| Chap. IIL.
cially of Spiritual and Eternal Lite, John 5:. 19, 20, 21, 25, 8s: which Living God 15 our Lord .Jeſus Chriſt, terſe 7. whoſe Voice they were to hear, who was tempted, by their Unbelief in the Wil- derneſs, 1, Cor. 10. 9. who gave the Lawto themat Sinai, Chap. 12. 26., So that to Apoſtatize from lym and his Religion, is to Apo- ſtatize from God, and to renounce Eternal Lite, andſte tubjeRt them- ſelves to Eternal Puniſhments, which he ever /iveth to 1aflict on them ; Unleſs they took heed to avoid this Unbelief, it was impotſi- ble for them to perſevere inChriſtianity, when threatned with Perſe- cutions, and the loſs of Peace, Liberty, Safety, Eſtates, Honours, Relztions, and Life it ſelf for.it. | .
13 Burt exhort one another daily, whilſt it is called To day 7, leſt any of you be hardened through the deceittulneis of fin &.
i The means to avoid the former Evil is, to Exhort which, as a prt- vate Duty, is an earneſt frequent calling on, ſtirring up, or perſua- ding, incouraging to Perſeverance in the Chriſtian Religion, and to put away all Heart- Evil, eſpecially Unbelief, which traineth to Apo- Itacy; to which are ſubſervient God's Precepts, Promiſes, Threat- ninzs ſuitably applied by them: And this not only privately, but ef- p<cially publickly, by the regular Miniftration of the Word and Or- dinances to the ivhole Society of Chriſtians, as they are perſonally obliged to it, beinz Members one of another, 1 Cor. 12. 25, 27- And this they are todo inſtantly, for no Man 1s fure what may be on the Morrov., he being but a Day's Man, living, and ſupplied, as working by the day ; ſatficient to the Day is the Duty as well as the Evil init, Matth.6.11, 34 Whilſt then the Day of Grace and Re- pentance laſts, in which God calls and intreats, and will hear and help the opportune time of exhorting, the very inſtant wherein God expettcth it, verſe 7. Pſal. 95.7. And every one as thus to look to ancther, muſt begin with himſelf, leſt any miſcarry ; Charity, eſpecially as to this, ſhould begin in every Chriſtian at home. h Leſt themſelves or others refuſe the Goſpel tendred, or Reje& and Apo- ſtatize from it atter profeſſing it, ſo as to become not only obſtinate, but rebellious by Unbelief, and an habitual hardned Heart; fuch is the ſinful natural habit of our Soul, James r. 12, 15. - So horrible vile 15 Sin in it ſelf, that were it not masked, Nature would abhor it, but is drawn forth by the falſe Colours which the Devil blinds Sin with, to delude the Underftanding, and to catch and inſnare the ma- !iznant Will, that it ſwalloivs it more and more, to the hardning of the Heart ; That Divine Promiſes, Threatnings, nor Admonitions can make any impreſſion : it being unmoved under the Application of all theſe, diſregards the Chriſtian Faith, and hath its iſſue in a total A- paſtzcy, Jer. 17. 9. Epheſ. 4.22. 1 Tim. 1.19.
14 For we are made partakers of Chriſt /, if we hold the beginning of our confidence m ſtedfaſt unto
the end 7. { For,. ſhews this to be a rational Motive, urging home the former
Counſel, unto which the following Condition doth agree ; for we Believing Chriſtians and Brethren are made wma, Partners with the Primitive Proprictor ſuppoſed in it, even Chriſt, who hath of his own, tlie fulneſs of God, Life, Grace, Glory, and all good; 1n all which fulnefs of his we ſhare, by virtue of our Union with him, John 1. 15. Fpyeſl. 1.22, 23. Col. 1.19. and 2. 9,.10. And heby his Spt- rit will free us from the deceitfulneſs of Sin, and hardening by it. m If bv a Spiritual tenacixuſneſs, and firm fixing our Hearts, we hold «787, either the principal or fundamental Truth, as the Word figni- fieth in Sciences ; or, the entrance or beginning of our Courſe, as uſed in things, ſo as the firſt ſtep in Chriſtianity is ſtiled a be- ginning of Grace. n *"Tzrewoww, in perſonal Relations is, a real ſubſiſtence, as of the Son in the Trinity, Chap. 1. 3. Tn things, the Baſis and Foundation upholding others, and this in Chriſtianity 1s Chriſt principally, who bears up his Church, Eph. 2. 20, 21, 22. And Faith the Inſtrument, whereby we receive Chriſt, is fo called, Chap. 11. 1. That which renders preſent and ſubſiſting what is hop- ed for to the Soul ; ſo that here it imports the retaining firm that - Principle of Truth, upon which Chriſtians are bottomed and ſupport- ed to Life, that is, Chriſt himſelf, and the true Dofrine of him; as alſo, that we muſt firmly ſtand in the firſt beginnings of Faith, and increaſe in them, fo as they may be firmly fixed 1a our Hearts, -and our Hearts on them, fo as never to be removed as long as we live; our retaining firmly of this, makes us Partners in Chriſt ; both in- ſtrumentally helping in it, and evidentially ; It being the infallible conſequence of true Grace, holding us to this Communton with Chriſt. How ought theſe Conditions to quicken the Afftivity of Be- lievers. |
15 Whilſt it is ſaid, * To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provoca-
r10n.
o This is another circumſtance of the Example of the Jews ap- plied to them : That ſince nw Chriſt is ſpeaking to you, as he did to your Fore-fathers then ; the ſame Voice concerneth you both, ſo, as not to Morrow, or when you will, but To Day, if you will be- lieve what God ſpeaketh to you by him, and hath recorded in his Word concerning his being the Meſſiah, and render not your ſelves deaf to God's Voice, or obdurate through Unbelief, as your Fore- Fathers did, when their. Unbelief and. hardneſs of Heart imbitter'd God's Spirit againſt them, becauſe ating in it againſt their So- lemn Vows and Engagements to him, ſo as to Apoſtatize from Him.
16 For ſome, when they had heard, did pro- voke p: howbeit not all that came our of Egypt by
Moſes 9. | h Þ This is a rational Enforcement of the former Duty preſſed, it
being as poſſible for them to provoke Chriſt as others, they ſhould look. to it, and not harden their Hearts ; for the greater ſome, the moſt of the Congregation of Jfrael! imbitter'd God's Spirit by their Unbelicf and hardneſs of Heart, though Chriſt ſpake to them from Heaven, as never was before done, and daily by Moſes they were hearing Counſels by which they might live, yet provoked they him, and would not Belicye, q This rizhtly interprets the P/almiſt, and
Vol. I.