The law of Moses, then, was not actually abrogated by Christ, who observed the rules of it in the days of his flesh; nor by the apostles, who seldom used their liberty from it, leaving the use of it to the Jews still; but having done its work whereunto it was designed, and its obligation expiring, ending, and being removed or taken away, in the death and resurrection of Christ, and promulgation of the gospel that ensued thereupon, which doctrinally declared its dva@eaeiav, or use- lessness, God in his providence put an end unto it as to its observation, in the utter and irrecoverable overthrow of the temple, the place designed for the solemn exercise of its worship. So did it “decay, wax old,” and “ vanish away,” chap. vill. 13.
And this also God ordered, in his infinite wisdom, that their temple, city, and nation, and so, consequently, their whole church-state, should be utterly wasted by the pagan Romans, before the power of the empire came into the hands of men professing the name of Christ; who could neither well have suffered their temple to stand as by them abused, nor yet have destroyed it without hardening them in their impenitency and unbelief. 3
V. That which is proposed unto confirmation in the whole Epistle, and from whence all the inferences and exhortations insisted on do arise and are drawn, is the eacellency of the gospel, and the worship of God therein revealed and appointed, upon the account of its manifold relation to the person and offices of Christ, the Mediator, the Son of God. Now, because those to whom it is directed did, as hath been declared, some of them adhere to Mosaical ceremonies and worship in
: THE PREFACE. 13
conjunction with the gospel, others with a preferency of them above it, and some to a relinquishment of it, especially when they once found its profession obnoxious to persecution, the apostle institutes, and at large prosecutes, a comparison between Moses’ law and the gospel, as to their. usefulness and excellency, in reference unto men’s acceptation with God by the one and the other; as also of the spirituality, order, and beauty of the worship severally required in them. And herein, though he derogates in no respect from the law that which was justly due unto it, yet, on the accounts before mentioned, he preferreth the gospel before it; and not only so, but also manifests that as Mosaical institutions were never of any other use but to prefigure the real mediatory work of Christ, with the benefits thereof, so he being exhibited and his work accomplished, their observation was become need- less, and themselves, if embraced to a neglect or relinquishment of the gospel, pernicious.
This comparison (wherein also the proof of the positive worth and excellency of the gospel is included), omitting for weighty reasons (intimated by James, Acts xxi. 21; by himself, Acts xxii. 19-21, xxiv. 14) all prefatory salutations, he enters upon in the first verses of the Epistle: and being thereby occasioned to make mention of the Messiah, from whose person and office the difference he was to insist upon did wholly arise, he spendeth the residue of the chapter in proving the divine excellency of his person and the eminency of his office, as the only king, priest, and prophet of his church; on all which the dignity of the gospel, in the profession whereof he exhorts them to persevere, doth depend.
He, then, that would come to a right understanding of this Epistle must always bear in mind,—1. To whom it was written; which were the Jews of the several sorts before mentioned: 2. To what end it was written ; even to prevail with them to embrace the gospel, and to persist in the profession of it without any mixture of Mosaical observations: 3. On what principles the apostle deals with them in this argument; which are no other, for the most part, than what were granted by the Jews of all sorts: 4. What testimonies out of the Old Testament he insists on to prove his purpose ; namely, such as were commonly received in the Judaical church to belong unto the Messiah and his office: 5. What he labours to instruct them in, as to the general use of all sorts amongst them; which is, the nature and use of Mosaical rites: 6. The main argument he insists on, for the ends before mentioned; which is, the excellency of the gospel, the worship instituted therein, and the righteousness manifested thereby, upon the account of its author and sub- ject, the principal efficient cause of its worship, and only procurer of the righte- ousness exhibited in it, even Jesus Christ, the Messiah, Mediator,—the eternal Son of God. Unless these things are well borne in mind, and the case of the Jews particularly heeded, our Exposition will, it may be, seem ofttimes to go out of the way, though it constantly pursue the design and scope of the apostle.
VI. Though this Epistle was written unto the Hebrews, and immediately for their use, yet it is left on record in the canon of the Scripture by the Holy Ghost, for the same general end with the other parts of the Scripture, and the use of all believers therein to the end of the world.
This use in our Exposition is also to be regarded, and that principally in the parenetical or hortatory part of it. That, then, which is dogmatical, and the foundation of all the exhortations insisted on, may be two ways considered :—