1. A due valuation of the grace tendered in it, and of the word itself on that account. TIpoozyewv denotes such an attendance unto any thing as proceeds from an estimation and valuation of it answerable unto its worth. If we have not such thoughts of the gospel, we can never attend unto it as we ought. And if we con- sider it not as that wherein our chief concernment lies, we consider it not at all as we ought. The field wherein is the hid treasure is so to be heeded as to be valued above all other possessions whatso- ever, Matt. xii. 44. They who esteemed not the marriage-feast of the King above all avocations and worldly occasions, were shut out as unworthy, Matt. xxii. 7, 8. If the gospel be not more unto us than all the world besides, we shall never continue in a useful profession of it. Fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, wives and children, must all be despised in comparison of it and in competition with it, When men hear the word as that which puts itself upon them, attendance unto which they cannot decline with- out present or future inconveniencies, without considering that all the concernments of their souls lie bound up in it, they will easily
Upocégcesy.
VER. 1.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 265
be won utterly to neglect it. According as our esteem and valua- tion of it is, so is our heeding of it and attendance unto it, and no otherwise. Hearkening unto the word as unto a song of him that hath a pleasant voice, which may please or satisfy for the present, is that which profits not men, and which God abhors, Ezek. xxxiii. 82. If the ministration of the gospel be not looked on as that which is full of glory, it will never be attended unto. This the apostle presseth, 2 Cor. iii. 8,9. Constant high thoughts, then, of the necessity, worth, glory, and excellency of the gospel, as on other accounts, so especially of the author of it, and the grace dispensed in it, is the first step in that diligent heeding of it which is required of us. Want of this was that which ruined many of the Hebrews to whom the apostle wrote. And without it we shall never keep our faith firm unto the end,
2. Diligent study of rt, and searching into the mind of God in it, that so we may grow wise in the mysteries thereof, is another part of this duty. The gospel is “the wisdom of God,” 1 Cor. i. 24, In it are laid up all the stores and treasures of that wisdom of God which ever any of the sons of men shall come to an acquaintance with in this world, Col. i 2, 3. And this wisdom is to be sought for as silver, and to be searched after as hid treasures, Prov. ii. 4; that is, with pains and diligence, like unto that of those who are employed in that inquiry. Men with indefatigable pains and danger pierce into the bowels of the earth, in the search of those hid treasures that are wrapped up in the vast womb of it. Silver and treasures are not gathered by every lazy passenger on the sur- face of the earth. They must dig, seek, and search, who intend to be made partakers of them; and they do so accordingly. And so must we do for these treasures of heavenly wisdom. The mystery of the grace of the gospel is great and deep, such as the angels de- sire to bow down and look into, 1 Pet. i, 12; which the prophets of old, notwithstanding the advantage of their own especial revela- . tions, inquired diligently after, verses 10, 11: whereas now, if any pretend, though falsely, to a revelation, they have immediately done with the word, as that which, by the deceit of their imaginations, they think beneath them, when indeed it is only distant from them, and is really above them; as if a man should stand on tiptoe on a molehill, and despise the sun appearing newly above the horizon as one beneath him. Diligent, sedulous searching into the word belongs unto this heeding of it, Ps. i. 2; or a labouring by all ap- pointed means to become acquainted with it, wise in the mystery of it, and skilled in its doctrine. Without this, no man will hold fast his profession. Nor doth any man neglect the gospel but he that knows it not, 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. This is the great principle of apostasy in the world:—men have owned the gospel, but never
266 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. II.
knew what it was; and therefore leave the profession of it foolishly, as they took it up lightly. Studying of the word is the security of our faith.
3. Mixing the wore with farth is required in this attention. See Heb. iv. 2, As good not hear as not believe. Believing is the end of hearing, Rom. x. 10,11; and therefore Lydia’s faith is called her attention, Acts xvi. 14. ‘This is the life of heeding the word, with- out which all other exercise about it is but a dead careass. To hear and not believe, is in the spiritual life what to see meat and not to eat is in the natural; it will please the fancy, but will never nourish the soul. Faith alone realizeth the things spoken unto the heart, and gives them subsistence in it, Heb. xi. 1; without which, as to us, they flow up and down in loose and uncertain notions. This, then, is the principal part of our duty in heeding the things spoken; for it gives entrance to them into the soul, without which they are poured upon it as water upon a stick that is fully dry.