i.9 not local. In this respect separation from the Divine presence is impossible· "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" etc. (Ps. cxxxix. 7-12). 2. This departure is not theological. The corruption of a man's creed will almost certainly be followed by deterioration of bis character and conduct ; yet a man may retain his hold of a true creed, and at the same time be fallino- away from the livin~ God. 3. This departure is not ecclesiastical. Membership and a~tivity in the visible Church of Christ may be fully maintained even while one is departin"' from God. Apostasy may exist in the heart long before it is manifested in action: 4. This departure is spiritual. It is a falling away from the living God in sympathy and in service. "They do al way err in their heart" (ver. 10). It is the decline of love and loyalty to God. II. APOSTASY IN ITS ROOT. "An evil heart of unbelief." Confidence in God is essential to union with him or love to him. Let any one doubt God's existence or character, that he is wise and righteous and good, and that man'a sympathy with God will speedily perish. His apostasy has already begun. Doubt of our friends will be the death of our friendship. And unbelief towards God must lead to spiritual aliena- tion from him, and that alienation persisted in must issue in spiritual death. It is of the utmost importance that we firmly grasp the truth that this unbelief is not intellec- tual, but moral; it is not the doubt of the inquiring mind, but of the wandering heart. It is the faith of the heart that unites man with God. "If thou shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou sbalt be saved; for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness," etc. It is the unbelief of the heart that separates man from God. "An evil heart of unbelief." III. APOSTASY IN ITS PERIL. There is the danger of: 1. Drifting further away from God. It is impossible for us to remain stationary in our relation to him. We are ever either drawing nearer to him or departing further from him. In this "fallin!1; away from the living God" the soul falls lower and lower. 2. Deprivation of spiritual blessings. Unbelief excludes the soul from the rest of God. The peace or the forgi.e- ness of sins, the rest and joy of affections centred in God, the comfort or Christian hope, and the blessedness of true progress, are forfeited by the unbeliever. 3. The death of the soul. The soul lives only as it is united with God, and its union with him is impossible apart from faith in him. "Departing from the living God,n its death is iaevitable. What a death is that I A man iu whom truth and trust, purity and love, ri)!:hteousness and reverence, moral effort and aspiration, are extinct. What a. death! IV. APosTASY IN ITS PREVENTION. "'l'ake heed, brethren," etc. 1. Guard against the insidious advances of unbelief. "'\Vatch and pray," etc. 2. Seek tlie increase of your faith in God and of your loue to him. A nearer approach to God is the surest preventive or apostasy from him. CoNCLUSION. Is " thy heart right in the sight of God"? "Koep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the is,ues of life."-W. J.
Ver. 13.-.dn aUJfttl peril and an in.~iJired preuentiue. "But exhort one another daily, wliile it is called 'l'o-day," etc. We discover in these words- I. .AN AWFUL PERIL. "Lest any one of you be hardened by the deceilfulncss of sin." The danger is that of growing into a condition or moral obduracy, of becoming "past feeling." The greatness of this peril largely arises from two facts. 1. That this condition is generally reached gradually. Men do not become hardened in sin by one act of wickedness. Moral insensibility is the redult of a process. '!'he progress may sometimes be distinctly traced. (1) The hardening of the will against certain Divine commands, as in the case of Pharaoh (Exod. v. 2). 'l'he refusal to do a manifest duty. (2) 'l'he hardening of the entire moral <lisposition in sin. In this sta,g;e the struggle against temptation to sin is renounced, and the effort to be and to do what is true and right is given up (cf. Eph. iv. 18, 19). (3) 'l'he hardening of the heart against the influences of Divine grace. In this stage the offers of the go,pel are rejected; unbelief becomes positive and active 1 (cf. _o\cts vii. 61). How inexpressibly terrible is such a condition or soul ! 2. That this condition is generally reached insidiously. " Hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." Sin never approaches the soul ill its true aspect. It 1 Suggested by Ebro.rd, in loo. HEDREWS. B 98 THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. [on. III, 1-19.