Such spiritual dulness is not a misfortune, but a sin. It is an evidence of opportuni- ties of progress neglected, of responsibilities unacknowledged or unfulfilled, and, it may be, of sins indulged in. Pnrity of heart and the power of perceivin" spiritual truth are closely related. Slowness of spiritual apprehension often arises fro';'o the cor- ruption of the heart. The puri• heart is quick and true in its perceptions. "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." "If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teachin 6, whether it bo of God." Worldliness of spirit also dims and diminishes the perceptive powers of the soul. If a man's eyes are ever fixed upon the earth, how can he see the brilliance and beauty of the starry heavens? If a man's affections are fixed upon the material and perishable things of this present world, he will gradually lose his power for perceiving the ethereal and perennial beauty of religious truth, or even for perceiving such truth at all. III. SPIRITUAL OBTUSENESS INVOLVES SERIOUS LOSS. 1. Loss to the community. In cases like that mentioned in the text, the obtuse persons ought to be able to teach others, at least the elementary truths of Christianity. Parents should be able to instruct their children; the Christian shonld be able to help his friend who is seeking for life and truth, etc. 2. Loss to the individual. The man of dull spiritual apprehen- sion loses the fuller and higher teaching. The full beauty of the landscape is not for the man of diseased or impaired physical vision. In like manner the beauty and sublimity of Divine truth and the serene splendours of holiness are invisible to those who are spiritually obtuse. Or, changing the figure, the food of moral manhood is not for them ; they are unable to assimilate it, and must needs be limited to the dietary of babyhood. Several practical and profitable reflections arise from our subject. 1. 7'7ae need of adaptation in Christian teaching. The sacred writings contain "milk for babes," "solid food for full-grown men," and food suited for all the intermediate stages of the Christian life. The wise teacher will endeavour to distribute to each the food suited to his condition. 2. The obligatoriness of progress in Christian discipleship. Infancy has its charms, but not as a permanent state. Infancy must pass on by orderly deve- lopment into manhood. Continuous spiritual infancy is unnatural and sinful. A permanent milk diet in the spiritual life indicates a stationariness which is unhealthy and culpable (cf. Eph. iv. 11-15). 3. In the mature stage of Christian life there is the qualification for the exercise of discrimination in spiritual things. " Full-grown men by reason of nse have their senses exercised to discern good and evil." Their spiritual faculties are trained and disciplined, and so they are able to distinguish between the true and false, the superior and the inferior, in Christian teaching. Alas, that the people who are least mature are generally the most forward in exercising this critical function! 4. We see why the ministry of the gospel is sometimes compara- tively ineffectual. In some instances the smallness of its success is owing to the want of adaptation in the ministry itself; in others, to the sinful and almost insupern.bl& spiritual obtuseness of the hearers thereof.-W. J.
Vers. 1-6.-Christ's Divine appointment to the high priesthood the fulfilment of one essential qualification for that position. This begins the third great section of the Epistle. t:iection i. (eh. i. and ii.) sets forth the Deity and humanity of the Lord Jesus, Christ's superiority to the angels through whose ministration the old dispensation w11s so.id to be established. Section ii. (eh. iii. and iv.) sets forth the surpassing greatness of our Lord as compared with Moses, the great leader of the old dispensation. Section iii. (eh. v.-x.) sets forth our Lord greater than Aaron, the representative of the purely religious element of the old dispensation. Christ infinitely greater than all these, and therefore the new covenant in him infinitely better than the old-that now is the writer's argument. 'l'he first ten verses of eh. v. are an introduction to the thin! section. Before Christ's fulfilment of high priestly work is discu8sed, it i~ necessary to show that ho does actually hold that position. Christ is really High Priest; the tirst prout· of that is in the passage before us. Subject-Christ's Divine appointment to the hiyh priesthood the fulfilment of one essmtial qualification fo1· that position. I. CONSIDER THE FACT OF MF.DIATION DETWEEN Goo AND MAN. The high priest was "appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and 1111crifices for sins." •Gifts" equivalent to, those of God to men-reconciliation anti 150 THE EPISTLE TO 'l'HE HEBREWS. [en. v.1-14.