P R E F
A C E
THOUGH it is most my concern, that I be able to give a good account to God and
my own conscience, yet, perhaps, it will be expected that I give the world
also some account of this bold undertaking; which I shall endeavour to do with
all plainness, and as one who believes, that if men must be reckoned with in
the great day, for every vain and idle word they speak, much more for every
vain and idle line they write. And it may be of use, in the first place, to
lay down those great and sacred principles which I go upon, and am governed
by, in this endeavour to explain and improve these portions of holy writ;
which endeavour I humbly offer to the service of those (and to those only I
expect it will be acceptable) who agree with me in these six principles: –
I. That religion is the one
thing useful; and to know, and love, and fear God our Maker, and in all
the instances both of devout affection, and of good conversation, to keep
his commandments, (Eccles. xii. 13) is, without doubt, the whole of
man; it is all in all to him. This the wisest of men, after a close and
copious argument in his Ecclesiastes, lays down as the conclusion of
his whole matter (the Quod erat demonstrandum of his whole discourse);
and therefore I may be allowed to lay it down as a postulatum, and the
foundation of this whole matter. It is necessary to mankind in general, that
there should be religion in the world, absolutely necessary for the
preservation of the honour of the human nature, and no less so for the
preservation of the order of human societies. It is necessary to each of us in
particular, that we be religious; we cannot otherwise answer the end of our
creation, obtain the favour of our Creator, make ourselves easy now, or happy
forever. A man that is endued with the powers of reason, by which he is
capable of knowing, serving, glorifying, and enjoying his Maker, and yet lives
without God in the world, is certainly the most despicable and the most
miserable animal under the sun.
II. That divine revelation is necessary to true religion, to the being
and support of it. That faith without which it is impossible to please God,
cannot come to any perfection by seeing the works of God, but it must come by hearing
the word of God, Rom. x. 17. The rational soul, since it received that
fatal shock by the fall, cannot have or maintain that just regard to the great
author of its being, that observance of him, and expectation from him, which
are both its duty and felicity, without some supernatural discovery made by
himself of himself, and of his mind and will. Natural light, no doubt, is of
excellent use, as far as it goes; but it is necessary that there be a divine
revelation, to rectify its mistakes, and make up its deficiencies, to help us
out where the light of nature leaves us quite at a loss, especially in the way
and method of man's recovery from his lapsed state, and his restoration to his
Maker's favour; which he cannot but be conscious to himself of the loss of,
finding, by sad experience, his own present state to be sinful and miserable.
Our own reason shows us the wound, but nothing short of a divine revelation
can discover to us a remedy to be confided in. The case and character of those
nations of the earth which had no other guide in their devotions than that of
natural light, with some remains of the divine institution of sacrifices
received by tradition from their fathers, plainly show how necessary divine
revelation is to the subsistence of religion; for those that had not the word
of God, soon lost God himself, became vain in their imaginations concerning
him, and prodigiously vile and absurd in their worships and divinations. It is
true, the Jews, who had the benefit of divine revelation, lapsed sometimes
into idolatry, and admitted very gross corruptions; yet, with the help of the
law and the prophets, they recovered and reformed: whereas the best and most
admired philosophy of the heathen could never do any thing toward the cure of
the vulgar idolatry, or so much as offered to remove any of those barbarous
and ridiculous rites of their religion, which were the scandal and reproach of
the human nature. Let men therefore pretend what they will, deists are, or
will be, atheists; and those that, under colour of admiring the oracles of
reason, set aside as useless the oracles of God, undermine the foundations of
all religion, and do what they can to cut off all communication between man
and his Maker, and to set that noble creature on a level with the beasts that
perish.
