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Abraham, and confirmed by the oath of God; for the inheritance, that is, the eternal inheritance, was of the promise, Gal. iii. 18, namely, that in the seed of Abraham all nations should be blessed. It includes indeed the first promise made unto our first parents, which was the spring and foundation of it, and respects all the following promises concerning the Lord Christ, and the benefits of his mediation, with all the grace which is administered by them, which were further declarations and confirmations of it; but that great solemn promise is principally intended. For the apostle designs to convince the Hebrews, that neither by the law, nor the sacrifices, nor ordinances of it, they could come unto the inheritance promised unto Abraham and his seed. This was the promise of eternal inheritance, whereof that of the land of Canaan was a type only.

2. We must inquire how and why this inheritance is conveyed by promise. And God made this settlement by promise for these ends,

1st. To evince the absolute freedom of the preparation and grant of it. The promise is every-where opposed unto every thing of works or desert in ourselves. It hath no respect unto what we were or did deserve. The land of Canaan was given to the posterity of Abraham by promise. And therefore doth God so often remind them of the freedom of it, that it was an act of mere love and sovereign grace, which in themselves they were so far from deserving, as that they were altogether unworthy of it, Deut. ix. 4, 5, vii. 7, 8. Much less hath the promise of the eternal inheritance respect unto any thing of works in ourselves.

2dly. To give security unto all the heirs of it unto whom it was designed. Hence in this promise and the confirmation of it, there was the highest engagement of the faithfulness and veracity of God. There was so unto the end that the promise might be sure unto all the seed, Rom. iv. 16. Wherefore God doth not only declare the relation of it unto his essential truth-God, who cannot lie, hath given this promise of eternal life,' Tit. i. 1; but confirmed it with his oath, that by two immutable things, wherein it was impossible that God should lie, it might be established. The reasons of the use and necessity hereof have been declared on ch. vi. 17, 18.

3dly. It was thus conveyed, and is communicated by promise unto all the heirs of it in their successive generations, that the way of obtaining this inheritance on our part might be by faith, and no otherwise. For what God had only promised doth necessarily require faith unto its reception, and faith only. There is nothing can contribute aught unto an interest in the promise but the mixing of it with faith, ch. iv. 2. And it is of faith, that it may be of grace,' Rom. iv. 16, namely, that it may be evidenced to be of the mere grace of God, in opposition unto all worth, works, and endeavours of our own. And if all grace and glory, all benefits of the mediation of Christ, our sanctification, justification, and glorification, be an inheritance prepared in grace, conveyed by promise, and received by faith, there is no place left for our own works, with reference unto the procurement of an interest in them. Freely it was provided, freely it is proposed, and freely it is received.

3. We may inquire what it is to receive the promise. And it hath a double sense, as the promise may be considered formally or materially.

1. To receive the promise formally as a promise, is to have it declared unto us, and to mix it with faith, or to believe it. This it is to receive the promise, in opposition unto them by whom it is rejected through unbelief. So Abraham is said to receive the promises, Heb. xi. 17, in that when they were given unto him, 'he staggered not through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God,' Rom. iv. 21, 22. 2. As the promise is materially considered, so to receive it, is to receive the thing promised. So it is said of the saints under the Old Testament, that they obtained a good report through faith, but received not the promise, Heb. xi. 39. They received the promises by faith in them as proposed; but the principal thing promised, that was the coming of Christ in the flesh, they received not. The receiving of the promise here mentioned is of both kinds, according to the distinct parts of this inheritance. As unto the future state of glory, we receive the promise in the first way; that is, we believe it, rest upon it, trust upon the truth of God in it, and live in the expectation of it. And the benefit we receive hereby, as unto our spiritual life and consolation, is inexpressible. As unto the foundation of the whole inheritance, in the oblation. and sacrifice of Christ, and all the grace, mercy, and love, with the fruits of them, whereof in this life we are made partakers, and all the privileges of the gospel, believers under the New Testament receive the promise in the second sense, namely, the things promised. And so did they also, under the Old Testament, according to the measure of the divine dispensation towards them. And we may observe,

Obs. II. All our interest in the gospel inheritance depends on our receiving the promise by faith.-Though it be prepared in the counsel of God, though it be proposed unto us in the dispensation of the gospel, yet, unless we receive the promise of it by faith, we have no right or title unto it.

