrying  on  his  interest,  as  in  the  following  particulars  will 
appear:  for, — 

].  They  are  sent  in  an  extraordinary  manner  to  make  revela- 
tions of  the  will  of  God,  about  things  tending  unto  the  obedience 
and  spiritual  advantage  of  them  that  do  believe.     Hereof  we  have 


250  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CIIAP.  I. 

many  instances  in  the  Old  Testament,  especially  in  Crod's  dealing 
•with  the  patriarchs  before  the  givhig  of  the  law.  For  although  the 
second  person  of  the  Trinity,  the  Son  of  God  himself,  did  often  ap- 
per.r  unto  them, — as  to  Abraham,  Gen.  xviii.  1,  2,  with  chap.  xix.  24; 
and  unto  Jacob,  chap,  xxxii.  24,  whom  he  calls  ^^^']  '^^7'^'} ,  Gen. 
xiviii.  I  6  ; — yet  God  also  made  frequent  use  of  created  angels  in  tiie 
revelation  and  discovery  of  his  mind  and  will  unto  them,  as  is  evi- 
dent from  many  passages  in  their  story.  That  he  used  their  mini- 
stration in  the  giving  of  the  law  we  have  before  abundantly  showed, 
the  Holy  Ghost  declaring  and  affirming  it,  Ps.  Ixviii.  17,  18;  Acts 
vii.  5o.  The  like  also  he  continued  to  do  in  the  visions  of  them 
granted  unto  the  prophets  that  ensued  unto  the  end  of  that  dispen- 
sntion,  especially  unto  Ezekiel  and  Zechariah.  So  also  the  same  was 
done  under  the  New  Testament,  as,  to  omit  others,  we  have  an 
especial  instance,  E.ev.  i.  1.  How  far  God  is  pleased  to  continue  this 
ministration  of  angels  imto  this  day  is  hard  to  determine:  for  as 
many  have  pretended  unto  revelations  by  angels,  which  have  Ijeen 
mere  delusions  of  Satan  or  imaginations  of  their  own  brains,  so  to  say 
that  God  (loth  not  or  may  not  send  his  angels  unto  any  o!  his  saints, 
to  communicate  his  mind  unto  them  as  to  some  particulars  of  their 
own  duty,  according  unto  his  word,  or  to  foreshow  unto  them  some- 
what of  his  own  approaching  work,  seems,  in  my  judgment,  un- 
warrantably to  limit  the  Holy  One  of  Israel.  Howbeit  such  things 
in  particular  are  to  be  duly  weighed  with  sobriety  and  reveience. 

2.  God  by  them  suggests  good  tnotions  unto  the  minds  of  his  saints. 
As  the  devil  sets  himself  on  work  to  tempt  them  unto  evd,  by  sug- 
gestions suited  vmto  the  priiiciple  of  sin  within  them,  so  God  em- 
ploys his  holy  angels  to  provoke  them  to  that  which  is  good,  by 
suggesting  that  unto  them  which  is  suitable  uuto  the  principle  of 
spiritual  life  and  grace  that  is  in  them.  And  as  it  is  dithcult  to  dis- 
cover the  suggestions  of  Satan  in  most  cases  from  the  workings  of 
our  own  minds  and  our  unbelief  in  them;  partly  because  of  their 
connaturalness  one  to  the  other,  and  partly  because  his  impressions 
ai"e  not  sensible,  nor  produce  any  effects  but  as  they  mix  themselves 
with  our  own  darkness  and  lusts:  so  it  is  no  less  difficult  distinctly 
to  take  notice  of  these  angelical  motions,  upon  the  like  account  on 
the  other  hand ;  for  being  suitable  unto  the  inclinations  of  that  prin- 
ciple of  grace  which  is  in  the  hearts  of  believers,  and  producing  no 
effect  but  by  them,  they  are  hardly  discerned.  So  that  we  may 
have  the  benefit  of  many  angelical  suggestions  of  good  things  which 
we  ourselves  take  no  notice  of.  And  if  it  be  inquired  how  these 
good  motions  from  angels  are  or  may  be  distinguished  from  the 
motions  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  his  actings  in  believers,  I  answer,  that 
they  are  differenced  sundry  ways;  as, — (1.)  These  angelical  motions 
are  ''ab  extra/'  from  without.    Angels  have  no  inbeing  in  us,  no  resi- 


VER.  14.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  Sol 

dence  in  our  souls,  but  work  upon  us  as  an  external  principle; 
whereas  the  Holy  Spuit  abideth  with  us,  and  dweHeth  in  us,  and 
works  "  ab  intra,"  from  within  the  very  principles  of  our  souls  and 
minds.  Whence  it  follows,  (2.)  That  these  angelical  motions  con- 
sist in  occasional  impressions  on  the  mind,  fancy,  and  imagination, 
by  advantages  taken  from  outward  objects  and  present  disj^osition 
of  the  mind,  rendering  it  meet  to  receive  such  impiessions,  and  so 
disposing  it  to  atfect  the  heart,  the  will,  and  the  affections;  whereas 
the  Holy  Ghost  closeth  in  his  operations  with  all  the  faculties  of  the 
soul,  really  and  immediately  exciting  every  one  of  them  to  gracious 
actings,  according  to  their  nature  and  quality.  Whence  also  it  ap- 
pears, (3.)  That  angelical  motions  communicate  no  strength,  power, 
or  ability  unto  men  to  act,  do,  or  perform  the  good  which  they  guide 
and  direct  unto;  only,  they  provoke  and  stir  uj)  men  to  act  and  exert 
the  strength  which  they  have  in  the  duties  that  they  are  minded 
of;  but  the  Holy  Ghost  in  his  motions  doth  really  communicate 
spiritual  grace,  strength,  and  power  unto  the  faculties  of  the  soul, 
enabling  them  unto  a  right  performance  of  the  duties  proposed  unto 
them.  And,  (4.)  Whereas  angelical  impressions  are  transient,  and 
abide  not  at  all  in  themselves,  but  only  in  the  effects  which  the 
rnind  warned  and  excited  by  them  doth  produce,  there  is  a  constant, 
abiding,  effectual  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  hearts  of  believers, 
enabling  them  to  will  and  to  do  according  unto  his  good  pleasure. 
And  this  is  a  second  part  of  the  ministry  of  angels  in  particular,  the 
benefit  whereof  we  are  oftener  made  partakers  of  than  perhaps  we 
are  aware.  And  these  motions,  which  are  an  effect  of  their  ministry, 
the  Sadducees  of  old  took  to  be  angels,  denying  all  spiritual  subsist- 
ences from  whom  they  should  proceed. 

3.  God  sends  forth  his  angels  unto  this  ministry  for  the  good  of 
believers,  to  'preserve  them,  from  many  dangers  and  ruinous  casual- 
ties that  would  otherwise  befall  them.  Much  of  the  design  of  Ps. 
xci.  is  to  acquaint  us  therewithal ;  for  though  the  charge  of  angels 
is  expressed  only  in  verses  11,  12,  yet  as  the  expression  there,  of 
keeping  us  in  all  our  ways,  that  we  stumble  not,  is  comprehensive 
of  all  the  dangers  which  we  are  or  may  be  exposed  unto,  so  this 
same  work  of  theirs  respects  all  the  evils  and  casualties  enumerated 
in  the  beginning  of  the  psalm.  And  to  this  purpose  also  is  it  said 
that  the  angel  of  the  Lord  encampeth  about  them  that  fear  him,  as 
they  did  about  Elisha  of  old, — namely,  to  preserve  them  from  the 
dangers  that  they  are  exposed  unto.  Nor  is  this  impeached  by  the 
observation  of  the  evils,  troubles,  calamities,  and  miseries  that  be- 
fall the  people  of  God;  for  God  hath  not  given  his  angels  a  com- 
mission to  act  "  ad  ultimum  virium,"  to  the  utmost  of  their  strength, 
"viis  et  modis,"  for  the  preservation  of  his,  but  only  to  act  accord- 
ing to  his  especial  good  pleasure;  and  this  they  always  do.     Now, 


252  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  L 

it  is  the  will  of  God  that  his  saints  should  be  exercised  with  various 
troubles  and  calamities,  for  the  trial  of  their  faith  and  obedience. 
But  yet,  in  the  ordering  and  management  of  these  calamitous  acci- 
dents or  troubles,  they  have  no  less  benefit  by  the  ministry  of  angels 
than  they  have  in  respect  of  those  from  which  they  are  preserved 
by  them;  for  inasmuch  as  they  also  are  designed  and  ordered  for 
their  good,  their  exposing  to  them  in  their  seasons,  supportment 
under  them  during  their  continuance,  and  deliverance  from  them 
in  the  appointed  time  thereof,  are  all  signal  mercies  which  they 
receive  by  the  ministry  of  angels. 

4.  By  this  ministry  of  angels  doth  God  in  particular  -preserve  us 
from  the  sudden  and  violent  incursions  of  Satan.  Satan  in  the 
Scripture  is  called  a  serpent,  from  his  subtlety  and  lying  in  wait  to 
do  mischief;  and  a  lion,  from  his  rage,  and  fury,  and  spoiling  from 
his  lurking-places.  And  as  the  one  or  the  other  he  continually 
seeks  the  harm,  mischief,  and  ruin  of  the  whole  man;  not  only  of 
our  souls,  in  sin  and  desert  of  punishment,  but  of  our  bodies,  in  our 
lives,  health,  and  welfare.  Hence  we  find  so  many  in  the  Gospel 
troubled  with  bodily  infirmities  from  the  assaults  and  impressions 
of  Satan.  And  what  he  prevails  to  do  against  any^  one,  that  he  is 
continually  attempting  against  all  the  whole  seed  of  Abraham. 
Hereunto  also  belong  all  those  hurtful  terrors,  affrightments,  and 
surprisals,  which  he  endeavoureth  by  himself  and  his  agents  to  cast 
upon  us.  Had  he  his  liberty,  he  would  make  our  whole  lives  to  be 
filled  with  disappointments,  horrors,  vain  fears,  and  perplexities,  if  he 
could  proceed  no  further.  Now  in  all  these  designs  it  is  more  than 
probable  that  he  is  prevented  by  the  ministry  of  angels.  We  find, 
in  the  1st  of  Job,  that  in  all  the  devil's  walks  in  the  earth  for  the 
executing  of  his  malice,  the  angels  still  observe  him,  and  are  ready 
to  answer  him  when  he  comes  with  his  accusations  against  the  saints 
into  the  presence  of  the  Lord.  And  hereon  depends  the  safety  and 
security  of  our  lives,  without  which  Satan  would  by  all  means  con- 
tinually attempt  to  fill  them  with  terrors,  vexations,  losses,  and 
troubles.  Not  one  of  us  should  escape  him  any  better  than  Job 
did,  when  God  for  a  season  suspended  his  protection  over  his  rela- 
tions, possessions,  and  enjoyments. 

5.  They  are  in  their  ministry  appointed  to  be  witnesses  of  the 
obedience,  sufferings,  and  vjorship  of  the  disciples  of  Christ,  that 
they  may  give  testimony  unto  them  before  God,  and  in  the  great 
assembly  of  the  last  day ;  so  glorifying  God  for  the  grace  bestowed 
upon  them  and  the  assistance  afforded  unto  them.  Thus  Paul  tells 
us  that  the  apostles  in  their  preaclnng  and  sufferings  were  made  "  a 
spectacle  unto  angels/'  1  Cor.  iv.  9.  The  holy  angels  of  God  looked 
on,  rejoicing  to  behold  how  gloriously  they  acquitted  themselves  in 
the  work  and  ministry  committed  unto  them.    And  to  this  end  doth 


VER.  14.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  253 

he  charge  Timothy  before  "  the  elect  angels"  to  look  unto  and  dis- 
charge aright  the  work  of  an  evangelist,  1  Tim.  v.  Hi,  because  they 
were  appointed  of  God  to  be  witnesses  of  his  faithfulness  and  dili- 
gence therein.  And  it  is  not  improbable  but'he  hath  respect  unto 
the  presence  of  angels  in  the  assemblies  of  the  saints  for  the  wor- 
ship of  God,  where  he  enjoins  modesty  and  sobriety  unto  women 
in  them  on  their  account,  1  Cor.  xi.  10.  And  from  that  particular 
instance  a  general  rule  may  be  drawn  for  the  observation  of  comeli- 
ness and  order  in  all  our  assemblies, — namely,  from  the  presence  of 
these  holy  witnesses  at  all  our  solemn  worship;  for  church-assem- 
blies are  the  court,  the  dwelling-place,  the  throne  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  therefore  in  them  he  is  in  an  especial  manner  attended  by  these 
glorious  ministers  of  his  presence.  And  therefore,  although  a  holy 
regard  unto  God  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself  be  the  first  and 
principal  motive  unto  a  right  and  holy  acquitment  of  ourselves  in 
all  our  obedience,  sufferings,  and  worship,  yet  in  subordination  there- 
unto we  may  have  also  respect  unto  the  angels,  as  those  who  are 
employed  by  him  to  be  witnesses  of  our  ways  and  carriage, — such  a 
resj)ect,  I  mean,  as  may  administer  occasion  unto  them  to  glorify 
God  in  Christ  on  our  behalf,  that  so  all  the  honour  may  finally 
redound  unto  him  alone. 

6.  God  useth  the  ministry  of  angels  to  avenge  his  elect  of  their 
enemies  and  persecutors,  to  render  unto  them  a  recompense  and 
vengeance  even  in  this  world,  in  the  due  and  appointed  season. 
Thus  by  an  angel  he  destroyed  the  army  of  Sennacherib,  when  he 
intended  and  threatened  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem;  and  by  an 
angel  he  smote  Herod,  in  the  midst  of  his  pride  and  persecution. 
Acts  xii.  And  this  ministry  of  theirs  is  in  an  especial  manner 
pointed  unto  in  several  places  of  the  Revelation,  where  the  judg- 
ments of  God  are  foretold  to  be  executed  on  the  persecutors  of  the 
world.  And  this  work  they  wait  for  in  a  holy  admiration  of  the 
patience  of  God  towards  many  a  provoking  generation,  and  are  in 
a  continual  readiness  to  discharge  it  unto  the  uttermost  when  they 
shall  i-eceive  their  commission  so  to  do,  Dan.  vii. 

7.  They  carry  the  souls  departed  into  Abraham's  bosom,  Luke 
xvi.  22. 

8.  Lastly,  The  ministry  of  angels  respects  the  general  resurrec- 
tion and  day  of  judgment.  The  Loi'd  Christ  is  everywhere  described 
coming  to  judgment  at  the  last  day  attended  with  all  his  holy  and 
glorious  angels,  Matt.  xxiv.  31,  xxv.  31 ;  2  Thess.  i.  7,  8;  Jude  14, 1 5. 
And  great  shall  be  their  work  towards  the  elect  in  that  day,  when  the 
Lord  Christ  "  shall  be  glorified  in  his  saints,  and  admired  in  all  them 
that  believe ;"  for  although  the  work  of  the  resurrection,  like  that  of 
the  creation,  is  to  be  effected  by  the  immediate  operation  of  almighty 
power,  without  the  interveniency  of  any  secondary,  finite  agents, 


25i  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [cHAP.  I. 

iimited  in  their  power  and  operation,  yet  many  things  prcpaiatory 
tl)ereunto  and  consequent  thereon  shall  be  committed  unto  the 
ministry  of  angels.  By  them  are  the  signs  and  tokens  of  it  to  be 
proclaimed  unto  the  world;  to  them  is  the  sounding  of  the  last 
trumpet  and  general  sunmions  given  out  unto^all  flesh  to  appear 
before  Jesus  Christ  committed,  with  all  the  glorious  solemnity  of 
the  judgment  itself.  And  as  they  bear  and  accompany  the  depart- 
ing souls  of  the  saints  into  the  receptacles  of  their  rest  in  heaven, 
so  doubtless  also  shall  they  accompany  them  in  their  joyful  return 
unto  their  beloved  old  habitations.  By  them  also  will  the  Lord 
Christ  gather  them  together  from  all  parts  wherein  their  redeemed 
bodies  have  been  reduced  into  dust;  and  so  also  at  length  by  them 
bring  all  the  heirs  of  salvation  triumphantly  into  the  full  possession 
of  their  inheritance. 

And  thus  much  may  suffice  to  have  spoken  about  the  ministry  of 
angels,  here  mentioned  by  the  apostle ;  by  all  which  it  further  ap- 
peal's how  neither  in  their  nature  nor  their  office  they  are  any  way 
to  be  compared  with  the  Son  of  God  in  his  ministry  towards  the 
church.  Some  deductions  also,  for  our  special  use  and  instruction, 
may  here  be  added  from  what  hath  been  spoken;  as, — 

1 .  That  we  ought  to  he  very  careful  to  use  sobriety  in  our  specu- 
lations and  meditations  about  this  matter.  Herein  doth  the  caution 
of  the  apostle  take  place  in  an  especial  manner,  that  we  should  be 
wise  imto  sobriety,  Rom.  xii.  3,  and  not  to  think  ourselves  wise 
above  that  which  is  written.  This  some  neglecting  of  old,  and 
endeavouring  to  intrude  themselves  into  the  things  which  they  had 
not  seen.  Col.  ii.  18, — that  is,  boasting  of  the  knowledge  and  ac- 
quaintance with  angels,  which  they  had  no  ground  for  nor  any  s:ife 
instruction  in, — fell  into  pride,  curiosity,  superstition,  and  idolatry, 
as  the  apostle  in  that  place  declareth.  And  almost  in  all  ages  of 
the  church  men  have  failed  on  this  account.  The  curiosity  of  the 
Jews  we  did  in  some  measure  before  manifest.  To  them  in  their 
imaginations  succeeded  the  Gnostics,  whose  portentous  seons  and 
genealogies  of  inferior  deities,  recounted  by  Irenceus,  Orlgen,  Ter- 
tulHan,  Epiphanius,  and  others  of  the  ancients,  were  nothing  but 
wicked  and  foolish  imaginations  about  angels.  Unto  them  suc- 
ceeded those  about  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century,  who  flatly 
worshipped  angels,  and  had  conventicles,  or  private  meetings,  for 
that  purpose,  who  are  expressly  condemned  in  the  35th  canon 
of  the  council  of  Laodicea,  anno  364,  in  these  words:  "On  cv  oi? 
"Kpisriavoiig  syxaTaXziiniv  rriv  sKzXj]C)iav  roij  Qsoxj,  xai  dmivai,  xai  ayyl- 
X'.vc  hvo;j:,a(^iiv  xai  euvdj^sig  vonTv,  ci'Tnp  a~ayrjpi\jirai'  u  rig  ovv  evpe.^fi  ra-Jry] 
rr/  Kizpvfjj/JLSV/^  sidouXoXarpiia  tf^oXct^wv  'iarc/j  i-hdh/J^a'  Ijri  sy/.uri}j--s  rln 
Kupioii  ri'jjMV  'I'/^Souv  Xpiarov  rlv  T'lov  rov  Q'cou  zai  il^c/jXcXarpia  '7rp(jr>r,}.i\ov' 
wherein  they  plainly  adjudge  that  practice  to  be  idolatry  and  apos- 


VER.  14.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  255 

tasy  from  Jesus  Christ.  After  .these,  about  the  end  of  the  foiirtli  or 
heguming  of  the  fifth  century,  he  vented  his  curious  speculations 
about  their  hierarchy,  orders,  and  operations,  who  personated  Dio- 
nysins  the  Areopagite;  of  whom  we  spake  before.  From  them  all 
did  that  sink  of  idolatry,  superstition,  and  heresies,  the  church  of 
E.ome,  derive  her  present  speculations,  adoration,  worship,  and  in- 
vocation of  angels.  But  as  these  things  are  all  of  them  witliout, 
beside,  and  against  the  word  in  general,  so  they  are  in  particular 
expressly  prejudged  and  condemned  by  the  apostle,  in  the  place  to 
the  Colossia,ns  before  mentioned.  And  of  such  kind  of  needless, 
useless,  unprofitable,  daugerous  speculations  we  are  to  beware ;  and 
many  of  them  I  could  in  particular  recite,  but  that  I  would  not 
teach  them  unto  any  by  condemning  them  before  all.     But  yet, — 

2.  Danger  should  not  deter  us  from  duty.  Because  some  have 
miscarried  in  this  matter,  we  ought  not  therefore  wholly  to  neglect 
it,  there  being  so  great  a  concernment  of  the  glory  of  God  and  our 
own  good  enwrapped  therein.  Had  others  erred  or  wandered  in- 
deed, because  they  had  neither  way  to  walk  in  nor  guide  to  attend 
unto,  it  had  been  sufficient  to  restrain  us  from  attempting  any  thing 
in  this  matter;  but  whereas  it  is  evident  that  they  wilfully  neglected 
the  way,  or  pressed  farther  than  the  paths  of  it  led  them,  and  de- 
spised their  guide,  following  their  own  imagination  instead  thereof, 
shall  others  be  discouraged  in  their  duty,  whereas  they  may  avoid 
tlieir  miscarriages  ?  Wary,  indeed,  this  may  and  ought  to  niidce  us 
in  our  inquiries,  but  not  neglective  of  our  duties.  We  have  the 
word  of  God  for  our  way  and  gxiide.  If  we  go  not  besides  it,  if  we 
go  not  beyond  it,  we  are  as  safe  when  we  treat  of  angels  as  if  we 
treated  of  worms.  We  have  seen  in  part  of  what  signal  use  their 
ministry  is  as  unto  our  good,  and  the  glory  of  Jesus  Christ.  And 
it  is  pride  to  the  height,  not  to  inquire  after  what  may  be  known, 
because  there  are  many  things  that  we  may  not  know  nor  compre- 
hend. If  that  take  place,  it  will  debar  us  from  all  search  into  the 
mysteries  of  the  gospel;  for  upon  our  utmost  attainment  we  know 
but  in  part.  God's  revelation  is  the  object  of  our  knowledge.  So 
far  as  that  is  made  and  given,  so  far  we  may  inquire  and  learn. 
Besides,  it  is  the  height  of  ingratitude,  not  to  search  after  what  may 
be  known  of  this  great  privilege  and  mercy  whereof  we  are  made 
partakers  in  the  ministry  of  angels.  God  hath  neither  appointed 
nor  revealed  it  for  nothing;  he  expects  a  revenue  of  praise  and 
glory  for  it;  but  how  can  we  bless  him  for  it  when  we  know  nothing 
of  it  ?  This  ministry  of  angels,  then,  is  that  which,  with  sobriety, 
we  are  in  a  way  of  duty  to  inquire  into. 

3.  Let  us  on  this  account  glorify  God  and  he  thankful.     Great 
is  the  privilege,  manifold  are  the  blessings  and  benefits,  that  we  are 
made  partakers  of  by  this  ministry  of  angels.     Some  of  them  have 
r®L.  XII. — 17 


256  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

been  Lefore  recounted.  What  shall  we  render  for  them  ?  and  to 
"whom?  Sliall  we  go  and  bow  ourselves  down  to  the  angels  them- 
Belves,  and  pay  our  homage  of  obedience  unto  them  ?  They  uU  cry 
out  with  one  accord,  "See  you  do  it  not;  we  are  your  fellow-ser- 
vants." What  shall  we  do  then  ?  Why,  say  they,  "  Worship  God." 
Glorify  and  praise  him  who  is  the  God  of  all  angels,  who  sends 
them,  who  employs  them,  unto  whom  they  minister  in  all  that  they 
do  for  us.     Let  us  bless  God,  I  say,  for  the  ministry  of  angels. 

Moreover,  these  words  afford  us  other  instructions,  which  I  shall 
only  name,  and  put  a  close  unto  our  discourses  on  this  chapter; 
as, — 

III.  The  Socratical  fancy  of  one  single  guardian  angel  attending 
every  one,  as  it  is,  if  admitted,  a  real  impeachment  of  the  consola- 
tion of  believers,  so  a  great  inducement  unto  superstition  and  ido- 
latry. The  further  evidencing  of  this  truth  I  remit  unto  what  hath 
been  already  delivered  about  the  ministry  of  angels  in  general. 

IV.  Believers  obtain  heaven  by  inheritance  and  free  gift  of  their 
Father,  and  not  by  any  meiit  of  their  own.  Heirs  among  men 
claim  their  inheritance  "jure  nascendi,"  because  they  are  born  unto 
it,  not  because  they  deserve  it  better  than  others.  Believers  look 
for  theirs  "jure  adoptionis,"  by  right  of  adoption,  whereby  they 
become  sons,  heirs  of  God,  and  co-heirs  with  Jesus  Christ. 


CHAPTER  II. 

In  this  second  chapter  the  apostle  declares  his  design,  and  what 
his  especial  aim  was  with  respect  unto  them  to  whom  he  wrote.  It 
was  not  merely  their  instruction,  or  the  information  of  their  n)inds 
and  judgments  that  he  intended;  though  that  also  was  in  his  eye, 
and  necessary  unto  his  principal  purpose.  They  had,  by  their  insta- 
bility and  fainting  in  trials,  administered  occasion  unto  him  of  other 
discourse.  Besides,  he  foresaw  that  they  had  great  difficulties  and 
temptations  to  contend  withal,  and  was  jealous  lest  they  should 
miscarry  under  them,  as  he  also  was  over  other  professors,  2  Cor. 
xi.  2,  3.  His  principal  end,  therefore,  in  this  whole  epistle,  (as  hath 
been  declared,)  was  to  prevail  with  the  Hebrews  unto  steail fastness  in 
the  faith  of  the  gospel,  and  diligence  in  attendance  unto  all  those 
ways  and  means  whereby  they  might  be  established.  The  founda- 
tion of  his  exhortations  unto  this  purpose  he  lays  in  the  incom- 
parable excellency  of  the  Author  of  the  gospel.  Hence  just  and 
cogent  inferences  unto  constancy  in  the  profession  of  his  doctrine 
and  obedience  unto  him,  both  absolutely  and  in  respect  of  the  com- 
petition set  up  against  it  by  Mosaical  institutions,  do  naturally  flow. 


VER.  1.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  257 

And  these  considerations  doth  the  apostle  divide  into  several  parts, 
interposing,  in  great  wisdom,  between  the  handling  of  them,  those 
exhortations  which  pressed  towards  his  especial  end,  before  men- 
tioned.    And  this  course  he  proceeds  in  for  several  reasons;  for, — • 

First,  He  minds  them  and  us  in  general,  that  in  handling  of  the 
doctrines  of  the  gospel  concerning  the  person  and  offices  of  Jesus 
Christ,  we  should  not  satisfy  ourselves  in  a  bare  7io^io?iaZ  speculation 
of  them,  but  endeavour  to  get  our  hearts  excited  by  them  unto 
faith,  love,  obedience,  and  stead  fastness  in  our  profession.  This  doth 
he  immediately  apply  them  unto.  Instances  unto  this  purpose 
doth  he  give  us  in  this  chapter,  upon  his  foregoing  declaration  of  the 
excellencies  of  Christ  and  the  glory  of  his  kingdom,  that  so  his 
bearers  might  not  be  barren  and  unfruitful  in  the  knowledge  of  him. 

Secondly,  As  to  the  Hebrews  in  particular,  he  had,  as  it  were,  so 
overwhelmed  them  with  that  flood  of  divine  testimonies  which  lie 
harl  poured  out  in  the  beginning  of  his  epistle,  and  that  heavenly, 
glorious  declaration  which  he  had  made  of  the  person  of  the  Mes- 
siah, that  he  thought  it  needful  to  give  them  time  to  consider  what 
was  the  tendency  of  that  sublime  discourse,  and  what  was  their 
especial  concernment  therein. 

Thirdly,  The  apostle  interposeth  his  exhortation  in  this  place,  as 
to  be  an  application  of  what  was  before  delivered,  so  to  lead  them 
on  thereby  unto  the  consideration  of  arguments  of  another  nature 
(though  of  the  same  use  and  tendency),  taken  from  the  sacerdotal 
or  priestly  office  of  Christ,  and  the  works  or  effects  thereof.  And 
herein  doth  a  great  part  of  the  apostolical  wisdom,  in  the  various 
intertexture  of  doctrines  and  exhortations,  in  this  epistle  consist, 
that  as  every  exhortation  flows  naturally  from  the  doctrine  tliat 
doth  precede  it,  so  always  the  principal  matter  of  it  leads  directly 
unto  some  other  doctrinal  argument,  which  ho  intends  nextly  to 
insist  upon.  And  this  we  shall  see  evidenced  in  the  transition  that 
he  makes  from  the  exhortation  laid  down  in  the  beginning  of  this 
chapter,  unto  the  sacerdotal  office  of  Christ,  verses  6-9. 

The  first  verses,  then,  of  this  chapter  are  purely  parenetical  or 
hortatory,  with  a  mixture  of  some  considerations  serving  to  make 
the  exhortation  weighty  and  cogent. 

Verse  1. 

The  first  verse  contains  the  exhortation  itself  intended  by  the 
apostle,  those  following  the  especial  enforcements  of  it. 

Ver.  1. — A/a  TouTO  di?'  '^ipiaeor'spug  rj/jMg  'xpoe's^nv  roTg  axovcSiTst,  /m^- 

VOTi  'TrapUpf'UU/J.iV. 

Usptaaorspo);,   "  abundantius,"  V.  L.,  Arias,  "more   abundantly,"   "  eo  am- 
plius,"  Beza,  •' so  much    the    more;"  "''^fr"!"!,    Syr.,  "  magis,"  "the  ralhi-r;" 
"  ut  magis,"   "  ut  abundantius," — "as  the   rather,"  "as    more   abundantly; 
"  suniraa  attentione,"  Arab.,   "  with  all  attention."      The  word  denotes  some- 


258  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

wtat  more  than  ordinary  in  the  act  it  relates  unto,  or  the  persons  to  whom  it 
is  applied.  And  diligence  bein'j:  especially  required  in  attention  unto  any  thing-, 
or  in  tliose  that  attend,  whicli  extends  itself  unto  the  whole  deportment  of  the 
mind  in  that  woik  (if  that  be  respected  herein,  which  we  shall  consider),  it  may 
be  not  unmeetly  rendered  "  more  diligently,"  directly ;  "  more  abundantly," 

Upodix^iv,  "  observare,"  V.  L.,  "to  observe," — improperly;  "adhibere," 
Ar.  M.;  a  word  of  an  imperfect  sense,  unless  supplied  with  our  minds,  or  un- 
derstandings, or  diligence, — "  adhibei-e  animum,"  "adhibere  diligentiam;"  but 
immediately  affecting  the  object,  as  "adhibere  auditis,"  it  gives  no  perfect  sense. 
"  Attendere,"  Beza,  "to  attend  unto,"  "to  give  heed;"  VTv!  ''."i^.?}  "  simus 
cauti,  attenti,"  Syr.,  "that  we  be  wai'y,"  or  "heedful."  TLpoaix"  's  usually  in 
other  authors,  when  it  refers  to  persons,  "  ausculto,"  or  "  ohtempero,"  to  hear- 
ken, attend,  and  give  heed  to  any  one  with  an  observant  or  obedient  mind. 
And  sometimes  it  signifies  to  hope,  or  place  trust  or  confidence  in  him  that 
is  attended  unto.  It  is  also  used  for  to  assent,  to  agree,  or  subscribe  unto 
what  is  spoken  by  another.  In  the  New  Testament  it  is  principally  used  in 
two  senses: — 1.  To  beware,  or  look  to  ourselves,  as  to  things  or  persons  that 
might  hurt  us;  and  then  it  is  attended  with  «wo  or  i^/,  as  Matt.  vii.  15,  x.  17, 
xvi.  6,  11,  12;  Luke  xii.  1: — or  so  to  beware  as  to  look  diligently  unto  our  own 
concernments  absolutely,  Luke  xvii.  3,  xxi.  34;  Matt.  vi.  1;  Acts  xx.  28.  2.  To 
attend  with  diligence  and  submission  of  mind  unto  the  words  of  another,  or  unto 
any  business  that  we  are  employed  in,  Acts  viii.  6,  xvi.  14;  1  Tim.  i.  4,  iv.  1, 13; 
Titus  i.  14.  So  it  is  said  of  the  Samaritans,  that  they  much  heeded  Simon 
Magus:  Upoailxov  olvtu  "Trdcvng,  Acts  viii.  10.  And  it  is  the  same  word  whereby 
the  reverential  obedience  of  that  people  unto  the  preaching  of  Philip  is  expressed, 
verse  6.  An  attendance,  then,  with  a  mind  ready  for  obedience  is  that  which 
the  word  imports. 

Tor?  x.x.ova6u(ii,  "  auditis,"  "  to  the  things  heard ;"  l?^"f "!  °7.'?.?,  Syr.,  "  in  eo 
quod  audivimus,"  "  in  that  which  we  have  heard," — to  the  things  heard,  that  is 
by  us,  who  are  required  to  attend  unto  them. 

TLctpctppvui^iv.  This  word  is  nowhere  else  used  in  the  New  Testament,  In 
other  authors  it  is  as  much  as  " praeterfluo,"  "to  run  by."  So  Xenopli.  Cvro- 
paed.,lib.  iv.,  lltslu  dz-6  rov  TrxpctppsovTo;  T^-orct/^ov, — "to  drink  of  the  river  running 
by."  "  Pereffliiamus,"  V.  L.,  "  ne  forte  peretfluamus,"  "  lest  perhaps  we  should 
runout."  M'/j7roT£,  "ne  forte,"  "  lest  perhaps,"  improperly;  it  respects  times 
and  seasons, — "lest  at  any  time;"  'S'  s<^"i,"ne  forte  cadamus,"  "decidamus," 
"  lest  we  fall,"  "fall  down,"  that  is,  "  perish."  So  is  the  word  also  interpreted  by 
Chrysostom,  M'^xots  -Trocpuppvufisv,  rovriari  fc'/j  ci'7ro'Au/iisd»,  fiii  iicT^iauy^iv, — "  that 
■we  perish  not,"  "that  we  fall  not."  And  he  confirms  this  sense  from  that  saying  in 
the  Proverbs,  chap.  iii.  21,  Tli  ft,'/j  TrupaopvYig.  "My  Son,  fall  not."  So  he  interprets 
the  word.  In  the  original  it  is, 'i'^''^"?,  "Let  them  not  depart,"  the  word  re- 
specting not  the  person  spoken  unto,  but  the  things  spoken  of.  Nor  do  the  LXX, 
in  any  other  place  render  vh  by  Trapccppiu,  but  by  exAsiVw,  as  in  the  next  chapter, 
verse  21,  and  words  of  the  like  signification,  "  to  decline,"  "  draw  back,"  '•  give 
over,"  by  negligence  or  weariness.  Other  ancient  translations  read,  "  ne  decida- 
mus ab  honestate,"  "  that  we  fall  not  from  honesty,"  and,  "et  nequaqitam  rejicia«," 
"and  by  no  means  to  reject."  What  sense  of  the  word  is  most  proper  to  the 
place  we  shall  afterwards  consider.' 

'Various  Readings. — Tischendorf  reads  -xxp^pvu^iv,  on  the  autliority  of 
ABD  J;  which,  says  Ebrard,  is  nothing  more  than  an  Alexandrine  orthography. 

Exposition. — Tlapocp.  Stuart  remarks,  th;.t  two  senses  have  been  att;iehed  to 
the  word: — 1.  To  fall,  stumble,  or  perish.  Chrysostom,  Theophylact,  Thtodoi-et, 
and  others,  render  the  clause,  "So  that  we  may  not  stumble,"  or  "fall."  And, 
2.  To  sitter  tojlowfrom  the  mind;  in  proof  of  which  he  quotes  from  Clem.  Al^x, 
Paedagog.,  iii,  p.  246,  and  he  shows  that  Prov,  iii.  21  really  bears  the  tauie 


VER.  1.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  259 

Ver.  1, — Therefore  [/or  this  cause]  the  more  abundantly 
ought  we  to  attend  [or,  give  heed]  to  the  things  hoard 
[Z*?/  us],  lest  at  any  time  we  should  flow  out  [or,  pass 
aivay]. 

A/a  rouTo,  " for  this  cause;"  as -much  as  hi6,  "there- 
fore," "  wherefore/'  There  is  in  the  words  an  illa- 
tion from  the  precedent  discourse,  and  the  whole  verse  is  a  hortatory 
conclusion  from  thence.  From  the  proposition  that  he  hath  made 
of  the  glory  and  excellency  of  the  Author  of  the  gospel  he  di'aws 
this  inference,  "  Therefore  ought  we," — for  the  reasons  and  causes 
insisted  on.  And  thus  the  word  'va.pappvMiiiv,  "  flow  out,"  expresseth 
their  losing  by  any  ways  or  means  tlie  doctrine  of  the  gospel  wherein 
they  had  been  instructed,  and  the  benefits  thereof.  Seeing  the 
gospel  hath  such  a  blessed  Author,  we  ought  to  take  care  that  we 
forfeit  not  our  interest  in  it.  But  if  we  take  <7rapappuu//xsv  in  the 
sense  chosen  by  Chrysostom,  to  express  the  fall  and  perishing  of 
them  that  attend  not  as  they  ought  unto  the  word  (which  interpre- 
tation is  favoured  by  the  Syriac  translation),  then  the  word,  "  there- 
fore," "  for  this  cause,"  respects  the  commination  or  threatening 
included  therein.  As  if  the  apostle  had  said,  '  Therefore  ought  you 
to  attend;'  that  is,  '  Look  to  it  that  you  do  attend,  lest  you  fall  and 
perish.'  I  rather  embrace  the  former  sense,  both  because  the  in- 
terpretation of  the  word  used  by  Chrysostom  is  strained,  as  also 
because  the  apostle  doth  evidently  in  these  words  enter  upon  an 
exhortation  unto  obedience,  upon  his  former  discourse  about  the 
person  of  Christ ;  nor  without  an  especial  regard  thereunto  had  he 
laid  any  foundation  for  such  a  threatening  unto  disobedience  as  is 
pretended  to  be  in  the   words ;  of  which  yet  further  afterwards. 

AsT  7]/j,as,  "  Ought  we," — the  persons  unto  whom  he  _ ,  , 
makes  the  application  of  his  doctrine,  and  directs  his 
exhortation.  Some  think  that  Paul  joins  himself  here  with  all  the 
Hebrews  upon  the  account  of  cognation  and  country,  as  being 
himself  also  a  Hebrew,  Phil,  iii,  5,  and  therefore  affectionately  re- 
specting them,  Rom.  ix.  3 ;  but  the  expression  is  to  be  regu- 
lated by  the  words  that  follow,  *  All  we,  who  have  heard  the  gos- 
pel preached,  and  made  profession  thereof.'  And  the  apostle  joins 
himself  with  them,  not  that  there  was  any  danger  on  his  part  lest 
he  should  not  constantly  obey  the  word,  or  [as  if  he]  were  of  them 
whose  wavering  and  instability  gave  occasion  to  this  caution;  but, 


meaning,  "Do  not  pass  by,  but  keep  my  counsel."  The  translation,  therefore, 
which  he  proposes  for  this  verse  is,  "Lest  we  should  slight  them."  Hcpap.  "'Allow 
them  to  flow  past  us;'  i.  e.,  'allow  them  to  pass  by  our  ears  without  beinj?  listened 
to.'  Erasmus  Selimid.  Cos,  in  1  ke  manner.  Any  place  which  a  river  Hows  pat 
is  said  Tnx-^tx.ppvuadut.  Meta|ihorieallv.  any  thing  is  said  in  general  'Trxpccpfvuaia.i 
which  is  passed  by  and  omitted  through  carelessness." — Woljlus. — Ed. 


260  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

1.  To  manifest  that  the  duty  which  he  exhorts  them  unto  is  of  general 

concernment  unto  all  to  whom  the  gospel  is  preached, — so  that  he  lays 
no  singular  burden  on  them;  and,  2.  That  he  might  not  as  yet  dis- 
cover unto  them  any  jealousy  of  their  inconstancy,  or  that  he  had 
entertained  any  severe  thoughts  concerning  them, — apprehensions 
whereof  are  apt  to  render  exhortations  suspected,  the  minds  of  men 
being  ready  enough  to  disregard  that  which  they  are  persuaded 
unto,  if  they  suspect  that  undeserved  blame  lies  at  the  bottom  of 
the  exhortation.  The  hke  condescension  hereunto,  upon  the  like 
account,  we  may  see  in  Peter,  1  Epist.  iv.  3. 

These  are  the  persons  spoken  unto.  That  which  is  spoken  to 
them  consists  in  an  exhortation  unto  a  duty,  and  an  especial  en- 
forcement of  it.  The  exhortation  and  duty  in  the  first  words, — "  The 
more  abundantly  to  attend  unto  the  things  heard ;"  and  the  enforce- 
ment in  the  close  of  them,  "  Lest  at  any  time  we  should  flow  out." 

In  the  exhortation  is  expressed  an  especial  circumstance  of  it, 
the  duty  itself,  and  the  manner  of  its  performance. 

The  first  is  included  in  that  word,  "  more  abundantly;"  which  may 
refer  either  unto  the  causes  of  the  attendance  required,  or  unto  the 
manner  of  its  performance. 

In  the  words  as  they  lie  in  the  text,  Ai&  rovro  <!:spieeoTspug  S;7 
ri/Mug  'zpos's-)(iiv,  the  word  'ffipiaaoripojg,  "  more  abundantly,'"  is  joined 
unto  dia  TovTo,  "  therefore,"  "  for  this  cause,"  and  seems  immediately 
to  respect  it,  and  so  to  intimate  the  excellent  and  abundant  reason 
that  we  have  to  attend  unto  the  gospel.  But  if  we  transpose  the 
words,  and  read  them  as  if  they  lay  thus,  AsT  rti^ag  vipieeoripug  irpa- 
Giyji'i,  then  the  word  'Tripiaaorspug,  "  more  abundantly,"  respects  the 
following  word  Tpcg'sx^iv,  "  to  attend  unto,"  and  so  expresseth  some- 
what of  the  manner  ol  the  performance  of  the  duty  proposed.  And 
so  our  translators  report  the  sense,  "  We  ought  to  give  the  more 
diligent  heed,"  or  "  give  heed  the  more  diligently."  The  reader 
may  embrace  whether  sense  he  judgeth  most  agreeable  to  the  scope 
of  the  place.  The  former  construction  of  the  word,  expressing  the 
necessity  of  our  attention  to  be  intimated  from  the  cogency  of  the 
reasons  thereof  before  insisted  on,  is  not  without  its  probability. 
And  this  the  meaning  of  the  word  agrees  unto,  whether  we  take  it 
absolutely  (for  so,  as  Chrysostom  observes,  it  may  be  taken,  though 
of  itself  it  be  of  another  form)  or  comparatively,  in  which  form  it 
is.  Take  it  absolutely,  and  the  apostle  informs  them  that  they 
have  abundant  cause  to  attend  unto  the  things  spoken  or  heard, 
because  of  him  that  spake  them;  for  concerning  him  alone  came 
that  voice  from  the  excellent  glory,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Sou,  hear 
him."  So  also  in  the  other  sense,  the  apostle  is  not  comparing  the 
manner  of  their  attending  unto  the  doctrine  of  the  law  (which  cer- 
tainly they  ought  to  have  done  with  all  diligence)  and  their  attend- 


VER  1.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  261 

ance  unto  the  gospel,  but  shows  the  reasons  which  they  had  to 
attend  unto  the  one  and  the  other,  as  the  following  verses  clearly 
manifest.  This,  then,  may  be  that  which  the  apostle  intimates  in 
this  word,  namely,  that  they  had  more  abundant  cause  and  a  more 
excellent  reason  for  their  attending  unto  the  doctrine  of  the  gospel 
than  they  had  unto  that  of  the  law,  on  this  account,  that  lie  by 
whom  the  gospel  was  immediately  preached  unto  us  was  the  Son  of 
God  himself.  But  the  other  application  of  the  word  is  more  com- 
monly received,  wherein  it  intends  the  duty  enjoined. 

In  reference  unto  the  duty  exhorted  unto,  there  is  expressed  the 
object  of  it,  "  the  things  heard."  Thus  the  apostle  .  , 
chooseth  to  express  the  doctrine  of  the  gospel,  with  re- 
spect unto  the  way  and  manner  whereby  it  was  communicated  unto 
them,  namely,  by  preaching;  for  "  faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and  hear- 
ing is  of  the  word  preached,"  Rom.  x.  14,  15,  17.  And  herein  doth 
he  magnify  the  great  ordinance  of  preaching,  as  everywhere  else  he 
maketh  it  the  great  means  of  begetting  faith  in  men.  The  Lord 
Christ  himself  first  preached  the  gospel,  Acts  i.  1,  and  verse  3  of 
this  chapter.  Concerning  him  it  was  said  from  heaven,  "  Hear  him," 
Matt.  xvii.  5,  as  he  who  revealed  the  Father  from  his  own  bosom, 
John  i.  18.  From  him  the  gospel  came  to  be  the  word  heard. 
When  he  had  finished  the  course  of  his  personal  ministry,  he  com- 
mitted the  same  work  unto  others,  sending  them  as  the  Father  sent 
him.  They  also  preached  the  gospel,  and  called  it  "the  word ;"  that  is, 
that  which  they  preached.  See  2  Cor.  i.  18.  So  in  the  Old  Testamenc 
it  is  called  '^VxV'j  I^a.  liii.  1,  "auditus,"  "a  hearing,"  or  that  which 
was  heard,  being  preached.  So  that  the  apostle  insists  on  and  com- 
mends unto  them  not  only  the  things  themselves  wherein  they  had 
been  instructed,  but  also  the  way  whereby  they  were  communicated 
unto  them,  namely,  by  the  great  ordinance  of  preaching,  as  he  fur- 
ther declares,  verse  3.  This  as  the  means  of  their  believing,  as  the 
ground  of  their  profession,  they  were  diligently  to  remember,  con- 
sider, and  attend  unto. 

The  duty  itself  directed  unto,  and  the  manner  of  its  perform- 
ance, are  expressed  in  the  word  'zpoasy^iiv,  to  "attend,"  or  , 
"  give  heed."  What  kind  of  attendance  is  denoted  by 
this  word  was  in  part  before  declared.  An  attendance  it  is  with  reve- 
rence, assent,  and  readiness  to  obey.  So  Acts  xvi.  14,  "  God  opened 
the  heart  of  Lydia,  Tpos's'x^siv  roig  XaXov/jbivoig,"- — "  to  attend  unto  the 
things  that  were  spoken;"  not  to  give  tiiem  the  hearing  only;  there 
was  no  need  of  the  opening  of  her  heart  for  the  mere  attention  of 
her  ear;  but  she  attended  with  readiness,  humility,  and  resolution 
to  obey  the  word.  The  effect  of  which  attention  is  expressed  by 
the  apostle,  Rom.  vi.  17.  To  attend,  then,  unto  the  word  preached, 
is  to  consider  the  author  of  it,  the  matter  of  it,  the  weight  and 


262  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

concernment  of  it,  the  ends  of  it,  witli  faith,  subjection  of  spirit,  and 
constancy,  as  we  shall  with  our  apostle  more  at  large  afterwards 
explain. 

The  duty  exhorted  unto  being  laid  down,  a  motive  or  enforcement 

unto  it  is  subjoined,  taken  from  the  danger  that  would  ensue  from 

the  neglect  thereof.     And  this  is  either  from  the  sin  or  punishment 

that  would  attend  it,  according  unto  the  various  inter- 

apapfunj  . .  pj-g^g^^^Q^^g  Qf  j-j^g  word  -Trapappvu/Miv,  "  flow  out,"  or  "  fall," 
l^efore  mentioned.  If  it  signify  to  "fall"  or  "perish,"  then  the  punish- 
ment of  the  neglect  of  this  duty  is  intimated.  We  shall  perish  as 
water  that  is  poured  on  the  earth.'  Thereunto  is  the  frail  life  of 
man  compared,  2  Sam.  xiv.  14.  This  sense  of  the  word  is  embraced 
by  few  expositors,  yet  hath  it  great  countenance  given  unto  it  by 
the  ensuing  discourse,  verses  2,  3,  and  for  that  reason  it  is  not  un- 
worthy our  consideration.  For  the  design  of  the  apostle  in  those 
verses  is  to  prove  that  they  shall  deservedly  and  assuredly  perish 
who  shoidd  neglect  the  gospel.  And  the  following  particles,  £/'  yap, 
"  and  if,"  in  verse  2,  may  seem  to  relate  unto  what  was  bel'ore 
spoken,  and  so  to  yield  a  reason  why  the  unbelievers  should  so 
perish  as  he  had  intimated;  which,  unless  it  be  expressed  in  this 
word,  the  apostle  had  not  before  at  all  spoken  unto.  And  in  this 
sense  the  caution  here  given  is,  that  we  should  attend  unto  the  word 
of  the  gospel,  lest  by  our  neglect  thereof  we  bring  upon  ourselves 
inevitable  ruin,  and  perish  as  water  that  is  spilt  on  the  ground, 
which  cannot  be  gathered  up  again. 

But  the  truth  is,  that  the  word  Torg  prefixed  will  not 
be  well  reconciled  unto  this  sense  and  interpretation, 
unless  we  should  suppose  it  to  be  redundant  and  insignificative, 
and  so  /ajj  mrB  ■■^apappvoJ/Mv,  "lest  at  any  time  we  should  flow  out," 
should  be  the  same  with  //,^  rrapappvufisv  absolutely,  "  that  we  fall 
not."  But  there  is  no  just  reason  to  render  that  word  so  useless. 
Allow  it,  therefore,  to  be  significative,  and  it  may  have  a  double 
sense, — 1.  To  denote  an  uncertain  time,  "  quando,"  "  aliquando,"  "  at 
any  time;"  2.  A  conditional  event,  "forte,"  "  ne  forte,"  "lest  it 
should  happen."  In  neither  of  these  senses  will  it  allow  the  words 
to  be  expounded  of  the  punishment  that  shall  befall  imbelievers, 
which  is  most  certain  both  as  to  the  time  and  the  event.  Neither 
doth  the  apostle  in  tlie  next  verses  threaten  them  that  neglect  the 
gospel,  that  at  some  time  or  other  they  maij  perish,  but  lets  them 
know  that  their  destruction  is  certain,  and  that  from  the  Lord. 

It  is,  then,  our  sinful  losing  of  the  word  and  the  benefits  there- 
of which  the  apostle  intendeth.  And  in  the  next  verses  he  doth 
not  proceed  to  prove  what  he  had  asserted  in  this  verse,  but  goes  on 
to  other  arguments  to  the  same  purpose,  taken  from  the  unques- 
tionable event  of  our  neglect  of  the  word,  and  losing  the  benefits 


VER,  1.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  263 

thereof.  The  especial  reason,  therefore,  why  the  apostle  thus  ex- 
presseth  our  losing  of  the  doctrine  of  the  gospel  by  want  of  diligent 
attendance  unto  it,  is  to  be  inquired  after.  Generally  the  expres- 
sion is  looked  on  as  an  alhision  unto  leaking  vessels,  which  suffer 
the  water  that  is  poured  into  them  one  way  to  run  out  many  :  as 
he  speaks  in  the  "  Comedian"  who  denied  that  he  could  keep  secret 
some  things  if  they  were  communicated  unto  him  :  "  Pleuus  rima- 
rum  sum,  hue  atque  illuc  effluo  \" — "  I  am  full  of  chinks,  and  flow 
out  on  every  side."  And  the  word  relates  unto  the  persons,  not  to 
tJje  things,  because  it  contains  a  crime.  It  is  our  duty  to  retain  the 
word  which  we  have  heard  ;  and  therefore  it  is  not  said  that  the 
word  flows  out,  but  that  we  as  it  were  pour  it  out.  And  this 
crime  is  denoted  by  the  addition  of  Ta^a  to  '^vuv:  for  as  the  simple 
verb  denotes  the  passing  away  of  any  thing  as  water,  whether  it 
deserve  to  be  retained  or  no,  so  the  compound  doth  the  losing  of 
that  perversely  which  we  ought  to  have  retained. 

But  we  may  yet  inquire  a  little  further  into  the  reason  and  na- 
ture of  the  allegory.  The  word  or  doctrine  of  the  Scripture  is 
compared  to  showers  and  rain :  Deut.  xxxii.  2,  "  My  doctrine  shall 
drop  as  the  rain,  my  speech  shall  distil  as  the  dew,  as  the  small 
rain  upon  the  tender  herb,  and  as  the  showers  upon  the  grass." 
Hence  the  same  word,  'lli^,  signifies  "  a  teacher"  and  "rain:"  so 
that  translators  do  often  doubt  of  its  special  sense,  as  Ps.  Ixxxiv.  7, 
nniD  noy^nbnB — "The  rain  filleth  the  pools,"  as  in  our  translation  ; 
others,  as  Jerome  and  Arias  Montanus,  render  them,  "  Bene<lic- 
tionibus  operietur  docens," — "The  teacher  shall  be  covered  with 
blessings;"  both  the  words  being  ambiguous.  So  also  Isa.  xxx. 
20,  T*"}.}^,  which  we  translate  "  thy  teachers,"  is  by  otliers  rendered 
"  thv  showers,"  or  "  rain."  So  these  words,  Joel,  ii.  23,  ^^?  in:i"''3 
•^^IP  '"'"J'"^'"!'"^^,  which  our  translators  render  in  the  text,  "  He  hath 
given  you  the  former  rain  moderately,"  in  the  margin  they  render, 
"a  teacher  of  righteousness."  And  the  like  ambiguity  is  in  other 
places.  And  there  is  an  elegant  metaphor  in  the  word  ;  lor  as  the 
drops  of  rain  falling  on  the  earth  do  water  it  and  make  it  fruitful, 
whilst  it  takes  no  notice  of  it,  so  doth  the  doctrine  of  the  word  in- 
sensibly make  fruitful  unto  God  the  souls  of  men  upon  whom  it 
doth  descend.  And  in  respect  unto  the  word  of  the  gospel  it  is 
that  the  Lord  Christ  is  said  to  come  down  as  the  showers  on  the 
mown  grass,  Ps.  Ixxii.  So  the  apostle  calls  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel  unto  men  the  watering  of  them,  1  Cor.  iii.  6,  7 ;  and  he  com- 
pares them  unto  whom  it  is  preached  unto  the  earth  that  drinketh 
in  the  rain,  Heb.  vi.  7.  In  pursuit  of  this  metaphor  it  is  that  men 
are  said  to  pour  out  the  word  preached  unto  them,  when  by  their 
negligence  they  lose  all  the  bentfits  thereof.  So  when  our  Saviour 
had  compared  the  same  word  unto  seed,  he  sets  out  men's  falling 


264  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

from  it  by  all  the  ways  and  means  whereby  seed  cast  into  the  earth 
may  be  lost  or  become  unprofitable,  Matt.  xiii.  And  as  he  shows 
that  there  are  various  ways  and  means  whereby  the  seed  that  is 
sown  may  be  lost  and  perish,  so  there  are  many  times  and  seasons, 
ways  and  means,  wherein  and  whereby  we  may  lose  and  pour  out 
the  water  or  rain  of  the  word  which  we  have  received.  And  these 
the  apostle  regards  in  that  expression,  "lest  at  any  time." 

We  are  now  entered  on  the  practical  part  of  the  epistle,  and 
that  which  is  of  great  importance  unto  all  professors  at  all  times, 
especially  unto  such  as  are,  by  the  good  providence  of  God,  called 
into  the  condition  wherein  the  Hebrews  were  when  Paul  thus 
treated  with  them;  that  is,  a  condition  of  temptation,  aflfliction, 
and  persecution.  And  we  shall  therefore  the  more  distinctly  con- 
sider the  useful  trutlis  that  are  exhibited  unto  us  in  these  words, 
which  are  these  that  follow: — 

I.  Diligent  attendance  unto  the  word  of  the  gospel  is  indispen- 
sably necessary  unto  perseverance  in  the  profession  of  it. 
foffixi'v-  ^j^^gj^  ^  profession  I  mean  as  is  acceptable  unto  God, 
or  will  be  useful  unto  our  own  souls.  The  profession  of  most  of  the 
world  is  a  mere  not-renunciation  of  the  gospel  in  words,  whilst  in 
their  hearts  and  lives  they  deny  the  power  of  it  every  day.  A  sav- 
ing profession  is  that  which  expresseth  the  efficacy  of  the  word 
unto  salvation,  Rom.  x.  10.  This  will  never  be  the  effect  of  a  life- 
less attendance  unto  the  word.  And  therefore  we  shall  first  con- 
sider what  is  required  unto  the  giving  heed  to  the  gospel,  here 
commended  unto  us.  And  there  are  in  it  (amongst  others)  the 
things  that  follow  : — 

1.  A  due  valuation  of  the  grace  tendered  in  it,  and  of  the  word 
itself  on  that  account.  Yipos's-^nv  denotes  such  an  attendance  unto 
any  thing  as  proceeds  from  an  estimation  and  valuation  of  it 
answerable  unto  its  worth.  If  we  have  not  such  thoughts  of  the 
gospel,  we  can  never  attend  unto  it  as  we  ought.  And  if  we  con- 
sider it  not  as  that  wherein  our  chief  concernment  lies,  we  consider 
it  not  at  all  as  we  ought.  The  field  wherein  is  the  hid  treasure  is 
so  to  be  heeded  as  to  be  valued  above  all  other  possessions  whatso- 
ever. Matt.  xiii.  44.  They  who  esteemed  not  the  marriage-feast 
of  the  King  above  all  avocations  and  worldly  occasions,  were  shut 
out  as  unworthy.  Matt.  xxii.  7,  8.  If  the  gospel  be  not  more 
unto  us  than  all  the  world  besides,  we  shall  never  continue  in  a 
useful  profession  of  it.  Fathers  and  mothers,  brothers  and  sisters, 
wives  and  children,  must  all  be  despised  in  comparison  of  it  and  in 
competition  with  it.  When  men  hear  the  word  as  that  which  puts 
itself  upon  them,  attendance  unto  which  they  cannot  decline  Avith- 
out  present  or  future  inconveniencies,  without  considering  that  all 
the  concernments  of  their  souls  lie  bound  up  in  it,  they  will  easily 


VER.  1.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  265 

be  won  utterly  to  neglect  it.  According  as  our  esteem  and  valua- 
tion of  it  is,  so  is  our  heeding  of  it  and  attendance  unto  it.  and  no 
otherwise.  Hearkening  unto  the  word  as  unto  a  song  of  Iiira  that 
hath  a  pleasant  voice,  which  may  please  or  satisfy  for  the  present, 
is  that  which  profits  not  men,  and  which  God  abhors,  Ezek.  xxxiii. 
32.  If  the  ministration  of  the  gospel  be  not  looked  on  as  that 
which  is  full  of  glory,  it  will  never  be  attended  unto.  This  the 
apostle  presseth,  2  Cor.  iii.  8,  9.  Constant  high  thoughts,  then,  of 
the  necessity,  worth,  glory,  and  excellency  of  the  gospel,  as  on  other 
accounts,  so  especially  of  the  author  of  it,  and  the  grace  dispensed 
in  it,  is  the  first  step  in  that  diligent  heeding  of  it  which  is  required 
of  us.  Want  of  this  was  that  which  ruined  many  of  the  Hebrews 
to  whom  the  apostle  wrote.  And  without  it  we  shall  never  keep 
our  faith  firm  unto  the  end. 

2.  Diligent  study  of  it,  and  searching  into  the  mind  of  God  in  it, 
that  so  we  may  grow  wise  in  the  mysteries  thereof,  is  another  part 
of  this  duty.  The  gospel  is  "  the  wisdom  of  God,"  1  Cor.  i.  24.  In 
it  are  laid  up  all  the  stores  and  treasures  of  that  wisdom  of  God 
which  ever  any  of  the  sons  of  men  shall  come  to  an  acquaintance 
with  in  this  world,  Col.  ii.  2,  3.  And  this  wisdom  is  to  be  sought 
for  as  silver,  and  to  be  searched  after  as  hid  treasures,  Prov.  ii.  4 ; 
that  is,  with  pains  and  diligence,  like  unto  that  of  those  who  are 
employed  in  that  inquiry.  Men  with  indefatigable  pains  and 
danger  pierce  into  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  in  the  search  of  those 
hid  treasures  that  are  wrapped  up  in  the  vast  womb  of  it.  Silver 
and  treasures  are  not  gathered  by  every  lazy  passenger  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth.  They  must  dig,  seek,  and  search,  who  intend  to 
be  made  partakers  of  them;  and  they  do  so  accordingly.  And  so 
must  we  do  for  these  treasures  of  heavenly  wisdom.  The  mystery 
of  the  grace  of  the  gospel  is  great  and  deep,  such  as  the  angels  de- 
sire to  bow  down  and  look  into,  1  Pet.  i.  12;  which  the  prophets  of 
old,  notwithstanding  the  advantage  of  their  own  especial  revela- 
tions, inquired  diligently  after,  verses  10,  11:  whereas  now,  if  any 
pretend,  though  falsely,  to  a  revelation,  they  have  immediately  done 
with  the  word,  as  that  which,  by  the  deceit  of  their  imagmations, 
they  think  beneath  them,  when  indeed  it  is  only  distant  from  them, 
and  is  really  above  them;  as  if  a  man  should  stand  on  tiptoe  on  a 
molehill,  and  despise  the  sun  appearing  newly  above  the  horizon 
as  one  beneath  him.  Diligent,  sedulous  searching  into  the  word 
belongs  unto  this  heeding  of  it,  Ps.  i.  2;  or  a  labouring  by  all  ap- 
pointed means  to  become  acquainted  with  it,  wise  in  the  mystery 
of  it,  and  skilled  in  its  doctrine.  Without  this,  no  man  will  hold 
fast  his  profession.  Nor  doth  any  man  neglect  the  gospel  but  he 
that  knows  it  not,  2  Cor.  iv.  3,  4.  This  is  the  great  principle  of 
apostasy  in  the  world : — men  have  owned  the  gospel,  but   never 


266  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  XL 

knew  what  it  was;  and  therefore  leave  the  profession  of  it  foolishly, 
as  they  took  it  up  lightly.  Studying  of  the  word  is  the  security  of 
our  faith. 

3.  Mixing  the  word  ^vith  faith  is  required  in  this  attention.  See 
Heb.  iv.  2.  As  good  not  hear  as  not  believe.  Believing  is  the  end 
of  hearing,  Eom.  x.  10,  11 ;  and  therefore  Lydia's  faith  is  culled  her 
attention,  Acts  xvi.  14.  This  is  the  life  of  heeding  the  word,  with- 
out which  all  other  exercise  about  it  is  but  a  dead  carcass.  To  hear 
and  not  believe,  is  in  the  spiritual  life  what  to  see  meat  and  not  to 
eat  is  in  the  natural ;  it  will  j^lease  the  fancy,  but  will  never  nourish 
the  soul.  Faith  alone  realizeth  the  things  spoken  unto  the  heart, 
and  gives  them  subsistence  in  it,  Heb.  xi.  1 ;  without  which,  as  to  us, 
th(iy  flow  up  and  down  in  loose  and  uncertain  notions.  This,  then, 
is  tiie  principal  part  of  our  duty  in  heeding  the  things  spoken;  for 
it  gives  entrance  to  them  into  the  soul,  witliout  which  they  are  poured 
upon  it  as  water  upon  a  stick  that  is  fully  dry. 

4.  Labouring  to  express  the  word  received,  in  a  conformity  of 
heart  and  lije  unto  it,  is  another  part  of  this  attention.  This  is  the 
next  proper  end  of  our  hearing.  And  to  do  a  thing  appointed  unto 
an  end  without  aiming  at  that  end,  is  no  better  than  the  not  doing 
it  at  all,  in  some  cases  much  worse.  The  apostle  says  of  the  Romans, 
that  they  were  cast  into  the  mould  of  the  doctrine  of  the  gospel, 
chap.  vi.  17.  It  left  upon  their  hearts  an  impression  of  its  own  like- 
ness, or  produced  in  them  the  express  image  of  that  holiness,  puiity, 
and  wisdom  which  it  revealeth.  This  is  to  behold  with  open  face 
the  glory  ot  the  Lord  in  a  glass,  and  to  be  changed  into  the  same 
image,  2  Cor.  iii.  18;  that  is,  the  image  of  the  Lord  Christ,  mani- 
fested unto  us  and  reflected  upon  us  by  and  in  the  glass  of  the 
gospel.  When  the  heart  of  the  hearer  is  quickened,  enlivened, 
spirited  with  gospel  truths,  and  by  them  is  moulded  and  fashioned 
into  their  likeness,  and  expresseth  that  likeness  in  its  Iruits,  or  a 
conversation  becoming  the  gospel,  then  is  the  word  attended  unto 
in  a  right  manner.  This  will  secure  the  word  a  station  in  our  hearts, 
and  give  it  a  permanent  abode  in  us.  This  is  the  indwelling  of  the 
word,  whereof  there  are  many  degrees,  and  we  ought  to  aim  that  it 
should  be  plentifid. 

5.  Watchfxdness  against  all  opposition  that  is  made  either  against 
the  truth  or  power  of  the  word  in  us  belongs  also  unto  this  duty. 
And  as  these  oppositions  are  many,  so  ought  this  watchfulness  to  be 
great  and  diligent.  And  these  things  have  we  added  for  the  further 
explication  of  the  duty  that  is  pressed  on  us  by  the  apostle,  the 
necessity  whereof,  for  the  preservation  of  the  truth  in  our  hearts  and 
minds,  will  further  appear  in  the  ensuing  observation. 

II.  There  are  sundry  times  and  seasons  wherein,  and  several  ways 
and  means  whereby,  men  are  in  danger  to  lose  the  word  that  they 


VEE.  1.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  267 

have  heard,  if  they  attend  not  diligently  unto  its  preservation. 
Mri'Tron,  "  at  any  time/'  or  "  by  any  way  or  means." 
Tliis  our  Saviour  teacheth  us  at  larcie  in  the  parable  of  T'l'  ■rapccj). 
the  seed,  which  was  retained  but  in  one  sort  of  ground 
of  those  four  whereinto  it  was  cast,  Matt.  xiii. ;  and  this  the  expe- 
rience of  all  times  and  ages  confirmeth.  Yea,  few  there  are  at  any 
time  who  keep  the  word  heard  as  they  ought.  1.  We  may  briefly 
name  the  seasons  wherein  and  the  ways  whereby  the  hearts  and 
minds  of  men  are  made  as  leaking  vessels,  to  pour  out  and  lose  the 
"word  that  they  have  heard. 

(1.)  Some  lose  it  in  a  time  of  jJ^ace  and  prosjjerity.  That  is  a  sea- 
son which  slays  the  foolish,  Jeshurun  waxes  fat  and  kicks.  Accord- 
ing to  men's  pastures  they  are  filled,  and  forget  the  Lord.  They 
feed  their  lusts  high,  until  they  loathe  the  word.  Quails  often  make 
a  lean  soul.  A  prosperous  outward  estate  hath  ruined  many  a  con- 
viction from  the  word;  yea,  and  weakened  faith  and  obedience  in 
many  of  the  saints  themselves.  The  warmth  of  prosperity  breeds 
swarms  of  apostates,  as  the  heat  of  the  sun  doth  insects  in  the  spring. 

(i.)  Some  lose  it  in  a  time  of  'persecution.  "  AVhen  persecution 
ariseth,"  saith  our  Saviour,  "  they  fall  away."  Many  go  on  apace 
in  profession  until  they  come  to  see  the  cross;  this  sight  puts  them 
to  a  stand,  and  then  turns  them  quite  out  of  the  way.  They  thought 
not  of  it,  and  do  not  like  it.  We  know  what  havoc  this  hath  made 
amongst  professors  in  all  ages;  and  commonly  where  it  destroys  the 
bodies  of  ten,  it  destroys  the  souls  of  a  hundred.  This  is  the  sea- 
son wherein  stars  fall  from  the  firmament ;  in  reference  whereunto 
innumerable  are  the  precepts  for  watchfulness,  wisdom,  patience, 
enduring,  that  are  given  us  in  the  gospel. 

(3.)  Some  lose  it  in  a  time  of  trial  by  temptation.  It  pleaseth  God, 
in  his  wisdom  and  grace,  to  suffer  sometimes  an  "  hour  of  temptation" 
to  come  forth  upon  the  world,  and  upon  the  church  in  the  world,  for 
their  trial.  Rev.  iii.  10.  And  he  doth  it  that  his  own  thereby  may 
be  made  conformable  unto  their  head,  Jesus  Christ,  who  had  his 
especial  hour  of  temptation.  Now,  in  such  a  season  temptation 
worketh  variously,  according  as  men  are  exposed  unto  it,  or  as  God 
seeth  meet  that  they  should  be  tried  by  it.  Every  thing  that  such 
days  abound  withal  shall  have  in  it  the  force  of  a  temptation.  And 
the  usual  effect  of  this  work  is,  that  it  brings  professors  into  a  slum- 
ber, Matt.  XXV.  5.  In  this  state  many  utterly  lose  the  word.  They 
have  been  cast  into  a  negligent  slumber  hy  the  secret  power  and 
efficacy  of  temptation ;  and  when  they  awake  and  look  about  them, 
the  w4iole  power  of  the  word  is  lost  and  departed  from  them.  With 
reference  unto  these  and  the  like  seasons  it  is  that  the  apostle  gives 
us  this  caution,  to  "  take  heed  lest  at  any  time  the  v/ord  which  we 
have  heard  do  slip  out." 


268  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

2.  The  ways  and  means  also  whereby  this  wretched  effect  is  pro- 
duced are  various,  yea,  innumerable.  Some  of  them  only  I  shall 
mention,  whereunto  the  rest  may  be  reduced;  as,  (1.)  Love  of  this 
present  world.  This  made  Demas  a  leaking  vessel,  2  Tim.  iv.  10, 
and  chokes  one  fourth  part  of  the  seed  of  the  parable,  Matt.  xiii. 
Many  might  have  been  rich  in  grace,  had  they  not  made  it  their 
end  and  business  to  be  rich  in  this  Avorld,  1  Tim.  vi.  9.  But  this  is 
too  well  known,  as  well  as  too  little  regarded.  (2.)  Love  of  sin.  A. 
secret  lust  cherished  in  the  heart  will  make  it  "plenum  rimarum," 
"  full  of  chinks,''  that  it  will  never  retain  the  showers  of  the  word; 
and  it  will  assuredly  open  them  as  fast  as  convictions  stop  them, 
(o.)  False  doctrines,  errors,  heresies,  false  worship,  superstition,  and 
idolatries,  will  do  the  same.  I  place  these  things  together,  as  tliose 
which  work  in  the  same  kind  upon  the  curiosity,  vanity,  and  dark- 
ness of  the  minds  of  men.  These  break  the  vessel,  and  at  once  pour 
out  all  the  benefits  of  the  word  that  ever  were  received.  And  many 
the  like  instances  might  be  given. 

And  this  gives  us  the  reason  of  the  necessity  of  that  heeding  of  the 
word  which  we  before  insisted  on.  Without  it,  at  one  time  or  other, 
by  one  means  or  other,  we  shall  lose  all  the  design  of  the  word  upon 
our  souls.  That  alone  will  preserve  us,  and  carry  us  through  the 
course  and  difficulties  of  our  profession.  The  duty  mentioned,  then, 
is  of  no  less  concernment  unto  us  than  our  souls,  for  without  it  we  shall 
perish.  Let  us  not  deceive  ourselves;  a  slothful,  negligent  hearing 
of  the  word  will  bring  no  man  to  life.  The  commands  we  have  to 
"  watch,  pray,  strive,  labour,  and  fight,"  are  not  in  vain.  The  warn- 
ings given  us  of  the  opposition  that  is  made  to  our  faith,  by  indwell- 
ing sin,  Satan,  and  the  world,  are  not  left  on  record  for  nothing;  no 
more  are  the  sad  examples  which  we  have  of  many,  who  beginning 
a  good  profession  have  utterly  turned  aside  to  sin  and  folly. 

All  these  things,  I  say,  teach  us  the  necessity  of  the  duty  which 
the  apostle  enjoineth,  and  which  we  have  explained. 

III.  The  word  heard  is  not  lost  without  the  great  sin  as  well  as 

the  inevitable  ruin  of  the  souls  of  men.  Lost  it  is  when 
n-roTi  -rapxfi-  -J.  jg  ^^^^  mixed  with  faith,  when  we  receive  it  not  in  good 

and  honest  hearts,  when  the  end  of  it  is  not  accom- 
plished in  us  and  towards  us.  And  this  befalls  us  not  without  our 
sin,  and  woful  neglect  of  duty.  The  word  of  its  own  nature  is  apt 
to  abide,  to  incorporate  itself  with  us,  and  to  take  root;  but  we  cast 
it  out,  we  pour  it  forth  from  us.  And  they  have  a  woful  account  to 
make  on  whose  souls  the  guilt  thereof  shall  be  found  at  the  last  day. 

IV.  It  is  in  the  nature  of  the  word  of  the  gospel  to  water  barren 
hearts,  and  to  make  them  fruitful  unto  God.  Hence,  as  was  showed, 
is  it  compared  to  water,  dew,  and  rain;  which  is  the  foundation 
of  the  metaphorical  expression  here  used.     Where  this  word  comes, 


VER.  1.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  269 

it  makes  "  the  parched  ground  a  pool,  and  the  thirsty  land  springs 
of  water,"  Isa.  xxxv.  7.  These  are  the  waters  of  the  sanctuary,  that 
heal  the  barren  places  of  the  earth,  and  make  them  fruitful,  Ezek. 
xlvii. ;  the  river  that  maketh  glad  the  city  of  God,  Ps  xlvi.  4;  that 
river  of  living  water  that  comes  forth  from  the  throne  of  God,  Rev. 
xxii.  1 .  And  the  places  and  persons  which  are  not  healed  or  benefited 
by  these  waters  are  left  to  barrenness  and  burning  for  evermore, 
Ezek.  xlvii.  11 ;  Heb.  vi,  8.  With  the  dew  hereof  doth  God  water  his 
church  every  moment,  Isa.  xxvii.  3 ;  and  theu  doth  it "  grow  as  a  lily, 
and  cast  forth  its  roots  as  Lebanon,"  Hos.  xiv.  5-7.  Abundant  fruit- 
fulness  unto  God  follows  a  gracious  receiving  of  this  dew  from  him. 
Blessed  are  they  who  have  this  dew  distilling  on  them  every  morning, 
who  are  watered  as  the  garden  of  God,  as  a  land  that  God  careth  for. 

V.  The  consideration  of  the  revelation  of  the  gospel  by  the  Son 
of  God  is  a  powerful  motive  unto  that  diligent  attend-        ,     _ 
ance  unto  it  which  we  have  before  described.     This  is 
the  inference  that  the  apostle  makes  from  the  proposition  that  he 
had  made  of  the  excellency  of  the  Son  of  God :  "  Therefore." 

And  this  is  that  which  in  the  greatest  part  of  the  ensuing  chapter 
he  doth  pursue.  This  is  that  which  God  declares  that  he  might  so 
justly  expect  and  look  for,  namely,  that  when  he  sent  his  Son  to 
the  vineyard,  he  should  be  regarded  and  attended  unto. 

And  this  is  most  reasonable  upon  many  accounts: — 

1.  Because  of  the  authority  wherewith  he  spake  the  word.  Others 
spake  and  delivered  tlieir  message  as  servants;  he  as  the  Lord  over 
his  own  house,  Heb.  iii.  6.  The  Father  himself  gave  him  all  his 
authority  for  the  revealing  of  his  mind,  and  therelbre  proclaimed 
from  heaven  that  if  any  one  would  have  any  thing  to  do  with  God, 
they  were  to  "hear  him,"  Matt.  xvii.  5;  2  Pet.  i.  17.  The  whole 
authority  of  God  was  with  him ;  for  him  did  God  the  Father  seal,  or 
he  put  the  stamp  of  all  his  authority  upon  him ;  and  he  spake  ac- 
cordingly, Matt.  vii.  29.  And  therefore  he  spake  both  in  his  own 
name  and  the  name  of  his  Father:  so  that  this  authority  sprung 
partly  from  the  dignity  of  his  person, — for  being  God  and  man, 
though  he  spake  on  the  earth,  yet  he  who  wa.'*  the  Son  of  man  was 
in  heaven  still,  John  iii.  13,  and  therefore  is  said  to  speak  from 
heaven,  Heb,  xii.  25,  and  coming  from  heaven  was  still  above  all, 
John  iii.  31,  having  power  and  authority  over  all, — and  partly  from 
the  commission  that  he  had  from  his  Father,  which,  as  we  said  be- 
fore, gave  all  authority  into  his  hand,  John  v.  27.  Being  then  in 
himself  the  Son  of  God,  and  being  peculiarly  designed  to  reveal  the 
mind  and  will  of  the  Father  (which  the  prophet  calls  his  "  standing 
and  feeding  in  the  strength  of  the  Lord,  in  the  majesty  of  the  name 
of  the  Lord  his  God,"  Mic.  v.  4),  all  the  authority  of  God  over  the 
souls  and  consciences  of  men  is  exerted  in  this  revelation  of  the 


270  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

gospel  by  him.  It  cannot,  then,  be  neglected  without  the  contempt 
of  all  the  authority  of  God.  And  this  will  be  a  sore  aggravation  of 
the  sin  of  unbelievers  and  apostates  at  the  last  day.  If  we  attend 
not  unto  the  word  on  this  account,  we  shall  suffer  for  it.  He  that 
despiseth  the  word  despiseth  him;  and  he  that  despiseth  him  de- 
spiseth  him  also  who  sent  him. 

2.  Because  of  the  love  that  is  in  it.  There  is  in  it  the  love  of  the 
Father  in  sending  the  Son,  for  the  revealing  of  himself  and  his  mind 
unto  the  children  of  men.  There  is  also  in  it  the  love  of  the  Son 
himself,  condescending  to  teach  and  instruct  the  sons  of  men,  who 
by  their  own  fault  were  cast  into  error  and  darkness.  Greater  love 
could  not  God  nor  his  eternal  Son  manifest  unto  us,  than  that  he 
should  undertake  in  his  own  person  to  become  our  instructor.  See 
1  John  v.  20.  He  that  shall  consider  the  brutish  stupidity  and 
blindness  of  the  generality  of  mankind  in  the  things  of  God,  the 
miserable  fluctuating  and  endless  uncertainties  of  the  more  inquiring 
part  of  them,  and  withal  the  greatness  of  their  concernment  in  being 
brought  unto  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  cannot  but  in  some  mea- 
sure see  the  greatness  of  this  love  of  Christ  in  revealing  unto  us  the 
whole  counsel  of  God.  Hence  his  words  and  speech  are  said  to  be 
"gracious,''  Luke  iv.  22;  and  "grace  to  be  poured  into  his  lips,''  Ps. 
xlv.  2.    And  this  is  no  small  motive  unto  our  attention  unto  the  word. 

3.  T\\Q  fnlness  of  the  revelation  itself  by  him  made  unto  us  is  of 
the  same  importance.  He  came  not  to  declare  a  j)art  or  parcel,  but 
the  whole  will  of  God, — all  that  we  are  to  know,  all  that  we  are  to 
do,  all  that  we  are  to  believe.  "  In  him  are  hid  all  the  treasures  of 
wisdom  and  knowledge,"  Col.  ii.  3.  He  opened  all  the  dark  sen- 
tences of  the  will  of  God,  hidden  from  the  foundation  of  the  world. 
There  is  in  his  doctrine  all  wisdom,  all  knowledge,  as  all  light  is  in 
the  sun,  and  all  water  in  the  sea,  there  being  nothing  of  the  one  or 
the  other  in  any  other  thing  but  by  a  communication  from  them. 
Now,  if  every  word  of  God  be  excellent,  if  every  part  and  parcel  of 
it  delivered  by  any  of  his  servants  of  old  was  to  be  attended  unto  on 
the  penalty  of  extermination  out  of  the  number  of  his  people,  how 
much  more  will  our  condition  be  miserable,  as  now  are  our  blind- 
ness and  obstinacy,  if  we  have  not  a  heart  to  attend  unto  this  full 
revelation  of  himself  and  his  will ! 

4.  Because  it  is  final.  "  Last  of  all  he  sent  his  Son,"  and  hath 
"spoken  imto  us  by  liim."  Never  more  in  this  world  will  he  speak 
with  that  kind  of  speaking.  No  new,  no  further  revelation  of  God 
is  to  be  expected  in  this  world,  but  what  is  made  by  Jesus  Christ. 
To  this  we  must  attend,  or  we  are  lost  for  ever. 

VI.  The  true  and  only  way  of  honouring  the  Lord 

mrt'^^ori^i^;   Christ  as  the  Son  of  God,  is  by  diligent  attendance  and 

obedience  unto  his  word.    The  apostle  having  evidenced 

his  glory  as  the  Sou  of  God,  makes  this  his  only  inference  from  it. 


,  l:R.  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  2"! 

So  doth  he  himself.  "  If  ye  love  me,"  saith  he,  "  keep  my  com- 
mandments." Where  there  is  no  obedience  imto  the  word,  there  is 
neither  faith  in  nor  love  unto  Jesus  Christ.  But  this  whole  ar^u- 
ment  the  apostle  further  pursues  iu  the  following  verses : — 

Verses  2-4 

In  these  three  verses  the  apostle  follows  on  his  exhortation,  laid 
down  in  that  foregoing,  and  giveth  many  peculiar  enforcements  unto 
a  due  compliance  with  it,  as  we  shall  see  in  our  exposition  of  them. 

Ver.  2. —  E/  yap  6  di'  ayysXojv  "kakriQitg  Xoyos  sysvsro  jSiQaiog,  -/.al 
'iraaa  TapdCaaig  /.ai  vapaxori  sXadv  ivdiKov  fj.isda'^rodoaiav 

E/  yxp.  "si  enim,"  "  etenim,"  "  and  if,"  " for  if."  'O  'Koyo;  >.a,'h-/i6i\g,  "  sermo 
dictus;"  ^.^^'.^r^"  ^^?^,  Syr..  "  sermo  qui  dictus  est,"  or  •' pronuntiatus,"  ''the 
word  whi'jh  was  spoken  or  pronounced," — properly,  as  we  shall  see.  At  a.yyk'huv, 
Syr.,  ^'r'*;?  ""^r ,  "  by  the  hand  of  angels ;"  a  Hebraism  for  their  ministry.  •'  The 
word  pronounced  by  the  ministry  of  anjjels."  The  Arabic  refers  these  words  to 
the  testimonies  before  insisted  on  about  angels,  and  renders  them,  "  If  that  which 
is  spoken  concerning  the  angels  he  approved,"  or  confirmed  to  be  true;  that  is, 
•Kipi  dyytkuu,  not  oi  oiyyiKuii.  'Eysi/sro  ili%oi,iog,  "factus  est  firmus,"  Ar.,  V.  L., 
"  was  made-  firm"  or  "  stable,"  "  became  sure;"  "  fuit  firmus,"  Eras.,  Beza,  '•  w;is 
firm;"  or,  as  ours,  "steadfast:"  '^T.^'f??,  Syr.,  "  confirmatiis  fuit,"  ''  was  confirmed 
or  established."  K«i  'Trxaoc  7!-»pot,%cc(jtg  Kal  TrapsczoTi,  "  et  omnis  prevaricatio  et 
inohe  iientia,"  V.  L.,  Ar.,  "prevarication  and  disobedience;"  Rhem.,  "omnisque 
transgressio  et  contumacia;"  Beza,  "  every  transgression  and  stubborn  disobe- 
Hit-ncr;"  the  Syriac,  a  little  otherwise,  v"'??'  ''?5'.l  '^^T'^"?  '.pi,  "and  every  one  that 
he.ird  it  and  transgressed  it," — with  peculiar  respect,  us  it  should  seem,  to  'Tra.pa.x.ry/i, 
%\  hich  includes  a  disobedience  to  that  which  is  heard.  "^'Kx'^sv  'iuhiKov  y.iatlctTro- 
"hoaiccu,  "  arcepit  justam  mercedis  retributionein,"  V.  L.,  Btz. ;  "retulit.  prajmii," 
Eras., — all  to  the  same  purpose,  "  received  a  just  recompence,"  "  reward,"  "  a  just 
compensation;"  Syr.,  "received  a  retribution  in  righteousness." 

Ver.  2. — For  if  the  word  spoken  [^pronounced]  by  angels 
was  sure  [steadfast],  and  every  transgression  and  [stub- 
horn]  disobedience  received  a  jnst  [meet,  equal]  retri- 
bution [or,  recompence  of  reward] ; 

Ver.  3. — Tiojg  ri/xsTg  sxfsut.o/J'ida  rriXixahrrig  apAXrieavTsg  eurr^plag; 
ring  ap')(r\v  "KaZoiJGa  "kahiTcsdai  bia  T0\j  Kvpiou,  ucro  ruv  dzovadvruv  iig  Jj/xac 

'  Apci'^mavTSi,  "  si  neglexerimus,"  V.  L.,  Eras.,  Beza,  "  if  we  neglect:"  ^r^'  "is^ 
Svr.,  "  si  eontemnainus,"  "  if  we  despise,"  "  if  we  care  not  about,"  "  if  we  take  no 
care  of."  Tri'huixvTyii  (jcyrnpictg, "  tantam  salutem,""so  great  salvation ;"  the  Syriac, 
a  little  otherwise,  T'Jj  V^  V™"^.  V.?'?  '?,  "  super  ea  ipsa  quae  sunt  vitae,"  "  those 
things  which  are  our  life;"  or,  as  others  remier  the  words,  "  eos  sermones  qui  vivi 
sunt,"  "  those  words  which  are  living."  The  former  translation,  taking  the  pro- 
noun in  the  neuter  gender,  and  '{"jH  substantively,  with  respect  unto  the  effects 
of  the  gospel,  most  suits  the  place.  "Ht/j  cip'^'/iv  'Kccltyjaa.  T^cchuadat,  "  quffi  cum 
primum  enanari  coe;jit,"  Eras.,  Bez.,  "which  when  it  was  begun  to  be  declared;" 
and  so  the  Syriac,  "  which  began  to  be  declared,"  which  was  first,  at  first  spoken, 
declared,  pron<amced. 
VOL.  xn. — 18 


272  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

Ver.  3. — How  shall  we  escape  [yZy  or  avo{d~\,  if  we  neglect 
[not  taking  care  about']  so  great  salvation,  which  began 
to  be  [ivas  first  of  alV^  spoken  [declared]  by  the  Lord, 
and  was  confirmed  [assured,  established]  unto  us  by 
them  that  heard  [it  of  him], 

Ver.    4.- — ^vvi'7ri//.aprvpovvTog  rou  @io\J  crjf^sioig  n  xai  rspaffi,  %a]  rroDit- 

^vji'7ri;.(.xpTvpovvTog,  "  contestante  Deo,"  V.  L. :  "  Jittestante  Deo,"  Eras. ;  "  tes- 
tinioniuin  lUis  iirseliente  Deo,"  Beza; — "  God  withal  teslif\'ing,  attestinjj^  it,  aiving 
testimony  unto  them."  It  is  doubtful  whether  it  be  the  word  itself  or  the 
preachers  of  it  that  God  is  said  to  give  testhiiony  unto.  Syr.,  *'~/'.^.  X~\T^.  "~7  "■?, 
''when  God  had  testified  unto  them."  Arab.,  "whose  truth  was  also  proved 
unto  U'*,  besides  the  testimony  of  God  with  wonders;"  separating  between  Go  I's 
te-iimony  to  the  word  and  the  signs  and  wonders  that  accompanied  it.  Tipxai, 
"  pi-Qiiigiis,"  '' portentis,"  "miraculis." 

Ver.  4. — God  bearing  witness  with  signs  and  wonders 
[prodigies],  and  divers  [various]  mighty  works  [powers], 
and  distributions  [divisio7is]  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  accord- 
ino;  to  his  own  will? 

The  design  of  the  apostle  in  these  three  verses  is  to  confirm  and 
enforce  the  inference  and  exhortation  laid  down  ia  the  first,  as  that 
which  arose  from  the  discourses  of  the  former  cliapLer.  The  way  he 
proceeds  in  for  this  end,  is  by  interposing,  after  his  usual  manner  in 
this  epistle,  subservient  motives,  arguments,  and  considerations, 
tending  directly  to  his  principal  end,  and  connatural  unto  the  sub- 
ject treated  on.  Thus  the  main  argument  wherewith  he  presseth 
his  preceding  exhortation  unto  attendance  and  obedience  unto  the 
word  is  taken  "  ab  incommodo,"  or  "ab  eventu  pernicioso," — from 
the  pernicious  end  and  event  of  their  disobedience  thereunto.  The 
chief  proof  of  this  is  taken  from  another  argument,  "  a  minori;"  and 
that  is,  the  confessed  event  of  disobedience  unto  the  law,  verse  2. 
To  confirm  and  strengthen  which  reasoning,  he  gives  us  a  summary 
comparison  of  the  law  and  the  gospel;  whence  it  might  appear, 
that  if  a  disregard  unto  the  law  was  attended  with  a  sure  and  sore 
revenge,  much  more  must  and  would  the  neglect  of  the  gospel  be 
so.  And  this  comparison  on  the  part  of  the  gospel  is  expressed, 
1.  In  the  nature  of  it, — it  is  "great  salvation;"  2.  The  author  of 
it, — it  was  "spoken  by  the  Lord;"  8.  The  manner  of  its  tradition, — 
being  "  confirmed  unto  us  by  them  that  heard  him,''  and  the  testi- 
mony given  to  it  and  them,  by  "  signs  and  wonders,  and  distributions 
of  the  Holy  Ghost:"  from  all  v/hich  he  infers  his  proof  of  the  per- 
nicious event  of  disobedience  unto  it  or  disregard  of  it.  This  is  the 
sum  of  the  apostle's  reasoning,  which  we  shall  further  open  as  the 
vvuids  present  it  unto  us  in  tlie  text. 


VER,  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  273 

The  first  thing  we  meet  with  in  the  words  is  his  subservient 
argument  "  a  minori,"  verse  2,  wherein  three  things  occur  :^ — -1.  Tiic 
description  tliat  he  gives  us  of  the  law,  which  he  compares  the  gospel 
withal, — it  was  "  the  word  spoken  by  angels."  2.  An  adjunct  of  it, 
wiiich  ensued  upon  its  being  spoken  by  them, — it  was  "  lirni"  or 
"  steadfast."  3.  The  event  of  disobedience  unto  it, — "  every  trans- 
gression" of  it  "and  stubborn  disobedience  received  a  just  recompence 
of  reward."  How  from  hence  he  confirms  his  assertion  of  the  per- 
nicious consequence  of  neglecting  the  gospel,  we  shall  see  afterwards. 

The  first  thing  in  the  words  is  the  description  of  the  law,  by  that 
periphrasis,   'O  "Koyog  Bi'   ayy's^.uv  XaXrjdsig,  "  The   word 
spoken"  (or  "pronounced")  by  "angels."   Aoyog  is  a  word 
Very  variously  used  in  the  New  Testament.    The  special  senses  of  it 
we  shall  not  need  in  this  place  to  insist  upon.    It  is  here  taken  for  a 
system  of  doctrine  ;'and,  by  the  addition  of  KaXyjkls,  as 
published,   preached,   or  declared.      Thus  the  gospel, 
from  the  principal  subject-matter  of  it,  is  called,  6  Xoyog  6  rov  araufoZ^ 
1  Cor.  i.  18, — the  word,  the  doctrine,  the  preaching  concerning  the 
cross,  or  Christ  crucified.  So  o  \6yog  here,  "the  word,"  is  the  doctrine 
ot  tlie  law;  that  is,  the  law  itself  spoken,  declared,  published,  promul- 
gated.    A/'  dyysXuv,  "by  angels;"  that  is,  by  the  minis-       ,  ,     , 
try  of  angels.     It  is  not  the  vofx^odirrn,  he  from  whom      '  "  >■ 
the  law  was  given,  that  the  apostle  intends;  but  the  ministerial 
puljlishers  of  it,  by  whom  it  was  given.     The  law  was  given  from 
God,  but  it  was  given  by  angels,  in  the  way  and  manner  to  be  con- 
sidered. 

Two  things  we  may  observe  in  this  periphrasis  of  the  law: — 1. 
That  the  apostle  principally  intends  that  part  of  the  Mosaical  dis- 
pensation which  was  given  on  mount  Sinai;  and  which,  as  such,  was 
the  covenant  between  God  and  that  people,  as  unto  the  privilege  of 
the  promised  land.  2.  That  he  fixes  on  this  description  of  it  rather 
than  any  other,  or  merely  to  have  expressed  it  by  the  law, — (1.) 
Because  the  ministry  of  angels,  in  the  giving  of  the  law  by  Moses, 
was  that  by  which  all  the  prodigious  effects  wherewith  it  was  at- 
tended (which  kept  the  people  in  such  a  durable  reverence  unto  it) 
were  wrought.  This,  therefore,  he  mentions,  that  he  might  appear 
not  to  undervalue  it,  but  to  speak  of  it  with  reference  unto  that 
excellency  of  its  administration  which  the  Hebrews  even  boasted 
in.  (2.)  Because  having  newly  insisted  on  a  comparison  between 
Christ  and  the  angels,  his  argument  is  much  strengthened  wlien  it 
shall  be  considered  that  while  the  law  was  the  word  spoken  by  the 
angels,  the  gospel  was  delivered  by  the  Son,  so  far  exalted  above 
them.  But  the  manner  how  this  was  done  must  be  a  little  lurther 
inquired  into. 

That  tlie  law  was  given  by  the  ministry  of  angels  the  Jews  alwaya 


274  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II, 

confessed,  yea,  and  boasted.  So  saith  Josephus,  one  mucli  ancienter 
than  any  of  their  rabbins  extant:  ' Apy^aioX.  lib.  v.,  'H/iwi'  ra  -/.aXXicra 
TUiV  boyiJ^drcuv,  xai  ra  oeiiMrara  ruv  h  ToTg  voi^oig,  hi"  ayyiXoiv  -Ttapa  ruJ 
QiuJ  iJ.a&6vTCiiv — "  We  learned  the  most  excellent  and  most  holy  con- 
stitutions of  the  law  from  God  by  angels."  The  same  was  generally 
acknowledged  by  them  of  old.  This  Stephen,  treating  with  them, 
takes  for  granted.  Acts  vii.  53,  "Who  received  the  law  by  the  dispo- 
sition of  angels."  And  our  apostle  affirms  the  same,  GaL  iii.  19, 
"  It  was  ordained  by  angels  in  the  hand  of  a  mediator."  A  word 
of  the  same  original  and  sense  is  used  in  both  places,  though  by 
ours  variously  rendered :  huxrayi,  hiarayug.  This,  then,  is  certain. 
But  the  manner  of  it  is  yet  to  be  considered. 

1.  First,  then,  nothing  is  more  unquestionable  than  that  the  law 
was  given  from  God  himself.  He  was  the  author  of  it.  This  the 
whole  Scripture  declares  and  proclaims.  And  it  was  the  impious 
abomination  of  the  Valentiniaus  and  Marcionites  of  old  to  ascribe 
the  original  of  it  unto  any  other  author. 

2.  He  who  spake  in  the  name  of  God  on  mount  Sinai  was 
no  other  than  God  himself,  the  second  person  of  the  Trinity,  Ps. 
Ixviii.  17-19.  Him  Stephen  calls  "the  angel,"  Acts  vii.  30,  38; 
even  the  angel  of  the  covenant,  the  Lord  whom  the  people  sought, 
Mai.  iii.  1,  2.  Some  would  have  it  to  be  a  created  angel,  delegated 
unto  that  work,  who  thereon  took  on  him  the  presence  and  name 
of  God,  as  if  he  himself  had  spoken.  But  this  is  wholly  contrary  to 
the  nature  of  all  ministerial  work.  Never  did  ambassador  speak  in 
his  own  name,  as  if  he  were  the  king  himself  whose  person  he  doth 
represent.  The  apostle  tells  us  that  the  preachers  of  the  gospel 
were  God's  ambassadors,  and  that  God  by  them  doth  persuade  men 
to  be  reconciled  in  Christ,  2  Cor.  v.  20.  But  yet  if  any  on  that 
account  should  take  on  him  to  personate  God,  and  to  speak  of  him- 
self as  God,  he  would  be  highly  blasphemous.  Nor  can  this  be 
imagined  in  this  place,  where  not  only  he  that  speaks  speaks  in 
the  name  of  God,  ("I  am  the  Lokd  thy  God,")  but  also  elsewhere  it 
is  frequently  affirmed  that  Jehovah  himself  did  give  that  law;  which 
is  made  unto  the  people  an  argument  unto  obedience.  And  the 
things  done  on  Sinai  are  always  ascribed  imto  God  Inmself 

3.  It  remains,  then,  to  consider  how,  notwitiistanding  this,  the 
law  is  said  to  be  "  the  word  spoken  by  angels."  It  is  nowhere 
affirmed  that  the  law  was  given  by  angels,  but  that  the  people  re- 
*!eived  it  "by  the  disposition  of  angels,"  and  that  it  was  "ordained  by 
angels;"  and  here,  "spoken  by  them."  From  hence  it  is  evident  that 
not  the  original  authoritative  giving  of  the  law,  but  the  ministerial 
ordering  of  things  in  its  promulgation,  is  that  which  is  ascribed  to 
angels.  .They  raised  the  fire  and  smoke;  they  shook  and  rent  the 
rocks;  they  framed  the  sound  of  the  trumpet;  they  effected  tlie 


Ei  yoLf. 


VER.  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  275 

articulate  voices  which  conveyed  the  words  of  the  law  to  the  ears  of 
the  people,  and  therein  proclaimed  and  published  the  law;  wliereby 
it  became  "  the  word  spoken  by  angels." 

Grotius  on  this  place  contends  that  it  was  a  created  angel  wlio 
represented  the  person  of  God  on  mount  Sinai ;  and  in  the  confir- 
mation of  his  conjecture,  after  he  had  made  use  of  the  imagination 
before  rejected,  he  adds,  "  that  if  the  law  had  been  given  out  by 
God  in  his  own  person"  (as  he  speaks),  "  then,  upon  that  account,  it 
would  have  been  preferred  above  the  gospel."  But  as  the  apostle 
grants,  in  the  first  words  of  this  epistle,  that  the  law  no  less  than 
the  gospel  was  primitively  and  originally  from  God,  so  we  say  not 
that  God  gave  the  law  immediately,  without  the  ministry  of  angels; 
but  the  comparison  which  the  apostle  is  pursuing  respects  not  the 
fii^st  author  of  law  and  gospel,  but  the  principal  ministerial  publishers 
of  them,  who  of  the  one  were  angels,  of  the  other  the  Son  himself. 

And  in  these  words  lies  the  spring  of  the  apostle's  argument,  as 
is  manifest  in  those  interrogatory  particles,  u  ydp,  "  for 
if;" — '  For  if  the  law  that  was  published  unto  our  fathers 
by  angels  was  so  vindicated  against  the  disobedient,  how  much  more 
shall  the  neglect  of  the  gospel  be  avenged?' 

Secondly,  He  affirms  concerning  this  word  thus  published,  that 
it  was  (SiQaiog,  "firm,"  or  "steadfast;"  that  is,  it  be- 
came an  assured  covenant  between  God  and  the  people. 
That  peace  which  is  firm  and  well  grounded  is  called  siprjvri  BiZaia, 
"  a  firm,  unalterable  peace;"  and  rh  jSiQaiov  is  public  security.  The 
law's  becoming  IS'sQaioz,  then,  "  firm,  sure,  steadfast,"  consists  in  its 
being  ratified  to  be  the  covenant  between  God  and  that  people  as 
to  their  typical  inheritance :  Deut.  v.  2,  "  The  LoRD  our  God  made 
a  covenant  with  us  in  Horeb."  And  therefore  in  the  greater  trans- 
gressions of  the  law,  the  people  were  said  to  forsake,  to  break,  to 
profane,  to  transgress  the  covenant  of  God,  Lev.  xxvi,  ]  5 ;  Deut. 
xvii.  2,  xxxi,  20;  Hos.  vi.  7;  Josh.  vii.  11 ;  2  Kings  xviii.  12;  1  Kings 
xix.  14;  Jer.  xxii.  9;  Mai.  ii.  10,  And  the  law  thus  published  by 
angels  became  a  steadfast  covenant  between  God  and  the  people,  by 
their  mutual  stipulation  thereon,  Exod.  xx.  19 ;  Josh.  xxiv.  21,  22,  24. 
Being  thus  firm  and  ratified,  obedience  unto  it  became  necessary 
and  reasonable;  for  hence, — 

Thirdly,  The  event  of  disobedience  unto  this  word  is  expressed: 
*'  Every  transgression  and  every  stubborn  disobedience  received  a 
meet  retribution,"     Sundry  things  must  be  a  little   inquired  into 
for  the  right  understanding  of  these  words, — as,  1.  The 
difference  between   irapdZaaig  and    'Ko.paxon.     And   the    "*^''^''^''- 
first  is  properly  any  transgression,  whicli  the  Hebrews 
call  Vtf^Si;  the  latter  includes  a  refusal  so  to  attend  as  to  obey, — contu- 
macy, stubbornness,  rebellion,  ''I'p.     And  so  the  latter  word  may  be 


276  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  H. 

exegetical  of  the  former, — such  transgressions  the  apostle  speaks 
of  as  were  accompanied  with  contumacy  and  stubbornness, — or 
they  may  both  intend  the  same  things  under  diverse  respects.  2. 
How  may  this  be  extended  to  every  sin  and  transgression,  seeing  it 
is  certain  that  some  sins  under  the  law  were  not  punished,  but  ex- 
piated by  atonement?  Ans.  (1.)  Every  sin  was  contrary  rw  Xo'yw, 
"  to  the  doctrine  of  the  law,"  its  commands  and  precepts.  (2.)  Punish- 
ment was  assigned  unto  every  sin,  though  not  executed  on  every 

sinner.     And  so  the  word  s'AaQiv  denotes  not  the  actual 

infliction  of  punishment,  but  the  constitution  of  it  in 
the  sanction  of  the  law.  (3.)  Sacrifices  for  atonement  manifested 
punishments  to  have  been  due,  though  the  sinner  was  relieved 
against  them.  But,  (4.)  The  sins  especially  intended  l)y  the  apostle 
were  such  as  were  directly  against  the  law  as  it  was  a  covenant  be- 
tween God  and  the  people,  for  which  there  was  no  provision  made 
of  any  atonement  or  compensation ;  but  the  covenant  being  broken 
by  them,  the  sinners  were  to  die  without  mercy,  and  to  be  extermi- 
nated by  the  hand  of  God  or  man.  And  therefore  the  sins  against 
the  gospel,  which  are  opposed  unto  those,  are  not  any  transgressions 
that  professors  may  be  guilty  of,   but  final  apostasy  or  unbelief, 

which  renders  the  doctrine  of  it  altogether  unprofitable 
S*ToS«<r/«.         unto  men.     3.    EfO/xo;  iMttsdarroooGia.  is  a  recompence  jiist 

and  equal,  proportionable  unto  the  crime  according  to 
the  judgment  of  God, — that  which  answers  dixaido/xaTi  tov  Qso~,  that 
"judgment  of  God,"  which  is,  "that  they  which  commit  sin  are 
worthy  of  death,"  Rom.  i.  32.  And  there  were  two  things  in  the 
sentence  of  the  law  against  transgressors: — (1.)  The  temporal  punish- 
ment of  cutting  off  from  the  land  of  the  living,  which  respected  that 
dispensation  of  the  law  which  the  Israelites  were  subjected  unto. 
But  the  several  sorts  of  punishment  that  were  among  the  Jews 
under  the  law  have  been  declared  in  our  Prolegomena;  to  discover 
the  nature  whereof,  let  the  reader  consult  the  21st  Exercitation. 
And,  (2.)  Eternal  punishment,  which  was  figured  thereby,  due  unto 
all  transgressors  of  the  law,  as  it  is  a  rule  of  obedience  unto 
God  from  all  mankind,  Jews  and  Gentiles.  Now,  it  is  the  first  of 
these  which  the  apostle  directly  and  primarily  intendeth ;  because 
he  is  comparing  the  law  in  the  dispensation  of  it  on  Horeb  unto 
the  Jews,  with  all  its  sanctions,  unto  the  present  dispensation  of  the 
gospel;  and  from  the  penalties  wherewith  the  breach  of  it,  as  such, 
among  that  people,  was  then  attended,  argues  unto  the  "sorer  punish- 
ment" that  must  needs  ensue  upon  the  neglect  of  the  dispensation 
of  the  gospel,  as  he  himself  expounds,  chap.  x.  28,  29.  For  other- 
wise the  penalty  assigned  unto  the  transgression  of  the  moi'al  law 
as  a  rule  is  the  very  same,  in  the  nature  and  kind  of  it,  with  that 
which  belongs  unto   despisers  of  the  gospel,  even   death   eternal. 


VER.  2  4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  277 

4.  Chrysostom  observes  some  impropriety  in  the  use  of  the  word 
fuG^a'rrcdosIa,  because  it  ratber  denotes  a  reward  for  a  good 
work  than  a  punishment  for  an  evil  one.  But  the  word 
is  indifferent,  sx  ruv  /mscmv,  and  denotes  only  a  recompence  suitable  unto 
that  whereunto  it  is  applied.  So  is  avrifiKrOia,  used  by  our  apostle,  Rom. 
i.  27,  excellently  expressed  by  Solomon,  Prov.  i,  31,  "Sinners  sliall  eat 
of  the  fruit  of  their  own  ways,  and  be  filled  with  their  own  devices." 
Such  rewards  we  have  recorded.  Num.  xv.  32-34;  2  Sam.  vi.  6,  7; 
1  Kings  xiii.  4,  xx.  36;  2  Kings  ii.  23,  24;  2  Ghron.  xxxii.  20,  21. 

This  the  apostle  lays  down  as  a  thing  well  known  unto  tbe  He- 
brews, namely,  that  the  law,  which  was  delivered  unto  them  by 
angels,  received  such  a  sanction  from  God,  after  it  was  established 
as  the  covenant  between  him  and  the  people,  that  the  transgression 
of  it,  so  as  to  disannul  the  terms  and  conditions  of  it,  had,  by  divine 
constitution,  the  punishment  of  death  temporal,  or  excision,  ap- 
pointed unto  it.  And  this  in  the  next  words  he  proceeds  to  improve 
unto  his  purpose  by  the  way  of  an  argument  "a  minori  ad  majus:" 
"  How  shall  we  escape,  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation,"  etc. 

There  is  an  antithesis  expressed  in  one  branch,  as  we  observed 
before,  between  the  law  and  the  gospel,  namely,  that  the  law  was 
the  wo7^d  s^Joken  by  angels,  the  gospel  being  revealed  hy  the  Lord 
himself.  But  there  are  also  other  differences  intimated  between 
them,  though  expressed  only  on  the  part  of  the  gospel ;  as  that  it  is, 
in  its  nature  and  effects,  "great  salvation ;"  that  is,  not  absolutely  only, 
but  comparatively  unto  the  benefit  exhibited  to  their  forefathers  by 
tlie  law,  as  given  on  mount  Horeb.  The  confirmation  cilso  of  the 
gospel  by  the  testimony  of  God  is  tacitly  opposed  unto  the  confir- 
mation of  the  law  by  the  like  witness.  And  from  all  these  con- 
siderations doth  the  apostle  enforce  his  argument,  proving  the 
punishment  that  shall  befall  gospel  neglecters. 

In  the  words,  as  was  in  part  before  observed,  there  occur: — 
1.  The  stibject-matter  spoken  of, — "  so  great  salvation."  2.  A  fur- 
ther description  of  it;  (1.)  From  its  principal  author, — it  "  began 
to  be  spoken  by  the  Lord;"  (2.)  From  the  rnanner  of  its  propaga- 
tion,— it  "was  confirmed  unto  us  by  them  that  heard  him;  (3.)  From 
its  confirmation  by  the  testimony  of  God; — which,  (4.)  Is  exempli- 
fied by  a  distribution  into,  [1.]  Signs;  [2.]Woitders;  [3.]  Mighty 
works;  and  [4.]  Va7'ious  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Whereof  there 
is,  3.  A  neglect  supposed, — "  if  we  neglect."  And,  4.  Punishment 
thereof  intimated  ;  wherein,  (1.)  The  punishment  itself,  and,  (2.)  The 
manner  of  its  expression,  "  How  shall  we  escape,"  are  to  be  con- 
sidered.    All  which  are  to  be  severally  explained. 

1.  The  subject-matter  treated  of  is  expressed  in  these 
words,  "  So  great  salvation."    And  it  is  the  gospel  which    ^urKc,>ai. 
is  intended  in  that  expression,  as  is  evident  from  the 


ii78  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

preceding  verse;  for  that  which  is  there  called  "the  word  which  we 
have  heard,"  is  here  called  "great  salvation:"  as  also  from  the  fol- 
lowing words,  where  it  is  said  to  be  declared  by  the  Lord,  and 
further  propagated  by  them  that  heard  hira.  And  the  gospel  is 
called  "  salvation"  by  a  metonymy  of  the  effect  for  the  cause:  for  it 
is  the  grace  of  God  bringing  salvation.  Tit.  ii.  11 ;  the  word  that  is 
able  to  save  us;  the  doctrine,  the  discovery,  the  instrumentally- 
eft:cient  cause  of  salvation,  Rom.  i.  16;  1  Cor.  i.  20,  21.  And  this 
salvation  the  apostle  calls  ^rea^  upon  many  accounts,  which  we  shall 
afterwards  unfold.  And  calling  it,  "  so  great  salvation,"  he  refers 
them  unto  the  doctrine  of  it,  wherein  they  had  been  instructed,  and 
whereby  the  excellency  of  the  salvation  which  it  brings  is  de- 
clared. 

Now,  though  the  apostle  might  have  expressed  the  gospel  by  "The 
word  which  was  declared  unto  us  by  the  Lord,"  as  he  had  done  the 
law  by  "  The  word  spoken  by  angels;"  yet  to  strengthen  his  argu- 
ment, or  motive  unto  obedience,  which  he  insists  upon,  he  chose  to 
give  a  brief  description  of  it  from  its  jjrijicipal  effect;  it  is  "great 
salvation."  The  law,  by  reason  of  sin,  proved  the  ministry  of  death 
and  condemnation,  2  Cor.  iii.  9 ;  yet,  being  fully  published  only  by 
angels,  obedience  was  indispensably  required  unto  it; — and  shall  not 
the  gospel,  the  ministry  of  life,  and  great  salvation,  be  attended 
unto? 

2.  He  further  describes  the  gospel,  (1.)  From  its  principal  author  or 

revealer.     It  "  began  to  be  spoken  by  the  Lord,"  ap'xr\v 
•Afx.^.  xcjoZtra,  -^^^^-^^  XaXiTffdai.  The  words  may  have  a  twofold  sense; 

for  dpr^Tiv  may  denote  either  "  principium  temporis, 
"  the  beginning  of  time;"  or  "principium  operis,"  "the  beginning  of 
the  work."  In-  the  first  way,  it  asserts  that  the  Lord  himself  was 
the  first  preacher  of  the  gospel,  before  he  sent  or  employed  his 
apostles  and  disciples  in  the  same  work;  in  the  latter,  that  he  only 
began  the  work,  leaving  the  perfecting  and  finishing  of  it  unto  those 
who  were  chosen  and  enabled  by  him  unto  that  end.  And  this 
latter  sense  is  also  true;  for  he  finished  not  the  whole  declaration  of 
the  gospel  in  iiis  own  person,  teaching  "  viva  voce,"  but  committed 
the  work  unto  his  apostles,  Matt.  x.  27.  But  their  teaching  from 
him  being  expressed  in  the  next  words,  I  take  the  words  in  the  first 
sense,  referring  unto  what  he  had  delivered,  chap.  i.  1,  2,  of  God's 
sjieaking  in  these  last  days  in  the  person  of  the  Sou.  Now,  tlie 
cfospel  hath  had  a  threefold  beginning  of  its  declaration : — First,  In 
prediction,  by  promises  and  types;  and  so  it  began  to  be  declared 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  Luke  i.  70,  71.  Secondly,  In  an 
immediate  preparation  ;  and  so  it  began  to  be  declared  in  and  by  the 
ministry  of  John  the  Baptist,  Mark  i.  1,  2.  Thirdly,  In  its  open, 
clear,  actual,  full  revelation;  so  this  work  was  begun  by  the  Lord 


VER.  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  279 

himself,  and  carried  on  to  perfection  by  those  who  were  appointed 
and  enabled  by  him  thereunto,  John  i.  17,  18.  Thus  was  it  by  him 
declared,  in  his  own  person,  as  tlie  law  was  by  angels. 

And  herein  lies  the  stress  of  the  apostle's  reasonings  with  refer- 
ence unto  what  he  had  before  discoursed  concerning  the  Son  and 
angels,  and  iiis  pre-eminence  above  them.  The  great  reason  why 
the  Hebrews  so  pertinaciously  adhered  unto  the  doctrine  of  the  law, 
was  the  glorious  publication  of  it.  It  was  "  the  word  spoken  by 
angels;"  they  received  it  "  by  the  disposition  of  angels."  '  If,'  saith 
the  apostle,  '  that  were  a  sufficient  cause  why  the  law  should  be 
attended  unto,  and  that  the  neglect  of  it  should  be  so  sorely  avenged 
as  it  was,  though  in  itself  but  the  ministry  of  death  and  condemna- 
tion, then  consider  what  is  your  duty  in  reference  unto  the  gospel, 
which  as  it  was  in  itself  a  word  of  life  and  great  salvation,  so  it  was 
spoken,  declared,  and  delivered  by  the  Lord  himself,  whom  we  have 
manifested  to  be  so  exceedingly  exalted  above  all  angels  whatever.'' 

He  further  descril)es  the  gospel,  (2.)  From  the  way  and  means  of  its 
conveyance  unto  us.  It  was  "  confirmed  unto  us  by  them  that  heard 
him."  And  herein  also  he  prevents  an  objection  that  might  arise  in 
the  minds  of  the  Hebrews,  inasmuch  as  they,  at  least  the  greatest 
part  of  them,  were  not  acquainted  with  the  jjersonal  ministry  of  the 
Lord ;  they  heard  not  the  word  spoken  by  him.  For  hereunto  tiie 
apostle  replies,  that  though  they  themselves  heard  him  not,  yet  the 
same  word  which  he  preached  was  not  only  declared,  but  "  confirmed 
unto  them  by  those  that  heard  him."  And  herein  he  doth  not  in- 
tend all  of  them  who  at  any  time  heard  him  teaching,  but  tliose 
whom  in  an  es[)ecial  manner  he  made  choice  of  to  employ  them  in 
that  work,  namel}',  the  apostles.  So  that  this  expression,  "Those  that 
heard  him,"  is  a  periphrasis  of  the  apostle's,  from  that  great  privilege 
of  hearincf  immediatelv  all  thinos  that  our  Lord  taught  in  his  own 
person;  for  neither  did  the  church  of  the  Jews  hear  the  law  as  it  was 
pronounced  on  Horeb  by  angels,  but  had  it  confirmed  unto  them  by 
the  ways  and  means  of  God's  appointment.  And  he  doth  not  say 
merely  that  the  word  was  taught  or  preached  unto  us  by  them;  but 
eQsQaiwDri, — it  was  "confirmed,"  made  firm  and  steadfast, 
being  delivered  infallibly  unto  us  by  the  ministry  of  the 
apostles.  There  was  a  divine  /SsCa/wc/j,  "  firmness,"  certainty,  and 
infallibility  in  the  apostolical  declaration  of  the  gospel,  like  that 
which  was  in  the  writings  of  the  prophets;  which  Peter,  comparing 
with  miracles,  calls  ^iZaionpov  y.iyov,  "  a  more  firm,  steadfast,  or  sure 
word."  And  this  inlailible  certainty  of  their  word  was  from  their 
divine  inspiration. 

Sundry  holy  and  learned  men  from  this  expression,  "  Confirmed 
unto  us." — wherein  they  say  the  writer  of  this  ejjistle  placeth  hnn- 
self  among  the  number  of  those  who  heard  not  the  word  Irom  the 


280  AN  EXPOSITION  01'  THE  [cHAP.  XL 

Lord  himself,  but  only  from  the  apostles, — conclude  that  Panl  can- 
not be  the  penman  thei^eof,  who  in  sundry  places  denieth  that  he 
received  the  gospel  by  instruction  from  men,  but  by  immediate 
revelation  from  God.  Now,  because  this  is  the  only  pretence  which 
hatli  any  ajopearance  of  reason  for  the  adjudging  the  writing  of  this 
epistle  from  him,  I  shall  briefly  show  the  invalidity  of  it.  And  (1.) 
It  is  certain  that  this  term,  "  ns,"  comprises  aud  casts  the  whole 
under  the  condition  of  the  generality  or  major  part,  and  cannot  re- 
ceive a  particular  distribution  unto  all  individuals;  for  this  epistle 
being  written  before  the  destruction  of  the  temple,  as  we  have  de- 
monstrated, it  is  impossible  to  apprehend  but  that  some  were  then 
living  at  Jerusalem  who  attended  unto  the  ministry  of  the  Lord 
himself  in  the  days  of  his  flesh,  and  among  them  was  James  himself, 
one  of  the  apostles,  as  before  we  have  made  it  probable:  so  that 
nothing  can  hence  be  concluded  to  every  individual,  as  though  none 
of  them  might  have  heard  the  Lord  himself.  (2.)  The  apostle  hath 
evidently  a  respect  unto  the  foundation  of  the  church  of  the  Hebrews 
at  Jerusalem  by  the  preaching  of  the  apostles,  immediately  after 
the  pouring  out  of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  them.  Acts  ii.  1-5 ;  which, 
as  he  was  not  himself  concerned  in,  so  he  was  to  mind  it  unto  them 
as  the  beginning  of  their  faith  and  profession.  (3.)  Paul  himself 
did  not  hear  the  Lord  Christ  teaching  personally  on  the  earth  when 
he  began  to  reveal  the  great  salvation.  (4.)  Nor  doth  he  say  that 
those  of  whom  he  speaks  were  originally  instructed  by  the  hearers 
of  Christ,  but  only  that  by  them  the  word  was  confirmed  unto  them; 
and  so  it  was  unto  Paul  himself.  Gal.  ii.  1,  2.  But,  (5.)  Yet  it  is 
apparent  that  tlie  apostle  useth  an  avaxoivooffiv,  placing  himself  among 
those  unto  whom  he  wrote,  though  not  personally  concerned  in  every 
particular  spoken, — a  thing  so  usual  with  him  that  there  is  scarce  any 
of  his  epistles  wherein  sundry  instances  of  it  are  not  to  be  found. 
See  1  Cor.x.  8,  9 ;  1  Thess.  iv.  1 7;.  The  like  is  done  by  Peter,  1  Epist. 
iv.  3.  Having  therefore,  in  this  place,  to  take  off  all  suspicion  of 
jealousy  in  his  exhortation  to  the  Hebrews  unto  integrity  and  con- 
stancy in  their  protession,  entered  on  his  discourse  in  this  chapter  in 
the  same  way  of  expression,  "  Therefore  ought  tue,"  as  there  was  no 
need,  so  there  was  no  place  for  the  change  of  the  persons,  so  as  to 
say  "  you  "  instead  of  "  us."  .  So  that  on  many  accounts  there  is  no 
ground  for  this  objection. 

He  further  yet  describes  the  gospel  (3.)  By  the  divine  attestation 
given  unto  it,  which  also  adds  to  the  force  of  his  argument  and 

exhortation :  Ivvi-Tri/MapTupo^vTog  ro\J  0«oD.      The  word  is  of 
^vvi'Tifx.ctf-     ^  double  composition,  denotina'  a  concurrincj  testimony 

of  God,  a  testimony  given  unto  or  together  with  the  tes- 
timony and  witness  of  the  apostles.  Of  Avhat  nature  this  testimony 
was,  and  wherein  it  consisted,  the  next  words  declare,  "  By  sigua 


VEIt  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  281 

and  wonders,  and  mighty  works,  and  distributions  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;" 
all  which  agree  in  the  general  nature  of  works  supernatural,  and  in 
the  especial  end  of  attesting  to  the  truth  of  the  gospel,  being  wrought 
according  to  the  promise  of  Christ,  Mark  xvi.  17,  18,  by  the  minis- 
try of  the  apostles,  Acts  v.  12,  and  in  especial  by  that  of  Paul 
himself,  Rom.  xv.  19,  2  Cor.  xii.  12.  But  as  to  their  especial  differ- 
ences, they  are  here  cast  under  four  heads: — • 

The  first  are  ernjATa,  nhiX,  "signs;"  that  is,  miracu- 
lous works,  wrought  to  signify  the  presence  of  God  by 
his  power  with  them  that  wrought  them,  for  the  apjjrobation  and 
confirmation  of  the  doctrine  which  they  taught.     The  second  are 
r'ipara,  Cl^"^Db    "  prodigies,"    "  wonders,"  v/orks  beyond 
the  power  of  nature,  above  the  energy  of  natural  causes ; 
wrought  to  fill  men  with  wonder  and  admiration,  stirring  men  up 
unto  a  diligent  attention  to  the  doctrine  accompanied  with  them: 
for  whereas  they  surprise  men  by  discovering  to  Sj/ci/,  "  a  present 
divine  power,"  they  dispose  the  mind  to  an  embracing  of  what  is 
confirmed  by  them.     Thirdly,  Sui/a.ae/j,  ni~iU2n^  "mighty 
works,    wherem  evidently  a  mighty  power,  the  power 
of  God,  is  exerted  in  tlieir  operation.     And  fourthly,  Ui/iu//,aro(;  aylou 
fLspiqMoi,  :^ini^n  mnn  nijno    "gifts  of  the  Holy  Giiost," 
euumerated  1  Lor.xu.,  iiiph.iv.  8;  ;^ap/ff/4ara,     tree  gilts, 
freely  bestowed,  called  fnpia^aoi,  "  divisions,"  or  "  distributions,"  for 
the  reason  at  large  declared  by  the  apostle,  1  Cor.  xii.  7-11.     All 
which  are  intimated  in  the  following  words,   Kara  -riv  aCrov  SjAjjct/v. 
It.  is  indifferent  whether  we  read  auTo\^  or  avrou,  and  refer  it  to  the 
will  of  God,  or  of  the  Holy  Ghost  himself,  his  own  will,  which  the 
apostle  guides  unto,  1  Cor.  xii.  11. 

As  we  said  before,  all  these  agi'ee  in  the  same  general  nature  and 
kind  of  miraculous  operations,  the  variety  of  expressions  whereby 
they  are  set  forth  relating  only  unto  some  different  respects  of  them, 
taken  from  their  especial  ends  and  effects.  The  same  works  were, 
in  different  respects,  signs,  wonders,  mighty  works,  and  gifts  of  the 
Holy  Ghost ;  but  being  effectual  unto  several  ends,  they  received 
these  various  denominations. 

In  these  works  consisted  the  divine  attestation  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  apostles,  God  in  and  by  them  giving  testimony  from  heaven,  by 
the  ministration  of  his  almighty  power,  unto  the  things  which  were 
taught,  and  his  approbation  of  the  persons  that  taught  them  in  theii 
work.  And  this  was  of  especial  consideration  in  dealing  with  the 
Hebrews;  for  the  delivery  of  the  law  and  the  ministry  of  Mo.ses 
having  been  accompanied  with  many  signs  and  prodigies,  they  made 
great  inquiry  after  signs  for  the  confirmation  of  the  gospel,  1  Cor.  i, 
22;  which  though  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  neither  in  his  own  person 
nor  by  his  apostles  would  grant  unto  them,  in  their  time  and  manner. 


2b2  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

to  satisfy  their  wicked  and  carnal  curiosity,  yet  in  liis  own  way  and 
season  he  gave  them  forth  for  their  conviction,  or  to  leave  them  in- 
excusable, John  X.  38. 

8.  The  gospel  being  of  this  nature,  thus  taught,  thus  deli- 
vered, thus  confirmed,  there  is  a  neglect  of  it  supposed,  verse  3,  "  If 
we  neglect,"  a/iiX'/iaa\'rsg.  The  conditional  is  included 
^s  .>5<ravT£s.  .^  ^-j^^  manner  of  the  expression,  "  If  we  neglect,"  "  if 
we  regard  not,"  "  if  we  do  not  take  due  care  about  it."  The  word 
intimateth  an  omission  of  all  those  duties  which  are  necessary  for 
our  retaining  the  word  preached  unto  our  profit,  and  that  to  such  a 
degree  as  utterly  to  reject  it ;  for  it  answers  unto  those  transgressions 
of  and  that  stubborn  disobedience  unto  the  law,  which  disannulled 
it  as  a  covenant,  and  were  punished  with  excision  or  cutting  off. 
"  If  we  neglect," — that  is,  if  we  continue  not  in  a  diligent  observa- 
tion of  all  those  duties  which  are  indispensably  necessary  unto  a 
holy,  useful,  profitable  profession  of  the  gospel. 

4.  There  is  a  punishment  intimated  upon  this  sinful  neglect 
of  the  gospel:  "  How  shall  we  escape," — "flee  from," 
as  iK(pivi,o-  ^^  (4  avoid  1"  wherein  both  the  punishment  itself  and 
the  manner  of  its  expression  are  to  be  considered. 
For  the  punishment  itself,  the  apostle  doth'  not  expressly  mention 
it;  it  must  therefore  be  taken  from  the  words  going  beiore.  "How 
shall  we  escape;"  that  is  hhixov  fLicSa-odoatav,  "a  just  retribution," 
"a  meet  recompence  of  reward?"  The  breach  of  the  law  had  so; 
a  punishment  suitable  unto  the  demerit  of  the  crime  was  by  God 
assigned  unto  it,  and  inflicted  on  them  that  were  guilty.  So  is 
there  unto  the  neglect  of  the  gospel,  even  a  punishment  justly  de- 
served by  so  great  a  crime ;  so  much  greater  and  more  sore  than 
that  designed  unto  the  contempt  of  the  law,  by  how  much  tlie 
gospel,  upon  the  account  of  its  nature,  effects,  author,  and  confirma- 
tion, was  more  excellent  than  the  law:  ysip^jv  n/jjup/a, 
a  sorer  punishment,  as  our  apostle  calls  it,  chap.  x.  29  ; 
as  much  exceeding  it  as  eternal  destruction  under  the  curse  and 
wrath  of  God  exceeds  all  temporal  punishments  whatever.  What 
this  punishment  is,  see  Matt.  xvi.  26,  xxv,  46;  2  Thess.  i.  9.  The 
manner  of  ascertaining  the  punishment  intimated  is  by  an  interro- 
gation, "  How  shall  we  escape  ?"  wherein  three  things  are  intended: 
— (1 .)  Adenial  of  any  ways  or  means  for  escape  or  deliverance.  There 
is  none  that  can  deliver  us,  no  way  whereby  we  may  escape.  See 
1  Pet.  iv.  17,  18.  And,  (2.)  The  certainty  of  the  punishment  itself. 
It  will  as  to  the  event  assuredly  befall  us.  And,  (3.)  The  inexpress- 
ible greatness  of  this  unavoidable  evil:  "How  shall  we  escape?" 
We  shall  not,  there  is  no  Avay  for  it,  nor  ability  to  bear  what  we  are 
liable  unto.  Matt,  xxiii.  33;  1  Pet.  iv.  18. 

This  is  the  scope  of  the  apostle  in  these  verses,  this  the  import- 


YER.  2-4.J  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  28.3 

ance  of  the  several  things  contained  in  them.  His  main  design  and 
intendment  is,  to  prevail  with  the  Hebrews  unto  a  diligent  attend- 
ance unto  the  gospel  that  was  preached  unto  them ;  which  he  urgeth 
by  an  argument  taken  from  the  danger,  yea  certain  ruin,  that  will 
undoubtedly  ensue  on  the  neglect  of  it;  whose  certainty,  unavoid- 
ableness,  greatness,  and  righteousness,  he  manifests  by  the  considera- 
tion of  the  punishment  assigned  unto  the  transgression  of  the  law, 
which  the  gospel  on  many  accounts  doth  excel. 

The  observations  for  our  own  instruction  which  these  verses  offer 
unto  us  are  these  that  follow: — 

I.  Motives  unto  a  due  valuation  of  the  gospel  and  perseverance 
in  the  profession  of  it,  taken  from  the  penalties  annexed  unto  the 
neglect  of  it,  are  evangelical,  and  of  singular  use  in  the  preaching 
of  the  word:  "How  shall  we  escape,  if  we  neglect?" 

This  consideration  is  here  managed  by  the  apostle,  and  that  when 
he  had  newly  set  forth  the  glory  of  Christ,  and  the  greatness  of  the 
salvation  tendered  in  the  gospel,  in  the  most  persuading  and  attrac- 
tive manner.  Some  would  fancy  that  all  comminations  and  threat- 
enings  do  belong  unto  the  law,  as  though  Jesus  Christ  had  left 
himself  and  his  gospel  to  be  securely  despised  by  profane  and  im- 
penitent sinners;  but  as  they  will  find  the  contrary  to  their  eternal 
ruin,  so  it  is  the  will  of  Christ  that  we  should  let  them  know  it,  and 
thereby  warn  others  to  take  heed  of  their  sins  and  their  plagues. 

Now,  these  motives  from  comminations  and  threatenings  I  call 
evangelical, — 

1.  Because  they  are  recorded  in  the  gospel.  There  we  are  taught 
them,  and  by  it  commanded  to  make  use  of  them.  Matt.  x.  !^8,  xxiv. 
50,  51,  XXV.  41,  Mark  xvi.  16,  John  iii.  36,  2  Cor.  ii.  15,  16,  2  Thess. 
i.  8,  9,  and  in  other  places  innumerable.  And  to  this  end  are  they 
recorded,  that  they  may  be  preached  and  declared  as  part  of  the 
gospel.  And  if  the  dispensers  of  the  word  insist  not  on  them,  they 
deal  deceitfully  with  the  souls  of  men,  and  detain  from  the  counsel 
of  God.  And  as  such  persons  will  find  themselves  to  have  a  weak 
and  an  enervous  ministry  here,  so  also  that  they  will  have  a  sad 
account  of  their  partiality  in  the  word  to  give  hereafter.  Let  not 
men  think  themselves  more  evangelical  than  the  author  of  the 
gospel,  more  skilled  in  the  mystery  of  the  conversion  and  edification 
of  the  souls  of  men  than  the  apostles; — in  a  word,  more  wise  than 
God  himself;  which  they  must  do  if  they  neglect  this  part  of  his 
ordinance. 

2.  Because  they  become  the  gospel.  It  is  meet  the  gospel  should 
be  armed  with  threatenings  as  well  as  attended  with  promises;  and 
that, — 

(1.)  On  the  part  of  Christ  himself,  the  author  of  it.  However 
the  world  persecuted  and  despised  him  whilst  he  was  on  the  earth, 


284  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  XL 

and  he  "  threatened  not,"  1  Pet.  ii.  23,  on  his  own  account, — however 
they  continued  to  contemn  and  blaspheme  his  ways  and  salvation, — 
yet  he  lets  them  know  that  he  is  armed  with  power  to  revenge  their 
disobedience.  And  it  belongs  unto  his  honour  to  have  it  declared 
unto  them.  A  sceptre  in  a  kingdom  without  a  sword,  a  crown  with- 
out a  rod  of  iron,  will  quickly  be  trampled  on.  Both  are  therefore 
given  into  the  hand  of  Christ,  that  the  glory  and  honour  of  his 
dominion  may  be  known,  Ps.  ii.  9-12. 

(2.)  They  become  the  gospel  on  the  part  of  sinners,  yea,  of  all  to 
whom  the  gospel  is  preached.     And  these  are  of  two  sorts: — 

[].]  Unbelievers,  hypocrites,  apostates,  impenitent  neglecters  of 
the  great  salvation  declared  in  it.  It  is  meet  on  this  account  tliat 
the  dispensation  of  the  gospel  be  attended  with  threatenings  and 
comniinations  of  punibhment;  and  that, — 

\st.  To  keep  them  here  in  awe  and  fear,  that  they  may  not  boldly 
and  openly  break  out  in  contempt  of  Christ.  These  are  his  arrows 
tiiat  are  sharp  in  the  hearts  of  his  adversaries,  whereby  he  awes 
them,  galls  them,  and  in  the  midst  of  all  their  pride  makes  them 
to  tremble  sometimes  at  their  future  condition.  Christ  never  suffers 
them  to  be  so  secure  but  that  his  terrors  in  these  threatenings  visit 
them  ever  and  anon.  And  hereby  also  doth  he  keep  them  within 
some  bounds,  bridles  their  rage,  and  overpowers  many  of  them  unto 
some  usefulness  in  the  world,  with  many  other  blessed  ends  not  now 
to  be  insisted  on. 

2dly.  That  they  may  be  left  inexcusable,  and  the  Lord  Christ  be 
justified  in  his  proceedings  against  them  at  the  last  day.  If  they 
siiould  be  surprised  with  "  fiery  indignation"  and  "  everlasting  burn- 
ings" at  the  last  day,  how  might  they  plead  that  if  they  had  been 
warned  of  these  things  they  would  have  endeavoured  to  flee  from  "the 
wrath  to  come;"  and  how  apt  might  they  be  to  repine  against  his 
justice  in  the  amazing  greatness  of  their  destruction  !  But  now,  by 
taking  order  to  have  the  penalty  of  their  disobedience  in  the  threat- 
enings of  the  gospel  declared  unto  them,  they  are  left  without  excuse, 
and  himself  is  glorified  in  taking  vengeance.  He  hath  told  them 
beforehand  plainly  what  they  are  to  look  for,  Heb.  x.  26,  27- 

[2.]  They  are  so  on  the  part  of  believers  themselves.  Even  they 
stand  in  need  to  be  minded  of  "the  terror  of  the  Lord,"  and  what  a 
fearful  thing  it  is  to  "  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God,"  and  that 
even  "  our  God  is  a  consuming  fire."     And  this, — 

\st.  To  keep  up  in  their  hearts  a  constant  reverence  of  the  ma- 
jesty of  Jesus  Christ,  witli  whom  they  have  to  do.  The  threatening 
sanction  of  the  gospel  bespeaks  the  greatness,  holiness,  and  terror 
of  its  author,  and  insinuates  into  the  hearts  of  believers  thoughts 
becoming  them.  It  lets  them  know  that  he  will  be  "  sanctified  in 
all  that  draw  nigh  unto  him;"  and  so  calls  upon  them  for  a  due  re- 


VER.  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  285 

verential  preparation  for  the  performance  of  his  worship,  and  unto 
all  the  duties  wherein  they  walk  before  him,  Heb.  xii.  28,  29.  This 
iutluenceth  them  also  unto  a  diligent  attendance  unto  every  particular 
duty  incumbent  on  them,  as  the  apostle  declares,  2  Cor.  v.  11. 

^dly.  They  tend  unto  their  consolation  and  supportment  under 
all  tlieir  afflictions  and  sufferings  for  the  gospel.  This  relieves  their 
hearts  in  all  their  sorrows,  when  they  consider  the  sore  vengeance 
that  the  Lord  Jesus  Clirist  will  one  day  take  on  all  his  stubborn 
adversaries,  who  know  not  God,  nor  will  obey  the  gospel,  2  Thess. 
i.  5-10;  for  the  Lord  Jesus  is  no  less  faithful  in  his  threatenings 
than  in  his  promises,  and  no  less  able  to  inflict  the  one  tlian  to 
accomplish  the  other.  And  he  is  "glorious"  unto  them  therein,  Isa. 
Ixiii.  11-13. 

2dly.  They  give  them  constant  matter  of  praise  and  thankfulness, 
when  they  see  in  them,  as  in  a  glass  that  will  neitlier  flatter  nor  cause- 
lessly terrify,  a  representation  of  that  wrath  which  they  are  delivered 
from  by  Jesus  Christ,  1  Thess.  i.  10:  for  in  this  way  every  threaten- 
ing of  the  gospel  proclaims  the  grace  of  Christ  unto  their  souls;  and 
wlien  they  hear  them  explained  in  all  their  terror,  they  can  rejoice 
in  the  hope  of  the  glory  that  shall  be  revealed.     And, — 

MJdy.  They  are  needful  unto  them  to  ingenerate  that  fear  which 
may  give  check  unto  the  remainder  of  their  lusts  and  corruptions, 
with  that  security  and  negligence  in  attending  to  the  gospel  which 
by  their  means  is  apt  to  grow  upon  them.  To  this  purpose  is  the 
punishment  of  despisers  and  backsliders  here  made  use  of  and  urged 
by  our  apostle.  Tlie  hearts  of  believers  are  like  gardens,  wherein 
there  are  not  only  flowers,  but  weeds  also;  and  as  the  former  must 
be  watered  and  cherished,  so  the  latter  must  be  curbed  and  nipped. 
If  nothing  but  dews  and  showers  of  promises  should  fall  upon  the 
heart,  though  they  seem  to  tend  to  the  cherishing  of  their  graces, 
yet  the  weeds  of  corruption  will  be  apt  to  grow  up  with  them,  and 
in  the  end  to  choke  them,  unless  they  are  nipped  and  blasted  by  tlie 
severity  of  threatenings.  And  although  their  persons,  in  the  use  of 
me;ms,  shall  be  secured  from  falling  under  the  final  execution  of 
comminations,  yet  they  know  there  is  an  infallible  connection  signi- 
fied in  them  between  sin  and  destruction,  1  Cor.  vi.  9,  and  that  they 
must  avoid  the  one  if  they  would  escape  the  other. 

btldy.  Hence  they  have  in  a  readiness  wherewith  to  balance  temp- 
tations, especially  such  as  accompany  sufferings  for  Christ  and  tiie 
gospeh  Great  reasonings  are  apt  to  rise  in  the  hearts  of  believers 
themselves  in  such  a  season,  and  they  are  biassed  by  their  infir- 
mities to  attend  unto  them.  Liberty  would  be  spared,  life  would 
be  spared;  it  is  hard  to  suffer  and  to  die.  How  many  have  been 
betrayed  by  their  fears  at  such  a  season  to  forsake  the  Lord  Christ 
and  the  gospel!    But  now  in  these  gospel  threatenings  we  have  that 


286  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  11. 

in  a  readiness  which  we  may  oppose  unto  all  these  reasonings  and 
the  efficacy  of  them.  Are  we  afraid  of  a  man  that  shall  die?  have 
we  not  much  more  reason  to  be  afraid  of  the  living  God?  Shall  we, 
to  avoid  the  anger  of  a  worm,  cast  ourselves  into  his  wrath  who  is  a 
consuming  fire?  Shall  we,  to  avoid  a  little  momentary  trouble,  to 
preserve  a  perishing  life,  which  a  sickness  may  take  away  the  next 
day,  run  ourselves  into  eternal  ruin?  Man  threatens  me  if  I  for- 
sake not  the  gospel;  but  God  threatens  if  I  do.  Man  threatens 
death  temporal,  which  yet  it  may  be  he  shall  not  have  power  to  in- 
flict; God  threatens  death  eternal,  which  no  backslider  in  heart  shall 
avoid.  On  these  and  the  like  accounts  are  comminations  useful 
unto  believers  themselves. 

(o.)  These  declarations  of  eternal  punishment  unto  gospel  ne- 
glecters  do  become  the  gospel  with  respect  unto  them  that  are  the 
preachers  and  dispensers  of  it,  that  their  message  be  not  slighted 
nor  their  persons  despised.  God  would  have  even  them  to  have  in 
a  readiness  wherewith  to  revenge  the  disobedience  of  men,  2  Cor. 
X.  6;  not  with  carnal  weapons,  killing  and  destroying  the  bodies  of 
men,  but  by  such  a  denunciation  of  the  vengeance  that  will  ensue 
on  their  disobedience  as  shall  undoubtedly  take  hold  upon  them,  and 
end  in  their  everlasting  ruin.  Thus  are  they  armed  for  the  warfare 
wherein  by  the  Lord  Christ  they  are  engaged,  that  no  man  may  he 
encouraged  to  despise  them  or  contend  with  them.  They  are  autho- 
rized to  denounce  the  eternal  wrath  of  God  against  disobedient  sin- 
ners; and  wiiomsoever  they  bind  under  the  sentence  of  it  on  earth, 
they  are  bound  in  heaven  unto  the  judgment  of  the  great  day. 

On  these  grounds  it  is  we  say  that  the  threateniugs  and  denun- 
ciations of  future  punishment  unto  all  sorts  of  persons  are  becoming 
the  gospel;  and  therefore  the  using  of  them  as  motives  unto  the  ends 
for  which  they  are  designed  is  evangelical.  And  this  will  further 
appear  if  we  shall  yet  consider, — 

1.  That  threatenings  of  future  penalties  on  the  disobedient  are 
far  more  clear  and  express  in  the  gospel  than  in  the  law.  The 
curse,  indeed,  was  threatened  and  denounced  under  the  law,  and  a 
pledge  and  instance  of  its  execution  were  given  in  the  temporal 
punishments  that  were  inflicted  on  the  transgressors  of  it;  but  in 
the  "Tospel  the  nature  of  this  curse  is  explained,  and  what  it  con- 
sisteth  in  is  made  manifest.  For  as  eternal  life  was  only  obscurely 
promised  in  the  Old  Testament,  though  promised,  so  death  eternal 
under  the  curse  and  wrath  of  God  was  only  obscurely  threatened 
therein,  though  threatened.  And  therefore  as  life  and  inm^ortality 
were  brought  to  light  by  the  gospel,  so  death  and  hell,  the  punish- 
ment of  sin  under  the  wrath  of  God,  are  more  fully  declared  therein. 
The  nature  of  the  judgment  to  come,  the  duration  of  the  penalties 
to  be  inflicted  on  unbelievers,  with  such  intimations  of  the  nature 


VER.  2-4. j  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  2S7 

and  ]i\vA  of  them  as  our  understandings  are  able  to  receive,  are  fully 
and  frequently  insisted  on  in  the  NeW'  Testament,  whereas  they  are 
very  obscurely  only  gathered  out  of  the  writings  of  the  Old. 

2.  The  punishment  threatened  in  the  gospel  is,  as  unto  degrees, 
greater  and  more  sore  than  that  which  was  annexed  to  the  mere 
transgression  of  the  first  covenant.  Hence  the  apostle  calls  it  "death 
unto  death,"  2  Cor.  ii.  16,  by  i^eason  of  the  sore  aggravation  which 
the  first  sentence  of  death  will  receive  from  the  wrath  due  unto  the 
contempt  of  the  gospel.  Separation  from  God  under  eternal. punish- 
ment was  unquestionably  due  to  the  sin  of  Adam ;  and  so,  conse- 
quently, unto  evei'y  transgression  against  the  first  covenant.  Gen.  ii. 
17;  Rom.  V.  12,  17.  But  yet  this  hinders  not  but  that  the  same 
penalty,  for  the  nature  and  kind  of  it,  may  receive  many  and  great 
aggravations,  upon  men's  sinning  against  that  great  remedy  provided 
against  the  first  guilt  and  prevarication;  which  it  also  doth,  as  shall 
further  afterwards  be  declared. 

And  this  ought  they  to  be  well  acquainted  withal  who  are  called 
unto  the  dispensation  of  the  gospel.  A  fond  conceit  hath  befallen 
some,  that  all  denunciations  of  future  wrath,  even  unto  unbelievers, 
is  legal,  which  therefore  it  doth  not  become  the  preachers  of  the 
gospel  to  insist  upon :  so  would  men  make  themselves  wiser  than 
Jesus  Christ  and  all  his  apostles,  yea,  they  would  disarm  the  Lord 
Christ,  and  expose  him  to  the  contempt  of  his  vilest  enemies.  There 
is  also,  we  see,  a  great  use  in  these  evangelical  threatenings  unto 
believers  themselves.  And  they  have  been  observed  to  have  had 
an  effectual  ministry,  both  unto  conversion  and  edification,  who  have 
been  made  wise  and  dexterous  in  managing  gospel  comminations 
towards  the  consciences  of  their  hearers.  And  those  also  that  hear 
the  word  may  hence  learn  their  duty,  when  such  threatenings  are 
handled  and  opened  unto  them. 

II.  All  punishments  annexed  unto  the  transgression  either  of  the 
law  or  gospel  are  effects  of  God's  vindictive  justice,  and 
consequently  iust  and  equal:  "  A  meet  recompence  of    ^'^'^'^ ^f^'"^"- 
reward." 

What  it  is  the  apostle  doth  not  declare ;  but  he  doth  that  it  is  just 
and  equal,  which  depends  on  the  justice  of  God  appointing  and  de- 
signing of  it.  Foolish  men  have  always  had  tumultuating  thoughts 
about  the  judgments  of  God.  Some  have  disputed  with  him  about 
the  equity  and  equality  of  his  ways  in  judgments  temporal,  Ezek. 
xviii.,  and  some  about  those  that  shall  be  eternal.  Hence  was  the 
vain  imagination  of  them  of  old  who  dreamed  that  an  end  should 
be  put,  after  some  season,  unto  the  punishment  of  devils  and  wicked 
men;  so  turning  hell  into  a  kind  of  purgatory.  Others  have  dis- 
puted, in  our  days,  that  there  shall  be  no  hell  at  all,  but  a  mere 
annihilation  of  ungodly  men  at  the  last  day.     The^e  things  being 

VOL.  xii.— 19 


288  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

SO  expressly  contrary  to  the  Scripture,  can  have  no  other  rise  but 
the  corrupt  minds  and  affections  of  men,  not  conceiving  the  reasons 
of  God's  judgments,  nor  acquiescing  in  his  sovereignty.  That  which 
they  seem  principally  to  have  stumbled  at,  is  the  assignation  of  a 
punishment  infinite  as  to  its  duration,  as  well  as  in  its  nature  ex- 
tended unto  the  utmost  capacity  of  the  subject,  unto  a  fault  tem- 
porary, finite,  and  transient.  Now,  that  we  may  justify  God  herein, 
and  the  more  clearly  discern  that  the  punishment  inflicted  finally 
on  sin  is  but  "  a  meet  recompence  of  reward,"  we  must  consider, — 

1.  That  God's  justice  constituting,  and  in  the  end  inflicting,  the 
reward  of  sin,  is  essential  unto  him.  "  Is  God  unjust  ?"  saith  the 
apostle,  0  kvKpipcav  rrjv  opyriv,  Rom.  iii.  5.  'Opyrj,  "anger,"  or  "wrath," 
is  not  that  from  whence  punishment  proceedeth,  but  punishment 
itself  God  iuflicteth  wrath,  anger,  or  vengeance.  And  therefore 
when  we  read  of  the  anger  or  wratli  of  God  against  sin  or  sinners, 
as  Rom.  i.  18,  the  expression  is  metojuymical,  the  cause  being  de- 
signed by  the  effect.  The  true  fountain  and  cause  of  the  punish- 
ment of  sin  is  the  justice  of  God,  which  is  an  essential  property  of 
his  nature,  natural  unto  him,  and  inseparable  from  any  of  his  works. 
And  this  absolutely  is  the  same  with  his  holincvss,  or  the  infinite 
purity  of  his  nature.  So  that  God  doth  not  assign  the  punishment 
of  sin  arbitrarily,  as  though  he  might  do  so  or  otherwise  without  any 
impeachment  of  his  glory;  but  his  justice  and  his  holiness  indispen- 
sably require  that  it  should  be  punished,  even  as  it  is  indispensably 
necessary  that  God  in  all  things  should  be  just  and  holy.  "  The 
holy  God  will  do  no  iniquity;"  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  will  do 
right,  and  will  by  no  means  acquit  the  guilty.  This  is  d/Kurjj/j.a  rou 
Gtou,  "  the  judgment  of  God,"  that  which  his  justice  requireth,  "  that 
they  which  commit  sin  are  worthy  of  death,"  Rom.  i.  32.  And  God 
cannot  but  do  that  which  it  is  just  that  he  should  do.  See  2  Thess. 
i.  6.  We  have  no  more  reason,  then,  to  quarrel  with  the  punish- 
ment of  sin  than  we  have  to  repine  that  God  is  holy  and  just, — that 
is,  that  he  is  God ;  for  the  one  naturally  and  necessarily  followeth 
upon  the  other.  Now,  there  is  no  principle  of  a  more  uncontrollable 
and  sovereign  truth  written  in  the  hearts  of  all  men  than  this,  that 
what  the  nature  of  God,  or  any  of  his  essential  properties,  require 
to  he,  is  holy,  meet,  equal,  just,  and  good. 

2.  That  this  righteousness  or  justice  of  God  is  in  the  exer- 
cise of  it  inseparably  accompanied  with  infinite  wisdom.  Tbese 
things  are  not  diverse  in  God,  but  are  distinguished  with  respect 
unto  the  various  manners  ot  his  actings,  and  the  variety  of  the 
objects  which  he  acteth  towards,  and  so  denote  a  different  habitude 
of  the  divine  nature,  not  diverse  things  in  God.  They  are  there- 
fore inseparable  in  all  the  works  of  God.  Now,  from  this  infinite 
wisdom  of  God,  which  his  righteousness  in  the  constitution  of  the 


VER.'2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  TIIK  HEBREWS.  2*^0 

punishment  of  sin  is  eternally  accompanied  withal,  two  things 
ensue  : — 

(1.)  That  he  alone  knoweth  what  is  the  true  desert  and  demerit 
of  sin,  and  but  from  his  declaration  of  creatures  not  any.  And  how 
shall  we  judge  of  what  we  know  nothing  of  but  from  him,  but  only 
by  what  he  doth  ?  We  see  amongst  men  that  the  guilt  of  crimes  is 
aggravated  according  to  the  dignity  of  the  persons  against  whom 
they  are  committed.  Now,  no  creature  knowing  him  perfectly 
against  whom  all  sin  is  committed,  none  can  truly  and  perfectly 
know  what  is  the  desert  and  demerit  of  sin  but  by  his  revelation 
who  is  perfectly  known  unto  himself  And  what  a  madness  is  it  to 
judge  otherwise  of  what  we  do  no  otherwise  understand !  Shall  we 
make  ourselves  judges  of  what  sin  against  God  doth  deserve? — let 
us  first  by  searching  find  out  the  Almighty  unto  perfection,  and 
then  we  may  know  of  ourselves  what  it  is  to  sin  against  him.  Be- 
sides, we  know  not  what  is  the  opposition  that  is  made  by  sin  unto 
the  holiness,  the  nature,  the  very  being  of  God.  As  we  cannot 
knov/  him  perfectly  against  whom  we  sin,  so  we  know  not  perfectly 
what  we  do  when  we  sin.  It  is  the  least  part  of  the  malignity  and 
poison  that  is  in  sin  which  we  are  able  to  discern.  We  see  not  the 
d(.-23th  of  that  malicious  respect  which  it  hath  unto  God ;  and  are  we 
capable  to  judge  aright  of  what  is  its  demerit?  But  all  these 
things  are  open  and  naked  before  that  infinite  wisdom  of  God 
which  accompanieth  his  righteousness  in  all  his  works.  He  knows 
himself,  against  whom  sin  is;  he  knows  the  condition  of  the  sinner; 
he  knows  what  contrariety  and  opposition  there  is  in  sin  unto  him- 
self,— in  a  word,  what  it  is  for  a  finite,  limited,  dependent  creature, 
to  subduct  itself  from  under  the  government  and  oppose  itself  unto 
the  authority  and  being  of  the  holy  Creator,  Ruler,  and  Governor 
of  all  things  ; — all  [this  he  knows]  absolutely  and  perfectly,  and  so 
alone  knows  what  sin  deserves. 

(2.)  From  this  infinite  wisdom  is  the  'proportioning  of  the  several 
degrees  in  the  punishment  that  shall  be  inflicted  ou  sin:  for  al- 
though his  righteousness  requires  that  the  final  punishment  of  all 
sin  should  be  an  eternal  separation  of  the  sinner  from  the  enjoy- 
ment of  him,  and  that  in  a  state  of  wrath  and  misery,  yet  by  his 
Avisdom  he  hath  constituted  degrees  of  that  wrath,  according  luito 
the  variety  of  provocations  that  are  found  among  sinners.  And  by 
nothmg  else  could  this  be  done.  What  else  is  able  to  look  through 
the  inconceivable  variety  of  aggravating  circumstances,  which  is  re- 
quired hereunto?  For  the  most  part,  we  know  not  what  is  so;  an<^ 
when  v/e  know  any  thing  of  its  being,  we  know  nothing  almost  of 
the  true  nature  of  its  demerit.  And  this  is  another  thing  from 
whence  we  may  learn  that  divine  punishment  of  sin  is  always  "  a 
meet  recompence  of  reward." 


290  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

3.  In  the  final  punishment  of  sin,  there  is  no  mixture  of  mercy, 
■ — nothing  to  alleviate  or  to  take  off  from  the  uttermost  of  its 
desert.  This  world  is  the  time  and  place  for  mercy.  Here  God 
causeth  his  sun  to  shine  and  his  rain  to  fall  on  the  worst  of  men, 
filling  their  hearts  with  food  and  gladness.  Here  he  endures  them 
with  much  patience  and  forbearance,  doing  them  good  in  unspeak- 
able variety,  and  to  many  of  them  making  a  daily  tender  of  that 
mercy  which  might  make  them  blessed  to  eternity.  But  the  season 
of  these  things  is  past  in  the  day  of  recompence.  Sinners  shall 
then  hear  nothing  but,  "  Go,  ye  cursed."  They  shall  not  have  the 
least  effect  of  mercy  showed  unto  them  unto  all  eternity.  They 
shall  then  "  have  judgment  without  mercy  who  showed  no  mercy." 
The  grace,  goodness,  love,  and  mercy  of  God,  shall  be  glorified  unto 
the  utmost  in  his  elect,  v/ithout  the  least  mixture  of  allay  from  his 
displeasure;  and  so  shall  his  wrath,  severity,  and  vindictive  justice, 
in  them  that  perish,  without  any  temperature  of  pity  or  compassion. 
He  shall  rain  upon  them  "snares,  fire,  and  brimstone;"  this  shall 
be  their  portion  for  ever.  Wonder  not,  then,  at  the  greatness  or 
duration  of  that  punishment  which  shall  exhaust  the  whole  wrath 
of  God,  without  the  least  mitigation. 

