were we, and how are we better than they, that this better thing should be reserved for us? They saw the promise afar off, we enjoy it at hand, "Jucundius est spectare, quam expectare bonum." That they with out us should not be made perfect; without us, is as much as, without the things which are actually exhibited unto us. God never intended or designed that the infant condition of the church should be made perfect before the exhibition of Christ; that is, that they should be justified and saved by any sacrifices or services done in their time, but looking to the sacrifices and satisfaction of Christ, whereby both they and we are perfected. Learn hence, That it is Christ alone who was to give perfection and consummation to his church; all the outward glorious worship of the Old Testament, though it pleased God, yet had no perfection in it; this God reserved for our times, that they without us should not be made perfect. CHAP. XII. This chapter contains an application of the doctrine delivered and confirmed in the foregoing chapter, in which our apostle having pressed the christian Hebrews to perseverance in the faith, and patience under the heaviest sufferings for the sake of their holy profession, by laying before them several instances of the Old-Testament saints, who by the help of their faith did such great service for God, and endured such great sufferings from the world; he comes now to reinforce his exhortation to patience and constancy in the cause of Christ, from the testimony before insisted on, with new additional motives, encouragements, and directions, in the chapter before us, in which he thus bespeaks them: W THEREFORE, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, As if our apostle had said, "Seeing we, who are now called forth to suffer, have before us so many instances of the faithful, who like a cloud of witnesses have gone before us, and by the help of their faith conquered all impediments that lay in the way of their salvation, let us take encouragement from them to quit ourselves like men; and, as runners in a race, let us cast off all worldly encumbrances which will entangle us, and avoid all sin, especially a bosom corruption, which easily besets us, and as easily overcomes us, and let us run with patience and perseverance the race of christianity set be fore us." Note, 1. That the Old-Testament saints are here called witnesses, a cloud of witnesses, and a cloud encompassing us : they are witnesses of this grand truth, name ly, that faith will carry believers safely through all that they may be called to do and suffer in the profession of the gospel: they are called a cloud of witnesses, partly for their number, there being a great multitude of them; partly for their direction, there being a leading virtue in them. As there was a cloud that went before the children of Israel to lead them in the wilderness, so this cloud of witnesses leads us up and down in the wilderness of this world, in the darkest night of our sorrows and sufferings; and they are said to encompass us, because the scripture everywhere encompasses us with them, so that we can be in no suffering state or condition, be it never so sad, but we may turn our eye, and behold the face of some or other of these worthies looking upon us, and encouraging of us to patience and perseverance; and therefore to faint in our profession, whilst we are encompassed with such a cloud of witnesses, is a great aggravation of our sin. Learn hence, That it is a special honour which God puts upon his saints departed, especially such as suffered and died for the truth, that even after their death they are witnesses to faith and obedience in all generations: We are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. -Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith ; Note here, 1. Christianity is a race, a race set before us by God, and it is our duty faithfully and perseveringly to run it. Note, 2. That in order to the running of this race, all impediments must be laid aside: Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us. By every weight, is generally understood the world, its riches, honours, pleasures, preferments, which ofttimes are a peculiar obstruction to constancy and perseverance in the profession and practice of christianity; this dead weight must be laid aside, by mortifying our hearts and affections towards the world, for it is inordinate love to these things which gives them their weight and encumbrance; where this grace is in its due exercise, the world cannot influence the mind into any disorder, nor make it unready for its race. By the sin which doth so easily beset us, some understand all sin in general, others a bosom-beloved sin in special, others timorousness and fear in particular; all softness and tenderness, with respect to suffering. In the original words, rendered easily beset us, some think there is an allusion to the long garments worn in the eastern countries; which, dangling about a man's heels, unfit him for running a race. As a man that has a burden on his back, or a long garment hanging down to his heels, is altogether unfit to run a race; so unready are they for the spiritual race, who are entangled with the love of the world, or with any sinful compliances. Note, 3. That patience is a grace very necessary to enable a person to run the race of christianity which God has set before him. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Such is the inevitableness and unavoidableness of the christian's trials, such the multiplicity and variety of them, such the long duration and continuance of them, that there can be no perseverance without patience. Note, 4. The way discovered, and the means declared, how and by which we attain this grace and patience, namely, by looking unto Je sus. Learn hence, That looking unto, and beholding of Christ in his patience, is a notable mean to excite and stir us up to the practice and performance of our duty. Note, 5. The special title given here to Christ, he is styled the author and finisher of faith in his people; he is deservedly styled the author of our faith, because his holy doctrine is the foundation of our faith, because his holy ordinances are special means of faith, and his Holy Spirit the producer of faith in the souls of his people, and his precious blood the purchaser of faith and all grace for his people. And he is the finisher of our faith too, as well as the author of it, inasmuch as he has by his promise engaged to perfect what he has begun, Phil. i. 6. Being confident of this very thing, that he that hath begun a good work in you will perform it, &c. And inasmuch as he doth by his intercession plead with the Father for the believer's preservation in faith, and perseverance in holiness unto the end: I have prayed that thy faith fail not, Luke xxii. 32. -Who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Observe here, 1. How our apostle, having propounded the example of suffering saints before, to provoke them to patience and constancy under their tribulations, he propounds now the example of a suffering Saviour, and bids them consider him: Qualis sit, compare his sufferings with your own, consider who he was, and who you are: Was not he the Son of God? Had not he all glory and power in his hand? Yet he endured, &c. consider him therefore. Learn hence, That the frequent consideration of Christ in his sufferings, is the best mean to keep up faith, and encourage patience under our own sufferings. Observe, 2. How our apostle particularly enumerates the sufferings which our Lord Jesus underwent: he endured the contradiction of sinners; that is, the great opposition made to his doctrine, the slander cast upon his miracles, the indignities offered to his person, the malicious and unwearied attempts against his life. Next, he endured the pain of the cross, and despised the shame of the cross. Pain and shame are the two constituent parts of all outward sufferings, and they were both eminent in the death of the cross; no death more cruel and painful, no death more opprobrious and disgraceful, and never did this appear in any person's death, to that degree of extremity as in the death of Christ; yet he patiently endured them with an holy composure of soul, without reviling the villanous Jews, or threatening them with that vengeance and destruction which it was in his power to have brought upon them every moment. Lord! never any example of patient suffering like to thine, nor can any equal to it, be given in human nature. Learn hence, That the manner of Christ's enduring sufferings, particularly pain and shame, ought to be continually before us, that God may in some measure be glorified by us, according thereunto, when we are called into a suffering condition. Observe, 3. What it was that carried Christ through his sufferings: it was the joy that glorious exaltation; rather the prospect of was set before him; that is, say some, his that glory which would redound to God and his church by his patient suffering. The glory of God, and the salvation of mankind, were now set before him, and he valued them above life, honour, reputation, and ease, and every thing that was dear unto him. Accordingly it was called his pleasure, Isa. liii. 10. Learn hence, that herein is Christ our great example, in that he was influenced and actuated, in all that he did and suffered, by a constant respect to the glory of God, and the salvation of his people: For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, &c. Note, 4. The reward of our Lord's patient sufferings declared; he is therefore set down at the right hand of the throne of God. God's throne implies his majesty and power; the right hand of his throne implies the highest honour, dignity, and power, next to God. Christ's advancement, above angels and all creatures, is hereby intimated; this glorious estate was the great reward of his sufferings. He became obedient unto death, therefore God thus highly exalted him. Observe, lastly, The advantage we shall reap and receive by eyeing Christ in, and imitating his patience under, all our sufferings; it will prevent our being wearied and faint in our minds. Learn hence, That such sufferings may befall us in the way of our profession, as may cause us to faint and grow weary. 2. That when we do begin to faint and grow weary under sufferings, it is our duty to look unto Jesus, and consider him as an example of the greatest patience and constancy of mind: Look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, and consider him who endured-that ye be not weary nor faint. 