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upon them. Reproaches, defamations, revilings, threatenings, contempt, are the things they continually meet withal. And,

Obs. III. He will be deceived who, at any time, under a sincere profession of the gospel, looks for any other, any better treatment or entertainment in the world.

VER. 38.--THE apostle had not yet finished his account of the sufferings of these worthies, yet he thought meet to interpose a character of their persons. For men in this course of life might be looked on, and were so by some, as the off-scouring of all things, and unmeet either for human converse, or any of the good things of this world; but rather to be esteemed as the beasts of the field. These thoughts the apostle obviates in another kind of testimony concerning them, and so proceeds unto the end of his account concerning their sufferings.

VER. 38.—Ων ουκ ην αξιος ο κόσμος εν ερημίαις πλανωμενοι, και ορεσι, και σπηλαιοις, και ταις οπαις της γης.

VER. 38. Of whom the world was not worthy; they wandered in deserts and in mountains, and in dens, and in caves of the earth.

There are two things in these words: 1. The character which the apostle gives of these sufferers:-the world was not worthy of them. 2. The remainder of their sufferings which he would represent:-they wandered in deserts, &c.

First. Their character is, that the world was not worthy of them. By ó коoμоç, 'the world,' not this fabric of heaven and earth is intended. For in that sense God hath appointed this world for the habitation of his people. It is therefore meet for them, and worthy of them, while their mortal life is continued. And therefore our blessed Saviour affirms that he did not pray that God would take them out of this world, but only that he would keep them from the evil that is in it,' John xvii. 15. Nor by 'the world' is merely intended mankind living in the world. For under that consideration they are meet for society, and may have good done unto them by the people of God, Mic. v. 7. But by the world' is understood the inhabitants of it, in their interests, designs, ends, and actings, their successes in them, and advantages by them, as they are opposite unto the true interest of the church and people of God. In this sense the world hath a high opinion of itself, as possessed of all that is desirable, despising and hating them who are not in conjunction with it in these things; the world, in its power, pride, pomp, enjoyments, and the like.

Of this world it is said, &v ovk nv ažos, that it was not worthy' of these sufferers. It was not so in the ages and seasons wherein they lived, nor is so of them who suffer in any other age whatever. The world thinks them not worthy of it, or to live in it, to enjoy any name or place among the men of it. Here is a testimony given to the contrary, that the world is not worthy of them: nor can any thing be spoken to the greater provocation of it. To tell the great, the mighty, the wealthy, the rulers of the world, that they are not worthy of the

society of such as in their days are poor, destitute, despised wanderers, whom they hurt and persecute as the offscouring of all things, is that which fills them with indignation. There is not an informer or apparitor but would think himself disparaged by it. But they may esteem of it as they please; we know that this testimony is true, and the world one day shall confess it so to be. And we must see in what sense it is here affirmed.

Chrysostom, and the Greek expositors after him, suppose that a comparison is here made between the worth of the world and that of suffering believers; and that the apostle affirms that these sufferers, yea, any one of them, is more worth than the whole world. This may be true in some sense; but that truth is not the sense of this place. For the design of the apostle is to obviate an objection, that these persons were justly cast out as not worthy the society of mankind, which he doth by a contrary assertion, that the world was not worthy of them. And it was not so in two respects. 1. It was not worthy of their society, or to have converse with them, no more than slaves are worthy of or meet for the society of princes. For he speaks of the world as it is engaged in persecution; and so it is unworthy of the converse of persecuted 2. It is not worthy of those mercies and blessings which do accompany the presence of this sort of persons, where they have a quiet habitation. And,

Obs. I. Let the world think as well, as highly, as proudly of itself as it pleaseth, when it persecutes, it is base and unworthy of the society of true believers, and of the mercies wherewith it is accompanied.And,

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Obs. II. God's esteem of his people is never the less for their outward sufferings and calamities, whatever the world judgeth of them.They cannot think otherwise of them in their sufferings, than they thought of Christ in his. They did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted,' Isa. liii. 4; as one rejected of God and man. Such is their judgment of all his suffering followers; nor will they entertain any other thought of them. But God is of another mind.

