and th~ se~, and the dry land, and all nations." It would do greatly moro than produce alternt1on m the outer form and state of the Church. It would arasp 0 its very heart 1md life-flooding it with the noonday light of spiritual truth, and with the abundant grace of the Holy Ghost. The movables of Judaism, which had been "made" at Sinai-the tabernacle, the priesthood, the ritual, the sacrifices, the festivals, etc.-wero ''shaken" and "removed" when the Church "came" to Zion. Judaism was only a. scaffolding, set up temporarily with a view to the erection of the permanent structure of Christianity. Its ceremonial wits the mere husk of religion; and when the husk rotted and perished, the kernel still lived and became fruitful. 3. God has _qivm us a kingdom that cannot be shaken. (Ver. 28.) Believers in Christ" receive" the kinadom of heaven; they are not only subjects in it, but kings. And this kingdom is tho finished work of God-the Di vino masterpiece. Everything connected with it is stable. :Nothing that is loose or perishable can adhere to it. It is bnilt upon those great facts and truths which the convulsions that overturned the Levitical system could not disturb. 'l'he "things which are not shaken remain;" e.g. the character of God, the moral nature and responsibility of man, tho dark fact of human guilt, the doctrine of acceptance by sacrifice. Christianity has solved the problem of sin, in relation to the life of man; and therefore it "cannot be shaken." 'fhroughout all time the way of salvation, the encouragements to believe, the rule of duty, the principles of the Christian life, the fruits of holiness (1 Cor. xiii. 8, 13), will be the same. And what a joy to live, as we do, among these abiding realities I The kingdoms of the world pass away ; but Christ's kingdom" shall stand for ever" (Dan. ii. 37-45). Systems of philosophy cease to be; but the truth as it is in Jesus endures. Denominations disappear; but the Church continues. Political establishments of religion are shaken; but national religion remains. Creeds decay and wax old; but the Bible possesses an indestructible vitality. The heavens and the earth shall pass away; but the kingdom of the saints cannot be moved. II. THE BESPONSmILITIES wmcH THESE PRIVILEGES INVOLVE. We must: I. Obey the voice of God. (Ver. 25.) That voice speaks to us in the Scriptures, and in the pleadings of the Holy Spirit within our souls. But in our time earth is "so full of dreary noises" that our weak hearts are sorely tempted not to listen to the words of God. There is the voice of the philosophic thinker, of the political leader, of the social reformer, of the scientific teacher, of the newspaper editor, of the popular novelist. But none of these voices are prophetic. The man who can speak with authority regarding some department of physical science is not on that account entitled to deference when he discourses about God and the future life. Only the Lord Jesus Christ, the Logos, by whom God now speaks from heaven, can instruct us concernin~ the spiritual universe and the way of salvation. 2. (Jherish gratitude for the kingdom. (Ver. 28.) "Let us have grace," i.e. gratitude. To cultivate the spirit of thankfulness is the very essence and sum of Christian duty. When God in his mercy invests us with the kingdom, what can we say, but just "Many thanks"? "I will take the cup of salvation;" "Thanks be to God for his unspeakable Gift." 3. Devote o-ur lives to the service of God. (Ver. 28.) For, while the saint is a king, he is at the same time a servant; indeed, he is a servant because he is a king. The service is involved in the kingdom. The entire life of the Christian is to be that career of devout consecration which is the natural outcome of the grace of gratitude. And, while thankfulness is the secret motive of the service, its befitting spirit is " reverence and awe." The believer's manner and tone are not to be flippant or frivolous; but grave, chastened, solemn. ill. w ARNINGS BY WHICH THESE RESPONSmILlTIES ARE ENFORCED. This passage is an earnest admonition. It opens with an arresting "Beware" (ver. 25); anu it sounds three notes of warning. 1. From Hebrew history. (Ver. 25.) When God spoke by Moses and the prophets, "his people would not hearken to his voice;" and thus they were constantly drawing down punishment upon themselves. If, then, the); escaped not who spurned the less adequate revelation made by the heaven-descended God, how may we hope to escape, if we turn away from the full-orbed revelation made by the heaven-ascended Son of God? 2. From Hebrew prophecy. (Vers. 2G, 27.) God ha,; no other " Yet once more" to promise to the worlJ. That was to be the last "shaking" of the Church which should accompany t.he introduction of the gospel. "It i3 the 372 THE EPISTLE TO THE HEDREWS. [011, XII, 1-29,
Inst hour" (1 John ii. 18). The final overthrow of types and forms ie proceeding, God has done all for us that he can do. He ha~ given us the "eternal gospel." To reject it were to Rttach ourselves only to the pa..~sing and perishing. 3, From Hebrew tMo7ogg. (Ver. 29.) The words of this verse fitly cloMe the prolonged strain of exhorta- tiun. They are borrowed from Dent. iv. 24; and the apostle, in citing that p!LBsage here, reminds us that the Divine character is not one of" those things that are shaken." If the God who spoke at Sinai was just and severe, the God who dwells in Zion is not less so. For the very reason that God is gentleness and love and mercy, ho must be "a consuming fire" to all who are essentially alien to him. Sometimes, when this warning word is quoted, it is softened after this fashion: " Out of Christ God is a consuming fire." But such a gloss is unwarrantable. For God is never Qut of Christ. Christ is the manifested God. It is not so that God the Father is nil justice and ~everit.y, and God the Son all tenderness and grace. Christ the Redeemer i8 "a con- 1<uming fire." 'l'he most dreadful declarations about the doom of the impenitent which the Bible contains were made by him.