(1.)  And  this  will  discover  unto  us  the  nature  of  sin,  especially  of 
unbelief  and  neglect  of  the  gospel.  Men  are  apt  now  to  have  slight 
thoughts  of  these  things;  but  when  they  shall  find  them  revenged 
with  the  whole  wrath  of  God,  they  w^ll  change  their  minds.  What 
a  folly,  what  a  madness  is  it,  to  make  light  of  Christ,  unto  which  an 
eternity  of  punishment  is  but  "a  meet  recompence  of  reward !"  It  is 
good,  then,  to  learn  the  nature  of  sin  from  the  threatenings  of  God, 
rather  than  from  the  common  presumptions  that  pass  among  secure, 
perishing  sinners.  Consider  what  the ,  righteousness,  what  the  holi- 
ness, what  the  wisdom  of  God  hath  determined  to  be  due  unto  sin, 
and  then  make  a  judgment  of  the  nature  of  it,  that  you  be  not  over- 
taken with  a  woful  surprisal  when  all  means  of  relief  are  gone  and 
past.     As  also  know  that, — 

(2.)  This  world  alone  is  the  time  and  place  wherein  you  are  to  look 
and  seek  for  mercy.  Cries  will  do  nothing  at  the  last  day,  not  ob- 
tain the  least  drop  of  water  to  cool  the  tongue  in  its  torment.  Some 
men,  doubtless,  have  secret  reserves  that  things  will  not  go  at  the 
last  day  as  by  others  they  are  made  to  believe.  They  hope  to  meet 
_  with  better  quarter  than  is  talked  of, — that  God  will  not  be  inex- 
orable, as  is  pretended.  Were  not  these  their  inward  thoughts,  it 
were  not  possible  they  should  so  neglect  the  season  of  grace  as  they 
do.  But,  alas,  how  will  they  be  deceived!  God  indeed  is  gracious, 
merciful,  and  full  of  compassion ;  but  this  world  is  the  time  wherein 
he  will  exercise  them.  They  will  be  for  ever  shut  up  towards  un- 
believers at  the  last  day.     This  is  the  acceptable  time,  this  is  the 


VER.  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  291 

(lay  of  salvation.     If  this  be  despised,  if  this  be  neglected,  expect 
no  more  to  hear  of  mercy  unto  eternity, 

III.  Every  concernment  of  the  law  and  gospel,  both  as  to  their 
nature  and  joromulgation,  is  to  be  weighed  and  considered  by  be- 
liever.^:,  to  beget  in  their  hearts  a  right  and  due  valuation  of  them. 
To  this  end  are  they  liere  so  distinctly  proposed ;  as  of  the  law,  that 
it  was  "spoken  by  angels;"  and  of  the  gospel,  that  it  is  "  great  salva- 
tion," the  word  "spoken  by  the  Lord,"  and  confirmed  with  signs  and 
miracles:  all  which  the  apostle  would  have  vis  to  weigh  and  distinctly 
consider.  Our  interest  lies  in  them,  and  our  good  is  intended  by 
them.     And  to  stir  up  our  attention  unto  them,  we  may  observe, — 

1.  That  God  doth  nothing  in  vain,  nor  speaks  any  thing  in 
vain,  especially  in  the  things  of  his  law  and  gospel,  wherein  the 
great  concernments  of  his  own  glory  and  the  souls  of  men  are  en- 
wrapped. And  therefore  our  Saviour  lets  us  know  that  there  is  a 
worth  in  the  least  apex  and  iota  of  the  word,  and  that  it  must  have 
its  accomplishment.  An  end  it  hath,  and  that  end  shall  be  fulfilled. 
The  Jews  have  a  foolish  curiosity  in  reckoning  all  the  letters  of  the 
Scripture,  and  casting  up  how  ofien  every  one  doth  occur.  But  yet 
this  curiosity  of  theirs,  vain  and  needless  as  it  is,  will  condemn  our 
negligence,  if  we  omit  a  diligent  inquiry  into  all  the  things  and  cir- 
cumstances of  it  that  are  of  real  importance.  God  hath  a  holy 
and  wise  end  in  all  that  he  doth.  As  nothing  can  be  added  unto 
his  word  or  work,  so  nothing  can  be  taken  from  it ;  it  is  every  way 
perfect.  And  this  in  general  is  enough  to  quicken  us  unto  a  dili- 
gt^nt  search  into  all  the  circumstances  and  adjuncts  both  of  law  and 
gospel,  and  of  the  way  and  manner  whereby  he  was  pleased  to  com- 
municate them  unto  us. 

2.  There  is  in  all  the  concernments  of  the  law  and  gospel  a 
mixture  of  divine  Avisdom  and  grace.  From  this  fountain  they 
all  proceed,  and  the  living  waters  of  it  run  through  them  all.  The 
times,  the  seasons,  the  authors,  the  instruments,  the  manner  of  their 
delivery,  were  all  ordered  by  the  "manifold  wisdom  of  God;"  which 
especially  appears  in  the  disjjensation  of  the  gospel,  Eph.  iii.  9,  10. 
The  apostle  placeth  not  the  wisdom  of  God  only  in  the  mystery  of 
the  gospel,  but  also  in  the  season  of  its  promulgation.  "  It  was 
hid,"  saith  he,  "in  God,"  verse  9, — that  is,  in  the  "  purpose"  of  God, 
verse  11, — "  from  ages  and  from  generations,  but  now  is  made  ma- 
nifest," Col.  i.  26.  And  herein  doth  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God 
appear.  Were  we  able  to  look  into  the  depth  of  any  circumstance 
that  concerns  the  institutions  of  God,  we  should  see  it  full  of  wisdom 
and  grace;  and  the  netjlect  of  a  due  consideration  thereof  hath  God 
sometimes  severely  revenged.  Lev.  x.  1,  2. 

3.  There  is  in  them  all  a  gracious  condescension  unto  our  weak- 
ness.    God  knows  that  we  stand  in  need  of  an  especial  mark  to 


292  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

be  set  on  every  one  of  them.  Such  is  our  weakness,  our  slow- 
ness to  believe,  that  we  have  need  that  the  word  should  be  unto  us 
"line  upon  line,  and  precept  upon  precept;  here  a  little,  and  there 
a  little."  As  God  told  Moses,  Exod.  iv.  8,  that  if  the  children  of 
Israel  would  not  believe  on  the  first  sign  they  would  on  the  second, 
so  it  is  with  us;  one  consideration  of  the  law  or  the  gospel  often- 
times proves  ineffectual,  when  another  overpowers  the  heart  unto 
obedience.  And  therefore  hath  God  thus  graciously  condescended 
unto  our  weakness  in  proposing  unto  us  the  several  considerations 
mentioned  of  his  law  and  gospel,  that  by  some  of  them  we  may  be  laid 
hold  upon  and  bowed  unto  his  mind  and  will  in  them.  Accordingly, — ■ 

4.  They  have  had  their  various  infiuences  and  successes  on 
the  souls  of  men.  Some  have  been  wrought  upon  by  one  consi- 
deration, some  by  another.  In  some  the  holiness  of  the  law,  in 
others  the  manner  of  its  administration,  has  been  effectual.  Some 
have  fixed  their  hearts  principally  on  the  grace  of  the  gospel;  some 
on  the  person  of  its  author.  And  the  same  persons,  at  several  times, 
have  had  help  and  assistance  from  these  several  considerations  of 
the  one  and  the  other.  So  that  in  these  things  God  doth  nothing 
in  vain.  Nothing  is  in  vain  towards  believers.  Infinite  wisdom  is 
in  all,  and  infinite  glory  will  arise  out  of  all. 

And  this  should  stir  us  up  unto  a  diligent  search  into  the  ivord, 
wherein  God  hath  recorded  all  the  concernments  of  his  law  and 
gospel  that  are  for  our  use  and  advantage.  That  is  the  cabinet 
wherein  all  these  jewels  are  laid  up  and  disposed  according  to  his 
wisdom  and  the  counsel  of  his  will.  A  general  view  of  it  will  but 
little  satisfy,  and  not  at  all  enrich  our  souls.  This  is  the  mine 
wherein  we  must  dig  as  for  hid  treasures.  One  main  reason  why 
we  believe  not  more,  why  we  obey  not  more,  why  we  love  not  more, 
is  because  we  are  not  more  diligent  in  searching  the  word  for  sub- 
stantial motives  unto  them  all.  A  very  little  insight  into  the  word 
is  apt  to  make  men  think  that  they  see  enough ;  but  the  reason  of 
it  is,  because  they  like  not  what  they  see:  as  men  will  not  like  to 
look  far  into  a  shop  of  wares,  when  they  like  nothing  which  is 
at  first  presented  unto  them.  But  if,  indeed,  we  find  sweetness, 
benefit,  profit,  life,  in  the  discoveries  that  ai'e  made  unto  us  in  the 
word  about  the  law  and  gospel,  we  shall  be  continually  reaching 
after  a  further  acquaintance  with  them.  It  may  be  we  know  some- 
what of  those  things;  but  how  know  we  that  there  is  not  some 
esi3ecial  concernment  of  the  gospel,  which  God  in  a  holy  conde- 
scension hath  designed  for  our  good  in  particular,  that  we  are  not  as 
yet  arrived  unto  a  clear  and  distinct  knowledge  of?  Here,  if  we 
search  for  it  with  all  diligence,  may  we  find  it;  and  if  we  go  maimed 
in  our  faith  and  obedience  all  our  days,  we  may  thank  our  own  sloth 
for  it. 


VER.  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  2'J3 

Again,  whereas  God  hath  distinctly  proposed  those  tilings  unto 
us,  they  should  have  our  distinct  consideration.  We  should  seve- 
rally and  distinctly  meditate  upon  them,  that  so  in  them  all  we  may 
admire  the  wisdom  of  God,  and  receive  the  effectual  influence  of 
tiiem  all  upon  our  own  souls.  Thus  may  we  sometimes  converse  in 
our  hearts  with  the  author  of  the  gospel,  sometimes  with  the  man- 
ner of  its  delivery,  sometimes  with  the  grace  of  it;  and  from  every 
one  of  these  heavenly  flowers  draw  nourishment  and  refreshment 
unto  our  own  souls.  O  that  we  could  take  care  to  gather  up  these 
fragments,  that  nothing  might  be  lost  unto  us,  as  in  tiiemselves  they 
shall  never  peribh ! 

IV.  What  means  soever  God  is  pleased  to  use  in  the  revelation 
of  his  will,  he  gives  it  a  certainty,  steadfastness,  assurance,  and  evi- 
dence, which  our  faith  may  rest  in,  and  which  cannot  be  neglected 
without  the  greatest  sin:  "  The  word  spoken  was  steadfast." 

Every  word  spoken  from  God,  by  his  appointment,  is  steadfast; 
and  that  because  spoken  from  him  and  by  his  appointment.  And 
there  are  two  things  that  belong  unto  this  steadfastness  of  the  word 
spoken : — 

1.  That  in  respect  of  them  unto  whom  it  is  spoken,  it  is  the 
foundation  of  faith  and  obedience,  the  formal  reason  of  them,  and 
last  ground  whereinto  they  are  resolved. 

2.  That  on  the  part  of  God,  it  is  a  stable  and  sufficient  ground  of 
righteousness  in  proceeding  to  take  vengeance  on  them  by  whom  it 
is  neglected.  The  punishment  of  transgressors  is  "  a  meet  recom- 
pence  of  reward,''  because  the  word  spoken  unto  them  is  "  steadfast." 
And  this  latter  follows  upon  the  former;  for  if  the  word  be  not  a 
stable,  firm  foundation  for  the  faith  and  obedience  of  men,  they 
cannot  be  justly  punished  for  the  neglect  of  it.  That,  therefore, 
nmst  be  briefly  spoken  unto,  and  this  will  naturally  ensue  as  a  con- 
sequent thereof. 

God  hath,  as  we  saw  on  the  first  verse  of  this  epistle,  by  various 
ways  and  means,  declared  and  revealed  his  mind  unto  men.  That 
declaration,  what  means  or  instruments  soever  he  is  pleased  to 
make  use  of  therein,  is  called  his  Word;  and  that  because  originally 
it  is  his,  proceeds  from  him,  is  delivered  in  his  name  and  autho- 
rity, reveals  his  mind,  and  tends  to  his  glory.  Thus  sometimes 
he  spake  by  angels,  using  their  ministry  either  in  delivering  his 
messages  by  words  of  an  outward  sound,  or  by  representation  of 
things  in  visions  and  dreams;  and  sometimes  by  the  inspiration  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  enabling  them  so  inspiied  to  give  out  the  word 
which  they  received  purely  and  entirely, — all  remaining  his  word 
still.  Now,  what  ways  soever  God  is  pleased  to  use  in  the  commu- 
nication of  his  mind  and  will  unto  men  for  their  obedience,  there  is 
that  steadfastness  in  the  woi  d  itself,  that  evidence  to  be  irom  him,  as 


294  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CITAP.  11. 

to  make  it  the  duty  of  men  to  believe  in  it  with  faith  divine  and 
supernatural ;  and  it  bath  that  stability  which  will  never  deceive  them. 
It  is,  I  say,  thus  steadfast  upon  the  account  of  its  being  spoken  from 
God,  and  stands  in  no  need  of  the  contribution  of  any  strength, 
authority,  or  testimony  from  men,  church,  tnidition,  or  aught  else 
that  is  extrinsical  unto  it.  The  testimonies  given  hereunto  in  the 
Scripture  itself,  which  are  very  many,  with  the  general  grounds  and 
reasons  hereof,  I  shall  not  here  insist  upon,  and  that  because  I  have 
done  it  elsewhere.  I  shall  only  mention  that  one  consideration  which 
thio  place  of  the  apostle  suggests  unto  us,  and  which  is  contained  in 
our  second  observation  from  the  word  "  steadfast."  Take  this  word 
as  spoken  from  God,  without  the  help  of  any  other  advantages,  and 
the  steadfastness  of  it  is  the  ground  of  God's  inflictino-  vengeance  on 
them  that  receive  it  not,  that  obey  it  not.  Because  it  is  his  word, 
because  it  is  clothed  with  his  authority,  if  men  believe  it  not  they 
must  perish.  But  now  if  this  be  not  sufficiently  evidenced  unto 
them,  namely,  that  it  is  his  word,  God  could  not  be  just  in  taking 
Vengeance  on  them ;  for  he  sliould  punish  them  for  not  believing  that 
which  they  had  no  sufficient  reason  to  believe,  which  suits  not  with 
the  holiness  and  justice  of  God.  The  evidence,  then,  that  this  word 
is  from  God,  that  it  is  his,  being  the  foundation  of  the  justice  of 
God  in  his  proceeding  against  them  that  do  not  believe  it,  it  is  of  in- 
dispensable necessity  that  he  himself  also  do  give  that  evidence  unto 
it.  From  whence  else  should  it  have  it  ?  from  the  testimony  of  the 
cluirch,  or  from  tradition,  or  from  probable  moral  inducements  that 
men  can  tender  one  to  another?  Then  these  two  things  will  inevi- 
tably follow: — (1.)  That  if  men  should  neglect  their  duty  in  giving 
testimony  unto  the  word,  as  they  may  do,  because  they  are  but  men, 
then  God  cannot  justly  condemn  any  man  in  the  world  for  the 
neglect  of  his  word,  or  not  believing  it,  or  not  yielding  obedience 
unto  it.  And  the  reason  is  evident,  because  if  they  have  not  suffi- 
cient ground  to  believe  it  to  be  his  without  such  testimonies  as  are 
not  given  unto  it,  it  is  the  highest  injustice  to  condemn  them  for 
nut  believing  it,  and  they  should  perish  without  a  cause:  for  what 
can  be  more  unjust  than  to  punish  a  man,  especially  eternally,  for  not 
doing  that  which  he  had  no  just  or  sufficient  reason  to  do?  This  be 
far  from  God,  to  destroy  the  innocent  v/itli  the  wicked.  (2.)  Sup- 
pose all  men  aright  to  discharge  their  duty,  and  that  there  be  a  fidl 
tradition  concerning  the  word  of  God,  that  the  church  give  testi- 
mony unto  it,  and  learned  men  produce  their  arguments  for  it; — if 
this,  all  or  any  part  hereof,  be  esteemed  as  the  sufficient  proposition 
of  the  Scripture  to  be  the  word  of  God,  then  is  the  execution  of 
infinite  divine  justice  built  upon  the  testimony  of  men,  which  is  not 
divine  or  infallible,  but  such  as  might  deceive:  and  God,  on  this 
supposal,  must  condemn  men  for  not  believing  with  faith  divine  and 


VER.  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  295 

infallible  that  which  is  proposed  unto  them  by  testimonies  and 
arguments  human  and  fal]il)le; — "quod  absit." 

It  remaineth,  then,  that  the  righteousness  of  tlie  act  of  God  iu 
condemning-  unbehevers  is  built  upon  the  evidence  that  tlie  object 
of  faitli  or  word  to  be  beheved  is  from  iiim. 

And  this  he  gives  unto  it,  botii  by  the  impression  of  his  majesty 
and  authority  upon  it,  and  by  the  power  and  ejSficacy  wherewith  by 
his  Spirit  it  is  accompanied.  Tlius  is  every  word  of  God  steadfast  as 
a  declaration  of  his  will  unto  us,  by  what  means  soever  it  is  made 
known  unto  us. 

V.  Eveiy  transaction  between  God  and  man  is  always  confirmed 
and  ratified  by  jjromises  and  threatenings,  rewards  and  punishments: 
"  Every  trespass." 

VI.  The  most  glorious  administrators  of  the  law  do  stoop  to  look 
into  the  mysteries  of  the  gospel.     See  1  Pet.  i.  12. 

VII.  Covenant  transgressions  are  attended  with  unavoidable  penal- 
ties: "  Every  transgression," — that  is  of  the  covenant,  disannulling 
of  it, — "  I'eceived  a  meet  recom[)ence  of  reward." 

Vlil.  The  gospel  is  a  word  of  salvation  to  them  that  do  be- 
lieve. 

IX.  The  salvation  tendered  in  the  gospel  is  '*  great  salvation." 

X.  Men  are  apt  to  entertain  thoughts  of  escaping  the  wrath  of 
God,  though  they  live  in  a  neglect  of  the  gospel.  This  the  apostle 
insinuates  m  that  interrogation,  "  Hoav  shall  we  escape  ?" 

XI.  The  neglecters  of  thegospel  shall  unavoidably  perish  under  the 
wrath  of  God:  "How  shall  we  escape  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation?" 

These  three  last  observations  may  be  cast  into  one  proposition,  and 
so  be  considered  together,  namely,  "  That  the  gospel  is  great  sal- 
vation, which  whoso  neglecteth  shall  therefore  unavoidably  perish 
without  remedy."  We  shall  first  inquire  how  the  gospel  is  said  to 
be  salvation,  and  that  great  salvation;  and  then  show  the  equity 
and  unavoidableness  of  their  destruction  by  whom  it  is  neglected, 
and  therein  the  vanity  of  their  hopes  who  look  for  an  escaping  in 
the  contempt  of  it. 

By  the  gospel,  we  understand  with  the  apostle  the  word  preached 
or  spoken  by  Christ  and  his  apostles,  and  now  recorded  for  our  use 
in  the  books  of  the  New  Testament,  but  not  exclusively  unto  wdmt  was 
declared  of  it  in  the  types  and  promises  of  the  Old  Testament.  Bub, 
by  the  way  of  eminency,  we  appropriate  the  whole  name  and  nature 
of  the  gospel  unto  that  delivery  of  the  mind  and  will  of  God  by 
Jesus  Christ,  which  included  and  perfected  all  that  had  preceded 
unto  that  purpose. 

Now,  FIRST,  the  gospel  is  salvation  upon  a  double  account: — 

First,  Declarativeiy,  in  that  the  salvation  of  God  by  Christ  is 
declared,  taught,  and  revealed  thereby.     So  the  apostle  informs  us, 


296  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  fCHAP.  XL 

Rom.  i.  16,  17,  "  It  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation, For 

therein  is  the  righteousness  of  God  revealed  from  faith  to  faith;" 
tliat  is,  the  righteousness  of  God  in  Christ,  whereby  believers  shall 
be  saved.  And  therefore  it  is  called  -/j  %a^/s  roD  Qsou  5j  curripiog,  Tit. 
ii.  11,  "the  saving,"  or  salvation-bringing,  "grace  of  God;" — the 
grace  of  God,  as  that  which  teacheth  and  revealeth  liis  grace.  And 
thence  they  that  abuse  it  to  their  lusts  are  said  to  "  turn  the  grace 
of  God  into  lasciviousness,"  Jude  4;  that  is,  the  doctrine  of  it,  which 
is  the  gospel.  And  therefore  under  the  old  testament  it  is  called 
the  preaching  or  declaring  of  glad  tidings,  tidings  of  peace  and  sal- 
vation, Nahum  i.  15,  Isa.  lii.  7;  and  is  described  as  a  proclamation 
of  mercy,  peace,  pardon,  and  salvation  unto  sinners,  Isa.  Ixi.  1— o: 
and  "life  and  immortality"  are  said  to  be  "brought  to  light"  thereby, 
2  Tim.  i.  10.  It  is  true,  God  had  from  all  eternity,  in  his  infinite 
grace,  contrived  the  salvation  of  sinners;  but  this  contrivance,  and 
the  purpose  of  it,  lay  hid  in  his  own  will  and  wisdom,  as  in  an  in- 
finite abyss  of  darkness,  utterly  imperceptible  unto  angels  and  men, 
until  it  was  brought  to  light,  or  manifested  and  declared,  by  the 
gospel,  Eph.  iii.  9,  10;  Col.  i.  25-27.  There  is  nothing  more  vain 
than  the  supposal  of  some,  that  there  are  other  ways  whereby  this 
salvation  might  be  discovered  and  made  known.  The  works  of 
nature,  or  creation  and  providence,  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  showers 
from  heaven,  with  fruitful  seasons,  are  in  their  judgment  preachers 
of  the  salvation  of  sinners.  I  know  not  what  else  they  say, — that 
the  reason  of  man,  by  the  contemplation  of  these  things,  may  find 
out  of  I  know  not  what  placability  in  God,  that  may  incite  sinners 
to  go  unto  him,  and  enable  them  to  find  acceptance  with  him.  But 
we  see  what  success  all  the  world,  and  all  the  wise  men  of  it,  had 
in  the  use  and  improvement  of  these  means  of  the  salvation  of  sin- 
ners. Tlie  apostle  tells  us  not  only  that  "  by  their  wisdom  they  knew 
not  God,"  1  Cor.  i.  21,  but  also,  that  the  more  they  searched,  the 
greater  loss  they  were  at,  until  they  "  waxed  vain  in  their  imagina- 
tions, and  their  foolish  hearts  were  darkened,"  Rom.  i.  21.  And, 
indeed,  whatever  they  had  amongst  them,  which  had  any  semblance 
of  an  obscure  apprehension  of  some  way  of  salvation  by  atonement 
and  intercession,  as  in  their  sacrifices,  and  mediations  of  inferior 
deities  (which  the  apostle  alludes  unto,  1  Cor.  viii.  5,  6),  as  they  had 
it  by  tradition  from  those  who  were  somewhat  instructed  in  the  will 
of  God  by  revelation,  so  they  turned  it  into  horrible  idolatries  and 
the  utmost  contempt  of  God.  And  this  was  the  issue  of  their  dis- 
quisitions, who  were  no  less  wise  in  the  principles  of  inbred  reason 
and  the  knowledge  of  the  works  of  nature  than  those  who  now  con- 
tend for  their  ability  to  have  done  better.  Besides,  the  salvation  or 
sinners  is  a  mystery,  as  the  Scripture  everywhere  declareth,  a  blessed, 
a  glorious  "  mystery,"  Rom.  xvL  25 :  "  The  wisdom  of  God  in  a 


VER.  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  "  297 

mystery,"  1  Cor.  ii.  7;  Eph.  i.  9;  Col.  i.  25,  26;  tliat  i^,  not  only  a 
thing  secret  and  marvellous,  but  such  as  hath  no  dependence  on  any 
causes  that  come  naturally  within  our  cognizance.  Now,  whatever 
men  can  find  out  by  the  principles  of  reason,  and  the  contemplation 
of  the  works  of  God  in  creation  and  providence,  it  is  by  natural 
scientifical  conclusions;  and  what  is  so  discovered  can  be  no  heavenly, 
spiritual,  glorious  mystery,  such  as  this  salvation  is.  Whatever  men 
may  so  find  out, — if  they  may  find  out  any  thing  looking  this  way, — 
it  is  but  natural  science;  it  is  not  a  mj'stery,  and  so  is  of  no  use  in 
this  matter,  whatever  it  be.  Moreover,  it  is  not  only  said  to  be  a 
mystery,  but  a  hidden  mystery,  and  that  "  hid  in  God "  himself,  as 
Eph.  iii.  9,  10;  Col.  i.  25,26;  1  Cor.  ii.  7,  8;  that  is,  in  the  wisdom," 
purpose,  and  will  of  God.  jSTow,  it  is  very  strange  that  men  should 
be  able,  by  the  natural  means  forementioned,  to  discover  a  heavenly, 
supernatural  wisdom,  and  that  hidden  on  purpose  from  their  find- 
ing by  any  such  inquiry,  and  that  in  God  himself;  so  coming  unto 
the  knowledge  of  it  as  it  were  whether  he  would  or  no.  But  we  may 
pass  over  these  imaginations,  and  accept  of  the  gospel  as  the  only 
way  and  means  of  declaring  the  salvation  of  God.  And  therefore 
every  word  and  promise  in  the  whole  book  of  God,  that  intimateth 
or  revealeth  any  thing  belonging  unto  this  salvation,  is  itself  a  part  of 
the  gospel,  and  so  to  be  esteemed.  And  as  this  is  the  work  of  the  gos- 
pel, so  is  it  in  an  especial  manner  its  proper  and  peculiar  work  with 
respect  unto  the  law.  The  law  speaks  nothing  of  the  salvation  of 
sinners,  and  is  therefore  called  the  ministry  of  death  and  condem- 
nation, as  the  gospel  is  of  life  and  salvation,  2  Cor.  iii.  9, 10.  And 
thus  the  gospel  is  salvation  declaratively. 

Secondly,  It  is  salvation  efficiently,  in  that  it  is  the  great  instru- 
ment which  God  is  pleased  to  use  in  and  for  the  collation  and  bestow- 
ing salvation  upon  his  elect.  Hence  the  apostle  calls  it  "  the  power 
of  God  unto  salvation,"  Rom.  i.  16;  because  God  in  and  by  it  exerts 
his  mighty  power  in  the  saving  of  them  that  believe;  as  it  is  again 
called,  1  Cor.  i.  18.  Hence  there  is  a  saving  power  ascribed  unto 
the  word  itself.  And  therefore  Paul  commits  believers  unto  "the 
word  of  grace,"  as  that  which  "  is  able  to  build  them  up,  and  give 
them  an  inheritance  among  all  them  which  are  sanctified,"  Acts  xx. 
32.  And  James  calls  it  "  the  ingrafted  word,  which  is  able  to  save 
our  souls,"  chap.  i.  21 ;  the  mighty  power  of  Christ  being  put  forth 
in  it,  and  accompanying  it,  for  that  pur^oose.  But  this  will  the 
better  appear  if  we  consider  the  several  principal  parts  of  this  sal- 
vation, and  the  efficiency  of  the  word  as  the  instrument  of  God  in 
the  communication  of  it  unto  us;  as, — 

1.  In  the  regeneration  and  sanctification  of  the  elect,  the  first 
external  act  of  this  salvation.  This  is  wrought  by  the  won',  1  Pet. 
L  23 :  "  Being  born  again,  not  of  corruptible  seed,  but  of  iueorrup- 


298  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  CHAP.  II. 

tible,  by  the  word  of  God;"  wherein  not  only  the  thing  itself,  or  our 
regeneration  by  the  word,  but  the  manner  of  it  also,  is  declared.  It 
is  by  the  collation  of  a  new  spiritual  life  upon  us,  whereof  the  word 
is  the  seed.  As  every  life  proceeds  from  some  seed,  that  hath  in  it- 
self virtually  the  whole  life,  to  be  educed  from  it  by  natural  ways 
and  means,  so  the  word  in  the  hearts  of  men  is  turned  into  a  vital 
'principle,  that,  cherished  by  suitable  means,  puts  forth  vital  acts  and 
operations.  By  this  means  we  are  "born  of  God"  and  "quickened," 
who  "  by  nature  are  children  of  wrath,  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins." 
So  Paul  tells  the  Corinthians  that  he  had  "  begotten  them  in  Christ 
Jesus  through  the  gospel,"  1  Cor.  iv.  15.  I  confess  it  doth  not  do  this 
work  by  any  power  resident  in  itself,  and  alwaj^s  necessarily  accom- 
panying its  administration ;  for  then  all  would  be  so  regenerated  unto 
whom  it  is  preached,  and  there  would  be  no  neglecters  of  it.  But 
it  is  the  instrument  of  God  for  this  end;  and  mighty  and  powerful 
through  God  it  is  for  the  accomplishment  of  it.  And  this  gives  us 
our  first  real  interest  in  the  salvation  which  it  doth  declare.  Of  the 
same  use  and  efficacy  is  it  in  the  progress  of  this  work,  in  our  sancti- 
fieation,  by  which  we  are  cariied  on  towards  the  full  enjoyment  of 
this  salvation.  So  our  Saviour  prays  for  his  disciples,  John  xvii.  17, 
"  Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth,  thy  word  is  truth," — as  the  means 
and  instrument  of  their  sanctification;  and  he  tells  his  apostles  that 
they  were  "  clean  through  the  word  that  he  had  spoken  unto  them," 
chap.  XV.  8.  For  it  is  the  food  and  nourishment  whereby  the  prin- 
ciple of  spiritual  life  which  we  receive  in  our  regeneration  is  cherished 
and  increasetl,  1  Pet.  ii.  2 ;  and  so  able  to  "  build  us  up,"  until  it  "give 
us  an  inheritance  among  them  that  are  sanctified." 

2.  It  is  so  in  the  comviunication  of  the  Spirit  unto  them 
that  do  believe,  to  furnish  them  with  the  gifts  and  graces  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  and  to  interest  them  in  all  those  privileges  of 
this  salvation  which  God  is  pleased  in  this  life  to  impart  unto  us 
and  to  intrust  us  withal.  So  the  apostle,  dealing  with  the  Gala- 
tians  about  their  backsliding  from  the  gospel,  asketh  them  whether 
they  "  received  the  Spirit  by  the  works  of  the  law,  or  by  the  word  of 
faith,"  chap.  iii.  2 ;  that  is  the  gospel.  That  was  the  way  and  means 
whereby  God  communicated  unto  them  his  Sfdrit,  by  whom,  among 
many  other  privileges,  we  are  sealed  unto  the  day  of  redemption. 
This  is  the  covenant  of  God,  that  his  Spirit  and  the  word  of  the 
gospel  shall  go  and  shall  abide  together  with  his  elect,  Isa.  lix.  21. 
And  he  is  given  unto  us  by  the  gospel  on  many  accounts: — 

(1.)  Because  he  is  the  gift  and  grant  of  the  author  of  the  gospel, 
as  to  all  the  especial  ends  and  concernments  of  salvation.  Joim 
tells  us  that  the  Spirit  was  not  given  when  Jesus  was  not  as  yet 
glorified,  chap.  vii.  39, — that  is,  not  in  such  a  manner  as  God  liath 
annexed  unto  this  salvation;  and  therefore  Peter  tells  us  that  when 


7ER.  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  UEBREWS.  2.99 

the  Lord  Christ  ascended  up  on  high,  he  received  of  tlie  Father  tlie 
promise  of  the  Spirit,  and  poured  liim  forth  on  them  which  did 
LeUeve,  Acts  ii.  33.  And  this  he  did,  according  to  his  own  great 
promise  and  prediction  whilst  he  conversed  with  his  disciples  in 
the  days  of  his  flesh.  There  was  not  any  thing  that  he  more  sup- 
porteil  and  encouraged  them  withal,  nor  more  raised  their  hearts  to 
an  expectation  of,  than  this,  that  he  would  send  unto  them  and 
bestow  upon  them  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  many  blessed  ends  and  y>ur- 
poses,  and  that  to  abide  with  them  for  ever,  as  we  may  see,  John 
xiv.  15,  16.  And  this  is  the  great  privilege  of  the  gospel,  that  the 
author  of  it  is  alone  the  donor  and  bestower  of  the  Holy  Spirit; 
which  of  what  concernment  it  is  in  the  business  of  our  salvation,  all 
men  know  who  have  any  acquaintance  with  these  things. 

(2.)  He  is  2}romised  in  the  gos2)el,  and  therein  alone.  All  the 
promises  of  the  Scripture,  whether  in  the  Old  Testament  or  New, 
whose  subject  is  the  Siairit,  are  evangelical;  they  all  belong  unto 
and  are  parts  of  the  gospel.  For  the  law  had  no  promise  of  the 
Spirit,  or  any  privilege  by  him,  annexed  unto  it.  And  hence  he  is 
called  "The  Holy  Spirit  of  promise,"  Eph,  i.  13;  who,  next  unto  the 
person  of  Chri.st,  was  the  great  subject  of  promises  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world. 

(3.)  By  these  promises  are  believers  actually  and  really  made 
partakers  of  the  Spirit.  They  are  "  vehicula  Spiritus,"  the  cha- 
riots that  bring  this  Holy  Spirit  into  our  souls,  2  Pet.  i.  4.  By  these 
"great  and  precious  promises'"  is  the  "divine  nature"  communicated 
unto  us,  so  far  forth  as  unto  the  indwelling  of  this  blessed  Spirit.  Every 
evangelical  promise  is  unto  a  believer  but  as  it  were  the  clothing  of 
the  Spirit;  in  receiving  whereof  he  receives  the  Spirit  himself,  for 
some  of  the  blessed  ends  of  this  great  salvation.  God  makes  use  of 
the  word  of  the  gospel,  and  of  no  other  means,  to  this  purpose.  So 
that  herein  also  it  is  "  the  grace  of  God  that  bringeth  salvation." 

3.  In  our  justification.  And  this  hath  so  great  a  share  in  this 
salvation  that  it  is  often  called  salvation  itself;  and  they  that  are 
justified  are  said  to  be  "  saved;"  as  Eph.  ii.  8.  And  this  is  by  the 
gospel  alone;  which  is  a  point  of  such  importance  that  it  is  the  main 
subject  of  some  of  Paul's  epistles,  and  is  fully  taught  in  them  all. 
And  in  sundry  respects  it  is  by  the  gospel: — 

(1.)  Because  therein  and  thereby  is  appointed  and  constituted  the 
new  law  of  justification,  whereby  even  a  sinner  may  come  to  be  jus- 
tified before  God.  The  law  of  justification  was,  that  he  that  did  the 
works  of  the  law  should  live  in  them,  Rom.  x.  5.  But  this  became 
weak  and  unprofitable  by  reason  of  sin,  Bom.  viii.  3 ;  Heb.  viii.  7-1 2. 
That  any  siimer  (and  we  have  all  sinned  and  come  short  of  the  glory 
of  God)  should  be  justified  by  this  law  or  rule  implies  a  contradic- 
tion and  is  utterly  impossible.     Wherefore  Gud  by  the  gospel  hath 


300  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

constituted  a  new  law  of  justification,  even  "the  law  of  faith/'  Rom. 
iii.  27;  which  is  the  holy  declaration  of  his  will  and  grace  that  sin- 
ners shall  be  justified  and  accepted  with  him  by  faith  in  the  blood 
of  Christ,  "  without  the  works  of  the  law," — that  "  he  that  believeth 
jihall  be  saved/'  This  is  equally  constituted  and  appointed  in  the 
law  of  faith  to  be  proposed  unto  all  that  shall  believe.  And  on  the 
account  hereof  the  gospel  is  salvation. 

(2.)  Because  in  every  justification  there  must  be  a  righteousness 
before  God,  on  the  account  whereof  the  person  to  be  justified  is  to 
be  pronounced  and  declared  righteous,  this  is  tendered,  proposed, 
and  exhibited  unto  us  in  and  by  the  gospel.  This  is  no  other  but 
the  Lord  Christ  himself  and  his  righteousness,  Isa.  xlv.  21,  22;  Rom. 
viii.  3,  4,  X.  4;  2  Cor.  v.  21 ;  Gal.  iii.  13,  14.  Now,  Christ  with  his 
whole  righteousness,  and  all  the  benefits  thereof,  are  tendered  unto 
us,  and  given  unto  or  bestowed  on  them  that  do  believe,  by  the 
promise  of  the  gospel.  Therein  is  he  preached  and  proposed  as 
crucified  before  our  eyes,  and  we  are  invited  to  accept  of  him ;  which 
the  souls  of  believers  through  the  gospel  do  accordingly, 

(3.)  And  faith  itself  whereby  we  receive  the  Lord  Christ  for  all 
the  ends  for  which  he  is  tendered  unto  us,  and  become  actually 
interested  in  all  the  fruits  and  benefits  of  his  mediation,  is  wrought 
in  us  by  the  word  of  the  gospel:  for,  as  we  have  declared,  it  is  the 
seed  of  all  grace  whatever;  and  in  especial,  "faith  cometh  by  hear- 
ing, and  hearing  by  the  word  of  God,"  Rom.  x.  17.  Conviction  of 
sin  is  by  the  law ;  but  faith  is  by  the  gospel.  And  this  is  the  way 
and  means  which  God  hath  appointed  on  our  part  for  the  giving  us 
an  actual  interest  in  justification,  as  established  in  the  law  of  the 
gospel,  Rom.  v.  1.     Again, — 

(4.)  The  promise  of  the  gospel,  conveyed  unto  the  soul  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  entertained  by  faith,  completes  the  justification  of 
a  believer  in  his  own  conscience,  and  gives  him  assured  peace  with 
God.  And  thus  the  whole  work  of  this  main  branch  of  our  salva- 
tion is  wrought  by  the  gospel. 

4.  There  is  in  this  salvation  an  instruction  and  growth  in  spi7-iti(al 
wisdom,  and  an  acquaintance  with  "  the  mystery  of  God,  and  of  the 
Father,  and  of  Christ,"  Col.  ii.  2 ;  which  also  is  an  eftect  of  the  gospel. 
Of  ourselves  we  are  not  only  dark  and  ignorant  of  heavenly  things, 
but  "  darkness"  itselfj — that  is,  utterly  blind,  and  incomprehensive  of 
spiritual,  divine  mysteries,  Eph.  v  8;  and  so  under  "the  power  of 
darkness,"  Col.  i.  13,  as  that  we  should  no  less  than  the  devils  them- 
selves be  holden  under  the  chains  of  it  unto  the  jutlgment  of  the 
great  day.  Darkness  and  ignorance  as  to  the  things  of  God  them- 
selves, in  respect  of  the  revelation  of  them,  and  darkness  in  the  mind 
as  to  the  understanding  of  them  in  a  right  manner,  being  revealed, 
is  upon  the  whole  world;  and  no  heart  is  able  to  conceive,  no  tongue 


VER.  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HECREW5?.  301 

to  express,  the  greatness  and  misery  of  this  darkness.  -The  removal 
hereof  is  a  mercy  inexpressible, — the  beginning  of  our  entrance  into 
heaven,  the  kingdom  of  light  and  glory,  and  an  especial  part  of  our 
salvation.  For  "  God  is  light,  and  in  him  there  is  no  darkness  at 
all ;"  .so  that  whilst  we  are  under  the  power  of  it  we  can  have  no 
intercourse  with  him;  for  "  what  communion  hath  light  with  dark- 
ness?" Now,  the  removal  hereof  is  by  the  gospel:  2  Cor.  iv.  5", 
"  God,  who  commanded  the  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness,  shinetli 
in  our  hearts,  to  give  us  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  his  glory  in 
the  face  of  Jesus  Christ;"  and  he  doth  it  by  the  illumination  of 
"  the  glorious  gospel  of  Christ,"  verse  4.  For  not  only  is  the  object  re- 
vealed hereby,  "  life  and  immortality  being  brought  to  light  by  the 
gospel,"  but  also  the  eyes  of  our  understandings  are  enlightened  by 
it,  savingly  to  discern  the  truths  by  it  revealed :  for  it  is  by  it  that 
both  the  eyes  of  the  blind  are  opened  and  light  shineth  unto  them 
that  sit  in  darkness;  whence  we  are  said  to  be  "  called  out  of  dark- 
ness into  marvellous  light,"  1  Pet.  ii.  9.  And  our  calling  is  no  other- 
wise but  by  the  word  of  the  gospel.  And  as  the  implanting  of  this 
heavenly  light  in  us  is  by  the  word,  so  the  growth  and  increase  of 
it  in  spiritual  wisdom  is  no  otherwise  wrought,  2  Cor.  iii.  ]  8 ;  Col. 
ii.  2.  And  this  spiritual  acquaintance  with  God  in  Christ,  this  sav- 
ing wisdom  in  the  mystery  of  grace,  this  holy  knowledge  and  under- 
standing of  the  mind  of  God,  this  growing  light  and  insight  into 
heavenly  things,  which  is  begun,  increased,  and  carried  on  by  the 
gospel,  is  an  especial  dawning  of  that  glory  and  immortality  which 
this  salvation  tendeth  ultimately  unto. 

5.  There  belongs  unto  it  also  that  joy  and  consolation  which 
believers  are  made  partakers  of  by  the  Holy  Ghost  in  this  Avorld. 
Ofttimes  their  trials  are  many,  their  troubles  great,  and  their  temp- 
tations abound,  in  the  course  of  their  obedience.  And  these  things 
are  ready  to  fill  them  with  cares,  fears,  sorrows,  and  disconsolation. 
Now,  though  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  hath  foretold  his  disciples  of 
all  the  tribulations  and  sorrows  that  should  attend  them  in  this 
world,  and  taught  them  to  uphold  and  support  their  spirits  with 
the  thoughts  and  hopes  of  the  glory  that  snail  be  revealed;  yet  in 
the  salvation  that  he  hath  purchased  for  them  there  is  provision  of 
comibrt,  "  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory,"  even  during  their 
pilgiimage  here  below.  Such  joy,  indeed,  it  is  as  the  world  knoweth 
not,  nor  can  know.  The  principles  and  causes  of  it,  its  nature  and 
effects,  are  all  hidden  unto  them.  Yet  such  it  is,  that  all  tlie  con- 
tentments and  enjoyments  of  this  world  are  no  way  to  be  compared 
with  it;  and  such  do  all  that  have  tasted  of  it  esteem  it  to  be.  Now, 
this  also  is  wrought  in  us  and  communicated  unto  us  by  the  gospel. 
It  is  the  word  of  promise  whereby  God  gives  "strong  consolation" 
uuto  the  heirs  of  salvation,  Heb.  vi.  17,  18.     And  upon  the  receiv- 


S02  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

irig  of  this  worrl  by  faith  it  is  that  beUevers  "rejoice  with  joy  un- 
S})eakabie  and  full  of  glory/'  Not  only  supportment  and  comfort 
in  the  bearing  of  troiiI)les,  but  glorious  exultations  and  ecstasies  of 
joy,  are  ofttimes  wrought  in  the  hearts  of  believers  by  the  gospel. 
Now  they  can  endure,  now  they  can  suffer,  now  they  can  die;  joy 
is  upon  their  heads  and  in  their  hearts,  and  sorrow  and  sighing  flee 
away.  Here  is  rest,  here  is  peace,  here  are  refresliments,  here  are 
pleasures,  here  is  life  to  be  desired.  The  good  Lord  sweeten  and 
season  all  our  hearts  with  all  these  consolations,  these  joys  of  his 
kingdom,  and  that  by  the  blessed  word  of  his  grace  ! 

6.  Lastly,  to  instance  in  no  moie  particulars,  the  gospel  is  the  word 
of  salvation,  and  the  instrument  in  the  hand  of  God  for  the  confer- 
ring of  it  upon  believers,  because  they  shall  be  taken  into  the  fall 
possession  and  enjoyment  of  it  at  the  last  day,  by  and  according 
unto  tlie  word  and  sentence  of  it.  It  is  the  symbol  and  tessera  that 
gives  men  iinal  admission  into  glory.  The  secrets  of  all  hearts  shall 
be  judged  according  to  the  gospel,  Rom.  ii.  16  ;  and  by  the  word  of  it 
shall  the  elect  receive  their  crown.  And  in  these  respects  is  the 
gospel  a  word  of  salvation. 

But,  SECONDLY,  it  is  said  in  our  proposition,  as  in  the  text,  to  be 
great  salvation.  Now,  we  have  seen  that  the  gospel  is  called  sal- 
vation metonymically,  the  cause  being  called  by  the  name  of  the 
effect.  But  in  this  adjunct  of  great,  "  so  great,"  the  etiect  it-elf, 
salvation  itself,  preached  and  tendered  by  the  gospel,  is  principally 
intended.  That,  then,  in  the  next  place,  we  are  to  declare,  namely, 
that  this  salvation  preached  in  the  gospel  is  "great  salvation."  Neither 
is  it  absolutely  said  to  be  great  salvation,  but  "such"  (or  "so") 
"  great  salvation."  And  it  is  usual  in  the  Scripture,  when  it  would 
suggest  unto  our  minds. and  thoughts  an  inconceivable  greatness,  to 
use  some  such  expressions  as  plainly  intimate  somewhat  more  than 
can  be  expressed.  See  1  Pet.  iv.  17,  IS;  Heb.  x.  29;  John  iii.  16. 
"  So  great;"  that  is,  absolutely  so,  and  comparatively  so,  with  respect 
unto  the  benefits  received  by  the  law;  and  inconceivably  so,  beyond 
what  we  can  conceive  or  express.  There  ought,  then,  to  be  no  ex- 
pectation that  we  should  declare  the  real  greatness  of  this  salvation, 
which  the  apostle  intimates  to  be  inexpressible.  We  shall  only 
point  at  some  of  those  considerations  wherem  the  greatness  of  it 
doth  most  principally  consist  and  appear: — 

First,  It  is  great  in  the  eternal  contrivance  of  it.  When  sin  had 
defaced  the  glory  of  the  first  creation,  ancl  the  honour  of  God  seemed 
to  be  at  a  stand,  no  way  remaining  to  carry  it  on  unto  that  end 
which  all  things  at  first  tended  unto,  all  cieatures  were,  and  for 
ever  would  have  been,  ignorant  of  a  way  for  the  retrievernent  of 
things  into  the  former  or  a  better  order,  or  the  bringing  forth  a  sai- 
vatioa  for  that  which  was  lost;  for  besides  that  there  was  such  hor- 


VER.  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  S03 

rible  confusions,  and  such  inextricable  entanglements  brought  uviou 
the  creation  and  the  several  parts  of  it,  which  none  could  discern 
how  they  might  be  jointed  and  set  in  order  again,  there  appeared  a 
repugnancy  in  the  very  properties  of  the  divine  nature  unto  any  re- 
lief or  salvation  of  sinners.  Let  sinners  be  saved,  and  what  shall 
become  of  the  justice,  holiness,  and  truth  of  God,  all  which  are  en- 
gaged to  see  a  meet  recompence  of  reward  rendered  unto  every 
transgression?  And  this  was  enough  eternally  to  silence  the  whole 
creation,  by  reason  of  that  indispensable  obligation  which  is  on  them 
always  and  in  all  things  to  j)refer  the  honour  and  glory  of  their 
Maker  before  the  being  or  well-being  of  any  creatures  whatever. 
Should  the  holy  angels  have  set  upon  a  contrivance  for  the  salva- 
tion of  sinners,  upon  the  first  discovery  that  it  would  interfere  and 
clash  with  the  glory  of  God  (as  every  contrivance  of  wisdom  finite 
and  limited  would  have  done  undoubtedly),  yea,  rise  up  against  his 
very  blessedness  and  being,  they  would  instantly  have  cast  it  from 
them  as  an  abominable  thing,  and  have  rested  eternally  in  the  con- 
templation of  his  excellencies;  for  which  end  they  were  created. 
Here,  therefore,  infinite  wisdom,  infinite  grace,  infinite  goodness, 
and  infinite  holiness,  discover  themselves  in  that  contrivance  of  sal- 
vation which  solves  all  those  difficulties  and  seeming  contradictions, 
keeps  entire  the  glory  of  God's  attributes,  repairs  the  honour  lost  by 
sin,  and  reduceth  the  whole  creation  into  a  new  order  and  subser- 
viency to  the  glory  of  its  Maker.  Hence  this  great  projection  and 
design  is  called  "  the  wisdom  of  God,"  xar  s^o-x/iv,  as  that  wherein 
he  was  pleased  principally  to  lay  open  the  fountain  and  spring  of 
his  eternal  wisdom,  Rom.  xi.  33,  1  Cor.  i.  2-i;  and  not  only  so,  but 
"  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God,"  Eph.  iii.  10, — that  is,  infinite  wis- 
dom, exerting  itself  in  great  and  unspeakable  variety  of  means  and 
ways  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  end  designed.  Yea,  "  all  the 
treasures  of  wisdom"  are  said  to  be  laid  out  in  this  matter,  and  laid 
up  in  Christ  Jesus,  Col.  ii.  3:  as  if  he  had  said  that  the  whole  store 
of  infinite  wisdom  was  laid  out  herein.  And  thus,  though  God 
made  all  tilings  in  wisdom,  yet  that  which  he  principally  proposeth 
unto  our  consideration  in  the  creation  of  all  things  is  his  sovereion 
will  or  pleasure,  joined  with  infinite  power.  For  his  v^'ill  or  plea- 
sure were  all  things  created.  Rev.  iv.  11.  But  in  this  work  of  con- 
triving the  salvation  of  sinners,  he  minds  us  of  the  "  counsel  of  his 
will,"  Eph.  i.  11, — that  is,  the  infinite  wisdom  wherewith  the  holy 
acts  of  his  will  concerning  it  were  accompanied  ;  and  the  "mystery  of 
his  will,"  wherein  he  designed  to  gather  up  all  things  into  one 
head  by  Jesus  Christ,  verses  9,  10.  Certainly  the  product  of  infi- 
nite and  eternal  wisdom,  of  the  counsel  of  the  will  of  the  Most  Holy, 
wherein  the  treasures  of  it  were  laid  out  with  a  design  to  display  it 
in  manifold  variety,  must  needs  be  great,  very  great,  so  great  as 
VOL.  XII. — 20 


SOJ*  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  ^  [CHAP.  IL 

cannot  be  conceived  or  expressed.  Might  we  hei'e  stay  to  contem- 
plate and  admire,  in  our  dim  and  dawning  light,  in  our  weakness, 
according  to  the  meanness  of  our  apprehensions  of  the  reflections  of 
it  in  the  glass  of  the  gospel,  the  eternity  of  this  contrivance;  the 
transactions  between  Father  and  Son  about  it;  the  retrievement  of 
the  lost  glory  of  God  by  sin,  and  ruined  creation  in  it;  the  security 
of  the  holiness,  righteousness,  veracity,  and  vindictive  justice  of  God, 
provided  for  in  it;  with  the  abundant  overflowings  of  grace,  good- 
ness, love,  naercy,  and  patience,  that  are  the  life  of  it;  we  might 
manifest  that  there  is  enough  in  this  fountain  to  render  the  streams 
flowing  from  it  great  and  glorious.  And  yet,  alas!  what  a  little, 
what  a  small  portion  of  its  glory,  excellency,  beauty,  riches,  is  it 
that  we  are  able  in  this  world  to  attain  unto  I  How  weak  and  mean 
are  the  conceptions  and  thoughts  of  little  children  about  the  designs 
and  counsels  of  the  wise  men  of  the  earth!  and  yet  there  is  a  pro- 
portion between  the  understandings  of  the  one  and  the  other.  But 
there  is  none  at  all  between  ours  and  the  infinite  depth  of  the  wis- 
dom and  knowledge  of  God  which  are  laid  out  in  this  matter.  We 
think  as  children,  we  speak  as  children,  we  see  darkly,  as  in  a  glass ; 
and  the  best  acting  of  our  faith  in  this  business  is  humble  admira- 
tion and  holy  thankfulness.  Now,  certainly  it  is  not  in  the  capacity 
of  a  creature  to  cast  greater  contempt  on  God,  than  to  supiDose  he 
would  set  all  his  glorious  properties  on  work,  and  draw  forth  all  the 
treasures  of  his  wisdom,  to  produce  or  effect  that  which  should  be 
low,  mean,  not  every  way  admirable.  And  yet  unto  that  height  of 
impiety  hath  unbelief  arrived  amongst  many  of  them  unto  whom 
the  gospel  is  and  hath  been  preached,  as  to  reject  and  contemn  the 
whole  mystery  of  it  as  mere  folly,  as  an  empty  notion,  fit  to  be  ne- 
glected and  despised.  So  hath  the  god  of  this  world  blinded  the 
eyes  of  men,  that  the  light  of  the  glorious  gospel  should  not  shine 
into  their  minds.  But  when  God  shall  come  to  be  admired  in  all 
them  that  believe,  on  the  account  of  this  design  of  his  grace  and 
wisdom,  they  will  with  astonishment  see  the  glor}'^  of  it  in  others, 
when  it  shall  be  too  late  to  obtain  any  benefit  by  it  unto  them- 
selves. 

Secondly,  The  salvation  preached  in  the  gospel  is  great  upon  the 
account  of  the  tvay  and  means  whereby  it  was  wrought  and  accom- 
plished, or  the  great  effect  of  the  infinite  wisdom  and  grace  of  God 
in  the  incarnation,  sufferings,  and  death  of  his  Son.  Thus  was  it 
wrought,  and  no  otherwise  could  it  be  effected.  We  were  "  not  re- 
deemed with  corruptible  things,  as  silver  and  gold,"  1  Pet.  i.  18. 
No  such  price  would  be  accepted  with  God ;  salvation  is  more  pre- 
cious than  to  be  so  purchased,  Ps.  xlix.  6,  7.  '  But  it  may  be  it 
might  be  effected  and  brought  about  by  the  law,  which  was  God's 
own  institution?  either  its  precepts  or  its  sacrifices  might  effect  this 


VER.  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  305 

work,  and  salvation  may  be  attained  by  the  works  of  the  law?'  But 
yet  neither  will  this  suffice.  For  the  law  is  weak  and  insufficient  as 
to  any  such  purpose,  Rom.  viii.  2,  3;  nor  would  the  sacrifices  of  it  be 
accepted  unto  that  end,  Heb.  x.  7,  8.  *  How  then  shall  it  be  wrought  ? 
is  there  none  worthy  in  heaven  or  earth  to  undertake  this  work,  and 
nnist  it  cease  for  ever?'  No;  the  eternal  Son  of  God  himself,  the 
Word,  Power,  and  Wisdom  of  the  Father,  the  brightness  of  his 
glory,  and  the  express  image  of  his  person,  he  hath  undertaken  this 
Avork.  This  renders  it  great  and  glorious,  that  the  Son  of  God  in 
his  own  person  should  perform  it;  it  must  assuredly  be  the  "great  sal- 
vation" which  /iccame  himself  to  work  out.  'And  how  doth  he  do 
it, — by  the  mighty  word  of  his  power,  as  he  made  all  things  of  old  V 
No ;  this  work  is  of  another  nature,  and  in  another  maimer  must 
it  be  accomplished.     For, — 

1.  To  this  purpose  he  must  be  incarnate,  "made  flesh,"  John  i. 
14;  "made  of  a  woman,"  Gal.  iv.  4.  Though  he  was  in  the  form 
of  God,  and  equal  to  God,  yet  he  was  to  humble  and  empty  himself 
unto  and  in  the  form  of  a  man,  Phil.  ii.  6,  7.  This  is  that  great 
"  mystery  of  godliness,  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,"  that  "  the  angels 
desire  to  look  into."  That  the  Son  of  God  should  take  the  nature  of 
man  into  subsistence  with  himself,  in  the  same  person, — which  was 
necessary  for  the  effecting  of  this  salvation,— is  a  thing  that  the 
whole  creation  must  admire  unto  eternity.  And  yet  this  is  but  an 
entrance  into  this  work ;   For, — 

2.  In  this  nature  he  must  be  "  made  under  the  law,"  Gal.  iv.  4 ; 
obnoxious  to  the  commands  of  it,  and  bound  to  the  obedience  which 
it  required.  It  became  him  to  fulfil  all  righteousness,  that  he  might 
be  our  Saviour;  for  though  he  were  a  Sou,  yet  he  was  to  learn  to 
yield  obedience.  Without  his  perfect  obedience  unto  the  law  our 
salvation  could  not  be  perfected.  The  Son  of  God  must  obey,  that 
we  may  be  accepted  and  crowned.  The  difficulties  also,  tempta- 
tions, and  dangers,  that  attended  him  in  the  course  of  his  obedience, 
are  inexpressible.  And  surely  this  renders  salvation  by  him  very 
great.  But  yet  there  is  that  remains  which  gives  it  another  exalta- 
tion; for, — 

3.  This  Son  of  God,  after  the  course  of  his  obedience  to  the  whole 
will  of  God,  must  die,  shed  his  blood,  and  "  make  his  soul  an  oftering 
for  sin."  And  herein  the  glory  of  this  salvation  breaks  forth  like 
the  sun  in  its  strength.  He  must  be  "  obedient  unto  death,  the  death 
of  the  cross,"  Phil.  ii.  8.  If  he  will  be  a  "  captain  of  salvation,"  to 
''  bring  many  sons  unto  glory,"  he  must  himself  be  "  made  perfect 
throusfh  sufferings,"  Heb.  ii.  10.  There  were  law,  and  curse,  and 
wrath,  standing  in  the  way  of  our  salvation,  all  of  them  to  be  re- 
moved, all  of  them  to  be  undergone,  and  that  by  the  Son  of  God : 
for  we  were  "  not  redeemed  with  corruptible  things,  as  silver  and  gold, 


'306  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

but  with  the  precious  blood  of  Christ/'  1  Pet.  i.  18,  19.  And 
therein  "  God  redeemed  his  church  with  his  own  blood/'  Acts  xx.  28. 
And  herein  assuredly  was  the  love  of  God  manifest,  that  "  he  laid 
down  his  life  for  us/'  1  Johniii.  16.  This  belongs  unto  the  means 
whereby  our  salvation  is  procured.  Nor  yet  is  this  all ;  for  if  Christ 
had  only  died  for  us,  our  faith  in  him  had  been  in  vain,  and  we  had 
been  still  in  our  sins.     Wherefore, — 

4.  To  carry  on  the  same  work,  he  rose  from  the  dead,  and  now 
lives  for  ever  to  make  intercession  for  us,  and  to  save  unto  the 
uttermost  them  that  come  unto  God  by  him. 

By  these  means  was  the  salvation  preached  in  the  gospel  ob- 
tained ;  which  surely  manifest  it  to  be  "great  salvation,"  Would  God 
have  sent  his  Son,  his  only  Son,  and  that  in  such  a  manner,  were  it 
not  for  the  accomplishment  of  a  work  as  well  great  and  glorious  in 
itself  as  indispensably  necessary  with  reference  unto  its  end?  Would 
the  Son  himself  have  so  emptied  himself  of  his  glory,  condescended 
to  so  low  a  condition,  wrestled  with  such  difficulties,  and  undergone 
at  length  such  a  cursed  and  shameful  death,  had  not  the  work  been 
great  wherein  he  was  employed?  0  the  blindness,  hardness,  and 
stupidity  of  the  sons  of  men!  They  profess  they  believe  these 
things  to  be  true,  at  least  they  dare  not  deny  them  so  to  be;  but 
for  the  effect  of  them,  for  the  salvation  wrought  by  them,  they  value 
it  the  least  of  all  things  that  they  have  any  acquaintance  withal. 
If  this  salvation,  thus  procured,  do  seize  on  them  in  their  sleep,  and 
fall  upon  them  whether  they  will  or  no,  they  will  not  much  resist 
it,  provided  that  it  cross  them  in  none  of  their  lusts,  purposes,  or 
pleasures.  But  to  see  the  excellency  of  it,  to  put  a  valuation  upon  it 
according  to  the  price  whereby  it  was  purchased,  that  they  are  utterly 
regardless  of,  "Hear,  ye  despisers!  wonder,  and  perish."  Shall 
the  Son  of  God  shed  his  blood  in  vain  ?  Shall  he  obey,  and  suffer, 
and  bleed,  and  pray,  and  die,  for  a  thing  of  nought?  Is  it  nothing 
unto  you  that  he  should  undergo  all  these  things?  Was  there  want 
of  wisdom  in  God,  or  love  unto  his  Son,  so  to  employ  him,  so  to  use 
him,  in  a  business  which  you  esteem  of  so  very  small  concernment 
as  that  you  will  scarce  turn  aside  to  make  inquiry  after  it?  Assure 
yourselves  these  things  are  not  so,  as  you  will  one  day  find  unto 
your  eternal  ruin. 

Thirdly,  This  salvation  will  appear  to  be  great  if  we  shall  con- 
,  sider  what  hy  it  we  are  delivered  from,  and  tvhat  we  are  interested 
in,  or  made  partakers  of,  by  virtue  thereof.  These  also  may  deno- 
minate salvation  to  be  great,  and  they  may  therefore  be  considered 
apart. 

1.  What  are  we  delivered  from  by  this  salvation?  In  a  word, 
every  thing  that  is  evil,  in  this  world  or  that  which  i.s  to  come. 
And  all  evil  may  be  referred  unto  two  heads: — (1.)  That  which  cor- 


VER.  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  307 

rupteth  and  depraveth  the  principles  of  our  nature  in  their  being 
and  operation;  and,  (2.)  That  which  is  destructive  of  our  nature  as 
to  its  well-being  and  happiness.     The  iirst  of  these  is  sin,  the  latter 
\%  punishment ;  and  both  of  them, take  up  the  whole  nature  of  evil. 
Tile  particulars  comprised  in  theni"  may  not  here  be  dislihcfly  and 
severally  insisted  ou.^The  former  containeth   our  apostasy  from 
God,  with  all  the  consequences  of  it,  in  darkness,  folly,  filth,  shame, 
bondage,   restlessness,   service  of  lust,  the  world,  and  Satan,  and 
therein  constant  rebellion  against  God,  and  diligence  in  working  out 
our  own  everlasting  ruin;  all  attended  with  a  senseless  stupidity 
in  hot  discerning  these  things  to  be  evil,  hurtful,  noisome,  corrup- 
tive of  our  natures  and  beings,  and,  for  the  most  part,  with  brutish 
sensuality  in  the  approbation  and  liking  of  themy  But  he  who 
understands  no  evil  in  being  fallen  off  from  God,  the  first  cause, 
chiefest  good,  and  last  end  of  all, — in  being  under  the  power  of  a 
constant  enmity  against  him,  in  the  disorder  of  his  whole  soul  and 
all  the  faculties  of  it,  in  the  constant  service  of  sin,  the  fruit  of  bond- 
age and  captivity  in  the  most  vile  condition, — will  be  awakened 
imto  another  apprehension  of  these  things  when  a  time  of  deliver- 
ance from  them  shall  be  no  more.     The  latter  of  these  consists  in 
the  wrath  or  curse  of  God,  and  compriseth  whatever  is  or  may  be 
penal  and  afflictive  unto  our  nature  unto  eternity.      Now,  from 
both  these,  with  all  their  effects  and  consequences,  are  believers 
delivered  by  this  salvation,  namely,  from  sin  and  wrath.     The  Lord 
Christ  was  called  Jesus,  because  he  "saves  his  people  from  their  sins," 
Matt.  i.  21 ;  and  he  is  also  the  Saviour  who  "delivers  them  from  the 
wrath  to  come,''  1  Thess.  i.  1 0.  And  this  is  "great  salvation.''  If  a  man 
be  but  the  means  of  delivering  another  from  poverty,  imprisonment, 
or  a  dangerous  disease,  especially  if  such  a  one  could  be  no  otherwise 
delivered  but  by  him,  how  great  is  the  kindness  of  it  esteemed  to 
be,  and  that  deservedly !     Providential  deliverances  from  imminent 
dangers  of  death  temporal  are  looked  on  as  great  salvations,  and 
that  by  good  men,  and  so  they  ought  to  be,  2  Cor.  i.  10.     But  what 
are  all  these  unto  this  salvation?     What  is  the  sickness  of  the  body 
unto  the  disease,  yea,  the  death  of  the  soul?    What  is  imprisonment 
of  the  outward  man,  under  the  wrath  of  poor  worms  like  ourselves, 
and  that  for  a  few  days,  unto  the  chains  of  everlasting  darkness  ? 
What  is  a  little  outward  want  and  poverty,  to  the  want  of  the 
favour,  love,  and  presence  of  God  unto  eternity?     What  is  death 
temporal,  past  in  a  moment,  an  end  of  troubles,  an  entrance  into 
rest,  unto  death  eternal,  an  eternal  dying,  under  the  curse,  wrath, 
and  righteous  vengeance  of  the  holy  God?     These  things  have  no 
proportion  one  to  another.     So  inexpressibly  great  is  this  salvation, 
that  there  is  nothing  left  us  to  illustrate  it  withal.     And  this  excel- 
lency of  the  gospel  salvation  will  at  length  be  known  to  them  by 


308  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

whom  at  present  it  is  despised,  when  they  shall  fall  and  perish  under 
the  want  of  it,  and  that  to  eternity. 

2.  This  salvation  is  great  upoa  the  account  of  the  end  of  it, 
or  that  which  it  brings  believers  unto.  The  deliverance  of  the 
people  of  Israel  of  old  out  of  Egypt  was  great  salvation ;  so  doth 
God  everywhere  set  it  forth,  and  so  did  the  people  esteem  it,  and 
that  justly.  They  v/ho  murmured  under  it,  they  who  despised  the 
pleasant  land,  fell  all  of  them  under  the  sore  displeasure  of  God. 
But  yet  as  this  deliverance  was  but  from  a  temporal,  outward  bond- 
age, so  that  which  it  brought  them  unto  was  but  outward  rest  for 
a  few  days,  in  a  plentiful  country, — it  gave  them  an  inheritance  of 
houses,  and  lands,  and  vineyards,  in  the  land  of  Canaan;  but  yet 
there  also  they  quickly  died,  and  many  of  them  perished  in  their  sins. 
But  as  we  have  seen  what  we  are  delivered  from  by  this  salvation, 
so  the  excellency  of  the  inheritance  which  we  obtain  thereby  is 
such  as  no  heart  can  conceive,  no  tongue  can  express.  It  brings  us 
into  the  favour  and  love  of  God,  unto  the  adoption  of  children,  unto 
durable  rest  and  peace;  in  a  word,  unto  the  enjoyment  of  God  in 
glory  eternal.  Oh  the  blessedness  of  this  rest,  the  glory  of  this  in- 
heritance, the  excellency  of  this  crown,  the  eternity  and  unchange- 
ableness  of  this  condition,  the  greatness  of  this  salvation!  How 
mean,  how  weak,  how  low,  how  unworthy,  are  our  apprehensions  of 
it !  Yet  surely,  through  the  blessed  revelation  of  the  Spirit  of 
grace  by  the  word  of  the  gospel,  we  see,  we  feel,  we  experience  so 
much  of  it  as  is  sufficient  to  keep  us  up  unto  a  holy  admira- 
tion and  longing  after  it  all  the  days  of  our  pilgrimage  here  on 
earth. 

It  remaineth  now,  thiedly,  that  we  declare  the  unavoidahleness 
of  their  destruction  who  neglect  this  so  great  salvation.  There  are 
three  things  that  make  the  punishment  or  destruction  of  any  person 
to  be  unavoidable: — 1,  That  it  be  just  and  equal;  2.  That  there  be 
no  relief  nor  remedy  provided  for  him;  and,  3.  That  he  to  whom 
it  belongs  to  inflict  punishment  he  able  and  resolved  so  to  do.  And 
they  all  concur  to  the  height  in  this  case;  for, — 

First,  It  \sjust  and  equal  that  such  persons  should  be  destroyed  ; 
whence  the  sentence  concerning  them  is  so  decretory  and  absolute : 
."  He  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned,"  Mark  xvi.  16.  And  the 
Holy  Ghost  supposeth  this  case  so  clear,  evident,  and  undeniable, 
that  he  refers  the  proceedings  of  God  herein  unto  the  judgment  of 
sinners  themselves,  Heb.  x.  29.  And  they  who  are  judged  on  this 
account  at  the  last  day  will  be  speechless,  have  nothing  to  reply, 
nothing  to  complain  of.  And  the  sentence  denounced  against  them 
will  appear  unto  all  to  be  righteous, — 

1.  Because  thej/  despise  an  overture  of  a  treaty  about  peace  and 
reconciliation  between  God  and  their  souls.     There  is  by  nature  an 


VER.  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  SOD 

enmity  between  God  and  them,  a  state  and  condition  whereby  them- 
selves alone  would  be  losers,  and  that  for  ever.  God,  who  hath  no 
need  of  them,  nor  their  obedience  or  friendship,  tenders  them  a 
treaty  upon  terms  of  peace.  What  greater  condescension,  love,  or 
grace  could  be  conceived  or  desired?  This  is  tendered  in  the  gos- 
pel, 2  Cor.  V.  19.  Now,  what  greater  indignity  can  be  offered  unto 
him  than  to  reject  his  tenders,  without  so  much  as  an  inquiry  after 
what  his  terms  are,  as  the  most  do  to  whom  tlie  gospel  is  preached? 
Is  not  this  plainly  to  tell  him  that  they  despise  his  love,  scorn  his 
offers  of  reconciliation,  and  fear  not  in  the  least  what  he  can  do  unto 
them?  And  is  it  not  just  that  such  persons  should  be  tilled  with 
the  fruit  of  their  own  ways?  Let  men  deal  thus  with  their  rulers 
whom  they  have  provoked,  that  have  power  over  them,  and  see  how 
it  will  fare  with  them.  Neither  will  God  be  mocked,  nor  shall  his 
grace  always  be  despised.  When  men  shall  see  and  learn  by  woful 
experience  what  pitiful  poor  worms  they  are,  and  have  some  beams 
of  the  greatness,  majesty,  and  glory  of  God  shining  upon  them,  how 
will  they  be  filled  with  shame,  and  forced  to  subscribe  to  the  right- 
eousness of  their  own  condemnation  for  refusing  his  treaty  and  terms 
of  peace ! 

2.  These  terms  contain  salvation.  Men  in  the  neglect  of  them 
neglect  and  refuse  their  own  salvation; — and  can  any  man  perish 
more  justly  than  they  who  refuse  to  be  saved?  If  God's  terms  had 
been  great,  hard,  and  difiicult,  yet  considering  by  whom  they  were 
proposed,  and  to  whom,  there  was  all  the  reason  in  the  world  why 
they  should  be  accepted;  and  their  destruction  would  be  just  that 
should  not  endeavour  to  observe  them  unto  the  utmost.  But  now 
it  is  life  and  salvation  that  he  tenders,  on  whose  neglect  he  complains 
that  men  will  not  come  unto  him  that  they  might  have  life.  Cer- 
tainly there  can  be  no  want  of  righteousness  in  the  ruin  of  such 
persons.     But, — 

S.  That  which  the  apostle  principally  builds  the  righteousness  and 
inevitableness  of  the  destruction  of  gospel  neglecters  upon,  is  the 
greatness  of  the  salvation  tendered  unto  them :  "  How  shall  we 
escape  if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation?"  How  it  is  so,  and  wherein 
the  greatness  and  excellency  of  it  doth  consist,  have  been  before  de- 
clared. Such  and  so  great  it  is,  that  there  is  nothing  which  a  sinner 
can  fear  or  suffer  but  it  will  deliver  him  from  it;  nothing  that  a 
creature  can  desire  but  it  will  bring  him  to  the  possession  of  it. 
And  if  this  be  despised,  is  it  not  righteous  that  men  should  perish  ? 
If  we  know  not,  yet  God  knows  how  to  set  a  value  upon  this  great 
effect  of  his  love,  wisdom,  and  grace,  and  how  to  proportion  punish- 
ment unto  its  contempt.  The  truth  is,  God  alone  is  able  sufficiently 
to  revenge  the  greatness  of  this  sin  and  indignity  done  unto  hiui. 
We  have  beiore  showed  how  meet  it  was  that  the  transgression  of 


SIO  AN  ExrosiTiox  OF  THE  [chap,  il 

the  law  should  he  punished  with  punishment  eternal  and  yet  the 
];iw  li'ad  provided  no  relief  for  any  in  distress  or  misery,  only  taking 
men  as  it  found  them,  in  the  first  place  it  required  obedience  of 
them,  and  then  promised  a  reward.  And  a  good,  holy,  and  right- 
eous law  it  was,  both  in  its  commands  and  in  its  promises  and 
threatenings.  It  found  men  in  a  good  estate,  and  promised  them  a 
better  on  their  obedience;  wherein  if  they  failed,  it  threatened  them 
with  the  loss  of  their  present  condition,  and  also  with  the  super- 
addition  of  eternal  ruin.  And  in  all  this  it  was  a  clear  effect  of  the 
1  ighteousness,  holiness,  and  faithfulness  of  God,  But  the  gospel 
finds  men  in  quite  another  state  and  condition, — in  a  condition  of 
misery  and  ruin,  helpless  and  hopeless,  and  is  provided  on  purpose 
both  for  their  present  relief  and  future  everlasting  happiness.  And 
shall  they  escape  by  whom  it  is  despised?  Is  it  not  just  and  equal 
that  it  should  prove  "a  savour  of  death  unto  death"  unto  them?  Is  it 
meet  that  God  should  be  mocked,  his  grace  be  despised,  his  justice 
violated,  his  glory  lost, — all  that  sinners  may  go  unpunished?  Let 
them  think  so  whilst  they  please,  God  thinketh  otherwise,  all  the 
angels  in  heaven  think  otherwise,  all  the  saints  from  the  beginning 
of  the  world  unto  the  end  of  it  think  otherwise,  and  will  glorify 
God  to  eternity  for  the  righteousness  of  his  judgments  on  them  that 
obey  not  the  gospel.     But, — 

Secondly,  '  Suppose  the  destruction  of  these  persons  be  in  itself 
righteous,  yet  there  may  be  some  remedy  and  relief  provided  for  them, 
that  they  may  not  actually  fall  under  it;  there  may  yet  some  way  of 
escape  remain  for  them ;  and  so  their  ruin  not  be  so  unavoidable  as  is 
pretended.  It  hath  been  showed  that  it  was  a  righteous  thing  that 
the  transgressors  of  the  law  should  perish,  and  yet  a  way  of  escape  is 
provitled  for  them,  God  is  mercii'ul,  and  things  may  be  found  at 
the  last  day  otherwise  than  now  they  are  reported  ;  at  least,  all 
that  faith,  diligence,  obedience,  and  holiness  which  are  spoken  of,  are 
not  required  to  free  men  from  being  neglecters  of  the  gospel.  So 
that  they  who  come  short  of  them  may  nevertheless  escape,'  I  an- 
swer, that  we  are  not  now  discoursing  of  the  nature  of  that  faith  and 
obedience  which  are  required  to  interest  men  in  gospel  salvation. 
But  certain  it  is  that  it  will  be  found  to  be  that  which  the  word  re- 
quires, and  no  other;  even  that  faith  which  purifieth  the  heart,  that 
faith  which  reformeth  the  life,  that  faith  which  is  fruitful  in  good 
works,  that  faith  v/hich  bringeth  forth  universal  holiness,  "  without 
which  no  man  shall  see  God, '  A  faith  consisting  with  the  love  and 
service  of  sin,  with  neglect  of  gospel  duties,  with  inconformity  to 
the  word,  with  a  sensual,  profane,  or  wicked  life,  will  stand  men 
jn  no  stead  in  this  matter.  But  this  is  not  the  subject  of  our  pre- 
sent discourse.  It  may  suffice  in  general,  that  the  faith  and  obedi- 
ence which  the  gospel  requireth  are  indispensably  necessary  to  free 


VER.  2-4,]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  311 

men  from  being  gospel  despisers.  What  they  are  is  all  our  con- 
cernment to  inquire  and  learn;  for  where  they  are  wanting  there  ig 
no  relief  nor  remedy,  whatever  wind  and  ashes  of  vain  hopes  men 
may  feed  upon  and  deceive  themselves  withal.  It  is  true,  there 
was  a  remedy  provided  for  the  transgression  of  the  law,  and  this 
remedy  was,  1.  Reasonable,  in  that  there  was  no  mixture  of  mercy 
or  grace  in  that  dispensation,  and  God  saw  meet  to  glorify  those 
properties  of  his  nature,  as  well  as  those  which  before  shone  forth  in 
the  creation  of  all  things  and  giving  of  the  law.  Pardoning  mercy 
was  not  sinned  against  in  the  breach  of  the  law,  and  therefore  that 
might  interpose  for  a  relief;  which  was  done  accordingly.  And  yet, 
2.  Neither  would  this  have  been  either  reasonable  or  righteous,  if 
that  only  and  last  way  of  satisfying  the  righteousness  of  the  law, 
by  the  sufferings  and  sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God,  had  not  intervened. 
AVithout  this,  mercy  and  grace  niust  have  eternally  rested  in  the 
bosom  of  God,  without  the  least  exercise  of  them;  as  we  see  they 
are  in  respect  unto  the  angels  that  sinned,  whose  nature  the  Son  of 
God  assumed  not,  thereby  to  relieve  them.  And,  3.  This  reli  f 
Was  declared  immediately  upon  the  entrance  of  sin,  and  the  pro- 
mise of  it  renewed  continually  until  it  was  wrought  and  accom- 
plished. And  hereby  it  became  the  subject  of  the  whole  Book  of 
God,  and  the  principal  matter  of  all  intercourse  between  God  and 
sinners.  But  all  these  things  fully  discover  that  there  neither  is  nor 
can  be  any  relief  provided  lor  them  that  sin  against  the  gospel;  for, 
• — (1.)  From  what  spring,  what  fountain  should  it  proceed  ?  Mercy 
and  grace  are  principally  sinned  against  in  it,  and  the  whole  design 
of  it  therein  dt^feated.  The  utmost  of  mercy  and  grace  is  already 
sinned  against,  and  what  remaineth  now  for  the  relief  of  a  sinner? 
Is  there  any  other  property  of  the  divine  nature  whose  considera- 
tion will  administer  unto  men  any  ground  of  hope?  Is  there  any 
thing  in  the  name  of  God,  in  that  revelation  that  he  hath  made  of 
himself  by  his  works,  or  in  his  word,  to  give  them  encouragement? 
Doubtless  nothing  at  all.  But  yet  suppose  that  God  had  not  laid 
out  all  the  riclies  and  treasures  of  his  wisdom,  grace,  love,  and  good- 
ness, in  gospel  salvation  by  Jesus  Christ,  which  yet  he  affirmeth  that 
lie  hath, — supjjose  that  in  infinite  mercy  there  were  yet  a  reserve  for 
pardon, — (2.)  By  what  way  and  means  should  it  be  brought  forth  and 
made  effectual?  We  have  seen  that  God  neither  would  nor  could 
ever  have  exercised  pardoning  mercy  towards  sinners,  had  not  way 
been  made  for  it  by  the  blood  of  his  Son.  What  then?  Shall 
Christ  die  again,  that  the  despisers  of  the  gospel  may  be  saved? 
Why,  besides  that  the  Scripture  affirms  positively  that  henceforth  he 
"  dieth  no  more,"  and  that  "  there  is  no  more  sacrifice  for  sins,"  this  is 
the  most  uni'easonable  thin<f  that  can  be  imao-ined.  Shall  he  die  ajjaia 
for  them  by  whom  his  death  hath  been  despised?     Is  the  blood  of 


312  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

Clirist  such  a  common  thing  as  to  be  so  cast  away  upon  the  lusts  of 
men?  Besides,  when  should  he  inake  an  end  of  dying?  They  who 
have  once  neglected  the  gospel  may  do  so  upon  a  second  trial,  nay, 
undoubtedly  would  do  so,  and  thence  should  Christ  often  die,  often 
be  offered,  and  all  still  in  vain.  Neither  hath  God  any  other  son  to 
send  to  die  for  sinners;  he  sent  his  only-begotten  Son  once  for  all, 
and  he  that  believeth  not  on  him  must  perish  for  ever.  In  vain, 
then,  will  all  men's  expectations  be  from  such  a  mercy  as  there  is 
nothing  to  open  a  door  unto,  nor  to  make  way  for  its  exercise.  Nay, 
this  mercy  is  a  mere  figment  of  secure  sinners;  there  is  no  such 
thing  in  God.  All  the  mercy  and  grace  that  God  hath  for  his  crea- 
tures is  engaged  in  gospel  salvation;  and  if  that  be  despised,  in  vain 
shall  men  look  for  any  other.  (3.)  Neither  is  there  any  word  spoken 
concerning  any  such  relief  or  remedy  for  gospel  neglecters.  Pardon 
being  provided  for  transgressions  of  the  law,  instantly  it  is  promised, 
and  the  whole  Scripture  is  written  for  the  manifestation  of  it;  but 
as  for  a  provision  of  mercy  for  them  that  despise  the  gospel,  where 
is  any  one  word  recorded  concerning  it?  Nay,  doth  not  the  Scrip- 
ture in  all  places  fully  and  plainly  witness  against  it?  "  He  that 
believeth  not  shall  be  damned."  "  There  remaineth  no  more  sacrifice 
for  sins."  "  He  that  believeth  not,  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  hiin." 
And  will  men  yet  feed  themselves  with  hopes  of  mercy  whilst  they 
neglect  the  gospel?  Well  fare  them  who,  being  not  able  to  se- 
cure sinners  against  this  light  and  evidence  of  the  want  of  any  re- 
lief reserved  for  them,  have  carried  the  whole  matter  behind  the 
curtain,  and  invented  a  purgatory  for  them,  to  help  them  when  they 
are  gone  from  hence,  and  cannot  return  to  complain  of  them  by 
whom  they  were  deceived.  But  this  also,  as  all  other  reliefs,  will 
prove  a  broken  reed  to  them  that  lean  on  it;  for  they  who  neglect 
the  gospel  must  perish,  and  that  eternally,  for  the  mouth  of  the 
Lord  hath  spoken  it. 

Thirdly,  Then  all  hopes  of  escaping  must  arise  from  hence,  that 
he  whose  right  it  is,  and  on  whom  it  is  incumbent  to  take  ven- 
geance on  them  that  neglect  the  gospel,  will  not  be  able  so  to 
do,  or  at  least  not  to  such  a  degree  as  to  render  it  so  fearful  as  is 
pretended.  This  need  not  much  be  insisted  on.  It  is  God  with 
whom  men  have  to  do  in  this  matter.  And  they  who  allow  his 
\)eiug  cannot  deny  him  to  be  omnipotent  and  eternaL  Now  what 
cannot  he  do  who  is  so?  It  will  at  length  be  found  to  be  "  a  fearful 
thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God."  There  is  unto 
wicked  men  the  same  everlasting  cause  of  being  and  punishment. 
The  same  hand  that  upholds  them  shall  afflict  them,  and  that  for 
ever.  What  his  righteousness  requires,  his  power  and  wrath  shall 
execute  unto  the  uttermost,  so  that  there  will  be  no  escaping.  And 
these  are  the  holy  foundations  on  which  all  gospel  threateuings  and 


VER  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  313 

comminations  are  built;  which  will  all  of  them  take  place  and  be 
accomjilislied  with  no  less  certainty  than  the  promises  themselves. 

Now,  from  all  that  hath  been  spoken  unto  this  prouosition,  we 
may  learn, — 

1.  To  admire  the  riches  of  the  grace  of  God,  which  hath  provided 
so  great  salvation  for  poor  sinners.  Such  and  so  great  as  it  is,  we 
stood  in  need  of  it.  Nothing  could  be  abated  without  our  eternal 
ruin.  But  when  divine  wisdom,  goodness,  love,  grace,  and  mercy, 
shall  set  themselves  at  work,  what  will  they  not  accomplish?  And 
the  effect  of  them  doth  the  Scripture  set  forth  in  these  expressions : 
"  So  God  loved  the  world;"  "  God  commendeth  his  love  unto  us;" 
"  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than  this;"  "  Riches  of  grace;"  "  Trea- 
sures of  wisdom;"  "Exceeding  greatness  of  power;"  and  the  like. 
In  this  will  God  be  glorified  and  admired  unto  all  eternity.  And 
in  the  contemplation  hereof  are  we  to  be  exercised  here  and  here- 
after; and  thereby  may  we  grow  up  into  the  image  of  God  in  Christ, 
2  Cor.  iii.  18.  Which  way  soever  we  look,  whatever  we  consider  in 
it,  here  is  that  which  will  entertain  our  souls  with  delight  and  satis- 
faction. The  eternal  counsel  of  God,  the  person  of  Christ,  his 
mediation  and  grace,  the  promises  of  the  gospel,  the  evil  and  wrath 
we  are  Ireed  from,  the  redemption  and  glory  purciiased  for  us,  the 
privileges  we  are  admitted  unto  a  participation  of,  the  consolations 
and  joys  of  the  Spirit,  the  communion  with  God  that  we  are  called 
unto, — how  glorious  are  they  in  the  eyes  of  believers!  or  assuredly 
at  all  times  they  ought  so  to  be.  How  can  we  enough  bewail  that 
vanity,  whence  it  is  that  the  mind  suffereth  itself  to  be  possessed 
and  filled  with  other  things  !  Alas,  what  are  they,  if  compared  with 
the  excellency  of  this  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus!  Here  lies  our 
treasure,  here  lies  our  inheritance;  why  should  not  our  hearts  be 
here  also?  Were  our  minds  fixed  on  these  things  as  they  ought, 
how  would  the  glory  of  them  cast  out  our  cares,  subdue  our  fears, 
sweeten  our  afflictions  and  persecutions,  and  take  off  our  affections 
from  the  fading,  perishing  things  of  this  world,  and  make  us  in  every 
condition  rejoice  in  the  hope  of  the  glory  that  shall  be  revealed! 
And,  indeed,  we  lose  the  sweetness  of  the  life  of  faith,  the  benefit 
of  our  profession,  the  reward  that  is  in  believing,  and  are  made  a 
scorn  to  the  world  and  a  prey  unto  temptations,  because  we  dwell 
not  enough  in  the  contemplation  of  this  great  salvation.  To  stir  us 
up,  then,  hereunto  we  may  consider, — (1.)  The  excellency  of  the 
things  themselves  that  are  proposed  unto  our  meditations.  They 
are  the  great,  the  deep,  the  hidden  things  of  the  wisdom  and  grace 
of  God,  Men  justify  themselves  in  spending  their  time  and  specu- 
lations about  the  things  of  nature:  and  indeed  such  employment  is 
better  and  moi^e  noble  than  what  the  generality  of  men  do  exercise 
themselves  about;  for  some  seldom  raise  their  thoughts  above  the 


814  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CIIAP.  11. 

dunghills  whereon  they  live,  and  some  stuff  their  minds  with  such 
filthy  imaginations  as  make  them  an  abomination  to  God,  Mic.  ii, 
],  2, — they  are  conversant  only  about  their  own  lusts,  and  making 
provision  to  fulfil  and  satisfy  them.  But  yet  what  are  those  things 
which  the  better  and  more  refined  part  of  mankind  do  search  and 
inquire  into?  Things  that  came  out  of  nothing,  and  are  returning 
thitherward  apace;  things  which,  when  thej^are  known,  do  not  much 
enrich  tlie  mind,  nor  better  it  at  all  as  to  its  eternal  condition,  nor 
contribute  any  thing  to  the  advantage  of  their  souls.  But  these 
things  are  eternal,  glorious,  mysterious,  that  have  the  character  of 
all  God's  excellencies  enstamped  upon  them,  Avhose  knowledge  gives 
tlie  mind  its  perfection  and  the  soul  its  blessedness,  John  xvii.  3. 
This  made  Paul  cry  out  that  he  accounted  all  things  to  be  "  but  loss 
and  dung"  in  comparison  of  an  acquaintance  with  them,  Phil  iii.  8; 
and  the  prophets  of  old  to  "search  diligently"  into  the  nature  of  them, 
1  Pet.  i.  10-12,  as  the  things  which  alone  deserved  to  be  inquired 
after;  and  which  inquiry  renders  them  "noble"  in  whom  it  is,  Acts 
xvii.  11,  and  is  that  which  alone  differenceth  men  in  the  sight  of 
God,  Jer.  ix.  23,  24. 

(2.)  Our  inter-est  and  propriety  in  them.  If  we  are  believers, 
these  are  our  things.  The  rich  man  is  much  in  the  contemplation 
of  his  riches,  because  they  are  his  own;  and  the  great  man,  of  his 
power,  because  of  his  propriety  in  it.  Men  take  little  delight  in 
beinof  conversant  in  their  minds  about  thinQ-s  that  are  not  their  own. 
Now,  all  these  tilings  are  ours,  if  we  are  Christ's,  1  Cor.  iii.  22,  2.j.  This 
salvation  was  prepared  for  us  from  ail  eternity,  and  we  are  the  heirs 
of  it,  Heb.  i.  14.  It  was  purchased  for  us  by  Jesus  Christ;  we  have 
redemption  and  salvation  by  his  blood.  It  is  made  over  unto  us  by 
the  promise  of  the  gospel,  and  conferred  upon  us  by  the  Spiiit  of 
grace.  Are  these  things  to  be  despised?  are  they  to  be  cast  aside 
among  the  things  wherein  we  are  least  concerned?  or  can  there  be 
any  greater  evidence  that  we  have  no  propriety  in  them  than  that 
would  be,  if  our  hearts  should  not  bfe  set  upon  them?  Wliat!  all 
these  riches  ours,  all  these  treasures,  this  goodly  inheritance,  this 
kingdom,  this  glory,  and  yet  not  be  constant  in  thoughts  and  medi- 
tations about  them!  It  is  doubtless  a  sign,  at  least,  that  we  question 
our  title  unto  them,  and  that  the  evidences  we  have  of  them  will 
not  endure  the  trial.  But  woe  unto  us  if  that  should  be  the  end  of 
our  profession!  and  if  it  be  otherwise,  why  are  not  our  minds  fixed 
on  that  which  is  our  own,  and  which  no  man  can  take  from 
us? 

(3.)  The  profit  and  advantage  which  we  shall  have  hereby,  which 
will  be  much  every  way;  for,  [1.]  By  this  means  we  shall  grow  up 
into  a  likeness  and  conformity  unto  these  things  in  our  inward 
man.     Spiritual  meditation  will  assimilate  our  minds  and  souls  uuto 


VER.  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREV/S.  ,S1 5 

tliiit  which  is  the  object  of  it.  So  the  apostle  tells  the  Romans  that 
they  were  delivered  into  the  form  of  the  doctrine  preached  unto 
them,  chap.  vi.  1 7.  Obeying  it  by  faith,  the  likeness  of  it  was  brought 
forth  upon  their  souls;  and,  by  the  renewing  of  their  minds,  they  were 
transformed  quite  into  another  image  in  their  souls,  chap.  xii.  2.  This 
the  apostle  most  e.xcellently  expresseth,  2  Cor.  iii,  18.  A  constant 
believing  contemplation  of  the  glory  of  God  in  this  .salvation  by 
Clirist,  will  change  the  mind  into  the  image  and  likeness  of  it,  and 
that  by  various  degrees,  until  we  attain  unto  perfection,  when  "  we 
shall  know  even  as  we  are  known,''  Accustoming  of  our  minds  unto 
these  things  will  make  them  lieavenly;  and  our  affections,  which  will 
be  conformed  unto  them,  holy.  This  is  the  way  to  have  Christ  dwell 
plentifully  in  us,  and  for  ourselves  to  "grow  up  into  him  who  is  our 
head."  And  is  it  nothing,  to  get  our  minds  purged  from  an  evil  habit, 
inclining  unto  earthly  things,  or  continually  forging  foolish  and  hurt- 
ful imaginations  in  our  hearts?  This  meditation  wil  1  cast  the  soul  into 
another  mould  and  frame,  making  the  heart  "a  good  treasure,"  out  of 
which  may  be  drawn  at  all  times  good  things,  new  and  old.  [2.]  Con- 
solation and  supportment  under  all  afflictions  will  from  hence  spring 
up  in  the  soul.  When  the  apostle  would  describe  that  property  of 
faith  v/hereby  it  enables  a  believer  to  do  and  suffer  great  things  joy- 
fully and  comfortably,  he  doth  it  by  its  work  and  effect  in  this  matter. 
It  is,  saith  he,  "  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  and  the  evidence 
of  things  not  seen,"  Heb.  xi.  1 ;  that  is,  it  brings  into  the  soul,  and 
makes  evident  unto  it,  the  great  things  of  this  salvation,  the  great 
thing's  of  the  love  and  grace  of  God  therein.  And  this  it  doth  no 
otherwise  than  by  a  constant  contemplation  and  holy  admiration  of 
them.  And  when  this  is  once  done,  he  multiplies  instances  to  evince 
what  great  effects  it  will  produce,  especially  in  its  enabling  of  us  to 
go  through  difficulties,  trials,  and  afflictions.  And  the  same  also  he 
ascribeth  unto  hope;  which  is  nothing  but  the  soul's  waiting  and 
expectation  to  be  made  partaker  of  the  fulness  of  this  salvation, 
whose  greatness  and  satisfactory  excellency  it  doth  admire,  Rom. 
V.  2-5.  When  any  affliction  or  tribulation  presseth  upon  a  believer,  "l 
he  can  readily  divert  his  thoughts  from  it  unto  the  rich  grace  of  l^ 
God  in  this  salvation ;  which  will  fill  his  heart  with  such  a  sense  of  I 
his  love  as  shall  carry  him  above  all  the  assaults  of  his  trouble.  And 
a  direction  to  this  purpose  the  apostle  pursues  at  large,  Rom.  viii. 
15-18,  24,  25,  31-39.  This  is  a  safe  harbour  for  the  soul  to  betake 
itself  unto  in  every  storm;  as  he  teacheth  us  again,  2  Cor.  iv.  16-18. 
Whatever  befalls  us  in  our  "  outwai-d  man,"  though  it  should  press  so 
sore  upon  us  as  to  ruin  us  in  this  world,  yet  ^'  we  faint  not/'  we  de- 
spond not;  and  the  reason  is,  because  those  things  which  we  suffer 
bear  no  proportion  unto  what  we  enjoy  or  ex[)ect.  And  the  way 
whereby  this  consideration  is  made  effectual  unto  us,  is  by  a  constant 


316  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IT. 

contemplation  by  faith  on  the  great  unseen  things  of  this  salvation, 
which  takes  off  our  minds  and  spirits  from  a  valuation  of  the  things 
which  we  presently  suffer  and  endure.  And  this  experience  assures 
us  to  be  our  only  relief  in  afflictions;  which  undoubtedly  it  is  our 
wisdom  to  be  provided  for.  [3.]  The  same  may  be  said  concerning 
j)ersecution,  one  especial  part  of  affliction,  and  commonly  that  wliich 
most  entangles  the  minds  of  them  that  suffer.  Now,  no  man  can 
endure  persecution  quietly,  patiently,  constantly,  according  to  the 
will  of  God,  especially  when  the  devil  pursues  his  old  design  of 
bringing  it  home  unto  their  persons,  Job  ii.  5,  unless  he  hath  in 
readiness  a  greater  good,  v^hich  shall  in  itself  and  in  his  own  mind 
outbalance  the  evil  which  he  suffers.  And  this  the  grace  of  this 
salvation  will  do.  The  soul  that  is  exercised  in  the  contemplation 
and  admiration  of  it,  will  despise  and  triumph  over  all  his  outward 
sufferings  which  befall  liim  on  the  account  of  his  interest  therein,  as 
all  persecution  doth.  This  the  apostle  declares  at  large,  B,om.  viii. 
Verses  31—34,  he  directs  us  unto  a  holy  meditation  on  God's  electing 
love,  and  on  the  death  and  mediation  of  Christ,  the  two  springs  of 
this  meditation;  and  thence  leads  us,  verses  35,  36,  to  a  supposition 
of  the  great  and  sore  persecutions  that  may  befall  us  in  this  world ; 
and  from  the  former  consideration  triumphs  over  them  all,  verse  37, 
with  a  joy  and  exultation  beyond  that  of  conquerors  in  a  battle, 
which  yet  is  the  greatest  that  the  nature  of  man  is  capable  of  in 
and  about  temporal  things.  When  the  soul  is  prepossessed  with 
the  glory  of  this  grace  and  his  interest  therein,  it  will  assuredly  bear 
him  up  against  all  the  threatenings,  reproaches,  and  persecutions  of 
this  world,  even  as  it  did  the  apostles  of  old,  making  them  esteem 
that  to  be  their  glory  and  honour  which  the  world  looked  on  as 
their  shame,  Acts  v,  41 ;  and  without  this  the  heart  will  be  very 
ready  to  sink  and  faint.  [4.]  This  also  will  greatly  tend  unto  the 
covfirmation  of  our  faith,  by  giving  iis  a  full  experience  of  the 
things  that  we  do  believe.  Then  the  heart  is  immovable,  when  it 
is  established  by  experience,  when  we  find  a  substance,  a  reality,  a 
spiritual  nourishment  in  things  proposed  unto  us.  Now,  how  can 
this  be  obtained,  unless  we  are  conversant  in  our  minds  about  them? 
unless  we  dwell  in  our  thoughts  and  affections  upon  them  ?  for 
thereby  do  we  taste  and  find  how  good  the  Lord  is  in  this  work  of 
his  grace. 

Thus  this  duty  being  on  many  accounts  of  so  great  importance, 
we  may  do  well  to  consider  wherein  it  consisteth.  And  there  are 
these  four  things  belonging  unto  it: — 

(1.)  Intense  prayer  for  the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation,  to  give 
us  an  acquaintance  with  the  mystery  and  grace  of  this  great  salva- 
tion. In  ourselves  we  have  no  inbred  knowledge  of  it,  nor  can  we 
by  our  own  endeavours  attain  unto  it.     We  must  have  a  new  under- 


VER.  2-4.]  EPISTLE  TO  Tin:  HEBREWS.  817 

standing  given  us,  or  we  shall  not  "  know  him  that  is  true,"  1  John  v. 
20.  For  notwithstanding  the  declaration  that  is  made  of  this  mys- 
tery in  the  gospel,  we  see  that  the  most  of  men  live  in  darkness  and 
ignorance  of  it.  It  is  only  the  Spirit  of  God  which  can  search  these 
"  deep  things  of  God,"  and  reveal  them  unto  us,  1  Cor.  ii.  10.  By  him 
must  "  he  who  commanded  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness  shine  into 
our  hearts,  to  give  us  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God 
in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,"  2  Cor.  iv.  6.  And  therefore  the  apostle 
prays  for  the  Ephesians  that  God  would  give  unto  them  "  the  Spirit 
of  wisdom  and  revelation  in  the  knowledge  of  him ;  that,  the  eyes 
of  their  understandings  being  enlightened,  they  may  know  what  is 
the  hope  of  his  calling,  and  what  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  his  in- 
heritance in  the  saints,  and  what  is  the  exceeding  greatness  of  his 
power  to  US-ward  who  believe,"  chap.  i.  17-19;  and  for  the  Colos- 
sians,  that  they  might  come  unto  "  all  riches  of  the  full  assurance 
of  understanding,  to  the  acknowledgment  of  the  mystery  of  God, 
and  of  the  Father,  and  of  Christ,"  chap.  ii.  2, — that  is,  that  they 
might  have  a  spiritual  and  saving  acquaintance  with  the  mystery  of 
this  great  salvation,  the  love,  grace,  and  wisdom  of  God  therein, 
which  without  this  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation  from  above  we 
shall  not  attain  unto.  This,  then,  in  the  first  place,  is  to  be  sought 
after,  this  are  we  to  abide  in, — constant  prayers  and  supplications 
for  the  teaching,  instructing,  revealing,  enlightening  work  and  effi- 
cacy of  this  Spirit,  that  we  ma}'-  be  enabled  to  look  into  these  deep 
things  of  God,  that  we  may  in  some  measure  with  all  saints  com- 
prehend them,  and  grow  wise  in  the  mystery  of  salvation.  Solomon 
tells  us  how  this  wisdom  is  to  be  obtained :  Prov.  ii.  3-5,  "  If  thou 
criest  after  knowledge,  and  liftest  up  thy  voice  for  understanding; 
if  thou  seekest  her  as  for  silver,  and  searchest  for  her  as  for  hid 
treasures;  then  shalt  thou  understand  the  fear  of  the  LoilD,  and 
find  the  knowledge  of  God."  It  is  by  praying,  crying,  supplications, 
with  diligence  and  perseverance,  that  we  attain  this  wisdom.  Abide 
herein,  or  all  other  attempts  will  prove  but  vain.  How  many  poor 
souls,  otherwise  weak  and  simple,  have  by  this  means  grown  exceed- 
ing wise  in  the  mystery  of  God  !  and  how  many  more,  wise  in  this 
world,  through  the  neglect  of  it,  do  walk  in  darkness  all  their  days  ! 

(2.)  Diligent  study  of  the  word,  wherein  this  mystery  of  God 
is  declared  and  proposed  unto  our  faith  and  holy  contemplation; 
but  this  hath  been  spoken  unto  in  part  already,  and  must  again 
be  considered,  and  so  need  not  here  be  insisted  on. 

(3.)  Sincere  love  unto  and  delight  in  the  things  that  are  by 
the  Spirit  of  God  revealed  unto  us,  is  another  part  of  this  duty. 
Herein  our  apostle  declares  what  was  his  frame  of  heart,  Phil.  iii.  8. 
How  doth  his  heart  triumph  in  and  rejoice  over  the  knowledge  he 
had  obtained  of  Jesus  Christ!  and  then,  indeed,  do  we  know  any 


SI  8  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  11. 

tiling  of  the  grace  of  God  aright,  when  our  hearts  are  affected  with 
what  we  know.  Peter  tells  us  that  the  saints  of  old,  in  their  be- 
lieving, "rejoiced  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory,"  1  Epist. 
i.  8.  They  discovered  that  in  Christ  which  made  their  hearts  leap 
within  theui,  and  all  their  affections  to  overflow  with  delight  and 
joy.  And  this  is  an  essential  part  of  this  holy  admiration,  which 
distinguisheth  it  from  that  barren,  fruitless,  notional  speculation  of 
it,  which  some  are  contented  withal.  This  are  we  to  stir  up  our- 
hearts  unto  in  all  our  meditations  of  the  grace  of  God,  and  not  to 
rest  until  we  find  them  affected,  satisfied,  and  filled  with  a  holy 
complacency ;  which  is  the  most  eminent  evidence  of  our  interest  in 
and  union  unto  the  things  that  are  made  known  unto  us. 

(4.)  All  these  things  are  to  be  attended  with  thankfulness  and 
praise.  This  the  apostle  was  full  of,  and  broke  forth  into,  when 
he  entered  upon  the  description  of  this  grace,  Eph.  i.  3,  4 ;  and  this 
will  be  the  frame  of  his  heart  who  is  exercised  unto  a  holy  admira- 
tion of  it.  When  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  considered  the  grace  of 
God  in  revealing  the  mysteries  of  this  salvation  unto  his  disciples, 
it  is  said  of  him  that  he  "rejoiced  in  spirit,"  nyaXkidearo,  Luke  x.  21, 
"his  spirit  leaped  in  him;"  and  he  breaks  forth  into  a  solemn  doxo- 
logy,  giving  praise  and  glory  unto  God.  And  is  it  not  their  duty 
to  whom  they  are  revealed  to  do  that  which,  out  of  love  unto  them, 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  did  on  their  behalf?  Thankfulness  for  the 
things  themselves,  thankfulness  for  the  revelation  of  them,  thank- 
fulness for  the  love  of  God  and  tlie  grace  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  one 
and  the  other,  is  a  great  part  of  this  thity. 

2.  This  will  teach  us  what  esteem  we  ought  to  have  of  the  word 
of  the  gospel,  by  which  alone  tliis  great  salvation  is  revealed  and 
exhibited  unto  us,  the  great  means  and  instrument  which  God  is 
pleased  to  use  in  bringing  us  unto  a  participation  of  it.  This  one  con- 
sideration is  enough  to  instruct  us  as  to  what  valuation  we  ought  to 
make  of  it,  what  price  we  should  set  upon  it,  seeing  we  cannot  have 
the  "  treasure"  without  the  purchase  of  this  "field."  Some  neglect  it, 
some  despise  it,  some  persecute  it,  some  look  upon  it  as  foolishness, 
some  as  weakness;  but  unto  them  that  believe,  it  is  "the  power  of 
God,  and  the  wisdom  of  God,"  To  further  us  in  this  duty,  I  shall 
take  up  some  of  those  considerations  which  the  words  we  insist  upon 
do  offer  unto  us,  and  thereby  also  pass  through  what  yet  remains 
for  our  instruction  in  them.  And  we  may  consider, — (L)  The  ex- 
cellency and  pre-eminence  of  the  gospel,  which  ariseth  from  the  first 
revealer,  that  is,  the  Lord  Christ,  the  Son  of  God.  It  was  "  begun  to 
be  spoken  unto  us  by  the  Lord."  Herein  the  apostle  prefers  it  before 
the  law.  It  is  that  word  which  the  Son  came  to  reveal  and  declare 
from  the  bosom  of  the  Father;  and  surely  he  deserves  to  be  attended 
unto.     Hence  it  is  so  often  called  "the  word  of  Christ"  and  "the 


YER.  5  9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  SI 9 

gospel  of  Christ ;"  not  only  because  it  treateth  of  him,  but  because 
it  pioceedeth  from  him,  and  on  that  account  is  "wortliy  of  all  accep- 
tation." And,  (2.)  To  neglect  the  gospel  is  to  neglect  and  despise 
the  Son  of  God,  who  is  the  author  of  it,  and  consequently  the  love 
and  grace  of  God  in  sending  him.  So  the  Lord  Christ  tells  tliem 
that  preach  the  gospel,  "  He  that  despisetli  you  despiseth  me,  and 
he  that  despiseth  me  despiseth  him  that  sent  me."  Neglect  of  the 
gospel  reflects  immediately  upon  the  Lord  Christ  and  the  Father; 
and  therefore  our  apostle  bids  us  take  heed  that  we  despise  not 
l)im  who  spake  from  heaven;  which  can  be  no  otherwise  done  bat 
by  neglect  of  his  word.  Some  pretend  to  honour  Clirist,  but  they 
have  no  regard  for  his  word ;  yea,  they  may  say  of  it  as  Ahab  of 
Micaiah,  that  they  hate  it,  and  have  therefore  some  of  them  endea- 
voured to  extirpate  the  preaching  of  it  out  of  the  world,  as  the 
Papists  have  done, — at  least,  have  looked  on  it  as  a  useless  thing, 
that  the  church  might  be  well  enough  without.  But  such  men  will 
find  themselves  mistaken  when  it  is  too  late  to  seek  after  a  remedy. 
The  true  cause  of  their  hatred  unto  the  word,  is  because  they  can 
find  no  other  way  to  express  their  hatred  unto  Christ  himself; 
neither  did  ever  any  man  hate  or  loathe  the  gospel,  but  he  that  first 
hated  and  loathed  Jesus  Christ,  But  against  the  word  they  have 
many  pretences,  against  the  person  of  Christ  none,  that  are  as  yet 
passable  in  the  world.  This  makes  the  word  to  bear  that  which  is 
intended  against  Christ  himself;  and  so  will  he  interpret  it  at  the 
last  day.  (3.)  Consider  that  this  word  was  confirmed  and  witnessed 
uuto  from  heaven,  by  the  mighty  works  and  miracles  which  attended 
the  dispensation  thereof  So  our  apostle  here  informs  us.  And 
though  we  saw  not  those  miracles,  yet  we  have  them  left  on  infallible 
record  for  our  use,  that  by  them  we  might  be  yet  stirred  up  to  value 
and  attend  unto  the  word  in  a  due  manner.  God  hath  so  ordered 
things  in  his  holy  providence,  that  none  can  neglect  the  word  with- 
out shutting  his  eyes  against  such  light  and  evidence  of  conviction 
as  will  leave  him  abundantly  inexcusable  at  the  last  day.  Now, 
from  these  and  the  like  considerations  the  duty  proposed  may  be 
enforced. 

Verses  5-9. 

The  apostle  in  these  verses  proceeds  in  the  pursuit  of  his  former 
design.  From  the  doctrine  of  the  first  chapter,  he  presseth  the 
exhortation  at  the  beginning  of  this,  which  we  have  passed  through. 
The  foundation  of  that  exhortation  was  the  pre-eminence  of  the 
Lord  Christ,  the  author  of  the  gospel,  above  the  angels  by  whom 
the  law  was  spoken  and  delivered.  This  he  now  further  confirms, 
and  that  by  an  instance  suited  to  his  present  purpose,  and  not  as 
yet  by  him  insisted  on.     And  he  doth  it  the  rather  because,  by  the 

V®L.    XII. — 21 


820  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAR  II. 

testimonies  wherewith  he  proves  his  assertion,  he  is  led  to  the  con- 
sideration of  other  concernments  of  the  mediation  of  Christ,  wliich 
he  thought  meet  to  declare  unto  these  Hebrews  also.  And  this 
method  he  is  constant  unto  throughout  this  whole  epistle.  In  the 
midst  of  his  reasonings  and  testimonies  for  the  explanation  or  con- 
firmation of  what  he  delivers  dogmatically,  he  lays  hold  on  some 
occasion  or  other  to  press  his  exhortations  unto  faith,  obedience,  with 
constancy  and  perseverance  in  the  profession  of  the  gospel.  And  in 
the  arguments  wliich  he  interweaveth,  and  testimonies  which  he 
ptoduceth  for  the  enforcement  of  his  exhortations,  something  still 
otfers  itself,  which  accordingly  he  lays  hold  upon,  leading  him  to 
some  further  explication  of  the  doctrine  which  he  had  in  hand;  so 
insenhibiy  passing  from  one  thing  unto  another,  that  he  might  at 
the  same  time  inform  the  minds  and  work  upon  the  affections  of 
them  with  whom  he  dealt.  All  which  will  ajDpear  in  our  ensuing 
exposition  of  these  verses. 

Ve7\  5. — Ou  yap  ayy's'ko/g  vrrira^i  rriv  o/'xou/isvjji'  rriv  fJ!,iXXovffav,  Tipi 
^g  XaXov/MV 

'  T'jTSTal?,  "  subjecit,"  "  in  ordinem  coe»it,"  "put  into  subjection,"  "brought 
into  orJer,  under  rule."  T'^v  oIkov^svyiv  rvii/  fii?^7^ov<rxv.  Vol.,  '*  orbein  terrre  f'utu- 
rum,""the  habitable  earth  to  come;"  Arias,  "  habitat ani  f'uturain,"  to  the  same 
purpose,  improperly;  Syr.,  "'T?."I  '*'???.  "rnundum,"  or  "seculum  futuruin,"  •' the 
world"  (ur '•  age")  "  to  come;"  Beza,  "  niundum  ilium  futurum,"  "that  world 
to  come."  And  indeed  the  repetiti<in  of  the  article,  with  the  words  following, 
"  concerning  which  we  speak,"  requires  that  it  be  so  expressed,  "  That  world  to 
come,"  or  "  the  world  that  is  to  come."  Olicovfiivn,  Heb.,  '^^ .  So  most  totn- 
nionly  ex|iressed  i>y  the  LXX. ;  as  sometimes,  though  seldom,  liy  yii,  •'  the  earth;" 
and  sometimes  by  roivvo  oi/pctvcHv,  "the  things  under  the  heavens."  The  apostle 
useth  this  word  from  Ps.  viii.,  wdiere  it  denotes  a  mixture  of  inhabitants,  there 
described.  Uspl  vji'ha.'Kwfiiv,  that  is,  '6ixhiy6f4,idot,,  "  concerning  which  we  treat," 
"about  which  we  rea-on."  The  Vulgar  Latin  adds  "  Deus"  to  the  text:  "  Deus 
non  su!  jecit,"  "  God  hath  not  put  in  subjection  ;"  needlessly,  as  is  acknowledged. 
"De  quo  Christo,"  saith  the  interlinear  gloss;  but  Hipt  ijs  is  not  "  of  Christ." 

Ver,  5. — For  unto  the  angels  liatli  he  not  made  subject 
that  world  to  come  whereof  we  speak  [concerning  which 
we  treat], 

Yer.  6. — Anf^aprvparo  d's  vou  rig,  X'syuv  T/  lertv  dvdpwxog,  on  fii/ivyjffXT] 
avTOu;  Yj  v'log  avSpuTrou,  on  sT/ffxi'Trr^  avrov, 

Syr.,  ■"?^J  *'='!;:'?  ■'"="?'!  TS  ^}^.,  "  But  as  the  Scripture  witnesseth  nnd  saith;" 
needlessly  limiting  what  was  spoken  indefinitely  by  tlie  apostle,  the  words  them- 
selves dtclaring  who  spake  them  and  where.  Uov,  Vul ,  "  in  quodam  loco,"  "  in 
a  certain  p'aee  ;"  Beza,  "  alicubi,"  "somewhere,"  that  is,  Ps.  viii.  5.  T/  iartv  oLu- 
ipuTTog;  ■'^"^.?"~^,  "quid  homo  mortalis?" — jiporrog,  fipoTo;  dvtip,  "frail,  mortal 
man,"  or  "  the  son  of  man."  °"?  1?'  "  ^''"^  hommis  terreni;"  yjjysvsjj,  "  e  terra 
editus," — "  man  of  the  earth,"  or  "  an  earthy  man. 


VER.  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  Ji21 

Ver.  6. — But  one  [a  certain  man]  testified  \^Iiath  icit- 
nessed],  in  a  certain  place  [somewhere,  that  is,  in  the 
Scripture,  from  whence  he  is  arguing],  saying,  What  is 
man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him?  or  the  son  of  man, 
that  thou  visitest  him? 

ver.  7. — 'HXd-rooSag  alirhv  ^pa-xP  ^  '^"/''  ayysXoug'  h(it,yi  xa!  rifMr, 
sffrg(pdv'j}aag  aCrciV,  xa/  zocricrrjaa;  aCrov  kiri  rd  'ifya  tmv  yf.ifZiV  aov,  Tocira 
V'^rsra^ocg  l-zoKdrM  ruv  'Trodojv  avrou. 

The  latter  words,  which  are  commonly  placed  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighth 
vei-se.  I  have  added  unto  this  seventh,  the  sense  and  Hebrew  text  so  requiring  it. 

'  HAKTTaffccs  eti/rov.  So  the  apostle  renders  '^~.'??v'?  in  the  psalmist,  and  th:it 
properly.  Vul.,  "niinuisti;"  which  is  not  "thou  hast  made  less,"  but  "th'iu 
hast  lessened,"  which  hath  another  sense  than  that  here  intended.  Syr.,  ""Tr^''.* 
"  depressiti,"  "thou  hast  depressed,"  or  "made  him  less,"  or  "lower  than  I.e 
was."  Beza,  "  fecisti  eum  inferiorem,"  "thou  hast  made  him  lower;"  and  so 
ours.  Rhemists,  "  thou  didst  minish  him  a  little  less;"  obscurely.  'EA«tt^6)  is 
"iinmiuuo,"  "diminuo,"  "to  make  less,"  "to  take  from,"  as  to  state  and  condi- 
tion. So  in  Isocrates,  iK^rrovv  rvii/  nzohiv  is  to  lessen  the  dignity,  state,  and  con- 
dition of  the  people;  as  in  Latin,  "  capitis  diminutio"  is  lessening  of  state  or  dig- 
nity, as  b}'  loss  of  liberty.  For  when  one  was  made  a  captive  by  the  enemy  he  lost 
his  dignity,  until  he  recovered  it  "jure  postliminii ;"  so  Regulus  is  termed  by  the 
poet,  ''capitis  minor,"  when  a  prisoner  to  the  Carthaginians:  or  by  change  of 
family,  as  when  Clodius,  a  patrician,  was  adopted  by  a  plebeian :  or  by  banisii- 
inent.  All  such  are  ij'Kxrrovf/.iuoi,  lessened  in  state  or  dignity.  '^r)~^,  the  word 
used  by  the  psalmist,  hath  the  same  signification;  and  though  it  be  variously 
rendered  by  the  LXX.,  yet  they  never  nuich  depart  from  its  native  signification. 
' 'E'huTTO'Au,  "  to  minish,"  "make  less,"  "take  from;"  i'hxTrou,  the  same:  hdi:^; 
•yivof/.oci,  "to  become  indigent;"  iu^kof^xi,  "to  be  in  want;"  sTrthtof^ce.t,  Trpoaoioiiccn, 
ecTTopiu,  all  to  the  same  purpose;  aTipiaica,  "  to  deprive ;"  vanpiu,  "  to  want,"  "  to 
be  indigent,"  "to  come  short;"  and  anpiu,  and  x-ivov  -Troiiu,  "to  make  eMipty;" 
that  is,  Kivou,  the  word  used  Phil.  ii.  7.  I  observe  this  various  rendering  ot'  the 
word  by  the  LXX.  on^y  to  show  that  it  doth  constantly  denote  a  diminution  of 
state  and  condition,  with  an  addition  of  indigency;  which  will  give  us  light  into 
the  interpretation  of  the  place. 

Jipcx^  rt,  "  breve  quiddam;"  Vul.,  "  paulo  minus;"  Syr.,  'vi?,  "  paululum," 
"a  little,"  or"  paulisper,"  "a  little  while."  "??  is  frequently  by  the  LXX.  ren- 
dered fiiKpoti,  "parvum,"  "paululum," — "a  little,"  intending  quantity;  hoinctiuies 
ohiyav,  which  they  refer  to  number,  "a  few;"  and  sometimes  (ipof^u,  and  then  it 
constantly  respects  time,  "  a  little  while."  So  that  lipc^xv  rt  is  as  much  as  ivt 
(ipx)c-t>  t-bat  is  xP^'-'¥'j  •'■''  '^  that  saying,  'O  (iiog  lipx)(v?,  h  Ts^vyi  frnxpoi, — "  Life  is 
short,"  that  is,  of  short  continuance.  Whether  a  little  in  degree  or  a  short  time 
be  here  intended  we  shall  afterwards  inquire. 

Hup'  d.y/i'hovg,  Syr.  ^.^^;?  1^ ,  "  prie  angelis,"  "more  thin  angels,"  "above 
the  angels,"  "more  destitute  than  the  angels;"  Heb.,  °"~"*''H»  "the  anuels  of 
God."  So  all  old  translations  ren  ler  the  words.  And  to  render  it  "  a  Deo,"  in 
the  p<alm,  is  needless,  groumlless,  contradictDry  to  the  apostle. 

Ao'lpj  Kdl  ri^tivi  e(7Ti(p<x,i/o)(Tcis  cti/rov,  "gloi'ia  et  honore  coronasti  eum,"  "with  glory 
and  honour  hast  thou  crowned  him;"  Syr.,  ~?'"?  =''^  ^"^iV-  **~~'^-r\!'  ,  "glory 
and  honour  hast  thou  placed  on  his  head;"  Heb.  ^n-cii'n  -inrn  -'"=31,  "  thou  hast 
crowned  him  "  (or  "  adorned  his  head")  "  with  glory  and  beauty,"  or  "  linnour," 


822  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  11. 

The  first  word  denotes  the  weight  and  worth,  the  latter  the  beauty  and  splen- 
dijur  of  this  crown. 

K«J  KccTiarnaa,;  uvrov  eTri,  "  thou  hast  set  him  over ;"  that  is,  appointed  hitn 
to  be  in  authority,  as  Pharaoh  set  Joseph  over  the  land  of  Egypt.  Syr., 
*''7'C^-"— !  "  authoritatem,"  "  potestatem  ei  tribuisti;"  "thou  hast  given  him 
power,"  or  "authority;"  made  hira  sultan,  or  lord.  Heb.,  ^"p.'r'r'i),  "made  him 
lord,"  or  "  ruler,"  as  Gen.  i.  18.      So  y^oc^hrytfit  stti  is  used.  Acts  vi.,  Luke  xii. 

'TTreTci^otg  v7!w.ccxoi  ruv  ■xohuv  cciirov,  "  hast  put,"  "put  down,"  "  subjected  all 
things  under  his  feet."  The  words  all  of  them  emphatically  denote  subjection 
and  depression,  and  as  thus  conjoined,  the  most  absolute  sulijection  that  can  be 
apprehended. 

Ver.  7. — Thou  madest  liim  lower  for  a  little  while  than 
the  angels;  thou  crownedst  him  with  gloiy  and  honour, 
and  didst  set  him  [cjave  him  authority^  over  the  works 
of  thy  hands:  all  things  hast  thou  put  in  subjection 
under  his  feet. 

Ver.  8. — 'Ei/  yap  T(M  I'TTord^ai  airuJ  ra  craira,  ovdh  d(prjzBV  dvviro- 
raXTOV    vuv  ds  o8tw  opu/z^sv  avru  rd  crav7-a  'vxcnray/jjiva, 

Ver.  8. — For  in  that  he  made  all  things  subject  unto 
him,  he  hath  left  nothing  not  put  in  subjection;  but 
now  we  see  not  all  things  made  subject  unto  him. 

Ver.  9. — Tov  hi  ^payj)  rt  crap'  dyyiXoug  riXarru/Mivov  f3Xf.'Xo/j,sv  ^Irjffouv, 
hid  TO  ird&riiMa  tov  ^avdrov  hc^j^  xai  riij^fi  ioTi<pa)ic/>iJjhov,  oVwg  -^dpiTi 
Giov  V'jTBp  'Ttavrhg  yBvffyiTai  ^a^a^ou. 

The  words  of  this  dvohocris  have  most  of  them  been  considered  in  the  -Trpodiaig, 
and  they  must  have  the  same  sense  in  both  places,  or  the  reasoning  of  the  apostle 
would  be  equivocal.  For  x^P''^'  0£oy,  some  old  copies  read,  x'^P'^i  Qsov,  "  besides 
God,"  "  God  excepted."  The  Syriac  copies  also  vary.  Some  read,  "  For  God 
himself  by  his  grace  tasted  death."  Others,  "  For  he,  God  excepted,  tasted 
death;"  which  came  from  %up\;  Qsov,  and  shows  that  variety  to  be  ancient. 
Hence  some  have  imagined  it  to  be  a  corruption  of  theNestorians,  who,  dividing  the 
person  of  Christ,  would  not  grant  that  God  might  be  said  to  die,  contrary  to  Acts 
XX.  28.  Xapiri  Qioi>,  is  "gratia,"  "beneficentia,"  "beneficio  Dei,"  "by  the  grace," 
"goodness,"  "good-will  of  God,"  expressing  the  first  spring  and  moving  cause  of 
the  sufferings  of  Christ,  Tivamxi  Sictvoirov,  "should  taste  of  death;"  an  Hebraism 
for  to  die,  intimating  withal  the  truth,  reality,  and  kind  of  bis  death,  which  was 
bitter,  and  which  was  called  his  "cup."  'T-Trsp  ivoLwlg,  in  the  masculine,  not  neuter 
gender,  for  •j'trip  •Kctvruv,  by  an  enallage  of  number,  that  is,  vluv,  of  whom  he 
treats;  all  and  every  one  of  the  children  unto  whom  he  was  a  captain  of  salvation. i 

Ver.  9. — But  we  see  Jesus  crowned  with  glory  and 
honour,  who  for  the  suffering  of  death  was  a  little 
while  made  lower  than  the  angels,  that  he  by  the 
grace  of  God  might  taste  of  death  for  all. 

*  Various  Readings. — The  clause,  K«T£o-T)7(7«f  usque  aw,  verse  7,  is  omitted 
by  Griesbach,  Scholz,  and  Tischendorf.  Knapp,  Lachmann,  and  Hahn  enclose  it 
within  In-ackets,  as  doubtful. 

Translations. — '^pctxii.  "  For  a  little  while." — Valckenaer.  De  Wette,  Com/- 
beare  and  Ilowson,  Ebrard.  "  A  little  "  (in  respect  of  degree). — Stuart,  Scliule- 
field,  Olshauseii,  Tumor. — Ed. 


VFR.  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  323 

Ver.  5. — The  first  words  of  the  fifth  verse,  ov  yap,  "  for,"  declare 
that  the  apostle  is  in  the  pursuit  of  his  former  argument.  Tap 
"  for,"  doth  not  always  intimate  the  introduction  of  a  reason  in  the 
confirmation  of  what  is  past,  hut  sometimes  a  progression  unto 
somewhat  else  in  the  like  kind  with  that  which  precedeth,  and  so 
hath  not  respect  unto  any  especial  words  or  sayings  going  before,  but 
unto  the  whole  matter  in  hand,  especially  that  which  doth  ensue;  as 
"nam"  also  is  used  in  Latin:  "Nam  quis  tejuvenum  confidentissime, 
nostras  jussit  adire  domes."  A  new  argument,  therefore,  to  the  same 
purpose  with  that  before  is  intimated  by  this  particle,  "  for." 

The  whole  verse  contains  an  assertion  laid  down  in  a  negative 
proposition,  the  assumption  of  the  apostle's  argument,  or  the  proof  of 
it,  supposed  in  a  prosyllogism,  consisting  in  the  ensuing  testimony, 
with  his  explication  of  it.  And  it  is  to  this  purpose:  '  The  world  to 
come  is  not  made  subject  unto  angels;  but  it  was  made  subject  to 
Jesus:  and  therefore  he  is  exalted  above  them.'  This  he  proves 
from  the  testimony  of  the  psalmist,  to  this  purpose,  '  All  things 
■were  made  subject  to  man,  who  for  a  little  while  was  made  lower 
than  the  angels;  but  this  man  was  Jesus.'  And  this  assumption  he 
proves  from  the  event: — First,  On  the  part  of  man  absolutely  con- 
sidered: 'We  see  that  all  things  are  not  made  subject  unto  him;' 
therefore  he  cannot  be  intended.  Secondly,  On  the  part  of  Jesur 
*  All  things  in  the  event  agree  unto  him ;  first,  he  was  made  for  a 
little  while  lower  than  the  angels,'  (which  he  shows  the  reason  of, 
and  thence  takes  occasion  to  discourse  of  his  death  and  sufferings, 
according  to  the  method  before  declared;)  'and  then  he  was  crowned 
with  glory  and  dignity,  all  things  being  made  subject  unto  him; — 
from  all  which  it  appears,  that  it  is  he,  and  not  angels,  unto  whom 
the  world  to  come  is  put  in  subjection.'  This  is  the  series  of  the 
apostle's  discourse,  wherein  are  many  things  difficult  and  "  hard  to 
be  understood,"  which  must  be  particularly  considered. 

The  first  verse,  as  was  said,  lays  down  the  principal  assertion  in  a 
negative  proposition:  "  The  world  to  come  is  not  made  subject  unto 
angels."  One  proof  hereof  is  included  in  the  words  themselves; 
for  that  expression,  "  He  hath  not  put  in  subjection,"  is  the  same 
with  our  apostle  as,  '  It  is  nowhere  written  or  recorded  in  the  Scrip- 
ture,' '  There  is  no  testimony  of  it,'  '  God  is  nowhere  said  to  have 
done  it.'  See  chap.  i.  5,  with  the  exposition  of  it.  And  these  nega- 
tive arguments  from  the  authority  of  the  Old  Testament  he  esteemed 
in  this  matter  cogent  and  sufficient. 

In  the  proposition  itself,  1.  The  subject  of  it,  *'  The  world  to 
come;"  with  2.  Its  limitation,  "Whereof  we  treat;"  and  3.  The 
'predicate,  negatively  expressed,  "Is  not  put  in  subjection  to  angels," 
are  to  be  considered. 

The  subject  of  the  proposition  is,  "The  world  to  come"  (snn  D7iy), 
the  new  heavens  and  new  earth  (o/xou.aivjj),  which  God  promised  to 


1}24  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  11. 

create,  Isa.  Ixv.  17,  Ixvi.  22;  which  refers  unto  rfC^^n  lo"*,  "  the  days 
of  the  Messiah."  The  later  Jews  sometimes  call  it  IT)]}  Dbiy,  "the 
future  world,"  though  usually  by  that  expression  they  intend  the 
world  of  future  bliss.  But  the  world  here  intended  is  no  other 
but  the  promised  state  of  the  church  under  the  gospel.  This,  with 
the  worsliip  of  God  therein,  with  especial  relation  unto  the  Messiah, 
the  author  and  mediator  of  it,  administering  its  heavenly  things 
before  the  throne  of  grace,  thereby  rendering  it  spiritual  and 
heavenly,  and  diverse  from  the  state  of  the  worship  of  the  old  tes- 
tament, which  was  worldly  and  carnal,  was  "the  world  to  come"  that 
the  Jews  looked  for,  and  which  in  this  place  is  intended  by  the 
apostle.  This  we  must  further  confirm,  as  the  foundation  of  the 
ensuing  exposition.  That  this  then,  is  the  intendment  of  the 
apostle  appeareth, — 

First,  From  the  limitation  annexed,  'Trsp!  ^g  XaXov/Mv,  "  concerning 
which  we  treat."  This  is  the  world  wiiereof  he  treats  with  the 
Hebrews  in  this  epistle,  namely,  the  gospel  state  of  the  chijrch,  the 
worship  whereof  he  had  in  the  words  immediately  foregoing  pressed 
them  unto  the  observation  of;  and  not  only  so,  but  described  it 
also  by  that  state  wherein  the  miraculous  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
were  g'.ven  and  enjoyed.  And  the  mention  of  them  in  the  words 
directly  preceding  is  that  description  of  the  world  to  come  which 
the  apostle  in  these  words  refers  unto,  "concerning  which  we  speak." 
And  the  tradition  of  this  new  world,  or  the  restoration  of  all  things 
under  the  Messiah,  was  one  of  the  principal  reports  of  truth  received 
among  the  Jews,  which  the  apostle  jiresseth  them  withal. 

Some  suppose  that  "KaXoZiMiv,  "  we  speak,"  is  put  for  sXaX^tfa/nv, 
"  we  have  spoken,"  and  would  have  it  refer  unto  chap.  i.  6.  But 
what  the  apostle  there  intendeth  by  "the  world"  we  have  sufficiently 
evinced  and  declared.  The  "  world"  there,  by  a  usual  synecdoche, 
is  put  for  the  habitable  earth,  the  ra  'I'dia,  which  the  Son  of  God 
made  and  came  unto,  John  i.  11.  Here,  a  certain  state  and  condi- 
tion of  things  in  the  world,  about  which  he  treated  with  the  Hebrews, 
is  intended. 

Besides,  they  who  would  thus  change  the  word  (Grotius,  Crellius, 
Schlichtingius),  by  the  world,  chap.  i.  6,  understand  heaven  itself, 
the  state  of  glory,  which  is  not  here  insisted  on  by  the  apostle;  for, — 

Secondly,  He  treats  of  that  which  was  already  done,  in  the  crown- 
ing of  Jesus  with  glory  and  honour,  as  the  words  following  do 
manifest.  This  crowning  of  him  was  upon  his  ascension,  as  we  have 
before  proved  at  large.  Then  was  not  the  state  of  glory  made  sub- 
ject unto  him,  because  it  was  not  then  nor  is  yet  in  being.  And, 
therefore,  they  who  turn  "we  speak"  into  "we  have  before  spoken," 
are  forced  also  to  pervert  the  following  words,  and  to  interpret,  "He 
hath  made  all  things  subject  uuto  him,"  "  He  hath  purposed  or  de- 


VER.  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  325 

creed  so  to  do;"  both  without  cause  or  reason.  The  world  whereof 
the  apostle  treats  was  immediately  made  subject  to  Jesus, — that  is, 
the  church  of  the  new  testament, — when  God  anointed  him  knig 
upon  his  holy  hill  of  Zion;  and  therefore  in  the  psalm  is  there 
mention  made  of  those  other  parts  of  the  creation,  to  be  joined  in 
this  subjection,  that  have  no  relation  unto  heaven. 

Thirdly,  The  apostle  doth  not  treat  directly  anywhere  in  this 
epistle  concerning  heaven,  or  the  world  of  the  blessed  to  come.  He 
frequently  mentions  heaven,  not  absolutely,  indeed,  but  as  it  be- 
longs imto  the  gospel  world,  as  being  the  place  of  the  constant 
residence  of  the  high  priest  of  the  church,  and  wherein  also  the 
worship  of  it  is  through  faith  celebrated. 

Fourthly,  The  apostle  in  these  words  insists  on  the  antithesis 
■which  he  pursueth  in  his  whole  discourse  between  the  Judaical  and 
evangelical  church-state;  for  whatever  power  angels  might  have  in 
and  over  things  formerly,  this  world  to  come,  saith  he,  is  not  made 
subject  unto  them.  Now,  it  is  not  heaven  and  glory  that  he  oppo- 
seth  to  the  Judaical  church-state  and  worship,  but  that  of  the  gospel, 
as  we  shall  find  in  the  progress  of  the  epistle;  which  is  therefore 
necessarily  here  intended. 

Fifthly,  If  by  "  the  world  to  come,"  the  eternal,  blessed  state  of 
glory  be  designed,  to  begin  at  or  after  the  general  judgment,  then 
here  is  a  promise  that  that  blessed  estate  shall  "  de  novo  "  be  put  in 
subjection  to  Jesus  Christ  as  mediator ;  but  this  is  directly  con- 
trary unto  what  is  elsewhere  revealed  by  the  same  apostle,  con- 
cerning the  transactions  between  the  Father  and  the  Son  as 
mediator  at  that  day,  1  Cor.  xv.  28 :  "  And  when  all  shall  be  sub- 
dued unto  him,  then  shall  the  Son  also  himself  be  subject  unto  him 
who  put  all  things  under  him,  that  God  may  be  all  in  all;" — which 
words,  if  they  do  not  absolutely  assert  the  ceasing  of  the  kingdom 
of  the  mediator,  but  only  the  order  of  all  things  unto  eternity  in 
their  subjection  unto  God  by  Christ,  yet  they  are  plainly  exclusive 
of  the  grant  of  a  new  power  or  authority  unto  him,  or  of  a  new 
making  subject  of  all  things  unto  him.  Add  unto  all  this,  that 
the  apostle  proves  the  subjection  of  this  world  unto  the  Lord  Christ, 
and  not  unto  angels,  by  a  testimony  expressing  directly  the  present 
things  of  this  world,  antecedent  unto  the  day  of  judgment. 

From  what  hath  been  discoursed,  we  conclude  that  "  the  world  to 
come,"  here  expressed,  is  the  state  and  worship  of  the  church  under 
the  Messiah,  called  so  by  the  apostle,  according  to  the  usual  appella- 
tion which  then  it  had  obtained  among  the  Jews,  and  allowed  by 
him  until  the  Mosaical  church-state  was  utterly  removed.  And  he 
afterwards  declares  how  tins  comprised  heaven  itself  also,  because 
of  the  residence  of  our  high  priest  in  the  holiest  not  made  with 
hands,  and   the   continual  admission  of  the  worshippers  unto  the 


826  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

throne  of  grace.  This  is  the  subject  of  the  apostle's  proposition, 
that  concerning  which  he  treats. 

Concerning  this  world  the  apostle  first  declares  negatively,  that 
it  is  not  made  subject  unto  angels.  The  subjecting  of  this  world 
to  come  unto  any,  is  such  a  disposal  of  it  as  that  he  or  they  unto 
whom  it  is  put  in  subjection  should,  as  the  lord  of  it,  erect,  institute, 
or  set  it  up,  rule  and  dispose  of  it  being  erected,  and  judge  and 
reward  it  in  the  end  of  its  course  and  time.  This  is  denied  con- 
cerning angels,  and  the  denial  proved  tacitly,— because  no  such  thing 
is  testified  in  the  Scripture.  And  herein  the  apostle  either  pre- 
venteth  an  objection  that  might  arise  from  the  power  of  the  angels 
in  and  over  the  church  of  old,  as  some  think,  or  rather  proceeds  in 
his  design  of  exalting  the  Lord  Jesus  above  them,  and  thereby  pre- 
fers the  worship  of  the  gospel  before  that  prescribed  by  the  law  of 
Moses:  for  he  seems  to  grant  that  the  old  cliurch  and  worship  were 
in  a  sore  made  subject  unto  angels;  this  of  the  world  to  come 
being  solely  and  immediately  in  his  power  who  in  all  things  was  to 
have  the  pre-eminence.  And  this  will  further  appear  if  we  consider 
the  instances  before  mentioned  wherein  the  subjection  of  this  world 
to  come  unto  any  doth  consist. 

First,  It  was  not  put  in  subjection  unto  angels  in  its  erection  or 
institution.  That  work  was  not  committed  unto  them,  as  the 
apostle  declares  in  the  entrance  of  this  epistle.  They  did  not  reveal 
the  will  of  God  concerning  it,  nor  were  intrusted  with  authority  to 
erect  it.  Some  of  them,  indeed,  were  employed  in  messages  about 
its  preparatory  work,  but  they  were  not  employed  either  to  reveal 
the  mysteries  of  it,  wherewith  they  were  unacquainted,  nor  autho- 
ritatively in  the  name  of  God  to  erect  it.  For  the  wisdom  of  God  iu 
the  nature  and  mystery  of  this  work,  they  knew  not  but  by  the 
effects  in  the  work  itself,  Eph.  iii.  9,  1 0,  which  they  looked  and  in- 
quired into,  to  learn  and  admire,  1  Pet.  i.  12;  and  therefore  could 
not  be  intrusted  with  authority  for  its  revelation,  and  the  building 
of  the  church  thereon.  But  things  were  otherwise  of  old.  The 
law,  which  was  the  foundation  of  the  Judaical  church-state,  was 
given  "  by  the  disposition  of  angels,"  Acts  vii.  53,  Gal.  iii.  19;  and 
our  apostle  here  calls  it  "  the  word  spoken  by  angels,"  Tliey  were 
therefore  intrusted  by  God  to  give  the  law  and  the  ordinances  of  it 
unto  the  people  in  his  name  and  authority;  which  bemg  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Mosaical  church-state,  it  was  so  far  put  in  subjection 
unto  them. 

Secondly,  It  is  not  put  in  subjection  unto  angels  as  to  the  rule 
and  disposal  of  it  being  erected.  Their  office  in  this  world  is  a 
ministry,  Heb.  i.  14,  not  a  rule  or  dominion.  Rule  in  or  over  the 
church  they  have  none,  but  are  brought  into  a  co-ordination  of  ser- 
vice with  them  that  have  the  testimony  of  Jesus,  Rev.  xix.  10,  xxii.  9 ; 


VER.  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWi?.  o27 

being  equally  with  us  subjected  unto  him,  in  whom  they  anrl  we  are 
gathered  into  one  head,  Eph.  i.  10.  And  from  their  ministerial 
presence  in  the  congregations  of  believers  doth  our  apostle  press 
women  unto  modesty  and  sobriety  in  their  habit  and  deportment, 
1  Cor.  xi.  10.  And  the  church  of  old  had  an  apprehension  of  this 
trutli,  of  the  presence  of  an  angel  or  angels  in  their  assemblies,  but 
so  as  to  preside  in  them.  Hence  is  that  caution  relating  to  the  wor- 
ship of  God,  Eccles.  v.  5,6:  "Better  is  it  that  thou  shouldest  not  vow, 
than  that  thou  shouldest  vow  and  not  pay.  Sufi'er  not  thy  mouth 
to  cause  thy  flesh  to  sin;  neither  say  thou  before  the  angel  that  it 
was  an  error:  wherefore  should  God  be  angry  at  thy  voice,  and  de- 
stroy the  work  of  thine  hands?"  By  vowing  and  not  paying,  a  man 
brought  upon  his  flesh,  that  is,  himself  and  his  posterity,  a  guilt  not 
to  be  taken  away  with  excuses  of  haste  or  precipitation  made  unto 
the  angel  presiding  in  their  worship,  to  take  an  account  of  its  due 
performance.  It  is  true,  the  absolute  sovereign  power  over  the 
church  of  old  was  in  the  Son  of  God  alone;  but  an  especial,  imme- 
diate power  over  it  was  committed  unto  angels.  And  hence  was 
the  name  of '^"''T'^^,  "god,"  "judge,"  "-mighty  one,"  communicated 
unto  them,  namely,  from  their  autiiority  over  the  church;  that  name 
expressing  the  authority  of  God  when  unto  him  ascribed.  And  be- 
cause of  this,  their  acting  in  tlie  name  and  representing  the  autho- 
rity of  God,  the  saints  of  old  had  an  apprehension  that  upon  their 
seeing  of  an  angel  they  should  die,  from  that  saying  of  God,  that 
none  should  see  his  face  and  live,  Exod.  xxxiii.  20.  So  Manoah  ex- 
pressly, Judg.  xiii.  22.  He  knew  that  it  was  an  angel  which  ap- 
peared unto  him,  and  yet  says  to  his  wife,  "  We  shall  surely  die, 
because  we  have  seen  '^"'0''^," — an  angel  vested  with  the  authority 
of  God.  And  hence  it  is  not  unlikely  but  that  there  might  be  a  re- 
spect or  worship  due  unto  the'angels  under  the  old  testament,  winch 
themselves  declare  not  to  be  meet  for  them  under  the  new,  Rev.  xix. ; 
not  that  they  are  degraded  from  any  excellency  or  privilege  which 
btfore  they  enjoyed,  but  that  the  worshippers  under  the  new  testa- 
ment, through  their  relation  unto  Christ,  and  the  exaltation  of  their 
nature  in  his  person,  are  delivered  from  that  under-age  estate,  wherein 
they  differed  not  from  servants,  Gal.  iv.  1,  and  are  advanced  into  an 
equality  of  liberty  with  the  angels  themselves,  Heb.  xii.  22-24,  Eph. 
i.  10,  iii.  14,  15;  as  amongst  men  there  may  be  a  respect  due  from 
an  inferior  to  a  superior,  which  may  cease  when  he  is  advanced  into 
the  same  condition  with  the  other,  though  the  superior  be  not  at  all 
abased.  And  to  this  day  the  Jews  contend  that  angels  are  to  be 
adored  with  some  kind  of  adoration,  though  they  expressly  deny 
that  they  are  to  be  invocated  or  prayed  unto.  Furthermore,  about 
their  power  and  authority  in  the  disposal  of  the  outward  concern- 
ments of  the  church  of  old,  much  more  might  be  declared  from 


S28  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

tlie  visions  of  Zecliariab  and  Daniel,  with  their  works  in  the  two  great 
typical  deliverances  of  it  fi'om  Egypt  and  Babylon.  But  we  must 
not  here  msist  on  particulars. 

Thirdly,  As  to  the  power  of  judging  and  rewarding  at  the  last 
day,  it  is  openly  manifest  that  God  hath  not  put  this  world  to  come 
in  subjection  unto  angels,  but  unto  Jesus  alone. 

This,  then,  is  the  main  proposition  that  the  apostle  proceeds  upon 
in  his  present  argument.  The  most  glorious  eti'ect  of  the  wisdom, 
power,  and  grace  of  God,  and  that  wherein  all  our  spiritual  concern- 
ments here  are  enwrapped,  consists  in  that  blessed  church-state,  with 
the  eternal  consequences  of  it,  which,  having  been  promised  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world,  was  now  to  be  erected  in  the  days  of  the 
Messiah.  '  That  you  may,'  saith  he,  *  no  more  cleave  unto  your  old 
institutions,  because  given  out  unto  you  by  angels,  nor  hanker  after 
such  works  of  wonder  and  terror  as  attended  their  disposition  of  the 
law  in  the  wilderness,  consider  that  this  world,  so  long  expected  and 
desired,  this  blessed  estate,  is  not  on  any  account  made  subject  unto 
angels,  or  committed  unto  their  disposal,  the  honour  thereof  being 
entirely  reserved  for  another.' 

Having  tlius  fixed  the  true  and  proper  sense  of  this  verse,  we  may- 
stop  here  a  little,  to  consult  the  observations  that  it  offers  for  our 
own  instruction.  Many  things  in  particular  might  be  hence  educed, 
but  I  shall  insist  on  one  only,  which  is  comprehensive  of  the  design 
of  the  apostle,  and  it  is, — 

That  this  is  the  great  privilege  of  the  church  of  the  gospel,  that, 
in  the  things  of  the  worship  of  God,  it  is  made  subject  unto  and  im- 
mediately depends  upon  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  not  on  any  other, 
angels  or  men. 

That  this  is  the  privilege  thereof,  and  that  it  is  a  great  and  blessed 
privilege,  will  appear  both  in  our  consideration  of  what  it  is  and 
wherein  it  doth  consist.  And,  among  many  other  things,  these  en- 
suing are  contained  therein  : — • 

].  That  the  Lord  Christ  is  our  head.  So  it  was  promised  of  old 
that  "their  king  should  pass  before  them,  and  the  Lord  on  the  head 
of  them,"  Mic.  ii.  13.  He  shall  be  their  king,  head,  and  ruler.  God 
hath  now  gathered  all  things,  all  the  things  of  his  church,  into  a 
head  in  Christ,  Eph.  i.  10.  They  were  all  scattered  and  disordered 
by  sin,  but  are  now  all  re-collected  and  brought  into  order  under  one 
head.  Him  hath  he  "  c^iven  to  be  head  over  all  things  to  the 
church,"  verse  22.  The  whole  sovereignty  over  all  the  whole  crea- 
tion, tliat  is  committed  unto  him,  is  only  for  this  end,  that  he  may 
be  the  more  perfect  and  glorious  head  to  the  church.  He  is  that 
head  on  which  the  whole  body  hath  its  orderly  and  regular  depend- 
ence, Eph.  iv.  15,  16;  "  The  head  of  the  body,  the  church,"  Col.  i. 
IS;  "  The  head  of  every  man,"  that  is,  of  every  believer,  1  Cor.  xi.  3, 


VER.  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  829 

Eph.  V.  23.  And  tliis  is  everywhere  proposed  both  as  our  great 
honour  and  our  great  advantage.  To  be  united  unto  him,  subjected 
unto  him  as  our  head,  gives  us  both  honour  and  safety.  What 
greater  honour  can  Ave  have,  than  to  be  freemen  of  that  corporation 
whereof  he  is  the  head,  than  to  be  subjects  of  his  kingdom?  what 
greater  safety,  than  to  be  united  unto  him  inseparably  who  is  in 
glory  invested  with  all  power  and  authority  over  the  whole  creation 
of  God,  every  thing  that  may  do  us  good  or  evil? 

2.  That  he  is  our  only  head.  The  church  is  so  put  in  subjection 
unto  the  Lord  Christ  as  not  to  be  subject  unto  any  other.  It  is 
true,  the  members  of  the  church,  as  men  on  the  earth,  have  other 
relations,  in  respect  whereof  they  are  or  may  be  subject  one  to 
anothei', — children  unto  parents,  servants  unto  masters,  people  unto 
rulers  ;  but  as  they  are  members  of  the  church,  they  are  subject  unto 
Christ,  and  none  other.  If  any  other  were  or  might  be  a  head 
unto  them,  they  must  be  angels  or  men.  As  for  angels,  we  have  it 
here  plainly  testified  that  the  church  is  not  made  subject  in  any 
thing  unto  them.  And  amongst  men,  the  apostles  of  all  others 
might  seem  to  lay  the  justest  claim  to  this  privilege  and  honour; 
but  they  openly  disclaim  any  pretence  thereunto.  So  doth  Paul, 
2  Cor.  i.  24,  "  We  have  no  dominion,"  rule,  lordship,  headship, 
''  over  your  faith," — any  tiling  that  concerns  your  obedience  to  God, 
and  your  worship;  "  but  are  helpers  of  your  joy."  And  again  saith 
he,  "  We  preach  not  ourselves,  but  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,"  the  only 
Lord ;  "and  ourselves  your  servants  for  Jesus'  sake,"  2  Cor.  iv.  5,  And 
Peter,  as  it  should  seem,  foreseeing  that  some  who  should  come 
after  would  pretend  unto  such  pre-eminence,  warns  the  elders  that 
they  should  not  think  themselves  "  lords  over  God's  heritage,"  ]  Pet. 
V.  3.  And  this  they  did  in  pursuit  of  the  instructions  and  charge 
which  their  Lord  and  Master  gave  them,  Matt.  xx.  25-27,  where 
he  warns  them  that  they  should  neither  think  of  dignity  nor  do- 
minion over  the  church,  but  apply  themselves  with  all  humility  unto 
the  service  of  it;  for  which  he  elsewhere  adds  his  reason,  namely, 
that  all  his  disciples  have  one  Lord  and  Master,  and  no  more,  John 
xiii.  13,  Matt,  xxiii,  8,  10.  And  it  is  a  woful  confusion  that  the  Papists 
run  themselves  into  in  this  matter;  for,  first,  they  put  the  whole 
church  into  subjection  unto  a  man,  whom  they  call  the  Pope,  the 
common  father  and  master  of  Christians,  the  head  of  the  church 
and  then  subject  both  him  and  it  unto  angels,  in  the  adoration  and 
invocation  of  them, — the  greatest  subjection  possible ;  when  the  Scrip- 
ture assigneth  one  only  head  of  the  church  expressly,  even  the  Lord 
Jesus,  and  fully  declares  that  it  is  not  put  in  subjection  unto  angels 
at  all.  But  to  pass  them  by,  the  Lord  Christ  is  not  only  thus  the 
only  head  in  general  unto  the  whole  church,  but  also  unto  every  in- 
dividual believer  in  the  church:  "  The  head  of  every  man  is  Christ," 


SoO  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  11. 

1  Cor.  xi.  S.  He  is  so  to  every  believer  respectively  and  seve- 
rally; and  that  in  both  those  senses  wherein  he  is  a  head, — that 
is,  according  to  the  natural  and  metaphorical  use  of  the  word. 
For, — 

(1.)  He  is  the  only  head  of  vital  influence  to  the  whole  church 
and  every  member  thereof.  As  from  the  natural  head  all  influences 
of  life,  for  subsistence,  motion,  acting,  guidance,  and  direction,  are 
communicated  unto  the  whole  body  and  to  every  member  thereof; 
so  from  the  Lord  Christ  alone,  as  he  is  the  spiritually  vital  head  of 
the  church,  in  whom  are  the  springs  of  life  and  all  quickening  grace, 
there  are  communicated  unto  the  whole  church,  and  every  believer 
therein,  both  the  first  quickening  vital  principle  of  life  itself  and  all 
succeeding  supplies  and  influences  of  grace,  for  the  enlivening, 
strengthening,  acting,  guiding,  and  directinaj  of  them.  This  himself 
declares,  by  comparing  the  relation  of  all  believers  unto  him  unto 
that  of  branches  unto  the  vine,  John  xv,  2,  4;  which  have  no  life 
but  by  virtue  of  their  union  unto  the  vine,  nor  sap  for  fruitfulness 
but  what  is  derived  therefrom;  which  he  teacheth  expressly,  verse 
5,  "  Without  me,"  saith  he,  "  ye  can  do  nothing."  And  this  the 
apostle  lively  sets  out  unto  us  in  the  similitude  of  the  natural  body, 
Col.  ii.  19.  And  this  placing  of  all  fulness  in  the  Lord  Christ,  as  the 
head  of  the  church,  that  thence  the  whole  and  every  member  of  it 
might  derive  needful  supplies  to  themselves,  is  fully  taught  us  in  the 
gospel.  Hence  the  church  is  called  "  the  fulness  of  Christ,"  Eph.  i. 
2o;  or  that  whereunto  Christ  communicates  of  his  all-fulness  of 
grace,  until  it  come  unto  the  measure  or  degree  of  growth  and  per- 
fection which  he  hath  graciously  assigned  unto  it.  And  none,  I 
suppose,  will  contend  but  that  the  Lord  Christ  is  the  alone  and  only 
head  of  the  church  in  this  sense.  It  hath  not  a  spiritual  depend- 
ence on  any  other  for  grace.  There  is,  indeed,  I  know  not  what 
monster  lies  in  the  opinion  of  them  who  take  upon  themselves  to 
confer  grace  upon  others,  by  virtue  of  such  things  as  they  do  unto 
tliem  or  for  them;  but  this  we  do  not  now  consider.  If  any  man 
think  he  may  have  grace  from  any  but  Christ  alone,  be  they  angels 
or  men,  let  him  turn  himself  unto  them,  but  withal  know  assuredly 
that  he  "forsakes  the  fountain  of  living  waters"  for  "broken  cis- 
terns," which  will  yield  him  no  relief, 

(2.)  He  is  the  only  head  of  rule  and  government  unto  the  whole 
church,  and  every  member  thereof  This  rule  or  government  of  the 
church  concerneth  all  that  obedience  which  it  yields  unto  God  in 
liis  worship.  And  unto  a  head  herein  it  is  required  that  he  give 
perfect  rules  and  laws  for  all  things  necessarily  belonging  thereunto, 
and  take  care  that  they  be  observed.  And  here  a  great  contest 
ariseth  in  the  world.  The  Papists,  in  behalf  of  their  pope  and  otliers 
under  him,  contend  to  be  sharers  with  the  Lord  Christ  in  this  his 


VER.  5-9,]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  80  i 

headship;  and  fain  they  would  persuade  us  that  he  himself  hath 
appointed  that  so  it  should  be.  The  Scripture  tells  us  that  he  was 
faitliful  in  the  whole  house  of  God,  as  was  Moses,  and  tljat  as  a  lord 
over  his  own  house,  to  erect,  rule,  and  establish  it.  And  himself, 
Avhen  he  gives  commission  unto  his  apostles,  bids  them  to  teach 
men  to  do  and  observe  all  that  he  had  commanded  them ;  and  ac- 
cordingly they  tell  us  that  they  delivered  unto  us  what  they  received 
from  the  Lord,  and  command  us  not  to  be  wise  above  what  is  written. 
But  I  know  not  how  it  is  come  to  pass  that  these  men  think  that 
tlie  Lord  Christ  is  not  a  complete  head  in  this  matter,  that  he  hath 
not  instituted  all  rules  and  laws  that  are  needful  and  convenient 
for  the  right  discharge  of  the  worship  of  God  and  obedience  of  the 
church  therein;  at  least,  that  somewhat  may  be  added  unto  what 
he  hath  appointed,  that  may  be  much  to  the  advantage  of  the  church. 
And  this  they  take  to  be  their  work,  by  virtue  of  I  know  not  what 
unsealed  warrant,  unwritten  commission.  But  to  add  any  thing  in 
the  worship  of  God  unto  the  laws  of  the  church,  is  to  exercise  autho- 
rity over  it,  dominion  over  its  faith,  and  to  pretend  that  tliis  world 
to  come,  this  blessed  gospel  church-state,  is  put  in  subjection  unto 
them,  although  it  be  not  so  to  angels; — a  vain  and  proud  pretence, 
as  at  the  last  day  it  will  appear.  But  you  will  say,  '  Christ  gives  his 
laws  only  unto  his  whole  church,  and  not  to  individual  believers,  who 
receive  them  from  the  church;  and  so  he  is  not  an  immediate  head 
unto  every  one  in  particular.'  I  answer,  that  the  Lord  Christ  com- 
mits his  laws  unto  the  church's  ministry  to  teach  them  unto  believ- 
ers ;  but  his  own  authority  immediately  affects  tiie  soul  and  con- 
science of  every  believer.  He  that  subjects  himself  aright  unto  them 
doth  it  not  upon  the  authority  of  the  church,  hy  ivJiom  they  are 
taught  and  declared,  but  upon  the  authority  of  Christ,  by  whom  they 
are  given  and  enacted. 

