is but another name for his sense of guilt, his knowledge that be is under the curse of the Almighty. 2. The curse being removed, man is set free to holiness. Holiness is the end of Christ's work. The passage begins with," He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified." 'l'o sanctify us was his aim. But holiness is impossible where the "fear of death," i.e. a sense of being under the curse, is. There is only one principle from which holiness can spring-love to God (that is the difference between morality and holiness). But we can never Jove him till we know that he loves us-know, i.e., that the curse is removed. Holiness, however, is possible then; then obedience is voluntary, service joyous, surrender easy, resemblance to him certain. 3. Being set free to holiness, Satan's power is gone. He is here said to have "the power of death "-a remarkable expression, to which we must not attach the wrong meanin~. Satan cannot inflict death, has no dominion over death. Christ says, "I have the keys," etc. But "fear of death," i.e. sense of being under the curse, is the power Satan wields to keep men in bondage, He blinds them to Divine love, tells them God is angry with them, is a hard Master, has no claim on them, and the result is that men continue in sin. But when their eyes are open to see he is a liar, that the curse is removed, that God is love, that God in Christ is able to extend mercy, then the soul breaks away from his bonds into that holiness which is liberty, and Satan's power ends. 4. This could only be accomplished by Christ's humanity. Only by Christ becoming man could the sense of curse be taken away. It.s removal required that the curse should be endured by a sub- stitute; but no substitute could be accepted in man's stead who was not of man's kind, and the Law must be obeyed by the nature to which it was given, and its penalty endured by the nature to which it was due. Moreover, if Christ is to suffer and di~, he must have a nature capable of suffering and death. So the holiness of men is based on the humanity of Jesus, Ill. As IT WAS MEN CHRIST SOUGHT TO REDEEM, HIS MANHOOD WAS THEREFORE A NECESSITY. (Ver. 16.) 'l'he Old Version, owing to the words in italics, greatly mysti- fies this verse; as it stands in the Revised Version it is the natural completion of the writer's argument. The" taking bold'' (or, "laying bold") is the laying bold to save. Christ assumed human nature, not angelic, because be is the Saviour, not of angels, but of men. 1. Ghrist passed by the necessities of fallen an_qels. Here is a great mystery. Why did not Christ save fallen angels? We cannot tell. There may be a wide differ- ence between the sins of devils and the sins of men. It has been suggested that tho one Jove evil for its own sake, as when the tempter in the garden would wreck the world; and that the other love it for some fancied good it brings, as when the woman thought she saw a good, and therefore put forth her hand and sinned. There may bo sorue such radical difference which makes salvation possible only in the one case, but we are not told; all we know is "the angels which kept not their first estate, ho bath reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." " He took not hold of angels." 2. Ghrist stretched out his redeeming hand to man. Ho "laid hold of the seed of Abraham;" 11.s a shepherd overtakes a sheep that is run- nin~ away, Jaye hold of it, lays it on his shoulders rejoicing, and decl1ues, "My sheep shall never perish, neither," etc. Mark the condescension of the Saviour, and the exal• tation of the human race. We are lost in astonishment as we see Christ pass by the myriads of celestial beings that had faUen, and set hie heart on laying hold of us, that he might raise us as much higher than they, as the children of the king are higher than his servants. This involved the necessity of the Incarnation. But more-it reveals an unutterable desire on Christ's part that man should be saved, and the fact that man may be saved if he will.-C. N.
, Vera. 17, 18.-0hrist's humanity the result of his desin to be more than o Saviour from sin. The climax of the argument for the consistency of our Lord's humanity. Observe in exposition: 1. 'l'hat "reconciliation for the sins of the people" is not the central idea of these verses. 'l'hat has already been dealt with. Here we have a new thought-Christ's ability to succour the tempted. 2. That our Lord's humanity could not make him a merciful and fa.it.hful High Priest. He was that already, but thus ho proved himself to be this. 3. '!'bat the word "tempted " here is not to be confined to the meaning of solicitation to sin. L CJIBIST, IN THE ENDURANCE OF ,TllIAL, WAS MADE 15 AT.T, TillNOS LIKE UNTO 76 'l'HE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. ton. 11. 1-18,