VER. 15-19.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 178
unto some “a savour of death unto death,” 2 Cor. ii. 16. Yea, Christ himself, in his whole ministry, was “a stone of stumbling and rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, a gin and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,” Isa. viii. 14, Luke ii. 34. And the en- joyment of any part of the means of grace is but a trial. And when any rest therein they do but boast in the putting on of their har- ness, not knowing what will be the end of the battle. And let none mistake unto whom the word of God comes, as it did unto this people in the wilderness. They are engaged; and there is no coming off but conquerors, or ruined. If they receive it not, it will be the aggravation of their sins, the eternal destruction of their souls. The reasons why it will do so I have insisted on in the exposition of chap. ii. 1-3.
Obs. II. In the most general and visible apostasies of the church, God still preserves a remnant unto himself, to bear witness unto him and for him by their faith and obedience: “They provoked; howbeit not all.”
They were indeed many who provoked, but not all. A few they were, but yet some there were who inherited the promise. The professing church in the world was never nearer ruin than at this time. Once, had Moses stood out of the way, had he not with all his might of faith and zeal abode in the breach, God had disin- herited them all, and utterly destroyed them, and reserved him only for a new stock or spring, Exod. xxxil. 9-14; Ps. evi. 23. God had indeed at this time a great secret people, in the children of that generation; but the visible professing church consisted principally in the men that were numbered,—and it is not to be supposed that their wives were much behind their husbands in their murmurings, being more naturally than they, in straits and difficulties, prone to such miscarriages, by reason of their fears. And, “quantillum ab- fuit,’ how near was this whole church to destruction! how near to apostasy! How many soever retained their faith, only Caleb and Joshua retained their profession. When God of old brought a flood upon the world for their wickedness, the professing church, that had been very great and large in the posterity of Seth, was reduced to eight persons, and one of them a cursed hypocrite. And once Elijah could see no more in Israel but himself. There were indeed then seven thousand latent believers, but scarce another visible professor. And it is not hard to imagine how little true faith, regularly pro- fessed, there was in the world when Christ was in the grave. And under the fatal apostasy foretold in the Revelation, those that “kept the testimony of Jesus” are reduced to so small a number as that they are spoken of under the name of “two witnesses.” But yet in all these hazardous trials and reductions of the number of profes- sors, God always hath .maintained, and ever will, a remnant, true,
174 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. IIT.
faithful, pure, and undefiled, unto himself. This he hath done, and this he will do,—
1. To maintain his own kingdom in the world. Satan, by his temptations and the entrance of sin, had greatly defaced the beauty, glory, and order of that kingdom which God first erected in the world, to be governed by the law of creation. But God still retains his sovereignty and authority in it and over it, in all its disorder, by his all-disposing providence; but that he might lose nothing by this attempt of his adversary, as not in power or interest, so neither in honour or glory, he erected in the first promise a new kingdom of grace. Unte this kingdom he gives his Son to be the head,— “the head over all things to the church,” Eph. 1 22; and it unto him, to have therein an “ everlasting dominion,” enduring through all ages, so that of the increase of his rule and government therein there should be no end, Isa. ix. 7. Now, this kingdom cannot be thus preserved, unless some be always, by real saving grace, and the profession of it, kept and maintained as subjects thereof. The king- dom of providence, indeed, under all its alterations, is natural unto God, and necessary. It implies a contradiction that there should be a creature, and God not the sovereign Lord of it. But this kingdom of grace depends on the purpose and faithfulness of God. He hath taken upon himself the continuance and preservation of it unto the end. Should it at any time totally fail, Christ would be a king without a kingdom, a head without a body, or cease to be the one and the other. Wherefore God will secure some, that neither by the abuse of their own liberty, nor by the endeavours of the gates of hell, shall ever be drawn off from their obedience. And this God, in his grace, power, and faithfulness, will effect, to make good his promises unto Christ, which he multiplied unto that purpose from the foundation of the world.
2. Should all faith utterly fail in the earth, should all professors provoke God and apostatize from him, all gracious intercourse be- tween the Holy Spirit and mankind in this world would be at an end, The work of the Spirit is to convert the souls of men unto God, to sanctify them to be temples for himself to dwell in, to guide, teach, lead, and comfort them, by supplies of his grace. Suppose, then, that no saving grace or obedience should be left in the earth, this work of the Spirit of God must utterly fail and cease. But this consisteth not with his glorious immutability and power: he hath undertaken a work, and he will not faint in it, or give it over one moment, until it be accomplished, and all the elect brought unto God. If, therefore, the natural children of Abraham fail, he will out of the stones and rubbish of the Gentiles raise up a living temple unto God, wherein he may dwell, and provide a remnant for him on the earth. :