3.  It  appears  from  hence  that  as  he  is  our  only  head,  so  he  is 
our  immediate  head.  We  have  our  immediate  dependence  upon 
him,  and  our  immediate  access  unto  him.  He  hath,  indeed,  ap- 
pointed means  for  the  communicating  of  his  grace  unto  us,  and  for 
the  exercising  of  his  rule  and  authority  over  us.  Such  are  all  his 
ordinances,  with  the  offices  and  officers  that  he  hath  appointed  in 
his  church;  the  first  whereof  he  requires  us  to  be  constant  in  the 
use  of,  the  latter  he  requires  our  obedience  and  submission  unto. 
But  these  belong  only  unto  the  way  of  our  dependence,  and  hinder 
not  but  that  our  dependence  is  immediate  on  himself,  he  being  the 
immediate  object  of  our  faith  and  love.  The  soul  of  a  believer  rests 
not  in  any  of  these  things,  but  only  makes  use  of  them  to  confirm 
his  faith  in  subjection  unto  Christ:  for  all  these  things  are  ours,  they 
are  appointed  for  our  use,  and  we  are  Christ's,  as  he  is  God's,  1  Cor. 
iii.  2i-:^3.     And  so  have  we  our  immediate  access  unto  him, — and 


832  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

not,  as  some  foolishly  imagine,  by  saints  and  angels, — and  by  hira 
to  God,  even  to  the  throne  of  grace. 

4.  This  privilege  is  greatly  augmented,  in  that  the  church  being 
made  subject  unto  Christ  alone,  and  cast  into  a  dependence  upon 
him,  he  will  assuredly  take  care  of  all  its  concernments,  seeing  unto 
him  only  doth  it  betake  itself.  The  church  made  it  of  old  part  of 
her  plea  that  she  was  as  one  fatherless,  Hos.  xiv.  3;  that  is,  every 
way  helpless,  that  had  none  to  relieve  or  succour  her.  And  the 
Lord  Christ  giveth  this  as  a  reason  why  he  stirretii  up  himself  unto 
the  assistance  of  his  people,  because  there  was  no  man  that  appeared 
for  their  help,  no  intercessor  to  interpose  for  them,  Isa.  lix.  16.  Now, 
God  having  placed  the  church  in  this  condition,  as  to  be  ofttimes 
altogether  orphans  in  this  world,  to  have  none  to  give  them  the 
least  countenance  or  assistance ;  and  the  church  itself  choosing  this 
condition,  to  renounce  all  hopes  and  expectations  from  any  else 
beside,  betaking  itself  unto  the  power,  grace,  and  faithfulness  of 
the  Lord  Christ  alone ;  it  cannot  but  as  it  were  be  a  great  obligation 
upon  him  to  take  care  of  it,  and  to  provide  for  it  at  all  times.  They 
are  members  of  his  body,  and  he  alone  is  their  head ;  they  are  sub- 
jects of  his  kingdom,  and  he  alone  is  their  king;  they  are  children 
and  servants  in  his  family,  and  he  alone  is  their  father,  lord,  and 
master ;  and  can  he  forget  them,  can  he  disregard  them  ?  Had 
they  been  committed  to  the  care  of  men,  it  may  be  some  of  them 
would  have  fought  and  contended  for  them,  though  their  faithful- 
ness is  always  to  be  suspected,  and  their  strength  is  a  thing  of 
nought;  had  they  bee-n  put  into  subjection  unto  angels,  they  would 
have  watched  for  their  good,  though  their  wisdom  and  ability  be 
both  finite  and  limited,  so  that  they  could  never  have  secured  their 
safety:  and  shall  not  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  now  they  are  made 
his  special  care,  as  his  power  and  faithfulness  are  infinitely  above 
those  of  any  mere  creature,  excel  them  also  in  care  and  watchful- 
ness for  our  good  ?  And  all  these  things  do  sufficiently  set  out  the 
greatness  of  that  privilege  cf  the  church  which  we  insist  upon.  And 
there  are  two  things  that  make  this  liberty  and  exaltation  of  the 
church  necessary  and  reasonable: — 

L  That  God  having  exalted  our  nature,  in  the  person  of  his  Son, 
mto  a  condition  of  honour  and  glory,  so  as  to  be  worshipped  and 
adored  by  all  the  angels  of  heaven,  it  was  not  meet  or  convenient 
that  it  should  in  our  persons,  when  united  imto  Christ  as  our  head, 
be  made  subject  unto  them.  God  would  not  allow,  that  whereas 
there  is  the  strictest  union  between  the  head  and  the  members, 
there  should  be  such  an  interposition  between  them  as  that  the 
angels  should  depend  on  their  head,  and  the  members  should  de- 
pend on  angels;  which  indeed  would  utterly  destroy  the  union  and 
immediate  intercourse  that  is  and  ought  to  be  between  them. 


VER.  5-9.1  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  So" 

2.  God  is  pleased  by  Jesus  Christ  to  take  us  into  a  holy  com- 
munion luith  himself,  without  any  other  medium  or  means  of  com- 
munication but  only  that  of  our  nature,  personally  and  inseparably 
united  unto  his  own  nature  in  his  Son.  And  this  also  our  subjec- 
tion unto  angels  is  inconsistent  withal.  This  order  of  dependence 
the  apostle  declares,  1  Cor.  iii,  22,  23,  "All  things  are  yours;  and 
ye  are  Christ's;  and  Christ  is  God's."  As  there  is  no  interposition 
between  God  and  Christ,  no  more  is  there  between  Christ  and  us, 
and  in  and  by  him  alone  do  we  relate  unto  God  himself.  And  this 
should  teach  us, — - 

(1.)  The  equity  and  necessity  of  our  universal  obedience  unto 
God  in  Christ.  He  hath  freed  us  from  subjection  unto  men  and 
angels,  that  we  might  serve  him  and  live  unto  him.  He  hath  taken 
us  to  be  his  peculiar  ones,  his  lot  and  portion,  from  whom  he  ex- 
pects all  his  revenue  of  glory  out  of  this  world.  And  he  hath  left 
us  no  pretence,  no  excuse,  for  the  neglect  of  any  duties  of  obedience 
that  he  requireth  of  us.  We  cannot  plead  that  we  had  other  work 
to  do,  other  lords  and  masters  to  serve;  he  hath  set  us  free  froin 
them  all,  that  we  might  be  his.  If  a  king  take  a  servant  into  his 
family,  and  thereby  free  and  discharge  him  from  being  liable  unto 
any  other  duty  or  service  whatever,  may  he  not  justly  expect  that 
such  a  one  will  be  diligent  in  the  observation  of  all  his  commands, 
especially  considering  also  the  honour  and  advantage  that  he  hath  by 
being  taken  near  unto  his  person,  and  employed  in  his  affairs  ?  And 
shall  not  God  much  more  expect  the  like  from  us,  considering  how 
exceeduigly  the  privilege  we  have  by  this  relation  unto  him  surpass- 
eth  all  that  men  can  attain  by  the  favour  of  earthly  princes  ?  And 
if  we  will  choose  other  lords  of  our  own  to  serve,  if  we  are  so  regard- 
less of  ourselves  as  that  we  will  serve  our  lusts  and  the  world,  when 
God  hath  had  such  respect  unto  us  as  that  he  would  not  suffer  us 
to  be  subject  unto  the  angels  of  heaven,  how  inexcusable  shall  we 
be  in  our  sin  and  folly  !  '  You  shall  be  for  me,'  saith  God,  '  and 
not  for  any  other  whatever.'  And  are  we  not  miserable  if  we  like 
not  this  agreement? 

(2.)  For  the  manner  of  our  obedience,  how  ought  we  to  endea- 
vour that  it  be  performed  with  all  hohness  and  reverence  !  Moses 
makes  this  his  great  argument  with  the  people  for  holiness  in  all 
their  worship  and  services, — because  no  people  had  God  so  nigh 
unto  them  as  they  had.  And  yet  that  nearness  which  he  insisted 
on  was  but  that  of  his  institutions,  and  some  visible  pledges  and 
representations  therein  of  his  presence  among  them.  How  much 
more  cogent  must  the  consideration  of  this  real  and  spiritual  near- 
ness which  God  hath  taken  us  unto  himself  in  by  Jesus  needs 
be  to  the  same  purpose  !  All  that  we  do,  we  do  it  immediately 
unto  this  holy  God;  not  only  under  his  eye  and  in  his  presence, 


334  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

but  in  an  especial  and  immediate  relation  unto  him  by  Jesus 
Cbrist. 

Ver.  G. — The  apostle  hath  showed  that  the  world  to  come,  which 
the  Judaical  church  looked  for,  was  not  made  subject  unto  angels, 
no  mention  of  any  such  thing  being  made  in  the  Scripture.  That 
which  he  assumes  to  make  good  his  assertion  of  the  pre-eminence 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  above  the  angels,  is,  that  unto  him  it  was  put  in 
subjection.  And  this  he  doth  not  expressly  affirm  in  words  of  his 
own,  but  insinuateth  in  a  testimony  out  of  the  Scripture,  which  he 
citeth  and  urgeth  unto  that  purpose.  And  in  tliis  way  he  proceedetli 
for  tliese  two  ends: — 1.  To  evidence  that  what  he  taught  was  suit- 
able unto  the  faith  of  the  church  of  old,  and  contained  in  the  oracles 
committed  unto  it;  which  was  his  especial  way  of  dealing  with  these 
HtA)rews.  2.  Tliat  he  might  from  the  words  of  that  testimony  take 
occasion  to  obviate  a  great  objection  against  the  dignity  of  Christ 
and  mysteries  of  the  gospel,  taken  from  his  humiliation  and  death, 
and  thereby  make  way  to  a  further  expUcation  of  many  other 
parts  or  acts  of  his  mediation.  Many  difficulties  there  are  in  the 
words  and  expressions  of  these  verses,  and  more  in  the  apostle's  ap- 
pHcation  of  the  testimony  by  him  produced  unto  the  person  and  end 
by  liim  intended;  all  which,  God  assisting,  we  shall  endeavour  to 
remove.     And  to  that  end  shall  consider, — 

1.  The  way  and  manner  of  his  introducing  this  testimony,  which 
is  peculiar;  2.  The  testimony  itself  produced,  with  an  explication 
of  the  meaning  and  importance  of  the  words  in  the  place  from 
whence  it  is  taken;  8.  The  application  of  it  unto  the  apostle's 
})urpose,  both  as  to  the  person  intended  and  as  to  the  especial 
end  aimed  at;  4.  Further  unfold  what  the  apostle  adds  about  tlie 
death  and  sufferings  of  Christ,  as  included  in  this  testimony,  though 
not  intended  as  to  the  first  use  and  design  of  it;  and,  5.  Vindicate 
the  apostle's  ajjplication  of  this  testimony,  with  our  explication  of 
it  accordingly,  from  the  objections  that  some  have  made  against  it. 
All  which  we  shall  pass  through  as  they  present  themselves  unto  us 
in  the  text  itself. 

1.  The  manner  of  his  citing  this  testimony  is  somewhat  peculiar, 
**  One  testified  in  a  certain  place,"  neither  person  nor  place  being 
specified;  as  though  he  had  intended  ""^^27^  ''iPB^  a  certain  person 
whom  he  would  not  name.  But  the  reason  of  it  is  plain;  both  per- 
son and  place  were  sufficiently  known  to  them  to  whom  he  wrote. 
And  the  Syriac  translation  changeth  the  expression  in  the  text  into, 
"■  But  as  the  Scripture  witnesseth  and  saith,"  without  cause.  The 
Hebrews  were  not  ignorant  whose  words  they  were  which  he  made 
use  of,  nor  where  they  were  recorded.  The  "one"  there  mentir^ned 
is  Diivid,  and  the  "certain  place'  is  the  eighth  psalm;  whereof  much 
need  not  to  be  added.     A  psalm  it  is  ^$?  ^liDph  ni^nri^  "  of  the  high 


VER.  5-9,]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  S35 

praises  of  God;"  and  such  psalms  do  mostly,  if  not  all  of  them,  respect 
tiie  Messiah  and  his  kingdom,  as  the  Jews  themselves  acknowledge. 
For  the  time  of  the  composure  of  this  psalm,  they  have  a  conjec- 
ture which  is  not  altogether  improbable,  namely,  that  it  was  in  the 
night,  whilst  he  kept  his  father's  sheep.  Hence,  in  his  contempla- 
tion of  the  works  of  God,  he  insists  on  the  moon  and  stars,  then 
gloriously  presenting  themselves  unto  him;  not  mentioning  the  sun, 
which  appeared  not.  So  also,  in  the  distribution  that  he  makes  of 
the  things  here  below  that,  amongst  others,  are  made  subject  unto 
mail,  he  fixeth  in  the  first  place  on  '^?.'^,  flocks  of  "  sheep,"  which 
were  then  peculiarly  under  his  care.  So  should  all  the  works  of 
God,  and  those  especially  about  which  we  are  conversant  in  our 
particular  callings,  excite  us  to  the  admiration  of  his  glory  and  praise 
of  his  name;  and  none  are  usually  more  void  of  holy  thoughts  of 
God  than  those  who  set  themselves  in  no  way  acceptable  unto  him. 
This  is  the  place  from  whence  this  testimony  is  taken,  whose  espe- 
cial author  the  apostle  omitteth,  both  because  it  was  sufficiently 
known,  and  makes  no  difference  at  all  whoever  was  the  penman  of 
this  or  that  portion  of  Scripture,  seeing  it  was  all  equally  given  by 
inspiration  from  God,  whereon  alone  the  authority  of  it  doth  depend. 

2.  The  testimony  itself  is  contained  in  the  words  following,  verses 
6,  7,  "  What  is  man,"  etc.  Before  we  enter  into  a  particular  expli- 
cation of  the  words,  and  of  the  apostle's  application  of  them,  we  may 
observe  that  there  are  two  things  in  general  that  lie  plain  and  clear 
before  us;  as, — 

First;  That  all  things  whatsoever  are  said  to  be  put  in  subjection 
unto  man, — that  is,  unto  human  nature,  in  one  or  more  persons, — ■ 
in  opposition  unto  angels,  or  angelical  nature.  To  express  the  for- 
mer is  the  plain  design  and  purpose  of  the  psalmist,  as  we  shall 
see.  And  whereas  there  is  no  such  testimony  anywhere  concerning 
angels,  it  is  evident  that  the  meaning  of  the  word  is,  '  Unto  man, 
and  not  unto  angels;'  which  the  apostle  intimates  in  that  adversa- 
tive d's,  "  but:"     '  But  of  man  it  is  said,  not  of  angels.' 

Secondly,  That  this  privilege  was  never  absolutely  or  universally 
made  good  in  or  unto  the  nature  of  man,  but  in  or  with  respect 
unto  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Messiah.  This  the  apostle  calls 
us  to  the  consideration  of  previously  unto  his  application  of  this 
testimony  in  a  peculiar  manner  unto  Jesus:  Verse  8,  "  We  see  not 
all  things,"  etc.  Now,  there  is  not  any  thing  absolutely  necessary 
to  make  good  the  apostle's  reasoning  but  what  is  comprised  in  these 
two  general  assertions,  which  lie  evident  in  the  text,  and  are  acknow- 
ledged by  all.  We  shall  therefore  distinctly  consider  the  testimony 
itself.  The  whole  of  it  consists  in  a  contemplation  of  the  infinite 
love  and  condescension  of  God  towards  man:  which  is  set  out,  (1.) 
In  the  manner  of  the  expression;  (2.)  In  and  by  the  words  of  the 
vol..  XII. — 22 


336  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CIIAP.  II. 

expression;  (3.)  In  tlie  act  of  the  mind  and  will  of  God  wherein  that 
condescension  and  grace  consisted;  and,  (4.)  In  the  effects  thereof, 
in  his  dispensation  towards  him. 

(1.)  In  the  manner  of  the  expression,  "What  is  man!"  by  way 
of  admiration ;  yea,  he  cries  out  with  a  kind  of  astonishment.  The 
immediate  occasion  hereof  is  omitted  by  the  apostle,  as  not  perti- 
nent unto  his  purpose;  but  it  is  evident  in  the  psalm.  David  having 
exercised  his  thoughts  in  the  contemplation  of  the  greatness,  power, 
wisdom,  and  glory  of  God,  manifesting  themselves  in  his  mighty 
works,  especially  the  beauty,  order,  majesty,  and  usefulness  of  the 
heavens,  and  those  glorious  bodies  which  in  them  present  themselves 
to  all  the  world,  falls  thereon  into  this  admication,  that  this  great 
and  infinitely  wise  God,  who  by  the  word  of  his  mouth  gave  being 
and  existence  unto  all  those  things,  and  thereby  made  his  own  ex- 
cellencies conspicuous  to  all  the  world,  should  condescend  unto  that 
care  and  regard  of  man  which  on  this  occasion  his  thoughts  fixed 
themselves  upon.  "  What  is  man!"  saith  he.  And  this  is,  or  should 
be,  the  great  use  of  all  our  contemplations  of  the  works  of  God, 
namely,  that  considering  his  wisdom  and  power  in  them,  we  should 
learn  to  admire  his  love  and  grace  in  setting  his  heart  upon  us,  who 
are  every  way  so  unworthy,  seeing  he  might  for  ever  satisfy  himself 
in  those  other  appearingly  more  glorious  products  of  his  power  and 
Godliead. 

(2.)  He  further  expresseth  his  admiration  at  this  condescension  of 
God  in  the  words  that  he  useth,  intimating  the  low  and  mean  estate 
of  man  in  his  own  nature:  ti^'i^^'i^^; — '  What  is  poor,  miserable, 
mortal  man,  obnoxious  to  grief,  sorrow,  anxiety,  pain,  trouble,  and 
death?'  T/' eVr/i/  avOpoi'Ttog;  but  the  Greeks  have  no  name  for  man 
fully  expressing  that  here  used  by  the  psalmist.  BpoTog  cometh 
nearest  it,  but  is  not  used  in  the  ScrijDture.  He  adds,  C)"ix-pi^ — 
"  and  the  son  of  man,"  of  one  made  of  the  earth.  This  name 
the  apostle  alludes  to,  yea  expresseth,  1  Cor.  xv.  45,  47:  "The first 

man  Adam is  ix  yrig  ■/o'iTi.og," — "  of  the  earth,  earthy."    So  was 

it  recorded  of  old.  Gen.  ii.  7,  "  The  Lord  God  formed  12J^  ^1^^ 
•^Pl^i?"!'?," — "  that  man  Adam,  which  was  the  father  of  all,  of  the 
dust  of  the  ground;"  and  so  again.  Gen.  iii.  19.  Poor  man,  made 
of  the  dust  of  the  ground !  When  the  Scripture  would  express  man 
with  reference  unto  any  thing  of  worth  or  excellency  in  him,  it  calls 
him  ^'''^\  and  ^''^"''^.3  are  "sons  of  men"  in  place,  power,  and  esteem. 
So  these  words  are  distinguished,  Ps.  Ixii.  10,  where  we  translate 
Dnx-\jn,  "sons  of  Adam,"  "men  of  low  degree;"  and  ^'^'?.'^, 
"sons  of  Ish,"  "men  of  high  degree."  Now  the  psalmist  useth  this 
expression  to  heighten  his  admiration  at  the  grace  and  condescen- 
sion of  God.  And  as  the  person  of  the  first  Adam  cannot  be  here 
especially  intended, — for  although  he  made  himself  ti-'i-J^,  a  miser- 


VSR.  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  387 

able  man,  and  subject  unto  death,  yet  was  he  not  Q"]^'!?,  "  the  son 
of  man/'  of  any  man,  for  he  was  of  God,  Luke  iii.  ult., — so  there  is 
nothing  in  the  words  but  may  properly  be  ascribed  unto  the  nature 
of  man  in  the  person  of  the  Messiah.  For  as  he  was  called,  in 
an  especial  manner,  Q"!^"!?,  "The  son  of  man;"  so  was  he  made 
t^'i^^,  "a  man  subject  to  sorrow,"  and  acquainted  above  all  men 
with  grief  and  trouble,  and  was  born  on  purpose  to  die.  Hence,  jn 
the  contemplation  of  his  own  miserable  condition,  wherein  unto  the 
dolorous,  afflicting  passions  of  human  nature  which  he  had  in  him- 
self, outward  oppositions  and  reproaches  were  superadded,  he  cries 
out  concerning  himself,  ti'"'i<"Nv1  npin  '^p'^^],  Ps.  xxii,  7,  "  I  am  a 
worm,  and  not  ^''^" — "a  man  of  any  consideration  in  the  world;" 
{^JX  at  best. 

(3.)  He  expresseth  this  condescension  of  God  in  the  affections 
and  acting  of  his  mind  towards  man:  ^^7r^I^  ""■?  > — "That  thou  re- 
niemberest  him,"  or,  "art  mindful  of  him."  'On  /Mi/j,v^(r-/.y]  avrou, — 
"  That  thou  shouldest  be  mindful  of  him."  To  remember  in  the 
Scripture,  when  ascribed  unto  God,  always  intends  some  act  of  his 
mind  and  purpose  of  his  will,  and  that  either  for  good  or  evil  to- 
wards them  that  are  remembered,  in  a  signal  manner.  So  also  is 
remembrance  itself  used.  On  this  account  God  is  said  sometimes  to 
remember  us  for  good,  and  sometimes  to  remember  our  sins  no 
more.  So  that  it  denotes  the  affection  of  thfe  mind  of  God  towards 
any  creature  for  good  or  evil,  attended  with  the  purpose  of  his  will 
to  act  towards  them  accordingly.  In  the  first  way  it  is  here  used, 
and  so  also  by  Job,  chap.  vii.  17,  ^3?  1'^??  n^E^'n-^sna^^Jn  ^3  t^'^J^5-^o^ 
■ — "  What  is  man,  that  thou  shouldest  magnify  him?  and  that  thou 
shouldest  set  thine  heart  upon  him?"  that  is,  remember  him,  or  be 
mindful  of  him ;  'set  thine  heart  upon  him  for  good."  The  frame  of 
the  heart  and  mind  of  God  towards  the  nature  of  man  in  the  person 
of  Jesus  Christ,  m  reference  unto  all  the  good  that  he  did  in  it  and 
by  it,  is  intended  in  this  expression.  The  whole  counsel  and  pur- 
pose of  God  concerning  the  salvation  of  mankind,  in  and  by  the 
humiliation,  exaltation,  and  whole  mediation  of  "the  man  Christ 
Jesus,"  is  couched  herein. 

(4.)  There  are  in  this  condescension  the  effects  of  this  act  of  God's 
mind  and  will  in  remembering  of  man;  and  they  are  expressed, 
[1.]  under  one  general  head;  and,  [2.]  in  particular  instances  of 
tliem. 

[1.]  The  general  effect  of  God's  remembering  man,  is  that  he 
"visiteth  him;"  as  the  same  word  is  used  in  Job,  in  the  place  before 
mentioned,  ^i^t",  though  variously  used,  yet  it  constantly  denotes 
the  acting  of  a  superior  towards  an  inferior;  and  though  it  be  often 
otherwise  used,  yet  commonly  it  expresseth  the  acting  of  God  to- 
wards his  people  for  good.     And  in  especial  is  this  term  of  visiting 


S38  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

used  to  express  the  acting  of  God  in  doing  of  us  good  by 'sending  of 
JpsMs  Clirist  to  take  our  nature  on  him:  Luke  i.  68,  "He  hath 
visited  and  redeemed  his  people;"  and  to  the  same  purpose,  verse 
78,  "The  day-spring  from  on  high  hath  visited  us:"  both  relating 
to  the  acting  of  God  towards  us  in  the  person  of  his  Son  incarnate. 
So  chap.  vii.  16.  This  term,  therefore,  of  visiting,  doth  not  precisely 
design  God's  acting  in  the  exaltation  of  him  visited,  but  such  an 
ordering  of  things  towards  him  as  is  attended  with  great  care,  grace, 
and  love.  So  was  the  nature  of  man  in  the  heart  of  God  to  do  good 
unto  it,  in  and  by  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  so  he  acted  to- 
wards it,  or  visited  it.  This  is  that  which  was  the  ground  of  the 
psalmist's  admiration,  and  which  will  be  so  in  all  believers  unto  eter- 
nity. It  was  not  the  outward  state  and  condition  of  mankind  in  the 
world,  which,  since  the  entrance  of  sin,  is  sad  and  deplorable,  that 
excites  this  admiration  in  the  psalmist,  but  his  mind  is  intent  upon 
the  mystery  of  the  grace,  wisdom,  and  love  of  God  in  the  person  of 
the  Messiah. 

Ver.  7. —  [2.]  The  especial  instances  wherein  this  visitation  of  God 
expressed  itself  are  contained  in  verse  7,  and  therein  referred  mito 
two  heads:  1st  Man's  depression  and  humiliation;  2dly.  His  exal- 
tation and  glory. 

Ist.  The  first  is  expressed  in  these  words,  "  Thou  hast  made  him 
lower  for  a  little  while  than  the  angels."  This  was  a  part  of  God's 
visitation ;  and  though  not  that  which  was  immediately  intended  hy 
the  apostle,  yet  that  whereof  he  intends  to  make  great  use  in  his 
progress.  That  these  words  intend  not  the  exaltation  of  the  nature 
of  mere  man,  as  if  they  should  intimate,  that  such  is  his  dignity 
he  is  made  but  a  little  less  than  angels,  and  how  destructive  that 
sense  is  unto  the  apostle's  intention  and  application  of  the  words, 
we  shall  afterwards  declare.  Three  things  are  here  expressed: — 
(Ist.)  The  act  of  God,  in  making  of  him  low,  or  lessening  of  him; 
{2dl>/.)  The  measure  of  that  depression,  "  than  the  angels;"  (odly.) 
His  duration  in  that  state  and  condition,  "  a  little  while." 

(1st.)  'IPC',  the  word  used  by  the  psalmist  is  rendered  by  the 
apostle  sXarrm,  and  that  properly.  They  both  signify  a  diminution 
of  state  and  condition,  a  depression  of  any  one  from  what  he  before 
enjoyed.  And  this  in  the  first  place  belongs  unto  God's  visitation. 
And  the  acting  of  the  Avill  of  Christ  in  this  matter,  suitably  unto 
_  the  will  of  the  Father,  is  expressed  by  words  of  the  same  import- 
ance: 'E>isvcA)ffsv  savTov,  "  He  emptied  himself;"  and  ' Era.'rslvuafy  saurot, 
"  He  humbled  himself,"  Phil.  ii.  7,  8:  denoting  a  voluntary  depres- 
sion from  the  glory  of  a  former  state  and  condition.  In  th's  humi- 
liation of  Christ  in  our  nature,  how  much  of  that  care  and  imffxoTyjg, 
inspection  and  visitation  of  God,  was  contained,  is  known. 

(2dly.)  The  measure  of  this  humiliation  and  depression  is  expressed 


VEK.  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  839 

in  reference  unto  angels,  with  whom  he  is  now  compared  by  the 
apos'.le, — he  was  made  less  than  the  angels.  This  the  Hebrews  had 
seen  and  knew,  and  might  from  his  liumiliation  raise  an  objection 
against  what  the  apostle  asserted  about  his  preference  above  them. 
Wherefore  he  acknowledgeth  that  he  was  made  less  than  they,  shows 
that  it  was  foretold  that  so  he  should  be,  and  in  his  following  discourse 
gives  the  reasons  why  it  was  so  to  be.  And  he  speaks  not  of  tjie 
humiliation  of  Christ  absolutely,  which  was  far  greater  than  here  it 
is  expressed  by  him,  as  he  afterwards  declares,  but  only  with  respect 
unto  angels,  with  whom  he  compares  him;  and  it  is  therefore  suffi- 
cient to  his  purpose  at  present  to  show  that  he  was  made  lower 
tlian  they:  Q''']^!^^,  rtap  dyy'sXovs.  Jerome  renders  the  words  in  the 
psahn,  "a  Deo,"  "than  God;"  and  Faber  Stapulensis  had  a  long 
contest  with  Erasmus  to  prove  that  they  should  be  so  rendered  in 
this  place;  which  is  plainly  to  contradict  the  apostle,  and  to  accuse 
him  of  corrupting  the  word  of  God.  Besides,  the  sense  contended 
for  by  him  and  others  is  absurd  and  foolish,  namely,  that  the  human 
nature  of  Christ  was  made  little  less  than  God,  and  humbled  that  it 
might  be  so,  when  it  was  infinitely  less  than  the  divine  nature,  as 
beinsf  created.  The  LXX.  and  all  old  Greek  translations  read 
"angels."  That  elohim  is  often  used  to  denote  them  we  have  proved 
before.  The  Targum  hath  ^<''3S^0,  "angels;"  and  the  scope  of  the 
place  necessarily  requires  that  sense  of  the  word.  God,  then,  in  his 
visitation  of  the  nature  of  man  in  the  person  of  his  Son,  put  it,  and 
therein  him  that  was  invested  with  it,  into  a  condition  of  wants  and 
straits,  and  humbled  him  beneath  the  condition  of  angels,  for  the 
blessed  ends  afterwards  declared.  For  although,  from  his  incarna- 
tion and  birth,  the  angels  adored  his  person  as  their  Lord,  yet  in  the 
outward  condition  of  his  human  nature  he  was  made  exceedingly  be- 
neath that  state  of  glory  and  excellency  which  the  angels  are  in  a 
constant  enjoyment  of. 

(odly)  There  is  a  space  of  time,  a  duration,  intended  for  this  con- 
dition. He  n)ade  him  lower,  ^V'O^  ^poLyJj  n,  "  for  a  little  while,"  or, 
"  a  short  season."  That  ^V^  is  often  used  in  that  sense,  and  that 
that  is  the  proper  notation  of  ^poi-)(Jj  n,  we  have  showed  before.  But 
that  which  renders  that  sense  of  the  words  here  unquestionable,  is 
the  apostle's  precise  restraining  them  thereunto  in  verse  9,  as  we 
shall  see.  It  was  but  for  a  little  while  that  the  person  of  Christ  in 
the  nature  of  man  was  brought  into  a  condition  more  indigent  than 
the  state  of  angels  is  exposed  unto;  neither  was  he  for  that  season 
made  a  little,  but  very  much  lower  than  the  angels.  And  had  this 
been  the  whole  of  his  state,  it  could  not  have  been  an  effect  of  that 
inexpressible  love  and  care  which  the  psalmist  so  admires ;  but 
seeing  it  is  but  for  a  little  continuance,  and  that  for  the  blessed  ends 
which  the  apostle  declares,  nothing  can  more  commend  them  unto  us. 


340  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IT. 

2dly.  There  is  another  effect  of  God's  visitation  of  man,  in  his 
exaltation ;  expressed,  (IsVj  In  the  dignity  whereunto  he  advanced 
him;  and,  {2dly.)  In  the  rule  and  dorniiiionthsLt  he  gave  unto  him. 
(1st.)  For  the  first,  he  "crowned  liini  with  glory  and  honour." 
n~Dj;  is  "  insigne  regium,"  the  badge  and  token  of  supreme  and 
kingly  power.  Hence  when  David  complains  of  the  straitening 
and  diminution  of  his  power  or  rule,  he  says,  his  "crown  was  pro- 
faned unto  the  ground,"  Ps.  Ixxxix.  89;  that  is,  made  contemptible 
and  trampled  on.  To  be  crowned,  then,  is  to  be  invested  with  sove- 
reign power,  or  with  right  and  title  thereunto ;  as  it  was  with  Solo- 
mon, who  was  crowned  during  the  life  of  his  father.  Nor  is  it  an 
ordinary  crown  that  is  intended,  but  one  accompanied  with  "glory 
and  honour."  To  be  crowned  with  glory  and  honour,  is  to  have  a 
glorious  and  honourable  crown,  or  rule  and  sovereignty:  "ilvil.  li^?. 
The  first  denotes  the  weight  of  this  crown ;  ''^^?,  "  weight  of  glory," 
from  *!??,  "  to  be  heavy;"  ^dpog  do^yjg,  "  a  weight  of  glory,"  as  the 
apostle  speaks  in  allusion  to  the  primitive  signification  of  this  word, 
2  Cor.  iv.  17:  the  other,  its  beauty  and  glory:  both,  authority  and 
majesty.  How  Christ  was  thus  crowned,  we  have  at  large  showed 
on  the  first  chapter. 

(2dly.)  This  sovereignty  is  attended  with  actual  rule;  wherein, 
[Ist]  The dominio7i  itself  is  expressed;  and,  [2cZ/_i/.]  The  extent  of 
it.  [1st.]  "  Thou  madest  him  to  have  dominion  over  the  works  of  thy 
hands."  1'^.?^^'?^>  "  madest  him  to  rule ;"  xarlffrjjffas  avrov  i'Tri,  "  ap- 
pointedst  him  in  authority  over."  He  had  actual  rule  and  dominion 
given  him  upon  his  coronation.  And,  [2c?/?/.]  The  extent  of  this 
dominion  is  "the  works  of  God's  hands."  And  lest  any,  from  this  in- 
definite expression,  should  think  this  rule  limited  either  to  the 
things  mentioned  before  by  the  psalmist,  verse  o,  called  "  the  work 
of  God's  fingers,"' — that  is,  the  heavens,  the  moon,  and  the  stars;  or  in 
the  following  distribution  of  things  here  below,  into  sheep,  oxen, 
fowls,  and  fish,  verses  7,  8, — that  is,  all  the  creatures  here  below ;  he 
adds  an  amplification  of  it  in  a  universal  proposition,  Uavrot 
vmra^s,  "  He  hath  put  all  things"  without  exception  "in  subjection 
unto  him."  And  to  manifest  his  absolute  and  unlimited  power,  with 
the  unconditional  subjection  of  all  things  unto  him,  he  adds,  that 
they  are  placed  Woxaro;  ruv  '?roBuv  uItoZ,  "  under  his"  very  "feet;" — an 
expression  setting  forth  a  dominion  every  way  unlimited  and  ab- 
solute. 

Ver.  8. — The  apostle  having  recited  the  testimony  which  he  in- 
tends to  make  use  of,  proceeds  in  the  eighth  verse  unto  some  such 
explications  of  it  as  may  make  it  appear  to  be  proper  and  suited 
unto  the  end  for  which  it  is  produced  by  him.  And  they  are  two; 
— the  first  whereof  respects  the  sense  of  the  words,  which  express 
the  extent  of  this  dominion;  the  second  an  instance  of  some  person 


VER,  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  o±i 

or  persons  unto  whom  this  testimony  as  thus  explained  cannot  be 
applied. 

(1.)  For  the  explication  of  the  objective  extent  of  the  rule  and 
dominion  mentioned,  he  adds,  "  For  in  that  he  hath  made  all  sub- 
ject unto  him,  he  hath  left  nothing  that  is  not  put  under  him;"  for 
whereas  it  might  be  objected,  that  there  is  no  mention  in  the  psalm 
of  the  world  to  come,  whereof  he  treats,  he  lets  them  know  that  that 
cannot  be  excepted,  seeing  the  assertion  is  universal  and  unlimited, 
that  all  things  whatsoever  are  put  under  him.  It  is  true,  our 
apostle  making  use  of  this  very  testimony  in  another  place,  1  Cor. 
XV.  27,  adds  there,  that  there  is  a  manifest  exception  in  reference  unto 
him  who  so  put  all  things  under  him.  And  it  is  evident  that  it  is 
so  indeed;  for  the  psalmist  treats  not  of  God  himself,  but  of  the 
works  of  God;  and  among  them,  saith  the  apostle  here,  there  lies 
no  exception, — they  are  all  brought  into  order,  under  this  rule.  And 
so  by  this  testimony,  thus  explained,  as  necessity  requires  it  should 
be,  he  hath  fully  confirmed  that  the  world  to  come,  being  one  of  the 
especial  works  of  God,  and  not  put  in  subjection  unto  angels,  is 
made  subject  unto  man;  which  was  that  he  undertook  to  demon- 
strate. 

(2.)  To  direct  this  testimony  unto  its  proper  end,  and  to  make 
way  for  its  application  unto  him  who  is  especially  intended  there- 
in, he  declares  negatively  unto  whom  it  is  not  applicable:  "But 
now  we  zee  not  yet  all  things  put  under  him."  Man  it  was  con- 
cerning whom  the  words  are  spoken,  "What  is  man!"  This  must 
denote  the  nature  of  man,  and  that  either  as  it  is  in  all  mankind 
in  general  and  every  individual,  or  in  some  especial  and  peculiar  in- 
stance, in  one  partaker  of  that  nature.  For  the  first,  he  deni<^s 
that  this  can  belong  unto  man  in  general,  all  or  any  of  them,  on  the 
general  account  of  being  men.  And  in  this  negation  there  are  two 
circumstances  considerable  : — [1,]  The  manner  of  his  asserting  it, 
by  an  appeal  to  common  experience:  "  We  see;" — '  This  is  a  mat- 
ter whereof  every  one  may  judge:'  *We  all  of  us  know  by  experi- 
ence that  it  is  otherwise:'  '  We  need  neither  testimony  nor  argument 
to  instruct  us  herein;  our  own  condition,  and  that  which  we  be- 
hold other  men  in,  are  sufficient  to  inform  us.'  And  this  is  a  way 
Avhereby  an  appeal  is  made  as  it  were  to  common  sense  and  experi- 
ence, as  we  do  in  things  that  are  most  plain  and  unquestionable. 
[2.]  There  is  a  limitation  of  this  experience  in  the  word  "yet:" 
"  We  see  not  as  yet."  And  this  doth  not  intimate  a  contrary  state 
of  things  for  the  future,  but  denies  it  as  to  all  the  time  that  is  past: 
*  A  long  space  of  time  there  hath  been  since  the  giving  out  of  this 
testimony,  much  longer  since  the  creation  of  man  and  all  other 
things,  and  yet  all  this  while  we  see  that  all  things  are  far  enough 
from  being  put  under  the  feet  of  man.'     Or  if  there  be  in  the  word 


342  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

a  reserve  for  some  season  whereiu  this  word  shall  in  some  sense  be 
fulfilled  in  mere  man  also,  it  is  for  that  time  wherein  they  shall  be 
perfectly  glorified  with  Him  who  is  principally  intended,  and  so 
be  admitted  as  it  were  to  be  sharers  with  him  in  his  dominion,  E,ev. 
iii.  21.  These  thuigs  make  plain  what  is  here  denied,  and  in  what 
sense.  All  mankind  in  conjunction  are  very  remote  from  being  in- 
vested with  the  dominion  here  described,  from  having  the  whole 
creation  of  God  cast  in  subjection  under  their  feet.  It  is  true,  there 
was  given  unto  man  at  first,  in  his  original  condition,  a  rule  over 
those  creatures  here  below  that  were  made  for  the  use  and  sustenta- 
tion  of  his  natural  life,  and  no  other.  And  this  also  is  in  some 
measure  continued  unto  his  posterity,  though  against  the  present 
bent  and  inclination  of  the  creatures,  which  groan  because  of  the 
bondage  that  they  are  put  unto  in  serving  of  their  use  and  neces- 
sity. But  all  this  at  first  was  but  an  obscure  type  and  shadow  of 
the  dominion  here  intended,  which  is  absolute,  universal,  and  such 
as  the  creatures  have  no  reason  to  complain  of,  their  proper  condi- 
tion being  allotted  unto  them  therein.  Hence  we  ourselves,  by  our 
own  observation,  may  easily  discern  that  this  word  respects  not  prin- 
cipally either  the  first  man  or  his  posterity;  for  we  see  not  as  3'et, 
after  this  long  space  of  time  since  the  creation,  that  all  things  are 
put  into  subjection  unto  him. 

Having  thus  unfolded  the  testimony  insisted  on,  before  we  pro- 
ceed unto  the  apostolical  application  of  it  unto  the  person  to  whom 
it  doth  belong,  we  may  stay  here  a  little,  and  gather  something  from 
it  for  our  instruction.     And  it  is,  in  general,  that — ■ 

The  consideration  of  the  infinitely  glorious  excellencies  of  the 
nature  of  God,  manifesting  themselves  in  his  works,  doth  greatly  set 
out  his  condescension  and  grace  in  his  regard  and  respect  unto  man- 
kind. This  the  occasion  of  the  words,  and  the  words  themselves,  do 
teach  us. 

This  the  method  of  the  psalmist,  I  say,  leads  us  unto.  He 
begins  and  ends  his  consideration  of  the  works  of  God  with  an  ad- 
miration  of  his  glorious  excellency  -by  whom  they  were  made,  verses 
1,  9,  "  0  Lord  our  Lord,  how  excellent  is  thy  name!" — '  How  glo- 
rious art  tliou!  and  thou  manifestest  thyself  so  to  be.'  And  from 
thence  doth  he  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  his  condescension  in 
his  regard  and  love  to  man,  verse  4.  And  to  direct  us  in  this  duty, 
with  the  psalmist  we  may  observe, — 

First,  That  the  works  of  God,  those  especially  which  were  the 
peculiar  subject  of  his  meditation,  the  heavenl}/  bodies  which  we 
behold,  are  indeed  in  themselves  exceedingly  glorious.  Their  frame, 
greatness,  beauty,  order,  course,  usefulness,  all  speak  them  admirable 
and  fflorious.  The  naked  view  of  them  is  enouo-h  to  fill  the  mind  of 
man  with  ad  miration  and  astonishment.  And  the  more  we  contemplate 


VER.  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  343 

on  them,  the  more  skilful  we  are  in  the  consideration  of  their  nature, 
order,  and  use,  the  more  ex»ellenfc  do  they  appear  unto  us:  and  yet 
it  is  tlie  least  part  of  their  greatness  and  beautiful  disposition  that 
we  can  attain  a  certain  knowledge  of;  so  that  still  they  remain  more 
the  objects  of  our  admiration  and  wonder  than  of  our  science. 
Hence  the  wisest  among  the  heathen,  who  were  destitute  of  the 
teachings  of  the  word  and  Spirit  of  God,  did  with  one  consent  as- 
ciibe  of  old  a  deity  unto  them,  and  worshipped  them  as  gods;  yea, 
the  very  name  of  God  in  the  Greek  language,  ©sog,  is  taken  from 
Ss/i/,  "  to  run,"  which  they  derived  from  the  constant  course  of  the 
heavenly  bodies.  They  saw  with  their  eyes  how  glorious  they  were; 
they  found  out  by  reason  their  greatness  and  dreadful  motion.  Ex- 
perience taught  them  their  use,  as  the  immediate  fountains  of  light, 
warmth,  heat,  moisture;  and  so,  consequently,  of  life,  growth,  and  all 
useful  things.  It  may  be  they  had  some  tnidition  of  that  rule  and 
dominion  which  was  at  first  allotted  unto  the  sun  and  moon  over 
day  and  night.  Gen.  i.  16.  On  these  and  the  like  accounts,  having 
lust  the  knowledge  of  the  true  and  only  God,  they  knew  not  so  well 
whither  to  turn  themselves  for  a  deity  as  to  those  things  which  they 
saw  so  full  of  glory,  and  which  they  foimd  to  be  of  so  universal  a 
communicative  goodness  and  usefulness.  And  in  them  did  all  idola- 
try in  the  world  begin.  And  it  was  betimes  in  the  world,  as  we 
Si'e  in  Job,  where  it  is  mentioned  and  condemned,  chap.  xxxi.  26,  27, 
"  If  I  beheld  the  sun  when  it  shined,  or  the  moon  walking  in  briglit- 
ness;  and  my  heart  hath  been  secretly  enticed,  or  my  mouth  hath 
kissed  my  hand."  He  condemns  the  idolatry,  but  yet  withal  shows 
that  the  lustre,  brightness,  and  glory  of  those  heavenly  lights  had  a 
great  influence  on  the  hearts  of  men  to  entice  them  unto  a  secret 
adoration,  which  would  break  out  into  outward  worship,  whereof 
salutation  by  kissing  the  hand  was  one  part  and  act.  And  there- 
fore God  cautions  his  people  against  this  temptation,  Deut.  iv.  19, 
"  Lest  thou  lift  up  thine  eyes  unto  heaven,  and  when  thou  seest 
the  sun,  and  the  moon,  and  the  stars,  even  all  the  host  of  heaven, 
shouldest  be  driven  to  worship  them,  and  serve  them,  which  the 
Lord  thy  God  hath  divided  unto  all  nations  under  the  whole  hea- 
ven." If  men  forget  the  true  God,  and  then  lift  up  their  eyes  unto, 
or  fall  into  the  contemplation  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  such  is  tlieir 
glory,  majesty,  and  excellency,  that  they  will  be  driven  and  hurried 
unto  the  adoration  and  worship  of  them.  And  so  universal  was  this 
folly  of  old,  that  from  these  latter  words,  "  which  the  Lord  thy  God 
hath  divided  unto  all  nations,"  the  Jews  affirm  that  God  hath  given 
the  suti,  moon,  and  stars,  to  be  the  deities  of  the  Gentiles,  for  them 
to  worship !  But  the  distribution  there  mentioned  is  as  unto  their 
common  use  unto  all  nations,  and  not  as  to  their  veneration.  Nor 
.  is  God  the  author  of  idolatry,  as  they  blasphemously  imagine;  but 


344  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP    II. 

this  their  glory  and  excellency  led  them  unto.  And  when  any  of 
tliem  ascended  higher,  to  apprehend  living,  intelligent  spirits  for  tht- ir 
deities,  they  yet  conceived  at  least  that  they  had  their  glorious  habi- 
tation in  the  heavenly  bodies.  Yea,  and  some  Christians  have  fallen 
into  vain  imaginations,  from  a  false  translation  of  the  latter  end  of 
the  fourth  verse  of  Psalm  xix.  by  the  LXX.  and  the  Vulgar  Latin, 
which  read  the  words,  "  He  hath  placed  his  tabernacle  in  the  sun," 
instead  of,  "  He  hath  set  in  them,^'  that  is,  in  the  heavens,  "  a  taber- 
nacle for  the  sun,"  as  the  words  are  plain  in  the  original.  Why 
sliould  I  mention  the  madness  of  the  Manichees,  who  affirmed  that 
Christ  himself  was  gone  into,  if  not  turned  into  the  sun?  I  name 
these  things  only  to  show  what  influence  upon  the  minds  of  men 
destitute  of  the  word  the  glory  and  excellency  of  these  heavenly 
bodies  have  had.  And  what  inestimable  grace  God  showeth  unto 
us  in  the  benefit  of  his  word !  for  we  are  the  posterity  of  them,  and 
by  nature  not  one  jot  wiser  than  they,  who  worshipped  those  things 
which  are  not  God.  But  exceeding  glorious  works  of  God  they  are  ; 
and  the  more  we  consider  them,  the  more  will  their  glory  and  great- 
ness appear  unto  us.  And  as  the  children  of  Israel  said  of  the  sons 
of  Anak,  "  We  were  before  them  in  our  own  sight  as  grasshoppers, 
and  so  we  were  in  their  sight,"  may  we  not  much  more  say  concern- 
ing ourselves,  compared  with  these  glorious  works  of  the  hands  of 
God,  '  We  are  all  but  as  grasshoppers  in  comparison  of  them,  and 
whence  is  it  that  God  should  set  his  heart  upon  us?' 

Secondly,  These  glorious  works  of  God  do  indeed  show  the  infi- 
nite glory  of  him  that  made  them.  This  is  the  use  that  men  should 
have  made  of  their  contemplation  of  them,  and  not  have  chosen 
them  for  their  gi^ds,  as  they  did  when  "their  foolish  hearts  were  dark- 
ened," and  "they  waxed  vain  in  their  imaginations."  This  use  the 
psalmist  here  makes  of  them,  and  this  the  Scripture  everywhere 
directs  us  unto.  This  David  brings  them  in  preaching  unto  all  the 
world,  Ps.  xix.  1-6.  They  have  a  voice,  they  speak  aloud  unto  all 
the  world;  and  by  their  beauty,  greatness,  order,  usefulness,  they 
make  known  the  incomprehensible  glory  of  him  that  made  them. 
The  TO  yvuarov  Tou  Qiov,  "  that  which  may  be  known  of  God,"  is  ma- 
nifest in  them,  saith  Paul,  Rom.  i.  19.  And  what  is  that?  "Even 
his  eternal  power  and  Godhead,"  verse  20 ;  that  is,  his  infinite  power, 
all-sufficiency,  and  self-subsistence.  These  things  are  clearly  seen 
in  them.  Being  all  made  and  created  by  him  iu  their  season,  doth 
it  not  manifest  that  he  was  before  them,  from  eternity,  and  that  ex- 
isting without  them,  in  perfect  blessedness?  And  that  he  hath  made 
them  so  beautiful,  so  glorious,  so  excellent,  and  that  out  of  nothing, 
doth  it  not  declare  his  infinite  power,  wisdom,  and  goodness?  Do 
they  not  all  lead  us  to  the  contemplation  of  his  infinite  excellencies? 
And  whence  is  it  that  he  who  made  all  these  things  of  nothinsr 


VER.  5  9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  S45 

should  have  such  regard  to  the  weak,  frail  nature  of  man?  But  that 
this  ctnsideration  may  be  the  more  effectual,  let  us  take  a  little  weak 
view  of  some  of  those  excellencies  of  the  nature  of  God  which  his 
works  declare,  and  which  set  an  especial  lustre  on  his  condescension 
unto  us;  as, —  / 

First,  His  greatness.  '^"  His  greatness  is  unsearchable,"  saith  the 
psalmist,  Ps.  cxlv.  3;  that  is,  it  is  infinite.  The  immensity  of  his 
nature  is  his  greatness.  "  The  heaven  of  heavens,"  saith  Solomon, 
"  cannot  contain  him,"  1  Kings  viii.  27.  The  infiniteness  and  ubi- 
quity of  his  essence  are  beyond  all  that  the  understanding  and  inva- 
gination of  man  can  reach  unto.  If  men  would  set  themselves  to 
think  and  imagine  a  greatness,  they  can  reach  no  higher  than  hea- 
vens above  heavens,  and  that  as  far  as  they  can  fancy ;  but  this  ex- 
presseth  not  immensity.  Those  heavens  of  heavens  cannot  contain 
him.  Our  thoughts  of  greatness  are  apt  to  consist  in  adding  one 
thing  unto  another,  until  that  which  we  think  on  be  extended  unto 
the  utmost  of  our  imagination.  But  this  hath  no  relation  unto  the 
immensity  of  God,  which  is  not  his  filling  of  all  imaginary  place  or 
space,  but  an  infinite  existence  in  an  infinite  space.  So  that  as  he 
is  present  with,  indistant  from  the  whole  creation, — for  saith  he,  "  Do 
not  I  fill  heaven  and  earth?"  Jer.  xxiii.  24, — so  is  he  no  less  present 
where  there  is  no  part  of  the  creation.  And  if  he  should  produce 
thousands  of  worlds  (which  he  can  do  by  his  power),  he  would  be  no 
less  present  in  them  all,  indistant  from  every  thing  in  them,  than  he 
is  in  and  unto  this  which  he  hath  already  created ;  and  this  not  by 
the  extending  of  his  essence  and  greatness,  but  by  the  infiniteness  of 
his  being.  Neither  are  there  parts  in  this  immensity ;  for  that  which 
hath  parts  cannot  be  infinite  or  immense.  Somewhat  of  God  is  not 
present  in  heaven,  and  somewhat  in  earth ;  but  God  is  wholly  pre- 
sent in  his  whole  being  everywhere.  This  leaves  no  place  for  the 
imagination  of  men,  but  calls  us  for  pure  acts  of  understanding  and 
faith  to  assent  unto  it.  And  tlms  far  reason  will  go,  that  it  will 
assent  unto  the  truth  of  that  which  it  cannot  comprehend,  because 
it  is  convinced  that  it  cannot  be  otherwise.  What  remains  it  leaves 
to  faith  and  reverential  adoration.  Reason  having,  by  the  help  of 
divine  revelation,  led  the  mind  and  soul  thus  far,  that  God  is  im- 
mense, not  only  present  unto  the  whole  creation,  but  existing  in  his 
infinite  being  where  no  creature  is,  and  that  in  his  whole  essence 
equally,  there  it  gives  them  up  to  admiration,  reverence,  adoration, 
and  the  improvement  by  faith  of  this  excellency  of  God,  wherever 
they  are.  So  doth  the  psalmist,  Ps.  cxxxix.  7-11.  Thoughts  of 
God's  omnipresence  are  of  singular  use  to  the  soul  in  every  condi- 
tion. And  who  can  sufficiently  admire  this  excellency  of  the  nature 
of  God?  How  astonisliable  is  this  his  greatness!  How  are  all  the 
nations  of  the  world  as  the  '*  drop  of  a  bucket,"  as  the  "  dust  of  the 


346  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  tl. 

balance,"  as  "vanity,"  as  "nothing"  before  him!  What  is  a  little 
dust  to  an  immensity  of  being?  to  that  whose  greatness  we  cannot 
measure,  whose  nature  we  cannot  comprehend,  whose  glory  we  can 
only  stand  afar  off  and  adore?  What  is  a  jwor  worm  unto  him  wlio 
is  everywhere,  and  who  is  everywhere  filled  with  his  own  excellencies 
and  blessedness?  The  issue  of  all  our  thoughts  on  this  property  of 
God's  nature  is  admiration  and  holy  astonishment.  And  whence  is 
it  that  he  should  take  thought  of  us,  or  set  his  heart  upon  us?  And 
this  greatness  of  God  doth  he  set  forth,  by  showing  what  a  mean 
thing  the  whole  creation  which  we  behold  is  unto  him:  "Who 
hath  measured  the  waters  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand,  and  meted  out 
heaven  with  the  span,  and  comprehended  the  dust  of  the  earth  in  a 
measure,  and  weighed  the  mountains  in  scales,  and  the  hills  in  a 

balance? Behold,  the  nations  are  as  a  drop  of  a  bucket,  and 

are  counted  as  the  small  dust  of  the  balance :  behold,  he  taketh  up 

the  isles  as  a  very  little  thing All  nations  before  him  are  as 

nothing;  and  they  are  counted  to  him  less  than  nothing,  and  va- 
nij/y,"  Isa.  x\.  12,  15,  17. 

^/ Secondly,  His  infinite  self-sufficiency  doth  manifest  itself  in  his 
v/orks;  for  all  these  things  are  the  absolute  product  of  his  power, 
and  wisdom,  and  goodness.  From  the  infinite  stores  and  treasures 
of  them  did  he  bring  them  all  forth.  They  had  no  previous  matter 
whereof  they  were  made;  no  reason,  cause,  or  end  was  there  why 
they  should  be  made,  but  only  what  was  in  himself  and  from  him- 
self, Kom.  xi.  SG,  Rev.  iv.  11.  Now,  this  could  not  have  been  with- 
out an  infinite  self-sufficiency  in  himself,  from  whence  it  is  that  all 
things  begin  and  end  in  him.  And  had  he  not  been  every  way 
self-sufficient  before  the  existence  of  all  things,  out  of  nothing  no- 
thing C(iuld  have  been  produced.  And  this  ariseth  from  his  fulness 
of  being,  which  he  declareth  l)y  his  names  '^i'^]  and  ^''J}^;  which  de- 
note his  self-being,  his  self-existence,  his  self-sufficienc3\  All  tlie 
properties  of  his  nature,  being  infinite,  have  that  which  satisfies  them 
and  fills  them.  "  His  understanding  is  infinite."  And  as  nothing 
could  comprehend  the  infinite  nature  of  God  but  an  infinite  under- 
standing, God  could  not  know  himself  if  his  understanding  were  not 
infinite.  So  nothing  could  satisfy  an  infinite  understanding  but  an 
infinite  object;  the  understanding  of  God  could  not  be  blessed  and  in 
rest  if  the  object  of  it,  the  nature  of  God,  were  not  infinite.  God  by 
his  understanding  knows  the  extent  of  his  infinite  power,  and  so 
knows  not  only  what  he  hath  wrought  by  his  power,  but  also  what- 
ever he  can  so  do.  And  this  suitableness  of  the  properties  of  God 
one  to  another,  as  it  makes  them,  because  infinite,  not  really  to  differ 
from  one  another,  or  from  his  nature  itself,  so  it  gives  them  all  rest, 
blessedness,  satisfaction,  and  self-sufficiency:  as,  to  continue  in  our 
former  instances,  the  blessedness  of  the  understanding  of  God  con- 


VER.  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  347 

sists  iu  its  comprehension  of  the  whole  nature  of  God,  nor  is  capiilile 
of  more,  because  it  can  comprehend  no  more.  Hence  is  God  all- 
sufHcient,  and  eternally  blessed  in  the  contemplation  and  enjoyment 
of  his  own  excellencies;  for  self-sufficiency  is  the  fountain  of  blessed- 
ness. Where  any  tiling  is  wanting,  there  is  no  absolute  blessed- 
ness. And  hence  is  the  blessedness  of  God  absolute,  eternal,  and 
essential  unto  him,  because  it  hath  its  rise  and  spring  absolutely  in 
himself,  his  own  fulness  of  being,  his  own  sufficiency  unto  and  for 
himself  All  the  blessedness  of  the  creatures  that  we  shall  or  may 
ever  attain  unto  is  but  dependent,  derivative,  and  communicate(i ; 
because,  though  nothing  shall  be  wanting  unto  us,  yet  the  spring  of 
our  supplies  shall  never  be  in  ourselves,  but  in  God.  His  blessed- 
ness is  absolute,  because  it  is  from  himself  and  in  himself,  in  his 
being  every  way  self-sufficient.  This  it  is  to  be  absolutely  blessed. 
Hence  God  made  not  these  things  because  he  had  need  of  them,  for 
if  he  had  had  need  of  them  he  could  not  have  made  them ;  or  that 
they  should  add  any  thing  unto  him,  for  that  is  not  infinite  unto 
which  any  thing  can  be  added;  or  that  he  might  settle  that  rest 
and  satisfaction  in  them  which  he  had  not  in  himself  before,  for  that 
alone  which  is  infinite  must  necessarily  and  unavoidably  give  eternal 
satisfaction  unto  that  which  is  infinite:  but  only  by  a  most  free  act  of 
his  will,  he  chose  by  the  creation  of  all  things  to  express  somewhat 
of  his  power,  wisdom,  and  goodness  in  something  without  himself. 
Absolutely  he  was  self-sufficient  from  all  eternity,  and  that  l)oth  as 
to  rest,  satisfaction,  and  blessedness  in  himself,  as  also  in  respect  of 
any  operation,  as  to  outward  works,  which  his  will  and  wisdom 
should  incline  him  unto;  being  every  way  able  and  powerful  in  and 
from  himself  to  do  whatever  he  pleaseth.  And  this  infinite  satisfac- 
tion and  complacency  of  God  in  himself,  arising  from  that  fulness  of 
divine  being  which  is  in  all  the  properties  of  his  nature,  is  another 
object  of  our  holy  admiration  and  adoration.  'This  God  was,  this 
God  did,  before  the  world  was  created.'  Now,  what  is  man,  that  this 
every  way  all-sufficient  God  should  mind,  regard,  and  visit  liim  ? 
Hath  he  any  need  of  him  or  his  services?  Duth  his  goodness  extend 
to  him?  Can  he  profit  God,  as  a  man  profiteth  his  neighbour?  '•  If 
he  sin,  what  doth  he  against  him?  or  if  his  transgressions  be  multi- 
plied, what  doth  he  unto  him?'''  that  is,  to  his  disadvantage.  "If 
he  be  righteous,  what  giveth  he  unto  him?  or  what  receiveth  he  of 
his  hand?"  Job  xxxv.  ti,  7.  Nothing  but  infinite  condescension  and 
grace  is  the  f0lintain  of  all  God's  regard  unto  us. 

Thirdly^His  infinite  and  ete7'nal  j)ower  is  by  the  same  means 
manifested.  This  the  apostle  expressly  affirms,  Rom.  i,  20.  He 
that  made  all  these  things  of  nothing,  and  therefore  can  also  make 
and  create  in  like  manner  whatever  else  besides  he  pleaseth,  must 
needs  be  infinite  in  power,  or,  as  he  is  called,  "  the  Lord  God  omni- 


848  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  11. 

potent,"  Rev.  xix.  6.  This  himself  sets  forth  in  general,  Isa.  xl.  28. 
And  to  convince  Job  hereof,  he  treats  with  him  in  particular  in- 
stances about  some  few  of  his  fellow- creatures  here  below,  in  the 
earth  and  in  the  waters,  chap,  xxxviii.-xli.  And  if  the  power  of 
God  in  making  this  or  that  creature  which  we  see  and  behold  be  so 
admirable,  declaring  his  sovereignty,  and  the  infinite  distance  of 
man  from  him  in  his  best  condition,  how  glorious  is  it  in  the  whole 
universe,  and  in  the  creation  of  all  things  visible  and  invisible,  and 
that  by  a  secret  emanation  of  omnipotency  in  a  word  of  command  ! 
The  art  of  man  will  go  far  in  the  framing,  fashioning,  and  ordering 
of  things;  but  there  are  two  things  in  the  least  of  the  creatures 
of  God  that  make  the  creating  energy  that  is  seen  in  them  infi- 
nitely to  differ  from  all  limited  and  finite  power: — 1.  That  they  are 
brought  out  of  nothing.  Now,  let  all  creatures  combine  their  strength 
and  wisdom  together,  unless  they  have  some  pre-existent  matter  to 
work  upon,  they  can  produce  nothing,  effect  nothing.  2.  To  many 
of  his  creatures,  of  the  least  of  them,  God  hath  given  life  and  spon- 
taneous motion;  to  all  of  them  an  especial  inclination  and  ope- 
ration, following  inseparably  the  principles  of  their  nature.  But  as 
all  created  power  can  give  neither  life,  nor  spontaneous  motion,  nor 
growth  to  any  thing,  no  more  can  it  plant  in  any  thing  a  new  natu- 
ral principle,  that  should  incline  it  unto  a  new  kind  of  operation 
which  was  not  originally  connatural  unto  it.  There  is  a  peculiar 
impress  of  omnipotency  upon  all  the  works  of  God,  as  he  declares 
at  large  in  that  discourse  with  Job,  chap,  xxxviii.-xli.  And  this 
power  is  no  less  effectual  nor  less  evident  in  his  sustentation  and 
preservation  of  all  things  than  in  his  creation  of  them.  Things  do 
no  more  subsist  by  themselves  than  they  were  made  by  themselves. 
He  "  upholdeth  all  things  by  the  word  of  his  power,"  Heb.  i.  3 ; 
and  "by  him  all  things  consist,"  Col.  i.  1 7.  He  hath  not  made  the 
world,  and  then  turned  it  off  his  hand,  to  stand  on  its  own  bottom 
and  shift  for  itself;  but  there  is  continually,  every  moment,  an  ema- 
nation of  power  from  God  unto  every  creature,  the  greatest,  the 
least,  the  meanest,  to  preserve  them  in  their  being  and  order;  which 
if  it  were  suspended  but  for  one  moment,  they  would  all  lose  their 
station  and  being,  and  by  confusion  be  reduced  into  nothing.  "  In 
him  we  live,  and  mave,  and  have  our  being,"  Acts  xvii.  28 ;  and 
he  "  giveth  to  all  life,  and  breath,  and  all  things,"  verse  25.  God 
needs  not  to  put  forth  any  act  of  his  power  to  destroy  the  creation ;  the 
very  suspension  of  that  constant  emanation  of  omnipotency  which  is 
necessary  unto  its  subsistence  would  be  sufficient  for  that  end  and 
purpose.  And  who  can  admire  as  he  ought  this  power  of  God,  which 
is  greater  in  every  particular  grass  of  the  field  than  we  are  able  to 
search  into  or  comprehend  ?  And  what  is  man,  that  he  should  be 
mindful  of  him  ? 


TEE.  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  849 

Fourthly,  His  wisdom  also  shines  forth  in  these  works  of  his 
hands.  "  In  wisdom  hath  he  made  them  all,"  Ps.  civ.  24.  So  also 
Ps.  cxxxvi.  5.  His  power  was  that  which  gave  all  things  their  being, 
but  his  wisdom  gave  them  their  order,  beauty,  and  use.  How  ad- 
irdrable  this  is,  how  incomprehensible  it  is  unto  us,  Zophar  declares 
to  Job,  chap.  xi.  6-9,  "  The  secrets  of  this  wisdom  are  douljle  unto 
what  may  be  known  of  it," — infinitely  more  than  we  can  attain  to 
the  knowledge  of.  Searching  will  not  do  it;  it  is  absolutely  incom- 
prehensible. He  that  can  take  but  a  little,  weak,  faint  considera- 
tion of  the  glorious  disposition  of  the  heavenly  bodies, — their  order, 
course,  respect  to  each  other,  their  usefulness  and  influences,  their 
disposition  and  connection  of  causes  and  effects  here  below,  the 
orderly  concurrence  and  subserviency  of  every  thing  in  its  place  and 
operation,  to  the  consistency,  use,  and  ])eauty  of  the  universe, — will 
be  forced  to  cry  out  with  the  psalmist,  "  O  Lokd,  how  manifold  are 
thy  works !  in  wisdom  hast  thou  made  them  all :  the  earth  is  full  of 
thy  riches."  But,  alas  !  what  can  the  best  and  wisest  of  men  attain 
unto  in  the  investigation  of  the  wisdom  of  God?  There  is  not  the 
least  creature,  but,  considered  apart  by  itself,  hath  somewhat  be- 
longing unto  it  that  will  bring  them  unto  wonder  and  astonishment. 
And  what  shall  we  say  concerning  the  most  glorious,  concerning  the 
order  of  them  all  unto  one  another  and  the  whole  ?  There  must  all 
men's  considerations  end,  and  among  them  this  of  ours. 

Fifthly,  His  goodness  is  in  like  manner  manifest  in  these  things. 
There  is  in  the  whole  and  every  part  of  God's  creation  a  fourfold 
goodness: — 1.  A  goodness  of  being  and  subsistence.  That  which 
is,  so  far  forth  as  it  is,  is  good.  So  God  saw  all  things,  as  he  made 
them,  that  they  were  good.  The  very  being  of  every  thing  is  its  first 
goodness,  on  which  all  other  concernments  of  it  depend.  And  this 
ariseth  from  hence,  because  thereby  and  therein  it  participates  of 
the  first  absolute  goodness,  which  is  being;  whereunto  a  nothingness, 
if  I  may  so  speak,  is  negatively  opposed  "  ad  infinitum."  2.  A 
goodness  of  order.  This  gives  them  their  beauty,  which  is  the  first 
principle  properly  of  goodness,  and  convertible  with  it.  Every  thing 
that  is  good  is  beautiful,  and  every  thing  that  is  beautiful  is  good. 
Now,  the  pulchritude  or  beauty  of  the  whole  creation,  and  of  every 
part  of  it,  consists  in  the  order  that  is  given  unto  it  by  the  wisdom 
of  God,  whereof  we  spake  before.  This  is  that  to  xaXhv  xayaQov  of 
all  things,  which  of  old,  by  the  light  of  nature,  was  so  much  admired, 
— beautiful  goodness,  or  goodly  beauty,  whereby  every  thing  be- 
comes comely  and  desirable,  both  in  itself  and  its  own  parts  and  in 
that  respect  which  it  hath  unto  all  other  things.  8.  A  goodness 
of  usefulness.  Nothing  is  made  in  vain.  Every  thing  hath  its  work, 
service,  and  operation  allotted  unto  it.  If  the  whole  creation  had 
been  uniform,  if  it  had  been  only  one  ihii.g,  it  would  have  wanted 


S50  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP  II. 

this  goodness,  and  been  but  a  dead  lump,  or  mass  of  being.  But  in 
this  great  variety  and  diversity  of  things  which  we  behold,  every  one 
hath  its  proper  place  and  service,  and  nothing  is  useless.  As  the 
apostle  says  that  it  is  in  the  several  parts  and  members  of  the  lesser 
world,  man,  that  though  some  of  them  seem  more  worthy  and 
comely  than  others,  yet  all  have  their  proper  use,  so  that  they  cannot 
say  one  unto  another,  "I  have  no  need  of  thee;"  so  is  it  in  the 
universe, — though  some  parts  of  it  seem  to  be  very  glorious,  and 
others  mean  and  to  be  trampled  on,  yet  they  cannot  say  one 
to  another,  "  I  have  no  need  of  thee,"  each  having  its  proper  use. 
The  eye  is  a  most  noble  part  of  the  body;  '  but,"  saith  the  apostle, 
'  if  the  whole  body  were  an  eye,  the  beauty  of  the  whole  were 
lost,  and  the  very  use  of  the  eye.'  How  glorious  is  the  sun  in 
the  firmament,  in  comparison  of  a  poor  worm  on  the  earth  !  yet  if 
the  whole  creation  were  one  sun,  it  would  have  neither  beauty  nor 
use,  nor  indeed  be  a  sun,  as  having  nothing  to  communicate  light  or 
lieat  unto.  But  God  hath  brought  forth  his  works  in  unspeakable 
variety,  that  they  might  all  have  this  goodness  nf  usefulness  accom- 
panying of  them.  4.  A  goodness  of  an  orderly  tendency  unto  the 
utmost  and'  last  end;  which  is  the  glory  of  him  by  whom  they  were 
made.  This  also  is  implanted  upon  the  whole  creation  of  God.  And 
hence  the  psalmist  calls  upon  all  the  inanimate  creatures  to  give 
praise  and  glory  unto  God;  that  is,  he  calls  upon  himself  and  others 
to  consider  how  they  do  so.  This  is  the  point,  the  centre,  where  all 
these  lines  do  meet,  without  which  there  could  be  neither  beauty 
nor  order  nor  use  in  them;  for  that  which  errs  from  its  end  is 
crooked,  perverse,  and  not  good.  On  all  these  considerations  it  is 
said  that  "  God  saw  every  thing  that  he  had  made,  and,  behold,  it 
was  ver}^  good,"  Gen.  i.  81.  Now,  what  an  infinite,  eternal  ocean 
of  goodness  must  that  be,  which  by  the  word  of  his  mouth  commu- 
nicated all  this  goodness  at  once  unto  the  whole  creation  !  How 
deep,  how  unfathomable  is  this  fountain !  how  unsearchable  are  these 
springs  !  This  the  holy  men  in  the  Scripture  often  express  by  way 
of  admiration.  "How  great  is  his  goodness!  how  great  is  his  beauty!" 
Tlie  first  goodness,  the  fountain  of  all  goodness,  must  needs  be  ab- 
solutely and  infinitely  so;  in  which  sense  "there is  none  good  but 
one,  that  is,  God." 

In.  these  things  consist  somewhat  of  the  glory,  excellency,  and 
honour  of  God,  which  the  j)salmist  falls  into  an  admiration  of  upon 
the  contemplation  of  the  works  of  his  hands,  and  which  made  him 
so  astonished  at  his  condescension  in  the  regard  that  he  is  pleased 
to  bear  unto  the  nature  of  man.  But  besides  this  consideration,  he 
adds  also  an  intimation,  as  we  have  showed,  of  tlie  mean  condition  of 
man,  uiito  whom  this  respect  is  showed,  and  that  both  in  the  manner 
of  his  expression,   "  Wiiat   is  man?"  and  in  the  words  or  names 


VEK.  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  351 

whereby  he  expresseth  him,  "Enosh"  and  "Adam;"  which  we  sliall 
also  briefly  add  unto  our  former  considerations  of  the  glory  of  God. 

First,  "What  is  man" as  to  his  extract?  A  little  dust,  made  of  tlie 
dust  of  the  ground; — one  that  may  say  "  to  corruption,  Thou  art  my 
father;  and  to  the  worm.  Thou  art  my  mother,  and  my  sister,"  Job 
xvii.  14.  His  fabric  was  not  one  jot  of  any  better  materials  than 
theirs.  That  God  put  this  honour  upon  him,  to  breathe  into  the 
dust  whereof  he  was  made,  that  he  should  become  "  a  living  soul," 
is  part  of  that  goodness  wherein  he  is  to  be  admired.  Otherwise  we 
are  what  God  said  to  Adam:  "  Dust  thou  art."  Poor  creature,  that 
wouldst  be  like  unto  God,  thou  art  dust,  and  no  more!  And  in  tiie 
sense  of  this  extraction  did  holy  men  of  old  abase  themselves  in  the 
presence  of  God,  as  Abraham,  Gen.  xviii.  27,  "  Behold  now,  I  have 
taken  upon  me  to  speak  unto  the  Lord,  which  am  but  dust  and 
ashes?"  Poor,  proud  man !  which  scornest  to  touch  that  which  thou 
art  made  of,  and  thinkest  thyself  I  know  not  what,  whilst  the  re- 
mainder of  thee,  that  which  was  left  in  the  making  of  thee^  lies 
under  the  feet  of  all  the  creatures  which  thou  despisest, — -what  is 
tiiis  handful  of  dust  that  God  should  regard  it?     But  yet, — 

Secondly,  This  fabric,  being  erected,  is  perhaps  durable,  strong, 
and  abiding,  and  so  may  be  considerable  on  that  account.  But, 
alas!  his Jrailt'i/  is  inexpressible.  It  is  true,  that  before  the  flood  the 
life  of  man  was  prolonged  unto  a  great  continuance;  but  as  that 
was  not  in  the  least  any  advantage  unto  the  most  of  them,  giving 
them  only  an  opportunity  to  increase  their  sin  and  misery,  nor  to  the 
whole  society  of  mankind,  seeing  by  that  means  "  the  earth  was  filled 
with  violence,"  and  became  a  woful  habitation  of  distress,  so  they 
also  came  to  their  end,  and  long  since  nothing  remaineth  of  their 
memory  but  that  they  lived  so  many  years  and  then  they  died, 
which  is  the  common  end  of  maa  But  since  that,  in  which  our 
concernment  lies,  how  do  the  holy  men  of  God  set  forth,  and  as  it 
were  complain  of,  the  woful  frailty  of  our  condition!  So  doth 
Moses,  Ps.  xc.  5,  6,  "Thou  carriest  them  away  as  with  a  flood;" 
which  he  spake  in  contemplation  of  those  thousands  which  he  saw 
die  before  his  eyes  in  the  wilderness.  "In  the  morning  they  are 
like  grass  which  groweth  up.  In  the  morning  it  flourisheth,  and 
groweth  up;  in  the  evening  it  is  cut  down,  and  withereth."  The 
like  also  pleadeth  Job,  chap.  xiv.  1,2;  and  then  turning  unto  God  he 
saith,  "And  dost  thou  open  thine  eyes  upon  such  an  one?" — 're- 
gard such  a  poor,  frail,  perishing  creature?'  And  David  doth  the 
like,  Ps.  cii.  24.  And  indeed  no  tongue  can  express  the  miserable, 
frail  condition  of  this  poor  creature.  From  within,  from  without, 
from  himself,  from  all  other  creatures,  and  principally  from  the 
rage  and  cruelty  of  those  of  the  same  nature  with  himself,  his 
misery  is  great,  and  his  life  of  short  continuance.  And  God  abun- 
VOL.  XII.— 23 


852  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

clantly  shows  that  little  weight  also  is  to  be  laid  on  that  duration 
which  he  hath  here  in  this  world,  in  that  he  takes  many  from  the 
very  womb,  who  scarce  ever  beheld  the  light,  into  the  participation 
of  his  own  eternal  glory. 

Thirdly,  This  earthy,  frail  man  hath  made  himself  yet  more  un- 
speakably vile  by  sin.  This  sets  him  at  the  utmost  distance  from 
the  glory  of  God,  and  utterly  soils  every  thing  that  is  in  him  which 
of  itself  is  worthy  of  consideration. 

All  these  things  being  put  together,  they  make  the  condescension 
of  God  in  remembering  man,  and  setting  his  heart  upon  him,  ex- 
ceedingly to  be  admired  and  adored.  And  this  also  will  further 
appear  if  we  might  consider  what  are  the  blessed  effects  of  this 
mindfulness  of  him;  but  these  the  apostle  insists  upon  in  the  next 
verses,  whither  we  may  refer  our  meditations  on  them.  Only  the 
(Uity  itself  arising  from  hence  may  be  here  pressed  upon  us;  and 
this  is,  that  upon  the  accounts  mentioned  we  should  live  constantly 
in  a  holy  admiration  of  this  infinite  condescension  and  grace  of  God. 
To  this  end, — 

First,  Let  us  exercise  ourselves  unto  hohj  thoughts  of  God's  infinite 
excellencies.  Meditation,  accompanied  with  holy  admiration  is  the 
fountain  of  this  duty.  Some  men  have  over  busily  and  curiously 
inquired  into  the  nature  and  properties  of  God,  and  have  foolishly 
entleavoured  to  measure  infinite  things  by  the  miserable  short  line 
of  their  own  reason,  and  to  suit  the  deep  things  of  God  unto  their 
own  narrow  apprehensions.  Such  are  many  of  the  disputations  of 
the  schoohuen  on  this  subject,  wherein  though  they  have  seemed 
wise  to  themselves  and  others,  yet  indeed  for  the  most  part  they  have 
"  waxed  vain  in  their  imaginations."  Our  duty  lies  in  studying  what 
God  hath  revealed  of  himself  in  his  word,  and  what  is  evidently 
suitable  thereunto,  and  that  not  with  curious  searchings  and  specu- 
lations, but  with  holy  admiration,  reverence,  and  fear.  This  the 
apostle  adviseth  us  unto,  Heb.  xii.  28,  29.  In  this  way  serious 
thoughts  of  God's  excellencies  and  properties,  his  greatness,  immen- 
sity, self-sufficiency,  power,  and  wisdom,  are  exceeding  useful  unto  our 
souls.  When  these  have  filled  us  with  wonder,  when  they  have  pros- 
trated our  spirits  before  him,  and  laid  our  mouths  in  the  dust  and  our 
persons  on  the  ground,  when  the  glory  of  them  shines  round  about  us, 
and  our  whole  souls  are  filled  with  a  holy  astonishment,  then, — 

Secoiidly,  Let  us  take  a  view  o/  ourselves,  our  extract,  our  frailty, 
our  vileness  on  every  account.  How  poor,  how  undeserving  are 
we!  What  is  a  little  sinful  dust  and  ashes,  before  or  in  the  sight 
of  this  God  of  glory?  What  is  there  in  us,  what  is  there  belong- 
ing unto  us,  that  is  not  suited  to  abase  us; — alive  one  day,  dead 
another;  quiet  one  moment,  troubled  another;  fearing  caring,  re- 
juicing  causelessly,  sinning  always;  in  our  best  condition  ''altogether 


VER.  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  SC3 

vanity?"  Though  much  may  be  said  unto  this  purpose,  yet  it  must 
he  said  after  all  that  in  ourselves  we  are  inexpressibly  miserable,  ami, 
as  the  prophet  speaks,  "less  than  vanity,  and  nothing."  Would  we  be 
■wise? — we  are  "like  the  wild  ass's  colt;"  would  we  be  honourable? — 
we  have  "no  understanding, but  are  like  the  beasts  that  perish ;"  would 
we  be  strong? — we  are  "  as  a  reed  shaken  with  the  wind."     And, — 

Thirdl}^,  Let  the  result  of  these  thoughts  be  a  holy  admiration 
of  God's  infinite  love,  care,  grace,  and  condescension,  in  having  any 
regard  unto  us.  So  doth  the  psalmist  teach  us  to  do.  Hence  will 
praise,  hence  will  thankfulness,  hence  will  self-abasement  ensue. 
And  this  will  be  a  good  foundation,  as  of  obedience,  so  of  comfort 
and  supportment  in  every  condition. 

Ver.  9. — 3.  These  things  being  spoken  indefinitely  of  man  by  the 
psalmist,  the  apostle,  in  the  application  of  them  unto  his  present 
purpose,  proceeds  to  show  who  it  is  that  was  especially  intended, 
and  in  whom  the  words  had  their  full  accomplishment.  "  But," 
saith  he,  '^  we  see  Jesus,"  etc.  Many  dijfficulties  the  words  of  this 
vt-rse  are  attended  withal,  all  which  we  shall  endeavour  to  clear, — 
first,  by  showing  in  general  how  in  them  the  apostle  applies  the 
tesdmpny  produced  by  him  unto  Jesus;  secondly,  by  freeing  them 
fiom  the  obscurity  that  ariseth  from  a  avyx^'^"^^  ^^  transposition  of 
expression  in  them;  thirdly,  by  opening  the  several  things  taught 
and  asserted  in  them ;  and,  fourthly,  by  a  vindication  of  the  whole 
interpretation  from  exceptions  and  objections. 

(1.)  The  apostle  positively  applies  this  testimony  unto  Jesus, 
as  him  who  was  principally  intended  therein,  or  as  him  in  whom  the 
things  that  God  did  when  he  minded  man  were  accomplished.  And 
this  the  Syriac  translation  directly  expresseth:  ^?>5^P  Ji?  ''Vi?'=191  H  "i^ 
pe^i  ViriT  )yrn;  "  But  him  whom  he  made  lower  a  little  while  than 
the  angels,  we  see  that  it  is  Jesus."  That  is,  it  is  Jesus  concerning 
whom  the  psalmist  spake,  and  in  whom  alone  this  testimony  is 
verified.  Two  things  are  expressed  concerning  man  in  the  words: 
— [1.]  That  he  was  made  lower  than  the  angels;  [2.]  That  he  had 
all  things  put  in  subjection  unto  him.  'Both  these,'  saith  the  apostle, 
'  we  see  accomplished  in  Jesus;'  for  that  is  the  meaning  of  that  ex- 
pression, "  We  see  Jesus," — that  is,  these  things  fulfilled  in  him. 
And  as  he  had  before  appealed  unto  their  belief  and  experience  in 
his  negative,  that  all  things  are  not  made  subject  to  man  in  general, 
so  doth  he  here  in  his  affirmative,  "  We  see  Jesus."  Now,  they  saw 
it,  partly  by  what  he  had  before  proved  concerning  him ;  partly  by  the 
signs  and  wonders  he  had  newly  spoken  of,  whereby  his  tloctrino  w.is 
confirmed  and  his  power  over  all  things  manifested;  partly  by  his 
calling  and  gathering  of  his  church,  giving  laws,  rules,  and  worship 
unto  it,  by  virtue  of  his  authority  in  and  over  this  new  world.  And 
as  unto  the  former  part  of  the  testimony,  it  was  evident  by  what 


354  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [cHAP.  IL 

they  had  seen  with  their  eyes,  or  had  been  otherwise  taught  concern- 
ing his  low  estate  and  humiliation:  '  These  things/  saith  he,  '  we  see, 
— they  are  evident  unto  us,  nor  can  be  denied  whilst  the  gospel  is 
acknowledged/  Now  this  confession,  on  the  evidences  mentioned, 
he  applies  to  both  parts  of  the  testimony. 

[1.]  Saith  he,  "  We  see  that  for  a  little  while  he  was  made  lower 
than  the  angels,''  or  brought  into  a  state  and  condition  of  more 'exi- 
gency and  want  than  they  are  or  can  be  exposed  unto.  And  hereby 
he  evidently  declares  that  those  words  in  the  psalm  do  not  belong 
unto  the  dignity  of  man  spoken  of,  as  if  he  had  said,  '  He  is  so  ex- 
cellent that  he  is  but  little  beneath  angels;'  for  as  he  ascribes  unto 
him  a  dignity  far  above  all  angels,  inasmuch  as  all  things  without 
exception  are  put  under  his  feet,  so  he  plainly  declares  that  these 
words  belong  to  the  depression  and  rainoration  of  Jesus,  in  that  he 
was  so  humbled  that  he  might  die.  And  therefore  he  proceeds  to 
show  how  that  part  of  the  testimony  concerned  his  present  purpose, 
not  as  directly  proving  what  he  had  proposed  to  confirmation  con- 
cerning his  dignity,  but  as  evidently  designing  the  person  that  the 
whole  belonged  unto.  As  also,  he  takes  occasion  from  hence  to  enter 
upon  the  exposition  of  another  part  of  Christ's  mediation,  as  pro- 
phesied of  in  this  place;  for  though  he  was  so  lessened,  yet  it  was 
not  on  his  own  account,  but  that  "by  the  grace  of  God  he  might  taste 
death  for  every  man." 

[2.]  For  the  other  part  of  the  testimony,  'We  see,'  saith  he, 
upon  the  evidences  mentioned,  '  that  he  is  "  crowned  with  glory 
and  honour,"  and  consequently  that  "all  things  are  put  under  his 
feet."'  So  that  the  whole  testimony,  in  both  parts  of  it,  is  verified  in 
him,  and  in  him  alone.  And  hereby  he  fully  evinceth  what  he  had 
before  proposed  unto  confirmation,  namely,  the  pre-eminence  of 
Jesus,  the  Messiah,  above  the  angels,  or  principal  administrators  of 
the  law,  in  this  especial  instance,  that  "  the  world  to  come"  was  put 
into  subjection  unto  him,  and  not  unto  them.  And  therefore  in 
the  state  of  the  church  intended  in  that  expression  are  his  teach- 
ings, his  doctrines,  his  worship,  diligently  to  be  attended  unto,  by  all 
those  who  desire  to  be  partakers  of  the  promises  and  good  things 
thereof. 

(2.)  There  seems  to  be  a  cvyy^usig  in  the  words,  by  a  trans- 
position of  some  expressions  from  their  proper  place  and  coherence, 
.which  must  be  removed:  Thv  ds  ^pa^v  ri  rrap  dyyiXovg  TjXarrufisi/ov 
/SXsTO/igv  'ijjffoCi',  6/«  TO  vd&riiJ,a  rou  Savaroy,  ho^rj  xai  ri/Mrj  s6Tt<pa.\ij}ij.vjoy 
oirug  yapiri  ©goD  b-Tsp  'Trdvrog  yiiiorirai  Savarou.  Some  would  have  tiiese 
words,  rhv  ^payjj  ri  rjXarru/ihov,  to  belong  to  the  subject  of  the  pro- 
position, whose  predicate  alone  is,  "crowned  with  glory  and  honour," 
whereof  the  suffering  of  death  is  inserted  as  the  meritorious  cause: 
BO  reading  the  words  to  this  purpose,  "  We  see  that  Jesus,  who  was 


VER.  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBRE-WS.  S55 

for  a  little  while  made  lower  than  the  angels,  for  his  suffering  of 
death  is  crowned  with  glory  and  honour/'  Others  would  have 
Jesus  alone  to  be  the  subject  of  the  proposition;  of  whose  predicate 
there  are  two  parts,  or  two  things  are  affirmed  concerning  him, — 
first,  that  he  was  "  made  lower  than  the  angels,"  the  reason  whereof 
is  added,  namely,  "  that  he  might  suffer  death,"  which  is  furtiier 
explained  in  the  close  of  the  verse  by  the  addition  of  the  cause  and 
end  of  that  his  suffering,  "that  by  the  grace  of  God  he  might  taste 
death  for  every  man:''  so  reading  the  words  to  this  purpose,  "  We 
see  Jesus,  made  lower  than  the  angels  for  the  suffering  of  death, 
crowned"  (or,  "and  crowned")  "with  glory  and  honour."  The  dif- 
ficulty principally  consists  in  this  only,  namely,  whether  the  apostle 
by  Bia.  TO  Tct^/j/ia  Toi^  ^uvdrou,  "  for  the  suffering  of  death,"  intend  the 
final  end  of  the  humiliation  of  Christ, — '  he  was  made  low  that  he 
might  suffer  death;'  or  the  meritorious  cause  of  his  exaltation, — 
*  for,'  or  '  because  he  suffered  death,  he  was  crowned  with  glory  and 
honour.'  And  the  former  seems  evidently  the  intention  of  the  words, 
according  to  the  latter  resolution  of  them,  and  our  application  of 
the  testimony  foregoing.  For, — [1.]  If  the  cause  and  means  of  the 
exaltation  of  Christ  had  been  intended,  it  would  have  been  ex- 
pressed by  A/a  TQv  vaOrifiarog  tov  ^avdrov,  did  requiring  a  genitive 
case,  where  the  cause  or  means  of  any  tiling  is  intended;  but  Aid  rh 
'TrdSri/j.a  expresseth  the  end  of  what  was  before  affirmed.  [2.]  These 
words,  "  For  the  suffering  of  death,"  must  express  either  the  minora- 
tion  and  humiliation  of  Christ,  or  the  end  of  it.  If  they  express 
the  end  of  it,  then  we  obtain  that  which  is  pleaded  for, — he  was 
made  less  that  he  might  suffer.  If  they  express  his  minoration  it- 
self, then  the  end  of  it  is  contained  only  in  the  close  of  the  verse, 
"That  he  might  taste  death  for  every  man;"  in  which  exposition 
of  the  words  the  sense  would  be,  that  '  he  suffered  death,  that  by 
the  grace  of  God  he  might  taste  death,' — which  is  no  sense  at  all. 
[3.]  If  these  words  denote  only  the  means  or  meritorious  cause  of 
the  exaltation  of  Christ,  I  inquire  what  is  the  medium  intended  of 
that  end  in  the  close,  "O-w;  %ap/r/,  "  That  he  by  the  grace  of  God 
might  taste  death  ?"  The  word  oVws,  "  that  so,"  plainly  refers  unto 
some  preparatory  means  preceding,  which  in  this  way  can  be  no- 
thing but  the  crowning  him  with  glory  and  honour,  which  we  know 
was  not  the  means,  but  the  effect  of  it.  He  was  humbled,  not 
exalted,  that  he  might  taste  of  death.  [4]  The  apostle  doth  not 
merely  take  it  for  granted  that  Jesus  was  for  a  little  while  made 
lower  than  the  angels,  but  asserts  it  as  proved  in  the  testimony  in- 
sisted on;  whereunto  he  subjoins  the  end  of  that  his  comparative 
minoration,  because  he  intended  it  as  the  especial  subject  of  his 
ensuing  discourse.  This,  therefore,  is  the  importance  and  natural 
order  of  the  words,  "  But  we  see  Jesus  crowned  with  glory  and 


356  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

honour,  who  was  for  a  little  while  made  lower  than  the  angels  for 
the  suffering  of  death,  that  he  by  the  grace  of  God  might  taste  death 
for  every  man."  And  the  only  reason  of  the  transposition  of  the 
words  consisteth  in  the  apostle's  following  the  order  of  the  things 
testified  unto  by  the  psalmist,  first  his  humiliation,  then  his  exalta- 
tion; and  yet  connecting  that  which  he  would  next  treat  of  unto 
tliat  which  was  first  laid  down,  passing  by  the  other  as  now  suffi- 
ciently confirmed. 

(3.)  The  general  design  of  the  words  and  their  order  being 
cleared,  we  shall  open  them  in  particular,  seeing  that  besides  the 
application  of  the  testimony  of  the  psahnist  unto  the  Lord  Jesus 
now  vindicated,  there  is  an  assertion  in  them  containing  that  which 
of  all  other  things  was  of  most  difficult  acceptation  with  the  Jews, 
upon  the  account  whereof  the  apostle  confirms  it  with  many  reasons 
in  the  verses  following,  to  the  end  of  this  chapter.  And,  indeed, 
we  have  here  the  sum  of  the  gospel  and  the  doctrine  of  it,  concern- 
ing the  person  and  office  of  the  Messiah,  asserted  and  vindicated 
from  the  prejudicate  opinions  of  many  of  the  Jews,  under  these  two 
heads: — [1.]  That  the  salvation  and  deliverance  that  God  had  pro- 
mised and  intended  to  accomplish  by  the  Messiah  was  spiritual  and 
eternal,  from  sin,  death,  Satan,  and  hell,  ending  in  everlasting  glory; 
not  temporal  and  carnal,  with  respect  unto  the  world  and  the  coji- 
comitants  of  it  in  this  life,  as  they  vainly  imagined.  [2.]  That  this 
salvation  could  be  no  otherwise  wrought  nor  brought  about  but  by 
the  incarnation,  suffering,  and  death  of  the  Messiah;  not  in  especial 
by  arms,  war,  and  mighty  power,  as  the  people  were  of  old  led  into 
Canaan  under  the  conduct  of  Joshua,  the  captain  of  that  salvation, 
and  as  some  of  them  expected  yet  to  be  saved  and  delivered  by  the 
Messiah.  Now,  the  apostle  strengthening  his  discourse  by  multi- 
plicity of  reasons  and  arguments,  he  doth  not  only  in  these  words 
apply  his  testimony  to  what  he  had  before  proposed  unto  confirma- 
tion, namely,  the  subjection  of  the  world  to  come  unto  Christ,  but 
also  lays  in  it  the  springs  of  those  two  other  principles  which  we 
have  mentioned,  and  whose  proof  and  confirmation  in  the  next  verses 
he  pursues. 

Sundry  things,  as  we  have  partly  seen,  are  contained  in  the  words; 
as,  [i.]  the  exinanition  and  humiliation  of  Christ:  'We  see  Jesus  for 
a  little  while  made  lower,  and  brought  into  a  more  indigent  condi- 
tion, than  the  angels  are,  or  ever  were,  obnoxious  unto."  [2.]  The 
general  end  of  that  exinanition  and  depression  of  Jesus;  it  was  that 
he  mighf'suffer  death."  [3.]  His  exaltation  unto  power  and  authority 
over  all  things,  in  particular  the  world  to  come:  "crowned  with 
glory  and  honour."  [4.]  A  numerous  amplification  subjoined  of  the 
end  of  his  depression  and  the  death  that  it  tended  unto; — \st.  From 
tlie  cause  of  it, — the  "grace  of  God;"  2.dly.  The  nature  of  it, — he  was 


VER,  5-9. 1  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  367 

to  "taste  of  death ;"  odly.  The  end  of  it, — it  was  for  others;  and, 
Atldy.  Its  extent, — for  all:  "  That  he  by  the  grace  of  God  might  taste 
death  for  all." 

[1.]  T//1'  hi.  A:-  for  aXkd,  an  adversative,  intimating  the  introduc- 
tion of  one  singular  person  in  opposition  to  him  or  them  ^ 
spoken  of  in  the  end  of  the  foregoing  verse,  "  We  see 
not  yet  all  things  put  under  his  feet"  (which  some,  against  the  whole 
context,  apply  unto  Christ),  "  but  we  see  Jesus."  Had  the  same 
person  been  spoken  of  in  both  verses,  the  expression  would  have 
been,  aurhv  51,  "but  we  see  him;"  but  a  new  antecedent  being  here 
introduced,  "but  we  see  Jesus,"  another  person  is  substituted  as  the 
subject  spoken  of;  as  the  Syriac  version  declares,  "  We  see  him,  that 
it  is  Jesus." 

How  and  in  what  sense  he  was  made  lower  than  the  angels  hath 
been  declared  in  opening  the  words  as  they  lie  in  the  'jrpodiGiq,  com- 
prised in  that  testimony  of  the  psalmist.  Only  it  may  be  inquirtd 
whether  this  exinanition  of  Christ,  or  minoration  in  respect  of  angels, 
did  consist  merely  in  his  incarnation  and  participation  of  human 
nature,  which  in  general  is  esteemed  beneath  angelical,  or  in  the 
misery  and  anxiety  which  in  that  nature  he  conflicted  withal.  And 
the  apostle  seems  not  absolutely  to  intend  the  former, — \st.  Because 
he  speaks  of  "  Jesus"as  the  subject  of  this  minoration.  Now  that  name 
denotes  the  Son  of  God  as  incarnate,  who  is  supposed  so  to  be  when 
he  is  said  to  be  made  less  than  the  angels.  2dly.  Because  the  human 
nature,  in  the  very  instant  of  its  union  unto  the  person  of  the  Son 
of  God,  was  absolutely  advanced  above  the  angelical,  and  might 
have  immediately  been  possessed  of  glory  if  other  works  in  it  had 
not  been  to  be  performed.  And  yet  neither  doth  it  intend  the 
low  condition  wherein  he  was  placed  exclusively  to  his  incarnation, 
though  that  be  afterwards  (verse  14)  particularly  spoken  unto,  but 
his  beinor  incarnate  and  brought  forth,  and  in  that  condition  wherein 
he  was  exposed  to  suffering,  and  so  consequently  to  death  itself. 
And  thus  was  he  made  less  than  angels  in  part  in  that  nature  which 
he  assumed.  He  was  obnoxious  unto  all  the  infirmities  which  at- 
tend it,  as  hunger,  thirst,  weariness,  pain,  sorrow,  grief;  and  exposed 
unto  all  the  miseries  from  without  that  any  person  partaker  of  tliat 
nature  is  obnoxious  unto;  and,  in  sum,  death  itself:  from  all  which 
miseries  angels  are  excepted.  This  we  see,  know,  and  grant  to  have 
been  the  state  and  condition  of  Jesus. 

But  saith  he,  '  This  was  but  for  a  little  while,  during  his  conver- 
sation with  us  on  the  earth,  ending  at  his  death.'  The  apostle  knew 
that  he  had  now  fixed  upon  that  which  of  all  things  the  Jews  most 
stumbled  at,  the  low  and  mean  and  despised  condition  of  Jesus,  they 
having  inveterate  prejudicate  opinions  of  another  manner  of  state 
and  condition  for  the  Messiah;  wherefore  he  immediately  subjoiu.-» 


358  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

the  end  why  he  was  humbled  into  this  condition,  which  he  first  ex- 
plains, and  then  vindicates  the  necessity  of  it. 

[2.]  The  end,  then,  is,  llddyi,u,a  rou  '^avdrou,  "  The  suf- 

n«^«^«  rou  ^^^-       Qf  death/'     He  was  so  humbled  that  he  mii-ht 
suffer  death.     This  yet  more  displeased  the  Jews;  the 
necessity  whereof  he  immediately  proves,  adding  by  the  way, — - 

[3.]  To  complete  the  application  of  the  testimony  produced,  his  ex- 
altation upon  his  suffering,  he  was  "crowned  with  glory  and  honour;" 
referring  us  to  the  testimony  itself  to  declare  what  was  contained 
in  that  exaltation,  namely,  an  absolute  dominion  over  all  things,  God 
only  excepted,  and  so,  consequently,  over  the  world  to  come,  that  was 
not  put  in  subjection  to  angels.  And  in  these  words  the  apostle 
closeth  his  argument  for  the  excellency  of  Christ  above  the  angels 
from  the  subjection  of  all  things  unto  him,  and  proceeds,  [4.]  To  the 
amplification  of  that  end  of  the  humiliation  of  Christ  which  he  had 
before  intimated,  and  that  in  four  things: — 

1st.  In  the  impulsive  and  efficient  cause,  which  in  the  acts  of  God's 
will  are  coincident:  "O-rug  x,"'piri  Qtov.  "Ottws  for  ha,  denoting  the 
final  cause  of  what  was  before  asserted,  relating  to  the  whole  clause 
following.  That  which  is  here  called  x^dpig  ©soC,  "  the  grace  of  God," 
is  elsewhere  explained  by  eoiri^piog.  Xdpig  rou  0icu  r,  curtjpiog,  Tit. 
ii.  11,—"  The  saving  grace  of  God."  And  sometimes  it  is  termed  his 
yjriGTfirrig  and  <piXav^po)'KiaL,  chap.  iii.  4, — his  "goodness,"  "  kindness," 
"  benignity,"  and  "  love  of  mankind;"  absolutely,  his  dyd'^n,  John 
iii.  16,  Rom.  v.  8,  1  John  iii.  16, — "love,"  intense  love;  also  his 
sudoxia,  Eph.  i.  5, — his  "good  pleasure,"  from  "the  riches  of  his  grace," 
verse  7;  and  his  rrpodiffig,  verse  9,  Rom.  viii.  28,  or  "purpose  of  his 
will,"  being  the  same  with  his  '^rpoymffig  and  'zpoopigfiog,  Rom.  viii. 
29,  SO, — his  predesignation  and  predestination  of  men  unto  grace 
and  glory.  From  all  which  it  appears  what  this  %"V'5,  or  "  grace"  of 
God  is,  that  was  the  moving  and  impulsive  cause  of  the  death  of 
Christ;  even  the  gracious,  free,  sovereign  purpose  of  the  will  of 
God,  suited  unto  and  arising  from  his  natural  grace,  love,  goodness, 
benignity,  pity,  mercy,  compassion,  exerting  themselves  therein.  It 
was  not  out  of  any  anger  or  displeasure  of  God  against  Jesus,  in 
whom  his  soul  was  always  well  pleased;  not  out  of  any  disregard 
unto  him,  whom  he  designed  hereby  to  be  crowned  with  glory  and 
honour;  but  out  of  his  love,  kindness,  and  goodness  towards  others, 
who  could  no  otherwise  be  brought  unto  giory,  as  in  the  next  verses 
the  apostle  declares,  that  he  thus  appointed  him  to  die. 

2dly.  In  the  manner  of  his  death:  "Otws  yivarirai  ^avdrov,  "that 
he  should  taste  of  death," — so  die  as  to  experience  the  sorrows,  bitter- 
ness, and  penalties  of  death.  To  "  taste  of  death"  is,  first,  really  to 
die;  not  in  appearance  or  pretence,  in  opinion  or  show,  as  some 
foolishly  of  old  blasphemed  about  the  death  of  Christ,  which  couid 


VER.  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  859 

have  bad  no  other  fruit  but  a  shadow  of  redemption,  a  deliverance  in 
opinion.  See  the  plirase  used,  Mark  ix.  1,  Oj  fi^  yixjemrai  SamVoi/, 
• — "  Shall  not  taste  of  death  ;"  that  is,  not  die.  And  that  wliicli  is 
called,  to  "see  death,"  John  viii,  51,  is  called  to  "taste  of  death," 
verse  52,  where  the  phrase  is  applied  to  the  second  death,  or  death 
eternal.  AnJ  it  being  death  which  was  threatened  unto  those  for 
whom  he  died,  and  which  they  should  have  undergone,  he  really 
tasted  of  that  death  also.  So,  secondly,  it  is  intimated  that  there 
was  bitterness  in  the  death  he  underwent.  Himself  compares  it 
unto  a  "  cup,"  whose  bitterness  he  declares  by  his  aversation  from  it, 
considered  absolutely  and  without  reference  unto  that  hand  of  the 
will  of  God  wherein  it  was  held  out  unto  him.  Matt.  xxvi.  39 ;  which 
voTYjpiov,  or  Di3 ,  "  cup,"  was  his  lot  or  portion,  Ps.  xvi.  5,  that  which  was 
prepared  for  him  by  his  Father,  And  by  the  same  metaphor  he 
calls  the  will  of  God  his  "meat,"  which  he  tasted  of  in  the  doing  and 
suti'ering  of  it.  To  taste  of  death,  as  is  known,  is  an  Hebraism.  So 
the  rabbins  speak,  Beresh.  Rab.  sect.  9,  N^C'  piysin  Dn^S'  n-n  'ixi 
nnvo  nyo  myi:''; — "The  first  Adam  was  Avorthy  that  he  should  not 
taste  of  death,"  or  "  die."  And  it  compriseth  somewhat  more  than 
merely  to  die ;  it  expresseth  also  to  find  out  and  experience  what  is 
in  death.  And  01^9  is  sometimes  rendered  by  yivuicxnv,  "  to  know," 
2  Sam.  xix.  36;  and  sometimes  the  substantive  by  evvicig,  "under- 
standing," Job  xii.  20.  So  that  Christ  by  tasting  of  death  had  ex- 
perience, knew  what  was  in  death,  as  threatened  unto  sinners.  He 
found  out  and  understood  what  bitterness  was  in  that  cup  wherein 
it  was  given  him.  To  which  purpose  the  rabbins  have  a  proverb  in 
Jalkut.  fol.  265,  p^'^K^nm  HDyD  no  :;T'  i^-^l^p  h^2^'\  IND  ; — "  He  that 
eateth  of  the  pot  kuoweth  the  taste  of  the  meat  that  is  in  it."  Thus 
when  Agng  thought  he  should  escape  a  violent  death  by  the  sword, 
he  expresseth  his  joy  by  n^.'?L''iP  ">?,  1  Sam.  xv.  32,  "The  bitterness 
of  death  is  removed,"  or  taken  away.  Though  die  he  must,  yet  he 
thought  he  should  not  taste  the  bitterness  of  death,  or  die  by  the 
sword.  Thirdly,  His  conquest  over  death  may  be  also  intimated  in 
this  expression:  for  though  the  phrase,  to  "  taste  of  death,"  be  used 
concerning  other  persons  also,  yet  as  applied  unto  Christ,  the  event 
showeth  that  it  was  only  a  thorough  taste  of  it  that  he  had ;  he  neither 
was  nor  could  be  detained  under  the  power  of  it,  Acts.  ii.  24.  And 
so  is  the  word  "  to  taste"  used,  chap.  vi.  4  of  this  epistle.  And  thus 
by  the  grace  of  God  did  he  taste  of  death. 

'Sdly.  The  end  of  this  his  tasting  of  death, — it  was  for  others;  'T^sp 
'^ravTog.  Of  the  extent  of  this  end  of  his  death,  expressed  in  that  word 
itavrog,  we  shall  speak  afterwards;  for  the  present  we  consider  how  he 
died  b-vcp,  "for"  them,  for  whom  he  died,  'Trr'ip,  is  either  "pro,"  or 
"super,"or  "supra," — "for,"  or  "above,"  or  "over."  The  latter  signifi- 
cation belongs  not  unto  this  place.    As  it  signifies  vpo,  "  for,"  it  is  used 


360  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

sometimes  as  hd,  "  propter,"  and  with  respect  unto  persons  is  as 
much  as  "ahcujus  causa/'  "  for  his  sake,"  or  "in  alicujus  gratiam,"  or 
"  bonum,"  "for  his  good  and  advantage;"  sometimes  as  avri,  in  the 
stead  of  another.  And  this  is  the  constant  and  inviolable  sense  of 
I'TTsp  in  Greek,  "  pro"  in  Latin,  where  the  suffering  of  one  for  another 
is  expressed  by  it.  And  that  also  is  the  constant  sense  of  the  Hebrew 
nnn^  when  used  in  that  case.  Some  instances  on  each  word  will 
illustrate  our  intention.  Thus  David  expresseth  his  desire  to  have 
died  in  the  stead  of  Absalom,  that  he  might  have  been  preserved 
aUve:  2  Sam.  xix.  1,  ^'^nn  >JX  ^nio  |ri^  ^p^_"  Who  will  grant  me 
to  die,  I  for  thee,  my  son  Absalom?"  that  is,  "  in  thy  stead,"  or  "  so 
that  thou  mightest  be  alive."  So  Isa.  xliii.  4.  And  by  that  word 
is  still  expressed  the  succeeding  of  one  to  another  in  government, 
or  reigning  in  the  stead  of  him  that  deceased,  1  Kings  iii.  7,  xix. 
16;  2  Sam.  X.  1;  and  in  general,  children  succeeding  in  the  place 
and  room  of  their  fathers,  Num.  iii.  12.  So  that  to  die  nnri^  "  for 
another,"  is  to  die  in  his  stead  the  death  he  should  have  died,  that 
he  might  live,  or  in  general  to  be  substituted  in  the  room  and  place 
of  another.  So  when  Jehu  commanded  his  officers  to  slay  the  priests 
and  worshippers  of  Baal,  he  tells  them  that  if  any  one  should  let  any 
one  of  them  escape,  ^'^^l  nnPi  iC'D3  ^  "  his  life  should  go  for  his  life," 
or  he  should  die  in  his  stead,  2  Kings  x.  24.  So  is  uc=p  used,  Rom. 
V.  7,  expressing  the  act  of  an  am^/u^/os,  one  that  lays  down  his  life 
instead  of  another;  as  Damon  for  Pythias,  and  Nisus  for  Euryalus, 
"Me,  me,  adsum  qui  feci."  See  1  Pet.  i.  20,  21.  And  it  is  explained  by 
avri,  perpetually  denoting  a  substitution,  where  opposition  can  have 
no  place.  See  Matt.  xx.  28;  Mark  x.  4o;  1  Tim.  ii.  6,  ' AvrlXvTpot 
vvip  'jdvTuv.  "  Pro,"  also,  as  h'^rip  in  this  case  is  to  be  rendered,  hath 
no  other  signification.     So  often  in  the  poet : — 

"  Hanc  tibi  Eryx  meliorem  animam  pro  morte  Daretis 
Persolvo" Mn.  v.  483. 

He  slew  the  ox  and  sacrificed  it  to  Eryx  instead  of  Dares,  who  was 
taken  from  him.  And  Mezentius  upon  the  death  of  Lausus  his  son, 
who  undertook  the  fight  with  iEneas,  upon  the  wounding  of  his 
father,  being  slain  himself, — 

"  Tantane  me  tenuit  vivendi,  nate,  voluptaa, 
Ut  pro  me  hostili  paterer  succedere  dextrae, 
Quem  genui  ?  tuane  haec  genitor  per  vulnera  server, 
Morte  tua  vivens?"  Mn.  x.  846. 

"  Pro  me,"  "  in  my  stead."     And  of  Palinurus,  by  whose  death  the 

rest  of  his  companions  escaped,  ^n.  v.  815, — 

"  Unum  pro  multis  dabitur  caput." 

So  the  Comedian,  Ter.  And.  I.  ii.  28, — 

"  Verberibus  csesum  te  in  pistrinum,  Dave,  dedam  usque  ad  necem; 
Ea  lege  atque  omine,  ut,  si  inde  te  exemerim,  ego  pro  te  molam :" 


VER.  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  361 

"  grind  in  thy  stead."     And  Juvenal  to  the  same  purpose  of  the 

Decii,  Sat.  viii.  2o4, — • 

"  Plebeite  Deciorum  animte,  plebcia  fuerunt 
Nomina.    Pro  totis  legionibus  hi  tamen,  et  pro 
Omnibus  auxiliis  atque  omni  plebe  Latiua, 
Sufficiunt  diis  infernis." 

They  were  accepted  in  sacrifice  /or  or  instead  of  all  the  rest.     So 
did  they  express  their  doing  or  suffering  who  cast  themselves  into 
danger  in  the  stead  of  others,  that  they  might  go  free,  as  those  who 
sacrificed  themselves,  like  Menoeceus,  for  the  safety  of  their  country ; 
as  Papinius  expresses  his  design,  Thebaid.  lib.  x.  762, — 
"  Armorum  superi,  tuque  6  qui  funere  tanto 
Indulges  mihi,  Phoebe,  mori,  date  gaudia  Tliebis, 
Qu£e  pepigi,  et  toto  quce  sanguine  prodigus  emi;" 

of  which  afterwards. 

In  the  common  constant  use  of  these  words,  then,  to  die  for 
another,  signifies  to  die  in  his  room  and  stead.  And  this  the  Jews 
understood  in  the  use  of  their  sacrifices,  where  the  life  of  the  beast 
was  accepted  in  the  stead  of  the  life  of  the  sinner.  Thus  Christ 
"  tasted  of  death  bvip  iravrog."  He  was,  by  the  grace  and  wisdom  of 
God,  substituted  as  a  mediator,  surety,  ayTi-^u-)(og,  "  in  their  stead,"  to 
undergo  the  death  which  they  should  have  undergone,  that  they 
might  go  free,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  following  verses. 

'^thly.  This  dying  of  Christ  is  said  to  be  vvip  vavrog.  The  word  is 
either  of  the  masculine  or  neuter  gender;  ami  in  the  latter  it  seems 
to  have  been  taken  by  them  who  tor  %ap/r/  ©fotJ,  read  x'^pig  Qiou,  as 
some  Syriac  copies  do  still,  and  Ambrose  ad  Gradiauum,  with  some 
other  of  the  ancients,  intimating  that  Christ  died  for  every  thing, 
God  only  excepted, — alluding  it  may  be  unto  Eph.  i.  10,  of  which 
place  we  have  spoken  before.  For  we  may  not  suppose  )t  a  corrup- 
tion of  the  Nestorians,  when  some  read  so  before  their  days ;  nor  will 
the  words  so  read  give  any  countenance  to  their  error,  none  affirm- 
ing that  Christ  died  any  otherwise  than  in  his  human  nature,  though 
he  who  is  God  died  therein.  But  this  conjecture  is  groundless  and 
inconsistent  with  the  signification  of  the  preposition  Wip  insisted  on, 
which  will  not  allow  that  he  be  said  to  die  for  any  but  those  in 
whose  stead  he  died,  and  which,  therefore,  in  themselves  were  obnox- 
ious to  death,  as  he  declares,  verses  14,  15.  Uavrog,  then,  is  put  for 
vrdvTOJv  by  an  enallage  of  number,  the  singular  for  the  plural,  for  all 
men ; — that  is,  all  those  many  sons  which  God  by  his  death  intended 
to  bring  unto  glory,  verse  10;  those  sanctified  by  him,  whom  he  calls 
his  brethren,  verses  11,  12,  and  children  given  him  by  Goi.  verse  13; 
whom  by  death  he  delivers  from  the  fear  of  death,  verses  14, 15;  even 
all  the  seed  of  Abraham,  verse  16. 

(4 )  And  thus,  we  hope,  our  whole  interpretation  of  these  verses 
.eceives  light  from  as  well  as  brings  some  light  unto  the  text;  and 


S62  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

that  we  need  no  argument  to  confirm  it  but  its  own  suitableness 
throughout  to  the  context  and  design  of  the  apostle.  That  wherein 
divers  worthy  expositors  are  otherwise  minded  and  differ  from  us,  is 
the  apphcation  of  the  words  of  the  psahn  immediately  unto  the  person 
of  Clirist;  which  they  say  are  referred  unto  him  only  by  way  of  allu- 
sion. Now,  though  our  exposition  sufficiently  confirm  and  strengthen 
itself  by  its  own  evidence,  yet  because  divers  learned  men,  whose 
judgment  is  much  to  be  regarded,  have  given  another  sense  of  the 
words  than  that  embraced  by  us,  I  shall  by  some  further  considera- 
tions confirm  that  part  of  our  exposition  which  is  by  them  called 
into  question,  premising  unto  them,  for  the  further  clearing  of  the 
place,  what  we  grant  in  reference  unto  the  s&nse  by  them  contended 
for : — 

[1.]  I  grant  that  the  psalmist's  design  in  general  is  to  set  forth  the 
goodness,  kindness,  love,  and  care  of  God  unto  mankind;  so  that  in 
these  words,  "  What  is  man,"  and  "  the  son  of  man,"  though  he 
principally  respects  the  instance  of  the  person  of  the  Messiah,  yet  he 
doth  it  not  exclusively  to  the  nature  of  man  in  others,  but  hath  a 
special  regard  unto  mankind  in  general,  in  contradistinction  unto 
other  outwardly  more  glorious  works  of  the  hands  of  God.  But  it 
is  the  especial  instance  of  the  person  of  the  Messiah  wherein  alone 
he  undertakes  to  make  good  his  assertion  of  mankind's  pre-eminence. 

[2.]  I  also  grant  that  he  hath  respect  unto  the  dignity  and  honour 
collated  on  the  first  man  at  his  creation,  not  directly  and  intention- 
ally, as  his  chiefest  scope,  but  by  way  of  allusion,  as  it  did  prefigure 
and  obscurely  represent  that  great  glory  and  honour  which  mankind 
was  to  be  advanced  unto  in  the  person  of  the  Messiah;  but  that 
primarily  and  directly  he,  and  he  alone,  according  to  our  exposition, 
is  intended  in  the  psalm;  for, — 

1st.  That  the  whole  psalm  is  prophetical  of  the  Messiah,  the  pas- 
sages out  of  it  reported  in  the  New  Testament  and  applied  unto  liim 
do  make  evident  and  miquestionable.  See  Matt.  xxi.  1 6,  1  Cor.  xv.  27, 
with  this  place.  So  that  he  must  needs  be  the  "  man"  and  "  son  of 
man"  therein  treated  of,  and  who  alone  did  "  make  to  cease  the 
enemy  and  self-avenger,"  verse  2;  as  the  apostle  declares,  verses 
14,  15,  of  this  chapter. 

2dly.  The  general  scope  of  the  psalm  will  admit  of  no  other  inter- 
pretation. The  psalmist,  on  his  contemplation  of  the  great  glory  of 
God  in  framing  the  heavens  and  all  the  host  of  them,  especially  those 
which  then  appeared  unto  him,  falls  into  an  admiration  of  his  wis- 
dom, goodness,  and  love  in  that  which  was  far  greater  and  more  ex- 
cellent, as  that  wherein  his  glory  was  more  exalted;  which  lie  re- 
joiceth  and  triumpheth  in,  as  that  wherein  his  own  and  the  interest 
of  all  others  did  lie.  Now,  this  could  not  be  either  the  state  of  maa 
as  fallen  by  sin,  which  is  far  enough  from  a  matter  of  exultation  and 


VER.  5-9. J  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  S63 

joy,  nor  yet  the  state  of  Adam  in  innocency,  in  no  privilege  whereof, 
without  a  restitution  by  Christ,  have  we  share  or  interest. 

'^dly.  There  are  not  any  words  in  the  testimony  that  can  properly 
be  applied  unto  any  other  man,  or  be  verified  in  him ; — not  in  Adam 
at  his  first  creation,  not  in  mankind  in  general,  but  only  in  the  in- 
stance of  the  person  of  Christ.  For  how  was  Adam  diminished  and 
made  less  than  angels,  and  therein  depressed  from  another  state  and 
condition  than  that  be  had,  or  was  due  to  liim?  or  how  can  this  be 
said  of  mankind  in  general,  or  of  believers  in  a  special  sense?  And 
how  could  this  be  spoken  of  them  as  to  continue  for  a  little  while, 
seeing  the  nature  of  man,  in  itself  considered,  is  for  ever  beneath  the 
angelical?  Again,  if  the  apostle's  interpretation  be  allowed,  that  ex- 
pression, "  He  hath  put  all  things  under  his  feet,"  is  universal,  and 
extends  unto  all  the  works  of  God's  hands,  and  among  them  to  the 
world  to  come;  and  these  were  never  put  in  subjection  to  Adam 
nor  any  other  man,  "  the  man  Christ  Jesus"  excepted.  And  this 
also  the  apostle  plainly  avers,  verse  8.  So  that  the  scope  of  the 
place,  context  of  the  words,  and  imporiance  of  the  expression,  do  all 
direct  us  unto  the  Messiah,  and  to  him  alone. 

4tliltj.  The  uncertainty  and  mutual  contradictions,  yea,  self-contra- 
dictions of  the  most  who  apply  the  words  of  the  psalmist  directly  unto 
any  other  but  Christ,  may  serve  further  to  fix  us  unto  this  interpre- 
tation, liable  to  none  of  those  inconveniences  which  they  cast  them- 
selves upon.  Some  would  have  a  double  literal  sense  in  the  words; 
• — the  one  principal,  relating  unto  Adam  or  man  in  general;  the 
other  less  principal,  or  subordinate,  respecting  Clnist:  which  is  upon 
the  matter  to  affirm  that  the  words  have  no  sense  at  all ;  for  those 
words  which  have  not  one  certain  determinate  sense, — as  those  have 
not  which  have  two, — have  indeed  no  true  proper  sense  at  all,  for  their 
sense  is  their  determinate  signification  of  any  thing.  Some  would 
have  the  literal  sense  to  respect  mankind  in  general,  and  what  is 
atfirmed  in  them  to  be  mystically  applied  unto  Christ.  How  far 
this  is  from  truth  we  have  already  declared,  by  showing  that  the 
words  cannot  so  in  any  measure  be  verified  or  made  good.  By  "man," 
some  understand  Adam  in  his  integrity;  but  how  he  can  be  called 
"  the  son  of  man"  I  know  not.  Besides,  how  was  his  honour— not  to 
be  thought  of  or  mentioned  without  the  remembrance  of  his  sin  and 
shameful  fall — such  a  cause  of  rejoicing  and  exultation  unto  the 
psalmist?  Some  understand  man  in  his  corrupted  condition;  which 
how  far  he  is  from  the  things  here  mentioned  need  not  be  declared. 
Can  we  suppose  the  apostle  would  prove  the  subjection  of  the  world  to 
come  unto  Christ  by  a  testimony  principally  resjDectiiig  them  who  have 
no  interest  in  it?  Some  understand  believer's  as  restored  in  Christ; 
which  is  true  consequentially  and  in  respect  of  participation.  Rev.  ii. 
26,  27,  but  not  antecedently  unto  the  investiture  of  the  honour  that 


oC)4i  AN  EXPOSITION  OP  THE  fCHAP.  II. 

they  are  made  partakers  of  in  the  person  of  Christ.  Besides, — which 
is  the  great  absurdity  of  this  Interpretation, — they  all  affirm  that 
the  same  words  are  used  to  express  and  confirm  things  directly  con- 
trary and  adverse  unto  one  another.  For  those  words  in  the  psalmist, 
"  Thou  hast  made  him  little  less  than  the  angels,"  they  would  have 
to  signify  the  exaltation  of  man  in  his  creation,  being  made  nigh 
unto  and  little  less  than  angels;  and  in  the  application  of  them  by 
the  apostle  unto  Christ,  they  acknowledge  that  they  denote  depres- 
sion, minoration,  humiliation,  or  exinanition.  How  the  same  words 
in  the  same  place  can  express  contrary  things,  prove  the  exaltation 
of  one  and  the  depression  of  another,  is  very  hard  if  not  impossible 
to  be  understood.  Besides,  thoy  are  compelled  to  interpret  the 
same  phrase  in  diverse  senses,  as  well  as  the  same  sentence  in  con- 
tiary ;  for  those  words  in  the  psalmist,  (Spa^^v  ti,  as  applied  unto  man, 
they  make  to  denote  quantity  or  quality, — as  unto  Christ,  time  or 
duration;  which  that  in  the  same  place  they  cannot  do  both  is  need- 
less to  prove.  But,  as  we  said,  our  exposition  is  wholly  free  from 
these  entanglements,  answering  the  words  of  the  psalmist,  and  suited 
to  the  words  and  context  of  the  apostle  throughout. 

Schlichtingius  or  Crellius,  in  his  comment  on  these  words,  would 
fain  lay  hold  of  an  objection  against  the  deity  of  Christ,  p.  112. 
"  Hinc  videmus,"  saith  he,  "cumD.  Auctor  adeo  sollicite  laboret, 
et  Scripturse  dictis  pugnet  eum  qui  angelis  fuerit  ratione  natures 
minor,  nempe  Christum  debuisse  suprema  gloria  et  honore  coronari, 
angelosque  dignitate  \ongh  siiperare;  nee  ipsi  auctori  nee  cuipiam 
Christianorum  ad  quos  scribit,  divinae  prseter  humanam  in  Christo 
naturae  in  mentem  venisse,  nam  si  banc  in  Christo  agnovissent, 
nullo  negotio  etiam  Christum  angelis  longe  prsestare,  natiiramque 
humanam  ei  minime  obstare  vidissent:  quid  qiiaiso  tanto  molimine, 
tantoque  argumentorum  apparatu  ad  rem  omnibus  apertissimam 
persuadendam  opus  fuisset  ?  Quid  argumentis  aliunde  conquisitis 
laborat  auctor,  cum  uno  ictu,  unica  naturae  istius  divii)a3  mentione 
rem  totam  conficere  potuisset?"  The  whole  ground  of  this  fallacy 
lies  in  a  supposition  that  the  apostle  treateth  of  the  person  of 
Christ  absolutely  and  in  himself  considered;  which  is  evidently 
false.  He  speaks  of  him  in  respect  of  the  office  he  undertook  as 
the  mediator  of  the  new  covenant;  in  which  respect  he  was  both 
made  less  than  the  angels,  not  only  on  the  account  of  his  nature, 
but  of  the  condition  wherein  he  discharged  his  duty,  and  also  made 
or  exalted  above  them,  by  grant  from  his  Father;  whereas  in  his 
divine  nature  he  was  absolutely  and  infinitely  so  from  the  instant 
of  the  creation.  And  whereas  those  to  whom  he  wrote  did  hear 
that  he  was,  in  the  discharge  of  his  office,  for  a  little  while  made 
much  lower  than  the  angels,  it  was  not  m  vain  for  him  to  prove,  by 
arguments  and  testimonies,  that  in  the  execution  of  the  same  office 


VEE.  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  365 

he  was  also  exalted  above  them,  that  part  of  his  work  being  finished 
for  which  he  was  made  lower  than  they  for  a  season.  And  most 
needful  it  was  for  him  so  to  do  in  respect  of  the  Hebrews,  who, 
boasting  of  the  ministry  of  angels  in  the  giving  of  the  law,  were  to 
be  convinced  of  the  excellency  of  the  author  of  the  gospel,  as  such, 
in  the  discharge  of  his  work,  above  them.  And  the  express  men- 
tion of  his  divine  nature  was  in  this  place  altogether  needless  and 
improper,  nor  would  it  have  proved  the  thing  that  he  intended; 
for  how  easy  had  it  been  for  the  Jews  to  have  replied,  that  not- 
withstanding that,  they  saw  in  how  low  an  outward  condition  he 
ministered  upon  the  earth,  and  therefore  that  would  not  prove  his 
exaltation  above  angels  in  the  discharge  of  his  office,  seemg  not- 
withstanding that  he  was  evidently  made  lower  than  they  in  that 
office  !  It  would  also  have  been  improper  for  him  in  this  place  to 
have  made  any  mention  thereof,  seeing  the  proof  of  the  excellency 
of  his  person,  absolutely  considered,  was  nothing  unto  the  business 
he  had  now  in  liand.  And  it  was  likev/ise  every  way  needless,  he 
having  so  abundantly  proved  and  vindicated  his  divine  nature  in  the 
chapter  foregoing.  Now,  to  take  an  argument  against  a  thing  from 
the  apostle's  silence  of  it  in  one  place,  where  the  mention  of  it  was 
improper,  useless,  and  needless,  he  having  fully  expressed  the  same 
matter  elsewhere,  yea,  but  newly  before,  is  an  evidence  of  a  bad  or 
barren  cause.  Of  the  like  importance  is  that  which  he  afterwards 
adds,  p.  115,  "  Quemadmodum  autem  Jesus  homo  verus,  et  natural! 
conditione  cseterishominibus  similis  esse  debuit;  neque  enim  eorum 
servator  est,  qui  natura  et  dii  sunt  et  homines,  sed  hominum  trm- 
tum; "  for  we  shall  demonstrate  that  it  was  needful  he  should  have 
a  divine  nature  v/ho  was  to  suffer  and  to  save  them  who  had  only 
a  human.  And  if  this  man  had  acknowledged  that  end  and 
effect  of  his  suffering,  without  which  we  know  it  would  have  been 
of  no  advantage  unto  them  for  whom  he  suffered,  he  also  would 
believe  the  same. 

We  say  not  any  thing  of  the  sense  of  the  Jews  on  this  place  of 
the  psalmist.  They  seem  wholly  to  have  lost  the  design  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  it,  and  therefore,  in  their  accustomed  manner,  to 
embrace  fables  and  trifles.  The  Talmudists  ascribe  those  words, 
"  What  is  man  V  unto  some  of  the  angels,  expressing  their  envy 
and  indignation  at  his  honour  upon  his  first  creation.  The  later 
doctors,  as  Kimchi  and  Aben  Ezra,  make  application  of  it  unto  man 
in  general,  wherein  they  are  followed  by  too  many  Christians,  unto 
whom  the  apostle  had  been  a  better  guide.  But  we  may  here  also 
see  what  is  further  tendered  unto  us  for  our  instruction ;  as, — ■ 

I.  The  respect,  care,  love,  and  grace  of  God,  unto  mankind,  ex- 
pressed in  the  person  and  mediation  of  Jesus  Christ  is  a  matter  of 
siuQular  and  eternal  admiration. 


S66  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [cHAP.  XL 

We  liave  before  showed,  from  the  words  of  the  psalmist,  that  such 
in  general  is  the  condescension  of  God,  to  have  any  regard  of  man, 
considering  the  infinite  excellency  of  the  properties  of  his  nature,  as 
manifested  in  his  great  and  glorious  works.  That  now  proposed 
followeth  from  the  apostle's  apjilication  of  the  psalmist's  words  unto 
the  person  of  Christ;  and  consequently  from  the  regard  of  God  unto 
us  in  his  mediation.  And  this  is  such,  as  that  the  apostle  tells  us  that 
at  the  last  day  it  shall  be  his  great  glory,  and  that  he  will  be  "admired 
in  all  them  that  believe,"  2  Thess.  i.  10.  When  the  work  of  his 
grace  shall  be  fully  perfected  in  and  towards  them,  then  the  glory 
of  his  grace  appeareth  and  is  magnified  for  ever.  This  is  that  which 
the  admiration  of  the  psalmist  tends  unto  and  rests  in,  that  God 
should  so  regard  the  nature  of  man  as  to  take  it  into  union  with 
himself  in  the  person  of  his  Son,  and  in  that  nature,  humbled  and 
exalted,  to  work  out  the  salvation  of  all  them  that  believe  on  him. 
There  are  other  ways  wherein  the  respect  of  God  towards  man  cloth 
appear,  even  in  the  effects  of  his  holy,  wise  providence  over  him. 
He  causeth  his  sun  to  shine  and  his  rain  to  fall  upon  him.  Matt. 
V.  45.  He  leaves  not  himself  without  witness  towards  us,  "  in  that 
he  doth  good,  and  gives  us  rain  from  heaven,  and  fruitful  seasons, 
filling  our  hearts  with  food  and  glmluess,"  Acts  xiv.  17.  And  these 
ways  of  his  providence  are  !^ill!:ll,;(liy  admirable.  But  this  way  of 
his  grace  towards  us  in  the  pei.-un  of  his  Son  assuming  our  nature 
into  union  with  himself,  is  that  wherein  the  exceeding  and  un- 
speakable riches  of  his  glory  and  wisdom  are  made  manifest.  So 
the  apostle  expresseth  it,  Eph.  i.  17-23.  He  hath  that  to  declare 
unto  them,  which,  because  of  its  greatness,  glory,  and  beauty,  they 
are  no  way  able  of  themselves  to  receive  or  comprehend.  And 
therefore  he  prays  for  them  that  they  may  have  the  spirit  of  wis- 
dom and  revelation,  to  give  them  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  or  that 
God  by  his  Spirit  would  make  them  wise  to  apprehend,  and  give 
them  a  gracious  discovery  of  what  he  proposeth  to  them;  as  also, 
that  hereby  they  may  enjoy  the  blessed  effect  of  an  enlightened 
understanding,  Avithout  which  they  will  not  discern  the  excellency 
of  this  matter.  And  what  is  it  that  they  must  be  helped,  assisted, 
prepared  for  to  understand,  in  any  measure?  what  is  the  great- 
ness, the  glory  of  it,  that  can  no  otherwise  be  discerned  ?  '  Why,' 
saitli  he,  'marvel  not  at  the  necessity  of  this  preparation:  that  wliich 
I  propose  unto  you  is  the  glory  of  God,  that  wherein  he  will  princi- 
pally be  glorified,  here  and  unto  eternity;  and  it  is  the  riches  of  that 
glory,  the  treasures  of  it.'  God  hath  in  other  things  set  forth  and 
manifested  his  glory;  but  yet  as  it  were  by  parts  and  parcels.  One 
thing  hath  declared  his  power,  another  his  goodness  and  wisdom, 
and  that  in  part,  with  reference  unto  that  particular  about  which 
they  have  been  exercised  ;  but  in  this  he  hath  drawn  forth,  dis- 


VEIL  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  867 

played,  manifested  all  the  riches  and  treasures  of  his  glory,  so  that 
his  excellencies  are  capable  of  no  greater  exaltation.  And  there  is 
also  in  this  work  the  unspeakable  greatness  of  his  power  engaged, 
that  no  property  of  his  nature  may  seem  to  be  uninterested  in  this 
matter.  Now  whereunto  doth  all  this  tend  ?  Why,  it  is  all  to 
give  a  blessed  and  eternal  inheritance  unto  believers,  unto  the  hope 
and  expectation  whereof  they  are  called  by  the  gospel.  And  by 
what  way  or  means  is  all  this  wrought  and  brought  about  ?  Even  by 
the  working  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ;  in  his  humiliation,  when  he 
died ;  and  in  his  exaltation,  in  his  resurrection,  putting  all  things  under 
his  feet,  crowning  him  with  glory  and  honour;  which  the  apostle 
shows  by  a  citation  of  this  place  of  the  psalmist :  for  all  this  is  out 
of  God's  regard  unto  man ;  it  is  for  the  church,  which  is  the  body 
of  Christ,  and  his  fulness.  So  full  of  glory,  such  an  object  of  eter- 
nal admiration,  is  this  work  of  the  love  and  grace  of  God;  which, 
as  Peter  tells  us,  the  very  angels  themselves  desire  to  look  into, 
1  Pet.  i.  12.     And  this  further  appears, — 

First,  Because  all  God's  regard  of  man  in  this  way  is  a  fruit  of 
mere  sovereign  grace  and  condescension.  And  all  grace  is  admirable, 
especially  the  grace  of  God ;  and  that  so  great  grace,  as  the  Scripture 
expresseth  it.  There  was  no  consideration  of  any  thing  without 
God  himself  that  moved  him  hereunto.  He  had  glorified  himself, 
as  the  psalmist  shows,  in  other  works  of  his  hands,  and  he  could 
have  rested  in  that  glory.  Man  deserved  no  such  thing  of  him, 
being  worthless  and  sinful.  It  was  all  of  grace,  both  in  the  head 
and  members.  The  human  nature  of  Christ  neither  did  nor  could 
merit  the  hypostatical  union.  It  did  not,  because  being  made  par- 
taker of  it  fiom  the  instant  of  its  conception,  all  antecedent  opera- 
tions that  might  procure  it  were  prevented ;  and  a  thing  cannot  be 
merited  by  any  after  it  is  freely  granted  antecedently  unto  any 
deserts.  Nor  could  it  do  so;  hypostatical  union  could  be  no  reward 
of  obedience,  being  that  which  exceeds  all  the  order  of  things  and 
rules  of  remunerative  justice.  The  assumption,  then,  of  our  nature 
into  personal  union  with  the  Son  of  God,  was  an  act  of  mere  free, 
sovereign,  unconceivable  grace.  And  this  is  the  foundation  of  all 
the  following  fruits  of  God's  regard  unto  us;  and  that  being  of  grace, 
so  must  they  be  also.  Whatever  God  doth  for  us  in  and  by  Jesus 
Christ  as  made  man  for  us, — which  is  all  that  he  so  doth, — it  must, 
I  say,  be  all  of  grace,  because  his  being  made. man  was  so.  Had  there 
been  any  merit,  any  desert  on  our  part,  any  preparation  for  or  dis- 
position unto  the  efi'ectsof  this  regard, — had  our  nature,  or  that  por- 
tion of  it  which  was  sanctified  and  separated  to  be  united  unto  the 
Son  of  God,  any  way  procured  or  prepared  itself  for  its  union  and 
assumption, — things  had  fallen  under  some  rules  of  justice  and 
equality,  whereby  they  might  be  apprehended  and  measured;  but 
voii.  xn. — 24 


S68  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

all  being  of  grace,  they  leave  place  unto  nothing  but  eternal  admi- 
ration and  thankfulness. 

Seconilly,  Had  not  God  been  thus  mindful  of  man,  and  visited 
him  in  the  person  of  his  Son  incarnate,  every  one  partaker  of  that 
nature  must  have  utterly  perished  in  their  lost  condition,  ^nd  this 
also  renders  the  grace  of  it  an  object  of  admiration.  We  are  not 
only  to  look  at  what  God  takes  us  unto  by  this  visitation,  but  to  consi- 
der also  what  he  delivers  iisf7'07n.  Now,  this  is  a  great  part  of  that 
vile  and  base  condition  which  the  psalmist  wonders  that  God  should 
have  regard  unto,  namely,  that  we  had  sinned  and  come  short  of  his 
glory,  and  thereby  exposed  ourselves  unto  eternal  misery.  In  that 
condition  we  must  have  perished  for  ever,  had  not  God  freed  us  by 
this  visitation.  It  had  been  great  grace  to  have  taken  an  innocent, 
a  sinless  man  into  glory;  great  grace  to  have  freed  a  sinner  from 
misery,  though  he  should  never  be  brought  to  the  enjoyment  of  the 
least  positive  good :  but  to  free  a  sinner  from  the  utmost  and  most 
inconceivable  misery  in  eternal  ruin,  and  to  bring  him  unto  the 
highest  happiness  in  eternal  glory,  and  all  this  in  a  way  of  mere 
grace,  this  ']£  to  be  admired. 

Tliirdly/Because  it  appeareth  that  God  is  more  glorified  in  the 
humiliation  and  exaltatioQ  of  the  Lord  Christ,  and  the  salvation  of 
mankind  thereby,  than  in  any  of  or  all  the  works  of  the  first  crea- 
tion. How  glorious  those  works  are,  and  how  mightily  they  set 
forth  the  glory  of  God,  we  have  before  declared.  But,  as  the 
psalmist  intimates,  God  rested  not  in  them. /He  had  yet  a  further 
design,  to  manifest  his  glory  in  a  more  eminent  and  singular  manner; 
and  this  he  did  by  minding  and  visiting  of  man  in  Christ  Jesus. 
None  almost  is  so  stupid,  but  on  the  first  view  of  the  heavens, 
the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  he  will  confess  that  their  fabric,  beauty, 
and  order,  are  wonderful,  and  that  the  glory  of  their  framer  and 
builder  is  for  ever  to  be  admired  in  them.  But  all  this  comes  short 
of  that  glory  which  ariseth  unto  God  from  this  condescension  and 
grace.  And  therefore  it  may  be  the  day  will  come,  and  that 
speedily,  wherein  these  heavens,  and  this  whole  old  creation,  shall 
be  utterly  dissolved  and  brought  to  nothing;  for  why  should  they 
abide  as  a  monument  of  his  power  unto  them  who,  enjoying  the 
blessed  vision  of  him,  shall  see  and  know  it  far  more  evidently  and 
eminently  in  himself?  However,  they  shall  undoubtedly  in  a  short 
time  cease  as  to  their  use,  wherein  at  present  they  are  principally 
subservient  unto  the  manifestation  of  the  glory  of  God.  But  the 
effects  of  this  regard  of  God  to  man  shall  abide  unto  eternity,  and 
the  glory  of  God  therein.  This  is  the  foundation  of  heaven,  as  it 
is  a  state  and  condition, — it  denotes  the  glorious  presence  of  God 
among  his  saints  and  holy  ones.  Without  this  there  would  be  no 
Buch  heaven i  all  that  is  there,  and  all  the  glory  of  it,  depend  thereou. 


VER.  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  S69 

Take  away  this  foundation,  and  all  that  beauty  and  glory  disappears. 
Nothhig,  indeed,  would  be  taken  from  God,  who  ever  was  and  ever 
will  be  eternally  blessed  in  his  own  self  sufiSciency.  But  the  whole 
theatre  which  he  hath  erected  for  the  manifestation  of  his  glory 
unto  eternity  depends  on  this  his  holy  condescension  and  grace; 
which  assuredly  render  them  meet  for  ever  to  be  admired  and 
adored. 

This,  then,  let  us  exercise  ourselves  unto.  Faith  having  infinite, 
eternal,  incomprehensible  things  proposed  unto  it,  acts  itself  greatly 
in  this  admiration.  We  are  every wliere  taught  that  we  now  know 
but  imperfectly,  in  part;  and  that  we  see  darkly,  as  in  a  glass:  not 
that  the  revelation  of  these  things  in  the  word  is  dark  and  obscure, 
for  they  are  fully  and  clearly  proposed,  but  that  such  is  the  nature 
of  the  things  themselves,  that  we  are  not  in  this  life  able  to  cornpre- 
liend  them;  and  therefore  faith  doth  principally  exercise  itself  in  a 
holy  admiration  of  them.  And  indeed  no  love  or  grace  will  suit 
our  condition  but  that  which  is  incomprehensible.  We  find  our- 
selves by  experience  to  stand  in  need  of  more  grace,  goodness,  love, 
and  mercy,  than  we  can  look  into,  search  to  the  bottom  of,  or  fully 
understand.  But  when  that  which  is  infinite  and  incomprehensible 
is  proposed  unto  us,  the.n  all  fears  are  overwhelmed,  and  faith  finds 
rest  with  assurance.  And  if  our  admiration  of  these  things  be  an 
act,  an  effect,  a  fruit  of  faith,  it  will  be  of  singular  use  to  endear 
God  unto  our  hearts,  and  to  excite  them  unto  thankful  obedience ; 
for  who  would  not  love  and  delight  in  the  eternal  fountain  of  this 
inconceivable  grace?  and  what  shall  we  render  unto  him  who  hath 
done  more  for  us  than  we  are  any  way  able  to  think  or  conceive? 

II.  Observe  also,  that  such  was  the  inconceivable  love  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  unto  the  souls  of  men,  that  he  was  free  and 
willing  to  condescend  unto  any  condition  for  their  good  and  salva- 
tion. 

That  was  the  end  of  all  this  dispensation.  And  the  Lord  Christ 
was  not  humbled  and  made  less  than  the  angels  without  his  own 
will  and  consent.  His  will  and  good  liking  concurred  unto  this 
work.  Hence,  when  the  eternal  counsel  of  this  whole  matter  is 
mentioned,  it  is  said  of  him,  as  the  Wisdom  of  the  Father,  that  "  he 
rejoiced  in  the  habitable  part  of  the  earth,  and  his  delights  were 
with  the  sons  of  men,"  Prov.  viii.  31.  He  delighted  in  the  counsel 
of  redeeming  and  saving  them  by  his  own  humiliation  and  suffer-, 
ing.  And  the  Scripture  makes  it  evident  upon  these  two  consider- 
ations:— 

First,  In  that  it  shows  that  what  he  was  to  do  and  what  he  ^cas 
to  undergo  in  this  work  were  proposed  unto  him,  and  that  he  will- 
ingly accepted  of  the  terms  and  conditions  of  it.  Ps.  xl.  6,  God 
says  unto  him,  that  sacrifice  and  offering  could  not  do  this  great 


870  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

work, — burnt-offering  and  sin-offering  could  not  effect  it ;  that  is,  no 
kind  of  offerings  or  sacrifices  instituted  by  the  law  were  available  lo 
take  away  sin  and  to  save  sinners,  as  our  apostle  expounds  that 
place  at  large,  Heb.  x.  1-9,  confirming  his  exposition  with  sundry 
arguments  taken  from  their  nature  and  effects.  What,  then,  doth 
God  require  of  him,  that  this  great  design  of  the  salvation  of  sinners 
may  be  accomplished?  Even  that  he  himself  should  "make  his  soul 
an  offering  for  sin,"  "  pour  out  his  soul  unto  death,"  and  thereby 
"bear  the  sin  of  many,"  Isa.  liii.  10, 12 ;  that  seeing  "  the  law  was  weak 
through  the  flesh," — that  is,  by  reason  of  our  sins  in  the  flesh, — 
he  himself  should  take  upon  him  "  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,"  and 
become  "an  offering  for  sin  in  the  flesh,"  Rom.  viii.  3;  that  he  should 
be  "made  of  a  woman,  made  under  the  law,"  if  he  would  "redeem  them 
that  were  under  the  law,"  Gal.  iv.  4,  5 ;  that  he  should  "  make  himself 
of  no  reputation,  and  take  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  be 
made  in  the  likeness  of  men,  and  being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man, 
humble  himself  and  become  obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death 
of  the  cross,"  Phil.  ii.  7,  8.  These  things  were  proposed  unto  him, 
which  he  was  to  undergo,  if  he  would  deliver  and  save  mankind. 
And  how  did  he  entertain  this  proposal?  how  did  he  like  these 
conditions?  "  I  was  not,"  saith  he,  "  rebellious,  neither  turned  away 
back,"  Isa.  1.  5.  He  declined  them  not,  he  refused  none  of  the 
terms  that  were  proposed  unto  him,  but  underwent  them  in  a  way 
of  obedience;  and  that  with  willingness,  alacrity,  and  delight.  Ps. 
xl.  6-8:  "Mine  ears  hast  thou  opened,"  saith  he;  or  '  prepared  a 
body  for  me,  wherein  I  may  yield  this  obedience,'  (that  the  apostle 
declares  to  be  the  sense  of  the  expression,  Heb.  x.)  This  obedience 
could  not  be  yielded  without  a  body,  wherein  it  was  performed. 
And  whereas  to  hear,  or  to  have  the  ear  opened,  is  in  the  Scripture 
to  be  prepared  unto  obedience,  the  psalmist  in  that  one  expression, 
"  Mine  ears  hast  thou  opened,"  compriseth  both  these,  even  that 
Christ  had  a  body  prepared,  by  a  synecdoche  of  a  part  for  the 
whole,  and  also  in  that  body  he  was  ready  to  yield  obedience  unto 
God  in  this  great  work,  which  could  not  be  accomplished  by  sacri- 
fices and  burnt-offerings.  And  this  readiness  and  willingness  of 
CJnist  unto  this  work  is  set  out  under  three  heads  in  the  ensuing 
words: — 1.  His  tender  of  himself  unto  this  work.  Then  said  he, 
"  Lo,  I  come,  in  the  volume  of  thy  book  it  is  written  of  me;" — 
,  '  This  thou  hast  promised,  this  is  recorded  in  the  head,  beginning  of 
thy  book,'  namely,  in  that  great  promise.  Gen.  iii.  15,  that  the  seed 
of  the  woman  should  bruise  the  head  of  the  serpent;  '  and  now  thou 
hast  given  me,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  and  prepared  me  a  body  for 
that  purpose;  lo,  I  come,  willing  and  ready  to  undertake  it.'  2.  In 
the  frame  of  his  mind  in  this  engagement.  He  entered  into  it 
with  great  delight;  "I  delight  to  do  thy  will,  O  my  God."     He 


\ER.  5-9.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  S7l 

did  not  delight  in  the  thoughts  of  it  only  of  old,  as  before,  and  then 
grow  heavy  and  sorrowful  when  it  was  to  be  undertaken ;  but  he 
went  unto  it  with  cheerfulness  and  delight,  although  he  knew  what 
sorrow  and  grief  it  would  cost  him  before  it  was  brought  unto  per- 
fection. 3.  From  the  principle  whence  this  obedience  and  delight 
did  spring;  which  was  a  universal  conformity  of  his  soul,  mind, 
and  will,  unto  the  law,  mind,  and  will  of  God:  "  Thy  law  is  in  my 
heart," — "in  the  midst  of  my  bowels;" — 'Every  thing  in  me  is  com- 
pliant with  thy  will  and  law;  there  is  in  me  a  universal  conformity 
thereunto,'  Being  thus  prepared,  thus  principled,  he  considered  the 
glory  that  was  set  before  him, — the  glory  that  would  redound  unto 
God  by  his  becoming  a  captain  of  salvation,  and  that  would  ensue 
unto  himself.  He  "endured  the  cross  and  despised  the  shame,"  Heb. 
xii.  2.  He  armed  himself  with  those  considerations  against  the 
hardships  and  sufferings  that  he  was  to  meet  withal ;  and  the  apostle 
Peter  adviseth  us  to  arm  ourselves  with  the  like  mind  when  we  are  to 
suffer,  1  Epist.  iv.  1.  By  all  which  it  appears  that  the  good-will  and 
love  of  Jesus  Christ  were  in  this  matter  of  being  humbled  and  made 
less  than  angels;  as  the  apostle  says  expressly  that  "  he  humbled 
himself,  and  made  himself  of  no  reputation,"  Phil.  ii.  7,  8,  as  well  as  it 
is  here  said  that  God  humbled  him,  or  made  him  less  than  angels. 

Secondly,  The  Scripture  peculiarly  assigns  this  work  unto  the  love 
and  condescension  of  Christ  himself;  for  although  it  abounds  in 
setting  forth  the  love  of  the  Father  in  the  designing  and  contriving 
this  work,  and  sending  his  Son  into  the  world,  yet  it  directs  us  unto 
the  love  of  the  Lord  Christ  himself  as  the  next  immediate  cause  of 
his  engaging  into  it  and  performance  of  it.  So  saith  the  apostle.  Gal. 
ii.  20, "  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God," — that  is,  by  faith  in  him, 
■ — "  who  loved  me,  and  gave  himself  for  me."  It  was  the  love  of 
Christ  that  moved  him  to  give  himself  for  us;  which  is  excellently 
expressed  in  that  doxology,  B-ev.  i.  5,  6,  "  Unto  him  that  loved  us, 
and  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood,  and  hath  made  us 
kings  and  priests  unto  God  and  his  Father;  to  him  be  glory  and 
dominion  for  ever  and  ever.  Amen."  All  this  was  the  fruit  of  his 
love,  and  therefore  unto  him  is  all  praise  and  honour  to  be  given  and 
ascribed.  And  so  great  was  this  love  of  Christ,  that  he  declined  no- 
thing that  was  proposed  unto  him.  This  the  apostle  calls  his  "grace," 
2  Cor.  viii.  9,  "  Ye  know  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that, 
though  he  was  rich,  yet  for  your  sakes  he  became  poor,  that  ye 
through  his  poverty  might  be  rich."  He  condescended  unto  a  poor 
and  low  condition,  and  to  suffer  therein,  for  our  good,  that  we  might 
be  made  partakers  of  the  riches  of  the  grace  of  God.  And  this  was 
the  love  of  the  person  of  Christ,  because  it  was  in  and  wrought 
equally  in  him  both  before  and  after  his  assumption  of  our  nature. 

Now,  the  Holy  Ghost  makes  an  especial  application  of  this  truth 


S72  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAR  IL 

unto  us,  as  unto  one  part  of  our  obedience:  Phil.  ii.  5,  "  Let  tl\is 
mind  be  in  you,  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus;"  and  what  that 
mind  was  he  declares  in  the  ensuing  verses,  laying  out  his  infinite 
condescension  in  taking  our  nature  upon  him,  and  submitting  to  all 
misery,  reproach,  and  death  itself  for  our  sakes.  If  this  mind  were 
in  Christ,  should  not  we  endeavour  after  a  readiness  and  willingness 
to  submit  ourselves  unto  any  condition  for  his  glory?  "  Forasmuch," 
saith  Peter,  "  as  Christ  hath  suffered  for  us  in  the  flesh,  arm  your- 
selves likewise  with  the  same  mind,"  1  Pet.  iv.  1.  Many  difficulties 
"will  lie  in  our  way,  many  reasonings  will  rise  up  against  it,  if  we 
consult  with  flesh  and  blood;  but,  saith  he,  "Arm  yourselves  with 
the  same  mind  that  was  in  Christ;"  get  your  souls  strengthened  and 
fenced  by  grace  against  all  oppositions,  that  you  may  follow  him  and 
imitate  him.  Some  that  profess  his  name  will  suffer  nothing  for 
him.  If  they  may  enjoy  him  or  his  ways  in  peace  and  quietness, 
well  and  good;  but  if  persecution  arise  for  the  gospel,  immediately 
they  fall  away.  These  have  neither  lot  nor  portion  in  this  matter. 
Others,  the  most,  the  best,  have  a  secret  loathness  and  unwillingness 
to  condescend  unto  a  condition  of  trouble  and  distress  for  the  gos- 
pel. Well,  if  we  are  unwilling  hereunto,  what  doth  the  Lord  Christ 
lose  by  it?  Will  it  be  any  real  abatement  of  his  honour  or  glory? 
Will  he  lose  his  crown  or  kingdom  thereby?  So  far  as  suffering  m 
this  world  is  needful  for  any  of  his  blessed  ends  and  purposes,  he 
will  not  want  them  who  shall  be  ready  even  to  die  for  his  name's  sake. 
But  what  if  he  had  been  unwilling  to  be  humbled  and  to  suffer  for 
us?  If  the  same  mind  had  been  in  Christ  as  is  in  us,  what  had 
been  our  state  and  condition  unto  eternity?  In  this  grace,  love,  and 
willingness  of  Christ,  lies  the  foundation  of  all  our  happiness,  of  all 
our  deliverance  from  misery  and  ruin ;  and  shall  we  reckon  our- 
selves to  have  an  interest  therein,  and  yet  find  ourselves  altogether 
unready  to  a  conformity  unto  him?  Besides,  the  Lord  Christ  was 
really  rich  when  he  made  himself  poor  for  our  sakes;  he  was  in  the 
form  of  God  when  he  took  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  be- 
came for  us  of  no  reputation.  Nothing  of  this  was  due  to  him  or 
belonged  unto  him,  but  merely  on  our  account.  But  we  are  in  our- 
selves really  poor,  and  obnoxious  unto  infinitely  more  miseries  for 
our  own  sins  than  what  he  calls  us  unto  for  his  name.  Are  we  un- 
willing to  suffer  a  little,  light,  transitory  trouble  in  this  world  for 
him,  without  whose  sufferings  for  us  we  must  have  suffered  misery, 
and  that  eternal,  whether  we  would  or  no?  And  I  speak  not  so 
much  about  suffering  itself  as  about  the  mind  and  frame  of  spirit 
wherewith  we  imdergo  it.  Some  will  suffer  when  they  cannot  avoid 
it,  but  so  unwillingly,  so  uncheerfully,  as  makes  it  evident  that  they 
aim  at  nothing,  and  act  from  no  principle,  but  merely  that  they  dare 
not  go  against  their  convictions.    But  "  the  mind  that  was  in  Christ" 


VEE.  6-9.]  >  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBllEWS.  S73 

•will  lead  us  unto  it  out  of  love  unto  him,  with  freedom  and  enlarged- 
ness  of  heart;  which  is  reqiared  of  us, 

III.  The  blessed  issue  of  the  abasement  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  his 
exaltation  unto  honour  and  glory,  is  an  assured  pledge  of  the  final 
glory  and  blessedness  of  all  that  believe  in  him,  whatever  difficulties 
and  dangers  they  may  be  exercised  withal  in  the  way. 