4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. Here the apostle subjoins another reason why the Hebrews should be reconciled to a suffering condition; because what they had already suffered was but a flea-bite, compared with what Christ and the fore-mentioned cloud of witnesses suffered; he and they resisted unto blood, which you never yet did: Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, &c. By blood is meant death and loss of life; though they had resisted bravely, and suffered manfully, yet their lives were safe. Learn hence, 1. That such as are engaged in the christian profession have no security, but that they may be called forth to the utmost sufferings, even to the sealing of it with their blood. Learn, 2. That whatever befalls us on this side, blood is to be looked upon as a fruit of divine tenderness and mercy towards us. Learn, 3. It is highly dishonourable to faint in the cause of Christ and the gospel, under lesser sufferings, when we know there are greater to be undergone by ourselves and others on the same account. Learn, 4. That it is a noble struggle to resist even unto blood, in opposing sin, and striving against it; both in striving against the sin which others commit, and in striving against the sin which others by promises or threatenings would tempt us to commit. O how honourable a warfare is it to be engaged against such an enemy as sin is!Striving against sin. 5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation, which speaketh unto you as unto children,— As if he had said, "By growing weary and faint in your minds, you will plainly show and evidently declare, that you have forgotten that exhortation which God gives, Prov. iii." The want of a diligent consideration and due remembrance of God's promises, recorded in scripture for our encouragement unto duty, and support under difficulties, is very sinful, and of dangerous Ye have forconsequence unto our souls. gotten the exhortation which specketh unto you, -My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: compellation, My son. has taken away one of our comforts, to say, "Let him take all if he will; if my children must die, let them die; if my estate must go, let it go;"-this is to despise. God cannot bear to see us bear his hand thus lightly. The other extreme is fainting: if when goods are taken away, the heart is taken away, and when relations die, the spirit of a person dies with them: Despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint, &c. 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. A reason is given in these words, why we should not faint under divine chastisements, because God chasteneth every one whom he loves. Here note, That love is antecedent unto chastening, and that chastening is consequential unto love. Note, 2. That divine love and fatherly chastenings are insepara ble; whom he loveth, that is, whomsoever he loveth, he chasteneth, none goes free. Note, 3. That no person then has any reason to complain of his portion of fatherly chastisements, seeing it is the constant way and manner of God's dealing with his children. Note, 4. That in and under all our chastisements, the resignation of ourselves to the sovereign pleasure and infinite wisdom of God, is the only means to preserve us from fainting and weakness. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons: for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Observe, 1. He does not say, if ye be chastised, but if ye endure chastisements, God dealeth with you as with sons; if ye endure them with faith and patience, with submission and perseverance, so as not to faint under them. Learn hence, That a patient endurance of chastisements is of great price in the sight of God, as well as of singular use and advantage unto us. Afflictions and chastisements are no pledges or assurances of our adoption, but when and where they are endured with patience. Observe farther, from those words, What son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 1. That every one of God's sons, more or less, stands in need of his fatherly chastisements. 2. That God is very careful, as VOL. II. a wise and tender father, to correct and chasten all his children. 3. That God, in correcting of his children, dealeth with them as with sons he is the world's sovereign but the believer's father; as he is the governor of the world, he treats men righteously in his judgments; as he is the father of believers, he treats them graciously in afflictions. Observe again from those words, If ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, (that is, all sons are partakers,) That all true children are under God's fatherly discipline, and all that are not under his discipline are not his children, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Learn hence, 1. That God's family or visible church in this world, gifts and outward enjoyments, but are not has some bastards in it; sons that may have heirs, and have no right to the heavenly inheritance. Learn, 2. That this is a great evidence of it, that they are not the genuine sons of God, because they go unchastised; not that they are altogether without affliction, for they are in trouble like other men, but in their afflictions, they do not receive them, they are not sensible of divine chastisement bear them, and improve them, as such, but are impaired by their afflictions, rather than improved by them; they come cankered out of the furnace, and leprous out of Jordan; affliction, that should refine them from their dross, and purify them from their filth, boils their scum and impurity more into them. Learn, lastly, That a joyous state of freedom from affliction, is such as we ought to watch over with great jealousy and fear, lest it of the family of God; not that we may deshould be a leaving us out of the discipline sire afflictions as such, much less excruciate and torment ourselves; but we may pray that we may not want any pledge of our adoption, leaving the ordering and disposal of all things to the will of God. 9 Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall tion unto the Father of spirits, and we not much rather be in subjeclive? