With his own inward sensations,
And the observations of his afflicted friends,
His earthly tabernacle gradually decayed,
Till at length his deeply-sanctified soul,
Longing for the fruition of its God,
Quitted the body: in younger age
A most comely and majestic form;

But in the latter stages of life,
Depressed by constant infirmities,
Emaciated with frequent diseases,
And, above all, crushed under the weight
Of intense and unremitting studies,
It became an incommodious mansion
For the vigorous exertion of the spirit

In the service of its God.
He left the world on a day
Dreadful to the Church
By the cruelties of men,*
But blissful to himself
By the plaudits of his God,
August 24, 1683, aged 67.

The ever memorable Bartholomew day, 1662, when the good ministers, to the number of 2000, were ejected from their livings, or silenced, for non-compliance with the Act of Uniformity.

EXERCITATIONS

ON THE

EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS;

ALSO,

CONCERNING

THE

MESSIAH,

AND THE

PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST.

1

EXERCITATIONS, &c.

PART I.

CONCERNING THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

EXERCIT. I.

THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS PROVED TO BE STRICTLY
CANONICAL.

§1. Of the term canonical. §2. The marks of canonical authority. §3. The Epistle to the Hebrews strictly canonical. §4. (I.) By whom opposed. §5. The judgment of the Latin church concerning it. §6. (II.) Objections answered. §7. (III.) Its canonical authority proved from, 1. Its general argument. §8. 2. The particular subject matter of it. §9. 3. Its end and design. $10-13. 4. The style of it. §14. 5. The authority of its principal author. §15. 6 Its divine efficacy. 16. 7. Catholic tradition. §17-21. 8. Its not being liable to any solid exceptions.

§1. THE canonical authority of the Epistle to the Hebrews having been by some called into question, we must previously shew what we intend by such authority, and then prove, that this Epistle is clearly interested therein.

The Greek word (navwv) which gives rise to the term 'canonical,' seems to be derived from the Hebrew (p) Kaneh, which, in general, signifies any reed whatever, 1 Kings xiv, 15; Isa. xlii, 3; and particularly, a reed made into an instrument, wherewith they measured their buildings, containing six cubits in length, Ezek. xl, 7; xlii, 16; and hence indefinitely it is taken for a rule or measure. Besides, it signifies the beam and tongue of a balance, Isa. xlvi, 6, They

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