His  humiliation  and  exaltation,  as  we  have  seen,  proceeded  out 
of  God's  condescension  and  love  to  mankind.  His  electing  love,  the 
eternal  gracious  purpose  of  his  will  to  recover  lost  sinners,  and  to 
bring  them  unto  the  enjoyment  of  himself,  was  the  ground  of  t  is 
dispensation;  and  therefore  what  he  hath  done  in  Christ  is  a  certain 
pledge  of  what  he  will  do  in  and  for  them  also.  He  is  not  crowned 
with  honour  and  glory  merely  for  himself,  but  that  he  may  be  a 
captain  of  salvation,  and  bring  others  unto  a  participation  of  his 
glory 

IV.  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  mediator  of  the  new  covenant,  hath  ab- 
solute and  supreme  authority  given  unto  him  over  all  the  worlcs  of 
God  in  heaven  and  earth. 

This  we  have  so  fully  manifested  and  insisted  on  upon  the  fore- 
going chapter,  that  we  shall  not  here  further  pursue  it;  but  only  mind 
by  the  way,  that  blessed  is  the  state  and  condition,  great  is  the  spi- 
ritual and  eternal  security  of  the  church,  seeing  all  things  are  under 
the  very  feet  of  its  Head  and  Saviour. 

V.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  lord  of  the  gospel  state  of 
the  church,  called  under  the  old  testament  "the  world  to  come;" 
and  therefore  he  only  hath  power  to  dispose  of  all  things  in  it  relat- 
ing unto  that  worship  of  God  which  it  is  to  perform  and  celebrate. 

It  is  not  put  into  subjection  unto  any  other,  angels  or  men.  This 
privilege  was  reserved  for  Christ;  this  honour  is  bestowed  on  the 
church.  He  is  the  only  head,  king,  and  lawgiver  of  it;  and  no- 
thing is  it  to  be  taught  to  observe  or  do  but  what  he  hath  com- 
manded. But  this  will  fall  more  directly  under  our  consideration  in 
the  beginning  of  the  next  chapter. 

VI.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  his  death  did  undergo  the  penal 
sentence  of  the  law,  in  the  room  and  stead  of  them  for  whom  he  died. 

Death  was  that  which,  by  the  sentence  of  the  law,  was  due  unto 
sin  and  sinners.  For  them  did  Christ  die,  and  therein  tasted  of  the 
bitterness  of  that  death  which  they  were  to  have  undergone,  or  ehse 
the  fruit  of  it  could  not  have  redounded  unto  them ;  for  what  was  it 
towards  their  discharge,  if  that  which  they  had  deserved  was  not 
suffered,  but  somewhat  else,  wherein  the  least  part  of  their  concern- 
ment did  lie?  But  this  being  done,  certain  deliverance  and  salva- 
tion will  be  the  lot  and  portion  of  them,  of  all  them,  for  whom  he 
died;  and  that  upon  the  rules  of  justice  and  righteousness  on  tho 
part  of  Christ,  though  on  theirs,  of  mere  mercy  and  grace. 


374  an  exposition  of  the  fchap.  il 

Verse  10. 

The  apostle  in  the  verses  foregoing  made  mention  of  that  which, 
of  all  other  things,  the  Jews  generally  were  most  offended  at,  and 
which  was  of  the  greatest  importance  to  be  believed,  namely,  the 
sufferings  of  the  Messiah,  wherein  a  great  part  of  the  discharge  of 
his  sacerdotal  office,  whereunto  he  here  makes  a  transition,  did  con- 
sist. This  his  own  disciples  were  slow  in  the  belief  of.  Matt.  xvi.  21, 
22,  xvii.  22,  23;  Luke  xxiv.  25,  26,  and  the  Jews  generally  stumbled 
at.  They  thought  it  strange  that  the  Messiah,  the  Son  of  God,  the 
Saviour  of  his  people,  and  Captain  of  their  salvation,  concerning  whom 
so  great  and  glorious  things  were  promised  and  foretold,  should  be 
brought  into  a  low  despised  condition,  and  therein  to  suffer  and  die. 
Hence  they  cried  unto  him  on  the  cross,  "  If  thou  be  the  Christ, 
come  down  and  save  thyself;"  intimating  that  by  his  suffering  he  was 
assuredly  proved  not  to  be  so,  for  why  any  one  should  suffer  that 
could  deliver  himself  they  saw  no  reason. 

Besides,  they  had  inveterate  prejudices  about  the  salvation  pro- 
mised by  the  Messiah,  and  the  way  whereby  it  was  to  be  wrought, 
arising  from  their  love  and  over-valuation  of  temporal  or  carnal 
things,  with  their  contempt  of  things  spiritual  and  eternal.  They 
expected  a  deliverance  outward,  glorious,  and  kingly,  in  this  world, 
and  that  to  be  wrought  with  arms,  power,  and  a  mighty  hand.  And 
what  should  they  expect  from  a  Messiah  that  suffered  and  died? 
Wherefore  the  apostle,  having  asserted  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  saw 
it  necessary  to  proceed  unto  a  full  confirmation  of  it,  with  a  declara- 
tion of  the  reasons,  causes,  and  ends  of  it;  partly  to  evert  that  false 
persuasion  which  prevailed  amongst  them  about  the  nature  of  the 
salvation  to  be  wrought  b}'  Christ ;  partly  to  show  that  nothing  would 
thence  ensue  derogatory  unto  what  he  had  before  delivered  about 
his  pre-eminence  above  angels;  but  principally  to  instruct  them  in  the 
sacerdotal  office  of  the  Messiah,  the  redemption  which  he  wrought, 
and  the  means  whereby  he  accomplished  it, — which  was  the  great 
business  that  he  had  designed  to  treat  with  them  about.  [As]  for  the 
salvation  itself,  he  declares  that  it  was  not  to  be  of  the  same  kind 
with  that  which  they  had  of  old,  when  they  were  brought  out  of 
Egypt  and  settled  in  the  land  of  Canaan  under  the  conduct  of 
Joshua,  but  spiritual  and  heavenly,  in  a  deliverance  from  sin,  Satan, 
death,  and  hell,  with  a  manuduction  into  life  and  blessedness  eter- 
nal. He  informs  them  that  the  way  whereby  this  was  to  be 
wrought,  was  by  the  sufferings  and  death  of  the  Messiah,  and  that 
no  other  way  it  could  be  accomplished  ;  on  which  account  they  were 
indispensably  necessary.  And  the  first  reason  hereof  he  expressetb 
in  this  tenth  verse. 

Fer.  10. — -"ET/sfWo  yu.0  alrifj,  di'  o¥  ru  Toura  xa/  di*  ov  ra  vavra,  ffsK- 


VER.  10.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  375 

Xoiig  viovg  stg  Bo^av  ayayovra,  rhv  afy^riyhv  r^g   ffurrjpiag   ahruv   hia  •^aOri- 
/idruv  TiXiiMCOLi. 

One  or  two  copies  read,  S<a  ■Trud^fixro;  xvrov  re'Knovadxt,  against  the  sense  and 
design  of  tiie  place.  Avtov  is  needlessly  repeated,  unless  put  for  kavrov,  ami  then 
it  disturbs  the  whole  meaning  of  the  verse,  and  is  inconsistent  with  the  passive 
verb  following  in  this  reading.  Ucid'/]fioi.rog,  in  the  singular  number,  relates  only 
unto  death,  expressed  in  the  verse  foregoing  by  TrxS^fcx  Bxvocrov;  but  here  all  the 
sufferings  of  Christ,  as  well  those  antecedent  unto  death  as  death  itself,  are  in- 
tended. TeAsioiadat,  in  the  passive,  is  followed  by  some  copies  of  the  Vulgar  ti'ans- 
lation,  reading  '•  consummari;"  both  inconsistent  with  the  sense  of  the  place,  as 
we  shall  see. 

Translations  differ  but  little  about  these  words.  "ETrpe-Trs  ya.p  xvtm.  Most, 
"  decebat  enim  eum,"  "for  it  became  him;"  Beza,  "  decebat  enim  ut  iste," 
"for  it  was  meet  that  he,"  to  make  the  folliwing  words  flow  regularlv.  At  Sv 
TO.  -Trocvrct.,  "propter  quern  omnia;"  Syr.,  '.^l  '^.',  '•  cui  omnia,"  "for  whom  are 
all  things;"  Beza,  "  pi-opter  quern  sunt  hsec  omnia,"  expressing  the  article  as 
restrictive  to  the  things  spoken  of,  "  for  whom  are  all  these  things."  One  Syriae 
copy  adds,  ^""''?,  "  in  his  hand;"  which  somewhat  corrupts  the  sense.  Kai  ot  ov 
Tci  ■xtxurx,  "et  per  quern  omnia,"  "  by  whom  are  all  things;"  Beza,  "  ha;c  omnia," 
as  before,  without  cause:  for  the  article  is  frequently  prefixed  unto  -Tca-vrx,  where 
all  things  absolutely  are  intended;  as  Eph.  i,  11.  TiaXKwq  vtov;  tig  oo^xv 
xyxyovrx.  Vulg.,  "qui  multos  filios  ad  glnriam  adduxerat,"  '"who  had  brought 
many  sons  unto  glory;"  Arias,  "multos  filios  ad  gloriam  adducentem;"  Beza, 
"  adducendo,"  "bringing  many  sons  unto  glory;"  Syr.,  "  adduxerat  in  gloriam 
suam,"  "  had  brought  many  sons  into  his  glory."  To//  a/j^^/jyo'i/.  Vulg.,  "  aueto- 
rem,"  ''the  author;"  Beza,  "  principem ;"  Syr.,  >'"^"''?,  "the  head"  (or  "  prince")  'of 
their  salvation."  Aix  vxdnf^xTuv  rehnuaxi,  "per  passionem  consummare,"  "to 
consummate"  (or  "complete")"  by  suffering;"  Beza,  "per  perpessiones,""by  suffer- 
ings;" Syr.,  "perficere,"  "  perfectum  reduere,"  "to  perfect,"  "  to  make  perfect." 

The  proper  signification  of  the  words  in  this  verse  is  much  to  be  heeded,  as  that 
which  will  give  us  much  light  into  the  sense  of  the  whole.  UpiTnt  is  "  decet," 
"convenit,"  "  dignum  est;"  "  it  becometh,"  it  is  "  meet,"  "convenient,  or  "just." 
UpiTTov  Oiotg,  in  Plato,  is  rendered  by  Cicero,  "Deo  decorum,"  "that  which  be- 
cometh God;"  and  saith  he,  "  TLpi'^ov,  appellant  hoc  Grseci,  nos  dicanaus  sane 
decorum;"  that  which  becometh  any  one  in  his  state  and  condition,  in  a  moral 
sense;  as,  "  Holiness  becometh  the  house," — that  is,  the  people  of  God.  Kxrx  to 
'jrpi'Trov,  "  ut  decet,"  "  ut  par  est ;"  that  which  is  equal  and  right  to  be  done. 
Upi'Tc-ovcx  rif<.7],  is  "  honour  justly  deserved  ;"  and  -x-psTrovax  ^npci'x,  "Just  loss"  or 
"  punishment."  The  word,  then,  signifies  that  decency  and  becomingness  which 
justice,  reason,  and  equity  require,  so  that  the  contrary  would  be  unmeet,  be- 
cause unequal  and  unjust.  Thus  every  one's  duty,  that  which  is  morally  incum- 
bent on  him  in  his  place  and  station,  is  that  which  becomes  him;  and  hence  in 
the  New  Testament,  that  which  is  not  xxrx  to  vpiTrou,  thus  decent,  is  condemned 
as  evil,  1  Cor.  xi.  13;  1  Tim.  ii.  10.  And  itself  is  commended  as  a  rule  of  vir- 
tue, Matt.  iii.  15;  Eph.  v.  3. 

At  ov.  Aix  with  an  accusative  case  constantly  denotes  the  final  cause,  "  prop- 
ter quem,"  "  for  whom:"  Rev.  iv.  11,  2v  Ix-rtaxg  rx  ttxvtx,  "Thou  hast  created 
all  things"  (all  thins^s  universally,  with  the  article  prefixed,  as  in  this  place),  kxX 
"tix  TO  Bi'hyif^oi  aov  dsl,  xxl  exrtardmxi/,  "an:l  for  thy  will"  ('•  thy  pleasure,"  "  thy 
glory")  ''they  are,  and  were  created."  Rom.  xi.  36,  E/V  ov  rx  -jrxvrx,  "To 
whom"  (f.o  hirn,  or  for  him,  or  his  glory)  "are  all  things."  Prov.  xvi.  4. 
^~?Zi'^  "";"■'.  ''?f  '= ,— "  The  Lord  hath  made  all  things  for  himself;"  his  glory  is 
the  iinal  cause  of  them  ail. 


S76  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  It 

Keel  3/  ov  roc.  'xu.VTct,  "  and  by  whom  are  all  things."  A/«  with  a  genitive  de- 
notes the  efficient  cause.  Some  from  this  expression  would  have  the  Son  to  be  the 
person  here  spoken  of,  because  concerning  him  it  is  fre(juently  said  that  all  thing.s 
are  3/  xurou,  John  i.  3.  1  Cor.  viii.  6,  Heb.  i.  3;  but  it  is  used  also  with  reference 
unto  the  Father,  Rom.  xi.  36,  G.il.  i.  1.  Schlichtiiigius  here  gives  it  for  a  rule, 
that  when  lice  relates  unto  the  Father,  it  denotes  the  principal  efficient  cause; 
when  unto  the  Son,  the  instrumental.  But  it  is  a  rule  of  his  own  coining,  a 
gioundless  efflux  of  his  T^-purou  ■\pivhog,  that  the  Son  is  not  God  :  on  which  kind  of 
presumptions  men  may  found  what  rules  they  please.  The  principal  efficiency  or 
supreme  production  of  all  things  by  God  is  intended  in  this  expression. 

'  kya,-/6vra.,  "  bringing,"  a  word  of  common  use  and  known  signification,  but 
in  this  place  attended  with  a  double  difficulty,  from  a  double  enallage  in  the  use 
of  it: — First,  in  the  case;  for  whereas  it  seems  to  relate  unto  ainw,  "  it  beciinie 
hiin  in  bringing,"  it  should  then  regularly  be  d'yocyouTt,  not  oLyctyouru.  Hence 
some,  by  supposing  a  cvyx'J'f"^  in  the  words,  refei*  it  unto  tx,py;,r]yov,  ■'  the  author;" 
as  if  the  apostle  had  said,  Tov  dp^criyoii  rij;  aurnpiu;  ctvruv  Tro'hT^ov;  vioii;  dynyoyTot, 
• — "To  make  perfect  the  captain  of  their  salva'.ion,  who  brought  many  sons  unto 
glory."  But  this  transposition  of  the  words,  neither  the  context  nor  the  addition 
of  otiirZiv,  "  their,"  unto  acnnpietg,  "  their  salvation,"  relating  unto  the  sons  before 
mentioned,  will  by  any  means  allow.  Wherefore  an  enallage  of  the  case  is  neces- 
sarily to  be  allowed,  dyuyovrot,  for  dyotyovzi,  unless  we  suppose  a  repetition  of 
iTzpiTri,  which  frequently  admits  of  the  accusative  case  ;  but  the  principal  author 
is  unquestimiabiy  intended.  Again,  dyayowoe,  is  a  participle  of  the  second  aoris- 
tu<-,  which  usually  denotes  the  time  past,  and  thence  is  it  translated  by  many, 
"  adduxit,"  "adduxerat,"  and  "  filiis  adductis;" — "after  he  had  brought  many 
sons  to  glory."  And  this  some  refer  to  the  saints  who  died  under  the  old  testa- 
ment, unto  whom  the  Lord  Christ  was  no  less  a  captain  of  salvation  than  to  us. 
And  so  the  apostle  shows  that  after  they  were  saved  on  his  account,  it  was  meet 
that  he  should  answer  for  them,  according  to  his  undertaking.  But  neither  doth 
this  restraining  of  the  word  answer  the  apostle's  intentiim :  ior  it  is  evident  that 
he  principally  minded  them  unto  whom  the  Lord  Jesus  became  eminently  a  cap- 
tain of  salvation  after  he  was  perfected  by  sufferings,  though  not  exclusively  unto 
them  that  went  before.  'Ay«yo'i/T«,  then,  is  put  fov  dyovrct,  unless  we  shall  sup- 
pose that  the  act  of  God  here  intended  was  on  purpose  thus  expressed  to  com- 
prehend all  the  sons,  both  those  that  lived  before  and  those  that  lived  after  the 
sufferings  of  Christ, — "  bringing,"  "leading,"  "  bearing  unto  glory."  It  concerns 
the  whole  execution  of  the  design  of  G  >d  for  the  salvation  and  glorification  of 
believers.  IloXXovf  viov;,  "  many  sons,"  Jews  and  Gentiles,  all  that  were  by  faith 
to  become  his  sons. 

ToV  dp-jcnyov,  "  the  author."  Wherever  this  word  is  used  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment it  is  applied  unto  Christ.  Acts  iii.  15,  he  is  called  dpxnyo;  rr,;  ^coi;?,  "the 
prince  of  life;"  and  chap.  v.  31,  God  is  said  to  make  him  dp^nyou  x«i  auriipoc., 
"a  prince  and  a  saviour;"  that  is,  dpx^yov  rvii  aurnpiot.g,  as  here,  "  the  prince  of 
our  salvation."  Heb.  xii.  2,  the  apostle  calls  him,  rou  riig  'xlarioig  dpxyiyov  xal 
tihituT'/lv,  as  we  render  it,  "the  author  and  finisher  of  faith;"  as  here  God  is 
said  nMiuaut  rov  dpxnyov,  to  finish  or  perfect  this  author  of  our  salvation.  No- 
where else  is  this  word  used  in  the  New  Testament.  It  answers  justly  the 
Hebrew  "'"'^J,  which  the  LXX.  render  «,px<'>v  and  iiyov^ivog,  the  signification  of 
both  which  words  is  included  in  dpxnyog,  "  princeps,"  "  dux,"  "  prseses," 
"auctor," — "  a  prince,"  "  captain,"  "  ruler,"  "  author."  And  it  is  used  in  writers 
with  respect  to  works  good  and  bad.  ^  Apxfiyog  Kctl  ZiZti.ax.ei'hog  ruv  'ipyuu  roiovruv, 
Isncrat.  ; — "  The  author  and  teacher  of  such  works."  And  dpxfiyh  toD  y.ot.Kov(>- 
y'/;,u»rog,  "  artifex  maleficii," — "  the  principal  contriver  of  mischief."  It  is  also 
used  for  the  author  of  a  stock,  race,  or  kindred  of  men.     In  this  place  it  is 


VER.  10.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  377 

limited  by  acyrnpleti.  It  denotes  the  chief  or  principal  operator  or  worker  of  tliat 
salvation,  with  especial  reference  unto  the  kingly  or  princely  power  whereuiito 
he  was  advanced  aftor  his  s-uffcrings;  as  he  is  also  absolutely  a  prince,  a  ruler, 
and  the  author  or  spring  of  the  whole  race  and  kind  of  believers,  according  unto 
the  other  senses  of  the  word. 

Ti'hiiuaa.t.  This  word  is  variously  used  and  variously  rendered:  "to  consum- 
mate," "  to  perfect,"  "  to  make  perfect ;"  "  to  consecrate,"  "  dedicate,"  "  sanctify." 
Some  woulil  have  it  in  this  place  to  be  the  same  with  oLyitv  ilg  lo^uu,  "  to  brin^y 
unto  glory."  But  what  is  the  precise  signification  of  the  word  we  shall  dear 
in  the  exposition  ensuing,  when  we  declare  what  act  of  God  it  is  that  is  hei-e 
intended. 

Before  we  proceed  to  the  exposition  of  the  several  parts  of  this  text,  we  must 
consider  the  order  of  the  words,  to  prevent  some  mistakes  that  divers  learned  com- 
mentators have  fallen  into  about  them.  Some  suppose  a  hyperbaton  in  them,  and 
that  these  expressions,  "For  whom  are  all  things,  and  by  whom  are  all  things, 
in  bringing  many  sons  unto  glory,"  do  intend  the  Son,  the  captain  of  salvation. 
The  word  uvru,  "  him,"  "  it  became  him,"  they  confess  to  relate  unto  Qiov, 
"  God,"  in  the  verse  foregoing,  and  to  relate  unto  the  Father.  In  whicli  order 
this  would  be  the  sense  of  the  words:  "  It  became  him,"  that  is,  G'xi,  "  to  make 
perfect  through  sufferings  the  captain  of  their  salvation,  for  whom  are  all  things, 
and  by  whom  are  all  things,  who  bringeth  many  sons  unto  glory."  But  there 
is  no  just  reason  why  we  should  arbitrarily  thus  transpose  the  words.  And  that 
separation  of  "  for  whom  are  all  things,  and  by  whom  are  all  things,"  from 
"it  became  him,"  takes  away  one  main  foundation  of  the  apostle's  reasoning,  as 
we  shall  s  '6.  And  the  reason  alleged  for  this  ordering  of  the  words  is  infirm, 
namely,  that  it  is  Christ  who  brings  the  many  sons  unto  glory,  not  the  Father; 
for  it  is  also  assigned  unto  him,  as  we  shall  see,  upon  many  accounts. 

Some  refer  the  whole  words  unto  Christ,  to  this  purpose,  "  It  became  him," 
that  is,  the  Son  incarnate,  "  for  whom,"  etc  ,  "bringing  many  sons  unto  glory,  to 
be  consummated"  or  "  made  perfect  by  sufferings."  So  Tena,  an  I  tho~e  whom  he 
foUoweth.  But  this  exposition  of  the  words  is  directly  contrary  to  the  scope  of  the 
apostle,  declared  in  the  verse  foregoing  and  that  following.  It  leaves  also  ctvr^, 
''  him,"  nothing  to  relate  unto,  nor  allows  the  causal  yxp,  "  for,"  to  give  an  ac- 
count of  any  act  of  God  before  mentioned.  And,  besides,  the  whole  of  it  is  built 
on  the  corruption  or  mistake  of  one  word  in  the  Vulgar  translation,  "consura- 
mari "  for  "  consummare,"  and  that  but  in  some  copies,  as  is  acknowledged  by  the 
most  learned  Romanists,  who  here  adhere  unto  the  original :  for  taking  that  word 
actively,  and  the  object  of  the  act  expressed  in  it  being  the  captain  of  salvation, 
some  agent  distinct  from  him  must  needs  be  signified,  which  is  God  the  Father. 

Some  suppose  an  eXXsii^/f  in  the  words,  and  therefore  in  the  reading  of  those, 
"in  bringing  many  sons  unto  glory,"  they  supply,  "by  affli«:tions"  or  ''.-ufferings:" 
"  Having  brought  many  sons  to  glory  iiy  afflictions,  it  became  him  to  make  the 
cap'.ain  of  their  salvation  perfect  through  sufferings."  So  Cappellus.  But  this 
imaginary  defect  arose  merely  from  a  mistake,  that  the  to  ■n-ps'z-oy,  or  condeceney 
here  mentioned,  hath  a  re.-pect  unto  the  things  done, — that  seeing  the  sons  had 
suffered,  it  was  meet  and  convenient  that  their  captain  should  do  so  in  an  eminent 
manner.  But  the  truth  is,  it  respects  only  the  doer  of  them;  it  was  on  his  part 
requisite  so  to  do  the  things  mentioned.* 

*  Exposition. — TiT^itaaui.  This  word  refers  either  to  Christ's  consecration  to 
offii  e  or  to  his  exaltation  to  his  reward.  Turner  holds  it  difficult  to  conceive  how 
suffi-ring  could  be  the  means  of  consecrating  Christ  to  his  priestly  office,  and  that 
he  must  have  been  priest  before  his  sufferings  commenced,  whereas  th  •  other  view 
is  in  accordance  with  various  p;irts  of  the  New  Testament,  and  \v  ith  all  the  [ilacea 
in  the  epistle  in  which  the  word  occurs.     Conybeare  and  Howson  hold  that  it 


S78  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

Ver.  10. — For  it  became  him  for  whom  are  all  things,  and 
by  whom  are  all  things,  in  bringing  many  sons  unto 
glory,  to  make  the  captain  of  their  salvation  perfect 
throuorh  sufferings. 

There  are  in  the  words, — 1.  The  causal  connection  unto  the  verse 
foregoing, — "  for."  2.  A  design  of  God  intimated  as  the  founda- 
tion of  the  discourse, — which  was,  to  "  bring  many  sons  unto  glory." 
3.  The  means  he  fixed  on  for  the  accomphshment  of  that  design, — 
namely,  the  appointing  unto  them  a  "  captain  of  their  salvation."  4. 
The  especial  way  of  his  dedicating  him  unto  that  office, — he  "made 
him  perfect  by  sufferings."  5.  The  reason  of  this  his  proceeding  and 
dealing  with  him, — it  "became  him"  so  to  do.  6.  An  amplification 
of  that  reason,  in  a  description  of  his  condition, — "him  for  whom 
are  all  things,  and  by  Avhom  are  all  things." 

1.  A  reason  is  rendered  in  the  words  of  what  he  had  asserted  in 
the  foregoing  verse,  namely,  that  Jesus,  the  Messiah,  was  to  suffer 
death,  and  by  the  grace  of  God  to  "taste  of  death  for  all."  Why  he 
should  do  this,  on  what  account,  what  ground,  necessity,  and  reason 
there  was  for  it,  is  here  declared.  It  was  so  to  be,  "  for  it  became 
hira,"  etc. 

2.  The  design  of  God  is  expressed  in  this  whole  matter,  and  that 
was,  to  "  bring  many  sons  unto  glory."  And  herein  the  apostle  de- 
clares the  nature  of  the  salvation  which  was  to  be  wrought  by  the 
Messiah,  about  which  the  Jews  were  so  greatly  mistaken,  and  con- 
sequently in  and  about  the  way  whereby  it  was  to  be  wrought.  (His 
purpose  herein  was  not  now  to  carry  his  children  into  a  new  Canaan, 
to  bring  them  into  a  wealthy  country,  an  earthly  kingdom ;  which 
must  or  might  have  been  done  by  might,  and  power,  and  arms,  as 
of  old:  but  his  design  towards  his  sons,  in  and  by  the  Messiah,  was 
of  another  nature ;  it  was  to  bring  them  unto  glory,  eternal  glory 
with  himself  in  heaven.  /  And  so  it  is  no  wonder  if  the  way  whereby 
this  is  to  be  accomplished  be  quite  of  another  nature,  than  that 
whereby  their  temporal  deliverance  was  wrought,  namely,  by  the 
death  and  sufferings  of  the  Messiah  himself.  And  here,  in  reference 
unto  this  design  of  God,  it  is  supposed, — First,  That  some  who  were 
created  for  the  glory  of  God  had  by  sin  come  short  of  it ;  so  that 
without  a  new  way  of  bringing  them  unto  it,  it  was  impossible  that 
they  should  ever  be  made  partakers  of  it.  This  is  here  supposed  by 
the  apostle,  and  is  the  foundation  of  all  his  doctrine  concerning  the 

means  literally  to  bring  to  the  appointed  accomplishment,  to  develop  the  full  idea 
of  the  cliaracter,  to  consummate.  The  last  word,  thev  state,  would  be  the  best 
translation,  if  it  were  not  so  unusual  as  applied  to  persons. 

Translation. — "It  became  him,  for  whom  and  through  whom  all  things  sub- 
fii-t,  to  make  perfect  through  suffering  the  captain  of  their  salvation,  as  one  who 
should  bring  tnany  sons  unto  glory." — Ebrard. — Ed. 


VER.  10.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  879 

Messiah.  Secondly,  That  the  way  whereby  God  will  at  length 
bring  them  who  are  designed  unto  glory  thereunto,  is  by  taking  of 
them  first  into  a  state  of  souship  and  reconciliation  with  hiraseJf ;  tliey  — 
must  be  sons  before  they  are  brought  to  glory,  f  There  is  £(,^oubleact^.^ 
of  God's  predestination :  the  first  is  his  designation  of  some  unto  grace, 
to  be  sons,  Eph.  i.  5;  the  other,  his  appointment  of  those  sons  unto 
glory;  both  to  be  wrought  and  accomplished  by  Christ,  the  captain  of 
their  salvation.  The  latter,  and  the  execution  of  it, — namely,  the 
bringing  of  those  unto  glory  who  by  grace  are  made  sons, — is  that 
which  the  apostle  here  expresseth.  He  dealeth  not  with  the  He- 
brews in  this  epistle  about  the  conversion  of  the  elect,  the  traduc- 
tion of  them  into  a  state  of  grace  and  sonship,  but  of  the  government 
of  them  being  made  sons,  and  their  guidance  unto  glory.  And 
therefore  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  which  absolutely  and  in  them- 
selves are  the  cause  of  our  sonship  and  reconciliation  with  God,  are 
mentioned  here  only  as  the  means  whereby  Christ  entered  into  a  ^ 
condition  of  leading  sons  unto  glory,  or  of  saving  them  who,  upon 
the  account  of  his  sufferings,  are  made  sons  by  grace.  But  yet  this 
is  not  so  precisely  respected  neither,  but  that  the  apostle  withal  inti- 
mates the  necessity  of  the  suffering  of  Christ,  as  to  the  whole  effect 
of  it  towards  the  elect.  Now  these  sons,  thus  to  be  brought  unto 
glory,  are  said  to  be  "  many ;" — not  all  absolutely,  not  a  few,  or  of 
the  Jews  only,  which  they  looked  for,  but  all  the  elect  of  God,  who 
are  many.  Rev.  vii.  9.  And  this  work,  of  bringing  many  sons  unto 
glory,  is  here  signally  assigned  by  the  apostle  unto  God  the  Father; 
whose  love,  wisdom,  and  grace,  believers  are  principally  to  eye  in 
the  whole  work  of  their  salvation,  wrought  out  and  accomplished  by 
Jesus  Christ.  This,  therefore,  we  shall  a  little  insist  upon,  to  de- 
clare the  grounds  and  reasons  on  the  account  whereof  it  is  to  be 
ascribed  unto  him,  or  what  acts  are  peculiarly  assigned  unto  the 
Father  in  this  work  of  bringing  many  sons  unto  glory ;  which  will 
secure  the  ascription  of  it  unto  him,  and  therein  our  interpretation 
of  the  place. 

(1.)  The  eternal  designation  of  them  unto  that  glory  whereunto 
they  are  to  be  brought  is  peculiarly  assigned  unto  him.  He  "  pre- 
destinates them  to  be  conformed  to  the  image  of  his  Son,"  Rom. 
viii.  28-30.  The  "God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  chooseth 
us  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,"  and  "  predestinateth  us  unto 
the  adoption  of  children  by  Jesus  Christ  unto  himself,"  Eph.  i.  3-5 ; 
and  "  he  hath  from  the  beq-inning  chosen  us  unto  salvation,"  2  Thess. 
ii.  13,  14.  And  this  electing  love  of  God,  this  eternal  purpose  of 
his  good  pleasure,  which  he  purposed  in  himself,  is  the  fountain  and 
spring  of  all  other  immediate  causes  of  our  salvation.  From  hence 
faith,  Acts  xiii.  45,  sanctification,  2  Thess.  ii.  13,  holiness,  Eph.  i.  4, 
preservation  in  grace,  2  Tim.  ii.  19,  the  death  of  Christ  for  thetn, 
John  iii.  16,  and  final  glory  itself,  2  Tim.  ii.  10,  do  all  ensue  and 


380  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  XL 

proceed :  so  that  on  the  account  hereof  he  may  be  justly  said  to  be 
the  bringer  of  many  sons  to  glory. 

(2.)  He  was  the  spring  and  fountain  of  that  covenant  (as  in  all 
other  operations  of  the  Deity)  that  was  of  old  between  himself  and 
his  Son  about  the  salvation  and  glory  of  the  elect.  See  Zech.  vi.  13; 
Isa.  xlii.  1;  Prov.  viii.  22-31 ;  Isa,  1.  4-9,  liii.  10-12;  Ps.  xvi.  10,  ex. 
He,  in  his  love  and  grace,  is  still  declared  as  the  proposer  both  of  the 
duty  and  of  the  reward  of  the  mediator,  the  Son  incarnate,  as  the 
Son  accepts  of  his  terms  and  proposals,  Heb.  x.  5-9.  And  hence 
he  intenseness  of  his  love,  the  immutabiUty  of  his  counsel,  the 
holiness  of  his  nature,  his  righteousness  and  faithfulness,  his  infinite 
wisdom,  do  all  shine  forth  in  the  mediation  and  sufferings  of  Christ, 
Rom.  iii.  25,  26,  v.  8 ;  1  John  iv.  9 ;  Heb.  vi.  1 7, 18 ;  Tit.  i.  2.  Rathe/-' 
than  his  love  should  not  be  satisfied  and  his  counsel  accomplished, 
he  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  gave  him  unto  death  for  us. 

(3.)  He  signally  gave  out  tlie  first  promise,  that  great  foundation 
of  the  covenant  of  grace;  and  afterwards  declared,  confirmed,  and 
ratified  by  his  oath,  that  covenant  wherein  all  the  means  of  bring- 
ing the  elect  unto  glory  are  contained,  Gen.  iii,  15 ;  Jer.  xxxi.  31—34; 
Heb.  viii.  8-12.  The  person  of  the  Father  is  considered  as  the  prin- 
cipal author  of  the  covenant,  as  the  person  covenanting  and  taking 
us  into  covenant  with  himself;  the  Son,  as  the  Messiah,  being  con- 
sidered as  the  surety  and  mediator  of  it,  Heb.  vii.  22,  ix.  15,  and  the 
purchaser  of  the  promises  of  it. 

(4.)  He  gave  and  sent  his  Son  to  be  a  Saviour  and  Redeemer  for 
them  and  unto  them;  so  that  in  his  whole  work,  in  all  that  he  did 
and  suffered,  he  obeyed  the  command  and  fulfilled  the  will  of  the 
Father.  Him  did  God  the  Father  "  send,"  and  "  seal,"  and  "  give," 
and  "set  forth,"  as  the  Scripture  everywhere  expresseth  it.  And  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  everywhere  remits  us  to  the  consideration  of  the 
love,  will,  and  authority  of  his  Father,  in  all  that  he  did,  taught,  or 
suffered ;  so  seeking  the  glor}'-  of  God  that  sent  him. 

(5.)  He  draws  his  elect,  and  enables  them  to  come  to  the  Son,  to 
believe  in  him,  and  so  to  obtain  life,  salvation,  and  glory  by  him. 
"  No  man,"  saith  our  Saviour,  "  can  come  to  me,  except  the  Father, 
which  hath  sent  me,  draw  him,"  John  vi.  44.  No  man,  no,  not  any 
one  of  the  elect,  can  come  to  Christ,  unless  the  Father,  in  the  pur- 
suit of  that  love  from  whence  it  was  that  he  sent  the  Son,  do  put 
forth  the  efficacy  of  his  grace  to  enable  him  thereunto:  and  accord- 
ingly he  reveals  him  unto  some,  when  he  is  hidden  from  others. 
Matt.  xi.  25 ;  for  the  revelation  of  Christ  unto  the  soul  is  the  imme- 
diate act  of  the  Father,  Matt.  xvi.  17. 

(6.)  Being  reconciled  unto  them  by  the  blood  of  his  Son,  he  re- 
conciles them  unto  himself,  by  giving  them  pardon  and  forgiveness 
of  sins  in  and  by  the  promises  of  the  gospel;  without  which  they 


VER.  10.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  381 

cannot  come  to  glory.  He  is  in  Christ  reconciling  us  unto  himself, 
by  the  non-imputation  or  forgiveness  of  our  sins,  2  Cor.  v.  18-21; 
forgiving  us  all  our  trespasses  for  Christ's  sake,  Epli.  iv.  32.  There 
are  many  things  concurring  unto  the  pardon  of  sin  that  are  peculiar 
acts  of  tho  Father. 

(7.)  He  quickens  them  and  sanctifies  them  by  his  Spirit,  to  make 
them  "meet  for  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light;"  that  is,  for 
tlie  enjoyment  of  glory.  "  He  that  raised  up  Jesus  from  the  dead 
quickens  us  by  his  Spirit,"  Rom.  viii.  11 ;  so  "saving  us  by  the  wash- 
iug  of  regeneration,  and  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  he  shed 
on  us  richly  by  Jesus  Christ,"  Tit.  iii.  5,  6.  This  renovation  and 
sanctification  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  all  supplies  of  actual  grace, 
enabling  us  unto  obedience,  are  everywhere  asserted  as  the  grant 
and  work  of  the  Father,  "  who  worketh  in  us  both  to  will  and  to 
do  of  his  own  good  pleasure."  And  so  in  especial  is  the  saving  illu- 
mination of  our  minds,  to  know  the  mystery  of  his  grace,  and  dis- 
cern the  things  that  are  of  God,  2  Cor.  iv.  6;  Col.  ii.  2;  Eph.  iii. 
14-19;  Matt.  xi.  25. 

(8.)  As  the  great  Father  of  the  family  he  adopts  them,  and  naakes 
them  his  sons,  that  so  he  may  bring  them  unto  glory.  He  gives 
them  the  power  or  privilege  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  John  i.  11  ; 
making  them  heirs  and  co-heirs  with  Christ,  Rom.  viii.  14-17;  send- 
ing withal  into  their  hearts  the  Spirit  of  adoption,  enabling  them 
to  cry,  "  Abba,  Father,"  Gal.  iv.  6.  The  whole  right  of  adopting 
children  is  in  the  Father;  and  so  is  the  authoritative  translation  of 
them  out  of  the  world  and  kingdom  of  Satan  into  his  own  family 
and  household,  with  their  investiture  in  all  the  rights  and  privileges 
thereof. 

(9.)  He  confirms  them  in  faith,  establisheth  them  in  ohedience, 
preserveth  them  from  dangers  and  oppositions  of  all  sorts,  and  in 
manifold  wisdom  keeps  them  through  his  power  unto  the  glory  pre- 
pared for  them;  as  2  Cor.  i.  21,  22;  Eph.  iii.  20,  21;  1  Pet.  i.  5; 
John  xvii.  11. 

(10.)  He  gives  them  the  Holy  Ghost  as  their  comforter,  Avith  all 
those  blessed  and  unspeakable  benefits  which  attend  that  gift  of  his, 
Matt.  vii.  11 ;  Luke  xi.  1.3;  John  xiv.  16,  17;  Gal.  iv.  6. 

In  brief,  in  bringing  the  elect  unto  glory,  all  the  sovereign  acts 
of  power,  wisdom,  love,  and  grace  exerted  therein,  are  peculiarly 
assigned  unto  the  Father,  as  all  ministerial  acts  are  unto  the  Son 
as  mediator;  so  that  there  is  no  reason  why  he  may  not  be  said,  by 
the  way  of  eminency,  to  be  the  ayuyihg,  the  leader  or  bringer  of  his 
sons  unto  glory. 

And  herein  lies  a  great  direction  unto  believers,  and  a  great  sup- 
portment  for  their  faith.  Peter  tells  us  that  "by  Christ  we  do  be- 
lieve in  God,  that  raised  him  up  from  the  dead,  and  gave  him  glory; 


382  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

that  our  faith  and  hope  might  be  in  God,"  1  Pet.  i.  21.  Jesus  Christ, 
considered  as  mediator,  is  the  next,  but  not  the  ultimate  object  of 
our  faith  and  hope.  We  so  believe  in  him  as  by  him  to  beheve  ia 
God,  that  is,  the  Father,  whose  love  is  the  supreme  fountain  and 
sprino-  of  our  salvation:  which  the  apostle  manifests  in  that  double 
instance  of  his  raising  up  Christ  and  giving  him  glory,  thereby 
declaring  himself  the  principal  author  of  the  great  work  of  his 
mediation.  This  he  directs  us  unto,  so  to  believe  in  Christ  as  that, 
discerning  in  and  by  him  the  grace,  good-will,  and  love  of  the  Fa- 
ther himself  towards  us,  we  may  be  encouraged  to  fix  our  faith  and 
hope  on  him,  seeing  he  himself  loveth  us.  So  that  Christ  himself 
had  no  need  to  pray  for  the  love  of  the  Father  unto  us,  but  only 
for  the  communication  of  the  effects  of  it,  John  xvi.  26,  27.  And 
this  is  the  work  of  faith,  when,  as  we  are  directed,  we  pray  to  the 
Father  in  the  name  of  Christ,  John  xvi.  23,  24;  and  we  thus  place 
our  faith  in  God  the  Father,  when  we  conceive  of  him  as  the  sove- 
reio-n  leader  of  us  unto  glory,  by  all  the  instances  before  mentioned. 
Au'l  then  doth  faith  find  rest  in  him,  delight,  complacency,  and 
satisfaction,  as  we  have  elsewhere  declared. 

3.  There  is  in  these  words  intimated  the  principal  means  that 
God  fixed  on  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  design  of  his,  for  the 
bringing  of  many  sons  unto  glory;  it  was  by  appointing  a  "  captain 
of  their  salvation."  The  Jews  generally  granted  that  the  Messiah 
was  to  be  the  captain  of  their  salvation;  but  misunderstanding  that 
salvation,  they  also  mistook  the  whole  nature  of  his  office.  The 
apostle  doth  here  evidently  compare  him  unto  Joshua,  the  captain 
and  leader  of  the  people  into  Canaan  (as  he  had  before  preferred 
him  above  the  angels,  by  whose  ministry  the  law  was  given  unto 
the  people  in  the  wilderness),  which  was  a  type  of  their  salvation, 
as  he  further  declares,  chap.  iv.  All  the  sons  of  God  are  put  under 
his  conduct  and  guidance,  as  the  people  of  old  were  put  under  the 
rule  of  Joshua,  to  bring  them  nnto  the  glory  designed  for  them,  and 
promised  unto  them  in  the  covenant  made  with  Abraham.  And  he 
is  called  their  af%»]7os,  "prince,"  "ruler,"  and  "captain,"  or  "author" 
of  their  salvation,  on  several  accounts: — (1.)  Of  his  authority  and 
right  to  rule  over  them  in  order  unto  their  salvation.  So  he  ap- 
peared unto  Joshua  as  njn^"X3y"it?'^  Josh.  v.  14,  "The  captain  of  the 
Lord's  host;"  intimating  thus  that  there  was  another  captain  and 
other  work  to  do  than  what  Joshua  had  then  in  hand, — the  general 
of  all  the  people  of  God,  as  Joab  was  to  Israel,  '^^V"'^??'.  (2.)  Of  his 
actual  leading  and  conduct  of  them,  by  his  example,  Spirit,  and  grace, 
through  all  tbe  difficulties  of  their  warfare.  So  he  was  promised  as 
'T'^3,  Isa.  Iv.  4,  "princeps,"  "dux,"  "antecessor,"  ap-x/iyog, — "a  leader 
and  commander  of  the  people,"  one  that  goes  before  them  for  their 
direction  and  guidance,  giving  them  an  example  in  his  own  person 


VER.  10.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  383 

of  doing  and  suffering  the  will  of  God,  and  so  entering  into  glory. 
So  he  is  their  crpo^o/xos,  Heb.  vi.  20,  "antecessor,"  "forerunner;" 
or,  as  Daniel  calls  him,  T'P?  0''P''?,  Dan.  ix.  25,  "Messiah  the  prince," 
or  "  guide."  (.3.)  As  he  is  unto  them  alnog  ffurriplag  aiciiviou,  as  Heb. 
V.  9,  "the  author"  (or  "cause")  "of  eternal  salvation;"  he  procured 
and  purchased  it  for  them.  So  that  the  expression  denotes  both  liis 
acquisition  of  salvation  itself,  and  his  conduct  or  leading  of  the 
people  of  God  unto  the  enjoyment  of  it.  And  the  Holy  Ghost 
hereby  also  intimates,  that  the  way  whereby  God  will  bring  the  sons 
unto  glory  is  full  of  difficulties,  perplexities,  and  oppositions,  as  that 
of  the  Israelites  into  Canaan  was  also;  so  that  they  have  need  of  a 
captain,  leader,  and  guide,  to  carry  them  through  it.  But  yet  all  is 
rendered  safe  and  secure  unto  them,  through  the  power,  grace,  and 
faithfulness  of  their  leader.  They  only  perish  in  the  wilderness  and 
che  in  their  sins,  who,  either  out  of  love  unto  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt, 
the  pleasures  of  this  world,  or  being  terrified  with  the  hardships  of 
the  warfare  which  he  calls  them  unto,  refuse  to  go  up  under  his 
command. 
^  '4.  There  is  expressed  in  the  words  the  especial  way  whereby  God 
fitted  or  designed  the  Lord  Christ  unto  this  office,  of  being  a  captain 
of  salvation  unto  the  sons  to  be  brought  unto  glory.  To  understand 
this  aright,  we  must  observe  that  the  apostle  speaks  not  here  of  the 
redemption  of  the  elect  absolutely,  but  of  the  bringing 
tnem  to  glory,  when  they  are  made  sons  m  an  especial 
manner.  And  therefore  ne  treats  not  absolutely  of  the  designation, 
consecration,  or  fitting  of  the  Lord  Christ  unto  his  office  of  mediator 
in  general,  but  as  unto  that  part,  and  the  execution  of  it,  which  espe- 
cially concerns  the  leading  of  the  sons  unto  glory,  as  Joshua  led  the 
Israelites  into  Canaan.'"  This  will  give  us  light  into  what  act  of  God 
towards  the  Lord  Christ  is  intended  in  this  expression,  n/.si'iigai  ahrhv 
bia  'TraSrjfjijdruv.  And  sundry  are  here  pleaded  by  expositors,  not 
without  some  probability;  as, — (L)  Some  think  that  his  bringing 
him  to  glory  is  intended:  it  became  him  rsXuojeat,  to  bring  him  to 
gloi'y,  by  and  through  sufferings,  so  to  perfect  him.  But  besides 
that  the  word  is  nowhere  so  used,  nor  hath  any  such  signification, 
the  apostle  doth  not  declare  what  God  intended  to  bring  him  unto, 
but  by  what  in  and  about  him  he  intended  to  bring  many  sous 
to  glory.  (2.)  Some  would  have  it  to  denote  the  finishing  of  God's 
work  about  him ;  whence  in  his  sufferings  on  the  cross  he  said  Ters- 
Xisrat,  "It  is  finished,"  John  xix.  SO.  This  answers,  indeed,  the  sense 
of  the  word  «Xiw,  used  in  that  place  by  our  Saviour,  but  not.  of 
Ts}.ii6u,  the  word  here  used  by  the  apostle,  which  never  signifies  .to 
end  or  finish,  or  to  perfect  by  bringing  unto  an  end.  (3.)  Some  think 
God  made  the  Lord  Christ  perfect  by  sufferings,  in  that  he  gave  him 
thereby  a  full  sense  and  experience  of  the  condition  of  his  people, 
VOL.  XII.— 25 


884  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

whence  he  is  said  to  "learn  obedience  by  the  things  which  he  suffered," 
Heb.  V.  8.  And  this  is  true,  God  did  so;  but  it  is  not  formally  and 
directly  expressed  by  this  word,  which  is  never  used  unto  that  pur- 
pose. This  is  rather  a  consequent  of  the  act  here  intended  than  the 
act  itself.  TiXnoJcai,  then,  in  this  place  signifies  to  "consecrate,"  "  de- 
dicate," to  "  sanctify"  unto  an  office,  or  some  especial  part  or  act  of 
an  office.  This  is  the  proper  meaning  of  the  word.  TeXjj  are  "  mys- 
teries;" and  reXtTal,  *'  sacred  acts  and  offices;"  rirsXsg/Msvoi  are  those 
who  are  initiated  and  consecrated  unto  sacred  offices  or  employ- 
ments. See  Exod.  xxix.  33,  35,  in  the  LXX.  Hence  the  ancients 
called  baptism  TiXnurrig,  or  consecration  unto  the  sacred  service  of 
Christ.  And  ccyid'i^oo,  the  word  next  insisted  on  by  our  apostle,  is  so 
used  by  Christ  himself,  John  xvii.  19 :  'Ttj^  avTciv  syu  u,yiuXjM 
ifiaurtr — "  For  theirsakesi  sanctify"  (that  is,  "  dedicate,  cousfcrati.', 
sejjarate")  "  myself"  to  be  a  sacrifice.  And  his  blood  is  said  to  be 
that  Bv  (Z  nyidedri,  Heb.  x.  29,  "  wherewith  he  was  so  consecrated." 
]\or  is  this  word  used  in  any  other  sense  in  this  whole  epistle, 
wherein  it  is  often  used,  when  applied  unto  Christ.  See  chap.  v.  9, 
vii.  28.  And  this  was  the  use  of  the  word  among  the  heathen,  si^r- 
nifying  the  initiation  and  consecration  of  a  man  into  the  mysteries 
of  tlieir  religion,  to  be  a  leader  unto  others.  And  among  some  of 
them  it  was  performed,  through  the  instigation  of  the  devil,  by  great 
sufferings  :  Oux  dv  e/'?  ^lidpa:'  duvriaairo  Tig  TjXiffS^mi  si  f^ri  Bid  rivuv 
jSaO/xSJv  rrapsT'Jojv  ruv  xoXaff/Aoii',  hii^ri  savrlv  Ssiov  x.ai  d'rad)^,  sailh  Gregory 
Niizianzen,  Orat.  cont.  Jul.  i.; — "  No  man  could  be  consecrated  unto 
the  mysteries  of  Mithra"  (the  sun)  "unless  he  proved  himself  holy, 
and  as  it  were  inviolable,  by  passing  through  many  degrees  of  pun- 
ishments and  trials."  ji  Thus  it  became  God  to  dedicate  and  conse- 
crate the  Lord  Christ  unto  this  part  of  his  office  by  his  own  suffer- 
ings. He  consecrated  Aaron  to  be  priest  of  old,  but  by  the  hands 
of  Moses,  and  he  was  set  apart  to  his  office  by  the  sacrifice  of  other 
things.  But  the  Lord  Christ  must  be  consecrated  by  his  own  suf- 
ferings and  the  sacrifice  of  himself  And  thence  it  is  that  those  very 
sufferings  which,  as  antecedaneous  unto  his  being  a  captain  of  salva- 
tion, to  this  end  that  he  might  lead  the  sons  unto  glory,  are  the 
means  of  his  dedication  or  consecration/are  in  themselves  a  great 
part  of  that  means  whereby  he  procures  salvation  for  them.  By  all 
the  sufferings,  then,  of  tlie  Lord  Christ  in  his  life  and  death, — by 
which  sufferings  he  wrought  out  the  salvation  of  the  elect, —  did  God 
consecrate  and  dedicate  him  to  be  a  prince,  a  leader,  and  captain  of 
salvation  unto  his  people;  as  Peter  declares  the  whole  matter,  Acts 
V.  30,  31,  and  chap.  ii.  o6./  And  from  these  things  last  mentioned, 
of  the  Lord  Christ  being  the  captain  of  our  salvation,  and  being 
dedicated  unto  that  office  by  his  own  sufferings,  it  appeareth, — 
I.  That  tlie  whole  work  of  saving  the  sons  of  God,  from  first 


VER.  10.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  S85 

to  last,  their  guidance  and  conduct  through  sins  and  sufferings  unto 
glory,  is  committed  unto  the  Lord  Jesus;  whence  he  is  constantly  to 
be  eyed  by  believers  in  all  the  concernments  of  their  faith,  obedi- 
ence, and  consolation.  *'  Behold,"  saith  the  Lord",  "  I  have  given 
him  for  a  witness  to  the  people,  a  leader  and  commander  to  the 
people,"  Isa.  Iv.  4; — a  witness,  to  testify  the  truth,  in  revealing  the 
mind  and  will  of  God;  a  leader,  going  before  them  as  a  prince  and 
captain,  as  the  word  signifies;  and  a  commander,  that  gives  out  laws 
and  rules  for  their  obedience.  God  hath  set  him  as  a  lord  over  his 
•whole  house,  Heb.  iii,  6,  and  committed  all  the  management  of  all 
its  concernments  unto  him.  There  is  no  person  that  belongs  unto 
God's  design  of  bringing  many  sons  to  glory,  but  he  is  under  his 
rule  and  inspection ;  neither  is  there  any  thing  that  concerns  any  of 
them  in  their  passage  towards  glory,  whereby  they  may  be  furthered 
or  hindered  in  their  way,  but  the  care  is  committed  unto  him,  as  the 
care  of  the  whole  aimy  lies  on  the  general  or  prince  of  the  host. 
Tuis  the  prophet  sets  out  in  his  type,  Eliakim,  Isa.  xxii.  21-24.  He 
is  fastened  as  a  nail  in  a  sure  place;  and  all  the  glory  of  the  house, 
and  every  vessel  of  it,  from  the  greatest  unto  the  least,  is  hanged  on 
him.  The  weight  of  all,  the  care  of  all,  is  upon  him,  committed 
unto  him.  When  the  people  came  out  of  Egypt  with  Moses  they 
Were  numbered  unto  him,  he  being  the  administrator  of  the  law, 
and  they  died  all  in  the  wilderness;  but  they  were  delivered  again 
by  tale  and  number  unto  Joshua,  the  type  of  Christ,  and  none  of 
them,  not  one,  failed  of  entering  into  Canaan.  And,  first,  he  dis- 
chargeth  this  trust  as  a  faithful  captain, —  -^ 

,'  (1.)  With  care  and  watchfulness:  Ps.  cxxi.  4,  "Behold,  he  that 
keepeth  Israel  shall  neither  slumber  nor  sleep."  There  is  no  time 
nor  season  wherein  the  sons  committed  unto  his  care  may  be  sur- 
prised through  any  neglect  or  regardlessness  in  him;  his  eyes  are 
always  open  upon  them ;  they  are  never  out  of  his  heart  nor  thoughts ; 
they  are  engraven  on  the  palms  of  his  hands,  and  their  walls  are  con- 
tinually before  him;  or,  as  he  expresseth  it,  Isa.  xxvii.  3,  "I  the 
Loud  do  keep  my  vineyard;  I  will  water  it  every  moment:  lest  any 
hurt  it,  I  will  keep  it  night  and  day."  Greater  care  and  watchfulness 
cannot  be  expressed;  "night  and  day,"  and  "every  moment"  in  them, 
he  is  intent  about  this  work.  Oh  how  great  an  encouragement  is 
this  to  adhere  unto  him,  to  follow  him  in  the  whole  course  of  obedi- 
ence that  he  calls  unto!  This  puts  life  into  soldiers,  and  gives  them 
security,  when  they  know  that  their  commander  is  continually  care- 
ful for  them. 

y  (2.)  He  dischargeth  this  great  ti^ust  with  tenderness  and  love: 
Isa,  xl.  11,  "He  shall  feed  his  flock  likeashtpherd:  he  shall  gather 
the  lambs  with  his  arm,  and  carry  them  in  his  bosom,  and  shall 
gently  lead  those  that  are  with  young."     These  sons  are  of  vaiious 


S86  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAR  IL 

sorts  and  degrees;  the  best  and  strongest  of  them  are  but  sheep, — 
poor,  infirm,  and  helpless  creatures;  and  amongst  them  some  are 
young  and  tender,  as  lambs;  some  heavy  and  burdened  with  sins 
and  afflictions,  like  those  that  are  with  young.  In  tender  compas- 
sion he  condescends  unto  all  their  conditions;  feeds  and  preserves 
the  whole  flock  as  a  shepherd ;  gathers  in  his  arm  and  bears  in  his 
bosom  those  that  otherwise,  by  their  infirmity,  would  be  cast  behind 
and  left  unto  danger.  Compassion  he  hath  for  them  that  err  and 
are  out  of  the  way ;  he  seeks  for  them  that  wander,  heals  the  diseased, 
feeds  them  when  they  are  even  a  flock  of  slaughter.  And  where 
these  two  concur,  care  and  compassion,  there  can  be  no  want  of  any 
thing,  Ps.  xxiii.  1.  Indeed,  Zion  is  ready  sometimes  to  complain 
that  she  is  forgotten.  The  sons  in  great  distresses,  afflictions,  per- 
secutions, temptations,  that  may  befall  them  in  their  way  to  glory, 
are  apt  to  think  they  are  forgotten  and  disregarded, — that  they  are 
left  as  it  were  to  shift  for  themselves,  and  to  wrestle  with  their  diffi- 
culties by  their  own  strength  and  wisdom,  which  they  know  to  be  as 
a  thing  of  nought.  But  this  fear  is  vain  and  ungrateful.  Whilst 
they  are  found  in  the  way,  following  the  captain  of  their  salvation, 
it  is  utterly  impossible  that  this  watchfulness,  care,  love,  and  tender- 
ness, should  in  any  thing  be  wanting  unto  them. 

v  (3.)  He  leads  them  with  j^oiver,  authority,  and  majesty :  Mic.  v.  4, 
*'  He  shall  stand  and  rule  in  the  strength  of  the  Lord,  in  the  ma- 
jesty of  the  name  of  the  Lord  his  God;  and  they  shall  abide."  The 
"name  of  God"  is  in  him,  accompanied  with  his  power  and  majesty, 
which  he  puts  forth  in  the  feeding  and  ruling  of  his  people ;  whereon 
their  safety  doth  depend.  "They  shall  abide,"  or  dwell  in  safety; 
because  in  this  his  glory  and  majesty  he  shall  be  great,  or  be  magni- 
fied unto  the  ends  of  the  earth.  So  also  is  he  described  in  his  rule: 
Zech.  vi.  13,  "  Even  he  shall  build  the  temple  of  the  Lord;  and  he 
shall  bear  the  glory,  and  shall  sit  and  rule  upon  his  throne;  and  he 
shall  be  a  priest  upon  his  throne."  Having  built  the  temple,  raised 
a  house  and  family  to  God,  he  shall  be  the  ruler  or  captain  of  it, 
to  preserve  it  unto  glory ;  and  this  in  a  glorious  manner, — bearing  the 
glory  of  God,  sitting  upon  a  throne,  in  the  whole  discharge  of  his 
office  both  as  a  king  and  priest.  Unto  this  end  is  he  intrusted  with 
all  the  power  and  authority  which  we  have  before  described,  God 
having  given  him  to  be  "head  over  all  things  unto  his  church."  There 
is  nothing  so  high,  so  great,  so  mighty,  that  lies  in  the  way  of  his 
sons  to  glory,  but  it  must  stoop  to  his  authority  and  give  place  to  his 
power.  The  whole  kingdom  of  Satan,  the  strongholds  of  sin,  the 
high  imaginations  of  unbelief,  the  strength  and  malice  of  the  world, 
all  sink  before  him.  And  thence  are  they  described  as  so  glorious  and 
successful  in  their  way :  Mic.  ii.  1 S,  "  The  breaker  is  come  up  before 
them :  they  have  broken  up,  and  have  passed  throuoh  the  gate,  and 


VER.  10.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  SS7 

are  gone  out  by  it:  and  their  king  shall  pass  before  them,  and  the 
Loud  on  the  head  of  them."  Many  obstacles  lie  in  their  way,  but 
tht^y  shall  break  through  them  all,  because  of  their  king  and  lord 
that  goes  before  them.  And  those  difficulties  which  in  this  world 
they  meet  withal,  that  seem  to  be  too  hard  for  them,  their  persecu- 
tions and  sufferings,  though  they  may  put  a  stop  unto  somewhat  of 
their  outward  profession,  yet  they  shall  not  in  the  least  hinder  them 
in  their  progress  unto  glory.  Their  captain  goes  before  them  with 
power  and  authority,  and  breaks  up  all  the  hedges  and  gates  that 
lie  in  their  way,  and  gives  them  a  free  and  abundant  entrance  into 
the  kingdoni  of  God. 

Secondly,^  As  the  manner  how,  so  the  acts  wherein  and  whereby 
this  antecessor  and  captain  of  s:dvation  leads  on  the  sons  of  God 
may  be  considered.     And  he  doth  it  variously: — 

(1.)  He  goes  before  them  in  the  whole  way  unto  the  end.  Tliis 
is  a  principal  duty  of  a  captain  or  leader,  to  go  before  his  soldiers. 
Hence  they  that  went  unto  the  war  were  said  to  go  at  the  feet  of 
their  commanders:  Judges  iv.  10,  "  Barak  went  up  with  ten  thou- 
sand men  at  his  feet;"  that  is,  they  followed  him,  and  went  where  he 
went  before  them.  And  this  also  became  the  captain  of  the  Lord's 
host,  even  to  go  before  his  people  in  their  whole  way,  not  putting 
them  on  any  thing,  not  calling  them  to  any  thing,  which  himself 
passeth  not  before  them  in.  And  there  are  three  things  whereunto 
their  whole  course  may  be  referred: — [1.]  Their  obedience;  [2.] 
Their  sufferings;  [3.]  Their  entrance  into  glory;  and  in  all  these 
hath  the  Lord  Christ  gone  before  them,  and  that  as  their  captain 
and  leader,  inviting  them  to  engage  into  them,  and  courageously  to 
pass  through  them,  upon  his  example  «,nd  the  success  that  he  sets 
before  them.  ^    —    "^ 

[1.]  As  unto  obedience,  he  himself  was  "  made  under  the  law,"  and 
"  learned  obedience,"  "  fulfilling  all  righteousness."  Though  he  was 
in  his.  own  person  above  the  law,  yet,  he  submitted  himself  to  every 
law  of  God  and  righteous  law  of  men,  that  he  might  give  an  example 
unto  them  who  were  of  necessity  to  be  subject  unto  them.  So  he 
tells  his  disciples,  as  to  one  instance  of  his  humility,  "  I  have  given 
you  an  example,  that  ye  should  do  as  I  have  done,"  John  xiii.  15 ;  as 
he  calls  on  all  to  "  learn  of  him,  for  he  was  meek  and  lowly  in  heart," 
Matt.  xi.  29, — that  is,  learn  to  be  like  him  in  those  heavenly  graces. 
This  the  apostles  proposed  as  their  pattern  and  ours;  1  Cor.  xi.  1, 
"  Be  followers  of  me,  as  I  am  of  Christ;"  that  is,  '  labour  with  me 
to  imitate  Christ.'  And  the  utmost  perf£Cticux^ftdiichjve_QieJbound 
to  aim  at  ittholiness^and  obedience,  is  nothing  but  eonformity  unto 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  pattern  that  he  hath  set  before  us, — to  mark  his 
footsteps  and  to  follow  him.  This  is  our  putting  on  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  growing  up  into  the  same  image  and  likeness  with  him. 


S88  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

[2.]  He  goes  before  the  sons  of  God:  iu  sufferings^  and  therein  is 
also  a  leader  unto  them  by  his  example.-,  "  Ciirist/' saith  Peter, 
"  hath  suffered  for  us,  leaving  as"an  example  that  we  should  follow 
his  steps;"  that  is,  be  ready  and  prepared  unto  patience  in  sufferings 
when  we  are  called  thereunto,  as  he  explains  himself,  1  Epist.  iv.  1, 
* "  Forasmuch  as  Christ  hath  suffered  for  us  in  the  flesh,  arm  your- 
selves therefore  with  the  same  mind,"  that  you  may  follow  him  in 
the  same  way/  And  this  our  apostle  presseth  much  in  this  epistle, 
chap.  xii.  2,  3,  "Look  unto  Jesus,  the  author  and  finisher  of  our 
faith;  who,  for  the  joy  that  was  set  before  him,  endured  the  cross, 
despising  the  shame For  consider  him  that  endured  such  con- 
tradiction of  sinners  against  himself,  lest  ye  be  wearied  and  faint 
in  your  minds."  The  sons  of  God  are  sometimes  ready  to  think  it 
strange  that  they  should  fall  into  calamity  and  distresses,  and  are 
apt  to  say  with  Hezekiah,  "  Remember,  0  Lord,  we  beseech  thee, 
how  we  have  walked  before  thee  in  truth,  and  with  an  upright  heart, 
and  have  done  that  which  is  good  in  thy  sight,"  and  weep  sore;  sup- 
posing that  this  might  have  freed  them  from  oppositions  and  perse- 
cutions. And  so  it  was  with  Gideon.  When  the  angel  told  him  the 
Lord  was  with  him,  he  replies,  "  Whence  is  all  this  evil  come  upon 
us  ?"  But  when  they  find  it  is  otherwise,  and  begin  to  apply  them- 
selves unto  their  condition,  yet  if  their  troubles  continue,  if  they  are  « 
not  in  their  season  removed,  they  are  ready  to  be  "  weary  and  faint 
in  their  minds."  But  saith  the  apostle,  'Consider  the  captain  of  your 
salvation,  he  hath  set  you  another  manner  of  example;  notwithstand- 
ing all  his  sufferings,  he  fainted  not.'  The  like  argument  he  press- 
eth, chap.  xiii.  12,  13.  And  the  Scripture  in  many  places  represents 
unto  us  the  same  consideration.  The  Jews  have  a  saying,  that  a 
third  part  of  the  afflictions  and  troubles  that  shall  be  in  the  world 
do  belong  unto  the  Messiah.  But  our  apostle,  who  knew  better 
than  they,  makes  all  the  afilictions  of  the  church  to  be  the  "afilictions 
of  Christ,"  Col.  i.  24,  who  both  before  underwent  them  in  his  own 
person  and  led  the  way  to  all  that  shall  follow  him.  And  as  the 
obedience  of  Christ,  which  is  our  patiern,  did  incomparably  exceed  / 
whatever  w€i,can  attain  unto;  so  the  sufferings- of  Christ,  which  are  .y 
our  example,  did  incomparably  exceed  all  that  we  shall  be  called 
unto.  Our  pattern  is  excellent,  inimitable  in  the  substance  and  parts 
of  it,  unattainable  and  unexpressible  in  its  degrees,  and  he  is  the 
best  proficient  who  attends  most  thereunto. 

But  what  is  the  end  of  all  this  obedience  and  suffering?  death  lies 
at  the  door,  as  the  ocean  whereinto  all  these  streams  do  run,  and 
seems  to  swallow  them  up,  that  there  they  are  lost  for  ever.  No; 
for, — [3.]  This  captain  of  our  salvation  is  gone  before  us  in  passing 
through  death,  and  entering  into  glory.  He  hath  showed  us  in  his 
own  resurrection  (that  great  pledge  of  our  immortality)  that  death 


VER.  10.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  S89 

is  not  the  end  of  our  course,  but  a  passage  into  another  more  abid- 
ing condition.  He  promiseth  that  whosoever  believeth  on  him, 
they  shall  not  be  lost,  or  perish,  or  consumed  by  death,  but  that  he 
will  raise  them  up  at  the  last  day,  John  vi.  39,  40.  But  how  shall 
this  be  confirmed  unto  them?  Death  looks  ghastly  and  dreadful, 
as  a  lion  that  devours  all  that  come  within  his  reach.  '  Why,'  saith 
Christ,  'behold  me,  entering  into  his  jaws,  passing  through  his  power, 
rising  from  under  his  dominion;  and  fear  not, — so  shall  it  be  with 
you  also.'  This  our  apostle  disputes  at  large,  1  Cor.  xv.  12-21.  He 
is  gone  before  us  through  death,  and  is  become  "  the  first-fruits  of 
them  that  sleep."  And  had  Christ  passed  into  heaven  before,  he 
died,  as  did  Enoch  and  Elijali,  we  had  wanted  the  greatest  evidence 
of  our  future  immortality.  What,  then,  remains  for  the  finishing 
of  our  course  ?  Why,  the  captain  of  our  salvation,  after  he  had 
suffered,  entered  into  glory,  and  that  as  our  leader,  or  forerunner, 
Heb.  vi.  20.  Jesus  as  our  forerunner  is  entered  into  heaven.  He 
is  gone  before  us,  to  evidence  unto  us  what  is  the  end  of  our  obe- 
dience and  sufferings.  In  all  this  is  he  a  captain  and  leader  unto 
the  sons  of  God. 

I  (2.)  He  guides  them  and  directs  them  in  their  way.  This  also 
belongs  unto  him  as  their  captain  and  guide.  Two  tbings  in  this 
are  they  of  themselves  defective  in: — [1.]  They  know  not  the  way 
that  leads  to  happiness  and  glory;  and,  [2.]  They  want  ability  to 
discern  it  aright  when  it  is  showed  unto  tiiem.  And  in  both  they 
are  relieved  and  assisted  by  their  leader;  in  the  first  by  his  word,  in 
the  latter  by  his  Spirit.  [1.]  Of  themselves  they  know  not  the 
way;  as  Thomas  said,  "How  can  we  know  the  way?"  The  will  of 
God,  the  mystery  of  his  love  and  grace,  as  to  the  way  whereby  he 
will  bring  sinners  unto  glory,  is  unknown  to  the  sons  of  men  by  na- 
ture. It  was  a  secret  "  hid  in  God,"  a  sealed  book,  which  none  ia 
heaven  or  earth  could  open.  But  this  Jesus  Christ  hath  fully  de- 
clared in  his  word  unto  all  the  sons  that  are  to  be  brouglit  unto 
glory.  He  hath  revealed  the  Father  from  his  own  bosom,  John  i.  18; 
and  declared  those  "  heavenly  things"  which  no  man  knew  but  he  that 
came  down  from  heaven,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  was  in  heaven, 
John  iii.  12,  13.  In  his  word  hath  he  declared  the  name  and  re- 
vealed the  whole  counsel  of  God,  and  "brought  life  and  immortality 
to  light,"  2  Tim.  i.  10.  Whatever  is  any  way  needful,  useful,  help- 
ful, in  their  obedience,  worship  of  God,  suffering,  expectation  of 
glory,  he  hath  taught  it  them  all,  revealed  it  all  unto  them;  other 
teachers  they  need  not.  Had  there  been  any  thing  belonging  unto 
their  way  which  he  had  not  revealed  unto  them,  he  had  not  been  a 
perfect  captain  of  salvation  unto  them.  And  men  do  nothing  but 
presumptuously  derogate  from  his  glory,  who  will  be  adding  and 
imposing  their  prescriptions  in  and  about  this  way 


390  -  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

[2.]  Again ;  the  way  being  revealed  in  the  word,  he  enables  them 
by  his  Spirit  to  see,  discern,  and  know  it,  in  such  a  holy  and  saving 
manner  as  is  needful  to  bring  them  unto  the  end  of  it.  He  gives 
them  eyes  to  see,  as  well  as  provides  paths  for  them  to  walk  in.  It 
had  been  to  no  purpose  to  have  declared  the  way,  if  he  had  not  also 
given  them  light  to  see  it.  This  blessed  work  of  his  Sj)irit  is  every- 
where declared  in  the  Scripture,  Isa.  xliii.  16.  And  by  this  means 
is  he  unto  us  what  he  was  unto  the  church  in  the  wilderness,  when 
he  went  before  them  in  a  pillar  of  fire,  to  guide  them  in  their  way, 
and  to  show  them  where  they  should  rest.  And  herein  lies  no  small 
j)art  of  the  discharge  of  his  office  towards  us  as  the  captain  of  our 
salvation.  Whatever  acquaintance  we  have  with  the  way  to  glory, 
we  have  it  from  him  alone;  and  whatever  ability  we  have  to  discern 
the  way,  he  is  the  fountain  and  author  of  it.  This  God  hath  de- 
signed and  called  him  unto.  And  all  our  wisdom  consists  in  this, 
that  we  betake  ourselves  unto  him,  to  him  alone,  for  instruction  and 
direction  in  this  matter,  Matt.  xvii.  5.  Doth  not  he  deservedly 
wander,  yea,  and  perish,  who  in  war  will  neglect  the  orders  and 
directions  of  his  general,  and  attend  unto  every  idle  tale  of  men 
pretending  to  show  him  a  way  that  they  have  found  out  better  than 
that  which  his  captain  hath  limited  him  unto? 
/  (3.)  He  supplies  them  with  strength  by  his  grace,  that  they  may 
be  able  to  pass  on  in  their  way.  They  have  much  work  lying  before 
them,  much  to  do,  much  to  suffer,  and  "  witliout  him  they  can  do 
nothing,"  John  xv.  5.  Wherefore  he  watcheth  over  them,  to  "succour 
them  that  are  tempted,"  Heb.  ii.  18,  and  to  give  out  "help"  unto  them 
all  "in  time  of  need,"  chap.  iv.  1 6 ;  and  hence  they  who  have  no  might, 
no  sufficiency,  "can  do  all  things,  through  Christ  that  strengtheneth 
them,"  Phil.  iv.  13.  Nothing  is  too  hard  for  them,  nothing  can 
prevail  against  them,  because  of  the  constant  supplies  of  grace  which 
the  captain  of  their  salvation  communicates  unto  them.  And  this 
makes  the  ways  of  the  gospel  marvellous  both  to  the  world  and  to  be- 
lievers themselves.  Their  "life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God,"  Col.  iii.  3 ; 
and  they  have  "a  new  name,  which  no  man  knoweth,"  Rev.  ii.  17. 
The  world  seeing  poor,  mean,  weak,  contemptible  creatures,  willing, 
ready,  and  able  to  suffer,  endure,  and  die  for  the  name  of  Christ, 
stand  astonished,  not  knowing  where  their  great  strength  lies;  as 
the  Philistines  did  at  the  might  of  Samson,  whom  they  saw  with 
their  eyes  to  be  like  other  men.  Let  them,  in  the  height  of 
their  pride  and  rage  of  their  madness,  pretend  what  they  please, 
they  cannot  but  be,  they  really  are,  amazed  to  see  poor  creatures, 
whom  otherwise  they  exceedingly  despise,  constant  unto  the  truth 
and  profession  of  the  gospel,  against  all  their  allurements  and 
afifrightments.  They  know  not,  they  consider  not  the  constant 
supplies  of   strength   and    grace  which    they    receive   from    their 


VER.  10.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  391 

leader.  He  gives  them  the  Spirit  of  truth,  which  the  world  neither 
sees  nor  knows,  John  xiv.  17;  and  therefore  it  wonders  from  wiience 
they  have  their  abihty  and  constancy.  They  cry,  'Wliat!  will 
nothing  turn  these  poor  foolish  creatures  out  of  their  way?'  They 
try  them  one  way,  and  then  another,  add  one  weight  of  affliction 
and  oppression  unto  another,  and  think  surely  this  will  effect  their 
design;  but  they  find  themselves  deceived,  and  know  not  wliouceit 
is.  The  ways  of  obedience  are  hence  also  marvellous  unto  believers 
themselves.  When  they  consider  their  own  frailty  and  weakness, 
how  ready  they  are  to  faint,  liow  often  they  are  surpiised,  and 
withal  take  a  prospect  of  what  opposition  lies  against  them,  from 
indwelling  sin,  Satan,  and  the  world,  which  they  are  acquainted 
with  in  several  instances  of  their  power  and  prevalency,  they  neither 
know  how  they  have  abode  so  long  in  their  course  as  they  have  done, 
nor  how  they  shall  continue  in  it  unto  the  end.  But  they  are  relieved 
when  they  come  to  the  promise  of  the  gospel.  There  they  see 
whence  their  preservation  doth  proceed.  The}^  see  this  captain  of 
tlieir  salvation,  in  whom  is  the  fulness  of  the  Spirit,  and  to  whom 
are  committed  all  the  stores  of  grace,  giving  out  daily  and  hourly 
unto  them,  as  the  matter  doth  require.  As  the  captain  in  an  army 
doth  not  at  once  give  out  unto  his  soldiers  the  whole  provision  that 
is  needful  for  their  way  and  undertaking, — which  if  he  should,  the 
most  of  them  would  instantly  waste  it,  and  so  quickly  perish  for 
want, — but  he  keeps  provision  for  them  all  in  his  stores,  and  gives 
out  unto  them  according  to  their  daily  necessities;  so  God  gave  the 
people  manna  for  their  daily  food  in  the  wilderness:  even  so  deals 
this  great  leader  of  the  sons  of  God.  He  keeps  the  stores  of  grace 
and  spiritual  strength  in  his  own  hand,  and  fi'om  thence  imparts 
unto  them  according  as  they  stand  in  need. 

(4.)  He  subdues  tlieir  enemies.  And  this  belongs  unto  his  office, 
as  the  captain  of  their  salvation,  in  an  especial  manner.  Many 
enemies  they  have,  and  unless  they  are  conquered  and  sLd)dued,  they 
can  never  enter  into  glory.  Satan,  the  world,  death,  and  sin,  are  the 
chief  or  heads  of  them,  and  all  these  are  subdued  by  Christ;  and 
that  two  ways: — First,  in  his  own  person;  for  they  all  attempted 
him,  and  failed  in  their  enterprise,  John  xiv.  30.  He  bruised  the 
serpent's  head.  Gen.  iii.  15,  and  "destroyed  him  that  had  the  power 
of  death,  that  is,  the  devil,"  verse  14  of  this  chapter, — destroyed  his 
power  in  a  glorious  and  triumphant  manner.  Col.  ii.  15,  "  he  spoiled 
principalities  and  powers,  and  made  a  show  of  them  openly,  tri- 
umphing over  them  in  his  cross, ' — adding  the  utmost  complement 
unto  his  victory,  in  a  triumph.  And  he  overcame  the  world.  John 
xvi.  33,  "Be  of  good  cheer,"  saith  he,  "I  have  overcome  the  world." 
Both  it  and  the  prince  of  it  were  put  under  his  feet.  Death  also 
was  subdued  by  him;  he  "swallowed  it  up  in  victory,"  1  Cor.  xv.  54. 


392  ,  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

He  plucked  out  its  sting,  broke  its  power,  disannulled  its  peremptory 
law,  when  he  shook  it  off  from  him,  and  rose  from  under  it,  Acts  ii. 
24,  Sin  also  set  upon  him  in  his  temptations,  but  was  utterly 
foiled;  as  all  sin  is  destroyed  in  its  very  being  where  it  is  not 
obeyed.     And  all  this  was  for  the  advantage  of  the  sons  of  God. 

For,  [1.]  He  hath  given  them  encouragement,  in  showing  them 
that  their  enemies  are  not  invincible,  their  power  is  not  uncon- 
trollable, their  law  not  peremptory  or  eternal;  but  that  having  been 
once  conquered,  they  may  the  more  easily  be  dealt  withal. 

[2.]  They  know  also  that  all  these  enemies  set  upon  his  person 
in  their  quarrel,  and  as  he  was  the  great  defender  of  the  faithjul : 
so  that  altiiough  they  were  not  conquered  by  their  persons,  yet  they 
were  conquered  in  their  cause;  and  they  are  called  in  to  be  sharers 
in  the  victory,  although  they  were  not  engaged  in  the  battle. 

[3.]  That  he  subdued  them  by  God's  ordinance  and  appointment, 
as  their  representative ;  declaring  in  his  person,  who  is  the  head,  what 
should  be  accomplished  in  every  one  of  his  members. 

[4.]  And  that,  by  his  personal  conquest  over  them,  he  hath  left 
them  weak,  maimed,  disarmed,  and  utterly  deprived  of  that  power 
they  had  to  hurt  and  destroy  before  he  engaged  with  them.  For 
he  hath  thereby  deprived  them,  \st,  Of  all  their  right  and  title  to 
exercise  their  enmity  against  or  dominion  over  the  sons  of  God. 
Before  his  dealing  with  them,  they  had  all  right  to  the  utmost  over 
mankind, — Satan  to  rule,  the  world  to  vex,  sin  to  enslave,  death  to 
destroy  and  give  up  unto  hell.  And  all  this  right  was  enrolled  in 
the  law  and  hand-writing  of  ordinances  which  was  against  us.  This 
was  cancelled  by  Christ,  and  nailed  to  the  cross,  never  to  be  pleaded 
more,  Col.  ii.  14.  And  when  any  have  lost  their  right  or  title  unto 
any  thing,  whatever  their  strength  be,  they  are  greatly  weakened. 
But  he  hath  herein,  '2.dly,  Deprived  them  of  their  strength  also. 
He  took  away  the  strength  of  sin  as  a  law,  and  the  sting  of  death  in 
sin,  the  arms  of  the  world  in  the  curse,  and  the  power  of  Satan  in 
his  works  and  strongholds. 

But  this  is  not  all:  he  not  only  subdues  these  enemies  for  them, 
but  also  %7i  them  and  by  them ;  for  though  they  have  neither  title 
nor  arms,  yet  they  will  try  the  remainder  of  their  power  against 
them  also.  But  "thanks  be  to  God,'""  saith  the  apostle,  "whogiveth 
us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  1  Cor.  xv.  57.  He 
enables  us  in  our  oiun persons  to  conquer  all  these  enemies.  "Nay," 
\  saith  he,  "in  all  these  things  we  are  more  than  conquerors,"  Rom. 
viii.  87 ;  because  we  have  more  assurance  of  success,  more  assistance 
in  the  contiict,  more  joy  in  the  trial,  than  any  other  concjuerors 
have.  We  do  not  only  conquer,  but  triumph  also.  For  Satan, 
he  tells  believers  "  that  they  have  overcome  tlie  wicked  one,"  1  John 
■^   ii.  io,  14;  and  shows  how  it  came  to  pass  that  they  should  be  able 


VER.  10.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS  393 

to  do  so.  It  is  "  because  greater  is  he  that  is  in  them  than  he  that 
is  in  the  world,"  chap.  iv.  7.  The  good  Spirit,  which  he  hath 
given  unto  them  to  help  and  assist  them,  is  infinitely  greater  and 
nidre  powerful  than  that  evil  spirit  which  rules  in  the  chiklren  of 
disobedience.  And  by  this  means  is  Satan  bruised  even  under  their 
feet.  A  conflict,  indeed,  we  must  have  with  him ;  we  must  "  wrestle 
with  principalities  and  powers  in  heavenly  places;"  but  the  success  is 
secured,  through  the  assistance  we  receive  from  this  captain  of  our 
salvation. 

The  world  also  is  subdued  in  them  and  by  them :  1  John  v.  4, 
"Whosoever  is  born  of  God  overcometh  the  world:  and  this  is  the 
victory  that  overcometh  the  world,  even  our  faith."  Faith  will  do 
this  work ;  it  never  failed  in  it,  nor  ever  will.  He  that  believeth 
shall  overcome;  the  whole  strength  of  Christ  is  engaged  unto  his 
assistance.  Sin  is  the  worst  and  most  obstinate  of  all  their  ene- 
mies. This  puts  them  hard  to  it  in  the  battle,  and  makes  them  cry 
out  for  aid  and  help,  Rom.  vii.  24.  But  this  also  they  receive 
strength  against,  so  as  to  carry  away  the  day.  "I  thank  God,"  saith 
the  apostle,  "through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,"  verse  25, — namely,  for 
deliverance  and  victory.  Sin  hath  a  double  design  in  its  enmity 
against  us; — first,  to  reign  in  us;  secondly,  to  condemn  us.  If 
it  be  disappointed  in  these  designs  it  is  absolutely  conquered ;  and 
that  it  is  by  the  grace  of  Christ.  As  to  its  reign  and  dominion,  it 
is  perfectly  defeated  for  the  present,  Rom.  vi.  14.  The  means  of  its 
rule  is  the  authority  of  the  law  over  us;  that  being  removed,  and 
our  souls  put  under  the  conduct  of  grace,  the  reign  of  sin  comes  to 
an  end.  Nor  shall  it  condemn  us,  Rom.  viii.  1.  And  what  can  it 
then  do?  where  is  the  voice  of  this  oppressor?  It  abides  but  a 
season,  and  that  but  to  endure  and  die.  Death  also  contends  against 
us,  by  its  own  sting  and  our  fear ;  but  the  first,  by  the  grace  of  Christ, 
is  taken  from  it,  and  the  latter  we  are  delivered  from,  and  so  have 
the  victory  over  it.  And  all  this  is  the  work  of  this  captain  of  our 
salvation  for  us  and  in  us. 

(5.)  He  doth  not  only  conquer  all  their  enemies,  but  he  avenges 
their  sufferings  upon  them,  and  punisheth  them  for  their  enmity. 
These  enemies,  though  they  prevail  not  absolutely  nor  finally 
against  the  sons  of  God,  yet,  by  their  temptations,  persecutions, 
oppressions,  they  put  them  ofttimes  to  unspeakable  hardships,  sor- 
row, and  trouble.  This  the  captain  of  their  salvation  will  not  take 
at  their  hands,  but  will  avenge  upon  them  all  their  ungodly  endea- 
vours, from  the  lowest  unto  the  greatest  and  highest  of  them.  Some 
he  will  deal  withal  in  this  world;  but  he  hath  appointed  a  day 
wherein  not  one  of  them  shall  escape.  See  Rev.  xx.  10,  14.  Devil, 
and  beast,  and  false  prophet,  and  death,  and  hell,  shall  all  together 
into  the  lake  of  fire. 


S94  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

(6.)  He  provides  a  reiuard,  a  crown  for  them;  and  in  the  bestuw- 
inr^  thereof  accompUsheth  this  his  blessed  office  of  the  captain  of 
our  salvation.  He  is  gone  before  the  sons  into  heaven,  to  make 
ready  their  glory,  to  "prepare  a  place  for  them;"  and  "he  will  come 
and  receive  them  unto  himself,  that  where  he  is,  tliere  they  may 
be  also,"  John  xiv.  2,  3.  When  he  hath  given  them  the  victory,  he 
will  take  them  unto  himself,  even  unto  his  throne,  Rev.  iii.  21 ;  and, 
as  a  righteous  judge,  give  unto  them  a  crown  of  righteousness  and 
glory,  2  Tim.  iv.  8, 1  Pet.  v.  4.  And  thus  is  the  whole  work  of  con- 
ducting the  sons  of  God  unto  glory,  from  first  to  last,  committed 
unto  this  great  captain  of  their  salvation,  and  thus  doth  he  discharge 
his  otfice  and  trust  therein;  and  blessed  are  all  they  who  are  under 
his  leading  and  guidance.     And  all  this  should  teach  us, — 

First,  To  betake  ourselves  unto  Jam,  and  to  rely  upon  him  in  the 
whole  course  of  our  obedience  and  all  the  passages  thereof.  To 
this  purpose  is  he  designed  by  the  Father;  this  hath  he  under- 
taken; and  this  doth  he  go  through  withal.  No  address  that  is 
made  unto  him  in  this  matter  will  he  ever  refuse  to  attend  unto; 
no  case  or  condition  that  is  proposed  unto  him  is  too  hard  for  him, 
or  beyond  his  power  to  relieve.  He  is  careful,  watchful,  tender, 
faithful,  powerful;  and  all  these  properties  and  blessed  enduwujents 
will  he  exercise  in  the  discharge  of  this  oftice.  What  should  hinder 
us  from  betaking  ourselves  unto  him  continually?  Is  our  trouble 
so  small,  are  our  duties  so  ordinary,  that  we  can  wrestle  with  thenx 
or  perform  them  in  our  own  strength?  Alas!  we  can  do  nothing, — 
not  think  a  good  thought,  not  endure  a  reproachful  word.  And 
whatever  we  seem  to  do  or  endure  of  ourselves,  it  is  all  lost;  for  "in 
us  there  dwelleth  no  good  thing."  Or  are  our  distresses  so  great, 
our  temptations  so  many,  our  corruptions  so  strong,  that  we  begin 
to  say,  "  There  is  no  hope?"  Is  any  thing  too  hard  for  the  captain 
of  our  salvation?  Hath  he  not  already  conquered  all  our  enemies? 
Is  he  not  able  to  subdue  all  things  by  his  power?  Shall  we  faint 
whilst  Jesus  Christ  lives  and  reigns?  But,  it  may  be,  we  have 
looked  for  help  and  assistance,  and  it  hath  not  answered  our  expecta- 
tion, so  that  now  we  begin  to  faint  and  despond.  Sin  is  not  sub- 
dued, the  world  is  still  triumphant,  and  Satan  rageth  as  much  as 
ever;  his  temptations  are  ready  to  pass  over  our  souls.  But  have 
we  sought  for  his  help  and  assistance  in  a  due  manner,  with  faith 
and  perseverance;  unto  right  ends,  of  his  glory,  and  advantage  of  the 
gospel?  Have  we  taken  a  right  measure  of  what  we  have  received? 
or  do  we  not  complain  without  a  cause?  Let  us  not  "judge  accord- 
ing to  outward  appearance,  but  judge  righteous  judgment."  What 
is  it  to  us  if  the  world  triumph,  if  Satan  rage,  if  sin  tempt  and  vex  ? 
we  are  not  promised  that  it  shall  be  otherwise.  But  are  we  for- 
saken?    Ai'e  we  not  kept  from   being  prevailed  against?     If  vre 


VER.  10.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  S95 

ask  amiss  or  for  improper  ends,  or  know  not  what  we  do  receive,  or 
think,  Ijecause  the  strength  of  enemies  appears  to  be  great,  we  must 
fail  and  be  ruined,  let  us  not  complain  of  our  captain;  for  all  these 
things  arise  from  our  own  unbelief  Let  our  application  unto  hinx 
be  accordiiig  unto  his  command,  our  expectations  from  him  accord- 
ing to  the  promise,  our  experiences  of  what  we  receive  be  measured 
by  the  rule  of  the  word,  and  we  shall  find  that  we  have  all  grounds 
of  assm'ance  that  we  can  desire.  Let  us,  then,  in  every  condition, 
"l(^ok  unto  Jesus,  the  author  and  finisher  of  our  faitli,"  who  hath 
undertaken  the  leading  of  us  in  the  whole  course  of  our  obedience 
from  first  to  last,  and  we  shall  not  need  to  faint,  nor  shall  we  ever 
fail. 

Secondly,  To  look  for  direction  and  guidance  from  him.  This 
in  an  especial  manner  belongs  unto  him,  as  the  captain  of  our  salva- 
tion. There  are  two  things  which  we  find  by  experience  that  pro- 
fessors are  apt  to  be  at  a  great  loss  in  whilst  they  are  in  this  world, 
— the  worship  of  God,  and  their  own  troubles.  For  the  first,  we 
see  and  find  that  woful  variance  that  is  among  all  sorts  of  men; 
and  for  the  latter,  we  are  apt  ourselves  to  be  much  bewildered  in 
them,  as  unto  our  duty  and  our  way.  Now,  all  this  uncertainty 
ariseth  from  the  want  of  a  due  attendance  unto  Jesus  Christ  as  our 
guide.  In  reference  unto  both  these  he  hath  peculiarly  promised 
his  presence  with  us.  With  the  dispensers  of  the  word  he  hath 
promised  to  be  "unto  the  end  of  the  world,"  or  consummation  of  all 
things.  Matt,  xxviii.  20 ;  and  we  find  him  walking  in  the  midst  of 
his  golden  candlesticks.  Rev.  i.  In  that  allegorical  description  of 
the  gospel  church-state  and  worship  which  we  liave  in  Ezekiel, 
there  is  a  peculiar  place  assigned  unto  the  prince.  Now,  one  end  of 
his  presence  is,  to  see  that  all  things  are  done  according  unto  his 
mind  and  will.  And  unto  whom  should  we  go  but  unto  himself 
alone  ?  His  word  here  will  prove  the  best  directory,  and  his  Spirit 
the  best  guide.  If  we  neglect  these  to  attend  unto  the  wisdom  of 
men,  we  shall  wander  in  uncertainties  all  our  days.  It  is  so  also  in 
respect  of  our  troubles.  We  are  ready  in  them  to  consult  with 
flesh  and  blood,  to  look  after  the  examples  of  others,  to  t;ds.e  the 
advice  that  comes  next  to  hand,  when  the  Lord  Christ  hath  pro- 
mised his  presence  with  us  in  them  all,  and  that  as  the  captain 
of  our  salvation.  And  if  we  neglect  him,  his  example,  his  direction, 
his  teaching,  it  is  no  wonder  if  we  pine  away  under  our  distresses. 

II.  We  may  observe,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  being  priest, 
saciifice,  and  altar  himself,  the  oft"ering  whereby  he  was  consecrated 
unto  the  perfection  and  complement  of  his  office  was  of  necessity  to 
be  part  of  that  work  which,  as  our  priest  and  mediator,  he  was  to 
undergo  and  perform. 

When  other  typical  priests  were  to  be  consecrated,  tliere  was  an 


396  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  XL 

offering  of  teasts  appointed  for  that  purpose,  and  an  altar  to  offer 
on,  and  a  person  to  consecrate  them.  But  all  this  was  to  be  done 
in  and  by  Jesus  Christ  himself.  Even  the  Father  is  said  to  conse- 
crate him  but  upon  the  account  of  his  designing  him  and  appointing 
him  unto  his  office;  but  his  immediate  actual  consecration  was  his 
own  work,  which  he  performed  when  he  offered  himself  through  the 
eternal  Spirit.  By  his  death  and  sufferings,  which  he  underwent 
in  the  discharge  of  his  office,  and  as  a  priest  therein  offered  himself 
unto  God,  he  was  dedicated  and  consecrated  unto  the  perfection  of 
his  office.  This  would  require  our  farther  explication  in  this  place, 
but  that  it  will  again  occur  unto  us  more  directly. 

III.  The  Lord  Christ,  being  consecrated  and  perfected  through 
sufferings,  hath  consecrated  the  way  of  suffering  for  all  that  follow 
him  to  pass  through  unto  glory. 

IV,  All  complaints  of  sufferings,  all  despondencies  under  them,  all 
fear.?  of  them,  are  rendered  unjust  and  unequal  by  the  sufferings  of 
Christ.  It  is  surely  righteous  that  they  should  be  contented  with 
his  lot  here  who  desire  to  be  received  into  his  glory  hereafter.  Now, 
there  are  sundry  things  that  follow  upon  this  consecration  of  the  way 
of  suffering  bx-  Jesus  Christ;  as, — 

(1.)  That  they  are  made  necessary  and  unavoidable.  Men 
may  hope  and  desire  other  things,  and  turn  themselves  several  ways 
in  their  contrivances  to  avoid  them,  but  one  way  or  other  sufferings 
will  be  the  portion  of  them  that  intend  to  follow  this  captain  of 
salvation.  The  apostle  tells  believers  that  they  are  predestinated  to 
be  conformed  to  the  image  of  the  Son  of  God,  Rom.  viii.  29 ;  and 
lets  them  know,  in  the  close  of  that  chapter,  that  no  small  part  of 
this  conformity  consists  in  their  afflictions  and  sufferings.  The  head 
having  passed  through  them,  there  is  a  measure  of  afflictions  be- 
longing unto  the  body,  which  every  member  is  to  bear  his  share  of, 
Col,  i.  24.  And  the  Lord  Jesus  himself  hath  given  this  law  unto 
us,  that  every  one  who  will  be  his  disciple  must  take  up  his  cross 
and  follow  him.  Discipleship  and  the  cross  are  insep  u-ably  knit  to- 
gether, by  the  unchangeable  law  and  constitution  of  Christ  himself 
And  the  gospel  is  full  of  warnings  and  instructions  unto  this  pur- 
pose, that  none  may  complain  that  they  were  surprised,  or  that  any 
thing  did  befall  them  in  the  course  of  their  profession  which  they 
looked  not  for.  -^  Men  may  deceive  themselves  with  vain  hopes  and 
expectations,  but  the  gospel  deceiveth  none.  It  tells  them  plainly 
beforehand,  that  "  tlirough  much  tribulation  they  must  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  God;"  and  that  they  who  "will  live  godly  in  Christ 
Jesus  shall  suffer  persecution."  If  they  like  not  these  terms,  they 
may  let  the  way  of  Christ  alone;  if  they  will  not  do  so,  why  do  they 
yet  complain?  Christ  will  be  taken  with  his  cross,  or  not  at  all 
And  the  folly  of  our  hearts  can  never  be  enough  bewailed,  in  thinking 


VER.  10.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  S97 

strange  of  trials  and  afflictions,  when  the  very  first  thjng  that  the 
Lord  Christ  requireth  of  them  that  will  be  made  partakers  of  him 
is,  that  "  they  deny  themselves,  and  take  up  their  cross.".  But  we 
would  be  children,  and  not  be  chastised;  we  would  he  gold,  and 
not  be  tried;  we  would  overcome,  and  yet  not  be  put  to  fight  and 
contend;  we  would  be  Christians,  and  not  suffer.  But  all  these 
things  are  contrary  to  the  eternal  law  of  our  profession.  And  so 
necessary  is  this  way  made,  that  though  God  deals  with  his  people 
in  great  variety,  exercising  some  with  such  trials  and  troubles,  that 
others  sometimes  in  comparison  of  them  seem  utterly  to  go  free,  yet 
every  one,  one  way  or  other,  shall  have  his  share  and  measure.  And 
those  exceptions  that  are  made  in  the  .providence  of  God  as  to  some 
individual  persons  at  some  seasons,  derogate  nothing  from  the  ge- 
neral necessity  of  the  way  towards  all  that  do  believe. 

(2.)  It  hath  made  all  sufferings  for  the  gospel  honourable.  The 
sufferings  of  Christ  himself  were  indeed  shameful,  and  that  not  only 
in  the  esteem  of  men,  but  also  in  the  nature  of  them  and  by  God's 
constitution.  They  were  part  of  the  curse,  as  it  is  written,  "Cursed 
is  every  one  that  hangeth  on  a  tree."  And  as  such  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  looked  on  them,  when  he  wrestled  with  and  conquered  the 
shame  as  well  as  the  sharpness.  But  he  hath  rendered  all  the  suffer- 
ings of  his  that  remain  very  honourable  in  themselves,  whatever  they 
are  in  the  reputation  of  a  blind,  perishing  world.  That  which  is  truly 
shameful  in  suffering,  is  an  effect  of  the  curse  for  sin.  This  Christ 
by  his  suffering  hath  utterly  separated  from  the  sufferings  of  his 
disciples.  Hence  the  apostles  rejoiced  that  they  had  the  honour  to 
sufiter  shame  for  his  name,  Acts  v.  41 ;  that  is,  the  things  which  the 
world  looked  on  as  shameful,  but  themselves  knew  to  be  honourable. 
They  are  so  in  the  sight  of  God,  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of  all  the 
holy  angels;  which  are  competent  judges  in  this  case,  .,God  hath  a 
great  cause  in  the  world,  and  that  such  a  one  as  wherein  his  name, 
iiis"gooila'?ss,  his  love,  his  glory,  are  concerned;  this,  in  his  infinite 
wisdom,  is  to  be  witnessed,  confirmed,  testified  unto  by  sufferings. 
Now,  can  there  be  any  greater  honour  done  unto  any  of  the  sons  of 
men,  than  that  God  should  single  them  out  from  among  the  rest  of 
mankind  and  appoint  them  unto  this  work  ?  Men  are  honoured  ac- 
cording to  their  riches  and  treasures;  but  when  Moses  came  to  make 
a  right  jucJgment  concerning  this  thing,  he  "  esteemed  the  reproach 
of  Christ  greater  riches  than  the  treasures  in  Egypt,"  Heb.  xi.  2G. 
We  believe  that  God  gave  great  honour  unto  the  apostles  and  mar- 
tyrs of  old  in  all  their  sufferings.  Let  us  labour  for  "the  same  spirit 
of  faith  in  reference  unto  ourselves,  and  it  will  relieve  us  under  all 
our  trials.  This,  then,  also  hath  Christ  added  unto  the  way  of  suffer- 
ings, by  his  consecration  of  it  for  us.  All  the  glory  and  honour  of 
the  world  is  not  to  be  compared  with  theirs  unto  whom  "  it  is  given 


398  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

in  the  behalf  of  Christ,  not  only  to  believe  on  him,  but  also  to  suffer 
for  Ms  sake,"  Pliil.  i.  29,  1  Pet.  iv.  14-16. 

(o.)  He  hath  thereby  made  them  useful  and  profitable.  Troubles 
and  afflictions  in  themselves  and  their  own  nature  have  no  gooil 
in  them,  nor  do  they  tend  unto  any  good  end;  they  grow  put  ol, 
the  first  sentence  against  sin,  and  are  in  their  own  nature  penal, 
tending  unto  death,  and  nothing  else;  nor  are  they,  in  those  who 
have  no  interest  in  Christ,  any  thing  but  effects,  of.jthe;  wrath  of  God. 
But  the  Lord  Christ,  by  his  consecrating  of  them  to  be  the.Wqiy.of 
our  following  him,  hath  quite  altered  their  nature  and  tendency ;  he 
hath  ihade  them  good,  useful,  and  profitable.  I  shall  not  here  show 
the  usefulness  of  afflictions  and  sufferings,  the  whole  Scripture  abun- 
dantly testifieth  unto  it,  and  the  experience  of  believers  in  all  ages 
and  seasons  confirms  it.  I  onl}'  show  whence  it  is  that  they  become 
so ;  and  that  is,  because  the  Lord  Christ  hath  consecrated,  dedicated, 
and  sanctified  them  unto  that  end.  He  hath  thereby  cut  them  off 
from  their  old  stock  of  wrath  and  the  curse,  and  planted  them  on 
that  of  love  and  good-will.  He  hath  taken  them  off  from  the  cove- 
nant of  works,  and  translated  them  into  that  of  grace.  He  hath 
turned  their  course  from  death  towards  life  and  immortality.  Mix- 
ing: his  o'race,  love,  and  wisdom  with  these  bitter  waters,  he  haih 
made  them  sweet  and  wholesome.  And  if  we  would  have  benefit 
by  them,  we  must  always  have  regard  unto  this  consecration  of 
them. 

(4)  He  hath  made  them  safe.  They  are  in  their  own  nature  a 
wilderness,  wherein  men  may  endlessly  wander  and  quickly  lose 
themselves.  But  he  hath  made  them  a  ivay,  a  safe  way,  that 
wayfaring  men,  though  fools,  may  not  err  therein.  Never  did  a 
believer  perish  by  afflictions  or  persecutions; — never  was  good  gold 
or  silver  consumed  or  lost  in  the  furnace.  Hypocrites,  indeed,  and 
false  professors,  the  fearful,  and  unbelievers,  are  discovered  by  them, 
and  discarded  from  their  hopes:  but  they  that  are  disciples  indeed  are 
never  safer  than  in  this  way;  and  that  because  it  is  consecrated  for 
them.  Sometimes,  it  may  be,  through  their  unbelief,  and  want  of 
heeding  the  Cciptain  of  their  salvation,  they  are  wounded  and  cast 
down  by  them  for  a  season;  but  they  are  still  in  the  way,  they  are 
never  turned  quite  out  of  the  way.  And  this,  tlirough  the  grace  of 
Christ,  doth  turn  also  unto  their  advantage.  Nay,  it  is  not  only  ab- 
solutely a  safe  way,  but  comparatively  more  safe  than  the  way  of 
prosperity.  And  this  the  Scripture,  with  the  experience  of  all  saints, 
bears  plentiful -witness  unto.  And  many  other  blessed  ends  are 
wrought  by  the  consecration  of  this  way  for  the  disciples  of  Christ, 
not  now  to  be  insisted  on. 

5  There  remains  yet  to  be  considered,  in  the  words  of  the  apostie, 
the  reason  why  the  captain  of  our  salvation  was  to  be  consecraLed 


VER.  10.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  S:)9 

by  sufferings;  and  this  he  declares  in  the  beginning  of  the  verse, — it 
*'  liecanie  God"  so  to  deal  with  him ;  which  he  amplifies  by  that  de- 
scription of  him,  "  For  whom  are  all  things,  and  by  whom  are  all 
things."  Having  such  a  design  as  he  had,  to  "bring  many  sons  unto 
glory,"  and  being  he  for  whom  are  all  things,  and  by  whom  are  all 
things,  it  became  him  so  to  deal  with  the  captain  of  their  salvation. 
AVliat  is  the  rb  a^iffof  here  intended,  and  what  is  the  importance  of 
the  word,  was  declared  before.  This  becomingness,  whatever  it  be, 
ariseth  from  hence,  that  God  is  he  for  whom  are  all  things,  and 
by  wliom  are  all  things.  It  became  him  not  only  who  is  so,  l)Ut  as 
he  is  so,  and  because  he  is  so.  There  is  no  reason  for  the  addition 
of  that  consideration  of  God  in  this  matter,  but  that  the  cause  is  in 
it  contained  and  expressed  why  it  became  him  to  do  that  which 
is  here  ascribed  unto  him.  We  are,  then,  to  inquire  what  it  is  tlnit 
is  principally  regarded  in  God  in  this  attribution,  and  thence  we 
shall  learn  how  it  became  him  to  bring  the  Lord  Christ  into  suffer- 
ing. Now,  the  description  of  God  in  these  words  is  plainly  of  him 
as  the  first  cause  and  last  end  of  all  things.  Neither  is  it  absolutely 
his  power  in  making  all  of  nothing,  and  his  sovereign,  eternal  will, 
requiring  that  all  things  tend  unto  his  glory,  that  are  intended  in  the 
words;  but  that  he  is  the  governor,  ruler,  and  judge,  of  all  things 
made  by  him  and  for  him,  with  respect  unto  that  order  and  law  of 
their  creation  which  they  were  to  observe.  This  rule  and  govern- 
ment of  all  things,  taking  care  that  as  they  are  of  God  so  tliey 
should  be  for  him,  is  that  which  the  apostle  respects.  This,  then, 
is  that  which  he  asserts,  namely,  that  it  became  God,  as  the  governor, 
ruler,  and  judge  of  all,  to  consecrate  Christ  by  sufferings:  which 
must  be  further  explained. 

Man  being  made  an  intellectual  creature,  had  a  rule  of  moral 
obedience  given  unto  him.  This  was  he  to  observe  to  the  glory  of 
his  Creator  and  Lawgiver,  and  as  the  condition  of  his  coming  unto 
him  and  enjoyment  of  him.  This  is  here  supposed  by  the  apostle; 
and  he  discourseth  how  man,  having  broken  the  law  of  his  creation, 
and  therein  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God,  might  by  his  grace  be 
again  made  partaker  of  it.  With  respect  unto  this  state  of  things, 
God  can  be  no  otherwise  considered  but  as  the  supreme  governor 
and  judge  of  them.  Now,  that  property  of  God  which  he  exerteth 
principally  as  the  ruler  and  governor  of  all,  is  his  justice,  "  justitia 
regiminis,"  the  righteousness  of  government.  Hereof  tliere  are  two 
branches;  for  it  is  either  remunerative  or  vindictive.  And  this 
righteousness  of  God,  as  the  supreme  ruler  and  judge  of  all,  is  that 
upon  the  account  whereof  it  was  meet  for  him,  or  became  him,  to 
bring  the  sons  to  glory  by  the  sufferings  of  the  captain  of  their  sal- 
vation. It  was  hence  just  and  equal,  and  therefore  indispensably  ne- 
cessary that  so  he  should  do.    Supposing  that  man  was  created  in  the 

VOL.  XII.— 26 


400  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II 

image  of  God,  capable  of  yielding  obedience  unto  bim,  according  to 
the  law  concreated  with  him  and  written  in  his  heart,  which  obedi- 
ence was  his  moral  being  for  God,  as  he  was  from  or  of  him ;  sup- 
posing that  he  by  sin  had  broken  this  law,  and  so  was  no  longer  for 
God,  according  to  the  primitive  order  and  law  of  his  creation ;  sup- 
posing also,  notwithstanding  all  this,  that  God  in  his  infinite  grace 
and  love  intended  to  bring  some  men  unto  the  enjoyment  of  him- 
self, by  a  new  way,  law,  and  appointment,  by  which  they  should  be 
brought  to  be  for  him  again; — supposing,  I  say,  these  things,  which 
are  all  here  supposed  by  our  apostle  and  were  granted  by  the  Jews, 
it  became  the  justice  of  God,  that  is,  it  was  so  just,  right,  meet, 
and  equal,  that  the  judge  of  all  the  world,  who  doth  right,  could 
no  otherwise  do,  than  cause  him  who  was  to  be  the  way,  cau.se, 
means,  and  author  of  this  recovery  of  men  into  a  new  condition  of 
beinji  for  God,  to  suffer  in  their  stead.  For  whereas  the  vindictive 
justice  of  God,  which  is  the  respect  of  the  universal  rectitude  of  his 
holy  nature  unto  the  deviation  of  his  rational  creatures  from  the  law 
of  their  creation,  required  that  that  deviation  should  be  revenged, 
and  themselves  brought  into  a  new  way  of  being  for  God,  or  of  glo- 
rifying him  by  their  sufferings,  when  they  had  refused  to  do  so  by 
obedience,  it  was  necessary,  on  the  account  thereof,  that  if  they  were 
to  be  delivered  from  that  condition,  the  author  of  their  deliver- 
ance should  sutler  for  them.  And  this  excellently  suits  the  design 
of  tlie  apostle,  which  is  to  prove  the  necessity  of  the  suffering  of  the 
Messiah,  which  the  Jews  so  stumbled  at.  Yox  if  the  justice  of  God 
required  that  so  it  should  be,  how  could  it  be  dispensed  withal? 
Would  they  have  God  unjust?  Shall  he  forego  the  glory  of  his 
righteousness  and  holiness  to  please  them  in  their  presumption  and 
prejudices?  It  is  true,  indeed,  if  God  had  intended  no  salvation  for 
his  sons  but  one  that  was  temporal,  like  that  granted  unto  the  people 
of  old  under  the  conduct  of  Joshua,  there  had  been  no  need  at  all  of 
the  sufferings  of  the  captain  of  their  salvation.  But  they  being 
such  as  in  themselves  had  sinned  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of 
God,  and  the  salvation  intended  them  being  spiritual,  consisting  in 
a  new  ordering  of  them  for  God,  and  the  bringing  of  them  unto  the 
eternal  enjoyment  of  liim  in  glory,  there  was  no  way  to  maintain 
the  honour  of  the  justice  of  God  but  by  his  suffering.  And  as  here 
lay  the  great  mistake  of  the  Jews,  so  the  denial  of  this  condecency 
of  God's  justice,  as  to  the  sufferings  of  the  Messiah,  is  the  vpojroy 
•^/eDoos  of  the  Socinians.  Schlichtingius  on  this  place  would  have  no 
more  intended  but  that  the  way  of  bringing  Christ  to  suffer  was 
answerable  unto  that  design  which  God  had  laid  to  glorify  himself 
in  the  salvation  of  man.  But  the  apostle  says  not  that  it  became  or 
was  suitable  unto  an  arbitrary  free  decree  of  God,  but  that  it  became 
himself  as  the  supreme  ruler  and  judge  of  all     He  speaks  not  of 


VER.  10.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  401 

what  was  meet  unto  the  execution  of  a  free  decree,  but  of  what  waa 
meet,  on  the  account  of  God's  hoUness  and  righteousness,  to  the  con- 
stitution of  it,  as  the  description  of  him  annexed  doth  plainly  show. 
And  herein  have  we  with  our  apostle  discovered  the  great,  indispens- 
able, and  fun<lamental  cause  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ.  And  we 
may  hence  observe,  that, — 

V.  Such  is  the  desert  of  sin,  and  such  is  the  immutability  of  the 
justice  of  God,  that  there  was  no  way  possible  to  bring  sinners  unto 
glory  but  by  the  death  and  suff'erings  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  under- 
took to  be  the  captain  of  their  salvation. 

It  would  have  been  unbecoming  God,  the  supreme  governor  of 
all  the  world,  to  have  passed  by  the  desert  of  sin  without  this  satis- 
faction. And  this  being  a  truth  of  great  importance,  and  the  foun- 
dation of  most  of  the  apostle's  ensuing  discourses,  must  be  a  while 
insisted  on. 

In  these  verses,  that  foregoing  this,  and  some  of  those  follow- 
ing, the  apostle  directly  treats  of  the  causes  of  the  sufferings  and 
death  of  Christ; — a  matter  as  of  great  importance  in  itself,  com- 
prising no  small  part  of  the  mystery  of  the  gospel,  so  indispensably 
necessary  to  be  explained  and  confirmed  unto  the  Hebrews,  who 
had  entertained  many  prejudices  against  it.  In  the  foregoing  verse 
he  declared  the  cause  Tporiyou/zhriv,  the  inducing,  leading,  moving 
cause ;  which  was  "the  grace  of  God,'' — by  the  grace  of  God  he  was  to 
taste  death  for  men.  This  grace  he  further  explains  in  this  verse, 
showing  that  it  consisted  in  the  design  of  God  to  "  bring  many  sons 
unto  glory."  All  had  sinned  and  come  short  of  his  glory.  He  had, 
according  to  the  exigence  of  his  justice,  denounced  and  declared 
death  and  judgment  to  he  brought  upon  all  that  sinned,  without 
exception.  Yet  such  was  his  infinite  love  and  grace,  that  he  deter- 
mined or  purposed  in  himself  to  deliver  some  of  them,  to  make 
them  sons,  and  to  bring  them  unto  glory.  Unto  this  end  he  re- 
solved to  send  or  give  his  Son  to  be  a  captain  of  salvation  unto 
them.  And  this  love  or  grace  of  God  is  everywhere  set  forth  in  the 
gospel.  How  the  sutferings  of  this  captain  of  f^alvation  became  use- 
ful unto  the  sons,  upon  the  account  of  the  manifold  union  that  was 
between  them,  he  declares  in  the  following  verses,  further  explain- 
ing the  reasons  and  causes  why  the  benefit  of  his  sufferings  should 
redovmd  unto  them.  In  this  verse  he  expresseth  the  cause,  t^cxc:- 
rapxrixriv,  the  procuring  cause,  of  the  death  and  suff'erings  of  Christ; 
which  is  the  justice  of  God,  upon  supposition  of  sin  and  his  purpose 
to  save  sinners.  And  this,  upon  examination,  we  shall  find  to  be  the 
great  cause  of  the  death  of  Christ. 

That  the  Son  of  God,  who  did  no  sin,  in  whom  his  soul  was  always 
well  pleased  on  the  account  of  his  obedience,  should  suffer  and  die, 
and  that  a  death  under  the  sentence  and  curse  of  the  law,  is  a  great 


402  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

and  astonisliable  mystery.  All  the  saints  of  God  admire  at  it,  the 
angels  desire  to  look  into  it.  What  should  be  the  cause  and  reason 
hereof",  why  God  should  thus  "bruise  him  and  put  him  to  grief  ?"  This 
is  worth  our  inquiry;  and  various  are  the  conceptions  of  men  about 
it.  The  Socinians  deny  that  his  sufferings  were  penal,  or  that  he 
died  to  make  satisfaction  for  sin ;  but  only  that  he  did  so  to  confirm 
the  doctrine  that  he  had  taught,  and  to  set  us  an  example  to  suffer 
for  the  truth.  But  his  doctrine  carried  its  own  evidence  with  it 
that  it  was  from  God,  and  was  besides  uncontrollably  confirmed  by 
the  miracles  that  he  wrought.  So  that  his  sufferings  on  that  account 
might  have  been  dispensed  withal.  And  surely  this  great  and  stupen- 
dous matter,  of  the  dying  of  the  Son  of  God,  is  not  to  be  resolved  into 
a  reason  and  cause  that  might  so  easily  be  dispensed  with.  God  would 
never  have  given  up  his  Son  to  die,  but  only  for  such  causes  and 
ends  as  could  no  otherwise  have  been  satisfied  or  accomplished.  The 
like  also  may  be  said  of  the  other  cause  assigned  by  them,  namely, 
to  set  us  an  example.  It  is  true,  in  his  death  he  did  so,  and  of  great 
and  singular  use  unto  us  it  is  that  so  he  did ;  but  yet  neither  was 
this,  from  any  precedent  law  or  constitution,  nor  from  the  nature 
of  the  thing  itself,  nor  from  any  property  of  God,  indispensably  neces- 
sary. God  could  by  his  grace  have  carried  us  through  sufferings, 
although  he  had  not  set  before  us  the  example  of  his  Son :  so  he 
doth  through  other  things  no  less  difficult,  wherein  the  Lord  Christ 
could  not  in  his  own  person  go  before  us ;  as  in  our  conversion  unto 
God,  and  mortification  of  indwelling  sin,  neither  of  which  the  Lord 
Christ  was  capable  of.  We  shall  leave  them,  then,  as  those  who, 
acknowledging  the  death  of  Christ,  do  not  yet  acknowledge  or  own 
any  sufficient  cause  or  reason  why  he  should  dia 

Christians  generally  allow  that  the  sufferings  of  Christ  were  penal, 
and  his  death  satisfactory  for  the  sins  of  men ;  but  as  to  the  cause 
and  reason  of  his  so  suffering  they  differ.  Some,  following  Austin, 
refer  the  death  of  Christ  solely  unto  the  wisdom  and  sovereignty^F 
God.  God  would  have  it  so,  and  therein  are  we  to  acquiesce.  Other 
ways  of  saving  the  elect  were  possible,  but  this  God  chose,  because 
so  it  seemed  good  unto  him.  Hence  arose  that  saying,  "  That  one 
drop  of  the  blood  of  Christ  was  sufficient  to  redeem  the  whole  world ;" 
only  it  pleased  God  that  he  should  suffer  unto  the  utmost.  And 
herein  are  we  to  rest,  that  he  hath  suffered  for  us,  and  that  God  hath 
revealed.  But  this  seems  not  to  me  any  way  to  answer  that  which 
is  here  affirmed  by  the  apostle,  namely,  that  it  became  God,  as  the 
supreme  governor  of  all  the  world,  so  to  cause  Christ  to  suffer;  nor 
do  I  see  what  demonstration  of  the  glory  of  justice  can  arise  from 
the  punishing  of  an  innocent  person  who  might  have  been  spared, 
and  yet  all  the  ends  of  his  being  so  punished  have  been  brought 
about.     And  to  say  that  one  drop  of  Christ's  blood  was  sufficient 


VER.  10.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWa  403 

to  rerlrf^m  the  world,  is  derogatory  uuto  the  goodness,  wisdom,  and 
ri^diteousness  of  God,  in  causing  not  only  the  whole  to  be  shed,  but 
also  "  his  soul  to  be  made  an  oftering  for  sin ;"  which  was  altogether 
needless  if  that  were  true.  But  how  far  this  whole  opinion  is  from 
truth,  which  leaves  no  necessary  cause  of  the  death  of  Christ,  will 
afterwards  appear. 

Others  say,  that  on  supposition  that  God  had  appointed  the  curse 
of  the  law,  and  death  to  be  the  penalty  of  sin,  his  faithfulness  and 
veracity  were  engaged  so  far  that  no  sinner  should  go  free,  or  be 
made  partaker  of  glory,  but  by  the  intervention  of  satisfaction.  And 
therefore,  on  the  supposition  that  God  would  make  some  men  his 
sons,  and  bring  them  to  glory,  it  was  necessary,  with  respect  unto 
the  engagement  of  the  truth  of  God,  that  he  should  suffer,  die,  and 
make  satisfaction  for  them.  Biitall_iliis-they^  refer  originaJiy  unto 
a  free  constitution,  which  might  have  been  otherwise.  '  God  might 
have  ordered  things  so,  without  any  derogation  unto  the  glory  of 
his  justice  or  holiness  in  the  government  of  all  things,  as  that  sin- 
ners might  have  been  saved  without  the  death  of  Christ ;  for  if  he 
had  not  engaged  his  word,  and  declared  that  death  should  be  the 
penalty  of  sin,  he  might  have  freely  remitted  it  without  the  inter- 
vention of  any  satisfaction.'  And  thus  all  this  whole  work  of  death 
being  the  punishment  of  sin,  and  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ  for  sin- 
ners, is  resolved  into  a  free  purpose  and  decree  of  God's  will,  and 
not  into  the  exigence  of  any  essential  property  of  his  nature;  sa 
that  it  might  have  been  otherwise  in  all  the  parts  of  it,  and  yet  the 
glory  of  God  preserved  every  way  entire.  Whether  this  be  so  or 
no,  we  shall  immediately  inquire. 

Others  grant  many  free  acts  of  the  mind  and  will  of  God  in  this 
matter;  as,  first,  the  creation  of  man  in  such  a  condition  as  that  he 
should  have  a  moral  dependence  on  God  in  reference  unto  his  ut- 
most end  was  an  effect  of  the  sovereign  pleasure,  will,  and  wisdom 
of  God.  But  on  supposition  of  this  decide  j,nd  constitution,  they 
say,  the  nature,  authority,  and  hoTiness  of  God  required  indispens- 
ably that  man  should  yield  unto  him  that  obedience  which  he  was 
directed  unto  and  guided  in  by  the  law  of  his  creation;  so  that 
God  could  not  suffer  him  to  do  otherwise,  and  remain  in  his  first 
state,  and  come  unto  the  end  first  designed  unto  him,  without  the 
loss  of  his  authority  and  wrong  of  his  justice.  Again,  they  say  that 
God  did  freely,  by  an  act  of  his  sovereign  will  and  pleasure,  decree 
to  permit  man  to  sin  and  fall,  which  might  have  been  otherwise; 
but  on  supposition  that  so  he  should  do  and  would  do,  and  thereby 
infringe  the  order  of  his  dependence  on  God  in  reference  unto  his 
utmost  end,  that  the  justice  of  God,  as  the  supreme  governor  of  all 
things,  did  indispensably  require  that  he  should  receive  "  a  meet  re- 
corapence  of  reward,"  or  be  punished  auswerably  unto  his  crimes:  so 


404  AN  EXPOS JTIUiN  OF  THE  [chap.  II. 

that  God  could  not  have  dealt  otherwise  with  him  without  a  high 
derogation  from  his  own  righteousness.  Again,  tliey  say  that  God, 
by  a  mere  free  act  of  his  love  and  grace,  designed  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  to  be  the  way  and  means  for  the  saving  of  sinners,  which 
might  have  been  otherwise.  He  might,  without  the  least  impeach- 
ment of  the  glory  of  any  of  his  essential  properties,  have  suffered 
all  mankind  to  have  perished  under  that  penalty  which  they  had 
justly  incurred;  but  of  his  own  mere  love,  free  grace,  and  good 
pleasure,  he  gave  and  sent  him  to  redeem  them.  But  on  the  sup- 
position thereof,  they  say,  the  justice  of  God  required  that  he  should 
lay  on  him  the  punishment  due  unto  the  sons  whom  he  redeemed ; 
it  became  him,  on  the  account  of  his  natural  essential  justice,  to  bring 
him  into  sufferings.  And  in  this  opinion  is  contained  the  truth 
laid  down  in  our  proposition,  which  we  shall  now  further  confirm, 
namely,  that  it  became  the  nature  of  God,  or  the  essential  properties 
of  his  nature  required  indispensably,  that  sin  should  be  punished 
with  death,  in  the  sinner  or  in  his  surety;  and  therefore  if  he 
would  bring  any  sons  to  glory,  the  captain  of  their  salvation  must 
undergo  sufferings  and  death,  to  make  satisfaction  for  them. 
For,— 

(1.)  Consider  that  description  which  the  Scripture  giveth  us  of 
the  nature  of  God  in  reference  unto  sin;  and  this  it  doth  either 
metaphorically  or  properly.  In  the  first  way  it  compares  God  unto 
fire,  unto  "  a  consuming  fire;"  and  his  acting  toward  sin  as  the  acting 
of  fire  on  that  which  is  combustible,  whose  nature  it  is  to  consume 
it:  Deut.  iv.  24,  "Thy  God  is  a  consuming  fire;"  which  words 
the  apostle  repeats,  Heb.  xii.  29.  "  Devouring  fire  and  everlasting 
burnings,"  Isa.  xxxiii.  14.  Hence,  wlien  he  came  to  give  the  law, 
which  expresseth  his  wrath  and  indignation  against  sin,  his  pre- 
sence was  manifested  by  great  and  terrible  fires  and  burnings,  until 
the  people  cried  out,  "  Let  me  not  see  this  great  fire  any  more,  lest 
I  die,"  Deut.  xviii.  16.  They  saw  death  and  destruction  in  that 
fire,  because  it  expressed  the  indignation  of  God  against  sin.  And 
therefore  the  law  itself  is  also  called  "  a  fiery  law,"  Deut.  xxxiii.  2, 
because  it  contains  the  sense  and  judgment  of  God  against  sin ;  as  in 
the  execution  of  the  sentence  of  it,  the  breath  of  the  Lord  is  said 
to  kindle  the  fire  of  it  like  a  stream  of  brimstone,  Isa.  xxx.  33 :  so 
chap.  Ixvi.  15,  16.  And  by  this  metaphor  doth  the  Scripture  lively 
represent  the  nature  of  God  in  reference  unto  sin.  For  as  it  is  the 
nature  of  fire  to  consume  and  devour  all  things  that  are  put  into  it, 
without  sparing  any  or  making  difference,  so  is  the  nature  of  God 
in  reference  unto  sin ;  wherever  it  is,  he  punisheth  and  revengeth  it 
according  to  its  demerit.  The  inetaphpr,  indeed,  expresseth  not  the 
'manner  of  the  operation  of  the  one  and  the  other,  but  the  cer- 
tainty and  event  of  the  working  of  both  from  the  principles  of  the 


VER.  10.1  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  40!) 

nature  of  the  one  and  the  otlier.  The  fire  so  burneth  by  a  neces- 
sity of  nature  as  that  it  acts  to  the  utmost  of  its  quality  and  faculty 
by  a  pure  natural  necessity.  God  punisheth  sin,  as,  suitably  unto 
the  principle  of  his  nature,  otherwise  he  cannot  do;  yet  so  as  that, 
for  the  manner,  time,  measure,  and  season,  they  depend  on  the  con- 
stitution of  his  wisdom  and  righteousness,  assigning  a  meet  and 
equal  recompence  of  reward  unto  every  transgression.  And  this 
the  Scripture  teacheth  us  by  this  metaphor,  or  otherwise  we  are  led 
by  it  from  a  right  conception  of  that  which  it  doth  propose;  for  God 
cannot  at  all  be  unto  sin  and  sinners  as  a  devouring  hre,  unless  it 
be  in  tlie  principles  of  his  nature  indispensably  to  take  vengeance 
ou  them. 

Again,  the  Scripture  expresseth  this  nature  of  God  with  reference 
unto  sin  properly,  as  to  what  we  can  conceive  thereof  in  this  world, 
and  that  is  by  his  holiness,  which  it  sets  forth  to  be  such,  as  that  on 
the  account  thereof/  he  can  bear  with  no  sin,  nor  suffer  any  sinner 
to  approach  unto  him;  that  is,  let  no  sin  go  unpunished,  nor  admit 
any  sinner  into  his  presence  whose  sin  is  not  expiated  and  satis- 
fied for.  /  And  what  is  necessary  upon  the  account  of  the  holines-s 
of  God  is  absolutely  and  indispensalily  so,  his  holiness  being  his 
nature.  "  Thou  art,"  saith  Habakkuk,  "  of  purer  eyes  than  to  be- 
hold evil,  and  canst  not  look  on  iniquity,"  chaj).  i.  13; — '  Thou  V 
canst  not  by  any  means  have  any  thing  to  do  with  sin.'  That  is, 
it  may  be,  because  he  will  not.  '  Nay,'  saith  he ;  'it  is  upon  the 
accoimt  of  his  purity  or  holiness/  That  is  such  as  he  cannot  pass 
by  sin,  or  let  it  go  unpunished.  The  psalmist  also  expresseth  tlie 
nature  of  God  to  the  same  purpose,  Ps.  v.  4-6,  "  Thou  art  not  a  God 
that  hath  pleasure  in  wickedness,  neith^FsTiall  evil  dwell  with  thee. 
The  foolish  shall  not  stand  in  thy  sight;  thou  hatest  all  workers  y 
of  iniquity.  Thou  shalt  destroy  them  that  speak  leasing.  The 
Lord  will  abhor  the  bloody  and  deceitful  man."  What  is  thej'or- 
niaLreason  and  cause  of  all  these  things, — thatjhe  hates,  abhors,  and 
will  destroy  sin  and  sinners?  It  is  because  he  is  sue iraTGroctT^ Thou 
art  not  a  God  to  do  otherwise,' — a  God  of  such  purity,  such  holiness. 
And  should  he  pass  by  sin  without  the  punishment  of  it,  he  v/ould 
not  be  such  a  God  as  he  is.  Without  ceasing  to  be  such  a  God,  so 
infinitely  holy  and  pure,  this  caimot  be.  Xhe^foghsh  and  ail  workers 
of  iniquity  must  be  destroyed,  because  he  is  such  a  God.  And  in 
that  proclamation  of  his  name  wherein  he  declared  many  blessed, 
eternal  properties  of  his  nature,  he  adds  this  among  the  rest,  that 
"  he  will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty,"  Exod.  xxxiv.  7.  This  his 
Dature^^MsJiis_eterna]  holiness  requireth,  that_the  giiilty  he  by  no 
n^ean£  cleared.  So  Joshua  instructs  the  people  in  the  nature  oF 
this  holiness  of  God,  chap.  xxiv.  19,  "Ye  cannot  serve  the  Lord: 
for  he  is  an  holy  God;  he  is  a  jealous  God;  he  will  not  forgive  your 


406  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  fCHAP.  JI. 

tiansgressions  nor  your  sins."  That  is,  '  If  you  continue  in  your 
sins,  if  tiiere  be  not  a  way  to  free  you  from  them,  it  is  in  vain  for  you 
to  have  any  thing  to  do  with  this  God ;  for  he  is  holy  and  jealous,  and 
■will  therefore  certainly  destroy  you  for  your  iniquities/  Now,  if  such 
1)6  the  nature  of  God,  that  with  respect  thereunto  he  cannot  but 
punish  sin  in  whomsoever  it  be  found,  then  Ahe  suffering  of  every 
ginner,  in  his  own  person  or  by  his  surety,  doth  noi  depend  on  a  mere 
free,  voluntary  coiistitution,  nor  is  to  be  resolved  merely  into  the  vera- 
city of  God  in  his  commination  or  threatening,  but  is  antecedently  unto 
them  indispensably  necessary,  unle^jve  would  have  the  nature  of 
God^,changed,_tJha^^  be__fi:eed.  /  Whereas,  therefore,  the 

Lord  Christ  is  assigned  the  captain  of  our  salvation,  and  hath  un- 
dertaken the  work  of  bringing  sinners  unto  glory,  it  was  meet,  with 
respect  unto  the  holiness  of  God,  that  he  should  undergo  the  punish- 
ment due  unto  their  sin.  And  thus  the  necessity  of  the  sufferinrs 
and  satisfaction_j)iL.JCiirist_  is  xesolved  into  the  Tioliness  and  natuio 
oF  God.  He  being  such  a  God  as  he  is,  it  could  not  other- 
wise be. 

(2.)  The  same  is  manifest  from  that  principle  whereunto  the 
punishment  of  sin  is  assigned;  which  is  not  any  free  act  of  the 
will  of  God,  but  an  essential  property  of  his  nature,  namely,  his 
justice  or  righteousness.  What  God  doth  because  he  is  righteous 
is  necessary  to  be  done.  And  if  it  be  just  with  God  in  respect  of 
his  essential  justice  to  punish  sin,  it  would  be  unjust  not  to  do  it; 
fon'to  condemn  the  innocent  and  to  acquit  the  guilty  are  equally  un- 
just/ Justice  is  an  eternal  and  unalterable  rule,  and  what  is  done 
according  unto  it  is  necessary  ;  it  may  not  otherwise  be,  and  justice 
not  be  impeached.  That  which  is  to  be  done  with  respect  to  justice 
must  be  done,  or  he  that  is  to  do  it  is  unjust.  Thus  it  is  said  to  be 
*' a  rijihteous  thing  with  God"  to  render  tribulation  unto  sinners, 
2  Thess.  i.  6;  because  he  is  righteous^  and  from  his  righteousness  or 
justice:  so  that  the  contrary  would  be  unjust,  not  answer  his  right- 
eousness. And  it  is  "  the  juilgment  of  God  that  they  who  commit 
sin  are  worthy  of  death,"  Rom.  i.  32; — namely,  it  is  that  which  his 
justice  requireth  should  be  so ;  that  is  the  judgment  of  God.  Not 
only  doth  he  render  death  unto  sinners  because^  hath  threatened 
so  to  do,  but  because  his  justice  necessarily  requireth  that  so  he 
should  do.  So  the  apostle  further  explains  himself,  chap.  ii.  5-9, 
where  he  calls  the  last  day  "  the  day  of  the  revelation  of  the  righteous 
judgment  of  God;"  wherein,  by  rendering  tribulation  unto  sinners, 
he  will  manifest  what  his  righteousness  requires.  And  what  that 
requires  cannot  otherwise  be,  God  being  naturally,  necessarily^ 
essentially  righteous.  And  this  property  of  God's  nature,  requiring 
lliat  punislunent  he  inflicted  on  sin  and  sinners,  is  often  in  Scripture 
called  his  "aiiger"  and  "wrath;"  for  although  sometimes  theeftects 


VER.  10.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  407 

of  anger  and  Avrath  in  punisliment  itself  he  denoted  b}'  these  expres- 
sions, yet  often  also  they  denote  the  habitude  of  the  nature  of  God 
in  his  justice  towards  sin.  For  anger  in  itself,  being  a  passion  and 
perturbation  of  mind,  including  change  and  weakness,  cannot  pro- 
perly be  ascribed  unto  God;  and  therefore  when  it  is  spoken  of  as 
that  which  is  in  him,  and  not  of  the  effects  which  he  works  on 
others,  it  can  intend  nothing  but  his  vindictive  justice,  that  pro- 
perty of  his  nature  which  necessarily  inclines  him  unto  the  punisli- 
ment of  sin.  Thus  it  is  said  that  his  "  wrath  "  or  anger  is  "  revealed 
from  heaven  against  all  ungodliness,"  Rom.  i.  18;  that  is,  he  discovers 
in  his  judgments  what  is  his  justice  against  sin.  And  thus  when  he 
comes  to  deal  with  Christ  himself,  to  make  him  a  propitiati()n  for 
us,  he  is  said  to  have  "set  him  forth  fig  hdu^iv  rijg  dixaioauv^g,''  Rom. 
iiu_25^(j, — "to  declare^ii§--rigbt^fi'iiSiLess  for  the  remission  of  sins; 
tjiat  he  might  be  just,  and  the  justifier  of  him  which  believeth  in 
Jesus?"  As  God  would  pardon  sin,  and  justify  them  that  believe, 
so  he  would  be  just  also.  And  how  could  this  be?  By^punishing  our 
sins  in  Christ; — that  declared  his  righteousness.  "Evbu^ig  here  is  as 
much  as  'ivdiij/jba,  *'  dccunientum," — a  declaration  by  an  especial 
instance  or  example:  or  as  imdsiy/xa,  as  he  is  said  to  have  punished 
8odom  and  Gomorrah,  and  to  have  left  them  Cvodnyf^a  /MiXXovruv 
aaiQsTv, — "an  example  unto  them  that  should  live  ungodly ;'' that 
is,  an  instance  of  what  his  dealings  would  be  with  sinners.  So  Goil 
is  said  here  to  have  "  declared  his  righteousness,"  by  an  example  in 
the  sufferings  of  Christ ;  which,  indeed,  was  the  greatest  instance  of 
the  severity  and  inexorableness  of  justice  against  sm  that  God  ever 
gave  in  this  world.  And  this  he  did  that  he  might  be  just,  as  well 
as  gracious  and  merciful,  in  the  forgiveness  of  sin^y  Now,  if  the  jus- 
tice of  God  did  not  require  that  sin  should  be  punished  in  the  Me- 
diator, how  did  God  give  an  instance  of  his  justice  in  his  sufferings; 
for  nothing  can  be  declared  but  in  and  by  that  which  it  requires? 
For  to  say  that  God  showed  his  righteousness  in  doing  that  which 
might  have  been  omitted  without  the  least  impeachment  of  his 
righteousness,  is  in  this  matter  not  safe, 

(3.)  God  is  the  supreme  ruler,  governor,  and  judge  of  all.  To 
him  as  snich  it  belongeth  to  do  right.  So  saith  Abraham,  Gen. 
xviii.  25,  "Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right?"  Un- 
doubtedly he  will  do  so,  it  belongs  imto  him  so  to  do;  for,  saith  the 
apostle,  "Is  God  unrighteous  who  taketh  vengeance?  God  forbid: 
for  then  how  shall  God  judge  the  world?"  Rom.  iii.  5,  6  Right 
judgment  in  all  things  belongs  unto  the  universal  rectitude  of  the 
nature  of  God,  as  he  is  the  supreme  governor  and  judge  of  all  the 
world.  Now,  the  goodness  and  Tightness  of  all  things  consists  in  tiie 
observation  of  that  place  and  order  which  God  in  their  creation 
aiioiied  unto  them,  whereon  he  pionounced  that  they  were  exceeding 


408  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

good.  And  that  this  order  be  preserved  for  the  good  of  the  whole, 
it  belongs  unto  the  government  of  God  to  take  care;  or  if  it  be  in 
any  thing  transgressed,  not  to  leave  all  things  in  confusion,  but  to 
reduce  them  into  some  new  order  and  subjection  unto  himself. 
That  this  order  was  broken  by  sin  we  all  know.  What  shall  now 
the  crovernor  of  all  the  world  do?  Shall  he  leave  all  things  in  dis- 
order  and  confusion?  cast  otf  the  works  of  his  hands,  and  suffer  all 
things  to  run  at  random?  Would  this  become  the  rightecms  gover- 
nor of  all  the  world?  What,  then,  is  to  be  done  to  prevent  this 
confusion?  Nothing  remains  but  that  he  who  brake  the  first  order 
by  sin  should  be  subdued  into  a  new  one  by  punishment.  This 
brings  him  into  subjection  unto  God  upon  a  new  account.  And  to 
say  that  God  might  have  let  his  sin  go  unpunished,  is  to  say  that  he 
miijht  not  be  rio^hteous  in  his  government,  nor  do  that  which  ia 
necessary  for  the  good,  beauty,  and  order  of  the  whole.  But  hereof 
somewhat  was  spoken  in  the  opening  of  the  words,  so  that  it  need 
not  further  be  insisted  on. 

(4.)  Lastly,  there  is  no  common  presumption  ingrafted  in  the 
hearts  of  men  concerning  any  free  act  of  God,  and  which  might  have 
been  otherwise.  No  free  decree  or  act  of  God  is  or  can  be  known  unto 
any  of  the  children  of  men  but  by  revelatidn ;  much  less  have  tiiey 
all  of  them  universally  an  inbred  persuasion  concerning  any  such 
acts  or  actings.  But  of  the  natjaral_propert]es  of  God,  and  his  acting 
suitably  unto  them,  there  is  a  secret  light  and  persuasion  ingrafted 
in  the  hearts  of  all  men  by  nature.  At  least,  those  things  of  God 
whereof  there  is  a  natural  and  indelible  character  in  the  liearts  of 
all  men  are  natural,  necessary,  and  essential  unto  him.  Now,  that 
God  is  just,  and  that  therefore  he  will  punish  sin,  all  sin,  is  an 
inbred  presumption  of  nature,  that  can  never  be  rooted  out  of  the 
minds  of  men.  All  sinners  have  an  inbred  apprehension  that  God 
is  displeased  with  sin,  and  that  punishment  is  due  unto  it.  They 
cannot  but  know  that  it  is  "  the  judgment  of  God  that  they  who 
commit  sin  are  worthy  of  death."  And  therefore,  though  they  have 
not  the  written  law  to  instruct  them,  yet  "their  thoughts  accuse  them" 
upon  sin,  Rom.  ii.  14,  15, — that  is,  their  consciences, — which  is  the 
judgment  which  a  man  makes  of  himself  in  reference  unto  the 
judgment  of  God.  And  therefore  all  nations  who  retained  any 
knowledge  of  a  deity  constantly  invented  some  ways  and  means 
whereby  they  thought  they  might  expiate  sin,  and  appease  the  god 
that  they  feared.  :/All  which  manifests  that  the  punishment  of  sin 
inseparably  follows  the  nature  of  God,  and  such  properties  thereof 
as  men  have  a  natural,  inbred  notion  and  presumption  of;  for  if  it 
depended  merely  on  the  will  of  God,  and  his  faithfulness  in  the 
accomplishing  of  that  threatening  and  constitution  whereof  they 
Lad  no  knowledge,  they  could  not  have  had  such  an  immovable  and 


VER.  10.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  4-09 

unconquerable  apprehension  of  it.     But  these  things  I  have  handled 
at  large  elsewhere.^ 

And  this  fully  discovers  the  vile  and  horrid  nature  of  sin.  "Fools," 
as  the  wise  man  tells  us,  "make  a  mock  of  it."  Stifling  for  a  while 
their  natural  convictions,  they  act  as  if  sin  were  a  thing  of  naught ; 
at  least,  not  so  horrible  as  by  some  it  is  represented.  And  few  there 
are  who  endeavour  aright  to  obtain  a  true  notion  of  it,  contenting 
themselves  in  general  that  it  is  a  thing  that  ought  not  to  be.  What 
direct  opposition  it  stands  in  unto  the  nature,  properties,  rule,  and 
authority  of  God,  they  consider  not.  But  the  last  day  will  discover 
the  true  nature  of  it,  when  all  eyes  shall  see  what  it  deserves  in  the 
judgment  of  God,  which  is  according  unto  righteousness.  Is  it  a 
small  thing  for  a  creature  to  break  that  order  which  God  at  first 
placed  him  and  all  things  in,  to  cast  oif  the  rule  and  authority^f 
God,  to  endeavour  to  detlirgne  him,  so  that  he  cannot  continue  to 
be  the  sirpreme  governor  of  all  things,  and  judge  of  all  the  world, 
unlessTie  punish  it?  Is  it  a  smalTtFing  to  set  up  that  which  hath 
an  utter  inconsistency  with  the  holiness  and  righteousness  of  God, 
so  that  if  it  go  free,  God  cannot  be  holy  and  righteous?  If  these 
things  will  not  now  sink  into  the  minds  of  men,  if  they  will  not  learn 
the  severity  of  God  in  this  matter  from  the  law,  on  the  threatening 
and  curse  whereof  he  hath  impressed  the  image  of  his  holiness  and 
justice,  as  was  said,  they  will  learn  it  all  in  hell.  Why  doth  God 
thus  threaten  and  curse  sin  and  sinners?  Why  hath  he  prepared 
an  eternity  of  vengeance  and  torment  for  them?  Is  it  because  he 
would?  Nay,  but  because  it  could  not  otherwise  be,  God  being  so  holy 
and  righteous  as  he  is.  Men  may  thank  themselves  for  death  and 
hell.  They  are  no  more  than  sin  hath  made  necessary,  unless  God 
should  cease  to  be  holy,  righteous,  and  the  judge  of  all,  that  they 
might  sin  freely  and  endlessly.  And  this  appears  most  eminently 
in  the  cross  of  Christ ;  for  God  gave  in  him  an  instance  of  his  righte- 
ousness and  of  the  desert  of  sin.  Sin  Jaeiiig_Jmptitecl..uiito  the  only 
Son_pf  God,  he  could  not_  be  spared.  If  he  be  made  sin,  he  must 
be  made  a  curse;  if  he  will  take  away  our  iniquities,  he  must  make 
his  soul  an  offering  for  sins,  and  bear  the  punishment  due  unto 
them.  Obedience  in  all  duties  will  not  do  it;  intercession  and 
prayers  will  not  do  it;  ^in^igguired  another  manner  of  expiation. 
Nothing  but  undergoing  the  wrath  of  God  and  the  curse  of  the  law, 
and  therein  answering  what  the  eternal  justice  of  God  required,  will 
effect  that  end.  How  can  God  spare  sin  in  his  enemies,  who  could 
not  spare  it  on  his  only  Son?  Had  it  been  possible,  this  cup  should 
have  passed  from  him;  but  this  could  not  be,  and  God  continue 
righteous.     These  things,  I  say,  will  give  us  an  insight  into  the 

'  In  bis  treatise  De  Divina  Justitia,  etc.,  vol.  x  of  the  author's  works. — Ed. 


410  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

nature  of  sin,  and  the  horrible    provocation  wherewith   it  is  at- 
tended. 

And  this  also  opens  the  mystery  of  the  wisdom,  and  love,  and 
grace  of  God,  in  the  salvation  of  sinners.  This  is  that  which  ho  will 
for  ever  be  admired  in:  A  way  he  liath  found  out  to  exercise  grace 
arid  satis^LJustLce^at  _the  same  iirae,  irTSmTby  the  same  person. 
Sin  shall  l)e  punished,  all  sin,  yet  grace  exercised;  sinners  shall  be 
saved,  yet  justice  exalted; — all  in  the  cross  of  Christ. 

Verses  11-13. 

The  great  reason  and  ground  of  the  necessity  of  the  sufferings  of 
Christ  hath  been  declared.  It  became  God  that  he  should  suffer. 
But  it  doth  not  yet  appear  on  what  grounds  this  suffering  of  his 
could  be  profitable  or  beneficial  unto  the  sons  to  be  brought  unto 
glory.  It  was  the  sinner  himself  against  whom  the  law  denounced 
the  judgment  of  death;  and  although  the  Lord  Christ,  undertaking 
to  be  a  captain  of  salvation  unto  the  sons  of  God,  might  be  willing 
to  suffer  for  them,  yet  what  reason  is  there  that  the  punishment  of 
one  should  be  accepted  for  the  sin  of  another?  Let  it  be  granted 
that  the  Loni  Christ  had  an  absolute  and  sovereign  power  over  his 
own  life  and  all  the  concernments  of  it,  in  the  nature  which  he 
assumed,  as  also  that  he  was  willing  to  undergo  any  sufferings  that 
God  should  call  hiin  unto;  this,  indeed,  will  acquit  the  justice  of  God 
in  giving  him  up  unto  death,  but  whence  is  it  that  sinners  should 
come  to  be  so  interested  in  these  things  as  thereon  to  be  acquitted 
from  sin  and  brought  unto  glory?  In  these  verses  the  apostle  enters 
upon  a  discovery  of  the  reasons  hereof  also.  He  supposeth,  indeed, 
that  there  was  a  compact  and  agreement  between  the  Father  and 
Son  in  this  matter;  which  he  afterwards  expressly  treateth  on, 
chap.  X.  He  supposeth,  also,  that  in  his  sovereign  authority,  God  had 
made  a  rejaxationot"  the  law  as  to  the  person  suffering,  though  not 
as  to  the  penaltij  to  be  su^^ered ;  which  God  abundantly  declared  unto 
the  church  of  the  Jews  in  all  their  sacrifices,  as  we  shall  manifest. 
These  things  being  supposed,  the  apostle  proceeds  to  declare  the 
grounds  oi  the  equity  of  this  substitution  of  Christ  in  the  room  of 
the  sons,  and  of  their  advantage  by  his  suffering,  the  proposition 
whereof  he  lays  down  in  these  verses,  and  the  especial  application 
in  those  that  ensue. 

Ver.  11—13. — "O  Ts  "/Sep  ayid^uv  xai  o'/  ay/a^o/xfvo/  1^  Ivoj  Tavri;* 
2/'  TiV  aiTiav  ovx,  i'TraieyJjMtrai  ddiX(f>oug  ahrou;  xaXslv,  Xfywv*  '  AirayyiXu  to 
ovo/j,d  ffov  TO?;  dBeX(pois  ,aou,  iv  iLtew  sTcxXrifflas  bfjjvrjau  a.  Ka!  TccX/r  'Eyi 
e'ffo.aa/  iTiiroidug  jV  aOrjD*  xai  ituXir  'l^oO  lyu  xai  rd,  Taidia  d  jao/  sduxsv 
i  Qiog. 

There  is  no  variety  in  the  reading  of  these  words  in  any  copies,  nor  do  tians- 
lators  differ  in  rendering  the  sense  of  them.  The  Svriae  renders  ihe  last  testi- 
mony as  if  the  words  were  spoken  unto  God,  "  Behold  I  and  the  children  ^fT:^'] 


VER.  n-]3.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREW&  •         411 

**"??•  "*'> — "  "hom  thou  hast  given  unto  me,  O  God."  The  Etiiiopic,  "Where- 
fore they  who  sanctify  and  they  who  are  sanctified  are  altogether;"  to  what  pur- 
pose I  cannot  gue>s. 

'  Aytei^a  is  used  in  this  epistle  both  in  the  legal  sense  of  it, "  to  separate,"  "  conse- 
crate," "dedicate;"  and  in  the  evangelical,  "to  purify,"  "sanctify,"  to  make  inter- 
nally and  really  holy.  It  seems  in  this  place  to  he  used  in  the  latter  sense,  though 
it  includes  the  former  also,  kxt  ctKoMi/dmiv,  "  by  just  consequence,"  fur  they 
who  are  sanctified  are  separated  unto  God.  The  word,  then,  expresseth  what  ilie 
Lord  Christ  doth  unto  and  for  the  sons  as  he  is  the  captain  of  their  salvation.  lie 
consecrates  them  unto  God,  through  the  sanctification  of  the  Spirit,  and  washing 
in  his  own  blood. 

'E|  sv6;.  It  may  be  of  the  masculine  gender,  and  so  denote  one  person;  or  of  the 
neuter,  and  so  one  thing,  one  mass,  one  common  principle;  whereof  afterward-. 

The  first  testimony  is  taken  from  Ps.  xxii.  23,  ^.'""5  '^V'?  "^'"""^  "V- '  ~^''^'  ~'^~?  5 
which  the  LXX.  render  Az/jy^iro^ot/  to  ovo/icii  aov  rdli  cide'h^ol;  f^ov,  ev  fiiau  ix.- 
sO^miag  v^^vviau  ai.  The  first  word,  ~'^?"*'.,  '•narral>o,"  "annunciabo,"  the  apostle 
renders  by  otTrety/ihu,  more  properly  than  they  by  Sri^ysjtro^os/.  In  the  rest  of 
the  words  there  is  a  coincidence,  the  original  being  exjjressiy  rendered  in  them. 
For  though '.-r^",  be  rendered  simply  "to  praise,"  yet  its  most  frequent  u-e,  when 
respecting  God  as  its  object,  is  "  to  praise  by  hymns  or  psalms;"  as  the  apostle 
here,' Tf^vYiau  ae,  "  Tihi  hymnos  canam,"  or,  "  Te  hymnis  celebrabo," — "I  will 
sing  hymns  unto  thee,"  or  "  praise  thee  with  hymns:"  which  was  the  principal 
way  of  setting  forth  God's  praise  under  the  old  testament. 

It  is  not  certain  whence  the  second  testimony  is  taken.  Some  suppose  it  to  be 
from  Isa.  viii.  17,  from  whence  the  last  also  is  cited.  The  words  of  the  prophet 
there,  *"  "^Ty.l,  are  rendered  by  the  LXX.  K«<  vi'Troidui  'iaoficti  et'  otvrqi,  the 
words  here  used  by  the  apostle.  But  there  are  sundry  things  that  will  not  allow 
us  to  close  with  this  sut)posal : — First,  the  original  is  not  rightly  rendered  by  the 
LXX.,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  the  apostle's  words  do  exactly  express  the  original  in 
another  place.  Besides,  ~^ij  is  never  but  in  this  place  and  once  more  turned  into 
"TFsidu  by  the  LXX.,  but  is  constantly  rendered  by  them  /^ivu,  or  vTrofiivu:  so 
that  it  is  not  improbable  but  that  these  words  might  be  inserted  into  th  •  Greek 
text  out  of  this  place  of  the  apostle,  there  being  some  presumptions  and  hkeii- 
hoods  that  it  was  the  place  intended  by  him,  especially  because  the  next  testimony 
Used  by  the  apostle  consi-sts  in  the  words  immediately  ensuing  these  in  the  pro- 
phet. But  yet  that  yields  another  reason  ag;iinst  this  supposition;  for  if  the 
apostle  continued  on  the  words  of  the  prophet,  to  what  end  should  he  insert  in 
the  midst  of  them  that  constant  note  of  proceeding  unto  another  testimony,  x.x\ 
ircO^Lv,  "  and  again,"  especially  considering  that  the  whole  testimony  speaks  to  the 
same  purpose? 

We  shall,  then,  refer  these  words  unto  Ps.  xviii.  3,  ^""^L:*?;  which  the  LXX. 
render, 'EAtt/S  ki:  ctv-cov,  "I  will  hope  in  him;"  the  apostle  more  properly, "Eao^aot/ 
viiroiSui  iTir  uvTi),  "  1  will  put  my  trust  in  him."  And  that  that  psalm  had  re- 
spect unto  the  Lord  Christ  and  his  kingdom  our  apostle  showeth  elsewhere,  by 
citing  another  testimony  out  of  it  concerning  the  calling  of  the  Gentiles,  Rom. 
XV.  9 :  nor  was  the  latter  part  of  the  psalm  properly  lulfilled  in  David  at  all. 

The  last  testimony  is  unquestionably  taken  out  of  Isa.  viii.  18,  where  the  words 
are,  ~~?  "?  irj  "'???  ^''"7?'^"'  "'^-?  ^'r.~;  "nd  rendered  by  the  LXX.,  as  here  by  the 
apostle, '  llov  iyu  xui  rat  vrsiiotx  cl  (/.ot  souKiv  6  Qeo;.  ^"'7''^.  is  properly  "  nati,"  ysv- 
vriToi,  or  'inyouoi,  those  that  are  begotten  or  born  of  any  one,  whilst  they  are  in 
their  tender  age.  But  it  may  be  rendered  by  vctthiu,  as  it  is  by  the  LXX.,  Gen. 
XXX.  2G,  xxxii.  23,  xxxiii.  1,  2,  which  is  "  chddren"  in  a  larger  sense.' 

