416 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. II.
to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” This it became him to do, this was the end why he did it: he sanctifieth his church that he may present it a meet bride or spouse unto him- self. The like may be said of all other relations wherein the Lord Christ stands unto his people; there is no one of them but makes their sanctification absolutely necessary.
3. On the part of the children themselves; for unless they are re- generate, or born again, wherein the foundation of their sanctifica- tion is laid, they can by no means enter into the kingdom of God. It is this that makes them “meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.” As without it they are not meet for their duty, so are they not capable of their reward. Yea, heaven itself, in the true light and notion of it, is undesirable unto an unsanctified person. Such a one neither can nor would enjoy God if he might. Ina word, there is no one thing required of the sons of God that an un- sanctified person can do, no one thing promised unto them that he can enjoy.
There is surely, then, a woful mistake in the world. If Christ sanctifies all whom he saves, many will appear to have been mistaken in their expectations another day. It is grown amongst us almost an abhorrency unto all flesh, to say that the church of God is to be holy. . What though God hath promised that it should be so, and Christ hath undertaken to make it so? what if it be required to be so? what if all the duties of it be rejected of God if it be not so?—it is all one. If men be baptized whether they will or no, and outwardly profess the name of Christ, though not one of them be truly sancti- fied, yet they are, as it is said, the church of Christ. Why, then, let them be so; but what are they the better for it? Are their per- sons or their services therefore accepted with God? are they related or united unto Christ? are they under his conduct unto glory? are they meet for the inheritance of the saints in light? Notatall; not all, not any of these things do they obtain thereby. What is it, then, that they get by the furious contest which they make for the reputation of this privilege? Only this, that satisfying their minds by it, resting if not priding themselves in it, they obtain many ad- vantages to stifle all convictions of their condition, and so perish un- avoidably. A sad success, and for ever to be bewailed! Yet is there nothing at this day more contended for in this world than that Christ might be thought to bea captain of salvation unto them unto whom he is not a sanctifier,—that he may have an unholy church, a dead body. These things tend neither to the glory of Christ, nor to the good of the souls of men. Let none, then, deceive themselves: sanctification is a qualification indispensably necessary unto them who will be under the conduct of the Lord Christ unto salvation, he will lead none
VER. 11-13, ] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 417
to heaven but whom he sanctifies on the earth. The holy God will not receive unholy persons; this living head will not admit of dead members, nor bring men into the possession of a glory which they neither love nor like.
Secondly, Having given this description of the captain of salva- tion and of the sons to be brought unto glory, the apostle affirms of them that they are é& évés, “of one;” which made it meet for him to suffer and for them to be made partakers of his sufferings. The equity hereof lies in the agreement, that he and they are of one; which what it is we must now inquire.
1. The word hath this ambiguity in it, that it may be of the masculine gender, and denote one person, or of the neuter, and signify one thing. If it relate unto the person, it may have a double interpretation :—
(1.) That it is God whoisintended. They are “all of one;” that is, God. And this may be spoken in several respects.) The Son was of him by eternal generation ; the many sons, by temporal creation, — they were made by him. Or, they are all of him: he ordained him to be the sanctifier, them to be sanctified; him to be the captain of salvation, and them to be brought unto glory. And this sense the last testimony produced by the apostle seems to give countenance unto: “Behold I and the children which God hath given unto me;” —‘me to be their father, captain, leader; they to be the children to be eared for and conducted by me.’ And this way went most of the ancients in their exposition of this place. In this sense, the reason yielded by the apostle in these words why the captain of salvation should be made perfect by sufferings is, because the sons to be brought unto glory were also to suffer, and they were all of one, both he and they, even of God. But though these things are true, yet they contain not a full reason of what the apostle intends to prove by this assertion: for this interpretation allows no other relation to be expressed between Christ and the sons than what is between him and angels; they are also, with him, of one God. And yet the apostle afterwards showeth that there was another union and relation between Christ and the elect needful, that they might be saved by him, than any that was between him and angels. And if nothing be intimated but the good pleasure of God appointing him to be a Saviour and them to be saved, because they were all of himself, of one God, which was sufficient to make that appointment just and righteous, then is here nothing asserted to prove the meetness of Christ to be a Saviour unto men and not to angels, which yet the apostle in the following verses expressly deduceth from hence.