IT would give light to these words, if you consider the scope and design of the Apostle in this Epistle to the Hebrews, the sum of which is, He writes to them, that he might animate their spirits against Apostasy from the Doctrine of the Gospel; they were liable to this upon a double account: (1) Partly in respect of those Persecutions to which they were exposed; for the Jews were filled with a brutish zeal for the Ceremonies of the Levitical Law, and expressed the greatest rancour against those, who left Moses to follow Christ. This ⟨p. 2⟩is the Reason why the Apostle lays down so many preservatives against their revolting from Religion; and he spends one part of this Epistle in a most passionate exhortation to perseverance, and doth in the tenth Chapter insinuate himself into them; You have already tasted the first-fruits of affliction, vers. 34. You took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in your selves, that you have in Heaven a better, and an enduring substance. This is that temper that Martyrs have expressed, who have not only parted with their goods, but with their lives for the Gospel: When they came to the Stake, they would not so much as shed a tear to quench those flames, wherein they should ascend to God as in a fiery Chariot, You took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in your selves, that you have a better and an enduring substance. Thus he insinuates himself, by representing what they had done, to encourage them to perseverance; and partly he fortifies them against Back-sliding, by those terrible judgments which he threatened against Revolters, as you may read, chap. 6, & 7. (2) As they were liable to this Apostasy upon the account of Persecution, so upon the account of the unsettledness and instability of their own spirits. There were several of those who had given up their names to Christ, who did compare the Ceremonies of the Law with the purity of the Gospel: Now the Apostle, to secure them from this mixture, his great design is to represent the vanity and infectiveness of all the Ceremonial Law, and to express and prove the virtue and efficacy of the Lord Jesus his death, which was the substance of all the shadows. And this takes up one great part of his discourse with them.
IT would give light to these words, if you consider the scope and design of the Apostle in this Epistle to the Hebrews, the sum of which is, He writes to them, that he might animate their spirits against Apostacy from the Doctrine of the Gospel; they were liable to this upon a double account: (1) Partly in respect of those Persecutions to which they were exposed; for the Jews were filled with a bruitish zeal for the Ceremonies of the Levitical Law, and exprest the greatest rancour against those, who left Moses to follow Christ. This ⟨p. 2⟩is the Reason why the Apostle lays down so many preservatives against their revolting from Religion; and he spends one part of this Epistle in a most passionate exhortation to perseverance, and doth in the tenth Chapter insinuate himself into them; You have already tasted the first-fruits of affliction, vers. 34. You took joyfully the spoyling of your goods, knowing in your selves, that you have in Heaven a better, and an enduring substance. This is that temper that Martyrs have exprest, who have not only parted with their goods, but with their lives for the Gospel: When they came to the Stake, they would not so much as shed a tear to quench those flames, wherein they should ascend to God as in a fiery Chariot, You took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in your selves, that you have a better and an enduring substance. Thus he insinuates himself, by representing what they had done, to encourage them to perseverance; and partly he fortifies them against Back-sliding, by those terrible judgments which he threatned against Revolters, as you may read, chap. 6, & 7. (2) As they were liable to this Apostacy upon the account of Persecution, so upon the account of the unsettledness and instability of their own spirits. There were several of those who had given up their names to Christ, who did compare the Ceremonies of the Law with the purity of the Gospel: Now the Apostle, to secure them from this mixture, his great design is to represent the vanity and infectiveness of all the Ceremonial Law, and to express and prove the vertue and efficacy of the Lord Jesus his death, which was the substance of all the shadows. And this takes up one great part of his discourse with them.
