1. Properly, as to the special and peculiar tendency of the principles and doc- trines handled; and so they specially intend the Jews, and must be opened with respect to them, their principles, traditions, opinions, objections,—all which must therefore be considered, that the peculiar force and efficacy of the apostle’s reason- ings with respect unto them may be made manifest. And from the doctrinal part of this Epistle so opened, the exhortations that arise do chiefly respect the Jews,
and are peculiarly suited unto them, their state and condition.
14 TO THE CHRISTIAN READER.
2, Again, the doctrines treated on by the apostle may be considered absolutely and abstractedly from the special case of the Jews, which he had in his eye,—merely as to their own nature; and so they are, many of them, of the chief, fundamental principles of the gospel. In this respect they are grounds for the application of the exhortations in the Epistle unto all professors of the gospel to the end of the world. And this must guide us in our Exposition. Having to deal with the Jews, the doctrinal parts of the Epistle must be opened with special respect unto them, or we utterly, lose the apostle’s aim and design; and dealing with Christians, the hortatory part shall be principally insisted on, as respecting all professors ;—yet not so but that, in handling the doctrinal part, we shall weigh the principles of it, as articles of our evangelical faith in general, and consider also the peculiar respect that the exhortations have unto the Jews.
Now, whereas, as was said, many principles of the Jews are partly supposed and taken for granted, partly urged and insisted on to his own purpose by the apostle, we must in our passage make some stay in their discovery and declaration, and shall insert them under their proper heads where they occur, even as many of them as. are not already handled in our Prolegomena.
&
Ii—TO THE CHRISTIAN READER,
CHRISTIAN READER,
THERE are but few things that I shall here detain thee in the consideration of, and those such as are necessary, if thou intendest the perusal of the ensuing Dis- courses. What principally concerneth this Exposition or Commentary on the Hpistle to the Hebrews, as to the design, scope, order, and method of it, was fully declared in a preface unto a former volume of Exercitations, with an exposition of the first two chapters thereof. Such as have there taken notice of them do de- serve to be free from the trouble of their repetition in this place; and unto those by whom their consideration hath been omitted or neglected, either with the whole work or in the perusal of it, it is no wrong to suppose either that they need them not, or to leave them under this direction where they may be found. Wherefore I shall not offer thee any thing with respect unto the exposition of the three fol- lowing chapters, which is now presented unto thee, as to its design, order, and method, which have been all before declared. Only, whereas our apostle in the third chapter digresseth unto a pathetical, rational, argumentative exhortation unto those practical duties of faith, love, constancy, and perseverance, which were the principal end of his doctrinal instructions in the whole Epistle, and indispen- sably necessary to be diligently attended unto by the Hebrews, under their condi- tion and circumstances, in a singular manner; so, in imitation of and compliance with him who is my pattern and guide, as also finding the same duties, under our present circumstances, no less necessary to be singularly attended unto by all pro- fessors of the gospel, I have somewhat more largely than ordinary insisted on them, and consequently on the exposition of the chapter itself. And if any one shall hereon conceive our discourses over long or tedious, or too much diverting from the expository part of our work, I have sundry things to offer towards his satisfaction: as,—
1. The method of the whole is so disposed, as that any one, by the sole guidance of his eye, without further trouble than by turning the leaves of the book, may carry on or continue his reading of any one part of the whole without interrup- tion or mixing any other discourses therewithal, So may he, in the first place, go
TO THE CHRISTIAN READER. 15
over our consideration of the original text, with the examination of ancient and modern translations, and the grammatical construction and signification of the words, without diverting unto any thing else that is discoursed on thetext. In like manner, if any desire to peruse the exposition of the text and context, with the declaration and vindication of the sense and meaning of the Holy Ghost in them, without the least intermixture of any practical discourses deduced from them, he may, under the same guidance, and with the same labour, confine himself there- unto from the beginning unto the end of the work. And whereas the practical observations with their improvement do virtually contain in them the sense and exposition of the words, and give light unto the intendment of the apostle in his whole design, for ought I know some may be desirous to exercise themselves principally in those discourses; which they may do by following the series and dis- tinct continuation of them from first to last. Wherefore, from the constant ob- servation of the same method as to the principal distinct parts of the whole Ex- position, every one is at liberty to use that order in the perusal of it which he judgeth most for his own advantage.