^1 €\)t Wiax\i% of S>t gittgustmc. EDITED BY THE EEV. MAECUS DODS, M.A. MESSRS. CLARK have much pleasure in announcing the completion of the First Year's Issue of Four Volumes of Translations of the Writings of St. Augustine — viz. : THE 'City of God.' Two Volumes. Writings in connection with the Donatist Controversy. One Volume. THE anti-Pelagian Works of St. Augustine. Vol. I. The First Issue of Second Year, to be published about November, will probably be — ' Letters.' Vol. i. And Treatises against Faustus the Manich^ean. They believe this will prove not the least valuable of their various Series, and no pains will be spared to make it so. The Editor has secured a most competent staff of Translators, and every care is being taken to secure not only accuracy, but elegance. The Works of St. Augustine to be included in the Series are (in addi- tion to the ' City of God') — All the Treatises in the Pelagian, and the four leading Treatises in the Donatist Controversy. The Treatises against Faustus the Manichsean ; on Christian Doctrine ; the Trinity ; the Harmony of the Evangelists ; the Sermon on the Mount. Also, the Lectures on the Gospel of St. John, the Confessions, a Selection from the Letters, the Retractations, the Soliloquies, and Selections from the Practical Treatises. All these works are of first-rate importance, and only a small proportion of them have yet appeared in an English dress. The Sermons and the Commentaries on the Psalms having been already given by the Oxford Translators, it is not intended, at least in the first instance, to pubhsh them. The Series will include a Life of St. Augustine, by Robert Rainy, D.D., Professor of Church History, New College, Edinburgh. The Series will probably extend to Sixteen or Eighteen Volumes. The Publishers wUl be glad to receive the Names of Subscribers as early as possible. Subscription : Four Volmues for a Guinea, jmyalle in advance, as in the case of the Ante-Nicene Series (24s. when not paid in advance). It is understood that Subscribers are bound to take at least the books of the first two years. Each Volume wiU be sold separately at (on an average) 10s. 6d. each Volume. They trast the Subscribers to the Ante-Nicene Library will continue their Subscription to this Series, and they hope to be favoured with an early remittance of the Subscription. T. and T. Clai'Ic s Publications. Jii.st published, price 14s., Biblieo-Theological Lexicon of Nev^^ Tes- tament Greek. By IIich.maxn Ci!EMi:ij, Professor of Theology in the Uni- versity of Greifswald. Trau.slated from the German by D. W. Simon, Ph.D., and William Urwick, M.A. This work comprises such words as have their ordinary classical meaning changed or modified in Scripture, tracing their history in their transference from the Classics into the Septuagint and thence into the New Testament, and the gradual deepening and elevation of their meaning till they reach the fulness of New Testament thought. 'This book is of much interest and value to the theologian Such a work as this of Professor Cremer's is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. It is a history of those New Testament words which have a Christian history.' — Scotsman. Just published, in two volumes 8vo, price 21s., History of Protestant Theology, particu- larly in Germany, viewed according to its Fundamental Government, and in connection with tlie Religious, Moral, and Intellectual Life. Trans- lated from the German of Dr. J. A. Dohneh, Professor of Theology at Berlin. With a Preface to the Translation by the Author. ' This work, which may be called a History of Modern Theology, is one of the most important, interesting, and useful that Messrs. Clark have ever issued. A careful study of it would systematize on the reader's mind the whole round of evangelical truth. In fact it is, in a certain sense, a cnmprehensive view of Historical Theology, written on a new plan, — not in the form of the tabulated summary, but as traced in the living history of those whose struggles won for us the truth, and whose science formulated it for posterity.' — London Quarterly Beview. THE FOURTH SERIES OF THE ' CUNNINGHAM LECTURES: Just published, in one vol. 8vo, price Gs., The Theology and Theologians of Scot- land, chiefly of the 17th and 18th Centuries. By James AValkhi;, D.D.,- Carnwath. ' This work is so seasonable a contribution to the interests of evangelical truth, that delay in its publication would have been unwise The field chosen is well defined, and hence you have in these lectures the unity and cnnceiitration of a monograph; and yet the divines of that period were of such wide sj'mpathies and extensive influence, that you have no feeling of isolation, as if the subjects were local or temporary.' —Daily Review. Just published, in one vol. 8vo, price 15s., A Treatise on the Grammar of Ne^v Tes- tament Greek, regarded as the Basis of New Testament Exegesis. By Dr. G. B. Winer. Translated from the German, with large Additions and full Indices, by Rev. W. F. Moilton, M.A., Classical Tutor, Wesleyan Theo- logical College, Richmond, and Prizeman in Hebrew and New Testament Greek in the University of London. 'This is tlie standard classical work on the Grammar of the New Testament, and it is of course indispensable to every one who would prosecute intelligently the critical study of tlie most ini|Miitant portion of the inspired record. It, is a great .service to render such a work accessible to the English reader.' — British and Foreign Evangelical Review. T. and T. Clark's Publications. LANG E'S COMMENTARIES ON THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. Messrs. CLARK have now pleasure in intimating their arrangements, under the Editorship of Dr. Philip Schaff, for the Publication of Translations of the Commentaries of Dr. Lange and his Collahorateurs, on the Old and New Testaments. There are now ready (in imperial 8vo, double column), COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF GENESIS, One Volume. COMMENTARY ON JOSHUA, JUDGES, AND RUTH, in One Volume. COMMENTARY ON THE BOOKS OF KINGS, in One Volume. COMMENTARY ON PROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES, AND THE SONG OF SOLOMON, in One Volume. COMMENTARY ON JEREMIAH AND LAMENTATIONS, in One Volume. Other Volumes on the Old Testament are in active preparation, and will be announced as soon as ready. Messrs. Clark have already published in the Foreign Theological Librart the Commentaries on St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, St. John, and the Acts of the Apostles, but they may be had uniform with this Series (in Four Volumes) if desired. They had resolved to issue that on St. John only in the imperial 8vo form ; but at the request of many of their Subscribers they have published it (without Dr. Schaff's Additions) iu Two Volumes, demy 8vo (uniform with the Foreign Theological Library), which will be supplied to Subscribers at 10s. 6d. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN, in One Volume. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL TO THE GALATIANS, EPHESIANS, PHILIPPIANS, and COLOSSIANS. In One Volume. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLES TO THE THESSA- LONIANS, TIMOTHY, TITUS, PHILEMON, and HEBREWS. In One Vol. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLES OF JAMES, PETER, JOHN, and JUDE. In One Volume. The New Testament is thus complete, with the exception of the Commentary on the Book of Revelation, which is in progress. Each of the above volumes (five on Old Testament and five on Epistles) will be supplied to Subscribers to the Foreign Theological Library and Ante-Nicene Library, or to Purchasers of complete sets of Old Testament (so far as published), and of New Testament, at 15s. The price to others will be 21s. each volume. T. and T. Clark's Publicatio7is. In Two Volumes, demy 8vo, price 2 Is., MEDIATORIAL SOVEREIGNTY : THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST A DID THE REVELATION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. BY GEORGE STEWARD. 'A large and exhaustive work, with great fulness of argument.' — Christian Remembrancer . ' Certainly one of the books of the age, — we might say of the century. Anything more massive, comprehensive, and thoroughly theological, we cannot name. • . . Without being precisely a theological system, it is yet an all- comprehensive view of the mediatorial economy. . . . We dismiss the book with grateful admiration of the author, who has achieved a noble triumph on behalf of the cause he loves, and for a considerable lifetime has served,' — Christian Witness. ' Tlie patient, plodding power which produced this book must have been immense. . . . The author's thoughts and arguments amply repay the labour which it costs to get at them. He is a strong, independent, and original thinker, and has, we think, thrown fresh and interesting light upon many points of scriptural theology. . . . The chief value of Mr. Steward's book is that it constitutes a valuable Christology of the Bible, — not only bringing together passages that refer to or imply the mediation of Christ, but placing them in their proper relations, and showing their value and bearing. . . , The idea of the book is a true one ; it contains much that theologians will value, and con- tributes much to the divine harmony of Scripture with itself, and of Christianity witli the neces-sitics of man.' — EvaiKjcUcal Ma(iaziuc. THE AEGUIENT THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. PRINTED BY MI'KRAY AND GIBB, FOR T. & T. CLAltK, EDINBURGH. LONDON, .... HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. DUBLIN, .... JOHN ROBERTSON AND CO. NEW YORK, . . . C. SCRIBNER AND CO. THE ARGUMENT OF THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. A POSTHUMOUS WORK GEORGE STEWARD, AUTHOR OF 'mediatorial SOVEREIGNTY,' ETC. EDINBURGH: T. & T. CLARK, 38, GEORGE STREET. 1872. PREFACE In giving to the world Mr. Steward's last papers, intended by him as in some sort a sequel to the Mediatorial Sovereignty^ the Editors (his wife and daughter) feel that a few words of explanation are necessary. When the last sheet was dictated, a few weeks before his death, he told his wife that he regarded the work as virtually finished ; that nothing essential remained to be added, as the argument of the Epistle terminates with the twenty-second verse of the tenth chapter. It was his intention, however, to append a concluding Meditation, — an intention he was not permitted to fulfil. Mr. Steward's method of working was singular : he put nothing upon paper until the whole scheme was clearly wrought out in his own mind. He then dictated deliberately, but continuously, rarely recalling so much as a word, the sentences drop- ping from his lips with wonderful completeness ; but he gave to his amanuensis no hint of chapter or paragraph, and left even the punctuation to her own perception of the meaning. When the dicta- tion was finished, the whole was subjected to an unsparing revision. In the case of the present VI PREFACE. volume, this revision was never made ; and the responsibility of it devolved upon the Editors. They have deemed that they should best fulfil their trust by leaving the MS. intact, even at the risk of retaining a few apparent repetitions, rather than by venturing on any changes, — changes which Mr. Steward would have made with great freedom, but which, they feel warranted in saying, would have affected the form^ but not the substance^ of the thought. For the divisions into chapters, for the titles of the chapters, for the marginal notes, and for the Addenda, the Editors alone are responsible. Of their insufficiency for the work, no one can be so conscious as they are themselves ; but they have only undertaken what must otherwise have been left undone. Most gladly would they have given it into abler hands, but the burdens which the nineteenth century lays upon her more gifted sons, leave them no leisure to pore over the manuscript of a brother, in order to gain the minute familiarity with it necessary to a careful revision for the press. The Addenda are compiled from sermons, some of them dating as far back as 1833, and from notes of Scripture readings preserved by his wife. They carry on the exposition to the end of the Epistle, and are added in tli'e hope that, though here and there but slight and fragmentary, they will yet be found on the whole suggestive and interesting. PKEFACE. VII If this posthumous work should be the means of extending in any degree the influence of its be- loved author; if it should impart to but one soul the ardent, personal, all-absorbing interest in the Divine Records for which he was so remarkable ; or if, in this age of minute criticism and petty cavil, it should teach one faltering student the true method of studying the great Catholic Veri- ties, the Editors w^ill not have laboured in vain. For them, indeed, their work has a mournful significance : it is the last token of affection which guards a grave. Chipping Ongar, April 13, 1872. CONTENTS. PAGE Inteodttction, 1 CHAPTER I. The Son.— Heb. i. 1-3, . 6 CHAPTER II. The Sonship of tlie Humanity. — Heb. i. 1-3, .... 18 CHAPTER III. Historical Developments of the Human Sonship in the New Testa- ment.— Heb. i. 1-3, 23 CHAPTER IV. Doctrine of the Sonships tested by an Examination of the Old Testament Scriptures quoted in the Epistle. — Heb. i. 4-14, . 34 Note. — On the Agency of the Angels under the Law. — Heb. ii. 1-4, 47 Note. — On the Pauline Authorship, . . . . . . 51 CHAPTER V. Doctrine of the Sonships continued. — Heb. ii. 5-9, . . .53 CHAPTER VI. Atonement in its relation to God.— Heb. i. 3, .... 61 CHAPTER Vll. Atonement in its relation to Man. — Heb. ii. 9, 10, 14, 15, . 74 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. PACE The Human Sonship the Ground of the Sonship of Believers. — Heb. ii. 11-13, an(116, • 87 CHAPTER IX. The Divine and Human Sonships the Ground of Christ's Rule over the Church.— Heb. iii, 1-6 95 CHAPTER X. 'TheRest.'— Heb. iii. 6-19, and iv. 1-13, 102 KoTE.— On the Sabbath.— Heb. iv, 4, 121 CHAPTER XI. Practical Discussion — 'Elements.' — Heb. v. 11, 12, and vi. 1-3, . 127 CHAPTER XII. Practical Discussion — Growth and Perfection. — Heb. v. 12-14, and vi. 1, , - . .133 CHAPTER XIII. Practical Discussion — Of Irremissible Sins. — Heb. vi. 3-9, . 140 CHAPTER XIV. Practical Discussion — Social Developments of the Primitive Church. —Heb. vi. 9, 10, 152 CHAPTER XV. Practical Discussion — Distinction between the Christian Status and Christian Works.— Heb. vi. 10-12, 153 CHAPTER XVI. The Abrahamio Covenant— Heb. vi. 13-20 167 CHAPTER XVII. Priesthood : its Relations to the Doctrine of the Sonship. — Heb. ii. 17, 18, and iv. 14, 15, 175 CHAPTER XVIII. Priesthood : Qualifications and Office of the Aaronic High Priest. —Heb. T. 1-6 186 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER XIX. PAGE Priestly Character of Christ's Obedience and Suffering. — Heb. v. 7-9, 193 CHAPTER XX. MelchisedeC— Heb. vii. 1-21, 203 CHAPTER XXI. Unity and Finality of Christ's Priesthood. —Heb. vii. 22-23, . 227 CHAPTER XXII. Christ's Unseen Ministry.— Heb. viii. 1-6, 238 CHAPTER XXIII. The Covenants.— Heb. viii. 7-13, 252 CHAPTER XXIV. The Hebrew Tabernacle.— Heb. ix. 1-6, 266 CHAPTER XXV. The Day of Atonement. — Leviticus xvi. ..... 281 CHAPTER XXVI. The Day of Atonement : its New Testament liopfuin;. — Heb. ix. 7-12, 290 CHAPTER XXVII. The Great Sacrifice on Earth and its Presentation in the Heavens. — Heb. ix. 12 307 CHAPTER XXVIII. Legal Atonement and Evangelical Atonement. — Heb. ix. 13-15, . 313 CHAPTER XXIX. AiecHxri, Testament or Covenant ?— Heb. ix. 16, 17, . . . 328 CHAPTER XXX. Atonement the Ground of Remission. — Heb. ix. 18-22, . . 334 CHAPTER XXXI. Finality of Atonement, Death, and Judgment. —Heb. ix. 23-28, . 342 xii CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXII. PAGR 'Shadow ' and 'Image.' — Hcb. x. 1-4, 354 CHAPTER XXXIII. Quotation from the Fortieth Psalm : its Teachings.— Heb. x. 5-9, . 363 CHAPTER XXXIV. Of the Nature and Doctrine of Evangelical Sanctification. — Heb. x. 10-14, 371 CHAPTER XXXV. The OfEce of the Holy Ghost in reference to Divine Truth. — Heb. X. 15-18, 383 CHAPTER XXXVI. The ' Holiest,' the 'Way,' the 'Veil.'— Heb. x. 19-21, . . 388 CHAPTER XXXVII. Evangelical Worship : its Qualifications and Pri\-ileges. — Heb. x. 22, 395 Addenda. — Heb. xi. xii. xiii 407 INTRODUCTION. (feagment.) Revelation is always put before us as afad, the criteria of which are given, but the rationale of which is withheld. The Bible opens with this doctrine, it is ever and anon repeated through- out all the books of which it is composed, and is assumed in every statement from one end to the other. In adopting this form of communication, the Bible does not merely consult its own dignity, as being professedly a revelation from God, but is also in keeping with the essential data of all knowledge whatever. It is impossible that reasons should be the antecedents of existence, either with respect to the Divine Nature or to any natures de- rived from it. For instance, the existence of God itself must come to us as something given^ and not as the thesis of mere reason ; and this is equally true of our own existence, which is a thing given, not proven; the reasons must lie in the Infinite alone, and are only traceable in their outgoings from Him in the form of facts or declarations to His creatures. It is in respect to these that reason has its operation, and truth its limits. All know- ledge must begin with the preamble of existence A INTRODUCTION. AS A FACT, and be propagated from this great parent truth. The fact or iacts lying at the basis of knowledge, may lie more or less near to or remote from the starting-point of inquiry, but in every case the beginning truth must always be found in something given, never in a postulate created. Hence Revelation, starting from certain assumptions, is but an example of the one law of knowledge. Whether Ptevelation be supposed to preclude the search of the human mind after elementary truths concerning God and the creature, which by possi- bility might be arrived at (thus, as it were, sparing us the labour of a long and doubtful road), or whether it be understood to declare, by the very fact of its own existence, such road to 'be impracti- cable, — authority and directness must in any case be deemed immense advantages which Revelation possesses over the exertions of the best trained intellect, or the best teachings of human experience. It is historically true that uncertainty and be- wilderment seem more than incident to the history of the human mind in this direction, and seem to negative the presumption that in any case it is able to master these elementary truths The problem of the Divine Existence can only be approached by moans of the finite, ie. the in- dividual mind. It may be put thus : Given the finite to discover the infinite, or the known to reach the unknown. Tliis, however, nmst imply the existence and apprehension of some relation between them, and that such relation is demon- strable. If this be in its own nature impossible, the inquiry must end where it began INTEODUCTION. All arguments drawn from the phenomena of humanity must be conflicting, since there is plainly little within this sphere which reflects the moral glories of a supposed infinitely Perfect Nature. Those who are bent upon maintaining the moral doctrine of Theism, at variance as it is mth the facts of human nature as they everywhere show themselves, must need a much stronger faith than any which Revelation demands, or else must fall back on the old Gnostic doctrines of dualism. The religious history of the human mind seems to be unfolded in such doctrines as the following : — 1. A mere philosophical transcendentalism, which ascribes to Deity (if such it may be called) neither personality nor attributes cognizable by men or appropriate to the conception of an actual Being, but an abstraction merely, or an apotheosis of idealism. This was characteristic of the loftier flights of the Oriental and Greek philosophy, the tenets of Gnosticism, and the mystical reveries of Buddhism, 2. Dualism, which ascribes creation to another than the Supreme Deity, and accounts for the in- congruities of the mundane system, either on the supposition that the agent employed in forming it was himself a being of ungodlike attributes, or that the material to be disposed and actuated was, to a certain extent, intractable to his hand. 3. Pantheism, which regards no Deity as prior to and independent of nature, nature being viewed as a self-developed system under various and in- scrutable phases, 4. Polytheism, the antithesis of Pantheism, ex- hibiting, with limited and often incongruous attri- INTRODUCTION. biitos, a wild exaggeration of the personality of Deity; for, while Pantheism extinguishes person- ality, Polytheism indefinitely multiplies it. The whole showing of these remarks is, that the general doctrines of Theism are and must be teachings ah extra, and not db intra ; that turning in any direction which the mind may, to find out God, its search is abortive, both from its constitu- tion and from its relations to the universe, unless in some form or other this knowledge be given to it. It is supernatural, easily introduced, as it were central in the man and his standpoint toward the universe ; it brings with it a light peculiarly its own ; in a qualified sense it is intuitional, though distinct from our mental constitution, and prepares us to desiderate and to apply illustra- tions and proofs from all quarters, more especially from direct and authenticated Revelation. The passage which opens the Epistle to the Hebrews is a sublime concentration of the entire doctrine of Revelation, strongly resembling the opening chapter of the book of Genesis, or that of St. John's Gospel. It is at once majestic and" full. Though simple in its construction, it is re- markable for its antithesis : for example, the word God is evidently to be ruled in interpretation by that of Son; the antithesis here is clearly per- sonal THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. CHAPTER I. THE SON. 'God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds ; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding aU things by the word of his power.' — Heb. i. 1, 2, 3. Neither here nor in the Scriptures generally is re- Later reveia- , .. , 1 f» i* . -i 1 tionsreston velation put beiore us as a new tact, it always goes earlier ones. backward as a history to former times and persons. It assumes that divine communications to the world have in all ages been accepted as such by sections of men at least. Hence there is no attempt to argue in favour of their certainty or probability. They are assumed as matters of fact, and new revelations are placed on the foundations of older ones. This seems to intimate the neces- sity of some training in accordance with the divine measures, and that, where there is no such pre- paration for the divine oracles, no such oracles are given. A nation, a family, or a series of indivi- duals (bearing some relations, more or less remote, to one another), are the chosen receptacles of these divine communications ; in order both that the truth may be imparted to suitable recipients, and » THE SON. c'liAT. I. that a line may be formed to give unity and con- iieb. i. 1, 2, 3. sistency to an entire series, which would otherwise become fragmentary and liable to mutilations or extinction. So hero 'the Fathers'^ arc mentioned as the depositaries of the earlier revelations, and the generation existing in the time of the writer as the depositaries of the last revelations, — which last must be regarded as declaring the rule of all earlier ones. All revelations were cotemporar}^ with some persons who were eye-witnesses of the facts they relate, or the immediate recipients of the oracles delivered. Thus the oracles were fas- tened in their integrity, were available for existing religious needs, and became fundamental to other revelations as yet reserved for the future. All teiHiinate The prophctic revelations here referred to are accordingly represented as extending over ' sundry times,' and as given 'in divers manners,' while the whole series is, with marked emphasis, declared to have terminated in the manifestation of the Son. His mission and ministry stand at the close of the prophetic ages, — in prophetic phrase here called Last days. ' thcsc last days.' This phrase, in the Old Testa- ment, never signifies the extreme age of the world as such, but only the historical and chronological termination of the series of divine revelations. By ' Our translators probably took ' Fathers' exclusively in a Jewish sense. For this limitation, liowever, there is no warrant iu the text ; for, though this is undoubtedly the familiar sense of the word in the New Testament, it ought not to be so restricted here. To do so would be to limit the retrospect of revelation to the Jewish race, whereas the passage offers a sjniopsis of its whole course. ' Not that it is of Moses, but the Fathers.' The 'Trpialiimpai of the 11th chapter cannot be thus Umited, and may be taken as the synonym of patres. The Fathers are the great historical personages — Jewish, Noachian, and pre-diluvial, including the Father of the race himself. THE SON. * Jewish writers the phrase has generally been held char i. to signify the Messianic age, i.e. the age of Messiah's Heb. i. i, 2, 3. manifestation and ruling glory. The relation of the Son's mission both to the Ji^-j,^°j;o''g^|.3 past and future of the world, as well as the ground the series of ' ^ a 1 prophets- of that relation, is declared by the very title ' Son, — since, had Jesus Christ been a merely human The apostles person, though dignified with this appellation, it organs. could not be made apparent why He must needs be the last of the prophets, or why He might not have stood at the head of a new series. He is here manifestly put into the class of prophets ; and had He not been as ajyerson immeasurably superior, with this parity of office, there could have been no reason why He might not have had a series of suc- cessors. Eevelation might have been made con- tinuous to this day, instead of being broken off with the Son, — the apostles being its continuators instead of being regarded as included in Him. Here, however, they are not so much as named ; for, as the history shows, they were the mere organs of His doctrine, and received their pro- phetic powers entirely from Him. The position TheSontiie in which the Son is placed in the rear of all the tiin gTven'^to prophets, and as having no successor, implies a t^^wo^^^i- truth of the first importance, viz., that, strictly speaking, His is the sole revelation of God given to the world, at once the light of the past and of the future. Properly considered, all antecedent systems were but anticipated Christianity. It borrowed nothing from them — they rather re- flected it, and were therefore, as it were, recalled and absorbed in the one glory of the Only- Be- gotten. 8 THE SON. CHAP. I. It is obvious, then, that a supreme importance iiei). i. 1, 2, 3. here belongs to the term 'Son.' The whole doc- trine of this epistle may be said to take its rise from it, and to be only a gi'eat development of this its first principle. Nor must it be over- looked that this view is but a synopsis of New Testament teaching, and its cardinal distinction The Son the from the teachings of the Old. In the New Testa- very substance i 1 ji 1 1 i /» of the New mcut, wc havc the development oi a person vari- eb amen . Q^^giy represented and carried through the whole, so that the entire system of facts and doctrines can exist only in this peculiar combination. The Son is, personally and directly, only partially the author of the New Testament. As the organ of this reve- lation He has associates in the apostles ; but as the SUBSTANCE of the revelation He stands alone: so that, were it possible to conceive of His organic relations to the gospel being other than they are, His essential relations to it could never be altered — He is less the Revealer than He is the Revelation itself. The prophets In tliis Hcs tlic Capital distinction between the rivektion.^ ^ Old Testament and the New. In the former there are not only 'sundry times and divers manners,' but divers persons also, concerned in the fonnation of the whole; but all are, nevertheless, entirely severable from the truth delivered; personally they make no part of it, — they are mere organs between God and the world, nothing more. The order of their ministries, the times, circumstances, and even names, miglit be conceived of as entirely different from what they are, and yet tlic Old The Son the Testament might liave been produced. But this itsxhf^"'^ cannot be aflinned of the New, which sets forth THE SON. y the person, attributes, and office of the Son, simply chap. i. as facts which no more admit of substitution or Heb. i. i, 2, 3. change, than the system of nature could be altered, and the phenomena of existence remain what they are. The germ of this great distinction is easily dis- coverable in the bosom of the Old Testament, and in the history of the Hebrew polity, but it appears expressly in the prophets. There the very same title — the Son — occurs : ' Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given' (Isa. ix. 6). And again in Psalm ii. 7: 'I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.'" The Son was the first oracle of the Incarnation, given by the angel to the Virgin Mother, and the sublime theme of the Baptist's ministry. These testimonies were fol- lowed by our Lord's own concerning Himself, more fully recorded in John's Gospel than in the others; it seems, indeed, as if written on purpose to put on record the earnestness and persistency with which Jesus maintained this truth, even to the death. It is the doctrine of the Acts ; it is the Pauline gospel ; the gospel of the Epistles ; it is given even in the Apocalypse, and is mani- festly the foundation truth of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The statement here, then, is an evan- gelical summary; and is, with great propriety and majesty of diction, made the exordium of this epistle. ' Whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power.' 10 THE SOX. CHAr. I. The first expression, * lieir of all things,' Heb. i. 1, 2, 3. Verbal criti- cism. Image of His peraou. IS manifestly the proper correhitive of His Sonship, and also of the work ascribed to Ilim, viz. * that He made the worlds.' As correlative to the Son- ship, and as standing with the declaration of His office as Creator, it effectually bars out the notion that He was a mere delegate or instrument in the production of the universe; since, besides the impossibility of conceiving that this was done by a Being less than God, it ascribes to the Son a right or heirship in all things which entitles Him to rank as their Final Cause. If we render KXrjpovo/xov by 'Lord,' as some critics have done, this nuist still be construed strictly as an in- herent dignity, and must not be confounded with His acquired and historic so\'ereignty as the Mediator. The expressions uTravyacx/jLa t?}? ^o^rjq Koi '^apuKTtjp r?}? viroaTuaew^ avrov^ rendered * the brightness of His glor}', and the express image of His person,' are, though figurative, wonderfully chosen to illustrate and conlirm the august appellation of the Son. The airavyaa/ia signifies an outflowing radiance, as that of the sun-. This figure gives us the manifestative idea, as essen- tially belonging to the Son, i.e. the power of making present and conscious to creatures a nature not otherwise accessible, just as the sun, though vastly distant from the eye, is made present to it by the efllux of his rays. This is a general argument, illustrative of our Lord's filial divinity. What follows is still more explicit, seeing that the words, 'express image of His person,' were intended as something more than an exegetic equivalent to ' the brightness of His THE SON. 11- glory.' Express image, or literally ' character,' is chap. i. far more definite than airav^acryi.a^ or ' brightness ; ' Heb. i. i, 2, 3. as is also viroaTdaeoj^^ ov ' substance,' than So^???, or 'glory.' These are put in apposition, it is true, but the later forms the climax of the description. ' Character ' is simply an exact duplicate of an ori- ginal, and in this connection is undoubtedly meant to stand as the representative of that original, which cannot by itself be seen, but only as the die or seal is seen in the wax, the type in the letterpress, or the plate in the engraving. This 'character' Literally, cntii's.f'tGr of is here said to pertain to the vTrocrraai^ or divine His essence. essence, which is a stronger expression in favour of our Lord's divinity than if rendered ' person,' as has been done by our translators, after the con- sent of early theological writers, though the New Testament does not afford a second instance of viroaraai'i SO rendered. The image or transcript of a nature, while it does necessarily include the idea of the rej^resentation by another of the person whose nature or substance is characterized, altogether shuts out the feasibility of our under- standing this as of a merely reflected likeness or personality ; it is of a nature or essence that the strongly ex- Son presents the ' character,' which cannot, there- son'sdfvinily! fore, be separated from the notion signified by the ancient ^apa/cx^^p. This expression, therefore, while it absolutely precludes Arianism on the one hand, renders the humanitarian hypothesis absurd. To complete the force of this remarkable testimony to our Lord's divinity, the words 09 wy, ' who being,' with which it opens, should not be overlooked, since these are emphatic as declaratory of personal subsistence in 12 THE SON. ciLvr. I. respect to the ascriptions which follow, and are not Heb. i. 1, 2, 3. to be understood of any official or acquired rela- tions which He may have assumed in the history of His manifestations. He is all this independently of these historical relations, and this is the glory w^hich He had with the Father before the world was. The ' more excellent name' which He has obtained by inheritance (vcr. 4), the address to 'the Son,' as God, by the Father (vcr. 8), and His recognition as Lord (ver. 10), are all so many titles appropriate to Him simply as the Son, and are intended to enforce the doctrine of the third verse.^ So is also the remarkable interjection of the doctrine of providence, 'upholding all things by the word of His power,' which is immediately collated with the great preliminary ascriptions to the Son. The true interpretation of these must be held to lie in their being taken entirely apart from the Incarna- tion, or human condition of this divine Person. The New Testament writers are wont, with very marked emphasis, to distinguish between Who the Son zm.?, what He became^ and vrhat He did. Hence, though He is familiarly represented as a Person subsisting in two natures, the higher is still distinctively maintained ; and, even in their current phraseology. His divinity is far more commonly used than His oflicial character, nmch less His human nature, to denominate His Person; and, accordingly, in the exordium of this epistle He is introduced as ' the Son,' not as Jesus Christ. This remark is singularly borne out by a glance ^ The examination of this verse is resumed in tbe section on Atone- ment, Chapter vi. THE SON. 13 at the writings of John. The reasons for this are chap. i. obvious : the humanity of the Saviour is a thing Heb. i. i, 2, 3. patent from His entire history, His stock and pedigree, His condition, His life and death, as well as from the national anticipations which heralded His coming. To insist on this, therefore, had been a superfluous labour ; but the more wonderful truth — His DIVINITY, and that particular form of it so characteristic of the New Testament — His Sonship, did indeed require an emphasis and accumulation of testimony from inspiration itself, as the great foundation truth of Christianity. But it is not from a series of explicit testimonies of this kind, merely, that we deduce the importance of this doctrine of ' the Son,' but from tracing its bearings, and, so to speak, its ruling force, throughout the entire system of evangelical truth. (1.) The doctrine of the personal divinity of the Distinction Son imparts the peculiar characteristics of the New xittCTances of Testament oracle as distinguished from the Old. pr^^het?*^ *''^ The 'sundry times and divers manners' which mark the inspiration of the prophets here entirely give place to the one oracle of the indwelling Son in human nature. This gives its significance to the closing phrase of the sentence, ' hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son,' — the mean- ing being, that the Son incarnate, clothed with the veritable and identical supremacy of God, utters the speech of God, yet as if personally spoken by human lips. An examination of the records of our Lord's ministry entirely bears out this remark, which may be put in John the Baptist's own words : ' He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God ; ' i.e. the indwelling divinity of the Son in tions. 14 THE SON. ("HAP. 1. human nature was the very oracle of God Himself ii.b. i. 1, 2, 3. to the world. jii'thodof Old An illustration of the mifj;hty difference between ^•oinniunica- the proplicts and the Son may be fetched from the Old Testament ; for it would seem that the ordi- nary mode of communicating with a prophet, according to God's own words, was by vision or dream. To a few privileged persons only was the divine similitude or form and the ' face to face' intercourse permitted. Among this number we may rank the three great Hebrew Patriarchs, espe- cially Abraham, the friend of God, — Isaac and Jacob receiving this honour through him as per- sons of co-ordinate rank merely, i.e. as covenant persons. After them only Moses was exalted to this favour. In the Tabernacle he heard God speaking to him with the voice and language of a man. In the cloud which descended to the door of the Tabernacle the human similitude of God was concealed, but was made apparent to him, and lip converse followed this apparition, 'even as a man speaketh with his friend.' But this is the last example of this honour recorded in the Old Testa- ment. It was rare and special, and only recurs in a more exalted form in the appearance of the In- carnate Son. Henceforth the oracle is resident in HUMANITY, not in its similitude ; and the wonder of Jesus of Nazareth is that in His person was exemplified, in a far more exalted manner than in these Old Testament saints, the speaking of God to man by man. There is this remarkable resemblance, however, between the rare and higher forms of manifesta- tion we have noticed from the Old Testament and THE SON. 15 the manifestation of the Incarnate Son, viz. that chap. i. the conditions of intercourse, on man's part at Heb. i. i, % 3. least, are those of humanity in its ordinary state. There was no trance or ecstasy, dream or vision — no disturbance or suspension of the senses, or of intercourse with the surrounding world. To await the utterances of Jesus, or to draw them forth by questioning, seems much the same thing as to hear the ancient utterances in the To^bernacle, the ' face to face' converse in the Cloud, or the talkings men- tioned in Genesis of God with Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. Whatever the degree of inspiration vouch- safed to the apostles by the Spirit, it is obvious from the history that it was not such as to make them individually and independently oracular per- sons. Even their gifts were divided, as they were derived, not original, — making up a grand total of doctrine resident in the apostolic college. But our Lord's doctrine and manner of delivery are widely different: they are oracular in the most absolute sense, teeming, resident, original; in a word, the style is absolutely peculiar and exclu- sively appropriate to the Son. Thus far of our Lord's ministry. (2.) This doctrine of 'the Son' is essentially Redemption ^ ' '' exclusively related to the whole scheme of the gospel, consi- the work of dered as a dispensation of grace. The work as- cribed to Him included in the word Redemption, cannot be ascribed to, or in the least participated in, by any order of prophets, or any names, how- ever illustrious, met with in either Testament. The work of propitiation and atonement, the offices of mediation, the prerogatives of forgiveness, the mission of the Spirit, are things beyond the range 16 THE SON. CHAP. I. of all creature ministry. They lie without the Heb. i. 1, 2, 3. entire sphere of the mere administration of truth, prophetically considered, or the external economies of religion. Throughout the New Testament the Son is put before us, like the Angel of the Old Testament, as the representative and acting Deity. He is made to fill our vision, to engross our inte- rest, and is immediately the one great object of personal trust. The whole evangelical commission centres in setting Him forth as a real, ever-present Power, whose offices are indispensable to individual salvation, and to access to God. What on any other hypothesis could be made of this Epistle to the Hebrews, in which the offices of the Son are everj'wliere exclusive and paramount ? The doctrine This is SO obvious as to be here danced at, only of the divine . . ° \ Son alone to sliow how entirely the doctrmal system of the tianity from Ncw Testament hinges on the doctrine of the Son, w^phemy.^^ and how all its aspects would be changed, and certainly made false, were this one truth with- drawn. To a Jewish mind, at least, all that part of Christian doctrine which rose above the level of the mere republication of the primary tenets of their Law, and the familiar illustrations of religion as then accepted, became extravagance, and even blasphemy (and indeed was so reported), by the non-recognition of the doctrine of the Son. To them it seemed as if trust and recognition were demanded for a second God ; and that the Jehovah of the Old Testament was, by the doctrinal struc- ture of the new religion, superseded. This ob- jection would have remained in force, had not their own prophetic doctrine of the Son been the very foundation of the oracles of the 'last days.' THE SON. 17 ThiSj and this alone, rescued Christianity — de- chap^ i. monstrated, as it was, by a series of unmistakeable i^*^^- i- ^' -> '^• miracles — from such an imputation, and vindicated the mission of the Apostles to the world, as the authorized teachers of this religion, since they drew their inspiration as directly from the Son, as the Old Testament prophets drew theirs from the in- spiration of the Father. Had their ministry been uninspired and unattested by miracles — indepen- dent, and not derived from the Son — it would have been a step backward in the history of divine truth. They would have been a class of persons self-interpreting the genius and design of Christi- anity ; they would have marred instead of perfect- ing it ; while, it is needless to say, they would have given no corroborative evidence of the peculiar and distinctive divinity of the gospel, nor could have claimed for it to supersede the law. The apostolic patent, from first to last, rested exclusively upon the divinity of the Son. B CHAPTER II. THE SOXSIIIP OF THE HUMANITY. Heb. I. 1, 2, 3 — continued. Humanity of The divinity of the Son is intimately connected liikras'^iu™^^ with the character of His humanity; a point of diniiity. yc^^^ momcnt, but too commonly passed over in discussions on His complex nature. The aspect of the divine Sonship on the human' nature, does, in fact, determine the specific cast of that huma- nity as being personally filial also, and as forming the true human antithesis to the filial Godhead. Without taking this into account, the combination of the manhood with the divinity (from which arises the mystery of the Emmanuel) seems to lose much of its appropriate speciality, and wears a certain air of vagueness and generality not really belonging to it. This, no doubt, has partl}^ arisen from the jealousy of orthodox divines in multiply- in"- safeiiuards for the doctrine of the true and proper divinity of the Son, and it has too often led them, if not to disparage the humanity of the Saviour, yet to be shy of according to it the filial title. But to us the beauty and fulness of the doctrine of the person of Christ very mainly lie in the perceived harmony of the divine and human natures in this very specific peculiarit3^ THE SONSHIP OF THE HUMANITY. 19 Indeed it is difficult to perceive on what other chap. ii. hypothesis the one personality of the Son is Hcb. i. i, 2, 3. throufifhout the New Testament familiarly recosf- '^'^^ '^^^t'^- ° , . ment mystery nised, or how otherwise a number of its most of two natures /•Ml ^ f ^^ • 1^ jif forming but lorcible passages can be luliy interpreted ; tor, un- one person- questionably throughout the evangelistic records ^ ^ ^' (more particularly those of John), the Son is constantly put before us as the visible, acting, speaking Jesus Christ. In no one instance is it otherwise, much less have we recurring distinctions between the divine and the human natures as they existed in Him, or definite boundary lines given on which the disciple's eye is bidden to rest. This of itself is enough to establish the doctrine of two correlative Sonships meeting in one Person — the one the image of God, the other the image of man. ' He that hath seen Me,' saith Jesus, ' hath Joim xiv. s, 9. seen the Father. How sayest thou then, Show us the Father ? ' 'He that seeth Me seeth Him that sent Me.' ' He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me.' These and the like expressions do not admit Divinity of the (, . f, . . ' (* ^ a 1 ' c ^°^ ^^ invisi- ot satisfactory interpretation, it the bonsnip ot We as that of the visible humanity be excluded from our re- luimanityof gard, and they are explained only of the indwel- n,'ecUum\?y liner divinity of the Son; seeinp; that in this which both ^ -^ ... ^^6 revealed ; case the deity of the Son is just as invisible consequently ,. ^ ,.,. , the humanity as the deity ot the lather, which is opposed to shares the the very words of Jesus. On the contrary, the ortt could not eccjjression of the divinity, both of the Father and yJther/* ' ^^'^ the Son (in the one mediately, in the other im- mediately), is by the human nature of Christ, which nature therefore must be correlatively filial, or the teaching is not true. 20 THE SONSIIIP OF THE HUMANITY. ('HAP. II. The histories of the nativity, and of the genea- Hob. i. 1,2, 3. logies also, shed much hght on tliis same question; for why does Matthew begin with a pedigree of Jesus Christ, tracing it downward from Abra- ham to David, and from David to Joseph, when his avowed object was to show that our Lord had no human father? The answer is anticipated. Then, again, the genealogy of Luke is (ch. iii.) significant of the same truth, by the opposite process of tracing the pedigree upward from Joseph to Adam. Why trace it to Adam, and not end it with Abraham, but that the same truth is reached by a counter process with that of Matthew, viz. the Sonship of our Lord's humanity? Sonship of tiic r^^^Q memorable communications of the Amrel Imniaiuty do- o .•lilted i)y the to our Lord's Mother, with this 'idea in our Angel to the . o ^ • Virgin. mmds, need no further interpretation, except verse 35 : ' And the Angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.' Whatever explanations may be given of the former clauses of the verse, 'the Holy Ghost,' 'the power of the Highest,' etc., this at least is indisputable — that the birth of the Virgin, which must be the human nature (unless we fall into the extravagance of the Papists), is designated the Son of God; i.e., while the filial divinity of the Person becoming incarnate must be fully allowed to contain the primary and surpassing ground of the appellation, yet the same is accorded to the Holy thing ' born,' and manifestly on the ground of its relation to the Supreme Nature. Hence to THE SONSIIIP OF THE HUMANITY. 21 interpret the phrase, 'the power of the Highest,' chap. if. of the Son's divinity, while it is plainly gratuitous Heb. i. i, 2, 3. and far-fetched, gives no help whatever to a counter hypothesis; it is probably only an exegesis of the previous phrase respecting the Holy Ghost ; but if interpreted of a distinct person from the Holy Ghost, verse 32 would settle it as a refer- ence to the Father, not the Son. But, in truth, while these expressions are left somewhat in in- tentional obscurity where so great a mystery is concerned, the ' therefore ' of the Angel which follows is sufficiently decisive that the humanity of the Saviour is the point kept in view in the declaration, as indeed the whole gist of the pre- ceding communication demonstrates. The bearing of this doctrine on the moral and Fauiticssnrss federal aspects of our Lord's humanity, is too manity the «>- important to be passed over. The ' Holy thing,' as sonship.^^ the Angel calls it, speaking of its humanity, — i.e., in other words, of its faultless rectitude, — is obviously the result rather than the cause of the human Son- ship of the Son. The creation of a human being of perfection suitable to a personal alliance with the divine Son was necessary, and a filial type of humanity was specifically created for this purpose. It possessed, therefore, as a nature, transcendent moral qualities, truly human indeed, but not lineally descended through the ordinary stock of humanity, — though to be truly human it was liter- ally conceived and born. So far as the type went, the nature was unique and transcendent : though of man, rising above man, and a higher type of his nature than the very first moulded by the hand of God. The first was merely man; the 22 THE SONSIIIP OF THE IIUMAXITY. (HAP. II. second was God-man. A wondrous birth truly, iieb. i. 1, 2, 3. and the type and parent of the hist rather than the first condition of man, Christ's fcdc- The importance of this view of the fdial humanity lis rests on tiie appears also in the antitypal character ascribed ilixirof His'" to Christ in the New Testament. Romans v. iiuiuanity. ^^^ ^ Qq^ xv. are destitute of foundation with- out it. Adam was the first of a race, and a type of sonship, and as such he is repeated in every one of his descendants. But how can Jesus of Nazareth be invested with such parity to Adam, seeing that, by His maternal side, He is made one of Adam's descendants, and therefore precluded, merely considered as a human being, from stand- ing in the same rank with the first father of humanity ? Obviously the truth wanted to bring out this parallel is the immediate divine father- hood of our Lord's humanity: this raises Him to the same rank as Adam, and gives with the relation a perfect moral nature. He is thus con- stituted a Second Race Head, though born thou- sands of 3'ears later than the first, and after countless millions of his posterity. Time is of no moment here; it is absolutely reversed in the divine order of events, and the Son of the Incarnation assumes not merely parity but actual precedence of the first father of the race. He is in this sense JTjOWTOTOATO? or O-PXV '^'^l^ KTia€0)^ Tov Qeou. CHAPTER III. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS OF THE HUMAN SONSHIP IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. Heb. I. 1, 2, 5— continued. It is remarkable that, contrary to the order sug- The higher gested by analogy, viz. that of development from Christ taught a lower to a higher truth, the order of our Lord's personal development seems to proceed from the higher to the lower. On the one hand, we have no information in the Gospels of any early indoctrination of His disciples into the mystery of His human Sonship ; while, on the other, the same Gospels afford abundant evidence to the outset of His mission from the higher point of His divine Sonship. Even His Forerunner, the Baptist, ad- vanced to this lofty doctrine in his preparatory testimony; and, in the later stages of his ministry at least, seems to have concentrated it mainly on this one article : ' I saw, and bare record,' said he, John i. 34. ' that this is the Son of God.' The Gospel of John, which opens with this testi- mony of the Baptist, gives continuity to it through- out, as the very testimony of Christ Himself. Indeed, John states that the design of his Gospel is to invest this grand truth with a suitable pro- minency : ' These things are written that ye John xx. si. might believe that Jesus is the Son of God.' 24 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS OF THE (HAP. HI. In the other Gospels this doctrine is far less ii.i).Tiy'2, 3. prominent; still, wherever it occurs, it is in terms equally decisive of the true and proper divinity of Tiu- secret of the Son, while there is not a single passage in any His biitli hulJ n 1 1 • 1 1 1 • 1 1 in reserve. of them which SO much as hmts at the promulga- tion of the mystery of His humanity. Probably it remained, during His lifetime, a family secret, and necessarily so, in deference to obvious circum- stances. In fact, it could not be divulged at an early period without damage to His claims, which were to be enforced by a species of public evidence amply sufficient to prepare the way for final state- ments with respect to the true origin of His humanity. The several notices contained in the Gospels, particularly Luke's, respecting the reti- cence of the mother, are very suggestive on this head; and there is no doubt that among the things she is said to have ' pondered in her heart,' must be numbered the wonders of the Incarnation. These were deposited with her in the nature of reserves properly belonging to herself, but which also, as belonging to her Son, awaited the order of events, and were not to be forestalled in their publication by impatience, or the more dictates of maternal sentiment. It is highly probable that the particulars of this great mystery recorded in the Gospels were given by our Lord's mother directly to the Apostles and others, after the Ascension, when they were obviously needed to complete the testimony as to Christ's person, and when the season had gone by which would have rendered such disclosures premature. He, who did not permit His disciples to tell men that He was the Christ, bidding them hold their knowledge for a HUMAN SONSHIP IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 25 season in reserve, was hardly likely to permit them chap. hi. to bruit the matter of His own miraculous con- Heb. i. i, 2, 3. ception, if indeed, at that time, they knew any- thing about it. It is an equally interesting, and perhaps more inquirj- wiicn difficult, inquiry, suggested by this subject, at what came conscious particular stages of our Lord's human history, and of hI^w?^^ in what manner, the knowledge came to Him, both i^^ture. as to His lower and higher Sonships. This is a subject to be approached with great reverence and delicac}^, lest we fall, if not into error, yet into a course of curious and vain speculation. It is, nevertheless, certain that both these mysteries must have had their dates of discovery to His conscious- ness. It is also probable the one would follow the other, and, in certain respects, progress in brightness down to the date of His Messianic manifestation. As we cannot suppose our Lord, in His human nature, to have been an exception to every law of humanity, and to have attained in mere child- hood the knowledge appropriate to manhood, so we cannot judge that His acquaintance with these profound facts of His own existence was strictly coincident with that existence, and was indepen- dent of the stages of His human development. On this point we think there can be no mistake. That His development was wonderfully precocious, is indeed matter of positive testimony, and that this precocity took the direction of extraordinary ac- quaintance with divine things is certain; but it is also added, that 'He grew in wisdom, and in stature, and in favour both with God and man.' It was, therefore, not in the law of development, but in tliepowei' of it, that Jesus was a prodigy. 2() HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS OF THE CHAP. III. But with all this, not a word is said by the in- Heb. i. 1, 2, 3. spircd wi'itcrs on the great questions now referred to ; indeed it seems as if the thirty years of our Lord's life were, with the exception mentioned by Luke, absolutely consigned to obscurity, per- haps on purpose to check the invincible tendency to pry into things which God, for wise reasons, makes secret. Yet we cannot think that during those thirty years, our Lord's wonderful attributes were more than in a condition of progress toward maturit}", or that the hour of His public mani- festation could have been unduly delayed. Nor can we think that the circumstances of home life, and of subjection to His parents, together with surroundings of neighbourhood and intercourse with His countrymen, admitted of the full consciousness of the transcendent powers which centred in Him- self. Self-revelation must have borne some propor- tion to His position as a man, and must have ac- corded with that temporary abeyance which was a ' sign ' to them during that long term of mysterious sojourning in Nazareth ; for there is not the least hint in the Gospels that our Lord's Messianic powers were in any instance brought to light during this period : indeed what scope was there in these secluded circumstances for their exercise ? To the men of Nazareth themselves it would seem that His after fame created both surprise and incredulity. At the visit to We turn, however, witli great interest to the one the Tcnii>lp .., . . ^ . , imtt i- aware of His mcidcnt givcu US by Luke, 01 the child Jesus bemg iiouT "^ ^^' with His parents at Jerusalem at the Passover, Luke ii. 41. wlicu He was twclvc ycai's of age; since we gather from it that at so early a stage as this, He was in the possession of the truth of His Fatherhood, — HUMAN SONSHIP IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 27 perhaps in the higher and lower sense, but at least in chap. hi. the latter. As there is no reason to believe that in Heb.i. i, 2, 3. this latter sense He received the fact from outward instruction, but rather from immediate revelation, there seems equal reason to suppose that the higher truth was at least dawning on His mind. This is apparent from His rejoinder to the complaint of His mother, ' Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us ? thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.' ' How is it that ye sought me ? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?' The force of the reply lies in its obvious antithesis to ' thy father and I ' — thus somewhat covertly disowning an earthly fatherhood, accompanied by the recog- nition of a heavenly one. Thus is brought into view the existence at that early time of a supreme Father, to whom He stood very intimately related, and to whom His duty was recognised as taking precedence of all earthly relations and obligations. The saying itself is undoubtedly the thesis of our Lord's entire future ministry, and the summary of His human history; but that He should so early have comprehended His relation to an unseen Father, and the issue of this in a specific form of duty, might well confound His parents, and invest the episode of the Temple with an air of mystery. That the conversation referred to turned upon the signs and characteristics of the Messiah's manifesta- tion, can hardly be doubted. This seems to have been listened to with peculiar interest by the mother, who is not to be supposed to have inter- rupted Him ; and probably we have here the true explanation of Luke's general remark, 'that His mother kept all these sayings,' i.e. these Temple '2S HISTORICAL DEVELOrMENTS OF THE (iiAP. III. sayings, 'in her heart.' 'The Father's business' ii.ii. i. 1,2, 3. thus early opened, was clearly that of awakening, by this wonderful child, a new and more intelligent interest than the doctors possessed on this great national subject, and of drawing attention to Him- self, as the object of national expectation, man}'- years ere lie was actually put before the nation in His full divine auspices. Tiic Tompta- The Temptation, as given us by both Matthew to'thc huniii- and Luke, is evidently framed on the hypothesis inty of Christ. ^^ ^ doublc Souship, 1.6. ou thc Mcsslanic character .Matt. iv. of the divine Son. The subtilty of the Tempter is apparently directed to experimenting on the hit/her truth of His person, from which alone the miracle-working power could be supposed to issue, ■ — 'Command these stones to be made bread,' — while the strength of his appeals lay in the direction of Christ's humanity or His Messiahship; i.e. the Son of God cannot be supposed liable to suffer hunger without the power of self-suppl}'-, or dash Himself down from a pinnacle of the Temple, and be subject to the ordinary laws of bodily existence. His divine humanit}'' or Sonship is the plea of patent against calamity, artfully urged : angels must minister to Him as the Son. The same truth is insinuated as the basis of His claim to universal empire, which should belong to Him as the Son, i.e. in the broad prophetic sense, as the Son of David — only He is to hold it, intermediately at least, as a sort of fief from the Tempter himself. To have pro- posed these temptations to the Godhead is an inadmissil)le absurdity ; they were based on the Messianic relations of the Son, i.e. on the proper Sonship and prerogatives of His humanity. HUMAN SONSHIP IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 29 It may be a questioa not to be satisfactorily chap. hi. settled, what the full import of the baptismal Heb, i. i, 2, 3. scene on the Jordan was. Broadly, it may be The Baptism a culminating regarded as our Lords omcial inauguration, and revelation to as the public recognition of his Messiahship by j^ersonaigiory! the Father. It may, however, mean more than Matt. iii. 17. this ; it may be rather a luli recognition by the Luke iii. 22. Father of His personal glory, and the climax of all antecedent revelations to Him on this head, from His youth upwards. This is rendered more probable by the voice from heaven, related both by Mark and Luke as a personal address to Jesus Himself, instead of to John the Baptist, as given by Matthew. Matthew may have only intended to render what was in fact a personal address to Christ, as given to John because of his proximity to and interest in the scene. On this supposition the Evangelists may be harmonized, for unquestion- ably the scope of the threefold narrative centres in Jesus Himself, not in John the Baptist. To Him the heavens were opened. He saw the Spirit descending on Himself It is highly probable, there- fore, that the voice also was actually addressed to Himself. If so, it is retrospective and culminating; so that, from that hour, the great truth of His own personal glory reached its zenith, and nothing was ever added to it afterwards, nor indeed could be. The same voice, on the Mount of Transfiguration, reiterating the same great oracle, obviously in- tended it for His disciples, for it added, 'Hear Him.' In general it may be safely affirmed that the Divine nature divine Sonship of Jesus is the leading truth through- leadin^^rutu out the New Testament, particularly throughout xestam^nr John's Gospel; and that in our Lord's language, 30 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS OF THE CHAr, III. as rendered by John, the article prefixed to the Heb. i. 1, 2, 3. terms Father and Son is especially discriminative Exceptions, in this rcspect : the Father, the Son. But even in John s Gospel at least a passage or two may be pointed out in which the lower truth can be identified, such as chapter xvii. 21, 22, and 26. The love in which believers have a common fellowship with Himself and the Father, must necessarily be understood as arising from the human Sonship, since the divine must be ineffable and incommunicable. Another passage occurs, chap. XX. 17: 'Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.' In this passage the term 'brethren' at once deter- mines the common ground of FatherhDod between Christ and His disciples as being that of humanity; to which may be added the great argument of the latter clause, 'My God, and3'0ur God,' which is but an emphatic exegesis of the sense of the preceding Fatherhood. It may be in place here further to affirm, that all those passages in our Lord's history in which Ilis mere humanity is made prominent, should be inter- preted on the same principle. For instance, those which notice His seasons of private devotion ; His going up 'into a mountain to pra}^,' and 'continuing all night in prayer to God;' His h^'mn of praise, in company with His disciples, at the Paschal Supper; His communion in the national services ; and even His exercises of authority on two distinct occasions, within the precincts of the Temple. Perhaps also may be included the opening formula Tho Lord's of the Lord's Prayer, ' Our Father which art in 1 rayer. '' ' HUMAN SONSHIP IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 31 heaven,' or those more familiar uses of the term chap. hi. Father in our Lord's ministry, e.g. ' My heavenly Heb, i. i, 2, 3. Father/ or 'your heavenly Father,' addressed to the disciples. Most of these passages certainly suggest to us the sense of Father as common to our Lord and His disciples. One of the strongest examples of the lower use of the term is found in the utterance of the agony: ' Abba, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass The utterance from Me : nevertheless not my will, but Thine, be done.' Such language is clearly applicable alone to the filial humanity, as it expresses that profound submission to the will of God which is the very sublimity of human virtue, but which is totally inapplicable to Him who in His higher nature was equal with God, and one with the Father. The same remark is obviously applicable to our Lord's exclamation on the Cross: 'My God, why hast Thou Matt.xxvu.47. forsaken Me ? ' The Psalm from which it is taken is, like several others, descriptive of the humanity and its exercises, the Godhead being almost entirely withdrawn from view; a circumstance of great im- portance in the interpretation of these facts of the New Testament, showing us how strongly the doctrine of the filial humanity was put forth by the spirit of prophecy in anticipation of the evangelical history. The doctrine of the double Sonship is the key, ^'^^ J^P^^^^f . 1 T n 1 1 Sonship, the indeed, to all the personal statements respecting keytotheper- Christ in the New Testament; some being under- meuts respect- stood in the higher, others in the lower acceptation, yet without any distinction of language or palpable note of difference. The very basis of this language and mode of thought is the double Sonship, which iug Christ. ship. 32 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS OF THE CHAP. 111. is not only common to the four Gospels, but is Heb. i. 1, 2, 3. Carried on through the Acts and the Epistles. It is sufficient to notice the very frequent formulas occurring in St. Paul's Epistles ; e.g. ' the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,' and 'the God and Fatlier of our Lord Jesus Christ;' wliich cannot be referred innnediately to His divinity, but must be inter- preted by a backward reference to the Gospels themselves, such as the passage in John before noticed: 'My Father, and your Father; my God, and your God.' T ''^i iia r"'" There is yet one passage in the Gospels (Mark preted i-.