Secondly. Having given this character of these poor sufferers, he proceeds to issue his account of their sufferings, and that in a farther description of that wandering course of life which he had before ascribed unto them. And first he asserts again, that they wandered, and then gives an account of the places wherein they wandered, and where they disposed of themselves in their wanderings.

That which he had before expressed by Teonov, they went up and down,' he here doth by Xavouevo, that is directly, they had an erratical motion, wandered without any certain rule or end, as unto any place of rest. I showed before how they were driven from cities, boroughs, towns corporate, and villages also, partly by law, partly by force. What now remains for them to betake themselves unto but deserts, solitary and uninhabited places. But whereas the continuance of human life is not capable of perpetual actual wandering up and down, but must have some place of rest and composure, the apostle distributes the places of their wandering state under two heads, suited unto those two acts of motion and rest. Of the first sort were

deserts and mountains, uninhabited wastes; and of the latter were the dens and caves that were in them. By deserts and uninhabited mountains, all know what is intended; and they did abound in those parts of the earth wherein these things were acted. There is no need of any exact distinction of dens and caves, neither will the signification of the words afford it; though possibly one may signify greater, the other lesser subterraneous receptacles. But the common use of the first word seems to denote such hollow places under the ground as wild beasts have sheltered themselves in from the pursuit of men. This was the state of these servants of the living God; when they were driven from all inhabited places, they found no rest in deserts and mountains, but wandered up and down, taking up dens and caves for their shelter. And instances of the same kind have been multiplied in the pagan and antichristian persecutions of the churches of the New Testament.

That no colour is hence given unto a hermitical life by voluntary choice, much less unto the horrible abuse of its first invention in the papacy, is openly evident. And we may learn, that,

Obs. III. Ofttimes it is better, and more safe for the saints of God to be in the wilderness among the beasts of the field, than in a savage world, inflamed by the devil into rage and persecution.

Obs. IV. Though the world may prevail to drive the church into the wilderness, to the ruin of all public profession in their own apprehension, yet it shall be there preserved unto the appointed season of its deliverance: the world shall never have the victory over it.

Obs. V. It becomes us to be filled with thoughts of, and affections unto spiritual things, to labour for an anticipation of glory, that we faint not in the consideration of the evils that may befall us on the account of the gospel.

VER. 39, 40.—Και οὗτοι παντες μαρτυρηθεντες δια της πίστεως ουκ εκομισαντο την επαγγελιαν : Του Θεου περι ἡμων κρειττον τι προΕλεψάμενον, ίνα μη χωρις ήμων τελειωθωσι.

VER. 39, 40.-And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

The apostle concludes this discourse with an observation concerning all the instances of the faith of believers under the Old Testament, and his judgment concerning their state. Four things are here to be considered.

1. Who they are of whom he speaks; and that is, 'all these.' 2. What he allows and ascribes unto them: "They obtained a good report through faith.'

3. What he yet denies unto them, which is, the receiving of that promise: They received not the promise.'

4. The reason of it, which is God's sovereign disposal of the states, times, seasons, and privileges of the church: God having provided,' &c.

There is not any passage in this whole Epistle, that gives a clearer and more determinate sense of itself than this doth, if the design and phraseology of the apostle be attended unto with any diligence. But because some have made it their business to bring difficulties into it, that it might seem to comply with other false notions of their own, they must in our passage be discarded and removed out of the way.

First. The persons spoken of are, ouro Tavтeç, 'all these;' 'that is,' saith Slichtingius, all these last spoken of, who underwent such hardships, and death itself. For they received not any such promises of deliverance as those did before mentioned, who had great success in their undertakings.' He is followed in his conjecture, as almost constantly, by Grotius. Others,' saith he, received promises, ver. 33, but these did not, who could not abide peaceably in the promised land.' To which Hammond adds, "They did not in this life receive the promise made to Abraham, had no deliverance in this life from their persecution.'

