xii. 23) under the Jewish economy were not "ma,le perfect" nntil the accomplishment of Christ's a tuning work, at the beginning of the Chri~tian era. IJJ. THE OORRESPONDING ADVANTAGE ENJOYED BY NEW TEBTAME~T BELIEVETI9. God has "provided some better thing concerning us" (ver. 40). 'l'hat is we have received the fulfilment of the great gospel promise. Christ has come. He ha~ achieve<l our redemption. He bas sent to the Church his Holy Spirit. He has given us a com- pleted Bible. He has founded a dispensation which is evangelical anr:I spiritual, catholic and permanent. He ha.s opene<l heaven over the world; and we see the angels of God, ascending and descending upon the Son of man. Nor is this earthly life of higher pri-' vilege the only advantage which we possess. For at death the believer's spirit now goes e.t once to be with Christ-a blessing which, ptior to the advent, wa.s in some mysterious sense denied to Old Testament saints. His soul ha.e not to wait for its beatification. Immediately after death it is" made perfect." In the presence of the glorified Christ, noi;hing whatever is wanting to complete its blessedness, except only the resurrection of the body. IV. THE PERFEOTION AND UNI'l'Y OJ' THE CHUROH SINCE THE ADVENT. (Ver. 40.) ,\Then the promise of an accomplished salvation wa.s fulfilled to the Church on earth, its fulfilment brought long-looked-for perfection to the Church in heaven. The coming of Christ, while it may be said to have cut the world's history in twain, was at the ea.me time the meeting-place of the two great dispensations of religion, anrl of the universal Church of God. The centuries circle round the cross, a.nd in it the Church of all ages finds its unity. The fulfilment of the promise in the earthly work of Christ raised both the Church militant and the Church triumphant to a much loftier level than either bad occupied before. 'l'he ancient heroes of faith could not have attained their new position except in connection with our accession of privilege. And thus all the saints who are now gathered in heaven, whether nurtured a.t first in the Jewish Church or in the Christian, have alike been " made perfect," and form one undivided society. It follows, too, that believers of a.11 nations who a.re presently on earth are in real union with this united society of glorified spirits. The Church militant and the Church triumphant constitute "one army of the living God." CoNCLUBION. Although "the elders" laboured under great disadvantage, as re;!ards the extent of their privileges, compared with the Christian Hebrews of the first century a.nd with us, their confidence in the promise wa.s vigorous and persistent, valiant and victorious. They cherished this faith while on earth, anrl they continued to cling to it in heaven until it became changed to sight. How shameful, then, will it be to u~, if we e.llow our faith to decline I For God has already largely fulfilled his promise of salvation. The first advent fs now matter of history. Christendom presents to our view an ever-accumulating ma.ea of Christian evidence. Our encouragement to per- severance is much greater than any which Jewish believers enjoyed under the old covenant. How miserably infatuated, therefore, shall we be if we allow our faith and hope in the Lord Jesus and in the second advent to fail, or even to vacillate 1
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 1.-The nature of faith. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for," etc. This is not a definition or description of what is called, in theological phrase, saving faith. It does not set forth faith in Jesus Christ in particular, but faith in i~ general meaning and its comprehensive exercise. The text teaches us tha.t- 1. FAITH 1B THE DEMONSTRATION OF INVISIBLE REALITIES. It is" the evidence of things not seen;" Revised Version, "the proving of things not seen." There are two classes of unseen things: 1. Things which are absolutely invisible. Of these we may mention: (1) God, a Beiua of almighty power, of infinite wisdom, of perfect holiness, etc. " No man bath seen 0-,d ~t any time." "Whom no man bath seen, nor can see." (2) The human soul. That pa.rt of his being which thinks and feels, hopes and fears, loves and hates, no man in our present state has seen. (3) Spiritual truth is invisible to our bodily eyes. We perceive it, but we cannot see it. 2. Things which are relativel !I invisible. (1) There are great historical facts which are invisible to us. Some of the,e nro lDllQtiopeq iQ thi11 chapter; e.g. the Creation, the Pcluge. But those ar~ ot th6 818 THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. [en. xt. 1-40.