An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews: With Preliminary Exercitations - John Owen - Google Kitaplar

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22. It is our wisdom at all times, but especially in times of trial,

to be sure that our anchor have a good hold-fast in heaven,

23. After the most sincere performance of the best of our duties,

our comforts and securities are centred in Christ alone,

24. As the minds of men are greatly to be prepared for the com-

munication of spiritual mysteries unto them, so the best prepa-

ration is by the cure of their sinful and corrupt affections, with

the removal of their barrenness under what they have before

learned, and been instructed in,

25. This same Jesus is our Saviour in every state and condition,

the same on the cross, and the same at the right hand of the

Majesty on high,

26. The Lord Jesus having entered into heaven as our fore-

runner, gives us manifold security of our entrance thither also,

in the appointed season,

27. If the Lord Christ be entered into heaven as our forerunner,

it is our duty to be following him with all the speed we can,

28. We may see whereon the security of the church doth depend,

as to the trials and storms which it undergoes in the world,

29. What will he not do for us, who, in the height of his

glory, is not ashamed to be esteemed our forerunner?

30. When our hope and trust enter within the vail, it is Christ as

our forerunner, that in a peculiar manner they are to fix and

fasten themselves upon,

1. When truths in themselves mysterious, and of great importance

unto the church,. are asserted or declared, it is very necessary

that clear evidence and demonstration be given unto them; that

the minds of men be left neither in the dark about their mean-

ing, nor in suspense about their truth,

2. God can raise the greatest light in the midst of the greatest

darkness; as, Matt. iv. 16.

3. He can raise up instruments for his service, and unto his glory,

when, where, and how he pleaseth,

4. The signal prefiguration of Christ in the nations of the world,

at the same time when Abraham received the promises for him-

self and his posterity, gave a pledge and assurance of the cer-

tain future call of the Gentiles,

5. The Lord Christ, as king of the church, is plentifully stored

with all spiritual provisions for the relief, support, and refresh-

ment of all believers in and under their duties, and will give it

out unto them as their occasions do require,

6. Those who go to Christ, merely on the account of his priestly

office and the benefits thereof, shall also receive the blessings of

his kingly power, in abundant supplies of mercy and grace,

7. God, in his sovereign pleasure, gives various intervals unto places,

as to the enjoyment of his worship and ordinances,

S. Acts of munificence and bounty, are memorable and praise-

worthy, though they no way belong unto things sacred by vir-

tue of divine institution,

9. It is acceptable with God, that those who have laboured in any

work or service of his, should receive refreshments and encou

ragements from men,

10. Every one is that in the church, and nothing else, which God

is pleased to make him so to be,

11. Where God calleth any one unto a singular honour and office.

in his church, it is in him a mere act of his sovereign grace, ib.

