b Another end of the Mediator's Oath is here added, God's Oath, and Promiſe, ſpoken to before, which are firm and itedfaſt to Eter- mty ; Heaven and Earth may paſs away, but they cannot. c 1. e. To ceaſe to be himſelf, for effential Truth to become a Lie, is im- poſſible, its utterly inconſiſtent with His Nature. He is uncapable to deceive, or ſpeak againſt His Mind, Numb. 23. 19. 1 Sar. 15. 29. Pſalm 89.35. Titus 1.2, and it isas impoſſible for Him to violate His Promiſe or Oath. d Such as will vaniſh all Dounts, Fears, Jealouftes, Sorrows, Diſtrations, putting the Heart into a quiet, peaceful, ſettled frame, and ſtablithing it in it, whatſoever Temptations, Trials, or Perſecutions, it may meet with from with- out, or within, to perplex it. e But it is the Heart only of a per-
ſettled and comforted by them ; ſuch who fly to take hold of them, having cleared their Right to them, and poſleffing their Souls of them by Faith, ſo to hold taſt, as who would no more leave, than Foab would the Horns of the Altar, being a far greater ſecurity than 1t, or any City of Retuge whatſoever ; retreating to, and keep- ing 1n this ſtrong hold, nothing can interrupt their Comfort, or
' hurt them, Fob 13. 15, £5. Prov. 18. 10. The, Hope ſet before them
:s that Eternal Good and Blefled State, which is reſerved in Heaven tor Believers, the Obje& of their Hope, ſet out to their view and proſecution, as a Prize in the Promiſe, 1 Pet. 1. 3, 4. by 2 Meto- nomy of the Effe& for the Caviſe, are Hope, and Good hyped for, join- ed together for our purſuit, |
19 Which Þope we have as an anchor of the ſoul, both ſure and ſtedfait f, and which entreth into thar within the veil g.
f Which, taketh in both the Good hoped for, and the Grace and A it ſelf of Hope exerciſed about it ; which Grace is by a Meta- phor ſet out to be to the Soul, what an Anchor 1s to Ships 1n a Tempeſt, when toſſed with Guſts, and Storms, and Billows of Thoughts rouling one upon another, to the over-ſetting of it; this Hope ſtayeth, ſtrengthens, ſettlcth it, even the Hope and Certainty of Eternal Reſt and Happineſs, ſecured to them by the Promiſe and Oath of God. This Hope is fate and firm etficiently, and niakes the Soul in the midſt of all the threatning Temptations from a tem- peſtuous W orld, ſafe, becauſe faſtned on God's Promiſe ; and firm, becauſe ſtrengthened by God's Oath, which will hold out all Tem- peſts. g This Hope, like an Anchvr, 1s firmly placed, hath wrought it ſelf into the beſt Hold-faſt, even the innermoſt part of the Veil. The Veil was that in the Tabernacle and Temple, which ſeparated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holieft. This Typical Veil was rent at the Death of Chriſt, and the Holy of Holieſt in Heaven ; the Truth of that Type was then laid open unto all Believers, whether 7ews or Gentiles ; comp. 9. 24. and chap. 10. 19, 20, 21. Here it 15 that the Anchor of tne Chriſtians Hope is faſtned ; this ſure Har- bour, where no Tempeſt can reach or looſen it,but into which their Souls, after all their toffings in the tempeſtuous Ocean of this World, by the Hurricanes of Temptations, which made them quiver again, ſhall be over, will enter with a full Gale, and injoy thatReſt and Blefſedneſs for ever, which they had by God's Promiſe and Oath on which they relied, ſecured to them. Sce Colo. 1. 5. and 1 Per. I, 3, 4, 0 19.
20 Whither the forerunner is for us entred Þ, ever
Jeſus, * made an high-prieſt for ever after the order of Melchilſedec 7,
[642] þ This
that God fware to this end, that His own counſel might appear to 0;
ſevering Believer, not of common Profetiors, which is fo ſtronuly
7
" i ® G-< On FT
* Chap. 3-T
Fr
C hap. VII. HEBREW S. Chap.VII
bh This Heaven is aQually poſſeſſed for us already by a Harbinger, | the Holy Ghoſt nuw opens to them. His name is a compound of
who came at his Father's Word to fit and prepare us for it, and tnen azain returned in our Nature, and as our Head and Repretentative he hath entred, made the way open, and paved the Coaſt tor us thither, and made it plain and ſafe; and having taken real and tul! poiletTion, is making ready our Manfions ; and when he hath com- pleated his Work in us, will comeand take, and carry us thither,and put us into the full potleſſion of 1t 1n our Perſons, Ch.g.24.0b.14-2, 2, 4. 7 Ke deicribeth the Forerunner to be God the Son incarnate, tie Seviour of Believers, he that will keep them ſafe for it, and ct them ſafe in it. Their 7eſiss, who as to his Otfice is the great Go/pel- Hizb-Priejt,nad fulfilled his Type, and putan end to it by his catring w:t1in the Veil into the Holy of Holieſt in Heaven, being conſtituted by his Father a Royal High-Pirieft, ſuperior to all other Orders and Per/ons, an High-Prieft ſor ever after the Order of Melchiſeaec, men- tioned before, Chap. 5. 10. where the Spirit begun a Digrefſion, and having here ended it, repeats the Deſcription ot him again, as the thing to be immediately handled and purſued, as he doth in the next
6G apt Wy CHAP. VU.
The Hiſtory of Melchiſedec ; his Name and Dignity, ſpeaks bim the Type of the Son of God : he is prefered to Abraham, and jo to Leu, 1——10, PerfeStion was not in the Priejthood of Leui,for that another PrieSt muſt aiiſe after the Order of Melchijedec, viz. our Lord, who is not of the Tribe of Levi,but of Fudah,and after the Order of Melohiſedec, 11-15. made ſa mt by a poſitive will and ceremonial Law, but by the Power and Aminting of the Holy Spirit, and ſhould live always, and hs Prieſthood endure for ever, it being more excellent, and conf med by an Oath. Wherefore he is pe: fectly able to ſave his, 16=—=25, Our High- Prieft was perſetly boly, Sacrificed not for himſelf but the People,and that once which laſts for ever, 25 —= 28. _ DOR this Melchiledec a, king of Salem 6, prieſt of
F the moſt high God c, who met Abraham rerurn-
ing from the ſlaughter of rhe kings d and blefled him c. a The Spirit now proceedcth to prove, that the Goſpel-High-Prieſt
is of a far more excellent Order, than that of Aaron's, by hs being of