'  Exposition. — ^"Ay/a^.,  according  to  Ebrard,  refers  neither  to  sanctification 
nor  to  ju^tifi  uiion,  as  sudi,  but  to  the  total  change  in  their  relation  to  God  which 


41 2  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

Ver.  11-13. — T'or  both  he  that  sanctifieth  and  they  who 
are  sanctified  are  all  of  one :  for  which  cause  he  is  not 
ashamed  to  call  them  brethren,  saying,  I  will  declare 
thy  name  unto  my  brethren,  in  the  midst  of  the  church 
will  I  sing  praise  unto  thee.    And  again,  I  will  put  my 
trust  in  him.     And  again.  Behold  i  and  the  children 
which  God  hath  given  me. 
The  words  contain, — First,  A  further  description  of  the  captain 
of  salvation,  and  the  sons  to  be  brought  unto  glory  by  him,  men- 
tioned in  the  verse  foregoing,  taken  from  his  office  and  work  towards 
them,  and  the  effect  thereof  upon  them,  "  He  that  sanctifieth  and 
they  that  are  sanctified ;"  which  is  the  subject  of  the  first  proposition 
in  these  words.     Secondly,  An  assertion  concerning  them,  "  They 
are  all  of  one."     Thirdly,  A  natural  consequence  of  that  assertion, 
which  includes  also  the  scope  and  design  of  it,  "  He  is  not  ashamed 
to  call  them  brethren."     Fourthly,  The  confirmation  hereof  by  a 
triple  testimony  from  the  Old  Testament. 

First,  He  describes  the  captain  of  salvation  and  the  sons  to  be 
brought  unto  glory  by  their  mutual  relation  to  one  another  in  sanc- 
tijication.  He  is  6  ay/a^wy,  "he  that  sanctifieth;"  and  they  are  o/ 
ayial^6,aivoi,  "  they  that  are  sanctified."  Tliat  it  is  the  Son,  the  cap- 
tain of  salvation,  that  is  intended  by  the  sanctifier,  both  what  the 
apostle  affirms  immediately  of  him  and  them,  and  the  ensuing  testi- 
monies whereby  he  confirms  it,  do  make  evident.  And  as  in  the 
verse  foregoing,  giving  an  account  why  God  would  have  Christ  to 
suffer,  he  describes  him  by  that  property  of  his  nature  which  includes 
a  necessity  of  his  so  doing;  so  here,  setting  forth  the  causes  on  our 
part  of  that  suffering,  and  the  grounds  of  our  advantage  thereby,  he 
expresseth  him  and  the  children  by  those  terms  which  manifest 
their  relation  unto  one  another,  and  which  they  could  not  have  stood 
in  had  they  not  been  of  the  same  nature,  as  he  afterwards  declares. 
Now,  the  same  word  being  here  used  actively  and  passively,  it  must 
in  both  places  be  understood  in  the  same  sense,  the  one  expressing 
the  effect  of  the  other.  As  Christ  sanctifies,  so  are  the  children 
sanctified.  And  the  act  of  Christ  which  is  here  intended  is  that 
which  he  did  for  the  sons,  when  he  suffered  for  them  according  to 
God's  appointment,  as  verse  10.  Now,  as  was  said  before,  to  sanc- 
tity is  either  to  separate  and  to  dedicate  unto  sacred  use,  or  to  purify 
and  make  really  holy;  which  latter  sense  is  here  principally  intended. 

takes  place  in  the  members  of  the  new  covenant,  in  opposition  to  the  relation  of 
the  natur.-il  man  to  Gorl.  'E|  £v6;,  ''of  one;"  that  is,  Father. — Macknight,  De 
Wetle,  Conyheare  and  Ilowsun,  Tholiick,  Ebrard,  etc. 

Translations. — "0  re  yoip  d-yiu^.  Both  the  purifier  and  the  purified. — iSchoh' 
field.  He  that  atoneth,  and  thi-y  that  are  atoned  for. — Turner.  He  who  maketh 
expiation,  and  they  for  whom  expiation  is  made. — Stuart.  ' Ayict^o/xii/oi,  lite, 
rally,  who  are  in  the  process  of  sanctification, — CouT/beare  and  Howson. — Ed. 


VER.  11-13.  J  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  413 

Thus,  when  the  apostle  speaks  of  the  effects  of  the  offering  of  Christ 
for  the  elect,  he  disti^i;"llsheth  between  their  rO^iluaig,  or  "  consnm- 
m.-ition,"  and  their  ay/ac^oj.  or  *' -^anctiti jation :"  cliajx  x.  14,  M/94 
vpodipop^  TiTiXiiuxiv  Tovg  tty/a^o// -i/uU5* — "■  By  one  offering  he  cons;uui- 
mated"  (or  "  perfected")  ''the  sanctified."  First,  he  sanctifieth  them, 
and  then  dedicates  them  unto  God,  so  that  they  shall  never  more 
need  any  initiation  into  his  favour  and  service.  This  work  was  the 
captain  of  salvation  designed  unto.  The  children  that  were  to  be 
brought  unto  glory  being  in  themselves  unclean  and  unholy,  and  on 
that  account  separated  from  God,  he  was  to  purge  their  natures  and 
to  make  them  holy,  that  they  might  be  admitted  into  the  favour  of 
and  find  acceptance  with  God.  And  for  the  nature  of  this  work, 
two  things  must  be  considered : — first,  The  impetration  of  it,  or  the 
way  and  means  whereby  he  obtained  this  sanctification  for  them; 
and,  secondly.  The  application  of  that  means,  or  real  effecting  of  it. 
The  first  consisteth  in  the  sufferings  of  Christ  and  the  merit  thereof. 
Hence  we  are  so  often  said  to  be  sanctified  and  washed  in  his  blood, 
Eph.  V.  25 ;  Acts  xx.  32 ;  Rev.  i.  5 ;  and  his  blood  is  said  to  cleanse 
us  from  all  our  sins,  1  John  i.  7.  As  it  was  shed  for  us,  he  procured, 
by  the  merit  of  his  obedience  therein,  that  those  for  whom  it  was 
shell  should  be  purged  and  purified,  Titus  ii.  14.  The  other  con- 
sists in  the  effectual  working  of  the  Spirit  of  grace,  communicated 
unto  us  by  virtue  of  the  blood-shedding  and  sufferings  of  Christ,  as 
the  apostle  declares.  Tit.  iii.  4-6.  And  they  who  place  this  sancti- 
fication merely  on  the  doctrine  and  example  of  Christ  (as  Grotius 
on  this  place),  besides  that  they  consider  not  at  all  the  design  and 
scope  of  the  place,  so  they  reject  the  principal  end  and  the  most 
blessed  effect  of  the  death  and  blood-shedding  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
Now,  in  this  description  of  the  captain  of  salvation  and  of  the  sons, 
the  apostle  intimates  a  further  necessity  of  his  sufferings, — because 
the}'  were  to  be  sanctified  by  him,  which  could  no  otherwise  be  done 
but  by  his  death  and  blood-shedding.  Having  many  things  to  ob- 
serve from  these  verses,  we  shall  take  them  up  as  they  ofier  them- 
selves unto  us  in  our  procedure;  as  here, — 

I.  That  all  the  children  which  are  to  be  brought  unto  glory, 
antecedently  unto  their  relation  unto  the  Lord  Christ,  are  polluted, 
defiled,  separate  from  God. 

They  are  all  to  be  sanctified  by  him,  both  as  to  their  real  purifi- 
cation and  their  consecration  to  be  God's  hallowed  portion.  This,  for 
many  blessed  ends,  the  Scripture  abundantly  instructs  us  in:  Tit.  iii. 
3,  "  We  ourselves  also  were  sometimes  foolish,  disobedient,  deceived, 
serving  divers  lusts  and  pleasures,  living  in  malice  and  envy,  hatefid, 
and  hating  one  another."  A  most  wretched,  defiled,  and  loathsome 
condition,  that  which  justly  might  be  an  abhorrency  to  God  and  all 
his  holy  angels !  and  such,  indeed,  God  describes  it  to  be  by.  his 
prophet:  Ezek.  xvi.  5,  6,  "Thou  wast  polluted  in  thy  blood,  and  cast 


41 4  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

out  in  the  open  field,  to  the  loathing  of  thy  person."  Thus  we  were, 
saith  the  apostle  ;  even  we,  who  are  now  sanctified  and  cleansed  by 
tlie  means  which  he  afterwards  relates.  The  like  description  he 
gives  of  this  estate,  1  Cor.  vi.  11,  with  an  assertion  of  the  same 
delivery  from  it.  We  are  naturally  very  proud, — apt  to  please  our- 
selves in  ourselves;  to  think  of  nothing  less  than  of  being  polluted  or 
defiled,  or  at  least  not  so  far  but  that  we  can  wash  ourselves.  What 
a  hard  thing  is  it  to  persuade  the  great  men  of  the  world,  in  the 
midst  of  their  ornaments,  paintings,  and  perfumes,  that  they  are  all 
over  vile,  leprous,  loathsome,  and  defiled  !  Are  they  not  ready  to 
wash  themselves  in  the  blood  of  them  who  intimate  any  such  thing 
unto  them  ?  But  whether  men  will  hear  or  forbear,  this  is  the  con- 
dition of  all  men,  even  of  the  sons  of  God  themselves,  before  they 
are  washed  and  sanctified  by  Christ  Jesus.  And  as  this  sets  out  the 
infinite  love  of  God  in  taking  notice  of  such  vile  creatures  as  we  are, 
and  the  unspeakable  condescension  of  the  Lord  Christ,  with  the 
efficacy  of  his  grace  in  cleansing  us  by  his  blood,  so  it  is  sufficient 
to  keep  us  humble  in  ourselves,  and  thankful  unto  God  all  our 
days. 

II.  That  the  Lord  Christ  is  the  great  sanctifier  of  the  churcli. 
His  title  is  6  ayid^uv,  "the  sanctifier;"  of  which  more  afterwards. 
The  Lord  Christ,  the  captain  of  our  salvation,  sanctifies  every  son 
whom  he  brings  unto  glory. 

He  will  never  glorify  an  unsanctified  person.  The  world,  indeed, 
is  full  of  an  expectation  of  glory  by  Christ;  but  of  that  which  is 
indispensably  previous  thereunto  they  have  no  regard.  But  this 
the  Scripture  gives  us  as  a  principal  effect  of  the  whole  mediation 
of  Christ;— of  his  death,  Eph.  v.  26;  Titus  ii.  14; — of  his  communi- 
cation of  his  word  and  Spirit,  John  xvii.  19;  Titus  iii.  5,  6; — of  his 
blood-shedding  in  an  especial  manner,  1  John  i.  7;  Rom.  vi.  5,  6; 
Rev.  i.  5; — of  his  life  in  heaven  and  intercession  for  us.  Col.  iii.  1-3. 
This  he  creates  his  people  unto  by  his  grace,  Eph.  ii.  8,  excites  them 
unto  by  his  promises  and  commands,  2  Cor.  vii.  1,  John  xv.  16,  17. 
So  that  no  end  of  the  mediation  of  Christ  is  accomplished  in  them 
who  are  not  sanctified  and  made  holy.  And  this  was  necessary  for 
him  to  do,  on  the  part, — 1.  Of  God;  2.  Of  himself;  3.  Of  them- 
selves. 

1.  Of  God,  unto  whom  they  are  to  be  brought  in  glory.  He  is 
holy,  "  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  evil," — no  unclean  thing  can 
stand  in  his  presence;  holy  in  his  natui-e,  "glorious  in  holiness;"  holy 
in  his  commands,  and  "will  be  sanctified  in  all  that  draw  nigh  unto 
him."  And  this  Peter  urgeth  as  that  which  requires  holiness  in  us, 
1  Epist.  i.  15, 16,  "As  he  which  hath  called  you  is  holy,  so  be  ye  holy 
in  all  manner  of  conversation;  because  it  is  written,  Be  ye  holy,  for 
I  am  holy."  And  thence  it  is  said  that  "  holiness  becometh  his  hou;ie," 


VER  11-13.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBKEWS.  415 

— that  is,  all  that  draw  nigh  unto  him ;  and  the  apostle  sets  ft  down 
as  an  uncontrollable  maxim,  that  "without  holiness  no  man  i^hall  see 
the  Lord."  If  the  Lord  Christ,  then,  will  bring  the  children  unto  God, 
he  must  make  them  holy,  or  they  can  have  no  admittance  into  his 
presence,  no  acceptance  with  him;  for  no  unclean  thing,  nothing  that 
defileth,  can  enter  into  the  new  Jerusalem,  the  place  where  his 
holiness  dwelleth.  It  is  utterly  impossible  that  any  soul  not  washed 
with  the  blood  of  Christ,  not  sanctified  by  his  Spirit  and  grace,  should 
stand  in  the  sight  of  God.  And  this  was  expressed  in  all  the  typical 
institutions  about  cleansing  which  God  appointed  unto  his  people 
of  old.  He  did  it  to  teach  them  that  unless  they  were  sanctified, 
washed,  and  cleansed  from  their  sins,  they  could  be  admitted  unto 
no  communion  with  him  nor  enjoyment  of  him.  Neither  can  any 
serve  him  here  unless  their  consciences  be  purged  by  the  blood  of 
Christ  from  dead  works;  nor  can  they  come  to  him  hereafter,  unless 
they  are  washed  from  all  their  defilements.  Their  services  here  he 
rejects  as  an  unclean  and  polluted  thing;  and  their  confidences  for 
the  future  he  despiseth  as  a  presumptuous  abomination.  God  will 
not  divest  himself  of  his  holiness,  that  he  may  receive  or  be  enjoyed 
by  unholy  creatures.  And  the  day  is  coming  wherein  poor  unsancti- 
fied  creatures,  who  think  they  may  miss  holiness  in  the  way  to  glory, 
shall  cry  out,  "  Who  amongst  us  shall  inhabit  with  those  everlasting 
burnings?"  for  so  will  he  appear  unto  all  unsanctified  persons. 

2.  Of  himself,  and  the  relation  whereinto  he  takes  these  sons 
with  himself.  He  is  their  head,  and  they  are  to  be  members  of  his 
body.  Now,  he  is  hol}^,  and  so  must  they  be  also,  or  this  relation 
will  be  very  unsuitable  and  uncomely.  A  living  head  and  dead  mem- 
bers, a  beautiful  head  and  rotten  members, — how  uncomely  would 
it  be !  Such  a  monstrous  body  Christ  will  never  own.  Nay,  it 
would  overthrow  the  whole  nature  of  that  relation,  and  take  away 
the  life  and  power  of  that  union  that  Christ  and  his  are  brought  into 
as  head  and  members;  for  whereas  it  consists  in  this,  that  the  whole 
head  and  members  are  animated,  quickened,  and  acted  by  one  and 
the  self-same  Spirit  of  life, — nor  doth  any  thing  else  give  union  be- 
tween head  and  members, — if  they  be  not  sanctified  by  that  Spirit, 
there  can  be  no  such  relation  between  them.  Again,  he  takes  them 
imto  himself  to  be  liis  bride  and  spouse.  Now,  you  know  that  it 
was  appointed  of  old,  that  if  any  one  would  take  up  a  captive  maid 
to  be  his  wife,  shoAvas  to  shave  her  head,  and  pare  her  nails,  and 
wash  herself,  that  she  might  be  meet  for  him.  And  the  Lord  Christ 
takmg  this  bride  unto  himself,  by  the  conquest  he  hath  made  of  her, 
must  by  sanctification  make  them  meet  for  this  relation  with  him- 
self. And  therefore  he  doth  it:  Eph.  v.  25-27,  "Christ  loved  the 
church,  and  gave  himself  for  it;  that  he  might  sanctify  and  cleanse 
it  with  the  waching  of  water  by  the  word,  that  he  might  present  it 

VOL,,  xii.— 27 


416  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

to  himself  a  glorious  church,  not  having  spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  any 
such  thing;  but  that  it  should  be  holy  and  without  blemish."  This 
it  became  him  to  do,  this  was  the  end  why  he  did  it:  he  sanctifieth 
his  church  that  he  may  present  it  a  meet  bride  or  spouse  unto  him- 
self. The  like  may  be  said  of  all  other  relations  wherein  the  Lord 
Christ  stands  unto  his  people;  there  is  no  one  of  them  but  makes 
their  sanctification  absolutely  necessary. 

8.  On  the  part  of  the  children  themselves ;  for  unless  they  are  re- 
generate, or  born  again,  wherein  the  foundation  of  their  sanctifica- 
tion is  laid,  they  can  by  no  means  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 
It  is  this  that  makes  them  "meet  for  the  inheritance  of  the  saints 
in  light."  As  without  it  they  are  not  meet  for  their  duty,  so  are 
they  not  capable  of  their  reward.  Yea,  heaven  itself,  in  tiie  true 
light  and  notion  of  it,  is  undesirable  unto  an  unsanctified  person. 
Such  a  one  neither  can  nor  would  enjoy  God  if  he  might.  In  a 
word,  there  is  no  one  thing  required  of  the  sons  of  God  that  an  un- 
sanctified person  can  do,  no  one  thing  promised  unto  them  that  he 
can  enjoy. 

Tliere  is  surely,  then,  a  woful  mistake  in  the  world.  If  Christ 
sanctifies  all  whom  he  saves,  many  will  appear  to  have  been  mistaken 
in  their  expectations  another  day.  It  is  grown  amongst  us  almost 
an  abhorrency  unto  all  flesh,  to  say  that  the  church  of  God  is  to  be 
holy.  What  though  God  hath  promised  that  it  should  be  so,  and 
Christ  hath  undertaken  to  make  it  so?  what  if  it  be  required  to  be 
so?  what  if  all  the  duties  of  it  be  rejected  of  God  if  it  be  not  so? — it  is 
all  one.  If  men  be  baptized  whether  they  will  or  no,  and  outwardly 
profess  the  name  of  Christ,  though  not  one  of  them  be  truly  sancti- 
fied, yet  they  are,  as  it  is  said,  the  church  of  Christ.  Why,  then, 
let  them  be  so;  but  what  are  they  the  better  for  it?  Are  their  per- 
sons or  their  services  therefore  accepted  with  God  ?  are  they  related 
or  united  unto  Christ?  are  they  under  his  conduct  unto  glory?  are 
they  meet  for  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light?  Not  at  all ;  not 
all,  not  any  of  these  things  do  they  obtain  thereby.  What  is  it, 
then,  that  they  get  by  the  furious  contest  which  they  make  for  the 
reputation  of  this  privilege?  Only  this,  that  satisfying  their  minds 
by  it,  resting  if  not  priding  themselves  in  it,  they  obtain  many  ad- 
vantages to  stifle  all  convictions  of  their  condition,  and  so  perish  un- 
avoidably. A  sad  success,  and  for  ever  to  be  bewailed  !  Yet  is  there 
nothing  at  this  day  more  contended  for  in  this  world  than  that  Christ 
might  be  thought  to  be  a  captain  of  salvation  unto  them  unto  whom 
he  is  not  a  sanctifier, — that  he  may  have  an  unholy  church,  a  dead 
body.  These  things  tend  neither  to  the  glory  of  Christ,  nor  to  the  good 
of  the  souls  of  men.  Let  none,  then,  deceive  themselves :  sjinctifieation 
is  a  qualification  indispensably  necessary  unto  them  who  will  be  under 
the  conduct  of  the  Lord  Christ  unto  salvation,  he  will  lead  none 


VER,  11-18,]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  41 7 

to  heaven  but  whom  he  sanctifies  on  the  earth.  The  holy  God  will 
not  receive  unlioly  persons;  this  living  head  will  not  admit  of  dead 
members,  nor  bring  men  into  the  possession  of  a  glory  which  they 
neither  love  nor  like. 

Secondly,  Having  given  this  description  of  the  captain  of  salva- 
tion and  of  the  sons  to  be  brought  unto  glory,  the  apostle  affirms  of 
them  that  they  are  s^  li/o'g,  "of  one ;"  which  made  it  meet       .  ^  .  / 
for  him  to  suffer  and  for  them  to  be  made  partakers  of 
his  sufferings.     The  equity  hereof  lies  in  the  agreement,  that  he  and 
they  are  of  one;  which  what  it  is  we  must  now  inquire. 

1.  The  word  hath  this  ambiguity  in  it,  that  it  may  be  of  the 
masculine  gender,  and  denote  one  person,  or  of  the  neuter,  and 
signify  one  thing.  If  it  relate  unto  the  person,  it  may  have  a 
double  interpretation: — 

(1.)  That  it  is  God  who  is  intended.  They  are  "  all  of  one;"  tlint 
is,  God.  And  this  may  be  spoken  in  several  respects.  The  Son  was 
of  Iiim  by  eternal  generation  ;  the  many  sons,  by  temporal  creation, — ■ 
they  were  made  by  him.  Or,  they  are  all  of  him:  he  ordained  him 
to  be  the  sanctifier,  them  to  be  sanctified;  him  to  be  the  captain 
of  salvation,  and  them  to  be  brought  unto  glory.  And  this  sen.se 
the  last  testimony  produced  by  the  apostle  seems  to  give  countenance 
unto:  *'  Behold  I  and  the  children  which  God  hath  given  unto  me;" 
• — '  me  to  be  their  father,  captain,  leader;  they  to  be  the  children  to 
be  cared  for  and  conducted  by  me.'  And  this  way  went  most  of  the 
ancients  in  their  exposition  of  this  place.  In  this  sense,  the  reason 
yielded  by  the  apostle  in  these  words  why  the  captain  of  salvation 
should  be  made  perfect  by  sufferings  is,  because  the  sons  to  be  brought 
unto  glory  were  also  to  suffer,  and  they  were  all  of  one,  both  he 
and  they,  even  of  God.  But  though  these  things  are  true,  yet  they 
contain  not  a  full  reason  of  what  the  apostle  intends  to  prove  by 
this  assertion:  for  this  interpretation  allows  no  other  relation  to  be 
expressed  between  Christ  and  the  sons  than  what  is  between  him 
and  angels;  they  are  also,  with  him,  of  one  God.  And  yet  the 
apostle  afterwards  showeth  that  there  was  another  union  and  relation 
between  Christ  and  the  elect  needful,  that  they  might  be  saved  by 
him,  than  any  that  was  between  him  and  angels.  And  if  notliing 
be  intimated  but  the  good  pleasure  of  God  appointing  him  to  be  a 
Saviour  and  them  to  be  saved,  because  they  were  all  of  himself,  of 
one  God,  which  was  sufficient  to  make  that  ajipointment  just  and 
righteous,  then  is  here  nothing  asserted  to  prove  the  meetness  of 
Christ  to  be  a  Saviour  unto  men  and  not  to  angels,  which  yet  the 
apostle  in  the  following  verses  expressly  deduceth  from  hence. 

(2.)  If  it  respect  a  person,  it  may  be  "  ex  uno  hornine,"  "  of  one 
man;"  that  is,  of  Adam.  They  are  all  of  one  common  root  and 
stock,  he  and  they  came  all  of  one,  Adam.     Unto  him  is  the  genea- 


418  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

logy  of  Christ  referred  by  Luke.  And  as  a  common  stock  of  our 
nature  he  is  often  called  the  "  one,"  the  "  one  man/'  Ttom.  v.  And 
tliis,  for  the  substance  of  it,  falls  in  with  what  will  be  next  con- 
sidered. 

2.  It  may  be  taken  in  the  neuter  sense,  and  denote  one  thing. 
And  so  also  it  may  receive  a  double  interpretation : — 

(1.)  It  may  denote  the  same  mass  of  hiwian  nature.  'E^  svhg  fu- 
fdiirxTOQ,  of  one  and  the  same  mass  of  human  nature;  or,  Jg  hlc, 
aifMarog.  So  it  is  said  of  all  mankind  that  God  made  them  l|  hlc, 
a'iiMaTOi,  "of  one  blood,"  Acts  xvii.  26,  of  one  common  principle; 
which  gives  an  alliance,  cognation,  and  brotherhood,  unto  the  wiiole 
race  of  mankind.  As  the  making  of  all  mankind  by  one  God  gives 
them  all  a  relation  unto  him,  as  saith  the  apostle,  "  We  are  also  his 
offspring;"  so  their  being  made  of  "one  blood"  gives  them  a  brother- 
hood among  themselves.  See  Acts  xiv.  15.  And  this  interpreta- 
tion differs  not,  in  the  substance  of  it,  from  that  last  preceding, 
inasmuch  as  the  whole  mass  of  human  nature  had  its  existence  in 
the  person  of  Adam ;  only  it  refers  not  the  oneness  mentioned  for- 
mally unto  his  person,  but  unto  the  nature  itself  Avhereof  he  was 
made  partaker.  And  this  sense  the  apostle  further  explains,  verse 
14 ;  as  he  also  observes  it,  Rom.  ix.  5. 

(2.)  By  "  one,"  some  understand  the  same  spiritual  nature,  the 
principle  of  spiritual  life  which  is  in  Christ  the  head,  and  the  chil- 
dren his  members.  And  this,  they  say,  is  that  which  is  their  peculiar 
oneness,  or  being  of  one,  seeing  all  wicked  men,  even  reprobates, 
are  of  the  same  common  mass  of  human  nature  as  well  as  the 
children.  But  yet  this  is  not  satisfactory.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that 
after  the  children  are  really  sanctified,  they  are  of  one  and  the  same 
spiritual  nature  with  their  head,  1  Cor.  xii.  12,  and  hereby  are  they 
differenced  from  all  others :  but  the  apostle  here  treats  of  their 
being  so  of  one  that  he  might  be  meet  to  suffer  for  them ;  which  is 
antecedent  unto  their  being  sanctified,  as  the  cause  is  unto  the 
effect.  Neither  is  it  of  any  weight  that  the  reprobates  are  partakers 
of  the  same  common  nature  with  the  children,  seeing  the  Lord 
Christ  partook  of  it  only  on  the  children's  account,  as  verse  14; 
and  of  their  nature  he  could  not  be  partaker  without  being  partaker 
of  that  which  was  common  to  them  all,  seeing  that  of  one  blood 
God  made  all  nations  under  heaven.  But  the  bond  of  nature  itself 
,  is,  in  the  covenant,  reckoned  only  unto  them  that  shall  be  sanctified. 

It  is,  then,  one  common  nature  that  is  here  intended.  He  and 
they  are  of  the  same  nature,  of  one  mass,  of  one  blood.  And  hereby 
he  came  to  be  meet  to  suffer  for  them,  and  they  to  be  in  a  capa- 
city of  enjoying  the  benefit  of  his  sufferings;  which  how  it  answers 
the  whole  design  of  the  apostle  in  this  place  doth  evidently  appear. 

First,  he  intends  to  show  that  the  Lord  Christ  was  meet  to  suffer 


VER.  11-13.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  419 

for  the  children;  and  this  arose  from  hence,  that  he  was  of  the 
same  nature  with  them,  as  he  afterwards  at  large  declares.  And 
he  was  meet  to  sanctify  them  by  his  sufferings,  as  in  this  verse  he 
intimates.  For  as  in  an  offering  made  unto  the  Lord  of  the  first- 
fruits,  of  meat  or  of  meal,  a  parcel  of  tiie  same  nature  with  the 
whole  was  taken  and  offered,  whereby  the  whole  was  sanctified, 
Lev.  ii. ;  so  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  being  taken  as  the  first-fruits  of 
the  nature  of  the  children,  and  offered  unto  God,  the  whole  lump, 
or  the  whole  nature  of  man  in  the  children, — that  is,  all  the  elect, 
— is  separated  unto  God,  and  effectually  sanctified  in  their  season. 
And  this  gives  the  ground  unto  all  the  testimonies  which  the  apostle 
produceth  unto  his  purpose  out  of  the  Old  Testament;  for  being 
thus  of  one  nature  with  them,  "he  is  not  ashamed  to  call  them 
brethren,"  as  he  proves  from  Ps.  xxii.  For  although  it  be  true,  that, 
as  brethren  is  a  term  of  spiritual  cognation  and  love,  he  calls  them 
not  so  until  they  are  made  partakers  of  his  Spirit,  and  of  the  saine 
spiritual  nature  that  is  in  him,  yet  the  first  foundation  of  this  appel- 
lation lies  in  his  participation  of  the  same  nature  with  them;  without 
which,  however  he  might  love  them,  he  could  not  properly  call  them 
brethren.  Also,  his  participation  of  their  nature  was  that  which 
brought  him  into  such  a  condition  as  wherein  it  was  needful  for 
him  to  put  his  trust  in  God,  and  to  look  for  deliverance  from  him  in 
a  time  of  danger;  which  the  apostle  proves  in  the  second  place  by  a 
testimony  out  of  Ps.  xviii.:  which  could  not  in  any  sense  have  been 
said  of  Christ  had  he  not  been  partaker  of  that  nature,  which  is 
exposed  unto  all  kinds  of  wants  and  troubles,  with  outward  straits 
and  oppositions,  which  the  nature  of  angels  is  not.  And  as  his 
being  thus  of  one  with  us  made  him  our  brother,  and  placed  him  in 
that  condition  with  us  wherein  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  put  his 
trust  in  God  for  deliverance;  so  being  the  principal  head  and  first- 
fruits  of  our  nature,  and  therein  the  author  and  finisher  of  our  sal- 
vation, he  is  a  father  unto  us,  and  we  are  his  children:  which  the 
apostle  proveth  by  his  last  testimony  from  Isa.  viii.,  "  Behold  I  and 
the  children  which  the  Lord  hath  given  unto  me."  And  further, 
upon  the  close  of  these  testimonies,  the  apostle  assumes  again  his 
proposition,  and  asserts  it  unto  the  same  purpose,  verse  14,  showing 
in  what  sense  he  and  the  children  were  of  one,  namely,  in  their 
mutual  participation  of  "  flesh  and  blood." 

And  thus  this  interpretation  of  the  word  will  sufficiently  bear  the 
whole  weight  of  the  ^postle  s  argument  and  inferences.  But  if  any 
one  list  to  extend  the  word  further,  and  to  comprise  in  it  the  mani- 
fold relation  that  is  between  Christ  and  his  members,  I  shall  not 
contend  about  it.  There  may  be  in  it, — ] .  Their  being  of  one  Godf 
designing  him  and  them  to  be  one  mystical  body,  one  church, — lie 
the  head,  they  the  members;  2.  Their  taking  into  one  covenant, 


420  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAF.  II. 

made  originally  with  him,  and  exemplified  in  them  ;  8.  Their 
being  of  one  common  princijjle  of  human  nature;  4.  Designed 
unto  a  manifold  spiritual  union  in  respect  of  that  new  nature 
Avhich  the  cliildren  receive  from  him ;  with  every  other  thing  that 
concurs  to  serve  the  union  and  relation  between  them.  But  that 
wliich  we  have  insisted  on  is  principally  intended,  and  to  be  so  con- 
sidered by  us.     And  we  might  teach  from  hence,  that, — 

III.  The  agreement  of  Christ  and  the  elect  in  one  common  nature 
is  the  foundation  of  his  fitness  to  be  an  undertaker  on  their  behalf, 
and  of  the  equity  of  their  being  made  partakers  of  the  benefits  of 
Lis  mediation,  but  that  this  will  occur  unto  us  again  more  fully, 
verse  14. 

And  by  all  this  doth  the  apostle  discover  unto  the  Hebrews  the 
unreasonableness  of  their  offence  at  the  afflicted  condition  and  suf- 
ferings of  the  Messiah.  He  had  minded  them  of  the  work  that  he 
had  to  do ;  Avhich  was,  to  save  his  elect  by  a  spiritual  and  eternal 
salvalion:  he  had  also  intimated  what  was  tlieir  condition  by  nature; 
wherein  they  were  unclean,  unsanctified,  separate  from  God :  and 
withal  had  made  known  what  the  justice  of  God,  as  the  supreme 
governor  and  judge  of  all,  required -that  sinners  might  be  saved.  He 
now  minds  them  of  the  union  that  was  between  him  and  them, 
whereby  he  became  fit  to  suffer  for  them,  as  that  they  might  enjoy 
the  blessed  effects  thereof  in  deliverance  and  salvation. 

Thirdly,  The  apostle  lays  down  an  inference  from  his  preceding 
assertion,  in  these  words,  "  For  which  cause  he  is  not  ashamed  to 
call  them  brethren."  In  which  words  we  have, — 1.  The  respect  of 
that  which  is  here  affirmed  unto  the  assertion  foregoing:  "  For  which 
cause."  2.  The  thing  itself  affirmed ;  which  is,  that  the  Lord  Christ 
calls  the  sons  to  be  brought  unto  glory  his  "  brethren."  3.  The 
manner  of  his  so  doing:  "He  is  not  ashamed  to  call  them  so."  And 
herein  also  the  apostle,  according  to  his  wonted  way  of  proceeding, 
which  we  have  often  observed,  makes  a  transition  towards  somewhat 
else  which  he  had  in  design,  namely,  the  prophetical  office  of  Christ, 
as  we  shall  see  afterwards. 

*'  For  which  cause," — that  is,  because  they  are  of  one,  partakers 
of  one  common  nature, — "  he  calls  them  brethren."  This  gives  a 
rightful  foundation  unto  that  appellation.  Hereon  is  built  that  re- 
lation which  is  between  him  and  them.  It  is  true,  there  is  more 
required  to  perfect  the  relation  of  brotherhood  between  him  and 
them  than  merely  their  being  of  one;  but  it  is  so  far  established 
from  hence  that  he  was  meet  to  suffer  for  them,  to  sanctify  and  save 
them.  And  without  this  there  could  have  been  no  such  relation. 
Now,  his  calling  of  them  "brethren"  doth  both  declare  that  they 
are  so,  and  also  that  he  owns  them  and  avouches  them  as  such.  But 
whereas  it  may  be  said,  that  although  they  are  thus  of  one  in  respect 


V^R.  11-13.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  421 

of  their  common  ii<ature,  yet  upon  sundry  other  accounts  he  is  so 
glorious,  and  they  are  so  vile  and  miserable,  that  he  might  justly  dis- 
avow this  cognation,  and  reject  them  as  strangers,  the  apostle  tells 
us  it  is  otherwise,  and  that,  passing  by  all  other  distances  between 
them,  and  setting  aside  the  consideration  of  their  unvvortliiness,  for 
which  he  might  justly  disavow  them,  and  remembering  wherefore 
he  was  of  one  with  them,  "he  is  not  ashamed  to  call  them  brethren." 
There  may  be  a  (liiueii  in  the  words,  and  the  contrary  asserted  to  that 
which  is  denied:  "He  is  not  ashamed;"  that  is,  willingly,  cheer- 
fully, and  readily  he  doth  it.  But  I  rather  look  upon  it  as  an  ex- 
pression of  condescension  and  love.  And  herein  doth  the  apostle 
show  the  use  of  what  he  taught  before,  that  they  were  of  one, 
namely,  that  thereby  they  became  brethren,  he  meet  to  suffer  for 
them,  and  they  meet  to  be  saved  by  him.  What  in  all  this  the 
apostle  confirms  by  the  ensuing  testimonies,  we  shall  see  in  the  ex- 
plication of  them;  in  the  meantime  we  may  learn  for  our  own  in- 
struction,— 

IV.  That  notwithstanding  the  union  of  nature  which  is  between 
the  Son  of  God  incarnate,  the  sanctifier,  and  the  children  that  are 
to  be  sanctified,  there  is  in  respect  of  their  persons  an  inconceivable 
distance  between  them ;  so  that  it  is  a  marvellous  condescension  in 
him  to  call  them  brethren. 

He  is  not  ashamed  to  call  them  so,  though,  considering  what  him- 
self is  and  what  they  are,  it  should  seem  that  he  might  justly  be  so. 
The  same  expression,  for  the  like  reasons,  is  used  concerning  God's 
owning  his  people  in  covenant,  chap.  xi.  16,  "  Wherefore  God  is  not 
ashamed  to  be  called  their  God."  And  this  distance  between  Christ 
and  us,  which  makes  his  condescension  so  marvellous,  relates  unto 
a  fourfold  head  :■ — 

1.  The  itrtmunity  of  the  nature  wherein  he  was  of  one  with 
us  in  his  person  from  all  sin.  He  was  made  like  unto  us  in  all 
things,  sin  excepted.  The  nature  of  man  in  every  other  individual 
person  is  defiled  with  and  debased  by  sin.  We  are  every  one  "  gone 
astray,  and  are  become  all  together  filthy"  or  abominable.  This  sets 
us  at  no  small  distance  from  him.  Human  nature  defiled  with  sin 
is  farther  distanced  from  the  same  nature  as  pure  and  holy,  in  worth 
and  excellency,  than  the  meanest  worm  is  from  the  most  glorious 
angel.  Nothing  but  sin  casts  the  creature  out  of  its  own  place,  and 
puts  it  into  another  distance  from  God  than  it  hath  by  being  a  crea- 
ture. This  is  a  debasement  unto  hell,  as  the  prophet  speaks:  "  Thou 
didst  debase  thyself  even  unto  hell,"  Isa.  Ivii.  9.  And  therefore  the 
condescension  of  God  unto  us  in  Christ  is  set  out  by  his  regarding  of 
us  "when  we  were  enemies"  unto  him,  Rom.  v.  10;  that  is,  whilst  we 
were  "sinners,"  as  verse  8.  This  had  cast  us  into  hell  itself,  at  the  mo.st 
inconceivable  distance  from  him.     Yet  this  hindered  not  him  who 


422  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  fCHAP.  IL 

was  "  holy,  harmless,  undefiled,  separate  from  sinners,"  to  own  us  as 
his  brethren.  He  says  not,  with  those  proud  hypocrites  in  the  pro- 
phet, "  Stand  farther  off,  I  am  holier  than  you;"  but  he  comes  unto 
us,  and  takes  us  by  the  hand  in  his  love,  to  deliver  us  from  this  con- 
dition. 

2.  We  are  in  this  nature  obnoxious  unto  all  miseries,  in  this 
world  and  that  which  is  to  come.  Man  now  is  "  born  to  trouble," 
all  the  trouble  that  sin  can  deserve  or  a  provoked  God  inflict.  His 
misery  is  great  upon  him,  and  that  growing  and  endless.  He,  just 
ill  himself,  free  from  all,  obnoxious  to  nothing  that  was  grievous  or 
irksome,  no  more  than  the  angels  in  heaven  or  Adam  m  paradise. 
"Poena  noxam  sequitur ;" — "Punishment  and  troublefollow  guiltonly 
naturally."  He  "  did  no  sin,  neither  was  guile  found  in  his  mouth ;" 
so  that  God  was  always  well  pleased  with  him.  Whatever  of  hard- 
ship or  difficulty  he  underwent,  it  was  for  us,  and  not  for  himself. 
Might  not  he  have  left  us  to  perish  in  our  condition,  and  freely 
enjoyed  his  own?  We  see  how  unapt  those  who  are  in  prosperity, 
full  and  rich,  are  to  take  notice  of  their  nearest  relations  in  poverty, 
miseiy,  and  distress;  and  who  among  them  would  do  so  if  it  would 
cast  them  into  the  state  of  those  who  are  already  miserable  ?  Yet  so 
it  did  the  Lord  Christ.  His  calling  us  brethren,  and  owning  of  us, 
made  him  instantly  obnoxious  unto  all  the  miseries  the  guilt  whereof 
we  had  contracted  upon  ourselves.  The  owning  of  his  alliance  unto 
us  cost  him,  as  it  were,  all  he  was  worth ;  for  being  rich,  "for  our  sakes 
he  became  poor."  He  came  into  the  prison  and  into  the  furnace  to 
own  us.     And  this  also  renders  his  condescension  marvellous. 

3.  He  is  inconceivably  distanced  from  us  in  respect  of  that 
place  and  dignity  which  he  was  designed  unto.  This,  as  we  have 
showed  at  large,  was  to  be  "  Lord  of  all,"  with  absolute  sovereign  au- 
thority over  the  whole  creation  of  God.  We  are  poor  abjects,  who 
either  have  not  bread  to  eat,  or  have  no  good  right  to  eat  that  which 
we  meet  withal.  Sin  hath  set  the  whole  creation  against  us.  And 
if  Mephibosheth  thought  it  a  great  condescension  in  David  on  his 
throne  to  take  notice  of  him,  being  poor,  who  was  yet  the  son  of 
Jonathan,  what  is  it  in  this  King  of  kings  to  own  us  for  brethren 
in  our  vile  and  low  condition  ?  Thoughts  of  his  glorious  exaltation 
will  put  a  lustre  on  his  condescension  in  this  matter. 

4.  He  is  infinitely  distanced  from  us  in  his  person,  in  respect 
of  his  divine  nature,  wherein  he  is  and  was  "  God  over  all, 
blessed  for  ever."  He  did  not  so  become  man  as  to  cease  to  be  God. 
Though  he  drew  a  veil  over  his  infinite  glory,  yet  he  parted  not  with 
it.  He  who  calls  us  brethren,  who  suffered  for  us,  who  died  for  us, 
was  God  still  in  all  these  things.  The  condescension  of  Christ  in 
this  resp(^ct  the  apostle  in  an  especial  manner  insists  upon  and 
ihijiioves,  Phil.  iL  5-11.     That  he  who  in  himself  is  thus  over  all, 


VER.  11-13.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  423 

eternally  blessed,  holy,  powerful,  should  take  us  poor  worms  of  the 
earth  into  this  relation  with  himself,  and  avow  us  for  his  brethren, 
as  it  is  not  easy  to  be  believed,  so  it  is  for  ever  to  be  admired. 

And  these  are  some  of  the  heads  of  that  distance  which  is  be- 
tween Christ  and  us,  notwithstanding  his  participation  of  the  same 
nature  with  us.  Yet  such  was  his  love  unto  us,  such  his  constancy  in 
the  pursuit  of  the  design  and  purpose  of  his  Father  in  bringing 
many  sons  unto  glory,  that  he  overlooks  as  it  were  them  all,  and  "■  is 
not  ashamed  to  call  us  brethren."  And  if  he  will  do  this  because  he 
is  of  one  with  us,  because  a  foundation  of  this  relation  is  laid  in  his 
participation  of  our  nature,  how  much  more  will  he  continue  so  to 
do  when  he  hath  perfected  this  relation  by  the  communication  of 
his  Sj)irit! 

And  tills  is  a  ground  of  unspeakable  consolation  unto  believers, 
with  supportment  in  every  condition.  No  unworthiness  in  them,  no 
misery  upon  them,  shall  ever  hinder  the  Lord  Christ  from  owning 
them,  and  openly  avowing  them  to  be  his  brethren.  He  is  a  brother 
born  for  the  day  of  trouble,  a  Redeemer  for  the  friendless  and  father- 
less. Let  their  miseries  be  what  they  will,  he  will  be  ashamed  of 
none  but  of  them  who  are  ashamed  of  him  and  his  ways  when  perse- 
cuted and  reproached,  A  little  while  will  clear  up  great  mistakes. 
All  the  world  shall  see  at  the  last  day  whom  Christ  will  own;  and 
it  will  be  a  great  surprisal,  when  men  shall  hear  him  call  them  breth- 
ren whom  they  hated,  and  esteemed  as  the  ofifscouring  of  all  things. 
He  doth  it,  indeed,  already  by  his  word ;  but  they  will  not  attend 
thereunto.  But  at  the  last  day  they  shall  both  see  and  hear,  whether 
they  will  or  no.  And  herein,  I  say,  lies  the  great  consolation  of 
believers.  The  world  rejects  them,  it  may  be  their  own  relations 
despise  them, — they  are  persecuted,  hated,  reproached ;  but  the  Lord 
Christ  is  not  ashamed  of  them.  He  will  not  pass  by  them  becnuse 
they  are  poor  and  in  rags, — it  may  be,  reckoned  (as  he  himself  was 
for  them)  among  malefactors.  They  may  see  also  the  wisdom,  grace, 
and  love  of  God  in  this  matter.  His  great  design  in  the  incarna- 
tion of  his  Son  was  to  bring  him  into  that  condition  wherein  he 
might  naturally  care  for  them,  as  their  brother;  that  he  might  not  be 
ashamed  of  them,  but  be  sensible  of  their  wants,  their  state  and 
condition  in  all  things,  and  so  be  always  ready  and  meet  to  relieve 
them.  Let  the  world  now  take  its  course,  and  the  men  thereof  do 
their  worst;  let  Satan  rage,  and  the  powers  of  hell  be  stirred  up 
against  them ;  let  them  load  them  with  reproaches  and  scorn,  and 
cover  them  all  over  with  the  filth  and  dirt  of  their  false  imputations; 
let  them  bring  them  into  rags,  into  dungeons,  unto  death; — Ciirist 
comes  in  the  midst  of  all  this  confusion  and  says,  '  Surely  these  are 
my  brethren,  the  children  of  my  Father,'  and  he  becomes  their 
Saviour.     And  this  is  a  stable  foundation  of  comfort  and  support- 


424  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

ment  in  every  condition.  And  are  we  not  taught  our  duty  also 
herein,  namely,  not  to  be  ashamed  of  him  or  his  gospel,  or  of  any 
one  that  bears  his  image?  The  Lord  Christ  is  now  himself  in  that 
condition  that  even  the  worst  of  men  esteem  it  an  honour  to  own 
him:  but  indeed  they  are  no  less  ashamed  of  him  than  they  would 
have  been  when  he  was  carrying  his  cross  upon  his  shoulders  or 
hanging  upon  the  tree;  for  of  every  thing  that  he  hath  in  this  world 
they  are  ashamed.  His  gospel,  his  ways,  his  worship,  his  Spirit,  his 
saints,  they  are  all  of  them  the  objects  of  their  scorn;  and  in  these 
things  it  is  that  the  Lord  Christ  may  be  truly  honoured  or  be  de- 
spised. For  those  thoughts  which  men  have  of  his  present  glory, 
abstracting  from  these  things,  he  is  not  concerned  in  them ;  they  are 
all  exercised  about  an  imaginary  Christ,  that  is  unconcerned  in  the 
word  and  Spirit  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  These  are  the  things  whereiw 
we  are  not  to  be  ashamed  of  him.  See  Rom.  i.  ]  6 ;  2  Tim.  i.  1 6, 
iv.  16. 

Fourthly,  That  which  remaineth  of  these  verses  consisteth  in  the  tes- 
timonies which  the  apostle  produceth  out  of  the  Old  Testament  in  the 
confirmation  of  what  he  had  taught  and  asserted.  And  two  things 
are  to  be  considered  concerning  them, — the  end  for  which  they  are 
produced,  and  the  especial  importance  of  the  words  contained  in  them. 
The  first  he  mentions  is  from  Ps.  xxii.  22,  "  I  will  declare  thy  name 
unto  my  brethren:  in  the  midst  of  the  congregation  will  I  praise 
thee."  The  end  why  the  apostle  produceth  this  testimony,  is  to 
confirm  what  he  had  said  immediately  before,  namely,  that  witk 
respect  unto  his  being  one  with  the  children,  Christ  owns  them  for 
his  brethren  ;  for  this  he  doth  expressly  in  this  place.  And  we  are 
to  take  notice  that  the  apostle  in  the  use  of  these  testimonies  doth 
not  observe  any  order,  so  that  one  of  them  should  confirm  one  part, 
and  another  another  part  of  his  assertion,  in  the  order  wherein  he 
had  laid  them  down.  It  sufficeth  him  that  his  whole  intendment, 
in  all  the  parts  of  it,  is  confirmed  in  and  by  them  all,  one  having  a 
more  especial  respect  unto  one  part  than  another.  In  this  first  it 
is  clear  that  he  proves  what  he  had  immediately  before  affirmed, 
namely,  that  the  Lord  Christ  owns  the  children  for  his  brethren, 
because  of  their  common  interest  in  the  same  nature.  And  there 
needs  nothing  to  evince  the  pertinency  of  this  testimony  but  oidy 
to  show  that  it  is  the  Messiah  which  speaketh  in  that  psalm,  and 
whose  words  these  are;  which  we  have  done  fully  already  in  our 
Prolegomena. 

For  the  explication  of  the  words  themselves,  we  may  consider 
the  twofold  act  or  duty  that  the  Lord  Christ  takes  upon  himself  in 
them ; — first,  that  he  will  declare  the  name  of  God  unto  his  brethren ; 
and,  secondly,  that  he  would  celebrate  him  with  praises  in  the 
congregation.     In  the  former  we  must  inquire  what  is  meant  by 


YER.  11-13.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  425 

the  "  name"  of  God,  and  then  how  it  is  or  was  "  declared"  by  Jesus 
Christ. 

This  expression,  the  "name  of  God,"  is  variously  used.  Sometimes 
it  denotes  the  being  of  God,  God  himself;  sometimes  his  aitrihutes, 
his  excellencies  or  divine  perfections,  some  one  or  more  of  them. 
As  it  is  proposed  unto  sinners  as  an  object  for  their  faith,  trust,  and 
love,  it  denotes  in  an  especial  manner  his  love,  grace,  and  goodness, 
• — that  in  himself  he  is  good,  gracious,  and  merciful,  Isa.  1.  10.  And 
withal  it  intimates  what  God  requires  of  them  towards  whom  he  is 
80  good  and  gracious.  This  name  of  God  is  unknown  to  men  by 
nature;  so  is  the  way  and  means  whereby  he  will  communicate  his 
goodness  and  grace  unto  them.  And  this  is  the  name  of  God  here 
intended,  which  the  Lord  Jesus  "  manifested  unto  the  men  given  him 
out  of  the  world,"  John  xvii.  6 ;  which  is  the  same  with  his  declaring 
the  Father,  whom  "no  man  hath  seen  at  any  time,"  John  i.  18.  This 
is  that  name  of  God  which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  had  experience  of 
in  his  suiferings,  and  the  manifestation  whereof  unto  his  brethren 
he  had  procured  thereby. 

Hereof  he  says  in  the  psalm,  "^"^^P^,  "I  will  declare  it," — recount 
it  in  order,  number  the  particulars  that  belong  unto  it,  and  so  dis- 
tinctly and  evidently  make  it  known.  '  AvayytX^,  '  I  will  make  it 
known  as  a  messenger,  sent  from  thee  and  by  thee.'  And  there 
are  two  ways  whereby  the  Lord  Christ  declared  this  name  of  God: 
■ — 1.  In  his  own  person;  and  that  both  before  and  after  his  suffer- 
ings: for  although  it  be  mentioned  here  as  a  work  that  ensued  his 
death,  yet  is  it  not  exclusive  of  his  teachings  before  his  suffering, 
because  they  also  were  built  upon  the  supposition  thereof.  Thus  in 
the  days  of  his  flesh,  he  instructed  his  disciples  and  preached  the 
gospel  in  the  synagogues  of  the  Jews  and  in  the  temple,  declaring 
the  name  of  God  unto  them.  So  also  after  his  resurrection  he  con- 
ferred with  his  apostles  about  the  kingdom  of  God,  Acts  i.  2.  By 
his  Spirit;  and  that  both  in  the  effusion  of  it  upon  his  disciples, 
enabling  them  personally  to  preach  the  gospel  unto  the  men  of 
their  own  generation,  and  in  the  inspiration  of  some  of  them,  en- 
abling them  to  commit  the  truth  unto  writing  for  the  instruction  of 
the  elect  unto  the  end  of  the  world.  And  herein  doth  the  apostle, 
according  unto  his  wonted  manner,  not  only  confirm  what  he  had 
before  delivered,  but  make  way  for  what  he  had  further  to  instruct 
the  Hebrews  in,  namely,  the  prophetical  office  of  Christ,  as  he  is 
the  great  revealer  of  the  will  of  God  and  teacher  of  the  church; 
which  he  professedly  insists  upon  in  the  beginning  of  the  next 
chapter. 

In  the  second  part  of  this  first  testimony  is  declared  further: — • 
1.  What  Christ  will  moreover  do:  He  will  "sing  praises  unto  God;" 
and,  2.  Where  he  will  do  it:  "In  the  midst  of  the  congregation."   The 


426  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

expression  of  botli  these  is  accommodated  unto  the  declaration  of 
God's  name  and  of  praising  him  in  the  temple.  1.  The  singing  of 
hymns  of  praise  unto  God  in  the  great  congregation  was  then  a 
principal  part  of  his  worship.  And  in  the  first  expression  two  things 
are  observable: — (1.)  What  Christ  undertakes  to  do;  and  that  is,  to 
praise  God.  Now  this  is  only  exegetical  of  what  went  before.  He 
would  praise  God  by  declaring  his  name.  There  is  no  way  whereby 
the  praise  of  God  may  be  celebrated  like  that  of  declaring  his  grace, 
goodness,  and  love  unto  men ;  whereby  they  may  be  won  to  believe 
and  trust  in  him,  whence  glory  redounds  unto  him.  (2.)  The  cheer- 
fulness and  alacrity  of  the  spirit  of  Christ  in  this  work.  He  would 
do  it  as  with  joy  and  singing,  with  such  a  frame  of  heart  as  was 
required  in  them  who  were  to  sing  the  praises  of  God  in  the  great 
assemblies  in  the  temple.  2.  Where  would  he  do  this?  ''^i?  ^^^f, 
"  in  the  midst  of  the  congregation," — "  the  great  congregation,"  as 
he  calls  it,  verse  23 ;  that  is,  the  great  assembly  of  the  people  in 
the  temple.  And  this  was  a  type  of  the  whole  church  of  the  elect 
imder  the  new  testament.  The  Lord  Christ,  in  his  own  person,  by 
his  Spirit  in  his  apostles,  by  his  word,  and  by  all  his  messengers  unto 
the  end  of  the  world,  setting  forth  the  love,  grace,  goodness,  and 
mercy  of  God  in  him  the  mediator,  sets  forth  the  praise  of  God  in 
the  midst  of  the  congregation.  I  shall  only  add,  that  whereas  sing- 
ing of  hymns  unto  God  was  an  especial  part  of  the  instituted  wor- 
ship under  the  old  testament,  to  whose  use  these  expressions  are 
accommodated,  it  is  evident  that  the  Lord  Christ  hath  eminently 
set  forth  this  praise  of  God  in  his  institution  of  worship  under  the 
new  testament,  wherein  God  will  ever  be  glorified  and  praised.  This 
was  that  which  the  Lord  Christ  engaged  to  do  upon  the  issue  of  his 
sufferings;  and  we  may  propose  it  unto  our  example  and  instruc- 
tion, namely, — 

V.  That  which  was  principally  in  the  heart  of  Christ  upon  his 
sufferings,  was  to  declare  and  manifest  the  love,  grace,  and  good-will 
of  God  unto  men,  that  they  might  come  to  an  acquaintance  with 
him  and  to  acceptance  before  him. 

There  are  two  things  in  the  psalm  and  the  words  that  manifest 
hov/  much  this  was  upon  the  heart  of  Christ.  The  most  part  of  the 
psalm  containeth  the  great  conflict  that  he  had  with  his  sufferings, 
and  the  displeasure  of  God  against  sin  declared  therein.  He  is 
no  sooner  delivered  from  thence,  but  instantly  he  engageth  in  this 
work.  As  he  lands  upon  the  shore  from  that  tempest  wherein  he  was 
tossed  in  his  passion,  he  cries  out,  "  I  will  declare  thy  name  unto 
my  brethren :  in  the  midst  of  the  congregation  will  I  praise  thee." 
And  thus  we  find,  that  upon  his  resurrection  he  did  not  imme- 
diately ascend  into  glory,  but  first  declared  the  name  of  God  unto 
his  apostles  and  disciples,  and  then  took  order  that  by  them  it  should 


VEE.  li  13.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  4-27 

be  declared  and  published  to  all  the  world.  This  was  upon  his 
spirit,  and  he  entered  not  into  his  glorious  rest  until  he  had  pi-r- 
formed  it.  The  words  themselves  also  do  evidence  it,  in  that  ex- 
pression of  celebrating  God's  name  with  hymns,  with  singing.  It 
was  a  joy  of  heart  unto  him  to  be  engaged  in  this  work.  Singing 
is  the  frame  [ivi)v,aouvru)v,  James  v.  13)  of  them  that  are  in  a  glad, 
free,  rejoicing  condition.  So  was  the  Lord  Christ  in  this  work.  He 
rejoiced  of  old  with  the  very  thoughts  of  this  work,  Prov.  viii.  30,  31 ; 
Isa.  Ixi.  1-3 ;  and  it  was  one  of  the  glorious  promises  that  were  made 
unto  him  upon  his  undertaking  the  work  of  our  salvation,  that  he 
should  declare  or  preach  the  gospel,  and  the  name  of  God  therein, 
unto  the  conversion  of  Jews  and  Gentiles,  Isa.  xlix.  1-10.  He 
rejoiced,  therefore,  greatly  to  do  it;  and  that, — 

1.  Because  herein  consisted  the  Tnanifestation  and  exaltation 
of  the  glory  of  God,  which  he  principally  in  his  whole  work  aimed 
at.  He  came  to  do  the  will,  and  thereby  to  set  forth  the  glory,  of 
the  Father.  By  and  in  him  God  designed  to  make  his  glory  known; 
— the  glory  of  his  love  and  grace  in  sending  him ;  the  glory  of  his 
justice  and  faithfulness  in  his  sufferings;  the  glory  of  his  mercy  in 
the  reconciliation  and  pardon  of  sinners;  the  glory  of  his  wisdom  in 
the  whole  mystery  of  his  mediation ;  and  the  glory  together  of  aM 
his  external  excellencies  in  bringinor  his  sons  unto  the  everlastincf 
enjoyment  of  him.  Now  nothing  of  all  this  could  have  been  made 
known,  unless  the  Lord  Christ  had  taken  upon  him  to  preach  the 
gospel  and  declare  the  name  of  God.  Without  this,  whatever  else 
he  had  done  or  suffered  had  been  lost,  as  unto  the  interest  of  the 
glory  of  God.  This,  then,  being  that  which  he  principally  aimed  at, 
this  design  must  needs  be  greatly  in  his  mind.  He  took  care  that 
so  great  glory,  built  on  so  great  a  foundation  as  his  incarnation  and 
mediation,  should  not  be  lost.  His  other  work  was  necessary,  but 
this  was  a  joy  of  heart  and  soul  unto  him. 

2.  The  salvation  of  the  sons  to  be  brought  unto  glory,  with  all 
their  interest  in  the  benefit  of  his  sufferings,  depended  on  this 
work  of  his.  How  much  he  sought  that,  his  whole  work  declares. 
For  their  sakes  it  was  that  he  came  down  from  heaven,  and  "  was 
made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  them;"  for  their  sakes  did  he  undergo 
all  the  miseries  that  the  world  could  cast  upon  him;  for  their  sakes 
did  he  undergo  the  curse  of  the  law,  and  wrestle  with  the  displea- 
sure and  wrath  of  God  against  sin.  And  all  this  seemed  as  it  were 
little  unto  him,  for  the  love  he  bare  them ;  as  Jacob's  hard  service 
did  to  him  for  his  love  unto  Rachel.  Now,  after  he  had  done  all 
this  for  them,  unless  he  had  declared  the  name  of  God  unto  them 
in  the  gospel,  they  could  have  had  no  benefit  by  it;  for  if  they  be- 
Keve  not,  they  cannot  be  saved.  And  how  should  they  believe 
without  the  word?  and  how  or  whence  could  they  hear  the  word 


428  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CliAP.   11. 

unless  it  had  been  preached  unto  them?  They  could  not  of  them- 
selves have  known  any  thing  of  that  name  of  God,  which  is  their  life 
and  salvation.  Some  men  talk  of  I  know  not  what  declaration  of 
God's  name,  nature,  and  glory,  by  the  works  of  nature  and  provi- 
dence ;  but  if  the  Lord  Christ  had  not  indeed  revealed,  declared, 
and  preached  these  things,  these  disputers  themselves  would  not  have 
been  in  any  other  condition  than  all  mankind  are  who  are  left  unto 
those  teachers, — which  is  most  dark  and  miserable.  The  Lord  Christ 
knew  that  without  his  performance  of  this  work,  not  one  of  the  sous, 
tiie  conduct  of  whom  to  glory  he  had  undertaken,  could  ever  have 
been  brought  unto  the  knowledge  of  the  name  of  God,  or  unto  faith 
in  him,  or  obedience  unto  him;  which  made  him  earnestly  and 
heartily  engage  into  it. 

3.  Hereon  depended  his  oiun  glory  also.  His  elect  were  to  be 
gathered  unto  him;  and  in,  among,  and  over  them,  was  his  glorious 
kingdom  to  be  erected.  Without  their  conversion  unto  God  this 
could  not  be  done.  In  the  state  of  nature  they  also  are  "  children  of 
wrath,"  and  belong  to  the  kingdom  of  Satan.  And  this  declaration 
of  the  name  of  God  is  the  great  way  and  means  of  their  calling,  cdu- 
version,  and  translation  from  the  power  of  Satan  into  his  kingdom. 
Tlie  gospel  is  "  the  rod  of  his  strength,"  whereby  "  his  people  are 
made  willing  in  the  day  of  his  power."  In  brief,  the  gathering  of 
his  church,  the  setting  up  of  his  kingdom,  the  establishment  of  his 
throne,  the  setting  of  the  crown  upon  his  head,  depend  wholly  on 
his  declaring  the  name  of  God  in  the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  See- 
ing, therefore,  that  the  glory  of  God  which  he  aimed  at,  the  salva- 
tion of  the  sons  which  he  sought  for,  and  the  honour  of  his  kingdom 
which  was  promised  unto  him,  do  all  depend  on  this  work,  it  is  no 
wonder  if  his  heart  were  full  of  it,  and  that  he  rejoiced  to  be  en- 
gaged in  it. 

And  this  frame  of  heart  ought  to  be  in  them  who  under  him  are 
called  unto  this  work.  The  work  itself,  we  see,  is  noble  and  excel- 
lent,— such  as  the  Lord  Christ  carried  in  his  eye  through  all  his  suf- 
ferings, as  that  whereby  they  were  to  be  rendered  useful  unto  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  the  souls  of  men.  And,  by  his 
rejoicing  to  be  engaged  in  it,  he  hath  set  a  pattern  unto  them  whom 
he  calls  to  the  same  employment.  Where  men  undertake  it  tor 
"  filthy  lucre,"  for  self  ends  and  carnal  respects,  tliis  is  not  to  follow 
the  example  of  Christ,  nor  to  serve  him,  but  their  own  bellies.  Zeal 
for  the  glory  of  God,  compassion  for  the  souls  of  men,  love  to  the 
honour  and  exaltation  of  Christ,  ought  to  be  the  principles  of  men 
in  this  undertaking. 

Moreover,  the  Lord  Christ,  by  declaring  that  he  will  set  forth  the 
praise  of  God  in  the  church,  manifests  what  is  the  duty  of  the  church 
itself,  namely,  to  praise  God  for  the  work  of  his  love  and  grace  in  our 


VEE.  11-13.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  429 

redemption  by  Christ  Jesus.  This  he  promiseth  to  go  before  them 
in;  and  what  he  leads  them  unto  is  by  them  to  be  persisted  in. 
This  is  indeed  the  very  end  of  gathering  the  church,  and  of  all  the 
duties  that  are  performed  therein  and  thereby.  The  church  is  called 
unto  the  glory  of  the  grace  of  God,  Eph.  i  .6, — that  it  may  be  set  forth 
in  them  and  by  them.  This  is  the  end  of  the  institution  of  all  the 
ordinances  of  worship  in  the  church,  Eph.  iii.  8-10;  and  in  them  do 
they  set  forth  the  praises  of  God  unto  men  and  angels.  This  is  tiie 
tendency  ol  prayer,  the  work  of  faith,  the  fruit  of  obedience.  It  is 
a  fond  imagination  which  some  have  fallen  upon,  that  God  is  not 
praised  in  the  church  for  the  work  of  redemption,  unless  it  be  done 
by  Vvords  and  hymns  particularly  expressing  it.  All  praying,  all 
preaching,  all  administration  of  ordinances,  all  our  faith,  all  our 
obedience,  if  ordered  aright,  are  nothing  but  giving  glory  to  God  lor 
his  love  and  grace  in  Christ  Jesus  in  a  due  and  acceptable  manner. 
And  this  is  that  which  ought  to  be  in  our  design  in  all  our  worship 
of  God,  especially  in  what  we  perform  in  the  church.  To  set  forth 
his  praise,  to  declai'e  his  name,  to  give  glory  unto  him  by  believing, 
and  the  profession  of  our  faith,  is  the  end  of  all  we  do.  And  this 
is  the  first  testimony  produced  by  our  apostle. 

His  next  is  taken  from  Ps.  xviii.  2,  "  I  will  put  my  trust  in  him." 
The  whole  psalm  literally  respects  David,  with  his  straits  and  de- 
liverances; not  absolutely,  but  as  he  was  a  type  of  Christ,  That  he 
was  so  the  Jews  cannot  deny,  seeing  the  Messiah  is  promised  on 
that  account  imder  the  name  of  David.  And  the  close  of  the  psalm, 
treating  of  the  calling  of  the  Gentiles,  as  a  fruit  of  his  deliverance 
from  sufferings,  manifests  him  principally  to  be  intended.  And  that 
which  the  apostle  intends  to  prove  by  this  testimony  is,  that  he  was 
really  and  truly  of  one  with  the  sons  to  be  brought  unto  glory:  and 
that  he  doth  from  hence,  inasmuch  as  he  was  made  and  brought  into 
that  condition  wherein  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  trust  in  God,  and 
act  in  that  dependence  upon  him  which  the  nature  of  man  whilst 
exposed  unto  troubles  doth  indispensably  require.  Had  he  been 
only  God,  this  could  not  have  been  spoken  of  him.  Neither  is  tlie 
nature  of  angels  exposed  to  such  dangers  and  troubles  as  to  make  it 
necessary  for  them  to  betake  themselves  unto  God's  protection  with 
respect  thereunto.  And  this  the  word  >^^^,  used  by  the  psalmist, 
properly  signifies,  to  '  betake  a  man's  self  unto  the  care  and  protec- 
tion of  another,'  as  Ps.  ii.  ult.  This,  then,  the  condition  of  the  Lord 
Christ  required,  and  this  he  did  perform.  In  all  the  troubles  and 
difficulties  that  he  had  to  contend  withal,  he  put  his  trust  in  God;  as 
Isa.  1.  7-9,  Ps.  xxii.  1 9.  And  this  evinceth  him  to  have  been  truly 
and  really  of  one  with  the  children,  his  brethren,  seeing  it  was  his 
duty  no  less  than  it  is  theirs  to  depend  on  God  in  troubles  and  dis- 
tresses.    And  in  vain  doth  Schlichtiugius  hence  endeavour  to  prove 


430  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  11. 

that  Clirist  was  the  son  of  God  by  grace  only,  because  he  is  said  to 
depend  on  him,  which  if  he  had  been  God  by  nature  he  could  not 
do.  True,  if  he  had  been  God  only;  but  the  apostle  is  now  prov- 
ing that  he  was  man  also,  like  unto  us  in  all  things,  sin  only  ex- 
cepted. And  as  such  his  duty  it  was,  in  all  straits,  to  betake  himself 
by  faith  unto  the  care  and  protection  of  God.  And  some  things 
may  hence  also  be  briefly  observed;  as, — 

I.  That  the  Lord  Christ,  the  captain  of  our  salvation,  was  exposed 
in  the  days  of  his  flesh  unto  great  ditificulties,  anxiety  of  mind, 
dangers,  and  troubles.  This  is  included  in  what  he  here  affirms 
about  putting  his  trust  in  God.  And  they  were  all  typified  out  by 
the  oreat  suffi.  rings  of  David  before  he  came  unto  his  kingdom.  In 
the  consideration  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  men  commonly  fix  their 
thoughts  solely  unto  his  death.  And  indeed  therein  was  a  recapitu- 
lation of  all  that  he  had  before  undergone,  with  an  addition  of  the 
wrath  of  God.  But  yet  neither  are  the  sufferings  of  his  life  to  be 
disregarded.  Such  they  were  as  made  his  whole  pilgrimage  on  the 
earth  dangerous  and  dolorous.  There  was  upon  him  a  cohfliifeTTCe  of 
every  thing  that  is  evil  or  troublesome  unto  human  nature.  And 
herein  is  he.pimcipally  our  example,  at  least  so  far  that  we  should 
think  no  kind  of  sufferings  strange  unto  us. 

II.  The  Lord  Christ,  in  all  his  perplexities  and  troubles,  betook 
himself  unto  the  protection  of  God,  trusting  in  him.  See  Isa.  1.  7-9. 
And  he  always  made  an  open  profession  of  this  trust,  insomuch 
that  his  enemies  reproached  him  with  it  in  his  greatest  distress, 
Matt,  xxvii.  43.  But  this  was  his  course,  this  was  his  refuge,  wherein 
at  length  he  had  blessed  and  glorious  success. 

III.  He  both  suffered  and  trusted  as  our  head  and  precedent. 
What  he  did  in  both  these  kinds  he  calls  us  unto.  As  he  did,  so 
must  we  undergo  perplexities  and  dangers  in  the  course  of  our  pil- 
grimage. The  Scripture  abounds  with  instructions  unto  this  purpose, 
and  experience  confirms  it;  and  professors  of  the  gospel  do  but 
indulge  unto  pleasing  dreams  when  they  fancy  any  other  condition 
in  this  world  unto  themselves.  They  would  not  be  willing,  I  sup- 
pose, to  purchase  it  at  the  price  of  inconiormity  unto  Jesus  Christ. 
And  he  is  a  precedent  unto  us  in  trusting  as  well  as  in  suffering. 
As  he  betook  himself  unto  the  protection  of  God,  so  should  we  do 
also;  and  we  shall  have  the  same  blessed  success  with  him. 

There  remains  yet  one  testimony  more,  which  we  shall  briefly 
pass  through  the  consideration  of:  "Behold  I  and  the  children 
v/hich  God  hath  given  me."  It  is  taken  from  Isa.  viii.  18.  That  it 
is  a  prophecy  of  Christ  which  is  there  insisted  on  we  have  proved 
at  large  in  our  Prolegomena,  so  that  we  need  not  here  again  farther 
to  discourse  that  matter.  That  which  the  apostle  aims  at  in  the 
citation  of  this  testimony,  is  further  to  confirm  the  union  in  nature. 


VER.  11-13.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  481 

and  the  relation  that  ensues  thereupon,  between  tlie  captain  of 
salvation  and  the  sons  to  be  brouglit  unto  glory.  Now^  as  this  is 
such  that  thereon  he  calls  them  brethren,  and  came  into  the  same 
condition  of  trouble  with  them,  so  they  are,  by  the  grant  and 
appointment  of  God,  his  children.  Being  of  the  same  nature  with 
them,  and  so  meet  to  become  a  common  parent  unto  them  all,  God, 
by  an  act  of  sovereign  grace,  gives  them  unto  him  for  his  children. 
This  is  the  aim  of  the  apostle  in  the  use  of  this  testimony  unto  his 
present  purpose.     In  the  words  themselves  we  may  consider, — 

1.  That  God  gives  all  the  sons  that  are  to  be  hroiight  unto 
glory  to  Jesus  Christ :  '  The  Lord  hath  given  them  unto  me/ 
"Thine  they  were,"  saith  he,  "and  thou  gavest  them  me,"  John  xvii. 
6.  God  having  separated  them  as  his  peculiar  portion,  in  the  eternal 
counsel  of  his  will,  gives  them  unto  the  Sou  to  take  care  of  them, 
that  they  rnay  be  preserved  and  brought  unto  the  glory  that  he 
had  designed  for  them.  And  this  work  he  testifies  that  he  under- 
took ;  so  that  none  of  them  shall  be  lost,  but  that,  whatever  difficul- 
ties they  may  pass  through,  he  will  raise  them  up  at  the  last  day, 
and  give  them  an  entrance  into  life  and  immortality. 

2.  He  gives  them  to  him  as  his  cliildren,  to  he  provided  for, 
and  to  have  an  inheritance  purchased  for  them,  that  they  may 
become  heirs  of  God  and  co-heirs  with  himself.  Adam  was  their 
first  pai'ent  by  nattire;  and  in  him  they  lost  that  inheritance  which 
they  might  have  expected  by  tlie  law  of  their  creation.  The}'  are 
therefore  given  to  "  the  second  Adam,"  as  their  parent  by  grace,  to 
have  an  inheritance  provided  for  them ;  which  accordingly  he  hath 
purchased  with  the  price  of  his  blood. 

3.  That  the  Lord  Christ  is  satisfied  with  and  rejoiceth  in  the 
portion  given  him  of  his  Father,  his  children,  his  redeemed  ones. 
This  the  manner  of  the  expression  informs  us  in,  "Behold  I  and 
the  children;"  though  he  considers  himself  and  them  at  tiiat  time 
as  "  signs  and  wonders  to  be  spoken  against."  He  rejoiceth  in 
his  portion,  and  doth  not  call  it  Cabul,  as  Hiram  did  the  cities 
given  him  of  Solomon,  because  they  displeased  him.  He  is  not 
only  satisfied  upon  the  sight  of  "the  travail  of  his  soul,"  Isa.  liii.  1 1, 
but  glorieth  also  that  "the  lines  are  fallen  unto  him  in  pleasantnesses, 
that  he  hath  a  goodly  heritage,"  Ps.  xvi.  6.  Such  was  his  love, 
such  was  his  grace;  for  we  in  ourselves  are  "a  people  not  to  be 
desired." 

4.  That  the  Lord  Jesus  assumes  the  children  given  him  of  his 
Father  into  the  same  condition  with  himself,  both  as  to  time  and 
eternity:  "I  and  the  children."  As  he  is,  so  are  they; — his  lot  is 
their  lot,  his  God  is  their  God,  his  Father  their  Father,  and  his 
glory  shall  be  theirs. 

5.  From  the  context  of  the  words  in  the  prophet,  expressing  the 
VOL.  xii.— 28 


432  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

separation  of  Christ  and  the  children  from  the  world  and  all  the 
hypocrites  therein,  combined  together  in  the  pursuit  of  their  sinful 
courses,  we  are  taught  that  Christ  and  believers  are  in  the  same 
covenant,  confederate  to  trust  in  God  in  difficulties  and  troubles,  in 
opposition  unto  all  the  confederacies  of  the  men  of  the  world  for 
their  carnal  security 

And  thus  by  this  triple  testimony  hath  the  apostle  both  confirmed 
his  foregoing  assertion,  and  further  manifested  the  relation  that  is 
between  the  children  to  be  brought  unto  glory  and  the  captain  of 
tlieir  salvation,  whereby  it  became  righteous  that  he  should  suffer 
fur  them,  and  meet  that  they  should  enjoy  the  benefit  of  his  sutier- 
ings;  which  he  more  fully  expresseth  in  the  following  verses. 

Verses  14  15. 

The  union  of  Christ  and  the  children,  in  their  relation  unto  one 
common  root  and  participation  of  the  same  nature,  being  asserted, 
the  apostle  proceeds  to  declare  the  ends,  use,  and  necessity  of  that 
union,  in  respect  of  the  work  which  God  had  designed  him  unto, 
and  the  ends  which  he  had  to  accomplish  thereby.  Of  these,  two  he 
layeth  down  in  these  two  verses,  namely,  the  destruction  of  the  devil, 
and  the  delivery  thereby  of  them  tJiat  were  in  bondage  by  reason  of 
death;  neither  of  which  could  have  been  wrought  or  effected  ])ut 
by  the  death  of  the  captain  of  salvation;  which  he  could  not  have 
undergone,  nor  would  what  he  could  otherwise  have  done  been 
profitable  unto  them,  had  he  not  been  of  the  same  nature  with  the 
children;  as  will  appear  in  the  opening  of  the  words  themselves. 

Ver.  14,  15. — 'Ets/  oZv  ra  vaihia  xexcivuvrjTii  ffapxh;  zai  a'i,auTog,  xai 
avTog  'TrapocTrX'/jaiug  /xs-ss^e  tuv  avruiv,  ha  dia  ro^  Savaroy  xarapyrjffr}  rhv 
TO  xpclrog  'iyj^iTO.  Toxt  %a\iaTO\),  tovtsst/,  rbv  diuCoXov.  xai  d'TraXXd^i^  rovrovg, 
oaoi  <p6Zu}  '^avdroo  did  'xavrog  roD  ^riv  ivoyoi  ^aav  boxjXiiag. 

'Ersi  ovv.  V.  L.,  "quia  ergo;"  Bez.,  "quoniam  ergo;" — "because  there- 
fore." Syr.,  *^"'f '"'-^,  "for  seeing,"  or,  "for  because;"  Eras.,  "  po'^teiiquam 
igitur;"  ours,  "forasmuch  then."  'Etts/  is  sometimes  used  for  £(p'  ov,  "post- 
quam,"  "ex  quo  tempore,"  "from  whence;"  so  as  to  express  no  causality  as  to 
that  which  follows,  but  only  the  precedency  of  that  which  it  relates  unto.  But 
it  is  not  in  that  sense  used  with  ovv,  which  here  is  subjoined,  but  fin  the  sense  of] 
"quoniam."  "quandoquidem;"  the  particle  ovv,  "therefore,"  plainly  cxpre.-sing  a 
caus-.lity.     They  are  well  rendered  by  ours,  "forasmuch  then,"  or  "therefore." 

la,  ivoLihict  KiKoiuav/iKi  cotpfcog  kxI  cc'ifiocTo;.  V.  L..  "Pueri  communicaverunt 
carni  et  sanguini;" — "  The  children  communicated  in  flesh  and  blood."  Syr., 
^y^,  "The  sons  wore  partakers,"  or  "do  partake."  Eras.,  "Commercium  habent 
cum  carneet  sanguine;" — "Have  communion"  (or  "  commerce")  "  with  flesh  and 
blood."  Bfz.,  "Pueri  participes  sunt  carnis  et  sanguinis;" — "  The  children  are  p  cr- 
takers  of  flesh  and  blood;"  as  ours.  The  Vulgar  expresseth  the  time  past,  uhit-h 
the  original  requireih.  Ethiopia,  "He  made  his  children  partakers  of  his  flesh 
and  blood;"  wuh  rejpect,  as  it  should  seem,  to  the  sacrament  of  the  eucharis>t. 


VEE.  14,  15.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  431 

K«(  ctvrog  'TTupa.Tr'KvKjiux;  f^irkax-  twj'  ocvrZv.  V".  L.,  "Et  ipse  similiter"  ("con- 
similiter,"  A.  M.,)  "participiivit  eis  lem  "  Bez.,  "Ipse  quoque  consimiliri-r 
puticeps  factus  est  eorundem;"  as  ours,  '"He  also  himself  took  part  of  the  same  " 
And  the  Syr.,  r?.~r  V"t  =^~V~f?  *''7'^"=7  ^'r  '7  "?«;  "He  himself  also,  in  the  same 
lkeness"(or  "manner"),  "was  partaker"  (or  "partook")  "in  the  same,"  (or 
'•self  same  things.")  Arab.,  "He  aUo,  like  unto  them,  partook  in  the  piojierties 
of  the  same;"  that  is,  truly  partook  of  flesh  ami  blood  in  all  their  natural  or 
essential  properties.     Ethiop.,  "And  he  also  was  maile  as  a  brother  unto  them." 

" l'j»  otcc  ^xuocrov.  Syr.,  "C'^Ij  "ut  per  mortem  suam,"  "that  by  his  own 
death;"  properly  as  to  the  sense.  KstTosjoyjjaij,  V.  L.,  "ilestrueret;"  all  other 
Latin  translations,  "alioleret" — "that  he  mi^ht  destroy;"  .so  ours  But  to  (iestroy 
resjiects  the  person;  "abolere,"  in  the  first  place,  the  power.  ToV  to  Kpurog 
iycovrct,  rov  ^xvoctov.  "Euni  qui  tenebat  mortis  imperium,"  Syr.,  Eras.,  Vul.; — 
"Him  that  held"  (or  "had")  "the  rule  of  death."  Bez.,  "Eum  penes  quem  est 
mortis  robur;" — "Him  that  had  the  power  of  death."  Ethiop.,  "The  prince  nf 
death."  Tovriart  r6>  Oix^oT^ov.  Syr.,  >^='-;3  '''"^''^'^ ,  "which  is  Satan."  Kxl 
d'TTx'Khdi.^'/l  (some  copies  read  d-jrox-ccrxKhoc^'/j)  roi/rovs  ocoi.  V.,  "et  liberaret  i  o>:" 
Btz.,  "et  liberos  redderet  eos;  " — "and  free  them,"  "and  make  them  free."  Syr  , 
"and  loose  them." 

A/«  -TTxurdgrov  l^fiv.  "Per  omne  viveresuum," — "whilst they  lived,"  "  all  their 
lives." 

"Evoxoi  '/jaxv  lov'hiixg.  "Obnoxii  erant  servituti,"  Bez. ;  "Mancipati  erant  ser- 
vituti;"  properly,  "  Damnates  erant  servitutis;" — "obnoxious,"  "subject  unto 
b  n  lage." 

"Forasmuch  then  as  the  children  are  partakers  of  flesh  and  blood."  This 
expression  s  not  elsewhere  used  in  the  Scripture.  Kotvuviu  is  to  have  any  thing 
whatever  in  common  with  another;  ix,x.otvuvnrog\i  he  who  hath  nothing  in  fellmv- 
ship  or  common  with  others.  And  this  word  is  used  in  reference  unto  all  sorts 
of  things,  good  and  bad;  as  nature,  life,  actions,  qualities,  works.  Here  it  inti- 
mateth  the  common  and  equal  share  of  the  children  in  the  things  spoken  of. 
•They  are  equally  common  to  all.  These  are  axpi,  kxI  xlf^x, — "flesh  and  blood;" 
that  is,  human  nature,  liable  to  death,  misery,  destruction.  Some  would  hav, 
not  the  nature  of  man,  but  the  frail  and  weak  condition  of  mankind  to  be  intended 
in  this  expression.  So  Enjedinus,  and  after  him  Grotius,  who  refers  us  to  chap. 
V.  7, 1  Tim.  iii.  16,  2  Cor.  iv.  11,  for  the  connrmation  of  this  sense.  But  in  none 
of  those  places  is  there  mention  of  "  flesli  and  blood,"  as  here,  but  only  of  '•  flesh;" 
which  word  is  variously  used  both  in  the  Old  Testament  and  New.  Yet  in  ail  i  he 
places  referred  unto,  it  is  taken,  not  for  the  quality  of  human  life  as  it  is  infirm 
and  weak,  but  for  human  nature  itself,  which  is  so.  As  concerning  tliat  of  1  T,m. 
iii.  16,  It  hath  at  large  been  declared.  And  the  design  of  this  place  rejects  this 
gloas,  which  was  invented  only  to  defeat  the  testimony  given  in  these  words  unto 
the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God:  for  the  apostle  adds  a  reason  in  these  ver.-es 
why  the  Lord  Christ  was  so  to  be  of  one  with  the  children  as  to  take  upon  him- 
self their  nature;  which  is,  because  that  was  subject  unto  death,  which  for  them 
he  was  to  undergo.  And  -'flesh  and  blood"  are  here  only  mentiiMxd,  though  ihey 
complete  not  human  nature  without  a  rational  soul,  because  in  and  by  them  it  n 
that  our  nature  is  subject  unto  deith.  We  may  only  further  observe,  that  the 
apostle  having  especial  regard  unto  the  saints  under  the  ol  I  testament,  expressefi 
their  participation  of  flesh  and  blood  in  the  preterperfect  tense,  or  time  past:  which 
by  proportion  is  to  be  extended  to  all  tliat  believe  in  Christ;  unless  we  shall  say 
that  he  hath  respect  unto  the  common  interest  of  all  mankind  in  the  same  nature, 
in  the  root  of  it;  whence  God  is  said  of  "one  blood"  to  have  made  th  in  all. 

n«/)«7rA>i(7/w?,  we  >ee,  is  rendered  by  interpreters  "similiter,"  '•  consiinibter," 
"eo.leni  mo  o,"  "ad  eandem  similitudinem;"  that  is,  ojxotai,  or  rov  xinov  rpoT^ov, 


4*34  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  XL 

"  likewise,"  or,  "  after  the  same  manner."     And   TrupcnrT^'/iaio;  is  as  much  as 

y,ccTx  'TriuToi  o,u.oiou  verse  17, — "  every  way  like."  Here  it  is  restrained  by  run 
eivTuv,  '-the  same;"  that  is,  flesh  and  blood,  human  nature.  As  to  the  human 
nature,  h^  was  every  way  as  the  children. 

Mmo-pcf,  "  partem  habuit,"  "  particeps  erat," — "  he  took  part."  And  in  the  use 
of  this  word  the  dative  case  of  the  person  is  still  understood,  and  sometime.s 
expressed.  So  Plato, "Iwa  S15  i^iriy,ot  rZv  -x-pety/^xruv  avrolg, — "That  he  might 
share  "  (or  "  partake")  "  in  the  same  acts  with  them."  And  it  is  here  also  under- 
stood, '  That  he  might  partake  with  them  of  flesh  and  blood.'  And  the  apostle 
purposely  changeth  the  word  from  that  which  he  had  before  used  concerning 
the  children,  Ksy.otuuvny.s  roc.  'TTu.i'hioC; — they  had  human  nature  in  common;  they 
were  men,  and  that  was  all,  having  no  existence  but  in  and  by  that  nature.  Con- 
cerning him,  he  had  before  proved  that  he  had  a  divine  nature,  on  the  account 
■whereof  he  was  more  excellent  than  the  angels;  and  here  he  says  of  him,  ,uiri(r)(,s, 
— existing  in  his  divine  nature,  he  moreover  took  part  of  human  nature  with  them  ; 
which  makes  a  diff'erence  beiween  their  persons,  though  as  to  human  nature  they 
were  every  way  alike.  And  this  removes  the  exception  of  Schlichtingius,  or  Crel- 
lius,  that  he  is  no  more  said  to  be  incarnate  than  the  children. 

"That  by  death  >cetrix,py/i(!Yj"  This  word  is  peculiar  to  Paul;  he  useth  it 
almost  in  all  his  epistles,  and  that  frequently.  Elsewhere  it  occurs  but  once  in 
the  New  Testament  (Luke  xiii.  7),  and  that  in  a  sense  whereunto  by  him  it  is  not 
applied.  That  which  he  usually  intends  in  this  word,  is  to  make  a  thing  or  person 
to  cease  as  to  its  present  condition,  and  not  to  be  what  it  was.  So  Rom.  iii.  3,  Ms; 
i)  at.77Kjriai.  ccvruv  r'/iv  Tri'aTiv  rev  Qiou  Kara-pyvtaii', — "  Shall  their  unbelief  make  the 
faith  of  God  of  none  effect  ?"  cause  it  to  cense,  render  the  promise  useless.  And 
verse  31,  No,£«oj/  ovv  x.ot.rot,pyov^iv  "htoi  rvig  viaricai ; — "  Do  we  make  the  law  void  by 
faith?"  take  away  its  use  and  end.  Chap.  iv.  14,  Kot.rispynrot.i  ij  Wuyyi'Kioi,, — 
"The  promise  is  made  ineffectual."  Chap.  vii.  2,  'Eaj/  Ss  dira^acvn  0'  d.v'i]p,  Ktx.rT,p- 
ynra.t  axo  rov  vo^ov, — "  If  her  husband  is  dead,  she  is  freed  from  the  law,"  the 
law  of  the  husband  hath  no  more  power  over  her.  So  verse  6;  1  Cor.  xiii.  S, 
10,  11,  XV.  24,  26;  2  Cor.  iii.  II,  13;  Gal.  iii.  17,  v.  4,  11;  Eph.  ii.  15.  The 
intention  of  the  apostle  in  this  word  is  the  making  of  any  thing  to  cease,  or  to  be 
void  as  to  its  former  power  and  efficaty;  not  to  remove,  annihilate,  or  destroy 
the  essence  or  being  of  it.  And  the  expression  here  used  is  to  the  same  purpose 
with  that  in  Ps.  viii.  3,  ^7^^^  ^t^  '"^'"rr"?, — "  to  quiet"  or  "make  to  cease  the 
enemy  and  self-avenger." 

ToV  TO  Kptiro;  'ixouru  rov  ^etvirov.  Kpxrog  is  properly  "vis,"  "  robur,"  "po- 
tentia,"  "  force,"  "  strength,"  "  power,"  like  that  of  arms,  or  armies  in  battle. 
And  sometimes  it  is  used  for  rule,  e  iipire,  and  authority.  'Ev  x.pu,rit  iiuxt,  is  to 
be  in  place  of  power;  and  y.pxro;  epc-'"}  's  to  be  able  to  dispose  of  what  it  relates 
unto.  And  in  both  senses  we  shall  see  that  the  devil  is  said  to  have  Kpocrog  rov 
dduxrov,  "  the  power  of  death." 

Now,  there  is  not  any  notion  under  which  the  devil  is  more  known  unto  or 
spoken  of  among  the  Jews,  than  this  of  his  having  the  power  of  death.  His 
common  appellation  among  them  is,  n-,?:n  -s'-sw, — "the  angel  of  death;"  and  they 
call  him  Samael  also.  So  the  Targum  of  Jonathan,  -{slstt  ^sao  ri  srns  mm 
^  snw-r,  Gen.  iii.  6, — "And  the  woman  saw  Samael,  the  angel  of  death."  And 
Maimon.  More  Nebuch.  lib.  ii.,  cap.  xxx.,  tells  us  from  the  Midrash  that  Samael 
rode  upon  the  serpent  when  he  deceived  Eve;  that  is,  used  him  as  his  instiument 
in  that  work.  And  most  of  them  acknowledge  Satan  to  be  principally  intended 
in  the  temptation  of  Eve,  though  Aben  Ezra  deidesit  in  his  comment  on  the  words, 
and  disputes  against  it.  And  he  adds,  that  by  Samael,  the  angel  of  death,  they 
understand  Satan:  which  he  proves  from  the  words  of  their  wise  men,  who  say  in 
some  places  that  Satan  would  have  hindered  Abraham  from  sacrificing  of  Isaac, 


VER.  14,  15.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  435 

and  in  others  that  Samael  would  have  done  it;  which  proves  that  it  is  one  and  the 
saniH  who  by  both  names  is  intended.  And  hence  they  u-ually  call  him  i"W-n  ha'co 
c^ir-  ■js  rs"*, — "  the  wicked  Samad,  the  prince  of  all  the  devils;"  and  say  of  him, 
n-sViy  "-35  t;m!3  D"'^5  'JS'io, — "  Samael  brought  death  itpon  all  the  world."  So  that 
by  this  Samael,  or  angel  of  death,  it  is  evident  that  they  intend  him  wiio  is 
termed  o  5/«€o7iOf,  as  the  prince  and  ruler  of  the  rest.  So  also  they  speak  ex- 
pressly in  Bava  Bathra,  Distinc.  Hashatephir:  nwn -jsV^i  s"- yjs  s:r;  ■(■.r2ia  "^s 
y^n  IS''  snn; — "Rabbi  Simeon  said,  the  same  is  Satan,  and  the  angel  of  death, 
and  the  evil  figment;"  that  is,  the  cause  and  author  of  it.  And  they  call  him 
the  angel  of  death  on  many  accounts,  the  consideration  whereof  may  give  us  some 
light  into  the  reason  of  the  expression  here  used  by  the  apostle.  The  fir.st  is 
that  beiore  mentioned,  namely,  that  by  his  means  death  entered  and  came  upon 
all  the  world.  His  temptation  was  the  first  occasion  of  death;  and  for  that 
reason  is  he  termed  by  our  Saviour, '  AudpcovroKTovo;  oLtt  dpx'^?,  John  viii.  44,  "  A 
murderer  from  the  beginning."  And  herein  he  had  the  power  of  death,  prevail- 
ing to  render  all  manknul  obnoxious  to  the  sentence  and  stroke  of  it.  Secondly, 
Because  he  is  employed  in  great  and  sigiial  judgments  to  inflict  death  on  men. 
He  i.s  the  head  of  those  ^^^1  ^^?."^,  "evil  angels,"  who  slew  the  Egyptians,  Ps. 
Ixxviii.  49.  So  in  Ps.  xci.  f,  these  words,  "Thou  shalt  not  fear  D's'v  ri1:>;  "~:?," 
"  irom  the  arrow  that  fheth  by  day,"  are  rendered  by  the  Targum,  -s's':!  s*';  "p 
N'2^-'3  ^Ti'i  snw,  "from  the  arrow  of  the  angel  of  death,  which  he  shooteth  by 
day."  And  in  the  next  verse  these  words,  ^11^'j  ~'^'^\^'-?^^. ,  "from  the  destruc- 
tion that  wasteth  at  noonday,"  they  render,  sin-'-ja  i-^Vana-;  i^i^'r  ry^o>3,  "  from  the 
troop  of  devils  that  waste  at  noonday ;"  the  psalmist  treating  of  great  and  sud- 
den destructions,  which  they  affirm  to  be  all  wrought  by  Satan.  And  hence 
the  Hellenists  also  render  the  latter  place  by  ZaifiouiO!/  /usan/ictpivov,  "  the  devil  at 
noonday;"  wherein  they  are  followed  by  the  Vulgar  Latin,  Arabic,  and  Ethiopia 
translations.  And  this  the  apostle  seems  to  allude  unto,  1  Cor.  x.  10,  where  he 
says  that  those  who  murmured  in  the  wilderness  were  destroyed  a^ro  rov  oKo- 
^pivrov,  "by  the  destroyer  ;"  6  ctyythoq  c'hodpivr'/i;,  that  P"i':n  "s'sw,  "  the  desti'oy- 
ing  angel,"  or  "the  angel  of  death;"  as  in  this  epistle  he  terms  him  6  o'Kohiiiuv, 
chap.  xi.  28.  And  it  may  be  this  is  he  who  is  called  ^^^  "'"'^r,  Job  xviii.  13, — 
"  the  first-born  of  death,"  or  he  that  hath  right  unto  the  administration  of  it. 
They  term  him  also  itTOrs, — that  is,  oho6oivrvi;, "  the  waster"  or  "  destroyer;"  and 
1-",  from  T,'i',  "to  waste"  or  "destroy;"  as  also  "p-as, — which,  as  John  tells  us,  is  the 
Hebrew  name  of  the  angel  of  the  bottomless  pit.  Rev.  ix.  11,  as  his  Greek  name 
is  '  A'TTo'hXvav,  that  is,  r:tTi  -jsVi,  and  c'hodpivrrig.  Thirdly,  The  later  Jews  sup- 
pose that  this  angel  of  death  takes  away  the  life  of  every  man,  even  of  those  who 
die  a  natural  death.  And  hereby,  as  they  express  the  old  faith  of  the  church, 
that  death  is  penal,  and  that  it  came  upon  all  for  sin  through  the  temptation  of 
Satan,  so  also  they  discovt  r  the  bondage  that  they  themselves  are  in  for  fear  of 
death  all  their  days;  for  when  a  man  is  ready  to  die,  they  say  the  angel  of  death 
appears  to  him  in  a  terrible  manner,  with  a  drawn  sword  in  his  hand,  from  thence 
drops  I  know  not  what  poison  into  him,  whereon  he  dies.  Hence  they  wofully 
howl,  lament,  and  rend  their  garments,  upon  the  death  of  their  friends;  and  they 
have  composed  a  prayer  for  themselves  against  this  terror.  Because  also  of  this 
their  being  slain  by  the  angel  of  death,  they  hope  and  pray  that  their  death  may 
be  an  expiation  for  all  their  sins.  Here  lies  "  the  sting"  of  death,  mentioned  by 
the  apostle,  1  Cor.  xv.  55.  Hence  they  have  a  long  story  in  their  Midrash,  or 
mystical  exposition  of  the  Pentateuch,  on  the  last  section  of  Deuteronomy  about 
Samael's  coming  to  take  away  the  life  of  Moses,  whom  he  repelled  and  drove 
away  with  the  rod  that  had  the  Shem  Hamphorash  wi-itten  in  it.  And  the  like 
story  they  have  in  a  book  about  the  acts  of  Moses,  which  Aben  Ezra  rejects  on 
Exod,  iv.  20.     This  hand  of  Satan  in  death,  manifesting  it  to  be  penal,  is  that 


4SG  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

which  keeps  them  in  bonckge  and  fear  all  their  days.  Fourthly,  They  suppose 
that  this  angel  of  death  hath  power  over  men  even  after  death.  One  liornble 
penalty  they  fancy  in  particular  that  he  inflicts  on  them,  which  i-.  set  down  l)y 
Elias  in  his  Tishbi  in  -^zpTj  uun,  out  of  the  Midrash  of  Rabbi  Isaac,  the  son  of 
Painser ;  for  when  a  man,  as  they  say,  departs  out  of  this  world,  n-.ttn  -n'v:  X3 
•("■ap  h-j  3'2:^-,  "  the  angel  of  death  comes  and  sits  upon  his  grave."  And  he 
brings  with  him  a  chiin,  partly  of  iron,  partly  of  fire,  an<l  making  the  soul  to 
return  into  the  body,  he  breaks  the  bones,  and  torments  variously  both  body  and 
soul  for  a  season.  This  is  their  purgatory;  and  the  best  of  their  hopes  is,  that 
their  punishment  after  this  life  shall  not  be  eternal.  And  this  various  interest  of 
Satan  in  tiie  power  of  death  both  keeps  thera  in  dismal  bondage  all  their  days, 
and  puts  them  upon  the  invention  of  several  ways  for  their  deliverance.  Thus 
one  of  their  solemn  prayers  on  the  day  of  expiation,  is  to  be  delivered  from  u-an 
'"'^i-pn,  or  this  punishment  of  the  devil  in  their  graves;  to  which  puri)Ose  also  they 
offer  a  cock  unto  him  for  his  pacification.  And  their  prayer  to  this  purpose  in 
their  Bei-achoth  is  this,  nv3»-3  "^ra  '■?3"2  nvsn  m'^iai  wj-^  nn^Ti'o  nj'^-'ym  "yjn  tt' 
•inp  Va  u-arTsi  asm  hv  nnm; — '•  That  it  may  please  thee  (good  Lord)  to  deliver 
us  from  the  evil  decrees"  (or  "  law.s,')  "from  poverty,  from  contempt,  from  all  kind 
of  punishments,  from  the  judgments  of  hell,  and  from  beating  in  the  grave  by  the 
angel  of  death."  And  this  supposition  is  in  like  manner  admitted  by  the  Mo- 
hammedans, who  have  also  this  prayer,  "Deus  noster  lil^iera  nos  ab  angelo  inter- 
rogante  tormento  sepulchri,  et  a  via  mala."  And  many  such  lewd  imaginations 
are  they  now  given  up  unto,  proceeding  from  their  ignorance  of  the  I'ighteuusness 
of  God.  But  yet  from  these  apprehensions  of  theirs  we  may  see  what  the  apostle 
intended  in  this  expres.sion,  calling  the  devil  "  him  that  had  the  power  of  death." 

K«(  acx«>iXa|);  Tot/Tov?  offo;,  "  Et  liberaret  ipsos,"  "  hos,"  '•  quotquot,"  "  qui- 
cunque," — "and  free  those  who."  ' h.'Trxha.Tcu  is  "  to  dismiss,"  "discharge,"  "fre  ■ ;" 
and  in  the  use  of  the  word  unto  the  accusative  case  of  the  person,  the  genitive  of 
the  thing  is  added  or  understood:  'Ax«>iaTT<y  at  rovrov, — "I  free  thee  from  this." 
TetvTutf  ix.7cotXKa,Z,iiv  <ji  rij;  6(f^x\jniui,  Aristoph. — "  To  deliver  thee  from  this  eye- 
sore." And  sometimes  the  genitive  case  of  the  thing  is  expressed  where  the 
accusative  of  the  person  is  omitted: ' A'TrxXhoomtv  (p6oov, — that  is,  tivu,,  "  to  free 
or  deliver  one  from  fear ;"  as  here  the  accusative  case  of  the  person  is  expressed 
and  the  genitive  of  the  thing  omitted:  'A7r«XX«|ij  rwrovg, — that  is,  (po'Soy  or 
^uvccrov,  '•  to  deliver  them,"  that  is,  from  death  or  from  fear  because  of  death. 

'"Euoxoi  ojo-«i/  ^ov'hiiccg.  "Evo)(,o?  is  "  obnoxious,"  "  obstrictus,"  "  reus,"  "  dam- 
nas."  He  that  is  legally  obnoxious,  subject,  liable  to  anything;  that  is,  law, 
.crime,  judge,  judgment,  punishment,  in  all  which  respects  the  word  is  used.  He 
that  is  under  the  power  of  any  law  is  ivo^co;  tu  vofiu,  "  subject  unto  its  authority 
and  penalty."  See  Matt.  v.  21,  22,  xxvi.  66;  Mark  iii.  29;  1  Cur.  xi.  27; 
James  ii.  10.  Now  the  SovXs/ot,  "  servitude,"  or  "  bondage,"  here  mentioned,  is 
penal,  and  therefore  are  men  said  to  be  hoxoi,  "obnoxious"  unto  it.' 

Ver.  14,  15. — Forasmuch  then  as  [or,  seeing  therefore 
that]  the  children  are  [u^ere  in  commoji]  partakers  of 
flesh  and  blood,  he  also  himself  likewise  [after  the  same 
manner']   took   part   [did  partake]  of  the   same ;   that 

'  Readings. — Tischendorf,  on  the  strength  of  a  considerable  preponderance  of 
MS.  authorities,  reads  «7^«toj  xai  au.px.6g. 

Exposition. — He,  in  order  to  make  us  partakers  in  his  sonship  to  God,  has 
tirst  taken  part  in  our  sonship  to  Aciam. 

TRANSLATIONS. —  KciTupy.  Render  powerless. — Craik.  Subdue  him. — Stuart 
Undo  him. — De  Welle. — Ed. 


VER.  14,  15.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  437 

tliroufrli  [^y]  death  he  might  destroy  \j7iake  void  the 
autlwrity  q/]  hiin  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that 
is,  tlie  devil;  and  dehver  \_free,  discharge^  them  who 
through  fear  of  death  were  all  their  lifetime  subject  to 
bondage. 

o 

In  the  former  verses,  as  was  showed,  the  apostle  declared  the 
necessity  that  there  was  on  the  part  of  God,  intending  to  bring 
many  sons  unto  glory,  to  constitute  such  a  union  between  them 
and  the  captain  of  tlieir  salvation  as  that  it  might  be  just  for  him 
to  suffer  in  their  stead.  In  these  he  proceeds  to  manifest  in  par- 
ticular what  that  nature  is  in  the  common  participation  whereof 
the  union  designed  did  consist,  wherein  they  were  all  of  one,  and 
what  were  the  especial  reasons  why  the  Lord  Christ  was  made  par- 
taker of  that  nature.  This  coherence  of  these  verses  Chrysostoin 
briefly  gives  us:  E/ra  bii^ccg  rr^v  ddsX(p6rriTa,  xai  r^v  aJriav  ri&r^Gi  tyu 
oixovofMi'ag, — "  Having  showed  the  brotherhood"  (that  was  between 
Christ  and  the  children)  "  he  lays  down  the  causes  of  that  dispen- 
sation;" and  what  they  are  we  shall  find  here  expressed. 

There  are  sundry  things  which  the  apostle  supposeth  in  these 
words  as  known  unto  and  granted  by  the  Hebrews;  as,  first,  that 
the  devil  had  the  power  of  death;  secondly,  that  on  this  account 
men  were  filled  with  fear  of  it,  and  led  a  life  full  of  anxiety  and 
trouble  by  reason  of  that  fear;  thirdly,  that  a  deliverance  from  this 
cundition  was  to  be  effected  by  the  Messiah ;  fourthly,  that  the  way 
wliere!)y  he  was  to  do  this  was  by  his  suffering.  All  which,  as  they 
are  contained  in  the  first  promise,  so  that  they  were  allowed  of  by 
the  Hebrews  of  old  we  have  fully  proved  elsewhere.  And  by  all 
these  doth  the  apostle  yield  a  reason  of  his  former  concession,  that 
the  Messiah  was  for  a  little  while  made  lower  than  the  angels,  the 
causes  and  ends  whereof  he  here  declares.  There  are  in  the 
words, — 

First,  A  supposition  of  a  twofold  state  and  condition  of  the  chil- 
dren to  be  brought  unto  glory: — 1.  Natural,  or  their  natural  state 
and  condition;  they  were  all  of  them  in  common  partakers  of  flesh 
and  blood:  "Forasmuch  then  as  the  children  were  partakers  of 
flesh  and  blood."  2.  Moral,  their  moral  state  and  condition ;  they 
were  obnoxious  unto  death,  as  it  is  penal  for  sin,  and  in  great  bon- 
dage through  fear  of  it:  "  Them  who  through  fear  of  death  were  all 
their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage." 

Secondl}'^,  There  is  a  double  affirmation  with  respect  unto  this  suj)- 
position,  on  the  part  of  Christ,  the  captain  of  salvation  : — 1.  As 
to  their  natural  condition,  that  he  did  pay-take  of  it,  he  was  so  to 
do:  "He  also  himself  did  partake  of  the  same."  2.  As  to  their 
moral  condition,  he  freed  them  from  it:  "  And  deliver  them." 


438  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

Thirrlly,  The  means  whereby  he  did  this,  or  this  was  to  be  done, 
evidencing  the  necessity  of  his  participation  with  them  in  their 
condition  of  nature,  that  he  might  relieve  them  from  their  condition 
of  trouble ;  he  did  it  by  death :  "  That  by  death." 

Fourthly,  The  immediate  effect  of  his  death,  tending  unto  their 
delivery  and  freedom,  and  that  is  the  destruction  of  the  devil,  as  to 
his  power  over  and  interest  in  death  as  penal,  whereof  their  deliver- 
ance is  an  infallible  consequent:  "  That  he  might  destroy  him,"  etc. 

In  the  first  place  the  apostle  expresseth,  as  by  way  of  supposition, 
].  The  natural  condition  of  the  children, — that  is,  the  children  whom 
God  designed  to  bring  unto  glory,  those  who  were  given  unto 
Christ ;  they  were  in  common  "  partakers  of  flesh  and  blood."  I  shall 
not  stay  to  remove  the  conceit  of  some,  who  yet  are  not  a  few  among 
the  Romanists,  who  refer  these  words  unto  the  participation  of  the 
flesh  and  blood  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament;  whereunto  also,  as  we 
have  observed,  the  Ethiopic  version  gives  countenance:  for  not  only 
is  there  not  any  thing  in  the  expression  that  inclines  unto  such  an 
imagination,  but  also  it  enervates  the  whole  design  of  the  apostle's 
discourse  and  argument,  as  from  the  former  consideration  of  it  doth 
appear.  "  Flesh  and  blood"  are,  by  a  usual  synecdoche,  put  for  the 
whole  human  nature;  not  as  though  by  "blood"  the  soul  were  in- 
tended, because  the  life  is  said  to  be  in  it,  as  not  acting  without  it; 
but  this  expression  is  used,  because  it  is  not  human  nature  as  ab- 
solutely considered,  but  as  mortal,  passible,  subject  unto  infirmities 
and  death  itself,  that  is  intended.  And  it  is  no  more  than  if  he  had 
said,  '  The  children  were  men  subject  unto  death;'  for  he  gives  his 
reason  herein  why  the  Lord  Christ  was  made  a  man  subject  unto 
death.  That  he  and  the  children  should  be  of  one  nature  he  had 
showed  before.  Forasmuch,  then,  as  this  was  the  condition  of 
the  children,  that  they  were  all  partakers  of  human  nature,  liable 
to  sufferings,  sorrow,  and  death,  he  was  so  also.  And  this  is  thus 
expressed  to  set  forth  the  love  and  condescension  of  Jesus  Christ, 
as  will  afterward  appear. 

2.  The  second  thing  in  these  words  is  the  moral  condition  of  the 
children.  And  there  are  sundry  things,  partly  intimated,  partly 
expressed,  in  the  description  that  is  here  given  us  of  it;  as, — (1.) 
Their  estate  absolutely  considered, — they  were  subject  to  death: 
(2.)  The  consequences  of  that  estate, — [1.]  It  wrought/ear  in  them; 
[2.]  That  fear  brought  them  into  bondage:  (3.)  The  continuance 
of  that  condition, — it  was  for  the  whole  course  of  their  lives. 

(1.)  It  is  implied  that  they  were  subject,  obnoxious  unto,  guilty 
of  death,  and  that  as  it  was  penal,  due  to  sin,  as  contained  in  the 
curse  of  the  law;  which  what  it  comprehendeth  and  how  far  it  is 
extended  is  usually  declared.  On  this  supposition  lies  the  whole 
wui-ht  of  the   mediation  of  Christ.     The  children  to  be  brought 


VER,  14,  15.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  4o9 

unto  glory  were  obnoxious  unto  death,  and  the  curse  and  wrath  of 
God  therein,  which  he  came  to  deliver  them  from. 

(2.)  [1.]  The  first  effect  and  consequent  of  this  obnoxiousnrss 
unto  death  concurring  unto  their  state  and  condition  is,  that  they 
were  filled  luithfear  of  it:  "  For  fear  of  death."  Fear  is  a  pertur- 
bation of  mind,  arising  from  the  apprehension  of  a  future  imminent 
evil;  and  the  greater  this  evil  is,  the  greater  will  the  perturbation 
of  the  mind  be,  provided  the  apprehension  of  it  be  answerable.  The 
fear  of  death,  then,  here  intended,  is  that  trouble  of  mind  which  men 
have  in  the  expectation  of  death  to  be  inflicted  on  them,  as  a  pun- 
ishment due  unto  their  sins.  And  this  apprehension  is  common  to 
all  men,  arising  from  a  general  presumption  that  death  is  penal,  and 
that  it  is  the  "judgment  of  God  that  they  which  commit  sin  are 
worth}''  of  death,"  as  Rom.  i.  32,  ii.  15.  But  it  is  cleared  and  con- 
firmed by  the  law,  whose  known  sentence  is,  "  The  soul  that  sinneth 
it  shall  die."  And  this  troublesome  expectation  of  the  event  ol 
this  apprehension  is  the  fear  of  death  here  intended.  And  accord- 
ing unto  the  means  that  men  have  to  come  unto  the  knowledge  of 
the  righteousness  of  God  are,  or  ought  to  be,  their  apprehensions  of 
the  evil  that  is  in  death.  But  even  those  who  had  lost  all  clear 
knowledge  of  the  consequences  of  death  natural,  or  the  dissolution 
of  their  present  mortal  condition,  yet,  on  a  confused  apprehension  of 
its  being  penal,  always  esteemed  it  foZspm  (po^spuirarov, — the  moat 
dreadful  of  all  things  that  are  so  unto  human  nature.  And  in  some 
this  is  heightened  and  increased,  until  it  come  to  be  poCspd  Ix^oy^^ 
xpldfMg,  xai  'jrvph;  ^^Xog,  hdlsiv  fiiXXovro;  roig  b-Trivavriovg,  as  our  apostle 
speaks,  chap.  x.  27, — "  a  fearful  expectation  of  judgment  and  fiery 
indignation,  which  shall  devour  the  adversaries."  And  this  is  the 
first  thing  that  is  in  this  description  of  the  estate  and  condition 
of  the  children  to  be  brought  unto  glory.  Being  obnoxious  unto  the 
sentence  of  death,  they  could  not  but  live  in  fear  of  the  execution 
of  it.  [2.]  They  are  by  this  means  brought  into  bondage.  The 
troublesome  expectation  of  death  as  penal  brings  them  into  bondage, 
into  the  nature  whereof  we  must  a  little  inquire.  Sundry  things 
concur  to  make  any  state  a  state  of  bondage;  as,  Ist.  That  it  be  in- 
voluntary. No  man  is  in  bondage  by  his  will ;  that  which  a  man 
chooseth  is  not  bondage  unto  him.  A  man  that  would  have  his  ear 
bored,  though  he  were  always  a  servant,  was  never  in  bondage;  for 
he  enjoyed  the  condition  that  pleased  him.  Properly  all  bondage  is 
involuntary.  '2.dly.  Bondage  ingenerates  strong  desires  after,  and  puts 
men  on  all  manner  of  attempts  for  liberty.  Yokes  gall,  and  make 
them  on  whom  they  are  desire  ease.  So  long  as  men  are  sensible  of 
bondage,  which  is  against  nature  (for  that  which  is  not  so  is  not 
bondage),  they  will  desire  and  labour  for  liberty.  When  some  in 
the  Roman  senate  asked  an  ambassador  of  the  Privernates,  after  they 


440  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CUAP.  XL 

were  overthrown  in  battle,  if  they  granted  them  peace,  how  they 
would  keep  it,  what  peace  they  should  have  with  them?  he  answered, 
"  Si  bonam  dederitis,  et  fidam  et  perpetuam ;  si  malam,  hand  diutur- 
nam."  Whereat  some  in  the  senate  stormed,  as  if  he  had  threatened 
them  with  war  and  rebellion;  but  the  wiser  sort  commended  him  as 
one  that  spake  like  a  man  and  a  freeman,  adding  as  their  reason,  "An 
credi  posse,  ullum  populum,  aut  hominem  denique  in  ea  conditione, 
cujus  eum  poeniteat,  diutius  quam  necesse  sit  raansurum,"  Liv.,  lib.  viii. 
cap.  xxi.  So  certain  it  is  that  bondage  wearieth  and  stirreth  up  restless 
desires  in  all,  and  endeavours  in  some  after  liberty.  'Sdly.  Bondage 
pi-rplexeth  the  mind.  It  ariseth  from  fear,  the  greatest  perturbation 
of  the  mind,  and  is  attended  with  weariness  and  distrust ;  all  which  are 
perplexing.  4thly.  Where  bondage  is  complete,  it  lies  in  a  tendency 
unto  future  and  greater  evils.  Such  is  the  bondage  of  condemned 
malefactors,  reserved  for  the  day  of  execution;  such  is  the  bondage 
of  Satan,  who  is  kept  in  chains  of  darkness  for  the  judgment  of  the 
great  day.  And  all  these  things  concur  in  the  bondage  here  in- 
tended; which  is  a  dejected,  troublesome  state  and  condition  of 
mind,  arising  from  the  apprehension  and  fear  of  death  to  be  inflicted, 
and  their  disability  in  whom  it  is  to  avoid  it,  attended  with  fruitless 
desires  and  vain  attempts  to  be  delivered  from  it,  and  to  escape  the 
evil  feared.  And  this  is  the  condition  of  sinners  out  of  Christ, 
whereof  there  are  various  degrees,  answerable  unto  their  convictions; 
for  the  apostle  treats  not  here  of  men's  being  servants  unto  sin, 
winch  is  voluntary,  but  of  their  sense  of  the  guilt  of  sin,  which  is 
wrought  in  them  even  whether  they  will  or  no,  and  by  any  means 
tliey  would  cast  ofif  the  yoke  of  it,  though  by  none  are  they  able  so 
to  do :  for, — 

(3.)  They  are  said  to  continue  in  this  estate  all  their  lives. 
Not  that  they  were  always  perplexed  with  this  bondage,  but  that 
they  could  never  be  utterl}'  freed  from  it;  for  the  apostle  doth  not 
say  that  they  were  thus  in  bondage  all  their  days,  but  that  they 
were  obnoxious  and  "  subject"  unto  it.  They  had  no  ways  to  free  or 
deliver  themselves  from  it,  but  that  at  any  time  they  might  righteously 
be  brought  under  its  power;  and  the  more  they  cast  off  the  thoughts 
of  it,  the  more  they  increased  their  danger.  This  was  the  estate 
of  the  children  whose  deliverance  was  undertaken  by  the  Lord 
Clirist,  the  captain  of  their  salvation.  And  we  may  hence  observe 
that, — 

I.  All  sinners  are  subject  unto  death  as  it  is  penal.  The  first 
sentence  reacheth  them  all,  Gen.  ii.  17;  and  thence  are  they  said  to 
be  "  by  nature  children  of  wrath,"  Eph.  ii.  3, — obnoxious  unto  death, 
to  be  inflicted  in  a  way  of  Vv'rath  and  revenge  for  sin.  This  passeth 
upon  "all,  inasmuch  as  all  have  sinned,"  Rom.  v.  12.  This  all  men 
see  and  know;  but  all  do  not  sufficiently  consider  what  is  contained 


VER.  14,  15.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  441 

ill  the  sentence  of  death,  and  very  few  1k)\v  it  may  be  avoided. 
Most  men  look  on  death  as  the  common  lot  and  condition  of  man- 
kind, upon  the  account  of  their  frail  natural  condition ;  as  though  it 
belonged  to  the  natural  condition  of  the  children,  and  not  the  moral, 
and  were  a  consequent  of  their  being,  and  not  the  demerit  of  their 
sin.  They  consider  not  that  although  the  principles  of  our  nature 
are  in  themselves  subject  unto  a  dissolution,  yet  if  vve  had  kept  the 
law  of  our  creation,  it  had  been  prevented  by  the  power  of  God,  en- 
gaged to  continue  life  during  our  cbedience.  Life  and  obedience 
were  to  be  commensurate,  until  temporal  obedience  ended  in  life 
eternal.  Death  is  penal,  and  its  being  common  unto  all  hinders  not 
but  that  it  is  the  punishment  of  every  one.  How  it  is  changed  unto 
believers  by  the  death  of  Christ  shall  be  afterward  declared.  In  the 
meantime,  all  mankind  are  condemned  as  soon  as  born.  Lite  is  a 
reprieve,  a  suspension  of  execution.  If  during  that  time  a  pardon 
be  not  effectually  sued  out,  the  sentence  will  be  executed  according 
to  the  severity  of  justice.  Under  this  law  are  men  now  born;  this 
yoke  have  they  put  on  themselves  by  their  apostasy  from  God. 
Neither  is  it  to  any  purpose  to  repine  against  it  or  to  conflict  with 
it;  there  is  but  one  way  of  delivery. 

II.  Fear  of  death,  as  it  is  penal,  is  inseparable  from  sin,  before 
the  sinner  be  delivered  by  the  death  of  Christ.  They  were  in  '*  fear 
of  death."  There  is  a  fear  of  death  that  is  natural,  and  inseparable 
from  our  present  condition;  that  is  but  nature's  aversation  of  its 
own  dissolution.  And  this  hath  various  degrees,  occasioned  by  the 
differences  of  men's  natural  constitution,  and  other  accidental  occur- 
rences and  occasions:  so  that  some  seem  to  fear  death  too  much, 
and  others  not  at  all;  I  mean  of  those  who  are  freed  from  it  as  it 
is  in  the  curse  and  under  the  power  of  Satan.  But  this  difference 
is  from  occasions  foreign  and  accidental ;  there  is  in  all  naturally  the 
same  aversation  of  it.  And  this  is  a  guiltless  infirmity,  like  our 
weariness  and  sickness,  inseparably  annexed  unto  the  condition  of 
mortality.  But  sinners  in  their  natural  state  fear  death  as  it  is 
penal,  as  an  issue  of  the  curse,  as  under  the  power  of  Satan,  as  a 
dreadful  entrance  into  eternal  ruin.  There  are,  indeed,  a  thousand 
ways  whereby  this  fear  is  for  a  season  stifled  in  the  minds  of  men. 
Some  live  in  brutish  ignorance,  never  receiving  any  full  convicti  ^n 
of  sin,  judgment,  or  eternity.  Some  put  off  the  thoughts  of  their 
present  and  future  estate,  resolving  to  shut  their  eyes  and  rush  into 
it,  wlienas  they  can  no  longer  avoid  it.  Fear  presents  itself  unto 
them  as  the  forerunner  of  death,  but  they  avoid  the  encounter,  and 
leave  themselves  to  the  power  of  death  itself.  Some  please  them- 
selves with  vain  hopes  of  deliverance,  though  well  they  know  not 
how  nor  why  they  should  be  partakers  of  it.  But  let  men  forego 
these  helpless  shifts,  and  suffer  their  own  innate  light  to  be  excited 


442  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

^viLll  such  means  of  conviction  as  they  do  enjoy,  and  they  will 
quickly  find  what  a  judgment  there  is  made  in  their  own  souls  con- 
cerning death  to  come,  and  what  effects  it  will  produce.  They  will 
conclude  that  it  is  "the  judgment  of  God,  that  they  which  commit 
sin  are  worthy  of  death,"  Rom.  i.  32;  and  then  their  own  con- 
sciences do  accuse  and  condemn  them,  Rom.  ii.  14,  15;  whence  un- 
avoidably fear,  dread,  and  terror  will  seize  upon  them.    And  then, — 

III.  Fear  of  death,  as  penal,  renders  the  minds  of  men  obnoxious 
%mto  bondage;  which  what  it  is  we  have  in  part  hefore  declareil. 
It  is  a  state  of  trouble,  which  men  dislike,  but  cannot  avoid.  It  is 
a  penal  disquietment,  arising  from  a  sense  of  future  misery.  Faiu 
would  men  quit  themselves  of  it,  but  they  are  not  able.  There  is  a 
chain  of  God  in  it  not  to  be  broken.  Men  may  gall  themselves  with 
it,  but  cannot  remove  it;  and  if  God  take  it  from  them  without  grant- 
ing them  a  lawful  release  and  delivery,  it  is  to  their  further  misery. 
And  this  is,  in  some  measure  or  other,  the  portion  of  every  one  that 
is  convinced  of  sin  before  he  is  freed  by  the  gospel.  And  some 
have  disputed  what  degrees  of  it  are  necessary  before  believing.  But 
"what  is  necessary  for  any  one  to  attain  unto  is  his  duty;  but  this 
bondage  can  be  the  duty  of  no  man,  because  it  is  involuntary.  It 
will  follow  conviction  of  sin,  but  it  is  no  man's  duty;  rather,  it  is 
such  an  effect  of  the  law  as  every  one  is  to  free  himself  from,  so  soon 
as  he  may  in  a  right  way  and  manner.  This  estate,  then,  befalls 
men  whether  they  will  or  no.  And  this  is  so  if  we  take  bondage 
pa.ssivelv,  as  it  affects  the  soul  of  the  sinner;  which  thy  apostle 
seems  to  intend  by  placing  it  as  an  effect  of  the  fear  of  death.  Tuke 
it  actively,  and  it  is  no  more  than  the  sentence  of  the  law,  which 
works  and  causeth  it  in  the  soul;  and  so  all  sinners  are  inevitably 
obnoxious  unto  it.  And  this  estate,  as  we  observed,  fills  men  with 
desires  after,  and  puts  them  upon  various  attempts  for  deliverance. 
Some  desire  only  present  ease,  and  they  commonly  withdraw  them- 
selves from  it  by  giving  up  themselves  wholly  unto  their  hearts' 
lusts,  and  therein  to  atiieism ;  which  God  oftentimes,  in  his  righteous 
judgment,  gives  them  up  unto,  knowing  that  the  day  is  coming 
wherein  their  present  woful  temporal  relief  will  be  recompensed  with 
eternal  misery.  Some  look  forward  unto  what  is  to  come,  and  ac- 
cording to  their  light  and  assistance  variously  apply  themselves  to 
seek  relief;  some  do  it  by  a  righteousness  of  their  own,  and  in  the 
pursuit  thereof  also  there  are  ways  innumerable,  not  now  to  be  in- 
sisted on;  and  some  do  it  by  Christ,  which  how  it  is  by  him  effected 
the  apostle  in  the  next  place  declares. 

Two  things,  as  was  showed,  are  affirmed  of  the  Lord  Christ,  in 
consequence  unto  the  premised  supposition  of  the  children's  being 
partakers  of  flesh  and  blood,  and  of  their  obnoxiousness  unto  death 
and  to  bondage : — 1.  That  of  their  natural  condition  he  himself 


VER.  14,  15.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  443 

• 
partook.     2.  That  from  their  wora^  condition  he  delivered  them; 
whicli  that  he  might  do,  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  partake  of 
the  other. 

1.  "  He  himself  likewise  did  partake  of  the  same."  The  word 
'Trapa'xXrisiug,  "  hkewise,"  "  in  like  manner,"  doth  denote 
sucii  a  Similitude  as  is  consistent  with  a  specihcai  iden- 
tity. And  therefore  Chrysostom  from  hence  urgeth  the  Marcionites 
and  Valentinians,  who  denied  the  reality  of  the  Immau  nature  of 
Christ,  seeing  that  he  partook  of  it  in  like  manner  with  us;  that  is, 
truly  and  really,  even  as  we  do.  But  yet  the  word,  by  force  of  its 
composition,  doth  intimate  some  disparity  and  difference:  '  He  took 
part  of  human  nature  really  as  we  do,  and  almost  in  like  manner 
with  us.'  For  there  were  two  differences  between  his  being  partaker 
of  human  nature  and  ours: — First,  In  that  we  subsist  singly  in  tliat 
nature;  but  he  took  his  portion  in  this  nature  into  subsistence  with 
himself  in  the  person  of  the  Son  of  God.  Secondly,  This  nature  in 
us  is  attended  with  many  infirmities,  that  follow  the  individual 
persons  that  are  partakers  of  it;  in  him  it  was  free  from  them  all. 
And  this  the  apostle  also  intimates  in  the  word  //.sria^i,  changing 
his  expression  from  that  whereby  he  declared  the  common  interest 
of  the  children  in  the  same  nature,  which  is  every  way  equal  and 
alike.  The  whole  is,  that  he  took  his  own  portion,  in  his  own 
manner,  unto  himself. 

And  this  observation  removes  what  is  hence  objected  against  the 
deity  of  Christ.  "  Cum  Christus,"  saith  Schlichtingius,  "  hominum 
mortalium  et  fragilium  dux  et  fautor  sit,  propterea  is  non  angelus 
aliquis,  multo  vero  minus  ipse  Deus  summus  qui  solus  immortalita- 
tera  habet,  sed  homo  suo  tempore  malis,  et  variis  calamitatibus  ob- 
noxius  esse  debuit."  It  is  true,  it  appears  from  hence  that  Christ 
ought  to  be  a  man,  subject  to  sufferings  and  death,  and  not  an 
angel,  as  the  apostle  further  declares  in  the  next  verse;  but  that  he 
ought  not  to  be  God  doth  not  appear.  As  God,  indeed,  he  could  not 
die;  but  if  he  who  was  God  had  not  taken  part  of  flesh  and  hlood, 
God  could  not  have  redeemed  his  church  "  with  his  own  blood.'" 
But  this  is  the  perpetual  paralogism  of  these  men:  "  Because  Christ 
is  asserted  to  have  been  truly  a  man,  therefore  he  is  not  God;" 
which  is  to  deny  the  gospel,  and  the  whole  mystery  of  it. 

He  proceeds  with  his  exceptions  against  the  ajoplication  of  these 
words  unto  the  incarnation  of  the  Lord  Christ;  the  sum  whereof  is, 
'  That  the  words  irapa.'xXT^Giui  iMiTss-xi  denote  a  universal  conformity 
or  specific  identit}^  between  Christ  and  the  children,  not  only  as  to 
the  essence,  but  also  as  to  all  other  concernments  of  human  nature, 
or  else  no  benefit  could  redound  unto  them  from  what  he  did  or 
suffered.'  But, — (1.)  The  words  do  not  assert  any  such  thing,  as 
hath  been  declared ;  ('2.)  It  is  not  true.    The  children  were  partakers 


44)4  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CIIAP.  IT. 

• 
of  human  nature  either  by  creation  out  of  the  dust  of  the  earth,  as 
Adam,  or  by  natural  generation ;  the  Lord  Christ  was  conceived  of 
a  virgin,  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost; — and  yet  the  benefit  re- 
dounds unto  the  children.  It  is  evident,  then,  that  the  similitude 
urged  by  the  apostle  is  confined  to  the  substance  of  flesh  and  i)lood, 
or  the  essence  of  human  nature,  and  is  not  to  be  extended  unto  the 
personal  concernments  of  the  one  or  the  other,  nor  to  the  way  whereby 
they  became  partakers  of  the  same  nature.  Nor  is  the  argument 
for  the  incarnation  of  Christ  taken  merely  from  the  expressions  in 
this  verse;  but  whereas  he  had  before  proved  him  to  be  above  and 
before  the  angels,  even  God  over  all,  and  here  intimateth  his  exists 
ence  antecedent  to  his  participation  of  flesh  and  blood,  his  incarna- 
tion doth  necessarily  ensue. 

2.  The  necessity  of  this  incarnation  of  Christ,  with  respect  unto  tlie 
end  of  it,  hath  before  been  declared,  evinced,  and  confirmed.  V/e 
shall  now  stay  only  a  little  to  admire  the  love,  grace,  and  mystery 
of  it.     And  we  see  here, — 

IV.  That  the  Lord  Christ,  out  of  his  inexpressible  love,  willingly 
submitted  himself  unto  every  condition  of  the  children  to  be  saved 
by  him,  and  to  every  thing  in  every  condition  of  them,  sin  only 
excepted. 

They  being  of  flesh  and  blood,  which  must  be  attended  with  many 
infirmities,  and  exposed  unto  all  sorts  of  temptations  and  miseries, 
he  himself  would  also  partake  of  the  same.  His  delight  was  of  old 
in  the  sons  of  men,  Prov.  viii.  31,  and  his  heart  was  full  of  thoughts 
of  love  towards  them;  and  that  alone  put  him  on  this  resolution, 
Gal.  ii.  20;  Rev.  i.  5.  When  God  refused  sacrifices  and  burnt-ofl'er- 
ings,  as  insufficient  to  make  the  atonement  required,  and  the  matter 
was  rolled  on  his  hand  alone,  it  was  a  joy  unto  him  that  he  had  a 
body  prepared  wherein  he  might  discharge  his  work,  although  he 
knew  what  he  had  to  do  and  suffer  therein,  Ps.  xl.  7,  8 ;  Heb.  x.  5-9. 
He  rejoiced  to  do  the  will  of  God,  in  taking  the  body  prepared  for 
him,  because  the  children  were  partakers  of  flesh  and  blood.  Though 
he  was  "  in  the  form  of  God,"  equal  unto  him,  yet  "  that  mind,"  that 
love,  that  affection  towards  us,  was  in  him,  that  to  be  like  unto  us, 
and  thereby  to  save  us,  "  he  emptied  himself,  and  took  on  him  the 
form  of  a  servant,"  our  foi-m,  and  became  like  unto  us,  Phil.  ii.  5-8. 
He  would  be  like  unto  us,  that  he  might  make  us  like  unto  himself; 
he  would  take  our  flesh,  that  he  might  give  unto  us  his  Spirit;  he 
would  join  himself  unto  us,  and  become  "one  flesh"  with  us,  that  we 
might  be  joined  unto  him,  and  become  "one  spirit"  with  him,  1  Cor. 
vi.  17.  And  as  this  was  a  fruit  of  his  eternal  antecedent  love,  so  it 
is  a  spring  of  consequent  love.  When  Eve  was  brought  unto  Adam 
after  she  was  taken  out  of  him.  Gen.  ii.  23,  to  manifest  the  ground 
of  that  affection  whicn  was  to  be  always  between  them,  he  says  of 


VER.  14,  15.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  445 

her,  "  This  is  now  bone  of  my  bones,  and  flesh  of  my  flesh."  And 
by  this  condescension  of  Christ,  saith  the  apostle,  we  are  "  members 
of  his  body,  of  his  flesh,  and  of  his  bones,"  Eph.  v.  30;  whence  lie 
infers  that  he  loves  and  nourisheth  his  church,  as  a  man  doth  his 
own  flesh.  And  how  should  this  inexpressible  love  of  Christ  con- 
strain us  to  love  him  and  to  live  unto  him,  2  Cor.  v.  14;  as  also 
to  labour  to  be  like  unto  him,  wherein  all  our  blessedness  consisteth, 
seeing  for  that  end  he  was  willing  to  be  like  unto  us,  whence  all  his 
troubles  and  sufferings  arose !     Here  also  we  see  that, — 

V.  It  was  only  in  flesh  and  blood,  the  substance  and  essence  of 
human  nature,  and  not  in  our  personal  infirmities,  that  the  Lord 
Christ  was  made  like  unto  us. 

He  took  to  himself  the  nature  of  all  men,  and  not  the  person  of 
any  man.  We  have  not  only  human  nature  in  common,  but  we 
have  every  one  particular  infirmities  and  weaknesses  following  that 
nature,  as  existing  in  our  sinful  persons.  Such  are  the  sicknesses 
aud  pains  of  our  bodies  from  inward  distempers,  and  the  disorder  of 
the  passions  of  our  minds.  Of  these  the  Lord  Christ  did  not  par- 
take It  was  not  needful,  it  was  not  possible  that  he  should  do  so; 
— not  needful,  because  he  could  provide  for  their  cure  without  as- 
suming them;  not  possible,  for  they  can  have  no  place  in  a  nature 
innocent  and  holy.  And  therefore  he  took  our  nature,  not  by  an 
immediate  new  creation  out  of  nothing,  or  of  the  dust  of  the  earth, 
like  Adam;  for  if  so,  though  he  might  have  been  like  unto  us,  yet 
he  would  have  been  no  kin  to  us,  and  so  could  not  have  been  our 
Goel,  to  whom  the  right  of  redemption  did  belong:  nor  by  natural 
generation,  which  would  have  rendered  our  nature  in  him  obnoxious 
to  the  sin  ana  punishment  of  Adam:  but  by  a  miraculous  concep- 
tion of  a  virgin,  whereby  he  had  truly  our  nature,  yet  not  subject 
on  its  own  account  unto  any  one  of  those  evils  whereunto  it  is  liable 
as  propagated  from  Adam  in  an  ordinary  course.  And  thus,  though 
he  was  joined  unto  us  in  our  nature,  yet  as  he  was  "  holy,  harmless, 
and  undefiled"  in  that  nature,  he  was  "  separate  from  sinners,"  Heb. 
vii.  2b'.  So  that  although  our  nature  suffered  more  in  his  person 
than  it  was  capable  of  in  the  person  of  any  mere  man,  yet,  net  being 
debased  by  any  sinful  imperfection,  it  was  always  excellent,  beau- 
tiful, and  glorious.     And  then, — 

VL  That  the  Son  of  God  should  take  part  in  human  nature  with 
the  children  is  the  greatest  and  most  admirable  effect  of  divine  love, 
wisilom,  aud  grace. 

So  our  apostle  proposeth  it,  1  Tim.  iii.  16, — a  mystery  which  the 
angels  with  all  diligence  desire  to  look  into,  1  Pet.  i.  11,  12.  See 
John  i.  14;  Isa.  ix.  6;  Rom.  ix.  5.  Atheists  scoff  at  it,  deluded 
Christians  deny  it;  but  tlie  angels  adore  it,  the  church  professeth  it, 
believers  find  the  comfort  and  benefit  of  it.    "  The  heavens."  indeed. 


446  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [niAP.  II. 

"declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament  showeth  his  liandy- 
•work,"  Ps.  xix.  1;  and  "the  invisible  things  of  God  from  the  creation 
ol'  the  world  are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by  the  things  that 
are  made,  even  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead,"  Rom.  i.  20.  In 
particular,  man  himself  is  "fearfully  and  wonderfully  made."  These 
works  of  God's  power  and  providence  do  greatly  manifest  the  glory 
of  his  wisdom,  omnipotency,  and  goodness,  and  are  like  the  liglit, 
which  was  created  on  the  first  day,  at  the  beginning  of  all  things,  as 
we  have  showed.  But  in  this  instance,  "of  assuming  human  nature 
into  personal  subsistence  with  himself,  that  scattered  light  is  gatliered 
into  one  sun,  giving  out  most  glorious  beams,  unto  the  manifesta- 
tion of  his  infinite  excellencies  far  above  all  other  things.  And  this 
surely  was  not  done  but  for  the  greatest  end  that  can  be  conceived ; 
and  such  is  the  salvation  of  sinners. 

But  we  must  proceed  with  our  apostle;  and  he  gives  the  reason 
and  end  of  this  wonderful  dispensation.  The  end  is,  the  delivery  of 
the  children  from  the  condition  before  described.  And,  first,  the 
means  whereby  he  wrought  and  brought  about  this  end  is  proposed 
unto  us :  "  By  death," — he  was  to  do  it  by  death. 

"  That  by  death  he  might  deliver  them;"  that  is,  by  his  own  death. 
This,  as  it  is  placed  as  one  principal  end  of  his  being  made  partaker 
of  flesh  and  blood,  so  it  is  also  the  means  of  the  further  end  aimed 
at,  namely,  the  delivery  of  the  children  out  of  the  condition  ex- 
p)essed.  Some  translations  add,  "By  his  own  death," — which  is  evi- 
dently understood,  though  it  be  not  literally  in  the  text, — the  death 
which  he  underwent  in  the  nature  of  man,  whereof  he  was  partaker. 
His  death  was  the  means  of  delivering  them  from  death.  Some 
distinguish  between  death  in  tlie  first  place  which  Christ  under- 
went, and  that  death  in  the  close  of  the  verse  which  the  children 
are  said  to  be  in  fear  of;  for  this  latter,  they  say,  is  more  extensive 
than  the  former,  as  comprising  death  eternal  also.  But  there  doth 
not  any  thing  in  the  text  appear  to  intimate  that  the  captain  of  sal- 
vation by  death  of  one  kind  should  deliver  the  children  from  that 
of  another;  neither  will  the  apostle's  discourse  well  bear  such  a  sup- 
position. For  if  he  might  have  freed  the  children  by  any  way  or 
means  as  well  as  by  undergoing  that  which  was  due  unto  them  for 
sin,  whence  could  arise  that  indispensable  necessity  which  he  pleads 
for  by  so  many  considerations  of  his  being  made  like  unto  them, 
seeing  without  the  participation  of  their  nature  which  he  urgeth  he 
might  have  done  any  other  thing  for  their  good  and  benefit,  but 
only  suffer  what  was  due  to  them?  And  if  it  be  said  that  with- 
out this  participation  of  their  nature  he  could  not  die,  which  it 
was  necessary  that  he  should  do,  I  desire  to  know,  if  the  death 
which  he  was  to  undergo  was  not  that  death  which  tJiey  were  ob- 
no.vivus  unto  for  Nvhom  he  died,  how  could  it  be  any  way  more  bene- 


VER  It,  15.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  447 

ficial  unto  them  than  any  thing  else  which  he  might  have  done  for 
them,  although  he  had  not  died?  There  is  no  ground,  then,  to  ])i-e- 
tend  such  an  amphibology  in  the  words  as  that  which  some  contend 
for.  Now,  as  we  observed  before,  the  death  of  Christ  is  here  placed 
in  the  midst,  as  the  end  of  one  thing,  and  the  means  or  cause  of 
anotiier, — the  end  of  his  own  incarnation,  and  the  means  of  the 
children's  deliverance.     From  the  first  v/e  may  see, — 

VII.  That  the  first  and  principal  end  of  the  Lord  Christ's  assum- 
ing human  nature,  was  not  to  reign  in  it,  but  to  sutfer  and  die  in  it. 

He  was,  indeed,  from  of  old  designed  unto  a  kingdom  ;  but  he  was 
to  "  suffer,"  and  so  to  enter  into  his  glory,  Luke  xxiv.  26.  And  he  so 
speaks  of  his  coming  into  the  world  to  suffer,  to  die,  to  bear  witness 
unto  the  truth,  as  if  that  had  been  the  only  work  that  he  was  incar- 
nate for.  Glory  was  to  follow,  a  kingdom  to  ensue,  but  suffering  and 
dying  were  the  principal  work  he  came  about.  Glory  he  had  with 
his  Father  "  before  the  world  was,"  John  xvii.  5;  and  therein  a  joint 
rule  with  him  over  all  the  works  of  his  hands.  He  need  not  have 
been  made  partaker  of  flesh  and  blood  to  have  been  a  king;  for  he 
was  the  King  eternal,  immortal,  invisible,  the  King  of  kings  and 
Lord  of  lords,  the  only  Potentate,  from  everlasting.  But  he  could  not 
have  died  if  he  had  not  been  made  partaker  of  our  nature.  And 
therefore,  "  when  the  people  would  have  taken  him  by  force,  and 
made  him  a  king,"  he  hid  himself  from  them,  John  vi,  15;  but  ho 
hid  not  himself  when  they  came  to  take  him  by  force  and  put  him  to 
death,  but  affirmed  that  for  that  hour,  or  business,  he  came  into  the 
world,  John  xviii.  4,  5,  IL  And  this  further  sets  forth  his  love  and 
Condescension.  He  saw  the  work  that  was  proposed  unto  him, — how 
he  was  to  be  exposed  unto  miseries,  afflictions,  and  persecutions,  and 
at  length  to  "  make  his  soul  an  offering  for  sin," — yet,  because  it  was 
all  for  the  salvation  of  the  children,  he  was  contented  with  it  and 
delighted  in  it.  And  how,  then,  ought  we  to  be  contented  with  the 
difficulties,  sorrows,  afflictions,  and  persecutions,  which  for  his  sake 
Ave  are  or  may  be  exposed  unto,  when  he  on  purpose  took  our  na- 
ture, that /or  our  sakes  he  might  be  exposed  and  subject  unto  much 
more  than  we  are  called  unto ! 

There  yet  remain  in  these  verses  the  effects  of  the  death  of  Christ: 
"Tliat  he  might  destroy  sin,  and  deliver,"  etc.;  v.herein  we  mu^t 
consider, —  1.  ]17i0  it  is  that  had  the  power  of  death;  2.  Wherein 
that  power  of  his  did  consist;  3.  How  he  was  destroyed;  4.  How 
by  the  death  of  Christ;  5.  What  was  the  delivery  that  was  obtained 
for  the  children  thereby. 

L  He  that  had  the  power  of  death  is  described  by  his  name,  o  bid- 
/3oXo5,  "the  devil;" — the  great  enemy  of  our  salvation;  the  great 
Calumniator,  make-bate,  and  false  accuser;  the  firebrand  of  the  crea- 
tion; the  head  and  captaiu  of  the  apostasy  from  God,  ami  of  all 

VOL.  XII.— 29 


448  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

desertion  of  the  law  of  the  creation;  the  old  serpent,  the  prince  of  the 
apostate  angels,  with  all  his  associates,  who  first  falsely  accused  God 
unto  man,  and  continues  to  accuse  men  falsely  unto  God :  of  whom 
before. 

2.  His  power  in  and  over  death  is  variously  apprehended.  What 
the  Jews  conceive  hereof  we  have  before  declared,  and  much  of  tlie 
truth  is  mixed  with  their  fables;  and  the  apostle  deals  with  thera 
upon  their  acknowledgment  in  general  that  he  had  the  power  of 
death.  Properly  in  what  sense,  or  in  Avhat  respect,  he  is  said  so  to 
have  it,  learned  expositors  are  not  agreed.  All  consent,  (1.)  That 
the  devil  hath  no  absolute  or  sovereign,  supreme  power  over  death; 
nor,  (2.)  Any  i^oveia,  or  "  authority"  about  it,  "  de  jure,"  in  his  own 
right,  or  on  grant,  so  as  to  act  lawfully  and  rightly  about  it  accord- 
ing unto  his  own  will;  nor,  (.8.)  Any  judging  or  determining  power 
as  to  the  guilt  of  death  committed  unto  him,  which  is  peculiar  to 
God,  the  supreme  rector  and  judge  of  all,  Gen.  ii.  17,  Deut.  xxxii. 
Sy,  Rev.  i.  18. 

But  wherein  this  power  of  Satan  doth  positively  consist  they  are 
not  agreed.  Some  place  it  in  his  temptations  unto  sin,  which  bind 
unto  death;  some,  in  his  execution  of  the  sentence  of  death, — he  hath 
the  power  of  an  executioner.  There  cannot  well  be  any  doubt  hut 
that  the  whole  interest  of  Satan  in  reference  unto  death  is  intend' d 
in  this  expression.  This  death  is  that  which  was  threatened  in  the 
beginning.  Gen.  ii.  17, — death  penally  to  be  inflicted  in  the  way  of  a 
curse,  Deut.  xxvii.  26,  Gal.  iii.  JO;  that  is,  death  consisting  in  the 
dissolution  of  soul  and  body,  with  every  thing  tending  penally  there- 
unto, with  the  everlasting  destruction  of  body  and  soul.  And  there 
are  sundry  things  wherein  the  xpdrog,  or  power  of  Satan  in  reference 
unto  this  death  doth  consist;  as, — (1.)  He  was  the  7neavs  of  bring- 
ing it  into  the  world.  So  is  the  opinion  of  the  Jews  in  this  matter 
expressed  in  the  book  of  Wisdom,  written,  as  is  most  probable,  by 
one  of  them  not  long  before  this  e^Distle.  They  tell  us,  chap.  i.  13,  *0 
Qio;  '^ai/aroi/  oux  sToirisi, — "God  made  not  death,"  it  belonged  not  imto 
the  original  constitution  of  all  things;  but,  chap.  ii.  24,  ^JJnij  hiaZoXau 
^duarog  uon'Kkv  ilg  rov  xoc/iov, — "By  the  envy  of  the  devil  death  entered 
into  the  world."  And  that  expression  of  ihn'kdiv  ug  rhv  -/.odfj^ov  is  re- 
tained by  the  apostle,  Rom.  v.  12;  only  he  lays  the  end  of  it  on  the 
morally-deserving  cause,  the  sin  of  man,  as  here  it  is  laid  on  the 
efficiently-procuring  cause,  the  envy  of  the  devil.  And  herein  con- 
sisted no  small  part  of  the  power  of  Satan  with  respect  unto  death, 
i^eitig  able  to  introduce  sin,  he  had  power  to  bring  in  death  also, 
which,  in  the  righteous  judgment  of  God,  and  by  the  sentence  of  the 
law,  was  inseparably  annexed  thereunto.  And,  by  a  parity  of  reason, 
so  far  as  he  yet  continueth  to  have  power  over  sin,  deserving  death, 
he  haih  power  over  death  itself. 


VEK.  14,  15.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  440 

(2.)  Sin  and  death  being  thus  entered  into  the  world,  and  all 
mankind  being  guilty  of  the  one  and  obnoxious  unto  the  other, 
Satan  came  thereby  to  be  their  jJ't^ince,  as  being  the  prince  or  author 
of  that  state  and  condition  whereinto  they  are  brought.  Hence  he 
is  called  "the  prince  of  this  world,"  John  xii.  31,  and  the  "god"  uf 
it,  2  Cor.  iv.  4;  inasmuch  as  all  the  world  are  under  tlie  guilt  of  that 
sin  and  death  which  he  brought  them  into. 

(3.)  God  having  passed  the  sentence  of  death  against  sin,  it  was 
in  the  power  of  Satan  to  terrify  and  affright  the  consciences  of  men 
with  the  expectation  and  dread  of  it,  so  bringing  them  into  bondage. 
And  many  God  gives  up  unto  him,  to  be  agitated  and  terrified  as  it 
were  at  his  pleasure.  To  tliis  end  were  persons  excommunicate 
given  up  unto  Satan  to  vex  them,  1  Tim.  i.  20.  He  threatens  them 
as  an  executioner  with  the  work  that  he  hath  to  do  upon  them. 

(4.)  God  hath  ordained  him  to  be  the  executioner  of  the  sentence 
of  death  upon  stubborn  sinners  unto  all  eternity;  partly  for  the  aggia- 
vation  of  their  punishment,  when  they  shall  ».lways  see,  and  with- 
out relief  bewail,  their  folly  in  hearkening  unto  his  allurements;  and 
partly  to  punish  himst- If  in  his  woful  employment.  And  for  the.^e 
several  reasons  is  Satan  said  to  have  the  power  of  death.  And 
hence  it  is  evident  that, — 

VIII.  All  the  power  of  Satan  in  the  world  over  any  of  the  sons 
of  men  is  founded  in  sin  and  the  guilt  of  death  attending  it.  Death 
entered  by  sin;  the  guilt  of  sin  brought  it  in.  Herewith  comes  in 
Satan's  interest,  without  which  he  could  have  no  more  to  do  in  the 
earth  than  he  hath  in  heaven.  And  according  a^  sin  abounds  or  isj 
subdued,  so  his  power  is  enlarged  or  straitened.  |>As  he  is  a  spirit, 
he  is  mighty,  strong,  wise;  as  sinful,  he  is  malicious,  subtle,  ambi- 
tious, revengeful,  proud. )  Yet  none  of  all  these  gives  him  his  power. 
He  that  made  him  can  cause  his  sword  to  pierce  unto  him,  and  pre- 
serve man,  though  weak  and  mortal,  from  all  his  force  as  a  mighty 
spirit,  and  his  attempts  as  a  wicked  one.  And  yet  these  are  the 
things  in  him  that  men  are  generally  afraid  of,  when  yet  by  them 
he  cannot  reach  one  hair  of  their  heads.  But  here  lies  the  founda- 
tion of  his  power,  even  in  sin,  which  so  few  regard.     Tnen, — 

IX.  All  sinners  out  of  Christ  are  under  the  power  of  Satan. 
They  belong  unto  that  kingdom  of  death  whereof  he  is  the  princt^  and 
ruler.  "  The  whole  world  lies  h  rui  Tovripuj," — "in  the  power  of  ihis 
wicked  one."  If  the  guilt  of  death  be  not  removed  from  any,  thrf 
power  of  the  devil  extends  unto  them.  A  power  it  is,  indeeil,  that 
is  regulated.  Were  it  sovereign  or  absolute,  he  would  continually 
devour.  But  it  is  limited  unto  times,  seasons,  and  degrees,  by  the 
Avill  of  God,  the  judge  of  all.  But  yet  great  it  is,  and  answerable 
unto  his  titles,  the  prince,  the  god  of- the  world.  And  however  men 
may  flatter  themselves,  as  the  Jews  did  of  old,  that  they  are  free, 


450  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

if  they  are  not  freed  by  an  interest  in  the  death  of  Christ,  they  are 
in  bondage  unto  this  beastly  tyrant;  and  as  he  works  effectually  in 
them  here,  he  will  ragingly  inflict  vengeance  on  them  hereafter. 

S.  He  is  destroyed :  "  Destroy  him."  The  sense  and  importance 
of  the  word  here  used  was  before  declared.  It  is  not  applied 
unto  the  nature,  essence,  or  being  of  the  devil,  but  unto  his  power 
in  and  over  death;  as  it  is  elsewhere  declared,  John  xii.  31,  "  Now 
is  the  judgment  of  this  world,  now  is  the  prince  of  this  world  cast 
cwt"  That  which  is  here  called  the  destroying  of  the  devil,  is  there 
called  the  casting  out  of  the  prince  of  this  world.  It  is  the  casting 
him  out  of  his  power,  from  his  princedom  and  rule;  as  Col.  ii.  15, 
"  Having  spoiled  principalities  and  powers,  he  made  an  open  show 
of  them,  triumphing  over  them  in  his  cross  ;^'  as  conquerors  used  to 
do  when  they  had  not  slain  the  persons  of  their  enemies,  but  de- 
prived them  of  their  rule,  and  led  them  captive.  The  destruction, 
tl:ien,  here  intended  of  "  him  that  iiad  the  power  of  death,"  is  the 
dissolution,  evacuation,  and  removing  of  that  power  which  he  had  in 
and  over  death,  with  all  the  effects  and  consequences  of  it.  } 

4.  The  means  whereby  Satan  was  thus  destroyed  is  also  expressed. 
It  was  "  by  death,"  by  liis  own  death.  This  of  all  others  seemed 
the  most  unlikely  way  and  means,  but  indeed  was  not  only  the  best, 
but  the  only  way  whereby  it  might  be  accomplished.  Ami  the 
manner  how  it  was  done  thereby  must  be  declared  and  vindicated. 
The  fourfold  power  of  Satan  in  reference  unto  death,  before  men- 
tioned, was  all  founded  in  sin.  The  obligation  of  the  sinner  unto 
death  was  that  which  gave  him  all  his  power.  The  taking  away,  then, 
of  that  obligation  must  needs  be  the  dissolution  of  his  power.  The 
foundation  being  removed,  all  that  is  built  upon  it  must  needs  fall  to 
the  ground.  Now  this,  in  reference  unto  the  children  for  whom  he 
died,  was  done  in  the  death  of  Christ, — virtually  in  his  death  itself, 
actually  in  the  application  of  it  unto  them.  When  tiie  sinner  ceaseth 
to  be  obnoxious  unto  death,  the  power  of  Satan  ceaseth  also.  And 
this  every  one  doth  that  hath  an  interest  in  the  death  of  Christ:  for 
"  there  is  no  condemnation  unto  them  that  are  in  Christ  Jesus," 
Rom.  viii.  1 ;  and  this  because  he  died.  He  died  for  their  sins,  took 
that  death  upon  himself  whicli  was  due  unto  them;  which  being 
conquered  thereby,  and  their  obligation  thereunto  ceasing,  the 
power  of  Satan  is  therewith  dissolved.  /The  first  branch  of  his  power 
•consisted  in  the  bringing  of  sin  into  tne  world.  This  is  dissolved  by 
Christ's  "  taking  away  the  sin  of  the  world,"  John  i.  29 ;  which  he 
did  as  "  the  Lamb  of  God,"  by  the  sacrifice  of  liimself  in  his  deatl^ 
typified  by  the  paschal  lamb  and  all  other  sacrifices  of  old.  Again, 
his  power  consisted  in  his  rule  in  the  world,  as  cast  under  sin  and 
death.  From  this  he  was  cast  out,  John  xii.  31,  in  the  death  of 
Christ.     When  contending  with  him  for  the   continuance  of  his 


VER.  14,  15.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  451 

sovereignty,  he  was  conquered,  the  ground  whereon  he  stood,  even 
the  guilt  of  sin,  being  taken  away  from  under  him,  and  his  title  de- 
feated. And  actually  believers  are  translated  from  under  his  rule, 
from  the  power  of  darkness,  into  the  kingdom  of  light  and  of  the 
Son  of  God.  Nor  can  he  longer  make  use  of  death  as  penal,  as 
threatened  in  the  curse  of  the  law,  to  terrify  and  affright  the  con- 
sciences of  men:  for  "  being  justified  by  faith"  in  the  death  of  Christ, 
"  they  have  peace  with  God,''  Rom.  v.  1.  Christ  making  peace  be- 
tween God  and  us  by  the  blood  of  his  cross,  Eph.  ii.  14,  15,  2  Cor. 
V.  19-2],  the  weapons  of  this  part  of  his  power  are  wrested  out  of 
his  hand,  seeing  death  hath  no  power  to  terrify  the  conscience,  but 
as  it  expresseth  the  curse  of  God.  And,  lastly,  his  final  execution 
of  the  sentence  of  death  upon  sinners  is  utterly  taken  out  of  his  hand 
by  the  death  of  Christ,  inasmuch  as  they  for  whom  he  died  shall 
never  undergo  death  penally.  And  thus  was  Satan,  as  to  his  power 
over  death,  fully  destroyed  by  the  death  of  Christ.  And  all  this 
depended  on  God's  institution,  appointing  the  satisfactory  sufferings 
of  Christ,  and  accepting  them  instead  of  the  sufferings  of  the  chil- 
dren themselves. 

