they ever so difficult or self-denying, tliey are not worth a thought in comparison of " the grace that shall be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ." The wise merchant- man parted with all for the pearl of great price. Do ye the same: and determine through grace, that whatever it may cost, you will not come short of it by refusing to make the sacrifices, or suffer either men or devils to rob you of it.]
THE TRANSCENDENT EXCELLENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN DISPENSATION.
Hob. xii. 18 — 25. Ye are not come unto the mount that might he touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkiiess, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words ; which voice they that heard intreated that the 'Word should not be spoken to them any more : {for they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through ivith a dart : and so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear atid quake :) but ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made jjerfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not ivho refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if tve turn aivay from hhn that speaketh from heaven.
IN explaining the Holy Scriptures, it is often requisite that we carefully bear in mind, not only the immediate context, but the whole scope of the book in which any particular passage occurs. This is of the first importance in considering several expres- sions in the Epistle of St. James, and it is not unim- portant in the passage before us.
The general scope of the Epistle to the Hebrews is, to encourage the Jewish Christians to hold fast their profession in the midst of all the persecutions they endured. And the principal argument used for their encouragement is, the great superiority of the Christian religion above that which they had