III. That divine revelation is not now to be found nor expected any where
but in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament; and there it is. It is
true, there were religion and divine revelation before there was any written
word; but to argue from thence, that the scriptures are not now necessary, it
as absurd as it would be to argue that the world might do well enough without
the sun, because in the creation the world had light three days before the sun
was made. Divine revelations, when first given, were confirmed by visions,
miracles, and prophecy; but they were to be transmitted to distant regions and
future ages, with their proofs and evidences, by writing, the surest way of
conveyance, and by which the knowledge of other memorable things is preserved
and propagated. We have reason to think that even the ten commandments, though
spoken with such solemnity at Mount Sinai, would have been, long before this,
lost and forgotten, if they had been handed down by tradition only, and never
had been put in writing: it is that which is written, that remains. The
scripture indeed is not compiled as a methodical system or body of divinity, secundum
artem--according to the rules of art, but several ways of writing,
(histories, laws, prophecies, songs, epistles, and even proverbs,) at several
times, and by several hands, as Infinite Wisdom saw fit. The end is
effectually obtained; such things are plainly supposed and taken for granted,
and such things are expressly revealed and made known, as, being all put
together, sufficiently inform us of all the truths and laws of the holy
religion we are to believe, and be governed by. That all scripture is given
by inspiration of God, (2 Tim. iii. 16) and that holy men spake and
wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, (2 Pet. i. 21) we are sure;
but who dare pretend to describe that inspiration? None knows the way of
the Spirit, nor how the thoughts were formed in the heart of him that was
inspired, any more than we know the way of the soul into the body, or how
the bones are formed in the womb or her that is with child, Eccles. xi. 5.
But we may be sure that the blessed Spirit did not only habitually prepare and
qualify the penmen of scripture for that service, and put it into their hearts
to write, but did likewise assist their understandings and memories in
recording those things which they themselves had the knowledge of, and
effectually secure them from error and mistake; and what they could not know
but by revelation, (as for instance, Gen. i. and John i.) the same blessed
Spirit gave them clear and satisfactory information of. And no doubt, as far
as was necessary to the end designed, they were directed by he Spirit, even in
the language and expression; for there were words which the Holy Ghost
taught; (1 Cor. ii. 13) and God saith to the prophet, Thou shalt speak
with my words, Ezek. iii. 4. However, it is not material to us, who drew
up the statute, nor what liberty he took in using his own words: when it is
ratified, it is become the legislator's act, and binds the subject to observe
the true intent and meaning of it. The scripture proves its divine authority
and original both to the wise and to the unwise. Even to the unwise and least
thinking part of mankind, it is abundantly proved by the many incontestable
miracles wrought by Moses and the prophets, Christ and his apostles, for the
confirmation of its truths and laws: it would be an intolerable reproach to
eternal Truth, to suppose this divine seal affixed to a lie. Beside this, to
the more wise and thinking, to the more considerate and contemplative it
recommends itself by those innate excellences which are self-evident
characteristics of its divine original. If we look carefully, we shall soon be
aware of God's image and superscription upon it. A mind rightly disposed by a
humble, sincere subjection to its Maker, will easily discover the image of
God's wisdom in the awful depth of its mysteries; the image of his sovereignty
in the commanding majesty of its style; the image of his unity in the
wonderful harmony and symmetry of all its parts; the image of his holiness in
the unspotted purity of its precepts; and the image of his goodness in the
manifest tendency of the whole to the welfare and happiness of mankind in both
worlds; in short, it is a work that fathers itself. And as atheists, so
deists, notwithstanding their vain-glorious pretensions to reason, as if
wisdom must die with them, run themselves upon the grossest and most
dishonourable absurdities imaginable; for, if the scriptures be not the word
of God, then there is no divine revelation now in the world, no discovery at
all of God's mind concerning our duty and happiness: so that, let a man be
ever so desirous and solicitous to do his Maker's will, he must, without
remedy, perish in the ignorance of it, since there is no book but this that
will undertake to tell him what it is, a consequence which can by no means be
reconciled to the idea we have of the divine goodness. And (which is no less
an absurdity), if the scriptures be not really a divine revelation, they are
certainly as great a cheat as ever was put upon the world: but we have no
reason to think them so; for bad men would never write so good a book, nor
would Satan have so little subtlety as to help to cast out Satan; and good men
would never do so wicked a thing as to counterfeit the broad seal of heaven
and affix it to a patent of their own framing, though in itself ever so just.
No, there are not the words of him that hath a devil.