The  Socinians  give  us  another  exposition  of  these  words,  as  know- 
inof  that  insisted  on  to  be  no  less  destructive  of  their  error  than  the 
death  of  Christ  is  of  the  power  of  the  devil.  The  reason  hereof, 
saith  Schhchtingius,  is,  "Quia per  mortem  Christusadeptus  estsupre- 
niam  potestatem  in  omnia;  qua  omnes  inimicos  suos  quorum  caput 
est  diabolus,  coercet;^  eorum  vires  frangit,  eosque  tandem  penitus 
abolebit."  But  if  this  be  so,  and  the  abolishing  of  the  power  of 
Satan  be  an  act  of  sovereign  power,  then  it  was  not  done  by  the 
death  of  Christ,  nor  was  there  any  need  that  he  should  partake  of 
flesh  and  blood  for  that  purpose,  or  die.  So  that  this  exposition  con- 
tradicts both  the  express  words  of  the  apostle  and  also  the  whole 
design  of  his  discourse.  No  proposition  can  be  more  plain  than  this 
is,  that  the  power  of  Satan  was  destroyed  by  the  death  of  Christ; 
which  in  this  interpretation  of  the  words  is  denied. 

5.  And  hence  it  lastly  appears  what  was  the  delivery  that  was 
'procured  for  the  children  by  this  dissolution  of  the  power  of  Satan. 
It  respects  both  what  they  feared  and  what  ensued  on  their  fear; 
that  is,  death  and  bondage.  For  the  delivery  here  intended  is  not 
merely  a  consequent  of  the  destruction  of  Satan,  but  hath  regard 
unto  the  things  themselves  about  which  the  power  of  Satan  was 
exercised.  They  were  obnoxious  unto  death,  on  the  guilt  of  sin,  as 
penal,  as  under  the  curse,  as  attended  with  hell  or  everlasting  misery. 
This  he  delivered  the  children  from,  by  making  an  atonement  for 
their  sins  in  his  death,  virtually  loosing  their  obligation  thereunto, 
and  procuring  for  them  "  eternal  redemption,"  as  shall  afterwards  be 
fully  declared.     Hereon  also  they  are  delivered  from  the  bondage 


452  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

before  described.  The  fear  of  death  being  taken  away,  the  bondage 
that  ensues  thereon  vanisheth  also.  And  these  things,  as  they  are 
done  virtually  and  legally  in  the  death  of  Christ,  so  they  are 
actually  accomplished  in  and  towards  the  children,  upon  the  appli- 
cation of  the  death  of  Christ  unto  them,  when  they  do  believe.  And 
we  may  now  close  our  consideration  of  these  verses  with  one  or  two 
other  observations  ;  as, — 

X.  The  death  of  Christ,  through  the  wise  and  righteous  disposal 
of  God,  is  victorious,  all-conquering,  and  prevalent. 

The  aim  of  the  world  was  to  bring  him  unto  death ;  and  therein 
they  thought  they  had  done  with  him.  The  aim  of  Satan  was  so 
also;  who  thereby  supposed  he  should  have  secured  his  own  king- 
dom. And  what  could  worldly  or  satanical  wisdom  have  imagined 
otherwise?  He  that  is  slain  is  conquered.  His  own  followers  were 
ready  to  think  so.  "  We  trusted,"  say  they,  "  that  it  had  been  he 
which  should  have  redeemed  Israel,"  Luke  xxiv.  21,  But  he  is 
dead;  and  their  hopes  are  with  him  in  the  grave.  What  can  be 
expected  from  him  who  is  taken,  slain,  crucified?  Can  he  save 
others,  who  it  seems  could  not  save  himself?  "  Per  mortem  alterins, 
stultum  est  sperare  salutem;" — "  Is  it  not  a  foolish  thing  to  look  for 
life  by  the  death  of  another?"  This  was  that  which  the  pagans  of 
old  reproached  the  Christians  withal,  that  they  believed  in  one  that 
was  crucified  and  died  himself;  and  what  could  they  expect  from 
him?  And  our  apostle  tells  us  that  this  death,  this  cross,  was  a 
.stumbling-block  unto  the  Jews  and  folly  to  the  Greeks,  1  Cor. 
i.  18,  23.  And  so  would  it  have  been  in  itself.  Acts  ii.  13,  had  not 
the  will,  and  counsel,  and  wisdom,  and  grace  of  God  been  in  it.  Acts 
iv.  28. 1  But  he  ordered  things  so,  that  this  death  of  Christ  should  pull 
out  that  pin  which  kept  together  the  whole  fabric  of  sin  and  Satan, 
— that,  like  Samson,  he  should  in  his  death  pull  down  the  palace  of 
Satan  about  his  ears, land  that  in  dying  he  should  conquer  and 
subdue  all  things  unto  himself.  All  the  angels  of  heaven  stood  look- 
ing on,  to  see  what  would  be  the  end  of  this  great  trial.  Men  and 
devils  were  ignorant  of  the  great  work  which  God  had  in  hand ;  and 
whilst  they  thought  they  were  destroying  him,  God  was  in  and  by 
him  destroying  them  and  their  power.  Whilst  his  heel  was  bruised 
he  brake  their  head.  And  this  should  teach  us  to  leave  all  God's 
works  unto  himself.  See  John  xi.  6-10.  He  can  bring  light  out 
of  darkness,  and  meat  out  of  the  eater.  He  can  disappoint  his  ad- 
versaries of  their  greatest  hopes  and  fairest  possibilities,  and  raise  up 
the  hopes  of  his  own  out  of  the  grave.  He  can  make  suffering  to  be 
saving,  death  victorious,  and  heal  us  by  the  stripes  of  his  Son.  And, 
in  particular,  it  should  stir  us  up  to  meditate  on  this  mysterious 
work  of  his  love  and  wisdom.  We  can  never  enougii  search  into  it, 
whilst  our  inquiry  is  guided  by  his  word.     New  mysteries,  all  foun- 


VER.  16.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  4SiJ 

tains  of  refreshment  and  joy,  will  continually  open  themselves  unto 
us,  until  we  come  to  be  satisfied  with  the  endless  fulness  of  it  unto 
eternity.     Again, — 

XL  One  principal  end  of  the  death  of  Christ,  was  to  destroy  the 
power  of  Satan:  "  Destroy  him  that  had  the  power  of  death." 
This  was  promised  of  old,  Gen.  iii.  15.  He  was  to  break  the  head 
of  the  serpent.  From  him  sprang  all  the  miseries  which  He  came 
to  deliver  His  elect  from,  and  which  could  not  be  effected  without 
the  dissolution  of  his  power.  He  was  "anointed  to  proclaim  liberty  to 
the  captives,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison  to  them  that  were  bound," 
Isa.  Ixi.  ].  To  this  end  he  was  to  conquer  him  who  detained  them; 
which  he  did  by  his  death,  Col.  ii.  15,  and  so  led  captivity  captive, 
Ps.  Ixviii.  18,  stilling  this  enemy  and  self-avenger,  Ps.  viii.  2,  binding 
the  strong  man,  Matt.  xii.  29,  and  dividing  the  spoil  with  him,  Isa.  liii. 
12.  And  this  he  did  by  the  merit  of  his  blood,  and  the  atonement 
he  made  for  sin  thereby.  This  took  away  the  obligation  of  the  law 
unto  death,  and  disarmed  Satan.  And  moreover,  by  the  power  of 
the  eternal  Spirit,  whereby  he  offered  himself  unto  God,  he  conquered 
and  quelled  him.  Satan  laid  his  claim  unto  the  person  of  Christ; 
but  coming  to  put  it  in  execution,  he  met  with  that  great  and  hidden 
power  in  him  which  he  knew  not,  and  v,?«  utterly  conquered.  And 
this,  as  it  gives  us  a  particular  consideration  of  the  excellency  of  our 
redemption,  wherein  Satan,  our  old  enemy,  who  first  foiled  u.s,  who 
always  hates  us,  and  seeks  our  ruin,  is  conquered,  spoiled,  and 
chained;  so  it  teacheth  us  how  to  contend  with  him,  by  what  wea- 
pons to  resist  his  temptations  and  to  repel  his  affrightments,  even 
those  whereby  he  hath  been  already  subdued.  Faith  in  the  death 
of  Christ  is  the  only  way  and  means  of  obtaining  a  conauest  over 
him.     He  will  fly  at  the  sign  of  the  cross  rightly  made 

Verse  16. 

Having  asserted  the  incarnation  of  the  Lord  Christ,  the  captain 
of  our  salvation,  and  showed  the  necessity  of  it,  from  the  ends  which 
were  to  be  accomplished  by  it,  and  therein  given  the  reason  of  his 
concession  that  he  was  for  a  season  made  less  than  the  anjjels,  the 
apostle  proceeds  in  this  verse  to  confirm  what  he  had  taught  before 
by  testimony  of  the  Scripture;  and  adds  an  especial  amplification  of 
the  grace  of  God  in  this  whole  dispensation,  from  the  consideration 
of  the  angels,  who  were  not  made  partakers  of  the  like  love  and 
mercy. 

Ver.  16. —  Ou  yap  hr,<xov  ayyiXuv  iT/Xa/xCavsra/,  aXXa  eiripfiuTog 
*AZpa.a(i  s<}ri'ka[j,Za.Hrai, 

Ov  y»p  8s)?roy.  The  Syriac  quite  omits  B-/)xov,  and  reads  only '^''.4  **?,  "non 
eniin;"  "for  he  did  not."     V.  L.,  "nusquam  enim."    Ilow  he  renders  "usquam," 


454!  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

"anywhrre;"  and  on  the  consirleration  of  the  negative  particle,  ov,  "  nus(]uaTn," 
"nowhere."  Bez.i,  "non  enim  utique."  as  ours;  "for  verily "'  [he  took]  "not," — 
rot  reaching  the  force  or  use  ot  S-^ttov.  Arias,  "non  enim  videlicet;"  wliieh 
an-wers  not  the  intent  of  this  place.  Erasmus  fully  and  properly,  "non  enim 
sane  usquam,"  "for  verily  not  anywhere;"  that  is,  in  nu  place  of  the  Sciip:ure 
is  any  such  thing  testified  unto:  which  way  of  expression  we  observed  our  apostle 
to  use  before,  chap.  i.  5. 

\h.yyiKuv  i'TTi'h.ct.f^Q.ci.viToi.i.  Syr.,  223  s:S5^  y^^  «ex  angelis  assumpsit,"  "he 
took  not  (if"  (or  "from  among")  "the  ;mgels;"  that  is,  of  their  nature.  V.  L., 
Arias,  "angelos  appreheiidit,"  "he  doth  not  t;ike  hold  of  angels."  Beza,  "nn'^elos 
assumpsit."  "he  assumed  not,"  "he  took  not  angels  to  himself:"  i7n'A»fioocvsr»i 
fur  lxsX««£,  by  an  enallage  of  time;  which  ours  follow,  "he  took  not  on  him  the 
nature  of  angels."  But  this  change  of  the  tense  is  needless;  for  the  apostle 
intends  not  to  express  what  Christ  had  done,  but  what  the  Sc,Ti|iture  saith  .'nd 
te.icheth  concerning  him  in  this  matter.  That  nowhere  affirms  that  he  takes 
hold  of  angels. 

The  remaining  words  are  generally  rendered  by  translators  according  to  the 
analogy  of  these:  "sed  apprehendit,"  "as-umit,"  "assumpsit,  semen  Abrahae," — 
'•he  laid  hold  of,"  "he  takes,''  "he  took  the  seed  of  Abraham;"  only  the  Ethiopia 
reads  them,  "Di(i  he  not  exalt  the  seed  of  Abraham?"  departing  from  the  sense  of 
the  words  and  of  the  text. 

The  constant  use  of  this  word  ivi'Koi.;/.ect,vu,  in  the  New  Testament,  is  "to  take 
hold  of;"  and  so  in  particular  it  is  elsewhere  used  in  this  epistle,  chap.  viii.  9, 
'E7r/X«€o^6j/oy  ^ov  rrig  xnpog  ctvTuv, — "In  the  day  that  I  took  them  by  the 
hand."  In  other  authors  it  is  so  variously  used  that  nothing  from  thence  can  he 
determined  as  to  its  precise  signification  in  this  or  any  other  place.  The  first  and 
p'-oper  sense  of  it  is  acknowledged  to  be  "to  take  hold  of,"  as  it  were  with  the  hand. 
And  however  the  sense  may  be  interpreted,  the  word  cannot  properly  be  trans- 
lated any  otherwise  than  "  to  take."  As  for  what  some  contem!,  that  the  eifect  or 
ei  d  of  taking  hold  of  is  to  help,  to  vindicate  into  liberty, — whence  by  Castalio  it  is 
rendered  "opituLitur," — it  belongs  to  the  design  of  the  place,  not  the  meaning  of 
the  word,  which  in  the  first  place  is  to  be  respected.' 

Ver.  16. — For  verily  not  anywhere  doth  he  take  angels, 
but  he  taketh  the  seed  of  Abraham. 

In  the  words  there  is  first  the  reference  that  the  apostle  makes 
unto  somewhat  else,  whereby  that  which  he  declareth  is  confirmed, 
"For  verily  not  anywhere;"  that  is,  that  which  he  denieth  in  the 
following  words  is  nowhere  taught  in  the  Scripture:  as  chap.  i.  5, 
"For  unto  which  of  the  angels  said  he  at  any  time;"  that  is,  'There 
is  no  testimony  extant  in  the  Scripture  concerning  them  to  that 
purpose.'  So  here,  'Nowhere  is  it  spoken  in  the  Scripture  that 
Christ  taketh  angels.'      And  what  is  so  spoken,  he  is  said  to  do. 

'  ' E-TTiT^ei/nQ.  is  now  translated  differently  from  the  A.  V.,  by  almost  all  exposi- 
tors. "  He  doth  succour. ' — Stuart.  "  He  giveth  his  aid." — Conybeare  and 
Jlowson.  "He  doth  lay  hold  on." — Craik.  "The  church  fathers  and  the 
theoloii-ians  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  supplied  a  (pi/aiv  to  the 
genitive,  and  rendered  thus,  'He  has  not  assumed  the  nature  of  angels,  but  that 
of  the  seed  nf  Abraham.'  Castalio  was  the  first  to  oppose  this  monstrous  inter- 
]  ]•  tit  on;  after  hi-n  the  Socini.ms  and  Arminians.  Since  1650  the  right 
iiitei  preiaiion  has  been  the  general  one." — Ebrard. — Ed, 


VER.  16.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  455 

And  thus  also  the  affirmative  clause  of  his  proposition,  "But  he 
taketh  the  seed  of  Abraham,"  is  to  be  referred  to  the  Scriptuie. 
There  it  is  promised,  there  it  is  spoken,  and  therein  it  is  done  by 
him. 

Secondly,  That  which  he  asserteth  hath  the  nature  of  a  discrete 
axiom,  wherein  the  same  thing  is  denied  and  affirmed  of  the  dis- 
parates expressed,  and  that  univocally  in  the  same  sense:  "He  took 
not  angels,  but  lie  took  tlie  seed  of  Abraham."  And  tliis,  we  being 
referred  to  the  Scripture  for  the  proof  and  confirmation  of,  gives 
light  and  perfect  understanding  into  the  meaning  of  the  words.  For 
how  doth  Christ  in  the  Scripture  take  the  seed  of  Abraham,  in  such 
a  sense  as  that  therein  nothing  is  spoken  of  him  in  reference  unto 
angels?  It  is  evident  that  it  was  in  that  he  was  of  the  posterity  of 
Abraham  according  to  the  flesh;  that  he  was  promised  to  Abraham 
that  he  should  be  of  his  seed,  yea,  that  he  siiould  be  his  seed,  as 
Gal.  iii.  16.  This  was  the  great  principle,  the  great  expectation  of 
the  Hebrews,  that  the  Messiah  should  be  the  seed  of  Abraham.  This 
was  declared  unto  them  in  the  promise ;  and  this  accordingly  was 
accomplished.  And  he  is  here  said  to  take  the  seed  of  Abraham, 
because  in  the  Scripture  it  is  so  plainly,  so  often  affirmed  that  he 
should  so  do,  when  not  one  word  is  anywhere  spoken  that  he  should 
be  an  angel,  or  take  their  nature  upon  him.  And  this,  as  I  said, 
gives  us  the  true  meaning  of  the  words.  The  apostle  in  them  con- 
firms what  he  had  before  affirmed,  concerning  his  being  made  par- 
taker of  flesh  and  blood  together  widi  the  children.  This,  saith  he, 
the  Scripture  declares,  wherein  it  is  promised  that  he  should  be  of 
the  seed  of  Abraham,  which  he  therein  takes  upon  him;  and  which 
was  already  accomplished  in  his  being  made  partaker  of  flesh  and 
blood.  See  John  i.  14,  Rom  ix.  5,  Gal.  iv.  4,  iii.  16.  This,  then,  the 
apostle  teacheth  us,  that  the  Lord  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  according 
to  the  promise,  took  to  himself  the  nature  of  man,  coming  of  the 
seed  of  Abraham, — that  is,  into  personal  union  with  himself;  bat  took 
not  the  nature  of  angels,  no  such  thing  being  spoken  of  him  or 
concerning  him  anywhere  in  tlie  Scripture.  And  this  exposition 
of  the  words  will  be  further  evidenced  and  confirmed  by  our  exami- 
nation of  another,  which,  with  great  endeavour,  is  advanced  in 
opposition  unto  it. 

Some,  then,  take  the  meaning  of  this  expression  to  be,  that  the 
Lord  Christ,  by  his  participation  of  flesh  and  blood,  brought  help 
and  relief,  not  unto  angels,  but  unto  men,  the  seed  of  Abraham. 
And  they  suppose  to  this  purpose,  that  sviKaiMZdvirai  is  put  for 
ava.7MiMZclnrai, — "to  help,  to  succour,  to  relieve,  to  vindicate  iuto 
liberty."  Of  this  mind  are  Castalio  and  all  the  Socinians:  among 
those  of  the  Roman  church,  Ribera;  Estius  also  and  a  Lapide  speak 
doubtfully  in  the  case:  of  Protestants,  Cameron  and  Grotius,  wlio 


456  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

affirms,  moreover,  that  Chrysostom  and  the  Greek  scholiasts  so  inter- 
pret the  place  and  words;  wliich  I  should  have  marvelled  at,  had  I 
not  lono-  before  observed  him  greatly  to  fail  or  mistake  in  many  of 
his  quotations.  Chrysostom,  whom  he  names  in  particular,  ex- 
pressly referreth  this  whole  verse  unto  the  Lord  Christ's  assump- 
tion of  the  nature  of  man,  and  not  of  the  nature  of  angels.  Tlie 
same  also  is  insisted  on  by  Theophylact  and  (Ecumenius,  without 
any  intimation  of  the  sense  that  Grotius  would  impose  upon  them. 
The  Socinians  embrace  and  endeavour  to  confirm  this  second 
exposition  of  the  words:  and  it  is  their  concernment  so  to  do;  for  if 
the  words  express  that  the  Lord  Christ  assumed  human  nature, 
which  necessarily  infers  his  pre-existence  in  another  nature,  their  per- 
suasion about  the  person  of  Christ  is  utterly  overthrown.  Their  ex- 
ceptions in  their  controversial  writings  unto  this  place  have  been 
elsewhere  considered.  Those  of  Enjedinus  on  this  text  are  answered 
by  Paraeus,  those  of  Castalio  by  Beza,  and  the  objections  of  some 
others  by  Gomarus.  We  shall,  in  the  first  place,  consider  what  is  pro- 
posed for  the  confirmation  of  their  sense  by  Schlichtingius  or  Crellius; 
and  then  the  exceptions  of  a  very  learned  expositor  unto  the  sense  be- 
fore laid  down  and  confirmed.  And  Schlichtingius  first  argues  from 
the  context: — " Praster  ipsa  verba,"  saith  he,  "quoe  huncsensum  nuHo 
mode  patiuntur  ut  postea  dicemus,  contextuset  nxtiocinatio  auctoris 
id  repudiat;  qui  pro  ratione  et  argumento  id  sumere  non  potuit 
debuitve,  quod  sibi  hoc  ipso  argumento  et  ratione  probandum  sum- 
sisset.  De  eo  enim  erat  qusestio,  cur  Christus  qui  nunc  ad  tantam 
majestatem  et  gloriam  est  evectus,  non  angeUcum  sed  humanam, 
morti  et  variis  calamitatibus  obnoxiam  habuerit  naturam?  hujus 
vero  rei,  quo  pacto  ratio  redderetur,  per  id  quod  non  angelicam  sed 
humanam  naturam  assumpserit;  cum  istius  ipsius  rei,  quae  in  hac 
qusestione  continetur,  nempe  quod  Christus  homo  fuit  natus,  nunc 
causa  ratioque  qu^eratur.  At  vero  si  hsec  verba,  de  juvandis  non 
angelis,  sed  hominibus,  deque  ope  iis  ferenda  intelHgamus,  pulcher- 
riiue  omnia  cohserent;  nempe  Christum  hominem  mortalem  fuisse, 
non  angelum  aliquem,  quod  non  angelis  sed  hominibus  juvandis, 
servandisque  fuerit  destinatus."  But  the  foundation  of  this  exposi- 
tion of  the  context  is  a  mistake,  which  his  own  preceding  discourbo 
might  have  relieved  him  from;  for  there  is  no  such  question  pro- 
posed as  here  is  imagined,  nor  doth  he  in  his  following  exposition 
suppose  it.  The  apostle  doth  not  once  propose  this  unto  confirma- 
tion, that  it  behoved  the  Lord  Christ  to  be  a  man,  and  not  an  angel. 
But  having  proved  at  large  befure,  that  in  nature  and  autliority  he 
was  above  the  angels,  he  grants,  verse  7,  that  he  was  for  a  little 
wliile  made  lower  than  they,  and  gives  at  large  the  reason  of  the 
necessity  of  that  dispensation,  taken  from  the  work  which  God  had 
designed  him  unto :  which  being  to  "bring  many  sons  unto  glory,"  he 


VER.  16.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  457 

shows,  and  proves  by  sundry  reasons,  that  it  could  not  be  accom- 
plished without  his  death  and  suffering;  for  which  end  it  was  indis- 
pensably necessary  that  he  should  be  made  partaker  of  "flesh  and 
blood."  And  this  he  confirms  further  by  referring  the  Hebrews 
unto  the  Scripture,  and  in  especial  unto  the  great  promise  of  the 
Messiah  made  unto  Abraham,  that  the  Messiah  was  to  be  his  seed ; 
the  love  and  grace  whereof  he  amplifies  by  an  intimation  that  he 
was  not  to  partake  of  the  angelical  nature.  That  supposition,  there- 
fore, which  is  the  foundation  of  this  exposition, — namely,  that  the 
apostle  had  before  designed  to  prove  that  the  Messiah  ought  to  par- 
take of  human  nature,  and  not  of  angelical,  which  is  nothing  to  his 
purpose, — is  a  surmise  suited  only  to  the  present  occasion.  Where- 
fore Felbinger,  in  his  Demonstrationes  Evangelicae,  takes  another 
course,  and  affirms  that  these  words  contain  the  end  of  what  was 
before  asserted,  verses  14,  15, — namely,  about  Christ's  participation 
of  flesh  and  blood, — which  was,  not  to  help  angels,  but  the  seed  of 
Abraham,  and  to  take  them  into  grace  and  favour.  But  these 
things  are  both  of  them  expressly  declared  in  those  verses,  especially 
verse  15,  where  it  is  directly  affirmed  that  his  design  in  his  incar- 
nation and  death  was  to  destroy  tlie  devil,  and  to  free  and  save  the 
children.  And  to  what  end  should  these  things  be  here  again  re- 
peated, and  that  in  words  and  terms  far  more  obscure  and  ambi- 
guous than  those  wherein  it  was  before  taught  and  declared  ?  for  by 
"angels"  they  understand  evil  angels;  and  there  could  be  no  cause 
■why  the  apostle  should  say  in  this  verse  that  he  did  not  assist  or 
relieve  them,  when  he  had  declared  in  the  words  immediately  fore- 
going that  he  was  born  and  died  that  he  might  destroy  them. 
Neither  is  it  comely  to  say,  that  the  end  why  Christ  destroyed  the 
devil  was  that  he  luight  not  help  him ;  or  the  end  why  he  saved  the 
children  was  that  he  might  assist  them.  Besides,  the  introduction 
of  this  assertion,  oii  yap  dyj-rou,  will  not  allow  that  here  any  end  is 
intimated  of  what  was  before  expressed,  there  being  no  insinuation 
of  any  final  cause  in  them. 

The  context,  therefore,  not  answering  their  occasion,  they  betake 
themselves  to  the  words:  "  Verbum  imXafji^Qdnrai,'' ssLiih  he,  "  sig- 
nificat  proprie,  manu  aliquem  apprehendere ;  sive  ut  ilium  aliquo 
ducas,  sive  ut  sustentes;  hinc  ad  opitulationem  significandum  com- 
mode transfertur;  quos  enim  adjutos  volumus  ne  cadant,  vel  sub 
onere  aliquo  succumbant,  aut  si  ceciderint  erectos  cupimus,  iis  manum 
injicere  solemus,  quo  sensu  Ecclesiastic,  iv.  11.  De  sapientia  dictum 
est,  Ka/  i'ZiXaiiZdvirai  ruv  Zr^roxivTUv  alrriv, — hoc  est,  '  opitulatur  quse- 
rentibus  se;'  eadem  est  significatio  verbi  avr/Xa^dCdviTut,  quod  qui 
aliquem  sublevatum  velint  illi  ex  adverso  manum  porrigere  solent." 

it  is  acknowledged  that  avTiXa/iZdviTai  doth  frequently  signify  as 
here  is  alleged,  namely,  "  to  help  and  assist,"  as  it  were  by  putting 


458  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

forth  the  hand  for  to  give  relief  But  if  that  were  intended  by  the 
apostle  in  this  place,  what  reason  can  be  assigned  why  he  should 
waive  the  use  of  a  word  proper  unto  his  purpose,  and  frequently  so 
applied  by  himself  in  other  places,  and  make  use  of  another,  wliich 
signifying  no  such  thing,  nor  anywhere  used  by  him  in  that  sense, 
must  needs  obscure  his  meaning  and  render  it  ambiguous?  Whereas, 
therefore,  avriXaiJjZdviTat  signifies  "  to  help  and  relieve,"  and  is  con- 
stantly used  by  our  apostle  in  that  sense,  it  being  not  used  or  iip- 
plied  by  him  in  this  place  to  express  liis  intention,  but  s-ttiXu/mQcI- 
virai,  which  signifies  no  such  thing,  nor  is  ever  used  by  him  to  that 
purpose,  the  sense  contended  for,  of  help  and  relief,  is  plainly  ex- 
cluded. The  place  of  Ecclesiasticus,  and  that  alone,  is  referred 
unto  by  all  that  embrace  this  exposition.  But  what  if  the  word  be 
abused  in  that  place  by  that  writer?  must  that  give  a  rule  unto  its 
interpretation  in  all  other  writers  where  it  is  properly  used?  But 
yet  neither  is  the  word  used  there  for  to  help  and  relieve,  but  to 
take  and  receive.  Wisdom,  "  suscipit,"  "  receiveth,"  or  taketh  unto 
itself,  "suo  more,"  those  that  seek  it;  which  is  the  sense  of  the  wonl 
we  plead  for,  and  so  is  it  rendered  by  translators.  So  the  Lord 
Christ,  "  suo  modo,"  took  to  himself  the  seed  of  Abraham,  by 
uniting  it  unto  his  person  as  he  was  the  Son  of  God.  In  the  very 
entrance  also  of  his  discourse  this  author  acknowledgeth  that  ivt- 
"KaiMZdvirai  doth  not  directly  or  properly  signify  "to  help"  or  "to  re- 
lieve," but  signifying  "to  take  hold  of,"  is  transferred  unto  that  use 
and  sense.  I  ask  where?  by  whom?  in  what  author?  If  he  says  in  this 
place  by  the  apostle,  that  will  not  prove  it;  and  where  any  will 
plead  for  the  metaphorical  use  of  a  word,  they  must  either  prove 
that  the  sense  of  the  place  where  it  is  used  enforces  that  accepta- 
tion of  it,  or  at  least  that  in  like  cases  in  other  places  it  is  so  ustd ; 
neither  of  which  are  here  pretended. 

But  he  proceeds:  "Quod  hie  dicit,  IviXa/M^dvieSai,  ver.  18,  per 
^orjdrjsai,  eftert;  de  eadem  enim  re  utrobique  agitur,  et  rationem 
consequentise  argumenti,  quod  in  hoc  versiculo  proponit  illic  expli- 
cat."  This  is  but  imagined;  the  contrary  is  evident  unto  every  one, 
upon  the  first  view  of  the  context.  Here  the  apostle  discourseth 
the  reason  of  the  humiliation  of  Christ,  and  his  taking  flesh;  there, 
the  bf^nefit  of  his  priestly  office  unto  them  that  do  believe. 

'Ecr/Xa/o.^avo/Aa/  is  therefore  properly  "  assumo,"  "  accipio,"  "  to 
take  unto,"  or,  "  to  take  upon;"  and  the  apostle  teacheth  us  by  it, 
that  the  Lord  Christ  took  unto  him,  and  took  on  him,  our  iiurnan 
nature,  of  the  seed  of  Abraham. 

That  the  genuine  sense  of  the  place  may  be  yet  more  fully  vindi- 
cated, I  shall  further  consider  the  exceptions  of  a  very  learned  man 
anto  our  interjjretation  of  the  words,  and  his  answers  unto  the  rea- 
t^%-  whereby  it  is  confirmed. 


VER.  16.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  4.5D 

First,  he  says  that  "  sTiXa/j^Zavsrai,  being  in  the  present  tense,  sia- 
nifieth  a  continued  action,  such  as  Christ's  helping  of  lis  is;  but  liis 
assumption  of  human  nature  was  a  momentaneous  action,  which 
being  past  h)ng  before,  tlie  apostle  would  not  express  it  as  a  thing 
present/'  It  is  generally  answered  unto  this  exception,  that  an  en- 
allage  is  to  be  allowed,  and  that  s':riXafiQdnrui  is  put  for  irrsXaQsro, 
v.'hich  is  usual  in  the  Scripture.  So  John  i.  31,  xxi.  13.  But  yet 
there  is  no  just  necessity  of  supposing  it  in  this  place.  The  apostle 
in  his  usual  manner,  disj^uting  with  the  Hebrews  on  the  principles 
wherein  they  had  been  instructed  from  the  Old  Testament,  minds 
them  that  there  is  nothing  said  therein  of  his  taking  upon  liim  the 
nature  of  angels,  but  only  of  the  seed  of  Abraham.  So  that  "  he 
takes"  is,  "  he  doth  so  in  the  Scripture,"  that  affirms  him  so  to  do; 
and  in  respect  hereunto  the  expression  in  the  pi'esent  tense  is  proper 
to  his  purpose.  This  way  of  arguing  and  manner,  of  expression  we 
have  manifested  on  chap.  i.  5. 

Again  he  adds,  "  This  expression,  'He  took  not  on  him  angels,'  for, 
'  the  nature  of  angels,'  is  hard  and  uncouth,  as  it  would  be  in  the 
affirmative  to  say,  '  Assumpsit  homines,'  or  '  hominera,'  '  He  took 
men,'  or  'a  man;'  which  we  say  not,  although  we  do  that  he  took 
human  nature."  But  the  reason  of  this  phrase  of  speech  is  evident. 
Having  before  affirmed  that  he  was  partaker  aapxhg  y.ai  alfj^arog,  "  of 
flesh  and  blood,"  whereby  the  nature  of  man  is  expressed,  repeating 
here  again  the  same  assertion  with  respect  unto  the  promise,  and  a 
negation  of  the  same  thing  in  reference  unto  angels,  because  their 
nature  consisteth  not  of  flesh  and  blood,  he  expresseth  it  indefinitely 
and  in  the  concrete,  "  He  took  not  them," — that  is,  not  that  in  and 
of  them  which  answers  unto  flesh  and  blood  in  the  children, — that 
is,  their  nature.  So  that  there  is  no  need  to  assert,  as  he  supposeth 
some  may  do,  that  ffapxhg  xai  a'/fMuros  ought  to  be  repeated  ex  rou 
xonov,  and  reffrred  unto  those  bodies  which  the  angels  assumed  for 
a  season  in  their  apparitions  under  the  old  testament,  there  being 
only  an  ellipsis,  easy  to  be  supplied,  of  that  in  them  which  answers 
unto  flesh  and  blood  in  the  children. 

Thirdly,  "  The  apostle,"  he  saith,  "  showeth,  verse  17,  that  Christ 
ought  in  all  things  to  be  made  like  unto  us,  by  this  reason,  '  Quod 
non  assumpsit  angelos,  sed  semen  Abrahse.'  But  if  this  be  to  take  on 
him  the  nature  of  man,  he  comes  to  prove  the  same  thing  by  the  same; 
for  to  be  made  like  unto  us,  and  to  assume  human  nature,  difter  only 
in  words,  and  not  really  or  in  deed.  But  take  l-iXa/jbCdnrai  to  signify 
•  to  help'  or  '  relieve,'  and  all  things  agree.  For  because  he  came 
to  help  us  and  not  angels,  it  became  him  to  be  made  like  unto  us." 
But  herein  lies  a  double  mistake: — First,  In  the  scope  and  argument 
of  the  apostle;  for  those  words  in  the  beginning  of  the  17th  verse 
are  not  an  inference  or  conclusion  from  what  is  asserted  in  this  verse, 


460  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

but  an  affirmation  of  the  necessity  of  what  is  there  asserted  from 
that  which  follows  in  the  same  verse,  "  that  he  might  be  a  faitliful 
high  priest."  Secondly,  These  words,  "  like  unto  us,"  do  not  intend 
his  conformity  unto  us  in  his  participation  of  human  nature,  which 
he  had  on  other  reasons  before  confirmed,  but  in  the  sufferings  and 
temptations  which  there  he  insists  upon. 

Fourthly,  '"The  seed  of  Abraham,'"  he  says,  "is  a  collective  expres- 
sion, and  denotes  many;  at  least  it  must  denote  the  person  of  some 
man,  which  Christ  did  not  assume.  And  therefore  it  is  the  spiiitual 
seed  of  Abraham  that  is  intended ;  that  is,  believers.  And  the  apostle 
so  calls  them,  because  the  Hebrews  were  well  pleased  with  the  men- 
tion of  that  privilege."  But  this  will  not  abide  the  examiuati<in. 
The  great  promise  of  old  unto  Abraham  was,  that  in  his  seed  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth  should  be  blessed.  The  intendment  of  that 
promise  was,  that  the  Messiah  shoidd  be  his  seed,  of  his  posterity. 
That  by  this  seed  one  individual  was  intended  our  apostle  declares, 
Gal.  iii.  16;  as  Christ  in  like  manner  is  said  to  be  "  of  the  seed  of 
David  according  to  the  flesh,"  Rom.  i.  3.  Of  this  promise  the  apostle 
minds  the  Hebrews.  So  that  his  taking  on  him  the  seed  of  Abra- 
ham is  not  the  assuming  of  many,  nor  of  the  person  of  any  one  of 
them,  but  merely  his  being  made  of  the  seed  of  Abraham  according 
to  the  promise.  And  to  bend  these  words  unto  any  other  sense 
than  the  accomplishment  of  the  promise  made  to  Abraham,  that 
Christ  should  be  of  his  seed,  is  plainly  to  pervert  them.  And  this 
is  all  of  weight  that  I  can  meet  withal  which  is  objected  unto  our 
interpretation  of  this  place;  which  being  removed,  it  is  further 
established. 

Lastly,  In  the  disparate  removed,  by  "  angels,"  the  good  angels, 
not /a^/e^i  angels,  are  princijoally  regarded.  Of  fallen  angels  he  had 
newly  spoken  under  the  collective  expression,  "  the  devil,"  who  had 
the  power  of  death.  Nor  are,  it  may  be,  the  devils  anywhere  called 
absolutely  by  the  name  of  angels;  but  they  are  termed  either  "  evil 
angels,"  or  "  angels  that  sinned,"  "  that  left  their  habitation,"  "  that 
are  to  be  judged,"  "  the  devil's  angels,"  or  have  some  or  other  pecu- 
liar adjunct  whereby  they  are  marked  out  and  distinguished.  Now, 
it  cannot  be  that  this  word  sTiXa/j^Cdvirai,  if  it  be  interpreted  "  to  help," 
"assist,"  or  "relieve,"  can  in  any  sense  be  applied  unto  the  angels  that 
must  be  intended,  if  any ;  for  the  word  must  denote  either  any  help, 
assistance,  or  relief  in  general,  or  that  especial  help  and  assistance 
which  is  given  by  Christ  in  the  work  of  reconciliation  and  redemp- 
tion. If  the  first  be  intended,  I  much  question  the  truth  of  the 
assertion,  seeing  the  angels  owe  their  establishment  in  grace  unto 
Christ,  and  also  their  advancement  in  glory,  Eph.  i.  10.  If  it  be  to  be 
taken  in  the  latter  sense,  as  is  pretended,  then  the  nature  of  the  dis- 
crete axiom  here  used  by  the  apostle  requires  that  there  be  the  same 


VER.  16.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWa  461 

need  of  the  help  intimated  in  both  the  disparates,  which  is  denied 
as  unto  tiie  one,  and  affirmed  as  unto  the  other.  But  now  the  angels, 
that  is,  the  good  angels,  had  no  need  of  the  help  of  redemption  and 
reconciliation  unto  God,  or  of  being  freed  from  death,  or  the  fear  of 
it,  which  they  were  never  obnoxious  unto.  And  what  remains  for 
the  clearing  of  the  mind  of  the  apostle  will  appear  yet  further  in  the 
ensuing  observations  from  the  words. 

I.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  truly  God  and  man  in  one  person; 
and  this  is  fully  manifested  in  these  words.  For,  1.  There  is  supposeil 
in  them  his  pre-existence  in  another  nature  than  that  which  he  is 
said  here  to  assume.  He  was  before,  he  subsisted  before,  or  he 
could  not  have  taken  on  him  what  he  had  not.  This  was  his  divine 
nature;  as  the  like  is  intimated  where  he  is  said  to  be  "made  flesh," 
John  i.  14;  to  be  "made  of  a  woman,"  Gal.  iv.  4;  to  be  "manifested 
in  the  flesh,"  1  Tim.  iii.  16;  to  "  take  on  him  the  form  of  a  servant," 
Phil.  ii.  .8,  9;  as  here,  "he  took  the  seed  of  Abraham."  He  vms 
before  he  did  so;  that  is,  as  the  Son,  the  Word  of  God,  the  Son  of 
God,  as  in  the  places  mentioned,  eternally  pre-existing  unto  this  his 
incarnation :  for  the  subject  of  this  proposition,  "  He  took  on  him," 
etc.,  denotes  a  person  pre-existing  unto  the  act  of  taking  here  as- 
cribed unto  him;  which  was  no  other  than  the  Son  of  God.  2.  He 
assumed,  he  took  to  himself,  another  nature,  "  of  the  seed  of  Abra- 
ham," according  unto  the  promise.  So,  continuing  what  he  was,  he 
became  what  he  was  not.  For,  3.  He  took  this  to  be  his  ovjn  nature. 
He  so  took  it  as  himself  to  become  truly  "the  seed  of  Abraham,"  to 
Avhom  and  concerning  whom  the  promise  was  given,  Gal.  iii.  16;  and 
was  himself  made  "  of  the  seed  of  David  according  to  the  flesh/' 
Rom.  i.  3;  and  "  as  concerning  the  flesh  came  of  the  fathers,"  Rom. 
ix.  5 ;  and  so  was  "  the  son  of  David,  the  son  of  Abraham,"  Matt.  i.  1. 
And  this  could  no  otherwise  be  done  but,  4.  By  taking  that  nature 
into  personal  subsistence  with  himself,  in  the  hypostasis  of  the  Son 
of  God.  The  nature  he  assumed  could  no  otherwise  become  his.  For 
if  he  had  by  any  ways  or  means  taken  the  person  of  a  n^an  to  be 
united  unto  him,  in  the  strictest  union  that  two  persons  are  capable 
of,  a  divine  and  a  human,  the  nature  had  still  been  the  nature  of 
thit  other  person,  and  not  his  own.  5.  But  he  took  it  to  be  his  own 
nature;  which  it  could  no  ways  be  but  by  personal  union,  causing  it 
to  subsist  in  his  own  person.  And  he  is  therefore  a  true  and  perfect 
man:  for  no  more  is  required  to  make  a  complete  and  perfect  man 
but  the  entire  nature  of  man  subsisting;  and  this  is  in  Christ  as  a 
man,  the  human  nature  having  a  subsistence  communicated  unto  it 
by  the  Son  of  God.  And  therefore,  6.  This  is  done  without  a  mul- 
tiplicatio7t  of  persons  in  him;  for  the  human  nature  dan  have  no 
ptrsunality  of  its  own,  because  it  was  taken  to  be  the  nature  o* 
auotlier  person  who  was  pre-existent  unto  it,  and  by  assuming  of  ' 


4.G2  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

prevented  its  proper  personality.  Neither,  7.  Did  hence  any  mix- 
ture or  confusion  of  natures  ensue,  or  of  the  essential  properties  of 
them;  for  he  took  the  seed  of  Abraham  to  be  his  human  nature, 
which  if  mixed  with  the  divine  it  could  not  be.  And  this  he  hath 
done,  8.  Inseparably  and  for  ever.  Which  things  are  handled  at 
large  elsewhere. 

II.  The  redemption  of  mankind  by  the  taking  of  our  nature,  was 
a  work  of  mere  sovereign  grace. 

He  took  the  seed  of  Abraham;  he  took  not  the  nature  of  angels. 
And  for  what  cause  or  reason  ?     Can  any  be  assigned  but  the  so v 
reign  grace,  pleasure,  and  love  of  God  ?  nor  doth  the  Scripture  any- 
where assign  any  other.     And  this  will  the  better  appear  if  we  con- 
sider,— 

1.  That  for  a  sinning  nature  to  be  saved,  it  was  indispensably 
necessary  that  it  sliould  be  assumed.  The  nature  of  angels  being 
not  taken,  tliose  that  sinned  in  that  nature  must  perish  for  ever; 
and  they  that  fancy  a  possibility  of  saving  sinners  any  other  way 
but  by  satisfaction  made  in  the  nature  that  had  sinned,  seem  not  to 
have  considered  aright  the  nature  of  sin  and  the  justice  of  God. 
Had  any  other  way  been  possible,  why  doth  the  perishing  of  angels 
so  inevitably  follow  the  non-assumption  of  their  nature  ?  This  way 
alone,  then,  could  it  be  wrought. 

2.  That  we  were  carrying  away  all  human  nature  into  endless 
destruction;  for  so  it  is  intimated:  whence  Christ's  assumption 
of  it  is  expressed  by  his  putting  forth  his  hand  and  taking  hold 
of  it,  to  stop  it  in  its  course  of  apostasy  and  ruin.  Of  angels,  only 
some  individual  persons  fell  from  God;  but  our  whole  nature,  in 
every  one  to  whom  it  was  communicated  from  and  by  Adam,  was 
running  headlong  to  destruction.  In  itself  there  could  be  no  relief, 
iior  any  thing  to  commend  it  unto  God. 

Here  sovereign  grace  interposeth, — the  love  of  God  to  mankind, 
Tit.  iii.  4.  As  to  the  angels,  he  "spared  them  not,"  2  Pet.  ii.  4.  He 
spared  not  them,  and  "spared  not  his  Son"  for  us,  Kom.  viii.  82.  And 
if  we  consider  rightly  what  the  Scripture  informs  us  of  the  number 
and  dignity  of  the  angels  that  sinned,  of  their  nature  and  ability  to 
accomplish  the  will  of  God,  and  compare  therewith  our  own  vileness 
and  low  condition,  we  may  have  matter  of  eternal  admiration  sug- 
gested unto  us.  And  there  was  infinite  wisdom  as  well  as  sovereign 
grace  in  this  dispensation,  sundry  brandies  whereof  the  apostle  after- 
wards holds  out  unto  us. 

Verses  17,  18. 

Having  declared  the  general  reasons  why  tbe  Son  or  Messiah  was 
for  a  liitle  while  to  be  made  lower  than  the  angels,  in  his  incarna- 
tion and  sufferings,  and  shov\ed  the  ends  thereof,  the  apostle  pro- 


VER.  17,  18.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  4e;3 

ceeds  to  declare  other  especial  ends  of  this  divine  dispensation,  and 
therein  makes  way  unto  what  he  had  to  instruct  the  Hebrews  in 
ahout  the  priestly  office  of  Christ;  which  was  the  principal  ground 
and  foundation  of  what  he  intended  more  fully  afterwards  to  dis- 
course with  them  about  and  to  inform  them  in. 

Ver.  17,  18. — "Ohv  wfs/Xs  xara,  rravra  tou  adiXfoTg  ofMoiw&rjvai,  7va 
iAsri/J,!fjv  yivriTui  xai  vierhg  dpy^npiuc  ra  irpog  rhv  Giov,  sig  rh  iXdiy/.iGdai 
Tcig  d/j,apTiag  rou  Xaou,  'Ev  oi  yap  -TriTovdsv  ax)Tog  Tupaahtg,  diivarai  rotg 
'iriipa'^oiJ.ivoig  jSoTj^riSai. 

"Odiu  u>(p£i>.e.  v.,  "  unde  debuit,"  "whence  he  ought."  So  Beza.  Syr.,  ''^-'? 
"71  ^l^,  "  ^or  which  cause,"  (or  "  wherefore")  "  it  was  just,"  "  meet,"  or  "  equal." 
Othersi,  "  wherefore  it  was  due;"  "it  was  convenient;"  "wherefore  it  lelioved 
him  :"  so  ours.  'Oips/Aw  joined  with  an  infinitive  mood,  as  here  it  is,  signifies 
commonly  "  oportet  me,"  or  "  necesse  est,"  or  '•  deheo," — "  I  ought,"  "  it  behoveth 
me,"  "  it  is  necessary  for  me;"  and  denotes  more  than  a  mere  congruency,  cun- 
veniency,  or  expediency,  even  such  a  kind  of  necessity  as  ariseth  from  that  which 
in  itself  is  just  and  equal;  which  the  Syriac  expresseih.  It  is  of  the  same  import- 
ance with  iTrpiTis,  verse  10. 

KctToi  TTciuTX,  "per  omnia."  Syr.,  '=7.'?  ^?r,  "•"  omni  re,"  "in  every  thing." 
Arab.,  "In  cunctis  eorum  conditionibus,"  "in  all  conditions ;"  that  is,  every  con- 
dition and  state  of  hfe.  Ours,  "  in  all  things,"  leaving  the  words  where  they  are 
placed  in  the  original,  "wherefore  in  all  things  it  behoved  him;"  whereas  a  little 
transposition  of  them  would  more  clear  up  the  sense,  "  wherefore  it  behoved  him 
tc  be  made  like  unto  his  brethren  in  all  things."  The  Ethiopic  qiiite  omits  the 
words  here,  and  placeth  them  after  'O.ir.pcuv,  "merciful  in  all  things." 

To<f  »li7^(poi;  oy-oiud'/iuoii.  V.,  "  fratrihus  simulari;"  Eras.,  "  simili^  reddi:" 
Bez;i,  '•  simiiis  fieri ;"  as  ours,  "to  be  made  like."  The  article  prefixed  to  aosX- 
^o~iS  restrains  the  name  "  brethren"  unto  those  whom  he  had  before  discoursed 
ot  under  the  names  of  "  children,"  "  disciples,"  "  sanctified  ones." 

"Ij/«4  I'Ki'/jfx.uv  ysvYiTui  x,ccl  -TridTog  at.p%iipiv^,  "  ut  misericors  fieret"  (or  "esset") 
"pontifex;"  so  V  ,  Eras..  Bez.  The  Syriac  somewhat  otherwise,  "frT'l'?  '^.".v^? 
s^'sis  a"^"!^  "that  he  might  be  merciful,  and  a  great  prie-t,"  or  "chief  priest," 
*'?';^~?,  "faithful  in  the  things  of  God;"  so  making  his  tnercifulness  an  attribute 
of  his  person  absolutely,  and  faithfulness  only  to  respect  him  as  a  hi'uh  priest. 
So  also  the  Arabic  and  Ethiopic.  And  the  word  whereby  e'^iyj/y.uu  is  rendend 
signifies  "  tenderly  merciful,"  with  that  kind  of  mercy  which  is  calleil  "  bowels  of 
compa>sion,"from  °'!'7'.  And  it  may  be  here  observed,  that  that  interpreter  through- 
out the  epistle  renders  oip)(,tipi^<;  by  >!-?2i3  3i"rab  comara,"  though  that  word 
be  always  u^ed  in  an  ill  sense  in  the  Old  Testament.  Three  times  it  occurs  therein  ; 
— 2  Kings  xxiii.  5,  where  we  render  it  "idokitrous  priests;"  Ziph.  i.  4,  [where] 
the  name  "chemarims  "  is  retained;  Hos.  x.  5,  [where]  we  express  it  by  "priests," 
but  place  "  chemarim  "  in  the  margin.  For  it  prmcipally  denoted  tlie  priests 
of  Baal  and  Moloch,  and  their  "  blackness"  (as  the  word  is  rendered.  Job  iii.  5), 
not  from  the  garments  they  wore,  but  from  the  colour  they  contracted  in  their 
diabolical  sacrifices  in  the  fire.  Hence,  wherever  tiie  word  1~3  is  applied  unto  a 
priest  of  a  false  god,  or  one  engaged  in  false  worship,  the  Targumists  constantly 
render  it  by  vm-.-z.  See  Judg.  xvii.  5,  xviii.  4,  30.  But  this  translator  re-pected 
r,o-  so  much  the  use,  as  the  original  and  extraction  of  the  word  ;  for  from  "'r^  in 
Ni]>hal,  ""??',  is  "  to  wax  hot,"  and  "  to  be  moved  with  internal  heat;"  whence  it  is 
taken  to  signify  compassion  and  pity, — the  same  with  '^n'^.  Hence,  Deut.  xiii.  18, 
VOL.  XII. — 30 


464  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CIIAP.  XL 

^""r?!!-  ~.  ir^\  *'  and  sliall  give  thee  tender  mercy"  ("  bowels  of  compassion  "),  is 
rendered  by  Ben  Uzziel,  inrb?  urn-^  vwni  y^zhy  i-,a3^%  "  and  shall  wax  hot 
towards  you  with  compassion,  and  shall  have  compassion  on  you," — '  He  shall  lie 
wai-med  and  moved  with  compassion  towards  you.'  In  like  manner  is  the  word 
used,  Ps.  Ixxvii.  10.  With  respect  unto  this  heat  of  affection  and  aliuiid  mt 
compassion,  the  word  may  well  be  applied  unto  the  Lord  Christ,  our  hi^h  priest. 

T«  TT/sof  TOJ/  Qiov.  v.,  "ad  Dt'um,"  "pontifex  ad  Detim,"  "an  hiuh  [iriest 
towards  God ;"  very  defectively.  Eras.,  "  in  his  quae  apud  Deum  forent  ajiCeiida,"' 
"  in  the  things  that  were  to  be  done  before  God: "  so  also  Beza,  noting  "  t'orent 
airenda,"  as  a  supplement  unto  the  text.  So  Vatablus  and  others.  Syr.,  *'~^''"r, 
"  in  the  things  of  God."  The  apostle  explains  his  own  meaning,  Ileb.  v.  1, 
where  he  tells  us,  that  "every  high  priest  KocSiarcircct  toL  Trpog  rou  Qsov,  'ivoi  Trpoa- 
<(:ipvj," — "  is  set  over  the  things  appertaining  unto  God,  that  he  may  offer  sacrifice." 
"  In  things  appertaining  unto  God," — what  he  hath  to  do  with  God  in  thiir  be- 
half for  whom  he  ministers  in  his  office  before  him.  Arab.,  "res  nostras  apud 
Deum  perasiens." 

E(V  TO  i'htx.ax.iddoe.i  T«f  eif^,xpri'»;  rov  'Ken.ov.  V.,  "  ut  repropitiaret  delicta  po- 
puli;'"  aiming  to  express  the  sense  of  the  original,  it  falls  upon  a  barbai'ous  word, 
yi'lding  no  tolerable  sense,  though  that  which  seems  to  be  intended  in  it  is,  to  make 
pro|)itiation  or  atonement.  Ar.,  Vatab.,  Eras.,  Bez.,  "adexi  iandum,"  Syr.,  "^rFS^^ 
N-:>-i  ■""■"•jn  ^»^  "expians  super  peccata  populi;"  so  the  word  is  constantly  trans- 
lat  d,  though  it  rather  signifies  to  show  mercy  or  pity.  '  \'ha.<sK(i^at.i  is  com- 
monly used  actively  for  "  propitiuni  facio,"  or  "  propitio,"  "  to  please,"  "  appease," 
"atone,"  "turn  away  anger;"  and  when  it  is  taken  in  a  passive  or  n;  uter  sense, 
it  -ignities  "  to  be  merciful,"  "appeased,"  "  rt-conciled,"  as  Luke  xviii,  13,  'O  ©so?, 
i'ha.aSmi  ^01  Tui  a.fca.pru'Ku, — "  God  be  mi  rciful  unto  me  a  sinmer."  I  much  <louljt 
whether  any  instance  can  be  given  of  its  signifying  "  to  expiate,"  though,  beiause 
of  the  construction  of  it  in  this  place,  it  be  generally  so  rendered.  If  it  be  taken 
in  its  first  proper  sense,  then  sin  cannot  be  the  next  object  of  the  act  denoted 
by  it.  Ours,  "to  make  reconciliation  for  the  sins  of  the  people;"  of  the  sense 
whereof  we  shall  deal  afterwards  at  large. 

'E»  u  y«/9.  v.,  "in  eo  enini,"  "for  in  that;"  Eras.,  "nam  ex  hoc,"  "for 
from  hence;"  Beza,  "  nam  ex  eo;"  Vat.,  "  ex  eo ;"  "  ob  id ;"  ours,  "  for  in  that," 
— that  is,  "inasmuch;"  not,  "in  that  thing  wherein  he  was  tempted,"  but, 
"whereas,"  "inasmuch,"  "  seeing  that ;"  Arab.,  "for  from  those  thmgs  which 
happened  unto  him  when  he  was  tempted." 

l\i'7rou6iy  axnoi  'Treipocadii'i.  V.,  "  passus  est  ipse  tentatus,"  "  in  which  himself  suf- 
fered and  was  tempted."  "Et."  Erasmus  tells  us,  is  not  in  many  ancient  copies. 
Ar.,  •'  in  quo  passus  est  ipse  tentatus,"  "in  that  he  suffered  himself  being  tempted." 
Bez.,  "ex  eo  quod  perpessus  ipse  fuit,  quum  est  tentatus,"  "  for  that  which  he  suf- 
fered w  hen  he  was  tempted."  But  the  words  rather  signify  hi<  suffermgs  by  beiiig 
tempted,  or  from  his  temptations,  than  his  suffering  on  other  accounts  when  he 
was  tempted.  Syr.,  "  for  in  that  he  suffered  and  was  tempted  ;"  as  the  Vul.,  Eras., 
"  quod  ipsi  contigit  tentatum  esse,"  "  that  it  befell  him  to  be  tempted,"  laying  the 
whole  upon  temptation,  because  in  the  latter  clause  mention  is  made  of  "them  that 
are  tempted,"  without  any  addition  of  sufferings  It  is  not  certain  whether  ■7ri7rov6» 
be  from  ita-a-K^u  or  from  movku,  from  uhose  active,  7r£7ro'i/nx«,  the  middle  significa- 
tion in  TTSTTovfls  is  formed,  and  viTrovSce,  by  a  u^ual  pleonasm  of  theta:  and  if  so, 
not  his  siifering,  but  his  labouring  unler  temptation,  is  intended.  If,  as  it  is 
commonly  thought,  it  be  from  voca-)cu,  I  confess  that  word  is  sometimes  used  as 
it  is  here  rendered  by  Erasmus,  "  accidit,"  "contigit,"  "  usu  venit,"  "it  hap- 
pened," "  it  befell ;"  but  it  is  but  rarely,  and  that  not  without  regard  unto  suffer- 
ing. But  it  being  evident  that  the  suffering  of  Christ  is  here  intended,  his 
temptation  being  mentioned  only  as  an  instance  of  that  whereby  he  suffered,  that 


VER.  17,  18.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  465 

is  not  to  be  passed  over,  and  the  sens-e  carried  on  unto  his  teinpt.-v'ion  only: 
"  He  suffered  beinpf  tempted."  TLsipx^oi  is  in  itself  but  to  make  a  trial  or  exfie- 
riment ;  but  this  being  <lone  fro  n  various  principles,  by  sundry  means,  for  dif- 
ferent ends,  and  upon  diverse  subjects,  there  is  a  great  difference  in  such  trial-;, 
and  L'reat  variety  in  the  n;iture  of  temptations.  How  the  Lord  Christ  was  tempted, 
bv  whom,  and  of  what  sort  his  temptations  were,  we  shall  con>ider  afterwards. 
The  Ethiop.  reads,  "when  he  tempted  him  and  afflicted  him;"  that  is,  God. 

AvuotTxi  liondmxi.  v.,  "  potens  est  et  eis  qui  tentantur  auxiliari."  "  Et  "  again 
is  added,  iiut  retained  by  Beza,  as  not  copulative,  but  emphatical,  "  potest  et  tis 
qui  tentantur  succurrere," — "  he  can  "  (or  "  is  able  to  ")  "  help,"  "  relieve,"  '•  suc- 
cour." 'BonSiu  is  properly  stti  (ior^v  Biu,  "to  run  in  to  the  cry  of  any  one;"  that  is, 
to  help  and  relieve  him  in  his  distress,  to  come  speedily,  and  as  it  were  in  haste,  to 
the  help  of  him  that  crieth  out  in  danger.  So  Thucydides:  Ovroi  iirol;'  Adnuoii'rjie 
i^s'^ortd'/iiciactv, — "These  came  in  to  the  help  of  the  Athenians"  [in  their  distre-s]. 
And  this  is  the  direct  sense  of  the  word  in  this  place,  as  it  respects  them  that 
are  distressed  under  the  povv^er  of  temptation,  crying  out  for  help.  And  it  is 
plainly  expressed  in  the  Latin  "succurrere,"  and  our  "succour,"  taken  from  thence. 
So  Chrysostom  interprets  these  \\ords,  Ai/j/ktos;  fioyiSijacii'  [mto,  ttoAXsjj  vpo9v- 
fiicc;  cpi^si  xiipcc, — "  He  gives  out  his  hand  unto  them  with  all  readiness." 

Ver.  17,  18. — "Wherefore  [hence]  it  behoved  him  to  [it 
teas  meet  he  should]  be  made  hke  unto  his  [the]  brethren 
in  all  things  [every  manner  of  loay],  that  he  might 
be  a  merciful  and  faithful  high  priest  in  the  things  of 
[pertaining  unto]  God,  to  make  reconciliation  for  the 
siiisof  the  people.  For  in  that  [whereas]  he  hath 
suffered  being  [luhen  he  was]  tempted,  he  is  able  to 
succour  [come  in  to  the  help  of]  them  that  are  tempted. 

In  these  two  verses  the  apostle  illustrates  what  he  had  taught 
before,  and  confirms  what  he  had  asserted  concerning  the  Son's  par- 
ticipation of  flesh  and  blood  in  like  manner  with  the  children,  from 
one  especial  end  thereof.  And  this  end  is  his  being  a  high  priest; 
which  that  the  Messiah  was  to  be,  both  the  Hebrews  granted  and  lie 
himself  intended  more  largely  afterwards  to  demonstrate.  More- 
over, he  was  to  be  such  a  high  priest  as  was  settled  and  suited  for 
the  discharge  of  his  office  unto  the  benefit  of  them  for  whose  good 
he  was  to  minister  therein.  This  the  wisdom  of  God  and  the  nature 
of  the  thing  itself  do  require.  Now,  they  being  persons  obnoxious 
unto  temptations  and  suti'erings  of  all  sorts,  he  must  in  an  especial 
manner  be  able  to  help,  relieve,  and  save  such  persons.  And  ail 
this  the  apostle  declares  in  these  verses,  in  the  opening  whereof  we 
may  consider, — 

1.  The  importance  of  the  illative  expression  in  the  entrance: 
**  wherefore,"  or  "  hence."  2.  The  necessity  intimated  of  what  is 
here  assigned  to  the  Messiah:  "  it  behoved  him,'"  or,  "  it  was  meet 
that  he  should."  3.  What  the  apostle  repeats  and  re-asserts,  namely, 
that  he  was  "in  all  things"  (or  "every  manner  of  way")  "  to  be 


466  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

made  like  unto  his  brethren ;"  4.  The  general  end  of  this  his  neces- 
sary conformity  unto  the  brethren:  "that  he  might  be  a  mercifid 
and  faithful  high  priest."  5.  The  especial  work  and  end  of  that 
office  which  he  was  so  prepared  for:  "  in  the  things  of  God  to  make 
reconciliation  for  the  sins  of  the  people."  6.  A  further  enforcement 
of  the  necessity  of  the  foregoing  assertion,  taken  from  a  double  con- 
sideration;— (1.)  Of  what  he  did,  or  what  befell  him,  in  the  condi- 
tion wherein  he  was  made  like  unto  the  brethren :  he  "  suffered 
being  tempted,"  or  "  when  he  was  tempted ;"  (2.)  Of  the  blessed 
effect  and  consequence  thereof,  both  in  his  own  preparation  unto 
the  further  discharge  of  his  office,  and  the  benefit  of  them  whom  he 
ministers  in  it  for:  "  he  is  able  to  succour  them  that  ai-e  tempted." 

1.  There  is  the  illation  intimated  in  the  word  o^si*,  "  wherefore." 
Now,  this  may  respect  either  what  had  been  before  discoursed,  or 
what  is  further  insisted  on  in  the  words  ensuing.  In  the  first  way 
the  apostle  would  seem  to  infer  the  necessity  of  his  being  "  made  like 
unto  his  brethren  in  all  things,"  from  wliat  he  had  before  proved  of 
his  participation  of  human  nature ;  but  this  seems  not  to  be  the 
meaning  of  the  word.  That  expression,  "  To  be  made  like  unto  his 
brethren  in  all  things,"  is  only  a  recapitulation  of  what  the  apostle 
had  before  taught  concerning  his  incarnation  and  sufferings;  and 
here  his  design  is  to  show  the  reason  or  end  thereof,  namely, 
that  he  might  be  a  high  priest,  and  discharge  his  office  unto  the 
benefit  of  the  people.  He  gives,  therefore,  an  account  of  what  he 
had  delivered,  and  declares  the  end  of  it:  "  Wherefore"  (or  "  there- 
fore") "ought  he  thus  to  be  made  like  his  brethren,  that  he  might 
be  a  merciful  high  priest."  And  thus  did  Chrysostom  understand 
the  connection  of  these  words,  "ha  ovv,  saith  he,  vposiViyKji  '^ua/av 
huva/Msvriv  fi,u^ag  zaSapicsai,  bia  touto  jijonv  a.vSpcu'Xog' — "  Therefore 
was  he  made  man,  that  he  might  be  a  sacrifice  able  to  purge  our 
sins." 

2.  The  necessity  of  the  matter  of  the  apostle's  assertion  is  ex- 
pressed in  the  word  ufuXt,  "  he  ought,"  "  it  must  be  so;"  it  could  not 
be  otherwise,  on  supposition  that  he  was  to  be  a  high  priest.  God 
having  designed  him  unto  that  office  and  the  work  thereof,  it  was 
indispensably  necessary  for  him  to  be  made  like  unto  his  brethren 
in  all  things. 

o.  That  which  the  apostle  thus  asserts,  is  his  being  "made  like  unto 
,  his  brethren  in  all  things."  The  proposition  is  of  the  nature  of  them 
that  are  xadoXov  ug  /xri  aadoXov, — universal,  but  not  universally  to  be 
understood.  For  that  expression,  xara  ffa^^a,  is  capable  of  sundry 
limitations;  as,  first,  It  respects  only  all  those  things  which  are 
necessary  unto  the  end  assigned ;  and,  secondly,  In  them  also  there 
may  be  a  great  difference.  The  things  it  respects  are  nature  with 
the  essential  properties  thereof,  attended  with  temptations  and  suffer- 


VER.  17,  18.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  467 

ings.  But  whereas  the  brethren  are  sinners,  he  was  not  made  like 
unto  them  in  sin;  which  exception  the  apostle  elsewhere  puts  in  unto 
tins  assertion,  chap.  iv.  15:  for  this  would  have  been  so  far  from 
conducing  unto  the  end  aimed  at,  that  it  would  have  been  utterly 
destructive  thereof.  In  the  things  also  wherein  he  was  made  like 
uuto  them,  still  the  regulation  from  the  end  is  to  be  carried  along 
with  us.  That  therein  which  was  needful  thereunto,  this  assimila- 
tion or  conformity  extends  unto;  that  which  was  otherwise  it  sup- 
poseth  not.  And  as  the  first  part  of  this  double  limitation  is  made 
evident  in  the  instance  of  sin,  so  the  truth  and  necessity  of  the  latter 
will  appear  in  the  consideration  of  the  things  wherein  this  confor- 
mity doth  consist;  as, — 

(1.)  He  was  made  like  unto  them  in  the  essence  of  human  nature, 
a  rational  spiritual  soul,  and  a  mortal  body,  quickened  by  its  union 
therewithal.  This  it  was  necessary  he  should  be  like  the  brethren 
in,  and  not  have  a  fantastical  body,  or  a  body  animated  by  the  Deity, 
as  some  have  fancied  of  old.  But  that  he  should  take  this  nature 
upon  him  by  natural  generation,  after  the  manner  of  the  brethren, 
this  was  not  necessary; — yea,  so  to  have  done  would  not  have 
furthered  the  end  of  his  priesthood,  but  have  enervated  the  efficacy 
of  it,  and  have  rendered  him  incapable  of  being  such  a  priest  as  he 
was  to  be;  for  whereas  the  original  contagion  of  sin  is  derived  by 
natural  procreation,  had  he  been  by  that  means  made  partaker  of 
human  nature,  how  could  he  have  been  "holy,  harmless,  undefiled, 
separate  from  sinners,"  as  it  became  our  high  priest  to  be?  chap.  vii. 
2(j.  Again,  it  was  not  necessary  that  this  human  nature  should  have 
its  individuation  from  itself,  and  a  particular  subsistence  in  and  by 
itself; — yea,  this  also  would  have  overthrown  his  priesthood;  for 
whereas  the  efficacy  thereof  depends  on  the  excellency  of  the  divine 
nature,  this  could  not  have  given  its  influence  thereunto,  had  not 
the  human  nature  been  taken  into  the  same  personal  subsistence 
with  itself.  Only,  as  we  said,  that  he  should  have  a  human  nature, 
truly  and  really  as  the  brethren,  and  therein  be  like  unto  them,  this 
was  necessary,  that  he  might  be  an  offering  priest,  and  have  of  his 
own  to  offer  uuto  God. 

(2.)  It  was  also  necessary,  that  in  and  with  his  human  nature  he 
should  take  upon  him  all  the  properties  and  affections  of  it,  that  so 
he  miffht  be  made  like  unto  the  brethren.  He  was  not  to  have  aa 
ubiquitarian  body,  a  body  commensurate  to  the  Deity, — that  is,  im- 
mense, and  consequently  no  true  body  at  all;  nor  was  his  soul  to  be 
freed  from  the  affections  which  are  connatural  to  a  human  rational 
soul,  as  love,  joy,  fear,  sorrow,  shame,  and  the  like;  nor  was  his  body 
to  be  free  from  being  obnoxious  unto  hunger,  thirst,  cold,  pain,  death 
itself.  But  now,  whereas  these  things  in  the  brethren  are  attended 
with  irregular  perturbations  for  the  most  part;  and  whereas  all  the 


468  AN  EXPOSITION  Oi;-  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

individuals  of  them  have  their  proper  infirmities  in  their  own  per- 
sons, partly  by  inordinate  inclinations  from  their  tempers  and  com- 
plexions, partly  in  weaknesses  and  sicknesses,  proceeding  either  from 
their  original  constitutions  or  other  following  inordinacies ;  it  was  no 
way  needful  that  in  any  of  these  he  should  be  made  like  unto  the 
brethren; — yea,  a  conformity  unto  them  therein  would  have  abso- 
lutely impeded  the  work  he  had  to  do. 

(3.)  He  was  also  like  unto  us  in  temptations,  for  the  reason  which 
the  apostle  gives  in  the  last  verse.  But  herein  also  some  difference 
may  be  observed  between  him  and  us;  for  the  most  of  our  temptations 
arise  from  within  us,  from  our  own  unbelief  and  lusts.  Again,  in 
those  that  are  from  without,  there  is  somewhat  in  us  to  take  part 
with  them,  which  always  makes  us  fail  in  our  duty  of  resistance,  and 
ofttimes  leads  to  further  miscarriages.  But  from  these  things  he 
was  absolutely  free;  for  as  he  had  no  inward  disposition  or  inclina- 
tion unto  the  least  evil,  being  perfect  in  all  graces  and  all  their  ope- 
rations at  all  times,  so  when  the  prince  of  this  world  came  unto  him, 
he  had  no  part  in  him, — nothing  to  close  with  his  suggestions  or  to 
entertain  his  terrors. 

(4.)  His  sufferings  were  of  the  same  kind  with  them  that  the 
brethren  underwent,  or  ought  so  to  have  done;  yet  they  had  far  dif- 
ferent effects  on  him  from  what  they  would  have  had  on  them.  For 
whereas  he  was  perfectly  innocent  and  perfectly  righteous,  no  way 
deserving  them  in  his  own  person,  he  was  free  from  all  impressions 
of  those  sinful  consequents  which  attend  the  utmost  sufferings  under 
the  curse  of  the  law  by  sinners  themselves. 

Thus  the  o/xoiuffig  xara  voivTa,  the  "  likeness  in  all  things,"  here 
asserted,  is  capable  of  a  double  limitation; — the  first  concerning 
some  things  themselves,  as  sin;  the  other,  the  mode  or  manner  of 
the  things  wherein  the  conformity  doth  really  consist. 

Now,  thus  to  be  made  like  unto  them  it  "  became  him."  It  was 
meet,  just,  and  necessary  that  God  should  make  him  so,  because  of 
the  oftice,  duty,  and  employment  that  he  had  assigned  him  unto; 
which,  as  the  end  hereof,  is  nextly  to  be  inquired  after. 

4.  The  general  end  of  his  conformity  unto  the  brethren  is,  that  he 
"  might  be  a  merciful  and  faithful  high  priest."  Two  things  are 
comprised  herein:  first,  The  office  that  he  was  designed  unto, — he 
was  to  be  a  "  high  priest ;"  secondly,  His  qualifications  for  thsit  office, 
— he  was  to  be  "  merciful  and  faithful."  His  conformity  unto  the 
brethren,  as  we  have  seen,  consisted  in  two  things :  first.  His  partici- 
pation of  their  nature;  secondly.  His  copartnership  with  them  in 
their  condition  of  suffering  and  temptation.  The  first  of  these  was 
necessary  unto  his  office;  the  latter  unto  his  qualifications.  He  was 
made  man,  that  he  might  be  a  high  priest;  he  suffered  being 
tempted,  that  he  might  be  merciful  and  faithful     There  was  no 


"VER,  17,  IS.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  4^9 

more  required,  that  he  might  be  a  high  priest,  but  that  he  shou^-l 
partake  of  our  nature;  but  that  he  might  be  merciful  aiul  faiiiilul, 
with  that  kind  of  mercy  and  faithfulness  which  the  brethren  stood 
in  need  of,  it  was  moreover  required  that  he  should  suffer  and  be 
tempted :   which  things  must  be  distinctly  considered. 

(1.)  That  he  might  be  a  high  priest,  it  was  necessary  that  he 
should  be  partaker  of  the  nature  of  them  for  whom  he  was  to  admi- 
nister in  the  things  of  God.  So  the  apostle  informs  us,  chap.  v.  1, 
"  Every  high  priest  for  men  must  be  taken  from  among  men."  Tiiis 
is  not  work  for  an  angel,  nor  for  God  himself  as  such.  And  there- 
fore, although  the  benefits  of  the  priesthood  of  Christ  were  commu- 
nicated unto  all  believers  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  by  virtue 
of  the  com[)act  and  agreement  between  the  Father  and  him  for  the 
undertaking  and  execution  of  that  office  at  the  time  appointed,  yet 
he  was  not  actually,  nor  could  be  a  high  priest,  until  he  was  clothed 
with  flesh,  and  made  partaker  of  the  nature  of  the  children.  The  duty 
which,  as  a  high  priest,  he  had  to  perform, — namely,  to  "  offer  gilts 
and  sacrifices"  unto  God,  chap.  viii.  3, — with  the  especial  nature  of 
that  great  sacrifice  that  he  was  to  offer,  which  was  himself,  his  body 
and  soul,  prepared  and  given  him  for  that  purpose.,  chap.  x.  10,  re- 
quire and  make  necessar}'  this  conformity.  For  this  cause,  then,  was 
he  made  like  unto  the  brethren  in  a  participation  of  human  nature. 

(2.)  That  in  this  nature  he  should  be  perfectly  holy,  and  exactly 
discharge  his  duty  according  unto  the  mind  and  will  of  God,  was  all 
that  was  required  of  him  as  to  his  being  a  high  priest.  But  this 
was  not  all  that  the  estate  and  condition  of  the  brethren  required. 
Their  sorrows,  tenderness,  weakness,  miseries,  disconsolations,  are 
such,  that  if  there  be  not  a  contemperation  of  his  sublime  holiness, 
and  absolute  perfection  in  fulfilling  of  all  righteousness,  with  some 
qualifications  inclining  him  to  condescension,  pity,  compa.ssion,  and 
tender  sense  of  their  condition,  whatever  might  be  the  issue  of  their 
safety  in  the  life  to  come,  their  comfort  in  this  life  would  be  in  con- 
tinual hazard.  For  this  cause,  therefore,  was  he  made  like  unto 
them  in  the  infirmities  of  their  nature,  their  temptations  aiid  suffer- 
ings, from  whence  all  their  disconsolations  and  sorrows  do  arise. 
Hence  was  the  necessity  of  the  qualifications  for  his  office  which  by 
his  sufferings  and  temptations  he  was  furnished  withal;  and  they 
are  two: — 

\\.^  Mercifulness.  He  was  iXe^j/^wi/,  "  merciful,"  "  tenderly  com- 
passionate," as  the  Syriac  version  renders  the  word ;  "  misericoi .«?," 
one  that  lays  all  the  miseries  of  his  people  to  heart,  so  caring  for  them, 
to  relieve  them.  Mercy  in  God  is  but  a  naked  simple  apprehension 
of  misery,  made  effective  by  an  act  of  his  holy  will  to  relieve. 
Mercy  in  Christ  is  a  compassion,  a  condolency,  and  hath  a  moving 
of  pity  and  sorrow  joined  with  it.     And  this  was  in  the  human  nature 


470  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

of  Christ  a  grace  of  the  Spirit  in  all  perfection.    Now,  it  being  such  a 
virtue  as  in  the  operation  of  it  deeply  affects  the  whole  soul  and  body 
also,  and  being  incomparably  more  excellent  in  Christ  than  in  all 
the  sons  of  men,  it  must  needs  produce  the  same  effects  in  him 
wherewith  in  others  in  lesser  degrees  it  is  attended.     Thus  we  find 
him  at  all  times  full  of  this  compassion  and  pity  towards  all  the  sons 
of  men,  yea,  the  worst  of  his  enemies,  expressing  itself  by  sighs  and 
tears,  intimating  the  deep  compassion  of  his  heart.     And  this  made 
him  as  it  were  even  forget  his  own  miseries  in  his  greatest  distress; 
for  when,  seeing  the  daughters  of  Jerusalem  mourn  for  him,  as  he 
was  going  to   his  cross,   he  minds  them  of  that  which   his    com- 
passionate heart  was  fixed  on,  even  their  approaching  misery  and 
ruin,  Luke  xxiii.  28,     But  yet  neither  is  this  mercifulness  in  general 
that  which  the  apostle  intends;  but  he  considers  it  as  excited,  pro- 
voked, and  drawn  forth  by  his  own  temptations  and  sufferings.     He 
suffered  and  was  tempted,  that  he  might  be  merciful,  not  absolutely, 
but  a  merciful  high  priest.    The  relation  of  the  sufferings  and  tempta- 
tions of  Christ  unto  his  mercifulness,  is  not  as  unto  the  grace  or  habit 
of  it,  but  as  unto  its  especial  exercise  as  our  high  priest.     And  this 
mercifulness  of  Christ  is  the  gracious  condolency  and  compassion  of 
his  whole  soul  with  his  people,  in  all  their  temptations,  sufferings, 
dangers,  fears,  and  sorrows,  with  a  continual  propensity  of  will  and 
affection  unto  their  relief,  implanted  in  him  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  as 
one  of  those  graces  which  were  to  dwell  in  his  nature  in  all  fulness, 
excited  and  provoked,  as  to  its  continual  exercise  in  his  office  of 
high  priest,  by  tlie  sense  and  experience  which  he  himself  had  of 
those  miseries  which  they  undergo:   whereof  more  on  the  last  verse. 
[2.]  The  other  qualification  mentioned  is,  that  he  should  be  vlcrog, 
"  faithful."'      Some   understand   by   Tiarog,    "  verus,"    "  legitimus," 
"  true  and  rightful," — made  so  in  a  due  manner;  whereof  the  apostle 
treats  expressly,  chap.  v.  5:  others,  his  general  faithfulness,  inte- 
grity, and  righteousness,  in  the  discharge  of  his  office,  being  "  faith- 
ful unto  him  that  appointed  him,"  as  chap.  iii.  2.     But  neither  of 
these  senses  answers  the  especial  design  of  the  apostle,  nor  his  refer- 
ring of  his  qualifications  unto  his  conformity  with  the  brethren  in 
sufferings  and  temptations.     It  must  also  answer  that  mercifulness 
which  we  have  before  described.     It  consists,  therefore,  in  his  exact, 
constant,  careful  consideration  of  all  the  concei'nments  of  the  breth- 
ren, under  their  temptations  and   sufferings.     This  he  is  excited 
unto  by  his  own  experience  of  what  it  is  to  serve  God  in  such  a  con- 
dition.    It  is  described,  Isa.  xl.  11.     Not  his  faithfulness,  then,  in 
general,  whereby  he  discharged  his  whole  oflSce,  and  accomplished 
the  work  committed  unto  him,  mentioned  John  xvii.  4,  but  his  con- 
stant care  and  condescension  unto  the  wants  and  sorrows  of  his  suf- 
Itiuig  and  tempted  brethren,  is  here  intended. 


YER.  17,  18.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  471 

Before  we  proceed  unto  the  explication  of  the  remaining  passages 
of  these  verses,  what  offers  itself  from  what  hath  been  already  dis- 
coursed unto  our  instruction,  n)ay  be  observed;  as, — 

I.  The  promised  Messiah  was  to  be  the  great  high  priest  of  the 
people  of  God. 

This  the  apostle  here  presumes,  and  proves  elsewhere.  And  this 
we  have  elsewhere  confirmed.  The  especial  office  of  priesthood,  for 
one  to  perform  it  in  the  behalf  of  others,  came  in  after  sin,  upon 
the  first  promise.  In  the  state  of  innocency  every  one  was  to  be 
priest  for  himself,  or  perform  in  his  own  name  the  things  which 
with  God  he  had  to  do,  according  unto  the  law  of  his  creation.  This 
privilege  failing  by  sin,  which  cut  off  all  gracious  intercourse  between 
God  and  man,  a  new  luay  was  provided,  and  included  in  the  first 
promise,  for  the  transaction  of  things  between  God  and  sinners.  This 
was  by  Christ  alone,  the  promised  seed.  But  because  he  was  not 
to  be  immediately  exhibited  in  the  flesh,  and  it  was  the  will  of  God 
that  sundry  sacrifices  should  be  offered  unto  him;  partly  for  his 
honour  and  glor\f  in  the  world,  and  to  testify  the  subjection  of  his 
people  unto  him;  partly  to  teach  and  instruct  tl-em  in  the  nature 
and  benefits  of  the  priesthood  which  he  had  designed  for  them,  and 
to  exemplify  it  in  such  representations  as  they  were  capable  of;  he 
did  at  several  seasons  institute  various  sorts  of  temporary,  fading 
typical  priests.  This  he  did  both  before  and  after  the  law.  Not 
that  ever  there  was  amongst  them  a  priest  properly  and  absolutely 
so  called,  by  whom  the  things  of  men  might  be  completely  and 
ultimately  transacted  with  God;  only  those  who  were  appointed 
to  administer  before  the  Lord  in  the  behalf  of  others  were  called 
priests,  as  rulers  are  called  gods,  because  they  represented  the  true 
Priest,  and  outwardly  expressed  his  actings  unto  the  people.  The 
true,  proper,  and  absolute  high  priest  is  Jesus  Christ  alone,  the  Son 
of  God;  for  he  alone  had  all  the  solemnities  that  were  necessary  for 
the  constitution  and  confirmation  of  such  a  priest:  as,  in  particular, 
the  oath  of  God  was  necessary  hereunto,  that  his  priesthood  might  be 
stable  and  unchangeable.  1.  Now,  none  was  ever  appointed  a  priest 
by  the  oath  of  God  but  Christ  alone,  as  the  apostle  declares,  chap, 
vii.  20,  21.  And  how  this  differences  his  office  from  that  of  others 
shall  on  that  place  be  made  manifest.  2.  He  alone  had  somewhat 
of  Ids  ovm  to  offer  unto  God.  Other  priests  had  somewhat  to  offer, 
but  nothing  of  their  own;  they  only  offered  up  the  beasts  that  were 
brought  unto  them  by  the  people.  But  the  Lord  Christ  had  a  body 
and  soul  of  his  own  prepared  for  him  to  offer,  which  was  properly 
his  own,  and  at  his  own  disposal,  chap.  x.  5.  3.  He  alone  was  set 
over  the  whole  spiritual  house  of  God,  the  whole  family  of  God  iu 
heaven  and  earth.  This  belongs  unto  the  ofiice  of  a  high  priest,  to 
preside  in  and  over  the  house  of  God,  to  look  to  the  rule  and  dis- 


472  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  TL 

posal  of  all  things  therein.  Now,  the  priests  of  old  were,  as  nnto 
this  part  of  their  office,  confined  unto  the  material  house  or  temple 
of  God ;  but  Jesus  Christ  was  set  over  the  whole  spiritual  house  of 
God,  to  rule  and  dispose  of  it,  chap.  iii.  6.  4.  He  alone  abides  for 
ever.  The  true  and  real  high  priest  was  not  to  minister  for  one  age 
or  generation  only,  but  for  the  Avhole  people  of  God  unto  the  end 
of  the  world.  And  this  prerogative  of  the  priesthood  of  Christ  the 
apostle  insists  upon,  chap.  vii.  23,  24.  5.  He  alone  did,  and  could 
do,  the  true  and  proper  work  of  a  priest,  namely,  "  make  reconcilia- 
tion for  the  sins  of  the  people."  The  sacrifices  of  other  priests  could 
only  represent  what  was  to  be  done,  the  thing  itself  they  could  not 
effect ;  for  "  it  was  not  possible  that  the  blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats 
should  take  away  sins,"  as  the  apostle  shows,  chap.  x.  4;  but  this 
was  done  effectually  by  that  "  one  offering "  which  this  high  priest 
offered,  verses  11-14.  All  which  things  must  be  afterwards  insisted 
on  in  their  proper  places,  if  God  permit.  This,  then,  is  his  prero- 
gative, this  is  our  privilege  and  advantage. 

II.  The  assumption  of  our  nature,  and  his  conformity  unto  us 
therein,  were  principally  necessary  unto  the  Lord  Jesus  on  the  ac- 
count of  his  being  a  high  priest  for  us. 

It  behoved  him  to  be  made  like  unto  us,  that  he  might  be  a 
high  priest.  It  is  true,  that,  as  the  great  prophet  of  his  church,  he 
did  in  part  teach  and  instruct  it  whilst  he  was  in  the  flesh,  in  his 
own  person;  but  this  was  in  a  manner  a  mere  consequence  of  his 
assuming  our  nature  to  be  our  high  priest:  for  he  instructed  his 
church  before  and  after  principally  by  his  Spirit,  and  this  he  might 
have  done  to  the  full  though  he  had  never  been  incarnate.  So 
also  might  he  have  ruled  it  with  supreme  power  as  its  king  and 
head.  But  our  high  priest  witliout  the  assumption  of  our  nature  he 
could  not  be,  because  without  this  he  had  nothing  to  offer;  and  '  of 
necessity,'  saith  the  apostle,  *he  must  have  somewhat  to  offer  unto 
God.'  A  priest  without  a  sacrifice  is  as  a  king  without  a  subject. 
Had  not  God  prepared  him  a  body,  he  could  have  had  nothing  to 
offer.  He  was  to  have  a  self  to  offer  to  God,  or  his  priesthood  had 
been  in  vain ;  for  God  had  showed  that  no  other  sacrifice  would  be 
accepted  or  be  effectual  for  that  end  which  was  designed  unto  this 
office.  On  this,  therefore,  is  laid  the  indispensable  necessity  of  the 
incarnation  of  Christ. 

III.  Such  was  the  unspeakable  love  of  Christ  unto  the  brethren, 
that  he  would  refuse  nothing,  no  condition,  that  was  needful  to  fit 
liini  for  the  discharge  of  the  work  which  he  had  undertaken  for 
them. 

Their  high  priest  he  must  be;  this  he  could  not  unless  he  were 
made  like  unto  them  in  all  things.  He  knew  what  this  would  cost 
him,  what  trouble,  sorrow,  suffermg,  in  that  conformity  unto  them 


VER.  17,  18.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  473 

he  must  undergo;  what  miseries  he  must  conflict  withal  all  his  life; 
what  a  close  was  to  be  put  unto  his  pilgrimage  on  the  earth;  what 
woful  temptations  he  was  to  pass  through:  all  lay  open  and  naked 
before  him.  But  such  was  his  love,  shadowed  out  ui"kCo  us  by  that 
of  Jacob  to  Rachel,  that  he  was  content  to  submit  unto  any  terms, 
to  undergo  any  condition,  so  that  he  might  save  and  enjoy  his 
beloved  church.  See  Eph.  v.  25,  26.  And  surely  he  who  was  so 
intense  in  his  love  is  no  less  constant  therein;  nor  hath  he  left  any 
thinof  undone  that  was  needful  to  brinsf  us  unto  God.  But  we  are 
yet  further  to  proceed  with  our  explication  of  the  words. 

5.  The  apostle  having  asserted  the  priesthood  of  Christ,  describes 
in  the  fifth  place  the  nature  of  the  office  itself,  as  it  was  vested  in 
him:  and  this  he  doth  two  ways.  (1.)  By  a  general  description  of 
the  object  of  it,  or  that  which  it  is  exercised  about: 
To;  'zpog  rov  Qtov,  "  The  things  pertaining  unto  God."  g^,^"  '^'"''  '"'" 
(2.)  In  a  particular  instance  taken  from  the  end  of  his 
priesthood,  and  the  great  work  that  he  performed  thereby:  "To  make 
reconciliation  for  the  sins  of  the  people." 

(1.)  He  was  to  be  a  high  priest  in  "the  things  pertaining  unto 
God;" — that  is,  either  in  things  that  were  to  be  done  for  God  with 
men,  as  the  apostle  speaks,  "  We  are  ambassadors  for  Christ,  as 
though  God  did  beseech  you  by  us,"  2  Cor.  v.  20 ;  or  in  things  that 
were  to  be  done  with  God  for  men.  For  there  were  two  general 
parts  of  the  office  of  the  high  priest:  the  one,  to  preside  in  the  house 
and  over  the  worship  of  God,  to  do  the  things  of  God  with  men. 
This  the  prophet  assigns  unto  Joshua  the  high  piiest,  an  especial 
type  of  Christ,  Zech.  iii.  7,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  If  thou 
wilt  walk  in  my  ways,  and  if  thou  wilt  keep  my  charge,  then  thou 
shalt  also  judge  my  house,  and  shalt  also  keep  my  courts;"  and 
to  Christ  himself,  "Even  he  shall  build  the  temple  of  the  Lord; 
and  he  shall  bear  the  glory,  and  shall  sit  and  rule  upon  his  throne; 
and  he  shall  be  a  priest  upon  his  throne,"  chap.  vi.  13, — that  is,  "  the 
high  priest  of  our  profession,"  Heb.  iii.  1.  He  was  set  authorita- 
tively over  the  house  of  God,  to  take  care  that  the  whole  worship 
of  it  were  performed  according  unto  his  appointment,  and  to  de- 
clare his  statutes  and  ordinances  unto  the  people.  And  in  this  sense 
the  Lord  Christ  is  also  the  high  priest  of  his  church,  ra  irphg  rov 
Qsov,  feeding  and  ruling  them  in  the  name  and  authority  of  God, 
Mic.  V.  4.  Yet  this  is  not  that  part  of  his  office  which  is  here 
intended  by  the  apostle.  The  other  part  of  the  high  priest's  office 
was  to  perform  the  things  toward  God  which  on  the  part  of  the 
people  were  to  be  performed.  So  Jethro  adviseth  Moses,  Exod. 
xviii.  19,  Q'ri^^i']  '^^^  °V^  ^^^  ^'.\}„ — "Be  thou  unto  the  people  before 
God:"  which  words  the  LXX.  render,  Yivov  au  ra  Xauj  ra  rrphg  rhy 
QiCv,  in  the  phrase  here  used  by  the  apostle,  "  Be  thou  unto  the 


474  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  XL 

people  in  things  appertaining  unto  God."  And  this  was  the  prin- 
cipal part  of  the  office  and  duty  of  the  high  priest,  the  other  being 
only  a  consequent  thereof.  And  that  it  was  so  as  to  the  office  of 
Christ,  the  apostle  manifests  in  the  especial  limitation  v/hich  he 
adjoins  unto  this  general  assertion;  he  was  "  an  high  priest  in  things 
pertaining  unto  God,  slg  to  /XdexiGdai  rag  aiMapriag  roD  AaoD," — "  to 
reconcile"  (that  is,  "make  reconciliation")  "for  the  sins  of  the 
people." 

(2.)  Two  things  are  to  be  considered  in  these  words: — [1.]  The  ob- 
ject of  the  priestly  action  here  assigned  to  the  Lord  Christ;  [2.]  The 
action  itself  which  with  respect  thereunto  he  is  said  to  perform. 

[1.]  The  first  is,  6  Xao'g,  "the  people."  That  is,  say  some,  the 
seed  of  Abraham,  whose  interest  in  the  mediation  of  Christ,  and 
their  privilege  therein,  the  apostle  here  minds  them  of,  to  provoke' 
the  Hebrews  to  constancy  in  their  faith  and  profession.  And  so  also 
they  limit  the  term  "  brethren"  before  used;  not,  as  they  say,  that 
the  elect  among  the  Gentiles  are  excluded,  but  that  he  expressly 
mentions  only  the  first-fruits  in  the  Jews.  But  this  sense  is  not 
necessarily  included  in  the  words.  The  intention  of  the  apostle  in 
the  expression,  is  only  to  give  some  light  into  the  effect  of  the  pi'iest- 
hood  of  Christ,  from  the  office  of  the  high  priest  under  the  old  tes- 
tament and  the  discharge  thereof;  for  as  he  had  a  peculiar  people 
for  whom  he  made  atonement,  so  also  hath  Christ, — that  is,  all  his 
elect. 

[2.]  The   action  ascribed  unto  him  is  expressed  in  these  words, 

E/'c   70  iXdoTiioOai  rag    a-iJ^apriag,   which  want  not    their 

.   ^^T*"'  "'    difficulty,  the  construction  of  the  verb  being  inconsistent 

tcfiaprias.  ...  ... 

with  its  native  and  proper  signification.  'iXdaxofxai  is  pro- 
perly and  usually,  in  all  writers,  sacred  and  others,  to  "appease,"  "  to 
atone,"  "to  please,"  "to  propiticxte,"  "to  reconcile."  But  the  following 
word  seems  not  to  admit  of  that  sense  in  this  place,  rdg  d/xaprla;'  for 
how  can  any  one  be  said  to  please,  or  atone,  or  reconcile  sin?  Where- 
fore some,  laying  the  emphasis  of  the  expression  on  the  construction, 
do  regulate  the  sense  of  the  verb  by  the  noun,  of  the  act  by  the  ob- 
ject; and  so  will  have  it  signify  to  expiate,  cleanse,  and  do  away  sin, 
to  cleanse  the  sins  of  the  people,  to  do  away  the  sins  of  the  people. 
The  Vulgar  Latin  renders  the  word  "  repropitio,"  "  ut  repropitiaret ;" 
which,  as  Anselm  tells  us  (and  he  hath  those  that  follow  him),  is 
composed  of  "  re,"  "prope,"  and  "cieo," — a  barbarous  etymology  of  a 
barbarous  word.  "  Propitio"  is  a  Latin  word,  and  used  not  only  by 
Plautus,  but  by  Suetonius  and  Pliny,  and  that  to  "appease,"  "atone," 
"please,"  or  "turn  away  anger."  Most  translations  render  it  by  "expio," 
"ad  expiandum  peccata;"  but  the  signification  of  that  word  is  also 
doubtful.  It  is,  indeed,  sometimes  used  for  "  to  cleanse,"  "  make  pure," 
and  "  to  take  away  sin;"  but  never  in  any  good  author  but  with  refer- 


VER.  17,  18.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  •     475 

ence  unto  atonement,  to  take  it  away  by  sacrifice,  by  public  punish- 
ment, by  men's  devoting  themselves  to  destnictiou.  So  Livy,  lib.  i.  cap. 
xxvi.,  speaking  of  Horatius  who  killed  his  sister,  "Ita  ut  cogdes  mani- 
festa  aliquo  tamen  piaculo  lueretur,  imperatum  patri,  ut  filium  expi- 
aret  pecunia  j)ublica."  '"Expiare"  is  the  same  with  "luere  piaculo," 
which  is  to  take  away  the  guilt  of  a  crime  by  a  commutation  of  pun- 
ishment. There  may,  then,  be  a  double  sense  of  these  words; — ]st. 
To  make  atonement  and  reconciliation  for  sin,  appeasing  the  anger 
and  wrath  of  God  against  it;  2cUy.  To  remove  and  take  away  sin, 
either  by  the  cleansing  and  sanctifying  of  the  sinner,  or  by  any 
means  prevailing  with  him  not  to  continue  in  sin.  Against  the  first 
sense,  the  construction  of  the  word  with  ra;  a/j.apr!a;,  "  sins,"  is  ob- 
jected; against  the  latter,  the  constant  sense  of  the  word  itself, 
which  is  not  to  be  deserted.  It  is  the  former  sense,  therefore,  which 
we/do  embrace,  and  shall  confirm. 

'^(Ist.)  The  constant  use  of  the  word  in  all  good  authors  of  the 
Greek  tongue  will  admit  no  other.  '  IXd(ry.o/xai  is  of  an  active  im- 
portance, and  denotes  "  propitium  facio,"  "  placo,"  as  we  observed 
before,  "to  appease"  and  '•'atone."  And  this  is  that  whereby  the 
heathen  generally  expressed  their  endeavours  to  turn  away  the  wrath 
of  their  gods,  to  appease  them;  and  then  they  use  it  transitively, 
with  an  accusative  case  of  the  object;  as  Homer,  Iliad,  i.  386: — 

"  To  propitiate"  or  "appease  God." 

And  Iliad,  i.  443-4-15 :— 

ir>'i°a)  9-'  Upriv  ixaroutnt 

'Ps^a/  vvif  Actvauv  'oi(>f  IXamrcnuiff  liiaxra, 
Oj  vuv  'Afyiioi^i  TroXvffTOMO.  xria-'  lifjxsv — 

"  To  offer  a  hecatomb  uuto  Apollo  foi*  the  Greeks,  and  appease  him  ■who  hath  sent  on 
them  so  many  sorrows,"  or  "  atone  him." 

And  when  it  hath  the  accusative  case  of  the  person  joined  with  it, 
it  can  bear  no  other  sense.  So  Plutarch,  "iXago  ^valatg  ripcoug:  and 
Lucian,  'IXdaaro  Tcv  Qiov,  "to  appease  God."  Sometimes  it  is  used 
with  a  dative  case,  as  Plutarch  in  Public,  ' IXaaofisvo;  rw  adr],  and 
then  it  hath  respect  unto  the  sacrifice  whereby  atonement  is  made, 
and  anger  turned  away;  and  is  rendered  "  piaculare  sacrum  facere," 
*'  to  offer  up  a  piacular  sacrifice."  So  that  the  word  constantly  hath 
regard  unto  the  anger  and  wrath  of  some  person,  which  is  depre- 
cateil,  turned  away,  appeased,  by  reconciliation  made. 
■y(2dlij.)  The  use  of  the  word  by  the  LXX.  confirms  it  unto  this 
sense.  Commonly  they  render  the  Hebrew  "i??^  by  it;  which  when 
regarding  God  always  signifies  "atonement,"  and  "to  atone."  So  the 
noun,  Ps.  xlix.  8,  "  No  mau  can  redeem  his  brother,  2"''!'^^??  i^^"^'' 
^"1^3^ — "  nor  can  he  give  to  God  his  ransom,"  or  the  piice  of  his 
redemption,  i^!Aaff/j,a.      And  unto  the  verb,  where  it  respecteth 


476  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  11. 

the  offence  to  be  atoned  for,  they  usually  annex  lapi.  Exod.  xxxii. 
SO,  "  You  have  sinned  a  great  sin,  and  now  I  will  go  up  unto 
the  Lord,  D?r'^^D  '^'^'^  '"^"Ir'?'^.  c'^^"  ha  £^/Xa(rw,aa/  'rrspl  rra  a,waprias 
x)fj,uiv, — "  that  I  may  atone  for  your  sins."  And  it  is  God  who  is  the 
object  of  the  act  of  appeasing  or  atoning:  '  to  make  atonement  with 
God  for  your  sin/  So  Num.  xxviii.  22,  30,  Neh.  x.  33.  Once 
in  the  Old  Testament  it  is  used  transitively,  and  sin  placed  as  the 
object  of  it:  Dan.  ix.  24,  PV"'^^r,  "«'  ^oJ^  k^iXdaaaOai  adizlas, — 
"to  atone  sin,"  or  "unrighteousness;"  that  is,  i^iXdsaedai  Hv  Qshv 
<xipi  Trie  adijiiag, — "  to  make  atonement  with  God  for  sin."  And  so 
also  they  express  the  person  with  Tspi  for  whom  the  atonement  is 
made:  ''E^ikdeasOai  -Trspi  aurou,  a.vTU}v,-^\jyjig  aurou,  Exod.  xxx.  15,  16, 
Lev.  i.  4,  iv.  20,  26,  Num.  xv.  25,  26.  And  still  God  is  re- 
spected as  he  who  is  offended  and  is  to  be  reconciled;  as  it  is  ex- 
pressed. Lev.  X.  17,  xa/  i^iXdsrick  mpi  avTuv  svavn  Kuplov, — "shall 
make  atonement  for  them  before  the  Lord."  And  sometimes  they 
add  that  wherewith  the  atonement  is  made,  namely,  offerings  or 
sacrifices  of  one  sort  or  another,  Lev.  viii.  1 7.  And  they  well  give 
us  the  sense  of  the  word  in  another  place:  Prov.  xvi.  14.  "The  wrath 
of  a  king  is  as  messengers  of  death,  dvfip  di  go(pog  s^iXdaerai  avTov," — • 
"  a  wise  man  shall  appease  him;"  referring  that  to  the  king  which 
the  original  doth  to  his  wrath,  '^?1.??.\  "  shall  turn  away,"  that  is,  by 
appeasing  him.  In  the  use  of  this  word,  then,  there  is  always  under- 
stood,— [Ist]  An  offence,  crime,  guilt,  or  debt,  to  be  taken  away; 
\^dly.^^  A  person  offended,  to  be  pacified,  atoned,  reconciled ;  [3c?/y.] 
A  person  offending,  to  be  pardoned,  accepted ;  \^thlyJ\  A  sacrifice 
or  other  means  of  making  the  atonement.  Sometimes  one  is  ex- 
pressed, sometimes  another,  but  the  use  of  the  word  hath  respect 
unto  them  all.  And  in  vain  doth  Crellius  pretend,  ad.  Grot,  ad  cap. 
vii.  p.  360,  that  iXdffxsffda!  nva  and  iXdaxscrdai  Tip!  rivog,  are  the  same, 
and  denote  the  same  thing,  the  former  alvvajs  denoting  the  person 
offended,  the  latter  the  person  offending,  or  the  offence  itself.  The 
one  is  to  atone  or  appease  another,  the  other  to  make  atonement 
for  another;  which  surely  are  sufficiently  different. 

(odly.)  The  Jews,  to  whom  Paul  wrote,  knew  that  the  principal 
work  of  the  high  priest  was  to  make  atonement  with  God  for  sin, 
whereof  their  expiation  and  freedom  from  it  were  a  consequent;  and 
therefore  they  understood  this  act  and  duty  accordingly,  it  being  the 
usual  expression  of  it  that  the  apostle  applies  unto  it.  They  knew 
that  the  great  work  of  their  high  [)riest  was  to  make  atonement  for 
them,  for  their  sins  and  transgressions,  that  they  might  not  die,  that 
the  punishment  threatened  in  the  law  might  not  come  upon  them, 
as  is  fully  declared.  Lev.  xvi.  10,  21.  And  the  apostle  now  instruct.s 
them  in  the  substance  of  what  they  had  before  attended  unto  in 
types  and  shadows.     Nor  is  there  any  mention  in  the  Scripture  of 


VER.  17,  18]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  477 

the  expiation  of  sin  but  by  atonement,  nor  doth  this  word  ever  in 
any  place  signify  the  real  cleansing  of  sin  inherent  from  the  sinner; 
so  that  the  latter  sense  proposed  hath  no  consistency  witii  it. 

The  difficulty  pretended  from  the  construction  is  not  of  any  mo- 
ment. The  sense  and  constant  use  of  the  word  being  what  we  have 
evinced,  there  must  be  an  ellipsis  supposed,  and  /Xdffxsadai  rag  a,(j.a,f>- 
Tiag  is  the  same  in  sense  with  tXdaKsadai  rhv  Qehv  Tspl  ruv  d/j,apriujv, — "  to 
make  reconciliation  with  God  for  sins;"  as  the  same  phrase  is  in 
other  places  explained. 

6.  There  is  a  further  double  enforcement  of  the  necessity  of  what 
was  before  affirmed,  concerning  his  being  "made  like  unto  his 
brethren  in  all  things,"  with  reference  unto  his  priesthood ;  and  the 
first  is  taken  from  what  he  did  or  suffered  in  that  condition,  the 
other  from  the  benefits  and  advantages  which  ensued  thereon ; — the 
first  in  these  words,  *'  For  in  that  he  himself  hath  suffered  being 
tempted." 

'El/  w  yap,  "  for  in  that."   That  is,  say  some,  "  in  the  same  nature/' 
he  suffered  in  the  flesh  that  he  took,  being  tempted. 
But  the  words  seem  rather  only  an  illation  of  what  '*' 

the  apostle  concludes  or  infers  from  that  which  he  had  before  laid 
down:  "''^^^^  "whereas,"  "  inasmuch,"  "  seeing  that."  So  both  i^'  cJ 
and  h  w  are  often  used,  Rom.  v.  12. 

Now,  it  is  here  affirmed  of  Christ  that  'Triirovk  Tsipaakk,  "he  suffered 
being  tempted;"  not,  "it  happened  unto  him  to  be 
tempted,"  which  we  before  rejected.  The  Vulgar  Latin,  '^^f^*  ■^*'- 
and  expositors  following  that  translation,  "  He  suffered 
and  was  tempted."  But  the  "  and"  inserted  we  have  showed  to  be 
superfluous;  and  it  is  acknowledged  to  be  so  by  Erasmus,  Estius,  a 
Lapide,  though  Tena  with  some  others  contend  for  the  retaining  of  it. 
It  is  not  the  suffering  of  Christ  in  general  that  is  here  intended,  nor  is 
the  end  mentioned  of  it  that  of  his  suffering  in  general,  which  was 
to  make  reconciliation;  but  the  succouring  and  relieving  of  them 
that  are  tempted,  which  regards  the  sufferings  that  befell  him  in  his 
temptations.  It  is  not  his  sufferings  absolutely  considered,  nor  his 
being  tempted,  that  is  peculiarly  designed,  but  his  suffering  in  his 
temptation,  as  was  before  observed.  To  know,  then,  what  were 
these  sufferings,  we  must  inquire  what  were  his  temptations,  and  how 
he  was  affected  with  them. 

To"tempt,"and  "temptations,"are  things  in  themselves  of  an  indif- 
ferent nature,  and  have  no  moral  evil  in  them  absolutely  considered. 
Whatever  attends  them  of  that  kind  jDroceeds  either  from  the 
intention  of  the  tempter  or  the  condition  of  them  that  are  tempted. 
Hence  God  is  said  to  tempt  men,  but  not  to  induce  them  unto  sin, 
Gen.  xxii.  1,  James  i.  13.  What  of  evil  ensues  on  temptation  is 
iiom  the  tempted  themselves.     Moreover,  though  temptation  seems 


478  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  fcHAP.  IL 

to  be  of  an  active  importance,  yet  in  itself  it  is  merely  for  the  most 
part  neutral.  Hence  it  compi'iseth  any  thing,  state,  or  condition, 
■whereby  a  man  may  be  tried,  exercised,  or  tempted.  And  this  will 
give  us  light  into  the  various  temptations  under  which  the  Lord 
Christ  suffered;  for  although  they  were  all  external,  and  by  impres- 
sions from  without,  yet  they  were  not  confined  unto  the  assaults  of 
Satan,  which  are  principally  regarded  under  that  name.  Some  of 
the  heads  of  them  we  may  briefly  recount: — 

(1.)  His  state  and  condition  in  the  world.  He  was  poor,  despised, 
persecuted,  reproached,  especially  from  the  beginning  unto  the  end 
of  his  public  ministry.  Herein  lay  one  continued  temptation;  that 
is,  a  trial  of  his  obedience  by  all  manner  of  hardships.  Hence  he  calls 
this  whole  time  the  time  of  his  temptations,  "  Ye  have  continued 
with  me  in  my  temptations;"  or  in  the  work  that  he  carried  on  in 
a  constant  course  of  temptation,  arising  from  his  outward  state  and 
condition.  See  James  i.  2;  1  Pet.  v.  9.  In  this  temptation  he 
suffered  hunger,  poverty,  weariness,  sorrow,  reproach,  shame,  con- 
tempt; wherewith  his  holy  soul  was  deeply  affected.  And  he 
underwent  it  cheerfully,  because  it  was  to  be  the  condition  of  them 
Avhose  preservation  and  salvation  as  their  high  priest  he  had  under- 
taken, as  we  shall  see.  And  his  experience  hereof  is  the  sirring  of 
their  comfort  and  safety. 

(2.)  Whilst  he  was  in  this  state  and  condition,  innumerable  par- 
ticular temptations  befell  him,  under  all  v/hich  he  suffered: — [1] 
Temptations  from  bis  relations  in  the  flesh,  being  disregarded  and 
disbelieved  by  them, — which  deeply  affected  his  compassionate  heart 
with  sorrow;  [2.]  From  his  followers,  being  forsaken  by  them  upon 
his  preaching  the  mysteries  of  the  gospel ;  [o.]  From  his  chosen 
disciples,  all  of  whom  left  him,  one  denied  him,  and  one  betrayed 
him;  [4.]  From  the  anguish  of  his  mother,  when  "  a  sword  pierced 
through  her  soul"  in  his  sufferings;  [5.]  From  his  enemies  of  all 
sorts ; — all  which  are  at  large  related  in  the  Gospel :  from  all  which 
his  sufferings  were  inexpressible. 

(3.)  Satan  had  a  principal  hand  in  the  temptations  wherein  he 
suffered.  He  set  upon  him  in  the  entrance  of  his  ministry,  immedi- 
atel}'^  in  his  own  person,  and  followed  him  in  the  whole  course  of  it 
by  the  instruments  that  he  set  on  work.  He  had  also  a  season,  an 
hour  of  darkness,  allowed  unto  him,  when  he  was  to  try  his  utmost 
strength  and  policy  against  him;  under  which  assault  from  him  he 
suffered,  as  was  foretold  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  the 
bruising  of  his  heel,  or  the  temporal  ruin  of  all  his  concernments. 

(4.)  God's  desertion  of  him  was  another  temptation  under  which 
he  suffered.  As  this  was  most  mysterious,  so  his  sufferings  under  it 
were  his  greatest  perplexity,  Ps.  xxii.  1,  2,  Heb.  v.  7. 

These  are  some  of  the  heads  and  springs  of  those  various  and 


VER.  17,  18.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  479 

innumerable   temptations   that  the  Lord  Christ  suffered    iu   and 
under. 

Again ;  The  blessed  effect  and  consequent  hereof  is  expressed  in 
these  words,  "He  is  able  to  succour  them  that  are  tempted  :"  wherein 
we  have,  (1.)  The  description  of  them  for  whose  sake  the  Lord  Christ 
underwent  this  condition;  (2.)  The  ability  that  accrued  unto  him 
thereby  for  their  relief;  and,  (3.)  The  advantage  that  they  are 
thereby  made  partakers  of 

(1.)  They  for  whose  sakes  he  underwent  this  condition,  are  those 
whom  he  reconciled  unto  God  by  his  sacrifice  as  a  high  priest,  but 
they  are  here  described  by  an  especial  concernment  of  their  obedience, 
which,  producing  all  their  sorrow  and  trouble,  makes  them  stand  in 
continual  need  of  aid  and  assistance.  They  are  o/ 
'K%ifa(Jt(iiyoi,    "tempted  ones."     Notwithstanding  their  '  '^"/'«^*- 

recouciliation  unto  God  by  the  death  of  Christ,  they 
have  a  course  of  obedience  prescribed  unto  them.  In  this  course 
they  meet  with  many  difficulties,  dangers,  and  sorrows,  all  proceeding 
from  the  teviptations  that  they  are  exercised  withal.  Hence  is  this 
description  of  them,  they  are  those  who  are  tempted,  and  suffer 
greatly  on  that  account.  Others  are  little  concerned  in  temptations. 
Outward,  it  may  be,  as  unto  danger,  they  have  not  many;  and  if 
they  have,  it  is  the  trouble  and  not  the  temptation  which  they 
regard; — inward,  as  unto  sin,  they  yield  obedience  unto;  but  the 
trouble  from  temptation  is  in  the  opposition  made  unto  it.  It  is 
reconciled  persons  who  emphatically  are  the  tempted  ones,  especially 
as  temptations  are  looked  on  as  the  cause  of  sufferings.  They  are 
the  mark  of  Satan  and  the  world,  against  which  all  their  arrows  and 
darts  are  directed,  the  subject  whereon  God  himself  exerciseth  his 
trials.  And  besides  all  this,  they  maintain  a  continual  warfare 
within  them  against  temptations  in  the  remainder  of  their  own 
corruptions.  So  that  with,  in,  and  about  them,  are  they  conversant  in 
the  whole  course  of  their  lives.  Moreover,  unto  this  constant  and 
perpetual  conflict,  there  do  befall  them,  in  the  holy,  wise  providence 
of  God,  certain  seasons  wherein  temptations  grow  hii^h,  strong, 
impetuous,  and  are  even  ready  to  ruin  them.  As  Christ  had  an 
hour  of  darkness  to  conflict  withal,  so  have  they  also.  Such  was  the 
condition  of  the  believing  Hebrews  when  Paul  wrote  this  epistle 
unto  them.  What  through  persecution,  wherein  they  endui-ed  "a 
great  fight  of  afflictions,''  and  what  through  the  seductions  of  false 
brethren,  alluring  them  unto  an  apostasy  unto  Judaism  and  an 
acquiescency  in  Mosaical  ceremonies,  they  were  even  ready  to  be 
utterly  ruined.  Unto  them,  therefore,  and  by  them  unto  all  others 
in  the  like  condition,  the  apostle  hath  respect  in  his  description  of 
those  whom  the  Lord  Christ  is  ready  to  succour;  they  are  tempted 
ones.     This  is  the  proper  name  of  believers.     As  Satan,  from  what 

VOL.   XII.— 31 


480  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IL 

he  doth,  is  called  the  tempter;  so  they,  from  what  they  endure, 
may  be  called  the  tempted  ones.  Their  calling  is  to  oppose  tempta- 
tions, and  their  lives  a  conflict  with  them.  /The  high  priest  liaving 
suffered  the  like  things  with  them,  they  have  an  assured  ground  of 
consolation  in  all  their  temptations  and  sufferings ;  which  he  con- 
firms by  what  is  added  in  the  second  place,  namely,  his  ability 
to  help  the^. 

(2.)  AvvaTui,  "he  is  able."  Now,  this  ability  is  such 
as  ariseth  from  that  peculiar  mercifulness  which  he  is 
disposed  unto  from  that  experience  which  he  had  of  suffering  under 
temptation ; — a  moral  power,  not  a  natural.  It  is  not  duvocfiig 
hifyriTiKy;,  an  executive  power,  a  power  of  working  or  operation,  not 
a  power  of  the  hand,  but  hhvaiug  c\jn,'7taQ-/]rtxrj,  a  power  of  heart  and 
will,  an  ability  in  readiness  of  mind,  that  is  here  assigned  unto 
Christ.  It  is  this  latter,  and  not  the  former,  that  was  a  consequent 
of  his  temptations  and  sufferings.  A  gracious,  ready  enlargedness 
of  heart,  and  constant  inclination  unto  the  succour  of  them  that  are 
tempted,  is  the  ability  here  designed ;  for  as  this  power  was  originally 
and  radically  implanted  in  the  human  nature  of  Christ,  by  the 
communication  of  all  habitual  grace  unto  liim,  soits  next  inclination 
to  exert  itself  in  suitable  effects,  with  a  constant  actual  excitatioa 
thereunto,  he  had  upon  the  account  of  his  suffering  in  temptations: 
for, — 

[1.]  He  had  particular  experience  thereby  of  the  weakness, 
sorrows,  and  miseries  of  human  nature  under  the  assaults  of  tempta- 
tions; he  tried  it,  felt  it,  and  will  never  forget  it. 

[2.]  His  heart  is  hereby  inclined  to  compassion,  and  acquainted 
with  what  it  is  that  will  afford  relief.  In  his  throne  of  eternal  peace 
and  glory,  he  sees  his  poor  brethren  labouring  in  that  storm  which 
with  so  much  travail  of  soul  himself  passed  through,  and  is  inti- 
mately affected  with  their  condition.  Thus  Moses  stirs  up  the 
Israelites  unto  compassion  unto  strangers,  from  the  experience  they 
had  themselves  of  the  sorrows  of  their  hearts:  "Thou  knowest  the 
heart  of  a  stranger."  And  the  Jews  tell  us  that  the  D''";D't^,  or 
officer*  that  he  set  over  the  people  in  the  wilderness,  were  of  those 
elders  who  were  so  evilly  entreated  by  the  taskmasters  in  Egypt; 
that  from  their  own  sufferings  they  might  know  how  to  exercise 
tenderness  over  their  brethren,  now  put  under  their  rule, 

[3.]  This  compassion  moves  and  excites  him  unto  their  relief  and 
succour.  This  is  the  proper  effect  of  mercy  and  compassion.  It  sets 
power  on  work  for  the  relief  of  them  whose  condition  it  is  affected 
withal.     So  said  she, 

"Non  ignara  mali  miseris  succurrere  disco." — Virg.  Mn.  i.  634. 
Being  exercised  with  evils  and  troubles  herself,  she  had  thence 


VER.  17,  18.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  481 

learned  to  relieve  the  miserable  so  far  as  she  was  able.  This  is  the 
ability  ascribed  unto  our  high  priest,^compassion  and  mercy,  arising 
from  an  experience  of  the  sufferings  and  dangers  of  human  natiu'e 
under  temptations,  exciting  his  power  for  the  relief  of  them  that  are 
tempted,  y 

(o.)  Lastly,  The  advantage  of  the  brethren  from  hence  lies  in  the 
succour  that  he  is  thus  able  to  afford  unto  them.  This  in  general, 
as  we  have  showed,  consists  in  a  speedy  coming  in  with  relief  unto 
them,  who  being  in  distress,  do  cry  out  or  call  for  it.  There  are 
three  things  that  tempted  believers  do  stand  in  need  of,  and  which 
they  cry  out  for: — [1.]  Strength  to  withstand  their  temptations,  that 
they  prevail  not  against  them.  [2.]  Consolation  to  support  their 
spirits  under  them.  [3.]  Seasonable  deliverance  from  them.  Unto 
these  is  the  succour  afforded  by  our  high  priest  suited.  And  it  is 
variously  administered  unto  them ;  as,  \st  By  his  word  or  promises. 
Idly.  By  his  Spirit;  and  that,  (Isi.)  By  communicating  unto  them 
supplies  of  grace  or  spiritual  strength;  (^Idly)  Strong  consolation; 
(odlu.)  By  rebuking  their  tempters  and  temptations.  Sdly.  By  liis 
providence  disposing  of  all  things  to  their  good  and  advantage  in  the 
issue.  And  what  is  more  in  the  words  will  be  manifested  in  the  ensu- 
ing observations  taken  from  them. 

I.  The  principal  work  of  the  Lord  Christ  as  our  high  priest,  and 
from  which  all  other  actings  of  his  in  that  office  do  flow,  was  to 
make  reconciliation  or  atonement  for  sin. 

This  John  declares,  1  Epist.  ii.  1,  2,  "  We  have  an  advocate  with  tho 

Father, and  he  is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins."    What  he  doth 

for  us  in  heaven  as  our  advocate,  depends  on  what  he  did  on  earth 
when  he  was  a  propitiation  for  our  sins.  This  work  was  that  which 
was  principally  regarded  in  the  first  promise,  Gen.  iii.  15,  namely,  that 
which  he  was  to  do  by  his  sufferings.  To  shadow  out  and  represent 
this  unto  the  church  of  old,  were  all  the  sacrifices  of  the  law  and  the 
typical  priesthood  itself  instituted.  They  all  directed  believers  to 
look  for  and  to  believe  the  atonement  that  was  to  be  made  by  bin). 
And  that  this  should  be  the  foundation  of  all  his  other  actings  as  a 
high  priest,  was  necessary, — 

1.  0)1  the  part  of  Jiis  elect,  for  whom  he  undertook  that  office. 
They  were  by  nature  ''enemies"  of  God  and  "  chikh'en  of  wrath." 
Unless  peace  and  reconciliation  be  made  for  them  in  the  first  place, 
they  could  neither  have  encouragement  to  go  to  him  with  their  obe- 
dience, nor  to  accept  any  mercy  from  him  or  acceptation  with  him; 
for  as  enemies  they  could  neither  have  any  mind  to  serve  him  nor  hope 
to  please  him.  Here  lie  the  first  thoughts  of  all  who  have  any  design 
seriously  to  appear  before  God,  or  to  have  to  do  with  him:  '  Where- 
with shall  we  come  before  him?  how  shall  we  obtain  reconciliation 
•with  him  ?'     Until  this  inquiry  be  answered  and  satisfied,  they  find 


482  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

it  in  vain  to  address  themselves  unto  any  thing  else,  nor  can  obtain 
any  ground  of  hope  to  receive  any  good  thing  from  the  hand  of  God. 
This  order  of  things  the  apostle  lays  down,  Rom.  v.  8-10.  The  first 
thino-  to  be  done  for  us,  was  to  i;econcile  us  to  God  whilst  we  were 
"sinners"  and  "enemies."  This  was  done  by  the  death,  by  the  blood  of 
Christ,  when,  as  our  high  priest,  he  offered  himself  a  sacrifice  for  us. 
This  being  performed,  as  we  have  abundant  cause  of  and  encourage- 
ment unto  obedience,  so  also  just  ground  to  expect  whatever  else 
belongs  unto  our  salvation,  as  he  also  argues,  Rom.  viii. 

2.  It  was  so  on  his  own  part  also.  Had  not  this  been  first 
accomplished,  he  could  not  have  undertaken  any  other  act  of  his 
priestly  office  for  us.  What  the  Lord  Christ  doth  in  heaven  on 
our  behalf  was  prefigured  by  the  entrance  of  the  high  priest  into  the 
holy  place.  Now  this  he  could  not  do  unless  he  had  before  offered 
his  sacrifice  of  atonement,  the  blood  whereof  he  carried  along  with 
him  into  the  presence  of  God.  All  his  intercession  for  us,  his  watch- 
ing for  our  good,  as  the  merciful  high  priest  over  the  house  of  God, 
is  grounded  upon  the  reconciliation  and  atonement  which  he  made; 
his  intercession,  indeed,  being  nothing  but  the  blessed  representation 
of  the  blood  of  the  atonement.  Besides,  this  was  required  of  him 
in  the  first  place,  namely,  that  he  should  "  make  his  soul  an  offering 
for  sin,"  and  do  that  in  the  body  prepared  for  him  which  all  the 
sacrifices  and  burnt-offerings  of  old  could  not  effect  or  accomplish. 
And  therefore  hereon  depended  all  the  promises  that  were  made 
unto  him  about  the  success  of  his  mediation ;  so  that  without  the 
performance  of  it  he  could  not  claim  the  accomplishment  of  them. 

S.  It  was  so  on  the  part  of  God  also ;  for  herein  principally  had 
he  designed  to  manifest  his  righteousness,  grace,  love,  and  wis- 
dom, wherein  he  will  be  glorified :  Rom.  iii.  25,  "  He  set  him  forth 
to  be  a  propitiation,  to  declare  his  righteousness."  The  righteousness 
of  God  was  most  eminently  glorified  in  the  reconciliation  wrought 
by  Christ,  when  he  was  a  propitiation  for  us,  or  made  atonement  for 
us  in  his  blood.  And  herein  also  "  God  commendeth  his  love  toward 
us,"  Rom.  V.  8;  John  iii.  16;  1  John  iv.  9.  And  what  greater  de- 
monstration of  it  could  possibly  be  made,  than  to  send  his  Son  to 
die  for  us  when  we  were  enemies,  that  we  might  be  reconciled  unto 
him?  All  after-actings  of  God  towards  us,  indeed,  are  full  of  love, 
but  they  are  all  streams  from  this  fountain,  or  rivers  from  this  ocean. 
,  And  the  apostle  sums  up  all  the  grace  of  the  gospel  in  this,  that  "God 
was  in  Christ  reconciling  tfie  world  unto  himself,"  and  that  by  this  way 
of  atonement,  "  making  him  to  be  sin  for  us,  who  knew  no  sin,  that 
we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  him,"  2  Cor.  v.  19,  21. 
And  so  also  he  declares  that  this  was  "the  mystery  of  his  will,  wherein 
he  abounded  toward  us  in  all  wisdom  and  prudence,"  Eph.  i.  8-10. 
So  that  in  all  things  the  great  glory  which  God  designed  in  the  media- 


VER.  17,  18.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  483 

tion  of  Christ  is  founded  alone  in  that  act  of  his  priesthood  Avhereby 
he  made  reconciliation  for  the  sins  of  his  people.  And  therefore, — 
(1.)  They  who  weaken,  oppose,  or  take  away  this  reconciliation,  are 
enemies  to  the  salvation  of  men,  the  honour  of  Christ,  arid  the  glory 
of  God.  From  men  they  take  their  hopes  and  happiness;  from 
Christ,  his  office  and  honour ;  from  God,  his  grace  and  glory.  I  know 
they  will  allow  of  a  reconciliation  in  words,  but  it  is  of  me7i  to  God, 
not  of  God  unto  men.  They  would  have  us  reconcile  ourselves  unto 
God,  by  faith  and  obedience;  but  for  the  reconciliation  of  God  unto 
us,  by  sacrifice,  satisfaction,  and  atonement,  that  they  deny.  What 
would  they  have  poor  sinners  to  do  in  this  case?  they  are  enemies 
unto  God.  '  Go,'  say  they,  'and  be  reconciled  unto  him;  lay  aside 
your  enmity,  and  be  no  more  his  adversaries.'  '  But,  alas !  he  is  our 
enemy  also ;  we  are  "  children  of  wrath,"  obnoxious  to  the  curse  as 
transgressors  of  bis  law,  and  how  shall  we  be  delivered  from  the 
wrath  to  come?'  '  Take  no  care  of  that;  there  is  no  such  justice  in 
God,  no  such  indignation  against  sin  and  sinners,  as  you  imagine.' 
'  But  our  consciences  tell  us  otherwise,  the  law  of  God  tells  us  other- 
wise, the  whole  Scripture  testifies  to  the  contrary,  and  all  the  creation 
is  filled  wiith  tokens  and  evidences  of  this  justice  and  indignation  of 
God  against  sin,  which  you  deny.  And  would  you  have  us  to  give 
credit  unto  you,  contrary  to  the  constant  dictates  of  our  own  con- 
sciences, the  sentence  of  the  law,  the  testimony  of  the  word,  the 
voice  of  the  whole  creation,  and  that  in  a  matter  of  such  importance 
and  everlasting  concernment  unto  us?  What  if  all  these  should 
prove  true,  and  you  should  prove  liars, — should  we  not  perish  foi 
ever  by  relying  on  your  testimony?  Is  it  reasonable  we  should 
attend  unto  you  in  this  matter?  Go  with  your  sophisms  unto 
men  who  were  never  burdened  with  a  sense  of  the  guilt  of  sin, 
whose  spirits  never  took  in  a  sense  of  God's  displeasure  against  it, 
who  never  were  brought  under  bondage  by  the  sentence  of  the  law, 
who  never  were  forced  to  cry  out,  in  the  bitterness  and  anguish  of 
their  souls,  "  What  shall  we  do  to  be  saved?  Wherewith  shall  we 
come  before  the  Lord,  or  bow  ourselves  before  the  high  God?"  and  it 
may  be  they  will  be  entangled  and  seduced  by  you ;  but  for  those  who 
have  thus  in  any  measure  known  the  terror  of  the  Lord,  they  will 
be  secured  from  you  by  his  grace.'  Besides,  what  ground  do  such 
men  leave  unto  the  Lord  Christ  to  stand  upon,  as  it  were,  in  his  in- 
tercession for  us  in  heaven?  Do  they  not  take  that  blood  out  of  his 
hand  which  he  is  carrying  into  the  holy  place?  And  how  do  they 
despoil  him  of  his  honour  in  taking  off  from  his  work !  A  miserable 
employment !  when  men  shall  study  and  take  pains  to  persuade  them- 
selves and  others  that  Christ  hath  not  done  that  for  them  which  he 
hath  done  for  all  that  are  his,  and  which  if  he  hath  not  done  for 
them  they  must  perish  for  evermore.    Is  it  worth  the  while  for  them 


4S4  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

to  weaken  faith,  love,  and  thankfuloess  unto  Christ?  From  whom 
can  such  men  look  for  their  reward  ?  Can  right  reason,  or  a  light 
within,  be  no  otherwise  adored  but  by  sacrificing  the  blood  of  Christ 
.unto  it, — no  otherwise  be  enthroned  but  by  deposing  him  from 
his  office,  and  taking  his  work  out  of  his  hand;  and,  by  a  horrible 
ingratitude,  because  they  know  no  other  could  do  that  work,  to  con- 
clude that  it  is  needless?  Are  men  so  resolved  not  to  be  beholden 
unto  Jesus  Christ,  that  rather  than  grant  that  he  hath  made  recon- 
ciliation for  us  by  his  blood,  they  will  deny  that  there  was  any  need 
that  any  such  reconciliation  should  be  made?  O  the  depths  of 
Satan !  O  the  stupidity  and  blindness  of  men,  that  are  "  taken  alive 
by  him,  and  led  captive  at  his  pleasure!" 

(2.)  They  who  would  come  unto  God  by  Christ  may  see  what  in 
the  first  place  they  are  to  look  after.  Indeed,  if  they  are  once 
brought  into  that  condition  wherein  they  will  seriously  look  after 
him,  they  will  not  be  able  to  look  from  it,  though  for  a  while  it  may 
be  they  will  be  unwilling  to  look  unto  it.  Reconciliation  they  must 
have,  or  they  can  have  no  peace.  This  lies  straight  before  them. 
They  are  willing,  it  may  be,  to  look  upon  the  right  hand  and  the  left, 
to  see  if  there  be  any  thing  nigh  them  that  will  yield  them  relief ;  but 
all  is  in  vain.  If  any  thing  else  gives  them  ease,  it  gives  them  poison ; 
if  it  gives  them  peace,  it  gives  them  ruin.  Reconciliation  by  the 
blood  of  Christ  is  the  only  relief  for  their  souls.  And  nothing  more 
discovers  the  vanity  of  much  of  that  religion  which  is  in  the  world, 
tlian  the  regardlessness  of  men  in  looking  after  this,  which  is  the 
foundation-stone  of  any  durable  building  in  the  things  of  God.  This 
they  will  do,  and  that  they  will  do,  but  how  they  shall  have  an  in- 
terest in  the  reconciliation  made  for  sin  they  trouble  not  themselves 
withal. 

II.  The  Lord  Christ  suffered  under  all  his  temptations,  sinned  in 
none. 

He  suffered,  being  tempted ;  sinned  not,  being  tempted.  He  had 
the  heart  of  a  man,  the  affections  of  a  man,  and  that  in  the  highest 
degree  of  sense  and  tenderness.  Whatever  sufferings  the  soul  of  a 
man  may  be  brought  under,  by  grief,  sorrow,  shame,  fear,  pain, 
danger,  loss,  by  any  afflictive  passions  within  or  impressions  of  force 
from  without,  he  underwent,  liejelt  it  all.  Because  he  was  always 
in  the  favour  of  God,  and  in  the  assurance  of  the  indissolubility  of 
the  union  of  his  person,  we  are  apt  to  think  that  what  came  upon 
him  was  so  overbalanced  by  the  blessedness  of  his  relation  unto  God 
as  not  to  cause  any  great  trouble  unto  him.  But  we  mistake  when 
we  so  conceive.  No  sorroAvs  were  like  to  his,  no  sufferings  like  unto 
his.  He  fortified  not  himself  against  them  but  as  they  were  merely 
penal;  he  made  bare  his  breast  unto  their  strokes,  and  laid  open  his 
soul  that  they  might  souk  into  the  inmost  parts  of  it,  Isa.  1.  t).     All 


VER.  17,  18.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  485 

those  reliefs  and  diversions  of  this  life  which  we  may  make  use  of  to 
alleviate  our  sorrows  and  sufi'erings  he  utterly  abandoned.  He  left 
ijothmg,  in  the  whole  nature  of  sorrow  or  suffering,  that  he  tasted 
not  and  made  experience  of  Indeed,  in  all  his  sufferings  and  temp- 
tations he  was  supported  with  the  thoughts  of  the  glory  that  was  set 
before  him;  but  our  thoughts  ofTiis  present  glory  "should  not  divert 
us  from  the  contemplation  of  his  past  real  sufferings.  All  the  ad- 
vantage that  he  had  above  us  by  the  excellency  of  his  person,  was 
only  that  the  sorrows  of  his  heart  were  enlarged  thereby,  and  he 
was  made  capable  of  greater  enduring  without  sin.  And  it  was  to 
be  tl:us  with  him, — 

1.  Because,  although  the  participation  of  human  nature  was  only 
necessary  that  he  might  be  a  high  priest,  yet  his  sufferingS-JUttder 
temptations  were  so  that  lie  might  be  a  merciful  high  priest  for 
tempted  sufferers.     Such  have  need  not  only  to  be  saved  by  his 
atonement,  but  to  be  relieved,  favoured,  comforted  by  his  grace. 
They  did  not  only  want  one  to  undertake  for  them,  but  to  undertake 
for  them  with  care,  pity,  and  tenderness.     Their  state  required  de- 
livery with  compassion.     God,  by  that  way  of  salvation  that  he  pro- 
vides for  them,  intends  not  only  their  final  safety  in  heaven,  but  also 
that,  in  the  sense  of  the  first-fruits  of  it  in  this  world,  they  may  glo- 
rify him  by  faith  and  thankful  obedience.     To  this  end  it  was  ne- 
cessary that  they  should  have  relief  provided  for  them  in  the  tender-  ^J_\_^  ^ 
ness  and  compassion  of  their  high  priest;  which  they  could  have  no  a.  <o  y^ 
greater  pledge  of  than  by  seeing  him  for  their  sakes  exposing  him-  "^s.^^ 
self  unto  the  miseries  which  they  had  to  conflict  withal,  and  so  ^^''-^•'<- 
always  to  bear  that  sense  of  them  which  that  impression  would   h'^**'* 
surely  leave  upon  his  soul.     And, —  Hi*" 

2.  Because,  although  the  Lord  Jesus,  by  virtue  of  the  union  of  his 
person  and  plenary  unction  with  the  Spirit,  had  a  habitual  fulness 
of  mercy  and  compassion,  yet  he  was  to  be  particularly  excited  unto 
the  exercise  of  them  towards  the  brethren  by  the  experience  he  had**^ 
of  their  condition.  His  internal,  habitual  fulness  of  grace  and  mercy 
was  capable  of  excitation  unto  suitable  actings  by  external  objects 
and  sensible  experience.  It  added  not  to  his  mercifulness,  but  occa- 
sioned his  readiness  to  dispose  it  unto  others,  and  shut  the  door 
against  pleas  of  delaying  succour.     He  bears  still  in  his  holy  mind 

the  sense  he  had  of  his  sorrows  wherewith  he  wasrpressed  in  the  ,•  -.y  ;* 
time  of  his  temptations,  and  thereon  seeing  his  brethren  conflicting  ' 
with  the  like  difficulties  is  ready  to  help  them ;  and  because  his  power 
is  proportioned  unto  his  will,  it  is  said  ",  he  is  able."  And  whatever 
may  be  the  real  effects  on  the  mind  of  Christ  from  his  temptations 
and  sufferings  now  he  is  in  heaven,  I  am  sure  they  ought  to  be  great 
on  our  faith  and  consolation,  when  we  consider  him  undergoing  them 
for  this  very  end  and  purpose,  that  seeing  he  was  constituted  our 


48 G  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  II. 

high  priest  to  transact  all  our  affairs  with  God,  he  would  be  sensible 
of"  that  condition  in  his  own  person  which  he  was  afterwards  to  pre- 
sent unto  God  for  relief  to  be  afforded  unto  it. 

III,  Temptations  cast  souls  into  danger. 

They  have  need  under  them  of  relief  and  succour.  Their  spring, 
rise,  nature,  tendency,  effects,  all  make  this  manifest.  Many  perish 
by  them,  many  are  wounded,  none  escape  free  that  fall  into  them. 
Their  kinds  are  various,  so  are  their  degrees  and  seasons;  but  all 
dangerous.     But  this  I  have  elsewhere  particularly  insisted  on} 

IV.  The  great  dttty  of  tempted  souls,  is  to  cry  out  unto  the  Lord 
Christ  for  help  and  relief. 

To  succour  any  one,  is  to  come  unto  his  help  upon  his  cry  and  call. 
This  being  promised  by  Christ  unto  those  that  are  tempted,  supposeth 
their  earnest  cry  unto  him.  If  we  be  slothful,  if  we  be  negligent 
under  our  temptations,  if  we  look  other  ways  for  assistance,  if  we 
trust  unto  or  rest  in  our  own  endeavours  for  the  conquest  of  them, 
no  wonder  if  we  are  wounded  by  them,  or  fall  under  them.  This  is 
the  great  "  arcanum"  for  the  cure  of  this  disease,  the  only  means  for 
supportment,  deliverance,  and  conquest,  namely,  that  we  earnestly 
and  constantly  apply  ourselves  unto  the  Lord  Christ  for  succour,  and 
that  as  our  merciful  high  priest,  who  had  experience  of  them.  This 
is  our  duty  upon  our  first  surprisal  with  them,  which  would  put  a 
stop  to  their  progress;  this  our  wisdom  in  their  success  and  preva- 
lency.  Whatever  we  do  against  them  without  this,  we  strive  not 
lawfully,  and  shall  not  receive  the  crown.  Were  this  more  our 
practice  than  it  is,  we  should  have  more  freedom  from  them,  more 
success  against  them,  than  usually  we  have.  Never  any  soul  mis- 
carried under  temptation  that  cried  unto  the  Lord  Christ  for  succour 
in  a  due  manner, — that  cried  unto  him  under  a  real  apprehension  of 
his  danger,  with  faith  and  expectation  of  relief  And  hereunto  have 
we  encouragement  given  us,  by  the  great  qualifications  of  his  person  in 
this  office.  He  is  "  faithful,"  he  is  "  merciful,"  and  that  which  is  the 
effect  of  them  both,  he  is  ''able;"  he  is  every  way  sufficient  to  relieve 
and  succour  poor  tempted  souls.  He  hath  a  sufficiency  of  care,  wisdom, 
and  faithfulness,  to  observe  and  know  the  seasons  wherein  succour 
is  necessary  unto  us;  a  sufficiency  of  tender'ness,  mercy ,  and  compas- 
sion, to  excite  him  thereunto;  a  sufficiency  of  power,  to  afford  suc- 
cour that  shall  be  effectual ;  a  sufficiency  of  acceptation  at  the  throne 
of  grace,  to  prevail  with  God  for  suitable  supplies  and  succour.  He 
is  every  way  "  able  to  succour  them  that  are  tempted."  To  him  be 
praise  and  glory  for  evermore ! 

'  Si-e  the  treatise  on  "  Temptation,"  vol.  vi.  p.  88,  of  the  author's  works, — ^Ed. 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  487 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  general  nature  of  this  whole  epistle,  as  in  the  former  part  of 
our  exposition  was  declared,  is  parenetical.  And  therefore  the 
doctrines  proposed  and  insisted  on  in  it  are  constantly  improved  to 
press  and  enforce  the  exhortations  intended ;  as  such  is  the  end  and 
use  of  all  principles  in  sciences  that  are  practical,  especially  of  that 
taught  us  in  the  Scripture,  which  is  a  wisdom  and  a  knowledge  of 
living  unto  God.  Wherefore  our  apostle,  having  in  the  foregoing 
chapters  manifested  the  excellency  of  Christ  (who  was  the  author  of 
the  gospel),  both  in  his  person  and  his  work,  and  that  both  abso- 
lutely and  comparatively  with  the  angels,  the  most  glorious  minis- 
ters employed  in  the  dispensation  of  the  will  of  God  unto  the 
church  of  old,  with  some  respect  unto  Joshua,  the  captain  of  the 
people,  under  whose  conduct  they  entered  into  Canaan, — in  the  en- 
trance of  this  chapter  he  acquaints  the  Hebrews  to  what  end  he 
insisted  on  these  things,  namely,  that  by  the  consideration  of  them 
they  might  be  prevailed  with  unto  constancy  and  perseverance  in 
the  faith  and  worship  of  God,  by  him  declared  and  revealed.  This 
is  the  design  of  his  discourse  in  this  chapter.  But,  as  his  manner  is 
throughout  this  epistle,  he  hath  no  sooner  intimated  his  intention 
in  the  first  verse,  but  he  adds  a  new  enforcement  to  his  exhortation, 
unto  the  end  of  the  sixth  verse.  From  thence  again  he  proceedeth 
unto  his  general  exhortation,  with  a  supply  of  new  reasons,  argu- 
ments, and  inferences,  taken  from  the  consideration  or  enforcement 
newly  and  occasionally  insisted  on. 

There  are  therefore  three  general  parts  of  this  chapter: — 

1.  An  exhortation  unto  constancy  and  perseverance  in  the  profes- 
sion of  the  gospel.  And  therein  are  observable,  (1.)  The  means 
of  accomplishing  the  duty  exhorted  unto,  verses  1,  8,  9,  12,  13; 
(2.)  The  nature  of  it,  verses  6,  14;  (3.)  The  things  that  are  con- 
trary unto  it,  verses  12,  15;  (4.)  The  benefits  of  it,  verse  1 4 ;  (5.) 
The  danger  of  its  neglect,  verses  8-11,  15-19. 

2.  A  new  enforcement  of  the  exhortation,  taken  from  the  fidelity 
of  Christ  in  the  discharge  of  the  office  committed  unto  him,  verses 
2-6:  wherein  occur,  (I.)  The  reason  itself,  or  the  fidelity  of  Christ 
asserted  ;  (2.)  The  manner  of  its  proposal,  by  comparing  him  with 
and  preferring  him  above  Moses.  And  therein  the  apostle  [1.] 
Prevents  an  objection  that  might  yet  remain  on  the  behalf  of  the 
Judaical  church-state  upon  the  account  of  Moses,  the  principal  re- 
vealer  of  it;  and  [2.]  Lays  down  a  concession  of  the  faithfulness  of 
Moses  in  his  trust  and  employment;  with  [3.]  A  comparison  of 
him  with  the  Lord  Christ  as  to  the  dignity  of  his  person  and  workj 
and  [4.]  The  evictions  of  his  coming  short  of  him  therein. 


488  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

3.  Especial  reasons  relating  unto  his  general  argument,  taken 
from  express  testimonies  of  Scripture,  verse  7-11,  and  the  dealings 
of  God  towards  others  failing  in  the  duty  exhorted  unto ;  which  he 
pursues  at  large  in  the  next  chapter.  The  whole,  therefore,  of  this 
chapter  is  a  pathetical  exhortation,  pressed  with  many  cogent  reasons, 
unto  constancy  and  perseverance  in  the  faith  and  obedience  of  the 
gospel. 

Ver.  1,  2. — "Odsv,  aSsXpo/  dyioi,  TcX-zjascag  sTovpaviov  fisro^oi,  xaravo- 
rjeare  rov  airoeroT-.ov  xal  apy^ispia  rr^g  oixoXoyiag  tumuv,  Xpiffrhv  'Iriaovv 
iriSTov  ovTot,  Tw  'TroiTjffavTi  axirhv,  ug  xai  MuixTTJg  iv  oXuj  rtZ  o'Uw  ahrou. 

The  Vulgar  leaves  out  Xjo/ffTo'j/,  "Christ;"  all  ancient  copies  and  translations 
beside  retain  it. 

"OOev,  that  is,  "  unde,"  properly  "  from  whence."  But  these  words  are  used 
as  illatives;  as  "  proinde,"  '"itaque,"  "quamobrem,"  "quocirca,"  "  quare;"  all 
vhich  are  made  use  of  \>y  ti-ansiators  in  this  place, — "  wherefore."  Respect  is  had 
unto  the  preceding  iliscourse,  from  whence  the  apostle  infers  his  ensuing  exhor- 
tation :  '  Seeing  that  things  are  thus,  that  the  author  of  the  gospel  is  such  an  one 
as  hath  been  described.' 

K'K'yjaeu?  sttov poivtov,  "vocationis  coelestis,"  "of  the  heavenly  calling."  Syr.,  1!?"] 
**'"??,  "  which  is  from  heaven."  Some  render  it,  "  supra-coelestis,"  "above  the 
heavens;"  as  iTrtyc^ovtx  are  things  upon  the  earth,  and  so  above  it.  And  Plato, 
Apolog.  Socrat.,  opposeth  roi  vtto  y'^v,  "things  under  the  earth,"  and  t«  Ww- 
pccvici,  "  things  above  the  heavens."  And  this  word  is  almost  peculiar  unto  our 
apostle,  being  used  frequently  by  him  in  this  and  his  other  epistles,  and  but  twice 
besides  in  the  whole  New  Testament,  Matt,  xviii.  35  ;  Jolm  iii.  12.  See  1  Cor. 
XV.  40,  48,  49;  Eph.  i.  3,  20,  ii.  6,  iii.  10,  vi.  12;  Phil.  ii.  10;  2  Tim.  iv.  18; 
Heb.  vi.  4,  viii.  5,  ix.  23,  xi.  16,  xii.  22.  And  as  he  useth  this  word  frequently, 
opposing  it  to  iTTiyxiog,  so  he  expresseth  the  s;ime  thing  in  other  words  of  the 
same  signification:  Phil.  iii.  14,5?  aivu  Khviai;,  "the  .supernal  calling;"  that  i.s, 
t7rovp»i/iog.  For  oiipctvog,  saith  Aristotle,  de  Mund.,  is  rot)  Kotrfiov  ro  oiva,  0£o5 
mx-YiTviptou,  "  that  of  the  world  which  is  above,  the  dwelling-place  of  God."  And 
as  our  apostle  opposeth  roi  ivovpct-vtot,  "  heavenly  things,"  so  he  doth  also  rot 
oivu,  "thmgs  above,"  absolutely,  unto  rd.  t^i  r^j  yijj,  "tilings  that  are  on  the 
earth,"  Col.  iii.  1,  2.  This  phrase  of  speech  is  therefore  the  same,  and  peculiar  unto 
our  apostle.  And  both  these  expre.ssions  denote  God,  the  author  of  this  calling, 
Avho  is  ^^'^^  ^,  Job  xxxi.  28,  "  God  above;"  ©fof  sori  'Trctvruv,  "God  over  all," 
Eph.  iv.  6 ;  s'^ovpuuto;,  "  heavenly,"  Matt,  xviii.  35. 

MiToxot,  "  participes,"  "  partakers  ;  "  "  consortes,"  Beza.  To  the  same  pur- 
pose, Syr,,  P'"'"'"!!?'?''"! ,  "who  are  called  with  an  holy  calling,"  omitting  ihe  force 
of  this  word,  intended  to  express  their  common  interest  in  the  same  calling.  The 
signification  of  this  word  was  declared  on  chap.  ii.  14.  The  matter  intended  is 
fully  expressed  by  the  same  apostle,  Eph.  iv.  4,  "Ei*  au/nee,  x.xl  h  Uvsvy.u,  xotdug 
Ktui  ix,'hvi$riri  h  /moi  i'X-Trioi  rvis  xhiiasoi;  {/pt.Zv, — "  One  body  and  one  Spirit,  even 
as  ye  were  called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling;"  that  is,  partakers  of  and  com- 
panions in  the  same  heavenly  calling. 

K/x.rce.voviact.Ti,  "considerate,"  "  contemplamini," — " consider,"  " meditate  on." 
KaToii/o£6>  is  properly  "  animadverto," — to  set  the  mind  diligently  to  mark  and 
consider,  so  as  to  understand  the  thing  con.'idered;  whence  it  is  often  rendered 
(as  by  Cicero)  by  "  intelligo,"  and  "perspicio,"  "to  understand,"  and  "perceive." 
Se '  Rom.  iv.  19,  where  it  is  denied  of  Abraham.     "  Consider  diligently." 

Toy  uTTosroMu,  "  apostolum,"  "legatum," — "  the  apostle,"  "  legate,"  "ambas. 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  4S9 

sador."  Syr., ''^n  i^^J^f''?,  "hunc  apostolum,"  "this  apostle."  He  is  so  only; 
he  thit  was  "  sent  of  God,"  namely,  to  the  work  of  revealing  him  by  the  gospel. 
And  by  a  periphrasis  hereof  he  often  describes  himself,  calling  his  Father  toV  d'^ro- 
mi'KuvTci,  '•  him  that  sent  him."  Ethiopic,  "apostolum  vestrum,"  "your  apostle." 
K«<  dpxupioc,  "et  pontificem,"  "and  the  high  priest,"  or  "chief  priest ;"  Syr.,  s"] 
*'T:;''^,  "  prince  of  priests;"  whereof  we  have  spoken  before,  chap.  ii.  17. 

T'^f  oi^ohoyiccg  ijfiuv.  ' Of^oKoyia.  is  properly  a  "joint  agreement,"  "consent,"  or 
"conciuTence"  in  the  declaration  of  anything.  It  is  used  also  in  good  authors  for 
a  "convention,"  "covenant,"  or  "agreement."  Syr.,Tr"'""r"!,"ofour  confe-sion;"and 
so  the  Vulgar,  "  confessionis  nostrae:"  both  with  respect  unto  the  Greek  transla- 
tion of  the  Old  Testament,  wherein  ~"^  in  Hiphil,  signifying  properly  "to  cele- 
brate," "  to  praise,"  to  set  forth  praise  by  words,  is  constantly  rendered  £|o,wo- 
T^oyia,  "  to  confess."  Hence  these  words  of  our  apostle,  2  Cor.  ix.  13,  AoZ,d.^ovTig 
Tov  Qiov  STirt  rri  VTrorctyyi  tti;  ofio'Koyi'xi  v/nZv  di  to  iiixyyiKiov  rov  Xptarov,  are 
rendered  by  the  Vulgar,  "  Deum  glorificamus  quod  subjecti  sitis  confession! 
evangelii;" — "We  glorify  God  that  you  are  subject  to  the  confession  of  the  gos- 
pel;" very  imperfectly,  and  without  any  clear  sense.  "The  subjection  of  your 
profession  "  is  a  Hebraism  for  "  professed  subjection,"  as  ours  well  render  the 
words.  'OfioMyea  is  but  once  used  in  the  New  Testament  for  to  "confess,"  1  John 
i.  9,  any  otherwise  than  as  to  confess  is  coincident  in  signification  with  to  pro- 
fess or  make  profession.  And  this  hath  obtained  in  common  use;  whence  the 
doctrines  that  men  profess,  or  make  profession  of,  being  declared,  are  called  their 
confession,  or  the  confession  of  their  faith.  So  our  apostle  calls  it  t^w  x«A'/)i/ 
ofco'hoyicii/,  "that  good  confession,"  1  Tim.  vi.  12,  13;  and  absolutely  t^i/  oj^o'ho- 
ytciv,  "profession."  chap.  iv.  14  of  this  epistle;  and  rviv  o/xc'Xoyloiv  riig  iT^'Trilo?, 
chap.  X.  23,  "the  profession  of  hope."  And  it  is  to  be  ob.-erved  that  this  word 
also  is  peculiar  unto  our  apostle,  and  by  him  frequently  used.  It  is  public  or 
joint  profession.  Some  copies  of  the  Vulgar  read  "  vestra,"  "your"  profession, 
but  without  countenance  from  ancient  copies  or  translations. 

Tw  'T^oiYtdxvrt  ccvTou,  "facienti  ipsum,"  "  ei  qui  fecit  ipsum," — "to  him  that  made 
him."  Some  Socinians  from  these  words  would  prove  that  Christ  is  a  mere  crea- 
ture, because  God  is  said  to  make  him.  But  it  is  not  of  the  essence  or  nature  of 
Christ  that  the  apostle  treateth,  as  Schliehtingius  himself  acknowledgeth,  but  of 
his  office  and  work.  See  Acts  ii.  36,  Kvpiov  x.xl  Xpiazcv  otvTov  6  ©soj-  k'jrotrias, — 
"  God  hath  made  him  both  Lord  and  Christ ;"  the  same  with  e^viKi,  Heb.  i.  2, — 
he  hath  "  made,"  "appointed,"  "  designed,"  "  exalted"  him.  So  in  the  Hebrew, 
'^■f  ?. "  fecit,"  "  he  made,"  is  used  and  applied  1  Sam.  xii.  6,  "r"'!!'?"'^^'!  "'f!''"^*'  ™^  ''^'?; 
which  the  LXX.  render,  o  voitiaccg  tov  Muvcr,v,  "who  made  Moses  and  Aaron;" 
that  is,  'jj  or  ^''p^,  "  raised  up,"  or  "  exalted,"  or  "  appointed  them," — that  is, 
to  their  office.  For  whom  God  raiseth  up  or  exalteth,  he  doth  it  unto  some  work 
and  service :  and  whom  he  appointeth  unto  any  service,  he  doth  therein  exalt. 

'  rij  Kdl  M&tr^f  iv  ohu  ru  oIku  ccvtov,  "  Even  as  Moses  in  his  whole  house. " 
These  words,  "  in  his  whole  house,"  may  be  referred  unto  the  former  expression 
concerning  Christ,  "Faithful  to  him  that  appointed  him  in  his  whole  house,  even 
a^  was  Moses."  So  the  Arabic  translation  disposeth  the  words.  Thus  a  comma  is 
to  be  placed  after  Moses,  or,  "  even  as  Moses,"  is  to  be  enclosed  in  a  parenthesis. 
Or  they  may  be  referred  unto  Mose.s,  and  then  they  are  to  be  rendered,  as  by 
ours,  "as  was  Moses;"  and  then  the  sense  is  to  be  supplied  by  repeating  ■Tztsroi 
"fiithful:"  "As  Moses  was  faithful  in  his  whole  hotise."  But  as  to  the  matter 
itself,  both  are  intended,  and  the  same  words  are  used  of  Moses  elsewhere, 
Kum.  xii,  7.1 

'  Exposition. — Jesus  is  called  dvoaroKog,  from  the  analogous  relation  in  which 
he  stands  to  the  ^"■'  "s^'s,  as  messenger  of  God  to  men;    dp/jipivg,  from  the 


490  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

Ver.  1,  2. — Wherefore,  holy  brethren,  partakers  of  the 
heavenly  calling,  consider  \_diligentlif\  the  apostle  and 
high  priest  of  our  profession,  Christ  Jesus,  who  was 
faithful  [being  faithful^  to  him  that  appointed  him 
[made  him  so],  even  as  Moses  in  all  his  house  [in  his 
whole  house.] 