\iiu- xiii. 32) SO dccisivc in this direction, and otherwise .sively of tlie I'lTrvi- imniauSoii- SO encumbcred with dithculties, that it may be fitly adduced as a final selection, illustrating the open- ing verses of the Epistle. ' But of fliat day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.' To attempt to expound this passage by a reference to the force of the Hebrew verb, rendering it ' to make known' instead of ' to know,' is to strain its meaning beyond any safe warrant or licence of criticism ; for in what sense is this applicable to angels? to disembodied men, or men living upon the earth at that time? or even to our Lord's own ministry, which either did or did not make it known as matter of fact ? Least of all can this rendering suit the reference to the Father. The natural and proper sense of the words is obviously that which stands in tlie translation, supported as it is by our Lord's declaration (Acts i. 7), 'The times and the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power ; ' and also confirmed by the style and title of the Apocalypse — ' the llevelation HUMAN SONSHIP IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 33 of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him.' The chap. hi. passage in Mark should therefore be expounded of Heb, i. ], 2, 3. the lower Sonship (commonly included in the de- signation of the higher), but the higher is in this instance excluded precisely as in the first clause of the second verse of this Epistle : the Son who is ranked with the prophets is not the same Son by whom ' God made the worlds.' In the one instance, the human Son is the immediate organ of utter- ance to the world in common with the prophets ; in the other, the divine Son is put before us as the Creator of the w^orlds ; yet they remain undistin- guished. This, we apprehend, is the true interpre- tation of this passage, on which so much criticism has been unsatisfactorily expended. The human Sonship of Christ cannot be omniscient, and might therefore not be acquainted with the great secret of the Father. But it is a sufficient bulwark against Unitarianism, if we maintain the doctrine of the higher Sonship, to which all the divine attributes appertain in connection with the lower, to which the attributes of humanity only belong. We thus avoid doing violence to a plain testimony of our Lord's ; in fact, perverting His own words, from an extreme jealousy to maintain the honour of His Godhead. CHAPTER lY. DOCTRINE OF THE SONSIIIPS TESTED BY AN EXAMINA- TION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES QUOTED IN THE EPISTLE. Ch. i. 4 rufers to the liuinaii nature of Clirist, since the ilivinc ad- mits of no •■oinpaii.son. Heb. I. 4-14. The doctrine of the double Sonsliip already pro- pounded may now be properly tested by an ex- amination of the several Old Testament Scriptures quoted in the first and second chapters of the Epistle. Before entering upon them, we shall, however, examine the fourth verse of the first chapter, by which they are prefaced. ' Being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excel: lent name than they.' The phrase, ' being made so much better than the angels,' is obviously cxcgetic of the previous verse, ' sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high,' and it would have been more intelligible had it not been improperly separated from it. Assum- ing this, it is evident, (1.) That the supremacy here ascribed to the Son is not the same as that inherent in Him in His proper divinity: that dominion is expressed in the third verse, ' uphold- ing all things by the word of His power,' and in the eighth by the declaration, ' Thy throne, God, SONSHIPS DOCTKINE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. 35 is for ever and ever ! ' This sovereignty, being chap, iv. original and absolute, cannot be brought into com- Heb. i. 4-14. parison with any forms of creature sovereignty, but must clearly stand alone ; so that to collate it with that of angels, as being so much better or more excellent than theirs, would have been to depre- ciate, not to exalt it. (2.) Further, the phrase, Mediatorial, T. r 1 • 1 ? • T 'not inherent, ' the right hand of the Majesty on high, is clearly sovereignty expressive of Mediatorial rather than inherent sove- ^^^^^^^^^^ reignty, allusive as it is to the status of a prime minister, who derives his power entirely from the prince. It strictly describes an administrative position, in which the person possessing it has ' no fellows,' but in which he is not removed absolutely beyond the range of comparison with other princi- palities and powers within the same empire. He is immeasurably the chief, but still only an inter- vening power between the throne and its subjects. (3.) It hence follows that 'the more excellent name,' above that of angels, which He obtains 'by in- heritance,' cannot be the name intrinsically divine. Besides, the question which follows, ' To which of the angels said He at any time. Thou art my son ? ' would be devoid of meaning if it were understood as equivalent to the recognition of any angel as possessing divine attributes. The conclusion, then, is, that the name obtained ^JjJ^^* ^J^'^ bv inheritance is a creaturely dignity, drawn not human nature, r> 1 1 not the angelic. from the angelic hosts, but from the human race. The human nature is henceforth personally consti- tuent of Himself and accordingly we understand the inheritance of the name. Son, as ascribed to our Lord's entire person, human and divine. It is an inheritance derived to His human nature 3G DOCTRINE OF THE SONSIIIPS TESTED ciLvr. IV. from its conjunction with tlie divine. This inter- ik'b. i. 4-14. pretationis enforced by a reference to the sixteenth verse (ch. ii.): ' For verily He took not on Ilim the nature of angels ; but lie took on Ilini the seed of Abraham.' ' For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee ? And again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son ? ' We now proceed to the examination of the quota- tions of Old Testament Scriptures bearing on the doctrine of the double Sonship ; but as these quota- tions are intimately related to each other, they will be best illustrated by a mode of interpretation which keeps their relation steadily in view. They are given after the Jewish manner, and are intended to direct attention to the subject-matter of each Psalm, not to a particular verse only. Thus, in the quotation contained in the fifth verse, we see that a reference is understood to the great theme of the second Psalm. The w^ords, ' Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee,' are so evidently Messianic in their application, that to restrict the term Son to the higher sense, as is usually done, is certainly to misinterpret the passage. This is obvious from the broader sense of the word with which the Epistle opens, the argument of the chapter, and the structure of the Psalm from whence it is taken. But beyond this, the words ' this day have I be- gotten Thee ' are decisive against the higher view ; for they destroy the Son's eternity, notwithstanding all attempts to show that 'this day' is a paraphrase for eternity. ' This day ' is never used to signify eternity ; but in Scripture, particularly in the Pro- BY THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 37 pliets, it is uniformly used to signify an unknown chap. iv. but definite period of duration. It is commonly Heb. i. 4-14. used to signify the Messianic age, or some section of it ; by St. Paul, to signify the date of the Resur- rection, and here, the date of the Incarnation. ' I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to 1 chron. xxii. o 5 • ii J J. j_' 1 r» ii 10 refers to the me a bon, is the next quotation, and lurther imman nature sanctions this interpretation of the Sonship of the oni'y ?ouM*de- human nature. A brief reference to the history gend from demonstrates that the human Sonship of the Messiah is the direct subject of promise by Nathan to David, and the divine only by implication. The declaration stands as a promise to David and his house, and could not therefore bear upon the eternal and ineffable relation existing between the Father and the Son, but upon the Incarnation only. God was to stand to the seed or Son of David in the privileged relation of a Father. This promise, in its immediate fulfilment, appertained to Solomon, who was thus made a type of the Messiah, i.e. of His humanity. Besides, the promise itself was a futurity; and the relation here signified not then an accomplished fact, a consideration which must preclude all reference to a divine nature. In a word, the promise, taken in all its circumstances, must be held to be confined to the human descent of the Messiah, which alone could be matter of dj^nastic significance to David, though in his pro- phetic character he doubtless well understood that the higher truth of the Messiah's divinity was included. The Sonship and the roy- The second and seventy-second Psalms (both of aity of the them David's own) corroborate and illustrate this subject of the view, since they were in all probability written after, ptaiml^^^ 38 DOCTRINE OF THE SOXSIIIPS TESTED CHAP. IV. and in consequence of, this promise of Nathan to Hob. i. 4-11. David. In both, the royalty of the Messiah is the great theme of prophetic description ; and in both, also, the Sonship is made prominent. Hence these Psalms are to be viewed as exponents of the promise in these two great leading features, and derive an additional interest when placed together in this light. The Son, in the quotation (from the second Psalm), is the Son of David and the Son of God. He is the Lord's Anointed, agreeably to the theocratic type, and is therefore said to be seated ' on the Holy Hill of Zion.' He is represented as the oracle of the divine 'decree,' which respects the nature and extent of His rule. The terms of it correspond with the theocratic type : He has the heathen for His inheritance. He rules with a rod of iron, i.e. over rebel subjects, and maintains His dominion with full integrity against every opposing confederation. The inter- pretation of this 'decree,' by the Son Himself, seems obviousl}'' to refer to the fulfdment of the promise, ' I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to me a Son.' This promise was ratified to mllsStfthe Christ personally, as is proved by the evangelical filial relation history, by the genealogies, by the angelic message, humanity. and by a voice from heaven. On this ground, therefore. He prefers His claim to dominion under the beautiful form of a request made by a son to a father, at that Aither's own instance : 'Ask of me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheri- tance.'^ The aUusion found in Acts iv. 25 to * The 72lI P.salm runs in the sarac strain. The King is there described as the King's Son, i.e. the Son of David, to denote that He is the personage to be identified in the fullihnent of the prophecy. Here, too, the human side of the MeSisiah's person is the one ex- BY THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. S9 the second Psalm, is of importance to our purpose chap. iv. chiefly for the prominence given to its Messianic Heb. i. 4-14. structure by the Apostles. The doctrine of the divine Sonship seems entirely passed over, as if taken for granted ; while the Christship of Jesus is dwelt upon with intense emphasis. Throughout He is paralleled with David in his royalty, and in his servant-like attributes.^ ' And again, when He bringeth in the first- begotten into the world, He saith. And let all the angels of God worship Him.' The quotation taken from the ninety-seventh First-begottm _ -"■ •' _ spoken oi the Psalm is prefaced by the sentence in which the human Sou- ship. clusively presented, while His empire is put before us as a scene of world-wide peacefulness, holiness, and love. ' The whole earth is filled with His glory,' i.e. with the glory of the God of Israel, when these wonderful things are brought to pass in the perfected empire of the Messiah. Isaiah the 9th chapter, 6th and 7th verses, may be collated with these testimonies, and in confirmation of this doctrine of the Sonship. Verse 6 is very striking in this direction : ' Unto us a child is born,' etc. The words obviously refer to the great promise to David, and to the humanity of the Son as a descendant of his royal house ; while the titles and prerogatives ascribed to Him in the same breath are descriptive of the Sonship in the higher sense : ' Wonderful,' ' Coun- sellor,' ' The mighty God,' ' The everlasting Father,' ' The Prince of Peace.' The word Father is not here expressive of personality, any more than ' Prince of Peace ; ' it is an official title, probably referring to that diviner geniture of human nature beyond that of Adam, of which He is the author in His incarnate character. Verse 7 : ' Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David,' is a compendium of the two Psalms before quoted, and is chiefly remarkable for the introduction of the clause ' the throne of David,' and its application by the Angel to Jesus (Luke i. 32), in anticipation of His birth, as the Son of God. It further shows how the sceptre of the Messiah over all nations is continually coupled with His Sonship from David, and the theocratic type exhibited by David as His sire. The whole doctrine is in truth given us by the Lord Himself, at the close of the Apocalypse : ' I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star.' 1 (Acts ch. iv.) Hoclg is the term applied to Christ and to David in the same paragraph — verses 25, 27, and 30. As vxli cannot 40 DOCTRINE OF THE SONSHIPS TESTED CHAP. IV. term * first-bcgotten ' occurs; it is also entirely Ht'b. i. 4-14. Messianic, as its structure shows. Hence ' first- begotten ' or 7r/3WTOTo«o?, though unquestionably used (Col. i. 15) for the divine Sonship of Christ, and as equivalent to etKoyv or fiovo^/evi]^^ is elsewhere used to signify the humanity also, or the Incarnate Son. It is so in the very same paragraph : ' Who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead,' — equi- valent to TT/jtoTOTo/to? (ver. 18). He is the ' first- begotten ' as ' broup;ht into the world,' and in His incarnate and Messianic state entitled to universal homage.^ EioLim— ml- The exprcssiou, ' Let all the ano;els of God worship ing powers, *■ ' ^ ° _ ^ -^ angels or men. Him,* put as the interpretation of ' worship Him, all ye gods,' is not intended to exhaust its meaning, but as setting forth that view of the Son's pre- rogatives most in harmony with the argument of be taken in its primary sense, ' child,' in reference to David, neither can it be so taken in reference to Jesus, but in its secondary sense, servant — 'Thy holy servant Jesus.' In this rendering we see the current of apostolic thought ran towards the office, not the person of Christ ; for ttuI;, rendered servant, is equivalent to Anointed or Christ, and this again to royalty, or the theocratic headship, of which David was the type. Thus, our Lord is 'ttkI;, or servant, even in Hi3 glorified supremacy ; for He is still but a viceroy, though of ineffable prerogatives, because His humanity is joined to and one with His divinity as the Son. 1 Indeed, the term ' first-born ' or ' first -begotten ' is capable of yet wider illustration, taken from earlier OM Testament examples. It i3 applied, for instance, to the Hebrew nation, Exodus iv. 22 : ' Thus saitli the Lord, Israel is my son, even my first-bom ; ' and probably also accounts for the name of Israel, first applied to the patriarch himself, and afterwards to the people, his descendants. ' Israel, the prince of God,' imports the mystic name of primogeniture to be un- folded in the covenant eminence of his posterity, and finally in the person of Jesus Christ, and His spiritual seed, the Cliurch. Tliis view accounts for the quotation by ilatthew (cli. ii. l.'i) of the prophecy of HoRca, as fulfilled by the return of the infant Christ out of Egypt: ' Out of Egypt have I called my Son,' i.e. my first-born, mine Israel or divine prince. If the historical allusion to the Israelites and the BY TPIE OLD TESTAMENT SCEIPTUEES. 41 these chapters. The only difficulty lies in the chap. it. form of the quotation. It is taken from the Heb. i. 4-u. Septuagint, and may have accorded with the text as it then stood — or, if not, in an equivalent render- ing of ' all ye gods ' — since Elohim is here used as in another Psalm, quoted by our Lord, to signify ruling powers or magistrates. Or the words may be understood as comprising ' the powers of the world to come,' and in this wide sense gods or Elohim include angels ; indeed, the reference here may be to angels rather than to men, both because the argument requires it, and because that homage due from men to Christ was long to be deferred, while that of angels was promptly tendered. ' And of the angels He saith. Who maketh His angels spirits,^ and His ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.' These quotations from Psalm xlv., whilst they Antithesis be- are remarkable for the explicitness of their state- son^g^iiiberent ment respecting the divine and human natures of f^° j*^His"sove- rei<^nty as tli*" T-i-i-i ,. 1 ». -ii- o God-man. Exodus be anything more than a fancy in respect to the history ot Christ, the relation on which the fulfilment is made to depend must be in substance what is now stated, i.e. the Sonship or first-boru dignity of the Hebrew nation was really a type of the first-bom dignity of the most illustrious of its sons in after times. Its fortunes were, therefore, in some sense made to foreshadow those of the personal Christ, as the true Israel or Prince of God, the first-born among many brethren. ^ Pneurnata should not have been rendered 'spirits,' but winds ; for it is not the nature of angels which is described as being spiritual, but their agency. They are not made spirits in the sense of being 42 DOCTRINE OF THE SOXSIIIPS TESTED cHAi'. IV. the ]\[essiah, are equally so for the antithesis which Heb. i. 4-14. they cxliibit between the original sovereignty of the Son as God, and the Mediatorial sovereignty which belongs to Ilim as the God-man. The eternity and righteousness ascribed to His govern- ment are declaratory of His essential prerogatives. They pertain to His dominion as it shall subsist when His Mediatorial empire shall have ceased, since His Mediatorial rule is but a section of His essential rule, and a measure for carrj'ing it out to its final consummation.^ 'The oil of gladness' signifies the joy of that power to which He is elevated as the reward of His humiliation and sufferings. The phrase, 'above Thy fellows,' also clearly denotes His human or world sovereignty, and that its administration is especially directed to the enforcement of the love of righteousness and hatred of iniquity, on which His dominion is founded. His 'straight rod' or ' sceptre of righteousness ' is emphatically brought out in the history of His kingdom. Key to the ^ steady regard to the argument of the chapter, statements in ... r ^ the 45th and in this quotation to the twofold view of the Psahn. created spirits, but in their appointments or modes of service. In this they are hke the winds : these are great powers in natm'e, and angels are great powers in the economy of the universe. Our Lord even compares the agency of the Holy Spirit to the wind ; it cannot, therefore, be considered as beneath the dignity of the Angelic Ministry to illustrate it in a similar way. The verse winds up with a second illustration, in exact keeping with it: 'His ministers a flame of fire,' or rather lightning ; another wonderful agent in the kingdom of nature, and fitted to impress ua with the awful energy and inconceivable celerity of angelic action. ^ Osof cannot be taken in the lower sense, as some have supposed ; nor does the kindred reading, 'God is Thy throne,' avoid the difficulty, because the same attributes of dominion are ascribed to the Being whose throne God is said to be, as to God, i.e. He must wield the sceptre of God, and therefore, in the nature of things, must be God. BY THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTUEES. 43 Messiah as the Son and the Mediator, removes all chap. iv. ambiguity from the doctrine of the Psalm, and the HeL. i. 4-14. difficulty which would otherwise arise from the recognition of one Being as God in the beginuing of the paragraph (' Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever'), and the recognition of another Being as God ('Therefore God, even thy God,' etc.) in the latter part. From this difficulty the New Testament doctrine alone can extricate us, which ascribes an essential divinity to the Son, with the personal supremacy of the Father. ' And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth ; and the heavens are the works of Thine hands : they shall perish ; but Thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment ; and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed : but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail.' We may preface this quotation from the 102d Likewise to Psalm by supplying an ellipsis, which harmonizes it io2d Psaim. with preceding introductory formulas: 'He saith.' Moreover, this quotation, like the former, is a Septuagint rendering of the Hebrew, which in this, as in many other instances, slightly differs from the strict rendering of the existing text. Kupie is evidently thrown into verse 10 of the Epistle, from verse 24 of the Psalm, where it stands, ' my God.' The Being addressed in the Psalm is the Lord, and also God, though here rendered by Kvpio'i. On the authority of the Epistle, as well as from the structure of the Psalm, the Being so designated is the Son. To Him eternity is ascribed — 'Thy years are throughout all generations;' to Him also creation is ascribed 44 DOCTRINE OF THE SONSIIirS TESTED CHAP. TV. (ngrcealjly to the second verse of the Epistle), and Heb. i. 4-14. sovereignty over hnman life — 'Take me not away in the midst of my days.' These are all ascriptions to the Son as divine ; but verse twelve follows the usual order of transition from the higher to the lower nature of the Son, and also is explicit as to Ilis Mediatorial supremacy: 'As a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed.' The Son creates as God, but He changes and re-fashions as the God-man. His eternity is re- affirmed in both natures after the upshot of these great works: 'But Thou art the same, and Thy years shall have no end,' obviously rendered in the closing chapter of the Epistle, 'Jesus Christ, the same yesterdaj^, and to-day, and for ever.'^ ' But to which of the angels safd He at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool ? ' David fully This vcrsc coutains the quotation from Psalm alive to the . . (liviuity of the cx., and IS remarkable on two accounts: It is, essia . ^^^^^ David's own testimony to the Mediatorial supremacy of the Messiah, and to the breadth of David's prophetic knowledge of this mysteiy, yet still connecting these glories of the divine Son with the fleshly descent from himself. It thus stands remarkably in proof of the high spiritual views concerning the Messiah propagated by the ^ The statements iu this Psalm relating to Jewish restoration, include far more than the re-edification of Jorusalera and its Temple, since in these ' the Lord is said to appear in His glory,' — a very pregnant evangelical intimation. Besides, the author of the Psalm declares his writijig to be for another age than his own (v. 18), and to foretell the creation of a people for the praise of the Lord, which cannot be interpreted but of the Christian Church. Neither can the remarkable dcscriittion of restorative agency iu the following verses be ascribed to any but the Lord Christ. BY THE OLD TESTAMENT SCKIPTURES. 45 prophets from the earliest times, and is to be chap. iv. regarded in the light of a protest against the Heb. i. 4-14. secular and merely rational views of Him subse- quently prevalent, which formed the great barrier to our Lord's acceptance by the Jews of His own age. Secondly, this quotation is remarkable for the use which our Lord Himself made of it in His last discourses in the Temple, in which He endeavoured to recall the Jews to the true prophetic faith, very Ps. ex. i. especially David's own faith, respecting the Messiah, Sia°tt?xxii. u. so strikingly opposed to the low humanitarian con- ceptions of Him then entertained by His enemies, who, it seems, only retained the half, and that the lesser half, of the ancient faith. They held the The humanity humanity, but had lost the divinity of the Messiah; by the Jews* and that lowered personal view of Him was accom- SiriS. '^^^ '' panied of necessity by a lowered view of His prerogatives. His Mediatorial supremacy was lost sight of, as the Lord at God's right hand, and He was simply 'Messiah the Prince,' or national potentate, the glory of Israel, and the Lord of the nations, but not of the universe. In this view, however, it was impossible He should be David's Lord, while only David's Son. If the divinity be lost sight of, the force of the challenge is no longer apparent : ' To which of the angels said He at any time,' as unto this Lord, ' Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?' ' Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation ? ' This verse, while it registers the answer to this Nature of tiie question by asking another, opens to us a glorious stry since the view of the Angelic Ministry. Denying them any- ^^^-^e^^^^"- 46 SONSHIPS DOCTRINE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. CHAP. IV. thing like parity with Christ in power, and even Hell. i. 4 14. keeping out of sight their manifold orders and pre- rogatives, as intimated in the Scriptures of both Testaments, yet the ministry here accorded to them is probably the most exalted which their history developes, and one which, in a pre-eminent degree, conduces to their own blessedness. ' They are all ministering (or liturgical) spirits.' As pre- viously explained (see ver. 7), this character in- cludes them all ; but, in this verse, a special direc- tion of their energies to the welfare of the Church and the salvation of individuals is intimated. In the question, 'Are they not all ministering spirits?' the statement implied, that angels are promoted in their ministry as related to the heirs, of salvation, so far from showing that they have any fellowship with Christ in the prerogatives of His kingdom, tends in the other direction, viz. to show that their promotion is the effect of their subjection to Him as the Lord at God's right hand. NOTE ON THE AGENCY OF ANGELS UNDER THE LAW. 47 NOTE. NOTE ON THE AGENCY OF THE ANGELS ^'^- "' ^"^• UNDER THE LAW. [For the sake of preserving the order of the Epistle unimpaired, the Exposition of the first four verses of the Second Chapter is in- serted here, — though, as the reader will not fail to observe, it has no connection with the argument of the chapters between which it is placed. — Eds.] * Therefore v^e onglit to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them sli^?. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience re- ceived a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will ? ' The great peculiarity to be marked in these verses lies in the relation assigned to the angels in the delivery and administration of the law. This is contrasted with the sole administrative supremacy of the dispensation of the gospel ascribed to Christ. On this distinction hinges the weighty exhortation of the opening verse : ' Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed,' etc. This same verse intimates a parallel not fanciful, but real, between the first generation of Christians, and the generation of Israelites called to witness the scenes of Sinai and the wilderness. Both are represented as spectators and listeners, with respect to an order of things, wonderful and peculiar, as distinguished by responsibility, as it was by privileges. In truth, we may regard the concluding section of chapter twelve as here distinctly pre-intimated : * Ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, but iinto Mount Zion.' The things described in this language mark the two great epochs of revelation, the law and the gospel — the one given from Mount Sinai, the other from Mount Zion. It is in direct reference to these two epochs, and the relations of contemporary people to each, that the 48 NOTE OX THE AGENCY OF ANGELS UNDER THE LAW. NOTK. plirasG is most forcible, 'lest at any time \ve should let ., ,~~~, , them slip,' — i.e. sufter the impression of the OTeat evan- Hel). u. 1-4. , . . „ , , , • -. 3- ' 1 gelical verities to fade away, thereby exposing its disciples to the danger of an open apostasy, as was the case with the Israelites in the matter of the golden calf. If this criminality and peril were something strange and terrible, theirs must needs be much more aggravated M'ho should fall away from the word spoken by the Lord, or by the men supernaturally attested to be His emissaries to the world. This is the more apparent, when it is remembered that not law and polity, but salvatiox, was the glorious burden of the Christ and His Apostles. As it was a gift He only could bestow, so was it a doctrine which He only could broach. This is the first note of pre-eminence in the gospel above the law. A second follows : ' God also bearing them witness;' — the mission of the Son was throughout attested by the Father, both during His human history and by the descent of tlie Holy Ghost upon His Apostles, in token of His enthronement and glory. A third com- pletes these notes of pre-eminence, viz. the (/ifts of the Holy Ghost, including the external and authenticating miracles of His power, and the internal, spiritual, and saving operations of His presence. The gospel, in respect therefore to the mode in which it was given, stands im- measurably higher than the law. In contrast with this, we have ' the law ' introduced as ' the word spoken by angels,' — ' stedfast,' as denotuig that it was a rescript of divine authority, and that it had the force of divine law to which sanctions were annexed of adequate breadth and precision. This is descriptive of law as woven into a polity, and as a rule of government. But why is it described as 'the word spoken by angels?' Docs this apply to the Decalogue, or merely to the sub- ordinate parts of the law ? It is somewhat remarkable that the mmistry of angels in the delivery of the law is altogether passed over in the history of that event, and that we are indebted for our information on this point to the pro- phetic Scriptures and to the New Testament : see especially I's. Lxviii. 17 J Acts vii. 53; Gal. iil 19. NOTE ON THE AGENCY OF ANGELS UNDER THE LAW. 49 It is also remarkable tliat the same word is employed in NOTE, both passages,. S/ara/g/s, to denote the ministry of angels tti"'^i 4 on this occasion. From this, it may at least be gathered that whatever may have been the precise nature of that ministry, this term may be held to describe it appropriately, and not to denote, as has been sujDposed, the order or dis- position of the angels themselves. To receive the law through ranks of angels conveys no intelligible idea of their office at all, whereas hiarayug is very suggestive of some intermediate action of an angelic sort, as between God and Moses, to whom the law was given. It seems, therefore, pertinent to assume that the law, in the form in which Moses delivered it, was really disposed, arranged, and given by angels. In this sense, the law was the work of angels ; in some mysterious manner, really and truly indited by them, in converse with the mind of Moses. This is not a singular doctrine, however : we meet with it in the Prophets, where the angels are represented in a special sense as the guardians of the Hebrew nation. One of them is called Michael your Prince; and the opening chapters in Zechariah are particularly suggestive on this point. There they are represented as keeping vigils over the glorious land, as fraying away the horns of the Gentiles, and as being profoundly concerned in the restoration of Jerusalem. Likewise, the Apocalypse is said to have been ' sent and signified ' by an angel of Christ to ' His servant John.' This seems to have been so current a doctrine among the Jews, that almost every supernatural communi- cation was referred to an angel. Thus, when the voice came from heaven, in answer to our Lord's ' Father, glorify Thy name,' some of the people said, ' An angel spake unto Him;' and again, when the dispute arose between the Pharisees and Sadducees, when Paul was arraigned before them, the Pharisees said, ' If an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God.' But, whilst it is undoubtedly a true doctrine that the law was ' ordained by angels,' it may be questioned whether this includes the law proper — i.e. the Decalogue. The herald trumpet which preceded it was undoubtedly angelic, but the utterances which followed were as undoubtedly D 50 KOTE ON THE AGENCY OF ANGELS UNDER THE LAW. NOTE- the words of God Himself. Indeed, the preface to them Hob. ii. i-L fittests as much : ' God spake tliese words ; ' they are re- ferred to as distinguished by this fact from every other llos. viii. 12. portion of the law; and again, in Hosea, God identifies the Decalogue as the ' great things ' of His law which He gave to them. Moreover, the description given of the ' word spoken by angels ' tells in the same direction, since it refers to a mul- titude of ordinances to the transgression of which temporal punishments were awarded. This looks more like a refer- ence to the details of the law, — not to add that the penalties attacliiiig to the moral law, the Decalogue, were of a far more terrible order, so tliat St. Paul calls it ' the ministra- tion of death,' and, in another place, ' that as many as were of the works of the law were under the curse,' both which statements regard the Decalogue, and not the ceremonial law. NOTE ON THE PAULINE AUTHOKSHIP. 51 NOTE ON THE PAULINE AUTHOESHIP. The comparison drawn out between Christ and the angels in the Epistle to the Hebrews, eh. ii. vers. 7, 8, and 9, and the conclusions established by it, are strong inci- dental confirmations of its Pauline Authorship, since we gather from passages in the Epistles to the Corinthians, Ephesians, and Philippians, that this was a favourite topic with St. Paul. For instance, the phrase found in the 8th Psalm, ' Eor He hath put all things under His feet,' occurs, Eph. i. 21, 22, in connection with a train of thought strik- ingly similar: ' Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come; and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church.' What is this but another rendering of the verses immediately before us ? So, in 1 Cor. XV. 27, the same passage recurs: 'And hath put all things under His feet;' and the same style of comment obtains there, which we observe here; for when it is said, 'All things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is excepted who did put all things under Him.' The collation of these passages goes far to establish the common authorship of these Epistles. The universal supremacy of the Mediator is, in them all, the doctrine asserted and argued from this self-same Scripture in a manner thoroughly indicative of a plenary illumination on the sense of this prophecy. This remark is especially true with respect to the renderiug of the phrase, 'all things under His feet,' which, in the Hebrews, is extended to signify an universe dominion over the creatures, and, in the Epistle to the Corinthians, is again so absolutely construed as to include all beings save God Himself. It is difficult to conceive that this phrase could have been so treated, but by the same mind. This manner of dealing with prophecy itself implies a plenary inspiration; for while undoubtedly the Psalm is, on its own showing. Messianic, the interpretations thrown in of particular passages, as in this and the following verses, NOTE. Heb. ii. 7-9. ^r2 NOTE ON THE PAULINE AUTHORSHIP. NOTE. cannot be said to arise from the mere laws of exegesis. lIcb~ii~''-9 "^^^^y ^^° rather light brought to the passages than light arising out of them, and imply an authority in the breadth and specialities of their interpretation legitimate only in an inspired man. True, the elevation of man by the sway of the ^lessiah over the earth is patent enough from the structure of the Psalm ; but this would not justify us in rendering the phrase, ' all things under His feet,' as de- claratory of an universe rather than of a world dominion merely, still less would it justify us in interpreting this elevation of manhood by the Messiah in His own Person, rather than by His rule over men, least of all, in de- scribing this rule as originating in the atonement, and as consisting in its administration. These addenda are, a.ssui'edly, of apostolic inspiration, and are among the last and bxi^Oitest parts of the testimony of Christ. CHAPTER V. DOCTRINE OF THE SONSHIPS TESTED BY AN EXAMHSTA- TION OP THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES QUOTED IN THE ERISTLE. Heb. II. 5-9. The subject of Messiah's empire is continued in the second chapter, beginning at the fifth verse. ' For unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.' It stands as a preface to the quotation from the 8th Psalm, and discloses to us particularly the world dominion of Christ. After all discussion as to the meaning of this phrase, ' the world to come,' nothing is really plainer than that it is expressive of the breadth and prospectiveness of the God- man's dominion. No other meaning can consist- ently be attached to the words, olKovfievr] /xeXkova-a^ than the human world, or the world of the future. The ' world to J^^^ 1' J. ' o ' J. J.- n come ' the hu- Ihe entn^e strani oi previous quotation, as well as nmnworuiof argument, settles this. *^^ ^^*'^^^- Throughout all the prophecies of a Messianic order, the one doctrine of world rule is sin- Christ's world gularly paramount. The higher doctrine of uni- statedJ^Hif^ verse rule is perhaps scarcely more than vaguely o^i^Ynti-^"^^ intimated, and may be said to rest almost entirely mated. on New Testament authority; but as to world ride, this testimony of Jesus is the very spirit 54 DOCTrJNE OF THE SONSIIIPS TESTED ciiAr. V. of prophecy. The plirase, 'world to come,' is Hcb. ii. 5-9. Undoubtedly meant to divide the world into two epochs — the pre-Mes«ianic and the post-Messianic, the world of the past from the world of the future, — and to intimate, as will be noticed more fully, the concentration of all world power, from the epoch of the Ascension, in Christ alone. There was no enthroned Mediator through the ages of the past, — Christ's Jiiunanity was not then set on the right hand of the Majesty on high.^ The non- subjection of this world of the future to the sway of angels should be taken in connection with verse 7, where man is said to be made, for 'a little while, lower than the angels.' The testimonies are antithetic: the man is first lower, then higher, than the angels. ' But one in a certain place testified, saying. What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels ; Thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of Thy hands : Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.' r.s. viii. The This quotation from the 8th Psalm is very notice- ih'idry tuuRiit; able as bringing before us the human and secondary I.niy'intiu'lx- ^spcct of the Sou's pcrsou ; iu truth, He is here ronduiiou ^ dcscribcd as ' Man,' or ' the Son of Man.' Turning to the Psalm itself, we find that the supreme Nature forms only the exordium and the ^ The world of the past wiis of necessity subjected to the sway of the pre-existing Mediator; but His man-rule, so characteristic of the ages of the future, necessarily awaited the issue of Ilis human history. (See Mediatorial Sovereignty.') BY THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 55 conclusion : ^ Lord, how excellent is Thy name in chap. v. all the earth 1 ' These appellations undoubtedly Heb. u. 5-9. express the divinity of the Son. ' Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings Thou hast ordained strength,' is a clear pre-inti- mation of the issue of a sovereign ordinance, for the utter suppression of His enemies, strikingly characteristic of the Apostles and their ministry; i.e. He ordains that His all-subduing power shall work by means of the most insufficient and con- temptible human agencies, — the utterances of mere babes are to be used for the accomplishment of the most stupendous work ever to be accomplished in the earth, viz. the perfect establishment of His own spiritual kingdom. The second verse, then, is in perfect accordance with the first, as it exhibits the means by which His name is made excellent in all the earth. The third verse of the Psalm carries us back for a moment to the divinity of the Son as the Creator : ' When I consider Thy heavens.' This forms the climax to the antithesis of the Incar- nation. ' What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou visitest him?' This stoop from the majesty of the Creator to Ps. viii. 5, the humility of manhood is the great evangelical tithesis m mystery, and comprises that mindfulness of man and visitation of him intended by the writer. The fifth verse sets forth the condition of the Redeemer's humanity: 'Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels.' The expression obviously suggested the antithesis in verse 4 of the Epistle, ' being made so much better than the angels,' both expressions referring exclusively to 56 DOCTRINE OF THE SONSHIPS TESTED (HAP. Y. ranh, not to nature. The same verse furnishes a Hub. ii. 5-9. second instance in which the word Elohim is translated angels, suggesting to us the prevalent current of inspired thought in these same chapters as being that of a comparison, extended and variously particularized, between the dominion of Christ and that of angels. This humiliation is, however, followed in verse 5 by the antithesis of man glorified in Christ : ' Hast crowned him with glory and honour.' Before leaving the Psalm for the exposition of it in the Epistle, two things claim attention : The humanity (1.) That the Son's divinity is represented as the of Ciirist exists i.imiy for' the Immediate cause of the elevation of the manhood ; 51'mptTon! ^'^' ^'•^- the purposes of the Supreme Nature rule the conditions of the creature nature, — manhood is what it is in Christ, purely for the purposes of its redemption. Thus, the expression, 'a little lower than the angels,' taken in its application to the history of the God-man, pre-intimates the most wonderful fact of that history, viz. the total absence of power or dominion, which marked the earthly condition of Jesus Christ. He possessed no princedom, either national or local, much less universal. lie exercised no function of govern- ment in any degree, but placed Himself aloof (as if it were a ruling point with Him) from every species of power. 'He took upon Him the form of a servant,' not of a king. Thus, the history is literally a luminous fulfilment of the prophecy, ' a little while lower than the angels.' Further, the 'notices of dominion with which the Psalm closes are all to be construed in the same wa}^ : they are notices simply of the dominion of the manhood. BY THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 57 brought up by the Godhead of the Son to this chap. v. pitch of supremacy. This train of thought re- Heb. ii. 5-9. markably falls in with that of the Epistle. (2.) A second point to be noticed from the Psalm Dominion of makes it yet more plain that the human view of not the divine, the Sonship is the one intended in the argument theVsaim. ^ of the Epistle, since the description of human dominion in our Lord's person is obviously taken from that of primitive man, as given in Genesis. There, Adam is invested with full dominion over the creatures in the very same terms, as being the 'image of God,' or, according to St. Luke, as the 'son Gen. i. 26. of God,' and, according to St. Paul, as 'the figure of Kom. v. u." Him that was to come.' In both the first and second Adam, the humanity is the filial representative of Deity; but in the latter instance, the ineffable mys- tery of a personal union with Him is superadded. It may not be overlooked that, when putting Double state- together the Psalm and the inspired comment of and Epistle re- the Epistle, there is this difference between them, ourLoS's^i resolvable into the difference existing; between and my Father ° are one. prophecy and the fulness of evangelical doctrine, viz. that in the Psalm the divinity of the Son alone is presented to us as the ruling cause of the conditions of the manhood, while in the New Testament it is the divinity of the Father, or God ; but it is obvious that the harmony between the prophecy and the evangelical doctrine is not in the least affected. One position is as precisely true as the other, and may be briefly illustrated by the double statement of the Gospels, that the Son was the author of His own resurrection, and that He was raised up by the glory of the Father ; or by another, ' I and my Father are one.' 58 DOCTRINE OF THE SONSHIPS TESTED CHAP. Y. Leaving the 8th Psalm, and turning to the Epistle, ileb. ii. 5-9. we find that it supplies us with several most import- ant testimonies with respect to our Lord's dominion. iioL.ii. c,7,8, 'But now wc See not yet all things put under Him;' i.e. the universe, but particularly the world, which alone is open to our observation, is not yet answerable to the programme of this dominion. The facts and doctrines of the gospel stand almost alone and unsupported by the fticts of humanity, taken on the widest scale. For example, the doctrine of the Messiah's supremacy over nations as such is very partially illustrated by their moral and religious condition. Society at large is far from being moulded after the evangelical model ; as yet, individuals only show some approximation to the requirements of His religion. The laws, customs, manners, tastes, culture, and pursuits of men in general, are for the most part alien from His sceptre even now : how much more when this Epistle was written ? As yet, facts can hardly be said to carry us further than the Testimony as the Apostles left it ; nor the indications of finality to be much more distinct, after the lapse of eighteen centuries, than they were in the apostolic age. ' We see not yet all things put under Him.' The 'yet' of this declaration bears the weight of all intervening historic fact, without giving us much elevation of standpoint ; experience and faith still are held together in equal measure, and tread with equal step. The world ex- Tlic grouud of this unfinished state of His king- purposes of dom becomes apparent when we remember that atonement. ^|^g declared objcct of the Son's exaltation is the administration of Atonement. All other measures BY THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. 59 are subordinate to this one, and are within certain chap. v. degrees kept in abeyance till the purposes of grace Heb. li. 5-9. in alliance with the Atonement, and its offices for the w^orld, are accomplished. Thus, 'we see not yet all things put under Him,' is a declaration strictly antithetic to what follows, ' we see Jesus.' This double statement is exactly descriptive both of the New Testament economy, and of New Testa- ment revelation. It is light within a given hemi- sphere, yet shading off into darkness unbounded and impenetrable. This is particularly true of the future progress and final issues of the kingdom of the Son. These appertain to the domain of faith merely, stedfast and sublime it is true, but entirely unaided by glimpses of the outlines, much less of the filling up. They are the things perpetually witnessed by the Holy Ghost, and are the glory of the Lord risen upon His Church, and its sun, which shall no more go down. Hence the unfinished kingdom is, in fact, the brightest augury of grace to the world ; it is thrown forward into the im- .measurable future purely by the sovereignty of grace, and in order that the Son may see His seed, prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord prosper in His hand. ' But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man.'^ (Ver. 9.) The prominency given to the suffering of death as the immediate ground of Christ's exaltation, 1 The ninth verse will be treated at length elsewhere. It is cited here solely in its bearings on the doctrine of the Sonships, the argument on which it appropriately closes, [Eds.] 60 SONSniPS DOCTRINE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. CHAP. V. Heb. ii. 5-0. Th(* di\'ine nature asso- ciated witli the huTiian through its career of hu- miliation. Tliis only pos- sible by sclf- niled subjec- tion. fixes tliG human view of Tlis person as tlie one most immediately and vividly before us. But the entire career of the manhood^ from humiliation and suffering to the monarchy of the universe, implies also a corresponding movement in the divine Sonship itself, since the Son (as a pre-condition to the assumption of humanity) is supposed capable of initiating creaturely relations not appertaining to his status as the divine Son. A creature He could not become, consistently with His sovereignty as the Son, save by self-ruled subjection to this state, which, according to St. Paul (Philippians ii. 6), entailed in the way of con- sequence all the after acts of which His humanity was the outward exponent. An impersonation with manhood could only follow this voluntary relation of the Supreme Nature to the one to be assumed, while all the acts of redemption, as they were afterwards developed, were the proper effects of this primary cause — the correlation of both Son- ships in one person. The two natures in the one person are indissolubly bound together throughout the entire history of redemption. The Person of the Son, as human and divine, must be considered as equally concerned in the work of Atonement, and the glorification of the Son in His supreme nature, or in the ' form of God,' as St. Paul terms it, was as much an issue of it as the glorification of the manhood itself. CHAPTER VI. ATONEMENT — IN ITS RELATION TO GOD. Heb. I. 3. ' When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.' It has been before stated that the groundwork of the Epistle is manifestly contained in this third verse ; it is the text of the entire discourse, — the great doctrinal fount whose streams thence diverge into separate channels, but can be hardly said to derive anything from other sources. The Atone- Atonement J • ,1 T 1 J.' J. Ji J. 1.1 o the correlative ment is the grand correlative truth to the person oi truth to that Christ, and it, as it were, interposes itself between ll^^^^^^^'^ that Person and His official glory ; in consequence, that official glory, though in the most absolute sense regal, is essentially priestly. But as this priestly glory is the reflection of the one pre- eminent fact of Atonement, it is in place here to examine the nature of the latter, and to show its importance in the evangelical economy. (1.) He is said by Himself to have 'purged our Having made 7 -n 1 , 1 1 • ,1 T n a lustration of Sins. Perhaps the phrase is more correctly rendered our sins, de- thus: 'After having made a lustration of our sins provSo^Jof by Himself,' — the intention of the writer being to atonement. describe a provision for the purification from sin as made by Christ, not an administration of that 62 ATONEMENT— IN ITS RELATION TO GOD. (HAP. VI. provision, since the latter could only take place Heb. i. 3. as the result of His being seated at the right hand of the ^lajesty on high. Doubtless, the phrase, as it stands, ' when He had by Himself purged our sins,' nobly expresses both the all-perfect nature and the issues of this provision ; but the objection lies against it, that it is less conformable with the original than the rendering just given, less apposite to the scope of the writer, and certainly less in harmony with the legal ordinances, to which there is here a very marked reference. The law always distinguished between an ordinance and its ad- ministration : the ordinance was absolute and immutable, but its application was necessarily contingent on seasons and circumstances. (2.) Again, though a word is used here signifying purification, rather than expiation of sin, and one which therefore expresses but a secondar}^ and To the Heb- perfecting office of atonement, yet it is fully rew, purifica- . , , , , ^ tion implied equivalent to iKaaT-qpiov or KaraXkayt]^ because, m the mind of the Hebrew, atonement in the strict and proper sense was never separated from the work of purification. Atonement was an essential preliminary to the removal of legal defilements, which were supposed, ceremonially at least, to bear the nature and consequences of sins, and figured the great moral realities of sin and atone- ment in this, that by no other process than the divine prescription could these imputed evils be removed. The phrase, therefore, whether rendered as by the translators, or more closely to the original, is an unequivocal declaration of the doctrine of Atonement, and could not be otherwise understood by the Hebrew mind. atonement. ATONEMENT— IN ITS RELATION TO GOD. 63 (3.) The words 'by Himself are of vast import chap. vi. in this connection, inasmuch as they pre-intimate, Heb. i. 3. in passing, both the correspondence and the anti- 'By Himself.' thesis existing between the legal and evangelical dispensations, which are so divinely expanded in the body of this Epistle. It is meant to declare that Christ, personally and officially considered, took the place of all the personages and ritual institutes of the ancient religion. That, whereas Atonement and Lustration were systematically carried on in past ages by means of a priesthood and sacrifices divinely prescribed, these were alto- gether precluded by the person and office of the Son. Here the provision for the taking away of sin, its penalties, and its defilements, is made ' by Himself,' excluding all participation in these glories of Atonement and Salvation by other beings, whether higher or lower than man. These belong entirely to Christ. The meaning of the phrase ' by Himself may be given in a single sentence : the Son ordained the law, but is Himself the gospel. (4.) Further, the expression 'by Himself leads The doctrine n ^ • f> 1 J 1 of t^® Son's us to a proiound conception or the nature and person the key mystery of Atonement; for it is here obviously of the ™tone-^^ meant to direct our attention to the Atonement ^^^^^' as an exhibition of the infinite personal sufficiency of the Son, — as an act wonderfully replete with the virtue of His own attributes. In order to understand this, it is necessary to keep very close to the tenor of the ascriptions here given to the Son, and to endeavour to form a full conception of the Atonement, as the proper issue of these. Nor should it be overlooked that the view of the Atone- ment here afforded by our Lord's divinity is that 64 ATONEMENT — IN ITS RELATION TO GOD. LlLVr. VI. Heb. i. 3. wliicli marks the chief apostolic statements of it found in tlic Epistles ; such as, ' The blood of Jesus i.Tohni. 7._ Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin;' 'In Phil. ii. 6,' 7,8. wliom wc havo redemption through His blood, the forpvcness of sins : who is the image of the invisible God, the iirst-born of every creature;' 'Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,' etc. This last scripture may be regarded as the most profound and comprehensive statement of the doctrine of Atonement in the apostolic writings, not excepting even the one now before us. It is remarkable that here all the glories of the Son are accumulated in immediate connection with the Atonement and its proper consequence, His sitting ' at the right hand of the Majesty on high.' For instance, the Atonement is presented to us as taking rank with the works of the Son as the Creator and Upholder of all things, as in the passage in the Colossians, and in the opening chapter of St. John's Gospel. This is a very striking collocation :— the order is hrst creation, then providence, then atonement ; by which order is intimated the introduction of the restorative element into the universe, not merely as a component of its moral perfection, but as included in the plan of its existence. This offers to us a great conception, and one in entire harmony with apostolic teaching. (See Eph. iii. 9, 10, and Col. i. 17.) The SOVEREIGNTY of the Son should be carefully noted as the basis of Atonement. It rests on the will of God or the Father, to which our Lord Him- self so often referred as the origin of His own mission from heaven to earth ; but the Son, as The Son's sovereignty the basis of atonemoiit as of creation. ATONEMENT — IN ITS RELATION TO GOD. 65 being Himself sovereign, 'in the form of Gocl, and chap. yi. equal with God,' could alone translate the Father's Heb. i. 3. sovereignty by the act of Atonement, as He had done by the fiats of creation, and the course of the universe. This idea of correlative sovereignty as much lies at the foundation of the doctrine of Atonement, as it does at the foundation of the universe itself. For, though the act of Atonement be specifically different from any other (as will appear), its first principle is the same, since the Being who accomplishes it must not be supposed to be subject to the obligations antecedent to moral actions as appropriate to creatures. On the contrary, His antecedent must be sovereignty, and His subjection must be voluntary. He must substantiate in Himself the two relations of sovereignty and subjection, not understood as contemporaneously exercised, but as successive. Obviously there are but two conceptions of sove- reignty admissible, the one normal, the other exceptional. The one consists in the exercise of the prerogatives appropriate to sovereignty, the other in the sovereign exchange of these for the obligations of a subject-condition. The Son, as such, was capable of this wonderful change in His relation to the Father ; and with a view of trans- lating the sovereignty of the Father, by means of a subject -relation not essential to Him, but sovereignly assumed, into acts of interposition for creatures ; which, though all manifestations of the subject -state, culminated in one, — the act of Atonement. According to St. Paul, in the passage in the riiii.ii. 6, 7,s. Philippians, this subject-state of the Son was not E OQ ATOXEMKNT — IN ITS RELATION TO GOD. CHAP. VI. Ikb. i. 3. The Son's as- sumption of liumanity a sovereign act of His divinity for the jnir- l>oses of atone- ment. Tlie 'merits of Christ ' origi- nate in the jieculiarity of His person. Christ's atone- ment involves substitution, and snbstitn- tion the iriipu- tiition of iudi- ciiil liabilities. itself the act of the Incarnation, but a pre-condition to that event, witliout wliich the assumption of the servant-nature would have been impossible. The e.vinanitiOy or ' making Himself of no reputation,' was an act, be it what it may, which appertained to the Son as being in the form of God, and may not be interpreted otherwise than as implying a change in His status as divine. Everything in the human and earthly history of Christ was but the moral as well as historical sequel to this event. The human nature became its visible exponent, and the offering of the cross its consummation. As sovereignty in the Son could alone be the basis of His subjection as divine, so this same sub- jection, with its human counterpart, originated what we are accustomed to call the 'merits' of Christ. They were more than acts of supereroga- tion, or acts available for the benefit of creatures. As it rer/ards Himself, they were the culminating exhibition of His perfections as the Son, which, in the nature of things, could only be brought out by their relation to the sphere of the creatures. Atonement, as deduced from this higher view, is essentially vicarious or substitutional. This nature belongs to it, both on account of its being an expression of an exceptional state in respect to the Sovereign Being who undertakes it, and the moral condition of those in whose behalf it is undertaken : the one principle is the precise coun- terpart of the other. Something is done for parties not falling in with the strict requirements of law which they are unable to meet, and this something is done pursuant to a relation of the Lawgiver to His own law, which is not to be regarded as ATONEMENT— IN ITS RELATION TO GOD. 67 purely normal/ Further, substitution must carry chap. vi. with it the imputation by the Father, as supremely Heb. i. 3. sovereign, of whatever judicial liabilities may to Him seem congruous with this relation, not ex- cluding the ideas of sin and penalty. On no other ground can it be feasible to exact retribution from a substitute, than as he is supposed to represent and take the place of the offender himself. In what this judicial exaction may have consisted, no creature is competent to affirm : it is so identified with the mystery of the infinite, as to make the attempt to scan it but an impious levity. Scrip- Their nature ture itself is either silent on the subject, or inti- scrijjtlire.^'^ '" mates it in very general expressions, such as, ' It pleased the Lord to bruise Him ; ' or that, ' He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.' The latter state- ment generalizes the entire process of atonement ^ Query — Whether the usual view taken of our Lord's obedience, viz. as a fulfilling of the law, is valid? It rather consisted in ful- filling the will of the Lawgiver Himself, as is stated in the fortieth Psalm, — I am come to do Thy will, — the law there mentioned not being the moral law in the usual sense, but the ordinance which re- quired atonement. Had our Lord's obedience consisted in fulfilling the law, it does not appear what place would have been left for en- during its penalty. It was the law given to ///m, not the law given to us. It was not an affair of law in the ordinary sense, but an office of sovereign will ; and His obedience to law was only to law in this very peculiar sense, — only the obedience proper to One whose person was an absolute peculiarity, and His office absolutely unique. The direct course of law being interrupted by the Atonement, no sequence arising from that Atonement can partake of the nature of law. This constitutes the peculiar grandeur of our religion. It is the relation of a human being to Christ that is the whole of Christianity. Notice the connection between atonement and evangelical religion, — not a religion founded in law, i.e. in obedience in a moral sense, but in faith. Justification is not an imputation of a legal righteousness, but of one of a sovereign and peculiar character, and one correlative to the Atonement. Obedience is the issue of this righteousness, not, as under law, the righteousness itself. GS ATONEMENT— IN ITS RELATION TO GOD. (HAT. VI. with great force. It describes the whole as a iiei). i. 3. business of self-humiUation, arising out of the sub- jective state of the Son as man, which found its chniax in the endurance of a death so infiimous and revolting as that of the cross. It is most appropriately referable to the scenes commencing with the Agony and terminating with the Cruci- lixion, the whole of these being properl}^ included in the work of Atonement, as they were undoubtedly the profoundest depths of our Lord's humiliation. This subject is wonderfully touched in an after chapter of this very Epistle : ' For though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which lie suffered.' Nor can we fail to see in our Lord's own words, ' It is finished^' an infinite emphasis, when they are understood as expressing the completion of the mighty undertaking that brought Ilim from His throne to His cross. Atonement From this vicw of the passage, ' when He had by able by reason. Ilimself purged our sins,' it becomes evident that the Atonement is no example of a moral administra- tion considered in its normal form, and that it must never be looked at as if the righteousness of the procedure were patent from either the attributes or the moral administration of God. In the normal condition of His government, we behold everywhere exhibited the immutable footsteps of law, and the behests of a sovereignty which adheres without infraction to the established order of its purposes. This is ever characteristic of the constitution of nature, which is but a shadow of the higher glory of the moral kingdom ; so that if we require a revelation to assure us that in the future the present order of things t;hall cease, much more may we ATONEMENT — IN ITS RELATION TO GOD. 69 require the fullest testimony to the existence of an chap. vi. exceptional proceeding in what seems to us the Heb. i. .3. immutable economy of the moral world. This, however, is precisely what revelation gives us, when it pronounces so strongly the doctrine of atone- ment, and certifies us that, not only for conserving the integrity of moral government, but also for the purpose of exalting it, the divine Administrator ruled His own sovereignty into a position of sub- jection to the Father, and thus gave birth to a new and surpassing regime, in which the glories of Grace were blended with those of Law. A much wider scope was opened out for the manifestation of the divine nature than otherwise would seem possible. The great foundation and centre of this new and Therefore wc 1 • r. T T • • i • • J.1 can only argue ultimate system of moral admmistration is the respecting it Atonement. As its very possibility could hardly g'ivTnby reve- have been a matter for finite conception, apart ^'^*^°"- from a direct revelation, so when it is revealed we can only be entitled to argue respecting it on the premises divinely given, and with the best light we can receive on all the facts and conditions of it as they are laid before us. To leave out or to ignore any portion of these through prejudice or moral disqualifications of any kind, is to place our- selves in a false position. We either dress up an illusion of our own passion and misguided reason as a ground for rejecting the doctrine, or it is so partially rendered, even while admitted to be true, that we are embarrassed, it may be, in honest at- tempts to maintain it. That the principle of sub- stitution, broadly taken, is inapplicable to a moral administration, and is contrary to the most ordi- 70 ATONEMENT — IN ITS DELATION TO GOD. en AT. VI. nary political maxims by which society is regulated, 1Kb. i. 3. is too patent to need proof, or even discussion. Law, in no sense, and in no field of administra- tion, can recognise vicarious personages as answer- able for the crimes or misdemeanours of others. Glancing therefore at the whole field of experience and the conclusions of reason, we should be bound to aver, that there is no finding of any data by which this great doctrine of Christianity can be supported, or any analogies by which it can be illustrated. It stands absolutely clear of all prece- dents and verisimilitudes, and must, from first to last, rest upon its own ground of divine testimony, alike independent of all subsidiary argument and unchallengeable by mere reason. Profoundly con- sistent with itself, this can only be detected by its own light ; and though coming down to us in the form of a simple fact, obviously meant to serve the highest practical purposes, it still towers in im- measurable height, even to the throne of God, and for ever shrouds itself in ' the light which no man can approach unto.' Human reason "While couccdiug that rcasou can give little sup- lan only oi>e- iiiii.- r» li- nito witiiiii port to the testimony ol revelation respecting the ()rf.icTanj'ex! Atoncmcnt, we, on the contraiy, concede nothing i-mencc. [^^ rcspcct to the Validity of its speculations in opposition to it. Reason is competent to aflirin or deny the truth of any question propounded to it, only so long as it confines itself strictly within the boundaries of fact and experience. These, from the nature of things, must be circumscribed, leav- ing intact fields of truth which it can no more penetrate and survey than we can gain access to worlds beyond our own. Hence, to deal with ques- ATONEMENT — IN ITS RELATION TO GOD. 71 tions of pure revelation, as if mere human reason chap. vi. were universal reason, is to assume an office for Heb. i. 3. that reason which it ought at once to disclaim as Fallacy of T r> T 1 J 1 • • claiming for it no less loolish than impious. the office of If we take the a priori or transcendental method ^q^qJ*^^^^ ^^^' of rising to these highest problems of truth, what is this, stripped of its pretensions and elaborate for- inadequacy of ,. a priori rta- mulas, but an attempt to inter the objective from soningwiien the subjective, i.e. to make the human mind a iuLTte. ^ perfect mirror for the reflection of the Infinite? Even supposing this to a degree possible, yet the truth thus reflected may be so partial and inade- quate, in respect to its great archetype, as to mis- lead us more fatally, on the very questions we seek to establish, than if we settled down into a condi- tion of blank ignorance. It may be that just the very positions most confidently assumed as true are those which vitiate the entire process of specu- lation, and that the whole endeavour ends in the mere fabrication of a mischievous illusion. This has been notoriously the case in some departments of metaphysical speculation — for instance, in at- tempts to disprove the existence of matter ; and it is at least as likely to be true in the field of moral and religious transcendentalism. Not to insist on the hazardous character of all dogmatism respect- ing the Divine Nature, — the relations and issues of the divine sovereignty, as developed in the crea- tures, are so little within our reach by the aids of analogy and experience, that to account them as all but intuitions, or responses of our own nature, implies a marvellous, and one might say, an in- fatuated, presumption. This is to challenge for reason the attributes and office of the Son of God, 72 ATONEMENT — IN ITS RELATION TO GOD. (HAP. Yi. as if it were 'the brightness of His glory, and the Htb. i. 3. express image of His person,' the revealer of the hidden Deity, and of the prerogatives of Omni- science. The inductive Nor does the countcr method of induction show more satisiac- itself morc Competent to solve the great problem ^^'■^' fundamental to religion, when it would displace the doctrine of Atonement, and build up in its stead a system of naturalism. If reason mean anything, Avhen applied to this matter, it must mean the settle- ment of obligations and duties on the basis of law. For reason can jf i\^q administration of the universe be that of only intei-pret i:i\v, not deal law, it is impossiblc that reason can go beyond the lies. office of an interpreter. It cannot deal with the question of anomalies, or, in other ^ words, sins against authority and order. It cannot guess, much less show, how these can be dealt with by a moral government without admitting the doctrine of penalty. With the doctrine of indulgence, reason can have nothing to do ; it is altogether removed beyond its province, which is simply to interpret Law and its consequences. But w4iat are these con- sequences ? Are they limited to the present life of man ? Are they future ? Are they for good or evil, terminable or eternal? It is plain that penalties or evils, some of them voluntary, others involuntary, are the familiar attendants of human life. How are these to be reconciled with the doctrine of goodness? Faultiness, vices, anta- gonisms between conscience and passion, the way- wardness of tlie heart, the capriciousness of the will, the vassalage of the mind to sense, the ne- glect of religion, the omission of duty or its habitual repudiation, the faintness of desire after the highest ATONEMENT — TN ITS RELATION TO GOD. 73 good, the death of devotion, or the struggles after chap. vi. virtue never attained, — such are the familiar phe- Heb. i. 3. nomena of life ; and out of elements such as these a human being has to create his theology, his faith, and his prospects ! Now, if reason be the religion of law, the reli- inferiority of ... '". the religion of gion 01 mere mtuition or sentmient must be some- sentiment to thing, if it be anything at all, infinitely in the rear reason.