the matter to the judgment and conscience of bis readers. To reject the "'ospel is a more heinous crime than to set at nought the Law. To tread underloot the eternal Son of Goel involves more aggravated guilt than to turn away from Moses, who was a merely human messenger. So, if the sentence of death for rejecting the olcl covenant was a righteous arrangement, it is evident that the Divine justice must demand a retribution still more awful for the more terrible sin of apostasy from the new covenant. III. AN ASSERTION OF TIIE MAJESTY OF Goo's JUSTICE. (Vers. 30, 31.) "We know him." The gospel itself has revealed to us his infinite power, his inflexible justice, hit l!potless holiness, his absolute faithfulness. We know that he has said, "Vengeanci belongeth unto me," and "The Lord shall judge his people" (Deut. xxxii. 35, 36). We know his prerogative as the Governor of the universe. We know that the principle of retribution belongs to his moral nature. And we know that he defends and saves his people by punishing their enemies. Our nineteenth century, no less than the first century, stands greatly in need of faithful teaching on the subject of retribution, both as a principle or moral law and as a doctrine of Christianity. For: 1. The spirit of the time tempts everywhere to a life of self-indulgence, rather than to the Christian life of self-denial. And habits of self-pleasing tend to bring a man to the edge of the inclined plane which slopes towards the abyss of apostasy. "He that soweth unto his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption," 2. The spirit of the time tempts even true believers to misconceive the nature of the Christian life. Many speak as if after their conversion they should have no experience whatever of spiritual unrest. They forget that it is not "the primrose way" that leails to glory; and that, while the new life begins with an Eden and ends with heaven, "the great tribulation" comes between. The passage before us, in warning of the apostate's sin and doom, reminds us of the difficulties of the Christian life. 3. The spirit of the time labours to thrust into the background the doctrine of retributive justice. But this great principle is found every- where: in nature, in providence, in history, in systems of civil government, in the human mind and conscience, in the sphitual experience of believers, and in the inspired Word of God. The justice of .the Almighty is asserted here, a.s elsewhere in the New 'l'estament, with peculiar emphasis. Those religious teacher~, therefore, incur a terrible responsibility who try to persuade their fellow-sinners that it is by no means such "a. fearful thing" after all "to fall into the hands of the living God." The Lord Jesus Christ has not sent any such message. Rather, he has solemnly warned us to " fear him" (Luke xiL 5), And, if men do not fear the living God, whom will they fear? Vers. 32-39.-Persuasives to steadfastness. The latter pa.rt of this chapter, begin~ ning with ver. 26, is written in the same strain as eh. vi. 4-20. In both passages a strong denunciatory warning is followed by a tender exhortation, expressive of the writer's fond hope that the Hebrew Christians will "stand fast in the Lord." The pathetic appeal contained in the verses before us is based upon three grounds, belonging respectively to the past, the future, and the present. I. AN APPEAL TO CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. (Vers. 32-35.) The apostle would have his readers remember their first love, in the days when they became" light in the Lord." They had at that time endured persecution bravely. After the death of Stephen (Acts viii. 1), in the time of Herod Agrippa. (Acts xii. 1-19), at Thessa.lonica (1 'fhess. ii. 14), at Rome (Rom. xii. 12, 14), and elsewhere, the Hebrew believers had encountered the fierce opposition of their unbelieving countrymen and of the Roman authorities. Their calamities had been such as to make them a public spectacle. They had suffered: 1. In their character, which was assailed with malignant scorn. 2. In their persons, for they were subjected to bodily torture. 3, In their property. They were unjustly deprived of their possessions. Yet they bore the loss cl1eerfully, being persuaded that their true and permanent treasure was in heaven. ~- By rea.sou of their practica.l sympathy with one another, 'l'hey had brough~ to their persecuted and imprisoned brethren both sympathetic condolence and practical help. Now, the apostle 1·eminds the Hebrews of these courageous endurances, in ~rder to stim~a.te th~m still to sustain their Ohristian valour, They had not allowed their early conflicts to dim their spir'ttual joy. '£hey had run well hitherto; what should hinder them now from persevering to the and? Why allow eJl their past toils and trials to count for nothing? II, Ali APPEAL 'ro CHRISTIAN HOPE, (Vers. 35-37.) This hope is presented in a 2i6 THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. [on. x. 1-39,
twofol~ aspect: 1. The hope of the promised reward. (Vers. 35, 36,) There is n Chnst1an dootrme of recompense. All the apostles speak of it in their Epistles under one form o~ anot~er. No Christian, of course, can claim any reward of legal right. It 1s the grac10us gift of the God of grace. But every steadfast believer obtains it even ~ere on earth; for holiness is its own immediate recompense. And he sh:ill receive i~ m e~rnal reve_rs10n_ hereafter; for his shall be the inconceivable peace and purity, and th~ rne~haust1ble Joy aad glory, of heaven, 2. The hope of Christ's second coming. (v er. 3, .) The apostle here employs as the vehicle of his thoughts the words given to Habakkuk by which a former generation of Hebrews had been encouraged to wait for tbe humiliation of their Chaldean oppressors (Hab. ii. 3), But the scope of the passage requires that we refer the "coming" here spoken of to our Lord's second advent. As compared with the endless ages of eternity, during which his people are to enjoy the "great recompease of reward," the interval which must elapse before his personal ,-eturn to the world may well be described as "a very little while." The apostles always exhibit the second coming of Christ as an impending event, for which the believer is to yearn and to make ready. Death is only a parenthesis. Our duty is not so much to prepare to die, as to cherish "the blessed hope." From the watch-tower of prayer let us look out for the signs of his appea.ring; and thus we shall forget our trials, and mamtain our steadfastness. • Beyond the smiling and the weeping, Beyond the waking and the sleeping, Beyond the sowing and the reaping, Love, rest, e.nd home I Sweet hope I Lord, tarry not, but aome 1•