IV. That the scriptures of the Old and New Testament were purposely
designed for our learning. They might have been a divine revelation to
those into whose hands they were first put, and yet we, at this distance, have
been no way concerned in them; but it is certain that they were intended to be
of universal and perpetual use and obligation to all persons, in all places
and all ages, that have the knowledge of them, even unto us upon whom the
ends of the world have come. See Rom. xv. 4. Though we are not under the
law as a covenant of innocency (for then, being guilty, we should unavoidable
perish under its curse), yet it is not therefore an antiquated statute, but a
standing declaration of the will of God concerning good and evil, sin and
duty, and its claim to obedience is in as full force and virtue as ever: and unto
us is the gospel of the ceremonial law preached, as well as unto those
to whom it was first delivered, and much more plainly, Heb. iv. 2. The
histories of the Old Testament were written for our admonition and direction
(1 Cor. x. 11), and not barely for the information and entertainment of the
curious. The prophets, though long since dead, prophesy again by their
writings, before peoples and nations (Rev. x. 11), and Solomon's
exhortation speaketh unto us as unto sons. The subject of the holy scripture
is universal and perpetual, and therefore of common concern. It is intended,
1. To revive the universal and perpetual law of nature, the very remains of
which (or ruins rather) in natural conscience, give us hints that we must look
somewhere else for a fairer copy. 2. To reveal the universal and perpetual law
of grace, which God's common beneficence to the children of men, such as puts
them into a better state than that of devils, gives us some ground to expect.
The divine authority likewise, which in this book commands our belief and
obedience, is universal and perpetual, and knows no limits, either of time or
place; it follows, therefore, that every nation and every age to which these
sacred writings are transmitted are bound to receive them with the same
veneration and pious regard that they commanded at their first entrance.
Though God hath, in these last days, spoken to us by his Son, yet we
are not therefore to think that what he spoke at sundry times and in divers
manners to the fathers (Heb. i. 1) is of no use to us, or that the Old
Testament is an almanac out of date; no, we are built upon the foundation
of the prophets, as well as of the apostles, Christ himself being the
corner-stone (Eph. ii. 20), in whom both these sides of this blessed
building meet and are united: they were those ancient records of the Jewish
church which Christ and his apostles so oft referred to, so oft appealed to,
and commanded us to search and to take heed to. The preachers of the gospel,
like Jehoshaphat's judges, wherever they went, had this book of the law with
them, and found it a great advantage to them to speak to those that knew
the law, Rom. vii. 1. That celebrated translation of the Old Testament in
the Greek tongue by the Seventy, between 200 and 300 years before the birth of
Christ, was to the nations a happy preparative for the entertainment of the
gospel, by spreading the knowledge of the law; for as the New Testament
expounds and completes the Old, and thereby makes it more serviceable to us
now than it was to the Jewish church, so the Old Testament confirms and
illustrates the New, and shows us Jesus Christ the same yesterday that he is
to-day and will be for ever.
V. That the holy scriptures were not only designed for our learning, but
are the settled standing rule of our faith and practice, by which we must
be governed now and judged shortly: it is not only a book of general use (so
the writings of good and wise men may be), but it is of sovereign and
commanding authority, the statute-book of God's kingdom, which our oath of
allegiance to him, as our supreme Lord, binds us to the observance of. Whether
we will hear or whether we will forbear, we must be told that this is the
oracle we are to consult and to be determined by, the touchstone we are to
appeal to and try doctrines by, the rule we are to have an eye to, by which we
must in every thing order our affections and conversations, and from which we
must always take our measures. This is the testimony, this is the law
which is bound up and sealed among the disciples, that word according to which
if we do not speak, it is because there is no light in us, Isa. viii.
16, 20. The making of the light within our rule, which by nature is
darkness, and by grace is but a copy of, and conformable to, the written work,
is setting the judge above the law; and the making of the traditions of the
church rivals with the scriptures is no better: it is making the clock, which
every one concerned puts backward or forward at pleasure, to correct the sun,
that faithful measurer of time and days. These are absurdities which, being
once granted, thousands follow, as we see by sad experience.
