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them he directs us to the whole passage whereof they are a part; for it would not answer his purpose to shew merely that God rested from his works, which. these words affirm; but his aim is to manifest, that thereon there was a rest provided for us to enter into, and a day of rest appointed as a pledge thereof; and this is fully expressed in the place referred to, for God upon his own rest blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.

(Kaleπavσev o OEOs) "God rested." A cessation from work, and not a refreshment upon weariness, is intended. God is not weary; he is no more so in the work of creation, than he is in the work of providence, Isa. xl. 20. The Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, nor is weary:' he laboreth not in working; and therefore nothing is intended but a cessation from exerting his creating power to the production of more creatures, with his satisfaction in what he had already done. JUNIUS renders it, (cum autem perfecisset Deus die septimo opus suum quod fecerat, quievit,) "When God had perfected his work, on the seventh day, he rested;" thus the seventh day is not expressed as a time wherein any work was done, but as the time immediately present after it was finished; and the word here used (n) doth not properly signify to work, or effect, but to "complete," perfect, or accomplish; "when he had perfected his work;" so that on the seventh day there was no more work to do. This then is the sum of what is here laid down; That from the beginning, from the foundation of the world, there was a work of God, and a rest ensuing thereon; and an entrance proposed to men into that rest, and a day of rest, as a pledge thereof; which yet was not the rest intended by the psalmist, as in the next verse.

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§3. "And in this place again, if they shall enter into my rest." (Kas εy Tavlw,) and in this. The expres sion is elliptical, and the sense is to be supplied from the beginning of the fourth verse; "For he spake in a certain place; and again he spake in this place."—'If they shall enter into my rest.' He takes it for granted, that an entrance into the rest of God for some is intended in those very words, whereby others were excluded. This present argument is from the time when, and place where these words were spoken, which include a rest of God to be entered into. Now this was the time of Moses, and in the wilderness, so that they cannot intend the sabbatical rest from the foundation of the world; for the works, saith he, were finished in six days, and the seventh was blessed and sanctified for a day of rest, as Moses testifieth, Gen. ii, 1-3. And as this was tendered, and entered into by some, from the foundation of the world; it must, therefore, of necessity be another rest, that is spoken of by the psalmist, and to which the people were afresh invited. This is therefore his purpose in the repetition of this testimony, that the rest mentioned therein, was not that which was appointed from the beginning of the world; but another, the proposal of which yet remained. So then, upon the whole, there was another rest of God, besides that upon the creation of all, as is evident from this place, which he farther confirms in the next verse.

§4. (II.) The observations that offer themselves are the following:

Obs. 1. Whatever the scripture saith in any place, being rightly understood and applied, is a firm foundation for faith to rest upon: and for arguments or proofs, in matters of divine worship, to be deduced from. Thus the apostle here confirms his own pur

pose and intention. His aim is to settle the judgment of these Hebrews in things pertaining to the worship of God; and to supply them with a sufficient authority, which their faith might be resolved to. This he doth by referring them to "a certain place of scripture," where the truths he urgeth are confirmed; for he designed to deal with these Hebrews, not merely upon his apostolic authority, and the revelation he had received from Jesus Christ, as he used to deal with the Gentile churches, but on the common principles of the Old Testament scriptures, which were mutually acknowledged by him and them. It is utterly impossible that, in things concerning religion and the worship of God, we can ever be engaged in a cause attended with more difficulties, and liable to more specious opposition, than that which our apostle was now managing. He had the practice of the church, continued from the first foundation of it, resolved into the authority of God himself as to its institution, and attended with his acceptance of the worshippers in all ages, with other seeming disadvantages and prejudices innumerable, to contend with; yet this he undertakes on the sole authority of the scriptures, and testimonies to his purpose deduced thence, and gloriously accomplisheth his design. Certainly, whilst we have the same warranty of the word for what we avow and profess, we need not despond for those mean artifices and pretences wherewith we are opposed, which bear no proportion to those difficulties, which by the same word of truth have been conquered and removed. For instance, what force is there in the pretence of the Roman church, in their profession of things found out, appointed, and commanded by themselves, in comparison of that of the Hebrews for theirs, begun and continued by the authority of God himself? And if this

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hath been taken away by the light and authority of the scriptures, how can the other, hay and stubble, stand before it?

$5. Obs. 2. It is to no purpose to press any thing in the worship of God, without producing the author ity of God for it in his word. Our apostle still minds the Hebrews what is "spoken" in this and that place to his purpose. And to what end serves any thing else in this matter? Is there any thing else that we can resolve our faith into, or that can influence our consciences into a religious obedience? And are not these things the life and soul of worship, without which it is but, as it were, a dead carcass?

VERSE 6.

Seeing, therefore, it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached, entered not in because of unbelief.

$1. Connexion of the words. $2. The argument recapitulated. $3. Observation. $4. Farther observations and rules to elucidate the general observation. 1 Promises refer either to the grace only, or the outward administration of the covenant. $5.2 Some may be accomplished when few know it. §6.30. Some confined to a certain time. $7, 4. Some not limited. $8. 5. Some for a time suspended. $9. Inferences.

§1. HAVING thus removed an objection that might arise against the new proposal of a rest of God, from the sabbatical rest, which was appointed from the foundation of the world; and manifested that-although there was in the state of nature, or under the law of our creation, a working and rest of God, and a rest for men to enter into, and a day set apart as a pledge of that rest; yet this was not the rest which he inquired after; the apostle in this and the following verses proceeds to improve his testimonies already produced to a farther end; namely to prove, that-al

though after the original rest was mentioned, there was a second rest promised and proposed to the people of God; yet neither was that it which is proposed in the place of the Psalm; but a third, that yet remained for them, and was now proposed, under the same promises and threatenings with the former. The words contain an assertion, and a particular assumption from it; the assertion is, that "some must or shall enter into the rest of God;" which he concludes as evinced by his former arguments and testimonies: so the words prove, that there is yet aremaining entrance into a rest of God. A promise being included in every conditional threatening, the sense of these words then is, that from what hath been spoken it is evident, that some must yet enter into another rest of God, besides that which was in the sabbath appointed from the foundation of the world. His assumption is, that those to whom that rest was first preached entered not in, because of their disobedience. It is manifest that the apostle intends in these words, those who came out of Egypt under the conduct of Moses, whose sin and punishment he had so fully expressed in the foregoing chapter. Now to these was the rest of God first declared; they were first evangelized with it. And hereby the apostle shews, which rest it is that he intends; not absolutely the spiritual rest of the promise, for this was preached to believers from the foundation of the world; but the church rest of the land of Canaan, that is the accomplishment of the promise upon their faith and obedience, was first proposed to them, for otherwise the promise itself was first given to Abraham, but the actual accomplishment of it was never proposed to him on any condition.

§2. This therefore; is the substance of this verse; beside the rest of God, from the foundation of the

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