^^^*^" of it. It is without principle, vague, dreamy, false. Such a religion cannot need an atonement, and can therefore w^ell afford to dispense with it. Reason halts at the bar of law ; but sentiment, if it may be said to worship at all, and not rather to permit to itself a mere dalliance with Deity, wor- ships the idol of its fancy, and lays itself open to the terrible accusation, ' Thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thyself.' Atonement, while the revealed counterpart of the religion of law, is emphatically God's testimony against the religion of sentiment. The religion of atonement is destined to carry man infinitely beyond the reli- gion of law, and to combine in itself the past and future of divine manifestation. Thus, truth in religion must ever be subjected to this test, and must flee as a shadow or abide as a substance. CHAPTER VII. ATONEMENT — IX ITS RELATION TO MAN. IIeb. ii. 9, 10, U, 15. The facts of TiiE facts of humanity, ascertained by experience, gJlIuudwork of and interpreted by revelation, constitute the ground- from the hu- ^'^'oi'k of the doctrine of Atonement, looked at from man side. j^g human sidc. These facts are, briefly put, the race-unity of man, as derived from a pair, divinely constituted its moral representative and head ; and the imputation, as a consequence on the whole race, of the tendencies and results of their moral actions judicially considered. It is undeniable that jioraiand the racc-status of man, morally and physically of thJ^race''^"^ regarded, is an inheritance, and not one of indi- matterofin- yidu^l or cvcu of collcctivc choicc. As far as this hentance and not clioico. status dcviatcs from a normal standard, and entails various classes of evils upon universal man, irre- spective of individuality, it must be ascribed to a race-constitution acting in this very peculiar form, and revealing the strange f\ict, that, somehow or other, a flrst condition, either good or bad, was certainly transmissible, and was made to extend itself to every one of the species, as absolutely as phj^sical conformation or mental endowment. It cannot therefore be controverted that human nature is allectcd by causes very remote from itself, except ATONEMENT — IN ITS RELATION TO MAN. 75 in its origin ; that it has been dealt with in mass chap. vn. and not individually ; and that individuality is to Heb. ii. 9, lo, a large extent overruled by this constitution of ' things. This is what may be called a representa- Doctrine of tive or federal system ; its evidence lies in facts rests on a re- as well as in Scripture. It is to be specially re- system,^ ^^'^ garded as the great principle on which the doctrine of Atonement rests ; so that whosoever will assault this doctrine must approach it by a clear refutation of the federal principle on which it is based. But if this principle be established by fact, and be clearly interpreted by Rom. v., then the founda- tion of the doctrine of Atonement cannot be dis- turbed. This argument is fully developed in the Mediatorial Sovereignty (Part i. chap. 2), to which the author has nothing to add, but merely to call attention to it as here fundamental to his view of the Atonement ; for if federalism affect the race in if evil be one aspect, why may it not do so in another? through a Why may not the same principle be inwrought into wiy'^nor^^*^"' a restorative system, which is fundamental to a restoration? penal one, or one rendered penal by original fault ? The very suggestion of this similarity, that one is just the counterpart of the other, scarcely needs elaborate argument ; it is of itself light, while negative systems, on the contrary, involve the ques- tion in utter darkness. Such a system as inflicts punishment for involuntary evil, or rather makes evil itself involuntary, plainly cannot consist with justice, and still less with goodness, whose property This truth it is to bestow happiness. Natural theology here christian must be utterly at fault, and Christian theology ti^«°i°sy °^iy- our only resort. A counter system, therefore, there must be turning upon the same axis, and involving 76 ATONEMENT — IN ITS RELATION TO MAN. CHAP. TIT. race -representation and race-substitution. Tlius, Heb. ii. P, 10, federalism meets us on both hands much in the ' ■ same way. Evil and antidote come absolutely in the same manner, and reach individuals simply as components of a race. Christ the The human view of the person of Christ before federal Head ^ . -.^. . , . , of the race. advcrtcd to, placcs linn precisely in the position like thaTof' ^ wliich tlus systcm requires. As the Son of God, oc'JfA^'de- ^^^ ^^^^ lower sense, He is the parallel personage to rived. "the Father of the race, as much created for this purpose as was Adam himself to be the Father of the race. Natural descent, even apart from moral considerations, could not have conferred this re- lation, but only the intervention of the all-creative prerogative, which freely determined to make the Second Man as the first, and to place Him in a similar position. This, indeed, is implied in the verses before quoted from Luke ii. : ' The Holy Ghost shall come upon Thee,' etc. Hence, so far as mere manhood is concerned, our Lord is the duplicate Adam, and possesses all the qualities Imputation of requisite to bring into existence a countervailing rouutcr iiii- race-system. Obedience is a set-off against sin, lace-pardoii. federally taken; and merit a set-off against penalty. In addition to this, the endurance of penalty may take off penalty from those federally liable to it, and procure its antithesis, righteousness, should it even do no more, putting them, all things con- sidered, in the status quo ante, or even much in advance of this, by extending itself to men in- dlvidualhj as well as federally. Li fact, this is what is taught us in Romans v., which speaks of an 'abounding' gift of grace, which 'much more reigns unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.' ATONEMENT — IN ITS RELATION TO MAN. 77 Plainl}^, then, there may be imputation and chap. vii. accounting in this way as well as in the former ; Heb. ii. 9, lo, — it is but the counter application of the same ' ' principle, and, taken together, they may produce ultimately the most harmonious and surpassing effects. But though these may be the ascertained con- Federalism . 1 • 1 • '7 7 1 furnishes only ditions under which atonement is possible^ and the presump- under which its administration may be made atouSTeut universal and effective, it does by no means follow that these are the only conditions necessary to its existence, or that, taken by themselves, they would amount to more than a certain degree of feasibility. For (1.) Federalism, as well as in- Federaiisin ." . . . acting by law. dividuality, is alike subject to the behests of law; it can only secure one class of results beyond those proper to an individual status, i.e. transmit a certain moral condition normal to the exercise of personal free agency, so that should federalism, in its personal applications, originally swerve from its coincidence with law, it would become necessarily defunct. (2.) It follows, therefore, that federalism. Cannot, tliere- considered from a legal point of view., does not neces- system beyond sitate the existence of a counter system, in which ^^' law is set aside, and that it [federalism] may be adduced, not for evidence of such a counter system, but only as in harmony with it, when it is brought into actual operation, with respect to the human race. If this be true, then atonement, as being in Atonement, tliGrciorG tliG no sense a legal provision for the relief of men, but result of pre- entirely an extra-legal provision, cannot stand with above kw! "^° law in its federal, any more than in its individual application : it is either something exceptional and the result of prerogative acting above law, or its 78 ATONEMENT — IX ITS RELATION TO MAN. (iiAr. TIT. existence may be plainly disproven.^ And (3.) iieb. ii. 9, 10, That what are termed merits, i.e. the results of ■^^' ^^' the obedience of a substitute, more especially those Lawcankiiow that comc of penal suffering in the sinner's stead, puted merits.' are idcas entirely inadmissible under a legal system which recognises nothing but personal reward- ableness or demerit. There can be no such thing as a transfer by imputation, from one party to another, of acts and benefits not belonging to that party, with a view of giving to such party a standing with God equivalent, or superior to that of a true personal righteousness. A method so indirect and circuitous is incongruous to the doc- trines of law, and the decisions of mere reason ; yet this is Evangelism, in its fundamental and distinguishing characteristic. Atonement From thcsc Considerations it follows that other question, conditious than those already named, and these exhlusts ti7e niucli higher ones, must enter into this complex between Gmi"'^ provisiou of atonemcnt. Indeed, the whole case and His cRu- jxiay be said to turn upon this, — ichether the moral tures, relations existing between God and His creatures are expressed, and, as it luere, exhausted hy laiv and its offices alone ; or ichether the perfect programme of government admits of any reserve of anything above and beyond tins dominion of Jaw. On the affirma- ^ It is much to be refrrpttcd that these paragraphs stand unrevised by the author. Perhaps the following passages from the Mediatorial Suverciyuty may help to elucidate them : ' Tliough the first man was the representative and head of all men, this fact could never have amounted to an abrogation of law in its application to his entire progeny, indicidualli/ considered. , . . The moral condilion of the agent could, indeed, be affected by the action of the firet man, but however upriglitncss of nature be transmissible, it is certain the em- ployment of this virtue nuist be a personal trust, and not a federal consequence.' — Vol. i. p. 70. [Eds.] ATONEMENT — IN ITS RELATION TO MAN. 79 tive or negative of this question the doctrine of chap. vii. Atonement is decided. Should we receive im- Heb.TTg, lo, plicitly the testimony of Scripture on the point, ^^' ^^' it is decided affirmatively, and nowhere more ex- plicitly than in the tenth verse. ' For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.' This language is express, since it testifies that all religious systems, be they what they may, or views of Christianity not founded in atonement, are out of harmony with the character of God ; they are unbecoming, at variance with it, and conse- quently essentially false. On the contrary, this very doctrine of atonement is in harmony with it ; and this harmony is to be progressively developed, and consummated when the purpose of ' bringing many sons unto glory ' is accomplished. Beyond the views of God which Law is adapted Beyond the to express, we admit two of kindred glory, father- law there°are hood and prerogative:— the one the fountain of SJoodfnd^pre- life, as it is of love ; the other of rule, modified in rogative.i accordance with it, and with the intent not of superseding, but of augmenting the glory of law itself. Fatherhood is the fount of atonement, as it is also of prerogative. The Atonement is there- The Atone- r J.^ ' e • i ^ ' ^ l^ ^ inent the ex- lore the issue oi sovereign love, which, nevertheless, pression of cannot express itself but in perfect keeping with reItTn??n^°^'' government, as determinable by law. Such is, grace and la^v. briefly, the view of this question on the higher side. The basis of atonement is therefore twofold : a divine per- (1.) Grace or prerogative ; (2.) Law, as the organ tTexpJess'*^ of government. On this showing, the divinity of *^^^' 80 ATONEMENT — IN ITS llELATION TO MAN. CHAP, VII. the Son as the author of atonement, is an absolute Heb.TI. 9, 10, pre-condition. I\Iere humanity can express nothing ^"*' ^^' beyond the range of hiw, pkxce it where you will ; another and a higher power can alone give expression to that sovereign love on which atone- ment depends. The reach of such a Being extends to the infinite : He can pass the realm of mere creature agency, yet, in combination with it, is able, by means of an atonement, to develope these reserved glories of the Godhead in a sublime and all-perfect system of human redemption. The provision (1.) From the forcgoing discussion, it becomes of vicarious i . i ■ ^ t i suffering as plam that atoncmcnt, ni the evangelical sense, nSj^of"tiic^*' implies the endurance of penalties by a substitute ) MTson oiiernig ^^^^ partics actually offending; that such a sub- stitute is furnished in the person of the Son, in the double nature before explained ; tliat this substitution, with all its penal accessories, is a matter altogether higher than, and exceptional to, any rule of government considered by itself; and that the entire provision is just as singular in its character as is the constitution of the Person in two natures, by whom it is offered. Atoning (loath (2.) Ileiice it follows that THE DEATH to wliich t..'i'y oTsuiici-" atonement is expressly ascribed by Scripture, i!ruachabie i.y ^l^i^^' it docs Unquestionably include death in the physical sense, does in this case comprise an in- effable m3'stery of suffering peculiar to itself; that is, whatever is implied in death as a penalty, in its very possibility extending to the mind and moral nature, is really to be understood as included in it, though incapable of being approached by us, much less defined. An atoning death must, from its very nature, be sepai'ated from every, other. us, ATONEMENT — IN ITS RELATION TO MAN. 81 though, as a phenomenon, it might be nothing chap, vii; more. Hence, in this epistle, it is described as Heb. ii. 9, lo, including ' sufferings,' leaving them unnumbered ^^' ^^' and unexplained. ' The Captain of Salvation was made perfect by these,' i.e. His office as a Saviour was completed by the office of the Cross. The very capacity of His nature for suffering was exhausted by this death, which was formally the exaction of the law-giving God, yet in this instance acting as the God of Grace, — ordaining that this should be the world's ransom, and that it should come within the power of a Being thus constituted to present this satisfaction to Him as the ground of His dealing with us. No mere physical endur- ance comprised in death, could have effected this, or given birth to the single expression, ' that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man.' The taste of death for every man as a sinner, or for the race as fallen, must have been that of a potion which no words can describe, no, nor yet the individual experience of mere death by every member of the race : the mysteries of penalty included in this one death, infinitely transcend them all. (3.) The 'glory and honour' with which Jesus Glory and is crowned, represent not merely the antithesis to antithesis and His humiliation and suffering, but the result of sufferin?'*^"^ these, His personal glory, personal honour, per- sonal worship, together with the highest official prerogatives. He is Lord of the universe, but especially Lord of the world, of the dead and of the living, of the nations, and of the Church. His are the behests both of grace and justice, and His the great judgment of doom in the last day. F S2 ATONEMENT — IN ITS RELATION TO MAN. CHAP. VII. 'All things are put under Him,' and all things Heb. ii. 0, 10, arc finally to attest Ilis sovereignty. Such is the ' ^^' statement of eh. ii. ver. 9. This, however, is but the divine correlative of atonement; in fact, the previous and after history of the Incarnate Son may be resolved into the history of atonement simply, fore- going and consequent. It is this which harmonizes the extremes of that history; and its unparalleled importance may be divined, but not comprehended, by this series of overwhelming facts. ' Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil ; and deliver them w^ho through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.'^ I'owcrofthc (4.) These verses, in connection with the ninth, the°un™wn °" afford US a glimpse of the wondrous power of the eimlhj'of-^ ^'**^ Atonement on the destiny of man in connection Siitan. -^ith the unseen world and the empire of Satan. Thc}^ teach us that the virtue of the Atonement is all-sovereign there as w^ell as here : in a word, that both sections of Satan's empire are undermined by it. They form the counterpart of our Lord's own declaration in Jolui xii. 31, 'Now is the judgment of this world,' etc. In this passage the aspects of the Atonement on tlie human race are declared by Christ Himself; its proclamation and efficiency were to break up Satan's earthly empire in the lon2; future of the world's existence : ' Now shall the prince of this world be cast out.' 'Poworof By 'the power of death' we understand some- deuth ' more tcrriMu tlum i -pj^^^ verses from the tenth to the fourteenth \Yill be found in the llcatU. r 11 ■ 1 following chaiiters. ATONEMENT — IN ITS RELATION TO MAN. 83 thing distinct from, and indescribably more terrible chap. vii. than death itself: that death, as the result of sin, Heb. ii. 9, lo, is but initial; that it opens the gate to the realm of ^^' ^^' penalty with respect to the soul ; and that its true power lies in the relation to what comes after it, not in the thing itself. This phrase, 'the power of death,' placed as it is here in intimate relation to the death of Christ, is sufficient to vindicate the view before given of the ineffable import of our Lord's death. As atoning, it must have comprised something far greater than itself; and on this its virtue to destroy ' the power of death ' depended, otherwise the effect would have immeasurably transcended the cause. The ' power of death' here, then, is to be understood as descriptive of the em- pire of penalty, to which death, itself a penalty, stands in close relation. We are assured that the Atonement breaks this relation between death, phy- Atonement de- ■,-, • 1 1 1 -J. 1 ' £> 1 livers from sically considered, and its unseen tram ot penal tins 'power.' evils. Instead of being the Jirst, it is now the last enemy to a man redeemed, and there is nothing held in reserve, no purgatory impending over those who ' die in the Lord.' ' To destroy him that had the power of death ' means to break in upon his death empire, so that the stream of departed spirits may take another road, and, instead of replenishing that fearful region, may be transferred to the bright realms of His sceptre who endured death for our redemption. Verse fifteenth declares the effect of the dissolu- Christian ex- tion by the Atonement of the connection between counterpart of death and future penalty: 'And deliver them who ofstSen!^ through fear of death were all their lifetime subject p^^*^- to bondage ; ' by which is meant, that the work of 84 ATONEMENT — IN ITS KELATION TO MAN. (HAT. VII. grace in pardoning and renewing souls through the Heb. ii. 9, 10, Atoncmcnt is the true counterpart of this dissolu- ' ■ tion of Satan's power ; i.e. the release, the future release, is now told to the heart of the believer ; his conscience is pacified, his nature renewed, and his confidence in a state of rest after death is perfected. In this point of view Christian experience assumes a most impressive character ; it is heaven's jubilee of the soul springing from the power of the Atone- ment over the future world, and the absolute su- premacy of Christ even over the realms of penalty. This mysterious fact is proclaimed to men living in the world, but hastening out of it ; and the gospel may be said to consist in the realization of this wonderful deliverance to them who were all their lifetime previously subject to bondage. (5.) The completeness of the work of redemp- tion by atonement is given in the tenth verse. Transrondent Releasc from penalty is, so to speak, the ffround- r.'sult of atone- ^ -^ ' ^ , . , iii.nt, 'briiifr- work or the very essence of salvation, abstractly n.^giory/ ^°"^ considered; the 'bringing of many sons unto glory' is a far higher matter, and reveals the transcend- ent nature of the entire project of grace. It is this view which perhaps more strikingly reflects the grandeur of the Atonement than even its power of rescuing from penal doom. Both ollices attest its character as a provision lying without and above the domain of mere law; but the one appears far more glorious than the other, inasmuch as it reveals ' the exceeding riches of His grace ' in the dignity and the inheritance of the children, far be- 3'ond a mere provision for the accord of justice in the release from penalty. As referred to the Atone- ment, it signifies the infinite complacency of God in ATONEMENT — IN ITS RELATION TO MAN. 85 this work of His Son, which may be best expressed chap. vii. in the words of St. Paul, ' He that spared not His Heb. ii. 9, 10, Q 5 . 14, 15. own feon, etc. The relation between the divine nature and the Eeiationofthe Atonement as opened by verse 10 has been already to^atonement noticed; it cannot, however, be too strongly en- Sm^I'Zt}^ forced that this is a doo;ma of revelation to be re- of revelation " _ undemon- ceived as an ultimate truth on which faith must rest strabie as the . PI divine exist- entire, no reasoning being able to carry us lurther euce. in this direction, any more than it can carry us to a demonstration of the divine existence. The divine existence, the divine nature, and the divine govern- ment are, unquestionably, those 'deep things of God,' which, if we are not besotted by presumption, we may be content very thankfully to learn from His own testimony. The import of the phrase, ' for whom and by whom are all things,' most certainly amounts to this — that as all things are by the power of God, all things are also swayed by Him for Divinegovem- His own honour and glory ; that His government script of the cannot but be a translation of His nature ; that He ^^^^^^ ^'^ture. is His own interpreter to His own creatures of His own character and designs ; and that all His bene- ficent and holy arrangements with respect to men turn upon atonement and its offices. The ' Captain of Salvation ' is a grand title ac- corded to Christ (as a kind of antitypal Joshua), reminding us of the peculiarity of His achieve- ments as altogether obtained by endurance and suffering. He has a most entire sympathy with man, whose whole nature is reflected in Him — not merely in its innocent frailties and sources of sor- row, but in the deeper mysteries of sin-bearing and penalty. Within this wonderful sphere of His SC, ATONEIMEXT — IN ITS RELATION TO ^lAN. ("HAP. A'^ii. personal suCTering universal man is included; and Heb. ii. y, 10, these experiences are actually called forth in the ' ■ history of every separate saint from his adoption to his last breath, in succouring him on the road and in the warfare of life, in training him for duty, and lastly in bringing him to glory, after the ac- complishment of a course of discipline through various suffering, made perfecting by His own sufferings as leading to, or comprised in, the Atonement. CHAPTER YIII. THE HUMAN SONSHIP THE GROUND OF THE SONSHIP or BELIEVERS. Heb. n. 11, 12, 13, and 16. ' For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one : for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare Thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee. And again, I will put my trust in Him. And again. Behold I and the children which God hath given me. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself like- wise took part of the same. . . . For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham.' In these verses the filial relation of disciples to God is directly connected with the doctrine of the human Sonship of Christ. It is perhaps of little consequence to the interpretation of the expression 'all of one,' whether we refer it to a common Fatherhood of Christ and His disciples, or to their community of nature; either will suit the argu- ment, but the latter is perhaps to be preferred. Brotherhood may depend, it is true, upon a com- mon fatherhood, but it is perhaps more properly 88 THE HUMAN SONSHIP THE GROUND OF CHAP. vni. referred for its origin to a common nature. It is, Heb.ii. 11,12, liowever, to be especially noticed that this recog- ^^' ^^' nition of brotherhood by Christ is made matter of great condescension : ' lie is not ashamed to call them brethren.' This declaration is in proof that the incommunicable Sonship appertaining to Him would of necessity disallow of such a relation, taken by itself, not merely with men, but with all creatures whatsoever. It is equally in proof that The human the liumau Souship, its true personal correlative, Sonsliii) the ■, ' ^ i . i f» i grouiuiofthc bridges over this guir, and opens such a com- nature be- muuiou 01 uaturc bctwcen the bon and human aurbd^Ivers ^ciugs as makcs this condescending recognition not inappropriate, especially when it is further considered that this communion of nature is made conditional to a communion in redemption, and in its prospects, so loftily opened in the preced- ing verse. ' I will declare Thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee.' Further, this verse not only declares the true doctrine of the Church as consistins; of the brethren, and the ineffable office of the Saviour, in Ilis headship of its devotions, but the doctrine of adoption, or the declaration of the Father's name to the 'brethren.' The manner in which this statement is made is declarative of the fact that the filial status, as implied in the declaration of the Father's name to the brethren, is a direct issue of the Brotherhood existing between the Son and His disciples, and consists in the reflection of His human dignity as the Son upon them, in virtue of this communion, i.e. they are ' all of one.' Tliis view is sustained by other passages equally THE SONSHIP OF BELIEVERS. 89 explicit; for example, John i. 12, Gal. iv. 5.^ In chap. viii. these passages the grace of Sonship bestowed on Heb.ii. 11,12, disciples flows directly from the Incarnation, or in other words, the human Sonship is correlative to the divine. The adoption, thus considered as an The Person, r»iini -T 11 1 ^ • n rather than act or the Father, is directly based upon this lact, tiie work, of and is an honour specifically conceded to believers, ground of as His testimony, and the glory of His Son person- ^*i°ptio"- ally considered. This view somewhat modifies the ordinary one, which attaches this honour rather to the loork of Christ than to His ]jerson; whereas, while both are included, we give special pre- eminence to the latter. In truth, this seems self- evident, for adoption is a determination of rank rather than of salvation, abstractedly taken, and is therefore more properly a reflection of the personal rank of the Redeemer than of His office. Verse 13 is an added testimony to the same isa. viii. effect : * And again, I will put my trust in Him. i_8, relate to And again, Behold I and the children God has SeiTtutrof given me.' In order to perceive the true bearing the Jewi.sh of these quotations on the argument, it is necessary to turn back to the 8tli chapter of Isaiah, from whence they are taken. The section from the 11th to the 18th verse inclusive should be studied; in fact, the whole chapter concerns the Immanuel, and the fortunes of the nation, as bound up with Him, and should hardly have been separated from ch. ix., which, down to verse 8, is obviously a continuation of the same subject. The section in ch. viii. (ver. 11) opens with great significance : ' For the Lord spake 1 ' But to as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.' 'That we might receive the adoption of sons.' 90 THE HUMAN SOXSIIIP THE GROUND OF ciiAr. viii. lleb.ii. 11,12, 13, 16. Is;i. viii. 11, 'J'he ' Lord ' the Son. licjertion of the Je\v.s con- .si'(juent on their rejection ol" tlie Inear- jiate Son. thus.' This ' Lord ' is, in the light of the quota- tions in this Epistle, obviously the Son, wlio is said to have instructed the prophet not to adopt the Avatcliword of his time, 'the confederacy,' nor to yield to fear, that is, of national invasion, the very plea, be it remembered, advanced by the Pharisees in the council for putting our Lord to death. Verse 13th says, 'Sanctify the Lord of Hosts Himself; and let Ilim be your fear, let Him be your dread;' i.e. embrace the mission of the Incarnate Son, irrespective of political consequences, and in devout simplicit}'. Such was plainly the national duty as respects Jesus of Nazareth. Verse 14th contains a solemn forewarning of the consequences of another line of conduct, as well as a promise tinily character- istic of the Saviour's office : ' He shall be for a sanctuary,' i.e. a refuge in the impending national overthrow, 'but for a stone of stumbling' to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Verse 15th is evidently that from whicli our Lord took His memorable declaration in the Temple, immediately previous to its abandonment: ' Whosoever shall full upon this stone shall be broken;' i.e. the rejecters of His claims shall thereby be placed in the condition of persons stunned or mutilated by a fall, who are readily made a prey of by their enemies. This fastens the national overthrow immediately upon the re- jection, and may be taken as the germ of our Lord's great prophecy concerning the event of Jerusalem's destruction. Verse 16th, ' Bind up the testimony,' etc., docs not perhaps so much refer to the preservation of this prophecy evangelically expanded, as it fore- 13, 16. states the di- vine nature, vers. 17 and 18 the hinnan. THE SONSHIP OF BELIEVERS. 91 tells its limited reception by the disciples, as distin- chap. viii. guislied from the nation. By the nation it would Heb.iui, 12, be ignored, by the disciples it would be cherished, and thus a strong line would be drawn between the disciples and the mass of their unbelieving country- men. This was historically true. Verse 17th is that from which the first extract is taken in the Epistle : ' and I will wait upon the Lord,' etc. As verses 11th and 13th open with a isa. viii. 11 declaration of the Son's Godhead under the titles of ' the Lord,* and ' the Lord of Hosts,' so verses 17th and 18th conclude with the declaration of His filial humanity. He speaks of His disciples, the companions of His human career, and of His testi- mony and law as imparted to these. He speaks of His determination to wait upon the Lord (here undoubtedly to be understood of the Father), ' that hideth His face from the house of Jacob,' i.e. who is prepared to reject the nation of Israel for un- belief, to cast them off from being His peojple. As His human messenger, and as the consequence of His abortive mission. He represents Himself as waiting upon the Lord, and looking to Him at this solemn crisis, both for the fulfilment of His judi- cial purpose towards the nation rejecting Him, and for the fulfilment of His purpose in respect of His own personal deliverance and glorification. This language is undoubtedly expressive of Christ's human character and condition, and is but an ex- ample among a multitude of others to the same effect found in several of the Messianic Psalms, one of which was quoted against Him by His enemies when on the cross, ' He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver Him.' Throughout the Messianic 92 THE HUMAN SONSIIIP THE GROUND OF CHAP. VIII. Psalms tlie expressions of trust are very remark- Heb.ii.ii, 12, able, as evincing tlie perfect humanity of Christ, ' ■ and that the condition of that humanity is substan- tially that of our own, or, to use the expression of the 17th verse of the Epistle, ' it behoved Him, in all things, to be made like unto Ilis brethren.' Verse 18th, 'Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me,' abridged in the Epistle [v. 13], declares that Himself and the children given Ilim ' are for signs and wonders in Israel;' i.e. His nativity, character, ministry', death, resurrec- tion, — together with the phenomena of His Church, on and after the day of Pentecost, — comprised by far the most wonderful series of divine manifesta- tions ever vouchsafed to that privileged people. The power and office of miracle were exhausted, and they were left without excuse for their un- belief, or gainsay to impending judgment. Here, too, we trace in the form of expression the origin of an evangelical phrase often recurring in John's Gospel as the very words of Christ : ' They whom Thou hast given me.' The only peculiarity worthy of special remark here is the epithet ' children ' bestowed upon the disciples. This is not inconsistent with the brother- hood previously recognised, but rather adds com- pleteness to the notion of human identity between the Lord and His disciples, while it perfects our conception of the doctrine of adoption. The term ' brethren ' simply implies a community of nature, in which our Lord's only distinction is that of being the first-born : the term ' children ' is an addition to this, for it signifies a derivation of their nature from His ; they are not only His brethren, but His THE SONSHIP OF BELIEVERS. 93 famil}^ If this term ' children ' here amount to chap. viii. anything more than a conventional or figurative de- Hei..ii. ii, 12, signation of disciples (which it must do if we take in ver. 14, ch. ii. of the Epistle^), their relation to the humanity of the Lord is made intelligible by the federal doctrine of Rom. v., grounded on the Christ the fed- human Sonship of Jesus, and expressed, 1 Cor. xv. the church 47, by 'the second man is the Lord from heaven.' imparts His On this showing, the whole of His redemption Hir'^efJe**^ consists in the power to impart His humanity to His people — first, in the restored moral image of God, and finally in the glorification of the body itself. The Christian doctrine of the Resurrection is, in fact, only the reproduction in the children of the perfected human image of the divine and human Saviour, It has no foundation whatever in the original scheme of human nature, but in the higher type of it exhibited by the Lord incarnate. Thus Isaiah's expression, 'the everlasting Father,' has a sublime significance as a title of Christ; since His humanit}^ stands in an eternal relation to, and correspondence with, 'the children' as His progeny, and also, as His 'brethren,' His 'bride,' His 'body.' These terms all express one thing, viz. the origin Terms Lre- dry I r i. ^^^ • j_ thren and communion 01 one nature between Christ children not and His people. The Father adopts as His children contradictory, the children of His Son ; they are regarded as His children because of theirorigin from and communion with Him in whom He is ' well pleased.' The en- tire relation is a mere grace throughout, yet the methods of this grace have their relevancy to fact ; in other words, grace and truth are never separated. ^ ' Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same.' 94 THE SOXSHIP OF BELIEVERS. CHAP. VI 11. The fiict here is the origin and relations of a nature Heb.ii.ii, 12, common to Christ and to His people: they are ' ■ children ; they are therefore the sons of God, and as the sons of God, to be brought to His glory.^ Roth divine To tlie foregoiug discussion a final remark may nature stated bc addcd, viz., that as ver. 11 brings both these i4o?tiie^^" doctrines of the Sonship together, so this con- Epistie. junction is repeated in ver. 14 : ' Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood. He also Himself likewise took part of the same ; ' since, in this place, the act of assuming humanity is explicitly ascribed to the Son. That is, the Incarnation was the act of the divine Son bringing into personal oneness with Himself the creature- nature, and that nature the perfect transcript of the children's. Of this nature, flesh and blood are the palpable constituents, but not the only ones. They are here, however, specified to dis- tinguish humanity from the nature of angels. This is made prominent in ver. 16 : ' He took not on Him the nature of angels ; but He took on Him the seed of Abraliam.' Here, therefore, we have another instance of the manner in whicli the two natures are distinctly introduced and blended in the person of the Son. The term 'children,' here made em- phatic, has its true correlative in the filial nature of the Redeemer's humanit}'-. The nature to be redeemed is thus specifically represented in the Son, and His relation to it thus perfected. ^ The adoption thus stated may bc illustrated by a human example. It is taken from Gen. xlviii. 5, ' And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Mauivsseh, which were born to thee in the laud of Egypt before I came to thee into Egypt, are mine : as Koubcn and Simeon, they shall be mine.' TIius John xvii. 10, ' And all thine are mine, and mine are thine ; and I am glorified in them.' CHAPTER IX. the divine and human sonships the geound of Christ's kule over the church. Heb. in. 1-6. ' Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus ; who was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inas- much as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man ; but He that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after ; but Christ as a Son over His own house ; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.' These verses contain another example of the doc- ^j^g ^ij^jj^g trine of the correlative Sonships here applied to the |"^ human ■I- J- J- Sonships as government of the Church. The angelic parallel affecting the is exchanged for the human. The course of the the church. argument descends from angels to Moses, to Melchisedec, and finally to Aaron the high priest. The Hebrew Church is designated as the ' holy 96 THE DIVINE AND HUMAN SONSIIIPS THE I'HAP. IX. bretliren:' 'brethren,' not cliiefly by descent from iieb. iii. 1-6. Abraham, but by their rehition to Christ ; ' holy,' not by a ceremonial purification, or a national separation from Gentilism, but by the evangelical sanctification afTirmed in the eleventh verse ^ of the preceding chapter, and divinely amplified in pas- sages of the chapters following. They are 'par- takers,' or partners, 'of the heavenly calling,' i.e. of a calling apart from any nationality, territorial distribution, or the ordinances of a secular polic3^ The conversation or citizenship of the ' holy brethren ' is in heaven, — a noble description, truly, Apostle and of the Ncw Testament Church ! This new spiritual official tuies. commonwcaltli is invited to consider, to study, and to comprehend ' the Apostle and High Priest ' of their profession, ' Christ Jesus.' Here the Son is described by His human and official titles ; He is also paralleled, likened, to Moses in his servant-like virtues of fidelity and acceptableness. raraiieibe- (1.) Moscs was the gTcat apostle of the ancient amrchrisrii faitli Oil wliicli tlic Hcbrcw Church had rested Apostle. through many centuries. Visited and commis- sioned by the Angel of the Covenant in the land of Midian, his apostolate was inscribed with the glorious name, ' I am that I am ; — say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you.' The seals of his apostleship were the miracles in Egypt, the legislation of Blount Sinai, and the wonders of the Desert. He was the minister of God for the delivery of the law in all its parts, and for the rearing up of the ecclesiastico-political system of tlic Hebrews, every portion of which bore * ' For both lie that sanctificth and they who are sanctified are all of one : for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brothrcu.' GROUND OF CHRIST'S RULE OVER THE CHURCH. 97 indubitable evidences of a divine original. Hence, chap. ix. he is here compared to the builder of a house, and Heb. m. i-e. that house a world-wonder. By the term apostle, in its double application to Christ and to Moses, we understand not a prophet merely, but a law- giver; not one who delivers a body of truth, which may be successively added to or superseded, but truth which has the completeness and fixed- ness of a law, or system of laws, incorporated in a people, and exhibited to the world. An apostle is a sovereign person immeasurably elevated above the ordinary rank of prophets, or even above that of New Testament ministers ; he is the fount of authority and of religious truth. Others may develope or administer, but the ' apostle ' only can originate law, and give a standard of truth to a people or to the world. This description is appli- cable to Moses, to Christ, and also to His apostles, but with that differing eminence which places the Son immeasurably above either. Again, Moses was the high priest of his nation as As Higii well as its apostle ; in both offices Aaron ranked second to him. Aaron was not his peer, though his elder brother. Moses discharged the functions of the priesthood before Aaron was appointed. Afterwards, those functions, separated from him- self by divine appointment, were by him delegated to his brother in that express and formal manner, which as much signified his superiority to Aaron as Melchisedec's blessing on Abraham showed his superiority to the great patriarch. Thus Moses was not merely a precursor but a type of Jesus Christ in his apostolico-regal and priestly glories. Both law and grace in their foreshadowings came G Priest. 5 98 THE DIVINE AND HUMAN SONSHIPS THE itself exhibits till' human yonship. CHAP. IX. to the Church in the wilderness ; but to the Church iieb. iii. 1-G. at Jerusalem, and to tlie general assembly of the faithful throughout the world, they came in their truth and fulness by Jesus Christ. This is Christ's house as distinguished from that of Moses, who.<^e glory was as much inferior to Ilis as the work is inferior to the workman, or the creation is inferior to God. The very fact that there is a typical parallel here run between Moses and Christ, shows the prevalence of the human idea of Christ in this passage, as in former passages it was shown by the comparison with the angels. The ' faithfulness,' too, ascribed to Moses and to Christ in common, must alike be regarded as a servant virtue; since to ascribe it to God, in the sense of fulfilling duties or engagements, would imply the blasphemy of His owning a superior, and responding to exactions. But while the humanity is very distinctly asserted in this noble passage of parallelisms, the divinity of the Son also is declared with equal explicitness ; for wliat else can be meant by a comparison be- tween the builder and the liouse, than that between a cause and an effect, a work and a workman ? — a comparison obliging us, in tliis instance, to make Moses liimself, or the people together with him and represented by him, the house, wliile the Builder of the house is Christ. Tliis can only a[)ply to Ilim in His pre-cxistent glory as the Jehovali of tlie Hebrew nation. Tliis conclusion is establislied by ver. 4, ' He that built all things is God,' in which tlie doctrine of the third verse is presented in an absolute form ; but it is utterly without relevancy to the argument that Christ was counted ' worthy of more glory than Moses,' The Son's divinity ile- iliucd as lUiilderof the House. GROUND OF CHRIST'S RULE OVER THE CHURCH. 99 unless it be true of Him as the Son, that it is He chap. ix. that built all things, and that He is therefore God. Heb.~iiri-6. Indeed, the argument in ver. 4 is the common "^^t. 4. The p T . 1 • 1 IT T argument from one irom design, on which so much dependence is design. placed in the argument for the existence of God. It amounts to this, that our reason and experience assure us, that for every effect in the form of art, intelligence and power are inferred as its cause, and that it would be absurd to ascribe any such phenomena to chance. This same reason, there- fore, educated as it is by experience, naturally applies itself to the structure of the universe (par- ticularly to our own world, as the one most open to us), in which power and intelligence are obvi- ously exhibited on the most stupendous scale. We therefore infer a God in the one case as truly as we infer a man in the other ; and, to be consis- tent, Atheism is reduced to the inanity of deny- ing the latter, if it deny the former. The divinity The union of of the Son as Creator is therefore in this place S^s more" re-afi&rmed, and is simply the doctrinal reiteration wonderful ' ■*■ *^ than either of the second verse of the first chapter : ' Hath separate. spoken unto us by His Son, by whom also He made the worlds.' It is rendered all the more strik- ing by its position in this parallel between Moses and Christ, since it is less wonderful to dilate either on the divine attributes of the Son or the human virtues of the Christ, apart, and as separate beings, than to exhibit them as meeting in one and the same person. The God and the Man, the Son and the Servant, He that built all things and He that is builded as a creature, are qualities and relations all combining in Him whose name prophetically was called Wondeeful. 100 THE DIVINE AND HUMAN SONSHIPS THE CHAP. IX. lleb. iii. 1-C. l>otli oon- cerneil in tlie povcniiiifiit of the L'liurch. Tlic govern - iiiunt of the Son spiritual and personal. The relations of the law to the gospel. The application of these various perfections to the governnient of the Church forms the climax of the argument for the greater glory of Christ over Moses. He is the proprietor of the house, not the servant, as Moses was. ' He that built all things ' as God, rules over the Church as God-man, or as 'the Son,' — a title which here obviously includes both natures, since the Church over which He pre- sides is an acquired and not an original posses- sion, elsewhere called ' the purchased possession.' ' House ' here is equivalent to household or family. The figure is probably taken from the temple, which, with its courts and many mansions, was a striking type of the great spiritual temple of the Church, variously denominated, but essentially one. The relations of this house to Christ as the Son are in ver. 6 set forth as entirely spiritual and also eternal. The ' confidence ' and ' the rejoicing of the hope ' cannot be considered as corporate quali- ties, or as bearing any analogy to the structure of the ancient Church. They arise out of Zi, personal relation to a personal Christ ; and their retention and fruit-bearing are made essential to the ultimate enjoyment of the relation itself But while this languiige implies the possible forfeiture of indivi- dual inheritance in the house or family, that house or f\imily itself is declared to be eternal — the ' end ' here merely signifying the close of the earthly, which prefaces the endless and the per- fect, estate of the Church. The aspect of the law towards the gospel is also here introduced, and is fraught with suggestion. The faithfulness of Moses as a servant very mainly con- GROUND OF CHRIST'S RULE OVER THE CHURCH. 101 sisted in the thorough trustworthiness of all his chap. ix. doctrines and institutions as divine command- Heb. m. i-e. ments, delivered with the view to a future and more perfect economy of religion than his. The law was but a preamble to the gospel — an outline, a shadow, to pre-intimate to intervening genera- tions of the favoured people that other and higher discoveries were in store, enabling them to antici- pate in some degree the nature of those discoveries, and to identify them, whenever they should be made, as developments of pre-existing doctrines. This much is undoubtedly implied in the teachings of the fifth verse. They demonstrate to all who hold the authority of the New Testament, that the Pentateuch is of unchallengeable verity as a his- tory, and is bound to the evangelical dispensation by a divine precognition and order of revelation. CHAPTER X. THE REST. IIeb. III. C-19 ; IV. 1-13. ' But Christ as a Son over His own house; whose house are we, if we hokl fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear His voice.' ' How shall WG This description of the Church supremacy of the neglect Lo^^ Sou is equivalent to the doctrine of ch. ii. 3, and Sn- wHcii should be connected with it as belonging to the at the first same coursc of thoudit and form of practical began to be '^ ^ spoken by the ai")peal : ' How sliall we escape ? ' ' The Lord ' in Lord, and was . iii//->(i-»/>i confirmedunto tlic ouc passagc IS clcarly the Christ of the that^heanT othcr, tlic ' Sou ' wlio is ' ovcr His own house ; - iiim? — n. 3. ^^^ ^^^ exhortation not to neglect 'so great salva- tion ' is enforced by the consideration that it was spoken by the Lord, and not by angels. To let the w^ords 'slip,' and 'to neglect salvation,' are equivalent expressions ; they describe the same condition of mind, and are addressed to the same class of persons, i.e. to the Hebrew Church. The 7th verse, therefore, is simply a resumption of the same appeal : ' Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear His voice.' The following part of this chapter, together with the whole of ch. iv., is to be regarded as the same argumenta- Jehovah of the congregation. THE KEST. 103 tive appeal, founded on the supremacy of Christ chap. x. over the Church, and on the conditional prospect Heb. iii. 6-i9; of final salvation, as ascertained by this relation between Christ and His house. Viewed in this simple and obvious aspect, this section affirms these vital doctrines : (1.) The legislative authority of Christ within the Church, and the form of its administration. (2.) The required obedience. (3.) The contingent recompense. (1.) Under the New Testament economy the Christ the Christ is the enthroned Lawgiver of the Church, ciTurch^aswas as Jehovah was of the congregation in the wilder- ness. What the Law was to the Israelites, as there delivered by the Lord through Moses and his assessors, that the gospel is to the Christian Church, as delivered by Christ and His apostles. Whatever 'abounding' of grace may be affirmed respecting the latter over the former, whereby it 'exceeds in glory,' is not to be understood as superseding the dominion of law, but rather as making law more comprehensive and effective. Sin is, therefore, just as much a possibility under the one economy as under the other, and with sin, forfeiture of privilege and standing with God ; while this sin and forfeiture may end in the aggravated penalty due to those who neglect 'so great salvation.' These propositions are obviously included in the historic references here introduced Proved by his- in the quotation from Psalm xcv., and in the en™s.^'^'^^" argument of the Epistle founded on both; for, had there not been an identity of relation exist- ing between the Lawgiver of the Old, and the 104 tiil: rest. CHAP. X. lleb. iii. 6-19; iv. 1-13. Peculiarh' co- gent as ad- dressed to Jews. Wlicrefore, as the Holy Ghost saitli, ' To-day, if ye will hear His voice.' To-day, iiiti- matiiig the perpetual force of the law. Lawgiver of tlic New, dispensation, from wliich similar obligations and similar treatment could ensue, the entire argument must he pronounced a fallacy, and the conclusion null and void. Further, this argument is rendered yet more cogent by the recollection that the persons ad- dressed in the Epistle were Jews, presumed to be familiar with the facts of their own history, with the doctrines of the Pentateuch, of the Psalms, and of the Prophets, and with their own intimate relation, even lineally considered, to the kingdom of the Messiah. They were the descendants of the people of the wilderness so strongly charged with apostasy in the language of the Psalm, and on this ground, as well as on others, -made to feel the exceeding force of the warning, ' Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of 3'ou an evil heart of unbelief (ver. 12). In verse 7 the teaching of this Psalm is expressly ascribed to the Holy Ghost, as in the following chapter (ver. 7) it is ascribed to David ; while its insertion here as the basis of an argument for fidelity to Christ, must be admitted as proof that this doctrine of the Old Testament is really and fully translated into the New, and by the same authority. 'To-day' is here equivalent to the entire duration of the Old Covenant and its institutions, conveying to us the significant inti- mation that these primitive utterances of God, particularly those from Blount Sinai hero directly referred to, abide in perpetual force, and are ad- dressed to every successive generation of people, as truly as to the first, without the least diminu- tion of authority or rightful power of impression. Such was the force of the law, and such is the THE REST. 105 force of the gospel; each has its perpetual Now, chap, x. its 'To-day.' Heb. ui. 6-i9; ' Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness : when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart ; and they have not known my ways.' (2.) In verse 8 the dispositions to obedience The required are inculcated, and the failure of divine truth in accomplishing its ends is not made to rest upon its indistinctness or ambiguity, but upon the re- fractoriness and indifference of those summoned to listen to it. To harden the heart by voluntary habits of indolence, by insensibility, and bias to evil, is to disqualify the most privileged people from profiting by their position, and to convert them into the most provoking and incorrigible rebels. The description to this effect in these verses is a compendium of the history of the Pentateuch, of exact truth and wonderful intensity. The ' provo- cation,' the ' day of temptation in the wilderness,' extending through forty years; the probation of the divine character by varied operations, both of grace and vengeance; the incessant vexation, speaking after a human manner, which their emeutes occasioned ; and the solemn judgment passed upon their character from the evidence of their behaviour during this long trial, — are decla- rations which, considered as inspired, are deeply condemnatory of the people to whom such favours were vouchsafed, and of that human nature in general which so much needs the remembrance lOG THE REST. CHAP. X. of these fearful precedents of human turpitude to iieb. iii. 6-19; fortify it agaiust similar or even more aggravated apostasy in later times. Exclusion of The penalty of exclusion from the promised rest iiorn\'ite Host, (vcrs. 11-15^) camiot be taken in any other sense strictly typi- ^|^^^ ^^ ^^^ example strictly typical, and therefore of New Testament force. It is not mere deprivation of privilege or lowering of status that is intended : these penalties had been incurred before, but by the intercession of Moses they had been condoned. The penalty here was to that generation nothing less than an absolute disinheritance, not to be re- versed on suit or amendment, but rendered final by an oath. Hence ver. 14 makes the participation in Christ conditional on holding ' the beginning of our confidence stcdfast unto the end, while it is Christian ad- Said to-dayj' 16. tlic Christian rest is as much made mission to it ,. , it j_it i l^ conditional, coutmgcut on obcdicnce to the end as was the Hebrew rest on the obedience of the people in the wilderness. Thus, ver. 13, ' Exhort one another dail}^,' is language suitable to an emergency, — to the decision of a great stake, the casting of the die of destiny. The reminders are to be, not once, or now and then, but daily, and of Church obligation, as if every man were made his brother's keeper : ' lest any of you be hardened through the deceit! ulness of sin ; ' nothing being more easy and fatal than to accept the lessons of temptation when ^ ' So I swarc in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of un- belief, in efore Simpler and more satisfactory to insert ver. 6 be- ver. ii. fore ver. 11. This is really its proper place, from its manifestly logical connection : ' Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief,' 'let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same ex- ample of unbelief This connection is perfect ; it removes all ambiguity from the course of the argu- ment, and all necessity for the use of a parenthesis between verses 7 and 10. Indeed, it is so obvious, This probably its original that the conjecture must be deemed probable that place. lie THE IlEST. t'HAT. X. this was it original place, and that the arrangement Heb.iii. 6-19; has bccn injured by some early error of transcrip- tion. Instances of this sort not a few may be gathered from the Old and New Testaments. How, then, reads the verse in the connection proposed ? It reads as an argument enforcing the exhortation of the first verse, drawn from the whole of the preceding discourse concerning the tempta- tion and the rest. The unbelief mentioned in ver. 6 recurs in ver. 11 as an example to be shunned and strenuously resisted: 'Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest ;' i.e. to be of the number mentioned in ver. 6, who are said ' to enter in,' and not of the disobedient mentioned in the same description, and again in ver. 11, as those who ' fall after the same example of unbelief.' Thus the correspondence be- tween verses 6 and 11 is seen to be entire : the one Rest provision is actually dovctailcd into the other. The infer- tile beginning, ence from the continued existence of the 'rest' provision from age to age undoubtedly is, that some enter therein, and that in the divine foresight such overture was not unavailing ; but that, wliilst many neglected it, others would certainly accept it.' It is apparent that this obvious mode of inter- preting the sixth verse coincides both with matter of fact and with the argument of the discourse. As to the fact, it simply exhibits a summary of the history of the Church under the law and the gospel ; ^ Ilencc, tliougli our translators oiiglit not to have inserted ' must ' in the pjissage aa a true rendering of the original, they have less diverged from an implied doctrine in the phrase than they seem to have done; for, though necessity, in the sense of predetermined decree, be inadmissible, yet the relation between the rest provision and the requirements of human nature is so broad and intimate as to justify ' us in asserting that given results will follow. THE REST. 117 for from the beginning there have always been chap. x. those who have used their privileges and those who Hcb. iii. 6-i9; have abused them. As to the argument, the fact "" ^~^^' itself is most cogent in favour of final perseverance in the profession and works of the Christian faith. For example, taking verse 1 of the chapter, ' Let Danger of us therefore fear,' etc., while there was no danger of it a motive whatever that the entire Hebrew Church should aiS^^'^^'^'^' apostatize from Christianity to Judaism, there was very eminent hazard of a portion of it giving wa}^; indeed, the Epistle asserts that some had already fallen, and it was obviously written to arrest the mischief Such is the construction of verse 1: 'Any of you should seem to come short of it,' i.e. exhibit an example of apostasy after the manner of your fathers. The expression ''seem to come short' is not to be interpreted as an apparent instead of a real coming short, but of such an open and palpable dereliction from the path of duty as should make an adverse judgment with respect to their prospects undeniably true from the very letter of the Chris- tian faith. The defection was overt and cognizable beyond doubt, just as much so as w^as the defection of the Israelites who murmured against Moses, and refused to advance at God's command towards the land of promise. The relation of this whole discourse (commencing chap. iii. 7 to with the 7th verse of the 3d, and ending with the teache^the 13th verse of the 4th chapter) to the Church Sove- cS'^*? °^ reignty of Christ, is as manifest as it is impressive. ^^^.^ Church in ° "^ ' ^ ■■• all ages. To quote a prophetic phrase, ' This is the law of the house.' As the King of Israel, Christ gave law to the people in the wilderness, by His ' servant Moses,' — as the ' King set upon the holy hill of iv, 1-13. 1 1 8 THE REST. (HAP. X. Zion,' He gives law to His Church throughout the jK-b. iii. (j-19; world. To Ilis voiCG, as recogniscd by the Holy Ghost, the people of David's time were summoned to give audience. Between the two dispensations of the Old and New Covenants, intervened that of prophets, expository of the one, and preparatory to the other. Under these several epochs of rule, His Ilest has ever been set forth to His people as the prize of their high calling ; while, with the advance of revelation, we mark a corresponding advance in the spirituality and compass of religious obligation, and even in the terrors of penalty. Hence the all but alarm language of verse 11, ' Let us labour therefore,' reminding us of our Lord's own words, 'strive,' or agonize, 'to enter in at the strait gate, for many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able.' ' For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight : but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.' We have here the climax of tliis most consecu- tive and forcible appeal : ' For the word of God is quick and powerful.' The author, after consider- able lapse of time, and careful reconsideration of this passage, is unable to oiler a truer exposition of its terms and scope than he has given else- where. He therefore introduces, without apology, an extract from his work on Mediatorial Sove- reignty (vol. i. p. 99): — 'Ileb. iv. 12 is a New iv. 1-13. THE REST. 1 1 9 Testament reflection of Old Testament scriptures, chap. x. The force of the collation lies partly in the struc- Heb. m. 6-i9; tural resemblance between the Old Testament passages and this from the New, and partly in the historic and doctrinal unity existing between them. For the first, — if it be necessary to hold the doctrine of a personal Word at all, as contained in the former class of scriptures, — it seems we can hardly deny that the passage in Hebrews is susceptible of the same interpretation. For while it is not to be maintained that any one of these scriptures may not be interpreted otherwise, it does seem clear that the admission of a personal sense is equally appropriate to the last -mentioned scripture with them all; and it is remarkable that in no other passage of the New Testament can any description of the "word of God" be pointed to at all akin to this ; it stands by itself, and, as it would seem, is meant to be a kind of reflection of, or counterpart to, this class of Old Testament passages. Like them it partakes of the characters of indefiniteness or double meaning ; while it draws out those more highly appropriate to a jjerson than to a word. " The word of God is quick," or living, powerful, in action like the piercing of a sword, " a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart;" i.e. life, power, and moral judgment are ascribed to it; and, indeed, unless a transition from a word to a person be admitted here, the same 'word' is said to scrutinize all creatures, and that it is with this 'word' that all creatures have to do. But this notion of a transition seems to spoil the climacteric nature of the description ; and is, moreover, im- probable, from the double consideration that it iv. 1-13. 1-0 THE r.EST. ciiAi'. X. could not be tlic Apostle's intention to enforce on ii.i). iii. 0-19; Ilthreics the doctrine of the divine omniscience but as it was an attribute of the Word ; and that to the Word, rather than to God, in the peculiar New Testament sense, appertains the judicial as well as the gracious administration of the Church. ' These considerations make it difficult to believe that personality is excluded from this description; mere personification of the literal "word" — the al- ternative to this interpretation — being inadequate to the import of the description, considered as a ivhoJe. . . . There is a supposed parallel between these Hebrew Christians and their progenitors under the Law; and their temptations and dangers in both cases are supposed to arise, not only from the same general causes, but from their having to do with the same Being. The quotation from the 95th Psalm is full in proof of this, for it immediately relates to their conduct under probation, and re- cognises in the Being who said, " When your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works," the Lord of the New Testament Church.'^ ^ Sre also the two apocalyptic descriptions of Christ, Rev. i. IG, xix. 13. NOTE ON THE SABBATH. 121 NOTE ON THE SABBATH. NOTE. Heb. iv. 4. Heb. IV. 4. ' For He spake in a certain place of the seventh clay on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works.' In addition to the argument previously advanced for the primitive institution of the Sabbath, the following observa- tions are added : — (1.) The ground of observance of a seventh day in the Decalogue bears on it no Hebrew peculiarity whatever. It is just as cogent a ground for Sabbath observance to the whole human race as to the Hebrew people, resting as it does on the assumption that Jehovah the God of Israel is the only true God, and the only Creator of the world. This is plainly catholic ground, and its denial would involve the blasphemy of His being but a local and tutelary Deity, to whom the rest of mankind owe neither recognition nor fealty. (2.) The covenant character of the Decalogue by no means invalidates this conclusion ; it only implies that to the Hebrew people the Sabbath was a national ordinance, a formal article of stipulation, so to speak, to which they pledged themselves by their acceptance of this covenant. Hence the dissolution of the covenant and of its national obligations cannot in the least affect the validity of the Sabbath, as resting on an older law; it merely unlooses this particular form of obligation. (3.) The assumption that the Sabbath is merely a Hebrew ordinance is founded on a wrong view of the Decalogue itself, which is not merely a national code, but essentially a world code. Not one of its articles can be appealed to as bearing a local or temporary character; they are a rescript or summary of religion itself. Surely the prohibitions of polytheism, idolatry, of dishonouring parents, swearing, theft, murder, adultery, are not Hebrew ordinances, but the common law of humanity ? If so, they are as old as the world, and the collocation of the Sabbath Tlie fonrtli command- ment not Hebrew but primitive. Covenant eba- racter of the Decalogue does not in- validate tliis. The Decalogue a sum mar}' of primitive re- ligion. 