VI. That therefore it is the duty of all Christians diligently to search
the scriptures, and it is the office of ministers to guide and assist them
therein. How useful soever this book of books is in itself, it will be of
no use to us if we do not acquaint ourselves with it, by reading it daily, and
meditating upon it, that we may understand the mind of God in it, and may
apply what we understand to ourselves for our direction, rebuke, and comfort,
as there is occasion. It is the character of the holy and happy man that his
delight is in the law of the Lord; and, as an evidence thereof, he
converses with it as his constant companion, and advises with it as his most
wise and trusty counsellor, for in that law doth he meditate day and night,
Ps. i. 2. It concerns us to be ready in the scriptures, and to make ourselves
so by constant reading and careful observation, and especially by earnest
prayer to God for the promised gift of the Holy Ghost, whose office it is to bring
things to our remembrance which Christ hath said to us (John xiv. 26) that
thus we may have some good word or other at hand for our use in our addresses
to God and in our converse with men, in our resistance of Satan and in
communing with our own hearts, and may be able, with the good householder, to
bring out of this treasury things new and old, for the entertainment
and edification both of ourselves and others. If any thing will make a man
of God perfect in this world, will complete both a Christian and a
minister, and thoroughly furnish him for every good work, it must be
this. 2 Tim. iii. 17. It concerns us also to be mighty in the scriptures,
as Apollos was (Acts xviii. 24), that is, to be thoroughly acquainted with the
true intent and meaning of them, that we may understand what we read, and may
not misinterpret or misapply it, but by the conduct of the blessed Spirit may
be led into all truth (John xvi. 13), and may hold it fast in faith
and love, and put every part of scripture to that use for which it was
intended. The letter, either of law or gospel, profits little without the
Spirit. The ministers of Christ are herein ministers to the Spirit for the
good of the church; their business is to open and apply the scriptures; thence
they must fetch their knowledge, thence their doctrines, devotions,
directions, and admonitions, and thence their very language and expression.
Expounding the scriptures was the most usual way of preaching in the first and
purest ages of the church. What have the Levites to do but to teach Jacob the
law (Deut. xxxiii. 10); not only to read it, but to give the sense, and
cause them to understand the reading? Neh. viii. 8. How shall they do
this except some man guide them? Acts viii. 31. As ministers would hardly
be believed without Bibles to back them, so Bibles would hardly be understood
without ministers to explain them; but if, having both, we perish in ignorance
and unbelief, our blood will be upon our own head.
Being fully persuaded therefore of these things, I conclude that whatever help
is offered to good Christians in searching the scriptures is real service done
to the glory of God, and to the interests of his kingdom among men; and it is
this that hath drawn me into this undertaking, which I have gone about in
weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling (1 Cor. ii. 3), lest I should be
found exercising myself in things to high for me, and so laudable an
undertaking should suffer damage by an unskilful management. If any desire to
know how so mean and obscure a person as I am, who in learning, judgment,
felicity of expression, and all advantages for such a service, am less than
the least of all my Master's servants, came to venture upon so great a
work, I can give no other account of it than this: It has long been my
practice, what little time I had to spare in my study from the constant
preparations for the pulpit, to spend it in drawing up expositions upon some
parts of the New Testament, not so much for my own use as purely for my
entertainment, because I knew not now to employ my thoughts and time more to
my satisfaction. Trahit sua quemque voluptas--Every man that studies hath
some beloved study, which is his delight above any other; and this is
mine. It is that learning which it was my happiness from a child to be trained
up in, by my ever honoured father, whose memory must always be very dear and
precious to me: he often reminded me that a good textuary is a good divine;
and that I should read other books with this in my eye, that I might be the
better able to understand and apply the scripture. While I was thus employing
myself came out Mr. Burkitt's Exposition, of the Gospels first, and afterwards
of the Act and the Epistles, which met with very good acceptance among serious
people, and no doubt, by the blessing of God, will continue to do great
service to the church. Soon after he had finished that work, it pleased God to
call him to his rest, upon which I was urged, by some of my friends, and was
myself inclined, to attempt the like upon the Old Testament, in the strength
of the grace of Christ. This upon the Pentateuch is humbly offered as a
specimen; if it find favour, and be found any way useful, it is my present
purpose, in dependence upon divine aids, to go on, so long as God shall
continue my life and health, and as my other work will permit. Many helps, I
know, we have of this kind in our own language, which we have a great deal of