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holi ness. These words are a fresh argument to persuade christians to a patient enduring of divine chastisements; the argument is drawn 2 U from the less to the 'greater, thus: "If cur earthly parents chastened us only for a few days, and after their own pleasure, and yet we were subject to them, how much more ought we to be subject to God our heavenly Father, who chastens us for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness?" Note here, 1. Earthly parents do and may chastise the children of their flesh, and they ought to reverence them for so doing, and pay a reverential submission for their parental chastisement. Note, 2. That the motive of, and rule which parents too often follow in correcting of their children, is their own will and pleasure: they have frequently a greater regard to their own passions, than to their children's advantage, and correct oftener in humour than in reason; erring sometimes in the matter, sometimes in the manner, sometimes in the measure, of their correction. Note, 3. That great is the difference between divine and parental chastisements. 1. In their author; one is the father of our flesh, the other of our souls and spirits, they are the immediate product of his power, which is a fundamental reason for our patient submission to God, in and under all afflictions. 2. In their end; the one for their own pleasure, the other for his children's profit, to make them partakers of his holiness, by renovation, sanctification, and mortification: the carrying on of these things in us, is that which God designs in all his chastisements. Learn hence, that we can have no greater pledge and assurance of divine love in afflictions than this, that God by them brings us nearer to himself, and makes us more like himself; if under divine chastisements we find no increase of holiness, they are utterly lost, and we have nothing but the trouble and sorrow of them. Note, lastly, The duty we owe to God, the Father of spirits, and that is, subjection, together with the benefit and advantage of it: by being in subjection to the Father of spirits, we shall live. Now this subjection unto God, consists in an acquiescence in his right and sovereignty to do what he will with his own, in an acknowledgment of his wisdom and righteousness in all his dealings with us, in a mighty sense of his care and love, and in an entire resignation of ourselves to his holy will in all things. And behold the advantage and benefit of this subjection to God in our chastisements; we shall live a spiritual life on earth, and an eternal life in heaThe rebellious son, under the law, that refused subjection to his earthly parent, ven. was stoned to death, see Deut. xxi. 18. and died without mercy; but they who yield subjection to God in their chastisements shall live, and not die. 11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yield eth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Our apostle in these words seems to obviate an objection against a compliance with his exhortation to bear divine chastenings with silence and submission; and this is taken from the trouble and sorrow wherewith chastisement is accompanied; this he takes for granted is so, but takes off all the weight of the objection, by opposing the benefits of affliction thereunto. Learn hence, 1. That all afflictions for the present are grievous to the flesh, and painful to human nature. Learn, 2. That though afflictions are grievous, yet their fruits are gracious to a believer; God in his sovereign wisdom deth so dispose and manage his people's afflic tions, that he makes them end in an happy fruit, even in the fruits of holiness and sanctification; and after affliction has done its work, and wrought kindly, God comes in with comfort and joy, and cheering cordials follow bitter physic. Observe farther, How the benefit of chastisement is expressed in a threefold gradation. Affliction yieldeth fruit; it is no dead and dry thing, but this rod blossoms and brings forth almonds. The fruit it yieldeth is the fruit of righte ousness, namely, patience, submission to the will of God, weanedness from the world, mortification of sin, purity of heart, holiness of life, farther readiness and greater fitness for suffering; these are the sweet fruits which God enables his to gather from the sour tree of affliction. And this fruit of righteousness, which affliction yields, is peaceable fruit, because it is a pledge and evidence of our peace with God, and because it brings peace into our own minds. By these fruits of righteousness our hearts are quieted, our minds composed, all tumults allayed, and we enabled to possess our souls in patience. O happy fruit of affliction ! blessed is the man whom thou chastisest. Observe lastly, Who they are that are blessed with these special benefits of afflictions, only those that are exercised thereby. The original word is an allusion to those in the |