The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 75

beiag is the more worthy is he of redemption, nnd the treasures of wisdom an<l love expended i_n h)s redemption will lead to richer results. It was not on this principle that God, in his Son, came to the help of men and not to that of angels. In being aad capacity we believe that aagels are greater than men. In our remarks on the precedincr chapter 1 we endeavoured to show that angels are the highest orders of created being:. And the fall of angels did not strip them of their power. And since angels are greater than men, it follows that their fall must have been greater. Their immease powers being perverted render them mightier for mischief than beings of inferior powers could be. Heace how great was their need of help I And if restored to their origiaal condition, would not their restoration briag greater glory to their Restorer than the restoration of beings who are lower in the scale of being? III. NOT BECAUSE ANGELS, IF LEFT WITHOUT HELP, WOULD SUFFER LESS THAN MEN WOULD HAVE DONE IF THEY HAD BEEN so LEFT. 'l'he greatest sufferings are not those of the body. but those of the mind and heart. And the measure of sufferiag endured by any one is regulated by his mental and moral capacity. 'l'herefore, if our estimate of angelic capacity be correct, being left without redemption the sufferings of angels will be greater than man's would have been if he had been so left. Their vast powers must be terrible instruments of self-torture. Their remembrance of the irrevocable past must also augment their misery. Their recollection of their lost heritage must greatly increase the anguish which afflicts them. But we have no such memories. Only two of our race experienced the joys of that Eden from which sin has exiled us, We know not the peace and bliss of the human henrt in its original state. Hence we conclude that the sufferings of angels are greater than those of men would have beeu if they had been left without the saviag help of God. IV. NoT BE0AUBE OF AN ARBITRARY SOVEREIGNTY ON THE PART OF GOD. The sovereignty of God is the sovereignty of infinite wisdom and lo,e. To say that he chose to restore maakind and to leave angels to their dread doom because of his sovereignty i ■ unsatisfactory. He mnde the choice in his sovereignty; but what was the reason for the exercise of bis sovereignty in this particular way? He is absolutely independent; but he ever acts from wise o.nd worthy reasons, and never from caprice or for the mere assertion of his sovereignty. We may not be able always to discover the reasons of his decisions and deeds ; but there are reasons, and perfect ones, for them all, though we see them not. Thus far, then, we have met with no good ground why the Deity should have determined to save lost men rather than lost angels. Our examination would have led us to conclude rather, that if one race was to be helped and the other abandoned, the angelic sinners would have been elected to the blessing. Let us now answer the inquiry which is before us ajfiNTUJtively. l. BECAUSE THE GUILT 01!' FALLEN ANGELS WAS GREATER THAN THAT OF MAN. \Vo attach much greater guilt to one who commits a crime with little or no temptatioa, than we do to one who commits the same crime under the influence of powerful tomptation. Now, Satan was not tempted to sin by any force without himself. \Ve cannot trace the origin of sin beyond Satan. How inexpressibly guilty must ho be who generated the first sinful thought, and that in a uni verse of light and holiaess I But man, in the young days of his innocence, was tempted to sin by a subtle, powerfnl being. The temptation was presented in a pleasing and persuasive form ; it appeRled at once to the sense of taste, to the love of beauty, and to the desire for knowledge; and man yielded to it, and fell. But his guilt appears to us to be far less than that of the angels who sinned. Is it not a reasonable conclusion that God marks the degree11 of guilt, notes every aggravating or extenuating circumstance, and treats the offender accordingly? II. BECAUIIB EVERY FALLEN ,\NOEL CONSENTED TO THE TRANSGRESSION DY wmc11 TIIEY FELL, WHILE MAN, THROUGH THE LAWS OF UIS BEING, BUFFERS FROM THE SIN OF THE FmST TRA.NBGREBS0RS TO WHICH THEY ALONE CONSENTED. The sin of the angeis affected only those of their number who were guilty of actual participation therein. But the condition of every man is greatly affected through the sin of the first parents of our race. 'l'ho way in which men are brought into being differs from that of angels. ' t;eo our homily on vcrs. 4, 5; an,l on ver. 6. HEBREWS, • SG 'l'HE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. [CH, II, 1-18,