The  apostle  in  these  two  verses  entereth  upon  the  application  of 
the  doctrine  which  he  had  declared  and  confirmed  in  the  two  fore- 
going chapters.  Herewithal,  according  to  his  constant  method  in 
this  epistle,  he  maketh  way  for  what  he  had  further  to  deliver  of 
the  same  nature  and  importance. 

The  first  word  respects  that  which  went  before,  "  wherefore," 
or,  '  seeinof  thinsfs  are  as  I  have  manifested, — namely, 

"0^l»  5  O  >-.  _  '  ^  ' 

that  he  of  whom  I  speak  unto  you  is  so  excellent  and 
so  highly  exalted  above  all,  and  that  whereas  he  was  humbled  for  a 
season,  it  was  unspeakably  for  the  benefit  and  advantage  of  the 
church, — it  cannot  but  be  your  duty  to  consider  him ;  that  is,  both 
what  he  is  m  himself,  and  what  he  is  unto  us.'  His  design  is  to 
press  upon  them  his  general  exhortation  unto  constancy  and  perse- 
verance in  the  profession  of  the  gospel;  but  he  doth  not  express  it 
in  these  verses,  insisting  only  upon  an  intermediate  duty,  subservient 
unto  that  principally  intended.  Now,  this  is  their  diligent  consider- 
ation of  Jesus  Christ,  with  what  he  had  delivered  concerning  him, 
and  what  he  was  yet  further  to  declare  unto  them.  And  this  he 
urgeth  as  the  only  way  whereby  they  might  be  prevailed  on  unto 
and  assisted  in  the  stability  aimed  at.  This  is  the  connection  of  his 
discourse  and  the  intention  of  his  inference;  whence  observe,  that, — 

I.  All  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  especially  those  concerning  the 
person  and  offices  of  Christ,  are  to  be  improved  imto  practice  in 
faith  and  obedience. 

This  course  our  apostle  insists  on:  having  before  laid  down  the 
doctrine  of  the  person  and  offices  of  Christ,  here  he  applies  it  unto 
their  duty  and  establishment  in  the  profession  of  the  truth.  These 
things  are  not  revealed  unto  us  only  to  be  known,  but  to  be  practi- 
cally used  for  the  ends  of  their  revelation.  We  are  so  to  know 
Christ  as  to  live  to  him  in  the  strength  of  his  grace,  and  unto  the 
praise  of  his  glory.  "  If  ye  know  these  things,"  saith  he,  "  happy 
are  ye  if  ye  do  them,"  John  xiii.  17.  It  is  our  privilege  to  know 
them,  a  great  privilege;  but  it  is  our  blessedness  to  do  them.    When 

analogy  between  him  and  '"^^l  T'P,  as  representative  of  men   be/ore  God. — 
JCbrard. 

Translations. — Tij?  o'^oA.  Confession.- — De  Wette,  Wahl,  Craik,  Conyhear6 
a.nd  Howson,  Ebrard.  Covenant. — TitniO'nn,  Tholuck.  Whom  we  have  acknow- 
ledged.— Starr,  Stuart. — Ed. 


VEK.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  491 

men  content  themselves  with  the  notion  of  spiritual  things,  without 
endeavouring  to  express  their  power  and  efficacy  in  the  practical 
conformity  of  their  minds  and  souls  unto  them,  it  proves  their  ruin. 
Tliat  word  which  is  preached  unto  us  ought  to  dwell  in  us.  See 
what  it  is  to  "Jearn  Christ"  in  a  due  manner,  Eph.  iv.  20-24-.  There 
is  a  miserable  profession,  where  some  preach  without  application, 
and  others  hear  without  practice. 

To  hear  that  we  may  learn,  to  learn  that  we  may  learn,  is  but 
part  of  our  duty;  indeed,  in  and  for  themselves  no  part  of  it.  To 
hear  and  to  learn  are  good,  but  not  for  themselves,  for  their  own 
sake,  but  only  for  the  practice  of  what  we  hear  and  learn.  The 
apostle  tells  us  of  some  who  are  "  always  learning,  but  are  never 
able  to  come  tig  imyvuffiv  aXfikiag,"  2  Tim.  iii.  7 ;  that  is,  to  a  prac- 
tical acknowledgment  of  it,  so  as  to  have  an  impression  of  its  power 
and  efficacy  upon  their  souls.  And  such  are  some  who  are  vavron 
(lav&dvovTig, — such  as  make  it  their  business  to  hear  and  to  learn,  so 
that  they  scarcely  do  any  thing  else.  Gospel  truths  are  "  medicina 
anirajE," — physic  for  a  sin-sick  soul.  Now,  of  what  use  is  it  to  get 
a  store  of  medicines  and  cordials,  and  never  to  take  them?  No  more 
is  it  to  collect,  at  any  price  or  rate,  sermons,  doctrines,  instructions, 
if  we  apply  them  not,  that  they  may  have  their  efficacy  in  us  and 
proper  work  towards  us.  There  is  in  some  a  dropsy  of  hearing; — 
the  more  they  hear,  the  more  they  desire.  But  they  are  only  pleased 
with  it  at  present,  and  swelled  for  the  future, — are  neither  really 
refreshed  nor  strengthened.  But  every  truth  hath,  as  the  Hebrews 
express  it,  VS3  1^^,  "  meat  in  its  mouth,"  something  for  our  own 
nourishment.  We  should  look  unto  sermons  as  Elijah  did  to  the 
ravens,  that  "  brought  him  bread  and  flesh  in  the  morning,  and 
bread  and  flesh  in  the  evening,"  1  Kings  xvii.  6.  They  bring  food 
with  them  for  our  souls,  if  we  feed  on  it;  if  not,  they  are  lost.  When 
the  Israelites  gathered  manna  to  eat,  it  was  a  precious  food,  "  bread 
from  heaven,  angels'  meat,"  food  heavenly  and  angelical, — that  is, 
excellent  and  precious;  but  when  they  laid  it  up  by  them,  "it  bred 
worms  and  stank,"  Exod.  xvi.  20.  When  God  scatters  truths  amongst 
men,  if  they  gather  them  to  eat,  they  are  the  bread  of  heaven, 
angels'  food ;  but  if  they  do  it  only  to  lay  them  by  them,  in  their 
books,  or  in  the  notions  of  their  mind,  they  will  breed  the  worms  of 
pride  and  hypocrisy,  and  make  them  an  offensive  savour  unto  God. 
When,  therefore,  any  truth  is  proposed  unto  you,  learn  what  is  your 
concernment  in  it,  and  let  it  have  its  proper  and  perfect  work  upon 
your  souls. 

Secondly,  In  the  manner  of  his  pressing  his  exhortation  two 
things  occur: — 1  His  compellation  of  them,  in  these  words,  "  Holy 
brethren."  2.  His  description  of  them  by  one  property  or  privilege, 
*'  Partakers  of  the  heavenly  calhug." 


492  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  lit 

1.  In  the  former,  two  things  also  are  observable:  (1.)  The  appella- 
tion itself  which  he  makes  use  of,  "  Brethren."  (2.)  The 
adjunct  of  that  appellation,  "  Holy." 
(1.)  This  term  of  relation,  "brethren,"  is  variously  used  in  the 
Scripture;  sometimes  naturally,  and  that  most  strictly,  for  children 
of  the  same  father  or  mother.  Gen.  xlii.  13  ;  or  more  largely  for  near 
kinsmen  (and  among  the  Hebrews  the  descendants  of  the  same 
L,rrandfather  are  almost  constantly  so  called ;  whence  is  that  expres- 
sion of  the  brethren  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  were  descendants 
of  his  grandfather  according  to  the  flesh,  Gen.  xiii.  8,  xxiv.  27;  Matt. 
xii.  46,  xiii.  55;  Mark  iii.  31;  John  ii.  12,  vii.  3,  5,  10;  Acts  i.  14): 
or,  in  analogy  thereunto,  for  all  the  branches  of  one  common  stock, 
though  a  whole  nation,  yea,  though  of  many  nations.  So  all  the 
Hebrews  were  brethren,  Deut.  xv.  12;  and  the  Edomites  are  said  to 
be  their  brethren,  because  of  the  stock  of  Abraham,  Deut.  xxiii.  7. 
And  in  this  sense,  in  another  place,  our  apostle  calls  all  the  Jews  liis 
brethren;  that  is,  his  kinsfolk  in  the  flesh,  Rom.  ix.  3.  Sometimes 
it  is  used  civilly,  and  that,  [1.]  On  the  mere  account  of  cohabitation, 
Gen.  xix.  7;  [2.]  Of  combination  in  some  society,  as,  \st.  For  evil, 
Gen.  xlix.  5 ;  2dly.  For  good,  Ezra  iii.  2.  And  sometimes  it  express- 
eth  a  joint  profession  of  the  same  religion ;  on  which  account  the 
Jews  called  themselves  brethren  all  the  world  over.  Acts  xxviii.  21. 
Lastly,  It  is  also  an  expression  of  spiritual  cognation,  founded  on  that 

of  our  Saviour,  "All  ye  are  brethren, and  one  is  your  Father, 

which  is  in  heaven,"  Matt,  xxiii.  8,  9.  And  herein  is  an  allusion  to 
the  first,  proper  signification  of  the  word.  That  men  be  brethren, 
properly  an<l  strictly,  it  is  required  that  they  have  one  father,  be  of 
one  family,  and  be  equally  interested  in  the  privileges  and  advan- 
tages thereof.  This  is  the  nearest  bond  of  alliance  that  is  or  can  be 
between  equals,  the  firmest  foundation  of  love.  And  thus  it  is  with 
those  who  are  brethren  spiritually,  as  will  afterwards  appear. 

Now,  though  the  apostle  stood  in  the  relation  intimated  with  the 
Hebrews  upon  a  natural  account,  yet  he  here  calls  them  brethren 
principally  in  the  last  sense,  as  s^nritually  interested  in  the  same 
family  of  God  with  himself;  although  I  am  apt  to  think  that  in  the 
use  of  this  expression  to  the  Jews  the  apostle  had  respect  also  unto 
that  brotherhood  which  they  had  among  themselves  before  in  their 
ancient  church-state.  So  Peter,  writing  to  some  of  them,  tells  them 
that  the  same  afilictions  which  they  suffered  would  befall  rjj  h 
x66(iu)  u/xuv  abiKfornri,  "  the  whole  brotherhood  of  them  in  the  world," 
1  Epist.  V.  9;  that  is,  all  the  believing  Jews.  And  whereas  they  had 
a  particular  and  especial  mutual  love  to  each  other  on  that  account, 
our  apostle  warns  them  that  they  should  not  think  that  that  relation 
or  love  was  to  cease  'tpon  their  conversion  to  Christ,  Heb.  xiii.  1 : 
'H  (piXad!X(p!a /j,sv:rTu, — 'Let  that  brotherly  love  continue  which  hath 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  493 

been  amongst  you/  But  principally  I  suppose  he  respects  their 
new  relation  in  Christ;  which  further  appears  from  the  adjunct  of 
this  compellation  annexed,  "  holy." 

(2.)  "  Holy."     This  is  the  usual  epithet  wherewith  our  apostle 
adorns  believers,  Rom.  i.  7;  1  Cor.  i.  2;  2  Cor.  i.  1 ;  Eph.       , 
i.  1 ;  Phil.  i.  1.     And  in  many  places  he  joins  their  call-  '""' 

ing  with  it,  which  here  he  subjoins  unto  it.  And  this  is  peculiar 
to  Paul.  What  he  means  by  dyioi,  "  holy,"  he  declares,  wliere  he 
terms  the  same  persons  riyiacfi'svot,  "  sanctified  ones,"  1  Cor.  i.  2 ; 
Eph.  V.  26;  1  Cor.  vi.  11;  1  Thess.  v.  23;  John  xvii.  19.  He  ac- 
counted them  holy,  not  upon  the  account  of  an  external  separation, 
as  of  old  all  the  people  were  holy,  but  also  of  internal,  real  sanctifi- 
cation  and  purity.  This  he  judged  the  professing  Hebrews  to  be 
interested  in,  as  being  "  called  by  an  holy  calling."  And  it  may  be, 
in  the  present  use  of  this  expression,  he  hath  respect  unto  what  he 
had  before  affirmed  of  believers,  namely,  their  being  ay/a^o'/^e.-o/, 
"  sanctified,"  or  made  holy  by  Christ,  chap.  ii.  11 ;  considering  that 
from  thence  he  infers  their  relation  unto  Christ  as  his  brethren, 
verse  12,  and  so  becoming  in  him  brethren  to  one  another,  even  all 
of  them  dBi7.(p6rrjg,  "a  brotherhood,"  or  "fraternity,"  1  Pet.  v.  9.  And 
by  this  compellation  of  "holy  brethren"  doth  the  apostle  manifest 
his  high  regard  of  them  or  respect  unto  them,  looking  on  them  as 
persons  sanctified  by  the  Spirit  and  word  of  Christ,  and  a  dear 
affection  for  them  as  his  brethren.  By  this  treatment  also  of  them 
he  gives  a  great  evidence  of  his  sincerity  in  dealing  with  them ;  for 
they  might  not  fear  that  he  would  impose  any  thing  on  them  whom 
he  honoured  as  holy,  and  loved  as  brethren.  And  hereby  he  smooths 
his  way  to  his  ensuing  exhortation. 

2.  He  describes  them  from  their  calling,  KX?;C£w;  i-zoupaviou  iikroyju. 
This  is  usual  with  our  apostle:  "Called  to  be  saints" — 
"Sanctified  in  Christ  Jesus."  And  this  calling  or  voca-  ^^^'"■'■':'  '■^'"'- 
tion  he  first  describes  by  its  quality;  it  is  "heavenly," 
or  "  super-celestial ; "  or,  as  elsewhere,  "  the  calling  that  is  from 
above:"  and  then  ascribes  an  interest  unto  them  therein.  And  he 
calls  it  "heavenly,"  (1.)  From  the  fountain  and  principal  cause  of  it; 
that  is,  God,  even  the  Father,  which  is  in  heaven.  As  our  election, 
so  our  calling  is  in  an  especial  manner  ascribed  unto  him,  1  Cor. 
i.  9;  1  Thess.  ii.  12;  Rom.  viii.  28-:30;  1  Pet.  i.  lo,  ii.  9,  v.  10; 
Phil.  iii.  14;  Gal.  v.  8:  for  no  man  can  come  unto  the  Son,  unless 
the  Father  draw  him.  Believers,  indeed,  are  termed  K?.^ro/  roD 
'l^iffoD  Xp/ffrou,  Rom.  i.  6, — "The  called  of  Jesus  Christ;"  that  is,  to 
him,  not  hy  him;  or,  by  him  as  executing  the  counsel  and  dispens- 
ing the  grace  of  the  Father,  2  Cor.  v.  20.  (2.)  In  respect  of  the 
means  whereby  this  calling  is  wrought,  which  are  spiritual  and  hea- 
venly, namely,  the  word  and  Spirit,  both  from  above,  John  xvL 


494  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CIIAP.  III. 

7-1 1 :  for  the  word  of  the  gospel  is  on  many  accounts  heavenly,  or 
from  heaven;  whence  our  apostle  calls  it  "the  voice  of  him  that 
speaketh  from  heaven/'  Heb.  xii.  25.  And  Christ,  who  is  the  author 
of  it,  is  called  "  The  Lord  from  heaven,"  1  Cor.  xv.  47;  and  that  on 
this  account,  that  he  who  was  in  heaven  came  down  from  heaven 
to  reveal  the  gospel,  John  iii.  13,  vi.  38.  And  so  also  the  Spirit 
is  poured  out  from  above,  being  given  of  Christ  after  he  was 
ascended  into  heaven.  Acts  ii.  33.  (3.)  Of  the  end  also;  which  is  to 
heaven  and  heavenly  things,  wherein  lies  the  hope  of  our  calling, 
Eph.  i.  18,  iv.  4.  So  that  effectual  vocation  from  God  above,  in  his 
grace  and  mercy  by  Jesus  Christ,  is  here  intended. 

Herein  the  apostle  assigns  a  participation  unto  these  Hebrews; 
they  were  "  partakers"  of  it,  had  an  interest  in  it, — 
iToxei.  together  with  himself  were  so  called.  And  this  he  doth 
for  several  reasons: — 

(1.)  That  he  might  manifest  wherein  their  great  privilege  con- 
sisted, and  which,  as  such,  they  were  to  value.  They  were  apt  to 
boast  of  the  privileges  they  enjoyed  in  their  Judaism,  John  viii.  33, 
Rom.  ii.  1 7, 18 ;  which  also  were  great,  Rom.  iii.  1,  2,  ix.  4,  5 :  but  they 
were  all  of  no  esteem  in  comparison  of  what  they  had  now  obtained 
an  interest  in,  by  the  grace  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  their  high,  holy,  and 
heavenly  calling.  This  he  manifests  in  the  instance  of  himself,  Phil, 
iii.  4-9.  The  call  of  Abraham,  which  was  the  foundation  of  all  their 
privileges  in  their  Judaism,  was  but  an  earthly  call, — on  the  earth  and 
to  the  earth;  but  this  is  every  way  more  excellent,  being  heavenly. 

(2.)  To  set  forth  the  grace  of  God  towards  the  Jews,  and  his 
own  faith  concerning  them,  that  they  were  not  all  rejected  of 
God,  notwithstanding  the  hardness  and  obstinacy  of  the  most  of 
them,  as  Rom.  xi.  2,  4,  5.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  he  insinuates 
that  they  were  not  to  make  an  enclosure  of  this  privilege,  like  those 
wherewith  of  old  they  were  intrusted.  The  Gentiles  being  fellow- 
heirs  with  them  therein,  they  were  "  partakers"  with  others  in  this 
"  heavenly  calling ;"  as  Eph.  iii.  6. 

(3.)  He  declares  his  oiun  communion  with  them  in  that  great 
privilege,  whereby  they  might  understand  his  intimate  concernment 
in  their  state  and  condition. 

(4.)  He  minds  them  of  their  duty  from  their  privilege.  Being 
partakers  of  this  calling  unto  Christ,  it  must  needs  be  their  duty 
diligently  to  "consider"  him;  which  he  exhorts  them  unto.  But  we 
may  make  some  observations  on  the  words  unfolded  already. 

II.  Dispensers  of  the  gospel  ought  to  use  holy  prudence  in  winning 
upon  the  minds  and  affections  of  those  whom  they  are  to  instruct. 

So  dealeth  Paul  with  these  Hebrews.  He  minds  them  here  of 
their  mutual  relation;  calls  them  brethren;  ascribes  unto  them  the 
privileges  of  holiness  and  participation  of  a  heavenly  calling; — all 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  495 

to  assure  them  of  his  love,  to  remove  their  prejudices  against  h'xva 
and  to  win  upon  their  affections.  And,  indeed,  next  unto  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  himself,  he  is  the  most  signal  pattern  and  example  of 
holy  wisdom,  tenderness,  compassion,  and  zeal,  unto  all  ministers  of 
the  gospel.  The  image  of  his  spirit,  expressed  in  his  instractions 
given  unto  his  two  beloved  sons,  Timothy  and  Titus,  sufficiently 
testify  hereunto.  Yea,  so  great  was  his  wisdom  and  condescension 
in  dealing  with  his  hearers,  that  seducers  and  false  apostles  took 
occasion  from  thence  to  say,  that  being  crafty  he  caught  them  with 
guile,  2  Cor.  xii.  16.  The  words  are  an  objection  of  his  adversaries, 
not  a  concession  of  his.  He  shows  how  in  all  things  he  wa  j  tender 
tow^ards  them,  and  put  them  neither  to  charge  nor  trouble.  Here- 
unto he  supposeth  a  reply  by  the  false  apostles:  "Eatw  ds,  syu  ov  zars- 
pdprjda  'jn,ag'  aXX'  birdp^uv  'Travoupyog,  86Xw  hfiag  'i'KaZov' — "  Be  it  SO, 
that  I  myself  did  not  burden  you,  nor  put  you  to  charge,  yet  being 
every  way  crafty,  I  took  you  by  deceit."  This  is  their  reply  unto  his 
plea,  and  not  any  concession  of  his;  for  both  the  words,  rravovpyog 
and  hoXog,  are  such  as  will  admit  no  interpretation  in  a  good  sense, 
so  that  the  apostle  should  ascribe  them  iinto  himself  But  wherein 
did  that  craft  and  deceit  consist  which  they  would  impute  unto  him  ? 
It  was  in  this,  that  though  he  himself  put  them  to  no  charge,  he 
burdened  them  not,  yet  when  he  was  gone,  and  had  secured  them 
unto  himself,  then  he  sent  those  to  them  which  should  receive 
enough  for  him  and  themselves.  Unto  this  calumny  the  apostle 
replies,  verses  17, 18,  showing  the  falseness  of  it.  "  Did  I,"  saith  he, 
"  make  a  gain  of  you  by  any  of  them  whom  I  sent  unto  you?"  This 
was  that  which  was  imputed  unto  him,  which  he  rejects  as  false  and 
calumnious.  And  he  confirms  what  he  says  by  an  especial  instance: 
"  I  desired  Titus,  and  with  him  I  sent  a  brother.  Did  Titus  make 
a  gain  of  you?  walked  we  not  in  the  same  spirit?  walked  we  not  in 
the  same  steps?"  So  that  this  reproach  is  every  way  false,  and 
such  as  may  be  evicted  so  to  be.  And  this  is  the  true  sense  of  this 
place.  This  was  not  his  way.  But  this  he  always  did,  and  on  all 
occasions, — he  testified  unto  them  his  great  affection,  his  readiness  to 
spend  and  to  be  spent  for  them,  2  Cor.  xii.  14,  15.  His  gentleness 
towards  them, — cherishing  them  as  a  nurse  cherisheth  her  children, 
1  Thess.  ii.  7,  or  as  a  father  his,  verse  11, — forewent  that  which 
in  earthly  things  was  due  to  him  by  the  appointment  of  Christ, 
that  he  might  no  way  burden  them,  2  Cor,  xi.  9-11,  Actsxx.  33-35; 
enduring  all  things  for  their  sakes,  2  Tim.  ii.  10, — amongst  which 
were  many  able  to  make  the  stoutest  heart  to  tremble.  His  care, 
pains,  travail,  watchfulness,  patience,  love,  compassion,  zeal,  who 
can  declare  or  sufficiently  admire!  By  these  means  he  removed  or 
rendered  ineffectual  the  great  prejudice  of  forsaking  Judaism,  kept 
up  a  regard  in  his  hearers  against  the  insinuations  of  seducers  and 
VOL.  XII. — 32 


496  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

false  apostles,  raised  their  attention,  prepared  them  every  way  for 
instruction,  and  won  them  over  to  Christ.  Blessed  Jesus!  what 
cause  have  we  to  mourn  when  we  consider  the  pride,  covetousness, 
ambition,  wrath,  negligence,  self-seeking,  and  contempt  of  thy  flock, 
which  are  found  amongst  many  of  them  who  take  upon  themselves 
to  be  dispensers  of  thy  word,  whereby  the  souls  of  men  are  scanda- 
lized and  filled  with  offences  against  thy  holy  ways  every  day ! 

III.  Believers  are  all  related  one  unto  another  in  the  nearest 
and  strictest  bond  of  an  equal  relation.  They  are  all  brethren,  "  holy 
brethren." 

So  the  Holy  Ghost  calls  them  in  truth ;  so  the  reproaching  world 
calls  them  in  scorn.  They  have  "  one  Father,"  Matt,  xxiii.  8,  9  ;  one 
elder  Brother,  Rom.  viii.  29,  who  is  "  not  ashamed  to  call  them 
brethren,"  Heb.  ii.  11 ;  and  have  "one  Spirit,  and  are  called  in  one 
hope  of  calling,"  Eph.  iv.  4, — which  being  a  Spirit  of  adoption,  Rom. 
viii.  15,  interesteth  them  all  in  the  same  family,  Eph,  iii.  14,  15, 
whereby  they  become  "joint-heirs  with  Christ,"  Rom.  viii.  17.  The 
duties  of  unity,  love,  usefulness,  and  compassion,  which  depend  on 
this  relation,  are  more  known  than  practised,  and  ought  to  be  con- 
tinually pressed,  Ps.  cxxxiii.  1,  Heb.  xiii.  1.  Of  old,  indeed,  the 
Pagans  spake  proverbially  of  the  Christians,  "  See  how  they  love 
one  another  I"  in  a  way  of  admiration.  The  contrary  observation 
hath  now  prevailed,  to  the  shame  and  stain  of  the  profession  of 
these  latter  days.  What  through  dissensions  and  divisions  amongst 
them  who  have  any  real  interest  in  the  privilege  of  sonship;  what 
through  an  open,  visible  defect  as  to  any  relation  unto  God  as  a 
father,  or  unto  the  Lord  Chi-ist  as  an  elder  brother,  in  the  most  of 
them  that  are  called  Christians, — we  have  lost  the  thing  intended, 
and  the  name  is  become  a  term  of  reproach.  But  when  iniquity 
abounds,  love  will  wax  cold.  In  the  meantime,  it  were  well  if 
those  who  are  brethren  indeed  could  live  as  brethren,  and  love  as 
brethren,  and  agree  as  brethren.  The  motives  unto  it  are  great  and 
many.  That  mentioned  in  the  business  of  Abraham  and  Lot  seems 
to  me  of  weight:  Gen.  xiii.  7,  8,  "There  was  a  strife  between  the 
herdmen  of  Abram's  cattle  and  the  herdmen  of  Lot's  cattle:  and 
the  Canaanite  and  the  Perizzite  dwelt  then  in  the  land.  And 
Abram  said  unto  Lot,  Let  there  be  no  strife,  I  pray  thee,  between 
me  and  thee,  and  between  my  herdmen  and  thy  herdmen;  for  we 
be  men  that  are  brethren."  Abraham  and  Lot  were  brethren  na- 
turally, as  near  kinsfolk,  for  Abraham  was  Lot's  uncle;  and  spirit- 
ually, as  the  children  of  God.  A  difference  happening  between  their 
herdmen,  Abraham,  as  a  wise  man,  fears  lest  it  should  proceed 
to  some  distance  and  variance  between  themselves.  Thereupon  he 
takes  into  consideration  the  state  of  things  in  the  place  where  they 
were.     ''  The  Canaanite  and  the  Perizzite,"  saith  he,  "  are  in  the 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  497 

land;" — 'The  land  is  full  of  profane  men,  enemies  to  us  both,  who 
would  rejoice  in  our  divisions,  and  take  advantage  to  reproach  the 
religion  which  we  profess.'  This  prevailed  with  them  to  continue 
their  mutual  love,  and  should  do  so  with  others.  But  our  condition 
is  sad  whilst  that  description  which  the  Holy  Ghost  gives  of  men 
whilst  uncalled,  whilst  unbelievers,  is  suited  unto  them  who  profess 
themselves  to  be  Christians.     See  Tit.  iii.  3. 

IV.  All  true  and  real  professors  of  the  gospel  are  sanctified  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  made  truly  and  really  holy. 

So  Paul  here  terms  those  Hebrews,  exercising  towards  them  the 
judgment  of  charity,  declaring  what  they  ought  to  be,  and  what 
they  professed  themselves  to  be,  what  he  believed  them  to  be,  and 
what,  if  they  were  living  members  of  Christ,  really  they  were.  It 
is  true,  some  that  profess  holiness  may  not  be  really  holy.  But, 
first,  If  they  do  not  so  profess  it  as  not  to  be  convinced  by  any 
gospel  means  of  the  contrary,  they  are  not  to  be  esteemed  professors 
at  all.  Acts  viii.  20-23;  Phil.  iii.  18,  19;  2  Tim.  iii.  5.  Secondly, 
If  that  holiness  which  men  profess  in  their  lives  be  not  real  in  their 
hearts,  they  have  no  right  to  the  privileges  that  attend  profession, 
John  iii.  5. 

V.  No  man  comes  unto  a  useful,  saving  knowledge  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  the  gospel,  but  by  virtue  of  an  effectual  heavenly  calling. 

These  Hebrews  came  to  be  "holy  brethren,"  children  of  God,  united 
unto  Christ,  by  their  participation  in  a  "  heavenly  calling."  We  are 
"  called  out  of  darkness  into  his  marvellous  light,"  1  Pet.  ii.  9 ;  and 
this  not  only  with  the  outward  call  of  the  word, — which  many  are 
made  partakers  of  who  never  attain  the  saving  knowledge  of  Christ, 
Matt.  XX.  16, — but  with  that  effectual  call,  which,  being  granted  in 
the  pursuit  of  God's  purpose  of  election,  Rom.  viii.  28,  is  accom- 
panied with  the  energetical,  quickening  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
Eph.  ii.  5,  giving  eyes  to  see,  ears  to  hear,  and  a  heart  to  obey  tlie 
word,  according  unto  the  promise  of  the  covenant,  Jer.  xxxi.  33,  3-i. 
And  thus  no  man  can  come  to  Christ  unless  the  Father  draw  him, 
John  vi.  44. 

VI.  The  effectual  heavenly  vocation  of  believers  is  their  great 
privilege,  wherein  they  have  cause  to  rejoice,  and  which  always 
ought  to  mind  them  of  their  duty  unto  Him  that  hath  called  them. 

For  these  two  ends  doth  the  apostle  mind  the  Hebrews  of  their 
participation  in  the  heavenly  calling; — first.  That  they  might  con- 
sider the  privilege  they  enjoyed  by  the  gospel  far  above  and  beyond 
whatever  they  boasted  of  under  the  law;  and,  secondly.  That  he 
might  stir  them  up  unto  the  performance  of  their  <iuty  in  faith  and 
obedience,  according  as  God  requires  of  them  who  are  called.  And 
this  calling  will  appear  a  signal  privilege  if  we  consider: — 1.  The 
state  from  whence  men  are  called,  which  is  a  state  of  death,  Epli. 


i98  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  TIL 

H.  1 ;  and  of  darkness,  Col.  i.  13,  1  Pet.  ii.  9 ;  and  of  enmity  acjainst 
God,  Col.  i.  21,  Eph.  iv.  18,  Rom.  viiL  7;  and  of  wrath,  John  iii.  36, 
Eph,  ii,  3.  It  is  a  state  of  all  that  misery  which  the  nature  of  man 
is  capable  of  or  obnoxious  unto  in  this  world  or  to  eternity.  Or, 
2.  By  whom  they  are  called,  even  by  God  above,  or  in  heaven,  the 
Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  1  Cor.  i.  9,  Rom.  viii.  28,  1  Pet. 
i.  15,  Phil.  iii.  14,  Gal.  v.  8.  And,  3.  From  whence  or  what  induce- 
ment it  is  that  he  calls  them ;  which  is  from  his  own  mere  love  and 
undeserved  grace,  Tit.  iii.  3-5.  And,  4.  The  discrimination  of  per- 
sons in  this  call.  All  are  not  thus  called,  but  only  those  that  are, 
in  the  eternal  purpose  of  the  love  of  God,  designed  to  so  great  a 
mercy,  Rom.  viii.  28,  31,  32.  And,  5.  The  outward  condition  for 
the  most  part  of  them  that  are  called,  which  is  poor  and  contempt- 
ible in  this  world,  1  Cor.  i.  26-28,  James  ii.  5.  And,  6.  The  means 
of  this  calling,  which  are  the  holy  Word  and  Holy  Spirit,  John  xvii. 
17,  1  Cor.  vi.  11,  2  Thess.  ii.  14.  And,  7.  What  men  are  called 
unto;  which  is  to  light,  1  Pet.  ii.  9,  Col.  i.  13;  and  to  life,  John  v. 
24,  25;  to  holiness,  Rom.  i.  7,  1  Cor.  i.  2,  1  Thess.  iv.  7;  and  unto 
liberty,  Gal.  v.  13;  unto  the  peace  of  God,  Col.  iii.  15,  1  Cor.  vii. 
15;  and  unto  his  kingdom,  1  Thess.  ii.  12,  Col.  i.  13;  unto  righte- 
ousness, Rom.  viii.  30;  and  to  mercy,  Rom.  ix.  23,  24;  and  unto 
eternal  glory,  1  Pet.  v,  10.  Of  all  these  benefits,  with  the  privilege 
of  the  worship  of  God  attending  them,  are  believers  made  partakers 
by  their  heavenly  calling.  And  this  minds  them  of  their  whole 
duty; — (1.)  By  the  way  of  justice,  representing  it  unto  them  as  meet, 
equal,  and  righteous,  1  Pet.  i.  15;  (2.)  Of  gratitude,  or  thankfulness 
for  so  great  mercy,  1  John  iii.  1,  1  Pet.  iii.  9;  (3.)  Of  encourage- 
ment, etc.     Proceed  we  again  unto  the  exposition  of  the  words: 

"  Consider  the  apostle  and  high  priest  of  our  profession,  Christ 
Jesus."  The  words  may  be  read  either,  "  Consider 
Christ  Jesus,  the  apostle  and  high  priest  of  our  profes- 
sion," and  so  the  person  of  Christ  is  placed  as  the  immediate  object 
of  the  consideration  required,  and  the  other  words  are  added  only 
as  a  description  of  him  by  his  offices;  or,  "Consider  the  apostle  and 
high  priest  of  our  profession,  Christ  Jesus,"  and  then  the  apostle 
and  high  priest  of  our  profession  are  the  proper  objects  of  this  con- 
sideration, and  the  name  added  doth  but  indigitate  the  individual 
person  who  was  clothed  with  these  offices. 

This  is  the  immediate  duty  which  the  apostle  here  presseth  them 
unto,  namely,  the  consideration  of  that  apostle  and  high  priest  of 
our  profession,  whose  greatness,  glory,  excellency,  and  pre-eminence 
in  all  things  he  had  declared.  And  herein  the  nature  of  the  duty 
and  the  object  of  it  are  represented  unto  us. 

First,  The  nature  of  it,  in  the  word  "consider."  Some  suppose 
that  faith,  trust,  and  confidence,  are  intended  or  included  in  this 


VElt  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  499 

word.  But  xaT-ai/oico  is  nowhere  used  in  any  such  sense,  nor  will 
the  present  design  of  the  apostle  admit  of  any  such  interpretation 
in  this  place ;  for  the  duty  he  exhorts  unto  is  in  order  unto  faith, 
and  constancy  therein.  And  this  is  no  other  but  a  diligent  inten- 
sion of  mind,  in  their  considerations,  thoughts,  meditations,  and 
conceptions  about  Jesus  Christ,  that  they  may  understand  and  per- 
ceive aright  who  and  what  he  is,  and  what  will  follow  upon  his 
being  such.  And  this  rational  consideration  is  of  singular  use  unto 
the  end  proposed.  And  as  he  afterwards  blames  them  for  their 
remissness  and  backwardness  in  learning  the  doctrine  of  the  gospel, 
chap.  V.  11—14;  so  here  he  seems  to  intimate  that  they  had  not  suf- 
ficiently weighed  and  pondered  the  nature  and  quality  of  the  person 
of  Christ,  and  his  offices,  and  were  thereupon  kept  in  their  entangle- 
ments unto  Judaism.  This,  therefore,  he  now  exhorts  them  unto, 
and  that  by  fixing  their  minds  unto  a  diligent,  rational,  spiritual 
consideration  of  what  he  had  delivered,  and  was  yet  further  to 
deliver  concerning  him  and  them. 

VII.  The  spiritual  mysteries  of  the  gospel,  especially  those  which 
concern  the  person  and  offices  of  Christ,  require  deep,  diligent,  and 
attentive  consideration. 

This  is  that  which  the  Hebrews  are  here  exhorted  unto:  Karavo?3'- 
ffarj,  "  Consider  attentively,"  or  "  diligently."  This  is  assigned  as 
one  means  of  the  conversion  of  Lydia,  Acts  xvi.  14.  Upogi^si, — she 
attended  diligently  to  the  things  spoken  by  Paul,  as  an  effect  of  the 
grace  of  God  in  opening  her  heart.  Careless,  wayside  hearers  of  the 
word  get  no  profit  by  it,  Matt.  xiii.  19.  Their  nature  and  worth, 
with  our  own  condition,  call  for  this  duty. 

1.  In  their  nature  they  are  mysteries;  that  is,  things  deep,  hid- 
den, and  full  of  divine  wisdom :  1  Cor.  ii.  7,  2opia  Qsow  h  fivarj^picf), 
— "The  wisdom  of  God  in  a  mystery;"  such  as  the  angels  desire 
to  bow  down  (not  in  a  way  of  condescension,  but  of  endeavour, 
E'^iSufxovffi  irapa-Ku-^ai)  and  look  into,  1  Pet.  i.  12.  For  in  Christ,  and 
through  him  in  the  gospel  (tig  snriyvusiv  ro\J  fivffrripiov  tov  Xptsrov, 
sv  w,  "  unto  the  acknowledgment  of  the  mystery  of  Christ;  in  whom," 
or  "  wherein"),  "  are  hid  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge," 
Col.  ii.  2,  8.  And  hence  are  we  directed  to  cry  after  knowledge,  to 
apply  our  hearts  to  understanding,  to  "  seek  her  as  silver,  to  search 
for  her  as  hid  treasures,"  Prov.  ii.  3,  4;  and  not  to  consider  these 
things  as  easily  exposed  to  every  wandering  eye  and  lazy  passenger. 
Such  persons  find  not  mines  of  silver  or  the  hid  treasures  of  former 
generations.  Of  this  search  the  prophets  and  holy  men  of  old  are 
proposed  for  our  example,  1  Pet,  i,  10,  11.  Unto  this  purpose  they 
are  said  ipswdv,  to  "investigate"  or  "diligently  search"  into  the  Scrip- 
tures ;  as  we  are  commanded  to  do  if  we  intend  to  attain  eternal  life, 
John  V.  39.     For  the  most  part  men  content  themselves  with  an 


500  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CIIAP.  III. 

overly  consideration  of  these  things.  Tt  is  the  vapipyov  of  their  hves, 
— what  they  do  on  the  by,  or  when  they  have  nothing  else  to  do; 
whereby  they  come  to  know  no  more  of  them  than  they  must,  as  it 
were,  whether  they  will  or  no, — which  upon  the  matter  is  nothing  at 
all.  Carnal  sloth  is  not  the  way  to  an  acquaintance  with  spiritual 
things  or  mysteries. 

2.  The  worth  and  importance  of  these  things  bespeaks  the 
same  duty.  Things  may  be  dark  and  mysterious,  and  yet  not 
weighty  and  worthy,  so  that  they  will  not  defray  the  charge  of  a 
diligent  search  after  them.  Solomon's  merchants  would  not  have 
gone  to  Ophir  had  there  not  been  gold  there,  as  well  as  apes  and 
peacocks.  But  all  things  are  here  secure.  There  are  unsearchable 
treasures  in  these  mysteries,  Eph.  iii.  8,  vXovrog  avi^i^viasrog, — riches 
not  in  this  world  to  be  searched  out  to  perfection.  No  tongue  can 
fully  express  them,  no  mind  perfectly  conceive  them.  Their  root 
and  spring  lies  in  the  divine  nature,  which  is  infinite,  and  therefore 
inexpressible  and  inexhaustible.  There  is  in  them  fiapyaplrrig  •:roXvu- 
fiog,  Matt.  xiii.  46,  "  an  exceeding  precious  pearl,"  a  pearl  of  great  and 
invaluable  price; — a  stone  which,  though  by  some  rejected,  is  yet 
esteemed  of  God  "elect  and  precious;"  and  so  also  by  them  that  be- 
lieve, 1  Pet.  ii.  6,  7.  "  The  merchandise  of  it  is  better  than  the 
merchandise  of  silver,  and  the  gain  thereof  than  fine  gold:  it  is  more 
precious  than  rubies,"  Pro  v.  iii.  14,  15.  Whatever  is  of  worth  and 
value  in  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  everlasting  good  of  the  souls  of 
sinners,  is  wrapped  up  in  these  mysteries.  Now,  every  thing  is  (at 
least  comparatively)  despised  that  is  not  esteemed  according  unto 
its  proper  worth.  So  undoubtedly  are  these  things  by  the  most  of 
them  to  whom  they  are  preached. 

3.  Our  own  condition  calls  for  diligence  in  the  discharge  of 
this  duty.  We  are  for  the  most  part,  like  these  Hebrews,  vuSpoi 
raTg  dxoaTg,  chap.  v.  11, — "  slothful,"  or  "  dull  in  hearing."  We  have 
a  natural  unreadiness  unto  that  hearing  whereby  faith  cometh,  which 
is  the  consideration  here  called  for;  and  therefore  cannot  sufficiently 
stir  up  our  spirits  and  minds  unto  our  duty  herein.  The  manner  of 
the  most  in  attending  unto  the  mysteries  of  the  gospel  should  cause 
our  sorrow  here,  as  it  will  theirs  (if  not  prevented)  unto  eternity. 

Secondly,  The  object  of  this  consideration  is  Christ  Jesus,  who  is 
the  apostle  and  high  priest  of  our  profession.  Together  with  the  espe- 
cial indigitation  of  the  person  intended  by  his  name,  "  Christ  Jesus," 
we  have  the  description  of  him  as  he  is  to  be  considered,  by  his 
offices,  an  "apostle,"  and  a  "high  priest;"  with  their  limitation, 
"  of  our  profession." 

1.  He  is  said,  and  he  is  here  only  said,  to  be  an  "  apostle,"  or  "  the 

^  ,   ,  apostle."     An  apostle  is  one  sent,  a  legate,  ambassador, 

or  public  messenger.     And  this  is  one  of  the  character- 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBllEWS.  501 

istical  notes  of  the  Messiah.  He  is  one  sent  of  God  tipon  Lis  great 
errand  unto  the  children  of  men,  his  apostle.  Speaking  of  himself 
by  his  Spirit,  Isa.  xlviii.  16,  he  saith,  in^">} '^D.^tf"  nin;^/V"^-^,— "  The 
Lord  God,  and  his  Spirit,  hath  sent  me;"  and  again,  chap.  Ixi.  1, 
VO?f ""'ji^^, , —  "The  Lord  hath  sent  me,"  namely,  according  unto 
the  promise  that  God  would  send  him  unto  the  church  to  be  a  sa- 
viour, Isa.  xix.  20.  And  this  he  tells  the  church,  that  they  mny 
gather  and  know  from  his  love  and  care,  namely,  that  the  Lord  God 
had  sent  him,  Zech,  ii.  8,  9, — that  he  was  his  legate,  his  apostle.  And 
because  God  had  promised  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  thus  to 
send  him,  this  became  a  periphrasis  or  principal  notation  of  him, 
"  He  whom  God  would  send;"  that  is,  his  great  legate.  Hereunto 
Moses  seems  to  have  had  respect  in  these  words,  Exodiv.  13,  5<J"npw' 
nptJ'n'Tii ; — "  Send  now,  I  pray  thee,  by  the  hand  of  him  whom  thou 
wilt  send,"  namely,  '  to  be  the  deliverer  and  saviour  of  thy  people.' 
Hence  in  the  old  church  he  came  to  be  called  emphatically  6  lfxJ>- 
fiivog, — "  he  that  was  to  come,"  "  that  was  to  be  sent."  So  when 
John  sent  his  disciples  to  Jesus  to  inquire  whether  he  was  the 
Christ,  he  doth  it  in  these  words,  2;)  u  b  spyoiMivog; — "Art  thou  he 
that  was  to  come?"  that  is,  to  be  sent  of  God,  Matt.  xi.  3,  John 
xi.  27.  And  thence  the  ancient  Latin  translation  renders  >^^^P, 
"  Shilo,"  Gen.  xlix.  10,  "  qui  mittendus  est,"  "  he  that  is  to  be  sent," 
— it  may  be  deriving  the  word,  by  a  mistake,  from  ^7'^,  "  to  send." 
But  it  well  expresseth  the  common  notiou  of  him  in  the  church 
after  the  giving  of  the  first  promise,  "  He  that  was  to  be  sent," 
And  in  the  Gospel  he  doth  not  himself  more  frequently  make  men- 
tion of  any  thing  than  of  his  being  sent  of  God,  or  of  being  his 
apostle.  "  He  whom  God  hath  sent,"  is  his  description  of  himself, 
John  iii.  84;  and  him  he  calls  rov  uToariiXciv-a,  "  him  that  sent  him," 
or  made  him  his  apostle,  Matt.  x.  40.  And  this  is  most  frequently 
repeated  in  the  Gospel  by  John,  that  we  may  know  of  what  im- 
portance the  consideration  of  it  is:  see  chap.  iii.  17,  34,  iv.  34, 
V.  23,  24,  30,  36-38,  vi.  29,  38-40,  44,  57,  vii.  16,  28,  29,  viii.  16, 
18,  29,  42,  ix.  4,  x.  36,  xi.  42,  xii.  44,  45,  49,  xiii.  20,  xiv.  24,  xv.  21, 
xvi.  5,  xvii.  3,  18,  21,  23,  25,  xx.  21.  Two  things,  then,  are  includ- 
ed in  this  expression  or  title: — (1.)  The  authority  he  had  for  his 
work.  He  came  not  of  himself,  but  was  sent  of  God,  even  the 
Father;  and  therefore  spake  in  his  name,  and  fed  the  church  "  in  the 
strength  of  the  Lord,  in  the  majesty  of  the  name  of  the  Lord  his 
God,"  Micah  v.  4.  And  as  he  became  the  apostle  of  the  Father  by 
his  being  sent  of  him,  so  by  his  sending  of  others  in  his  name  he 
made  them  his  apostles,  John  xx.  21.  As  the  love,  therefore,  so  the 
authority  of  the  Father  is  much  to  be  considered  in  this  mat- 
ter. (2.)  His  wofk  itself,  which  is  here  included,  and  elsewhere 
largely  declared.     It  was  to  reveal  and  declare  the  will  of  the  Father 


502  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

unto  the  children  of  men,  to  declare  the  Father  himself,  John  i.  18, 
and  his  name,  chap.  xvii.  6,  2(i;  that  is,  the  mystery  of  his  grace, 
covenant,  and  whole  will  concerning  our  obedience  and  salvation, 
Heb.  i.  1,  2.  For  this  end  was  he  the  apostle  and  ambassador  of  the 
Father,  sent  into  the  world  by  him,  M-.'].  iii.  1.  In  brief,  the  pro- 
phetical office  of  Christ,  with  respect  unto  his  immediate  autliorita- 
tive  mission  by  the  Father,  is  intended  in  this  title.  And  it  is  a 
title  of  honour  as  well  as  of  office  that  is  here  given  him.  Hence 
the  impious  Mohammedans,  when  they  would  persuade  or  com- 
}.el  any  one  to  their  sect,  require  no  more  of  him  but  that  he 
acknowledge  Mohammed  to  be  "  Resul  Ellahi,"  '•  The  apostle  of 
God."  In  this  sense,  then,  is  the  Lord  Christ  called  "  The  apostle 
of  our  profession,"  in  that  he  was  sent  of  God  to  declare  his  mind 
and  will,  in  his  name  and  with  his  authority,  as  ambassadors  are  wont 
to  do  in  reference  unto  them  that  send  them. 

But  whereas  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  in  an  especial  manner,  as 
to  the  time  of  his  conversation  in  the  flesh,  and  his  personal  reveal- 
ing the  will  of  God,  sent  unto  the  Jews,  and  therefore  says,  Matt. 
XV.  24,  that  "  he  was  not  sent  but  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of 
Israel," — that  is,  as  unto  his  personal  ministry  on  the  earth ;  and  our 
apostle  affirms  that  he  was  "  a  minister  of  the  circumcision  for  the 
truth  of  God,  to  confirm  the  promises  made  unto  the  fathers,"  Rom. 
XV.  8;  and  being  only  in  this  place  unto  the  Hebrews  called  au 
apostle, — I  leave  it  unto  consideration  whether  there  may  not  be 
some  especial  respect  unto  his  peculiar  mission,  in  his  person  and 
ministry  unto  them,  intended  in  his  name  and  title,  hei'e  only  given 
him. 

2.  Hereunto  is  added  the  "high  priest;" — both  in  one,  as  the  king- 
dom and  priesthood  are  also  promised,  Zech.  vi.  13.  Both 

*"  "'''^"'^*"'  the  Hebrews  and  we  are  now  to  look  for  all  in  him. 
These  offices  of  old  were  in  several  persons.  Moses  was  the  apostle, 
or  ambassador  of  God,  to  declare  his  will  and  law  unto  the  people; 
and  Aaron  was  the  high  priest,  to  administer  the  holy  things  in  the 
worship  of  God.  This  was  the  poverty  of  types,  that  no  one  could 
so  much  as  represent  the  work  between  God  and  the  church.  I  will 
not  deny  but  that  Moses  was  a  priest  in  an  extraordinary  manner 
before  the  institution  of  the  Aaronical  priesthood ;  but  his  officiating 
in  that  office  being  but  a  temporary  thing,  which  belonged  not  to 
the  condition  of  the  Judaical  church,  it  was  not  considered  by  our 
apostle  in  his  comparing  of  him  with  Christ.  To  manifest,  there- 
fore, unto  the  Hebrews  how  the  Lord  Christ  hath  the  pre-eminence 
in  all  things,  he  instructs  them  that  both  the  offices,  that  of  an 
apostle,  which  of  old  was  executed  by  Moses,  and  that  of  the  high 
]»nesthood,  committed  unto  Aaron,  were  vested  in  him  alone,  in- 
tCiidui;^  afterwards  to  evince  how  far  he  excelled  them  both,  and 


VER  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  503 

how  excellent  were  his  offices  in  comparison  of  theirs,  though  they 
came  under  the  same  name. 

3.  The  limitation  adjoined  is,  "of  our  profession:"  "The  apostle 
and  high  priest  of  our  profession/'  The  words  may- 
be taken  objectively  and  passively,  '  The  apostle  and  ^/a,"^  °~'° 
high  priest  whom  we  profess,' — that  is,  believe,  declare, 
and  own  so  to  be;  or  they  may  actively  denote  'the  author  of 
our  profession,' — *  the  apostle  and  high  priest  who  hath  revealed 
and  declared  the  faith  which  we  profess,  the  religion  which  we  own, 
and  therein  exerciseth  in  his  own  person  the  office  of  the  priesthood/ 
In  this  sense  he  is  called  "  The  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith," 
chap.  xii.  2.  Our  faith  objectively,  and  our  profession,  are  the 
same.  Our  profession  is  the  faith  and  worship  of  God  which  we 
profess.  This  is  our  oiJ.o'Koyia,  even  the  gospel,  with  the  worsliip 
and  obedience  required  therein.  And  the  Lord  Christ  was  and  is 
the  apostle  of  this  profession,  as  he  revealed  the  will  of  God  unto  us 
in  the  gospel,  as  he  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light  thereby, 
teaching  and  instructing  us  in  the  whole  will  of  God,  as  Moses  did 
the  Jews  of  old.  He  is  also  the  high  priest  of  this  our  profession, 
inasmuch  as  he  himself  offered  the  one  and  the  only  sacrifice  which 
in  our  religion  we  own  and  profess,  and  continues  alone  to  perform 
the  whole  office  of  a  priest  therein,  as  Aaron  and  his  successors  did 
in  that  of  the  Jews.  It  belonged  not  unto  the  office  of  the  high 
priest  to  institute  and  appoint  any  thing  in  the  worship  of  God,  but 
only  to  execute  his  own  duty  in  offering  sacrifices  and  interceding 
for  the  people.  So  the  Lord  Christ, — who,  as  the  apostle  of  our  pro- 
fession, instituted  the  whole  worship  of  God  to  be  observed  therein, 
— as  our  high  priest  doth  only  offer  the  sacrifice  of  the  church  and 
intercede  for  the  people. 

The  word  "  our"  is  added  by  way  of  discrimination,  and  is  regu- 
lated by  the  compellation  and  description  foregoing:  "Holy  brethren, 
partakers  of  the  heavenly  calling,  he  is  the  apostle  and  high  priest  of 
our  profession;" — '  Whatever  by  others  he  be  esteemed,  he  is  so  to 
us;  and  our  inestimable  privilege  and  honour  it  is  that  he  is  so.' 

This  is  the  present  exhortation  of  the  apostle.  That  which  he 
finally  aims  at,  is  to  prevail  with  these  Hebrews  to  hold  fast  the 
beginning  of  their  confidence  unto  the  end.  To  this  purjjose  he  ex- 
horts, warns,  and  chargeth  tbem,by  all  the  bonds  of  mutual  love  and 
endearedness,  by  the  greatness  of  the  privilege  which  they  are  made 
partakers  of,  and  the  inexpressibleness  of  their  concernment  therein, 
that  they  would  fix  themselves  unto  a  diligent  consideration  of  him 
in  whom  all  those  offices  now  in  our  profession, — which  of  old  were 
shared  amongst  many,  in  a  low,  carnal  administration  of  them, — are 
gloriously  vested.  And  how  useful  this  would  be  unto  them,  and 
wherein  this  consideration  doth  consist,  shall  afterwards  be  made  to 


504  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [ciIAP.  IIL 

appear.  For  the  present  we  shall  make  some  observations  on  the 
passages  of  the  text  that  have  been  opened. 

VIII.  The  business  of  God  with  sinners  could  be  no  way  trans- 
acted but  by  the  negotiation  and  embassy  of  the  Son. 

He  must  become  our  apostle;  that  is,  be  sent  unto  us.  He  did, 
indeed,  at  sundry  times  send  servants  and  messengers  into  the  world 
about  his  affair  with  us;  but  whereas  they  could  never  accomplish 
it,  "  last  of  all  he  sent  his  Son,"  Matt.  xxi.  37;  Heb.  i.  1,  2.  There 
was  a  threefold  greatness  in  this  matter,  which  none  was  fit  to 
manage  but  the  Son  of  God: — 

1.  A.  greatness  of  grace,  love,  and  condescension.  That  the  great 
and  holy  God  should  send  to  treat  with  siuners  for  the  ends  of  his 
message,  for  peace  and  reconciliation,  it  is  a  thing  that  all  the  crea- 
tion must  admire,  and  that  unto  eternity.  He  is  every  way  in  him- 
self holy,  good,  righteous,  and  blessed  for  evermore.  He  stood  in 
no  need  of  sinners,  of  their  service,  of  their  obedience,  of  their  being. 
But  he  was  justly  provoked  by  them,  by  their  apostasy  and  rebellion 
against  him,  and  that  unto  an  indignation  beyond  what  can  be  ex- 
pressed. His  justice  and  law  required  their  punishment  and  de- 
struction; which  as  he  could  have  inflicted  unto  his  own  eternal 
glory,  so  they  did  not  in  any  thing,  nor  could  by  any  means,  seek  to 
divert  him  from  it.  Yet  in  this  condition  God  will  send  a  message 
unto  these  poor,  perishing  rebels,  an  embassy  to  treat  with  them 
about  peace  and  reconciliation.  But  this  now  is  so  great  a  thing, 
includes  such  infinite  grace,  love,  and  condescension  in  it,  that 
sinners  know  not  how  to  believe  it.  And,  indeed,  who  is  fit  to  tes- 
tify it  unto  them?  Objections  that  arise  against  it  are  able  to  shake 
the  credit  and  reputation  of  any  angel  in  heaven.  Wherefore  God 
commits  this  message  unto  his  Son,  his  only  Son,  makes  him  his 
apostle,  sends  him  with  these  tidings,  that  they  may  be  believed  and 
accepted:  1  John  v.  20,  'The  Son  of  God  came,  and  gave  this 
understanding.'  It  is  true  that  God  sent  others  with  some  parts  of 
this  message  before;  for  "  he  spake  by  the  mouth  of  his  holy  pro- 
phets from  the  beginning  of  the  world,"  Luke  i.  70 ;  but  yet  as  the 
first  promise  was  given  out  by  the  Son  of  God  himself,  as  I  have 
elsewhere  declared,  so  all  the  messages  of  the  prophets  in  or  about 
this  matter  depended  on  the  confirmation  of  them  that  he  was  after- 
ward to  give  in  his  own  person.  So  saith  our  apostle :  Rom.  xv,  8, 
"Now  I  say  that  Jesus  Christ  was  a  minister  of  the  circumcision  for 
the  truth  of  God,  to  confirm  the  promises  made  unto  the  fathers." 
The  truth  of  God  in  this  matter  delivered  by  the  prophets  was 
further  to  be  attested  by  Jesus  Christ,  to  whose  testimony  they  re- 
ferred themselves.  And  with  respect  hereunto  he  tells  the  Pharisees, 
that  if  he  had  not  come  and  spoken  unto  them,  they  had  not  had 
sin.     If  the  sealed  book  of  prophecies  concerning  the  judgment  of 


VEK.  1, 2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  505 

God,  in  the  Revelation,  was  of  so  great  concernment  that  "no  man 
in  heaven,  nor  in  earth,  neither  under  the  earth,"  that  is,  no  crea- 
ture, "was  able  to  open  it,  or  look  thereon/'  Rev.  v.  3,  until  the  Lamb 
himself  undertook  it,  verses  6-8,  how  much  less  was  any  creature 
meet  or  worthy  to  open  the  eternal  secret  counsels  of  the  bosom  of 
the  Father,  concerning  the  whole  work  of  his  love  and  grace,  but 
the  Son  only !  The  grace  of  this  message  was  too  great  for  sinners 
to  receive,  without  the  immediate  attestation  of  the  Son  of  God. 

2.  There  is  a  greatness  in  the  work  itself  that  is  incumbent  on 
the  apostle  of  God,  which  required  that  the  Son  of  God  should  be 
engaged  therein;  for,  (1.)  As  the  ambassador  or  apostle  of  the 
Father,  he  was  perfectly  to  represent  the  'person  of  the  Father  unto 
us.  This  an  ambassador  is  to  do;  he  bears  and  represents  the  per- 
son of  him  by  whom  he  is  sent.  And  no  king  can  more  dishonour 
himself  than  by  sending  a  person  in  that  employment  who,  by 
reason  of  any  defect,  shall  be  unmeet  so  to  do.  God  had,  as  was 
said,  sent  other  messengers  unto  the  children  of  men  ;  but  they 
were  all  but  envoys  of  heaven,  "  anteambulones," — some  that  ran 
before  as  particular  messengers,  to  give  notice  of  the  cortiing  of  this 
great  apostle  or  ambassador  of  God.  But  themselves  were  not  to 
represent  his  person,  nor  could  so  do.  See  Mai.  iii.  1.  Indeed  he 
once,  in  a  particular  business,  made  Moses  his  especial  legate,  to  re- 
present him  to  Pharaoh ;  and  therefore  he  says  to  him,  ^^'V^  T'^'?:' 
riiTiQp^  Exod,  vii.  1, — that  is,  *'  instead  of  God,"  *  one  that  may  repre- 
sent me  in  my  terror  and  severity  unto  him:'  but  this  was  in  one 
particular  case  and  business.  But  who  could  fully  represent  the 
person  of  the  Father  unto  sinners  in  this  great  matter  ?  None,  cer- 
tainly, but  he  who  is  in  himself  "  the  brightness  of  his  glory,  and 
the  express  image  of  his  person,"  Heb.  i.  3 ;  and  so  represents  unto 
us  the  holiness,  the  goodness,  the  grace,  the  love  of  the  Father,  by 
whom  he  was  sent.  Hence  he  tells  his  disciples  that  he  who  hath 
seen  him  hath  seen  the  Father,  John  xiv.  9 ;  and  that  because  he  is 
so  in  the  Father,  and  the  Father  in  him,  that  he  represents  him 
fully  unto  us,  verse  10.  He  is  "the  image  of  the  invisible  God," 
Col.  i.  15 ;  that  is,  the  Father,  who  in  his  own  person  dwells  in  light, 
whereunto  no  creature  can  approach,  hath  exhibited  and  expressed 
the  glorious  properties  of  his  nature  unto  us  in  the  person  of  his 
Son,  as  our  apostle  expresseth  it,  2  Cor.  iv,  4.  None,  then,  was  tit 
to  be  this  great  apostle  but  he,  for  he  only  could  fully  represent  the 
Father  unto  us.  Any  creature  else  undertaking  this  work  would,  or 
might,  have  led  us  into  false  notions  and  apprehensions  of  God.  And 
the  great  wisdom  of  faith  consists  in  teaching  us  to  learn  the  Father, 
his  nature  and  will,  his  holiness  and  grace,  in  the  person  of  the  Son 
incarnate,  as  his  apostle  and  ambassador  unto  us;  for  beholding  his 
glory,  "  the  glory  of  the  only-begotten  Son  of  God,  full  of  grace  and 


506  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

truth,"  we  behold  the  glory  of  his  Father  also.  So  he  and  the  Father 
are  one. 

(2.)  The  greatness  of  the  work  requires  that  he  who  undertakes  it 
be  intimately  acquainted  luith  all  the  secret  counsels  of  God  that 
lay  hid  in  his  infinite  wisdom  and  will  from  all  eternity.  None  else 
could  undertake  to  be  God's  apostle  in  this  matter.  But  who  must 
this  be?  It  is  true  that  God  was  pleased  to  reveal  sundry  particu- 
lar things,  effects  of  his  counsels,  unto  his  servants  the  prophets;  but 
yet  it  is  concerning  them  that  the  Holy  Ghost  speaks,  John  i.  18, 
"  No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time;  the  only-begotten  Son,  which 
is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  he  hath  declared  him."  The  best  of 
them  had  but  a  partial  acquaintance  with  God.  Moses  saw  but  a 
glimpse  of  his  back  parts  in  his  passage  before  him ;  that  is,  had  but  a 
dark  and  obscure  revelation  of  his  mind  and  will, — sufficient  for  his 
work  and  employment.  This  will  not  suffice  him  who  is  to  manage 
the  whole  treaty  between  God  and  sinners.  Who,  then,  shall  do  it? 
"  The  only-begotten  Son,  who  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father."  "  In 
his  bosom;"  that  i.s,  not  only  in  his  especial  love,  but  who  is  par- 
taker of  his  most  intimate  and  secret  counsels.  This  the  design  of 
the  place  requires  to  be  the  meaning  of  it:  for  so  it  follows,  "  He 
hath  declared  him;" — '  He  hath  revealed  him;  he  hath  made  him 
known,  in  his  nature,  his  name,  his  will,  his  grace;  he  hath  exhi- 
bited him  to  be  seen  by  faith:  for  he  only  is  able  so  to  do,  as  being 
in  his  bosom ;  that  is,  acquainted  with  his  nature,  and  partaker  of  his 
most  intimate  counsels.'  Without  this  none  could  in  this  matter  be 
God's  apostle;  for  the  work  is  such  as  wherein  God  will  reveal  and 
make  known,  not  this  or  that  portion  of  his  will,  but  himself,  and 
all  the  eternal  counsels  of  his  mind,  about  all  that  he  will  have  to 
do  Avith  sinners  in  this  world,  and  the  whole  glory  which  he  aims  at 
therein  to  eternity.  This  knowledge  of  God  and  his  counsels  no 
creature  was  capable  of  The  Son  alone  thus  knows  the  Father  and 
his  mind.  If  it  were  otherwise, — if  our  apostle  did  not  know  the 
whole  counsel  of  God  in  this  matter,  all  that  is  in  his  heart  and 
mind, — it  is  impossible  but  that  in  this  great  concern  sinners  would 
have  been  left  under  endless  fears  and  doubts,  lest  some  things  might 
yet  remain,  and  be  reserved  in  the  unsearchable  abyss  of  the  divine 
understanding  and  will,  that  might  frustrate  all  their  hopes  and  ex- 
pectations. Their  sin,  and  guilt,  and  worthlessness,  would  still  sug- 
gest such  thoughts  and  fears  unto  them.  But  in  this  embassy  of 
the  Son  there  is  full  and  plenary  satisfaction  tendered  unto  us  that 
the  whole  counsel  of  God  was  originally  known  unto  him;  so  that 
there  is  no  ground  of  the  least  suspicion  that  there  is  any  reserve  ia 
the  counsels  of  God  concerning  us  that  he  hath  not  made  known. 

(3.)  To  this  end  also  it  was  necessary  that  he  should  have  these 
counsels  of  God  always  abiding  with  him,  that  at  all  times  and  on  all 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  50 7 

occasions  he  might  be  able  to  declare  the  mind  and  -will  of  God,  It 
was  not  enough  that  originally,  as  he  was  God,  he  knew  all  the  tilings 
of  God,  but  also  as  he  was  sent,  as  he  was  the  apostle  of  God,  the 
counsel  of  .God  was  constantly  to  abide  with  him.  Tiiis  is  another 
thing;  for  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  Christ  as  mediator,  to  be 
acted  in  the  human  nature,  was  distinct  from  his  knowledge  as  he 
was  in  himself  God  over  all,  blessed  for  ever.  And  without  this 
none  could  have  been  a  meet  apostle  from  God  unto  sinners;  for 
how  else  should  he  reveal  the  will  of  God  unto  them  according  unto 
all  emergencies  and  occasions?  When  the  council  of  Trent  was  sit- 
ting, and  any  hard  matter  (indeed  almost  any  thing)  came  to  be  de- 
termined amongst  them,  the  leaders  of  them,  not  knowing  what  to 
do,  always  sent  to  Rome  to  the  pope  and  his  cardinals  for  their  de- 
termination. When  this  came  to  them,  they  decreed  it  under  the 
usual  form,  "  It  pleaseth  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  us."  Hence  there 
grew  a  common  by-word  amongst  the  jDeople,  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
came  once  a  week  from  Rome  to  Trent  in  a  portmanteau.  But  when 
any  men  are  not  sufficiently  furnished  in  themselves  for  the  discharge 
of  their  duty,  according  to  the  variety  of  occasions  and  emergencies 
that  they  may  meet  withal,  they  will  put  themselves,  as  will  also 
those  with  whom  they  have  to  do,  unto  great  difficulties  and  dis- 
tresses. .  It  was  necessary,  therefore,  that  God's  apostle  unto  sinners 
should,  in  the  whole  discharge  of  his  office,  be  furnished  with  a  full 
comprehension  of  the  whole  mind  of  God,  as  to  the  affciir  committed 
unto  him.  Now,  this  never  any  was  nor  ever  can  be  capable  of,  but 
only  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God.  It  wholly  exceeds  the  capacity 
of  any  merely  created  person  to  comprehend  at  once,  and  have  resi- 
dent with  him,  the  whole  of  the  will  and  mind  of  God  in  the  busi- 
ness of  his  transaction  with  sinners;  for  after  the  utmost  of  their 
attainments,  and  the  communications  of  God  unto  them,  they  still 
know  but  in  part.  It  is  true,  they  may  be  able  to  know  so  much  of 
the  mind  of  God  as  to  declare  unto  others  the  whole  of  their  duty, — 
whence  Paul  tells  the  elders  of  Ephesus  that  he  had  "not  shunned  to 
declare  unto  them  all  the  counsel  of  God,"  Acts  xx.  27, — yet,  as  to  a 
full,  habitual  comprehension  of  the  whole  mind  of  God  in  this  mat- 
ter, to  reside  with  them,  answering  all  occasions  and  emergencies, 
and  that,  originally  and  immediately,  that  no  mere  creature  was 
capable  of.  But  as  this  was  needful  to  the  great  apostle,  so  it  was 
found  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God.  "  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
did  rest  upon  him"  (not  came  upon  him  at  times,  but  did  rest  upon 
him,  remained  on  him,  John  i.  32,  33),  "  the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and 
understanding,  the  Spirit  of  counsel  and  might,  the  Spirit  of  know- 
ledge and  of  the  fear  of  the  Lord;  and  made  him  of  quick  under- 
standing in  the  fear  of  the  LoRD,"  Is;i.  xi.  2,  3.  It  may  be  you  will 
say,  '  It  did  so  in  some  degrees  of  it  only,  or  iu  a  singular  measure 


508  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

above  others/  Nay,  "God  gave  not  the  Spirit  by  measure  unto 
him,"  John  iii.  34,  when  he  was  sent  to  speak  the  words  of  God  ; 
not  in  such  a  way  as  that  he  should  only  have  a  greater  measure  of 
the  Spirit  than  others,  but  in  a  way  wholly  different  from  what  they 
received.  So  that  when  it  is  said,  he  was  "  anointed  with  the  oil  of 
gladness  above  his  fellows,"  Heb.  i.  9,  it  is  not  intended  only  that  he 
received  the  Spirit  in  a  degree  above  them,  but  the  same  Spirit  in 
another  kind ;  for  "  it  pleased  the  Father  that  in  him  all  fulness 
should  dwell,"  Col.  i.  19, — all  fulness  of  wisdom  and  counsel,  in  a 
complete  comprehension  of  the  whole  will  and  mind  of  God.  And 
accordingly,  "in  him  were  hid"  (laid  up  safely)  "all  the  treasures  of 
wisdom  and  knowledge,"  Col.  ii.  3.  This  also  was  requisite  unto  this 
great  apostle,  and  it  was  possible  to  be  found  only  in  the  Son  of  God. 

(4.)  The  nature  of  the  work  required  that  the  ambassador  of  God 
to  sinners  should  be  able  to  make  his  message  to  be  believed  and 
received  by  them.  Without  this  the  whole  work  and  undertaking 
might  be  frustrated.  Nor  is  it  sufficient  to  say  that  the  message  itself 
is  so  great,  so  excellent,  so  advantageous  unto  sinners,  that  there  is 
no  doubt  but  that  upon  the  first  proposal  of  it  they  will  receive  it 
and  embrace  it;  for  we  find  the  contrary  by  multiplied  experience. 
And  not  only  so,  but  it  is  certain  also  that  no  sinner  is  able  of  him- 
self and  in  his  own  strength  to  receive  it  or  believe  it;  for  "  faith  is 
not  of  ourselves,  it  is  the  gift  of  God."  Now,  if  this  ambassador,  this 
apostle  from  God,  have  not  power  to  enable  men  to  receive  his  mes- 
sage, the  whole  design  of  God  must  needs  be  frustrated  therein.  And 
who  shall  effect  or  accomplish  this?  Is  this  the  work  of  a  man,  to 
quicken  the  dead,  to  open  the  blind  eyes,  to  take  away  the  stony  heart, 
to  create  a  new  spiritual  light  in  the  mind,  and  life  in  the  will?  all  which 
are  necessary,  that  God's  message  unto  sinners  may  be  savingly  re- 
ceived. This  also  could  be  done  only  by  the  Son  of  God ;  for  "  no 
man  knoweth  the  Father  but  the  Son,  and  he  to  whom  the  Son  will 
reveal  him,"  Matt.  xL  27.  And  this  he  doth  by  the  effectual  work- 
ing of  his  Spirit,  the  dispensation  whereof  is  committed  wholly  unto 
him,  as  hath  been  elsewhere  declared.  By  him  doth  he  write  the 
law  of  his  message  in  the  fleshy  tables  of  the  hearts  of  them  to  whom 
he  is  sent,  2  Cor.  iii.  3,  as  Moses  wrote  his  message,  or  had  it  writ- 
ten, in  tables  of  stone.  So  that  the  nature  of  this  work  required 
that  it  should  be  committed  unto  the  Son  of  God.     And  so  did, — 

3.  The  end  of  it.  This  was  no  less  than  to  proclaim  and  establish 
peace  between  God  and  man.  It  is  not  a  place  to  show  how  old, 
fixed,  lasting,  and  universal  this  enmity  was;  nor  yet  how  great,  ex- 
cellent, and  precious,  in  the  means,  causes,  and  nature  of  it,  that 
peace  was  which  God  sent  about.  These  things  are  known  and  con- 
fessed. These  things  were  such  as  none  were  fit  to  intermeddle 
withal  but  the  Son  of  God  only.     He  alone  who  made  this  peace 


VEK.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  £09 

was  meet  to  declare  it.  "He  is  our  peace;"  and  he  "came  and 
preached  peace,"  Eph.  ii.  14,  17.  And  on  the  account  of  the  dis- 
charge of  this  work  is  he  called  6  A&'yoj,  "  the  Word  of  God,"  Rev. 
xix.  lo,  John  i.  1,  as  by  whom  God  was  declared;  and  ^''^^  ^^?^, 
Isa.  Ixiii.  9,  "The  angel  of  God's  presence;"  and  T^P  ^^^^,  Job 
xxxiii.  23,  "The  angel  the  interpreter,"  the  great  interpreter  of  the 
mind  of  God ;  and  Y\t^\  Isa.  ix.  5,  'The  counsellor;"  and  nn^n  ^n^q, 
Mai.  iii,  1,  "The  angel"  (or  "messenger")  "of  the  covenant;"  as 
here,  "  The  apostle  of  our  profession." 

And  hence  we  may  see  the  great  obligation  that  is  upon  us  to 
hearken  unto  this  message,  not  only  upon  the  account  of  the  mes- 
sage itself,  but  also  on  the  account  of  him  that  brings  it.  The  mes- 
sage itself  is  "worthy  of  all  acceptation,"  and  everlasting  woe  will  be 
unto  them  by  whom  it  is  rejected.  He  that  refuseth  peace  with 
God  shall  have  war  and  wrath  from  him  to  eternity,  and  that  de- 
servedly. But  God  expects  that  great  weight  should  be  laid  on  the 
consideration  of  the  person  that  brings  it.  "  Surely,"  saith  he, 
"  they  will  reverence  my  Son."  It  may  be  men  may  think  in  their 
hearts  that  if  they  heard  Christ  himself  delivering  this  message,  if 
they  had  heard  him  preaching  this  peace,  they  would  undoubtedly 
have  received  and  embraced  it.  So  indeed  thought  the  Jews  of  old, 
that  if  they  had  lived  in  the  days  of  the  former  prophets,  they  would 
not  have  dealt  with  them  as  their  forefathers  did,  but  would  have 
believed  their  word  and  obeyed  their  commands; — as  the  rich  man 
thought  that  his  brethren  would  repent  if  one  might  rise  from  the 
dead  and  preach  unto  them.  All  men  have  pretences  for  their  pre- 
sent unbelief,  and  suppose  that  if  it  were  not  for  them  they  should 
do  otherwise.  But  they  are  all  vain  and  foolish,  as  our  Lord  Jesus 
manifested  in  the  former  instances  of  the  Jews  and  the  rich  man  in 
hell.  Here  there  is  no  pretence  of  this  nature  that  can  take  place; 
for  this  great  apostle  and  ambassador  of  God  continueth  yet  to  speak 
unto  us,  and  to  press  his  message  upon  us.  So  saith  our  apostle, 
chap.  xii.  25,  "  See  that  ye  refuse  not  him  that  speaketh.  For  how 
shall  we  escape,  if  we  turn  away  from  him  that  speaketh  from 
heaven?"  He  did  not  only  speak  of  old,  but  he  continueth  to  speak, 
he  speaketh  still;  he  still  speaketh  in  the  word  of  the  gospel,  and  in 
the  administration  of  it  according  to  his  mind  and  will.  When 
from  thence  we  are  pressed  to  believe,  and  to  accept  the  terms  of 
peace  that  God  hath  prepared  for  us  and  proposeth  unto  us,  if  we 
refuse  them,  we  reject  this  great  apostle  which  God  hath  sent  unto 
us  to  treat  with  us  in  his  name.  And  what  will  be  the  end  of  such 
men?  what  will  be  the  end  of  us  all,  if  the  guilt  hereof  should  be 
foiuid  upon  us?  Another  observation  also  the  words  will  afford  us, 
according  to  the  foregoing  exposition,  which  shall  only  be  briefly 
mentioned,  namely, — 


510  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

IX.  Especial  privileges  will  not  advantage  men  witliout  especial 
grace. 

The  Lord  Christ  was  in  an  especial  manner  an  apostle  unto  the 
Jews.  To  them  was  he  sent  immediately.  And  unto  them  was  his 
ministry  in  the  flesh  confined.  Greater  privilege  could  none  be 
made  partakers  of.  And  what  was  the  issue?  "He  came  unto  his 
own,  and  his  own  received  him  not,"  John  i.  11.  Incomparably  the 
greatest  part  of  them  rejected  him,  and  the  tidings  of  peace  that  he 
came  to  bring.  It  is  worth  your  consideration  who  are  intrusted 
with  all  gospel  privileges.  They  will  not  save  you,  they  may  ruin 
you.  Look  after  grace  to  make  them  effectual,  lest  they  prove  "the 
savour  of  death  unto  death"  to  any  of  you.  Once  more,  from  the 
ascribing  of  both  these  offices  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, — 

X.  The  Lord  Christ  is  all  in  all  in  and  unto  his  church, — the  king, 
priest,  and  apostle  or  prophet  of  it.  all  in  one. 

So  our  apostle  tells  us  that  Christ  is  rd  Tai/ra  zai  h  itasi  unto 
believers,— "all  things,  and  in  all  things,"  Col.  iii.  11 ;  supplying  all 
wants,  answering  all  privileges,  the  spring  of  all  grace,  effecting  all 
mercy:  so  that  in  him  alone  they  are  complete,  as  chap.  ii.  10  of 
the  same  epistle.  Here  he  proposeth  it  as  a  privilege  and  advantage 
that  we  have  in  him  above  what  was  enjoyed  under  the  old  testa- 
ment. And  this  consisteth  in  two  things:- — 1.  That  what  they  had 
m  the  type  only,  that  we  have  in  reality  and  substance.  2.  Such 
was  the  poverty  of  the  types,  that  no  one  of  them  could  so  much  as 
shadow  out  or  represent  all  that  advantage  which  we  really  enjoy; 
and  therefore  they  were  multiplied,  and  the  work  distributed  amongst 
them  which  they  were  to  represent.  This  made  them  a  yoke,  and 
that  grievous  and  burdensome.  The  way  of  teaching  in  them  and 
by  them  was  hard  and  obscure,  as  well  as  their  observation  was 
diflficult.  It  was  a  hard  thing  for  them  to  learn  the  love,  grace,  and 
mind  of  God  by  them.  God  revealed  himself  in  them  ToXy/xspSf, 
by  many  parts  and  pieces,  according  as  they  were  capable  to  receive 
impression  from  and  make  representation  of  divine  wisdom,  good- 
ness, and  grace;  whence  our  apostle  says,  that  the  law  had  but  ffx/ai/, 
"a  shadow,"  and  not  a.\jrv\\i  rriv  iVmvo.  'rrpayijArm,  Heb.  X.  1, — "  the 
image  itself  of  things."  It  had  some  scattered  shades,  which  the 
great  limner  had  laid  the  foundation  of  symmetry  in,  but  so  as  to 
be  discernible  only  unto  his  own  infinite  wisdom.  A  perfect  image, 
wherein  all  the  parts  should  exactly  answer  unto  one  another,  and 
so  plainly  represent  the  thing  intended,  that  it  had  not.  Now,  it 
was  a  work  beyond  their  wisdom,  out  of  these  scattered  pieces  and 
parts  of  revelation,  especially  being  implanted  on  carnal  things,  to 
gather  up  the  whole  of  the  grace  and  good-will  of  God.  But  in 
Christ  Jesus  God  hath  gathered  all  into  one  head,  Eph.  i.  10, 
wherein  both  his  person  and  grace  are  fully  and  at  once  represented. 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  61 1 

Thus  they  had  no  one  that  was  king,  priest,  and  prophet  to  the 
church ;  nor  could  any  be  so  after  the  giving  of  the  law,  the  kingdom 
being  promised  unto  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  the  priesthood  confined 
to  the  house  of  Aaron,  of  the  tribe  of  Levi.  Neither  could  any 
typical  person  alone  of  himself  answer  exactly  and  completely  that 
wherein  he  was  a  type;  for  besides  their  own  imperfections  and 
failings,  even  in  the  discharge  of  their  typical  office, — which  rendered 
them  a  weak  and  imperfect  representation  of  him  who  was  abso- 
lutely perfect  in  all  things, — they  could  not  in  and  by  themselves  at 
all  discharge  their  office.  Kings  who  were  his  types  were  to  act, 
and  did  act,  according  to  the  counsel  of  others,  and  those  sometimes 
none  of  the  best;  as  David  was  much  guided  by  the  counsel  of 
Ahithophel,  which  was  to  him  as  if  he  had  "inquired  at  the  oracle  of 
God,"  2  Sam.  xvi.  23.  But  Christ,  our  king,  hath  all  stores  of  wisdom 
and  counsel  in  himself,  and  "needed  not  that  any  should  testify  of 
man;  for  he  knew  what  was  in  man,"  John  ii.  25.  So  it  was  pro- 
phesied of  him  that  "  upon  one  stone,"  the  foundation-stone  of  the 
house  of  God,  "there  should  be  seven  eyes,"  Zech.  iii.  9.  Counsellors 
are  6(pdaX/j.oi  jSaffiXsuv, — "  the  eyes  of  kings,"  And  in  the  monarchy 
of  Persia,  whence  this  prophet  was  newly  come,  there  were  always 
seven  of  them:  Ezra  vii.  14,  "Thou  art  sent  of  the  king,  and  of  his 
seven  counsellors;"  and  their  names  at  that  time  are  reckoned  up, 
Esth,  i.  14.  'But,'  saith  he,  'all  these  eyes  shall  be  on  the  foun- 
dation-stone itself,  so  that  he  shall  no  way  need  the  advice  or  counsel 
of  others.'  Or,  to  the  same  purpose,  it  may  denote  a  perfection  of 
wisdom  and  knowledge,  which  by  that  number  is  frequently  signified. 
And  for  the  high  priest,  he  could  do  nothing  alone.  Unless  he  had 
an  altar  and  a  sacrifice,  fire  from  above  and  a  tabernacle  or  temple, 
his  office  was  of  no  use.  But  our  Lord  Jesus  is  all  this, — both 
priest,  Heb.  iv.  14,  and  altar,  Heb.  xiii.  10,  and  sacrifice,  Eph.  v.  2, 
and  tabernacle  or  temple,  John  ii.  19,  21,  Col.  ii.  9,  and  the  fire, 
Heb.  ix.  14,  all  in  his  own  person,  as  shall,  God  willing,  be  afterwards 
declared.  The  like  may  be  said  of  the  prophets.  Who  sees  not, 
then,  herein  the  great  privilege  of  the  new  testament,  seeing  we 
have  these  things  all  really  which  they  had  only  in  type,  and  all  in 
one  which  among  them  were  distributed  amongst  so  many,  and  those 
all  weak  and  imperfect. 

Now,  seeing  that  he  is  thus  all  unto  us,  two  things  do  naturally 
and  necessarily  follow : — 

1  That  we  should  seek  for  all  in  him.  To  what  end  were  all 
typical  offices,  with  their  attendancies,  instituted  in  the  church  of 
old?  was  it  not  that  in  them,  one  thing  in  one,  another  in  another, 
they  might  find  and  obtain  whatever  was  ncedlul  or  useful  for  or 
unto  the  worship  of  God,  their  own  edification  and  salvation?  And 
shall  we  not  seek  for  all  in  him  who  was  represented,  and  that  but 

VOL.  xn.— ^j3 


512  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

darkly  and  infirmly,  by  them  all?  Whatever  any  one  stood  in  need 
of  in  the  commonwealth  of  Israel,  he  might  have  it  fully  answcjred 
either  by  king,  priest,  or  prophet.  And  shall  we  not  be  perfectly 
justified  by  him  who  is  really  and  substantially  all  in  one?  Yea, 
all  our  defects,  weaknesses,  and  troubles,  arise  from  hence,  that  we 
make  not  our  applications  unto  him  for  that  assistance  which  he  is 
able,  ready,  and  willing  to  give  unto  us. 

2.  As  we  must  go  to  him  for  all,  so  we  must  receive  and  take 
him  for  all,  that  he  may  be  all  and  in  all.  We  are  not  only  to 
address  ourselves  unto  him  as  our  priest,  to  be  interested  in  his  sac- 
rifice and  the  atonement  made  thereby,  but  as  our  king  also,  to 
rule  us  by  his  Spirit,  and  to  instruct  us  as  the  apostle  of  our  profes- 
sion. To  take  Christ,  as  some  do,  for  a  prophet,  the  apostle  of  God, 
but  not  as  a  high  priest,  or  a  priest  properly  so  called,  is  to  reject 
the  true  Christ,  and  to  frame  an  idol  to  ourselves  in  our  own 
imaginations.  It  is  the  same  to  divide  him  with  respect  unto  any 
of  his  other  offices  or  parts  of  his  work  whatever. 

The  exposition  of  the  second  verse  yet  remaineth,  which  will  make 
way  for  that  observation  which  is  comprehensive  of  the  principal 
design  of  the  apostle  in  this  place.  Having  laid  down  the  sum  of 
his  exhortation,  by  an  addition  of  the  fidelity  of  Christ  the  apostle 
maketh  a  transition  to  the  comparing  of  him  with  Moses  as  to  his 
office  apostolical  or  legatine,  as  afterwards  he  proceeds  to  compare 
him  with  Aaron  in  his  office  sacerdotal. 

Ver.  2. — "Being  faithful  to  him  who  appointed  him,  even  as  Moses 
in  his  whole  house." 

Entering  upon  a  comparison  of  the  Lord  Christ  with  Moses  as  he 
was  the  apostle  of  God,  or  one  sent  by  him  to  reveal  his  will,  he 
recommends  him  to  the  faith  of  the  Hebrews  under  the  principal 
qualification  of  a  person  in  that  office,  "He  was  faithful."  This  being 
a  term  of  relation,  he  further  describes  it  by  its  respect  unto  God, 
and  that  act  of  God  whereunto  it  answered,  "To  him  that  appointed 
him :"  and  then  in  general  expresseth  the  comparison  intended ;  1.  By 
naming  the  person  with  whom  he  compared  him,  "Even  as  Moses;" 
and,  2.  The  subject  of  his  employment,  "  The  whole  house  of  God." 
First,  The  chief  qualification  of  an  apostle  or  ambassador  is,  that 
he  be  faithful.  God's  apostle  is  the  chief  steward  or 
dispenser  of  his  mysteries,  and  it  is  principally  "required 
in  stewards,  that  a  man  be  found  faithful,"  1  Cor.  iv.  2.  ^AmeToXog 
Iv  o'lTiui,  an  "apostle  in  the  house"  is  olxovo/iog,  the  steward  and  dis- 
pen.ser  of  all  things  in  and  unto  the  house.  This,  therefore,  the 
apostle  expresseth  in  the  first  place,  and  that  absolutely  and  compa- 
ratively. He  was  "faithful,"  and  "faithful  as  was  Moses."  His  faith- 
fulness as  a  high  priest,  and  wherein  that  faithfulness  did  consist, 


VEK.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  513 

we  have  declared,  chap.  ii.  1 7, 1 8.  Here,  though  that  expression,  Tiarht 
ovra,  being  "  faithful,"  is  annexed  unto  the  mention  of  two  offices, 
apostolical  and  sacerdotal,  yet,  as  appears  from  the  ensuing  dis- 
course, it  relates  only  unto  the  former. 

Now,  the  fidelity  of  a  legate,  ambassador,  or  an  apostle,  consists 
principally  in  the  full  revelation  and  declaration  of  the  whole  mind 
and  will  of  him  by  whom  he  is  sent,  as  to  the  end  for  which  he  is 
sent,  and  nothing  in  his  name  but  what  is  so  his  mind  and  will. 
Tims,  our  apostle,  to  declare  his  faithfulness  in  his  office  apostolical, 
affirms  that  he  had  "kept  nothing  back  "  from  them  to  whom  he  was 
sent,  "  that  was  profitable  unto  them,"  Acts  xx.  20,  nor  "  shunned 
to  declare  unto  them  all  the  counsel  of  God,"  verse  27. 

There  are  two  things  in  faithfulness; — first,  trust;  and,  secondly, 
the  discharge  ihereot  Faithfulness  respects  trust.  Our  Lord,  there- 
fore, nuist  have  a  trust  committed  unto  him,  wherein  he  was  faith- 
ful :  which  also  he  had,  for  it  pleased  the  Father  to  lay  up  in  hiiu 
*'  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge,"  Col.  ii.  3, — to  commit 
unto  him  the  whole  mystery  of  his  will  and  grace, — and  so  sent  him 
to  declare  himself,  John  i.  18;  and  his  "name,"  John  xvii.  6, — to 
make  known  the  last  full  declaration  of  his  mind  and  will,  as  to  his 
worship,  with  the  obedience  and  salvation  of  the  church,  Heb.  i.  1 ,  2, 
and  therewithal  to  "  seal  up  vision  and  prophecy,"  Dan.  ix.  24,  that  no 
new  or  further  revelation  of  the  will  of  God  should  ever  be  made  or 
added  unto  what  was  made  by  him,  Rev.  xxii.  18,  19.  Being  in- 
trusted with  this  work,  his  authority  for  it  is  proclaimed,  the  Father 
giving  command  from  heaven  unto  all  to  "hear  him,"  Matt.  xvii.  5, 
who  was  thus  sent  by  him.  And  therein  "he  received  from  God  the 
Father  honour  and  glory,"  2  Pet.  i.  17,  being  declared  to  be  that 
great  prophet  whom  all  were  obliged  to  hear  on  pain  of  utter  exter- 
mination. Dent,  xviii.  18,  19;  Acts  iii.  22,  23. 

This  was  the  trust  of  the  Lord  Christ  in  this  matter,  and  in  the 
dischai'ge  hereof  did  his  fidelity  consist.  And  this  he  manifested  ia 
three  things : — 1.  In  that  in  this  great  work  he  sought  not  his 
own  glory,  but  the  glory  of  him  that  sent  him,  John  viii.  50;  de- 
claring that  he  came  not  in  his  own,  but  in  his  Father's  name, 
John  V.  43.  He  turned  not  his  message  unto  his  own  advant:ige, 
but  unto  the  advantage  or  honour  of  him  that  sent  him.  2.  In 
that  he  declared  his  word  or  message  not  to  he  his  own,  that  is 
originally  or  principally,  but  his  Father's:  "The  word  which  ye 
hear  is  not  mine,  but  the  Father's  which  sent  me,"  John  xiv. 
24.  3.  In  that  he  declared  the  zuhole  will  or  woi^d  of  God 
that  was  committed  unto  him,  for  the  end  mentioned:  "I  have 
given  unto  them  the  words  which  thou  gavest  me,"  John  xvii.  8; 
witnessing  therein  a  good  confession,  1  Tim.  vi.  13,  sealing  the 
truth  with  his  blood,  which  he  came  into  the  world  to  bear  wit- 


514  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

ness  unto,  John  xviii.  37.     And  greater  faithfulness  could  not  be 
expressed. 

Secondly,  This  faithfulness  he  discharged  towards  "  him  that  ap- 
pointed him/'  The  apostle  mentioning  the  offices  of  Christ  distinctly, 
addeth  unto  every  one  of  them  his  designation  or  appointment  to 
them:  unto  his  kingly  office,  Heb.  i.  2, — '  He  was  appointed  heir,  or 
lord  of  all ;'  unto  his  sacerdotal,  chap.  v.  5, — 'He  took  not  on  himself 
the  office  of  a  priest,  without  the  call  of  God;'  and  here,  as  to  his 
apostolical  or  prophetical  office, — '  He  was  appointed  of  God.'  And 
this  he  doth  for  two  ends; — first,  To  evidence  that  the  Lord  Christ 
took  not  any  thing  upon  him  in  the  house  of  God  without  call  or 
authority;  secondly.  That  we  might  see  the  love  and  care  of  God, 
even  the  Father,  in  the  mediation  of  the  Lord  Christ,  as  appointing 
him  to  his  whole  office  and  work. 

"  To  him  that  appointed  him."     This  appointment 
,  ;  '^''""'"'"■'  of  Christ,  or  his  being  made  the  apostle  of  God,  con- 
sists  in  a  fivefold  act  of  God  in  reference  thereunto : — 

1.  In  his  eternal  designation  of  him  to  his  work  and  office  ; 
for  as  he  was  in  general  irpoiyMusiiivoi  irph  xaraZoXrig  xo'c/xou,  1  Pefc. 
i.  20,  "  fore-ordained  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,"  so  was 
he  in  particular  designed  of  God  to  be  his  apostle  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  his  church,  Isa.  xlviii.  16;  Zech.  vi.  13;  Pro  v.  viii.  22-31. 
Hence  that  eternal  life  which  he  was  to  manifest,  1  John  i.  2, 
and  to  bring  to  light  by  the  gospel,  2  Tim.  i.  ]  0,  is  said  to  be  "  pro- 
mised before  the  world  began,"  Tit.  i.  2,  even  because  of  this  pur- 
pose of  sending  the  Son  to  declare  it;  on  which  account  also  it  is 
said  to  be  with  the  Father  before  it  was  manifested  by  him,  1  John 
i.  2.  And  herein  lie's  the  foundation  of  the  appointment  of  Christ 
unto  his  office. 

2.  In  the  solemn  promise  made  from  the  beginning  to  send 
him  for  this  purpose.  This  gave  him  a  virtual  law-constitution, 
whereby  he  became,  as  its  prophet,  the  object  of  the  church's  faith 
and  expectation.  And  this  was  included  in  the  first  promise,  Gen. 
iii.  15.  Darkness,  blindness,  and  ignorance,  being  come  upon  us  by 
sin,  he  that  was  to  deliver  us  from  all  the  effiscts  and  consequents 
of  it  must  of  necessity  be  our  instructor  in  the  light  and  knowledge 
of  God.  But  the  first  open,  plain  expression  of  it  by  the  way  of 
promise  is  Deut.  xviii.  18;  which  is  confirmed  by  following  promises 

,  innumerable.     See  Isa.  xi.  1-5,  xl.  11,  xlii.  1-7,  xlix.  1-4,  8,  9,  Iii. 
15;  Zech.  vi.  12,  13;  Mai.  iii.  1-4. 

3.  In  sending  him  actually  into  the  world  to  be  "the  light  of 
men,"  John  i.  4,  and  to  "  manifest  that  eternal  life  which  was  with 
the  Father,"  1  John  i.  2 ;  to  which  end  he  furnished  him  with  his 
Spirit  and  all  the  gifts  thereof  in  all  fulness,  for  the  discharge  of 
his  office,  Isa.  xi.  2,  3,  Ixi.  1-3.     For  to  this  end  he  received  not 


VER.  1,  2,]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  515 

the  Spirit  by  measure,  John  iii.  34,  but  was  "anointed  with  the  oil 
of  glaiiness  above  his  fellows,"  Heb.  i.  9 ;  of  which  uiKJtion  we  have 
treated  at  large  before. 

4.  In  the  declaration  he  made  of  him  to  be  his  apostle  and  am- 
bassador by  a  visible  sign.  This  was  done  in  the  descending  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  upon  him  in  the  likeness  of  a  dove,  John  i.  32,  33. 

And  herewithal  did  God  commit  his  charge  and  trust  unto  him, 
which  he  was  to  keep  and  preserve,  Zech.  vi.  12,  13.  Being  thus 
sent  by  the  Lord  of  hosts,  Zech.  ii.  8,  and  therein  clothed  with  his 
name,  authority,  and  majesty,  Mic.  v.  4,  he  acted  in  all  things  as 
his  legate  and  apostle, — by  his  commission  and  authority,  in  his 
name,  and  unto  his  glory. 

5.  Lastly,  Unto  these  acts  of  his  appointment  God  added  his  com- 
mand, and  published  it  from  heaven  unto  all,  to  hear  and  obey  him, 
as  the  great  teaciier  sent  from  God,  as  his  apostle,  speaking  in  his 
name.  Matt.  xvii.  5. 

By  these  means  was  the  Lord  Christ  appointed  to  be  the  apostle 
of  God;  and  "he  was  faithful  unto  him  that  appointed  him,"  as 
hath  been  declared. 

Thirdly,  "  As  was  Moses  in  his  whole  house."  The  last  thing  in 
these  words  is  the  further  assertion  of  the  fidelity  of  , 
Christ  by  a  comparison  with  Moses,  who  was  "  faith- 
ful in  his  whole  house."  We  observed  before,  that  it  is  not  evi- 
dent unto  whom  these  words  are  immediately  applied.  But  whomso- 
ever they  have  respect  unto,  tliey  belong  also  to  the  other;  for  the 
one  as  well  as  the  other  was  faithful  in  the  whole  house  of  God.  But 
tlie  apostle  seems  directly  to  express  the  words  used  by  God  himself 
concerning  Moses,  Num.  xii.  7:  ^^'^  i^??^  ''ri"'?"''?f ; — "In  tola  domo 
mea  fidelis  ipse;" — "He  is  faithful  in  all  my  house."  And  they 
are  therefore  here  firstly  intended  of  him.  Three  things  are,  then, 
considerable  in  these  words  :  1.  The  commendation  of  Moses, — he 
was  "  fa'thful."  2.  The  extent  of  his  faithfulness, — it  was  "in  all  the 
house  of  God;"  both  which  are  expressed  in  the  words.  3.  The 
comparison  implied  between  Christ  and  him. 

1.  "  Moses  was  19^^.,  "  faithful."  It  is  true,  he  failed  personally 
in  his  faith,  and  was  charged  of  God  that  he  believed  him  not,  Num. 
XX.  12;  but  this  was  in  respect  of  his  own  faith  in  one  particular, 
and  is  no  impeachment  of  his  faithfulness  in  the  especial  office  in- 
tended. As  he  was  the  apostle,  the  ambassador  of  God,  to  reveal 
his  mind  and  institute  his  worship,  he  was  universally  faithful ;  for 
he  declared  and  did  all  things  according  to  his  will  and  appoint- 
ment, by  the  testimony  of  God  himself,  Exod.  xl.  16,  "According 
to  all  that  the  LoRD  commanded  him,  so  did  he."  He  withheld 
nothing  of  what  God  revealed  or  commanded,  nor  did  he  add  any 
thing  thereunto;  and  herein  did  his  faithfulness  consist. 


516  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  in 

2,  The  extent  of  his  faithfulness  was  in  "  the  whole  house  of  God," 

— h  oA(f  Tui  o7xw:  that  is,  saith  Chrysostom,  h  oXifi  rSt 
» exu  rco     ^^      — „  .^  ^j^^  whole  people."     "  In  his  house ;"  that  is, 

in  his  household,  his  family  :  Acts  ii.  36,  'AcpaXws  yivu- 
cxero  'jrag  oinog  'lepariX' — "  Let  the  whole  house  of  Israel  know ;"  that 
is,  the  whole  family,  the  posterity  of  Jacob,  or  Israel.  See  "  house" 
for  "household,"  Acts  xvi.  15;  1  Cor.  i.  16;  2  Tim.  i.  16.  The  "house 
of  God,"  then,  is  his  household,  his  family,  his  church;  called  his 
"house," — (1.)  By  way  of  appropriation ;  his  lot,  his  portion,  as  a  man's 
house  is  to  him.  Dent,  xxxii.  9,  "The  Lord's  portion  is  his  people; 
Jacob  is  the  lot  of  his  inheritance."  (2.)  Because  of  his  inhabita- 
tion. He  dwells  in  his  church  by  his  especial  and  glorious  presence, 
as  a  man  in  his  own  house,  Rev.  xxi.  3.  Both  which  are  springs  of 
care,  love,  and  delight.  In  this  house  was  Moses  faithful.  And 
this  commendation  of  Moses  is  on  all  occasions  celebrated  by  the 
Jews.  So  they  do  in  their  hymns  in  the  rituals  of  the  Sabbath,  in 
Machzor,  part,  i.,  fol.  49,  noya  nn:  itj'xns  mx2n  h'h:^  i^nxip  pxj  nny  ^3 
nnK'm"'»c'nn  ainai  iT-a  n'-iin  D''j3i<  mm^  •'j^i  •'j^d  nn  hv  I'JS^; — "Thou 
calledst  him  thy  faithful  servant;  and  didst  put  a  glorious  crown  on 
his  head,  when  he  stood  before  thee  in  mount  Sinai,  and  brought 
down  tlie  two  tables  of  stone,  wherein  was  written  the  observation 
of  the  Sabbath,"  etc. 

3.  As  to  the  comparison  in  these  words,  "  as  Moses,"  we  may  con- 
sider,— 

(1.)  That  the  apostle  was  now  entering  upon  the  greatest 
strength  of  the  Hebrews,  and  that  wherein  they  were  most  warily 
and  tenderly  to  be  dealt  withal;  for  although  they  would  allow  that 
the  angels  were  in  some  respect  above  Moses,  yet  they  adhered 
unto  their  old  institutions  principally  on  his  account,  as  one  who 
was  so  eminently  testified  unto  by  God  himself  He  was  the  visible 
internuncius  and  mediator  between  God  and  their  forefathers  when 
their  church-state  was  erected,  and  they  were  brought  into  the 
enjoyment  of  those  privileges  wherein  they  were  exalted  above  all 
the  nations  of  the  world.  The  apostle,  therefore,  deals  not  with 
them  in  this  matter  directly  until  he  had  made  such  a  declaration 
of  the  person  of  Christ,  and  proved  him  to  be  so  incomparably  ex- 
alted above  the  angels,  that  they  could  not  be  justly  prejudiced  if  he 
preferred  him  before  Moses  also;  and  which  that  he  should  do  was 
of  indispensable  necessity  unto  his  design. 

(2.)  That  whereas,  ti-eating  concerning  the  angels,  he  urgetli 
those  testimonies  concerning  them  which  respect  their  service  and 
subjection,  coming  to  speak  of  Moses,  he  produceth  the  highest  and 
most  honourable  testimony  that  is  given  concerning  him  in  the 
whole  Scripture.  And  hereby  he  both  at  once  grants  all  that  they 
had  to  plead  concerning  him  in  this  matter,  and  removes  all  suspi- 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTEL  OT  THE  HEBREWS  517 

cion  from  himself,  as  though  he  intended  to  derogate  any  thino 
from  him;  under  a  jealousy  whereof  he  suffered  much,  as  is  known, 
amongst  the  Jews.  Moreover,  he  discovers  a  consistency  hetween 
the  true  honour  of  Moses  and  the  exaltation  of  Christ,  which  as  yet 
many  of  them  did  not  understand,  but  thought  that  if  Christ  and 
the  gospel  were  established,  Moses  must  be  cast  off  and  condemned. 

(3.)  In  this  comparison  he  minds  them  that  the  Lord  Jesus 
was  the  great  promised  prophet  of  the  church,  whom  they  were  to 
attend  unto  on  pain  of  being  cut  off  from  the  people  of  God.  God 
says  unto  Moses,  Deut  xviii.  18,  "I  will  raise  up  a  prophet  ^^^9," 
"  like  unto  thee,"  "  as  thou  art."  And  yet  it  is  said,  Deut.  xxxiv. 
10,  that  "  there  was  no  prophet  in  Israel  >^f^^,"  "  like  unto  Moses," 
or,  "  as  Moses."  One  signal  prophet  there  was  to  be  raised  up  that 
should  be  like  unto  him;  that  is,  who  should  give  new  laws  and 
ordinances  unto  the  church,  which  no  other  prophet  was  to  do. 

And  thus  doth  the  apostle  make  an  entrance  into  his  intended 
proof  of  the  preference  or  pre-eminence  of  Christ  above  Moses: — 
1.  He  grants  that  they  were  both  prophets,  both  apostles  of  God, 
sent  by  him  to  declare  his  mind  and  will;  2.  That  they  were  both 
faitiiful  in  the  discharge  of  their  office  and  trust;  3.  That  this  tru.'st 
extended  itself  to  the  whole  church,  and  all  that  was  to  be  done 
therein  in  the  worship  of  God.  Wherein  the  difference  lay  he  de- 
clares in  the  next  verse. 

And  in  these  two  verses  we  may  observe  much  of  that  wisdom 
which  Peter  ascribes  unto  Paul  in  his  writing  of  this  epistle.  He 
is,  as  was  said,  entering  upon  the  strongest  hold  of  the  Jews,  that 
whereon  they  abode  most  pertinaciously  in  the  observation  of  their 
ceremonial  institutions,  namely,  the  dignity  and  fidelity  of  Moses. 
At  the  entrance,  therefore,  of  this  discourse,  he  useth  a  compellation 
manitesting  his  intense  love  towards  them  and  care  of  them,  calling 
them  his  "brethren;"  and  therewithal  minds  them  of  that  eminent 
privilege  whereof  by  Jesus  Christ  they  were  made  "partakers,"  even 
the  "  heavenly  calling,"  which  by  the  gospel  they  had  received.  Then, 
entering  upon  his  designed  comparison  between  Christ  and  Moses, 
wherein  he  was  to  be  preferred  above  him,  he  doth  it  not  l)efore  he 
had  evinced  not  only  that  he  was  more  excellent  than  the  angels, 
but  also  far  exalted  above  the  whole  creation  of  God,  and,  besides, 
the  author  of  such  incomparable  and  unspeakable  mercies  as  no 
otherwise  were  or  could  be  communicat  i  unto  men.  Again,  he 
lets  them  know  that  he  was  so  far  from  derogating  any  thing  from 
the  honour  and  authority  of  Moses,  as  he  was  falsely  accused  to  do, 
that  he  grants  as  much  concerning  him,  and  ascribes  as  much  unto 
him,  as  any  of  themselves  could  justly  grant  or  ascribe.  And  there- 
fore, in  the  entrance  of  his  discourse,  he  declares  him  to  have  been 
the  legate,  apostle,  or  ambassador  of  God  unco  the  people,  in  the 


518  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IlL 

sense  before  declared ;  and  that  in  the  discharge  of  his  office  and 
duty,  he  behaved  himself  with  that  fidelity  which  God  himseli  ap- 
proved of.  This  being  the  sum  of  what  was  pleaded  by  the  Jews 
on  the  account  of  Moses,  it  is  all  granted  and  confirmed  by  the 
apostle.  How  suitable  this  course  of  procedure  was  to  the  removal 
of  their  prejudices,  to  inform  their  minds,  to  endear  their  affections, 
and  consequently  what  wisdom  was  used  in  it,  is  open  and  evident. 
It  remains  that  we  consider  the  observation  which  is  principally 
intended  in  the  words,  leaving  others  to  be  afterwards  expressed. 

XI.  A  diligent,  attentive  consideration  of  the  person,  offices,  and 
work  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  the  most  effectual  means  to  free  the  souls 
of  men  from  all  entanglements  of  errors  and  darkness,  and  to  keep 
them  constant  in  the  profession  of  the  truth. 

These  are  the  ends  for  which  it  is  here  called  for  by  the  apostle. 
These  Hebrews  were  yet  entangled  in  their  old  Judaism,  and  by 
reason  of  their  temptations,  prejudices,  and  persecutions,  w^ere  ready 
to  decline  from  the  truth.  To  free  them  from  the  one,  and  to  pre- 
vent the  other,  the  apostle  calls  them  to  the  consideration  of  what 
he  had  delivered,  and  what  he  was  yet  to  deliver,  concerning  the 
person,  offices,  and  work  of  Christ.  This  being  the  principal  inten- 
tion of  the  place,  we  shall  abide  a  little  in  the  confirmation  and 
application  of  our  observation. 

What  is  in  this  duty  considered  subjectively  was  declared  in  the 
exposition  of  the  words;  what  is  in  its  manner  of  performance,  and 
especial  object,  must  be  now  further  unfolded.     And, — • 

1.  There  are  in  it  these  things  ensuing: — 

(1.)  A  diligent  searching  into  the  word,  wherein  Christ  is  re- 
vealed unto  us.  This  himself  directs  unto,  John  v.  39.  The  Scrip- 
tures reveal  him,  declare  him,  testify  of  him.  To  this  end  are  they 
to  be  searched,  that  we  may  learn  and  know  what  they  so  declare 
and  testify.  And  this  Peter  tells  us  was  done  by  the  prophets  of 
old,  1  Pet.  i.  10,  11.  They  "searched  diligently"  into  the  revelation 
made  in  them  by  the  Spirit  of  the  person,  sufferings,  and  grace  of 
Christ,  with  the  glory  that  ensued  thereon.  Christ  is  exhibited 
iu;ito  us  in  the  gospel;  which  is  therefore  called  "The  gospel  of 
Christ,"  and  "  The  word  of  Christ," — that  is,  concerning  him,  as  our 
apostle  declares,  Rom.  i.  1—3.  Both  the  prophets  of  old,  saith  he, 
and  the  gospel  also,  treat  concerning  the  Son  of  God,  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord.  Herein,  then,  consists  the  first  part  of  this  great  duty. 
''  Search  the  Scriptures,"  with  all  the  advantage  of  help  afforded, 
that  you  may  find  out,  discern,  and  understand,  what  is  revealed 
concerning  him  in  them,  as  he  is  the  end  of  the  law  and  the  ful- 
ness of  the  gospel,  the  centre  in  whom  all  the  prophecies,  pro- 
mises, rules,  and  precepts  of  them  do  meet.  Without  this  aim  in 
Ouir  leading,  hearing,  searching  the  word,  we  labour  in  vain,  and 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  519 

contend  uncertainly,  as  men  beating  the  air.  Unto  him,  and  the 
knowledge  of  him,  is  all  our  study  of  the  Scripture  to  be  referred 
And  the  reason  why  some,  in  the  perusal  of  it,  have  no  more  light, 
profit,  or  advantage,  is,  because  they  have  not  more  respect  unto 
Christ  in  their  inquiry.  I^^he  be  once  out  of  our  eye  in  searching 
the  Scripture,  we  know  not  what  we  do,  nor  whither  we  go,  no 
more  than  dotli  the  mariner  at  sea  without  regard  to  tlie  pole-star. 
Truths  to  be  believed  are  like  believers  themselves.  All  their  life, 
power,  and  order,  consist  in  their  relation  unto  Christ;  separated 
from  him,  they  are  dead  and  useless. 

(2.)  Meditation  upon  what  is  discovered  unto  us  is  also  in- 
cluded in  this  duty.  When  a  revelation  was  made  of  Christ  and 
his  work  unto  the  blessed  virgin  his  mother,  it  is  said,  she  kept  the 
sayings,  "  and  pondered  them  in  her  heart,"  Luke  ii.  19;  as  Eliphaz 
adviseth  all  to  do.  Job  xxii.  22.  And  the  apostle  bids  us  take  care 
that  "the  word  of  Christ  may  dwell  in  us  richly,"  Col.  iii.  16; — that 
it  may  not  pass  through  our  minds  with  some  transient  effects,  as  it 
doth  in  reading  and  hearing,  if  it  only  casts  some  glances  of  light 
upon  the  understanding,  some  motions  on  the  atfectious;  but  make 
its  abode  and  dwell  with  us,  that  is,  by  constant  meditation.  But 
this  duty  is  by  many  spoken  unto,  and  the  evil  of  the  neglect  of  it 
sufficiently  declared. 

(3.)  A  spiritual  endeavour,  in  this  search  and  meditation,  to 
bring  the  soul  unto  a  conformity  with  that  revelation  which  is  made 
of  Christ  in  the  word.  This  is  the  genuine  effect  of  them,  if  duly 
attended  unto,  2  Cor.  iii.  18.  The  glory  of  Christ  is  revealed  in  tlie 
gospel,  as  a  face  is  represented  in  a  glass.  This  we  behold  by  a  spiii- 
tual  search  into  it,  and  meditation  on  it.  By  this  intuition  we  are 
assimilated  unto  the  glory  so  revealed.  The  Holy  Ghost  thereby 
brings  upon  our  hearts  that  very  likeness  and  image  which  we  so 
contemplate.  And  although  properly  this  be  rather  an  effect  of  the 
duty  treated  of  than  any  part  of  it,  yet  because  it  is  that  which  we 
ought  continually  to  aim  at,  and  without  the  attainment  whereof 
we  labour  in  vain,  1  reckon  it  thereunto.  When  the  image  of  Christ 
is  wrought  upon  our  hearts,  and  the  dying  and  life  of  Christ  made 
manifest  in  us,  2  Cor.  iv.  10,  then  hath  this  duty  its  perfect  work. 

2.  The  object  of  it  is  to  be  considered.  This  in  our  proposition, 
following  the  apostle,  is  confined  unto  his  person,  his  offices,  and  his 
work.     These  he  dealeth  with  the  Hebrews  about. 

(1.)  He  treateth  about  his  person,  and  concerning  that  pro- 
poseth  two  things  especially  unto  consideration; — [I.]  His  glorious 
excellency;  [2.]  His  condescension  and  grace.  The  one  is  the 
sole  subject  of  tlie  first  chapter;  the  other  the  principal  subject  of  the 
second.  [1.]  He  calls  them  to  consider  the  glorious  excellency  of  the 
person  of  Clirist.     He  had  instructed  them  how  in  his  divine  nature 


520  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IH. 

he  was  the  eternal  Son  of  God,  "  the  brightness  of  his  glory,  and  the 
express  image  of  his  person,"  by  whom  the  worlds  were  made;  and 
therefore  deservedly  exalted,  even  as  mediator,  being  incarnate,  in- 
comparably above  the  most  glorious  beings  of  all  God's  creation. 
This  he  would  have  us  especially  to  regard  in  our  consideration  of 
him.  So  did  the  apostles  of  old.  They  considered  his  glory  as  "  the 
only-begotten  of  the  Father,"  therefore  "full  of  grace  and  truth," 
John  i.  14.  This  excellency  of  the  person  of  Christ  brancheth  it- 
self into  many  instances,  not  here  to  be  recapitulated.  It  may  suffice 
in  general  that  this  is  to  be  the  principal  olject  of  our  meditation. 
The  revelation  which  he  made  of  himself  under  the  old  testament 
had  an  especial  respect  unto  this  glory.  Such  is  the  description  of 
him,  Ps.  Ixviii.  17,  18,  applied  unto  him,  Eph.  iv.  8;  as  that  also,  Isa. 
vi.  1-3,  applied  unto  him,  John  xii.  41.  And  it  is  a  signal  promise, 
that  under  the  gospel  we  shall  "  see  the  king  ia  his  beauty,"  Isa.  xxxiii. 
1 7,  or  see  by  faith  the  uncreated  excellencies  and  glory  of  this  king 
of  saints.  And  indeed  the  faith  of  the  saints  of  the  old  testament 
did  principally  respect  the  glorious  person  of  the  Messiah.  In  other 
things  they  were  very  dark,  and  little  can  be  gathered  from  the 
Scripture  of  what  spiritual  apprehension  they  had  concerning  other 
things  whereby  they  were  instructed;  but  their  minds  and  faith 
were  distinctly  fixed  on  his  person  and  his  coming,  leaving  his  work 
and  the  mystery  of  redemption  unto  his  own  wisdom  and  grace. 
Hence  had  they  so  many  glorious  descriptions  of  him  granted  unto 
them ;  which  were  always  to  keep  up  their  hearts  in  a  desire  and  expec- 
tation of  him.  And  now  under  the  new  testament,  it  is  the  greatest 
trial  of  faith,  whether  it  be  evangelical,  genuine,  and  thriving,  namely, 
by  the  respect  that  it  hath  to  the  person  of  Christ.  If  that  be  its  im- 
mediate and  principal  object,  if  it  respect  other  things  with  regard 
unto  liim  and  in  subordination  unto  him,  it  is  assuredly  of  a  heavenly 
extract;  if  otherwise,  it  may  justly  be  suspected.  This  is  that  head 
of  gold  which  the  spouse  admires  in  her  beloved.  Cant.  v.  11.  And 
unspeakable  is  the  influence  which  the  consideration  of  this  glorious 
excellency  of  Christ,  attended  with  infinite  wisdom  and  power,  hath 
into  our  preservation  in  tlie  truth.  [2.]  His  grace  and  condescen- 
sion. This  the  apostle  insists  upon,  Heb.  ii.  His  design  therein 
is  to  show  what  this  glorious  and  excellent  person  submitted  himself 
unto,  that  he  might  save  and  deliver  sinners.  And  this  he  greatly 
presseth,  Phil.  ii.  5-8.  This  glorious  one  huml)led  himself  into  the 
form  of  a  man,  of  a  servant,  unto  death,  the  death  of  the  cross.  A 
due  mixture  of  greatness  and  grace  or  goodness  is  the  most  power- 
ful attractive  and  loadstone  of  affections.  Hence  God,  who  is  infi- 
nitely great  and  infinitely  good,  is  the  ultimate  object  of  them.  In 
the  person  of  Christ  it  is  incomparably  and  inimitably,  so  that  there 
is  nothins:  in  the  creation  to  shadow  it  out  unto  us.     See  Kev.  i. 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  521 

5,  6,  11,  13-16.  He  who  is  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  first  and  the  last, 
the  prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth,  even  he  loved  us,  and  washed 
us  in  his  own  blood.  Hence  unto  a  believing  soul,  he  becomes  "white 
and  ruddy,  the  chiefest  of  ten  thousand,"  Cant.  v.  10.  See  Ps.  xlv 
2-4.  This  is  a  means  of  preservation.  Hence  the  apostle  wonders 
at  the  Galatians,  that  they  should  depart  from  the  truth,  after  that 
Jesus  Christ  had  been  evidently  set  forth  before  their  eyes,  crucified 
amongst  them,  Gal.  iii.  1 ;  for  an  evident  declaration  of  him,  and 
representation  of  his  love  in  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  is  a  suffi- 
cient means  to  preserve  men  from  such  miscarriages.  We  see  what 
a  warm,  natural,  blind  devotion  will  be  stirred  up  in  the  Papists  by 
tlie  superstitious  pictures  of  Christ  which  they  have  amongst  them. 
And  if  a  false  means  shall  be  effectual  to  stir  up  a  false  love  and 
devotion,  shall  not  the  true,  proper,  instituted  means  of  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  glory  of  Christ,  in  the  gospel,  be  effectual  to  beget 
constancy  and  perseverance  in  faith  and  obedience?  These  things 
the  apostle  minds  them  off  concerning  his  person,  to  be  improved 
unto  the  ends  proposed. 

(2.)  Consider  him  as  to  his  offices.  In  these  verses  the  apostle 
minds  the  Hebrews  of  his  proplietical  and  sacerdotal ;  but  he  di- 
rects them  to  his  regal  also,  which  he  had  treated  of,  chap.  i.  Nei- 
ther doth  he  mind  them  so  directly  of  the  offices  themselves,  as 
the  qualifications  of  his  person  on  their  account.  His  authority  as 
a  king,  his  mercifulness  as  our  high  priest,  and  his  faithfulness  as  a 
prophet,  or  God's  apostle,  are  the  things  he  would  have  them  con- 
sider. 

[1.]  His  authority,  as  king,  lord,  and  heir  of  all,  chap.  i.  1-3 
His  dealing  with  the  Hebrews  was  principally  about  the  institution 
of  new  ordinances  of  worship,  and  abolishing  of  the  old.  This,  sove- 
reign authority  was  required  unto.  This  the  Lord  Christ  was  fur- 
nished withal,  as  the  Son,  as  the  heir  and  lord  of  all.  A  due 
consideration  hereof  would  thoroughly  remove  all  doubts  atid  scruples 
in  this  matter.  And  the  neglect  hereof  is  the  cause  of  all  that  con- 
fusion and  disorder  that  is  at  this  day  in  the  world  about  the  worship 
of  God.  Men  not  considering  the  authority  of  Christ,  either  as  in- 
stituting the  ordinances  of  the  gospel,  or  as  judging  upon  their  neglect 
and  abuse,  are  careless  about  them,  or  do  not  acquiesce  in  his  plea- 
sure in  them.  This  hath  proved  the  ruin  of  many  churches,  which, 
neglecting  the  authority  of  Christ,  have  substituted  their  own  in  the 
room  thereof.  The  consideration,  therefore,  of  this  kingly,  legisla- 
tive authority  of  the  Lord  Christ  by  men,  as  to  their  present  duty 
and  future  account,  must  needs  be  an  effectual  means  to  preserve 
them  in  the  truth  and  from  backslidings.  See  Rom.  xiv.  9-12; 
2  Cor.  V.  9,  10. 

[2.]  His  mercifulness,  as  the  high  priest  of  his  church.   This  he  had 


522  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP,  IIL 

asserted,  chap.  ii.  17,  and  that  upon  a  full  and  evident  previous  de- 
monstration. Consider  him  that  is  so,  and  as  he  is  so.  This,  because 
of  its  importance,  he  often  presseth,  chap.  iv.  14-16,  vii.  25-28,  ix. 
11-14  X.  21,  22.  And  this  is  of  singular  use  to  preserve  believers 
from  decays  and  fainting  in  the  profession  of  the  truth ;  for  from 
his  mercifulness,  unspeakable  encouragement,  strength,  and  conso- 
lation, in  obedience  and  profession  of  the  gospel,  may  be  educed,  as 
in  our  progress,  God  assisting,  we  shall  manifest.  Want  of  a  due 
improvement  of  this  encouragement,  and  the  assistance  that  may  be 
obtained  thereby,  is  the  occasion  of  all  the  decays  and  backslidings 
that  are  found  among  professor-s.  What  can  thrive  in  the  soul,  if 
the  love,  care,  kindness,  and  ability  to  save,  that  are  in  Christ, — all 
which  are  included  in  this  mercifulness, — are  neglected? 

[o.]  Hia  faithfulness.  This  relates  unto  his  office  prophetical, 
which  is  by  the  apostle  ascribed  unto  him,  and  confirmed  to  be  in 
him  in  these  verses.  Yea,  this  is  that  which  he  would  have  them 
immediately  and  in  the  first  place  to  consider,  and  which  being  once 
fixed  on  tlieir  minds,  those  other  things  must  needs  have  the  more 
effectual  influence  upon  them.  For  if  he  be  absolutely  faithful  in 
his  work,  his  authority  and  mercy  ought  surely  diligently  to  be 
heeded.  To  this  end  the  apostle  compares  him  in  particular  with 
Moses  in  these  verses,  and  in  the  next  exalts  him  above  him.  And 
no  better  medium  could  be  used  to  satisfy  the  Hebrews,  who  were 
sufficiently  persuaded  of  the  faithfulness  of  Moses.  He  being,  then, 
ultimately  to  reveal  the  will  of  God,  and  being  absolutely  faithful  in 
his  so  doing,  is  to  be  attended  unto.  Men  may  thence  learn  what 
they  have  to  do  in  the  church  and  worship  of  God, — even  to  observe 
and  to  do  whatever  he  hath  commanded,  and  nothing  else,  Matt. 
xxviii.  20;  Rev.  i.  5,  iii.  14. 

(3.)  As  his  person  and  offices,  so  his  tuork  also  is  proposed 
unto  our  consideration,  for  the  ends  mentioned.  This  the  apostle 
fully  discourseth,  chap.  ii.  9,  10,  14,  15,  17,  18.  The  specialties  of 
this  work  are  too  many  to  be  here  so  much  as  recounted.  In  gene- 
ral, the  love  and  grace  that  were  in  it,  the  greatness  of  it,  the  benefit 
we  receive  by  it,  the  glory  of  the  wisdom,  goodness,  grace,  holiness, 
and  righteousness  that  shines  forth  in  it,  are  the  principal  immediate 
objects  of  our  faith  and  consideration. 

These  things  we  have  instanced  in  particular,  as  those  which, 
being  of  great  importance  in  themselves,  we  are  likewise  directed 
unto  by  the  series  of  the  apostle's  discourse ;  but  we  mention  them 
not  exclusively  unto  other  concernments  of  the  Lord  Christ.  Whole 
Christ,  and  all  of  him,  is  by  us  diligently  to  be  considered,  that  we 
may  attain,  and  we  shall  attain,  the  ends  laid  down  in  the  precedent 
observation:  for, — 

1.  Our  faith  and  our  obedience  are  our  walking  with  God,  Gen. 


VEIL  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  523 

xvii.  1,  or  our  walking  in  the  truth,  2  John  4;  8  John  4 :  and  that 
which  is  principally  incumbent  on  them  that  would  walk  ariyht,  is 
to  have  a  due  regard  unto  their  way.  This  way  is  Christ,  John 
xiv.  6.  "  I  am  the  way/'  saith  he ;  "  no  man  cometh  unto  the 
Father  but  by  me:"  such  a  way  as  wayfaring  men  shall  not  err  in, 
Isa.  XXXV.  8 ;  such  a  "living  way"  as  is  also  a  guide.  In  attendance, 
therefore,  unto  him,  we  shall  neither  err  nor  miscarry.  And  as  all 
mistakes  in  faith  arise  from  a  want  of  a  due  respect  unto  him  as 
the  real  way  of  going  unto  God,  so  all  aberrations  in  doctrine  or 
worship  spring  out  of  a  neglect  of  a  due  consideration  of  his  person 
and  offices,  wherein  all  truths  do  centre,  and  whereby  they  are  made 
effectual  and  powerful. 

2.  They  that  consider  him  in  the  way  and  manner  explicated, 
cannot  but  take  him  for  their  only  guide  in  the  things  of  God.  See 
John  i.  14,  with  chap.  vi.  68,  69.  To  whom  else  should  they  go  or 
betake  themselves?  This  is  foretold  concerning  him.,  Isa.  xlii.  4. 
And  for  this  duty  we  have  the  command  of  God,  Matt.  xvii.  5, 
"  Hear  him."  This  they  will  do  who  consider  him.  And  to  them 
who  do  so,  he  is  given  to  be  a  guide  and  a  leader,  Isa.  Iv.  4;  and  a 
light,  chap.  li.  4;  and  a  shepherd,  to  direct  them  in  the  fresh  pas- 
tures of  the  gospel  with  care  and  tenderness,  chap,  xl,  11.  And  no 
soul  shall  miscarry  under  his  conduct,  or  wander  into  danger  under 
his  care.  But  here  lies  the  root  of  men's  failings  in  this  matter, 
— they  seek  for  truth  of  themselves  and  of  other  men,  but  not  of 
Christ.  What  they  can  find  out  by  their  own  endeavours,  what 
other  men  instruct  them  in  or  impose  upon  them,  that  they  receive. 
Few  have  that  faith,  love,  and  humility,  and  are  given  up  unto 
that  diligent  contemplation  of  the  Lord  Christ  and  his  excellencies, 
which  are  required  in  those  who  really  wait  for  his  law  so  as  to 
learn  the  truth  from  him. 

If  it  be  yet  inquired  whether  those  who  duly  consider  Jesus 
Christ  may  not  yet  mistake  the  truth  and  fall  into  errors  ?  I  answer, 
they  may;  but, — 

(1.)  Not  into  any  that  are  pernicious.  He  will  assuredly  pre- 
serve such  persons  from  destructive  errors.  As  he  hath  not  prayed 
that  they  may  be  taken  out  of  the  world,  but  preserved  in  it,  so 
he  doth  not  take  them  out  of  all  possibility  of  errors  or  mistakes, 
but  from  such  only  as  may  prejudice  the  eternal  condition  of  their 
souls. 

(2.)  They  shall  not  act  their  mistakes  and  errors  with  a  spirit 
of  envy,  malice,  and  disquietment  against  the  truth ;  for  none  that 
duly  considereth  Jesus  Christ  can  be  captivated  under  the  power 
of  such  a  frame  of  spirit,  seeing  there  is  nothing  more  unlike  unto 
him. 

(3.)  Even  their  mistakes  are  from  failures  in  their  consideration 


624  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IIL 

of  the  Lord  Christ,  either  in  the  matter  or  manner  of  it.  Either 
they  search  not  after  him  with  that  spiritual  dihgence  which  they 
ought,  or  they  meditate  not  on  the  discoveries  that  are  made  of 
him  in  the  word,  or  they  labour  not  after  assimilation  and  conform- 
ity unto  him ;  and  upon  these  neglects  it  is  no  wonder  if  errors  and 
mistakes  do  arise. 

3.  Because  "  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge  are  hid 
in  Christ,'  Col.  ii.  3;  and  therefore  from  him  alone  are  they  to  be 
received,  and  in  him  alone  to  be  learned.  Now,  wisdom  and  know- 
ledge have  both  of  them  respect  unto  truth.  Where  they  are  ob- 
tained, there  truth  itself  doth  dwell.  In  the  due  consideration  of 
the  Lord  Christ  are  these  treasures  opened  unto  us.  And  although 
we  may  not  at  once  clearly  and  fully  discern  them,  yet  we  are  in 
the  proper  way  to  know  them  and  possess  them.  There  is  not  the 
least  line  of  truth,  how  far  soever  it  may  be  extended,  and  how 
small  soever  it  may  at  length  appear,  but  the  springs  of  it  lie  in  the 
person  of  Christ.  And  then  we  learn  it  aright,  when  we  learn  it  in 
the  spring,  or  as  it  is  in  him,  Eph.  iv.  21;  which  when  we  have 
done,  we  may  safely  trace  it  down,  and  follow  it  unto  its  utmost 
extent.  But  he  that  looks  on  gospel  truths  as  sporades,  as  scattered 
up  and  down  independently  one  of  another, — who  sees  not  the  root, 
centre,  and  knot  of  them  in  Jesus  Christ, — it  is  most  probable  that 
when  he  goes  about  to  gather  them  for  his  use,  he  will  also  take  up 
things  quite  of  another  nature.  They  say  that  all  moral  virtues  are 
knit  up  in  one,  that  is,  righteousness ;  so  that  he  who  hath  that  hath 
all  the  rest,  at  least  radically  and  virtually.  This  I  know,  that  all 
spiritual  truths  are  knit  up  and  centred  in  him  who  is  "the  truth;" 
and  they  who  have  "learned  him,"  as  the  apostle  speaks,  Eph.  iv.  20, 
have  with  him  received  the  seeds  of  all  truth:  which  being  watered 
and  attended  as  they  ought,  will  in  due  time  flourish  into  all  their 
proper  branches  and  fruits;  for  all  things  are  gathered  into  one  head 
in  him,  Eph.  i.  10. 

4.  The  right  performance  of  this  duty  enlivens,  excites,  and  acts 
all  those  graces  and  gracious  affections,  which  are  effectual  to  pre- 
serve us  in  the  truth,  and  to  keep  us  from  decays  in  our  profession. 
The  Lord  Christ  being  the  proper  object  of  them,  and  this  considera- 
tion consisting  in  the  application  of  the  faculties  of  our  souls  unto 
that  object,  by  a  due  exercise  of  those  graces,  they  must  needs  be 
increased  and  augmented  thereby;  as  all  grace  grows  and  thrives 
in  and  by  its  exercise,  and  ordinarily  not  otherwise.  And  when  any 
grace  is  so  applied  unto  Christ  as  spiritually  to  touch  him,  virtue 
goes  forth  from  him  for  its  strengthening.  The  neglect  then  also 
hereof  must  of  necessity  produce  the  contrary  effect,  John  xv.  5,  6. 

Thus  in  particular  is  faith  increased;  for  according  as  the  object 
of  it  is  cleared,  manifested,  represented  suitable  and  desirable  unto 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  525 

the  soul,  so  is  faith  itself  excited,  stirred  up,  and  strengthened. 
Now,  this  is  no  otherwise  done  but  when  the  soul  is  enabled  gra- 
ciously to  ponder  ou  the  person  and  offices  of  Christ.  There  it  finds 
all  that  is  needful  unto  it  to  make  it  happy  and  blessed, — to  procure 
pardon,  peace,  righteousness,  and  glory  for  it.  This  faith  receives, 
and  is  improved  by  it.  So  the  apostle  informs  us,  2  Cor.  iii.  18.  Hav- 
ing boldness  and  liberty  given  us  in  the  gospel  to  consider  and 
behold  by  faith  the  glory  of  Christ,  we  are  thereby  transformed  into 
his  likeness  and  image, — namely,  by  an  increase  of  faith,  whereby  we 
"  grow  up  into  him  who  is  the  head."  And  this  brings  along  with  it 
an  increase  in  all  other  graces,  whereby  we  are  preserved  in  the 
profession  and  jDractice  of  the  truth. 

By  this  means,  also,  a  fountain  of  godly  sorrow  is  opened  in  the 
hearts  of  believers;  which  is  a  precious  grace,  Zech.  xii.  10.  Tlie 
consideration  of  the  Lord  Christ  as  pierced  for  us,  or  by  us,  will 
melt  and  humble  the  soul,  or  it  will  never  yield  unto  any  ordinance 
of  God. 

The  spouse,  in  like  manner,  in  the  Canticles,  giving  an  account 
of  her  great  and  incomparable  love  unto  her  beloved,  manifests  that 
it  aruse  from  the  exact  consideration  that  she  had  taken  of  his  per- 
son and  all  that  belonged  thereunto,  chap,  v,  9-16.  The  like  may 
be  said  of  all  other  graces;  and  by  these  must  we  be  preserved,  or 
utterly  fail.     As  to  the  use  of  these  things, — 

(1.)  We  may  see  hence  the  reason  why  so  many  turn  aside, 
and  fall  off  from  the  truth  and  ways  of  the  gospel.  They  have 
given  over  a  due  consideration  of  Jesus  Christ,  his  person,  offices, 
and  mediation,  and  so  have  lost  the  means  of  their  preservation. 
They  have  been  weary  of  him,  not  seeing  form  or  comeliness  in 
him  for  which  he  should  be  desired.  What  a  sad  instance  have  we 
hereof  in  those  poor  deluded  creatures,  who,  neglecting  him,  pretend 
to  find  all  light  and  life  within  themselves  !  This  is  their  Beth-el, 
the  beginning  of  their  transgression;  for  when  men  have  neglected 
the  person  of  Christ,  is  it  any  wonder  if  they  despise  his  ways  and 
oidinances,  as  is  their  manner?  Indeed,  the  ordinances  of  the 
gosj)el,  its  worship  and  institutions,  have  no  excellency,  no  beauty 
in  them,  but  what  ariseth  from  their  relation  unto  the  person  and 
offices  of  Christ;  and  if  they  are  neglected,  these  must  needs  be 
burdensome  and  grievous.  And  as  it  is  in  vain  to  draw  men  unto 
the  embracement  of  them  who  know  him  not,  who  are  not  acquaint- 
ed with  him,  seeing  they  appear  unto  them  the  most  grievous  and 
intolerable  of  all  things  that  can  be  imposed  on  them;  so  they  who 
on  any  account  cease  to  consider  him  by  faith,  as  he  is  proposed 
unto  them  in  the  gospel,  cannot  long  abide  in  their  observation. 
Ciive  such  men  the  advantages  of  liberty,  and  keeping  up  a  reputa- 
tion of  profession  without  them, — which  they  suppose  a  new  and  sin- 


526  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  ,  [CHAP.  IIL 

gnlar  opinion  will  furnish  them  withal, — and  they  will  quickly  cast 
them  otf  as  a  burden  not  to  be  borne.  And  as  it  is  with  gospel 
worship,  so  it  is  with  all  the  articles  of  faith,  or  important  truths 
that  we  are  to  believe.  The  centre  and  knot  of  them  all  is  in  the 
person  of  Christ.  If  they  are  once  loosed  from  thence,  if  their  union 
in  him  be  dissolved,  if  men  no  more  endeavour  to  learn  "  the  truth 
as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  or  to  acquaint  themselves  with  the  will  of  God,  as 
he  hath  "  gathered  all  things  unto  a  head  in  him,"  they  scatter,  as  it 
were,  of  their  own  accord  from  their  minds;  so  that  it  may  be  they 
retain  no  one  of  them,  or  if  they  do  so,  yet  not  in  a  right  manner, 
so  as  to  have  an  experience  of  the  power  of  them  in  obedience. 
This  is  the  cause  of  the  apostasies  amongst  us;  Christ  is  neglected, — 
not  considered,  not  improved.  A  lirjht  within,  or  a.  formal  worship 
luithout,  is  enthroned  in  his  stead;  and  thence  all  sorts  of  errors  and 
evils  do  of  their  own  accord  ensue.  Deal  with  any  whom  you  see 
to  nef^lect  his  ways  and  truths,  and  you  will  find  this  to  be  the  state 
of  things  with  them: — they  have  left  off  to  value  and  esteem  the 
person  of  Christ ;  or  they  had  never  any  acquaintance  with  him. 
And  in  vain  is  it  to  dispute  with  men  about  the  streams  whilst  they 
despise  the  fountain.  The  apostle  gives  us  a  threefold  miscarriage 
in  religion,  Col.  ii.  18: — [1.]  A  pretence  of  a  voluntary,  uncom- 
manded  humility,  a  pretended  mortification,  indeed  a  bare  covering 
of  base  and  filthy  pride;  [2.]  A  luorshipping  of  angels,  an  instance 
to  express  all  false,  self-invented  worship;  and,  [3.]  Curiosity  in 
vain  speculations,  or  men's  intruding  themselves  into  the  things 
which  they  have  not  seen,  setting  out  things  with  swelling  words  of 
vanity,  wherewith  in  truth  they  have  no  acquaintance,  whereof  they 
have  no  experience.  And  all  these,  saith  he,  verse  19,  proceed  from 
hence,  that  they  "hold  not  the  Head;"  they  have  let  go  the  Lord 
Clirist,  from  whom  all  truths  are  to  be  derived,  and  consequently  all 
truth  itself.     Here  lies  the  spring  of  our  frequent  apostasies. 

(2.)  Again,  we  may  hereby  examine  and  try  ourselves.  Do  we  at  any 
time  find  any  of  the  ways,  institutions,  or  ordinances  of  Christ  grievous 
or  burdensome  unto  us?  do  we  find  a  secret  dislike  of  them,  or  not 
that  delight  in  them  which  we  have  formerly  enjoyed?  If  we  search 
into  the  root  of  our  distempers,  we  shall  find  that  our  hearts  and  spirits 
have  not  been  exercised  with  that  consideration  of  the  person  and 
offices  of  Christ  which  our  duty  calls  for.  We  have  not  been  kept 
in  a  constant  adoration  of  his  majesty,  admiration  of  his  excellency, 
delight  in  his  beauty,  joy  in  his  undertaking,  holy  thoughtfulness  of 
his  whole  mediation.  This  hath  betrayed  us  into  our  lukewarmness 
and  indifferency,  and  made  us  faint  and  weary  in  his  ways.  Hence 
also  all  endeavours  for  a  recovery  from  such  a  frame,  that  regard 
only  the  particular  instances  that  we  are  sensible  of,  are  languid  and 
successless.     He  that  finds  himself  faint  in  or  weary  of  any  of  the 


VER.  1,  2.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWa  627 

ways  of  Christ  or  any  duties  of  obedience  unto  him,  or  that  discovers 
an  undervaluation  of  any  of  the  truths  of  the  gospel,  as  to  their  use 
or  importance,  and  thinks  to  recover  himself  and  retrieve  his  spirit 
only  by  applying  himself  unto  that  particular  wherein  he  is  sensible 
of  his  failure,  will  labour  in  the  fire  and  to  no  purpose.  It  may  be 
that  after  some  days,  or  months,  or  years,  he  will  find  himself  more 
at  a  loss  than  ever ;  and  that  because  although  he  striveth,  yet  he 
striveth  not  Icmfidly.  If  we  would  recover  ourselves,  we  must  go 
to  the  source  and  beginning  of  our  decays. 

(3.)  This  tends  directly  unto  our  instruction  in  these  perilous 
days,  such  as  the  latter  days  are  foretold  to  be.  All  means  that 
ever  the  devil  made  use  of  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  to  draw 
off  or  deter  men  from  gospel  obedience,  are  at  this  day  displayed. 
The  world  smiles  upon  apostates,  and  promiseth  them  a  plentiful 
supply  of  such  things  as  the  corrupt  nature  of  man  esteems  desirable. 
Errors  and  false  worship,  with  temptations  from  them,  spread  them- 
selves with  wings  of  glorious  pretences  over  the  face  of  the  whole 
earth.  Trials,  troubles,  storms,  persecutions,  attend  and  threaten 
on  every  hand  ;  and  "  he  only  that  endureth  unto  the  end  shall  be 
saved."  He  that,  like  Jonah,  is  asleep  in  this  tempest,  is  at  the  door 
of  ruin ;  he  that  is  secure  in  himself  from  danger,  is  in  the  greatest 
danger  of  falling  by  security.  What,  then,  shall  we  do?  what  means 
shall  we  use  for  our  preservation?  Take  the  counsel  of  our  blessed 
apostle,  "Holy  brethren,  partakers  of  the  heavenly  calling,  consider 
the  apostle  and  high  priest  of  our  profession;"  and  again,  chap.  xii. 
3,  "Consider  him  who  endured  such  contradiction  of  sinners  against 
himself,  lest  ye  be  wearied  and  faint  in  your  minds."  Be  much  in 
the  consideration  of  the  person,  offices,  and  work  of  Christ.  This 
will  conform  you  unto  him,  derive  strength  from  him,  arm  you  with 
the  same  mind  that  was  in  him,  increase  all  your  graces,  keep  you 
from  being  wear}'-,  and  give  you  assured  victory.  He  deserves  it, 
you  need  it;  let  it  not  be  omitted. 

5.  This  will  give  direction  unto  them  who  are  called  unto  the 
work  of  teaching  others.  The  person  and  offices  of  Christ  are  the 
things  which  principally  they  are  to  insist  upon;  for  that  which  is 
the  chief  est  object  of  the  church's  faith  ought  to  be  the  chiefest 
subject  of  our  preaching.  So  Paul  tells  the  Galatians,  that  in  his 
preaching  Christ  was  evidently  crucified  before  their  eyes.  Gal.  iii.  1. 
He  proposed  Christ  crucified  unto  their  consideration,  "determining," 
as  he  speaks  in  another  place,  "to  know  nothing  amongst  them  but 
Jesus  Christ,  and  him  crucified."  For  if  the  consideration  of  Christ 
be  such  an  important  duty  in  believers,  certainly  the  due  proposal 
of  him  unto  their  consideration"  is  no  less  in  preachers.  Christ  alone 
is  to  be  preached  absolutely,  and  all  other  truths  as  they  begin,  end, 
and  centre  in  him.  To  propose  the  Lord  Christ  as  amiable,  desirable, 
VOL.  xu. — 34 


628  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IIL 

useful,  and  every  way  worthy  of  acceptation,  is  the  great  duty  of 
the  dispensers  of  the  gospel, 

I  have  insisted  the  longer  on  this  observation,  because  it  com- 
priseth  the  main  design  of  the  apostle's  words,  and  is  also  of  singular 
use  to  all  that  profess  the  gospel.  Those  which  remain  shall  be 
only  named. 

XII.  The  union  of  believers  lies  in  their  joint  profession  of  faith 
in  the  person  and  offices  of  Christ,  upon  a  participation  in  the  same 
heavenly  calling.  So  it  is  described  by  the  apostle ;  and  the  addition 
of  otlier  things,  as  necessary  thereunto,  is  vain. 

XIII.  The  ordering  of  all  things  in  the  church  depends  on  the 
sovereign  appointment  of  the  Father.  He  appointed  the  Lord 
Christ  unto  his  power  and  his  office  in  the  church. 

XIV.  The  faithfulness  of  the  Lord  Christ  in  the  discharge  of  the 
trust  committed  unto  him,  is  the  great  ground  of  faith  and  assurance 
unto  believers  in  the  worship  of  the  gospel.  To  that  end  is  it  men- 
tioned by  the  apostle. 

XV.  All  things  concerning  the  worship  of  God,  in  the  whole 
church  or  house  now  under  the  gospel,  are  no  less  perfectly  and 
completely  ordered  and  ordained  by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  than  they 
were  by  Moses  under  the  law.  The  comparison  is  to  be  taken  not 
only  subjectively  but  objectively  also,  or  it  will  not  suit  the  apostle's 
purpose.  As  the  faithfulness  of  Moses  extended  itself  unto  the 
wiiole  worship  of  God  and  all  things  concerning  it  under  the  old 
testament,  so  that  of  Christ  must  be  extended  to  the  whole  worsliip 
of  God  and  all  the  concernments  of  it  under  the  new  testament. 
It  is  true,  the  faithfulness  of  Christ  intensively  would  bene  less  than 
that  of  Moses,  if  he  revealed  all  that  was  committed  unto  him  of  his 
Father  unto  that  purpose,  for  Moses  did  no  more :  but  herein  would 
Moses  be  preferred  before  him,  if  all  things  any  way  needful  or  use- 
ful to  or  in  the  worship  of  God,  in  matter  and  manner,  were  com- 
mitted unto  him,  so  that  nothing  might  be  added  thereunto,  and  not 
so  unto  Jesus  Christ;  which  surely  neither  the  design  of  the  apostle 
in  this  place  nor  the  analogy  of  faith  will  allow. 

Verses  8-6. 

The  apostle  having  made  his  entrance  into  the  comparison 
designed  by  him  between  Christ  and  Moses,  and  showed  in  general 
wherein  they  were  alike,  and  as  to  his  purpose  equal  (which  that 
those  who  are  compared  together  should  be  in  some  things  is  neces- 
sary), he  proceeds  to  evince  the  prelation  of  Christ  and  his  exaltation 
above  him  in  sundry  signal  instances,  the  matter  principally  aimed 
at: — 

Ver.  3—6. — nXslovog  yap  B6t,rjg  oZrog  Ta^a  Muvsrjv  rj^iurai,  xad^  ('Gov 
'zXiiova    riijjr\v  'iVii  tov  or/.ou   6  xaraff/tEJcctrcc;  a^rov    -ag  yaf>  olxog    xoltuo- 


VER.  3-6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWa  529 

XivaZiTo.!  i/cro  rivog,  6  di  ra  Tc/.ura  xaraffx.iua.ffa.g,  Qsog.  Kal  'Moouarj^ 
(iiv  'ziarlg  sv  oXw  rw  o'iku)  avrou,  u:  '^ipuTuv,  tig  /Maprvpiov  rcov  XaXridrj- 
Co/Msvuv,  Xpisrog  d's  ug  [jihg  st/  tov  oi-kov  ahrou'  ov  oixog  ig/MSv  rifj^iTg^  idv~ip  tyjv 
rrappriciav,  xai  rh  %al)yr\ii,a  T7Jg  iXrvihog  fJ'i'/jpi  riKwg  ^sQaiav  xaTcls^^^u/xev. 

H'hilovoi.  Viilg.  Lat,,  "Amplioris  enim  glorise  iste  prse  Moyse  dignu-;  est 
habiius."  Retaining  the  case  of  the  Greek  substantive,  the  Latin  is  corrupt,  as 
Vailii,  Erasmus,  and  Vatahlus  observe.  But  the  sense  is  not  obscured.  The 
Syriac  renders  not  ri^iura,!  at  all,  but  reads  the  words  "For  the  glory"  (or 
"honour")  "of  this  man  is  more"  (or  "  greater")  "than  that  of  Moses." 

Erasmus  and  Beza  supply  '•tanto"  at  the  beginning  of  the  verse,  to  answer 
Kccff  oVoy,  which  thc-y  translate  "quanto,"  in  the  next  words;  or  they  take  that 
expression  to  answer  "tant","  "quanto."  Ours,  "in  quantum,"  "inasmuch," 
properly. 

Oy-of,  "iste,"  "this  man."  A  demonstrative  pronoun,  u=ed  sometimes  in  a 
way  of  contempt,  as  John  ix.  29,  Tovrou  ovk  o'iooifisv  Tvo'hv  eaTtv,  whc^re  we  render 
it  "This  fellow,"  as  being  spoken  with  contempt;  but  more  frequently  in  a  way 
of  ex  ellency,  as,  Ovroj  s(jtIv  6  An^uoT^ivn;,  — "  This  is  that  Demosthenes  "  So 
Lucian,  Asi%ei  ae  ra  oax.rv'ho),  ovro:  iKeho;  'heyuv — "  He  shall  point  at  thee,  saying, 
This  is  that  excellent  person."     Which  the  poet  expresseth, — 

"  At  pulchrum  est  digito  monstrari  et  dicier,  Hie  est." — Pers.  Sat.  i.  28. 
JMostly  it  is  simply  demonstrative  and  distinctive,  as  in  this  place:  "  This  man  of 
whoai  we  speak,"  or  "person." 

The  words  of  compjirison  are  doubled:  TLT^n'os/o;  Trctpdi  Mwi/o-iji/,  for  vi  ^luvavic:,  or 
rtiv  ^luvai:ug;ov  absolutely,  Ao'|-/9f  -Tretpoi  Mavaijv.  But  thf'  conjunction  of  Trapci 
with  an  adjective  comparative,  as  it  is  not  unuual,  so  it  is  emphatical,  and  denotes 
the  greatness  of  the  prelation  of  Christ  above  Moses. 

'H|/(yT«/,  "  dignus  habitus  est," — "is"  (or  "  was")  "counted  worthy."  But 
the  word  signifies  not  only  a  bare  being  accounted  worthy,  but  so  as  also  to  be 
possessed  of  that  whereof  one  is  so  e.^teemed  worthy.  '  AS,iudii;  "hupuu  is  not  only 
"  worthy  of  gifts,"  or  "  rewards,"  but  he  that  is  "  muneritms  donatus  quibus 
dignus  censetur ;"  that  is,  possessed  of  the  rewards  whereof  he  is  worthy.  So  that 
d^tu6i\g  ript.yii  and  Bc-'|nc,  is  he  that  hath  that  honour  and  glory  whereof  he  is 
esteemed  worthy.  And  therefore  the  Syriac  leaves  this  out,  namely,  "esteem"  or 
"accounting,"  and  expresseth  that  which  is  principally  intended:  "His  glory  was 
greater  than  that  of  Moses." 

Tl'Kiiovci  TifiYtv  'i)csi  roi  oi'icov.  Vulg.  Lat.,  "  Quanto  ampliorem  honorem  habet 
domus,  qui  fabricavit  illam."  Rendering  the  Greek  construction  by  the  same 
case,  oix,ou  by  domus,  not  only  is  the  speech  barbarous,  but  the  sense  is  also  per- 
verted; yet  the  Rhemists  retain  this  ambiguity,  "By  so  much  as  more  ample 
glorv  than  the  house  hath  he  that  framed  it."  But  'ir'Kiioiiix.rii^viu  e^^si  toIi  oi'kov,  is 
'"majorem,"  or  "ampliorem  habet  honorem  quum  ipsa  domus;" — "hath  more  hon- 
our than  the  house,"  or  "  the  bouse  itself." 

Ao|>7  and  ripc'y},  "  glory  and  honour,"  are  used  by  the  apostle  as  iaoovva^uoiiyroe; 
words  of  the  same  im|iortance  and  signification;  and  so  are  they  frequently  used 
el.-e where  in  the  Scripture. 

Toy  otnov,  "  the  house."  Many  of  the  old  translators  render  it  '•  the  temple," 
because  the  temple  of  old  was  frequently  called  ^'tV,  "the  hou-e."  But  the  allu- 
sion of  tiie  apostle  is  general  unto  any  house,  and  the  building  of  it. 

And  Moses  was  faithful  ug  ^ipdciruv,  "  tanquam  famulus:"  Syr.,  **"??,  "servus," 
"a  servant."  Qsp»7rav  is  properly  and  most  usually  one  that  doth  "inservire 
sacris,"  that  attends  upon  and  ministers  about  holy  things,  'hsizovpyo;.  So 
amongst  the  heaihtn,  BipxT^-eviiuToii;  Beov?,  and  ^  'Tripl  tov;  ^iovg  Bepct7;-eict, — "tho 
sacred  service  of  the  gods."     So  Pollux  Onomast.  lib.  i.,'0u6/:<,xTci  rov;  iiove 


530  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

^ioxvivovruV  rZv  BeZu  ^ipctTrevTKi  hpslc,  viux,6poi,  the  same  with  priests,  sacred 
officers.  The  word  is  used  in  the  New  Testament  only  in  this  place;  Bipavelx 
and  hipctTTiW)  often,  hut  always  for  healing  or  curing  the  sick  and  infirm ;  which 
is  another  sense  of  the  word  And  in  this  sense  it  is  derived  fi'om  the  Hebrew 
''2"',  "to  heal;"  whence  is  °''^?"1  rendered  sometimes  "physicians,"  sometimes 
"dead  men."  Qipaviviii/,  when  it  is  used  elsewhere  for  '•  to  serve,"  is  applied  unto 
the  service  of  a  freeman,  and  is  more  honourable  than  lovhiviiv,  although  that 
also  is  translated  into  an  honourable  use  in  the  gospel,  from  the  object  and  lord 
or  author  of  it:  AouXo;  'InaoD  XpiaTOii,  cc(papi<jf^evog  d;  svuyyi'Kiov,  Rom.  i.  1; — 
"A  servant  of  Jesus  Chri-t,  sep.rated  to  the  service  of  the  gospel." 

'O  jcoiTc(.(7Kiva.(Tcts,  "qui  prceparat,"  "  prepareth,"  "  frameth  it;"  and,  as  re- 
specting rov  o'i'kou,  a  house,  "  built  it." 

"If  we  hold  fast  T'iiv  TrappYKjiuv."  Vulg.  Lat.,  "  fiduciam,"  "trust"  or  "con- 
fidence." Syr.,  ''s?  '^■'"'H,  "  the  revelation,"  or  "  opening  of  the  face;"  alluding 
to  that  of  the  apostle,  2  Cor.  iii.  18, '  AvansKxT^v/^/^iuu  vpoauva,  '•  With  open  face 
behold  the  glory  of  God:"  an  Hebraism  for  confidence.  Beza,  "loquendi  liber- 
tatem,"  "fi-eedom"  (or  "boldness")  "of  speaking  unto  God."  So  TetppYKrix^o- 
fiui  is  most  frequently  used  to  speak  openly  or  boldly.  And  as  ■Trotppmatoe,  is 
joined  here  with  x.ctvx,yi,u-ei;  "  glorying,"  or  "  boasting,"  it  may  have  that  sense. 
And  the  rise  of  the  word  refers  to  speaking.  It  is  from  piiaig,  "  dictio,""a  saying," 
or  "  speaking,"  from  li'pa,  "  dice;"  and  is  as  mucli  as  'Truupyiai'x,  the  speaking  of  all 
that  is  or  ought  to  be  spoken  ;  "  fandi  libertas,"  "a  liberty  of  speaking,"  and  "bold- 
ness in  speaking,"  notwithstanding  opposition  and  danger.    So  he  in  the  poet: — 

"Dicam  equidem,  licet  ille  milii  mortemque  minetur;" 
"  Ue  would  speak  truth,  though  it  cost  him  his  life." 