122 NOTE ON THE SABBATH. NOTE, lleb. iv. 4. Jlission of the Hebrews to restore primi- tive religion. Tlie Sabbath a badge of this obliiration. Not formally re-iiistituteJ, liecause never abrogated. with them is in proof that it likewise is one of the articles of primitive religion, of which the Decalogue is but an abridgment. (4.) Tiiis view of the Decalogue is corroborated by a recollection of the purposes for which the Hebrew people were called out of Egypt, disciplined in the wilderness, and settled in the land of Canaan. These purposes in- volved nothing less than the formal restoration of the primitive religion of the world. They were to be a divine testimony to the divinity of Jehovah, as the Creator of the world, and a protdst against the aj)ostasy and guilt of the nations around, in substituting other divinities for Him, and in doing service to them which ' by nature were no gods.' This was God's testimony, and it was to be held forth to the nations in a grand national form, by a people selected for that very end. Hence they might not im- properly be called as a nation the early Protestants of the world. Their religion was most expressly Monotheistic, and their national integrity was guaranteed on this basis alone. The infraction of the covenant, fatal to its integrity, was the sin of idolatry, which, with its accompanying deluge of crime, had ripened for destruction the nations in whose land they were to dwell. The institution of the Sabbath appears" peculiarly forcible in this connection. It was a professional badge of their obligation to maintain their Ljyalty to their faith, and a leading measure for securing it. The application of this argument to the Christian Sabbath is easy and obvious. There was no room for the formal re-institution of the Sabbath in a religion not essentially national. It could only be re-edited as a Church ordmance, and could only be restored to its nationality when the religion of Christ should come to be nationally recognised. This consideration, while it goes far to ac- count for the absence in the New Testament of a formal republication, is made still more convincing when referred to the institution of the Sabbath as part and parcel of the ])rimitive law of the world. For why should that be formally re-instituted which has never fallen into de- cadence, or has in no previous age whatever been formally NOTE ON THE SABBATH. 123 annulled ? Even by men, fresh legislation to suit new NOTE. wants of society surely does not imply the abroo-ation of ^^ ,"~~ , ,-j • 1 • • 1 • T -1 -1 Heb. IV. i. constitutional principles previously settled, or even of par- ticular statutes, unless their abrogation be formally declared. Why, then, should it be imagined, that Christianity has can- celled the ordinance of the Sabbath, because it is in certain capital respects a great advance on the earlier religion of the world ? Undoubtedly, it may and does comprise much more than this, but as certainly it cannot comprise less. Hence, the manner in w^iich the New Testament deals with this question is just what we ought to have expected. It does not treat all previous revelation as a nullity. It does not re-enact the statutes against polytheism and idolatry ; against theft, murder, forgery, and the like ; but does it therefore abrogate them ? It takes for granted that the primitive religion of the world is irrevocable, whilst it makes its notices of the Sabbath entirely to correspond with this assumption. For instance, when our Lord Our Lord as- uttered His great declaration, found in Mark (ch. ii. sumes its per- y , ^ petuity, and vers. 27, 28), it plainly assumes the perpetuity and world- declares the wide nature of the Sabbath: 'The Sabbath was made for ^-^^^ of its ob- servance. man, and not man for the Sabbath.'^ Tlie language of this double aphorism is of itself sufficiently explicit ; but its full lustre, as a declaration of the pristine and universal institution of the Sabbath, is brought out by adverting to the obvious fact, that our Lord meant it to be an authori- tative interpretation of the Sabbath law, directed against ecclesiastical and traditional interpolations. This vindica- tion of its integrity is far more forcibly presented by going back to it as a primitive and race ordinance, than by look- ing at it merely in its national aspects, since, undoubtedly, there were specialities in the form of the law as delivered to the Llebrew people, which did not belong to it in its primitive and race character. What follows this authorita- tive declaration, ' Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath,' is most momentous. It corroborates the per- ^ According to some modern notions, the word Jews should have taken the place of man in the passage ; but even on this restricted basis, the latter aphorism is still inapplicable, that the Jews were made for tlie Sabbath. 124 NOTE OX THE SABBATH. NOTE. Hob. iv. 4. This the earliest Chris- tian authority for Sabbath observauiio. Alteration of tiie day a later act of Christ's prerogative. petuity of the Sabbath, and gives us the law of its future observance. It, as we take it, determines at once the true position of the Sabbath as a part of Christianity. The institution as primitive, and as Hebrew also, is subject to the legislation of Christ as Lord, i.e. as Eedeemcr. This declaration is in proof that His Lordship is exercised over the Sabbath only administratively ; indeed, the occasion itself is in evidence that no controversy existed between Him and tlie national authorities on the validity of the Sabbath, but only on the law of its observance. In this instance, we see the first exercise of His prerogative in this direction, in determining the innocency of His dis- ciples in plucking the ears of corn. Regarding the Sab- bath in the light of this scripture, its future observance seems a direct consequence. It is also the authority for its final designation as the Lord's day : ' For the Son of ]\Ian is Lord also of the Sabbath.' This is an earlier and broader ground than that which assigns it merely to the day of the Eesurrection. Tlie alteration from the seventh to the first day of the week, in memory of this great event, should be regarded as a distinct act of legislation respect- ing its observance, rather than as the original act of the Lord's prerogative. He was Lord of the Sabbath from the veiy date of His IMessiahship, as is proved by the scrip- ture just quoted ; and the appointment of the first day as His Sabbath ensued, because the day of His resurrection was in fact the date of His new creation, the Church. There is reason to believe that this re-institution of the Sabbath took place on the very day of the Eesurrection itself, since we mark the singular recurrence of Christ's visits afterwards as seventh-day visits. In all probability, the Sabbath, like Baptism and the Supper, was an ordinance of Christ, entirely foregoing and separate from the revelations of the Holy Ghost, and should ha numbered among the things ' pertaining to the kingdom of God' settled by our Lord in His intercourse with the apostles during the forty days previous to the Ascension. 1 le was about to disband and scatter the only nation wliicli, fur untold centuries, had retained this great primitive insti- tution of the world; elsewhere it had perished utterly, in KOTE ON THE SxVBBxVTII. 125 common with every other article of true religion, in the NOTE. ereat delucje of polytheism, further, this nation was never ^^ , ~ , again to be restored under that covenant which formally guaranteed the observance of the Sabbath ; henceforth, in inflnence of the disowned and scattered condition of the Hebrew people, tlie Hebrew . L 1 ' habbath jier- it was only to linger w^ith them as one among the many ished with traditions of the past, exerting no influence for Sabbath J?^^''f.y """ T 11 mi • • P tionality. restoration on the world. This singular fact is undeniable, that while Judaism, previous to the age of Christianity, exerted a very considerable influence among Gentile nations in favour of the Sabbath, since Christianity came, this in- fluence has been altogether defunct, proving that it de- pended upon the national integrity of the Jews, and therefore could have no existence after that nationality had ceased. The Sabbath cannot be restored apart from Christianity, without restoring a rival Sabbath, a national in opposition to a world Sabbath. In this, then, we perceive a Avonderful examj^le of the prescient power of the Author of Christianity, and an exer- cise of His prerogatives in beautiful accordance with it. Before He destroyed the only conservative power of primi- tive religion in the world. He transferred to the custody of His Church its great primitive institute. The light was put into a new shrine, and the holy fire, as it were, re- moved from a doomed altar to one of indestructible per- petuity. This was a grand augury for the future of the world, and itseK a prophecy of the universal spread of the Christian religion. The Sabbath was to be restored to its influence the world purely by means of the Christian Church, and }° J'f restored • 1 • 1 T 1 bytheCluucli. to become its last universal light, preserved through all intervening periods of darkness, until the world's begin- ning and the world's end should complete the circle of its existence in its first and last Sabbath-day.-^ Doubtless, it was a temporary embarrassment, that the Co-existence Christian Church began its course with a double Sabbath ; ^} tbe Jewish . . °T -r . , . . . Sabbath ai)d but this was inevitable, so long as Jewish institutions re- the Lord's mained in force ; yet, thus early, the two Sabbaths exhibited ^^''^y- very great differences. There would be seen the national ^ See last chapter of Mediatorial Sovereiyiiiij, — ' The Kingdom of the Father the Sabbath of the Universe.' 126 NOTE ON THE SABBATH. NOTE. Heb. iv. 4. Contrast bo- tween them. Pillioultips attciulin^f its first obser- vance account for indistiTict- ness of ancient testimonies on the point. SaLbatli, ^vitll its stiffness, pomp, punctiliousness, and mechanical routine; and by the side of it, the quiet, simple, unearthly consecration of the Lord's day to wor- ship, to fraternal intercourse, and to works of charity and religion. It would l)ear no traces of external legislation, or consignment to mere bodily exercises, which profit little. It was no heavy yoke, encumbered by no ceremonial, but free, spiritual, holy, and heavenly, as the religion which authenticated it ; in a word, its observance Avas voluntary and spontaneous, pleasant in association, and fruitful in blessing. Disowned by the world, it was the more preci- ous to the Church, though in primitive times its observ- ance must have been attended by many inconveniences and sacrifices. Indeed, its thorough observance, in many instances, must have been impracticable, as in the case of slaves, soldiers, or civil employes. These early surround- ings of the Christian Sabbath go far to iiccount for the comparative indistinctness of ancient testimonies as to the mode in which it was kept. In primitive times, it must have been very much restricted, or rather cut off from its social correlatives. Afterwards, when Christianity was widely spread, its corruption also had made a correspond- ing progress ; so that when the Church came to be acknow- ledged throughout the Eoman empire, its condition was such as almost totally to preclude any true appreciation of or practical compliance with the divine ordinance. It is likely that its observance was of that heterogeneous and superficial sort which marks its modern aspects in countries only nominally Christian, but especially in those still sub- ject to the dark sway of mediae valism. Indeed, its true character was only imperfectly understood in the age of the Reformation, and is still much perverted by the ex- tremes of a Judaizing severity on the one hand, and of a Church-dispensing laxity on the other. It is obvious that the glory of the Christian Sabbath is only developed, just in proportion to the progress of an intelligent evangelical piety ; and that, until this shall become far more prevalent in the M-orld than it is, these distortions of the Sabbath may be expected to hold their ground. CHAPTER XI. PEACTICAL DISCUSSION — ' ELEMENTS.' Heb. v. 11, 12 ; VI. 1-3. In order to preserve entire the unity of the several topics under discussion, and especially that of the Peiesthood (extending through the first ten verses of the 5th chapter, and omitting chapter vi., con- tinuing as far as the 22d verse of the 10th chapter), it is appropriate here to break off from the 13th verse of chapter iv., and to recommence with the 11th verse of chapter v. The verses following, with the whole of the 6th chapter, form a separate practical discussion. ' Of whom we have many things to say, and Third horta- hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.' begins chap. It is a remarkable feature in the structure of tinuesthrouo this Epistle that the current of doctrinal statement '^^^^p- '*'^- is more than once interrupted for the sake of delivering the most forcible exhortations arising out of the truths previously set forth. The first example of this kind occurs in the opening of chapter ii., the second in chapter iii., verse 7, the third we are about to consider, a fourth is found in chapter x., verse 22 ; and these are multiplied as the Epistle progresses toward completion. This may be taken as an indication of some importance 128 PRACTICAL DISCUSSION — ELEMENTS. THAP. XI. Heb.v. 11,12 vi. 1-3. These ilij^rcs- sions cliunic- teristics of St. Paul's thought. Chap. V. 11 accords with cliap. iv. 11, whieli closes second horta- tory section. in the question of its authorship ; for, if it cannot be said that this treatise agrees precisely with the structure of all St. Paul's Epistles, j-et it does so in a very remarkable manner, still more, perhaps, with the style of St. Paul's thought, Avliich is characteristically digressive. The dilTerence is to be accounted for chiefly b}^ the more extended and systematic form which this Epistle presents. In- deed, one is inclined to think that the stnple of the Epistle (or treatise, as it may rather be called) may be more correctly, perhaps, ascribed to St. Paul than its form. The doctrines are his, but the form may be the work of another, subject to his immediate supervision. But to return. The exhortation in the 11th verse of chapter iv,, 'Let us labour therefore,' is in full accord with the exhortation in the 11th verse before quoted ; both are expressive of a degree of disquiet and dissatisfaction wdth respect to the state of the Hebrew Church. ' To fall after the same example of unbelief,' is a liability associated with this language of rebuke, ' seeing 3'e are dull of hearing,' and are become such as ' have need of milk, and not of strong meat.' The non-iDro- gressive state of the Hebrew Church, in respect to spiritual and doctrinal acquisition, if nothing worse, is in these verses strongly affirmed, and made the ground of serious, though not of ex- aggerated apprehension. Sui)posing this Epistle to be one of the latest of the inspired canon, it may be adduced in evidence that this primitive and apostolic Church was not, on the whole, in a flourishing condition thirty years after the day of Pentecost. The bulk of its earliest members were PKACTICAL DISCUSSION — ELEMENTS. 129 then doubtless gathered into the Rest spoken of in chap, xi. the 4th chapter, — perhaps the greater part of the Heb.v.ii,r2; apostles were to be numbered with them, — and in ^^" ~ ' the main a new generation had risen up, not in all Epistle ad- drGSSGcl to respects worthy of the past. cimrch at That verses 11 and 12 could have been addressed to the primitive Church in its glory, is a supposition disproven by the ' Acts of the Apostles ; ' while the phrase, 'When for the time ye ought to be teachers,' is in proof that instead of the Church at Jerusalem being the focus of evangelical wisdom, and a sort of normal institution for the instruction of pro- vincial or Gentile Churches, as it ought to have been, it rather itself stood in need of a reinforcement from without; and that already a bringing back of a torch from a distance to the primitive seat of light, was the necessity of the time, and the object of this Epistle. ' The first principles of the oracles of God ' are spoken of as things to be reconsidered and pondered anew, as if there was a danger of their being sapped by the condition of the living Church, or, to use the language of chapter ii., ' We ought to give the more earnest heed,' instead of a laxer adhesion, 'lest at any time,' whether of persecution or of indolent rest, ' we should let them slip,' as running water from a leaky vessel. ' The first principles of the oracles of God ' com- ' Principles ' -^, ... , P1-1 elements of prise the elements oi Christianity, samples oi which Christianity are given us in verses 1 and 2 of chapter vi.^ They vSses^i and 2. are called ' the foundation of repentance from dead 1 ' Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection ; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of bap- tisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.' I 130 PRACTICAL DISCUSSION — ELEMENTS. ('}L\p. XT. works,' i.e. the abjuration of mere ritualism and Hoh.v. 11,12; the formalities of law, once in force but now de- funct, and hence called ' dead works.' By implica- tion, therefore, the profession of Christianity meant the repudiation of these as the essentials of religion. The intermixture of Judaism with Christianity, which was the bias of the age, was fatal to the integrity of the latter, save as a temporary com- pliance for national reasons, not for religious ones. To this 'repentance from dead works' is added 'faith toward God,' which, in this connection, 'Faith' not in Certainly cannot mean the doctrines of Theism (for in the mission that foundation had been laid ages before in this of Christ. people), but faith in God, as the author of the mission of Christ. To these fundamentals are added the ' doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of re- surrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.' The article here of a double baptism should be taken to include the baptism of water and of the Holy Ghost, since these two are the only baptisms recognised by the New Testament. The earlier baptism of John and of our Lord Himself were but initial ordinances, entirely superseded by the post- resurrectional ordinance of water and of the Holy ' Baptisms ' of Gliost. It is befitting the evangelical history to Holy Ghost, rank the baptism of the Holy Ghost among the ' elements ' of Christianit}^, because this baptism was announced from the beginning both by John and by the Saviour, and because, historically con- sidered, this baptism inaugurated apostolic Chris- tianity. From the Acts of tlie Apostles also (ch. xix. 3) we gather that the baptism of the Holy Ghost was so fundamental a doctrine of Christianity, PRACTICAL DISCUSSION— ELEMENTS. 131 that no person could be said to have been really chap. xi. baptized into its profession who was ignorant of it. Heb.7ii,i2; It was the capital distinction between the teaching ^^' ^~^' of the Forerunner and that of the apostles. This Baptism of interpretation of the doctrine of baptisms is con- Ghost "among firmed by the article following, ' And of laying on p^o^eST^^*^ of hands,' since we learn from the Acts that this ^^'^^ foUows. baptism of the Holy Ghost was commonly con- ferred by the laying on of the apostles' hands.^ The article of ' the resurrection of the dead' is put Doctrine of in the same category of ' elements ' or principles, among the It was the master-fact on which Christianity rested, ^^^™^'^*^- first, and chiefly, in respect to Christ Himself; second, and in consequence, in respect to the re- surrection of the human race. This is patent from numerous passages in the Acts and the Epistles, particularly 1 Cor. i. 15, where the whole subject is argued and illustrated in St. Paul's noblest manner. No person could therefore be a candidate for Chris- tian baptism and its profession of faith who was not absolutely grounded in this truth. The article of the general judgment completes Also, doctrine ,1 . 1--1 I'j •! T IT' of tti6 general the series, which culminates with equal sublimity judgment. and force ; it is almost uniformly set before us, throughout the New Testament, in a similar con- nection, and demonstrated by similar arguments. Our Lord thus associated the Resurrection with the ^ This w.as a speciality, indeed, in the manner of bestowment, and related only to the impartation of the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost by the apostolic ministry ; while even in this sense the ordi- nance was not absolutely requisite, the first Gentile converts, accord- ing to Acts (ch, X.), receiving even these miraculous endowments by Peter's preaching, not by the imposition of his hands. For the essen- tial purposes of the Christian life, and in perpetuity, this ordinance of imposition of hands was entirely ignored ; and the modern use of it, except as a symbol of conveying office, is therefore only superstition. 132 PRACTICAL DISCUSSION — ELEMENTS. CHAP. XI. Hel).v.ll,r2: vi. 1-3. ' Eloments ' specimen truths, not a complete list. These to be distinguislied I'roin recon- dite doctrines. Judgment ; nor did St. Paul in the presence of the veriest Pagans deem that he had deUvered to them even a bare rudiment of Christianity witliout laying emphasis on the fact that God had appointed a day in which 'He will judge the world in righteous- ness.' This enumeration of articles is not to be taken, however, as absolutely complete : not a single Church doctrine is introduced, and the articles are fewer than those contained even in what is called the Apostles' Creed. Hence the in- ference is, that they are meant merely as speci- men truths of this order, given with a view to distinguish them from the more recondite doctrines of Christianity or its higher mysteries, particularly those which form the staple of this Epistle. CHAPTER XII. PRACTICAL DISCUSSION GROWTH AND PERFECTION. Heb. v. 12-14 ; VI. 1. ' When for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are be- come such as have need of xailk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness ; for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil' Both the elementary and the higher truths are put before us as ' the oracles of God,' an appellation which determines alike their plenary inspiration, their finality, and their perfection. The term is 'Unto them •^ ' ■"■ were com- applied by St. Paul to the Old Testament revela- mitted the rrn n i • • • i oraclesofGod. tions. These from the begmmng were recognised —Rom. iii. 2. among the Hebrews as communications from God : their scriptures were ' oracles ' even among a people originally favoured with oral communications, with continuous prophetic utterances, and the Urim and The same Thummim of the High Priest's breastplate. No claimed for less authority and directness are claimed for the ^rat wacies New Testament oracles by their authors, and by ^^ f°r ^^'^- 134 PRACTICAL DISCUSSION : CHAP. XII. the primitive Church. This is generally assumed, Hob. V. 12-14; but oftcn explicitly taught; in fact it was an ^^' ^' obvious inference from the relation the New Testa- ment bore to the Old, to say nothing of the absurdity of supposing that the last and perfect teachings of Heaven could in any sense be bereft of the distin- guishing characteristics of the earlier revelations. The form of instruction in these verses almost instinctively reminds us of 1 Cor. iii. 2 : 'I have fed you with milk, and not with meat,' etc. In both instances the figure and the terms employed are the same, and also the instruction mingled with reproof. It therefore affords another example, very incidental it is true, but not the less convincing, that St. Paul was, as to its substance at least, the author of this Epistle, and that his thoughts and phrases were perfectly familiar to the writer. Evidence in the same direction is also to be taken from the doctrine of ' perfection,' chapter y\. Doctrine of vcrsc 1.^ Tliis is most patently a Pauline doctrine. l^ec^Sr' See 1 Cor. ii. 6 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 9, 10 ; Phil. iii. 12, 15 ; Pauline. Eph. iv. 13. In these passages the word 'perfect^ is used in two senses : (1.) For the maturity of the Christian nature ; (2.) For the consummation of the Christian warfare. It is in the first of these senses that the word occurs here, and in all the other instances save one. It is obviously equi- valent to the phrase 'of full age;' i.e. perfection signifies Christian manhood, as distinguished from Christian childhood. As stature, mental develop- ment, culture, and fitness for all the offices of life, ^ ' Tlierefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection ; not laviny auain the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God.' GROWTH AND PERFECTION. 135 distinguish the man from the child, so qualities chap. xii. analogous to these distinguish Christian manhood Heb.v. 12-14; from its mere childhood : the one is robust, the other tender ; the one may not even be a sciolist, while the other may be accomplished in the science and the arts of life ; the diet of the one is milk, of the other meat — strong meat ; the one is a nursling requiring diligent foster care, but the other ' by reason of use ' has his ' senses exercised to discern both good and evil.' Hence Christian perfection, christian 1 ,.^ •,! lif. • perfection tlie as here laid down, is the result 01 progressive, result of steady advancement in the grace and doctrine of ^°^ ' Christ. As it is analogous to growth and manli- ness in nature, it cannot be understood of any merely spiritual state at an early stage, suddenly superinduced upon the regenerate nature. It rather includes the perfection in ' love ' of which St. John speaks, than is included in it. The apos- tolic use of the word here certainly comprises much more, viz. a condition of the Christian nature and character which results from extended knowledge, as well as from sanctified feeling. In a word, it signifies the due proportion of all the graces and includes aii virtues of the Christian nature, brought out and virtues. tested on the field of experience. It is important to hold this broad doctrine of Christian perfection in distinction from partial views of it, which, like all other mere ex imrte statements, has its dangers arising from its contiguity to error. Perfection is here characterized as a practical thing, and as essentially progressive. It is the normal increase of the living power of the Holy Ghost in the human soul by the nutriment of evangelical truth, — the antidote against apostasy and unfruitfulness. 136 PRACTICAL DISCUSSION : CHAP. XII. The office of evangelical truth, in leading disciples Heb.v. 12-14; unto perfection, is here made supreme, one might almost say exclusive. The ' word of righteousness,' The 'word of in versG 13 (a noble paraphrase for the gospel), is tfe sole means both the nourislimcnt of the child and of the man, ot-^rts attain- ^^iQ milk and the meat of the Christian life ; or, to change the figure, the principles or elements of the doctrine of Christ comprise the foundation — its higher truths, the perfect edifice of the Christian scheme. The temple of salvation includes both. 'Perfection' Perfection is but the embodiment of the ideal or the embodi- ment of God's pattern of God, symbolized b}^ that given to Closes, and to be wrought out in the spiritual temple of sanctified manhood. This is the representation of the first verse of chap, vi.; and to this we must look as the true evangelical doctrine of perfection, on which so much has been written. It is of equal importance, not only to under- stand, but to apply it to churches and ministers as well as to individual Christians. The doctrine is too generally lost sight of, though emphatically apostolic, and the very gist of the inspired Epistles. Nothing can be plainer than that this law of pro- gress from childhood to maturity is ' the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.' In this respect it is entirely peculiar, inasmuch as it is the dispensa- tion of an eternal plenitude of God to the human soul, and, as such, essentially expansive and inde- orowtii a finite. Hence, to ignore or neglect this great law t'lindamentiU « . -, , f n ■ , ^ , '~ , r> law of Chris- ot progrcssivc and mature lile, is to abstract irom tianity. Christianity its distinguishing glory, to reduce and to attenuate it to comparative decrepitude, to rob it of its power over individuals and churches, and, consequently, of its aggressive miglit upon GROWTH AND PERFECTION. 137 the world at large. Like a law in nature, if re- chap. xii. sisted, its reaction is deteriorative and penal, sick- Heb.v.i2-i4; liness and disease ensue in some form or other, ^" ^' and decay and dissolution are in the train of its Like a law of consequences. Evangelical truth, to exert its full JsteX'its ^'^" power over individuals and communities, must be ^^^^°^^ ^^^^^' profoundly studied, and become an all-plastic force within them: it must be their world by way of eminence ; they must live, move, and have their being in it. It must be their standpoint for look- ing at all exterior questions and objects, it must rule absolutely their judgments and sympathies, and be the palladium they are prepared to defend unto the death. There is a dogmatism which, however sneered at by worldly or sceptical minds, is no empiricism of a sect nor watchword of fana- ticism, but rather a reciprocation of the divine intent in bestowing a revelation, and a transcrip- tion of that nature which made God man, and the Lord Himself a martyr to His own truth. Evangelical truth is a treasure for the world, containing the measures and means of its restora- tion, — facts more marvellous than the most fer- tile legends of superstition, and of immeasurably greater import than all the oracles of science. The degree and manner which characterize the treat- Treatment of ment of divine truth in the Church and in the anlmiex^of world from age to age, is the true test of the JJe church prevailing animus which exists toward religion and the world, itself It is the index of the moral barometer of society, telhng the state of its atmosphere, the courses of its currents, and the prognostics of its changes. These cannot be collected from any general facts so well as they may be by observing 138 PRx\CTICAL DISCUSSION : CHAP. XII. how the mind of an age stands affected to the Hcb.v. 12-11; word of God. The neglect, or the superficial re- gard, which even in primitive times opened the Historical Way to its corruption, by Gnosticism, by Jewish ^'™**' interpolation, or Pagan assimilation, slowly, but certainly, issued in the long and dreary reign of mere ecclesiasticism, and afterwards in the dark- ness and tyranny of the Papacy. In more recent times, the word of God, variously assailed, chiefly by free-thinkers, philosophers, and lukewarm be- lievers, has been feebly defended by a Church but half awake to the nature of the contest and the momentousness of the interests it stands pledged to maintain. The war has commenced and raged oftentimes amidst much seeming disparagement, and been pressed with a boldness, pertinacity, and various erudition, seemingly ominous as to Modem seep- the issuc. But wliatcvcr other lessons may be be combated Suggested by past events, or by those of the present tiachii^!^^^ time which concern this struggle, one at least is very patent, viz. that ' babe ' - churches and * babe '-ministers are in no condition to cope with the adversary ; that nursery diet and nursery lead- ing-strings are inopportune as preconditions for encountering the giant onslaughts of what is called * modern thought.' Too long has the Church re- posed on the mere antecedents of revival and public recognition, on the mere assumption of its having the truth on its side, and on the commonplaces of a threadbare evangelism, or on a statement of tlie ' elements,' not ' left,' in the apostolic sense, for the doctrines of 'perfection,' but for the mere discur- siveness of sentiment and reflection, or for practical themes without any evangelical correspondences. gress. GROWTH AND PERFECTION. 139 These remarks, though somewhat general, are, chap. xii. nevertheless, the practical gist of this most impor- Heb.v.i2-i4; tant scripture, which, with many others, is meant ^^' to be an antidote to certain states of the Church, or phases of Christian life, bearing in themselves the auguries of what are apostolically called ' peril- ous times.' It is certain that the mere superficial extent of c^enerai pro- . lession 01 Christian profession, or Christian exertion, or the Christianity not IlGCGSScirilv correlatives of these, which are reflected in the a sign of pro- civilisation and sentiments of times and peoples, are not necessarily vouchers for the soundness and progress of the Christian cause. On the contrary, they may be associated with unmistakeable omens of declension and relapse into the apathy of former times. Evangelical truth, in whatever degree it becomes inoperative, failing to expand, and assimi- late its disciples, is practically lost. Its absence creates a vacuum but too speedily replenished by forms of antagonism, themselves the penalties of unfaithfulness to so high a trust, and, in many cases, the harbingers of at least a temporary reprobation. CHAPTER XIII. TRACTICAL DISCUSSION OF lEEEMISSIBLE SINS. Heb. VI. 3-9. ' For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.' Two classes of Two classcs of apostatcs are recorded in Scrip- Etnot'irre- turc, ouc cousistiug of thosc wlio had indolently, or by means of the ordinary temptations incident to humanity, sliddcn off the foundation into a condition comparatively negative, yet still highly sinful. These are not regarded as irrecoverable: the ' foundation,' mentioned in the first verse, it was possible to lay again, though under great dis- advantages. There was no bar or ban interposed to this work by divine authority, or by the con- stitution or letter of the gospel itself: the sin of lapse was not unpardonable, should they be 're- newed again unto repentance.' This class includes backsliders from the Christian profession through all ages and conditions of the Church. ['ovcrable. PRACTICAL DISCUSSION — OF IRREMISSIBLE SINS. 141 Bat the second class here mentioned was made chap. xiii. up of persons utterly reprobate, since God's allow- Heb. vi. 3-9. ance of their restoration is denied, and it is put Second utterly down among the impossibles of the gospel. The ^^^^° description given of them is most forcible, both as to their religious state, and their after fall from it. They are said to have been ' once enlightened,' i.e. largely instructed in the Christian doctrine, not persons to be ranked as novices, or such as were groping their way into light, but without success. To be ' enlightened ' implies much more than this, since it is the word commonly used in the Epistles to signify persons ' taught of God.' Further, ' they have tasted of the heavenly gift.' This is a clear description of the evangelical life, and shows that the previous illumination was not merely doctrinal, or something which might exist apart from a work of grace in the affections. To ' taste the heavenly gift ' is to be divinely percipient of the spirituality of religion, in opposition to the purely natural man who is without this spirit of discernment, and to whom the things of God are ' foolishness.' ' To have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost' is a fur- ther note of the evangelical state. In the earliest preaching of the apostles it is characterized as the great distinction of Christian disciples, and it may be understood here as including both the ordinary and the miraculous endowments of the Divine Spirit. Thus the description, so far, is entirely of those who are Christians in the full sense in which the apostles describe the primitive Church. What follows (verse 5) is, if possible, stronger in the same direction ; for it implies that these persons were not perfunctory and transient converts to 142 PRACTICAL DISCUSSION — OF IRREMISSIBLE SINS. fHAP. XIII. Christianity, since if the phrases, Miave tasted the Hob. vi. 3-9. good word of God,' and the 'powers of the world to come,' do not mean continuous, and, up to a certain time, progressive experience of the Chris- tian life, they amount to little more than a solemn tautology ; but, viewed in this light, they are eminently descriptive of the main characteristics of a true profession. To ' taste the good word of God ' means to relish and enjoy evangelical truth — to feast on it, as from the dainties of a daily board. To ' taste the powers of the world to come ' is to be introduced into the realities of the kingdom of Christ, and the very joys of heaven, i.e. to be- come conscious of a new and sublime order of things springing out of mediation andi-he dispensa- tion of the Spirit, comprising, as it were, glimpses and fruitions of the new heavens and the new earth as antagonistic to the mere realms of sense and its surroundings ; the "world that is, and was, but which, strictly speaking, has no future, fades and melts away, when evangelical vision fills the soul, as a mere shadow before the zenith sun. Thus interpreted, this world is but a prophecy of the world of the future, while, otherwise, it is but an enigma which defies solution. Nature of To tlic attainments of these characters is added x!"!).^"'' ^ ^ description of their sin : ' They crucified to them- selves the Son of God afresh, and put Ilim to an open shame.' This is sufficiently expressive of its enormity: the description is, however, further ex- tended in chap. x. 29, in which these same persons are said to have ' trodden luider foot the Son of God, to have counted the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, and to have done despite unto the PRACTICAL DISCUSSION — OF IRREMISSIBLE SINS. 143 Spirit of grace.' Putting both descriptions together, chap. xiii. they set forth the ne plus ultra of apostasy. 'To Heb. vi. 3-9. crucify Christ afresh ' can hardly mean less than to consent to the judgment of His adversaries, to their blasphemies and cruelties in putting Him to death ; and ' to put Him to an open shame ' is an obvious reference to the peculiar indignities of a death by crucifixion. They are regarded as parties to the event, and made to rank among the personal enemies of the Redeemer. To tread Him under foot seems to express further indignities, i.e. those to which a corpse may be subjected — so hateful as to be denied the decencies of sepulture, and to be left unburied for the purpose of indulging in the brutal gratification of mutilating the remains, as the two witnesses are said to lie in the streets of the spirit- ual Sodom. Thus our Lord is not deemed worthy, by these diabolical apostates, of even the honours of a martyr, or of those due to suffering innocency. His very blood is accounted unholy, that is, as the blood of a criminal; while the Spirit of grace is, as it were, personally insulted as having borne witness to an impious imposture. No language can exceed these representations in depicting an open and wanton apostasy. It probably alludes to some set form, or forms, of abjuration which finished the apostasy of these backsliders, and which bound them to a public side-taking with the known adversaries of Christ. This makes the offence peculiarly a Jewish one, This sin pecu- T Ti • I I^ 1- 1 • I liar to the and one belonging to the time and circumstances jews. of the primitive Church, though not excluding the possibility of its reiteration in the history of Jewish families through any subsequent age down to the 144 PRACTICAL DISCUSSION— OF IRREMISSIBLE SINS. ciiAr. XIII. lid), vi. 3-9. Twiu sin to tliat against the Holy Ghost. Matt. xii. 3], 32. Apostasy the ground of its tuqntudc. present. Hence it is not a sin to whicli Gentile converts would be liable; they, having no national or family affinity with the Jewish people, could not be historically ii'uilty of, or implicated in, the death of Christ. Thus viewed, this sin seems to be the twin sin to that against the Holy Ghost de- scribed by Matthew, but there are certain difler- cnces between them. The sin against the Holy Ghost is plainly interpreted as the blasphemous imputation of miracles by the hand of Christ to Satanic collusion with Christ Himself. It was a malignant and impious construction, in respect to their origin, put upon these ' mighty works,' when their character demonstrated them to be divine. This was blasphemy and despite to the Spirit of grace. It is, however, remarkable that the clear definition of the sin against the Holy Ghost is dis- tinguished from sin against the Son of Man ; that no sins committed against His person and claims as the Messiah bore the irrevocable sentence of judgment upon them. Even the crucifixion was not an unpardonable crime, much less were any of those under-currents of discussion which preceded it, and which, as leading to this consummation, were deeply charged with guilt. Nor does it follow that the blasphemy afterwards cherished and exhibited by our Lord's enemies, placed them beyond the reach of forgiveness. The damning power of the sin described in this Epistle plainly consisted in the added turpitude of apostasy. It could not be committed, in this pecu- liarly malignant form, by any but disciples — not by outstanders; so that, were it to be denied that the descriptions in verses 4 and o appertahi to true PRACTICAL DISCUSSION — OF IRREMISSIBLE SINS. 145 Christians, and are to be applied to professors chap. xiii. merely, the whole gist of the offence is taken Heb. vi. 3-9. away, and, consequently, the ground of the irre- missibility of the sin. As far as it appears, there are but tw^o sins by the New Testament pronounced irremissible,— both of them peculiar to times and circumstances at the outset of the gospel, — both absolutely damning, but differing in one important particular, viz. the condition of the offenders. The sin against the Holy Ghost was the sin of out- standing people ; the sin described in this chapter, on the contrary, is the sin of disciples. This last is probably what is called by John ' the sin unto 1 joim v. le. death,' for he expressly excludes it from the offices of intercession, which might redound to forgiveness. All other sin, though characterized by him as unrighteousness, is, nevertheless, not ' sin unto death,' i.e. sin which absolutely consigned to retri- bution — the ' death ' retribution of a future state. But if other sins beside these were sins unto death, — that of Judas, for instance, who betrayed his Lord ; of Ananias and Sapphira, who lied unto the Holy Ghost ; or that of Hymenseus and Alex- ander, whom Paul said he ' delivered unto Satan that they might learn not to blaspheme,' — yet all these partook of the same characters of speciality. They were committed by persons in such privileged positions as could be shared by none after the apostolic age, and they were visited, as one might say, by penalty of prerogative, whether exercised by our Lord Himself, or by His apostles, but which devolved on no successors. Examples of -r> 1 1 r> ^ ' • '^^^ VCato But the most comprehensive view of this im- death ' under ,, ,• -Ti ,1 I'lf the Mosaic portant question is, like many others, derived irom kw. K 14G TRACTICAL DISCUSSION — OF IRRE^IISSIBLE SINS. ciiAr. XIII. an exammation of the Mosaic law. In the Penta- ii.-b. vi. 3-9. teuchal history, repeated examples occur of the ' sin unto death ' committed by the Israelites, as in the instance of Korah, Dathan, and the two hundred and fifty men who offered incense, and of Aaron's sons smitten in the Tabernacle itself. Counter instances are also numerous, i.e. of the sin not unto death, as in the matter of the golden calf, where the penalty was reversed by the inter- cession of Moses ; of the plague stayed by the censer of Aaron ; and the bite of the serpents healed by the uplifting of the brazen serpent. These are examples in point agreeing with the doctrine of this chapter.^ Further, offences against the Decalogue are also ' sins unto death,' and hence the Law is called by St. Paul the * ministration of death ; ' while the cases scattered up and down the pages of the Pentateuch, in which death is threatened to the offender, are almost innumerable : ' That soul shall The law con- Ije cut oflf froui liis pcoplc.' In truth, this broad tained no pro- . . , . .. , . vision for distmctiou bctwccn venial and mortal sms runs tuourbins'' through the entire law, which made no provision by sacrifice and rites of absolution for the relief of jjresumptuous o^QiidiQYS,: its provisions extended only to the condonation of the sins of ignorance and in- firmity. Presumptuous sins are denominated by the Psalmist, ' the great transgression,' from which he prays that he might be delivered. This twofold aspect of the law toward crime is introduced in ' It must be borne in mind, in these three instances, that the sin in its nature was a sin unto death : they are cited here in proof that such sins were never remissible by any legal ordinances, but solely by the offices of atonement and intercession apart from these. [Eds.] PRACTICAL DISCUSSION — OF IRREMISSIBLE SINS. 147 the 26tli, 27th, and 28th verses of the 10th chapter chap. xiii. of this Epistle, and for the purpose of showing Heb, vi. 3-9. that the gospel itself presents, to a certain extent, an analogy with it. This was evidently in the Analogy, in writer's mind when penning verse 26: 'For if we betweeKe sin wilfull}^,' i.e. presumptuous^, like these apos- JfoIpeL*^ ^^^ tates, ' after we have received the knowledge of the truth,' agreeably to vers. 4 and 5, chap, vi., ' there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins ; ' i.e. these apostates were precisely in the position of a similar class under the law for whom no provision by sacrifice remained. ' They died without mercy under two or three witnesses ; ' so here, there re- mained no more sacrifice for sin, i.e. they were utterly precluded from any further interest in the sacrifice of Christ ; their sin passed beyond the range of atonement, and they were bound over ' to judgment and fiery indignation,' which should de- vour them as adversaries. It would seem that the reservation of certain The riches of rv. o 'iiiii if> 1 grace admiiii- oriences tor punishment, under the gospel, few and stered by law. peculiar though they be, was at once designed to attest the exceeding riches of its grace, and yet to show that prerogative was not utterly given up. Nor can this be construed as in any degree lessen- ing the extent and all-sufficiency of the Atonement; since the design of it was not to supersede the application of law, or to invest sin with impunity, but to render its remission consistent with the divine holiness, and with the stable order of a moral government. In this view, the proscription of particular sins is only an extension of the law of conditions in general, which is but another word for limitations ; and, in this instance, the proscrip- 148 rRACTICAL DISCUSSION — OF IRREMISSIBLE SINS. CHAP. XIII. tion lies not against outstandors, or tlic world, but Heb. vi. 3-9. against ialleu members of the Church. To main- tain the contrary, would be to prostitute the doc- trines of grace and atonement to unholy purposes, to absolve men from all conditions of obedience, and to make the fnial non-punitiveness of sin a presumption, if not a certainty. Mature of It remaius only to notice the distinction between Mosaic penal- n \ i t^i i i • ^ ties account the penalties of the law and oi the gospel, which goes for their num- r ± a c ±i ij^-ii c i ber, very tar to account lor the multitude ot examples of mortal sin found in the former, and the few exceptional cases found in the latter. Law pcnal- rcnaities of tics wcrc temporal penalties, at least proximately, the law teni- i r» i i i i i 7 • • 7 porai, those of and lor the most part they belong to the j^outical sphiluaL Constitution of the Hebrew commonwealth as a Theocracy. They imply an exceptional order of things never extended beyond that people, and altogether inapplicable to Christianity, which is a purely spiritual system, not complicated with any nationalities, or limited to any section of the human race. Hence it is impossible that its sanctions should be temporal, or that a death-penalty, in the ordinary sense, should form a part of its admini- stration : its sanctions belong only to the spiritual world; and the death which it threatens, as the penalty of sin, is, in fact, a re-affirmation of the original penalty of the Adaniic law, with the super- added terriblcness of the damnation awarded to the neglect or rejection of the provisions of the gospel. The death-penalties of the law did not of them- selves exact more than the forfeiture of bodily life, or the infliction of grievous national judg- ments: hence Jerusalem is said to have received of PRACTICAL DISCUSSION — OP IRREMISSIBLE SINS. 149 tlie Lord's hands ' double for all her sins ; ' i.e. the chap. xiii. penalties threatened in the Pentateuch had been HebiTiTs-D. exacted in full measure, and nothing but persistent national impiety could induce God to carry them further. In this instance, punishment was atone- ment in the same sense as chastisements may be so regarded. But this view of penalty is entirely precluded by the gospel ; and because it is so, the prerogatives of mercy are carried to their very utmost limit, guarded only against abuse by the threatening of the one extreme penalty, death. Thus viewed, our Lord's words, ' All manner of sin Gospel law of Till ^ ^■^ ^ £• • i i absolution and blasphemy shall be lorgiven unto men, are more extended invested with a profound interest, for they amount Jliosaic^^ to the publication of a new law of absolution in- finitely more free and extended than that of Moses. The words of St. Paul also look in the same direc- Acts xiii. 39. tion : 'And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justi- fied by the law of Moses.' Verses 7 and 8 contain an appropriate and powerful illustration, drawn from agriculture, of the doctrines previously laid down : ' For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receivcth blessing from God : but that which beareth thorns and briers is re- jected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.' This language beautifully describes what may be termed the cycle of nature, by means of which God works for the production both of food and ornament on the earth. On the one hand, we have the smiling field, or the bounteous garden, the soil, the tillage, the rain, the plants; 150 PRACTICAL DISCUSSION — OF IRREMISSIBLE SINS. CHAP. XIII. tliis order of things which originates with God, Heb. vi. 3-9. and bears the richest traces of Ilis wisdom and benevolence, is also represented as reflecting His blessing ; as the Psalmist says, ' the Lord shall rejoice in His works,' He is by no means indiffe- rent to the result of this cycle of action : as it reflects His blessing, so does it receive His smile ; it is His Sabbath in nature, His rest. ' But that which beareth thorns is rejected;' we have the sterility, anonialousness, unsightliness of a field remaining desert under culture, the rain, the seed, the tillage, the seasons, — all are abortive; labour is mis-spent, and the husbandman cruelly Teaciiing that disappointed. Instead of ' blessing,' he is ready tagesdonTt' to ' cursc ' his flcld, to gather into heaps the resuits.*^'^"'^^ accumulated rubbish of the season, and to con- sign the whole to the flames. The gist of this double description lies in the course of Providence, and in the application of labour by man, common to the barren and the fruitful field : its force would be destroyed were it a mere comparison between a field under culture and a field in a state of nature. It is intended to show that the difierence in the results between one field and another is due to the difierence of soils onl}^, and that they have all other advantages in common.^ It is national imagery ; the Pentateuch and the Similar teach- Proplicts abouud in it ; see particularly Isaiah v. rrophets. 1-7, xxxii. 12, 13. The former is an example strikingly in point here. The vineyard is planted ^ It may, perhaps, be allowed that the figure thus viewed is meant to shadow forth the history of the primitive blessing and the curse, — Paradise as it was before the Fall, and Paradise as it was after the Fall, — and that the great moral of the stoiy in Genesis is perpetuated and enforced in the very physical varieties of the earth's surface. PRACTICAL DISCUSSION — OF IRREMISSIBLE SINS. 151 and prepared for fruit-bearing, at every expense, chap. xiii. yet it brought forth wild grapes. Then follows Heb. vi. 3-9. the complaint of the owner, and his sentence upon it : ' Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes ? And now go to ; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard ... I will lay it waste . . . there shall come up briers and thorns : I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.' This Here applied ,11 i? i 1 1 _£? 1 to the Chris- is, moreover, the lesson irom the barren ng-tree, tianChmch. cursed by the Saviour with perpetual barrenness, and suddenly withered from the roots. This national imagery is here applied to the Christian Church, not to the Jewish nation. At the time when this Epistle was written, the blessing and the curse held portions of the same territory: there might be seen in it the beauty of holiness, and the fruitfulness of charity, stedfastness in doctrine, and endurance of suffering, but with this also the barrenness of backsliding, and even the blasphemy of matured apostasy, — on the one hand, the blessing which foretells salvation, and, on the other, the curse to be consummated in perdition. CHAPTER XIV. PRACTICAL DISCUSSION — SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. IIeb. VI. 9, 10. 'Beloved/ ex- ' BuT, beloved, we are persuaded better things of nevTsociai ^ JOH, and tilings that accompany salvation, though by aSir'*''^ we thus speak.' tianity. The frequent interjection of this epithet 'beloved' is a peculiarity in the New Testament writings; and it is the more remarkable, because it cannot be traced in the Old Testament, and could not, there- fore, be an old nationalized appellation turned to a new use. Mere national consanguinity, result- ing from derivation from a pair, failed to mould the Hebrew mind to that loving sense of fraternity which would free such an appellation from the charge of cant. Accordingly, it never obtained national currency ; it is, therefore, in proof that Christianity actually created a new social affection in harmony with its doctrine of brotherhood, and as the result of its adopting and regenerating grace. In truth, the whole mystery of its healing and harmonizing power on the field of humanity, so wonderful in itself, and so remote from all the influences of civilisation and culture, lies in the force of this one principle, to which expression is OF THE PEIMITIVE CHURCH. ' 153 given in this one word ' beloved.' It lent a charm chap. xiv. to the entire social economy of Christianity, set Heb. vi. 9, lo. it forth as the most wonderful phenomenon of humanity, and gave it such a breadth and inten- sity of genuine philanthropy as leaves far behind the very ideal of Communism itself. It is to be remarked here, also, how thoroughly, Motives of in this form of address, the force of the motives rSg^Sed ' both of hope and fear is recognised. ' We are ^^^ ^^^^ ^ persuaded better things of you, and things that Testaments. accompany salvation, though we thus speak.' This, also, is an example of the general style of scripture thought and expression; it recurs in the Pentateuch, where the blessing and the curse were constantly associated. They were to be spoken from opposite hills by the tribes when they entered Palestine, and to be engraven on separate monuments look- ing each other in the face. The same order of thought and expression runs through the Psalms, in which the curse and the blessing often alternate in separate Psalms, and even in the same. A fine example of this occurs in the 37th. It is the very essence of the Book of Proverbs, in which pairs or duplicates of character and destiny perpetually recur. This verse exhibits a gush of affection common to the apostolic writings, toning the mere language of authority, even when that authority was inspired. ' Things that accompany salvation ' are spoken of — literally, the things 'having,' or 'holding,' sal- vation, i.e. its infallible criteria, evidences of its reality personally considered. It suggests to us that there are things appertaining to the Christian profession inseparable from it, and also things of 154 TKACTICAL DISCUSSION — SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS CHAP. XIV. sinister import, or of no import at all, and that to Heb, vi. 9, 10. distinguish between these is a vital part of Chris- tian wisdom. ' For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have showed toward Ilis name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.' Ver. 10 gives This vcrse specifies what these evidences are ; geuuiue pro- they are seen in the working powder of a genuine profession, as distinguished from a formal or doc- trinal adhesion to the faith. Further, it is a practical test, only indirectly including doctrinal elements. The work-test of Christianity is here made prominent, even rather than its experiences. These are implied, but work is defined. It is hard work, for it is called ' work and labour,' toil, busi- ness-like action — the real staple of life-occupation. It is also love-labour, not legal exaction, not the product of fear, nor a mere tale of duty, a something which must be done for fear of consequences, dis- grace, and ruin. Christianity sets forth the noble principle of love-labour, and, consequently, of free labour — labour largely spontaneous, untiring, and over-abundant. Love-labour is obedience to the law of impulse and delight ; it is the opposite of task-work, and undertakes, therefore, things wliich otherwise w^ould have been deemed impossible, perhaps not so much as thought of. Love setting in upon the soul from God, through Christ b}^ the Holy Ghost, is nothing less than omnipotence transferred to creatures, a real fellowship in that power by which God renews the w^orld and illu- minates all the terrible lines of the curse. Love triumphs where law is powerless, and creates a OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 155 paradise where law with its penalties can only chap. xiv. perpetuate destruction. Heb. vi. 9, 10. The particular form of ministry commended Ministry to here is one of vast importance to the exhibition of the genius of Christianity to the world, as we gather from both the Gospels and the Epistles. It is the ' new commandment ' in its noblest opera- tion, and is selected by our Lord, in His own prediction of the Judgment, as the one test of a true disciple distinguished from a false one, and as the explicit ground of final reward : ' Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.' The effusion Spirit of the at Pentecost of this benevolent, self-sacrificing ciuuch iLre spirit on the Church, was a far more marvellous thaniti°aTits. proof of the power of the Holy Ghost than the gift of tongues, or all miraculous gifts put together. ' Neither said any that ought of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things common.' All private property became Church pro- perty. Hence originated the Diaconate, male and female ; hence the collections among the churches even in distant Gentile countries for the relief of the poor saints at Jerusalem ; and hence was de- rived the perpetuation by St. Paul of that gem of our Lord's teaching, which, like many others, would have perished, ' It is more blessed to give than to receive.' In this light, our Lord's own words are to be regarded as a prophecy soon wonderfully fulfilled (Mark x. 29, 30) : ' There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundred-fold now in this present time, houses, and 156 PRACTICAL DISCUSSION— SOCIAL DEVELOrMEXTS CHAP. XIV. brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, Heb. vi. 9, 10. and lands, witli persecutions ; and in the world to come eternal life.' Thus ' the things which accom- pany salvation ' are set forth here as ' ministering to the saints ' — the giving and receiving being mutual in the Christian community. They are identified with our Lord's own testimony just quoted, and the reward is, ' in the world to come eternal life.' Western Modcm socictv and Western habits, in manv habits ami . -^ 5 J so.ietyun- rcspccts SO different from those of Oriental and this spirit. ancicut countrics, whilst they undoubtedly modif}-, are in no little danger of extinguishing this capital branch of Christian ethics — this ver}* soul and crown of the Christian profession. .But as Chris- tianity is not an affair of an age or country, but of time and the world, this fraternal spirit cannot be suffered to languish, not to say die out, save by withdrawing from the world the most powerful practical element for its conversion. It must be perpetuated in every Christian community in some spontaneous and yet very palpable forms, apart from express institutions such as the Papacy main- tains, or the evangelical profession must suffer b}' comparison, and its glory be dimmed ; while even the things ' that accompany salvation,' person- ally considered, are, according to this scripture, not very distinctly exhibited. To this only it Christianity may bc added, that the good works so frequently imVe'thVn^^^ mentioned in the New Testament, as peculiarly appropriate to the Christian profession, do not expressly mean the consistent exhibition of Chris- tian morals generally, but works of charity, the acknowledgment of a far higher standard of Christian morals OF THE PKIMITIVE CHURCH. 157 humanity than the world can show, and beyond chap. xiv. this the appliances of affection within the Church Heb.^9, lo. which at once reveal the divinity of its life, and make it a real home and family. This is Chris- tianity. CHAPTER XV. PRACTICiVL DISCUSSION — DISTIXCTIOX BETWEEN THE CHRISTIAN STATUS AND CHRISTIAN WORKS. Heb. VI. 10-12. ' For God is not unrighteous to forget j^our work and labour of love, which ye have showed toward Ilis name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.' riiristian re- Before dismissing the tenth verse, it is requisite ^dvenforwork to poiut out the grouud of Christian recompense (lone for God. ^^^ works of lovc showcd to the saiuts. These are represented as being done in honour of the name of God, — ' showed toward His name,' and therefore entitled to His rewarding cognizance. This sug- gests to us at once the ruling motive in all real!}' evangelical acts of charity, distinguishing them from mere acts of humanity, sentiment, or culture, much more from mere S3"stematic administration of relief. Tlic godliness of the motive is the prime characteristic of these works, their fraternal ten- derness comes next. Were it not so, according to the doctrine of this verse, no place for their direct reward ablcness would exist. They are acts done for the name of God, prompted, it is true, by fraternal yearnings, but primarily offerings unto God. This entitles them to His reward; so that THE CHRISTIAN STATUS AND CHRISTIAN WORKS. 159 to suppose Him to pass them by as unreward- chap. xv. able is just as impossible as to suppose Him un- Heb.vi. 10-12. righteous. This is placing the doctrine of reward on a strong, and, as it would seem to some, on a rather unevangelical, foundation, unless we were to interpret the word ' unrighteous ' in the sense of ungracious, which in this instance may not be done. Neither is it necessary, since the broad Men judged doctrine of Scripture, both in the Old and New their works, a Testaments, is, that God deals with men according scripture!^ to their works, i.e. according to their deserts; and that acts of grace on His part, however free and transcendent, do not interfere with, much less obliterate, the application of the principle of justice in His dealing both with the righteous and the wicked. This truth, here assumed as indisputable, ac- counts for the passing way of putting forth this most momentous doctrine. It seems that, in order to clear this somewhat Distinction complicated subject from difficulty, we are required statusTnd^^ to distinguish between the state and condition of men.'^^°^ men, and the acts, or classes of acts, which are the products of these. The former, with respect to the disciple, should be regarded as purely the creation of grace, entirely shutting out the appli- status, i.e. ,• J,.. iji •! n salvation, the cation 01 justice, and the idea 01 recompense, creation of It is probable, perhaps demonstrable, that salva- tion, as set forth in the New Testament, is directly limited to this, since we are forbidden to doubt that dying persons, or persons in any way dis- abled from the performance of works, have as cer- tainly their salvation made good as those who have abounded in them. Mere salvation, therefore, it grace. 160 PRACTICAL DISCUSSION — DISTINCTION BETWEEN CHAP. XV. is plain, does not include the idea of reward, or of Heb.vi. 10-12. an administration ofjustice. Faith, prayer, watch- fulness, christian morals, consistency, are the in- separable concomitants of tlie bare Christian status. These seem all appropriately included within the Christian splicrc of salvatiou, evangelically understood. But result of this bcyoiid all this, there is a sphere of ivories^ of ^'^^^' appointed duties, of manifold services for religion and tlie truth, of vast extent and profound interest. It should not be forgotten that our Lord bears rule over a kingdom; that this kingdom includes various offices, grades of men, and forms of service; that it is a high field of holy competition, and that en- dowments and opportunities are scattered through it with proportionate responsibilities. It is on this ground that the doctrine of the p'arable of the talents rests, and also the doctrine of the final judgment as administered by Christ. The diilcl^ by the grace of adoption and sanctification, implies the Christian status ; the servant endowed with gifts, and a sphere of action more or less impor- tant, the Christian character: the one shows us mere grace in operation to create the agent, tlie other the works of that agent carried on and perfected. There are, therefore, but two sides of the evangelical constitution — the one cannot exist without the other, but they do not always coincide in the extent of their manifestations and of their practical breadth. This distinction is illustrated by our Lord's representation of the last judgment, Distinction for lie thcrc rccoguises the diflerence of status between status ■, . .-, •i, tji • ^ t and works betwceii the righteous and tlie wicked, as a pre- ti'rSjidg- hminary to a judgment upon their works. He ment. i\iQn dcals with them respectively on the ground THE CHRISTIAN STATUS AND CHRISTIAN WORKS. 161 of their works as the issue of that status truly, chap. xv. but as a matter entirely distinct from it, — 'every Heb.vi. 10-12. man according to his works.' Thus the status is but the basis or condition of the judgment itself; the works are respectively treated as the immediate ground of individual adjudication, not the 'status. 1. This distinction throws light upon what would otherwise be obscure, viz. the immediate perdition or salvation of individuals after death, which looked at by itself, would seem to render a future judgment unnecessary : the judgment seems passed already. The difficulty, however, disappears, if we At death understand that perdition and salvation include defem^ned, only the status, not the works of individuals — the ^^'°^'^^ ^^^^'^ •^ ' _ over. works stand over, but the status is a fact. This shows that the status itself is incomplete, and foretells the final judgment as its proper counter- part, and that in no case, as yet, whether with respect to the righteous or the wicked, can re- wards and punishments have been administered — they necessarily await the judgment of the great day. Against this distinction it avails nothing to cite the mere letter of Scripture where it lays down the terms of the general judgment, because these must be necessarily interpreted according to the principles of the judgment itself A large portion of the human race — children, insane persons, or those saved on death-beds — cannot be directly the subjects of judgment at all; it is the status, here represented as the preliminary judgment, which alone concerns them. 2. Further, this distinction enables us to see clearly what the province of justice is within the economy of grace. As far as men are individually L 162 PRACTICAL DISCUSSION — DISTINCTION BETWEEN CHAP. XV. Heb.vi. 10-12. Under an economy of {jrace, justice deals with works as the criterion of status. Rewards and punishments l)oth essential and arbitrary. concerned, or even the race, the economy itself rests upon a vicarious or representative righteous- ness. Still, there must be a sphere left open for the declaration of a -personal righteousness, origi- nating in the former, but yet the award of law ; otherwise, justice can have no place in this form of government. Justice has to do with works simply as a test or criterion of a status, good or bad, and therefore with works in all their variety of character as well as of detail. No solid argu- ment could be advanced in favour of penal retribu- tion which denies the application of justice to rewards also. As penalty is meted out to par- ticular crimes as the issue of a corrupt status, corrupt by abuse and not by misfortune, so rewards are, in like manner, meted out by justice to works of piety and virtue as the issues of a status origi- nated and perfected by the grace of redemption. Justice, as the presiding principle of law, fills this entire sphere of the Mediator's kingdom, and is just as definite in its office as is the domain of grace itself. 