VER. 3-6.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 549
Secondly, As to the nature of this glory, it consists in this, that he is the object of all divine religious worship, and the principal author of all the laws thereof whereby it is outwardly and solemnly celebrated or performed. Hence there is a twofold duty incumbent on the church in reference to him who is the builder of it, our medi- ator, Jesus Christ: —1. That they serve him, trust him, believe in him, obey him with all religious subjection of soul and conscience. Hence saith he, “ Ye believe in God, believe also in me,” John xiv. 1;—‘ Ye believe in God the Father who sent me, believe alsoin me who am sent, with the same divine faith and confidence.’ Com- mands and examples unto the same purpose are multiplied in the Scripture, as I have elsewhere shown at large. Jesus Christ, our mediator, God and man, the builder of the church, is the proper object of our religious faith, love, and fear, even as the Father is. In him do we believe, on his name do we call, to him do we subject and commit our souls unto eternity. This glory is due unto him because he built the church. 2. The observation of all his com- mands, laws, and institutions, as the great sovereign Lord over our souls and consciences in all things; for “to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living,” Rom. xiv. 9;—supreme Lord over us whilst alive, re- quiring obedience to all his laws, as a son over his own house; and when we are dead, to raise us again and to bring us unto his judg- ment-seat, as verses 10,11. And this obedience he gives in command to all his disciples, Matt. xxviii. 20. And in these things consists that peculiar glory which Christ as this builder of the house hath, or is endowed withal.
Thirdly, Two things may be considered concerning this glory:— 1. What it is that is the formal reason of it,—that which renders him a meet object of the church’s worship, and the church’s wor- ship to be truly divine or religious. 2. What is the principal motive prevailing with us to give him this glory and honour.
For the first, it is no other but the divine nature. The natural and essential excellencies of the Deity are the formal reason and proper object of all divine worship. We worship the Lord Christ, who is God and map. He is so in one person; and his person who is God and man is the object of that worship. But the formal reason and ob- ject of it is the divine nature in that person. Give me leave to say, God himself could not command the Lord Christ to be worshipped with divine religious adoration were he not God by nature, for the thing itself implieth a contradiction. Religious worship is nothing but an assignation of that honour which is due to divine excellen- cies; namely, to trust, believe, fear, obey, love, and submit unto infinite holiness, goodness, righteousness, power, in the first cause, last end, and sovereign Lord of all. Now, to assign glory proper to
550 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. ILI.
divine excellencies, and which receiveth its nature from its object, where divine excellencies are not, is openly contradictory. Besides, God hath said, “I am the Lorp: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another,” Isa. xlii 8. He that hath not the name of God, (that is, his nature,) shall not, nor can have this glory, which is to be the object of the worship mentioned. And there are scarcely more gross idolaters in the world than those who profess to worship Christ and to believe in him, in a word, to give him all the glory that is due to God, and yet deny him so to be.
Now, in our worship of Christ, which is our assignation of glory unto him, he is considered two ways:—(1.) Absolutely, as he is “ over all, God blessed for ever,’ Rom. ix. 5. (2.) As he is the mediator be- tween the Father and us. (1.) In the first respect he is the proper and ultimate object of our worship. We believe in him, pray unto him; as Stephen offered his dying prayer unto him in particular. They stoned Stephen, praying or invocating in these words, “ Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” Acts vil. 59. So are we baptized in his name, and thereby initiated into his service, as our Lord and our God, as Thomas expresseth his confession of him, John xx. 28. So may we pray unto him directly and distinctly, making his person the ulti- mate object of our faith, trust, and subjection of soul therein. See Eph. v. 28-25; 2 Cor. v. 15; Tit il. 14; Rom. xiv. 9,18. (2.) Con- sider him in the latter way, as the mediator between the Father and ws; so he is the immediate but not the ultimate object of our wor- ship. In this sense, “through him we do believe in God, who raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory, that our faith and hepe might be in God,” 1 Pet. i. 21. He is the means of our faith and hope. By him “we have access by one Spirit unto the Father,” Eph. ii. 18. And according to his command, we ask of God in his name, and for his sake, John xvi. 23, 24, 26. .And in this sense, in all our worship, internal and external, in our faith, confi- dence, obedience, and supplications, the Father is considered as the ultimate object of our worship, and the Lord Christ the Son as he who hath procured acceptance for us, who pleads our cause, manageth our affairs, justifies our persons, and prevails for grace and mercy. And this is the most ordinary and standing way of faith in the wor- ship of God. We address ourselves to the Father by Christ the Son as mediator, considering him as vested with his offices in and over the house of God. This the apostle excellently expresseth, Eph. iii. 14-19. However, it is free for us to address our petitions directly unto Christ as he is God, equal -with the Father.