servation of their lives depended absolutely on the faithfulness and power of God. But yet when the mariners began to fly out of the ship, Paul tells the centurion and the soldiers, that unless those men stayed, they could not be saved, ver. 31. But what need he think of ship-men, when God had promised and taken upon himself the preservation of them all? He knew full well that he would preserve them; but yet that he would do so in and by the use of means. If we are in Christ, God hath given us the lives of our souls, and hath taken upon himself, in his covenant, the preservation of them. But yet we may say, with reference unto the means that he hath appointed, when storms and trials arise, unless we use our own diligent endeavours, we cannot be saved. Hence are the many cautions that are given us, not only in this Epistle wherein they abound, but in other places of Scripture also, that we should take heed of apostasy and falling away; as, "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall :" and, "Take heed that we lose not the things which we have wrought :" and, "Hold fast that thou hast, lest another take thy crown :" with the like innumerable.

These warnings are not given merely to professors in general, whose condition is dubious, whether they are true believers or not; nor unto those that are entering only on the ways of Christ, lest they should recoil and desert them; but they are given unto all true believers, those of the greatest growth and attainments, Phil. iii. 11—13.; that they may know how indispensably necessary, from the appointment of God, and the nature of the thing itself, our watchful diligence and endeavours are unto our abiding in Christ. And they are thus necessary.

First, Upon the account of the opposition that is made thereunto. In this one thing, namely, to separate us from Christ, is laid out all the skill, power, and craft of our spiritual adversaries. For this end are the gates of hell, that is the power, counsel and strength of Satan, peculiarly engaged. His great design is to cast them down and prevail against them who are built upon the rock; that is, who are united unto Christ. Our Saviour indeed hath promised, that he shall not prosper, Mat. xvi. 15. But it is that he shall not prevail; which argues a disappointment in a fight or contest. So the gates of hell shall not prevail; but we This also is the are to watch and contend that they may not. principal design of the world upon us and against us. It sets all Our apostle its engines on work to separate us from Christ. reckons them up, or at least gives a catalogue of the principal of them, Rom. viii. 35, 36., and gives us assurance that they shall never be able to attain their end, or to dissolve the union between Christ and us. But yet he lets us know that our success is a conquest a victory, which is not to be won without great care and watchfulness, undergoing many difficulties, and going

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through many hazards, ver. 37. And, which is worst of all, we fight against ourselves; we have lusts in us that fight against our souls," 1 Pet. ii. 11., and that in good earnest. Yea, these are the worst enemies we have, and the most dangerous, as I have elsewhere declared. This opposition to our persistency in Christ, makes our diligence for the continuance and preservation of it necessary.

Secondly, It is necessary upon the account of our peace, consolation, and fruitfulness in this world. And these belong to our subsistence in Christ. Without the two former, we have no satisfaction in ourselves; and without the latter, we are of no use to the glory of God, or good of others. Now, as our eternal happiness depends on this diligence as the means of it, so do these things as their condition; which if we fail in, they also will fail, and that utterly. It is altogether in vain to expect true peace, solid consolation, or a thriving in fruitfulness, in a slothful profession. These things depend wholly on our spiritual industry. Men complain of the fruit, but will not be persuaded to dig up the root. For all our spiritual troubles, darkness, disconsolations, fears, doubts, barrenness, they all proceed from this bitter root of negligence, which springs up and defiles us. Those then that know how to value these things, may do well to consider how the loss of them may be obviated. Now this spiritual diligence and industry consisteth;

First, In a watchful fighting and contending against the whole work of sin, in its deceit and power, with all the contribution of advantage and efficacy that it hath from Satan and the world. This the apostle peculiarly applies it unto, in the cautions and exhortations given us, to take heed of it, that we be not hardened by it; seeing its whole design is to impair or destroy our interest and persistency in Christ, and so to draw us off from the living God.

Secondly, In a daily constant cherishing, and labouring to improve and strengthen every grace by which we abide in Christ. Neglected grace will wither, and be ready to die, Rev. iii. 2., yea, as to some degrees of it, and as to its work in evidencing the love of God unto us, or our union with Christ, it will utterly decay. Some of the churches in the Revelation, had lost their first love, as well as left their first works. Hence is that command that we should grow in grace, and we do so when grace grows and thrives in us. And this is done two ways. First, When any individual grace is improved. When that faith which was weak, becomes strong; and that love which was faint and cold, becomes fervent and is inflamed; which is not to be done but in and by the sedulous exercise of these graces themselves, and a constant application of our souls by them to the Lord Christ, as hath been before declared. Secondly, By adding one

grace unto another. 2 Pet. i. 5. "And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge:" this is the proper work of spiritual diligence, namely, to add one gráce unto another. This is the nature of gospel-graces, because of their concatenation in Christ, and as they are wrought in us by one and the self-same Spirit, that the exercise of one leads us to the stirring up and bringing in the exertise of another into the soul. And the graces that in order of practice lie as it were behind, will not be taken notice of or known, but by the due improvement of those whose practice is antecedaneous unto them. Hence some good men live all their days, and never come to the actual exercise of some graces, although they have them in their root and principle. And the reason is, because way is not made unto them by the constant improvement of those other graces from out of whose exercise they do spring.

And is it any wonder if we see so many either decaying or unthrifty professors? and so many that are utterly turned off from their first engagements? For consider what it is to abide in Christ; what watchfulness, what diligence, what endeavours are required thereunto. Men would have it to be a plant that needs neither watering, manuring, nor pruning; but that which will thrive alone of itself. But what do they then think of the opposition that is continually made unto it, the endeavours that are used utterly to root it out? Certainly if these be not watched against with our utmost industry, decays, if not ruin, will ensue. We may also add here; That,

Obs. IV. Not only our profession and existence in Christ, but the gracious beginnings of it also, are to be secured with great spiritual care and industry. The substance whereof may be spoken unto in another place.