But, under favour, there cannot be a more fond interpretation of the words, nor more contrary unto the design of the apostle. For, 1. Those of whom he speaks in this close of his discourse, that they obtained a good report through faith, are the same of whom he affirms in the beginning of it, ver. 2, that by faith they obtained a good report, that is, all those did so whom at the beginning he intended to enumerate; and all these did so whom in the close he had spoken of. Of any distinction to be made between them there is not the least intimation. 2. It is said expressly of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that they received not the promises, ver. 13, as well as of those now mentioned. 3. It is one thing to obtain promises, Tayyeλuaç, indefinitely, promises of any sort, as some are said to do, ver. 33; and another to receive, tŋv ɛtayyɛdɩav, that signal promise which was made unto the fathers. 4. Nothing can be more alien from the design of the apostle, than to apply the promise intended unto temporal deliverance, and freedom from suffering. For if it be so, God did not provide somewhat better for us, that is, the Christian church, than for them; for the sufferings of Christians without deliverance from their persecutions, have been a thousand times more than those of the Jewish church under Antiochus, which the apostle hath respect to.

Wherefore, the 'all these' intended, are all those who have been reckoned up and instanced in from the beginning of the world, or the giving out of the first promise concerning the Saviour and Redeemer of the church, with the destruction of the works of the devil.

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Secondly. Of all these it is affirmed, that they, japтvondeνtes dia Tns TOTEC, obtained a good report through faith. They were well testified unto: they were God's martyrs, and he was theirs, gave witness unto their faith; see the exposition of ver. 2. That they were all of them so testified unto upon the account of their faith, we need no other testimony but this of the apostle. Yet is there no doubt but that in the several ages of the church wherein they lived, they were renowned for their faith, and the fruits of it, in what they did or suffered. And, Obs. I. It is our duty also, not only to believe that we may be justified before God, but so to evidence our faith by the fruits of it, as that we may obtain a good report, or be justified before men.

Thirdly. That which he denies concerning them, is the receiving of the promise: They received not the promise.' And what promise this was we must inquire.

1. It is affirmed of Abraham, that he received the promise, ver. 17. And that promise which was given, which was made unto him, is declared by the apostle to be the great fundamental promise of the gospel, ch. vi. 13-18; the same promise which is the object of the faith of the church in all ages. Whereas, therefore, it is said here, that they received not the promise,' the promise, formally considered as a promise, must in the first place be intended; and in the latter it is considered materially, as unto the thing itself promised. The promise, as a faithful engagement of future good, they received; but the good thing itself was not in their days exhibited.

2. Some say, the promise here intended is the promise of eternal life; hereof, they say, believers under the Old Testament had no promise, none made unto them, none believed by them. So judgeth Slichtingius, who is forsaken herein by Grotius and his follower. But this we have before rejected, and the folly of the imagination hath been sufficiently detected.

3. Others, as these two mentioned, fix on such an account of the promise, as I would not say I cannot understand, but that I am sure enough they did not understand themselves, nor what they intended, though they did so as to what they disallowed. So one of them explains, or rather involves himself, on ver. 40, after he had referred this promise which they received not unto that deliverance from their persecutors. 'God having determined this as the most congruous time in his wisdom, to give the utmost completion to all those prophecies and promises, to send the Messiah into the world, and as a consequent of his resurrection from the dead, to grant us those privileges and advantages that the fathers had not enjoyed, a rest after long persecution, a victory over all opposers of Christ's church, that so what was promised unto Abraham's seed, Gen. xxii. 17, that they should possess the gates of their enemies, being but imperfectly fulfilled to the fathers, might have the utmost completion in the victory and flourishing of the Christian faith over all the enemies thereof.'

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Besides what is insinuated about the effects of Christ's mediation, or consequent of his resurrection, which whose shop it comes from we well know, the promise here intended is expounded, not to be the mise made to Abraham, which it was, but that made to his seed, of victory over all their enemies in this world; which, as it seems, they received not, because it was not completely fulfilled towards them, but is to be so unto the Christian church in the conquest of all their adversaries. And this, in the verse foregoing, is called a deliverance from their persecutors. But whatever this promise be, the apostle is positive that they did not receive it, but that the Christians, or believers in Christ, in those days, had received it. But we know, that not only then, but near three hundred years after, Christians were more exposed to persecutions than ever the church of the Jews was, and so did less receive that promise, if any such there were, than they. Something is indeed interposed about the coming of Christ, farther to cloud the business. But this is referred only unto the time and season of the

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