reason to value, and to be very thankful to God for: but the scripture is a
subject that can never be exhausted. Semper habet aliquid relegentibus--However
frequently we read it, we shall always meet with something new. When David
had amassed a vast treasure for the building of the temple, yet saith he to
Solomon, Thou mayest add thereto, 1 Chron. xxii. 14. Such a treasure is
scripture-knowledge; it is still capable of increase, till we all come to the
perfect man. The scripture is a field or vineyard which finds work for variety
of hands, and about which may be employed a great diversity of gifts and
operations, but all from the same Spirit (1 Cor. xii. 4, 6) and for
the glory of the same Lord. The learned in the languages and in ancient
usages have been very serviceable to the church (the blessed occupant of this
field), by their curious and elaborate searches into its various products,
their anatomies of its plants, and the entertaining lectures they have read
upon them. The philology of the critics has been of much more advantage to
religion, and lent more light to sacred truth, than the philosophy of the
school-divines. The learned also in the arts of war have done great service in
defending this garden of the Lord against the violent attacks of the powers of
darkness, success fully pleading the cause of the sacred writings against the
spiteful cavils of atheists, deists, and the profane scoffers of these latter
days. Such as these stand in the posts of honour, and their praise is in all
the churches: yet the labours of the vine-dressers and the husbandmen (2 Kings
xxv. 12), though they are the poor of the land who till this ground, and
gather in the fruits of it, are no less necessary in their place, and
beneficial to the household of God, that out of these precious fruits every
one may have his portion of meat in due season. These are the labours
to which, according to my ability, I have here set my hand. And as the plain
and practical expositors would not, for a world, say of the learned critics, There
is no need of them; so, it is hoped, those eyes and heads will not say to
the hands and feet, There is no need of you, 1 Cor. xii. 21.
The learned have of late received very great advantage in their searches into
this part of holy writ, and the books that follow (and still hope for more),
by the excellent and most valuable labours of that great and good man bishop Patrick,
whom, for vast reading, solid judgment, and a most happy application to these
best of studies, even in his advanced years and honours, succeeding ages no
doubt will rank among the first three of commentators, and bless God for him.
Mr. Pool's English Annotations (which, having had so many impressions,
we may suppose, have got into most hands) are of admirable use, especially for
the explaining of scripture-phrases, opening the sense, referring to parallel
scriptures, and the clearing of difficulties that occur. I have therefore all
along been brief upon that which is there most largely discussed, and have
industriously declined, as much as I could, what is to be found there; for I
would not actum agere--do what is done; nor (if I may be allowed to
borrow the apostle's words) boast of things made ready to our hand, 2
Cor. x. 16. These and other annotations which are referred to the particular
words and clauses they are designed to explain are most easy to be consulted
upon occasion; but the exposition which (like this) is put into a continued
discourse, digested under proper heads, is much more easy and ready to be read
through for one's own or others' instruction. And, I think, the observing of
the connection of each chapter (if there be occasion) with that which goes
before, and the general scope of it, with the thread of the history or
discourse, and the collecting of the several parts of it, to be seen at one
view, will contribute very much to the understanding of it, and will give the
mind abundant satisfaction in the general intention, though there may be here
and there a difficult word or expression which the best critics cannot easily
account for. This, therefore, I have here attempted. But we are concerned not
only to understand what we read, but to improve it to some good purpose, and,
in order thereunto, to be affected with it, and to receive the impressions of
it. The word of God is designed to be not only a light to our eyes, the
entertaining subject of our contemplation, but a light to our feet and
a lamp to our paths (Ps. cxix. 105), to direct us in the way of our
duty, and to prevent our turning aside into any by-way: we must therefore, in
searching the scriptures, enquire, not only What is this? but, What
is this to us? What use may we make of it? How may we accommodate it to
some of the purposes of that divine and heavenly life which, by the grace of
God, we are resolved to live? Enquiries of this kind I have here aimed to
answer. When the stone is rolled from the well's mouth by a critical
explication of the text, still there are those who would both drink themselves
and water their flocks? but they complain that the well is deep, and they
have nothing to draw with; how then shall they come by this living
water? Some such may, perhaps, find a bucket here, or water drawn to their
hands; and pleased enough shall I be with this office of the Gibeonites, to draw
water for the congregation of the Lord out of these wells of salvation.
