Foundations are laid that buildings may be erected on them, story climbing above story, till a~ Inst, roofed nnd furnished, they are ready fo_r habita~ion and use. Very hard work was 1t to get these Hebrews to see how the old d1spensat10n was only the foundation of the new. They did not like to lose sight of familiar institutions and symbols. But in this they were very much like the man who should keep to childish thin,,s. Jesus himself had his time of initiation. He needed not to repent from any dead ~vorks, yet he came to John to be baptized along with the sinning-, repentant crowd. And when he had entered on his work, with what steadiness he went on! There was no standin"' still. Every day not only brought him nearer in time to the accomplishment of hi'; rlecease at Jerusalem, but fitted him for that accomplishment; and so he was able to say," It is finished." The peril in our case is that we shall go on and on, and when the time comes that we also should say, "It is finished," there will be nothing to show but foundations. And if foundations are foundations and nothing more, then they are really not even foundations. They are but melancholy bits of waste, on which is written," This man began to build, and was not able to finish."-Y. Vers. 4--6.-Tlie critical state of backsliders. Passages like this we naturally avoid. There is reluctance to face its difficulties. We dread lest a hasty admission of certain premisses may lead us to terrible conclusions. But since backslidin~, fallini away, is a melancholy reality among believers, it is above all thini:s needful that the possible results of backsliding should be considered. 'l'he backsli<ler's present condition we know; but one thing we may not distinctly apprehend until it is pressed upon us by sotemn utterance of the Holy Spirit, and that is the future into which the present may lead. I. THE BACKSLIDER, IN FALLING AWAY, HAS FALLEN FROM EXCEEDING GREAT PRIVI- LEGES. He who was enlightened by a great steady light, shining on him once for all, has yet fallen back into practical darkness. He is not in darkness because the light has gone, but because he has shut it more and more from the inward eye. The light is there, more and more rejoiced in by persevering believers, but he has become willingly negligent of the benefits. The free, peculiar gift of Heaven, Jesus Christ himself, once accepted, is now despised. The Holy Spirit of God, the great Pentecostal communica- tion dwelling with the backslider, is yet shut out from the sympathies of his heart. Renewing and sanctifying work has ceased. The good Word of God, heavenly truth, heavenly promises, all that God has given as daily bread for the hungering inward life, all that shows how man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word proceeding out of the mouth of God,-all this has lost its relish. The powers of the age to come, so much greater than any powers of the present age, are little by little le[t unused. We have an actual instance of the backslider in Demas. "Demas bath forsaken me, having loved this present world." Demas had been put in the midst of heavenly light and heavenly food-nay, more; he was in the companionship of one who had received all these heavenly things to the full, and profited by them as much as any man ever profited. It is not a little treasure from which the backslider turns, under the dominion of carnal affections. II. 'l'BE GREAT PROOF THEREBY AFFORDED OF BUMAN WEAKNESS. The theory of many is that if good things be put before a mnn he is sure at last to welcome them to his heart, and get all that they have to give, even to their innermost influences. But the fact for which God's Spirit would ever prepare us is that this present world is an object very fascinating. 'l'hese glorious gifts of God in Christ Jesus mean that we must persevere in an arduous and lengthened effort to get at their fulness. The back- slider is one who does not trouble to pierce the phenomena of grace, and so lay hold of the spiritual realities. He forgets his weakness, or rather he does not rightly believe how weak he is. Here is a new meaning of the saying, that when we are weak then we are strong; for, knowing our weak.ness, we distrust oursd ves, and keep ourselves open to the inflowing of God. III. THE GROUNDS OF HOPE THAT LIE HIDDEN IN THIS PASSAGE. It is impossible to renew the backslider again to repentance. So the passage pie.inly says; and if Wt1 take it in isolation and in bald literalness, it gives the backslider but a poor prospect. Aud yet the backslider is the very one who needs encouragement. '-,Ve must not, therefore, let this word "impossible" so fill the field of thought as to exclude the most hopeful 180 'l'HE EPJS'l'LE TO THE HEBREWS. [cH, VI, 1--20.
conAideratio~s. Josue said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of A needle than for a nch man to get into the kingdom of heaven, But it is impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Therefore it is impossible for a rich man to 11:et into tbe kingdom of heaven. It must be distinctly put before the mind what o barrier wo:rldly possessions are; and then the hope-inspiring word comes in, "Witb God all thmiis are possible." Yea., with God it is possible to turn the backslider into tbe right way ngain, and set him forward with a recovered love and a strengthened heart. We do not know but what Demas came back again, and furnished in the end a crowning proof of how gre&t are the powers of the world to come.-Y.