the human form becomes olcl and waxcth aged and is nigh unto vanishin.,. away. "'l'he days or our ye11rs are threescore years and ten," etc. (Ps. xc. 10). \Vhen tl,n earthly house of our tabernacle is worn out we know that it will soon be dissolved. 'l'he departing vitality tells us that the body itself will Roon vanish away. Its decrepitude heralds its disappearance. This is a reason : I. Why the a'}e,i, should live in readiness for their departure hence. 2. Why the aged should be treatea with con.iiderattJ kindneSB. Their a:ze has a claim upon our respect, unless its character forbids respect, and then it should elicit our pity. '!'heir feebleness makes its silent and touchin" appeal to us for support. And they will soon be beyond our sight and our services: By the help of God let us seek so to live that, when the time of our departnre draws near, we may be ready to leave this world, having finished our work, and to enter upon the, to us, unknown future, having committed ourselves to the keeping of the "great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ."-W. J. Vers. 1-5.-Heaven the place where this great High Priest ministers. Does the writer mean, " This is the summing up,'' or " 'l'bis is the chief point " ? We accept the latter, and that we have here no recapitulation, but an advance, the point to which he has been corning from the first. Christ, High Priest; Christ, High Priest ~eater than Aaron. So far we have come. Subject-Heaven the place where this great High Priest ministers. l<'rom this comes the truth to which be bas been looking from the begin- ning, that in heaven, as the true holy of holies, is fulfilled what was exhibited in type in the tabernacle. l. THE ASSURANOE THAT CHRIST IS FULFILLING BIB ffiGH PRIESTLY WORK CT BEAVEN. "We have a High Priest," etc. Jesus in hea.ven, acting as our Representafrve, is the crowning point of what the writer has to say about our Lord. Is not that the crowning point of all that can be said about him? Can we ever know the full blessed- ness of Jesus till, in our habitual thought of him, he who lived on earth. a.nd died, and rose, is ever seen•andfelt to be living for us in the heavenly places? 1. The declarations of Scripture give us this assurance. That is intimated in the use made here or Ps. ex., the whole of eh. vii. being based on it-the Messiah was to be a Priest at Goci's right hand. 'l'he same word gives us the same assurance; but whereas to the Jew it was prediction, to us it is fulfilment. "He was received up into heaven,» declare evange- lists and apostles. 2. The discharge of his priestly functions necessitates this. "But [not' now'] if he were on earth he would not be a priest at all," etc. He could not discharge his priestly duties on earth; the Law would forbid it of one not of the tribe of Levi. If, then, he is Priest, and called to what is priestly, and this cannot be on earth, it must be in heaven, for there is no other place where he could legally minister. But we Christians get the assurance that Christ in heaven is acting as High Priest, in what we find he has actually done and is ever doing. He sends bis people what he promised when he should be there. 'Ihose girts and communications come to thfm from heaven which they know could not come but for bis mediatorial work. 3. The fu7jUment of sacred types demands this. (Ver. 5.) A very important statement, for it occurs no less than five times in the Pentateuch-proof that the Jewish ritual was but a shadow of certain Divine realities. The ministry of the priests, therefore, must have its celestial counterpart. The high priest, arter the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement, entered within the veil to present the atoning blood before the mercy-sea.t. '.!.'hat is ths type; then the fulfilment must be in Christ. In the Book of Revelation the Christian sees this fulfilled in a series of visions: Christ redeeming the world, subduing bis foes, completing his Churoh, and all this through his exaltation to the heavenly throne. IL 'l'HE EXALTED POSITION IN BEAVEN IN WHICH THIS HIGH PRIESTLY WORK IS BEING FULFILLED. The Hebrews regarded the high priestly ministry with awe. How the majestic contrast drown here must have a.rrested their attention, and surprised them by its claim : "We have such," etc. I 1. It implies our Lord,'~ equ_ality. with t~e Father. On the supreme throne only Jehovah cau sit; he who sits with him as his co-equal must, with him, be one God. He who ascended is l_ie also who descended. The Incarnation was the condesceusiou of God himself. Get high thoughts of Jesus, for it will exalt our hope, and make our salvation more s_ur~ to our mi~d, and reveal fresh depths in the Divine mercy. 2, Thi.~ also implies l11sjearless11ess ~n _the preiwce r/ the Fatl1Br, Tho Jc,vish priest stooJ null trcmbbl and udoreJ w1tluu the vc,l. 218 THE EPISTLE TO TIIE HEBREWS. [OH, VIII. 1-13,
?ccp ob)ivion. His forgiveness i~ irrrvocahle. This inspiring truth is repeatedly nnd 1mpress1vel.v expressed in the Bible (Ps. ciii. 12; Isa. xnviii. 17; xliii. 26; xliv, 22; Micah vii. 19). This rioh, abounding mercy is the reason of man's fuller, clear know- led~ of God. There was mercy in the old covenant, but in that it was not pre-eminent Rs m the new one. The chief feRtnre of that was Law; the chief feature of this is grace. Forgiveness leads to gr11titnde and love to the Forgiver ; and love leads to the clearer, wider knowledge of him. If you would know God truly, intimately, deeply, you must love him.-W. J.