And  so  ■xctppncrietv  'hi^6u»i  is  to  give  liberty  of  speech.  Boldness  and  confidence 
absolutely  is  Ssoippog.  Ours  leave  Beza  (which  they  do  seldom),  and  render  this 
word  "confidence."  It  is  used  frequently  in  the  New  Testament;  sometimes  ad- 
verbially, for  "  boldly,"  "  openly,"  •'  plainly,"  especially  by  John  in  the  Gospel ; 
sometimes  substantively,  for  "  boldness,"  or  "  confidence ;"  but  constantly  in  an 
indifferent  sense.  Nowhere  doth  it  denote  any  Christian  grace,  but  only  in  this 
epistle  of  Paul  and  the  first  epistle  of  John. 

Kul  TO  Kuv^Yipiu  TJjf  tXTTtlo;.  Vulg.  Lat.,  "et  gloriam  spei,"  "the  glory  of 
hope."  So  the  Rhemi.sts.  "Gloriationem  spei,"  "the glorying"  (or  "boasting") 
"of  hope,"  Arias,  Erasm.jVatab.  Ours,"  the  rejoicing  of  hope,"  wanting  a  word  to 
render  "gloriatio ;"  usual,  [i.  e.,  indifferent,]  and  not  restrained  to  an  ill  sense.  And 
xavx,yifiec  is  sometimes  used  for  dyot.T^'hictpt.oe:  Beza,  "  Spem  illam  de  qua  glori- 
amur,"  "  that  hope  whereof  we  buast."  This  word  is  peculiar  to  Paul,  and  not 
used  in  the  New  Testament  but  by  him,  and  by  him  frequently;  as  are  also 
x.KVX'i'Of^cti  and  x,»v)^yiat:.  And  it  is  a  word,  as  ti^at  foregoi"g,  sk  tZv  yAauv,  of  an 
indifferent  sense  and  acceptation,  which  may  be  jipplied  either  unto  good  or  evil. 
Some  Ktiiv^cW^'  Of  "  boasting,"  is  not  good,  James  iv,  16:  and  there  is  a  x.ci.vxyi{^a, 
which  here  and  elsewhere  our  apostle  commends,  a  rejoicmg,  or  exultation  in  that 
which  is  good. 

Tvii  IXtt/ooj.  Syr.,  ^I;a5'l,  "of  his  hope;"  that  is,  the  hope  we  have  in  him. 
Ethiop.,  "  If  we  hold  fast  our  grace,  and  our  rejoicing,  and  our  hope." 

BsSot/av  x.a,Ta,a%uyiv,  "  firmam  retinuerimus."  BeQxicci'  is  properly  referred 
to  Trapprntct",  not  agreeing  with  x.a.i/x,rijiix  in  gender,  nor  with  iX-Trihog  in  case; 
which  latter  it  may  have  yet  respect  unto,  supposing  a  trajection  in  the  words. 
Our  translators  have  fitly  rendered  these  words  by  "  holding  fost  our  hope  firm;" 
for  "  firm"  regards  the  thing  held,  and  not  our  manner  of  holding.  Beza  supposeth 
it  ought  to  be  fiiQaiov,  but  unnecessarily  (as  such  conjectures  were  the  only  fault 
of  that  great  interpreter),  for  it  refers  principally  to  ■^eee.ppnaiot.v.  The  Syriac  ex- 
presseth  it  not. 

T'he  rest  of  the  words  are  plain  and  obvious.    Only  the  Vulgar  Latin  stumbles  oft 


VER.  3-6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  531 

in  this  verse.  It  renders  ov  o7k6?  iaftiv,  "quae  domus  sumus  nos,"  as  the  Rhemists; 
*' wliich  house  we  are,"  for  "whose  house  are  we."  The  transhitor  seems  to  have 
read  o;,  not  ov:  and  so  Beza  affirms  that  he  found  it  in  one  Greek  copy. 

And  aufain,  " Christ  as  a  son  in  domo  sua,"  "in  his  house;"  that  is  eu  oha 
etiiroii,  for  ettj  rov  oTkov,  "  over  his  own  house."  The  Rhemists  retain  "  in  his 
h'luse,"  corrupting  the  sense. 

AvroZ,  not  xiiTov,  '•  his  own  house,''  not  "his  house;"  or,  if  the  relative  be  re- 
tained, it  refers  unto  Christ, — "  I  will,"  saith  he,  "  build  my  church," — and  not 
to  God  the  Father.' 

Ver,  3-6. — For  this  [m«;i]  was  counted  worthy  of  more 
glory  \ivas  more  honourable^  than  Moses;  inasmuch  as 
he  who  hath  builded  the  house  [_an  house\  hath  more 
honour  than  the  house.  For  every  house  is  builded 
by  some  man ;  but  he  that  built  all  things  is  God. 
And  Moses  verily  [was\  faithful  in  all  his  house  as  a 
servant,  for  a  testimony  of  those  things  which  were 
[after^  to  be  spoken.  But  Christ  \icas  faithful]  as  a 
son  over  his  own  house;  whose  house  are  we,  if  we  hold 
fast  the  confidence  and  the  rejoicing  of  [or  glorying  in] 
the  hope  firm  unto  the  end. 

The  apostle  proceeds  in  these  words  with  his  design  of  evidencing 
the  excellency  and  prelation  of  Christ  above  Moses,  as  he  had  done 
before  in  reference  unto  angels  and  all  other  revealers  of  the  will  of 
God  unto  the  church,  reserving  an  especial  consideration  for  him  who 
was  of  especial  esteem  with  the  Hebrews.  Herewithal  he  expresseth 
the  reason  of  his  desire  that  they  would  seriously  "  consider"  him, 
namely,  in  his  person  and  offices. 

Two  things  in  general  are  to  be  borne  in  mind  for  the  right  under- 
standing of  these  words,  and  the  meaning  of  the  apostle  in  them: — 

First,  That  he  is  now  dealing  with  the  Hebrews  in  the  last  and 
greatest  instance  of  the  excellency  of  the  gospel,  taken  from  the  con- 
sideration of  his  person  by  whom  it  was  revealed;  for  here  he  pre- 
fers him  above  Moses,  whose  dignity  was  the  last  plea  and  pretence 
of  the  Hebrews  for  retaining  their  old  church-state  and  customs. 
But  no  plea  or  pretence  will  prescribe  unto  the  authority  and  honour 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

Secondly,  That  the  subject  he  here  treats  of  is  not  his  utmost  in- 
tention ;  but  he  useth  it  as  an  argument  or  medium  to  prevail  with 

1  Readings. — Lachmann  and  Tischendorf  read  Idv  instead  of  cKwip.  The 
latter  also  omits  entirely  fii)cpi  -ziMvi,  and  instead  of  oIkov  etvTov  he  gives  oixo* 
ctvroZ.  The  English  translation  of  the  words,  •'  his  own  house,"  is  foun<]ed  on 
the  former  reading;  which  is  corroborated  by  the  Vulgate,  "in  domo  sua." 

Exposition. — Ebrar<i  finds  a  threefold  difference  between  Christ  and  Moses;— 
the  toruier  filling  the  place  of  the  x.ctru.(!x.ivci,act;,  the  latter  that  of  a  part  of  the 
familia;  the  former  being  Lord  of  the  hviiig  house,  the  latter  serving  in  a  house 
which  w;is  for  a  testimony  of  a  future  revelation;  the  former  bting  the  Son,  the 
latter  a  servant. — Ed. 


532  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

tbem  unto  constancy  and  perseverance,  as  the  verses  immediately 
ensuing  do  manifest. 

The  connection  of  the  discourse  is  denoted  in  the  first  word, 
"  for,"  a  causal  conjunction,  which  sometimes  renders 
^''^'  a  reason  of  what  hath  been  before  spoken;  sometimes 
directs  unto  an  inference  of  what  is  afterwards  to  be  introduced,  as 
we  have  seen,  chap.  ii.  10,  11.  In  this  place  it  is  evident  that  the 
apostle  doth  not  render  a  reason  of  what  he  had  last  affirmed, — 
namely,  that  Christ  was  faithful  in  all  the  house  of  God,  as  was 
Moses, — seemg  he  passeth  directly  unto  a  new  argument  for  his  gene- 
ral end  and  purpose,  namely,  the  dignity  of  Christ  above  Moses; 
which  he  manifests  by  sundry  instances.  Neither  doth  this  word 
respect  the  ensuing  proof  of  the  pre-eminence  of  Christ  asserted,  as 
if  he  had  said,  '  He  is  worthy  of  more  glory  than  Moses,  because  he 
that  buildeth  the  house,'  etc.  But  there  is  a  retrospect  in  it  unto  the 
first  verse,  and  a  reason  of  it  induced  why  it  was  so  necessary  for 
the  Hebrews  diligently  to  consider  "  the  apostle  of  our  profession," 
namely,  because  of  his  glory,  honour,  and  liignity,  above  that  of 
Moses.  '  Consider  him,'  saith  he,  '/o?'  he  is  worthy  of  more  glory 
than  Moses;'  which  he  demonstrates  in  these  four  verses,  and  then 
returns  again  unto  his  exhortation.  This  is  the  order  of  the  dis- 
course; and  in  it  there  is  a  proposition,  and  two  arguments  for  its 
confirmation,  which  contain  the  subject-matter  of  it. 

The  proposition  laid  down  by  the  apostle  in  these  verses  is  plain 
and  evident;  so  also  do  the  arguments  whereby  he  confirms  it  seem 
to  be.  But  the  illustration  that  he  makes  of  them,  and  the  infer- 
ences he  takes  from  them,  are  involved.  Wherefore  these  things  in 
general  we  shall  endeavour  to  give  some  light  into. 

The  proposition  is  this,  that  "Christ  was  counted  worthy  of  more 
glory  than  Moses."  The  first  proof  of  this  proposition  lies  in  these 
words  of  verse  8,  "  Inasmuch  as  he  who  hath  builded  the  house  hath 
more  honour  than  the  house;"  and'this  he  further  confirms  or  illus- 
trates, verse  4,  "  For  every  house  is  builded  of  some ;  but  he  that 
built  all  things  is  God;"  the  latter  expressly  in  verses  5,  6,  of  which 
afterwards. 

As  for  the  manner  of  arguing  here  used  by  the  apostle,  it  is 
educed  from  the  foregoing  verses.  In  the  comparison  made  between 
Christ  and  Moses,  he  allowed  Moses  to  be  faithful,  proving  it  by  the 
testimony  of  God  himself,  who  had  said  he  was  "  faithful  in  all  his 
house."  The  church  or  people  of  God  being  in  that  testimony  called 
"The  house  of  God,"  and  that  by  God  himself,  the  apostle  takes  ad- 
vantage of  the  metaphor  to  express  the  dignity  of  Christ  in  his  rela- 
tion to  the  church  under  that  expression  of  "  The  house  of  God;" 
for  not  only  the  things  themselves,  but  the  manner  of  their  expres- 
sion in  the  Scripture,  is  of  great  importance,  and  much  wisdom. 


VEK.  3-6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  5,33 

much  acquaintance  with  the  mind  of  God,  may  be  attained  by  a  due 
consideration  thereof.  And  a  double  relation  unto  this  hcuse  doth 
he  ascribe  unto  him,  which  are  the  principal  relations  that  attend 
any  house  whatever.  The  first  is  of  a  builder,  whence  he  takes  his 
first  argument,  verses  3,  4;  the  other  is  of  an  owner,  inhabiter,  and 
5)os.sessor,  whence  he  takes  his  second,  verses  5,  6.  And  these  are 
the  principal  respects  of  any  house:  without  the  first,  it  is  7iot;  and 
without  the  latter,  it  is  of  no  use. 

In  his  first  argument,  verse  3,  the  proposition  only  is  expressed, 
the  assumption  is  included,  and  the  conclusion  left  unto  an  obvious 
inference;  for  plainly  the  apostle  reasons  syilogistically  in  this  case. 

The  proposition  is  this,  "  He  that  buildeth  the  house  hath  more 
honour  than  the  house." 

The  assumption  included  is,  "  But  Christ  built  the  house,  and 
Moses  was  only  of  the  house,  or  a  part  of  it:  and  therefore  he  had 
more  glory  than  Moses." 

That  this  assumption  is  included  in  the  words  is  evident  both 
from  the  necessity  of  it,  to  infer  the  purpose  of  the  apostle,  as  also 
from  his  management  of  his  second  argument  to  the  same  end, 
verses  5,  6:  for  therein  the  proposition  is  only  supposed,  as  having 
been  before,  for  the  substance  of  it,  expressed ;  and  the  assumption 
is  plainly  laid  down,  as  containing  the  new  medium  which  he  insists 
upon. 

The  proposition  of  the  argument  in  these  verses  is,  *  A  son  over 
his  own  house  is  of  more  honour  than  a  servant  in  the  house  of  an- 
other.'    This  is  only  supposed. 

The  assumption  is  expressed,  "  But  Christ  is  a  son  over  his  own 
house;  Moses  Avas  only  a  servant  in  another's  house:"  whence  the 
conclusion  is  plain  and  evident. 

As,  then,  the  proposition  in  the  latter  argument  is  supposed,  so  is 
the  assumption  in  the  former. 

In  the  confirmation  of  the  first  argument  thefourth  verse  is  inserted, 
"  For  every  house  is  builded  of  some;  but  he  that  built  all  things 
is  God."  • 

Some  say  these  words  are  produced  in  the  confirmation  of  the 
proposition  of  the  first  argument,  "  He  that  buildeth  the  house  hath 
more  honour  than  the  house;"  and  so,  that  it  is  God  the  Father  who 
is  intended  in  them.  For  to  prove  that  he  who  buildeth  the  house  is 
more  honourable  than  the  house,  he  instanceth  in  him  who  is  the 
great  builder  or  creator  of  all  things,  even  God  himself,  who  is  infi- 
nitely more  glorious  than  all  things  built  by  him ;  which  holds  in 
proportion  to  all  other  builders  and  their  buildings.  Others  say 
that  this  is  affirmed  in  confirmation  of  the  minor  proposition,  namely, 
that  "Christ  built  the  house;"  because  it  being  a  house,  it  must  be 
built  by  some;  and  being  such  a  house  as  it  is,  it  could  be  built  by 


Hoi  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

:ione  but  him  who  is  God.  And  these  take  the  Son  to  be  expressed 
by  that  name,  "God."  And  some  there  are  who  would  not  have  any 
proof  to  be  intended  in  these  words,  but  a  mere  illustration  of  what 
was  before  spoken,  by  a  comparison  between  Christ  and  his  works 
about  his  house,  and  God  and  his  house  in  the  creation  of  all;  which 
way  the  Socinians  take.  The  true  intendment  of  the  apostle  we 
hope  to  evince  in  the  ensuing  exposition. 

"For  this  [wia?i]  was  counted  worthy  of  more  glory  [was  more 
honourable]  than  Moses."  Here  lies  the  proposition  that  is  proposed 
unto  confirmation;  wherein  two  things  occur:  1.  A  supposition, 
— "that  Moses  was  counted  worthy  of  glory;"  2.  An  assertion, — 
"that  the  Lord  Christ  was  much  more  worthy  of  glory." 

1.  The  apostle  grants  and  supposeth  that  Moses  was  a^iudiig 
^o^rii,  "counted  worthy  of  glory;"  or  "truly  glorious  and  honour- 
able." Glory  is  "excellentis  virtutis  fama  cum  laude," — s"the 
illustrious  fame  of  an  excellency  with  praise."  And  in  this  glory 
there  are  two  things; — first,  an  ea;ce^^e/iC2/ deserving  honour;  and, 
secondly,  the  fame  and  reputation  of  that  excellency.  Where  both 
these  concur,  there  is  a  person  a^iudiig  d6t.vs,  "worthy  of  glory,"  and 
really  honourable.  So  the  glory  of  God  himself  consisteth  in  his 
essential  excellencies,  and  their  manifestation. 

For  the  first,  with  respect  unto  Moses,  it  consisteth  principally  in 
two  things:  — 

First,  In  the  work  wherein  he  was  employed.  The  work  itself  was 
glorious,  and  rendered  him  so  who  was  employed  about  it.  So  our 
apostle  declares,  2  Cor.  iii.  7,  "The  ministration  of  death,  written, 
and  engraven  in  stones,  was  glorious,  so  that  the  children  of  Israel 
could  not  steadfastly  behold  the  face  of  Moses,  for  the  glory  of  his 
countenance."  It  was  glorious,  and  rendered  him  so;  and  one  part 
of  this  ministration  is  called  "the  glor}',"  Rom.  ix.  4.  The  giving  of 
the  law,  the  erection  of  the  visible  church-state  in  the  posterity  of 
Abraham,  attended  with  all  that  glorious  worship  which  was  insti- 
tuted therein,  was  a  work  of  exceeding  glory.  In  this  work  was 
Moses  employed,  and  that  in  so^iigh  and  honourable  a  manner  as 
to  be  the  sole  mediator  therein  between  God  and  the  people.  Gal. 
iii.  19;  as  himself  speaketh,  Deut.  v.  5,  "I  stood  between  the  Lord 
and  you  at  that  time,  to  shew  you  the  word  of  the  Lord."  This  was 
his  peculiar  glory,  that  God  singled  him  out  from  amongst  all  the 
posterity  of  Abraham  to  be  thus  employed. 

Secondly,  In  hisfidelity  in  the  discharge  of  his  work  and  office.  This 
is  a  singular  excellency,  which  added  unto  the  former  dignity  makes 
it  complete.  It  is  no  glory  for  a  man  to  be  employed  in  a  glorious 
work  and  to  miscarry  therein;  it  will  rather  end  in  his  dishonour 
and  reproach:  as  he  in  the  fable,  who  would  needs  drive  the  chariot 
oi  lIio  Sim,  which  ended  in  the  breaking  of  his  neck.     Better  never 


VEll.  3-6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  535 

be  employed  in  the  work  of  God,  than  deal  unfaithfully  in  it.  But 
a  glorious  trust  and  great  faithfulness  therein  render  the  condition 
of  a  man  really  excellent.  So  was  it  with  Moses,  as  was  declared  in 
the  preceding  verses.  However  he  might  fail  personally  in  his  own 
faith  as  a  believer,  he  failed  not  ministerially  in  his  fidelity  as  the 
"internuncius" between  God  and  his  people;  and  every  personal  fail- 
ing in  faith  doth  not  impeach  a  man's  ministerial  fidelity,  or  faithful- 
ness in  his  office.  In  these  things  was  he  excellent.  It  is  a  thing 
very  glorious,  to  be  faithful  in  an  office  committed  to  us  of  God. 

Secondly,  He  had  the  fame  and  reputation  of  these  excellencies 
on  a  double  account: — 

First,  In  the  testimony  that  was  given  him  by  God  himself  as  to 
his  fidelity  in  the  discharge  of  his  trust.  This  God  gave  him  during 
his  life,  as  was  showed,  and  sundry  times  after  his  death.  This  is 
the  great  foundation  of  all  his  renown.  And  what  greater  honour 
could  be  done  unto  any  creature,  than  to  be  adorned  with  such  an 
illustrious  testimony  by  God  himself?  Greater  honour  never  had 
any,  but  He  alone  with  whom  he  is  compared.  And  thus  God  gives 
grace  and  glory, — grace  to  be  faithful,  and  glory  upon  men's  being  so. 

Secondly,  He  had  glory  in  that  honour  and  esteem  which  was  con- 
tinued unto  him  in  the  church,  until  the  Son  himself  came.  Until 
that  time,  the  whole  church  of  God  was  precisely  bound  unto  the 
observation  of  the  laws  and  ordinances  appointed  by  him;  and 
thereon  did  all  their  happiness  in  this  woild  and  that  to  come  de- 
pend. That  was  the  condition  of  their  temporal  and  eternal  wel- 
fare. The  neglect  hereof  exposed  them  unto  all  misery  from  God 
and  man.  This  was  the  charge  that  God  left  on  them  throughout 
all  their  generations:  "Remember  the  law  of  Moses  my  servant, 
which  I  commanded  unto  him  in  Horeb,  for  all  Israel,  with  the 
statutes  and  judgments,"  Mai.  iv.  4.  This  made  his  name  and  re- 
membrance honourable  unto  the  church,  and  which  the  sinful  abuse 
of  turned  afterwards  to  the  snare,  temptation,  and  disadvantage  of 
the  incredulous  Jews;  according  to  the  prophetical  imprecation  of 
the  psalmist,  "  Let  their  table  become  a  snare  before  them,  and  that 
which  should  have  been  for  their  welfare  become  a  trap,"  Ps.  Ixix. 
22 :  which  our  apostle  declares  to  have  befallen  them  on  their  rejec- 
tion of  the  gospel,  through  an  obstinate  adherence  to  the  letter  of 
the  law  of  Moses,  Rom.  xi,  7-10.  Yet  we  may  observe,  that  in 
all  the  honour  which  God  gave  Moses  in  the  church,  he  never  com- 
manded, he  never  allowed,  that  any  should  worship  him  or  adore 
him,  pray  to  him  or  make  images  of  him.  To  give  this  honour 
unto  saints,  angels,  or  others,  is  men's  invention,  not  God's  insti- 
tution. God  knows  how  to  give  glory  unto  his  servants  without 
imparting  unto  them  his  own,  the  royalty  of  his  crown:  "his  glory 
will  he  not  give  unto  another." 


536'  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

This,  then,  was  the  glory  of  Moses;  and  if  we  shall  add  hereunto 
other  concernments  of  him,  they  will  make  it  the  more  conspicuous. 
Such  were  the  care  of  God  over  him  in  his  infancy,  his  miraculous 
call  to  his  office,  the  honour  he  had  in  the  world,  the  miracles  which 
he  wrought,  and  the  signal  testimony  given  him  from  God,  in  all 
the  contests  about  his  ministry;  and  many  things  of  the  like  nature 
might  be  added.  But  it  is  the  things  which  appertain  unto  his 
office  and  the  discharge  of  it  which  are  principally  intended. 

This,  therefore,  the  apostle  grants,  that  he  might  not  give  the 
least  suspicion  unto  the  Hebrews  that  he  would  detract  from  the 
due  praise  and  honour  of  Moses,  as  he  was  commonly  traduced 
amongst  them  to  do.  See  Acts  x.xi.  28,  xxv.  8.  The  unbeliev- 
ing part  of  them,  indeed,  boasted  of  Moses,  unto  the  contempt  of 
the  Lord  Christ :  John  ix.  29,  "  We  know  that  God  spake  unto 
Moses:  as  for  this  fellow,  we  know  not  whence  he  is."  And  tliey 
generally  thought  the  prevalency  of  the  gosj)el  was  derogatory  unto 
his  honour  and  law,  Acts  xiii.  45,  50.  But  these  things  moved  not 
him  to  deal  partially  in  the  truth.  He  allows  unto  Moses  his  due 
honour  and  glory,  and  yet  asserts  the  excellency  of  Christ  above 
him,  showing  evidently  the  consistency  of  these  things,  as  there 
neither  is  nor  can  be  any  opposition  or  contrariety  between  any 
ordinances  or  institutions  of  God.     And  we  may  hence  observe, — 

I.  Every  one  who  is  employed  in  the  service  of  God  in  his  house, 
and  is  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  his  work  and  trust  therein,  is  worthy 
of  honour:  so  was  Moses. 

It  becometh  neither  the  greatness  nor  goodness  of  God  that  it 
should  be  otherwise.  And  he  hath  established  it  by  an  everlasting 
law.  "Them  that  honour  me,"  saith  he,  "I  will  honour;  and  they 
that  despise  me  shall  be  lightly  esteemed,"  1  Sam.  ii.  80.  The 
honouring  of  God  in  the  service  of  his  house  is  that  which,  by  this 
unalterable  edict  for  its  being  honoured,  is  ratified  and  confirmed. 
They  who  therein  honour  God  shall  be  honoured,  for  the  mouth  of 
the  Lord  hath  spoken  it.     They  are  honourable;  for, — 

First,  Their  viorlc  is  so.  Reputation,  glory,  and  honour,  attend 
honourable  works.  This  work  is  God's.  The  church  is  "  God's  hus- 
bandry, God's  building,"  1  Cor.  iii.  9.  They  have  a  great  work  in 
hand,  God's  work;  and  have  a  glorious  cswipyog,  or  "associate,"  even 
God  himself  God  so  works  by  them  as  that  also  he  works  with  them, 
and  they  are  auvspyoi  ©sou, — "  labourers  together  with  God."  They 
work  also  in  the  name  and  on  the  behalf  of  God,  2  Cor.  v.  20. 
Whatever  glory  and  honour,  then,  can  possibly  redound  unto  any 
from  the  nature  of  the  work  wherein  they  are  employed,  it  all  be- 
longs to  them.  Hence  the  apostle  commands  that  we  should 
"  esteem  such  very  highly  in  love  for  their  work's  sake,"  1  Thess.  v. 
lo.     Their  work  makes  them  worthy  of  estimation,  yea,  of  "  double 


VER.  3-6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  So/ 

honour/'  1  Tim.  v.  17.  What  that  is  in  particular,  it  may  be,  is 
luicertain;  but  it  is  certain  that  not  an  ordinary  honour,  not  a  com- 
mon respect  or  esteem,  but  that  which  is  double,  or  abounding,  is 
intended. 

Secondly,  Honour  is  reflected  upon  them  from  him  who  goes 
before  them  in  their  work,  and  their  especial  relation  unto  him. 
This  is  Jesus  Christ,  the  great  builder  of  the  church.  Are  they 
pastors  or  shepherds? — he  is  the  JTr/VxoTos  ruiv  -^wx^uv,  "  the  bishop  of 
souls,''  1  Pet.  ii.  25;  and  the  dp^i-oi/jiTiv,  "  the  chief  (or  "prince") 
of  those  shepherds,  chap.  v.  4.  And  to  be  associated  with  Christ 
in  his  work,  to  share  in  office  under  him,  will  appear  at  length  to 
have  been  honourable.  The  queen  of  Sheba  counted  them  happy 
and  blessed  who  were  servants  unto  Solomon,  and  stood  before  him, 
2  Chrou.  ix.  7;  and  what  are  they  who  stand  before  him  who  is 
infinitely  greater  and  wiser  than  Solomon!  The  Lord  help  poor 
ministers  to  believe  their  relation  unto  the  Lord  Christ,  and  his 
engagement  with  them  in  tlieir  work,  that  they  may  be  supported 
against  those  innumerable  discouragements  that  they  meet  withal! 

Tliirdly,  The  especial  nature  of  their  work  and  employment  is 
another  spring  of  honour  unto  them.  It  lies  about  things  holy, 
spiiitual,  mysterious,  and  more  excellent  than  all  the  things  of  this 
world.  It  is  their  work  to  discover  and  to  brino-  forth  to  liojht 
*'  unsearchable  riches,"  Eph.  iii.  8;  to  reveal  and  to  declare  "all  the 
counsel  of  God,"  Acts  xx.  27;  to  prepare  and  make  ready  the  bride 
for  the  Lamb;  to  gather  in  God's  revenue  of  glory,  etc. 

Fourthly,  The  effects  of  their  work  do  also  communicate  honour 
unto  them.  They  are  such,  they  are  all  those  things  whereon  de- 
pends all  the  glory  of  God  in  the  concernments  of  the  souls  of  men 
unto  eternity.  The  ministry  of  the  word  is  that  alone  whereby 
God  ordinarily  will  treat  with  the  souls  of  men,  the  means  that  he 
will  make  use  of  for  their  conviction,  conversion,  sanctification,  and 
salvation.  These  things  depend,  therefore,  on  this  work  of  theirs, 
and  are  effects  of  it.  And  in  them  will  the  glory  of  God  be  princi- 
pally concerned  unto  eternity;  in  them  will  his  goodness,  righteous- 
ness, grace,  mercy,  patience,  and  all  the  other  excellencies  of  his 
nature,  shine  forth  in  glory.  All  of  them  appear  in  his  dealings  with 
the  souls  of  men  by  his  word. 

Fifthly,  Their  especial  honour  will  one  day  appear  in  their  espe- 
cial reward:  Dan.  xii.  3,  ^V''2b'^n^  "instructors,"  "teachers,"  they 
that  make  men  wise,  that  give  them  understanding,  "  shall  shine  as 
the  brightness  of  the  firmament ;"  Q"'?"!'!}  ''i?.'''^.VP'',  "  and  the  justifiers 
of  many,"  those  that  make  them  righteous  ministerially,  by  reveal- 
ing unto  them  the  knowledge  and  righteousness  of  Christ,  whereby 
they  are  justified,  Isa.  liii.  11,  "as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever."  If 
they  have  not  more  glory  than  others,  yet  they  shall  have  a  distinct 


538  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IIL 

glory  of  their  own ;  for  when  the  prince  of  shepherds  shall  be  mani- 
fested, he  will  give  unto  these  his  shepherds  a.,u,apdvri\iov  Trig  bo^ris 
cr£(pa,vov,  1  Pet.  V.  4, — such  a  peculiar  crown  as  great  triumphant  con- 
querors were  wont  to  be  crowned  withal. 

Only  it  must  be  observed,  that  there  is  nothing  of  all  this  spoken 
merely  with  respect  unto  being  employed  one  way  or  other,  really 
or  in  pretence,  in  this  house  of  God,  but  only  unto  a  faithfulness  in 
the  discharge  of  the  trust  committed  unto  them  who  are  so  em- 
ployed. Moses  was  worthy  of  honour,  not  because  he  was  employed, 
but  because  he  was  "faithful"  in  his  trust  and  employment.  The 
twelve  spies  that  were  sent  into  Canaan,  to  search  the  land,  were 
all  equally  commission ated  and  employed ;  but  two  of  them  only  were 
esteemed  worthy  of  honour,  the  rest  died  in  their  sin,  as  not  faith- 
fully discharging  their  trust,  but  bringing  up  an  evil  report  on  the 
land  of  promise, — as  many  do  on  the  house  of  God,  by  one  means  or 
other,  who  are  employed  in  the  service  of  it.  And  these  are  so  far 
fiom  being  worthy  of  honour,  that  they  deserve  nothing  but  reproach, 
contempt,  and  shame;  for  as  God  says  in  this  matter,  "He  that 
hououreth  me,  I  will  honour;"  so  he  adds,  "and  he  that  despiseth 
me  shall  be  lightly  esteemed."  Such  persons  are  rejected  of  God 
from  any  acceptance  in  their  office,  Hos.  iv.  6;  and  as  unsavoury  salt 
unto  the  house  itself,  are  to  be  cast  out  on  the  dunghill.  Matt.  v.  13. 
They  are  servants  whom,  when  their  Lord  comes,  he  will  tear  in  pieces, 
and  give  them  their  portion  with  hypocrites.  Matt.  xxiv.  50,  51. 
Persons,  therefore,  who  undertake  to  be  builders  in  the  house  of  God, 
who  have  received  no  skill  or  ability  from  the  master-builder,  or  are 
negligent  in  their  work,  or  corrupt  it,  or  daub  with  untempered 
mortar,  or  are  any  way  unfaithful,  whatever  double  or  treble  advan- 
tage they  may  obtain  from  men  in  this  world,  they  shall  have  no- 
thing but  shame  and  confusion  of  face  from  God  in  that  which  is  to 
come. 

Let,  then,  those  who  are  indeed  faithful  in  this  work  be  satisfied 
with  the  work  itself.  It  will  prove  in  the  end  to  have  been  a  good 
revenue,  a  blessed  inhei'itance.  Add  but  that  reward  which  the 
Lord  Christ  brings  with  him  unto  the  reward  of  honour  that  is  in 
the  work  itself,  and  it  will  be  abundantly  satisfactory.  We  dishonour 
our  master,  and  manifest  that  we  understand  not  much  of  our  work, 
when  we  are  solicitous  about  any  other  recompence. 

And  this  also  will  serve  to  strengthen  such  persons  in  all  the 
oppositions  they  meet  withal,  and  all  the  discouragements  they  are 
encompassed  with  in  the  discharge  of  their  duty.  It  is  enough  to 
give  them  a  holy  contempt  and  scorn  of  the  worst  that  can  befall 
them.  And  this  also  may  teach  others  their  duty  towards  them; 
which  for  the  most  part  they  are  unwilling  to  hear,  and  more  un- 
willing to  practise. 


VER.  3-6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  5o9 

2.  Let  US  now  return  to  consider  what  is  positively  affirmed  in  tliis 
assertion,  with  the  proof  of  it. 

"Thi.s  man,"  olrog,  a  demonstrative  pronoun,  denoting  the  person 
treated  of.     It  is  rendered  "this  man,"  but  it  respects 
him  not  merely  as  man,  but  directs  to  his  person,  God 
and  man,  as  he  is  expressly  called  God  in  the  next  verse,  as  Ave  shall 
show. 

"Was  counted  worthy  of  more  glory," — much  more  glory.  Ao'^jjs 
'x'Kiiovoi  Tcafo.  Mwuff^i'.  See  the  explication  of  the  words.  ^^|„.  ^J^^'^. 
Speaking  of  the  ministry  of  Christ  and  of  Moses,  2  Cor.  «»«?  ■jrafa^uv 
iii.  10,  he  saith,  "For  even  that  which  was  made  glori-  '^*"'* 
ous  had  no  glory  in  this  respect,  by  reason  of  the  glory  that 
excelleth."  So  doth  the  manner  of  the  expression  here  used 
intimate  the  glory  of  Christ  to  be  so  far  above  the  glory  of  Moses 
that  in  comparison  thereof  it  might  even  seem  to  be  "  no  glory." 

"Accounted  worthy," — more    honoured,  had   more     , 
glory  from  God,  and  in  the  church  was  more  glorious. 

And  this  glory,  although  it  did  attend  the  person  of  Christ,  yet  it 
is  not  that  which  is  due  unto  him  upon  the  account  of  his  person 
(as  afterwards  shall  be  more  fully  declared),  but  that  which  belongs 
to  him  in  his  office,  the  office  which  he  discharged  towards  the 
church  (wherein  alone  he  is  to  be  compared  with  Moses,  for  in  his 
person  he  was  before  exalted  above  all);  which  yet  is  such  as  none 
could  discharge  but  he  whose  person  was  so  excellent,  as  he  declares, 
verse  4.  This  the  apostle  positively  asserts,  and  then  proceeds  to  the 
proof  of  it  in  the  next  words.  His  way  of  proof  is,  as  I  observed, 
syllogistical,  wherein  the  proposition  is  expressed,  "That  he  who 
builds  a  house  is  of  more  honour  than  the  house  built."  The 
assumption  is  supposed  and  included,  "But  Christ  built  the  house; 
Moses  was  only  a  part  of  it."  The  force  of  which  argument  will 
appear  in  our  opening  of  the  words. 

The  glory  of  Christ  intended  the  apostle  sets  forth  under  the 
metaphorical  terms  of  a  house,  its  building,  and  builder.  The  occa- 
sion of  this  metaphor  he  takes  (as  was  said)  from  the  foregoing  testi- 
mony, wherein  it  is  affirmed  that  "  Moses  was  faithful  in  the  house 
of  God."  A  house  is  either  natural, — that  i.s,  a  family  or  a  house- 
hold, the  children  of  one  parent,  that  is  built  by  them  (as  I?,  "a  son," 
is  from  i^l^,  "to  build;"  so  Ruth  iv.  11,  "The  LoRD  make  the  woman 
that  is  come  into  thy  house  like  Rachel  and  like  Leah,  1^?  "^^'^ 
hii,-]^':  n^5-ns  DiTn^/' — "which  two  built"  ("childed")  "the  house  of 
Israel");  or  artificial, — a  building  by  men  for  a  habitation,  as 
every  such  house  is  built  by  some.  And  in  an  allusion  thereunto, 
there  is  a  house  that  is  moral  and  spiritual,  or  a  mystical  habita- 
tion, namely,  for  God  himself.  Such  is  the  church  of  God  said  to 
be,  Eph.  ii.  20-22,  1  Tim.  iii.  15,  2  Tim.  ii.  20,  1  Pet.  ii.  5;  partly 


5 -to  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

hy  a  general  allusion  unto  any  house  for  habitation,  partly  with 
particular  respect  to  the  temple,  that  was  called  the  "  house  of  God  ^ 
uuder  the  old  testament.  The  metaphor  used  by  the  apostle  in  this 
place  respects  an  artificial  house,  and  the  things  spoken  do  primarily 
belong  thereunto.  The  application  that  he  makes  is  unto  a  spiri- 
tual house, — the  house  of  God  wherein  he  will  dwell ;  and  thereunto 
also  do  the  things  that  are  spoken  properly  appertain.  Herein, 
then,  lies  the  design  and  force  of  the  apostle's  discourse;  the  church 
of  God,  with  all  the  ordinances  of  worship  in  it,  is  a  house,  the 
house  of  God,  as  appears  in  the  foregoing  testimony.  Now,  as  to 
honour  and  glory,  this  is  the  condition  of  a  house,  that  he  who 
builds  it  is  much  more  honourable  than  the  house  itself  But  this 
house  of  God  was  built  by  Jesus  Christ,  whereas  Moses  was  only  a 
part  of  the  house  itself,  and  so  no  way  to  be  compared  in  honour 
and  glory  with  him  that  built  it. 

Both  parts  of  this  discourse  are  obnoxious  to  some  difficulty,  the 
removal  whereof  will  further  clear  up  the  sense  of  the  words  and 
meaning  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

First,  then,  '  It  doth  not  appear  that  the  proposition  laid  down  by 
the  apostle  is  universally  true  in  all  cases,  namely,  that  he  who  builds 
the  house  is  always  more  honourable  than  the  house,  which  yet  is 
tiie  foundation  of  the  apostle's  inference  in  this  verse;  for  Solomon 
built  the  temple,  yet  the  temple  was  far  more  glorious  than  Solomon. 
I  do  not  speak  in  respect  of  their  essence  and  being, — for  so  an  in- 
tellectual, rational  creature  is  to  be  preferred  above  any  artificial 
building  whatever, — but  in  respect  of  their  use  in  the  church  of  God; 
and  so  the  temple  far  excelled  Solomon,  its  builder.' 

I  answer,  This  may  so  fall  out  where  one  builds  a  house  by  the 
authority  of  another,  and  for  his  use,  so  that  it  is  not  his  own  house 
when  it  is  built.  But  when  one  builds  a  house  by  his  own  autho- 
rity, for  his  own  use,  whereby  it  becomes  his  own  house,  and  wholly 
at  his  own  disposal,  then  he  is  always  more  honourable  than  the 
house  itself  And  so  is  it  in  this  matter.  Solomon  indeed  built  the 
temple,  but  upon  the  command  and  authority  of  God ;  he  built  it  as  a 
servant ;  it  was  never  his  in  possession,  or  for  his  use,  to  dwell  in  or 
dispose  of.  On  all  accounts  it  was  another's.  It  was  the  house  of 
God,  built  by  his  command,  for  himself  to  dwell  in.  It  is  no  wonder, 
then,  if  it  were  more  honourable  than  Solomon.  But  things  are 
quite  otherwise  in  the  building  intended.  Christ  built  his  house  by 
his  own  authority,  for  his  own  use,  for  himself  to  dwell  in.  And  in 
such  cases  the  proposition  is  universally  true.  And  this  appears  so 
clearly  from  the  nature  of  the  thing  itself  that  it  needs  no  further 
confirmation. 

Secondly,  '  For  the  proof  of  the  apostle's  intention,  it  is  supposed 
iji  the  assumption  that  Moses  was  not  the  builder  of  the  house  of 


VER  3-6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  641 

God,  but  only  a  part  of  it;  for  without  that  supposition,  the  asser- 
tion of  Christ's  being  preferred  above  him  as  the  builder  is  not  con- 
firmed. But  the  contrary  hereunto  seems  to  be  true,  namely,  that 
Moses  was  a  principal  builder  of  the  house  of  God,  at  least  of  the 
house  under  the  old  testament.  Paul,  upon  the  accoimt  of  ids 
preaching  the  gospel,  fears  not  to  term  himself  "a  wise  master- 
builder,"  1  Cor.  iii.  10;  and  shall  not  at  least  the  same  honour  be 
allowed  unto  Moses?  for  what  was  wanting  to  render  him  a  builder? 
There  were  two  principal  parts  of  that  house  of  God  wherein  his 
ministry  was  used ; — first,  the  place  and  seat  of  the  worship  of  God, 
or  the  tabernacle,  with  all  its  glorious  utensils  and  appurtenances; 
secondly,  the  ordinances  ixxv(}i  institutions  of  worship  to  be  celebrated 
therein.  Of  these  two  that  house  of  God  seemed  to  consist;  and 
they  are  often  so  called.  And  was  not  Moses  the  principal  builder 
of  both?  For  the  tabernacle  and  the  furniture  of  it,  he  received  its 
pattern  from  God,  and  gave  direction  for  its  building  unto  the 
utmost  pins,  like  a  wise  master-builder.  And,  secondly,  for  the 
ordinances  and  institutions  of  worship,  they  were  wholly  of  his 
ajjpointment.  He  received  them,  indeed,  by  revelation  from  God, 
and  so  God  spake  in  him,  as  he  did  afterwards  in  the  Son,  Htb. 
i.  1 ;  but  he  prescribed  them  unto  the  church,  on  which  account  they 
are  called  "The  law  of  Moses."  So  that  he  seems  not  to  have  been 
B,  part  of  the  house,  but  plainly  the  builder  of  it.' 

Ans.  To  remove  this  difficulty,  we  must  consider  both  what  house 
it  is  tliat  the  apostle  intends,  and  also  what  manner  of  building  of 
it,  in  the  application  of  his  metaphor. 

First,  For  the  house  of  God  in  this  place,  the  apostle  doth  not 
intend  by  it  the  house  of  this  or  that  particular  age,  under  this  or 
that  form  or  administration  of  worship,  but  the  house  of  God  in  all 
ages  and  places,  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  unto  the  end 
thereof :  for  as  this  is  evident  from  what  he  insists  on  in  the  next 
verse  in  confirmation  hereof,  namely,  that  "  he  that  built  all  things 
is  God,  so  it  was  not  sufficient  unto  the  purpose  of  the  apostle  to 
declare  that  Christ  was  a  builder,  and  Moses  the  part  of  a  house, 
unless  he  manifested  he  was  so ;  that  is,  a  part  of  the  house  that 
Christ  built.  Now,  of  this  house  Moses  unquestionably  was  not  the 
builder,  but  only  a  part  of  it,  and  employed  in  the  ministry  of  it  in 
one  age  or  season  alone. 

Secondly,  The  building  of  the  house,  as  to  the  manner  of  it,  is 
either  ministerial  or  autocratorical.  In  the  first  way,  every  one 
who  labours  by  God's  appointment,  in  the  dispensation  of  the  word 
or  otherwise,  for  the  edification  of  the  church,  is  a  builder,  a  minis- 
terial biulder;  and  those  who  are  employed  in  that  work  in  an 
especial  and  eminent  manner,  as  the  apostles  were,  may  be  said  to 
be  master-builders.     And  so  was  Moses  in  the  house  of  God.     But 


542  AN  EXPOSITION  OP  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

it  is  a  building  in  the  other  way  and  manner  that  is  intended  by  the 
apostle,  a  building  with  supreme  power,  and  for  the  builder's  own 
use. 

Havino-  cleared  and  vindicated  the  argument  of  the  apostle  in  this 
third  verse,  our  next  work  is  to  explain  and  confirm  the  severals  of 
his  assertion,  partly  expressed,  and  partly  included  therein.  And 
they  are  these : — 1.  That  Christ  built  the  church,  or  the  house  of 
God.  2.  That  he  was  worthy  of  glory  and  honour  on  that  account, 
and  had  them  accordingly.  3.  That  this  his  glory  and  honour  was 
incomparably  greater  than  that  of  Moses. 

1.  Unto  the  building  of  the  house  of  God,  three  things  are  re- 
quired:—First,  The  giving  out  the  design,  platform,  and  pattern 
of  it,  in  its  laws,  ordinances,  and  institutions,  that  it  may  answer 
the  end  v/hereunto  it  is  designed.  This  is  the  ^''^^^,  the  riicrog  or 
i-ATXj'TuiiMa,  the  "effigiation"  or  "delineation"  of  the  house.  Secondly, 
The  preparing  and  fitting  of  the  materials  of  it,  and  the  compacting 
of  them  together,  that  they  may  grow  up  unto  a  house,  a  holy 
temple,  a  habitation  for  God;  and  this  is  properly  H^?'!',  or  oim- 
do/xTi,  the  "building  of  the  house."  Thirdly,  The  solemn  entrance  of 
the  presence  of  God  into  it,  for  its  appropriation,  dedication,  and 
sanctification  unto  God,  '^?.?.D.  These  three  things  concurred  in 
both  tlie  old  typical  houses,  the  tabernacle  of  Moses  and  the  temple 
of  Solomon. 

The  first  thing  was,  that  the  pattern  was  prepared  and  showed 
unto  Moses  in  the  mount:  Exod.  xxv.  8,  9,  "  Make  me  a  sanctuary; 
that  I  may  dwell  among  them.  According  to  all  that  I  shew  tliee, 
the  pattern  of  the  tabernacle,  and  the  jjattern  of  all  the  instruments 
thereof,  even  so  shall  ye  make  it."  And  verse  40,  "  Look  that  thou 
make  them  after  the  pattern,  which  thou  wast  caused  to  see  in  the 
mount."  God  had  caused  Moses  to  see  ^''•'?^,  "  a  similitude,"  a 
"representation"  of  the  house  which  he  would  have  built,  and  also 
the  things  that  belonged  thereunto.  This  our  apostle  calls  ruToj, 
Heb.  viii.  5,  "  an  express  image"  of  it;  which  contained  not  only  the 
material  fabric,  but  also  the  laws,  ordinances,  and  institutions  of 
the  worship  of  God  belonging  thereunto,  for  all  these  did  God  show 
and  declare  unto  Moses  in  the  mount,  as  is  expressed  in  the  story. 
Secondly,  Upon  this  Moses  prepared  all  the  materials  fit  for  that 
fabric  by  the  free-will  offerings  of  the  people;  and,  by  the  skill  of 
Bezaleel  and  Aholiab,  compacted,  fitted,  and  reared  up  a  house, 
a  tabernacle,  or  a  sanctuary.  See  Exod.  xxxv.-xl.  Thirdly,  The 
gloriou.  presence  of  the  Lord  entered  into  the  tabernacle  so  erected, 
and  God  dwelt  there:  Exod.  xl.  34,  "  Then  a  cloud  covered  the  tent 
of  the  congregation,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  filled  the  tabernacle." 
God  came,  and  in  a  wonderful  manner  took  possession  of  this  his 
house. 


YER.  3-6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  543 

So  it  was  also  in  the  preparation  and  building  of  the  temple: — 
First,  The  pattern  of  it,  of  the  whole  fabric,  and  all  the  orders,  ordi- 
nances, and  worship  of  it,  was  given  and  showed  unto  David,  who 
delivered  it  unto  Solomon,  his  son.  So  he  concludes  the  account 
that  he  gave  of  all  the  particular  concernments  of  these  things: 
1  Chron.  xxviii.  19,  "  All  this,  said  David,  the  Lord  made  me  un- 
derstand in  writing  by  his  hand  upon  me,  even  all  the  works  of  this 
pattern/'  Secondly,  Solomon  prepared  materials  in  abundance,  and 
by  the  skill  of  Hiram  framed  them  into  a  house,  and  all  the  holy 
utensils  of  it,  as  is  at  large  expressed  in  the  story.  Thirdly,  The 
temple  being  erected,  the  glorious  presence  of  God  entered  there- 
into, to  appropriate,  dedicate,  and  sanctify  it  u-nto  God:  1  Kings 
viii.  10,  11,  "And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  priests  were  come  out 
of  the  holy  place,  that  the  cloud  filled  the  house  of  the  Lord,  so  that 
the  priests  could  not  stand  to  minister  because  of  the  cloud:  for  the 
glory  of  the  LoRD  had  filled  the  house  of  the  LoRD." 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  these  three  things  are  required  to  the 
building  of  the  house  of  God,  whereof  these  material  fabrics  were  a 
type  and  representation.  And  all  these  were  perfectly  effected  by 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God.  I  have  said  before,  that  it  is  not  the 
house  or  church  of  this  or  that  age,  place,  or  generation,  that  is 
intended  in  this  expression,  but  the  church  of  God  in  all  ages  and 
places  from  first  to  last.  I  confess  the  principal  instance  of  this 
work  is  in  the  church  of  the  new  testament,  whose  foundation  in 
himself  and  erection  on  himself  he  did  so  expressly  and  particularly 
undertake.  "  On  this  rock,"  saith  he,  "  I  will  build  my  church," 
Matt.  xvi.  18; — the  stable  rock  of  faith  in  himself  as  the  eternal 
Son  of  God,  and  as  designed  to  the  great  work  of  God  in  glorifying 
himself  among  sinners.  This  work  of  building  the  house  of  God 
was  always,  from  the  beginning,  performed  by  himself.  The  first 
thing  required  unto  it  may  be  considered  two  ways: — First,  as  to 
the  delineation  or  forming  of  this  house  in  his  own  eternal  mind, 
as  the  Son  and  Wisdom  of  the  Father.  He  was  in  the  eternal 
counsels  of  the  Father  about  the  providing  and  framing  of  this  habi- 
tation for  himself  God  from  all  eternity  had.  laid  the  plot  and 
design  of  this  great  fabric  and  all  the  concernments  of  it  in  the 
idea  of  his  own  mind.  And  there  it  was  hid,  even  from  all  the 
angels  in  heaven,  until  its  actual  rearing,  until  the  event,  Eph.  iii. 
9-11.  This  design  and  purpose  of  his  "  he  purposed  in  Christ  Jesus;" 
■ — that  is,  this  counsel  of  God,  even  of  Father  and  Son,  Prov.  viii. 
31,  32,  was  to  b^  accomplished  in  and  by  hina.  And  this  glorious 
pattern  he  had  in  his  mind  in  all  ages,  and  brought  with  him  into 
the  world  when  he  came  to  put  the  last  hand  unto  it.  This 
answered  the  ri''3nri  or  idea  represented  to  Moses  in  the  mount. 
He  expressed  this  conception  of  his  mind,  when  he  gave  out  laws, 
YOl..  XII. — '6o 


544  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

rules,  orders,  ordinances,  institutions  of  worship,  the  whole  pattern 
of  the  house,  as  it  was  in  divers  manners  and  at  sundry  seasons  to 
be  erected.  I  have  in  the  Prolegomena  unto  the  first  part  of  these 
discourses  abundantly  manifested  that  it  was  the  Son  who,  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world,  immediately  in  his  own  person  transacted 
the  affairs  of  God  with  men.  Thither  I  refer  the  reader.  He  it 
was  that  walked  in  the  garden  when  Adam  had  sinned,  and  gave 
the  first  promise  unto  him ;  which  proved -the  foundation  of  the  house 
of  God  in  after  ages.  He  it  was  that  was  with  the  people  in  the 
wilderness,  which  gave  them  their  laws  and  statutes  in  Horeb,  and 
so  built  autocratically  the  house  of  God.  And  for  the  church  of 
the  new  testament,  when  he  immediately  and  visibly  transacted  all 
tlie  affairs  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  it  is  most  apparent  he  spake 
with  and  instructed  his  tlisciples  in  all  things  pertaining  to  the 
kingdom  of  God,  Acts  i.  8, — that  is,  of  the  house.  And  as  God  com- 
manded Moses  that  he  should  make  all  things  according  to  the 
pattern  showed  him  in  the  mount,  so  Christ  requires  of  his  disciples 
that  they  should  teach  men  to  do  and  observe  all  things  whatever 
he  commanded,  Matt,  xxviii.  20;  which  is  therefore  all  that  belongs 
unto  the  house  of  God. 

Secondly,  The  second  thing  required  unto  the  building  of  this 
hou.se  is  the  providing  of  materials,  and  the  framing  and  compact- 
ing of  them  into  a  house  for  God.  Now  this  was  a  great  vv'ork 
indeed,  especially  considering  the  condition  of  all  those  persons 
whereof  this  house  was  to  be  constituted.  They  were  dead  in  tres- 
passes and  sins,  and  the  house  was  to  be  a  living  house,  1  Pet.  ii.  5. 
They  were  all  enemies  to  God,  strangers  from  him,  and  under  his 
curse;  and  the  house  was  to  be  made  up  of  the  friends  of  God,  and 
such  as  he  might  delight  to  dwell  with  and  among.  They  v/ere 
dead  stones,  and  the  house  was  to  be  built  of  the  children  of  Abra- 
ham. This,  then,  was  a  great  and  glorious  work,  and  which  none 
could  perform  but  he  that  was  unspeakably  more  honourable  than 
Moses  or  all  the  sons  of  men.  The  particulars  of  this  work  are 
many  and  great;  I  shall  briefly  reduce  them  into  four  heads,  such 
as  were  resembled  and  represented  in  the  building  of  the  tabernacle 
by  Mosi^s: — 

First,  then,  Moses  gathered  the  materials  of  the  tabernacle  by  a 
free-will  offering  from  among  the  people:  Exod.  xxxv.  4,  5,  "And 
Moses  spake  unto  all  the  congregation  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
saying.  This  is  the  thing  which  the  LoED  commanded,  saying, 
Take  ye  from  among  you  an  offering  unto  the  Lord:  whosoever 
is  of  a  willing  heart,  let  him  bring  it,  an  offering  of  the  LORD." 
By  this  means,  without  force,  or  compulsion,  or  imposition,  were  the 
materials  of  the  tabernacle  brought  in.  And  so  also  doth  the  Lord 
Christ  provide  for  the  building  of  the  church.     He  dotii  not  gather 


VER.  3-G.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  545 

men  by  force  or  violence,  or  drive  them  together  into  the  profession 
of  the  truth  with  the  swor-J,  as  Moliammed  and  the  Pope  (io  to 
their  idols;  but  he  invites  none,  receives  none,  admits  of  none,  but 
those  that  willingly  offer  themselves.  Such  as  come  unto  him,  aud 
give  up  themselves  to  the  Lord,  and  to  the  officers  of  his  house, 
by  the  will  of  God,  he  admits,  and  no  other,  2  Cor.  viii.  5;  Rom. 
xii.  1.  And  herein  he  puts  forth  the  greatness  of  his  power,  in 
giving  them  this  will  of  coming;  for  they  have  it  not  in  nor  of 
themselves,  but  he  makes  them  "  willing  in  the  day  of  his  power," 
Ps.  ex.  8.  And  this  work  we  could  manifest  to  be  great  and  glo- 
rious, might  we  insist  on  the  particulars  of  it. 

Secondly,  The  materials  of  the  tabernacle  being  freely  offered, 
Mv ere  wiseli/ framed  aud  compacted  together,  and  I'ashioned  into  a 
sanctuary  for  a  habitation  of  the  Lord.  This  was  the  work  of 
Btzaieel  and  Aholiab,  by  art,  wisdom,  and  skill.  But  the  fashion- 
ing of  the  real  spiritual  house  of  God  by  Christ  in  all  ages  is  a  thing 
full  of  mysterious  wisdom  and  holiness.  The  apostle  expresseth  it  iu 
sundry  places ;  we  may  touch  on  some  of  them :  Eph.  ii.  20-22,  "  Je.sus 
Christ  himself  is  the  chief  corner-stone;  in  whom  all  the  building, 
fitly  framed  together,  groweth  unto  an  holy  temple  in  the  Lord:  iu 
whom  ye  also  are  builded  together  for  an  habitatioa  of  God  through 
ti.e  Spirit."  The  living  stones  being  brought  together  by  their  own 
willing  offering  themselves  to  the  Lord,  they  are  by  him  (as  the 
tabernacle  of  old)  fitly  iramed  together  into  a  holy  temple  or  habi- 
tation for  God.  How  this  is  done,  as  he  says  in  general  that  it  is 
by  the  Spirit,  so  he  particularly  declares,  chap.  iv.  15,  16,  "  Growing 
up  into  him  in  all  things,  which  is  the  head,  even  Christ;  from 
whom  the  whole  body  fitly  joined  together  and  compacted  by  that 
which  every  joint  supplieth,  according  to  the  effectual  working  in 
the  measure  of  every  part,  maketh  increase  of  the  body  unto  the 
edifying  of  itself  in  love."  And  he  expresseth  it  again  to  the  same 
purpose.  Col.  ii.  19.  There  are  various  allusions  in  the  words,  both 
unto  an  artificial  house  and  unto  the  natural  body  of  a  man.  The 
sum  is,  that  in  Christ,  the  head  of  this  body,  the  lord  and  buihler 
of  this  house,  there  is  resident  a  Spirit  of  life,  which  by  him  is  com- 
municated to  every  stone  of  the  house,  which  gives  it  life,  useful- 
ness, union  unto  the  head  or  lord  of  the  body  or  house,  as  also  order 
and  beauty  iu  reference  unto  the  whole;  that  is,  being  all  alike 
uniU;d  unto  Christ,  and  acted  in  their  places  and  order  by  one 
Spirit,  they  become  one  house  unto  God.  In  brief,  the  compact- 
ing and  uniting  of  the  materials  of  this  house  is  twofold; — first, 
physical  and  living ;  secondly,  legal  or  moral.  The  former  is,  as 
was  said,  by  the  communication  of  the  same  Spirit  of  life  unto  them 
all  which  is  in  Christ  their  head,  so  that  they  are  all  animated  aud 
acted  by  the  same  Spirit.     The  latter  is  their  regular  dispositiou 


546  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

into  beautifully-ordered  societies,  according  to  the  rules  and  laws  of 
the  gospel. 

Thirdly,  That  the  house  so  built  and  compacted  might  be  a 
habitation  unto  God,  it  was  necessary  that  an  atonement  should  be 
made  for  it  by  sacrifice,  and  that  it  should  be  purified  and  sanctified 
with  the  blood  thereof.  This  our  apostle  declares,  Heb.  ix.  19-21: 
"  For  when  Moses  had  spoken  every  precept  to  all  the  people  accord- 
ing to  the  law,  he  took  the  blood  of  calves  and  of  goats,  with  water, 
and  scarlet  wool,  and  hyssop,  and  sprinkled  both  the  book  and  all 
the  people,  saying.  This  is  the  blood  of  the  testament  which  God 
hath  enjoined  unto  you.  Moreover,  he  sprinkled  with  blood  both 
the  tabernacle  and  all  the  vessels  of  the  ministry."  This  also  was 
Christ  to  do  in  the  building  of  his  church,  as  the  apostle  in  the 
same  place  declares.  He  was  to  make  atonement  for  it  by  the 
sacrifice  of  himself,  and  to  sprinkle  it  wholly  with  his  own  blood, 
that  both  an  atonement  might  be  made  for  it,  and  likewise  that  it 
might  be  cleansed,  sanctified,  and  dedicated  unto  God;  which  part  of 
his  work  in  building  his  house  the  Scripture  most  largely  insists  upon. 

FourtJily,  The  tabernacle  being  erected,  and  sprinkled  with 
blood,  it  was  also  with  all  its  utensils  to  be  anointed  with  the  lioly 
oil;  and  it  was  so  accordingly,  Exod.  xl.  9,  10.  "Thou  shalt," 
saith  God,  "  take  the  anointing  oil,  and  anoint  the  tabernacle,  and 
all  that  is  therein,  and  shalt  hallow  it,  and  all  the  vessels  thereof: 
and  it  shall  be  holy.  And  thou  shalt  anoint  the  altar  of  the  burnt- 
offering,  and  all  his  vessels,  and  sanctify  the  altar:  and  it  shall  be 
an  altar  most  holy."  That  this  unction  was  a  type  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  known ;  he  is  the  "oil  of  gladness"  Avherewith  Christ  himself 
and  all  his  were  to  be  anointed.  This,  therefore,  the  Lord  Christ 
in  an  especial  manner  takes  care  for  in  the  building  of  his  house, 
namely,  to  have  it  anointed  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  he  promised 
unto  them,  John  xvi.  7;  and  this  he  performeth  accordingly,  1  John 
ii.  27.  This  unction,  with  all  the  blessed  and  glorious  effects  of  it, 
doth  the  Lord  Christ  grant  unto  this  whole  house  of  his.  And  these 
are  the  heads  of  some  of  the  principal  actings  of  Christ  in  the  build- 
ing of  the  house  of  God;  all  which  are  done  by  him  effectually,  and 
by  him  alone. 

Lastly,  Unto  the  completing  of  this  house  for  a  habitation  to 
the  Lord,  the  glorious  entrance  of  his  presence  into  it  was  required. 
•  And  this  also  is  accomplished  by  him,  according  to  his  promise  that 
he  will  be  with  us,  among  us,  and  dwell  in  us  by  his  Spirit,  unto  the 
end  of  the  world.  Matt,  xxviii.  20,  1  Cor.  iii.  16,  2  Cor.  vi.  16, 
Eph.  ii.  19-22. 

And  so  we  have  briefly  demonstrated  the  first  thing  expresse'd  in 
the  words,  namely,  that  Christ  was  the  builder  of  the  house,  whereof 
Moses  was  a  part  and  a  member  only. 


VER.  3  6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  547 

2.  The  second  thing  asserted  is,  that  the  Lord  Christ  is  worthy 
of  all  glory  and  honour,  upon  the  account  of  his  thus  building  his 
chuich,  the  house  of  God. 

This  also  is  directly  taught  by  the  apostle,  and  .included  in  the 
comparison  that  he  makes  of  him  with  Moses,  and  his  preference 
above  him.  He  is  worthy  of  much  more  glory  and  honour  than 
Moses.  What  glory  it  is  that  the  apostle  intends  we  must  first  in- 
quire; and  then  show  both  that  he  is  worthy  of  it  and  also  hath  it; 
which  things  comprise  what  remains  of  the  apostle's  intention  in  this 
first  argument. 

First,  The  Lord  Christ  liath  an  essential  glory,  the  same  with 
that  of  the  FatKerT  This  he  had  from  eternity,  antecedent  unto  his 
whole  undertaking  of  building  the  house  of  God,  He  and  his  Father 
are  ONE,  John  x.  30.  Before  his  humiliation  "  he  was  in  the  form  of 
God,  and  counted  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God,"  Phil.  ii.  6. — 
equal  in  dignity  and  glory,  because  of  the  same  nature  with  him, 
which  is  the  fountain  of  all  divine  glory  and  honour.  This  is  "  the 
glory  which  he  had  with  the  Father  before  the  world  was;"  which 
being  clouded  for  a  season,  in  his  taking  on  him  "  the  form  of  a  ser- 
vant," Phil.  ii.  7,  he  desires  the  manifestation  of  again,  upon  the 
accomplishment  of  his  work  in  this  world,  John  xvii.  5,  Rom.  i.  8,  4. 
But  this  is  not  the  glory  intended ;  for  the  reason  and  cause  of  it  is 
not  his  building  the  house  of  God,  but  his  divine  nature,  from  which 
it  is  absolutely  inseparable.  Had  this  house  never  been  built,  yet 
he  would  have  been  thus  glorious  to  eternity. 

Secondly,  Ther;e  is  in  Christ  the  glory  and  honour  of  the  human 
nature,  as  glorified  after  its  obedience  and  suffering.  This  nature 
was  rendered  glorious  by  virtue  of  its  union  with  the  Son  of  God  fron? 
his  incarnation,  as  it  is  expressed  by  the  angel,  Luke  i.  35:  "'The 
Holy  Ghost  shall  come  upon  thee,  and  the  power  of  the  Highest 
shall  overshadow  thee  ;  therefore  also  that  holy  thing  which  shall  be 
born  of  thee  shall  be  called  the  Son  of  God."  But  it  received  an 
inconceivable  addition  of  glory,  when,  being  made  spiritual  and 
heavenly,  and  every  way  glorified  beyond  what  the  understanding 
of  man  can  reach  unto  (for  whereas  "  our  vile  bodies  .shall  be  made 
like  unto  his  glorious  body,"  or  we  shall  be  made  like  unto  him, 
"  it  doth  not  appear,"  is  not  conceivable,  "  what  we  shall  be,"  1  John 
iii.  2),  it  was  received  triumphantly  into  heaven.  Acts  i.  9,  there  to 
continue  "  until  the  times  of  the  restitution  of  ail  things,"  chap.  iii.  21. 
Neither  is  this,  as  absolutely  considered,  the  glory  and  honour  here 
intended;  for  this  glory  is  not  merely  that  which  he  hath  in  himself, 
but  that  which  is  due  to  him  from  and  given  to  him  by  the  church. 

Thirdly,  There  is  the  honour  and  glory  which  he  hath  received  in 
his  exaltation  as  the  hecid  o/jhe  church.  What  this  glory  is,  and 
wherein  it  doth  consist,  or  what  are  the  effects  of  his  exaltation, 


548  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

have  been  at  large  declared  on  chap.  i.  2,  3,  etc.  See  Matt,  xxviii.18, 
Eph.  i.  20-22,  Col.  i.  15-18.  In  this  last  place,  both  the  nature 
and  reason  and  consequents  of  it  are  expressed.  The  nature  of 
it  is  in  this,  that  he  is  "  the  first-born  of  every  creature,"  verse  1 5, 
or  lord  and  heir  of  the  whole  creation  of  God ;  "  the  head  of  the 
body,"  with  an  absolute  pre-eminence  in  all  things,  verse  18.  And 
the  reason  which  makes  this  exaltation  reasonable  is  taken  from  the 
dio-nity  of  his  person  absolutely  considered,  and  the  infiniteness  of 
his  power:  for,  in  his  person  he  is  "  the  image  of  the  invisible  God," 
verse  15,  or  "  the  express  image"  of  the  Father,  as  Heb.  i.  S;  and  as 
to  his  power,  "  by  him  were  all  things  created,  that  are  in  heaven,  and 
that  are  in  earth,"  verse  16,  as  is  at  large  declared,  John  i.  1-3.  This 
made  it  equal,  that  having  fulfilled  the  work  assigned  unto  him, 
mentioned  verses  20-22,  he  should  enjoy  all  the  glory  and  honour  in- 
sisted on;  that  is,  that  after  he  had  built  the  house  of  God,  he  was 
thus  exalted. 

What  this  glory  or  honour  of  Christ  is,  with  respect  unto  the 
church  or  the  house  built  by  him,  shall  be  briefly  declared,  supjjos- 
ing,  as  was  said  l)efore,  what  hath  been  already  taught  concerning 
it  on  the  first  chapter.     And  it  may  be  considered, — 

First,  In  respect  of  the  collation  of  it  upon  him.  His  glory  as 
the  eternal  Sou  of  God  was  and  is  personal  and  natural  unto  him, 
even  as  it  is  unto  the  Father;  for  each  person  being  possessed  "in 
solidum"  of  the  same  nature,  each  of  them  being  God  hy  nature, 
and  the  savie  God,  they  have  the  same  glory.  But  this  glory  of 
Christ,  as  the  builder  of  the  church,  as  mediator,  is  consequent  unto, 
and  bestowed  upon  him  by  the  will  and  actual  donation  of  the 
Father.  By  him  was  he  designed  unto  his  work,  and  from  him  doth 
he  receive  his  glory.  He  "  raised  him  from  the  dead,  and  gave  him 
glory,"  1  Pet.  i.  21 :  that  is,  not  only  rendered  him  glorious  by  his 
resurrection,  as  he  was  "  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God  with  power, 
according  to  the  Spirit  of  holiness,  by  the  resurrection  from  the  dead," 
as  Rom.  i.  4, — that  is,  made  known  by  that  miraculous,  divine  ope- 
ration to  be  the  true,  real  Son  of  God,  and  his  divine  nature  thereby 
manifested;  nor  only  because  he  was  afterwards  "  received  up  into 
glory,"  1  Tim.  iii.  16, — that  is,  gloriously  and  triumphantly  in  his 
human  nature  received  into  heaven;  but  because  it  was  his  will  that 
glory  and  honour  should  be  yielded,  ascribed,  and  paid  unto  him. 
■  For  so  he  speaks  concerning  the  whole  intellectual  creation :  as  first, 
for  angels,  he  saith,  "  Let  all  the  angels  of  God  worship  him,"  Heb. 
3.  6;  and  for  men,  "The  Father  hath  committed  all  judgment  unto 
the  Son,  that  all  men  should  honour  the  Son,  even  as  they  honour 
the  Father,"  John  v.  22,  23.  So  that  this  glory  and  honour  is  con- 
ferred upon  the  Lord  Christ  as  the  builder  of  the  church,  by  the 
grant,  donation,  and  will  of  the  Father. 


VER.  3-6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  549 

Secondly,  As  to  the  nature  of  this  glory,  it  consists  in  this,  that 
lit;  is  tlie  object  of  all  divine  religious  worship,  and  the  principal 
author  of  all  the  laws  thereof  whereby  it  is  outwardly  and  solemnly 
celebrated  or  performeil.  Hence  there  is  a  twofold  duty  incumbent 
on  the  church  in  reference  to  him  who  is  the  builder  of  it,  our  medi- 
ator, Jesus  Christ: — 1.  That  they  serve  him,  trust  him,  believe  in 
him,  obey  him  with  all  religious  subjection  of  soul  and  conscience. 
Hence  saith  he,  "  Ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also  in  me,"  John  xiv. 
1 ; — '  Ye  believe  in  God  the  Father  who  sent  me,  believe  also  in  me 
who  am  sent,  with  the  same  divine  faith  and  confidence.'  Com- 
mands and  examples  unto  the  same  purpose  are  multiplied  in  the 
Scripture,  as  I  have  elsewhere  shown  at  large.  Jesus  Christ,  our 
mediator,  God  and  man,  the  builder  of  the  church,  is  the  proper 
object  of  our  religious  faith,  love,  and  fear,  even  as  the  Father  is. 
In  him  do  we  believe,  on  his  name  do  we  call,  to  him  do  we  subject 
and  commit  our  souls  unto  eternity.  This  glory  is  due  unto  him 
because  he  built  the  church.  2.  The  observation  of  all  his  com- 
mands, laws,  and  institutions,  as  the  great  sovereign  Lord  over  our 
souls  and  consciences  in  all  things;  for  "to  this  end  Christ  both  died, 
and  rose,  and  revived,  that  he  might  be  Lord  both  of  the  dead 
and  living,"  Rom.  xiv.  9; — supreme  Lord  over  us  whilst  alive,  re- 
quiring obedience  to  all  his  laws,  as  a  son  over  his  own  house;  and 
when  we  are  dead,  to  raise  us  again  and  to  bring  us  unto  his  judg- 
m  nt-seat,  as  verses  10, 1 1.  And  this  obedience  he  gives  in  command 
to  all  his  disciples,  Matt,  xxviii.  20.  And  in  these  things  consists 
that  peculiar  glory  which  Christ  as  this  builder  of  the  house  hath, 
or  is  endowed  withal. 

Thirdly,  Two  things  may  be  considered  concerning  this  glory: — 
1.  What  it  is  that  is  the  formal  reason  of  it, — that  which  renders 
him  a  meet  object  of  the  church's  worship,  and  the  church's  wor- 
ship to  be  truly  divine  or  religious.  2.  What  is  the  principal 
motive  prevailing  with  us  to  give  him  this  glory  and  honour. 

For  the  first,  it  is  no  other  but  the  divine  nature.  The  natural  and 
essential  excellencies  of  the  Deity  are  the  formal  reason  and  proper 
object  of  all  divine  worship.  We  worship  the  Lord  Christ,  who  is  Goil 
and  man.  He  is  so  in  one  person;  and  his  person  who  is  God  and 
man  is  the  oVyect  of  that  worship.  But  the  formal  reason  and  ob- 
ject of  it  is  the  divine  nature  in  that  person.  Give  me  leave  to  say, 
God  himself  could  not  command  the  Lord  Christ  to  be  worshipped 
with  divine  religious  adoration  were  he  not  Gcd  hy  nature,  for  the 
thing  itself  implieth  a  contradiction.  Religious  worship  is  nothing 
but  an  assignation  of  that  honour  which  is  due  to  divine  excellen- 
cies; namely,  to  trust,  believe,  fear,  obey,  love,  and  submit  unto 
iiitinite  holiness,  goodness,  righteousness,  power,  in  the  first  cause, 
last  end,  and  sovereign  Lord  of  all.     Now,  to  assign  glory  proper  to 


650  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

divine  excellencies,  and  which  receiveth  its  nature  from  its  object, 
where  divine  excellencies  are  not,  is  openly  contradictory.  Besides, 
God  hath  said,  "  I  am  the  Lord  :  that  is  ray  name :  and  my  glory 
will  I  not  give  to  another,"  Isa  xlii.  8.  He  that  hath  not  the 
name  of  God,  (that  is,  his  nature,)  shall  not,  nor  can  have  this  glory, 
which  is  to  be  the  object  of  the  worship  mentioned.  And  there  are 
scarcely  more  gross  idolaters  in  the  world  than  those  who  profess 
to  worship  Christ  and  to  believe  in  him,  in  a  word,  to  give  him 
all  the  glory  that  is  due  to  God,  and  yet  deny  him  so  to  be. 

Now,  in  our  worship  of  Ciirist,  which  is  our  assignation  of  glory 
unto  him,  he  is  considered  two  ways: — (1.)  Absolutely,  as  he  is  "  over 
all,  God  blessed  for  ever,"  Rom.  ix.  5.  (2.)  As  he  is  the  mediator  be- 
tween theFatherand  us.  (1.)  In  the  first  respect  he  is  the  proper  and 
ultimate  object  of  our  worship.  We  believe  in  him,  pray  unto  him; 
as  Stephen  offered  his  dying  prayer  unto  him  in  particular.  They 
stoned  Stephen,  praying  or  invocating  in  these  vvords,  "  Lord  Jesus, 
receive  my  spirit,"  Acts  vii.  59.  So  are  we  baptized  in  his  name, 
and  thereby  initiated  into  his  service,  as  our  Lord  and  our  God,  as 
Tliomas  expresseth  his  confession  of  him,  John  xx.  28.  So  may  we 
pray  unto  iiim  directly  and  distinctly,  making  his  person  the  ulti- 
mate object  of  our  faith,  trust,  and  subjection  of  soul  therein.  See 
Eph.  v.  23-25;  2  Cor.  v.  15;  Tit  ii.  14;  Rom.  xiv  9,  18.  (2.)  Con- 
sider him  in  the  latter  way,  as  the  mediator  between  the  Father  and 
us;  so  he  is  the  immediate  but  not  the  ultimate  object  of  our  wor- 
ship. In  this  sense,  "  through  him  we  do  believe  in  God,  who 
raised  him  up  from  the  dead,  and  gave  him  glory,  that  our  faith 
and  hope  might  be  in  God,"  1  1  et.  i.  21.  He  is  the  means  of  our 
iaith  and  hope.  By  him  "  we  have  access  by  one  Spirit  unto  the 
Father,"  Eph.  ii.  18.  And  according  to  his  command,  we  ask  of  God 
in  his  name,  and  for  his  sake,  John  xvi.  23,  24,  26.  And  in  this 
sense,  in  all  our  worship,  internal  and  external,  in  our  faith,  confi- 
dence, obedience,  and  supplications,  the  Father  is  considered  as  the 
ultimate  object  of  our  worship,  and  the  Lord  Christ  the  Son  as  he  who 
hath  procured  acceptance  for  us,  who  pleads  our  cause,  manageth 
our  affairs,  justifies  our  persons,  and  prevails  for  grace  and  mercy. 
And  this  is  the  most  ordinary  and  standing  way  of  faith  in  the  wor- 
ship of  God.  We  address  ourselves  to  the  Father  by  Christ  the  Son 
as  mediator,  considering  him  as  vested  with  his  ofl&ces  in  and  over 
the  house  of  God.  This  the  apostle  excellently  expresseth,  Eph.  iii. 
14-19.  However,  it  is  free  for  us  to  address  our  petitions  directly 
unto  Christ  as  he  is  God,  equal  with  the  Father. 

And  we  may  see  here  the  difference  that  is  between  our  worship 
of  Christ  the  mediator,  and  the  Papists'  worship  of  their  saints  and 
angf^ls.  They  go  first  to  their  saints,  to  the  blessed  Virgin  especially. 
Vo  her  ihey  pray; — what  to  do?   To  give  them  grace,  mercy,  pardon 


VER.  3-6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  651 

of  sins,  and  salvation.  This,  indeed,  many  of  them  have  done,  and 
do,  and  that  in  a  horrible,  idolatrous,  blasphemous  manner.  But 
this  they  commonly  plead,  that  they  only  pray  to  saints  that  they 
would  pray  and  intercede  with  God  for  them,  granting  that  they 
may  be  mediators  of  intercession,  though  not  of  oblation.  Well, 
then,  their  praying  unto  saints  is  one  distinct  act  of  worship,  whereof 
the  saints  are  tlie  only  object;  which,  they  l)eing  mere  creatures,  is 
open  and  express  idolatry.  But  now  in  our  worship  of  God  by  Christ, 
it  is  the  same  worship  whei'eby  we  worship  the  Father  and  the  Son, 
the  Father  in  and  through  the  Son;  with  the  same  actings  of  faith 
and  confidence,  and  by  the  same  invocation, — the  one  as  the  object 
ultimately  of  our  intercession,  the  other  as  the  mediator  of  our  ac- 
ceptance. But  it  will  be  said.  May  we  not  then  pray  to  Christ  to 
pray  to  the  Father  for  us,  which  would  be  a  distinct  act  of  religious 
worship?  I  answer, — (1.)  We  have  no  precedent  in  Scripture  nor 
warrant  for  any  such  address;  (2.)  It  seems  not  agreeable  to  the 
analogy  of  faith  that  we  should  j^ray  unto  Christ  to  discharge  his 
own  office  fliithfuliy.  But  this  we  may  do,  we  may  pray  unto  him 
distinctly  for  grace,  mercy,  pardon,  because  he  is  God;  and  we  may 
pray  unto  the  Father  by  him,  as  he  is  ou7'  mediator:  which  two 
modes  of  divine  worship  are  sufficiently  revealed  in  the  Scripture. 

Secondly,  Having  considered  the  formal  reason  of  the  glory  in- 
sisted on,  we  are  nextly  to  inquire  after  the  great  motive  unto  our 
giving  him  this  glory,  that  makes  him  worthy  of  it,  and  obligeth  us 
in  especial  duty  to  give  it  unto  him.  Christ  our  mediator,  God 
manifested  in  the  flesh,  God  and  man,  whole  Christ,  his  divine  and 
human  nature  in  one  person,  is  the  object  of  our  religious  adoration 
and  worship;  and  it  is  just,  righteous,  equal,  that  we  should  con- 
stantly and  continually  worship  him,  because  he  hath  built  the  house 
of  God,  because  of  his  work  of  mediation. 

As  it  is  in  the  first  command,  so  it  is  in  this  matter,  "  I  am  the 
Lord  thy  God,  which  have  brought  thee  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt, 
out  of  the  house  of  bondage.  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  be- 
fore me,"  Exod.  xx.  2,  3.  Declaring  himself  to  be  the  Lord  God, 
he  proposeth  the  formal  reason  of  all  religious  worship,  and  that 
which  makes  it  indispensably  necessary.  But  yet,  to  stir  the  people 
up  unto  the  actual  performance  of  it,  he  adds  that  great  motive  in 
whai  he  had  done  for  them ;— he  had  brought  them  out  from  the  land 
of  Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage.  Had  he  not  done  so,  all 
worship  and  honour  divine  was  due  unto  him ;  but  having  done  so, 
it  is  a  strong  obligation  to  bind  them  to  diligence  in  its  observance. 
So  I  say  it  is  in  this  matter.  Christ  is  to  be  worshipped  because 
he  is  God,  but  the  great  motive  hereunto  is  what  he  hath  done  for 
us  in  the  work  of  redemption.  And  unto  all  that  we  have  said  in 
this  matter  we  have  the  joint  testimony  of  all  the  saints  and  angels 


5,' 2  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  ,    [CHAP.  III. 

of  God ;  Rev.  v.  8-13,  "  And  when  lie  had  taken  the  book,  the  four 
living  creatures  and  four  and  twenty  elders  fell  down  before  the 
Lamb,  having  every  one  of  them  harps,  and  golden  vials  full  of 
odours,  which  are  the  prayers  of  saints.  And  they  sung  a  new 
souf^,  saying.  Thou  art  worthy  to  take  the  book,  and  to  open  the 
seals  thereof:  for  thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God 
by  thy  blood  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and 
nation;  and  hast  made  us  unto  our  God  kings  and  priests:  and  we 
sliall  reign  on  the  earth.  And  I  beheld,  and  I  heard  the  voice  of 
many  angels  round  about  the  throne,  and  the  living  creatures,  and 
the  elders:  and  the  number  of  them  was  ten  thousand  times  ten 
thousand,  and  thousands  of  thousands;  saying  with  a  loud  voice, 
Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain  to  receive  power,  and  riches, 
and  wisdom,  and  strength,  and  honour,  and  glory,  and  blessing. 
And  every  creature  which  is  in  heaven,  and  on  the  earth,  and  under 
the  earth,  and  such  as  are  in  the  sea,  and  all  that  are  in  them,  heard 
I  saying,  Blessing,  and  honour,  and  glory,  and  power,  be  unto  him 
that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb,  for  ever  and  ever," 
The  whole  of  what  we  have  asserted  is  here  confirmed :  for, — (1,)  The 
Lamb  here  is  Jesus  Christ  the  Mediator,  the  Lamb  of  God  that  took 
away  the  sins  of  the  world,  (2.)  The  worship  and  honour  ascribed 
unto  him  is  holy,  sacred,  and  religious,  and  that  from  the  whole  crea- 
tion, (3.)  It  is  but  one  and  the  same  worship  that  is  given  unto 
the  Lamb  and  to  him  that  sits  u{jon  the  throne,  even  the  Father. 
(4.)  The  reason  hereof  and  great  motive  unto  it,  whence  it  is  said 
that  he  is  worthy  of  it, — that  is,  it  is  our  continual  duty  to  perform 
it  unto  him, — is  because  of  the  great  things  he  hath  done  for  us  in 
our  redemption  and  salvation;  that  is,  his  building  of  the  house  of 
God, 

From  what  hath  been  spoken,  it  is  evident  in  what  sense  we 
worship  "the  man  Christ  Jesus"  with  divine  honour  and  worship,  even 
as  his  human  nature,  by  virtue  of  personal  union,  subsisteth  in  the 
person  of  the  Son  of  God,  which  person  is  the  proper  object  of  our 
worship. 

To  close  this  matter,  here  lies  a  great  difference  between  Christ 
and  Moses,  that  whereas  the  work  of  Moses  brought  all  the  honour 
and  glory  he  had  unto  his  person,  and  wliich  yet  was  but  an  inferior 
work,  the  work  of  a  servant  or  ministerial  builder,  the  person  of 
Christ  brought  glory  and  honour  unto  his  work,  although  it  was 
very  excellent  and  glorious;  for  he  condescended  and  humbled  him- 
self unto  it,  Phil,  ii,  6-8.  But  yet  the  work  being  done,  is  a  cause  of 
giving  new  honour  and  glory  unto  his  person. 

It  remains  only  that  I  briefly  give  the  reasons  why  this  building 
of  the  house  doth  render  the  Lord  Christ  so  worthy  of  glory  and 
honour.     It  doth  so, — 


VEH.  3-6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  f)53 

First,  Because  the  work  itself  was  great  and  glorious.  Great 
works  make  the  authors  of  them  famous  and  honourable.  Hence 
have  beea  the  endeavours  of  men  to  eternize  their  names,  to  make 
themselves  famous  and  renowned  by  their  works  and  buildings. 
This  was  one  end  of  that  stupendous  enterprise  of  the  children  of 
men  in  the  building  of  Babel;  they  would  build  a  tower  to  make 
themselves  a  name,  Gen.  xi.  4, — to  get  them  renown  and  glory. 
And  they  have  been  imitated  by  their  posterity,  who  in  all  ages 
have  praised  their  saying.  So  Nebuchailnezzar  testifieth  concern- 
ing himself:  Dan.  iv.  30,  "  Is  not  this,"  saith  he,  "  great  Babylon, 
that  I  have  built  for  the  house  of  the  kingdom,  by  the  might  of 
my  power,  and  for  the  honour  of  my  majesty  V  But  alas,  what 
poor  perishing  heaps  have  been  the  products  of  their  endeavours ! 
they  have  all  long  ago  been  made  a  spoil  unto  time  and  confusion. 
When  Solomon  went  about  to  build  a  material  typical  house  for 
God,  he  tells  Hiram,  the  king  of  Tyre,  in  his  message  unto  him,  that 
the  house  which  he  built  was  very  great;  for,  saith  he,  "  Great  is  our 
God  above  all  gods,"  2  Chron.  ii.  5,  6.  But  he  adds  moreover,  "  But 
who  is  able  to  build  him  an  house,  seeing  the  heaven  and  heaven  of 
heavens  cannot  contain  him?  who  am  I  then,  that  I  should  build 
him  an  house,  save  only  to  burn  sacrifice  before  him;" — 'The  use 
of  this  house  is,  not  for  God  to  dwell  in,  but  for  us  to  worship  him 
in.  Do  not  conceive  that  I  am  building  a  temple  with  such  thoughts 
and  apprehensions  as  the  nations  build  theirs  unto  their  false  deities, 
namely,  to  confine  them  to  a  place  and  keep  them  in.  The  im- 
mensity of  the  nature  of  our  God  will  admit  of  no  such  thing.  It  is 
only  a  place  for  his  service  that  I  intend.'  But  now  this  hath  Christ 
done;  he  hath  built  a  house ^for  God  to  dwell  in  for  ever.  And 
this,  on  many  accounts,  was  ^^reater  work  than  that  of  the  creation 
of  all  things  out  of  nothing.  '  But  if  from  that  ancient  work  of  crea- 
tion was  to  arise  all  the  glory  of  God  according  to  the  law  of  nature, 
how  excellent  is  this  honour  and  glory  which  ariseth  to  Jesus  Christ, 
and  to  God  by  him,  from  this  new  creation,  from  his  forming  and. 
creating/*  new  heavens  and  anew  earth,  v/herein  dwelleth  righteous- 
ness !      ' 

Secondly,  It  is  glorious  on  all  accounts  of  glory.  Glorious  in  it- 
self:  who  can  set  forth,  who  can  express  the  glory  and  beauty,  tlie 
order  of  this  work  ?  The  tabernacle,  with  the  temple  of  old,  and 
all  their  furniture,  were  exceeding  glorious;  but  yet  they  and  their 
worship  had  no  glory  in  comparison  of  the  more  excellent  glory  of 
this  spiritual  house,  2  Cor.  iii.  10. 

It  IS  glorious  in  its  foundation ;  which  is  Christ  himself.  "Other 
foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  which  is  laid,  which  is  Jesus 
Christ,"  1  Cor.  iii.  11.  This  is  the  rock  on  which  this  hou.se  is  built, 
Matt.  xvi.  18.     He  is  laid  "  in  Zion  for  a  foundation,  a  stone,  a  tried 


654  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

Stone,  a  precious  corner-stone,  a  sure  foundation,"  Isa.  xxviii.  16, — 
so  glorious  that  when  he  is  brought  forth,  those  concerned  in  the 
building  shout  with  crying,  "  Grace,  grace  unto  it,"  Zech.  iv.  7.  And 
it  is  glorious  in  its  superstruction ;  it  is  built  up  of  living  stones, 
1  Pet.  ii.  4;  which  also  are  precious  and  elect,  cemented  among  them- 
selves and  wrought  into  beauty  and  order  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  It 
is  also,  glorious  in  respect  of  its  end;  it  is  built  unto  the  glory  of 
God,  fXhis  house  is  the  foundation  of  eternal  glory,  as  being  that 
upon  ihe  account  whereof  God  will  for  ever  be  glorified.  It  comes 
into  the  place  of  the  whole  creation  at  first,  and  doubles  the  revenue 
of  glory  unto  God/  But  as  unto  these  things  more  must  be  spokeu 
afterwards.  y 

Our  duty  is  to  bear  in  mind  this  honour  and  glory  of  Christ,  as 
that  whereunto  he  is  exalted,  that  whereof  he  is  every  way  worthy. 
And  herein  our  concernment  and  honour  doth  lie.  For  if  any  one 
member  of  the  mystical  body  being  honoured,  all  the  members  re- 
joice with  it,  1  Cor.  xii.  26,  how  much  more  have  all  the  members 
cause  to  rejoice  in  this  unspeakable  honour  and  glory  of  their  head, 
whence  all  their  honour  in  particular  doth  flow  ! 

8.  The  honour  and  glory  of  all  that  ever  were  employed,  or  ever 
shall  so  be,  in  the  work  and  service  of  the  house  of  God,  jointly  and 
severally  considered,  is  inferior,  subordinate,  and  subservient  to  the 
glory  and  honour  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  chief  builder  of  tlie  house. 
He  is  worthy  of  more  honour  than  they  all.  He  is  the  Son,  they 
are  servants.  He  is  over  the  house,  they  are  in  it,  and  parts  of  it. 
They  are  shepherds,  but  the  sheep  and  the  lambs  are  his.  He  is 
the  ap^iTnifiriv,  the  chief  or  prince  of  shepherds;  all  their  honour  is 
from  him,  and  if  it  be  not  returned  unto  him,  it  is  utterly  lost. 

Ver.  4, — "  For  every  house  is  builded  by  some  man ;  but  he  that 
built  all  things  is  God," 

In  this  verse  the  apostle  confirms  and  illustrates  what  he  had 
before  asserted  and  proved.  Hereunto  two  things  were  necessary ; 
for,  first,  whereas  his  whole  discourse  had  reference  unto  the  analogy 
that  is  between  a  house  and  its  builder  on  the  one  hand,  and  Christ 
with  his  church  on  the  other, — seeing  it  lies  in  this,  that  as  the  builder 
is  worthy  of  more  honour  than  the  house  built  by  him,  so  is  Christ 
worthy  of  more  than  the  whole  church  or  house  of  God  which  was  built 
by  him, — it  was  therefore  necessary  to  show  that  his  argument  had 
a  real  foundation  in  the  things  from  which  the  parity  of  reason  in- 
sisted on  by  him  did  arise.  This  he  doth  in  the  first  words,  "  Every 
house  is  builded  by  some."  Every  house  whatever  hath  its  builder, 
between  whom  and  the  house  there  is  that  respect  that  he  is  more 
honourable  than  it.  This,  therefore,  holds  equally  in  an  artificial 
house  and  in  an  analogical.      The  respect  mentioned  is  alike  in  both. 


YER.  3-6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  555 

Secondly,  If  that  building  of  the  house  which  alone  would  make 
good  the  apostle's  inference  and  intention  (namely,  that  Christ  was 
more  honourable  than  Moses,  because  he  built  the  house,  Moses  was 
only  a  part  of  it),  were  such  as  we  have  described,  the  building  of 
the  church  in  all  ages,  who  could  perform  it  ?  to  whom  must  this 
work  belong  ?    Why,  saith  he,  "  He  who  built  all  things  is  God." 

Two  things  are  here  to  be  inquired  into; — first,  What  is  intended 
by  the  "  all  things"  here  mentioned ;  secondly.  Who  is  intended  by 
"  God,"  who  is  said  to  build  them  all. 

For  the  first,  ra  vtivra,  "  all  things,"  is  put  ibr  raDra  itdwa^  "  all 
these  things," — all  the  things  treated  about;  which  kind  of  expres- 
sion is  frequent  in  the  Scripture.  And  therefore  Beza  well  renders 
the  words  "  hsec  omnia,"  "  all  these  things," — the  whole  house,  and 
all  the  persons  that  belong  unto  it,  or  the  parts  of  it  in  all  ages. 
And  thus  is  ra  'Ko.MrcL  constantly  restrained  to  the  subject-matter 
treated  of.  Besides,  the  word  xaraGTisvdcag,  here  used  by  the  apostle, 
whereby  he  expressed  before  the  building  of  the  house,  plainly  de- 
clares that  it  is  the  same  kind  of  building  that  he  yet  treats  of,  and 
not  the  absolute  creation  of  all  things,  which  is  nowhere  expressed 
by  that  word.  And  this  is  sufficient  to  evince  what  we  plead  for. 
This  word  is  nowhere  used  in  the  Scripture  to  express  the  creation  of 
all  things,  neither  doth  it  signify  to  create,  but  to  "prepare"  and  to 
"  build."  And  it  is  often  used  in  this  business  of  preparing  the  church 
or  the  ways  of  the  worship  of  God.  See  Matt.  xi.  10;  Luke  i.  17, 
vii.  27;  Heb.  ix.  2,  6.  So  that  there  can  be  no  pretence  of  apply- 
ing it  to  the  creation,  of  the  world  in  this  place.  Again,  the  making 
of  all  things,  or  the  first  creation,  doth  not  belong  unto  his  purpose ; 
but  the  mention  of  it  would  disturb  the  series  of  his  discourse,  and 
render  it  equivocal.  There  is  neither  reason  for  it  in  his  design,  nor 
place  for  it  in  his  discourse,  nor  any  thing  in  it  to  his  purpose. 

Secondly,  Who  is  here  intended  by  the  name  "  God."  The  words 
may  be  so  understood  as  to  signify  either  that  God  made  or  built  all 
these  things,  or,  that  he  who  made  and  built  all  these  things  is 
God;  the  first  sense  making  God  the  subject,  the  latter  the  predicate 
of  the  proposition.  But  as  to  our  purpose  they  amount  unto  the 
same;  for  if  he  who  made  them  is  God,  his  making  of  them  declares 
him  so  to  be.  And  it  is  the  Lord  Christ  who  is  intended  in  this 
expression;  for, — 

First,  If  God  absolutely,  or  God  the  Father,  be  intended,  then  by 
"  the  building  of  all  things"  the  creation  of  the  world  is  designed;  so 
they  all  grant  who  are  of  that  opinion :  but  that  this  is  not  so  we 
have  already  demonstrated  from  the  words  themselves. 

Secondly,  The  introduction  of  God  absolutely,  and  his  building  of 
all  things,  in  this  place,  is  no  way  subservient  unto  the  purj)ose  of 
the  apostle;  for  what  light  or  evidence  doth  this  contribute  unto  his 


556  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

principal  assertion,  namely,  that  the  Lord  Christ  was  more  honour- 
able than  Moses,  and  that  upon  the  account  of  his  building  the  house 
of  God,  the  confirmation  whereof  he  doth  in  these  words  expressly 
design. 

Thirdly,  It  is  contrary  to  his  purpose ;  for  whereas  he  doth  not 
prove  the  Lord  Christ  to  be  deservedly  preferred  above  Moses,  unless 
he  manifest  that  by  his  own  power  he  built  the  house  of  God  in 
such  a  manner  as  Moses  was  not  employed  in,  according  to  this  in- 
terpretation of  the  words,  he  here  assigns  the  principal  building  of 
the  house  unto  another,  even  the  Father,  and  so  overthrows  what 
he  had  before  asserted. 

This,  then,  is  that  which  by  these  words  the  apostle  intends  to 
declare,  namely,  the  ground  and  reason  whence  it  is  that  the  house 
was  or  could  be  in  that  glorious  manner  built  by  Christ,  even  be- 
cause he  is  God,  and  so  able  to  etfect  it;  and  by  this  effect  of  his 
power  he  is  manifested  so  to  be. 

Ver.  5,  6. — "  And  Moses  verily  \ii)as]  faithful  in  all  his  h6use, 
as  a  servant,  for  a  testimony  of  those  things  which  were  \after^^  to 
be  spoken;  but  Christ  [was  faithful]  as  a  son  over  his  own  house; 
whose  house  are  we,  if  we  hold  last  the  confidence  and  the  rejoicing 
of  the  hope,  firm  unto  the  end." 

The  apostle  in  these  words  proceedeth  imto  another  argument  to 
the  same  purpose  with  the  former,  consisting  in  a  comparison  be- 
tween Christ  and  Moses  in  reference  unto  their  relation  to  the  house 
of  God  when  built.  In  the  building  they  were  both  faithful,  Christ 
as  the  chief  builder,  Moses  as  a  principtd  part  of  the  house,  minis- 
terially also  employed  in  the  building  of  it.  The  house  being  built, 
they  are  both  faithful  towards  it  in  their  several  relations  unto  it; — 
Moses  as  a  servant  in  the  house  of  God;  Christ  as  a  Son  over  his 
own  house ;  his  own  because  he  built  it. 

The  Vulgar  Latin  reads  also  in  the  latter  place,  "  in  the  house," 

,     ^    ,    ^       h  rip  o'Uw,  for  It/  rov  o/zoc,  "over  the  house;"  but  cor- 

ruptly,  as  was  observed,    ihe  agreement  oi  the  original 

copies  and  the  series  of  the  apostle's  discourse  require,  "  over  the 

house :"  "  a  Son  over  the  house." 

Some  by  a-oroZ  would  have  God  the  Father  to  be  intended,  "  over 

,    „        his  house,"  "  the  house  of  God."     But  the  other  sense, 

"his  own  house,"  is  evidently  intended.     Having  built 

the  house,  and  being  the  Son  or  lord  over  it,  it  becomes  his  own 

house. 

As  to  Moses,  there  are  in  the  words, — 1.  His  relation  to  the 
house  of  God,  which  was  that  of  a  "  servant ;"  2,  The  end  of  his 
ministry,  "  For  a  testimony  of  those  things  which  were  [after]  to  be 
spoken." 


VER.  '6-6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWb.  657 

In  reference  unto  the  Lord  Christ, — 1.  His  relation  to  the  house 
is  asserted  to  be  that  of  "  a  son/'  or  lord  "  over  the  house."  2.  An 
implication  of  his  faithfulness  in  that  relation,  "  But  Christ  as 
a  son ;"  that  is,  *  was  faithful  as  a  son/  3.  A  declaration  of  the 
state  and  condition  of  that  house  over  which  as  a  son  he  presides, 
with  an  application  of  the  things  spoken  unto  the  faith  and  obedi- 
ence of  the  Hebrews,  "  Whose  house  are  we,  if  we  hold  fast,"  etc. 

The  argument  of  the  apostle  in  these  words  is  obvious:  'The  son 
faithful  over  his  own  house  is  more  glorious  and  honourable  than  a 
servant  that  is  faithful  in  the  house  of  his  lord  and  master;  but 
Christ  was  thus  a  son  over  the  house,  Moses  only  a  servant  in  it/ 

There  is  one  difficulty  in  the  terms  of  this  argument,  which  must 
be  removed  before  we  enter  upon  the  explication  of  the  words  in 
particular;  and  this  lies  in  the  opposition  that  is  here  made  between 
a  son  and  a  servant,  on  which  the  stress  of  it  doth  lie.  For  Moses 
was  not  so  a  servant  but  that  he  was  also  a  child,  a  son  of  God ;  and 
the  Lord  Christ  was  not  so  a  son  but  that  he  was  also  the  servant 
of  the  Father  in  his  work,  and  is  in  the  Scripture  often  so  called, 
and  accordingly  he  constantly  professed  that  as  he  was  sent  by  the 
Father,  so  he  came  to  do  his  will  and  not  his  own. 

Ans.  First,  The  comparison  here  made  is  not  between  the  persons 
of  Ciu'ist  and  Moses  absolutely,  but  with  respect  unto  their  relation 
unto  the  church  or  house  of  God  in  their  offices.  Moses  was  indeed 
a  son  of  God  by  adoption  (for  "the  adoption"  belonged  unto  believers 
under  the  old  testament,  Rom.  ix.  4) ;  he  was  so  in  his  own  person ; 
but  he  was  not  a  son  in  reference  unto  the  house,  but  a  servant  by 
his  office,  and  no  more.  And  the  Lord  Christ,  who  was  the  Son  of 
God  upon  a  more  glorious  account,  even  that  of  his  eternal  ge- 
neration, is  not  here  thence  said  to  be  a  son,  he  is  not  as  such 
here  spoken  of,  but  as  one  that  had  the  rule  as  a  son  over  the 
house. 

Secondly,  It  is  true,  Christ  was  the  servant  of  the  Father  in  his 
work,  but  he  was  more  than  so  also.  Moses  was  in  the  house  a  ser- 
vaiit,  and  no  more.  The  Lord  Christ  was  so  a  servant  as  that  he 
was  also  the  son,  lord,  and  heir  of  all.  And  this,  as  to  the  eqiiity 
of  it,  is  founded  originally  in  the  dignity  of  his  person,  for  he  is 
"  over  all,  God  blessed  for  ever,"  Rom.  ix.  5.  He  was  God  and  Lord 
by  nature,  a  servant  by  condescension ;  and  therefore  made  a  son  or 
lord  by  the  Father's  constitution,  as  our  apostle  declares  at  large, 
Piiil.  ii.  6-9.  This,  then,  is  the  economy  of  this  matter:  being  in 
himself  God  over  all,  he  became  by  voluntary  condescension,  in  the 
susception  of  human  nature,  the  servant  of  the  Father;  and  upon 
the  doing  of  his  will,  he  had  the  honour  given  him  of  being  the  son, 
head,  and  lord  over  the  whole  house.  So  that  no  scruple  can  hence 
arise  against  the  force  of  the  apostle's  argument 


558  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP,  TIT. 

Two  things  are  in  general  contained  in  the  words,  as  they  report 
the  relation  of  Moses  to  the  house  of  God, — 1.  His  ministry,  2.The 
end  of  that  ministry,  as  was  observed. 

1.  "Moses  verily  was  faithful  as  a  servant  in  his  whole  house/'  The 
office  ascribed  unto  him  is  that  of  a  servant,  a  servant  of  God  and  of 

the  people;  ^spaTuv,  a  "servant,"  "minister,"  or  "officer" 
eparav.  ^(  .^  sacris,"  in  things  belonging  to  religious  worship. 
This  was  his  place,  office,  dignity,  and  honour.  And  this  is  accom- 
panied with  a  threefold  amplification:— (1.)  In  that  he  was  "faithlul" 
in  his  service;  which  wherein  it  consisted  hath  been  declared.  (2.) 
In  that  he  was  a  servant  in  the  house  of  God ;  not  in  the  world  only, 
and  in  compliance  with  the  works  of  his  providence  (as  all  things 
serve  the  will  of  God,  and  Avicked  men,  as  Cyrus  and  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, are  called  his  servants),  but  "  in  his  house," — in  that  service 
Avliich  is  of  nearest  relation  and  of  greatest  concernment  unto  him. 
It  is  an  honour  to  serve  the  will  of  God  in  any  duty,  but  in  those 
especially  which  concern  his  house  and  his  worship  therein.  (3.)  In 
that  he  was  not  thus  employed  and  thus  faithful  in  this  or  that  part 
of  the  house  of  God,  in  this  or  that  service  of  it,  but  "  in  all  his 
liouse"  and  all  the  concernments  of  it.  Herein  was  he  differenced 
from  all  others  whom  God  used  in  the  service  of  his  house  under 
the  old  testament.  One  was  employed  in  one  part  of  it,  auotlier  in 
another; — one  to  teach  or  instruct  it,  another  to  reform  or  restore  it; 
one  to  renew  a  neglected  ordinance,  another  to  give  a  new  instruc- 
tion: none  but  he  was  used  in  the  service  of  the  whole  house.  Ail 
things,  for  the  use  of  all  ages,  until  the  time  of  reformation  should 
come,  were  ordered  and  appointed  by  him.  And  these  things  greatly 
speak  his  honour  and  glory;  although,  as  we  shall  see,  they  leave 
hiui  incomparably  inferior  to  the  Lord  Christ. 

2.  "  For  a  testimony  of  those  things  which  should  be  spoken 
after."     The  end  of  the  service  and  ministry  of  Moses  is  expressed 

in  these  words.  It  was  to  be  elg  [lapTM/tav,  "  for  a  testi- 
r  f  •  j^Qjjy "  "jj^e  word  and  ordinances  of  God  are  often 
called  his  "  testimony,"  that  whereby  he  testifieth  and  witnesseth  his 
will  and  pleasure  unto  the  sons  of  men:  ^'^'^}l,  "that  which  God 
testifieth."  Some  therefore  think  the  meaning  of  the  words  to  be, 
that  Moses  in  his  ministry  revealed  the  testimony  of  God;  and  that 
these  words,  "  Of  the  things  that  should  be  spoken,"  are  as  much  as 
'  In  and  by  the  things  that  he  spake/  that  God  would  have  spoken  by 
him,  wherein  his  testimony  did  consist.  But  this  exposition  of  the 
words  is  perplexed,  and  makes  a  direct  coincidence  between  the 
testimony  and  the  things  spoken^  whereas  they  are  distinct  in  the 
text,  the  one  being  subservient  unto  the  other,  the  testimony  unto 
the  things  spoken.  Others  take  ''testimony"  to  be  put  for  a  witness, 
he  that  was  to  bear  testimony ;  which  it  was  the  duty  of  Moses  to 


VER.  3-6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  559 

be  and  to  do.  He  was  to  be  a  witness  unto  the  word  of  God  which 
was  given  and  revealed  by  him.  And  both  these  expositions  suppose 
"  the  things  spoken"  to  be  the  things  spoken  by  Moses  himself. 
But  neither  doth  this  seem  to  answer  the  mind  of  the  Holy  Ghost; 
for, — 

(1.)  This  being  a  testimony,  refers  to  the  whole  faithfulness  of 
Moses,  which  was  not  confined  or  restrained  unto  the  things  that 
were  spoken,  but  extended  itself  unto  the  whole  service  of  the  house 
wherein  he  was  employed,  as  well  in  the  building  of  the  tabernacle 
and  institution  of  ordinances  as  revealing  the  will  of  God  in  liis  law. 

(2.)  AaX?i^)](ro/xsvi;v  respects  things  future  unto  what 
he  did  in  his  whole  ministry.  This  our  translation  ,^"'^'"  '^"'' 
rightly  obst-rves,  rendering  it,  "The  things  which  were 
to  be  spoken  after."  And  this  as  well  tlie  order  of  the  words  as 
the  importance  of  them  doth  require.  In  his  ministry  he  was  a 
testimony,  or  by  what  he  did  in  the  service  of  the  house  he  gave 
testimony.  Whereunto?  To  the  things  that  were  afterwards  to  be 
spoken,  namely,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  the  appointed  season,  by  the 
Messiah, — that  is,  the  things  of  the  gospel.  And  this,  indeed,  was 
the  proper  end  of  all  that  Moses  did  or  ordered  in  the  house  of  God. 

This  is  the  importance  of  the  words,  and  this  was  the  true  and 
proper  end  of  the  whole  ministry  of  Moses,  wherein  his  faithfulness 
was  tried  and  manifested.  He  ordered  all  tilings  by  God's  direction 
in  the  typical  worship  of  the  house,  so  as  that  it  might  be  a  pledge 
and  testimony  of  what  God  would  afterwards  reveal  and  exhibit  in 
the  gospel :  for  "  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  for  righteousness  to 
every  one  that  believeth,"  Rom.  x.  4.  And  it  was  revealed  unto  him, 
as  unto  the  other  prophets,  that  not  unto  themselves,  but  unto  us, 
they  did  minister  in  the  revelations  they  made  of  the  things  testified 
unto  them  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  which  was  in  them,  1  Pet.  i.  11, 
1 2.  And  whereas  it  is  frequently  said  that  Moses  bare  witne.ss  unto 
the  Lord  Christ  and  the  gospel,  he  did  it  not  so  much  by  direct 
prophecies  and  promises  of  him,  as  by  the  whole  constitution  and 
ordering  of  the  house  of  God  and  all  its  institutions,  especially  lu 
the  erection  of  the  tabernacle  and  the  appointment  of  the  sacrifices 
annexed  to  it:  for  as  the  first  witnessed  and  represented  the  assump- 
tion of  our  human  nature  by  Christ,  whereby  isKyivuffsv,  "he  taber- 
nacled amongst  us,".  John  i.  14, — and  therefore  after  the  tabernacle 
was  built,  God  spake  only  from  thence.  Lev.  i.  1, — so  did  the  latter 
that  great  sacrifice  whereby  the  Lamb  of  God  took  away  the  sins  of 
the  world.     Herein  was  Moses  faithful. 

And  here  the  apostle  takes  his  leave  of  Moses, — he  treats  not  about 
him  any  more ;  and  therefore  he  gives  him  as  it  were  an  honourable 
burial.    He  puts  this  glorious  epitaph  on  his  grave,  "Moses,  a  faithlul 
servant  of  the  Lord  in  his  v/hole  house." 
VOL.  XII.— 36 


.560  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  IIL 

Ver.  6. — "But  Christ  as  a  son  over  his  own  house."  The  term 
"faithful"  is  here  to  be  repeated,  "Was  faithful  as  a  son  over  his  own 
house."  Every  word  almost  proves  the  pre-eminence  asserted.  He 
is  a  son,  Moses  a  servant;  he  over  the  house,  Moses  in  the  house; 
he  over  his  own  house,  Moses  in  the  house  of  another. 

In  what  sense  the  Lord  Christ  is  said  to  be  the  son  over  his 
house  hath  been  so  fully  declared  in  our  exposition  of  the  first  chap- 
ter, that  it  need  not  here  be  insisted  on.  Absolute  and  supreme 
authority  over  all  persons  and  things  is  intended  in  this  expression. 
All  persons  belonging  unto  the  house  of  God  are.at  his  disposal,  and 
the  institution  of  the  whole  worship  of  it  is  in  his  power  alone. 
Which  things,  as  was  said,  have  been  already  spoken  unto. 
^  ^  ,  ,  "Whose  house  are  we."     Having  confirmed  his  argu- 

V  oiKos  .(Tfiiv.    j^gj^|.^  ^j-j^  apostle  returns,  after  his  manner,  to  make 

application  of  it  unto  the  Hebrews,  and  to  improve  it  for  the 
enforcement  of  his  exhortation  unto  constancy  and  perseverance. 
And  herein,  first,  he  makes  an  explanation  of  the  metaphor  which 
he  had  insisted  on.  *I  have,'  said  .he,  'spoken  these  things  of  a 
house  and  its  building;  but  it  is  the  church,  it  is  ourselves  that  I 
intend.'  "Whose  house  are  we."  Secondly,  That  they  might  know 
also,  in  particular,  whom  it  is  that  he  intends,  he  adds  a  further 
description  of  them,  "If  we  hold  fast  our  confidence  and  the  glorying 
of  hope  unto  the  end." 

"Whose  house  are  we;"  that  is,  believers,  who  worship  him 
according  unto  the  gospel,  are  so.  And  the  apostle  frequently,  both 
in  exhortations  and  applications  of  arguments  and  threatenings, 
joineth  himself  with  the  professing  Hebrews,  for  their  direction  and 
encouragement.  Now,  believers  are  the  house  of  Christ  upon  a 
treble  account: — 

1.  Of  their  persons.  In  them  he  dwells  really  by  his  Spirit. 
Hence  are  they  said  to  be  "living  stones,"  and  on  him  to  be  built 
into  a  "  holy  temple,"  1  Pet.  ii.  5.  And  as  such  doth  he  dwell  in 
them,  Eph.  ii.  20-22,  1  Cor.  iii.  16,  2  Cor.  vi.  16,  John  xiv.  17. 

2.  Of  their  being  compact  together  in  church-order  according  to 
his  institution,  whereby  they  are  built  up,  cemented,  united,  and 
become  a  house,  like  the  tabernacle  or  temple  of  old,  Eph.  iv.  16, 
Col.  ii.  19. 

3.  Of  their  joint  worship  performed  in  that  order;  wherein  and 
whereby  he  also  dwells  among  them,  or  is  present  with  them  unto 
the  consummation  of  all  things,  Rev.  xxi.  3,  Matt,  xxviii.  20. 

"If  we  hold  fast  our  confidence  and  the  glorying  of  hope  firm  unto 
the  end." 

These  words  may  have  a  double  sense:  First,  to  ex- 
press the  condition  on  which  the  truth  of  the  former 
asotiUuu  doth  depend:  'We  are  his  house,  but  on  this  condition. 


VER.  3-6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  561 

that  we  hold  fast,"  etc.  Secondly,  to  express  a  description  of  the 
persons  who  are  so  the  house  of  Christ,  by  a  limitation  and  distinc- 
tion amongst  professors,  showing  that  in  the  former  assertion  he  in- 
tends only  those  who  hold  fast  their  confidence  firm  to  the  end. 

According  unto  these  several  interpretations  the  words  are  seve- 
rally employed.  Those  who  embrace  the  first  sense  make  use  of 
them  to  prove  a  possibility  of  the  falling  away  of  true  believers, 
and  that  totally  and  finally,  from  Christ;  for,  say  they,  without  the 
supposition  thereof,  the  words  are  superfluous  and  useless.  Those 
who  cleave  to  the  latter  sense  suppose  the  words  irrefragably  to 
confirm  the  certain  permanency  in  the  faith  of  those  who  are  truly 
the  house  of  Christ,  they  being  such  alone  as  whose  faith  hath  the 
adjuncts  of  permanency  and  stabiUty  annexed  unto  it.  For  others, 
whatever  they  may  profess,  they  are  never  tndy  or  really  the  house 
of  Christ;  whence  it  undeniably  follows  that  all  true  believers  do 
certainly  persevere  urto  the  end. 

I  shall  not  here  engage  into  this  controversy,  having  handled  it 
at  large  elsewhere.  Only,  as  to  the  first  sense  contended  for,  I  shall 
briefly  observe, — first,  that  the  supposition  urged  proves  not  the 
inference  intended ;  and,  secondly,  that  the  argument  from  this 
place  is  not  suited  unto  the  hypothesis  of  them  that  make  use  of  it. 
For,  as  Paul  puts  himself  among  the  number  of  those  who  are  spoken 
of,  whose  faith  yet  none  will  thence  contend  to  have  been  liable 
unto  a  total  failure ;  so  such  conditional  expressions  of  gospel-com- 
minations,  although  they  have  a  peculiar  use  and  efiicacy  towards 
believers  in  the  course  of  their  obedience,  as  manifesting  God's 
detestation  of  sin,  and  the  certain  connection  that  there  is  by  God's 
eternal  law  between  unbelief  and  punishment,  yet  they  do  not 
include  any  assertion  that  the  persons  of  believers  may  at  any  time, 
all  things  considered,  on  the  part  of  God  as  well  as  of  themselves, 
actually  fall  under  those  penalties,  as  hath  been  at  large  elsewhere 
evinced.  Again,  this  argument  suits  not  the  hypothesis  that  it  is 
produced  in  the  confirmation  of;  for  if  it  be  the  condition  of  the 
foregoing  assertion,  whereon  the  truth  of  it  doth  depend,  then  are 
none  at  present  the  house  of  God,  but  upon  a  supposition  of  their 
perseverance  unto  the  end.  But  their  opinion  requires  that  persons 
may  be  really  this  house  by  virtue  of  their  pi'esent  faith  and  obedi- 
ence, although  they  afterwards  utterly  fall  from  both,  and  perish  for 
evermore.  This,  then,  cannot  be  the  sense  of  the  words  according 
to  their  principles  who  make  use  of  them  for  their  ends:  for  they 
say  that  men  may  be  the  house  of  Christ  although  they  hold  not 
fast  their  confidence  unto  the  end ;  which  is  directly  to  contradict 
the  apostle,  and  to  render  his  exhortation  vain  and  useless. 

The  words,  therefore,  are  a  description  of  the  persons  who  are  the 
house  of  Christ,  from  a  certain  effect  or  adjunct  of  that  faith  whereby 


SQi^  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  III. 

the}^  become  so  to  be.  They  are  such,  and  only  such,  as  "hold  fast 
their  confidence  and  glorying  of  hope  firm  unto  the  end,"  whereby 
they  are  distinguished  from  temporary  professors,  who  may  fall  away. 

Two  things  are  observable  in  the  words; — first,  what  it  is  that 
the  apostle  requires  in  them  that  are  the  house  of  Christ,  namely, 
"confidence"  and  "glorying  in  hope;"  secondly,  the  manner  of 
our  retaining  them, — we  must  hold  them  "fast"  and  "firm;"  where- 
unto  is  subjoined  the  continuance  of  this  duty, — it  must  be  "unto 
the  end."  First,  for  our  "confidence,"  most  understand  by  it 
either  ftiith  itself  or  a  fiduciary  trust  in  God,  which  is  an  inseparable 
effect  of  it.  This  grace  is  much  commended  in  the  Scripture,  and,  they 
say,  here  intended  by  our  apostle.  A  reliance  they  mean,  resting 
and  reposing  our  hearts  upon  God  in  Christ,  for  mercy,  grace,  and 
glory ;  this  is  our  Christian  confidence.  And  the  "rejoicing  of  hope," 
is  the  hope  wherein  we  rejoice.  Hope  of  eternal  life,  promised 
by  God,  purchased  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  expected  by  believers,  fills 
them  with  joy  and  rejoicing;  as  Rom.  v,  5,  1  Pet.  i.  8. 

These  things  are  true;  but  whether  peculiarly  intended  in  this 
place  by  the  apostle  is  questionable,  yea,  that  the  words  are  of 
another  importance,  a,nd  require  anotlier  interpretation,  is  manliest 
from  them  and  the  context.     For, — 

First,  The  word  'rapprjoia,  translated  "  confidence,"  although  it 
frequently  occurs  in  the  New  Testament,  yet  it  is  never 
'  f  '"  '  used  to  signify  that  fiduciary  trust  in  God  Avhich  is  an 
efi'ect  of  faith,  and  wherein  some  have  thought  the  nature  of  it  to 
consist;  for,  unless  where  it  is  used  adverbially  to  signify  "openly," 
"plainly,"  "notoriously,"  as  it  doth  always  in  the  Gospel  of  John  (see 
chap,  xviii.  20),  it  constantly  denotes  a  freedom,  liberty,  and  con- 
stancy of  spirit,  in  speaking  or  doing  any  thing  towards  God  or  men. 
See  Acts  ii.  29,  iv.  13,  29;  2  Cor.  iii.  12;  Phil.  i.  20;  1  Tim.  iii.  13. 
And  we  have  l)efore  manifested  that  this  is  the  genuine  and  native 
signification  of  the  word. 

Secondly,  The  "confidence"  here  intended  doth  refer  unto  our 
"hope"  no  less  than  the  zav'/^yj/j^a,  or  "  rejoicing,"  that  folio weth.  The 
words  are  not  rightly  distinguished  when  "confidence"  is  placed  dis- 
tinctly as  one  thing  by  itself,  and  "rejoicing"  only  is  joined  with 
"hope."  And  this  is  evident  from  the  construction  of  the  words;  for 
iStQaiav,  "firm,"  agrees  not  immediately  with  iXirihog,  "of  hope,"  which 
is  of  another  case,  nor  with  nalyriiLa^  "rejoicing,"  which  is  of  another 
gender;  but  with  irappnsia.v  it  agrees  in  both,  and  is  regulated  there- 
b}-,  which  it  could  notbe  unless  "confidence"  were  joined  with  "hope" 
also,  "  confidence  of  hope." 

Thirdly,  Not  our  hope  itself,  but  the  xavyjuia,  "  glorying,"  or  "re- 
joicing" in  it  and  of  it  is  intended  by  the  apostle ;  and  therefore  no 
more  is  our  faith  in  the  former  expression. 


VER.  3-6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBRKWS.  5G3 

The  genuine  sense,  then,  of  these  words  will  best  appear  from  tlie 
consideration  of  the  state  and  condition  of  the  Hebrews,  and  what 
it  is  that  the  apostle  invites  and  encourageth  them  unto.  This  con- 
dition, as  hath  been  frequently  declared,  was  a  condition  of  perse- 
cution, and  danger  of  backsHding  thereon.  How,  then,  are  men  at 
such  a  season  usually  prevailed  upon  sinfully  to  fail  and  miscarry  in 
their  profession?  It  is  not  at  first  by  parthig  directly  and  openly 
with  faith  and  hope,  but  by  failing  in  the  fruits  of  them,  and  the 
duties  which  they  require.  Now,  of  that  hojie  which  we  have  con- 
cerning a  blessed  immortality  and  glory  by  Jesus  Christ,  there  are 
tv/o  proper  effects  or  duties,  or  it  requires  two  things  of  us: — First, 
A  free,  bold,  and  open  profession  of  that  truth  which  our  hope  is 
built  upon,  and  that  against  all  dangers  and  oppositions;  for  we 
know  that  this  hope  will  never  make  us  ashamed,  Rom,  v.  5.  This 
is  the  'xapprjsia  rrjg  iX'rlhog  here  mentioned; — a  confident,  Ojien,  pro- 
fession of  our  hope.  This  we  are  exhorted  unto,  1  Pet.  iii.  15,  "Be  ' 
ready  always  to  give  an  answer  to  every  man  that  asketh  you  a  rea- 
son of  the  hope  that  is  in  you."  This  iroiiiacia  -Trphg  d-oXoyiav,  this 
promptitude  and  alacrity  in  apologizing,  avowing,  defending,  plead- 
in<4  for  the  grounds  of  our  hope,  is  the  'rrappTicia,  the  "confidence,"  or 
rpvther"  liberty"  and  "boldness"of  profession  here  intended.  Secondly, 
An  open  opposing  of  our  hope,  or  that  which  is  hoped  for,  unto  nil 
difficulties,  dangers,  and  persecutions,  with  a  holy  boasting,  glory- 
ing, or  rejoicing  in  our  lot  and  portion,  because  the  foundation  of  our 
hope  is  sure,  and  the  things  we  hope  for  are  precious  and  excellent, 
and  that  to  the  contempt  of  every  thing  that  riseth  against  them,  is 
also  required  of  us.  This  is  the  na.\jyjf\ii.a  Ty\c,  I'k'wthig  in- 
tended. In  these  thinr^s  men  are  apt  to  fail  in  temp-  ,,  'f.^^"'"*  '^"^ 
tations  and  persecutions;  and  when  any  do  so  faint  as 
that  they  take  off  from  the  confidence  of  their  profession,  and  wlien 
they  cannot  with  joy  and  satisfaction  oppose  the  foundation  and  end 
of  their  hope  unto  these  dangers,  they  are  near  unto  backsliding. 
And  these  things  also  are  inseparable  from  that  faith  whereby  we 
are  made  the  house  of  Christ;  for  although  they  maybe  intercepted 
in  their  acts  for  a  season,  by  the  power  of  some  vigorous  temptation, 
as  they  were  in  Peler,  yet  radically  and  habitually  they  are  inse- 
parable from  faith  itself,  Rom.  x.  10. 

These,  therefore,  are  the  things  which  the  apostle  intends  in  these 
words;  and  by  showing  them  to  be  indispensable  qualifications  in 
them  who  are  the  house  of  Christ,  he  tacitly  persuades  the  Hebrews 
to  look  after  and  to  secure  them  in  themselves,  unto  the  end  of  his 
general  exhortation  before  laid  down. 

In  the  last  place,  the  apostle  declareth  the  manner  how  tliese 
things  are  to  be  secured:  "  If  we  hold  fiist  our  confidence  firm  unto 
the  end."     The  duty  itself,  relating  unto  the  maimer  of  our  retain- 


564  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CIIAP.  III. 

ing  these  things,  is  to  "hold  them  fast;"  the  state  of  them,  wherein 
they  are  to  be  retained,  is  "firm"  or  "steadfast;"  and  their  duration 
in  that  estate  is  "to  the  end." 

The  first  is  expressed  by  the  word  xarac^w/Agv,  which 

araffx'^i/.iit.  gjgj-jj£gg  ^  car-eful,  powerful  holding  any  thing  to  it 
against  opposition.  Kad^s/i'  rh  ir7JYi&og,  is  eftectually  to  retain  the 
multitude  in  obedience  when  in  danger  of  sedition.  And  xari-xin 
(ppovpaTc,  to  hold,  retain,  or  keep  a  place  with  a  guard ;  as  in  Latin, 
"Oppidum  preesidio  tenere."  Two  things,  therefore,  are  represented 
in  this  word.  First,  That  great  opposition  will  arise  against  this  duty, 
against  our  firmitude  and  constancy  in  profession.  Secondly,  That 
great  care,  diligence,  and  endeavour  are  to  be  used  in  this  matter,  or 
we  shall  fail  and  miscarry  in  it.  Because  of  the  oi^position  that  is 
made  against  them,  because  of  the  violence  that  will  be  used  to  wrest 
them  from  us,  unless  we  hold  them  fast, — that  is,  retain  them  with 
cai-e,  diligence,  and  watchfulness, — we  shall  lose  them  or  be  deprived 
of  them. 

Secondly,  They  are  to  be  kept  "firm."  The  meaning  of  this  word 
the  apostle  explaineth,  Heb.  x.  2o,  "  Let  us  hold  fast  the 
profession  of  our  faith  without  wavering;"  jSiQalav,  that 
is,  a.y.'kivj), — without  declining  from  it  or  shaking  in  it.  It  is  not 
enough  that  we  keep  and  retain,  yea,  hold  fast  our  profession ;  but 
we  must  keep  it  up  against  that  uncertainty  and  fluctuating  of  mind 
which  are  apt  to  invade  and  ])ossess  unstable  persons  in  a  time  of 
trial.  *  . 

Thirdly,  Herein  must  we  continue  "unto  the  end ;"  that  is,  whilst 

,     ^   ,        we  live  in  this  world, — not  for  the  present  season  only, 
but  in  all  future  occurrences,  until  we  come  unto  the 
end  of  our  faith,  or  the  end  of  our  lives  and  the  salvation  of  our 
souls.     The  observations  from  these  verses  ensue : — 

II.  The  building  of  the  church  is  so  great  and  glorious  a  work  as 
that  it  could  not  be  effected  by  any  but  he  who  was  God.  "He  that 
built  all  things  is  God."  To  him  is  it  ascribed,  Acts  xx.  28,  1  John 
iii.  16.     And  it  requires  God  to  be  the  builder  of  it, — 

First,  For  the  wisdom  of  its  contrivance.  When  God  appointed 
Bezaleel  to  the  work  of  building  the  tabernacle,  he  says,  that  he 
had  "  filled  him  with  the  Spirit  of  God,  in  wisdom,  and  in  under- 
standing, and  in  knowledge,"  Exod.  xxxi.  3;  and  none  were  to  be 
employed  in  the  work  Avitii  him  but  such  as  were  "  wise-hearted," 
and  into  whom  God  had  put  wisdom,  verse  6.  And  yet  this  was  but 
for  the  building  of  an  earthly  tabernacle,  and  that  not  to  contrive 
it,  but  only  to  make  and  erect  it  according  to  a  pattern  which  God 
himself  did  frame.  This  they  could  not  do  until  they  Avere  filled 
with  the  Spirit  of  God  in  wisdom.  What,  then,  must  needs  be  re- 
quired unto  the  contrivance  of  this  glorious,  mysterious,  spiritual, 


YER.  3-G.l  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  665 

heavenly  house  of  God?  Nothing  could  effect  it  but  infinite  wis- 
dom. Yea,  "  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God"  was  in  it,  Eph.  iii.  10; 
"all  the  treasures  of  his  wisdom  and  knowledge,"  Col.  ii.  3.  In  this 
infinite  wisdom  of  God  was  the  mysterious  contrivance  of  this  build- 
ing hid  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  Eph.  iii.  9 ;  and  its  break- 
ing forth  from  thence  in  the  revelation  of  it  made  in  the  gospel  was 
accompanied  with  so  much  glory  that  the  angels  of  heaven  did 
eMrnestly  desire  to  bow  down  and  look  into  it,  1  Pet.  i.  12.  We 
have  a  very  dark  view  of  the  glories  of  this  building;  and  where  it 
is  mystically  represented  unto  us,  as  Isa.  Ix.,  Ezek.  xl.-xlviii.,  Rev. 
xxi.  22,  we  may  rather  admire  at  it  than  comprehend  its  excellency. 
But  when  we  shall  come  to  see  how  the  foundation  of  it  was  laid, 
at  which  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy;  how,  by  the  strange 
and  wonderful  working  of  the  Spirit  of  grace,  all  the  stones  designed 
from  eternity  for  the  building  of  this  house  were  quickened  and 
made  living  in  all  ages  and  generations;  and  how  they  are,  from 
the  beginning  of  the  world  unto  the  end  of  it,  fitly  framed  together 
to  be  a  temple  unto  the  Lord ;  and  what  is  the  glory  of  God's  inha- 
bitation therein, — we  shall  be  satisfied  that  divine  wisdom  was  re- 
quired thereunto. 

Secondly,  For  the  power  of  its  erection.  It  is  the  effect  of  divine 
power;  and  that  whether  we  respect  the  opposition  that  is  made 
unto  it,  or  the  preparing  and  fitting  of  the  work  itself  Those  angels 
who  left  their  first  habitation  had  drawn  all  the  whole  creation  mto 
a  conspiracy  against  the  building  of  this  house  of  God.  Not  a  per- 
son was  to  be  used  therein  but  was  engaged  in  an  enmity  against 
this  work.  And  who  shall  prevail  against  this  opposition?  Nothing 
but  divine  power  could  scatter  this  combination  of  principalities  and 
powers,  and  defeat  the  engagement  of  the  world  and  the  gates  of 
hell  against  this  design.  Again,  for  the  work  itself;  the  sins  of  men 
were  to  be  expiated,  atonement  for  them  was  to  be  made,  a  price 
of  redemption  to  be  paid ;  dead  sinners  were  to  be  quickened,  blind 
eyes  to  be  opened,  persons  of  all  sorts  to  be  regenerated ;  ordinances 
and  institutions  of  worship  for  beauty  and  glory  to  be  erected;  sup- 
plies of  the  Spirit  at  all  times,  and  all  ages  and  places,  for  its  in- 
crease in  grace  and  holiness,  were  to  be  granted,  with  other  things 
innumerable;  which  nothing  but  divine  power  could  effect.  Con- 
sider but  this  one  thing,  whereas  all  the  parts  of  this  house  are  sub- 
ject to  dissolution,  the  persons  whereof  it  consists  do  and  must  all 
die,  he  that  builds  this  house  must  be  able  to  raise  them  all  from 
the  dead,  or  else  his  whole  work  about  the  house  itself  is  lost.  Now, 
who  can  do  this  but  he  that  is  God?  They  who  think  this  is  the 
work  of  a  mere  man,  know  nothing  of  it;  indeed,  nothing  of  God, 
of  themselves,  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  of  faith,  grace,  redemption,  or 
reality  of  the  gospel  as  they  ought.     It  is  but  a  little  dark  view  I 


566  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CIIAP.  III. 

can  take  of  the  wisdom  and  power  that  are  laid  out  in  this  work,  and 
3'et  I  am  not  more  satisfied  that  there  is  a  God  in  heaven  than  I 
am  th;it  he  that  built  this  thing  is  God.  And  herein  also  may  we 
see  whence  it  is  that  this  building  goes  on  notwithstanding  all  the 
opposition  that  is  made  unto  it.  Take  any  one  single  believer,  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world,  and  consider  the  opposition  that  is  made, 
by  sin,  Satan,  and  the  world,  in  temptations  and  persecutions,  unto 
his  interest  in  this  house  of  God,  and  doth  it  not  appear  marvellous 
that  he  is  so  preserved,  that  he  is  delivered?  How  hath  it  been  in 
this  matter  with  our  own  souls,  if  we  belong  unto  this  house?  That 
we  should  be  "called  out  of  darkness  into  marvellous  light;"  that  we 
should  be  preserved  hitherto,  notwithstanding  our  weakness,  faint- 
ings,  infirmities,  falls,  sins,  etc., — is  there  not  some  secret,  hidden 
power  that  effectually,  in  ways  unknown  to  us,  unperceived  by  us, 
puts  forth  itself  in  our  behalf?  Take  any  particular  church  in  any 
age,  and  consider  the  persons  of  whom  it  is  composed ; — commonly 
the  poor,  the  weak,  the  foolish  in  and  of  the  world,  are  the  matter 
of  it.  The  entanglements  and  perplexities  that  it  meets  withal  from 
the  remainders  of  its  own  darkness  and  unbelief,  with  the  reproach 
and  persecution  which  for  the  most  part  it  meets  withal  in  the  world, 
seem  enough  to  root  it  up,  or  to  overwhelm  it  every  moment,  yet  it 
abides  firm  and  stable.  Or  consider  the  whole  church,  with  all  the 
individual  persons  belonging  thereunto,  and  that  in  all  ages,  through- 
out all  generations,  and  think  what  it  requires  for  its  preservation 
in  its  inward  and  outward  condition.  Divine  power  shineth  forth  in 
air  these  things.  Not  one  stone  of  this  buildiwg  is  lost  or  cast  to 
the  ground,  much  less  shall  ever  the  whole  fabric  of  it  be  prevailed 
against. 

III.  The  greatest  and  most  honourable  of  the  sons  of  men  that 
are  employed  in  the  work  of  God  in  his  house  are  but  servants,  and 
parts  of  the  house  itself:  Verse  5,  "  Moses  verily  as  a  servant." 

Moses  himself,  the  great  lawgiver,  was  but  a  servant.  And  if 
he  were  no  more,  certainly  none  that  followed  him  under  the  old 
testament,  being  all  inferior  unto  him  (seeing  there  arose  not  a  pro- 
phet in  Israel  like  unto  him,  Deut.  xxxiv.  10),  were  in  any  other 
condition.  So  did  the  principal  builders  of  the  church  under 
the  new  testament  declare  concerning  themselves.  "  Servants  of 
Jesus  Christ,"  was  their  only  title  of  honour;  and  they  professed 
themselves  to  be  servants  of  the  church  for  Christ's  sake,  2  Cor. 
iv.  5.  And  on  that  ground  did  they  disclaim  all  dominion  over 
the  faith  or  worship  of  the  church,  as  being  only  "helpers  of  their 
joy,"  2  Cor.  i.  24;  "not  lords  over  the  Lord's  heritage,  but  en- 
samples  to  the  flock,"  1  Pet.  v.  3; — all  according  to  the  charge  laid 
upon  them  by  their  Lord  and  Master,  Matt.  xx.  25-27.  And  this 
appears, — 


VP:U.  3-6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  567 

First,  Because  no  man  hath  any  thing  to  do  in  this  house  but  by 
virtue  of  commission  from  him  who  is  the  only  Lord  and  Ruler  of  it. 
This  bespeaks  them  servants.  They  are  all  taken  up  in  tlie  market- 
place from  amongst  the  number  of  common  men  by  the  Lord  of  the 
vineyard,  and  sent  into  it  by  him.  Neither  are  they  sent  to  rest  or 
sleep  there,  nor  to  eat  the  grapes  and  till  themselves,  much  less  to 
tread  down  and  sj)oil  the  vines;  but  to  work  and  labour  until  the 
evening,  when  they  shall  receive  their  Avages.  All  things  plainly 
prove  them  servants;  and  their  commission  is  recorded,  Matt,  xxviii. 
18-20,  which  ought  carefully  to  be  attended  unto. 

Secondly,  It  is  required  of  them,  as  servants,  to  observe  and  ohe^ 
the  commands  of  their  Lord;  and  nothing  else  are  they  to  do,  have 
they  to  do  in  his  house.  It  is  required  of  them  that  they  be  faith- 
ful; and  their  faithfulness  consists  in  their  dispensation  of  the 
mysteries  of  Christ,  1  Cor.  iv.  1,  2.  Moses  himself,  who  received 
such  a  testimony  unto  his  faithfulness  from  God,  did  nothing  but 
what  he  commanded  him,  made  nothing  but  according  to  the  pattern 
showed  him  in  the  mount.  Nor  were  the  builders  under  the  new 
testament  to  teach  the  church  to  do  or  observe  any  thing  in  the 
house  of  God  but  what  the  Lord  Christ  commanded  them,  Matt. 
xxviii.  20.  This  is  the  duty  of  a  faithful  servant,  and  not  to  pre- 
tend his  own  power  and  authority  to  ordain  things  in  the  house,  for 
its  worship  and  sacred  use,  not  appointed  by  his  Lord  and  Master. 
There  is  a  strange  spiritual  fascination  in  this  matter,  or  men  could 
not  at  the  same  time  profess  themselves  to  be  servants,  and  yet  not 
think  that  their  whole  duty  consists  in  doing  the  will  of  their  Lord, 
but  also  in  giving  out  commands  of  their  own  to  be  observed.  Tliit-i 
is  the  work  of  lords,  and  not  of  servants.  And  if  it  be  not  forbidden 
them  Ipy  Christ,  I  know  not  what  is. 

Thirdly,  As  servants  they  are  accountable.  They  must  give  an 
account  of  all  that  they  do  in  the  house  of  their  Lord.  This  theif 
Master  often  and  solemnly  warns  them  of.  See  Matt.  xxiv.  45-51  ^ 
Luke  xii.  42-48.  An  account  he  will  have  of  the  talents  committed  to 
them, — of  their  own  gifts,  and  of  the  persons  or  souls  committed  to 
their  charge,  his  sheep;  an  account  of  their  labour,  pains,  dih- 
gence,  and  readiness  to  do  and  suffer  according  to  his  mind  and  wi'l. 
An  account  they  must  give,  Heb.  xiii.  ]  7,  and  that  unto  the  chief 
Shepherd  when  he  comes,  1  Pet.  v.  4.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  th;3 
is  not  much  in  some  men^s  thoughts,  who  yet  are  greatl}'  concerned 
in  it.  They  coimt  their  profits,  advantages,  preferments,  wealth ; 
but  of  the  account  thay  are  to  make  at  the  last  day  they  seem  fo 
make  no  great  reckoning.  But  what  do  such  m.en  think?  AiO 
they  lords,  or  servants?  Have  they  a  Master,  or  have  they  not? 
Are  they  to  do  their  own  wills,  or  the  will  of  another?  Do  they 
fight  uncertainly  and  beat  the  air,  or  have  they  some  certain  scopo 


568  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CIIAP.  III. 

and  aim  before  them  ?  If  they  have,  what  can  it  be  but  how  they 
may  give  up  their  account  with  joy? — -joy,  if  not  in  the  safety  of 
all  tlieir  flocks,  through  the  sinful  neglect  and  miscarriages  of  any 
of  them,  yet  in  their  own  faithfulness,  and  the  testimony  of  their 
consciences  thereunto. 

Fourthly,  As  servants  they  shall  have  their  retvard,  every  one 
his  penny,  that  which  he  hath  laboured  for;  for  although  they  are 
but  servants,  yet  they  serve  a  good,  just,  great,  and  gracious  Lord, 
who  will  not  forget  their  labour,  but  give  unto  them  a  crown  at  his 
appearance,  1  Pet.  v.  4. 

See  hence  the  boldness  of  the  "Man  of  sin"  and  his  accomplices, 
whose  description  we  have  exactly.  Matt.  xxiv.  48,  49., — an  "evil  ser- 
vant, who  says  in  his  heart  that  his  Lord  delayeth  his  coming,  and  so 
smites  his  fellow-servants,  and  eats  and  drinks  with  the  drunken."  He 
pretends,  indeed,  to  be  a  SERVANT  OF  SERVANTS,  but  under  that  speci- 
ous title  and  show  of  voluntary  humility  takes  upon  him  to  be  an  abso- 
lute lord  over  the  house  of  God.  There  are  but  two  sorts  of  domi- 
nion ; — first,  that  which  is  internal  and  spiritual,  over  the  faith,  souls, 
and  consciences  of  men;  and  then  that  which  is  external,  over  their 
bodies  and  estates:  and  both  of  these  doth  he,  this  SERVANT  of 
SERVANTS,  usurp  in  the  house  of  God ;  and  thereby  sits  in  it,  making 
ostentation  of  himself  to  be  God.  And  two  ways  there  are  whereby 
supieme  dominion  in  and  about  things  sacred  may  be  exercised  ; — 
one  by  making  laws,  ordinances,  and  institutions,  religious  or  divine; 
the  other  by  corporeal  punishments  and  corrections  of  them  who 
observe  them  not:  and  both  these  doth  he  exercise.  What  the 
Lord  Christ  commandeth  to  be  observed  in  his  church,. he  observeth 
not,  nor  sutfereth  those  to  do  so  who  would;  and  what  he  hath  not 
appointed  or  commanded,  in  instances  innumerable  he  enjoineth 
to  be  observed.  A  wicked  and  evil  servant,  whose  Lord  'in*  due 
time  will  call  him  to  an  account!  Is  this  to  be  a  servant,  or  a 
tyrant  ? 

Others  also  would  do  well  to  ponder  the  account  they  are  to 
make.  And  well  is  it  with  them,  happy  is  their  condition,  who.se 
greatest  joy  in  this  world,  on  solid  grounds,  is  that  they  are  in  this 
work  accountable  servants. 

IV.  The  great  end  of  all  Mosaical  institutions  was  to  represent 
or  prefigure  and  give  testimony  unto  the  grace  of  the  gospel  by 
Jesus  Christ. 

To  this  end  was  Moses  faithful  in  the  house  of  God,  namely,  to 
give  testimony  unto  those  things  which  were  afterwards  to  be 
spoken.  The  demonstration  of  this  principle  is  the  main  scope 
of  this  epistle  so  far  as  it  is  doctrinal,  and  the  consideration  of  it 
will  occur  unto  us  in  so  many  instances  as  that  we  shall  not  need 
here  to  insist  on  the  general  assertion. 


VER.  S-C]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  5f^9 

y.  It  is  an  eminent  privilege  to  be  the  house  of  Christ,  or  a  part 
of  that  hoMse:   "  Whose  house  are  we." 

This  the  apostle  minds  the  Hebrews  of,  that  a  sense  of  their  pri- 
vilege therein  and  advantage  thereby  might  prevail  with  them  unto 
the  duties  which  he  presseth  them  unto.  And  it  is  thus  an  advan- 
tage,— 

First,  Because  this  house  is  God's  building:  1  Cor.  iii.  9,  "  Ye  are 
God's  building ;"-^a  house  that  he  built,  and  that  in  an  admirable 
manner.  The  tabernacle  of  old  was  thus  far  of  God's  building  that 
it  was  built  by  his  appointment,  and  that  according  to  tlie  pattern 
that  lie  gave  of  it  unto  Moses.  But  this  building  is  far  more  glori- 
ous: Heb.  ix.  11-,  "A  great  and  perfect  tabernacle,  not  made  with 
hands;  that  is  to  say,  not  of  this  building." 

Again;  it  is  so  of  God's  building  that  none  is  employed  in  a  way 
of  authority/  for  the  carrying  of  it  on  but  the  Lord  Christ  alone,  the 
Son  and  Lord  over  his  own  house.  And  he  takes  it  upon  himself: 
Matt,  xvi.  IS,  "I  will  build  my  church."  But  it  may  be  objected, 
'  That  it  is  thus  also  with  the  whole  world.  It  is  the  building  of  God, 
and  was  built  by  the  Son,  the  eternal  Word,  by  whom  all  things  were 
made,  and  "without  whom  was  not  any  thing  made  that  was  made," 
John  i.  2,  3.  Yea,  it  was  built  to  be  Qiov  cr/.7^Tripiov, — a  habitation 
for  the  divine  glory,  in  the  providential  manifestations  of  it.'  I  an- 
swer. All  this  is  true.  It  is  so,  and  is  therefore  excellent,  and  won- 
derfully sets  out  the  glory  of  God,  as  hath  been  declared  in  the  fore- 
going chapter.  But  yet  this  house  whereof  we  speak  on  many 
accounts  excelleth  the  whole  fabric  of  heaven  and  earth;  for, — 

First,  It  is  not  barely  a  house,  but  it  is  a  sacred  house,  a  temple, — 
not  an  ordinary,  but  a  holy,  a  dedicated  dwelling-place.  "  Ye  are 
built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ 
himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone;  in  whom  all  the  building  fitly 
framed  together  groweth  unto  an  holy  temple  in  the  Lord,"  Eph.  ii. 
20,  21.  This  is  God's  mansion,  when  all  other  things  of  the  world 
are  let  out  to  farm  unto  the  sons  of  men.  They  are  cottages  for 
flesh  and  blood  to  dwell  in ;  this  is  God's  place  o/  constant  and  spe- 
cial residence. 

Secondly, .li  is  a  special  hind  of  tensile;  not  like  that  built  of  old 
by  Solomon,  of  stones,  cedar  wood,  silver,  and  gold,  but  it  is  a  s^ji- 
ritual  house,  1  Pet.  ii.  5,  made  up  of  living  stones  in  a  strange  and 
wonderful  manner, — a  temple  not  subject  to  decay,  but  such  as 
grows  continually  in  every  stone  that  is  laid  in  it,  and  in  the  daily 
new  addition  of  living  stones  unto  it.  And  although  these  stones 
are  continually  removed,  some  from  the  lower  rooms  in  this  house 
in  grace,  to  the  higher  storeys  in  glory,  yet  not  one  stone  of  it  is,  or 
shall  be,  lost  for  ever. 

Thirdly,  The  manner  of  God's  habitation  in  this  house  ispecuHar 


570  AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  [CHAP.  Ill 

also.  He  dwelt,  indeed,  in  the  tabernacle  and  temple  of  old,  but 
how?  By  sacrifices,  carnal  ordinances,  and  some  outward  appear- 
ances of  glory.  In  this  house  he  dwells  hy  his  S}nrit:  "  Ye  are 
builded  together  for  an  habitation  of  God  through  the  Spirit,"  Eph. 
ii.  22 ;  and,  "  Know  ye  not  that  ye  are  the  temple  of  God,  and  that 
the  Spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in  you?"  1  Cor.  iii.  16.  Unspeakable, 
tlierefore,  is  this  privilege;  and  so  are  the  advantages  which  depend 
thereon. 

VI.  The  greatness  of  this  privilege  requires  an  answerableness  of 
duty. 

Because  we  are  this  house  of  God,  it  becometh  us  to  "hold  fast  our 
confidence  unto  the  end."  This  is  particularly  expressed;  but  the 
reason  is  the  same  unto  many  other  duties  which  on  the  account  of 
our  being  the  house  of  God  are  incumbent  on  us;  as, — 1.  Universal 
holiness,  Ps.  xciii.  5.  2.  Especial  purity  of  soul  and  body,  becom- 
ing a  habitation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  1  Cor.  iii.  16,  17,  vi.  19,  20. 
3.  Endeavours  to  fill  up  the  place,  state,  condition,  and  relation 
that  we  hold  unto  the  house,  for  the  good  of  the  whole,  Col.  ii.  19, 
Eph.  iv.  15,  16.  For  besides  the  general  interest  which  all  be- 
lievers have  in  this  house,  which  is  equal  in  and  unto  them  all,  every 
one  hath  his  especial  place  and  order  in  this  building.  (1.)  In  the 
peculiar  season,  age,  or  generation  wherein  our  service  in  this  house 
is  expected  ;  and  these  require  several  duties,  suited  unto  the  light, 
enjoyments,  and  trials,  of  the  whole  in  them:  (2.)  In  the  especial 
places  or  offices  that  any  hold  in  this  house:  (.3.)  In  the  respect  that 
is  to  be  had  unto  the  particular  or  especial  assembly  of  this  house 
whereunto  any  living  stone  doth  belong:  (4.)  With  respect  unto 
advantages  that  any  are  intrusted  withal,  for  the  increase  or  edifica- 
tion of  the  house  in  faith  and  love;  all  which  call  for  the  discharge 
of  many  especial  duties. 

VII.  In  times  of  trial  and  persecution,  freedom,  boldness,  and  con- 
stancy in  profession,  are  a  good  evidence  unto  ourselves  that  we 
are  living  stones  in  the  house  of  God,  and  duties  acceptable  unto 
him. 

"  Hold  fast,"  saith  the  apostle,  "  your  rrapprialav," — '  your  free,  bold 
profession  of  the  gospel,  and  your  exultation  in  the  hope  of  the  great 
pi'omises  of  it  which  are  in  it  given  unto  you.'  This  duty  God  hath 
set  a  singular  mark  upon,  as  that  which  he  indispensably  requireth 
and  that  wliereby  he  is  peculiarly  glorified.  A  blessed  instance  we 
have  hereof  in  the  three  companions  of  Daniel.  They  beheld  on  the 
one  side,  "  vultum  instantis  tyranui,"  "  the  form  of  whose  visage  was 
changed  with  fury,"  "  furiis  accensus,  et  ira  terribilis;"  on  the  other, 
a  fiaming,  consuming  furnace  of  fire,  that  they  wei'e  instantly  to  be 
cast  into  if  they  let  not  go  their  profession.  But  behold  their  rmppri- 
eixy,  their  "boldness"  and  "confidence"  in  their  profession :  Dan.  lik 


VER.  3-6.]  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.  571 

1 G-18,  "  They  answered  and  said  unto  the  king,  0  Nebucha(lnez7ar 
we  are  not  careful  to  answer  thee  in  this  matter.  If  it  l^e  .so,  dur 
God  whom  we  serve  is  able  to  deliver  us  from  the  burning  fiery  i'uv- 
nace,  and  he  will  deliver  us  out  of  thine  hand,  0  king.  But  if  not, 
be  it  known  unto  thee,  0  king,  that  we  will  not  serve  thy  gods,  nor 
worship  the  golden  image  which  thou  hast  set  up."  They  do  not 
ask  a  moment's  space  to  deliberate  in  this  matter.  And  a  blessed 
end  they  had  of  their  confidence.  So  Basil  answered  Julian,  when 
he  would  have  given  him  space  to  consult.  "  Do,"  said  he,  "  wiiat 
ynu  intend,  for  I  will  be  the  ^ame  to-morrow  that  I  am  this  day." 
This  is  readiness  and  alacrity  to  witness  a  good  confession  with 
boldness.  So  it  is  observed  of  Peter  and  John,  Acts  iv.  ]  3.  The 
Jews  were  astonished,  observing  their  irappT^stav  (the  word  in  the 
text,  which  we  there  translate  "  boldness"),  that  is,  their  readiness 
and  promptitude  of  mind  and  speech,  in  their  confession  of  the  name 
of  Christ,  when  they  were  in  prison  and  under  the  power  of  their 
adversaries.  Hence  also  they  that  fail  in  this  duty  are  termed  hiiXoi, 
"  fearful  ones,"  and  are  in  the  first  rank  of  them  who  are  excluded 
out  of  the  new  Jerusalem,  Rev.  xxi.  8.  Peter,  indeed,  instructs  us  to 
be  "  ready  always  to  give  an  answer  to  every  man  that  asketh  us  a 
reason  of  the  hope  that  is  in  us,  iMiTo.  foZov," — "with  fear,"  1  Epist.  iii. 
15 ;  that  is,  withrevereuoe  unto  God  and  the  sacredaess  of  those  things 
wherein  his  name  is  concerned.  But  we  must  not  do  it  (x,iTa  buXicK;, 
with  "a  pusillanimous  fear,"  a  fear  of  men,  or  respect  unto  what  from 
them  may  befall  us  for  our  profession.  These  biiXoi,  "  fearful  ones," 
are  those  "  meticulosi"  which  shake  and  tremble  at  the  report  of 
danger ;  so  that  when  persecution  ariseth,  straiglitway  they  are 
offended,  and  give  over  their  profession. 

And  in  our  discharge  of  this  duty  is  the  glory  of  God  greatly  con- 
cerned. The  revisnue-of  glory,,  wMcUCod  hath  from  any  in  this 
world  ariseth  principally,  if  not  solely,  from  that  profession  which 
they  make  of  the  gospel  and  of  the>r  faith  in  the  promises  thereof. 
Hereby  do  they  testify  unto  his  authority,  goodness,  wisdom,  grace, 
and  faithfulness.  Other  way  of  giving  glory  unto  God  we  have  not, 
but  by  bearing  witness  unto  his  excellencies;  that  is,  glorifying  him 
as  God.  Now,  when  persecution  and  trouble  arise  about  these 
things,  a  trial  is  made  whether  we  indeed  believe  and  put  our  trust 
in  what  we  profess  of  God,ilnd  whefher  we  value  his  promises  above 
all  present  things  whatever.  ^/ And  hereby  is  our  heavenly  Father 
glorified.  This,  therefore^  i^^a  singular  griyiMHi^  .when  it  is  given  to 
.i)elievers,  Phil.  i.  29.     --''^■'■^  -"-.^'^-^  ^-  -  — -^.^v^^^^r^,.^, 

Agdin ;  by  this  means  the  souls  of  the  saints  have  a  trial  and  ex- 
periment of  their  own  grace,  of  what  sort  it  is;  as  Abraham  had  of 
his  own  faith  and  obedience  in  the  great  experiment  which  God 
gave  him  of  it  by  his  command  for  the  sacrificing  of  Isaac.     Tried 


572     AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS.    [cJIAi'.  III. 

graces  are  exceeding  precious,  1  Pet.  i.  6,  7,  and  are  evidences  that 
those  in  whom  they  are  do  belong  to  the  house  of  God. 

There  are  other  ol)servations,  which  the  words  tender  unto  us, 
that  shall  only  be  named. 

VIII.  Interest  in  the  gospel  gives  sufficient  cause  of  confidence  and 
rejoicing  in  every  condition.  *'  Hold  fast  the  rejoicing  of  your  hope." 
The  riches  of  it  are  invaluable,  eternal,  peculiar,  such  as  outbalance 
all  earthly  things,  satisfactory  to  the  soul,  ending  in  endless  glory; 
and  he  that  is  duly  interested  in  them  cannot  but  have  abundant 
cause  of  "joy  unspeakable  "  at  all  times. 

IX.  So  many  and  great  are  the  interveniences  and  temptations 
that  lie  in  the  way  of  pi'ofession,  so  great  is  the  number  of  tiiem  that 
decay  in  it,  or  apostatize  from  it,  that  as  unto  the  glory  of  God,  and 
the  principal  [discovery]  of  its  truth  and  sincerity,  it  is  to  be  takea 
from  its  permanency  unto  the  end:  "Whose  house  are  we,  if  we 
hold  fast  the  confidence  and  the  rejoicing  of  the  hope  firm  unto  the 
end." 


^ate  Due 


|m^^:-;-^X:  ■■•;;;-l| 

■i^sii4]i)i^i^i}}i}i}i}i^i^i\m^p-- 


Ul?!lfl^°"  Theological 


Seminary. Speer  Library 


J^1012  01079  0352 


1,^ 


I 


;^> 


m 
•St 


,.1 
-1