confirmation lies in ver. 26; that which he exhorts them to is the preservation and continuance of their (appyσav) confidence, as to invincible constancy of mind and boldness in professing the gospel, in the face of all difficulties, through a trust in God, and a valuation of the eternal reward.

This confidence which hath been of such use to them, they are exhorted (un añoßaλyle) not to cast away; he doth not say, leave it not, forego it not; but "cast it not away;" for where any graces have been stirred up to their due exercise, and have had success, they will not fail, nor be lost, without some positive act of the mind in rejecting them. When faith, on any occasion, is impaired and insnared, this confidence will not abide; and so soon as we begin to fail in our confidence, it will reflect weakness on faith itself; and hence it appears how great is the evil here dehorted from, and what a certain entrance it will prove into apostasy itself if not seasonably prevented,

§2. What the apostle, as to the matter of it, here calls a recompence of reward," he in the next verse, from the formal cause of it, calls the promise, that promise which we receive after we have done the will of God; wherefore, what is here intended is the glory of heaven, proposed as a reward by way of recompence to them that overcome in their sufferings for the gospel. A free gift of God, for the "wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." They are as sure in divine promises as in our own profession; and although they are yet future, faith gives them a present subsistence in the soul, as to their power and efficacy, for ye have need of (UTоμovиs) patience; a bearing of evils with quietness and complacency of mind, without raging, fretting, despondency, or inclination to compliance

with undue ways of deliverance: "In patience possess your souls;" confidence will engage men in trouble and difficulties in a way of duty; but if patience take not up the work, and carry it on, confidence will flag and fail. See chap vi, 11, 12. Putience is the perfecting grace of suffering Christians, Jam. i, 4.

--

This, saith the apostle, "you have need of." He speaks not absolutely of the grace itself, as though they had it not, but of its continual exercise in their condition; and the necessity here intimated is grounded on these two suppositions;-That those who profess the gospel in sincerity shall ordinarily meet with trials on the account of that profession; and that without the constant exercise of patience, none can pass through them to the glory of God, and their own advantage in obtaining the promise of eternal life. Patience is not a mere endurance of trouble, but is, indeed, the due exercise of all graces under sufferings; nor can any grace be acted in that condition where patience is wanting: it is therefore indispensably necessary for this condition.

§3. "That after ye have done the will of God." There is no discharge from his duty until we have done the will of God. The will of God is twofold;— the will of his purpose and good pleasure, the eternal act of his counsel, which is accompanied with infinite wisdom concerning all things which shall come to pass; and the will of his command presenting to us a required duty. And both these senses, I judge, are included in this place.

What is meant here by the "promise" is evident from the context; even all the promises of grace and mercy in the covenant which they had already received. God had not only given them the promises of these things, but he had given them the good things

themselves, as to their degrees and the measures of their enjoyment in this world. And as to the prom. ise of eternal life and glory, they had received that also, and did mix it with faith; but the thing itself promised they had not received. This different notion of the promises, the apostle declares, chap. xi, 17, 39; as we shall see, God willing.

§4. (II.) From the whole observe the following things:

1. In times of suffering, and in the approaches of them, it is the duty of believers to look on the glory of heaven under the notion of a refreshing, all-sufficient reward.

2. He that would abide faithful in difficult seasons, must fortify his soul with an unconquerable patience. 3. The glory of heaven is an abundant recompence for all we undergo in our ways towards it.

4. Believers ought to sustain themselves in their sufferings with the promise of future glory.

5. The future blessedness is given us by promise, and is therefore free and undeserved.

6. The consideration of eternal life, as the free effect of divine grace, and as proposed in a gracious promise, is a thousand times more full of spiritual refreshment to a believer, than if he should conceive of it as a reward proposed to our own doings or merits.

VERSES 37--59.

For yet a little while, and he that shall come, will come, and not tarry. Now the just sholl live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

$1. Introduction, $2. (1.) Exposition of the words. He that was to come, Christ. 3. The just living by faith. 4. The contrary character. $5. The sentence denounced against apostasy. $6. The apostle's charitable conclusion concerning the Hebrews. $7-10, (II.) Observations:

$1. THE substance of the apostolical exhortation, as hath been often observed, is to inspire the Hebrews

with constancy in their profession against persecutions and temptations. To this end he commends to them the necessary use of confidence and patience; and in these verses, he makes a transition to the consideration of faith itself, whereunto he resolves the whole consideration to constancy.

§2. (I.) "For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry." It might arise in the minds of these Hebrews, that it was a long time for them to be exercised with these troubles, and they might begin to fear they should be worn out by them. To encourage them against the influence of this temptation, the apostle accommodates a testimony out of the prophet Habbakuk, which leads him directly to the consideration of the power and efficacy of faith, Hab. ii, 3, 4. "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it, because it shall surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up, is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith." He speaks of a "vision," that is, a prophetical vision of good things, which God would effect in due time; and there is the same reason, in general, of all the promises of God. "Though it tarry," saith he, that is, seem to you to do so; for believers are apt, under their sufferings, to regard the seeming delays of the accomplishment of divine promises, of long continuance; (as wicked men and scoffers, on the contrary, harden themselves in their sins and impieties on the same account of God's threatenings, 2. Pet. iii, 3,.4,) but, saith he, “it will not tarry," that is, although it seem to you to do so, and are dejected about it, yet there is an appointed time for it, and in itself no long time, beyond which it shall not be deferred one moment, Isa. lx, 22; 2, Pet, iii. This whole sense the

apostle compriseth in this short verse,-(Mingov) a little space; though it seem to tarry, wait for it, it will come after a short space of time, as if he had said, "My brethren faint not, be not weary nor discouraged, keep up confidence and patience, you know what you expect, which will be an abundant recompence to you for all your sufferings; and whatever appearances there may be of its tarrying, whatever it may seem to you, yet if you have but a prospect into eternity, be it what it will, it is but a very little while."-"He that shall come will come, and will not tarry." What the prophet spake of the vision he saw, the apostle applies to the person of Christ, (ó Exoμevos) he that shall come; for this term is frequently used as a periphrasis of him. Once it is used to express his eternity, Rev. i, 8; but generally it hath respect to the promise of him; yet, after he was come in the flesh, he was to come again on a double account.

1. In the power of his Spirit, and the exercise of his royal authority; the assistance of his Spirit, with his miraculous operations with the ministers of the gospel, was an illustrious advent of Christ, not in his own person, but in that of his representative, whom he promised to send in his stead.

He was to come in the exercise of his royal authority, for the punishment and destruction of his stubborn and inveterate adversaries; and thus, in respect of his enemies, Christ is still "he that is to come," and as such, is to be believed in, and his coming prayed for by all the saints; for he is to destroy "the man of sin," the head of the apostasy, by the brightness of his coming.

2. Christ is (¿ exoμevos) he who is to come; with respect to his coming to judgment at the last day: this is known and confessed, and the business of his com