that ie lifted up la not upright in him [or, µ.ov after either Bl1<u1os or 1r(cr-r,r,,s (as the • behold, his soul ie lifted up, it ie not same text is cited by St. Paul, Rom. i. 17 upright in him']: but the Just shall live by and Gal. iii. 11). There is, however, good hie fo.ith." The drift of this Divine answer, authority for reading it here after 6[1Cu1or whioh inspired the song of joyful confidence (equivalent to "my Riahteoue One"). None with whioh the Book of Habo.kkuk so beau- of these variations froi::; the LXX. affect the tifully concludes, is, as o.foreBBid, that, in meaning of the p1188Bge, beina onlv such spite of all appearances, the prophetic vision as to point more clearly the in'tended will ere long be realized; God's promises application. One of the variations of the to the righteous will certainly be fulfilled ; LXX. from the Hebrew ( ,clv rJ1rocr-r,[>,..,.,.,.e1,, o.nd tho.t faith meanwhile must be their etc.) does alter the meanmg of that par- sustaining principle. The variations of the ticular clanse, though not the genera\ LXX. from the Hebrew are: (1) 'Epx6µ.evos ~urport of the whole passage_. The adop- ~(.,, instead of "It (i.e. the vision) she.11 tion here of the LXX. readmg, and still come;" (2) 'E,L, lnrocr-rel>.1rra.,, ov1< ebB01<•• 11 more the fact that the following verse de- t/,ux,I µ.ou ,v a.v-rcp, instead of "Behold, his pends upon this reading, is amona the soul," eto.; (8) 'O 5~ 811<a.1&s µ.ou <1< 1rlcr-rer,,s strong evidences of the Epistle havingbeen (,lcr.-ra.1 (A), or 3~ 'O Bl1<a.1os i1< 1rlcr-rer,,s µ.ou originally written, not in Hebrew, bot in (,lcre-ra., (B), instead of "The just shall live Greek. by his faith." The variations in the Ver. 89.-But we are not of them who Epistle from the LXX. a.re: (1) "E-r, µ.1Kp~v draw back unto perdition ; but of them that /lcrov ocrov (occ. Isa. xxvi. 20), interpolated believe unto the saving of the soul; literally, at the beginning of the quotation; (2) 'O not of the drawing back unto . . . but of ~x6µ.evos for •pxdµ.evos, so as to denote more faith unto, etc. Thus, once more before distinctly the Messiah who was to come proceeding to the subject now before him, ( cf. Matt. x. 8; John vi. 14); here, of course, the writer is careful to disclaim any real with a view to his second advent; (8) the expectation of defection in his readers, and reversal of the order of the two concluding with delicacy he includes himself with them clauses, U1.v .:1rocr-rel>.-r1-ra.1 and o 3~ 8l1<a.1os: by his uee of the nominative plural. (4) in the Textus Receptus the omission of
HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-18.-0lose of the argument. This concluding passage presents little more than a re-statement of some points which have been already marked in the discussion which occupies the three preceding chapters. The kernel-thought of the paragraph is expressed in ver. 9: "He taketh away the first" (the Jewish sacrifices), "that he may establish the second" (redemption by the sacrifice of himself). I. THE INHERENT WORTHLESSh'ESS OF THE LEVITICAL SACRIFICES. (Vers. 1--4.) Although these availed to remove ceremonial uncleanness, and were the appointed types of the offering of Christ, they were literally useless in relation to the highest ends of sacrifice. The apostle notes three points. 1. The Levitical offerings were inade- quate even as representations of the true Sacrifice. (Ver. 1.) The entire Jewish cere- monial-tabernacle, priest, victim-was "a shadow" of the coming blessings of the gospel dispensation. But it was "not the very image of the things;" it presented only a rude and incomplete sketch of the great facts and doctrines of Christianity. 'l'ake one point as an example. The victims under the Law were dragged unwillingly to the altar ;-how inaccurate this feature as compared with the loving obedience and the voluntary self-sacrifice of the Lord Jesus I 2. They were of no use whatever for the Temoval of guilt. The necessity constantly to repeat them showed this (vers. 1, 2). And so did the na~ure of the sacrifices themselves. Our reason readily assents to the declaration (ver. 4) that the blood of beasts can never expiate the sins of men. Brute nature is incapable of spiritual suffering. Animal sacrifices could not adequatel_y reflect God's hatred of sin. They could not vindicate his justice, or recompense his Law. Such blood has no virtue to pacify the conscience, or to purify the soul. 3. Thei-r influence went to peryetuate the remembrance of sins. (Ver. 3.) The divinely appointed repetition of the Levitical sacrifices showed that God could not accept them as a real atonement, and therefore could not forget the offences of the worshippers. It was intended also to press home upon the consciences of the people the thought of the accumulated arrears of unexpiated sin. II. 'fBE INHERENT VALUE OF THE BATISFAOTION OF CHRIST. (Vers. 5-18.) Thiough• THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. [OH, X, 1-39,