VOL, XX, 2
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Hei.
Thoravuespars.
18 AN EXPOSITION OF THE ‘[ CHAP. 1.
velation from the beginning of the world, and it compriseth four principal 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, Lamech, 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. viil. 21-22, ix. 9, 10; whereunto were subservient the revelations made to Mel- chizedek, Gen. xiv. 18, 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. xu. 1-8, xv- 11, 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 she Judaical church in the wilderness ; unto which there were three po cipal heads of subservient revelations :—
1. To David, which was peculiarly 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,—Ep.
VER. 1, 2.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 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, Mal. iv.; until when they were to attend to the law of Moses, with those expositions of it which they had received, verses 4, 5. That was the time appointed, 8°22) jin bine ) “to seal,” complete, and finish, “vision and prophet;” as also onne nixon, “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 the progress of revelation? hath he not always kept the church in expec- 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 account 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. xvi. 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 aw 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.”