~till 1.tavo a large part to play in the bringing of Jews to Jesus; but it cnn hardly ba pretended that it has the same importance to us.-Y. Ver. 16.-The power of an endlesa life. We have here illustrated- . I._ T~E F_EEDLENESB 0! THAT WnICH DEPENDS UPON_THE !LESH, Here the pBrticular mst1tut1on 111 that of priesthood; but the truth obtains with regard to all institutious dependent on tho limits of fleshly human nature and the faculties of fallen human nature. The law of tho Jewish priesthood was a law that had to take particular notice of the limitations of human life. The office was held by a. man whose term of office at the longest was but brief, and his death had to be prepared for, and his successor duly initiated. 'l'hat successor was a son, and who sl.tould say what sort of man he would turn out? 'l'here are certain things law can do and certain other things it cannot do. A. law could be made setting apart a tribe for holy service, anti a family for priestly service; but there the power stopped. No law can secure character. No law can secure willing, hearty, devoted service. Indeed, there might even be a show of fairness in men belonging to the tribe of Levi saying, " Why should we he tied down, willing or unwilling, to this work of the altar?" Note how pcrwer is contrasted in this verse with law, as much as to intimate the nece.ssary feebleness of law, Its very strength in one direction helps to constitute its feebleness in another. It has nothing to fall back upou but the caprices and fluctuations of natural character. It brings to men knowledge, indeed; but, bringing that, brings only too often little but exasperation, irritation, depression. Ho\V many things there are in which the law of the fleshly commandment fails I The good king is succeeded by the bad one. The father uses his possession wisely; the son comes in to squander, neglect, and alienate. 'rhe father makes a fortune through frugality and industry; the son scatters it all to the winds. II. 'l.'HE CONTRASTED POWER OF THE E~DLESS LIFE. The Aaronic priest stands as the great representative of service limited by the necessary boundaries of human nature. Jesus stands forward as One whose service is unlimited save by the negligence or. the unbelief of thoso whom he seeks to save. My fellow-man can only serve me .i.s iong as he is in the world, and even while in the world he may be cramped i11 many ways so that his service becomes an almost ineffectual thing. But Jesus bas an endless, that is au indissoluble life. Duration is not the only thing to be thought of. 'l'here might be an immense duration of comparative uselessness. To say that the life is indissoluble means that its fulness continues unimpaired in the slightest degree, It is not a matter of ebbings and flowings; summer fulness of sap, and wintei subsidence. Wherever we find death in the service of the brother man, we 6od life in the service of the Man Christ Jesus. It is so in his priesthood; so in his kingship; so in his teaching; so in his ministry.-Y.
Vers, 18, 19.-The Law/ailing, the gospel succeeding. It is very necessary here to turn from the ordinary version to the revised one, for the ordinary version utterly hides the antithesis which is the very essence of the meaning. On one side there is a disannulling of the Mosaic commandment with respect to priesthood, but on the othel· side there is the bringing in of a better hope. 'l'hese two elements of the antithesis have, therefore, to be separately considered. I. THE DISANNULLING OF THE FLESHLY COMMANDJIIEl:-."'T. "The fleshly commandment," as it is called in ver. 16. A reason is given for the disannulling. The changes in tbe Divirle economy are never arbitrary. Reasons are not always given for these changes ; but when we can understand them they are given, and thus we are helped to believe in the wisdom of changes which we have not knowledge enough to understand. Tht1 reason has a twofold aspect. A general principle is stated, and there is a particular illustration of it. 'l'he general principle is that the Law makes nothing perfect, cou1- pletes nothina-; the particular illustration is found in the weakness and uselessness of the commandment which called into existence the Aaronic priesthood. No institution can plead a commandment of God for its existence when it has manifestly lost it:1 use, The commandment was useless becanse it was weak; and then the uselessnes:1 reacted on the weakness and mndo it weaker still. Men ceased to look to the priest• hood for any goou and helpful thing, though the priesthood kept its formal place, 208 THE EPISTLE TO 'l'lIE HEBREWS. [ en. vu. 1-28,