VER. 4.. Epjije to the HEBRE'Ws. forceththe Exhortation which we have obferved hitn conllantly to purfue. And we alfo may hence obferve, I. That tbereis nothing more vain, fooliJh andfruitlefl, than the Oppofition which Sa- than and his Agentsyet make unto the Lord Chriftandhis Kingdom. Can they afcend into heaven ? Can they pluck the Lord Chrift from the Throne ofGod ? A little time will wanifef this madnefs, and that unto Eternity. 2. That the fervice ofthe Lord Chrift is both fafeand honourable. He is, as a Good, fo a glorious Matter ; one that fits at the Right HandofGod. 3. Great is the ljüritual and eternalficurity of them that truly believe in Chriff. Ofall which feverally afterwards. Verfe IV. HEdefign of the Apoflle, as we havenow oft.w {hewed, isto evince the=catty Tof abiding in the Doetrine ofthe Gofpel, from the Excellency of the Perlon by whom it pleated God toreveal it untous. Thishe hathdone already ingeneral, in that Defcriptiou whist he hath given us of his Perron, Power, Works, Offices and Glory; whereby he hath madeit evident, that no creature, whom God was pleated at any - time-to make ufeof in the Revelation ofhis Will, or the Inititution of his Worfhip, was any way to becompared with him. Having proceeded thus far in general, he de- fcends now to theconfederation ofparticular inllances, in all thofe whom God-im- ploied in the Miniftration ofthe Law, and conflitution of Mofaical Worfhip, and takes occafion from them all to fet forth the Dignity and incomparable Excellencies of the Lord Chrift,whom in allthings he exalts. First then, he treateth concerningAngels, as thofe who were the moll glorious creatures imployedinthe giving ofthe Law. TheHebrews owned, yea pleaded this in their own defence, That befides the Mediationof Mofes, God ufed the Miniftery of Angels in the givingof the Law, and in other oecafional inftru pions of their fore- fathers. Someofthem contend thattheraft of the Prophets was perfnizallyan Angel, as the fgnification of his nameimports. HolyStephen upbraiding them with their abufe . and contempt of their greater' priviledges, tells them that they received the Law by the diffofetion; ordering, or miniftery ofAngels, Ails 7.v. 53. And theTargum interprets the Chariots ofGod with the tboufands of Angels, Pfal. 68. t8, 19. of the- Angels, by whole miniftery God taught Ifrael the Law. This then might leave a fpecial prejudice in their minds, that the Lawbeing fodelivered by Angels, mull needs have therein the advantageabove the- Goffel, and be therefore excellent and immutable. To remove thisprejudice alfo, and further todeclare the Excellency and Prehemi- nence in all things-of himwho revealed the Gofpel, the Apoftle takes occafion from what he had newly taught themconcerning the ExaltationofJefus Chrifi at the Right Hand of God, to prove unto them out of the Scriptures ofthe Old Teffament, that he is exceedingly advanced, and glorious above the Angels themfelves, whole concurrence inthe Minitirption oftheLaw theyboafted in ; and to this purpofe producethfourfignal teimoniesone after another. This is the defign ofthe Apojfit, which he purfuesandmakes out unto the endof this Chapters and that we may rightly conceiveof his intention, and the meaning of the Holy Ghoft in the whole, we shall, before we confider -hisProportion laid down in thisfourth verfe, or the enfuing confirmations ofit, enquire in general what it is in Chrifi which he compareth with, and preferred) above the Angels, and wherein it is that he fo exalts him. - The eomparifin entred on between the Lord Chrift and Angels, mull beeither with refpeif unto their Natures, or unto their Dignity, Office, Power and Glory: If the comparifonbe ofNature with'Nature, then it mull be either in refpeo h of the Divine or Humane NatureofChrift. Ifit shouldbe of theDivine Nature ofChrift, with the Nature ofAngels, then -it is not a comparifon ofProportion, as between two Natures agreeing in any general kindof being, as do thenature of a man and a worm but a comparifon only mandating Difference and dillance without any Proportion. So anfwereth Athanafius, Orat. z. and Arian. But the tenth is, the Apofile hath no deign to prove by Arguments and Teffimonies theExcellency of the Divine Nature above the Angelical
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=