_ The especial foundation of all this trust is in an eminent manner expressed, Isa. lili. 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. i 14, ix. 12. 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 enstamped on them, and were every way meet for my service; but behold the misery that is come upon 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 love enough to wash them in thine own blood, in a nature to be
62 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [ CHAP. I.
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 sons of men, Ps. xl. 8; Prov. vii. 81. 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 satisfied. 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 al]. 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 merey 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 this 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 merey to eternity: on some he bestows much 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 hereby,—l. 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. xi. 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 king- 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-spiritual. 1. Natural gifts 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 ra Biarixe, “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 im an especial manner, im-