A53678:1088
A continuation of the exposition of the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the…
A continuation of the exposition of the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews viz, on the sixth, seventh, eight, ninth, and tenth chapters : wherein together with the explication of the text and context, the priesthood of Christ ... are declared, explained and confirmed : as also, the pleas of the Jews for the continuance and perpetuity of their legal worship, with the doctrine of the principal writers of the Socinians about these things, are examined and disproved / by J. Owen ...
London: printed for Nathaniel Ponder, 1680
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
When such Mysterious Truths as that here insisted on by our Apostle, are proposed unto Men, if they have no Delight in such things, they will never be at the Cost and pains of enquiring into them with necessary Diligence. Curiosity indeed, or an humour to pry into things we have not seen, and which we cannot see in a due manner because not revealed, is every where condemned by our Apostle, who warns us all to be wise unto Sobriety, and not above what is written. But there is a secret delight and complacency of mind in every beam of Spiritual Light shining in its proper Divine Revelation, when the Soul is disposed aright unto the reception of it. Without this in some measure we shall not follow on to know, nor thrive in knowledge. (3.) Study, Meditation and Prayer, with the diligent Use of all other means appointed for the search and Investigation of the Truth, do close this Duty. Without these things in Hearers, Ministers lose all their Labour in the Declaration of the most important Mysteries of the Gospel. This the Apostle as to the present case designs to obviate in the frequent prescription of this Duty.
That which the Apostle proposeth in the first place and in general as the Object of this Enquiry and consideration, is [Greek or Hebrew], Quantus iste erat; the word 1respects Greatness and Excellency in any kind. Nunc quantus Achilles, Quantus erat Julius Caesar, and the like. And this Greatness of Melchizedek respected neither the endowments of his Person, nor the largeness of his Dominion, nor his Riches or Wealth, in which sense some are said to be Great in the Scripture, as Job, Barzillai, and others; but it regards alone his Dignity with respect unto his Office, and his Nearness unto God on that account. That which these Hebrews insisted on as their Chief and Fundamental Privilege in Judaism, and which they were most unwilling to forgo, was the Greatness of their Predecessors, with their nearness unto God in Favour and Office. In the first way as to Divine Love and Favour, they Gloried in Abraham, and opposed the Privilege of being his Children on all Occasions unto the Person and Doctrine of Christ,