3. The distinction here set up furnishes us with more definite notions of the nature both of rewards and punishments. These have in common a double characteristic, i.e. they are both essential and arbi- trary — essential as regards the status, arbitrary as it regards the administration of rewards and punish- ments. They are something superadded to the status, and determine the condition of the agent, abstractedly taken, as something separable from it. The status in each case bears in it the nature of penalty or of recompense, it is true, inasmuch as virtue and wickedness imply conditions of exist- THE CHRISTIAN STATUS AND CHRISTIAN WORKS. 1G3 ence in themselves adverse to, or in harmony with, chap. xv. the divine nature. But these would exist were Heb.vi. 10-12. there no government, formally considered, nor The status of any system of rewards and punishments appended wickedness to such a government. The appointment of a ^*'*^"^*"^- general judgment is decisive as to the fact of such government, and that it is to be upholden by so direct a personal administration as will place every Reward or T-TTf. . ... Ill 1 punishment mdi Vidua! tor ever m punitive or rewardable rela- arbitrary, i.e. tions with God, in exact proportion to his ascer- ^.^ent ^*'^" tained character under it. From this view it follows that both rewards and punishments are things Rewards differ superadded to mere status, and that, with respect shown^bytiie - to the former, they must be held to consist in dis- p*^^^^^^- tinctions of honour and degrees of glory, as between one redeemed human being and another, placing some immeasurably in advance of others, very much after the manner in which human society is now constituted. This seems to be the doctrine of the parables before referred to, the doctrine also of the passage, ' Ye shall also sit upon twelve thrones. Matt. xix. 28. judging the twelve tribes of Israel.' Again, it is l^^^^"-^*^- included in our Lord's reply to the mother of Zebedee's children, ' To sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.' Hence it may be concluded that the blessedness of the future life is drawn from two sources, i.e. from the status and from the works, and that it is in- definitely modified by these two elements, as the one or the other may in individual cases have pre- ponderated. By way of distinction, though not of separation, it may be said there is the heaven of the child, and there is the heaven of the servant. 101 niACTICAL DISCUSSION — DISTINCTION BETWEEN CHAP. XY. ' And we desire that every one of you do show Heb.vi. 10-12. thc Same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end : that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.' These verses are remarkable as setting forth the true principles of evangelical perseverance. Nature of It sliould be Universal instead of partial, com- 'iiiigeuce.' prising every one of the disciples of a particular community. It implies an equal momentum in the direction of duty ; no abatement, much less intermission, is to be thought of. Diligence, literally rendered, is delight ; agreeably to the language of the original, it is study : both the Greek and Latin words rendered diligence, therefore, may signify together pleasant study, healthful yet absorbing occupation, the maintenance of a rule of life once for all settled and plied to the very end, as congenial with ex- istence, and no more to be parted from it by alien intrusions, than wisdom is to be banished by folly, or the dignity of manhood to be exchanged for the Same doctrine inanities of brutc life. St. Paul puts this great and Phii^'ui. ' doctriiie before us under the figure of a race : ' Not ^^' as though I had already attained, or were already perfect, but I follow after,' etc. The same figure recurs in the 12th chapter of this Epistle : * Let us lay aside every weight . . . and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.' It includes the lull assurance of hope. Perhaps 7r\r}po(j)opLa may bo here referred to the condition of a ship on its voyage, having all its sails bent and filled with a favourable wind, rapidly but steadily wafting it on its possibly lengthened voyage in the THE CHRISTIAN STATUS AND CHRISTIAN WORKS. 165 direction of the desired haven ; at least the figure chap. xv. is countenanced by verse 19. Thus, 'the full Heb.vi. 10-12. assurance of hope ' is the heavenly inspiration which fills the soul in its course of evangelical Power of evan- action ; it is its charter and its guidance, its impel- ''^ ^'^^ lant force of heaven-born desire, and the secret of its buoyancy on the sea of life. Its counsels and its resources are both human and divine. It is not superseded but helped, not taken out of the world but kept in it, harmonized with all seeming contra- rieties, and superior to all creature forces antago- nistic to it. Its day-star is hope, bringing with it flashes of transport, and a heaven by the way. ' That ye be not slothful ' is an admonition Fatal results suggested by diligence. It tells us of besetment uess.° incident to all, the symptom of decay, and the con- dition of corruption, which, like an insidious dis- ease, steal away the strength of Christian manhood. Slothfulness makes every duty irksome, indisposes to cross-bearing and inconveniences of every kind, seeks the smoothest path, the lightest burden, the mere play and holiday of profession. Every virtue is a starveling, every act a minimum or a sem- blance rather than a reality. Decrepitude and death are not far in the rear, and a crown once bright and enticing has slid like a meteor from the sky, and becomes hidden in the mist of feeble vision or worldly passions. On the contrary, ' faith and patience' are the guides to the land of promise, and the qualities that ensure possession. 'Faith,' as well as ' patience,' is here taken as a practical power, not a profession or a mere belief. The semblance of both is often found in other spheres of operation, ensuring eminency and success wher- 166 PRACTICAL DISCUSSION. c'lLvr. xv. ever they are conspicuously embodied. lu their Heb.vi. 10-12. highest forms, however, they are Christian prin- ciples ; they mould the Christian temper, while that temper reacts for their perpetual invigoration, thus constituting that all-conquering soul which finally overcomes, and rests in the eternal fruition of the promises. Summary of Thus, the doctriuc of Perseverance, as gathered the doctrine of^ ji-t-i-ji ^ i • A^ • evangelical Irom this Lpistlc, may be expressed m this sum- perseverance. jj^r^^y. Founded Oil the provisions of grace, it is the ' building up ' to perfection, by an unintermittent course of duty, both the Christian state and cha- racter, yet a 'perfection' including constant pro- gression ' unto the end.' This doctrine does not preclude the possibility of final failure, but its probability is diminished in proportion to the acquired stability and advance of the disciple, in some instances reducing the chance of failure perhaps to the minimum of a mere hypothesis, though in others, where natural temper, circumstantial difficulties, or superficial or immature religion meet, hypothesis widens seriously into the perils of at least a temporary, if not a final, apostasy. Irrecoverable apostates there were, according to the testimony of this chapter, in the apostolic age, and moreover, recoverable ones ; whilst those who were neither one nor the other are addressed as persons still in a condition of trial, subject to hazard, and therefore to be plied with those motives to perseverance peculiarly evan- gelical. CHAPTER XVI. THE ABKAHAMIC COVENANT. Heb. VI. 13-20. 'For when God made promise to Abraham, be- cause He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying 1 will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.' The collation of these verses, and those which The Abra- follow, in support of the argument for perseverance, nau"evau- proves that the writer of the Epistle understood S'^^^^''^- the Covenant with Abraham as substantially evan- gelical. If this were denied, it would follow that the introduction here of the narrative, from Genesis . xxii., verses 16 and 17, would amount to nothing more than an appropriate quotation to show how faith in that particular instance, rewarded by a promise, should stand as an example of the faithful- ness of God in fulfilling whatever promises He has made to His people. But there are three objections ^jj°^™*i^^t to this : the first is, That any other recorded Old on this •^ ^ ,, ground only Testament example would have answered equally is the c|uot'a- well ; secondly, That in certain aspects the quota- iJ°j^e.° tion would not have been apposite; and thirdly, That the following argument, turning on the two immutable things, would have been entirely out of 108 THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT. c'lLvr. XVI. place. The force of the second objection is proved Heb.vi. 13-20. by the hmguage of verse 15: 'So, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise ; ' for this certainly cannot mean that the promise quoted in the previous verses was the reward of Abraham's faith and patience, exercised up to the time of the promise. To ' obtain the promise ' is not to be interpreted of receiving the word of the promise, but the thing contained in the promise, or, to use the language of verse 12, 'to inherit the promise.' Since this is indubitably the meaning of verse 15, we are not referred backward to Abraham's life for its fulfilment, but forward. IMoreover, the chapter (Gen. xxii.) contains the last record of Abraham's life, religiously considered, and there is, therefore, no account extant of the patriarch's living to enjoy this promise as the reward of his faith and patience ; nor, in the nature of things, was it possible, if we look to the terms of the promise itself. It must, therefore, necessarily be referred for its fulfilment to the future life, — in other words, the promise is essentially evangelical. The proper light in which tliis promise is to be viewed, is to regard it as the summary of all preced- ing promises made to Abraham, and that, as standing last in the order of time, it is appropriately confirmed by ' the oath,' tlie final seal of God's faithfulness. The great pro- For, iiot to draw attention at lengtli to the fact hamUaif-^''' that the promise was the sequel , to the great typi- geUcai. Qc^i transaction on Mount ^loriah, it will be evident from a glance at the previous issues of promise given at different periods of Abraham's lil'e, that they were essentially evangelical. We have St. Paul's authority for this interpretation, as well as THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT. 169 the letter of the text. All nations were to be chap, xyi. blessed in Abraham and his seed, and he was to Heb.vi. 13-20. become, by this covenant, ' the father of many nations,' i.e. of ' all nations,' or, as St. Paul renders Kom. iv. 13. it, the ' heir of the world.' In truth, the covenant which included the natural seed of the patriarch, tosfether with the srift of territory and of future National ^ro- niiSGS siil)or- nationality, was but an appanage to the Great dinateto Covenant, and was to be considered as only stand- ing to it in the relation of a providential appoint- ment of means to an end. The blessing here spoken of, which, like the first blessing bestowed on Adam, was that of an innumerable progeny, relates directly to the spiritual seed, and still awaits its largest fulfilment in the conversion of all nations to the Christian faith. But the question obviously here occurs. How does such an interpretation of the promise apply to the future life of the patriarch himself? How may it be supposed that the vast multiplication of his spiritual progeny, implied in this blessing, could affect Abraham himself? The answer seems to be returned by the light of the previous doctrine of reward. This doctrine allows of a vast advance on the qualifications of mere personal holiness and fitness for communion with God. In the case of this patriarch, it would seem that ' his exceeding great reward ' consists in his relation, through his Abraham's human fatherhood of the Christ, to an innumerable great rewaui' multitude of redeemed men, partly his natural, Ss^specM partly his spiritual seed ; that this relation really ex- J^gJfg^JjJJp^^*^ tends itself to the future life ; that it is continually immanity. on the increase ; and that it is a grand source of honour and felicity to Abraham in the kingdom of 170 THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT. CHAP. XYi. heaven. Perhaps the recognition of this truth, Heb.vi. 13-20. obviously Contained in the promise, gave birth to the exalted conceptions of the Hebrew people re- specting the honour of their descent; and to those fine expressions of our Lord in the Gospels : ' He saw Abraham afar olT, and Lazarus in his bosom ; ' ' And they shall come from the east and the west and the north and the south, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the king- dom of heaven.' Application of -^q^^ [q q^[^ doctriue sino-ular ; it lies at the this doctrine . to those ren- foundation of the reward of great public services dering emi- . ^ m • , • • / j. nentsemce and the promotiou or great Christian interests. UTL 1. -^y^ trace it in the apostolic writings, particularly in those of St. Paul, in which he obviously dwelt much on these perpetuated relations between him- self and his converts : they were his joy and his crown in the day of the Lord. The same truth is also the noblest incentive to ministerial zeal and fruitfulness, and one of which no true minister can be utterly devoid. In the examples of pre-eminent men, signally gifted, and successful in retrieving religion after decay, and spreading its influence through nations, whether in ancient or modern days, we see the Abrahamic blessing reproduced in wonderful vividness, deepening the conviction that the covenant ' confirmed by an oath ' still contains the two immutable things.^ 'Foinicnvoiiiy Xlic addition of the oath to the covenant, in this greater: and instaucc, Is the crowuiug pi'oof of its cvaugelical an oath for conrirniation i This beautiful application of the doctrine of reward admits of still IS to y"^,"/ "" wider detail in the fellowship of families, or natural fatherhood per- strife.' petuated on spiritual principles. It extends to sanctified friendship, and to spiritual services rendered to others, greatly heightening the joy of the final lot. THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT. 171 character, since this form of confirmation stamped chap. xvi. it with absolute perpetuity, and made it, to use Heb.vi. 13-20. Scripture language, 'the everlasting covenant. The gospel 1 T ' •\^ ,1 ' 1 >-r>ji confirmed by ordered m all things and sure. By the covenant oath, because thus confirmed, Christianity is registered as abso- law^not^so lutely uncancellable by divine decree ; it is ' the be?auS\'ein- kingdom which cannot be moved,' though all other poraiy. things may be shaken. This is a capital distinc- tion between the gospel and the law; the latter was not confirmed by an oath, neither positively nor by implication. A reference to the text of the covenant shows this : The law ranked in the mere providential order of means, the gospel was the end ; the law therefore perished when its days of service had expired. This, it is the great scope of the Epistle to prove ; but if it had been confirmed by ' the oath,' it must have run on with Christianity itself, and the early Judaizers would have been justified in their views, and in their opposition to St. Paul. Even the vexed question of circumci- sion could hardly have been settled as it was in favour of Gentile exception, could it have been shown to appertain to the evangelical covenant as a sign or seal. But St. Paul proves that this cove- nant existed before the rite of circumcision was instituted in the person of Abraham, and that therefore it could not be a sme qua non for entering upon possession of that covenant. Historically, the Abrahamic covenant was a Gentile covenant, and made national only in respect to its temporal appendages, which in due time were to be sepa- asJnTfth" rated from it. It was in its range within Abra- "f ^^."e'f^n-^ ham's natural progeny, that circumcision became geiicai, cove- i- ^ J 1 1 r> f» 1 nant with the covenant sign. Room was thus left for the Abraham. 172 THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT. (.HAr. XVI. future inifettered expansion of this primitive cove- Heb.vi. 13-20, nant ; the natural seed had in their nationality ceased to belong to it. ' Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the lieirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath.' We have here opened to us the wonderful con- descension of God, in tendering His ' oath ' as an addition to His ' promise,' as if, as we should say, to offer furthei* security for its fulfilment, though His promise itself was entirely suflicient. ' The heirs of promise ' are here declared to be Christian disciples, in opposition to the natural descendants of Abraham, who, on that ground merely, could not ' inherit the promise ' of their great father, but only by faith in Christ, the one condition common to them and to the Gentiles. The pro- The promise misc of whicli they are heirs is plainly that of to be inherited -, . i . , . , . , -. contained iu vcr. 14, and consists in being numbered among ver. 14. ^YiQ multitude of the patriarch's spiritual progen}'', and in being made partakers with him of the king- dom of heaven. The expression, 'blessing I will bless thee,' means, exceedingly or superlatively I will bless thee, just as 'multiplying I will multi- ply thee' means indefinite multiplication, or as the expression ' a multitude which no man can number.' As the number is bej'ond count, so is the blessing beyond measure. The promise is boundlessly aflluent in good, denominated, though not explained, as ' life eternal.' ' That by two immutable things, in whicli it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.' THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT. 173 This verse connects these 'two humutable things' chap. xvi. with the 'strong consolation' of disciples, cer- Heb.vi. 13-20. tainty being the obvious correlative of greatness. The 'two Thus the reality and the grandeur of religion are things 'the equally exhibited in the gospel covenant. Its the^Tth.''''''^ foundations are as deep and strong as the very nature of God, while its superstructure is propor- tionately glorious. This matches human aspiration and human exigencies with wonderful completeness, being just as powerful a cordial for the human heart, amidst all its diverse and often terrible exer- cises, as God Himself could prepare for it. ' Im- mutable things ' are brought into immediate contact with a nature frail and fluctuating, and set in con- trast with the conditions of human life so mourn- fully vain and shadowy. These ' immutable things ' The refuge are here likened to the fortress which environed anchor^ imar.-es the refugee from the eager pursuit of the man- of security. slaj'er, or the good holding-ground for the ship's anchor, to prevent it drifting upon the rocks when tempest-tossed. The fortress is unassailable ; the ground in which the anchor is cast, ' sure and stedfast.' This ground, however, lies beyond the range of the world ; the anchor enters the ground ' within the veil,' i.e. the ' immutable things ' are at present veiled things, yet soul anchorage is cast within them, — a noble image of the soul at rest in assurance while tossed and strained by the force of all immediate surroundings. Thus the position is a safe one, and one of 'strong con- solation,' though the veil' itself is not yet passed, nor the shore of life actually touched, nor the scenes of the invisible and the eternal entered upon. , This anchorage of the soul is made good by the 174 THE ABRAIIAMIC COVENANT. c'HAr. XVI. * Forerunner.'^ He alone brings it into immediate Heb. vi. 13-20. contact with 'immutable things,' and holds abso- Tho Fore- lute mastcry over all relations between the visible these to the and the invisible, between discipline and perfection, between life and death, and between the lowliness of man and the grandeur of his destiny. 1 * Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and sted- fast, and which cntereth into tliat within the veil : whither the Fore- runner is for us entered.' CHAPTER XVII. PRIESTHOOD — ITS RELATIONS TO TEE DOCTRINE OF THE SONSHIP. Heb. II. 17, 18; IV. 14, 15. The final application of the doctrine of the Son- Doctrine of ship respects the doctrine of the Priesthood of pecuHir\o°°' Christ, a subject which, having being touched upon *^"^ Epistle, in chap. ii. 17 and iv. 14, 15, is formally opened in chap, v. This is to be accounted the great, and we may say original^ theme of the Epistle, since both the doctrines of the Sonship and of the sovereignty of Christ are found diffused through most parts of the New Testament, while the doc- trine of the priesthood is peculiar to this portion of it,^ This is a fact in itself strongly suggestive, and is of great force in proof of the inspiration of the Epistle (if not of its authorship), inasmuch as it obviously gives completeness to the revelations of the New Testament, supplying precisely that branch of truth otherwise unaccountably lacking. It is the doctrine of the priesthood of Christ which Doctrine of establishes fully the antitypal relation of the gospel necessary to to the law ; it throws back its light with wonder- rektfon^of the law to the ^ Properly speaking, sovereignty and priesthood are two distinct, but not separate, phases of mediation. Hence the transition from the sovereignty (vers. 12 and 13) to the priesthood of Christ (ver. 14) is really not an irrelevant one. 17G TRIESTHOOD — ITS RELATIONS TO CHAP. XYII Hvb.ii. 17,18 iv. 14, 15. Illustrations of the Chris- tian system in the law verj' striking to Hebrew converts. fill power on the sclionie, and even the details of ; that great mstitute. But for the Epistle to the Hebrews, the light thrown upon the Law by Chris- tianity would be partial and unsatisfactory. Many of its most precise and significant ceremonies, de- posed from their rank as types, would dwindle into national customs, — venerable, indeed, from their origin, and most important as badges of Hebrew nationality, yet, nevertheless, as much done with after that nationality had ceased to exist, and as thoroughly isolated from the future of the world as other ancient things, which all in turn have given place to new and more appropriate de- velopments in the history of man. But for this light of the priesthood on the law, one great liga- ture, binding together the Old and New Testaments, would be wanting. The relation thus established by this Epistle between the law and the gospel would render it one of vast interest to the Hebrew converts, wonderfuU}' adding to the dignity of the law, and rendering it imperishable, while it placed Christianity also in a more striking light, as but a spiritual development and application of their great national institute. In this point of view, while the old economy, prospective as it was of something to succeed it, could not fail to be terminable by its very constitution, it yet became rich in materials for truthful illustration of the Christian system in its most vital parts. For instance, this system must have its priesthood, or it could not cohere with the law in which this idea was radical ; at the same time, it carried out the great doctrine of atonement taught in the law to its proper ollicial and spiritual results. It thus gave a much broader THE DOCTEINE OF THE SONSHIP. 177 view of Christianity than could be taken in its chap. xvii. absence, and revealed its entire self-consistency, Heb.ii.i7,iS; its perfection, its independence of Judaizers, and ^^* ' the entire spirituality and catholicity of its church system. Apart from the Epistle to the Hebrews, we fail Apart from to observe either the typical antecedents contained the^fuifiiment in the law, or the fulfilment of some striking pro- °{*^^ p^^" ' o i phecies of phetic testimonies concernins: the Messiah's priest- Messiah's , ...... priesthood hood; for instance, Isa. Ixi., Zech. iii. 8, vi. 12, would have 13, not to quote again Ps. ex. 4. Undoubtedly, obscure. there are certain pregnant testimonies of prophecy in favour of Messiah's priesthood, though they are, beyond comparison, fewer than the testimonies in favour of His royalty. But they cannot, on this account, be ignored without doing violence to the harmony of prophecy, and without dropping an important testimony in favour of the New Testa- ment itself. The Epistle to the Hebrews should therefore be regarded as the portion of the New Testament which directly recognises this prophetic branch of truth, and which gives it its final and authorized expansion. All the other writers of the The theo- New Testament unfold the theocratic office of the of the Messiah Messiah : they can scarcely be looked at truly in ^hfrfin the any other light. Our Lord's Forerunner dwells on New Testa- this : ' The kingdom of heaven is at hand,' i.e. the theocracy ushered in and established by the mis- sion of Jesus of Nazareth. Our Lord Himself walks on the same road. His titles, ' Son of Man,' ' Son of David,' His parables, His general ministry, and His miracles carry us no further ; they all concern the kingdom, none the priesthood. Twice did our Lord exercise M 178 TRIESTHOOD — ITS RELATIONS TO CHAP. XVII. Heb.ii. 17, 18; iv. 14, 15. Christ's .silence re- specting His priestly office suggests that His royalty stood first in the (livine order. authority in the temple itself; but lie never de- manded the priestly stole or ephod ; never ofiered a single sacrifice, or filled and waved the golden censer before the veil ; nor did He once, as a priest, bless the people. He frequently taught in the temple, but never ministered ; He allowed the children to cry ' Hosanna to the Son of David ' in the temple, but He never appears so much as to have mingled with the priests, or in any way to have hinted that they were the representatives of Himself. He said of the temple only, not of the priesthood, ' Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it up again,' These facts are full of significance : they amount to a divine programme as to the development of Christianity ; that its regal character, in the person of its Founder, and in its relations to the Jewish people, stood first in the divine order ; and that in the after ministry of His apostles this same regal character was to obtain priority, and to establish itself in the convictions of His disciples ere the relations of the Messiah to the priesthood and to the temple system could be brought out. This fact, corroborated by the whole New Testament, historical and doctrinal, establishes the Epistle as a late and a completing revelation. It is a subject of great importance, evincing that the date of New Testament revelations was determined by a principle of order in the Divine Mind, and not by anything like casuality; they had a fitness to times and seasons, to the capacities of people to under- stand them, and to their relations to the present as well as future conditions of the Church. It is obvious that the doctrine of type and antitype, in THE DOCTRINE OF THE SONSHIP. 179 its application to the Old and New Testaments, was, chap. xvii. in the nature of things, a final, not a primary teach- Heb. ii.i7, i8; iv 14 15 ing. At first these truths were unnecessary, and ' ' even impracticable. Rudiments must be begun with, because the disciples were 'babes,' not of ' full age,' as it is stated in chapter vi, 'We speak wisdom,' says the Apostle, ' amongst them that are perfect.' ' I have many things to say unto you,' says Christ, ' but ye cannot bear them now.' The doctrines of this Epistle could not be popular Peculiar doc- doctrines, nor could they have been promulgated Epistle could at an early period in Jerusalem and in Palestine tauc^ht^at first. without producing a violent reaction against Chris- tianity, and perhaps endangering its very existence. It would have been charged with, and hunted down as, anti-nationalism ; its apostles would have been proscribed ; and its infant churches completely dis- banded. In addition to their own meetings for worship and edification, attendance on the national forms seems to have been a general custom with the apostles and first Christians. They thus avoided giving offence : they stood to the great rudiments of their religion, and were willing to brave all consequences for their testimony to the Messiah- ship of Jesus ; whilst they left the full development of His claims to the working of time, the leaven- ing of truth, and the course of providence. These considerations show why the early and general preaching of the apostles went in another direc- tion than the priesthood, taking the theocracy, and keeping the priesthood for a time mostly in abeyance. There are, however, some notices in Nevertheless, the Acts of the Apostles of another sort, such as tLns of them the charge against Stephen (Acts vi. 13, 14), ^^^^'^^'^'- 180 rRIESTIIOOD — ITS RELATIONS TO cHAP.xvii. and that against Paul (Acts xxi. 28). These Heb.ii.i7,iS; Contain intimations that, in some instances, the ' ■ doctrine of this Epistle was touched upon by apostoUc ministers, and that the first martyr was brought to his end mainly on this account ; and that, for the same reason, Paul would have been sacrificed to popular frenzy in Jerusalem had not the chief captain interposed to protect him. Christ's These considerations may serve to show how it Atonement • i i i • r> * taught from IS that the great doctrme of Atonement is commonly not the reia- prcsciited to US ill the ministry and writings of the SarLcrmees ^postlcs SO much apart from all priestly corre- *'^^^- spondences, and so little under merely doctrinal definitions, terms, and aspects. The death of Christ is perpetually referred to as an event altogether by itself in the history of the world; as a death for men, for, or on account of, their sins ; now and then as a propitiation, which is unquestionably a legal term for a sin-offering. We also find the word ' sin ' in St. Paul's writings, the rendering of the Septuagint for ^^^tfOj the word 'offering' is likewise applied to it, and for the same reason, the term 'Lamb' to the Saviour, by John the Bap- tist and by St. Peter. Then, too, we have the word XvTpov^ or ransom, employed in a similar sense to denote an equivalent tendered for something to be released. These are all, undoubtedly, testimonies to the doctrine of atonement, and to its cardinal position in the apostolic teaching. Thus ' sacri- fice ' also occurs, though but rarely. But, putting all these things together, they amount to a full recognition of, and even prominence given to, the doctrine of atonement, but in no very systematic form : far less so than we should have reason to THE DOCTRINE OF THE SONSHIP. 181 expect, had not the apostohc ministry been envi- chap. xvn. roned with the sacrificial and priestly system, Heb.iTir.iS; while its own relations to it for the time being ^^' ^^' ^^' were therefore to be hidden, or, at most, barely intimated. This did not affect the substantial Atonement integrity of Christianity to its earnest disciples, rather under 1 f> J.^ 1 ' ■ J 1 1 J 1 its leeal, tlum who were, irom the begmnnig, throughout, and itspnestiy individually, led to regard the death of the Cross ^^P®^*- as a propitiation for sin, and as the one great source of human restoration. They were taught that the dignity of the Redeemer Himself not only followed, but resulted from it ; and that His suffer- ing and His glory were blended eternally as cause and effect. It will appear, however, that the Atonement was presented under its regal rather than its priestly aspect ; in proof of which we quote St. Peter as an example of the apostolic testimony (Acts ii. 36), 'Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.' Sovereignty, nevertheless, is a more remote, though Christ's sove- , . in reign ty a more a more comprehensive, result oi atonement than remote result priesthood. The relation of atonement is to priest- than m^^^ hood direct, to sovereignty only indirect A sacri- Priesthood. fice by which atonement is effected, as it cannot be taken apart from ulterior purposes, so it must have respect to a class of functions ensuing. As an act performed on behalf of a class of beings astray from God, it must have a presence, a language, and a claim to be formally accepted for them with God. It cannot remain isolated, or as a thing of the past merely ; it must exist representatively, and in proportionate power to itself, and so become a 182 PRIESTHOOD — ITS RELATIONS TO CHAP. XVII. Hob. ii. 17, 18; iv. 14, 15. Atonement being by a Terson, tlie relations established by it must 1)0 pei-petuated by that Terson. The human Sonship pro- niinent in Christ's priesthood. consideration and a cause why the government of the world is thus, and not otherwise. As the sacrifice is that of a person, its living perpetuation must be that of a person also, in such relations to God on the one hand, and to man on the other, as shall suffice for reconciliation and restoration, to- gether with the advancement of honour and glory. Thus priesthood is intermediate between atonement and sovereignty, disposing and qualifying the latter so as to render it expressive of the attributes of the former, while it also maintains and expounds the prerogatives of law. In looking at the priesthood of Christ from the one standpoint of His Sonship, we see how (in accordance with previous discussions) the human side of the Sonship is made immediately prominent : so to speak, this side takes the place of the phe- nomenal in the doctrinal system, as it is next to ourselves, and, in fact, forms our only medium for observing the higher side of His person. It is not the God but the Man who passes before us. The very vestments in which this 'great High Priest ' is clad, are simply those of our humanity glorified ; and if we look upon Him in the earlier stages of His ministry, while only 2'>^6p(^ring to offer up Himself, He appears as a man amongst His fellows. The superadded majesty of Godhead, veiled by this, retires from our immediate gaze, as God Himself does, by the interposed veil of nature. Thus, while no act or suflering of Christ can be taken apart from His entire person comprised in the ineffable name of the Son, or Son of God, yet the nature of the connection between both Sonships THE DOCTRINE OF THE SONSHIP. 183 is for ever shrouded in mystery — the fact of their chap. xvii. union is none the less patent, nor the sphere appro- Heb.ii.i7,i8; priate to each the less distinct and perfect. The ^^' ' *^' personal imputation at least, if not always the immediate agency, of the Godhead, appertains to all the attributes and ofl&ces of this great High Priest. The sphere and charge of His priesthood, No act of the grounds on which it rests, and the objects it is taken apart designed to accomplish, are absolutely beyond the en^th-e person, nature and position of a mere creature. Yet the t^J^'^g^ ^""°" i 01 two natures humanity is, for obvious reasons, placed full in our in that person '' ' _ ' -^ an maccessi- view, and may be said to charge the office of the Lie mystery, priesthood with powers so intimately in accordance with humanity and its conditions, that we are allowed to contemplate the Son more as if He were one of ourselves than the 'image of the invisible God.' Two things are especially to be noted in this view : 1st That the typical relation to the Son, of Typical reia- 1 1 • • i ' ^ on • 1 • tionsof human bemgs m the priestly office, entirely arises human priests from His manhood. On no other ground could He possible on^ ^ be ranked either with Melchisedec or with Aaron, STshumanitf. or, indeed, with historical personages of any sort. These could not be types of God, as such, in any of His prerogatives or works; but they could become appropriately types of the Being who, though truly God, was also as truly man. Hence it is clear from the nature of this discussion respecting the priesthood, the personages introduced, and the con- clusions established, that the human side of the Sonship is, throughout, made the direct view of Attributes the Saviour's person. ^^^}^^^ *?,. -C^ _ Christ m His 2c?, The affections and sympathies also ascribed pnestiy cha- ptictcr tlios6 of to this great High Priest, and their assimilation humanity. 184 PRIESTHOOD — ITS RELATIONS TO CHAP. XVII. to a human parallel, concur in establishing the Heb.ii.17,18; Same truth. The prominency given to these is ' ^' remarkable both for its frequency and for the terms employed to set them forth. Quotations are here apposite : ' Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things per- tainins; to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are iieb. ii. 17, tempted.' In this scripture the humanity and its conditions, its exercises and its perils, its frailtifes and burdens, are represented as assumed by Christ — freely and fully assumed with direct reference to His priesthood, — not in reference to the duties of His human histor}'^, but, wonderful to relate, to the functions of His office in a far more exalted sphere, His priesthood in the heavens ! According to this doctrine, the human history of the Saviour, includ- ing the whole of His experiences and acts, has its perfect antithesis in His glorified condition — they are translated into it by the translation of His Person, and are made necessary pre-conditions to His administrative relations with His people. Thus the Priesthood, in its highest form, is made depen- dent on something foregoing, and is entirely a thing of earthly growth, though in heaven beheld as the ' branch of the Lord, beautiful and glorious.' Same teach- A sccoud example of the same kind occurs mg, Heb. IV. (jj^r^p^^.^, jy vcrsc 15: ' For WB have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities,' i.e. our liabilities to temptation — to be overcome as well as distressed by it ; ' but was in all points tempted like as we are,' or simi- THE DOCTRINE OF THE SONSHIP. 185 larly, 'yet without sin.' The doctrine here is full char xvii. of interest, for it affirms a perfect S3^mpathy be- Heb.ii.i7, is ; tween Christ as man, and men in their trials, ^^" ' through the bond of a common nature and condi- tion. This is grounded on the impossibility of man being represented except by man ; in no other way can succouring sympathies be acquired, and power to exercise them, but as the result of a fellowship in his nature and experiences. These must belong in their utmost range, sin excepted, to the High Priest, ' in all points tempted like,' or after a human fashion.^ Such is the language employed to set this forth, and thus to open to us a vast view of the mysteries of our Lord's human state on earth. He remained immaculate and perfect after an unparalleled series of temptations, though a veil is thrown over the detail of those temptations, forbidding impertinent curiosity, while the fact itself is reverently to be accepted, to the furtherance of our gratitude and trust. ^ It should be remembered that the historical parallel is doctrinally interwoven with these last verses of the chapter, as well as with the former part of it ; since in no portion of the Old Testament do the tender, unselfish, man-loving qualities show themselves in connection with official greatness so strikingly as in the character of Moses. He was touched with the feeling of the infirmities of those he represented ; but it was probably the recollection of his failing signally in one instance which suggested in this place the perfection of Christ. CHAPTER XVIII. PRIESTHOOD QUALIFICATIONS AND OFFICE OF THE AARONIC HIGH PRIEST. Heb. V. 1-C. The subject of the priesthood is extended through the greater part of the fifth chapter. ' For every High Priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: who can have com- passion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way.' Here the argument is from the less to the greater, from the merely human t3^pe to the divine and human antitype. First, the High Priest is taken from ' among men,' not from another order of beings, and, in the instance here given, from among his brethren, nationally considered. lie represented the family ; his office was instinct with consanguinities ; and his charity, therefore, was to be the prime prompting principle of his office. HisofTice'for Sccoud, 'He was ordained for men,' i.e. to repre- sent them officially, inasmuch as every single man was not to be his own priest, much less the priest of the nation. The High Priest was their deputy, though not by a human ordinance. Representa- tion is the principle of priesthood. Things are to be done for us which cannot be done by us. men THE AAEONIC HIGH PRIEST. 187 except in a federal or imputative sense. These ch. xviii. things pertain to God, i.e. to Him primarily and Heb. v. i-e. especially : they are the things of worship and of the soul, things pertaining to the immutable rela- tions of God with His creatures. His claims upon them. His justice, His grace, His covenant — their duties, their sins, their guilt, and need of recon- ciliation. This places the office of the priest in Distinction direct antithesis to the office of the magistrate, offices of The latter concerns himself with things pertaining ruler. ^" to men. His charge is over society, the relations and obligations of men one to another. This is his service as appointed by God ; but if he take upon him more than this, he enters on the province of the priest., in addition to that of the ruler., and intrudes himself into an office not, even under the law, given to the chief magistrate, but especially reserved for a distinct order of men. There were some exceptions to this, but these exceptions were no precedents. There is only One who combines both offices in Himself, who is Christ alone saluted King and also Priest, as in the 5th and offices. 6th verses of this chapter : ' Thou art my Son,' — this is the royalty ; ' Thou art a priest for ever,' — this is the pontificate. His duties and dispositions are specified-: 'in things pertaining to God;' 'that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins ; who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way.' Reference is made here to the sacrifices prescribed by the law. Of these sacrifices, viz. the sacrifices for purification, for ceremonial defilements, leprosy, release from 'sacrifices ' ^ "^ . under the law. VOWS, thank-offerings, peace-offerings, etc., it may be sufficient to say, that while they all partook of Different classes of 188 riilESTIIOOD — QUxVLlFICATIONS AND OFFICE c'li. XVIII. the nature of atonement or ofTerings for sin, a class 1Kb. V. i-G. of them had more expressly and emphatically this character. Such were the two kinds of sin-offering, one of which only had the blood sprinkled before the veil, and its flesh carried without the camp ; the other, the burnt-offerings ordained specifically for various classes of offences. These distinctions, however important in the Levitical ritual, all con- sisted with a perfect unity of nature. From first to last every ordinance of the altar told of sin and guilt, of reconciliation and peace b}^ the vicarious victim ; so that, while other offerings not peculiar might be, and were, added to them, — such as those of the first fruits, the meat-offering, and the drink- oflering, including the presentation of the general products of nature, — these are to be understood as accompaniments merely to the principal offering, made acceptable only by their connection with it, and on the ground of atonement by animal sacrifice, '(lifts' uuder ' Gifts ' are here also mentioned, probably meant to include the presentation both of persons and property to God, such as the devotement of a field or an estate, its fruit-trees, its products, the cattle, or even of some members of the family. Great scope was left by the law for these spontaneous offerings of piety, over and above what was strictly required. These 'gifts' would depend much upon the 2;eneral state of relisrion in the nation, and upon its deeper influence on individuals. They would doubtless include also large bequests of property from the wealthy, spoils taken in war, and occasional presentations of costly oflerings from strangers or proselytes. The tendency of a great central S3'stem, or national institute of OF THE AARONIC HIGH PRIEST. 189 worship, manifestly was to augment the wealth of ch. xviii. the priesthood, and of the temple, in which apart- Heb. v. 1-6. ments were devoted to the dedicated things, and which had also its treasury, so that at particular periods this wealth must have been enormous. The appropriations by David and the princes as preparatory only to the building of the Temple, as well as the immense sum expended by Solomon on its erection and furnishing, are examples. All these endowments were supposed to pass into the hands of the High Priest, and by him to be formally pre- sented to God as the offerings of His people for His service and glory. A trace of this is found in the Gospels, in the offerings which the rich men cast into the treasury, and the touching note by our Lord of the poor widow who cast in two mites, which made a farthing. Thus ' the gifts ' seemed an appropriate sequel to the ' sacrifices for sins ; ' they were the returns of thankfulness for the grace of atonement which alone, as producing them, could make them well-pleasing unto God. 'The ignorant, and them that are out of the objects of the way.'^ This direction of the compassions of the special com-'' High Priest was probably toward that section of r^^^^"'^- the nation which, in every state, lies without the pale of the well-ordered portion of society, — who are a law unto themselves, and neither fear God nor regard men, — vagrants, beggars, marauders, the vicious of all sorts, the neglected, the destitute, or persons in the grain atheistic or immoral, all these are spoken of as ' the ignorant,' or ' them that are out of the way,' — besotted and estranged both 1 'Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way ; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.' 190 rRIESTIIOOD — QUALIFICATIONS AND OFFICE cii. xvTii. from their stock and their privileges. Yet even iieb. V. 10. these are supposed to liave a suitor with God, in the High Priest of the nation. He regards them as his brethren, or as his wayward and lost children. He puts himself intentionally, and with emphasis, between God and these reprobates ; even though the}'' would seem to be irreclaimable, and doomed to destruction, he sues for mercy and the grace of recovery for them, after the example of Moses and Aaron, who interceded and saved the rebel congre- gation in the wilderness, when sentence had gone out against it. From this verse we learn that the power of cherishing and giving vent to these com- passions toward 'the ignorant, and them that are out of the way,' was a qualification as exalted as it was indispensable — a state of feeling very rare in the days of our Lord among the ecclesiastics, as we learn from the Gospels, for they murmured, saying, ' This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.' Our Lord exhibited the true type of the High Priest in His compassions for 'the ignorant, and them that are out of the way,' and with telling force vindicated Himself against those 'who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and de- spised others.' This was the more remarkable as our Lord could have no fellow-feeling with them as sinners ; whereas it is advanced as the very ground of the sympathy of the Jewish High Priest with his people : ' For that he himself is compassed about with infirmity.' This is made still stronger by the teaching of verse 3, ' And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.' Hence it appears that the High Priest of self-righteous temperament was virtually This com- passion an essential ((ualification for tlie High Priest's oliice. OF THE AARONIC HIGH PRIEST. 191 disqualified for the performance of his office; since ch. xviii. he neither felt his own sins nor the sins of his Heb. v. i-6. people, in which case the offering of sacrifice was but a solemn lie unto God, adding through the essen- tial falsity of the act to his own sin, and depriving the people of all benefit. There could be no true offering for sin unaccompanied by confession broad enough to include both the High Priest and the people. The true language of the sin-offering and the sin-offerer is best put in that of the English Litany, ' Have mercy upon us miserable sinners.' Yerse 4. ' And no man taketh this honour unto ^j'f^P^ "s^^* 01 kings or oi himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.' priests no PxistcncG out* This verse is remarkable as collating the vocation side the with the honour of the priesthood. Its peculiar mraiweaM™' sacredness as an office of ' things pertaining to God,' is its fence against self- intrusion, or even popular intrusion. This constitutes the difference between priesthood and kingship, since these reasons do not apply to the latter office. The divine right of kings is an indefensible tenet dis- proved by all history except that of the Hebrew commonwealth, in which 'the Lord's Anointed' was the divine antithesis to the Hidi Priest.^ The Vocation tiie ■^ only ground argument respecting vocation is confined here ex- of a true clusively to the office of the high-priesthood, which being once settled in a particular family was of necessity hereditary, and its authenticity was ^ Neither, however, had any force from divine patent beyond the Hebrew commonwealth ; and this text, therefore, is cited to little pur- pose in favour of the dogma of ' succession,' and against a free and independent call to the Christian ministry ; since Christian ministers are not priests, much less high priests. They rather take rank with prophets than priests, and their vocation therefore is far less dependent on any ordinance than on the impulse and gifts of the Holy Ghost. 192 THE AARONIC HIGH nilEST. ci[. XVIII. identified with that of the Pentateuch. Economical Jicb. V. 1-6. and national reasons both required tliat the high- priesthood shoukl be settled by pedinfree, and that principle of this houour at Icast should remain unchallengeable. priesthood, Thc principle upon which it rested, however, seems choL^H/r'"" to have been more profound, viz. that God must own miuister. choose Ilis owii minister, and that men can only indorse him. The application of the doctrine to Christ Himself gives us the origin of the Jewish high - priesthood as a typical institution. It is illustrated by the prophetic appellations given to Him, such as, ' Mine Elect,' ' My Servant,' ' Mine Union of regal Anoiutcd.' Thcse, it is true, express equally the and priestly , n /-,, • n- i tt- • otficos in sovcrciguty of Christ; and accordingly His vocation His divine ^s a High Pricst is here coupled with His vocation nature!"^^^ as a Sovcrcign, while both are founded on the doctrine of His Sonship as human and divine. ' Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee. As He saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchiscdec' It is remarkable also that these Psalms (ii. and ex.) point to the period of our Lord's exaltation as that in which He received alike His royalty and His priesthood. The Son as raised from the dead and exalted to heaven, is the Son enthroned as King and Priest in one person and at one time. Both offices bear the same date, both are concur- rent and inseparable in His administration, and both are to be recognised in the worship and doc- trine of His Church. CHAPTER XIX. PRIESTHOOD PRIESTLY CHARACTER OF CHRISt's OBEDIENCE AND SUFFERING. Heb. v. 7-9. ' Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared.' This verse contains a striking epitome of our Ver. 7 a Lord's humiliation and troubles, and is undoubtedly ence to the a direct reference to the Agony. ' Who in the days "°^^' of His flesh,' is an expression which plainly sepa- rates what follows from the more general experi- ence of His humanity, and directs us to some time or times of peculiar pressure. Various notices are dropped by the evangelists of our Lord's prayer- fulness, and its outgoings in the night, on the mountain or in the wilderness; but they give us no information as to the nature of His suits, nor of the wrestling importunity of His exercises at these times. This passage therefore must refer to the Agony alone. It entirely accords with the several narratives of this touching and awful scene, and is the only comment on it supplied by the entire apostolic writings. It is here remarkably placed, in the argument N 104 PRIESTHOOD — PRIESTLY CHARACTER OF CHAP. XIX. respecting the priesthood, as being one of its chief Heb. V. 7-9. preliminary exercises, and as being very mainly Remarkably conccmed in the accomplishment of all its pre- placed in the .. / i • -i r^ j / ^^ i>n t argmiipiit lor conditions, — bcmg made periect — lie oiiered iiiod!'^^^ ' i^ip prayers and supplications,' such were the pre- liminaries with which He approached the great altar of sacrifice ; these heralded His progress, and as it were made way for the great self-oblation of the High Priest. The details are passed over in silence by the evangelists, save the reiterated ejaculation ' Father, if it be possible,' yet they are to be supposed ; they are even intimated by St. Luke xxii. 44. Luke in that terrible expression, ' And being in an agony, He prayed more earnestly/ The same evangelist also gives us the clue in the yet more terrible expression, ' His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.' These words collated with this comment, 'with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death,' let us into the mystery of that awful hour, when an angel from heaven appeared to strengthen Him as He was about to swoon into death. The hour was ended when the agon^'-'was no longer tolerable, ' He was heard in that He feared,' — words which may be understood of the averting by His prayer of the death imminent through the pressure of this mental suffering.^ Ver. 8 should ' Yqy. 8. ' Tliough He wcrc a Son, yet learned « the Sou.' He obedience by the things which He suffered.' It should be though He were 'the Son;' for the indefinite article, instead of the definite here, is ^ Or they may be understood as the gronml of its prevalency, — ' in that He feared,' — sometimes rendered ' for His piety,' i.e. His perfect resignation to His Father's ■will. CHRIST'S OBEDIENCE AND SUFFERING. 195 out of keeping with the majesty of the Son as opened chap. xix. in this Epistle, and also destroys the point of the Heb. v. 7-9. argument which lies in the supposed immunity of intimates that the Son, as the Son, from suffering of any kind, should ex- His very rank entitled Him to exemption from the f^m obeS- accidents to which creatures are liable, and also ?nce to sutfer- from the necessity of learning obedience in any way, least of all by a course of suffering. Yer. 8 therefore is intended to suggest that the learning of obedience by the Son, and His learning it by a course of suffering, were a phenomenon resolvable by no law, and standing equally without precedent or the possibility of repetition. The position of the Son here as the subject of Another ex- His Father, exercised with temptations and per- humau^^Sou-^ fected by sufferings, is another example in proof ^^^^" of the observation before made, that the human side of the Sonship is immediately turned toward us in these chapters, since obedience is proper to a creature-relation to God, and very emphatically the obedience of suffering. Still the Son is here put before us indirecily in indirectly of His divine majesty also, but with such an added hut with such creature-nature and relation to God as constituted tioil to^God the basis of an imputation of the acts proper to ff constitutes ■>- -1- i the mystery His humanity, as made proper also to His divinity. ^^ wiiich tiie iDcariitition The mystery of a changed hypostatic relation to rests. the Father lies at the basis of the Incarnation itself, and this, rather than the fact abstractedly taken of a human impersonation of Godhead, is the wonder to which expression is given by the Incarnation. This mystery (as before stated in The seif-ruM chap, iv.) is the self-ruled relation of the Son, who, the Son the though sovereign, becomes subject to the Father ; obedience. 10(3 PRIESTHOOD — PRIESTLY CHARACTER OF CHAP. XIX. Heb. V. 7-9. Sufferinf; only possible to Him as the representative of sinners. Suffering can only bo in- flicted for moral fanlti- Sufforing not in its nature corrective. for, without this, the relations of the two natures implied in the person of the Son as Christ would have been absolutely incompatible, and, it may be added, not in accordance with the language of Scripture. Thus, obedience in the Son becomes from first to last the just development of this first truth of the Sonship. The obedience of suffering is appropriate to Christ only, as the Representative and Hedeemer of sinners. On no other ground could it be afiirmed that the obedience of suffering ascribed to the Son had been possible. Obedience is the conformity of conduct or actions to the will of a superior, and must therefore reflect the charac- ter of that superior. As the obedience is here offered to God, Ilis character precludes the pos- sibility of suffering making any part of a creature's duty, except for a moral faultiness. If, therefore, our Lord's obedience of suffering were not repre- sentative and vicarious, rather than personal in its nature, Ilis humanity could not have been fault- less, and His suffering would have been, as in ordi- nary cases, a corrective discipline, tending to amend and expurgate it. This, however, is an assump- tion absolutely contrary to the whole tenor of the Epistle, and abhorrent to the entire teaching of the New Testament. Besides, obedience wrought out by suffering is no doctrine established by the common experiences of humanity. The few cases we have are very mainly of a political or social, rather than of a moral sort. Further, the doctrine would strongly tend in a direction adverse to revelation itself, viz. to show that penalty, which is the idea of suffering CHRIST'S OBEDIENCE AND SUFFERING. 197 in this connection, bears a reactionary character, chap. xix. and instead of being a mere award of justice on Heb. v. 7-9. delinquency, is but in fact a correctional process, ending in ultimate recovery. The only two cases in which obedience is the effect of suffering are, (1) when suffering is made a subsidiary appoint- Save (i) where ment to some higher principle than itself, and tosomr*^^^ where a nature as such is not absolutely depraved ; ^/f^'^^^"'^' or (2) when suffering is endured for the sake of (2) where ,1 T 1 T J • r» • endured for others, and as a means and condition tor securing others. advantages apparently only obtainable by this self-sacrifice. Our Lord's obedience of suffering was plainly of this latter description. His obedi- ence was representative. His sufferings were vicarious. He was in the room and stead of others before God as ' the Son,' and thus capable, by such a course of endurance and self-sacrifice, of work- ing out for men a redemption and deliverance otherwise inconceivable. The things which He suffered as 'the Son' must Christ's suffer- be taken to include both the Agony, as described Sieilce to in the preceding verse, and the subsequent suffer- JJ^^ father ings, all wound up in the death of the cross. The obedience here ascribed to Him intimates with what directness and simplicity this terrible onus of suffering was accepted and borne as the will of His Father ; even those sufferings which were immedi- ately inflicted by the malice of men, much more those ineffable ones immediately inflicted by the hand of His Father : ' For it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, and to make His soul,' not His flesh merely, ' an offering for sin.' Thus ' He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.' His humanity became the subject of new and all but 198 rRIESTIIOOD — PRIESTLY CHARACTER OF CHAP. XIX. overwhelming experiences of what substitutional Heb. V. 7-9. obediencc meant. Even Ilis mind, previously to the season of suffering and the facts of endurance, was unacquainted with the tremendous import of this all-redeeming hour. It seemed, if not to take Him by surprise, yet to awaken in Him emotions which sounded the very depths of His soul, to which utterance could only be imperfectly given, and which, in their intensity, as well as their fruit- fulness, must subsist in Him only as the ' Lamb slain.' It was the great hour of His soul-travail and the new birth of a dead world.^ 'Perfect,' Versc 9. 'And being made perfect.' The word comijieted. ' pcrfcct here may signify, (1) the close or accom- plishment of the work of obedience by suffering, i.e. the goal of obedience, the TeXelcoa-K;, as it were, of His course; answerably to His own words, 'It is finished,' uttered from the cross, and there obvi- ously connected with all the particulars comprised in fulfdled prophecy, of which taking the vinegar from the sponge was the last. It was done, com- pleted, as a travail gone through and ended, never to return. (2) It includes (2) But ' being made perfect ' here also signifies or consequeuces. takcs in all causcs and consequences of this obedi- ence wrought out by the things ' which He sullered.' As representative and substitutional, this obedience by suffering must needs comprise the fulfilment of all His duty to the Father as His Son 'made flesh,' and standing between Him and an oflending world, to reconcile it to Him, and to make its re- cbvery broadly practicable. In this sense it could ■S.. ' And being made perfect, Ho became the author of eternal salva- tion unto all them that obey llim.' CHRIST'S OBEDIENCE AND SUFFERING. 199 be nothing less than atonement consummated by chap. xix. vicarious suffering, as appointed, tendered, and ac- Heb. v. 7-9. cepted. This greatest of all acts which the universe admits, was really perfected when this obedience was finished. It was simply impossible that more than this could be required, and probably as im- possible that less than this could have sufficed. (3) But there is a third view of the phrase ' being it includes made perfect,' in itself of great moment, and also sympathy of very prominent in passages of this Epistle. It is ^^^^ ^^°" the doctrine of the perfected human sympathy of the Son with universal man, but especially with His people, as the effect of ' the things which He suffered.' His humanity, relatively to His office and to the conditions under which it must be ex- ercised for the behoof of men, required such a pro- cess as this, since it seems impossible that this perfection of human nature as related to a given sphere of offices, can come in any other way. Fellows-feeling is a much more powerful succourer than the loftiest reason, and a much closer bond between one man and another than mere accom- plishments, caste, combinations, tastes, friendships ; in a word, the closest interlacings of humanity throughout the world are made out of its heart- strings, not out of its logic. Suffering, in its almost infinitely varied forms and degrees, is the most powerful baptism into humanity all the world over ; indeed, it is the only one which thoroughly filters into the soul, and reveals the depths of our nature to one another. No wonder, then, that the Prince of humanity and its Author has concentrated in Himself all the humanity of man, and that His one bosom responds to its voices, as the deep calls 200 TRIESTIIOOD — rrJESTLY CHARACTER OF CHAr. XIX. Heb. V. 7-9. ' Salvation ' the result of the Sou's being * made perfect ' (ver, 9). ' Salvation ' the perfecting of human nature subjec- tively and objectively, i.e. \vith re- .spcct to itself, and with respect to God. 'Author ' equivali'ut to Saviour. to the deep ; that by Him the world of humanity is responded to in the heavens, and bespoken in all the intercessions and tendernesses of His eternal priesthood. 'He became the author of eternal salvation to them that obey Him.' The adjunction of 'eternal salvation ' as the direct effect of His being ' made perfect,' shows that this threefold view of the phrase does not unduly extend its meaning. ' Eternal sal- vation,' as ascribed to the Son, and to Him as being ' made perfect,' reveals the transcendent character of His atoning work. The very attribute of eternity gives it an overwhelming importance in the case of a single individual, seeing that every such individual is no mean accession to the happiness of God's uni- verse, and must represent a confluence of all the richest elements of beatitude which the divine and human natures meeting in Christ can furnish. It is the nature of man which is saved, not his fortunes; it is his relations to, and intercourse with, the God- head which are secured, not his creature associa- tions merely, much less any artificial and contingent advantages. Salvation is an everlasting correlative to our self-consciousness, and more than this to our divine consciousness, — in which assuredly combine a perfect self-repose, a perfect immunity from evil, and a perfect possession of the Infinite as the first and last of being. Such a creature may himself be more than a world, and a more resplendent witness to the perfections and government of God, than all the planets in the sk}^, or a whole order of less privileged intelligences. 'Author,' while it signifies an equivalent to Crea- tor, signifies also something more especially appro- CHRIST'S OBEDIENCE AND SUFFERING. 201 priate to man, viz. Saviour. It is a specific title chap. xix. which has its bearing directly on humanity, and is Heb. v. 7-9. the complement of all others. This close connection Salvation. between the perfection ascribed to Christ and the salvation which issued from it, fully accounts for the prominency given to salvation, in the New Testament, as a thing actually provided and freely offered to the world. The grandeur and distinct- ness of this revelation are made more impressive by the one word employed to declare them, salva- tion, than they could be by any conceivable variety of expression, or the most profuse forms of illustra- tion. As the distant sound of music swells upon the ear, begetting interest, and even transport as it becomes louder and more distinct, — so salvation, while it unfolds the great cardinal idea of redemp- tion, invests it also with a mysterious indefiniteness fitted to raise the mind by the help of the imagina- tion, as well as by the intuitions of reason and conscience. This is not merely the peace of earth, but the very joy of heaven, ' Salvation ' constitutes the cardinal difference between the revelations of the Old and New Testaments ; for, while the former again and again refers to it in expressions which show that in earlier times it was not altogether a secret, but the sun and soul of ancient piety, yet salvation is nowhere put forward in an unshrouded form, as the very orb of the heavens dispelling the gloom of death's shadow, and opening eternity to man. It is rather like prophecy, ' a light shining in a dark place' until the day dawn, an anticipa- tion of a brighter future, and a prelude only to the song of the Lamb. 