232 ' Chrifl the Te)lator who believed not, did lofe it. And they feJl fhort of it, not becaufc it was not left to ~hem; 'but becaufe tho' it was left to them, as well as to thefe :rhat entrel yet they btlieved it not. So fays the Apo!l:Je,' They could not enter in becaufe of unbelicf,' Heb. iii. 19. And this was no imputation on t~e f.'lithfulnefs ofGod: for even in pro·mife, as well as in covenants, there's a neceffity ofa mutual confent unto the fame thing; the part to whom the promife is made, ,his accep.tance thereof being necdfary to compleat the obligation 011 the Protniifor to make it effectual : becaufe none making a promife ofa_benefit to another, can in reafon be thought, e~thcr to bind himfelf thereby to obtrude his benefit on the other againfi his will; or yet to give up with it, as a thing. to be abandon' cl by him :It ~my rate. Now to this very purpofe, the Apofile makes ufc of that cafe of the lftaelites having the protnife of C'anaan left them, . and yet coming ihort of it through unbe!ief, Heb. iv. I. 'Let us therefore fear, lefi a pro~ mife being left us of e11tring into hisxefi, aqy of you fhould feem to come fhort of it. ~ Ver. 2. For unto us was the gofpel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not prpfitthem,not being mixed with faith in them that heard it..' Compare Exod. vi. 9. ' And Mofes fpake fo unto the children of Ui·ael :· but they hearkned not.' Ill. It is to be enquired, Who is the executor of the tefiament ? In tefiaments among men, the tefia· tor and theexecutor are always different per(ons: and h mufi needs be fo, becaufe the tefiator dying cannot live again to· fee his will execute; tqerefore one or more, who live ·when he is gone,' mufi be no.minated / for that purpofe. But here that reafon ceafcth. Jefus Chrifi could well be the executor ofhis own tefiament a.nd needed not to appoint any other to fee to that matter. He was the Lord of life and death, ~md it 1 was 110! poflib!e he jbould be holden ofdeath, Acts ii. · 24. Tho' he was really to die, to confir-m his tefl:a– ment,; ye t he wns quickly to rife again, for the effec- . tual
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