12. A divine call is a sufficient warrant for the acting of them ac-

cording unto it, who are so called, and the obedience of others

unto them in their work or office,

13. The first personal instituted type of Christ, was a priest,

14. To keep up and preserve a due reverence of God in our minds

and words, we should think of, and use those holy titles which

are given to him, and whereby he is described in the Scripture, 336

15. It is good at all times to fix our faith on that in God, which

is meet to encourage our obedience and dependannce upon him

in our present circumstances,

16. It is a matter of inestimable satisfaction, that he whom we serve

is the most high God, the sovereign possessor of heaven and earth, 337

17. Public profession in all ages, is to be suited and pointed against

the opposition that is made unto the truth, or apostasy from it,

18. All the commotions and concussions that are among

tions of the world, do lie in, or shall be brought into, a subser-

viency unto the interest of Christ and his church,

19. Whatever be the interest, duty and office of any to act

in the name of others toward God, in any sacred administra-

tions, the same proportionably is their interest, power and duty

to act towards them in the name of God in the blessing of them, 342

20. He who hath received the greatest mercies and privileges

in this world, may yet need their ministerial confirmation,

21. In the blessing of Abraham by Melchisedec, all believers are

virtually blessed by Jesus Christ,

22. It is God's institution that makes all our administrations effectual, ib.

23. Whatsoever we receive signally from God in a way of mercy,

we ought to return a portion of it unto him in a way of duty, 350

24. The church never did in any age, nor ever shall, want that

instruction by divine revelation, which is needful to its edifica

tion in faith and obedience,

25. It is a great honour to serve in the church, by doing or suf-

fering for the use and service of future generations,

26. The Scripture is so absolutely the rule, measure and boundary

of our faith and knowledge in spiritual things, as that what it

conceals, is instructive, as well as what it expresseth,

27. When any were of old designed to be types of Christ, there

was a necessity that things more excellent and glorious, should

be spoken of them, than did properly belong unto them,

25. All that might be spoken, so as to have any probable appli-

cation in any sense unto things and persons typically, coming

short of what was to be fulfilled in Christ, the Holy Ghost, in

his infinite wisdom, supplied that defect, by ordering the ac-

count which he gives of them so, as more might be apprehend-

ed and learned from them, than could be expressed,

29. That Christ abiding a priest for ever, hath no more a vicar,

or successor, or substitute in his office, or any deriving a real

priesthood from him, than had Melchisedec,

30. The whole mystery of divine wisdom, effecting all inconceiv

able perfections, centred in the person of Christ, to make him a

meet, glorious, and most excellent priest unto God in the behalf

xi

1. It will be fruitless, and to no advantage, to propose or declare

the most important truths of the gospel, if those to whom they

are proposed, do not diligently inquire into them,

2. The sovereign will, pleasure and grace of God, is that alone

which puts a difference among men, especially in the church, 372

3. Whereas even Abraham himself gave the tenth of all to Mel-

chisedec, the highest privilege exempts not any from the obli

.gation unto, and performance of, the meanest duty,

4. Opportunities for duty which render it beautiful, ought diligent-

ly to be embraced,

5. When the instituted use of consecrated things ceaseth, the

things themselves cease to be sacred or of esteem,

6. Rule, institution, and command, without regard to unrequired

humility, or pleas of greater zeal and self-denial, unless in evi-

dent and cogent circumstances, are the best preservatives of or-

der and duty in the church,

7. It is the duty of those who are employed in sacred mini-

strations, to receive what the Lord Christ hath appointed for

their supportment, and in the way of his appointment,

8. It is God's prerogative to give dignity and pre-eminence

in the church, among them which are otherwise equal, and this

must be acquiesced in,

9. No privilege can exempt persons from subjection unto any of

God's institutions, though they were of the loins of Abraham, 386

1. We can be made partakers of no such grace, mercy, or privi

lege in this world, but that God can, when he pleaseth, make

an addition thereunto,

2. It is the blessing of Christ, typified in and by Melchisedec,

that makes promises and mercies effectual unto us,

3. Free and sovereign grace is the only foundation of all privileges, ib.

4. It is a great mercy and privilege, when God will make use of

any, in the blessing of others with spiritual mercies,

5. Those who are appointed to bless others in the name of

God, and thereby exalted into a pre-eminence above those

that are blessed by his appointment, ought to be accordingly re-

garded by all that are so blessed by them,

6. Let those who are so appointed take heed, that by their miscar-

riage they prove not a curse to them whom they ought to bless, ib.

7. In the outward administration of his worship, God is pleased to

make use of poor, frail, mortal, dying men,

8. The life of the church depends on the everlasting life of Jesus

9. They who receive tithes of others, for their work in holy ad-

ministrations, are thereby proved to be superior to them of

whom they do receive them,

10. It is of great concern to us, what covenant we do belong to,,

as being esteemed to do therein, what is done by our representa-`

tives in our name,

1. An interest in the gospel, consisteth not in an outward profes-

sion of it, but in a real participation of those things wherein the

perfection of its state doth consist,

2. The pre-eminence of the gospel-state above the legal, is spiri-
tual, and undiscernible unto a carnal eye,

3. To look for glory in evangelical worship, from outward cere-

monies and carnal ordinances, is to prefer the Levitical priest-

hood before that of Christ,

4. Put all advantages and privileges whatever together, and they

will bring nothing to perfection without Jesus Christ,

1. Notwithstanding the great and many provocations of them by

whom the priesthood was exercised, yet God took it not

away, until it had accomplished the end whereto it was designed, 457

2. The efficacy of all ordinances or institutions of worship,

depends on the will of God alone,

ib.

