mass of men and presenting him to our thoughts in the most intimate relation with God. It is meant to be regarded as a relation of the closest correspor.dence in all possible ways. To say that God is the Father and Jesus the Son is not enough• for the son does not always resemble the father; indeed, the deep differences between' son nnd father are but too often emphasized by the natural relation between them. Hence the nrnltiplication of terms to indicate the closeness of correspondence between Jesus and God. They are bound in one, even as the ray of light with the source from which that ray emanates. And then comes this peculiarly difficult expression concerning the X"l'"";¾P a_nd the l,,rocr-rd,ns. Evidently no English words can set forth exactly the meanmg either of the Greek words themselves or of the relation indicated by them. ,ve can only make a guess at the writer's drift. He is referring, we may take it, to the connection between form and essence. Every essence has its approximate form, and every form indicates a peculiar essence. Thus we always find the essence of humanity along with a cert.ain kind of body, a certain shape, a certain arrangement of organs, a certain quality of intelligence; and wherever we see these signs we infer a peculiar essence underneath. We can know nothing of the essence apart from the form it takes, nor can we imagine the form continuing without the essence. Form and essence make up the unity, Even so the writer of this Epistle seems to look upon the unity which is constituted when God, the Essence, flows out to us in the form furnished by the person of J esus.-Y.
Ver. 3.-Reality over against pheM'TMTUJ. It is very striking to notice in this third verse that the assertions with respect to Jesus are not at all the assertions that would have been made by the bulk of his contemporaries. They did not see all this glory being manifested, this essence of divinity shaping itself, this mighty sustaining of all things, this cleansing away of sin, this assumption of a seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Have we not to notice again and again in the level of ordinary life that what a man seems to the multitude to be doing is not at all the thing he is really doing? Many of the Cumberland peasants could see in Wordsworth only an idle man, who spent much of bis time rambling about and muttering to himself. All the poems that came out of his musings and mutterings they would reckon as nothing at all. And assuredly the most conspicuous instance of this lack of understanding is to be found in the view that many have of Jesus. They see nothing of the glorious nature, the far-reaching power, the cleansing sacrifice, the lofty exaltation; and yet all these are realities. Take, for instance, that which is here spoken of Jesus : "He made through himself a purification of our sins." The Hebrew was in the habit of connecting purifi- cation of sin with certair.. outward appearances. He expected to see a priest known by his garmef,ts, an altar known by its construction. If Jesus had been bound, like a. human sacruicial victim, on an altar and slain by a. priest, then many would hnve had no difficulty in thinking of him as a sacrifice. If we would get to truth, we must break away from appearances and get to the essence of everything Christ has said and done. Things are not what they seem. Have we not the best of evidence in our senses every day that the sun goes round the earth? Yet it can be proved by flawless logic, to him that will understand, that the earth goes round the sun. Realities contradict appear- ances. The natural man has his standard of life, movement, possibility; and the spiritual man, taught and guided by the Spirit of God, has his standard.-Y.
Vera. 4-13.-Christ exalted above the angels. I. CoNBIDEB THE ANGELIC DIGNITY. The wore. "angel" as employed here to be taken in a very wide sense, as "angel" primarily denotes office and service rather than nature. Jesus h_imself, looked at from a certain point of view, was an angel, a messenger, an evangelist. God can make a. messenger, as we are reminded in this passage, from the winds and tb~ flame of fir_e: e.g. the burning bush was a. messenger to Moses. But doubtless there 1s also a special reference to those who in the Scriptures are peculiarly indicated by the word "angel." Such a bein" came twice to Hagar in her need, and stayed Abraham when he was on the point of';;layin" Isaac in sacrifice. The angels Jacob saw ascending and descending are not to be take; as merely creatures of a dream. An angel touched the great Elijah in his solitude and despair, and more than once directed him iu his goings. Notice, also, the glorious appearing to Manoah and his wife. Nor must the dreadful errands OH, I, 1-14.] THE EPISTLE 'l'O THE HEBREWS. 43