it,) is to be the key to Jehovah, which latter CHAP. 1. 3. is the name of his essence, which is hidden to us, (as they speak,) to be as a treasury, in which God Jehovah hath hid all the riches he means to communicate to us; and further, this Adonai, or Lord, to be the Great Ruler or Governor under God Jehovah, nourishing and sustaining all things, and that without Adonai, or the Lord, there is no way or means for any man to come to this God Jehovah. Thus Masini hath, hath, Masius in Josuam. out of their own records, observed, which is a clear, if not a full explication of the office of our Christ, as he is Adonai, or Lord. The New Testament, speaking the very same, in terminis; God not being known to any, but to whom Christ reveals him; in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom,' he ruling and supporting all by the word of his power.' As to whom God hath communicated the execution of all judgment; himself visibly judging none; "neither is there any name under heaven but this, whereby men can be saved," and approach to God." suppose Goodwin of the p. 156. I the Apostle here speaks of Messiah, as Adonai, having purged our sins, and, as Adonai, having sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High, in order to introduce the quotation from Psalm cx., as P. cx. 1. " Jehowell as, for the sake of allusion, to Isaiah Adoni, &c." iv. 4, which I suppose to be contained in the words, When he (i. e. the Upholder,) vah said to CHAP. I. 3. had by himself purged our sins," the prophetic announcement being, that the Branch of Jehovah should be Beauty and Glory, but subsequently to the time when ADONAI shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem, &c. Thus our Apostle touches on the second difficulty I mentioned, viz. the shame of the cross; and then he refers to the third, by alluding to Psalm cx., which prophesied of Adoni's sitting at the right hand of Jehovah for a given period, viz. until his enemies should be made his footstool.' The "all things," now upheld by Christ, I suppose, must be the "all things," which he is appointed hereafter to inherit this the Apostle amplifies in the second chapter from Ps. viii. All, with the sole exception of God, whether the worlds that compose the milky way, or the grasshopper inhabitants of this earth; ALL are made the footstool of the feet of this suffering son of Adam. 66 Upholding all things."* Since the fall, * Benuit conceives that this "upholding alludes to the High Priest bearing on his shoulders the names of the children of Israel. This, however, embraces not only his Church, but all the universe; the entire world, by his providence, which preserves and governs it, and his Church by his grace, which animates and quickens it. The world upon his shoulder, that is to say, by his divine power alone, equal to this enterprize, and greater than this burden. The Church upon his breast, which is the region of the heart, where his love burns. The world and the universal nature has been at war with its Maker and itself. The deterioration of moral intelligences, as well as the principle of decomposition, which incessantly destroys the forms, that diversely clothe the matter of the universe, are by him alone withheld from producing Chaos, as by him also the matter of the universe is prevented from falling into annihilation. 66 66 By the Word of his Power;" not simply 'by his powerful Word,' but by the voice of Omnipotence. This Word is called the Word of the Power of God, because there is another Word, which is not always obeyed; a Word of his Justice and Holiness, which proclaims itself in the doctrine of his law, and in the precepts of his Gospel." The voice, which spake, and creation was, commands, and it stands fast; * this Word, CHAP. I. 3. "The Word of his Power." Church, by his word, to which every thing in both is obedient, "The Prophet, in Ps. xxxiii., to shew how wonderful is the power of God, says, He spake, and the things were. made, he commanded, and that, which he said, took its existence.' Now this Word, spoken at the beginning, has a perpetual efficacy; for when God said, Let light be,' he did not mean, that it should exist at that moment only, or last for a little while, and afterwards be extinct; no, he willed its continued existence, to enlighten the universe; and when, by that same Word, he formed all other things, it was in the intention, that CHAP. 1. 3. Deering's 66 pronounced at the beginning, has a perpetual efficacy; that power emanates from it incessantly, and by a continual flow, which preserves and maintains all the parts of the universe, to which Christ, by it, at first gave being.* The mighty power of Christ maketh the feather to move, and his strong arm leadeth the fly in her way; the same force, which now shaketh a leaf, if he sent it against a mountain, would have turned it from its base; the same strength, that bloweth up the dust, if it came against the earth, would shake its foundations." "Having by himself purged our sins." they should be maintained in their proper being, until the consummation of the ages. . . . .There is then a certain power which, if we may so say, emanates incessantly, and by a continual flow from this word, which God uttered at the beginning, and which preserves and maintains all the parts of the universe, to which it first gave being, it is that, to which the Apostle here makes the allusion; for, as he said, in the verse immediately preceding, that it was our Lord Jesus Christ, who made the worlds, in these words he teaches, that he maintains them, as this Word, which was pronounced at the beginning, is not only the Word of the Father, but also the Word of the Son."-Amyraud. *No acting force remains in the effect, where the action of the agent has ceased, unless that force be converted into the very nature of the effect, so as to be inherent in it as its own property. If it be a property peculiar to the agent alone, and transcending the nature of the effect, then it must cease, when the action ceases. Since, therefore, self-existence is peculiar to God alone, it can be the property of no created body. Creation exhibits the acting power of God in producing, preservation shews the same action in not deserting the creature, when produced; preservation is not by a new act, but by the continuance of that act, which originally gave existence; hence, by whom all things were framed, by him they are preserved, &c. Bp. Davenant, vol. i. p. 204. CHAP. I. 3. ix. 14.; xiii. 10. Denoting the union of the two natures, He, the Priest, offered up himself the sacrifice,* vii. 27. Himself also being the altar, xiii. 10. vii. 27. His human nature, that which suffered, and rendered him fit to be substituted in our stead, ii. 16; viii. 3; and x. 5. His God- .16.; viii. 3; head, the Altar, which sanctified the gift, and rendered the suffering proportionable to the nature and atrocity of the crime, ix. 14; xiii. 10. For though his human nature alone suffered, yet so, that his passion was that of the whole person, for "therefore it is that he offered himself," because these words "he offered himself," design his action: Now actions are reputed to be of persons altogether, and not one of the natures only, of which they are composed; and this timacy between pression, himself," similarly denotes the attributed to the complete person." "And forasmuch as his Amyraud. bodily substance is, by virtue of true conjunction, made the body of the Son of God, by whom also it was made a sacrifice for the 66 said ex * As in the eternal nature of his divinity he had not that which he could offer, he took from us that, which he might offer for us, i.e. human flesh. What so fit for immolation, as mortal flesh for mortals? And what so pure for fleshly vices of mortals, as flesh without any contagion of carnal concupiscence, born from the womb of a virgin? What could be so acceptably offered, as the flesh of our sacrifice, become the body, of our Priest? And since four things are considered in every sacrifice, To whom it is offered; By whom it is offered; That which is offered; For whom it is offered, (and sacrifice is due. to no one but to God alone,) therefore our High Priest offered himself to God for us, being himself the Priest and the Sacrifice. Ambrose. Take for example what Solomon study is a weari says, "Much ness to the flesh;" but study is an effort of the mind, so that though formally attribute actions to either one nature or other, they must, in the natures, be person. |