But I am rather inclined unto a double distribution of things _and persons in the text, both included in the rotro wév and the rodro 0& ‘That of things is actual suffering, and a participation of the sufierings of others. That of persons is this, that all those unto whom he wrote did not actually in their own persons suffer the things which he speaks of, but some of them did so suffer, and the test of them were companions with them that did so suffer. And for the most part it so falls out in the fiercest persecution of the gospel. All individual persons are not called forth unto the same _ actual sufferings; some in the providence of God, and through the rage of men, are singled out for trials; some are hid or do escape, at least for a season, and it may be are reserved for the same trials at another time. So it may be said of the whole church, that they “endured a great fight of afflictions,’ while some of them were “a gazing-stock,” ete., and others of them “ were companions of them that were so used.”
Obs. VIII. It is reserved unto the sovereign pleasure of God to measure out unto all professors of the gospel their especial lot and portion as unto trials and sufferings, so as that none ought to com- plain, none to envy one another.
568, AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. X.
(2.) Hence it appears in what sense those who suffered not in their own persons were made companions of them who did so, whereby the whole church partook of the same troubles. Koswyo/ yevndevreg : [1.] They were made so by their common interest in the same cause for which they suffered ; 12.] By their apprehension that the same sufferings would reach unto themselves, seeing there was the same cause in them as in others; [3.] By their sorrow, trouble, and compassion, for the suffer- . ing of the members of the same Head and body with them; [4.] By all duties of love and affection which they discharged in owning and visiting of them; [5.] By the communication of their goods and outward enjoyments unto them, who had suffered the loss of their own: so were they made their companions.
\ Kowwyos ysvn-
Stvres.
Ver. 34,“ For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.”
Thirdly, Having distributed the rad4uora of believers into two heads; 1. What they underwent, some of them at least, in their own persons; and, 2, What befell them with respect unto others suffer- ing in the same eause with themselves; in this verse the apostle gives an especial instance of each kind, only he inverts the order wherein he had before laid them down. For whereas he first mentioned what they suffered in themselves, and then what they accompanied others in, here he insisteth on the latter of them in the first place, “they had compassion of him in his bonds;” and of the former in the second place, “and took joyfully the spozling of their goods.” But he adds unto both the frame of their minds in what they did and suffered: as unto others, they were their “companions” in sympathy and compassion; and as unto their own — losses, “they them took joyfully.”
Of the jirst the apostle gives, 1. An instance in himself, “Ye had compassion of me in my bonds.” And this he affirms as a proof and confirmation of what he had spoken before concerning their being made companions of them that suffered. This is expressed in the introductive particles xai ydép, ‘“for even you had,” as for example’s sake.’ I have proved before the apostle Paul was the author of this epistle, and this very passage is sufficient to confirm it. For who else could there be whose bonds for the gospel were so known, so famous among the believers of the Jews, as his own? For the other persons whom some would needs fancy to be writers of this epistle, as Luke, Barnabas, and Clemens, there is nothing in the Scripture or ecclesiastical story of any of their bonds in Judea, whereof it is plain that he here speaketh. But the sufferings of our apostle in this kind of bonds and imprisonment were peculiar above
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VER. 32-84. ] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 569
any other apostle’s whatsoever. Hence he styles himself in par- ticular, Philem. 1, the “bondman for Christ;” and gloried in his bonds as his peculiar honour, Acts xxvi. 29. “An ambassador in bonds,” Eph. vi. 20. So Phil. i. 7, 12-16; Col. iv. 8, which he desired the church to remember him in, chap. iv. 18; 2 Tim. ii. 9. Wherefore, his bonds being singularly and above all others so known, so famous, so useful, such a subject of the church’s prayers, and of their faith, having been begun and long continued among those Hebrews, and being spoken of by him as a matter known unto them all, it is unreasonable to suppose that any other is intended.
Obs. 1X. Of what sort or kind the sufferings of any that God ' employs in the ministry of the gospel shall be, is in his sovereign disposal alone—And in this apostle, unto whom, as being the apostle of the Gentiles, God had designed more work, and travelling up and down the world, than unto any of the others, it may be unto them all; yet God was pleased that much of his time should be spent in bonds and imprisonments. But although the principal reason hereof must be left hid in the wisdom and sovereign good pleasure of God, yet we may see that two inestimable advantages did redound unto the church thereby. For, (1.) His bonds being first at Jerusalem, and afterwards at Rome, as Acts xxiii. 11, the two capital cities and seats of the Jews and Gentiles, and he being called out to plead the cause of the gospel openly and publicly, the report of it was carried all the world over, and occasion given unto all sorts of men to inquire what it was that a man remote from the suspicion of any crime.did suffer such things for. I no way doubt but that multitudes by this means were brought to make inquiry after and into the doctrine of the gospel, which otherwise would have taken no notice of it. See Phil. i, 12-16. And, (2.) During his confinement under those bonds, the Holy Ghost was pleased to make use of him in writing sundry of those blessed epistles which have been the light and glory of the gospel in all ages. Where- fore, let every one of us be content and rejoice in what way soever God shall be pleased to call us to suffer for the truth of the gospel. For although it may seem outwardly to be of the greatest advantage thereunto, which is the only thing we would desire, that we might enjoy our liberty, yet God can and will make them subservient unto his own glory; wherein we ought to acquiesce.