3. Divine institutions cease not without an express divine abrogation, ib.

4. God will never abrogate or take away any institution or ordi-
nance of worship, unto the loss or disadvantage of the church,

5. God in his wisdom so ordered all things, that the taking away

of the priesthood of the law, gave it its greatest glory,

6. How it is a fruit of the manifold wisdom of God, that it was a

great mercy to give the law, and a greater, to take it away,

7. If under the law, the whole worship of God did so depend on

the priesthood, that that failing or being taken away, the whole

worship of itself was to cease, as being no more acceptable be-

fore God; how much more is all worship under the New Tes-

tament, rejected by him, if there be not a due regard therein

unto the Lord Christ, as the only high priest of the church, and

to the efficacy of his discharge of that office,

8. It is the highest vanity to pretend use or continuance in the

church, from possession or prescription, or pretended benefit,

beauty, order or advantage, when once the mind of God is de-

clared against it,

VERSE 13.

1. It is our duty in studying of the Scripture, to inquire di-

ligently after the things which are spoken concerning Jesus

Christ, and what is taught of him in them,

ib,

2. All men's rights, duties and privileges in sacred things, are fix-

ed and limited by divine institution,

3. Seeing Christ himself had no right to minister at the material

altar, the re-introduction of such altars, is inconsistent with the

perpetual continuance of his priesthood,

1. It pleaseth God to give sufficient evidence unto the accom-

plishment of his promise,

2. Divine revelation gives bounds, positively and negatively, unto

the worship of God,

1. Present truths are earnestly to be pleaded and contended for, 469

2. Important truths should be strongly confirmed,

3. Arguments that are equally true, may yet on the account of

evidence, not be equally cogent,

4. In the confirmation of the truth, we may use every help that

is true and seasonable, though some of them may be more ef

fectual unto our end than others,

5. What seemed to be wanting unto Christ, in his entrance

into any of his offices, or in the discharge of them, was on the

́account of a greater glory,

6. The eternal continuance of Christ's person, gives eternal con-

tinuance and efficacy unto his office,

7. To make new priests in the church, is virtually to renounce the

faith of his living for ever as our priest, or to suppose that he is

not sufficient to the discharge of his office,"

6. The alteration that God made in the church, by the introduc-

tion of the priesthood of Christ, was progressive towards its

1. It is a matter of the highest nature and importance, to set up,

take away, or remove any thing from, or change any thing in

the worship of God,

2. The revelation of the will of God, in things relating unto his

worship, is very difficultly received, where the minds of men are

prepossessed with prejudices and traditions,

3. The only securing principle in all things of this nature, is to

preserve our souls in an entire subjection unto the authority of

Christ, and unto his alone,

4. The introduction into the church, of what is better and more

full of grace, in the same kind with what went before, doth dis-

annul what so preceded; but the bringing in of that which is not

better, which doth not communicate more grace, doth not do so, 494

5. If God would disannul every thing that was weak and unpro-

fitable in his service, though originally of his own appointment,

because it did not exhibit the grace he intended, he will much

more condemn any thing of the same kind that is invented by men,

6. It is in vain for any man to look for that from the law, now

it is abolished, which it could not effect in its best estate,

7. When God hath designed any gracious end towards the church,

it shall not fail, nor his work cease for want of effectual means

to accomplish it,

8. Believers of old who lived under the law, did not live upon the

law, but upon the hope of Christ, or Christ hoped for,

9. The Lord Christ by his priesthood and sacrifice, makes perfect

the church, and all things belonging thereunto,

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