VER. 12-14.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 119
to confound it, or the presence of God in and with him, with their own pretended light. And whence doth this arise? It is merely from the secret dislike that unbelief hath of this mystery of God. Hence they cannot see that “form and comeliness” in him for which he should be desired.
Again, others there are who grant that all we have spoken con- cerning the human nature of Christ is true,—that he was so born, that he so died, and he was so a man, as we have declared. And this man, say they,-was justly called, and is so, the Son of God, be- cause God employed and exalted him unto all power in heaven and earth. But that he should be the eternal Son of God, that the eter- nal Word should be made flesh, that a divine person should receive the human nature into subsistence with itself, this they utterly re- ject. This is the way of the Socinians. The testimonies being so many, so plain, so uncontrollable, that are given in the Scripture unto this truth, what is it that can carry men to advance a contra- diction unto them to their own ruin? Why, unbelief doth not like this mystery of ‘God manifested in the flesh.” This insensibly alie- nates thg soul from it; and what men pretend to receive by the conduct of reason and argument, is indeed nothing but prejudices imposed on their minds by the power of unbelief.
(Secondly,) Another main fundamental principle of the gospel is, that by the obedience unto God, death, and blood-shedding of this same Jesus, who was crucified and slain, are redemption, forgiveness of sins, deliverance from the wrath to come, righteousness, and ac- ceptation with God, to be obtained, and by him only.
The other proposition respected the person of Christ, this doth his mediation. And this, in the second place, was insisted on in the first preaching of the gospel. That this is the sum of the doctrine of the Scriptures concerning him, himself taught his disciples, Luke xxiv. 45-47, “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the’scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name.” And this the apostles jointly express, ex- clusively unto all other mediums as to the end proposed, Acts iv. 12, “ Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
The great inquiry of men in the world, convinced of an immortal condition, is that which we have expressed, Acts xvi. 30, “ What must we do to be saved?” This lies in their thoughts more or less all their days, and is rolled in their hearts under that severe notion, Isa. xxxiii. 14, “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” And of this
inquiry there are two parts:—
120 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. III.
[ First, ] How they may obtain forgiveness of sin: Mic. vi. 6, “ Where- with shall I come before the Lorp, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? will the Lorp be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my trans- gression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” Whena real sense of the guilt of sin is by any means brought upon the soul, it is vehement and urgent, and will give them in whom it is no rest, until they can fix on some way of relief.
[Secondly,] What they shall do for a righteousness, upon the account whereof they may obtain acceptance with God. For itis not enough that men may be one way or other acquitted from sin, but they must be made righteous also. In this case, the Jews sought for righteousness “as it were by the works of the law,’ Rom. ix. 32; for a righteousness they knew they must have, and “ being ignorant of God’s righteousness, they went about to establish their own right- eousness,” Rom. x. 3.
Now, this head of the gospel that we have mentioned is a direct answer unto these two questions. For in answer unto the first it de- clares, that by this Jesus Christ alone is forgiveness and remission of sins to be obtained. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,” Eph.i. 7. See Heb. ix. 12-14. This was, as the gospel declares, the design of God the Father, Rom. iii. 24, 25; and of his own love and good-will, Rev. i. 5. And this the apostles preached é rpwras, “ amongst the chiefest things” of their message to the world, 1 Cor. xv. 38. And to the second it answers, that by the obedience and suffering of Christ alone is the righteous- ness inquired after to be obtained: for by his obedience, “the obe- dience of one,” are “many made righteous,” Rom. v. 19. For not only “ by him is preached unto us the forgiveness of sins,” but “ by him all that believe are justified,’ Acts xiii. 38,39. See Phil, iii, 8, 9; 1 Cor. i. 30. °