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and knowledge being hid in him as their proper dwelling-place. Hence the reason why he did not at once reveal to his disciples the whole counsel of God, was not because all the treasures of it were not committed to him, but because they could bear no other than that gradual communication thereof, which he afforded them, John xvi, 12. He himself dwelt in the midst of those treasures, and, however unfathomable by others, he saw to the bottom of them.

(2.) The prophets receiving their revelation as it were by number and measure from the Holy Ghost, could not add one word of infallibility and authority to what they had so received; but Christ having all the treasures of wisdom, knowledge, and truth, lodged in himself, delivered his oracles, at all times, and in all places, with equal infallibility and authority, and what he spake derived its whole authority from him speaking it, and not from its consonancy to what was otherwise revealed.

(3.) The prophets of old were so barely instrumental in receiving and revealing the will of God, being only servants in the house for the good of others, that they saw not to the bottom of the things by themselves revealed; and therefore diligently read and studied the books of preceding prophets, Dan. ix, 2; and meditated upon their own predictions, to obtain an understanding in them, 1 Pet. i, 10–12. But the Lord Jesus, the Lord over his own house, had an absolute, perfect comprehension of all the mysteries he revealed.

(4.) The difference was no less between them in respect of the revelations themselves. For although the substance of the will and mind of God concerning salvation by the Messiah, was more or less made known to all the prophets, yet it was done so obscurely, that they came all short, in the light of that glorious mys

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tery, to John the Baptist, who yet was inferior, as to a clear and distinct apprehension of it, to the least of the two disciples of Christ, Matt. xi, 11; and the giving of the law by Moses to instruct the church in that mystery, by its types and shadows, is opposed to that grace and truth which were brought by Jesus Christ, John i, 17, 18.

§15. (3.) We must further observe, that the Jews with whom the apostle had to do, had an expectation of a signal and final revelation of the will of God to be made by the Messiah in the last days of their church and state, and not as they now fondly imagine, of the world. Hence it is laid down as a principle (in Neve shalom) "Messiah the king shall be exalted above Abraham, be high above Moses, yea, and the ministring angels." And it is for the excellency of the revelation made by him that he is thus exalted above Moses. Whence Maimonides himself acknowledgeth, (Tractat. de regibus) "That at the coming of the Messiah, hidden and deep things (i. e. of the counsel of God) shall be laid open to all." And this persuasion they built on a promise of a new covenant to be made with them, not like the covenant made with their fathers, Jeremiah xxxi, 32, 33. From all these observations we may evidently perceive, wherein the force of the apostle's present argument lies; which he rather insinuates from their own principles, than openly pressing them with its reason, which last mode he afterwards more conveniently adopts.

§16. (4.) Having declared the Son to be the immediate revealer of the gospel, he proceeds to assert his glory and excellency, both antecedent to his mediatorial office, and what he received upon his investiture therewith. Two things in the close of this verse are

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assigned to him. That he was appointed heir of all; and by him the worlds were made.

§17. (1.) He was appointed (×λnpovopos) heir of all. Kampos is a lot, and a peculiar portion received by lot; thence it signifies an inheritance, which is a man's lot and portion. Strictly it is the same with hæres, an heir. And an heir generally is, "he who entereth into the right, place, and title of him that is deceased, as if he were the same person." But yet the name of an heir is not restrained in law to him who succeeds a deceased person, (in which sense it can have no place here,) but also comprehends a possessor, a trustee, and a legatary. Nor is the title and right given to the Son as mediator, the same with that of God absolutely considered. This is eternal, natural, co-existent with the being of all things; that is new, created by grant and donation; by whose erection and establishment, nevertheless, the other is not at all impeached. For whereas it is affirmed, that the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son, John v, 22, 27, 30; it respects not title and rule, but actual administration.

§18. As the term (xλpos) denotes any rightful possessor by grant from another, it is properly ascribed to the Son; and there are three things intended in this word:

(1.) Title, dominion, lordship; (hæres est qui herus;) "the heir is the lord of that which he is heir unto;" so the apostle, Gal. iv, 1, the heir is lord of all. And in this sense is Christ called the first-born, Psalm lxxxix, 27, 'I will give him to be my first-born, higher than (or high above) the kings of the earth.'

(2.) Possession. Christ is made actual possessor of that which he hath title to, by the surrender or grant of another. God, in respect of his dominion, is called the absolute possessor of heaven and earth, Gen. xiv

22. Christ, as a mediator, is a possessor by grant, and there was a suitableness, that he who was the Son should thus be heir. Whence Chrysostom and Theophylact affirm, that the words denote "the propriety of his sonship, and the immutability of his lordship." Not that he was then made heir of all, as he was (Movoyevs) the only begotten Son of the Father, John i, 14; but it was meet that he who was eternally such, and had on that account an absolute dominion over all with his Father, should become the first-born among many brethren: should have a delegated heirship of all, and be appointed "head over all to the church," Ephes. i, 22.

(3.) That he hath both this title and possession by grant from the Father; by virtue of which grant he is made Lord by a new title, and hath possession given him accordingly.

$19. He is the Lord (Tavlov) of all. This is the object of Messiah's heirship; that his extensive inheritance. The word may be taken either in the masculine gender, and denote all persons; or in the neuter, denoting, absolutely, all things. And it is this latter sense that suits the apostle's argument, and adds a double force to his design. For,

1. The author of the gospel being heir and Lord of all things universally, the sovereign disposer of all those rites and ordinances of worship, about which the Jews contended, must needs be at his disposal, to change and alter them as he thought proper. And hence it was easy for them to conclude, that if they intended to be made partakers of any good in heaven or earth, in love and mercy, it must be by an interest in him; which yet without constant obedience to his gospel cannot be attained. 2. This sense is evinced from the words immediately following, "By whom also he made the worlds." Probably they render a reason

of the equitableness of this great trust reposed in the Son. He made all, and therefore it was meet he should be Lord of all. However, the force of the

word is equal to the term (vas) worlds.

$20. Upon the creation of man, God gave him a dominion over all things in this lower world, Gen. i, 28, 29. He made him his heir, vicegerent, and substitute on earth. And as for the other creatures, to which his power and authority did not immediately extend, as the whole inanimate host of the superior world, they were ordered by him that made them to serve for his good. Gen. i, 14; Deut. iv, 19. But besides the lower part of his dominion, God had for his glory created angels in heaven above. These made up another branch of God's providential kingdom; the whole, notwithstanding, the upper and lower world, being independent of each other, and meeting in nothing but their subjection to God himself. When man fell from his delegated dominion, all things returned to an immediate, absolute dependence on the government of God. But as the fall of angels did not, in its own nature, prejudice mankind; no more did this fall of man the angels, that persisted in their obedience, they being no part of his inheritance. However, by the apostasy and punishment of those angels, that kept not their first station, it was manifested how possible it was that the remainder of them may sin after the similitude of their transgression. Things being brought into this condition; one branch of the kingdom of God, that which had been under the administration of man and allotted to his service, being cast out of that order wherein he had placed it, and the other in an apparent possibility of being so also; it seemed good to the Lord in his infinite wisdom, to erect one king

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