And this power he putteth forth by his word and Spirit; for we declared, in the opening of the words, that the effects here ascribed unto the essential Word are such as he produceth by the word preached, which is accompanied with and made effectual by the dispensation of the Spirit, Isa, lix. 21. And the power here intended
VER. 12, 13.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 367
is wholly clothed with the word; thereby it is conveyed to the souls of men; therein is “ the hiding of his power,” Hab. iii. 4. Though it seems weak, and is despised, yet it is accompanied with the hidden power of Christ, which will not fail of its end, 1 Cor.i.18, And the word preached is not otherwise to be considered, but as that which is the conveyance of divine power to the souls of men. And every impression that it makes on the heart is an effect of the power of Christ. And this will teach us how to value it and esteem it, seeing it is the only way and means whereby the Lord Christ exerciseth his mediatory power towards us on the behalf of God; and effectual it will be unto the ends whereunto he designs it. For he is in it “sharper than any two-edged sword.” So that,—
Obs. III. The power of Christ in his word is irresistible, as to whatever effects he doth design it, Isa. lv. 10, 11.
The power of Christ in his word is by many exceedingly despised and slighted. Few there are who seem to have any real effects of it produced in them or upon them. Hence it is looked on in the world as a thing of no great efficacy; and those who preach it in sincerity are ready to cry out, “ Who hath believed our report ?” But all this ariseth from a mistake, as though it had but one end designed unto it. Had the Lord Christ no other end to accomplish by his word but merely that which is the principal, the conversion of the souls of his elect, it might be conceived to fail towards the ' far greater number of them to whom it is preached. But it is with him in his word as it was in his own person. He was “set for the fall” as well as “ the rising of many in Israel,” and “ for a sign that should be spoken against,” Luke ii. 34. As he was to be unto some “ for a sanctuary,” so “ for a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel; for a gin and for a snare to the inhabi- tants of Jerusalem,” among whom “many were to stumble” at him, “and fall, and be broken,” Isa. vii. 14, 15. And these things are all of them effectually accomplished towards them to whom he is preached. They are all of them either raised by him unto God out of their state of sin and misery, and do take sanctuary in him from sin and the law; or they stumble at him, through their unbelief, and perish eternally. None can ever have Christ proposed unto them upon indifferent terms, so as to be left in the condition wherein they were before. They must all be saved by his grace, or perish under his wrath. And so is it also with him in his word. The end, what- ever it be that he assigns unto it with respect unto any, shall un- doubtedly be accomplished. Now these ends are various, 2 Cor. ii. 14, 15. Sometimes he intends by it only the hardening and further blinding of wicked sinners, that they may be the more pre- pared for deserved destruction: Isa. vi. 9-11, “Go, tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but per-
368 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. lV.
ceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Un- til the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate.” The principal accomplish- ment hereof was in the personal ministry of Christ himself towards the people of the Jews, Matt. xiii. 14; Mark iv. 12; Luke viii. 10; John xii. 40, But the same is the condition of things in the preach- ing of the word to this day. Christ designs in it to harden and blind wicked sinners unto their destruction. And herein it misseth not of its effect. They are so until they are utterly destroyed. Towards some he designs it only for their conviction; and this it shall through his power unconquerably effect. There is not one whom he aimeth to convince but he shall be convinced, whatever he intends by those convictions. “His arrows are sharp in the heart of his enemies, whereby the people fall under him,” Ps. xlv. 5. Let men be never so much his enemies, yet if he intends their con- viction, he will so sharpen his word upon their hearts as that they shall let go their professed enmity and fall down in the acknowledg- ment of his power. None whom he will have convinced by his word shall be able to withstand it. Now, as the first sort of men may reject and despise the word as to any convictions from it which it is not designed to give them, but can never avoid its efficacy to harden them in their sins; so this second sort may resist and reject the word as to any real saving work of conversion, which is not in it or by it assigned unto them, but they cannot withstand its con- victions, which are its proper work towards them. With respect unto others, it is designed for their conversion; and the power of Christ doth in this design so accompany it as that it shall infallibly accomplish that work. These dead creatures shall “hear the voice of the Son of God” in it and live. It is, then, certainly of high con- cernment unto all men unto whom Christ comes in his word, to consider diligently what is or is like to be the issue and consequence of it with respect unto themselves. Things are not issued according to outward appearance. If there were no hidden or secret events of the dispensation of the power of Christ in the word, all thoughts of any great matter in it might easily be cast off; for we see that the most live quietly under a neglect of it, without any visible effect upon their hearts or lives. And how then is it “sharper than any two-edged sword?” Things are indeed quite otherwise; the word hath its work on all; and those who are neither convinced nor con- verted by it, are hardened,—which is in many evident to a spiritual eye. And surely we may do well to consider how it fareth with our own souls in this state of things. It is to no purpose to think to hide