'To them that obey Him.' The connection of 202 miESTnooD. CHAr. XIX. Heb. V. 7-9. The Son's obedience the source of His supreme autliority over His C'lmrch. He becomes the Viceroy of tlie Fatlicr. Summary. obedience to Christ with His own obedience to the Father, is the antithesis suggested by this phrase. Tlie obedience wrouglit out by suCfering becomes the source of supreme authority to the Son, since His subjection was onl}'' transient, and His sove- reignty was made its direct award. This is a great New Testament theme, and is here put before us in a practical form. The idea is, that He takes charge of all creatures henceforth, but especially of re- deemed men ; that they are all given into His hand, and that whatever duties they owe to God they must pay to Christ as His vicero}" and their king. Thus obedience is their tribute to His sovereignty, while all punitive and rewarding rights are also vested in Him, and sanctioned by the Father. The great moral deduced seems to be, that as the supreme power of the universe is in the hands of a sufferer, 'the Lamb slain;' so the obedience of suffering qualified by the merits of His atonement, especially when endured in the sei^'ice of His reli- gion (though not excluding private suffering), elevates to the supreme places of dignity and joy in the kingdom of God. There is a sense in which the sufferings of Christ are participated by His members, and also, as St. Peter says, ' the glory that shall be revealed.' CHAPTER XX. MELCHISEDEC. Heb. VII. 1-21. Melchisedec is here introduced as the great proto- Meiciiisedec, type of Christ, — in certain respects absolutely typJomirist, peculiar. In rank, as well as in the order of time, to Moses^and he is Aaron's superior, and even the superior of to Aaron. Moses himself. Had we possessed the inspired narrative only (Genesis xiv. 18), we should pro- bably have been little aware of the singular im- portance of this personage. The history is as brief as a notice well could be of one deemed worthy of a place at all in the scripture record. It is altogether contained in a few lines ; but yet this passing nar- rative, put before us in the form of a mere incident in the life of Abraham, becomes at once a theme of prophecy and of amplified evangelical teaching. It is remarkable, too, as affording an instance of the manner in which Bible narratives are made to form the basis of the most momentous doc- trines. By the divine order they are inseparably entwined; the Old Testament forms an integral part of the New, — they stand or fall together. Psalm ex. 4 (undeniably Messianic prophecy) contains the scripture which forms the inter- mediate link between the narrative and the 204 ^lELCIIISEDEC. CHAP. XX. Hq.b.vii.1-21. The priest- hood of Christ more closely represented by Melclu- sedec than by Aaron. Was Melelii- sedec a tem- poral or spiritual ruler ? tcachinc^s of this Epistle. It recognises the priest- hood of ^Iclchiscdec, and its close association with that of the Messiah ; indeed in some respects the Messiah's priesthood more thoroughly assimilates with that of Melchisedec than with that of Aaron. The order or rank of this patriarchal priest fore- shadowed that of the Messiah, in certain mys- terious aspects of it not predicable of that of Aaron. It is probable that even the concise and unconnected form of the narrative itself was de- signed by the inspiring Spirit to intimate this fact, since he is made to appear and disappear as it were in a moment, not to return, as an historical personage, for ever. This mixture of m3'stery with fact is, of itself, a presumption of the typical cha- racter of the narrative, and that more was meant to be drawn out of it than its bare letter would suggest. More is said of him than of any other personage, after so long an interval of time between his personal existence and his finally ascertained position in the system of revealed truth. On looking over his character under the light of this chapter, one of two suggestions may be accepted, the literal or the spiritual. In what sense was Melchisedec a king at all? Was he such territorially and secularly, or was he simply a sovereign-pontiff, a great spiritual ruler, whose functions were entirel}'' apart from those of the civil magistrate? Or was he a temporal prince with tlie functions of a religious order superadded, i.e. the two estates blended in one? Much, per- haps, might be said in favour of the former view ; yet the title ' King of Righteousness,' though not necessarily excluding the idea of a monarch dis- MELCHISEDEC. 205 tinguished for the integrity of his administration, chap. xx. seems to imply much more than this; while un- Heb.vii.1-21. derstood as containing the Hebrew equivalent for his name, in some different, though perhaps cognate, language, it still implies that it was a name, like others in Scripture, given him by divine direction and with peculiar reference to his typical character with respect to the Messiah. Taken in connection with the second appellation, ' King of Peace,' this thought seems invested with high probability, since even the history forbids us to regard Mel- chisedec as a secular prince averse from war when righteously waged, as was the case in Abraham's conflict with the kings. He would assuredly not approve as righteous in others that which in his own personal administration he condemned. On the contrary, we see that he went out to meet the successful warrior, received a portion of the spoils at his hands, and blessed him in the name of the Most High Grod. The inference from this seems to be, that it was in a religious or evangelical sense that he was ' King of Righteousness ' or ' King of Peace.' This fact does not exclude the possibility ProbaLiy he that he was a territorial prince with superadded spiritual functions, more widely recognised than his civil ones ; yet these marked characteristics, ' King of Righteousness ' and ' King of Peace,' are in their highest sense answerable to his typical cha- racter, and are chiefly to be borne in mind when studying this account of him. If ' Salem ' be taken as the name of a place, it probably means Jerusalem, which thus acquires an earlier interest historically than when, after its possession by the Jebusites, it fell into the hands of David and be- 206 MELCIIISEDEC. CHAP. XX. came the seat and centre of the Hebrew Theocracy. Heb.vii.i-21. It miglit bc that Mclchisedec, as King of Salem, was the last and most distinguished representative of the Noachian Theocracy, and of that form of sacred government which, through many ages afterwards, was to be continued by the descendants of Abraham, and for ever perfected in the reign of the Son of God. LangTiagcof ^hc lano;ua2;e of verse 3, 'Without fiither, with- ver. 3 applied o o 7 7 to his priestly out mother, without descent ' should not be under- ° ' stood of his kingly, but of his priestly pedigree, since, if it were referred to the former, it might be suspected that he was an usurper, or at least a man raised to kingly eminency by some popular movement. It is, indeed, quite possible that his royalty was not hereditar}-, but became the crown of his personal and priestly eminency ; that his priesthood was first in order of time, and that the great spiritual power gave birth to the temporal. But be this as it may, the language of verse 3 should be taken exclusively in the priestly sense. This is obvious when we consider how strict the law of pedigree was with respect to the priesthood within the Hebrew commonwealth, and that this principle (fought against in the wilderness by the people and the princes) was the very one estab- lished by God when the priesthood was vested in the tribe of Levi and in the family of Aaron with- out the least modification for ever. Whatever Haws therefore might creep into the ordinary genealogies of families, the rolls of priestly descent were guarded with all the jealousy of the priestly caste, and held as their heavenly patent both of main- tenance and honour. Now it is in contrast to this MELCHISEDEC. 207 law of genealogy that the history of Melchiseclec chap. xx. stands. He is neither the descendant of a race of Heb.vn. 1-21. priests, nor is he the head of a particular order — Contrast to , , , , '.T . ^ the hereditary he stands alone without successor or predecessor, character of We have no account of his installation nor of his prie^hXi" decease, and therefore no authoritative record of the extinction or tradition of his priesthood, ' He abideth a priest continually.' This is evidently the point chiefly regarded in the Psalm (so frequently quoted in the Epistle) as that in which he most closely resembles the Messiah, i.e. in the perpetuity of office, as contrasted with office main- tained by succession. In this capital point, how- in ver. 3 the ever, it must be allowed that the glory of the anti- idealized to type is cast upon the type, and that the narrative pei^petuiVof is, so to speak, idealized to suit it. He is thus Christ's ' jL 7 priesthood. made 'like unto the Son of God,' not by being ex- alted to personal immortality, with its concomitant, perpetual priesthood (for this would be more than likeness in the typical sense), but by the abstrac- tion from the record of all the ordinary predicates of humanity, such as birth, death, official installa- tion, or priestly decadence, as in the case of Aaron on Mount Hor, or of Moses on Mount Pisgah. We have simply a glimpse of the man in his regal pontificate, who is then withdrawn as if, like Elijah, carried up by a whirlwind into heaven. This same sense of typical and official, as distin- Distinction guished from personal life, is traced in the latter soninnd^^' part of verse 8, ' of whom it is witnessed that he jJ^Siggfj^^^ liveth.' The phrase ' it is witnessed ' is an obvious taught here, allusion to the language of Psalm ex.. Thou art andPsaimcx. a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec,' and its introduction here shows that the teaching 208 MELCIIISEDEC. CHAP. XX. Heb.vii. 1-21. Aliraham acknowledffpd tlie .spiritual ilominion of Melcliisedec by the jmy- iiient of tithes. of the Psalm is to be understood of the official, not of the personal, life of Melcliisedec. Melchisedec, like every other typical person or typical thing, might be said to live on till the antitype was re- vealed, in whom both the person and the office should truly live for ever. More than this cannot be made of the language by any rule of fair con- struction, nor by any perceptible bearing of the history of Melchisedec on the argument before us. ' Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people ac- cording to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham : but he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises. And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better. And here men that die receive tithes ; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.' The 4th verse invites to the consideration of the glory of Melchisedec, and the subject is continued to the 10th verse. Takhig here the inspired com- ment, together with the narrative on which it is founded, this glory is exceedingly eminent. The patriarch Abraham gave him the tenth of the spoils taken in war. This act was the more remarkable as he refused to touch any portion of them himself. It looked as if the patriarch MELCHISEDEC. 209 regarded these, not in the light of honourable chap. xx. gratuities, much less as the returns of hospitality, Heb.vii.1-21. but as the payment of dues to this sovereign pontiff which piety forbade him to withhold. This inci- dent is of great importance as showing that the spiritual dominion of Melchisedec extended to countries and peoples far beyond the limits of his own, and that he represented, what in modern language would be called, the claims of the Church on the State, even where the State as such was perfectly independent of him. This argument, from the payment of tithes by Abraham to Melchisedec, is pressed in verses 5 and 6 to show his surpassing dignity in comparison with that of Aaron and his descendants. These took tithes of their brethren, but not of strangers. As they had no jurisdic- tion, so they had no revenues, beyond the Hebrew commonwealth ; but the patriarch Abraham here acknowledges the jurisdiction of Melchisedec over himself and over the nations whose goods he tithes to meet these claims, and thus, in a spiritual sense, he acknowledged himself and them as the subjects of this sovereign pontiff. So again, verse 8 : ^ And here men that die re- ceive tithes ; but there he of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.' There is some obscurity with re- spect to the position and force of this verse in the conduct of the argument. One thing, however, is Argument clear, that it is an argument from the less to the to the greater greater, and may be put thus : If men that die re- AaroSc to the ceive tithes— z.e. if the Aaronic priesthood in succes- J^fian^p^iest. sion, notwithstanding the mortality of its individual iiood. members, receives tithes — the claim inheres in the priesthood as an order, not in the several individuals 210 MELCHISEDEC. CHAP. XX. Heb.vii.1-21. Tithe snpor- seded by iui analogous homage to Christ. composing it; how much more, then, does the tithe- claim remain substantiated in the priesthood of Melchisedec, which, in the typical sense at least, is an irrevocable ordinance ? Thus from the less is inferred the greater ; and it is shown that the ground of the Aaronic tithe-taking was much older than the ordinance itself, and was, in fact, included in the tithe-paying to Melchisedec, returned by the bless- ing of ]\Ielchisedec, through Abraham, to his de- scendants. It terminated with the termination of that priesthood, when fulfilled by its antitype Christ. That this is the thought of the writer is obvious from verses 9 and 10 : 'As I may so say, Levi also, who received tithes, paid tithes in Abraham, while he was yet in the loins of his father;' i.e. Levi was represented by Abraham, and in this representa- tive sense paid the dues of Levi to Melchisedec, receiving in turn, originally at least, his right to tithes from his brethren, with the priesthood which he inherited. In this view of the matter, the eighth verse does not contain an argument for the perpetuity of tithes under the evangelical dispensation, any more than it sets forth the actual priesthood of Melchi- sedec as continued by Christ. The most that can be made of it in this direction is, that it does not render tithing under Christianity unlawful, while it rather teaches that the tender of homage to Christ by His Church in forms analogous to this is an obligation paramount and universal. It may be that there is some reference to this doctrine (Rev. V. 1 2), ' Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to re- ceive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.' MELCHISEDEC. 211 Verse 7 : ' And without all contradiction the chap. xx. less is blessed of the better,' i.e. of the greater. Heb.vii.1-21. In all ancient examples of benediction, whether in ancient priestly or patriarchal, the superiority of the person uesSngfthe blessing over those who receive the blessing is as- the persra "^ sumed, since the blessino; did not consist in a mere ^estowmg it ' _ _ ° _ ^ always ini- form of kindly expression or pious desire, nor even plied. in the supposed availableness of prayer, but in the power and authority of the person who placed him- self in this mid position between God and the in- dividuals to be benefited. The position was, in fact, essentially a mediatorial one. It was inse- parable from paternity or office in some very privileged forms, but it was especially vested in priesthood as the great type and ministry of re- demption. It is needless to quote examples with which every one is familiar, or even the form of blessing contained in Num. vi. 22. In the example before us, as the office was transcendent and the person typical, so the blessing bestowed upon- Abraham would be of corresponding import. No doubt Melchisedec was directed to perform this act of his ministry immediately by God, and to open relations with the favoured patriarch, to whom hitherto he seems to have been a stranger of mysterious significance. But what becomes us Worid-ciia- I'll ft Gristles of here to notice is the obviously world-character of MeicWsedec's Melchisedec's office. It embraced not only his "ma^e^of own subjects, or the peoples surrounding him, but ^iie gospel. Abraham, a wanderer from Ur of the Chaldees, with whom he held no civil relations whatever. This fact, representatively considered, is an image of the gospel and of its equal aspect to Jew and Gentile, all-including, all-blessing. Abraham is 212 MELCIIISEDEC. CHAP. XX. Heb.vii.1-21. Abraham blessed in his Gentile cha- racter. Heb. vii. 11. Levitical priesthood intermediate, therefore ter- minable. here taken in his hroad Gentile character as but one among the many, and his blessing as but an example of the world-blessing of redemption. But this blessing also was one of super-eminent distinc- tion conferred on the patriarch. It was a visible and direct confirmation of his privileged relations to God, and of the promises already made to him. Moreover, it was an augury of favours yet in store, of the covenant yet to be ratified, and of the mingled stream of blessing, spiritual and temporal, to flow through him to his posterity, — expanding into nationality, into the wonders of the politico- theocracy, and finally into the Christian theocracy throughout all nations. ' If therefore perfection were by, the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron ? ' 'If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood,' etc. (1) The advantage of carrying back the type of priesthood beyond the date of the Law lies in this, that it proves that, as the Levitical priest- hood was not a primary but an intermediate insti- tution, so tliere was no ground in the institution itself for establishing its finalit}''. It was plainly termin- able, as laid down by St. Paul (Gal. iii. 17), on the same ground as the Law of which it forms a part. Perfection could not be by the Levitical priesthood. The true type of the Messianic priesthood is here shown to be much older than tlie Law. Had it been otherwise, the order of Aaron must have been perpetuated in the conformity of the Messiali to it, rather than to the older type of Melchisedec. MELCHISEDEC. 213 (2) The advantage of connecting the Messianic chap. xx. priesthood with Melchisedec rather than with Aaron, Heb. vii. 1-21. consists in the separation of the Messianic priest- importance of hood from the tribeship and pedigree of the Levi- tile MesSfnic tical priesthood, a point of the greatest importance S Mdchi- when this Epistle was written. It was well known H^^'^ ^^^}^^ ^ ^ than witu that ' He of whom these things are spoken per- Aaron, taineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar ; ' for ' it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah ; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.' This was a fact of vast significance ; for, as it is said in verse 12, 'the priesthood being changed, there is made Christ's of necessity a change also of the Law.' That the anditsMei- priesthood was absolutely changed, in opposition cwtter" to all Jewish notions of that period, was -demon- declared by ■■■ ' _ prophecy m- strated by two facts : (1) That, on the authority of separable -^ ^ -nr • T 1 TT- 1 T^ • from His prophecy, the Messiah was the great High rriest Messiahship. of the nations ; and (2) That His order of priest- hood was conformable to a type anterior to the Law. Hence it follows, that whoever received Jesus Christ as the Messiah, must necessarily re- ceive also with Him the truth of His priesthood, together with its Melchisedecian character. Both rest on the authority of the Hebrew prophec}^, which, in this instance, clearly ruled this great question against the Law and its priesthood. (3) An advantage is derived also by this mode Primitive of treating the question of the priesthood in favour iJ,odGeStiie," of the world-aspect of Christianity. The great ^°t Hebrew. primitive type of priesthood was, on this showing, Gentile, not Hebrew. World-religion came first; national religion came afterwards. Christianity displaces Judaism, and unites itself with Patri- 214 MELCHISEDEC. / CHAP. XX. arch.alism, or brings downward Patriarclialism to Heb.vii.i-21. its own era as the thing which, for breadth, sim- plicity, and evangelical distinctness, was the bright- est image of itself, — its bow, so to speak, of varied colours, vast span, and pristine perfectness, which should only be dispelled in after times by the zenith power of its own sun, dissolving the clouds on which, for a while, its great final glory was pictured. Vers. 12-16. ' For He of whom these things are spoken per- taineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah ; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. And it is yet far more evident : for that after, the similitude of Mclchisedec there ariseth another priest, who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.' Vers. 14 and ' And it is yct far more evident.' This formula relative cer- is a plain coiTclative with that of the l-4th verse: leiadveYm- ' ^or it is cvidcnt that our Lord sprang out of thrsub-ect J'-ichxh.' It is perhaps not easy to see how it can be ' {\ir more evident ' that the Messianic priesthood contains the powers here imputed to it than that ' our Lord sprang out of Judah,' and therefore could be no priest according to the Levitical institute; since the fact surely must be as patent as the doc- trine, together with the argument founded on it. Hence it seems probable that the ' far more evident ' does not relate to the degrees of certaint}^ as be- tween the fact and tlie doctrine, but to the differing importance between the genealogical question and the question of the priesthood itself, its nature, and its transcendent glories. This seems clear from MELCHISEDEC. 215 what follows : ' For that after the similitude of chap. xx. Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, who is Heb. vii. 1-21. made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life ; for he testi- fieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec ' (verse 17). On this showing, the question certainly is of far greater importance as to who and what this priest may be, than as to what tribe He sprang from. The question of priestly Christ's pedigree was not determined by the letter of pro- priithood phecy, but rather by the pedigree of the Messiah. prop™cy!but' He sprang out of Judah, as being the sovereign Jgg^g^'J*"^^ tribe ; and hence the priesthood passed over to that tribe in Him, and not the royalty over to the priestly tribe. Historically, these were matters of import- ance to the nation out of which He sprang and to the world, as showing the conformity of the Christ with the conditions prescribed for His identifica- tion; but as regards the permanent influence of the Messiah, it depends on other and far more lofty doctrines than these. The prophecy of Psalm ex. 4 has, according to this Epistle, by its very letter, shown that the priesthood of the Messiah is a thing absolute and by itself, grounded on His personal immortality, and comprising all the riches of His personal nature. His human history, and His mediatorial exaltation. The ' carnal command- Contrast be- , , 1 , • T T n ^ ^ tween succes- ment here mentioned means an ordmance loundea sionai and on the patent condition of humanity as fleshly and prShood. corruptible; this ordinance therefore implies suc- cession as its principle of continuity, involving the transmission of the priesthood as an heirloom from father to son, and from one generation to another; just as the pontifical robes were a heritage, worn by 216 MELCHISEDEC. CHAP. XX. one and another, — each in turn reminded of his Heb.vii.i-21. own mortality by the fact that he wore dead men's clothes, and that these clothes, together with his registered name, would be the only remnant of his existence with posterity. Suph was the ' carnal commandment ' on which the mighty edifice of the Hebrew temple and worship rested, — gorgeous, but shadowy, — ever vanishing, but constantly renewed, just as children ripen into manhood, and the de- parting age is the birth-time and parent of that which follows. Difference of Thus the vcry couditious of humanity necessitated priests, reason the Ordinance for a succcssional priesthood. It trast^^"'^" "^'^s an ordinance founded simply on man as he is, and therefore an ordinance for -a priesthood of corresponding limitations ; the ofhce could not rise above the nature ; but the Messiah, as foreshadowed by Melchisedec, is an independent and perfect Priest, because His personal nature is immortal and all-plenary. ' The power of an endless life ' is antithetic to ' the law of a carnal commandment.' If Svm/j,i<; be set against vo/x.09, it suggests that the former is an indefinite and all-sufficient basis of official agency, while the latter is simply one of prescriptive attributes. The law of the earthly priesthood is something defined by a letter, and of only prescriptive efficacy, because the ordinance on which it is founded is carnal or fleshly, i.e. of human nature, and limited by conditions of pedi- gree ; whereas ' the power of an endless life ' is one of indefinite range, — actual, spiritual, all-pervading, immutable, — the same person, the same office, the same attributes and outgoings. The Humanity and the Godhead are one in this Person and in this MELCHISEDEC. • 217 Office, alike embracing the world of men and tlie chap. xx. infinity of God. It is this difference of nature and Heb.Tii. 1-21. personality which sets the priesthood of the Messiah, not only immeasurably above that of Aaron, but above that of Melchisedec also. Both were types of the same High Priest, but in differing degrees of glory, — shadows of an infinite reality, since they forecasted Him who was to come, — but of no per- sonal significance whatsoever, save as they stood in this privileged relation to the sole Priest of the world. The course of the argument may be comprised Summary. in this summary. The great type of the Messianic Priesthood, as Great Mes- derived from the record, is pre-Levitical, and in its pre\evitical. attributes immensely superior. Abraham himself confessed this by a tithe-tribute, and by the recep- tion of blessing from Melchisedec. Abraham, in his relations with Melchisedec, was a representa- tive both of the Gentile and of the Hebrew peoples, i.e. of the world, and of the nation descended from him, which in future times constituted the Visible Church. ' The less was blessed of the better.' This transaction placed the Hebrew nation in subordi- nation to Melchisedec, the official personage who typically represented the Messiah: the payment of tithes in the person of Abraham was their charter to receive them of their brethren. The priesthood itself first paid through its representa- tive its tribute to a greater power, and in its turn received its right to exact it. Again, they were mortal priests who had right Jewish Priests , .1 . p f J •! , 1,1 T • mortal, Christ to this lorm 01 tribute ; but he was an ever-livmg ever-living. Priest to whom tithe was first presented : thus de- 218 MELCIirSEDEC. CHAP. XX. Heb.vii.1-21. Kcspccts in which Mel- chiscilee was superior to tlie Jewish Priests. Conclusion — Lcvitical Priesthood imperfect, therefore not final. Other\vise, Christ but the last of a series. noting tlie world-range of tribute to a supreme Priestliood, while the Levite could only take it from his brethren. These marks of superior dig- nity in the priesthood of Melchisedec were plainly not embodied in the Levitical ordinance, much less could the Levitical rise to the dignity of the Messiah's Priesthood. For this purpose, a single person, and not a succession of persons, an earlier position in the world's history, and a world-relation, which they had not, were requisite. The conclusion from these considerations is the imperfection of the Levitical Institute, and con- sequently its evanescent character. So far from its being the institute after which Christianity was to be modelled, it could not even consist with it, but must give place to another and a higher priest- hood. Had our Lord's priesthood been conformed to that of Aaron instead of to that of Melchisedec, He must have been the last of the series of High Priests, and not ' the first and the last.' He must have remained on earth as the source and centre of a visible priesthood, not have been received into the heaven ; and His kingdom must, in like manner, have partaken of the visible — or, in other words, it must have been a new edition of the old Law, and Christ's religion a modification of Judaism diffused throughout the world. But the change in the type of the priesthood necessarily effected a change in tlie type of the religion. The new priesthood is not sustained by a number of individuals in suc- cession, nor by the law of pedigree, nor are its functions exercised in accordance with the previous institute, — all is changed by the great fundamental change of the priesthood, from succession to unity, MELCHISEDEC, 219 from mortality to immortality, from the human to chap, xx, the divine, from the earthly to the heavenly. The Heb. vii. 1-21. law was but the administration of a priesthood, the Change in the gospel itself is nothing more ; they differ, not in cS diffe- their general nature, as dispensations, so much as law'^ancf^^^*'" in the character, attributes, and influences of the s^^v^^- I priesthood belonging to each. They cannot be blended, for the one contains the other, and ren- ders it therefore entirely superfluous ; the one is but the shadow of a substance, of itself it is nothing ; the other, as that substance, is entire without the shadow. The doctrine of verses 18 and 19 should be re- garded as the obvious inference from this position of the priesthoods : ' For there is verily a disan- nulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did ; by the which we draw nigh unto God.' The language of the 18th verse may be under- stood as laying down the true reason for the abro- gation of the law in general, though here to be ' understood particularly of the priesthood. This restricted sense of the word ' commandment ' seems equally justified by the argument and by the language of verse 19, ' For the law made nothing perfect.' The abroo;ation of the priesthood, there- Poweriessness ••^ '-' -^01 ordinances fore, results from the weakness and unprofitableness to effect re- thereof, because it was a ' carnal commandment ; ' ^^^ ^°"' i.e. offices merely human (though ecclesiastical and even resting on divine authority) are insufficient of themselves to accomplish the great work of the spiritual redemption of human nature. They can- 220 MELCIIISEDEC. CHAP. XX. Heb.vii.1-21. The law annulled, not incorporated. Law imper- fect, because iutroductory. Legalism im- perfection ; its standard human, not divine. not penetrate the mind sphere of humanity; they may be means and accessories, but they can never take the rank of agencies, or be in the place of God to the souL This is as true of Christian as of Hebrew ordinances, though the tendency of man always has been to exalt them into religion itself, and to trust in them instead of in the spiritual status essential .to restored humanity. For this purpose they are weak and unprofitable. Tlie administration is ' weak.' The routine, however elaborate or punctiliously observed, still fails to raise human nature to God; it rather operates as a barrier, and makes religion to consist, not in the outgoings of a renewed mind, but in the habits chiefly of the outward life. Foi: this reason the ' commandment ' going before is suppressed, not incorporated into the Christian system; it does not consist with it as an advanced spiritual life, and rather tends to impair and destroy it than to foster and perfect it. The doctrine of verse 18 is there- fore by construction a prohibition of all Judaizing practices under Christian names, i.e. it is against all ritualism or cumbrous ecclesiasticism, which is a dead weight to the Church, and too often merely the religion of the Pharisee. ' For the law made nothing perfect ' assigns the reason for its elementary and imperfect constitution: it was introductory merely, not final. According to this doctrine, legalism, in whatever form, is im- perfection. The routine and drill which men take so much delight in enforcing as religion, is at best but a ' weak and unprofitable ' thing ; for it either supposes the perfectibility of human nature by a discipline which is fundamentally false, or it adopts MELCHISEDEC. 221 a standard of perfection human rather than divine; chap. xx. or, differing from both these, it advances an im- Heb.vii,i-2i. practicable standard, and therefore converts human virtue into a penalty. Hence all communities, whether under the law, or since the law, ignorant of the true doctrines of religion, have had their ascetic discipline or anti-human peculiarities, called by different names, but in effect the same thing ; whereas, according to the nineteenth verse, the Law has done its work when it has brought in 'the better hope.' Its whole constitution and drift were to prepare for the evangelical future, but not to inter- mingle with it. It became defunct in reality when Christianity was brought in ; a transition from one to the other was in God's order, and was very mighty, though the systems were in juxtaposition. In like manner the Law religion, existing even under Differences Christian forms, may seem so close upon Christianity and^evan-^°'^ itself as in many instances to be mistaken for it ; f^ip and°^' but it is really something divided from it by an P^'^ty- infinite interval, and may serve above all things as a fatal barrier. It is only when law, under all forms and designations, becomes the introduction of the ' better hope ' that it may be said to perform its true office. Simple unmixed evangelism is the last stage of the religious life, — the ' better hope,' as it is here expressed, not only because its objects are more gloriously expanded and distinct, but the relations of the individual believer to them are those of assured interest. No legal religion, how- ever conscientious and painstaking, can give this assurance. It alternates between hope and fear. It seems to take hold tremblingly of ' the hope set before us,' ever and anon drawing back with un- 1 222 MELCHISEDEC. CHAr. XX. loosened grasp. It is a religion of shadow and Heb. vii. 1-21. gloom, rather than of joy and sunniness, and is more the reflection of guilty and disordered self than the reciprocation of the love of God and of the riches of the Atonement. Hence the last clause of this verse is meant to suggest the characteristics of Christian as distinguished from Jewish, or, as we may say, legal piety. Jewish worship was a much more prcscriptional thing than Christian — more charged with associations of duty or obedience, encumbered with recollections of failure, of sin, of repentance, or of good works. To the mind of the worshipper of God, majesty was predominant, though not to the exclusion of covenant relations. Hence the piety issuing from these impressions would be a very complex mental state, and much tinctured with the specialities of individual cha- racter and history. But it is obvious how different in kind from all this must be the spirit and exercises of Christian piety. Faith in the Atonement, followed by con- scious reconciliation, the gift of adoption, the grace of Fatherhood, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, — these great things must necessarily revolu- tionize the entire spirit of devotion, and create ' a new tiling in the earth;' i.e. individuals and assem- blies of believers by a soul-bent drawing near to God, and not from a mere sense of duty, lured by affection rather than b}^ precept, and by tlie delights of service even more than by its reasonableness. The contemplations of God are unmixed with terror, and His perfections are regarded as but the reflections of His Fatherliood. His very voice invites, and the presence of His own chosen High MELCHISEDEC. 223 Priest within the mystic sanctuary, not merely of chap. xx. the heavens but of the soul, is answered by the Heb.vii.1-21. Spirit of Grace, carrying back the echoes of the eternal bosom. The gospel state is as much distin- guished from the legal as was the chaotic from the finished world on which paradise was seated, re- plenished by the works, and glorified by the visita- tions of God Himself ' To draw near to God ' was the ancient formula, derived from the worship of the tabernacle, for ex- pressing either social or private worship, or the habitual communion of the mind with God. The phrase * we draw niffh unto God ' is meant Privilege of ■■■ .... approach to to be an assertion of Christian privilege in respect God trans- fsrrGd. from to worship, and a covert implication of its trans- Hebrew to ference from the Hebrew nation. The right of cimrch!^ ' drawing near unto God ' was already personally cancelled to the disciples of Moses, since the priest- hood itself w^as exclusively resident, henceforth, in the Christ as the true Melchisedec. Those ancient and impressive forms of divine prescription were now inanities ; for the temple was closed, the veil rent, and the priesthood dissolved. They subsisted only as national customs not yet destroyed by the dismemberment of the nation, but awaiting that event. God no longer held covenant relations with the Law, but with Christianity alone; and the congregational privileges of the ancient faith now appertained only to the subjects of the new priesthood. ' And inasmuch as not without an oath He was made Priest,' is the conclusion of the inspired ex- position of Psalm ex. concerning the Messiah's priesthood. It is a singular example of an extended. 224 MELCIIISEDEC. CHAP. XX, Heb. vii. 1-21. Five impor- tant state- ments respect- ii\(f i\Iessiah's Priesthood. See clia]i. v. 6, 10; vi. 20; vii. 17, 21. find one might say, an exhaustive discussion on a particular doctrine. A fellow-example occurs in chapters iii. and iv. on the doctrine of the Rest. Both are instances of a treatment of scripture peculiar to this Epistle, and both have in them something of the nature of a preaching style, i.e. of the orderly treatment of a subject rather than of a passing allusion to some general doctrine con- tained in a scripture. For instance, we have (1) an introduction of this scripture, 'Thou art a priest for ever,' as a specific authentication of the Messiah's priesthood by the Old Testament. (2) The typical illustration of this priesthood drawn from the history of Melchisedec. (3) The inferiority of the Levitical priesthood, and its consequent terminableness, drawn from its want of correspondence with the great patriarchal type before mentioned. (4) The unapproachable eminency of the Mes- siah's priesthood, not only beyond the Levitical but beyond the Patriarchal type. (5) The installation of the Messiah as High Priest of the Church and of the world by the oath of God, in virtue of which this office is ratified as unchangeable. In fact, the quotation from Psalm ex. is without precedent with respect to its fre- quency. It is introduced no fewer than five times in confirmation of the doctrine advocated. It is probable that this important passage was moulded by the incidents of Old Testament history : ' The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent,' etc. The most stubborn example of rebellion recorded in the Pentateuch arose out of the jealousies of the people MELCHISEDEC. 225 respecting the order of the priesthood: they resisted chap. xx. the ordinance which confined it to a particular Heb.vii.1-21. tribe, and more especially to a particular family. Korah and his company (backed, it would seem, by almost universal suffrage) contended for a tribal basis of priesthood, if not for a priesthood elective rather than hereditary. But this formidable re- bellion was quashed by divine interposition, and the priesthood absolutely given to the family of Aaron, so as to exclude all change whatever throughout the entire history of the nation. In this respect, the ' calling of God,' to use St. Paul's language, ' was without repentance.' But this ordinance did not exclude the change of the pontificate from one branch of the same family to another. An example of this kind occurs in re- Priesthood spect to the house of Eli, 1 Sam. ii. 30 : ' I said Svine decree. •indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever : but now the Lord says. Be it far from me ; ' and again, chapter iii. 14 : ' Therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged by sacrifice nor offering for ever.' Here we have an example of God's oath to deprive the house of Eli of the high-priesthood ; thus shut- ting out all repentance or change of purpose. The sin as it respected office was ' unto death.' In the instance of the Messiah, again, the oath is interposed which bars all possibility of change, installing Him in His office of High Priest ' for ever.' Thus we are instructed by the historical pre- cedents of the Hebrew people in the paramount glory of the Messiah's priesthood, — standing abso- lutely alone in its self-sufficiency, — and in the P 226 MELCIIISEDEC. CHAP, XX. divine complficency in Ilim as the Son and the nei).vii.i-2i. Redeemer of the world. ' For those priests were made without an oath ; but this with an oath by Him that said unto Ilim, The Lord sware, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Mclchisedec.' J CHAPTER XXI. UNITY AND FINALITY OF CHRISt's PEIESTHOOD. Heb. VII. 22-28. Verse 22 : ' By so much was Jesus made a surety Comparison in of a better testament.' The phrase ' by so much ' Testament ^^ seems correlative with ver. 20, ' and inasmuch as;' f^^t^^^o*^- if it does not rather include the entire enumeration of foregoing particulars touching the superiority of the Messiah's priesthood. Should it, however, be limited to the ' oath ' of ver. 20, then it con- tains an implied argument in favour of the excel- lency of the New Testament in comparison of the Old, grounded on the excellency of its priesthood. The priesthood in both cases is to be regarded as the administrative faculty of the covenants, which are therefore to be estimated according to their re- spective priesthoods : these stand to the covenants in the relation of means to an end. The word rendered here ' testament ' should be Covenant the true render- covenant, the rendering of SiaOiJKT) by testament ing, save in being entirely unauthorized, except in the one 17.' instance of chapter ix. 16, 17.^ A covenant is a contract to which two or more parties are necessary; it contains stipulations, proposes advantages, and is presumed to be legally ratified. This general ^ See Chap. xxix. 228 UNITY AND FINALITY OF CIIPJST'S FRIESTIIOOD. CHAP. XXI. Ileb.vii. 22-28. The iloublc nature of Christ qiiali- iies Him to lu the surety of this Cove- nant. Offices of the Priesthood one; persons filling it many. definition suits both the word and the thing as found in the Scriptures ; but it does not agree with testament, which is merely a legal form of bequest, as will appear from the reference just quoted. The surety or sponsor of the covenant is the person supposed to represent the contracting parties, and to administer its provisions and secure its oljjects. Surety or sponsor, therefore, may well be rendered by the word trustee, i.e. the person who guarantees the execution of a covenant or contract, and who is supposed to have adequate motives for thus in- teresting himself in tlie performance of it. And to whom may such a sponsorship appertain but to Jesus the Redeemer of men, who, as conditional to this great undertaking, represents both the divine and human natures in His own Person? Hence His trusteeship is referred back to the very constitution of His own Person, and to the great redemptional acts presupposed by the existence of this covenant. He in whom the covenant originates must needs be invested with its entire administra- tion, and as being the Alpha must also be the Omega, the beginning and the end. Yerse 23 : ' And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death;' i.e. unity was contained in multi- plicity ; time was, as it were, bridged over by the almost countless arches of a personal priesthood — all crumbled in the rear, one only momentarily entire, as the office passed onward to another; it was bound down to the nature, and was pro- portionately feeble and imperfect ; the pontiff, not privileged as to life beyond the meanest of his congregation, seemed to derive but little glory from I UNITY AND FINALITY OF CHRIST'S PRIESTHOOD. 229 his office. Robed for the last tmie, he presented chap. xxi. his death-sacrifice, and passing no more within Heb.vii. 22-23. the veil with his fragrant censer, but, as a spirit unclothed, beyond the veil of the visible, he was gathered to his people. Such is the law of all merely human office, embracing kings and priests alike, princes, officers of state, and pillars of the Church, — all bow down in turn to the dust ; and by the law of death and re-investiture the world at once recedes and opens, and the shadows of the past are ever projected by the day-spring of the future. Verse 24 : ' But this man, because He continueth Ever-living ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.' ' But this cimst the man,' or rather this High Priest, . . . ' hath an g^j^fj/ ^'' unchangeable priesthood.' Unchangeable appears °^°®- not to be the true rendering, but untraditive or self- contained ; for, as the priesthood here is made com- mensurate with the life of the priest, it is plainly not the character of the office as changeable or un- changeable in itself which is intended by airapd^aTov^ but the relation of the office to the person hold- ing it, excluding from it a successor or a series of successors. The offilce belongs to One Person only, on the ground of His ever-living nature. There is but one living, changeless. High Priest of man, who, together with all personal perfections and as their true correlatives, holds all prerogatives which can by possibility fall within the sphere of priesthood; and is thus, in Himself, such an infinite positive of personal and official life, as to render priesthood in every other form or direction, the negative anti- strophe of Himself. Verse 25 : ' Wherefore He is able also to save 230 UNITY AXD FiXALlTY OF CIIRIST-S PKIESTHOOD, cHAr. XXI. them to the uttermost that come unto God by iieb.wi.22-28. Ilim, sceiug He ever liveth to make intercession Evangelical for them.' This verse is of vast importance as re- .stabiishuii Ly vcaliug great evangelical positions. (1.) Tlie in- ^^^' " ' timate relation between the priesthood of Christ, as an administrative ordinance, and access to God; that, in fact, this relation is absolute and insepar- able. (2.) That this relation must be recognised, or there is no approach to God possible to man, i.e. in the sense of acceptableness, grace, and fellow- ship. In order to this, the evangelical doctrine must be fully held, and faith, in the sense of per- sonal trust in the ever-living High Priest, be an explicit and unreserved exercise of the worshipper. (3.) The connection between intercession on the part of Christ and His power to bestow Salvation is made direct, as that of cause and effect. ' Salvation,' here ascribed to the priestly inter- position of Christ, is declared to be ' to the utter- most,' which may be either understood as the result of a comparison between the law and the gospel, or of a comparison between the degrees of salva- tion appertaining to the gospel itself. In one or both of these senses it may be understood; i.e. this salvation is either an ultimate thing, merely prefixced and prefigured by the Law, or it is ulti- mate in the sense of completeness, something to which there can be no addition made nor secpiel possible ; it is absolute ; it is eternal. The con- christ's inter- ncction bctwcen the perpetuity of intercession and carried be- the fulucss of this salvatiou shows that the latter thereforrsa^*"' IS uot to bc uudcrstood of a futurc, but of a present yation not a -^ ^-[^^ dircct fruit of cominc; ' unto God by Him.' As the office of intercession is not carried beyond 1 I I UNITY AND FINALITY OF CHRIST'S PKIESTHOOD. 231 the present life, so tlie effect of that intercession is chap. xxi. supposed to be contemporary as well as commen- Heb.vii. 22-28. surate with it. In fact, the completeness of future salvation is made the issue of a present salvation — a truth of the highest importance to Christian disciples, revealing the ' length and depth and breadth and height ' of the evangelical grace, and its immeasur- able superiority over antecedent dispensations, or, indeed, over any other, in the nature of things possible. Intercession is here to be understood of that act of the priesthood which, as grounded on an Atonement previously offered, is supposed to present formally the claims of that Atonement to God on behalf of those that come to Him, and to ensure to them those peculiar forms of blessing included in the term Salvation, These are not placed on the ground of man's need, but of Christ's merits preferred by Himself to God, and by a covenanted sovereignty made sure through this medium to every true seeker. ' For such an High Priest became us, who is Ver. 26 the . relation of the holy, harmless, undenled, separate irom sinners, prerogatives and made higher than the heavens.' Priest to ° A necessary relation is here affirmed between iiumamty. the prerogatives of this High Priest and the range of human nature and necessity; i.e. the results comprised in the word ' salvation ' are impossi- bilities, except on these conditions. No such pro- vision is conceivable as falling within the sphere of moral law, or the current ordinances of divine government. Restoration is not included in crea- tion as its counterpart ; it is exceptional, and, as it would seem, unique. Nor yet under a dispensation of grace, founded on mediation (as was the law), 232 UNITY AND FIXxVLlTY OF CHRIST'S PRIESTHOOD. CHAP. XXT. I Feb. vii. 22-28. Christ's Priesthood the means by wliich the ends of grace are attained. All earthly conditions unbefitting the glory of Christ's Priesthood. are the blessings of Christianity possible, at least in any approximate measure. The Law gave only anticipations, prefigurations, and ordinances, which can never take the place of the Redeemer's priestly administration. Hence the force of the expression, ' Such an High Priest became us; ' the becomingness or fitness here mentioned referring to this very point, viz. the administrative suitableness of Christ's priesthood to the purposes of redeeming grace. He is ' holy,' not in an official, but in a personal sense; not by imputation, but by absolute perfec- tion. He is ' harmless,' to be understood probably in the sense of faultless — a tacit reference to the absence of all personal blemishes in the high priest so peremptorily demanded by the law. ' Undefiled ' may signify that in Him there were no corruptions to be removed by the prescribed offices of the law, as in the case of high priests generally ; but that purity belonged to His very nature, and that throughout the course of His earthly history this original purity was never sullied, but, on the con- trary, was tested and perfected. ' Separate from sinners ' means that Christ was, in a moral sense, a singular phenomenon, the only human being wh9 bore to surrounding men no affinity what- ever, save the ties of nature ; as appearing to represent and redeem a world of transgressors. He was an absolute antithesis, and must needs be so for this very end. ' And made higher than the heavens.' This last phrase contains the climax of His dignity. We may understand it as meaning the powers of the heavens (i.e. all the hosts of angels and glorified men), or, we may take it literally, that He is UNITY AND FINALITY OF CHEIST'S PRIESTHOOD. 233 ' made higher than the heavens ' (in the same sense chap. xxi. as these are God's throne), and that ' all things are Heb.vii. 22-28. put under His feet.' The heavens are but the sphere of His ministry, ' the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man;' or, according to the expression in the Ephesians, ' He ascended far above all heavens, that He might fill all things.' Understood in this latter sense, it is an intimation that all earthly conditions are unbefitting the essential glory of such a priesthood, and that the seat of the Divine Majesty alone is worthy of His personal and official presence as the God-man and ' the Author of eternal salvation.' Ver. 27. ' Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for His own sins, and then for the people's : for this He did once, when He offered up Himself This verse very specially places Christ's emi- Typical atone- ,, f» i ii i. TT- 'n £n 1 ment involves nency m the tact that His sacrmce once onereci repetition; on earth was in its very nature infinite, and pre- „™nui°r" eluded all possibility of repetition. Earthly high p™J!^^^|^ priests were bound to this lower sphere of ministry, because, as matter of fact, they were incapable of offering any real atonement for sin, and because typical atonement demanded a system of repetition. These repetitions were in place in a typical system ; but a true atonement is of necessity singular^ and would he disproven ivere it ever to be repeated. The sacrifices of the earthly priesthood included both the offerer himself, as being a sinner, and those whom he represented, as being sinners also. But the anti- Last clause of thesis here expressed in the words, 'for this He cSe to'^tiiV" did once, when He offered up Himself,' is neces- J^^^'' "°* \ ' i ' the person 01 sarily limited to the latter clause of this twofold ciirist. 234 UNITY AND FINALITY OF CHRIST'S PRIESTHOOD. (HAP. XXI. ]Ifb.vii.'J-J--2S. Imperfections of the Lcviti- cal Priests necessititeil repeated sacri- tices. Holiness never inherent iu office. antecedent : i.e. lie oflered up Himself for the people's sins, not for His own. Had it been other- wise, He could not have atoned by the offering up of Himself, since He would have been disqualified had He not been holy, harmless, and undeiiled. Further, the law of the type did not require the high priest to immolate himself for his own sins and the sins of the people, but to offer a substitute for both in animals to whom no sin could be im- puted, and which, besides this, were required to be ' without blemish,' as representatives of the essen- tial holiness of the Atonement. Yer. 28. ' For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity ; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.' The imperfection ascribed to the Levitical Priest- hood is the reason, made emphatic by frequent assertions, for its abolition. More specifically, how- ever, it is here introduced as the reason why the high priests under the law were required to offer up daily sacrifices on their own accotmt as well as on account of the people. The acknowledgment of sin was thus made to begin with the priesthood itself; because the priesthood was included in the general humanity of the nation (perhaps neither better nor worse on account of office), and also because, without such acknowledgment, the priest- hood, officially considered, would have been dis- qualified for the peribrmance of acts on behalf of others. Atonement must begin with the priest, and from the priest extend itself to the people. Official, as distinguished from personal holiness, was a thing unrecognised ; it is a fiction in itself, UNITY AND FINALITY OF CHKIST'S PKIESTHOOD. 235 and was entirely disallowed by the ordinance chap. xxi. which compelled the priest first to acknowledge Heb.vii. 22-28. his own sins and the sins of his house, as to be re- moved only by an atonement strictly personal in its application. Thence issued the official fitness, on which so much depended, both as respected indi- vidual worshippers and the nation at large. By ' infirmity ' we are to understand moral faults, anomalies, as much incident to a priest as to any of the people whom he represented. It is probable, nay historically certain, that the High Priests were not always in personal character what their office required. But while bad men were as such unacceptable to God, they were not officially disqualified, so long as they observed the ordinance of the law respecting atonement, though this was altogether a distinct matter from the question of their own personal salvation ; office did not carry it, but rather enhanced the responsibility of the man before Him who is no respecter of persons. These contingencies as to character were insepar- able from the legal constitution of the priesthood, showing how imperfect the law itself was, and that it could never rise above its administration, which, as a merely human thing, was infinitely distant from the administration of a Divine Priesthood. This is one of the two capital distinctions be- The law ad- tween the law and the gospel: 'The word of the £an''^^^ oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, J^^^g^'i^*^^ who is consecrated for evermore.' The emphasis olivine priest. of the contrast between the priests who ' have in- firmity ' and the Son, lies in the infinite dignity of His person as human and divine. As such He answers to the lofty description of the previous 23C) UNITY AND FINALITY OF CHRIST'S PRIESTHOOD. CHAP. XXI. lleb.vii. 22-28. The two im- mutable things of the gospel the pro- mise and the oath. Geu. xxii. 16. Chap. vii. adds a third, the word of the oath, Ps. ex. 4. ' Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Slelchi- scdec. ' verses : ' holy, harmless, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens,' He perfectly represents the world of man, and brings with Ilim to the sphere of His ministry in the heavens the entire summary of His earthly history, and espe- cially the virtue of an all-perfect sacrifice. Thus this chapter ends where the first chapter begins, in the emphatic assertion of the supremac}* of the Son over every minister and ministrj^ of God, whether human or angelic, and with this the absolute unchangcableness of the priestly office : ' He is consecrated for evermore.' To sum up : the sixth chapter sets down two immutable things as appertaining to the gospel in contradistinction to the law, viz. (1) ' the promise,' and (2) 'the oath' to Abraham. This seventh chap- ter adds a third, for we have here ' the word of the oath which was since the law.' If the two former may be construed of the Evangelical Cove- nant and its provisions, the latter may be construed as its administrative guarantee. The ' word of the oath ' is the passage so frequently quoted (Ps. ex. 4). The phrase ' since the law ' may be understood, chronologically, as bearing date from David's da}', more than 400 years after the age of Moses. Or it may be understood of the prophetic testimony to be fulfilled in the gospel age, when the law liad become virtually defunct, and was historically to be recorded as among the things of the past. To these three immutable things of the gospel a fourth may be added from Psalm Ixxxix. 3, 4 : 'I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, thy seed will I establish UNITY AND FINALITY OP CHRIST'S PKIESTHOOD. 237 for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations.' chap, xxl This is the ' oath unto David ' by which the throne Heb.vii.22-28. of Christ is built up for evermore, and God's faith- The two first . constitute the fulness established m the very heavens. Taking Coyeuant,the these together, the two former ensure the immuta- guarantee of bility of the covenant, the two latter the mode Stlon!""'" of its administration. Both the covenant and its administration are taken out of the sphere of temporal things, placed beyond the range of vicis- situde, and in fact embodied in the order and stability of the spiritual world. This is ' the king- • dom which cannot be moved.' CHAPTER XXIL CHRIST S UNSEEN MINISTRY. Heb. VIII. 1-6. ' Sum,' doc- trines already established from ■which deductions are to be drawn. ' Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum : "We have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.' The word Ke^akatov^ rendered ' sum,' may signify the total of an account, here figuratively applied to the main doctrine established by an argument or discourse. If it be used in the sense of ' head or chief,' the meaning is well-nigh the same, but it seems less pertinent and forcible, relatively to the previous tenor of the Epistle. The word thus rendered refers to something already fully estab- lished, and of the first importance; it also pre- intimatcs further discussions to be drawn out of it. Tlie doctrines dignified as ' the sum ' of the Epistle are thus set down : ' We have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the ^lajesty in the heavens.' The expression ' such an High Priest ' is meant to be superlative ; that He is beyond comparison, wonderful, a solitary example of personal and official glory; in Him supreme sovereignty and priesthood combine, for ' He is set on the riglit hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.' CHKIST'S UNSEEN MINISTRY. 239 According to this statement, the Author of the chap. xxii. New Testament is a veritable person, of ineffable Heb. viii. 1-6. attributes, intermediate between the Majesty in Christ a veri- the heavens and the dwellers upon earth. His rule standing^*^" is the complement of His history, human and ancTnSn.^^'^ divine. His offices for man qualify the entire estate of the world. According to this doctrine, man has no direct relations with God at all ; these are entirely between God and man's Representative. Mere Theistic doctrines are, therefore, ideas which Theism appro- 1 , i. tj." J.1 r> priate only to do not represent realities; tney are a programme 01 iunoceuce. nature in its normal state, in which the govern- ment is not priestly, because the nature of man is not sinful; the Lawgiver is purely righteous without indulgence, because the subject is simply bounden to duty. This great vision of an enthroned High Priest of universal man is pregnant with intimations of the greatness of humanity, since it alone is represented by the Son, and that alone on the ground of an atonement, and for the purpose of salvation. Verse 2. ' A minister of the sanctuary ' should Holy things. rather be rendered, as in the margin, a minister ' of holy things,' or ' things pertaining unto God,' i.e. things which directly ground themselves on the holiness of the divine nature, the inviolability of law. These ' holy things ' include the imputation by the High Priest of the virtue of His own sacrifice. His intercession for persons and congregations, the behests of forgiveness, the inward sanctification of human nature, and the consequent acceptance of persons as saints, together with their acts and offices as the outcome of a living piety ; in short, the principles of all true Christianity are ' holy 240 CHRIST'S UNSEEN MINISTRY, CHAr. XXII. Heb. viii. 1-C. Christianity concerned with every sphere of the spiritual world. Minister a term of cilice. Ministry in J^cripture not necessaiily visible. Minister marks the human side of the Son's ot&ce. tilings,' mysteries of God arising out of the highest sanctuary of the heavens, and thence flowing into human bosoms as a fountain of living waters. The ideas of gift and recipiency, of the hidden and the manifested, of the heavenly and the earthly, of the divine and the human, are insepar- able New Testament correlatives. Christianity does in fact represent the profoundest mysteries of being; it ranges by its own laws throughout the spiritual world, much as the flower, the plant, and the animal, however localized, range by the laws which they presuppose, throughout the entii'e material system to which they belong. The word ' minister ' here employed to signify the office of the High Priest, or rather the High Priest on duty, means much the same as ' a ser- vant,' or ' a functionary in charge.' It therefore must not be pressed too far, and made to signify a mere public functionary, since the High Priest under the laww^as something far grander than this; while applied to our Lord, as removed from earth to the ' tabernacle of the heavens,' it is obviously irrelevant. His appointment is neither of man nor among men, but of God, and in the heavens. The same term is applied to the ministry of angels, which shows that the idea of publicity is irrele- vant to the scriptural use of the word; since angelic ministry is entirely secret, and in no sense public, save in so far as all service radiates beyond the person of the servant. Here, again, we mark the human side of the Son's office, as we have before the human side of the Son's Person; for Xeirovpyo^ is a term applicable to the office of a creature, thougli in the most exalted form, and divine only Christ's unseen ministry. 241 by tlie imputation of the attributes of the supreme chap. xxii. nature to the requirements of this service. Still Heb. viii. 1-6. it is a service, or it could not be humanly typified or represented in any language not absolutely appropriate to Godhead. ' The true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, Primitive in- , . IP 111 stitutions of and not man. it is worthy ot remark that the the law alone primitive institutions of the Law are here alone this'Epistie." recognised, and that the author had deeply studied, and was thoroughly imbued with, the Books of Exodus and Leviticus. Indeed, this Epistle could not have been written but by a master of sacred lore, as w^ell as one inspired by the Holy Ghost to bring out its great New Testament counterpart. He evidently placed himself sub initio rerum, so as to take in an exact and vivid representation of the great framework of the Jewish polity in the wilder- ness. After the law given from the mount, the taber- The Taber- nacle, called ' the tabernacle of witness,' or ' the tabernacle of the congregation,' was the most strik- ing phenomenon of that transition period, whether we consider the purposes it was meant to serve, the costliness of its materials, the exquisiteness of its workmanship, or, above all, the presence of God's glory dwelling in and sanctifying it. Its three compartments, perfectly distinct and diffe- rently designated, made up a oneness of typical ideal and of adaptation to the divine service — a service entirely prescriptional and augustly cere- monial, yet full of suggestion to the spiritual mind. Further, there was added the awful sacredness Notexciu- of the presence-chamber of the King Eternal, ^^^^^yp^^^^^tiy. entrance into which, according to an invariable Q 242 CHRIST'S UNSEEN MINISTRY. CHAr. XXII. Heb. viii. 1-6. Tlie ' true tiibeniacle ' (1) an original as dis- tinguished lioui a copy. (2^ A reality as dis- tiuifuishod from a repre- sentation. (3) A some- thin,',' tliut cannot lie adei[uately represented. ordinance, was the annual privilege of the High Priest alone. The fir.st and second courts only were always accessible, yet it was not exclusively priestly, for it was called ' the Tabernacle of the ConQ-rcGiation.' 'The true tabernacle,' however, represented b}' this miniature and moveable fixbric, and subsequently by the temple, is one of inconceivable grandeur, for its site is in the heavens, and its workmanship is God's. It is called the ' true tabernacle,' i.e. in the sense of an original, represented by a copy indescribably mean as compared with itself, and yet in certain respects a truthful rudiment. This is the first sense of the word ' true ' in this connec- tion : the second is closely kindred to it; it signifies something real as distinguished from a mere picture or representation which cannot embody the pro- perties of the thing represented. The last is, per- haps, the radical signification of the word ' true ' in this place. Or it signifies what is consequent upon both these — transcendent excellency; some- thing which fails to be adequately represented by any earthly symbol, because shrouded in the mys- tery of a higher world. This is implied in the closing antithesis of the verse, ' which the Lord pitched, and not man;' an intimation that as all God's works immeasurably transcend those of His creatures, so this ' Tabernacle,' appropriated to the ministry of Christ, exhibits this distinction in its fulness, making it the wonder of the veiy heavens. Probably our Lord intends the same thing under that noble phrase, * In my Father's house are many mansions.' Undoubtedly this tabernacle which 'the Lord pitched' supplies the imagery of CHRIST'S UNSEEN MINISTRY. 243 the Apocalypse : ' A door was opened to John in chap. xxii. heaven,' and, as the New Testament seer, he became Heb. viu. i-e. enwrapped in the visions of the true tabernacle. The ' true The presiding idea of the Apocalypse throughout is represented that of a sanctuary or tabernacle opened, and its i^rpse! ^°'^^" wonders made to pass in succession before the eye of the beloved disciple, — perhaps the only human being who, without tasting death, was ever pri- vileged with such an insight. The very figure of the Tabernacle, taken in connection with the scenes of the Apocalypse, strikingly intimates what maybe called an evangelical heaven. Other heavens may Tiie evangeii- stand rela,ted to it, and form a part of its ' many mansions,' but there is, nevertheless, a Christian heaven, literally and properly such, i.e. some sphere of the unseen which answers to the tabernacle type; if it be not so, the teaching here is vague and un- satisfactory. Place there is; revelations there are of the divine majesty and glory, ministering spirits, disembodied saints, and, above all, the Human Per- son of the Son. There is a throne or seat of sove- reignty; there is collective worship — the deathless breathing of song and adoration, perhaps refined forms and arrangements of materialism — the very gems of things ; but pre-eminently there stands the great High Priest of the world, and His throne is a supreme reality. There the world is represented in Him alone, and His offices, whether of interces- sion and salvation, or of justice and retribution, are all-pervading things, absorbing every order and capacity of mind, and for ever revealing the last light and issues of creature existence. Verse 3 : ' For everv high priest is ordained to Gifts and -^ o i. sacniices offer gifts and sacrifices.' This is put as a reason 'holy things.' 244 CHRIST'S UNSEEN MINISTIIY. CIIA?. XXII. IKl). viii. 1-C. Canuot be directly offered. Atonement t'undamental. Its representa- tive principle embodied in atonement. Typical ])riestliood representative of essential j)riestliood. .'