faith and patience, tried to the utmost, and acted in all things suitably to the mind and will of God.

$7. Obs. (II.) When God designeth any thing as a chastisement, it is in vain to endeavor to keep off a sense of it; it shall be a matter of sorrow to us. Men are apt in their trials to think it a point of courage and resolution to keep off a sense of them, so as not to be affected with grief about them. It is esteemed by some a piece of pusillanimity to mourn, or to be affected with sorrow about them. It is true, indeed, so far as they are from men, and sufferings for the gospel, there is an heroic frame of spirit required for undergoing them, so that it may appear we are in nothing terrified by our adversaries; but there can be no pusillanimity in us towards God. It is our duty to take in a deep sense of his rebukes; and if he designs any thing befalling us as a chastisement, it is in vain for us to contend, that it may not be a matter of sorrow to us. For if it yet be not so, it is but an entrance into his more severe dealing with us. He will not cease till he hath broken the fierceness and tamed the pride of our spirits, and have brought us, like obedient children, to submit ourselves under his mighty hand.

$8. Observe farther;

1. Not to take in a sense of sorrow in affliction, through stoutheartedness, is to despise the chastening of the Lord, ver. 5. The sorrow intended which accompanies chastisement, is that which the apostle terms (λUTY NATA OεOV, 2 Cor. vii, 9,) "Sorrow according to God," or after a godly sort; it is not a wailing of the flesh upon a sense of pain; it is not the disorder of our affections upon their encounter with things grievous in their present state of ease; it is not a heartless despondency under our pressures, enfeebling us for our duties; but a filial sense of God's displeasure, accom

panied with nature's aversation from things evil and grievous to it.

2. The nature and end of afflictions are not to be measured by our present sense of them; at present they are dolorous, but the great relief under what is grievous at present is, the due consideration of their end and tendency, as appointed of God. And,

3. All the trouble of afflictions is but for the present; at most but for the little while we are to continue in this world; within a very short time we shall leave them behind us for evermore.

$9. 1. Those who cannot see an excellency in the abounding of the fruits of righteousness before described, can never apprehend that there is either good or benefit in chastisements; for this alone is that which the apostle proposeth to answer all that is grievous or evil in them; but these things believers value above life itself, and can esteem weil of every thing, be it never so sharp to the flesh, that doth promote these fruits in our souls.

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2. We can never find any benefit in chastisements unless we are exercised by them; that is,that all our graces are stirred up by them to an holy, constant exercise; for hereby alone do they yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

3. It is the fruit of righteousness alone, that will bring us peace; give us a sense of peace with God, peace in ourselves, and, as far as possible, peace with all others. And,

4. Grace in afflictions will at length quietly. compose the mind under the storm raised by them, and give it a peaceful rest.

5. Herein lies the wisdom of faith in this matter, not to pass a judgment on chastisement from the present sense we have of what is evil and dolorous in

them, but from their end and use, which are blessed and glorious.

VERSES 12, 13.

Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed.

$1. Introduction. §2, 3. (1.) The several parts of the words explained. §4-6. Making straight paths for our feet, what. $7. The enforcement of the duty. $8, 9. (II.) Observations.

§1. İN these verses an entrance is made to the second part of the chapter, which is designed for the application of the doctrine concerning sufferings, afflictions, and chastisements, before insisted on; for the right understanding of the mind of the Holy Ghost in the words, we must take notice, that there is a supposition included of some failure in the Hebrews as to their courage and constancy in suffering; at least that they were in great danger of it, and that it began to affect the minds of many; and perhaps greatly to prevail in some among them; this he had insinuated before in the entrance of his discourse on this subject, ver. 3-5, and now resumes it as the ground of his address.

That part of the exhortation which is contained in ver. 12, is taken from Isaiah xxxv, 3; and the way of its proposal is in continued metaphors, in answer to the first prescription of duty which was to run a race, or strive for a victory, ver. 1. Wherefore, the exhortation is applied to those parts of the body which are of principal use in the gymnastic exercises, viz. the hands, the knees, and the feet, whereby the body putteth forth all its strength, to obtain the prize; the hands and knees being the principal seat of strength and acti vity.

$2. (I.) "Lift up the hards that hang down;'

(Tapepevas) weakened and dissolved in their strength, whence of course they hang down; which is an evidence of being weary, faint, unready, and on the point of giving over. “And the feeble knees;” (zapadɛλuμEVO, soluta, dissoluta, labantia,) debilitated, weak, whose nervous vigor is dissolved; so in great weakness, fear, and despondency, the knees are said to smite together, Nah. ii, 10; Dan. v, 6.

In both expressions we have a description of a man heartless, or slothful, or so faint in running a race, as to be ready to cast off all hopes of success, and to give

over.

§3. It is the same kind of distemper which affects these several parts; and therefore the apostle prescribes the same remedy to both; (avopowσate, surripite, erigite) raise them up to a due state and posture; set them right again; apply them to their duty; so in the cure of the woman who had the infirmity, wherewith she was bowed down, we render the same word "made straight," Luke xiii, 13; or upright again.

Wherefore the spiritual sense of the words, or meaning of the similitudes, is plain, and there is no necessity to make a distribution of parts, as to what is particularly and separately intended by the hands and knees; for by the same kind of defect in both, the fault of the whole is described; which is such a decay in Christian courage and resolution, as brings along with it a great weakness and unreadiness for duty; proceeding from a despondency as to success, and weariness of duty; in them do our hands hang down, and our kness grow feeble.

§4. "And make straight paths for your feet." The first part of the exhortation concerned the inward frame of our minds; that which now follows looks to our ways, walking, and conversation with respect to

others; according as our path is, right and straight, or crooked and uneven, so will our course be. It is therefore highly incumbent on us to look well to the paths wherein we are going.

The direction seems to be taken from Prov. iv, 26, "Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established;" or rather, "all thy ways shall be ordered aright;" which is the sense of this place.

In order to discover the duty here prescribed, we must consider;-what are the paths of our feet; and -how we are to make them straight.

§5. (Tpoxias) Our paths; the original word signifies (των τροχών καραξις) the mark made by wheels, so though it be taken for (semita,) a path, yet it is (orbita) such a path as is marked out for others, that leaves a track that may be followed.

Our obedience to God is called our walking before him, Gen. xvii, i. The first divine testimony given to any man was with respect to his faith in sacrifice, Gen. iv, 4; expressing the atonement to be made by Christ; and the second was to obedience under the name of walking with God; "Enoch walked with God," Gen. v, 24; in these two, thus exemplified from the beginning, faith and obedience, doth the life of God in the church consist; and every one's course of actions, with respect to God and his will, are his paths.

The path of our obedience may be considered, either objectively, denoting the will of God revealed to us; the canon or rule which we are to walk by; in which sense the path of all men is one and the same; absolutely and perfectly straight in itself; or, it may be considered subjectively, with respect to them that walk in it, and so there are degrees of straightness; men may continue in it, yet fail variously as to its universal rectitude. So Peter and others with him did not (oploña