Obs. III. The conveyance and actual communication of the eternal inheritance by promise to be received by faith alone, tends exceedingly unto the exaltation of the glory of God, and the security of the salvation of them that do believe.-For, as unto the latter, it depends absolutely on the veracity of God, confirmed by his oath. And faith on the other hand is the only way and means of ascribing unto God the glory of all the holy properties of his nature, which he designs to exalt in this dispensation of himself.

Thirdly. The persons unto whom this inheritance is designed, and who do receive the promise of it, are of KEKλnuevo, 'those that are called.' It is to no purpose to discourse here about outward and inward calling, effectual and ineffectual, complied with or not; no other are intended but those that actually receive the promise. It was the design of God in this whole dispensation, that all the called should receive the promise, and if they do not so, his counsel, and that in the greatest work of his wisdom, power, and grace, is frustrated. They are the called according to his purpose, Rom. viii. 28, those who obtain the inheritance, being predestinated according unto the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, Eph. i. 11. God here puts forth his almighty power, that his purpose, or the counsel of his will, may be established in giving the inheritance unto all that are

VOL. IV.

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called. Whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified,' or gave them the whole eternal inheritance, Rom. viii. 30. Hence Estius, an expositor of the Roman church, chargeth the contrary opinion in Catharinus as unorthodox. It is not a general call wherein those who are so called, may or may not receive the inheritance; but what God designs unto them that are intended, they are so called as that they shall assuredly be made partakers of it. This is the end that God designed in the dispensation of himself by Jesus Christ, here declared, and therefore respect is had thereunto, in the whole of it.

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Some think that by the called' here, those only are intended, who were so under the old testament. For mention is made only of the redemption of transgressions under that covenant; in what sense, shall be immediately declared. But this is contrary both to the design of the apostle, and the use of the word. For on that supposition, he says no more, but that Christ was the mediator of the new testament, that those might be saved who lived and died under the old. But his principal design is to prove the advantage that we now have, even above the elect themselves under the old testament; yet, so as not to exclude them from the same benefit with us, by the mediation of Christ, as unto the substance of it. And the called, in the language of this apostle, doth principally signify, the called in Christ Jesus.

Obs. IV. Effectual vocation, is the only way of entrance into the eternal inheritance. For it is accompanied with adoption, which gives us right and title thereunto, John i. 12. In vain do they expect it,

who are not so called.

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Fourthly. Things being thus prepared in the counsel and grace of God, yet there was an obstacle in the way of actually receiving the promise ; namely, των επί τη πρώτη διαθήκη παραβάσεων, the transgressions that were under the first testament. God designed unto the elect, an eternal inheritance; yet can they not be made partakers of it, but in such a way as was suited unto his glory. It was unjust and unreasonable that it should be otherwise. Whereas, therefore, they were all of them guilty of sin, their sins must be expiated, and taken out of the way, or they cannot receive the promise of the inheritance.

Пapabaσus, y, by, our word, 'transgressions' doth properly express the original word. And in the distribution of sins by their names

by it. But פשעים Lev. xvi. 2l; we render ,טאים and פשעים עונים into

it compriseth all sorts of sins whereby the law is transgressed, be they great or small. Every thing that hath the nature of sin must be expiated, or the inheritance cannot be enjoyed.

Obs. V. Though God will give grace and glory unto his elect, yet he will do it in such a way, as wherein and whereby he may be glorified also himself.-Satisfaction must be made for transgression, unto the honour of his righteousness, holiness, and law.

There are yet sundry difficulties in this expression, which must be inquired into. For,

1. The redemption or expiation of sins, is confined unto those under

the old testament; whence it should seem, that there is none made for those under the new.

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Answ. The emphasis of the expression, 'sins under the old testament,' respects either the time when the sins intended were committed, or the testament against which they were committed. And the sition ɛɩ will admit of either sense. Take it in the first way, and the argument follows à fortiori, as unto the sins committed under the new testament, though there be no expiation of sins against it, which properly are only final unbelief and impenitency. For the expiation intended is made by the mediator of the new testament. And if he expiated the sins that were under the first testament, that is, of those who lived and died whilst that covenant was in force, much more doth he do so, for them who live under the administration of that testament whereof he is the mediator. For sins are taken away by virtue of that testament whereunto they do belong. And it is with peculiar respect unto them, that the blood of Christ is called, the blood of the new testament, for the redemption of sins.'