^acrifieos, em- Mi'ius of atonement ; ;,'ifts, of man's gratitude for it. for tliG statement of the second verse, and therefore shows that ' minister of the sanctuary ' is rightly rendered ' minister of holy things,' i.e. of gifts and sacrifices, the offering of which is here made essen- tial to the ordinance of priesthood. 'Gifts and sacrifices ' are the ' holy things ' of the priesthood, things expressly separated from secular uses and appropriated to the service of God. The doctrine is, that whatever offerings men consecrate to God, whether of their property, services, or persons, must be qualified for acceptance by the ministry of priesthood ; they cannot be offered directly^ because sin must be recognised. Atonement and its offices are fundamental to all the exercises and expressions of individual or collective piety ;, and the repre- sentative principle upon which it is founded is embodied in the institution of priesthood. God's gifts and blessings travel downward to the world and to the Church through the channel of media- tion, and they return to Himself through the same medium — they have accomplished their entire circuit of agency and influence when this result is perfected. It is not meant that we should be taught here that the typical priesthood rules the true priest- hood so as to bring it into literal conformity with itself, but rather, that the typical priesthood being a draft from the divine original, must be a true re- presentation of its essential verities. Of these verities, the presentation to God of gifts and sacrifices was a true emblem. A great world- doctrine was sketched out by these local admini- strations, and one which may be fitly described, in the Psalmist's language, as like the circuit of the CHRIST'S UNSEEN MINISTRY. 245 sun, rounding the very extremities of the world, so chap. xxii. that ' nothing is hid from the heat thereof.' The Heb. vUi. i-e. necessity, therefore, here affirmed for the offerings 'Wiiereforeit of Christ, goes much deeper than its conformity to that tins mau the law of the typical priesthood ; it arises from the whrtTiS^to nature of priesthood itself, and from the will of "^^^"•' God, upon which priesthood was founded. Sacri- fices are the representatives of man as sinful, but atoned for and forgiven ; gifts are the spontaneous embodiments of the piety springing out of atone- ment, ever prompt and studious to find vents for its sense of obligation. In this view our Lord may be said to present as ^ot^i must . i 1 rr- ' draw their from men both erifts and sacrifices ; the offermsrs holiness from 1 . . . Christ of contrition and the sacrifices of praise, the gifts of personal consecration, the best affections of the renewed mind, the vows of service, and the contri- butions of fortune — in a word, whatever may testify to the gratitude of man for His redemption, or may serve to express the riches of divine grace in the recovery of a rebel nature to loyalty and delight in God. It cannot be too much remembered, and acted upon, that all individual and Church expres- sions of piety pass into and through the hands of the great High Priest before they can be presented unto God. Of themselves they must lack those qualities of holiness and perfection which could entitle them to any such recognition ; not to add, that as all must originate in the grace of redemp- tion, so all must be made expressly to contribute to the glory of the Redeemer as the High Priest over the house of God. Verse 4 : ' For if He were on earth. He should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that 246 CHRIST'S UNSEEN MINISTRY. Heaven necessarily the scene of our Lord's priesthood. ( HAP. XXII. offer gifts according to tlie law.' This verse does iieb. viii. 1-6. Undoubtedly recognise the existence of the Jewish worship at the time tliis Epistle was written, since it is made, as a fact, the basis of an argument against a contemporary priesthood on earth in the person of Christ. In this point of view, it is intended to show that the doctrine of our Lord's heavenly priest- hood must be true, if it were true that He was a priest at all, which, it is presumed, had been already amply established. But this is not the only ground on which the doctrine of priesthood in the heavens is maintained ; since, if it were, the removal of the t^'pical system should have made way for the world- priesthood of Christ in some visible form. The truth is, that our Lord's priesthood is altogether incompatible with an earthly sphere or with visible functions. It certainly is impossible that lie should repeat Himself under the old forms of the Mosaic law, — should symbolize His own sacrifice, or within any particular shrine lift up before God the censer of intercession. All this is obviously absurd, in- finitely demeaning to Ilis person and oHice, cen- tralizing His administration, and rendering neces- sary a chain of dependent functionaries of a priestly order, co-extended tliroughout His Church, and ramified tlirough the most distant nations of the world. His priesthood, therefore, must necessarily be heavenly to become ubiquitous, and invisible, to perform its profoundest functions in universal human nature. An earthly and visible priesthood was competent only to the duties of a restricted sphere, and to the purposes of typical foreshowing, i.e. to national and preliminary objects, not to ultimate and world relitrion. CHRIST'S UNSEEN MINISTRY. 247 Ver. 5. ' Who serve unto the example and shadow chap. xxii. of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God Heb. viii. i-e. when he was about to make the tabernacle : for, The priestly -y -iTTi 111* T ^^^ ^^ earthly See, saith He, that thou make all thmgs according parable to be to the pattern showed to thee in the mount ; ' i.e. heavens, whose office is in harmony with the idea of a typical institute ; viroSeljfxa, GKia, both signifying a representation, outline, or intimation of something as yet withheld from view, and to be known only by symbols. The priestly law, therefore, was a sort of parable, in which one thing is taught by another, and the unknown is manifested by sensible images. The reference here to the pattern seen by Moses in the mount, to which the workmanship of the tabernacle exactly answered, is a noble illus- tration of the entire character of the Levitical in- stitute. It was a divine programme, set forth on earth, of the mysteries of redemption, at that time existing only in the divine purpose. These mys- teries were finally to be expanded into facts dis- played in the very heavens, — henceforth to be no more represented on earth by the ancient types. This doctrine of example and shadow, illustrated by reference to 'the pattern' and 'the tabernacle,' is one of wide application. In every procedure of The order of God, His thought ranks first. His work next, His cedure^'nis glory last. ' Let us make man ' — this is His thought ^ot^^^his^^^ or pattern ; ' so God made man of the dust of the s^oiy- ground' — this is His work; 'so God made man after His own image ' — this is the display of His glory. So, in respect to the tabernacle, the thought or pattern is first exhibited ; then follows the work delegated to human genius and labour to accom- plish ; then the consecration, with the resident 248 CHRIST'S UNSEEN MINISTRY. The samp order to be observed in His adniiiii- stratiou of redeiuptioii. CHAP. XXII. display of ITis glory. The same order is traceable Heb. viii. 1-6. ill the Incarnation and its results. The thought is made the one theme of prophecy from the begin- ning, exhibiting the specialities of our Lord's human character; then follows the Incarnation itself, the one work of God standing, as a divine phenomenon, apart from all others in its moral riches and in its universe relations. The issue is beheld in the official wonders of the Messiah, — His beneficence, power, holiness, — His atoning fulness, and His mediatorial glory. We have the same order manifest in the admin- istered redemption of humanity. (1.) We have the thought or pattern of human recovery : ' Conformity to the image of His Son.' (2.) We have the work of human transformation, or its tabernacle building according to this ' pattern,' by the descent of Christ into the believing spirit, and His union of the human nature in its entirety with Himself. An evangelical conversion, there- fore, is a heavenly wonder ; for it is the bringing of a human being to a oneness with the pattern tabernacle of the Lord Himself, to which the human nature is made to answer finally with the exactness of a pattern to an original. This is what St. Paul means by ' the riches of the glory of the mystery among the Gentiles,' and is the key to those expressions in John's Gospel : ' Them whom thou hast given me,' i.e. ' given ' as material to be moulded by Christ according to His own living pattern. (?>.) The glory of Triune indwelling, of which so much is made in the New Testament, is the inef- fable result of this buildimr of God in human nature CHRIST'S UNSEEN MINISTRY. 249 by the hand of Christ : 'That ye might be filled with chap.xxh. all the fulness of God.' Heb. vUi. i-e. Ver. 6. ' But now hath He obtained a more excel- The antithesis 1 1 TT • 1 T between the lent ministry, by how much also He is the mediator ministry of p 1,, , 1-1 J.1T11 Christ and the 01 a better covenant, which was established upon Leviticai. better promises.' This verse points out the pro- found correlation existing between the ministry of Christ and the provisions of the New Covenant, and may be adduced as an example of the poverty of human language when it is forced to make use of an earthl}^ and visible thing to represent one heavenly and invisible. The expression, 'a more excellent ministry,' is the whole phrase used to set in antithesis things which, though having some resemblance to one another, are, in certain respects, infinitely dissimilar. A picture is a representation of nature, — yet it is only a representation, not nature itself. The outlying; obiects copied on the is as that . between a canvas by colour and manipulation, yet lack all picture and the real properties belonging to the objects as part of the system of nature. No one would pretend to compare the w^ork of God and the work of man — the w^ork of God as seen in nature, and the work of man as seen in the picture ; the one is represented by the other, but not identified in the least with it. The relation between our Lord's ministry and the Leviticai may be thus set forth. To use an old phrase, it is to compare great things with small ; yet this difference perhaps could not be more forcibly expressed than by the words here employed, 'A more excellent ministry.' But if nature and the picture be the illustration chosen, it fails to convey a perfect idea of the trans- cendent ministry of the Son even when compared 250 CHRIST'S UNSEEN MINISTRY. CHAP. XXII. IIi-lj. viii. 1-C. Supernatural things only to be ex- ]irossed by allegory. Christ's niinistrj' tlio exponent of His covenant. with the superb ritual of the Hebrew ministry. Tiicre are some things absolutely incapable of re- presentation, strictly speaking : such, for instance, as space in its infinity ; power in its origin ; spiritu- ality, personality, and vitality in the divine nature. "We lose ourselves on the very edge of these great questions : their sphere is not open to us, nor will it ever become so, except in some sense relative to our present knowledge. Yet our Lord's ministry actually partakes of attributes like these : He fills all things with His presence, sustains all things by His power, governs the relations of God to the whole world, and vitalizes and transforms the human heart. In fiict, the history of a single re- deemed spirit is, as it were, a microcosm of these infinite perfections ; they are translated thither as into their own proper kingdom, depository, ark, tabernacle. Still, all this can only be expressed by such words as these : 'Yet now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry.' Thus reflecting, we are not surprised that Scripture deals so much in par- able, allegory, and trope ; for this language has the advantage of giving a vivid and truthful represen- tation of the highest things, bringing them down to our level ; while the loftiest philosophy, when attempting to become their substitute, fails to rear its ladder above the sensible, or lands us only in a region of subtle and dreary speculation. 'By how much also He is the mediator of a better covenant.' This relation of the covenant to the ministry of Christ gives us the truest idea of the excellency of that ministry, since it at least lies within the sphere of humanit}-, and enables us, if not to judge of the cause, yet to judge of the CHEIST'S UNSEEN MINISTEY. 251 effect. In truth, it is by this same principle and chap. xxii. in this same way that we judge of the Creator by Heb. viii. i-6. His works. The unseen, whether as Creator or Redeemer, is brought before us by phenomena either external or mental, but as Redeemer with greatly superior force of demonstration, because of the directness and individuality of the dealing with us. The ministry of Christ supplies, in truth, the only knowledge of God entitled to be ranked as such; it is entirely distinct from, and superior to, that which springs from the moral and intellectual nature of man under culture. This ministry, based on the authority of inspiration, and on historical evidence, with a long train of preliminary notices, is yet as much a personal fact to faith as the opened inner sanctuary itself, the sphere of that ministry. The verification of the unseen in the spiritual nature of man is the grand peculiarity of the gospel. This does not lie in the weight of its historical testimony, much less in any system of external attestation or doctrine of Church infalli- bility, but in individual experiences of the inner life. CHAPTER XXII T. THE COVENANTS. Heb. VIII. 7-13. The two < For if that first covenant had been faultless, then shonld no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the da3^s come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah : not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt ; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. ' For this is the covenant that I will make ^yith the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts : and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people : and the}"" shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that He saith, A new covenant, He hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.' THE COVENANTS. 253 The remaining portion of the eighth chapter, ch. xxiii. contained in these verses, is given to a comparison Heb.viiij-is. of the covenants as appropriate to the demonstra- tion of the 'better covenant' resulting from our Lord's ministry. Hence, instead of examining the verses seriatim^ we shall get a broader view of the truths they contain by surveying briefly the two covenants separately, and also relatively. 'The better covenant established upon better The better promises 'may be taken first. The covenants are thTNew.' ' here distinguished as Old and New, which distinc- tion was recognised by our Lord at the institution of the Supper, and is therefore a tacit acknowledg- Lukexxii. 20. ment, of Jeremiah's authority, since this distinction jer. xxxi. is plainly referable to him, and is transcribed into ^^~^^- this chapter for the purposes of the argument, viz. that our Lord had ' obtained a more excellent ministry' than the Levitical, and that even then the old ministry was defunct. But we may trace the New Covenant further back than Jeremiah, viz. to Genesis (xii. 3, xv. 6, and the 17th ch.). It is Maybe traced to observable here, that in the intercourse between Gen. xii. 3. God and Abraham, concerning God's future rela- tions with him and his seed, only one covenant is traceable, and that this is the New. It is true that this covenant could only be fulfilled by means of his seed ; but it is also true that Abraham per- Abraham in- soually and specially was introduced to it, through ^^^ ^'^^'^ ^'^ ^'^' his justification by faith, mentioned Gen. xv. 6. Hence circumcision was undoubtedly an evangeli- circumcision cal sign, not a legal one ; nor was the dotation of '™ ^^^"^e ica the land to Abraham's posterity a thing separable from the covenant itself, which of necessity im- plied the gift of nationality to the patriarch's sign. 254 THE COVENANTS. {•n. XXII I. descendants. A separate covenant miglit be, how- Hi-b.viii.7-13. Gvcr, and actually was, four hundred years after, Second, i.e. p;rafted uDou this, entirely different in its nature and legal, Cove- ^ . . -^ . . *^ . iiant grafted provisions, but instituted with strict reference to the fust. first. This first and great covenant made Abraham not the father of one people, but, as St. Paul says, the ' heir of the world,' through ' the seed,' or Christ, by whom alone, as the Redeemer of the world, all nations could be blessed, i.e. accepted into this covenant of spiritual blessings as distin- guished from the covenant of temporal ones. As, however, the ' fulness of the time ' was not come in Abraham's day, but was then a distant future, it became necessaiy to institute a second and supplementary covenant in accordance with the promise of nationality to Abraham's seed, and to found this upon a series of historical events, all brought about by immediate interposition. This Tiie spiritual relation and order of the two covenants is but an takes preced- . . . , , eiK-eofthe example of those existnig between spiritual and unpoia . temporal things in the economies of nature and of grace, in both of which the spiritual takes prece- in providence, dcucc, making tlic providcntial rule of the world an entirely subordinate affiir ; i.e.., according to our Lord's teaching, the latter is something added to, not identical with, the kingdom of God. Thus the And in the temporal or second covenant subsequently instituted became ancillary to the first or evangelical, which is properly the 'everlasting covenant,' generally recognised by the prophets, and remaining intact when the other was annulled. This view is con- firmed by Galatians iii. 1 7, where the completeness and independence of the evangelical or first cove- nant is argued from its priority of time, as well as THE COVENANTS. 255 from its difference of nature from the second cove- ch. xxiii. nant. The first covenant remained in abeyance, Heb.viii.7-i3. after it was ratified, from the days of Abraham The first cove- until the coming of Christ ; and all that intervened ance from '^^' in nowise affected or drew upon its provisions, chrS!^"^*" since these could have no substantiation until the advent of the Messiah. The question now suggests itself, put by St. The second Paul (Gal. iii. 19), 'Wherefore then serveth the of moral un- 1 D'Ai j.fnj.11- fitness for the law f And we may gratetully take his answer as first. a full though brief exposition of its purpose : ' It was added because of transgressions.' This admits of a twofold meaning : either that the world at that period was in too crude and corrupt a state to per- mit of the immediate introduction of Christianity ; or that a course of discipline of a national sort, protracted through centuries, was necessary for the favoured people to prepare them for what emphatically is 'the kingdom of God.' Under the laLw, their history was, on the whole, a humiliating testimony to the moral state of humanity under the most favourable conditions, and demonstrated the insufficiency of mere law, however enforced, to reform and elevate the most privileged people. Their rebellion was all but chronic, and the law at many periods reduced to a dead letter. But there is another and more spiritual view of Spiritual the office of the law not to be passed over. This law. was, to teach the more enlightened and conscien- tious of the Hebrew people in their several genera- tions the doctrine so finely opened by St. Paul (Rom. vi.) : of the law of sin in the members bringing forth fruit unto death. The spiritual To teach the nature of man was out of harmony with the law, 256 THE COVENANTS. CH. XXIII. Heb.viii. 7-13. The orif/'mnl evangelical C'oveuaut inclutled national blessings for tlie Hebrews. This the key to several Old Testa- inent scrip- tures. Twenty-sixth chapter of Leviticus evangelical. spiritually constraod, though not with its letter. 'The liiw was weak through the flesh 'to rectify this disorder ; and the remedy was provided only by the first great evangelical, or Abrahamic Cove- nant. The law did not teach justification by faith, nor did it bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost upon its people. Tlicy were held in bondage, or, as St. Paul says, 'under a schoolmaster.' Thus the de- sign of the second covenant was to make way for the first, and was wonderfully adapted for its end. Nor can it be doubted that the first covenant was meant to be as broadly national as the second. Looked at from the Abrahamic point of view, the first or evangelical covenant comprised the weal of the entire Hebrew people, and not merely the individual aspect of its provisions as interpreted by the New Testament. With respect to the Jewish people, the New Testament recognises not divine intentions^ but existing facts^ and that individual completeness of divine relations which the New Covenant bestows upon men as such throughout the world. This view, however, of the Abrahamic Covenant, in its peculiar relation to the Hebrew people, is one of great importance, as supplying us with the key to the general language of prophecy in its evangelical aspects, and also to some passages of the Pentateuch, which plainly out-look on the destinies of this people fiir beyond the range of the second covenant. (1.) For example, Leviticus xxvi. 42 contains a direct reference to the first or evangelical covenant, not to the second made in the wilderness. Again, verse 44 is too general in its language to have been exhausted by past historical deliverances, but runs THE COVENANTS. 257 on to our own times: 'Neither will I abhor them, ch. xxiii. to destroy them utterl}^, and to break my covenant Heb.viii.7-i3. with them.' Verse 45 contains a distinct notice of the second covenant, but collated with the first, thus adding the facts of history a;^ corroborative of the then unaccomplished design of the evangelical covenant. (2.) The general tenor of prophecy on the subject Prophecy of of Israelitish restoration bears out this interpreta- restoration, tion of the Pentateuch ; since, if we regard these aad"imtronai. prophecies as having been fulfilled by the return from Babylon, their very letter in many instances cannot be verified, nor their glowing descriptions of national felicity be made to accord wath the later section of Jewish history. Something far more durable, glorious, and fitting to inspire the rapture of the ancient seer, must be intended than those lees of national existence, those last sparks which portended extinction in a long night of gloom. (3.) It is remarkable that the leading prophets, The hwiing T'lT • ^ i-r-11-1 -T 111 prophets speak Isaiah, J eremiah, and Jizekiel, entirely overlook the only of the individual applications of the New Covenant; Daniel arpecTofthe only mentions the confirming of the covenant ' with many for one week.' In all other instances the national aspect of the New Covenant is alone re- garded. Thus the great Messianic prophecy, Isa. ix. 1-7, closes with a distinct reference to the Examples: throne of David and his kingdom, ' to order and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever.' This undeniably de- scribes a national issue of the Messiah's sovereignty, and a national establishment of the first covenant. A second example, equally decisive, is taken from R New Cove- nant. Isa. ix. 1-r. 258 THE COVENANTS. (H. xxiii. the same prophet, chap. xi. 11, 12, where it is de- Hib. viii.7-13. scribcil as the second recovery of the favoured people from a wide dispersion : ' From the islands of the sea,' and 'from the four corners of the earth;' hence isii. xii. chap. xii. is an evangelical ode, anticipative of this event, and a wonderfully appropriate celebration of the opened ' wells of salvation.' Chapters xxxi. and Jor. xxxi. xxxiii. of Jcrcmiah, from which the quotations are iiiul xxxiii. . selected ni this Epistle, are equally express examples of tlio same kind. The New, or first. Covenant is placed in apposition to the second as equally a national event ; otherwise, it could not have been pertinently introduced with a notice of the deliver- ance of the Israelites from the land of Egypt : the second covenanting of God with them is paralleled with the first covenanting, which of itself deter- mines the national character of the first. It is also expressly prefaced by a declaration to the same effect: 'I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.' The fol- lowing declarations corroborate this view even as they stand in the Epistle: ' I will be their God, and they shall be my people.' This language is un- deniably national, as is also the following : ' They shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest, saitli the Lord;' i.e. the different estates of the nation shall be hicluded within the bonds of the New Covenant,— not a portion of it, not a majority, but the nation. To the same effect is the testi- Kzik. xxxiv. mony of Ezekiel, chap, xxxiv. 24-31. To these (quotations may be added Ezek. xxxvii., containing tlie wonderful vision of the valley of dry bones. These are only specimens of the general tenor of prophecy in conlirmation of this point. THE COVENANTS. 259 (4.) This aspect of the New, or first, Covenant ch. xxiii. towards the Jewish nation appears to be the true Heb.viii.7-i3. ground of the leading descriptions of Jerusalem, re- The New stored in the latter day and immeasurably exalted grOTmd"fthe in glory above all former precedent. These descrip- ^on of the^" tions — those of Isaiah particularly — are not meant ^I^^^^^^l ■•■ / Church and to apply to the Church Catholic, or the Gentile nation. Church, but to the Jewish Church under the New , Covenant, to Jerusalem as the centre of Jewish nationality when rendered purely Christian by so broad an example of conversion as the world has never yet witnessed, and of which the day of Pente- cost itself was a mere earnest. National conver- sion and national restoration are, by the uniform testimony of prophecy, made correlative with each other. Nor, in fact, could a New Covenant restora- tion be possible on any other condition than the one given us in Jeremiah : ' After those days, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts. . . . They shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, say- ing. Know the Lord;' i.e. the office of a converting ministry is rendered superfluous by a national turning to God ; one as profound as it is simultane- ous, at once so signal as to cancel and oblivionize the sins of the past, and to give to them nationally, through a long future, the New Covenant in an unbroken range of application. In this respect the prophetic anticipations of the Duration of r> 1 AT ^ 1 • 1 • -^ the New reign of the New Covenant over this people give it covenant an explicit contrariety to the history of the Old. with'^JJe^ The one was broken and for ever dissolved, while ^^'^• the other remains in force, without suspension or decline, so far as the light of prophecy enables us to 260 THE COVENANTS. CH. XXIII. Hp1>. viii.7-1;?. Jer. xxxi. 35, 86. Ikoin. xi. 2G, 27. The Rpcon.l C'ovpiiaiit fouiiJt'tl on older revela- tions. No ndvannc made in its teuchinip*. divine a future ; for it is in this sense that Jeremiah is to bo under.'^toorl: 'If those ordinances depart from before me, saith tiie Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.' The 1 1th chapter of Romans seems to have been indited in the very spirit of these predictions : ' So all Israel shall be saved: as it is written. There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob : for this is my cove- nant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.' (5.) The nature of the Second Covenant may be thus expounded. It was founded on a compact be- tween God and the Hebrew people, of which Moses was the medium; it was administered by sacrifice; it included all tlie great primitive doctrines of religion, formally epitomized in the Decalogue, expanded in typical institutes, and amplified in a variety of moral and political details. It may be said that an ab- stract only of the covenant was first given, extend- ing from Exodus xx, to xxiii. Its entire provisions were given much more in detail, and in fact com- prise portions of the book of Deuteronomy itself. Tliis covenant does not appear to have materially advanced the range of religious truth beyond former revelations, or, in the broader sense, to have origi- nated a new dispensation of religion. Properly speaking, there are but two dispensations — the one of promise, the other of fulfilment ; the one is Patriarchalism, the other Evangelism. Tlie second covenant is purel}' national and transitive ; it is built on all that went before, but only out of pre- existing mat(>rial ; tliore is no perceptible advance of divine truth, it is rather a provision for perpe- tuating and transmitting it, by giving it a national THE COVENANTS. 261 expression, and placing it in the hands of a people ch. xxiii. hiid under special obligations to maintain it and Heb.viii.7-i3. hand it forward. It was, however, both a national Made na- , - . tional in and a personal law : m the lormer sense, it gua- order to its ranteed national integrity and weal; in the latter, it aud sp-ead" guaranteed salvation as an explicit rule of life based on the doctrine of atonement typically administered, and on promises of grace drawn from more ancient times and from sources higher than itself. (6.) The New Covenant (the phrase in Jeremiah) The Person is the Abrahamic expanded into its final evangelical Christ the° completeness. Of this covenant Christ is at once ^^^ Q^f^^ the Mediator and the Author; He not only admini- '^'^^*- sters its provisions, and is the guardian of its enact- ments, but the covenant itself entirely originates in His Person and work as the Redeemer of the world. It is, strictly speaking, the New Covenant, as He says, ' in my blood;' 2. e. it arises directly out of His Atonement, and its administration by His own priesthood, and its prerogatives as unfolded in its spiritu- this Epistle. All notices of this covenant found particularly in the Epistles to the Homans, Gala- tians, and Ephesians concur in this view. To all believers in Christ it is a fully administered personal redemption: its righteousness is that of faith ; its law is that of the heart ; its indwelling of the Holy Ghost, the true glory foreshadowed by that of the Tabernacle. Its sanctification is spiritual and entire; its gifts of knowledge, power, and heavenliness, free and indefinitely great. A single human subject is as capable of its inward draught and fulness, as if its intentions were restricted to one only, while its outgoings are absolutely un- limited as to the number of its ' vessels afore pre- 2 ('.2 THE COVENANTS. vu. XXIII. pared unto glory,' and as perfect as the present iieb.viii.7-13. Conditions of humanity admit of. This Covenant The kingdom may, tlicrcforc, well be called 'the kingdom of lis (Hstiii- heaven,' as distinguished from the territorial theo- fi"'7.'wish''" cracy which preceded it. It is something far kingdom. greater than the mere revelation of immortality and the resurrection, or the implantation of a hope and a preparation in this direction. It is itself the eternal life translated from the higher into the lower sphere of humanity ; and the substantiation, by tlie oneness of a redeemed nature with the all- redeeming God, of whatever remains future and hidden in the kingdom of His Son; and this by an earnest of the Spirit till 'the redemption of the purchased possession.' The N.w /^ \ ii should not be overlooked that the relation the basis of of God to His people by the New Covenant contains, the ( hristian , ^ . ^ '' . 7,. , ciiuivh. ni addition to its peculiar national relation to the Jews, the true basis of the evangelical common- wealth, i.e. the Christian Church. This is made apparent from the terms employed in these quota- tions from Jeremiah, such as, ' I will be to them" a God, and they shall be to me a people,' since it is impossible to restrict this relation to the natural descendants of Abraham; on the contrar}^, the whole tenor of the Epistles of the New Testament is demonstrative of the extension of this privilege to the disciples of Christ of all lands and languages. The New Covenant creates a people of God in a far more exalted sense than the Old or second could (oveimnt ^^ \ ior, thc Old Covcuaut being dissolved, its rela- InivnK The ^^""^ necessarily ceased. Tvcjecting the New Cove- .i.«Hno r\\\\\{^ tlie Jew himself could no lonirer plead the un.ier it. estate of the Old, and his hereditary relations to THE COVENANTS. 263 God under it. This was annulled, and its re-insti- ch. xxiii. tution was impossible. He was, therefore, reduced Hei..viii.7-i3. to the alternative of accepting a better status under the New Covenant, or of becoming disinherited al- together. This is the doctrine of election (found in Rom. This the ix. and in other parts of St. Paul's writings), of rc Kom. IX. such immense importance at that particular junc- ture, when the New Covenant first came into opera- tion, and the Church itself was altogether remodelled agreeably with its provisions. Collating the general teaching of the apostles with the prophetic quota- tions of this chapter, it becomes apparent that a most momentous crisis had arrived in the history of the Church, that the restrictions of the Old Covenant had been annulled, and that henceforth the Abrahamic Covenant was alone in force, both as a doctrine of salvation and as the basis of the Church. In future, no hereditary principle could The heredi- be admissible in this status. It was altogether an has no place Old Covenant thing done away. There could be no covenant?^ such thing as historical, traditional, or incorporate Christianity ; for all this would be Old Testament religion in New Testament attire. The nature of the Covenant as spiritual, precludes everything from being a part of itself and entitling to its privileges, but the individual possession of its dis- tinguishing blessings. The Christian Church has no broader basis than this, which is just as catholic as individual faith, and just as determinate as the ^ ',, • Ji 1 j_ Nationality law written m the heart. may be com- (8.) There is, however, no real contrariety be- i^inedwith the New Covenant though n.- spiritual and the former view, which makes it, as of its nature. tween this view of the covenant as exclusively Covenant, •^ though not Al>rahauuo I'uVllUUlt. 2»;i THE COVENANTS. "11. xxiii. to tlie Jews only, also national. It is the same ji.b.TiiTr-is. principle, which in the one case creates a catholic commonwealth, and in the other a territorial one. It can expand itself wide as the world, and yet have combined with it, special facts of nationality in some one instance. As to nations at large, or human beings individuall}^, Christianity can give no other blessings than those comprised in its Covenant, or those reflected from it. r.-iiiiai rriu- But it must be remembered that the Abrahamic .irws^to the Covenant was in both testaments a predicted des- tiny for the Jewish people. It was evolved out of that people and their ancestry by a long series of divine communications. The Christ was of their stock, as well as ' the fathers,"^ the apostles, and the primitive Church. They alone of all people had a long pre-existing estate of national covenant and recognition by God. They are mainly the subjects of the great prophetic future of the Old Testament : their territory is an everlasting possession, while they themselves are a people preserved, through ages of wonderful vicissitude, entire in blood, customs, and combina- tion, as if on purpose to answer some day to the grand prophetic programme, and to create a greater wonder and sensation in the earth by their restored nationality and conversion than did the Exodus it- self, which filled all nations far and near with the sound of Jehovah's name. But all this may come to pass within the bonds of the New Covenant, and by its power alone, without in the least infringing on tlie established order of things, or necessitating a dispensation of miracle. ^lore than all this is expressed in the words of Jeremiah : ' I will put THE COVENANTS. 2 Go my laws into their minds, and write them in their oh. xxiii. hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they Heb.viii.7-i3. shall be to me a people.' The whole of the ninth chapter, to2;ether with Administra- T tion of the the tenth as far as the twenty-second verse, may be two Cove- regarded as the theme of the two Covenants con- tinued, powerfully argued, and variously illustrated. The whole discussion appertains to the administra- tive questions especially characteristic of each Covenant, bringing out with wonderful force the surpassing glory of the first over the second, of the New over the Old. This view of the unity of topic embraced within these limits greatly helps to a true understanding of the course of the argument, and to the right interpretation of particular sections. k CHAPTER XXIV. THE HEBREW TABERNACLE. Hi:r,. IX. 1-6. TiioTaKr- TuE iiiiitli cliapter opens with a brief description of tlie Tabernacle, its furniture, ministry, and ser- vices. Tliis is obviously taken from the fortieth chapter of Exodus, made as succinct as possible, Ijecause a more extended transcription would have been both unnecessary, as addressed to Hebrews, and inconvenient to the argument itself It is, however, important as showing how familiar the great facts of Hebrew history' and Hebrew institute were to the minds of that age : to them a passing reference only was needful as the ground of some new doctrine to be advanced. The Epistle was not written for the purpose of confirming them in the belief that they really had a history such as the Pentateuch gives, or to prove to them that their national origin had in it something more sub- stantial than mere pagan legends. Save on this assumption, this Epistle ought not to have existed as a portion of the New Testament ; it is entirely baseless without it, and is degraded into a mere counterpart of what, if in fact it was a myth, miuiit well defy all useful exposition. Tli(^ notices taken from the Pentateuch are pre- faced liy the statement of the first verse: 'Then THE HEBREW TABERNACLE. 267 verily the first covenant had also ordinances of ch. xxiv. divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.' The Heb. ix. i-e. ' ordinances of divine service ' performed within Ordinances of the ' worldly sanctuary ' comprise the great admini- ^^"^^ senut. strative provisions of the second covenant. These were essentially mediatorial and typical. They are The Leviticai expressly called (verse 9), 'A figure for the time ^ricti^ then present.' By ' ordinances of divine service ' ^yp^*^^^- we understand, of course, the Leviticai ministry ordained and conducted according to divine law, having not merely law as its general foundation, but particular enactments which exactly ruled its specific forms, and gave to every part of it a cha- racter of unvarying routine. No scope was left for will-worship, or the play of fancy, or the filling up of the divine programme by human additions of any kind. The whole service was absolutely Undiange. immutable ; all that was left to the priests was simply to carry it out. The prohibition of the slightest degree of innovation was, in fact, the only safeguard against corruption ; and in order to this, the law itself was written down immediately, and was in its form singularly direct and explicit. By the 'worldlj^ sanctuary,' of course, is meant WorMiy the Tabernacle made out of various and costly pro- TTbcSSe. ^^ ductions of nature and art ; many of its materials were probably furnished by the spoils of the Egyp- tians, or by mercantile traffic carried on with neigh- bouring peoples, or with the traders about those regions. It is here obviously called a 'worldly sanctuary,' not merel}'- in reference to its materials and workmanship, but in opposition to the 'true tabernacle ' before mentioned, ' which the Lord pitched, and not man.' -H')8 Till-: HEBREW TABERNACLE. en. XXIV. Verse 2: 'For there was a tabernacle made.' iieb. ix. 1-6. TIlis is synoiiyiiious with the ' worldly sanctuary.' Till- TaKr- Tlic word Tabcrnaclc here is used comprehensively lor the entire builduig, which consisted of two compartments, and, in addition, of a large outer court. That the Israelites were able to construct it so exactly according to pattern, and of materials so costl}', is in proof that they were rich and highly civilised. Though they had been in servitude, they were not barbarians. They were acquainted with the Eg3'ptian civilisation, while some among them were men of pre-eminent genius in the higher de- partments of art. The Tabernacle, therefore, is to be looked upon as a monument of Hebrew culture as well as of Hebrew piety and munificence. It was, though on a miniature scale, a shrine of in- comparable beauty, preciousness, and durability, in some respects more remarkable than the Temple, in which finally its most holy thing, 'the ark of the covenant,' was deposited. Vers. 2-5. 'The first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shew-bread ; which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the taber- nacle which is called the Holiest of all ; which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; and over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy- seat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.' In this description, the inspection is supposed to begin from the inner door of the court. This led into an oblong apartment, the farther end of which was the veil which separated it from the inner THE HEBREW TABERNACLE. 269 sanctuary. Both these apartments seem to have ch. xxiy. been made from similar materials, lined with ex- Heii."kri-6. quisitely wrought curtains, not unlike tapestry. Externally they were fenced by boards and bars of the finest wood, socketed with silver and gold, while the roof appears to have been of rare dyed skins, placed in a double series, the uppermost of stronger material, to serve as a protection against weather. The curtains of fine linen, of blue, purple, and scarlet, inwrought with figures of cherubim, must have contrasted strikingly with the furniture of the apartment, all of the brightest and purest gold; so that it is difficult to conceive of so magnificent an interior as this when lighted up in the evening by its sevenfold lamp. This lamp, carefully and elaborately constructed, must, according to the divine plan and the surviving figure of it upon the Arch of Titus, have been flat, almost fan-like. Its branches, six in number, formed its two sides, the centre making the seventh. This figure was ad- mirably suited to the position and office of the lamp. Its design was to throw as much light as Tiie lamp. possible against the veil wliich separated from the divine presence-chamber, and also upon the golden altar of incense, where the high priest, morning and evening, performed the most solemn act of his ministry by burning incense before the veil. This light was indispensable for the evening ser- vice, and added very much to its impressiveness. Doubtless it was also symbolic, intimating that the Father of lights was within that Tabernacle, and that He ordains the light which His service re- quires. Standing without the veil which marks off A sjmhdi of from mortal ken the invisible and the infinite, it 270 THE HEBREW TABERNACLE. ( H. XXIV. miglit be taken as a symbol of Revelation itself; Hfb. ix. i-c. which, while it casts a broad, strong light upon the great objects of religion, speculatively considered, is especially directed on the sphere of human duty. Generally, it teaches that true religion is not super- stition, which is always bred of darkness, — the darkness from within and the darkness from with- out, — but on the contrary it is a bright, well- trimmed lamp, at once revealing the true office of the churches and the glory of the saints. They are children of the light. 'Ji"' table. ' The table * means the table of the shew-bread. This account of the furniture of the first Tabernacle seems taken from the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus, and the notice of the ta'ble from the twenty-third verse. It is singular, however, that the golden altar of incense is omitted, though one of the three prime objects of interest. Perhaps the most probable explanation is, that the account given here is quoted from the twenty-fifth chapter, whereas the description of the golden altar is found only in the thirtieth. Moreover, the whole notice is exceedingly cursory ; for instance, all the vessels and implements used by the priesthood are unmentioned, while the fifth verse — ' of which w^e cannot now speak particularly,' i.e. either dilate on each article, or enumerate them more largely — gives evidence that the writer was quite aware of these omissions. Th.-siuw- Tlie law of the shew-bread occurs Lev. xxiv. 5. There the size and the number of the cakes are prescribed, how they were to be ordered on the table, to be covered with frankincense, and when they were to be exchanged. It was a weekly THE HEBREW TABERNACLE. 271 offering unto the Lord, made additionally sacred ch. xxiv. by its presentation every Sabbath, and enforced as Heb. ix. 1-6. a part of the Covenant denominated ' everlasting.' We learn from Leviticus, as well as from our Lord's authority, that it was food lawful only for the priests to eat, and that to them it was most holy, as having been in this very formal manner offered to God during an entire week. As it is called ' bread for a memorial,' the intent of it may be gathered as being a symbolic expression, by it symbolizes divine command, of God's engagement to feed His ment tT ftli" people, and of the fact that this engagement was ^^^ people, from time to time made good ; that He was the Feeder, they were the fed; and that this provision, like every other for that people, rested not on the mere order of nature, nor on the course of providence, but was made special to them by the Covenant. Hence the bread is called ' the bread of memorial,' in the same sense as the rainbow was termed the token of the covenant. God was supposed to look upon this bread as an offering made to Him, and by its presence in His house, to be reminded (speaking after the manner of men) of the needs of His people, and of His engage- ment to supply them. Mystically it signifies the its mystic bread of God which came down from heaven, — ^^^^ the secret resource of the spiritual life unrecognised by the world, unfurnished by the creatures, and the true food of the true priesthood or Church in the last times. John vi. 51 is a fine illustration of the mystery of the shew-bread : ' The bread which I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.' ' And after the second veil, the tabernacle which of all. 272 THE HEBREW TABERNACLE. (11. XXIV. is calliHl the Holiest of all' Tlio distinction he- }h-i).~il"i c. twcen 'holy' and 'most lioly' is found in the Tiie Holiest Pcntatcucli again and again ; and it is evident that this distinction is fully borne out by the differences between the places so designated, for the one was the house of the priests, tlie other was God's house. No one might set foot w^ithin that threshold on pain of instant death, slight as was the partition, and narrow the line of demarcation between ' the place of His feet made glorious,' and tlie floor trodden by the feet of busily-serving priests. No spot on the face of the earth, either mountain or plain, w^as like that, which was 3'et l)ut a small area of the sand}- desert, curtained olf from outward gaze as the pavilion of the en- throned Majesty of the heavens. The golden Two things strike us as singular in this descrip- tion of the Holiest, one of addition, and the other of omission. The one is the golden censer men- tioned in the fourth verse, the other the ' glorj',' only indirectly noticed in ver. 5. It is but mere conjecture to what golden censer allusion is here made, as there is no mention in the Pentateuch of any memorial censer answering to it, laid up within tlie veil. Broad plates (but these were of brass) for the covering of the altar were indeed to be made out of the censers of Korah and his com- pany, but no golden censer is spoken of as a memo- rial hiid up before God in the tabernacle on that occasion. The only plausible conjecture, therefore, is, that this was a censer separated from the ordinary service of the priesthood, and laid up in the Taber- nacle for the use of the high priest when he entered within the veil on the great Day of Atonement, c'Lii.ser. THE HEBEEW TABERNACLE. . 273 and was left there for the same purpose from year ch. xxiv. to year. Whether this notice of the golden censer Heb, ix. i-e, was derived merely from tradition, or whether any accident may have curtailed the text in Exodus, in which the specific directions are given respecting the furniture of the tabernacle, may be dismissed as uncertain. However decided, it is unimportant to the purpose for which the account is here introduced, which, as the author says, is not meant to be given ' particularly,' but only as a general draft or outline. ' The ark of the covenant overlaid round about The ark of with gold.' From this it appears that the ark was Ex. xxv. lo. " a solidly-constructed box, inwardly and outwardly overlaid with gold plates, and the borders richly ornamented. As it contained the two tables of the law, it was called the ' ark of the covenant.' It was the very foundation and centre of the whole Hebrew commonwealth, — unseen and sacred beyond every other object belonging to the tabernacle ; as it were, the very throne of God Himself who dwelt over it. It could be approached only by selected persons, and was guarded and kept with the most scrupulous and awful jealousy; yet it does not appear that it was so closed from the time when the tables were deposited, that no other objects might be introduced save the tables; for this verse favours the notion that ' the golden pot that had manna,' and 'Aaron's rod that budded,' were its contents. lodged within the very ark, and not merely within the inner sanctuary. The expressions in the Pentateuch, such as ' laying up before the Lord,' and ' before the testimony,' are indefinite ; but the passage (Deut. xxxi. 26), ' Take this book of the s 271 THE IlEBREW TABERNACLE. (.11. XXIV. Heb. ix. 1-C. The law of its reuiovaL Its (limen- siuus. law, and put it in the side of tlie ark of the cove- nant,' must mean either that the side of the ark could be opened for some such purpose as deposit- ing a copy of the law, or that there was a re- ceptacle close to it adapted to this and similar memorials, such as the ' golden pot that had manna,' and ' Aaron's rod that budded.' But it is far more probable that the lid of the ark (deno- minated the mercy-seat) was moveable, and that, if a separate stand was not made on wdiich to place the cherubim, the lid of the ark was actually moved, together with the clierubim, whenever the taber- nacle was taken down. There is nothing improbable or irreverent in this supposition, since the priests had 'undoubtedly a licence to deal thus with these holy things, and, indeed, must have done, whenever the tabernacle was to be removed, that which, while it was stand- ing, was absolutely unlawful. They must have entered into the Holiest to cover the sacred objects with the magnificent purple cloths prescribed for the purpose, before they were laid on the shoulders of the Levites. Again, if the dimensions of the ark, reasonably interpreted, might be something like three feet wide b}- six in length, with a corre- sponding depth of three feet, it would be more than sufficient to hold the two tables of the cove- nant, so that there was no difficulty in depositing, together with these, the original of the Law (which must have been rather bulky, probably written on papyrus leaf in the form of rolls), the small golden vase containing the manna, and also Aaron's rod that budded. If we suppose the tables of the covenant to have been thin slabs of polished THE HEBREW TABERNACLE. 275 granite, divinely engraved with the ten command- CH. xxiv. ments, both these might certainly be laid on the Heb."iZ~i-6. bottom of the ark, and probably exactly fitted it, so as to exhibit the whole law upon the upper sur- face. The other articles might be laid upon them, and remain there for ages, as in a place too sacred to be in danger of violation. That the lid of the ark was moveable seems clear from the circumstance that the Bethshemites were punished for uplifting it and looking into it, and also from the fact that, wdien it was removed into the sanctuary which Solomon had prepared for it, nothing was found in it but the tables of the covenant, showing that, at some time or other in the vicissitudes of national fortune, the pot of manna and Aaron's rod had been abstracted. That the papyrus roll of the Law should be there deposited, was befitting; being itself the divine edition of the covenant in full, whereas the tables were only an abstract. Aaron's rod was hardly less sacred, inasmuch as his office was essentially bound up with the administration of the law. The golden pot of manna seems entitled to a similar reverence, because it was the voucher for the broadest and most extended miracle ever wrought by God, viz. the sustentation of a whole nation for forty 3^ears by bread from heaven. These memo- rials, it would seem, were periodically exhibited by the high priest, and replaced by the same hand, — the only authentic relics these of which a nation could ever boast, in distinction from the overwhelming mass which a pious or fraudulent superstition has fabricated for Christians in times much nearer our own. 276 THE HEBREW TABERNACLE. C'H. XXIV. Hub. Lx. 1-C. The clicrubim. The tables of the Covenant synibolizccl govermueut by law. The mercy- seat ByTnl)ol- ized the in- tervention of atonement. Ver. 5. ' And over it tlic clierubims of glory sliadowing the mercy-seat.' This finishes the de- scription of the two departments of the tabernacle, for the spacious court containing the brazen altar and the laver is omitted, — another example in proof that the description is merely meant as a sketch for a purpose. The three things here grouped together comprise the great mysteries of the tabernacle, viz. the Ark of the Covenant, the Mercy-seat, and the Cherubim. Of these the tables of the covenant may be said to be fundamental, symbolizing the great truth, that all government is an administration of law, not a vague and desultory assertion of autho- rity on the one hand, and of subjectio'n on the other. In this case Law was made specific ; it was written, — written by the finger of God, engraven in stone, probably the imperishable granite of the mountain whence the law was delivered. The voice which had so solemnly uttered it had died away, but the record was indelible ; and the very writing of God Himself was not only visible to Moses when he deposited the tables, but to the high priest until comparatively late times. These, and the 'breastplate of judgment,' whence issued the oracles, were the awful and incommunicable mys- teries reserved to the high priest, rendering him an inconceivably august personage to the nation. Tlie ' Mercy-seat,' or propitiatory (properly ' the throne of God in the sanctuary'), by its position surmounting Law^, formally registered in the tables beneath, showed the gracious sovereignty which ruled its administration, and, above all, that atonement intervened, since the mercy-seat was THE HEBREW TABERNACLE. 277 sprinkled with blood year by year. By this act ch. xxiv. sin was confessed in the person of the high priest, HeL. ix. i-e. and national infractions of the covenant, when accompanied by the penitence of the people on the day of atonement, were condoned. This mercy- seat, however, was still that of sovereignty keeping the boundaries of indulgence within itself, and giving warning against ' presumptuous sin ' as ' the great transgression.' This was proved by the judicial occurrences in the wilderness, and very impressively by the terrible signs which accom- panied the giving of the law, though these sub- sided into the calm enthronement of Jehovah upon the mercy-seat. There- were the two Cherubim at either end, as The chem- it were the extension of the mercy-seat itself, thus ofThe'^hurch. giving the idea that they sprang out of it, and were its most wonderful creation. They were images of life by sacrifice, of the vitality of atonement, — the greatest moral miracle, since it harmonized seeming contrarieties, and brought about the impossible, viz. that death should be the cause of life. The doctrine of the Cherubim seems to have been, that winged and lofty life, indefinitely expansive and bathed in the light of heaven, emerged from the very bosom of death by the prerogatives of mercy, through the atonement, harmonized with the tables of the law. Hence the Cherubim could be no other than emblems of redeemed and glorified humanity; their position and relations to the ark and inner tabernacle evince this. They are said to overshadow, with their faces downcast and mutually confronted, the mercy-seat and the underlying ark of the cove- 278 THE HEBREW TABERNACLE. cii. ,\xiv. nant. All this is nobly significant of cnwrapt Hcb. ix. i-c. thought and soul within the sphere of the mj^s- teries of the tabernacle ; and that the gleaming glory on their faces from above was the light which enabled them to penetrate these profound arcana of the divine counsels. They are called here ' cheru- bims of glory,' or glorious cherubim, because sunned by the divine presence which filled the inner sanc- tuary, but which radiated immediately from between themselves. They are also called cherubim of glory in respect to their destiny, for they are seen in the visions of heaven as well as in the lower sanctuary ; and, in conformity with this typical presentation, they are upon the throne of God and the Lamb. It is probably as pointing to this that the ' glory of God,' so often mentioned in the New Testament, is to be understood. It does not mean heaven in the general (which rather gives us the notion of space or place), but a divine manifestation appro- priate to it, and in a very special sense the inherit- ance of the saints. This glory is probably identical with our Lord's expressions, ' seeing God ' or ' the f\iee of my Father which is in heaven,' the privilege which Moses desired in vain : ' Thou canst not see my face and live.' Such, then, are the Cherubim of glory, beings destined to live in this highest sphere of creature privilege,— that kingdom of God which flesh and blood cannot inherit, fuially to be opened by the mediation of Christ, who gives entrance to this Holiest of all. Verse 6 : ' Now when these things were thus ordained.' ^ This expression refers to the fore- ' 'Now when tlicsc tilings were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.' THE HEBEEW TABERNACLE. 279 going description of the first and second sanctu- ch. xxiv. aries ; it implies that everything belonging to Heb-lxTi-e. them, as the history shows, was directly by divine prescription, and that the date of the priestly ministry was immediately subsequent to the forma- tion of the tabernacle. The house was first, the service and the servants were ensuing arrange- ments, in conformity with the divine pattern showed to Moses in the mount. The daily service is men- tioned first, which consisted chiefly in the offices of the golden altar of incense, the lighting of the lamp, and the sprinkling of the blood of the sin-offerings before the veil, or, at least, of one particular kind. But the chief service was undoubtedly performed in the court, and consisted in the offering of a lamb, morning and evening throughout the year, as a burnt- offering ; of double this number on each Sabbath ; and of a further increase of victims at the beginning of every month, exclusive of a large addition at each of the great national festivals. Besides these, the individual offerings, free-will-offerings, peace- offerings, etc., must have been very numerous, so that the duties of the priesthood would be not a Pnestiy little onerous, though the service directly referred to in this verse, accomplished within the first tabernacle, was an almost unvarying routine. The priests appear to have been selected for this service after a given order, or, as it is termed, after their ' courses,' both for the purpose of distributing the duties regularly, and also because the apartment was too small to allow of more than one or two conveniently entering it at once. Priests are, indeed, here mentioned as on duty; but this is general, and does not imply that more than one 280 THE HEBREW TABERNACLE. CH. XXIV. ofTiciated at the same time. According to tlie nob.~ixri-c. letter of the ordinance, tlie oflices of this sanctuary appertained to the high priest, though undoubtedly it was construed so as to include his subordinates, probably for the sake of securing unbroken regu- larity. Symiwiic By tliis ordcr we have suggested to us the com- bination of the seen and the unseen in religion ; that, while there is a court or sphere of external service appointed for the Church and open to the world, which is to see its good works, yet the duties are but the development of doctrines, principles, and virtues unseen and divine. To employ a metaphor derived from Scripture itself, ' the tree planted in the house of the Lord' flourishes and brings forth fruit in His courts;' the root strikes into the invisible and is secretly nourished, but the form, the foliage, and the fruit, are things open to the common gaze. There is a service within the veil which no eye but that of God can mark : the briglit lights of the soul - tabernacle ; the golden candlestick, with its radiant branches, its stems" of truth, its lights of graces all intermingled and heavenly in lustre ; the golden altar of incense expressing soul aspiration Godward — the reverence, the affection, the faith, and the sanctified reason, all wafted upwards in prayer, thanksgiving, praise, a perpetual ofTering by fire of sweet incense to the Lord, — this is the moral of the unseen sanctuar}-, these the things that He approves who sees in secret. CHAPTER XXY. THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. Lev, XVI. This great festival of tlie Hebrew people requires Day of atone- a brief notice before entering on the exposition of it in the Epistle. It is the key to the main sub- ject of these chapters, and the most forcible illus- tration of the priesthood of Christ and of its offices. Appointed to be holden on the tenth day of the seventh month, it was solemnly prefaced by the blowing of trumpets on the first day of that month ; a most appropriate ordinance for arousing the mind of the nation to the approaching solemnities, inau- gurated by the great Day of Atonement, and con- summated by the Feast of Tabernacles. This Day of Atonement seems to have been the '^'i^J^^jj*^'^ counterpart to that of the Passover, held on the Passover. fourteenth of the first month. In certain great respects the one resembled the other, but with certain points of difference also. Both very specially recognised the doctrine of atonement, both were national, both were annual. But they exhibit also these differences : the one commemo- rated deliverance, the other sin; the one recog- nised atonement as the ground of national deliver- ance, the other recognised it as the ground of 282 THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. CHAP. XXV. continued national integrity and the favour of God. Lev. xvi. The one was rather a family ordinance ; the other, by its forms, a national one. The Passover was remarkable for the absence of priestly interference, and for the supremacy it gave to the head of the household ; the Day of Atonement, for the supre- macy which it gave to the priesthood, and especially to the office of the pontifex. The one preceded the covenant and the law, heralding national exist- ence; the other was a recognition of the obligations of the covenant, and a provision for renewing and maintaining it. Both were typical of redemption by atonement : in the one instance, of the family ; in the other, of the nation : the one was typical of deliverance from destruction by the blood sprinkled upon the lintels ; the other, of perpetuated com- munion with God and of accepted worship through the offices of priesthood. The one typified the food which gives strength for the spiritual journey ; the other, the living Mediator, who, having first ofiered Himself for sin, for ever bears it away into the wilds of oblivion. BoKins with Lcviticus xvi. coutaius the law of this great solem- ;i niitinnal . . ^ . , . . ^ iMi.iieiitiai nity in extenso. its general character may be divined from one of its statutes, viz. that on that day the people were ' to afliict their souls,' by which is meant, rigidly to fast, to abstain from the works and the pleasures of life, to hold solemn convoca- tion on a national scale, and to give themselves to serious and penitential exercises. This alone is significant of the nature of a day of atonement, that, as the Epistle says, it is 'a remembrance again made of sins every year,' a confession that the Covenant, even in a national sense, had not always I'iUSt. THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 283 been kept in its integritj^, so as to exempt them chap. xxv. from the divine displeasure. But undoubtedly Lev. xvi. the aspects of the day were more strongly personal its personal than national, since the argument of this chapter requires us thus to regard it, especially when taken in connection with such passages as these : ' Be- cause that the worshippers, once purged, should have no more conscience of sins.' This, with other and similar statements, is demonstrative that the day of atonement was really a season in which God dealt with His people individually ; that penitence and absolution were the things upper- most on the occasion. The relevancy of the day of atonement as a type requires this view, since an ordinance merely national could not prefigure offices personal and spiritual. Turning now to the ceremonies of the day, its offerings, besides the customary offerings of the tabernacle (for these were not superseded), a young bullock was to be provided for a sin-offering, and a ram for Sin-offering. a burnt-offering. With these atonement was to be made for the priesthood ; in addition to which there was a burnt-offering for the people also, Bmnt-offer- jomtly with the priests. Then comes the most remarkable offering of the day, viz. the two goats The scape- presented before the Lord at the door of the taber- ^°^ ' nacle of the congregation. There, in the presence of the congregation, and surrounded by his sons or assistants, the high priest solemnly takes the lot as to which of the goats is to be sacrificed, and which is to be reserved for the scape-goat. This incident of the use of the lot to obtain a divine The lot and , . . • 1 • T rr J. , its mystic decision on a matter seemingly mainerent, and siguihcation. entirely peculiar to this offering, points us to a 284 THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. (JIAP. XXV. Lev. xvi. The pair of victims syni- holized death and life as essential to atonement. The IliRh I'riest alone otliciatea. in3'stcry ; and tliat mystery cannot be otlier than God's own election of the gi'eat world-victim in the person of His Son ; that His lot lies at the foun- tain-head of atoning efficacy; and that on no other principle than His election can the imputation of guilt and penalty be transmissible from the head of an offender to that of a substitute. Here the Lord's lot decides everything; man's intervention nothing. The presentation of a pair of victims, obviously meant on this occasion to be as one in their office, could have no other significance than to show that the principle and power of atonement lie, not in a defunct victim merely, but in a living one ; that death and life are essential to the per- petuity and the purposes of atonemdnt. These are not representable by one victim, but by two, re- minding us of St. Paul's words : ' who was de- livered for our offences, and raised again for our justification.' In no other act recorded in the Old Testament, except that of the offering up of Isaac by his father, do we discern the double aspect of the great mystery of Atonement. The day of Christ was shown to the people, assembled at the door of the tabernacle, year by year, as it had been to the patriarch ages before on Mount Moriah. This consideration in- vests the day of atonement with a glory peculiarly its own. The vestments and action of the high priest next require attention. Attired in his ordinary or undress garments, called the holy linen coat, and the linen breeches, and the linen girdle, with the linen mitre, after having first thoroughly washed, he appears most prominently in the ceremony of the THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 285 presentation of the two goats at tlie door of the chap. xxy. tabernacle. The bullock first slain and offered in Lev. xvi. atonement for himself and his family, his next office is to slay the goat in sacrifice on which the Lord's lot fell ; and then, by a solemn act of public confession before the congregation, to transfer the guilt and uncleanness of the nation to the head of the living animal, to be despatched into the wilder- ness. Here, again, a difference is to be marked between this ceremony and that of sacrifice in general. Ordinarily inferior priests slew and offered the victims on the altar; or, in the in- stance of a private off'ering, the individual himself slew his own victim, the priest taking charge of it afterwards; but in this instance the high priest appears alone as the offerer of the victim; all others stand aside, and something incommunicable is then and there done by him in virtue of his office. This also is typical. We then follow the high priest as he enters upon He alone the most solemn of all his functions, described in the^eir^^^^ the 12th, 13th, and 14:th verses of the sixteenth chapter of Leviticus. With his golden censer full of coals taken from the altar, and his hands full of ' sweet incense beaten small,' he approaches the mysterious inner sanctuary, lifts or draws aside the veil, and, as it would seem, first on entry deposit- ing the incense on the coals, a cloud of perfume thence arises, which fills the place, and so conceals the brightness of the Divine Presence, on which he was forbidden to gaze. The place being thus filled with a cloud of fragrance, and the censer laid on the floor, he takes into his hands the golden basin containing the blood of the bullock, and with his 286 THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. (.ilAP. XXV Lev. xvi. lie ro-pnters tko Holiest. Lev. xvi. 10. Makes atone- ment for the Holy Place itself. Reconeilintion of the first Tabernacle. finc^or Sprinkles it seven times on and before the mercy-seat, eastward. Tlience retiring and return- ing to the outer court, tlie goat of the sin-ofFering is killed. With its blood, and with the golden censer again charged with coals, and his hands with incense, the high priest a second time enters the inner sanctuary, performs the same acts as in the first instance, and then withdraws. This office of the high priest is interpreted in the 16th verse of the same chapter. He had effected a double atonement within the veil, most remark- ably here stated to be on behalf of the holy place itself, on the ground that it had been defiled by the sinfulness both of the priesthood and of the people during the past year. In consequence, it was not fit to be continued as a residence for the thrice holy Lord God ; and this privilege was only con- ceded for the year ensuing on the fact being solemnly recognised by the presentation of atone- ment on the very mercy-seat itself. The defile- ment of the sanctuary, and the consequent with- drawal of God from it, were the doctrines assumed by the offerings of that hour. The prerogatives of mercy henceforth were concessions to the atone- ment, and not things necessarily inherent in the relation of God to His people. In the 20th verse of the same chapter this act of atonement is ex- pressly called 'reconciling the holy place,' i.e. making it consonant with the divine holiness to hold communications of favour M'ith it, — a sense of the word ' reconcile ' strongly evangelical, and of not unfrequent occurrence in the apostolic writ- ings. This act of sprinkling with blood appears to have been repeated in the first tabernacle, called THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 287 the Tabernacle of the Congregation, not because chap. xxv. the people themselves assembled therein, but be- LevTTvi. cause they were there represented by the priest- hood. There the golden altar, the table of shew- bread, and the vessels of the ministry were sanctified by the same process : thus they too were reconciled and made fit for future service. Then returning outward into the court of the congrega- Of tlie Court. tion, the high priest sanctifies the brazen altar of sacrifice by sprinkling it with blood seven times. It is remarkable that in the whole of this solemn The High business the high priest acts alone. The tabernacle fione— typical is formally closed until this reconcilinsr ministry of of chnst's •^ ... supremacy. his is finished. No man is with him throughout ; no man either assists him in the ceremonial, or is a witness of it ; it is entirely occult, and absolutely solitary. This, too, is strikingly typical of the sole and supreme ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ within the veil of the spiritual world, and in the realms of God's distinguishing and beatifying pre- sence. He is the sole representative of the Church in that high and holy sphere ; and His office alone suffices to open that hidden sanctuary, otherwise inaccessible to His people. It is further remarkable that this sanctification by This atone- sacrifice, as conducted by the high priest, is applied ^Things ^^^ to places and things rather than to persons. It peSons.