332 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. Iv.
I shall not contend with any, but with all humility propose my own thoughts and reasons to the consideration of them who are wise, learned, and godly. I am not, then, satisfied with the exposi- tion mentioned of this place, but look upon it as that which neither suits the design of the apostle, nor can bear a tolerable sense in its particular application. For, first, supposing believers to be here in- tended, what are the works they are said to rest from? Their sins, say some; their labours, sorrows, and sufferings, say others; from these they rest in heaven. But how can they be said to rest from these works as God rested from his own? for God so rested from his as to take the greatest delight and satisfaction in them, to be refreshed by them: “In six days the LoRD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed,” Exod. xxxi. 17. He so rested from them as that he rested in them, and blessed them, and blessed and sanctified the time wherein they were finished. Indeed God’s rest from and upon his works, besides a mere cessation of working, consisted principally in the satisfaction and complacency that he had in them. But now, if those mentioned be the works here intended, men cannot so rest from them as God did from his; but they cease from them with a detestation of them as far as they are sinful, and joy for their deliverance from them as far as they are sorrowful. Now, this is not to rest as God rested. Again, when are men supposed to rest from these works? It cannot be in this world, for here we rest not at all from temptations, sufferings, and sorrows; and for that mortification of sin which we attain unto, we are to fight continually, “resisting even unto blood.” It must there- fore be in heaven that they so rest; and this is affirmed accordingly. But this utterly excludes the rest in and of the gospel from the apostle’s discourse, and enervates it, so as that his whole present argument is nothing to his purpose, as we have showed before.
It appears, therefore, that it is the rest of another that is here in- tended, even the rest of Christ from his works, which is compared with the rest of God from his at the foundation of the world; for,—
First, The conjunction yép, “ for,’ which introduceth this asser- tion, manifests that the apostle in these words gives an account whence it is that there*is a new sabbatism remaining for the people of God. He had proved before that there could be no such rest but what was founded in the works of God, and his rest that ensued thereon. Such a foundation therefore, he saith, this new rest must have; and it hath it. Now this is, and must be, in the works and rest of him by whom the church was built, that is Christ, who is God, as it is expressly argued, chap. iii. 3, 4. For as that rest which all the world was to observe was founded in his works and rest who built or made the world and all things in it; so the rest of the church of the gospel is to be founded -
Tap.
VER. 10.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 333
in his works and rest by whom the church itself was built, that is Jesus Christ; for he, on the account of his works and rest, is also Lord of the Sabbath, to abrogate one day of rest and to institute another.
Secondly, The apostle here changeth the manner of his expres- sion; from the plural absolutely, “ We who believe,” or virtually in the name of a multitude, “the people of God,” into that which is ab- solutely singular: ‘O ¢iszAédv “He that is entered.” A single per- son is here expressed; one on whose account the things mentioned are asserted. And of this change of phrase there can no reason be given, but only to signify the introduction of a singular person.
Thirdly, The rest which he is said to enter into is called “his rest,” absolutely. As God, speaking of the former rest, calls it “my rest,” so this is the “ my rest” of another,—“ his rest,” namely, the rest of Christ. When the entering of believers into rest is men- tioned, it is called either “God’s rest,”’—‘ They shall enter into my rest;” or “rest” absolutely,—“ We that believe do enter into rest:” but not ‘their rest,’ or ‘our rest; for it is not our own, but God’s rest whereinto we enter, and wherein we rest. The rest here is the rest of him whose it is, who is the author of it; that is, of Christ.
Fourthly, There is a direct parallel in the whole verse between the works of the old creation and those of the new, which the apostle is openly comparing together. 1. For the authors of them: Of the one it is said to be God,—“ As God did from his;” that is, the Crea- tor: of the other, “He,” airé;; ‘ who is that He of whom we speak,’ saith our apostle, ‘verse 13,—for in these words he makes also a transition to the person of Christ, allowing only the interposition of an applicatory exhortation, verse 11. 2. The works of the one and the other are expressed. The works of the Creator are #d:« ¢pya, “ his proper works,” “his own works,” the works of the old creation. And there are the works of him of whom he speaks, r& zpya aired, “his works;” those which he wrought in like manner as God did his own at the beginning,—that is, the work of building the church. For these works must answer each other, and have the same respect unto their authors or workers. They must be good and complete in their kind, and such as rest and refreshment may be taken in as well as upon. To compare the sins or the sufferings of men with the works of God, our apostle did not intend. 3. There is the rest of the one and the other. And these must also have their proportion to one another. Now God rested from his own works of creation,—(1.) By ceasing from creating, only continuing all things by his power in their order, and propagating them to his glory. (2.) By his respect unto them or refreshment in them, as those which set forth his praise and satisfied his glorious design. And so also must he rest who is here spoken of. (1.) He must cease from working in the like kind. He