That which I aim at in the exposition is to give what I thought the genuine
sense, and to make it as plain as I could to ordinary capacities, not
troubling my readers with the different sentiments of expositors, which would
have been to transcribe Mr. Pool's Latin Synopsis, where this is done
abundantly to our satisfaction and advantage. As to the practical
observations, I have not obliged myself to raise doctrines out of every verse
or paragraph, but only have endeavoured to mix with the exposition such hints
or remarks as I thought profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness, aiming in all to promote
practical godliness, and carefully avoiding matters of doubtful disputation
and strifes of words. It is only the prevalency of the power of religion in
the hearts and lives of Christians that will redress our grievances, and turn
our wilderness into a fruitful field. And since our Lord Jesus Christ is the
true treasure hidden in the field of the Old Testament, and was the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, I have been careful to observe
what Moses wrote of him, to which he himself oft appealed. In the writings of
the prophets we meet with more of the plain and express promises of the
Messiah, and the grace of the gospel; but here, in the books of Moses, we find
more of the types, both real and personal figures of him that was to
come--shadows, of which the substance is Christ, Rom. v. 14. Those to whom to
live is Christ will find in these that which is very instructive and
affecting, and which will give great assistance to their faith, and love, and
holy joy. This, in a particular manner, we search the scriptures for--to find
what they testify of Christ and eternal life, John v. 39. Nor is it any
objection against the application of the ceremonial institutions to Christ and
his grace that those to whom they were given could not discern this sense or
use of them; but it is rather a reason why we should be very thankful that the
veil which was upon their minds in the reading of the Old Testament is done
away in Christ, 2 Cor. iii. 13, 14, 18. Though they then could not
stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished, it does not
therefore follow but that we who are happily furnished with a key to these
mysteries may in them, as in a glass, behold the glory of the Lord Jesus.
And yet, perhaps, the pious Jews saw more of the gospel in their ritual than
we think they did; they had at least a general expectation of good things
to come, by faith in the promises made to the fathers, as we have of the
happiness of heaven, though they could not of that world to come, any more
than we can of this, form any distinct or certain idea. Our conceptions of the
future state, perhaps, are as dark and confused, as short of the truth and as
wide from it, as theirs then were of the kingdom of the Messiah: but God
requires faith only according to the revelation he gives. They then were
accountable for no more light than they had; and we now are accountable for
that greater light which we have in the gospel, by the help of which we may
find much more of Christ in the Old Testament than they could. If any think
our observations sometimes take rise from that which to them seems too minute,
let them remember that maxim of the Rabbin, Non est in lege vel una litera
à quâ non pendent magni montes--The law contains not a letter but what bears
the weight of mountains. We are sure there is not an idle word in the
Bible. I would desire the reader not only to read the text entire, before he
reads the exposition, but, as the several verses are referred to in the
exposition, to cast his eye upon them again, and then he will the better
understand what he reads. And, if he have leisure, he will find it of use to
him to turn to the scriptures which are sometimes only referred to for
brevity's sake, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
It is the declared purpose of the Eternal Mind, in all the operations both of
providence and grace, to magnify the law and to make it honourable (Isa.
xlii. 21), nay to magnify his word above all his name (Ps. cxxxviii.
2), so that when we pray, Father, glorify thy name, we mean this, among
other things, Father, magnify the holy Scriptures; and to that prayer, made in
faith, we may be sure of that answer which was given to our blessed Saviour
when he prayed it, with particular respect to the fulfilling of the scriptures
in his own sufferings, I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it yet
again, John xii. 28. To this great design I humbly desire to be some way
serviceable, in the strength of that grace by which I am what I am, hoping
that what may help to make the reading of the scripture more easy, pleasant,
and profitable, will be graciously accepted by him that smiled on the widow's
two mites cast into the treasury, as an intention to magnify it and make it
honourable; and if I can but gain that point, in any measure, with some, I
shall think my endeavours abundantly recompensed, however, by others, I and my
performances may be vilified and made contemptible.
I have now nothing more to add than to recommend myself to the prayers of my
friends, and them to the grace of the Lord Jesus; and so rest an unworthy
dependent upon that grace, and, through that, an expectant of the glory to
be revealed.
M. H.
Chester,
October 2, 1706.
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