^'''^ figures the effects of sinfulness on the relations and acts of humanity ; on its worship, its services, and its intercourse with God,^ — an observation to be borne in mind when certain passages in the Epistle are examined. Yet further, and more important still, is the remark that the offices of the Day of Atonement were clearly fundamental to the whole 288 THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. CHAP. XXV. adinhnstration of the law itself. The clay of atone- Lcv. xvi. uient lay at the root of the enth-e religion of the nation. Its ceremonial, its daily offering, and its sacrifices, whether personal or public, all sprang out of atonement, and were qualified by it. The priesthood appointed to oiler atonement must first itself be atoned for. The brazen altar, by which all atonements for the year were effected, must itself be first the subject of atonement; and so of the sanctuaries and the furniture. They cannot be opened without this annual re-consecration ; they cannot hallow except they first are hallowed by this blood of sprinkling, brought within the veil, and applied to the mercj'-seat itself. This is really the capital doctrine or mystery set before us in this great Hebrew festival; and its evangelical significance is very striking. Confession on After the ' reconciliation ' follows the impressive the goat. ceremony of imposing on the head of the scape- goat, by the hands of the high priest, the sins which were supposed to have been atoned for and removed from the holy places. In beautiful sequence to the foregoing acts, these are repre- sented as gathered up in the person of the high priest, and imposed in nuiss on the head of the scape-goat, and so borne away beyond the pre- cincts of tlie holy territory, or the boundaries of the Hebrew encampment, into the wilderness. That day, when the goat was out of sight, and his whereabouts became incognisable, as it were, a clearance was efiected of the plague of leprosy, of the virus of a ]iestilence. Then room was made fur blessing. The high priest put olT the garments of humiliation and atonement; and, as if himself THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 289 defiled by this business of purification, he had chap. xxv. again to wash within the holy place, to robe him- LeTTvi. self in his grand pontificals, to offer the joint burnt-offering of the day for himself and his people, and to close all with the solemn benedic- tion : ' The Lord bless thee, and keep thee : the Num. vi. 24, Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gra- cious unto thee : the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.' CHAPTER XXVI. Sins of ip;nor- aiR-e alniio clciinsi'd liy till- Dmv of Atonenieiit. THE DAY OF ATONEMENT : ITS NEW TESTAMENT BiopOdoat'?. Heb. IX. 7-12. The preliminary observations on the facts of the day of atonement in the preceding chapter bring us to the consideration of their full inspired exposi- tion. This is contained in the ninth chapter, from the 7th to the 12th and from the 23d to the 26th verses. The subject is resumed in the first four verses of the tenth chapter, and concluded in the 19th, 20th, 21st, and 22d of the same.' Yer. 7. ' But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people.' The 'errors of the people' intimate the proper sphere of atonement on that day. The word uyvorjfMaTa mcans sius of ignorance, and is a mani- fest reference to the early chapters of Leviticus, in which these sins arc variously described as indi- vidual or as national. They are distinguished from sins of presumption, for which no atonement ^ The verses from tlic 7th to Uw 1'Jth are the thcnic of this chapter, save a few remarks at its close on the 2;5d and 24th verses. Tlic order here given is not followed, but that of the Epistle is adhered to. — [Eds.] THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 291 was provided. By ' sins of ignorance ' were meant ch. xxvi. sins against the ceremonial law, of which indi- Heb. ix. 7-12. viduals, or even the nation, might be unconscious at the time they were committed, but which were not inconsistent with a general reverence for the law and its Author. By 'sins of presumption' were meant sins committed, not merely with privity that they were such, but in the spirit of blasphemous impiety and contempt of God: for these, punish- ment was inevitable. To the former class apper- tained the offices of the day of atonement. It removed the guilt and disability imputed to those trespasses, which, however, do not appear to have included merely ceremonial offences, but likewise, in some sense, moral ones. This is determined by the letter of the law itself, and by the argument of the Epistle also, which goes to show that the sacrifice of Christ alone can properly avail to take away moral offences, while the offices of the law availed only for the sins of ignorance. Ver. 8. ' The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made mani- fest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing.' ' The Holy Ghost this signifying.' This expres- Agency of the sion at once opens to us both the Author and the i/tL institu- lesson of the law in the arrangement of the taber- {j^^",' °^ ^^'' nacle. The doctrine of the Holy Ghost's agency in accomplishing the institutions of the law is here especially affirmed, — a doctrine not obviously con- tained in the narratives of the Pentateuch, but authoritatively declared by these inspired comments on it.^ This is a most important doctrine, since it ^ 2 Cor. iii. 17 exhibits another signal instance of the same truth in the same connection. 292 THE DAY OF ATONEMENT : en. XXVI. avers the inspiration of the Spirit as authenticat- Heb. ix. 7-12. ing the Pentateuch itself, and particuUirly as ruUng over these arrangements with distinct regard to the foreshadowing of evangeUcal mysteries. His work did not merely lie in inspiring Moses, or Aholiab, or Bezalccl, to design and fabricate these things for existing uses, but in making them typical of great evangelical futurities, to be in the process of time made manifest, though for a while hidden. Thus the apartment veiled off from priests and people alike, and only annually trodden by the higli priest, inculcated the doctrine of reserve, and with this the doctrine of separation and of inhibited approach to God Himself, even by His ministers, much less by His people in genei'al. He showed by the existence of the first tabernacle, consecrated to ordinary ministerial service, that the ultimate in religion could not then be reached, and that mystery and imperfection are necessary correla- tives. He taught that no ceremonial atonements really opened the way to God, but were limited to an inferior department of service, viz. to a ceremonial religion, the existence of which was only compatible with sometliing as 3-et undisclosed ; that outward niffhness to God midit and did consist witli inward separation from Him ; and that local contiguity by no means implied spiritual intercourse. Vv-mv alone All this is poiutcd out hi tlic 9th verse : ' Which tiine present, was a figurc for the time then present, in wdiich irspetaiou"° were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to tlie conscience.' ' Figure ' here is the rendering of irapa^oXi] [parable], i.e. a lesson tauglit by sensible imagery or by human analogue, at best ITS NEW TESTAMENT ZiopOwaL^. 293 but imperfectly deciphered, often not at all, though ch. xxvi. it might be the most befitting the capacities of the iieb. 1^7-12. people of that time, as well as the particular stage at which the divine purpose had arrived. By the ' time present ' is to be understood the entire range of the Mosaic dispensation, probably not less than twelve or thirteen centuries. By 'him that did the service ' is to be iniderstood the priest who offered the ' gifts and sacrifices,' wdiether for him- self or the people. By ' perfect as pertaining to the conscience ' is to be understood an inward sense of the entire spirituality of his service, and of the divine acceptance of it ; so as to render that ser- vice consciously holy, and as consciously recipro- cated by the divine good pleasure. This perfection is contrasted with a merely ofl&cial perfection, which arises from an exact fulfilment of the prescribed duty called in the law itself ' after the manner,' i.e. the ordinance ; but which was unaccompanied by distinct spiritual fruitions, or perhaps emotions of any kind. The reason of this spiritual imperfection conjoined with the ceremonial perfection is further described as arising from the nature of the acts which comprise the service.^ These were the offer- ings of 'meats and drinks,' i.e. sacrifices so named because consisting of cereals as well as of flesh, mingled with wine, and for the latter reason called drink-offerings in the law. These were so minutely described and specifically enforced, that the ' man- ner,' as it was termed, became a familiar routine to every priest on duty. . ^ ' Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. Ver. 10. i^4 THE DAY OF ATONEMENT : cu. XXVI. The 'clivers wfishings ' refer to the injunctions, 11(1.. ix. 7-12. so imperatively laid down, that all priestly odices i)i vers wash- sliould be accompanied or preceded by the most careful ablutions both of the person and vestments. ' Carnal ordinances ' seem to refer to the stringent commands respecting bodily qualifications for the priesthood, to the absence of all blemishes, and to the removal of all accidental defilement, or even to mourning for the dead, if, indeed, these notices are intended to apply exclusively to the priest- hood. The time of ' Imposcd on them until the time of reformation.' 1 efonnatiou. , mi • en • ? • i i • i The time of reformation is here obviousl}^ anti- thetic to the 'time then present' (verse 9), and is to be construed in the same large sense, viz. of the inauguration of the gospel age, together with its unknown range in the future. If so, then there is presumably a second antithesis to be noted between the word ' figure,' or ' parable,' as it stands in the original, and Scopdcoa-i^, here rendered reformation. The word reformation is infelicitous, because it suggests recovery from a foregoing state of lapse or corru})tion, and that Christianity is to be viewed in the light of the })rimitive Judaizers, i.e. as a revision of, or an addition to, the law. This would be a grave error. It is obvious that ' the time of re- formation ' here signifies alone the evangelical dis- pensation, and that the true sense of the phrase, bearing this in mind, is to be gathered by viewing it in strict relation to the time of the parable or typical institute. Thus cUorthosis is probably not to be too literally translated as a rectification or straightening of something crooked or out of course, which seems to have misled our translators when ITS NEW TESTAMENT Ziope(aiiu°^^° the Holy Gliost, of Ilis plenary indwelUng in ' the called,' as the divine witness to their adoption, and as the earnest of the inheritance until the day of redemption. This great doctrine abounds in the New Testa- ment, particularly in the Gospel of John, and in iixampies: the Pauliiic Epistlcs. Two leading examples may 2 Cor. V. 5? ' be quoted from the latter : ' Not only they, but our- selves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.' * Now lie that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing (i.e. for the eternal inheritance) is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.' Thus He is the Spirit of promise for two reasons : first, because He was promised by the prophets and by the Saviour; and second, because He is the Divine Interpreter and substance of all promise in This pledge of relation to tlie eternal inheritance. This is a sug- inhcTi'tance gcstivc doctriiic ill its hearings on the Christian the iiistnic- state, as distinguishing that state from that of the tion Iwtweeii ■ o ~ tiie Christian subiects of the Mosaic law. The law could not aii.l the k-gal '^ ••iii state. ■ bestow thcsc spiritual pledges of future blessedness, plainly because it could not redeem from the guilt and power of sin ; its disciples were, ' through fear of death, all their lifetime subject to bondage;' they were overshadowed with its gloom, and all the relief obtained by the most favoured souls was fetched from thc earlier dispensation, and was at P EVANGELICAL ATONEMENT. 327 best very imperfect. Such was the fact until the ch. xxviii. day of Pentecost, and such it remains wherever iieb.iTis-is. human nature (whatever be its rehgious surround- ings and impressions) retains its consciousness of guilt and impurity; — in other words, when not justi- fied by fViith, nor sanctified by the Holy Ghost, it remains entirely isolated from this realm ot promise, and these visions of the eternal inherit- ance. However yearned after, they cannot be realized. Dread, if not despondency, is the pre- vailing consciousness of the unregenerate, and a darkness settles upon the soul, heavily distressing as antagonistic to the law of its immortality, and to its aspirations after an assurance of a future life of blessedness. Sin wars equally with our nature and our destiny ; redemption restores both. CHAPTER XXIX. Aia6)]KT]^ TESTAMENT OR COVENANT ? Diathfhe to l)e rendered ' testament ' in vei's. 16 and 17 only. Elsewhere covenant. Heb. IX. IG, 17. ' For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testa- ment is of force after men are dead : otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.' These verses present a difficulty, as is evidenced by the contrarieties of comment on them, and by the fault which the translators covertly confess. It arises from the figure of a will or testament being here introduced, which seems inconsonant with the general doctrine of the Epistle, and par- ticularly with the notion of a covenant. The translators have endeavoured to meet this difficulty by rendering tLadi'^Kri {diatheke) testament, which is necessary to the translation of these two verses, and which, after covenant, is (in the New Testa- ment) its acknowledged secondary sense. For if BiaO/jKT) had been here rendered ' covenant,' the statement had been untrue ' that it is of force after men arc dead,' or that ' there must be also of necessity the death of the covenant-maker.' On tlie contrary, death dissolves covenants instead of ratifying them, while it is universally true, tliat wills or testaments follow the opposite rule, and AiaOT^KT]^ TESTAMENT OR COVENANT? 329 are of force after men are dead. These considera- ch. xxix. tions amply justify our translators in departing, in Heb.iZi6,i7. this instance, from the primary rendering of hiady^Krj^ and adopting the secondary one, 'testament' instead of ' covenant.' Still this is but removing one diffi- culty to create another, for ' testament ' cannot be the sense oi Bcad^Krj in vers. 15, 18, and 20. (1.) For, first, Scad'^Ki] is used in the sense of Because in covenant previously throughout the Epistle, and, covena^ntis as taken from Jeremiah and the Old Testament senfe"™''^^^ generally, can bear no other meaning. Covenants, not testaments, were the things recognised in the Hebrew scriptures, and these are introduced and reasoned upon in the Epistle in this palpable sense. (2.) Vers. 18 and 19, containins; a reference to Because in ^ ^ . ' '^ vers. 18 and Ex. xxiv. 6, 7, 8, equally bind us to the same i9 the cwe- interpretation. The record of the transaction re- Exodus re- ferred to proves it to have been strictly a covenant. Testament, in the sense of a disposition of property by will, is in this connection an absurdity, especi- ally when the testators must have been the calves and goats put to death to give it validity. (3.) The arerument of the chapter is enfeebled Because the ^ ' '^ _ _ ••■ argument and obscured by changing in vers. 15, 18, and 20 reijuires f» cv /I / p j_ j_ ' covenant. ' the sense oi oiadrjKTj Irom covenant to testament, for the design of it is to show the close correspond- ence of the old and new dispensations as covenants similarly ratified, though of immense disparity. But this argument is destroyed if both are suddenly turned into testaments, for testaments could not require sacrifices oi atonement for their ratification, — such an interpretation would be an outrage on all customs and common sense, — but covenants might require such sacrifices, and, on divine authority, 330 Aiae/jKi]^ TESTAMENT OR COVENANT? cii. XXIX. tlicy did, not to refer to similar usages among Heb.ix. 16,17. Pagaiis, probably originating in this divine source. If ' testament ' be used, it alters the aspect of these transactions, and, as far as the argument goes from this point, strongly militates against the doctrine of atonement itself.^ Everywhere U\ Xo have been consistent, the translation .save in vers. ^ ' ' ^ 16 aiui 17. ' testament ' should have been carried forward and backward wherever ScadijKij occurs in these chapters, whereas it is only carried forward for a single verse, and backward in vers. 18 and 20; whilst in chap. X. ver. 16, the rendering of BiaO^Kr) by cove- nant is resumed (as if the intervening inconsistency might by this time have been forgotten). These observations suffice to show that the translators were in a dilemma. From this dilemma, others have sought, escape ^ The assumption that covenants were ahvays ratified by sacrifice is inaccurate. Confessedly, this was a solemn form of ratification, but it was limited to covenants of the utmost public importance, and could not be supposed to be a necessary form in ordinary contracts. But more than this, examples are even found in Scripture of covenants not so ratified, e.g. that made with Phinehas (Num. xxv. 12), for his zeal in the matter of Zimri and Cozbi, whom he slew during the pestilence. If any sacrifice was offered here, assuredly it Avas not that of animal, but of human life, a notion abhorrent to all divine covenants save one. A further example may be noted in the covenant of God with David, to establish his house, and to build up his throne for ever in the Messiah (2 Sam. vii. lo). In this case, too, sacrifice was excluded ; the covenant was established by oath instead of sacri- fice : ' The Lord has sworn unto David.' This class of covenants seems to be designated covenants of promise, either standing on God's faith- fulness or on His added oath, the two immutable things mentioned chap. vi. 18. This difference is, perhaps, intimated in Ps. 1. 5: ' Gather my saints together unto me ; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice ; ' since this declaration would be deprived of much of its force if covenants could be ratified in no other way but by sacrifice ; at any rate, of itself it strongly intimates that no necessity existed for this particular form of ratification, but that it simply rested on a great historical fact. Aia9r]KV, TESTAMENT OR COVENANT? 331 by adlicring stringently to the primary interpreta- CH. xxix. tion of hiaOrjKT] as covenant throughout. But, as Heb,ix.i6,i7. has been stated at the beginning of this chapter, VerWi -, f% -I I — -, 1 . criticism. tlie contents ot vers, lb and 17 make this rendermg: CD inadmissible ; and besides, there are invincible grammatical objections to it. For instance, is it possible to render ddvarov rod Biadefievov by a para- phrase like this : ' For where there is a covenant, it is necessary that the death of the appointed victim should be exhibited?' Again, it may be less straining to the construction of the passage to render hiaOi^Ki] ^yap iwl veKpoh ^e^ala^ a Covenant is confirmed over dead victims, though against even this it may be excepted, that the words eVt veKpoc^ are against the imis loquendi of this Epistle, which would rather lead us to expect, that if dead victims, and not dead men, had been intended here, the word commonly used for sacrifice {Bva-iaii) would have been employed, not veKpol^. But, were even this allowed to pass, what, on this principle of in- terpretation, can be made of ore ^y 6 SiaOe/xevo'i ? The latter clause is plainly answerable to the former in the way of antithesis, and must be rendered accordingly ; i.e. if veKpoh signifies dead victims, not dead men, then ^fi 6 Siadi/j.evo'? must signify a living victim. But this is no rendering of ^r} 6 Bia6efxevo , 1, • • 1 1 • 1 i founded on become jacts^ and not remain nitentions only. As accompUsiied facts, they develope and carry out those divine in- ^^''*' tentions, and are to be regarded as the means to the end. These principles are fundamental to the dispen- sations of the law and of the gospel. The latter is founded on actual atonement and reconciliation offered by Christ; the former intimates and em- bodies intention only. Between these there must be an infinite difierence. All that could come of intention merely seems to be this, that God should act conformably to it, in the way of manifesting benign and gracious dispositions toward men generally ; and also that intimations of such dis- positions should be given out, in the way of pro- mise and institution. Had not these existed be- fore the Incarnation and Atonement were actually accomplished, the race would have been inevitably severed into two parts, the ante and i\\Q post^ and placed under dispensations entirely opposite to each other. But as this is absolutely impossible, the only alternative was, to place the Incarnation and Atonement coeval with the Fall, that Christ might be, in another sense than inspiration intends, ' the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.' These doctrines suffice to show the bearing of the Mosaic law upon the worshippers. (1.) The gracious intentions of God by His Son The condition ^ / o ^ . , . T T 01 worshippers with respect to the world maintained to individuals under the law. the conjunction of indulgence with the moral law ; 360 SHADOW AND IMAGE. CH. XXXII. SO that, though the guilt and defilements of sin Heb. X. 1-4. were not thereby removed from the conscience and heart, they were not rendered damnatory, but were cancelled by a reserved and heavenly dispensation, precisely similar to that accorded to infants and non-responsible persons. For, if the fault that he was not purged from sins, however he sought it, lay not with the worshipper, but with the existing provision (which undoubtedly presupposed grace), this conclusion is infallible. (2.) The law was a ' shadow ' or a programme of Christ and of Redemption, and therefore, though it did not confer the benefits of the gospel, it un- doubtedly gave what we may term the sign and the seal of these blessings as 'good things to come.' It had in it, thus viewed, the nature of a sacrament, or form of external attestation, compact, or cove- nant, given in lieu of the internal or direct attesta- tion of the Holy Ghost. They were ' sealed unto the day of redemption,' but in another manner than the disciples of the New Covenant, viz. by sacrifices and priestly ceremonies. In a word, it was Churchism as a temporary substitute for Christianity. (3.) Select persons occasionally rose to a glimpse even of the 'image' 'of good things to come,' but this was not the status of law- worshippers generally; it was mostly associated with inspiration and the prophetic gift ; prophecy itself is indeed far more than the law, and, as we may say, a mirror reflecting the ' very image ' afterwards exposed to open vision. These considerations show why the spiritual status of law-worshippers was what is here represented ; the effect could not rise above the cause ; figurative SHADOW AND IMAGE. 361 atonement could not as a mode of administration ch. xxxii. take the place of the true one. The mind of God, Heb.~r"i-4. reciprocated in individual consciousness of redemp- tion, is simply the counterpart of the Atonement regarded as a fact in His presence, and regarded in a Person in whom He has infinite complacenc3^ The Christian life and inward kingdom reflect this complacency; it travels from heaven to earth, and enshrines itself in those hearts which, by receiving the atonement, receive God Himself. It would have been an anachronism, therefore, if not a dishonour put upon the Atonement, to have linked its special benefits with any other sacrifices whatever; all they could do was to bear witness to this, not in the least to interfere with, much less to supplant it. The ministry of redemption could not be a possible fact apart from redemption itself, and apart from the position of its Author toward both worlds, heaven and earth. Ver. 4.' For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.' To amplify the statement of this verse would be y^r. 4 argues , . tlie necessity merely to recapitulate the doctrines of verses 1-3. oftmeatone- The value of a negative statement appended to the inefficacy of foregoing is, however, not trivial, for it is one of the ^l^^ strongest modes of putting an affirmative. For why declare solemnly the utter impotency of animal sacrifices to take away sins, if sin could not be taken away by any sacrifice at all ? Or why elaborately and recurringly expatiate on the atonements of the law, if the gospel had not an atonement of its own ? Inquiry obviously would have been foreclosed had the latter been an impossibility or an unproven fact; not to urge the utter impertinence of the 362 SHADOW AND IMAGE. c'li. XXXII. whole comparative argument of these chapters, Heb. X. 1-4. had not this great doctrine of atonement been hrst assumed. And further, it is instructive to mark, that the mind of the writer never, for a moment, seems to diverge into any otlier path of inquiry as to how sin could be dealt with either as a fact in human consciousness, or in the government of the world. He entirely confines himself to these two lines of thought, opened by the law and the gospel respectively, ignoring a third as impossible. Is not this powerfully suggestive ? CHAPTER XXXIII. QUOTATION FROM THE FORTIETH PSALM : ITS TEACHINGS. Heb. X. 5-9. ' Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and. offering Thou wouldest not, but a body liast Tliou prepared me : in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do Thy will, God.' The quotation here is from the fortieth Psalm. Quotation The first thing which strikes us, is the ascription to e, 7. the Messiah personally, of this language, ' Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not ; ' for it is prefaced in the Epistle by the expression, 'When He cometh into the world, He saith.' This makes indubit- able what the writer's judgment was as to the person speaking. But the truth of this judgment is manifest from the Psalm itself, which is wholly Messianic, and may be regarded as a fellow Psalm with the twenty-second. Both describe the Messiah in His manhood and humiliation exclusively, and are almost equally pointed in their references to His Passion. There is something strange and pro- This language found in these utterances of His suffering manhood, f^^^, °^ giu. which arises from the exclusively human view of Him 104 QUOTATION FROM THE FORTIETH PSALM CH. XXXIII. lleb. X. 5-9. 15oth in Pro- jiliccy and in the Gospels Christ's God- liead allied with His glorification, and His humanity with His passion. given US in these Psalms, altogether away from our preconceptions, and even from our evangelical pro- pensions respecting the Christ. He speaks of Him- self as 'a worm, and no man,' as 'poor and needy,' as standing upon the very brink of an overwhelm- ing calamity, pursued by infuriate foes, and even brought into the dust of death. His deep wailings and passionate entreaties to God for help. His evidently overcharged mental distress and feeling of abjcctness and desolation, seem more suitable to the experiences of sinful suffering humanity than to the all-perfect and glorious Son of God. But this unbefittingness, as it seems to us, is, neverthe- less, profoundly accordant with His nature and position as the representative and sin-atoning Man, since in these Psalms He is deeply charged with the sympathies and the lot of man ; He feels and speaks as one of the race, as a brother and as a sufferer for righteousness' sake ; He even speaks of His 'iniquities taking hold of Him,' as being ' more in number than the hairs of His head,' so that He was unable to look up, and His heart failed Him. Here we see the sin-bearing ' man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,' and have the scenes of the Agony and the Crucifixion anticipated in language almost historical. It is remarkable how closely these Psalms and the Gospels agree in the purely human descriptions of the Saviour as exhibited in His passion and its circumstances. Throughout it can hardly be said that we have a glimpse of His Godhead, but the demonstrations of His supreme nature are, both in prophecy and in the gospel (His miracles excepted), allied with His glorification as the Mediator, and ITS TEACHINGS. 365 with His prerogatives on behalf both of the world ch. xxxiii. and of the Church. HebTxTs-g ' Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a The 'body' body hast Thou prepared me : in burnt -offerings jL^pkcVo?'' and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure.' t^^e typical ^ system. This comprehensive reference to the sacrifices of the law seems obviously intended to array the great sacrificial system, as such, in antithesis to the body of Christ. The one 'body' or person of the Messiah stands alone, opposite to this array, as an all-sufficient substitute for the entire system; the one represents the many ; the human, the animal ; the real, the typical ; all are represented in Him alone, in Him absorbed, in Him abolished. And again, the sacrifices of the law are drawn out as antithetic to the ' pleasure ' or will of God ; they did not spring from this ' pleasure ' or ' will,' but from the ante-dated true sacrifice ; nor do they fulfil that ' will,' — this is done only by the body of Christ which God has prepared. Thus, in a sense, prophecy itself disparages and condemns the Law. Overtly the fact would seem far othermse ; else, why have inaugurated such a system by prodigies of unprecedented grandeur ; or, why have separated a people and a priesthood for the maintenance of such a service, if God had no pleasure in it ? The whole history of sacrifice looked the other way; it was a religion of blood and propitiation, not of sentiment, of reason, or of nature ; its whole aspect was strange and artificial; why then did God ordain this, if He had ' no pleasure ' in it? The answer can only be taken from this very oracle of the Messiah, ' A body hast Thou prepared me ; ' and again, 'Then said I, Lo, I come to do Thy will, God.' 366 QUOTATION FROM THE FORTIETH PSALM : ( H. XXXIII. It has been familiarly noted, that between the iieb. X. 5-9. Septuagint, of which this expression is a truthful rendering, and the present Hebrew text, there is some discrepanc3^ As rendered from the latter in Psalm xl., it is written, ' ^line ears hast Thou opened,' instead of ' a body hast Thou prepared me.' But however this discrepancy may be disposed of This the rfoc- bv in";enious conjecture, the doctrine of the passajre trine of the . "^ *. . . '' ' . , . ! m, .luotatiou, IS not m the least compromised or obscured. The dmiy'^' '"^" Psalm, as well as the context, settles that it is the Messiah who utters this language ; and as He was therefore already possessed of humanity, or a bod}^, it is of small consequence whether we trans- late from the Septuagint or from the Hebrew text. If from the Hebrew, ' Mine ears hast Thou opened,' it is certainly to be understood of the disclosed mystery of His passion ; that it was to be by the offering up of Himself for the sin of the world, that He could fulfil the Father's purpose, by taking away the sacrifices in which He had no pleasure. It implies that the doctrine of Atonement was hardly, in relation to the Messiah, the earliest divine communication, but a profounder thought of the Father's mind, brought to His willing ear, when He was in the body prepared for Him.^ The reason in favour of the reading here adopted is almost decisive, since ' body' is put in antithesis to 'sacrifices and oflerings;' the victims were all bodies, nor is it possible to conceive of sacrifice, i.e. of the offering up of life, without them. Indeed, ^ Should it be rendered bored, instead of opened, as some coptcnd, in allusion to the Hebrew custom of piercing the ear as a badge of perpetual subjection, the meaning certainly is not advanced ; the interpretation may therefore be dismissed. ITS TEACHINGS. 367 the repetition of the word * body ' in the 10th verse ch. xxxiii. makes it certain that, in the mind of the writer, Heb~5-9. this was the main idea in the Messiah's oracle, viz. Ver. lo proves that He put His own body as a sacrifice in the iaerj/the'' place of all legal victims whatsoever, and that He ^^^^'^^' viewed this sacrifice as that which He came into the world to offer, and as being that one thing which to the very uttermost fulfilled the good pleasure of God : ' Then said I, Lo, I come (in the Heb. x. 7. volume of the book it is written of me) to do Thy will, God.'' The language of the Psalm is even more full Reading of and emphatic; the form of expression, ' Lo, I *rdeiTc™tto come,' is sublimity itself. It seems to concentrate o'^J^Tjoj'J' the entire human intelligence of Christ, His pro- found adoration of the Father, His most complacent acceptance of His will. His immutable resolve, and His perfect self-consciousness of His resources, His willingness and His ability to undertake and per- fect the whole counsel of God in the redemption of the world. The Gospels supply the comment on this sublime saying, ' Lo, I come.' ' In the volume of the book it is written,' or rather the roll of the book, because it was wound and unwound by means of rollers during the read- ing. It seems unlikely that the entire Old Testa- ment is here referred to, because its books were not contained in one roll or volume ; only the book of the prophet Isaiah was found on the roll given to our Lord in the synagogue of Nazareth. These facts point to the true interpretation of ' the volume of the book ' as being some one particular example of sacred authorship. It has been supposed that ^ Query, is this an abridgment also from the Septuagint ? 368 QUOTATION FROM THE FORTIETH PSALM: CH. XXXIII. Heb. X. 5-9. The prophecy realized after tlie Incarna- tion ; but its reference to Scripture pro- spective and retrospective. the Pentateuch alone must here be referred to, because in David's time, to whom this Psahn is ascribed, none of the prophetic writings existed. This objection, however, is of no weight, since our Lord is not here represented as speaking before He came into the world, but out of tlie ' body ' which was 'prepared' Him. The prophetic utterance was many centuries earlier, but the realization of it took place when He was on the earth, and con- sequently He may be supposed to look back upon the entire Old Testament records respecting Him- Luke xxiv. 27. sclf. Indeed Luke gives us direct proof that such was the case : ' Beginning at Moses and all the prophets. He expounded to them in all the Scrip- tures the things concerning Himself.' Yet, even this broad retrospection on the Old Testament does not oblige us to interpret the phrase, 'the volume of the book,' so largely. The restricted view is supported not only by the phrase, ' volume of the book,' but by two facts : isa. liii. 10. (1.) That Only one prophet has expressly designated the death of Christ as an offering for sin ; and (2.) That only one prophet is actually quoted by our Lord Himself as putting dowa an incident in His Luke xxu. 37. death : ' For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me. And He was reckoned among the transgressors.' Putting these two facts together, it is, to say the least, highly probable that 'the volume of the book' here referred to, is that of Isaiah the prophet ; and the very writing in our Lord's mind when He said, ' Lo, I come,' was none other than the great fifty-third chapter, at once a summary of all prophecy re- specting the atonement, and the one irrefragable ITS TEACHINGS. 3G9 voucher (if we may so distinguish prophecy) for ch. xxxiii. the Messiahship of Jesus, and for the doctrine of HebTxTs-g. Atonement. Verses 8 and 9 : ' Above, when He said. Sacrifice, and offering, and burnt-offerings, and offering for sin. Thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein ; which are offered by tlie law ; then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, God. He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second.' This expresses the conclusion of the writer, drawn Absolute in- from the relation of our Lord's Atonement to the ofTh^iaw ' ^ sacrificial system of the law : ' He taketh away the gogpei^® first,' ie. the first covenant, that He may establish the second covenant ; for, since we have no ante- cedents in this discourse, but the two Covenants, to which these terms can apply, it is proper to repro- duce them and not to invent new ones. The state- ment amounts to this : Our Lord expressly came to fulfil the will of God by offering His body as a world-atonement for sin. He did not therefore come to perpetuate the ancient ritual, or to give it new significance ; He did not come to bind this system to His own, i.e. to continue and sanction priestly offices for men ; He came ' to take ' them ' away,' as things not merely superfluous, but incon- gruous, prejudicial, and neutralizing. He said and did all this, on the double testimony of prophecy and of the gospel : ' He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second.' The old system could not be built into the new ; to use our Lord's own figure, the new wine could not be put into the old bottles lest it should be spilt, or the new piece put upon the old garment : the new wine required new bottles, the new cloth must form a new gar- 2 a 370 QUOTATION FROM THE FORTIETH PSALM. I II. xxxiii. ment. This declaration is remarkable, as opening Heb. X. 5-9. the truc doctrine of providence in the dissolution of the Jewish polity. Its continuance was incom- patible with the establishment of pure Christianity in the world, and its removal is here expressly referred to the hand of Christ Himself, as it were, in vindication of the truth of His atonement and of its regal honours ; ' He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second.' CHAPTER XXXIV. OF THE NATURE AND DOCTRINE OF EVANGELICAL SANCTIFICATION. Heb. X. 10-14. ' By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.' Here the will of God is declared to be the primary Evangelical cause of Christian holiness, and the offering of results rest on Christ the grand means of producing it. In New of thrTrhiity. Testament theology, every truth and every effect is traced up to the personal relations and manifesta- tions of the Godhead. God, or the Father, is ever presented as absolutely supreme ; the Son and the Holy Ghost are presented to us as powers emanating from Him, — the one mediative, the other executive. Accordingly, every truth and every effect must bear a triune character, and express the great baptismal formula. ' Will ' is a designation of absolute sovereignty; it is a synonym for power in its very highest form, at once originating and directing all creatures as instruments to its own ends. The 'will' of God is the ultimate doctrine SiSti- of the universe; its rationale, its philosophy; the [Jf^^™*;^jf principle of all existence, the goal of all events. ?Jg^^^5IiSt°" This 'will' is most impressively set forth as the exercfse. '^72 OF THE NATURE AND DOCTRINE OF en. XXXIV. cause of sanctification, and not unfitly, since, if it iieb. X. 10-14. be worthy of God to produce creatures, it must be more worthy still to impart to them His nature. This is the highest exercise of His will, and its most perfect effect in the creature. Absolutely He can- not will otherwise, since we cannot imagine the all-perfect Being to will that His offspring be other than His image. It is impossible that He should will either sin or sinfulness in the creature, with- out supposing that His own nature is different in that degree from perfect rectitude. The ' will ' which is here exercised is, from the nature of the case and the argument of the chapter, a restorative will, not a creative one ; while it is an impressive truth suggested by it, that no causer short of an infmite will can reproduce lost holiness in a human soul. Again, 'sanctified,' as applied to the subjects of this ' will,' is a relative term. As light would not have been equally intelligible without darkness as its opposite, or enjoyment without misery; so sancti- fication could hardly have been fully understood had not crime and defilement been incident to humanity. Probably even unfallen natures understood this far better than if no sin had ever been committed ; just as we appreciate beauty more fully by its con- trast with examples of ugliness. Sanctification thus must mean separation from sin and sinfulness; and it must mean al-^o, as a consequence, fitness for divine service and euphony with the Divine SiinctificntioTi, Nature. notdisciiiiiiic, Again, sanctification was always throucrh sacri- ■rift, til.' fice ; it was something brought to human nature, Atonement, iiot arising out of it ; it was a gift, not an endow- EVANGELICAL SANCTIFICATION. 373 ment, and the order of means was appointed, ch. xxxiv. It was not a culture or discipline, — these were iieb.x. 10-14. its human parody, more or less prevalent in all ages, and among people existing without as well as within the pale of the Church. They were very especially an element in oriental forms of religion, and are as rife as ever among them to this day. In contrast to this, sanctification by sacrifice was the great practical doctrine of the law ; few forms of pollution were removable without it. To the congregation as sprinkled with the blood of sacri- fice, the covenant was opened and assured ; to the congregation as sanctified, the law was delivered from Mount Sinai ; to the priesthood as sanctified, the altar was accessible, and even the way to the holiest was licensed. In a word, all great occasions of God's showing to His people, whether by vic- tories in war, by manifestations of His glory in the sanctuary, or deliverances from national perils and miseries, — these were always preceded and accom- panied by their sanctification. The entire scheme of the law was one of sanctification ; its lessons were brought into every-day life, and its violations were matters of disqualification and peril ; its Differences ,'n.- T 1' J^ j_-i between Heb- sanctincation was very distinctly practical as com- lew and evan- pared with the evangelical; not so much pertaining ^fiJationT"" to the conscience as to the actions ; not essentially spiritual, but personal, social, and national ; a sanctification ruled by institute and prescription, by a code of negatives and positives, by tradition, race, and religion broadly considered ; not by the law of the heart, the work of the Spirit, and the power of the one true Atonement. The people of the law, as well as the law itself, exhibited, 374 OF THE NATURE AND DOCTRINE OF cH. XXXIV. even in their sanctification, the shadow of 'good iieb. X. 10-14. things to come,' not the ' very image ' of the things. The gospel takes up the terms of tlie law, but gives them a new and profounder signification : 'Sacrifice,' 'saints,' 'sanctified,' 'sanctification,' these are assumed as familiar by old usage, and therefore all the better adapted for evangelical purposes. This is the case throughout the New Testament, particularly in the Epistles ; and here ' sanctified ' is used in evident contrast to the use of the term under the law. We are sanctified really, and not typically; spiritually, not externally; that is, Ave are endued with a true personal holiness. Nature and The great iudiccs of sanctification in the New cliaracteiistics ,...,., ..„, of saucciiica- Icstamcnt are exhibited in the very origin of the humanity of Christ Himself, for it is called ' that holy thing,' and in the absolute faultlessness of His character from childhood to the grave. There are also special notices of sanctification in our Lord's teaching, drawn from John's record particularly. As taught iiy The sixth chapter of his Gospel is a declaration in extenso of this m3'stery. There it is represented, not as a quality, but as a life issuing from com- munion with tlie Son as sacrificed, and as the eflect of His indwelling in the spirit of His people. This discourse is particularly noticeable as giving prominence to the Atonement, there forestalled, and to His personal attributes, through its virtue transmissible to His disciples. The New Testa- ment does not contain a more perfect view of tlie doctrine of sanctification than is found in this dis- course in the synagogue of Capernaum. A second example occurs (chap, xiii.) in the narrative of the feet-washing of the disciples during EVANGELICAL SANCTIFICATION. 375 the Last Supper. Nothing can be imagined sym- C'h. xxxiv. boUcally more impressive than the action of Christ Heb.^o-i4. when He girded Himself with a towel, and pro- ceeded to wash His disciples' feet, one by one. This action was undoubtedly anticipative of the virtue of His Atonement, and of His priestly mini- stry in heaven on behalf of His disciples. It could not, therefore, be understood presently, but awaited the revelations of the Holy Spirit. True, its im- mediate design was to teach humility and mutual self-sacrifice ; but whence was this lesson to be enforced? Not by the example merely, but by the mystical washing of the Holy Ghost hereafter to come upon them as the effect of His Atonement and Mediation; or, in other words, by their perfect sanctification from the domination of petty jea- lousies, ambition, and self-seeking, by that repro- duction of His own lowliness, which could never be approximated, except by the washing pre-signi- fied on the occasion of the Supper. It was, there- fore, both a type and a prophecy soon to be fulfilled, — a divine augury of good things then to come, but which this Epistle witnesses had now really come. All this is demonstrated by Christ's reply to Peter : ' If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.' The next example is the profound teaching of John xvii. 17, 19: 'Sanctify them through Thy truth . . . and for their sakes I sanctify myself.' Here we have the recognition of the Father's 'will' as the originating cause of sanctification ; and He is besought to exercise it. Further, our Lord says that He ' sanctifies Himself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth ' — the very doctrine of this tenth verse ; for our Lord cannot be under- 376 OF THE NATURE AND DOCTRINE OF c'H. XXXIV. stood as speaking of personal, but of official, sancti- Heb. X. 10-14. fication, i.e. of such sanctification as the priestly office required, which consisted in the offering of sacrifice. Here again there is coincidence with the verse of the Epistle : ' Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.' The doctrine of the Gospel is the same as that of the Epistle. By * sanctifying Himself our Lord means the offering of His body as an act of His own priesthood ; and He states the result of this offering in almost the same words : ' That they also might be sanctified through the truth.' Lastly, in the The institution of the Supper tells in the same institution of , , , ^ ^ the Supper. direction, for it commemorates and represents the Atonement and its offices. ' His body ' and ' His blood ' are participated in by the faithful, and their sanctification is the direct issue. The doctrine of sanctification, in its evangelical aspect, may be thus stated: Our Lord's humanity is an all-per- fect type of humanity in general ; but its personal perfection is not transmissible, even by Him, as a federal representative of humanity, save by its offer- ing as an atonement. In this character only is His perfection communicable to us ; while, b}^ virtue of His Atonement, His entire humanity, as a redeem- ing power, is conveyed to us, and the glorified man is but its correlative. 'He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are one, and for this cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.' Vers. 11-13. 'And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacri- fices, which can never take away sins : but this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from EVANGELICAL SANCTIFICATION. 377 henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His ch. xxxiv. footstool.' Heb.TTo-14. The eleventh verse is simply a resume of previous Contrast be- statements, and occurs here, not for the purpose of ilviticai^ giving additional distinctness or emphasis to these, fnlui^of but merely to give effect to the contrast exhibited ^"^^'^^*- in verse 12 between the priesthood of the Law and the priesthood of Christ, for which purpose the whole discussion of these chapters is recorded. The very posture of the high priest or his repre- sentative, and the repetitive nature of his func- tions, standing 'daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices,' are strong points of contrast between his office and that of the Christ. The one ' stands,' the other ' sits down ; ' the one ' offers daily,' the other ' in the end of the world ; ' the one offers ' many ' and the same sacrifices, the other but ' one,' and that one Himself To stand, implies an unfinished ministry ; to sit down, a consummated one. The one is doing, but never done ; no progress is made, no efficacy can be noted, no results come forth. It is the bodily exercise which profiteth little. It is as the inanity of a dream to waking thoughts, or as theatrical representations to real life. It is a shadow, nothing more. Countless centuries fail to advance the system one iota. It is where it was and ever will be, until it is ' taken away.' On the contrary, our Lord's priesthood is founded on a perfect sacrifice, and draws all its virtue and prerogatives .out of it. It is so perfect and self- satisfying, that, as it were, He does not refer to it, but assumes a new posture in consequence of it, and that posture a permanent one. He seeks not 878 OF THE NATURE AND DOCTRINE OF (11. XXXIV. to atone or to inaugurate anytliin,2; new, but only Hih. X. 10-14. to carry out His purposes, and patiently to wait until His enemies are made His footstool. This is a very noble view of the perfection of our Lord's sacrifice, and of its prospective results ; it includes all the principles and resources of the world's government. Instead of being retrospective on sacrifice, He, as it were, turns His face from it, to contemplate its issues ; looks under the whole heavens as when He made 'the weights for the winds, or a way for the lightning ; ' regarding future things as present, and all the elements of the future world as being as perfectly comprised in His Atonement, as were the qucmtum, proper- ties, and forces of matter necessaryto perfect the material world. Vtr. 13. Roy- This 13th vcrsc, taken with its antecedents, sup- "prlvsthooii of plies a New Testament comment on the doctrines Christ. Qf ^i^g iiQ^^^ Psalm. The priesthood and the royalty of Christ are here presented in combina- tion ; mutually co-operative, and triumphantly portending their last issues 'till His enemies be made His footstool.' Yer. 14. ' For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.' The one offering is still contrasted with the many, perhaps with somewhat special reference to the Hebrew disciples, who had been accustomed to witness these great traditionary ceremonies, and to associate with them the perfection, nay, the very existence, of religion. To them, as ritualists by birth, education, and habit, the annihilation of the national system was a thing with which they could hardly familiarize themselves, even in thought ; and Peculiar diffi- culties of Hebrew con- verts. EVANGELICAL SANCTIFICATION. 379 its reality must have produced a chasm in their ch. xxxiv. daily life, as it has in their history as a people. Heb.TTo-u. Nor is it possible for us thoroughly to realize the position of these converts, who were called upon to accept unseen verities as a substitute for visible pageant, and to adhere to a religion purely doctrinal and unclothed of images of every kind, in place of one infinitely fruitful in its appliances for the imagination. To them it must have been hard indeed to sever themselves from all hereditary, cherished, and sacred associations, from ancestral example, from historical precedent, and, in fact, from the whole fibre and soul of the Hebrew nature. To initiate a new faith, to break off from the principle of nationality as inseparable from religion; to enter for themselves and their descendants on an untried path, oppressed with the conviction that they were regarded as apostates by their brethren ; to be disinherited of blessing, if blessing were not in the road they took ;— such considerations must have made it particularly difficult for Hebrews to become Christians. It is not easy for ordinary minds at any time to pass through such a revolutionary crisis as this ; nor is it less difficult to identify simplicity, rather than multiplicity, with perfection. The history of the human mind, religiously considered, reveals its bent in another direction. It loves to idealize and embody, to weave systems for itself, and to rejoice in the elaborateness and subtilty of its own crea- tions. It delights in symbols and sensible repre- sentation of every kind, in priesthood and ceremony, in enlarged positivism and in recondite sugges- tions ; but it abhors simplicity as nakedness, and 380 OF THE NATURE AND DOCTRINE OF cii. XXXIV. tlie absence of the visible as akin to atheism. It Heb. X. 10-14. is no mean proof of the purity of primitive Chris- tian worship, that sensuous polytheists and jealous magistrates brought against it the accusation of atheism. Even the divine unity has been debased into multiplicity, and the great foundation truth of the universe has been distorted and falsified by pantheism on the one hand, and polytheism on the other. Explain the Thcsc obscrvatious may assist us to understand on th^'one' the accumulated emphasis laid, in these chapters, ('iirisSortei? ^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^® ^^^^ ^^ Christ's offering. It ^»g- was as necessary to receive this truth, as it was the truth of the divine unity ; for, if the latter stood out in grand relief against the pagan systems then rife in the world and doomed to be overthrown, the former was not less placed in relief against Judaism, which it was destined to destroy. In both instances, the doctrine of unity was opposed to that of multiplicity, and both are equally asser- tions of the doctrine of the infinite — the infinite God, the infinite Christ. Sanctification ' He hath perfected for ever them that are tion!^ ^'^^^^ sanctified.' Perfection here, in whatever sense understood as belonging to the 'sanctified,' is emphatically marked as eternal, since the M'ords 'for ever,' in the New Testament, are nowhere capable of a lower interpretation. Generally, this verse asserts that the endowments conferred by redemption are inexhaustible, and absolutely per- fective of the human nature in all its powers, both of body and soul, rendering it entirely answerable to the divine idea in its creation. Humanity has no capacity and no destiny beyond those secured otfering. EVANGELICAL SANCTIFICATION. 381 by redemption ; it has no relations to the universe ch. xxxiv. for which this does not provide, no minor develop- Heb. x. 10-14. ments for which it does not find space ; and, above all, there are no perfections of the divine nature, no heights, no depths in the Being who is 'first and last,' inaccessible to the creature recovered by the Atonement, and admitted to the fellowship of the eternal Son by His humanity, and through it to the bosom of the eternal Father. Doubtless it is intended here to teach that the perfection of the ' sanctified ' is correlative with the one offering which sanctifies. To suppose imperfection in Because tiie ' them who are sanctified ' by this one offering, is to the'^Son''s ° limit the offering itself; for, assuredly, that perfec- tion cannot be less than eternal which is simply the reflection and return of the one offering, and, consequently, can as little need supplement to its resources as extension to its duration. If this were not true, a second offering or a succession of offer- ings might be possible, and even needful, to carry onward 'perfection' in the 'sanctified.' But it has been shown before that the perfection conferred by the Atonement pertains to the con- science (where the law was powerless), and that it destroys sin in the human nature by the double power of pardon and renewal. This renewal is the only germ of perfection in itself essentially eternal, because it is spiritual, and must assert its power under all possible conditions of existence. Hence evangelical perfection is an inward rather than an outward thing, a thing directly subject to the judg- ment of God, even as it is the creation of God. It is not to be confounded with high gifts or extensive knowledge, nor does it exist apart from idiosyncra- 382 EVANGELICAL SANCTIFICATION. ill. XXXIV. sies of nature and from human imperfections. It Heb.x. 10-14. is not amenable to human judgments, except so far as there are palpable indications of insincerity and contradiction ; nor does it imply the highest exhibitions of human character, any more than it implies the bestowment of new capacities. On the contrary, it is the old nature refashioned, but not obliterated; stamped with spirituality and divine characters, but not taken out of its antecedent stamina, nor so far made different from itself. Distinction Ilcncc it appears, that as morals do not imply tiiication and sauctificatioii, SO sauctificatiou is not fully inter- moiahty. pretcd by morals. There is infinitely more in it than can be expressed by the secondary aspects of our nature ; while in not a few cases those secondary aspects may, through training or a superior cha- racter, be strongly expressed without any spiritual counterpart whatever. The difference seems to be this : the one is human, the other divine, virtue ; the one has the world for its theatre, the other the heavens ; the one is the sacred and temple-aspect of humanity, the other the secular and the sociah CHAPTER XXXY. THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY GHOST IN EEFEKENCE TO DIVINE TRUTH. Heb. X. 15-18. ' Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us : for after that He had said before, This is the cove- nant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them ; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.' ' Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to inspiration of us,' i.e. to this effect, or, moreover, the Holy Ghost ^i*^ J^^^a- ' 1 •) ) J ment writers also is a witness to us. Here the plenary inspira- always . . affirmed by tion of Jeremiah, and, by implication, that of the those of the other prophets, is directly asserted and enforced by the inspired authority of this Epistle. Indeed, there is no point on which the New Testament . writers are more at one than the plenary inspiration of the Old Testament prophets, whether of Moses in the Pentateuch, of David in the Psalms, or of the prophets generally. From this we collect the will of God to be, that all believers in the New Testament should be believers in the Old, since the authority of the New Testament writers cannot be respected if their testimony in this matter be im- pugned : the Testaments stand or fall together. It 384 THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY GHOST CH. XXXV. is not a little remarkable, too, that Old Testament Heb. X. 15-18. writcrs are always quoted as authorities and wit- nesses to the truth of New Testament doctrines: nothing but their plenary inspiration could for a moment entitle them to rank as witnesses and vouchers for after - teachings. Thus ' the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us,' not Jeremiah ; this is confirmed by the language of the prophet : ' Behold a day is come, saith the Lord, that I will make a ' The Lord ' ncw covcuant with the house of Israel.' This 'Lord' Ghost ^ is here affirmed to be the 'Holy Ghost,' the great Revealer under both Testaments. He is put forth as a distinct witness to the truth of the foregoing doctrine of this chapter, which must imply that the writer knew himself to be inspired to interpret the words of the Holy Ghost rightly, and to perceive that his own doctrine was in perfect accordance with it. This cannot be said of the interpretations of any uninspired men ; they can hardly plead that the Holy Ghost absolutely puts their interpretation upon His own words. If this be the case where interpretation only is concerned, and no new doctrines are professedly advanced, how necessary must it be where new truth is propounded, and made to seek attestation from an older record ? There is some obscurity in the last clause of verse 15. 'He had said before' is equivalent to predicted, i.e. predicted in the words of Jeremiah immediately following; but what is the meaning of the expression 'for after that?' It cannot refer to any later prophetic communications, since none are here mentioned, but this one of Jeremiah; it must therefore relate to tlie pre-eminency of this testimony, and its intentional effect in corroborating IN REFERENCE TO DIVINE TRUTH. 385 future revelations. The Holy Ghost becomes a wit- CH. xxxv. ness to us ' after that,' i.e. in accordance with, or in Heb. x. 15-18. consequence of, this prophecy. This is His relation The Holy to evangelical doctrine : in virtue of this prediction witness to as well as many others. He may be confidently nient 'truths. appealed to as a witness to New Testament theo- logy, and particularly here to the subject of this and the foregoing chapters. He has, as it were, pledged Himself to this service with conclusive effect; for, the quotation from Jeremiah, introduced for the second time in this Epistle, forms the climax to the discussion respecting the priesthood and its offices of sanctification. Looked at in this position, it completely authenticates the evangelical doctrine preceding it, in respect to the nature of Christian sanctification, i.e. it makes perfect as 'pertaining to the conscience.' Sin is so absolutely forgiven as to be no more remembered, and so entirely purged away, that the divine laws are said to be written in the heart and in the mind, in distinction from the tables of stone given from the Mount. There is also a special relevancy to be noted in Appositenesf? this testimony of the Holy Ghost to the evangelical Ln h^x ""' doctrine of these chapters ; for what is the fact to J'^''^"^^^^^- which He bears testimony ? and what is His work as declared by the New Testament ? It is simply to fulfil this prediction in its length and breadth, and depth and height. The religion of the Atonement is the religion of the Holy Ghost, and the antici- pations of prophecy therefore are in this, as in many other examples, but the programme of His own operations and the earnest of His work. Ver. 18. ' Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.' This concludes the 2b 386 THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY GHOST Ver. 18 con- cludes tlu! arf^uniciit for tlic oneiu'ss of Christ's sacritice. CH. XXXV. argument for the unity of our Lord's sacrifice, on Heb.x. 15-18. wliicli SO mucli strcss is justly laid in these chap- ters. As before noticed, the greatness of this truth was not the only barrier to its entrance into a Hebrew mind; it was met by the whole gist of the legal institution. It is doubtless here intended indirectly to assert the coming extinction of the legal offerings ; seeing that, if our Lord's offering was incapable of repetition, all other oflferings must needs be annihilated. The a(f>€(Ti