CHAP. I. 3. Ps. cx. So that the Son is now not even sub ... • the rank of equality, which our Lord takes, The communication of dignity, which is implied by sitting at the right hand, may be considered either as simply an honour received, without being accompanied by any office, which implies actions or functions, as when Solomon made his mother sit at his right hand, which he did only to testify the respect, in which he held her, without, however, communicating to her any administration in his kingdom; or it may be, that, in participating in the honour, some office is received in the government, and some great authority in the direction of affairs; as, for example, in addition to the honour of riding in his second chariot, Pharaoh gave Joseph an absolute power over all parts of his kingdom. The expression here drawn from Ps. cx. signifies the institution of our Lord not only into a sovereign dignity, but also into sovereign power; for by that he is constituted monarch of all the universe, and vicegerent of his Father in the administration of his empire over heaven and earth. "Of the Majesty on High." "As I before said, that God calls himself by the name of Glory, in regard of his attributes, I must here add, that he also calls himself by the name of Majesty, in regard of the sovereign and absolutely independent authority, which naturally results from them; for as the attributes of God, being full of lustre, give him a title, which represents an extraordinary and radiant light, this empire, which he has over heaven and earth and all things therein, gives him another title, emphatically expressive of sovereign power. And in fact we often use this word to imply the authority of our sovereign princes; thus conveying it in an abstract form, without mentioning the person, we give a peculiar emphasis to the idea. Now that is just what the Apostle would here do; his object being to display the glory of our Lord; for, as has been remarked, that sitting at the right hand of God is entering into the participation of the dignity of Deity, and, by consequence, being God; so, sitting at the right hand of the Majesty is entering into the participation of the sovereign authority, which rules all the universe, and, by consequence, being the Majesty itself." "No mortal could venture upon entering CHAP. I. 3. ject to the Father, for he shall be subject only when he gives up the kingdom to the Father. Amyraud. "The Majesty on High." Amyrand. CHAP. I. 4. Michaelis. Ch. i. 4. the most holy place, except the High Priest alone, who, once in every year, not without the apprehension of death, (for death would have been the consequence of the slightest oversight in performing the ceremonies,) and with the blood of expiation entered into that terrible and sacred darkness. To sit down at all in the most holy place would have been rashness unheard of; but for a person to place his seat close to the cherubim, at the right hand of the invisible God, who dwelt above them, would have been strictly equivalent with declaring himself to be God, and requiring to be adored as God. When, therefore, Jehovah says to the Lord, the King and Priest of the race of David, Sit thou at my right hand,' it is in the highest sense equivalent to saying, Enjoy with me divine honour and adoration; be the object of all religious service of all my people.'" "Being in so much superior to angels, by how "much he hath inherited a more excellent name " than they." A comparative comparison; announcing, that he is constituted as much mightier than the angels in his official capacity, as the title of Son, which he has inherited, declares concerning his personal dignity. Thus, whatever be the glory implied in any of the foregoing expressions, as belonging to the person of Christ, a glory commensurate is, by this comparison, attributed to his official CHAP. 1. 1-4 capacity, and vice versa. For example, if by his session at the right hand of God, a derived omnipotency in his Priestly office is asserted, the same omnipotency is in his person. In like manner as, by the expression, the engraved character of the subsistence of God, self-subsistence is attributed to his person, so equally do we learn that, in his office, he has all the efficacy of an unchangeable Priesthood. Thus, by an analysis of these four introductory verses, it will be seen, that they contain the substance of those mysteries, which are more largely prosecuted in the body of the Epistle, the greatest part of which is the description of Christ, his excellency and dignity; for the argument of the whole Epistle is, to advance the doctrine of the Gospel above the doctrine of the Law, and that by reason of Christ revealed in the Gospel, and the Gospel revealed by Christ. Christ is set forth either explicitly, or by implication. Heb. vii. 23, 24, 25. Analysis of ver. 1-4. D CHAP. I. 4. Benuit. "Let us," says Benuit, follow him, my brethren, in the meditation of these sublime matters; they are difficult, but they are beautiful, consoling, salutary; what is there more beautiful, than the glory of the Son of God; what more consoling, than to see carried to the highest degree, the excellency of the Redeemer, whose supreme dignity is the foundation of our most precious hopes; what more salutary, than to know him well, the knowledge of whom is the true way of life and of salvation." APPENDIX A. Verses 1-4. Various ways have been proposed of interpreting these four verses, in direct support of the Deity of Messiah. Benuit, from some general considerations on the doctrine of the passage, argues Messiah's dignity, and then proposes, ingeniously enough, to interpret each clause alternately of the Deity and Humanity of our Lord; but, though I do think that the Deity may more evidently shine forth in some, and the Humanity be more clearly implied in others, yet I think the whole Person of the God-man is intended in all; I however subjoin some extracts from that scarce work. "The first object of St. Paul being to persuade the Jews, that the Gospel is infinitely above the Law, he employs for that purpose two principal arguments; the first is taken from the very substance of these two covenants, the one of which has only figures, types, shadows, imperfect expiations, a blood, the virtue of which does not reach the |