ſets a better Example of their Fathers, for them to follow : Let Ca- leb and Foſhua, Believers, and Obedicnt'to God, be your Patterns to imitate ; he agzravates the Diſobedience of the. one, and the Obedi- ence of the other. They all had equally a clear exemption and Dec - liverance from the place of Bondage, and that by Moſes, by whom God wrought ſuch Miracles as might command Faith from any ; yet theſe ſome, by murmuring and ſtriving with the Redeemer, provoked him : how great 1s their Sin ? How ſuitable and pleaſing the Obed!- ence of the others to him? | 17 But with whom was he grieved forty years » 2 70.24 71 not with them that had finned,* whoſe carcaſes fell in the wilderneſs. / © | 2 r By theſe Queſtions the Spirit m1kxes a more lively repreſentation
Q - UW
of theſe unbelieving Provokers of God, that his Reaſon may have Jude 5.
the more force with them; Do Je obſcrve with whom God was griev- ed ? the form puts them- on more exa& notice for their cau'ion : God ſuffers not by Pafſion, but theſe redeemed out of Egypt, carried it contrary to him, and croſt his Will, that which uſually grieveth us. Concerning the Word fee vey/e 10. It 1s uſed by the Septua- gint, Deut. 7.26. to expreſs that deteſiation and abharrence which Iſrael was to ſhew againſt Idols, that they ſhauld be a grizf to their Soul not to be indured : dels are called Grievances ; he was dif- pleaſed and grieved with their Covenant-breaking with him Forty Years together. Theſe Sinners by their Unbelief, Murmuring Ido- latry, Rebellion agaiuſt his Officers and Ordinances, and their other Lufts, ſo imbitter'd his Spirit, that he by various Judgments de- ſtroyed and turned them into the Grave and He!! together, 1 Cy, 10.5. to 11. Moſes, and others of God's own, cannot be numbred among theſe Sinners, for their Sins were pardoned, and Perſons accepted ; and though they came ſhort of the litteral, had a much more abundant entrance adminiſtred to them into the Heavenly Cu- naan.
enter into his reſt 7,
not
t To prevent theſe H-brews fa!ling, the Spirit repeats the direful Oath of God to Apoſtates in the Wilderneſs. The Form of which was opened, ver/e 11. compare Numb. 14. 30. The Matter ſworn was, that they ſhould be ſo far from polletling, that they ſhould not as much as enter into the [L#{1d of Promite, Canaan, which was God's Property, as the whole Earth is ; he promiſed it to them, could on- ly diſpofſefs their Enemies, did give it 1n Potletlſion to their Seed, and madeit a Type of Heaven, ind of his Reſt there ; he ſwore this in his ſevere vindi&ive Juſtice, ſo as his Sentence was irreverſible : which Oath ſtands good againſt all total and final Apoftates from him, who have thereby forfeited any Title to God's Eternal Reſt. u Thofe who were unbelieving under all God's Miracles of Mercies and Judgments, which they ſaw, and ſo became obftinately diſobedi- dent to God's Commands, and broke his Covenant, Chap. 8. g. Jer. 31. 32. and Apoſtatized from him, and ſo periſhed intheir gain-ſay - ing. .
19 So we ſee they could not enter in, becauſe of unbelief .
w The execution of the Matter ſworn was felt by theſe Hebrews, which ſhould make them and all that read it, to dread both their Sin and Puniſhment, which the Goſpel would as juſtly infli& on them, if Unbelievers. It is to be ſeen in God's written Record of it, and the experienced downfal of ſuch, that God's Oath had ſhut the Door, as to their entrance there, and his Judgments conſumed them in the Wilderneſs ; becauſe of. their denial of reſting on God's Word, and the impious Practices that iſjued from it, in their reje&ing Promiles, rebelling againſt Precepts, and murmuring againſt Providence. © God 1s no reſpe&er of Perſons, if we fin fo againſt his Son and Go- ſpel, how much forer Puniſhment will overtake us ; Chap. 10.
27, 29. CHAT 16
There # then a Promiſe of Ret into which Believers enter, and from it others are excluded, 1, 2. This ReF mot that of the Seventh Day, mr that n the Land of Canaan, but ſtill remains, 3 II. The Power of God's Word, 12,13. By our High-Prief# who was (ubje@ to A not to Sin, we mu$F go boldly to the Throne of Grace, I w—— .
Et us therefore fear #, leſt a promiſe being left zs b, of entring into his reſt c, any of you ſhould ſeem
to come ſhort of it d.
a The Spirit draws this Counſel from the former ſad Event of Unbelief in the Progenitors of theſe 77ebrews, who were ſhut out of an Earthly Canaan by it, which was promiſed to them : Hereon he adviſeth them to avoid that Sin which wili have now as fearful a puniſhment, viz. the ſhutting them out of the Heavenly Canaan, tendred and promiſed to Believers in the Goſpel. Fear is that affe- Mon of the Soul, by which it avoideth and ſhunneth what is hurtful to it, and here carricth in it a gracious and Child-like care and jea- loufie of ſlighting the Father's promiſe, and coming ſhort of Heaven; it is a fear iſſuing from Faith, Phil. 2.12. b Leſt the promiſe of God to Men, who {ware ſome ſhould not enter, but promiſed others ſhould, as Numb. 14. 23, 24, 30, 31. A Promiſe of the moſt Ex- cellent, Glorious, and Heavenly Reſt made to Believers, Iſa. 11, 10; This was graciouſly /eft or made to them by God, but yeraamnulns here is an a# of Sin, left we by Sin ſhould Jeave or rejelt God's Promiſe of the better, as the Hebrews did of the litteral Reſt by their Unbe. lief and Diſobedience to God's Law, and fo is the proper obje& of Fear, and therefore ought to have been read, /eſt the Promiſe being left behind. c Of a free entrance into Heaven, and enjoying a glo- rious Reſt with God thete. d He would have it the Fear of all, that not one Soul might be indangered by it, 1o as not in any mcaſare to Oight ſuch a Promiſe, nor as much as to ſeem 1o, flying from the very appearance of Evil, 1 Tyeff. 5. 22. ;rrgmnr, 4 Metaphor ta- ken from Racers, where any are out-rim, and left behind, noting the miſcrable ſtate of ſuch Chriſtians who profeſs to run to Heaven, but
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Chap: IV.
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Chap. IV.
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