part of the Epistle exhorts them to steadfastness and perseverance. “ Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering” (gi. 23). ‘Cast not away your confidence” (x. 35). “If any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him” (x. 38). Or, what may be taken as the hortatory motto of the Epistle, “ We are become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end” (iii. 14). That they may have encouragement to do so, he shows them at large the good ground they have for confi- dence. The fruits of faith in their fathers are recapitulated in the eloquent eleventh chapter. But especially is Jesus exhibited as the great leader in faith. ‘Consider Him lest ye be weary and faint in your souls” (xii. 3). His supremacy and trustworthiness are ex- pounded in detail, and especially the eternal sufficiency of His sacri- fice and intercession is dwelt upon.
Evidently, then, the persons addressed were in the mental and Spiritual condition common in every age of the Christian Church, a condition of languor and weariness, of disappointed expectations, deferred hopes, conscious failure and practical δν They were Christians but had slender appreciation of the glory of their calling, misconstrued their experience, and had allowed themselves to drift away from boldness of hope and: intensity of faith. Dr. Bruce de- scribes them as persons who never had “insight into the essential nature and distinctive features of the Christian religion”; and if by “insight ’’ he means such perception of the greatness of Christ as causes men to rejoice in serving and suffering for Him, his de- scription is correct. But he seems less exact when he goes on to say ‘‘ No greater mistake, | believe, can be committed (though it is a common fault of commentators) than to assume that the first readers were in the main in sympathy with the doctrinal views of the writer’. Some points, no doubt, which the writer adduces were new to the readers. The manner in which the paragraph re- garding Melchisedec is introduced proves this. But we cannot there- fore conclude that the whole conception of Christ as Priest was new to them; nor can we suppose that they had never thought of Christ as the Son through whom the final revelation was made and the eternal covenant mediated. Rather they had failed to con- sider what these great truths involved. Hence the writer bids them give ‘‘the more earnest heed to the things they have heard”’ (ii. 1), and throughout the Epistle he returns to his favourite admonition “Consider Him,” let your minds penetrate more deeply into His significance. They had ceased to have that keen interest in truth which prompts contemplation and inquiry, and they now held what