(2.) There are such as respect their futwre condition, or threaten- ings of eternal wrath and indignation with especial regard unto that apostasy whereunto they are liable. It is manifest that there are such comminations denounced against deserters, apostates, such as forsake the profession which they have made; which we shall have oceasion to speak unto in our progress, for they abound in this epistle. Now these, in the first place, respect these unsound pro- fessors of whom we speak. And this for two ends:—[1.] To deter them from a desertion of that profession wherein they are engaged, and of that light whereunto they have attained; for although that light and profession would not by and of themselves eternally save them, yet,—Ist. They lie in order thereunto, and engage them into the use of those means which may ingenerate that faith and grace
208 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. Iv.
which will produce that effect; 2dly. The deserting of them casts them both meritoriously and irrecoverably into destruction. [2.] To stir them up unto a consideration of the true state and condition wherein at present they are. Men may as well fail in their pro- fession, or come short of that grace which they own, Heb. xii. 15, as fall from that profession which they have made. And these threatenings are denounced against the one miscarriage as well as the other.
The general end of these gospel comminations, with respect unto these unsound professors, is fear. Because of them they ought to fear. And that,—(1.) With a fear of jealousy as to their present con- dition. The consideration of the terror of the Lord declared in them ought to put them on a trembling disquisition into their state, and what their expectations may be. (2.) A fear of dread as to the punishment itself threatened, so far as they fall under conviction of their being obnoxious thereunto.
3. Gospel threatenings may be considered as they respect believers themselves; and in that sense we may consider what respect they have unto God, and what unto believers, with what is the proper effect of them designed of God to be accomplished in their spirits.
There is a difference between the promises and threatenings of the gospel; for the promises of God are declarative of his purposes unto all believers that are “called according to his purpose,’ Rom. viii. 28-31. The threatenings are not so to all unbelievers, much less to believers; but they are means to work the one sort from their unbelief, and to confirm the other in their faith. Only, they are declarative of God’s purposes towards them who have contracted the guilt of the unpardonable sin, and declare the event as to all finally impenitent sinners.
(1.) They have a respect unto the nature of God, and are decla- rative of his condemning, hating, forbidding of that sin which the threatening is denounced against. It is an effectual way to mani- fest God’s detestation of any sin, to declare the punishment that it doth deserve, and which the law doth appoint unto it, Rom. 1. 32.
(2.) They have respect unto the will of God, and declare the connection that is, by God’s institution, between the sin prohibited and the punishment threatened; as in that word, “ He that be- lieveth not shall be damned.” God by it declares the infallible connection that there is, by virtue of his constitution, between in- fidelity and damnation. Wherever the one is final the other shall be inevitable. And in this sense they belong properly to believers; that is, they are to be declared and preached unto them, or pressed upon their consciences; for,—
[1.] They are annexed to the dispensation of the covenant of grace, as an instituted means to render it effectual, and to accomplish the
VER. 1, 2.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 209
ends of it. The covenant of works was given out or declared in a threatening: “The day that thou eatest, thou shalt die;” but in that threatening a promise was included of life upon obedience. And the covenant of grace is principally revealed in a word of promise; but in that promise a threatening is included, in the sense and to the purposes before mentioned. And, as we have showed before, these threatenings are variously expressed in the gospel. And they are of two sorts:—I1s¢. Such as whose matter in the event hath no absolute inconsistency with the nature and grace of the covenant. Such are all the intimations of God’s severity to be exercised towards his own children, in afflictions, chastisements, trials, and desertions. For although these things and the like, in respect of their principle and end, belong unto love and grace, and so may be promised also, yet in respect of their matter, being grievous, and not joyous, afflictive to the inward and outward man, such as we may and ought to pray to be kept or delivered from, they are proposed in the threatenings an- nexed to the dispensation of the covenant. See Ps. lxxxix. 30-33; Rey. ii, iii. And this sort of threatenings is universally and abso- lutely annexed to the dispensation of the covenant of grace, both as to the manner of their giving and the matter or event of them. And that because they are every way consistent with the grace, love, and kindness of that covenant, and do in the appointment of God tend to the furtherance of the obedience required therein. 2dly. Such as, in respect of the event, are inconsistent with the covenant, or the faith- fulness of God therein; as the comminations of eternal rejection upon unbelief or apostasy, which are many. Now these also belong to the dispensation of the covenant of grace, so far as they are declarative of the displeasure of God against sin, and of his annexing punish- ment unto it; which declaration is designed of God and sanctified for one means of our avoiding both the one and the other. And whatever is sanctified of God for a means of delivery from sin and punishment, belongs to the dispensation of the covenant of