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But yet, more probably the meaning may be, the sins that were and are committed against that first covenant, or the law and rule of it. For, whereas that covenant did in its administration comprise the moral law, which was the substance and foundation of it, all sins whatever have their form and nature with respect thereunto. So, sins under the first covenant, are all sins whatever: for there is no sin committed under the gospel, but it is a sin against that law which requires us to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and all our strength. Either way, the sins of them who are called under the new testament, are included.

2. It is inquired whether it is the nature of the sins intended, that is respected, or also the persons guilty of them under that testament. The Syriac translation avoids this difficulty, by rendering the words of the abstract, the redemption of transgressions;' in the concrete, 'a redeemer unto them who had transgressed.' That it is a certain sort of sins that is intended, Socinus was the first that invented. And his invention is the foundation of the exposition, not only of Slichtingius, but of Grotius also on this place. Such sins, they say, they are, as for which no expiation was to be made by the sacrifices of the law: sins of a greater nature than could be expiated by them. For they only made expiation of some smaller sins, as sins of ignorance, or the like. But there is no respect unto the persons of them who lived under that testament, whom they will not grant to be redeemed by the blood of Christ. Wherefore, according unto them, the difference between the expiation of sin by the sacrifices of the law, and that by the sacrifice of Christ, doth not consist in their nature, that the one did it only typically, and in an external representation by the purifying of the flesh, the other, really and effectually; but in this, that the one expiated lesser sins only, the other, greater also.

But there is nothing sound or consonant unto the truth, in this interpretation of the words. For,

1st. It proceeds on a false supposition, that there were sins of the

people (not only presumptuous sins, and which had impenitency in them) for which no atonement was made, nor expiation of them allowed, which is expressly contrary unto Lev. xvi. 16, 21. And whereas some offences were capital amongst them, for which no atonement was allowed to free the sinner from death, yet that belonged unto the political rule of the people, and hindered not but that typically, all sorts of sins were to be expiated.

2dly. It is contrary unto the express design of the apostle. For he had proved before by all sorts of arguments, that the sacrifices of the law could not expiate any sin, could not purge the conscience from dead works; that they made nothing perfect. And this he speaks not of this or that sin, but of every sin wherein the conscience of a sinner is concerned, ch. x. 2. Hence two things follow.

First. That they did not, in and of themselves, really expiate any one sin, small or great. It was impossible, saith the apostle, that they should do so, Heb. x. 4, only they sanctified to the purifying of the flesh; which overthrows the foundation of this exposition.

Secondly. That they did typify and represent the expiation of all sorts of sins whatever, and made application of it unto their souls. For if it was so, that there was no atonement for their sins, that their consciences were not purged from dead works, nor themselves consummated, but only had some outward purification of the flesh, it cannot be but they must all eternally perish. But that this was not their condition, the apostle proves from hence, because they were called of God unto an eternal inheritance, as he had proved at large concerning Abraham, ch. vi. Hence he infers the necessity of the mediation and death of Christ, as without the virtue whereof, all the called under the first covenant must perish eternally, there being no other way to come to the inheritance.

3. Whereas the apostle mentions only the sins under the first covenant, as to the time passed before the exhibition of Christ in the flesh, or the death of the mediator of the new testament, what is to be thought of them who lived during that season, who belonged not unto the covenant, but were strangers from it, such as are described, Eph. ii. 12? I answer, the apostle takes no notice of them, and that because, taking them generally, Christ died not for them. Yea, that he did not so, is sufficiently proved from this place. Those who live and die strangers from God's covenant, have no interest in the mediation of Christ.

Wherein the redemption of these transgressions did consist, shall be declared in its proper place. And we may observe,

Obs. VI. Such is the malignant nature of sin, of all transgression. of the law, that unless it be removed, unless it be taken out of the way, no person can enjoy the promise of the eternal inheritance.

Obs. VII. It was the work of God alone to contrive, and it was the effect of infinite wisdom and grace to provide a way for the removal of sin, that it might not be an everlasting obstacle against the communication of an eternal inheritance unto them that are called.

Fifthly. We have declared, 1. The design of God here represented unto us; 2. Who are the persons towards whom it was to be accomplished; and, 3. What lay in the way as an hinderance of it. That

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