VERSES 15-19.

THERE is some difficulty about these verses; namely, whether they appertain unto, and depend upon the discourse foregoing; or whether they are the beginning of another, on which the exhortation in the first verse of the next chapter doth depend. Chrysostom, with the Greeks that follow him, as Theophylact and Oecumenius assert the latter. And therefore they suppose an hyperbaton in the words; and that all that discourse which is between the 15th verse of this chapter, and the 1st of the next is an occasional digression. As if the sense of the apostle ran to this purpose: Seeing it is said, To-day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation; let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. But there is no necessity of such a long trajection of the sense, nor of feigning the hyperbaton intimated. The genuine sense and proper contexture of

the apostle's discourse, requires their connexion with what went before. And the exhortation in the first verse of the next chapter, is taken from what he immediately after argueth and proveth. And I shall not insist upon the division of the chapters, which is arbitrary and of no authority. I shall therefore in the first place rightly state the coherence of these discourses, and then proceed to the exposition of the words.

Three things the apostle hath stated in his preceding arguing and exhortation. First, The evil which he would have the Hebrews carefully to avoid under the preaching of the gospel unto them, or their hearing of the voice of God; and that is the hardening of their hearts. Secondly, The cause hereof, which he persuades them diligently to obviate; which is the deceitfulness of sin. Thirdly, The effect and consequent of that evil, which is apostasy, or a departing from the living God. Hereunto he subjoins one special means for the prevention of this evil in its causes and consequents, and that is mutual exhortation. Now whereas he had drawn all the parts of his discourse, from an example recorded in Moses, and resumed by David in the Psalms, with an intimation that it was by the Holy Ghost in him, put over unto the use of the church under the gospel, and therein in an especial manner of the present Hebrews; he returns to shew, that his discourse was fully warranted from that example as recorded originally by Moses, and repeated by the Holy Ghost in the Psalms. Moreover, there were yet remaining some circumstances of the example insisted on, which the Holy Ghost would have us observe for our instruction, which lay not in the way of his former discourse, to collect and observe. These here he gathereth up, and in them gives a great confirmation to the grounds and reasons of his exhortation. This is his general design; the parts of his discourse are as followeth.

1. He calls over the example and his own improvement of it summarily again, to lay it as a foundation of what he had further to infer from it, verse 15.

2. He makes a tacit comparison between them who came out of Egypt under the conduct of Moses, which part of it is expressed, and those who were then called to the profession of the gospel, which is implied, ver. 16.

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3. The former sort he expressly distributes in two kinds; the first whereof he describes, First, By their sin. 1. In general, they hardened their hearts and provoked God," ver. 16. In particular; this their sin was their unbelief, ver. 18, 19. Secondly, By the respect that God had towards them, which also is two-fold: 1. That he was grieved with them. 2. That he sware in his wrath against them, ver. 17, 18. Thirdly, By their punishment; which in like manner is expressed two ways: 1. Positively, that their carcasses fell in the wilderness, ver. 17.

2. Negatively, that they did not enter into God's rest, ver. 18, 19. By all which instances, the apostle manifests that his exhortation of them from this example was well founded therein; especially seeing the psalmist had in a spirit of prophecy prepared it for the use of those days and these. For justly ought they to be jealous over themselves, lest any of them should fall into the like sin, and fall by the same punishment.

4. He manifests, that he doth not insist only on the danger of the sin dehorted from, and the penalty annexed unto it, as though the nature of this example was merely comminatory or threatening; but he declares also partly expressly, and partly by just consequence, the blessed success which they obtained who fell not into the sins of infidelity and apostasy from God; and so strengthens his exhortation from the promises of God, and his faithfulness in them. This he doth in these words, "Howbeit, not all that came ont of Egypt," ver. 16., that is, did not provoke God; which is but one head of the antithesis between the two several sorts mentioned, which is to be understood and preserved in all the other instances. As if he should have said, Some on the other side, hardened not their hearts, provoked not God, but believed and obeyed his voice; hence God was not angry with them, sware not against them, their carcases fell not in the wilderness, but they entered into the rest of God. And thus will it be with them, who shall continue to believe and obey the gospel.

5. He adds a general conclusion as the sum of what he had evinced out of the words of the psalm, which also he intended farther to improve, as he doth in the next chapter, ver. 19.

Τινές

VER. 1519. Εν τω λεγεσθαι, σημερον εαν της φωνής αυτό ακέσητε, μη σκληρύνητε τας καρδίας ύμων; ώς εν τω παραπικρασμώ. γαρ ακέσαντες παρεπίκραναν ; αλλ' κ παντες οἱ εξελθοντες εξ Αιγυπτε δια Μωσέως. Τισι δε προσωχθισε τεσσαράκοντα ετη; όχι τοις άμαρτησασιν, ὧν τα κωλα επεσεν εν τη ερήμω. Τισι δε ώμοσε μη εισελέν σεσθαι εις την κατάπαυσιν αυτού, ει μη τους απείθησασι; Και βλεπομεν ότι εκ ηδυνήθησαν εισελθειν δι'

απιστίαν,

Some few differences there are amongst translations; some of them, such as may give light in the sense of the words, may be remarked.

VER. 15.-E Tw Maysodas; Beza, interdum dum dicitur: ‹ in the mean time, while it is said.' Interdum, dum, are not amiss supplied, if that be the sense of the words, which generally is supposed so to be. Erasmus, in hoc quod dicitur; in this that is said; or, whereas it is said.' Which is suited unto the trajection of the words supposed by the Greeks, before mentioned. Syriac, DR, sicut dictum est, as it is said;' respecting a repetition of the testimony, again.' Arias; in dici, that is,